Hi everyone, I'm Kazuhiko Minematsu from NEC Corporation. In this talk, we would like to talk about Romulus and Remus, a feature of a family of lightweight authenticated encryption based on tweakable block ciphers. This is a joint work with Tetsu Iwata, Mustafa Kairare, and the Toma Pera. The topic is not based authenticated encryption with associated data, also called AEAD. It is a symmetric key encryption that provides confidentiality and authenticity. The encryption produces ciphertext and a tag, and the decryption returns a decrypted print text if the whole input is authentic. This picture shows the standard input and output of AEAD. We describe Romulus and Remus, a family of AEAD schemes based on tweakable block cipher. Romulus uses skinny as an internal tweakable block cipher and has a standard model security. Remus is a derivative of Romulus, and it uses skinny of shorter tweak than that used by Romulus. The skinny is used as a block cipher. The security relies on the IDLE cipher model. In this talk, we primarily focus on Romulus as it is a second round candidate of a niche lightweight cryptography project. And we briefly describe Remus as the last part of my talk. Romulus has two variants, namely non-spaced N variants and misused resistant N variants. Both consist of three members, but we are planning to simplify by reducing the members as we announced at the niche lightweight cryptography workshop 2020. Our design goal is the best of lightweight AEAD built on TBC. Romulus is designed to have a small state, rate one operation, and enjoys the strong security for both qualitatively and quantitatively. We also stress that the security proofs are very clean. That is an important feature for reliability. Finally, the structure of Romulus is simple and streamlined. This slide shows the family members of Romulus. The N1 is a primary member in our submission to niche lightweight crypto, and as I mentioned, we plan to reduce and we will keep only N1 and M1. The internal skinny has 128-bit block and 384-bit tweak. And we will also reduce the number of rounds of skinny from 56 to 40 to boost the performance while maintaining a sufficiently large security merging for the skinny. This shows Romulus N. A tiered E denotes the tweakable block cipher and AI denotes the associated data block and MI and CI denotes the plaintext and the ciphertext block. Then is the NARS-T is the tag. As you can see, there is a row function that is defined over two N-bit blocks. It works as a state-applied function. For processing AD, the first output of a row is ignored. The structure is based on an idealized version of the COFB block cipher mode proposed at 2016, but we applied lots of changes and improvements. Let me describe some of the design details. We carefully considered the algorithm to reduce the state size and the branching to improve the hardware performance. To avoid additional state increase, we recover initial tweaking at the end of each TBC call by rewinding the tweaking to the initial value. This is possible with very small number of additional extra circuits thanks to the simple linear tweaking update. We use the same row function to AD and message blocks. In fact, our plaintext feedback mode enables a limited parallelizability, but it needs more control logics because we need to implement two different row functions, so we decided not to employ. Finally, TAG is obtained by the same output slot as the ciphertext block, which contributes to reducing the multiplexers. LOW function is a simple operation defined over bytes. It is a byte matrix denoted by Z as shown in the light upper figure, and this function needs a single block state since the both red and blue lines can be independently computed. Portrait input can be handled by truncation and padding. The security condition for row is the same as that for COFB, which we skip here. Note that G is applied to the output side, not the inner state side. This simplifies the AD processes to the plain XOR changing. Our matrix G has a modular form suitable to various small data paths without needing much prexers and needs only a small number of XORs, which is good for both software and hardware. The internal skinny tweakable block cipher was proposed at Crip2 2016. This picture shows its round function. It is one of the most popular TVCs, and there are a large number of third-party analysis papers. It is going to be an ISO standard. After these cryptanalysis work, it has a quite large security machine. For the member of skinny we use, namely 128, a block and a 3-8-4-3 key, the best attack only leads to 28 rounds out of 56, with an impractical complexity much larger than 22128. For attack complexity of up to 22128, only 22 rounds are attacked. It implies that, even if we reduce it to 40 rounds, we have about 45 security measures. The performance of skinny is excellent on hardware and good for software. This slide summarizes the features of Romulus N. It has a small set side, which is the same as those needed to implement a TVC. And it is a great one. More precisely, N between message power 1 TVC core and N plus TVT associated data power 1 code. Here, T equals to the N for Romulus N1. Because the computation overhead is quite small, it is particularly good for short message. For security, it has N bit security with N bit block TVC. The security proof is based on the standard model, that is, the security of Romulus N is reduced to the CPS security of TVC, also called TPRP security. This is a conservative model, and it is desirable since we do not have to worry about the gap between the model and the instantiations. This is contrastive to the case of some sponge constructions, where large small round permutations are used internally, and no ideal behaviors are observed for these permutations. The limitation of our scheme is that it has a serial operation for both encryption and decryption. We think this is acceptable and reasonable for the applications of lightweight cryptography. In case we need to process many messages at server-slide, for example, parallel operation is still possible in general, and parallelizability is not much beneficial to constraint devices. This slide shows the security bound of Romulus N. As you can see here, the privacy notion is tightly reduced to the TPRP advantage of TVC. The authenticity is reduced to TPRP advantage, plus, roughly, the number of decryption queries divided by the tag space size. These bounds are equal to the famous ThetaCB3, an idealized version of a CB3 within constants. Also, assuming skin is secure, the bounds are equal to those achieved by an ideal AE scheme that has a privacy bound being zero and authenticity bound being QD, or relative to detail. The point is that we have no degradation in terms of number of encryption queries and query lengths. This is a strong feature achievable by TBC-based mode with standard model reduction. To understand the power of full NB to standard model security, let me show some examples. If we encrypt 2 to the 50 bytes of data with 2 to the 50 decryption queries, the security bound of Romulus still guarantees that the success probabilities at most Ipshron plus 2 to the minus 50 75 for Epshron being the TPRP advantage of TBC. In addition, support that there are 2 to the 20 users, then it still guarantees the success probabilities at most Ipshron prime plus 2 to the minus 55 for Ipshron prime being the multi-user variant of TPRP security. This is obtained from the standard conversion to the multi-user setting, and this is much stronger than the common birthday type bound that contains sigma squared over 2 to the N plus sigma is the number of total processed blocks. For the case of example 1, the bound is Ipshron plus 2 to the minus 32, and for the case of example 2, the bound is further increased to Ipshron prime plus 2 to the minus 12. Let me move to the description of Romulus M, our non-Smith's resistant version. It is based on SIV mode by Rogov and Shrimpton, as well as many other non-Smith's resistant schemes. It greatly shares almost the end components, so it is pretty easy to implement both. The security proof is a standard model and uses the proof techniques introduced by Naito and Sugawara and the nut mark proposed by Koriati et al. in 2017. This slide shows the security bound of Romulus M. For non-smith-respecting adversaries, the bounds are essentially equal to Romulus M. For non-Smith-using adversaries, with maximum r repetition of non-sath encryption, the privacy bound is r times the total squared blocks in encryption divided by 2 to the N, and the authenticity bound is roughly r times the total number of queries divided by 2 to the N. There is no degradation in input ranks except non-Smith's privacy, and it enjoys a graceful degradation, which means that the security is gradually reduced with respect to the parameter r. That is, if the number of non-smith repetition is small and the security is almost endless, and it maintains half of the input security even at the worst case of using a fixed mass. Recently, we showed that the security of Romulus M is preserved under the scenario of release of unverified plaintext, RUP. RUP is a kind of misuse that enables the adversaries to access the unverified plaintext at the encryption regardless of verification results. It can happen when the encryption device does not have enough memory, for example, and this may break many common A schemes such as OCB. There are two privacy notions under RUP called plaintext IONS 1 and 2, and one authenticity notion called int RUP. For Romulus M, we proved that Romulus M is PA1 secure and int RUP secure. This is the same as original SIV. Here PA2 is impossible to meet with SIV-style constructions. The int RUP bounds are equal to the original authenticity bounds for both non-suspecting and non-smith using adversaries. This shows a brief comparison with other TBC-based schemes, assuming we used the same TBC. See the paper for more comprehensive tables. It shows that Romulus N and Romulus M have smaller state sites than previous schemes with standard model security. They also achieve the best encryption rate. Now I move to implementation aspects of Romulus. First, the ASIC performance. This slide shows the ranking taken from the public site that benchmarked eight second-round candidates. For details, please refer to the report. This table shows that Romulus is among the top performers for various measures. This shows the throughput and area of submitted schemes, and this shows the energy and area of submitted schemes. For both cases, Romulus presents