 Amen. So Luke chapter 10. So this evening we're going to talk about a story that I don't think I've preached a whole sermon on before, but it's a story that, you know, Christianity today uses a lot and kind of misunderstands a lot. But before we even get started, let me just, if you have a red letter Bible, you know, there's a lot of red words in Luke chapter 10. Jesus is talking a lot here, but the Bible and really understanding, you know, the mind of God as the Bible shows us, especially in the words of Jesus, it's super important that we understand, you know, the balance and the personality and the person of Jesus Christ and who He really is. Because who churches today say that He is, is not true. You know, look back at verse number, before we even get to this story, look back at verse number 14 and number 15. Jesus here is talking to the disciples, He's sending them out to towns, to cities and He's saying, He's saying, look, He's like cities that don't, that don't receive you. Well, look what He says. I mean, He doesn't, it's not like, oh, cities that don't receive you and all, look what He says in verse 15. He says, and thou can pert them, just using an example of a city that just did not receive the word of God. Okay. I mean, look, isn't it true that some cities are more receptive and less receptive than other cities? And He's saying, and thou can pert them for the city that doesn't receive the word of God, for the city that is full of people that does not want to hear what the Bible says, does not want to hear what God has for them. He says, and thou can pert them, you know, I wish you would listen to me. He says, thou can pert them, which are exalted to heaven shall be thrust down to hell. Okay. Jesus Christ is saying to this city, He's like, it is more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah. He's like, He's saying, it is going to be worse for that city that doesn't receive the word of God than for cities that I've destroyed. I mean, Jesus says, I mean, here we have the Jesus that we talked about this morning that rose from the dead that offers us our eternal salvation, you know, saying to cities that people that don't receive them, they're going to be thrust to hell. Okay. Then in the same chapter, we see a lawyer come to Jesus and saying, hey, you know, what do I have to do? And he talks about the two great commandments. He talks about love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. Look, every commandment comes under these two, these two major commandments. Every single commandment in the Bible from God has to do with either loving God or loving your neighbor. And then the lawyer says, well, who's my neighbor? And Jesus answers him in verse number 25. And he tells the story that is that is known as the story of the Good Samaritan. Now the Good Samaritan is used in Christianity today to just basically say that we as Christians need to just give everything to everybody no matter what, and just help everybody all the time. That's what, look, the Good Samaritan is what many churches base their missions on. This is the social missions of the, you know, the, the food kitchens and the giving away stuff to, you know, people that don't have, you know, poverty or, you know, whatever in this country is, is the Good Samaritan is used for this. Let's read the story of the Good Samaritan. First of all, it's a story. Look at verse number 25. The Bible says, and behold, so let's just, let's strike some balance tonight and find out what Jesus is actually telling us and how we should apply this in this strange society that we live in today, which is truly strange. Okay, look at verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to them, what is written in the law? How read is thou? And he answered, saying, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy strength, and all thy mind, and all thy neighbor, and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said to him, Thou hast answered right, this do, and thou shalt live. So like really there's two ways to go to heaven, folks, just keep the whole law or believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so since we can't keep, you know, Jesus is kind of, he's messing with this arrogant man is what he's doing. He's telling him, look, this is just like the rich young ruler, very similar to what Jesus is doing here. But he willing to justify himself. See, this is the problem, right? And Jesus knew this because Jesus is God. So Jesus knew that this man was prideful and arrogant and wanted to justify himself. So Jesus is basically like, okay, just keep the whole law is what he's telling this guy. But then he tells a story. He says, in Jesus answering said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed him and departed leaving him half dead. So Jesus starts telling a story. First of all, turn to Matthew chapter 25. Before we get into this, let me explain that this is a story in the Bible. This is not a parable. Okay, so there's a difference between parables and stories in the Bible. Look at Matthew 25. Let me just give you a couple small examples just to prove this right to you. Look at Matthew 25 and verse number one. The Bible gives many parables, which is basically just these analogies of the kingdom of heaven or the analogies of salvation. Look at verse 25 or verse one of Matthew 25. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened unto. So that is telling you right there that this is a metaphor. This is something that's an example that is to picture what Jesus is talking about. Likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Down to verse 14, you see another one. It says, for the kingdom of heaven is as a. So you use these words that you can identify parables in the Bible. Now a typical, a good rule in the Bible is to not base doctrine on parables, but to base doctrine on clear statements in the Bible. That's why I'm showing you how to point out parables here in the Bible, because a lot of people will just take parables and they will just make whatever they want out of parables, which is pretty easy to do. Some of these parables are pretty vague and they're pretty, you know, the parables were supposed to be vague. This is why we're not supposed to base doctrine on that. Anything that is hard, important doctrine will be represented in clear statements in the Bible. Like, let me think of one. Not of works. That's pretty clear. Right? That's pretty clear. Like, the wall is white. Not red. Right? Not of works. These are doctrinal statements that we can hang our hats on. Not on parables. Okay, go back to Luke 10. So we're seeing a story. Just like in Luke 16, we see a story of a man that went to hell. So it's important to understand the difference between the parables and the stories. That's all I want to point out there. So first of all, what do we see here? We see a man who was an Israelite. This man was of the nation of Israel. He was beaten. He was robbed. And he was thrown in a ditch, half dead. Look at verse 31 of Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, verse 31. The Bible says, and by chance there came down a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So the man in the ditch is an Israelite. So the question is, who is my neighbor? Is who this prideful lawyer says? So an Israelite passes by another Israelite that's in need of help, and he keeps walking. He passes by on the other side. Look at verse 32. And likewise, a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side. So here we have two men of the same, you know, nation of the same, you know, same, what do you want to call it? Nationality that passed by this man in the ditch and don't help him. But then a foreigner comes along. But then a certain, but a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him. Now look, this just doesn't, isn't any foreigner. This is a Samaritan here. Okay. If you remember, you know, in John chapter four, the woman at the well was a Samaritan. Jesus comes up to the woman at the well. So you have to remember who were the Samaritans. So the Samaritans were of the Northern tribe of Israel. The Northern tribe of Israel was overtaken by the Assyrian Empire. And they were intermixed with the, you know, this is why there is the lost 10 tribes of Israel. There is no more. They were just intermixed and there was no more tribe. So they were people that the lower tribe of Judah, the lower nation of Judah, considered to be not of the nation. And they were a mixed people. And they were just, they didn't hold the same religion. And they were just kind of outcast. That's why the woman at the well in John chapter four said to Jesus, you know, I'm paraphrasing, but she said, she's like, why are you even talking to me? She's like, Jews, you know, Israelites, they don't, they don't talk to Samaritans. I'm a Samaritan woman. She's like, why, you know, why are you talking to me? What do you have to do with me? So we see that the Samaritans and the Israelites at this point, they're not together. Yet this Samaritan comes by and sees this man in the ditch and he has compassion on him. Go back to Luke chapter 10. Look at verse 34. He has more than just compassion. He says to him, he, and he went to him, bound up his wounds, poured oil, pouring in oil and wine, set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. So he, he helps him. He gives him medical, medical care. He treats his wounds and then he goes even further. He brings him to a hotel, takes care of him. On the morrow, he departed and he took out two pens and gave them to the host and said on him, take care of him. And whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? So here, you know, and then he said, then he said, of course, the lawyer says, he that showed mercy on him, then Jesus said unto him, go and do likewise. Notice how Jesus didn't really answer the question here. I'll get to that at the end. But the lawyer said, who is my neighbor? And then Jesus tells this story and he says, who was the neighbor to the man in the ditch? So I'll get to that at the end. But the point is, is that there was a man that was in trouble and he was helped by someone who you wouldn't have thought would be someone that would help him. The two people from his own nation just walked by this man. So as we look at this story tonight, as we look at the story of the good Samaritan and we think about this in our lives in our nation today, in the society that we live in, even the city that we live in today, you know, we have to ask ourselves, you know, the same Jesus said in the earlier part of Luke chapter 10, the city that doesn't accept me, they will be cast into hell. You know, it would be better for Sodom and Gomorrah than it would be for that city. And that same Jesus told us this story about the good Samaritan. So the question is, people take this story of the good Samaritan and they just run crazy with it and say, you know, Christians just, because we're Christian, we need to help people all the time, no matter what, no matter who they are. That's what people will say. And look, people think that about us too. I'll get to that in a few minutes, but people think that because we're Christian, that we're just going to help anybody at any time, no matter what. So let's get some biblical philosophies here tonight on who we should help, who needs help according to the Bible. Let's look at some biblical philosophies. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5. Let's first look at, you know, the Bible, the Bible talks in 1 Timothy chapter 5, talks about specifically who the church, like Jesus Christ Church, who they should support. It's talking about financially, who they should take care of financially. And there's some very specific criteria in 1 Timothy chapter 5 on who the church should support. So let's start there, because there's a structure for support that the Bible lays out. The Bible knows, look, that Jesus said the poor will always be among you. Look, there's always going to be poor people. And look, people will need support. So let's find out what the Bible says about who needs that support. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse number 9. The Bible here is talking about widows. Someone who has lost their husband, who does not have, you know, and the Bible, of course, defines the husband as someone who is to provide for the family, take care of his wife, take care of his children financially. Look at verse number 9. The Bible here is telling, you know, it's kind of filtering out even widows. Let not a widow be taken into the number under three score years old. Three score is three times 20, 60 years old, having been the wife of one man. Well reported of for good works, if she had brought up children, if she had lodged strangers, if she had washed the saints' feet, if she had relieved the afflicted, if she had diligently followed every good work. So the Bible here is saying that the church is not to support, it's just talking about widows here, first of all. So the church is only to support widows if they're over the age of 60. And not only that, but if they basically have a good reputation that they've been married to one man and they have a good reputation of living a Christian life is what the Bible is saying. It's not saying follow every good work like they've never sinned. I mean the Bible is not saying that, but it's saying like this person needs to have a good name. This widow needs to have a good name. But what about the younger widows? Look at verse 11. But the younger widows refuse. For when they had begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry. This is saying that the younger widows they need to just get remarried. So if a 45 or 50 year old woman loses her husband, then what is she supposed to do for support? She's supposed to get remarried at that point. The Bible says in verse 12, having damnation because they cast off their first faith. So they were having problems where these women lost their husbands and they weren't getting remarried and they were starting to just cause trouble. They were starting to cause trouble. And with all they learned to be idol, you know, this is a common theme in the Bible by the way. This isn't just women. This isn't just widows. If you're idol you will begin to cause trouble in your life. Okay? But tattlers also busy bodies speaking things which they ought not. So here are these younger widows they should be getting married but they're not. Instead they're going around causing trouble. Everywhere. They're gossiping. They're saying things they shouldn't. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give not occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully, for some already have turned aside after Satan. This doesn't mean that they're like possessed. This just means that they're doing what Satan wants them to do, not what God wants them to do. So he's explaining here not only, you know, hey, there's some troublemakers and here's why it's happening. They need to get remarried and just get on with raising children. And then if they're over 60, if they have a good name, good reputation, the church can support them. That's what the Bible is saying here. Look at verse 16. If any man or woman that believe it, that means the saved, we're talking about the church, saved people, have widows, let them relieve them. And let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. So here we see something super important in verse 16. The Bible here is saying that before the church is to come in and support somebody, it is up to the family. It says if any have widows, meaning if there's a widow in your family, it's the family that should support them before the church is what the Bible is saying here. Family first is what the Bible is saying. You know, maybe we shouldn't destroy the family in this country and we would have less people that need help in this country. But he's saying family first, then the church. But if it's under the church, it's under this strict criteria. I mean, look, living in the society that we live in today, that was some pretty strict criteria. 60-year-old and above, women only. And notice, notice by the way, how this just addresses women. You could say that this is sexist right here. You know what? Because it is. Because it is. The Bible is sexist. Whatever that even means today, because look, the Bible specifically says that men and women are to be treated differently. Men and women, look, things here, just wrap your head around this. Things that are different are not the same. You think that's a really simple statement. People should recognize that today, because we've taken logic and just thrown it out the window. Things that are different are not the same. Men and women in the Bible are to look differently. They are to act differently. They have different roles. They have different roles in the family. They have different roles in the church. They have different roles. They have different roles in the world. They have different roles. Men, you know, men are not supposed to act like women. You wouldn't think you would have to make a rule like that. You know, I mean, California, men are not supposed to be effeminate. That's, I mean, the Bible has to point these things out. When you read Leviticus, you're just like, man, God's like, he had to point out everything. Everything. Everything. Or he knew that we would go and do it. So the question is, back to the Good Samaritan. Who needs help? The question is, we see 60-year-old and above widows who have a good name, a good report. They deserve help from the church. Widows are to be helped from their family, then from the church, if they meet that strict criteria. What about people that don't meet the criteria? Because most people, you have to understand, don't meet that criteria. Okay, look, if there's a 60-year-old widow that needs help, that has a good name and has lived a Christian life, this church will help her if she needs help. Because that's what the Bible says. But what about the people that aren't category like this, like women under 60? Or like, how about this one? All men. Sorry, guys. All men. What about that? You know, what about these people? Look, do you know that people are constantly trying to scam us out of money at this church? Like, almost every day, to some degree. I'm getting contacted through email, through phone, or through text on probably four or five times a week. That's no exaggeration. Just on people just wanting money from this church. Why? Because we're Christians, so we're going to help everybody. See? Because people think, people are thinking like, oh, you know, they know surface Bible. They know the good Samaritan that they heard in Sunday school, so that means that Christians help everybody no matter what. But that's not what the Bible says. I mean, there's some elaborate schemes, too. And every now and then, like if I'm driving somewhere, like, I'll listen to some elaborate schemes just for fun. You know, like one time somebody called, no, there was the recent one that was really elaborate was somebody called me and I have my phone number on the website. I have my phone number on the invitations. It's my personal phone number. And somebody called me and I have a North Dakota area code. And somebody called me and said, yeah, this is so-and-so, and I'm stuck in Fresno, and I'm from a Baptist church in my not North Dakota. And I'm just stuck here and I need money for a train ticket to get my family home. And I'm like, oh man, you know, what church are you from? And he gives me some name of a church. And look, I know every church in my not. You know, I probably know most people at a lot of Baptist churches in North Dakota. And-or in my not North Dakota. Anyway, I'm like, you should have your pastor call me. And sure enough, 15 minutes later, some guy saying he's a pastor of a Baptist church in North Dakota that doesn't exist calls me on the phone. And I'm like, did you know? You have a church member stuck in Fresno. You know, I'm like, you should help him out. He only needs like $42 or something. I mean, he was like some weird, obscure, small amount of money. This guy's trying to just get me to like give him money, right? So-but I mean, the point is, like, this is constantly happening because people think churches are just out there to just hand money to everybody because of, you know, we're supposed to be good Samaritans. We're supposed to be good neighbors, right? It's just-look, it's the same thing with people on the corner. It's the same people with people holding the signs. Anybody that asks you for money in California today, look, this is the reason we have so much trouble, you know, particularly in California right here. All right? The homelessness problem. Okay? Now, look, this is where we get not politically correct here. All right? The homelessness issue in California, the reason that it's an issue is because homelessness is not a problem. Homelessness is a consequence. Homelessness is a consequence. Go to Proverbs chapter 23. The Bible, you see, what people don't understand today is that the Bible is a book of consequences. That's what the Bible's about. The Bible's about consequences. What you see today with homelessness and people trying to treat homelessness is they're trying to treat something that's a consequence, that the Bible says is a consequence. The Bible, almost on every page, is nothing but consequences. Even from the fact of the gospel. Look, if you don't believe the gospel, you're going to go to hell. That's a consequence. If you don't do these things, then the Bible tells you how to live your life. The Bible tells you how to raise your kids. If you don't do these things, consequences, consequences, consequences. The Bible is all about consequences. And here's the thing. You can't just treat consequences and think that the truth is going to go away because it's not going to. Go to Proverbs chapter 23. I'll just give you a couple examples. I mean, we go on all day about this because it's on literally almost every chapter in the Bible is just dealing with what God says and consequences. Nothing but that. Look at verse 29. This is talking about, you know, not being sober or drinking alcohol in this case, which is, you know, it's a pretty big deal in our country today. Look at Proverbs 23, 29. And just look at all the consequences in this one verse. The Bible says, who hath woe? You know what that is? That's a consequence. Woe. You know what woe is? That's trouble. You know what that's saying? This is talking about drinking alcohol. This is saying, if you drink alcohol, you're going to have trouble in your life. Who hath what? What's the next one? Who hath sorrow? You know what? You know what happens when you're nothing but a drunk and you lose your job and you lose your wife and you lose your kids? You know what that is? That's sorrow. That's sadness. You know, that's, you know, it's a consequence. The Bible is talking about consequences here. Who hath contentions? Oh man, if you drink all the time, but I want to have a lot of friends. No, you're going to have no friends. You're going to have nothing but fights, contentions, contentions with your family, contentions with the people around you, contentions, just trouble. Who hath babbling? You know what that means? You're going to sound like an idiot. You're going to destroy your brain. You'll literally get to the point where you drink alcohol and your brain doesn't work anymore. Your brain stops functioning. You know what that is? That's a consequence. You know you could actually get to the point where people drink so much for so long they can never talk right again. They just, they slur and they talk. I mean, maybe some of you have met people like this. They've drank for, they drank for so many years and they drank so much that they've just become like constant babbling. They can't, they can't put their words together. They're, they're constantly just, they just get angry quickly. Look at, it literally just alters them permanently. People think it's harmless, but the Bible here is saying, no, no, no, no, no. Big consequences. How many have we read so far? This is one verse in the Bible. Whoa, sorrow, contentions, babbling. Who hath what? Wounds without cause. Here it's saying, okay, it's going to destroy your mind. It's going to literally destroy your body. You are going to destroy your physical body. You know you get enough wounds? You know what happens? You die. If you get enough wounds, you die. Yeah, maybe it's talking about outside wounds, but eventually you kill yourself from the inside out. It's talking about physical consequences. Who hath redness of eyes? You know what that means? Everybody's going to know you're an idiot. Everybody's going to know you're a drunk. Everybody's going to know, look, this is going to show on the outside. This is not going to be, this is not going to be an inward sin. Okay, look, one, two, three, four, five, six serious consequences in one verse. This is the Bible right here. The Bible is just, it's a book of consequences. You can't take someone and say, oh, they're homeless. I'm going to give them a home when the homelessness, the homeless part, is a consequence. It's a consequence of what? Of sin in their life. That's the problem. Look, the Bible is, we'll go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We'll do one more, and then we'll just move on with the point I'm trying to make. But look, the point is covering consequences is never going to work. And covering consequences, helping people cover consequences is not something that we as Christians should be part of. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Look at verse 18. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 18. The Bible here is talking about another specific sin. It says, flee, flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committed fornication sinneth against his own body. You know what the Bible here is saying? It's talking about the sin of fornication. It's talking about the sin of going and having physical relationships with different people outside of marriage. And the Bible here is saying is that unlike other sins, this sin will destroy your body. I read a headline. The reason I went to this example, I just read a headline. And look, I read the same headline single year. And it said like STDs at all time high in the United States. You know what that is? That's a consequence. It's a consequence of not following what the Bible says. Look, does anyone speak against fornication? I didn't click on the article, but I guarantee you that the article would focus on we need better treatments, we need better healthcare, we need better no, we need to do what the Bible says. We need to follow the Bible. Just covering the consequences going and educating children in school that fornication is okay if they do it a certain way. No, it will make it worse. Why is it all time high then? If all this stuff is going on and they're focusing on just oh, you know, treating this and making it safer or whatever. Look, it's getting worse and worse and worse and it's going to get worse and worse and worse. Because they're just trying to cover consequences. And the Bible is all about consequences. So they can take the homeless and they can give them free hotels and free phones and free drugs and free everything, but it will only make everything worse. This is what the mayor of every city in California needs to hear right here. All you're doing is making it worse. Why? Because you're taking away, you're covering the consequences. And the Bible is based on consequences. The wages of sin is consequence, is death. Look, and here's the thing about the Bible. Here's the thing about the Bible. You don't have to be saved. You don't have to believe it. You don't have to even have read one word of it. It's true. And how do I know? Because it's going to happen. Because these consequences, anybody can see it happen. Look, here's the proof. There's 160,000 homeless people in California today. Keep covering consequences. Keep doing these things where you give free this, free that, free this, and try to cover up all the consequences. And in five years, there will be many more than 160,000. Guaranteed. Why? Because the Bible is true. That's why. Turn back to 1 Timothy chapter 5. Removing consequences will never work. Because all you are doing is attempting. You're not fixing anything. You're just covering sin. And all that is, is throwing gas on the fire. Because the Bible teaches that the only thing that works is consequences. Is consequences. Go back to 1 Timothy chapter 5. Look at verse number 8. Look, not having a biblical family will create these problems. Look, 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse number 8. But if any provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house, he had denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. Look, you know what? The Bible here is saying is that the family should be the first line of defense for the widows, for the people that need. Then the church, but the Bible here is saying that if you don't have a proper family with a man providing, he's like, look, there's going to be, there's going to be consequences. There's going to be consequences. You know what? Getting divorced will lead you to poverty. You know how many people I have met in my life that make serious amounts of money that have gotten divorced once, twice, three times, and they are broke? Because it's a consequence. Look, and this is not to beat up on people that have made mistakes. And this is what people don't understand that make all these policies. Like, oh, you're mean. You're saying that that people shouldn't be given a place to live. And people shouldn't be given a free phone or drugs or whatever. But the point is, you know what I care about? I care about the kid who hasn't gone down this road yet. I care about the kid who hasn't gotten married yet. I care about the kid who hasn't gotten on drugs yet. You know, when I was in the old, when we were in the old building, there was this one kid, he was the biggest problem that I had. And this kid, he was 25, 26 years old tops. This kid was the most wicked person I've ever met in my life. This kid did things I couldn't even say from the pulpit. I dealt with this kid for two years. A wicked, evil person. You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to start talking about consequences and start preaching the Bible to people so the kid that's 15 doesn't end up being that kid that's 25 and 10 years. Because the people that are preaching the same remove all consequences from everybody. They're the wicked ones because all they're doing is driving kids down this road. They're by taking away these consequences. Turn to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3. It's about stopping people from making the same mistakes. It's not about beating up on people that are in a situation that have got divorced. It's like, hey, maybe we should preach the truth so our kids have happy marriages. So our kids don't go down these wicked roads. Look, 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Look at verse number 10. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. Oh, are you saying we shouldn't give out free food? Yes. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying that families and churches should be able to look at people who deserve it. And I say everybody else should get hungry. All these men out here should get hungry. And you know what? Maybe when a few lazy bums, wicked drug addicts die of starvation, maybe then we can save some kids from going down this road. Maybe then we can save and hold another generation and start taking that 160,000 down. Because people won't make that choice because they're like, oh man, there's consequences here. Not like, oh, I'm going to be given free everything. And there's no consequences. Look, don't tell me that... Look, here's the thing. The consequences are there no matter what. Don't you tell me that this isn't a hard life that these people are living out there right now. Many of us have made this comment. Like, 110 degrees and they're out there and they're living under a bridge and all they can think about is what they have to steal to get their next drugs. You think that's an easy life? How about we save the ones that haven't gone and made those decisions by just covering up consequences? It's an abandonment of biblical morality. Look, a kid raised in a proper Christian home. Do you want to know what the value of a good biblical church is? This is it right here. A kid raised in a proper Christian home in a good church preaching the Bible, preaching things that, you know what, the Bible says that a lot of people don't want to say anymore with a mom and dad. They just don't become a drug addict. They don't go out and do heroin. I've never had this conversation with my kids. Hey son, don't do heroin. Never said it ever. All we have to do is drive by somebody screaming at a stop sign. You're like, all we have to do is go fill up your car with gas and see somebody eating trash. You're like, you want to eat trash? Yum! Look, it's not going to happen because you know what, they see consequences and they hear the Bible and they have people that grow and build them in a church that supports them and brothers and sisters and friends that they can see that build them to be strong, to understand that the Bible is right. Look, there's an answer. Look, they understand all this destruction of the family is wrong. A 12-year-old gets that. A 12-year-old understands that. Now you add in public school. You add in public school. You add in all the perversion. You add in all the sick stuff. I don't even know what they're teaching anymore. I don't even want to know. All this indoctrination. But I do see that states are trying to pass laws to stop, you know, they're trying to pass laws to stop parents from giving like 12-year-olds transgender surgery. Like they're trying to stop it by passing a law against it. Hey, maybe we shouldn't have let unnatural homosexual reprobates adopt kids. Because the Bible tells us the family. The Bible gives us the structure. The Bible tells us, hey, you want to protect kids? Do it this way. Or there will be consequences. And unfortunately the children seem to suffer first all the time. What consequences is what the Bible teaches us? It's not necessary to sit down and have these stupid conversations with your kids about, hey, you know, don't do crack. Because they understand the Bible. They see the consequences. It's just logic playing out in their life. I mean, that's what is happening. And we cover up sin. And all we do is we will just make more sin. That's why it's not working, folks. That's why all these policies from, you know, maybe the the mayor of Fresno should read the Bible. Maybe the mayor of Fresno should get saved, listen to some Bible preaching and understand. Because look, this is such a dumb one. This is such an easy one to solve. Just, you know, and save some people. Be a hero. Imagine, be a hero politician. Just listen to what the Bible says. The answers are all right there. Let's go back to helping people. The Good Samaritan. So most of these people that we see in our country today, look, real poverty exists in other countries. It doesn't exist here. I'm talking about people that literally just like, look, there's help-wanted signs in every single window. I've never seen in 22 years of being out in the workforce. I have never, ever, ever seen a time where more people are trying to hire where they just can't find anyone to work. I've never seen it. 22 years. But look, there's real poverty in other countries. We go to the Philippines and there was men that we would talk to that were literally sleeping in the park because they traveled several miles into Manila to look for work. They didn't have the money for a hotel. They didn't have the money to say, look, that's poverty. Where there's no work and you have a man that wants to work. So there's real poverty that exists. It just doesn't exist here. Instead, we have this country that's just trying to make it worse. But here's the most wicked thing. There's two things that are wicked about the homeless situation in this state especially. It's number one, they cover up people that may need help. Because you have to be so cautious and with the vast majority of them being just addicts, you know, people that are not sober, looking for drugs, looking for alcohol, whatever. Look, you have to be so cautious. They cover up people that may actually need help. And also, they create an apathetic society. They create a society that looks past people. They create a society of the priest and the Levite, so to speak. They create a society of people that will literally walk by anything. I remember the first few weeks that I was in California in 2016. I had just gotten my job and I some of the guys at work took me out to lunch. We went to a Togo sandwich shop, just a couple blocks from the office. We walked over there. We went to the sandwich shop. We walked outside the sandwich shop and there was a guy just laying on the sidewalk. And what did we do? I mean, it was some guy just passed out on the sidewalk. We just stepped over him and we just kept going. And I remember thinking to myself like, you know, that is something that would have never happened in North Dakota. In North Dakota, the Midwest, whatever. And look, I'm not saying that North Dakota people are so much better than California people. I'm saying that you just get apathetic to this type of thing because you don't see it. If somebody was laying on the sidewalk in Bismarck, North Dakota, everybody would be running up to him being like, are you okay? What's wrong? You would sit on the side of the road with a flat tire or in a snow bank or something for literally the first or second car that drove by. Somebody would stop and help you because it's not an apathetic society. But these wicked bums have created an apathetic society. That's one of the worst things about it. But look, we should not become apathetic. We should not become apathetic. So here's some practical rules. Let me just give you some practical rules that I have for my family. And you can take them or you can leave them because look, this is something that needs to be navigated in California. In a population, but if you would have a population of bums and scammers move into the Midwest just like they are here, look, the same thing would happen to that society too. It's not that they're so much greater, it's just that they don't have this population that's made everyone applicable. So here's some practical rules. First, for my wife, for the women, for my wife, here's rules for my wife. She's not to like stop and help people on the side of the road like never. That's a rule for my wife. I mean, I'm sorry, I didn't ask you to tell the story, but my wife picked up a hitchhiker one time in North Dakota. My wife will never pick up a hitchhiker again. I'm not going to talk to you about the conversation that ensued after I found out my wife picked up a hitchhiker. She's like, oh, I picked up a hitchhiker. I mean, it was in North Dakota in the middle of nowhere, but still. So my wife doesn't pick up hitchhikers. But women, my wife is like, just call me. You see something, just call me. Call 911, just call me. It's not like she has kids to protect. She has herself, she's the weaker vessel. Sorry to offend you ladies, but you're weaker. She's the weaker vessel. She has kids to protect. She is not to just stop and help somebody on the side of the road. All right. Men, here's kind of my rules. Here's the thing, you can tell when somebody's in obvious trouble. You can tell. I mean, if there's something like, notice that this guy, the Good Samaritan, didn't stop and visit a guy that was holding a sign. The guy wasn't standing there holding the sign saying, I need money, you know, or God bless or whatever. You know, the guy didn't have a sign. The guy was literally like half dead in a ditch. All right. It is easy to see when people are in obvious trouble. I'm talking about like car accidents, talking about like we've been stuck in traffic before and you see people in obvious, I mean, we've been on the grapevine in traffic for like four and a half hours. You can find people that are in obvious trouble there. Their car breaks down, they have little kids, whatever, you know, help people like that. We should always be like watching for those situations. You know, we even drove by the church downtown in Fresno and I knew that this was a situation. I knew what the situation was. There's a guy in a wheelchair sitting on the sidewalk, slumped over in the wheelchair, like an old man and I just pulled the car aside. I'm like, I know what this is, but I just can't ever be the type of person that's just going to drive by a slumped over old man in a wheelchair. And so I go up and I see the guy and yeah, sure enough, he's got a whiskey bottle down there and you know, kind of shake his wheelchair and he's like, ah, you know, and so he's not dead. So, you know, there we go. But the point is, you know, there's risk to it and the men, you know, the men should take the risk helping somebody on the side of the road with a flat tire through whizzing traffic. Look, that's just, we should be those people. We should be those people. Actually, somebody just don't ever let this society of wicked slothful bums turn you into an apathetic person is what I'm trying to say. Alright, somebody actually helped my wife this last week. My wife had some car trouble and she was about 40 minutes away and before I got there, I mean, I left work and I was on my way as fast as I could, before I got there, there's somebody that had helped my wife and kids. They had helped my wife, they had helped her, you know, put some oil in her car, they helped her get to a mechanic place and by the time I got there, you know, the guy was gone. You know, the guy was gone already. But I, you know, she got his number, his business card and I gave him a call and I just, I talked to the guy for a while. And, you know, he, you know what he said? He said, he's like, look, he's like my wife. He's like, I do this type of stuff and he's like, my wife kind of gets upset at me sometimes because it can be risky and that's kind of true. It can be risky to be helping people that you think are in obvious trouble. I don't think it was risky to help a car full of Baptist ladies in, in, you know, skirts and dressed appropriately. He probably knew he wasn't in danger for his life in the middle of the day in, in that situation. But the point is, yeah, it can be risky. He's like, but you know what, if I die, you know, helping somebody or whatever, he's like, that's just the way it is, you know? So we should be those types of people. But unfortunately, the society we live in, we have to be very careful. We have to be very careful because there's a lot of scammers out there. I mean, you guys were telling me about some more scams today. I just can't even believe people go to this lengths to try to get money out of people. But that's, that's the way it is. So don't ever let the wickedness take this from you. Take this, this, you know, this, this love that you should have towards your neighbor from you. I mean, in conclusion, the Bible gives us a good structure of support for a society, okay? The biblical family, the church for support. And by the way, the government's not mentioned when it comes to supporting people that need support. You know why? Because it doesn't work. If it was the best way, the Bible would tell you, right? It doesn't work. But think about it. What do we know? What do we know about the church? In the church, we know if, you know, brother so-and-so needs help, we know if he needs help because something happened to him that was out of his control or whatever. Or we know if he needs help because he's in sin. We know that. That's why it's supposed to be the church. That's why it's supposed to be the family because they know what the government doesn't know. They don't care. That's why they just waste money. But the point is with the government is all the help that they give is all it's doing is helping people sin. And you as Christians need to recognize that as well. Yes, be a good Samaritan. If somebody's in an emergency and needs dire help, men help them. But the point is don't be using stories like the Good Samaritan to be helping people who are in sin that are dealing with, if somebody is dealing with consequences in their life, that is God's way of correcting them. And that is what would do not help people to their hurt. You know, the Bible doesn't say in Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death unless the government steps in. No, the wages of sin is death and the government steps in and tries to cover up the sin. And it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse. The government and all the help that they get, they just make the situation worse. The Bible is true whether the government believes that or not. And the Bible will continue to be true. So all that being said, people still get into trouble. So watch out for the man in the ditch. But if he's in there because of his sin, you know, just follow what the Bible says. All right, let's bow our heads and have a word.