🎵Music🎵
…fast Baptist Church, if you could please find your seats and grab your song books.
We're going to start this evening by singing 423, Joy to the World.
423, Joy to the World.
Song 423, Joy to the World.
Sing it with me.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King.
Let earth be gone, with care of the world.
Let heaven and nature sing.
Let heaven and earth receive her King.
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns.
Let heaven resolve to mourn.
Let earth receive her King.
Let heaven resolve to mourn.
Let earth receive her King.
The Lord is the best of men.
He comes to make his blessings known.
For as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace.
And gives the nations proof.
The glories of his righteousness.
And wonders of his love.
And wonders, wonders of his love.
All right, let's open up in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening.
Thank you for the opportunity to be gathered in your house.
Just pray that you bless this time as we sing praises to your name.
Help us to sing out with love and understanding in our hearts.
We love you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, for our second song, let's go to 421, the first Noel.
421, the first Noel.
The first Noel.
The angel did say.
What's to serve him?
For shepherds in fields where they lay.
In fields where they lay.
When he gave their sheep.
For cold winters night.
That was so deep.
Noel, Noel.
For it's the King of Israel.
And by the light.
Of that same star.
We fight in the country far.
To seek for him.
Was there intent.
And to follow the star.
Wherever it went.
Noel, Noel.
For it's the King of Israel.
We fight in the country far.
To seek for him.
For it's the King of Israel.
We fight in the country far.
For it's the King of Israel.
We fight in the country far.
Wherever it went.
Where Jesus lay.
Noel, Noel.
For it's the King of Israel.
We fight in the country far.
For ever it be upon me.
Where God prepared.
Where he is present.
Where all and earth and land exist.
Noel, Noel.
For it's the King of Israel.
Good evening. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you did not get a bulletin and you would like one,
please lift your hand up real quick and one of our ushers can come by and get you a bulletin.
We have verse 13 of Proverbs 31 that we're working on as far as Bible memory.
On the inside is our service soul winning times.
If you do have any church stats, please submit those to your soul winning captains and lieutenants.
That way we can update.
Also, please be in prayer for expecting ladies.
We still have several ladies who are praying for.
We also have a prayer list if you've been in prayer for our church family there.
If you'd like to be added to the prayer list, just send us an email
and we'll try to get you updated into our next prayer request list.
Also, on the back is the note about the upcoming events.
The 24th is the cookie bake off and it's after our evening service.
Since it is December 24th, we're going to just alter our schedule just a little bit.
So we'll probably just do what we did for the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship.
Similarly, where we just take our 5.30 service and we just go to the 4.30
and we just temporarily suspend the Spanish service.
That way we can get out here a little sooner.
Especially since we're having cookies because obviously some parents may not mind,
but a lot of us don't necessarily want our kids to only have cookies for dinner.
Of course, we'll have some cookies and then we can go out and still have a reasonable hour.
We'll just have our evening service at 4.30 on the 24th
and then we'll have our cookie fellowship right after.
So just FYI.
Also, the 31st is our New Year's Eve party.
And then we have the congratulations on just, it's a boy party, right?
On the birth of Micah Lee Connor and on the birth of Axel Scott.
So congratulations to both those families.
One other note, just as a friendly reminder, we do have the Spanish service
and we want to treat that with some respect.
And so if you are coming in to service a little early
and they're still having Spanish service,
if you would please either, you can come in and just sit quietly
or if you want to talk, talk outside.
But try not to just talk in the hallway and stuff
just because since we're in such a small space, it's easily distracting
and we want to be respectful of our Spanish preachers and our Spanish service.
And so if you are coming and they're still having service,
just please, if you don't mind, just be respectful of that.
If people want to talk, of course, have a fellowship outside
or anything like that.
There's nothing wrong with being in here, especially if weather,
you know, is kind of cold or something,
but please just do be respectful of their services for us.
And that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements.
We're going to go ahead and sing our Psalm of the Week,
Psalm 150.
It's in our separate handouts.
So if you want to use that, that's the best.
You can still use the King James Bible if you need to.
Psalm 150.
Brother Dylan is going to lead us.
All right, Psalm 150.
Praise him!
As the offering plates are being passed around, please turn in your bibles to Exodus 32, Exodus Chapter 32.
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
They want to have this false god, because they want to play.
And they're playing, it's not like they got out the chessboard
and they're, you know, strategizing or something.
The Bible says that they were dancing.
They were dancing and they rose up to play, insinuating
they have a proclivity for sin, they want to sin,
they want to start their own little nightclub out there in the wilderness,
and essentially they know that Moses isn't going to tolerate it,
but hey, once we get the false gods in here, oh yeah,
now we can just start kind of doing our own thing,
we're going to bring in the music, we're going to bring in the dancing,
we're going to bring in all the other stuff that comes with that,
and so they have a very selfish ambition.
They're not asking Aaron to make gods because they care for other people,
because they want to do some charitable work,
because they're concerned for others.
They're doing it out of a selfish ambition to satisfy their own lusts, okay?
So that is the essence of my sermon.
Now, hey, if you're going to preach a five-minute sermon, there you go.
There's an example of how you preach a five-minute sermon.
Now, because I have a little bit more time, we'll dive in
and we'll go ahead and give you a few other verses.
You know, some people think that I can't preach a five-minute sermon.
I can, all right?
Go over to Psalms 37, let's go to Psalm 37,
and I'll explain the first point.
Let's talk about being impatient.
So many people are impatient, and, you know, it's funny.
There was a men's preaching class,
and we were giving them like five minutes or ten minutes,
and I wasn't there, so I wasn't necessarily leading the preaching class,
but some guy preached for like 40 minutes,
and it's like, okay, look,
we get that you want to preach a long sermon
and like you're real excited or whatever,
but, you know, you don't have to be so impatient
to get your opportunity to preach a long sermon
that when you get a five-minute sermon, you preach for 40 minutes, okay?
If you get a five-minute sermon opportunity,
you know what you should do?
Preach for five minutes, not preach for 40 minutes.
That's just like being super impatient, right?
And taking advantage of lower-level leadership,
lower-authority-type people.
This happened even when I was at Faithful Word.
Sometimes Pastor Anderson wasn't in there in the preaching class,
and I kind of helped facilitate it,
but I wasn't really a leader.
I wasn't necessarily in charge of anybody.
I'm just kind of like helping it go along.
And some people would just totally take advantage
of the fact that Pastor Anderson's not there and preach for 20 minutes
or preach all kinds of weird stuff,
and you're just thinking like, you know,
it's just not respectful when the leader's away
to just take advantage of that
and to be impatient and to just do your own thing.
Hey, if things aren't going on your timeline,
you know what, get over it.
Because the Bible says over and over for us to be patient,
and we're supposed to wait on the Lord and wait on things.
You're not the leader, so you don't understand, necessarily,
why things take longer or maybe why things are waiting.
It's pretty important that Moses spends all the time
that he's spending up in the mountain with the Lord.
Like, we don't want to rush that.
