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Let us pray that grace may everywhere abound Send the light, send the light And a Christ-like spirit everywhere be found Send the light, send the light Send the light, a blessing gospel light Let it shine from shore to shore Send the light, a blessing gospel light Let it shine forevermore Grow weary in the work of love Send the light, send the light Let us gather jewels for a crown above Send the light, send the light Send the light, a blessing gospel light Let it shine from shore to shore Send the light, a blessing gospel light Let it shine forevermore Good singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening's service. I just pray now that you would fill our hearts with love for you as we sing. Help us to sing out loud and with understanding and please bless all those that couldn't be here this evening. Help our pastor to preach this evening. We love you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For our next song, let's go to 246, Redeemed. 246, Redeemed. 246. Let's sing it out. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed through His infinite mercy His child and forever I am Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am Redeemed and so happy in Jesus No language my rapture can tell I know that the light of His presence With me doth continually dwell Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am I think of my blessed Redeemer I think of Him all the day long I sing for I cannot be silent His love is the theme of my song Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am I know I shall see in His beauty The King in whose law I delight He lovingly guarded my footsteps And given me songs in the night Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am Thank you for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church If you need a bulletin, lift up your hand nice and high One of ushers come by and get you a bulletin On the front we have our Bible memory passage We're on a grace week of Proverbs 31 As well as on the inside we have our service soul winning times Make sure you're turning in your soul winning numbers to your captains on the right Please be in prayer for all of our expecting ladies We also have a prayer list if you'd like to be added in there on the back We have the note about the homeschool field trip tomorrow Make sure that you do come early Also there's a baby shower on the 4th for the Hernandez's There's a spring swap May 5th And you can bring those items on Wednesday or Sunday Also the Mother's Day tea is gonna be from 3.30 to 5.30 Nursing boys are welcome but otherwise it's all ladies And of course if you'd like to invite someone you can Just make sure you sign up That way we have everything planned accordingly On the next note This is gonna be our last 5.30 evening service So we're gonna next week shift the evening service up one hour So we'll be at 4.30 And then our Spanish services Which we've had a lot of people participate Please continue participating but it's gonna be at 9 AM So we're just gonna have a little bit earlier service And hopefully that will just make things run smoother for the future Also I think I got a more updated announcement from our bulletin But it's a congratulations to the Jackson family On the birth of Jason Jared Jackson That's a lot of J's I like it And the 27th 5.15 AM 8 pounds 3 ounces 21 inches long Congratulations to them We're gonna go ahead and sing our psalm of the week Psalm 139 sing it out nice and loud Alright let's sing it out together in your white handouts Psalm 139 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked Surely thou wilt slay the wicked O God Depart from me Therefore ye bloody men Depart from me Therefore ye bloody men Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me Love not thy greed With those that rise up against me Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me For they speak against thee wickedly For they speak against thee wickedly And thine enemies take thy name in vain And thine enemies take thy name in vain Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me Love not thy greed With those that rise up against me Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me I hate them with perfect hatred I hate them with perfect hatred I count them my enemies I count them my enemies Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me I am not thy greed With those that rise up against me Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me As the offering plate is being passed around please turn to Proverbs 26 Proverbs chapter 26 Proverbs 26 Proverbs 26 Proverbs 26 Proverbs 26 Proverbs 26 Proverbs chapter 26 the Bible says as snow in summer and as rain in harvest I am not a fool according to his folly, Lest thou be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own conceit. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool, Cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage. The legs of the lame are not evil, Lest he be wise in his own conceit. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool, Cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage. The legs of the lame are not equal, So is a parable in the mouth of fools. As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, So is he that giveth honor to a fool. As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, So is a parable in the mouth of fools. The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, And rewardeth transgressors. As a dog returneth to his vomit, So a fool returneth to his folly. As a dog returneth to his vomit, So a fool returneth to his folly. Seest thou a man wise in his own conceits? There is more hope of a fool than of him. The slothful man sayeth, There is a lion in the way, A lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges, So doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, It grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceits Than seven men that can render a reason. He that passeth by, And meddleth with strife belonging not to him, Is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, So is the man that deceiveth his neighbor, And sayeth, Am not I in sport? Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tell-bearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a tell-bearer are his wounds, And they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Burning lips and a wicked heart Are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hateth, dissemblest with his lips, And layeth up deceit within him. When he speaketh fair, believe him not, For there are seven abominations in his heart, Whose hatred is covered by deceit, His wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation. Whoso diggeth the pit shall fall therein, And he that rolleth the stone, it will return upon him. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, And a flattering mouth worketh ruin. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church. Thank you for all the people here. I ask you to bless us now. Please bless Pastor Shelley and give him wisdom and boldness to preach your word. In Jesus' name, Amen. I want to look back at verse number two here in the book of Proverbs. The Bible says, As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, So the curse causeless shall not come. And essentially the proverb is just trying to describe the reality that you end up finding yourself in the location that you traveled. You know, you find a bird flying to you. The reason why it's there is because it flew to you. And what it's basically trying to say is that curses don't just come out of nowhere. The curse causeless is not just going to come out of nowhere, but rather it's a result of action. And really what I'm trying to get at is the idea that many times the problems that we experience in our lives are a direct result of the decisions in which we've made. The bird can't really get mad about where it finds itself when it flew there because the reason why it's there is because it flew there. So if a bird flies itself into a trap or flies itself way away from home, well, it can't get mad that it's really far away from home because it flew there. And so we too should not get mad at the negative or the bad things that happen to us and try to just blame God or blame other people. But rather, most of the time, if not usually, it is ourselves to blame for the problems and the issues and the negative things that happen in our life. And really, it's funny to me because atheists always seem to be mad about God. And this is what they typically say, and this is just from my personal experience, but a lot of atheists will say the reason why they don't believe in God is because of suffering. Who's also seen that or heard that? Yeah, yeah. You hear these atheists that say, well, the reason why I don't believe in God is because there's suffering in the world or the suffering they've experienced. And the problem is they don't realize that it's self-afflicted suffering. It's not God's fault that they're suffering. It's not God's fault that a lot of people are suffering. It was a self-afflicted suffering, and then they blame God for it somehow. Well, that's the wrong attitude. That's the wrong outlook on life. I want to go to another place. Go to Joshua, chapter 7. We're going to do a lot in the book of Proverbs, so if you want to keep your finger there. But I do want to go to Joshua for a moment. And I really just want to talk about for a moment self-afflicted suffering. Now, when we talk about self-afflicted suffering, this is a broad topic. There's so much that we could possibly cover. I'm just going to cover a handful of issues. But I also want to show that even a Christian can kind of have this bad attitude as well, where they get mad at God, or they get mad at other people for their circumstances, rather than just dealing with situations or recognizing that the suffering that they're going through is their fault somehow, and something they have to deal with. Look at Joshua, chapter 7, verse 5. The Bible says, And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men, for they chased them from before the gate, even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down, wherefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Now, the children of Israel have attempted to enter the Promised Land. They've already destroyed Jericho. The Lord gave them a great victory. But then they go into smote the next town, Ai, and they don't even send that many people. They just send like a small faction of their troops, but they end up losing. And this battle is not really that big of a loss. I mean, did you notice it was thirty-six people died. That wasn't really a lot in the grand scheme of how much they really have in reserves, but just the fact that they even died a little bit. Notice what Joshua does in verse 6. And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide. He and the elders of Israel had put dust upon their heads, and Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over to Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content to dwell on the other side Jordan. O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turn at their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name? Joshua is saying, Man, we are such cowards. We're already losing. We've already lost. Why in the world did you bring us over here to just cause us to lose and be destroyed? This is a pretty bad attitude over just a pretty small loss already. I mean, they already destroyed Jericho, and then they just have this minor loss, and he's just wallowing in just so much pity and so much sorrow and putting dust on his head and renting his clothes, and he's just like, Why, God? Why are you doing this to me? But then what is the Lord's response in verse 10? The Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up, wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. God's like, Why in the world are you blaming me? You guys are the ones that sinned. Get off of your rear and deal with the problem. And he's saying, Somebody in your camp stole something. They dissembled, meaning they used deceit. They trickery. They didn't let anybody know. So the sin was in the camp. They didn't really know. Joshua didn't know that that had happened necessarily. Verse 12, Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turn their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed. Neither will I be with you anymore, except you destroy the accursed from among you. Up! Sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel. Thou canst not stand before thine enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. So Joshua is entering in the promised land. They have a great battle, great victory with Jericho. They move on to the second battle. They have a setback. Negative thing. People died. They're running away from their enemies. Instead of Joshua saying, Okay, what's wrong with us? What's our problem? What does he immediately do? Oh God, why aren't you delivering us? You know, basically he's just blaming God for his circumstances. He acts as if God's the reason why they're not winning, as opposed to doing a self-evaluation and saying, What did we do wrong? Or, How are we at fault here? He's basically just casting the blame onto other individuals. And this is constantly the attitude of so many people, is they're always blaming someone else for the reason why their life is not going the way they want it to. And it's a self-afflicted suffering that they're really experiencing, but they just want to blame other people. And you know what? The best attitude you can have is to just take the ownership for your own suffering and deal with your own issues. Now go if you went to Proverbs chapter 13. Go back to Proverbs. I'm going to deal with some issues and talk about some different things, but you know, hopefully, you can take some perspective from the Scripture and say, Maybe there's some things that I'm experiencing that I don't like right now, and they're just genuinely my fault. And the worst thing you could absolutely do in a sermon like this is think about other people, okay? Please, if you could do anything for the next 50 minutes or so, just think about you and how you are the problem and what you need to fix. Because that's the whole point of the sermon, is self-afflicted suffering. Not, Well, that's pretty obvious for this guy, you know. Or that's pretty obvious for her. I wish they would change. You change, okay? Now, Proverbs chapter 13, look at verse 15. The Bible says, Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard. You know why being an atheist sucks? Because the way of transgressors is hard. Because they just break God's commandments and live a rough life, and then they get mad, like, Oh, God is the problem, why my life is terrible. No, the reason why your life is terrible is because you're living the way of transgressors. And that's hard. Hey, there's a blessing by following the Lord's commandments. You know what, when you forsake the Lord's commandments, you should expect suffering, pain, woe, misery. And you know what, the people that hate God the most are some of the most miserable people on the planet. Look at the Hollywood celebrities and these politicians and all these individuals. They're constantly happening to drugs and alcohol and just the next prostitution just to try to get the next high. And they're never satisfied. They hate their lives. Many of them even just kill themselves because of how miserable their lives are. Because the way of transgressors is hard. And then they sit there and blame God for it. You know what, you're the reason why you're having a problem, not everybody else. And many people need to take responsibility for their life. The curse causeless shall not come. That's what the Bible says. Now is that saying that literally every hardship and every problem is always a direct result of our behavior? No. There is still persecution. And yes, there is Job's out there and there is circumstances where you go through difficulty and you just have to grin and bear it. But generally speaking, you're not Job. Just stop trying to think that everything is just Job. Maybe you just are suffering for the fact that you're doing something wrong. We should always take the first approach of what am I doing wrong and what can I fix? And when you've exhausted every possibility of you changing things, then maybe you can say, God, if I'm going to be a Job, please help me. Cause I just don't understand it. I don't get it. But let's not go straight to Joshua's attitude and just be like, Oh, why? You know, get off your face and just start doing something. Fix it, okay? Fix the problem. Look at Proverbs chapter 18. What's a problem and what's something that people complain about or get upset about and like to blame other people? It's when they don't have friends. But here's the reality. You know why you don't have friends? Because of you. That's the reason why you don't have friends, okay? What does it say in Proverbs 18 verse 24? A man that hath friends must, must, must show himself friendly. The reason why someone has friends is because they're a friendly person. And you'll even notice this. There'll be some people that have more friends than other people. Or you say, man, everybody wants to be my friend, probably because you're very friendly. The person that's like, no one wants to be my friend. Well, how friendly are you? Well, I'm super friendly. I love to talk about myself and I like people to take me out and I like people to compliment me. That's not you being friendly. That's you being a narcissist, okay? Being friendly is doing things for other people, okay? Complimenting other people. Taking other people out. Doing things for other individuals. That's what it means. And the reason why you might not have a lot of friends is, number one, you might be annoying. Have you ever thought about that? Go to Proverbs 27 for a second. Go to Proverbs 27 verse number 14. The reality is sometimes people just don't have a lot of friends because they're just annoying to be around. They're not fun to be around. And it's like, well, why isn't anybody going to be my friend, God? He's like, you're annoying, okay? You're irritating. You're just not that cool to be around. Now, let's get an example of this. Proverbs 27 verse 14. He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. It's the same. This guy is annoying. He's like calling his friend when he doesn't want to be called, when he doesn't want to hang out, he's not using any discretion, and he's annoying and ends up being a curse, and then he's like, I don't want to hang out with you. So sometimes you have to recognize, like, you have to be a good friend if you want people to be friends with you. Using discretion, thinking about their lives, thinking about what they want, making sure that you're not overbearing. A lot of times, I see this mistake with people that want more friends is they almost become more overbearing. And it's like, that's not how you're going to get friends. You know, you can't really force friendship on anybody because it usually ends up being even worse. It's like trying to love a cat or something. It's just like, the more you just want the cat to like you, the more it, like, hates you for some reason or something like that. You almost kind of have to ignore the cat, and then it'll all of a sudden, like, come and beg for attention. Sometimes this is how women work too, okay, and just run it out there, right? But it's just, you know, if you want to have friends with people, you just have to just be a friendly person in general and just kind of let the friends come to you every once in a while. You can't just force it. You know, there's been people in my life where I've thought, like, I kind of want to be a better friend with this person or I'd like to have a closer friendship with this person, but I didn't really pursue it necessarily. I didn't change my behavior or anything like that, but that just, when I had opportunities to work with that individual or talk with an individual, I tried to be really friendly, and then, yeah, sometimes it worked out, and then I ended up being better friends with that person or maybe, you know, sometimes you want that, it doesn't work out, and then you realize I didn't want to be that person's friend anyways. But, you know, when it comes to being a person that has friends, if you say, I'm frustrated and I feel like I don't have a lot of friends, well, maybe you just need to work on being a better person, a better friend, a better, just using discretion. You know, maybe you should try avoiding gossip, too, and here's the reality about gossip is what you spend your time doing during the day is gonna come out of this. Like, if you struggle with gossip, I know why. It's because you're spending your time thinking about and looking up what other people are doing. Because, think about it, when you go to hang out with somebody, after you get past pleasantries of just, like, how's it going, whatever, well, what are you gonna talk about? Well, you cannot but help but speak the things which you've seen and heard, okay? So, here's the thing. If you've never read a book, if you don't have any hobbies, if you don't do anything literally, then you're not gonna be enjoyable to talk to. And why a lot of people gossip is because all they did for eight hours that day was just look at Facebook and Instagram and whatever and just notice what everybody else is doing. So, here's the thing. You can't fill yourself with what every other person is doing all the time and then think that you're not gonna end up just spewing all of that out because basically that's all you have to spew out. Whereas people that actually live their lives and actually do interesting things, they work on stuff, they read things, they are fun to be around because they have interesting things to say. People that read the Bible have interesting things to say. You can talk about the Bible with them. People that just read and just watch nonsense and just basically just on social media all the time, they end up not being that much fun to be around. You kind of say like, I don't really like talking to this person because they're just kind of dumb. They just seem to just only really talk about other people's lives like just gossiping and just bring up their other matters. And then it just kind of ends up not being a very good relationship, superficial. They're not that much fun to be around. You want to be a person that has a lot of friends? Well, be someone that you would want to be friends with. Do something. Read something. Have something to do that's going to help your life. Look, this is not just limited to friendships. This is in your marriage. This is at work. If you want other people to like you and hang out with you, do something with your life. Husbands and wives should both be doing work all day and learning all day and then when they get together, you know what they can talk about? What they learned and worked and they can do stuff together, have enjoyable conversation. If I just look at Facebook and my wife looks at Facebook and we have all the same friends, it's like we have nothing to talk about. Do you see this? Yep. You see that? Yep. Yep. Yep. Cool. All right. Want to watch a movie? Sure. It's like, and then that's most people's relationships, isn't it? They just watch movies together or something. You know, how close of a relationship are you building by watching movies? And look, we all like to just relax every once in a while and just maybe just kind of do something that's really fun and easy. But look, that doesn't really build your relationship. People that have really close intimate relationships, you know what, they have interesting conversations and they have interesting conversations because they're interesting people. And the reason why you want to be friends with certain individuals is because they're an interesting person to be around. That's why you even want to be their friend in the first place. People just don't genuinely want to be around people that are just NPCs, have nothing to say, they do nothing interesting with their lives. People want to be friends with the most interesting, educated, smart, funny, or people that have money. They have something going for them. So you say, man, I just have no friends. Well, what do you have going for you? You know, learn some things, have some interesting things to discuss. Don't just constantly consume whatever everybody else is doing. Live your own life and that will help you have more friends. Go over to Proverbs 14 for a moment. Proverbs 14. You know, maybe you don't have a lot of friends just because you're stupid. And I mean, I hate to say it that way, but let's just be real, let's just be frank. I mean, a lot of times you personally probably thought this, like, I don't like hanging out with this person just because they're kind of stupid. And stupid's relative, right? I mean, if I was going to go and hang out with somebody and they're like, hey, you want to go get the vaccine with me? And go vote for Biden. And I can't wait to wear my mask. I'd be like, this person's kind of dumb. Like, I just don't really find, like, you want to go watch CNN together? It's like, no. It's like, this person is kind of dumb. Like, you just wouldn't have much to engage with them on, right? Or maybe they're kind of dumb and fake. That's even the worst. Where they pretend like they know stuff about things like guns or cars or whatever, and then they start talking and you're just like, I don't think you understand guns or cars at all, bro. Like, you just seem fake. And it just, because of their stupidity, you just don't want to really be around that person anymore. And look, it's okay to not be smart. It's okay to not know some things, but you don't want to pretend either, okay? You know, when people ask me questions about cars, I'm just like, I don't really know much. Why don't you educate me? Because I don't really know that much about it. I can change a tire. I can drive it really well, okay? But what's going under the hood, I don't know. It's got to work for me, okay? And again, it's not to say that that's something I shouldn't learn, but I can't know everything. Not everybody knows everything. Topics that I do love, if somebody wants to ask me about golf, I know a lot about golf, right? If somebody asks me about baseball, it's like, let's talk about something interesting, you know? I'm just kidding. It's like, of course, you want to talk to people that are knowledgeable, have information. When you talk with someone that's just kind of dumb, it ends up just not going anywhere. You usually don't want to be around that person. So you say, hey, I want more friends. Well, you know what? Get some smarts. Knowing more things and having more hobbies and just having more information just makes you more enjoyable to be around. Proverbs 14 even says this in verse 7. Go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. Now again, this is an instruction to us, but I think a lot of people just generally follow that advice. A lot of people just recognize that that seems like good advice. Like when you realize this person's kind of dumb, you're just like, bye. You know, unfortunately, that's what happened with the masks when everybody stopped wearing them, but not everybody stopped wearing them. You're like, I know which people I don't want to talk to. It's anybody still wearing a mask, okay? And again, there was some exceptions, obviously, during COVID. A lot of people were confused. But again, especially now, it's just like, man, tell me you're not someone that has a lot of smarts. You're wearing a BLM mask on your face, okay? It's just like, boy, that's just an obvious sign that I want to go from the presence of you. I don't want to be around you. You seem like someone that I don't want to hang out with. I actually saw for the first time yesterday a car with a pro-Biden sticker. I was like, it exists. It was a white woman that looked like a feminist. But I just recognized this is a person that I want to go from the presence of. And I drove really far away fast, okay? But I'm just saying, if someone pulled up, you know, with that bumper sticker, I would already know, like, I don't want to be around this person. And so it just kind of relates to the idea of like, hey, I want to have friends. Well, you know, you want to typically be around friends or people that have interesting things to say. That have similar interests and they have wisdom to speak of. Even when they don't have necessarily similar interests, just someone that's really smart, people like to be around them. People are traveling all over the world just to hear Solomon talk. They just wanted to hear Solomon's wisdom. They were just so interested in being around him and hearing the things he had to say. Why? Because he had a lot of wisdom. And so if you struggle with having friends, you know what? Do some more reading, studying, learn some things. And you know what? I guarantee it will help in the long run of having more friendships. Friendships and better friendships. Not vain, light friendships that are meaningless. Now, go to Proverbs chapter 11. Here's another thing that people will get mad at, and I've kind of touched on it, is just they're kind of mad about being stupid. But here's the thing. If you're stupid, a lot of times it's your fault. Like, it's not God's fault that you're dumb. Because God is offering you wisdom. God wants you to have wisdom and knowledge and understanding, and he's like, it's like, wisdom crieth without. You know, it's like, wisdom's like crying, like, be smart. And then so many people are not. And most of the time, people aren't necessarily connecting the dots because they're stupid, right? But they're mad about their circumstances, and it's a direct result of the fact that they were stupid or made dumb decisions or were ignorant. And instead of recognizing that they're suffering from being stupid, they blame other people, blame God, or blame whatever. We can't just blame everybody else for the mistakes we make. Sometimes we have to just recognize, hey, I was ignorant, I was foolish, I was simple, I didn't understand this, I wish I had more knowledge, and I've made bad decisions. I want to make better decisions. I want to educate myself. And when you're not smart, problems will come. Proverbs chapter 11, verse 29. He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. Notice, by being stupid, you're automatically going to be a servant. This is what they say, ignorance is bliss. Well, that's stupid because you're going to be a servant. I mean, who came up with that? The master? The guy in charge? Hey, ignorance is bliss because you're going to all work for me and be too stupid to recognize you shouldn't. You know, I mean, I remember being in college and I was getting a degree in management, and our professor basically said, he said the quickest way to wealth management is just to own your own business. And you have to kind of think about this. I'm not saying that working for someone is wrong or being in the career field is wrong, but just generally speaking, you know, you're never going to make a lot of money working for other people. The way that people make money is by owning their own business and not being the servant of everybody else all the time. And generally in the Bible, you know, the great men weren't necessarily just everybody's servant, they were usually employing people. You look at Boaz, you look at a lot of other individuals, they had a bunch of servants. And the reason why many people are servants is because they're too dumb to run their own thing. They're too foolish to get their own thing going or they don't want to learn and work hard. And look, owning stuff, being a manager, being a business owner, leading anything is difficult. It takes a lot of effort, energy, it takes a lot of, you have to learn things, you can't ask other people, you can't rely on other people, the buck has to stop with you. But at the end of the day, you get a lot of benefits and rewards for doing so. Whereas many people, they just want to be the simple servant, they just want to be the foolish servant, and they never really want to reap the benefits. And then they get mad about the fact that they can't advance their career or make more money or do stuff with their free time. They're just a servant. And it's like, yeah, but that's just because you chose to be dumb. Because you chose to be simple, because you chose basically that route, and you didn't choose to learn more and make different decisions. Look at Proverbs 14, verse 1. Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with their hands. There are so many dumb women in America today. And yes, they're college educated somehow. They have a college degree, but they're so dumb because they've literally destroyed their own house. They've hoarded themselves out. They don't want to settle down with a man that has character or integrity, and they've basically just destroyed their house, and they most likely will never have that. Now it's like there's all these women just complaining. They're just saying, man, with inflation, bills and everything is getting jacked up, and I've slept around, so no guy wants to be with me anymore. And it's like, I'm tired of having to pay all these bills and just go work, and you know that whole thing about women get paid less? That still happens, okay? And she's just all bitter and hag and mad about it, and then she's just blaming other people. Well, I think it's the government or it's MAGA or it's Trump or it's conservatives or it's Biden or it's all these other people. And it's like, no, it's because you are a silly woman laden with sins. And then they go to the massage parlor and help out Ravi, okay? And they just keep destroying themselves and destroying their house and destroying their lives, not realizing it's a result of them being dumb. Notice every wise woman building their house. People say like, oh, you want women to be dumb. I've never wanted that. Oh, you don't let women be the pastor, so you want women to be dumb. No, the dumb woman is the pastor. I've never met a smart woman who's the pastor. In fact, almost every woman pastor is not even saved. So let alone, they're already very foolish. Whereas the women in our church can get men saved that are very smart and intelligent, but you know what? They have more wisdom than them because they read the Bible. And you know what? The Proverbs 31 woman is a wise woman. And you know what? Every smart guy was born by a woman and she taught them all kinds of things. It's so stupid to think that women staying home and raising children makes them dumb or something. I mean, I have to sometimes substitute teach, and it's rough, okay? But the curriculum that my wife has chosen and the work that they're doing, I'm thinking like, I've never even learned this stuff. Like, the public fool system is real, folks, okay? We're sitting here diagramming sentences and doing all this stuff. I'm like, I don't even know what this stuff is, you know? We just sat there and played games. Like, I didn't do anything. I remember in geometry class, I never learned geometry. I just played on a chair. We had a broken chair and we had this game of who could stand on it the longest without falling off. That's what I remember from geometry class, okay? It was taught by the cheerleading coach. Not brilliant, okay? I'm sitting here thinking like, my wife is way more intelligent than many of these women graduating from high school and college with all these fancy degrees, degrees in gender studies and linguistics and whatever. It's like, it's a joke, folks. The wise women are building their house. They're having children. They're teaching them the Bible. They're going to church. Those are the smart women. Those are the women that are interesting to talk to. They have the best recipes. And you know what? Making food is an art. It is not a science, okay? Because you can get all the, you can give someone a sheet that says like, these are the instructions to make food and they can totally not make it right. It is a art and it is a skill. And I'll tell you what, I love good food. And if all the women go into the workforce, well, you know what? Jorge's going to be making all our food. Not this guy, but another one. They're all Jorge. You go to every one of these kitchens and it's like, you know what? I don't want that. I don't want McDonald's warmed up in a microwave. You know what? I want the home cooked meals that my wife makes because they're delicious. That's the wise woman. That's what I want. I don't want to be around a stupid woman that says like, I don't know how to cook. What do you want me to microwave you? And you know what? That exists in so many homes today. You know what? It's frustrating. Learn how to cook, okay? And then you get, you think like you have problems in your relationship or your budget is out of whack. Well, maybe it's because you don't cook. You know, eating out has been, is so expensive. Like it's always been expensive. It is extremely expensive today. It's insane. It makes me cringe. We went to just get like sandwiches yesterday and it was like $75 for my family. I'm just like, what in the world? That is so much money just for like sandwiches or whatever. And it's like cooking from home has never been more attractive. Plus the food quality and the service at home is better and my wife never even asked for the tip, okay? Everywhere you go now, it's like you get gas and they want a tip. You know, it's like, what's wrong with you? They're like, which tip button do you want to press? The none, the other, the skip. That's the one. I'm like, they're going to have tips for the AI bot and I'm going to be like, no. You know, it's just, they just built it into everything. And look, yeah, when I go to a restaurant, I tip well the waiters and everything. I even tip a lot of these people, but it's just so frustrating. And at the end of the day, people will be mad about their budget, but it's like, okay, the wise woman is doing something about it. She's making meals at home. She's considering their budget. She's working hard. She's not just being stupid and just like, well, I just watch TV and just, you know, what do you want me to order on Uber Eats? Anybody can order Uber Eats, okay? That's not the wise woman. Go if you went to Proverbs 21. Go to Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21. People get mad about their relationship issues and they don't even realize it's just a result of them being dumb. And I guess there's this idea that guys just want a dumb broad or something like that. No one wants to marry a dumb broad, okay? I'm not going to comment on the other, but it's like, nobody wants to be married to that, okay? Maybe there's guys out there that seek for dumb girls to just take advantage of, but as far as your wife, nobody's just thinking like, I can't wait for her to just be dumb as rocks, okay? Men like an intelligent woman. In fact, you know, when they have the Miss America Pageant, isn't part of it, they have to ask them tough questions. And when the girls answer really dumb because they're really dumb, everyone makes fun of them. They're not like, oh, I really, she's awesome. You know, describe for me world peace. Well, that's, you know, when things go well. It's like, describe a country that starts with C. And she's like, uh, buggies. It's like, what do you mean? They can't even say anything. It's like, they don't know anything. It's like, no one wants to be married to that. It's like, I'm going to entrust my children with you? You're going to take care of something? You know, that's not what you want. You want the wise woman that knows what she's doing, and if she has to, she even gets the tent spike and shoves it through the head of the enemy, all right? Proverbs 21, look at verse 19. It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman. You know, it's like, it's dumb to fight with your husband. It's like, women will be mad about their relationship, and then they think by nagging their husband, it'll make it better, and that's just a dumb attitude. It's a foolish attitude. I mean, even the single guys know exactly what it's like to be married, okay? They know when they get nagged, I mean, man. But think about it. If you really want your husband to be having a better relationship with you, encourage him, just like a man that has friends must show himself friendly. Hey, I want a better relationship with my husband. Well, don't nag him. Don't be annoying, because if you're annoying, you're not going to have a good relationship. The Bible's saying he'd literally just go out into the wilderness. He'd rather just be in an uncomfortable place physically than the mental anguish of his wife driving him insane. And that's what's crazy. And it's real that men would rather be suffering physically than just being nagged to death, because he can't do anything about it, and it just drives him insane. And so, you know, the best thing you can possibly do is just shut your mouth when you're upset about things. Don't be angry. Be pleasant. Be happy. Be kind. And you know what? It'll change everything. It'll change your children. It'll change your husband. Women are so upset about their situation, and it's like, you know what fixes it? Stop being upset. Don't be angry. Be calm. Be relaxed. Be happy. Be kind. And you know what? Men love to be around women that are happy and kind and sweet, and when they find a woman that's a Karen, that's a Karen, ah, you didn't get my food rotor right. Ah, I attacked your manager. Everybody wants to run away screaming. No one wants to be around Karen. No one wants to be married to Karen. Be a Carrie, okay? All right? Sweet. Kind. You know, that's the kind of person that people want to be around is someone that's sweet, kind, happy, and you know what? The stupid woman is a Karen everywhere she goes. Loud, obnoxious, short haircut, and she manages apartments, okay? It's like, and she passes on the weekends. Go to Proverbs chapter 9. Nobody wants to be around that, married to that. It's just obnoxious. People are upset about their relationships, and they just don't realize that it's their fault. They don't realize the problems that they're causing. Proverbs chapter 9, look at verse 12. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself, but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. If you say, I don't care what you're saying, Pastor Shelley, I don't want to fix anything, well, you know what? That's no problem for me. You're going to suffer. Hey, if you're stupid, that doesn't bother me. That's going to bother you. It's saying, hey, if you're wise, you're going to get to reap the benefits of being wise. If you're stupid, you alone get to bear it. Hey, if you don't want to learn, if you just want to keep being ignorant, well, just go be ignorant, go be stupid, don't care what the Bible says, but you know what? Stop blaming God for it because it's your fault. It's your fault. Ignorance is bliss is a dumb saying. It's stupid. Just like many of the people that believe it. Go to Proverbs 23. I'm just going to touch on another one for a second here, but a lot of people also take their foolishness and it just causes so many other problems in their life, like how about their physical health? They take their stupidity and their physical health and it causes them problems. The Bible says in Proverbs, the Bible says in Proverbs 23 verse 21, For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsyness shall clothe a man with rags. Notice this guy is poor because he's a glutton. And so by making bad decisions, it ends up causing them all kinds of other problems and then of course they just, many of the people that are poor blame everyone else. They blame society. I'm poor because Jews are Jews. But you know what? Jews didn't force you to get a loan with high interest rates. Jews didn't cause you to be greedy and covetous and get high interest paying credit cards and cause you to go down that road. Jews didn't cause you to go work for them at the bank and get paid $10 an hour and never get a raise and have nothing to do with how much skill you have. Jews didn't make you do all these things. You did them. You decided to not have smarts and go work for them and then pay all their interest and then if you get mad that you're poor, well you know what? It's your fault. You know what's one of the biggest problems in America? It's not that Jews are here. It's that we allow Jews to take advantage of us. Because if Americans, Christian men would just say, hey, we're done dealing with y'all, allowing you to rip us off, take advantage of us. We're done with your Jewish tricks. You know what? They would stop working. But of course we just keep going back to the master, going back to the lender and allowing them to just take advantage and rip you off and take all of your money and because you're stupid you lose a lot of money. I mean really a lot of the reason why people are poor is just because they're stupid. The people that are staying poor, it's because they're choosing to make bad decisions with their life and they're allowing other people to take advantage of their hard work and their labor. A lot of people work plenty hard to make enough money. It's just they're too stupid to keep their money and they spend their money on dumb stuff, on really poor decisions. They marry the wrong people. There's a lot of things here. Go to Proverbs 18 for a moment. Go to Proverbs 18 and look at verse 6. Being dumb will destroy your life. A fool's lips enter into contention and his mouth called for strokes. Just by being dumb and saying dumb things, people will literally just punch you in the face. Verse 7. A fool's mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul. You know, there's so many dumb people going out to bars, going to protests, getting in the face of cops even, just saying dumb things and they literally just get beaten and then they blame everybody else and blame God. Oh, there's so much injustice in the world. Well, you know what? Stop saying stupid things. You don't have to go around and just call everybody names, pick fights, be, you know, just kind of a dumb person. A lot of people just go to the bar, go to the game, get drunk, say dumb things and then get beat up. People go into the wrong neighborhoods and say the wrong things to the wrong people and boy, do they get destroyed. And whatever semblance of justice or mercy used to exist is almost gone now. I mean, online, you just see videos uploaded almost every day of just random people just beaten to a pulp or killed just by random mobs. But I guarantee that person was making some dumb decisions when they got there and no one ever seems to be blaming that. And look, I'm not for people getting pummeled and beaten. You know, that shouldn't happen, but it's like I'm not going to go into the worst neighborhood and find the worst looking characters and then call them every name under the sun and not expect to get destroyed. You know, that's dumb. I'm not going to go into the bad places in town and go around the bad people and start just begging to be destroyed. And you know what? Young women going around and hanging around with these people, dumb decisions. And because they're making dumb decisions and being stupid, they're destroying themselves. I saw one girl just walking around just, you know, calling black people the one word you're not allowed to. And just everyone's just throwing stuff at her and just punching her and just like... But I'm thinking like, you're stupid. Why would you do that? You're just by yourself just being dumb and just everyone's just trashing you, destroying you. It just doesn't make sense. Go to Proverbs 22 verse 15. And people don't ever seem to like call out the person who's making a dumb decision. This is what the Bible says about your children. Proverbs 22 verse 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. Just, let's just be honest. Your kids are stupid. Every kid is stupid. There is foolishness bound in their heart. The only way for your kid to not be stupid, what does the Bible say? But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. If you want to have smart kids, you have to have to physically punish them. Say, I don't spank my kids. I know because they're stupid. They're stupid. They're dumb kids. You know, the smartest kids are the ones that are being physically punished often. And you know what? You're dumb for not punishing your children. Go to Proverbs 29. Dumb people don't punish their dumb kids and then it's a vicious cycle. Smart people punish their children and they become smart children. Smart people. Smart individuals. You know what? God bless my parents because my dad drove out some of the foolishness in my life. And he was so terrifying, just the thought of it scared a lot of the foolishness out of me. I loved my parents and I was very nervous to ever be disciplined by them physically, but I'm glad they did it. And my mom would say, hey, because when I went to school, you could literally be punished by the principal and the teachers. Like it was a form they filled out. And I think like 95% or even higher of all the parents always said no. My mom's like, I'm saying yes. She's like, I'm saying yes and if they do it, I'm doing it too. And I'm just like, what in the world? But you know what? My mom wanted me to be smart. Praise God. Praise God that my parents don't want me to be dumb. And you know what? Parents that don't spank their kids have dumb kids. It's just reality. Many of the dumb people in our society never got spanked as a kid. And you know why you don't like your kids out there? It's because you're not spanking them. Proverbs 29, look at verse 17. Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest. Yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Hey, the reason why your kids aren't enjoyable to you is because you don't punish them. And frankly, that's why everybody else doesn't like your kids too. You know, sometimes you even like people but you just don't like their kids. And it's like, because the kids are just causing lots of problems. They need to be punished more. I remember seeing, I remember seeing not anyone here but I remember seeing someone's kid just being so disrespectful talking back, hitting their parent and I'm just thinking like, what does this kid have to do to get spanked? Cause he's already crossed like 20 lines for me. And the parent just didn't spank him and it's just like, I really like the person. I was a friend with the person but I never wanted to hang out with them or invite them to do anything because their kids were terrible. Their kids were just literally awful. And I'm thinking, and I'm thinking it's not even the kid's fault. The kid could be a good kid. You're just not getting the stupidity knocked out of him. And you know what the kid needs? Not just boys, girls too. Well, they're so cute. Okay, well, why can't they be cute and smart? Okay. We don't want them to just be dumb and the reason why you are struggling with your children often is because you're not punishing them correctly. If you say, man, I really can't stand being around my kids you can fix it. You have the power to do so. The rod of correction. And look, my children, they're spanked and punished often from me and my wife but they love us and they love hanging out with us and they are fun to be around. Okay. Sometimes they still need, I mean, they're going to need it. They're going to need punishment and it's never going to stop. But at the end of the day, you know what? I love being around them and it's uncanny how much when we go out to eat people just, random strangers are constantly coming up to say your kids are just so well behaved. And I'm like, me and my wife are literally having conversations about how we're disappointed in their behavior while they're saying this. That's the really bizarre part. We're just thinking like, oh man. And then it's like, someone comes up and you're just like, yeah, huh? Like, cut it out. You know, it's like, you know, you're just thinking like, what? It's because the world is so stupid and they've forgotten how to raise children so it's just like a miracle to them that anybody's even kind of normal. Because I don't think our kids are like exceptional or anything like that. I'm just saying like our world is so bad in this area, it's caused so many people to forget what child rearing should be like because our parents and the generation that raised us, boy, did they get their rears lit up and people just don't realize that. When they talk about their stories and what was happening and the punishments that they received and what they talked about, I mean, most people would be thinking like, CPS red flags all over the place. CPS didn't exist back then. Okay? And you should never, ever, ever call CPS on anyone for any reason. Okay? You're a wicked person if you ever do that. Go to Second Thessalonians, chapter number three. Hey, the reason why you don't have friends is because you're not friendly. The reason why you're stupid is because you don't read anything. The reason why a lot of people you don't read anything. The reason why a lot of times you have health problems is because, you know what? You're not taking care of your body. You're not eating. You're not exercising. You know, the godly woman works. The Bible says that a wise man is strong. You know, instead of constantly seeking attention that's insincere as a woman, you should seek to have sincere compliments, not flattery. And it's like our society has trained women to tell each other that they're beautiful when they're not. It's like they have the fat friend and she's like got this ugly outfit on and she's like, kinda like, beautiful? And you're like, you're not allowed to say like, no. No. It's like you just have to tell, yes, you're beautiful. You're wonderful. And it's like it's crippled our society. You know, at least men for the most part still, they're like, dude, you're ugly as crap. Like, you look terrible. Wear any other clothes. Like, burn them. You know, there's all these, guys are at least a little bit more real in this area. But you know what? We need to be sincere. And you know, the reason why the Proverbs 31 woman is complimented is the Bible says let her own works praise her. You know, don't seek for compliments that are insincere as a woman. What you should do is you should just work hard and allow the compliments to come in. Because they will. Just like me and my wife, we're not going around asking people like, do you think we're good parents or not? Or do you think we're raising our kids okay? Do you approve of all my child ring behaviors? Because frankly speaking, if I went around and just started polling people at the restaurant, hey, this is what we do to our kids. This is how we punish them. This is how hard we spank them. They would all be shocked and horrified. But then they love the results of it. You know, it's like sausage. Don't ask how it was made, okay? Just enjoy the food, okay? It's like don't ask how the kids are so well behaved, all right? Just know that it works, okay? Sometimes it can be an ugly process. And when it comes to health, you know the reason why a lot of people struggle with health is because they made bad decisions. And they don't want to hear that. They don't want to go to the doctor and the doctor's like, dude, you're just eating junk. You don't work out. You're a slob. It's like here, take more drugs and be lazier. So then I give you more drugs. And it's a vicious cycle. And then the dumb person is like, okay, I need more drugs. Well, this is causing another side effect. Well, take these drugs. And then it's just like they're never actually addressing or fixing the problem. They're allowing themselves to be a victim again of a vicious cycle. Also, people are just poor and they don't want to face reality on this. So many people are just derelict. And our church doesn't have a program where we just give out free money. We don't have a program where we just give out free food. And a lot of people get offended by that. Like, where's your pantry? Where's your food pantry? And where's all your soup lines and your soup kitchens and whatever? And it's like, here's how I'm going to help you get food. You ready? Let's read. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves disorderly among you, neither do we eat any man's bread for naught, but rot with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensemble unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should eat. For we hear, that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such, we command and exhort by the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. This is how we help people that are hungry, as we note you, and say we're gonna stay away from you. That's our food program. Hey, you're lazy. Don't show up. Get away from us. That's how we help people with their money and their food problems. That's how we help men. Like, what in the world? I mean, so many people be offended if a homeless person is coming in here, just like, give me money and food. It's like, get away. Go away. Go work. And they'd be like, how unchristian of you. This is what I'm commanded by Jesus to do. And then they're like, oh, you're so ungodly. That's why I don't believe in God is because of people like you. Hey, guess what, buddy? You're suffering from your own affliction. It's not God's fault. God's literally telling you how to get food. It's called working. And he gave you legs, and he gave you arms, and he gave you a brain. Why don't you use any of them? Use that stupid brain of yours to actually learn how to get some food. And the reality is, I don't even meet a single homeless person that looks skinny. Have you seen the commercials for the people in Africa? You can see all their ribs, and it looks like they're about to die. I've never seen that homeless person. They're usually fat, overweight, beer belly. They even have a dog. I'm like, kill the dog and eat it. Well, he's my only friend. You know why he's your only friend? Because he's on a leash. That's why. Because every other person would walk away from you because you're such a bad friend. You know what? People don't like friends that are constantly begging for money. You want to get away from that person. You know, people like the guy that's giving out money. That's the guy that has a lot of friends, right? The guy that's generous and fun and intelligent and actually takes a shower. You know why homeless people are terrible to be around? Because they smell bad. You know why you don't have friends? Because you don't take showers. You want to lose friends? Stop bathing. You want to have a lot of friends? Have good hygiene. Be interesting to be around. You know, be on your best behavior. Go to Proverbs chapter 12. The reason why so many people are frustrated at God is because they don't have money, and the reason why they don't have money is because they're lazy. Some people act like being poor is such a blessing. But you know, there is a context where that's true, but generally speaking, the reason why so many people are poor in America is because they're lazy and stupid. It's not because they're godly and have dedicated their lives to some charitable thing. It's because they're just a lazy derelict. They're just dumb. If someone works super hard and is super intelligent in America, they will not be poor. It's just facts. You won't be poor. It's not even reality. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 24. The Bible says, the hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slawful shall be under tribute. Hey, you want to know why our country is just getting higher and higher taxes? It's because we're lazy as a country. It's because we're lazy. It's because we're lazy and ungodly. Look at chapter 15, verse 19. The way of the slawful man is a hedge of thorns, but the way of the righteous is made plain. So this guy's going to complain about all the thorns in his life, but not realizing it's his fault. It's his problems. It's his issues. Look at 21, verse 25. Chapter 21, verse 25. The desire of the slawful killeth him, for his hands refuse the labor. There are people that just really will just not work. Sometimes you have this person as a coworker and it's so frustrating to watch. It's like you give them a task, and they'll do anything but the task. They just won't work. It's like you can't get them to do anything. This is a slawful person. He's not going to get promoted. Look at chapter 19, verse 15. Slawfulness casteth into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. Why is the guy so hungry? It's because he's lazy. It's because he's idle, because he's not willing to work hard. Look at chapter 24, verse 30. Proverbs 24, verse 30. The Bible says, I went by the field of the slawful, and by the vineyard of the man, void of understanding. And lo, it was all grown over, with thorns and nettles, and it covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw and considered it well. I looked upon it and received instruction. Most of what I've been explaining to you this evening, I want you to understand, has all been negative. I'm not really giving you a lot of like, this is what you should do, it's a lot of this is what you shouldn't do. But notice, even from bad examples, what did this guy do? Then I saw and considered it well, I looked upon it and received instruction. Hey, I looked at the lazy person, I noticed how problematic his life is, and I realized, I don't want to be that person. If you look at people that are suffering, instead of blaming God, why don't you say, I just don't want to be that dumb person, that lazy person, that unfriendly and irritating and annoying person. I don't want to be that contentious and angry wife. You know, no one's getting divorced from their spouse when their wife is only kind and positive and happy. It's the contentious and angry situation that just bubbles into just a disaster. Proverbs 22, look at verse 7. The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. Oh, I'm so mad that I'm a servant. Well, why do you keep borrowing? You're mad about the situation you're in, but no one forced you to borrow. Look at Proverbs 18 verse 22, there's just one more I want to mention. Honestly, we can go anywhere with this sermon, but I just want you to do this. When you are upset about a circumstance in your life, when you don't like something in your life, blame yourself first. Think, what can you do to make it better? Why do I not like this situation? What could I change? And work on yourself, because many times it's a self-afflicted suffering. And you should be able to be happy, because the Lord is just giving you so much that you don't deserve. In fact, much of the suffering that we do deserve, we're not even getting. That's what's so silly. Most of the suffering, if not all, is just a result of what we've done, and then a lot of times we're not even getting all the things we even really deserve. So we should really be looking at life with a glass half full. God is really giving us a great opportunity. We live in the greatest country in the world still. It might be the most wicked, but it's still the greatest place to live. You live in Texas, one of the greatest states to live in. We have amazing food. The economy is still doing really good, at least here locally. There's lots of jobs. Lots of opportunity. Yeah, the housing has gone up and it's expensive, but you know what? You get what you pay for sometimes too. It's like, hey, I could live in Timbuktu in the woods for real cheap. Who wants to live there? You could live in a really great place. This is a great place to live. We've got great church options here. We've got great soul winning here. Great food here. You've got a King James Bible. You've got the greatest book that's ever been written in your entire life. Handed on a silver platter. You know, many people in here have a great spouse. You have great children. And you say, well, I don't have a spouse. Okay, well look at Proverbs 18 verse 22. The Bible says, Whoso findeth the wife findeth the good thing and obtaineth favor of the Lord. Instead of blaming God or the circumstances or Jews for not having a spouse, why don't you blame yourself? You know, sometimes you don't have a spouse because you're just not someone that someone wants to marry. Work on being a better person yourself. Work harder. Work on yourself. Get a better personality. And frankly speaking, just be realistic about who you could potentially marry or what you're actually looking for. The Bible's telling you that you have to go out and find something. You know, it's not saying like, oh, God's just gonna miracle-ly just drop a person in your lap and you're just gonna get married to that individual. It's saying you have to find the person and that's how you even get the favor of the Lord. You know, as men, we are supposed to be the ones going out there looking, finding. I always encourage young men, I say, look, you should be talking to every single girl you find attractive and like engaging them like everywhere you go. And you say, well, all I do is, you know, look at the computer screen in my mom's basement. You need to get out there, okay? You need to start finding. You know, go out into the public, go to the coffee shops, visit other churches, go to some schools, go wherever and just literally, you should be just asking girl after girl on a date and just constantly pursuing and you know, simultaneously working on yourself, being someone that is desirable to be married. You know, dressing nice, grooming yourself, visit the shower thing that I talked about earlier, okay? Be strong. You know, as a man, you know what? You should be working. Like if I was single and struggling to get a date, I'm going to be going to the gym for an hour, two hours every day. I'm going to be working out. I'm going to work super hard. I'm going to be stacking that cash. I'm going to get a nice looking car. I mean, I'm going to have nice clothes. I'm going to try to talk to every single girl and then I'm going to be like, God, will you give me a wife? I'm not just going to sit here in my mom's basement playing checkers, wondering why God's not just dropping a woman into my lap or something. You know, as young women, you know what? Be visible, be out in the public, be attractive, be kind and you know, both parties need to be realistic about who you can possibly marry because it just, I don't know, people just have super unrealistic expectations with marriage, I think. And there's just this, there's this idea like everybody's just so worried about like settling or something. Or they're worried like, I don't want to marry the first person that comes along. You know what? That mentality is kind of dumb because there's literally no guarantee that the next person will even be better. Like how do you know that the first person that you date and you like won't be literally the best person you could possibly marry? Because if you're not with them, you're literally just starting over 100%. So some people just have this idea like, well, I just want to see what's out there and I just want to try and just date as many people as possible. But you know what? That's not necessarily going to make it easier either. You know, my marriage philosophy has always been pretty simple. It's like find someone you're attracted to, that you're equally yoked, that you end up becoming jealous for and then, you know, make, you just pull the trigger. I mean, hey, if they look good, they're equally yoked, they're saved, you all have basically the same vision for life and you're jealous for the person, there's no problem. You know, it works. Men like women and women like men. I don't know why, but it just works. Now, the reason why marriages have really big issues that are irreconcilable, they're not attracted to each other. That'll cause a lot of problems in your relationship. Or number two, they're not equally yoked. You got unsaved people or people that have completely different visions on life. Or number three, you're not jealous for them at all. You have like basically no chemistry, no desire towards that individual. You look at them like a sister or something. Okay, yeah, obviously at that point, you could have serious issues. When you got those three, all the other stuff doesn't even, you can figure it out. You know? But I feel like I talk to young people that want to get married and their list is like 40 things. It's like, you know, she's got to like the thought of my deception, she's got to be red-pilled on the Jews, you know. She's got to be able to make, you know, all these delicacies. And it's just like, what in the world? It's like, did you look at what you were wearing? You need to start crossing things off your list, bro. Okay? It's like the thing, it's like when women go onto realtor.com and they're like looking for their dream house and they're just, the filter is just like this and this and this and this and it's like zero results. Zero results. It's like start unchecking boxes, okay? You know, when you're looking for a house, it should just be like, in my budget. All right, now there's some results. I can go look and this is what's frustrating. You show a woman, it's like, here's what our budget is and they look at the house like, ah! You know? But that's what you can afford. You know, that's the reality. And I think some people, they're just, in the dating world, they don't have the right filters on the app. They're looking at the mansions over here with a five dollar budget and it's just like, bro, okay, start looking in the five dollar budget and they're just like, I don't like the five dollar budget. Well, you know what? That's your problem. And if you want to look in a bigger budget, work on yourself. Elevate your game so that you can shop in a little bit nicer market where you don't have to be in South Fort Worth or something, okay? You know? Shop where you can go to South Lake, you know? But you know what? The people that buy houses in South Lake, they're pretty great. You know, you want to live in, South Lake's like the greatest area to live, probably. And one of the greatest areas to live in the world, arguably. It's like the people that buy our houses over there, they have to put down so much money and they had to work so hard to get there and it's like, hey, I want to have a great spouse. Well, how much work and effort are you putting into that? You don't look good, you don't dress good, you don't have any money, you don't have a good personality, you're not friendly. It's like, yeah, sorry. But so many people are so mad at God for a spouse. And look, here's the thing about spouses. You only have to find one. I have great news for you. You say, there's all these whores out there. You don't have to marry any of them. Well, there's all these bad people. You don't have to marry any of them. You just have to find one. Just one time. One time. And you just have to do it one time. And then you're locked in, you find the right woman, you can be happily married for the rest of your life. So I'm just trying to encourage you to really, really think about your situation, think about what you're doing. Don't blame other people. Don't blame America for the reason why you can't find a spouse. Because you know what? Almost, not everybody I guess, a lot of men in here are married to an American woman. Okay, I'm not going to raise my hands, hey, I'm married to an American woman and it's great. There's a lot of men in here that are married to American women and it's great. And you say, I want to marry a foreign woman, go for it. There's a lot of great ones out there too. But don't get mad at the game, okay? Get mad that you're just playing at a low level. And when it comes to this reality, when it comes to this world, much of your suffering is not a result of God's doing, it's a result of your doing. We're usually not even being punished the way that we deserve it. We're not even suffering, we really get a lot of blessings. But please read your Bible, please work hard, be friendly, work on ourselves, think about the issues you have, quit blaming other people and just improve on your situation. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us so much wisdom from the Bible. I pray that we wouldn't constantly blame other people or be frustrated at other things for our issues, but rather we would just look internally, we'd look at what we could do better, that we'd have a desire to be smarter, to work harder, to work on ourselves, to be more pleasant, to be more kind, to be more friendly, to bless other people, to not be so narcissistic, but actually thinking about other people. I pray that you would help motivate the men in here to be strong leaders and be selfless men and help encourage the ladies to not seek for insincere flattery, but rather to just work hard and be someone that fears the Lord. And I pray that you'd just help all of us to just be better Christians and that you would help bless us and give us grace when we do fall short. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Alright, for our final song, let's go to 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. We just learned about how much of that we all need, right? So might as well sing about it. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 210 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 200 Wonderful Grace of Jesus.