All right, folks, welcome to Anchor Baptist Church.
We're going to go ahead and get started this evening.
If you would, grab a hymnal and turn to hymn number 246.
Hymn number 246 redeemed.
246, 246.
246 will sing their starting on that first verse.
Read it now, I love to proclaim it, read it by the Lord.
We're after content!
my song. Redeem, Redeem, Redeem by the blood of the Lamb. Redeem, Redeem, it's
child and forever I am. I know I shall see in his beauty the King in whose
if you'll bow your heads with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, for the opportunity to
gather together freely to sing praises in your name and to learn from your word. I pray that you
would fill pastor with your spirit this evening and that you would open your ears and incline your
ear to us as we sing out praises for you, that everything would be done decently and in order
for the service. These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, for our next hymn, turn a
burdens are lifted at Calvary, hymn number 250-250, burdens are lifted at Calvary.
We'll sing there 250 on the first, days are filled with sorrow and care.
Jesus is there.
please raise your hand and Usher will bring you one. On the front you'll see our Bible
memory passage of the week. Galatians chapter number one verse 10. Make sure to keep working
on this chapter here.
On the inside of your bulletin, you'll see our service times are listed Sunday morning at 10.30.
Sunday evening at 4.30 and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock.
Our soul winning times are all listed below that and all those times meet here at the church building.
And of course we have our Saturday rally where we have a preacher preach a 10 minute soul winning challenge before
and then go out into the community and preach the gospel.
Below that is our nursing home ministry schedule.
Below that is our year-to-date statistics.
Praise the Lord, we have 108 salvations so far for the year.
And I heard that yesterday soul winning was very receptive.
Seven salvations yesterday, so keep up the great work.
On that soul winning time.
And as always, if you have any numbers, please do report that.
We do have on the right our list of expecting ladies.
Please be in prayer for Ms. Whitney Reed,
especially as the date is rapidly approaching for her.
So definitely pray for her extra next coming months.
Upcoming events March 15th. That's this Saturday is the baby shower for miss Whitney read and there's some more details on the back of the
Bulletin for that also a link was sent in our signal group for her baby shower
If you'd like to purchase her a gift on her Amazon list there
In five weeks. We'll have another men's preaching night. That's April 13th, and we will have food after that and
Sign-up sheet will be out in a couple weeks for that. It's still a while away there.
April 19th is our Easter soul-winning marathon here in Oklahoma City.
May 16th or the 18th is King James Conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church.
Make sure to at least check out those sermons online.
There's going to be some great information preached there.
May 31st, we're teaming up with our friends from Steadfast Baptist Church
for the Durant Oklahoma soul-winning marathon, so we're looking forward to that.
June 28th, we're just having a fellowship day.
We're going to go to the Tinker Air Show as a church.
Just hang out, have some fun.
August 27th through the 31st, Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship
at Steadfast Baptist Church.
And October 6th through 11th, the Bahamas mission trip.
Pastor Anderson was just recently in the Bahamas.
I think he might be there right now.
And he was preaching in the colleges there.
And he said that.
The colleges and the college age students in the Caribbean Islands is the most receptive soul winning. He's ever seen
So I'm telling you the Bahamas is gonna be great. If you can make it, please do
It's gonna be a wonderful wonderful trip if you'd like to give to our church
There's some information below that on the back
We do have also if you're a first-time visitor if you wouldn't mind
Scanning that QR code and just gets us your email. We do send out
Events that our church is putting on and sermons weekly. That's preached here
So if you wouldn't mind filling that out, we could get a record of your visit. We'd appreciate that
information about the baby shower there as well, and we do have our prayer list
The brother the hall family is looking at a house potentially we're going to be praying for them for that
Brother Travis is praying for job opportunity
Brother Alex had an interview this week that went really well
And so we're going to be praying for him on that. That's pretty much all the changes for prayer requests this week
So at this time, let's go ahead and go to Lord in prayer as a church family.
Lord, we thank you for this day.
We thank you for Anchor Baptist Church and the opportunity to serve you freely.
I pray that you would bless the service this evening, Lord.
I pray that you bless the whole family and their desire for a new home.
I pray that you would just bless them.
And we also pray for Brother Travis Haberman for his job opportunity that he's seeking.
I pray that things would go well for him, Lord.
If it be your will that he would just find favor in the eyes of the people hiring him.
And we pray for Ms. Jennifer for her uncle's cancer treatment
that you please would just bless and work in that situation
and please heal him of that cancer, Lord.
We also pray for Brother Alex
that you just help him with different career decisions
that he has to make
and just pray that the right opportunities would open to him, Lord,
that you would just bless him in his career.
And we also pray for Ms. Sean Furr
for her son, Trevor's family situation, his daughter, Hadley.
Bless them in that situation, God, and we do pray also for.
Miss Remy that you'd keep her safe as she's traveling and that she would just answer her request about her visa according to your will
And also we pray that you please heal her of her tomb or God
And we also want to pray for the different members in this church who have loved ones that are unsaved
I pray that she would just soften their hearts to the gospel and that we would be faithful soul winners
Not just to the community here, but also to our family members
We thank you for all that you do for us in Jesus name. We pray amen
All right, that's gonna be it for announcements this time. We'll go to our third song
All right for our third song this evening if you'll grab your white handouts we're gonna sing Psalm 139
Psalm 139 139 in your white handouts
Psalm 139, we'll start there on that first verse.
Surely thou will slay the wicked
Surely thou will slay the wicked of God
Depart from me, therefore ye bloody men
O Lord, that hate thee, do not hate them, O Lord, that hate thee, have not I grieved with those that rise up against thee, do not hate them.
in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee.
And not I grieve with those that rise up against thee. Do not
do not I hate them oh Lord that hate me. Amen. Good singing this evening. If you would, as
the offering plates are being passed, turn to 1st Samuel chapter number 30. 1st Samuel
Good evening first Samuel chapter number 30 read the entire chapter follow along silently in your Bibles first Samuel 30
the Bible reads and it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had
Invaded the south and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire and had taken the women captives that were there in
They slew not any either great or small but carry them away and went on their way
So, David and his men came to the city and, behold, it was burned with fire, and their
wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives.
Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep and
David's two wives were taken captives at Hinawem the Jezrelytes and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite and
David was greatly distressed for the people's spake of stoning him
Because the soul of all the people was aggrieved every man for his sons and for his daughters
But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God
And David said to a biathar the priest, a hemilex son,
I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod,
and a biathar hither the ephod to David.
And David inquired at the Lord, saying,
shall I pursue after this troop?
Shall I overtake them?
And he answered him, pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them,
and without fail, recover all.
So David went, he and the 600 men that were with him,
that were left behind stayed.
But David pursued he and 400 men
for 200 abode behind which were so faint
that they could not go over the brook besor.
And they found an Egyptian in the field
and brought him to David and gave him bread
and heated to eat and they made him drink water
and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs
and two clusters of raisins.
And when he had eaten his spirit came again to him
for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water,
three days and three nights.
And David said unto him, to whom belongest thou?
And went art thou?
And he said, I am a young man of Egypt,
servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me,
because three days are gone, I fell sick.
we made an invasion upon the south of the charathites and upon the coast which
belonged to Judah and upon the south of Caleb and we burned Ziklag with fire and
David said to him can't thou bring me down to this company and he said swear
unto me by God that thou will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of
my master and I will bring thee down to this company
and when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth,
eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken
out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah.
David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day and
there escaped not a man of them save 400 young men which rode upon camels and
fled and David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away and David
rescued his two wives and there was nothing lacking to them
Neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoiled nor anything that they had taken to them, David recovered all.