We don't want to rush the Lord
who's writing the Ten Commandments with his own finger.
We don't need to rush that.
Now, it would be interesting,
I don't know how these people explain this,
but how did God write the Ten Commandments with his own finger
when he doesn't even have a body?
But, you know, those people just will never figure that out, right?
But the Bible tells us that God is communing with Moses,
they're having a special time, they're doing their thing.
And, of course, if Moses is spending that time with God,
can he cater to everybody's needs at that moment?
No.
Can he do everything that they want out of him?
No.
But is it wrong for Moses to be spending that time with the Lord?
So, just because it doesn't meet your expectations
or your goals or your schedule doesn't mean it's wrong.
Maybe you're the one that has a bad schedule.
Maybe you're the one that has the wrong expectations.
You know, it's really important for the men of God
to have their time with the Lord
and to do things on the Lord's schedule
because, frankly speaking,
now they're going to end up wandering the wilderness for 40 years
when they could have just walked in at the right timing.
But they were too impatient, weren't they?
Hey, if you just hold your horses and just do what the Lord wants,
in a few weeks we'll be in the Promised Land.
But instead, now they're going to wander the wilderness for 40 years.
Didn't really work out, did it?
They tried to rush it, they tried to get impatient with it,
and you know what, they made a huge mistake.
People do this in their lives.
Young people will sometimes get very impatient with their lives
and they try to rush their lives.
They get upset about things not being on the exact timetable that they want
and they say, well, I need a bigger house, a bigger car.
They start getting credit card debt.
They start making risky life decisions to try and get ahead.
And instead of just being patient, they end up destroying themselves,
getting taken advantage of, or, frankly speaking,
they rack up all the student loan debt that we now have to pay for.
So thank you for that.
But at the end of the day, we should be patient
because, you know, they're also going to have to pay for that.
They are going to have to pay for that.
The student loan forgiveness is a joke because, guess what,
they still have to pay for it.
We all have to pay for it.
It's just more inflation.
Oh, your student loans got forgiven, but guess what?
The price of buying a new house just went up again, too.
And the price of buying food just went up.
And your rent just went up.
So, wow, I'm so glad that your student loans got paid off.
That doesn't really benefit.
You know, it's not like when these things get forgiven
that they really get forgiven.
All it's just saying is that America keeps buying it.
America keeps paying for it.
You and I have to keep paying for everything that the government is doing.
You know, it's really, they're trying to just kind of
pull the wool over your eyes a little bit
on how the government manages our country,
but they keep putting the burden on us
and extracting the wealth from us.
That's a different sermon.
Sorry, I'm getting a little bit upset about the government, right?
It's easy to do.
You know what we have to do, though?
Sometimes we just have to be patient with our wicked government
and allow the Lord to take care of them in His timing.
And I can tell you, I can get impatient with them fast, okay?
But at the end of the day, you know, you could be like,
Lord, when are you coming, right?
I mean, you kind of get upset, like,
how long are you going to let this happen?
Or how long is it America going to be like this?
How long is Joe Biden going to live?
How long is George Soros going to live?
I mean, you're just like, man, how long is Hillary Clinton going to live?
I mean, sometimes you just kind of,
it's easy to get impatient and not to see what's going on.
Even in our situations, we've had opportunities to be impatient.
And this is what happens.
A lot of times people won't complain to me in our situations,
but they complain to other people.
You know, probably the number one, really it's kind of shared,
it's kind of between my wife or probably brother Dylan,
but between those two, boy, that's where a lot of the conversation
gets aimed at or talked at.
But even other people, whether it be our ushers,
soul-winning leaders, just other people, even just friends,
sometimes people get really impatient, and so they'll go up to one of them
and they'll be like, when are we going to get a new building?
Boy, if I had a dollar for every time someone asked that question,
we would have had a nice building by now, okay?
But it was just like, man, especially when we were going through
a lot of the hotel church and a lot of the other situations.
Again, I don't want to necessarily get mad at people
when we're going through that because I get it,
but we're not going through that right now,
so we're going to get on people for a little bit, okay?
And here's the reality, that's annoying, that's annoying.
And it's like, oh, you don't think that Pastor Shelley is concerned with that?
You don't think that Pastor Shelley has even considered the idea of getting a building?
Sometimes people are like, have you ever thought about buying a building?
Whoa, you're a genius.
We should hire you on staff.
It's like, what are you talking about?
It's like, yeah, but they'll just go around to all these other people
and they're just like, oh, man, Pastor Shelley's taking a long time
to figure out the building situation.
It's just like, dude, seriously?
I mean, I probably looked at thousands and thousands of properties.
I went and looked at all kinds of places.
When we ever even bought this building,
I think I filled out like 18 to 19 financial applications,
like loan applications, and these things are intense,
filling these things out, talking to banks,
providing them every single document you could ever imagine,
plus more than I could even imagine.
I mean, it's like a long process.
It takes a lot of work, and people are just like,
I need to just buy a building.
People that are renting that have never owned anything in their life
who have no idea what it's like to buy something,
let alone a commercial property, and then it's just like,
that's annoying.
Now, this is what's funny, though.
No one asked me that, really.
They just ask other people, okay?
They go find Aaron, and they go complain to Aaron,
or they're impatient to Aaron, or they're asking.
It's like, Aaron can't get the building anyways.
Why are you asking Aaron about that?
Right?
But then you have to ask yourself, if you're that Aaron,
why is this person talking to me like this?
Why are they being impatient to me?
That's a bad sign, because sometimes it's putting animosity
towards the leadership or towards the pastor,
and maybe it's not even purposeful.
You know what?
It's just a bad attitude.
Don't be impatient with the leadership.
When's the next documentary?
Well, you know what?
When's the next time that you're going to give me some more money?
Like, when's the last time you paid for a documentary, right?
It must be nice to have free documentary.
You're like, when are we going to go to the movies
and watch another documentary, Pastor Shelley?
I don't know.
First.
First?
Okay.
People just get so entitled,
and they get so impatient about everything,
and they can't even enjoy what they had.
When's the next Bahamas trip?
Well, go ahead and give us 50 grand, and we'll talk, okay?
But it's just like, people, they just want to go around,
and they're just so impatient with leadership.
When's the next event?
When's the next trip?
When's the next documentary?
Where's the next building?
Hey, Pastor Shelley, the park is a little tight out there.
Oh, really?
Shocker.
It's just so funny how people just get so impatient,
and most of it doesn't even come to me personally.
It's to the lower leadership,
and they can't do anything about it anyways.
And you know what?
Complaining like that, being impatient like that
is not a godly attribute.
We should not be like that.
You know what we should be like?
I'm sorry, Psalm 37, verse 7.
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.
Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way,
because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
You know, when we were going through a lot of protests
and a lot of that heat,
it'd be real easy to get impatient with the Lord,
but look where we are now.
Wasn't it nice to just rest and just wait on the Lord
and say, hey, somehow the Lord's going to make this work.
Somehow the Lord's going to bring us through.
Somehow they're going to get discouraged and walk away.
Somehow all the devices and all the works
and all the complaining and all the things that they've done
are just going to come to naught and no one's going to care
and they're going to be so discouraged
and the Lord's going to deliver us.
You know what?
It just takes that patience.
It just takes that patience of just waiting on the Lord,
just trusting in him.
Go to Ecclesiastes, chapter number seven.
Don't go find Aaron and complain to him.
Don't go find Aaron and get impatient with him.
You know, it's like, hey, brother Ben,
where's the Daniel series?
Okay, he's working on it, folks, okay?
It's about to come out, all right?
We're excited, okay?
Don't go find him.
He's like volunteering and just giving of his free time
and effort and energy to make something really great
for you to watch and then you get impatient.
It's like when are you going to volunteer
to do something like that?
When are you going to put in all the extra effort and energy?
You know, instead of just being so concerned with yourself
and watching whatever you want,
why don't you, you know, stop complaining
and find something to do?
Why don't you make something happen?
And it's just so frustrating how people,
they just get so wrapped up in themselves
and their own interests,
and then they go complain to everybody else about everything.
You know, that makes a bad church.
And I don't care if you never come back to this church.
Don't ask the next Aaron either.
If you go to another church or you move
or you go to some other place,
don't be like this to people.
Don't go around complaining and being impatient
and finding lower level people to be like,
oh, yeah, where's Pastor Shelley?
What's going on with Pastor Shelley?
What is he doing?
Why is it taking so long?
I mean, if we got so many people staying in the Bahamas,
why don't we just go there every week?
That's ridiculous.
And you know what?
No one's stopping you from going there whenever you want.
I don't open and close the border to the Bahamas.
I don't know if you know this.
You don't have to get a passport with Pastor Shelley,
okay?
You know, you can go there whenever you want.
I will never stop you.
I'll be like, go.
I'll pray for you.
How about that, okay?
But it's just so funny how people,
they're just so quick to just,
when are we going to do this?
When are we going to have that?
It's like, why don't you do something with your life
instead of just always waiting for other people
to do something for you?
You don't have to get so impatient about everything.
Maybe Moses is doing something important
that you don't know about.
Maybe the pastor or the leadership
or whoever in your life,
maybe even your boss at work.
This applies to every area of your life, folks.
Maybe sometimes you get frustrated
with the leadership at your work
or with your CEO or with your manager
or with your boss and you kind of wonder,
like, why aren't we doing more
or when's the next area?
When am I going to get promoted?
The first attitude you can have
is when you're just constantly being impatient,
going around to be like,
when am I going to get promoted?
What's going on with the company?
When are we going to go do this?
When are we going to have this event?
And you just keep asking all these questions.
It really just rubs people the wrong way.
Just be patient with the leadership.
Be patient with your family.
Hey, kiddos, when y'all are taking a long car ride,
be patient with your parents on getting there.
If you're driving to Canada,
don't ask five minutes later, are we there yet?
Okay?
You got to be patient and just let them get there.
I guarantee your dad wants to get there
sooner than you do, okay?
He's already done with the car drive, all right?
But isn't it just so annoying
when people just constantly pester,
like, oh, why is this taking so long?
Why are we doing this?
It really just destroys the work of God
when you're just being impatient about everything.
Look what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7, verse 8.
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.
And the patient in spirit
is better than the proud in spirit.
Notice what we should strive for
is not to be proud, but to be patient.
We should strive to be patient in spirit.
I want to go to one more place.
Go to Luke 21 in the New Testament.
Luke 21.
Patience is not a skill that people have automatically.
It is something that we have to work on.
It's something that you have to strive for
and you have to consider.
And I would even argue that being patient,
I think that some people have a misconception
about how life works,
and they kind of think that people that do right
or do good or exhibit good characteristics,
it's easy for them, automatic or natural.
And what I mean by that is they think,
oh, this person's really patient.
Like, they're a really patient person.
It must be easy for them.
But that's not necessarily true.
Patience isn't like, I'm just naturally patient.
It's choosing to be patient even though you're not.
There's going to be plenty of times
where I am very impatient internally,
and I have to say, you know what,
I'm just not going to say anything.
I'm not going to think about it.
I'm going to have to change my attitude and my mind
because right now I don't want to have patience,
and I'm honestly not patient.
I would almost argue that I'm possibly
the most impatient person internally that lives,
like, is anywhere.
Like, almost everything bothers me,
and I mean it in the most literal way.
Like, when I'm driving, I'm really mad
at every other person on the road.
Like, just every move, I'm just thinking,
go, get out of the way, why'd you do that?
I just, like, that's me internally.
But when I'm driving, I'm not sitting there saying all that.
You know, just like, yeah, whatever.
You know, hey, how's it going?
Yeah, I like that person.
No, of course I'm not trying to be fake.
I'm just trying to be patient, okay?
When I get in a line somewhere and the person's just like,
yeah, I don't know what I want to order.
I know I've been standing here for 15 minutes,
but I just, it's like the first time
I'm looking at the menu.
What do you think?
Should I get on wheat?
What's wheat like?
Yeah.
How much mayonnaise is on there?
It's like, order, order, get out of the way.
You know, that's how I feel.
I literally, in my mind, play Grand Theft Auto
when cars drive by where I'm, like, thinking, like,
I wish I had a bazooka and I could just shoot it at that car.
You know?
I'm, like, saying, this is how I feel inside, okay?
There are so many people that irritate the fire out of me.
When someone is speaking
and they just can't even speak quickly,
I'm thinking, like, today, junior.
Get it out.
Why are you wasting my time?
I don't care about these details.
This is what I'm saying inside, okay?
People are gonna think of me differently now, okay?
I'm just trying to tell you,
inside, I am, like, the most impatient person
that probably exists.
I mean, it drives me insane
just how long it takes my kids to get out of the car,
and it may only be even just, like, 10 seconds or whatever,
but it feels like two hours,
and I'm just thinking, like, get out of the car!
Get out of the car!
Sometimes I say that, okay?
I'll just be honest, right?
But I'm just really, really, really, really impatient
of a person, and I'm just trying to let you know
that that's how I honestly feel inside,
but I don't think that most people that deal with me
would ever think that.
Most people, especially in the workplace or in other, like,
they wouldn't think that I'm an impatient person at all.
They would think, oh, he seems pretty patient,
you know, he deals with things.
Why?
Because I'm not just letting the inside old man
just rule and reign because then I would just be a jerk.
People would think that I'm a jerk and super sarcastic
and just really arrogant
if I just kind of said everything that came into my mind
because that's my natural personality, okay?
I have to suppress that,
and I have to try and exhibit patience and grace,
and look, I'm not saying I'm the most patient person out there.
I'm sure I'm not,
just because it's very difficult for me.
What I am saying is that if you think,
oh, well, I'm just not a patient person naturally,
join the club, okay?
But you know what? Work on it.
You know, people think, like, oh, love, it's just automatic.
Loving your spouse is automatic.
That's not always true.
That might have been on the first five minutes of your honeymoon, okay?
But let's be real.
Loving your spouse sometimes is not necessarily what you want to do naturally.
Sometimes you want to do other things, okay?
And you want to be mean and you want to be rude
and you want to be selfish and whatever attitude.
You know, the people that exhibit great character attributes,
it's not like they're just, it's just easy for them.
They just make that decision.
They choose to love someone.
They choose to be patient.
They choose to be kind.
They choose to be charitable.
And what I'm telling you is that don't wait for your emotions
to magically do what the Bible says.
You have to choose to do the right thing.
You have to choose to be patient.
You have to choose to be loving.
You have to choose to be kind.
You have to choose to do the right thing.
And you know what?
It's hard work.
It's not natural.
That's why the Bible is constantly reminding us to do these things.
Because if everyone was naturally patient,
why would the Bible even have to tell us?
It's telling people like me that are not patient at all
and need some reminders of, okay, yeah, I need to be more patient.
I need to be, you know, taking captive every imagination that I have
and every thought that I have
because some of them just aren't that great, okay?
They're not really a holy.
And I'll even catch myself.
Sometimes I'm in the car and, you know, I use special language, you know.
But then I'm thinking like, well, you know what?
This person could be having a bad day and whatever
and, you know, I just try to be gracious.
And sometimes I try to plan to have patience.
So I've already decided like if someone's not in the right lane
and they need to get over real quick
and they make a real decisive good move to get over
but it cuts me off a little bit,
I'm just not going to be mad at that person.
Because you know what?
That's the move that I would make.
If I'm driving and I'm not in the right lane
and I need to get into this lane
and I can make an aggressive move and get in there
but it cuts you off a little bit,
I'm going to make that move.
So I'm just letting you know.
Like I would do that.
So then I'd be a complete hypocrite
if then I get mad at someone that does the exact same thing to me.
So you know what?
I've decided from now on when someone does that to me,
you know, I say, good move.
I like that.
But see, I already decided that.
Now, sometimes this is what makes me mad though
at people that don't make a decision.
You know, that lady that's trying to get over
and she could get over but she just kind of won't do it
and then everybody has to slam on their brakes.
You know it's true, okay?
That person really irritates the fire out of me
because I would never make that decision.
But at the same time, I'm just thinking like,
well, poor little woman, she doesn't know how to drive,
you know, just go, whatever, get out, go.
But we have to exercise self-control, temperance.
We have to work on these things.
Sometimes it helps to, like I said, pre-plan grace,
like already kind of evaluate, okay, things are going to be perfect.
You know, mothers out there, you should already pre-plan
that your children are going to do some bad things tomorrow
because they're going to do some bad things tomorrow, okay?
They're going to cause some problems, some issues are going to happen.
And so we have to just have that expectation
so then we're going to be patient with them.
Teaching your children how to use the potty can be very difficult.
Teaching them how to read can be very difficult.
Teaching them really, frankly, anything,
teaching your children how to have patience,
that can be extremely frustrating.
And so we have to learn ourselves to have patience.
Look at Luke 21 verse 19.
This is when we go through a lot of tribulation.
Christ is trying to remind us of this.
Look at verse 19.
In your patience, possess ye your souls.
So in the end times, it's going to be very hard on Christians.
And I think that what God wants to remind us of is,
hey, we even need to be patient
when we're going through some pretty difficult things.
Even though we see the darkness coming upon us
and the evil and we're kind of hoping that Christ comes back sooner than later,
we have to be careful that we don't get impatient with Christ's return.
Just like they got impatient with Moses coming off the mount
is actually the direct parallel and a foreshadowing of the end times
where people could get impatient with Christ's return.
And what the false Christians and the fake Christians do
is they get so impatient with Christ's return
they actually turn to false religion.
They turn to false gods and many of them will even turn to the Antichrist.
There are going to be a lot of people that believe in the preacher of rapture
that accept the Antichrist.
And it's basically a direct result of being too impatient
and just of course they didn't get saved,
they didn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
but because of their impatience and not seeking the truth
they end up receiving a lie.
And they end up accepting a lie and it destroys them.
The Bible reminds us in all kinds of ways,
what happens was be patient in tribulation.
I'm not going to go to these verses, but go to 2 Samuel 14.
We need to learn patience and we need to learn it.
We learn patience.
Patience is not automatic.
And sometimes people confuse this.
If someone seems to be patient naturally,
usually it's not that they're patient, it's that they're apathetic or lazy.
But that is not patience, being apathetic or lazy.
We need to be zealous and we need to be confident
and we need to care about the things in this world
and exercising patience at the same time.
Just being like, well, I just don't care about anything.
Okay, sure, that might seem like that person is a patient person,
but they're not even actually really exhibiting patience.
That apathy is going to destroy them as well.
Okay, so don't get confused about,
well, I just, you know, I don't care about anything.
I must be really patient.
That doesn't make you patient just because you have apathy.
You know, we need to be people that actually care about things,
are excited about things,
and at the same time we are willing to be patient about them.
Now, 2 Samuel 14, verse 1 is kind of the second point that I brought up
and that is how people ask questions of Aaron
because they're rebellious, okay?
Now, in 2 Samuel 14,
just to give you a little bit of context before I read here,
this is after Absalom has killed his brother Amnon
and is kind of run for his life
and rightfully so because of that murder
he would be worthy of the death penalty to be put to death
and David doesn't really have a relationship with Absalom.
Now, it says in verse 1,
Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived
that the king's heart was toward Absalom.
So what's interesting here is that
Joab kind of understands that he has a soft spot towards Absalom
and Joab wants to kind of take advantage of that.
He wants to take advantage of David's soft spot for Absalom
when he shouldn't have that soft spot.
You know, his son should be dealt with properly.
He should have put Amnon to death
and because he didn't do that,
it now caused Absalom to basically be guilty of the death penalty
and as a king, you can't just let your sons do whatever they want
and get away with it.
It sets a really bad precedent for the entire kingdom.
Hunter Biden.
I mean, Hunter Biden is getting away with so many crimes,
so many sins, so many issues
and it's not being dealt with
and it just makes our country look like a joke.
It makes our government look like a joke.
It looks like there's no justice in the nation
and it makes it where people have no respect for justice, actually.
Oh, well, if Hunter can do that,
then let's just buy off every judge
and buy off every justice
and let's just have no real justice.
It's just paying people off and doing whatever.
That destroys the kingdom.
That destroys the government, okay?
And David needs to deal with his son.
Sorry, I know you love him.
We all love our sons,
but if your son is in that position,
you need to have righteous judgment.
He should have been willing to put him to death.
But Joab perceived what?
That David's heart was toward Absalom, okay?
Look at verse 2.
And Joab sent to Tekoa
and fetched thence a wise woman and said unto her,
I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner
and put on now mourning apparel
and anoint not thyself with oil,
but be as a woman that had a long time mourn for the dead
and come to the king and speak on this manner unto him.
