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Amen, the part of the chapter we're going to focus on is found in chapter number 9 verse number 1 where the Bible reads here, Now when these things were done, the princes came to me saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands, yea, the hand of the princes and rulers have been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down, astounding, and the title of my sermon this morning is plucking out the hair, plucking out the hair. Now you read this story and you wonder to yourself, why would Ezra go to such an extreme extent to pluck out his own hair from his head and even from his beard. Now I have a beard, I don't know if you notice, my son often when we're playing will grab my beard and he'll begin like, he just has this thing where he just wants to pluck it. And you know, I'm like, no no no no no no no, because it hurts. If you have a beard, you know what I'm talking about, if someone just yanks on that thing, it's very painful. But that's a different story from when someone does it to you, but what about you doing it to yourself. You have to be in such mourning affliction that you'd be willing to pluck out your own hair from your head and pluck out your own hair from your beard as well. Now go with me if you went to Ezekiel 27. This is all introduction here, why would you do that? Ezekiel chapter 27 and verse number 31, the Bible reads here in Ezekiel chapter 27 and verse number 31, and they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee and gird them with sackcloth and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing and in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee and lament over thee saying what city is like Tyrus like the destroyed in the midst of the sea. So we see that being bald or plucking out the beard or plucking out the hair is often associated with lamentation. It's related with being in sackcloth and ashes, being humiliated as the Bible would say, it's often referring to being grieved. So if we look back in Ezra chapter 9, we see how that makes a lot of sense. The reason being because the children of Israel at this time were guilty of intermingling with another seed that was not part of Israel. Now, this is not something that proves that you can't do interracial marriages, okay? That's completely fine, but the principle there and what the Bible's teaching us in the Old Testament is that they shouldn't marry unbelievers, okay? And by the way, that principle still stands today. You say, well, you know, I like this girl and this guy and he treats me nice and he sweet talks me, yeah, but if he's unsaved, it's not God's will. Yeah, but he's so kind, he's a hard worker, he's this and he's that, but he's unsaved. And we're going to keep preaching that until Christ comes back that it's not right for anybody to marry an unsaved person. The Bible says to be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, okay? The number one requirement for marriage is that they're saved, amen? But that's not the message today, but obviously this is something that grieved Ezra, even to the point that when he saw their transgression, he saw that they were violating scripture, that he was willing to pluck out his own hair from his head and his beard. Now go to 2 Samuel chapter number 10, I'm going to give you another example of this. This is all introduction here, 2 Samuel chapter number 10. In verse number 1, the Bible reads here, And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. Then said David, I will show kindness unto Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servant for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon, and the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun, Lord, thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he had sent comforters unto thee? Hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it? Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, tarry at Jericho, until your beards be grown, and then return. So we see here that when they were shaven, their beards were taken off, they were ashamed. So this is associated with no having, by the way, I'm not preaching, if you're going bald, or you're bald, or something like that, I'm not preaching against you, all right? We're giving a spiritual application here in just a little bit, but I'm giving you the interpretation with the Bible saying here that the lack of a beard, or the lack of hair, showed that there's shame involved, okay? Now go to Isaiah chapter number 50, Isaiah chapter number 50, this is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah 50 in verse number 5, the Bible reads, the Lord God hath opened mine ear, I was not rebellious, neither turned away back, I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. So we see that even when Jesus Christ was being scourged, and he was being dishonored, the Bible says that he went to the cross despising the shame, obviously, right? But again, we see in Isaiah chapter 50 that shame is associated with having no hair, right? So looking at that, you don't have to turn there, but I'm gonna read to you from Deuteronomy chapter 21, in verse number 12 says, Then shalt thou bring her home to thine house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails, and she shall put on the raiment of her captivity from offer, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month, and after that, thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. This is talking about what the spoils when men would come in and they would take a woman that would want to marry her, she would shave off her head, pare her nails, and lament her parents. Now, by the way, guys, if you ever get married and your wife shaves her head, that's probably not a good thing, right? They're like, I'm like, man, I'm grieving right now that I just married this guy, I'm just kidding. I don't think that would ever happen. I mean, that's a good thing. But it just goes to show that there's shame associated with shaving or taking off the hair. Now, go back to Ezra chapter number nine. We see here that this is what Ezra did. Now, he didn't shave it. He went to the extent to even pluck it. Shaving is not even that painful. Now, I would never shave my beard necessarily. I would have to trim. I mean, the first time that I had to shave my beard when we first started the church, it was painful just to take it off simply for the fact that I love my beard and I don't take it off. Okay? It was more painful emotionally. Let me just say that. But I remember, I was just like, this is going to be cake. I have a job to go to tomorrow. I'm going to shave it off. No, it took me like an hour and a half to take this thing off. You know, I had to clip it first. Then you have to shave it. But this guy didn't even shave it. He didn't clip it. He just plucked it. And it says there, when I heard this thing, verse three, I rent my garment and my mansion plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down a stoning. Now, why did Ezra do that? Well, simply for the fact that he was ashamed of the spiritual condition of the people of that time. He saw the condition of the people and their transgressions against the Lord and it grieved them so much that he afflicted himself. Now, here's the thing is, Ezra is a great example to follow. Obviously, we know that Ezra was a ready scribe. He was prepared. He knew the law of the Lord. And because he knew the law of the Lord, he knew that God's people were transgressing the law of the Lord. And in light of that, it grieved them so much that he afflicted himself. You say, what's the spiritual application there, Brother Bruce? The spiritual application is this, sin ought to grieve us. When we sin, when our family sins, when we see the Christians out there and churches that are involved in sin, they ought to grieve us. We not ought to take it like water off a duck's back. You know what the problem is with a lot of churches is that when churches are involved in sin or they're tolerating sin, what happens? No one speaks out