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All right. Amen. Well, I'm titled the sermon this morning, going against the grain. That's why I have this wood here. Well, first of all, I want Josh to break this or somebody up here to break this. I'd break my hand for sure, but going against the grain. That's what we're going to be talking about this morning. So what is grain? Well, grain is a pattern. Okay. Obviously this is, I don't know, this is probably too far away from you guys to see, but this is, it's like three different boards glued together. It's actually a sign that killing is going to be using for something. But if you look at each of these boards, you know, you can see the grain, these patterns here. So you say, well, what are those? Well, what those are, um, are basically cellular channels where water and nutrients came from the ground up to the different branches and so on and so forth. And those patterns tell a story. Now, if you're an evolutionist, okay, and you go look up how they interpret these patterns, it's going to, you know, anger you. You can be like, well, this is a million years and this is another million years and this is a hundred, you know, that's obviously ridiculous. But you know, when you're looking at this wood, if you know what to look for and you study these patterns and you're actually trained up on it, it tells a story. Okay. It tells a story of the tree's life. It tells a story of the different, you know, seasons that it's gone through, the rain, the sun, the snow, the drought, the abuses and the intrusions as well. And like grain, we all have our own wood grain as well. But the difference is ours are manifested through behavior and through reactions. Okay. And so going against the grain, you're going to see that come out of judges chapter three this, uh, this morning because we're going to study Ehud, the second judge after Othniel. So the point of the sermon this morning is that if you want to change something old, you have to start something new, new, like the new IFB. Several years ago, uh, pastor Anderson decided, you know, there's some things that just aren't biblical, you know, some things that he realized weren't biblical and decided, you know what, I'm going to change these here in my church. And what that eventually sparked a revival of going back to the Bible. And if the Bible doesn't teach it, the Bible doesn't say it, then we just discard it. You know, if we can't prove that it's wise, if we can't prove that it's good, if we can't prove that it's true, then there you have it. That it's as simple as that. Well, a couple of questions you might want to ask yourselves, and I have to ask myself these as well, is what has shaped the grain of my life? What shaped the grain of your life? Okay. What are some of the patterns and things that you are maybe aware of or aren't aware of that you would like to change, that you would like to have something come and go against the grain, so to speak, because that's what we're talking about. Now, last week we talked about the fact that when we leave things undone, we do that because we can't see the value in doing that. Okay. And that's the reason that the nation of Israel is in the place that they're at because they did not obey God wholeheartedly. God said, Hey, we want you to go and take out all the enemy, take out all the Canaanites, remove them, all of these foreigners. Well, obviously they didn't listen. They didn't do that. And God told them, if you don't do this, these people are going to become thorns in your sides and pricks in your eyes. And that's what we're dealing with. And so we studied Othniel, the first judge, last week. Today we're going to look at Ehud. Okay. Now in this story, Judges chapter three, there's two characters with their names beginning with E. So you've got Iglon, or Egglon, okay, and you've got Ehud. You can think of Ehud as a stud. We're talking about wood, talking about grain, right? Like a wood stud. It's a good way to remember it. Ehud is a stud of the story. Now, Egglon, I call him Eggman. The reason why I call him Eggman is because when I was in high school, my parents bought me a Sega Genesis, a 32 bit, and it came with Sonic the Hedgehog. And the bad guy in there is a real fat man, or a fat robot, whatever he was, and he's called Eggman. And so that's how I remember the different characters in the story. You've got Eggman and Ehud the stud. So just keep that in mind and I think that'll help you remember for the rest of your life. So you're in Judges chapter number three. And so last week we talked about Othniel and we pulled some stuff from him and talked about how he was a person that actually finished tasks. And we kind of said that's how we should be. We need to look at finding the value in things. So in other words, when you're stuck with something that you know you need to do, you've got to tell your mind what the value is. Once you do that, once you accomplish that, it's yours for the taking. So after Othniel, the children of Israel go into peace. You know, he's judging the land well. Everything's good. Everyone's serving God. Now the problem is eventually they said, oh, okay, well we're going to go ahead and try this again and go worship other gods and do evil in the sight of the Lord. And what did that do? That cost them an 18 year