So Joab put the words in her mouth.
Notice Joab perceives that David has a soft spot,
but instead of just going to David himself
and trying to exploit that particular weakness,
what does he do?
He asks some other person to do it for him.
And what we can learn from this
is that wise woman should have said,
why is Joab asking me?
You know, why are you asking Aaron?
Why are you asking the wise woman?
And she should have not done this
and gone down this road
and had Absalom being brought back into the kingdom.
But we see the rebellious nature
to bring Absalom back in.
And a lot of times this will happen where,
oh, well, we don't want Joe Biden
to directly pardon Hunter Biden,
so we need some intermediaries
or some other people to exonerate him,
come into play and do whatever
and wink, wink, nod, nod,
still get the outcome that they want.
And this happens a lot in everyday scenarios.
Think about in the household.
They may know, hey, Dad doesn't want the kids
to have cookies before dinner or something.
Let's just say that's just the example.
But they know Mom doesn't care.
So then, you know, what the brother will do
is just say, hey, go ask Mom if we can have cookies,
knowing that Mom has a soft spot already
and knowing they'll get their younger sibling
that Mom can't say no to, right, the cute toddler.
It's like, Mama, cookie.
And she's just thinking, like, I can't say no to her.
I can't say no to him. She's so cute.
And I know Dad already said no cookies,
but she's asking.
And so the older brother knows, hey, we'll send in the younger one,
and we'll get a, hey, will you ask Mom for a cookie or whatever?
And what is it? It's because they're rebellious.
It's a rebellious spirit. It's a rebellious nature.
And they're asking them to do that.
Hey, beware, children,
when your brother's asking you to ask Mom and Dad for something.
Beware when you're asking your sibling to ask something.
Beware. You know, this could even happen at work, right?
What if another coworker comes up to you and says,
hey, why don't you ask the boss so-and-so this and that?
It's like, hey, why don't you ask the boss
if, you know, we can just, like, go home
or skip work or not wear that.
You know, why don't you ask the boss,
why do we have to wear this uniform?
I know the CEO wants us to,
but I know the manager doesn't like it,
so why don't you go ask him or whatever.
You know, be careful.
Why is this person asking you to ask this question?
Why are they involving you in this matter?
Why are they trying to employ you?
You know, it's because they're a rebellious person.
That's why.
And they want to rebel,
but they're too coward to do it themselves.
I mean, why don't these people just walk straight up to Moses
and be like, hey, make us cast, make us God?
Because then Moses would be like, burn them with fire,
hang their heads up, kill these people.
He'd be like, Lord, take care of them.
That's why they didn't ask Moses.
So they kind of have to find someone else,
like, hey, you ask, you know,
I don't want to die, but I'm willing to risk your life.
Go for it, you know.
And they just bring other people in
to ask things they shouldn't ask or shouldn't do
because they themselves want to rebel.
And you know, we need to be careful
why people are asking these questions.
They knew that Aaron would do it.
I think that's why they asked him.
Aaron had a soft spot, and they wanted to rebel,
so they asked Aaron
because they knew Aaron would have done it.
Now go to chapter 15 for a moment
and look at the result of this.
Verse 1, it says,
And it came to pass after this
that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses
and fifty men to run before him.
So this woman talks to David,
kind of convinces him.
They bring in Absalom.
Now Absalom is kind of setting up this mini army.
Think about what happened.
Absalom killed someone.
Absalom is worthy of death.
And then when confronted by the king
of the entire kingdom,
what does the king do?
Oh, no problem, come back in.
You know what that says to Absalom?
I can do whatever I want.
I mean, there's no accountability.
No one will hold me responsible for what I've done,
including death penalty worthy crimes.
That's a dangerous person.
When you say to Hunter Biden,
you can rip as many people off as you want,
you can do open bribery,
open prostitution,
you can do open child acts or whatever,
the disgusting things he does.
You can do anything you want.
You can have felony gun charges.
And you know what?
No consequences.
In fact, you can just have public statements
with the press and just say,
hey, I'm right here.
What are you going to do about it?
And no one does anything about it.
You know what you're telling that person?
Do more.
Be more brazen in your wickedness.
And of course, what left for Absalom to do?
How about just take the entire kingdom over?
Just become the king
because no one's going to stop him.
No one's going to say anything to him.
Verse 2,
And Absalom rose up early
and stood beside the way of the gate.
And it was so that when any man
that had a controversy came to the king for judgment,
then Absalom called unto him and said,
Of what city art thou?
And he said,
Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
And Absalom said unto him,
See, thy matters are good and right,
but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.
Absalom said moreover,
Oh, that I were made judge in the land,
that every man which hath any suit or cause
might come unto me,
and I would do him justice.
You wouldn't do anyone justice
because you just said everybody's matters are right.
How does that work?
If two people came in here and said,
you know, think about Solomon
with the two Arlots both asking for the baby.
You're both right.
So were they going to literally divide the child then?
Are they going to literally cut it in half?
And that's what happens.
You just literally,
I mean, how does that work in any situation?
That's not what the Bible said.
The Bible said in this morning sermon,
we're supposed to justify the righteous
and condemn the wicked.
We're not just a space to say,
Oh, you're right.
Yeah, your matters are good and right.
Everything you're asking,
everything you're saying is good.
You know, this is a bad person's attitude.
That's why they want to bring him in.
Think about, it's kind of like Aaron.
Oh, do something.
He just does it.
We need leadership that sometimes says
that's a dumb question.
That was a dumb thing to say.
And you know, if you're in a position
where people are coming to you
and you're their Aaron,
you know how you stop that from happening?
That was a dumb question.
Don't ask me.
Or hey, let's go ask Moses.
You and me, let's go right now
and let's go ask Moses.
Hey, I've got Moses up there.
I got him on the phone though.
Let's call him.
And you can ask him right now.
And you know, they're going to be like,
Oh, I didn't want to ask him that.
You know, this is what's so funny to me.
I'll have Dylan or other people talk to me
about this and they'll say,
Hey, somebody asked me this question
and I just said, ask pastor about it.
And you know what?
They never asked pastor about it.
And I'm thinking like, you know what?
They were just trying to get feelers.
They're just trying to go around
and you know what?
That makes me think that person's kind of bad
when they literally get told,
go tell pastor or go ask pastor
and then they don't.
It's like, why didn't you?
Imagine the kids asking mom,
Hey mom, can I do this?
Go ask dad.
And then they just don't ask dad.
It's like, well, why did you ask mom then?
Why did you go around on the other side?
You know what?
Don't be like that.
Don't be that person.
Don't try to be rebellious
and sneak around and get your way.
And of course,
Absalom is just trying to make people
get on his side so they can steal the kingdom,
take away from David,
undermine authority,
which of course he does.
And we should be leery of individuals like this.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 16.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16.
Be careful of the person
that wants to ask questions
that they would never ask the leadership.
Be careful of the person
that asks you to help ask a question
or wants to know the answer to something
that they refuse to ask the head
or the leadership on.
If it's not a question
they would ask the leadership on,
they shouldn't ask you.
And frankly speaking,
it's not Aaron's authority
to even make that decision.
Why are you even asking that person
to make this decision?
They don't even have authority to do this.
Why do you care what their opinion is?
You should even tell people that.
I know my wife's even said that sometimes.
She just said,
I'm not the pastor.
Ask my husband.
Or my employees.
I don't have the authority
to make that decision.
Some people just don't understand
how or why people are employed or exist.
Dylan, specifically right now,
is my personal assistant.
But you know what?
He's not your personal assistant.
Just like Aaron is Moses' personal assistant,
but Aaron is not their personal assistant.
They don't get to walk up to Aaron
and be like,
Up, make us gods.
That's not how this works.
Now, of course,
Moses can go to Aaron and say,
Up, let's go serve the Lord.
He can tell Aaron
whatever he wants all day long,
and he has to do exactly what he says.
And you know what?
There's nothing wrong with me saying to Dylan,
Up, let's go do this.
But you know who doesn't get to say that?
You guys.
Anybody else?
Dylan is not your personal assistant.
You know who's also not your personal assistant?
The volunteers of our church that clean the church.
They're not your personal assistant.
Hey, the trash needs to be taken out.
Why would you say that
to a volunteer cleaning the church?
You could take it out.
It's not for you to go around.
You know, the ushers,
they're not your personal assistants.
They're mine.
Now, again, there's nothing wrong
with asking people for help, okay?
Hey, can I get a bulletin?
That's fine.
Up, get me a bulletin.
No, don't ever act like that to the usher.
Don't ever act like that to people.
You know, my wife is my wife.
She's not your wife.
My wife is my friend.
Maybe she's your friend. I don't know.
Obviously, you want to be friends with someone,
you have to show yourself friendly, right?
That's how it works, right?
But here's the thing.
Don't demand things of people
when they're not your direct subordinate.
You know who I can demand things of?
My wife, my children, my employees.
That's who I can demand things of.
You know who I cannot demand things of?
People that are not in my authority.
I don't even think I can demand you guys do anything.
You're just my churchmen.
We're just fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
I can't demand you to do anything.
Now, obviously, someone has to be in charge.
Obviously, there's leadership.
But, you know, I try really hard,
especially when it comes to volunteers,
to never demand them to do anything
because, frankly speaking, I'm not even paying them.
So if I'm not even paying you,
I don't really have the right to demand things of you, okay?
I can ask you to do things,
but I should be polite and respectful
of your time, your effort, and your energy.
And the Bible's really clear on this
that we should not go around demanding things of people
that are on the same level as us.
You know, we should be having the exact opposite attitude
where we're submissive, we're humble,
we're gracious, we're kind to one another.
I want to show you 1 Corinthians 16.
Look at verse 15.
I beseech you, brethren,
ye know the house of Stephanas,
that it is the first roots of Achaia,
and that they have addicted themselves
to the ministry of the saints,
that ye submit yourselves unto such,
and to every one that helpeth with us and laboreth.
You know what the attitude should be of a congregation
towards the pastor and the staff and the leadership?
Is to be submissive, not demanding.
Submissive, not demanding.
Hey, Dylan, go get this for me.
Hey, Dylan, we need this.
Hey, Dylan, blah, blah, blah.
You should be like, Dylan, what can I do to help you?
I wonder how many people do that.
I wonder how many people go to my employee
and are just like, hey, Dylan, I want to help unload things.
Hey, Dylan, I want to help go do this.
Hey, how can I submit under my soul winning captain
and leader and usher?
Or just like, hey, clean that, get this, come over here,
mow my yard, whatever.
I mean, it's just like, who are you?
Back off, okay?
And look, I'm saying a lot of this and it's hyperbole
because not that many people are acting like that,
but don't even try it, okay?
Don't even think this is like a cool thing
to see how it works, okay?
And no matter where you go, at your workplace,
you have other coworkers, don't demand things of them.
Don't demand things of the lower level management.
You know what, you should be gracious, you should be kind,
you should be submissive.
Notice what the Bible says,
that we're supposed to submit ourselves unto such.
The people that are addicted to the ministry,
let's help them, not demand things of them.
When you go to someone else's church,
if you go to Verity Baptist Church,
if you go to Faith Ward Baptist Church
and you run into Oliver, you run into Brother Segura,
do not demand them to do anything.
Don't tell them what to do.
Don't go somewhere else and demand these people to serve you.
They're not there as your subordinate, as your employee.
You know what you should do?
You should submit yourself unto them.
They've addicted themselves to the ministry,
you should submit yourself unto them.
That's what the Bible says.
Go to Ephesians, chapter five, go to Ephesians,
just a little bit to the right there in your Bible.
You know, and people, they go around,
and they're just so demanding of the lower level people.
Again, they don't really do it to me as much,
but then they're just like,
they're like, hey, where's the food?
Or, why can't we get more food?
Or, you know, when are we going to have more coffee?
Which I don't care about coffee,
so you really don't want to ask me that kind of question.
You go to some fellowship event
and they just get demanding about everything.
Where's the juice for my kid?
At the store.
Have fun.
It's like, what are you talking about?
It's just like, well, we need to have,
you know, we need to have more holiday things at the church.
Go for it.
You can have a holiday thing at your house whenever you want.
You know, it's like,
the church is not here to provide for your social life
and for all of your food and clothing.
And you know what?
There's nothing wrong with asking a question,
but don't be demanding.
And don't be going around and just being unsatisfied.
Why wish the church would give me more social life
and more food and more friends
and more coffee and more holidays?
Look, we already do a lot,
and I know that for a fact,
but unfortunately what happens is people start getting
an entitled mentality and attitude about it.
Don't be like that.
You know, if you go to your work
and your work has some kind of perk,
like maybe they give you like free coffee
or maybe they give you like free food.
I work for a place and they would give us like unlimited.
You know, granola bars, fruit, candy, drinks, soda, water,
just like everything you could imagine basically,
just for free, just in the kitchen.
And if for some reason they just said,
you know what, we're making some cuts
and we're going to get rid of this or whatever,
how appropriate would it be for them to be like,
I need my Coke, I need my candy bar, I need whatever, you know.
Like, they didn't have to do that.
But what happens is it breeds contempt.
It breeds contempt in people when you just start giving them
all this stuff for free and you just help them out.
And then now all of a sudden they're kind of like demanding it,
expecting it, like where's my conference,
where's my conference t-shirt, where's my documentary,
oh, you know what, make sure to give me the DVDs
and ship it to my house, okay.
Here's my address.
Dylan, do it now, okay.
It's like what are you talking about?
Like don't start getting this demanding attitude,
demanding people, and you know what, kids can get this too.
When they start demanding their parents
and ordering their parents around,
you better nip that in the bud with your kids.
My kids do not tell me what to do.
They don't demand things of me.
And you know what, they definitely don't demand things of my wife.
You men, don't let your kids tell your wife what to do.
They better get in line and you know what,
your wife does not answer to the children whatsoever.
The children answer to the wife, okay.
And we need to make sure we get the priorities straight
and we tell them who's in charge here
and they're supposed to be submitting themselves.
And you know, if you get less Christmas presents this year,
don't be demanding more.
Oh, well, you used to always take us to this fancy restaurant.
Well, it's more expensive now, don't demand it.
And the food's worse.
You know who gets to demand things in the relationship?
The husband gets to demand things with the wife.
The wife does not get to demand anything of her husband.
Oh, I'm going to tell him later when I get home.
Well, you're stubborn and rebellious, okay.
You know what, and as the man,
you need to nip these things in the bud
and we need to get things in control.
You know, why are you asking people to do things
that you shouldn't, okay?
Why are you going around asking Dylan for a social life?
He can't give you a social life, folks.
He doesn't make these decisions, you know.
If you want Dylan to give you a social life,
invite him over and make him a meal and befriend him.
How about that?
Don't demand him in the church to do things.
And you know, he might buy a lot of stuff for our church,
but that's because I told him.
Not like, hey, will you go buy this for the church?
He's going to be like, no.
Or, why don't you ask pastor?
And then they won't ask me, okay.
But, you know, don't ask Kim, don't ask my wife,
don't ask other people, random people to do whatever.
Hey, in the next documentary, Ben, will you feature me?
No.
Will you put me in the, will you put me in the head credits?
No, we won't, okay.
It's like, people just get such a puffed up attitude.
You know, go to 1 Peter 5.
You know, the Bible says,
for whosoever exalted themselves shall be abased,
and he that humbled himself shall be exalted.
Oh, make us gods.
Well, you know what, they might have been in charge that day,
but when Moses came back down the mount,
we know he was really in charge.
And we know what really happened, okay.
And sometimes people, they love to go ahead
and just put themselves in positions of authority
when no one else did, and you know what,
they'll get knocked down eventually, okay.
Don't put yourself in a position of authority.
Be humble.
God will give you positions of authority in due time
if you deserve it.
And if you don't, then just keep serving humbly
because it doesn't matter anyways, okay.
Authority's not all that it's cracked up anyways.
How many people are really excited to be in authority now?
I mean, this is like, it's kind of taxing.
Moses really didn't love it, okay.
I don't know if you read the Bible or not,
but it was a big burden.
And you know, Aaron was really bad at it.
Sometimes people, they think they're good at leadership
and then they realize like, it's hard.
Because you know what, when people ask questions
and you have to tell them no, it hurts their feelings.
You know, don't be the person that when you get told no,
that it lets you affect that relationship
or you get mad at that person or get bitter.
Just move on with life, okay.
Be thankful that sometimes someone will tell you no.
Because we probably all need to be told no a little bit more.
If Americans need something, it's to be told no.
Because credit cards and everything else just tells everybody,
yes, yes, yes, buy, buy, buy, get, charge, charge, charge,
you can have it, you can have it, yeah.
You know, we need more people to say like, no.
Hey, I want to own a five-car garage when I'm 25.
No.
I want a worthless college degree and someone else to pay it.
No.
You know, all these people, all these selfish people,
oh, I want to live with someone before I get married.
No.
Oh, I want a test drive before I get married.
No.
Over my dead body.
You know, we need people to say no.
You know what, we need young women to tell men no
and to not just give in to everything.
We need people to say, hey, I want to drink alcohol.
And it's like, no.
I want to have fun.
No.
I want to rise up and play.
No.
You know what's wrong with some of these kids in this world today?
They're never told no.
And you know why?
You watch them.
You watch their parents tell them no
and they scream and throw a fit and get their way.
It irks me.
Oh, I was thinking like, that kid needs to be told no.
You know?
Because you know why it irks me?
Because I know that person is going to be a bad person the rest of their life.
And I love that kid too much to just let them go over to the dark side, okay?
Go to the good side.
Okay.
I'm not going to use Star Wars reference.
I don't like it.
But you know what?
Sometimes we need to be told no, okay?
Hey, you can't be Grandmaster, Anakin, because you're not humble enough.
And then he went to the dark side.
Sorry, there you go, all right?
He couldn't handle being told no.
1 Peter chapter number 5, look at verse 5.
Likewise, younger, submit yourselves unto the elder,
yea, all of you be subject one to another,
and be clothed with humility,
for God resisted the proud and gave grace unto the humble.
You know, we need to make sure that we are humble.
And you know, if you're freezing like I am,
just don't say anything about it.
No, I'm just kidding.
I don't know what's going on here, all right?
It's cold.
All of you all are like shivering or something.
Go to 1 Kings chapter 2.
We'll finish here shortly.
Look, why are you asking Aaron?
And look at it from the flip side.
Why is someone asking me this?
You know, are they being impatient?
Don't be impatient.
Don't be rebellious.
Don't be demanding.
And be aware or be leery of the person
that's coming to you with an impatient request,
with a rebellious request.
They're demanding things of you.
You know, why are they demanding things?
Because they know what they're doing is wrong,
so they have to exert some kind of authority
to try and persuade you.
They're just confident.
I've noticed sometimes there's these like false profit trolls online,
and what they're saying is complete trash.
But a lot of people fall for it just because they're so confident.
They're just like, they just act like what they're saying
just makes so much sense, and they know what they're saying is right,
and they try to appeal to certain sources,
and they're just like, of course I'm right on this.
And it's just like, just because they're confident doesn't make them right.
Make us gods.
I'm sure they're real confident about that.
You know what? They're wrong.
They're wrong about that decision.
Be leery of the person that's demanding you of these things,
and think about what they're doing.
Is it what they're doing right, or is it selfish?
And if it's selfish, you should recognize, like,
I need to not partake in this activity, right?
I need to get away from this and have nothing to do with this.
One of the examples here is 1 Kings 2, which is Adonijah.
And Adonijah tried to steal the kingdom for herself,
already showing a very selfish ambition.
And it ends up giving, you know,
it ends up getting to the point where David has to appoint
King Solomon right before he dies,
just to make sure that the kingdom is transferred.
That happens, then Adonijah and all the people following him
just kind of run away.
Now, all of a sudden, Adonijah's asking this question,
and it's interesting.
Look at 1 Kings 2, verse number 13.
This is just kind of like random in the storyline, but,
And Adonijah the son of Agath came to Bathsheba,
the mother of Solomon, and she said,
And he said,
Did we learn anything already?
Didn't we learn that he's rebellious?
He's admitting it.
He's openly saying, like,
You know the kingdom was your son's that I stole it anyways,
but now somehow it's gotten to him.
Verse 16,
That's pretty demanding.
You notice he's following the same thing.
He's impatient because he wanted to get the kingdom
when it wasn't his.
He's rebellious, openly admitted it.
Now he's being demanding.
Let's also think what he says.
Notice he comes unto her.
I know that he won't deny you,
so why don't you ask for me?
And you have to say,
you have to put yourself in Solomon's mother's shoes
for a moment and say,
Why am I being asked?
