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Lord I pray Lord that you would please fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit helping to edify us here Lord I pray Lord that out in Jacksonville Lord that you would remove the dross Lord and remove the people that want to side with Bannon Lord, and I pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen All right, Proverbs chapter 26 the verse that I want to focus on is verse number 11 where the Bible reads as a dog Return it to his vomit So a fool return it to his folly as a dog return it to his vomit so a fool Returneth to his folly Everyone in their life has done foolish things folly Just simply means something foolish something dumb something stupid and all of us have made mistakes in our past we've all done dumb things or foolish things, but obviously there's a difference in the magnitude of Stupid things sinful things foolish things that people have done Some people have done really bad things in the past other more minor things in the past But everyone has folly in their past and all folly is sin The Bible even says the thought of foolishness is sin. So anything foolish or stupid that you do is Sin, if you're being dumb because God commands us to be wise he commands us not to be a fool Okay, but even though we've all done dumb things in our past It is the fool who returns to his folly Okay, you can't control your past. It's over. It's done. It's set in stone You can't go get in a time machine and change the past whether you have just little things in your past maybe you grew up in a Christian home and you have very little folly in your past or maybe you once lived a Wicked life of sin and you've done really horrible things in your past. You can't control your past So there's no reason to beat yourself up about it You confess and forsake those things and you forget those things which are behind and you reach forth under those things Which are before you press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus But the one who returns to their folly that's a fool, you know, we've all thrown up before Who's ever thrown up before? Yeah, we've all thrown up, right? But it's the dog who returns to his vomit We don't return to our vomit when we threw up. We wanted to get rid of that We wanted to clean that up get that away But you know what a dog will do they'll throw up and then they'll go back and say oh food you know and they'll return to their vomit and God's saying you know when a dog returns to his vomit as Disgusting of a thought as that is he's saying that's what it's like when a fool Returns to his folly as a dog return it to his vomit. So a fool Returneth to his folly go if you would to Acts chapter 7 Acts chapter number 7 and While you're turning there the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 15 and truly if they had been mindful of that country From whence they came out They might have had opportunity to have returned Okay, if they've been mindful of the country they came out of they might have had opportunity to have returned Look down at your Bible there in Acts chapter 7 verse 38 This is he that was with in the church in the wilderness With the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai and with our fathers who received the lively Oracles to give unto us to whom our fathers would not obey But thrust him from them and watch this in their hearts turned back again Into Egypt saying unto Aaron make us gods to go before us for as for this Moses Which brought us out of the land of Egypt we want not what has become of him So the Bible says here that the people turn in their hearts back to Egypt now Look Egypt was not the only wicked place in the world at that time There were other wicked places in the world that time at that time There's Babylon and I'm sure there were other wicked places Assyria Nineveh, you know You could you could think of all different bad cities that were going on at that time you know, but They turn in their hearts back to Egypt because that was the one that they were familiar with So if they're gonna turn away from the Lord if they're gonna turn away from God's plan and they're gonna turn in their heart Back to sin back to wickedness They're gonna say let's make a captain and go back to Egypt because that's where they'd already Been if they've been mindful of that country from once they came out. They might have had opportunity to have returned So what I'm saying here is that sins that you've done in the past? Folly that you have in your past if you fall into sin, those are gonna be the things that you're gonna do Okay. Now, let me explain it to you this way Picture a hallway with a whole bunch of doors in it Right and all of these doors represent the sins of the flesh They represent the sins that human beings are prone to commit right because there is no temptation taking you But such as is common to man, right so all of mankind is tempted by sin They're tempted by the flesh the devil the world and so picture a hallway with a whole bunch of doors in it Right. God wants us to walk down that hallway of our life and not to turn to the right hand nor to the Left but to just keep on going forward Serving God living right don't turn to the right of the left on the right and on the left are all these doors Okay picture a door on it that says drunkenness a door that says fornication a door that says Blasphemy a door that says witchcraft a door that says adultery a door that says stealing a door that says murder a door that says Foolishness a door that says covetousness you name it Just all these doors are there all these sins are there and you can even get more specific and say hey There's a door that says beer a door that says wine a door that says hard liquor a door that says Cocaine a door that says marijuana a door that says crack a door that says I can't think of any more drugs right now But anyway, you know just all these doors of different things a door that says pornography a door that says whatever Okay, just all these different doors of sin on both sides. Let me tell you something The first time you go through that door You open that door picture this in the hallway The door is kind of hard to open kind of like when a door hasn't been opened in a long time and it's kind of Stuck, you know and you have to kind of force it or jam it open Maybe even a layer of paint has kind of made it stick together It was painted and shut, you know, and you've been to doors like that where oh man, we haven't opened this door in years Right, the first time you open that door is the hardest but then after that the door is ajar If you've drunk in the past the drinking door is ajar now look you're not through that door You're walking down that hallway. You're doing the right things You're living for God, but that door is always gonna be ajar for the rest of your life Once you've been to Egypt, you're more likely to go back to Egypt