pretty good trade-off in these measures. We show some concrete figures of top performers from this benchmark. As you can see, the subterranean is the best, but Romulus is also very competitive. Let me describe some hardware implementation details. First, we utilize the scheme's free linear tweaking scheduling. As I mentioned, it reverses tweaking to the initial value at the end of every TBC call, and this requires only 16-7 extra gates. If we were to maintain tweaking state, at least 323 props would be additionally needed. The scheme is very lightweight, so it is also suitable to full unroll circuit. For example, the speed will be doubled by 2-round unrolling, which needs about additional 1000 gate requirements, and that increases the total area by only 20%. For FPGAs, there is a comprehensive benchmark led by the people from GMU. From their report, we found that Romulus N1 is the second smallest design on Arctic 7, in terms of number of slices and sevens, in terms of the throughput per cycle, out of 22 benchmarked candidates. Also, Romulus N1 is one of the very few designs to achieve competitive performance with less than 1000 lookup tables. For microcontrollers, there is also a comprehensive benchmark led by Lena Potobon and Mototok. From this benchmark for 32-bit platforms, Romulus N1 is ranked in the middle regarding the throughput. Interestingly, for 8-bit platforms, Romulus N1 is in the top tier, and our new 40-land version gains a performance via a factor of 1.4 and is in the top candidates, as shown in the right. We think 8-bit platform is important because it is very constrained and the AES is not very efficient on that. In the rest of my talk, let me briefly describe Romulus. The structure of Romulus is close to Romulus, but the internal TBC is built on a block cipher, which is modeled as an ideal cipher in the security proofs. The conversion of IC to TBC is called IC-based encryption or ICE for short. This conversion is a variant of XHX proposed at 2017, but we optimize XHX to reduce state size and computation for counter-incrementation. A block cipher of N-bit block and key is used to implement a TBC of N-bit block to N-bit tweak and N-bit key. We developed three versions of IC, ICE, namely ICE 1, 2, and 3, having different N-based mask generations. The masks are L and V, shown in the slides. The security bounds of rems are those of Romulus plus the bound of IC. The ratize order of sigma square over 2 to the C, where C equals N for ICE 1 and ICE 3, and C equals 2 to N for ICE 2. The proofs are modular and clean. Namely, we first show that ICE is a secure TBC and show that rems mode is secure if the underlying TBC is secure. To conclude, we proposed Romulus and Remus and this talk focused on Romulus. Romulus is what we believe the best we can do for lightweight, highly reliable AD with TBC. It enjoys a very strong provarous security bounds in the standard model for both nonce-respecting variant of Romulus N and nonce-misusing variant of Romulus M. The security of Romulus is reduced to the skinny's high security. Moreover, we only need skinny's CPA security against single key setting. The mode of Romulus achieves a weight 1 and is minimum as a tickable block cycle based AE with standard model security. That's the end of my talk. Thanks for listening.


Whenever a tragedy such as the recent shooting at the Washington Navy Art Curs, the Navy mobilizes teams called Emergency Family Assistance Centers, or EFACS, to meet the needs of those affected. EFACS consists of counselors and relief workers who are qualified and able to assist victims and their families with their spiritual, physical and emotional needs. That's our hope and that's our mission, is that they get what they need and if we don't have it here, we're going to make sure that we find it for them.  For more information about the EFACS set up in response to the Washington Navy Yard shooting, please call 1-855-677-1755. From the Defense Media Activity, I'm Petty Officer Amara Timberlake.


Man, what a day to be here, right? First of all, I want to thank you guys for being here. We're all here. This is a very happy occasion to officially, officially announced the extension of Jeff Simmons. You know, there's a model for what you want a player to be and what you want your organization to look like. And I think Jeff is one of those models for us. So this was something that was a priority to get done. With that said, I want to thank Chad Brinker, Assistant GM, and Ben Moreno for all the work that they put in to making this happen, as well as Jeff's representative, Paul Daracell. It was never not a moment where we weren't talking. Our first initial meeting to get something started, to get the conversation started, came a little bit after the senior bowl. And from that moment, we were diligently working to get this done. And it ultimately came to a conclusion last weekend sometime. So I want to keep this brief. This day is about Jeff. This day is about all the work he's put in and the player he's becoming, the player he's going to continue to be for us. So with that said, I want to bring up our head coach, Mike Vrable, to say a few words. Thank you, Rand. Jeffrey, congratulations to you, to your family. Jeff embodies everything that we want in a Titan from the time that we drafted them, from the time that we went down and spent time with you. Mississippi State, you answered a lot of questions truthfully, honestly. You're a great example to our community. So thank you. You've earned this. We're going to continue to hold you to a high standard. That'll be the fun part, but certainly embody everything we believe in here as a team captain, a leader, and your performance on the field. So obviously, thanks to Rand and Chad on behalf of our entire organization, and Ms. Amy and her family, congratulations, man, you earned this.  But first I want to say thanks to God. God wouldn't be in this situation. I wouldn't be in this place to stand for it. Before you guys have come and overcome, overcame a lot of adversity throughout this journey. Appreciate you, Rand. Appreciate the Titans organization. Ms. Amy, from day one, I told Ms. Amy that I would never let her down. And from this day forward, standing up here now, I texted Ms. Amy after we came to the conclusion that we came to agreement. And I told her how much I appreciate her for trusting me from day one. And when she turned back to me, she told me that you promised me that you would never let me down, and you have it. And that right there, it hit something inside because to have a female owner, a lady owner in the NFL, to trust in you so much from kind of the adversity I went through throughout my journey to get here, it means so much to me. So Ms. Amy, I appreciate you so much, to the Titans organization. We have a lot of work to do. We just get started. To my family, who with me, no matter how low, bad, ugly, whatever, the good, they stick with me. I have not such a good game, and they still say you play good. So just to have them on by my side, each and every week, each and every game, like I said, I appreciate them so much. And Paul, I'm sure Rand know that Paul going to make sure that things get done. He going to make sure you're on the phone. Now it's like Paul, all right, man. Listen, stop calling me until something get done. Like, I'm tired of talking like every other day. It's like Paul, Paul Dorsely calling. So I'm like, all right, Paul, do we got something? But man, just the commitment that Paul made to me and my uncle, of course, me and my uncle started this thing called walking business. Of course, coming out of college, I didn't sign with an agent. That's the road I wanted to go. Just having a mentor like my uncle who played in his league 10 years and to trust him that, OK, I'm not going to steer you wrong. And we brought Paul alone. And Paul haven't let us down. He wanted them guys who kept his word. And I appreciate you, Paul. And like I said to my uncle, Jason Hatcher, is a big mentor to me throughout this process. Just stay patient, patient, patient's been a big word. And I think that's the most stressful part about it. As you guys know, when you're working on a deal, I think Coach Wraib and Rand can tell you, being patient is the biggest thing. And that also taught me another lesson as I was going through this process. It's like, I want to know what's going on. I want to know what may happen. Not one time did I not think I won't be in Tennessee. I won't be playing in Tennessee. But it was all about when would everything get done. Because I was ready for all the noise to clear out. I think a lot of questions about me, my Instagram, and this and that, I think the main thing was me blocking out the noise. Because I wanted to focus on getting healthy training and stuff in that nature and not worrying about social media and what everyone's saying on social media. So like I said, to my family, like I said, again, I appreciate you guys. I love you guys. And it's just not for me. You guys, the reason why I wake up each and every day wanting to be the best, I could be each and every day. My mom, single parents. So just to see how much we have came from seeing the journey we've been on as a family, it's crazy. I think, man, just from house to house, apartment to apartment, sharing a bed with my brother. And we're good.  