period of bondage into which now they're serving Eglon, the king of Moab. And the judge that God raises up again, his name is what? His name is Ehad. And something very special about Ehad, well there's several things, but one thing that's very special and unique to this story versus all the other stories of the judges is that by the time Ehad rescues the nation of Israel, it gives them their longest period of prosperity ever, which is 80 years, 80 years. That's the longest one out of the entire book of the judges. So we're going to look at that here. Let's back up here now and look at verse number 12 and judges chapter three and let's study this problem real quick. So it says, and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. You know, this is really just a pattern of every nation under the sun and every nation under the sun, you know, one generation is strong. They create good times. You guys have all heard this quote. You know, what does that do? Well, it creates complacency, which breeds weak people. They create hard times and that creates hard people and the cycle just goes on and on and on. So here we see that they're doing evil in the sight of the Lord. Verse 13 it says, and he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek and went and smote Israel and possessed the city of palm trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, 18 years. Okay. Now there's obviously a but here in verse 15. Look what it says. It says, but when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gerah, a Benjamite, a man left handed and by him, the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon, the king of Moab. So what I want you to see here, what I want you to catch here is that they're still in the same pattern. So they've cried out to God. They've admitted their faults. They admitted they're wrong. They're like, okay, we are sick of being put to tribute by these people. We finally realized we need God's help. We need to go back to the Lord. So they're praying and asking God. It says that God is raising up Ehud. So while God's raising up Ehud, son of Gerah, the children of Israel are still in fear. They're still in bondage and they're still basically in the same pattern. They're like, well, we better keep paying tribute to this king. And the highlight of today can really be found here in verse 16 with these first two words. Look what it says. But Ehud, but Ehud. So understand the picture here. You've got the children of Israel. They're crying out to God. They're on the right track. They've woken up somewhat. Okay. But they're still paying tribute. They're still, you know, serving Eglon, the king of Moab. But in verse 16 it says, but Ehud made him a dagger. So what do we see there? Well, we see that Ehud has different plans and he's got some other plans and the children of Israel don't know about these plans. So, but Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges of a cubit length. So I always say that's roughly a foot, something like that. And he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. Okay. Now if you picture yourself being left handed, the fastest way to draw your sword to have it on the opposite side so that when you pull it out, you can just attack with it as opposed to having to pull it out and up, you know, and really getting it out. It's not like a pistol where you can have it on your, your, your dominant arm side. Okay. A dagger or a sword would be on the opposite side that you predominantly use. So if you're right handed, it'd be on your left. If your left hand is going to be on your right. And so that's another unique thing about Ehud and the God uses him to do that because obviously when he faces Eglon in a little while, Eglon's not expecting that. Most people are trained to just look for the dominant side. Most people are right handed. Okay. So Eglon wouldn't have been looking at him to have that on his right thigh. So anyways, back to verse 16 it says, but Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges of a cubit length and he did gird it under his ramen upon his right thigh. Now keep your place there, but go to Ecclesiastes chapter number three. So we see again, the children of Israel, they're like, okay, well Ehud, God seems to be working in your life. You know, we're just going to have you go down there. You know, you're pretty bold. You got some courage. We could see the guys with you. Why don't you just take the present to Ehud and you know, that'll cover us for another little period of time so that we don't get beat down any harder. Okay. But when Ehud receives this, he's like, ah, I'm going to take this, but I've got some other plans here. I'm going to do something different. Okay. And notice by reading those two verses, he hasn't told anyone what his plans are. So what does that mean for us? What do we learn from that? Well, sometimes going against the grain means you need to operate in silence. Okay. Ehud understands something about the situation where in he is at and that is that sometimes you just don't need to tell people your plans. Okay. And there's a reason for that. We're going to look at that this morning. Ecclesiastes chapter number three, look at verse number seven. So Bible says that there is a time to rend. Okay. Or a time to tears what that means. So a time to rend and a time to sow, a time to keep silence and a time to speak. And I'm telling you that understanding the timing and understanding the when to be silent and the when to speak is a huge benefit to all of us. Go to Proverbs chapter number 29, Proverbs chapter number 29. Now, sometimes it is a good idea and you know yourselves, this is one that you just got to self audit. Okay. Sometimes it is good for you to tell people of your goals and your plans sometimes because sometimes, you know, people just draw power that way. They say, okay, well I told people I was going to do this. I'm a person of my word. Therefore I've got to do it. Okay. If that's you good, you know, that's totally fine. But in a situation like this, okay, what would have happened? What do you think would have happened if he would have told people? Probably nothing good. And telling people that are afraid or not awake yet of your dreams and your goals typically is just going to cause trouble. It's just going to cause issues. And we're going to look at why Proverbs 29 verse 25 says this, we bring this up all the time. The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. So it's my opinion that E had just learned how to read the room here, so to speak. He understood the culture. He understood the mentality of his nation at that time. And so I think that that is why he kept it private instead of just, you know, mustering up a few thousand people to go down there and just take them on head on. You know, they were too weak for that, right? They've been serving a long for 18 years, which is a very long time. People are probably forgetting how to operate in war there. I'm sure that they operated with gun control or sword control. You know, we see that oftentimes throughout the Bible. And so they're put to tribute their week. But E had is drawing strength because God is with him. God saw something in E had and said, you know what? I'm going to use you to be the next judge, to be the deliverer of this nation. And so him being wise says in himself, I believe that, you know what? I'm not going to tell anybody my plans. This is too critical to fail. Okay? I'm just going to do this. And sometimes that's how you have to be. If you want to change something, if you want to go against the grain, because again, if you want to change something old, you have to start something new. That's just a fact of life. But going back to this verse here, the fear of man bringeth a snare. When we're afraid of what people think about us or we're afraid of what someone might say, if we tell them their plans, you know, it's never a good thing because these people that are fearful of men, what that means is they're literally in a mental prison. Okay? They're in a snare. And when someone's in prison or someone's in a snare, they're not really the number one draft pick to come and help you. Right? They're not necessarily ready to come out and go and, you know, take a problem head and go to Proverbs chapter number 17. And so I believe, like I said, this is my opinion that that's why EHUD did not make a big deal of this and just said, you know what? I'm going to do this alone. I'm going to do this by myself. And what winds up happening? Well, he winds up sparking a nationwide revival. Okay? God uses one person to execute this and to do this. And so again, when people are in fear or in this unconscious holding pattern, you know, and you've got some ideas, you've got some motivation, you've got some plans, it may just be a good idea to keep them to yourselves and just do them. Because sometimes that action speaks a lot louder than words and people like, oh, whoa, wait a second. This actually worked. You know, this actually is a good thing. And then they'll be more likely to get on your side and to actually follow you in your goals and direction. Proverbs chapter 17, look at verse number 27. So the Bible says this, he that hath knowledge spareth his words and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. And I would definitely graft EHUD into this verse here. I definitely think that that applies to him. You know, he spared his words and said, okay, give me the present. You know, we'll take some guys and go down there and we'll give this to Iglon. Okay. But he himself, he's like, nah, I've got a different idea. I've got a different agenda and I don't want to tell people and have them, oh, you can't do that. You're going to jeopardize us all and you're going to put us back into more tribute and it's going to be horrible, right? Everybody in here, I'm willing to wager that you've had some kind of a goal, some kind of an idea, some kind of a good thing that you want to do. And you told somebody and all you got was criticism, negative feedback. And what did that do? Did that help you in any way? No. So a lot of times it's better to just keep that stuff inside and just do it and then just let the world see the results. Okay. That's what I'm saying. You want to change something old. You got to start something new. Look at verse 28. So it says, even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. So even when the fool has a sore throat at work and he's just not able to talk, you're like, oh, something's better about this guy. He's acting, you know, acting a little wiser today. You know, maybe we've gotten through to him finally. No, I'm just kidding. Of course. But