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In 1 Timothy chapter number 3, look down at verse number 15. He says, But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou ought to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Title of the sermon this morning is Behave Yourself. Behave Yourself. Now, I'm not making fun of Skolk. I do think the only reason why we got nine people saved is because he behaved himself for a good whole month. But I'm just teasing. See, that's how we gauge how we're doing as a church. I'm teasing. But Behave Yourself is the title of the sermon. Now, the Bible says, and we bring this up a lot, the Bible says that we're a royal priesthood, kings and priests, right? And so with that, there's some expectations that God has of his kings and of his priests. And part of that is knowing how to behave yourself in the house of God, right? Now, I'm not talking about within these four walls here. I mean, who thinks that this verse is just talking about within the four walls? No, obviously the church is when we gather together. But it's also talking about the body of Christ. So if you're saved, you're a born again Bible believing Christian, you're always in the house of God. And I mean, if you just read this chapter here, Paul's listing off the requirements to be a pastor or a deacon to Timothy. And we've talked about this before as well, that these don't just apply to people that wanna go into ministry. Because this person who does desire this, the Bible says that he should be an example of the believers, meaning that the goal is for all believers to get to this level. Obviously, we're all on different levels. But like I said, there's some good things, there's some blessings associated with behavior when we learn how to behave ourselves wisely. And the Bible is gonna unlock those things for us. Now, keep your place. We're gonna come right back. We'll go to Titus chapter two, Titus chapter number two. You know, it seems like there's a lot of people just kind of have this loose idea that, you know, once you get saved, it's like, okay, well, I'm good. You know, and then that's it. I can just kind of chill and hang out. And you can, you'll be saved. You know, you're gonna go to heaven. You know, don't stand next to me at the Judgment Day of Christ. I don't wanna see that big old bonfire of what A and stubble you got. And of course, I'm teasing about that as well. But the point is, you know, we do need to learn how to behave ourselves, not just in the house of God, but you know, every single day. And you know, this is something that even the world recognizes. When I was in the military and I got promoted to E5, they sent me to this course for a month to learn how to behave like they wanted me to behave. They basically lock you away for a month, they take you away from your family and there are no phones, no letter, no nothing, right? And you're just there training. They're just basically teaching you how to lead and how to take care of people and make decisions. And you go through all these different scenarios and drills to become a leader. And what you may not know or realize is that they put your wife through something similar to that. And Jessica had to come up to where I was training and for a couple days, take classes and learn how to be a wife, learn how to behave because there's certain expectations that they have of non-commissioned officers. You know, you can't just behave yourself like you did when you were in E1 private. You have to be mature, you have to go up. They have standards and expectations because you're a leader. Well, we're a leader amongst the world, right? That's why God also calls us ambassadors because that's what we are. We're supposed to bring the message of where we're home-based, which is heaven, and bring that to the people here. And when our behavior's out of whack, out of control, it makes the citizens of this planet look at us like, why would I want to listen to you? I don't value anything you have to say. You're no different than my brother, you're no different than my sister, you're no different than the people at work or the other people in my family. And so we need to make sure that we learn how to behave ourselves. Now Titus chapter two, look at verse one. It says, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity and patience, the aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not giving them much wine, teachers of good things. So look, these standards that you read about that apply to a bishop, to an overseer, to a deacon, really are standards that all of us should aim to live up to, and to get at. Not just for the pastor, not just for the leader. And this is something that I see with a lot of churches outside of our types of movements, is they just look at the pastor, oh well that's good for him that he does that, that's good for him that he reads the Bible or whatever, studies it, but we just kinda, as long as we just showed up to church, we've behaved ourselves well, we've done good, and now I can just cross that off my holiness checklist for the week, which is go to church on Sunday, you know. But it goes, it extends way beyond just that mentality. I mean, if that's your mentality, you're missing out on so many blessings that the Bible has. Now go back to 1 Timothy 3, and we'll start looking at the first point this morning. So if you look at verse 14, after Paul's giving him these different attributes of leadership, he says in verse 14, he says, these things ride I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. So he's saying, hey, I do hope to come visit you soon, but there's a reason why that I'm riding you these things. There's a point that I want you to get. There's something you need to really understand here. In verse 15, he says, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And so what we're seeing here is an example to follow. And point number one is this, you will conduct yourself based on what you subject to yourself. So Paul's saying, hey, Timothy, you need to make sure that you're living up to these things. You need to make sure that you're teaching these things. You need to make sure that you're explaining these things to your people. Why? For this reason, because you will conduct yourself based on what you subject to yourself. So the way that we learn how to behave ourselves properly in God's house, meaning every single day, everyday life, is through the word of God, right? It's not just finding some good person or somebody that you look to on the internet, you know, that's some motivational speaker, and saying, well, you know, he's successful, he's got a lot of money and a lot of cars, and he seems to live a good life, doesn't cuss, you know, and doesn't really drink a whole lot, and I wanna model my life after him. No, that's not behaving yourself wisely. It's only gonna come for the believer through the written words in this book. That's how it works. So for example, you subject yourself to a lot of TV programming. Guess what? You will learn to behave like the stuff that you see on TV. I don't know if I've told the story here before, but I used to work with these two guys, these two Washington-born people that, I did tell the story about how they liked to throw on the Raider stuff until the Seahawks started winning, but they were into this show, and I wish I could remember the name of it, but the character, I guess he had, like, the sides and the back of his head just shaved, right? And then the hair on the top of his head was long, and then they would braid it, and it looked like rolls. I guess they call it corn rolls or something like that. Right? So I'm talking to these guys. These guys are in their 30s, and they've got families. They look just like us, honestly. I mean, they're just worldly guys, but they just live in their lives. I come to work one day, and they've got this goofy hairdo thing going on, and I'm like, how did you do that, first of all, so quickly? I thought that you just needed a haircut. Well, the reason why they were letting their hair get long is so that they could do that whole corn roll thing, and both of them were like, well, we've been watching this show on TV, right? We've been watching the show, and he told me about it, and I was like, okay, and point is, and well, we like his hairdo, and so we're doing that. I'm like, you're dumb, and I had that type of relationship where I could say that to him, you know? You guys are stupid. You're acting like these guys on TV that are getting paid to have their hair look like that. You guys look like idiots. And they're just like, oh, man, you know how it is with guys that work, right? But I was thinking, when I came up with this point, I was thinking that you will conduct yourself, meaning, what does behavior mean, first of all? Well, it means how you act or conduct yourself towards other people. Well, you'll conduct yourself based on what you subject to yourself. So if you subject yourself to a bunch of trash, guess what? You're gonna act like trash, you know? You subject yourself to that TV show apparently gonna shave your head and grow the top of your hair out real long and have corn rolls, I guess. Turn to Matthew chapter six, and we'll see what Jesus has to say about this. You know, another verse that comes to mind is Lamentations 3.51, which says, "'Mine eye affecteth mine heart "'because of all the daughters of my city.'" And obviously, you know the story about Jeremiah, you know, obviously heartbroken over the situation in Judah because they're being taken into captivity and, you know, the people are in torments, you know, they're travailed. And he says, "'Mine eye affecteth my heart.'" And so Jeremiah's just explaining a fact that, you know, him seeing the weeping daughters of Israel, of Judah, you know, that that affected his heart. So what we subject to our eyes does have an effect on your heart and your behavior. And so we need to be careful how we conduct ourselves. We need to be careful what we set in front of our eyes, basically, because we don't want to become the, you know, a believer of bad behavior. Matthew chapter six, look at verse 22. Jesus explains this even further, and he says, "'The light of the body is the eye. "'If therefore thine eye be single, "'thy whole body shall be full of light. "'But if thine eye be evil, "'thy whole body shall be full of darkness. "'If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, "'how great is that darkness.'" So there you have it. If you subject yourself, by and large, mostly worldly programming, whether through the friends that you hang out with, the stuff that you watch on TV or listen through the radio, guess what? That's how you're going to behave. When a certain situation happens to you, somebody, I don't know, they cut you off in traffic or they shoulder check you by accident in the store, if you've been watching a lot of garbage on TV, you're probably gonna act like those people would act. You know, I don't know if I told you a story about this guy that I used to know. He was an Army Ranger, and he loved watching, you know, the Chuck Norris stuff and all the Rambo movies, and, you know, the Rangers wasn't enough for him. You know, he just loved the Hollywood stuff, and that's, you know, after he got out, he was always watching that kind of stuff. And I remember him telling me about, you know, some movie where somebody was always, you know, drawing down on somebody. Well, he goes to Shell gas station one day over in Tacoma, Washington, and somebody's looking at him funny, right? And he pulls out a .45 on the guy, gets away with it. Obviously the guy gets scared and leaves because that's just kind of how it is over there sometimes in Tacoma, you know? Well, one day he decides he's going to make a left turn on a real busy street. And he's like, well, I know how to get these people to stop, pulls out the .45. He goes ahead and makes his left turn. Well, a few minutes later, the cops come up and arrest him, take him to jail. And now to this day, he can't own a firearm just because of something stupid like that. Because what he decided to do is subject himself to that mentality through Hollywood. You know, it's bad enough that the military is going to make you somewhat like that to begin with. You know, the Rangers were supposed to calm him down, but they didn't. They just taught him a bunch of stuff that he didn't really need to know. So what I'm trying to tell you is that, you know, look, what you put in front of you, what you subject yourself to, that's basically how you're going to act. You know, you ask yourself, what defines a hero? What makes somebody in the moment, you know, decide to save somebody's life versus running away? You know, that fight or flight syndrome. It's basically how you live your life. I mean, you're not going to subject yourself to a bunch of cowardice type stuff, you know, friends and programming and ideologies. And then all of a sudden see somebody in need getting robbed and go, you know, charge them and help out. You know, it doesn't, it doesn't just, it's not a switch that you can flip like that. You know, it starts now. It starts with how you conduct yourself. Now it starts with what you decide to put in front of your face, which you decide to allow go into your heart. Now, obviously we live in the world. We can't always not see things, right? But you know what? There's a difference there. We're not the ones placing that willingly in front of our eyes. We all know people who have come inside of this church and have back bitten and said, you know, I don't really think that the rock music is that bad. I don't really think that the Hollywood is that bad. You know, that's not a person who's behaving himself wisely in the house of God. That's not okay behavior. That's wrong. That's not a good Royal priest. If you ask me now turn to a first Samuel chapter 18, first Samuel chapter 18. And we're going to take a look at David's life this morning, because if you study the word behavior, behaved, just behave in the Bible, it's going to come up in first Samuel 18, more than any other place. And so I figured, you know what? I think God was trying to tell me something here. I want to read all of these verses and see what it really means to behave yourself wisely. What are the challenges? What are the examples? And what are the blessings associated with that? So you're there in first Samuel chapter number 18, look at verse number one. It says, and it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword and his bow and to his girdle. And so you can see the friendship that's developing here, verse five and David went out whithersoever, Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war. And he was accepted in the sight of all people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. And so the Bible is telling us here, Hey, you know what? David behaved himself wisely, but here's the question. What does that mean? What did he do that God records this for us and says, Hey, he behaved himself wisely. Well, look at verse five again, and you're going to see the answer. And David went out whithersoever, Saul sent him. So does it sound like David did whatever he was told? Now? Absolutely. So point number two is this wise behavior leads to trust from those that are around you. You say, what's the benefit. What's in it for me. Why should I care about how I behave myself? Well, because it's going to open up so many more doors for you. I mean, think about it. Think about David here, right? He's just coming onto the scene. Saul's basically just said, you know, I'm going to hire you. You know, I could see potential in you. And what do we see right away here in verse five? And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely. So he didn't just pay his dues with lip service. He didn't just go out and go to work every day and say, okay, I'm here. I'm going to throw out my hands. You know what? I'm just going to come to church and sit here and just be quiet and not ever talk to anybody and just kind of scowl and then leave right after the service. I didn't, I'm not going to do anything like that. No, I'm actually going to go to these places. I'm going to go to church. I'm going to go to work and I'm going to behave myself wisely, right? And it says, and Saul set him because of that. Look at the rest of the verse. It says, and Saul set him over the men of war. Well, that's crazy. He must've behaved himself pretty darn wisely to get that kind of a responsibility right in the beginning of his leadership here. And Saul set him over the men of war and he was accepted in the sight of all people. So take a look at this here. What does he get? He gets more responsibility, but he also gets the trust and acceptance from the people that are in the kingdom, from everybody by and large, right? So I said, point number two is wise behavior leads to trust from those that are around you. A lot of times, teens and kids will be like, I want more responsibility. I want my parents to trust me to go over here, to go over there or to be able to use this tool or to be able to use this kitchen gadget, but they won't let me. Well, you know what? If you learn to behave yourself wisely, if you learn to do what you're told and kind of pull the stuff that David is teaching us here, you know what? You're going to get that trust and acceptance from your family, from your parents. I talk about this a lot because it's true and it's woven throughout the entire Bible. This is how you get promotion. This is how you get trust in the world is by basically behaving yourself wisely, okay? So David did what he was told. He went wherever he was sent and he got a promotion. Jump down to verse 14 real quick. It says, and David behaved himself wisely in all his ways and guess what? And the Lord was with him. So when God's ambassadors, when God's priesthood, when God's people say, you know what? I'm going to follow this example. I'm going to behave myself wisely, meaning I'm going to learn the scriptures like Paul told Timothy. I'm going to shoot for these marks that he said. I'm going to apply these teachings. I'm going to separate myself from the world. You're behaving yourself wisely. You might think, well, it's dangerous for me to admit to my family what I really believe about, I don't know, maybe the reprobate doctrine or salvation. You know, they're going to come after me because they believe it works and I know it's a free gift. You know what? You just got to have to go for it. You just got to have to fight that battle. That's behaving yourself wisely. And if you study the life of David, you'll see he didn't pull punches. The truth was the truth. Black was black and white was white. There was no gray area with him. And one of my, you don't have to turn there, but actually why don't you guys turn to Psalm chapter 101, Psalm chapter 101. And I'm going to read for you a couple of Psalms here. Psalm 75, six. This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It says for promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South. And I talk about this a lot. It's because it comes from God. It comes from the North. That's what the Bible is teaching here. And it's a result of wise behavior. It's a result of basically committing your heart, like I talked about last week to the things of God, to applying the things in the Bible so that you can grow, so that you can learn, so that you can behave yourself wisely and get that trust and acceptance. Proverbs three, verse 35 says, the wise shall inherit glory. Well, I mean that starts right when a person gets saved. You know, that person is wise, who has heard the word of God. They're going to inherit that glory, but that principle goes throughout the rest of your Christian life. You know, the more doctrine, the more Bible that you allow to resonate and set down into your heart and that you apply, guess what? You're going to inherit more glory too. You know, whether it be at your work or in your family, it's going to come, but it starts with you behaving yourself wisely and saying, you know what? I'm going to act. I'm going to conduct myself in a wise manner because I no longer just recognize myself as just some low human being here on this planet. I actually have value. I've actually got purpose. I've actually got a mission from God. And I'm going to make sure and view myself in that capacity, in that manner, because that's what brings change. That's what changes your behavior. A lot of people, oh, you need to go to the doctor and get these pills and get that and get this. Look, no, you don't. You just need to read the Bible. You need to come to church and you need to apply these things to your life. That's how you're going to change your behavior. So Psalm chapter 101, look at verse number one. This is David here. A Psalm of David, it says in verse one, it says, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. Everybody in the world wants to talk about mercy. They want to talk about love. They want to talk about their rights and their justice and all of that stuff, right? Then they always leave out the judgment part because that hurts, that divides, that speaks truth. Right, but if you want to behave yourself wisely, you have got to have both. You have to have that balance. And David understood that. In verse number two, he says, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Well, what is that? Read the rest of the verse. Oh, when wilt thou come unto me, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. And he's going to explain a very important key factor here. And we need to pay attention to this. This is another very, very famous verse, at least amongst our people here. I love this verse. This is probably another one of my favorite verses here. Psalm 101 verse three. He says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave unto me. And so there you have it. I mean, think about that. How do you turn your heart to behave wisely? Like David's talking about here in these first two verses in a perfect way, with a perfect heart, where he says, hey, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Well, that goes back to point number one. You will conduct yourself based on what you subject to yourself, right? So obviously people who have come in here and in other churches that we've been to in the past who, you know, want to start, I hate to keep bringing it up, but it's just so true. You know, hey, yay hath God said, yay hath pastor said, yay hath so-and-so said. Should we really worry about the world's music? Should we really worry about the world's programming? Well, apparently, according to David, if you want to behave yourself wisely, yes. It starts with that choice there, not to set that wicked garbage in front of your eyes. And the result will be a change in behavior. It's a promise, it's a fact, it's a guarantee. You say, I want to get better, but I just can't. I just keep backsliding. Yeah, it's because you keep setting crap in front of your eyes. You keep bringing trash people into your life that don't have the same values that you do, don't have the same principles, don't have the same guidelines, and then you think you're gonna keep living righteously for God, it's not gonna happen. They will corrupt you, you will not change them. And that's why David says, he spends two verses here, hey, mercy and judgment, I'm gonna sing unto thee. Why? Because he behaves himself wisely. He walks in a perfect way. How did he get that way? Well, it's obviously stated here in verse three, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. Now, when you go out into the world and you go to work, you're gonna hear the world's music. You're gonna accidentally see the world's programming. You're gonna have to go to trainings where they slip in little things here and there. And the only way you're gonna overcome that is if you are the type of person that decides, I'm not gonna set that stuff in front of my eyes. So that way you'll be protected when they set that stuff in front of your eyes. You see what I'm saying? It depends on how you choose to behave yourself, but it starts with your choices, okay? So go back to 1 Samuel chapter number 18. So I said point number one is, you will conduct yourself based on what you subject to yourself. And another example or another good picture, I guess, would be Isaac. I mean, remember what Abraham did to Bimelech, how he lied about his wife, lied about Sarah? Well, guess what? Isaac did the same thing. Where do you think he learned that behavior from? He learned it from his father. You know, a lot of times we wonder, well, why is my child being like this or that? Well, it could be because you were like this or like that, and you haven't changed your behavior. Truth hurts, but that's really what it boils down to. You know, I remember, who remembers, who's old enough to remember that commercial about weed back in the 80s where the slogan was, I learned it by watching you. You guys remember that? Some of you guys remember that. Some of you young bucks don't. They don't have that commercial anymore. That goes against society today, right? Because they want those weed shops opened up and, you know, pumping it out and all that. But I was just thinking about that commercial. You know, basically the commercial goes where, you know, this dad walks in on his kid and he's getting ready to smoke weed or he is smoking weed or something like that. And he's like scolding him, like, you shouldn't do that. And then the commercial pauses and he's like, well, I learned it by watching you. And then the dad's like, oh, you know, it's true. You know, your children are gonna learn what you subject to them. But you know what? If that's your issue, all hope isn't lost. You could obviously change and turn that around. I'm showing you how to do that this morning if that's something that you struggle with. So let's move on here. I said point number two is about trust. I mean, you look back at verse number five and you can see the formula here just real quick in verse five about how David, he did whatever he was told, right? Saul said, hey, go here. Guess what? David went there. Saul said, hey, do this. And he did it. He did it with a smile on his face. He did it with a perfect heart. And so I said that wise behavior leads to trust from those that are around you. Because David behaved himself wisely, he didn't willingly set wicked things in front of his eyes. He just did the job. He got the job done. Because he was like that, he started to earn respect. He started to get acceptance and he gained more trust from Saul and from even everybody in the kingdom, including Saul's servants. We're gonna see that here in a minute. But look at verse six. And so this here is after David is returning from the slaughter of the Philistines, it says, and it came to pass, as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistines, that the women came out of all cities, all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tabards, with joy, and with instruments of music. In verse seven, you're gonna see this is what starts it all. This here is basically what kicks off the envy of Saul and basically puts David in a great straight for several years. Verse seven, it says, and the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. And look at verse eight. And Saul was very wroth and the saying displeased him and he said, they have ascribed unto David ten thousands and unto me they have ascribed the thousands. And what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day forward. And so here's something you need to understand. Just because you behave yourself wisely does not mean you're gonna have the easy street. You are gonna have some adversity. You're gonna have people fill up with envy and decide to come at you and they're gonna put a big target on your back and they're gonna take aim and they're gonna fire. But you know what? A person who behaves himself wisely is gonna be able to overcome that and we'll see that here with David. So look at verse number 11. It says, and Saul cast the javelin for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it and David avoided out of his presence twice. And so if you just back up for a minute and think, David's behavior is basically making him a leader in the eyes of the people, right? Because these girls or these ladies are singing songs and they're not going out to battle, they're not counting the deaths, they're just hearing about all this stuff and they're actually attributing more of it to David because of how he behaved himself. So obviously, the background story with Saul, he's already disobedient, he has a problem, he doesn't really handle authority well, he's not the most diligent person in the world. You remember that when we went through the Old Testament study last year. And so you can see, how can I become a leader? You don't necessarily have to have a title to become a leader. That's just a fact. People will follow you if you just behave yourself wisely. And it's happening right here. I mean, he's just a servant, he's not a king yet, he's just doing his daily job, he's doing it with a good heart, he's behaving himself wisely and the people are viewing him as a leader. And that's how people are gonna view all of you when you decide to do the same thing. It's not just about the guy up here behind the pulpit, it's about us as a whole. We all need to have that attitude. Because look, here's what we don't want. We don't want this Saul type attitude. There's plenty of that out there today. I mean, I'm just being honest. There's plenty of that. There's people that want the influence, they wanna be the top dog, they wanna be the guy that everybody goes to for instruction and counsel and if they don't get that on the YouTube videos or the Facebook posts, then guess what? Then they start getting upset, then they start going a little bit Saul on people and going ham on people and ruining friendships and ruining people's lives and just causing chaos, man. That's not okay. This isn't about one man. This isn't about just influence. This is about the kingdom of God. You see, David, he lived his life with the understanding that my job is to please God and to serve the kingdom. Saul, he had it backwards. He's like, no, I want the fame, I want the views, I want the popularity, it's mine for the taking. That's the wrong way to go and a person who acts like that is a person who is not behaving themselves wisely. Amen. Turn back to Psalm 101. I'm just gonna read for you a couple more verses out of 1 Samuel 18. So going on, it says, and Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul. Therefore, Saul removed him from him and made him his captain over 1,000 and he went out and came in before the people and David behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him. And then 1 Samuel 18, 15 says this, wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. So the more that David behaves himself wisely, the more Saul wants to get rid of David. So here's point number three. Wise behavior will draw out the trash people from your life. Wise behavior will draw out the trash people from your life. So just by David behaving himself wisely, naturally, it's like a magnet, right? It's just drawing the metal particles and stuff to it. That's what David's life is doing at this moment in time. It's exposing Saul for the fraud that he is. And you know what? That's why Paul also spoke of being instant in season and out of season to reprove and to rebuke with all long suffering, because the word of God is that sword. It's that wise behavior that we are to live by. And what that does is it draws the trash out. It basically brings the scum to the top so that we can see it and scoop it out, right? That, I mean, think about that. You say, I'm afraid, or I'm not sure who the snakes are. I'm not sure who the bad people are. I'm not sure who I should cut off. Well, look, if you behave yourself wisely and you just start conducting yourself in the way that I'm talking about this morning, those people will expose themselves because they're gonna take aim at you. They're gonna come after you and then you're gonna know. It's gonna be clear. You're not gonna have to be like, well, gee, I wonder if this is a bad person or not. No, you're just gonna know. Just like David is now learning, hey, Saul's not a good kind of person. I believe Saul was a safe person. I do believe he was safe, but he's obviously being a garbage person right now. He's not being a very good person. He's not being a good brother in Christ. He's just, I mean, think about it. He's trying to kill David. Why? Because of envy. Because he had his priorities reversed. See, he thought, no, this is me being king and you being the follower. Whereas David is like, no, this is about God's kingdom and that's following him, right? That's what makes a leader. That's behaving yourself wisely. So point number three is wise behavior will draw the trash people from your life. Look at verse number four, Psalm 101 verse four, it says, a froward heart will depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. And obviously this also goes back into the first two points as well. When we talked about verse three, not setting wicked things before your eyes. Well, it's not, it goes beyond the programming. When you allow yourself to willingly fellowship with people that are wicked, guess what, man, it's gonna hurt you. And David obviously understood this and said, I will not know a wicked person. I'm not gonna become friends with them. I'm not going to yoke myself up with them. Now, do we have to work with these people out in the world? Of course we do. Do we have them in our families? Of course we do. Do we have them in the neighborhood? Yeah, we do, right? But there's a difference between keeping the peace and trying to live peaceably with all men, which is behaving yourself wisely versus saying, hey, come to my house every single day. Let's have friendship. I'm not gonna go to church today because I wanna hang out with you and I wanna please you and I wanna appease you. I wanna placate you. No, that's not behaving yourself wisely. That is the exact opposite. Verse five, who so privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. You see, he saw these attributes in Saul, right? And he's like, you know what? I don't even want a person like that around me. I'm not gonna be friends with people like that. Verse six, mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. Now that's what I'm talking about. You know, the more of God's people that you surround yourself with, guess what? The things that they talk about, the illustrations that they paint for you and their lives, that's a righteous thing you're setting before your eyes, right? That's what I'm talking about here. That's what's gonna help change that behavior. That's what's gonna help you behave yourself wisely. And then he says, verse seven, he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will destroy, he says, I will early destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all the wicked doers from the city of the Lord. So he says, I will early destroy these people, meaning right away, right? And that's how you need to be. When you find these people in your life, when they manifest themselves to you, you need to early destroy and cut off those relationships. Because if you don't, you will no longer behave yourself wisely, you will behave yourself like Saul did, which is unwisely. Verse eight, I'm sorry, look, actually go back to 1 Samuel 18 again real quick. 1 Samuel 18. And so again, point number three is wise behavior will draw out the trash people from your life. And we see that here with Saul saying, well, David's behaving himself wisely. It's causing him acceptance and trust from the Lord. I don't like it. Instead of getting myself right, I'm just gonna go ahead and try to kill him. Look at verse 16. It says, but all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them. He led by example, he led by doing. I mean, how would it look if I kept preaching about soul winning, but never went soul winning? That would be terrible, right? We wouldn't be the church we are today if that was the fact, right? That's what I'm talking about. Do what you say, that's behaving yourself wisely. Now, I should have told you to turn here earlier, but go to 1 Chronicles 19, 1 Chronicles 19. We talked about this story a little while ago. This is a story where David decides he's gonna go ahead and comfort Hanan, the son of Nahash after Nahash died. And he's gonna, he decides, you know what? I'm gonna go ahead and comfort Hanan. I'm gonna send him some provisions. I'm gonna send him some blessings. And what did Hanan do? Shaved off half the garments on the backside, cut off half their beards. Basically caused him shame. And David's not too happy about this. Let's Hanan know this. And Hanan's like, well, I'm just gonna go ahead and hire some mercenaries and see if you wanna fight, okay? And so we're gonna pick the story up here in verse 13 just to give you a point here. 1 Chronicles 19, 13, look at this. It says, be of good courage. So this is after Hanan gets ready to fight. This is what Joab is saying. He says, be of good courage and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people and for the cities of our God and let the Lord do that which is good in his sight. You see, that's the right attitude. If you're going to behave yourself valiantly, meaning mightily, you need to do it for the right reasons not for some selfish glorification or because you wanna be magnified and lifted up and have your name known among everybody. That's not where it is. Look, God's the author of promotion. If God wants your church to have all this influence and be this big powerhouse, he's gonna have to make it happen. But he's only gonna use a church that has this kind of attitude here where the people are fighting for the cities of our God and for the people that serve him wholeheartedly. And look, and when we have that attitude, hey, let God do what's good in his sight. We'll put our stuff on the internet. I've got no problem with that, but he's gonna just do what's good to him, right? Let him worry about it, let him deal with it. Verse 14, so Joab and the people that were with him, they drew nigh before the Syrians into the battle and they fled before him. And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem. So what's the result of valiant behavior? Victory every single time. Victory every single time. Look, just because you decide to behave yourself wisely, it doesn't mean you're not gonna have adversaries. It means you're probably gonna wind up having more because it's gonna expose the dirty, rotten, unwise, envious people in your life. And you know what? It needs to happen. There needs to be a purging. Look, this church had one that lasted like 14 months. It was a little bit painful. But now look at it, now look at it, now when we go places, we're getting people saved left and right. You guys are, you know, people are looking to you like, how did you learn all this stuff? Are you guys all pastors, you know? Right, I mean, some of you have had that posed to you. Are you the pastor? Are you some kind of a Bible teacher? You're like, wow, just go to church and listen and read my Bible and think for myself, right? Behave myself wisely, and now look what God's doing through this church. Because I know there's people out there that are still trolling us, still watching us and wanting us to fail and they want us to fall. They wanna one day go to our YouTube channel and have it stay completely gone. They wanna be able to go to the phone book or come into this parking lot and see the sign gone. Well, you know what, we can't let that happen. We're gonna behave ourselves wisely and we're gonna fight and we're gonna do what's right. Not because we want the influence, not because we want glory, but because we want to serve the risen God. We're gonna serve Jesus Christ and we're gonna do things for him his way. That's what God is gonna use. And that's how we have to behave ourselves. Now, turn back to 1 Samuel 18. So a person that behaves themselves wisely, they're gonna repel the wicked people in their lives because they're driven by a love of the righteous things in their life. They're driven by the proper motivation. You don't have to turn there, but I just wanna read these verses for you out of 1 Corinthians 13. So beginning of verse five, it says, Paul's trying to explain the concept of charity, the concept of love to the Corinthians. And he says, hey, charity does not behave itself unseemly. It's seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. So unseemly there means inappropriate behavior. So he's saying, hey, you know what, charity doesn't display this unseemly, this inappropriate type behavior. So when you see that in an individual, it's just basically something you need to keep in the back of your mind. I need to correct this, or this behavior needs to be corrected, right? That's the attitude that we saw with Joab and Abishai and David. They were driven by charity. They were driven by love. And I believe that Paul, obviously having a very deep understanding of these stories, you know, is basically telling the Corinthians, hey, the reason why you guys are all messed up is because you're not behaving yourselves wisely. You're not doing things out of love. You're not doing things out of charity. You're doing things out of carnality and calling it charity, which is a completely different thing. And that's the battle today, is just trying to teach the right way. Because look, the devil likes to flip everything on its head. He likes to call good evil and evil good. And so by the time you graduate your public school, like I did, you know, it feels like you're spending the rest of your life trying to relearn, you know, the truth. You know, at least that's how it is for me. And so the point of this is that you got to have love for what you're doing. I mean, I talked about this last week, you know, I think I talked about this on Wednesday, right? And if you want to find the motivation in something that just seems dry, that seems harsh, you have to find a love for it. You have to find that some way that that benefits you. Otherwise you're just never going to get it done. And obviously Paul's telling these guys, hey, you know, a good way to recognize this behavior is if it behaves itself seemingly, meaning, you know, if it behaves itself unseemly, it's a bad deal. So behavior is related to the heart. Now, 1 Samuel 18, look down, jump down to verse number 25. Let me show you this here. It says this, 1 Samuel 18, 25 says, and Saul said, thus shall ye say to David, the king desireth not any dowry, but in hundred foreskins of the Philistines to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. So after, you know, Saul decides, you know what, I'm going to cast a javelin at David. I want to kill him. He starts having these thoughts come into his mind. Well, I'm going to give him my oldest daughter because I know she'll make his life a living hell. Well, as time passes by, she goes on and marries. She becomes somebody else's wife. And he's like thinking like, man, what am I going to do now? And then it turns out he hears a little rumor. Well, his daughter, Michael, she loves David. David hears about it. I guess he's, you know, he's cool with it. And Saul's like, oh, my other daughter, Michael, she loves David. And he's like, good, I'm going to give her to David because that's, then she could be a snare onto him. Right, he's probably thinking like she's a little brat. She'll definitely make his life a living hell, change his behavior real quick, right? And so he comes up with this deal. Okay, well, I'm going to give my daughter to David, but I need a dowry here. I need a down payment. I need to know that David is serious. And so he says to David, hey, I've got this task for you. You're going to go to the land of the Philistines. You're going to come back with 200 men's foreskins. You know, not a very pleasant subject, but it's in the Bible, okay? And hey guys, you know, be thankful that hopefully your father-in-law is not that crazy, right? Look at verse 26. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law and the days were not expired. So David hears this and look what he says in his heart. He's like, you know what? I'm just glad to be the king's son-in-law. I'll do it. I'd be like, I'm not doing that. I'll find somebody else, man. No thanks. Verse 27, wherefore David arose and went. Again, wise behavior. He's, you know what? He's just doing what he's told. Wherefore David arose and went. He and his men and slew of the Philistines 200 men, and David brought their foreskins and they gave them and full tale to the king that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal, his daughter, to wife. So Saul keeps his promise only because he thinks she's gonna ruin his life, right? But nonetheless, he is behaving himself wisely. He's doing what he's told and he's doing what he needs to do. And he does a complete job every time that he goes out. Now look at verse 28. It says in Saul, saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him and Saul was yet the more afraid of David and Saul became David's enemy continually. And so that keeps coming up over and over again because I think God wants to show us something here. Hey, have the expectation that when you behave yourself wisely, people will come after you. This is especially true in the workplace. If you're the kind of person that says, you know, we need to follow these processes. We need to follow the rules. We need to follow what's right here. You know what? You're gonna get some people upset and they're gonna come after you. You know what? When you say I'm gonna raise my kids this way from now on, guess what? People are gonna come after you. Your own family is gonna be like, hey, you know what? Oh, now you're in a cult. Now, oh, you've changed. You're hurting those kids. They're not gonna have any kind of a childhood. I had this boss one time and he was telling me about how he couldn't wait for when his daughter gets to be a teenager and how he's gonna be just this free loving hippie and just basically let her have all these different guys and basically try the world out to see what works best for her. I was like, that's stupid. I was like, what are you gonna do? She dies of AIDS or some other disease. You wanna, is that what you're after? He's like, well, no, man, I'm gonna teach you to do things the right way. I'm like, dude, that is wicked beyond all get out. Talk about unwise behavior. That's some unwise behavior right there, my friend. But you know what? He was saying that because of how I was raising my kids and he could sense that. Well, why don't your kids go to public school? Why are you the way you are? Why aren't you laughing at our perversion here? What's different about you? Why are you like this? And then when you tell them that, guess what? Oh, that's why you're always following the rules around. That's why you're always coming to work. That's why you don't complain. Oh, I get it. Well, guess what? Now I'm gonna try to push my agenda on you, right? Because they can see that my family's actually happy. You know, when I come home for work, my parents or my kids are happy. You know, wife's happy most days, right? You know, and he doesn't have that situation when he gets home. His wife's screaming at him. The kids are out of control, doesn't know what to do. And he looks at, well, I'm better than you, so I should have that. Instead of just learning what I'm telling him, he gets envious, he gets upset, and he wants to try to force these wicked ideologies on me, and it's really the same thing that's gonna happen to you. It's the same thing that happened to David. He behaves himself wisely. Saul gets exposed, decides to try to kill him, and the Bible's just telling us, hey, you know, when you decide to behave yourself wisely, just get ready and just know, that you will have a mark on your back. Because you know what? It's easier to know that something's coming than to be surprised by it. We don't have to be surprised by it, because God tells us, hey, it's coming. Behave yourself wisely, because yes, there is a blessing that's associated with that. More trust, more acceptance, more responsibility, right? Blessings, all these things come into play, but you're gonna have a mark on your back. Somebody will try to get you. They're gonna come after you. But if you stay the course like David did, you know what? It's gonna be all worth it in the end. So look at verse number 30. He says, then the princes of the Philistines went forth, and it came to pass after they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was much set by. So the more you behave yourself wisely, the more wickedness you decide to remove out of your life, the more you decide, you know what? I'm gonna fulfill my role as a king, as a priest, as a member of the royal priesthood. The more that I decide to do these things, guess what? The more God's gonna give you a knowledge and wisdom, and you're gonna be able to withstand those attacks. And now even the enemy's enemies are gonna know, like, hey, this is somebody who means business. This is somebody who's got something behind him. We need to proceed cautiously here, because think now, even the Philistines are like, hmm, something's up with this guy David here. We need to be careful with him, and he has a name among them. And so I guess the last thing I would leave you with is that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. You know, I remember hearing that in G.I. Joe, but it's true, it really is true. I, you know, just think back to the protests that Verity Baptist Church had. You know, those were some tough times for that church, and you know what? It was the tough within the church, which some of those people surprised other people, but it was the tough that got going and said, you know what, I'm gonna hunker down. I'm gonna start doing more. I used to only come once a week. Now I'm coming three times a week. I used to only do so many, you know, once every other week. Now I'm gonna go every week. And it was the tough that got going, and the week got out. So think about that, you know, and they were able to accomplish more after that than they could have during that time. And so what I'm trying to tell you is that behavior matters. We have got to pay attention and make sure that we're behaving ourselves wisely because that's what benefits the kingdom, okay? It's not the battle on the internet, although that is important, that's there. We need that because we wanna fill this entire world with our doctrine because hey, the world's guys are doing it, right? I mean, the Billy Balems, the Ravioli Zacharias, right? These false prophets, they're doing an excellent job at getting their false message out there. And we do need to fight it. But look, let's not focus on the wrong things though, because that's considered unwise behavior. We need to know how to behave ourselves just like David did. And you know, again, the result's only gonna be victory. Every single time, victory. That's why we had the victory yesterday is because you all decided before that day, before that day, to behave yourselves wisely. You say, I'm not just gonna behave myself when we assemble for church. I mean, what kind of a bishop or deacon would you be if you only, you know, had your kids acting good when it was time for church, right? I mean, that's what I'm saying here. You read 1 Timothy 3, you read Titus, you know, and all the requirements, and you're like, this isn't just talking about when we assemble for church, man. This is an all-day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week type operation here. You know what? And if it brings you a little bit of pain, just remember, this life's gonna be over in a flash. Before you know it, your kids are grown. Before you know it, you know, you're back taken and you're getting old physically. But you know, spiritually, you're not. You know, once you bind on heaven, you bind on earth. And we need to keep that into perspective. The better we behave ourselves, the better victories we get. That's just the way this thing works. And that goes to your families as well. You know, it goes for the people that know you at work. Because there will, look, not everybody's gonna put that mark on your box. Some people are gonna be like, you know what? I like how he handled that. You know what? And they're gonna open up to what you have to say. And you're gonna be able to win those tough cases. You know what? You got somebody saved at your work the other day, right? Last, what, at the beginning of the month? And it was because you behaved yourself wisely. It's because he behaved himself in that manner before he ever met that person. Or before, or at least, you know, while he's working there, I'm sure. If he was being a clown, you know, she probably wouldn't wanna listen to him, you know? Because Marissa's having to spank him at work, you know? They're not gonna wanna listen to him, right? That's how you do it. It starts with you at home when nobody's looking. You know, David behaved himself when he wasn't in the presence of Saul. Saul heard the results, got envious, got upset, right? And so that's how this thing works. So we're done. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church. I thank you for the results that we had yesterday. I just pray that you bless the rest of the week, Lord. The soul winning today, the fellowship to come. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen.