Christian Appearance (Part 1) — Paul Lloyd

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Good morning. Let's pray together. Would you stand with me? Father, we do bow our hearts to you again this morning, Lord. Thank you for being in our midst, Lord. Thank you for speaking to us. Thank you, Lord, for lovingly whispering to us this morning.

Lord, it's always good to hear your voice. Your voice, Lord, even your whisper, Lord, it breaks the cedars. It makes the calves, the hinds to calve. It scatters the mountains, Lord. Your voice is powerful.

Your Word is mighty. Lord, we love your Word. We thank you that you change us, Lord, through the Word of God. And we're here today, Lord, because we want to be changed. We don't want to be the same, Lord.

We don't want to just keep on as we are now. We want to grow, Lord. We want to go on with God. And we pray, Lord, this morning that the things that are said and the Word of God that's read would have that effect in our life, Lord, that it would change us.

Lord, you said that if we continue in your Word, we would know the truth. And that truth would make us free. I pray for that this morning, Lord. Let your truth make us free. Free from the world's way of looking at things.

Free, Lord, from the bondages that come along with that. Free, so that we can go from this place and rightly discern what is true, what is false, what is of the devil, what is of God. And so that, Lord, we won't be busy being under Satan's yoke, but that we'll be busy under the Master, our Lord Jesus.

I pray for a grace today, Lord. I need you, Father. I pray that you could quicken my heart and my words, Lord. Make me your mouthpiece. And take this foolishness of preaching, Lord, to bring to naught the things that are.

And to show forth your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You can sit down. I'm blessed to be here this morning with you and appreciate all of you. And I'm blessed to have the opportunity to share God's Word.

That's a joy. And I'm excited that I believe there's some things that God has given me to share with you all today that are life-changing. That can change your life. And these things have changed my life.

And so that's always exciting. It's a thrill to think that we can have a part of that and see God do something like that. When I share the topic of this message, you may wonder how that would be life-changing.

I don't know. But as you bear with me and as I share my heart with you, I think you'll see what I'm talking about. The topic here this morning comes from our brother's meeting on Wednesday night. We had a real good meeting.

And one of the blessings of that meeting was we had a discussion about modesty, clothing, and so forth. And several brothers expressed that they would really like some teaching on that. And when they said that, I kind of perked up my ears.

I knew I was going to be sharing today. And I like to teach. And I've thought back. It's been at least two and a half years, I think, since we had a message on this subject. The last I could remember was a Wednesday night when we were going through our confession of faith.

So it has been a while. And while it's not one of the majors of the gospel, yet it's something that's important. And as I was preparing yesterday, the Lord put a burden in my heart. And I realized I couldn't do this in one message.

So it's going to have to be two messages. Maybe the next time I get to share, I could finish. Today, I'd like to focus on probably a little unusual message, considering the title and the subject matter that I've told you about.

I can't remember hearing a message quite like it before. But as I was praying about it yesterday, I was asking the Lord. I said, Lord, I want Jesus Christ to be glorified in this topic. I don't want to just teach about clothes or about not that clothes aren't important.

But that burden was in my heart. How can we glorify Jesus today? That's what it's all about. And he just put something in my heart, took me somewhere in his word and gave me a direction there that was inspirational to me.

And I believe it will be to you as well. And as I said, I think it can be something freeing, very freeing. So today, I plan to focus on more the underlying attitudes and assumptions and ideas about this matter of Christian appearance.

I chose that title rather than something like modesty, because Christian appearance covers a broader range, maybe, of what I felt the Lord wanted me to share about. It's more than just clothes. Our appearance, the way Christians appear, does it matter?

And our appearance has to do with the whole cosmos that is who we are. You may think that's a strange word to choose, cosmos. That's actually the Greek word used in the New Testament to describe adorning.

The Hidden Heart Behind Christian Appearance

Turn with me to 1 Peter and chapter 3. Familiar verses and speaking about the adorning of the wife. I found that fascinating when I looked up that word. Verse 3 of chapter 3. Who's adorning? Who's cosmos?

