Shane Idleman emphasizes the importance of prioritizing God in our lives, especially in times of struggle and temptation. He challenges the congregation to reflect on their commitment to worship and the necessity of obedience to God's commandments, particularly in light of the moral laws that still apply today. Idleman discusses the significance of the fall of man in Genesis and how it relates to our current struggles with sin and disobedience. He encourages believers to seek a deeper relationship with God, reminding them that true transformation comes from a heart aligned with His will. Ultimately, he calls for repentance and a return to the joy of salvation found in Christ.

Hope is yours to take. Peace is found in grace. Bear with me this morning. I've been praying about this since 6. Every Sunday morning, 6am to 8am, with worship. And if you're struggling with an addiction, or you have some serious issues going on, or maybe some serious illness, we're praying with people after the service for different things. But the question I have is, why aren't you here? What's it going to take? Well, I'm not an early morning person. What about Wednesday night worship? Why aren't you there? Well, I've got this to do and that too, but is God the priority? Because in these dire times, that's what's going to cut it. We want the prodigal son to come home, we want to pray for our children, but we're not willing to do often what it takes. Now, I'm not trying to be legalistic or force things, but I am trying to speak the truth in love. And that's why I was praying this morning, Lord, I don't want to just say that to say that. I don't want to upset people, but it just kind of showed me that it has more to do with love than being upset. Knowing how people are transformed. I know that if you just come twice a month to this type of service, it's not going to cut it in these dire times. Oh, that was a great message, what's for lunch? And if you're not pressing in, if you're not at the altar, or at least at the pew, or worshiping, and so many people just are missing that element of going deeper with God. And yes, the flesh doesn't like it. Hello? Anything worth doing for God, your flesh is going to fight you against. Sleep feels really good. And a warm bed, especially as it gets colder out. I understand that. But just consider that. I believe God often is asking, how bad do you want it? How bad do you want it? Do you want it bad enough to make me a priority? And I found in my own life, the more I seek Him, the more I find Him, and the more I find Him, the more I want to seek Him. It's just an encouragement to you. It really wasn't a rebuke at all. I'm just curious if you realize the weight and the gravity of what we're going through. And if you're facing trials, the only way to get those fixed is in the arms of the Father. And if we're too busy, too tired, too misprioritizing things, it kind of speaks volumes to where our heart is at. So again, just want to throw all that out there with the worship services in October. Sunday mornings at 6 a.m. Wednesdays, we have worship services every 6 p.m., Wednesday nights. But also, it's just worship only one Wednesday a month. So just throwing that out there. And I know some people, they tell me, Shane, but it's kind of boring for me. And I say, well, I think that has to do more with the heart than really if it's boring. I mean, we have no problem at Cinemark being entertained. It really has something to do where that heart is not crying, Abba, Father. There should be an excitement to get up. And you look at the clock and it's 4 a.m. I just want to get up. I want to pursue God. And a lot of times it has to do with what we're eating the night before, spiritual food. What we're feeding our mind on, we begin to hunger and thirst for more of that. Whatever it is, evil, compromise, just even certain things that aren't bad, but they're really not good, they're not edifying. And we're going to get into an interesting topic. The title is, Does Thou Shall Not Still Apply? Does it? Well, you wouldn't think it does anymore looking at progressive Christianity or the media. And before I get there, I want to remind some of you who were not here the last two weeks. We've been in Genesis. So make sure you listen to that message. We do have CDs available. I don't know if you still use CDs. I don't. But they're still available or it's on YouTube, Rumble. And you might want to switch. If you're following us on YouTube, this might be good for the Facebook audience. You might want to switch to Rumble and GodTube and other places like that. Because I don't know how long I'm going to be able to put up with YouTube discrimination and things like that. So anyway, just throwing it out there. The last two weeks we talked about the age of the earth and how old the earth is. And we really don't know the exact days. And what is young earth? What is old earth? What does that look like? Listen to that message. But something I thought of this week studying Genesis again is that most flowers need pollination from insects. Anyone know that kind of biology courses? Well, the plants were created a few days before the insects. So if there was millions of years in there, it's kind of hard to make that fit. So things like that, as you go through Genesis, just write down questions you have. Look into it. Study it. And now we're talking about, and last week Adam was created. That God actually, it's amazing. And I take it literally that God took the dust of the earth and formed man. The heart, the lungs. It's just amazing if you think of the awesomeness of God. When I'm done with the sun, now I'm going to create man. But he wasn't a living being yet. And the Bible used a word, we talked about Hebrew, in the Hebrew it's nephesh. And he actually uses that term for animals as well. They became living beings. And so he breathed into him the breath of life. And he created Adam. I believe he came from the dust of the earth because the word actually Adam, Adam, means of the earth. It's interesting, isn't this, how it all ties in. And then now we find ourselves in Genesis 2. But I'm going to jump into Genesis 3 because there's important principles. And this is life in God's garden. This is how God created it. Isn't that incredible? That God created things good. The Bible says this is very good. And now I'm going to put man into the very good garden. And he had maybe, who knows how long he had. But the enemy came in and just caused man to sin. And now everything falls apart. And that's where it's called the Adamic nature, if you study the Bible. The nature of Adam, Adamic nature. We don't know if it was passed in our DNA, meaning how our chromosomes or how it actually is passed on to the human race. But we do know that the Bible's clear teaching is that because of the fall of Adam and Eve from that. And all the children and the people on the planet earth inherited that type of sin nature, that