 Amen. So keep your place there in Genesis chapter 37. We're going to be looking at this story in some detail. We're looking at the story of Joseph this morning in Genesis chapter 37. But just a little bit of introduction this morning. We're going to be talking about a topic this morning that you hear a lot about today. And, you know, there's a lot of concern out in the news and from parents all over from all different parts of, you know, society and life are worried about this topic. But let me just say this, before we get into the topic itself, we're going to look at this topic from a Christian perspective. We're going to look at this topic from the perspective of the Christian parent, from the perspective of the Christian child. So what we're going to look at this morning is this topic of bullying. Bullying from the Christian perspective. Why does it happen? What should we do about it? You know, are we going to deal with it as adults? Are we going to deal with it? Are children going to deal with it? And what should we do? So that's what we're going to look at from a Bible perspective. Look at the source of it as well. You know, look at the source of it especially. We see that in this story with Joseph, son of Jacob. Look at Genesis chapter 37. And look at verse number three. So we have, Jacob has all these children and we have this one child, this one son that he has. His name is Joseph. Look at verse number three of Genesis chapter 37. We're talking about bullying this morning. We're going to look at what the Bible says, where it comes from. Will kids deal with it? Will we deal with it? How should we handle this situation that everyone is so concerned about today? I'll explain all that from the Bible to you this morning. Look at Genesis chapter 37 and verse number three. Now Israel, this is Jacob. Love Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. So that's an interesting statement at the end of verse number four there. You know, we're talking about bullying this morning. It says that his brothers, his brethren, they could not speak peaceably unto them. This is a nice way of saying, or a general way I guess I should say, that they were harassing him. They were speaking badly to him. They were not, you know, they're saying, look, it says they couldn't speak peaceably unto him. It's like they were saying bad things directly to him. Okay. They were harassing. This is what harassment would look like if we looked at, you know, what this is, they're harassing him what people would say today. So look, we'll look at that in detail this morning. But just to say this, that they were speaking bad things to him right away we see in verse number four. Look at verse number five. And Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed. For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright and behold, your sheaf stood round about and made up obeisance to my sheaves. Like your, your sheaf was, was being, you know, my sheaf was, was over your sheaf and your sheaves were worshiping mine. So look, I mean, he's not trying to upset them, but this isn't helping his case here. Look at verse number eight. And his brethren said unto him, shall thou indeed reign over us or shall thou indeed have dominion over us? Keep, keep in mind he's the younger of the brothers and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren and said, behold, I've dreamed a dream more. Behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father and his brethren and his father rebuked him. His father's looking out for him. He's saying, quit saying these things and make people mad at you. He's like, you know, his father loves him. And what dream that thou has dreamed shall I and my mother and thy brethren indeed come and bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth. And his brethren, verse number eleven is a key here. And his brethren envied him. But his father observed the saying. So his brethren, so this dream happened. Look, Joseph, he's not making this up. I mean, he had these dreams, you know, he's being shown something and he's telling it to his brethren. And his father, his father's like, hey, please, you know, don't be saying this. It's going to make people mad. But his father listened to him. His father actually listened to him. But his brothers did what? His brothers envied him. Go down to verse number eighteen for just sake of time. Just look at verse number eighteen. Now here we see that, so they envied him. That's a very important verse right there. We'll look at that in just a few minutes. But it's verbal harassment, but we see it turned into something different in Genesis chapter thirty-seven. Look at verse eighteen. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. Look, they're going to try to kill him. That's how serious this got. And they said to one another, behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, let us slay him. That means kill him and cast him into some pit. And we will say some evil beasts had devoured him. And we shall see what would become of his dreams. So look, go back to verse number eleven. So we see just all this to point out this in introduction. So he was dealing with verbal harassment from his brethren, from his brothers. And then that actually turned into physical assault in the case of Joseph. So all that to say this, you know, this he's being bullied and it ends in a very extreme form of bullying where they're actually physically assaulting him, trying to kill him, and they sell him into slavery in Genesis chapter 37. But look at verse number eleven. Let's look at the source of what we would call today bullying. Okay, let's look at the source because Genesis chapter 37 and verse number eleven points out why he was being bullied or harassed. Okay, but people would call it, today they would call it bullying is what he's going through. Look at verse number eleven. It says his brethren envied him. His brethren envied him. The source was this. Turn to James chapter one. The source of bullying and the source of all bullying is this. It's envy. That's what it is. The source of bullying is envy. Look, I'm less focused this morning just so you know. I am less focused on knowing the source than I am of taking action to correct a