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In Psalm 139 verse 14 the Bible reads, I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. And so the Bible here is saying that every single one of us, every person that's in this room this morning, every person in this world is fearfully and wonderfully made by God. And then it's described a little bit in the next verse. Look at Psalm 139 verse 15. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. You see, God didn't just create Adam and Eve, but God creates every single human being, the Bible is saying, in the womb of his mother. I mean, with special care he curiously wrought, the Bible says, every single human being. I mean, he designed each person exactly the way they are. And he says, what he means there when he says, my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, he's saying, and look at verse 16, thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, he's saying the very substance that I'm made out of, I mean the very molecules and matter that I was made out of, he says it's like the food that my mom ate that was then turned into me. He said God even took care of those molecules, you know, while they were growing in the ground, the food that grew out of the ground and his mother ate that food and that food was turned into a human being and God fashioned and formed a human being in the womb is what God's saying here. And every single one of us, I mean it's not just David that this applies to, every single one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made and designed by God. The Bible says in verse 16, thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee. You see what he's saying? He's saying God thinks about you all the time, every day, all day. I mean he says he took such care designing your physical body in the womb, designing it exactly the way that he wanted it to be. He made sure that the different food that grew in the ground was the exact right material for him to form and fashion this child in the womb. And then not only that, but he says that God thinks about you all day, every day. He says if we could count the time that God stops and thinks about you individually, I mean you personally just stops and just thinks about you, the God of the universe who created the whole world, the Bible says if you counted that, it would be the number of the sand that's on the seashore innumerable. I mean that's how much God cares about and loves each one of us. But it's amazing, and the thing that I want to talk about this morning, it's an unusual subject, especially for a Sunday morning sermon, but that doesn't bother me. It's a biblical subject. It's important that I preach this. But, you know, a lot of people don't like the way that they look. A lot of people don't like their appearance. And I was studying this subject in the Bible, and the Bible talks a whole lot about this. But so many people in our day just are not satisfied with the way that they look, especially women, you know, get hung up on the saying of how they look, beauty, how people view them. And it changes, it's amazing how it changes from year to year what's considered beautiful, what is not, what's attractive, what's not. It goes with the times, it goes with the world. And I was thinking about this. God said in Genesis 1 31, and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. So God says, when I made something, he says, I do a good job when I make something. Now, do you believe that God created you exactly the way that you are and exactly the way that you look? I mean, do you believe that when you were in the womb, God was there taking care to fashion you and form you in the exact way that he wanted you to be and the way that you wanted to look? I mean, do you believe it or not? That's what the Bible says. And so here we see that when God makes something, he says, everything I make is good. Everything I make, I stand back and I say, this is a very good job that I did. I created this. 1 Timothy 4 4, I'll just read it for you. For every creature of God is good. A creature means it would be our modern-day word of something created. It doesn't just mean a living creature. Anything that God creates is a creature. And there's the creator and there's the creature, and God says, for every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. Of course, talking about food there. But he's saying that when God creates something, he creates something that's good. Ecclesiastes 3, verse 11 says, he has made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he has set the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God made from the beginning to the end. See, God didn't just in the beginning God created. The Bible says there's a work that God created from the beginning to the end. And God is constantly creating new things. I was thinking about how silly evolution was when I was at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, which is the largest indoor aquarium in the world, I believe. At least that's what they tell you when you're paying 30 bucks to get in. You walk into the place and you see sea creatures from around the world. And I was just thinking how privileged we are to live in 2006 where we can walk to a zoo or an aquarium. We can see wildlife from all over the world. I mean, we can see the best that the whole world has to offer. And so we walk in and we look at these aquariums. I mean, I saw an octopus that was, you know, I couldn't even put my arms as wide as this fan of this thing. Huge octopuses. Giant crabs, crabs that were this big. They gave Japanese spider crabs that were three feet tall. It was unbelievable. And just the fish and the beautiful fish, they had some of them glow like neon because they swim so far down the sea, there's no light there. So God has equipped them with luminescence on their body that actually glows. And I was thinking to myself, I've looked up one side and down one side of this aquarium. I cannot find an ugly creature. I mean, you can't find something that's deformed. You can't find something that looks imperfect. When God creates a creature, it's perfect. It's exactly the way that he wants it. And I was thinking about how the, you know, some of the dinosaurs that are just invented by evolution and they find one stupid little bone and create a little dinosaur. They're not perfect. Like if you get a little kid's dinosaur book and you see a big Tyrannosaurus rex, and I've used this example before, but big giant Tyrannosaurus rex, big strong legs, big burly body, big head, big teeth, and then the arms are like this, right? I mean, it looks like a chicken feet. And it has these little goofy arms like this, these little sticks hanging out. Hey, because they're just trying to push their agenda like a missing link. You know, his arms aren't evolved. And if you study all the dinosaurs that are invented, if you look at them, you'll see that they're all lacking in something. I mean, they're all kind of half developed. And that's the whole thing that they're trying to push on you and force on you this stupidity of evolution. Look, if it was all just by chance, why is it all so beautiful? I mean, why is all the plant life so perfect? Why is all the animal life so perfect? When God creates things, it's perfect. And that's why this world is a beautiful place, because it's created by God. And so on and on we see through the Bible that everything that God creates is perfect. And God created Adam and Eve perfect. They willfully chose to sin. God says God has made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. See, God created us as a perfect creature, but of course Adam sinned, and that plunged the whole human race into sin. So death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. And so we see that number one I want you to see is that God has created everything perfectly and it's good and it's beautiful the way that God creates it. That's the first thing I want to establish. And of course included in that is you. You have been fearfully and wonderfully made. You've been created exactly the way that God wants you to be. Short, tall, big, you know, whatever it is. It's the way that God wants you to be. That's the way that he created you. But we live in a society that worships the human body. That's where we've come to in 2006. The Bible says in Romans chapter 1 verse 25, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever and ever and ever. Turn there because I forgot to write down one of the verses that I want to show you. Look at Romans chapter 1. I'm going to turn there and show you a little more. But the Bible says in Romans chapter 1, and we'll begin reading in verse number... Actually, let's begin reading in verse number 21. Actually, verse 20 is exactly what we're talking about. Romans 1, 20, toward the beginning of your New Testament there. For the invisible things of him, speaking of God, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And look at this next verse. And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. And then look at the next step. And to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Now, what do we see here? We see a degeneration in the human race where instead of worshipping God, they worship and serve the creature more than the creator. The first step on that decline is to instead of worship God, drag God's image down to the image of a corruptible man. And they begin to worship man, they begin to worship the human mind, the human body, more than they worship God. And then the next step is that they begin to worship animals. You say, worship animals? That's ridiculous. Well, go to India, where they worship a cow. Think about the idolatry of the world where they have these golden calves that they worship in the Bible. People will worship an animal. And so they go from having an image of God being the eternal Godhead, powerful in the heavens, that created the whole world, to worshipping man, to worshipping animals. That's how ridiculous it becomes. And so the Bible says that they worship and serve the creature more than the creator. We live in a society that worships the human body. I mean, everywhere you go, every sign, every billboard, every store in the mall. I hate going to the mall just because of all the human body worship, is what it is. It's women just stripped down, showing their human body. And you say, well, it's God's creation. Look, don't worship the creature, worship the creator who said not to be naked. He said it's a sin to be naked. He said nakedness is a shame. He said the man and woman, they were naked, Adam and Eve, and they were not ashamed, because that's okay. But then everywhere else in the Bible, you see those two worships are put together, nakedness and shame, because nudity is a shame before God. And so God's saying here, look, don't worship the creature, worship the creator. You worship me in holiness and in truth, and holiness means that you live by my clean standards of code and conduct, but the world has come to a place where they worship and idolize the human body and the human being and the human mind. That's what the university is. It's a worshiping of the human mind. How many doctors and degrees can you get after your name? And it's a worshiping of the mind. It's a God that people worship, just like money is a God that people worship. Education can be a God that people worship, and the physical body is a God that people worship. The Bible says, well, before I get there, I just want to say that people, not only do they worship the human body in our day, but they've taken it a step further. See, for a person to worship the human body or even worship an animal, they're still really acknowledging something that God created. And if you think about this, and I've used this illustration before, but I talked to Chad, by the Chad that came and visited with us for a few services, and he and I went out soul-winding together, and he worked for Daimler Chrysler. I don't know if you remember him being here. But he was telling me how they had... And I had chatted with them as we were out soul-winding, and we were talking about engineering, and I said, I said, boy, wouldn't it be interesting if you could study wildlife, you could study plants and animals, and look at how God has engineered them, you know, the cooling systems, and if you could take that knowledge and transfer it to, like, an automobile, or, you know, for example, because that's what he's engineering. And I was thinking, if you could reverse engineer, and he said, you know what? He said, Brother Anderson, that's exactly what they do at Daimler Chrysler. He said, they took this fish, and they actually looked at the way it was aerodynamic and things, and they reverse engineered that fish, and then they applied that to design an automobile. And I said, wow, isn't that amazing? I said, that's great, I love that. That's ingenious. And I said, boy, at least they have enough sense to know that what God creates is smarter than what man can create. But then this is what he said, he said, no, they don't. Because he said, they wrote an article about that, and they said, all the marvel of evolution, you know, that created this, that not even we can even design, and it just happened. Boy, isn't that just ridiculous? See, they were vain in their own imagination. They weren't thankful. They didn't acknowledge the creation of God, and they became foolish, and their foolish hearts were darkened, the Bible says, to where they can't even see that God's design and God's creation is the greatest thing in the world. But see, man has to go a step further. And so not only are we in a day where people worship the human body, but we're also living in a day when people try to change God's creation. They try to change what God has created in a human being, and they try to alter it and modify it, just to pervert it from the perfection that God made, because that's not good enough. They have to make it in their own special way. See, number one, we're all fearfully and wonderfully made, but number two, God is against the strange things that people do to alter their appearance. You say, what are you talking about? Well, the first thing I thought, you know, think about the tattoos, the mutilations that are so common in our day. Look if you were to Leviticus chapter 19. I'm going to show you something in the Bible here, the third book of the Bible, Leviticus chapter number 19. Leviticus 19, and we'll begin reading verse number 27 of Leviticus 19. The Bible reads in Leviticus 19, 27, Ye shall not, I'm sorry, wrong verse. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads. Are you everybody in Leviticus 19, 27? Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. I am the Lord. That means I'm the Lord. It means I'm the boss. I'm the Lord, and I'm telling you what you can and can't do with my creation. And he says, number one, I don't want you to have a stupid, weird, goofy haircut. I mean, look what he says. He says, don't carve weird shapes, you know, and carve off shapes and have a little goatee like these sodomites have a little goatee right under their lower lip. You know, you see that. Sometimes I have to fly with American Airlines, like every, I fly with U.S. Airways, which is actually based in Tempe, Arizona, believe it or not. I fly with U.S. Airways almost every week, but sometimes I've had to fly with American when I go to Chicago, and it seems like they're all homos, and they have one thing in common. They've got this little hairy patch right under their lip. That's like their little signal that they're queer. And you know what? God says, don't shave weird shapes into your beard. Don't carve into your hair. You know, don't have a mohawk is what he's saying. Don't cut off the corners of your beard and mar this up and have a goofy haircut like the Egyptians had. The Bible talks about it in another place. And then he says, don't make cuttings in your flesh. He says, you don't have the right to carve into your body. And he says, don't print any marks on you. Now, if that's not a tattoo, I don't know what it is. He says, I don't want you to print marks on your body. So the Bible is saying here that it is wrong for you to have a tattoo. You say, well, that's the Old Testament. Look, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, OK? Is perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect. The Bible says, do we make void the law? Paul said, nay, we establish the law. Jesus said, I am not come to destroy the law. Think not that I'm come to destroy the law. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I say unto you that till heaven and earth pass that one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. And so if God thinks it's wrong in the Old Testament, look, where's the Book of Commandments in the New Testament if these aren't the commandments I'm supposed to live by? You expect God? Look, did you know that 80% of the Bible is the Old Testament? 80%. And in the Old Testament, God lays down the law. This is right. This is wrong. And then in the New Testament, he says, the law has concluded all under sin, for all have sinned. He said, the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ and to show us our shortcoming and to show us that we need salvation through Jesus Christ because no one can live by the code that's in this Old Testament. But he said, if you love me, keep my commandments. And so do you love Jesus Christ this morning? Then keep his commandments. What commandments is he talking about? He's talking about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Job, you know, the whole thing. All the way from Genesis to Revelation, God commands us this is right and this is wrong. What about the Ten Commandments? You will not find all ten of the Ten Commandments restated in the New Testament. Not all of them. You will find most of them restated. But you'll not find, you know, in these exact words, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Because God doesn't have to say it again. He says, keep the commandments. Keep the Bible. Obey the Bible. If God says in the Old Testament, a man should dress like a man and a woman should dress like a woman, and if a man puts on a woman's garments, abomination, and if a woman wears that which pertains to a man, it's an abomination, I'm going to tell you something, God didn't say, you know what, that used to make me sick to see a woman dressed like a man or a man dressed like a woman. But now, you know what, it just doesn't really bother me anymore. That's ridiculous. I mean, if it's right, it's always been right. And if it's wrong, it's always been wrong. Now there are certain changes to the law. The Bible says for the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. And so certain things were changed in the law because there was a change in priesthood because Jesus Christ fulfilled all the sacrifice of the Old Testament. Those have been completed. And also, in the New Testament, God has specifically said that a man does not need to be circumcised. He specifically said that. And he specifically said that we can eat anything that we want. Any kind of meat is available to us, and it's not a sin to eat any kind of meat. And God made specific changes, and he culminated all the sacrifices. I mean, it would be blasphemous for me to offer an animal sacrifice right now because I'm saying that it hasn't been completed in Jesus Christ. And that's why he tore the veil in the temple the moment that Jesus was offered on the cross because he was the Lamb offered once for the sins of many. And so that's all been done away with. But don't take 80 percent of the Bible and tell me that it's not something that we have to live by. You're crazy. Okay, I mean, I know you'd like to just live by that little sliver of the New Testament, but the New Testament is building upon the Old Testament. And so you must obey these laws from the Old Testament. If God says it's a sin in his law and his commandments to print marks on your body, then it's a sin to put marks on your body. You say, well, I've already put tattoos on my body. Hey, so what? We've all sinned. Okay, but from now on, don't do it. That's all it is. You have to worry about, oh, man, I've got to get rid of this tattoo. Hey, look, my pastor growing up had a big tattoo on his arm. He had a big old, like, sailor, you know, like, what was it called? The big anchor that they have, like Popeye. He had a big old anchor from being in the Navy, you know. So what? You know, he didn't know better when he got it. But now that you know better, kids that haven't done it, you know, don't get a tattoo because God's not pleased. Period. And you say, well, aren't you afraid you're going to offend people? Look, I'm not preaching against the people that have already done it. I'm warning the people who have not done it because God says no. And once you know better, then you shouldn't do it. And you should not go down that road. But not only tattoos. He says don't make any cuttings in your flesh. You know, think about just the mutilations. I was in Panda Express, my favorite restaurant. I was in Panda Express. I loved it. And I was there with my two kids a couple days ago. And I don't think John was with me. I have three kids, but I was with two of them. And there's a guy and a girl, and they both had the same thing. They both had these discs in their ears that were the size of a nickel. And I've seen them as big as the size of a quarter. I've seen them big. And they had these big loops. And these people are in their young 20s, maybe even late teens. And the guy and his girlfriend, they both have the same one, the big black circle in the earlobe of their ear. And I'm thinking, you know what I was thinking to myself? I thought to myself, well, that's so cool. It's so fun, isn't it? But I wonder 30 years from now, when Grandma is going to say to her, you know, to her grandchild on her knee, it's like, Grandma, why does your ear hang down and you look like a freak? You know, when she finally has to take those things out, and she just has these sagging, long-hanging... You think that's going to look beautiful? Now, look, what God makes, didn't he say it's beautiful the way that he made it? God didn't make any promises about what you're going to look like after you put a disc in your ear. And there's even people throughout the world, and it's always heathen, pagan cultures. Just notice where things come from. That just came about in the last ten years in America. All throughout the world, they've been doing that disc thing in the years for years. I remember seeing it in, like, National Geographic magazine when I was a kid, you know, the discs in the ear, and they're, oh, what a freak. Now you see the Panda Express. But not only that, but I've seen in these other ones this disc that these Africans put in their lip, where their lower lip will stick out, you know, five inches. Look, it's perverted. It's a sin. It's wicked. It's ungodly. You say, well, it looks stupid. No, it doesn't just look stupid. It's a sin against God. It's wrong. And I was thinking to myself, because the Bible says, you know, your bot know what? What? What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, and your not your own, but your bot with a pipe? Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. And I was thinking to myself, think about if you rented a home, okay, and you just decided, you know what, I'm just renting, and I own this house, but let's say I was just renting it, and I said, you know what, church is starting to grow, let's just knock out this wall right here, and let's just create a much bigger auditorium here, and let's say I was just renting the house, and I just knock out a wall, take out a bedroom, you know, I'm going to combine these two bedrooms, and you know what, I think I'm going to paint the outside of the building, I think I'm going to paint it pink and purple. Now, look, you think that the landlord's going to approve of that? No. You think that I have the right to paint a house that I'm renting any color? No. You can't do anything with it. You can't modify the appearance of what you're renting or borrowing? No. And God's saying here, look, you're not your own. You don't own that body. He says, don't modify it and change it and tweak it, because it doesn't belong to you. It belongs to me. And guess what? If I wanted it to look that way, I would have made it that way when I spent years and billions of years and billions of thoughts thinking about how I was going to specifically design you exactly the way that I wanted you to be designed. Now, the gift of the faith to believe that. Or you can just say, no, it just happened. Say there were just jeans for my mom and jeans for my dad, and voila, this is what I end up looking like. No, God says I designed you a creature that's exactly the way that I wanted you to look and to be. Well, not only do we have the tattoos, the mutilations, the strange haircuts, you know, the Mohawk. And you know, by the way, also, shaving your head totally bald. Did you know that the Bible says that that's wrong too? I'll read it for you. You don't have to turn there. Ezekiel 44, 20. Neither shall they shave their heads nor suffer their locks to grow long. They shall only pull their heads. He says, I don't want a man to shave his head totally bald like the big razor look where it's just completely bald. And he says, and I don't want him to grow long hair. He says I want him to pull his head. Pull is like a word that's used to shear sheep in the Bible. And it's just talking about a short haircut. It's just talking about, you know, something like this. And I'm not saying that somebody has to have my exact haircut, but he's just saying, you know, get a haircut. Don't grow it long. And don't shave it completely off. It's like, you know, God just... How hard is it to understand I want a man to have short hair? And it's like, well, we can't grow it long. Let's shave it all off and so that we can look weird. Look, it does not look normal to have your head completely bald. Now, look, if you're going bald on top, you know, that's all right. But I'm talking about just this completely bald look. You're trying to look like a freak. You're trying to look different than what God created you. You're trying to look different than the way that God wants you to look and God says no. But not only that, but I was just studying this subject in the Bible, you know, the Bible always has so much to say about every subject. I hate it when people say this, well, the Bible doesn't really talk about that. You just haven't been reading it enough. I mean, you're just displaying your ignorance because the Bible talks about everything. The Bible has everything I need to know about every subject. And so I was just studying this whole subject of modifying your appearance, decorating yourself, if you will. And I was studying the topic of jewelry in the Bible. And I studied the Bible and I saw that, you know, jewelry on women is totally acceptable. God talks a lot about it. He condones it. He says it's good. You know, I was thinking in particular of Ezekiel 16, 11. I'll read it for you. He's talking about what he did. He says, I decked thee also with ornaments. I put bracelets upon thine hands and a chain on thine neck and I put a jewel on thine forehead, earrings in thine ears and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thou wast decked with gold and silver. Thy raiment was of fine linen and silk and broidered work. Thou didst eat fine. And on and on. But I've studied the Bible and I looked at women wearing jewelry and I can show you some other examples for the sake of time. And I won't, but it's totally appropriate. Totally fine. Earrings, you know, necklaces, bracelets are talked about. Now those are discussed because those are normal acceptable jewelry for women to wear. You know, bracelets, necklaces, earrings. But then I decided to study earrings on men. Okay, and I was thinking like, can I find men in the Bible wearing jewelry, wearing necklaces, bracelets, earrings? And I did find them. But look at what I found. And see, I just happen to think that if I look up every time God mentions something it gives me a feel for it. Well, I saw this in Judges 8-24. This is the first one that really jumped out at me. And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you that you would give me every man the earrings of his prey. Every man the earrings of his prey. Men who have earrings. And listen to this phrase. This is in parentheses. Okay. For they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites. So this heathen nation, you know, that's not the nation of Israel, it says they wore earrings. The Ishmaelites wore them. These men did. The Jews did not. Did you see that? And then I noticed another place where he says in Genesis 35-4, and this is the first time that earrings are mentioned, the Bible says, and they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand and all their earrings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak tree. So basically what he's saying is he told them, put away the strange gods. Clean this place up. He says, bathe your flesh in water. You know, put away the strange gods. We're going to approach unto the Lord here at Bethel. It's a holy place. And he says, he didn't even mention the earrings, but they went there, and while they were burying their idols, they also took the earrings out of their ears and buried them too because it was a pagan idolatrous practice for men to wear earrings. And then on and on, you know, I was looking at Aaron, when he's building the golden calf, says to these men that were coming straight out of Egypt that a lot of them had earrings in their ears. And so I can't find a positive mention. You know, like I can find several positive mentions about women wearing jewelry, but men wearing jewelry is always negative. I was thinking about necklaces on men. Two times are necklaces mentioned on men. One of them is in Egypt, which is a wicked place. Pharaoh puts a gold necklace on Joseph and says, here, put this on. And then another place is Daniel. Very similar story to the story of Joseph. Daniel has a gold necklace put on him by Belshazzar the king, a wicked, drunken king. And so the only time that you'll find a man wearing a necklace is when some heathen, wicked king is putting it around his neck and says, here, put this on, be like us. Hey, look, men wearing jewelry is wrong, period. And I'm not talking about a wedding ring, but I'm talking about these necklaces and these cute little, you know, the Mr. T type look and the... Maybe that's an extreme example. But the earrings on men... Hey, I heard somebody say this. You know, I said to a guy, I said, you know, why do you have that earring in your ear? Are you queer? Are you a fag? Why are you wearing an earring? And he said, well, no, no, no. He said, if you wear the earring in this ear, it means you're straight. And if you wear the earring in this ear, it means that you're a homo. And I said, well, you know what? That means you're this close. I said, you're this close. And so I don't want to be this close to you, okay? Because you're that close, buddy. And look, all it comes from... Hey, you think that men wore earrings before the 1960s? Before the filthy time in our history when all the queers came out of the closet and the women, back after World War II, all the women started wearing pants, dressing like men. And all the men started putting on the jewelry and looking real cute and having their hair all pooped up and strutting around and swaggering like a woman. Hey, we're living in a day when you can't even hardly find a man that looks, talks, acts, and dresses like a real man. And I'm going to tell you something. A man who's wearing earrings and a necklace and a bracelet looks like a sodomite more than he looks like a real man, more than he looks like a preacher, and more than he looks like Jesus Christ, period. You expect me to believe that Jesus Christ was decorated like a Christmas tree walking, come unto me, all ye that labor. You expect me to believe that he's some televangelist wearing a white suit with a bunch of gold rings and gold necklaces and gold chains? No, he was a man like a man's man, like a real man, not some kind of a sissy that's trying to dress like a girl. Hey, I'm not trying to see how close I can be to the line that separates male and female. I'm not trying to see how long I can have my hair where it's not considered long hair. I'm not trying to see how a woman shouldn't see how short they can have their hair and it's still considered long hair. Hey, look, why don't you try and get as far on the male side as you can? Wouldn't that be great? I mean, look, if you're a man, why don't you try to be as much a masculine man as you possibly can? Why are you trying to ride the fence? You bother me. You make me nervous. Hey, woman, why are you trying to ride the fence? You say, well, I think it's okay to wear pants sometimes. Hey, look, I'm not trying to live okay. Are you trying to just be okay? Why don't you try and strive for excellence? Why don't you wear exactly what Jesus Christ wants you to wear? Jesus, what is the exact clothing that you want me to wear today? Instead of just, well, is it okay? No, I'm not trying to be okay. I'm pressing on the upward weight. Do heights I'm gaining every day. Still praying as I'm onward bound. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground than this wicked world around me. I'm trying to live a higher moral code than the world around me. And so you'll notice it in the Bible. I think jewelry is frowned upon on men, you know, this girly-looking jewelry. You know, decorate yourself. You're a man, you know? Sick. You know, you're trying to be pretty and beautiful. You know, grow up and be a man. And, you know, I get so tired of, you know, wear unto shall I like in this generation. It's like in the children, Jesus said. And, you know, you see grown men, 30, 40, 50 years old, and they're dressed like a teenager. Nothing's more sickening or disgusting than seeing a man who thinks he's a teenager or seeing a woman who's, you know, 40, 50, 60 years old dressed like a teenager. Look, grow up. Jesus said there's a generation that's like children. They're like little kids. Grow up, be a man, be a woman, be what God made you, be happy with what God made you. And so, on to the next subject, but, you know, I was thinking about just these other piercings, though. You know, God talks about earrings quite a bit in the Bible on women. Totally appropriate. But, you know, you're not going to convince me that tongue piercing is acceptable to God. You're not going to convince me that piercing your lip is acceptable to God. I will believe for a minute that putting an earring in your nose is something that God wants you to do. Don't try and tell me that putting a disc in your ear is acceptable to God, to mutilate yourself. And I was thinking about this, and this is kind of a humorous example, but I have to show you this. I remember this from the good old NIV. Let's see, Genesis 24. Would you turn there, please? Genesis 24. If you turn there in the real Bible, the only Bible there is, the King James Bible. Turn to Genesis 24, and I'll show you this. Genesis chapter number 24, and I want you to follow along in your Bible there while I'm reading out of the not inspired version, also known as the NIV. Genesis 24, and look if you would, let me get my place here. Genesis 24, verse number 22. Okay. I'm sorry, I'm turning in two Bibles here, and I'm going to get there one second. Genesis chapter 24, and look at verse number 22. The Bible says here, okay, Genesis 24, 22. And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, and said, Whose daughter art thou? Tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in? And then skip down, if you would, to verse number 30. This is Laban here, and I'll tell the story in a second, but it says, And it came to pass when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when they heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me, that he came unto the man, and behold, he stood by the camels of the well. And then look at verse 47. And I asked her and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of the fuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him. And I put the earring upon her face and the bracelets upon her hands. Now listen to this. Now I want you to follow along as I read you this out of the NIV. Look at verse 22. In the King James. And look at that ridiculous... Well, let me tell you the story first. This is the story. You know, Isaac is grown up. He's looking for a wife. His father, Abraham, does not want him to marry one of the women of the country there. He wants him to marry someone that's of his family, has kindred his roots. And so he sends his servant to go find a bride for his son, Isaac. And so he sends the servant, and the servant says, God, whoever... And he goes through a test where he says, Whoever offers to give me water to drink at this well and offers to give my camel's drink, I'll know that that's the one that you picked. And so he goes out to this well and he sees her. She passes the test. And then he says, Whose daughter are you? He walks up to her and he pulls out some very expensive jewelry because Abraham was a very wealthy man. And so he pulls out some extremely wealthy jewelry. He puts some bracelets on her hands right here. And then he takes some earrings and puts them in her ear like this. Okay? It makes sense, right? But if some guy walks up to you and starts pulling out all this expensive jewelry and just starts putting it on you, you're just going to be like, sure, you know, put it on, right? Okay, but now let's read the NIV, okay? And this is ridiculous, but... I'll pass this around afterward if you don't believe me that this is really what it says. But the Bible says, or not the Bible, God help us. The NIV says in verse 22, follow along in your Bible, When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beakah and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. Then he asked, whose daughter are you? Okay, now listen to the next one. Verse 28. Okay, verse 28. The girl ran and told her mother about these things. Now Rebecca had a brother named Laban and he hurried out to meet the man of the spring. As soon as he'd seen the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister's arm and heard Rebecca, he's like, come on, you who are blessed by the Lord? Okay, and then verse 47, it says, let's see, verse 47. I asked her, whose daughter are you? She said, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, whom milked aboard him. Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms. Can you imagine this story? So now the servant walks up to Rebecca, if you're reading the NIV, he says, come closer, come closer and put this ring in your nose. So I guess she already had her nose pierced. I mean, it was already all pierced. She had her second beard. Hold on a second. Wait, hold on a second. Let me take out my nose ring. Hold on, let me put down my Starbucks coffee. Hold on a second. Let me put down my Marilyn Manson CD and let me take out my nose ring so that you can put in my new nose ring. Isn't this unbelievable? Is it ridiculous? And then he says, and then Laban, boy, as soon as he saw that nose ring, come thou blessed to the Lord. Praise the Lord. Boy, every time I go to Starbucks and see a girl with a nose ring, I just say, praise the Lord. You blessed of the Lord. I mean, it's stupidity. It's nonsense. That's what happens when you start messing with the Bible. This is what the Bible says. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar. You know, it turns out you're a liar. You're an idiot. You end up looking like a fool when you change God's word. And so why is the NIV trying to promote nose rings is what I'd like to know. Maybe that's why I was just looking at the catalog that came from the Christian bookstore. They had a guy with two piercings in his lip. He was advertising a Christian T-shirt. And I was thinking to myself, this is insane. And by the way, he had that same little hairy patch that I'm talking about right under his lip, you know? That tiny little patch that they have. So sweet, isn't it? So cute. No, it's disgusting and filthy and perverted. And I don't know why you'd want to be associated with that crowd. What's wrong with having that little patch there? Why do you want to look like a sodomite? I want to look like a born-again Christian. I want to walk down the street and people think that I belong to Jesus Christ, not the world. But it's just amazing how the NIV is trying to promote a nose ring. He put the ring in her nose. I mean, it's unbelievable. I mean, does anybody even read the NIV? People must not even read it, you know? They just read the famous verses and so they don't even catch all the weird stuff that's in there. But anyway, on from that point, number one, my first point was that, look, God has made you beautiful. God has made you a great creation exactly the way that He wants you to be. Don't try to alter your appearance. Number two, God has specifically forbidden this altering and mutilating of your body's appearance that's so common in our day. But number three, what the world considers beautiful is not what God considers beautiful. Did you know that? I mean, the world, like I said, it goes in trends and it changes, up and down, what the world considers beautiful. Did you know that Hollywood is promoting a look that is not even attractive? But because it's been so pushed and promoted, people think it's attractive because it's just a herd mentality. It's like the emperor's new clothes. Everybody just goes along with it. This thing of in our day, just for an example, and I have several examples, but this overly skinny, anorexic look that's put forth in the movies, that's put forth by Hollywood, a normal man does not even find that attractive. How do you know? Because I am one, okay? Because I'm a man. And a normal man does not find this bony, skinny, overly anorexic look attractive. But women feel the need to just starve themselves and just try to make themselves as skinny as they can possibly be. Why? Because Hollywood has programmed them and brainwashed them that that's what they have to do to be accepted. I was thinking about this. We're looking at these catalogs for Christmas toys and they have this line of toys and maybe you've heard of it called Bratz. Have you ever heard of it? B-R-A-T-Z. And this is what it is. It's these girls that are so skinny. They look like they came out of a concentration camp. And they're so skinny and they just have like makeup on their face to where their face looks like an animal. I mean, they have such makeup on their face. I mean, their eyes are like giant and everything's real freakish and weird and they have a little miniskirt. Hey, don't let your kids play with that. It's just a toy. It's just a toy. Hey, you're programming their minds for life. You want to know who the most important people in this service today are? It's Solomon, Isaac, Ezra, Austin, Alexa. These are the most important people right up here, these kids sitting up here. These are the most important people in the service because they're the ones who haven't messed up their life. They're the ones who are learning for life what's right and wrong. They need to hear this more than anybody. And I'm going to tell you something, thinking that, well, when they're kids, big deal, they'll grow out of it. No, they won't. They'll grow into it even more. They'll grow into where they're living it. And that's why you see just the girls that have eating disorders in churches, in Christian schools, in Bible colleges that have eating disorders that abuse their own body because they're letting Hollywood tell them what is attractive and what is not. It's wrong. You say, why are you against, why do you hate TV? Is it because of all the cussing? It's because of all the nudity? No. The cussing and the nudity is wrong. But you know what? That's the least reason why I'm against TV. I'm against TV because TV programs your mind to think like the world thinks and to think like Satan wants you to think. And it programs your mind. I'm, you say, well, what about, you know, the cooking network? Watch the cooking channel. Look, the girl on the cooking channel is dressed promiscuously. Is she dressed like a fundamental Baptist? Is the news lady dressed in a skirt or is she wearing tight pants? Is she wearing a low-cut shirt or is she wearing a turtleneck? I'm just kidding. But anyway, look, she's not dressed like a fundamental Baptist. So you put your little three-year-old girl watching the TV just looking at all these sleazy hussies of Hollywood, and that's who her heroes are. That's what's wrong with TV, friend. That's the biggest thing that's wrong with TV is the heroes that you're putting in front of your children when you put TV on. But I was thinking about just how this whole thing, I mean, I don't have time. I have to skip over a lot of this. But the look that's put forth is just this superficial, artificial look, real skinny, unnatural, and not only that, but how about the excessive makeup is what's considered beautiful. This is the most beautiful woman, and she's just covered in makeup, just the thick makeup. I was thinking about just girls that I saw when I was at Bible college, and I'm not afraid to say they looked like a hooker because they had dark eye makeup on, just this black makeup around their eyes, and it was totally allowed. I was thinking about just the... And by the way, I did not allow my wife to wear any makeup, period. Now, I'm not saying it's a sin to put on any makeup. Don't get me wrong. But I'm saying that I don't allow her to wear any makeup, period. And there's several reasons for that. Number one is just because I'm selfish because why would I want to look at a bunch of makeup? I want to look at my beautiful, naturally beautiful wife that God made, and I think that what God made here is beautiful. And so I don't feel the need to cover that up. Good night. Look, hey, if I think my wife is beautiful, why would I paint it up and make it look different than what it really looks like? I think that... And that's the number one reason, is just my personal preference. But, you know, number two, I just don't even want to go down that road of Hollywood and the world. Now, I'm not saying that it's sinful to put on any makeup, but it is sinful to put on excessive makeup, and it is sinful to put on makeup like the world wears, period. And I'm not afraid to say that. That's the truth. And I was thinking about... And by the way, look, women look better without makeup. I talk to guys... Look, when I was a teenager, I talked to other guys. We all agreed that we liked women better without makeup. Girls are prettier without makeup. But the world tells you that you must wear makeup to be beautiful and to be attractive. And, you know, women are the ones who like makeup. Did you know that? Women are the ones who like makeup. Most men, if you talk to most men and say, do you prefer your wife with or without makeup? Every man I've ever asked that question to said, I prefer without makeup. And she, you know, she likes to put on the makeup. You know, that's what they say. But they... But he said, I prefer without the makeup. Because, look, man... A normal man thinks that his beautiful wife that God made is attractive and beautiful. He doesn't need all the frills and all the weird stuff that the world says that you ever... I've looked at women in public before. And I thought to myself, this woman is ugly, ugly, ugly. And it's not because God made her ugly. It's because she was just thick makeup on her face. And I thought to myself, boy, if you could peel off all that makeup, I guarantee you there's a beautiful girl under there. You know, I guarantee you she'd be a pretty girl. But right now, I just have to say that she looks as ugly as sin right now. Because she just has the caked-on makeup. And to me, that look of that extreme makeup is an ugly look to me. Period. I mean, I don't like it. And I don't think that a Godly... I don't think a Godly, righteous man is attracted to a painted-on face. Period. And I was... I was... I'm going to read this for you. This is... Where is it here? This is a humorous thing. But I couldn't help but read it because it's so funny. Because I was researching this subject. This is the history of makeup, okay? And I was reading through this, and I was just cracking up. I cannot believe it. And it goes so well with the sermon. But the earliest historical record of makeup comes from the first dynasty of Egypt, which is 3,000 years before Christ, okay? That's the earliest record they've ever found of me. But listen to this. During the European Middle Ages... And I'm only reading you the highlights here. During the European Middle Ages, pale skin was a sign of wealth. Sixth-century women sought drastic measures to achieve that look, that pale look, that pale look by bleeding themselves. Can you believe that? This is in the 580s. You've heard of that. I mean, a lot of people... Bled themselves so that they could be in fashion, so that they could look pale and white, okay? And now they go to the tanning booth. And that's just the opposite. But listen to this. Thirteenth... It says, although in contrast, this is in the sixth century, Spanish prostitutes wore pink makeup. Thirteenth century, because now we're in the 1200s, affluent women donned pink lipstick as proof that they could afford synthetic makeup. That sounds like a real good reason. During the Italian Renaissance, lead paint was used to lighten the face, which was very damaging to the wearer. Oh, really? Wow, I'm amazed. Cosmetics were seen as a health threat. And this is not a religious thing. This was on a makeup website. This is the history of makeup. This is not trying to say that it's bad. I mean, it's saying that it's good. Cosmetics were seen as a health threat in Elizabethan England, although women wore egg whites over their faces for a glazed look. Boy, I love that glazed look. I love some egg whites all over your face for me, honey. You can really shine. Okay, listen to this. During the reign of Charles II, heavy makeup began to surface as a means to contradict the power from being inside due to illness epidemics. During the French Restoration in the 18th century, red, rouge and lipstick were used to give the impression of a healthy, fun-loving spirit. Eventually, people in other countries became repulsed by excessive makeup. That's where I'm at, by the way. Repulsed by excessive makeup and claimed the painted French had something to hide. During the Regency era, the most important item was rouge, which was used by almost everyone. At that time, eyebrows were blackened and hair was dyed. To prevent a low hairline, a forehead bandage dipped in vinegar in which cat's dung had been steeped was worn. Can you believe this? During this era, white skin signified a life of leisure, while skin exposed to the sun indicated a life of outdoor labor. In order to maintain a pale complexion, women wore bonnets, carried parasols and covered all visible parts of their bodies with whiteners and blemish removers. Unfortunately, more than a few of these remedies were lethal. They actually kill you, it says. The most dangerous beauty aids during this time were white lead and mercury. I mean, those are two extremely poisonous substances. They not only eventually ruined the skin, but also caused hair loss, stomach problems, the shakes, and could even cause death. Although these dangers became known through the death of courtesan Kitty Fisher, the majority of women continued to use the deadly whiteners. During the 1800s, women would use belladonna to make their eyes appear more luminous, even though they were aware it was poisonous. Are you listening to this? Can you believe how people are so obsessed with their appearance, it damaged their body? Because they don't think what God created is beautiful enough. Many cosmetics were made by local pharmacists, known as apothecaries in England, and common ingredients included mercury and nitric acid. Hair dye was made from coal tar, which is now illegal in America. Yeah, I wonder why. Here are some beauty tips utilized during the late 1800s. For freckle removal... I don't think you can remove freckles, can you? And what's wrong with freckles anyway? I mean, freckles are nice. For freckle removal, bruise and squeeze the juice out of chickweed, add three times its quantity of soft water, then bathe the skin for 5 to 10 minutes morning and evening. As a wash for the complexion, one teaspoon of flour of sulfur... That's going to smell good, huh? One of sulfur and a wine glass full of lime water, well shaken and mixed with half a wine glass of glycerine and a wine glass of rose water, rub on the face every night before going to bed. And then to keep from hair from turning gray, four ounces of holes of butternuts were infused with a quart of water, to which half an ounce of coppers was added. This was to apply with a soft brush every two or three days to keep your hair from turning gray. Victorians abhorred makeup and associated its use with prostitutes and actresses. Many considered them one and the same. I'm one of them. Any visible hint of tampering with one's natural color would be looked upon with this stain. At that time, a respectable woman would use home-prepared face masks, most of which were based on foods such as oatmeal, honey, and egg yolk. Let's put it on the face. Listen to this. For a healthy look, red beet juice would be rubbed into the cheeks, or the cheeks would be pinched out of sight, of course. Pinching their cheeks to make them look red, like injuring their cheek and slapping themselves around, I guess. That's cheaper than blush, right? And then it says right here, for bright eyes, and this one takes the cake, for bright eyes, a drop of lemon juice in each eye would do just the trick. Can you imagine how that would hurt to put a drop of lemon juice in your eyes, how that would burn? It's unbelievable. The real evolution actually began during the 1910s. By then, women made their own form of mascara by adding hot beads of wax. Remember the candle-making activity? Hot beads of wax to the end of their eyelashes. Let me find my place here. Some women would use petroleum jelly for this purpose. The first mascara was formulated, was named after Mabel, the sister of its creator, T.L. Williams, who utilized this method. The mascara is known as Maybelline today. Also during this time, lipstick was tattooed onto the lips by George Burchette, who was also known as the beauty doctor. This method did not always work, and you can imagine the terrible consequences. The earliest version of an acid peel was used at this time, which was a combination of acid and electric currents applied to the skin. Also, a needle would be used to insert paraffin to the eye area and cheeks, although this, too, was not very successful. So they're putting a syringe near their eye and squeezing paraffin, I don't know what that is, into their eye area. To help with sagging jowls and double chins, women could purchase for wear a weird-looking attraction with chin straps, which obviously did not work. And so they would, like, strap their face up at night with an elastic strap and kind of hold it up, and then they'd take it off in the morning, and it looked exactly the same as it did before. It didn't do anything. And so they made some money selling it, though. However, the Victorian look remained in fashion until mass makeup marketing came about during the 1920s. And listen to this statement. The new emancipated women of America. That sounds gobbly, doesn't it? The new emancipated women of America began to display her independence by free use of red lipstick, which was often scented with cherry. From the 1930s through the 1950s, various movie stars proved to be the models for current trends in makeup. You know, I'm going to skip this for a second time, but then Max Factor is the man who invented modern-day makeup. The kind of makeup that you use today, the foundation and so forth. And he was the one who really made it take off. In 1904, Factor and his family emigrated to the United States from Poland. Factor made a new start in St. Louis, Missouri. He operated a business, you know, selling makeup and everything. And then it says in 1914, Factor created a makeup specifically for movie actors that, unlike theatrical makeup, would not crack or cake. Soon movie stars were filing through Max Factor's makeup studio, eager to sample the flexible grease paint. That's what they call it in that cool name. Flexible grease paint. While movie producers sought Factor's human hair wigs. Then listen to this. Factor marketed a range of cosmetics to the public in the 1920s insisting that every girl could look like a movie star by using Max Factor makeup. And he's actually the one who invented the word makeup, was Max Factor. He came up with that word in 1914. And so you see that women all throughout the ages have gone through just the most extreme and grueling processes to try to alter their appearance. I mean, they knew that it could kill them. And they're putting these poisonous substances on their body. Look, there's something wrong with that mentality of not respecting yourself the way that God made you. Not just being happy with the way that God has made you. Two times painting your face in those words is mentioned in the Bible. One, Jezebel painted her face. Number two, in Jeremiah 4.30, it's a negative example of a prostitute painting her face. In Jeremiah 4.30. And on and on, we could go through all this stuff. And so, boy, think about it. You say, well, are you saying all makeup's wrong? I'm saying, you know what? That's up to you whether you want to wear makeup or not. You know, the Bible doesn't say that somewhere, you know, all of a sudden I wear makeup. And I'm going to say to you something, why don't you just examine the whole philosophy behind it and think about it. And, you know, if you want to put on something just to make yourself, you know, cover something up to just make it look like maybe you're not wearing makeup, even though you're wearing a little something, that's different than this excessive makeup, is what I'm talking about. This makeup artificial fake look. But personally, my wife does not wear makeup. And that's the road that I choose to go down. But think about this. And I hope I'm not stepping on too many toes this morning. But think about this. Dyeing your hair, okay? You say, are you against dyeing your hair? Well, I was thinking about this. The main reason why people dye their hair is to get the gray out. You know, they want it to be brown or black or blonde or whatever it was when they were younger. And so they want to get that gray and hide it. And I was thinking about this. The Bible says in Proverbs 20, 29, let's see what God thinks. Don't let Hollywood tell you what looks good. This is what God says. Proverbs 20, 29 says, the glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is the gray head. So what does God say is beautiful? He says, I think it's beautiful for an old man to have gray hair. That's why I made it that way. Wow, doesn't that shock you that I think that it looks good for a man to have gray hair when that's the way I created it? That's what he says. And then another place, there's a word that's used, hoary. H-O-A-R-Y. Hoary means white. And you can always get the definitions from the Bible. The Bible talks about the hoary frost of heaven. You know, it's white. It's white in color. And the Bible says, by the way, the Bible says, thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man and fear thy God, I am the Lord. The Bible says that you're supposed to stand up when elderly people enter the room. That's from the Bible. You might not have known that. But this is the verse I wanted to emphasize. Proverbs 16, 31. The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. He says, you know, a gray head on a man that's a righteous man, he said, that's like a crown of glory, an achievement. And yet, men, because they don't study the Bible, because they don't let the Bible formulate their thinking, because women do not let the Bible decide for them what's beautiful and what's not, what God has created beautiful, what is not. They let Hollywood and the world tell you, hide that gray. Don't have gray hair. Color it. Make it a different color. But I was even thinking about this. What about just dying in here from, like, brown to blonde, from blonde to red, from red to brown, whatever. And I was thinking about it. Look, God made you the way you are. Why are you trying to change the way that God made you? And not only that, but I, you know, I was just, I was just thinking about the mentality that says, I'm going to damage my hair with chemicals, because all hair dyes is somewhat damaging. I'm going to damage my hair to make it a different color, because I don't like the color that God gave me. Look, you say, well, I just look better with blonde hair. Oh, really? Let's see what God thinks. I think God thinks that you look better with brown hair. That's why God gave you brown hair. And if you have blonde hair, it's because God thinks you look better with blonde hair. And, you know, women who dye their hair, it's not a natural look. And tell me something. Which hair is more beautiful, the undyed or the dyed hair? Well, how did God make it? And so I'm not trying to, you know, rip anybody's face off or tell anybody that they're wrong. I'm trying to encourage you and say, look, well, if you're covered in makeup, maybe I will rip your face off. I'm just kidding. But anyway, I'm trying to just tell you, I'm just trying to encourage you, look, God knows what he's doing. Don't go through life with some complex about the way that you look because the world tells you that you have to look a certain way. Look, have the faith in God's word to know that God loves you the way you are and God has created you the way you are and God wants you to be the way you are because he made you that way. And, you know, there's a special purpose that God has for my life and there's a purpose that God has for your life and if I'm going to accomplish that purpose, it's probably going to be the way that he made me is the way that I'm going to be able to best accomplish that purpose. You know, I was thinking about, who was it? There was some missionary and the story is failing me, but there was a missionary who was short and his whole life he was upset about being short. You know, but then he went to Asia as a missionary and he fit right in because he was short. You know, he was the right height and it was actually a blessing because he didn't just tower above them. You know, he was right down on their level. You know, look him in the eye. And, you know, believe it or not, I was very short growing up. I was always the shortest kid in my class. Now I'm about, you know, five, ten and a half, probably average white man height, I guess, you know, right about that. But I'm going to tell you something. My whole life I was short and I was the shortest kid in the class. You know, who knows how God used that? You know, God might have used that in some way to put me with certain friends. You know, all my friends were short, you know. And so he might have just wanted me to hang around with certain people or maybe he was trying to keep me away from certain people. Or who knows why. But I guarantee you there's a reason why I grew up. I was short growing up. I'll guarantee you. And at the time, do you think I liked being short? No. I didn't like being the shortest kid in the class. But I guarantee you that God had a purpose in that and I think God was right when he made me short growing up. And now I'm, you know, five, ten and a half and I'm sure there's a reason why I'm that height. And that's the height that God has made me. I remember a guy that I knew, he said that his whole life he was short and he was still short. I want to say he was like five four or five five or maybe not quite that short, but he was pretty short. He was very short. And he said his whole life he hated being short but then he met his wife and she was like five two. And so it was like the perfect differential. You know, and if he would have been a big tall man and she was really short, who knows, you know. And so it worked out perfect. And he said, you know, now I'm glad I was short because I met my wife and it was like a perfect match. And so you don't know what God is doing. Don't change the way you are. Hey, be the way that God made you. You want to be the most beautiful you. You know, it's like an advertisement brought to you by Faithful Word Baptist Church. Your most beautiful you today. You know, come to Faithful Word Baptist Church and you'll find the most beautiful you for 2007. It's called being the way that God made you because everything God makes is perfect. Everything God makes is right. So go home, take a shower and stand in front of the mirror and say, this is what God wants me to look like and I look great, okay? And I believe that. And I'm telling you, if every woman in this world was just natural and just looked the way that God made them, the whole world would be a much more beautiful place. Period. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. God, I thank you so much for telling us how much you love us and you express your love to us in so many different ways throughout the Bible and especially Psalm 139 is a chapter that really gets a hold of my heart every time I read it. And you're just expressing your love to each of your children, dear God. And Father, I just pray that you'd help everyone in this room to realize that you love them and that they're the way that they are for a reason and that God created them the way that they are for a reason and that you love them exactly the way they are and you made them that way and you made them a creature exactly the way you want them to be created. And Father, I just pray that we would know and perceive the love that God has for us, as the Bible says. Because if we're going to love our neighbor, we must learn to love ourself. We have to love our neighbor as ourself, dear God. And so please just help us to respect ourselves and love ourselves and not to mutilate ourselves, but to be happy with the way that you made us, be happy with our lot in life, happy with everything that you've given us, dear God. Praise the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, the men would praise the Lord for his wonderful works toward the children of men. And God, thank you so much for your marvelous creation that shows us...