And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they draped before those other cattle, and said,
This is David's spoil, and David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made
Also, to abide at the Brook Bessor, and they went forth to meet David and to meet the people
that were with him, and when David came nearer to the people, he saluted them.
Then answered all the wicked men and the menabilial of those that went with David and said, because
they went not with us, we will not give them, ought of the spoil that we have recovered,
Then said David, you shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath
preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. For who will harken
unto you in this matter?
But as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that terieth by the stuff, they shall part alike.
And it was so from that day forward that he made it a statue and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.
And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying,
Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord, to them which were in Bethel,
and to them which were in South Rainmoth, and to them which were in Jatir, and to them which were in Arora,
and to them which were in Shifmoth, and to them which were in Eshtimoa, and to them which were in Raikal,
the German lights, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, and to them which were in
Hormah, and to them which were in Korashan, and to them which were in Akhtah, and to them which
were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were want to haunt.
That's our heads for word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day,
and we thank you for our church and everyone that's gathered here, and we just ask that you
Amen. All right. Well, we are in first Samuel chapter number 30 this evening.
Getting real close to the end of this study. But if you remember last week,
the Philistines kicked David out of their land.
You know he had kind of lost some faith in the Lord and he said one day I'm going to perish
by the hand of Saul and he made the mistake of going to dwell with the Philistines
and he wasn't really fitting in there of course because you know his heart is still with God's
people but he was feigning you know to be on the Philistines team and God kind of gave him an out
of that situation by the Philistines kicking him out of that land. That brings us to 1st Samuel
chapter 30 verse 1 where the Bible says, and it came to pass when David and his men were come to
that the Malachites had invaded the South and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and
burned it with fire. So just immediately as soon as he leaves the land of the
Philistines, you know, he finds himself back in the fight back in another battle
and in verse 2 it says, and had taken the women captives that were there in,
they slew not any.
either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way.
So David and his men came to the city and behold,
it was burned with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters were
taken captives. Now,
what happened here is like one of the worst things a man could possibly fathom.
You know, could you imagine coming home and your wife's gone,
your children's gone?
Everyone's gone.
I mean, this is like a man's worst nightmare and that's what's happening to David here.
And obviously they're very upset about it says in verse number four, then David and
the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power
to weep.
And obviously that's totally understandable.
that they're feeling these emotions that they're experiencing this, but we also have to remember that in a way David is reaping what he's sown a little bit here because you remember a couple of chapters ago, he was going into all these lands and all these people that God never told him to go to war against.
He just kind of took it upon himself and when he went into these towns, he killed man, woman.
He wiped out those cities completely because he didn't want any witnesses that he wasn't actually in the areas of Israel like he told Akish, the king of Gath, right?
So David actually just did something way worse than this and he's kind of reaping what he has sown.
And let's remind you of that. Go to 1st Samuel chapter 7 verse number 8.
Look what it says in David and his men went up and invaded the
guess rights and the guess rights and the Malachites for those
nations were of all the inhabitants of the land as
thou goest up to sure even unto the land of Egypt and David
smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive and took
away the sheep and the oxes and the asses and the camels and
the apparel and returned and came to Akish. So when David went
And that was obviously not right.
God did not tell him to go fight against those enemies.
There's times in the Bible where God says,
go to these wicked lands and wipe out everything.
You know, God told Saul to go and wipe out,
or Samuel, excuse me, to wipe out the Amalekites.
Saul didn't do it.
Samuel took over and finished the job.
But God did not tell David to do that.
David was just taking that upon himself.
And as a result, he's reaping what he has sown.
The Bible says, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall
he also reap.
And so we need to have this reminder as Christians that how we act, the sins that we do, the
way that we live our lives, can often come back to bite us later.
The world calls this karma, obviously karma is not a biblical concept, but the idea of
reaping what you sow is.
just taking over lands that God didn't tell him to do.
Now he finds himself in a situation where an enemy has come into his land to his people,
but he didn't get treated as bad as he treated other people.
And this is the truth is that oftentimes God punishes us way less than our iniquities deserve.
And when that happens, we should be thankful to God because David here, you know,
he went and killed people's wives. He went and killed people's mothers,
did not deserve to die.
We're not people that God said to kill.
Yet he himself finds himself in a situation
where people have taken his wives, his kids,
but hey, at least they're not dead.
I mean, at least that all of them are alive,
but they don't know that yet.
They're weeping, they're distressed,
they're upset.
Verse five said in David's,
two wives were taken captives.
Ahinoem, the Jezreelitis,
and Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite.
David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him
because the soul of all the people was grieved,
every man for his sons and for his daughters.
Now, actually put yourself in this story,
because sometimes I think we're just,
we're doing our Bible reading,
we're doing our chapter of the day.
Oh yeah, you know, David was distressed.
But could you imagine your precious wife, men?
Could you imagine your children, your loved ones,
are just taken by an enemy force?
You don't know what their intentions are.
You don't, you know, obviously you're not thinking,
oh yeah, these are great guys that took my family.
I mean, you probably would just be losing your mind.
You'd be so stressed out.
You'd be crying.
You'd be begging God every second of every day.
You'd be doing everything you can to get them back.
If you could trade with them, if you could die for them
to make sure that they're safe,
every guy in here would do that.
right? So David's in the situation for real. He's not just reading it on pages. He's actually here
in this story, and he's greatly distressed. And to make matters worse, put yourself in his position.
Now, all of his people want to kill him too.
right? And boy, do you reap what you sow. You know, you got to be careful, Christian,
and not play around with sin and not think you can go out into the world and live with the
Philistines and do a bunch of wicked things that the Bible condemns because you are going to reap
what you sow. And here David is, he's in this situation. Now his people want to kill him,
but notice this is what makes David different. It says, but David in verse six, but David
And this is what separates David from people who quit,
from people who buckle under the pressure,
because let me just let you in on a little secret.
Every single person in life is going to go through hardships,
struggles, trials, just devastations,
points in your life where you feel like it's all over.
When you feel like there's nothing else to have hope for,
every single person is gonna experience that.
the Bible even says many are the afflictions of the righteous. So don't
think that even by being a great person, even by following the Lord and His
commandments, that you're just going to escape all suffering or all pain. No, all
of us are just going to experience pain and hardships in life. That's just called
being a human being.
And here's the thing, we could suffer for different reasons.
Sometimes people are suffering as a result of their own sin,
a result of their own trespasses against the Lord.
Other times we're suffering for righteousness' sake,
for preaching the word of God, for standing up for the truth.
But guess what? Everyone is going to suffer.
Everyone's going to suffer.
And your suffering might look different than mine.
I hope all of our suffering looks different than David's.
I hope none of us ever have to go through this.
But there's a difference though between people who they go through the hardships,
they go through the trials,
and then the weight of those trials causes them to quit.
They just say this is too hard.
I didn't sign up for this.
I didn't sign up for these consequences.
You know, my wives have been taken,
my kids have been taken,
and all my followers want to kill me now.
You know, he could have just quit at this point.
He could have just rolled over and died,
and a lot of people probably just quit in this situation.
But he was different how?
He encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
And let me tell you, you do not get to control your trials.
You don't get to control, oftentimes, the pain and the struggles that you go through.
But here's what all of us can control every single time, is how we respond to those trials.
How we respond to the issues and problems in our life.
Look at Ephesians chapter 6, if you'll turn there.
All of us get to choose how we respond to these things.
And, like we talked about on Sunday, all of us have a lot of things to be thankful for
and a lot of things that we can be rooted and grounded with.
And no matter what you're going through, there's always some way that you could encourage yourself
in the Lord.
I mean, it doesn't matter what the circumstances look like, it can't really get much worse
than this in my mind.
