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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] All right folks welcome to Anchor Baptist Church We're gonna go ahead and get started this evening if you would grab a hymnal and turn to hymn number 246 Hymn number 246, Redeemed 246, 2-4-6 246, we'll sing there starting on that first verse Redeemed, now I love to proclaim it Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed through His infinite mercy His child and forever I am Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever I am Redeemed and so happy in Jesus The language my rapture can tell I know that the light of His presence With me I'll continually dwell Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever I am I think of my blessed Redeemer I think of Him all the day long I sing for I cannot be silent His love is the theme of my song Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever I am I know I shall see in His beauty The King in whose law I delight Who lovingly guarded my footsteps And given me songs in the night Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever I am And then we'll open with a word of prayer If you'll bow your heads with me Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day For the opportunity to gather together freely To sing praises in your name And to learn from your word I pray that you would fill, Pastor, with your spirit this evening And that you would open your ears and incline your ear to us As we sing out praises for you That everything would be done decently and in order for the service These things we pray in Jesus' name, Amen Alright, for our next hymn, turn a couple pages, if you would, to 250 Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary Hymn number 250, 250 Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary We'll sing there 250 on the first Days are filled with sorrow and care Hearts are lonely and drear Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Burdens are lifted at Calvary Calvary, Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Cast your care on Jesus today Leave your worry and fear Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Burdens are lifted at Calvary Calvary, Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Troubles told, the Savior can see Every heartache and tear Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Burdens are lifted at Calvary Calvary, Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Sunday morning at 1030 Sunday evening at 430 Our soul winning times are listed below All those times meet here at the church building We have our Saturday rally where we have a preacher Preach a 10 minute soul winning challenge Below that is our nursing home ministry schedule Below that is our year to date statistics We have 108 salvation so far for the year I heard that yesterday soul winning was very receptive Keep up the great work on that soul winning time As always if you have any numbers please do report that We do have on the right our list of expecting ladies Please be in prayer for Ms. Whitney Reed Upcoming events, March 15th, that's this Saturday Is the baby shower for Ms. Whitney Reed And there's some more details on the back of the bulletin for that Also a link was sent in our signal group for her baby shower If you'd like to purchase her a gift on her Amazon list there In five weeks we'll have another men's preaching night, that's April 13th And we will have food after that April 19th is our Easter soul winning marathon here in Oklahoma City May 16th through the 18th is King James Conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church, make sure to at least check out those sermons online, there's going to be some great information Preached there. May 31st we're teaming up with our friends From Steadfast Baptist Church for the Durant Oklahoma Soul Winning Marathon So we're looking forward to that. June 28th we're just having a fellowship day We're going to go to the Tinker Air Show as a church, just hang out and have some fun August 27th through the 31st Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast Baptist Church And October 6th through 11th the Bahamas Mission Trip. Pastor Anderson was just recently in the Bahamas, I think he might be there right now And he was preaching in the colleges there and he said that The colleges and the college aged students in the Caribbean Islands is the most receptive soul winning he's ever seen. So I'm telling you The Bahamas is going to be great, if you can make it, please do It's going to be a wonderful, wonderful trip. If you'd like to give to our church there's some information Below that. On the back we do have also, if you're a first time Visitor, if you wouldn't mind scanning that QR code and just gets us your email We do send out events that our church is putting on and sermons weekly That's preached here, so if you wouldn't mind filling that out we can get a record of your visit We'd appreciate that. Information about the baby shower there as well And we do have our prayer list. The Hall family Is looking at a house potentially. We're going to be praying for them for that Brother Travis is praying for job opportunity. Brother Alex Had an interview this week that went really well and so we're going to be praying For him on that. That's pretty much all the changes for prayer requests This week. So at this time let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer as a church family Lord we thank you for this day. We thank you for Anchor Baptist Church And the opportunity to serve you freely. I pray that you would bless the Service this evening Lord. I pray that you bless the Hall family and their desire For a new home. I pray that you would just bless them and we also pray for brother Travis Haberman for his job opportunity that he's seeking I pray that things would go well for him Lord and if it be your will That he would just find favor in the eyes of the people hiring him And we pray for Miss Jennifer for her uncle's cancer treatment That you please would just bless and work in that situation and please Bless him of that cancer Lord. We also pray for brother Alex That you just help him with different career decisions that he has to make And just pray that the right opportunities would open to him Lord That you would just bless him in his career and we also pray for Miss Sean Fur For her son Trevor's family situation, his daughter Hadley I just pray that you would bless them in that situation God and we do pray also for Miss Remy that you keep her safe as she's traveling I just answer her request about her visa according to your will and also we pray That you please heal her of her tumor God and we also want to pray For the different members in this church who have loved ones that are Unsaved. I pray that you would just soften their hearts to the gospel And that we would be faithful soul winners not just to the community here but also To our family members. We thank you for all that you do for us. In Jesus name we pray Amen. Alright that's going to be it for announcements. This time we'll go to our third song Alright for our third song this evening You'll grab your white handouts. We're going to sing Psalm 139 Psalm 139 139 in your white handouts Okay Psalm 139 we'll start there on that first verse Surely thou wilt slay the wicked Surely thou wilt slay the wicked O God Depart from me therefore ye bloody men Depart from me therefore ye bloody men Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Have not I grieve With those that rise up against thee Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee For they speak against thee Wickedly For they speak against thee Wickedly Do not I hate them Do not I hate them Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Have not I grieve With those that rise up against thee Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee I hate them with perfect hatred With perfect hatred I count them my enemies I count them my enemies Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee Have not I grieve With those that rise up against thee Do not I hate them O Lord that hate me Amen, good singing this evening If you would, as the offering plates are being passed, turn to 1 Samuel chapter number 30 1 Samuel chapter number 30 1 Samuel chapter number 30 1 Samuel chapter number 30 Good evening, 1 Samuel chapter number 30, read the entire chapter, follow along silently in your Bibles. 1 Samuel 30 the Bible reads, and it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had taken the women captives that were therein. They slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire. And their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives, Ehennoam the Jezrelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, the Amalek son, I pray thee, bring me hither the Ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the Ephod to David. And David inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor. And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and heeded eat, and they made him drink water. And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou, and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me, because three days gone I fell sick. We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherithites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company. And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day, and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels and fled. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that they had taken to them, David recovered all. And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil. And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Bessor. And they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him. And when David came near to the people, he saluted them. Then answered all the wicked men and the men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we would not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man, his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart. Then said David, You shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. For who will hearken unto you in this matter? But as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarryeth by the stuff, they shall part alike. And it was so from that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day. And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord, to them which were in Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jettir, and to them which were in Aurore, and to them which were in Shiphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtimoah, and to them which were in Rakal, and to them which were in the cities of the Jermalites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, and to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Korashan, and to them which were in Aktah, and to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for our church and everyone that's gathered here. And we just ask that you would fill our cusp of the Holy Spirit, that you would help us to pay attention to your word, and apply it to our lives, and we just want to pray. Amen. Amen. All right, well we are in 1 Samuel chapter number 30 this evening, getting real close to the end of this study, but if you remember last week, the Philistines kicked David out of their land, you know, he had kind of lost some faith in the Lord, and he said, one day I'm going to perish by the hand of Saul, and he made the mistake of going to dwell with the Philistines, and he wasn't really fitting in there, of course, because his heart is still with God's people, but he was feigning, you know, to be on the Philistines' team, and God kind of gave him an out of that situation by the Philistines kicking him out of that land. That brings us to 1 Samuel chapter 30 verse 1, where the Bible says, and it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire. So just immediately, as soon as he leaves the land of the Philistines, he finds himself back in the fight, back in another battle, and in verse 2 it says, and had taken the women captives that were therein, they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives. Now, what happened here is like one of the worst things a man could possibly fathom. You know, could you imagine coming home and your wife's gone, your children's gone, everyone's gone. I mean, this is like a man's worst nightmare, and that's what's happening to David here, and obviously they're very upset about it. It says in verse number 4, then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. And obviously that's totally understandable that they're feeling these emotions, that they're experiencing this, but we also have to remember that in a way, David is reaping what he's sown a little bit here. Because you remember a couple of chapters ago, he was going into all these lands and all these people that God never told him to go to war against. He just kind of took it upon himself, and when he went into these towns, he killed man, woman, child. He wiped out those cities completely because he didn't want any witnesses that he wasn't actually in the areas of Israel like he told Achish, the king of Gath, right? So David actually just did something way worse than this, and he's kind of reaping what he has sown. And let's remind you of that. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 7, verse number 8. Look what it says. And David and his men went up and invaded the Geshites and the Gezrites and the Amalekites, for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest up to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep and the oxes and the asses and the camels and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish. So when David went on his little excursion here, he killed everyone, and that was obviously not right. God did not tell him to go fight against those enemies. There's times in the Bible where God says, go to these wicked lands and wipe out everything. You know, God told Saul to go and wipe out, or Samuel, excuse me, to wipe out the Amalekites. Saul didn't do it. Samuel took over and finished the job. But God did not tell David to do that. David was just taking that upon himself, and as a result, he's reaping what he has sown. You know, the Bible says, be not deceived. God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. And so, you know, we need to have this reminder as Christians that how we act, the sins that we do, the way that we live our lives, can often come back to bite us later. You know, the world calls this karma. Obviously karma is not a biblical concept, but the idea of reaping what you sow is. And David going around and just murdering people, just taking over lands that God didn't tell him to do, now he finds himself in a situation where an enemy has come into his land to his people, but he didn't get treated as bad as he treated other people. And this is the truth, is that oftentimes God punishes us way less than our iniquities deserve. And when that happens, we should be thankful to God. Because David here, you know, he went and killed people's wives. He went and killed people's mothers, people's dads, people's brothers, that according to the Bible, did not deserve to die. We're not people that God said to kill, yet he himself finds himself in a situation where people have taken his wives, his kids, but hey, at least they're not dead. I mean, at least that all of them are alive, but they don't know that yet. They're weeping. They're distressed. They're upset. Verse 5 said, And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed. For the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. Now actually put yourself in this story, because sometimes I think we're just, we're doing our Bible reading, we're doing our chapter of the day, oh yeah, you know, David was distressed. But could you imagine your precious wife, men, could you imagine your children, your loved ones, are just taken by an enemy force? You don't know what their intentions are. You don't, you know, obviously you're not thinking, oh yeah, these are great guys that took my family. I mean, you probably would just be losing your mind. You'd be so stressed out. You'd be crying. You'd be begging God every second of every day. You'd be doing everything you can to get them back. If you could trade with them, if you could die for them to make sure that they're safe, every guy in here would do that. Right? So David's in this situation for real. He's not just reading it on pages. He's actually here in this story and he's greatly distressed and to make matters worse, put yourself in his position. Now all of his people want to kill him too, right? And boy, do you reap what you sow. You know, you got to be careful Christian and not play around with sin and not think you can go out into the world and live with the Philistines and do a bunch of wicked things that the Bible condemns because you are going to reap what you sow. And here David is, he's in this situation. Now his people want to kill him, but notice this is what makes David different. It says, but David in verse six, but David encouraged himself in the Lord, his God. And this is what separates David from people who quit, from people who buckle under the pressure because let me just let you in on a little secret. Every single person in life is going to go through hardships, struggles, trials, just devastation points in your life where you feel like it's all over. When you feel like there's nothing else to have hope for, every single person is going to experience that. And the Bible even says many are the afflictions of the righteous. So don't think that even by being a great person, even by following the Lord and his commandments that you're just going to escape all suffering or all pain. No, all of us are just going to experience pain and hardships in life. It's just called being a human being. And here's the thing. We could suffer for different reasons. Sometimes people are suffering as a result of their own sin, a result of their own trespasses against the Lord. Other times we're suffering for righteousness sake, for preaching the word of God, for standing up for the truth. But guess what? Everyone is going to suffer. Everyone's going to suffer and your suffering might look different than mine. I hope all of our suffering looks different than David's. I hope none of us ever have to go through this, but there's a difference though between people who they go through the hardships, they go through the trials, and then the weight of those trials causes them to quit. They just say, this is too hard. I didn't sign up for this. I didn't sign up for these consequences. My wives have been taken, my kids have been taken, and all my followers want to kill me now. He could have just quit at this point. He could have just rolled over and died. And a lot of people probably just quit in this situation. But he was different how? He encouraged himself in the Lord his God. And let me tell you, you do not get to control your trials. You don't get to control oftentimes the pain and the struggles that you go through. But here's what all of us can control every single time, is how we respond to those trials. How we respond to the issues and problems in our life. Look at Ephesians chapter six if you'll turn there. All of us get to choose how we respond to these things. And like we talked about on Sunday, all of us have a lot of things to be thankful for and a lot of things that we can be rooted and grounded with. And no matter what you're going through, there's always some way that you could encourage yourself in the Lord. I mean, it doesn't matter what the circumstances look like. It can't really get much worse than this in my mind. Like if David can encourage himself when his wives have been taken, when his children have been taken, when all the people are ready to stone him. If he could encourage himself then, you think you could encourage yourself when you're having financial problems? When you have a fight with your wife? Oh, and you get one protester? I mean, what did we have a few weeks ago? We had two protesters, right? I mean, come on, get over it. We had one? Was it one? I thought it was two. Okay, we had one protest. See, I don't even care. I don't even look at them. I mean, it's small potatoes compared to what I've been through. It's just like one protester, whatever. Some people, one protester would shake them to their core. Coming to a church and getting a protester out there, it would just scare them. It would blow their mind. They would say, this is a church. Why is there a protester out there? But for those of us who have been through some battles, we're like, yeah, no big deal. No big deal, right? But here's the thing. We're going to go through things that are harder than that, and we get to decide to encourage ourself in the Lord and say, you know what? Yeah, I'm going through problems, but I'm still saved. But I still have eternal life. But I still have the King James Bible. But I still have fellow Christians in this room. You know, I still have the sun shining. I still have a place to live. I still have all these blessings in my life. You get to decide to encourage yourself in the Lord and not just sit here and focus on the negative, focus on the problems, focus on all the things that could bring you down, instead focusing on things that will encourage you. Ephesians 6, verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, right? So we know as Christians that we're in a spiritual battle. We know that we're in a fight spiritually with the devil, with the workers of the devil. And so we should prepare for that battle in advance. I mean, do you really think that it's ideal to go to war and as you start receiving gunfire, oh, okay, let me put on my vest, let me put on my helmet, let me get my gun, let me start loading up. Oh, did you guys, you know, prep for this at all? That wouldn't really be ideal, right? But you know, this is how a lot of Christians live their life, is that they wait until they're in a David situation and they go, oh crap, I need to get spiritual. Oh crap, now I should go to church. Oh man, maybe now that I've been divorced, oh, maybe now after I treated my spouse like garbage for 20 years and they finally left me, maybe now that my kids are already grown up and out of the home and not serving God, maybe now that everything's been broken and destroyed, oh, now I'll start getting ready for the fight. No, you get ready for the fight way before you're engaged in it. You know, soldiers that go off to war, they train here in the United States. They get ready for war here, then they go deploy and fight. You don't go out into the middle of a firefight and say, hey, we should get ready for combat. That doesn't make sense, right? But you know, we're in a spiritual war. Look at verse number 12. It says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. See, if you've read the Bible, you already know in advance that we are in a spiritual war, that we are soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ and a wise person would say, okay, I'm in the Lord's army. I'm in a fight. I'm in a battle. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get prepared for that before the heat of the battle, right? And so this is why David was able to stand in this evil day is because David has been a godly person for a long time before this. Yes, he went through his seasons of backsliding. There's no doubt about that. Of course, he's not perfect. He's a sinner, but David is a godly person. David is a man after God's own heart and you know what? David is the guy that had the full armor of God on and here he is when everyone else is getting discouraged. Everyone else is ready to kill him, but he's the one that stands up and encourages himself in the Lord. Why? Because he thought about these things before. Look what it says in verse 13, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. See, the Bible implies that there's the evil day that's coming in the future. Here we are today, the Bible says, hey, the evil day is coming. How are you going to stand on that evil day? Well, you've got to start putting on the armor of God now. You've got to start getting ready for these things now, so you don't want to make this mistake of saying, oh, I'll start getting serious about God when I need him. That's a bad plan. Look, there are some people that God is just so merciful to them and so gracious to them that they don't really serve God and then they're in a bind and they call out to him and God does deliver them. God does show mercy on him, but you know what? That's not the best plan for getting the blessing of God on your life. The Bible talks about how he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even prayer shall be abomination to him. Right? What is that saying? If you are receiving the word of God, you're reading something in the Bible and you know what it says, you understand it, but you say, you know what? I'm just not going to listen to this. I'm not going to take it seriously. I'm not going to change. The Bible says that can have a direct effect on your relationship with God to the point where if you're just scorning his word, you're not listening to what he says, you're not obeying the Bible, you're turning away your ear. He says even your prayer can become abomination to where you call out, God help me, God I'm in a bind, help me save my wife, save my kids. Your prayer is an abomination. Is that where you want to be? Because I'll tell you what, I want my chances of the Lord to hear me and help me to be as high as possible. I want to be walking in the spirit. I want to have the full armor of God on so that in that evil day I could stand, I want to build my house on that sure foundation so that when the storms come, that it beats upon that house and the house stands, that it stands through the storm, it stands through the evil day. But let me tell you, this does not happen overnight. This does not happen in one day. You know what? Putting on that armor, being prepared for war, building a strong house on a strong foundation, it takes time. It takes a time of a long stretch of years of being consistent in the things of God. That's how you build that sure foundation. That's how you become steadfast. That's how you become anchored is doing that for a long period of time. You don't just decide one day I'm going to be an amazing, phenomenal Christian and just in one day, you know the Bible super well, you're a great soul winner, you're obeying God's commandments. No, it takes time. And so the evil day is coming, prepare now. The storm's coming, build your house now. Verse number 14 says, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. So he says, hey, in this armor that you're putting on for battle, one of the things you may need to make sure you're doing is girding your loins with truth, right? It's so important for us to know what the Bible says and to actually believe what the Bible says. So many Christians today or false versions of Christianity, like Catholicism, they'll tell you that they believe the Bible, but I'm telling you right now, they don't have their loins girt about with truth because constantly the Bible's just brought up to them of ways that their religion is against what the Bible says. And you know what they say, you know what they do? They turn away their ear from hearing the law. It's like, hey, here's where Jesus said not to call anyone father. Call no man your father upon earth, for one is your father, which is in heaven, right? Now of course, we know there's nothing wrong with calling your dad, dad. There's nothing wrong with calling your actual father, father. There's nothing wrong with being like a father unto someone. You know, the apostle Paul talked about how, hey, you have many instructors in Christ, but not many fathers, for I have begotten you through the gospel, right? So he was like a father unto them in the sense that he preached them the gospel. He got them saved. But was the apostle Paul walking around calling himself father Paul, oh, father Paul, you've come to see us. No, because that's an unbiblical title. Why? Because Jesus's plain words said, call no man your father. It was the Catholic church do though. They see those words of Jesus Christ and they say, oh no, you have to have the Catholic church interpret that for you. And this is what people who don't believe the Bible do is they hide behind this word called interpretation. This is what they do. There's a clear verse. And let me tell you, that verse does not need interpretation. Jesus said, call no man father. I mean, it's clear, it's plain, but they'll just say, oh, there's a different interpretation for that. Or, you know, first Timothy chapter three will say that if a man desires the office of a Bishop, he desireth a good work. A Bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife. So you have a clear verse. The Bible says that to be a Bishop, you must be married. It's not optional. You have to be married to be a Bishop. And then the Catholic church says, actually the Catholic church teaches that you must not be married to be a Bishop. And it's like, what is wrong with you? I'll tell you what's wrong with them. They don't, and they don't have their loins girt about with truth. They could lie to you and say that you do. They could lie and say, oh yeah, we believe the Bible. No, you don't believe the Bible because if you believe the Bible, you would be saved. You would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and not believe in your works-based false religion, your pagan idolatry religion. No, your loins aren't girt about with truth. If you're going to fight the spiritual fight, you got to have the truth on your side. You got to know what the Bible says so that you could stand in that fight and earnestly contend for the faith. Let's keep reading. Does, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. You know, a breastplate in our modern times would be like a bulletproof vest. And you know, I've never fought. I've never done any of that stuff, but I would imagine that wearing a bulletproof vest gives you a little bit feeling of comfort or confidence knowing, Hey, I've got something to protect me. Even if I take around, probably not going to die. Sure. It might hurt. But you know, you have a little bit more confidence knowing that you are protected, right? And here's the thing about being righteous, meaning walking in the spirit, living a godly life, you know, following the Bible to the best of your ability is that it gives you something called peace. And you know what that is? It's a confidence that knows, Hey, I'm doing the best I can here. I'm living a godly life. Yeah, I'm not perfect, but you know, I'm not out committing adultery. I'm not out drinking alcohol. I'm not out doing drugs. I'm not committing these grievous sins. And you put on the breastplate of righteousness and you could go into battle saying, Hey, I'm confident. I'm protected. I've got peace. And it says, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You know, you wouldn't want to go into combat without shoes on. I mean, could you imagine how terrible that would be? But you know, a lot of Christians, they completely ignore this part of the armor. And a lot of people act like this is just optional, that it's not a big deal, that only those really extreme fundamentalist churches go out and preach the gospel. Again, are we going to believe the Bible or not? The Bible says when you're putting on the full armor of God, you've got to have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You know, you ought to be a soul winner. You ought to learn how to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. You ought to go out knocking doors with us on one of our soul winning times. Well, do you want to stand in the evil day or not? Because you know how you stand in the evil day? You put on the whole armor of God, not just parts of it. It's not, it's not enough to just be King James only and think, Oh, I'm good for all the trials of life just because I am King James only, or I'm saved, so I'm good for all the trials of life. No, you want to go out to war with your full kit on, with the full armor on, right? It wouldn't make sense to go out to war and it's like, all right, you've got your bulletproof vest, you've got your helmet, you've got your belt on, and you have no weapon. It's like, well, that sucks. That doesn't sound like a very fun mission to go on. Or you know, you've got your weapon, you've got your bulletproof vest, you got your helmet, but you're barefoot. Like you're going to be so ineffective and in pain, and it's just not going to be a fun time. You have to have the whole package, all of it. Above all, taking the shield of faith, verse 16, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. See, when you have truth, when you have the word of God, you know what that's going to give you is faith. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You know, you read the Bible and you see, Oh, here's where God came through for this person. Oh, here's the promise of God in this verse. Hey, I can hang my hat on this promise because God can't lie, right? And you can have that shield of faith that'll quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. So putting on a salvation like a helmet and taking the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Of course, our weapon in this war is not carnal. It's a spiritual weapon, the word of God. Go to Job chapter number 23, Job chapter number 23. So you know, here's the thing, when you're doing all those things, when you're reading the Bible, when you're going soul winning, when you're praying, when you're living a godly life, you're going to be able to encourage yourself in the Lord in a lot of situations where other people would not. Where other people are quitting, other people are giving up, you're going to have this inner strength that doesn't come from your flesh, right? It's a spiritual strength, it's the power of the Holy Spirit enabling you to keep going in fights, in battles, and in persecutions. It's a spiritual power. You know, Job was another person who went through a lot of persecution and even after losing his children and losing his health and losing his wealth, notice how he encouraged himself in the Lord in Job chapter 23 verse 10. It says, but he knoweth the way that I take, that he is referring to God, of course, and he's having peace from this inner thought that he's having saying, hey, God knows what's happening in this situation. Isn't that a comforting thought? That's a thought that not everyone has, that the unsaved definitely don't have, and even Christians that are very carnal, they don't often consider the fact that, hey, God knows what's happening right now, and let's keep reading, it says, when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Notice the confidence that he has saying, look, I know this trial is terrible, it sucks, it's not fun, but I know that God understands what's happening right now, even if I don't fully understand it, but here's what I do know. How does he know? Well, from the word of God, of course. How does he know? He says that when he's tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps. His way have I kept. That's that breastplate of righteousness, right? His way have I kept and not declined. See the confidence he has? There's confidence to be had from living a righteous life. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Let's compare and contrast a couple of cases here. Job, who at the time that he was alive, the Bible says, was the most righteous man that was living. Job goes through an insane trial where all 10 of his children die, where he loses his wealth, all of his money, all of his assets, and to make everything worse, he starts getting covered with these boils, he loses his health, then his three friends are just berating him over and over, accusing him of being a wicked person, saying basically, Job, you deserve this, you asked for this, why are you being so prideful, Job? And on top of that, the worst of everything is his wife nags him. I mean, talk about making a man just want to kill himself, is you just add that on top of it, but yet Job still was confident and still had faith in the Lord. Why? Well, because Job wasn't one of these people that just last minute, as his life was falling apart, decides to get spiritual, he was spiritual way before that. He put on the full armor of God way before that. He started building his house on a rock on the Shur foundation way before the evil day. And so even though he almost fell off, there was times he was despairing of life, there was times he was ready to give up, Job stood in the evil day, and it came from him preparing for a long time. David stood in the evil day, it came from him preparing for a long time. Now let's contrast this with other people. Here's most Christians. They don't go to church, or if they do go to church, it's on Easter and Christmas. They don't read the Bible. Maybe they get a verse of the day app that sends them a little notification on their phone. Maybe they read a verse a day. They're not really being faithful to reading the word of God. They're not out preaching the gospel. They're not soul winners. They're not praying every day. They're not leading their families spiritually and teaching them to follow the Lord. But then the evil day will come, because guess what? Like I said, the evil day is coming for you, whether you're saved or unsaved or godly or wicked. If you're a human being, that evil day is coming for you. And so which person are you going to be? Are you just going to leave it up to chance that God will be extra merciful and extra gracious with you and just decide to bail you out anyways? God does that for people sometimes. But is that really, you want to just leave that up to chance? Because chances are, to whom much is given of him, much shall be required. And I'm gonna tell you right now, you are probably not that person. If you're coming to this church, if you're hearing the word of God being preached, if you read your Bible, you're probably not that person. You're the person that's going to fall on the evil day and fall and crash and burn hard. So why don't you just say right now, okay, the evil day is coming anyways, so I'm just going to put on the armor of God now. I'm going to build the house on the rock. Now I'm going to prepare for it now. That's the decision that you need to make today. Don't make that decision when the evil day comes. Make that decision today. We're just in Job. Go back to 1 Samuel chapter number 30, 1 Samuel chapter number 30. I didn't finish Job's quote here. As you're turning back to 1 Samuel 30, let me read for you. Verse 25 says, for I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reigns be consumed within me. Talk about confidence. Talk about something to encourage yourself in the Lord with is the fact that, hey, we're saved. And no matter what we go through in this life, at least we know that someday we're going to see our redeemer and we're going to see him in our flesh because we're going to be resurrected from the dead. We're getting new bodies. We're going to heaven. We could have confidence in that. Verse seven. So remember David, he encouraged himself in the Lord and says, and David said to Abiathar the priest to him, elect son, I pray thee, bring me hither the Ephod and Abiathar brought thither the Ephod to David. Verse eight says, and David inquired at the Lord saying, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, pursue for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all. See, David does the right thing here. He's been godly for many years. The evil day comes. He doesn't quit. He encourages himself in the Lord. And on top of that, he seeks God and he inquires of the Lord. So you don't want to be the person where you're living a super wicked life. And then the evil day comes. Oh, let me inquire of the Lord real quick. Know what you want is be living a really godly life. And then when the evil day comes, also inquire of the Lord. I'm not telling you don't call out to God and ask him to save you in tough situations. Do that. Do that no matter what, because that's the only hope you have. But it's better to be living a godly life before that. Stay there. James 5 13 says, is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. So, you know, that is the answer when you're going through affliction is to pray. But make sure that you're putting on that armor now, make sure that you're building the house. Now, verse nine says, so David went, he and the 600 men that were with him and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. But David pursued he and 400 men for 200 abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor. So on top of this terrible situation that David's in, where the women and children are all taken, everything's gone, and he's having to encourage himself, the people want to kill me, inquires of God, say, God, should I go pursue after this troop, God tells him yes. And as he's going, a bunch of his men fall out, because they're so faint, and so just physically exhausted, that they literally cannot go anymore. And you know, this should just teach us that we should expect issues, expect setbacks, expect problems, have low expectations of things turning out perfectly, just expect everything to go haywire, and then you're going to be dealing with those situations a lot better. You know, you don't want to make plans for your life, where it's like, if one little thing of your perfect little fairytale, you know, plan in your mind goes wrong, that just everything's derailed, just like plan for everything to suck, okay? You know, just plan for the kids to get sick on your vacation. I mean, don't you just love it, men, you men that work super hard, 60 hours a week, 70 hours a week, and you get a day off. Wow. Isn't that just nice when that happens every once in a while? Or you know, you get a vacation planning for so long, and you go and it's just like vomit the whole time. Just all the kids are throwing up, and just everything's terrible, and you know, you lose your wallet, and the car breaks down, the tire's flat, the dog dies, I mean, just, you know, you know, sometimes we just have those days, right? We have those times. But you know, you just got to just right now, just realize that life is just hard sometimes. Things that are going to happen that are bad, that are outside of your control, and that's why we talked about on Sunday about just only focus on the things that you can control. Don't sit here and worry about the what if, what if, what if, because remember, what if a bomb drops on your head, as President Trump said, right? That's a great quote. You know, what if, you know, Putin breaks the agreement? What if a bomb drops on your head right now? That's a good way to live your life, it is. And you know, it's like, all right, God, you told me to do this. You told me to pursue after. You told me to go to church, you told me to go soul winning. Well, what if, you know, I go soul winning and someone yells at you? Expect them to yell at you. Just expect it. And then when it doesn't happen, you're like, wow, that was easy. That was so, you know, no problem, smooth sailing, I mean, that was great. Just expect things to go wrong. Have low expectations. And then when things go right, you could just be extra happy, extra excited. And then, like, you go on a vacation, you're like, wait a sec, were we all healthy that whole time? Like, that's awesome. That's great. That's one for the books, right? And you're going to have weeks like that, too. But don't have this expectation of life that everything's going to go perfect. No, sometimes even when you're doing what's right, even when God says, go pursue, go destroy these guys, things still will go wrong sometimes. And just, we need to realize that as a church, like, I don't have some sort of crystal ball that tells you, here's our 15-year growth plan. You know, here's exactly where we're going to be in this part of town. Let me tell you, I know about moving churches, because when I worked at Steadfast, we did it for three years in a row, didn't we, right? We moved three times in three years, we're, you know, having lawsuits, we're having protests, we're having a hotel in church, or I'm sorry, church in hotel conference rooms. And let me tell you, we didn't have like this grand master plan of what Steadfast Church would look like in five years. We're just thinking like, okay, let's book next week's hotel. Okay? Oh, great. The protesters called that one and got us canceled. All right, life sucks. Go to the next one, right? But you'll see in this story that sometimes things change. Look at verse number 11 says, and they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread and he did eat and they made him drink water. So in the midst of David, he's having this struggle, he's having this problem. Now a bunch of his men are falling out. Now all of a sudden there's this Egyptian guy that comes into the story. Verse 12, it says, and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came again to him for he had eaten no bread nor drunk any water three days and three nights. And David said unto him, to whom belongest thou? And whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite and my master left me because three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherithites and upon the coast, which belongeth to Judah and upon the south of Caleb and we burned Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, canst thou bring me down to this company? That's what he wants, right? He wants to find out where the enemy is. And he said, swear unto me by God that thou wilt neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master and I will bring thee down to this company. Notice how David, you know, he could have just sulked and just had a self-pity party and just felt hopeless, or he could have just been focused so much on his problems and his issues. He could have thrown up his hands and said, man, now a bunch of my guys are too tired to go and fight. He could have just focused on himself, focused on his problems, yet here comes this random individual and David could have ignored this guy, not cared about him, not paid him any attention, but David actually showed him compassion, showed him love, gave him food, gave him water, kept this guy alive. And when this interaction started, there was nothing really in it for David, right? David was just doing the right thing. Yet sometimes in life, you'll realize that as you're going through a trial, through a battle, through a dark time where you don't know where the end is, you don't see the end in sight. Oftentimes, God will just give you a solution to your problems if you seek him first, if you do what's right, if you continue in the paths of righteousness and not just focus on yourself, throw yourself a pity party, focus on your problems, focus on other people. And in the midst of focusing on other people, David's solution came right to him. This guy now is able to lead him to the enemies that he wants to go seek. Would he have ever gotten that if David would have just brushed this guy off and not cared, right? And here's the thing. In this story soon, we're going to see that David does go and he does find the enemy and God does bless David, but it happened through this man. It happened through David caring about other people still. And you know, Pastor Shelley and I and Steadfast Baptist Church, we could have just been so focused on all of our problems and our hotel issues and our lawsuits and our protests. And we could have just said, woe is me. Look at all these problems. But you know what Pastor Shelley did as a leader? He led the church to say, hey, let's still go soul winning. Oh, we're in a hotel church. Who cares? Let's go preach the gospel still. Hey, let's still make documentaries. Let's still get people baptized. Let's still have missions trips over the world. Let's still love other people. And, you know, through the midst of those trials, let me tell you, we did not know what was going to happen. We did not see an end in sight. We did not see a solution. We just said we just have to keep going. We don't see the solution. We don't know how this is going to end. I don't know how this is going to get fixed. But here's what Pastor Shelley and I knew that we were going to be steadfast, that we were going to keep serving God no matter what, that we were still going to love and minister to other people no matter what. And you know what happened is eventually God just opened a door for that church that we never expected. And God bless Verity Baptist Church gave just a ton of money to steadfast and enable them to buy a church building. And you know, that was unforeseen. That's not something that we said, oh, no worries, because in exactly this amount of time, we're going to be getting this and God's going to bail us out of the situation. We didn't know that. But Pastor Shelley, his leadership style was, hey, we don't know, but I know what we should be doing. We should be preaching the gospel. We should be having church. We should be serving God. We should be loving other people. And, you know, when you focus on those things, oftentimes God orchestrates things in your life to fix your problems, to help you through your battles. Verse number 16 of 1 Samuel 30 says, And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah. So the wicked here that had just taken the wives and the children, you know, David and his men, he goes to them and he sees them and they're just partying. They're having a great time. They're dancing. They're eating and drinking and making merry. And, you know, sometimes Christians as well could look at the world, could look at wicked people and wicked people oftentimes put on this illusion that their life is so wonderful that they're just having a big party. And for some Christians, this actually causes Christians to get disillusioned and to get discouraged is when they themselves are living a good life. They're following God's commandments and they're going through struggles. They're going through problems. Yet sometimes they'll look at someone who's very wicked, you know, Hollywood actors, these real famous celebrities or something like that. And it just looks like their life is one big party. Looks like they're having fun. Looks like they're enjoying themselves. Right? Look at Psalm chapter 37, Psalm chapter number 37, here's what you have to realize is that it's a facade. And even if there is any, any iota of superficial happiness, I'm telling you, it's so on the surface. It's so fake. It's not real. It's not lasting. It's not deep. Look at Psalm 37, verse one, fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity saying when you see wicked people, don't be envious of them. Don't have a wicked thought within your heart saying, man, I wish I had the life of this Hollywood actor. Let me tell you, you don't wish you had their life because if you had their life, you'd be sinning greatly against God, because I'm just going to tell you, if you didn't know These Hollywood actors and celebrities are not exactly following the Bible. They're not exactly living clean lives. They're often involved in all sorts of debauchery and wicked lifestyles. So don't envy them. Verse two says, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb, trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed, delight thyself also in the Lord. And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. So he's trying to get us to have some perspective. Don't envy the wicked. Don't wish that you were like them. Don't fret yourself because of evil doers. Here's why. Because they're going to be cut down like the grass. The Bible says that our life is a vapor. It's here one moment and it vanishes away and it's gone. And someone could on the surface seem, wow, they're living such a great life. They're so rich. They have everything they could ever want. But here's the thing. They die and they spend eternity in a fiery hell and they spend all of eternity burning and suffering and torment and anguish in outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. And they're doing that one year, then they're doing that the next year, and then they're doing that the next billion years and the next billion years after that and the next billion years after that. Why would you ever be envious of those people? I mean, go ahead, live it up. Have all the great luxuries and pleasures of this life. You have fun. If that means that I'm going to go to hell, though, like if I could push a button, it's like have the greatest life, all the money you could ever want. But at the end of it, you have to go to hell or like be the worst experience of human life in this existence, be born a paraplegic, you know, get kicks every day. I don't know. Just whatever you want to imagine. Right. Go through all this suffering and pain and torment in life. But at the end, I go to heaven for all of eternity, I'm picking the second option every single day. Right. So we don't want to be envious of them. They're going to be cut down like the grass. Go back to First Samuel chapter number 30. So keep that in mind. Has this been turned off? Okay, let's turn that off. So keep that in mind that they're going to be cut down soon. He shows up. It looks like they're having fun. Looks like they're having a party. God verse 17 says, And David smote them, boom, cut down like grass, from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day. And there escaped not a man of them, save 400 young men, which rode upon camels and fled. See, the wicked one day they're living it up. They're living the dream. They're having fun. They're drinking. They're eating. They're partying. They're reveling, having this great time. And then all of a sudden, boom, cut down like the grass. David comes in, kills these guys, and you know what? Their party ended really quick, didn't they? So how much sense would it make to look at the party and be like, oh man, it looks so much fun. Looks so wonderful. Boom, lawnmower of life just cuts it off. It's like, well, that was over. That wasn't really worth anything. Why was I sitting here being envious of that? You know, it's foolish. And here's the thing. Verse 18 says, And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. Man, sometimes when you do what's right, when you're trying to serve the Lord, sometimes you're going to have struggles. But other times when you stay steadfast and when you continue through those struggles, sometimes God blesses you in such an immense way that you could have never imagined. I mean, this is an act of God here to where an enemy army takes all of your people. Even if you did rescue some of them, you would expect there to be some casualties. You would have expect some of the women to have been ravished. You would have expect some of them to have been killed, some of them to have suffered. But David recovers all. I mean, that's amazing. Praise God for that. And sometimes God, when he sees you being faithful, when he sees you being steadfast and you finally get through the end of that trial, sometimes he blesses you in ways that you just could not have even fathomed before. Like the building at Steadfast Baptist Church never could have fathomed it so much above and beyond what we were able to do. Yet God is exceeding able to do abundantly above. I'm not going to misquote that verse. Above that we ask or think. You know what I'm talking about, right? It's just true. God can bless us in great ways. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number four. But also think about this aspect of this verse. David made the decision to encourage himself in the Lord. David made the decision to be steadfast, to do what was right, and as a result, all of those people were saved. You know where I'm going with this? 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse three. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. What would have happened if David would have quit? What would have happened if David said, this is too hard. You know, my people are quitting. They're around me. They're too weak to go. I have less people to go now. You know what? I'm just not going to fight this battle. I'm not going to keep going. If he would have just given up, what would have happened? None of those people would have been saved. And let me tell you something, as a Christian, God has given you the charge to fulfill the great commission, to go out into all the world and to preach the gospel to every creature. We have the gospel, and the Bible says, if our gospel is hid, it's hid to those that are lost. And when a Christian quits, when a Christian decides, I'm not going to take the Bible seriously, I'm not going to listen to the preaching that's telling me to go out and preach the gospel and be a soul winner, let me just tell you the reality of what happens. People go to hell who could have been saved, who could have gone to heaven if you had been a soul winner, if you had taken it seriously, if you had encouraged yourself in the Lord and said, hey, yeah, this is uncharted territory, yeah, I've never done it before, but you know what? I trust in the Lord. I know what the Bible says. I'm going to trust in the Lord and do what he says, then you know what happens? People get saved. And you know, praise the Lord, so far this year, our church has had over a hundred salvations. That's a hundred souls that Jesus Christ died on the cross for who are going to spend eternity in heaven with him. But what if we as a church just quit, just gave up, just went home, just said, you know what? Let's not go soul winning. There's a hundred souls that would spend eternity in hell that could have been saved. And it's like David's wives, David's kids, all the family members of the rest of the men of that army, here they are in the grasp of the enemy's hand, just like the world is in the devil's grasp, walking according to the prince of this world, right? Blinded. And we have an opportunity to rescue them. We have an opportunity to save them, but do you actually care enough? Do you actually have the fortitude to be steadfast, to endure the challenges of life, to be able to encourage yourself in the Lord and not just go soul winning one time in your life? One Saturday, I went soul winning, but to actually become a soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ and go out and battle week after week after week for decades. Someone that does that, you know what's going to happen? They're going to save a lot of people. And you know, people could look at our church and say, wow, you know, you guys aren't that big of a church, but let me tell you what happens when a church stays steadfast and does what's right over a long period of time is that this church is going to get thousands and thousands of people saved. Let me tell you, it hasn't even happened yet. I'm telling you right now, Anchor Baptist Church will get multitudes of thousands of people saved. Why? Because God's commanded us to go. God wants people to get, to get saved. I want people to get saved. I'm going to be steadfast. You're going to be steadfast, I hope. And when that happens, the recipe is salvation. The recipe is thousands of people are going to get saved. And yeah, you know, we only have a hundred so far this year, but what happens when we actually stick with it through the battles, through the trials, encourage ourselves in the Lord. And what's those numbers going to look like 20 years from now, 15 years from now, 50 years from now? You know, lots of lots of people will get saved, but you know, what's going to happen is if you remain steadfast, if you put on the full armor of God, if you encourage yourself in the Lord and you actually stay with it, verse 19 of first Samuel chapter 30, and there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that they had taken to them. David recovered all amazing verse 20. David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other cattle and said, this is David's spoil. See, you know, there's ups and downs in the Christian life. There's battles, there's struggles, there's pain, there's problems, but then there's days where you get the spoil. Then there's days where things are just going great. And you know, I don't know about you, but I have a lot of those days. I have days where I'm just like, thank you God for this amazing life. Lord, thank you for my family. Thank you for the state of Oklahoma. Thank you for acre Baptist church. Thank you for my job. Thank you for the great weather. I mean, some days it's just like, wow, God is so good to us. And of course the Lord's good to us all the time. But I'm just saying some days it's just like, you know, there wasn't really a battle today. You know, the government wasn't hunting me down. Like our brothers in Germany have been dealing with, you know, we've had one protester big deal. A lot of days we're coming in. It's peaceful, right? Some days, man, it's just feels like you're getting the spoils verse 21. David came to the 200 men, which were so faint that they could not follow David whom they had made also to abide at the Brook of Esau and they went forth to meet David and to meet the people that were with them. And when David came near to the people, he saluted them. So these people that were really tired and faint and they couldn't fight, they come, they meet David and David's attitude towards them is he greets them. He salutes them. You know, he's happy to see them, but look at this attitude in verse 22, then answer, notice all the wicked men and men of Belial of those that went with David. By the way, there's usually men of Belial infiltrated amongst God's people and said, because they went not with us, we will not give them out of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man, his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart. Go to Proverbs chapter number six, Proverbs chapter number six. Now here's the thing. These wicked men here, these children of Belial have a terrible, terrible attitude because here's the truth is that they're fellow countrymen here. It's not that they didn't go to the battle because they were too scared. It's that they were literally physically exhausted. Like you know, the human body could actually like pass certain limitations to where you're just exhausted, right? That's where these people were at. So it's not like they didn't care about the battle. I mean, they lost their wives and kids too. They're wanting to win the victory just as much as everyone else is, but they literally could not go. And on top of that, it's not like they were serving no purpose because they were staying with the stuff. Think about it. If someone had been performing this task before all the women and children were taken, they wouldn't have been able to take the women and children if there was an army there staying with the stuff. Right? I mean, you got to bind the good man of the house first, right? So these people staying by the stuff is actually serving a purpose. Yet these wicked men, they want to be greedy with the spoil. David, he sees someone in need. He helps him, gives him food and water. The wicked men, they get the spoil and they just want to keep it all to themselves. And they want to cause division while doing it. Verse 16 of Proverbs 6 says, these six things that the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, notice, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Notice how the Bible said in 1 Samuel 30 that these were the wicked men and the men of Belial and what were they doing? Sowing discord, causing division, causing an us versus them mentality amongst their fellow countrymen, their fellow soldiers who they were on the same team as trying to cause a wedge to be driven between them. David's receiving them. David's saying, Hey, we're on the same side. The wicked are the ones that cause division and thank the Lord. We don't have this issue in our church right now, but it bears repeating often that if someone comes in this church and they want to take you aside and talk crap about our church, talk crap about me, talk crap about our doctrine, that is a wicked person. And let me tell you this, that may even be a child of the devil. That may even be a Judas reprobate. Why? Because it's the children of the devil and it's the wicked that want to cause division amongst God's people. You know, he's he that loveth seeketh peace, right? And we are for peace, obviously, but there's going to be people that hate the Lord, that hate the work of God, that want to come into a church and destroy what's going on there. And they're going to do it by division. Go to Acts chapter number 20, Acts chapter number 20. We need to make sure that at our church, we have a spirit of teamwork, you know, that we're on the same side that we want the same things accomplished, you know, contrary to what the world tells you, diversity is not our strength. Yeah. Having diversity of skills, that's a strength. Having diversity of a desired outcome is not a strength. Like I want the great commission to be fulfilled. And if you are not on that program, we don't want you. I want the word of God to be spread out into the world. I want the word of God to be preached. And if you don't share that vision, you're not going to fit in here. We're not going to have unity. Acts chapter two, verse 28, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, watch and remember that by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn everyone day, night and day with tears. I mean, the apostle Paul was so concerned about this threat of wicked people rising up even from among our own selves, trying to cause division, trying to heap people to themselves and cause little, you know, factions within the church that the apostle Paul warned day and night about this for three years. So you know, as the apostle Paul warned you, so I warn you now, watch out for people sowing division. Watch out for people sowing discord in this church. And like I said, thank God we don't have this problem. Our church is very unified. Our church is doing great. We're getting lots of people saved. We've had four first time visitors four weeks in a row, you know, praise the Lord. Our church is doing well, but I'm just telling you as things go on, there's going to be people rising up, trying to infiltrate, trying to do wicked things. And notice the motivation of these people, if you'll go to Romans chapter number 16, Romans chapter number 16. One of the things that I love about the Bible, and I'm going to preach a whole sermon about this on Sunday, is that the Bible not only tells you what people do, it not only defines what human beings do, but it also tells you why they do things. You know, the Bible talks about how the word of God is sharper than any two edged sword. Keep your finger in Romans 16 and also flip to Hebrews chapter four. This verse is too good. I want to make sure that it's word perfect for you guys. And we'll talk about this a lot more on Sunday, of course, but Hebrews chapter four says in verse 12, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is, notice, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So the Bible is going to define to you what you're thinking, what you're doing, and the motivation that you have behind that. Okay. Now, with that in mind, look at Romans 16. I told you to keep your place there. It says, now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Here's what people do when they cause division, when they quit a church and they act like, Oh, we're, we're good. We're leaving amicably. We're leaving on good terms. And then you find out that they're talking crap to everyone behind your back. They're on little texting campaigns, talking crap about the pastor. This is what they'll do. They'll act like they're so sweet. They're so syrupy. They're so loving. In fact, they'll usually criticize the church that they left. They weren't loving enough. You know, I miss the old IFB where when, when someone was backslid in and about to quit a church, the pastor would run after me and just try to get me to stay just like, dude, I don't want to do that. You know, that sounds like pretty gay if you ask me, you know, if you want to leave, go ahead and leave. How about that? I want people that want to be here. Oh, you know, you think that anchor Baptist church is so bad. It's so terrible. And so hateful. Okay. Bye. You're wrong, but you know, have fun, have a good life. Enjoy the old IFB. I don't care. Just go serve God. Right. But this is what they'll do. Like, Oh man, you know, I'm just such a loving person. I just care so much about the truth and I just, I really care about the direction of the church and I just care about righteousness and I just care that the church is standing up for what's right. And you know, preaching what's right. You know what they'll do? They'll do prayer speeches that deceive the hearts of the simple. What does that mean? Stupid, stupid people are deceived by people that in the midst of sowing division in the midst of texting people, Oh, pastor Dylan Oz is a piece of beep to all of his friends and family members in the midst as, as they're texting people like that, they'll say, Oh man, it's just, there wasn't enough love at this church. Let me tell you, I'm just, I'm so concerned about the truth and so concerned about the word of God being preached correctly. It's like, okay, why don't we actually just look at your actions and say, look, this person's causing division. I could tell you the intent of their heart, not based on my own opinion, not based on my human reasoning and logic, but because the Bible says that people that cause division serve not our Lord Jesus Christ. But don't sit here and tell me, Oh, I'm just so concerned about the work of God. So concerned about the right doctrine. I'm so concerned about it being a loving church. No, no, no, no, no. You don't serve Jesus Christ. You know, I know that because you're causing division. You know what I know about you is that you're serving your own belly, your own lusts, your own interests, your own self gratification. You want to heap teachers, you know, come into you and have all these little factions and clicks, and you want to have those special doctrines that you whisper to people about that you don't tell the pastor about. And you want to have these little secret groups where you talk crap about the pastor. I'm just telling you, like, I know for a fact, the intentions of that person's heart, and you can too, because of what the Bible says. So here you have these wicked men in first Samuel chapter 30, the Bible says that they were causing division. They were trying to like have an us versus them mentality. These people didn't go fight. We're not going to share the spoils with them. What did the Bible call those people? Wicked men and men of Belial. So you could look at someone's actions and you could say, wow, this fits with what the Bible says. Hey, you're wicked. No you're not loving. No, you're not concerned about the work of God. Because if you were, you wouldn't be trying to destroy good churches. You wouldn't be trying to destroy good pastors. You wouldn't be trying to sow division amongst God's people. And I'm just telling you, lest you be one of these simple people that are deceived by the fair speeches. No, look at their actions. Go back to first Samuel chapter 30, first Samuel chapter number 30. Well, that wasn't in my notes. Verse number 23 says, then said David, ye shall not do so my brethren with that which the Lord have given us, who hath preserved us and delivered the company that came against us into our hand for who will hearken unto you in this matter. That as his part is that goes down to the battle. So shall his part be that terrieth by the stuff they shall part alike. You know, we have to have this mentality. Like I said, in church of teamwork that, Hey, not all of us have the same job in church. We don't all serve the same function. And quite frankly, there's not going to be a church that exists in the world where every single person does the exact same amount of work. There's going to be some people in the church that contribute a lot more in a lot of different areas than other people. Here's the thing. I'm not going to start just looking down though on people that aren't on the same spiritual level as the guy who's been saved for a decade, two decades, right? We're all on the same team. We all serve an important function. We all have a lot riding on us continuing serving God, because here's the thing. If you quit all the people that you could have gotten saved, I mean, now it's going to take double the work to get them right. Those opportunities are not going to be there. Sometimes, you know, every single person in our church serves an important role and don't ever look down on one group, you know, don't be like, and I'm not saying we have this attitude, but don't be like, you know, a single guys, you know, we go soul winning every day. It's like, yeah, bro, when I was a single guy, I went soul winning every day too. But I have, you know, this thing called a wife now and kids and all these responsibilities, and I'm not doing as much soul winning as the single guys. And that's okay. Right. And I'm saying this attitude does not exist here, so I'm not picking on you guys. All right. That would be weird. Right. That would be so weird for like one faction to be like, oh, I'm doing so much more than you or it's like, I'm a single guy. Yeah. I go soul winning every day. What are you pregnant women doing? Huh? You pregnant women need to get up to my level and go out soul winning every single day in the a hundred degree heat and the negative 30 temperatures. You guys are so weak. It's like, that's so stupid, right? Hey, sometimes people are going to be tearing by the stuff. Sometimes people are going to be going out to war, but we're on the same team. As long as we're not causing division. Right. We're on the same team. And the people that are tearing by the stuff are serving an important role. I don't know about you, but I think that we need to be fruitful and multiply, right? Hey, we need some pregnant ladies around here to bring forth the next generation of Christians. Not going to look down on them because they're not going soul winning as much as single guys. Like that's ridiculous. Right. But look, these attitudes exist out in the world. We don't want to have it. Verse 25 says, and it was so from that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day. When David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends saying, behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord. Now we're wrapping up pretty quick, but think about this. A few chapters ago, David and his men came up to Nabal and his servants and they were dead broke, right? They're just in the wilderness running from Saul. And he's like, Hey, Nabal, just give us some of your stuff. Like he's basically asking for a favor. Now David, he's got the spoil, right? He's got the money. He's got the assets now. He's got the animals. But the first thing that he does when he gets the spoils is he's generous to other people. He gives a present. He sends the spoil to the elders of Judah. You know, that's a good leader right there. Someone that's not always just concerned about themselves. And it's like, Oh yes, finally I'm comfortable now. Oh, finally I've got the money now. I've got to know. It's just like he gets the payday and immediately he's just like wanting to bless other people. You know, that's a great leader. That's a great example. Verse 27, to them, which were in Bethel and to them, which were in South Ramoth and to them, which were in Jettir and to them, which were in Arror and to them, which were in Siphmoth and to them, which were in Eshtomoa and to them, which were in Rakal and to them, which were in the cities of the Jeremiahites and to them, which were in the cities of the Kenites and to them, which were in Hormah and to them, which were in Tereshon and to them, which were in Athak, and to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt." We'll finish in Proverbs chapter number 11. Proverbs 11, this would be the last place that we go to. Proverbs chapter 11, and then I'll read one more verse for you guys. Proverbs chapter 11 verse 24 says, "...there is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than his meat, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." You know, David went from being broke for a really long time, struggling, being on the run, to all of the sudden having this great income, having these great blessings, and as we saw, he was considerate of other people. He was liberal with his money, not, you know, politics liberal, but liberal as in giving, right, to other people, and we say, we see David in his life being a very blessed man, right? I mean, he's king, he's respected and followed by everyone, he's feared by the enemies of God, he's got, you know, he's got plenty of ladies, okay? Polygamy is a bad idea. He didn't struggle with finding ladies or anything like that, right? So David, he has a lot of things going for him in his life, but he wasn't a selfish person. He wasn't just hoarding things onto himself. I just want all the blessing. He was liberal to other people, and then he also was blessed. That's how it works. We'll close in this verse. I'll read for you Matthew 6 19 says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you for this chapter. Thank you for 1 Samuel. I just pray that you would help us all, Lord, to settle it in our hearts now that we're gonna start today building our house on the rock, that we're gonna start putting on the full armor of God and preparing and training for the evil day that's coming. I just pray that you help all of us to be serious about the things of God. I pray that you help us all to be willing to fight for our wives and kids, to be willing to save the lost, and I pray that you would help us to always be considerate, loving, and caring about other people in the process. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right at this time we'll go to our last hymn for the evening. If you'll grab a hymnal, turn to number 260. He is able to deliver thee. Hymn number 260, two six zero. He is able to deliver thee. We'll sing there 260 on the first. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though I sin oppressed, come to him for rest. Our God is able to deliver thee. Tis the grandest Eve in the earth for me. Tis the grandest Eve for a mortal strain. Tis the grandest Eve, tell the world again. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though I sin oppressed, come to him for rest. Our God is able to deliver thee. Tis the grandest Eve, let the tidings roll. To the guilty are to the sinful soul. Look to God in faith. He will make thee whole. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though I sin oppressed, come to him for rest. Our God is able to deliver thee. Amen. With that you are dismissed.