Are You a Balanced Christian?

Beautiful. Appreciate that. Such a talent. Our young people have so many, so many of our young people are so very, very talented. Me, I can't carry a tune in the bucket. If you give me a tune, I couldn't carry it into the kitchen. But anyway, it's so wonderful to see our young adults continuing also to develop their talents and their abilities. I remember when I was a child growing up with five brothers and three sisters, there were many opportunities to develop talents. Since the first message was about faith, also faith, having faith, trusting your brothers that they wouldn't make you do something that would end up with your injuries. I have to say, I could tell you some stories about when we were growing up, but I won't because I don't want our young people to hear what happened, unless you do it, unless you'll be emboldened to do it. But when I was a child growing up, again with five brothers, we played games quite often. We had reading games. We would compete with each other so you could read the fastest and get the words right. We also, and forgive me if I'm politically incorrect, you know how careful I am about always being politically correct, but we had a game called Indian wrestling. How many of you have ever heard of Indian wrestling? There are different versions of it, and I don't think that anyone would mind me using that expression. But there is one version where you lay on the ground, usually out in the grass, and you start raising your legs up, your right leg or your left leg, whichever, you're side by side each other, and you try to flip the other guy over. And if you were strong, you could do that. Now, there was another version that we played a lot too. It was with the hands. And what you do is you put your feet apart, try to get a firm stance, and you get you, you know, usually it's the right hand, you get you, you hold the right hands together, and then when the game begins, you try to knock your opponent off balance so he falls down. And, you know, that was a very good game, by the way, to play when you're growing up, because it, you know what it does? It teaches you balance. I remember when I was also growing up that they were talking about Joe Namath. You know, Joe Namath was so good as a quarterback. And I believe it was Joe Namath, it might have been somebody else, but that he studied ballet, so that he could be balanced when he was out there, you know, and he was playing the game.

Because balance is so very important, because if you don't have balance, you don't have coordination. And, you know, coordination is very, very important to a young fellow growing up, you know, who wants to have a reputation for not being coordinated, not being able to play a game, you know, and to at least look like you're in control of your body when you're playing the game, whatever it would be. But, you know, the Bible says, and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.

And it says going on, now they do it to obtain a perishable crown. In other words, for the ancient Greek games, the garland wreath of oak or ivy that was around, placed on their head if they won a particular event. But Paul goes on to say, but we for it in perishable crown, an indestructible crown. In other words, he's talking about eternal life.

Now, we all know that particular scriptures in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 25. But the word temperate means this. You know, if you look up the word temperate in the dictionary, it means to exercise restraint in diet and in chastity. You know, to be temperate in all things. And temperance is necessary to inherit eternal life, just as faith is necessary to inherit eternal life. And the term temperance, by the way, is closely related to being balanced. As I was speaking about, you're learning about that, at least in the physical sense. You know, when you're growing up, so you can be coordinated.

Well, we need to be coordinated as well from a spiritual sense, brethren. We need to be temperate in all things, as the Bible says. Remember what Jesus Christ Himself said. You know, we came preaching, He said, enter by the narrow gate.

For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go in there by it. And this is where the world is going. It's going, you know, this broad way. You know, that, in fact, you could take a Mack truck through. You know, a huge broad way. But the way to the kingdom of God is a narrow way. Meaning, brethren, that you must stay on the middle of the path, or you're going to fall off. I don't know if you've ever seen the old Tarzan movies, many, many years ago.

Usually, Tarzan was, he had to take, you know, these explorers in Africa, he had to take them to these remote areas. And usually, you know, in the scene, very typical scenes, in old Tarzan movies, you'll be up in a high mountain, and there's going to be a ledge, a real narrow ledge. You've got to stay on that ledge. And usually, you know, there's somebody that falls off, you know, to add excitement to the program.

You know, and the fact of the matter, brethren, is we're on a narrow ledge, or narrow road, and you can fall off on one side or the other into the ditch. And many people do. Let's go over to Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1. Let's do turn there for this. You know, sometimes we have this idea that, well, ministers have this requirement, but I don't have this requirement.

Well, nothing could be further from the truth. You know, when the Bible tells us something, all Scripture is given for doctrine and reproof, for all of us, not just the ministry, but certainly particularly for the ministry, but all are to benefit. But it says, for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed. You can't be self-willed, but on the other hand, a bishop can't be namby-pamby, either, can he?

He can't be a pushover. He has to be strong, a man of faith, and a resolute. But God says here through Paul that an elder cannot be self-willed, not quick-tempered, can't fly off a handle at the least provocation, and not given to wine. Doesn't mean he can't drink wine, but he just can't be given to it.

He should not be a wine bibber. He should not be a wino, as we used to refer to those that over-embide. Not violent, not greedy for money, and yet he has to make a living, doesn't he? You know, very often. But in other words, there's a balance in a man that God expects, but hospitable. A lover of what is good and sober-minded, just, holy, and self-controlled. He has to be in charge of himself.

It's like, you know, I talked about, you know, the wrestling. When you're younger, you learn basically to have dominion over your own body. And what I'm talking about has to do with what's on the inside. You know, we learn how to deal with the outside very often, but not how to deal with the inside, and be self-controlled.

And let me tell you something, brethren. If you ever have, you know, give you an example, examples. You ever wanted something so bad?

You know, and there was lust for it that you had. You felt this lust for it? Well, brethren, that's a learning opportunity for you, right there, to learn to be self-controlled, to not let your emotions dictate what you do. In every situation that emerges, brethren, like that in your life, whether we're talking about the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, you ever felt jealous of other people? That's a learning opportunity right there for you. You know, you can go through your whole life sometimes, and only occasionally do you have a moment where you really feel jealous. Well, that's a learning opportunity for you, right there, to grow in your self-control. So anyway, just be aware, brethren, that God wants you to use those times. Don't cave into them. And as oftentimes people do, they say, well, I only made a mistake once or twice or whatever it would be. And usually when somebody says that to themselves, they probably made a mistake like that a thousand times. You know, so it's a learning opportunity. In verse 9, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. Now down in chapter 2 and verse 2, here, notice here it says, and the older men, that the older man be sober, reverent, temperate. Here's that word, temperate again, or self-controlled. And again, I like the word balanced, that they're balanced. Sound in the faith, in love and in patience. And so this is what God says, you know, to the elders and by extension what he says to us, an elder must be temperate in all things and not unbalanced one way or another. Can't be unbalanced about things. If he does have an unbalanced somewhere, Houston, we got a problem.

You know, so we have to remain balanced and we need to get into a proper balance. In Proverbs 11 and verse 1, it says a false balance. This is in the King James version. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is to life. Now, obviously, this is talking about, you know, how you go into a merchant and you're weighing out something to pay for it, and he's got his finger on the scale. That, God says, is an abomination as far as he's concerned. And so this is specifically about tipping the scale, but it can apply to the Christian life, too, rather. The Bible is there for all of us to learn from. And the word balanced, by the way, is a condition of not falling over in any direction or steadfastness. And God, again, hates a false balance. He doesn't want us to be hypocritical about who we are. He wants us to be balanced, brethren, and reflect the kind of approach that is pleasing to him. And we need balanced, brethren, in every area of our lives, balanced in every area of our lives. If you haven't been around very long, you may not know that Ambassador College was established as a liberal arts college rather than a theological seminary, because Mr. Armstrong felt a trained ministry must be balanced knowing other things besides the Bible. In fact, he used to call seminaries the place where they bury the truth. And isn't that true in the seminaries of this world? And so, the reason that Ambassador was a liberal arts college is because God inspired him to realize that the ministry needs to be balanced and those serving God's people. You know, that you don't want a theological whiz kid pastoring and shepherding people. You know, you want somebody that has some balance about themselves. Well, brethren, what areas of your life do you need to be balanced about to stay on the path, that narrow path? What areas of your life, brethren, do you need to be balanced about and tempered about in order to stay on that narrow path to the kingdom of God? Like I said, if you're not balanced, you're going to fall off the path. And believe me, brethren, I've seen people, and maybe you have too, that through the years had a fallen off the path, people that you just wouldn't expect that they would. But apparently, they had a false balance. They weren't really converted. They were not such that they could stay on that path through thick and thin.

You know, one of the major areas of a person's life is that little three-letter word work. You know, that word that sometimes causes people to leave skid marks, you know, if you mention it. The word work. Let's notice over here in 2 Thessalonians 3.

Now, we're told over here the importance, brethren, of work and what God expects us to be doing.

Now, that's not always been the case, that people have done what God expects them to do.

In 2 Thessalonians 3, down in verse 10. Here, Paul says, he, writing of the brethren at Thessalonica, a fairly large area during Paul's day, and it says, For even when we were with you, we commanded you, if any one will not work, neither shall he eat. Now, that's why sometimes welfare is so bad. You know, because people need to be doing something in some way.

But, you know, we have a system that, in fact, engenders, you know, people who depend on the system. And, consequently, I don't know how many people are on welfare now, but it's just out the ceiling. More people on food stamps now than ever, by the way.

It used to be that people would not take charity. I grew up in a family where, I know my father believed that, he would just simply would not take charity.

Now, I'm not saying that we sometimes didn't need the charity, but he simply would not do it.

But that was the generation, you know. And there was just an attitude that was there that, frankly, was important in the building of this country. Without that attitude, the people had, I mean, this nation would not have blossomed, as it did. But going on here, Paul says, look, if you don't work, you shouldn't eat. Just as simple as that. Now, I'm sure that he's not talking about people that are so sick that they're bedridden. They're not talking about people that have maybe handicaps of one thing or another that would prevent them from doing certain things. But even somebody who maybe is challenged physically, you know, can do something. And they do want to do something. Sometimes you will see people serving in various capacities. You know, there was a man, in fact, in one of the towns Wai'amaya on the Big Island that my wife and I were coming through. And we stopped at the McDonald's there. And there was a gentleman that was there that was serving, you know, there in that McDonald's. And he looked like he had some sort of a physical challenge about himself. And there may be a mental challenge there as well, but he was working. He was involved. And a lot of times, again, they want to do that. They don't want to be treated differently. My brother, by the way, Keith, you know, he went to high school, graduated from high school, blind since he was five years old. And guess what he did when he grew up? And he became an adult. He was a cashier, of all things. And, you know, I talked to Keith about this, but, you know, I said, well, how do you make money? How do you make change? And he said, we have our ways. And he said, and by the way, he worked at a, you know, at a government facility in Oklahoma City. And, in any way, he said people would come up to him and try to cheat him. They would tell him, well, I gave you a 20. And you couldn't do it. You know, he just couldn't do it. But he wanted it to work. And he did. And, you know, it's just a, I think that's that is the attitude people have. But again, today, we don't we don't see that necessarily, as we used to see in people. But in verse 4, it says, for we hear that there are some, verse 11, I'm sorry, we're here, there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busy bodies. Oh, they want to know everybody else's business, but they're not busy enough working themselves. For we hear that there are some who walk among you disorderly. Now those who were of such we command and exhort through Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. And so, you know, here, you know, sometimes, you know, we people work hard. Sometimes it's it's amazing. I was hearing on radio this past week about a lady that was working for a woman. And I forget what your talk show it was, but she was saying she was working for a woman. And she was on welfare. She was cleaning her house.

And but since that time, apparently she's gotten her gotten a job. But in it is an amazing she was making enough money on welfare to pay somebody to clean her house. Amazing to me. You know, of course, we don't know all the circumstances there. But but again, a major area of our lives, brethren, is the four letter word work. We should work hard. But, you know, the fourth commandment also tells us to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. In Exodus 20 and verses 9 through 10, you know, is the commandment over there. Gives us the parameters of how the Sabbath should be kept. And brethren, if we are keeping the commandment regarding the Sabbath, which we all should do, well, that means that we're not going to overdo it. You know, by the mere fact, we're keeping the Sabbath. We're not overdoing it. It precludes working too much. But the Bible says we have six days to work. But the balance, brethren, is not working so much that we neglect our responsibilities, such as the fourth commandment. And there are other responsibilities. So, brethren, to be balanced, you know, in terms of work, it is so important. We should work hard, but not so hard, that we neglect our responsibilities. And I've known people, by the way, that are on both sides of the spectrum. But we, as God's people, of all people upon the face of the earth, should be very much balanced in those areas.

The second area we can need to be balanced, brethren, in is child reary. And how we teach our children. You know, people can fall into two screens with bringing up their children. There is, on the one hand, benign neglect. And on the other hand, you know, there are those who just fixate so much on their kids, they're almost, they're living their lives for them. Sometimes kids are neglected, but sometimes, you know, you've got the omnipresent parent who's always there.

Now, remember Mr. Armstrong, I think he was trying to teach his son Dick responsibility. And I forget what the autobiography says there. I believe it's in his autobiography, where he said he decided he was going to send Dick on an errand. And so Dick had to get on a bus, and he was a young fella, and he had to follow instructions. And so he was trying to teach him, you know, how to organize, how to get places, how to do things, and how to accomplish things. And a parent has to think about that. You can do, you know, you could try to do everything for your kids. Big mistake. A big mistake. You rescue them from every problem they ever get into. That's a very big mistake. Let them work themselves out of their own problems, and it will teach them a heap of understanding. You know that David ended up having problems with his children, his sons, because he had this benign neglect. He didn't teach his children. And of course, Absalom tried to kill him. In fact, that's what the Jewish sages say, because David did not teach his children. Absalom tried to kill him. And almost, of course, dethroned him. Well, he did dethrone him, and ended up, of course, gave him the kingship back. But, brethren, we need to discipline our children from the very earliest of ages. In Proverbs 13, verse 24. Proverbs 13 and verse 24.

This is a verse, by the way, again, that is not politically correct.

So, if you could be offended by the Bible, and some people are, you won't want to turn and read this particular verse. But it says, He who spares his rod hates his son, hates his daughter, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.

And, by the way, the rod is an expression of giving direction. Not talking about a rod to beat your children with, but like a rod to direct.

A loving shepherd is not going to haul off and whack a lamb upside the head.

He might be going to direct the lamb. That's what the staff was for, as well, to hook the the, you know, the lamb by the leg. You know, sometimes, you know, sometimes, you know, we have to grab our children by the arm and say, wait, wait, don't go across that street, you're going to die.

Our children need to be taught discipline at a very early age. Now, some of you young people don't have the experience of dealing with this kind of thing, but you will. Someday, you will. You're going to have your own kids, and you're going to, you know, I remember that when our boys were growing up, we were the worst parents in the whole world.

In fact, we had our kids tell us that. You're so bad, so terrible. And then, when they got older, they thought, they said, you know, you were perfect parents. And that made me mad when they said that, you know. But it reminded me of the young guys. I think I told you about this. It came out, and I've got to be careful not to pontificate too much here, but they came out to Phoenix, and we've been in Huntsville for about eight and a half years, and I went from cover to cover with the Proverbs. Spent a lot of time, and we had a big youth group there. I think it was 30 in the group, and they all came over to our house about every Sunday, and they spent the day at our home. And we would just go through the Proverbs, every one of them. And there were a few of the guys there. Interestingly, these guys are still around, by the way, in God's Church. Very happy about that. But, you know, they said, we really appreciated you going through the Proverbs. And I was a little quiet, and I said them, oh, why didn't you tell me then? You were. And you know how young people are. They are gaining something, but they don't always express it to you. So we need, brethren, to make sure that we stay balanced with our child-reary. Don't do it over much. If you've ever done any of these studies on preparing and rich, our families are extremely compacted to one another. In other words, the daughter gets old enough she can't leave home to get married. And she gets married, she can't live anywhere except next to mom and dad. You don't want that in your children, by the way. They make you feel good, but it's not going to be good for her marriage, especially if her husband can't get a job, and he has to move. But I've seen that happen, brethren. Families so compacted with each other that sons and daughters can't even move away, because they're afraid to be away from mommy and daddy. Well, we don't want that, brethren. On the other hand, we don't want our kids to be bracing to get away from us either, do we? So there's a balance in what we do. A number three, if you're writing these down, is treat your friendships in a balanced way. What kind of friends do you have, brethren? What kind of friends do you have? How do you relate to them? You know, the Bible says there's a friend who sticks closer than a brother. You know they're going to be there for you through thick and thin. I know when I had my illness, I had friends that contacted me, and it was really good to hear from. It encouraged me to... I just can't tell you how much it encouraged me. Even thinking of the card from somebody was so an encouragement to me.

In Ecclesiastes 4 and verses 9 through 10, you might turn there. Ecclesiastes 4 verses 9 through 10. It says, two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. You see, if you're unbalanced, you fall, you want somebody there who can help you, put you on the right path.

You know, there's a great value, no doubt about it, in good friends, but we must be balanced about our friendships. Sometimes a person finds a friend and will not give them breathing space. There are sort of social vampires. They stuck the life out of people after a while, and we don't want to be that to anybody. We don't want to be a friend that's that way.

And so we want to be the kind of friend that can give our friends breathing space. Sometimes we can rely on a friend so much that we are influenced also in the wrong way.

Back in 1995, people that had friendships stayed. Even though the church was going the wrong way, they stayed. And they gave up the Sabbath, the holy days. They gave up the truth of God over friendship. How ridiculous. How ridiculous to do that, but people do it.

And unfortunately, in every crisis that we've had in the church, that's happened. People made decisions based only on their friendships and not on the truth, what the truth is. And, brethren, we need to stand by the truth. If we stand by the truth, God will stand by us. And so we need, brethren, to have a balance again about our friendships. No doubt, Satan the Devil used his friendships with the angels to sway a third of them, a third of them to go his way. He influenced them. And, you know, God, of course, influenced the two-thirds who remained faithful, too. But God's purpose was love, whereas Satan's purpose was deceit, deceiving. And once people are deceived, brethren, it's like, you know, you can't unring a bell. So important, brethren, we don't allow ourselves to allow friendships to keep us from walking in God's way. A third of the angels rebelled, probably based upon their relationship with Lucifer. Next thing we need to be balanced in, brethren, and it is so very important. The Bible refers to unrighteous mammon. But we need to be balanced in our finances and with money. Balanced with finances and money. It was Jesus Christ himself who said, he who was faithful in little is going to be faithful in much. And so if we're not faithful in the little things, brethren, and you know what the Bible calls money, the little things. Very little. And for you and me, brethren, it certainly is true. We don't have much, do we? It is very little. But, brethren, are we being faithful in those things? And, you know, it's important for us to budget our money.

The phrase balanced budget doesn't mean anything in the United States of America, by the way. The government is different than you are, by the way, in that they can print money. You can't. You know, the income should equal the outgo. Now, by the way, when you're first learning about tithing, it doesn't work. It doesn't make sense on paper, by the way. But I can assure you it will, if you faithfully do what God commands you to do. And so it's important for us to budget our money. Okay. For instance, though, spending 70 percent on entertainment is not a good idea, you know, in your budget. Doesn't leave you a lot, does it, afterwards? But there are some people that are so, you know, entertainment is so important to them. Oh, gotta have that. Gotta have cable. Gotta have satellite. How can you live without that? Well, you can. My wife and I, by the way, canceled our satellite. Just kept going up and up. And I said, forget this. I'm not doing it anymore. And all you have to do, brethren, is go get yourself a digital antenna. And you could pick up television stations and get the major, you know, network stations, at least. And so it doesn't cost you anything. Once you buy the antenna, of course, which is not much, you can get one for... If you live in Oakland or San Francisco, you get one for probably at Walmart about 15 bucks. And you wouldn't have to pay another cable bill, another... nothing at all. So, you know, use your finances, brethren, and be balanced about what you do.

You know, we've had to cinch our belts because of medical, by the way. And, you know, the government is going to give us cheaper health care. And we're holding our breath for that. Am I blue yet? But, no, it's not going to happen. It's going to be more expensive, and you can count on it. And we may very well get back to the point where there is no more health care. That's the way it was years ago, where people simply didn't go to the doctor.

And, you know, sometimes that's not a bad idea. You know, if you could avoid it at all, you know, it'd be better not to if you didn't really need to. But there are occasions where it just simply is out of your control. Another area of brethren, number five in being balanced, is academics. Growth in knowledge.

Brethren, we need to, each of us, broaden our understanding of all varied subjects. Not just one subject. There'll be an expert in one subject, and not knowledgeable of the wide variety of subjects there can be. In other words, to be a biblical whiz kid, but not knowing much about life, other things in this world. All of us need to strive, brethren, to have a balanced intake into our minds. And remember, we will rule the world under Jesus Christ in the world tomorrow. Do we know what that's going to entail, brethren? After the end of a thousand years, do you know what that's going to mean, brethren? For you to be ruling with Christ? It may very well mean that you may be ruling over a city with 10 million people. I'm just throwing this out. I mean, by the time the second resurrection takes place, you may be ruling over a city with 20 million people. Who knows? Because remember, we believe there are going to be 40 to 50 billion people brought up in the second resurrection. Are you prepared to run a city of 10 million, 5 million people? In a countryside, maybe, where there is 40 million people that you have to watch over? I mean, I'm throwing this out. I don't know what we're going to be doing, brethren, in terms of numbers. Who does? Certainly not during the thousand years, but as time goes on, we're going to see toward the end of a thousand years when physical man is multiplied and multiplied for a thousand years with no war, no disease. You know, we're going to have a lot of people on the earth. It's going to be a big world. And into that world, that's why you're here, brethren, to get in the ground floor of that world that's coming. So we're going to rule under Christ, brethren, and not manage a Bible bookstore in the world tomorrow. You see what I'm saying, brethren? God wants us to expand our minds and be balanced and have a balance of knowledge. How about also physical parents being balanced in our physical parents?

When we were in Pennsylvania back in the 70s, the Amish rode around in turn-of-the-century buggies, and I think many of them still do. In fact, my wife and I almost had an accident. We were coming over a hill, and it was a snowy day in Pennsylvania. We came over the hill. The roads were very icy. And lo and behold, right in front of us was this caution sign on the back of a buggy. We almost rammed us back in. But that's the way they operate. They ride around in black carriages, black clothing, black hats, black shoes, black underwear, I guess. I don't know. Some are more progressive, and they drive around in cars, but they paint their bumpers black. No chrome, nothing. And I understand some of them don't watch TV, or most of them don't watch TV, but some sneak it in by putting an antenna in their attic and doing it that way. Well, God doesn't want us, brethren, to be that way. On the other hand, He doesn't want us to be garish, either. He doesn't want us all to look like we just stepped off another planet. He wants us to be balanced. And so we need to be balanced in the styles. If you were living in the time of ancient Rome, around 10 AD, you wouldn't have long hair. You wouldn't have longer hair. You'd have very short hair, because Caesar had the, not the first century, but even the 40 BC, you'd have the shorter hair. Even during the time of Christ, it was shorter hair, because the emperors had the short hair. That was the style. That was the approach. And so we need to, again, be balanced in what we do.

In fact, the priesthood, and the priesthood, I'm not going to go back there, but Ezekiel 44 verse 20 says, speaking of the priesthood, they had to be balanced in their haircuts. They must not let their hair grow too long, nor shave it off. Regular, moderate haircuts are all they were allowed. That was from the living Bible, by the way. That's what it says in Ezekiel 44 verse 20. And so men, we need to look like men and women. You need to look like women, because God created, again, the different roles. Another area we need to be balanced in is health and food. Health and food.

You know, sometimes a person can disregard their health, their diet, exercise on the one extreme, and then on the other extreme, be a health nut. You know, and who is it? The one fellow used to come on Johnny Carson, and I think he was eating bark. He's a health fanatic, and he was eating bark of some sort. But I used to know the names of some of these people from years past, but they slipped my mind. Also, exercise can be an obsession. Sometimes women can exercise so much, they begin to have menstrual problems. Don't want to do that. Men can have other problems as well.

Food, we can go overboard with food as well.

And during the 60s and the 70s, I think many in the church did go overboard. Ministers went overboard back in the 60s as well. I remember visiting a woman down in Alabama, and it said her minister back then checked her cupboards for white sugar.

Now, I don't mind telling you. I was outraged when I heard that. I told her that. I said, that's not what a minister of God should be doing. But sometimes we had people that, even in the ministry, were not balanced. Hopefully, we're more balanced in those ways now. Now people, by the way, go the other extreme, they're not very concerned at all.

I mention about McDonald's. My wife and I do not eat McDonald's, generally speaking. But, you know, if you go somewhere, and that's the only game in town, you have to eat what you have to eat. I think we had a solid. You can get a fairly decent solid there or other places like that.

So we need to be balanced with regard to that. Some people will not eat bananas because they said it doesn't have any seeds in it. You shouldn't eat bananas. Some people say you shouldn't eat any potatoes because it doesn't have any seeds. Of course, they don't know about the... How do you plant potatoes? It's funny. It really is funny. But there are a lot of people... Some people say you shouldn't eat honey, by the way. I don't know if you've ever heard that or not, but some people think that. But the Bible says, my son eat honey because it is good, and the honeycomb, which is sweet to your taste. There again be balanced. Don't overdo it. Don't overdo it.

You know, and remember also, some people actually think it's wrong to drink milk and eat meat at the same time. The Jews, of course, have this about the kosher loss. But, you know, what did Abraham feed to Melchizedek? What did Abraham feed to the one who was the Lord who came there on the plains of Mamre with the angels? He said, so he took butter and milk and the calf which he prepared and set it before them and they ate. So, I assume they must have drank milk. You know, they didn't say, well, Abraham, this isn't kosher. Didn't say that, did he? Now, I don't know all the ramifications of kosher law, so don't come nail me about that. But, you know, we know that Christ also instituted the Passover and involved eating and drinking.

Paul told Timothy to take no longer water but a little wine for the stomach's sake. So, moderation is the key and balance is the key, brethren. We need to be balanced in our approach to the Bible and religion, too. Number eight here, number seven, was health and food.

Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, be not righteous over much, neither make yourself over wise. Why should you destroy yourself? That's Ecclesiastes 7, verse 16. Be not righteous over much, neither make yourself over wise. Why should you destroy yourself? A lot of people crash and burn because they think they're so wise. And I'm not going to tell the story of the joke about the wisest man on the airplane that jumps out. And you know the story, don't you? It's numbered, you know, in fact. So, we've been calling it by number so long, I've forgotten the story. But the punchline is, you know, the one fellow says to another, well, you know, because they were going to crash and burn in the aircraft. He says to another, he says, we're okay, we've got plenty of parachutes because the wisest man just grabbed, you know, this Boy Scouts lunch and jumped out of the plane.

That's somebody that's over much wise, you know. They do dumb things, you know, but of course, that's just a joke as well. You can give me a courtesy laugh if you want to. I've made an attempt, but I didn't do too well at it. But we need to be balanced, you know, in terms of the Bible as well. Like I say, we're going to rule with Christ in the world tomorrow, not run a bookstore, a Bible bookstore. We're going to rule as kings and priests in the world tomorrow.

Now, we need to not be over much righteous, but on the other hand, we don't want to be unrighteous either, do we? We don't want to get too big for our own eyes.

We don't want to know so much about prophecy. We think we can't be wrong.

I've met people like that in the church who've fallen away because, you know, eventually they found out they were wrong, and they couldn't be wrong because God was communicating directly with them. And not anybody else. All you don't understand, you know, God is in contact with me.

You know, and then, of course, they find out they're wrong, and it blows them out of the water. They can't handle it. So we've got to be balanced, brethren, in these things. We need to be balanced, also, a ninth point here, brethren, in authority as well.

Some try to prove there is no authority, only servants.

My question I would have is, are we suggesting that Christ has no authority?

If we insist, brethren, there can be no authority in the church, then children are free to insist there's no authority in the home. Where do we get the authority for parents to have authority? It actually comes from this book right here. There are authorities here, and authority is in the Bible. But we need to be balanced about it, you know. Somebody in authority has to be balanced about it, and, in fact, being obedient to authority, we have to be balanced about it as well. Some who believe so much in authority in 1995, you know, stuck with that authority that was wrong, and I assume they're still there, and they've gone back into the world.

So, brethren, the point is, seek to be balanced at all things, and seek the mind of Christ, and we'll find the balance that we need. There are many areas where we need to be balanced, brethren, in our lives. In Philippians 4 verse 5, you don't need to turn there, but it says, let your moderation be known to all men. Let people know, brethren, through your example and through what you say, that you, first of all, you're a real person.

And it was like the old expression, what you see is what you get. In other words, we're real from the inside out. We're not trying to fake anybody out. Appear to be something that we're not, but, brethren, let your moderation be known to everyone, whether you're on the job or whether you're in school or wherever you may be, brethren, to let people know that you are balanced by your example. Not saying I'm balanced announcing it to everybody, but be balanced in all you do. I'm giving you nine areas where you can work out. I mean, you can come up with a whole lot of other ones besides that, but I think these are critical, important areas.

Because we are going to rule with Christ, remember, forever and ever. And this is what the life of Jesus Christ is going to be. A very beautiful, a very elegant woman who will dwell with Jesus Christ forever and ever in the future.