Who Are My People - Gerald Birky

H h. Good morning, Christian greetings to each of you

this morning. It's a privilege, blessing to be here, be

able to spend this this time together in in in

peace and quiet, blessing to look in the in the

Bible Adult Sunday School at the at the teachings of

or the experiences that Christ had, and it was recorded

for us. The teaching we can get from that, the

lessons we can learn m HM. Turning your Bibles with

me for an introduction, for an introduction of the title

I'll get I'll get through eventually, Ruth Book of Ruth

Old Testament. I'm going to read you read an old

estimate story. And I guess just just a little bit,

just a little bit before that. So my name was

Was was on the schedule here too to preach this Sunday.

And the title that I have down here, and i'll

give it to you in a little bit. I actually

had sketched out in a little bit of an outline

two weeks ago when I was sitting sitting here. So

two weeks ago Sunday, I was sitting here on the

over here on this side, and well for most of you,

you probably haven't heard the term black Sunday. I doubt

Black Sunday, but happens to be. If you spent much

time in Mexico last week, you would know exactly what

black Sunday meant. So as I was sitting here in

this in our service two weeks ago, knowing that my

turn to preacher is coming up, but had had a

trip planned in the meantime, my phone went off, buzzed

and buzzed, and I pulled it out and tried to,

you know, not not not look at it too much.

There was one of the things that came in was

it was a straight up request that your churches would

pray for us. Well, considering the source, the fact that

I don't necessarily do everything she asked me to do.

M I ignored it and I sat here. It turns

out it was it was it was one of one

of our friends from port of Iar to Mexico who

was actually afraid. Mm hmm. My. Between between that and

now we spent we spent most of ten days down

south Port of i Orta. And I would say that

that some of the some of my My My Outlaw

may have been altered, but the title not so. So

turn to the Book of Ruth Chapter one. I'm going

to just read this story. I'm going to read a

number of Old Testament passages this morning, and i'll get

to I'll get to the I'll get to the title,

but first the story. Children. This is one of the

most interesting interesting books in the Old Testament because of

a story that makes a fair amount of sense, at

least as it starts. Ruth one, chapter Chapter one, Verse one.

Now came to pass in the days when the judges ruled.

So that's telling you about when judges before the kings.

There was a famine in the land. Famine in the

land means there wasn't any food. Think Venezuela a few

years ago. Not enough food around to eat, and a

certain amount of Bethlehem. Judah went to sojourn in the

country of Moab. He his wife and his two sons.

Think of the refugees who arrived in this country illegal

immigrants they're called today, That's what these folks were. They

went there because they were hungry. And the name of

the man was Elimelac, and the name of his wife Naomi,

and the name of his two sons, Maelon and Chilean

Ephrothites of Bethlehem Judah, and they came into the country

of Moab and continued there, and Elimelac, Naomi's husband died,

and she was left and her two sons. And they

the two sons took wives of the women of Moab,

and the name of the one was Orpha, and the

name of the other was Ruth, other Ruth. And they

dwelled there about ten years, and Maelon and Chilean died also,

both of them, and the woman was left of her

two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her

daughters in law that she might return from the country

of Moab. For she had heard in the country of

Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in

giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the

place where she was, and her two daughters in law

with her, and they went on the way to return

under the land of Judah. And Naomi said, unto her

two daughters in law, go return each to her mother's house.

The Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt

with the dead your husband's and with me. The Lord

grant you that ye may find rest each of you

in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them

and they lifted up their voice and wept, and they

said unto her, surely we will return with THEE unto

thy people. And Naomi said, turn again, my daughters, Why

will ye go with me? Are there yet any more

sons in my womb? That they may be your your husband's?

Turn again, my daughters, go your way, For I am

too old to have a husband. If I should say,

I have hope if I should have a husband also tonight,

and should also bear sons, would you tarry for them

till they were grown? Would you stay for them from

having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for agree with me much

for your sakes, that the hand of the Lord is

gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice

and wept again. In Orph kissed her mother in law,

but Ruth claim unto her, and she said, behold, thy

sister in law has gone back unto her people and

unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister in law.

And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave THEE or

to return from following after THEE. For whither thou goest

I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge.