Let it not be that outward adorning of plating the hair, of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel. But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Cosmos. We know what that means, right? Today we use that word to describe the universe, meaning the orderly arrangement of all the planets, stars. Everything is ordered. And that word that we use and scientists use is a Greek word that was used here for adorning.

Let your cosmos, let the world that orbits around you, the being of who you are, let that be not outward things. Let it be inward. Let your cosmos be something that comes from inside. And this is this is the opposite of the world's way, isn't it?

The world, the world can't relate to that. The world, the whole world is full of outward focus. It's it's everything to the world. I looked up figures on how much money is spent on some of these things.

It was shocking. But there's a reason why. Because that's what they have. There's nothing inside. We've got something inside. Praise God. Something beautiful, something priceless. So we want to look at that this morning.

Modest Apparel and Godliness

There's another verse that's familiar in Timothy. First Timothy two. It says, verse eight, we'll start with. I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting in like manner.

Also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array. But which becometh women professing godliness with good works.

Again, that word adorn there in verse nine. And in verse nine, that's the word cosmo. Oh, similar word. And this word we get cosmetics, cosmetics. That's where they get that from. Same root word in the Greek.

Let your cosmetics be something from the inside. So as I said, the message that God put on my heart is not just about clothing. It's about our whole life, our whole attitude, our whole spirit. That's really what God's interested in, isn't it?

And so it's more than just the clothes that we wear. Let's turn to Romans chapter twelve. Very familiar verse. Says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

That sounds like meditation that you may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God. So here we are as Christians. We find ourselves. I know for myself when I became born again, a whole new world opened to me, the kingdom of God.

And growing up like I did in the world system, basically just typical American person. I had no clue about the clothes I wore or anything like that. In fact, when I came to the Lord, I moved out to Colorado as part of my seeking God.

And I went to this church. And when I went there on Sundays, I wore blue jeans and T-shirt. And I think there's probably holes in my knees, too. I didn't get dressed up. Part of that was just who I was.

I didn't get dressed up. Part of it was I wanted to see where these people were coming from. What would they do with me? How would they respond to me if I didn't quite look so dressed up? And it was a blessing.

You know what? They just love me. They were happy that I was in their church. And they blessed me and they'd give me hugs and they'd encourage me. And that's a blessing. I hope we can do that also here.

Someone's coming seeking God. They're hungry for the Lord. And they don't maybe have it all together or look like we would feel the Word of God teaches. Praise God. Praise God for people like that. Amen.

Give them a hug. Give them a blessing that they're seeking the right things. God can take care of all that other stuff, can't He? Praise God. And He's changed me. I don't know how long I dressed like that at that church.

It was probably six months. But I became born again. I gave my life to Jesus. And I got a heart that wanted to follow God no matter what. And it was so exciting because it was like everything was new, like the Bible says.

If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Everything was new. And so I began to look at everything through new eyes. Well, what about this? What about that? How do I do this? I was a new creature.

And one of those areas was the things I wore. And there were times when God just spoke to me. I had this football jersey that I always wore. And it was a certain player, you know, that I liked. One day I looked in the mirror and I just looked at myself.

I had that shirt on and it just struck me. That's not who you are. That thing's got to go. It doesn't fit. Out it went. Nobody told me to get rid of it. But the Lord did. Because He showed me that's not who I was anymore.

My identity was different. I got a new identity. So here we are. We live in this atmosphere called the world. Is there an atmosphere around us? Is there or isn't there? There is actually an atmosphere.

There is attitude. There is forces around us. It speaks of that in Ephesians chapter 2. It says, chapter 2 and verse 2, 1. And you has he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.

There's an atmosphere. It's all around. It's all around us. It comes out of those billboards that we pass coming down the road. It's saying something to you and I. If you're a girl, it's saying, you need to look this certain way.

You need to be a certain weight. You need to have certain clothes. You need to be cool. You know, I thought about that word yesterday, cool. I thought, what does that really mean? And I said, Lord, what does cool mean?

And it struck me. Cool is what the world says is something that's really good. Cool is what the world loves, right? Is that right? Cool is what the world loves. Now, are we supposed to love what the world loves?

No. So where does cool fit into our lives? I don't like cool. I don't like the word cool. Because I don't think it's a Christian word. Cool is what the world loves. I don't want to be cool. I don't want the world to love me.

Because if they love me, there's going to be something wrong. The Lord's not going to love me because they that love the world can't love God too. So cool, that's something I've had on my heart this morning as well.

That whole idea of cool. The world wants to press us into the mold. You've got to be cool. Don't be different. Don't be so weird. You guys are weirdos. Around here it's not quite so bad, but you go out in Colorado where we lived for a while, and where my wife is dressed like you all are, she was weird.

In their eyes. Not in the eyes of God. But the Word of the Lord says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. God's Word says, set your affections on things above, Colossians 3.

And verse 2, not on things on the earth. So here I'm talking about clothing, modesty. It may seem like I'm negating that, but what I'm saying is as I've studied this, I see that God says in the verses that pertain to this, it's amazing, but He always sort of points us away from those things.

Even after He says what you should do there, He says, but focus on what's inside. Focus on the heart. And so that's what this message I want to do by His grace. It's to do something in our hearts. To change that very foundational attitude that we have coming against us in this world to try to grip us, to try to mold us and squeeze us into the mold.

That's what it said there in Romans chapter 12. Be not conformed. One translation says, don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. And isn't that what we feel? Yeah, it's a mold. It's a mold that's out there that wants to squeeze us and make us like that mold.

But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Praise God. We're up against the battle. The world is consumed with outward appearance. TV, books, magazines, everything. As I said, it's because there's nothing inside.

God Looks on the Heart

1 Samuel 16, turn there with me. Here's a very interesting story. God told Samuel, I want you to go anoint a son of Jesse. He didn't tell him which one, but he said go and I'm going to show you who it is.

We learn something very interesting about human nature and about God in these verses. 1 Samuel 16 and verse 6. It came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him.

But the Lord said to Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

We have a statement here that's powerful that tells us something that we need to know. The fact of the matter is man looks on the outward appearance and God looks on the heart. I guess Eliab must have been tall and he must have been good looking.

Okay? Can we acknowledge that there's such a thing as good looking or pretty? Is there something like that? The world's got it all twisted and confused and Satan has used it to make most people feel lousy about themselves.

He's a liar. Today I want to expose him. And that's exciting. Because I don't want you all to believe in his lies. And I don't want to believe in him either. There was something about this Eliab that was impressive.

He's tall and he's handsome. He must be the one, said Samuel. And he's even a prophet. But see how much the spirit of man, the spirit of looking on the outward was even in the prophet of God. It seems as though the Lord kind of worked with them.

I mean, Saul was a big man. It says he was head and shoulders above everybody else. He must have been seven feet tall. God gave him that because, you know, it's like they wouldn't be able to relate if this guy wasn't something impressive.

Isn't that the way it is in the world? If you look at the... I read somewhere about like the presidents of the United States. They're not five foot two. Okay, they're six foot, six foot three. They're big guys.

If you look at a lot of the leaders in the world, they're big people. A lot of them are good looking people. Why is that? Because man looks on the outward appearance. That's why. Praise God, His kingdom is different.

That gives hope for you and me. Hallelujah. I want to read something to you here. Well, we could just talk about that. He went down the line and he saw the different brothers of David. And he finally got to David.

He also was good looking, but he was small. Smaller, I'm sure. And God said, this is the one. He saw something in David's heart. He said, this is a man after my heart. I love his heart. He's the one I want.

Resisting Beauty Standards and the Pressure to Conform

Alright. So, the fact of the word of God and the fact that we all know is man looks on the outward appearance. Let's not deceive ourselves and think that we don't struggle with that or we're not affected by that.

We are affected by it unless we are consciously aware in saying, no, I'm not going there. I'm not going to think like the world thinks. That's what we're talking about. Renewing our mind. Being transformed to think like God thinks.

Alright, let me read you this little article I got from the YWCA, which is a women's... I think by now it's probably a feminist organization, but it was at one time a women's Christian, Young Women's Christian Association.

Every woman in the United States participates in a daily beauty pageant, whether she likes it or not. Engulfed by a popular culture, saturated with images of idealized, airbrushed and unattainable female physical beauty, women and girls cannot escape feeling judged on the basis of their appearance.

As a result, many women feel chronically insecure, overweight and inadequate as these beauty images apply to an ever shrinking pool of women. Do you see the work of the devil anywhere? Moreover, the diet, cosmetic and fashion industries are often too willing to exploit these narrow beauty standards so women and girls will become cradle to grave consumers of beauty products, cosmetics, surgery and diet programs.

The issue is not new, but the extent to which it is invading the lives of young girls and women of color and the lengths to which women will go to achieve an unattainable look is an increasing problem.

The pressure to achieve unrealistic physical beauty is an undercurrent in the lives of virtually all women in the United States and its steady drumbeat is wreaking havoc on women in ways that far exceed the bounds of their physical selves.

From new levels of spending on cosmetic alteration to health risks and to the emergence of a mean girls culture. I guess that's girls beating up girls was what I seem to get out of that because there's a pecking order.

You're prettier than me. I'm going to beat you up. The lifelong burden of an unattainable beauty and body image is taking a terrible toll in all areas of women's lives from economic well-being to health to interpersonal relationships.

True or false? Isn't that true? We spend eight billion dollars a year on makeup in the United States. That's eight thousand million. Six billion, six thousand million on perfume. Five thousand million.

Six billion on cosmetic surgery. And that was interesting to look into as they broke it down. Some women were trying to take things off and some were adding the same thing. Something's wrong, isn't it?

Something's wrong. Fifty billion dollars, fifty thousand million spent on diet and weight loss programs. We're sick. This culture is sick. It's consumed with the outward. Now, with all of what we're doing to spruce things up, you'd think that American women would be fairly satisfied with the way they look, right?

Eighty percent of women in the United States are dissatisfied with how they look. Eight out of ten. Well, I wish this was different. Eight out of ten. It's the work of the enemy. He is a liar, a thief who came to steal, kill and destroy.

Think of the untold misery and bondage that he has put women and men in in our country because they have to live up to this mold that is promoted as being of cool. What's cool? What the world loves. Seventy-five percent of women today have dyed their hair at least once as opposed to in 1950, seven percent.

That's ten times as much hair dyeing is going on. And just a side note, I mentioned all those billions of dollars that are spent on makeup, perfume and surgery and hair. For hair care. Oh, hair care was another six thousand million, a billion, six thousand million, six billion, nine billion dollars would take care of all the water and sanitation for all the third world countries in the world, providing them with safe water to drink and healthy situation sanitation.

Thirteen billion more would provide health and nutrition to stop the starvation of I think it was 18 ,000 people a day dying. That's only 21 billion dollars would take care of all that. We spent 50 billion on diet and trying to get rid of our weight.

50 billion. There's 18 ,000 a day who are trying to just put on a little weight, trying to live. It's sick. It's sick. It's a lie of the devil. And I'm not going to believe his lies. God has something to say about this.

Jesus Christ and the Freedom from Worldly Burdens

You know, as I prayed about this message, like I said earlier, I had a burden that I wanted Jesus Christ to be seen by us today. I don't want us to just talk about clothes this morning. But we want to see Him.

And He has something to say about everything. But as I prayed that prayer, the Scripture came into my mind. The only Scripture in the Bible, as far as I know, that actually describes how Jesus Christ looked.

Do you know where it is? Isaiah 53. Nowhere in the New Testament is there any physical description given of Jesus Christ. Was that an accident? No. The one time He did speak, the only thing He said about Himself was, I am meek and lowly of heart.

Come and learn of Me. And you know, that's my next verse. Take the backdrop of all I just shared with you. All the bondage. All the people spending all the money. Got to keep up with the Joneses. I've got to make myself look good like the lady on the magazine at the checkout stand.

I've got to get rid of my weight. I've got to do this and that. It's a bondage. Now, take to the backdrop of all that bondage and hear the words of Jesus Christ. Come unto Me. All you that labor and are heavy laden.

And I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Praise God. He wants to take some burdens today, I believe.

He wants to get rid of some of that baggage, and some of that lie from the devil. What did Jesus look like? I want to read to you something out of a children's book. You have to be careful what you read in children's books.

Did you know that sometimes we get lies out of children's books? I happen to like this children's book, but this particular passage, we got it X'd out in our book. Listen to what He said as He described Jesus growing up.

As for Jesus, the Bible says that he grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom. And the grace of God was upon him. What a fine boy he must have been, so strong, so healthy, so good looking with his perfect little body, I'm sure he could run faster and jump higher than any other boy or girl in town.

Isn't that funny? We had a laugh about that yesterday at lunch. I mean, it's not funny, but it's it's sad. But that isn't that the way the world thinks about things. If he's so special, he must be able to jump higher and run faster and be better looking than anybody else.

With his marvelous eyesight and hearing, he saw and heard everything that went on around him. He missed nothing and stored up all sorts of priceless memories for use in days to come. Now, that is garbage.

That's not true. Let's turn to Isaiah. Jesus Christ, the son of God, we're going to find out how he chose to come to Earth. And it's it's beautiful. Look what it says. Chapter fifty three, who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

It's almost like he's saying who would believe it, who could believe. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him.

And then I looked up some of these words. He shall grow up before him as a sucker, a sucker coming out of the ground. That's what that word literally means. He's going to be like a sucker and like a root out of a dry ground.

What does that look like? Is that something impressive? I mean, you think about this caked, packed in ground, this little spindly thing coming out of there. God said he's going to be like that. He's going to be like that, my son, the one who's going to glorify me.

That's how he's going to look. He has no form. He has no goodly appearance or countenance. The word of God says he wasn't good looking. That's God's word. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Oh, comeliness. He has no form nor comeliness. Comeliness means no magnificent ornament or splendor. Now. My children and I looked through the book real quick yesterday. Let's find the pictures of Jesus.

Let's see what he looks like. As we went through, what did he look like? Tall, dark and handsome. Right. Every single picture. He wasn't bald. Now, Peter was bald when he was falling down through the waves, when Jesus was reaching out to him.

That's how the world looks at bald people. We had a good laugh on that one, too. No, we never saw a bald Jesus, did we? Now, I don't know if he was bald, probably wasn't, but no, because the artists have a problem.

They've got this perfect person, this God who is man, this totally unusual, totally beautiful, inward person. How am I going to depict him to people? How are they going to know that this is Jesus? If they actually drew him like he looked, you couldn't tell it was him or not.

You wouldn't be able to pick him out. You'd look at the picture and you'd go, well, which one is he? That's the way he was, according to Isaiah. But do you see how the world system even has confused that whole thing, that we think Jesus must be a superstar?

Right? Remember years ago, Jesus Christ superstar? What does a superstar look like? They look really cool. I asked the lady if I could bring these back to the store after I used them. She said I could.

What would you think of me if I stood up here and gave you a message with these on? It doesn't fit Jesus, does it? It just doesn't fit him. Now, am I saying you can't wear sunglasses? No. But do you have to get the superstar kind?

You can get some that are superstars. Jesus was not a superstar. In fact, he was just an ordinary looking man. There was nothing about him to commend himself to people. There was no great being or persona of appearance that made thousands of people want to come and hear what he had to say.

Nothing. Yet, look at our churches in America. What are the churches that have 10 ,000 and 20 ,000 and 30 ,000 people in them? What does the pastor look like? His wife looks like a fashion model and he looks like a superstar.

What does that say? Is that a representation of our Lord Jesus Christ? No, it's that whole American and world lie perpetuated in the church. That we're supposed to be superstars. No, Jesus was not a superstar.

He was an ordinary man. In fact, so ordinary that people would look at him and say, there's no beauty that we should desire in him. I think that's one of the reasons that the Jews missed him. This man from Nazareth?

This man, the Messiah? He doesn't look like a Messiah. Messiahs are supposed to be tall and handsome and altogether wonderful. And so they turned him off because he didn't fit the mold. Let's not have that mold in our church.

Let's have his mold. Praise God. He'll grow up before him like a sucker and like a root out of a dry ground. He has no goodly appearance or countenance, nor magnificence, ornament, or splendor. And when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire in him.

Yet he's the most beautiful being in the universe, isn't he? That's how the Lord spoke to me. Yeah, we want to talk about clothes. And we'll do more specifically that in the next message. But God's interested in something way better than that.

And those clothes can actually enhance that thing that's way better. Matthew chapter 6. Turn there with me, please. I hope what I shared with you alters the way that you look at pictures of Jesus for the rest of your life.

Because, you know, if he was the superstar, the tall man with the goodly appearance, I can't be that. I'm lost out. If that's what it takes to be like Jesus, I can't be there. You know, I believe that's why God allowed him to be to earth this way.

Because the life of Christ can be in every one of us. It doesn't matter what your outward appearance is. It doesn't matter whether you're somebody that the world says is contemptible. You know, that's what they said about Paul, isn't it?

He said, well, he's weighty in his letters, but when he's here in person, he's kind of... You know, his name means small. Paul means small. When he's here in person, he's kind of unimpressive. But what did God do through that unimpressive little man?

He filled him with Jesus Christ. He built his church. He wrote half the New Testament. That's what God uses, is the things that are not. To bring to naught the things that are. So if you're an are-not this morning, you're in good company.

If you're a sister or a woman who's been burdened all your life because you're not the prettiest one, you're in good company. Your Lord Jesus wasn't that way either. He was just a real ordinary looking guy.

And maybe even less than that. Maybe there's some things about him that just really weren't very attractive at all. It almost seems that way. I don't want to go too far beyond the scripture, but... All right, Matthew chapter 6, verse 24.

No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And mammon is more than money, as we're going to find out here.

Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment?

I get from this that God doesn't want to spend a lot of time thinking about our clothes. Now, when he says take no thought, he's not saying don't ever think about it, right? Because that's not right. He's saying don't be anxious about it.

Don't be hung up on it. Don't be focused on it. Take no thought for your life. Let's see here. Verse 27, 28. And why take ye thought for raiment or clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore, take no thought, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. Isn't it true? Consume with clothes. In America, it's $700 a person for clothes every year.

So if you've got ten people in your family, that's $7 ,000 on clothes. I'm not sure if we've spent that much in all our lives, my wife and I, as long as we've been married. That's the way of the world, though.

For after all these things do the Gentiles, the heathens, seek. Your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

God will give you clothes. He'll give you what you need. By the way, who invented clothes? Anybody else? Okay, you're both right. Adam invented the first inadequate clothes. God invented the first good ones.

I have a son that likes to grow seeds. Any kind of seed that comes in the house, he's going to grow it. I'm not sure what we're going to do with all these trees one day, but he grew a fig tree. And I don't know if you've ever seen a fig leaf, but they're these kind of scratchy, skinny things that wouldn't feel real good up against your skin.

That's what they chose for their clothes. And it wasn't very good. So, Adam and Eve, you know what? Man needs God's help. Isn't that right? All the French designers and so forth. It's fig leaves. God is the one who invented good clothes.

And we still need him today to help us. All right. So, again, the message is seek first the kingdom of God. Don't make this a major thing. Don't make this a big deal that you're consumed with. Don't make this a big deal that you're all caught up in and hung up on.