 Amen, so keep your place in Genesis chapter 9, we're going to be looking at that in just a few minutes, but tonight we're starting a new series and the series that we're looking at is Why God Gave Us Things, and we're going to look at some different categories over the next few weeks, probably take a break next week for the one year anniversary sermon, but we're looking at tonight, you know, why God gave us animals tonight. So the Bible has a lot to say about animals, Genesis chapter 9 is, you say why Genesis chapter 9, you know the creation story is in Genesis chapter 1, and we'll get there in a minute, but Genesis chapter 9 with regard to our relationship with animals, meaning people's relationship with animals, Genesis chapter 9 was a turning point, it was kind of a defining moment, and it kind of was a new covenant that affected the relationship that people and animals have together in the Bible. If you look down at Genesis chapter 9, I'll explain to you what I'm talking about. Verse number 1, so we're talking about after the flood, okay, so God literally flooded the earth, you know, Noah had the ark, and he had all the animals brought onto the ark. He had seven pairs of some animals, one pair of other kinds of animals, but he had all these animals on the ark to preserve animals along, you know, amongst, on the earth, so they could continue after the flood. So Noah, his seven family members with him, so eight people total, and all of these animals are coming through the flood, and they're now out of the ark, and God is making some new rules for Noah. Look at verse number 1, the Bible says, and God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Of course, the earth needs to be replenished at this point because everyone has been wiped out, you know, people were wicked, they were violent, and God had enough of it, and he flooded the earth. But look at verse number 2, the Bible says, and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every file of the air, upon all that moveeth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered. So this is an interesting point right here because if you've ever wondered, like I have, you know, how did Noah actually get all those animals on the ark? I mean, that must have been a lot of work to go and find all those animals and find all the, you know, the pairs of animals and get them onto the ark. Well, here's the thing, before the flood, the animals were not afraid of people. So what did Noah do? He just walked right up to them and just kind of, you know, herded them into the ark because it wasn't until this point, in verse number 2, after the flood where animals had the fear of people. So you say, what do you mean? Well, I'm talking about wild animals. I mean, if you've ever, you know, encountered a wild animal, whether it be a deer or a rabbit or what, you know, you see, if you go to Woodward Park and you see a rabbit along the trail and you try to walk up to that rabbit, why does, you know, what happens? It runs away. The same thing with the squirrels and all these things. They run away from people. Why? Because of Genesis chapter 9 in verse number 2. That's why. Because at this point, God put the fear and the dread of man into wild animals, okay? And this is where it came from in verse number 2. It did not exist before this in the Bible, okay? So that's how, I mean, that's how Noah caught the animals. If you think about it that way, they weren't afraid, they weren't running away from people at that point because that didn't happen until after the flood. Look at verse number 3. Something else changed as well after the flood. In verse number 3, the Bible says, every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things. Now in Genesis chapter 1, and we'll look at that in just a minute, in Genesis chapter 1, the Bible says that every green herb was food for the animals and for us. So essentially before the flood, people were vegetarians. It wasn't until after the flood that God says every animal now is for you to eat. He's talking about that's actually for you to eat. Look at Genesis chapter 1. Go to Genesis chapter 1 and let's go back to that story, the creation story in the Bible for just a few minutes. Look at Genesis chapter 1 and verse number, we'll start in verse number 26, in verse number 26. So the Bible says in Genesis chapter 9 verse 3 that now everything that liveth shall be meat for you, shall be food for you is what the Bible is saying there, even as the green herb. So he's adding animals to the menu in Genesis chapter 9 and verse number 3. Now look at Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. The Bible says, and God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the file of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So this verse 26 is the main difference between man and beast right here. It says, let us make man in our image. So man is made in the image of God. Animals are not. That is the main difference right there between men and animals. Look at verse 27. So God created man in his own image. Of course he says in our image he's talking about the trinity. He's talking about the father, the son and the holy spirit there in verse number 26. He says, God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him. Male and female created he them. And God blessed them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the file of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. So notice the things in verse number 28 that he says. Now this is the difference between what you will hear today with the environmental movement and the animal rights movement going on, you know, the Bible. You know, they'll twist the words of the Bible and they'll say we are to be, you know, good stewards of the earth and we're commanded, you know, and all these, they'll change these two words to make it look like we should, you know, be, you know, the earth should be, you know, ruling over us or something like this. But we have to understand that, and look, I'm all about being a good steward of the things that we've been given and we'll get to that when it comes to animals in just a few minutes. But notice the two words that the Bible says when it comes to animals. We are to subdue it, the earth, and we have to have dominion over the fish of the sea to follow the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Look at verse 29. So the key word here for animals is that our relationship towards animals is one of dominion. It's one of, what does dominion mean? It means domination. It means we are over the animals. It means the animals are subject to people. Look at verse 29. And God said, behold, I've given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat. And now this is a key difference between Genesis chapter one and Genesis chapter nine. It says, ants, we're talking about the herbs and the trees and the fruit and to every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air and to everything that creepeth upon the earth where there is life. I have given every what? Every green herb for meat and it was so. So the animals weren't eating animals. And the people weren't eating animals. It was just, it was the herbs and the plants and the greenery and the fruits that everyone was, that the people were eating and that the animals were eating. So everyone before the flood was vegetarians, basically, all right? Or, you know, especially before the fall. But look, the point is this. Why are animals here? That's what we're asking tonight. We see that this Genesis chapter nine after the flood, it's this kind of this marking point of our relationship with animals. We're all of a sudden the animals feared us and, you know, we were eating the animals now. So there's a definite change in the relationship. That relationship, you know, that started in Genesis chapter nine, it continues through today. OK? And that's going to change again and I'll get to that at the end of the sermon. But the first thing is obvious. The first reason that animals are here for us is this, for our food, as Genesis chapter nine says. Turn to Leviticus chapter 11. Turn to Leviticus chapter 11. And then not only did God say in Genesis chapter 11 that you can eat the animals now, but God gave specific direction to the nation, to the children of Israel, on which animals they were supposed to eat. OK? Which ones they could eat and which ones they couldn't. Now look at Leviticus chapter 11 in verse number one. Leviticus chapter 11 in verse number one. The Bible says, and the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron saying unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye will eat amongst the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven footeth, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that shall ye eat. So it's saying like, you know, beasts that chew the cud, meaning that, you know, these are the ruminants, OK, not to get too scientific into it, but we're talking about cattle, you know, have you ever heard that cattle have four stomachs? You know, this is how God gives us protein today, OK? We can't, you could not go out as a human being with the body that you have and live on grass. You couldn't do it. Your body wouldn't be able to, you know, break down the proteins that are in grass. If you didn't know this, grass itself, like just the grass in the field, is very high protein. You know, grass itself is like some grasses are over 20% protein, but this is how, but you can't digest grass as a human being. So it's saying here that, you know, beasts in the field, God gives specific direction on which beasts we are to eat, which we aren't in the Old Testament, OK? But he's saying beasts that chew the cud, meaning beasts that are able to have this, you know, they, not to get gross about it, but basically, you know, cows chew the cud, OK? What they do is they have four stomachs, they eat the grass, and then they regurgitate it, and then they, you know, they eat it again, and it's just like, it goes through all these different stomachs, and Brother Trevor can explain it to you later, but the point is they are able to digest grass, they are able to digest herbs, and they turn that into, like, meat protein that we eat. They turn that into hamburgers for us, OK? So the Bible's giving us direction on what to eat, what not to eat. Chewing the cud, you're able to eat that. Look at verse four. Nevertheless, these show you not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof, as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideeth not the hoof. So it's saying, you can't eat a camel because he does chew the cud, but he doesn't have a divided hoof, OK? So it's giving you just specific direction. And the Coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideeth not the hoof, he is unclean to you. And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideeth not the hoof, he is unclean to you. And the swine, though he divide the hoof and be cloven footed, so he has a divided hoof, but he doesn't chew the cud. So the pig, it says you're not, this is why Muslims and Jews to this day, you know, those religions, they don't eat pork because they're following this rule from the Bible. Or their flesh shall you not eat, their carcass you shall not touch, they're unclean to you. Look at verse number nine. These you shall eat of that are in the waters, whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters and the seas, and in the rivers, them shall you eat. So it's saying if you have a fish, that has fins and scales, you know, a fish that has scales basically, you can eat. A fish that doesn't have scales, you shouldn't eat. This is why, you know, you shouldn't ever eat catfish, just to let you know. I'm just kidding, but we'll get to that in a minute. But verse number 10. And then it have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers of all that move in the waters, of any living thing that is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you. And they shall even be an abomination unto you, you shall not eat of their flesh, but you shall have their carcasses in abomination. God goes on about birds saying, don't eat birds of prey, meaning like hawks and eagles and vultures, you're not to eat those birds, those are unclean. So all that to say this, we are to eat animals, God gives specific direction in the Old Testament for the people to not eat certain animals, and then God, I'm not gonna get into the details of it because we're gonna study through it in the book of Acts, but God literally, he just takes away those rules, and he says, just go ahead and just eat everything. You can eat everything now. There is nothing, he says to Peter, slay and eat. Because here we had in the New Testament, we had the gospel going to the Gentiles, and we had this mix of cultures, and God just completely takes away these rules on what we can and can't eat in the Old Testament. So today, we can eat anything. We can eat any animal that's out there. All that to say this though, there are practical reasons that certain animals were clean and certain animals were unclean. I'll just give you a few examples. I'll give you a few examples. We would, he goes on about birds. Now we would hunt birds. We would hunt ducks, and we would never wanna shoot ducks that were what we call diving ducks. And there were the ducks that would, certain ducks they tip, they're called puddle ducks, they tip and they just eat just under the water. And then certain ducks dive under the water and they eat off the bottom. They eat the junk off the bottom. So there were certain ducks that, we would make fun of someone if they shot one of those ducks because it was like they didn't taste good because it was disgusting because they just eat the garbage off the bottom. And we all know what sinks to the bottom of a pond. So certain things like that, like we would never in North Dakota in a million years eat a catfish. It doesn't have scales. In the Bible, it's unclean in the Old Testament. We would never eat a catfish. You go to the South, it's a delicacy. They're eating catfish like it's the most popular thing that you could ever have. We would catch a catfish and be like, oh, I can't believe you caught that and just throw in the ditch. Who's gonna eat that thing? But the thing is, would a cat their bottom feeders? They eat off the bottom. So certain things are unclean. In the news lately, there was a guy that got a bacteria and he died from eating raw oysters. And shellfish are unclean in the Old Testament. Look, we can eat all these things now. That's not what I'm trying to get you to understand. I'm trying to get you to understand that there was practical reasons for a lot of the things that also had spiritual application. Okay, so if you ever heard the rule like you should never eat shellfish, what do I mean by shellfish? Like crabs, oysters, anything that's like in a shell, lobster, you should never eat shellfish in the warmer months of the year. Why? Because in the South they would say never eat shellfish or oysters, especially anything raw. Never eat oysters in any month that doesn't have an R in it. What does that mean? Like the summer months, like May, June, July and August. Because in the warmer waters, there's more bacteria. A guy just died. He was eating raw oysters and he got one of these fleshy bacteria or whatever because it's just, it's not clean. You shouldn't eat raw fish anyway. But the point is that a lot of God's rules in the Bible, not just for food, but a lot of God's rules, they're good for us, they're practical for us, okay? Now look, I mean, we can eat bacon. We can eat all pork products and exactly. Amen. All right? So the point is that dieterrally today, God gave us, he changed the rules, told us animals are here for us to eat in Genesis chapter nine. For the nation of Israel, there was rules put in place. Those rules are gone for us today. We can eat whatever animals we want today. But I wouldn't go eating raw shellfish, especially in June because the Bible does have practical reasons for everything. So the first thing, why did God give us animals? The first reason is sustenance for food. Pretty obvious, okay? The second one is this, turn to Proverbs chapter 12. The second one is this, the reason God gave us animals was for, you know, property. Was to be, you know, something that we could own, that we could use. Look at Proverbs chapter 12 and look at verse number 10. So I mean, the Bible says a few things about, you know, animals as property. The Bible talks about, you know, don't covet your neighbor's ox. Don't cover, you know, your neighbor's livestock. There's rules in the Bible, civil law against, you know, if an animal would kill someone else on accident or not on accident. There's lots of different civil rules about that. The thing about animals as property though, there is nothing specifically in the Bible as far as civil law goes. And this is a big thing today, like animal cruelty and, you know, just like, you know, people wanting to prosecute, people that have animals as property. They say it's not fair, it's mean, all these different types of things. So first of all, what does the Bible say about having animals as property? It basically just says they are property. They belong to you. If you could, it's belongs to your neighbor, just like, you know, his crop or just like anything else that is his. His house is his property. Look at Proverbs chapter 12 and verse number 10. The Bible does talk about how we should treat animals. However, there's no civil law in the Bible saying if you are cruel to an animal, this should be your punishment. And I'll explain to you why that is. Look at Proverbs chapter 12 and verse number 10. Let me just read you two verses and then we can talk about this idea of animals as property and what animal cruelty is and is not. Okay, look at Proverbs 12, 10. The Bible says a righteous man regarded the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. So what do we know about the book of Proverbs? The book of Proverbs is talking about, it's many times in one verse it has opposite ends of the coin, right? So we're seeing here this exact same thing in this verse in Proverbs. It says a righteous man regarded the life of his beast. So it says, you know, a good man, a man that's right with God, he cares about his property. It's his property. It says his beast, it belongs to him. Okay, so he cares about the life of his cow, his ox, his ass, his dog, whatever it is, he cares about it. The opposite side of this is this though. Look at the next part of the verse. But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Okay, so let me just break this down for you. There's no penalty in the Bible for someone who would go out and just like, just harm an animal just to be cruel to it. However, the Bible is saying that someone that would do that is a wicked person, is wicked, okay? So first of all, we have to, let me define animal cruelty first of all, okay? When the Bible is talking about somebody who is cruel to his animal, he is talking about somebody who just like would go out and just like try to cause pain to a creature or to take a life of a creature for no reason, okay? For whatever, just for his own enjoyment, his or her own enjoyment. Turn to Proverbs chapter 27. Proverbs chapter 27, look at verse 23. Let me read you another verse about this. Proverbs chapter 27 and verse number 23. The Bible says, Now diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds. So here's the thing, folks. And here's what I've never really understood, okay? Animals, animals, I grew up, I grew up, you know, on the country, we raised sheep. I mean, we had livestock. It doesn't make sense for a person who is a good businessman, who is a good property keeper to just go and just uselessly take the life of his animals or to not take care of his animals or to just, you know, cause pain and suffering to his animals. It doesn't make any business sense at all, okay? And that's what the Bible is saying. It says, look well to your, to your flocks, look well to your herds. It's saying, you know, be diligent. Just like it says, do a good job at work. It's saying, look well to your property is what it's saying. And it's saying that if you're cruel to an animal, that's a wicked thing. So the reason, here's the reason why, here's the reason why, now when I say cruel to animals, I'm not talking about somebody who would be thinning a flock that, you know, of a herd, getting rid of some of his cattle or his sheep and taking them to market because they're not as productive as they used to be and selling them for hamburger or meat or anything like that. And I'm talking about someone who would just go out and just like, just want to herd an animal. Here's the reason that the Bible is not specifically giving a punishment against that. First of all, because animals are property, but second of all, because if somebody would do something like that, like someone would just take a, I mean, there was a kid, and I don't want to get too graphic, but there was a kid in high school and when I went to high school that I never saw it happen, but it was like a big deal in the school. And this kid, like he was like an eighth grade and he, it was a story about how he was with a bunch of other kids and there was some, you know, like some cat had kittens or something and he just took a bat and he like, he like killed one of the kittens in front of all of these other kids. And it was like a huge thing in the school. Like, can you believe this guy did this? And I was just like, see, like that right there is a sign of major problems elsewhere. You see what I'm saying? Somebody that would do something like that, just herd an animal for just the, the strict reason of just like watching something be in pain and watching something die. The reason the Bible doesn't have to have a rule against that is because there's major other problems there that are going to be punished. Okay, there's major issues with somebody that would do, you know, something like that. So the Bible is definitely against that type of thing. Okay, animals, we're to have dominion over the animals. We, they are property to us. If you have a dog or a cat as a pet, that dog or cat is your property. That dog or cat is your property but somebody that would just go and intentionally cause pain for no reason to an animal, there's other issues there. That's why you hear all these stories about like these people that are like crazy serial killers and they're like, oh yeah, when they were eight years old they were doing this to animals or whatever. You know, because like, that's what the Bible's talking about in Proverbs 12. It's saying somebody that would just intentionally be cruel to anything is like, that's a sign of wickedness right there. It's like a sign of something major being wrong, okay? So the Bible is not for cruelty to animals, okay? It's not specifically addressed in the civil law but the point is a normal person wouldn't do something like that, okay? And look, a rancher or a farmer who's raising cattle or sheep or pigs or whatever, it doesn't make any sense for them to do it. It's not good for business. It's not good for business to cause stress to your animals and just not be, you know, good to your animals. But let's look at the other side of this, all right? We're not to worship them as people, okay? We're not to worship animals as people, all right? Now I can only find one whole story in the Bible about a pet, okay? But let's look at the only story I could find in the Bible about a pet. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12. Let's talk about pets for just a few minutes, all right? We have to remember that animals, we are still to have dominion over animals and animals are not created in the image of God. They are not people, okay? And we're gonna get more specific on that in a little bit but the only verses in the Bible that I could see describing what we would call today as a pet is in 2 Samuel chapter 12 in the analogy that Nathan gives to David when he comes to confront David about his sin. Look at verse number one of 2 Samuel chapter 12. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. So what has David done? David has, he has committed it, not only has David committed adultery as he's stolen another man's wife and been with another man's wife but he has then to cover up his sin, he has then taken that man and sent him into the front lines of battle. I mean Uriah, I mean a great, one of the mighty men. You know, Uriah, he was sent into battle and he was killed to cover up David's sin. And God sends Nathan the prophet to confront David, okay? Uriah, I mean the story always makes me sad about Uriah, how he would not go back to his house and he was just such a good man. He was such a loyal man. He didn't wanna go back to the comfort of his house because his men, his soldiers were out laying in the field and they were out at war and he didn't want any comforts when David brought him back and David sent him to die to cover up his adultery with Uriah's wife. Look at verse number one. The Lord sent Nathan unto David and he came unto him and he said unto him, there were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds. So again, flocks and herds are what? Their property, okay, their property. But the poor man had nothing, save one little Ulam, which he brought and nourished up and it grew together with him and with his children and it ate of his own meat and drank of his own cup and laying his bosom and it was unto him as a daughter. Now I can tell you from Raising Sheep, this is true. This will happen. There's something called a bottle lamb, okay? There's something called a bottle lamb. When a U has a lamb and then the mom dies for whatever reason, now you have a lamb without a mother, so the kids, specifically Ashley, would go out and they would have, I mean, every four hours. Can you imagine? Every four hours you have to feed this lamb. And we had, the last year we were on the farm, we had 180 lambs. You know what that barn sounds like when you go in there? It sounds like a bunch of babies screaming as loud as they possibly can. But you would walk into that barn and that one bottle lamb would just come sprinting right to Ashley and just go right up against her leg. Because that was like her mom. So these lambs, they get used to the people that take care of them, especially in the cases of these bottle lambs. So I can totally see a lamb like just totally being this close to a person. I mean, and look, I mean, I don't care. You show me every puppy in the world. There's nothing cuter than a lamb. I mean, there is nothing cuter and more affectionate. This little lamb would run until she was a year old, she would run up to Ashley and just nudge Ashley until Ashley would like brush her with this one certain brush. Just like rub her up against her side until she would brush her with this brush. I mean, this lamb remembered her snowflake, right? Remember snowflake? I still remember the lamb's name. But the point is animals can get very affectionate to people and people can get very attached to animals. That was this man right here with this lamb. Verse number four, there came a traveler unto the rich man and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb. Here this guy had lambs everywhere and dressed it for the man that was come to him. David, I mean, he's telling the story to David, like this is the only lamb the guy had was this pet of his, this bottle lamb. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man and he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that had done this thing shall surely die. David was so mad that he went over the top because look, if you steal somebody's animal, you don't die for that. You have to pay him back two-fold or four-fold. But you don't, you're not, David's like, just kill him. David's so mad at this story that he's like, this guy should just be put to death for stealing this guy's one lamb. And literally he's talking about what David did to Uriah by taking his wife. When David had all these wives, he had everything he could possibly want. He's like, no, I want that guy's only you lamb. That's what Nathan is getting at. He said he shall restore the lamb four-fold because he did this thing because he had no pity. Okay, look, now David's talking about how he had no pity on the man, not the lamb. Okay, he's talking about how he had no pity on the man, not the lamb. Not that, you know, they don't point out how it was cruel to the lamb. Okay, but the purpose of pets, I mean, look, pets can, pets are a good thing. Okay, pets are a good thing. Turn to Matthew chapter six. Turn to Matthew chapter six. And look at verse 26. That's the only pet story I could find in the entire Bible. But the point is this. Pets are a good thing in our lives. Look at Matthew chapter six and verse 26. The Bible says, behold the fowls of the air for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they? So first of all, the Bible here is saying in Matthew chapter six verse 26 that we are better than the animals. Which matches Genesis chapter one where it says we're to have dominion over the animals. But what's the purpose of, here's my number one benefit in my opinion on why pets are good. And this is why, Matthew six, 26. It gives children something to care for in a godly way. You see how the Bible says, who does the Bible say that takes care of the fowls of the air? Who does the Bible say takes care, I mean this is saying God takes care of the wild animals here. It says the fowls of the air, they're not out there, the birds, they're not out there planting crops for themselves. They're not out there growing fields. It's like God just takes care of them. So it is for a child. This is why it's so beneficial. We have chickens and ducks, not because there's any profit to that. It's a huge money loss. But there's not any profit to it. But what it does is it gives the children godly responsibilities. As God takes care of the fowls of the air, those chickens, they're not gonna grow crops. They're not gonna get on their little tractors and go in the plow field. It's like they need someone, and I've said that to the kids many times. You know when they forget to do their chores. So like those animals' lives are depending on you. Especially when it's 106 degrees outside. If you don't feed those animals, if you don't put water in those animals' waters, they are going to die. That is a very good responsibility for children to understand. That is the number one benefit to pets. And you're all like, oh, but I don't think, that's the number one. If you're raising kids, the only reason that I just wanna have pets for the kids and want the kids to have animals is for that reason. It was so great for the kids to grow up on a farm where they knew that these animals depended on us. It teaches them responsibility. And guess what? Godly responsibility. Because as God feeds the birds, now they're taking on a task of taking on and helping God's creation, these animals survive. It's a great Godly lesson for children. My father-in-law says every little boy should have a puppy. You know, what he's talking about is like, he should have that responsibility. Yeah, it's good to have a companion and a puppy, but he should have the responsibility too. He should have the responsibility of taking care of a dog and just raising an animal, all these things. Okay, now look, obviously animals and pets, they are companions as well. And they're great for just like this man. It says it was as a daughter to him. Okay, it should not take the place of your daughter. It should not take the place of our family members. Like sometimes we have this kitten and sometimes I'm wondering if this kitten's moving in on me. I'm like, hey, cat, can I talk to my wife for a while? But I mean, it should not take the place of relationships with people in our lives. That's the only caveat I would say to relationships with pets is that it shouldn't take the place. We're meant, we are social creatures. I just said that we were coming back from soul winning the other day and we kind of drove through this area of town that was kind of like country and there wasn't many houses around and then we just get into town and there's like all these people. And here's the funny thing about people. The funny thing about people is you may go into a city and say like, people in this city are really mean and really they're not really nice but here's the thing, people like being around people. We're social, we're built that way. We're supposed to have relationships with people. That's why when people get locked in their house for two years, they get all depressed and things start going crazy with them because we're meant to be around other people. So pets are good. Pets are good. Pets give children godly responsibilities. I'm all for that. And they provide, and there could be times when people just, they just don't have other people. Maybe you have a person whose spouse has died and they just haven't had, they don't have a relationship with people that pet can help people get through things. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter three. But this can be taken too far. This can be taken too far. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter three and verse number 19. So I have seen this verse in the Bible used to equate people and animals. Okay, turn to Ecclesiastes chapter three and look at verse number 19. We've already seen plenty of evidence in the Bible that we are to have dominion over the animals, that we are better than the animals, that God says we are better. Animals are not created in the image of God as man is, but we, so we're not equal with animals. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter three and verse 19. And hopefully after the sermon this morning this makes more sense to you. But look at verse 19. It says, for that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts. Even one thing befalleth them. As one dieth, so diet the other. Yay, they all have one breath so that a man have no preeminence above a beast for all his vanity. See, men and beasts are equal. All that verse is saying is that man and beast, look, what is Solomon trying to get across to us in Ecclesiastes? He's trying to get across to us in Ecclesiastes like, hey man, get it together, you're gonna die. It's like, hey man, start living your life in something that's worth reward. Start grabbing those chances, start using that time because you are going to die. And when you die and your soul goes to heaven, it's like, what you can do on this earth is done. What he's saying in Ecclesiastes three 19 is that man, he's not so much even talking about the beast here. He's saying, man, he's like, you're gonna die just like the animal dies. He's saying, that's the one thing that you share in common with the beast is that you're both gonna stop breathing and die. Physically, that's what he's talking about, okay? So, look, let me read you a quote from PETA, okay? A quote from PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Here's what PETA says. This is like their mission statement, okay? This is taking things too far. PETA opposes speciesism, a human supremacist worldview. Okay, so PETA is against this idea that we are better than the animals. Okay, this is like, you may laugh, but this is dangerous. This is extremely dangerous philosophy. A human, it opposes a human supremacist worldview. We're not talking about white supremacists here. We're not talking about racism. We're talking about like literally saying that we are to have dominion over the animals. PETA is against that. Look, they're against the Bible. They're against the Bible. And focuses attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest period of time in laboratories, in the food industry. Well, I'm sure they are food. Yeah. In the clothing trade, in the entertainment business. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of rodents, birds, and other animals who are often considered pests. Let me tell you something. Animals, if you raise animals on a farm, in a ranch, if you even have a home, there are certain animals that you will have to kill because they will destroy your property. They will destroy your property. They will destroy your other animals. We would shoot pigeons in the barns. Why? Because I like to shoot pigeons? No, because the pigeons will kill the sheep. That's why. So I have a good friend of mine who goes to church in Verity Baptist Church and he raises pigeons. And I would always be like, why do you raise pigeons? Because like for years and years and years, I despised pigeons. Because what they do is they go in the barn and their droppings get in the feed, and their droppings carry a disease that kills lambs. So in order to be a good steward of my lambs, of the sheep, to be a good shepherd, we had to get rid of the pigeons. And we had to get rid of them with prejudice because they would do a lot of damage. They would kill a lot of lambs if we did not do anything about it. This is not animal cruelty, okay? Animal cruelty like we brought up before is just like just the senseless, just hurting for no reason of an animal. That is against what the Bible says. Turn to Romans chapter one. Turn to Romans chapter one. Mice and rodents carry diseases that can kill people. You know, they carry like a real concern in North Dakota with people that had farms and grain bins and things like this was something called a hantavirus. It was a virus that was carried by mice. I haven't seen, there's not a mouse within 10 miles of Fresno. There's so many cats in Fresno, it's ridiculous. But the point is that, and that's fine with me because I can't stand mice. They just, they ruin everything. They cause disease and, you know, again, if you love other animals, you know, in your other property, you know, you have to get rid of these pests. That is not animal cruelty. Look at Romans chapter one in verse number 25. This is the levels that people like Peter have gone to. The Bible says, talking about people that have just rejected God, they've turned on God, it says they changed the truth of God into alive, verse 25, and worshiped and served the what? The creature more than the creator who is blessed forever, amen. The funny thing that you will find with people like Peter and people that are just, they're over the top on animals and people are the same is they don't care about people. They don't care about people. How do I know? They'll go and they'll just be for 60 million abortions. They could care less. Just abort, every unborn child in the world, but don't you, you know, mistreat a cow. Look, something is wrong with that person. Something has gone wrong with that type of person. And I find it interesting when Romans chapter one is describing people who have turned on God and been given over to an unnatural, reprobate mind to do all sorts of wickedness and perversion. I find it interesting that that is one of the characteristics right there, that they worship and serve the creature more than the creator. Imagine God in heaven. Imagine God in heaven where he had to like make these rules to say, hey, don't worship animals. He had to look down on many as like, I'm not to make a rule or they're gonna start worshiping that cow. I mean, just imagine God having to deal with us. I mean, how embarrassing, right? How embarrassing. So how about this one? Turn to Job chapter 39. Why animals? We're talking about why did God create? Why did God give us animals? First of all, so we could eat for food. Second of all, you know, to be property. To be property for us. Many people make a living just by having animals as property. Just by what? By raising animals, by improving animals, and by selling animals. Many people make a living doing that. There's nothing wrong with that that's very biblical. Turn to Job chapter 39. Here's another one. God gave us animals for our use, to use. Not just to eat, not just to have as property, but to actually use. In Job chapter 39, we see a lot of verses in Job chapter 39 all over the book of Job, actually. Just talking about the different characteristics of animals and some really cool characteristics are in Job chapter 39 and verse number 19. My daughter liked this because it talks about horses. Okay, look at verse 19. It says, has thou given the horse strength? So what does it think about a horse? This is actually one of the reasons I didn't like horses growing up. It's because they were so strong. I mean, they were so strong, it was just 1200 pounds of solid muscle that could just like, they could accidentally kill you. I mean, a horse could just accidentally kill you. Be like, oh, oops, you're dead. How has thou closed his neck with thunder? What does that mean? We're talking about animals for our use. The horse has a very specific use that the Bible talks about here. It says, can't thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He poth in the valley and rejoices in his strength. He goeth on to meet the armed men. Now look at verse number 22. So we see that the horse is very strong but the horse has another interesting characteristic here. It says, he mocketh at fear. This is why this characteristic right here is that it says the horse, the horse is fearless. And this is why the horse was used in war. The horse was used by men for defense, for war. I mean, Calvary, just ever, I mean, for the last thousands of years, up until the last probably 200 years, the horse itself was a deciding factor in battles, completely. If you go and you study military history, tactics, it's just like nobody could stand up. Even in the Bible it says, well, they have so many chariots. Why? Why are they so powerful? Because that means they have that many horses. They have that many horses. I mean, an army that didn't have Calvary could not stand up to a charge from an army that had a heavy horse Calvary. It was just a known fact. But why the horse? Because he wasn't afraid in situations like that. He's not afraid and neither turneth he back from the sword. Men would have spears and swords and the horse would just charge right into that. The quiver rattled against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swallowed the ground with fierceness and rage. Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. What is Jesus coming back on, by the way? A horse. He's coming back on a horse. He saith among the trumpets, ha ha. He smelt the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting. So a horse is to be used as these specific characteristics. Horses, up until about 70 years ago, horses were used because of their strength. They were used to plow fields. I still remember my grandpa had all the plows lined up along the fence that they used to use. It wasn't that long ago. We're talking about 1950, 1940s. They were still using horses. Also turned to Exodus 23. Turned to Exodus 23. Talking about days that we should work and days that we should rest. The Sabbath in the Old Testament, Exodus 23. There was another reason why we weren't supposed to just work seven days in a row. And it wasn't just for us. Look at verse 12 of Exodus chapter 23. Verse number 12 of Exodus chapter 23. The Bible says, six days shall thou do work. And on the seventh day thou shalt rest that thine ox and thine ass may rest. So it's like your animals that are doing this work. You know, so you would strap yourself into this plow. I've never actually done it. But I've been behind the thing playing with it in the field. But you strap yourself along and the animal pulls it. The animal pulls it through the dirt. Look, and you need a heavy animal, a strong animal to do that. That's what the ox was for. That's what the ass was for. To carry things that men couldn't carry. You say that's archaic, but look, that stuff was going on in the 50s. For 6,000 years of human history, that is what did the work in the field. Up until just the last 70, 100 years. Think about this one. As far as animals for our use. Think about dogs. I mean, we could go on and on and on, but just think about dogs. I would go bird hunting. I've been bird hunting most of my life. And my brother-in-law and I, we would bird hunt for years together. And we would always go out, and whether we were shooting pheasants or shooting ducks, we would shoot so many birds, but we could only find a certain percentage of them. And I remember telling him one time, just telling him like, you think there'll ever be a time, because we don't come back from hunting. We'd always say, like man, we got 10, but we should have had 15 or whatever. Because one landed where we couldn't find it, or it ran off. Pheasants, you shoot them, you think they're down, and they hit the ground, and they run like a road runner. And I've been in a foot race with a pheasant, and you will not win. And they can run faster than a person. It's crazy, but they can. It's a little tiny bird, like this big. But then I got a dog. But then I got a dog. And then that way, when we got that dog, when I had that black lab, if I shot 10 ducks, I came home with 10 ducks. If I shot eight pheasants, we came home with eight pheasants, because that dog, we get every single one of them. And not only could that dog run them down and find out where they were, but we wouldn't walk by anything. Many times you'll walk by when I got the, my biggest surprise when I started hunting with that dog was we would be walking through fields and walking through brush, and you would think, and the dog would put his nose under a snowy patch of grass. And I'd be like, what, are you crazy dog? And there's a bird under there every time. And we just sort of walk by those birds, because they just hunker down, and you would never see them. But the point is, they have a sense of smell. They're fast. They can find things. Animals are here. They have characteristics that God has given them. That are for our use. That are for our use. The point I'm trying to get at is this. I mean, just to wrap this all up, animals are to be a blessing for us. Animals, but we are to have dominion over them. They're for our use. They're for our food. They're for our property. They're for our business. I mean, there's entire businesses where all they do is raise animals, produce animals, improve animals through breeding. This was my wife's dad. He raised cattle, and he improved his cattle for years and decades and decades. And this was his business. This was his business. Look, you don't do well in a business like that by just being senselessly cruel to animals. It takes care of itself. The better that you can do at this, the better steward you can be to animals, the better you will do at a business like that. But the point is this. We're not that worship then. We are created in the image of God. Men were created in the image of God, not animals. Turn to Romans chapter eight. Animals do not have souls. And this is to go to the address, the whole cartoon. All dogs go to heaven, or whatever that cartoon was called. Animals do not have souls. Animals do not have souls. Look at Romans chapter eight. And look at verse, look at verse number 20. The Bible here is saying, look at verse number 19. Actually, verse number 18. Let's go back and we'll just read verse number 18 through verse number 23. And then I'll explain what this is talking about. The Bible says, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. If you are gonna put a bracket from 18 to 23, that is the key defining verse right there. That we are living in a fallen world. We are living in a fallen world. It says the glory is not here yet. We are not looking, you do not have, I don't care how good looking you think you are, you are not living in your glorified body right now. Your body is gonna have problems. Your body is gonna get sick. You know, it's just we all are gonna have issues and then we're gonna physically die one day. We're gonna physically die. Is I reckon the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Look, the glory's coming is what he's saying. But he's saying in the next few verses, the creation right now is fallen. The creation is fallen. Look at verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the creature, waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. He's talking about the creature there kind of in reference to the creation itself. Okay, look at verse 20. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who was subject in this, subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and the glorious liberty of the children of God. Now we have to keep reading because people can misconstrue that one as well. It's just saying that the creation is fallen. The creatures are fallen just like us. For we know that the whole creation, verse 22, groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Even creation itself is under a curse. We're under a curse right now. And it says, and not only they, but ourselves also which? Now here's the difference right here. Here's the difference between the creatures and us. It says which have the first fruits of the spirit. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves. That's the difference between us and the animals. We have the first fruits of the spirit. What happened to you when you got saved? You were sealed by the Holy Spirit. You got the earnest of the Holy Spirit. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit within you. Animals do not. That's the difference. The only reason I bring up that animals' souls do not go to heaven is because it gives into this philosophy and we met this guy today, literally. We literally met a guy today that says everyone goes to heaven. Here's the thing. We should not tell children things that are not true. We should not, even though they may sound good, we should not tell children about the Easter Bunny. We should not tell children about Santa Claus because it's not true. We should not children, when their pet dies, we should not say, oh, your pet's in heaven because it's not true. The pet doesn't have a soul. Okay, it is a hard thing for a child to lose a pet. That is okay. They will get over that. The pet is there for their companion. It's that, look, my kids have seen so many animals die that it's, you know, I don't wanna say it's not a big deal to them, but they understand what it is and what it isn't. Okay, I don't like this idea to tell kids things to make them feel better that aren't true. You know what this leads to? This leads to the guy who's 60 years old at the door that tells a pastor of a Baptist church that everybody goes to heaven. That's dangerous. That's dangerous because guess what? If everybody goes to heaven, what was the point of Jesus? If everybody goes to heaven, there must not be a hell. If there's no hell, see the sermon on what if there was no hell. I mean, we would live in a completely unjust, wicked, violent world and society. Okay, so look, these small things are kind of a big deal. Now, turn to Isaiah chapter 11. Turn to Isaiah chapter 11. Is heaven gonna have animals? You know, I don't know, maybe. But the millennial reign will have animals. I know that because the Bible tells us that the millennial reign will have animals. Turn to Isaiah chapter 11 in verse number six. Isaiah chapter 11 in verse number six. So the Bible in Isaiah chapter 11 is talking about the millennial reign of Christ when Christ will rule and reign for a thousand years. Okay, and look at verse number six. It says, the wolf. Now, see, here's the beauty of the millennial reign with Christ. In Genesis chapter nine, the animals became afraid of us. The animals started eating animals. We started eating animals. In the millennial reign, it goes back to the way it was. Because things are gonna be good again. Look at verse number nine, or verse number six. It says, the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them. I mean, you wanna talk about a bunch of people, a bunch of creatures that wouldn't normally be playing together today. A lion, a small child, a lamb, a wolf. I mean, coyotes were a huge problem for us. Because why? Because they would kill, they would kill the lambs. You know what I'm saying? They're all gonna be like hanging out. Like laying down together. So all this animosity and all this, you know, animals being afraid, it all goes away in the millennial reign of Christ. But guess what? There's animals there. All right, no, look, I mean, like I said, we're not to worship them. Isaiah 65 is the same thing. Talks about how there's animals in the millennial reign of Christ, turn to Revelation chapter 22, and we'll end here, and we'll end here. So the wildness goes away. I mean, right now, there's wildness in animals. You literally, this is another reason that you can't really ever trust an animal. It's because there's wildness in animals. Genesis chapter nine, verse number three. My wife, she grew up on a ranch as well, and she found like her dad and the barn found a baby raccoon when she was a kid. And so they raised this baby raccoon. I don't think raccoons are cute. If you think raccoons are cute, you've never met an actual raccoon. Okay, they're very nasty, mean animals. All right, they're rodents. But the point is, is she had this pet raccoon and they raised it up, and pretty soon this raccoon started like attacking the kids. Like why? Because they were cruel to it? It's a wild animal. Genesis chapter nine, verse number three. That's it. And that all goes away in the millennial reign of Christ. Turn to Revelation chapter 22, in verse, in Revelation 21, I'm sorry, Revelation 21, in verse number four. So will the new heaven and the new earth have animals? That I don't know. The Bible doesn't say, but here's what I know. Okay, here's what I know. Your pet doesn't have a soul and your pet doesn't go to heaven. And you're like, oh, that makes me really sad. Here's what I know. You won't be sad about it. Look at verse number four of Revelation chapter 21. The Bible says, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there should be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away. Here's what I know about the new heaven and the new earth, is that you won't miss anything. That everything will be perfect. You won't be sad about anything. The most sad thing that you can think that you would probably be sad about when you get to heaven is that your relatives are not there. Or that people that you know and love on this earth, I mean, forget the pets, your actual relatives and people that you loved on this earth that were not saved. We're all gonna know people like that, but the Bible says that we won't have that sorrow. The Bible says that there will be no more sorrow about that. So look, animals, pets are a great thing. It's good for responsibility. It's good for kids to understand that something else is depending on them. They have to care for something. It's better than like a doll for a little girl or something because a doll, if you forget, you don't feed a doll, you have to actually take care of these things. That's a very godly, it's a very godly chore for a child to do. It's very biblical for a child to grow up caring for an animal, having a pet, all those things. But look, the bottom line is, we're to have dominion over the animals. We have to dominion over them. It's okay to eat animals, even the vegans today. I'm just like, okay, all you eat is plant food, but do you know how many animals are killed, like raising a crop? Like, what in the world? I mean, it's not thinking people. You know, they're like, I would never wanna hurt any animal, yet they wear shoes that are made of leather or whatever. Even if their shoes are made of plants, which I've met these people too. It's like, to raise a plant, you have to plow a field and kill every rodent and every rabbit and everything that was living where that field is. It's just not a thinking or biblical perspective. It's okay to eat animals, pay attention to being safe with what you eat, with shellfish and all those types of things and the Bible has some good lessons there. But the point is, God gave us animals for a blessing, right? They don't have souls, we're to have dominion over them and certainly not to worship them, okay? And that's why you will see that people that are way over the top with animals could care less about human life and are very ungodly people. Love your pets, take care of your animals. That's all good things to do and the Bible backs that up. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.