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

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Faithful Word Baptist Church. If you would, please find your seats and we'll begin our service this evening. When you find your seat, take a hymnal and turn, if you would, to song number 413. Song number 413. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross. Song number 413. Sing it out on the first. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross. Lift high his royal manner in the spots of her laws. From memory unto victory his armies shall be. To Jericho is made, Christian Christ is Lord in me. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, a strong and humble babe. To the mighty conflict in his glorious name. Stand up and now serve him against the number one. And roar and cry to danger and strength to strength of one. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, a strong and humble babe. We are the flesh to fail you. We bear not a trust for all. Put on his gospel armor and watch in us to fare. Do what he calls for danger, be never wanting there. Many great singing. Let's bow out and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity to be here at church this evening. Please fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit as he preaches unto us and open our hearts to hear the message. And it's in Jesus' name that I pray, amen. Next, if you would, turn in your songbooks to song number 411, just two pages back. Song number 411, hold the fort. Song number 411. Oh, my comrades, see the signal waving in the sky. Reinforcements now appearing, victory is nigh. Hold the fort, for I am coming. Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven. By thy grace, we will see the mighty host advancing, Satan leaning on. Mighty man around us, fighting for his life. By thy grace, we will see the mighty host advancing, Satan leaning on. Mighty man around us, falling, courage almost gone. Hold the fort, for I am coming. Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven. By thy grace, we will see the glorious banner waving near the trumpet blow. In our leader's name, we'll triumph over every foe. Hold the fort, for I am coming. Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven. By thy grace, we will see the last. Fierce and long the battle rages, but our help is near. Onward comes our great commander, cheer, my comrades cheer. Hold the fort, for I am coming. Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven. By thy grace, we will. Amen. Great singing, everybody. All right, at this time, we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bullet, then slip up your hand nice and high, and we'll get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Psalm 75. We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page, there is a baby shower coming up for Shannon Betty. And this is going to be on Sunday, April the 6th at 2 p.m. at the church. So just about three weeks from now. And then, is that right? Three weeks from now, right? One, two, three. I don't know. Who knows? Maybe it's only two weeks from now. Three weeks from now. Thank you. Okay. Three weeks from now. And so bring a dish to share. So we'll provide the cake and punch, but there will be like a potluck element as well. And we prefer only nurselings as far as children to come along. Keep praying for all of our expectant ladies that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. And then we've got the note at the bottom, thanking everyone. Mrs. Anderson thanking everyone for all of the birthday surprise messages and gifts on Wednesday night. So that was really nice. And she loved it. She's of course not here because she's on the missions trip. And I've been getting all the, I'm in the WhatsApp group for the cruise trip. So I'm getting blown up with all the notifications of everything they're doing. So everybody seems happy and settling in and everything. Tomorrow is going to be the biggest day of soul winning. There's three big soul winning days. Tomorrow is probably going to be the best one, you know, God willing. And so pray that they have a great trip and that they can get a lot of people saved. That they can just, you know, be directed and be led to the people who are open, who are receptive, who want to hear the gospel. Because there are a lot of people out there that want the truth and they need a preacher. How will they hear without a preacher, right? If our gospel is hid, it's hid to them that are lost. And so let's pray that our team isn't just spinning their wheels or, you know, wasting time. Let's pray that they can actually have some good, productive preaching of the gospel. So stay tuned for some great updates out of that trip. And then on the back we've got the mother daughter tea party coming up. Get signed up for that if you haven't already. Below that we've got other upcoming events listed and that is about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days. So going back to Thursday, the 20th, anything from Thursday. Okay. Got it. Got it. Anything else from Thursday? How about Friday? Anything from Friday? Okay. Okay. Alright. And then what about Saturday? Okay. Anything else from Saturday? What about today Sunday, Brother Scott? Nine for the main group with Brother Scott. Gotcha in the back. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. And there we go. All right. All right. Very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning with that. Let's sing our next song. Come lead us. All right. There should be an insert in the front of your hymnal with the song entitled Psalm 81. Psalm 81. If you need one, raise your hand and one of the ushers will get you one. We'll sing Psalm 81. Sing aloud unto God our strength. Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take us on praise. We thither the temple of pleasure. Hark with the psaltery. The lonely trumpet in the new moon. In the time avoided on our song he sang. For his blood's a statue for Israel and the law of the God of Jacob. There's me your name in Joseph. For a testimony when he went down. Through the land of Egypt where I heard the language that I understood not. I removed his sword from the burden. His hands were delivered from the post. Thou caused the trouble by the wind and earth. The night ends to be the sacred place of wonder. I'm breathing on the waters of the river. Sing aloud, O my people. And I will testify unto thee. Israel now will market unto me. There's no strange God in me. Neither shall thou worship any strange God. I am the Lord thy God which brought me out of the land of Egypt. For I know why and I fulfill it. But my people will not hearken to my voice. And Israel would not be so. I gave them welcome to their own much much. And they walked in their own counsel. But my people have hearkened unto me. And Israel have walked in my ways. To pass them to their enemies. And turn my hand against their adversaries. The leaders of the world should have submitted. Should have submitted themselves unto him. But their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also. With the finest of the wheat and clay of money. And the crown of the Lord should I have satisfied thee. The Lord should I have satisfied thee. Amen. Next, lastly, turn in your hymnals to song number 416. Song number 416, As a Volunteer. Song number 416, A Call to the Loyal Soldiers. A Pounds of One and All. Song number 416, sing it out on the first. A call to the loyal soldiers, as to one and all. A call to the volunteer, as to whom we've been called. We've answered correctly and kept them ready to hear. We'll be the enlisted as a volunteer. A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. The wonders have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the crafted, we will never fear. We'll be the enlisted as a volunteer. Yes, Jesus knows the whole truth, the whole truth in his power. He knows it will serve him every day and hour. He will not forsake you, he is never near. We'll be the enlisted as a volunteer. A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. The wonders have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the crafted, we will never fear. We'll be the enlisted as a volunteer. He's always here to help you with your heart and spine. He knows why he's broken and broken for mankind. Now he's broken for you, causing it to clear. We'll be the enlisted as a volunteer. A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. The wonders have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the crafted, we will never fear. We'll be the enlisted as a volunteer. And when the war is over and the victory won, When the true and faithful gather one by one, We will crown their glory all who dare appear. We'll be the enlisted as a volunteer. A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. The wonders have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the crafted, we will never fear. We'll be the enlisted as a volunteer. Amen. Great singing everybody. Alright, at this time we'll pass our offering plates around. Let's turn our Bibles to Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12 tonight. And as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Proverbs chapter 12, starting in verse number 1. In Proverbs chapter 12 the Bible reads, Who so loveth instruction loveth knowledge, But he that hateth reproof is brutish. A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord, But a man of wicked devices will he condemn. A man shall not be established by wickedness, But the root of the righteous shall not be moved. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, But she that maketh ashamed is as rotten as in his bones. The thought of the righteous are right, But the counsels of the wicked are deceit. The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood, But the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. The wicked are overthrown and are not, But the house of the righteous shall stand. A man shall be commended according to his wisdom, But he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. He that is despised and hath a servant Is better than he that on earth himself and lacketh bread. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread, But he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. The wicked desireth the net of evil men, But the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit. The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips, But the just shall come out of trouble. A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, And the recompense of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. A fool's wrath is presently known, But a prudent man covereth shame. He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, But a false witness deceit. There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established forever, But a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil, But to the counselors of peace is joy. There shall no evil happen to the just, But the wicked shall be filled with mischief. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord, But they that deal truly are his delight. A prudent man concealeth knowledge, But the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, But the slothful shall be under tribute. Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, But a good word maketh it glad. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor, But the way of the wicked seduceeth them. The slothful man rosteth not that which he took in hunting, But the substance of a diligent man is precious. In the way of righteousness is life, And in the pathway thereof there is no death. Dear Heavenly Father and Lord, thank you for bringing us back to church tonight. Thank you for all the soul owners doing the work for you. Please fill Pastor Anderson with the Holy Spirit so that he may preach boldly from the Bible so that we can be edified by the sermon. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Man, the title of my sermon this evening is Embarrassing Your Family, Embarrassing Your Family. Now the Bible doesn't use this exact wording in the book of Proverbs when it talks about embarrassing your family, but the term that it does use is shaming your family, bringing shame to your family. And if you study the Bible, you're going to find that the word shame comes up quite a bit. This is a big theme in the Bible. And in fact, many scientists and anthropologists have even talked about shame-based cultures versus honor-based cultures and, you know, different ways that different societies will treat people in order to encourage good behavior or discourage bad behavior. And really, there should be some element of shame in our society. We shouldn't just be shameless fools that just act however, do whatever. There should be some stigma on certain behaviors where, you know, people would be ashamed to do certain things because it's an embarrassment to themselves. Not only that though, we shouldn't want to embarrass our families. We don't want to make our parents ashamed of us or make other family members embarrassed or ashamed to be associated with us and just kind of bring shame upon the family name in general. I remember one time when I was a kid hearing about how we had an extended, you know, a relative, I'm not going to say who it was, it was like in our extended family. And this young teenage boy, you know, he really liked the band The Cure from the 80s, you know, some of you that are my age, you know, you know what I'm talking about. So he was into The Cure but he decided to adopt the look of the lead singer of The Cure and his dad was a pastor. Okay, so his dad's this liberal, watered down pastor and this teenage guy that's living in his parents' home, you know, just starts looking like Robert Smith from The Cure and so his hair's all punked out, he's wearing makeup on his face, just looking like a weirdo and this liberal pastor, like, didn't know how to handle it because he's so liberal and watered down, he's not really necessarily going to stand up to something like this. And he was sitting down and saying to my parents like, you know, we were just trying to ask ourselves though, like, are we offended by this because it's wrong or are we offended by this just because it embarrasses us and it's just kind of embarrassing to go out in public with our son looking like this absolute freak punk. What is it? And I'm thinking to myself, you know what, here's the thing, let's just say for a second that there was absolutely nothing wrong with looking that way, okay. Let's say the only problem was that you're embarrassing and humiliating your parents by looking like Robert Smith from The Cure when you go to the grocery store. Well, guess what, that should be enough of a reason right there not to do it but for some reason people are offended by that, like, oh, I should just be able to act however I want and look however I want and express myself however I want and if my parents are ashamed of me, that's on them. If my siblings are ashamed of me, that's on them. No, my friend, do not be a person who brings shame and embarrassment and humiliation upon your family by being foolish. I think we can all agree that a man who puts on makeup, punks out his hair and dresses like he's in The Cure is an embarrassment. Just kind of, I don't even think that's really subjective. But even if it were subjective, why would you want to embarrass and humiliate your dad who's a pastor by looking like something that is not what you'd expect a church, you know, person to look like? And look, we could go into the Bible and all the reasons and we're going to but, you know, I just thought I'd tell that story just to show how out of touch people are with this idea that you shouldn't embarrass your family, okay? Now, let's look at the scripture tonight. We just read in Proverbs chapter 12. It says in verse number 4, a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband but she that maketh ashamed is as rotten as in his bones. Now, we have a contrast here between the virtuous woman who's a crown to her husband. What is a crown, right? A crown is a symbol of authority. You put a crown on your head and we know you're the king. You have authority. But not only is it a symbol of authority, it's also a decoration. It's an ornament. And so the idea here is that the virtuous woman is an adornment, an ornament makes him look good, makes him look like he's a boss, makes him look like he's in charge. Isn't that exactly what a crown does? Makes you look important, makes you look like a boss, makes you look good. Hey, the virtuous woman is making her husband look good. Whereas, she that maketh ashamed is as rotten as in his bones. The one who embarrasses her husband, who makes her husband ashamed, man, that is like rottenness in his bones. And if you think about your health, you've got your skin, you've got muscles, you've got all kinds of tissue, you've got the circulatory system. Obviously, your blood is super important to your health. And then, you know, the bone is in many ways the deepest part of who you are, right? So, you know, we're looking at an x-ray or something. You know, kind of the last thing that you're kind of piercing into the deepest component would be like the inside of your bones as far as like getting down to the... And, of course, we know that bones are also important to your health because bones aren't just providing the structure of your body and, you know, holding you up and keeping you from collapsing, but your bones are also producing blood, right? The bone marrow inside the bones is also important to your health. And so inside the bones, you've got the marrow. And just imagine, and I'm not a medical expert, you know, we've got Dr. Sharma here, but the thing is, I'm not a medical expert on these things, but I'm sure that having some kind of like infection or rottenness or problem in your bone marrow would be probably severe. It would be something very bad, difficult to treat, and something that could probably kill you or... Am I in the ballpark? Yeah, I mean, it just seems like one of the worst things that you would want to go wrong is for that bone marrow to get rotten. And that's the idea here, is that the woman who makes her husband ashamed and embarrasses him, she's like rottenness in his bones. I mean, it's not just a flesh wound. It's not just a scrape or a cut or something external where you can put some salve on, put a Band-Aid on it. No, this is something that you can't even fix because it's so deep inside. You would take some kind of extreme surgery or something to deal with it. Or maybe just amputation, right? It's horrible. And so the Bible is using some pretty strong language to say, you know, if you're a woman who embarrasses her husband, you're like rottenness in his bones. I mean, it's so destructive down to the deepest core of his being. Wow. You know, that should really speak to you ladies to think, hey, you know what? I want to be a crown to my husband. I don't want to be rottenness in his bones by embarrassing him. Now, what are some of the ways that women could embarrass their husbands? Well, here's one. How about mouthing off to him publicly? Now, look, you shouldn't be mouthing off to your husband even privately, right? You shouldn't be disrespectful, rude, talking down to him. But how much more is it a sin to do that publicly and embarrass him in front of his friends, embarrass him in front of colleagues, work people, maybe boss at work or employees or whatever? I mean, it's just so much worse when it's happening publicly. And again, some people when they hear this kind of preaching, they're just like, oh, you just care so much what people think about you. You just care about your images. Look, my friend, a good name is rather to be chosen than silver. Doesn't the Bible talk about that? And all of a sudden in 2025, we're just not supposed to care at all if we're being humiliated by our family, being humiliated by a wife, being humiliated by children, being humiliated by whoever. All of a sudden that just doesn't matter, right? And look, I get it that Christ made himself of no reputation, but that doesn't change the fact that the Bible says a good name is rather to be chosen than silver. So we've got to balance these two ideas. See, the idea here is that I'm willing to sacrifice my reputation. I'm willing for my name to be mud. I'm willing to suffer reproach for the cause of Christ. But what I'm not interested in is being humiliated for no reason because someone's an idiot, because someone's being stupid, because someone's looking like a weirdo, because someone's acting like a fool. OK, there's just no purpose for it, is there? And so we should want to preserve the family name, preserve the family honor, have a good reputation personally. Here's another word, if you don't like the word reputation, that Christians will typically use in evangelical circles. I almost said like circuses, but some of these churches are a circus, OK, fun center churches. But here's the thing, in evangelical circles, this is what they'll call it, your, it starts with a T, your testimony, right? And they'll say, hey, you want to have a good testimony, take care of your testimony, preserve your testimony. And that's really just kind of another way of saying your reputation, just kind of like a Christianized way of saying that. And so, yeah, you know, you don't want to embarrass your husband by mouthing off to him, being disrespectful to him publicly, you know, refusing to obey publicly, you know, in front of other people, or, you know, just a situation where you start telling stories about your husband that are not flattering of him. Because here's the thing, when you're married to someone, you know a lot about that person. You know everything about them because you are with them all day, every day, day in, day out. You see them at their finest hour, and you see them at their worst. And we all have moments that are not our best hour, right? And so what you don't want to do is go around telling stories, and here's a clue, if your husband says, hey, I don't like that story, stop telling it. How about that, right? Or, hey, you know, don't tell stories that make me look like an idiot, or something like that. Oh, you just care what people think about you. Well, look, I'm sorry, no normal human being wants to look like a fool. And so there's a difference between just being so worried what everybody thinks about you, and just not wanting to look like an absolute fool. And look, I can prove to you that this is a righteous feeling that's in everybody's heart to just want to not look like an absolute fool, and Jesus Christ, when he was on the cross, you know what it says about Jesus? He despised the shame. So Jesus isn't just like, oh, I don't care that I'm stripped naked, I don't care that I'm being spat upon, I don't care that I'm being made fun of. Yeah, he did care. He despised the shame. So if I despise the shame, if you despise the shame, if anybody despises being ashamed, humiliated, made fun of, it's kind of just a normal human emotion that even Jesus Christ had. So apparently it's pretty normal to not want to be humiliated or embarrassed by your spouse, okay? And obviously we can flip this over, because obviously there are a lot of ways that a husband could embarrass his wife publicly as well, right? And so obviously if a husband tells a story or an anecdote that makes his wife look like a fool, right? Now he's embarrassing her, and that's a punk thing to do as well, okay? Or here's the thing, yeah, obviously the husband's the head of the wife, the wife should obey her husband, but what if the husband is just treating his wife very rudely and disrespectfully in front of other people? Then that could be embarrassing and humiliating for her to be treated like a doormat in front of other people instead of being treated kindly, honorably, respectfully. And so this really is a two-way street, okay? The Bible is specifically homing in on the woman who makes her husband ashamed, but you know, you could flip this over. Obviously we don't want to embarrass and humiliate our wives either, and so we should treat them in a way where we don't make them look stupid or weird in public, okay? And you know, this sermon should be common sense, but it's not, but it's not, because you got husbands embarrassing their wives, you got wives embarrassing their husbands, telling stories. You know, there's a pastor in our area who was discharged from the military for telling his drill instructor that he was gay. That's pretty embarrassing. It's a pretty stinkin' embarrassing story. And the funny thing is that his wife told that story in a restaurant with about 40 people there. So the cat's out of the bag, why bro didn't make it in the Marine Corps because he told the drill instructor that he was a sodomite? I mean, look, I've never done anything like that. You've never done anything like that. But if you had done that, would you want your wife telling that story to a crowded restaurant at a church activity? No, you wouldn't, because that'd be super embarrassing, super humiliating, super shameful that you had done such a thing. And you know, this guy's, you know, he probably is one, if you know this guy. But the point is that, you know, that kind of stuff is obviously just bizarre to see a woman that would do something like that and not think this through. Like, hey, wait a minute, maybe if he wanted to share this story, he'd probably be sharing it himself. You know, if he wanted to say, hey, I'm just like Jimi Hendrix, I got kicked out of the military for being a faggot, you know. And so, hey, I want to tell that story. No, you don't tell it for him. That's crazy. And you're just like, wow, but it's a true story. Anyway, Proverbs chapter 12, we talked about the woman that embarrasses her husband. We kind of flipped it over to and said, hey, you don't want to embarrass your wife either, right? It's normal to not want to be humiliated. So don't humiliate other people. Therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets. You don't want your spouse to humiliate you. You shouldn't humiliate your spouse. Amen? Pretty simple. Look at verse 15 of chapter 12. It says, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. And so a lot of times, we think that things are okay or we might have a way that seems right unto us, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And so we need to listen to other people. And the way that I want to specifically apply this verse in light of the subject tonight is that there are certain things where society will kind of let you know, hey, this is weird. This is stupid. You look like a freak. And if everyone around you is kind of giving you that vibe that this is stupid, this is weird, you look like a freak, then why don't you hearken to counsel? Instead of just having every way be right in your own eyes and just saying, well, I'm just going to have my hair sticking out everywhere. I'm going to paint my face with clown makeup like the lead singer for The Cure and I'm just going to wear all black and just look like an absolute gothic punk freak or whatever going to the store. You know, everybody's looking at you for a reason. You're getting stared at. You're getting ostracized. People think it's weird for a reason. If the whole church is like, you're weird, you should stop and think about that and say, hey, maybe I'm behaving in a shameful manner. Okay. Now, look, if you're doing what the Bible says and everybody gets mad at you, keep doing what the Bible says. The Bible didn't tell you to look like a freak. Verse 16 says this, a fool's wrath is presently known but a prudent man covereth shame. Okay. It can be embarrassing when you lose your temper, get angry and start saying all kinds of wild things maybe about people and you start just throwing all kinds of accusations and hurling. And look, a lot of embarrassment that we see publicly is we see, for example, a husband and wife fighting with each other publicly and why are they yelling and being embarrassing publicly is because they're angry. Right. Somebody loses their temper and it's like why can't this wait until later when you're at home or whatever. But anger can sometimes fuel this shameful behavior. Right. Or you're so mad that you're just going to tell everybody, you know, whatever. A fool's wrath is presently known. Right. Idiots, as soon as they get mad, everybody knows about it and they say shameful, bizarre things. A prudent man covers shame. Okay. So if there's something embarrassing in the family, if there's something unfortunate that happens, you know, you don't go broadcasting it to the entire world. Okay. He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness but a false witness deceit. There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword but the tongue of the wise is health. There is that speak, or excuse me, the lip of truth shall be established forever but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Look, another way of embarrassing your family is to lie about them. Right. And bear false witness and say untrue things about them. And here's the thing. The lip of truth is but for a moment. You know, a lot of people, they get, excuse me, the lip of truth is established forever. The lying tongue is but for a moment. The lying tongue is but for a moment. Think about it. You know, people get their little moment in the sun by lying, slandering, telling stories that aren't true and they kind of get their little 15 minutes of fame but in the long run they're exposed to be the frauds and liars that they are. Whereas the lip of truth is established forever. You know, the truth stands forever. Lying is just something that, oh, I can get everybody excited for a minute and go viral for a minute. You know, normally my sermons get 20 to 30 views but if I lie about Pastor Anderson I can get 9,000. Joe Major, excuse me, sorry. You know, week after week it's 20 to 30 views, lie about Pastor Anderson, slander Pastor Anderson, it's 9,000. And you can see why the temptation would be there if you're just like 20 views, 30 views, 20 views and it's like 9,000. You know what? You're going to get that little dopamine hit when you see that 9,000 views and you're thinking like, let's do another one. Let's do another one. But here's the thing about drugs, okay? You know, the second time isn't as good as the first time and the tenth time isn't as good as the third time. So, you know, you're not going to get 9,000 views every time. It's going to go 9,000, 4,000. Pretty soon it's just going to be like, you know, you're getting 85 instead of 5, you know, or whatever. And so, you know, yeah, you can sometimes have short term gains by lying and telling stories and getting attention but in the end of the day the truth is going to be known, the truth is going to come out in the long run and that lying lip is just for a moment. The lip of truth is established forever. Verse 20, deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil but the counselors of peace is joy. There shall no evil happen to the just but the wicked shall be filled with mischief. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord but they that deal truly are his delight. A prudent man can seal with knowledge but the heart of fools proclaims foolishness. Go back if you would to chapter 10. So what have we said so far? We said, first of all, don't embarrass your wife, don't embarrass your husband. Not only that, we saw that sometimes anger is the catalyst for you humiliating family because you lose your temper at some family gathering, you lose your temper at Applebee's or whatever, you know, and you start yelling all kinds of crazy things and you start saying things or, you know, you make a YouTube video or whatever and you humiliate people through your anger. A fool's wrath is presently known but a prudent man covers shame. And, you know, I hate to bring up this illustration again because it was kind of embarrassing for moi but I will bring it up. You know, like the fact that when I was at the airport a few months ago and I got caught, you know, with my zipper down and somebody had to tell me but this guy, he covered shame because he told me privately and didn't make a big scene about it or embarrass me. He just kind of came up and just put his arm around me and just, hey, you know, and let me know and I was able to fix it right away, okay. See, that's how we should be as people is, you know, yeah, help people fix things, keep things quiet. You know, if I see you with your zipper down, I'm not just going, everybody, what, you know, but that's juvenile, isn't it? Think about it. It's like that's what a little 7-year-old, 8-year-old, 9-year-old would do. Hey, everybody, you know, here's the thing. Look, if somebody has something embarrassing happen, you know, they're flies down, they, you know, and, you know, we could really get crazy and say somebody pees their pants or something, you know. You know, little kids are just going to run with that, aren't they? Hey, everybody, look, you know, but here's the thing, kind people, loving people would want to help that person and say, hey, you know, let's cover this. Oh, it's a big cover up. Here's the thing about cover up, okay, is that the Bible says that we should cover it. Love covers a transgression. He that seeketh love covers a transgression, okay. It's not a cover up, okay, when you don't just publicly broadcast everyone's sins to the world and humiliate as many people as possible. That's not a cover up, okay. If someone commits murder, rape, molestation and we don't turn them into the authority, that's a cover up, right. If some pastor is committing adultery or embezzling money and gambling with it and we don't, you know, deal with, that's a cover up, okay. But broadcasting everyone's sins to the world is not necessary. And it's not a cover up if I catch someone with their zipper down and just quietly go to that person and say, hey, your zipper's down, pull up your zipper. Yeah, but I mean, them with their zipper down rebuke before all. I mean, it's just stupid. But this is the way people think because they're immature baby Christians. That's why they feel like they just want to just expose everyone. Look, what if one of our church members is out in the parking lot smoking? Is it, who thinks, who here thinks that smoking is a good thing for Christians to do, it's a great thing for Christians to do, it's healthy, it's righteous, it's godly. Who here thinks Jesus would be smoking? No. We all know smoking's bad, don't we? Everybody agree with that? We all know that. But here's the thing. If I saw somebody smoking out in the parking lot, which I have seen people smoking in this parking lot a bunch of times, church members out there sneaking a cigarette thinking they so sly. Here's the thing. Whenever I've seen that, you know what I did? Absolutely nothing. And I'm not going to go telling them, hey, did you know that brother so-and-so smokes? Hey, you know, whispering and backbiting. Hey, did you know sister so-and-so, oh, it's a big cover-up about this. Look, if I found out, and obviously this is an absurd example because none of my pastor friends smoke or ever will smoke. That would be an absurd, you know, thing to actually happen. But here's the thing. Let's just say that I found out that one of my pastor friends had started smoking cigarettes. I'm not talking cigarette weed, I'm talking cigarettes, okay. Let's say I found out that one of my pastor friends, you know, maybe he used to smoke tobacco and maybe fell back into that or something and was just, you know, you got, you know, sometimes the ministry will drive you to these things, you know. So, you know, let's say I found out that one of my pastor friends smoked cigarettes, which like I said, there's been no hint of this. But let's say I found out that one of my pastor friends smoked cigarettes, okay. And I basically just said, hey, man, that's stupid. Stop doing it. You shouldn't do that, right. That's what I would say because that's what I would say to any, any of my friends started smoking, I would tell them, don't do that. Like even if they're not a pastor, just, it's just dumb. You don't want to hurt your health, it's bad for you, you know, it's bad for your testimony. You know what, you want to know the last thing I would do is just, is just expose to the world that he smokes or something. Oh, big cover up, cover up, you know, about pastors. Here's the thing is because it's, yes, it's wrong, yes, it's a sin, but is it really like a big deal like that would get you kicked out of church or something? No, right. And here's the thing, we in our lives, as we go through life here at Faith Forward Baptist Church, obviously we have hundreds of people in our church, we're going to see each other around town. So let's ever just, you know, fortuitously run into people around town, you just, you're out at a restaurant, you're out at the park or whatever and you run into other church members all the time. I run into you all the time, you know, because we live like a mile apart. So, you know, we run into each other all the time, right. So sometimes you might, you know, you might catch somebody smoking a cigarette or somebody's not dressed right or something or whatever. And here's the thing, I'm not, I'm not condoning those kind of behaviors. But what I am saying is that, you know what, everybody's human, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, everybody's at different stages of Christian growth. And if you go and just tell other people that just in order to embarrass someone and, oh, I caught somebody, you know, buying this thing I don't approve of or, you know, I caught somebody dressed wrong or I caught somebody smoking a cigarette or something, you know. It's, it's wickedness on your part to just want to just revel in other people's shame instead of seeking love and covering the transgression as the Bible says. He that covereth the transgression seeketh love. And so what's the Bible saying here? You know, that the prudent man, Proverbs 12, 16, covers shame. He covers his own shame and he covers other people's shame. And again, we're not talking about murderers, rapists, child molesters, that's not what we're talking about. That stuff needs to go straight to the authorities. That stuff needs to be exposed. We're not talking about pastors running off with the secretary or something. That stuff needs to be exposed, obviously. But then people, because we'll expose these major things, damnable heretics, pastors committing adultery or something, you know, huge embezzlement scams or something, then all of a sudden bozos will get this attitude, oh, expose every sin. Everything that's said in the ear is going to be shouted from the housetops. That is not what that verse means. You're twisting that. You're taking it out of context to just say, well, everything I hear, I'm just going to broadcast to the world. You know what? That's what little immature kids do. And you know what it reminds me of when I was a kid? I had a bad habit of just repeating everything I heard. If I heard it, I'd just repeat it. To where my family gave me the nickname, and this is when I was like three or four, they called me the tape recorder. And they said, be careful what you say in front of the tape recorder. Because whatever you say, he's just going to repeat it later. And so, you know, you're not going to keep a secret around Stephen. That's what they would say. But you know what? That was when I was three, not 43. And it's pretty sad when you're 23, 33, 43, and you're still the tape recorder that just has to just embarrass everyone, humiliate everyone, shame everyone, because you're this crusader for truth. And you know what I've noticed about these so-called truth crusaders that want to shame and humiliate and embarrass everyone else and point out everyone else's little sins? You know what I've noticed about these people is that they're not into truth about their own sins. So they're not into just telling everybody all their own sins. They just want to tell everybody else's sins. You know, and they're just obsessed with truth for other people. You know what I mean? But then it's like, and look, exposing other people's little sins or things that you don't agree with, you know, it says more about you than it says about them. And so I think I had you turn to chapter 10. Here's another way to embarrass your family. It says in Proverbs chapter 10 verse 4, he becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand. Right? So if you're a slacker, if you're not working hard, you're not diligent, you go to work and loaf around, you're going to get poor. Right? He becometh poor that deals with a slack hand. But the hand of the diligent maketh rich. Not only does he necessarily become rich, but he's making rich. He's making the company rich. He's making everybody money. Everybody wins. The hand of the diligent makes the people around him rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son. But he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. And you can see how these two verses go together because one of them is about being lazy versus being diligent. And then it goes right into that son that gathers in the summer, meaning he's on the ball. It's hot outside. That doesn't stop him from being out in the field, Johnny on the spot, getting that harvest done. Right? He that gathers in summer is a wise son. But he that sleepeth in harvest, right? This guy, it's already autumn, the weather's already cooling down, and the harvest isn't in yet, and he is relaxing, sleeping. He's not getting it done. He's a son that causes shame. Here's another way to humiliate your parents is by failing at your job. Failing at your job, right? You know, you want to make mom and dad proud, be a good worker. Okay? And by the way, this is also a good way to humiliate your wife. By failing to make money, failing to work hard, being lazy, slacking, you know, getting fired for being asleep on the job, or being lazy, or not trying, showing up late all the time, right? You know, that's going to embarrass your wife. That's going to embarrass your parents. You know, and it causes shame. You're a son who causes shame if you're sleeping in harvest. Look, if you would, at chapter 17 of Proverbs, chapter 17. While you're turning there, I'll read for you Proverbs 11, verse 2, when pride cometh, then cometh shame. But with the lowly is wisdom, right? Proud people, arrogant people end up embarrassing themselves and others. So be humble, be cool, don't blow off your mouth, and embarrass yourself and others by being prideful and arrogant. Verse 17, or sorry, chapter 17, verse 1 says, better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith than a house full of sacrifices with strife. Verse 2, a wise servant, this is a great verse. A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causes shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren. So think about an ancient household. You got the children and the family, and you got servants, right? Servants, you could think of them, you know, in some ways they could be slaves, they could be indentured servants, they could be whatever their situation, just employees, right? Any of those things could fall under this word servant. It's kind of a broad word that depends on the context, you know. Sometimes it's referring to what we would think of as a slave or indentured servant, sometimes it's referring to just like an employee, okay? But either way, you got a family, and let's say in the family, let's say it's the family farm or the family business or whatever, right? You got sons that are causing shame, they're slackers, they're lame, they're not hard workers, right? You just have some killer employee that's not related to the family. And you know what the Bible is basically saying is that the householder, the man, dad, is going to actually prefer the employee to the son and maybe put the servant in charge of the son that causes shame. And even give him an inheritance among the brethren, meaning practically adopt him or write him into the will and say, hey, I want to leave money to this guy. And here's the thing, those of us that are really sold out Bible believing Christians that are really serious about serving God and on fire for the Lord and pushing ourselves to go soul winning and preach the gospel and do great things for God, you know, we're going to sometimes have fallings out with family. And here's the, even lame Christians have fallings out with family too, and even unsaved people have fallings out with family. That's just the way life works, unfortunately. But those that are zealous for the Lord, God has already told us that a man's enemies will be they of his own household and that Jesus Christ said, I came to bring a sword, I came to bring division. It's going to be in a house, five people in a house, three against two and two against three. And the Bible says, he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. And the Bible says that we have to be willing to give up any and all earthly possessions, any relationship, and even our own lives for the cause of Christ. Plenty of scripture on that. There's no question. So there's all this scripture that says that. And then we have the story, of course, where Jesus Christ is preaching to the crowd and then his mother and his brethren stand without desiring to speak with them. And Jesus says, well, who is my mother? Sorry, Catholics. You know, who is my mother? Who are my brethren? He stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brethren for whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my mother and sister and brother. And you know what? I've talked to plenty of Christians over the years, and I've experienced this in my own life, where often your biological family members end up not being important people in your life. And then other people that you're not biologically related to end up being much more important to you in your life. Brothers and sisters in Christ often become very important, and biological family who are not following Christ end up often not really being a big part of your life. Because here's the thing. It's hard to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. It's like you don't have anything in common. Like what fellowship has Christ with Belial? What part has he that believeth with an infidel? And so if you got some members of the family serving God and serious about their walk with God, and then you have other family members that are unsaved or worse, super backslidden Christians, which even act worse than unsaved people a lot of times, then, you know, there's a rift there. And I've talked to many of my pastor friends. I've talked to many Christian friends who say, hey, you know, I don't have a relationship with this brother. I don't have a relationship with this sister. I don't have a relationship with these people over here. And, you know, that's just the way life is. And it's just something that happens. And, you know, in a perfect world, we would just have wonderful, happy family reunions for the rest of our lives. And we'd be like those Mexicans down the street that just, you know, a hundred family members come over and everybody's just doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot. You know, everybody's, I don't know how they do it. You know, in a perfect world, we'd all be having a hundred people come over, you know, on those family reunions. But unfortunately, you know, that's just not the way life always works. And here's the thing about life is life is short. Don't waste your time on the haters. Don't waste your time on losers. Don't waste your time on toxic people. Cut them loose. Do yourself a favor and that toxic brother or sister, that rotten relative that just tears you down, drags you down, is a horrible influence on you and your family. Cut them loose and move on. And spend time with God's people. Just saying. And look, I think that if we can keep those relationships, we should do everything we can to keep those relationships. But you know what? It comes a point where you just realize this isn't worth it. You know, and look, let me tell you a few relationships that are not up for grabs. My relationship with my wife is non-negotiable. Amen? That's till death do us part. That's do or die. My relationship with my wife is paramount. And so that's a relationship that I will never discard for any reason. Ever. Okay? And you know, obviously, I love my wife and so this isn't an issue anyway. My wife's a great person and I love my wife more than I love any other human being on this planet. And so my wife and I are totally cool and here's the thing, that's a non-negotiable relationship even if we weren't cool. Even if my wife were not cool, that's still a non-negotiable because that's a vow that I made before God and marriage is sacred and should be preserved. Okay? That's number one. Okay. And my other non-negotiable relationships are my mom and dad because the Bible in the Ten Commandments says honor thy father and mother. In the New Testament, this is reiterated over and over again, honor your father and mother. Those relationships are non-negotiable. And thankfully, I am totally cool with both of my parents. Both my parents love me. They listen to my preaching. We agree on doctrine. We agree on the way that we live our lives and my mom and dad are both proud of me and I'm proud of them and we love each other and get along great. But you know what? Even if my parents were not cool, I would still honor my father and mother. You know, and obviously you can always find the exception. You know, somebody's dad becomes a faggot or something. I mean, obviously, yeah, there's always going to be an exception that proves the rule of these extreme situations. But for the vast majority of people, right, these are just non-negotiable relationships, right? Your spouse, your parents. Okay. But here's the thing. Other family relationships like your children, like your siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, look, those relationships can be beautiful relationships. They can be wonderful relationships. And you should do everything that you can to try to make those relationships work. But if one of those people becomes toxic, cut them loose. Why? Because the Bible says that we don't have fellowship with unbelievers and we don't have fellowship with backslidden Christians. Right? The Bible says if anybody who's called a brother is a drunk, a fornicator, covetous, a railer, right, you have some slanderous, railing, backbiting relative, cut them loose. Say, well, that's just your opinion. No, the Bible says to cut those people loose. The Bible says not to even eat a meal with a person who's a Christian who's a railer. That's what the Bible says. So I'm not making that up. Where did I have you turn? Did we turn to chapter 17? Let's go to chapter 19, and let's move forward in the scripture here. Proverbs chapter 19, I've got to hurry. Wow. I guess I kind of went off there a little bit. Proverbs 19, 25 says, smite a scorner and the simple will beware and reprove one that hath understanding and he will understand knowledge. He that wasteth his father and chaseth away his mother is a son that causeth shame and bringeth reproach. Now, stop and think for a second. The people who sit there and say, oh, it doesn't matter what people think and you just, you just are embarrassed of me and you just don't want to be humiliated and you just care so much about your image, right? You know, why are we upset that our son looks like Robert Smith from The Cure? Is it because it's a sin to look like Robert Smith from The Cure or is it just because he's embarrassing us? Because if he's just embarrassing us, we should just take it. No, you don't have to take that. Does everybody get what I'm saying? If it was just like, oh, well, you know, we should just be okay with everyone humiliating us. We should just be okay with everyone making a fool of us. Then why would the Bible talk about how he that wastes his father and chaseth away his mother is a son that causes shame and bringing reproach? If shame and reproach don't matter, then what are we even talking about, Solomon? We're talking about shame and reproach because they do matter. Because Jesus even despised the shame. He didn't want to be reproached. He didn't want to be shamed and neither do I and neither do you and neither do your parents, teenagers. So how about this, teenagers? Don't embarrass your parents. Don't humiliate your parents. Well, I just want to see and I feel like there's some weird psychology going on in humans where they want to be like, oh, well, let me just make myself as weird as possible and see if my parents will still love me. What is wrong with you? Like, hey, let me just show how bizarre and weird I can be and the people who really still like me, those are my true friends or something. I don't know what is going on in people's heads, but I think that that's literally going through teenagers' heads right now and young adults' heads. It's madness, this idea of just, oh, if my parents really love me, then they're not going to mind if I look like Robert Smith from The Cure. They're just going to be cool with it. Look, your parents love you, but they don't want you to look like a freak and it's not just because you're looking like a freak for you. They don't want you to embarrass them. And that does not make them sinful to not want to be embarrassed. To not want to be humiliated is a normal human reaction that even the Son of God experienced on the cross. He didn't like being humiliated. No one likes being humiliated. Let's go to Genesis chapter number nine, Genesis chapter number nine. It's another example of embarrassing your family in Genesis chapter nine. We'll just quickly turn a couple more places. We're going to look at Genesis nine, then we're going to go to Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three, but first we're going to hit Genesis nine. And Genesis nine is one of these Old Testament Bible stories that is a little bit enigmatic, it's a little bit cryptic, it's a little bit hard to understand. And one of the things that you find when you're reading the Old Testament is that there are stories where it almost feels like some of the information is missing or that we're only getting part of the story. Or that, you know, it's just kind of intentionally cryptic or hard to understand. And I think that because there are so many episodes like this in Scripture, it's clearly done intentionally. And it doesn't bother me. I don't worry about it too much because God has a reason for why he wrote the Bible the way that he did. The Bible is a marvelous book. The Old Testament, you know, specifically is just a genius work of literature. Obviously, we know it's the word of God. We know the spiritual value. But even just as literature, it's amazing. It's marvelous. And it has these sort of cryptic dark passages. You know, we could point to, for example, the story where Moses is met by the Lord at the inn and the Lord seeks to kill him. And then he circumcises his son. And then his wife throws the force. Like when you read that story, you feel like something's missing here or I'm not getting the whole story. There's like missing pieces that you're supposed to kind of fill in the dots and everything. So sometimes the Bible is like a puzzle in some ways or just very dark and obscure. Some parts of the Bible are super clear. Other parts are very obscure. And they both exist for a reason. And so just make peace with the fact that that's how the Bible is. This is one of those passages. And so because of this, there's a lot of debate about this passage. And, you know, more and more as I study the Bible and as I get older and I'm just reading the Bible more and more, I'm starting to understand that some of these passages are intentionally obscure so that they can be preached in different ways that are all equally valid. You know what I'm saying? So a lot of times, because the Bible is so complex and the Bible is so deep, there are often multiple ways to preach a passage that are all equally valid. So I could preach a passage a certain way. A preacher friend could preach it totally different. And we're both right. Because the Bible is just really deep and there's like layers and layers of meaning. Now, obviously, there are some... I'm not saying every interpretation is valid. There are a lot of interpretations that are just wrong. Okay. There are a lot of just twistings of scripture and false teachings. Of course, I'm not saying every interpretation is valid. But what I'm saying is there are a lot of passages with a double meaning. Double meaning, triple meaning, layers of meaning, obscure texts that are maybe intentionally obscure so they could be preached in different ways at different times depending on the need of the hour. Okay. And this is one of those passages where people, they argue about it. They have strong feelings about it. I have had strong feelings about it. I've preached sermons on this passage. A lot of people have said, no, Pastor Anderson's wrong. Here's what's really going on. And they're all... I mean, this is a subject of debate. And obviously, I think I'm right. But at the end of the day, it's one of those things that it's hard to be 100% sure no matter which position you take because it's just an obscure passage. Okay. So, you know, me personally, when I come to passages like this, I like to just focus on the part that's valid no matter how you interpret it. Or just kind of the clear teaching of the passage without worrying too much about the part that is kind of sketchy or up in the air or we're not sure. So in this passage, it says in Genesis chapter 9 verse 19, it says, these are the three sons of Noah and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to be a husbandman and he planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine and was drunken and he was uncovered within his tent. So, you know, no matter how you interpret this passage, what I'm about to preach is 100% valid no matter how you interpret it. Okay. No matter how you slice it, Noah did wrong. Okay. Getting drunk is wrong. Everybody should be able to agree with that. I had someone argue with me about this, I was soul winning the other day, but it should be a no brainer. That getting, even people that think alcohol is okay, we should all be able to agree that getting drunk is a sin. Noah got drunk. Noah is committing sin here. Noah is doing something wrong. And drunkenness often leads to nakedness. Okay. He got naked in his tent. So he's not publicly walking down the street naked. But, you know, some drunks and drug addicts, they do go out publicly and get naked in public and it's super embarrassing and shameful. We'll get to that in a moment. But he gets naked in the tent. He's drunk. He's uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without. So this is the part that's controversial. What does that mean? He saw the nakedness of his father. Do we just take it at face value? He just saw that his, he just saw that dad's drunk and naked and then go tell his brother about it? Or is that a euphemism for something else? Okay. And again, we don't really care for purposes of this sermon. Okay. Because the main key thing that we want to talk about is that he sees his dad committing sin. Whether he committed sin too, that's another debate. But he sees dad drunk and naked. And what does he do? He goes and tells his two brethren without. He goes and tells people the shame and sin of his dad. Embarrassing his dad, humiliating his dad by saying, Hey, dad's drunk. Dad's naked. Come see. Then the two brothers, what does it say? Shem and Japheth, verse 23, took a garment and laid it upon their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father and their faces were backward and they saw not their father's nakedness. So they do not come and join in, hey, let me gawk at this spectacle. And people have this morbid curiosity where they want to know everybody else's sins or they want to spy on people to see what they're, you know. It's like, oh, look at this, you know, we can catch so and so with his pants down or whatever. It's wrong. And Shem and Japheth did the righteous act when Ham tells them, dad's drunk and naked in the tent. What do they do? They enter the tent backwards and don't even want to know. They don't want to see it. They don't want to know about it. They don't want anything to do with it. And you know what they do? They lay the garment over dad. They cover dad's nakedness. You know what they're not doing is they're not making a YouTube video saying, hey, let me tell you every embarrassing thing about my mom and dad. And then let me lie about it and add some things that aren't even true. And let me exaggerate and twist things and blow things out of proportion. But here's the thing, even if everything were true, making a YouTube video about your parents is wicked. Okay? If my mom were a crack whore and I made a video called my mom the crack whore, that would be a wicked sin against God and I should expect to be punished by God. But you know what would be even worse is if my mom were not a crack whore and I made a video saying my mama was a crack whore. That would be super wicked. You know, or just taking the sins of your parents and exaggerating them, blowing them out of proportion, maybe even just lying about things out of thin air. But forget all that for a second. How about just making a video saying 100% true things. Still, your name's not Shem and your name's not Japheth, your name's Ham. That's what your name is. Ham. Because Shem and Japheth, you know what they did? They covered their dad's nakedness instead of exposing his nakedness to the world. Does everybody see that? Oh, it's a big cover up. You know, you want to know the original cover up? It's Shem and Japheth. You know, but way before the JFK assassination or anything else. Okay. And their faces were back where they saw not their father's nakedness and Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son, referring to Ham, had done unto him and said, cursed be Canaan because Ham is the father of Canaan. Cursed be Canaan. He's like, you know what, curse you and curse your kid. That's pretty serious. Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, blessed be the Lord God of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant. You know what makes Shem godly, or excuse me, you know what makes Shem blessed is that he's godly. You want to know why he covered his father's nakedness? Because he loved his father in heaven. And you know what? People who have a bad attitude toward their human father also have a bad attitude toward their father in heaven. Because the Bible says if you say that you love God and you hate your brother, you're a liar. He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? Right? And your mom and dad are your brother and sister in Christ. If you hate your brother, you're a murderer. If you hate your brother, you're a liar, the Bible says. Okay? And so the Bible is saying that Shem, because of his God, because he's with the Lord, because he's godly, because he loves Christ, because he loves the Lord, that's why he did right in this situation. That's why he did right by his parents. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. Alright, last place, Revelation 3, quickly, Revelation chapter 3. So again, who embarrassed the family? Ham embarrassed the family, Shem and Japheth did not embarrass the family. Nobody names their kid Ham. Shem is rare, but it's out there. I haven't known any Japheths, but hey, you never know when it's going to come back into style. But Ham is considered, you know, kind of a shameful person, like kind of a gross person. Something wrong with him. He's weird. What is he doing? Why is he, hey look, what are you doing? Right? Whereas Shem and Japheth had some sense. This is not something to celebrate. Dad getting drunk and naked. It's nothing to celebrate. Revelation chapter 3, verse 14. What's the title of the sermon? Embarrassing your family. Embarrassing your family. Look at verse 14, and then the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. And so God, of course, is sickened by the lukewarm Christians of this world, right? He wants us to be all in, gung-ho, zealous. He doesn't want us to be half in, half out. And he says, I'm going to spew you out of my mouth because thou sayest. Now this is the mentality that God doesn't like about the lukewarm Christian. Because the lukewarm Christian says, I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, watch this, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. So the lukewarm Christians are naked, right? They, oh, I'm rich, I'm increased with goods, I've need of nothing. No, he says you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. And he specifically says, get some white raiment, put some clothes on that the shame of your nakedness do not appear. Now we could trace this throughout the entire scripture starting at the very beginning of Genesis all the way to the end of Revelation, shame and nakedness being associated in verse after verse after verse after verse after verse. Okay, so one way to humiliate and embarrass your family is by being naked publicly. It's an embarrassment. Now, we talked about in Genesis 9, you know, Noah got naked in the tent and Ham wanted to broadcast that to the world. But what about just being naked publicly, just going out and letting the shame of your nakedness appear publicly, this is humiliating to yourself and it is humiliating to your family. And this is why when the Bible says that women should wear modest apparel, it says with shame-facedness and sobriety, meaning that women should be ashamed to wear immodest apparel. It should be embarrassing. And, you know, if you want to think about like the most immodest apparel imaginable, it's probably like what some of these women will wear to these award shows. Who knows what I'm talking about? Like these kind of like music awards or acting awards and you'll see these images of these women that will wear things that are just bizarre. Like just a see-through outfit. It's just 100% see-through. Who knows what I'm talking about? It's just like totally see-through, just practically naked, and it's almost like this contest of how edgy they can be, I guess without the police arresting them or something, going to these award ceremonies, looking totally naked. Another example of this would be that sometimes women when they go to the pool will go virtually naked. I mean they're wearing these bikinis that just leave nothing to the imagination. Okay. And look, the reason why that expression exists, it leaves nothing to the imagination, is the idea that it's actually unseemly and unattractive and is actually sort of off-putting. Because you think, oh every guy is just looking at me. Yeah, guys are looking at you but they're also kind of thinking that you're skank. It's kind of off-putting. You know, if you're a beautiful girl wearing a modest dress, you know what, men are going to look at you and think that you're beautiful too without you being naked. Right? I mean here's the thing, a beautiful girl walks in the room and she's wearing a modest dress, even just a plain girl walks in the room and she's wearing a modest dress, she looks nice. And you know what, the right kind of men are going to look at that and think you look beautiful anyway. But you know, when you just show your entire naked body publicly, even if guys are saying, oh yeah, hey, you're gorgeous. You know, in the back of their mind though, they're thinking skank, hoochie mama, loose woman, easy slut, whatever they're thinking. It's embarrassing. It's shameful. The way that women will just strip down naked to go swimming. And you know, it's totally unnecessary. You don't have to get naked to go swimming. Okay? What do men wear when they go swimming? You know, when men go swimming, they wear swim trunks, I wear swim trunks, you know, that go to my knee. And I wear knee-length swim trunks and I go swimming, I love swimming, I'm constantly going swimming and I wear swim trunks down to the knee. I own like seven or eight pairs of trunks. You know, and it always blows my mind when people only own like one pair of trunks, you know, or when people go on a trip and they didn't bring their trunks, you know, like I'm always bringing my trunks so I can hit the pool, hit the spa, you know, whatever. I like to go swimming a lot. But you know what? You can wear trunks. And here's the thing. You know, a lot of guys will swim without a shirt on. A lot of guys will swim with a shirt on. And you know what? You can literally go to the store and buy at Costco or Sam's Club or something, right, swim shirts for boys. They just sell it, just trunks and water-wicking swim shirts. Now look, I don't think that there's anything wrong with boys taking off their shirt and going swimming at all. But here's my point though, is that whether right or wrong, a lot of dudes just wear a shirt when they go swimming simply because they don't want to get a sunburn. Okay, and so it's very common to just wear knee-length swim trunks and a swim shirt. You don't even have to go to like a special Baptist store to get this stuff. You can just go to Costco. I don't know, is Costco Baptist? You know, is Sam's Club Baptist? I don't know. But they all have it. Because I know, because my wife, every Easter, typically, you know, that's like our Easter present for the kids is usually new swimwear for the season. That's kind of a tradition in our household most years. Here's my question. If boys can wear knee-length trunks and a shirt and go swimming and swim just fine and they're selling it at Costco, they're selling it at Sam's Club, then why do you have to just put on some dental floss in order for you to go swimming, girls? Does everybody understand what I'm saying? You know, and now, thankfully, there are all kinds of swim dresses. You know, I don't want to get into like any kind of conflict of interest here because my wife makes swim dresses. But, you know, besides my wife's swim dresses, there's lots of other options out there of swim dresses. I've seen all kinds of women put together their own little outfit, their own little setup of a modest little deal of, you know, like leggings to the knee with like a skirt over it and some kind of a water-wicking shirt. I mean, there's ways to do this. If you want to go swimming, girls, and you can do it with the swim dresses, you can build your own little ensemble or whatever, but you say, oh, it's just complicated, it's hard. Well, I'd hate for you to do anything hard, but, you know, it's also righteous. And it's also, you know, you're not being a stumbling block and you're not ruining your reputation and you're not embarrassing your family. Because you know what? I would be super humiliated to see my daughter wearing a bikini. It'd be creepy and embarrassing to like, to be hanging out with her and she's in a bikini. It'd be just awkward and weird, right? I mean, I don't think dads just want to see their daughter in some super revealing bikini. It's just like, but not only that, they don't want their daughter just out in public like that just shaming the whole family by being naked. You know, and here's another example. You know, I've gone on a lot of these cruise missions trips and I've had a lot of great experiences, but I made the mistake of going on one during spring break, okay? And so it was like college spring break and we were at the place where you're getting on the ship and so you'd see that as we're going through security to get on the boat, there were like these groups of girls that were like in a sorority or something is my guess. Because it'd be like six girls or four girls together and they're all wearing matching t-shirts because they're all in the same sorority or something. Or then, you know, later in the trip I would see other groups of girls that would all have the same baseball cap and it was like they're a group or whatever. And I am not even going to even hint at what these t-shirts said and what these hats said, but it was so obscene that like, if you just imagine the most obscene thing that you can think of, now think of something a little more obscene. Okay, now think of something a little more obscene than that. That's the kind of stuff they had written on their hats and t-shirts. And I was just thinking to myself, I don't even, I wouldn't even think it would be even legal to walk down the street with a shirt that is that obscene. Just, I'm talking about the filthiest joke, the dirtiest joke that you can imagine. The dirtiest jokes, I'm almost thinking like, is this even allowed? Is this even legal? Is somebody going to say something? But they're just in a group, like six of them with this obscene t-shirt, six of them with obscene hats and they're just, they're just getting on and everybody's just acting like it's normal. And I, you know what, I thought to myself, I thought to myself, wow, what if, what if my daughter wore this shirt? How would that feel? How embarrassing? And I'm just thinking, man, these girls' dads must be humiliated if they're sitting there taking a selfie, uploading to, you know, Instagram or TikTok or whatever. And it's like, can you imagine being one of these girls' parents and just seeing the filthiest, most obscene joke, just so shameless. And again, I'm not even going to allude to what it was because it was just gross. Imagine just wearing a super gross perverted t-shirt. Hey, mom and dad, I'm on a cruise. And you know how wicked, and you know what, when I think of this verse, you know, I'm rich. I'm increased with goods. I need another thing. It also reminds me of Babylon saying, you know, oh, you know, I sit as a queen and shall see no sorrow. Same attitude later in the book of Revelation. And I'm thinking to myself, you know, you rich punk, your parents have given you everything. They're probably paying for you to go to school. Even if they didn't pay for you to go to school, they've obviously raised you in an environment where you have the ability to even go to college, to go to this university. You have the privilege of getting to go on this fun trip. You get to go on the cruise. You get to enjoy. But instead of just enjoying nature, instead of just enjoying the ocean and just enjoying the food and just enjoying the bounty that God has given us in the United States of America, you just have to put on a perverted T-shirt to just pervert everyone around you and embarrass your family to the world on the internet. It's like, why can't you just enjoy what your parents gave you? Why can't you just enjoy the United States of America? Why can't you just enjoy living in the most prosperous country in the history of mankind? It's like you have everything. You got the ocean. You got the sand. You got the waves. You got the sun. You got a good meal. But you have to put on a perverted T-shirt and just stink up the joint. What's wrong with people? But that was the first thought I had. The first thought I had was, wow, imagine this being your daughter. And I was just thinking, wow. But all those girls are somebody's daughter. And I guarantee you, mom and dad, they're going to see those photos. And unless they're just super weird creeps, they're going to be like, oh, so embarrassing. And so I'm out of time. Don't embarrass your family. You know, get this attitude out of your head that says, well, my parents just need to accept how I am. No, stop embarrassing and humiliating your family. Don't make yourself look like a freak. Don't be a failure. Don't be a loser. Don't tell perverted jokes. Don't blow off your mouth. Don't blast family business to the world. Don't embarrass yourself. Don't broadcast your own foolishness. Don't broadcast things that you know about other people. Just chill out and quit embarrassing and reproaching and shaming and humiliating the people that you say that you love. Do not embarrass your family, right? Don't be a son who causes shame. Don't be the woman who caused her husband shame. That's in the Bible. Those are Bible verses. And so don't tell me that it doesn't matter because it does. And it is 100% normal for your parents to be embarrassed of your filthy t-shirt. What's not normal is the way you're acting. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you so much for the people that you've put in our lives, Lord. The family members that you've blessed us with that are a blessing, Lord. Thank you for allowing us to live in the most prosperous nation in the world and to just have so much bounty and so many blessings, Lord. Help us to appreciate and love our parents. Help us to appreciate and love our spouse and not humiliate that wife, not humiliate that husband, not humiliate those parents, Lord. Help us not to humiliate the people in our family that are dear to us. Help us to be a son that brings honor to the family name, a daughter that brings honor to the family, not an embarrassment as a black sheep of the family. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Lastly, let's turn in our hymnals to song number 61. Song number 61. We'll never say goodbye. Song number 61. We say goodbye in parting with loved ones here below. Song number 61. Sing it out on the first. We'll never buy in parting with loved ones here below. We always hope to meet again as on our way we go. But of the hearts we're craving for those we never meet. We'll say goodbye in sorrow to the heat that Jesus be. We'll never say goodbye in glory in the morning over yonder. We'll never say goodbye to glory. We'll never say goodbye of air. Our children leave the home nest for school or planning battles. For country, school or mission, you may take it all as well. Now wedding bells are happy and God's clay always cries. And absent ones will grieve them if the city always cries. We'll never say goodbye in glory in the morning over yonder. We'll never say goodbye in glory. We'll never say goodbye of air. We breathe and fart with dear ones. We say hello, goodbye. And let earth find our fellowship. We miss them though we try. To feel them always near us and follow them with prayer. But our morning days are ended when we meet them in the air. We'll never say goodbye in glory in the morning over yonder. We'll never say goodbye in glory. We'll never say goodbye of air. So happy, glad, homecoming, with Jesus in the sky. For sometimes He's far away, though always if we try. We find Him near to help us. His spirit falls within. But only perfect union when we heaven enter in. We'll never say goodbye in glory in the morning over yonder. We'll never say goodbye in glory. We'll never say goodbye of air. Amen, everybody. Great singing. You are dismissed. You are dismissed. You are dismissed.