That's what I do it for, man. Every day I wake up. I just think about them hard times of work. I know my mom didn't feel like it. And for some time, I could be like, I'm hurting. But I think about my mom having to raise five kids on her own. And for me to say, I don't want to do this, you know, that's my motivation, my family. So sorry about that. But man, this is, I'm grateful. I'm excited. I never saw myself wearing anything but the two-tone blue other than, you know, holding up a Super Bowl ring and a gold jacket. So that's the only thing I ever saw myself. Outside of wearing the two-tone blue. So I can say I'm excited. And the work is just really getting started. Well, for me individually, I think the biggest thing for me is keep getting healthy each and every day. I'm working towards being, getting back to myself. You know, I want to be 1,000%. I want to help this football team as best as I can. And I think the best way is being healthy on the field, being 100%, well, I'm not gonna say 100% because playing this game, you'll never be 100%. So, you know, how healthy can I be each and every game, each and every day if you can practice? Cause I'm very joking about your practice calls. But you know, I just want to be available. I want to be available for my team healthy the best way I can be. And I think that just taking the next step and how can I take care of my body? How can I take care of my mental and stuff in that nature? But man, I know the type of guys that, and I know the type of team we're trying to build here in Tennessee, I've been here long enough to understand that. And I think when you have a head coach like Rape and have like the culture we have here and we trying to build here in Tennessee, I think once you get, especially these new guys in, when you're getting a buy-in to what we really want, and I think that's where make a team. I think like this OTAs is doing camp and all this stuff and like that, that's going to show and like tell what type of team we have. And like I said, I don't know, you know, of course we already have a different team right now. So when it's time for camp and just to get around these guys, you know, they going to understand quick kind of what's all culture and the way we want to play around here in Tennessee and they're going to get to our ultimate goal. And that's the one in the championship around here. And I think, you know, that's always the goal at the end of the season. So I think that's the next step as a team. And of course, like I'm a guy who's going to put the team first. And my mindset is we have to win. And I, we didn't came up short too many times. And I think this season we have to work extremely hard, harder than just to get to our main goal. 2019, the last time we had maybe one of these press conferences for you, you're 22 years old. Do you think you have grown more as a person, as a player since then, or maybe as a combination of both?  I know, you know, because if you don't grow, especially as a player in this league from year one to I'm going into year five now, I don't think I'll be sitting on a podium right now.  Now I think to have a coach and have a position coach like Coach T, you know, Coach Rabeau and these guys like that, you know, I think them type of guys who I appreciate and the reason why you want to come to work, you know, each and every day I wake up, I'd be like, all right, another day we have to get better. And I know for one, I know Coach T, you know, he wanted the best out of me. So each and every day he pushing me, you know, we having them extra meetings on him telling me, like, bro, you could be the best in this game. Like, so I think to hear things like that and to see it and watch film each and every year, how I improve. I think that right there just shows that, you know, each and every year I have improved.  And that's been my motto forever, be better than I was yesterday, you know, only for the end of the field. So of course I feel like I have grew as a man and as a player. First guy, I think first back with the contract now that runs into what should be the start of a new stadium. Really the foundational guy on this team. How much does it mean to you to kind of be that big of a foundational piece? Well, I really haven't thought about, you know, the stadium and all that. I think my thing is like, I want to be here in Tennessee. I want to play in Tennessee, my career. I want to be here in Tennessee. I love the people in Tennessee. Most importantly, I love the guys on this team.  You know, I wanted to be here in Tennessee. I wanted to get something done.   And I think from that day forward, you know, that's when I saw that, you know, in myself that I could be that guy to help lead this team. And to this day, you know, I feel like I have a lot of work to do myself.  I look at them guys each and every day that, you know, we have to, we could be better. We could be better than we was and we could actually get to our main goal. So, you know, I'm excited for what may come in the future. Especially the stadium, but, you know, right now I'm just focused on today. We hear a lot of times that you are, as Ran and Coach Rebel said, the walking embodiment of this team. How personally do you take that and what would you say is an example of how you exemplify the mindset that they want to have? I mean, I think you start off with just the way we want to play around here.  It's about the players. And I think when you have the players doing it and talking it, I think that's when it's like, all right, this is what they want. And like I said, I'd have been around Coach Rebel. I know the toughness he won on our team. I know the gritty he won. And I know the type of effort he wants us to play with.  So, and that's, I think what I appreciate Coach Rebel the most, you know, when I'm not doing it, I get called out. You know, and I, the best players get called out on this team, no matter who it may be, could be from Derrick down to anybody. So I think that's what simplified like what's embodying this team, the way God's like myself, that I feel like, you know, a captain on this team, if I'm doing the right thing, if I'm playing the way that we can be being coached with technique, fundamental effort and all them things like that, full tilt. And I take pride in that. So, and then I think it's just off the field. You know, I like to be in the community and things in that nature. I want to inspire the youth. That's one of the biggest things I speak on a lot. So, you know, it's just not about on the field.  You showed, you know, talk about playing through the anchor organization through this process. When did you kind of get the indication that they were going to be all in for you? Well, I mean, I didn't really know at the beginning because of course we didn't have a GM in place.   He just joking with me about that. So, and I think that's the biggest thing for me. And now I'm just hitting it from our owner, Miss Amy. You know, I remember, I can't remember exactly what week it was, but of course it was after the fire.  Like we're going to take care of you here. And I think that's what put me at ease. And from that day forward, like I said, I wasn't focused on, you know, just to cut this big contract. That's why I put a team in place for that. And, you know, my thing was this business all season, just how can I get healthy?  The city and community, of course, the team obviously, but you've also done so much off the field, your new foundation, give them a reason. How excited are you to continue the work you've started off the field and continue this relationship with the city that clearly means so much to you? Yeah, I'm excited. I think my first event with my foundation was last year, around Christmas time. You know, I think when we talk about off the field, because, you know, I came from a small town and I know a lot of these kids don't have hope. And someone in the seat right now, looking for that hope and looking for like that, why? And so I think when you have a foundation like that, especially mine called Give Them a Reason, is to inspire the youth and create opportunities, try to create opportunities for our youth. And each and every day, that's been my goal. When I see a young kid, you know, I never turn a kid down for a picture. You know, it's because they look up to us. And we second examples, we're going to give them back to our community and letting these kids know that they can be here, no matter if they wanna be a lawyer or whatever it may be, you know, never give up on your dream.  And now it's like, why not? Why we can't do, why we can't get this offer? And I always, when I went back to my high school, I told them kids, give the coaches a reason to give you an offer and stuff like that. You know, the same way on this level, get these coaches a reason, excuse me, to get put you on the field. So I think that's the reason why I came up with that name. And like I said, now it's just like, you know, I hope it's a takeoff, you know, I wanna be more in the community here in Nashville. A lot of my community work been in Mississippi, you know, with sponsoring and naming a field house at my old high school and having all my camps in Mississippi. So I wanted that to grow. And I wanted to bring a lot more activities and, you know, things to Nashville. So, yeah, just a lot of excitement from guys, you know? So a couple of guys this morning, you know, it just to me, I think the main thing is, you know, just getting back around the guys and I can't wait to get back around the guys.  I met Aziz, Aziz, this is Ray, right? Yeah, I met Aziz this morning. And I guess I could tell already that, you know, he gonna be good for us just the talk we had this morning. And I'm excited, man. I'm excited to, you know, cause I've been on the contract here. So it's not like I'm new to this team. So I'm not just excited to see how much more we could grow as a team and, you know, get to our next step. Jeff, from a football standpoint, what do you feel that you need to work on and improve on to help take this defense to the level that you guys envision? And then also with coming back from the ankle injury, how is your training regimen maybe changed this off season as you look to elevate it? Well, first, I mean, right now that's, that's how I've been my focus, my ankle.  I think the main thing is just keep getting that ankle better, better right now. But I think when it come down to me as a, me being a person, me personally, I think the consistent of my technique and, you know, playing with, you know, my body lean that we talk about and, you know, coach rating them always stressing it to me just because I know, and I've helped seen it. Like when I'm, when I'm playing with that technique that we talk about consistently, you know, no one could block me in this league. And I, you know, I, I see it and I hear it all the time. So I think that's my biggest thing. How consistent can I be with them things? My technique, my fundamental and my effort. And I think that that's right there just to find it. Cause, you know, everything else to take care of itself, my leadership and all that. I just want to be more consistent. Talked about how meaningful the generational wealth is for you and the family. How'd you get to tell everybody? And what was it like to tell everybody you signed the deal? Well, I mean, I think when I told, we was in the group chat and I told him, but kind of my brother broke the news to everyone in the group chat and the group chat. I was, I was waiting to do it. He ended up bringing the news like such and such.  When we was on the phone, it was me, my agent Paul and my uncle. And we was like, it was, it was, it was a long talk. I would say right before we made the decision, like, all right, this, what we going to do guys? Like everyone was like, are we in or not? But I mean, it was, it was unbelievable. You know, I heard a couple of tears on the phone. I didn't call no name, but no, man. It was, it was, it was unbelievable, man. Like I said, I'm so grateful to have a team and have a family like I have.  I said, the work really just getting started for real. So.  Yeah, no, I was just messing with the people.   You know, they're stopping me and my girls. Like, you know, if they leave, if they don't sign you, we're not, we're not, we're going to bark out of this and that. I'm like, man, I'm like, we have no words. I come down, but nah, man, it just, you know, it's always good to always keep the fans in the loop.  You know, we have some great fans here in Tennessee that support us and, you know, I always want to check in every now and then on Twitter with them or whatever it may be, mess with them. But, you know, that joke was a little joke on with the fans and like I said, I mean, we have some great fans in Tennessee. You talked about being patient through this. Last year you played for a very inexpensive deal.  Was it difficult to be patient through that, knowing that this day would probably come but having to wait for it? Honestly, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not one time that I think about this deal during the last season. I was thinking about the now because I wanted to win. I wanted to get to our goal, which didn't happen. So like I said, not one time that I think about, you know, I'm really playing on this ankle right now and I don't know what it may be in the future. I was just focused on that now. Like, and that was my goal to be on the field each and every week for my team, my teammates.   I don't want to deal with it right now. And I came here and I, you know, I played for my teammates and I played for this organization. So now I didn't think about it not one time. And I was just being patient with my ankle. I say that I was, that's the only patient I had to really kind of like settle down. But like, okay, just going to have to get through it this season. You wanted to be patient. Why was it important to you to get that deal done before Super Booth all week? No, it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't, I wouldn't say before Super Booth all weekend. I'm sure that's a Paul question for it. He told you asked that, something like that. But nah, man, my goal was to get it done when the right time, when everyone, when both sides came to agreement. Like I said, we came to agreement. I was on a phone call with my team and we came to agreement and it just so happened to be before, you know, Mississippi State Spring game this weekend.  I've already been getting a lot on social media. I read it, but I can say, I'm grateful, man. I'm grateful. I'm excited to see what the Fridge of Brains for this organization and myself.  Nah, man. I got to tell everyone earlier.  But my biggest thing was I didn't want, I wanted to eliminate myself from all the distraction, you know, because I was getting tagged in this. I was getting tagged in that. And I think when it came down to it, you know, I didn't want to, that's kind of the reason why I kind of deactivated my page. Because I wanted to just focus on getting healthy. I wanted to focus on working out and stuff like that. So I wanted to say, you know, I didn't get, didn't mean to like, you know, make it a big deal.  But my goal was to just focus on myself at that time. Because like I said, I was dealing with the ankles.  So I would just focus on that at the time. So I wasn't trying to make that a big deal. So.


Hi, she was seven. I'm back. How y'all been? I know it's been a little while, but I'm back. Okay, so I had a bunch of topics that I was trying to figure out which one I'm going to do. So out of the few topics that people have requested, I only do one because I'm not experienced with some of these questions because I never lowered my standards that low in order to... I'm not making fun of y'all. But I never had that low of a standard to have to deal with these type of issues. So I don't think I'm qualified to give advice on it. So I'm just going to go ahead and skip through some of these requests and I'm going to go straight to the ones that I am familiar with. Let's see. Okay, so my choices were dating men who have kids, how ambitious women can be good girlfriends, and how to love yourself in order to attract more love to you in your life. So I'll just touch on the ambitious woman and the how to love yourself because when I first met my husband, I was in my career. I was looking for... I was all about work at that point. I spent 14 hours a day at work and I was... And I was very ambitious. I was not going to accept anything less than what I knew I deserved. Okay, I worked around funeral directors. I worked around men with money who owned funeral homes and y'all know that's big books, right? So I was working around millionaires. I was working around people like very important people and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I wasn't just going to be dating anybody, right? So I was an ambitious woman at that time in my life. And for me, I had to date older men because I could not find a man on my level at my age doing the things that I was doing. So I had to date up. I had to date older because if I dated guys my own age, they were still out playing around. They hadn't gone to school yet or they were still in school or they weren't about their career. They were more about a job this week and a job next week, job to job. I had to get a career man and there was not that many career men my age out there that was looking to date, like seriously. So I had to go for an older guy, which ends up being my husband. So I think ambitious women should go for older men or men who are already established financially. This helps them to not overpower or emasculate their partner. If you're an overly ambitious woman and your partner is the same age and he's not as ambitious or successful as you, it's going to backfire soon. He's going to start feeling less masculine. He's going to start looking at women who will make him feel more manly who aren't as ambitious or competitive. So as they go for older or rich, they can teach you things. They can help you get to certain places in your career faster because they've been around longer. They have more connections if you're that ambitious type of woman. Most of the time older guys are not in a rush to pressure you into things because they've lived life. They're not all hyper and they're more smooth. So yes, ambitious ladies, the best boyfriend to have is either a very rich one or one who is a little bit older and established. If you're dating someone your own age, good luck with that. Especially if you're ambitious because you might leave them behind and you don't want to have them play catch up with you.  I know a lot of people say you're supposed to push your spouse and you're supposed to push them. But eventually that guy is going to get tired of being pushed by you and he's going to want to feel like a man. So he's going to go find someone less than you and less than him that can make him feel manly and masculine like he's the man and he's going to be like, well you make me feel so manly and important like I need it and I can teach you things. So you don't want to date someone less than you or that you're going to excel past faster and you already know it. So unless you are in that role on purpose, unless he's like the house husband and he's comfortable with that or the artistic type that's never going to be a millionaire and just maybe by luck or chance. But he's not thriving in that direction and you are okay with it. Unless you're okay with it, I don't suggest dating any guys that aren't on your same level or higher. But to be a good girlfriend, if you are and you're trying to make it work, you're going to have to downplay yourself a lot. You're going to have to hold your tongue a lot. You're going to have to step back a lot.  You're going to have to be less controlling. You're going to have to not be his competition but be more at his supporter instead of saying, well, I make this much money. How much do you make? Or I got a raise. Oh, you didn't get a raise? I have to work. I don't have time for you this weekend. I'm so sorry. I don't have time. I'm flying out tomorrow. I'm busy. A lot of those things can damage how the guy feels about himself as a man. You're going to have to act. You're going to have to act like when you get around him and his friends and stuff. You're going to have to act. You're going to have to act like the feminine, non-competitive woman that's his cheerleader. Y'all know that song? Ooh, I think that I found myself a cheerleader. You're going to have to be like that. He knows who you are. He knows what you can do and how ambitious you are. He'll love that you're supporting him and then he'll throw you a bone. He'll say, oh, she's so smart too. She's really good at what she does too. He'll start bragging about you. You have to act. You have to support him. You have to be his cheerleader. It can't be all about you and what you've done and what you've accomplished and how great you are and the raises that you've got. It can't be all about you. You have to act and push your ego down a little bit if you're an ambitious woman in a relationship. You're going to have to play the feminine role and just let him do all the talking most of the time unless the spotlight is on you. Don't interrupt him when he's speaking.  A lot of women who are very ambitious find themselves correcting other people too much and they don't even realize it because they're so used to working and suggesting ideas to their coworkers. It just becomes habit. If you're like in charge of people at work, you're so used to bossing people around. So you're going to boss everybody around.  