than the guy who's never been to Egypt Okay, it look if the cocaine door has been opened. It's ajar. Yeah, I don't ever crave cocaine Because I don't even know what it's like to use cocaine. You know, I I don't crave beer I've never tasted beer. Okay, that door has never been open Oh now, of course There are other doors that I've opened because guess what? Every person is a sinner every single person all have sinned and come short of the glory of God There's not a just man upon the earth that do with good and sin is not but all sin is not equal There are major sins. There are grievous sins. There are sins unto death. There are sins that are not unto death Okay, there are things that God throughout the Bible. He didn't like them He didn't approve of them, but he kind of looked the other way and let them happen And then other sins he came down on like a ton of bricks Okay, but there are all these doors and some are worse than others some more grievous than others But let me tell you something once you've gone through the door once it's easier to go through it the second time What am I saying? Let him that think of these standeth take heed lest he fall and the guy Who has struggled with one of these things in the past whatever that door is when he's walking down that hallway of life He needs to take a wide berth around that door. Don't even get near it Don't even get close to it because he's had a history of that sin Let me go through a bunch of specific sins here Let's talk about some of those doorways the first one I want to talk about turn to first Timothy 6 the first door that we're gonna talk about in our hallway is the gambling door Now you say why would you start there? Why would you start with gambling? I mean is gambling even a sin? I don't even know if that's even wrong I've heard people try to justify gambling to me and say it's not a big deal. It's it's not a big sin I'm not even sure if it's a sin why start there? Tell you why I'm gonna start there because the love of money is the root of all evil The root is where something starts the root is what grows into something bigger, and it gets bigger and bigger But if there's no root, there's no plant The love of money is the root of all evil That's why we're gonna start there look at first Timothy chapter 6 verse 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts Which drown men in destruction and perdition see it starts out with wanting to be rich And then you fall into all these other temptations and snares The Bible says for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have heard from the faith And pierce themselves through with many sorrows, but thou will man of God Flee these things Flee these things he said look run away from that door you if you find yourself Gravitating toward that gambling door run away get away from that door Flee these things flee means to run away get away from it the love of money is the root of all evil You say what's wrong with gambling proverbs 28? You don't have to turn there if you would turn to proverbs 24 What's wrong with gambling proverbs 28 20 a faithful man shall abound with blessings But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent that is what it is It's a haste to be rich instead of going to work Getting your paycheck and earning your money by the sweat of your brow You just want to play a game and get a bunch of extra money And all of a sudden now you can go out do something extravagant with the money that you got quickly Hastily and without doing any real work the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 28 verse 22 He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye and what does the Bible say if your eyes full of darkness Your whole body will be full of darkness He said the light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light But if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness How great is that darkness and he that hasteth to be rich has that evil eye? And consider not that poverty shall come upon him Proverbs 24 verse 8 he that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person the thought of Foolishness is sin and the scorner is an abomination to men if thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is Small let me tell you something the thought of foolishness to sin gambling is for idiots You want to know why gambling is for idiots because the house always wins The house always wins. That's why it's for fools. You say well, where does the Bible specifically mention gambling? Oh just right after they nailed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the cross and when Jesus Christ Broken body. This is my body which is broken for you This is blood is the New Testament when he was hanging up there his broken body They're gambling the people who just nailed him. They're they're gambling for his garments. They cast lots Over. Oh who's gonna get the jacket who's gonna get the coat and whatever The first person that I ever baptized as the pastor of faithful word Baptist Church back at the beginning of 2006 was a woman who was a blackjack dealer at Wild Horse Pass casino Right outside Chandler, Arizona, right it right just earth south of our church It's like 10 or 15 minutes from our church Wild Horse Pass casino. She dealt blackjack there She was the first person that I baptized as the pastor of faithful word Baptist Church She just gotten saved and she got baptized she went to our church for a while and I got to talk to her a little bit and Obviously she knew that what she was doing was wrong and she said I know my job is wrong And I need to stop doing this job, but she said it's just so hard because I make so much money. I make like 300 bucks cash 400 bucks cash a night There's no taxes because she was an Indian and it's an Indian casino on an Indian reservation And so she just said it's just so hard But she said my job is to deal blackjack and I just watch people destroy their lives She said I see them when they first come in. They're having a good time. It's fun They're happy and I watched that person over the next few months they know my name I know their name on their blackjack dealer I see them in the casino over and over again And she said that by the end she said always ends the same way it ends with security dragging them out of the casino When they finally hit rock bottom, they've mortgaged everything they've maxed out every credit card. They've wasted all their money They've ruined their life and they lose the final hand of blackjack Then what happens is they accuse the dealer of cheating and start yelling and get physical and they get dragged out and thrown out a broken Destroyed person. She said I've seen it over and over again Is she still going to faith for Baptist Church no because she continued in sin I mean she kept on dealing blackjack. She kept on living with her boyfriend, you know, unfortunately, she made the wrong decisions I don't know where she's at today I hope eventually she got right with God, but she wasn't right with God at that time And so she didn't continue to come to the church, but let me tell you something I you know, I eventually I asked her to leave because I said, you know You can't live with your boyfriend and come to our church You know, you got to get either get married or something. You know, you got to do what's right here You've been here for a few months. You've heard the Word of God, you know It's time to make a decision and so forth Gambling is a wicked sin. It's destructive casinos are some of the most wicked places They're evil places where greedy people just destroy other people's lives and profit from their suffering And I live in Arizona. There are a lot of casinos in Arizona They're on the Indian reservations and let me tell you something. I drive by these casinos I don't care if it's a Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday the parking lots packed 2 a.m. Parking lot is packed 2 p.m. Parking lot is packed 10 a.m. Parking lots It doesn't matter what time it doesn't matter what the situation those Parking lots are packed all the time and you know, it's a wicked sin and it's prevalent in our nation Oh gambling is illegal, right? Except it seems like every state there's some kind of loophole whether they have a boat in the river and they well It's on the water There's literally a place where there was a casino boat and it's like international waters, but the boat never sails anywhere It just sits there and it's the casino boat or well the Indians, you know, yeah Let's just destroy their lives more by getting them involved in this wickedness or whatever. I got to move on So gambling number two drinking Wine is a marker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived Thereby is not wise go to Isaiah 28 if you would Isaiah 28 Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8 and the Lord spake unto Aaron saying do not drink wine Nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation Lest he die it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations and that you may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean Isaiah 28 verse 7 But they have also heard through wine and through strong drink are out of the way The priest and the Prophet have heard through strong drink. They're swallowed up of wine. They're out of the way through strong drink Oh, and by the way, did I mention that it was a strong drink and wine that messed them up They're out of the way through strong drink They earn vision they stumble in judgment for all tapers are full of vomit and filthiness so that there's no place clean What's the title of the sermon as the dog returneth to his vomit? So a fool returneth to his folly you say while he is drinking folly Well, the Bible said wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise You know what not wise means foolish The opposite of wise foolish when the Bible said a bunch of people got saved He said not a few you know what that means. It was a lot Not a few means a lot not wise means you're stupid. Okay, and so it says in Isaiah 28 here Vomit and filthiness as a result of wine and strong drink hurrying in judgment prophets and priests Swallowed up of wine and strong drink is what we see in this passage There's nothing new under the Sun folks go to Jeremiah chapter 25 Jeremiah chapter 25 While you're turning there, I'll read for you Jeremiah 48 verse 26 make him drunken for he magnified himself against the Lord Moab also shall wallow in his vomit and he shall be in derision Jeremiah 25 verse 27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel drink ye and be drunken and spew Now when I was a kid, that was a term that that people use for throwing up Okay, especially California I Think I'm gonna spew man It was I don't know if that term is still used but that's what the Bible means here when he says hey be drunken and spew All right think I'm gonna hurl and Fall and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you now Let's go back to our illustration about the hallway with the doors If you've never gambled before you go by that casino It's not even a thing. You just think that's dumb. Just keep driving, right? It's not anything but if you've had that in your past that's gonna be a stronger temptation for you there That door is already ajar. It's already half open same thing with drinking if you've never been a drinker It's not a big deal to you But if you have drunk you got to be super careful because that is something where the door is left to jar I want to read for you an article called early drinking a strong predictor of alcoholism Okay you've probably heard parents who dismiss teenage experiments with alcohol as a harmless phase a newly published survey of 43,000 American adults that's a pretty big survey. It's usually not that big reveals just the opposite among those who started drinking before age 14 47% became alcoholics at some point in their lives While people who waited until age 21 or later to start drinking only 9% Experienced the same result other key findings were that the risk of alcohol dependence Increases with each age before age 21 that people start drinking So that means if you start at 20, you're more likely to become a drunkard an alcoholic You're more likely to abuse alcohol Than the guy who started when he's 21 and if you started at 19 You're even more likely and if you started at 18, you're even more likely if you started at 17 You're even more likely look. I've done a lot of reading on this I did a sermon a while back called blacking out while drunk and in that sermon I did a bunch of research and I read about the lives of people who had been serious alcoholics drunks drug addict and had cleaned themselves up and straightened out and one Common denominator that I found in all of them is that they started drinking very early They would talk about tasting beer when they were eight ten Twelve thirteen fourteen. I mean it was just that was the common denominator They started drinking early as a kid You say how did they get access to alcohol when the drinking age is 21 because their parents had alcohol in the house You know how they all got it all the stories. I read they said that they either stole it from their parents or their friends parents They're either at a friend's house and they would take it they would drink it and then they would water down What's left in order to make it look like nothing was gone and they would or there'd be a half drunk Alcoholic beverage in the fridge. They just drink a little and they won't notice that it went down a centimeter or whatever like that Okay, that's how they got started. So you say well, you know, I just believe in drinking, you know moderately and everything Hey, you bring that stuff in your house and then your kids fool around with it They're almost certain to become Alcoholics or drunks later in life when they start drinking and fooling around with that at a young age kids are foolish We shouldn't have that kind of stuff in our house. No, look, let me make it clear. I don't believe in moderate drinking Yeah, I believe that the wine that is an alcoholic beverage. He said don't even look at it Look not on the wine when it's red when it give it its color in the cup when it move it itself All right, I don't believe in any kind of moderate drinking. But if you're gonna sit there and say oh a moderate Hey, you know what you what the parents do in moderation The children will do in excess and you have that stuff around your house and you have that stuff around your kids Parents friends, you know, that's how they get access to it If you can make sure that your kids don't touch alcohol By the time they're an adult, they're very unlikely to ever become a drunk They're very unlikely to ever become a drug addict But if you think it's fun then all that let them test it when they're 13 Let them test it when they're 14. Oh, it's funny Hey in Germany today, they dip the pacifier in beer and put it in the baby's mouth Wow, and you know what? It's stupid to even open that door It's so much better off to just never go through that door never touch that door because once you've gone through that door It's a temptation for the rest of your life. Look there are people in here who've never tried cigarettes. They're not tempted by it But former smokers for the rest of their life Every once in a while They're probably gonna get a craving and think like man a cigarette would be pretty good right now Wouldn't it be easier to go through life and just not even have that craving now I mean aren't there enough temptations without you having to add temptations with these substances that you fool around with Let me get back to the article Early drinking was associated with developing alcohol dependence more quickly and at younger ages Early drinkers were more likely to experience multiple episodes of episodes of alcohol dependence Early drinkers who had longer episodes of alcohol dependence Experienced a wider range of symptoms and were more likely to relapse after quitting drinking These findings are not isolated previous research has linked early drinking with alcohol problems later in life one study for example revealed that people who began drinking before age 15 were five times more likely to report alcohol dependence or Abuse than those who delayed drinking until age 21 or later I'll take later like just never Just never do it number one gambling number two alcohol number three drugs number four Prostitution go to Leviticus 19 Leviticus chapter 19 now you say why even bring up prostitution hmm I wonder why but let me say this okay. I'll tell you why I would bring up prostitution Because I googled how many men in the United States of America Have ever paid for you know what and guess what the statistic was 15 to 20 percent I? Was floored by that I was shocked by that I couldn't even believe that that horrified me But I tell you right now most people the vast majority of people would be shocked or horrified At even the thought of that But I'll tell you something if somebody's ever done that in the past They're way more likely to do it again than somebody who's never done it before Why because they've already been through that door? I mean people who lived in a Christian home in many ways wouldn't even know where to begin living a life of sin Okay, the point is that if you have had sins in your past Those are the areas where you need to stay as far away as you can and be super careful We should all avoid sin But if you have had certain sins in your past and look maybe I'm not naming your specific sin right now Whatever your sins are I'm telling you when you get back sledding. Those are the doors you're gonna go back through And those are the doors you don't want to fool around with that you want to stay far away from Leviticus 19 verse 26 you shall not eat anything with blood Neither shall you use enchantment nor observe times you shall not round the corners of your heads Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard You should not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor print any marks upon you I am the Lord do not Prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore lest the land fall to whoredom and the land become full of wickedness You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary I am the Lord regard not them that have familiar spirits neither seek after wizards to be befiled by them I am the Lord your God. What do we see in this short passage? Just a rundown of sins. We see the prostitution witchcraft tattoos sacrilege defiling God's house Blasphemy we could add to that the gambling the drinking the pride the foolishness the covetousness whatever the sin we could go through the Bible and find all the sins and Jesus mentioning sins and Leviticus mentioning sins and let me tell you something we Need to stay away from sin and as the dog return it to his vomit the fool Returns to his fault like I said everyone's a sinner everyone has sinned Nobody's perfect some people have a super wicked past other people have minor things in their past But whether the sin is minor or major. I'm here to tell you if you've done something stupid in the past Join the club, but if you go back to it your fool Your food because the fool returns to his life everybody's thrown up before But only the dog returns to his vomit Okay, and so we don't want to be that bad example mark chapter 7 verse 21 says For you don't have to turn there if you would you can just flip over to isaiah 28 again Mark chapter 7 verse 21 for from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts Adulteries fornications murders thefts covetousness wickedness deceit lasciviousness an evil eye blasphemy pride Foolishness all these evil things come from within and Defile the man. Well, I just can't understand how somebody could commit these horrible sense Okay for from within out of the heart of man Proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications Murders that coverage look These things are things that people are capable of These things proceed out of the heart of man. I Would never do any of those great praise God that you would never do any of those things but Be careful And Especially be careful with stuff that you've already done because it's way easier to do it the second time than it is to do It the first time way easier the third time because the door has already been opened You've already loosened it up opened it now. It's a jar. I Was in Sunday school When I was a teenager one time And I was in a very liberal church it was like an NIV type Church rock and roll type Church Really watered-down Church where there's no soul winning. Nobody ever gets saved. Nobody ever gets baptized and I'm in this church And they would always have these weird little discussions You know instead of kind is getting up and teaching the Bible or preaching the Bible they wanted to kind of engage the youth you know, so they would They'd have these kind of just dumb discussions where everybody kind of gets to talk And then it kind of ends up being the blind leading the blind because you get bozos and they net you know Just everybody's got a different version People are coming from other denominations and just people just say whatever weird thing, you know Who's ever been in these kind of Bible studies where it's just a free-for-all and it's like well The Bible says preach the gospel to every creature What about animals or you know, that's the kind of dumb stuff and you're just You know or like, you know, I mean did Noah's Ark have an aquarium on it for all the fish You know, it's just you know what I mean you got you that have been there You know what I'm talking about. Okay, and they're but and they're they just kind of want to be nice to everybody So they'll kind of just let these bozos just kind of whatever So anyway, I'm in this class and the the subject of discussion for the day Is would you rather have grown up and I'm embarrassed even say it's so dumb folks what I'm about to say This was the discussion question. Would you rather grow up in a Christian home? Or would you rather have been saved out of a life of wickedness so that you can have a great testimony? So I'm sitting there and Everybody's talking about how Christianity's not a bunch of do's and don'ts. It's a relationship and the testimony is the most powerful thing That's gonna give people saved. So everybody wants the testimony And I'm like what in the world I thought the gospel of Jesus Christ was the power of God unto salvation I didn't know your debauched testimony is the power of God unto salvation Okay, but I remember sitting there and I'm listening to this. So I raised my hand and you look I was young I wasn't very knowledgeable. I didn't really know the ways of this world. I was about let me think 14 15 years old or something at the time and so I wasn't very wise I hadn't read the Bible cover to cover but I knew like this is dumb. Okay, like this is just ridiculous So I was trying to think of the best. Well, you know, you're kind of shy as a teenager I'm trying to think of the best way to express myself because I felt like somebody needs to Say something that makes some sense And Then so I raised my hand I said well and I didn't give the best reason but I raised my hand and I said well I'd rather grow up in a Christian home Because then you you know, you spend the whole you spend your whole life learning the Bible so then by the time you're an adult, you know the Bible and So, you know, it seems like knowing the Bible is really gonna help you as a Christian be able to serve God better Oh, what are you talking about? knowledge puffeth up Charity edify it, you know, what in the world? It's not about knowing the Bible man. It's about a relationship It's about reaching people where they're you know, just like oh man, whatever But I'll tell you a much better answer than the answer I get I mean my answer still made more sense Hey, man, you know that hey, it's great to know the Bible You know, but anyway I'll tell you if I could go back in time. I'll tell you how I would answer that question. I'd say you know what? I'd much rather grow up in a Christian home because sin does permanent damage to your life Because sin does permanent damage to your life. I'd rather grow up in a Christian home Because those who've lived a very sinful life in the past have all these doors open All these doors are ajar and it's gonna be way easy for them to backslide and go back through those doors I'd rather grow up in a Christian home Because I would rather Avoid the pain and the suffering and the harm that's permanent. That's in does that's what I would say today That so what's the conclusion? What's the moral of the story? Two things there's two things that I want to give you this morning as the admonishment number one Raise your children, right? You Say well, I you know, I messed up on my past There's nothing you can do to fix that don't beat yourself up about that. What good is that gonna do? You know what? Take it to the cross and leave it there. I Don't care what you've done in the past take it to the cross and leave it there and say God I'm sorry. I did wrong. Don't try to make excuses for it. Just go to the Lord and say I was wrong I did wrong. I was wrong and The Bible says confess and forsake your sins. I Mean, that's obvious But you say but the damage is done yeah, but you can still be used by God Look at all the people in the Bible that were used by God there are literal prostitutes that were used by God Rahab the harlot Jesus had prostitutes following him and People that cleaned up their lives, you know, there's a guy in the Bible who used a prostitute That ended up becoming a better guy which is Judah, you know Judah in that story with Tamar He solicited a prostitute and what's so amazing about that story is that he's not even embarrassed in front of his buddy That's with him. It's him and a buddy right and he basically sends the buddy to go pay for it So it just goes to show like he had no shame About using so he's a wicked person Judah was a wicked person Because he said hey, let's sell Joseph Hey, what profit is that if we just kill our brother let's sell him into slavery Remember that so that's where then we see him later in the story. He's with a prostitute We see Samson with a prostitute remember that. Okay. Well, what did you do though at the end of his life? You know Judah eventually Gets right with the Lord and what does he do? He offers to sacrifice his own life for his brother remember Judah Says hey let my life go instead of Benjamin's life let Benjamin go free Let Benjamin be and and take me instead punish me instead because if you don't and something happens to Benjamin I'm afraid my father's gonna die He said if my father hears that something happens to Benjamin He's gonna die and I love my father and I don't want that to happen So take my life for his and obviously that's even symbolic of Jesus who would come from the tribe of Judah And what would he do he would sacrifice his life for us According to the will of the Father Okay, so, you know so he goes from picturing Judas Iscariot at the beginning he's doing what? Betraying and selling Joseph. His name is Judah Judah is the Old Testament version of the New Testament name Judas In fact Judah the Old Testament character Judah is called Judas in the New Testament Matthew chapter 1 Because it says that he begat Judas and his brother and it's talking about this guy Judah Okay, so this guy Judah went from representing Judas, you know, hey, let's sell him make money off of him, right? At the end of his life. He's actually a picture of Jesus Giving his life. So there's a transformation that took place