Thy people shall be my people. And thy God, my God,

where thou diest? Will I die? And there will I

be buried? The Lord do so to me? And more also,

if aught but death part thee and me. And when

she saw that she was straight, steadfast, and minded to

go with her. So when when Naomi saw that Ruth

was steadfast and minded to go with her, then she left,

speaking unto her. So the two went until they came

to Bethlehem. And it came to pass when they were

come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them,

and they said, is this Naomi? And she said, unto them,

call me, not Naomi, call me Mara. For the Almighty

Hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full,

and the Lord have brought me home again empty. Why

then call ye Naomi. Seeing the Lord Hath testified against me,

and the Almighty Hath afflicted me. So Naomi returned and

Ruth the Moabidas her daughter in law with her, which

returned out of the country of Moab, and they came

to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest, So the

beginning of the summer, the early crops were just coming off.

That's when they came home. But the statement, and it's

the Ruth's statement, don't entreat me not to leave. Thee

qu quit trying to get me to leave. For whither

thou goest, I will go where thou lodgest, I will lodge.

Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my god.

Her statement to thy people my people, who are my people?

I guess you can put that down as a tie

if you're hunting for one of those who are my people?

What did Ruth mean when she said my people and

thy people? What do you mean when you say my people?

So this morning I'm going to I've got a couple

of points here. What does God mean when he says

my people? And what do you mean when you say

my people? And then some points on finding your people?

Mm hmm. Like I said, we two sundays ago, sitting here,

I were suddenly faced with a with an interesting question.

So we've, as as you know, we've put some time

and some effort into a small community in Puertobayar to Mexico,

and we were planning to fly down there, had plane

tickets bought, and then we heard two sundays ago on

what's referred to in Jalisco State, as Black Sunday, that

there's violence, that there's problems, the fear that I referenced.

I'll just give you a little bit of the a

little bit of a little bit of the story cartel violence.

We we all, we've we've we've grown up for the

last twenty thirty years. We have, we have, we've we

know that that happens, that that that that organized crime

south of the border get run is just that it's

organized crime. It's it's criminal activity, and it runs, it

runs a mock and it does things that the officials,

the government it says they shouldn't be doing. The event

was kicked off by the Mexican military or some special unit.

Having taken out went after a drug kingpin from the

with pressure and help from this country, the United States.

So the way there's the way these organized crime syndicates

work is there's there's a there's there's some there's some

brains behind it, and they're making moves and they're doing things.

But layers don't talk to each other. I mean they

visualize five different layers of people talking to each other,

giving orders, getting orders, and getting paid, and it trickles

all the way down to very young people so Sunday,

Sunday morning, early two weeks ago, a message went out

to people, and people got a message on their phone,

a text from their boss saying, hey, show up today,

we have work to do. They just captured Mencho. Capturing

Mencho means that that our real boss, who we've never seen,

is captured, and our next job is to put the pressure,

put pressure on the government to release him. So your

job and this this order was given to actually not

younger than the first two benches, but twelve to fifteen

year olds were a lot of them. Go raise a rackus,

go raise a disturbance. Here's a can of gas, here's

here's matches, burn cars, plug intersections. The police, the military,

they just all disappeared. They were not present. You can

speculate on why why that was. I think it has

to do with knowing some of the some of the

rest of the orders. The the the orders to the

low level cartel operatives was causer rakas engage and engage

law enforcement, as in start shooting law enforcement. Stayed down.

The people were told do not leave your house, stay

in your houses, get back to your houses. And in

fact we talked to one heard one story. You remember children.

You remember your summer Bible school last year, the where

you sent the money when you got done, by the way,

thank thank you for that. You were you were thanked

again for that. But Refuge of Hope, a children's home,

had a story from a man who from a male nurse.

He works there. He was, he was off Sunday, he

was he went home, he went to visit or he

went to visit someone south of town, south of Pertabayarta.

Then he got caught on the road, came up upon

a crosswise burning bus. We can't drive farther, we just

have to stop. He turned around to go back the

other way, which he didn't really want to go, and

he didn't go very far down the road, and it's

a narrow, little nasty two lane road, and he comes

up against another burning bus crosswise with masked men standing

there saying, you can't go through here, go back the

other way. So he went off. He actually turned off

and hit his car in the bushes and found a

found a house to a house to knocked on a

and invited himself in, said I need to stay here.

Fearful people. Who are these people? The fear the fear

was actually was actually fairly well, well, well justified is

this man? Several hours several hours went by. He went

back up, left his car in the bushes, went back

up on the road, walked, walked down, found the burning

bus and asked the masked man there, when can I

go through? By then? The bus is burning? Is just

a skeleton done, burning skeleton sitting there? And the guy said,

we're still here waiting for orders. But you shouldn't have

come out at one o'clock. Our orders are to kill

everyone who arrives. We didn't shoot because we didn't get

the order. That's why you're alive. So this nurse he

went back, He went back and waited. He went back.

He was fearful. So that's those are the things that

are happening now. That was happening to people who we

don't well, most of us here don't know. Some of

us here have have some friends there. Hm. We decided,

I decided, I'm not sure who decided, but if the

air if the airplane was gonna go, we were gonna

fly south when when when our when our tickets were scheduled,

and I'm glad we did. It was a it was

an interesting it was a thing actually Jason brother Jason's

talks on grief and loss, some of those things came

up in my mind because because people from well just

just about just about everybody we ran into, everybody to

talk to for a few days, needed to talk about

what happened on Sunday and where they had lost something

that see they had They had lost mostly an illusion.

Now we've known that that cartel violence happens in third

world countries, and the people of Puerto Ayarta, that particular town,

because of the nineteen sixties and seventies investment in tourism,

have told themselves and me and you and anybody that

listen that that this doesn't happen in our town. Not

a co violence. That's that's you know, that's out in

the hills. That's the south, that's the North, Sinalo, that's

the other states, that's the other people. But those the

people of that town actually believed that it would not

happen in their town. And so what they lost was

it was an illusion, but it was a loss nonetheless,

and they needed to talk about it. They needed to

talk about where they were and how they felt and

what they just you had to hear the story, and

it was good. It was good for us to be

there and witness witness that. Now it was a little,

I'll admit a little, a little disconcerting. Air travel is annoying,

and airplane seats are too tight, and full flights are

just irritating for everybody. But the plane we boarded and

Los Angeles, flying south, we were well, everybody could have

three seats. There was lots of room in that plane.

There was thirty people. Thirty people on a flight that

should have been one hundred and fifty, one hundred and eighty.

I don't know what a plane what That size plane

normally holds white people on the plane. There's usually lots

of tourists going south. There were not My family represented.

Most of the white faces on the plane. Everybody in

the plane could speak Spanish except Davis maybe can't speak

very much, but he's coming. So there was fear. It

was It was a it was a tense time. People

not sure what what we're getting into. What are we

going to see when we when we arrive at the

place where we're trying to go back to the title,

who are my people? Old Testament? Now God that this

this this phrase, this little blip my people is something

that God, that that we find in the Bible. And

I was a little bit startled when I was when

I was started doing a little bit of research. Key

in my people, and look at where these where where

would you find that those two words together in the Bible?

My people, Well, a couple of verses will start surfacing

in your mind, the ones you've memorized. Second chronicles. You know,

if my people what you call of my name actual

we turned there, We're going to read that passage as well,

second Chronicle seven. But that that word combination my people

two hundred and eighty times in the Old Testament, is

that phrase is found the New Testament grand total of six,

with two of those being direct quotes from an Old

Testament verse. And anyway, there's they're, they're yeah, it's just

not found in the New Testament. A little bit, a

little bit. Old Testament was a lot of writing by

the prophets and the people writing about the people, writing, telling,

telling God's story and and recording, you know, and the

Lord said dot dot my people two hundred and eighty

times in the Old Testament. We find those words second

Chronicle seven. What does God mean when he says, my people,

I think we we kind of know that God. God

was talking about his his chosen. He was talking a

lot of that time about a lot of those references

are were too to his people, what he called his people,

the ones that you know well pre coming out of Egypt.

There's not not not so much. But for sure from

that time on Moses and forward, God said, my people, Well,

it's it's recorded lots and lots of times. Second Chronicle seven. Yeah,

I think I gotta. I'll take the time to read

this second Chronicle seven. In verse four, this is is

where I'll start reading. God says this, Well, this is Solomon,

Solomon and the Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple,

and the king and all the people offered sacrifices before

the Lord and King. Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty

two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep.

A you, this is just background to this story. Verse eight.

And the same time, Solomon kept the feasts of seven days,

and all isra with him. It was a very great

congregation from the entering ind of Haymouth into the river

of Egypt. And in the eighth day they made a

solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the

altar seven days and the feast seven days. And on

the three and twentieth day of the seventh month, he

sent the people away into their tents, glad and mary

in heart for the goodness that the Lord had showed

unto David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.

Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the

king's house, and all that came into Solomon's heart to

make to make in the house of the Lord, and

in his own house he prosperously affected. And the Lord

appeared into Solomon by night and said unto him, I

have heard thy prayer and have chosen this place to

myself for a house of sacrifice. If I shut up

heaven that there be no rain, or if I command

the locusts to devour the land, or if I send

pestilence among my people, if any of these things happen,

if my people at that point, which are called by

my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face,

and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear

from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal

their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine

ears attend under the prayer that is made in this place.

For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that

my name may be there forever, and mine eyes and

my heart shall be there perpetually as for THEE. If

thou wilt walk before me as David thy Father walked,

and do according to all that I have commanded THEE,

and shalt observe my statues and judgments, then will I

establish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have

covenant with David thy Father, saying there shall not fail

THEE a man to be ruler in Israel. But if

you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments

which I have set before you, and shall go and

serve other gods and worship them, then will I pluck

them up by the roots out of my land which

I have given them. And this house, which I have

sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my

sight and will make it to be a proverb and

a byword among all nations. Stop reading there, my people,

God's talking to to Solomon, and I suppose he will.

We got recorded here so it didn't just stay in

it in his mind God's people were very precious to him.

He knew who they were, and he knew he knew

how he wanted them to act. Just just don't go

serving other gods. It's kind of the short the short version,

because if you do, then then then then you'll have

to well, I'll pluck you up, pluck you up, and

throw throw you out of this land. Turn to Jeremiah

twenty nine. You can see the story actually kind of continues.

Jeremiah twenty nine. We get a we get a picture

and a few verses there of God's view of his

people when they were captives. There was they did not

God's people did not continuously serve him. They indeed strayed

Pegary's devotions. They took the shortcut. They took another path

that they thought would work out better for them Jeremiah

twenty nine to ten. For thus saith the Lord, that

after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon. I will visit

you and perform my good work, good word toward you,

in causing you to return to this place. For I

know the thoughts that I have toward you. Saith the Lord,

thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you

an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and

ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will

hear it, hearken unto you, and ye shall seek me

and find me, when ye shall search for me with

all your heart, And I will be fond of you,

Saith the Lord. And I will turn away your captivity,

and I will gather you from all nations and from

all the places whither I have driven you, Saith the Lord,

and I will bring you again into the place whence

I caused you to be carried away captive. In words,

I'll be returning you there, because you have said the

Lord hath raised us up profits in Babylon. This this

little patch of Versus, there's some very interesting things here.

Verse ten. He said, I will visit you, and I

will I will perform my good word toward you, or

I'll i'll I'll wake up, or I'll cause you to

to notice my good word toward you. I know the

thoughts that I have, God says in verse eleven, thoughts

of peace, not of evil, to give you your expected

or desired end. I know where you'd like to end up.

Then there's the people's part. Verse twelve. You got you

will need to call on me, seek and find. That's

verse thirteen. When you searched for me with your whole heart.

Verse fifteen, This good end is coming. This good end

is available to you because we recognize the prophets, because

ye have said verse fifteen, the Lord has raised us

up prophets in Babylon. These people were going to need

to We're going to need to recognize God, God's spokesman,

the prophets in Babylon. And I'm not sure. I mean,

I suppose Jeremiah would have been one of those, or

else he was talking about a future prophet. I didn't

I didn't look into all those those details. How else,

how does God look at his people, my people? Verse

Peter two. Peter says this, but ye are a royal generation,

a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people. We've

been looking mostly at Old Testament God and his people

transitioning to the New Testament. Though, Peter says that. Peter

writes that and in one Peter two, But if you

remember the story, and I'm not going to take the time,

I don't think to read that in the story in

acts ten, I was going to but Peter, Peter had

to Peter had to have some pretty rough things happened

to him. He had to he had to have a vision,

a vision, and he had to go where he didn't

think we should be going to Cornelius. Acts ten is

where Peter's Peter's mind was getting well, God's people. The

term God's people was being redefined, not just the Jewish

kingdom and those that came and lived there. It was

broadened out the Gentiles actually ten forty four. The yeah

they were. Peter had to actually go back and do

some and do some more fast talking to to the

rest of the Jews, the others who didn't who didn't

see the same vision that he saw, and who didn't

witness the Holy Ghost being present with the Gentiles. Second

Corinthians six. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. You've

you've heard of that. You've you've heard that verse the

phrase often for ye are the temples of the Living God,

As God has said, I will dwell in them and

walk in them, and I will be their God, and

they shall be my people. It's one of the one

of the two statements where where it was written that

God is God is making these this same statement, My people,

but talking to a mixed jew and gentile group. So

if God, God has his view of people. But now

for you, for I, what about this term my people?

Let's let's broaden that out a little bit more into

into well, the the word my is a possessive that

means it's mine. It pertains to me. Who are what

do you mean? What do you think of when you

think of my people? Who are your people? English? Do

you want the English definition? I put it down here

just because it thought about that a little bit, thought

about it again, and finally, okay, what actually does a

dictionary say? People are? Well? People won human beings? Definition

number two members of a family. Well, that's hardly three.

The mass of a community, as distinguished from a special class. Okay,

Definition number four people's plural as a noun. Is this

a body of persons united by a common culture, tradition,

or sense of ship and usually language. Moving on a

definition number five political? A body of voters? The electric

you know the people voted? So you, when you think

about your yourself and your people, who are your people today?

Do you have a who? If you were pushed on

that point, how would you answer that question? Who are

your people today, and maybe another question with that. So

if you if you jump back to definition number four,

you know, the body of persons united by a common culture, tradition,

or sense of kinship. We could call that brotherhood, We

could call that church, our local local believers. Who are

your people today? And who do you want your people

to be when you're at the end of your life now?

For some for some that's about now, For others of

us that's twenty or thirty years from now, give or take.

For some people sitting here, the end of your life

is is fifty, fifty, sixty, seventy years from now. If

you're if you're granted a long life, who do you

want your people to be then? When you need help,

when you can't get out of your chair, or parents,

with the with the with the with the with the

children on your lap, Who do you want your children's

people to be? Is that a fair question? Well? I

think it is, But it kind of comes down to

a rather personal thing. Where we live in a free country.

We we're free to to move here or go there,

or change states, or change churches, or we go where

we want to go. Finding your people. There's a poem

in our song books at least, I think it's we've

shuffled the song books around, but I think it's still

in there. A poem that goes like this, And this

is the testimony of a man, one particular man. He

said it this way, said, people of the Living God.

I have sought the world around. You know, I've looked

for this class. I've looked for this group. Paths of

sin and sorrow, trod peace and comfort nowhere found. Now

to you, my spirit turns, turns a fugitive, unblessed brethren,

where your altar burns. Oh, receive me into rest. Lonely,

I no longer roam like the cloud, the wind, the wave.

Where you dwell shall be my home. Where you die

shall be my grave mind. The God whom you adore,

your redeemer, shall be mine. Earth can fill my heart

no more. Every idol I resign, tell me not of

gain or loss, Ease, enjoyment, pomp and power, Welcome poverty

and cross, shame, reproach affliction's hour. Follow me. I know

thy voice, Jesus Lord, thy steps I see now. I

take thy yoke by choice, Light thy burden. Now to me.

That's a song. I read that poem several times, realizing

that this man found his people stated where all he

had been? Where all what he wasn't going to do,

but he had found he had apparently found a church.

The term my people. When you think of who are

my people, there's a there's a a YouTube, a YouTube

shorts come across my Facebook feed, and there's a one grizzly,

grizzled old fella he uses the term. And that's probably

several months ago. What got me started with this title?

He'd often He often ends his little blip with and

and and you're my people, and you are my people,

he says at various times. Dumb little things hit one

of them. You know, he's holding up a an old

paddle with holes in it. So if you know why

that what these holes are for? The whistle when you

get when you got a licking when you were in school,

that they didn't use my people? You see, we we

we gravitate toward people who've gone through similar experiences, who

who can identify with life as I see it. So

your people is used as an identifier. But flip side,

I mean another side of this, my people, Yes, you

should put some time and attention, You should put some

thought into who your people are and are going to be.

But there's another side of it, and that is to

be the good the good people, young men. Remember the

story of Delilah and a strong man named Sampson. Samson

was mister mister hero, he was mister muscleman. And he

found a wife. Her name was Delilah. But when he

was asleep on her knees, as the story says, and

she said, cut off his hair. She she demonstrated not

with words, men, or where she was got. There's a

whole bunch of things. But at that point who her

people actually were was on display. You could say, I'll

just go it alone. I'll just I'll just do it

by myself. I'll just forget it. I'll I'll just go

chart my own course. It doesn't work that way. Cattle

I enjoy. I enjoy messing with cows as well. Cattle

are all right, they're herd animal. If you've worked a much,

you know that they prefer to be together. Okay, Yes,

there's the occasional I'll call it an adolescent problem. A

t yearling steer with his head up and headed for

the fence or the horizon, or you know. But he

give him time, and he'll probably be back. He really

doesn't want to go live alone. Humans. Also, you and

I we prefer to live and operate as a group.

It's important that you have a group to identify with.

Actually you will select one, but which group who you

plan to hang out with, who your people become is

actually very is a very serious thing. I'm gonna make

a couple of statements right here, right now. Maybe I

think they're accurate. They just they just sound they just

sound wrong. But the group you identify with will eventually

come to dictate to you what is acceptable behavior and

what is not. The group will also tell you what

to believe or not to believe. You see, life alone

in this world is hard, it's difficul cult mm hmm.

And without your support group, you get really afraid. Which

brings me back to the back to the back to

the subject of Mexico and organized crime. So you wonder

how these how these cartels get going, and how they

keep going and dot dot on. It's acts really a

subject that's that that it's a subject that a lot

of people have put a lot of thought into. I

read I read a little article the U the Mexican

government and us think tanks have been have been studying

this thing and trying to figure out how to how

to make this this organized crime, this cartel thing stop.

You know what, they came up with the key that

the little lynch pin, that the thing that would make

the make it stop. Teen recruitment must be lowered. That's

finally what they decided. Somehow we have to get the

teens to stop signing up teen recruitment. Two major factors

in teen recruitment. One is the need to belong to

a group. Every everyone wants to do that. It's for

physical production. It's also for financial production, for financial protection.

Third world countries, Central South America. Poverty is a big thing.

People are hungry. Teenage boys are hungry. And here's somebody

who says, hey, come join up with us, join our group.

We'll make sure we'll pay you for doing We'll pay

you for doing little jobs. All you have to do

is take this cardboard box from here to there. We

even we'll even provide you a motorbike. Hang out with

that group long enough and they they actually come to

believe another thing. And that's the terrifying part of these

of these organizations is their utter disregard for human life.

They just really don't care. I actually have they actually

have a a A vicho. I'm gonna read it. I'm

gonna read it. I copied it down back to the

to the group will tell you what you should believe,

how you should believe, what to believe or not believe.

If wait, Ma Crusade and me Camino. That's that is

that is something that is that is stated among among

young innocent teenagers. They're told that it was my bad

luck that I was by born poor, and it's your

bad luck that you cross my path. That is stated.

It's a fatalistic statement, but there are thousands who believe that.

Their group, the group they've thrown in with, says, forget morals,

you're hungry, here's work to do. Just follow orders and

a terrible disregard for human life. That's what gives the

That's what gives the bad guys their power, is the

fact that all the rest of us would like to

keep living. Be the good kind of people. Choose choose

who your people are going to be carefully, but be

the good kind of People's second in closing here some

verses second Peter two verses nine through eighteen, say this,

this is kind of the this is well, this is

down the side of how we should be. But ye

are a chosen generation in royal priesthood, holy nation of

peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of

Him who have called you out of darkness into His

marvelous light, which in time past were not a people,

but now but are now the people of God, which

had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved,

I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly

lusts which war against the soul, having your conversation honest

among the gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers,

they may buy your good works, which they shall behold.

Glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourself, submit

yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake,

whether it be to the King of Supreme or into governors,

as unto them that are sent by Him, for the

punishment of evildoers, for the praise of them that do well.

For so is the will of God, that with well

doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men,

as free and not using your liberty for a cloak

of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all men,

love the brotherhood, Fear God, honor the king. Servants. Be

subject to your masters with all fear, not only to

the good and the gentle, but also to the fra

word closing, remember this, God knows who his people are.

Your job in life identify with the good people and

be good people. Stand with good people. A few winters ago,

there's a little, short, little article here by Carl Connor.

A few winters ago, heavy snow hit North Carolina. Following

a wet six inch snowfall. It was interesting to see

the effect. Along Eye forty, next to the highway stood

several large grows of tall, young pine trees. The branches

were bowed down with the heavy snow, so low that

the branches from one tree would often lean against the

trunk or branches of another. Where trees stood alone, however,

the effect of the heavy snow was different. The branches

had become heavier, but without other trees to lean against,

the branches snapped. They lay on the ground, dark and

alone in the cold snow. When the storms of life hit.

We need to be standing close to other Christians. The

closer we stand, the more we will be able to

hold up by Carl in closing. Nevertheless, the foundation of

God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them

that are His, And let everyone that nameth the name

of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house

there are not only vessels of golden and silver, but

also of wood and earth, some to honor, some to

Dishonor if a man therefore purge himself from these, he

shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified meet for the

Master's use, prepared unto every good work. Thank you for

your attention. That's song.