Dear Lord, we do pray you bless the preaching of the word today. We thank you for it that you preserved through the blood of martyrs. God, thank you for the Bible in Jesus name. Amen. We've been preaching on Laodicea and the various meanings of that word and lots going on. So this is a related message to that subject because we're looking at right now, the results of Laodiceanism, which is deciding for yourself what's right and wrong. The church of the people, but not in a good way. It's the people's judgment. So the title of the message today, as you see, is Watchmen Rejected. are gone AWOL, absent without leave. Pastors, husbands, and fathers. So as we were talking, TikTok goes blank today with all its K-pop and evils and slime and all that stuff. And I know maybe some want to mourn. It's like your puppy dying or something. Anybody here upset about that? Oh, okay. Good. Good. I'm glad to hear that. Yeah. Now it could get resurrected and if it gets resurrected, we'll know it's the Antichrist because he's supposed to have a wound and then all of a sudden come back. But, uh, it's Antichrist no matter what. But what are the results of Laodiceanism? The results of Laodiceanism, the judgment of the people, is they say, I don't want anybody even preaching to me the Bible. I want to get so far away from the truths of the Bible that I want a form of godliness, but I don't want to be convicted about anything. So we don't want an old fashioned preacher that's going to remind us of what's in the Bible and put some fire under us. We want, if we do have a pastor, We want one that is gonna tell us that the things we choose to do in our flesh are okay. And a lot of times wives want a husband that is just gonna agree with everything and not use his job that God has given him. Children want fathers. They want to flee their father or rebel against their father. And of course the world hates fathers. And understand, if there's a godly mother, she's right here in this category, because she's going to be rejected by children. And society is persecuting both. They are persecuting the father, because he has a special role in the home. They want to break up families. But they're persecuting traditional mothers, because she's a watch person also over the children and over the home in a special way. Everything is being attacked by the devil. And the devil has always attacked these things, the watchman. But today, the attack is gearing up for the final battle. And that's why everything is happening so quickly, see. So, what happens though? What are the results of Laodiceanism? Not only the rejection of a godly pastor, godly father, godly husband, etc. What's going to be the result? Now, just think about it. If somebody's standing in the way of the devil and you say, I'm going to rebel against that person, I'm rebelling against God's church, I'm rebelling against the God-called pastor. I'm going to rebel against the Father. We don't want godly husbands doing their job in the home. You're left with a society without watchmen, you see. The watchman's been rejected. There's the watchman on the wall, and here's the fellow covering his ears, running away from it. We don't want that. Well, what are you going to be left with? What are you left with? If the hedge is removed, if a wall is removed, what happens if you have a nation, a city back in the olden days, where anybody can come in no matter what, no matter how bad they are or how criminal? The military from another country can come in. Anybody can come in. Just dress a different way, and you could be some type of mad criminal, bomber, or whatever. Just come across the border. If you want to know what that's like, look at what has happened to America, and you can get an idea. If the hedge is broken down, if the fence is broken down, anything can come into the garden. God raised up pastors for a reason. He raised up the church. He ordained the church. He ordained preaching. There's a reason. So that man can be a watchman and say, he's a help, he's a support, he's like a fence, he's like a hedge. The watchman on the wall, he can't do your job for you. But he can say, I see this coming. Get rid of it. Hey, whoa, this thing's of Satan. And it's designed to make your kids lesbian and homos and sodomites. Get rid of it. Hey, hey, this right here, this is what they're doing. I'm telling you, I've been doing this a long time. I'm looking in the Bible. I got spiritual discernment. This is what they're doing. Flee it. Get away from it. Stop doing what you're doing. Let me give you Bible verses and show you why you ought to flee this. Touch not the unclean thing. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Get away from it. Don't touch it. Say, I don't like that. I don't like to hear that kind of preaching. This is bothering me. And you can come in and smile and get madder and madder and madder. And pretty soon they say, we're going to do that pastor in. The pastor's got a special calling. And I believe the Holy Ghost, if he surrendered to God, is going to use him to warn. The father's got a special role. Not always. There's fathers and husbands that Sometimes don't understand spiritual things, but it's amazing the discernment that God gives a man about certain things. The Bible says Adam was not deceived. Listen to me. Adam was not deceived. That was a perfect man and a perfect woman. But Adam was not deceived about the devil's lie. Adam made a choice. Adam made a choice to go along with everything because he loved his wife. But you should never love anybody over God. You should never put your wife over God. It's what a lot of men do today. They say, I don't want to make my kids mad. They already hate me. TikTok tell them to hate me. All of the movies tell them to hate me. TV tells them to hate me. Everybody, everybody tells them to hate me because I'm the man. And so if I tell them, don't do this, they're going to hate me even more. I don't want to put up with the stress pastor. I just don't want to deal with the stress. You know what I mean? That's where Adam was at. He didn't want to deal with the stress of it all. Just go along with it. Well, if you promise me, if I don't go along with it, everything's going to be good. I can't do that. Jesus never promised you that, but I tell you what, if you want God on your side, get right with God. And if you're going to have a blessing, get right with God. That's what matters. And I bet God will bring a blessing. I mean, I would suspect one. But I can't promise you're not going to go through a hard time. But do what's right because it's right. If you reject whatever is called to protect, you are left unprotected. Notice the city here in the book of Judges. Then the five men departed and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless." That's how people want to dwell, see. After the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure, but they weren't really secure. There was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything. And they came. unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure. And they smote them with the edge of the sword, and the city would fire, and there was no deliverer." What was wrong with the city? It was unprotected. They didn't have God's blessing. And the Bible said that they just dwelt careless, and there was no body, no magistrate to say, you know what? That's wrong. I'm going to put you to shame for it. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. If you have nobody to put you to shame, if the pastors aren't doing their job, if the father's not doing his job, if the mother's not doing her job, everybody's careless. If everybody's careless, you're unprotected. Now the enemy's going to come in. Communists have worked hard to bring America to a place of carelessness, to remove fathers, to belittle and scorn and reject the godly pastor and the godly church. And we're careless right now. We're careless. We're unprotected in America. May God have mercy. May God wake up and bring a revival. But we are unprotected. As President Trump is trying to bring the invaders and the intruders and dangerous people out, as he's supposedly trying to rebuild a wall, so to speak, we better get watchmen back. We better support the godly pastor. We better support men that are standing up and trying to protect their houses. Because if you don't get the watchman back, you might as well not have a wall. You're unprotected. If you can't stand firm with somebody exhorting and reproving and exposing danger, if you say, I don't want to hear that, and you're living in a careless way, gambling with God, presuming on God, making provision for the flesh. If you already can't live in a careful way with somebody exhorting you, what do you think will happen when you remove yourself from that? Now you get no warning. Now nobody's warning you about TikTok. Now nobody's warning you about K-pop and anime and Taylor Swift. Nobody's warning you about anything for your kids. Nobody's exposing it. Nobody's telling you about what they want to inject in your body. Nobody's telling you what this stuff's doing to your body. Nobody's telling you what Hollywood's agenda is. You say, well, I'm going to know all that anyway. Well, I'll tell you what, if you don't get somebody preaching at you, if you're already got it invade in your house and nobody's going to preach at you, nobody's going to warn you. Nobody's going to remind you. I'm going to tell you, I've watched people. I've watched people over and over and over. They began, they're already not doing good. And then they get away from preaching. And then all of a sudden. They begin to look like the world within a couple of months man, and they begin to act like the world And before you know it you have serious problems in that house Sodom has entered into that house. It's a house of Sodom now Which is the devil's goal If you ignore reproof When you hear it, how are you going to do if you scorn it and leave it? So the watchman's got a job. A pastor in this day and age has a job. God's going to say, they're going to have stubborn faces. A lot of times the kids will, a lot of times the teens, a lot of times they're going to bow up. A lot of times mama's gonna bow up because she's into it just as much as the daughter is. Sometimes dad's in a mess. But sometimes dad says, I'm not for this stuff. And she says, you better be for it. You better leave these kids alone. So you've got all kinds of things going on. So what does God say? God says, pastor, talking to his prophet in the Old Testament, you make your face harder than their face. They're going to have stubborn faces. You make your faces harder. You make your face harder. In other words, I'm going to keep telling you it's wrong. I'm going to keep telling you this is dangerous. Now, here's what God says about that. He says in Ezekiel 33, But if the watchmen see the sword come, He sees the invaders coming. He knows what they're trying to do. He knows what's going to happen to your kids within a few months if you continue under this stuff. And He blew out the trumpet. Pastor, what are you preaching on? Get up there and preach about this stuff. Preach about the sin. Show people what's coming. What'd you learn in church? Oh, John 3 16. Man, that's wonderful. Do you do it at the end of the sermon and bring somebody to salvation? No, no, no. It was just John 3 16. Well, praise God. It must've been a lot of unsaved people in church. No, no, not, not, not really. Oh, it's good to be reminded that you're saved. It's good to be reminded of John 3.16. Praise God. But does He ever tell you what's happening today in the world and what you need to stay away from? Does He ever show God's commandments and apply them to what's happening today? No, He doesn't do it because He'd be run off. The board would meet. And the people on the board would come say, pastor, we just don't, we just think you're being judgmental. And we want to, we want you to step aside. See, that's the kind of church he's with. But listen to me, if he blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned, if the sword come, that's the enemy and take away any person from among them, he has taken away in his iniquity. The people, they sin. But his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. There it is. Every single pastor in America is going to stand before God. And the Bible says, be not many masters, knowing that you'll receive the greater condemnation. You had a job to warn that church about that sin, about that danger, about that agenda of Satan. And you didn't do it. And you have a job to warn them about punishment and chastisement from God for messing with sin. And if we don't do it, that's why you need to understand a pastor has a very serious job. He's going to get in a lot of trouble at the judgment seat of Christ before God if he doesn't warn faithfully. Same as a husband. You can read the book of Ruth. with Naomi and her husband, dwelling outside the land, raising their kids among the Midianites. And I'm gonna tell you, God killed the men. The men died, the men died. When Zipporah didn't wanna circumcise the kid, God met Moses and says, now I'm going to kill you. He met Moses. It's Zipporah. She's the one who don't want to do it. I know, but you're going to die. I don't understand that. It's because the man's the head. Do you know the whole world right now is in sin and death? Not because of what Eve did, but because what Adam did. Adam went along with it, you see. And I'm not saying women are somehow excused, that you're not going to get in trouble for sinning. I'm telling you that the man's decision, when he makes a decision to go along with