in the life of Judah So look even if you have very wicked things in your past Even if you have horrific things in your past If you're still breathing air You need to serve God You need to get right with God. You need to confess and forsake those things. There needs to be real repentance and Then you need to stay a million miles away from those things. Oh You know, I used to have a problem with gambling. I think I'll move to Las Vegas, Nevada Got a good job there That's ridiculous that makes no sense, okay So I want I'm kind of getting into part two of my conclusion because there's two points point one is raise your children, right? Hey, I've messed up. Okay, but do your children have to mess up the same way you did Okay, you've drunk, but why don't you make sure your children don't drink? You've committed fornication make sure your children don't commit for you you've committed adultery you've drunk you've done drugs Where make sure your kids don't do those things look down at your Bible, Isaiah 28 verse 7 But they also have erred through wine and through strong drink are out of the way the priest and the Prophet have heard through strong Drink, they are swallowed up of wine. They're out of the way through strong drink They earn vision they stumble in judgment for all tables are full of vomit and filthiness so that there's no place clean Whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Then that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts for precept must be upon precept Precept upon precept line upon line line upon line here a little there a little he's saying look These are some pretty screwed up people, but you know what their kids can be a godly generation, right? They can teach them the doctrine and raise up a godly seed You know there are times in the Bible where there's a wicked generation that's followed by a righteous generation Or there's a righteous generation that's followed by a wicked generation you two kids Don't make the mistakes your parents made and parents you should want your children to go a different route and To be clean and righteous Don't have this sick thing that I've seen some parents have where they want them to like experience all the things they've experienced So well no no you want better for your kids, right? You want better for them? Yeah, look you've messed up some things in your life your life's not over But you know what you don't want your kids to go down that same route route You don't want them to go through the pain that you've gone through right you want To be clean you want them to be those ones that make it to their age 21 birthday And they haven't even touched alcohol, and then when it's like hey you 21 you're gonna go out and drink. They're just like no Hey, you're 18. Let's go buy some lotto tickets man. Hey, you're 18. Let's go get your tattoo. Hey, man. No No You don't need it I'm at a 13 year old girl recently that had a tattoo I'm like what in the world this girl had a tattoo. I thought I was talking to an adult I thought she just looked young I was out so money, and I said how old are you 13? What? It's like look folks we've got to keep our kids Right yeah, you know and and keep them away from these really bad things and and and not allow these doors to be open In their lives because then they just have to struggle with this stuff for the rest of their life So Number one the conclusion is raise your children right raise your children right keep them away from the gambling keep them away from the drinking The drugs keep them away from the the the wickedness And obviously we don't we don't believe in living in a bubble. You know we live in this world We're in the world, but we're not of the world Okay, you know we live in the world and obviously our kids are gonna be exposed to these things But there's a right way to be exposed to them and a wrong way to be exposed to them You know what the best way for your kids to be exposed to these things is through reality Reality you know my kids have all been exposed to drinking drugs and sin And you know how they get exposed to it in reality so like they're out stolen And they see people doing these things, and you know what it's not very glamorous. Yeah Right when when you when you or when they let's say they go to Walmart Enough said right you know I mean and like they see things at Walmart They see some of the people at Walmart, and they see like okay, I Think I'm just gonna keep living my life the way I'm living it right now You know I don't think I want to go down that route I don't think I want to go down that right you know the point is like we see when we see reality sin isn't It doesn't look good It looks like garbage Okay, but what what happens is? When you watch TV though and look at the billboards and everything like that tends to glamorize sin You know what I mean, so say well. They're gonna find out about this up Yeah, look I think a great way to find out about sin is to read the Bible because the Bible's got some crazy stories in it Yeah, the Bible's got prostitutes and drunks and Everything I mean it's all there right doltery Say oh, man, you sure the Bible is okay for kids to read yeah I mean from birth let them get the Word of God in them every word of God's pure This is there's a there's a right way to learn about these things from the Word of God There's a right way to learn about these things from just living your life look when my kids Grow up the boys and they get jobs and my sons of one of my sons is a plumber My other son is a computer programmer The other ones are too young, but you know what I'm sure that they see some gnarly stuff out there I remember when I got my first job. I got exposed to a lot of things when I start working construction I got exposed to I definitely learned a lot of Spanish But it was all the bad words on the inside of the porta potty You know, but the point is like, you know, you're gonna get exposed to sin I'm not saying we should go live in a bubble. I'm not saying we should isolate ourselves I'm not saying that we got to go but we're in the world but not of the world But you know what? It's better just to get it through living the course of your normal life Than to go places where it's glamorized You know and go places where there are literally people spending millions of dollars Trying to figure out how to make sin look good in that casino I mean they you know, they've got experts in there decorating They're like, we're gonna put this here and that there just to maximize how they're gonna screw you There are people who literally are Much smarter than I am or probably anybody in this room who sit in an office somewhere and make a ton of money to figure Out how the casinos can rip people off They probably make hundreds of thousands of dollars just to sit there and just figure it out Actuaries and mathematicians and people who sit around figuring out how to deceive you how to ruin your