So you have to kind of step out of that zone just once you get off work and just step into your more feminine shoes and your more supportive role and your more nurturing role as female. Okay. Okay. So I'm going to have time to cover the lesson. Yeah, okay. So I'll cover how to love yourself in order to attract more love to you. This is the biggest issue with women these days. No one loves me. They just want to use me. No one sees me as wifey material. A lot of women I know or see on Facebook, they're always catering to other people. They're always giving time to other people, doing things for other people instead of themselves. If a man sees you doing a lot of things for yourself, taking care of yourself, making yourself look good, dress good, your home is taken care of, your apartment is taken care of, wherever you live is taken care of, your skin is soft, your skin is moisturized, your teeth are nice. That shows self-love because you're taking care of yourself. If you dress nice, the clothes you wear, do they fit right? Because a lot of women will just buy some tight clothes to try to get attention from guys. But that's not really self-love. Self-love is buying nice pieces of clothing that make you feel good about yourself, not to get attention from other people. Let's just say they see somebody in a tight-fitting spandex dress and some heels on. That's to get male attention. We know that. But say they see a lady in a nice outfit that looks expensive and designer. She wore the outfit just for herself. She's not trying to impress men. This is what she like. She went to the store. She had a sales associate help her find some really nice, classic, chic clothes that are just very high fashion. You don't even have to spend a lot of money. You have dupe looks. A blazer. A nice pair of jeans. What do you call it? A midi skirt. A nice mock neck shirt. Kitten heels. Heels that aren't just club-like. Something that says, I bought this for me because I think it's pretty. This is not for every man to look at who doesn't really admire style. Let's get some celebrity examples. We know the shows Love & Hip Hop. You know how they dress on some of those shows and all their stuff is out. Then you have the classier ones who dress in nice design. They don't show all of this. There's a difference between classy and trashy. If you look trashy, that's not really self-love. You want to try to look more classy. If he took you right when he met you to meet his mother, that outfit would be appropriate. Unless you're in a beach or something like that. Basically, dress for yourself. Don't dress for men. Dress for what your style is. What you admire. The parts of your body that you love with classic, nice, clean pieces that say, I love myself. I'm going to dress myself. Not trying to get attention from men because I like this outfit. Men notice that. That's wifey when they see a lady nicely, classically dressed. That's wifey. They will go for the other girl because they want sex from her. The one that's dressed nice and loves herself is going to get the flowers, the candy, the courting, the dates. That's what she's going to get because he knows that she already expects that out of a man. If he even dares approach, he has to come correct. Love yourself more. It's going to teach other people how to treat you even women. Women are not going to talk trash about you as much as they would if you didn't love yourself. It's respect. The more you respect yourself, the more people will respect you. The more you love yourself, the more people will want to love you because they can't come incorrectly because they know you're not going to settle for less than how you treat yourself. Let's just say you drink Starbucks coffee every day. They're not going to bring you some cheap 50 cent coffee from the gas station. They're going to bring you Starbucks. Let's just say you like a certain type of music they're not going to say they're not going to turn on the music you don't like because they know.  If you're walking around trash with your house slippers on, sliding your feet with a bonnet on your head and pajamas in the store they already know you don't love yourself and they already know you don't care about your appearance or the level of respect people have for you when you go out in public. They know you will settle for anything you'll be happy to get anything and so they're not going to give you their best they're going to give you their worst cleaned up and nice and pretty smelling good looking good hair nails make up classy outfit on you know clean car they're going to treat you like that they're going to treat you how you treat yourself. They're not going to even approach you the same way they might not even approach you at all because they're not together themselves and they just saved you a world of trouble so the men that will approach you they already know that they can impress you they already know that they have what it takes to date someone like you they already have a lot of the standards that you probably have from it so they're going to approach you and it might be few but the quality is better than the quantity when I used to now I used to dress up really nice and not that many men would approach me because they couldn't afford to approach a woman like me but the ones that did they were the ones that I would consider and I ended up marrying one so ladies love yourself and you will attract people who will love you and treat you the same way as you treat yourself thank you guys so much for watching thumbs up subscribe and share this video bye


these verses in the context of our fall of man series. We're going to end this series this evening. We're going to look at something interesting that happened to Adam and Eve after they rebelled against God. But first of all Exodus chapter 33. What's the context? What just happened here? So Exodus chapter 33. Normally you'd read Exodus chapter 32. Give you some context of why God is so upset here. He's upset with the children of Israel of course because this is right after they have made the golden calf and you know worshiped idols and things like that. And this is after Moses came down and saw what they had done. And God is kind of Moses is interceding for the people here.  And Moses was a great advocate for the children of Israel there. But anyway something interesting happens here where God actually speaks to Moses. If you look at verse number 20 of Exodus chapter 33, look at what the Bible says here. I want to point out like an interesting thing about God. An interesting thing that God says that we can't do, that we wouldn't be able to do with him. Where God says to Moses in verse number 20, he says, and he said, thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live. So of course this is talking about God the Father talking to Moses saying no man can look at me and live. Now look at verse number 11 where the Bible says, and the Lord spake on Moses face to face. Well now we see the answer of why God came down in a cloudy pillar when he was making himself present to talk to Moses. He was in a cloud he was covered. So you know he wasn't, Moses wasn't seeing God's face. As a matter of fact that's proven at the end of the chapter when God literally says you know I will show you myself but he's only going to allow Moses to see his back. As he walks by Moses he covers Moses' face with his hand and then Moses is able to see God walking away from him because you can't see God's face and live. So this is just something that the Bible says. Now go to Genesis chapter 33. Now that we know that about God the Father that we will not be able to see God the Father and live on this earth. Look at verse number eight of Genesis chapter three. This is right after you know they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they were ashamed and they were hiding from God because God regularly the Bible tells us you know God walked through the Garden of Eden. You know this was something that God did. Look at verse number eight. It says they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden of the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the Garden. And the Lord called unto Adam and he said where art thou? So we can infer from Genesis chapter three verses eight and nine here that God walked through the Garden on a regular basis and they didn't hide themselves before. So they walked in the presence of God in the Garden. All right. Now look as far as you know as far as the cloud and Exodus chapter 33 and you know verse number nine here where verse number eight and nine where God walks through the Garden and talks to him. Of course it said they heard him. It never said that they looked at God that they saw God. I actually if it wasn't for John 1 18 why don't you just go ahead and turn there. Actually I'll just read it to you. It says no man have seen God at any time the Bible says. All right. So if it wasn't that verse I might actually say that well maybe this was something that God changed after you know they rebelled against man that after they rebelled at that point no man was able to look upon you know God the Father. However you know it does say no man has seen God at any time. Anyway that's not the point. It does say in verse number eight and verse number nine that they heard God. So it could have been that God came to the Garden in a cloud and a pillar as well and he talked with them face to face but they never looked on him as well. But the point is this the point I'm trying to get at is this. Adam used to walk amongst God in the Garden of Eden. That's the point that I'm trying to get at tonight. All right. That is a change because God after actually look at verse number 22 of Genesis chapter 3. In verse number 22. So we're looking at things that God changed after the fall of man after God's rebellion.  Maybe God was in a cloud and a pillar whatever is one of those things that we can ask God when we get to heaven. But the point is the Bible says that God walked amongst them in the Garden and they were with him and they talked with him as we see. But look at verse 22 of Genesis chapter 3 said in the Lord God said behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evil and now lest he put forth his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So first of all when he says the man has become one of us you know like this is like this isn't Mormon you know we're not going to become God's okay. It's just saying that he he now knows evil is what he's talking about to know good and evil because last sermon what did I talk about what's the difference what were they really trying to get at when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They already knew good all they knew was good all they knew was good so their eyes were open to evil is the difference that happened okay so that's what God is saying in verse 22 says now they know good and evil just like God knew that and he says therefore God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden so the change here and the change that we're going to talk about tonight is that they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. They were kicked out and look this is not something that this is not something that that was that could ever have been undone where they could have done something where they could have gotten back to the Garden of Eden. You say why were they kicked out turn to Habakkuk chapter one Habakkuk chapter one in the Old Testament towards the end of the Old Testament go to go to Habakkuk chapter one Adam used to remember this Adam used to walk amongst God in the garden before he sinned against God and now he cannot what's the difference the difference is sin that is the difference and that God cannot be in the presence of sin look at Habakkuk chapter one and look at verse 13 Habakkuk chapter one verse number 13 Habakkuk of course a prophet during the same time as Ezekiel same time as Jeremiah as we talked about this morning towards the end of the lower kingdom of Judah's empire and in Habakkuk chapter one of verse number 13 look what the Bible says about God it says thou art of pure eyes than to be hold evil and can'ts not look on iniquity that's interesting he can't look on iniquity so it's not so much about us seeing him as him being able to be around us really is what you know God can't be in the presence or won't be in the presence of sin okay that's why he kicked man out of the Garden of Eden because there was now sin there okay there was now sin in you know the world turn to Philippians chapter 3 this is why this is why by the way we can't take these bodies into heaven you say I really like my body and I want you're not taking your body to heaven you can't the Bible says that we are not taking these bodies with us to heaven because the Bible Bible says they're vile these bodies look at Philippians chapter 3 in verse number 20 this is why this is why we need glorified bodies to go to heaven okay we will need those glorified bodies because we can't have vile things there's nothing vile there's nothing sinful there's nothing except goodness as it says God is just nothing but goodness it says in Exodus chapter 33 look at verse 20 of Philippians chapter 3 the Bible says our conversation is in heaven from whence we shall look for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself so he's going to change this vile body into a glorified body that's why in Matthew chapter 10 in verse 28 when the Bible says fear not them which killed the body we don't have to worry about people killing this vile body we're not to worry about that at all we have to worry about those that would kill our soul of course nobody can kill our soul says fear them that get able to kill the soul you know in Matthew 20 year 1028 it says you know rather fear him that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell all right so look this body means nothing we don't have to fear anybody you know killing our body because we're going to get glorified bodies when we go to heaven so the point is this the point tonight is very simple and the point tonight is that you know Adam Adam and just in general you know Adam there's no indication look there's no indication that Adam and Eve did not serve the Lord for the rest of their lives now I don't think any of us believe that you know they were sin that was the only sin that they committed you know going forward especially with the children that they raised just one chapter chapter over you know one of their sons kills you know Cain kills Abel but the point is is that we need to understand that sin will have rebellion against God will have lasting consequences that's the main thing so the point or the title of sermon tonight is the fall of man you know demoted Adam and Eve were demoted you know they were demoted out of the Garden of Eden that didn't mean they couldn't serve the Lord with their life that didn't mean that they couldn't you know have a relationship with God will look at that in a few minutes but the point is they could never get back to the Garden and that's what we need to understand in our lives as well so here's the first thing the first thing you say well that's kind of depressing you know that's kind of depressing that you know I could do things wrong in my life and you know there could just be consequences for you know for a long time or for the rest of my life or whatever but there's a couple things that we need to understand about God as we go forward in our lives and I'm sure Adam and Eve also understood this I mean they clearly understood it as God didn't kill them God kicked them out of the Garden and they moved on with their lives from there but the point is this God forgives is the first point okay God forgives turn to 1st John chapter 1 in verse number 9 there's always a way no matter what rebellion or how bad the sin there's always a way to get right for those who love God so if you're saved tonight there's always a way to get right there's always a way to get right with God you say how look at 1st John chapter 1 in verse number 9 1st John chapter 1 in verse number 9 a very simple verse in the Bible showing us how easy it is to get right with God 1st John chapter 1 and verse number 9 has nothing to do with salvation it is just about getting right with God it is about having a good relationship with your heavenly Father now a lot of people twist this a lot of Protestants and Catholics twist this to you know have to do with salvation this is where you get the idea of you know going and confessing your sins to a priest this is where you get the idea of a confessional Lutheran who thinks they have to go and and chant a saying every week in order to be forgiven in order to get that this is the Etch-a-Sketch theology right here when you take 1st John chapter 1 verse number 9 and apply it to salvation and then it just like makes none of the Bible make any sense at all all right so if you're reading a verse of the Bible and it you know contradicts other simple verses in the Bible you're misinterpreting that verse this is clearly talking about just how to get right how to have a good relationship with God so look your first thing you need to understand when we look at the consequences of sin is that God forgives that's the first thing that we need to understand verse number 9 it says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and clent and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness meaning look God will forgive you not talking about how to be saved there's nothing about being saved here it's just saying getting right with God is easy okay because God's not like men God's not like men where you can confess your sins and come to them and they could just like no I just they could just withhold forgiveness God is saying hey get your heart right confess your sins to me is like and I'll forgive your sins and I'll cleanse you from all unrighteousness and we'll be good you know going forward all right and point number two tonight is that there's always a plan B going forward no matter what the consequences of your sin in your life is a matter of fact that's a promise I will show you is that no matter what you've done in your life as a saved Christian there's always a plan B going forward in your life God always provides that this is a huge promise for us Jesus emphasize this emphasize this over and over and over in his ministry he's just like hey things that are behind you he's like you're forgiven you know get on with the plan B if you need a plan B in your life but you know what look looking behind us that's our hang up not God's that's not God's God says hey confess your sins and all and all cleanse you God says all forgive you turn to Luke chapter 9 Jesus talked about this all the time look at Luke chapter 9 in your Bible look at Luke chapter 9 so we're looking at tonight how God forgives first of all you know yes we can get demoted in our lives on this earth but God forgives that's the first thing that you need to understand look at Luke chapter 9 look at Luke chapter 9 verse number 57 Luke chapter 9 verse number 57 we're going to look at three failures here in Luke chapter 9 and verse number 57 and a few verses forward from there the Bible says in verse 57 it says and it came to pass that as they went in the way a certain man said unto him Lord I will follow thee whither so ever thou goest and Jesus said unto him foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man have not where to lay his head Jesus basically he's going to show three failures here the first one is some guy that wants to you know come with him and Jesus is saying hey this is a camping trip Jesus saying this is not a comfortable journey we kind of have to assume that you know Jesus knew what the guys hang up was this is kind of how Jesus talked to people it's kind of like you know with the rich young ruler the same thing Jesus kind of knew what these people you know their hang-ups were like hey we'll come with you Jesus as long as everything's right in this area so the first guy he tells them it's not going to be comfortable and I assume with the way the next conversation is going in the lesson that's being taught here is that this guy was like yeah okay I'm out since it's not comfortable all right look at the second guy and he said to another follow me but he said Lord so he says to another guy follow me but he said now the guy he's talking to you says Lord suffer me first to go and bury my father notice those three words there and you'll see those those words again in verse number 61 but notice those three words he says suffer me first to go bury my father saying saying hey I will but there's something in front of you this is the point Jesus is trying to get across here is that he's pointing out the weaknesses of these people he's like hey there's something in front of you Jesus but if you'll you'll get second in line then I will all right Jesus said unto him let the dead bury their dead Jesus given the answer he says there should be nothing in front but go thou but go thou and preach the kingdom of God it's like there should be nothing to get in front of you you know to go out and preach the gospel I mean it doesn't get more clear than this look at verse 61 we see another one and another also said Lord I will follow thee now look at these four words he says but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house he just wants to go say goodbye but again he's showing that Jesus is number two so you're number two I just got to go say you know goodbye to these people this is the point that Jesus is trying to make here turn to Hebrews chapter eight turn to Hebrews chapter eight he's saying look you know you should be moving forward no matter what that should be the only thing on you know