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music music music music music music music In Acts chapter 21, so we're going to talk about this story a little bit this morning in a few minutes. Just keep your place there, bookmark it if you will. We see a story here of Paul. He's at the house of Philip at the beginning of the chapter. And then Paul is warned by a prophet not to go to Jerusalem because he's going to be bound and it's going to be bad things are going to happen that people are going to try to kill him there. And Paul, of course, goes anyway. We see that those things actually come to pass with Paul. So this morning I want to preach a little bit of a unique sermon to you this morning. And just an introduction before we get into the Bible and the title of the sermon is, you know, is I want to look at a different perspective this morning. I want to look at a different perspective. I've always been pretty decent. I thank God for this. One of the things that I've been decent at in my life is seeing things from different perspectives. You know, thinking this is thinking out of the box, so to speak. You know, most people in their life, unfortunately, they just kind of go along with the flow. You'll go to work, you'll go to a job and people will do something at their job just because that's the way the guy before him did it. He was trained to do it a certain way and he just does it that way. And people would just follow and follow and follow in that way. But you can be very successful in your life if you're able to question things, if you're able to look at things outside of the norm and say, OK, yes, we've been doing it this way for 25 years, for 30 years, but is there a better way to do it? And always questioning things like that. I've always been pretty good at that. But what I want to talk to you about this morning is, is a perspective problem that Christians have. I see a problem with Christian perspectives today. Christians especially, you know, especially have this issue when it comes to what I'm going to talk to you about this morning. Let's look at a different perspective. The title of the sermon this morning is why you should move to California. Obviously, if you're in this church, you already live in California. So this is not you know, this is a softball sermon for you this morning. I'm not yelling at you this morning. But there's a lot of people, a lot of Christians out there that would take that statement and they've probably already fallen out of their chair when they heard why you should move to California. I'm talking about why Christians, Bible believing, saved people should move to California. That's what I'm going to talk to you about this morning. There's this attitude today from people outside of this state that I've heard maybe a thousand times since I've been here. There's this attitude like, why do you live there? You know, people in California, even people I know in California, people, decent people, maybe they're not church people that want to move out of California. You know, they want to move to Texas or Florida or whatever. Look, folks, the decision to move to California is what I'm going to prove to you this morning is that what Christians should do. And let me tell you something out of all, I want you to think about the decisions that you've made in your life. I mean, obviously the best decision that you've made is the decision to trust in Jesus Christ and be saved. I mean, that's obviously the best decision that we can come up with as human beings. However, let me tell you something from a testimonial perspective is that the decision to move my family to California was hands down the best decision I have ever made outside of salvation. So can you find the best decision in your life? Turn to Proverbs chapter nine. If you open your Bible in the middle of your Bible, you'll be in the book of Psalms. One book over is the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter nine. Can you think just think about what you think is the best decision you've ever made in your life? I'm telling you that the decision to move my family to California was hands down the biggest best decision that I have made for my family in my life. Look at Proverbs chapter nine in verse number 10. You say, how is that? Why is that? And here's why. Look at verse number 10. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Look when you make decisions based on the fear of the Lord, you are always going to win with that decision. That is always going to be a great decision and it's going to be a smart decision. It's going to be a wise decision and the knowledge of the holy is understanding and you're just going to continue growing in wisdom and understanding as you make decisions like that. So this morning, this morning I want to give you several reasons why Christians should move to California and even even you sitting here. Maybe this will help you as you talk to people that you know outside the state. Maybe it will help you understand, you know, help people understand why you live here, why you stay here. But look, I'm going to give you several reasons this morning. I'll even bring up all the problems this morning that people that people quote about in California and I'll show you this morning how those problems are really just opportunities for us as Christians. So let me give you the core reason first. The core reason is this. Turn to Mark chapter 16. I'll give you the core reason and then we'll talk about some of the problems in California and how those are really opportunities and then we'll talk about, you know, we'll wrap it up at the end. But let me give you several reasons this morning. But all these reasons that I'm going to talk to you about this morning, they all build on this first one right here. Go to Mark chapter 16 and look at verse number 15. The Bible says in Mark 16 in verse number 15, this is the Great Commission right here. It says he said them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Look, when it says creature there, you know, that's talking about it's not talking about dogs and cats and horses. It's talking about people. Jesus is saying here, like one of the last things he said, he's like, go out and preach the gospel to the people in the world is what Jesus said. In Matthew chapter 9, he said unto the disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. He's like, he tells us, go preach the gospel to all the people. And then he says, he says earlier, he says, look, he's like, there's too many people. There's so many people that need it. And there's not enough people to give it to them is what he's saying. The first reason that people need to Christians need to move to California is because it's where the people are. It's very simple. Go to Romans chapter one. It's where the people are. Go to Romans chapter one. Look at verse number 16. Romans chapter one, verse number 16, the Bible says for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God and a salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So let me give you a methodology here on on how we get the gospel out to these people, because there's a very specific methodology that Jesus used with the disciples, with the apostles, when the, when the church was first forming 2000 years ago. I'm going to give you that methodology because you can say, well, there's people everywhere. There's people in other states. There's people everywhere. But look, Romans chapter one and verse number 16, we're starting to see this methodology that Jesus used. Let me read for you Matthew chapter 10 and verse number five. He says the Jews should get it first. He's like the Jews should get the gospel first and then the Gentiles. Look at Matthew chapter 10 and verse number five. So he says first the Jews. Why the Jews? What were the, what advantage does the Jew have? The Bible says in Romans, the advantage that the Jew had is they had the scriptures, they had the Bible. This was this was the low hanging fruit folks. The Jews were the low hanging fruit that this news that the Messiah is here, what we just celebrated yesterday, the birth of Christ, that the Christ is now here. The Jews were to get it first because they, the only advantage of being a Jew was they had the Bible. That's it. They had the word of God. They knew a Messiah was coming. They're the, as we're picking fruit on the tree, they're the ones that were easiest to reach. So Jesus says, go there first. Look at Matthew 10 and verse number five. These 12 Jesus sent forth talking about the disciples and commanded them saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles or into any city of the Samaritans. Enter ye not. He tells them, don't go there first. Again, he's like, go to the Jews first. Go to the Jews. And after a while, the Jews had a chance, you know, they, they, after that, they take it everywhere. Turn to Luke chapter 14. And doesn't say never go to the Gentiles. As a matter of fact, in Acts chapter 21, we're already seeing that Paul is bringing Gentiles to Jerusalem. He is bringing Gentiles into the temple and the Jews are all offended that there was a Gentile there. They say he polluted the temple. So already in Paul's time, they've gone to the Jews first and then they're bringing it out to the Gentiles. Look at Luke chapter 14. The methodology is that we picked a low hanging fruit first is what the Bible is telling us. Look at Luke chapter 14, verse number 23. And the Lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. Before this, he went and he invited people and they all just made excuses. This is an analogy about the Jews. Yeah, they all made excuses. One, you know, they couldn't come for all these different reasons. And then finally say, just go invite everybody to the party. So the methodology, folks, on getting the gospel out, even from the very beginning, was we get the low hanging fruit first. We have the same methodology out, soul winning. The low hanging fruit. The Bible says that, you know, it's very difficult for a rich man to be saved. Like very high end rich neighborhoods. And it's not that we're not going to go there, but we're not going to knock those doors several times a year. We're going to go to the medium and lower income, you know, neighborhoods, you know, more often than we are going to go to the upper class neighborhoods. Why? Because they're more receptive to the gospel. That's why. Because this is a low hanging fruit. So the point, the first point I'm trying to make here is that 39 million people live in California. It's where the people are. The population of the United States is 329 million. Over 10 percent of the people in the United States live in this state. It's where the people are. The population of the entire country of Canada is less than the population of California. Think about that. Over one in 10 people in the entire United States have chosen to live in California. It's where the people are. Look, folks, I could end the sermon right there. I could end the sermon right there. But think about this. Not only is California have the majority of the people, it's the most populous state, but there are people from all over the world. Think about Acts chapter two. Go to Acts chapter two. Go to Acts chapter two. Go down there very quickly. There are people from all over the world. Acts chapter two is talking about the day of Pentecost where this great miracle happened where the disciples could all of a sudden speak in all these different languages. And God gave this great gift of the Holy Ghost coming upon them. And all of a sudden they could speak and everyone, they were preaching the gospel and everyone in their own language could hear them. And there was a time where in Jerusalem all these people from all these other nations were in Jerusalem. Isn't that brilliant of God to operate that way? Why? Because God just wants those one people. No, because all those people are going to go home and they're going to go and God is trying to get the gospel out to the entire world. This is what he's trying to do after Jesus comes and does his work and dies on the cross and bears our sins in his own body. God is trying to get the word out and save as many people as he possibly can. Look at verse number nine of Acts chapter two. Look at all these people. The Parthenians, the Medes, the Elamites, the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judea and the Cappadocia and Pontius and Asia and Phrygia and Pamphylia in Egypt and the parts of Libya and the Cyrene, the strangers in Rome, Jews and proselytes. These people were all in Jerusalem at this time. God doesn't just do miracles just to do miracles. This miracle had a very specific purpose and that was to get the gospel to these people that were in Jerusalem. It's the same thing with Ethiopian eunuch. Where was the Ethiopian eunuch going? When Philip went to him, he was going back to Ethiopia. He was a very powerful man in Ethiopia. There was a reason God wanted him to get the gospel so he could go out and tell other people where he was from in all these dark corners of the world. Think about this when you're going out soul winning, California. How many people do you meet from other places? A lot of these people that we talk to, that we meet, that we give the gospel to, they're not permanently here. We were just talking about this at our house last night. Many of these people, they're here temporarily in a few years, they go back to where they came from. They go back to their home countries. There are people from all over the world here. You go out soul winning with our church, you are on a worldwide mission trip in Fresno because you are going to meet people of all nationalities here and they're going to go and they're going to tell people and they're going to spread this. Look, this is how, you know, it just explodes like a mustard seed. This is how the gospel works. So right there, I could just end the sermon. Amen. Let's pray. The people are here, people from all over the world, the most people are in this state. But inevitably, inevitably, people will walk away and they will say, yeah, but I'm not going to move to California, you know, fill in the blank problem that California has. So let me dispel some falsehoods for you this morning about California. You know, when I was growing up in North Dakota, everybody in North Dakota called it the land of fruits and nuts. You know, that's what they call California, the land of fruits and nuts. But I'm going to show you today how even these problems are reasons that people should move here today. They're precisely the reasons that they should. But let me give you a second reason, a second spiritual reason, and then we'll get into the problems. The second reason, turn to Matthew chapter six. So first of all, it's where the people are. If you're a missionary, if you're a soul winner, if you care about getting people to heaven in your life and having in your life have eternal, you know, having eternal meaning for other people, this is where you need to be. This is where you'd be most effective. This is where the low hanging fruit is at. But the second reason is this. Look at Matthew chapter six. Look at verse number 33. The Bible says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. The second reason is this. It's where the churches are. It's where the churches are. This should always be the first thought. If you're thinking about moving anywhere, this should always be the first thought in your mind. If you're moving somewhere for work, if you're moving somewhere for a job, if you're moving somewhere for money, if you're moving somewhere for, you know, family or whatever, there's a good chance you are making a mistake. You must have a church. It is your church. Turn to Matthew chapter 16. Your church is your fortress in this world. Wherever you go, you must have a fortress because the world is always going to be out there. Look at Matthew chapter 16 and verse number 18. Look at the promise that Jesus gives about the church. And this is why you must have one. Matthew chapter 16 verse 18. And I say also unto thee, thou art Peter. And upon this rock, I will build my church. Jesus's church. Jesus says, I will build my church. But guess what? He gives a very specific promise about his church right here. And look what he says. This is why it's so important, by the way, that we run the church exactly what the Bible says. Okay, because it's this verse right here. You say, why do you do all the things that you do? Why do you preach so hard of all these different sins? Why do you talk about these sins that aren't allowed in the church? Why do you do all these things that no other church does? Because guess what? Jesus has made me a promise that if I run the church according to the Bible, that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But look, if I go do whatever I want and I go and I just, you know, tell you all the things that you want to hear and say, hey, everything's great in your life. And no, you're doing that. Oh, that's great. That's wonderful. And I just allow all kinds of filth and perversion and all this kind of stuff, just like every other church does. Just like all these other churches. This is why we're different. Because we actually follow the Bible. If it's in the Bible, that's what we're going to do. And I don't care what you think. I don't care what anybody thinks. And look, it's going to offend people. But that's why we don't allow certain things because the Bible says no. And that's what we're going to do because God gave us a promise that if we follow the model of the Bible, that the gates of hell will not prevail against this church. And guess what? That's what this church is. This church is a fortress for you for that reason. This church is a fortress for your family. Because guess what? If you're in a church, a biblical church, the gates of hell will not prevail against you. The gates of hell will not prevail against your children. The gates of hell will not prevail as long as we do it this way. So that is the church is everything. There's three good churches in California. Say only three. There's thousands of churches. There's thousands of churches everywhere. Ninety-nine percent of them are garbage. But no other church can say that. No other state, I'm sorry, can say that. Can say that there's three good churches. Well, maybe Texas. I don't really have anything bad to say about Texas. We lived in Texas for nine years. But look, the point is, if you do move to California, it should be to one of those three churches that are already there. None, and here's the thing, if you're in a good church, none of the problems that we're going to talk about that exist here will matter because you're in a good church. And you'll have a great church family and you will be insulated from it. Because Jesus says that the gates of hell, what's going on out in the world, will not prevail against his church. So the key is the church. And not only, you know, so you should move to California, but to a good church in California. Okay. So what about the problems? You say there's lots of problems in California. I mean, that's true. There's lots of problems. We talk about them all the time. I preach about these problems. We talk about these problems amongst ourselves, amongst our brothers and sisters. And, you know, but look, here's the thing. Let's talk about the problems. Like, what are the biggest problems? I mean, everybody talks about this. You know, everybody outside the state talks about this. But what about the politics in California? Look, we talk about this here. But the point is this. As long as you have a church, back to the church, the politics, they don't affect you. I mean, the politics in this state, they don't affect you. As a matter of fact, the politics in California is a reason that Christians should move to California. I mean, hello. Can we try to help the situation to make this better? If all the Christians leave, how is that going to help things? I mean, how do the how do the politics affect the day to day? Think about this. Even in the oppressive time of COVID, how do the politics of California affect my day to day? They don't. They don't. Not at all. We still went to church. We still went to church. We still hang out with our church family. We still go out to eat. We still go, you know, I don't really shop. But I mean, the girls still go shopping. I mean, look, in general, you know, it just doesn't affect, you know, the way that we live our lives. Because why? Because we have a church. We have a church. And the funny thing is this. As goes California, as far as the politics, as goes California, so goes the rest of the country. I mean, California is suffering from the same issues that everybody else in the country is suffering from. The liberal politics are the liberal politics are driven by the population centers. It's the same everywhere in the country. The liberal politics are driven by L.A. and San Francisco. It's the same in any other state you go to. You know, just it's the same as everywhere else. What does this mean? This means that the people in California are generally decent people. You know what it means? I mean, the Central Valley is conservative if all you're obsessed about is politics. Pismo Beach has probably more. They're still driving around with Trump flags and pickup trucks. I mean, look, but people just don't realize this. They think that California is just everyone's liberal. It's all just, you know, it's just it's driven by the politics. You know, the big populations. That's it. So many things that about this state are said are not true. You know, but the thing is, if you sit around and you just Fox News your life away, you're just going to you're not going to know a lot of things. That's the bottom line. Look at Matthew Chapter 22. What about let's look at some more problems. What about the expense? You know, one thing that the politics does do is it makes it expense expensive to live here. You know, it's not cheap to live in California. No one would say that. Look at Matthew Chapter 22. What about the expense of it all? You know, here's how the politics really affects you. Here's the thing. Look at Matthew Chapter 22 and go and look at verse number 17. Look at Matthew Chapter 22 in verse number 17. So the Pharisees are trying to get Jesus in trouble here. They're trying to get him in trouble with the with the Roman with the Roman rule. They're trying to get Jesus to say you shouldn't pay taxes. So the Romans will come and just take him down, you know, to Chinatown. But look, Jesus is smarter than them. And Jesus actually gives us some perspective on, you know, taxes and expense of living and all this type stuff. Look at verse number 17. Tell us, therefore, the Pharisees say to him, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? Verse 18. But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why tempt me? Why you tempt me, you hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought him a penny. And he said unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? So they brought him a coin. And on the coin was Caesar. It was his face. It was the it was the you know, probably Augustus at the time. And he said unto him, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's. So here's what he tells them. He tells them he's like, you know, whatever, give them their money. He's like, this isn't this isn't, you know, of God. Just give it to him. So as far as the expenses, the taxes and all that, how are we to take all that as Christians? Look, it doesn't mean we have to agree with it. But here's the thing. At the end of the day, take it all. Because it doesn't matter because it's not a spiritual thing, and we need to be worried about the spiritual things in our life. But look, here's the thing. Here's the flip side of this. So you say it's expensive to live in California. There is more economic opportunity here than any place I've ever seen. Look, I've lived other places. We lived in Texas for almost 10 years. I grew up in North Dakota. I've been to all kinds of most of the states, other countries. I'm telling you, I've never seen an economy like this one. Even in the midst of all this garbage that's been going on for the last two years. It's it's like the energy, the agriculture. I mean, the dairy, the beef, the fruits, the vegetables, the nuts. I mean, California feeds the world. They're number one in everything. It's all top. I mean, California, they're always building no matter what. They're always building it. The thing is, there's many markets here is what I'm trying to get at. Yes, it's expensive here, and that's from the politics. But look, here's the thing. To live here, you definitely need to have a plan to live here. And this brings me back to the church. You need to have a church. You can't be some young kid or some teenager that just comes here and just, you know, with no plan. And thinks it's all going to work out for you because it'll chew you up and spit you out. But here's the thing. There's a plan here. There's a formula for this, folks. And guess what? Guess what? There's big stuff coming next year on this formula because some people in these churches have figured it out. Some people in these churches have figured out how to raise successful children and the benefits that that will that will show them in their life. But you also, you know, it's just again, you need to be in a church. You need to be in a church where because the problem is, you know, the public school system is terrible in California. That's not true. It's terrible everywhere. It's a central system. It's just as bad here as it is in Missouri. It's just as bad here as it is in Tennessee. It's just as bad here. It's just terrible everywhere. But there's opportunity there. There's opportunity for the child that grows up and learns character and hard work and gets a decent biblical education. The home school child will kill it here. But you have to be in a church. People have figured this out, folks. And guess what? The people that have figured this out and this is coming next year. And I don't want to say too much, but they've left breadcrumbs and they documented this. But you've got to be in a church. And we know the path. We know the path. Look, these kids where you see all the problems and the laziness and the horrible educational issues. It's nothing but opportunity for us. It's nothing but opportunity for the Christian, for the Christian family, the Christian child. Because guess what? The Bible always works. No matter what is going on out there, the Bible always works. And as everybody else is burning their house down, it becomes much more obvious when your house is still standing. And that's what is the beautiful thing about the opportunity that these kids have in this state. Even in the expensive state of California, it's even better here. There's even more opportunity here. You'll see it, but you have to be in a church. Look, I mean, people, I'm telling you, people are going to beg these kids to work for them. People are going to beg these kids to work for them. Because there's no one like that anymore. Because it's a rarity now. You see how the perspective is the key here? You see how if you have the wrong perspective in your life, you could spend your whole life barking up the wrong tree. But if you have the right perspective, one person's problems is another man's opportunity. I mean, people say I'd never move to California because it's expensive. I say move to California, serve the Lord, and you will never worry about money again. That's exactly how it will work. What about all the crime? Here's another problem. What about all the crime? 10% of the country lives here. We're not even top 10 as far as highest murder rate. I was actually a little surprised. We're not even top 20 as far as as far as violent crime in the country. But guess what? We're always in the news because over 10% of the country lives here. So we're disproportionately you're going to see news stories about California. As a matter of fact, one thing, just a personal note, one thing that my wife and I noticed when we moved here from North Dakota is that people were nicer here. You say what? People were generally in a better mood here. People were happier here in California. You say, you know, I mean, people are just friendlier. I mean, it makes sense. It's a beautiful place to live. People were happier than where we came from. We noticed this. It was something that stood out to us. Then you say, well, what about the bums? Well, you know, what about them? Don't get me started. I kind of had to just pull this part out of the sermon. It would have been a whole sermon by itself. But I mean, really, they're just irrelevant. I mean, hopefully, you know, the Bible says if a man doesn't work, he shouldn't eat. You know, end of story. So but the point is, is the reason that Californians need Christians is, again, looking at this situation with the homelessness in California. You know, don't live in San Francisco. Our Tony residents say they're confronted with unwanted activity as soon as they exit the garage. The street residents say they're afraid to drive through and most wouldn't dare walk through it day or night. It's pretty consistently nerve wracking. So the point is, you have to go to a church anyway. But here's the biggest one. So the problems, I mean, hopefully I can just give you a couple points there on how the problems are really opportunities for the Christian. I mean, as we as we go out and we preach the gospel and we get more people saved and more people start to believe the Bible. Look, these problems are going to clean themselves up. These problems are just going to go away because the Bible has all the answers. Now, look at here's the here's the last one. Turn to Acts, Chapter 21, where we started out in the sermon. Here's the biggest one. So what do we look at so far? The people are here. Number one, this is where the people are, people from all over the world. The low hanging fruit. You want to go on a missions trip? Let's go soloing at two o'clock. We're going to meet people from all over the world here. I guarantee it. The people are here. The churches are here. And number three, you know, and we should I showed you how the problems are really just opportunities for the Christian in this state. But number four, and here's the big one, especially if you want to raise kids, raise kids that are successful. You know, what's a successful child? You know, what does it look like? I don't want my kids to be broke. I want my boys to be able to support their family. You know, I want my daughter, you know, to be, you know, a godly mother that is a great educator that raises kids with a biblical world view and a world class education. That's what I want. But here's the thing. What I generally want and what I gauge success with my kids is do they grow up and know the Lord? Do they grow up and as in their adult life serve the Lord with their life? Do they take their one life that they have and serve the Lord with that one life? If they do, they don't have to be a pastor. They don't have to be a pastor's wife. Do they take their life and the gifts that God has given them and serve the Lord with that success? Well, that's not hard to get. That's not hard. I mean, that's hard to get to. We see in the Bible, many, many, many men of God failed at that one thing. They couldn't get there. It's the next generation that's always lost. You know, maybe you had some great man of God, King David, or some great, you know, great prophet that was just, you know, just this great man of God. But like the next generation is where they always failed. I don't want to fail at the next generation. The fourth point is this. The fourth point is this. The people are here. The churches are here. The problems are just opportunities. And the fourth point is this. The fight is here. The fight is here. You say, why? Turn to Acts chapter 22. Since when did we as Christians adopt this attitude? This makes me crazy. This is maddening. When did we as Christians adopt this attitude? That we must move to the worst places so no one will follow us there. I mean, what in the world? Is that what you see in the Bible? No one reads the Bible. That's the problem. Look at Acts chapter 21 verse number 10. Look at the apostles. Look at Paul and as we tarried. So, you know, Luke wrote the book of Acts, right? So Luke is talking about we, you know, he's going around with Paul. He's following Paul around and he's documenting these things. And, you know, he wrote this, the Theophilus, and he writes in verse number 10. As we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus. And he's coming to us and he took Paul's girdle and he bounded upon his own hands and feet and he says, thus sayeth the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews of Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle. This came from the Holy Ghost. This is a real prophecy. This is a real prophecy. He takes Paul's belt and he ties himself up with it. He's like, whoever's belt this is, it was Paul's, is going to be all tied up in Jerusalem. They're going to be put in prison. He says, they shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles, the Romans. And when he heard these things, both we and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. They're like, Paul, don't go. Paul, don't go. You're going to get arrested. They're going to tie you up. They're going to hand you over to the Romans. Then Paul answered. What mean, what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am not ready to be bound. I'm not ready to, I'm ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul's like, where's the fight? That's where I'm going. Not like, oh man, let's move to Africa. He's like, oh man, we better get out of here. Let's move somewhere else. No, he's like, Paul just went straight into the fight. He knew what was going to happen to him. Every single apostle except for John was, was brutally killed because they wouldn't stop going into the fight. They wouldn't stop going places with, look, they got out of jail. They went right back into the temple to preach. I mean, look in North Dakota, like a common, a common saying in North Dakota with the weather. I mean, I could tell you stories that you wouldn't even believe. I can't even describe to a California person, someone that grew up in California, the things that the weather in North Dakota. I can't even describe it, but North Dakotans would say, yeah, it keeps the riffraff out. Well, that's true. It keeps everybody out. There's only 600, there's more people in Fresno than there is in the entire state of North Dakota. Yet people adopt this attitude that, you know, we need to get out of California and move to, you know, South Dakota or whatever because of the politics. You're like, what in the world? And for a Christian to say that, it is just absolutely against everything that the Bible has to say. We are to go into the fight. It is such an amazing thing. North Dakota has this problem where everyone just tries to, they graduate from high school, they graduate from college and just get out of the state. Because they just like, they want to leave. In North Dakota, it's been, they talk about it since I was a little kid, this problem of why all the young people are leaving North Dakota. It's such a huge problem. It's because people don't want to live there. But it's such a huge problem that when we move back, we lived in Texas for 10 years and then we moved back because we had some family members that were having some health issues. So we decided to move back to North Dakota for that reason. We were on a magazine cover. I'm serious. We were on a magazine cover as someone that came back to the state. It was such a rare thing. They did a whole article on my family. This young guy, he moves back to North Dakota from Texas. Like that's never happened before. We've got to put it in a magazine. But the point is, when did we adopt this attitude that all the nicest places we just give to the ungodly? We just give to the godless and we'll just get out of town. That's not found in the Bible. In the Bible, they are running towards the fight. And that's what Christians need to do. Look, what if we have three churches here? What if we had 12? What if we had 15? What if we had churches in every town up and down this state? We could turn the tide in this state. I mean, look, you know what the number one problem is on why we can't start more churches? You know what the number one problem is? It's not because you don't have pastors that want to send people out. It's because there's no men to go out. There's no qualified men to go out and start more churches. That's why. It's a lack of men. So we need qualified men that have the desire to go into the ministry to move to the fight. So they can start more churches. I mean, it's the spiritual battle front lines. It's where the spiritual battle is happening. It's the front lines in this country. Turn to Judges chapter 2. You say, why is that important? Here's why it's important. Here's why it's important. You say, I don't really want to fight. It's like, I want to have like this easy life. I don't really want to fight. But here's why it's so important. It's important that you, especially as a parent, get into the fight. Here's why. Look at Judges chapter 2. We already went through the entire book of Joshua. They went into the promised land. They conquered the promised land. And then Joshua at the end of his life in chapter 23 and chapter 24 is literally begging the people to not forget the Lord. And he's sitting there and he's begging the people and he's using all these different things. We went through it in great detail. He's saying it's going to take courage. He's like, look at what your fathers did and your grandfathers did. He's like, please don't forget the Lord when I'm gone. Joshua is just, he's just appealing to them in those two chapters before he dies to not forget the Lord. But look what happened. Look at Judges chapter 2. Look at Judges chapter 2. We see the results of what actually happened and we see that Joshua's fears, I mean, they were well placed. Look at verse number 8. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died being 110 years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Termathenes in the mountain of Ephraim on the north side of the hill Gosh. And also that generation that were gathered under their fathers and there arose another generation. Okay, this is super important right here. You see, it says Joshua. Joshua died. And also Joshua's generation died. Okay, what did these men see? These men were the ones fighting the battle. Joshua and the men that were with him in his generation were the ones that went in and they did the fighting. They fought and the Lord fought with them and they knew, and there arose another generation after them. This is talking about the next generation. And guess what? Which knew not the Lord, but what did they really not know? Nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. These were the people that came after Joshua that didn't personally see and didn't personally join and participate in the battles to conquer the promised land. This was the next generation. They just inherited the land. And then Joshua and all the people that fought were dead already. And look at verse number 11. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam one generation later. Why? Because they didn't fight. Because by not fighting, they just forgot the Lord. But the generation, Joshua's generation, they were the ones fighting with the Lord and they did not forget. And Joshua just, he begged the people, please, when I'm gone, even though you haven't fought the battles, don't forget. But they didn't fight the battles and they did forget. That's the point. If your children don't fight battles, they will forget the Lord. That is the point. You need to get your family in the spiritual battle and then they will not forget the Lord. And that's the whole point. That's success in the Christian life. That your children don't forget the Lord. Well, they need to have, they need to be in the spiritual battle. That's what they need to be. And guess what? It's here. The spiritual battle, the front lines of that battle is here in California. It's where people from all over the world are. It's the spiritual battle. And then your children will not forget the Lord. Turn to Psalm chapter 35. Psalm chapter 35. You say, this sounds pretty good. You know, this is a no brainer. This is a no brainer. I mean, when I decided to move to California, I had everything sold in like three, four weeks and we just went. I mean, it was very fast. We made that decision. You say, but you know, this is a no brainer. I get the spiritual points of it. But here's the thing. I mean, am I going to be miserable? Am I going to be miserable there? Is it going to be like the worst place? Here's the thing. This is the most amazing state in the union. It's unbelievable. Turn to Psalm chapter 35. And the Bible does say that God wants to bless the people that are fighting with him, that are fighting for him. Look at Psalm chapter 35 in verse number 27. Look what the Bible says. It says, it says, let them shout for joy and be glad that favor my righteous cause. Yea, let them say continually, let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his what? Of his servant. The Bible says that, look, I'm not going to preach a prosperity gospel to you here. There's going to be tribulation in your Christian life, especially as you move into, you know, serving the Lord and fighting for the Lord. But the Bible does say that God has pleasure in the prosperity of the people that serve him. It's right there. It's right there. There are so many blessings living here in California. Look, what a place to serve the Lord with your life in California. I mean, we still talk about this from the mountains to the ocean. I mean, I can, I can take a day trip skiing or I can be deep sea fishing. I mean, where else can you say that? And like I said, why would we give this to the ungodly? Why would we run away with our tails between our legs and just give this all to the godless? It's not what the Lord wants. I mean, I've seen places here that, I mean, I literally said these are the most amazing places I've ever seen in my life. Half, you know, 45 minutes from Fresno. A person could, I mean, a person could spend their entire life exploring here and not even come close to seeing everything. It's ridiculous. I mean, the adventure, I'm an adventurer. I've taken my family on some adventures here that they won't even let me talk about because they were a little too adventurous. But the point is there's adventure to be had here. There's so much to do here. And the thing is, I mean, look, we need to take back this state. But it takes people to go out to the people. And guess what? Once you're here, there is just low-hanging fruit everywhere. I mean, the thing is, you know, the thing is about places where I came from, places like North Dakota and the Midwest, there's really one culture there. One of the good things about that diversity here is that there's so many different cultures, so many different people from all different kinds of places that there's very receptive people here to the gospel. People are very receptive here and they're going to go back to whatever nation they came from and carry that message with them. It's Acts chapter 2 in our time, folks, in California. So look, if your life is about eternal results, if your life is about affecting the eternity of those around you, which by the way it should be, your life should not be about carnal things that just, you know, that just rust and get corrupted. That's not what the Bible says. Your life should be about spiritual things that have eternal value for people. Then this is the place for you. And as far as the other stuff, I mean, your families, this is the place for your families. We have, trust me, we have the formula for you to help you raise godly children in a wicked world that, you know, guess what? I don't care what state you live in, you're going to have that same problem. You're going to have that same world attacking your family. But guess what? The spiritual, I mean, so think about it, the spiritual battle is here. The world is wicked everywhere, but the front lines of that battle is here. So you need to be in a good church and go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. If not, you literally have no chance out there. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Look at verse number 8, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse number 8. So you need to run to the front lines of that spiritual battle. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse number 8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. That's why Paul could go to Jerusalem, right there, because you know what he's saying here? He's saying, we're confident, we're just willing to be, he's like, we're just willing to be done with this body and be present. Because like, if they kill me, I'm just with Jesus now. Ooh, he's like, oh, kill me. And then I'm with Jesus. You know what he's saying? He's saying that we're to be courageous. He's saying Christians are to have courage and they're not supposed to worry about, you know, being afraid. I mean, the first sin listed in Revelation 21 8 is the fearful, is being fearful. The only thing that we're to fear is the Lord. This run and hide Christianity is not going to work. Look, it's not working. It's not working. I mean, come fight with us, is what I'm saying this morning. And guess what? It's the best time of your life and you'll be doing it in California. I mean, look, let's be real here. There was times when people fled in the Bible. No one's cutting our heads off here. Let's be real. The affliction here is light at best. I mean, no one's, no one's, you know, threatening our lives here. So look, let me just conclude, close with this idea. Let me plant this idea in your head. Look, if you've read the Bible enough, you know this, but what you have to understand about God. So the Bible, this is God's, this is God. This is what God, this isn't all of God, but this is what God wants us to know about him. Everything that God wants man to know about him is in this word right here. And one thing you have to realize about God is God is a God of extremes. God doesn't have a halfway. God doesn't have a half pedal speed. Look, God is an extremist. God is an extremist. And let me tell you something. The biggest fight is here in California, but also the biggest spiritual opportunities are here in California. You see how God works? You see how God works? Look, the best chance to raise God-fearing spiritual children is to get them in the fight. And the biggest fight is here. And the biggest blessings to your children from that will be here. Because God works that way. The biggest blessings, the biggest fight, the most opportunities. That's how God works. That's God in the Bible over and over and over again. That's why the problems that everybody else sees. Look, these problems that we see today in California, which we see everywhere in the country, everywhere in the world, they're very easy answers. And guess what? We have all the answers right here. What better opportunity? Some people love that. Like an engineer loves going into a system that's just all messed up. A good engineer that knows how to fix those problems. Guess what? If we know the Bible, we know how to fix these problems. So the problems are opportunities in California. Get here. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.