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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Good evening. If you would, find a seat and grab a hymnal. Turn, if you would, our first hymn tonight is number 100 day by day. Hymn number 100, 100 day by day. We'll sing there starting on the first. Day by day and with each passing moment Strength I find to meet my trials here Drowsing in my Father's wifey stomach I will cause for worry or for fear He who's heart is guide me on all measure Gives unto each day what he needs best Loving me is part of pain and pleasure Bigly toil with peace and rest Every day the Lord himself is near me With a special mercy for each hour All I care is he think, would dare and cheer me He who's name is counselor and power The protection of his child and treasure Is a charge that on himself he lay As I lay, my strength shall be in measure This the pledge to be made Help me man in every tribulation So to trust my promise is the Lord That I would not face consolation Offered me within thy holy word Help me Lord with joy and trouble be he Heir to take as from our Father's hand One by one the days of moments fleeting Till I reach the promised land Amen, we'll pray if you bow your heads with me Heavenly Father we just thank you again for an opportunity to gather tonight We just thank you for the salvations that we had this afternoon For leading us to a lot of low hanging fruit Lord That just believed on your son's name and were saved And I just pray that you would be with them to help them find a good church And get into a place where they can serve you best with their life Also just want to pray that you would be with us all and keep us safe As we travel after service this evening That you would just protect us in this weather and uncertainty Also pray that you just continue to be with us for the service this evening These things we pray in Jesus name, Amen Alright for our next hymn, turn if you would to 110 All the way my Savior leads me Hymn number 110, 110 All the way my Savior leads me We'll sing there on the first All the way my Savior leads me What have I to ask beside Can I now extend her mercy Who through life has been my guide Heavenly peace did minus comfort Hear my faith in Him to dwell For I know what e'er befall me Jesus who with all things dwell For I know what e'er befall me Jesus who with all things dwell All the way my Savior leads me Cheers each blinding path I tread Gives me grace for every trial Means we live the living bread Though my weary steps may falter And my soul a thirst may be Gushing from the rock before me Though a string of joy I see Gushing from the rock before me Though a string of joy I see All the way my Savior leads me Oh the fullness of His love Perfect grace to be His promise In my Father's house above When my spirit both immortal Whose wings it's blind to grounds of pain This my song through endless ages Jesus, let me all the way This my song through endless ages Jesus, let me all the way Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. This time we'll go through our announcements. On the front is our new Bible memory passage of the week, Galatians chapter 1 verse 1, and I did mention to everyone that came to the ordination from out of state that they're in on the Hebrew 6 challenge as well, so if anyone is listening online and they did that, email me and I'll make sure to get you your prize. Our contact information is on the front there. On the inside of our bulletin is our service time, Sunday morning 10.30, Sunday evening 4.30, and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7. We've been going through 1 Samuel, and this Wednesday we took a little break doing Amen's preaching night, but we're going to make up for that service this evening. We'll be going through 1 Samuel 20. Soul winning times are listed there. All those meet here at the church building, and we did have three salvations today. Praise the Lord for that. Even in the snow, people were still willing to hear the gospel and get saved, so praise God for that. Nursing home ministry is listed there if you partake in that. Year-to-date statistics there, as well as our email to report salvations. Our expecting ladies list is there. Please be in prayer for Mrs. Reed. Also, we have some upcoming events. February 2nd, we're going to have another men's preaching night, and potluck right after that, so please do bring something to share for that. February 14th, that's a Friday. We're going to have a Sweethearts Banquet for Married Couples only at 7 o'clock p.m. April 19th is going to be our Easter soul winning marathon in Oklahoma City. We'll meet here at the church building at 9 and have some refreshments. Go out soul winning at 10, have lunch, and another round of soul winning in the afternoon. There'll be some more details on that as we get closer. There's a conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church, May 16th through the 18th on the King James Bible. I know, of course, Pastor Thompson, the hosting pastor, will be preaching. Pastor Steven Anderson, Pastor Jonathan Shelley, and I think there's some more as well, but definitely some great speakers for that conference if you'd like to go to that. May 31st is the Durant Oklahoma Soul Winning Marathon when we're going to be teaming up with Steadfast Baptist Church. June 28th is a fellowship day at the Tinker Air Show at the Tinker Air Force Base. October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas Mission Trip, and I feel like half of our church has already signed up for this, so I'm really excited. If everyone would just sign up, I'll take it off the bulletin and we can just forget about it until we get there. Sign up, it's going to be awesome. Really excited for that, and I'm excited that Anchor Baptist Church is representing in that missions trip as well. On the back is our prayer list. If you have any updates or requests, please email the church. I'd be happy to add that for you. That's going to be it this evening. We'll go ahead and go to our third song. Alright. Our third hymn this evening, if you would turn to 120, Jesus Savior Pilot Me. Hymn number 120120, Jesus Savior Pilot Me. We'll sing there starting on the first. Hymn number 160, Jesus Savior Pilot Me. Hymn number 160, Jesus Savior Pilot Me. Hymn number 160, Jesus Savior and the fearful breakers roar Twixt me and the peaceful rest Then while leaning on thy breast May I hear thee say to me Fear not, I will pilot me. Amen. As the offering plates are being passed, Hymn number 120, 1 Samuel chapter 20. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Good evening, 1 Samuel chapter number 20, the Bible reads And David fled from Nahoth and Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life? And he said unto him, God forbid, thou shalt not die. Behold, thy father will do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it me, and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so. And David sware moreover and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes, and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee. And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, that I should not fail to sit with the king at meet, but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even. If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly ask leave of me, that he might run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family. If he say thus, it is well, thy servant shall have peace, but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him. Therefore, thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant, for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee, notwithstanding if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself, for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father? And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee, for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then why would not I tell it thee? Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? Or what if thy father answered thee roughly? And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out, both of them, into the field. And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord my God, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and behold, if there be good toward David, and I then see, and I then sin not unto thee, and show it thee, the Lord do so, and much more to Jonathan. But if it please my father to do the evil, then I will show it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father. And thou shalt not only while yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not, but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house forever. No, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David, every one, from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon, and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. And when thou hast stayed three days, then shalt thou go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself, when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone, Esau. And I will shoot the arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark, and behold, I will send a lad saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them. Then come thou, for there is peace to thee, and no hurt, as the Lord liveth. If I say, Thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee. Go thy way, for the Lord hath sent thee away, as touching this matter, which thou and I have spoken of. Behold, the Lord be between thee and me forever. So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat, and the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall, and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. Nevertheless, Saul spake not anything that day, for he thought that something hath befallen him. He is not clean, surely he is not clean, and it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty. And Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meet neither yesterday nor today? And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked, Leave of me to go to Bethlehem, and he said, Let me go, I pray thee, for our father, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city, and my brother he hath commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse, rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? What hath he done? And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him, whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame. And it came to pass in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David and a little lad with him, and he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him, and when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee? And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows and came to his master, but the lad knew not anything, only Jonathan and David knew the matter. And Jonathan gave his artillery unto the lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city. And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face toward the ground, and bowed himself three times. And they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David acceded. And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed forever. And he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for a warm church building that we can gather in, and we thank you for the souls that were saved out. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for the souls that were saved out. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for the souls that were saved out. Amen. What have I done? What is mine iniquity? And what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life? And number one this evening, I want to highlight David's problem. David's problem, and he had a huge, massive problem in his life at this time, was that obviously he was being hunted to be killed by King Saul, and he kind of just lamenting here saying, like, what is the cause for this? What's the reason why he hates me? But the truth is that there is no good reason. And you know, us as Christians can relate to us because Jesus and other places in the New Testament told us to expect to be hated for no reason. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 10. 1st Corinthians chapter number 10. And what we have to realize is that, you know, we've talked about this a lot recently, that the human experience is pretty much universal. No matter what time period you're living in, no matter where you find yourself, you're going to find yourself going through the same situations as other people have in the past. And when we read stories in the Old Testament, a lot of these stories are written, the Bible says, for our admonition. And we're supposed to look at these stories and make application to our lives today. Look at 1st Corinthians 10 verse 13. The Bible says, there hath no temptation taken you, and no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. You know, the truth is, is that us today, Christians all over this world are experiencing the same exact type of problems that other generations have in the past. And you had King David being hated for no reason, being hunted down, trying to be killed, and today in the New Testament, every single Christian in this world will at some point experience being hated, rejected, despised, looked down upon for no reason, for no reason whatsoever. But you know what, there's no temptation taken us, but such as is common to man. This is something we should expect in life as Christians and realize that though at times it can feel lonely, and I'm sure David, I mean he's upset here, he's kind of lamenting about the troubles that he's going through, but the truth is that David is going through something that all Christians go through. Now his might be to an elevated level, but the idea of just being hated for no reason is a normal thing. Go to Luke chapter number 6, Luke chapter number 6. Let's look at some teachings from the Lord Jesus Christ on this issue. Luke 6 verse 22, Jesus said, Bless are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil for the Son of man's sake. Now if you've been saved for a long time, you've been serving God for a long time, this should just be an obvious no-brainer to you. You're like, yep, we've seen this a thousand times, we know about the protests, we've been through the persecution, but oftentimes when someone first gets saved, this should be a major shock to their system. Especially if they not only get saved, but actually decide to sell out for God and really get serious about serving Him. You know, maybe they start going to church three times a week, maybe they start going knocking on random stranger's doors in a snowstorm, and your family might think that you're crazy, and your family might even start to despise you or speak evil of you for doing something that's good, for doing something that's right. And notice what Jesus said, He didn't say, blessed are you if men shall hate you, if they separate. He said, when they hate you. Why? Because every single Christian that lives a godly life, that is seeking to please God, it doesn't matter where you live, it doesn't matter what time period you're living in, you will be hated by people for no reason. And there are people all over this world that hate us simply because we're Christians. Simply because we believe the Bible. I mean, there's whole extremist sects of Islam that they literally want to kill Christians. They literally want to kill people that are the infidels, that are the non-believers. You know, Jesus said that the world would hate us, and specifically it says, separate you from their company. You know, sometimes when you get saved and you start doing what's right, sometimes family members want to separate from you. You know, they're upset that you don't want to go drink with them anymore. They're upset that you don't want to go to a certain party or be around a certain atmosphere. And they might look down at you and separate you from their company. That's something that Jesus told us to expect. Also, He said that they shall reproach you. What does that mean? It means that they're going to find fault with you. They're going to be criticizing you and reproaching you. Also, it says, and cast out your name as evil. What's that talking about? Basically, they're going to be trashing your reputation. Calling you names, trashing your reputation. What are some of the names they like to throw out there? Cult followers. Or they'll make fun of you like, oh, you know, you have a Jesus crutch. You know, you need Jesus because you're so mentally weak. It's like, I need Jesus, I don't care, you know, what you want to make fun of or whatever, but yes, I do need the word Jesus Christ. But, you know, people want to trash your reputation, call you names, separate from you, you know, hate you without a cause, but realize that these temptations that we go through is not something that's just unique to us. Because this is what the devil wants you to think. Oh, you're going through all this because you are in a weird church or you are a part of a weird group. But it's like, no, actually, this is what Jesus warned would happen if you're living a godly life. And this is something that you're just going to expect. I'm going to read for you 1 Corinthians 4.13. Paul says, as being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world and are the scouring of all things unto this day. Oftentimes, from the world's perspective, Christians are just the filth of the earth. And people especially, they just hate fundamentalists. They hate fundamental Baptists. They cast out our name as evil. And, you know, a lot of times Christians' reputation in the world is that of being hated and despised. Now, what are some of the things that the world hates us for? You know, just this week I overheard someone at work trashing this Christian family for homeschooling their children. I mean, isn't that something that the world looks at us and they'll trash our reputation? They'll say, oh, you're going to raise kids that are stupid. You're going to raise kids that aren't socialized, that don't know how to get along with people. You need to put them in the public education system. And they'll think that you're insane, that you're crazy, that you're even neglecting your child by you making the decision to homeschool. We shouldn't just receive the criticism of this world and just be like, oh, okay, I'll just change that and just do whatever the world thinks is right just because you're being hated or criticized. Because news flash, the public school system is a joke. News flash, being in the public school system, your kids are going to be around a bunch of pro-LGBT propaganda. They're going to be around drugs and alcohol and temptations of fornication and all sorts of wickedness that a young child is not really equipped to deal with on their own. I mean, even adults, we're not even supposed to be playing around with that stuff either. And I don't even think it's good for adults to be in that type of environment. But, you know, why would you send a child without their parent into a situation like that? You know, it's insane. And I went to public school my whole life, and obviously I would have rather have been homeschooled, but I went to public school my whole life. You know, I played baseball my whole life, and I was around those guys, and I saw the things that they were doing. And I'm telling you, that is not a good environment for your children. You don't want your children. You can avoid sending your children to public school. I recommend that you avoid it even if people hate you for it. Even if people call you names for it or whatever, because at the end of the day, my kids aren't going to be the ones that believe that the universe came from nothing. You know, you can make fun of us all you want, but your kids are the ones that believe that whales evolved into deer, like I was taught in biology school in high school. How do we get into deer? Whales went to the shore, and then all of a sudden they grew arms and legs. Next thing you know, they're hopping up mountains, and it's like, no, this is stupid. But yet they'll make fun of us for saying we believe God created the earth. No, no, no. What's stupid is evolution. And call us whatever names you want, it is stupid. Here's another thing people hate us for. Physically disciplining your children. This is something becoming more and more unpopular in America, and quite honestly, even a lot of Christians are brainwashed on this issue and are starting to think that there's something wrong with disciplining your children, even though the Bible says, Thou shalt beat him with the rod. And it's funny how you look at generations, at times past in America, were much more well-behaved children and more civilized children, and it just so happens that generation was the one picking off tree branches to get their butts whooped by their parents. And you know, I got spanked as a child, and I thank God for that, and I wish my parents would have spanked me more. Now that I'm an adult, I look back, and I'm like, I wish I would have gotten disciplined more. Maybe I would be more of a disciplined person, maybe I'd have better character traits than I do if my parents had even disciplined me more than they did. But you know, God help the children that are being raised now that are getting no discipline, these are going to grow up into terrible, terrible people. You know, just like a month ago, I was out pollining, and Brother Cameron was preaching to this lady, there was no man in the life who was just a single mom with her two children, and these were some of the worst-behaved children I've ever seen in my life. I mean, me and Bethany, we could do nothing as silent partners to help this situation. There's remotes being thrown across the room, things are smashing into walls, there's food all over the walls, these kids are half-naked, running around, just little hellions, literally, and you can just tell, like, these kids have never had the fear of God put into them. And you know what's funny? The Bible never says the word spank a single time, it talks about beating. Now, I don't believe you should ever injure a child, that's wrong and wicked, but you know what? Kids need serious discipline! You know, I've been in church for over ten years, and honestly observing all sorts of different parents and observing all sorts of different methods of discipline, it's been my observation that the vast majority of parents spank their children too softly. Too lightly. I mean, I've literally seen parents apply a spanking to their kids where it's one of these, like, 20 or 30, and the kid has no expression change. Nothing happened. Like, it was a joke. You're not spanking your children. Look, the Bible says not to spare for the child's crying. Look, if there's no crying going on, you probably didn't give a good enough spanking. You know, we need to get back to actually disciplining children, but people will say, you're abusive. People will criticize you. People will say that you're doing something wrong. And of course they hate us for other stances that we take, like our stance on abortion. You know, we're not just like, oh, well, you know, we're against abortion unless the mother was raped, or unless it's incest. It's like, no, it's just never okay to kill a baby, period. Regardless of how that baby was created, it's always murder to kill a child. Now, you know what would be a good start is if we started killing the rapists instead of the babies. But then again, people will think, oh, you guys are crazy fundamentalists. You know, even Donald Trump is for abortion in certain circumstances when it comes to things like rape and incest. He's super for IVF, which also can murder children as well. And so people hate us for our stance on that. Of course, they hate us for our stance on sodomy. Of course, they hate us for our stance on divorce, that our church believes that divorce is always wrong, that there's never an exception for that. You know, people are even starting to hate us today for the most simple things that we used to take for granted, like, I don't know, not being a cross-dresser. You know, we get up and scream and yell about these trannies in our society, and people say that we're hateful, that we're crazy, that we're in a cult. It's like, no, this world has just lost its mind. And realize that the farther we go in time, the crazier this world is going to get, and if you stick with what the Bible says, people will hate you more and more and more. And so David's just like, why am I just being hated? There's no good reason. And often today, Christians are hated for no good reason. We're hated for homeschooling our children, doing what's right. We're hated for spanking our kids, which God told us to do. We're hated for believing all the things that Jesus Christ told us to believe. Look, a lot of times we're hated for no good reason whatsoever. Look at verse number 23, and I think you're in Luke chapter 6. Go to Luke chapter 6, 23, if you're not there. Notice what Jesus said our response should be. He said, Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. Hey, when you're hated for no reason whatsoever, you know what you should think? You should think, hey, I'm kind of like King David right now. That's good company. I'm kind of like King David, how he was hated by Saul for no good reason. You know, I'm being hated in like manner, like the fathers were, like the prophets were. Go to John chapter 15, John chapter number 15. John 15, look at verse 18. Jesus said, If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. Notice, Christians are just by default hated by this world, not because of anything that we did, but because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, of course, Christians can be hated for doing evil. That's called suffering as an evildoer, and there's no glory in that. Obviously, God is disappointed when Christians suffer for evildoers, for being an evildoer. But, you know, just default, the world hates us because of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've knocked on a door. I've said nothing. Not a single word has come out of my mouth. I'm just standing there with a pleasant facial expression, and it's just like hell erupts on us from these God haters and these Karens that just want to scream and yell at you. And you don't want to know the reason why? It's because we're holding this in our hand. Because there's people out there that hate the Lord Jesus Christ, and by default, they hate Christians as an extension of that. Verse 19, If you were out of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you. Look, as a Christian, especially if you're new to the faith, you just need to get used to and comfortable with the fact that you're not going to be cool in the eyes of the world. And you know what? Being uncool is the new cool anyways. Because now, like, the most counter-cultural thing that you could possibly be is like a clean-cut, straight-laced, fit Christian that has children, that works hard, a wife that stays home and takes care of the children, you know, have some chickens in your backyard, baby. Whatever the most normal thing was in times past is now, like, radical, extreme, insane. And sometimes teenagers, young people, they're so obsessed with being cool, being different. But you know, this world has gone so insane that just being a fundamental Baptist, you will stand out and be different. But you know what? It doesn't mean you're going to be liked, but just get used to it because Jesus warned us about that. Verse 20 says, Remember the word that I said unto you. The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. So you know the mentality we should have is saying, hey, if David was hated for no reason, if Jesus was hated for no reason, I could be hated for no reason too. And it's not going to be the end of the world. It's not going to make me quit serving God. No, I just realized, hey, this is part of the game. Us as Christians, we're going to be hated oftentimes for no reason. Go back to 1 Samuel, chapter number 20. 1 Samuel, chapter 20. Verse number 2 says, And he said unto him, God forbid, thou shalt not die. Behold, my father will do nothing, neither great nor small, but that he will show it me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so. So Jonathan, he hears David's lamentation here, saying that he's basically about to die. He's wondering why he's being attacked. And Jonathan's like, no, man, nothing's going to happen to you. Don't worry about it. And quite honestly, this is kind of a dangerous game that Jonathan is playing here because Saul has already shown himself to be insane, to be envious, to be murderous. So it seems to me like Jonathan is kind of just burying his head in the sand a little bit here. But I think David has the right mentality. Because look at verse 3, And David sware moreover and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes. And he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. And you know, I think David is the one who is correctly perceiving the situation here. He's saying, look, your father's lost his mind, your father's already tried to kill me multiple times, and he knows that you and I are friends. He knows that you like me, so if he wanted to kill me, he probably wouldn't tell you anyways. And he's saying, look, I'm this close to dying. This is a very serious situation. And of course, David has the right mentality because, remember, what do you do with Saul? You get away from Saul. When you realize he's a Saul, you get away from him, and that is the right attitude. Verse number 4 says, Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee. So Jonathan kind of defers to David's judgment as his friend. He says, okay, whatever you want, I'm on your side, I'm on your team, let's make a plan. And number 2 this evening is David's plan for persecution. Look at verse 5, it says, And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat. But let me go that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at evening. So you know, normally, David, as one of the servants of King Saul, if there's a feast going on, he would be at meat. He would be eating dinner with the king. But he's saying, look, I'm not going to do this right now because I need to hide myself. Verse 6 says, If thy father at all missed me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me, that he might run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family. If he saved us, it is well, thy servant shall have peace. But if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him. So, his plan really just boiled down is to just simply run away. His plan is to flee, is to escape, is to not be around Saul, because obviously Saul is trying to kill him. Now, this has some application for us in the New Testament, because when we suffer persecution the question is, what do we do? Well, Jesus actually told us to deal with it in the exact same way. Go to Matthew chapter number 10. I think that this doctrine can kind of be hard for some people, because the idea of fleeing kind of goes against man's prideful nature. Man usually wants to fight, stand his ground, never budge, and there's definitely a time to do that for sure. But notice what Jesus said in Matthew 10 22, And ye shall be hated of all men for my name save, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, notice, flee ye into another. For verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. The disciples not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. Look, sometimes as hard as it is for man's flesh to accept, sometimes the right thing to do is to flee, is to run away, live to fight another day. And again that's not kind of hard for us to swallow sometimes, but I mean a good example of this I think is our brethren in Germany. And some of the persecution recently that some of our brethren in Germany have been facing where they're stuck between hey go to America where I could freely preach the gospel, freely go to church, freely preach the whole council of God, or sit here in Germany and face prison time and massive fines and all these issues. It's like what is the right decision to make in that case? Well you know I don't fault any of these guys for fleeing Germany, getting away from that situation, and going where they could freely preach the gospel. And you know that's kind of the attitude that we need to take, you know I don't know what the future looks like for our nation, for our world, I don't know if we're the generation that could possibly be living through the tribulation period, but you know we at least ought to think of these things now, these principles now so that if the time comes we know what to do. And you know I could see a situation where maybe persecution gets so bad in the United States that maybe we would have to go somewhere else. I don't know, the Bahamas, somewhere like that where they got the King James Bible in the schools, maybe that could be our place to go. But you know whenever something gets really really bad persecution increases, sometimes God wants you to go to the next city, sometimes God wants you to go to the next area, sometimes God just wants you to flee, and you know what? Jesus Christ himself told his disciples that if they are being persecuted, he wants them to just flee run away, you know it makes no sense just wasting the apostles letting them get murdered by the Jews before they've gone out and really fulfilled their whole ministry preaching the gospel. We'll go to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter number 13, we'll look at this principle in practice. Verse 43 of Acts chapter 13 says, Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Verse 44, and the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God, but when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing he put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life lo, we turn to the Gentiles. He's saying look, you want to come against us, you want to speak against us, persecute us, throw us in jail, contradict, blaspheme. He's saying you know what, it's a good thing that the word of God came to you first because you've judged yourself unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. And sometimes persecution is just a sign that this is a bad area. Sometimes when you experience persecution, it's a sign saying hey, don't cast your pearls before swine, don't waste your time with these people because there's other people in this world that want the gospel. There's other people that are seeking God and those are the people that we should prioritize. Look at verse 47. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life be leaped. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the regions. So notice when they actually did leave the Jews and the word of God went to the Gentiles, there was a great harvest of souls when that happened. And you know I kind of think this is what happened to steadfast when we were going through a lot of persecution in Hearst, Texas, our church was planted there and we ended up going through lots of lawsuits and legal battles and at the time, and quite honestly the whole time it was very stressful and was kind of a nightmare, but when it was over we kind of saw the good because we went from Hearst, which the soul winning in Hearst wasn't terrible but it wasn't the best, and we went to Watauga. The soul winning in Watauga was really bad, really really bad. And once again when steadfast was in Watauga, it received a bunch of persecution. But once they left Watauga, they went to Cedar Hill, which is kind of in the South Dallas area, and the soul winning there is absolutely great. And sometimes you just wonder does God allow sometimes people to go through persecution to drive them away from the bad areas to cause them to flee so that they could actually spend their time preaching to people that are receptive. You know God doesn't want us just spinning our wheels, we have a short life to live on this earth, he doesn't want us wasting our lives doing nothing for him sometimes he's like hey, you know this whole Hearst Watauga area, it's not really working out, let's send some children to Belial, some Jews, some Sodomites to persecute them, and then steadfast is going to go to South Dallas and guess what very receptive area. And you know what, I love soul winning in South Dallas, I like my coffee like I like my soul winning, just like South Dallas, it's the best. It's great soul winning. Go to, if you would, 1 Samuel chapter number 20, 1 Samuel 20. But you know we need to be sensitive to that truth as a church, out preaching the gospel, doing missions trips, sometimes persecution is given to us by God to let us know hey, go somewhere else, try something different find other people to preach the gospel to. Verse 8 says, Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee, notwithstanding if there be in me iniquity, slay in me thyself, but why shouldest thou bring me to thy father? You know David's kind of burnt out here, and he's saying look, I'm already facing death I'm on the run, if you're going to just betray me too, just go ahead and just kill me right now. You know he's kind of black filled right here, he's just ready to be done with this situation, and sometimes when you're going through a lot of persecution, when a lot of Judases are being exposed, sometimes you can feel like everyone's against you. Sometimes you can just have suspicions of everyone where you've just been burned so many times, where you're just wondering like look, are you going to kill me too, just go ahead and slay me right now, just go ahead and turn on me right now if that's the case. You know David's kind of at a low point mentally here. But verse 9 says, And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee, for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon me, then would not I tell it thee? And so you know Jonathan is a loyal friend, Jonathan is on David's side, and you know every single one of us, we need a Jonathan in our life. We need a faithful friend that's going to stick with us through the hard times, and that's an encouragement when you're going through problems and difficulties in life to have someone like Jonathan. And you know if you're in Jonathan's situation and your friend is going through a hard time, be a Jonathan to that person. Confirm your love towards that person. That's what he's doing here. You know David's kind of freaked out, and Jonathan is confirming his love toward him, saying hey I'm on your side, if I knew evil was going to come upon you, I would tell you. I'm your friend, I'm loyal, I'm on your side. You know when we see our friends, family members, people in our lives going through situations like that, that's an opportunity for you to confirm your love toward them, let them know you support them, and back them up. Verse 10, Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? Or what if thy father answered thee roughly? And Jonathan said unto David, Come and let us go out into the field. And they went out, both of them, into the field. They're kind of going on a walk here, they're swell. And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, When I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and behold, if there be good for David, and I then send not unto thee, and showeth thee, the Lord do so, and much more to Jonathan. Now that's a very wordy way of him just saying like, hey David, if Saul is cool with you, and I don't tell you, let bad stuff happen to me, is kind of what he's saying here, just in a very poetic way. Verse number 13, the Lord do so, do so, and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleased my father to do thee evil, so if Saul does want to hurt you, then I will show it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as he have been with my father. He's saying, look, if I find out that harm is coming your way, if I find out that you're in danger of death, or harm, or anything like that, I'm going to tell you. And you know what this made me think of? It made me think of our job as soul winners. That we're kind of like a Jonathan in this situation, and this whole world is in danger. This whole world has harm coming their way. You know, we need to be a faithful friend to this world, and say, hey, just so you know, yep, there is evil determined upon you. You are in danger. You need help. Go to Ezekiel chapter number three. Ezekiel chapter number three. You know, what kind of friend would Jonathan be if he actually did find out? You know, what if Saul said, yeah, Jonathan, I'm just letting you know I'm going to hunt David down. I'm going to kill this guy. Here's when we're going to, you know, launch the attack. And Jonathan's just like, oh, cool, and just doesn't say anything, what kind of person would do something like that? Not a loving person, that's for sure. Obviously, it just demonstrates, it's obvious, it's a manifest that Jonathan does not love David if he didn't warn him if he was going to die. Now, is this the same thing with Christians? Well, look at Ezekiel three verse seventeen. Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. And you know, when we as Christians have been given the great commission, we've been given the ministry of reconciliation, you know, if we don't preach the gospel, the unsaved will die and go to hell for their sin. But you know what? God is holding us accountable for not doing our job. And God is angry at the Christian and at the church that refuses to go out and preach the gospel. And any Christian that knows their job is to go out and preach the gospel and just refuses to do it, that is a Christian that lacks love. It's just obvious. Like, hey, Jonathan, if David's going to get killed and you don't tell him, you obviously don't love David. And it's so funny how many people and how many Christians and how many pastors love to attack in the UIV because we're so mean, we've got such a mean spirit, we call out the sodomites, we preach hard against sin, but those same people don't even go sowing. They don't even have a sowing program at their church or they just leave some sort of door hanger without preaching the gospel to everyone. They pick someone up in a bus, don't even preach the gospel to them. They want to lecture us about being loving. You know what, you're like the person, you're like the watchman that sees evil coming and doesn't warn. You're like Jonathan who says, yeah, there's a conspiracy to kill David and just doesn't even tell him. Those are the unloving people. What a joke to lecture other Christians who are actually soul winners about love when you're doing the most unloving thing imaginable. Because guess what? David being killed or an army coming in and wiping out his city is nothing compared to hell. Why? Because hell is everlasting burnings. Hell is torment day and night forever and ever. The smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever. And they have no rest day nor night is what the Bible says. You cannot fathom, I cannot fathom a worse punishment than hell. You can sit down and try. Try it tonight. Think of something worse than hell. You can't. It's the ultimate punishment. And someone that believes hell is real, someone that's saved and refuses to preach the gospel is someone that simply doesn't love people. And so you know I refuse to hearken to any criticism from anyone that is not a soul winner. And some people like to make fun of this. Oh, you just state that you're a soul winner so you're superior to other Christians. Every soul winner is superior than every non-soul winner. Because that person actually loves people. And I don't care how much Bible you know, I don't care how polished your appearance is, how nice your family looks on the outside, how long you've been in the ministry, how established your church is, what your church assets look like. If you are not a soul winner, you are nothing. You are nothing. God is not impressed with you or your ministry and neither am I. You know that is a serious blemish in Christianity today that we are lacking soul winners. Go to or look at verse number 19 says, Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he return not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. And you have to realize that we, our job primarily is to be soul warners. Now we like winning souls. That's our goal is to win souls. I'm passionate about soul winning. I want us to be really sharp soul winners and to expend a lot of energy and resources on soul winning. But at the end of the day, the only thing that we absolutely can control for sure is being soul warners. And look, this should be encouraging to people that maybe live in more difficult areas of the world to preach the gospel. Maybe live, you know, like when I lived in Idaho with soul winning there, it was really rough. Portland, Oregon compared to here, it's really rough. You got places in Europe that are really hard to preach the gospel. But just realize that God has called all of us to be soul warners. And God is pleased with someone that at least goes out and tries to give people the gospel, that warns people, and at least now the Bible says thou hast delivered thy soul. Your hands are clean from their blood. You know, you can sleep at night knowing at least you tried to preach someone the gospel. Go back to 1st annual chapter number 20. You know, David said that he was but a step between where he is now and death. And the world today does not understand that they are one heartbeat away from eternity in hell. That is something that just an average, unsafe guy doesn't know, isn't thinking about, but that doesn't make it any less true than it is. That there's people in this world that will die during this sermon that will spend eternity in hell, and you know what, we need to make sure we take it seriously to warn those people. Verse 14, and thou shalt not only while yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not, but also, thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house forever. No, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the earth. And so Jonathan says like, hey, I'm going to help you David, I'm going to warn you, but I don't want you to do just good unto me, I want you to do good to my offspring after me. He's wanting David to bless him, and I think this is kind of a relationship, a picture of our relationship with God. Let me show you that in Deuteronomy chapter number 7, Deuteronomy 7. He's saying, look, I want you to be, to do good unto me, and to my seed that comes after me, and to the generations after me, I want you to bless them as well. Deuteronomy 7 verse 9 says, know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy, notice, with them that love him, and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. You know, Jonathan's asking that David would not only do good unto him, but that he would also do good to his descendants. And the Bible in Deuteronomy says that those that actually love God, those that actually keep God's commandments, God is going to repay them with his covenant and with mercy to a thousand generations. God's going to be faithful to those people. Look at verse 10, but the contrary is true, it says, and repay them that hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slapped to him that hated him, he will repay him to his face. You know, God is someone to be feared. You know, this is a true saying, people say this all the time, that God is, could either be your greatest friend, your greatest ally, or your worst enemy. And you know, David kind of pictures that, because hey, if you're on David's side, he's taking care of you, he's getting you through battles, he's leading the army, he's leading the nation to do right, you know, he's got a great friendship with Jonathan, but if you're against David, like Goliath, your head's getting chopped off. You know, if you're against David, if you're the Philistines or the armies of these pagans, you know, you're going to get destroyed. You're going to get wrecked. And you know, that's kind of the same thing with God. You're on his side, hey, there's no one safer to be with than with the Lord. But if you're his enemy, he's going to repay you to your face. He'll destroy you, he'll make it obvious. You know, there is a God that judges in the earth, the Bible says. And sometimes God judges someone so harshly that it's just obvious that it was the hand of God that did that. I mean, Nebuchadnezzar comes to mind, losing his mind, having the heart of a beast, eating grass, letting his nails grow out like a bird. You know, I think about Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, where God literally just opens up the earth and they just fall straight into hell and the company that were surrounding them. I mean, there's times where God judges in the earth where it's like, oh yeah, he's repaying those people to their face. You know, someday God's going to do this on a massive scale. It's called the wrath of God. When the princes and the kings of this earth and all the mighty men and all the rich men are hiding in the dens and caves of the rock, asking the mountains to fall on them and to hide them from the face of the wrath of the lamb. I mean, that's an intense level of in your face wrath that God is pouring out. So, you know, people have a choice in many ways to be God's best friend or God's worst enemy. Hey, you want to get saved? You're always going to be in the love of God. God's always going to be with you. You're always going to have the promise of heaven. You don't get saved. You're going to have eternal wrath and torment for all of eternity. Then beyond that, there's like those Christians that actually love God and want to keep his commandments and God's hand is on those people. God's really blessing those people. Or you could be saved, decide to be rebellious, not obey God's commandments, and his hand could be against you, his chastisement could be upon you your whole life, and it seems like you're against the Lord. You know, a lot of these things we can control by our decisions. Go to verse 16 of 1 Samuel chapter 20. Verse 16. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies. Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon, and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone hezzo, and I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark. Behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them, then come now, for there is peace to thee, and know her as the Lord liveth. So he's saying, Go ahead, David, go on the run, but three days after you're on the run, come back to the stone, and I'm gonna come out to this field and act like I'm doing some target practice. I'm gonna have a little lad with me, I'm gonna shoot three arrows, and if I tell the lad, hey, it's on this side of you, the arrows are on this side of you, then why don't you come out of your hiding place, and I'm gonna let you know, hey, you're safe, it's good to come out. But verse 22 says, But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond me, go thy way, for the Lord hath sent thee away. He's basically saying, if I shoot the arrows beyond thee, let me know, you're in danger, you need to stay on the run, and let me just pause here and just say, aren't you glad that we have technology now, where we could just text each other these messages and not have to come out with these, like, elaborate communications, like, if I shoot the arrow this way, you know, now we should be like, bro, you're cooked, run, you know, you're good, get on the signal encryption app, let it, you know, know what the track is, be like, you're cooked, man, keep running, keep finding that, you know, historical food or whatever you gotta do to stay alive, but he's gotta do all these, you know, messages, I just think it's kind of interesting. Look at verse 23, it says, And as touching the matter, which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the Lord be between me and thee forever. So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat. And the king sat upon his seat as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall, and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. Nevertheless, Saul spake not anything that day, for he thought something hath befallen him, he is not clean, surely he is not clean. So notice, Saul did notice David's absence the first time, it's not like, you know, it went over his head or anything like that, but he's kind of just trying to rationalize it in his mind and come up with some excuse as to why David is gone. Verse 27 says, And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty. And Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meet, neither yesterday nor today. And, you know, at this point I believe Saul's kind of figured out what's going on. And remember, David's prediction was that Saul was going to believe that Jonathan is friends with David and that he wasn't going to basically tell him the truth. Look at verse 28, it says, When Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked, Leave of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, Let me go, I pray thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city, and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table. Now, of course, everything in the Bible is true in the sense that this actually absolutely happened, but the Bible does not paint every single person in the Word of God as some sort of saint that never sins. You know, this is clearly a lie that's being told here, but the Bible's just faithfully reporting the plan that they had. His plan was to flee and lie. They should have just stuck with just the flee plan and not adding the lie on to it, but that is what they did. And verse 30 says, Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious women. Ladies, how would you like it if your husband, you know, said that to one of your children? Wow, I mean, that's intense. Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness. So here, David's judgment was vindicated. Because you remember at the beginning of the chapter, David told Jonathan, this is what's going to happen. At first, Jonathan's like, no, David, you're fine. My dad's not going to do anything to you. He's not going to intend any harm. I mean, remember, he swore. He swore. How's the Lord living? He's not going to touch you. And David's like, no, he's going to perceive that you like me and stuff's going to go down. And of course, that's exactly what happened. And here's the thing. Here's just kind of like a micro lesson from this. Is we live in a generation and in a time that's very anti-judgment. We want to be told that judging is always wrong. Judging is bad. But you know what? It was by David judging Saul that even kept him alive. Sometimes you got to look at someone's actions. You got to look at a history of a behavior. And you got to come up to it with a judgment of this person and say, you know what? I don't trust this person. This person is bad. Oh, that's judging them. Yeah, it is judging them. But you know what? It kept David alive. Because if he didn't judge Saul and say, look, this guy's crazy. This guy's a liar. This guy's for sure going to try to kill me again. If he just wanted to have a no judgment philosophy he probably would have been killed. You know, don't listen to the lie that you shouldn't judge. Please judge people. You know, ladies especially, you think some guy's weird. You're out alone shopping at night or whatever. You get a weird feeling from a guy. Judge him. A guy looks at you weird, judge him. Guys acting weird around you, judge him. Use judgment. And of course this goes for men as well. This goes for everyone. But look, stop thinking, oh, I can't judge anyone. Judge everyone. Judge everyone. Now here's the thing. Judge righteous judgment. Right. We don't want to just be only surface level, only judging things as they appear on the surface. We want to judge based on the word God. We want to judge off of facts, like past behavior, like we see with Paul. But you do need to judge in this world. Does that mean you're always going to be right 100% of the time? No. But you know what, it's better than not judging at all because this is just insanity to never judge. I mean, how far are you going to take this? Like, you know, for example, we had a lady walk into our church a few weeks ago covered in blood. Told me she was just kidnapped. And I made a judgment. You know what my judgment was? Okay, let's call the police right now. And she goes, oh, no, no, it's already been taken care of. Don't call the police. You know what I judge? You're a liar. You were not just kidnapped. You just want money. That was my judgment of her. Why did I judge that way? Because usually when people are kidnapped, they like to police call. Usually when people just got done being kidnapped, they want help. They want to be returned to their family or wherever they came from. But I offered her, I was like, oh, you were just kidnapped? Let's call the police right now. No, no, I'm good. And you know what ended up happening? She left this church telling us that she was God. Can I get a witness on that? Amen. Okay. Sounds like I made the right judgment. Sounds like we need to judge in this world. I mean, just a complete lunatic covered in blood walks into our church, says she's kidnapped, then doesn't want any help. It's like, okay, get out. You're free. All right. I'm making that judgment. And guess what? I was right. Look at Proverbs chapter 14. Proverbs chapter 14. By the way, if you stay at church in between services, please remember to lock that door. Crazy people can wander in, especially if there's no men here that could be in a dangerous situation. Proverbs chapter 14, verse 29. Now, what did David judge? What attributes of Saul made him judge that he should stay away from him? Well, look at Proverbs 14, verse 29. The Bible says, And the Bible kind of contracts two people. People that are slow to wrath, patient, and people that are hasty in their spirit. These are people that get angry very quickly. One person, what do they do? They exalt Baldwin. They're involved in sin. And if you know someone in your life that's just quick to be angry, they're always angry about everything, you should make a judgment about that person and you should limit your time with that person as much as possible. Go to Proverbs 22, verse 24. I'll prove that further. The Bible says explicitly in verse 24, Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. You know, I think Saul qualifies as an angry man when he's constantly just picking up javelins and trying to murder his son-in-law in cold blood. You know, he simply just asks Jonathan, where's David? Jonathan gives him an answer. He's like, you son of the perverse, rebellious woman. I mean, this is an angry guy. This is a very furious man, and you know what? David was right to judge that and to stay away from him. Go to Proverbs 29, verse 22. Proverbs 29, verse 22. The Bible says, An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounded in transgression. Someone who is just angry all the time, they abound in transgression. They abound in sin. So you know, we as God's people, we need to learn to judge people, but judge people based off the Bible. I mean, the book of Proverbs is giving you tons of wisdom on how to make different judgments in your life, how to analyze situations, how to analyze people. It's like, how do you analyze people? Well, you recognize a trait about someone. Oh, this person's extremely angry. Well, let me see what the Bible says about that person, and then you can actually know that person's character and you can make a judgment call. Go back to 1 Samuel chapter number 20. 1 Samuel chapter number 20. Verse 31 says, For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established. This is Saul telling this to Jonathan. Nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. So it's confirmed he does want to do evil to David. He wants to kill him. Verse 32, And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? What have he done? And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him, whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. I think that's funny. It's like, oh, the light bulb finally clicked with Jonathan. You know, it's like the javelin's coming at him in slow-mo. It's like, oh, I've messed up. You know, it's like, now it finally clicks with him. Oh, okay. I guess my dad does actually want to kill David. But, you know, one lesson we can learn from this is that when you meet someone in life that's just extremely angry or someone that's just extremely power hungry like King Saul, you need to realize that that person does not care about anyone except themselves. I mean, look at how he's talking about his wife. Look at what he's doing to his son-in-law. Now he's literally just tried to kill his own son over his anger over King David. You know, you've got to get away from people like this in your life if you're around someone like Saul. Obviously, if you're married to someone that's like this, that's a different story. That's a sermon for a different day. But, you know, any other relationship when you're around someone like this, you've got to get away from that person. This is a dangerous individual to be around. Verse 34, So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger and did eat no meat the second day of the month for he was breed for David because his father had done him shame. And it came to pass in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David and a little lad with him. So he's getting ready now to do his signal with David letting him know what's going on. Verse 36, And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. You know, nowadays we're better at gun safety than they were back then. You know, you normally want to like shoot the arrow with the lad behind you. He's like, all right, start running, start running. Okay, kid's down range. Make sure this goes over his head. Please don't try this with firearms. That's a bad idea. But that's what he did. Start running, kid. It says in verse number 37. And was I verse 37? Verse 37, When the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee? And remember, that was his signal to David saying, Hey, you're cooked. You're on the run. You need to keep running. He wants to kill you. Verse 38, And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make haste not, and Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows and came to his master. But the lad knew not anything. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad, said unto him, Go carry them to the city. Switching gears here towards the end of the sermon, let's talk about number three this evening. The value of godly friendship. The value of godly friendship. Look at verse 41. It says, And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south and fell on his face to the ground and bowed himself three times and they kissed one another and wept with one another until David exceeded. Now, I don't know if you've ever experienced in your life someone literally trying to kill you, but it could be a pretty high emotional experience. It can get you pretty ramped up with adrenaline and very intense emotional feelings, okay? And when this happens to David, he finds out, you know, when he hears that cry, he knows like, Hey, someone's trying to kill me and he literally just falls to the ground. He's crying. He's bowing himself and him and Jonathan kiss each other. Of course, there's people that hate God and hate the Bible that like to look at this story and try to say that this was some sort of sodomite act or some sort of weird stuff going on. You know, these are perverted minds that would say something like that. This is a guy that's about to die, he thinks. He's in extreme emotional turmoil and they kiss each other. It's probably not on the lips or anything weird like that. You know, in other cultures, you see men kiss each other on the cheek. Thank God that's not the culture here. I never want that culture here. But, you know, I would never look at this story and be like, Oh, yeah, David and John. Yeah, David, the one that killed Goliath is a sodomite. It's like, Are you kidding me? No, that's ridiculous. But what you do see here is a very intimate friendship. What you do see here is tender hearts of love from one man of God to another man of God. And, you know, that's a beautiful thing. There's nothing wrong with that. That's wonderful to have that type of a friendship. Verse 42 says, And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace for as much as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seat and my seat forever. And he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. And this evening I want to leave you with some thoughts about friendship. I want to show you, first of all, why was it that David and Jonathan had this close of a friendship? I don't think that this was an accident. I think it was a very specific reason why they were so close. And the answer is in verse 42. It's read it again. It says, And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace for as much as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, notice this, The Lord be between me and thee. You know, I think that the strongest relationships that we have in this life, whether that's between a husband and wife, whether between that's a friend and friend, or, you know, churches, pastor friends, whatever, the bond that brings us together to have a relationship like David and Jonathan is when the Lord is between one person and another. When one person has God as the foundation of their friendship with another person who also has God as the foundation of their friendship, that's going to lead to a true, deep friendship that actually means something. Because, you know, there's people at work where it's like, hey man, you like baseball, I like baseball. Cool. We'll chat baseball every once in a while. Oh, you lift, I lift. Awesome. You know, oh yeah, I like this gun, you like that gun. But at the end of the day, those relationships are pretty shallow. That's not the person where you're really going to pour your heart out to. That's not the person where if you're despairing of life, you're being hunted down, you're going to want to confide in and just be with. No, that's going to be someone like David and Jonathan. Why? Because the Lord was between them both. And if you're not married yet, this is like the number one thing you should be looking in in a spouse, is making sure that you're equally yoked spiritually. If you love the Lord, if you love church, if you love soul-winning, if you love the Bible, you better marry someone that loves God. You better marry someone that loves those things as much, if not more than you, because that's going to be the anchor, that's going to be the rock, the foundation of your relationship that's going to actually lead to a deep love. And oftentimes when people or couples are struggling, it could be because they lose interest in the same things, they're not really connected, they don't have a lot of things in common. Well here's one thing you should have in common, for sure, is loving God. And a lot of people think like, man, my relationships are struggling, and they'll read all these self-help books, but the best thing you can do for your marriage, your friendships, any relationship you have, the best thing you can do is to love God as much as possible. Because when a husband just loves God as much as possible, and a wife loves God as much as possible, you know what you're going to find is that they love each other very much too. And when you've got a friend David, who is a man after God's own heart, and you've got Jonathan, who's a very humble man, he's not a man that's in it for his own glory, the Bible says that he loved David, as he loves his own soul, he actually cares for him, and he loves God, he loves truth. You find out that it just so happens that David and Jonathan love each other very, very much. And you know the relationships that we build in this world need to be built around Christ. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 6, 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. We read this this morning, let's look at it again, verse 14, it says, You know there's people I interact with every single week in my life that are not saved, and I get along with them, we can get you know, we can work together, we can get stuff done, but you know what, I'm never really going to have fellowship with that person. I'm never really going to truly have fellowship with that person, truly have communion with that person, because how can these things have relations to each other? How can someone that believes in Christ truly have a deep level of friendship with someone that doesn't? But you know when two people do love Christ, when people are saved, isn't it funny how you can go visit other churches and you just immediately feel like you know these people, you immediately love them, you immediately get along with them, I mean that is the Spirit of God, that's happening, that's being equally hooked. In verse 15 it says, Have ye that believeth with an infidel? In what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God? As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. You know it wasn't a shared hobby between David and Jonathan that made them truly love each other it wasn't a shared work you know profession it wasn't even a shared nation it wasn't the fact that they are both soldiers it wasn't any of those things that caused them to be close what it was is a shared love for God right you know what's funny is we sometimes are not the closest as Christians with our carnal family members if we get saved and they don't or if you know we decide to serve God and they don't sometimes those relationships aren't as strong as even people were not related to in this room you know sometimes the strongest relationships you have are people in this room why because you love God and they love God and you know I'm telling you if you feel like you lack friendship in your life you know where you should be looking for real friends is at church this is the place where you should find your best friends right not just you know the bowling club because you guys both like bowling you know the shooting club because you guys both like shooting oh the baseball field because you guys both like baseball those relationships are gonna be shallow but real deep friendships that actually last and stand the test of time they're built on one thing and one thing only and that's a real genuine love for God that's what you should be looking for good Ecclesiastes chapter number four I'm gonna read a couple verses for you first Corinthians 15 33 says be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners if you spend your time around nothing but people that don't like God don't like the things of God those people are going to corrupt your lifestyle they are going to corrupt your conversation but if you're around good people that love God it's gonna edify you it's gonna build you up Proverbs 27 17 says iron sharpen it iron so a man sharpen it the countenance of his friend you know when two Christians are together that's iron sharpening iron you know when a Christian is with an unsaved person it's like a q-tip trying to sharpen iron it's just never gonna happen folks it's never ever gonna happen but you know iron sharpening iron lastly look at Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse number 9 the Bible says two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor for if they fall the one who lift up his fellow but woe to him that is alone when he fallen for he hath not another to help him up you know I'm sure that David was thankful for a friend like Jonathan as he's being hunted as he's in threat of death you know I'm sure he's thankful for someone that's willing to pass the message say hey you are in danger you need to go on the run I'm sure he's thankful for someone to cover him as he's on the ground crying with his face to the ground going through a hard time you know I'm sure he's thankful for Jonathan you know us in our lives every single one of us needs someone like that in our lives this is get again another reason why people need to actually physically attend a church I mean this can't be preached enough because we live in 2025 where it's so easy to just get all your spiritual needs met online but you know what you're not going to get all your spiritual needs met online ever right ever it doesn't matter if the Lord Terry's thousands and thousands of more years before he comes back you will never get all your spiritual needs met online you need to gather around God's people you need to have a Jonathan in your life to encourage you you know not only should you just have a Jonathan in your life to encourage you gotta apply this to yourself and you have to say hey am I being a Jonathan for someone else man that is real humility that's real Christianity that's real loving your brothers it's not just thinking about yeah you know I need a Jonathan and of course you do need a Jonathan I need a Jonathan I do need a Jonathan but you know what's better than that is to think how can I be a Jonathan to someone else how can I lift up my brothers how can I encourage my brethren how could I be a service to them when they're going through hard times you know that's something that God is please we'll pick it up next week in verse or chapter 21 let's go ahead and have a word prayer Lord thank you so much for this chapter thank you for beautiful pictures in this chapter I just pray that all of us would be people that are thinking of our brothers and sisters and the needs that they have that would be encouragement to them God and I just pray that people would be faithful to church or someone hasn't found a church that they would come to a real congregation real people that love each other and I just pray that you would help strengthen the relationships in this room whether it be marriages or friendships that you just cause us to center our relationships around love for you love you Jesus any prayer amen all right if you'll grab your hymnals our last hymn this evening number 130 yesterday today forever him number 130 yesterday today forever we'll sing they're starting on the first oh Oh oh Oh see is the same Oh Oh hey