that should be the first priority keep your place in Luke 9 we're gonna go back there just a few minutes but go to Hebrews chapter eight so look God forgives we know this God forgives that's point number one point number two is God always provides a plan B you say sin has consequences I've done things in my life and now I just can't go back you know to certain places I don't have certain options anymore God forgives God always provides a plan B and I will prove that to you tonight but look at Hebrews chapter eight not only does God forgive but Hebrews chapter 8 verse number 12 look what the Bible says he says for I will be merciful to their righteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more God talks about his mercy in Exodus chapter 33 as well but God literally says here he's like I will be merciful this is you know you confess your sins God will cleanse you from all on righteousness and the Bible here says he literally will remember your iniquities no more so this is how stupid it is for people to just be obsessed you know over you know past things in their life and past sins is because like God doesn't even remember them the Bible says once you've confessed them and you've gotten those things right and you've worked that out you know with the Lord yeah there may be consequences on this earth that you still have to deal with but the Bible says God doesn't remember those sins anymore in Hebrews 10 verse 17 he says and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more like he literally doesn't remember on purpose oh that we all could say that you know how much better would relationships that we have be if we could be as holy as God in that area where somebody could get right with us and we could just say you know what I don't even remember what it is so this is what God is saying hey we just need to move forward right so that being said God forgives God doesn't even remember your sins and God always provides a plan B you're like hey that all sounds really really good thanks for the sermon tonight because this is a really positive message but here is the whole point of the sermon consequences may remain after all of that after God forgiving you after God providing you a plan B to serve him with your life and then God literally saying to you you know as if him telling you he doesn't he forgives you isn't enough he's like I literally don't even remember that stuff he's saying look but you need to understand as a perfect example with Adam and Eve that consequences may remain in your life I mean there's there's plenty of examples of this I mean many examples you need to think up for a pastor you know if a pastor gets into sin that you know disqualifies him from being able to be a pastor that's a consequence right there that would be a consequence doesn't mean that that pastor couldn't get right then he couldn't fix that relationship with God and patch that relationship with you know people in his life or whatever but the point is consequences will remain you think about what we talked about this morning you think about this morning you think about I mean just raising kids you think about raising kids what are we doing think about the sermon from this morning what are we doing when we're raising kids we're building a wall aren't we building a wall aren't we putting a layer of brick on foundation we have the right foundation and then we're putting a layer of brick we're using covered mortar we're putting another layer of brick on you know where the best you know where the best point to get a wall straight is those very first few levels of bricks because the thing is you start going off right away it's gonna be a harder harder to get that wall straight now you're gonna have to like re-correct over here and it's gonna be this crazy weird wall it's best to get it correct right away because look here's what you need to understand with your kids your corrections with your children I know a lot of the children in this church are young but the corrections with your children as they get older will become smaller and smaller and smaller as your children grow up the corrections will get smaller and smaller and smaller you think you look at people that you know maybe just raise their kids wrong they raised their kids wrong they just they raise their kids with you know crooked walls with untempered mortar like we talked about this morning and then what what's gonna happen if you do that from this morning that wall is gonna come crashing down that wall is gonna come crashing down this is where maybe you have an older child that just they doesn't have the character that you wish that they did from the Bible because you just raised that child with untempered mortar that and then God literally tore that wall down to expose that rotten foundation so you just did it all wrong and then you figure it out and you get it right you still got that pile of bricks there you still got that pile of bricks or you still have that you know that mess to deal with and to clean up and as look as we're building these walls and strengthening these walls and building these walls straight on a solid foundation you have to understand that you know you want to make those major corrections those major moves right away when they're young and get those first couple rows super straight because as they get older the corrections get smaller and smaller and they will become a point with your kids where you got what you got I hate to just lay it down and break it down to you like that but I mean if you allow if you allow your children to go through pain and suffering and then you get right 20 years later and you figure all right like I didn't do that right and I'm sorry I put you in danger kids and I'm sorry that you know we didn't do this right and we exposed you to that and it affected you here that's just not going to be a simple overnight fix you know that's not something that is going to be easy to just take away because those consequences will remain you just think about outside of your family just think about just individual sins there's individual sins that will just have lasting consequences and you just go on for for hours and hours going through sins the easiest one to think of is you know for vacation you know we talk about you know purity on both you know the the young ladies and both the the young men how they're to go to their wedding day you know pure and undefiled from the world but a lot of people fall into the sin of fornication and guess what there's many times that there could be consequences there whether they be you know bad health consequences you know maybe there's a child out of wedlock that happens and that's something that's just not going to go away maybe that happens with you know a bad person or somebody and then look then you get right well then the other person doesn't get right and there's no marriage there and look that problem will be with you that consequence will be with you for the rest of your life on this earth the same as adam and eve getting thrown out of the garden you think about people that make mistakes in their lives like you know being a drunk and then you know getting in a car and then you know killing somebody you know and they never drink again they they get saved they maybe they were saved they either way they get right they confess it they get saved they confess it to God they get right with God they still killed somebody you know they're still in prison maybe you know maybe for the rest of their life maybe maybe even after they get out of prison there they're suffering because of their their record or they can't get the right jobs or whatever it is look there's plenty of consequences that come from not following the way God wants us to do it even after God has forgiven us even after God has said I don't even remember those things anymore but we deal with the consequences on this earth for years some of these things even simple worldly things like say you just don't understand anything about finances you just make dumb decisions financially those things can stick with you for years you declare bankruptcy or something and like these simple things will affect you there will be constant and you're like just like I'm never doing that again and I'm getting that right and I'm gonna go to church I'm gonna follow what the Bible says about how I should be you know a steward of God's blessings in my life and I'm gonna listen to proverbs and listen to the pastor preaching about all these things there's still consequences though they're still there they're still there even after you get right even after God has forgiven you God has forgotten everything that you've done but the consequences are still there this is what I'm talking about just realizing that some things in our lives or the sin in our lives made to mold us in our lives meaning you know that bar that we were reaching for before we just might not reach that bar because of our sin because of the consequences on this earth maybe somebody has a work history where they just they go and they they work at a different place every month and they just have no references and they just got this horrible reputation and they're just like I'm changing now I'm fixing this I'm fixing this I'm not gonna be like this anymore I'm gonna go somewhere I'm gonna not be lazy I'm gonna work hard I'm gonna serve my master at work like I'm serving the Lord Jesus Christ I'm gonna get this thing right I'm gonna confess all this but there still may be consequences you're starting at the bottom somewhere you're just gonna have to deal with that emotion I mean the point is these things go back to Luke chapter 9 these things there are things there are sins that you commit that will stick with you that will stay with you that will affect you look at Luke chapter 9 and verse number 62 but the thing that you have to remember is verse number 62 of Luke chapter 9 Jesus said unto him no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God I want to leave you with two points tonight on what you need to remember just like okay I get it there's consequences but you know what I don't like those consequences and how do I handle those consequences and how do I go forward with my life maybe my consequences are severe and look somebody's gonna have more a constant more severe consequences than somebody else it's just gonna be the nature of what they've done and what the other person has done but Jesus is telling us two things that we need to keep in mind here in verse number 62 the first one is this don't look back that is the first lesson that Jesus is teaching these three men don't look back that's why we don't have sin competitions in this church we don't sit in the back of the church and don't ever do this you'll see visitors do this some time you know like you know be generous don't like ball out a visitor or anything but the point is like you'll see visitors come in here and be like oh I used to do this and I used to do this and look we don't have sin competitions in this church we don't have competitions because you know what ends up happening actually it turns into like a bragging contest on who was worse what a what a wicked thing to bring into a church so we don't have sin competitions in this church look if you're into a bunch of stuff that you know that you know I probably wouldn't be into or don't agree with just don't bring it up in the church then at least do me that favor but the point is we're not gonna sit in the back of this church and be like oh yeah I used to do this nice to do that I used to do this I used to do that because we shouldn't make light of sin we shouldn't make mock of sin but the main thing is it doesn't matter what what's back there we're not supposed to look back there it's like God doesn't even remember what's back there why are we looking back there these are things there's a reason that the Bible says these are things that shouldn't even be spoken of because you know all the mistakes that we've made in our lives we're trying to like you know fix in the next generation I hope that's the plan anyway so don't look back is the first thing that Jesus is saying he's saying don't look back there what would be the point what would be the point of that as long as look if you have faith in what God is saying here is you if you I mean just think of the logic of it if you have faith that God has forgiven you if you have faith that look you know you've confessed it you know you had a sort like Godly sorrow second Corinthians chapter 7 sorrow you had the right kind of sorrow where you just had you had indignation towards that sin that sin disgusts you that sin in your path you just it disgusts you you know what you don't have indignation if you're standing up and you're like oh yeah we used to do this and we used to do that you know no no no you have to you have to have indignation towards that sin and then if you if you've done that and confess that with that heart to the Lord then all it takes is faith that God has forgiven you he told you he has faith that God says he doesn't even remember it I mean that's that's what God is telling you he doesn't even remember so don't look there's no logical reason to look back there if you have the right heart have confessed it because God tells you it's gone it's gone and the second thing is this it's the first part of the verse where Jesus says no man having put his hand to the plow so the first one is don't look back and the second one you say this is too simple then why do people mess it up so much the second one is keep your hand on the plow I mean this isn't hard doctrine tonight whatever these things are whatever these consequences are keep your hand on the plow that is what Jesus is saying you know what I'm sick of seeing you know I'm sick of seeing I'm sick of it I'm sick of seeing people take their hand off the plow because of a sin consequence what sense does that make what sense does it make you know what Satan's goal is Satan's goal what can Satan do to you can he send you to hell no Satan can't send you to hell Satan's goal is to get you out of the Christian life Satan's goal is to get you somehow out of the Christian life so you think oh God Satan's gonna try to get me into a bunch of sin he's gonna try to tempt me and and use my my weak flesh and whatever area to get me into yeah maybe that's that's one thing but what difference does it make to Satan if you get out of the Christian life for sin itself or for a consequence of sin what does it matter he wins what does it matter if you know I I capture your your king and chess it you know it doesn't matter how I did it I did it he wins that's his goal is to get you out of the Christian life so people will have what people will do is they'll they'll they'll get right and all these things but then this sin consequence will just take them sideways in their life and they'll leave the Christian life I'm tired of seeing it but Jesus is saying that's why you say oh why is this why is this so you know need to be preached well don't look back number one and don't take your hand off the plow because like that's the whole goal of Satan is to get your hand off the plow I mean people looking back makes no sense but literally leaving and taking your hand off the plow because of a consequence of sin which by the way you take your hand off the plow because of a consequence of sin and sin will follow by the way sin will follow it makes no sense Jesus is literally saying there should be nothing this is the whole point of Luke chapter 9 in these verses there should be nothing that's why he just gives some extreme let me go bury my father it's like we go to my dad's funeral Jesus like get right no it needs to be first don't take your hand off the plow my dad's funeral no keep your hand on the plow that's why Jesus uses extreme examples here so look for the kids and everybody that hasn't made mistakes in their life this is the goal here right this is the goal this is why you know you get up and you preach on divorce because the Bible talks about divorce and that could be uncomfortable because you know people in the church have been divorced and people in all different churches have been divorced the point isn't to beat on people that have been divorced the point is to understand to get the people that haven't been divorced get them that message so they don't have to deal with that consequence so plan a obviously just to wrap things up tonight plan a obviously is to just not fall into these sins these kids and all of us that haven't fallen into things that have these dire consequences obviously plan a is to not rebel against God in the first place so that's the thing with the kids the kids and you know all of us we need to just like hey we're trying to raise our kids with this tempered mortar so they make as fee I mean no children are perfect and nobody's going to be perfect we're trying to raise this strong wall with this tempered mortar so they don't go off and make is massive mistakes that will follow them around the consequences will follow them around their whole life maybe and look the more mistakes like that they make the more risk there is that they will take their hand off the plow to deal with those mistakes to deal with the consequences of those mistakes but the point is this folks Luke 9 62 is a promise it is a promise it says you know keep your hand on the plow you say how is that a promise because what it is saying in Luke chapter 9 chapter 62 it says no man having put his hand to the plow and having looking back is fit for the kingdom of God you like that seems more like a statement but here's the thing if he's saying he's putting this emphasis no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back you know what he's saying he's saying there is a way to keep your hand on the plow that's the promise there he's saying there will always be a way to keep your hand on the plow if you take it off it's because you took it off that's why God what God always provides plan B's God always provides plan B's and C's and D's and E's that's a promise because Jesus is implying specifically in verse 62 that it's possible to keep your hand on the plow you're like but I've messed up so bad doesn't matter just get it right and keep your hand on the plow but oh I really messed up that time just don't let go of the plow get it right God forgives God forgets don't let go of the plow there will be a way to deal with that consequence think about this for a second I guarantee you it's a promise there is a way to deal with the consequences of anything that has gone right wrong in a Christian's life while keeping their hand on the plow and still moving forward but people mess up and they let go of the plow and they're just like forget the whole thing this is what Jesus is telling us here don't do that deal with the consequences get it right take it like a man you're like man I can't I'm just never gonna be that that where I wanted to be fine be down here and God will provide you another plan to plow in a different direction then and he'll provide you things that you never even thought of you know not everybody has to be you know the pastor of the church not everybody I mean there's not everybody needs to be what you think you were supposed to be there's many other different ways to plow in the Christian life but if you let go if you let go it's it's done this is what Jesus is saying no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God meaning the kingdom of God on this earth I mean think about this what does the kingdom of God need the kingdom of God needs people that are gonna hang on I mean how are we supposed to meet how are we supposed to fill all these divine appointments for us unless we have people that are hanging on nobody here is is gonna be sinless the point is getting those things right realizing that God lets it go once we've confessed it and moving on and just if there's consequences just like Adam and Eve turned to Micah chapter 6 just like Adam and Eve you know they could no longer walk in the garden with God they just they just couldn't I mean it was just something that they just couldn't do anymore God kicked them out so there was nothing that they could do anymore but turn to Micah chapter 6 and we'll end here it doesn't mean just because here's here's plan B right here you say we can't walk with God anymore no we can still walk with God look at verse number 8 of Micah chapter 6 he has showed me oh man what is good and what does the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy I like how mercy just keeps coming up like when God's talking about these things and what to walk humbly with God so when we live the Christian life when we do the commandments that the Bible is telling us we are walking with God we're walking with with what God has given us about himself you know we're literally walking with him so just because Adam and Eve couldn't literally walk through the garden with God anymore they could still humbly walk with the Lord by by following him in their lives let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer