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

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to Faithful Word Baptist Church. Very good to see you all here for our Sunday night service. Find your seats now and grab a hymnal and go to hymn number 26 and we'll get started tonight. Hymn number 26. Number 26. Hallelujah for the cross. Hymn number 26. You have to sing this song. Hymn number 26. Hallelujah for the cross. Hymn number 26. Hallelujah for the cross. Hymn number 26. You have to sing this song nice and strong. So sing it out with me on that first now. The cross that stands the fast. Hymn number 26. Sing it out now. The cross that stands the fast. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The waves of hell have blown. The world is big as shown. Yet it is not over gone. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It shall never suffer loss. It is the old God's will. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. His triumph let us dwell. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The grace of God is shown. Through Christ our Christ and Son. Through dead boys and us on. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It shall never suffer loss. What's permanent was made. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. His gift for Jesus' sake. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. All around the cross we sing. Of Christ our offering. Of Christ our living King. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It shall never suffer loss. Thank you so much for singing tonight. We want to go before the Lord and his blessing on the service. We'll ask for the Fidel Gonzalez to say a prayer please. Father in heaven, we thank you for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We also thank you for bringing Pastor Anderson and his daughter home safely and the souls that were won while they were there. Father, we ask you to bless our voices as we lift them up to you in praise. Please bless Pastor Anderson, fill him with your Holy Spirit and let his message be edifying to us all. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Go back to hymn number 12. As we continue the theme of the cross here, number 12, Blessed Redeemer. Hymn number 12, this one begins, Up Calvary's Mountain, one dreadful morn. Hymn number 12, sing it out together. Up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful morn. What Christ my Savior, weary and worn. Facing for sinners, death on the cross. That we might save them from endless bonds. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer. Seems now our season on Calvary's stream. Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading. Blind and unheeding, dying for me. Father, forgive them, the sinning rain. If while it's my blood, Lord, cast away. Praying for sinners, once was wrong. No one but Jesus, ever lost all. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer. Seems now our season on Calvary's stream. Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading. Blind and unheeding, dying for me. Oh, how I love His Savior and friend. How can my praises ever find end? Through years of number, on heaven's shore. My tongue shall praise Him forevermore. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer. Seems now our season on Calvary's stream. Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading. Blind and unheeding, dying for me. Man, good singing. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week we will be in Psalm 77, continuing to go through those Psalms of Asaph on Wednesday night. We've got the soul-winning times below. Notice the highlighted times have been slightly altered. And so if you have any questions about that, you can ask. But the church-wide soul-winning just meets here at the church at those times. And then the regional soul-winning groups meet in those different parts of town. So you've got to get in touch with that particular leader, whether that's Brother Milan, Brother Steve Tilson, Brother Dan Sarat. And then you can arrange where the meetup is on that. And notice that there are soul-winning opportunities every single day of the week. There are multiple soul-winning opportunities every single day of the week. And the purpose for that is just to make it convenient so that no matter what your day off is or no matter what your schedule is like, you can squeeze in some soul-winning, you can get out there. And really the best way to do it is to develop some kind of a habit where you kind of have certain times that you show up at as a routine. And that way you can consistently get out there preaching the gospel because that is what it's all about. And then below that we've got salvation and baptisms for the year thus far. And across the page there is our first quarter update about how the cruise missions trips are going. This is a brand new idea that Brother Kevin had last year and he successfully executed one of these last year and then I did one of these last year. But not counting those two trips, just 2025 alone, January 1st until now, we've had eight cruise missions trips total. We've had 39 different people participate in these trips to go on the cruise missions trips as soul winners. We've gone to 10 countries soul-winning and we visited 16 ports where we did soul-winning and 1081 salvations. So this is just only a quarter of the way into the end of the year. We've had these incredible results. Now here's the thing, obviously getting a lot of people saved is a big part of our goal. So that's super important to us. But I also get really excited about things like getting new people out soul-winning or getting new people out on the mission field, right? Because getting somebody saved today is awesome. But what's even better is making a lifelong soul-winner that's going to keep on getting people saved for the rest of their lives. Or getting someone a taste of the mission field who's going to go to the mission field again and again and again. And what was pretty cool this week when we went soul-winning in the Bahamas, we actually were able to meet up with some online listeners and take them out soul-winning. We love doing stuff like that because we're training people and getting them a taste of what it's like to get out there and do soul-winning. And so one of my biggest goals for this year was to have at least 100 people participate in cruise missions. Because man, if we could just get 100 people from our pews out there on the mission field, think about how amazing that is, how incredible that is. And we're already so far toward that goal with 39 people involved. So we're 39% of the way there. And you know, we're only like, what, 27, 28% of the way into the year. So we are doing great on that. I'm pretty excited about that. Other goals that I'd like to see us hit is we've already gone soul-winning in 10 countries this year. I'd like to hit 30 by the end of the year, right? Soul-winning in 30 countries. I mean, that's far beyond anything our church has ever done in the past. We've never gone soul-winning in 30 different countries in a single year. Nothing even close up. I don't even think we've ever done 10 countries in a year. And so we're probably already past that. But I'm hoping to see many more thousands of people saved, hit many more countries, and most importantly, get more people involved. And so great job everybody who has been participating, praying, and supporting this. And so we're excited about the rest of the year. Below that, there's a soul-winning marathon down in Tucson this coming Saturday, April 19th. Of course, Pastor Corbin Ressel is down at Straight Paths Baptist Church in Tucson. That's a church that we planted down there many years ago. It's independent now. But they're holding a soul-winning marathon. And if you would like to participate, the whole itinerary is there. It would be helpful if you could RSVP, but you don't have to. You can just show up. But RSVP would be nice because he is offering refreshments. He's offering a catered lunch from Juanitos. Yes? Oh, right. So we're going to run the church van also down to Tucson. So if you want to just show up at the church building, ride down in the church van, and then get brought back in the evening, that is an option. Obviously, the space is limited. It's a 15-passenger van. Do we have a sign-up sheet for that? Okay, so we'll get some kind of a sign-up sheet or something. But definitely communicate with us. Brother Fidel, I think, is the one who's going to be driving that thing. So Brother Fidel is going to be driving the church van. So get with Brother Fidel. We'll get some kind of a sign-up sheet going and accommodate as many people as we can. Otherwise, you can just drive your own vehicles down there. It's only like an hour and a half from here. Probably even a little less than that. Depends on how fast you drive, I guess. But an hour and 25, realistically, you can get down there. So that's going to be cool this coming Saturday. On the back, the Mother Daughter Tea Party. This is the last week to RSVP, so get your RSVP in on that. Church Roller Skating Night, April 29th. It's going to be awesome. I just love roller skating. I guess I'm just kind of a child of the 80s, but I just love roller skating. 6 to 9 p.m., April 29th. And it's just like all of other of our church activities. It's totally free. And so you just show up and give them the password. And the password is shibboleth. And then below that, we've got the other upcoming events. I'm preaching in Seattle on April 25th. KJV Conference in the Portland area, May 15th through 18th. And then Pastor Dylan Oz is going to be preaching right here on Sunday, the 25th of May. So that is about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days. Going back to Thursday. Anything from Thursday? Okay, I got you there. Yes? Okay. Okay, got you there. Baron? Okay. All right. Anything else from Thursday? And then how about Friday? Anything from Friday? Gotcha. Okay, gotcha in the back. Okay. All right. And then what about Saturday? Okay, got it. Got it. Gotcha. All right. And then what about today? Do we have a total from brother Ian? Okay, so eight with the main group with brother Ian. Okay. And then I got is that a three? Okay, four. Okay. Anybody else for today? There we go. Anything else? All right. Very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning with that. Let's sing our next song. Come lead us. All right. You should find the insert in front of your hymnal with the hymn entitled 10,000 Angels. If you don't have an insert, please raise your hand. One of the ushers will give you one. Then we'll sing it on that verse together. They bound the hands of Jesus in the garden where he prayed. They bound the hands of Jesus in the garden where he prayed. They led him through the streets in shame. They sat upon the saviors of war and pain from sin. They said, crucify his peace to blame. He could have called 10,000 angels to join the world and stand and flee. He could have called 10,000 angels, but he died alone for you and me. Upon his precious head they placed the crown of thorns. They laughed and said, behold the king. They struck him and they cursed him and mocked his holy name. All alone he suffered everything. He could have called 10,000 angels to join the world and stand and flee. He could have called 10,000 angels, but he died alone for you and me. When they nailed him to the cross, his mother stood nearby. He said, one and behold our son. He died, I thirst for water, but they gave him the truth. Then the sinful work of that was done. He could have called 10,000 angels to join the world and stand and flee. He could have called 10,000 angels, but he died alone for you and me. To the howling mob he yielded, he did not for mercy cry. But for such shame he took the load. And when he cried in spinach he gave himself to die. Salvation's wondrous plan was done. He could have called 10,000 angels to join the world and stand and flee. He could have called 10,000 angels, but he died alone for you and me. Good thing everybody. Take your hymnals now and go to hymn number five. Hymn number five. When I survey the wondrous cross. Hymn number five. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died. Hymn number five. Sing it out on that first now. When I survey the wondrous cross. On which the prince of glory died. On which the prince of glory died. On which the prince of glory died. On which the prince of glory died. On which the prince of glory died. All the vain things that are being lost. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. I sacrifice them to his wife. And while you're turning there, I'll read you another verse from Proverbs 16. It says, better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. You know, it's better to just be content with what you have, have a little bit. You're going to live a better life just being a godly, righteous person. Look at Psalm 84, verse 10. It says for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. And so the Bible is teaching us here that the Christian life is so superior to being just a worldly person out there that just being a doorkeeper in the house of God, just being a lowly servant, being a humble person who just kind of gets the door and usher or something like that is better than being the guest of honor in the tents of wickedness. You know, going to some important presidential dinner or some ministerial association prayer breakfast or something like that, right? You'd rather be just a doorkeeper in the actual bonafide house of God, right? And so that's how superior the Christian life is and churches to anything that the world has to offer. Flip over to Proverbs chapter number 3. Proverbs chapter 3, while you're turning there, I'll read for you from Psalm 119 72. So again, there's this theme that keeps coming up when we look at the verses that talk about what's better than what. Everything's better than money, you know? It's better to have integrity than money. It's better to be righteous than money. It's better to have, you know, a good position in the house of God, even if it's just getting the door, sweeping the floor, cleaning a toilet. You know, that's better than having the luxury and opulence of what the wicked enjoy. The law of God's mouth is better than thousands of gold and silver. Look at Proverbs 3 verse 13. And the gain thereof than fine gold. She's more precious than rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. Again, the Bible is just really hammering this idea that the Christian life, the godly life, the righteous life is better than the life that is spent seeking money. And going out there and getting all the gold and the silver and the precious stones and the stocks and bonds, none of that can even compare to the wisdom found in God's word. Living a Christian life, going to church, having integrity, having a good conscience, these things are all just so much more important. And as we can see in this passage anyway, that when you do get the godly wisdom, when you do live a life of integrity and righteousness and goodness, God ends up blessing you with some good things anyway. He gives you a long life, he gives you some riches and honor and things and your cup is going to run over when you're serving God anyway. So if you go out seeking money, maybe you'll get the money and maybe you won't. Because a lot of people want to be rich and they never really make it financially, but they're trying. Whether you get it or not get it, it's not going to satisfy, it's not going to make you happy. Whereas serving God will satisfy, it will make you happy, it is a superior way to live your life. If you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you'll be filled. Whereas if you hunger and thirst after wealth, well maybe you'll get it, maybe you won't. But once you do get it, you're probably going to have an empty feeling because it's not all it's cracked up to be. Whereas if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you'll be filled and then along the way God will give you the desires of your heart. God will pour out a blessing unto you that's so great that you won't be able to receive it. Your cup will run over with blessings. Look at Proverbs chapter 8 verse 10. Proverbs 8 verse 10, we'll see the same thing reiterated again. Receive my instruction and not silver and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. Wouldn't you rather be sitting in church on Sunday night hearing wisdom from God's word than at some seminar in a hotel conference room somewhere listening to some wealthy man tell you how to make money in the stock market or through real estate or through multi-level marketing or whatever. Folks, it's vanity. Now look, obviously we all got to go out and work and make money and make a living and we got to put food on the table and pay the bills. Obviously those things are important but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Flip over if you would to chapter number 15 of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter number 15. We're just going through kind of in order in Proverbs looking at what God says is the superior life. You know the life spent in righteous living, serving in the house of God, being a humble servant in church, getting the door in church is superior to kind of making it in this world. The life spent seeking after wisdom and knowledge and understanding from the mouth of the Lord, from the word of God is superior than the pursuits of this world. Look what it says in Proverbs 15, 15, all the days of the afflicted are evil but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Continual feast. You know my kids sometimes will laugh at me because I will always act like everything is a party. You know like whenever we're going anywhere I'm like hey are you guys ready to party? You know or just like you know any meal, any outing, I'm just always using that word. You know we're going to party. This is a party. We're partying. You know and they kind of laugh at me like that's silly. You think everything's a party. Everything's just a party to you. But this is why because he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Here's another word for feast, party. Right? If you have a good attitude, if you have joy in your heart, if you have the joy of the Holy Spirit, life is one big party. Life is a series of parties. I party on Monday, party on Tuesday. I just party all the time. And here's the thing. You know I don't mean the same thing that the world means. The world says party. They're probably talking about snorting cocaine. They're probably talking about drugs. They're talking about fornication. I remember when I was a child, my older sister who's nine years older than me said, hey listen Stephen, if anybody ever asks you do you party, the answer is no. Because she said when they ask you do you party, what they mean is do you take drugs. That was the slang at the time. I don't know if that's still how people talk now. I don't know if that's the slang anymore. But back then, you know, 20, 30 years ago, whenever that was, she said if they ask you do you party, you say no, I do not party. But if I told you today in 2025 that I don't party, I'd be lying because my whole life is a party. But it's not drugs. It's not fornication. It's not drinking. It's not that kind of party. Hey, it's just called joy. It's called enjoying what I have. It's called enjoying the things that God has blessed me with. And it doesn't have to be something fancy. It doesn't have to be something cool by the world standards. No, because here's the thing, you appreciate the little things. You know, I mean to me, I'm just enjoying the sunsets. I'm enjoying nature. I'm enjoying a good meal. And it doesn't have to be some $50, $80 meal. I mean, Chipotle's a party. Amen? It's a party in my mouth. In-N-Out Burger's a party. Maude Pizza's a party. Right? I don't need any expensive, fancy things. You see, heaters of a merry heart hath a continual feast, meaning that it's just a never-ending, non-stop party. I'm just kind of a 24-hour party person, it turns out. Which is kind of funny, because I'm so straight-laced. I don't drink. I don't do drugs. You know, I'm super straight-laced Christian, but it turns out I'm a 24-hour party person. Who would have thunk it? You know, who would have figured that? But it's true. It's real, because if you have a merry heart, if you have a good attitude, if you have the joy, you know what? I consider soul winning a party. Mission strips are a party. Getting people saved is a party. You know, we just can't stop partying around here. This is the most partying church ever. Proverbs 15, verse 16 says, better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Right? Because even if you just got a little money in the bank, just a little food in the fridge, if it's with the fear of the Lord, you know God's going to take care of you. God's got your back. Whereas, if you have great treasure and trouble therewith, you're not going to be as happy. As the guy who's serving the Lord and just enjoying the little that he has. And then, following up with that, it says better, in verse 17, better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. And this is me once again defending my vegetable lasagna meal choice, you know, because you don't have to have meat with every meal. It's okay to have a dinner of herbs. It's okay to have a spinach lasagna or a bean and rice burrito or tostadas or enchiladas with no meat in them. Okay? Because I'd rather have a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. Look, every man would rather be served a vegetarian meal by his wife who is smiling and respectful and reverent and loving than to be served a steak dinner by some ornery, disrespectful, loud-mouthed woman. Am I right? All you men out there, if you'd be honest, I know you guys are so into eating meat. And look, I eat meat every day. But let me tell you something, we would rather eat grilled cheese and tomato soup with love. Okay? Why? Because the atmosphere of the home is more important than what kind of food is on the table. Right? We would rather have love with a dinner of herbs than to have the stalled ox, you know, all that wonderful beef and hatred therewith. Right? Would you rather sit down and have a beef dinner with people you hate or would you rather sit down with friends that you love and eat a bunch of vegetarian food? You know, and if you are going to go for the meat dinner, your priorities are all wrong and you guys are too obsessed with food. The Bible says in chapter 16 verse 18, if you flip over there, chapter 16 verse 18, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. You know, because when you get around these proud people, you know, there's only so much room in the building for all those egos. Right? You'd rather be of a humble spirit with the lowly, you know, you'd rather hang around with friends where everybody's humble, everybody's preferring one another, putting other people's needs first than to be in this atmosphere with a bunch of egos and everybody's fighting for preeminence and fighting to be the boss and fighting to be a big shot. It's a bad atmosphere. You know, Christianity is just teaching you a better way to live your life. Everything about God's will and following the Bible just ends up being superior when it comes to how you live your life. And so it's a lot more superior to follow the Bible's advice and be humble, hang around with humble people than to try to divide the spoil with the proud. You know, and arguing and fighting over what my cut is and what your cut is and what percentage I get and what percentage you get, right? You'd rather just have a little bit amongst humble people. Flip over, or same chapter, verse 32 of chapter 16, it says, He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit, then he that taketh the city. Now, look, I'm all for bodily exercise. I'm all for lifting weights, cardio, playing sports. I think especially in our modern day with all of the appliances and conveniences, you've got to get some exercise. You've got to make a point to shake them bones or your body's just going to atrophy and decay and you're going to be unhealthy. So I'm all for exercising. But you know what the Bible says? Exercise yourself rather under godliness because bodily exercise profited little. Right, bodily exercise profited little in comparison with exercising yourself unto godliness, right? So what is more important, physical strength and brute force or having self-control and being able to rule your spirit and not be consumed by anger, right? He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, right? So now stop and think about how this plays out in real life, okay? The mighty, right? He's not worried about getting in fights because he's just going to kick everybody's butt, right? Now, he that is slow to anger doesn't get in fights. He that is slow to anger, he's out in public. People mess with him. People pick a fight with him. And what does he do? The soft answer turns away wrath. You know, when somebody comes and tries to pick a fight with me, says a bunch of wild, you know, somebody just yesterday was just saying a bunch of wild and crazy things to me. And I'm just kind of like, okay. I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. You know, I'm not just like, what did you say? You know, I'm just kind of like, okay, bye, you know, whatever. You know, and sometimes people will get mad at you in public because maybe they think that you cut them in line or you bumped into them or you did this or did that. You know what? It's easier if you're slow to anger and you just be cool about it and just say, oh man, I'm sorry, no problem. Hey, don't worry about it. And let the soft answer turn away wrath. See, he that is slow to anger is superior because he's not going to get in fights, right? It's going to be extremely rare that a godly Christian who's slow to anger gets in a fist fight. You know what I'm saying? Because you know what? I, I, I make people mad for a living and I have not gotten in a fist fight in the last 25, 26 years since I was a teenager. Last time I got a fist fight, I was a teenager. Okay. You know, you know, high school stupidity. But the point is, you know, in my entire 25 years of adult life, I've gotten in precisely zero fist fights. Even though I have tons of enemies, make people mad all the time. I've had people get angry. I've had people shove me. I've had people slap me across the face and you know what I did? I turned the other cheek and I've never gotten in a fist fight in my adult life. I just didn't because here's the thing, it's superior not to fight. Here's a good way not to ever get your butt kicked. Don't get in fights. Be slow to anger. Now here's the thing, that's better than being mighty. Well you say, well the other, the other option is to be mighty and I'm just so tough and I'm hitting the gym and getting real strong and I get super strong. And then I go down and I learn all the jujitsu and the Muay Thai and all the martial arts. So now I'm just a beast and no one can defeat me. That's better than being slow to anger because I just go around just choosing people off and I'm just going to win every fight. Well until you don't. Because I don't care how tough you are. I don't care how big and strong and what kind of fighting skills you have. Guess what? A knife or a bullet or multiple opponents can still destroy you. And one day you're going to mouth off to the wrong person. You're going to get in a fight with the wrong person and I don't care if you think you're Jean-Claude Van Damme and Jackie Chan and Rocky Balboa all rolled into one. You are eventually going to meet your match. No one is invincible. No one can just beat anybody because there could be multiple opponents, there could be weapons. And guess what? Time and chance happen to them all. The victory doesn't always go to the strong. The best man doesn't always win. And you never know when your ticket's going to be up. You go out and pick fights with people. One day you're going to mess with the wrong person. So what's superior? Being slow to anger or being mighty? Well you know what? As far as surviving, as far as going through life and getting through it unscathed, it is better. Are you there in chapter 16 verse 32? He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty. In the final analysis isn't he? And he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh the city, right? Instead of trying to control other people and trying to control things outside of yourself, you know, controlling yourself is a better way to go through life. And so God's showing us how to live a better life. Flip over to chapter 17 verse 1 and this sort of reiterates an earlier point in the sermon. Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith than a house full of sacrifices with strife. And when I think of the dry morsel, I think of bread with no butter on it. You know, because I don't know about you, I put a lot of butter on my bread. You know, when I was growing up, we applied a very thin layer of butter that would sort of almost disappear into the bread. But then my wife kind of taught me a better way to live, which is just like thick layers of like smeared butter, like putting it on there like a real frosting on a cake type of a thing, you know. And when I think of the dry morsel, I'm thinking of just the bread with no butter. Okay. But you'd rather have that bread with no butter and quietness therewith, peace, tranquility, calm than a house full of sacrifices. And sacrifices, we're talking about animal sacrifices. We're talking about, again, meat. But then you got fighting and bickering and fussing because here's the thing, all that bickering and fussing and fighting and yelling and screaming, you know, it doesn't really help with your digestion very much. It gives you a little bit of acid reflux and gives you a sour stomach. And you'd rather just kind of peacefully eat your little dry bread. You'd rather be on a bread and water diet, the bread of affliction and the water of affliction, than have an acid reflux of your steak dinner because of all the strife in your home. Look at chapter 19, verse 1. And so as we go through these, you're going to see a lot of themes coming up as God tells us what is better, how to live a better life. Some of the same themes come up over and over again. It says in chapter 19, verse 1, better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool. Right? You'd rather be just a poor man, maybe you don't have a lot of money or resources, but you're walking in integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool. And I know that the word fool in the Bible, especially in the book of Proverbs, the word fool is usually just referring to somebody who's stupid, right? It's like the opposite of being wise. There's a wise man and there's a fool. You could call him an idiot or someone who's stupid. But you know, when I see the word fool, I also think about the word clown because I think about how throughout history in our English speaking cultures, people who are clowns professionally are also known as fools. Right? And we go back to like the middle ages or something. And you know, you think about like when you're playing cards and you have the picture of the joker, you know, or you think of these medieval kind of fools that are like a court jester. Right? And you think about a fool. And you know, I'm thinking to myself, you know, I would rather just be a poor man that has integrity than to basically make videos for a living that are perverted, making like perverse videos so that I could be an internet clown entertaining people. Right? An internet clown making dirty jokes. An internet clown making perverted jokes. An internet clown going around and messing with people, harming people, pranking people, hurting people's feelings, lying to people, oh, it's just a prank, bro, it's just a prank, doing the stupid stuff. You know what? I'd rather just be a poor man who has my integrity than that. And by the way, the par excellence idiot fool Cassidy Campbell, okay, who criticized me as a husband, now is divorcing his wife. So who's the fool now? And let me tell you something. Anybody who wants to criticize me as a husband who's divorced, I'm not interested in listening to your marriage advice, fool. Okay? Why would I, who have succeeded at marriage, why would I, who've been happily married for 25 years, listen to someone whose marriage is failing right now, criticize my marriage? Let me, let me just tell you something. I've succeeded as a husband. My wife's sitting back there, she's happy, she loves me, I love her, we're in love. We're happy. We have a great marriage. We've been married for 25 years and you got a bunch of people who are on their second, third wife, and look, if that's you, I'm not criticizing you. You know what? Whatever's in the past is in the past, but you know what? Don't you dare come criticize me because that's stupid and hypocritical. You know what I'm saying? It just doesn't make any sense. Like bro, I stayed married. My wife stayed married. We're still married and we're happy. I don't need some court jester, clown, prankster, fool, idiot, loser, retard, other than that he's a great person, telling me how to run my home when he failed at running his home and I succeeded at running my home. Everybody in my home is doing great. It's funny how people, when they get out of my home is when they start acting a fool. And you know what else is funny? It's funny how when people leave the NIFB they start acting like idiots. Pastors separate from the NIFB and then they just start preaching heresy like a week or two later or a month later. I guess they were hiding all their weird doctrines and then once they finally get free and break loose they can start preaching all the weird heresy that they've been waiting to preach. Isn't that funny? It's funny how people leave our church and start acting like complete fools and idiots. I'm not saying that you're weird or an idiot if you leave our church. Hey, if you leave our church and go to another good church and go serve God somewhere else, God bless you. But you know what? When you're leaving our church and then saying, oh, hey, can I get money to do IVF? Can I get money to kill my kids through IVF even though I already have four kids? It's like, hey, idiot, God already blessed you with four kids. Why don't you just be happy with what God gave you? I'm sorry, am I bothering you? Because this is hard preaching. This is Faithful Word Baptist Church. The preaching is hard around here. You know, you're supposed to come here wearing an asbestos suit or else go somewhere else where it's a little softer for you, buddy. But let me tell you something. I'm going to tell the truth. It's kind of funny when somebody comes to our church, here's a bunch of Bible preaching, here's a rip-roaring sermon against IVF on September 1st, 2024, and then a couple weeks later quits the church and is now publicly begging for money to do IVF so that they can kill children. And folks, didn't the Alabama Supreme Court rule that those frozen embryos are human lives that you're killing? But I guess that's just me being radical. Yeah, me and Alabama, me and the Supreme Court of Alabama. Where were we? Oh, yeah, he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool, better is the poor that walketh in his integrity. You know what I mean? Just making a bunch of perverted YouTube videos, perverted jokes, pranks, being a clown for money. Because you know what? Here's the thing. If you say a bunch of perverted, shocking, explicit things and do a bunch of gross things or scary things or weird things in public that most normal people would be embarrassed to do. But if you have the guts to go out in public and make a complete idiot of yourself publicly, people will pay to watch because this world's filled with idiots. And so you'll get millions of views, a bunch of retards watching you make an idiot of yourself publicly. You know what? I'd rather be a poor man that has integrity than to just be raking in the YouTube revenue from being a public court jester, a fool, an idiot full time. Some perverted comedian, right? No, thanks. I'd rather just have an honest job and work for a living. And then this clown, this fool, this jester has the gall to criticize me as a husband who is coming home to my beautiful wife tonight and enjoying the... Not only... I'm going to get the stalled ox and the love. I'm getting both. I mean there's so many leftovers in my fridge right now. I don't even know which one to eat. It's just like... You know what the hardest part about my day is? It's just trying to figure out how am I going to eat all this food because there's just too many good meals and I don't know which one to pick. It's like... And then you end up doubling up and then it's just like, man, four appetizers, you know. And then I come home and it's four appetizers again. Just can't escape, man. My life is rough. But, you know, let's get back into the sermon here. Flip over if you would to chapter 19 verse 22. It says, the desire of a man is his kindness and a poor man is better than a liar. Right? You'd rather be poor and tell the truth than to lie and get paid. Right? So we talked about being a clown, being perverse, making dirty jokes, doing obscene things, hurtful pranks, harmful pranks, dirty jokes. But you know what? What about just getting up and preaching lies for Filthy Lucre's sake? Right? Pastors that are out there raking in millions of dollars by preaching what people want to hear. And we could go down the list of all these multimillionaire pastors and for those in the future, this is being preached in 2025 when a million dollars was a lot of money. But honestly, like, these pastors are multimillionaires, okay, preaching things which they ought not for Filthy Lucre's sake. Wouldn't you rather just be a poor man that walks in integrity and wouldn't you rather be a poor man than a liar? Poor man who tells the truth. Why? Because the poor man who tells the truth goes to sleep at night with a clear conscience. And that's way better than going to bed at night, stressed out, guilty conscience, life falling apart, God's cursing you, God's not blessing you, but you got a huge bank account. So what? You can't even enjoy it. The treasure's no good if you can't enjoy it. Better is the little that a righteous man has than those great revenues of wickedness. Flip over to chapter 21. Chapter 21. We're going to look at three verses back to back on this next point. Three verses back to back. And again, look, I'm not down on people who are divorced because you know what? Lots of people in our society are divorced. Tons of people are divorced. Tons of people in our church are divorced. Our church is filled with divorced people. But you know what these divorced people are doing? They're not taking me aside after the service telling me I'm a bad husband for staying married. You understand what I'm saying? For me as a husband, doing what it takes to rule my home, my way, and make my wife happy, and to have my relationship with my wife continue to grow and thrive and we can grow old together. They're not taking me aside telling me that I did it wrong when they're on their second or third spouse. Because again, look, there's nothing wrong with being a person who has made mistakes in the past because seriously, you can't change your past. And you know what? Don't beat yourself up about your past. If you're divorced, I don't want you to feel guilty about that or beat yourself up about that because it doesn't do you any good to beat yourself up about how you used to drink and you used to do drugs and you used to party the wrong kind of party. Not a Pastor Anderson style party. The fact that you divorced or did these things. I never want to make people feel bad about their past. I never want to do that because you know what? I think it's harmful for you to dwell on the past and sit around and think about those things and beat yourself up. You know what? Stop beating yourself up about it. You're human. You made some mistakes. You screwed up. It doesn't matter. All that matters is what you do from here on out. All that matters is what you do. All that matters is that you're staying faithful to your current spouse. And you know, when I get up here and preach and say, hey, divorce is wicked and you got to stay married. You know what? I don't care if you're on your fifth spouse. You can say amen to that as long as you've decided in your heart, I'm staying married. I'm putting those mistakes behind me and I'm staying married now. Hey, shout amen. You're not a hypocrite. Because you know what? That's who you are now. Now you're a person who stays married. Now you're sober. Now you're living a clean life. Right? Now you're doing the right thing. You know, forget those things that are behind and reach forth under those things that are before. I'm not trying to make people feel bad about their past. But really? Really? You know, you divorce your spouse and marry some younger model and then you're going to come and tell me how to have my home and how I'm doing it wrong when I have just objectively succeeded. It's not even an opinion. I have objectively succeeded. I have beat the odds. I have remained married for 25 years and my wife and I love each other more than we ever have. And you say, I don't believe you. Well, I don't care because I got two witnesses that say that my wife and I love each other more than ever and it's actually the two witnesses that count the most. Me and her. The people who actually know what the heck is going on. You know, the people who have the inside information. Me and her. And I feel like those two opinions kind of have a lot more weight than other people's opinions. But even just objectively, you know what? I have a thousand times, and you know what? You can either like this or lump it. I have a thousand times more respect for people that stay married even if they have a bad marriage. A thousand times more respect for people who stay married than people who forsake their spouse. That's what I believe. That's where I stand. I'd much rather see you stay married. And since we're talking about marriage, this kind of rolls into the next point. Look what the Bible says in Proverbs 21, 9. It says it's better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. Right? Now there's this bizarre, weird doctrine out there that says that this is like telling you that if your wife picks a fight with you, you go flee to the corner of the housetop and you find like a safe space where you can go suck your thumb there. Like, it's like a panic room, you know? You have a panic room in your house. This corner of the housetop little addict's face is like, oh, my wife is here. I gotta get out of here. You go run and hide in the corner of the housetop, you know? Because it's better to retreat than to beat, you know? That's what they say. But anyway, you know, it says it's better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. Here's what the Bible is saying. The Bible is saying the same thing as when it said a dinner of herbs with love is better than the stalled oxen hatred there was. Okay, the way that these guys are interpreting this verse, Dave Burson, Joe Jones, sorry, just coughing. The way that these people are interpreting this verse, let's apply it to that other verse. That would be like saying, oh, well, you know, we're having all this strife. The problem is the meat. If we would just get rid of the meat and start being vegetarians, then we can all be happy. Who thinks that that's what the Bible is teaching in that verse? That's the same level of logic here that is governing the way they're interpreting these verses. The Bible is not saying, oh, well, if I go dwell in the corner of the housetop, then everything will be fixed. That's not what it's saying. It's just saying, like, bro, dwelling in the corner of the housetop is uncomfortable. It's not nice, but it's still better than being in a wide house with a brawling woman. You'd rather have some tiny, cramped little apartment up in the corner of a housetop than to be in a wide house with a brawling woman. Because the house isn't even big enough to get away from her because she's so obnoxious. That's what the Bible is saying. This is not saying, oh, go flee to the corner of the housetop. You know, when your wife's on the warpath, well, you better just run, just cut and run, turn tail and run, and get out of there. That's absurd. It would be just as absurd as saying, well, the Bible is telling you that if you're a meat eater, you're going to have strife and hatred in your family, whereas if you're a vegetarian, it's going to be peaceful and wonderful and calm. Now, I'm sure there are people out there that believe that. You know, I remember we had this lady come to our house to pick up raw milk, and she was lecturing me in the driveway saying that if we feed our kids animals, they will act like animals. And that's why, you know, and she said if we feed them animal products, they'll act like animals. So, you know, if you give your kid a glass of milk, you know, they're just going to freak out. And so that's not what this is saying. I mean, I'm sorry that I even insulted your intelligence by explaining that to you because I think virtually everyone reads this and just understands that what he's saying is dwelling in a wide house with a brawling woman is really bad. And the warning, here's the warning, the warning is don't marry an obnoxious loudmouth. That's what the Bible is saying. It's saying this is a bad situation, so don't get in this situation. You'd rather be in these other worse situations, okay? Look, if you would, at chapter 21 verse 19. It says it's better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman. So according to this stupid interpretation, they're saying like you got to go camping, you know. And this is what he literally said, when things ain't swell, find a temporary place to dwell. So when things are going bad in your marriage supposedly, you're supposed to go flee to the wilderness, flee to the corner of the housetop or get a motel, a temporary dwell when things ain't swell, you know. And you got to go hide down at the motel aid or whatever. Folks, this is the wrong approach. You know, running away from your problems, hiding, fleeing, this is not the way that you take the lead and take charge as a man. And by the way, women, you know, just as much as men naturally want to lead, women want to be led. It's just true. Women want to be led just as much as men want to lead. It's just the natural order of the world. And so here's the thing. When a woman is acting up and mouthing off and contentious and brawling, you know, a lot of times she's looking for a boundary and you got to show her a boundary. You know what I mean? You got to basically confront her and get her under control. You got to take the bull by the horns, okay? But the thing is, what a lot of people do in that situation is they think, oh, I'm just going to back down and just do whatever my wife says and just give in to her every plea. But what happens is then in her heart, she's just thinking, oh, you're pathetic. You pathetic loser. And you think like, oh, if I just give my wife whatever she wants, if I just give in to her, then, you know, she'll just, you know, love me so much and submit to me because I just gave her everything she wanted. Well, here's the thing. Giving people whatever they want isn't always the answer. I wish life were that simple. I wish it were that easy that you just wine and dine your wife and live happily ever after. It's not really the way the world works. Unfortunately, marriage and relationships and the female psyche are a little more complicated than that. You know, it's like that book, Understanding Women, Volume 1, you know, that's like this thick because obviously life is a little more complicated. Relationships are more complicated. Life goes through cycles and ebbs and flows and there's pregnancies and postpartum and seven years in and ten years in, fifteen years in, twenty years in, twenty-five years in. Hey, life's complicated. You better be consuming the Book of Proverbs. You better be consuming the Word of God. You better be praying. You better be in church so you can get all the advantages that you can get. At the end of the day, though, you know what? At the end of the day, it's not just as simple as, oh, just be nice to your wife and everything's going to be great because then sometimes she'll just think you're a pathetic loser because you just are basically a doormat unto her, which is exactly the opposite of how the world is supposed to work. And just as much as you feel that, she feels that too. I speak the truth, my friend. And I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not saying it's not complicated sometimes, but I am telling the truth, okay? That it is not that easy. And you know, I think, and I'm going to keep the story real vague, but many, many years ago, long, long ago, in a city far, far away, you know, a certain relative of mine, a certain female relative of mine, you know, and I'm, you know, keeping this super vague. Maybe we can even just say it was a friend of mine, okay? But basically, you know, she was dating this guy. And this is when, you know, they were young, like, I don't know, 17, 18, 19, 20, like that was that range of age right there. And she was dating this guy, and she just felt like the guy was just weak. And they ended up being engaged to be married, and they were engaged, and it seemed like they were going to get married, but finally she ended up having to break up with this guy because the guy was so weak. And look, I'm not condoning this. I'm just telling you what she said, okay? This is what she said. She said, this guy would just never call me out on any of my BS, and he just took anything I did to him, anything I said. He was just weak. He would never stand up to me, she said. And this is what she said. She said, I knew the, this is my favorite quote from this situation. She said, I knew the relationship was over when I started physically abusing him. Okay, and this is like, this is her Christian boyfriend. Like, these are like, these are like young people in church, right? And she's got her boyfriend, and she's beating him up. And she's like, I knew that the relationship was over when I started physically abusing him. You know, she's like beating up her boyfriend, and her boyfriend is just, I guess, finding a temporary dwell, or whatever. He's just going to the wilderness, going, you know, it's just, and look, obviously, that's a silly story. It's a true story, but it's funny, it's silly, we laugh at it. But, you know, it kind of illustrates something that obviously this woman, you know, is not going to be happy with a guy who just basically just never has any rules, never enforces anything, never calls her out on anything, and she actually starts hitting him, and just gets away with just beating him up and hitting him, and he just takes it, and she's just like, I'm going to head out of this relationship, because bro is just too weak. And look, I'm not saying, obviously, this is not right of her to do that, I'm not condoning, it's just a story, that's a true story. And I bet you there's a whole bunch of other people who get beaten up by their wives and girlfriends. Some of them are probably even, you know, ex-NIP pastors. But anyway, it says in Proverbs 21, 19, it's better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman. And then if we go to chapter 25, verse 24, I've got to hurry up here for sake of time, Proverbs 25, verse 24, it says it's better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman and in a white house. So here's what I take away from these scriptures. We have three verses, two of them are almost identical, so it's really two proverbs that we're looking at. Here's what I take away from this, is that from the female perspective, if you're a woman reading this, you should look at this and say, okay, these are the attributes I don't want to have. Right? And what's interesting is that it spells ABC. Okay, so these are the ABCs of being an obnoxious wife. Because in Proverbs 21, 19, it said an angry woman, right? And then in 25, 24, it says a brawling woman. And then in 21, 19, it said a contentious woman. So angry, brawling, contentious, right? So if you're a woman hearing this sermon, you should say to yourself, well, if dudes are so miserable when they're with an angry, brawling, contentious woman, that they'd rather be sleeping outside in the wilderness with bugs crawling on them, exposed to the elements, they'd rather be in some tight, cramped attic apartment, well then I don't want to torture my husband and make him miserable, so I better not be going through life angry, I better not be brawling, and I better not be contentious. And brawling and contentious are really synonymous. It has to do with being argumentative and just fighting and bickering and just arguing with everything. Instead of just going with, you know, what the husband says. Just fighting him on everything, arguing about everything, just being contentious, brawling, picking a fight, that kind of thing. Now from the male perspective, right, what do we as men take away from this is that, you know, well we want to obviously teach our wives not to be angry, brawling, and contentious. But even more important than that, I think, is for the young man who's not married yet to think about these three things when he is dating and not marry an obnoxious, loud, brawling Betty. You know, that's not what you want because you don't want to be miserable for the rest of your life and I don't care how beautiful she is, right? Because here's the thing, you'd rather have that, you know, herb wife than that stalled ox wife. You know, you'd rather have the godly wife even if she's not necessarily as drop-dead gorgeous as, say, this drop-dead gorgeous wife who's angry, brawling, and contentious. Bad news runs screaming in the other direction. Look at Proverbs chapter 28 verse 6. I'm almost out of time but we'll just hit a few more of these. Man, there's so many great verses and proverbs with this word better. This is better than this. And what are we talking about when we talk about the word better? Priorities. Priorities. What are our priorities, right? What's important to us? Is money the most important thing? No, integrity is the most important thing. Righteousness, right? Fearing God. Walking in integrity and being sincere and honest, seeking wisdom, seeking knowledge, seeking understanding, being peaceful, controlling yourself, being slow to anger, right? This is the priority in our lives, being a better person. This is not the priority. Riches, how much meat I can consume, okay, all these kind of carnal things. They're not as important. You know, bodily exercise. Again, I love it. I'm big on exercise. I have to be because of quadrupling the appetizer. I don't want to have to be brought in here on a furniture dolly, you know, after these cruise trips, so I got to exercise. But here's the thing, at the end of the day, what's more important, exercise in the body or exercise in the spirit? Spiritual exercise is what we need. Exercise in the godliness, way more important, way bigger of a priority. If I have to skip reading my Bible or skip the gym, which one should I skip? You read, no, wrong, you read the Bible at the gym, okay? Between sets, you rest for three minutes between sets and you read your Bible during those three-minute rests. Okay, so you all failed. Proverbs chapter 28 verse 6, better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich. Flip over to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. We'll just quickly hit a few things from Ecclesiastes. It's really just reiterating a lot of the same things that we've already seen. Ecclesiastes 4.6, better is a handful with quietness than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit, right? You'd rather have a little bit, and God blessin' you, than a bunch of problems and stress from living wrong, even if you have a lot of money, both hands full. We'll skip some of this for the sake of time, but look at chapter number, skip, skip, skip. Let's jump all the way to chapter 7. There's some good betters. You can just search the word better, look up some good stuff in chapter 4, chapter 5. We don't have time. Chapter 7 verse 1, a good name is better than precious ointment, right? And again, precious ointment represents riches, wealth, money. A good name represents integrity, doin' things right, being a good person. But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It's better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. And really, all four of those verses we just read are all kind of just saying the same thing. Verse 2, verse 3, verse 4 and 5, they're all kind of reiterating the same truth that says going through life just about fun is not the best way to live your life. The superior way is to afflict your soul and actually seek to be a better person and do right and serve God, read your Bible, be disciplined. That's better than just, oh, have fun and goof off and joke around all the time, right? You know, doing something serious like reading your Bible, praying, coming to church, hearing preaching, then constant only fun and games. And there's a place for fun and games, you know, and I just finished telling you what a 24-hour party person I am, but at the same time, I know how to be serious. You know, we need to also get serious about the things of God. Verse 8, better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit, that's the guy who goes to work every day, works hard, makes money through the sweat of his brow, than the proud in spirit. Right? The guy who's just proud and thinks that he's so cool and he's so arrogant and whatever, and he's going to have some kind of a hasty little get-rich-quick scheme instead of wanting to work hard and do things the right way. Verse 9, be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry. We talked about that earlier. For anger resteth in the bosom of fools, it also rests in the bosom of obnoxious women. Verse 10, say not thou what is the cause that the former days were better than these, for thou didst not inquire wisely concerning this. Let me say this, the present is better than the past. Right? Let's close on that thought. The present is better than the past. Say not thou what is the cause that the former days were better than these, for thou didst not inquire wisely concerning this. Look, this sermon gave you a lot of different things to think about of what's better than what, right? What's the priority? What's important? What should we care more about? But at the end of the day, here's one final thing that we should put into the equation, is that the present is superior to the past. Right? So what I mean by that is, don't sit around and revel in your past glories. Oh, man, it was so good back then. Oh, man, our life was, oh, man, church was so good back then. Oh, I love that church. I love that place. I love those people. I love that time. You know what? This is a bad way to live your life. You know what? I think the coolest time to be alive is 2025. I'm not wishing it were the 90s or something. Oh, I wish we were back before technology. No, man, embrace the technology. You know, oh, I just, you know, I wish I was back in the old IFP, back in the glory days. No, the new IFP is where it's at. Okay? So it's like, why don't we sit there and just always be living in the past, okay? The past is gone, and don't think about how many souls you won 10 years ago. And remember, what did I do on January 1st of this year? On January 1st of this year, the first thing I did was I pulled out a piece of paper, and I pulled out a Sharpie, and what did I write on that piece of paper with my Sharpie? What did I write? I wrote, zero saved, zero salvations. Why? Because I'm not just going to live my life based on whatever I achieved in the past. I said, nope, I've had zero people saved. And I am on track to have my greatest year of soul winning personally this year. In fact, I've almost already broken my all-time soul winning record for a year, and it's only April. You know, and God willing, I'm planning on being, on setting a brand new personal best for the most souls that I've personally won to Christ face to face in a year. I'm planning on hitting that goal in the first half of the year, because I went into this year saying, you know, I'm going to have my best year of soul winning. I'm going to get more people saved than I've ever gotten saved in a single year, and I had a plan to do that over 12 months. I changed my mind. I'm doing it in six months. I'm going to do it in half the time. Why? Because the past doesn't matter, and the best year to be a member of Faithful Word Baptist Church is 2025. Oh, I wish I would have been there back in 17, 2016. You want to go to church with Tyler Baker? What the heck is wrong with you? Oh, I wish I could be there in 2023 with Lionel? Maybe you could sit next to Lionel. You know, it's just like, it's like, oh, I wish I could just be there in the glory. Folks, the glory days is right now. The present is superior to the past. You know what? Instead of thinking about, oh, man, our marriage used to be so good, why don't you just make your marriage good right now? Why don't you just have a good time with your wife right now? Have a good time with your husband right now? Why don't you have a renaissance in your marriage? Why don't you push a reset button in your marriage? And you know what? The amount of time, money, and energy it takes people to go out and commit adultery, if they put that time, money, and energy into their marriage, they'd probably have a good marriage. You know? The amount of time, money, energy, and strain that they go through to go through a divorce? And then go date someone else? And go through all that? And you know, it's funny, whenever I go to the dentist, the dentist tells me I need the braces on my teeth because my teeth are crooked. And the dentist tries to sell me braces. And I always tell the dentist, no, I don't want to do braces because this is what I always say to the dentist. I say, if I get braces, people will think I'm divorced. You know, a 40-year-old guy walking around with braces. You know, they're going to think I'm getting a divorce. And the reason I say that is a joke is because that's just so real. And here's why. Because here's what happens. As soon as people get divorced, what do they do? All of a sudden, woman starts losing weight, guy starts going to the gym, guy starts grooming himself, everybody's straightening their teeth out, everybody's got braces, everybody's fixing everything. You know, what's funny is why don't you fix, maybe you should have fixed that stuff and then you'll be less likely to get divorced, not because your weight's the problem because your weight's not the problem, not because your grooming habits are the problem because they're probably not the problem unless they're real bad. But here's the thing. The reason why I say you should have fixed that stuff before is because it's more just the spirit of like putting effort into the thing. Trying to be the best husband you can be for your wife. Trying to be the best wife that you can be for your husband. It's not about the weight or the teeth or whatever. That's not what it's about. But you know what it is about? It's about giving a rip. Amen? It's about caring. It's about trying. It's about saying, hey, this relationship's important to me so I'm going to put some work into it. I'm going to put some effort into it. Whatever that looks like. And look, here's what the idiots online don't understand, here's what all the gossips and the critics and the slanderers don't understand, is that everybody's relationship's different. Oh, I would never do that. We don't care about you. Because everybody's different. Everybody's situation's different. Everybody's marriage is different. Everybody's life is different. And I wish I could just give you like a steps to success of just do these exact things and your wife will be happy. Do these exact things and your husband will be happy. Now I can give you what the Bible says and that's a great start. You know, husbands love your wives. Wives, submit yourselves to your husband. But at the end of the day there's all this other stuff that you're going to have to do to make your marriage work that is totally different than my marriage because my wife is totally different than your wife and I'm different than your husband and everybody's different. Okay? But here's one thing I can tell you is that if you want to succeed at anything in life you've got to put effort into it. You know, so here's the thing. Put effort into your marriage. Put effort into that relationship. And again, me putting effort into my marriage is not going to look the same as you putting effort into your marriage. So quit judging me and worried about my marriage. Here's the thing. Like some wives are probably like just begging for their husband to spend more time with them and be at home more. Here's the thing. My wife does not beg me to be at home more and spend more time with her. She just doesn't. Okay? Why? Because she has other needs. She has other things that make her happy that I do. There are things that I do that make her happy that she wants but you know what? The stuff that I do to make her happy is going to take effort. It's going to take thought and it's going to take consideration but it's not going to be the same for everybody. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? You know? Some people are looking for this. Some women are looking for more of this, more of that, less of this. It's not going to be the same for everybody. And that's why the Bible says we have to dwell with our wives according to knowledge. You know, you got to get to know your wife. You got to figure out what makes her tick. Figure out what's important. Figure out her love language or whatever. And you know, you got to meet her needs. And same for you ladies. You got to figure out what your husband wants and meet his needs. Yeah, there's a basic thing. Every husband wants respect. Every woman wants to be loved and cherished. You know, there are those basics that we get from scripture about the authorities but the intricacies of our marriage, every marriage is different. Every marriage is special, is unique, is different. That's why a lot of people get divorced a third and fourth time because they think like, oh, I learned from all the mistakes the first time. You know, and then they marry the second person. It's like a whole different set. It's like a new maze and they still can't find the cheese because it's just, everything is different now. You know, it's not like they're marrying the same woman again and they get a do-over. No, now it's like a whole, it's like, whoa. You know, it's like you trained for one thing and then it just, you're starting over. Who would want to do that twice anyway? You know, I'm just glad I only did it once. You know, figuring it out one time is hard enough. You know, who wants to figure it out two, three times? The point is though that if you'd put that effort in before you get divorced, you're less likely to get divorced because you're actually putting in the effort. You know, and maybe, you know, and here's the thing, again, I can't even tell you what that is. You know, maybe your husband does want you to lose weight but maybe that's not really a big deal to him. Maybe he doesn't really care about that. Maybe that's not even the problem at all. Maybe it is the problem. I don't know because everybody's got different priorities, different needs, different things and you can't judge other people or impose other things on other people because you just have to understand every relationship is different. But I think a common denominator is that having a good marriage is going to take effort as a husband, effort as a woman. It's going to look different in different situations but it's going to take effort. And you know what? The present is superior to the past. So it doesn't matter what happened in the past, don't beat yourself up about the past, don't beat yourself up about earlier in your marriage, don't beat yourself up if you're divorced and remarried because that's done, that's over, here we are. The present is superior. Right now, focus on, hey, I'm going to have a great year in 2025, I'm going to have a great marriage, I'm going to figure out how to make my wife happy, I'm going to figure out how to fix things, she's going to hopefully, you know, have the same attitude, women hopefully have an attitude, hey, I'm going to figure out how to be a better wife, make my husband happy. Right? This is what we want to do, we want to think about now. And we want to think about what are the great soul-winning works we can do right now. And look, Faithful Word Baptist Church, this is the best our church has ever been. Sorry. And you know what? All the losers out there that want to whine and complain and criticize and that quit the church, you know what? They quit the church. You know what they did? They sold all their stocks, you know, during the dip is what they did. It's what they did. It's what they did. You know, Faithful Word had a little bit of a dip there, the stock was plummeting, and what did all these boneheads do? They sold during the dip. And everybody knows you're supposed to buy low and sell high. And what did they do? They sold low is what they did. You know, they panicked. They didn't trust the plan. They didn't stay the course. What did they do? They sold the dip is what they did, right? Other people bought the dip. That's why we got so many new people at our church. So many new visitors and new people coming. Those people are buying the dip. And now, we're soaring. We're soaring, right? When was the dip? I don't remember what month it was. What was the dip? September, October, I don't know when it was. When the stock kind of bottomed out at Faithful Word? The FWBC stock kind of hit the bottom there? You know, I don't remember when it was. August, September, October, somewhere around there. We don't care because I don't think about the past. Think about right now. But you know what? All those people who sold the dip, they're missing out because Faithful Word is killing it. We are doing greater works than we've ever done, greater atmosphere, great spirit. We're happy. We're thriving. We're moving forward. And you know what? They're sitting in some boring, lame, old IFB church listening to some guest preacher talk about repenting of your sins. And they're paying to go rollerskating. Okay? And they're paying to go rollerskating and they have to listen to rap music the whole time. And we're going rollerskating for free. Okay? And it's NIFB parody music. No, I'm just kidding. It's silence. Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. Thank you for showing us a better way to live. And Lord God, please just help us to take your advice, to read your word, to meditate upon it, Lord. Help us to really dig into Psalms and Proverbs and these books of wisdom and just learn a more excellent way to live our lives and to just live in the present. Help us to have the best marriage that we can possibly have. Help us to have the best year of soul winning. Help us to be the best parents, the best children, the best friends that we can possibly be, Lord. Help us to follow the superior way, which is the Christian way, the biblical way. And Lord God, please just continue to bless our church. Help us thrive. And Lord God, I pray that every person in this room would put effort into their marriage and care about their marriage and work at having the best possible marriage, Lord. And Lord, when the marriage experience is a dip, Lord, help them not to be so foolish as to sell the dip in their marriage, but help them to stay the course in their marriage and ride that wave to greater heights. And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, everybody, take your hymnals, please. Go to hymn number six. We'll close our singing tonight. Hymn number six, Beneath the Cross of Jesus. Hymn number six. Hymn number six. Number six, Beneath the Cross of Jesus, I fame would take my stand. Number six. of all within the wilderness, I'll rest upon the way. From the burden of the new tight heat and the burden of the day. Upon the cross of Jesus, might I at times can see the very guiding form of one who suffered there for me. And from my spades in heart with tears to wonders I confess the wonders of his glorious love and my own worthlessness. I take across my shadow, for by abiding place, I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of his face. I intend to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss. My sinful self, my only shame, my glory all across. Amen. Good singing tonight. We are dismissed. Thank you.