it, he endangers his soul before God. I don't mean he loses eternal salvation. I mean, you're in a lot of trouble. You're in a lot of trouble. And so we got to understand that. And it's easy for a pastor to say, they don't like it, God. I don't want to make them mad. God says, well, you're going to make me angry then. So thou, O son of man, I have sent thee a watchman into the house of Israel. And you know what a pastor is called? A pastor is called someone who watches over your soul. He's called a bishop. What is a bishop? It means a watcher, the watchman. What does a pastor of a sheep do? He's a keeper of the sheep. He watches, makes sure no wolves get him, no coyotes. A herdsman, a shepherd. So thou, O son of man, I have sent thee a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore thou shall hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul. God understands that a prophet may come and give God's message and everybody reject him. Jeremiah said, hey, I don't want to be a prophet. I don't want this job. God says, come on, miss your job. This is what I'm calling you to do. He said, even my family's gonna get angry, God. God said, it's okay, come on. Then Jeremiah complains all throughout the book. He says, my family hates me, Israel hates me, everybody hates me. But he did his job. He did his job. It's not the success that God looks at. as far as you getting in trouble or not. It's, did you do your job? Did you warn them? Were you a good man in your house? Did you warn? Did you try to be a good man in your house? Did you try to be a good mama? You say, my kids hate me. They've turned from me. They've turned from God. Did you try to be a good mama? Did you give them the warnings they needed, mama? Daddy, did you give them the warnings they needed? And I know warnings go afar. Believe me, God says that many of His people would have repented and turned from their sin if they got the warning. So I'm not despising the warnings. I'm just telling you that there are situations where there's like Enoch who preached, got no results. There's people like Noah's family, every single day preaching, preaching year after year after year after year, building the art. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, preaching, preaching. The whole world rejected it, but he did what was right. He did what God told him to do. And you know, that God says in 2 Timothy, preach the word, be instant. That means urgent, pressing. He said that pastor, he's just, he's just too urgent. Out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. But he does say for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. I think we're in that time. But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears." I want somebody to tell me that my pleasures are okay and not dangerous. Writing to the Hebrew Christians that had many churches scattered all about, He says, Obey them that have the rule over you. In other words, your pastor. And submit yourself. And that's not absolute submission. You know? That's talking about when He warns you and gives you the command of the Word of God. Look in the Word of God. Make sure it's there. But you need to hear. You need to hear. Just like a woman does. Her husband. Just like a child. Just like you need to hear the policeman when he's doing his job right. Submit yourself. He's trying to tell you. It's his job to watch and say, this is bad. Look at it. Get it out of your home. for they watch for your souls as they that must give account." Go home and say, that preacher makes me mad when he preaches on this. And somebody needs to stand up in the house and say, hey, that's his job, man. I mean, earlier days, preachers were all over everything, man. So, let him do his job. He's going to get in trouble if he don't. If he sees something coming and he knows it's dangerous, if he doesn't preach on it, man, his soul is going to be in trouble at the judgment seat of Christ. God could kill him right now. He could meet the terror of the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ and be an unprofitable servant. And he's going to be judged in a greater way. Give him some space. Give the man of the house some space, man. He's got a hard job. Go back and read where God called Moses and says, you're going to deliver Israel and they're getting it all ready. Then God says, okay, now I'm going to kill you. Moses is like, what are you talking about? You're going to kill me. Well, you didn't sacrifice your son. Well, Zipporah, that's not her culture. She's not for that stuff. God says, I'm going to kill you anyway. Moses went home, got it right, got it straight, as I said. So, the Bible's telling you, they watch for your soul. Listen to the watchman. A pastor can only do so much. You might say it's inconvenient. I was about to take a bath. I was about to take a nap. He's blowing the trumpet. Get ready. Get moving. The enemy is coming. Oh, not again. He blows the trumpet all the time. Well, we keep getting invaded. I know we keep getting invaded. Move. Let's go. Let's go get the house in order. The enemy is coming. He's about to attack us. It's no fun, is it? It's no fun hearing, man, I gotta, here comes another invasion. Here comes another movement of Satan. Here comes another agenda into the home. That's why it's good to just turn TikTok off, get rid of little iPads, get rid of all that stuff, the gaming, all this stuff. And I tell you, if you're gonna mess with that stuff, you better be on it like a hawk. And you better monitor what your kids are doing, because that stuff, the devil's going to come through it, man. The devil's coming through it. Oh, my children aren't going to be sodomites. Oh, they're not going to end up being messed up. That preacher, he's just, he's always blowing that trumpet. Praise God he is. It says in Isaiah 62, I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day or night. If they see something coming, they're going to say it. And I believe this is true today. I believe in America today, God has watchmen that are not holding their peace. You say America's in a mess. Oh, God has watchmen. They're still pastors. They're exposing it. You say, well, not many are. Oh, but there are. There are pastors exposing things. And they shall never hold their peace. Thank you, Jesus. It means no matter what you do to them, they're going to keep telling you. You know the Lord Jesus predicted in that 40-year period after His resurrection, that there were going to be earthquakes and pestilences and famines and false prophets. And it was all going to culminate in the destruction of Israel, which happened in AD 70. And all of that's a pattern for what will replay in the last days when Israel becomes a nation and that tribulation period starts. And then you're going to see earthquakes and famines. You're going to have that same thing culminating in the second coming of Christ. So it's all going to replay again, but There were strange things in the sky. There were chariot races and UFOs in the sky. And Jesus said, there'll be fearful sights from heaven. And people were like, it doesn't matter. It's not gonna be judgment. But remember what Jesus Christ said? He said that this is all gonna be destroyed. Oh, it's okay, it's okay. There was a man. And when you had comments, when you had a strange sites in the heavens, when you had chariot races and all these devils and angels fighting one another in the heavens, when all of that was a picture that you are in trouble, Israel, Jerusalem is going to be in trouble. There was a man and he came around and he says, whoa, to Jerusalem. Whoa, to Jerusalem. And the official says, get this man out of here and beat him. And they beat him. And he continued to say, woe unto Jerusalem, woe unto Jerusalem. They couldn't stop him. They could never stop him. No matter what, he would not hold his peace. He continued, he continued. They say that man's crazy, but he would not hold his peace. They beat him so bad that his bones were showing. but he would not hold his peace." Are you getting the idea? We need pastors. We need fathers, husbands, and mamas to say, I'm not going to stop mourning about the devil. You might not like it, but I'm not going to stop mourning about the devil. I'm not going to sit back and cool off, man. I'm not going to sit back, we're at war! And I am not going to sit back, in the middle of a war, in the middle of an invasion, and just cool off. So he says in Jeremiah 6, I have set watchmen over you, saying, hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we will not hearken. Hero earth behold, I will bring evil upon this people. They are all grievous revolters walking with slanders. So God says, the time is coming. God has set watchmen over the people. They're going to rebuke and reprove with all long suffering and doctrine. But the people say, we're not going to listen to that. We're not going to listen to that preaching. We're going to revolt against it. Now, when they revolt, they revolt with slanders. See, with lies. They didn't listen to John the Baptist because they said he had a devil. See, they didn't listen to Jesus because they said he was gluttonous and a drunkard. They're always going to have some excuse. They said, Jesus has a devil. But God says, here's what's gonna happen, because you didn't hear my watchman, I'm gonna bring evil upon this people. You're gonna experience evil. Is this making sense? What about this one? Ecclesiastes 10. Whoso breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith." You just walk over and you say, let's tear the fence down. Well, now the coyotes are going to come after everything. If the fence is down, now the garden is going to be run over. If the fence is down, now the little lamb is going to be taken away. But you say in the family, let's remove that hedge. Somebody's in a church somewhere in America and a couple get together and they say, I want our kids to have fun. Let's go to a church that has a coffee bar and a gymnasium. and doesn't preach against bad movies, and little transgender kids running around, purple hair and hooks all in their nose. Let's go over there because I heard it has soft preaching, and we are making a lot more money now. Boy, it's time for us to find a different type of church for people like us who make money. We can be like everybody else now. Let's break down that hedge of the pillar and ground of the truth, which is God's church. Let's get rid of the watchman who's getting on our nerves anyway. You tear down the fence, a serpent bites. It's just God's curse. You shouldn't have messed with the landmark. You shouldn't have messed with the fence. You should not have tore down the hedge. Certainly not the hedge of somebody else's house. But you could tear down the hedge of your own house. The Bible says a foolish woman will break down her own house. She'll tear down the wall. Before she comes after the children per se, like some mad woman, she just breaks down the hedges around the children. And it leaves the serpent to laugh and say, now I'm coming after those kids. I'm so glad. Now, if you did your part, that's all you can do, man. Thief on the cross. He did what he could. He rebuked the other thief. God does not ask you to do anything other than what you could do. But if you decided to go with the flow, if you decided that you're not going to resist Satan anymore, if you decided that you're going to resist God's watchman, get ready for serpent bite. Get ready for the serpent bite. It's coming. The venom is going to be rough. We needed some money and I was loading logs by myself, as you know the story. And it was not wise. I'm not telling you this was wise. I went down to a place where we see copperheads all the time at night. I wasn't there at night, but it was wild, everything was grown. And I was trying to put logs on a trailer to bring them to the market the next day. And the sun went down on me without a good flashlight. But I said, I'm not gonna stop. I'm going to, I'm gonna get this log, these logs on this trailer. So I'm walking around with wild grass, things grown up all around me. in a very dangerous place. If there's one dangerous spot on the property, it's there at night. And I wasn't thinking about it because I was involved in the work scene. And it's dark. It's summertime. And I felt something. And I thought I'd bumped into the trailer. When I got home, I realized my thigh was getting stiff. And the next day it was a lot stiffer. And I looked over and I said, oh man, that's a snake bite. And I looked it up online and I said, uh-oh, that's copperhead bite. I don't know how much poison he got in me, but I know my leg was stiffening up. I was starting to feel a little crazy in the head, and I'm not telling you to ever do this, but I just went and drank a whole glass of olive oil and Echinacea tea. And I downed it and downed it. I don't know how many times I did it, but I said, I'm going to purify my blood, man. And it all went away. I'm not telling you to do that. Okay. I'm not telling you to do that. That's what I did. And, um, To what degree it was a wet bite? I don't know. Did God just give me miraculous healing? Did He heal it through the purification of my blood as many people have done with olive oil and echinacea? Was it just a drier bite? It wasn't totally dry because I was getting stiff. But here's my point in all of this. I went where the serpents were. At a time I shouldn't have been there at night. without a flashlight. What could go wrong? But what do people do? I'm going to get away from the flashlight. I'm going to get away from the watchman. I don't like it. I'm going to get out of here in the dark when nobody sees what I'm doing. Then I can keep all my pop stuff. I can keep all my sin. I can keep all these things and not have to listen to this preacher preaching about it. I'm going to get over here in the darkness. Oh, really? What could go wrong? A serpent's going to bite you, man. You're endangering yourself. And this is played out again and again and again and again. I've talked to the men again and again and again. They said, I should have done it this way. My son's a sodomite. I should have done it this way. I said, I know you should have done it that way. How many people do you have to see do it the wrong way? But we always think we're going to be different. We can flee light. We can get the watchman out of our face and I'll be okay. You're gambling. You're gambling just as I gambled. See. The Bible says the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches, man. If you've got a church, I don't care if it's not great, if it's not known around the world, is that church a light? Is it preaching the light? Does it have a pastor that has a star that's shining? In other words, has he got God's Word? Is he telling you what the devil's doing? Is he exposing what the devil's doing? Drive! I don't care if you've got to move to a state. Find somebody preaching the Word of God. Get your family there. Support the church. Don't flee the light. Jesus is the only Holy Spirit infallible light. The King James Bible is the only infallible light. But God designed pastors for a reason. He designed fathers for they have their job to do. The husband has his job to do. The mother has her job to do. Older brother and older sister, you've got your job to do according to Song of Solomon. You can't come and say, I don't know what she was doing. What do you mean you don't know what the little brother was doing? It's your job to know. It's your job to watch after little brother. Why did you let him get into this stuff? I'm not the dad. Well, you need to go back and read the Bible. Big sister and big brother are supposed to look after little brother and little sister. And mama's supposed to look after all the children. And dad, he's the one that's going to go down when God gets mad. God's coming after him because he's the captain of this whole thing, see. Where was Adam? The Bible gets on to Eve. Said Eve needs a covering. Eve was in the transgression. Women are not to have authority over a man in the church. Women are not to be pastors. They're not to lead their homes as the head of the house. And Paul makes an argument. He says, the woman was in the transgression. She was deceived. But hold on a second. The Bible says that this whole world fell into sin because of Adam. Because Adam went along with it. He was the head. Where was Adam when the serpent got a hold of Eve? What do you ask your older son? You say, little brother got into a mess over there and he was messing around with the wrong kind of people. And that's how this happened. What do you say to him? What were you doing, man? I mean, I come from a generation, bro, where you walk over and see bad people talking to little brother, you beat them to a pulp, man. You say, you get away from my brother. You slapped a cigarette out of the mouth. If anybody gave him drugs or anything, man, The fight is on. And I'm telling you right now, I am not lying or exaggerating. I come from a place where big sisters come walking down the hill. You mess with little sister or little brother, they slap the daylights out of you. See, they watch over one another. You're not gonna, you're not gonna be messing with my house when it comes to trying to get them into bad stuff, crime or drugs or something like that. It's Adam. that had a special job. Can I show you what Adam's job was before Eve was created? Let me show you. And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it. And to what? And to keep it. Y'all see those words? Eli, you see? And the Lord God said, it's not good that the man should be alone. I will make a help meet for him. That means a help fitting for him. So before God made woman, God says, Adam, here's your job. I want you to dress this garden and I want you to keep it. I want you to keep it. This was before thorns and thistles. What did he have to do to the garden? There was some work he had to do, man. That means work is perfect. God says everything's good. This is a state of perfection. Everything's good, which means man was designed to work. We were never designed to be idle. If you get idle, you say, I'm starting to get depressed because you weren't made to be idle. You're made to work, man. In all of the perfection, man was working. He was called to work. Work is good. But we know from Nehemiah, when they were building the wall, they had to work and battle. Curtis Hudson has a sermon called Building and Battling. Those are the two things you have to do in your life. We have to build, but we have to battle. That means watch for enemies. So why did Adam have to keep the garden? Because that was the house, man. That's where he lived. It wasn't just a garden outside in the field. That was the house. This was the home. And maybe animals would come up. The animals hadn't been cursed yet. They were vegetarian, but maybe they'd come up and eat up the special things that he had there in the garden. Oh, but hold on just one second. What does keep mean? When we look at what keep means in the Bible, let's just take a look here. Genesis 3. So He drove out the man, we're just one chapter away, and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubim, and a flaming sword, which turned every way," and what's the word we see? To keep the way of the tree of life. Some cherubim are keeping the tree of life. What does that mean? Keep it from intruders. Keep people away from it. Adam was called to dress the garden and keep intruders out of it. Just go to the next chapter. There's what the word means. Adam was called to keep bad intruders out of the garden. What bad intruder could there have been? Well, the Bible says that Lucifer used to dwell in Eden before he was cursed. And he fell and became Satan. He had to be somewhere. Obviously, it was Adam's job, because he pretty much took Lucifer's place, to have dominion upon earth. And oh, the devil hates man. He hated Adam for taking his place. And all Adam had to do was keep that serpent away from his wife. Let me show you what keep means. First Samuel 17, and David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep. What does that mean, David, to keep sheep? Oh, well, there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flot. But don't worry, he's going to keep them sheep, man. And I went out after him and smote it and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. David said, I know how to keep sheep, man. I keep the enemy away from the sheep. When Adam was called to keep that garden, he was to keep enemies away from his home. And the problem is sometimes the enemies disguise themselves as good people. They creep in. And the husband says, no, this isn't good. I want you to get away from this person. Oh, this is a wonderful movie. Oh, this is so good. This is a beautiful app. No, no, no. I want you to get away from that stuff. Why are you being so mean? Why are you being so mean? I'm doing my job, okay? This is bad. Let me try to explain to you why, but this is bad. I want you away from this, okay? Keep doesn't always just mean protect. But oh, it's a main responsibility of it. The Bible says that a man is first, not just merely a provider. He's also a protector. The man's job in the home is to be the protector. A pastor's job isn't just to give you a nice, encouraging sermon. It's also to give you a protecting sermon, to give you reproves and protection. This is what's coming. Stay away from this. Your dad has a job of protection, which means the mom has a job under him of protecting you. Dad and mom are there to protect you. And as I said, it trickles down from father who has the chief responsibility to mother, to the older children. If dad or mother got occupied and turned around, God forbid, and you were there, I say, where did you run? You say, Oh, the little one was trying to run out the road. I grabbed it. And then you give him a hug and say, thank you for watching. God help us have mercy on us. Thank you for watching. That was your job and you did a good job. Let me show you what keep means again. First Samuel 26. And David said to Abner, aren't not thou a valiant man? And who is like to thee in Israel? Mocking him. Wherefore then has thou not kept thy Lord, the King? For there came one of the people in to destroy the King, thy Lord. David's being facetious. As the Lord liveth, you are worthy to die because you have not kept your master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the King's spear is. So, see, Saul was in a cave. David snuck up, stole the spear. See? Right up under the general that's supposed to watch him. And so David hollers and says, how come you didn't keep Saul? I could have killed him, man. And if I wanted to, I could have killed him right then. Here's the spear right here. What does keep mean? Keep meant to protect. Keep meant to protect from somebody that would do harm. To preserve. Protect. Look at this, Ephesians 5, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Why? Why is that? Why do you submit to the pastor? Why do children submit to parent? Is it just some type of bossy thing? Do some jumping jacks for me. No, no, no. The submission is protection. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. Don't miss this. He is the savior of the body. Why do you submit to your husband? Well, God put him here to protect me. What do you mean protect you from rapists? Yeah, but not just that, from people that would deceive. He's a spiritual protector. You never read that Eve was deceived, but not Adam. If he does his job, He's there to protect. Webster's, the word savior, one that saves or preserves. How did David preserve the sheep? He fought the lion. I do believe it was Adam's job. As much as lieth in him, to keep that wicked serpent from his wife. I don't think there's ever a marriage that I've ever performed, and I've performed a lot of them. Let me show you something. Luke 11. Our Lord Jesus says, when a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. They're protected. They're preserved. Adam was called to keep the garden, keep everything in it safe. There's not a marriage that I've ever performed where I don't have a man say before God and mean it, I, whatever his name is, take thee, whatever her name is, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, love your wife, cherish her, to lead and protect. All of that's the same in the woman's pledge. But she says to submit and obey. To love and obey. Did I mess up? Huh? I'll ask you later. But here it is right here. To lead and protect. That's the man. That's the man's pledge. Till death do us part, according to God's holy Bible, there too I vow my faithfulness. And it's good to remember what we pledged before God. And it's good for a man to remember, I made a vow before God to lead and protect you. I think pulpit commentary was right when it says, neither were the animals also peaceful and domesticated that Adam did not need to fence in his garden. Doubtless though, there is hereto an ominous hint of the existence of that greater adversary against whom he was appointed to watch out for. They said Adam was called to watch for Satan. J.K. Bill, New Testament Biblical Theology says, Adam was to be God's obedient servant in maintaining both the physical and the spiritual welfare of the garden abode, which included dutifully keeping evil influences from invading. Thus, he was to rule over and subdue the servant. What a beautiful system God has created. You got a man of the house. You are the provider. I said, yep, I'm going to go to work and bring home the money. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's just physical provision. You also have to provide spiritually. Whoo. What a job I got. I got to provide physically, but also provide spiritually. Well, you can't replace God and you're going to get a lot of help. But you have to make sure the family's reading the Bible. You got to make sure that you're leading the home. You got to make sure that they're going to church. You got to make sure that they're going to a good church. You got to make sure enemies are not around. So that's your provision. And it's also a protection. I've got to protect them physically, but I got to protect them spiritually too. When my grandpa came home one day, he found grandma talking at the table. with some watchtower people. And, uh, you didn't mess with grandpa. He kicked him out of his house. And I believe kick was, was probably literal, you know, he came back again and they were there again. And this time he kicked them harder, but the devil will keep coming back. People, the devil will keep coming back. He came back with Jesus. He gave him one temptation. Bible says he left him for a season. He came back and tried again. He said, woo, we survived that battle. Let's get on our faces and pray and thank God we survived it. But he'll come again. He'll come again. But God has a system in place. You watch. Kids, I want y'all to watch over one another and help us watch. And I'm gonna watch. And then we're gonna go to church and hear what God's given the pastor so he can help us watch and encourage us in our watching. And we all work together as a team, okay? We work together. And it's easy to get mad at mom and her standards because she's watching over you. You might disagree with them. It's easy sometimes for mom to get mad at dad and say, you don't understand. And then sometimes everybody gets mad at the pastor. But I've got thick skin. And it's no fun when everybody gets mad at you. But if I see the devil coming, I'm going after it, man. I'm going after the serpent. And people say, well, you don't understand. What are you doing? No, I'm going after it. And I'm going to warn you until I'm red in the face. I'm gonna warn you till I can't warn anymore until you finally remove yourself where I can't get to you no more and preach. I'm gonna do everything I can to warn you about what's out here. These movies are from hell. I'm warning you about it. This pop music craze is from hell. I'm warning you about it. All of this sodomite, K-pop, this pop, Taylor Swift pop, it's all designed to turn you into a lesbian or a homo. It's sick from the pit of hell. And what I mean by that is that's where to lead you. That's where to lead our nation. Those are just some of the things, okay? Those are just some of the things. Let me show you a few more things here in Habakkuk. You've heard that a woman is the keeper at home, right? There's books called Keeper at Home, or it used to be back in the older days. That was a big thing. Women, you're the keeper of the home. You're the keeper of the home. But what did we just learn? See, a man can't say, well, you're the keeper of the home. How did you let the kids become sodomites? Wait a second, wait just a minute. The man is the keeper of the home. Just the woman has a special place under him to carry out his instructions and to watch in a special way. They work together as a team. But the man goes out into the field, but he's still watching. He's still watching. He's got to come back home and check what's going on. And she's doing things like sewing and cleaning and taking care of babies and things that she does and feeding and making sure there's something to eat. But you gotta watch, they work together. Now what happens if the woman leaves the home all the time? Now the Proverbs 31 woman, she took her kids and she sold things. She brought in extra income to help her husband. But, so I don't mean she's like, in jail at her house. But a keeper at home means that she's not having a career out somewhere where she can't be with her kids. What happens when mama leaves and she's no longer a keeper at home? Now the public school raises the kids. Now a daycare down the road raises the kids. How did that work out for America ever since the 1970s? You just tell me how that worked out for everybody. That's why revival among Christians was, we're gonna get homeschooling, we're gonna wake up, we're gonna get mom away from the career-minded mindset, and we're gonna get her focusing on home. And they said, okay, we're done. Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, we haven't even come close to fixing it. Because you have to reinstate father as the keeper of the home. And he's got a certain amount of keeping at home that he needs to do. What if you get a father that wants to go to the club every day after work? How is that gonna work out? What if a father starts drinking And he said, I'm just going over here and drunk. That's how I grew up, man. Dad, a lot of times was there, but dad sadly wanted to go to the bar. And there's been plenty of times in my pajamas that I walked into a bar at one o'clock in the morning to get my daddy. Listen to Habakkuk. Yea, also, talking about the king of Babylon, but this applies to all men. Because he transgresseth by wine, that's the first mistake. Get alcohol out of your life, man. You can't be the head of the home. You can't be a keeper of your home or of the garden if you're drunk. You see that? Because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man. Neither keepeth at home. You see that? So the king of Babylon wanted to go out. He never wanted to stay at home, take care of his own business. He wanted to go conquer something out here. See something to do, but, but, but apply this to a family. Now this man, he's messing around with alcohol. He's not a keeper at home. He doesn't know what's going on in his house. He doesn't know what enemy has invaded his wife, what enemy has invaded his children's lives. You got to be around your children and you got to talk to them and you got to ask them questions and you got to get them talking and they don't like to talk immediately, but you got to get them talking, you know, and who enlarges his desire as hell and as death and cannot be satisfied. I don't know how Adam missed the serpent. but somehow another he did. Somehow another he was over here working with some vegetables and he didn't realize what had happened to his wife. And it took so long that not only did he not realize the devil was talking to her, she was already poisoned. She had already taken of the tree. And then she gave to him and he said, oh, this is not right, but I don't wanna lose you. I don't wanna lose you. Of course, a woman is a keeper at home. Titus 2, that they may teach, this is the older ladies, that they may teach the young women, that means adult women that are married, to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. Notice husband came first. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Boy, you got a husband that doesn't drink, he's out here taking care of the family, he's making money at work, he's got a hard job, he comes home, he needs to take care of the family, be a family man. You got a wife. She's a keeper at home. She's good. She's obedient. She loves her husband. First and foremost, she loves her children. And now when people look, they can't bring fault against them. See when people in other countries say, well, y'all don't watch over your children. There's no fault that they can make. Does this guarantee 100% that a child won't rebel? Nope. Does a man being a keeper at home and not a drunk guarantee that the woman won't rebel? Nope. Does a woman doing her job guarantee that a husband won't be an idiot? Nope. But it goes a long way, people. It goes a long way. Okay? If you got any chance, do things with God. Do things God's way. And I believe God does bless. I do believe He blesses. So a few more words in Song of Solomon says, take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines for our vines have tender grapes. Take means to go get them and capture them. Get them away. Find out where the enemy is and neutralize it. That's what that means. This is what you got to do. You've got to say, you know what, mom, I'm getting rid of this. Why daughter? I think it's spoiling all my fruit. I think it's making me a weak Christian. That's very good. That's very good. That's very good. A wife comes to her husband and says, you know what? I'm not going to do this no more. It's taken my fruit away. It's taken my joy and peace away. And it's exposed me to things that are not good. A husband says, you know what? I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm not going to do this anymore. It was a temptation. It's a distraction. It doesn't mean there's not wholesome enjoyments. I'm talking about the devil, man. I'm talking about foxes. And even the little ones that you don't think are bad, you can come back. One squirrel can devastate a mulberry tree, man. You have the most beautiful mulberry fruit. That thing gets up at 3.30 in the morning. And by the time you come out there and say, well, we'll take care of it. We'll go pick all those tomorrow. That squirrel's gonna eat every single, and you catch him. He's got the last one. His cheeks are all full and he's gone. I'm like, how did that little squirrel do that to that tree? That little squirrel, that's what a little fox can do. You think it's no big deal. The next thing you know, man, your heart's not right with God. It was a big deal. But another way, not only do you have to protect your fruit yourself, God gives you protectors to help you. Older brothers and sisters, mama, the dad and the pastor. We're all working together to protect that fruit. Song of Solomon talks about his family, his wife. She's a garden enclosed. She's a spring shut up. She's a fountain sealed. She's protected. We got boundaries here. We got boundaries. This woman did not have boundaries. Your kids have to have boundaries. We don't do that. Well, what do you mean? We just don't do that. See, we got boundaries. And you walked outside the boundary. See, we don't do that. You gotta stay within the boundaries. Proverbs 7. But kids, we were always told, you can go play right over here, play over there. Don't go past that line. You see that pole right down there? Don't go past that. The next thing you know, I just wandered over to Sun Tzu's house and you got your butt whipped. You got your butt whipped. Well, how come I got in trouble? Because I told you don't go past that, see? That way when I come out the house, I can look and I can see you. But you went all the way over somewhere else. Proverbs 7, and behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart. She was a married woman meeting this fella. She's loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house. She doesn't stay within her boundary. Now is she without, now in the streets, lieth and wait at every corner. And before you know it, she caught somebody and somebody caught her. She herself broke down her own fences. You can set up fences and come back and realize somebody's done broke them. You can set entertainment fences and come back. They done broke them all down. Now we got to set them back up again. What could lead a man to break down all the hedges God's given to protect him? What could lead a man to say, my children already are having trouble. I think what I'll do. is come up with a slander against the pastor or make myself mad and bitter against the pastor. And I'll remove my children who are already not doing good. So they won't hear no more preaching about the things they need to hear preaching about. And then as you leave, actually name the stuff you're mad about. Now I won't hear no preaching about food and dress Pop music and who knows what. The pastor's job is to provoke. Awake! But you know what people are going to do. Proverbs 15, A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him, neither will he go unto the wise. He's going to leave the wise. A woman's going to leave a wise husband if she's a scorner wife. A kid's going to leave wise parents if he's a scorner. People in churches that become scorners, they leave good pastors. They're scorners. They don't want to hear the truth. And it's not easy hearing truth. It's not easy to the flesh. I used to preach years ago and I'd be wrestling with people. I'd be wrestling because the devil's inside of them. They'd be throwing the bulletin and sighing and getting like this and doing like that. And afterwards I'd say, how you doing pastor? Whoa, hold on a second. You've been wrestling the whole time I've been preaching. I know devils were angry as I'm preaching. But it's good when people can say, you know what, it bothered my flesh, but I needed to hear it. It's like going to the gym or something and you got a coach or an instructor that helps you, you know. And he says, come on, come on, five more pushups. Come on, come on, come on. And you're mad, you're angry. And you know, you said, I'd like to punch you. But afterwards, you give him a hug and say, thanks, we accomplished a lot today. You helped me get out of my comfort zone. Last two verses for you. So you saw that he does not love. If you're a scorner, you don't love the one that reproves you. David says, let the righteous smite me. Let them smite me. It'll be a precious oil. It's not gonna break my head. Give it to me, preacher. Some people, they say, I hope you preach a good one this Sunday. Give it to me, man. Put it where it hurts. 1 Kings 22, and Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? He had 400 men that told the king. Oh, it's okay. Positive thinkers, you know. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man, Micaiah, by whom we may inquire the Lord, but I hate him for he does not prophesy good concerning me. And that's the one man that he needed to hear. He does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. My last verse for you. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou has rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee and I'll also forget thy children. I don't know if there's a heavier verse in the Bible. God says, the problem is you don't have knowledge. And it's not because I didn't try to give it to you. And now you hurt your children. Now your children are gonna be hurt because you rejected knowledge. You rejected the watchman. You rejected his church. You rejected the truth that I gave him to give to you. Dear Holy Father, we thank you for your goodness, God. Now do help us, Lord, help many out there, whoever hears this message, Lord, somewhere, whatever country, God, do help them, help us here to take these things, to take heed to your words here, Lord, and that we may understand our responsibility before you, God, that we die not. that our children are not hurt, that we do our job, whatever we can do before you to preserve fruit, to preserve souls, to preserve life. Now we thank you, forgive us where we failed, forgive us where we failed as watchmen on the wall, whether as pastors, whether as fathers, whether as husbands, whether as mothers, whether as older brothers, whether as older sisters, forgive us Lord. And we know sometimes even little brother Joseph had to go watch everybody because nobody else would do it. Wherever we're at, whatever we can do, let us watch and take care of one another. In Jesus name, amen.