against it. It's like normal. It's like water off a duck's back. You know what pastors need to do today? They need to pluck out their own hair and be grieved over the sins that are taking place in the churches. Be grieved over the sins that are taking place in the lives of individuals. Why? Because let me say this, sin destroys people. It destroys families, children, fathers, mothers, husbands, and wives, and churches. And they ought to grieve us. You know, and if you're listening today and you're like, well, you know, what's the big deal? Yeah, that's the big deal. When Christians are not ashamed of sin, that's a big deal. You know, Ezra, it bothered Ezra so much that he was willing to just afflict himself, pluck out his own hair. You know, we ought to see this sin-ridden world in this city in El Mani and the cities surrounding it, and it ought to bother us of the sins that are taking place. If it doesn't bother you, you need to turn off the television. If it doesn't bother you, you need to get off the social media every once in a while. If it doesn't bother you, then you need to get into the Bible, learn the law of God just like Ezra did so it can bother you. You know, and we have too many people today that are just not ashamed. They don't blush at the sins of our country. They don't blush at the sins of our city. They don't blush at the sins of the church. They got fornicators in the church, not in this church, but there's fornicators in the church and everything is just like Candyland. You know, people are praising people for having children out of wedlock. That's wicked. No, that pastor and those leaders ought to be grieved at that. Why? Because the second generation is being destroyed. Okay, now go to Ezra chapter number seven. Look at verse number six says, This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was already scribing the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord, his God upon him. Skip down to verse number 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgment. See, Ezra knew the law of God to the point where he can teach it. And that's why I'm sure there's people that are like, dude, you're getting a little extreme there with plugging out your own beer, you know, plugging out your own hair. No, it just ticked them off. The fact that God's people were involved in such a wicked sin, that they were violating the scriptures, it really made them mad. It grieved them at his heart, and he was willing to afflict himself. And in fact, the Bible says in James four, verse eight, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. See, God puts an emphasis at humbling yourselves, being afflicted, being bothered by sin. You know, and we live in a culture today that, and by the way, if sin does not bother you, it just shows that you've been conditioned to just tolerate sin. You know, tolerate the fags and tolerate fornication and the adultery and the worldliness of this world, and it just doesn't bother you anymore. You know, that's why you're able to watch the movies, where they're fornicating, they're committing drugs, they're doing all kinds of crimes and things that are against God, and it does not bother you. You know why? Because your beard is still on your face. Your hair is still on your head. It's not bothering you at all. No, we need to be as godly as Ezra to allow that to bother us. And look, it's hard for, like, millennials like us. I'm a millennial, by the way. I don't know if you know that. I'm a millennial. For us, we grew up already in this disgusting culture that we're in. And it took Bible preaching, it took the Bible, it took, you know, hard preaching to help us to have a biblical perspective of what God thinks of this culture and have our minds to be renewed, right, and to be renewed, to not be conformed to the things of this world, but to be renewed according to the word of God and to grieve us when we see sin, okay? And look, that ought to bother us. It bothered Ezra. The Bible says in Joel chapter 2, verse 12, Therefore also now saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your heart, and not your garments. Turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. You know what that makes me think of? The Bible says right there, rend your heart, not your garments, right? Because in the Old Testament, often, people would rend their garments just to show that they're grieved about something, right? But that reminds me of a lot of Baptists today. It's more of like an outward look, right? Sin is bad! Look at all this wicked sin! But they don't call out the specific sins, right? They're not really rending their hearts. Why is that? Because they're calling out, they're just sin in general, but what happens? They're not taking care of the sin in the church. They're not getting rid of the fornicators, they're not getting rid of the drunkards, they're not, in fact, they're inviting the pedophiles within the church, and yet they're saying, rend your garments! You know, that outward appearance of everything. No, you know what we need? We need to rend our hearts. To have a heart that is broken. And look, it's a selfish, ungodly heart that can care less of what kind of sin you're involved in, as long as my family, me and my family, we're okay. That's wicked. You know, genuine love, obviously I'm going to take care of my wife, obviously I want to keep sin out of my home, and make sure that my children are walking in the ways of the Lord, but you know what? I want to make sure that the congregants of this church are also walking in that way as well. Amen. You know? If it's good enough for me, it's good enough for you. Okay? And who am I to judge? You're the leader. Of course you're supposed to judge. You know? And if people are coming to listen to you, that means they're coming because they want to know something from the word of God. They want Ezra to teach them the statutes of the Lord. They want to come and say, tell me what's wrong. What am I doing that's wrong? Right? To learn from that. The Bible says in Jeremiah 6.15, were they ashamed when they had committed an abomination? Nay, they were not all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore shall they fall among them that fall. You know, when it says blush, you know, that means when you turn red because you're embarrassed. I remember when I first became a Christian, the first preacher that I ever heard, when he would rip on sin, my face would be red. Because you'd think like, man, is this guy talking about me? You know, did he see, you know, my social media or whatever it may be? How does he know these things? You know? And you're just like, that's what it means to blush. But you know, there's people who are involved. The funny thing is, the sermons would often affect those who are not involved in sin. Right? Who just want to stay holy. But it wouldn't affect those who were involved in sin. You know? You say, how do you know? Because they wouldn't blush. They're the ones involved in all the wickedness and they wouldn't blush, it wouldn't bother them one bit. In fact, they probably won't even listen to the sermon. They're on their phones looking at the score of the game or whatever, you know? And by the way, this is a side note. You should never check the scores of a game while you're in church. I don't think that takes place here, but it should never and it will never take place here. You will get called out for that, all right? You say, well, why is that? Because look, you might as well just stay home. Why even come here for? You know? I don't even know what's, I don't know what sport's going on, soccer or basketball, I don't know what season it is. I don't care what season it is. But if you're so involved in the things of this world, then just stay home. You know? You know what you're doing? You're rending your garments by coming to church. You know, it's more of an outward look. Right? Why don't you just rend your heart instead and get right with God and come back to church and listen to the preaching of God's word unfiltered. Amen? Ezra chapter number 9 and verse number 5 says, And at the evening sacrifice I rose up from my heaviness, and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed and blushed to lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our heads and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. So you know, Ezra's a great example of this because I think all Christians struggle with just being grieved, not just for their own sins if they fall short, but just of the sins of the country, the sins of this world, things that ought to bother us. They don't bother us anymore. You know? And look, Hollywood does a really good job conditioning you to think that way. You know why so many Christians tolerate the Sodomites? Because they're watching the television where they have some funny looking sodomite who's the main character of the show, and you think, man that's ungodly, but man he's pretty funny. You know? And you watch enough of those stupid episodes, you're going to tolerate that. Yeah, you know, the Bible says it's an abomination, but you know, God loves everyone. You know? Then you start making excuses for that garbage. You know? Instead, just keep your mind in the word of God, keep it under biblical preaching so you can continue to be grieved. Okay? Be grieved. Pluck your own hair. Pluck your own beard. Allow it to bother you. Don't be like the most Christians where they're so lukewarm, it does not bother them. Now go with me if you're with Nehemiah chapter 13. You know, I appreciate Ezra for plucking out his own beard and his own hair, but I kind of like Nehemiah a little more. Okay? Because let me say this, there comes a time when you have to pluck your own hair and pluck your own beard. But you know what? There comes a time more often than not when we need to pluck the hairs out of someone else's head and pluck their beard. Look what the Bible says in chapter 13 verse 23. And those days also saw Jews that had married wives of Ashtad, of Ammon, and of Moab, almost basically the same thing was going on in Ezra, and their children spake half in the speech of Ashtad and could not speak in the Jews' language but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them and cursed them and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair and made them swear by God saying, Ye shall not give your daughters into their sons nor take their daughters into your sons or for yourselves. So what did Ezra do? He was grieved. So he plucked off his own beard. Nehemiah, he was grieved too. But you know what he did? He plucked off the beards of someone else, the people who were responsible for it. And you know what, a lot of times, I've met a lot of pastors who, they're grieving over the sins, but we don't see enough preachers plucking out the hairs of those who deserve to get their hairs plucked out. What am I talking about? Shaming those who need to be shamed. You see, we need to be ashamed when we fall short, and yes it ought to afflict us, but you know what we need to do? We need to call out the guy who's involved in those things, pluck out his beard, afflict him spiritually so he can pluck out his own beard, eventually. Someone needs a wake-up call. These pastors need a wake-up call. And they need someone to come up and just, you know, I'm not for, look. I grew up in a Hispanic home. And anybody who grew up in a Hispanic home, you know, you got whooped, but you didn't get whooped the biblical way, okay? You didn't get the hand, you know. And you just, I joke all the time, I say, man, I learned how to box because of my mom. You know, you learn how to run, you learn how to box. I'm not saying it was right, you know what I mean? But hey, I'm not in jail, I'm not dead, so obviously, you know, it helps some, amen. But look, some people need that, okay? And we live in a culture that's like, oh no, no, you know, that's not your place. Look, if anything's done publicly, on a public forum, it needs to be talked about publicly, okay? Especially when you're tolerating that garbage. People need to get their hair plucked out. Their beards plucked out. They need to humble themselves. But we need both, but this is needed more than the other one, I think. You know? A good example of this is Tyler Baker. That fool needs to get his beard plucked out. Oh, you shouldn't call him a fool. He's a fool! Look, I'm not talking about the people who are being deceived by him. And you're like, who are you to say nothing? You know what, I get to preach here every single week, so I'm gonna go ahead and say it, and guess what, Pastor Anderson is just fine with it. He's a fool! And I'm not talking about the people who are being deceived by him, who maybe they haven't read their Bibles cover to cover, maybe they don't know specific doctrines and they're getting deceived. I'm talking about him! He needs to be ashamed. He needs to get shamed. He needs to get his beard plucked out and his hair plucked out because he's leading people astray and he's gonna lead people astray to hell. With his stupid, modalist garbage. I've been an independent fundamental Baptist for 11 years, never once have we ever even thought of inviting this stupid doctrine into the church. Never! If you would have told me about, I didn't even know what the term modalism was. We used to call it the Jesus only movement. That's what we used to call it. And we always figured that that is just related to Pentecostals. It's like, yeah, that's something that Pentecostals do. You know? But that guy ought to be ashamed of himself. And look, I want to encourage everyone here to pray. Pray for Tyler Baker. Pray for him. Pray for him. If he repents, he ain't gonna repent. Pray that God destroys him. And destroys valiant Baptist church. Which is not a Baptist church, by the way. Oh, you shouldn't pray. Look, we don't got time to go through the descriptions and psalms, okay? But we need some imprecatory prayers. Okay? Because this idiot is starting the church on the same day as the soul when he make a marathon. Right? I think that's the same day, right? Shame on him. And look, shame on the people who follow that idiot. Who don't even believe like him, but just because they're against us, you're gonna team up with them. Tomlinson? You joke of a pastor? You know, just because you don't get along with us, or you don't agree with us, you're gonna team up with some heretic? Well, I was gonna say he needs his hair plucked out, but I think someone already took care of that. And look, I talked to Pastor Anderson this week, we were on the phone for a while, and you know, I got a phone call by someone, and this person seems sincere, and look, if you know me, if you're sincere, man, I wanna help you out. You know? And that person played on my ignorance of that. Because they acted like they were sincere, like, yeah, I just wanna know about oneness, and I just keep hearing about these things. And you know, what about this verse right here? Doesn't this teach oneness? I'm like, no, it doesn't teach oneness, but I can show you what it means, you know? And I went through loads of scripture with this person. And this person just wasn't getting it. And I asked, I said, when did you get saved? Are you saved? And they said, yeah, I'm saved, and I got saved at this time. I said, okay, and the reason I asked that is because, in my opinion, if you can't understand John 1, I mean, that's really easy. If you can't understand that, and you're just like, I'm gonna question your salvation. Oh, you shouldn't question people's salvation. If you can't understand John 1, you know, a living person can understand 1 plus 1 equals 2. The only person who wouldn't be able to have an understanding of that is a dead person. You can't teach a dead person what's 1 plus 1. Okay? If you're a living person, you can. But John 1, you can't understand. So I gave this person these scriptures. I taught them all these, and they were just like, but oneness, doesn't this teach, doesn't this other verse teach? I'm like, it doesn't teach oneness. You know, and they kept going to Revelation chapter 4, Revelation chapter number 5, you know, and by the way, I doubt this person has even read their Bible cover to cover. Highly unlikely. And I said this, and they're like, what? They say this, why do you keep interpreting Revelation 4 and 5 using John 1 and 1 John chapter 5? Because that's what you do. That's how you interpret scripture. It's called comparing scripture with scripture. And you use the clear scriptures to give you a preconceived notion of what the cryptic scriptures say. And they're like, no, but Revelation 4 and 5, this teaches oneness. And I said, look, what if I told you, I said, what do you believe, how do you get saved? I said, do you believe in a belief only salvation? And they said, yes. I said, okay, what if I took you to Revelation where the Bible says in Revelation chapter 2, that to him to overcome it, they will not, you know, they won't be affected by the second death. And I said, that's how you're supposed to get saved. You have to overcome. You have to do works. You would take me to 1 John chapter 5. You would take me to the Gospels. And you would say, no, because the Bible says this, I said, well, no, hold on a second. What about Revelation chapter number 2? You have to overcome. You would think I'm an idiot. You would say, listen, 1 John chapter 5 explains what overcoming means, right? It'd be a foolish thing to take Revelation 4 and 5 to explain 1 John chapter 5, right? You would take 1 John chapter 5 to explain what it says in Revelation chapter 2, amen? But you know what? You say, yeah, why do you keep making a big stink about this? Because these people are not saved. And this person, after a while, I was just like, you know what, I need to go do something else. I got work to do. And they wasted my time. I'm going to be honest with you. They wasted my time. And I hung up. I talked to Pastor Anderson afterwards. And we're just talking about Tyler Baker and the whole situation. And he said, hey, by the way, that person who contacted you, they're very wicked. They're always trolling the channels. So don't think that person is sincere. I said, really? And they're like, yeah. And he goes, don't let these people fool you, Brother Bruce, because what they'll do is they'll go on our channels, and they'll say this, this is juvenile. We shouldn't fight about this. This is over with. This is boring. But five minutes prior to that, they're on Tyler Baker's stupid channel, saying, yeah, I agree with you. Pastor Anderson is wrong on this. You know, modalism, oneness, that's what the Bible teaches. Then they come on our channels and say, this is juvenile. Why are you guys fighting about? They're liars. They're a bunch of heretic liars. You know, they're speaking out of both sides of their mouth. They're liars. And by the way, the sermon's not on modalism, but you know, in John Chapter 8, I just was thinking about this on Friday during the preaching night. Modalism teaches that there's only one God with no persons, right? That they're in different modes, right? But John Chapter 8, what does Jesus say? Obviously, in order for someone to be guilty of someone, according to the Old Testament, there had to be how many witnesses? Two or three. And what did Jesus say? I am one that bear witness of myself, and my Father bear witness of me as well, right? So if it was a one God oneness, his witness wouldn't hold ground. He's like, well, you're bearing witness of yourself, and then you bear witness, your other personality bears witness of yourself too. You know, because they serve a schizophrenic God. Okay? No, but because there's two witnesses. That's why his witness is true. Now, by the way, if they don't agree with that, then they're calling Jesus a liar. Because he says he bears witness, he said I bear witness of myself, and my Father bears witness of me, right? Well, they're calling him a liar then, if they're not, if they don't come to the conclusion those are two people. You're calling him a liar. And here's the thing, they want to make themselves seem as though, oh no, we're lifting up the name of Jesus, we're trying to, we're focusing on his divinity. No, you're not. You're taking away from his divinity. Bunch of garbage. Look, there's a lot, okay, again, so there's like three types of categories of these people. There's the heretics that are going to burn in hell, okay? Then there's, on the other side of the spectrum, there's people who, obviously, we would be considered on the other side of the spectrum, we're contending against them. Those in the middle are those who are struggling with this and they're being confused about it. But then you have these people right in the middle of that who are like the modulus lackeys. Okay? The little minions. Silly Christians is what I call them. Go to 1 Timothy, or 2 Timothy, chapter 3. You say, why would you say they're silly? Go to 2 Timothy, chapter number 3, 1 Timothy chapter number 3, verse number 1, this rings Tyler Baker right now. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, you know the printers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, because he's calling himself a Baptist church, but denying the power thereof from such turned away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You know what? You know what's sad about this whole thing? A bunch of ladies on the common section of these fools acting like they know what they're talking about. You know what they are? They're silly women. Silly. You know? And I'm not talking about like single ladies. I'm talking about ladies who are married, they have children. Why aren't you home cleaning up your house? Why aren't you teaching your children and making your husband a meal? Why are you even on the common section trying to bash past your ... Where's your husband? You know? Who are they? These are silly women. Silly. Because instead of keeping the home as they should be doing, they're getting involved in other matters that don't belong to them. It's none of their business. And that's why they get shamed over and over and over and over again. Because they're a bunch of fools just repeating what everyone else says. What they need to do ... And by the way, these ladies who get involved in this stuff, you say, are you talking about splitting someone specific? Yes, but I'm not going to say their name because I don't want to make them famous, amen? By the way, there's more than one. There's a lot of them in there. Okay? That's why I was like, you need to get off of social media and go cook a meal for your husband or something. Go do your dirty laundry. I want to see how your house looks right now. Because you're on social media 24-7. What else are you doing? You're not getting anything else done if you're on social media 24-7. You're over here rebuking Pastor Anderson and rebuking this person and that person. What are you doing at your house? Are you being a keeper of the home? No, you're not. You're a silly woman, the Bible says. And here's the thing. So these people who troll these channels, they got nothing better else to do. But to talk a bunch of trash, things that they're ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth is what it is. Okay? And look, I fell into the trap of just arguing with people sometimes. But here's the thing. They're not looking to argue. They're looking to waste your time. Okay? These silly women and silly men and silly women are looking to waste the time of the people of God. You know what they're trying to do? They're trying to wear out the saints. Right? Because the Sony Maker Marathon's coming up. You know? But to be honest with you, this just gives us an adrenaline rush. You know, after you're done winning a fight, like a physical fight, you're like, man, let's go do something else. Yeah. You know? We're not like, oh man, I don't think I have the energy for the Sony Maker Marathon. Yes, we do. You're just pumping us up even more. Because you just got molded. And that gives us more confidence in our Lord that we can do a greater work for God. Go to John, go back to, actually go to 1 Timothy, you're in 2 Timothy, go to 1 Timothy chapter 1. And it's funny, these modalists, they're the biggest group of liars I've ever met. And even when it's like they're caught point blank in their lies, they're just denied all day long. You know? And it's no wonder that these people are popping up at this time right now. Alex preached a great message on Friday on just the 40 days leading up to the Sony Maker Marathon and how the 40 days that it talks about throughout the Bible with Noah and Moses and the mount, and you know, the 40 days of repenting with Jonah. And you know what? There's going to be a lot of trials, a lot of fightings, but bring it on, let's do it. You know what I mean? You say, well, aren't you afraid that, you know, something might come? No, I'm not afraid of anything. Why would we be afraid of heretics? Because heretics are liars. Heretics have no substance to what they're saying. You know? And what they put on the comments section, they're like, oh yeah, I want to see what Pastor Anderson is going to say about that. About what? 40 minute gibberish? You know what Tyler Baker reminds me of? He reminds me of Gomer Pyle from Andy Griffith. Does anybody know who Gomer Pyle is? Shazam! You guys remember that? That's him. Silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts. By the way, this person who was trolling, they attend Lancaster Baptist Church. And I told this person, I was like, you know, who wears the pants in your family? Why is your husband not here fighting? Oh, he agrees with me. No, one of two things, either your husband's a Trinitarian and you're going behind his back or your husband's a modalist and he ain't got the stones to come and get in this fight right here. Because I've never heard of your husband. You know? By the way, ladies, let your husbands do the battling, okay? Take care of your husband, his operation, you let your husband get in the war, okay? That's how it needs to be. Yeah, but I want to tell them off and let your husband do the fighting, okay? That's how it needs to be. You know? And here's the thing, anyways, we're going to keep going. First Timothy chapter one. So these people need to be ashamed, they need to get their beards plucked out, their hair plucked out. But not just them, okay? The Spanish pastors in our area need their hair plucked out and their beards plucked out. First Timothy chapter one and verse number six says, from which some having swerved have turned aside into vain, jangly, desire to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. And I'm talking about these Spanish pastors who know squat about doctrine and yet they think they're fitted to kick people out of the church for believing that the Jews are God's chosen people. You wicked pastor. He said, why is he wicked? Because he said from his own mouth that if you believe that the Jews are God's chosen people, you lose your salvation. That's what he said. And that person's wicked as hell. You don't agree with me? I don't care. That's Bible right there. You're wicked if you believe you can lose your salvation for any reason. And look, Jack Rodriguez from Will of God Baptist Church in Highland Park, you're wicked for saying that you could lose your salvation. You know how many people you're going to lead us straight with that garbage? Just because you love the Jews, you're willing to kick out good, godly people from your church just because you love the Jews. That's wicked. You shouldn't say his name. You know Nehemiah called out the nobles of the land? Yeah, but you know, that pastor's been around longer than, he's been alive longer than you. Yeah, and he still hasn't learned? He's read his Bible far many times than you. Yeah, and he believes that garbage? What Bible is he reading? You know, that person, that pastor needs to be called on the carpet. And look, these pastors over here in Omani, they need to be called on the carpet as well. If I knew his name, I'd call them out. You know, get him mad at us because we're out soul winning, finding our tracks. Look, if I found his track and it has the right gospel, amen. Praise the Lord, we got more Baptist churches in the area, soul winning. But what happens, they find our tracks and they get all ticked off because we're here. What's the big deal? You might win someone that I didn't get to win. And vice versa. Why am I your enemy? Just because I hate faggots and I preach against the Jews and I'm post-trimmed, that has nothing to do with salvation. You know, we can have our differences. And look, there's churches out, there's churches in this area, in our area, that maybe don't agree with us 100%, but they're soul winning Baptist churches. Praise the Lord for them, amen. We'll keep our backyard clean and as long as we can live in peace, and often the way you live in peace is just you don't stay in contact, amen. Don't stay in contact. But when you start criticizing us for soul winning, that's nonsense. We saw 43 people saved last week. Amen. That's a blessing. I mean, just a week we saw 43 people saved. You know, if you think that's bad, then there's something wrong with your heart. You need to pluck out your own beard. And if you're not willing to pluck out your own beard, don't worry, I'll do it for you. I'll pluck it out for you. Because you ought to be ashamed of yourself because people get saved, you get mad. You know? And you say, man, I just don't agree with you calling out that person's name, you know. I need to hear what he says. Look, under the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. And I have two witnesses. You say, who are they? The ones that got kicked out. They, they're just like, that's what he said. In fact, the guy, he came up and his fiancee, she came up and she's like, did he really say that? I can't believe he just said that to us. You could lose your salvation. How much do you have to idolize the Jews? Look, I know people in our, not in our movement, but in Baptist churches who don't agree with us, they wouldn't even go as far to say something stupid like that. You know, they, they think that's heresy, that they believe that the Jews are not God's chosen people. But if you're to ask them, so do you believe that we lose, we can lose our salvation if we speak against the Jews? They'd be like, no, that's no, no, no, no, not at all. I just don't think it's right. But you can't lose your salvation for that. Even the people who don't like us wouldn't go as far as to say something so stupid. You said, why did he say something so stupid? Because he's unsaved. I said it. I said it. And the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned. He's not saved. You shouldn't say, well, how are you going to go around questioning people's salvation? Just like that. You want me to do it again? I just did. We can have differences in a lot of things, but when you start saying just because of Jews, we believe that Jews are not God's chosen people, that we lose our salvation. You know, okay, let's, let's go, let's take it a step further. I don't agree with this statement, but let's say someone said, oh, I don't even believe that person was saved in the first place, even though that's heresy. That's still not as bad as saying that you can lose your salvation. That's GIP status right there. And when you're hearing GIP status, I mean, you're on your highway to hell right there. I don't like, you know, what you're saying. We need to learn some more Bible. You're learning it right now. You know, if, if Ezra, the reason Ezra and the reason Nehemiah were able to do what they did is because they knew the Bible, you know, and if this offends you, it's because you're not in the word of God enough. And these, these things need to tick you off. Okay. Look, if someone gets kicked out of another church for being a fornicator, yeah, they're not welcome. Even if, even if it's from the church that kicked me out, if they kicked you out for being a fornicator, you're not welcome here. Yeah, but, but don't you want to team up so we can go against the church that kicked you out? No. If you're a fornicator, no. If you're a drunkard, no. Because that church still has authority. And even though we don't agree on a lot of things, if they booted someone out for the right reason, we're not accepting, we're not teaming up together. Okay. That's not the way it works. But you boot someone out who believes like us, and that's the only reason you're booting them out. First and foremost, welcome. Come on in, guys. Welcome to Faithful Word Baptist Church. Let's go do some soul-winning. You know, but you know what? After that, we're plucking some hair. You say, why is that? Because those people are leading people astray. Okay. And by the way, someone met with that, that pastor, Jack, as I like to call him, you should call him pastor. No, no, no, no. Pastors are for people who are saved. That's the title that's deserving for safe people. You guys get that? You have to be saved to be a pastor. You guys know that? And Jack, you know, someone confronted him and said, you know, you have people preach at your pulpit, their upholstery? He's like, what? He's like, yeah. And he called out like some names that came to his church that repulsed, he was like, I don't believe that. I got to hear that out of his own mouth. Funny. You want to believe all the rumors when it comes to us, but all of a sudden, someone calls someone on the carpet who you had preached, and all of a sudden, you need to get the context. You need to get the other witnesses. You're a hypocrite. Okay. Why don't I have you turn? First Timothy. Go back to, go to Nehemiah chapter number five. I just thought I'd mention that. Okay. Oh, you're just being cantankerous, contentious. Yeah, I am. You know, these things need to be said. Okay. Nehemiah chapter five of verse number six says, look at Nehemiah, and by the way, Nehemiah is a godly man. No one would look at Nehemiah and say that he's ungodly, that he doesn't love the Lord. But look what he said in verse number six. It says, and I was very angry when I heard their cry in these words. I remember there's a guy, he came from some watered down Baptist church in La Verne, and he was, he was a hot preacher, man. This guy, this guy, he was a Bible college student, don't hold him against him. But he was like a hot preacher, he liked preaching against sin, and he said that his old church, one time he preached, and the song leader met with him right afterwards. And he said, do you have anger problems? He was like, what do you mean? He goes, well, you seemed very angry when you were preaching. You know, that's not of God, that's, you know, it's like, what? I mean, be angry, that's a command of the Bible. Be angry and sin not, he didn't sin when he was angry from the pulpit, but you have to be angry, okay? And I was very angry when I heard their cry in these words, then I consulted with myself. What does that mean? He's just like, should I do it? Yeah, I'm gonna do it. And I rebuked the nobles, and who? And the rulers, and said unto them, ye exact usury, every one of his brethren, I set a great assembly against them, woo hoo. Set a great assembly against them. So he's rebuking them, and then the people around are like, hey, yeah, what's up with that? Like, you're doing this? Oh, you shouldn't rebuke the nobles or the rulers, Nehemiah just did. And guess what? You read later on in the passage, they repent of it. They get it right. That's the purpose of it, okay? They that sin, rebuke before all that others may fear, the Bible says, right? They see it, and guess what, look, no pastor is without accountability. People need to own up to these things. And you can't just get up and teach whatever you want, and have no one come question you on it. You're not the pope. This is not, this is not, you know, the Catholic church here. You understand that? He rebuked the nobles and the rulers, why? Because they're exacting usury. They're charging 1% interest on their brethren, if you read the passage. But guess what? They got it right. Why? Because Nehemiah rebuked them. Okay? And we need Nehemiah's today to just stand up, and look, there's pastors in the Spanish churches that are in this area, they don't agree with what that guy's doing. They don't agree with a lot of these Spanish pastors are doing. But you know what they need to do? They need to rebuke it. But they won't, why? Because they're afraid. They're scared. They might lose their support. They might lose their friends. Lose them! You don't need them. You got pastors, the pastor over here in Long Beach, Parada, marrying his divorced daughter who has a child out of wedlock. He should step down. There I said it. He should step down. He has 30 years of ministry, and he still hasn't learned. See when you tell me what those, the amount of years that they had, you just go to show me how wrong they really are then. That they had that much time, and they have not gotten right with God. It's wicked. Verse number 12 says, Then say they, we will restore them, and we will require nothing of them. So will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. By the way, that pastor, Parada, I remember I met him in Bible college, and he said this, he said these words to me. He says, yeah, we'll only have one service a week. I said, really? He says, yeah. He goes, that's how the liberals do it. He goes, and they're real successful. Now I've never been to a liberal church. Has anybody been to a liberal church before? Is that true? Do they have one service? So then he's like really liberal then. He said, he goes, that's how the liberals do it, and they have a bunch of success. And he told me, he said this, and I was young, he said, you'll see. I was like, I'll see what? You becoming liberal? I mean, even as a young Christian, I knew that I was wrong. Why are you templating yourself through the liberals, through unsafe pastors, and congregations, and say, you'll see. Yeah, I am seeing now. And that's why that church is filled with a bunch of sin. It's filled with fornicators, drunkards, divorce is just rampant in that church. No sin is being preached against. But you know what? Oh, you shouldn't say his name. He's one of like the fundamental popes. He's a noble, and he's a ruler, huh? Yeah. He's perfect for this. And we need to say it. Look, and by the way, we've had people from this church come visit here. Amen? And hopefully the next generation will continue to come. Okay? Aren't you afraid? Afraid of what? Afya? These are churches, okay? And no man should ever be above that to think that they're just like, they're going to put a hit out on us for saying the name. No, it's the elephant in the room. You know, obviously there's a lot of English-speaking churches that are in the wrong, but in this area there's a lot of Spanish churches. And just because they speak Spanish doesn't make them not a church. Still a church. And they're still held accountable to the standards of the Bible. Okay. I'm almost out of time. Let's see here. Go with me if you would to Revelation chapter 3. Plucking out the hair. We need to pluck the hairs these days, you know? And thank God that churches are being raised up who are becoming professional hair pluckers. Plucking out hairs left and right. Yanking those things. No tweezers needed. Just grab the hair and yank that thing, okay? We need it. And you know what, here's the thing, the people in the congregation, they've been waiting for someone to say something about it. That's how a lot of people are. And these churches are like, man, I was waiting for someone to say something. Obviously they weren't going to say it, right? But they just want someone to stand up and say something about what's being said. And Lord willing, hundreds of people are going to see this. And Lord willing, Jack is going to see this. Aren't you afraid he's going to see it? What if you get a phone call? I'll witness to you. Get you saved. But look, to say this is that when I say plucking out the hair, obviously we don't mean literally, okay? I'm not going to go over there and pluck their hair out. I'm talking about spiritually, obviously, right? And what I mean by that is reproving. And you say, why is reproving so important? Well, first and foremost, just in our lives personally, reproving proves that God loves us. Because here's the thing, God reproves us. You know, look at Revelation chapter three, verse 17, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, verse 17, and of need of nothing and knowest not that thou are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I counsel thee to buy me of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich in white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thine nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent. You see, reproving and rebuking ought to be a way of life. It doesn't feel good to get your beard plucked out. But if you're in the wrong, it's for the best, okay? And look, when God reproves us, whether it's through a circumstance in life, maybe it's through the preaching of God's Word, they're stepping on your toes, it's a good thing. Why? Because God says, as many as I love, I rebuke, I reprove them. Why? Because He doesn't want you to get off course, you know? And here's the thing, this is how true love is measured in churches, by how much the pastor rips face. Because here's the thing, what if Alex is just involved in the most heinous of sins? But because I don't want to offend him, I withhold myself from saying anything about his sin. Do I really love Alex? Knowing full well that he's going to destroy his life? Or do I risk offending him by telling him the truth, with the motive of saying, I hope he gets out of that, I hope he repents from that sin? I hope he gets it right, because I don't want him to destroy his life. Look, I'm thankful for the preachers of old who have preached to my face, ripped me, ripped my face off, you know, corrected me, embarrassed me, shamed me, because they rescued me from a lot of pain, a lot of sorrow. Yeah, you know what, it didn't feel good to begin with. But you know what, in the long run, later on, years in life, I appreciate that. You know, my father-in-law was the one who ripped me from, you know, two ways from Sunday every single week. And I always had things to work on. And you know what, at the time, I'm like, man, this guy's always picking on me, man. He's just always getting on me. Obviously it's because I liked his daughter, you know what I mean? So I was like, that's probably why it was a good motive for him to rip my face off. But you know what, it helped. You know, it made me the man that I am today, and I'm thankful for his preaching. Okay? And look, any time, if I preach on something and it offends you, before you walk out that door, before you tune me out, before you say yeah, you know, and you start picking me apart, why don't you just, you know, observe yourself and say, man, maybe I need to fix that in my life. You know? Because look, I don't do it because I hate you, I do it because I love you. God reproves you because he loves you. Okay? I want you to stay right. You know, we don't spank our children because it's just like, we just hate them. Right? We do it to instruct them to not do it again. Right? Whatever actions that they did to get spanked. When I spank my son, I don't do it just because, like, I hate the little guy. I do it so he doesn't stick his finger in the light socket again. You know? And I want that pain of me spanking him be harder than the pain that he gets when he sticks his finger in the socket. So that when he's tempted to stick his finger in the socket, he's like, you know what, there's a pain that's greater than this that I don't want to experience. You know? And that's the same thing with the Lord. Now go to Titus chapter 1. So plucking out the hair, you know, just proves that God loves us, but not only that, it helps us to be sound in the faith. Titus 1 verse 10. Titus chapter 1 verse number 10. The Bible says, For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. And let me say this. Most pastors, the reason they hold back on the message, the reason they're not saying what they need to be said, because they're greedy of filthy lucre. They want to keep the tithes in the church. Verse 12, One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said of the Cretans, Are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true, wherefore rebuked them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. The Bible says, you know, rebuking helps us to be sound in the faith and helps us to keep the right doctrine. Now, obviously, there's certain doctrines that we can differ on as far as just non-essential doctrines, but just whatever it may be. But I'm talking about doctrine that's just solid black and white. There is no, you know, a different interpretation of it. Modalism, right? Heresy, Trinity, sound doctrine, okay? We need to keep those things like that. You say, why are you guys making such a big stink about this whole thing of modalism? Because we need to, because the Bible says we need to rebuke that sharply. So people could be sound in the faith. We're not looking for Tyler Baker to repent. He's not going to repent. The guy's reprobate, okay? We want the people who are listening to him, who might be deceived, maybe they're just a little, a babe in Christ. You know? And look, he's mixing truth with a little bit of lies, or he's mixing lies with a little bit of truth. That's why he's deceived, because people are like, well, maybe, you know, that makes sense, you know? No, no, no, no. That's why there's so much rebuke going on right now. So these people could be sound in the faith, they could be rescued, they could be saved from false doctrine, okay? Let's see here. Look at Luke chapter 17. You know, and just observing this whole situation, I'm like, man, we need to start, I need to start preaching on certain doctrines that I would think that I would assume that everyone already believes. Simply for the fact that oneness, I mean, no Baptist, as far as I knew, or I know, would ever believe such stupid doctrine, because there's so many scriptures of the New Testament that just prove the Trinity, okay? But you know what? It came, you know? And so that's making me step back and say, what doctrines need to be talked about that maybe we take for granted, okay? But so reproving helps us to stay sound in the faith, but it also resolves conflict. You would think, isn't that conflict? No, no, no, it actually helps to resolve conflict. Look what the Bible says in verse number three, then said he unto the disciples, it is impossible, but that offenses will come, but woe unto him through whom they come. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he was cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. Does it say, go gossip about him? You know, if thy brother trespass against thee, go post it on social media, no. And if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to thee, saying I repent, thou shalt forgive him. So according to the Bible, if there's a trespass, you actually have to go to your brother and rebuke him. If they trespass against thee. Like, hey, Mark, you were wrong on this. You know, you did this, X, Y, and Z, two witnesses here, I'm a witness of this, you were wrong. And guess what? Mark says, I'm sorry. You know what we do? Forgiven. And we move on with our lives. Okay? When we say, yeah, yeah, you're not, you're not sorry, you're going to do it again. I've heard you. I know how you are. No, it's like, okay, forgiven. Shake hands, and you move on. Go buy him a Coke. Go get some In-N-Out. You know, the relationship's restored. But you know what we have in churches a lot of the times? There's so much trespassing going on, and because we have this culture of, you know, don't rebuke anybody, you know, don't fight about anything, then people are just bitter in church. You know, because if they say something, they might be accused of being, like, you know, contentious or whatever. You know, it's like, man, this guy just did me wrong right now, you know, or this guy did this, or whatever it may be. And they don't say anything about it, and then they hate the people in the church. They're going to have this bitter emotion towards the people in the church. No, better to just go get it right and say, hey, man, you offended me. I'm really mad about this. You did this. You said this. You know, I just want to talk to you about that. By the way, most of the time, when you get offended by a person in the church, the person who offended you probably doesn't even know they offended you. You know? And it bothers you that they don't know, or that they act like they don't know, because they're just, you know, yeah, hey, brother, you know, what's going on, praise the lord. And they're like. You know, you're just like, this is a jerk. Can't believe he's just going about his day like nothing, because he doesn't even know. Not until you go talk to him. And then they'll be like, I had no idea that I, that I said that? I said you were stupid? You know? I'm really sorry about that. You know? I just kind of flew off the handle. I really apologize. And guess what? I just, it's done away with. And by the way, this is notorious with ladies. I said it. Ladies always beef with other ladies sometimes. Okay? Well, she looked at me all weird. Or she didn't give me a hug, or she didn't say hi. She walked by me. She didn't say hi. Well, probably because she has a bunch of kids, and she's like, you know, her husband just yelled at her or something, I don't know. You know? Don't create these weird imaginations in your heart against other people in the church. They're probably not even real. You know? Well, I said hi, and they didn't say hi back. Well, maybe they just speak really low, and you just didn't hear them. Because Marcos was talking over them. Like, hi, and Marcos was like, ahh. And the lady's like, hi. And then you walk away, like, she didn't even say hi. She knew, she heard me when I said hi, but she didn't say hi. Why don't you give people the benefit of the doubt? Okay? And they probably didn't hear me. You know? And so, but this is notorious with ladies. So you have to, what do you do? You know, and by the way, after church, let's not have like a whole bunch of rebuking going on. Man, I've been meaning to talk to you. Come over here. You know? You did this. But you know what? It is biblical to just go get right with someone. You know? Don't let it fester up in you. Because this is what happens. You allow it to fester up, then when you do go get it right with that person, you just blow up. Or that person just, or someone touches the wrong button on you, and you just like blow up. And everyone's like, whoa, what happened? Well, there's a, and then you come up with a large list of all kinds of things. It's like, man, we didn't even know that was going on in your life. But because you're just like holding on to it, and all the anger and bitterness, look, as soon as it happens, go talk to the person, say, Alex, you offended me because you took the last donut. And you knew I liked that donut. I'm offended by that. And Alex is like, I'll go get you another box, or whatever, you know. What do you like, Krispy Kreme? Or you know. And then we get along. You know? But you know, it should never be that you sit over here because the person you hate sits over there. Now if it gets to the point where you really just can't get along, then okay, then do that. You know, you need to live as much as life is within you. Live peaceably with all men, obviously, right? And if it's just like, I really just can't stand the person, you know, and I say hi and bye but that's as far as it's gonna go, okay, you know. We're not always gonna get along 100%. You know, we have different personalities. We're wired different. That's fine. But be mature about it. Okay? Don't try to gather people to your cause and talk trash about that one person. You know, hey, you hear about that one lady? I don't really like her, you know. I'm just saying. You know? And then you try to rally people to your opinions. You know? Then here's the thing. That person who you're gossiping to has probably never even talked to that person, but now they have this picture of this person that's just like mean and wicked. And at first when they're like, really? She did that? She's like, yeah. I'm like, oh, man, I don't really like her either. You never even said hi to her or him or whatever it may be. You know? And then what happens? Then the person who's gossiping goes to get right with the other person, but the person you gossip to, now she has ought against that person. You know? You created this damage. Better to just, if you're offended with someone, just go to them, rebuke them, get it right, and then be one big happy family. All right? Go to 1 Timothy chapter 5. This is the last point here. So reproving helps us to be sound in the faith. It helps us to resolve conflict. It proves that God loves us. But lastly, of course, it's just an example to everyone else. Okay? 1 Timothy 5 verse 19 says, against an elder received not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that sinned rebuked before all, the others, excuse me, also may fear. You know? That's why we scream from the housetops regarding certain things. So that the person who may be involved in it, but we don't know about it, will say, ee, I got to get that right. You know? And obviously the Lord is speaking through this man of God or through the word of God, and this is like a warning for me. Because be sure your sin will find you out. You know? And you're sitting there just like, oh, man, okay, we're getting rid of this, or I'm not going to do that anymore. It helps. You know? Proverbs 19, 25 says, smite a scorn and the simple will be wear, and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge. You know, with this modalist thing, when you give people, try to give understanding of what the Bible says and they don't understand it, it just shows that they're not, obviously the first and foremost, they're not saved, but they're not wise. When you show them clear scriptures, then they're just like, I just think Isaiah just teaches oneness. You know? No, then you don't have understanding. The people who have understanding are the ones who are willing to take their reprovement and say, you know, you're right. And guess what? They come out wiser out of that whole situation because of it. Yeah, it humbled them, they were wrong, but guess what? You gain more understanding. This is true with those who used to believe in the pre-trib doctrine. I used to believe in the pre-tribulation doctrine, okay? And look, when I admitted that I was wrong, guess what, it's like the Lord gave me so much more understanding after that, because he resisted the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. And you say, are you saying you're humble? Well, I had to humble myself to admit that I was wrong. To say you're wrong means to humble yourself. This is like, I'm wrong, I guess I was wrong about this, and I want to learn the truth. You know what God does? Okay, then here's more truth. So reproving and rebuking is so necessary in the Christian life. Plucking out the hair, it's painful, but it's necessary. And may we never be a people who just can't be corrected on anything. We need to be corrected so we can remain on the right track. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the example of Ezra, who obviously afflicted himself for the sins of the people, but we're also thankful for Nehemiah, because if, honestly, a lot of people could just behave like Ezra, but we don't have enough Nehemiahs who are rebuking the nobles and the rulers and plucking out the hairs of those who need it. And I just pray that you'd help us all to be like Nehemiah, not in a prideful way, but understanding that things need to be put out in the open, things need to be said. And I pray, God, that you'd help us to receive rebuke and reprove and correction when needed, and that it'll help us to grow. And Lord, help us to continue to be molded in the image of Christ, that we would love your word when we're afflicted. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.