Like if David can encourage himself when his wives have been taken, when his children
have been taken, when all the people are ready to stone him, if he can encourage himself
You think you could encourage yourself
when you're having financial problems,
when you have a fight with your wife?
Oh, and you get one protester?
I mean, what did we have a few weeks ago?
We had two protesters, right?
I mean, come on, get over it.
We had one?
Was it one?
I thought it was two.
OK, we had one protester.
See, I don't even care.
I don't even look at them.
I mean, it's small potatoes compared to what I've been through.
It's just like one protester, whatever.
But you know some people one protester would shake them to their core like coming to a church and getting a protester out there like it would just scare them.
It would blow their mind. They would say this is a church. Why is there a protester out there?
But for those of us who have been through some battles were like, yeah, no big deal. No big deal, right?
But here's the thing. We're going to go through things that are harder than that and we get to decide to encourage ourselves in the Lord and say, you know what?
Yeah, I'm going through problems, but I'm still saved.
But I still have eternal life.
But I still have the King James Bible.
But I still have fellow Christians in this room.
You know, I still have the sun shining.
I still have a place to live.
I still have all these blessings in my life.
You get to decide to encourage yourself in the Lord.
And not just sit here and focus on the negative.
Focus on the problems.
Focus on all the things that could bring you down,
instead focusing on things that will encourage you.
Ephesians 6.
11. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. Right, so we know as Christians that we're in a spiritual
battle, we know that we're in a fight spiritually with the devil, with the
workers of the devil, and so we should prepare for that battle in advance.
I mean, do you really think that it's ideal to go to war and as you start receiving gunfire?
Okay, let me put on my vest. Let me put on my helmet. Let me get my gun. Let me start loading up.
Oh, did you guys, you know, prep for this at all? That wouldn't really be ideal, right?
But, you know, this is how a lot of Christians live their life.
Is that they wait until they're in a David situation and they go, oh crap, I need to get spiritual.
Oh crap, now I should go to church.
Oh man, maybe now that I've been divorced,
oh maybe now after I treated my spouse like garbage for 20 years and they finally left me,
maybe now that my kids are already grown up and out of the home and not serving God,
maybe now that everything's been broken and destroyed,
oh now I'll start getting ready for the fight.
No, you get ready for the fight way before you're engaged in it.
You know, soldiers that go off to war, they train here in the United States.
They get ready for war here, then they go deploy and fight.
You don't go out into the middle of a firefight and say,
hey, we should get ready for combat. That doesn't make sense, right?
But you know, we're in a spiritual war.
Look at verse number 12. It says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
See, if you've read the Bible, you already know in advance that we are in a spiritual war.
that we are soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And a wise person would say, okay, I'm in the Lord's army,
I'm in a fight, I'm in a battle, you know what I'm gonna do,
I'm gonna get prepared for that
before the heat of the battle, right?
And so this is why David was able to stand in this evil day
is because David has been a godly person
for a long time before this.
Yes, he went through his seasons of backsliding,
there's no doubt about that.
Of course, he's not perfect, he's a sinner, but David is a godly person.
David is a man after God's own heart, and you know what, David is the guy that had the
full armor of God on, and here he is when everyone else is getting discouraged, everyone
else is ready to kill him, but he's the one that stands up and encourages himself in the
Lord.
Why?
Because he thought about these things before.
Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day and having done all to stand.
See the Bible implies that there's the evil day that's coming in the future.
Here we are today, the Bible says, hey, the evil day is coming, how are you going to stand
on that evil day?
Well, you've got to start putting on the armor of God now.
You got to start getting ready for these things now.
So you don't want to make this mistake of saying like,
oh, I'll start getting serious about God when I need Him.
That's a bad plan.
Look, there's some people that God is just so merciful to them and so gracious to them
that they don't really serve God, and then they're in a bind and they call out to him
and God does deliver them, God does show mercy on him, but you know what, that's not the
best plan for getting the blessing of God on your life.
You know, the Bible talks about how he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law,
even his prayer shall be abomination to him.
What's that saying?
If you are receiving the Word of God, you're reading something in the Bible and you know
what it says.
You understand it, but you say, you know what, I'm just not going to listen to this.
I'm not going to take it seriously.
I'm not going to change.
The Bible says that could have a direct effect on your relationship with God to the point
where if you're just scorning His Word, you're not listening to what He says, you're not
obeying the Bible, you're turning away your ear.
He says even your prayer can become abomination to where you call out, God, help me.
Help me save my wife. Save my kids. Oh
Your prayers and abomination is that where you want to be because I'll tell you what I want it
I want my chances of the Lord to hear me and help me to be as high as possible. I
Want to be walking in the spirit. I want to have the full armor of God on so that in that evil day
I could stand I want to build my house on that sure foundation
So that when the storms come that it beats upon that house and the house stands
that it stands through the storm it stands through the evil day but let me tell
you this does not happen overnight this does not happen in one day you know
what putting on that armor being prepared for war building a strong house
on the strong foundation it takes time
It takes a time of a long stretch of years of being consistent in the things of God.
You know, that's how you build that sure foundation.
That's how you become steadfast.
That's how you become anchored is doing that for a long period of time.
You don't just decide one day, I'm going to be an amazing, phenomenal Christian.
And just in one day, you know the Bible super well.
You're a great soul winner.
You're obeying God's commandments.
No, it takes time.
And so the evil day is coming, prepare now.
The storms coming, build your house now.
Verse number 14 says, stand therefore,
having your loins, girt about with truth.
So he says, hey, in this armor that you're putting on
for battle, one of the things you may need
to make sure you're doing is
girding your loins with truth, right?
It's so important for us to know what the Bible says.
and to actually believe what the Bible says.
You know, so many Christians today,
or false versions of Christianity,
like Catholicism,
they'll tell you that they believe the Bible,
but I'm telling you right now,
they don't have their loins gored about with truth,
because constantly the Bible's just brought up to them
of ways that their religion is against what the Bible says,
and you know what they say, you know what they do?
They turn away their ear from hearing the law.
It's like, hey, here's where Jesus said,
Not to call anyone father
Call no man your father upon earth for one is your father, which is in heaven, right now
Of course, we know there's nothing wrong with calling your dad dad
There's nothing wrong with calling your actual father, father.
There's nothing wrong with being like a father unto someone.
You know, the Apostle Paul talked about how, hey, you have many instructors in Christ,
but not many fathers, for I have begotten you through the Gospel, right?
So he was like a father unto them in the sense that he preached them the Gospel, he got them
saved.
But was the Apostle Paul walking around calling himself Father Paul?
Oh, Father Paul, you've come to see us.
No, because that's an unbiblical title.
Why? Because Jesus' plain words said,
Call no man your father.
And what does the Catholic Church do though?
They see those words of Jesus Christ and they say,
Oh, no, you have to have the Catholic Church
interpret that for you.
And this is what people who don't believe the Bible do,
is they hide behind this word called interpretation.
This is what they do.
There's a clear verse.
And let me tell you, that verse does not need interpretation.
Jesus said,
Call, No, Man, Father.
I mean, it's clear. It's plain.
But they'll just say, oh, there's a different interpretation for that.
Or, you know, 1 Timothy chapter 3 will say
that if a man desires the office of a bishop,
he desired it a good work.
A bishop then must be blameless
the husband of one wife.
So you have a clear verse.
The Bible says that to be a bishop,
you must be married.
It's not optional.
You have to be married to be a bishop.
And then the Catholic Church says
Actually, the Catholic Church teaches that you must not be married to be a bishop.
And it's like, what is wrong with you?
I'll tell you what's wrong with them.
They don't have their loins girt about with truth.
They could lie to you and say that you do.
They could lie and say,
oh yeah, we believe the Bible.
No, you don't believe the Bible.
Because if you believe the Bible,
you would be saved.
You would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and not believe in your works-based,
false religion.
Your pagan idolatry religion.
No, your loins aren't gird about with truth.
If you're going to fight the spiritual fight,
you've got to have the truth on your side.
You've got to know what the Bible says
so that you could stand in that fight
and earnestly contend for the faith.
Let's keep reading.
having on the breastplate of righteousness.
You know, a breastplate in our modern times would be like a bulletproof vest.
And, you know, I've never fought, I've never done any of that stuff, but I would imagine
that wearing a bulletproof vest gives you a little bit feeling of comfort or confidence
knowing, hey, I've got something to protect me, even if I take a round, I'm probably not
going to die, sure it might hurt, but, you know, you have a little bit more confidence
knowing that you are protected, right?
And here's the thing about being righteous, meaning walking in the Spirit, living a godly
life, you know, following the Bible to the best of your ability, is that it gives you
And you know what that is?
It's a confidence that knows, hey, I'm doing the best I can here.
I'm living a godly life.
Yeah, I'm not perfect, but you know, I'm not out committing adultery.
I'm not out drinking alcohol.
I'm not out doing drugs.
I'm not committing these grievous sins.
And you put on the breastplate of righteousness
and you could go into battle saying, hey, I'm confident.
I'm protected.
I've got peace.
And it says, in your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace.
You know, you wouldn't want to go into combat without shoes on.
I mean, could you imagine how terrible that would be?
But, you know, a lot of Christians, they completely ignore this part of the armor.
And a lot of people act like this is just optional,
that it's not a big deal, that, oh, only those really extreme fundamentalist churches
go out and preach the gospel.
Again, are we going to believe the Bible or not?
The Bible says, when you're putting on the full armor of God,
you've got to have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
You know, you ought to be a soul winner.
You ought to learn how to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You ought to go out knocking doors with us on one of our soul winning times.
Well, do you want to stand in the evil day or not?
Because you know how you stand in the evil day?
You put on the whole armor of God.
Not just parts of it.
It's not enough to just be King James only and think,
oh, I'm good for all the trials of life just because I am King James only.
Or, I'm saved so I'm good for all the trials of life.
No, you want to go out to war with your full kid on.
with the full armor on, right?
It wouldn't make sense to go out to war
and it's like, all right, you've got your bullet per vest,
you've got your helmet, you've got your belt on,
and you have no weapon.
It's like, well, that sucks.
That doesn't sound like a very fun mission to go on.
Or you know, you've got your weapon,
you've got your bullet per vest,
you've got your helmet, but you're barefoot.
Like, you're gonna be so ineffective and in pain,
and it's just not gonna be a fun time.
You have to have the whole package, all of it.
Above all, taking the shield of faith, verse 16,
wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked. See, when you have truth, when you have
the Word of God, you know what that's going to give you is faith. Faith cometh
by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. You know, you read the Bible
and you see, oh, here's where God came through for this person. Oh, here's the
promise of God in this verse.
Hey, I could hang my hat on this promise because God can't lie,
That'll quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of
the Spirit which is the Word of God. So putting on salvation like a helmet and taking the sword
of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Of course our weapon in this war is not carnal,
it's a spiritual weapon, the Word of God. Go to Job chapter number 23, Job chapter number 23.
So, you know, here's the thing, when you're doing all those things, when you're reading
the Bible, when you're going soul winning, when you're praying, when you're living a
godly life, you're going to be able to encourage yourself in the Lord in a lot of situations
where other people would not.
where other people are quitting, other people are giving up,
you're going to have this inner strength that doesn't come from your flesh, right?
It's a spiritual strength, it's the power of the Holy Spirit enabling you
to keep going in fights, in battles, and in persecutions.
It's a spiritual power.
You know, Job was another person who went through a lot of persecution, and even after
losing his children and losing his health and losing his wealth, notice how he encouraged
himself in the Lord in Job chapter 23 verse 10.
It says, but he knoweth the way that I take.
That he is referring to God, of course.
And he's having peace from this inner thought that he's having saying, hey, God knows what's
happening in this situation.
Isn't that a comforting thought?
That's a thought that not everyone has that the unsaved definitely don't have and even Christians that are very carnal
They don't often to consider the fact that hey, God knows what's happening right now and let's keep reading
He says when he hath tried me I shall come forth as
Gold notice the confidence that he has
saying, look, I know this trial is terrible, it sucks, it's not fun,
but I know that God understands what's happening right now, even if I don't fully understand it.
But here's what I do know. How does he know?
Well, from the Word of God, of course.
How does he know? He says,
that when he's tried me, I shall come forth as gold, my foot hath held his steps.
His way have I kept.
That's that breastplate of righteousness, right?
His way have I kept.
not declined. See the confidence he has? There's confidence to be had from
living a righteous life. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his
lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Let's
compare and contrast a couple cases here. Job who at the time that he was
alive the Bible says was the most righteous man that was living. Job goes
where all 10 of his children die.
Where he loses his wealth,
all of his money, all of his assets,
and to make everything worse,
he starts getting covered with these boils.
He loses his health.
Then his three friends are just
berating him over and over,
accusing him of being a wicked person,
saying basically, Job,
you deserve this, you asked for this.
Why are you being so prideful, Job?
Then on top of that,
the worst of everything is his wife nags him.
I mean, talk about making a man just want to kill himself is you just add that on top
of it.
But yet Job still was confident and still had faith in the Lord.
Why?
Well, because Job wasn't one of these people that just last minute as his life was falling
apart decides to get spiritual, he was spiritual way before that.
He put on the full armor of God way before that.
He started building his house on a rock on the Sher Foundation
way before the evil day.
And so even though he almost fell off,
there was times he was despairing of life,
there was times he was ready to give up,
Job stood in the evil day.
And it came from him preparing for a long time.
David stood in the evil day,
it came from him preparing for a long time.
Now let's contrast this with other people.
Here's most Christians, they don't go to church.
Or if they do go to church, it's on Easter and Christmas.
They don't read the Bible.
Maybe they get a verse of the day app that sends them a little notification on their phone.
Maybe they read a verse a day.
You know, they're not really being faithful to reading the Word of God.
They're not out preaching the gospel.
They're not soul winners.
They're not praying every day.
They're not leading their families spiritually and teaching them to follow the Lord.
But then the evil day will come because, like I said, the evil day is coming for you whether you're saved or unsaved or godly or wicked.
If you're a human being, that evil day is coming for you.
And so which person are you going to be?
Are you just going to leave it up to chance
that God will be extra merciful and extra gracious with you
and just decide to bail you out anyways?
God does that for people sometimes.
But is that really, you want to just leave that up to chance?
Because chances are, to whom much is given, of him much shall be required.
And I'm going to tell you right now, you are probably not that person.
If you're coming to this church, if you're hearing the word of God being preached,
if you read your Bible, you're probably not that person.
You're the person that's going to fall on the evil day and fall and crash and burn hard
So why don't you just say right now? Okay? The evil day is coming anyways
So I'm just gonna put on the armor of God now. I'm gonna build the house on the rock now
I'm gonna prepare for it now. That's the decision that you need to make today
Don't make that decision when the evil day comes make that decision today
Job or we're just in Job go back to 1 Samuel chapter number 30 1 Samuel chapter number 30
I didn't finish Job's quote here as you're turning back to 1 Samuel 30
Let me read for you first 25 says for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth
And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God
Whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reigns be consumed within me
Talk about confidence, talk about something to encourage yourself in the Lord with is the fact that hey
We're saved and no matter what we go through in this life
At least we know that someday we're gonna see our redeemer and we're gonna see him in our flesh
Because we're gonna be resurrected from the dead. We're getting new bodies. We're going to heaven. We can have confidence in that
verse 7 so remember David he
Encouraged himself in the Lord and says and David said to a by-thor the priest to him elect son. I pray thee
Bring me hither the ephod and a by-athar brought thither the ephod to David verse 8 says and David inquired at the Lord
saying shall I pursue after this troop shall I overtake them and he answered him pursue for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail
Recover all see David does the right thing here. He's been godly for many years the evil day comes
He doesn't quit he encourages himself in the Lord and on top of that
He seeks God and he inquires of the Lord
So you don't want to be the person where you're living a super wicked life and then the evil day comes
Oh, let me inquire of the Lord real quick
Know what you want is, be living a really godly life, and then when the evil day comes, also inquire of the Lord.
I'm not telling you don't call out to God and ask Him to save you in tough situations. Do that.
Do that no matter what, because that's the only hope you have.
But it's better to be living a godly life before that.
Stay there, James 5.13 says, is any among you afflicted? Let Him pray.
So you know that is the answer when you're going through affliction is to pray
But make sure that you're putting on that armor now make sure that you're building the house now verse 9 says
So David went he and the 600 men that were with him and came to the Brook B. Soar
where those that were left behind stayed.
But David pursued he and 400 men for 200 abode behind,
which were so faint that they could not go
over the brook besore.
So on top of this terrible situation that David's in,
where the women and children are all taken,
everything's gone,
and he's having to encourage himself, the people want to kill him, inquires of God,
saying, God, should I go pursue after this troop? God tells him yes. And as he's going,
a bunch of his men fall out because they're so faint and so just physically exhausted
that they literally cannot go anymore.
And, you know, this should just teach us that we should expect issues, expect setbacks,
expect problems, have low expectations of things turning out perfectly, just expect
everything to go haywire, and then you're going to be dealing with those situations
a lot better.
You know, you don't want to make plans for your life where it's like, if one little
thing of your perfect little fairy tale, you know, plan in your mind goes wrong that just
You know, just plan for the kids to get sick on your vacation.
I mean, don't you just love it.
Men, you men that work super hard, 60 hours a week,
70 hours a week, and you get a day off.
Wow.
Isn't that just nice when that happens every once in a while?
Or you get a vacation, you've been planning for so long,
and you go and it's just like vomit the whole time.
All the kids are throwing up.
and just everything's terrible and, you know, you lose your wallet and the car
breaks down, the tires flat, the dog dies. I mean, just, you know, you know, sometimes
we just have those days, right? We have those times. But, you know, you just got
to just, right now, just realize that life is just hard sometimes. Just things
that are gonna happen that are bad, that are outside of your control, and that's
what we talked about on Sunday, about just only focus on the things that you
Don't sit here and worry about the what if, what if, what if, because remember what if a bomb drops on your head as President Trump said, right?
That's a great quote.
You know, what if, you know, Putin breaks the agreement?
What if a bomb drops on your head right now?
That's a good way to live your life.
It is.
And, you know, it's like, all right, God, you told me to do this.
You told me to pursue after.
You told me to go to church.
You told me to go soul-winning.
Well, what if, you know, I go soul-winning and someone yells at you.
Expect them to yell at you.
Just expect it and then when it doesn't happen you're like wow that was easy that was so you know no problem smooth sailing
I mean that was great. Just expect things to go wrong have low expectations and then when things go, right?
You could just be extra happy
Extra excited and like you go on a vacation. You're like wait a sec. Were we all healthy that whole time?
Like, that's awesome.
That's great.
That's one for the books, right?
And you're going to have weeks like that too.
But don't have this expectation of life that everything's going to go perfect.
No.
Sometimes, even when you're doing what's right, even when God says, go pursue.
Go destroy these guys.
Things still will go wrong sometimes.
And just, we need to realize that as a church.
Like I don't have some sort of crystal ball that tells you.
Here's our 15 year growth plan.
You know, here's exactly where we're going to be in this part of town.
Let me tell you, I know about moving churches,
because when I worked at Steadfast,
we did it for three years in a row, didn't we?
Right?
We moved three times in three years.
We're having lawsuits, we're having protests,
we're having a hotel in church,
or I'm sorry, church in hotel conference rooms.
And let me tell you, we didn't have this grand master plan
of what steadfast church would look like in five years.
We're just thinking like, okay, let's book next week's hotel.
Okay, oh great, the protesters called that one
and got us canceled.
All right, life sucks, go to the next one, right?
But you'll see in this story that sometimes things change.
Look at verse number 11 says,
And they found an Egyptian in the field
and brought him to David and gave him bread.
And he did eat and they made him drink water.
So in the midst of David, he's having this struggle,
he's having this problem.
Now a bunch of his men are falling out.
Now all of a sudden there's this Egyptian guy
that comes into the story.
Verse 12 it says,
And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs
and two clusters of raisins.
And when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk
any water, three days and three nights.
And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou?
And whence art thou?
And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite.
And my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick."
We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherithites and upon the coast, which belonged
to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.
And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company?
That's what he wants, right?
He wants to find out where the enemy is.
And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me nor deliver me into
the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.
Notice how David, you know, he could have just sulked and just had a self-pity party
just felt hopeless or he could have just been focused so much on his problems
and his issues. He could have thrown up his hands and said man now a bunch of my
guys are too tired to go and fight. He could have just focused on himself,
focused on his problems. Yet here comes this random individual.
And David could have ignored this guy,
not cared about him, not paid him any attention,
but David actually showed him compassion,
showed him love, gave him food,
gave him water, kept this guy alive.
And when this interaction started,
there was nothing really in it for David.
right? David was just doing the right thing. Yet, sometimes in life, you'll realize that as you're going through a trial,
through a battle, through a dark time where you don't know where the end is,
you don't see the end in sight, oftentimes God will just give you a solution to your problems if you seek Him first.
If you do what's right, if you continue in the paths of righteousness and not just focus
on yourself, throw yourself a pity party, focus on your problems, focus on other people,
and in the midst of focusing on other people, David's solution came right to him.
This guy now is able to lead him to the enemies that he wants to go seek.
Would he have ever gotten that if David would have just brushed this guy off?
not cared, right? And here's the thing, in this story soon we're gonna see that
David does go and he does find the enemy and God does bless David, but it
happened through this man. It happened through David caring about other people
still.
And you know, Pastor Shelly and I, instead of
Baptist Church, we could have just been so focused on all of our problems and our hotel
issues and our lawsuits and our protests, and we could have just said, what was me?
Look at all these problems.
But you know what Pastor Shelly did as a leader?
He led the church to say, hey, let's still go soul winning.
Oh, we're in a hotel church.
Who cares?
Let's go preach the gospel still.
Hey, let's still make documentaries.
Let's still get people baptized.
Let's still have missions trips over the world.
Let's still love other people, and you know, through the midst of those trials, let me
tell you, we did not know what was going to happen.
We did not see an end in sight.
We did not see a solution.
We just said we just have to keep going.
We don't see the solution.
We don't know how this is going to end.
I don't know how this is going to get fixed.
That we were going to keep serving God no matter what, that we were still going to love and minister to other people no matter what.
And you know what happened is eventually God just opened a door for that church that we never expected and
God bless Verity Baptist Church gave just a ton of money to steadfast and enable them to buy a church building.
And you know that was unforeseen.
That's not something that we said. Oh, no worries because in exactly this amount of time
We're gonna be getting this and God's gonna bail us out of the situation. We didn't know that
But Pastor Shelley his leadership style was hey, we don't know but I know what we should be doing
We should be preaching the gospel. We should be having church. We should be serving God
We should be loving other people and you know when you focus on those things
Oftentimes God orchestrates things in your life to fix your problems to help you through your battles
Verse number 16 of 1 Samuel 30 says,
And when he had brought him down, behold,
they were spread abroad upon all the earth,
eating and drinking and dancing,
because of all the great spoil
that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines
and out of the land of Judah.
So the wicked here that had just taken
the wives and the children,
you know, David and his men, he goes to them
and he sees them and they're just partying.
They're having a great time, they're dancing, they're eating and drinking and making Mary.
And you know, sometimes Christians as well could look at the world, could look at wicked
people and wicked people oftentimes put on this illusion that their life is so wonderful.
that they're just having a big party.
And for some Christians, this actually causes Christians to get disillusioned
and to get discouraged, is when they themselves are living a good life,
they're following God's commandments, and they're going through struggles.
They're going through problems.
Yet sometimes they'll look at someone who's very wicked,
you know, Hollywood actors.
These real famous celebrities or something like that.
And it just looks like their life is one big party.
Looks like they're having fun. Looks like they're enjoying themselves, right?
Go to Psalm chapter 37. Psalm chapter number 37.
Here's what you have to realize is that it's a facade.
And even if there is any iota of superficial happiness,
I'm telling you, it's so on the surface. It's so fake.
It's not real. It's not lasting. It's not deep.
Fret not thyself because of evil doers.
Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
He's saying when you see wicked people,
Don't be envious of them.
Don't have a wicked thought within your heart saying,
man, I wish I had the life of this Hollywood actor.
Let me tell you, you don't wish you had their life
because if you had their life,
you would be sinning greatly against God
because I'm just gonna tell you, if you didn't know,
these Hollywood actors and celebrities
are not exactly following the Bible.
They're not exactly living clean lives.
They're often involved in all sorts of debauchery and wicked lifestyles,
so don't envy them.
Verse 2 says,
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
and wither as the green herb.
Trust in the Lord and do good.
So shalt thou dwell in the land,
and verily thou shalt be fed.
Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."
So he's trying to get us to have some perspective.
Don't envy the wicked.
Don't wish that you were like them.
Don't fret yourself because of evil doers.
Here's why, because they're going to be cut down like the grass.
The Bible says that our life is a vapor.
It's here one moment and it vanishes away and it's gone.
And someone could on the surface seem,
wow, they're living such a great life, they're so rich,
they have everything they could ever want.
But here's the thing, they die
and they spend eternity in a fiery hell.
And they spend all of eternity burning and suffering
and torment and anguish in outer darkness
where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth
and they're doing that.
One year then they're doing that the next year then they're doing that the next billion years and the next billion years after that
And the next billion years after that. Why would you ever be envious of those people?
I mean go ahead live it up
Have all the great luxuries and pleasures of this life you have fun if that means that I'm gonna go to hell though
Like if I can push a button
It's like have the greatest life all the money you could ever want but at the end of it you have to go to hell
Or, like, be the worst experience of human life in this existence.
Be born a paraplegic.
You know, get kicked every day, I don't know, just whatever you want to imagine, right?
Go through all this suffering and pain and torment in life.
But at the end, I go to heaven for all of eternity, I'm picking the second option every
single day.
Right?
So we don't want to be envious of them.
They're going to be cut down like the grass.
So keep that in mind.
Has this been turned off?
Okay, let's turn that off.
So keep that in mind that they're gonna be cut down soon.
He shows up, it looks like they're having fun,
looks like they're having a party,
but verse 17 says, and David smote them.
Boom, cut down like grass, from the twilight,
even unto the evening of the next day.
And they're escaped, not a man of them.
Save 400 young men, which rode upon camels and fled.
See, the Wicked, one day they're living it up.
They're living the dream, they're having fun,
they're drinking, they're eating, they're partying,
they're reveling, having this great time.
And then all of a sudden, boom, cut down like the grass.
David comes in, kills these guys,
and you know what, their party ended really quick,
didn't they?
So, how much sense would it make to look at the party and be like, oh man, it looks so much fun,
looks so wonderful. Boom. Lawn mower of life just cuts it off. It's like, well, that was over.
That wasn't really worth anything. Why was I sitting here being envious of that? You know, it's foolish.
And here's the thing. Verse 18 says, and David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away
When you're trying to serve the Lord, sometimes you're going to have struggles.
But other times, when you stay steadfast and when you continue through those struggles,
sometimes God blesses you in such an immense way that you could have never imagined.
I mean, this is an act of God here to where an enemy army takes all of your people.
You would expect even if you did rescue some of them you would expect there to be some casualties
You would have expect some of the women to have been ravished
You would have expect some of them to have been killed some of them to have suffered right, but David recovers all
I mean, that's amazing
Praise God for that and sometimes God when he sees you being faithful when he sees you being steadfast and you finally get through
The end of that trial sometimes he blesses you in ways that you just could not have even fathomed before
You know like like the building at steadfast Baptist Church never could have fathomed it so much above and beyond
What we were able to do yet God is exceeding able to do abundantly above
I'm not a misquote that verse above that we ask her thing. You know what I'm talking about, right?
It's just true, God can bless us in great ways.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 4, but also think about this aspect of this verse.
David made the decision to encourage himself in the Lord.
David made the decision to be steadfast, to do what was right, and as a result, all of
those people were saved.
You know where I'm going with this?
It is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of
them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image
of God, should shine unto them.
What would have happened if David would have quit?
My people are quitting. They're around me. They're they're too weak to go. I have less people to go now. You know what?
I'm just not gonna fight this battle. I'm not gonna keep going if he would have just given up
What would have happened none of those people would have been saved and
Let me tell you something as a Christian
God has given you the charge to fulfill the Great Commission
To go out into all the world and to preach the gospel to every creature
We have the gospel and the Bible says if our gospel is hid, it's hid to those that are lost.
And when a Christian quits, when a Christian decides, I'm not going to take the Bible seriously,
I'm not going to listen to the preaching that's telling me to go out and preach the gospel and be a soul winner,
let me just tell you the reality of what happens.
People go to hell who could have been saved, who could have gone to heaven if you had been a soul winner.
If you had taken it seriously, if you had encouraged yourself in the Lord and said,
hey, yeah, this is uncharted territory.
Yeah, I've never done it before, but you know what?
I trust in the Lord.
I know what the Bible says.
I'm going to trust in the Lord and do what he says.
Then you know what happens.
People get saved.
And you know, praise the Lord, so far this year,
our church has had over 100 salvations.
That's 100 souls that Jesus Christ died on the cross for
who are gonna spend eternity in heaven with him.
But what if we as a church just quit, just gave up,
just went home, just said, you know what,
let's not go soul winning.
There's 100 souls that would spend eternity in hell.
that could have been saved.
And it's like David's wives, David's kids,
all the family members of the rest of the men of that army.
Here they are in the grasp of the enemy's hand,
just like the world is in the devil's grasp,
walking according to the prince of this world, right?
Blinded, and we have an opportunity to rescue them.
We have an opportunity to save them,
but do you actually care enough?
Do you actually have the fortitude to be steadfast, to endure the challenges of life, to be able to encourage yourself in the Lord and not just go soul-winning one time in your life?
One Saturday I went soul-winning, but to actually become a soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ and go out and battle week after week after week for decades.
Someone that does that, you know what's going to happen? They're going to save a lot of people.
And, you know, people could look at our church and say,
wow, you know, you guys aren't that big of a church.
But let me tell you what happens when a church stays steadfast
and does what's right over a long period of time
is that this church is going to get thousands
and thousands of people saved.
Let me tell you, it hasn't even happened yet.
I'm telling you right now,
Anchor Baptist Church will get multitudes
of thousands of people saved.
Why? Because God's commanded us to go. God wants people to get to get saved. I want people to get saved.
I'm gonna be steadfast. You're gonna be steadfast, I hope. And when that happens, the recipe is salvation.
The recipe is thousands of people are gonna get saved. And yeah, you know, we only have a hundred so far this year.
But what happens when we actually stick with it through the battles, through the trials, encourage ourself in the Lord?
And what's those numbers gonna look like 20 years from now?
15 years from now, 50 years from now.
You know, lots of lots of people will get saved,
but you know what's going to happen is if you remain steadfast,
if you put on the full armor of God,
if you encourage yourself in the Lord,
and you actually stay with it.
Verse 19.
1 Samuel chapter 30, and there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great,
neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that they had taken to them.
David recovered all.
Amazing.
Verse 20, and David took all the flocks and the herds, which they draved before those
other cattle and said, this is David's spoil.
See, you know, there's ups and downs in the Christian life.
There's battles, there's struggles, there's pain, there's problems, but then there's
days where you get the spoil.
Then there's days where things are just going great.
And, you know, I don't know about you, but I have a lot of those days.
I have days where I'm just like, thank you, God, for this amazing life.
Lord, thank you for my family.
Thank you for the state of Oklahoma.
Thank you for our Acre Baptist Church.
Thank you for my job.
Thank you for the great weather.
Wow, God is so good to us and of course the Lord's good to us all the time, but I'm just saying some days
It's just like, you know, there wasn't really a battle today
You know, the government wasn't hunting me down like our brothers in Germany have been dealing with, you know
We've had one protester big deal. A lot of days were coming in. It's peaceful
Right some days man, it just feels like you're getting the spoils verse 21
David came to the 200 men, which were so faint that they could not follow David whom they had made also to abide at the
Brook B. Sore and they went forth to meet David and to meet the people that were with them
And when David came near to the people he saluted them
So these people that were really tired and faint and they couldn't fight
They come, they meet David, and David's attitude towards them is he greets them, he salutes them.
You know, he's happy to see them, but look at this attitude in verse 22.
Then answer, notice, all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David.
By the way, there's usually men of Belial infiltrated amongst God's people.
And said, because they went not with us, we will not give them out of the spoil that we have recovered.
Saved to every man his wife and his children that they may lead them away and
Depart go to Proverbs chapter number six Proverbs chapter number six now. Here's the thing
These wicked men here these children of Belial have a terrible terrible attitude because here's the truth is that they're
Fellow countrymen here, it's not that they didn't go to the battle because they were too scared. It's that they were literally
physically exhausted. Like you know the human body could actually like pass certain limitations to where you're just exhausted, right?
That's where these people were at. So it's not like they didn't care about the battle.
I mean they lost their wives and kids too. They're wanting to win the victory just as much as everyone else is,
but they literally could not go and on top of that, it's not like they were serving no purpose because they were staying with the stuff.
Think about it if someone had been performing this task before all the women and children were taken
They wouldn't have been able to take the women and children if there was an army there staying with the stuff, right?
I mean you got to bind the good man of the house first, right?
So these people staying by the stuff is actually serving a purpose yet these wicked men they want to be greedy with the spoil
David he sees someone in need he helps him gives them food and water the wicked men they get the spoil
And they just want to keep it all to themselves
And they want to cause division while doing it.
Verse 16 of Proverbs 6 says,
these six things that the Lord hate,
yea, seven are an abomination unto him,
a proud look, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
in heart that devises wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief,
a false witness that speaketh lies,
notice, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Notice how the Bible said in 1 Samuel 30 that these were the wicked men?
and the men of Belial and what were they doing?
Sewing discord, causing division,
causing an us versus them mentality
amongst their fellow countrymen,
their fellow soldiers who they were on the same team as,
trying to cause a wedge to be driven between them.
David's receiving them.
David's saying, hey, we're on the same side.
The wicked are the ones that cause division.
And thank the Lord,
we don't have this issue in our church right now,
but it bears repeating often.
that if someone comes in this church
and they want to take you aside
and talk crap about our church,
talk crap about me,
talk crap about our doctrine,
that is a wicked person.
And let me tell you this,
that may even be a child of the devil.
That may even be a Judas,
reprobate.
Why? Because it's the children of the devil
and it's the wicked that want to cause division
amongst God's people.
You know, he that love it, seeketh peace.
Right and we are for peace obviously, but there's going to be people that hate the Lord that hate the work of God
That want to come into a church and destroy what's going on there
And they're going to do it by division go to acts chapter number 20 acts chapter number 20
We need to make sure that at our church we have a spirit of teamwork
You know that we're on the same side that we want the same things accomplished, you know,
contrary to what the world tells you, diversity is not our strength.
Yeah, having diversity of skills, that's a strength.
Having diversity of desired outcome is not a strength.
Like, I want the Great Commission to be fulfilled.
And if you are not on that program, we don't want you.
I want the Word of God to be spread out into the world.
I want the Word of God to be preached.
And if you don't share that vision, you're not going to fit in here.
We're not going to have unity.
Acts 2 verse 28, take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood, for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter
in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples
that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone day, night, and day with tears.
I mean, the Apostle Paul was so concerned about this threat of wicked people rising up even
from among our own selves, trying to cause division, trying to heap people to themselves
and cause little, you know, factions within the church that the Apostle Paul warned day
and night about this for three years.
So you know, as the Apostle Paul warned you, so I warn you now, watch out for people sowing
division.
Watch out for people sewing discord in this church.
And like I said, thank God we don't have this problem.
Our church is very unified.
Our church is doing great.
We're getting lots of people saved.
We've had four first time visitors, four weeks in a row.
You know, praise the Lord, our church is doing well.
But I'm just telling you, as things go on,
there's gonna be people rising up,
trying to infiltrate, trying to do wicked things.
And notice the motivation of these people.
If you'll go to Romans chapter number 16.
Romans chapter number 16.
One of the things that I love about the Bible,
and I'm going to preach a whole sermon about this on Sunday,
is that the Bible not only tells you what people do,
it not only defines what human beings do,
but it also tells you why they do things.
You know, the Bible talks about how the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword.
Actually, keep your finger in Romans 16 and also flip to Hebrews chapter 4.
This verse is too good. I want to make sure that it's word perfect for you guys.
And we'll talk about this a lot more on Sunday, of course, but Hebrews chapter 4.
It says in verse 12,
for the word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit
and of the joints and marrow
and is notice a discerner of the thoughts
and intense of the heart.
So the Bible is gonna define to you
what you're thinking, what you're doing
and the motivation that you have behind that, okay?
Now with that in mind, look at Romans 16,
I told you to keep your place there.
It says, now I beseech you brethren, mark them
which cause divisions
and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies.
And by good words and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple.
Here's what people do.
When they cause division, when they quit a church and they act like,
oh, we're good, we're leaving amicably, we're leaving on good terms.
And then you find out that they're talking crap to everyone behind your back.
They're on little texting campaigns, talking crap about the pastor.
This is what they'll do.
They'll act like they're so sweet, they're so syrupy, they're so loving.
In fact, they'll usually criticize the church that they left.
They weren't loving enough.
You know, I miss the old IFB, where when someone was backslidden
and about to quit a church, the pastor would run after me
and just try to get me to stay.
Just like, dude, I don't want to do that.
You know, that sounds like pretty gay, if you ask me.
You know, if you want to leave, go ahead and leave.
How about that?
I want people that want to be here.
Oh, you know, you think that Anchor Baptist Church is so bad,
is so terrible, and so hateful.
OK, bye.
You're wrong, but you know have fun. Have a good life. Enjoy the old IFP. I don't care. Just go serve God
Right, but this is what they'll do like oh, man
You know, I'm just such a loving person
I just care so much about the truth and I just I really care about the direction of the church and I just care about
Righteousness and I just care that the church is standing up for what's right and you know preaching what's right
You know what they'll do they have all these fair speeches that deceive the hearts of the simple
What does that mean stupid?
stupid people are deceived by people that in the midst of sowing division in the
midst of texting people oh pastor Dylan Oz is a piece of beep to all of his
friends and family members in the midst as as they're texting people like that
they'll say oh man there wasn't enough love at this church
Let me tell you, I'm just so concerned about the truth and so concerned about the Word of God being preached correctly.
It's like, okay, why don't we actually just look at your actions and say, look, this person's causing division.
I could tell you the intent of their heart.
Not based on my own opinion, not based on my human reasoning and logic, but because the Bible says that people that cause division serve not our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, don't sit here and tell me, oh, I'm just so concerned about the work of God, so concerned
about the right doctrine, I'm so concerned about being a loving church.
No, no, no, no, you don't serve Jesus Christ.
You know how I know that?
Because you're causing division.
You know what I know about you?
Is that you're serving your own belly.
your own lusts, your own interests, your own self gratification, you want to heap teachers,
you know, come into you and have all these little factions and clicks, and you want to have those
special doctrines that you whisper to people about, that you don't tell the pastor about,
and you want to have these little secret groups where you talk crap about the pastor,
I'm just telling you, like, I know for a fact the intentions of that person's heart.
And you can too, because of what the Bible says.
So, here you have these wicked men in 1 Samuel chapter 30.
The Bible says that they were causing division.
They were trying to have an us versus them mentality.
These people didn't go fight.
We're not going to share the spoils with them.
What did the Bible call those people?
Wicked men and men of Belial.
So you could look at someone's actions and you could say, wow, this fits with what the
Bible says.
Hey, you're wicked.
No, you're not loving. No, you're not concerned about the work of God because if you were you wouldn't be trying to destroy good churches
You wouldn't be trying to destroy good pastors
You wouldn't be trying to sow division amongst God's people and I'm just telling you lest you be one of these simple people
That are deceived by the fair speeches. No, look at their actions. Go back to first Samuel chapter 30
First Samuel chapter number 30
Well, that wasn't in my notes.
Verse number 23 says, then said David,
ye shall not do so, my brethren,
with that which the Lord hath given us,
who hath preserved us and delivered the company
that came against us into our hand,
for who will hearken unto you in this matter?
But as his part is that goeth down to the battle,
so shall his part be that tarryeth by the stuff,
they shall part alike.
You know, we have to have this mentality,
like I said in church, of teamwork.
that hey, not all of us have the same job in church.
We don't all serve the same function.
And quite frankly, there's not gonna be a church
that exists in the world
where every single person does
the exact same amount of work.
There's going to be some people in the church that contribute a lot more in a lot of different areas than other people.
Here's the thing, I'm not going to start just looking down though on people that aren't on the same spiritual level as the guy who's been saved for a decade, two decades.
Right? We're all on the same team. We all serve an important function.
We all have a lot riding on us continuing serving God.
Because here's the thing, if you quit all the people that you could have gotten saved,
I mean, now it's going to take double the work to get them, right?
Those opportunities are not going to be there oftentimes.
You know, every single person in our church serves an important role.
And don't ever look down on one group.
Don't be like, and I'm not saying we have this attitude,
but don't be like, a single guy, we go soul winning every day.
It's like, yeah, bro, when I was a single guy,
I went soul winning every day too.
But I have this thing called a wife now, and kids,
and all these responsibilities.
And I'm not doing as much soul winning as the single guys,
and that's OK.
And I'm saying this attitude does not exist here,
so I'm not picking on you guys.
But that would be weird, right?
That would be so weird for like one fact should be like,
oh, I'm doing so much more than you.
Or it's like, I'm a single guy.
Yeah, I go so many every day.
What are you pregnant women doing, huh?
You pregnant women need to get up to my level
and go out so many every single day in the 100 degree
heat and the negative 30 temperatures.
You guys are so weak.
It's like, that's so stupid, right?
Hey, sometimes people are going to be tearing by the stuff.
Sometimes people are going to be going out to war,
but we're on the same team.
As long as we're not causing division, right, we're on the same team.
And the people that are tearing by the stuff are serving an important role.
I don't know about you, but I think that we need to be fruitful and multiply, right?
Hey, we need some pregnant ladies around here to bring forth the next generation of Christians.
I'm not going to look down on them because they're not going soul-winning as much as
single guys.
Like, that's ridiculous, right?
But look, these attitudes exist out in the world.
We don't want to have it.
Verse 25 says, and it was so from that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.
When David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah,
even to his friends, saying, behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.
Now, we're wrapping up pretty quick, but think about this.
A few chapters ago, David and his men came up to Nabal and his servants and they were
dead broke, right?
They're just in the wilderness, running from Saul and he's like, hey, Nabal, just give
us some of your stuff, like he's basically asking for a favor.
Now David, he's got the spoil, right?
He's got the money, he's got the assets now, he's got the animals.
But the first thing that he does when he gets the spoils is he's generous to other people.
He gives a present.
You know, that's a good leader right there.
Someone that's not always just concerned about themselves
and it's like, oh yes, finally, I'm comfortable now.
Oh, finally, I've got the money now.
I've got it.
No, it's just like he gets the payday
and immediately he's just like wanting to bless other people.
You know, that's a great leader.
That's a great example.
Verse 27, to them which were in Bethel,
and to them which were in South Raymoth,
and to them which were in Jeteer,
and to them which were in Arora,
and to them which were in Sifmoth,
and to them which were in Eshtimoa,
And to them which were in the cities of the Jermulites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites,
and to them which were in Horma, and to them which were in Toreshan, and to them which were in Athak,
and to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were want to haunt.
We'll finish in Proverbs chapter number 11.
Proverbs 11, this will be the last place that we go to.
Proverbs chapter 11 and then I'll read one more verse for you guys Proverbs chapter 11 verse 24
Says there is that scattereth and yet increase it and there is that withholdeth more than his meat
But it tendeth to poverty the liberal soul shall be made fat
And he that watereth shall be watered also himself
You know, David went from being broke for a really long time, struggling, being on the run to all of the sudden having this great income, having these great blessings.
And as we saw, he was considered of other people. He was liberal with his money, not politics liberal, but liberal as in giving, right, to other people.
And we see David in his life being a very blessed man, right? I mean, he's king.
He's respected and followed by everyone.
He's feared by the enemies of God.
He's got plenty of ladies, okay?
Polygamy's a bad idea.
He didn't struggle with finding ladies
or anything like that, right?
So David, he has a lot of things going for him in his life,
but he wasn't a selfish person.
He wasn't just hoarding things onto himself.
I just want all the blessing.
He was liberal to other people,
and then he also was blessed.
That's how it works.
We'll close in this verse.
I'll read for you.
Matthew 619 says,
where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
for where your treasure is, there will your heart be.
Also, let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you for this chapter.
Thank you for first Samuel.
I just pray that you would help us all, Lord,
to settle it in our hearts now
that we're gonna start today building our house
on the rock, that we're gonna start putting
on the full armor of God
and preparing and training for the evil day that's coming.
I just pray that you help all of us
to be serious about the things of God.
I pray that you help us all to be willing to fight for our wives and kids, to be willing
to save the lost.
And I pray that you would help us to always be considerate, loving and caring about other
people in the process.
In Jesus' name we pray.
All right, at this time, we'll go to our last hymn for the evening.
If you'll grab a hymnal, turn to number 260.
He is able to deliver the hymn number 260-260.
He is able to deliver the hymn.
We'll sing there, 260 on the first.
Is the grandest theme through the ages rung?
Is the grandest theme for a mortal tongue?
Is the grandest theme that the world?
It's the Prince
To the guilty heart, to the sinful soul, put to God.
already spiced.