Adamic nature. And so Genesis 2, I'm not going to read it all. But it opens with the tree of life. So there's a tree of life and a tree of knowledge. So you have both of these trees. I think they're two separate trees. Some commentators say it's one tree, but the language and different things. And the tree of life is actually mentioned again in Revelation as giving healing to the nations. And so I see these as two distinct and separate trees. They're in the garden. And there's a river that went out of Eden to water the entire garden. And it parted and became four riverheads. One of the rivers is the Euphrates. That could be interesting to ponder that obviously creation started somewhere in the Middle East. It's pretty clear. And I believe those other three rivers probably were dispersed or destroyed when the earth was broken up in that great cataclysmic event. That we're going to get to as we keep going through Genesis. And what is so hard about Genesis is you can stop somewhere and spend a month on one scripture. When I was studying the first part, you talk about astronomy and the study of stars and the universe. There's so much amazing information. Or the creation of life. How we were created. Body, soul, and spirit. And God says let us create man in our image and according to our likeness. And there's just so much there. So I want to encourage you to start in Genesis 1 and just begin to read and read and read. But what really jumped out is mentioning the Euphrates River. The Bible is very clear that these places actually existed. So the Euphrates River that we can still go to is an archaeological fact. They find things. They find cities and towers and buildings and coins. And I referenced a few weeks ago that for example the Book of Mormon. You can't find anything in there ever. There's everything they mention. The cities, the tools, nothing. There's nothing to support that. And it's because I believe that Joseph Smith made up the fable. And he had special glasses to read special tablets. I mean anytime you get into a different gospel, Paul says do not embrace a different gospel. Because there is not a different gospel. And so I'm not poking fun, but I am shedding light. And I think when you know what the truth is, it's okay to speak the truth. As long as you're not pointing fingers or poking fun or being judgmental. But you truly love people. And I've stopped Mormons before or Jehovah's Witnesses. And a lot of times they'll say, well nobody's ever really approached it like that. Or nobody's ever taken the time to explain it. And so it's a lot of times we just are fearful of just sharing the truth with people. And how they take it, that's up to them. But it's up to us to at least share that truth. And so we see the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So both of those bear fruit. And I remember hearing somebody, an atheist I think it was, saying I can disprove the Bible. When Adam and Eve had the fruit and they ate of the apple. Apples can't even grow in the Mediterranean or in the Middle East. The Bible can't be right. How many of you know the answer to that? I see some hands go up. The Bible doesn't say it was an apple. But we have pictures. And I guess for a kid's book you've got to draw something. Maybe a pomegranate. I think that's my favorite. That is my favorite fruit if you didn't have to pull it apart. And better wear dark clothing because that's going to stain like never before. But so there was trees. Man ate of the tree. And I know it upset some people last week. But the fact is we were created to eat plants. Potatoes and sweet potatoes. And all the things that grow and live. That life-giving food. And I'm not necessarily plant-based. I have a little bit of meat now and then. I've talked about it in my books. And you know I think it's okay for balance. And the Bible allows it. I'll go through that as I get to that later in the future. But the hardest part I found about a plant-based diet is milking the almonds at 5 in the morning. I just had to share that. It brings some humor. If you don't understand it ask your parents when you leave. And last week I talked about most diseases are diet-related. But in the new earth, new heavens and new earth, there's not going to be that struggle with the animal kingdom. And consuming meat and different things. And again we'll get to those things as we keep going forward. But I think the most important thing here is that God actually commanded. And we're going to read Genesis 2, 15 through 17. That the Lord God took man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord commanded. The Lord commanded him. And that's the title of the message. Does thou shalt not still apply? Now this is very important. This topic is very important. Here's why we get in trouble on either side. If you're all about... And I hope our church is never viewed like this. But sometimes it can be. When you talk about holiness and obedience, sometimes you'll get thrown into the legalistic camp. But there's one side where it's all about, you know, you're not obeying. It's about obedience. And you're watching their Facebook post. I can't believe you watched that movie. I can't believe you went there. And is that dress down to your ankles? Get out the tape measure. You know, no makeup. No, and there's actually... It was on the Christian Post. A pastor's wife recently left Christianity. Divorced her husband, I guess, and went back to the adult film industry. Now, I mean, I don't know if she was originally saved. But it's interesting to read the article. Because just what they required. The makeup, no makeup, dresses. Very legalistic. Very demanding. Very rigid. Very hard. See, Christianity is not about following rules. It's about a relationship. And the more I draw closer to God, I want to live that holy, Christ-filled life. Because then it leads to the filling of the Holy Spirit. So it has nothing to do with rules. And everything to do with pleasing God and being filled with the Spirit. But you have those churches. Have you been there? And you kind of know, you know, they're going to look you up and down. Where's your suit and tie? Do you have the King James Bible? Let me see. All Bibles up here. Let me check them. You can't have any of those bad, bad, bad devil translations. And it's really legalistic. And they're monitoring. It can kind of be controlling. You know, you feel controlled. And that's not healthy. But then, as you know, we have the other church. You guys can be the liberal church. Who's on this side? My wife's on this side. Maybe we'll divide. But it's just what they call greasy grace. Or, you know, in many pastors even, it's never sin. They don't talk about sin. They're not going to talk about the word repentance. It's disheartening. I'm only meant to encourage. And so you avoid the disobedience because you want to be popular. You don't want to upset people. But it doesn't help people. And it's the more I read scripture, the more it just jumps out. That obedience is so important because you actually can stay in God's will via obedience. Again, not rigid rules, but holiness and obeying God's word. And most of us have heard of Solomon, king in the Old Testament. What did God say? I will have you rule through your lineage. Your kingdom will never vanish, Solomon. Ever. If, if you hold to my commandments. If you follow my principles. Jesus said, he who hears my word and does it. And there's no way to enter by the narrow gate. Unless you exhibit faith and belief and repentance. So obedience, just studying this, it's just really, you know how you need that reminder sometimes? That how important it actually is. But not to come across as controlling and things like that. And that's why it's hard for a church like this church. I'll just share some things with you. I've seen it, me and my wife can probably attest to it more than anyone else. And I would say hundreds, hundreds of people. You see, there's a great struggle within. Anybody been there? Oh yeah, there's a struggle within. I think it was, I'm going to teach on it next week. You got to be here next week. The road's going to be closed over the hill. So leave early, make yourself a note on the calendar, go around Highland High School. But it's on the, it's a, it's dissecting temptation. How temptation works, how Eve and Adam fell and how we fall. But J.C. Ryle, incredible book on holiness, pretty thick. But he said there's two marks of a true Christian. Great inner peace and a great conflict. And that is so true. And so I see so many people and they're coming. They, oh Shane, I just love church. I love the worship. And I've been at the altar. And I got to get rid of this lifestyle. And oh, and the struggle. And that's the tipping point. If they surrender it, repent and are filled with the spirit of God, we see them for a long time. But if they get home and they begin to fight that. Oh, that church makes me, just, it's too extreme. It's too hard. It's, I wrote down, legalistic and it's just too challenging. And you find out it's because they don't want to surrender to the will of God in their life. I've seen it. I can't even tell you how many times. Like what just happened to such and such. They're on fire for God a month ago and you run into them. You're just too judgmental. You just, disobedience. We can't just be happy and do what we want. Well, something shifted in the last few months. Whether it's alcohol, whether it's pornography. Whether it's leaving their marriage vow. Whether it's entertainment choices. Whatever it is. And they get stuck in sin. And you don't want to go somewhere where your sin is being challenged unless your heart is right. Or you're searching or you're seeking. And it has to do with thou shalt not. And any time we even go to couples or people and we say, hey, I just want to lovingly point out some things. And we know it's either going to go well and we'll see them next Sunday. Or it's not going to go well because we don't like to be lovingly critiqued about our attitude. And we all should be open for constructive criticism. You can ask our elders here. I'll sit in an elder meeting. Now, I don't know if they're being honest or not. I hope so. But I'll say, okay, is there anything I need to work on? Is there anything you see going on? Or ask my spouse or our core group of people. People have been serving here for years and asked if you see anything, let me know. That's being transparent, open. And you have to be willing and wanting to hear those things. And so people kind of laugh because, well, Shane, you're not open for constructive criticism. Oh, absolutely. With the person with the right heart. I will shut it out if I sense a critical spirit. Just shut it. What's the point? Because the enemy will also send critical spirits. We deal with that every single week. Critical spirits. Negative Nellies. Hope nobody's here named Nellie. Is there a Nellie here? No, not you, Nellie. Different Nellie. Judgmental Jerrys. Nellie's not. She was one of my favorite members. I know. And I'm just being open and honest because this, thou shalt not. If we just never approached anyone. And I talk to pastors who don't. They'll rarely approach anybody. The church is a mess. But they let the Holy Spirit convict them, Shane. Well, did you know that's your job too? Did you know the word of God convicts? And your job is to preach God's word and convict. And a shepherd lovingly convicts from time to time. And it's because it comes from love and knowing that there is a much better lifestyle after that. And so that's why this is so important. And challenging. And back to Genesis 2. God took the man, put him in the Garden of Eden to tend to it. And the Lord commanded. Broke the first commandment God ever gave. And now we're in trouble. He said of every tree of the garden. Isn't this interesting? Every single tree out there you can eat. Have fun. Except, except this one. And we can get into it a little bit more next week. But the true love of, a true love is the ability to make a choice. And with this love between God and man and our love for him. If we're not able to make a choice and exercise our love. Is it really love? Or is he forcing us to do something? If your spouse forces you to love them. You know if you don't love me today. I'm never coming back. Okay I love you, I love you, I love you. Or do they really love you? And so we see that same relationship with God. Without that choice. God says I know what's best. And I just give you this choice out here. Now I want everyone to listen to this. I believe it's something that will help. It's been on my heart all week. I know and I was going to highlight it. Make sure I talk about this. Young adults, any teenagers in here? Young adults, balcony you can listen as well. I know sometimes it's, well I won't get into that. But because a lot of times the kids go up under the balcony. And they don't listen as well. So we're on to that. When God tells us to do something. Or when there's a commandment of God. It's okay to not always have to know why. Thank you. Have you ever been there? Why Lord? That's a good sermon title someday. Why Lord? Why is this happening? Why do I have to do that? Why do I have to submit? Why do I have to be the one forgiving? Why do I have to let that go? Why is this happening? The why, why, why, why? Why do I have this issue going on? What? And then if we're not careful, what happens? Bitterness? Fear? And many people stop following God like they used to. Because the why has not been answered. And I've learned you will never twist God's arm hard enough. God's never going to say, you know what Shane? Yeah, you're right. I see your bad attitude down there. And you're kind of twisting my arm, you're forcing issues. Let me tell you why. But I found if you seek him in prayer and fasting and worship, those whys get answered a lot quicker. And maybe they're not answered, but at least I'm satisfied. Resting in the sovereignty. And so when he asked Adam to do this, I can imagine, why not that tree? Why can I eat of that tree? And it's something also interesting we find here. Of every tree of the garden you shall eat and plant. I planted these for you. All you have to do is tend to this garden. And so we see, that's what he said at the beginning, to tend to it and keep it. So there's a lot of speculation. But before the fall, the tending this garden and tending to a forest or fruit trees, it actually wasn't too difficult. God planted it. God maintained it. You're just to kind of tend and steward to it. That's why one of the curses to man is now you're going to have to work your tail off. With thorns growing now as well. And maybe food dying. Insects getting to it. And it's work. I don't know if you've ever, if you have any farming experience. I don't know if you have. I've tried to grow vegetables and fruit in my backyard for a year. It just does not work. Little critters. Find it. Ants. And then I've got birds coming in and rabbits. Like where do these things come from? Peter Rabbit. And it's a lot of work to get five strawberries. But we are supposed, we are created to tend to things and to work. And I think that needs to be an encouragement. And that's one of my big concerns with the direction our current government is taking us. To a handout society. Cradle to grave entitlements. Because we've lost that very important biblical principle of working. It's become like a bad thing now. I deserve this. I need to sit at home for eight hours a day and watch Netflix and have a check come in the mail. You will be miserable. You weren't created to do that. And I can't remember the commentary because I wrote down so many things. But one of the books I was reading it said the sleep of a laboring man is sweet. And I kept going back to even to my construction years. How sweet the sleep was. Going home knowing you worked a good hard day. No matter, even if you're in the office. Even if you're somewhere. If you're productive. You feel like you've done something. Why? Because you were created. You were wired to do that. Now I know there's people on disability and they're in the middle of looking for a job. And I'm well aware of all the different dynamics. But if you can get to that spot of saying, God show me what you want me to do again. Get me working again. Somehow it's, you feel like your purpose. You have purpose now. You have meaning. Sweet is the sleep of that person. But when we just kind of sit at home and don't do much. Eat too much. Watch too much TV. We just become miserable. Because we were created to work. And that's another big concern. Like I said, as I'm going through Genesis, I'm going to hit on hot topics. The whole debate over socialism and capitalism. Capitalism. Let's not even use that term. You can call it biblical. Biblical earning. Because capitalism has its pitfalls as well. The big thing you're seeing in the news about Biden taxing the rich. Is because I've got a couple of tax books. And you can do some stuff with your money. As far as depreciation on investments. And we have, I believe personally, that we've allowed some large corporations. They actually don't pay taxes. So if you're Donald Trump, don't pay taxes. Or Bill Gates. It's often because they know how to work the numbers. Depreciation from here. This investment here. I took a loss here. This is a write-off over here. And at the end, here's, oh, no income. So there are some issues with that. There's some little, there's some, there's some things that aren't real good. I'll just leave it there. But the course, and then the other side of the question is. On that note, I was arguing with a friend of mine who, just the gas prices. And he's like, well, it's free market. But it's going to get to five, six dollars a gallon. Well, it's a free market. It's the way things are. Come to find out. Guess who owns stock in Chevron? This guy. So see, our money talks. So I don't agree with AOC and Biden's policy on all this. But you can look at things. Say, okay, how can we balance out some things a little bit better? But this isn't about that. Biblically speaking, when a person is faithful in the little things. And they work hard. God can, and often does, bless them. David, Abram, Job. We can keep going. Now, in the New Testament, we find that there's a lot of poverty. Jesus, the disciples. But that doesn't mean that God doesn't use wealth as well. Because if all Christians were supposed to be poor and destitute. There would be no money to do missions. To do things. Really, the issue isn't money. It's the love of money. And how we steward that. Do we buy more? Or do we give more? It's an issue of the heart. So back to my original point of working. God says, you work hard. Faith on the little things. Eventually, I will make you ruler over more. You steward some things. I'll let you steward more. And so wealth can be a byproduct of God blessing the individual. Have you ever lived check to check? We've done that before. And it's not fun. There's some marriage arguments that go on. You bought that new sweater? You bought that new, you bought those shoes? You know, it's like, it can create arguments. And fortunately, we've never been to where, you know. Almost homeless and things even close to that. But where construction plummeted. And we, you know, we're just back to square one. And losing savings each month. We had about one month savings worth left. And just the stress that involves. And God will have you go through seasons though. Sometimes somebody might go through seasons of poverty. And I'm also not teaching that everybody at some point, you're going to be wealthy. God has different things for different people. The principle is though, if you work, work. God can add to that. And make a person more successful. And maybe have someone in retirement. Maybe be able to give to ministries. And some of the people who bless this church the most. Who get the message out. All these lives being changed across the United States. Are people that God has blessed financially. Isn't that interesting? And so God can use that. But socialism comes in and says, nope. Let's throw all of our money into the same kitty. Okay, all of us. Let's just put all of our money into one big basket. And then each week I'm going to give you the same amount. Talk about not wanting to work anymore. Or wanting to work hard or do anything. Because it's also not fair in that sense. Because you can reward laziness. People don't work as hard. And they're being given money by those who do. So the whole concept is not biblical socialism. But why are the millennials embracing it? Because when you throw out free college. Free tuition. No more loans. The government will pay you. It sounds good. And they talk about, they've really pushed it. America is bad. That's where everything is going. I hope you realize that. Capitalism is bad. America is bad. We built everything on a wrong foundation. We got to knock down the foundation. Even the constitution is wrong. It's racist. And so that's why they're attacking all these things. Now, does capitalism have its issues? Yes. I'm not really a proponent of that. I'm a proponent of God blessing people who work. Whatever you want to call that. And so that's the difference there. And that was a rabbit trail. But I think it's important that God has created man to work. And God blesses man according to his work and faithfulness. And sometimes, oh, he doesn't. Goes back to the why question. Why? I've seen, I know plumbers and electricians. And guys I grew up with that are just hard workers. But they're not, they're just really in a hard spot financially. It seems like every month. Now, of course, I don't know their budget, their spending. Do they tithe? Do they give? I mean, there's lots of questions there. But it's not, I don't want anyone leaving here thinking that I said that you will, God will bless you, all of us financially. Because, right? Paul said, I know how to live well when God is blessing me. And I'm a base and a bound. And I know how to live when I have plenty and live when I have poverty. I know how to live in all conditions and be, what's the final verdict? Be content in all things. And so, if money is going to destroy you, God might take it away. And that's why I believe it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven. Because those riches, those riches compete. Why do you think the wealthiest people in our country right now have no desire for God? Because they are God. Riches is a form of idolatry. And people begin to focus on that and it draws their attention away from God. So, I'm going to fast forward to chapter 3 now. God said, okay, tend to this garden. But then after he took the fruit with his wife, and we're going to talk about that next week. He said to Adam, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree, which I commanded you saying you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake. And you're going to toil all the day long and you'll shall eat of it all the days of your life. So now, instead of tending, I mean, I picture kind of like pruning and some fruit fell. Let's pick it up. And you know, it's pretty easy. God did this. And now toil, the actual definition is long, strenuous, fatiguing labor. Labor, hard labor. And isn't it interesting? What is the curse for the woman? I'll just leave it there. And also, which we'll get into, that desire to be over the man. And that role reversal. And so, well, let me just get to it because it's important. And the time clock is ticking, so we don't care anymore, right? Everyone's parked out in the dirt, so now we have plenty of room in the parking lot. Just kidding. So let's talk about these thou shalt not. The moral law. The moral law is what we're mainly talking about. Thou shalt not. Galatians 3. And I'm using the NIV on purpose. Before the coming of this faith, meaning before Jesus Christ, we were held custody under the law. Locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. What translators do is there's no real word for guardian in the Greek language. They have to try to find the word that best works with guardian. That's why other translations under a taskmaster or under... It's really not like someone... It's not a good thing. It's not like, oh, you're under a guardian. Isn't that great? You're actually... What it's saying here is you're under condemnation. So it's saying keep the law or be condemned. And what the law does... You heard the phrase, we're not under the law anymore. How many times have I heard that when people want to continue sinning? That's like the favorite go-to. Oh, Shane, I'm not under the law anymore. Wait, wait, wait, wait. First, what does that mean? Because they don't know what it means. It doesn't mean, oh, I don't have to do that anymore. I don't have to follow the thou shalt nots anymore. Now I'm under grace. All my sins are forgiven. Now I can live however I want. No, but Paul says if you go on sinning or John, I believe if you go on sinning, you don't have the faith. You don't really have the faith. If sin is a lifestyle, not a struggle. If it's a lifestyle, you go on sinning and you're just, oh, I'm not under the law, it doesn't matter. Then do you really have faith? Examine your faith. Is Jesus Christ really in you? And the law of God, it imprisons you before it releases you. It confines you before it unlocks you. And so I'm going to sum this up because it could be a whole sermon. So before Jesus Christ, they were called, they had to follow the law. Do all these things. And that's why the writers of the New Testament believe it was James. Again, all these things come to my mind without referencing them. He said, if you mess up at one point of the law, yet you keep it all, but mess up at one point, you've broken it all. So anybody's going to ask, how in the world can I be right before God? I can't. Or a schoolmaster, they would say, it's somebody or a guardian pointing them to that. We're under the law. So we're not under the law's condemnation anymore. But that doesn't mean that thou shalt not go in the trash can. The whole verse is out of context when they say that. And that's why in Galatia, Paul would write to the church in Galatia, Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who has tricked you? Are you going to finish in your flesh what began in the Spirit? And this is so heartbreaking for me as a pastor. Family members. Family members. On fire for God. And the next thing you know, here comes all these adding to the finished work on the cross. And we're going to do all these things now. So wait a minute, you're going to end? You're going to finish strong in all these works? It began with faith. How are you going to add all these works to it? You're bewitched. You're tricked. Any examples? You want examples? Well, what's happened, we've seen it even here. On fire for God. Loving the Lord. Unity. But now we've got to follow the festivals. Look at the Torah. Look at those festivals. You're not following. Let's add that to our list. Let's put that in the backpack. You really shouldn't be worshiping on Sunday. The Sabbath is Saturday. Oh, here we go again. Adding. Adding to it. New moons, festivals, Sabbaths. They're adding to these things. And you keep, you know, you're adding the law. You're adding all these things. But you've been set free of those things. And the irony is, if you read something like, I hope I have it in here later. Colossians, where it talks about falses. Do not let anyone judge you on what Sabbath you keep or new moons or the festivals. But if someone wants to keep the festivals, go for it. You want to keep the Passover? Go for it. And they'll say, but you don't keep the Passover anymore. Right, because the Passover lamb has come. The blood has been shed. The ultimate Passover is here. We don't have to keep observing and observing and observing. So that's common what happens. And it usually happens with immature believers. Because they get caught up in some type of false teaching. And they start to, you know, add all these things to Jesus Christ. Jesus plus. And if you ask them, they'll say, well, no. No, you don't have to do that to be saved. But, and it's just an adding of more things. And that's what Galatians chapter 3 was written about. So we do have the moral laws. The moral laws that God says do not do this. And just because we're no longer under that law as far as the condemnation of the law. It doesn't mean those moral, it doesn't have moral ramifications to our lifestyle. And then the next point that comes up often is dietary laws. You've heard of that before. Dietary laws. Leviticus. You may eat of any animal that has a split hoof, completely divided, and then chews the cud. What is that about? Well, I don't know. But I'm glad he outlines that. Because if not, you'd be eating a skunk. Now, studying, when I studied, when I did a lot of nutrition, reading nutrition. He actually, God allows the cleanest animals for food. I mean, clean for your body. And just to shoot you straight as well, shellfish. You already eat the fish with the fins and the scales. I'm sorry, scales. But the others, not. Why? Well, crabs, lobsters, shrimp. At the bottom of the ocean, they're actually consuming all the toxic waste of the ocean. That's their job. So they're not really a clean animal to eat at all. And so God knew what he was doing. So, no, we're not under diet. And actually, some of these people I talked about, they'll say you're under these dietary laws. They won't eat these certain things. And they don't realize that they have the freedom to do that. However, it's not wise. And for you pork lovers, don't worry, I'm not going to get into the parasites and worms in pork. You know, I'm not going there, but it is good. Don't get me wrong. But God knew what he was doing. And one that kind of throws people is in Exodus, Deuteronomy, I believe as well. At no time could a kid, what they call a baby goat, be boiled in the mother's milk. What in the world is he talking about? Well, little research tells you that the pagan practices were this. The pagan part of ceremonial practices were to boil the baby goat in the mom's milk. And God's saying, don't be like that. Don't follow their practices. And so these things we don't understand, we don't need to question God. See, I knew the Bible was... I've had people who have embraced homosexuality that use these verses. So, but Shane, look, don't eat shellfish. Okay, well, that's a lot different than saying that homosexuality now is fine. That's what my mom would call a quantum leap. What about the ceremonial laws that many people still try to follow? These had to do with sacrifices and other ceremonies, remembering the feasts and the festivals, rules to distinguish Israel, dietary, clothing restrictions, and signs that point to the coming Messiah, the Sabbath, the Passovers. So that's why it gets a little challenging, because we don't have to follow the dietary laws. If you leave here and you have shrimp cocktail, you know, I don't think you're sinning. But it's not healthy. Okay. And then you don't have to... It's all the stuff we like, too. I like shrimp and lobster and chocolate. And then you don't have to follow the ceremonial laws, because these were laws unto Israel pointing forward to the Messiah. Oh, here it is, Colossians 2, 16, 17. Let no one question you regarding festivals or new moons or your Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. And so you have to take that verse into consideration. So here's where it gets challenging. Here's my point. You have to differentiate. A lot of these things were cultural. Correct? The culture of the day for Israel. But some of these things are creation. So when God gives us moral laws, those do not change, because it's morality on how to conduct ourselves in relationship to God and others from here on out. Those can't change. Those are unwavering. That's why they call it absolute truths. And people get confused. I know one that just came up at the meet and greet that I was at was the head coverings. I mean, based on just reading Scripture, there might be a few exceptions. All of you women are breaking this rule in the Bible. So you would technically be in sin, according to some groups, because you're not covering your hair. So what would happen, though, if you all left and came back and covered your hair? Would we be now in obedience to God's Word? No, because the principle is submission. So you can have the application, the covering, but not the point, the submission. So Morgan can come in here with the head covering, but she's rebellious and not submitted. She's out of God's will. Does that make sense? So the covering doesn't do anything. However, in Israel's time, and even in the Middle East today, do you ever see anyone covered? My personal opinion is that they actually covered everything, not just a doily or something on their head. It was actually a full covering. No, I'm just being honest. Don't laugh. But that's what I believe it was. It was a covering. And in the Middle East, in Jesus' time, too, as well, and when Paul is writing, you could tell if a woman was what they would consider flirtatious, promiscuous, or was she submissive to her husband by how she covered herself and presented that humbleness. So he's talking, obviously, let the woman cover her head covering. And also they had lengths of hair. And when I get to 1 Corinthians, I'll unpack a little bit more about what the angels and how that meant. But her hair had to be at a certain length in the covering. So just reading it, most people come to the conclusion, and doing research, it has to do with the culture of that time. Why do I believe that? Because you can still obey that verse and not have a head covering. Because the whole point was being submitted to the headship of the husband. In this act of submission, the head covering represents it. And so that's the signal, the message it would send during that time. And so that's why a lot of people believe that the difference is between creation and the culture. What about in Leviticus? Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. It also says, do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seeds. But then what I want to focus on, do not wear clothing woven in two kinds of material. And again, this is the verses they use with those who embrace sexual sin or any sin. But look at the Bible, how stupid is that? That makes no sense, Shane. Guess what person in the Old Testament, what people, groups of people, would actually wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. The priest, the ephod and different things. That's how they were designed, that they would wear that. So God's, he's saying this, don't put on the clothing. Don't make something like a high priest if you're not. It'd be like us coming in dressed as a police officer. And so these things, they have answers to them. We don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And then you look at Leviticus 18.22. Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman. That is detestable. So obviously the one is the culture of the day. No brainer, because I'm pretty sure this is two kinds of material. The other one is creation. It has nothing to do with the culture. It's the way God created us. The moral law doesn't change at the bottom. The cultural law does. And so that's how you make differentiations between these different things. And then Genesis 2.18-20. The Lord said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him. And this is where I might pick up next week. But praise God for this verse. I don't know about you. Aren't you happy that God said that? It's not good that man should be alone. So God made a helper comparable. And out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field, every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. But for Adam, there was not found a helper comparable to him. So see here, here's a big deal too. This question comes up a lot at the meet and greets, just about every time. This church, we believe that men and women are completely equal in God's eyes. Amen. But we're a little different. Correct? So some churches embrace egalitarianism. Meaning everything on the table is equal. Nothing different. Women pastors, for example, all roles are the same. Morgan, you hear the loud knock at the door at midnight, you go check it while Shane sleeps. Wait, we're all equal. Correct? But what we embrace is something called complementarianism. We all complement each other. And the reason it's so important is because the role of complementing, for example, is where people get messed up, and I'm called this often, male chauvinist or oppressing women, and it's ridiculous, it's based on this one point. We believe and have women serve in every single capacity. And I'm just going out on a limb here, they serve better than men in a lot of capacities. I'm just shooting you straight. But when it comes to the role of pastor, bishop, elder, overseer, the scripture gives verses for that. A pastor is to be the husband of one wife. Is to be this, this, this. You see, no qualifications for a woman pastor. Number one. Number two is, Paul says in his creation, that the woman does not usurp the authority of the man. And so the woman then is not, see, I'm called to die for my family, lead my family, serve my family. Just because you're going ahead doesn't mean you're better. Just because your role is different doesn't mean you're better. It's how God designed us. Now, I have friends in the Vineyard Movement and the Four Square Movement that, you know, we just disagree on this issue here. Now, most of them will say, well, we don't have women senior pastors because they understand there's no scriptural support. There's no qualifications. Because then you have a woman teaching the men, and she's usurping that authority of being. Now, can we learn from women? Absolutely. Kay Arthur, Anne Graham Lotz, and I've learned a lot. Wow, that's incredible devotion. But she's not my spiritual covering. She's not over me as my spiritual leader in that area. Because it's not domination and all these, it's servant leadership. So it's God's design, and that's how he's designed us. And so that's what happens then. Oh, back to these other churches. But they'll say, but you can be a woman's pastor over women's ministry. Okay, but recognize when you use the word pastor in the Greek language, bishop, overseer, elder, pastor, they're all one, that word. I can't remember the exact Greek word now, but it's one. So by using that title, you inadvertently put them shepherding men by the title itself. Even though they're not operating in that role, the title puts them in that role. Does that make sense? So, for example, you have a, this is such and such. She's the pastor of our women's ministry, of our children's ministry. She's the pastor of that. But then the men underneath her, in children's ministry, would be under her authority under that type of covering, where we see the man as the covering in that area. So it has nothing to do with domination or forcing this, or it's just like, hey, this is how God created us. Women do tremendous things that we can't do. Anyone had a baby, men? Or the emotional side that can balance out the man, or bring in some wisdom. See, it complements. And so this doesn't have to be a mountain out of a molehill issue. So that's where this church stands. We've always stand, the elders are on the same page. Every single capacity, except we don't see the woman usurping that spiritual authority over the man in the area of elder. That's what that boils down to. So, if you have questions, we'd love to talk with you. I know sometimes it doesn't make a lot of sense, and we can answer those questions. But here's what happened. Verse we just read, he'll make a helper comparable to him. And then, now the fall, after the woman fell, he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. And your desire shall be for your husband, but he shall rule over you. Now, we see these words, we're like, oh, wow. But again, if you break down the Hebrew language, the words here are, the desire is, you're going to want to circumvent how God designed you, and you're going to want to take the lead. That's going to be a curse. And so anybody have strong women? Married to strong women? Well, I know who they are, I can't say anything. I'm married to strong women. So, praise God for that. But a lot of that comes, you have to be careful, because that comes with the fall. Like, my desire is to lead the way. And guess what a man's desire is, not to lead the way. To be a coward. To fall back. And so we're both struggling with this huge issue. There's a book I was listening to, Men Married to Fierce Women. Something like that. I've heard it on Focus on the Family. It might be good for you if your wife is the stronger, domineering person in the household, in the relationship. And then what happens is the wife sees the man not leading. They get frustrated. Say, somebody's got to put on the pants here. Somebody's got to step on the gas. And so if the man would do what he was called to do, you wouldn't see a lot of what we're seeing in the culture. Let's get out of that one, because there's some... But of course, and then, well, I better answer the question. It's going to come eventually. So should a woman never work and just stay home with kids and be barefoot and pregnant all the time, Shane? I think you need to take it to the Lord and see what God does. Proverbs 31 says that women can be pretty successful even outside the home. But if it comes at the cost of the family, that's where it's hard to find scriptural support. So I believe, yes, women can be productive outside the home. Can they have certain jobs outside the home? Can God actually, for a season, have the woman working and the man not? Sure. I mean, he can do whatever he wants in those areas. But as long as the family is healthy, the marriage is healthy, and so these absolute... So I would never say, nope, always in the home, barefoot and pregnant all the time. Have as many babies as you can. Don't you dare decide to be successful. Don't you go to college. There's no way I can say any of that, because I don't agree with it. Because God also puts different desires in the heart. I can tell the names, but I have one daughter who's ready to get married and just be barefoot and pregnant. That's what I feel called to do. Thinking back, I don't know if I should give illustrations to. I know somebody. That's what I'll say. I know somebody who feels that way. But then I know another daughter who wants to go to school and be a coach. Nope, I'm not getting married. But see that different desire. So this should be encouraging. God gives us different desires of our hearts. So we don't look the same way and act the same way. And so we can't force different things on other people. There have been many successful women in the marketplace and things. And my mom actually went to school, got her degree and became a registered family therapist. And some people weren't really, you know, too positive about that. But granted, my sister was older. My dad passed away. And so we just have to be careful in this area. We can't force absolutes on what God's design is. Now, is the mom often one of the best sources for raising the kids? Sure. And the father, you need both of them to raise the family. As long as there's quality time, the marriage is healthy, the family is healthy, they're seeking God. God will open up tremendous doors with sometimes things we don't understand or doesn't work for us. On this area, chapter 221 to 225, he talked about a man leaving his father and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So why is society trying to change God's definition of marriage? Thou shalt not change my definition of marriage or my definition of the family. The world's definition of love doesn't change God's mind. And the world perverts God's creation. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news to the Supreme Court, but you are not the ultimate law giver over the United States of America. Neither is Congress, neither is the Senate, neither is the president. They are not the supreme law of the land because legal is not always lawful. Just because something is legal. So it doesn't matter how many laws are passed in favor of such and such, it will not change God's mind. I don't know where this vote went, but it was in the news and Nancy Pelosi brought it forth where you can actually terminate federally, nationally, a child up to birth while mother is in labor. Guys, I don't know what to say to this. This is just heart-wrenching. This is evil. And I get upset when the pulpits are silent. I get upset when Christians are silent. I get upset when nobody's saying anything. I know it's tough sometimes. We don't know what to say or how to say it, but when they're taking innocent life, we should be vocal in some regard. At least get involved, be in the prayer team, come to morning worship and pray for the abortion industry. If you need something to pray for. And my concern as a pastor looking at the word of God, there is judgment on a nation that sheds innocent blood. And many of you saw the article I wrote. Pastor Robert Jeffries came out and said that he believes there's no biblical grounds to not get the vaccine. I kind of challenged that a little bit. But the end I said, and because he said this, he goes, we've been praying for an answer and we get the vaccine. But if this is a judgment of God, we don't need vaccination. We need repentance. And so we're running from the solution. The solution is the church on fire again for God. The solution is the church repenting and being broken and being humble. What is the greatest commandment? Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12, 29 to 31. So I want to challenge believers. Believers first. God's word says be hearers and doers of the word. And if you hear my word but don't do it, you'll live in deception. Jesus said he who hears my word and does it, I will liken him to a man who built his house on a rock. So if there's areas that you know God is convicting you of this morning that need to be dealt with, deal with it. Don't leave here. Don't leave here this morning without dealing with that besetting sin. Or that area of disobedience that you know God wants you to change. Because number one, it hurts your relationship with God. When there's besetting sin that we know, it's different. We all sin. But when it's besetting sin, unrepentant sin, we're going to continue and that fractures that relationship with God. And we quench and we grieve the spirit of God. So how many people could be in disobedience by simply not getting baptized? And I've talked to people. I know they're struggling. But Shane, I was baptized as an infant. I think I'm good. No, you didn't. You're not going to hell. But you're not good as far as obeying the commandment of baptism. Believe. That's why they call it believer's baptism. Believe and be baptized. But then finally, the unbeliever. Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Nobody comes to the Father except through me. So if you're under the great weight of the law, because the law will condemn you. When you look at the Ten Commandments like Ray Comfort does in Living Water, I mean that's just beautiful. You're under the condemnation. You're under God's wrath. And if that weight, that weight is hard. If that weight of the law and trying to measure up, release it. Let Christ take that burden. Let Christ take that responsibility. Christianity is not too difficult if we give the burden to Christ. And that's why like Joshua Harris who wrote that book. Famous Christian. Another pastor walked away. Another worship leader walked away from the faith. They all said the same thing. It's too hard. Too many rules. Too many—I say you're not resting in Christ. Because when you rest in Christ, it is a joy to serve Him. It is a joy to be holy and come out from among them, be separate. It is a joy to repent of sin. Oh, what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. It's a joy to serve you, Christ. Oh, worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. We should just sing that song and sing that song. Who the Son sets free is free indeed. Let Him restore the joy of your salvation to you. Turn your life completely over to Him. It's a commandment. Repent and believe in the Gospel. Repent and believe in the Gospel. Repent is acknowledging my sin and turning over to Christ 100%.