Why does Adonijah not go and ask Solomon himself?
Well, number one, because he's being impatient
and stole the kingdom.
Number two, because it's a rebellious even thing to even want.
He was already a rebellious.
He's demanding things.
And of course, this is a selfish request.
Who's this going to benefit?
It only benefits Adonijah.
We don't even know if Abishag wants this, necessarily.
But albeit, it's certainly just a selfish request,
and it's a very wicked request when you think about it,
because according to the Bible,
you're not supposed to have your father's wife.
And his father was married to her.
This is a wicked, weird request.
Bathsheba goes and still makes it unto Solomon.
Look what Solomon answers in verse 22.
And King Solomon answered and said unto his mother,
And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah?
Solomon is the wisest person in the Bible.
Notice that he asks a question.
Why are you asking this question?
Sometimes when someone asks you a question,
you need to ask this question.
Why are you asking me this question?
Why are you asking Aaron?
Why are you asking Bathsheba?
Why are you asking the wise woman?
Why are you asking this individual?
Why are you asking me?
And the pride of man always wants to think,
of course they would ask me.
Of course they want my attention.
I wish that I were the judge of the land.
Oh, that everybody would come before me,
and I would do them obeisance,
and I would kiss them,
and tell them that their matters are good and right.
Everybody has that prideful attitude.
Sometimes you have to have a humble view of yourself,
and say, why in the world would you ever ask me that?
And you know what that'll do?
It'll prevent you from making bad decisions,
asking dumb questions,
and going down a very rebellious path.
I like this question by Solomon.
Why dost thou ask?
Why are you asking this?
Why in the world would you ever want this?
Ask for him the kingdom also?
He saw right through this.
Oh, so this guy wants to take his father's wife.
What would that do again?
If Solomon gave David's wife,
that would say, you can do whatever you want.
And you know what it would do?
It would strengthen those men's hands
that had come and already partnered themselves with Adonijah
to say, oh, Solomon's weak here.
Solomon's going to let Adonijah have whatever he wants.
And you know what?
He could have had another rebellion.
Adonijah could have taken the whole kingdom.
Solomon's wise enough to look through this and see,
hey, I can't let him have this.
I can't be weak here.
I can't give in to this wicked request.
And so he is going to destroy it.
But you know what?
Bathsheba shouldn't even ask the question.
He's like, why are you asking me this question?
Are you also asking for him to have the kingdom?
Do you even realize what you're doing?
And you know what?
We need to prevent ourselves from being like Bathsheba,
being like Aaron, being like the wise woman,
going and asking bad questions.
We need to nip it in the bud right at the onset
and just notice you're being impatient.
You're being rebellious.
You're being demanding.
You're being selfish and not even ask the question.
I mean, if someone came up to me and is just like,
oh, where are we going to get a building?
What do you think Pastor Shelley's doing?
I would have been like, you're being impatient.
Knock it off.
If they came up to me and they're just asking
some kind of question to do something wicked
or something that Pastor Shelley said no to,
I'd be like, Pastor Shelley said no,
or the church said no, or dad said no.
We're not going to do that.
Dad said no cookies.
So no cookies, right?
Whatever the authority is, we're going to abide by that.
If someone comes up to me and says,
up, make us gods, who are you to tell me what to do?
Why are you telling me what to do?
Don't talk to me like that.
Don't act like I'm your employee.
And if they're asking something that just obviously
is for selfish reasons,
I don't think you're asking that for the right reason.
That sounds a little selfish.
That sounds like that's just for you.
Why would we give just you that?
James 4, the Bible says,
you receive not...
I'm sorry, just go to James chapter 4.
You have not because you ask not,
and you receive not because you ask amiss
that you may consume it upon your lusts.
Why do you not get certain things that you want?
Because you ask amiss
that you can consume it upon your lusts.
Sometimes people ask things,
but you know what?
It's not the right kind of thing to ask for.
You shouldn't be getting this.
Look what it says again in verse number 4,
James chapter 4, verse 4...
I'm sorry, verse 3.
You ask and receive not because you ask amiss
that you may consume it upon your lusts.
Notice they're asking amiss.
Wrong question to ask.
Sometimes there's not a dumb question.
Well, there's a selfish question for sure.
And yeah, there are dumb questions.
Okay, for sure there's dumb questions out there.
And there's dumb people, and there's dumb decisions,
and there's wicked people out there.
And if you're in a position of leadership,
don't be like Aaron and just do whatever they ask.
Pay attention.
Say, hey, this is impatience right here.
This is rebellion.
This is demanding.
This is selfish.
And what Aaron should have done is Aaron should be like,
I'm going to get all of y'all's names,
and then when Moses comes back down off the mount,
that's what he should have done.
He should have said, I don't have the authority
to make that decision,
but go ahead and fill out this paperwork,
and everybody that wants to do that, come sign up.
And we'll go ahead and tell Moses
that that's what you want to do,
and that's what you said.
Okay, he shouldn't have then taken all the gold.
I mean, he literally, he's like, oh, cool,
take off all the gold,
and he gets the graving tool out there,
and he's like, I can make really good-looking calves.
Although whenever Moses comes back down off the mount,
he forgot that part of the story.
Well, he just threw it in the fire,
and out came this calf.
I don't know what happened.
You know, that's such a weird story.
But, you know, learn from Aaron's mistake.
Learn from these other people's mistake,
and ask yourself this question,
why are you asking Aaron?
All right, let's close with prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for the word of God
and for giving us wisdom and discretion.
I pray that we wouldn't fall victim to bad questions,
to people trying to take advantage of us,
for people using us,
and I pray that we also wouldn't have a bad attitude,
that we wouldn't have misguided attempts
to undermine or usurp authority,
that we wouldn't demand things of people when we shouldn't,
but rather we would have a humble servant spirit,
and that we would desire to do good unto people,
not to undermine authority, not to criticize,
not to destroy the work of God,
but rather to help support it.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, for our final song this evening,
we're going to go to 428.
It came upon a midnight clear.
428, it came upon the midnight clear.
It came upon the midnight clear.
The glorious sorrow of old.
The angels living near the earth.
To touch their hearts and hold.
Peace on the earth.
The world to win.
The praise, the praise, the sin.
The world in sorrow still is slain.
To hear the angels sing.
So through the golden skies they come.
In peace the winds are true.
And still their heavy news they close.
For all the way in the world.
Above this sad and lonely place.
They gave our love weekly.
And ever o'er its meadow sounds.
The blessed angels singing.
And deep beneath us comes the Lord.
Whose voice our heavenly voice.
Who toil upon the mighty way.
With angels, fair and slow.
But now for that and only that.
Comes with Thee on the beam.
Oh, rest beside the weary road.
And hear the angels sing.
For all the days are easily gone.
My brother's words are told.
And if the ever stormy years.
Are from the age of old.
When peace shall hold on the earth.
Its angels never swing.
In the whole world give back the song.
Which now the angels sing.
Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed.