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Amen, the part of the chapter we're going to focus on is in Ecclesiastes chapter number 3 verse number 1 where the Bible reads here, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, a time to rend and a time to sow, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. My sermon this evening is a time for every purpose or a time to every purpose, I really really enjoy reading the scripture, I often enjoy when I read the book of Ecclesiastes simply because it shows just the balance of God's word doesn't it? It shows you the extremes of both sides of what we ought to do and God is teaching us here in this chapter that we have time for everything and there is an allotted amount of time for every purpose under heaven and no Christian and no human being could ever say well there's no time for this, there's no time for that, no there's time for all of these things under heaven. Why is that? Because God has allotted a lifetime to complete these things and we're going to start in verse number two here where the Bible reads a time to be born and a time to die and what we're going to do is we're going to go through all these verses and talk about both extremes. Number one, we're going to talk about a time to be born and a time to die so what can we learn from that? A time to be born and a time to die, what does that teach us? It teaches us that every single one of us, we only have a short period of time to live right? And though it may be 70 years and possibly it can even be 80 years, the Bible's teaching us that there is a time to be born but guess what, there's also a time to die and in fact the Bible says it is appointed for a man once to die but after this the judgment. Life does not, you know, last forever and obviously if we get saved and if you're saved we have everlasting life but we're talking about the physical aspect of living, it doesn't last forever. Now go with me to Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter number 12. Every human being has a certain amount of time to do something specific in this world on this earth. Luke chapter 12 and verse number 19, the Bible says here, and I will say to my soul, soul, by the way who talks to themselves like that, that's, hey soul, Paul you do that? That's weird, okay. This is Paul speaking here, thou has much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, but God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then who shall those things be which thou hast provided. So here we see that this man is just, you know, just massing up a bunch of wealth, he has so many things and he's even going to tear down his barns, build up greater to store all his goods, why, because he has a temporal mindset. He thinks he's going to be on this earth for a very long time and he's not using his goods for anything specific, anything valuable, anything that's going to, you know, for the work of God, he's just going to keep storing it up. He's basically what we would call a hoarder, okay. What is a hoarder? Someone who just stores up and stores up, doesn't want to throw anything away, just wants to keep everything, and the Bible says here that God comes to him and says you're a fool. Why? Because tonight your soul shall be required of you. You see, the Bible teaches us that we ought to recognize that life is but a what? A vapor, okay. And what does that do to us? It causes us to recognize today's important and today we need to live for the Lord. Today we need to keep God's commandments. Today we need to do right. Why? Because tomorrow's not promised unto us. Now go with me if you would to Psalms chapter 90. Psalms chapter 90, I'm going to read to you from James chapter number 4 verse 13 where the Bible says, go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain, whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. You see, often we think well 80 years is a long time to live, but you know what, in the biblical perspective, in the scope of eternity, it's just a vapor. It doesn't last forever. Therefore we as Christians ought to recognize that we ought to redeem the time because the days are evil. We ought to use our time wisely to do the things of God. Why? Because we don't have a lot of time on this earth. You see what Psalms 90 verse 11 says, who knoweth the power of thine anger. Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Teach us to number, that ought to be a continual prayer for us that we would say, God, help me to realize that I'm not going to live forever, physically obviously, right? We're not going to live forever. We're not here forever. And I think the people who get this, they don't get this concept are young people. You know, young people, whether they're teenagers or in their 20s, they just have this mentality, I'm going to live forever. That's why they do such stupid things, right? They take risks and they do all these things that could possibly endanger their lives. You have teenagers when they're 19 and they're 18 and 19 and even when they're 21 and 25, they're drinking, they're doing drugs, they're living the party life because they think, well, you know, when I'm 30, when I'm 40 is when I'm going to settle down. But you know what? That typically doesn't happen. You know, drunk driving or overdosing. I mean, I just heard about this last week about a guy that I used to know who was 19 years old died. Okay. I think that 19 year old thought he was going to live till he was, who knows, what, 50 or 60 or 70. No, he didn't even make it past 20. Okay. And we ought to recognize that, man, tomorrow's not promised. God teach me to number my days, to use my... And what does that do when God teaches us to number our days? It says, okay, if this is the amount of time I have, I need to make sure I use it wisely. Don't waste your life. You know, there's a famous saying that says YOLO, right? You only live once. And look, let me say this, there's some truth to that, isn't there? Because yeah, you do only live once, right? That's true. But often the world uses that as a means to say, so live it up as sinful as you possibly can. Right? But the fact of the matter is, we as Christians ought to have somewhat that same philosophy, but switch it around and say, so because we only live once, we ought to live for the Lord. Right? We ought to go out and win souls and be holy, not go out there and fornicate, not go out there and do wicked things, not go out there and do drinking and drugs and all this foolish nonsense, we ought to live for God. And let me say this, if you are in your 20s, if you're a teenager, don't waste your life on stupid living. You ought to live your life for God. You know, and by the way, some of the most stupidest decisions that you will make are in your 20s. Just the bottom line. You know, you got gray matter still, you just don't have a whole lot of wisdom, you think you're going to live forever. It's sad in statistics that that's when you get in the most debt. Why is that? Because you're going to swipe, swipe, swipe, I'll pay a swipe, swipe, and you get in all kinds of debt. The 20s are the age when you make the dumbest decisions, why? Because you only live once. But what happens, you get into your 30s, you get into your 40s, you start getting some sense about you and you're thinking, man, I messed up my 20s. You know, I ruined it, right? Now if that's you today, you know what, praise God for His grace and His wisdom that we get from His Word where we can fix things, right? And the Bible even says that God can restore that which the locusts have eaten, okay? And praise the Lord for that. God can restore those things. God can restore the damages that Satan has done in our life or the self-inflicted decisions that we made in the past. But I'm talking to those who have not yet made those decisions yet, okay? Don't ruin your life. And let me say this, if you're in your 20s and you're going into your 30s, you ought to live your life for the Lord and not for thine sake, but for your children's sake. You know, if you don't feel like living for God and you got kids, now's the time to start living for the Lord, okay? Because you got kids now. It's not like you're living life for yourself. No, there's a time to be born and there's a time to die. That means we only have a certain amount of time to live for God. You know, a lot of, even Christians sometimes think, well, you know, I'll start getting serious about the things of God when I'm in my 40s or when I'm in my 30s. But you know what? I mean, I've met pastor's kids who have died when they're 18, 17, car accidents, you know? We thought some of these kids were going to live on, you know, they didn't even get a chance to get married, you know? And they died in a car accident. It's just the way it happens. You know, it's not because they're a sinner above everyone else, right? It's just that the things of life happen, right? And so we need to recognize that there is a time to be born but there's a time to die. Don't think you're just going to, don't think you're going to make it to the end of the week, you know? And often even the lives of Christians, the mentality is this, well, I'm going to get right with God, you know? I'm going to get things right. I'm going to start reading my Bible next week or I'm going to start reading my Bible and get serious about the things of God this year but next month. How do you even know you have that much time? You don't know. Okay, thou fool. You know, how do you know that your soul will not be required of thee tonight? You don't know that. So the Bible's teaching us here that there is a time to be born but there's a time to die as well. Each and every one of us, we have an appointment with death, you know? And may that cause us to realize, man, I need to start like buckling down if I'm not buckling down on the things of God and start getting serious about these things. And look, what if you come to church but you don't want any souls to Christ? What if you die? You get no rewards when you get to heaven. Sorry, you don't get rewards for coming to church. Amen. Sorry, don't work that way, okay? We're glad you're in church, you're going to get fed, but you don't get rewards for coming to church. You say, why is that? Because you just sit there and you're listening, okay? God doesn't run a government program where you just sit there and he just gives you rewards for doing nothing. You got to do something, okay? And don't think, well, you know, this year, November, you know, we're going to do something for God, you know? No, today is the day. Now is the appointed time. Now is the time to get serious about the things of God. Why? Because there is a time to die, okay? So we need to keep these things in mind and the Bible tells us that there's a time for every purpose. Well, the purpose to live for God is right now, okay? Not when you're 30, not when you're 40, not when you're 50, now is the time, all right? But it goes on to say here, there's a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 11. Hold your place there in Ecclesiastes chapter number 3. Ecclesiastes chapter number 11. There's so many areas where we can apply this in but the Bible says there's a time to plant and there's a time to pluck up that which is planted. Ecclesiastes 11, 6 says, in the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good. So the Bible's teaching us it's given good wisdom here, okay? How can we paraphrase this, so to speak, in Ecclesiastes 11, 6, in other words, take risks now. I'm talking about good risks, obviously, right? How do you take a risk? By sowing seeds, good seeds, okay? By sowing good seeds, taking risks for God now because you never know what may come out of it. You know? You say, man, I don't know if I want to like obey God's commandments and it just seems a little hard, seems a little scary. Well, how do you know if you don't try? You don't know. You know, some of you guys, if you want to pastor a church or you want to preach or whatever it may be and you're like, man, I'm kind of holding back because I don't know, how do you know if you don't try? How do you know if you don't prepare? How do you know if you don't start doing the things you're supposed to be doing? You'll never know, okay? And the only failure is those who don't try. Look, I'd rather try and fail than not try at all and wonder if I would have succeeded. That's the worst feeling ever. It's like looking back 10 years from now, it's like, man, I wish I would have just done it and who knows, maybe I could have succeeded at that thing. No, it's better to sow your seed in the morning than in the evening. Withhold not thy hand for thou knowest not, whether shall prosper. You don't know what may come out of it. And by the way, we do know this is that when we sow things for the Lord, only good things can come out of that. Go to Psalms 126, Psalms 126. But there is a time to plant and time to pluck up that which is planted. That's another good principle to really apply it to say, look, when we're sowing the Gospel, remember we're sowing seeds to our family members regarding the Gospel. We're sowing good seeds of good works, whatever it may be. Don't expect to see immediate results all the time, okay? Now sometimes you will see like immediate results. I went to the Milan and I went out sowing today and man, I was coveting. I can't believe this guy got to lead this guy to the Lord who was just like, obviously someone had already given this guy the Gospel like multiple times. You know, he didn't buck at it. He gave all the right, it's like he just had a template to go by, he's like, yeah, just believe. You know? No, I can't lose my salvation. No, because why? Because I believe, so you can't lose. I mean, he gave every single right answer. He believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He believed he was a sinner. He was going to hell. All there is is believe. He believed in eternal security, was willing to pray. I mean, he was like smiling and laughing the whole time. He was, and when the Milan was showing the verses, he was like all into it. I mean, who wouldn't want something like that, right? And he got saved. But you know what? We reap the benefits of maybe someone else's prayers for that guy, right? Or we reap the benefits of someone else who sowed seeds of the Gospel but weren't able to lead him to Christ. We benefited from that. Look what the Bible says in Psalms 126 verse 6, He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. So the Bible gives us a promise that when we sow the seeds of the Gospel, we will reap. Why? Because the Bible says that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. We don't need gimmicks. We don't need any of that. We need to preach the Gospel. We need to pray that they get saved. And really, what am I talking about? In context, sometimes what I'm referring to is even our family members because sometimes the easiest people to win are those we don't know, right? The doors we knock. The hardest people sometimes to win are those who are our closest friends and family, right? Why? Because a prophet is not without honor, saving his own country and among his own kindred, you know? And so sometimes they're hard on white because they know our weaknesses. They've seen our failures. If you got saved later on in life, they knew how you were back then or whatever it may be and then you try to come and preach the Gospel to them and they're just like, what are you going to tell me? I knew you before all this, before you became a Jesus freak or whatever, you know? Sometimes those are the hardest people to win. So what do they need? They need you to sow seeds of prayer and of the Gospel, okay? And I know there's times when we get so discouraged from preaching the Gospel to our family members, we just kind of give up, you know? And look, just because they don't get saved doesn't mean they become reprobate, okay? Because I think that's an easy way to go, ah, they're just reprobate, that's why. No, maybe you just need to pray a little bit more, you know? Maybe you need to be a little more kind when you talk to your family, you know, stop trying to be such a prophet when you're out there preaching the Gospel to your mom or your dad or your cousins. Turn or burn! You know, I don't know what you say, well hopefully you don't say turn or burn, right? That's why they're not getting saved. But the fact is sometimes if we're not careful in our zeal, we can be a little rude and come across a little harsh and that turns our family off to the Gospel. By the way, I'm guilty of that, you know? I've done that to my family members and not in my zeal to prove them wrong, in my zeal to want to pull them out of the fire, you know? Because we love them and we don't want them to go to hell and for us it's like, you know, man, I got it, I understood, can't you understand? And it's like we want them to be saved and they don't want salvation and it's frustrating and if you're not careful you're just like, ah, they're just reprobate. No, they're not reprobate, okay? What the problem is is that, you know, they know your failures, okay? They know your weaknesses. So you say, what's the best way to go about it? Well, first sow seeds of prayer, sow the Gospel, but you need to sow new seeds of kindness and consistency. By the way, don't try to preach the Gospel to your family if you're always in and out of church, you know, because they're like, man, this guy doesn't even, you know, he doesn't even believe that stuff. He's not even in church. Look at him. Look at him. You know, he's not partying again or whatever. Are you trying to preach to me the Gospel? But when they, you know what, when they start seeing consistency in your life they realize it's like a real thing that you're really serious about, they'll start taking notice. And it may take a while, okay? The easiest people to win are those we don't know. Sometimes the hardest people are those who know us the best, okay? But the Bible tells us, he that goeth forth and weepeth. By the way, when's the last time you wept for some of your family members? You know, when's the last time you actually shed a tear for your family? Like, ah, I'm not the crying type. You wouldn't weep to just the thought that your family members can die and go to hell? I mean, that's hard. That's a harsh reality. And the fact of the matter is, once you come to that realization, you picture that, that'll cause some weeping as you're bearing the precious seed, right? And the Bible tells us there that you will doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing your sheaves with you. That's a promise from God. But the Bible tells us there that there's a time to plant, there's a time to sow those seeds, there's a time to pluck up. Go to John chapter 4, John chapter number 4. But also even just in the matter of sowing generally, right? Sometimes there's dry seasons. Sometimes there's seasons of fruitfulness when you see a lot of people saved. Sometimes there's times when you just don't see a whole lot of people saved. Look at John 4, 37 says, and herein is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor, other men labored and ye are entered into their labors. So just as Milan and I saw that person just save right away, you know, there's gonna be times when we preach the gospel to someone and they don't get saved, and guess what? The soul winner comes and they will see them get saved. You know? And we gotta realize that. You know, don't come back discouraged if you ever go preach the gospel and you're like no one's getting saved, I wanna give up, this is not working, no. It's a matter of just, well, this is a season of sowing seeds. This is a season of sowing the gospel and hopefully, Lord willing, through prayer and too much diligence, these people are gonna get saved. First Corinthians chapter 3 and verse number 5 says, who then is Paul and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom he believed. Even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted Apollos' water, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Galatians chapter number 6, if you would. Go to Galatians chapter number 6. But this is a good principle to live by just in a matter of sowing seeds. You know? And no one sows a seed expecting a full crop tomorrow. Takes time. You know? It takes some time. And those people you see saved right away, it's because probably someone else sowed the seed like beforehand. Or that person has some biblical foundation, they understand something and it's just ripe for the picking. You know, the fruit is hanging low and you can just pick it right off. Okay? But it's not always gonna be like that. Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 says, let us not be weary in well doing. For in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Okay? And therefore have opportunity, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. You know, the Christian life is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Amen? And so as a marathon, you have to jog your way through the Christian life and recognize as you're sowing seeds, you're not gonna receive immediate results. The problem is, a lot of the times with Christians, they want the product without the process. Right? They want the product of holiness, but they don't want the process it takes to actually get to that point. Okay? They want the product of good kids, but they're not willing to go through the process to obtain that. They want the product of a great marriage, but they don't want the process of working to get to that point. They want the product of being a great Christian, but they don't want the process that it takes for that. Okay? Live in a microwave society where everything's just like, I want it now. No, it takes a process to get a good product. Okay? The Bible tells us here that if we faint not, we can have those. We will reap in due season. There's a time to plant and there's a time to pluck up. Go to Matthew chapter number five. Matthew chapter number five. But not only that, there's a time to plant and a time to pluck up just in a matter of salvation. Obviously, the Bible teaches us that. In verse number 12 of Matthew chapter five, it says, Then came his disciples and said unto him, No one stout that the Pharisees were offended after they heard the saying. But he answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Okay? And here's the thing. Often, we think to ourselves, obviously, if we're saved, we're planted in Christ, God's the one who plants us, we have salvation. But often, we look at the wicked and we're like, man, how can they can just continue to live? Or how can this person exist? You know, how can this person just continue into, but you know what, there's gonna come a time when they're gonna get plucked up. In fact, the Bible says in Jude 12, these are spots in your Feast of Charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. So the Bible even tells us there's people, even today, that are already plucked up by the roots. They're already twice dead. Okay? We would refer to them as reprobates. And don't be afraid to even talk about that because often, look, today, even today, when we went out, so many, I talked to a guy, a Hispanic guy, and he didn't get saved, but as I was planting those seeds and we were talking to him, you know, he was like, you trying to tell me that, you know, the most heinous murderer, he goes, what about Charles Manson? You know? He said, what about, what about, what's the guy from L.A.? What? Not Jeffrey Dahmer. This is another one. I can't remember his name. Richard Ramirez. There you go. You know, what about him? He said. I said, Jesus, Jesus is a reprobate, I told him. I said, the Bible says he can't be saved, and he goes, okay, yeah, that makes sense. You know? And often people, you know, even unsafe people have the understanding that there comes a time when someone can't be saved. And those are the people who are already plucked up by the roots before they die. But the Bible teaches us that there's going to come a time when actually God plucks them up, right? When they're cast into the lake of fire, and that's going to be a great day. Go back to Ecclesiastes chapter number three. There's a time to plant and a time to pluck up. Look what the Bible says here in verse number three. There's a time to kill and a time to heal. So what does that mean? Go to Exodus chapter 22. Does that mean you just like, you know, when you're upset at your neighbor or something like that, it's like, now's the time to kill, you know? This is the time. Time for every purpose. Now's the time to take care of business. No. Now look, obviously the Bible teaches us, thou shalt not kill, okay? And amen. That's in the Bible. But look what Exodus chapter 22 in verse number one says, if a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. So let me ask you a question. Is that murder? No. Nope. Right? In fact, the Bible's teaching that that's justifiable, okay? That is the time to kill. He said, whoa, whoa, whoa, are you condoning murder? No, I'm condoning what the Bible says. Amen. And what the Bible's teaching, see murder, when the Bible talks about thou shalt not kill, that's referring to premeditative murder. When you're planning to kill someone, when you have the agenda to actually take matters into your own hands to cause harm, to violate someone, that is called murder, okay? But the Bible's teaching us here in Exodus chapter 22 in verse number two that if a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. Now let me say this, is stealing is not justifiable. It's not justifiable to kill someone just for stealing, okay? In spite of what people have said in the past. I mean, I remember my brother who grew up with some friends, they were doing a beer run, okay? If you don't know what that is, it's basically you go into a liquor store, you grab a case of beer, and you run out. And the owner of that store, I don't know if he had that happen more than once, pulled out a shotgun, and as the guys were running, blasted a hole right through one of the guys and killed him. Now I'm not justifying the fact that the guy stole, it was wrong that he stole. But murder is not the answer to that. Killing him was not the solution, okay? I mean, I've even heard in other countries, I've seen in other countries where a man will try to steal a woman's purse and then the whole crowd just jumps the guy and they just beat him to a bloody pulp to the point where they kill him, you know, and they're like celebrate. That's not justifiable, that's wicked, you know? The Bible says, let him that stole steal no more but work with his hands, that which is good. You know, someone who steals, why does the Bible say that they have to restore fourfold? Why does it say that? Because if someone steals and then they have to restore that which they stole fourfold, guess what, that means they have to get a job, that means they have to work. And if they restore that, you know what happens? They come to their senses and say, man, I could have just like bought this myself. In fact, I could have gotten four times as much. And they're like, wow, I can actually like just work and get this, you know? And it helps them to have a better perspective of life and it gives them character. You don't kill someone for stealing. So you say, what does the Bible say here when it says if a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he died, there shall no blood be shed for him. Why is God not condemning the person who kills the thief who breaks into someone's house? Well, look at verse number three. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him, okay? Now, keep in mind that this is during the times when there is no light switches or lights, okay? The only light they receive is from candles or from the sun itself, right? So therefore, the Bible's teaching us if the sun be risen and that person be smitten, it's because you're able to see him, okay? However, at night, if someone's breaking in, you don't know what that person is going to do, right? You don't know if that person is coming there to kill, to steal or to rape. In fact, at night, I mean, there's a saying back in the day, the freaks come out at night, you know? Weird people come out at night. And it's at night when people try to do the worst of heinous of crimes. So if a person tries to break through at night, you don't know what's taking place, the Bible says that if you kill that person, no blood shall be shed for him. Why? Because you don't know what that person's agenda was, okay? So guess what? There is a time to kill, okay? And I'm sick and tired of Christian so-called condemning Christians who believe in the death penalty or who believe it's okay to kill. They're like, no, Jesus is like some Gandhi, Buddhist, just long-haired faggoty hippie who doesn't care about anything and no more, no, I mean, Jesus, he is the word. You think he didn't know about this? You think he went to the New Testament not knowing what the Bible says in Exodus chapter 22? He is the word made flesh. So the time to kill is obviously if someone breaks into your house, okay? Now, you know, today, I mean, back then it was like a sword, right? I guess, I mean, they just like hack that guy or something, you know, or spear him or something like that. Today we got guns, okay? I'm fortunate that when I got married, I was given a gun for my wedding gift. I mean, that is the gift that keeps on giving, amen? That's an awesome gift. I appreciated that. And the reason that the person had given me the gun as a gift was because just a couple days prior to that, couple days prior to that, someone had broken into, I was on the news, someone had broken into someone's house and stabbed like a bunch of people in that family. I mean, right down, I mean, right across from us. They crashed, they got out, the police had been chasing them, they got into the house and just stabbed a bunch of people, you know? And it was during a time when like a lot of that stuff was happening in our neighborhood over in Long Beach. I mean, we had, there's a point where there's a guy who escaped in a saint asylum. Marcos, you were there. You know, I got to tell you this story. Can I tell you this story? Let me just tell you this story. So I used to be in the dorms and I remember, you know, I was in my room, this is years ago, and my buddy Marcos over there, you know, he used to jog, okay? Don't laugh, all right? He used to jog, all right? So he was jogging and all of a sudden he's just like, he's on the roof, he's on the roof, he's on the roof. And I'm like, and I run outside, I'm like, and, you know, Marcos is like, I don't even know what happened. He like ran and I'm like, what is he talking about? And I look on the roof and there is a guy on the roof half naked or with a hospital gown naked. And I'm looking, I'm like, what are you doing on my roof? And he's like, I'm looking for the beach. I'm like, well, the beach is not here, you know? The beach is that way, you know? And he looked crazy. I mean, this guy was crazy. And I didn't have a gun at that time, I had a knife. And I'm like, signaling my friend, I'm like, give me my knife, you know? And he gives me my buck knife because that's all I could afford at that time. And we ended up chasing the guy into one of the buses and this guy was like on crack or something because he was strong. I mean, he broke into the bus. He took the broom and he put it through the door and he like twisted that thing so it wouldn't open. You know, he grabbed the fire extinguisher and I remember, this is funny, I remember a police officer showed up because people had been calling. They had been chasing this guy for like five hours because he had escaped like some asylum or something like that. And they showed, this lady police officer shows up. And I said, you need to call backup. And she was like, no, I got this. And then she looks and he's like naked in there, like screaming. She's like, I need backup. You know, she's like, I'm like, yeah, you need backup, okay? I mean, he took the whole squad to get in there. They busted the door open, tased them, or what's that called? The bags. They shot the bags at him. They did everything. And finally, like he went down like after a while or whatever and they took him out without the gown, okay? But this guy had been running from the police for like five hours going to people's homes at night, okay? I don't even know how I got off on that. But it was an interesting story. But that goes to show that those things do happen. So when I got the gun, I was like, great, you know? I'm glad I got this gun. Now, let me tell you another story, okay? So after I got my gun, you know, I'm like staying at, we were staying, we were staying, my wife and I were staying behind my mother-in-law's house. There's a little house there we used to stay in. And so that, one of these days, the guy who actually had bought me the gun, he had hired some guy to clean like the backyard or something, some random guy. And I walked back there and I'm like, and he didn't look like just like a hardworking, you know, just run-of-the-mill guy. No, he looked like a pretty crazy guy. And I pulled the guy aside and said, hey, man, you can't just be like bringing people, you know, show him where we live and stuff. He's like, well, I don't see the problem with it, you know? So this guy like leaves and he just like disappears. And I'm like, dude, you know, that guy's coming back because he didn't look like, he didn't look too like sane, you know? So whatever, the day passed on, we go to sleep, I get a phone call at 11 o'clock. Now anytime you get a phone call at 11 o'clock, I don't know about you, but I'm like, something bad's going on, you know? And my father-in-law is not at home at this time because obviously he's in the hospital. He's not, he's in the hospital, he's not living at home. And my mother-in-law is like, there's a guy in the front trying to come in and he's asking where my husband is. And I'm like, okay. And he goes, can you come here? And I'm like, yeah, I'll be right there. So I grabbed my gun because I don't know who, who, you know, who it is. You know, why would you be knocking at someone's door saying, hey, where's your husband? You know, that's weird. So we have a porch light, but I brought out my gun and I came in my jammies and half asleep, but you know, I don't know who the guy is. And I'm wondering, I'm thinking, I wonder if it's the same guy, you know? Sure enough, it's the same guy. And I opened the door and he had his back to me now. I was like, hey, and he turned around. I was like, what do you want? And he looked and he goes, is that a gun? And I said, yes. And he goes, I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I'm just going to go. I just wanted a couple bucks. And I said, 11 o'clock at night is not a time to come to someone's door to ask for a couple bucks. Okay. Now my brother-in-law who owns a shotgun, she was trying to like wake him up and he wouldn't wake up, but he woke up when he started hearing some talk or whatever and he said he went downstairs to look what was going on. He saw me walk by with my night millimeter and he said he went back upstairs and grabbed the shotgun. You know, he's like, I don't know what's going on, but Bruce has a gun so I might as well go out there. But guess what? The guy never came back. And look, anybody with some smarts won't come back. Okay. Now look, I never want to use my gun. I hope I never do. I pray to God that I never have to use my gun. But better to have it and not use it than to need it and not have it. Okay. Especially if the Bible tells us there's a time to kill. And I'm not looking for a reason to kill obviously. Okay. But look, I'm the protector of my home. Okay. I got a son. I got a wife. I have a daughter on the way. I have a family. It's my responsibility to protect them. Okay. And that's what needs to be done. Now being put to death is a phrase that's mentioned like 60 times in the Bible. Okay. So it's not something that should be foreign to the Christian, especially to the Baptist who reads the King James Bible. The Bible teaches us that there's certain people that need to be put to death. And that's not murder. Okay. God has deputized the government to put certain people to death. Now the most common one that we know is what? The sodomites, right? Put them to death. The Bible says it. But it also gives a long list of other people that should be put to death. You know, murderers, obviously, kidnappers is one of them. You know, so, well, you know, child molesters and kidnappers, you know, they can be reformed. No, they can't. Okay. That's a stupid lie that you got from some false doctrine, from some guy who came in privily to preach damnable heresies. You know, coming under the cloak of being a Christian, that's a lie. No pedophile can be reformed. But the Bible says that if someone kidnaps someone, you know, they need to be put to death. Okay. Now go to, you're in Exodus chapter 21, look at verse 12. He that smiteth the man so that he die shall be surely be put to death. Verse 16. And he that stealeth the man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. Let's talk about kidnapping right there. Okay. And by the way, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, every year more than 200,000 children are abducted by family members. An additional 58,000 are taken by non-relatives with primarily sexual motives. However, only 115 reported abductions represent cases in which strangers abduct and kill children, hold them for ransom, or take them with the intention to keep. I mean, this is happening on a constant basis. And the reason these things are getting out of hand is because America is not applying the biblical principle to just put them to death when they're found. Because here's the thing, you execute someone publicly, it teaches others, you better not try this. Okay. I mean, I remember when I took a trip to Guatemala, when I was like 10 years old, on live television, there's three men who had abducted a young girl, they killed her, and they did other things to her. And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. And they killed her. Well, they found these three guys, these disgusting perverts. And you know what they did? They tied them to poles, put that thing live on action, and with AK, or with M16s, just shot them up in front of everyone. And all that God's people said, amen. But you know why they did it on live television? So the pedophiles, the potential pedophiles out there, look at that and say, yeah, that's not a good idea. You know? I don't want to be the guy with a blindfold around my eyes, tied to a pole, being shot up by an M16, so that the whole world can see. I saw that as a 10-year-old. I mean, my aunt said, benga, benga, benga. I'm like, is this a movie? And they shot them up, they killed them, they slumped over, and they died. And they went straight to hell. Why? Because there's a time to kill. And there is, it's like, yeah, but we need more humane ways to do a public execution. There's no humane way to kill someone. It's just the bottom line. Death is just always an ugly thing. I mean, when Ted Bundy, I think it was Ted Bundy, was killed, I mean, people rejoiced over that thing. It's not weird to rejoice when wicked people die. It's a normal thing. Go to Jeremiah chapter number one. You see, you skip the time to heal. Well, because, I mean, it's more important to talk about time to kill, because I think we all know about healing, all right? You say, when's the time to heal when you stub your toe and you go to sleep and you put some ointment on there or something like that and you're all good to go. But the time to kill, look, a lot of people don't understand that. You know, they're like, what do you mean there's a time to... I mean, I want to see what the regular, the modern independent Baptist will say about that verse. When it says there's a time to kill, they're like, well, you know, die to the flesh. You need to die to... I mean, what are they going to say to that? No, the time to kill, the Bible lays out specific times when it's okay to kill someone, okay? When God has deputized the government to do so, okay? I mean, I remember there's a time when I remember, okay, don't ever watch Spanish news. The Spanish news is terrible, okay? It's like brutal, like they show the worst stuff on Spanish. And you know, in English, on the English news, obviously everything's fake, but they'll blur it out. They don't blur it out in Spanish, you know? They capitalize on it. And I remember like in Peru, Peru, in certain parts of Peru, they still practice public execution. I mean, it's like a common thing that they do over there. And I remember they had caught this one man who, obviously he was a child molester, and he had raped and violently raped and killed a child. And this is like in a rural town where it was just like almost like a farm town. Well, you know what they did? They dragged the guy to the center of the town as they beat him on the way there, put him in the middle, poured gasoline on him, and lit him on fire and clapped as it happened. He said, no, everyone deserves a second chance. There is no second chance for something like that. Okay? He said, yeah, but that could have been done a little more, you know, a little more, what's the best way? It's all going to be bad. Death is always bad, okay? But obviously these people on the other side of the world have some sense that that's what needs to be done. Now, obviously there's countries that just kill people for, they do the death penalty for like for everything, you know, and obviously that's not right. We need to stay within the scope of what the word of God says, but the Bible teaches that there is a time to kill, and that's also referring to the death penalty, you know, and look, we need to not have this Gandhi Christianity mentality, or it's like, well, Christianity is just all peace, peace, peace. No, Jesus said, I come not to send peace, but a sword. What is a sword? The sword kills. Now, look, obviously now we're not chopping people up, but in the millennial reign it's going to happen. You know, what then? Okay. Where do I have you turn? Jeremiah chapter number one. I'm going to read to you from Ecclesiastes chapter three, it says, a time to break down and a time to build up. A time to break down and a time to build up. So what is that referring to? Obviously, in order to build something up, something needs to be broken down, okay? There needs to be a beginning and an end of something. Jeremiah 1, 9 says, then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations, over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. So Jeremiah, God has deputized Jeremiah, and he's sending them and he's saying, look, you got to pull down, you got to break it down, and you got to build afterwards. Now what is he talking about? Obviously, the preaching that he's going to be doing, okay? And look, biblical preaching always tears down before it builds up. And biblical preaching is not always building up. You see, if I'm always up here building you up, God, you know, wants your best life now and everything's going to be okay, you got grace and mercy and God loves you, but you don't get any rebuke, you're not going to, there's nothing to build. Why? Because there are certain habits that you have in your life and belief systems that need to be torn down. There are certain ways of believing and doctrinal things and maybe preconceived notions that you have that are not biblical, and what needs to be done? It needs to be torn down. Then we build up, okay? We tear down, we tear down those false beliefs, false teachings or false notions and habits and then we build up. In fact, the Bible says, Preach the word, be in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and then it says, Exhort with all longsuffering and doctrines. See, just like with Jeremiah, he says, you tear down and then you build up. But what's the problem in a lot of churches today? All we're seeing is a lot of building up. And that's why you have people who are vainly puffed up. Because all they have is being built up, everything's okay, this is how you overcome depression, this is how you overcome anxiety, God loves you, throw your tithe in the plate, throw whatever, let me get your money, because that's all they want. But see, someone who actually loves you will tear you down first. No, that's not, you shouldn't tear people down. The Bible says to tear down. That's what it means to rebuke and reprove. You're cutting to the heart, you're talking about things that people don't want to hear, you're stepping on people's toes. And by the way, how will anybody improve if we don't talk about those things? In fact, the Bible says, Open rebuke is better than seek or love. Better to openly rebuke you than to secretly love you. In fact, openly loving you is to openly rebuke you. And rebuke a wise man, the Bible says, and he will yet love thee. So it's important that there is a time to, and that's why we will always have a church that preaches hard. We will always have a church that preaches on fornication, it preaches on bad habits, it preaches on faggots, you say, well, I have a homosexual family member, a reprobate. And yeah, but I think you're a little too hard on them. Sometimes I think I'm just not hard enough. And it needs to be preached on more and more and more. Why? Because throughout the years, we've been desensitized to think the opposite. So you know what needs to be done? We need to cast down those imaginations and every high theme that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. We need to make sure that we're preaching biblical sermons, and in order to preach a biblical sermon, we've got to talk about the negative stuff. We've got to talk about whatever sins of the day. We need to talk about adultery, that it's wrong. We need to preach against divorce. That's a biblical teaching. You say, yeah, but what if you offend someone? So be it. But it needs to be talked about. Because I would offend you if I didn't talk about it. That would be offensive, because I'm withholding truth from you. I'm withholding something that would benefit you. We don't want to do that. Back in Ecclesiastes chapter number 3, the Bible says here, a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance. Now what does that mean? So if the Bible says a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance. Now look, I'm not against dancing. I know that probably sounds weird. By the way, I don't go home and start getting jiggy with it or anything like that. And this is not talking about go out there and go salsa or something like that. Those of you who live in Compton, you know, Crip Walk or whatever. But there is a certain biblical way of dancing when you're just rejoicing. And I think often sometimes when we think of dancing, we think of the modern dancing. When dancing can just really mean just leaping for joy, you're excited, things of that nature. And the Bible says there's a time for those things. Sometimes when you're just excited about the things of God, maybe behind closed doors like David did, though, you know, Michael saw him, you know, he was excited about the things of God and he's just leaping for joy who's dancing before the Lord. I don't think that's an unbiblical thing to do. In fact, the Bible says let them praise his name in the dance, let them sing praises unto him with the timbrough and harp. Now let me say this, there's some wicked dancing today, right? You know, with reggaeton, and all the filthy acts, and all the hip hop, and some disgusting dancing that basically looks like fornication. No Christian ought to be a part of that, nor should we watch something like that, right? That's wicked. That's vile. And that's a perversion of even what the Bible says. See, and here's the thing, a new Christian will look at dance and say, wow, man, is that like, are you serious? Like, we can like dance? Like, no, you can't dance like that. See, because you've been desensitized to thinking that that's what it's talking about when it says dance. You know, hey, you know, you're happy, I just danced. You're excited. You know, not this wicked fornicating template of dancing that we see today. The Bible says praise him with the timbrough and dance, praise him with stringed instruments and organs. And by the way, it's not the dance you see in the Pentecostal churches either, where they're shaking their hips and they're looking all sensual. That's not the dance that it's talking about. That's the dance that a lot of people like to say, and by the way, Pentecostals love going through these verses, don't they? You know? You say, why are you saying it in Spanish, because most people I know that are in Pentecostal churches are Hispanics, right? I got ants in that thing. The Bible says in Lamentations 5, verse 14, the elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. The joy of our heart is ceased, and our dances turn into mourning. So the Bible says there is a time to dance, but there's a time to mourn. You know, what does that mean? There's a time to... Being sad is almost like a biblical concept. We would say sad, the Bible would use as mourning, okay? And here's the thing about mourning. You know, today, we have this false concept. There's this thing called, okay, so when someone dies, obviously, right, there's something called a what? A memorial, right? And what do you do at a memorial? You remember them, but you weep. You cry. You hurt. But there's this new concept that's called a celebration of life. How many of you have ever heard of something like this, a celebration of life, where it's almost like... I mean, it's a celebration, like it's a great thing. And I believe it's just a concept of people trying to suppress mourning and say, no, it's a good thing that this person died. And we're not even talking about Christians, obviously. We don't mourn as the world does. We understand when a brother or sister die in Christ, they're in heaven to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord, and praise God for that. But even in that case, we should mourn. Okay, there's a time of mourning. Yet the celebration of life is something where it's just like, well, it's a celebration. Let's wear bright clothing. Everything's okay. Let's smile. No, the Bible teaches a concept that it's okay to weep. Let your dance be turned into mourning, okay? And I believe it's just a matter of our culture trying to pervert and rest what death is, okay? In fact, even in the Bible, you see times when people would die. When Sarah died, Abraham mourned for his wife for 40 days. Mourning is to weep, to feel grieved, to fast at times, to go without food. And by the way, when the Bible talks about fasting, there's times when people would fast not because they wanted to lose weight, okay? They're fasting because they were so grieved and pained that they didn't care about food. You think of David, when he was praying for his son to be healed. What did he do? He mourned and he fasted. He just went without food because he didn't care. There comes a time when you're in such pain. I know this sounds crazy when you don't want food. That's a form of mourning, where food is just not an important aspect of life right now. Right now, I'm grieved, I'm sad, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's why we're able to weep, okay? Well, we would say cry, right? We're able to weep and it's a biblical thing to do so. The Bible says, go with me if you went to James chapter number 4. James chapter number 4. Now look, let me say this is that when people mourn, if you meet someone maybe in your family or you know, another Christian and they lose a family member, let them mourn, okay? And I'm gonna explain to you what I mean in just a moment. Psalm 77 verse 2 says, in the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted. So when someone mourns, it's actually teaching us that when you're mourning, you don't want to be comforted, okay? You kind of just want to be left alone and be allowed to mourn, to weep. And here's the thing, sometimes Christians with good intentions will try to comfort people in the time of mourning and guess what? You often do actually more damage than good, okay? You know, you got all these verses memorized and you know how to fix your problem and don't worry brother, to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord, they're in heaven, don't worry about it. That's not necessarily what they need. And by the way, I'm not saying that that's not gonna help them in the future. Obviously it will but there's a time and place for that, remember, there's a time to mourn. So keep this in mind because it will happen, you will meet someone who maybe they lose a mother, they lose a father and they're in very deep pain, that's not the time to text them all the verses that are coming to your mind, you know? You gotta let them mourn and weep and cry. That's just the way of life. You say, well what do I do? Because I want to be an encouragement to someone, you know, what if I meet someone or I know someone passes away, what do I do? This is what you do, this is the best thing you can do. I just want to let you know, I'm praying for you, I love you, if you need anything you let me know and give them their space. Because they need a time frame to just weep and mourn and do that, okay? They don't need you cramming verses down their throat. No, but they need the word of God, brother! But not at that time. Because the Bible says a word spoken in due season, how sweet it is. You know, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver, right? And so that means there is a season to say a word when they're ready for it. But there's times you just gotta say, hey, I just want to let you know, I'm praying for you, I'm here for you, if there's anything you need, you just let me know, I'm here. And give them their space and allow them to mourn and to weep, okay? It's a biblical concept. And we need to realize that. Where do I have you turn? James 4 verse 8 says, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. And look, I want to just show this verse to, like, Pentecostals sometimes. You know, the crowd, that everything is just okay and they're laughing and, no, there is a time to weep and a time to mourn, you know? And the Bible teaches that, teaches us that, obviously. John 16, 20 says, verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, but ye shall be sorrowful, but ye shall be turned into joy. So obviously there's seasons to everything, again, what is the title of the sermon? There's a purpose for everything under the earth, right? There's a time for every purpose. And often there's a time to mourn and so on and so forth. Now go back to Ecclesiastes chapter number 3, I need to wrap this up. I don't know if we're going to get past all these. Verse number 5 says, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones. Now I'm a little hesitant to give you my interpretation of this because I was thinking about this, I'm like, man, what does that mean? I don't know what that means necessarily. Just correlating verses with verses, go with me if you would to Genesis chapter 32. I'm not saying I'm right on this, I'm saying maybe this is, by the way, if you have something that's, that's, that makes more sense, you come and let me know. I'm not staunching it, but I think this is, this is a good interpretation of it. Look what the Bible says in the, in Genesis chapter 30, excuse me, 31 and verse number 46, the Bible says, and Jacob said unto his brethren, gather stones and take, and they took stones and made it in heap and they did eat there upon the heap. Now in verse 44 it says, now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant. So often in the Bible when stones are gathered as a heap, it's, it's, it's, it's as a witness. They're making a covenant with something, okay? That's how you know that when they're gathering stones, that's what that means. So but why would the Bible say there's a time to cast away stones? Well, when you're gathering stones, you're making a covenant, right? When you're casting them away, that means the covenant is being broken, okay? Now I'm going to give you a spiritual application to this in the New Testament where the Bible actually says, by the way, who's a stone in the New Testament? It's Jesus Christ. Right? Well, who is the stone that the billers disallowed is Jesus Christ. Disallowed means rejected. Cast them away. Well, that was the time to cast away stones and the time, the time to gather stones was in the Old Testament, okay? But when the Jews rejected Christ, they cast away, they disallowed the stone that was, the stone that was rejected who's become the same, the, the, the cornerstone as the Bible puts it, then a new covenant needed to come in force, okay? New stones needed to be gathered, which we will refer to as the New Testament, the New Covenant, where, where God's people are not just Jews, it's all people who are believers in Christ. That's what I believe it's referring to. It's making a reference to casting stones and gathering them and that's, that's what I believe. I'm not staunch in it, but I believe that's what it means. Then it says the time to embrace and the time to refrain from embracing, that goes along with mourning. That goes along with weeping, cause even there, there's people who are just touchy, okay? There's touchy people, right? They like to hug, you know, they like to kiss, you know, on the cheek, of course, I'm referring to like, you know, family members and stuff like that or your wife or your husband, but you know, there's a time to refrain from those things. You know, when you don't want to be comforted, you don't want any of those things. I mean, I remember, I had, I had a friend who went through a very traumatic experience and he said his wife just wanted to just hold his hand all the time and hug him and he was just like, you know, now's not the time for that. I don't think he was wrong for that. I think the traumatic experience that he was suffering from, it was what the Bible says that there's a time to remember embracing. It's like, man, and you know, for a Christian, it's just the time to read your Bible, time to pray more, right? Time to fast and refrain from embracing. The Bible goes on to say in verse number six, a time to get and a time to lose. It reminds me of Philippians 4, 12, where the Bible says, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. So we obviously know that in the Christian life, we're gonna get and we're gonna lose. But the most important thing is this, don't get so attached to the things that you get so that when you lose them, you don't break down, okay? You need to be ready to both be abased and to abound, okay? And it goes on to say a time to keep and a time to cast away, a time to rend and a time to sow, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, amen. Let me tell you what that means in the Greek, this is the time to shut up, shut your mouth, okay? Because there's times to speak and there's times not to speak, okay? And look, everyone has two cents that they wanna throw into the piggy bank, right? But sometimes you don't need to throw in those two cents. Sometimes you just keep your mouth shut, okay? And again, it goes back to the word fitly spoken in due season, how sweet it is. The Bible says, wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak, slow to wrath. Proverbs 17 says, he that hath knowledge spareth his words and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Why? Because there's a time to speak and a time to refrain from speaking, a time to just be quiet. Verse 11, our life verse, not verse 11, verse 8, a time to love and a time to hate, amen. And I don't think that's a verse we need to expound on, we obviously understand that it's a biblical concept to hate, okay? And there's nothing wrong with it. And of course, the time of war and the time of peace, we're running out of time. What is the chapter all about here? It's given us two extremes of both things, but we need to have a balance of both, okay? Because here's the thing, the Christian would say, well, you know, it's all about love. Well, what about when the Bible says there's a time to hate? God is condoning hatred, okay? He said, well, you know, we ought to always heal. Well, God is condoning killing. But there's a time and a place for everything. So it gives us a perspective that God is balanced in His teachings, in His doctrine, that we ought to have both. But guess what? Both have their time and place, amen? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the word of God. We're thankful for the balance that it teaches us. I pray that you'd help us to be balanced Christians, to understand that there's a time for every purpose under the sun. And help us to redeem that time, to use it wisely according to your word, that we would use your wisdom to direct our steps and to do that which is pleasing in your sight. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.