you get the point. That's what the Bible is teaching us here. You know, sometimes we got to spare our words. We need to operate in silence if we really want to make a good decision or a good change in any kind of a situation. Now I'm gonna have you guys leave your place there in Proverbs 17 and go to Acts chapter number nine. We'll take a look at a quick example of this here. So again, if you want to change something old and you need to start something new, you're going to see this here in the apostle Paul's life. Okay. The apostle Paul, before he was called Paul, what was his name? His name was Saul. And old Saul was a very, very zealous individual. In fact, he was so zealous that he excelled above his peers in persecuting the church and persecuting the people of God. And so what would you say his grain is? What would you say his pattern was? Well, his pattern was zeal. His pattern was going around and finding Christians, locking them up, shutting down churches, doing all of these horrible things, consenting to the death of the deacon, Stephen, so on and so forth. Okay. Now let's see how God changes and literally cuts his pattern, cuts his grains here. Look at verse number one of Acts chapter number nine. It says in Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues that if he found any of this way, referring to the Christian way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound on to Jerusalem. Okay. Now definitely not a good thing, but this was his manner. This was his pattern. So what was it that broke him of this pattern? Verse three. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly the shined round about him, a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutist thou me? And he said, who art thou Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus who now persecute us. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And of course, where we say this every time I read that look at what Jesus says, this is why persecute us thou me. And that's because when people persecute Christians, when they persecute the body of Christ, they're literally doing it to Jesus himself because we are a part of his body. And so that's why Jesus says that to Paul. And so of course, Paul here or Saul here at this point, he's like, whoa, well, who are you? Like, did I offend you? Like, I'm not quite sure I'm following here. Verse six. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what would thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. So go leave your place there. Go to Galatians chapter number one. So we're talking about Ehud here and the silence in which he operated in. Okay. You're going to find that same element here in the apostle Paul, and you're going to see why in Galatians chapter number one. So obviously many, many, many years later, Paul tearing it up, starting churches, getting people saved, doing all of these wonderful works for the kingdom of God. And after he starts these churches here in Galatia, well, what winds up happening is the Judaizers come in and they come in and say, Oh, you know, this Jesus stuff is great. However, don't forget that you need to keep the commandments and you gotta be circumcised and you gotta follow the law. And so they start to subvert the Christians in Galatia. And so Paul here in his rebuke reminds them of his former life. Look at verse number 13 says this. So Paul says, for you have heard of my conversation in time past and the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted. So what is he doing? He's reminding them of his pattern. He's reminding them of his grain and the way that he used to be verse 14 and profited in the Jews religion above many mine equals. Um, I'm sorry, my equals in mine own nation being more exceeding zealous of the traditions of my fathers. Verse 15, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. So you can see here he's explaining how God cut and went against Paul's grain. Verse 16 to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen immediately. Okay, look at what he does here. The same thing that he had does a immediately. I conferred not with flesh and blood. Hey, I conferred not with flesh and blood. So he's like, I didn't get this vision from Jesus and then go and meet Ananias and get call upon the name of Lord and get saved and then go and, you know, check my work and go and talk to my mom and my dad and my neighbors and my cousin say, you know, what do you guys think about all this? Okay, because what do you think they're going to do? You're crazy. You know, maybe there was a little something in your dinner last night. This will pass. This is just a season, right? That's what they're going to do. They're going to try to slow you down. They're going to try to stop you from your goals. Paul is smart. Okay, Paul understands this. So what does he do? Well, he says, I don't, I'm not going to any human about this. This vision was enough for me. I saw what I saw. I understood what I understood. So verse 17, he says, neither when I have to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me. So he's like, I didn't even go to the apostles and say, Hey, you know, I'm the guy that persecuted the church and I had a vision and now I'm ready to get on board and teach me what I need to do. He didn't do any of that. What did he do? He says, no, but verse 17, I went into Arabia and return again on to Damascus. Verse 18. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days. Now go back to Judges chapter number three. And so of course, because of Paul's past, because he persecuted the church, because he consented to the death of Christians, put them in prison, did all of these horrible things, you know, it makes sense that he's not just going to go up there and be like, Hey, I had this experience and now these are all the things I'm going to do. I'm going to start churches here. I'm going to be getting people saved. I'm going to be doing all this. He didn't do any of that. He just went right into action. Okay. And then action, obviously we know produced results. People started to see this. People started to talk. Word eventually gets back that way to Jerusalem and they're like, Whoa, you know, the guy, Paul, who was blocking everybody up and killing people. Apparently now he serves Christ. So by the time he's actually able to meet with the apostles and actually discuss things with them, they've already heard of his reputation. The works are already out there. And so it's much easier for them to get behind him and support him and help him out in, in that manner. So hopefully that makes sense. Okay. That's why I believe the EHAD didn't say anything because he's in the midst of a nation that is gripped by fear, gripped and just, just snared by the fear of men. And if that's you, okay, that's something that we need to be self-aware. That's something that we need to work with. Okay. If you are fearful of what the world thinks when you're serving Christ, all that's going to do is keep you in bondage. Okay. And the thing to do is obviously just do something new. Just say, you know what, this is what I'm going to do. Say that in yourself and purpose in yourself that that's how you're going to be. And that's the manner in which you're going to conduct your life. So let's get back to the story here in Judges chapter 17, look at verse, I'm sorry, Judges chapter three, look at verse 17. So after verse 16, we see EHAD has different plans. He's like, yeah, I'm going to bring the present, but I also got a secret present for this guy. And it's going to be life changing. It's going to be good. Verse 17. And he brought the present onto Eglon king of Moab. Eglon was a very fat man. You got, how can you not love the Bible? It's just right out there telling you, you know, why is that in the Bible? You know what I mean? Well, Eglon obviously pictures the world and the world's very fat with materialistic goods and very fat with promises and very fat with everything that you could ever want that pertains to the flesh. Okay. The world is all about gluttony and that's the whole idea. That's the whole picture. Here's what God wants us to see in this verse here, but he's a very fat guy. Okay. He's definitely not lacking in food. Verse 18. And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bear the present. So he had probably had help. He was like, okay, I want you guys to go outside here. Verse 19. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal and said, I have a secret errand done to thee, O king, who said, keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. So he's like, I got a secret present for you. I got a secret for you. Right? Leadership. You know, the elites, they love secrets, don't they? So he goes on like, Ooh, I'm going to do a secret ritual here. You know, we're going to do the secret handshake or something. I'm all about this. So he tells his own guys, yeah, you guys got to get out of here. I'm super special here. Okay. We're going to have a G20 summit. Just me and Eud. Verse 20. And Eud came unto him and as he was sitting in a summer parlor, which he had for himself alone. So it's a special room, obviously that probably, you know, accelerated the summer winds or something like that. Just a nice comfortable room for him. He's the king and that's what he's done. So he's in there. He had said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he rose out of his seat. Well, what does that mean? You know, he rose out of his seat. So he's probably thinking like, Oh, I have been doing right. Oh yeah. God, God's going to bless me even more. Maybe we don't know what he was thinking, but for whatever reason, he rises out of his seat and little does he know, that's exactly what Eud needs. Verse 21. Eud put forth his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh. Hey, picture this and thrust him right into his belly. Just stabs him right in the gut. And here's what's funny about this. Verse 22. And the haft, I should have brought a sword. I don't know why I didn't, but I usually bring a sword when I talk about this, but the haft is like the handle, like the guard that goes across the sword. So, okay. So it says in the haft or dagger, whatever you want to say. And the haft also went in after the blade and the fat closed upon the blade. When the Bible tells you this dude is fat, it's definitely, this guy is a whole next level fat here. Okay. Could you imagine that? Like you, this is happening here and the fat's just like bloop, just covers up the sword. This dagger is just like, where'd it go? Okay. So he put forth his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh, thrust it into his belly and the haft also went in after the blade and the fat closed upon the blade so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly and the dirt came out. Well, you know what the dirt is. It's not very pleasant. Okay. That's one way to relieve constipation you could say. It's the final way to relieve constipation. But I guess he had in this moment is like, well, I guess that's sort of, I guess that dagger is done. I got to get out of here. I got no more weapons left here. Kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier. You know, he had to make this dagger. Wasn't like he went to the arms room and said, I only withdraw some weapons here. Okay. You had to actually sit down and make it. That proves that they didn't have a lot of weapons in the area. Okay. Which is another reason why he didn't tell anybody. So verse 23. So after the dirt comes out, it says an Eod went forth through the porch and shut the doors of the parlor upon him and locked them. Okay. Look at this. Very smart, very calm here. Okay. Didn't just flee and leave the doors open. It was like, Oh, okay. And he's like, all right, cool. This guy is obviously done for. He's not gonna make any more noise. I'll just go ahead and lock the doors here. Verse 24. When he was gone out, his servants came and when they saw that behold, the doors of the parlor were locked. They said, surely he covered his feet in the summer chamber. So like, all right, he's using the bathroom in there. We'll just wait for him. We'll just kind of chill out here. Verse 25. And they tarried till they were ashamed. Okay. So they waited so long. They're like, okay, nobody uses the El Banyo this long. Something's wrong here. Okay. So they're ashamed. They're like, we need to go check on him. And behold, he opened out the doors of the parlor. Therefore they took a key and opened them and behold, their Lord was fallen down dead upon the earth. And so of course this here is what sparks this revival for the nation of Israel. Look at verse 26. And you know, pay attention to this here as you're reading this. Cause if you're, if you've got an idea, like there's some people that you just want to change their mind. You just want to lead them in a certain direction. You want to spark some kind of revival. This can be a very good technique to use. Okay. Look at what happens here in verse 26 and he had escaped while they tarried and passed beyond the queries and escaped to Syria. Now look at verse 27 and it came to pass when he was come that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim and the children of Israel went down with him from the Mount and he before them. So now he blows this trumpet and they all know and understand what that means. Okay. That he has done what to them I believe is probably unthinkable. They're probably thinking like, you know, well maybe God will just send down some something to help us at some point. But now they hear this trumpet and they know what that means. Okay. The King is done and that what does that signify? You take out the King of a nation, everything comes unraveled. Everything just, just, just falls down. And so they're like, okay, we're motivated. Okay. But here's the thing. That's why he kept that silence. Okay. He kept that silence for a reason so that he wouldn't be distracted so that he could actually do what God had purposed in his heart to do. And then once that job was done, once the King, once the obstacle was moved out of the way, now the people can clearly see it and say, Hey, wait a second. Now we have a fighting chance. Now we know we can go and get our freedoms back. Verse 28 and he said unto them, follow after me for the Lord hath delivered your enemies, the Moabites into your hand. They went down after him and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab and suffered not a man to pass over. In verse 29 and the slew of Moab at that time, about 10,000 men, all lusty. I like that word. Just all lusty. These guys are just all full lusty, very robust type. You know, men of valor, it says in all men of valor and they're escaped, not a man. Moab in the Bible, you kind of see this in a couple of different spots. We're notorious for having some people that were probably pretty genetically gifted. Okay. The Bible says that Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada took out two lion like men of Moab. So they kind of have this history of having these fierce type warriors, all lusty men of valor. And yet here we are because of the actions of one man, because one man decided, you know what, I'm not going to go with the grain this time. I'm actually going to go against the grain, but I'm not going to tell anybody. I'm going to keep this to myself. I'm going to actually do this. And once that done, then we'll see what happens. Then we'll see what changes. Okay. That's the hallmark of a true leader and a true judge because the whole point of going through these guys here, we're not doing like a verse by verse and you know, through judges, we're just kind of taking a look at some of the attributes that we can learn from to become better judges ourselves. Okay. And one of those is learning how to operate in silence. One of those is saying, you know what? I don't like the way this pattern is going. It's rubbing me the wrong way. And you know what? I'm just going to go ahead and cut this in half right now. I'm going to make the change and see what happens. Verse 29, they slew of Moab at that time, 10,000 men. That is a lot of people. I mean, that's larger than a lot of small towns, you know, 10,000 men. All lusty men of valor and they were escaped, not a man. Verse 30. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And here it is and the land had rest for score years and we're getting close to being done. This is a daylight savings time type sermon. I can see everybody's tired or maybe it's just me. I don't know. But go to Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. Last place. I'm going to have you turn Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. And let's take a look at something here. It's the verse on the bulletin. I believe this verse here really summarizes this whole pattern of EHUB's life right here. And I believe this is kind of what he thought of as he was making that dagger and as he was preparing to do the unthinkable. Ecclesiastes chapter seven, look at verse number eight. The Bible says this, better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. And the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Okay, better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. Now there's an underlying problem here. Okay. Now sometimes people get caught up in the beginning of something. Okay. Because when you start something new, it can be exciting. It can be very motivating. You know, for example, there are people, this is very popular in the new evangelical community. Like they'll go to like, let's say Stonehenge. I forgot what the real name is, but they'll go to Stonehenge and see all the lights, all the people in just the newness, everybody learning their names and they're all excited, right? They're all excited. Oh, I'm in this big church. God's really here. Two months later. Okay. After everybody knows your name, after everybody's met them and you know, now they're greeting new people and reality starting to sink in. Okay. They start to get this feeling like, oh, you know what? I don't feel quite as important as I did at the beginning. Right? So then they're going to go to Crock Harbor. Okay. Which I heard is called Rock Harbor. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong, right? Now they're mega church full of lights and drums and guitars and probably, you know, women worship and praise and worship pastors, right? And like, wow, this is it. You know, this is great. Look at this. Oh, we're, they're raising millions of dollars for a new building project and I get to be a part of it. Three, four months later, that same, you know, complacency starts to set in. It just becomes the same old people, the same old building, the same old, same old. And they start looking down the road and they're like, wow, you know that church on Eagle and Franklin Life Church. Life. Hmm. Maybe I ought to check that out and get some revival in my life. And they go in there and learn how to speak in tongues and flop around like a fish on the floor. Things like this and like, this is where it's at. And you see this pattern. It goes on and on and on. And one of the biggest gripes when I get a chance to talk to these pastors out here, cause I do quite a bit is they're like, we're really, we have a lot of people, but we don't have a lot of dedicated people. We, we get like waves of fifties, you know, that'll come in for three, four, maybe six months and then it drops down to maybe 20 of those stay. Okay. And that large group, you know what they do? Well, they go over to the next mega church and then the next one, they just complete this circuit until they get to the online thing. And next thing you know, they're just washed out. And so they're really struggling with that. So we have, number one, we ought not to look at those people like, Oh wow. You know, they, they really got it made. They got this big building and all these people, they don't have any Christians, very few. They really don't, you know, they got maybe 10,000 people. That's, that's an exaggeration. Let's say they've got two or 3000 people that call themselves Christians, you know, but out of that big group, there's probably just a handful of people that are truly saved. You know, if you think about it, it's probably just a handful of people in there that are actually saved and can tell you the gospel. And those people are a story unto themselves. But going back to this verse here, look, better is the end, right? Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. Okay. So Ehud had the end from the beginning in his mind and understood that Paul had the same thing. He has this vision gets saved after that. And then what happens? Well, he just goes and does. He just goes to Arabia. He does what he purposes in his heart. He does what God told him that he would do and he lets the results speak for themselves. So you would say definitely better is the end of a thing than the beginning. But how many people actually, you know, look at the grain and say, you know what, I'm tired of the same old pattern. I'm tired of this, you know, reflecting this abuse here and this intrusion and all of these different things. I need to make a change. And how many people actually come out and take the saw and cut it in half? And you know, the saw being the word of God, the sword, and actually say, you know what, I'm tired of this old stuff. I want to start something new and actually stick it out and till the end. How many people actually do that? Well, very few people actually do that. And that's what's unique about us and our type of people is that we're a people of God that adheres to the Bible, that adheres to the word of God. And we read a verse like this and we understand it. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. So we don't want to get caught up in a cycle or a pattern of just new beginnings. Oh, well, it's just new over here. I'm just going to keep on hopping around different places. You know, people do this at jobs all the time. You know, they go to one job and someone offers them 25 cents more. I'm going to go over here. And before you know it, it's like, no one's going to hire you because they can't trust you. You're not loyal. You're not, you have not proven yourself. Okay. Now what does that require of us? Well, better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. And look at this, the patient in spirit. So you have to be patient when you understand that you're going to go against the grain. You're going to change your patterns. You're going to change the, the things that maybe you don't like or you don't want to keep doing. You have to develop patience and you have to just keep the end goal in your heart and in your mind. Okay. And sometimes the way that you keep that in side of you is you don't tell other people, especially people that have the symptom of being fearful of men because what they're going to do is they're going to extract and they're just going to take from you and take from you and try to stop you and try to hinder you. You know, it's what it is. It's what people do. It's why he had, didn't do it. It's why Paul didn't do it. That's why the Bible here is telling us better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. And the patient and spirit is better than the proud of spirit. You know, go talk to these guys that are just bouncing around from different thing to different thing, just caught up in a cycle of new beginnings. Okay. You're going to find that that person is proud and arrogant. You say, how do you know that? Because I talk to them every single week, all the time. Oh, I, I started off going to Rock Harbor and now I go to the karaoke bar of Stonehenge and now, you know, and it's just this cycle. Those are the only two that I've got in my mind today. We were talking about this on the way to church and Jessica calls them karaoke bars. And if you think about it, that's really what they are. Seriously, it's what they are. They're nothing more. Look at this, nothing more than a karaoke bar. That is all that they are. It's all about the singing and the swing around. They got a different person, hops up on the mic, makes a show, and then the bar owner gets up on his bar stool with his little, you know, bar table, right? It's what they do. Isn't that what Steven Furtick does? Isn't that what they do? And he just got the hands in the pocket. Just talk. Let me just talk to you for a second, guys. You know, thanks for coming in today and you know, hope, hope everything looks well and smells nice. We've got snacks for a good, decent price out in the lobby. You know, we're selling the coffee. Don't forget about our bookstore. We've got an ATM in the lobby. You know, God loves a cheerful giver. Okay, let's have another special, you know, and then you get the girls coming out there with holes in their jeans and this is, whoa, the heck's going on here? You know, that's really what it is. I have no idea why I'm talking about this. I'm just upset about it, but I figured I'd work that in. Okay, because that's a pattern. That's a cycle. That's a grain that we don't want any part of. And we want to, we want to help people recognize that type of grain and say, hey, you need this to cut through that because none of that stuff's biblical. None of that stuff's profitable for the kingdom of God. And so therefore it fits the sermon. But the main point is if you want to change something old, you've got to start something new. And if you start something new and you need to understand better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. And the way that you get to the end thereof is you keep the end thereof in your heart and mind. You develop patience and you don't tell certain people about that because all they're going to do is cut you down and keep coming after you. Now, some people, again, let me just say this. Some people draw motivation from that and it actually works. There's a little dark psychology in that. Some people like it, like me, when people tell you that you can't do something. So sometimes I'll do that. I'll tell people that I know they're going to mock and I'll say, I'm going to do this. And I'm like, Oh no, you're not. This is going to happen if you do that. And this is, and I'm like, Ooh, and then I do it. Okay. But if that's not you, you got to know yourself. That's not you. Don't do that. Just don't say anything and just do it. Let the results speak for themselves and you'll be blessed by your efforts. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church, for all that you do for us. Just pray you bless the afternoon for us, Lord, and bring us back again safely this evening in Jesus' name. I pray. Amen.