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Amen. Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is riots and looting. Riots and looting, the Bible says in Romans chapter 13 verse 12, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Riots and looting. Now let me start out by saying this. You know, what the police did when they killed that man in Minnesota was wrong, okay? And I myself have been on the receiving end of police brutality. So if anyone can talk about this, certainly I should be able to talk about this. I was tasered for 22 seconds straight by a smiling police officer. I got 11 stitches in my head after I was maliciously shoved into broken glass and stepped on and everything else. So I understand that what the police did was wrong and I believe that they should be charged with manslaughter or third degree murder just like anyone else would be if they did that. If you and I grabbed some guy and put him on the ground and killed him like that, we would get charged and so the police are not above the law and so they weren't following the protocol. You could say, well, they're just doing their job. That's not their job. That's not what they were trained to do. That's not their standard procedure or protocol. That's not the normal thing that they're supposed to be doing. If I were doing my job and I started getting crazy or reckless and not following the company's policies and I killed somebody, I'd get charged with manslaughter. If I started goofing off or if I showed up to my job drunk and ended up killing a bunch of people, then I'd get in trouble and so they should be prosecuted just like anybody else. What they did was wrong. It's criminal, etc. But look, this has nothing to do with race, okay? Because the police would beat you up if you were white, too. They beat people up that are white, black. They kill people that are white, black. This happens all the time. Look at the statistics of white people that are getting beaten and killed by the police. It happens all the time. Now if black people are having more run-ins with the police, well, then you know what? That's their problem. But the point is that the police are kind of an equal opportunity beater if you think about it, okay? They beat all races equally. Now I'm going to preach to you about this rioting and looting phenomenon. It's a wicked phenomenon and I want to rebuke it in some of the strongest terms this morning because it's so ungodly and wicked what's been going on even in our city of Phoenix for the last three days straight. Now let me give you three points this morning about why this rioting and looting and protesting that's going on is so wrong and so wicked. Let me just start out by pointing out that number one, isn't it interesting how this activity is scheduled for night. It's scheduled for the darkness. Why is that? Because it's a wicked activity. What does the Bible say in verse 12 there? The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Now what does that mean putting on the armor of light? What does armor do? Armor protects you and light protects you. You see much sin could be avoided simply by staying in the light. When it's dark outside and you stay inside that's going to keep you out of trouble. If you're just out all night doing whatever you're much more likely to fall into sin. And I remember when we were in South Chicago and I spent over two years ministering in one of the worst ghettos in America in South Chicago and I was there every Saturday and every Sunday for over two years and I was preaching in a Sunday school class to children there. And one of the things that we taught in that Sunday school class in one of the most dangerous ghettos in America was when it's dark be inside. That's what we taught these kids. Look you when those street lights come on when it's dark outside you need to be inside. Hey I've been there in South Chicago and seen some of my Sunday school class kids that we're talking about six, seven, eight years old. Okay that was the age group that I was preaching to. I've seen them out in South Chicago at ten thirty at night without an adult and I walked up to this one kid I said what are you doing? You know now I had a legitimate reason to be out for work. Okay because I had to work nights because I was going to college by day working by night. And I see this little kid he was probably I don't remember how old he was maybe like seven though because that was the age group that I was preaching to. The oldest kids in my class were seven eight years old. And so I said what are you doing? He said I'm buying a bag of chips. I just went up to the store to buy a bag of chips. Ten thirty at night in one of the most dangerous ghettos in America. But let me explain something to you. When I was teaching those kids you know that's just good advice for anybody. Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise. And when you're out in the dark bad things happen. Let's put on the armor of light. Let's walk in the light as he is in the light. I know that's figurative but you know what you might do well to take that literally too. Hey if I were in a dangerous area and there were one street that were well lit and another one didn't have any street lights which street you think I'm going to pick in a dangerous area? I'm going to go on the well lit street. That's just common sense good advice. But people who are wicked they love darkness because it hides their evil deeds. It says in verse 13 let us walk honestly as in the day. Not in rioting and drunkenness. Not in chambering and wantonness. Not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust stuff. Let me ask this. How many boxes did that protest and rioting and looting check last night of what we just read there? Rioting? Check? Drunkenness? I don't know if there was any drunkenness involved. Wouldn't be shocked. Chambering? Not applicable. Wantonness? How about strife? I'm sure there was all kinds of strife going on. All kinds of violent clashes. In fact I saw a cameraman from the news that had been or actually I'm sorry he was the security guard for the news crew or something. There was a guy protecting the news he had blood all over the side of his face because some violent protester assaulted the news crew. That's just documenting their stupidity. And so there's all kinds of strife and let me tell you something there's all kinds of envying going on and we'll get to that later in the sermon but that should be obvious. See people commit sin in the darkness. The Bible says in John 3 19 and this is the condemnation. You flip over if you would to Job chapter 24. This is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. When your deeds are evil you love that cloak of darkness to cover up what you're doing but when your deeds are righteous you enjoy that armor of light protecting you from evil. Being in the light is safety unto you. It's the exact opposite for the wicked. To the wicked the dawning of the day is unto them as the shadow of death. They're afraid of light the way that a normal person would avoid darkness. Job chapter 24 verse 15. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight saying no eye shall see me and disguiseth his face. Isn't it convenient right now that we got these coronavirus masks? Isn't that just so convenient that basically people could just put on a mask, they could put on a gas mask, they could put on a hazmat suit and then if they got stopped by the police they're just gonna tell the police what? Well I'm just worried about coronavirus and it provides them the anonymity to commit all these horrible acts that they're doing. In the dark they dig through houses or you can say they dig through Target, they dig through AutoZone, they dig through the Scottsdale Fashion Center, they dig through houses that they had marked for themselves in the daytime. They know not the light for the morning is to them even as the shadow of death. If one know them, that means if one recognized them, this is like Spanish conocer, right? If one know them they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. You know last thing they want is to be recognized out there doing their wicked deeds. You think it's a coincidence that this protest quote unquote is scheduled for nighttime? It's scheduled for 8.30 p.m., oh well people have to be off work. It's a Saturday. Most people are already off work on a Saturday. Some people work nights. People work all different schedules. But you know what? The majority of people would have been off to do this protest on a Saturday morning but you know what? These bunch of drunkard, derelict, drug addict, idiot, thief, fools are probably still in bed in the morning so they probably don't even get out of bed. They're lazy butt out of bed until noon or one in the afternoon to go out and do all this junk that they're doing, breaking windows, hurting people, stealing. Folks, it's garbage. And don't listen to the libtard media or anybody else who tries to spin this that there's anything good about this protest or rioting or looting. It's garbage, okay? There's nothing right about it. There's nothing godly about it. There's nothing Christian about it. And if you don't believe me, if you don't agree with me right now, listen to the whole sermon because I'm going to prove it to you. I will prove it to you. But the first point I want to make this morning is simply that if this were a godly activity, if this were a righteous activity, if this were for a good cause, then why does it happen at night? Why does it happen in the daytime? That should be your first clue immediately that there's something unrighteous going on. Clue number one, 830 p.m. Excuse me? 10 p.m. in Scottsdale. When you're scheduling this thing for 10 p.m., that's garbage. That's not righteous. Why would you do that? It makes no sense. Normal people are either working a second shift job or a third shift job, but normal people who don't work second and third shift, you know, they're winding down their day at that point because they actually get up early and go to work and do something with their life. They're just out at 10 o'clock just farting around looking for something to do, are they? No they're not. It's wickedness. Jesus said, when I was daily with you in the temple you stretched forth no hands against me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness. But number two, not only number one is it scheduled for the darkness, but number two, it is based on an unrighteous anger. Unrighteous anger. Let me explain something to you. There is a righteous anger and there is an unrighteous anger. The Bible teaches this. The Bible teaches that there's a time to be angry and a time not to be angry. There's a righteous anger and you say, well Pastor Anderson, this is a righteous anger, you know, because it's based on this atrocity that happened in Minnesota. Look I'm going to prove to you from the Bible it's not a righteous anger. And like I said, let me just reiterate what I said at the beginning of the sermon. What happened in Minnesota is criminal, it's murder, they should be prosecuted, amen to all that. I'm not defending that at all, but let me tell you something. The anger that was expressed last night and the night before that and the night before that in Phoenix, Arizona and all over America is an unrighteous anger and let me prove it to you from the Bible. What does the Bible say in James chapter 1 verse 19? Therefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, watch this, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. This anger is an unrighteous anger because it is a hasty anger and let me prove that to you because what should happen to this man who harmed this other man? Well he should be put on trial for murder, right? Guess what's happening right now? Guess what's happening right now in Minnesota? The guy has been arrested and guess what he's being charged with? So what is the problem? Can somebody explain to me what the problem is? But here's the thing. Okay, why don't we worry about that when it happens though? Oh really, it's already happened with this guy? No. Now you say they never get convicted, but here's the thing. We need to wait and see if this guy gets convicted. If he doesn't get convicted, then let's get angry. But let's not just say, well they never get convicted. I guarantee you that there are cops that have been convicted for police brutality, for hurting people, and I agree with you that yeah, a lot of times they get off the hook in the good old boy club. I don't think that's going to happen in this case, okay? There's not a lot of sympathy for this cop, so we'll see what happens. But here's the thing. Either way, we should wait and see the outcome, whatever our opinion is. If you say, ah, he's going to get off the hook. He's not going to get off the hook. You know what? It's unrighteous to just jump in and be, ah! He's going to get off! You don't know that. Nobody knows that. Now I don't know if he's going to be convicted or not, but one thing I do know is that what's happening to him right now is just. What do people want to happen? They want him to get arrested and tried for murder. Guess what's happening right now? He's been arrested and he's going to be tried for murder. So what is the problem? There is no problem. There is no issue. So far, so good. So what's with all the anger because it's a hasty anger. It's just a knee-jerk, not thought through, not based on reality, just getting mad about what? That the guy got arrested and charged for murder? That's what should be happening. So there's nothing to get mad about right now, okay? What does the Bible say in Ecclesiastes 7, 9? Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Don't be hasty to get angry. Don't be swift to anger. And by the way, isn't it interesting how everybody's just so enraged and mad right now in Phoenix, Arizona because of something that happened in Minneapolis. You know there are people dying. Every time I snap my fingers, somebody's dying right now. People are dying. People are dying, right? But we should all, let's just all freak out because of some idiot cop in Minnesota who killed somebody. Well guess what? Do you think that he's the only person who's been killed by the police wrongfully in the last year in America? No. This is just a mob that is looking for an excuse to be unruly, to steal, to be wicked, to be out in the middle of the night because they don't have anything productive going on in their life. It's a hasty anger. It's a sinful anger. It's an unrighteous anger. It's not slow to anger. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Go to Ephesians chapter 4. You know why else this is an unrighteous anger? Because it's not even directed at the guilty. It's just an anger that just lashes out at everyone. That's not a righteous anger. A righteous anger, number one, would actually wait and see what happens. They would wait and see and think. There's no hurry. What's the rush? Why do we need to burn it all down today? When so far so good, the guy's been apprehended, he's being charged with murder, third degree, that's appropriate. What's the hurry to start burning it all down? The hastiness of it is wrong, but number two, it's also just lashing out at everyone. Here's what I'd like to do. What does AutoZone have to do with that guy who was killed in Minneapolis? Can somebody explain what the target connection is? What has made Target a target? You know, I mean, it doesn't make any sense. This is just lashing out at anyone. What does the Bible say in Ephesians 4.26, be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. What's the Bible say? The Bible's saying that the devil is going to get in there and use your anger to accomplish evil. When you have an unrighteous anger, you're saying, come on in devil, and use me to do something wrong. Get me to do something wrong. You're inviting the devil to have a venue to work his wickedness. You're giving place to the devil. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. So let's schedule our anger for 10 p.m. Is that a righteous anger? If you're angry, are you supposed to do it at night? When are you supposed to do anger? In the daytime. Isn't that what the Bible says? And when's anger supposed to be done for the day? When the sun goes down, all right, we're done being mad now. It's time to chill out, relax, calm down, go to bed. You know what? People are angry continually are fools. The Bible says anger resteth in the bosom of fools. The Bible says make no friendship with an angry man. With an angry man, thou shalt not go, lest you learn his ways and get a snare unto your soul. Now look, it's not a sin to be angry. Jesus was angry, okay, righteous men in the Bible have got an angry wall filled with the Holy Spirit, okay? That's what the Bible says. There's a time for anger, but it's not 10 p.m. You say, well, what does that mean? What's the difference? Why don't you ask the author of Ephesians, God? Why don't you ask God what the difference is? Because God's the one who said don't let the sun go down in your wrath. I didn't come up with that. He said don't let the sun go down in your wrath. He said that anger resteth in the bosom of fools. That's why he said to put off anger, okay? Is there an appropriate time for anger? Are there appropriate reasons for anger? Yes, but not hasty anger. Not anger that's lashing out at people that did nothing wrong, being angry at your brother without a cause. That's not justified. What did that camera crew do? I thought that these idiots want the camera crew to document their stupidity. Isn't that the whole point of a protest? I thought the whole point of a protest is you want to get your voice heard. So then a camera crew comes so you can get your voice heard and then you're going to beat them up because they're white? Or what? Or what reason? There is no reason. Because the anger is unrighteous anger. So unrighteous anger is the type of anger that just lashes out at anybody. Have you ever known people that are just mad and they just bite your head off? Even though you didn't do anything, had nothing to do with you, they'll just bite your head off. Why? That's when you know it's the wrong anger. When it's an anger that goes day after day, night after night, that's a wrong anger. When it's hasty anger. Like we were out soloing on Wednesday. We knock on a guy's door, right? Brother Joshua opens his mouth and forms the H in high, big smile, and the guy just scrapes get the F out of here and just slams the door. Just drops an F bomb on him. No thinking. Not even processing anything. He hasn't even said hi and the guy just drops an F bomb on him. Is that a righteous anger? Hasty, lashing out at anyone? He doesn't even know us. Just lashing out at anyone? That's the kind of anger that's going on last night and the night before these protests, rioting, looting, lashes out at anyone. It says, Be ye angry and sin not. Verse 26, Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let's just roll into the next point with this verse. So we said, number one, it's a wrong anger because it's, I'm sorry, it's a wrong protest. The whole thing is wrong because it's scheduled for the dark. It's scheduled for late night. That's your first clue. Number two, it's an unrighteous anger. But number three, it's based on covetousness and greed. Covetousness and greed is the motivator. Look, they smashed up the Apple store in Scottsdale and Portland. Now don't tell me Bill Gates is behind this, you know, just because they're smashing up the Apple store. That's not what I'm getting at. All right. Bill Gates is Microsoft, not Apple. I know. That's my point. That's what I'm saying. He sicced his goons to smash up the Apple store because he's with micro-sized, you know what I'm saying? All right. You got it. Now I'm saying, hey, don't tell me that it's a coincidence that these bunch of derelict thugs decided, hmm, where should we do our protest? The Scottsdale Fashion Center. Well, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, was this police brutality carried out by the fashion police? This makes absolutely no sense of a target of, hey, let's go to the Scottsdale Fashion Center and protest. You want to know why they picked the Scottsdale Fashion Center? Which has nothing to do with Minneapolis, nothing to do with the police, nothing to do with racism. You know why they chose it? It's because they want what's inside that building. They're lusting after the goods inside those buildings. It's the only reason. Folks, wake up. Why would you choose the Scottsdale Fashion Center? Because it's the most expensive mall. And you know what would motivate that? Read lust for what's inside that building. They want to get at those fancy clothes and the fancy shoes and the fancy electronic gadgets because they're a bunch of thieves and evil, covetous idolaters. That's what's actually going on, friend. Look at James chapter 4, if you would, James chapter 4, verse 1, and look, I'm preaching the Bible this morning. You know, don't get offended because you've got your head so filled with political junk. I don't care if it's from the left or the right. I don't care if you've been listening to the right wing talk radio or the libtard mainstream media on MSNBC. Let me tell you something, this church doesn't care about any of that. We don't listen to that. It's the Bible preached here. And have fun showing me after the service what I preached that was unbiblical because everything I'm preaching is directly out of the Bible. The Bible's the one who said avoid darkness, walk in light, be like a daytime person. Don't be of the night, the armor of light. This is your hour and the power of darkness. Men love darkness rather than light because they're... That's the Bible. So I feel like point one is pretty biblical. You're going to have a tough time proving that wrong from the Bible. How about point two, a righteous anger? Have fun trying to demonstrate how what happened last night in Phoenix, Arizona is a righteous anger. Directed it... Apple! Scottsdale Fashion Center! How does a shopping mall beat a black person in Minneapolis? That's what I'd like to know. There's no connection. It's wicked. That's why they picked that. Look at James chapter four verse one. From whence come wars and fightings among you? Where does the fighting come from? Come they not hence even of your lust that war in your members. You lust and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight in war yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. Lust leads to violence. What does lust mean? Lust simply means coveting. When we think of lust, we immediately think of, you know, the bikini babes or whatever. But actually when the Bible used the word lust, it means any kind of desire, okay? So this could also refer to any kind of covetousness. This could refer to just wanting something that doesn't belong to you. That's what covetousness is. A lot of people don't know this word covet. We don't use it that much in 2020 America, but it's one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not covet. And in fact, if you study the Bible, you'll find that it is actually the root sin that is the root of every other sin. Every sin starts with violation of thou shalt not covet. That's where it all starts. That's the first sin that you commit in life. Now you may not have committed certain sins. You may have never committed murder. You may have never been drunk before, but you know what? Everybody has committed this sin of covetousness. It's the original sin if you think about it. And here's the support for that from the Bible. The Bible says when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. So what is it that begets sin? Lust begets sin. And what is lust? Covetousness. That's another word for the same thing. That's why Paul said, I'd not known lust except that the scripture said, thou shalt not covet. That's how I knew what lust was because the scripture said, thou shalt not covet. Covet equals desire equals lust. That's what the Bible teaches. And so what we see here is that covetousness is the sin of wanting something that doesn't belong to you. And it's closely related to the sin of envy. Envy is when I look at someone else's status, position, advantages, and I say, oh, it must be nice. And I wish that I had that status, I had those advantages, I had what they have. You can see how it's very similar to wanting their stuff. Wanting to be them is envy. Wanting their stuff is covetousness. These things are very closely related. So look, I don't care how you want to try to explain this garbage that's going on across America, but it's going to fall under covetousness. Because when I see just hordes of people coming out of Target with all that stuff under their arms and shopping carts full of stuff, that's covetousness. That stuff doesn't belong to them. They desire all those goods in Target in the Chandler, or not the Chandler Fashion Center, that's probably the next Target, I'm giving them ideas. The Scottsdale Fashion Center, or the Apple Store, or Target, or Autozone, look, that stuff is what they're greedy of and they want to get that stuff. You say, no, no, no, that's right, they just want to have what white people have. It's just black people want to have what white people have. I think there's a word for that. Envy, sounds to me like racial envy. It sounds to me like one group of people looking at another group of people and envying them. I didn't have the same advantages. Oh, okay, I got a word for that, envy. Well you don't understand because you had all this privilege. Oh, so you envy my privilege. Folks, this, look, don't buy into this left-wing junk. It's not biblical, folks. The Bible teaches that envy is a sin, okay? And you know what, you can call me a racist or call me whatever you want. I've been called worse and let me tell you something, I don't have a racist bone in my body and anybody who actually knows me knows that. Anybody who's actually listened to my preaching consistently for the last 15 years knows that I don't have a racist bone in my body. Let me tell you something, racism is over. It's over, folks. For the last 50 years, black people and everyone else have had the same opportunities as white people in this country. I don't care what you say. You're never going to convince me otherwise. There's been a black president, although he was actually white, but there's been a black president, you've got black mayors, black governors, black congressmen, black senators, you got black PhDs, you've got blacks in every walk of life, folks. All doors are open unto them, all. Any school they want to go to, they can go there. Any job they want to apply for, they can get that job. Folks, we would hire black people in a heartbeat. We would ordain black preachers in a heartbeat. Nobody cares anymore. Say, well, it's not true, Pastor Anderson. Racism's alive and well. Yeah, because of junk like last night it is. That's what creates racism is when people turn on the news and they see a bunch of black people walking out of Target with a bunch of stuff under their arms. That's what creates racism, folks. It didn't come out of a vacuum. You know what? Guess what? Our church is filled with successful, normal black people who are productive members of society. You want to know what they all have in common? They all reject the hip hop culture. Look around our church at the godly black men and women at our church. You know what you're not going to see them doing? They're walking down the street with their pants hanging down and trying to pull their pants up. You're not going to see that. You know what you're not going to hear on a Sunday morning at Faith Forward Baptist Church? Oh, here comes Lola. You know, welcome to church, Lola. Do you think that's what you can hear? You know what I mean? And by the way, let me just pick on Lola. If you go to Lola's house, there's not going to be, you're not going to find the 40 and the Hennessey and the tall boy. You're not going to find the gin and juice. And you know what? You know, correct me if I'm wrong Lola. Have you sprayed any graffiti lately? When was the last time you sprayed graffiti, Lola? Never. Folks, let me tell you something. The hip hop culture is as wicked as hell. Period. Period. The culture that is glorified by rap music is garbage. It's a wicked culture. I did a whole sermon on it in LA called Hip Hop in Light of the Bible. And let me tell you something that has nothing to do with the color of your skin, it has nothing to do with race because you have even white people that are into that hip hop culture. And there were white people coming out of that Target with stuff under their arms. But you know what? I guarantee you that if we looked in those white people's kitchen, we're going to find the booze. If we look in their CD cabinet, we're going to find the Dr. Dre and I know I'm reaching back but I don't know who the current Snoop Dogg, NWA, Run DMC, no I'm just kidding. That's going way back. Yeah, I don't know who the current rap artists are but I guarantee you that that's probably what they've got in their CD player. So folks, don't let the media brainwash you that this is about race. It has nothing to do with race because you know what? It has to do with the wicked hip hop culture. And you know what? If you have black people that are succeeding in America, it's because they don't embrace the culture of graffiti, stealing, hoes, weed. They don't embrace that culture. That's why they're succeeding. And all doors are open under them. All doors. Every door is open. You name me one door in America that they can't do. Name me a job where no black person can do that job. They can't do it. Name it. Name it for the last 30 years. The last 40 years. You can't. So you're telling me that 40 years isn't enough time to get your act together? Well, we're still suffering from the 1860s. Or the 19s. I don't know if it's the 1960s. Well what about, pretty soon we're going to be in the 2060s and you're still going to be crying about it. Get over it. Get over it! We all live in America. We all have the same opportunities. We can all get a library card. We can all enroll in the public school system. Am I right? We can all go to the day laborer and get put to work immediately. We can all go get a job at McDonald's. We can all do, and you know what? White people get jobs at McDonald's every day and black people get jobs at McDonald's. White people get jobs as scientists and engineers. Black people get jobs as scientists and engineers. And you know what? You quit lying and creating this fake narrative about how, oh, racism, that's just not fair. The police will beat you no matter what color you are, I promise you. I'm proof. Do I look black to you? I got tasered for 22 seconds straight. I got 11 stitches in my head from getting beaten up by the police. And I'm white. So being white does not prevent you from getting beaten up by the police. It's just that when white people get beat up by the police, you know, it's just not on the news because there's an agenda today to create racial hatred in this country. To turn black against white, white against black. And you know what? I'll tell you the answer. Look, hey, I've already solved the racial problem. So that's a pretty bold thing to say. Solved. Done. Yes, I, Pastor Anderson, have solved the world's race problems. It's called Jesus. It's called Christianity. Because you know what? The house of God is a house of prayer for all nations. House of prayer for all nations. And in Christ there's neither Jew nor Gentile. There's no Jew nor Greek, white, black, doesn't matter. In Christ, in Christ, we're all one in Christ Jesus, solved. Racial problem, solved. Okay? And let me tell you something, that there is an agenda today to get white people to hate black people and events like last night helped that along. And to get black people to hate white people and events like in Minnesota helped that along. And the media just wants to fan those flames, you know, instead of it just being a local issue, one cop did something stupid, punish him, you know, you know, throw the book at him. I'm for it. But you know what? Guess what? If the guy that he, that he harmed would have been white, I'd still want to throw the book at the guy the same way. I don't feel any different. The difference is if he was Chinese, I wouldn't even make a difference. If the cop was black and the guy that he's killing was white, we would all feel the same way. Who would feel exactly the same way if the colors were reversed? Yeah, because we're all normal people. That's why none of, okay, who was out rioting last night? No one. So notice everybody in this room, we got, we got, we got over 300 people here this morning. None of us looted last night. None of us was protesting or rioting. And none of us gives a rip what color the cop was or what color the guy that he killed was. None of us care. And folks, look, I've run a business before. We have, who here is a business owner? Put up your hand if you own a business. You know what? I guarantee that all these business owners would hire a black person in a heartbeat if they would do a good job. Of course, of course we would. Because it doesn't matter. Nobody cares. You know what businesses care about? Making money. You know, they're just going to hire the person that's going to make them money. And like I said, there are all kinds of successful black people that have proven that you can make it in this country all day long in every industry, in every sector. And you know what? You can sit there and say, well, you know, pastor, you need to stick to preaching the Bible and not get so political. Folks, how can I get more biblical than preaching a sermon on not envying and not coveting? These are concepts that are literally mentioned in the Bible hundreds of times. I mean, the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a story about envy. Oh, you're going to be like, God, no, you know, well God doesn't want you to eat that forbidden fruit because he's just trying to keep a brother down. That's why he doesn't want you to eat that forbidden fruit because he doesn't want you to have what he has. Folks, the devil's been telling the same lie all along, trying to get you to believe that you're part of some abused group and poor you and you don't have the privileges that God has so you need to eat that tree of the knowledge of good and evil so that you can have what he has. That's envy. That is envy. It's wrong. And you know what? White people could be guilty of this too. I've seen white people complain that they're too white. And they've complained and said like, oh man, affirmative action, you know, because I'm a white male. I don't get anything. Has everybody ever heard people talk like that before? Well, I'm a white male, so I can't get any scholarships. I can't get, you know, what's, you know, folks, why don't we all just shut up and put our nose to the grindstone and make something out of our lives? And you know what? Why don't we just be happy with what God gave us? You know, and maybe you're short and maybe you're tall, but you know what? Why don't you just thank God for the body that he gave you? You know, when I was growing up in elementary school, I was the shortest kid in the class until I was in seventh grade. I was the shortest kid in the class. You think I like that? No. But you know what? I'm thankful that God made me just the way that I am. And now I'm 5 foot 10 inches, normal white person height. You know what? Thank God. And you know what? Maybe, maybe you're tall, maybe you're short, maybe you're good looking, maybe you're not so good looking. But you know what? We've all been given good things by God. And I'm not going to sit around and envy some other guy because he looks better than me. Or envy some other guy because he drives a nicer car than me. Or envy some other guy because he had a better upbringing than me or more advantages than me or something. Anybody can be guilty of this. Red, yellow, black, and white, you can be guilty of this. This sin of envy. The sin of covetousness. The sin of wanting things that don't belong to you. And look, stealing is stealing. And how in the world does it make any sense? Let's go steal stuff in honor of this guy who got killed by the police. That makes no sense. But I guarantee you, and if you would turn to Ephesians chapter 5. I guarantee you that the people who are doing this rioting and looting are justifying it in their mind like, yeah this is for George, yeah. I guarantee it. Say well how do you know that? Because I'm telling you, people always justify their sin. People always try to find a justification for their sin. So they'll probably tell themselves like, yeah this Scottsdale Fashion Center is a really white shopping mall or something. What? I've only bought one, I only went one time to the Scottsdale Fashion Mall that I can remember. You know what, I think I did, I think I tested their fire alarms a couple times back when I was in the fire alarm business. But the only time I remember actually going there to buy something is I bought a dress for my daughter at this really like ethnic store that was importing fashion from Asia. So it was not even close to being a white person store. It was like Asian imports. Folks, that target is for one reason. It's because they want fancy stuff. They're greedy and lusting after fancy stuff. That's why they go after the Apple store and the Scottsdale Fashion Center. Look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 5, For this ye know, that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things, because of what things? Being a whoremonger, covetous, because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Why is God mad today? He's mad because of fornication, he's mad because of stealing and lust and coveting things that don't belong to you. That's what makes him mad. Be not ye therefore partakers with them, verse 8, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Well you don't understand Pastor Anderson, a lot of those protesters are just peaceful protesters. It's just a few people. It's just a few people getting violent and just a few people that are stealing. Now hold on a second. The entire protest is unrighteous because it's an unrighteous anger, period. Every single person who was there protesting is wrong because there's nothing to protest because the guy was arrested and is being charged and so they need to wait and see what the outcome is and not get mad in advance. That's number one. But number two, let's see, on Thursday night there was violence and vandalism and stealing. On Friday night there was violence, vandalism, and stealing. So what kind of person are you if you show up on Saturday night? Oh no, I'm one of the good ones. Well what does the Bible say? Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Why are you participating, why are you yoking up with an event that is at night because it's wicked and based on violence, vandalism, unrighteous anger? You're part of it. You've joined in with it, none of you because none of you were there. He says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. You say, well what are you accusing these people of doing in secret? Well the Bible says it's a shame to even speak of those things which are done of them in secret. First of all, you know what I noticed and I haven't done a lot of reading on the events of the last several days because this isn't really a hard situation to figure out. You know, the calculus went pretty fast, okay, on this one. Now look, from what I saw, I saw where there was a whole bunch of violence and vandalism and there were arrests made and a mayor of some city, which city was it where they said none of the people we arrested even live in the city? Was that in Minneapolis? They say, yeah, everybody we're arresting didn't live here. They came from a distant city. He changed that state. Oh, he changed that? I thought the only person they arrested was the guy defending his property. They arrested the innocent guy? I didn't hear about that. Anyway, I don't know, there's so much going on, but here's the thing. We know that there's an organization that we would associate with this kind of feeling called Black Lives Matter. Is there any question that that would be a group that you would associate with this? My off base? Am I out on the left field on that? Okay, well, you want to know what kind of an organization Black Lives Matter is? Just go to Black Lives Matter's website and look at their staff and you know what? They all give you their preferred pronoun. Each person on their staff has a preferred pronoun and some of their pronoun is they. You know why? Because they're so demon-possessed that they have to be spoken to in the plural. They're like, Legion, for we are many. But I'm telling you, hey, my preferred pronoun. And you know what? If you read, just go to the Black Lives Matter website. I spent about 20 minutes there and guess what I saw? Lesbian, homo, transgender, that's half the website. And I'm like, okay, where do we find the information about black people? You can't even find anything about race on there. It's just all trannies, queers, that's all it is. That's the whole site. And literally it gives you like one paragraph on each staff member but it tells you their pronoun and they're a bunch of transvestites and freaks. You know what? The Bible was right when it said, it's a shame even to speak of those things which are done to them in secret. But all things that are approved, verse 13, are made manifest by the light for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. Go to Colossians 3, I'm almost done. Colossians 3, Colossians chapter 3, folks, this sermon is wall to wall Bible. It's Bible Bible and more Bible and you're going to have to do some real mental acrobatics to walk out of this sermon and say, well I don't think Pastor Anderson is right about this whole protest thing. Have fun trying to justify what's going on in our country over the last three days from the Word of God. Have fun with that. You're going to have to twist the Bible into a pretzel and you're still not going to be able to make it say that. There's nothing right about this. Well I can see both sides. I can't. I can't at all. I can't see both sides at all because what happened in Minneapolis, a separate issue. The man committed murder. He's on trial for murder. He should be convicted in my opinion. But he deserves a fair trial. I believe he should be convicted based on the evidence I've seen. Okay? But you know what? That's a separate issue. These protests have no basis in right at all and they're 100% wrong. It's not 99% wrong, they're 100% wrong. They don't have a leg to stand on biblically and you could just pick any one of these things that I'm, I'm showing you all these reasons from the Bible. Even if you disagree with one of my reasons, even if you say, well I like being out all night. Okay. Well you know what though? What about all the other points that I made directly from the word of God? About what is a righteous anger and what is a wrong anger? What is lust? What is covetousness? What is envy? If you walk out of this building understanding the definition of those three words, covet, envy, and lust, you will immediately reject this whole social justice, racial narrative. You'll have to just reject it right away and say, hey, this is something that we shouldn't be thinking about. This is something that we need to move on from as a nation. This is meaningless. Colossians chapter 3 verse 5, mortify, mortify means to put to death like a mortician, like muerte, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience in which ye also walked sometime when you lived in them. But now you also put off all these. What do you put off? Anger. What do you put off? Wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Why not one to another seeing that you've put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him? Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Here's the conclusion. God is punishing America. That's what's going on. God's punishing America. If you can't see that right now, you're blind. God is punishing America. How is God punishing America? Coronavirus. A hundred and five thousand deaths in the US alone and over a thousand deaths yesterday alone in the US alone. That's no joke. Number one, coronavirus. Number two, the economic collapse that's coming from all of the shutdowns and everything. I think a lot of businesses are suffering. The economy is going to tank or at least somewhat. I mean it can't help the economy, you know, the shutdown that's taking place. So you've got the virus. You've got the economic shutdown. You've got now rioting, violence, vandalism, racial hatred, right? Isn't that what's going on? So what's June going to bring? Well we're all going to find out tomorrow. You know, what's the next thing? I mean it's, this has been a heck of a year, amen? But you know what? I'm doing fine. How are you doing out there? Doing good? Yeah, God's good. God's good. You know, I slept like a baby last night. My wife said that she heard all kinds of flashbangs and stuff, but I didn't hear any of it. You know, I was just, I was fast asleep. I did have earplugs in my ear, but it might have had something to do with it. But you know, folks, I'm not down about it. I don't care because you know what? I know that God's going to bless those who love him and all things are going to work together for good for those that love God. We're like in the land of Goshen, you know, everything else is going to hell in a handbasket and you know what? God's going to continue to bless his children. He's going to take care of us. There's nothing to worry about. But folks, does America really seem like it's being blessed by God right now? Now even if you want to say, well, I think it's a conspiracy because it's the election year and you know, this is all to make Trump look bad and you know what? I don't know. Maybe? I don't know. It's possible. It's a reasonable theory to think that, you know, a lot of these things are being orchestrated because Trump has been popular and, and you know, he's very likely to get reelected and maybe people don't want him to get reelected. I don't know. I don't really care. I'm not into politics. I didn't vote for Trump last time. I didn't vote for anyone. I haven't voted since 2012 and I'm probably never going to vote again. So I don't have a dog in this fight. So the point is that even if you believe that it's a conspiracy, which like I said, is not a bad theory to think that this has something to do with it being an election year and events are being orchestrated and I've seen the guy with the gas mask and the black umbrella. I've seen it. The pallet of bricks, you know, here you go people, you know, I've seen all that. But here's the thing. For me though, it doesn't change the equation. It's like, you remember when you're in math class and you're doing a story problem, sometimes the teacher will kind of mess with you by giving you just information that has nothing to do with the problem. And you're kind of just like, whoa, I'm trying to, you know, why are they telling me this? And they're trying to kind of just give you a trick question. Who knows what I'm talking about? Where they, they give you some unnecessary piece of, see, here's the thing. I can solve this story problem. I don't need that information. You know, it's like, I, hey, I can solve for acceleration. I don't need to know the mass, all right? Because gravity is acting the same on every object. So it's like, I don't need to sit there and know exactly, well, what's behind the rioting? What's behind the coronavirus? What's behind the shutdown? Because you know what? All I need to know is America do bad. Bad thing keep happening. America do more bad, more bad happen. This isn't a complicated, folks, you're trying to, you're trying to solve this as a differential equation. It's, it's, it's two plus two is four, folks. You know, you don't get all complicated, folks. It's just as simple as one plus one is two. America, haven't, haven't we Baptist preachers been screaming about how God's going to judge America? Have I preached stuff like that? Has every Baptist in America preached that? Has every independent Baptist in America not for the last 20, 30 years, God's going to judge America for our sins. Haven't we all heard that thousands of times? And then God starts judging America for our sins and we're like, oh, is this the judgment of God? What, what is this? What's happening? Hello? Is anybody home? Can anybody really make the case, hey, things are going great in America right now. Looking good, America. No guess what the problem is sin. So what's the, Jesus is the answer. Getting right with God is the answer. What was the question? It doesn't matter. Getting right with God is the answer. So I'm not going to spend five seconds protesting the death of somebody who died 2000 some miles away. You know, when the guy's already on trial for third degree murder. You know what? I'm not going to worry about that. I'm not going to worry about the election. I'm not worried about November. I'm not worried about Trump. I'm not worried about Biden. I'm not worried about it. You know what, I'm going to worry about the stuff that actually matters. I'm going to worry about my family. I'm going to worry about the things of God. I'm going to worry about preaching the Bible. I'm going to worry about winning souls. I'm going to work about, you know, I'm going to worry about stuff that's going to matter a hundred years from now. And so don't get caught up in everything that, that, that's going on to where you think like that this is the big thing. Folks, go to the root, go deeper, and you'll find that the big thing is a spiritual battle between good and evil. That's the big thing. Right here, just the fact that you showed up this morning and sat in your chair and listened to this preaching, this is a better protest right here. You know, because we're here doing what? You know, we're actually here singing praises to God and learning the Bible and going through the Bible and learning about it and applying it to the day that we live in. This is actually something that actually makes sense to be doing right now. You know, and, and, and when you wake up tomorrow morning, don't just wake up and immediately turn on the news. Like, I got to figure out what's going on. What did they burn down last night? Is it, you know, who did they lash out at this time, Louis Vuitton or the Mercedes dealer? You know, it's like, folks, reach for the Bible. Reach for the Bible. Pull the Bible off the shelf and start reading about, you know, walking in the light. Men love darkness because they're evil and, you know, putting on the armor of light and thou shalt not covet and don't envy. And then, you know what, and then go and do what you've read and let all the, let, let all the, you know, unbelievers are acting like idiots because they don't know the Word of God. Okay? What, what can we do to fix them? Well, let's win their soul to Christ and let's teach them the Bible. Right? And you say, hey, do you hate all these protesters? No, not at all. You know what I, you know what I'd say, if I could, if I could have 10 minutes with one of these protesters, you know what I would say to them, you know what I would explain to them? I'd be like, alright, Romans 3 10, let's go. If I had 10 minutes with one of these protesters, that's what I would do, I'd do, I'd do the Romans road, right? I wouldn't be like, you idiot, why'd you burn it all down? I'd be like, hey, you're a sinner, right? And go, but I go, but then I get into the good news that they're, you know, that they could be saved. So let's keep our eyes and thoughts on spiritual things, folks. And hey, you say, well Pastor Anderson, I'm offended by your sermon. Well, you know what? I'm going to cry about it because everything I said is true. And you know what? I don't ever need a reason to preach the truth. I don't ever need a reason to tell the truth. The truth for the truth's sake. Amen? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for our church, Lord, and we thank you for your word, which has the answer to every situation, Lord. Lord, I pray that every person would go out of here understanding the concepts of the sermon this morning, Lord, that they would understand the dangers of dwelling in darkness, Lord, and that they would seek the light and that they would go out of here content with what they have, happy with what they, and happy with how they look, and happy, happy with their skin color, happy with their height, happy with, you know, their complexion. Lord, I just pray that we would just be thankful for all the wonderful things that you've given us and not be envious, Lord.