situation, especially with our children and ourselves in our Christian lives. But just know this. I mean, we might as well be educated. You know, if the Bible tells us anything, it tells us why things are happening around us. It has the answers for everything. So the source of bullying is envy. Period. Look at James chapter one. Look at James chapter three. James chapter three and verse number sixteen. The Bible says for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. Look, envying is this. This is what envy is. Envy is desiring what is not yours. Somebody else has something and you want it and the Bible says that will create envy and strife goes together. So it says where there's envy, there will be strife. That's why it uses that logical word and. So envying goes with strife. Because look, if brother so-and-so has something that I don't have and I envy, I covet, I lost after that thing, look, that's going to cause problems because it's not mine. It's his. So that's where that strife comes in. But the Bible actually says that works come from that. The Bible says in James chapter three sixteen here it says where envy and strife is, what? Where envy and strife is, there's bad feelings. Where envy and strife is, people are silently mad at each other. No, it says evil work comes from that. Evil work. Those are actual actions that flow from that. Is that not what we see in Genesis chapter thirty-seven? We see his brethren envying him for whatever reason. We'll get into the reasons here in a little bit. But the point is, is that it leads to actual evil being done. This is where bullying comes from. Turn to Proverbs chapter fourteen. Turn to Proverbs chapter fourteen. Look, Joseph's brothers, they didn't just speak against him. I mean, not that that's a work. Look, speaking against someone is also a work. But they actually did physical work against him. They physically assaulted him, as you would call it today. Go to Proverbs chapter fourteen. Go to Proverbs chapter fourteen. Remember Proverbs. Remember the philosophy of Proverbs. In many Proverbs, we see opposites in the same verse. We see, we see, if you do this, you know, this won't happen. We see two sides of a coin in Proverbs. That's what makes Proverbs so brilliant in so many different cases. Look at Proverbs fourteen in verse number thirty. Talking about bullying this morning. Talking about how envy is the source of bullying or of harassment, if you want to call it that. And envying and strife go together. Envying is wanting or coveting something. Look, it's not just, it's not just brother so and so has that thing. Now, that seems nice. It's like, no, he has that and I want that thing that he has. It's wanting that thing from him. It's not wanting that same success as him. It's wanting his thing. OK, jealousy is different by the way. Jealousy is different. Jealousy, jealousy is OK in the Bible. God is jealous. Now today in our English, today people use these words as synonyms. You know, envious and jealous. They're not the same. In the Bible, they're completely different. It's OK for me to be jealous. It's not OK for me to be envious. The difference being jealousy is something, it's I'm jealous over something that's mine. It belongs to me. I'm jealous over my wife. Why? Because she's mine. My wife is jealous over me. Why? Because I am hers. That's why. God is jealous over us. Why? Because we're his. So when we go and we start serving other gods, I am a jealous God, the Bible says. So God, I mean, unless God can sin, jealousy is good. Jealousy is a good thing. That means you're protective over what's yours. Envious is wanting, is coveting, is lusting after something that is not yours. Completely different. And envying goes with strife and evil work flows from it. Two completely different things. So these two words that are being used the same today, it's, be careful with those two words because they are not the same thing. Look at Proverbs chapter 14. Look at verse number 30. Proverbs chapter 14 and verse number 30. Remember the opposites of Proverbs. The Bible says a sound heart is the life of the flesh. But here comes an opposite. Okay? So it says a sound heart is the life of the flesh. A sound heart, what is that? A solid heart. A stable heart. A person that knows what they stand for. A person that is founded on the rock in their life. This is the person that built their house on the rock. This is a sound heart. You're not going to shake a sound heart. You know, if you're founded and you're based and you're rooted in the Bible, you're a sound heart, the Bible would say. But, look at the other part, next part of the verse. Envy, the rottenness of bones. You're like, whoa, what does envy have to do with that? It's giving you an opposite here. It's saying somebody who is a sound heart is solid. They're built on a rock. They're rooted in the Bible. They're rooted in strength. But the opposite of that is someone who would be envious. Okay? This is someone who is very, what you would say today, insecure. They're the opposite of a sound heart. They're a very insecure person. So somebody, what can we take from this? Somebody that is not, that is, that is envious is going to be someone who is not of a sound heart. So that's why you see people that are envious are very insecure people. So the bully today is a very insecure person. By definition from the Bible, it is an insecure person that bullies someone. Okay? So this is the source of bullying. Is envy? And envy comes from someone who is very insecure. They're not sound. They're easily shaken. They're all over the place. They don't know what they believe in. They're insecure. They're don't like their life. They're just like this is the bully today. This is the bully today. Alright? So now let's talk about kids and bullying. Because kids, this is the context that you hear bullying talked about all the time. It's kids, kids in school, school-aged kids. They're going through bullies, you know, bullies. This is the main focus today. I mean, schools today, public schools, they can't seem to stop this. This bullying. They just can't get across. But we're talking about Christian kids today. Okay? Because I believe that the bullying is way misused today outside of the Bible and outside the Christian culture. I'll speak to that at the end. But we're trying, look, here's the thing. We are trying us, Christian parents, we're trying to raise kids with standards today. We're trying to raise kids with standards in a world that doesn't have standards. We're trying to raise a different product here. You know, guess what? Go back to verse number 3. You know, another reason that Joseph was bullied is because he stood out. We're trying to raise kids that are, they're going to stand out today. If we're doing it right, they're going to stand out today. Look at Proverbs chapter 22 and verse number 6. Notice the code of many colors before you turn there in verse number 3. So here's Joseph. He's walking around with this code of many colors and he looks quite different than all the other kids. It's something that they definitely notice about him. And look, they were mad about that code. They were envious about that code. It was something that he had that was different that they didn't have. That's the Christian child today. That's the Christian child that walks into a public school today. He's going to have something that nobody else has and he's going to stick out like he's wearing a code of many colors. He's going to stand out. Look, if he doesn't stand out or she doesn't stand out, you're not doing it right. You're doing something wrong. Look at Proverbs chapter 22 and verse number 6. So here we have these kids. Look, you know what that code of many colors was for Joseph? That was a sign of how much his dad loved him. You think, you know, it wasn't the code itself. It was the sign that their dad loved him more than he loved them. That's how they took it. So the Christian child today is going to stand out, the Christian child being raised by a mom and a dad that have all these standards put on their life and that look different and that speak different. That's being trained up, as the Bible says in Proverbs 22. Go to Proverbs chapter 22. He's going to look different and he's going to have a sign of how much his parents love him or her. It's going to be like a code of many colors that he or she is walking around with every day in a society, in an environment where the kids have no code. That's what the Christian life, the Christian standards will be like to a child that is growing up in the right way. So if you're doing right, if you're doing it correct, they're going to have trouble. Is what I'm trying to get you to understand. Look at verse number six in Proverbs 22. The Bible says train up a child in the way he should go. And when he's old, he will not depart from it. Look at Ephesians chapter six in verse number four. Ephesians chapter six and verse number four. So here we are. We're training up these children. We're training them. We're teaching them to be different. We're putting a code of many colors on them. They are going to stand out. If we are training them properly, they are going to stand out. They better stand out. Look at verse number four of Ephesians chapter six. It says, indeed, fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So here we are. This is what we're supposed to do with our children. This is what we're supposed to do with our children. We're supposed to look. They're supposed to be taught. They're supposed to be trained up. They're supposed to be nurtured, the Bible says. This is their coat. This is their coat that we're giving them. And look, here's the thing. We need to protect them. We need to protect them from anything that would stop or hinder this training, this nurturing, this teaching. They need to be protected from them, from these things. Look, these kids, Joseph was one of 12. These kids are going to be the extreme minority today. It's a very good analogy for the Christian child today. They are going to be, especially in a public school system, they will be the extreme minority. The Christian child, if being trained, nurtured, and taught right, will have a hard time here in the public school for, sure, because guess what? That kid with the bad home life. That kid without the parents. He has no coat. He has rags. I'm speaking philosophically. He doesn't have a coat like that. He has rags and he will envy the coat. And he will harass the coat. He will bully the coat. He will physically assault the coat. This is what will happen. They will zero in on the Christian with the coat very quickly. That child. And guess what? This will break down. If you go and if you're wearing a coat and you go into an environment, I mean just think of yourself as an adult. Think of, you know, you put on this nice coat and you walk into, you know, this, every time you go to this restaurant with this coat on, you get beat up. Every single time you go to this restaurant and you get beat up. But guess what? There are 50 other restaurants in town. But every time and you love to wear this coat, this coat, you're told this coat, you must wear this coat everywhere you go. You must wear this coat. So there's 50 restaurants in town. When you go to one restaurant, you get beat up every time you go there because of the coat. What are you going to do? You're either going to stop going to that restaurant. You're going to take the coat off or both is what you're going to do. People wonder so much why kids are walking away from the Christian life. Is it a mystery? It's because they're getting beat up for their coat. They're getting harassed. They're getting pounded on for their coat. I mean, what do you expect the kids to do? I mean, you read so many articles about kids walking away from the Christian life. They measure it by if they go to church when they, you know, they turn 18, they don't go to church anymore. So the tune of like 87%, people are like why? Because they're getting beat up for the coat. That's why they stand out because like if their parents raise them properly, they have a coat on. It makes them look completely different than everybody else. And they go and they just get harassed and beat on and beat on and beat on because they wear that coat. That's it. The point of trying to make is that you must put them in an environment that builds them and not breaks them down for wearing the coat. You cannot have, look, and here's the thing, folks, you can't control what other people do with their families. If that's not obvious today, I don't know what is. You as a Christian parent cannot control how other people raise their kids. You'll never be able to control that. And this will break them down. This is why kids are walking away from the Christian life. There's your answer. Let's pray. But here's the thing. As they are nurtured, look, the word nurture says it right there. As they are trained and they are taught, they need to be nurtured. Kids are not soldiers. They need to be trained to be soldiers. They need to be trained to be strong. They're learning. They're learning. They're learning the basics of wearing this coat. They're not armored and ready for what's coming. So they need to be protected as they grow and protected as they gain strength in their lives. Go to James chapter two. Look, they also need to be taught as they get older to not allow themselves to be bullied, to stand up for what they believe. And this is where you come in. But look at James chapter two. Go to James chapter two real quickly. Go to James chapter two real quickly. Look at first. So remember we saw that we saw the source of bullying, right? The source of bullying is somebody who's insecure, who's envious. But you know what parents do? You know what parents do? They do James chapter two. That's what they do with their kids. They want to raise a kid. They want to raise a child with Christian standards in their life. A child that's not going to do what every other kid's going to do. They want to raise a child that's free from, you know, just that looks different, that speaks different, that acts different, you know, doesn't just go into fornication and drugs and alcohol like all these other kids like what's becoming normal today. They want to raise children that are different. And then that child gets harassed and bullied. And they say, yeah, but you know, the reason the bully does that is because they envy you. Oh, thanks, dad. Thanks for the help. Look at James chapter two and verse 15. You know what that parent is? That parent is this person right here. If a brother or sister be naked in destitute of daily food, and one of them say to him, depart in peace, be you warmed and filled. That's what you're doing to your kids. You send your kids into a lion's den every single day for eight hours a day. They just breaks down their Christian life and they come home as they're being beaten down and they tell you what's happening. You're just like, oh, you know, be warmed. They're envious. They just want to be like you and you send them right back in the next day. What is wrong with parents today? They're not reading the Bible. Look, that is what you this is the this is the people will say if you actually do something to protect your children, people say you're like a helicopter parent. By the way, anybody that ever says that to you is a wicked person. Or at least they're trying to they're trying to do something wicked to you. They're telling you because you're trying to do trying to protect your children, you know what I'm not a helicopter parent. I'm a bulldozer parent. That's what I am. Anybody. I'm training my kids to wear a coat. I'm training them to have standards in their Christian lives. And I'm like a bulldozer. Anybody that gets in front of me or in front of those goals, I will drive over you and I will not even think about it twice. That's the way that's what you need to be. You need to be a bulldozer parent. Next, somebody says, oh, you're right. You know, here's these helicopter parent idiots. Oh, you're a helicopter parent. These idiots, these are the idiots that say you need to like let your kids, you need to expose your kids to some sin. They won't say it that way. But you want to raise kids that don't drink. You want to raise kids that live a godly life. You want to raise kids that I don't know. Think about this one for a second. They get married in purity. Are you crazy? You need to let your kids get out there and experience life. Get away from me. Get away from me. Evil person who's trying to destroy you. That's the way you need to feel about that. You need to get up in the bulldozer. You need to drive those people over with your bulldozer. That's what you need to do. Say I'm a bulldozer parent. I'm going to bulldozer you. You can keep bringing this stuff up to me or my kids. Period. That's the way you need to be. Because sending your kids. Look, I'm sorry. There's no success for the Christian child in the public school system today. I don't like to report that. Look, I wish there was a way. Sending your kids into that situation and then having people say, oh, you're a helicopter parent. And then just telling your kids as they're getting beat down every single day, hey, they just do that because they don't have a good family at home. Oh, okay, that may be true, but that's not any action that's going to help anybody. This is why kids are walking away from the Christian life. Because they don't have, look, they don't have a bulldozer blade. These kids should be walking and learning these standards and learning how to wear this coat and learning how to defend this coat as they're walking behind a bulldozer blade is what they should be doing. As the path is being cleared for them. And how do you clear the path? How do you clear the path? Well, here's one way. Adults, you cannot allow yourselves to get bullied. You know as an adult, you know as a Christian adult, you will be bullied. You know Second Timothy chapter three talks about this as persecution. All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You will. That's the persecution. People are gonna attack you. You know, you know what the funny thing is today though? People are gonna come up to you and like want to fight you. I wish they would, man. I wish that's how it worked. But it doesn't work that way. Christian adults, they're gonna get attacked by all these little subtle little, you know, all these subtle little attacks on you and your family. They're gonna come after, you know, this is where things like, things like gaslighting come in. I mean, it's just these subtle little manipulative tactics, which has been like, it's been a huge issue in this church, quite frankly. It's just like, it's like a cowardly way of attacking people, trying to manipulate people, all these subtle, here's the actual, I looked at the term like gaslighting. You just see, it was like, I guess it was a play in the 1930s where this guy was, this is where the term gaslighting came from. And I'll explain to you what it is and you've experienced it for sure. I guarantee it. But what it is, there was a play in the 1930s where there was this guy and he wanted to get rid of his wife, right? He was trying to get rid of his wife. So he just started doing all these subtle little things to make her think that she was going crazy. This was where, this is where the term gaslighting came from. The, the psychological definition is this. It's a covert type of emotional abuse. Look, listen to this because you are going to deal with this. I am sure you already have as a Christian adult. It's a covert type of emotional abuse. Where the bully or abuser misleads the target, creating a false narrative and making them question their judgments and reality. Ultimately the victim of gaslighting starts to feel unsure about their perceptions of the world and even wonder if they are losing their sanity. That's an extreme, like if you just let it go forever and you listen to it. But look, here's the thing. Examples are like people doing sneaky things and then like denying that they are doing sneaky things. There are all these subtle little things where you can't really bring them up. You know, maybe you're in a conversation and people say something and you're thinking like, was that a shot at me? What he just said right there? I've had this happen and I just like, look, I'll talk about myself and how I'm starting to deal with this better in a little bit. But it could be simple things like just withholding information from you. Maybe like not inviting certain people to things like on a consistent basis. Like you just subtly just leave people out of things. All these subtle little manipulative tactics, here's another one. They show inauthentic concern. This is why the gas lighter or the bully is always a gossip many times. But they come to you and they say, oh, you know, did you hear about so and so? And the only reason I'm telling you this, brother, is because I'm just really concerned for you. It's always out of concern. Oh, the only reason, did I ever tell you about this? And they said that like, they might want to, you know, do something like that and that they think certain people are this way. And the only reason I'm telling you this, sister, is because I'm just really concerned for you. And you're like, oh, they're concerned for me. Like, oh, but this is why this is the manipulative little tactics, these subtle, like this is this is subtle, subtle bully is what this is. OK, I mean, gas lighting people, they thrive on gossip. They thrive on it. It offers them a sense of validation and control. You know, these are the people that you'll see. They always have, you know, well, well, many people, I mean, you'll see this all the time in our church like the ladies are just always in this big group. But then, you know, and look, this isn't an issue here. OK, but I'm just giving examples. You see people talking in a big group all the time and laughing. You know, he's got somebody that always wants to have somebody pulled off into the corner. Those want to have people pulled off and like having secret private conversations all the time. You just kind of have to ask you, you know, what are you? It's nothing you could really put your finger on. But it's just kind of like, you know, what's going on here? It's always, it always leads to a bad place. So here's what you do. So here's what you do. Say I've got somebody in my Christian life, you know, I mean, we hang out with certain people, we go certain places and people will take these shots at us, you know, in our Christian life. Look, here's the thing. Here's the thing. You just got to call it out. That's what you got to do. That's what you got to do. You just got to call it out. I mean, look privately at first, follow Matthew 18. I mean, if it's happening in church, do it privately. But here's the thing, the gaslighter, they will never admit it. This has happened many times here where people have come to me and like, I think somebody saying stuff to me. I think people are like insulting me in front of people. I'm like, you just got to go talk to them about it. You just got to go talk to them about it. But if it's a gaslighting person, that by the way, it's just it's born out of narcissism, envy and insecurity, just like we talked about. They will never admit it. They will never admit it. If that person goes to the person and says, hey, you know, you made a couple of comments. By the way, you might have to make notes about things. You might have to say like, okay, you said that. You said that. And then you go to that person. You've been saying a couple of things because they'll deny everything. You've been saying a couple of things. I was just wondering, you know, what's that about? They'll deny. Oh, I didn't mean it. They'll try to make you sound crazy. I didn't mean anything about it. But a lot of times it will stop. If at least you call it out. Like, you know what? I'm not letting that stuff slide. And what I'm going to start to do, what I've changed my tactics a little bit, I will call it out privately. But if it keeps happening, you know, and like I said, this is nothing of anybody here. But the things that have happened over the last three years, some of these things where I've talked to people individually multiple times, they happen public, I will call it out publicly. Because, you know, the benefit of the doubt is, can endanger other people. The benefit of the doubt can endanger other people. And if you've been given multiple warnings privately, it's time to start calling things out you know, as it happens. I mean, you wouldn't believe some of the things that people just come up to me and that they've said to me. Like, and I'm just like, why are you asking me this stuff? People in groups, asking me like, private personal financial information. And I'm just like, why, but they're trying to get me to say things. Now I know. They're trying to get me to say things. They're trying to get me to like, say the wrong thing, maybe? I don't, I mean, now I know. But I mean, at the time, I was just like, why are you saying things like that? Why are you asking me these private questions? Why are you, I mean, literally like my finances, my personal finances at times. I'm just like, why would you ask me that question? So it just needs to be called out. It can't be let go. Turn to Proverbs chapter 35. Proverbs chapter 25. I'm sorry, there is no Proverbs chapter 35. If you have it in your Bible, you have the wrong Bible. Proverbs chapter 25. Proverbs chapter 25. Many times this, the Bible is so smart. The Bible is so smart. Look at Proverbs 25 and verse 23. Many times this is all it takes. Right here. Proverbs, this is, I'll tell you what, this will shut down a gossip. Proverbs 25 and verse 23. Look, the North wind driveeth away rain. Sold off an angry countenance, a backbiting tongue. Many times somebody comes up to you and they're like, hey, I'm just concerned. Look, many times what I have to do is just give an angry countenance. That you're just, you're not happy with what's happening. And I'm told that I have a pretty good one. I'm told that my wife tells me all the time, she's like, you gotta get better at that. When someone's saying something you don't like, it's so obvious. But you know what? I like it. I like it. Because guess what? You may not like exactly everything I do all the time, but I'm real, I'll tell you that. I'm real, I will never lie to you. And you know, you may do things different in every scenario and you can do that when you run your own church or whatever. But look, an angry countenance many times is enough to just shut this stuff down. That you know, I don't like that. I don't like that you're doing that. A look sometimes is just enough. But the point is, all this to say, all that to say this, don't allow this stuff to go on. Think about it outside of church. Look, outside of church, I am sure that you are going to run across, socialize, whatever with people that don't have your exact standards. I am sure that that is going to happen in your life. Okay, but look, it just, if you don't call things out, it will encourage bad actors and it will just become bigger and bigger problems. You need to stand up for the standards you are living. And guess what? If you don't, if you don't, you will produce weak children. Because guess what? As you stand up to those standards, your children will see you standing up to those standards. As your children are walking behind the bulldozer, they're going to see like, you know, the body's flying out the side, right? They're going to see like all the trees being cleared and they're going to be like, oh man, look at, look at this, that is this bulldozer. My mom is this bulldozer and they're going to learn to be bulldozers themselves for their families one day. And that, look, that's what it's going to take because it's a jungle out there. It's a jungle. We need to, you need to clear the rainforest. We need to cut down the rainforest. Someone will take that clip. But no, but you need to bulldoze the jungle for your kids and they'll see it happening. And so not only are the trees going to be clear but they're going to learn what they need to do. This strengthens them and you won't produce weak children. All right, so look. You just can't put up with it no matter how subtle it is. I mean, just think about all these things that people will say to you, we've dealt with this so much in our lives, especially since we should, we took such a hard right turn in our lives. We took a hard right turn in our lives. We started living completely different. We started, you know, attending different types of churches. But here's the thing, I mean, they subtle things, you go somewhere and maybe people know your standards. Maybe people know that you don't, your kids don't watch TV. Maybe they know that you don't allow your kids to watch the latest new cartoon that came out. And then people just start like bringing up like, oh, did you see the new Disney movie kids or whatever? And they do those things on purpose to try to attack your standard. Stuff, I go. I don't let that stuff go. Like I call that stuff out. And if it continues, we will not be in those situations anymore. So you gotta call those things out. I mean, oh, did your, did your, you know, maybe it is some new fun water park opens up and you know, we don't go to water parks for that. Oh, did you go to the new fun water park or are your parents denying you that too? You know, these types of things. People will attack your children many times. Look, many times when you're not there, which is we have to be careful who you leave your kids along with, by the way. But many times when you're standing right there, you can't let that stuff go. You gotta be that blade in front of them. Because look, that's an attack on them. Because they're trying to plant seeds inside your children. Be like, oh, oh, all these other kids here, they all saw the movie. And I didn't see it. I'm missing out on something. It plants a seed. Am I missing out on something? Should I take this code off? This code, I can't go to movies. I have this code on. You know, people are attacking me for this. You know, I can't go to this fun place because I'm wearing this code. Look, these are evil seeds that are being planted in your kids, and you need to burn these trees down. You need to bull those, these situations. And look, if they don't stop, here's the fundamental philosophy from the Christian parent right here. If they don't stop, zero tolerance, zero tolerance. If they don't stop, then essentially if you keep putting yourself in positions where these attacks keep coming and you keep putting your family in these positions where these attacks are constant, you are putting yourself in a situation that you can't control. You are putting yourself and your family in a situation where you can't control it. And look, you need to be able to control the safety of your family. The safety of your children as they wear that coat. Whatever it takes, that may mean some uncomfortable conversations in your life. If you never had an uncomfortable conversation about your Christian standards in your life, maybe you need to work on your bulldozer, your bulldozing skills. Because look, you can start and just be nice. You just be like, look, you know, you can't do this. You know, if we come and visit your place, you know, we don't want alcohol around. Like I don't want to tell you what to do in your house, but if there's going to be alcohol there, we're not going to be there. Very simple. I'm not trying to control your own home, but if those things are going to be there, we won't be there. It's very simple. Look, that's an uncomfortable conversation for a lot of people, but it's best to get used to it. So look, bullying comes from envy. We see that from the Bible. It could be verbal, it could be physical, but here's the thing, Christian kids will be given a hard time in public situations, especially the big one for kids is the public school system. There's no success there. There's no success there. Christians today just can't figure out why kids are rebelling against their, their upbringing, it's mind blowing to me. Because this is why the homeschool groups, and this is why a church family is so important because what we're doing is we're just sharpening, the kids are sharpening each other's confidence, because they're building each other up. Look, I'm not saying the kids are going to have any conflict in church. I mean, kids are kids, right? But you know what they're not going to do? They're not going to be busting somebody down for their Christian standards. They're not going to be breaking them down for their beliefs. They're not going to be coming after them for the coat that they're wearing. You know, kids will have conflict. That's just the way it is. No kids are perfect. But the point is, is that they need to be built up as we're raising them. And then they need to be trained to stand up for themselves and that primary training is going to come from you standing up for your family. That's where that primary, primary by seeing you that, hey, no one messes with us. We have these standards for a reason which hopefully you're teaching your kids and the Bible is going to teach your kids. And anyone who would attack that kids, we will not tolerate. And that's action. Okay, that's action. That's not just words. Okay, so look, we see where it comes from. We see how important it is for the kids. We see how important it is for us to stand up against it. Let me talk about just the secular world and their use of this word bullying for just a few minutes. Okay? Kids go, you're going to see this again and again and again. Kids go and then they do evil things like we saw last week. And then inevitably they do evil things. They do reprobate things. Like they murder other kids like we saw in Texas last week. And then ultimately, and if you haven't seen it, you're going to see more and more and more articles like this. Oh, it was because he was bullied. That's why he did it. Turn to Romans chapter one. Look folks, most people are not capable of what was done last week. Most people, most children, the vast majority of most people, I'm talking unsaved, unsaved people. Vast majority of unsaved people who have never been to church in their life are not capable of what happened last week in Texas. You say, so what's happening? And then the news and all the psychologists will say he was bullied. No, he was the bully. They have it exactly wrong. He was the bully. What have we learned about bullies? Let's look at Romans chapter one, look at verse 28. What have we learned about bullies so far this morning? Look at Romans 1, 28. And even as they did not like to retain God and their knowledge, here we're reading about people that have been given over, given up by God. God's like, you're done. They're not dead. They're living life on this earth and God's like, you're done. They were given over to a reprobate mind. They did not like to retain God and their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate mind. He rejected them to do those things which are not convenient, what things? Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of what? Full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiter, haters of God. This is why the Columbine shooters like literally like sought out people with the coat on. They went into the school and they were like literally looking for people with a coat of many colors. They were seeking them out, because why? Because they hate God, that's why. Despiteful, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. I mean, do these things all not fit what we just saw in Texas? Without understanding, covenant breakers. Look at this one, without natural affection. Look, we're not just talking about homosexuality here. Like, it's not natural to go and murder a child. That's not a natural thing. Most people are simply not capable of that. Thank God, thank God, who knowing the judgment of God, but they that which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but what? They have pleasure in them that do them. Look, these are people that they have pleasure in things that most people would abhor. I mean, it fits exactly what happened in Texas and God be with all those people and those poor kids are in heaven and God be with that whole situation. But this person, like, he was not bullied, he was the bully. He was the bully. He literally was full of envy and insecurity and murder. And the Bible tells us why this happens. He turned on God. He was a hater of God. Look, this is not a debate on what you can purchase at the local sporting goods store. People just bark up the wrong trees like crazy. Where are these monsters coming from? The Bible is telling us this. Turn to Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah chapter 54. Let's look at a contrast to this. Isaiah chapter 54. So, he is the bully, but they will get it exactly wrong. People without the Bible are so confounded that they will get things exactly wrong. They will come up with the exact wrong answer every single time. Just think about somebody who would take a test that way. You need to take a math test and you just come up with the wrong answer every single time and it's not even close. It's like opposite. The answer is like two plus two equals four and you're like two plus two equals a million, negative a million. You're just like completely wrong. You're as wrong as you possibly could be. Look at Isaiah 54 and verse number 13 or just look at the front of your bulletin. Now look at this. Here's the contrast of this. Here's the answer, folks. If people are looking at what's going on in our country today, well how could this be stopped? Look at the answer here. Isaiah 54 verse 13, it says, all the children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be what and what comes from that? Right shall be the peace of that children. So, this is how it's supposed to go. You're supposed to teach your children in the Lord. You're supposed to train them, nurture them, bring them up in the Lord. And you know what? You're the bulldozer in front of them. You're clearing the path because guess what? They're supposed to have peace. They will have peace in that. Unless someone takes that piece from them, unless someone starts whipping that coat off of them, they will have peace from that. They'll have peace from it and that's the answer. So look, this is something we need to, you must make sure that your children are not dealing with right here. They'll bark up all these trees, these other trees. It's the guns. I mean, give me a break. We all had guns in our cars in school. Every single one of us. There were so many guns in the parking lot of our school. It was ridiculous. We were better armed than, my wrestling team was better armed than the police department. And, oh, but we were great kids. No, we fought all the time. Like two of us getting a disagreement and go to the park. We just beat the living daylights out of each other. And we'd all get in our cars. They'd all had the guns in them and we would leave and like go hunting or whatever. But it's the kids. It's not what you could buy at Cabela's, folks. And it's gonna get worse. Why? Because we're not teaching the kids of the Lord. That's why. It's gonna get worse. We keep walking away from the Lord. There will be less and less peace. I mean, the Bible's not that complicated. We go into a lot of deep doctrines in the Bible. But really the Bible, I mean, I was just talking to my wife about this a couple of days ago. The Bible's pretty simple, actually. There's a lot of deep doctrines. There's a lot of prophecy. There's a lot of deep things you could find in the Bible. It's an infinite book. Don't get me wrong. But the general idea is pretty simple. You teach your kids of the Lord. You get in the Lord. You get in the Spirit. You will have peace. And it applies to you as an individual. It applies to you as a community. It applies to you as a state. It applies to you as a nation. With the Lord peace. Against the Lord. No peace. With the Lord. Freedom. We all like freedom. Freedom! Without the Lord. Servitude. That's just, look, that's just the way it's gonna go. That's just the way it's gonna go. Just like being saved. Freeze us. We were slaves to sin. We were slaves to sin. We were being hanged over this cliff of death. Of eternal death, the second death. Imagine. And we're completely free from that. How? Through Christ. That's how. It's the same thing in our physical lives and our individual lives in our nation. So look, I mean, since we know the answer, right? What's the advantage for the Christian parents? We know the answer. We can prepare for it. Right? We know the answer. We can prepare for it. These kids, these kids need a bulldozer. Is what your kids need. And you're like, well, I just, I just can't control. I can't control what happens when I take them here or when I take them there or when I do this. This is the problem. The parent may agree. The parent may be watching this on YouTube today and they'd be saying like, you know, I agree with you. We need to protect our kids. We need to be a bulldozer. But I can't help what happens to them when I take them to daycare. I can't help what happens to them when I take them to school. I can't control that. Then if you can't control it, they need to be out of there. That's it. You don't wanna hear that. People don't wanna hear that. Because guess what? That takes a major change. That takes a major change in a society where both parents are working and everyone's just addicted to money. They're addicted to nice houses. They're addicted to cars. They're addicted to a lifestyle. But guess what? You're putting your kids in a situation that you have no control over and you say, oh, I want them to be. I want you to be Warren brother. That's what you're doing to your kids. It takes action to actually be that bulldozer. You can't just talk about it. I mean, you have situations where kids are being bullied unto death today. And parents are literally help us to do nothing. They were help us to do anything. If we take no action in our lives, what is the point of knowing? If we take no action, what is the point of knowing all this stuff? What's the point of knowing the Bible, knowing all these answers, listening to preaching? We take no action. What is the point? Go to Ezekiel chapter 33 in verse number 11. We'll close here. You need to protect our kids. We need to clear the path. Look at Ezekiel 33 in verse number 11. Look at Ezekiel 33 in verse number 11. Look at how God here is talking to the nation. He's talking to the nation. And he says, say unto them, in verse number 11 of Ezekiel 33, as I live, sayeth the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But that the wicked, what? Turn from his way and live. And again, he says, turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways. Why, for why will ye die? Oh, house of Israel. He's talking to the nation of Israel here. He's saying three times he says, in order to live, you have to turn. You know what that means? In order for you to, you're like, I agree with this. This sounds good and bulldozer, yeah. I'm gonna say that next time somebody calls me a helicopter parent, but you have to do something. You have to take action. Otherwise, it is nothing. It means nothing. We are to teach our kids, train our kids, nurture our kids, teach them to be strong enough, not to tolerate it. And the way that they are gonna understand how to be strong is to see us doing the same. That's it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.