together tonight where he would fill us with your spirit as we sing unto you
Lord and I pray that you'd bless the remainder of the service and be with
those that could not make it this evening Lord Jesus name I pray amen for
our next song if you would in your hymnals turn to him number 236 him
number 236 in your him knows no not one him number 236 go ahead and start there
right on the first there's not a friend like the lonely Jesus no not some
analysis raise your hand bring you a memory passage of the week Galatians
chapter 1 verse 9 working hard on that by memory chapter on the inside our
service times are listed Sunday morning at 1030 Sunday evening at 430 and our
Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock of our soul winning times are
listed there below and all those meet here at the church building nursing home
ministry schedule is listed there as you can see miss Remy's gonna be traveling
so no piano coming up anytime soon so keep that in mind if you're a preacher
there our year-to-date soul winning statistics getting real close to a
hundred ninety six for the year so far so keep pushing hard and excited to see
that turn into the triple digits there please be in prayer for miss Whitney
Reid are expecting lady of the church upcoming events we still do have a sign
up sheet for our men's preaching night next Sunday evening we're gonna have
15 minute time limits for that if you'd like to preach please sign up and
indicate the topic you're gonna be preaching on after that we'll have a pot
luck and feel free to bring board games if you want to hang out have fun feel
free to do so on the next event it's March 15th miss Whitney Reid's baby
shower and there's more details about that on the back of the bulletin April
19th is our Easter soul winning marathon here in Oklahoma City May 16th through
the 18th is the King James Conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church and
pastor Thompson did release a new video about this so go to the Sure Foundation
Baptist YouTube channel if you have more questions or inquiries about what that
is gonna look like May 31st is the Durant Oklahoma soul
winning marathon June 28th the Tinker air show at the Air Force base here in
town August 27th through the 31st is the fire-breathing Baptist fellowship at
steadfast and October 6th through the 11th the Bahamas mission trip looking
forward to those events there's some information there about giving like to do
that online or in person on the back is our prayer list a couple updates for the
week brother Travis is praying for a job opportunity I believe he's already
interviewed and he said it went really well so we're just praying that that
would be extended to him that offer and brother Alex is looking for work so
we're gonna be praying for him as well and at this time we'll go ahead and go
to the Lord in prayer as a church family Lord we thank you to have the
opportunity to come together as a church and to bring our requests before you
thank you for the blessing of prayer and I just pray that you'd answer these
according to your will Lord and pray for brother Travis Haberman that if it be
your will you get the job that he's seeking Lord and we just pray that you
bless him in his life and we also pray for Miss Jennifer for her uncle's cancer
treatment just pray that he would get the best treatment possible she would
give him wisdom and guidance and medical decisions that he has to make and most
importantly Lord we pray that you would just put your hand upon him and heal him
just pray that you bless that situation God also for brother Alex who's looking
for work I just pray that you would prepare the right job for him I help him
to keep seeking and I pray that you would just give him favor in the eyes of
the people that interviews him Lord and just pray that you bless him in his
career endeavors and pray for miss Sean for her family her son Trevor and
granddaughter Hadley we just pray that you would bless in the situation that
they're in the challenges that they're facing pray that they would seek you
Lord and that you bless them spiritually we also pray for miss Remy as she's
traveling pray that she would have a good trip a safe trip Lord and pray that
your will would be done in her visa process selection and also that you
please heal her of her tumor Lord and we pray for we thank you Lord for brother
Cameron's mother being healed of cancer that's a great blessing thank you so
much for it and we also pray for miss Whitney Reed and brother Zach for their
family members that need salvation and I just pray for Anchor Baptist Church that
you would just continue to give us more laborers that you help lead us to people
in this community that are receptive to the gospel and help us to be great soul
winners for you we love you pray that you would bless the remainder of this
sermon Jesus name we pray amen all right we're gonna go ahead and go to our third
song right for our third song if you would at this time take your white
handouts and turn to Psalm chapter 126 Psalm 126 in the white handouts
your Bibles the first Samuel chapter number 29 first Samuel 29 evening first
Samuel 29 the Bible reads now the Philistines gathered together all their
armies to a feck and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in
Jezreel and the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands
but David and his men passed on in the reward of Akish then said the princes of
the Philistines what do these Hebrews hear and Akish said unto the princes of
the Philistines is not this David the servant of Saul the king of Israel which
hath been with me these days or these years and I have found no fault in him
since he fell unto me this day and the princes of the Philistines were wroth
with him and the princes of the Philistines said unto him make this fellow
return that he may go again to his place which thou has appointed him and let him
not go down with us to battle lest in the battle he be an adversary to us for
wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his matter should it not be with
the heads of these men is not this David of whom they sang one to another in the
dances saying Saul slew his thousands and David his ten thousands then Akish
called David and said unto him surely as the Lord liveth thou has been upright
and like going out and like coming in with me and the host is good in my sight
for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this
day nevertheless the Lord's favored thee not wherefore now return and go in peace
that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines and David said unto Akish
but what have I done and what has thou found in thy servant so long as I have
been with thee unto this day that I may not go fight against the enemies of my
Lord the king and Akish answered and said to David I know that thou art good in my
sight and as an angel of God notwithstanding the princes of the
Philistines have said he shall not go up with us to the battle wherefore now rise
up early in the morning with thy master's servants that are come with thee
and as soon as he be up early in the morning and have light depart so David
and his men rose up early to depart in the morning to return into the land of
Philistines and the Philistines went up to Jezreel. Let's bow our heads for a
prayer Father in heaven we thank you for this day and we thank you for our
salvation and we just ask that you fill our path to the Holy Spirit and that you help us to pay attention to the sermon and help us to be good Christians in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen all right we are in 1st Samuel chapter number 29 and we're kind of
getting back to the story of David in this chapter because if you remember
last chapter it really focused on Saul when he went to the witch at Endor but
let's remind ourselves of where we are with David if you go back to 1st Samuel
chapter 28 real quick 1st Samuel chapter number 28 and let's read verse number
1 it says and it came to pass in those days that the Philistines gathered their
armies together for warfare to fight with Israel and Akish said unto David
know thou assuredly that thou shalt go out with me to battle thou and thy men
David said to Akish surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do and Akish
said to David therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head forever so if you
remember David is kind of in a backslidden state here where he's lost
some faith in God he's lost some trust in the Lord you know before he was
trusting in God to deliver him from Saul but he says you know what there's
nothing better for me than that I should just go into the land of the
Philistines because someday I'm gonna die by the hand of King Saul so he goes to
the land of the Philistines and in his backslidden state he now finds himself
at a point in life where he's gonna have to fight against his own people in war
where David is known as you know the mighty man of war that killed Goliath
here he is teaming up with Akish and he's about to go to war with the people
of Israel and it's kind of a picture of how when people sin oftentimes they're
deceived in their own mind and they think that they can control sin you know
people when they start going into sin and start backsliding they don't think
like hey I'm gonna end up being a alcoholic in the gutter throwing my
guts out or I I'm gonna become a person that gets in a DUI accident and kill
someone's family you know no one really thinks that at first but the truth is is
that when you and I decide to start going down a road of sin we are not as
in control of the situation as we think and so because of that we shouldn't even
play around with sin because we don't know how far we will actually go we don't
know because you know the the famous you know phrase which I'm gonna paraphrase it
here that basically just teaches that sin will cost you more than you're
willing to pay it'll take you farther than you want to go it'll make you it'll
keep you longer than you want to stay and that's true you know I don't think
David ever thought oh I'm gonna wake up one day and I'm gonna be fighting on the
side of the Philistines against Israel yet here he is man after God's own heart
that's the situation that he's in go back to first Samuel 29 as you're
turning there I want to read for you Romans 6 verse 16 the Bible says no ye
not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants ye are to
whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness so
the truth is is you are going to be a servant of someone and people think like
oh man if I could just escape the shackles of Christianity if I could just
escape the shackles of all the rules in the Word of God then I'll be free you
know that's the idea that the world has today but the truth is is that they went
from being the possibility of being a servant of God to now serving sin and it
kind of makes me think of a situation in high school where you know I played
baseball had a bunch of teammates that I was friends with and one of my
teammates was a big idiot and decided to fornicate with a girl when he was like
16 years old wicked sin stupid decision but this girl that he was with sent him
a text saying hey I'm pregnant now could you imagine being a 16 year old boy all
of a sudden you think oh just having fun no big deal right we're just having fun
no problem and now you find yourself a 16 year old boy getting a text saying oh
I'm pregnant you're a father bet you he didn't expect that to happen I bet you
didn't think like oh yeah this is the plan this is in the cards this is what's
gonna go down in my life yet there he found himself and so we ought to take
heed and realize that we're not above going down some serious dark paths we're
not above making some serious mistakes when we sin no we ought to fear that
road we ought to stay extremely far away from it so that we don't even get close
first Samuel 29 verse 1 says now the Philistines gathered together all their
armies to Afech and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel
that's kind of why I was saying this chapter picks up that story that started
in first Samuel 28 verse 1 and think about it David went from being the
person who didn't want to put forth his hand to touch the Lord's anointed to now
here he is about to go to war with Saul you know Saul's the leader of this army
he's about to go to war with Saul even though before he had spared his life
verse 2 says and the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by
thousands notice but David and his men passed on in the rearward with Akish you
know I think it's interesting how David goes from being the most bold warrior
where even as a child he's the only one of the people of Israel that challenged
Goliath even though Goliath was challenging people for over 40 days
David the child was the one that had the boldness to come to Goliath in the name
of the Lord to destroy him to cut off his head to kill that Philistine and
here's David where is he's at the back of the pack he's even behind all the
Philistines he's behind you know these pagans and he's kind of lost some of his
boldness go if you would to Proverbs chapter 28 Proverbs chapter number 28 you
know this isn't the David that we know when I think of King David I'm not
thinking about for Samuel 29 really I'm thinking about different version of him
but Proverbs 20 verse 1 says the wicked flee when no man pursueth but the
righteous are bold as a lion where does boldness really come from it comes from
when you know you're right I mean when we go soul winning and we're telling
someone that salvation is by faith alone we're saying that boldly I mean we're
just like laying that fact on them because we know we're right I'm not
showing up to the door thinking like man I really haven't nailed down this
doctrine I'm not a hundred percent sure if it's by faith I'm just saying like
hey you're not saved you know you're a Catholic you believe salvation is by
works here's the gospel and I'm just bold with that why because I know it's
right or even in just secular things what gives you boldness at your job you
know to to help the customer to perform your work it's when you know what you're
doing right it's when you know that what you're doing is right you have the
knowledge you have the skills and so you have that boldness same thing
spiritually when you are right with God when you know I'm following the Bible
I'm standing on the rock here I'm not just living by my own opinion my own
ideas I am following Jesus Christ hey that gives me boldness in life when I
get up and preach I'm not wondering if this book is true if anything I want to
stay away from my opinions I'm not so bold about my opinions but I'm bold
about what the Bible says I'm bold about what the King James Bible says and I
believe it a hundred percent why because righteousness gives you boldness go to
Acts chapter number four and when we sin when we get backslidden you know what
happens you start to lose that boldness where even King David the man who when
he was a boy killed Goliath here he is kind of in the back of the pack that's a
sad thing that's a sad thing and here's the thing you know no one is above getting
backslidden no one is above losing their boldness look what it says in Acts
chapter 4 verse 29 notice what it says and now Lord behold their threatenings
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word you
know the Apostles they needed boldness here because there's all these Jews
threatening them threatening to put them in prison threatening to kill them
threatening to punish them and so the Apostles here are saying like God give us
some boldness look at verse 30 by stretching forth thine hand to heal and
that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus and
when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled
together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word
of God with boldness see here David's backslidden he kind of loses his
boldness he's in the back of the pack here the Apostles they're facing real
danger I mean they're facing the possibility of death of imprisonment of
getting beaten yet they ask God for boldness and they get filled with the
Holy Spirit of God notice when you're right with God when you're filled with
the Holy Spirit of God that's when the boldness comes you know that's why it's
important for us to be praying for boldness right and praying that God fills
us with the Holy Spirit and one of the things that I always pray for when we go
soul-winning is that God will fill us with the Holy Spirit why because that's
what gives us boldness that's what makes us stand on righteousness go look what
it says in verse number 32 notice the result of boldness and the
multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul neither said
any of them that odd of the things which he possessed was his own but they had
all things common and with great power gave the Apostles witness of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all hey that's the
type of leadership that we need in this world today is bold leadership bold
Christians that are actually filled with the Spirit of God that are not afraid to
speak the Word of God that is what we need today but you know how that's gonna
happen is by us actually drawing nigh to God actually living a separated life
being right with the Lord being filled with the Spirit we can't be bold and
preach sermons that move people and get just tons and tons and tons of people
saved multitude saved when we're just super backslidden yeah you're saved you
can still get people saved if you're backslidden but the truth is you're
gonna be much more effective as a soul winner and you're gonna have much more
boldness when you know hey I'm a child of God I'm right with the Lord you know
I'm doing what's right in his sight that's what's gonna give you boldness go
back to first Samuel 29 first Samuel 29 verse 3 it says then it said the prince
of the Philistines what do these Hebrews here
Akish said unto the princes of the Philistines is not this David the servant
of Saul the king of Israel which hath been with me these days or these years
and I found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day so it's kind
of funny here they're like wait we're about to go to war with Israel isn't
this guy with us like the servant of their King like what is this guy doing
with us and it's kind of a picture of the devil here how the Philistines
they're like all right you're gonna fight with us you know you're gonna be
a keeper of my head forever you're gonna go to war and then David's like yeah you
know you're gonna see what thy servant can do and as soon as David gives the
Philistines what they want they kind of turn on him immediately it's like what
are you doing here and it's kind of what the devil does to us go to Revelation
chapter number 12 the devil is constantly trying to get you to sin he
wants to provoke you to sin to destroy your life and what's funny is the devil
does not love anyone the devil does not love the people who worship the devil
the devil does not love false prophets the devil hates everyone and what he
does is as soon as he gets someone to sin as soon as he gets someone to fall
you know he does he starts accusing you he starts accusing you look at what it
says in Revelation 12 10 and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now has come
salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God
day and night isn't that interesting the devil is accusing Christians before God
day and night I mean the devil this is just his full-time job he's just obsessed
with it of trying to cause a rift between us and the Lord and he's
successful in that sometimes how by getting Christians to sin by getting
Christians to commit adultery by getting Christians to fornicate by
leading them in those ways to start drinking alcohol or whatever and you know
what sin does affect our relationship with God it doesn't affect our eternal
destination thank God we can never lose our salvation but when we do start
living really wicked lives it can harm our relationship with God it can keep us
farther away from him thank God we're not gonna lose our salvation but that's what
the devil does he wants to convince you to sin and then he wants to accuse you
God look at what your child just did look at what they're doing over there
right trying to accuse you and that's kind of what the Philistines are doing
there David come fight with us then David fights and then he's like oh what
are these Hebrews doing what are these guys doing here it's like you asked them
to be there you wanted them to be there go to verse 3 of 1st Samuel 29 I also
find it interesting how in verse number 3 it says then said the princes of the
Philistines what do these Hebrews here you know if you ever find yourself in a
place where people are like wait what are you doing here you're a Christian
you're probably in the wrong place you know what I mean and it's like here this
question just reveals that David is amongst the wrong crowd you know David
is a Hebrew David is a part of God's nations nation here and he's around a
bunch of Philistines and these Philistines are just like what are these
Hebrews doing here you know if you as a Christian go to a bar or some sort of
skeevy nightclub or something like that and you tell people you're Christian I'm
sure people would be like what are you doing here you're a Christian or like
what if what if I as a pastor went somewhere like that and I just said oh
hey I'm pastor Oz it'd be like wait why is a pastor here why would a pastor be
at this place it kind of reveals like that's a wrong place to be you ever find
yourself in that situation it's like wait you're watching this I thought
you're a Christian oh you you listen to Kendrick Lamar I thought you were
Christian right it's kind of an indicator that you're down the wrong
path when even the world is shocked by your level of worldliness and that's
how some Christians live their life where there's really no distinction
between them and the world and look I'm all for preaching the salvations by
faith alone amen but it's really sad though that after you're saved when
someone looks exactly like the world talks exactly like the world hangs out
all the places that the world hangs out you know that is a shame and it's a
shame if I was just hanging out with the Philistines and then the Philistines
find out by accident somehow that you're a Christian they're like whoa what are
you doing here you know I wonder if so if your co-workers found out that you
were a Christian if they would just be like oh yeah that makes sense I've
always thought that or you know they might think because of how white I am
this is what I always hear oh I thought you're a Mormon that's what I always
hear you know when I lived in the northwest thank God here we're in the
Bible Belt people don't think that but or they shouldn't be like wait you're a
Christian wow you know that would be a shame if that was someone's reaction
that would be very sad no it should just be like oh yeah I always thought that
that always made sense yeah you know you always said no when I invited you to go
out to the bar yeah you always said no to these simple activities that I
invited you to and Accus said verse 3 under the princes of the Philistines is
not this David the servant of Saul the king of Israel which hath been with me
these days or these years and I found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto
this day another thing that's pretty interesting about this story is that
Akish here he's very naive and he's very trusting because he's saying like I
found no problem in David whatsoever he's been so loyal to me but he doesn't
know the fact that David has been deceiving him he doesn't know the fact
that when David led his armies and went out to war he wasn't fighting against
Israel he was fighting against all the nations surrounding that who could
potentially be allies of the Philistines in battle but this guy's very naive he's
very trusting and he's about to give David this very important task he said
in first Samuel 28 that you're gonna be keeper of my head forever I mean he's
ready to appoint him as like the chief secret service officer and notice how
long has he known David it's kind of interesting what he says these days and
he's like oh wait is it days is it years or these years you know he's not
exactly sure how long he's known him but don't don't turn anywhere but verse 7 of
first Samuel 27 says in the time that David dwelt in the country of the
Philistines was a full year and four months so how long did he actually know
David a year and four months that's not really a lot of time and you know we
should be careful not to just give people too much trust when we don't
really know them that well right go to if you would Micah chapter number 7
Micah chapter number seven or you ought to be careful to give someone a super
super important job or access to something very important when you don't
really know them you know there's this principle in the IT world known as the
principle of least privilege where it's like when you are you know hiring
employees to work in IT to have a secure to have security in IT you need to make
sure you give people the least amount of access that they need to absolutely do
their job you know if someone's doing IT in the UN building or in the FBI
headquarters they're not just gonna hand them a badge that opens every single
door that gets them into every single server room like that's idiotic right
you want to make sure that they have the least privilege possible and you know
that's kind of how we should approach people in our lives especially new
relationships like I wouldn't I wouldn't recommend just like first time visitor
walks into our church and you just tell them every deep dark secret of your life
and you just start unloading all of your terrible marriage problems on them and
stuff like that like there but you might want to guard yourself a little bit you
might want to not trust them that much because unfortunately when you do that
kind of stuff oftentimes people use that information against you and people will
try to you know hold it over your head in the future and look that's wicked
that's wrong that's terrible but it's just what people do and you want to make
sure you don't overly trust people look at Micah chapter number 7 verse 2 the
good man is perished out of the earth and there is none upright among men they
all lie and wait for blood they hunt every man his brother with a net the
Bible is generalizing here saying hey people suck people are evil people are
sinners people are wicked and you ought not to just trust man right this is why
we carry these wonderful things called guns you know I I hope I never have to
use one I hope I never have to have an altercation where I need to use one but
look what the Bible says that there are people out there that lie and wait for
blood they hunt every man his brother with a net just go to the Oklahoma City
Police website and they post whenever they have murders in the city of Oklahoma
City there's already been nine this year it's only March what fifth there's
already been nine murders this year there are wicked people out there you
can't just trust everyone no you have to actually really really know someone but
look what it says verse 3 that they may do evil with both hands earnestly the
prince asketh and the judge asketh for a reward so can you trust someone just
because they're a prince or because they're a judge no the judges are asking
for rewards they're being bribed and the great man he uttereth his mischievous
desire so they wrap it up the best of them oh really good guy is as a briar the
most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge the day of thy watchman and thy
visitation cometh now shall be their perplexity I mean the Bible is really
warning us about how wicked people are and it's just crazy to me how churches
they want to have this culture where everyone trusts pastors so much and
trust staff so much that they're like willing to literally hand their kids over
to a nursery worker or you know we talked about that reprobate pastor in
Ohio that was pressuring people you need to put your kids in the nursery you need
to put your kids in the nursery then he gets convicted for being a pedophile and
look you ought not just to think that someone's a judge someone's a prince
someone's a police officer someone's a pastor someone's in a position of
authority oh this must be a good person oh this must be someone I could trust
the Bible's painting the picture that human beings are wicked all of them and
guess what we all have the flesh we all could walk in the flesh and be capable
of bad sins that's why you just shouldn't trust people with things as
precious as your kids you shouldn't trust someone with something unless
you're literally ready to kiss it goodbye and I mean like anything oh you
know a friend wants to borrow your truck only let them borrow your truck if
you're willing for that thing to walk away because you wouldn't be the first
person that let someone borrow something and that person just steals it and runs
away and you know you never hear from them again you know you may think that
this stuff would never happen oh this would never happen at anchor Baptist
Church amongst all these godly Christians don't just trust people and
and here's the thing especially with things you're not willing to lose you
know hey if it's no big deal to you you're like all right if you know this
truck has 500,000 miles if they get in a crash if they steal it I'm gonna be
happy that I get a new but buy a new truck then okay do that I'm not saying
don't be generous don't be nice but there's just some things that are too
precious to trust anyone with you know what I mean and it's like unless it's
like an emergency or something like that you don't want to just be handing your
kids off just to every family just like oh you know we got to have our date
night so we're just gonna have random people watch our kids all the time I'm
just saying that's a bad idea look what it says okay what about my friends
though first five trust you not in a friend well that sucks I kind of want to
trust in my friends right but you know there's a certain things that I would
trust my friends with certain things I wouldn't you know I don't care about my
truck I don't care about my house I don't care about worth worldly things
like that but you know my kids I care about a lot and I wouldn't just drop off
my kids with anyone put you not confidence in a guide keep the doors of
thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom Wow sounds like you shouldn't even
be telling your wife everything and you know I heard this advice about the
ministry is that in ministry people come to you and they should be able to come
to you people should be able to come to their pastor with the craziest stuff
imaginable you know nothing's gonna shock me I've heard tons of crazy things
but like people should be able to come to me and know that I'm gonna help them
and that I'm gonna keep confidentiality and then I'm not gonna blow my mouth off
and there's times if I know something that I literally won't even tell my wife
just because I don't even want her carrying that burden around and some of
you're like whoa that's crazy okay do we believe the Bible here keep the doors of
thy mouth from her that lieth in her bosom that's what the Bible says not
saying don't confide in your wife I'm just saying like sometimes there might
even be a situation where keeping things from your wife is the loving thing to do
for her and for other people verse 6 for the son dishonor at the father so
apparent relationships to the daughter rises up against her mother the daughter
in law against her mother-in-law a man's enemies are the men of his own house
therefore here's the culmination here I will look unto the Lord I will wait for
God of my salvation my God will hear me I've said this before I'll say it again
the only person you could trust 100% is God hey I love that song tell it to Jesus
alone Jesus for sure will always keep your secret Jesus is not gonna gossip
about you Jesus is not gonna use things and hang it over your head Jesus is the
absolute best friend best guide best helper best everything he's the only one
you could trust 100% and again here what here's not here's what I'm not telling
you never confide in anyone never be friends with anyone never have close
relationships but what I'm saying is if you're if you're gonna reveal something
if you're gonna let someone borrow something you have to realize okay what
if this was let out what if this item was destroyed you have to be okay with
that before doing that is what I'm telling you go to 1st Samuel 29 I love
that verse therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my
salvation my God will hear me Akas should not be trusting David after he
knew him for a full year and four months that's not enough time to truly get to
know someone and you know you ought to get to know someone before making big
decisions in life like getting married you know don't just hang out with
someone for six weeks and get married don't just hang out with someone for
three four months and get married you are making a life-long commitment a
life-long commitment and four months is such a tiny sliver of your life it's not
even funny and you know Pastor Jimenez gives the advice of dating for a year I
think that's pretty good advice he talks about like if it's God's will for you
today it'll be God's will for you in a year from now that's that's often true
because you know a lot of people they rush into marriage super super fast and
they regret it but you know no one's really gonna regret waiting a year just
to make sure you know marrying a person that is loving the Lord that is sharing
your vision for life is so so important verse 4 says and the princes of the
Philistines were wroth with him and the princes of the Philistines said unto him
make this fellow return that he may go again to his place which thou hast
appointed him and let him not go down with us to battle lest in the battle he
be an adversary to us for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his
master should it not be with the heads of these men so these guys are actually
thinking kind of logically here looking at David saying like look David is the
servant of Saul David comes from these people if David were to reconcile these
people how would he do that oh yeah by killing all of us right so they're just
saying like this is a bad person to trust we shouldn't put our trust in this
person and I think it's funny how David he had been so pleasing to Akish Akish
loved him Akish said this guy hasn't done anything wrong since he's been in my
house I'm making him the keeper of my head but even though Akish liked him
David still wasn't fully accepted and it kind of goes to show that us as
Christians like once you're saved once you're born again once you're a child of
God you can never really fully fit in with the world and so it's kind of a
fool's errand to even try you know you might be able to for a little while you
might be able to deceive them and acting like you're someone you're not like David
was oh you know I was I was fighting you know around Israel wasn't true you can
kind of deceive for a while but the truth is you're never gonna really be
compatible with the world so you might as well just get plugged into church you
might as well just have friends that are saved you might as well have iron
sharpening iron rather than you trying to put on camouflage and acting like
you're in the world when you're really not go to Luke chapter number 9 amos 3
3 it's a verse I love can to walk together except they be agreed you know
at the end of the day you're never gonna really be able to walk in life with
someone when you disagree on who Jesus Christ is when you disagree on how to
get to heaven when you disagree about church and the things of God you're not
gonna really be able to walk together in life with that person and I noticed
something that happened this is one of the first things that I noticed when I
got saved as a teenager is that my friendships all of a sudden just
dwindled like we were not connecting anymore and these were guys that I
thought as every teenager does these will be my friends for forever right we
all think that about our high school buddies these are gonna be my best
friends for forever but as soon as I got saved and I started listening to Bible
preaching and I started going to church and I started soul winning and I
started reading the Bible and I started praying I realized how little I had in
common with these people I realized like wow you like to throw a baseball into a
leather glove so do I man how cool is that oh you like to hit a baseball with
a bat isn't that awesome at the end of the day once you're saved you're like
well that was shallow that was a meaningless relationship but before
you're saved you think this is awesome these are my best friends but now your
eyes are open and you're like wow heaven and hell are real wow souls are actually
dying and going to hell wow Jesus Christ actually cares about me and wants me to
be his servant and I'm an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ your perspective
changes and you realize wow these friendships were meaningless and of
course we want to try to get our friends saved and get them on board with us but
if they don't it becomes hey can two walk together unless they be agreed no
they cannot stay there Luke 9 verse 5 of 1st Samuel 29 I had you turn a little too
quick but I'll just read it for you it says is not this David of whom they sang
one to another in dances saying Saul slew his thousands and David his ten
thousands it kind of goes to show like once you cross a certain line of serving
God it's so silly to turn back because David already has a reputation amongst
God's people and amongst the enemies of God I mean the enemies of God are
looking at David saying aren't you the one that all these thousands of women
were singing about about how you killed all these ten thousands you know he kind
of has that reputation and us as Christians same thing on a micro level
when you start soul winning when you start being three to thrive look your
family already thinks you're weird anyways why go back like oh you know they
already hate me they already hate anchor Baptist Church they already think you're
crazy for reading the King James Bible like they you already have that
reputation how silly would it be just to throw it in the trash and just go back
okay David is known for killing ten thousands now here he is with the
Philistines and you know I could relate to this on a much much smaller level but
it's like I've already crossed the line folks like I've already burned the bridge
you know I don't Google my name you know don't don't go on tik-tok and see the
billions of views I've already had the protest I've already had the death
threats I've already had the homosexuals coming to my home and threatening my
family like how stupid would it be for me to just quit or go back like they
wouldn't accept me anyways I couldn't go back anyways oh yeah you know I said
that sodomites should get the death penalty from the government and then
people should be like oh that's okay that's in your past no the world's
always gonna hate me for that always but you have pastors who who do the right
thing they preach the hard sermons they slay the thousands they slay the ten
thousands and then they get old and they issue an apology and guess what the
Philistines don't care the world doesn't forgive you and you'll never ever fit in
with them so it's like look just get all in just serve God just be free to thrive
just take that reputation of being a disciple because you've already kind of
gotten that you might as well stick with it because you'll never be accepted out
anyways Luke chapter 9 verse 57 says and it came to pass that as they went in the
way a certain man said unto him Lord I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest
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 and he said unto another follow me but
he said Lord suffer me first to go and bury my father Jesus said unto him let
the dead bury their dead but go thou and preach the kingdom of God and another
also said Lord I will follow thee but let me first go bid them farewell which
are at home at my house and Jesus said unto them no man having put his hand to
the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God I mean it seems on the
surface that these men are asking pretty reasonable requests hey let me go bury my
dead hey let me go say goodbye to my family and Jesus is saying like look
it's me or it's the world and when you choose Jesus Christ nothing should be
holding you back there should be nothing that you're looking back to saying man I
could go back there I have this backup plan if I decide to quit serving God no
it's just we put our hands to the plow and we don't look back and people that
look back are not fit for the kingdom of God it's not seemly it's not becoming
for someone the kingdom of God for someone that looks back who isn't
steadfast go to Luke chapter number 9 verse 33 says so likewise whosoever he
be of you that forsake if not all that he hath cannot be my disciple you know
we were talking about being a disciple on Sunday night here's another verse
about that someone that is willing to forsake all that's a lot to ask right
but that is what our Lord and Savior demands of us to forsake all to be
willing to forsake all to follow him you know David should have been doing this
go back to first Samuel 29 you know it's just it's a shame that these
preachers that go back on what they preach they tone things down you know I
would like to see in the next 40, 50, 60 years a generation of preachers that goes
to the grave preaching hard. Wouldn't that be nice where it's not just always videos
of the young guys ripping face and then they get old and they get the nice
building and they get the money and then the culture changes and then the church
gets softer and then the preaching gets softer and then the next thing you know
they're apologizing for what they said. Wouldn't it be nice to see some like 80
and 90 year old dudes just ripping face? Wouldn't that be great if we didn't have
to look at the baby boomer generation of America and be so ashamed of them
and say why did you sell out our country? Why did you let go of Christianity? Why
did you stop preaching the Bible? Why is it a 27 year old that has to do it in
Oklahoma City? Where's the old man? Oh man these young
pastors well first of all don't despise my youth because that's what the Bible
says but second why don't you do it then? Where were you? You know it just pisses me
off. Look at verse 6 it says "And Achish called David and said unto him surely as
the Lord liveth thou hast been upright and thy going out and thy coming in with
me in the host is good in my sight for I have not found evil in thee since the
day of thy coming unto me unto this day nevertheless the Lord's favor thee not."
It's just so funny he's like oh man you've been great David I'm pleased with
you everything's great I want you here but David's not gonna fit in with these
people David is the Goliath Slayer he's the Philistine Slayer you're not gonna
fit in with the Philistines it just doesn't work you need to just get on
board with God's people let's look at some psalms on this psalm 18 or sorry
psalm 118 psalm 118 you just got to realize that if you're saved God's people
are your people this is our people right here and it's not about being white or
black or rich or poor or being American or Filipino or Russian or any of those
things it's about being saved it's about having the Holy Spirit of God it's about
believing in Jesus Christ notice the psalmist's attitude in verse 19 open to
me the gates of righteousness I will go into them and I will praise the Lord the
gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter hey the psalmist
wants to go to the place where the righteous are entering you know that
should be our attitude that we want to spend our lives around the righteous
around the saved not with well we both like baseball well we both like bowling
well here's our book club that's so shallow it's so vain and you know wow
wow there could be some level of connection there the world has no clue
what they're missing out on I mean there is nothing like Christian and
brotherly love there's nothing like the fellowship of a brother and sister in
Christ and the world does not know that man it makes me want to get them saved
so they can know it go to Psalm 133 Psalm 133 flip a couple pages there look
at verse number one how the Bible says behold how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity man it's just so good it's so pleasant
to be around people where we are in agreement where we can walk together
where we all love the King James Bible here and no one has to feel like they're
walking on eggshells or anything like that we just unashamedly openly love the
Lord Jesus Christ and we love the Bible and we love soul winning and we love
hard preaching and that's who we are and that's how you guys are and that's why
we're friends that's why we have great fellowship go to Psalm 84 Psalm 84 and
you know Christians all the time you know what they do they get saved and
then they never go to church they get saved and they don't hang out with God's
people they stay hanging out with the Philistines and look what they're
missing out on verse 10 of Psalm 84 for a day in thy courts is better than a
thousand I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in
the tents of wickedness this is the attitude that David should have had like
if David was eventually gonna become the king but the attitude he should have had
is like hey I would rather be a doorkeeper with the Hebrews I'd rather be
a doorkeeper with Israel than be some sort of captain of the Philistines host
right that's the attitude we should have is hey coming to church that's the
greatest thing and if I'm a pastor if I'm a preacher if I'm a janitor if I am
a usher if I'm a audio video guy if I'm a security guy if I'm no one if I just
sit and listen the Word of God that is better than 10,000 days outside of
church one day in God's house better than 10,000 days in the world go to
Revelation chapter 3 Revelation chapter 3 and so David here he just couldn't he
just couldn't figure out where he stood is he gonna be with Hebrews is he gonna
finally trust in the Lord and believe that God's gonna keep delivering him
from Saul or is he just gonna stand with the world stand with the heathen stand
with the enemies of God Revelation 3 15 I know thy works that thou art neither
cold nor hot that's where David is he doesn't fully give fidelity to the
Philistines because he's dishonest with them about who he is and what he's doing
he doesn't actually want to fight for them he just wants them to believe that
he's gonna fight for them and then he doesn't want to go to Israel right
cuz he's in the land of the Philistines he's neither cold nor hot knows what
Jesus said I would thou work colder hot so then because thou art lukewarm and
neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth it just makes God sick
when Christians try to straddle between living in the world and living for God
just make a decision choose you this day whom ye will serve you don't have the I
have the attitude of Joshua as for me in my house we will serve the Lord God
doesn't want these people that are just lukewarm he just wants to throw up he
just wants to throw you up out of his mouth it makes him sick look decide
where you're gonna stand and then put your anchor down and stay there and
remain steadfast go back to first Samuel chapter 29 first Samuel 29 verse 7
wherefore now return and go in peace that thou displease not the lords of
the Philistines now this statement is hilarious to me because it's like
Accused do you have any idea who you're talking to you're talking to David the
guy that literally killed Goliath and who killed tons of Philistines it's like
well David okay go so that you don't displease the Philistines it's like David
hasn't had a history about caring if he displeases the Philistines in fact he's
wanted to displease the Philistines he was killing the Philistines but man this
is what happens again to backslidden leaders is it's like they were preaching
against the sodomites they were preaching against the abominations of
our land now they're worried if they're displeasing them may I never get to a
point where I'm worried about displeasing sodomites may I please never
get to the point where I care what Catholics think about my sermon or what
Hindus think about my sermon or what Buddhists think about my sermon you know
when a pastor feels that way he's done you need to repent and get right with
God or you just need to step down and let a real leader lead who's not gonna
care what the Philistines think you know I think about back in like 2021 to 2023
we had a lot of challenges of steadfast Baptist Church the protests the
death threats the lawsuits the stocking you know the doxing all that stuff I'm
I'm sure in the large church that we had,
there was a point in many people's minds
where they thought to themselves,
you know, are we really doing what's right?
Are we for sure that we're on the Lord's side?
Are we for sure that what we believe is right?
You know, those thoughts may come,
but you need to settle that, figure out what the Bible says.
And once you've done that, you just need to stick with it.
You need to be sure, you need to be planted,
you need to be anchored and not be thinking,
you know, not be judging, am I doing what's right based on,
well, there are a lot of sodomites angry at us.
Nuts to them.
Hey, who cares if they're angry at us?
The question is, are we right?
Is it what the Bible says?
Let's consider it.
Okay, yes we are, nuts to those people.
Well, you know, the media doesn't like us.
Well, the ADL doesn't say very nice things about me.
Okay, who cares what they think?
Let's worry about what God thinks.
Let's worry about what the Bible says.
Who cares if David displeases the Philistines?
Verse eight, and David said unto Achish,
but what have I done?
This is weird how he's just digging in.
Like, what are you doing, man?
And what hast thou found in thy servant
so long as I have been with thee unto this day,
that I may not go fight against the enemies
of my Lord the King?
It's like, why are you digging in?
It's like, Achish is kind of giving you an out here.
You already don't want to fight for the Philistines.
You really don't.
You don't want to fight against Saul,
'cause you would've killed him a long time ago.
You didn't put forth your hand against the Lord's anointed.
You know what you're doing is wrong,
yet he's still digging in.
And it says in verse nine,
"And Achish answered and said to David,
"'I know that thou art good in my sight as an angel of God,
"'notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said,
"'he shall not go up with us to the battle.'"
So he's saying, "Look, this decision's out of my hands.
"The princes have made this decision.
"You've gotta leave.
"Wherefore, now rise up early in the morning
"with thy master's servants that are come with thee,
"and as soon as ye be up early in the morning
"and have light, depart."
And so David and his men rose up early
to depart in the morning to return into land
of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Here in this story, I believe it's kind of,
and the text doesn't directly say this,
but I think it's kind of an example
about how sometimes God gives us an out,
where we have made stupid decisions.
And because God is so merciful,
sometimes He helps us by giving us an out
of the mess that we've made.
And here's the thing, not always.
Sometimes you're gonna sin,
and the hammer's gonna come down on you.
Other times, God can choose to be merciful
and kind of help you out.
And that's what I think that is happening in this story,
is I think God is kind of moving
and orchestrating this situation a little bit
to help David leave this situation
so that David doesn't sit there and kill the people of God
and sit there and kill King Saul.
You know, David's been avoiding that this whole time,
but because he got scared, because he got backslidden,
because he stopped trusting the Lord,
he found himself in this mess,
and it kept getting worse and worse
till here he finds himself about to kill God's people,
and then God kind of gives him an out.
And I'll show you another example of where this happened.
Go to Genesis chapter 20, Genesis 20,
because I understand that the text
doesn't directly say this was happening,
but there are other times
where the text does say that God does this.
And so we know that this is a real principle that happens.
Genesis chapter 20, verse one, it says,
"And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country
and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur and Sojourn and Gerar.
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister."
So he's lying here.
And Abimelek king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
So Abraham, he didn't want Abimelek to know
that Sarah was his wife for some stupid reason.
So he says, "Say you're my sister."
So Abimelek takes her, but notice verse three,
"But God came to Abimelek in a dream by night
and said to him, behold, thou art but a dead man.
For the woman which thou hast taken,
for she is a man's wife.
But Abimelek had not come near her, and he said,
Lord, would thou also slay a righteous nation?
Said he not unto me, she is my sister?
And see, even she herself said, he is my brother?
In the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands
have I done this."
So Abimelek, he didn't think he was doing anything wrong.
He thought he was just taking a wife
because Abraham's telling him this
and Sarah's telling him this.
So he didn't know.
And verse six says, "And God said unto him in a dream,
'Yea, I know that thou didst this
in the integrity of thy heart.
For notice, I also withheld thee from sinning against me.
Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.'"
Now, it's not like the God of Calvinism here
where he's like forcing Abimelech from touching her
and he's not gonna allow him to.
It's that he kind of orchestrated this situation
and gave him more information
so that Abimelech can make the choice
not to go down that road.
Abimelech still had free will.
He could have lined with her,
but guess what would have happened?
God would have killed him for it.
Just like David, he had the choice here.
Am I gonna keep fighting with the Philistines
or am I gonna take this out?
To me, I kind of think that in the situation,
God orchestrated an out for David.
And man, isn't it nice when we screw up in life
and God is merciful to us?
I don't know about you, I've been there before,
where I'm just like, thank you, Lord.
I deserve the punishment.
I deserve worse than this.
You gave me an out, praise God for that.
And we do have a loving and merciful God.
Man, that is so true.
You know, just the tragedy is that a lot of churches
only talk about that and don't talk about
the wrath of God and things like that.
But it is true that God is very merciful,
that God is very long-suffering,
and thank the Lord for that.
You know, David here, he could have just ruined
his entire life, living this double life,
getting back into the world.
He could have gone and fought with the Philistines
and killed King Saul, and the wrath of God
would have been upon David,
he would have suffered for his consequences,
but God gave him an out, and the lesson for us is that,
hey, when God gives you an out, take the out.
Don't dig in your heels even more,
don't be even more stubborn.
If you have sinned and you know you're guilty,
confess it to God, ask him for forgiveness,
stop doing that thing that you did,
and take the out if God gives you the out.
Because I'm sure it's gonna happen to all of us
in the future, I'm sure it's happened to us in the past,
but hey, even better yet than taking the out,
why don't you just not even have a season of your life
where you're hanging out with the Philistines
to begin with?
Wouldn't that be better?
Like, instead of always just hoping for the out,
instead of just always hoping for God to bail you out,
hoping for God to be merciful to you,
which praise the Lord he does sometimes,
here's a better strategy for your life,
is just don't go to the land of the Philistines
to begin with.
You know, instead of drinking and driving,
hoping that the police don't arrest you,
hoping that you don't kill someone on the road,
here's a better plan.
Don't ever drink alcohol ever.
That's a better plan.
But a lot of people, they're living this
like insurance claim life,
where they're just hoping and praying
that God's just gonna bail them out of every situation.
Look, if you're in that situation,
God bails you out, thank him for it, and then change.
Make adjustments in your life.
You know, if David would have kept doing
the same thing over and over,
eventually the hammer would have come down on him
as it did later when he committed adultery
and murdered the wife of Uriah,
or I'm sorry, murdered Uriah the Hittite.
Last verse we'll look at is Proverbs chapter three.
If you'll turn to Proverbs chapter three.
Look, even if you're going through a time
that's stressful, like David was,
being hunted down and wanting to be murdered
sounds pretty stressful.
I could give, on a human level I could say,
yep, I understand why you're stressful.
Even if you're going through hard times
and Saul is attacking you, people are lying about you,
you've got marriage problems, you've got financial problems,
look, don't even go down the road that David went down
of stopping, trusting in God, getting back slidden
'cause it's gonna take you farther than you wanna go.
Let's finish on this passage, Proverbs 3:5,
trust in the Lord with all thine heart
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes,
fear the Lord and depart from evil.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you for this chapter.
Thank you for the admonitions in your word.
I just pray that we would take heed to them
and learn from the mistakes of David,
that we wouldn't make these ourselves.
We do thank you for your mercy and your long-suffering
in times when we have screwed up
and you've given us an out.
But I pray that all the people in here
would focus and endeavor to live a life pleasing to you
and that we would boldly go out
and preach the gospel in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
- 244, nice and loud there, right on the first.
Amen.