(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hey guys, welcome back. Pastor Jones here with Shield of Faith Baptist Church, Boise, Idaho. Now, this sermon is called Imperfect vs. Toxic Traits. So what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at some toxic traits from Judas, and we're going to look at King Saul as well. Now, a couple of these you're going to find are not necessarily toxic, but they're imperfect. Okay, so what I mean is, as I go through these six toxic traits, you're going to find that all of us have probably been guilty of them at one point or another. So I'll bring that up because we want to have a good balance, right? We want to have good discernment before we just label somebody toxic. We want to make sure that we can help them. That's what the sermon is designed to do. It's designed to help give you some tools to be able to recognize when someone's no longer coachable, when they're no longer teachable, and you have to pull back, and you have to cut that relationship off, keep a person at arm's distance. And in this sermon, you're going to find out we're called to be fruit inspectors, right? We look at the lives of false prophets, and we're waiting for their fruit, okay? Toxic people, people like Judas, it's not always time, okay? It's not always time that reveals a person's true intentions. Really, all you need is seasons, okay? You need the right situations, the right seasons, the right situations. Those are going to bring out people's fruits. You're going to be able to see what they are about, okay? You're going to see it in the life of King Saul, whom I believe was saved, and you're going to see it in Judas, who obviously was not saved. But anyways, pay attention to this. I hope this helps you guys out. I hope this blesses you. God bless. It says, when Jesus had thus said he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. Now, keep your place right here. We're going to go back over this verse in a second, but go to Proverbs chapter 13 real quick. Proverbs chapter number 13. And so this morning, what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at some toxic behaviors or some toxic traits. And I'm going to call this imperfect versus toxic traits, okay? And that's what we're going to title this. I'm going to give you three traits from Judas, and then we're going to go over to Saul, and we're going to pull three from him and David's situation. And the reason why we're going over this is just because it's good to often be reminded of what toxic traits are. But it's also good to build a foundation so that we have a balance, okay? Because when you start to look at a lot of these traits that I'm going to give you guys, you're going to find that at some point in your life, you've probably done some of these. You know, we've all made mistakes. We're all, nobody's perfect, right? We're all imperfect. We all have the old man. We've all got the flesh. And so we want to make sure we've got a good balance and a good understanding of somebody that is absolutely toxic versus somebody that's just, you know, needs to be taught, needs to, you know, be dealt with, just needs some patience instilled in them. Now, before we start, I want to just say this, okay? Cynicism is not discernment, okay? Being cynical is not discernment. Say, well, what's cynicism? Well, that's basically an attitude that we can take on ourselves where anytime somebody does something nice for us or does something good for us, we're like, oh, yeah, that probably wants something, right? You know, somebody gives you, I don't know, 50 bucks, and you're like, oh. The reason why he didn't give me 100 is because he likes someone so better or, you know, the reason why he gave me this is because later on he's going to try to extort me. Now, sometimes that's true, especially in prisons or maybe even sometimes at jobs. That could definitely be the case. But cynicism is not discernment. Now, the reason why I say that is because a lot of cynical people are often heralded and lifted up on a pedestal because when somebody does get discovered to be toxic or to be bad, they're like, see, I told you, okay? But it's like, you say that about everybody. Like, you throw that net out there and cover everybody, okay? Now, intense cynicism, somebody that you would label or identify and say, you know, that person's cynical, like, about everything. I'm telling you right now, that person is that way because they have emotional scars, okay? They've been through some things, they've been hurt, and there's a reason for that. And so what cynicism does is it basically gets you to a place of suspicion, okay? So I guess you could say that cynicism basically pushes people towards, to be predisposed to being suspicious, okay? Suspicious towards everyone. And we want to have our suspicions up. We want to be able to identify things that are not good for us, but we don't want to just be like, oh, everybody's, you know, toxic, or everybody's, you know, doing things for their own self-interest. That's a dangerous road to go down. Okay, now look at this right here, Proverbs chapter 13, verse number 20. Here's another reason why we got to learn this stuff. The Bible says, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise. It's a guarantee, it's a commandment, there's no debating that. You find wise people in your life, you decide, you know what? These are people that I want to surround myself with, that I want to invest in, that I want to hang out with, that I want to learn from, you will get better as a human being. That's just the way it goes. That is just life in general, okay? But look at the rest of the verse. But a companion of fools shall be destroyed. And so I like to say that association leads to assimilation, okay? A lot of times you'll find people, or maybe you've even been in the situation yourself, where you meet somebody, you get along for a while, and that person displays themselves not to be wise, okay? And then you think in your heart, well, I can change this person. Over time, I will make this person better, because I'm not like they are, okay? The Bible tells us here in Proverbs 13, and that is probably not going to happen. But a companion of fools shall be destroyed. And of course, Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, that evil communications corrupt good manners, okay? And so we know that. We become like who we walk with. Now, if you would go back to John chapter number 13. John chapter number 13. So again, cynicism is a predisposition towards suspicion, okay? Everybody has their cynical moments, but there are types of people, and I'm guessing that everybody in here has met somebody that's just cynical about everything, okay? I'm guessing if you've got a job, or you've gone to work for any length of time, you've met that one guy, that one gal that's just like, everything's bad, everything is horrible, everything that anybody does, it's all to get to me, okay? Those people are hard to deal with. They're hard to change. It's heartbreaking. It sucks life out of you, and I believe over time, it can actually cause you physical harm. But we need to become people of discernment. We need to become people that can recognize when someone just has imperfect behavior or somebody is just straight up toxic, and we have to put them at arm's length, or we have to get rid of them from our lives completely, okay? It's not always possible to get rid of people that are toxic. For example, you know, you have a career, you're taking care of your family, you can't just get a new job every six months. We're living in perilous times. Things are getting worse. People's attitudes are getting worse. In fact, just this morning, Brother Joe Mabel sent me this video, or maybe it was an article, I think it was an article. That's right, it was an article about this 12-year-old girl that smothered her eight-year-old cousin to death over an iPad, over something silly like that. I mean, that's the world that we are living in now, okay? And so because of spiritual wickedness in high places increasing on a day-to-day basis, we gotta get good. We've gotta get good at recognizing behavioral patterns as God's people. So let's start this off here. Look down again at John 13 in verse number 21. So the Bible says, when Jesus had thus said, now look at this, he was troubled in spirit, okay? He was troubled in spirit. You know, oftentimes in your relationships and dealings with other people, there are going to come times where you are troubled in your spirit. We've already spent a good amount of time talking about conscience, convictions, and that those things are not always healthy or always correct, right? People can have wrong convictions. So this sermon is in hopes to help us recognize that when we're in trouble in spirit, hey, what do we know about this person, okay? What do we know about these behaviors, okay? Because we don't wanna become the people that are just hyper reprobate, okay? Reprobate, reprobate, just boom, boom, just shooting, just reprobate darts at everybody. And at this point in time, I can honestly say, we don't have anybody in here like that, okay? But I'm here to tell you also from experience that those people are difficult to manage, very difficult to have around. But it says in verse 21, when Jesus had thus said, we just read the chapter, he was troubled in spirit. So something is troubling him. Something is making him uncomfortable. And the narrator here wants you to see this, wants you to understand this, okay? God gave you feelings for a reason, okay? And he also gave you a mind and he also gave you a brain so that you could use those three things to figure out truth and to compile them into what we call discernment, okay? So he says, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. And of course, we know what he's talking about. He's talking about Judas Iscariot. And I go to John chapter number 12. John chapter number 12. And so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give you these three toxic traits right off the bat. And then we're gonna look at Judas, okay? We're just gonna look at a few passages. And with these three traits in mind, I just want you to be thinking about these as we go through parts of John chapter number 12. Now the first one that you're gonna see this morning is greed, okay? Now remember the title of the sermon. It's imperfect versus toxic traits, okay? Everybody in here has had a moment of greed, okay? Everybody, because we have a fallen nature. But what is greed, okay? Well, greed is an unrestrained appetite for more, okay? You're gonna see that in Judas Iscariot. And what I think the Bible is also showing us here is that greed, and when a person can be identified as greedy, okay? What you have to understand is that greed always, always, always precedes betrayal. Okay, always. And you say, well, I know somebody who's greedy and I've known this person for years and nothing's happened, okay? Nothing's happened. They haven't betrayed me. Let me just say this, okay? A couple weeks ago, we did some studies. Maybe it's been like a month now. Time flies. But we did some studies on how to be a fruit inspector and talked about fruits of false profits and things of that nature, okay? One of the things that you're gonna see about a toxic person, toxic people in general, is they have fruits, okay? That's not debatable. That's just what it is, okay? And the thing that you're gonna notice about people's fruits, okay, especially people like Judas, is that time doesn't necessarily show you their fruits. It's the seasons. I mean, think about the way, you know, nature works, like these trees out here. Do they grow fruit all year long? No, it's a certain season, okay? Or you could say situation. That's what you have to understand. You say, I want something just real quick, just right off the gate, that's gonna help me decipher imperfect traits versus toxic traits. And one of the things that's going to manifest that for you is going to be certain situations, okay? Or seasons, not necessarily time. I've known people that have gone to church for five, 10 years, and then all of a sudden they decide, you know what? Today's the day because of a certain situation. Today's the day that I'm gonna try to overthrow the pastor. Today's the day that I'm gonna take out these people. Today's the day that I'm gonna try to sue somebody. Today's the day that I am going to bring absolute hell in this congregation, okay? It is situations that determine fruit. That's when people's fangs come out. That's when you get to actually see fruit. I think that's why God gives us those analogies to begin with. And a failure to recognize true greed in a person will cost you, okay? They will cost you through that betrayal. So the first one that we're gonna look at in Judas definitely fits the bill is greed. The second one is entitlement, okay? Entitlement. Now I'm sure we've all had feelings of entitlement and that doesn't make us toxic people. That doesn't make us bad, okay? But entitlement is the belief that somebody just inherently deserves the blessings of others, just inherently deserves the privileges, the special treatments of other people. And they're just, well, I'm just obligated. It's me. It's who I am, okay? I'm obligated to this. You know, a lot of people in the workforce have this attitude. Well, I've been here for 20 years. I should get the next raise. I should get the next promotion, okay? Is that how all bosses look at it? No. No, okay? Bosses want results. They want people that are educated. They want people that can meet deadlines. They want people that can make profit. The military, on the other hand, is a little bit of a different story. There is such a thing called time and grade and we don't have time to get into that. But entitlement, okay, this entitlement behavior, we're gonna look at it here in a little bit, is a toxic trait and something we need to look out for. Now, the next one is what's called mendacity or deceitfulness. When I was in, I don't know, late elementary school back in the 90s, there was a popular word going around the schools and kids would say, that's bodacious. Anybody here remember the bull? Any 90s people remember the bull? Bodacious, the bull that was probably, you guys are looking at me like I'm dumb. So, okay, no. We need to get some more people my age in here. But anyways, there was this bull and his name was Bodacious, okay? He was like this notorious bull for bucking off riders. Real hard guy to, a real hard bull to ride, okay? And so there was this cool saying, you know, when something cool happened or somebody did something that was cool, the kids would be like, oh, that's bodacious, okay? Well, me being me in elementary school, one day I got in trouble, if you can imagine that, and my assignment was to copy down a full page of the dictionary and I had to do this at home, couldn't do it at school. Now it's painful for a kid that's in fifth grade. And I looked at this word and I had to copy this word down and it was mendacious. And I was like mendacious, bodacious. Oh, yeah, that kind of rhymes. So I started doing this when kids would say, oh, that's bodacious. I'd say, that's not bodacious, that's mendacious. And they're like, what does that mean? And then I explain it to them like, that's not cool, man. You know, they kind of get mad at me for that. So I figured I'd throw that out there just to get a little laugh. But you got greed, you got entitlement and then you got deceitfulness or what's called mendaciousness, mendacity, lies, deceit, things of that nature. Everybody knows that's toxic. I don't even have to bring that up, but it's here, it's too easy, why overlook it? John chapter number 12, look down at verse number one. So remember those three things. John 12, verse one, the Bible says this. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, or Lazarus, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. Verse two, there they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them. That sat at the table with him. Obviously a miracle there. Obviously a story that the Jews, even today, say don't belong in the Bible. Verse three, then took Mary a pound of ointment, a spikenard. Now look at this, very costly, very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. I want you to remember that. The house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Why is the Holy Ghost telling us that? Look at verse four. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? And I've done this in the past. I can't even tell you how many times I've read the Bible from front to back. Sometimes I'll just be so focused on one passage that I'll just be like, yeah, and I'll just hammer Judas right here. And rightfully so, okay? But there's something else much deeper going on here that's gonna give us a lesson. So Judas pipes up, okay? Why? Because he's greedy. And he's like, oh, what about the poor, right? Then saith one of his disciples, verse four, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, verse five, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? Now look at this here in verse six. This he said not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. Okay? He was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put there in. Now it's funny that the NIV changes the end of this here and basically says that, well, he would basically, I think it says something paraphrasing here, but it says that he would just frequently take out. And they just kind of re-change the verse. It's ridiculous. It says he was a thief. You know, you don't need to change this here. It's just letting you know that he was in charge of the money. So what does that tell you about the Lord and how money works? Obviously he didn't really care. You know, he allowed Judas knowing he was a devil from the beginning to have the bag and everything still worked out. So there's a lesson in that for us to not be greedy, but I don't want to go down that road right now. Okay? So look at verse seven. This is where we're going to get this lesson from. Look at this here, verse seven. Then said Jesus, let her alone against the day of my bearing. She hath kept this for the poor always. Now look at this. Ye have with you, but me ye have not always. Now remember in the King James Bible, ye, you, that is plural. That is speaking typically most often to a group of people whereas thou or thine is singular. And I can remember reading this or as I was studying this, this was like a year or two ago when we were going through John. It was like, why does he address everybody and not just Judas specifically? What does this mean here? Why is he saying ye? Keep your place right there, but go to Mark. Go to Mark chapter 14 real quick. Mark chapter number 14. Because it's too easy to just read John 12 here and be like, see toxic trait right here. Hey, he's calling out. Oh, look how spiritual I am. We could have gave this to the poor and just really bash Judas alone here and be like, that's just a toxic trait in general. Carte blanche, just he's bad because of that. Okay? Now remember the title, imperfect versus toxic traits. Look at this here. And this is also found the same way practically in the book of Matthew, but Mark 14, look at verse three. And being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious. And she break the box and poured it on his head. Okay, so it wasn't just the feet. It's not a contradiction in the Bible. She anointed him from head to toe. That's what the picture is here. Okay, verse four. And there were, and here it is, look at this, some, same story. And there were some that had indignation within themselves. Wait a second, I thought it was just Judas. He's the one that piped up. He's the one that was mad. And there were some that had indignation within themselves and said, why was this waste of the ointment made? Ointment made. So Judas spoke up, okay, but everyone else, well, maybe not everyone else, but it says some. So some disciples, so it wasn't just Judas alone, but other people also had this thought, hey, why is she wasting this when it could have been given to the poor? Which is kind of, you know, if you want to talk about being controlling, chauvinistic, I guess you could use that word here. Why do they think they have the right to tell her what to do with her own property? Is kind of what I'm thinking here. That's her ointment. She could do whatever she wants to. Why are they like, oh, you should just give this to the poor. She could do whatever she wants to with that. Well, it's not your problem. It's not your property. Stay out of it, okay? But she doesn't. She anoints the Lord and the people here are like, oh, well, what's up with this, man? This isn't right. So now we've got a problem here because it wasn't just Judas that had thought that, okay, because it says some. So what's the difference? Is there a difference here? Is there some way we can differentiate Judas from these other folks here that also had indignation within themselves? And of course the answer is yes. Go back to John chapter number 12 and we'll go ahead and get the answer. Now we're gonna get the answer from the narrator. Remember when you were reading the Bible, the Bible records everything that God wanted recorded. The Bible records conversations of things people said and sometimes those things that people say are not true, but it's true that they said them, okay? The Bible says that all scripture is given by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. So when you're reading something in the Bible and it is the narrator speaking, that is what we go with. A perfect example of this is after King Saul died. Do you guys remember the story where the Amalekite runs to David? It was like, oh, yep, I took care of him because he was really hurting and I put him out of his misery. I'm just paraphrasing. And David's like, why don't your conscience smite you? Looks at the guys, kill them. He dies for that. That is such a source of controversy for the scholarly types and the professing Christians that are out there. And it's because they don't know this doctrine. It's because they don't understand how to read the Bible, okay? What does the narrator tell you at the end of 1 Samuel? Well, it says that Saul, the narrator, the Holy Ghost, the writer told you that Saul fell on the sword, right? But in 2 Samuel, okay, the narrator is telling you what the Amalekite said. So you have to understand what the narrator says trumps what a character says in the Bible. So with that information in mind, look at John 12, verse number six. So God is telling us here why Judas said this and why Judas said this and why Judas is singled out, verse six. This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein. So I think this teaches us a lot here. One of the things that this teaches us here is basically care, okay? What could be the difference between the disciples? Because the disciples, the sum of them that actually said, man, this stuff could have been used for, they probably, and this is my guess, they probably actually had care for the poor. They probably were like, man, that's expensive, okay? And them not understanding what's gonna exactly happen to Christ, they're still of the mind frame. Well, Israel's gonna go back to the way it was and we're gonna be his servants, we're gonna be the closest to him and all is gonna be well, Rome's gonna be gone and we're gonna dominate the world again. That's kind of their viewpoint here. And so they're like, yeah, this is gonna be great, but what's up with that? Well, we could actually use that to help more. They probably actually cared and there's tons of information and the gospels of the disciples actually caring, but the Holy Ghost is telling us that this dude didn't care. He didn't care and he was actually a thief. Now, obviously we're not God, we're not always gonna have that type of insight into other people, but one thing that we can do is ask ourselves this person that is toxic, do they actually care? Is there anything in their lives that they actually care about? And if there is, maybe there's some hope, maybe there is some way we could get some counseling, some way we could just kind of help that person. And honestly, people that are displaying this type of greed, this type of entitlement, you might actually have to put them at arm's length after you've gave them admonitions and said, hey, we need to get you some help. But it doesn't necessarily mean that they're straight up toxic or they're just a Judas or a devil or something of that nature. Go to Proverbs chapter one. Proverbs chapter number one. Proverbs chapter one, just a quick review here. So we got greed, we got entitlement and then we've got mendacity, we've got deception. Judas is deceiving here saying, oh, what about the poor? This could have been given to the poor and Jesus is like, leave her alone. Like just stop, stop with the antics here. You're not super spiritual, you're not that holy. And just get on with it. And what happens shortly after this? Well, he gets possessed with Satan himself. So just, that's what greed will do to you. No, I'm just kidding. That's not necessarily the case. All right, greed. Unrestrained desire for more. I mean, he was a thief. He was a thief. That's just what the Bible says about him. But what did he betray Christ for? 30 pieces of silver. After seeing the miracles, after seeing all the stuff, hearing the great doctrines and all of the great teachings that Jesus did. Okay, 30 pieces of silver. He turns his back on him. It's like, if you really needed that money, you could have just asked and maybe he would have given it to you or maybe he would have comforted you. He didn't care. Hey, there's no care when it comes to Judas. He's entitled and that entitlement led to his greed and his greed led to being a deceptive person. And this obviously happened early on in his life because the Bible is clear when Jesus chose the 12. He said, have I not chosen you 12? And one of you is present tense, a devil. Okay, a devil. Proverbs one, look at verse number 18. So it says this, and they lie in wait for their own blood. They lurk privately for their own lives. Verse 19. So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. A greedy person, a person that we can just put the official stamp of greed on, okay? That person, if you fail to recognize who they are, they will hurt you. They might not physically kill you. They might not deliver you up to Boise PD, but you know what they're gonna do? They're going to kill you from the inside out. They're going to be a burden on you so much so that it could wind up causing you health problems. Go back to the New Testament and go to Philippians chapter number four, okay? That is what they do. They take away the life of the owners. They might take away your life savings. They might take away your family. You have no idea, okay? The point is for us to recognize this before we actually stamp somebody with that label. And that's not to say that we're of the devil because we're labeling people. Sometimes people are thieves. Sometimes people are slobs. Sometimes people do suck. Sometimes people are reprobates, okay? These are facts. And again, that is specific, okay? The Bible gives us some specific information here. It says Judas didn't care. And he was a thief. There's no beating around the budget. Oh, I think he didn't know. He was those things. He had no care for anyone but himself. And he would do anything to profit himself, okay? Now, entitlement, okay? We saw entitlement in John chapter 12. You see it throughout the life of Judas and a lot of other people in the Bible as well. Entitlement, you know, I'm thinking about this in today's day and age, and this is exactly what the elites are doing to society. They are purposely promoting a culture of entitlement. And they're doing that, they promote entitlement through unenlightenment. So what do you mean by that? Well, what I mean by that is they promote entitlement through an enlightenment by blocking information, okay? Anybody here ever heard of a YouTube channel that's been blocked, deleted because they had certain health advice on there or just stuff like what we have? All of us have heard that. Why do they do that? You say, well, that's not the government. No, but they're definitely in ties with the government. The government, the powers that be, the principalities and powers of darkness would love nothing more than to suppress truth, to make people ignorant, okay? When people become ignorant, they become entitled. And it is much easier to control a society of entitled people because they are stupid, they are dumb. They cannot recognize information for themselves. They cannot learn, they refuse to learn. So that is why people are today trying to find a way to be a victim. Well, I'm black. Well, I'm Mexican. Well, I'm this, I'm that, okay? You ever noticed that it's bad to call yourself an American in this country? The only time I ever felt like normal to be called an American was when I was overseas, okay? That's actually when I kind of woke up because people are like, oh, I'm American. Oh, you're American. Oh yeah, I guess I am. Because over here, people are just, well, I can't be an American. Definitely can't be a white guy. Well, I'm one eighth Somali. Oh yeah, I'm an African-American. It's just like, no, okay? Stop with that. That leads to entitlement. That is what the enemy wants, to sow division. And that does so much for them. It's profitable, okay? You say, how is it profitable? Because entitled people often wind up in these private prisons that are out here. That's what happens. They either get locked up or they wind up getting themselves killed. So the only thing that results in a culture of entitlement is people getting locked up or people dying, which people like Bill Gates and these elitists would love nothing more than to see more of. And they openly say this stuff that they want to cull the population. They want to control people. Why? Because they're psychopaths. Those are reprobates, okay? And so we have to be aware of this entitlement type attitude if it creeps in because guess what? We are all imperfect and can definitely display feats of being entitled, okay? So Philippians chapter four, look down at verse number 11 and this would be the solution for that. So Paul says, not that I speak in respect of want. So he's saying, you know, all the stuff that I'm bringing up, all these things that I'm teaching you guys, okay? The reason why I'm bringing up giving and things of this nature is not because I have need of want because I want a new car, I want a new truck. He says, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Learning contentment and being content with the things that you have, that is true power. And that is what society cannot allow you to have because that takes away their power. So you want to be a real freedom fighter? You want to be a true warrior? You really want to stick it to the man? Hey, guess how you do it? By learning contentment, by learning how to be content and not being greedy. That's what Paul's telling you here. Verse 12, I know both how to be abased and how to abound. Hey, we have to learn how to be content in both situations, whether we're getting beat down by the world or we're actually abounding and having success, whether we're getting a lot of people saved or we're getting a lot of doors slammed in our face. We have to learn to be content. Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Verse 13, I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. And go to 1 Samuel chapter number 18. And then of course, deceitfulness. There's a ton of Bible verses about deceitfulness. In fact, we're going to look at a few of them here. Okay, so just a quick review. What did Judas show us? He showed us greed. Okay, toxic trait. He showed us entitlement, toxic trait. He showed us deceitfulness, definitely toxic trait. People don't always represent themselves the way that they present themselves. That's what God's telling you in John chapter 12, verse 6 by telling you he didn't care for the people. Okay, he didn't care for the people. He was a thief. But you know what? When the disciples were like, who is it, Lord? Right, when Peter was like, John, hey, ask him who it is. And Jesus is like, it's the person I dip the sop in. He's like, here. Shows them who it is. And they're like, I wonder who it is. I wonder who it is. It couldn't be Judas. And Judas is like, is it me? And he's like, thou sayest. And the disciples are like, hmm, boy, this is going to be a tough one. Somebody's the devil in here. I can't. Gee, I wonder who it is. You know, after seeing this, Jesus is like, here, it's him. And they're like, oh, I don't know. Well, I guess we'll find out. Time will tell. You know, a certain season is going to tell you. A certain situation is going to tell you. Look, people don't always represent themselves the way they present themselves. And obviously Judas did an excellent job at representing himself as an apostle, as a disciple, because no one suspected him. Okay, nobody suspected him. Now we're going to move on. Three different ones. Okay, so we're six total today. We've got greed. We've got entitlement. We've got deceitfulness. Now we're going to get to the other one. So 1 Samuel chapter 18, just to get you kind of caught up in the story here. David has already defeated Goliath. He becomes best friends instantly with a man named Jonathan, who happens to be King Saul's son. So let's pick up the story here in verse number five. So this is right after that friendship is made. Verse five, 1 Samuel 18 says, And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, behaved himself wisely. Saul sent him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. So David doing very well here, okay. He finds himself getting elevated in position all because he decides, I'm going to walk wisely doing this job. Verse six, 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 the cities of Israel singing and dancing with joy and with instruments of music. So, so far, so good. We got David, he's doing well. Saul's being the king and he's liking that. And now there's a celebration, but now becomes a problem. Look at verse seven. And the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. So of course, crowds recognize what's going on here, okay. Now, I don't think that this crowd here, I don't think these women were purposely trying to start any beef. It's just a fact. David is working. David is actively involved in war, whereas Saul is the king and the king is supposed to kind of step back and assess things and come up with battle plans and strategies and delegate. So it would be natural that he wouldn't have as many deaths attributed to him, okay. But instead of being okay with that fact of leadership, he becomes bitter. He becomes angry. He becomes envious. He becomes toxic, extremely toxic. And I personally believe that Saul was saved. Verse eight. Saul was very wroth and the saying displeased him. He said, they have ascribed unto David ten thousands and to me, they have ascribed but thousands and what can he have more but the kingdom? And look at this. And Saul eyed David from that day forward. So this toxic trait that I just want to bring up for you guys this morning, which is number four, is called insecure competitiveness, okay. Insecure competitiveness. This is something you need to be on the lookout for. So for example, you say, oh, guess what guys, I got a raise at work. I got a promotion. And someone instantly this close to you or just in general is, oh yeah, well, I've been promoted five times in the last year. And they had no smile. I got promoted like five times in the last year. And you're like, oh, okay, that's just great. You know, it's great. And they're like, yeah, that is great, huh? And they just want to talk about that and just kind of put you down. That may just be somebody that you don't need to be close with. Now, that is toxic if allowed to continue in your life. And I'm sorry to say that, but that is true. That doesn't make somebody reprobate. That doesn't make somebody unsaved. We call that one upper syndrome. And there's a lot of them out there. A lot of people out there. Some people just love talking and they love talking about themselves. In fact, everybody loves talking about themselves. If you don't believe me, go read a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People. People love to talk about themselves, okay. It's just human nature. But this is next level stuff right here, okay. This isn't how to win friends and influence people, okay. This guy's got a serious problem here. And he's like, I don't like this. I can't have anybody being better than me, okay. And as God's people, we're supposed to what? Put other people before us. It's God that lifts up, right. We don't want to just, I'm going to lift myself up. No, that never works. If you're saved, God's not going to let you do that. Just get that in your heart right now. Ain't going to happen, okay. Insecure competitiveness. I have seen this so many times in my life. I don't even know which story to tell you. I've got too many to name, so I'm not going to. I'm going to spare you the stories, okay. But this is something that you need to be on the lookout for, insecure competitiveness. How do you treat people like this? The best thing that you can do in this type of a situation is just be like, that's right. Yeah, that's right. Just let them have their moment of glory or moments of glory, okay. And just realize that's not a person for you. That person's just not for you. That doesn't mean you can't give them a box of chicken nuggets on their birthday. That doesn't mean you can't be nice to them, okay. You can still be nice to them, but you know what? You better be very careful and guard your heart about allowing that person to close. If you perceive that that person is really trying to work their way in, you have to stop it. That person will take from you. That person will wind up trying to harm you. That person will wind up trying to put you down because everything is a competition to that person. They are not good for you. Pray for them that God would expose them to that so they can say, oh yeah, okay. That's why nobody likes me. That's why I gotta make some changes and people can change. If people can wake up to this and we could get this into their mind, guess what? They can say, okay, maybe I need to chill on that and just stop. I've seen it. People can change. But Saul, he wasn't gonna change. Saul has other plans. Look at verse 10. So the first one, or number four, we're gonna call insecure competitive, something to watch out for, verse 10. And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul. Okay, and so Saul's already been in tons of hot water. He's already been told by Samuel that he's lost the kingship. God's gonna raise up somebody that's better than him. And that's literally what God says. I'm gonna get somebody in here that's better than you, that's a better person than you, that's gonna be a better king than you, okay? And so what does God do? He allows an evil spirit to go down there and start messing with Saul. And it's funny when you hear like these Christian times preachers are like, well, this isn't what it really means. I know this is what it says, but God would never do that. Really? Because that's what he did. And there's other examples. We need to go to first Kings, or I'm sorry, second Kings, and look at all that. No, we don't. We believe the Bible at this church. And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God, now who's telling you that? Is that Saul writing that? God sent an evil spirit to harm me and to keep me down. No, that's the Holy Ghost telling you. This is what happened. God allowed an evil, a spirit that was willing to hurt Saul to go down there because Saul forfeited his protection. That the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand. He said, well, if it's an evil spirit, how could Saul prophesied in the midst of the house? You ever listen to false prophets speak? Has anybody ever heard of TD Jakes or Joel Osteen, Steven Furtick? Sometimes they say things and I'm like, that was so insightful. I'm starting to question whether or not the guy's really a false prophet. I mean, they have some incredible insight sometimes. It's just the way that it is, but it's also kind of a hallmark. Like, oh, okay. You know this. This is like, ah, I see what's going on here. These devils know the word of God and they don't sleep. They've seen all ages of history. They've heard all kinds of things. And so that comes out and you see that come out here in the midst of the house and David played with his hand. So David is playing the harp as at other times to comfort Saul because his evil spirit is tormenting him. And it says, and there was a javelin in Saul's hands. This is what I keep telling you. Somebody who suffers from this insecurity, they're not secure with who they are in Christ. They're not secure with their own lives. But they've got this competitive drive. That's a dangerous, dangerous person. And the Bible here is telling you, Saul's got a javelin in his hand and he's about to do something. Look at verse 11. 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. Now I don't know about you, but you cast a javelin on me, you get one chance. And I'm going AWOL. I'm done. I'm not as cool. I'm not as strong-willed as David. But David's like, okay, well, he is the king and where the word of a king, where the word of a king is there is power. So I'll just go back and Saul does it again. Finally David realizes, okay, well, it is what it is. And he runs and starts the process of Saul chasing David throughout pretty much the rest of the entire book here. But what does this mean for us? What is necessarily toxic here? Well, what do we got? We got Saul who's being tormented by an evil spirit. Remember earlier in the book, we don't have time to get there, but his men were like, this is how David basically gets introduced to Saul. They're like, well, something's really troubling Saul and evil spirits down here. We needed to go find that kid or we heard this kid named David. And he plays a harp real well. And so David would play the harp. The evil spirit would go, leave, Saul would feel better. So Saul knows this. So evil spirits on Saul, David's playing, doing what he's supposed to. This is a perfect opportunity here. And so what you're gonna find with toxic people is they use exploitative opportunities. And that's what it's called. Explo... Sorry, this is just a mouthful. They exploit you. We'll just call it that. We'll keep it simple. Exploitation. They like to exploit people. What does that mean? That means to prey on a person when they're not ready for it. Okay. So Saul knows, well, David, you know, he's my guy. He's my employee. Basically he has to do this. And it is what it is. He's gonna play the harp. And so Saul's like, this would be the perfect opportunity because he's focused, not on me and my intentions, but he's focused on getting me better. So his guards down. Okay. So what does he do? He takes that javelin and hurls it at David. And he does it twice. He doesn't do it twice in that same night. Does it again later on. Okay. There's another part of the story that we have to get to. But exploitation. You have to watch out for people that are trying to exploit you. So for example, say, you find yourself in a situation where you're not paying attention and somebody does something to you and it's pretty negative. It's pretty bad. It's like, whoa, why did you say it like that? Why did you try to put me down then? You know, like this will happen to me sometimes. You know, as a pastor, I notice that people will do this. They'll do this at conferences. Sometimes they'll do that. They'll do this as guests that come into church or sometimes even as church members. You know, like I'll say something and they'll just try to put me down in some way, shape or form. And there's different ways that I handle it. Sometimes I just don't even regard it, but I'll just kind of maybe go write it down for later and I'll just keep track because that's my job as a shepherd is to keep track of things like that. And I'll just kind of wait, you know, Lord, please bring a season or a situation to reveal this person's true intentions. Okay. But what I'm trying to get at here is they will try to exploit you. They will try to make you a fool. They'll try to make you appear less in the sight of other people, try to put you down in some way, shape or form. Okay. So they're going to look for opportunities to exploit you. This is a toxic trait. And one thing you guys got to realize is that elevation. Okay. So, so David has been put in a position of elevation. He's risen through the ranks of the army in Israel. Okay. So we say he's being elevated. Now, anytime that you're elevated at work, you do something good and you just get kind of temporarily elevated in the side of your peers. Okay. Elevation puts you at risk for exploitation. It's what you need to realize. It's just what it is. And being a Christian, being born again automatically, what does that do? That puts you in the kingdom of God. You are automatically a priest. You are automatically a king. You are automatically royalty. And so what you got to understand is the demonic forces at some point in time will come after you. They will try to exploit you. And how do they do that? They do that by using other people in your life that they can control. The Bible is clear that the devil has people in his snare. Okay. He is the prince in charge of running the world. He's in charge of the circuit or the way that the world runs. Now, ultimately God is in charge of that, but he is allowed to do that during this time. Now we're going to look at verse 21 here and I'll give you the third one. Okay. So we've got insecure competitiveness. We've got opportunities for exploitation. These are all toxic traits. There's something you have to be aware of. You'd say something and sometimes it's like trying to put you down. Okay. Don't overlook that. Don't be like, Oh, you know, maybe that person, you know, maybe it was an oversight. Sometimes. Okay. I'll give you some credit. Sometimes it is. Sometimes people are just joking around the dynamic. We don't understand, you know, these little, little jokes, but if it's something that is regular or you see them doing that, doing this to other people. Okay. You need to realize, Hey, this is somebody I need to keep in check. Somebody that I need to put at arm's length at minimum. All right, let's look at number three. This is the last one here. The third one from Saul, six in total. Okay. And look at verse 17 here real quick. So verse 17 says, Saul said to David, behold, my elder daughter, Merab, her, will I give thee to wife. Only be thou valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul said, let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. What is that? I know I tried to hit you with that javelin, but I want to give you my oldest daughter. I want to give you my daughter Merab to wife. Just be valiant. Notice the language here. Notice how the Bible records. What does Saul say? Be valiant for the Lord and his armies. What does it say? Verse 17, be thou what? Valiant for who? For me. Be thou valiant for me. Okay. Toxic people have a me centered attitude. Remember, they don't care. They do not care about you. They don't care about anybody else except for themselves. This is Saul. And guess what? Saul saved. That's what I believe. I believe Saul saved. I believe that when he died, he went to heaven because Samuel's like, hey, today you're going to be with me in paradise. You're going to be with me. You didn't say paradise, but you're going to be with me. And Saul obviously came from a place of rest because he's like, hey, why have you disquieted me? Why did you interrupt me? I was done with this place. I don't want to see your face. I don't want to hear about your problems. Okay. So, but we have this guy who wants to basically kill, destroy, strangle, put down an innocent guy, so to speak, in David, a man after God's own heart. So he's like, I'll give you my wife. But inside he's like, yeah, that way the Philistines ain't going to get you. Now look at verse 21. And Saul said, I will give him her. So just skip down to verse 21. And Saul said, I will give him her that she may be a snare to him. What does that say about his dad's skills? Right? Just like, oh, she'll wrangle him up. She'll just snare to him. And that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore, Saul said to David, thou shall this day be my son-in-law in the one of the twain. What's number three? It's easy. It's manipulation. Okay. You say, oh, okay. Break down manipulation. Okay. Manipulation. I want you to think of these three words. Okay. Flatteries, generosity, and spirituality. There's spiritualness. We would just say being spiritual. Okay. Now there's nothing wrong with complimenting people, right? We're called to edify. And this is what makes this stuff so hard is that we as God's people are called to exhort people. Hey, how you doing? You know, this is the thing you did the other day. That was great. Okay. That's not necessarily flattery though. Flattery is when you're like sending a message to somebody or you're talking to somebody on the phone and it's like, you're the best person in the world. Like no one can touch you. No one can touch you. You know, I've had people say that to me. I'm like, what? You ever listen to anybody else? What's your problem? You know, you're the best. I'm just like, oh, stop. No. Okay. Typically what winds up happening is I turn this way and they pull out that knife and it's just. It's what they do, man. I'm telling you. That's how this goes. Just watch out for flattery. People are just like, oh man. It's always this over the top stuff. Like, oh, you're the best looking person in the planet. You're the best looking dude. You have the best attitude and they're just, it's over the top. Look, you can feel it. It's going to trouble you a bit in your spirit if you're being honest. Okay. You're going to recognize, you're going to know like, wait a second. Is this really true? Now somebody's like, hey man, that was great. Like, I really love how you did this. I really love what you said. That's not necessarily a flattery. Okay. Now flattery is deceitful. It's this over the top, these over the top compliments and it doesn't tend to match their actions. Okay. Oftentimes people will say these types of things to you and then curse you behind your back. Or they'll say, you know, it's just, it just goes many different ways, but manipulation. Okay. That's the third one. The third one with Saul, manipulation. What is he doing to David here? I'm going to give you my daughter. Okay. Get your mind off over here. Dangle the carrot. I'm going to give you her and you're going to just be valiant for me, of course. Okay. Who else would it be? But you're going to get my daughter. And then inside he's like, oh, she's terrible. She's going to have him running for his life. She's going to be such a snare dam. Oh, this is going to be great. And then he'll be dead. He'll be gone. And then all the women will be singing about me and my now tens of thousands of people that I've killed. That's a toxic person. That is a toxic person. Now, what about generosity? We're called to be generous. We're called to be generous towards one another. Okay. But the generosity that I'm talking about is like, again, like this Judas type generosity, right? Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Why are you blessing him? That's a lot of money. You know how much that is? That could have fed a whole block. That could have fed a whole neighborhood block. Okay. Or how about this one? We send Malta meal to the poor kids in Africa, and we got a shoe ministry. Your church don't. We got a food bank. Your church don't. This Boise Rescue Mission, there's somebody, and I got to confirm that it's actually somebody that works for that. So I'll just claim this, but they'll often send emails to the church just like, so here you go out through the community a lot, but you don't support our food mission, but you don't have a food bank of your own. We got clothes back there. We got a blessing rack back there. We don't charge for it. Don't that count for something? I mean, this was really gonna take me off into a whole nother sermon about how to actually, to be generous, and I don't want to do that, but just think about those people. Do they have the right gospel? Are they saved? No. Go look up what, what's that place down there? The Interfaith Sanctuary, right when you head into downtown, just right off of I-80. It's called the Interfaith Sanctuary. Okay. Go look up what they believe about salvation if you don't believe me. Okay, but they do good works. They're taking people off the street and they're helping them. Okay, but that Shield of Faith church, they're just rude. They're just out there yelling at people sometimes. You know, sometimes people need to be put in their place, man. It's just, this is just the way it is. Okay. We'll get into that tonight, but anyways, this generosity, which really isn't generous. Okay, it's really like the next one, hyper-spirituality. Okay. Oh, look at us. We're trying to feed the poor. You're in my spirit, brother. You're in my spirit. There was a, I had a friend that was telling me the story about a person he had his eye on for over a year. Okay. And this guy was coming into the church and just, you know, doing all sorts of stuff. And these are good things. Okay. But in this church, they already have, let's just put it like this. Okay, I'm keeping this general. So, cause I don't know if I have permission to say this, but in a church, they got people, for example, that will hand out bulletins. They've got people in this church that will, basically, if somebody needs to get baptized, they'll go grab the robes and towels and they'll go take care of it. Okay. But then you got Mr. Rogue. You got Mr. Super Generosity, Mr. Super Spiritual. It's like, I know that people in this church have been assigned to these different tasks, but I got it. And I'm going to be number one. I'm going to be the first one to go do these things. Okay. And so what this person would do, it was really a couple of them, is hear somebody need to be baptized, go get the stuff. So the person whose job it is, they're going back to the closet like, the heck? And he's over there like, I got you. God, don't even worry about it. I got you. Now, what do you think happens after the baptism is done? You're going around, Hey, I just want to let you know what I did. I went and I grabbed the stuff. I got the, I got the stuff. Hey, I just want to, Hey, you come, come, come, come, come. You know, you know, pastor's so busy, you know, you know, the, the, the choir, you know, the ushers are so busy. The security, they're so busy. I took care of it. I got, I got you. I got, I got, I got, don't even worry about it. I got it. And it's not just for that. It's for all sorts of things. Guess what? Anytime somebody new comes in, this is my favorite, my personal favorite right here. Anytime someone new comes in, Hey, this is your first time here. Come, come, come here, come here, sit down, come here, sit down. Okay. But you know what they'll say? Oh, but what if something, what if an earthquake comes and they die and the building falls in and then they go to hell because we didn't give them the gospel because you wanted to preach your sermon and I didn't mean it like that. I didn't mean it like that. I just, but you know, right? Don't you care about souls? Don't you care about people? Yeah, I know you guys look at me like I'm crazy. These things happen and it's way worse than this. Let me tell you something. It is way worse than that. Way worse. And you'll see it. If you stick around here long enough, you will see things and you will think, is pastor Jones like doing a reality show? Like it just doesn't want to say nothing. So we seem kind of natural. You're going to think that you're going to see people do things that are so idiotic, so stupid, so filled with buffoonery. It will make you question whether or not you're even awake. That's how some people are, but you know how they try to sweep it under the rug? Oh, but it's all in the name of the Holy ghost, right? You're in my spirit. This church is such a my spirit. I just want to do everything. Hey, why are you compounding a list of emails for every single person that comes into this building? Why? I know why it's because you got you an agenda. That's why because you know in your heart, there's coming a day when the leaves change and it's time to start bearing fruit. Hey, it's going to be exposed. And at that time you're going to have to bring all your little sheaves with you and cause all this turmoil and all this trouble. That's manipulation when people use flatteries and what I'm going to call faux generosity just for, for, for this morning's teaching. Of course, this hyper spiritual attitude that if you are questioning, is somebody trying to manipulate me? Are they just constantly flattering you? Just just you in some way, shape or form. And then they're being overly generous with things that they typically probably should not be. And then saying just weird things like, Oh, like I am so in tune with God that you know, you're just in my spirit. Like I just had the, I just woke up this morning and I just had this feeling that I had to pray for you. You gotta be careful for stuff like that. I don't want to say that nobody cares, but okay, we're all people. Okay. And, and that, that, that hyper spiritual person is always a problem. Always a problem. And they're always going to be found out in their season. So if you remember anything I said this morning, remember this time doesn't necessarily show you fruits, but seasons do. Seasons will. And seasons are situations. And this is why I think God brings certain situations. And like, for example, like with, with protests. Okay. Now, obviously I think we're kind of past that season now. I think we're kind of done with that. I hope I really do hope, but you know, when those types of things happen is, is like a good, a good opportunity to kind of see who, you know, how do people act? How do people react? Are people super scared? People overly cautious? Because people that have left here, I've found out that they've said things like, Oh, he purposely wanted to get us all killed. He wanted us to all get shot so he could outdo Pastor Mejia. Yeah. It sounds like a great idea. Hit, let me tell you something. Okay. I know the playbook of the enemy. If I want to like get a bunch of people in here, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to bring in drums. I'm going to bring in the smoke machine. I'm going to try to get them as rid as many of you as I can. And I'm just going to be super vague and create a feeling I'm going to change the lights to like dim. Okay. This is gone. This is gone. Standards out the soul wings out the window. I might still use the King James for awhile. Okay. And guess what? Everything's just going to be about your best life now. And you can have life and have it more abundantly. And that's going to be every sermon practically. And you know what? I'm going to get elevated. I'm going to get rich is what I'm going to get. That's how you do it. You don't do it by inviting people to start shooting rounds through a building and that doesn't work. You think I want to take that chance and get myself, you know, they hate us all, but they will have nothing more than to put a bullet through my heart. Hey, you think I want that? But again, this is the type of paranoia that ignorance breeds. This is what happens when people are toxic and they are allowed to maintain a relationship with you. And these people that are saying this type of stuff, they all use flatteries. I've got the text messages. They all use generosity. Well, I gave this one time and I gave this one time and I gave this. And one time I wrote a check for 500 bucks and he preached against me. And I just want to go to a church where they just talk about love and he never talks about love and he doesn't love people. This is how people are, man. And they all display these things, greed, manipulation, insecure competitiveness. They take opportunities to exploit you, right? And then when you call them out on it, like, Hey, you know, I just like to give you a chance. This is what I like to say. Sometimes, like if I'm not in a good mood, like it was yesterday and somebody does that, I'll say, Hey, I just like to give you a chance real quickly to kind of rephrase what you just said. And then I just like to watch the look on their face. I'm look, I'm imperfect. There's a certain way and all of you probably know this. If you don't, you're going to know it right now. There's a certain way I don't like being talked to. And there are some days where I'm not having it. Like yesterday was one of those days from the minute I woke up to the minute I went to bed. I was just not having it. Hey, and you know what? All of us are probably like that. All of us are probably like that. So when people are trying to exploit us, they're trying to manipulate us and you can sense this insecure competitiveness. Or you know, the greed is really when it's a total package, like if somebody has got like, I really, if you study Judas, you're going to find probably all of these, you know, the three from Saul, you're going to find them all in Judas. When somebody's got them all, if it's in church, I hope somebody would let me know, you know, because that's what I'm here for. I'm here to help. And I want this environment to be safe. I want this environment to be a place where people can at least just get along. And I think it is, as far as I'm concerned, it is a lot better than what it used to be. But the point is time doesn't show you fruit. Seasons do, situations do. And things to look out for again are greed. Again, we're all imperfect. We all have moments of greed. That doesn't mean you're toxic. That doesn't mean you're a hippobait. Entitlement, okay? Now there are times where you're going to feel like, hey, like that really was mine. That's okay. Sometimes it is. Sometimes we get robbed, man. But when that's your identity and it's like, I don't have to put in the effort. I don't have to work hard just because I am who I am and I deserve all the stuff. That is an attribute that you, that we have got to be on the lookout for. And of course, manipulation. When someone displays these patterns of this, just constantly trying to manipulate and be untruthful and be deceitful, okay? That right there is almost enough to just be like, I don't need to see the insecure competitiveness. I don't need to see the entitlement. I don't need to see any more manipulation or whatever it is. I don't need to see any more of this stuff here. We're done, okay? And so hopefully I think that the balance in all of this is really just understanding that in seasons, in certain situations, that's when people's fruits can come out. And so when you can start to recognize that, you're going to get better at deciphering, okay? Because we, again, we don't want to just label somebody a toxic person because they have one of these or they display a couple of these just on occasion, right? We want to first just take the high ground and just say, you know what, there's nothing wrong with this. There's nothing wrong with actually trying to help a person. You know what I mean? There's nothing wrong with actually trying to see if you can help this person and where it goes. But here's the thing, if you're trying to help somebody with one of these attributes here and they just display another one, and then another one, and then another one. So you're going to try to help somebody on some greed and it's just like, wow, you just see the entitlement and then they're trying to manipulate you. And then the next thing you know, they're, wow, you know, who do you think you are? And you just see this competitiveness. Oh, so everybody over here likes you because you're right or because you have this or that or you've been here longer than me, you know? It's just like, do I really need to go through exploitive opportunities? Do I really need to see how you're flattering me or, no, probably not, okay? But sometimes you're going to find a toxic trait in someone and maybe you bring it up to them in a tactful way and then they're like, oh, yeah, okay, right? I mean, you've gained your brother at that point. You've gained a person, you've made a person better, okay? And then we can abound instead of being a base. And I'm not saying we're a base now, but I'm just saying, you know, take the high ground and try to help somebody first. But you know, there does come a point some people just can't be helped. They just can't, they just don't want it. They just don't want it. They just want to leech. They just want to latch onto you and control you. And that's where it gets hard. And that's where you have to be like, enough is enough. And you have to get that person to understand some boundaries. You have to put up that fence and just be like, no, we're not doing this, I'm not doing this. Because I'm telling you, people with these traits, when you identify, hey, this isn't somebody that's just imperfect, this is somebody who's toxic, okay? That person I'm telling you is going to harm you. You will suffer physical damage. Again, association leads to assimilation every single time. Okay, there's nothing wrong with trying to help. There's nothing wrong with trying to mentor, to coach. But when you put that aside and say, well, I'm just going to hang out with them in my lifestyle and just be being friends with that person, that's going to help get that person better. It's not. People need to be told straight up, this is wrong. This is an error you need to stop. And people don't like that. I don't like that, you don't like that, we don't like that, but you know what? That is what makes people better. So I'm going to stop yapping. We'll cut it off there. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church and for all that you do, Lord, and thank you for the infinite wisdom in the Bible on behavioral patterns and characteristics. Lord, I just pray you help us to really understand these things and to continue to study them so that we can help other people out. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, so we're going to have one more song and then we will be dismissed.