It could be saved any morning. We thank God for the blessings of a happy new year. We're thankful that God has blessed us for the great year in the Lord. And we've got a good crowd this morning. That's a blessing, you know, because the rumor around that I've been hearing is that the church is splitting. So this is pretty good. You know, we've got to keep splitting unless like this. Right? That's what you do. If something's good, you just keep doing it. So we're thankful for that. I guess that's a good thing that the devil, you know, stirred up rumors about us. That means we must be doing something that he don't like. I don't want to do anything the devil agrees with. Do you? I mean, if the devil's for something, we ought to be against it. Right? He's your enemy. He hates you, and you ought to hate him. If the devil likes Chevrolets, you ought to drive a Dodge. Amen! If the devil likes Toyotas, Huh? He ain't that smart? Well, Jesus had a forerunner, right? So I got to give Dave that one. But, man, we're thankful. I want to say this to Brother Waylon before we get started preaching. Brother Dave was giving him a hard time in Sunday school about his Pittsburgh Steelers jacket. Now, he's got a good looking jacket on. Stand up there, Waylon, let everybody see that jacket. Stand up, buddy. Show off there. Dave's a Dallas Cowboys fan. And Brother Waylon, he's walking off from the pulpit, looking back and says, we're in the playoffs. Amen? And I said this, Waylon couldn't hear, I said, at least for a week. It's going to be the end of the championship. Now, if they win the Super Bowl, y'all heard it first here. Don't hold your breath, but we're thankful for these young fellows and young folks in our church. We're very thankful to have you. We're going to be preaching, the title of the message is, Why the Attack on Tradition. Tradition. If you look tradition up, the original, the Latin, Greek word, you know, the etymology of the word, it comes from the Latin word, P-R-A-D-O, which simply means to deliver. Delivery. Webster's 1820, Webster's Dictionary defines it as the act of delivering into the hands of another. or the delivery of opinions, doctrines, practices, rites and customs from father to son or from ancestors to posterity, the transmission of any opinions or practice from forefathers to descendants by oral communication without written memorials. Now, tradition You don't think a lot about it, but you know, you talk the way you talk because of tradition. Right? You guys talk different in Boone County than we talk in Mingo County. Y'all talk wrong. All of you. And in Kanawha County, they talk even more wrong than here. You notice that? If you go further down south, they all talk different. If you go up, you know, Ohio and North, they talk different. Tradition affects things like that. Do you know tradition affects the way you drive? Amen. Good or bad. Right? How many of you have ever been on vacation somewhere and you see somebody's in and out of traffic or something stupid and you say, I bet your daughter's from Ohio? Who's guilty of that? Raise your hand. I can't hear your head shaking. Amen. We do stuff like that because we associate things because of tradition. You can tell things. I talked to a lady the other day, getting a haircut, and she said, I won't take down my Christmas tree till after the first of the year because that's what grandma always done. Tradition. We took our Christmas tree down December 26th. Tired of it. It's our tradition. I don't know about everybody else. But we do things like that. How many of y'all cook a certain way because that's how my mama and mom did? You got a recipe that's been handed down from generation to generation? From Stouffer's box to Stouffer's box? You know, that's tradition, right? Mama always hit her 1-0-0 on her microwave just like it. And we do stuff. How many of you guys wash your cars because that's how your dad taught you how to wash your car? How many of you guys wash cars? I said guys. Mow grass. Todd Price. I love Todd Price. He has to have his grass mowed a certain way. Tradition. Tradition influences Everything, everyday stuff. You get yourself in a habit, when you take a shower, you do certain things first. You'll wash your hair, you'll brush your, I got, I get up every morning, first thing I do, I'm brushing my teeth. Both of them. Every morning. Some of y'all laughing, you gotta get the hose yours and brush them. I still get to brush mine the old fashioned way, amen? Tradition. Every morning, I go in there, I brush my teeth, I get in the shower. I don't come out of the bathroom in the morning until my teeth are brushed, my hair is combed. And I'm ready to roll. Tradition. I learned that from my mama. That's right. Me and her talked over Christmas. I look a lot like my dad. I act a lot like my mom. A lot of things. Tradition. I'm just like my dad when it comes to working on cars. I can lose a tool and not move. Anybody else like that? You got that 9-16 inch wrench, you're sitting there working on something, and then you ain't moved, but that wrench has got up and walked away. I don't know how that happens, but it does it. Tradition. Tradition influences all things. How you dress, what you put on. You guys that hunt, you hunt the same way your dad taught you to hunt. Who taught you the way his dad taught him. And it's tradition. You're passing stuff down. And the way you act is determined a lot in your early years of life. Once something is ingrained into you, it's hard to get it out. Tradition. The word tradition occurs 13 times in the Bible, all in the New Testament. Now, if you like numbers, I'm a big Bible numbers person, 13 is the number of rebellion. So for the most part, tradition in Scripture is not a positive thing. It's negative. It appears 13 times in 6 books. Rebellion 13, 6th number of man. Man is rebellious by tradition. We can prove that scripturally. The first mention of tradition over Matthew chapter 15 says this, Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? First mention. Why are your disciples doing things that are against our tradition? Negative. He said, for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. Oh my Lord! They don't wash their hands while they eat their sandwich. We're going into a blizzard. You better have your milk and your bread and toilet paper, because you're going to have to eat a milk sandwich. If you've never had a cornbread and milk, that's tradition at my house. I love cornbread. My granddad used to say, eat that. And I can eat that all day long. Put some pepper in it. I'm making you all hungry right now, aren't I? It's good stuff. But he says, they don't wash their hands. before they eat a sandwich. I was going to go out on a limb. Everybody in this church don't always wash your hands every time before you eat. Do you? I'm sure brother Dave don't and that bulldozer. Jared don't underground. Right? How many of you have been out in the field working and just ain't got time to do it? I've been around you kids long enough to know you don't wash your hands at all. Don't care if you're eating a sandwich or using the bathroom. Life just goes on. We do this stuff. It's tradition. They don't wash their hands. But Jesus answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandments of God by your tradition? See, negative. You're transgressing the commandments of God by tradition. in order to keep your tradition. For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and thy mother, and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, verse 5, Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me. and honor not his father nor his mother, he shall be free. Thus you have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." It gives us a very negative introduction to tradition. You read, like I said, you've made the commandment of God as a matter of fact by your tradition. Mark 7, 9, he says, for well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your own tradition. So you've made it of none effect and you've rejected it because of tradition. Mark 7, verse 13, making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition which ye have delivered. Again, it's a tradition to deliver. Apostle Paul warned us of tradition. Over in Colossians 2, verse 8, he said this, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy, in vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after pop. Paul says, beware of man-made tradition. Be careful. Your pop-all may have gotten things wrong, so don't keep doing it just because that's how pop-all done it. If you've ever pastored churches, you preachers, you'll hear this at least once, I promise. That's not how Grandpa did it. Well, that's how we've always done it. But we've always done it that way. I said, well, if you've always done it wrong, you still need to change. Right? If I learned that something my family did was wrong, I'm not going to keep doing it just because it's tradition. That family used to sell moonshine. I'm not going to keep doing it. I've never done it. Let me rephrase that. I don't want to get another rumor started. You know, you don't do something just because they always have. I have family members that have killed people. I'm not going to keep doing that. Just go, well, you know what, that's just a family tradition. It's going to blow your brains out. That's crazy. Paul says, beware, don't let them spoil you through this. That's always been like that. It don't have to be. Peter, in 1 Peter 1.18 says, For as much as ye know, ye are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. You are not saved because of the family tradition. A lot of folks get saved in spite of their family tradition. Amen? So tradition can be dangerous if and when we place our hope in our tradition. That's why tradition is always so negative in the Bible. Thirteen times, rebellion, it's mentioned. Of those thirteen, eleven are negative, two are positive. tradition. In 2 Thessalonians, where we're going to take our text from, we're going to read here in just a minute, Paul gives us the only two positives of tradition. And we're going to try to preach to you on that why the attack on tradition. Now I told you, 13 is what? Rebellion. 6 is man. 11, 11 times it's negative. You know what 11 means? Disaster or chaos or disorder or chaos. 11. Tradition will bring about disorder. You're not careful with it. The 2 times that it's positive. You know what 2 represents biblically? Division. So we have to be able to divide negative tradition from positive tradition, right? That's what we're learning this morning. So we're going to preach to you why the attack on tradition. Do you have your Bibles? 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, looking at verse 6 and 7. I'm not going to ask you to stand, we're just going to jump right in here. Paul says, Now we command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. Paul says, I want you to withdraw from every brother that walketh disorderly. Separate yourself from them, get away from them, every brother, 2 Thessalonians 3, 6, that walketh disorderly. And not, Paul says, after the tradition, the positive, which he received of us. for yourselves know how ye ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves this orderly among you." Listen, when it comes to Christian people, amen, you should have a standard. Amen. Hear me. Christian people should live up to a standard. Is that right? Are y'all here or not? I mean, that's good preaching. You better amen it now or I'll get hateful. That's good. Watch out, Markie. I told you I was going to let you have it this morning. Didn't bring no money, then nothing. What good are you? Go home. I mean, just get out of here. Can't get a dollar. Somebody frisked you. David, after a while, frisked you. I think he might be lying. Boy's got money somewhere. I mean, Lord have mercy. He's a meadow. They got all kind of money. They're millionaires. Amen? But we get in here, Paul says, tradition. Christian people, you have a standard to live. If a brother doesn't walk up to the standard, what are you supposed to do? Withdraw from that one. You shouldn't do that, Luther. I'm going to be over here. Luther's over there. Isn't that what the Bible teaches? He's walking disorderly. You better not be. I'll make myself hit you with it. But he says, withdraw from them. They walk disorderly, contrary to the traditions that you perceive. Now, I said there are some good traditions. He says, if a brother does this. Christians, listen, hear me out this morning. As a Christian person, you should be willing to be held to a higher standard and a higher expectation. You should be willing to be held to a higher standard and a higher expectation. Now listen, should a Christian person cuss, No. Does it happen? Yes. But it shouldn't happen. Now if you stump your little bitty pinky toe, I promise you the first word that dances through your mind is not going to be thank you Jesus. I get it. I understand that. But you shouldn't be cussing every other breath either. Amen? Hello? I mean, if every word that comes out of your mouth would have to be bleak if you was on TV, you're not living up to the standard, brother. Amen? You ought to wash that mouth out with soap. Amen? Man, somebody's expecting me to be long-winded. They got two bottles. But Christians should not cuss. The Bible talks about vain conversation and filthy communication out of your mouth. Listen, if every other word that comes out of your mouth is an F word, or a little smutty word like that, you ought to get yourself checked up. Amen? And as Christian people, if I go back to Brother Luther, if every time you're around Brother Luther, he's having that kind of language, you are to withdraw. You shouldn't have sat on the front row this morning, should you? I was supposed to get Markie, but I'm so sorry it's been Brother Luther. But you shouldn't hang out with that crowd. Amen? Hello? Amen? A Christian shouldn't cuss. A Christian shouldn't drink either. Hello? I don't care why you're doing it, Christians shouldn't do it. I could understand a person, I don't know if you can accidentally get drunk. I don't know. I don't think you can. I mean, I know people might slip something in your drink or whatever and stuff like that. But man, if you're going to sit down and order a beer, you've purposed in your mind a sin. Hello, you with me? Turn this up, Mr. Lee. I don't think they can hear me. I'm joking. But listen, a Christian person should not drink. Hello? I had a Brother Dave of mint this morning, and he was back here coughing like he was all pitiful. And I didn't want him to breathe on me, so I gave him mint so he wouldn't spit all that junk on me. And he looked at a little bitty white mint, I mean a little bitty thing, he said, do you crush it or what do you do with it? Christian people, but listen, I know he's joking, but we should not participate in those kind of lifestyles. Hello? Listen. Listen. You shouldn't be drinking. You should not be drinking. You shouldn't be cussing. You shouldn't be drinking. You shouldn't smoke a little marijuana. I don't care if it is an herb. You shouldn't smoke it. Amen? Amen. They said, Brother Gary, I just don't know. I don't care what you don't know. I know what the Bible says. And it says for you to be sober. Amen? Anything that alters your mind, alters your way of thinking, you as a Christian ought to avoid that. It's that junk. Amen? A Christian shouldn't be lustful. Whoo! You young ladies, look at me. You're just not married. Don't let that joker paw all over you. Tell him to get lost. Your body is a temple of God, not his temple. Hello! You boys, listen, if you're not married to her, keep your nasty little dirty hands off of her. Hello. That's why I don't like that kind of preaching. Good. That means I'm preaching what I'm supposed to. Amen. And listen, I'm in a hush about to say something and probably make half the world mad at me. But listen, you don't... Listen, me and Miss Alicia have been married 22 years. 22 years! I love her. I aggravate her. That's my job. I'm to be her biggest kid. It's in the Bible. It is. I said, I don't believe it. I said, we're going to call her Eve. And that guy said, Adam, why do you call her Eve? I said, because she's the mother of all living. The only other person living is Adam. I'm her biggest kid. Amen. We'll drive down the road. Come here, dear Martha. You get to be Miss Alicia, please. She's all the way back there. We'll be driving down the road. Now, there was a time when we first got married, I had an old truck that had a bench seat. Went in vinyl bench seats. You guys are missing the joy of Armor All in vinyl seats. Brother Jim's like, Amen! Woo! Preach on, Brother Gary! That's right. We'd come around the car, she'd be way over there. Remember, like that. You know what she'd do? And I'd be like, not because it's you either, because it was her. But now, the automotive industry has messed me up, and everything's a bucket seat, or got a console in the middle of it. So the other day, we was driving down the road in that van, and I looked over at her. Don't grin at me like that, man. I'll get somebody else for this example. Did you see him look at me? Hey, give me one of these. Go sit down. I ain't gonna use you. Come here, Easton. I don't know if this just got better or worse. Amy, don't laugh too bad or I'll get you up here next. So I looked over at her. Thank you. And I reached over. And you know what she said to me? Stop it. And you know what I said? No. Back over here. We're in a bucket seat, man. I've got the armor on. You're all right. So I reach over and I grab her hand. And you know what? I have to hold her hand a certain way, or it just don't feel right. Anybody else like that? Move your elbow. The way you say it, preacher, I love her. I can do that and act like Bill Cosby. You young folks, I mean, you're all like this. I mean, Lord have mercy. I can't put my new shoes in your little nasty things. And you're all like this. I mean, Lord, if he burps, I'm going to smell it three seconds before it comes out of his mouth. Miss Alicia don't need this to know that I love her. Right? Am I telling it right, ladies? They don't need y'all. You keep wearing that coat, she's not going to hug you much, I promise. That thing's roughing Luther's hair out there, you know what I mean? So Paul says, you know what? We shouldn't be lustful or adulterous. Listen, it's still wrong for people to commit adultery. Hello? It's still wrong for a man to look upon a woman and think impure thoughts in his mind. Still wrong. That's not popular preaching. I don't care if it's popular or not. It's still wrong. As a Christian person, we should withdraw ourselves from Christians involved in unchristian lifestyles. But we still should not attack them. See, the reason why we're seeing such an attack on tradition, number one, is because we have weaponized tradition. They don't do it like I do it. You can't come to our church and act like that. Hello? Paul says, verse 15, he says, when he says about the withdrawal, he says, yet count him not as an enemy. That's what the Bible says. But admonish him as a brother. Listen, we used to have a horse. I loved that horse. Brother Jeff probably hated that horse when we had her down there. She'd get out and run around and I'd go get her and put her back in. She'd get out and I'd go get her and put her back in. You know what I never did? Not one time, Marky, when the horse got out, did I ever go shut the gate. You don't lock the horse out. You get that one? It's too late to lock the gate when it's done and got out. What we've done with Christianity, we've weaponized it to the point that when folks get out, we go lock the gate behind them and don't let them back in. That's old-fashioned preaching right there, amen? I mean, listen, we've made it to the point where people can't come visit. I've heard all you've got to do is get out and wait for the Lord. Take that first step back. That's easy to say to everybody. But when you've got the gate locked on, they can get back to the door and can't get back in the church. We've weaponized tradition to the point where folks say, well, I've messed up and the church has kicked me out, so what's the use? And we've made a mess of it. And people are attacking tradition because they've been attacked by tradition. Hello. We weaponized it. And then you have unsaved people that are already in darkness. A lot of folks nowadays especially know very little about Christianity. They know nothing, if anything, about the Bible. And we want to judge them like they've been a deacon for 35 years. because our traditions aren't bad. But if you weaponize it and you use it against people, then they can't come to the church and get saved. Somebody said, we've had everything come to this church. I mean, Lord have mercy, we've had it all. We've had lesbians come to this church. We didn't throw them out, but we preached to them. We've had trans, I don't know what you call them, They think they're a man, but want to be a woman, or think they're a woman and want to be a man. I don't know if they're a man and want to be a woman. We've had it all come to church here. Listen, I remember when Isaiah was a little fella, when we first moved up through here, we went to Kroger. Y'all know that guy at Kroger with the pink hair, that's her dress. Isaiah was probably eight or nine years old, somewhere through there. We've seen him go get milk. I see him. He goes around the thing. And we're watching, what in the world is wrong with him? And he's like, bub, go get the milk. Zed, get the milk. We're getting checked out. Go get the milk. And here he comes down the aisle. And Isaiah is like... Now, if I just come to church here, is that lifestyle wrong? Absolutely. But I'm not going to throw them out, no more than I'm going to throw out anybody who uses foul language, cussing, or anything else like that. We cannot weaponize our tradition. We have to hold to it. Now, if he does something he shouldn't do, I'm going to withdraw from him, but we are never commanded to withdraw like that, in that sense, from a lost person. You've got to go out to the world, right, and witness to him. Right. And say, ah, Brother Gary, I'm not going to let my good people, I didn't say let your good people spoken of. What I'm telling you is, you've got to be able to go out and witness to people. and let them know just because they are living an ungodly lifestyle does not mean they cannot come to God and get delivered from that ungodly lifestyle. A lot of folks, I'm trying to hurry, are only living the way they've been taught. Their tradition. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 31, he says, I show unto you a more excellent way and transitions you into chapter 13 of I Corinthians, which most of y'all know is the love chapter. If you're going to be anything for God, you're going to have to love people. You've got to. Paul said, without charity I am nothing. What is charity? Paul said, charity suffereth long. It's kind, it endeth not, it bonneth not itself, it's not taught to pass up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never fails. We cannot weaponize our tradition. You see folks that are involved in all kind of lifestyles because that's what they were taught. And a lot of times, hear me out, it's not their fault. You know, the odds, I wrote this down at the house, I should have brought them over, of a young lady that her mama, the fancy word cohabitate, We say shacking up. Amen? But statistically, the young girl that watches her mama cohabitate, shacked up with the man, that little girl, her becoming involved in an abusive relationship goes up, I think it's five times. Why does that go there? Because that's what she's taught. It becomes her tradition. If mama brings home a new daddy every weekend, we shouldn't be surprised when the dollar comes into that type of life. We can't weaponize tradition and beat them away. We're saying our traditions are under attack. And that's true. A lot of times we've used traditions so much to beat other people to death. We have to be careful of that. I'm in a hurry. I'm already at 30 minutes. I'm trying to hurry through here. You can't judge people for living the only life they know. Number two. Traditions under attack. because it's part of the working of Satan. It's just demonic. 2 Thessalonians 2, one of the greatest chapters on the rapture, the Antichrist, the tribulation, the second coming, all in one chapter. It teaches us. He says, talk about our gathering unto Him. Talk about the one that will get taken out of the way. In verse 3, it talks about the man of sin, the Antichrist being revealed, the wicked being revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan. And He said, Lord, we'll consume the brightness of His coming. Then down in verse 15 of this chapter, 2 Thessalonians 2, He says, therefore brethren, stand fast and hold the tradition. A lot of what's happening is because it's in Satan's plan. We always talk about the plan of God, but you have to understand that Satan has a plan too. He says, hold fast those traditions. There is a system right now actively pursuing the minds of every person in this world. And part of that is to tear down tradition. Traditional homes are almost a thing of the past. Most, most young people do not grow up in a traditional home. Amen? Traditional marriage has become very much under attack. Would you agree with that? I mean, we went crazy. We went from a man wanting to marry a man, a woman wanting to marry a woman. Now there's women marrying trees. I'll tell you the truth, there was a lady up in California who married the ocean. I mean, it's crazy. A man, I think it was a woman, married a tree. Has a man married himself? Yeah. A guy married himself. He's dressed in an outfit, like half tux, half wedding gown. I now pronounce you, you and you. I mean, I'll kiss you, yeah. Can you imagine that? I mean, don't imagine it, maybe, I don't know. But tradition, traditional marriage, Satan's after that. He's never locked the home. Before God entered the church, He made the home. It's crazy. You know traditional employment is a thing of the past? You don't have a five-day work week anymore. You work when they tell you to. Amen? Pretty much. I mean, we're in a mess. You know, you don't have Dolly Parton singing 9 to 5 anymore. Now it's get up to get down. I mean, it's crazy. Traditional employment is gone. Traditional education is gone. Hello? What about this one? Traditional worship. They sang about it this morning. You know, it might be old-fashioned, but it still works. Traditional worship. Traditional preaching. We're doing pretty good here this morning, but most churches have found themselves catering to the idea of what everybody else wants to hear. And those churches seem to be growing leaps and bounds. I heard this story the other night of this preacher. This guy was holding a big tent revival. And they had all kinds of people come to this tent revival. Boy, and they's going to have healing services and they's doing all this. Y'all know how that junk goes sideways. And this old, young Baptist preacher's like, went to his pastor, said, Pastor, they're out there lying to them people, taking up their money, taking all their, every last dime they got to them, if they do this, they'll get healed. He said, Pastor, we need to do something about it. The pastor's like, well, son, he said, pray about it. And the old preacher was all about that, but he said, no. Comes a time it takes more than prayer. I'll pray about it." He went there and he confronted that preacher. It's a true story. He goes down there and he said, you're lying to these people. He says, no, I have the gift of healing. If anybody ever tells you that, they're lying to you. He said, I've got the gift of healing. He said, did Paul have the gift of healing? He said, yeah. He said, did Paul ever get sick? And the preacher said, I'm not answering that. I plan on preaching on that tomorrow. Come back tomorrow and I'll preach on that tomorrow. He never did preach on it. About the third night of that meeting, this lady comes up. She wants to pray. She's got heart issues, Markie. She's got real bad heart issues. True story. He says, come on up, sis. Well, he lays hands on her. He's squalling and screaming. I've healed her. I've healed her. You've been set free from this demon of heart disease. You've been set free. The lady had a massive heart attack in the middle of service and died. Guess who just got exposed as a faker? I've been in churches about that before. A guy had the gift of healing, and the guy had a heart attack in the middle of church service. And the healer got up and went outside, because he knows he's a liar too. But traditional worship... You know, what happens to our King James Bibles in our churches? What happened to old-fashioned singing, worship, saying amen, praising, clapping our hands? What happened to a pulpit? Now what you have are stages. I'm telling you, it's the working of Satan. We don't even have traditional politics anymore. Your political world has gone crazy. Now, Brother Gary, I think we're getting ready to get things straightened up. If you really think Trump's going to straighten everything up, you're not reading your Bible. It's going to get worse and worse. I think he was the best one we had to pick from, and that's another sign you're in a mess when that's what you got to pick from. But politics is gone. Employment. You know what? I grew up in an age when it was almost expected of you to be patriotic. I never in my lifetime ever thought I'd ever see anybody burn a flag. When did it become illegal to be a patriot? To love your country? Hello? I'm telling you, these traditions are under attack and so is traditional Christianity. Preaching like I'm preaching to you this morning, people don't like it in most places. He said, now Brother Gary, we're living in America, we've got freedom of religion and we're not under attack. Ask the teacher from New Jersey who was suspended from her job for giving a student a Bible. Ask her if Christianity is under attack. If you don't believe her, go to Washington and ask that football coach who was given a leave of absence for praying after a football game. Ask him. if Christianity is under attack in America. Go to Atlanta and ask the fire chief who was fired from his job for publishing a book on his own time with his own money on Christian morals. Ask him. I don't believe that one. Ask the Marine officer who was court-martialed for having a Bible verse posted in her office. We're under attack. Traditions are under attack. It's a spiritual attack and it is intentional. Satan hates it. Tradition is being attacked because of a plan, working of Satan, because it's being weaponized and abused. But it's also under attack because there are just simply those that just willfully reject tradition. In 2 Thessalonians again, chapter 2, verse 10, Paul says, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God has sent them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Tradition is under attack because some people just don't want it. There's something we talked earlier about, those that weren't taught any better. Some of them have been taught. Some of you, we've got young folks in here this morning, you're being taught right from wrong. You're going to reject tradition because you just want to. You don't want to live like that. Let's be honest. You don't want to be accountable. And it's not just you, it's older people too. I'm just going to do things the way I want to do things. Go right ahead. There's a cost to that attitude. You've been to church. You've heard preaching. You've felt God's Spirit call on your life. You've had God move in your life. And you've rejected it. And this attitude of rejection is leading to the great collapse of society. And there's a phrase Paul uses in Bethlehem of falling away. Do you know what falling away is? If you define falling away, do you know what it is? Our society is collapsing because we are attacking our tradition. And we've talked about apostasy in the last days, and we've talked about rebellion in the last days. But we've got to talk about rejection in the last days. I say this a lot. We've had young people come through this church. that the moment they get old enough to be on their own, they've not been baptized. That is not my fault. That is not this church's fault. That is not the Sunday School people's fault. That is not even the parent's fault, for the most part. That is that child making the decision to reject. Now, what are we going to do? Are we going to weaponize those traditions against that young man? No. We're not going to shut the gate just because the horse got out. Well, we want them to come back in, right? That's the goal, get them back in, get them back in. But statistically, now, they don't. You ought to be scared to death, moms and dads. I mean, we talked about this last night. 50 years from now, what world's your kids in? Abel will be 55, right? He's 60. What's his life going to be like? It's better to get it in now. Peyton, you're how old? 10. You'll be 60. You better get it now. Get it all you can get in for and get it now. Amy, how old are you? 12. You'll be 62. Get a sledgehammer. I know she's hard-headed. Beat it into her. What about you? We're going to put a jackhammer on your face. A lot of them are going to reject it. If they do it, it's not going to be our fault. It's going to be everything. It's Lily, Tucker, Amy, Declan, all y'all, especially you top lords. Y'all grow up and leave this church and never come back. Remember what I said this day. It's your fault. We left the gate open. and then we'd never want you to leave. Tammy, you'll stay here, but if you do get out and you never come back, it's your fault. We're gonna leave the gate open. And when I did have the horse, I just didn't sit back on the porch and wait for her to come in either. I'd go get her, and expect Jeff to go wrangle my horse and bring my horse back to me. I went after my horse. Parents, don't you dare expect somebody else to do your job. That's your horse. I know what you're gonna say. I'm afraid if I try, I'm gonna push him further away. I'll tell you what you do. Hold a carrot in front of that horse long enough, Or better yet, Redman chewing tobacco. Old Princess loved Redman. She'd come nudge my pocket. I'd have to share my Redman with her. It was hers. I bought it for her. Don't look at me like that, Marie. I didn't wait for her to come home. I'd go get her. Sometimes I'd have to fight with her. Sometimes it would be a mess. But once I could get a hold of that bridle, to come home. Don't let somebody else do your job. Our traditions are under attack. It's not our fault because we use them to beat people away. Secondly, the devil is working with Satan to take a place for only him. Thirdly, they rejected it. There are people in this world right now that I honestly, I don't know, that feel everything. They're worried. They're just determined to go to hell. I worry about that crowd. And my job is to still leave the gate open. Give them the opportunity. If they go to hell, it's going to be their fault. Because if my kids go to hell, it won't be my fault. I'm going to do everything I can to keep them. I'll do everything I can to keep you guys. You have two sounds of a healthy church. One's the baby's crying. That's the three sounds. One's the baby's crying. Second, men singing. A healthy church, when men are singing, you hear men singing. Most churches don't hear the women singing. But you hear men singing, it's a healthy church. Third song, third song, because the men are singing and the women are crying. Amen. Some of y'all got that. It's a tradition. Guys, don't ever be afraid if somebody looks at you and says, well, that's just old-fashioned, or that stuff really don't work anymore. What I preach to you today will work if Jesus comes on. It'll work. It's all about our heads, and seeing if he will come on up. I've been over on my time this morning. I don't want to say I apologize, but I wish I could have got it out quicker. I wonder if anybody here this morning is raising it for Brother Gary. I need the Lord. I'm not saved. I know for a fact that I'm not saved. I'd like for you to pray for me and for anybody here this morning to make sure I'm not saved. Come ask you another question. Go, Gary, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm saved. You raise your hand, I know that I'm saved. Listen, some of y'all couldn't raise your hand. You don't know that you're saved. You need to know. You'll slip up out of your seat while we all stand, come to this altar, I promise you, Somebody will pray with you. You don't know if you're saved. Somebody will come pray with you. I didn't know. I'd find out. Well, I'm not going to. I know. You're going to reject it. I don't have to come up there and attack that tradition. There'll be somebody this morning, I want to know for sure. If you don't know for sure, you need to be saved this morning. You need to give your life to the Lord. Jesus loves you. He's died for you. He's making intercession right now for you. He's the reason you're here.