 Amen. So keep your place in Colossians chapter 2. We'll get there in just a minute. So the sermon this morning is going to be a little bit different than most sermons that I'll preach here, especially on Sunday mornings. So if you came here to get your face torn off or to get yelled at this morning, you'll have to wait until next week. This sermon is going to be a little bit geared towards kind of the outside. I want to kind of represent us to people that are not here, especially maybe different places in the country. We have a lot of online listeners at this point and very thankful for that. And a lot of those listeners will send emails to the church and whether those be questions or encouragement, those things are very much appreciated. I do look at those, but I do see in those emails and those comments and those questions, I see a lot of I see a lot of mindset towards California and towards even the West Coast in general that I believe is not correct and not rooted in reality. So I did preach a sermon last year. I think I'll preach a sermon along these lines once a year, but I preached a sermon last year why you should move to California. This morning I want to preach a sermon called Misconceptions About California. And I want to kind of show, you know, kind of represent us to people that are outside maybe watching us from places other than California. Before we get into the Bible this morning, let me just say this about the media today. So the media today is manipulating people. The media today is many times it's outright lying to people, but there's a lot of media manipulation today, meaning they made the media or cable news or whatever that is and even news sites now, they purposely manipulate people. What do you mean? Well, I mean here's basically an example of what they do. Now let's say that I knew someone very well and I knew someone for years and years and years and I didn't like this person. I knew good things about this person and I knew bad things about this person. If I wanted to manipulate someone and they asked me about this person, I would just hold back all the good things that I knew and only say the bad things about that person and I could paint that person in a bad light. So this is what the media does with a lot of things today. Look, many things they just outright lie about and they know they're lying and they're just trying to, they're pushing an agenda that is a wicked agenda, but many things in the news they try to manipulate people by withholding information and only putting certain information in front of you. On the other hand, if I wanted to paint someone in a good light, I would just withhold all the bad things I knew about that person and just tell you only the good things. But the point is, I would be manipulating you in that case and look, this is very effective and this is why the media does it. So look, a perfect example of this. A perfect example of this when it comes to California is this. I have been told since, and look, let me just say this before I start the sermon. I have a very good perspective on this. You say, why? Because I'm not from California. I'm not from California. I grew up in the Upper Midwest in North Dakota, my, almost my entire life. I lived and I've also lived in Texas for nearly 10 years. So I've lived in the South. I've lived in the Midwest. I've been to the East Coast several times. I've never lived there. I've been all over the South. I have a very decent perspective as far as what I was told about California and now having lived here what California actually is. So that's why I want to give this sermon to you this morning. A good example of manipulation is this. I have been told since I could listen and hear and understand that everyone is fleeing California. I have been told that my whole life. Don't go to California. Everybody's getting out of California. I was told that when I was in North Dakota. I was told that when I was in Texas. And look, I actually knew some people that moved from when I was in Texas. I worked for a company who was headquartered in San Jose, California. And I knew several people that moved to Texas from California. And I was just told everybody's leaving California. And that's what I believed. That's what I believed. I believed everybody was leaving. Let me just give you some stats. This is not the media manipulates situations. In recent history, meaning 20 years back, the only two years that the population has actually declined in California. This is why it was such a big news locally, because it had never happened before, was in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, the population dropped 0.76% in California. In 2022, the California population dropped 0.71%. But guess what? Back in 2023, it's now we're back positive again. So as a net result for 20 years back, the population of California is actually growing. More people are actually moving to California than leaving California. Are some people leaving California? Yes. More people are coming though. Even recently, and of course, what happened in 2021 and 2022, COVID and all kinds of businesses. And was that a result of the policies of the state? Probably, I don't know. But it's back to positive again. People are moving back to California. That's the truth of it, folks. That's the truth of California. There's 39 million people here and people are still coming here. This is not to deny that California has problems. This sermon, by the way. This is just to give you the full picture of what is actually happening. So I want to give you some misconceptions of California today. Turn to Colossus chapter 2. You're already there. We just read the chapter. A major theme in the book of Colossians is focusing on the spiritual. This church must have been having trouble with this type of thing. Because a major theme, especially in Colossus chapter 2 and Colossus chapter 3 that we're going to look at this morning, a major theme in Colossians is like, hey, get your mind off the things in this world and get your head in the spiritual. Get your head in the things of Christ. Look at Colossus chapter 2 in verse number 8. You say, why? What can focusing on the things of this world? And I'm not even talking about material things and riches and covetousness. I'm talking about just like the principles of this world, as the Bible says here. Look at verse number 8 of Colossus chapter 2. This church must have been struggling with this. But look, this is in the Bible for a reason a lot of people struggle with this. A lot of people struggle with this type of thing. It says, beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. The Bible here is saying, Paul is saying to this church he's saying these things, focusing on these things can spoil you. What does that mean? What does that mean? He's talking about your Christians here. He's talking about making you worthless. He's talking about making you an unfruitful Christian here. I mean spoiled. I mean that's the opposite of good fruit right there. You're spoiled through what? Philosophy and vain deceit. Look at this. After the tradition of men and the rudiments of the world. That is not talking about the love of money and just wanting things. That's talking about the traditions of men and the rudiments of this world. Rudiments means like first principles or the principles of this world. This could be applied directly to politics. The first misconception about California is that it's all liberal. And people are just obsessed with the fact that California, what do they think? It's all liberal. But the Bible here is saying that this shouldn't affect you. First of all, it's not true. I'm going to give a little Central Valley note after each one of these points this morning. Because I believe the Central Valley, in my opinion, where Fresno is, is one of the best kept secrets in California. But look, the Bible here is saying don't let politics and liberal conservative and all these things, don't let it spoil you. Here's what I'm going to tell you about California. As a Bible believing Christian who is faithful to the Bible, who is trying my best to live my life for the Lord Jesus Christ, the liberal politics in California affect me zero. You say what? How is that possible? We watch the news from Vermont or wherever we live, and if I'm looking outside, I just picked a state that just popped into my head. But we watch the news, and California is doing all these wicked things about abortion and about all these things. Yeah, I mean, that's all true. We have wicked liberal leadership in this state. For sure. But that doesn't affect me as a Bible believing Christian. So you ask yourself, where's the line? Turn to Romans chapter 13. This is the line of authority in your life. Well, when does it affect you? When could, you know, policies affect you? Just in Romans chapter 13, let me go ahead and turn there myself. In Romans chapter 13, it kind of gives us this philosophy of, you know, this methodology, so to speak, of where that line should be. Look at Romans chapter 13, according to the government anyway. It says, let every soul, that means every person be subject unto the higher powers, for there's no power but of God, powers that be ordained, be ordained of God. Saying, hey, listen to the government. But it's saying, you know, you have to pay attention to the higher powers. This is where, you know, this authority structure in your life comes in. Ephesians chapter 5, I believe verse number 22 talks about how wives are supposed to obey their husbands, you know, as unto the Lord though. The Bible always puts that caveat in there, says, as unto the Lord. You know, a wife's husband can't say, hey, you know, you can't go to church anymore, because she has to obey the higher powers in her life. Because God is above her husband. So as long as her husband's leadership is biblical, and look, there's many things that are just not in the Bible, just, you know, administrative things, a wife should obey her husband. She should submit to her husband. But same thing with children, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 1, it says, you know, children obey your parents, you know, in the Lord. It's saying, so you know, as long as it matches, you know, the highest power is God. So look, if the government says, you can't go to church anymore, that's a problem. If the government says, hey, you can't homeschool your kids anymore, that's a problem. Look, that is nowhere near where California is. California is, and I'm gonna show you how that's the opposite of the truth in California in just a few minutes. But here's another thing, another misconception of California on this, on this liberal versus conservative. California is a liberal state, meaning just everyone's liberal there. Look, here's what you need to understand. California is suffering from the same problems that every other place in the country is suffering from. Garrett said it the other day. He said, he said there's no liberal states. There's only liberal cities. It's the population centers. It's the population centers. California is essentially ruled by, you know, San Francisco in the Bay Area and the Los Angeles Area, which are massive population centers. Central Valley note, it's conservative here. If that matters to you. You know, it's actually conservative here. From the Central Valley in Fresno and up and down to the mountains, it gets really, like, really conservative up in the mountains. And then even out to the central coast. It is, it is conservative out there. You go out, out to the coast. You're just in Pismo yesterday. Look, it's, I mean, if you're a political person, it's Trump country out there. I mean, you're on Pismo Beach and it's nothing but lifted up trucks and don't tread on meat flags going up and down the beach and you're on the street and it's just hot rod after hot rod and pick up with cams in it. And you know, all the kids on the street are yelling at the guys in the hot rods, rev it up, rev it up. You know, I mean, there's still some masculinity here too. We're driving around, I rented this a little electric cart. And we're driving, we're dragging, we're dragging Pismo Beach Main Street and I got everybody and all the girls in the back and all the kids are yelling at all the hot rods and they see me driving my little electric cart and they're like, rev it up! And I'm just like, I don't know. I got nothing here. But the point is, it's not all liberal. It's what I'm trying to get you to understand. It's not all liberal. You drive through the farmland and the Central Valley and every mile is a sign. Like, fire all the political leaders and you know, give us our water, you know, call in political leaders and the governor out by name on all these, make California great again. And look, it's not all liberal here is the point I'm trying to make. But the point is this, back to Colossus chapter 2 and verse number 8, if politics ruin your life, it's a problem. You know, it's a problem if politics ruin your life. Traditionally, traditionally and historically, Bible believing Christians, if you read about Christians through since Jesus up to this time, traditionally they wanted nothing to do with the government. And I've mentioned before I vote and I'll continue to vote whether that counts or not and I know Christians that don't vote. But the point I'm trying to get you to understand is if politics is literally wrecking your life, especially spoiling your, it can spoil your Christian life. If it's spoiling you, you should pay less attention to it. This is what I'm trying to get you to understand this morning. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. If paying attention to all this stuff, you know, wrecks you, don't is basically what I'm trying to get you to understand. You just need to look at things through the right lens. Look at 1 John chapter 2 and verse number 15. 1 John chapter 2 and verse number 15. The Bible says this, it says love not the world. Neither the things that are in the world, if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and what? The pride of life. Look, many, many times like just politics and the idea of politics and arguing politics. My goodness, arguing politics is just it's an adventure in pride is what it is. And the Bible is just saying the world passes away. The world passes away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. You should be focusing on the things in your life that have eternal value. And what is that? That's your spiritual life. That's the spiritual direction that your family is going in. That's the spiritual direction of carrying the gospel with your feet. That's the eternal effect that preaching the gospel to somebody is going to have. These are spiritual things that don't pass away. This is how the next generation and the next generation and the next generation will have, say, believers and has up to this point. Because people weren't focused. Christians were not focused on the things in this world that are going to pass away. So you just have to look at things through the right lens. Here's what's really important, folks. Here's what's really important. And here's why this misconception about California being liberal. Look, there's liberal people here. I'm not denying that. But here's why looking at California is somewhere I could just never be. And Christians should, I don't know these feeds come up on my YouTube feed. Like some redneck was talking about something. He was down in Tennessee and he was just eating. Y'all gotta get out of California. Just get out of California and get to Tennessee or something. It's just like he's the conservative voice of something and he's talking about some political situation. And I'm just like he's trying to spoil Christians in California. He's trying to spoil people in California from getting the gospel. Because there are no Christians here. There's nobody's going to get saved here. Here's what's really important in the Christian life. What's really important and this is where California beats everybody. This is where California wins. Where California actually is more advantageous for the Bible-believing Christian. What's really important in this Christian life is finding your people. That's what's important in this Christian life. California has more Bible preaching churches than any other state that I know. That's a big deal. It's not Fox News. It's not reality. It's not even conservative anymore, by the way. I don't even look at the website anymore. It's turned into some celebrity smut site, in my opinion, the Fox News. But that's another thing. But what's important in this Christian life is finding your people. And then you will be fruitful. That is your life. Turn to Proverbs chapter 22. So this idea that it's just liberal and it's nothing but liberal. Number one, it's not all liberal. Especially in the central part of the state where we are. And number two, it doesn't affect you. It affects me zero the politics in this state. Here's another misconception of California. Turn to Proverbs chapter 22. Proverbs chapter 22. And I believe that this is the biggest lie in California, right here. This is the biggest misconception that it's just outright misleading people, right here. Is this idea that it's too expensive to live in California? You can't live there. It's too expensive. On the contrary, look at Proverbs chapter 22 in verse number 29. Proverbs chapter 22 in verse number 29. So let's just read this statement from Proverbs. Let me just apply that to California and just show you how this idea that you can't go to California. You can't make a living there. People can't afford to live there. That's a lie, right there. Look at Proverbs 22, 29. The Bible says he will see a man diligent in his business. He shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean men. Not mean there is not talking about I'm mean, I'm a meanie head. It's talking about mean like an average. It's saying somebody that's diligent in his business will stand. He'll be demanded. He'll be, the leaders will want him. The leaders will want him to come to them. This is the cunning man that Solomon needed to help build the temple. He will not stand before mean men, meaning he will not be counted amongst the average. He will not be counted amongst everybody else. Does that say unless you live in California? That's just truth right there, alright? This one by the way as far as it applies to California is the opposite of the truth. There is is it expensive in California? Yes it is, especially in some places. In some places, if you want a house on the beach or you want to live in San Francisco for some strange reason, you know, it's going to be expensive there. But other places, no, but here, the main reason, the main reason that it is maybe more expensive than other places is because you know, a lot of people want to live here. You say, why do people want to live here? Because if you are willing to learn, Proverbs 22, 29, if you're willing to learn, if you have a plan, if you're willing to work, and you're going to be diligent about those things, there is a lot of opportunity here. Look at Proverbs chapter one. Look at Proverbs chapter one. If you are a Proverbs 22, 29 person, there is no better place in the United States of America than California to live. That is my opinion from what I've seen everywhere else in the country. This place is crazy. The diligent will do very well here. Just as the Bible says. Look at Proverbs one in verse number five. If you want to learn and you want to grow and you want to be educated and you want to get skills, a wise man will hear and will increase learning. A man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. If you want to do that and be diligent, there is so much opportunity here. I've never really seen it slow down since I have been here. But here's the thing, folks. It's no place to not be diligent. It's no place to be lazy. It's no place to want to work, not want to work. It's no place to have no plan. It's no place to just, you know, look it'll probably chew you up and spit you out if that's who you are. But here's the thing. Where is that place that's going to be good to be that person? There is no place that you're going to do well and be lazy and just have no plan and just float through this life and, you know, live in your mom's basement until you're 40. There's just no place. There's no place for that. California has more opportunity than any state I have been to in the United States. There's 39 million people here and this place never stops. That's one thing I've noticed. I've lived in big cities before. If you live in Dallas for nearly 10 years and I remember, you know, that was a big difference when I came to California. When you get on the, if I was driving home late or something in Dallas, the freeway would be largely empty. It's never empty here. It's never empty here. There's always people going places. The place never stops. And look, ever since I've arrived they've been looking for the diligent person everywhere. The biggest problem in California that I've seen is they can't find the proverbs chapter 22 person. They can't find proverbs. Every single place that I've worked since I've been in this state can't find a proverbs 22-29 person or can't find enough of them. This is huge opportunity here. Especially for the Bible-believing Christian that has a plan and wants to live their life and grow and learn as the Bible says they should. Here's a Central Valley note on this one. This is the best kept secret in California. It's half price here. Everything's half price in the Central Valley. It's not expensive to live here. Not at all. You know, yet it has all the California benefits. It's got the benefits of the economy, the beauty, etc. Here's misconception number 3. The California is trashed. Even I complain about this one from time to time. But here's the thing. If the news comes on and shows you the worst places in San Francisco, they show you the worst places in any city in California, over a million people, you're going to look at that and you're going to say California is trashed. Because there's some bad places in San Francisco and LA and even Fresno. There's bad places. These places exist. But this is just that manipulation that I'm trying to get you to understand. The Bay Area, I was just there this last week. It's beautiful. The Bay Area is beautiful. And not everywhere in the Bay Area is trashed. Like the worst neighborhood in San Francisco. I'm just, I even called my wife on the way home as I'm sitting in traffic in the Bay Area. And I told her I'm in awe of this place. I'm like, I can actually see for like 5 seconds why people would want to live here. They just, there's these things everywhere and they just, it's a beautiful place and they have everything there. But it's a nice place to visit for me. There's just too many people for me in the Bay Area. But look, I believe that cities in California actually are going to have the bad areas and the bad places. I actually believe that it's not a state problem, it's a policy of city problem. As far as the trash and the slums and all these types of things, I mean you can see cities are already figuring this out. I mean we have a city that's figured this out here and it's called Clovis. It's a nice city because they've just figured out that the policies is what makes the city or breaks the city. I think cities are going to figure this one out. I think the local governments are actually going to figure this one out. Turn to Acts chapter 1. So yeah, if I showed you, if I showed you the worst places of every city, but I could do that with any state, cities, I could show you the worst places and maybe California has more of those worst places, but that's not where we are. That's not where anybody lives and that's not where most people go and the bottom line is California as a state is the most beautiful state I've ever seen. There's more beautiful places, there's more great cities than anywhere I've ever been. I think that the cities are going to figure out some of the policies to help clean up some of this mess because it's not that hard just to enforce the law. It's very simple. Turn to Acts chapter 1. Turn to Acts chapter 1. I didn't focus too much on the people yet because I want you to go to Acts chapter 1, but here's the fourth misconception about California that it's the land of fruits and nuts. The land of fruits and nuts. Look, that's good and that's bad. Go to Acts chapter 1. This comes, by the way, this comes with population centers. Most of these problems that California has, they come from large populations and yeah, the policies do affect some of these things for sure. Like the homeless. That comes with the weather, folks. That comes with, you can't be homeless in the upper midwest or you're going to freeze to death. I mean, it's very simple. But it comes with the weather, it does come with the policies. Some cities are figuring out these things, but look, here's another thing. You know, here's a general rule of thumb about just living in a city anywhere in California that I've been. In general, if you're not looking for trouble, you're not going to find it. In general, if you're not going out, you know, hanging out on the street at 10 o'clock at night in a bad area or whatever or going to bars or hanging out with a bunch of drug addicts, you know, you're not going to find trouble. It's very simple. Look at Acts chapter 1 in verse number 8. But you know what else comes with large population centers? Look at Acts chapter 1 in verse number 8. The Bible says this, it says, but you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost. Talking to the disciples here as they're getting ready to go forth and preach the Gospel after Jesus was taken up into heaven. But you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. One of the best benefits, the biggest benefits to me being in California is that the people to preach the Gospel to Judea, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth, they are all here. We don't have to go anywhere. We go out in our neighborhoods, our local neighborhoods and all of these people from all over the world, all different cultures. Look, if there's a strength of diversity, it's that. It's that people will be open to other things and maybe they'll catch the Gospel. Maybe we will get to them and preach the Gospel to them. That's the only strength of diversity right there is that we can get the Gospel to people that live here. Look, and there's a lot of receptive people here in the Central Valley. Let me tell you. It is extremely receptive here. That's, you know, I love Fresno. If Fresno in general has good family values, Fresno in general is very blue color, which means it's very humble people that live here. And you know what that means? It just, that equals people that are extremely receptive to the Word of God. Most of the people that we talk to here believe the Bible. Most of the people whose door we will knock, they may not be saved but if you get somebody who has that preconceived idea that the Bible is God's Word and the Bible is the truth, you've got a very good chance of being able to preach the Gospel to that person and get them saved. And there is a lot of people like that from all over in Fresno. Right, so look, that is, and look, here's another thing about fruits and nuts. There's a lot of literal fruits and nuts here. That's a good thing too. I mean, there's a lot of, like, just really good produce and food here that is just, it's just awesome. And look, it's not like that everywhere. I mean, we could walk outside the church here and buy a bag of oranges for a dollar after church, about a block away. We'll go to Home Depot and they're selling strawberries or cherries or whatever it is that's in season at the time. So yeah, it is kind of the land of fruits and nuts in that sense, especially in the Central Valley. I love it. Alright, look, overall, there is no other state like this. And this state has a lot of problems. I'm not trying to, you know, dismiss that. But it is perfect for the Christian. It is perfect for the Christian. You are, let me reemphasize that you would be much better off here if somebody that just listens to preaching from you know, Pastor Mejia or Pastor Jimenez or me or whoever, you would be much better off here with a church than in some conservative state without a church. Much better off. You know why? Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Here's why. Here's why. And this is what people, like, I think miss. I think that Christians especially really miss this. You would be much better off. Let me say that again. You would be much better off in a liberal state in a good church than you would be in a conservative state without a church. A thousand percent. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and look at verse number 4. You say, why? And here's why. The same problems are coming there. The same problems are coming to that conservative state if they're not already there. I'm going to explain to you why that is. Look at verse number 4. It says, in whom the God of this world had blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them. This is talking about Satan being the God of this world. Here's what you need to understand and why every single conservative state you know, some Christian that's moved to Tennessee or whatever and bought himself a place up in the hills, it is going to raise his family in the hills by himself in Tennessee or wherever they are misguided. Because Satan is called the God of this world. He's not the God of California. He's not the God of India or the God of China. He's the God of this world. That is why when you see look, the same philosophies that are here are already in other states. They are already there. That's why the devil Satan's institutions are always centralized. Satan has centralized institutions. Why? Because he wants them to be universally accepted everywhere because he's the God of this world. He's trying to corrupt everything everywhere. That's what he's trying to do. Look, and this is why he uses things like you say how could it possibly be the same in all states? Look, they're all watching the same Hollywood. They're all watching the same TV. They're all watching the same movies. This is how Satan has centralized the media that's come into people's homes. It doesn't matter if you're from South Dakota or you're from Connecticut, you're watching the same trash that Satan has designed for your family. It's centralized to the world because he's the God of this world. Same internet, same trash people are bringing into their homes. It doesn't matter what state you're in. Satan doesn't see state lines. It's the same garbage that is corrupting everybody. The same media of all types is being consumed in the entire country. That's why it's ridiculous. I live in Wyoming. No, it's the same trash. It's the same trash. It's coming there. If it's not already there, it's already there. It's already there. Satan has centralized institutions. And centralized institutions are designed against local change. They're designed to resist local change. That's why these, I keep getting these YouTube feeds of these school board meetings pop up. I don't know if everybody else gets those, but like, you know, the suggested YouTube on my phone or whatever, sometimes they'll give me this like, dad comes and yells at school board over you know, whatever. And the last one that you know, came up to me it was this dad that came in and yelled at this school board because there was two lesbian teachers that were literally describing acts of perversion in a classroom of like first or second, very young children. Just detailed acts of perversion. And everybody in the comments on this stuff drives me nuts. It drives me crazy. Everyone in the comments, what a hero in all this as he drops his kid off their Monday morning. It's crazy. It's crazy. Look, we're of a different mindset. That's what Colossus chapter 2 and Colossus chapter 3 is talking about. We're supposed to be of a different mindset. We're supposed to, first of all, that's Romans chapter 13 stuff. You should have been out of there if he's a Christian a long time ago. Should have exited that a long time ago. Look, you know what matters? That those things, those meat grinders, those centralized institutions were designed to not be able to be changed at that level, buddy. It's baked into the cake. I've been on school boards. You know, I've been on a school board of Christian school. Christian school. And look, these things are baked in to not be able to change. Politics don't matter, folks. You know what matters? A church matters. That's what matters. A Christian community matters. Christian friends, especially for your kids. That's what matters. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. You know what matters? A homeschooling mom matters. That's what matters. And guess what? California, we noticed this the first time we moved to, it was one of the first things we moved, or we noticed about California. California has very light regulations when it comes to homeschooling. What? When it comes to homeschooling, and guess what? Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. We've homeschooled in a place where it was difficult to homeschool. And we've homeschooled without a Christian community. We've homeschooled without Christian friends. We have done it by ourselves. And it's very difficult to do. It's very difficult to do. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 4. Look at verse number 9. The Bible says two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe unto him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat. But how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand. And a full cord is not quickly broken. You know what? It's really hard to homeschool by yourself. It's really hard to homeschool without a Christian Bible believing Christian community. It's really hard. It's really discouraging. It is very difficult. You know what though? When you have a church, I don't care what state. I don't care what color somebody paints the state on a map. It's very easy all of a sudden. When you have a community, when you have a church, and with that comes a Christian community and Christian friends. You know what? Now your kids have a two-fold cord. Now your kids have a three-fold cord. Also it's really easy to instill this faith in them and to strengthen them. It's easy. It goes from hard, maybe difficult to the point where you would stop to simple and easy. You know what else matters? I mean if you go and look up states with the lowest regulation of homeschooling, California will be one of the top on the list as far as just being open and free to homeschooling. I don't know why that is. Maybe it's because there's too many kids and they just want to offload the public schools. I don't know. That's the fact of it. That's the truth of it. You know what else is important? A hard-working spiritual leader for a dad. That's what's hard. That's what's important. And you know what? That's hard to do by yourself too. But when you got a two-fold cord and a three-fold cord which comes with what? Having a good church with a good Christian community of which California has the most of that I know of in the United States. As a matter of fact, the whole West Coast, you can just drive up and down the West Coast and just go to awesome churches at this point. And everyone's so hard on the nation who, I don't know, they have like 50 churches now. At this point, every time I look they're opening another satellite church. Now one's coming in Seattle. I mean people take vacations and just go visit the churches that are within a few hours drive. People do it all the time. Why? To build up those cords. To have a three-fold cord. A 200-fold cord. A 300-fold cord. A 400-fold cord. To just have all these great churches and go to L.A. I predict that sometime in the future there will be someone that opens a church in San Diego. It'll just be this massive Christian overtaking of the West Coast. And that is extremely important, folks. All the things I care about, California provides the best of. From homeschooling, how about the Second Amendment? Oh, you know the Second Amendment? We believe in the Second Amendment here and we exercise the Second Amendment here. It's not like there's a Second Amendment here. It's all misconceptions of California. It's all better here. Be careful what people tell you is the point of this morning's sermon. It reminds me of Jeremiah 28 where Hananiah comes and they're being taken over by Babylon. They're literally being taken to Babylon and Hananiah is like, it's fine. Everything's fine. And we're going to win and Jeremiah is just like, you know, you're a liar. You just have to be careful how people manipulate things because they don't like California and they want to manipulate it to get people out of there and whatever. But look, for the Christian and you know what, here's the thing. It's kind of weird. It's kind of weird in the sense that as these centralized institutions get worse. Look, they're getting worse everywhere. As things get worse, as you know, as these institutions from just think about the institutionalization of a child today. As they're born, they're immediately put into a day care center on day two or whatever a school and then they're put into an institutionalized public school which has an agenda and then after that they're put into this institution of university because if the public school didn't finish them off the university will finish them off as well. As these institutionalized kids and look, I feel bad for those kids and I preach against that all the time and everything that's being done there and people should take their kids out of those institutions but here's the thing folks, the status quo is powerful. The status quo is powerful. Here's another thing about that two fold cord and that three fold cord. It just, you don't even think about the status quo anymore. The status quo is so powerful people can't even imagine pulling their kids out of these institutions. It just, it scares the living daylights out of them. Maybe Christian parents but if you have a two fold cord, a three fold cord, it's easy. It's easy. It goes from something that you think would be impossible to just simple, easy. And you know what, it frees you. It frees you and it frees your children. So back to the point, as these things get worse, here's what's happening and here's what I am seeing in California and I'm sure people are seeing it to lesser degrees in the rest of the country. As these institutions get worse and they're destroying more and more people, a productive society will starve for the diligent. That's exactly what is happening today. A productive is they're starving. They're starving for that diligent, hardworking, well educated. We're not talking about everyone says oh, you don't want to go to college. You don't believe in education. Why? We believe in education. But we believe in being diligent. We believe in biblical education and the society is starving for non-institutionalized diligent people. Can't find them. The opportunity is here for this next Christian generation. It's here with the support that they need. It's here with the biblical education that they need. It's here to throw off that status quo and give parents the strength to throw off that status quo. I've never seen it more powerful than it is here and I've never seen more opportunity than there is here for that Christian, diligent child. So when I see people just down on California, I'm just like, well, what are the things that you're caring about? What are the things that you're fearing in your life? All I fear is the Lord. I fear the Lord and I want world-class education for my children and your children and I want them to have a biblical worldview and I want them to just continue their education and growing their skills and educating their children with that same worldview and if they do that, in this place, there is massive opportunity for them. So yeah, don't be manipulated by all the negative news that you see everywhere because well, that may be true. That's not us and that's not what affects us. There's massive opportunity for children, the next generation, and massive opportunity for this Christian life in California. Let's bow our heads and have a word.