life How to get you into sin how to get you to go down all these other roads because you know What gambling is the gateway drug friend? Alcohol is the gateway You get into alcohol. It'll lead you into worse things you get into gambling Gambling leads you into those other things because when you go in the casino, what's there? Drinking what's there hookers? What's there everything because the love of money is the root of all evil. That's why So number one raise your children right I you know, I can't even count how many times I went to book a hotel I went to Priceline or Travelocity and I type in a certain area and it wants to tell me hey Here's a great deal for a hotel room in a casino No, thanks I'll pay a little more to just go down to the Best Western or the Holiday Inn Express or whatever I don't want to stay in a casino and look I don't have a problem with it I'm not even tempted by it I still don't want to how much more if you've ever had a problem in those areas of drinking and gambling and and and Whatever how much more would you want to steer clear of those establishments? Yeah way more, okay way more So number one raise your children right number two beware of falling into your past sins The Bible says in Romans 13 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof Make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof I Remember I'm gonna I'll confess my faults to you today one time I was out on a trip with Paul Wittenberger and we were filming one of our films. I don't know if it was Babylon USA or marching design or something, but we were on one of these trips where we were filming things and We were just go go go all day. Just go go go and we had skipped meals We didn't have time to eat. We hadn't eaten any food and We were in a downtown area Everything's closed by the time we get to hotel. It's like midnight everything's closed Nothing's available, you know, and it's like there weren't a lot of things even around because we're in a downtown type area And so I'm just like I told Paul I said, you know I'm I got to go out and try to find some food like I'm getting a headache Because if I don't eat but you know, I started to lose it. You know what I mean? I Start getting sick and getting a headache and my body was kind of just starting to freak out So I go out and I'm trying to find food. It's like the only thing that's open are bars That's it. You know, so I you know, I'm I'm checking this but I'm asking people is anything open is there no You know, I'm just like and I'm tired. I'm hungry. Finally. There's just like this Irish pub so I'm thinking like You know So, you know I walk into this Irish pub, okay You know, I've never been to a place like this before I walk in this way There's some guy with an acoustic guitar playing some live music, you know, cuz it seemed like the most benign place Of all of what I saw, okay. I Walk into this Irish pub place and this guy's playing folk songs on a guitar and he's got an Irish accent and whatever And I walked in and you know, the the waiter walks up to me and I kid you not I'm gonna show you I mean, this is how I ordered. All right here you hold hold this. Let's say that's the menu Okay Hand me the menu like you're the waiter One of these one of these That's literally how I ordered. I'm not kidding I was just like I just want to get this over with and it was like what I chose was like a burger and Fish and chips, okay So I'm like it's to go, you know, so I sit there people around me or drinking or I wasn't at a bar Is it like a little table or whatever, but it was just like it's still kind of weird to me And I'm sitting there, you know, ten minutes go by the guy brings me the food I bring it back to the hotel room Paul Wittenberger eat our food and go to bed now Here's the thing, you know, I was able to get in and out of an Irish pub unscathed But let me tell you something if you've ever Partied in an Irish pub or you've party Yeah, I don't know if partying goes on in Irish pub because it seemed pretty mellow. It didn't seem like I'm limited to this one anecdote. Okay, but I'm like I'm thinking of myself You know if you used to go party in places like that if you used to go drink in places like that If you used to drink Guinness in a place like that, you know if you used to Meet women in a place like that or whatever You should have just said you know what I'll go hungry Because it's not where I don't care if I get sick or throw up and get a headache I'm not going in that place because you know your past Now I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong for me to have gone in that place in a bind like that You know when your ox or ass falls in the ditch you pull it out on the Sabbath or whatever You know remember what David did when he was hungry, but the point is I'm not saying it was right. I'm not saying it was wrong, but I am saying this If you have ever had a problem, you shouldn't even go down the alcohol aisle If that's been a problem for you in the past, you should never set foot in a liquor store One time I walked into a liquor store to buy salt Because I just couldn't find anything else. Yeah, you're it was you were cooking. I had to provide the salt What was that place called? Big Daddy or something? Is that what it was called? Yeah, I went to some liquor We're like trying to find salt and I went to Big Daddy and just said give me some salt you know I bought it was like some it ended up being some margarita salt or something I was just trying to get like a salt shaker You know, but the point is look if you've had a problem with Drinking stay away from the liquor store stay away from the bar stay a million miles away from these things Don't even mess with them. Don't even get close to them And you know what? There are a lot of plays that all of us should just stay away from like bars Casinos, I mean, there's nothing good about going to those kind of places Yeah, we should all stay away from that and look I know I'm kind of focusing in on certain sins But you name the sin Let's say it's gambling Let's say gambling is your sin then you know what? It might not be a good idea even just to get around and play a game of some benign card game You know what? I mean? If that's something that you've struggled with you might just pick a different hobby or whatever And you know even video games try to get you gambling remember Zelda where you go into that cave Who knows that who remembers that dude in the cave? The only gambling I've ever done was that dude in the cave on Legend of Zelda I'm talking about the and I'm not talking I'm talking the original NES 8-bit Legend of Zelda Who knows what I'm talking about the big dude in the cave, okay? That was the gambling that I did okay, but you know what even that's stupid You don't want to go down that road look folks raise your children, right keep them clean and let me say this look Everybody's been shocked and horrified and horrified by the events of this week You say why would you preach a sermon like this? Why even talk about you know? Why because we need to condemn sin It doesn't matter who did it doesn't matter if it was your buddy that did it it's wicked Doesn't matter if it's my buddy that did it is wicked yeah, and it needs to be harshly condemned and rebuked So you know we need to send a message as a church here that hey this stuff's wicked You know we're against it and not like oh, we're gonna defend it. We're gonna cover it up. You know he's our guy look I understand repentance forgiveness restoration These are major themes in the Bible and those things are important, but you know it's also important that we call spade a spade And it's also important that in the process of Trying to help people that we consider ourselves Lest we also be tempted now. I think I didn't have that in my notes, but I want to say that's what Galatians 6 Okay, let me let me go there Galatians 6 Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 let's just let's close on this brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault Ye with your spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Here's a key thing Considering thyself Lest thou also be tempted you know there's there's a there's a danger in times like these that are hard times People are stressed out people aren't getting enough sleep who missed a little sleep this night there this week Sorry this week you missed some sleep this week. Yeah at times when you're you're you're not getting enough sleep You're stressed out. You're angry. You're upset. You're going through a range of emotions sadness anger frustration You know all different. You know you one minute. You're feeling pretty good about it other times You're struggling you know at times like these is when the devil can tempt you and when your flesh can tempt you consider yourself I know you know Help where you can help, but consider yourself Lest you also be tempted. That's what the Bible said now look Unfortunately pastor Romero has not shown true repentance Let me just say it like it is And that's too bad, and that's why he's not here because he can't be here Until there's real repentance and obviously pastor Shelley has said look you know he's not repentant He's not coming back and and even after he shows repentance, which I look I I hope he repents I hope he gets it right. I really hope that that his marriage can be salvaged. I hope that his life can be salvaged I Hope that he can have Greater days ahead, but it's gonna have to start with repentance, and it's gonna have to start with you know seeking the Lord Okay, and then you know pastor as Shelley has said he you know he just needs to move on It's just not gonna work And I respect that decision and pastor Shelley's the the authority you know he's he's the man and So consider yourself at this time you know do some introspection Take a look at your own heart and anybody who's out there watching on the internet should take a look at their own heart Other pastors should take a look at their own hearts you as the church members should take a look at their own hearts and And realize okay How can I make sure That I never even take the first step down that road. How can I stay away from that door? And not mess up my own life consider thyself consider your children Now is not the time to get out of church now It's not the time to quit serving God and and and now is not the time to think oh all pastors are bad You know it's like David said I said in my haste all men are liars And you know I look I'm going through a lot of the same emotions that you guys are going through Where I you know I've had some times this week where I thought to myself everybody's a phony I'm the only one left. You know like Elijah where he's just you know, but you know what that isn't fair That isn't right to do that There's still seven thousand men who haven't bowed the knee to bail, but I'm just being honest with you You know I I thought you know when I googled that and saw that fifteen to twenty percent. I'm just like We're doomed the human race is doomed America's doomed mankind is doomed You know I've had those thoughts. I'm sure you've had thoughts and and frustrations, but you know what pastor Shelley's coming in here You know what he didn't do anything Pastor Shelley is not the guy that did these things so don't project that on him okay, he's coming in a right man of God and He's coming in to be a godly leader Don't lose faith in humanity although. I can see why you could feel that way because I felt the same way You know now now I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you right now I Felt great all day yesterday, and I feel great right now I've gone through the grieving I've gone through the pain the hurt the anger the sadness and you know what I'm done And I feel good Now you may not be there yet, and there's nothing wrong it might take you longer. You're you were obviously closer to the situation Living here in Fort Worth so it might take you a couple weeks a few weeks But life's gonna go on time heals all wounds So just hang in there things are gonna get better amen. You know that was prophetic that YouTube clip I posted a week ago Little did I know how important that was gonna be Hang in there things are gonna get better, but I can tell you I feel great yesterday Don't from the time. I woke up in the morning to the time. I went to bed I'm optimistic. I'm encouraged. I'm excited. I'm feeling good. I feel good right now I've been telling people all day. Hey today's gonna be a great day It's gonna be a great day morning service gonna be great tonight's gonna be great Yeah Let's have a good day. This is the day that the Lord had made let us rejoice and be glad in it Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer Father we thank you so much for the chance to be here Lord and Lord those that are grieving I understand Lord I'm not trying to rush them Lord Please just let them grieve let them be sad and get through this obviously I've known I you know I knew about this a little bit longer than they did so I've had a little more time It's easy for me to get up and say that Being removed from the situation and having you know about an extra 48 hours to grieve and get through it Lord, but Lord I just pray that you just give the comfort of the Holy Spirit today give the joy of the Holy Ghost give peace like a river Lord and Please just help everybody as they're sad as they're angry as They're losing faith in humanity at times or being depressed Lord Just help them to continue to do right during this difficult time Lord and I pray that you would just infuse us with the fruit of the Spirit, which is joy and Lord help this church to continue to do the work that you called them to do and to grow and thrive and Do great things for you for the sake of Our Lord Jesus Christ Lord And it's in his name that we pray. Amen