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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Alright, good evening everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all make our way inside and grab a seat. Find a song book. Open that song book up to song number 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. Let's all stand for our first song. Song number 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. All of us standing and singing nice and strong unto the Lord. First verse, song 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. Everyone all together nice and strong. There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its word. It sounds like music in my ear, the sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. It tells me of our Savior's love, who died to set me free. It tells me of His precious blood, the sinner's perfect plea. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. It tells me what my Father had in store for every day. And though I tread a dark sun path, my sun shine all the way. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. It tells of one whose loving heart can fill my deepest full of love. In each sorrow bears a part that none can bear below. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. Amen. Let's open our service with a word of prayer. Father, thank you, God, Lord, for allowing us, God, to be here tonight. Lord, here you would preach to us, God. Thank you, Lord, for your great love unto us, God. I pray, Lord, that you would fill pasture with your Holy Spirit, Lord, and bless Him as He speaks to us, Lord. Help us to be edified, Lord. And bless the service tonight, Lord, in every aspect of it, God. We love you, Lord, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Song number 23, There is Power in the Blood. Song number 23, There is Power in the Blood. Everyone nice and strong on that first verse. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you, O evil of victory, win? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, a wonder-working power, in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, a wonder-working power, in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Come, Lord, a cleansing to Calvary's tide. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, a wonder-working power, in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, a wonder-working power, in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be wider, much wider than snow? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Sinsees are lost in its life-giving flow. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, a wonder-working power, in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, a wonder-working power, in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be service for Jesus your King? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you obey His praises to sin? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, a wonder-working power, in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, a wonder-working power, in the precious blood of the Lamb. If you want to get that ready in your song book, song number 15, if you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand. One of the ushers can get one for you. Some important information on there, as well as our prayer sheet. Our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 10.30. Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then, of course, we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. Currently going through the book of 1 Samuel. Glad you're here with us this evening to continue chapter 18. You see the so many times in teams, the list of expecting mothers, if you can keep them in prayer. And then the important reminders there at the bottom, you can review those. Some of the upcoming church events, we do have the P.E. End of School Picnic, coming up on Wednesday, May 25th at 10 a.m. We have the address there at Eucalyptus Park. If you need more information, you can see Brother Ulysses Hernandez regarding that. Brother Gio's graduation service is coming up on Sunday, May 29th. It's a little over two weeks away, and so that'll be on Sunday evening. Be here to celebrate with him. And then June birthday breakfast, as well as the Judea Soul Wining's coming up on Sunday, June 5th. And then we got a special treat. Pastor Steven Anderson from Faithful Word Baptist Church will be preaching for us on Thursday, June 16th. That is pretty special. He's actually putting together, it's a series. It's like a docu-series, sort of, where he's gonna be preaching through each of the 12 tribes of Israel. And so in each of those 12 tribes, he's gonna be at a different new IFB church. And so he's gonna be gone from his church for like a really long time, obviously. But we're gonna be swapping pulpits, the different pastors, the churches he's gonna go to. Now I'll be here for this one, but I will be over at Faithful Word at another time. But he's gonna be here, I think, actually our church is the first stop. And so he's gonna be here first. Make sure you're here, don't miss out on that. That'll be on Thursday, June 16th. Make sure you thank him for coming. And then, of course, Father's Day's coming up on Sunday, June 19th. We'll have a gift for all the dads that come on that day. Make sure you invite your father or someone's dad on that day so that we can give him a gift. Thank him for being here. And, of course, the service will be geared towards dads that day. And then you see there, no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. Make sure you're not loitering in the foyer or fellowship hall during the preaching service. And then, of course, quiet time is from 3 p.m. to 4.15 throughout the whole building on Sunday afternoon. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. And then another announcement that we don't have on the bulletin here, I wanna remind everyone, if you can volunteer to be part of the cleaning crew for Sunday evening service, we'd greatly appreciate that. We'd like to have a rotation of different people for each month. And so if you haven't signed up and you can be a blessing, you can help out with that. Please make sure you sign up in the back where the usher station is. And, Brother Ulysses, we'll get with you regarding a schedule. And thank you in advance. And, of course, we have the prayer sheet tonight. Make sure you have a prayer sheet so we can go over them. You see the church corporately there, of course, the different needs that we have as a church. We're about to go into the summer. And so wanna pray for just spiritual... Obviously, we always wanna advance spiritually as Christians, but it's always good to learn how to maintain as well, okay? Maintenance mode is also good in the Christian life. And in my personal opinion and in my observation of Christians throughout the years, one of the most important times to maintain or be on maintenance mode is during the summer. A lot of things happen during the summer. People go on vacation. A lot of different things take place. And so sometimes people can get out of routine. They don't come to church as often or they just do different things. And so we wanna make sure that Christians are maintaining throughout the summer to put them in a position so they can also succeed as a Christian and grow. And so pray for the series we're gonna be starting during the summer, which is a family series. We're gonna be having family nights. And so I'm gonna be also preaching on the family for a couple of weeks. And so you don't wanna miss out on that. We'll be preaching sermons on child rearing, marriages, all that good stuff, amen? And so make sure you're here for that. Everyone will benefit from that material. And so just keep that in prayer. You see the church families there, the different needs of the church. And of course, if you have any additional prayer requests, you can put that at the bottom. You can put it anonymously. You can put your name there. And we'll make sure that it gets on the bulletin for the following week, all right? And that is it. Brother Maury's gonna come on up and pray over these needs. All right, please bow your head in word prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for our salvation, first and foremost. And Lord, we just thank you for the King James Bible and you bestowing your word upon us so that we're able to learn the mystery and the secrets of your word. And Lord, just pray that we're continuing to grow in favor with you, doing the things that you would like us to do as a church and individually reading your word, memorizing your word, teaching our children. Lord, I just pray for protection for our church members as they're going to and from work and church. And Lord, just pray that you have a hedge of protection over them, allowing them to, with travel safety and even as they're at work or things like that, that their health is okay and that they're maintaining safety there, Lord. And Lord, I also wanna pray for the leadership for our church. I pray for Pastor Mejia and Brother Ulysses. And I pray for their families. And Lord, I just pray that the counselors are giving you advice. And Lord, I just pray that you keep leading the leadership in our church so that we can continue going in a direction that is best honoring and serving you, Lord. And Lord, I wanna pray for Abigail. I pray that you're with her and her family in this time right now. And Lord, I pray that she has healing and that you can console the family, Lord. Lord, I also wanna pray for salvation for family members. And as we're out giving the gospel, I wanna pray that the people that we're talking to, that they're receptive to the gospel. Lord, I pray that you soften their hearts as we go out on a weekly basis and allowing people to believe on your son, Lord. Lord, I wanna pray for the unspoken requests and the salvation for just the different family members here, Lord. And Lord, I also just wanna lastly pray for the family series, Lord. I pray that that time is fruitful and I pray that you're with Pastor Mejia as he's expounding your word on the family. And Lord, I pray that we go closer to you, but not only closer to you, but also with our families, with our children and our wives, Lord. And Lord, I just wanna thank you for just the blessing that we have in church. And I pray that we're attentive to the word that's being preached. And Lord, I pray that we leave closer to you than when we came, Lord. And Lord, I pray this in the name, amen. All right, please turn your hymnals to song number 15, Lead Me to Calvary, song number 15. Song number 15, Lead Me to Calvary, song 15, Lead Me to Calvary. Everyone, nice and strong altogether on that first verse. King of my life, I crown thee now, I shall be with thee forever, King of my life, I crown thee now, I shall glory be, Lest I forget thy Lord, crown, brow, Lead me to Calvary, Lest I forget Gethsemane, Lest I forget thy agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary, Show me the tomb where thou wast slain, Tenderly mourned and wept, Angels and rogues of light o' rain, Guard him ye well, south, slow, Lest I forget Gethsemane, Lest I forget thy agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary, Lead me like Mary through the gloom, Come with a gift to thee, Show to me now the empty tomb, Lead me to Calvary, Lest I forget Gethsemane, Lest I forget thy agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary, May I be willing, Lord, to bear, Take the high cross for thee, Even my cup of grief to share, Thou hast borne all for me. Lest I forget Gethsemane, Lest I forget thy agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary. Amen. At this time, the ushers will collect the offering. Tonight will be in 1 Samuel, chapter number 18. 1 Samuel, chapter number 18. 2 Samuel, chapter number 18. 1 Samuel, chapter number 18. 1 Samuel, chapter number 18. 1 Samuel, chapter number 18. 1 Samuel, chapter number 18. 1 Samuel, chapter number 18. Good evening. We're in 1 Samuel, chapter 18. And the Bible reads, And Saul set 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. And it came to pass, as they came, When David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, That the women came out of all cities of Israel, Singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, With tabards, with joy, and with instruments of music. And the women answered one another, As they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him, And he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, And to me they have ascribed but thousands, And what can ye have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward, And it came to pass on to-morrow, That the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, And he prophesied in the midst of the house, And David played with his hand, as at other times, And there was a javelin in Saul's hand. And Saul cast the javelin, for he said, I will smite David into the wall with it, And David avoided out of his presence twice. And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, And was departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from him, And made him captain over a thousand, And he went out and came in before the people. And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, And the Lord was with him. Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, He was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, Because he went out and came in before them. And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Mereb, Here 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. And David said unto Saul, Who am I, And what is my life, Or my father's family in Israel, That I should be son-in-law to the king? But it came to pass at the time when Mereb, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, That she was given unto Adrile, The Mahalathite to wife. And Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David. And they told Saul that the thing pleased them. And Saul said, I will give him her, That she may be a snare to him, And that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law, And the one of the twine. And Saul commanded his servants, Saying, Commune with David secretly, And say, Behold, the king hath delighted thee, And all his servants love thee. Now therefore be the king's son-in-law. And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you, Lightening to be the king's son-in-law, Seeing that I am a poor man, And lightly esteemed. And the servants of Saul told him, Saying, On this manner spake David. And Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, But an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, To be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall By the hand of the Philistines. And when his servants told David these words, It pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law, And the days were not expired. Wherefore David arose and went, He and his men, And slew the Philistines two hundred men. And David brought their foreskins, And they gave them in a full tale to the king, That he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife. And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, And that Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him. And Saul was yet the more afraid of David, And Saul became David's enemy continually. Then the princes of the Philistines went forth, And it came to pass, after they went forth, That David behaved himself more wisely Than all the servants of Saul, So that his name was much said by. Let's pray. We thank you Heavenly Father for this wonderful church, Dear God, and every precious soul in it. We thank you for our pastor. Please bless him as he preaches your word tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're continuing this evening with the book of 1 Samuel. We're in chapter 18. And this chapter essentially covers the beginning of Saul's persecution of David. And obviously the steering wheel is kind of jerked pretty quickly here, Because of the fact that David just won this great battle against Goliath. And we see that Saul really admires. He loves David because of it. We see that he loves the fact that David is a valiant young man. He seems to be an asset to the kingdom. And he loves him and he's promoting him. He wants him to work for him. But then soon thereafter he begins to plan to, in a sense, Destroy him and get rid of him because of his fear of him. Look at chapter 18 and verse number 1. This actually takes place immediately after the conversation that we see with David and Saul, After the battle between David and Goliath. It says in verse 1, We're going to look at the affection between Jonathan and David. And it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, That the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, And Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. Verse 4, And Jonathan stripped himself of the rope that was upon him and gave it to David and his garments, Even to his sword and to his bow and to his girdle. So we're going to look at the affection between Jonathan and David. And aside from the fact that this really marks the beginning of David's, in a sense, employment by Saul, It also marks the beginning of a great relationship between him and Saul's son known as Jonathan. And of course we're introduced to Jonathan a couple chapters back when Jonathan went into the area of the Philistines And he made that epic statement of, you know, there's no restraint to the Lord to save by many or few. So we see that Jonathan is very valiant. He's a very courageous young man. But it's possible that they're not the same age. You know, they might be similar. I'm sorry, they might be around the same age, but they're not exactly the same because we know that David is a very young man. He's approximately about 17 years old here, maybe a little older. And if Jonathan's already going out there fighting battles, he has an armor bearer, he's already part of the wars that Israel is partaking of, You know, it might be that he's in his 20s or so. But we see here that they have a great relationship. They kind of hit it off great as friends. And they begin to become knit together as friends here to the point where Jonathan is so impressed by David and is so drawn to David as a friend that he's even willing to make a covenant with him and essentially give his robes to him, his sword, his bow, things that belong to him. He wants to give it to David. And you kind of wonder, you know, what is this signifying here? Why is this story here? Why is that being mentioned? Well, as I mentioned before, you know, David is a great picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And we see here that David saves Israel from Goliath. You understand? So he saves Israel from Goliath. He just comes back from this great victory. But, you know, only one person comes back to basically thank and honor David because of that. And that's Jonathan. OK, and we see here that in the beginning, you know, his soul is knit with David and he loves David as his own soul. And he appreciates him. He shows them this affection even to the point where he basically strips himself of the robe that was upon him. And really what I think this picture is, is the relationship between a believer and the Lord Jesus Christ. OK, because if you think about it, if you're to picture David as being Jesus Christ, you know, he saves us from hell. And then you have someone like Jonathan who goes back and basically honors David. His soul becomes knit with his soul. He loves David. He wants to serve David even to the point where he's willing to put off his own garments to give them unto David. And the parallels that we see there is the fact that when we get saved, you know, the Bible tells us that the love of Christ can constrain us. Right. And this is very similar to what we see today because of the fact that not everyone went to David. Not everyone came and honored David. Not everyone was everyone's heart was knit with David. Not everyone took their robes and put upon put them upon David. Only one person came back. And really, this is kind of how it is in the Christian life. Right. You know, the Christian life, sometimes people get saved and, you know, Jesus Christ saves a multitude. But sometimes only one person comes back to thank the Lord Jesus Christ. Right. Sometimes only one person comes and, you know, they begin to grow in their love for Jesus to the point where they're willing to put off the old man and put on the new man to honor him and love him and develop that strong knit relationship with Jesus Christ. And so we see that that's a picture. That's what's being pictured here is the fact that Jonathan was willing to go beyond the fact that he knew David from afar as being the one who saved Israel. He actually wanted to have a personal relationship with David. And, you know, David had no problem with actually establishing this relationship and being friends with Jonathan and loving him as his own soul, as we see later on. And this is really a good picture of how Jesus Christ loves us. Jesus Christ loves us with his own soul and in like manner, we should love him back. Now, here's the thing, though. Regardless of Jonathan would have put off his garments and done all that doesn't change the fact that David already saved Israel. Right. You know, he already saved Israel. Goliath is already defeated. He's already destroyed him. You know, this is obviously something that's separate from that, just as our relationship to Christ is actually something that's completely separate from our salvation. You understand? You know, we don't have to develop a relationship with Jesus to prove that we're saved or to get saved. You know, all we have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And, you know, I know there's a lot of people out there on YouTube land to get offended by that. And they don't like that because they believe a false gospel. But they just have to change what they believe. OK, and start adhering to what God says salvation is and, you know, get saved on his terms, which are the only terms, by the way. OK, you can fool yourself into thinking that you repented of your sins to be saved. You can keep God's commandments and do good deeds in order to obtain salvation. But it's not possible. OK, there's only one person who defeated Goliath, and that was David. And there's only one person who can defeat death. Right. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. No one else can step up to do the job of David himself, just as no one else can step up to do the job of salvation to defeat Satan and give us eternal life by Jesus Christ himself. So we want to be like Jonathan, where after salvation, we have a heart that's knit with David. We have a heart that's knit with the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we need to make sure as Christians that as the years go by and the days go by, we don't allow ourselves to become cold towards the things of God, which is a natural propensity for every Christian to do. We get so busy doing other things. Our tensions are so spread in our lives, whether because of our jobs, our families, other things that we do, that sometimes there's not enough heart to give to Jesus. Right. There's not enough heart to give to the Lord. But we need to make sure that we maintain that love for the Lord Jesus Christ, because it's the love of Christ that constrains us to serve God, to win souls to Christ, to come to church when we don't feel like it, to read our Bibles, even when we may not feel like it, to pray, to just live the Christian life. Okay. And seek to knit our souls with Jesus Christ and honor him and continuously strip ourselves of our old garments. Right. To put off that old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and then we put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. You know, the Apostle Paul said, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. He says, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And that's something that takes place after salvation. And although it's not necessary for salvation, God still wants us to do it, not to confirm that we're saved, but to confirm our love towards him. Okay. And to succeed as a Christian and to honor him. And so what a great relationship between Jonathan, and we see this throughout the story of Jonathan and David, that he really does love David. You know, they're like best friends. Okay. You know, in today's terminology, they're like BFFs or whatever, you know, but, you know, men don't really use those terms. So we would use more so like that's that's his homie. I don't know. What would they say? Well, what do they call best friends for guys nowadays? Road dog. Road dog? Isn't that like from the 90s or something? Well, what's a term? Homie. Yeah, homie. That's his boy. I don't know. And so, you know, obviously they're very close friends. He's like a brother to him. You understand? And so, you know, this is a very good symbolic representation. It's an example to us as believers that we should be like Jonathan. And by the way, you know, Jonathan also has a great symbolic representation of a believer because, you know, he has a dad that doesn't really like David. You understand? But Jonathan still chooses, right, to have that friendship with David in spite of the fact that his family does not like him. So, you know, he loves David more than his own father, apparently, you know. But, you know, the Bible says, you know, if you love father or mother more than me, you're not worthy of me. And although, you know, Jonathan from an earthly perspective obviously dishonored his father in a lot of ways, you know, from a spiritual nature, it shows us that we need to be more loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ than even our family are themselves, okay. More than our mother, more than our father, more than our blood relatives. We should be more loyal and faithful and devoted, right, to Jesus Christ himself. More than our own children even. Amen. And, you know, for some parents that's difficult, okay, because we love our children, but God expects for us to have 100% loyalty to him. And, you know, even in other portions of scripture it says that if you don't hate mother or father, you're not worthy. Even your own life also that you're not worthy of him. And that's not, you know, saying that we should hate our parents. It's just saying that our love and our devotion to Jesus should almost look like a hatred for everyone else. And everyone's experienced that to a certain extent where it's just like, you don't want to be with me anymore. You don't want to hang out with me anymore. You're no longer with the family anymore. It's almost like you hate us or something like that, you understand. But it's not necessarily that we hate our families. It's not that we hate those who are our blood relatives. It's just that we have a greater devotion to Jesus. Amen. And so that's a great example that I just saw right now. You know, Jonathan and David, the fact that he's more loyal to David than to his own father, okay. And so we see the affection between Jonathan and David. Now we're going to look at the acclamation in verse number five. Let's look at the fact that the people start exaggerating. Okay. It says in verse five, And David went out with a server Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely. And 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 he's growing in stature and in favor with God and with man, just as Jesus Christ, right? Even to the point where Saul, you know, who is in a sense will become his enemy is still promoting him. And you know, that's a great principle there that when a man's way, the Bible says when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. And so here David is behaving himself wisely. He's obviously honoring God and Saul sees him as an asset. So he kind of promotes him to be over the men of war. And then aside from that, the people love him. And he's honored in the sight of Saul's servants. So, you know, the people who are out there, they like he has a good rapport with the people in the kingdom. He has a good rapport with them who are serving under Saul. He has a good rapport even before Saul, which is why he's promoting him. Verse six, it says, And it came to pass as they came when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the woman came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tablets, with joy and with instruments of music. Of course, after a great battle, a king and his army would return to the city and they would be welcome with a with a massive parade and singing, just kind of honoring people honoring these kings who are who are accomplishing this conquest for their nation. It says in verse number six or I'm sorry, verse number seven. And the woman answered one another as they played and said, Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Now, this is where it takes a turn for the worst for Saul. OK, everything is going fine and dandy up until they sang this song. You know, who came up with the lyrics to this song? And so they're saying this. And, you know, obviously this might be just an exaggeration. You know, no one's out there counting how many heads David is slaying and how many heads Saul is slaying. This this possibly might be an exaggeration, but let's just say hypothetically that it wasn't. Let's say it was true that David is just piling up these bodies, these Philistines, and he's just doing more than Saul is doing. OK, so what? Now, this particular thing really bothers Saul a lot. And in fact, look what it says in verse eight. It says, and Saul was very wrath. Wrath means that he has wrath. He's angry. OK, why is he mad? Because they're ascribing honor and credibility to David more than to Saul. Now, what does this say of Saul? It says of him that he's very insecure in his leadership. He's an insecure leader. Now, why is that? Well, think about this. If I was Saul and I had David and he's piling up 10,000. Let's say I'm getting a thousand people saved and David is getting 10,000 people saved. For me, it's just like, who cares who's doing the work? At least it's getting done, right? The kingdom is still being built. More souls are going into heaven. Who cares? Now, let's say from a kingly perspective, you know, if I was in Saul's shoes, I would say, great. He's doing all of the work that I'm hired him to do. He's an asset to the kingdom. He's freeing me up so I can take care of other kingly things. You understand? So this responsibility of defeating the enemy has been delegated to this young man who probably has a little more energy than Saul, right? And, you know, at the end of the day, the glory goes to God. But at the end of the day, the Philistines are still being defeated and Saul is still king and Israel is still an awesome nation. So why should it bother Saul that David is doing more than him? Isn't that the way it's supposed to run in a kingdom like this? You know, the one who's supposed to be protected and honored and protected from being hurt is the king, right? The light of Israel should be protected, which is how we see what we see being done to David later on. He goes out to battle and he gets himself in a precarious situation where he could have died and his soldiers come and say, hey, you can't fight anymore. You are too important. Because you're too important. You're the light of Israel. We need to go out and fight because you have, you're the king. You're the authority of this land. If you're dead, you know, what are we going to do? And so Saul should have seen it as, this is great. This young man is expanding the kingdom that much more. You understand? But obviously this is just an exaggeration, okay? And in Saul's spiritual condition, he doesn't view this as a good thing. He sees it as a threat to himself. He sees it as a threat to his kingdom because he's not right with God. And it says in verse 8, so we see the people exaggerating and then Saul begins to envy. Verse 8 says, And Saul was very wroth, and the same displeased him. And he said, They have ascribed them to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. And what can he have more but the kingdom? Oh, man, now Saul's exaggerating. He's like, all right, chill out, man. Yeah, he's really going to take over right now, you know? But this is the kind of mentality that he has. Verse 9 says, And Saul eyed David from that day forward. Now, what does that mean, that he eyed David? We think of someone who's just like, if I'm eyeing Paul, I'm just like, you're just kind of watching him. And what I think it's more specifically referring to is the evil eye that the Bible talks about. Now, when you study the concept of the evil eye in the Bible, it's often synonymous with covetousness, okay? He that hath an evil eye is often referring to a person who is covetous. And a simple definition of covetousness is when you desire something that doesn't belong to you or that God doesn't want you to have at this moment. Well, envy is a different form of covetousness because envy desires what someone is, desires someone's position. It covets who that person is or that person's position. It's a different form of covetousness because it's not necessarily the possessions that they covet. It's the person, you understand? And so we see here that David begins to, I'm sorry, Saul begins to envy, have an evil eye towards David because of his success. And envy is a very wicked sin, folks, okay? You know, who can stand before envy, the Bible says. And go to Proverbs chapter 14, if you would, Proverbs chapter 14. Why is envy such a wicked sin? Well, because of the fact that we should be content with the position that we have now, right? And the Bible speaks against having emulations. It speaks against us desiring vainglory. You know, when someone is envious of another person's position, they might do something that is unethical or dishonest in order to gain that position that that person has. Rather than just being content where they're at, working hard and allowing God to exalt them. See, when a person is envious, they will not wait for God to exalt them. More often than not, they will try to humble the individual they're envious at so they can have that position, okay? Which is very wicked. Look at verse 30 of Proverbs chapter 14, it says, A sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones. Now, I truly believe that when it says that it's the rottenness of the bones, I believe that envy actually does affect you physically. You know, you think of any type of stress, you think of anger, you think of lust, you think of, you know, these different types of sins the Bible talks about. I believe if it goes unchecked, it can actually affect you physically, okay? And you think of David when he talked about, you know, the fact that he was depressed. He talked about his loins hurting him. You know, there's a physical ailment that came attached to these spiritual problems because of the fact that we're mind, body, and spirit. You know, even though it's a spiritual problem, because the spirit, you know, lives within this physical body, it's going to affect the physical body as well. So when a person is envious, they can become, they can have sicknesses. You know, the Bible says here they have rottenness in their bones. And really what it's telling us is that a person who is envious becomes consumed with wanting to be like that person, okay? Becomes consumed with that. Now, how can this affect Christians? Well, you know, sometimes Christians can become envious at the wicked. They can become envious at, you know, movie stars or the rich and famous because they see all what they have and their acclamations and all their riches and their houses and all these things. And they can wonder like, man, maybe I'm just, you know, as a Christian, I'm not really living large. I'm not really having a good time in the Christian life. Look at all these rules that come attached to the Christian life. Look at these people. They're sowing their wild oats and they're living, you know, a fun life. And I want to be just like that, but I know I can because I'm a Christian. That's called envy. Now, what is the solution to that? Because you think to yourself, really, are Christians really like that? Yes, Christians are really like that. Not everyone is as spiritual and holy and content and godly as you, okay? There's actually Christians out there that actually have the flesh, you know? But, you know, there's people out there that, you know, they get caught up in that. And obviously, it's due to, you know, social media, you know, movies or whatever it may be that causes them to look at the glitz and glamour of this world and causes them to become envious at the rich and famous. Okay? Now, what is the antidote to that problem? If you have that problem, if you're thinking to yourself, well, yeah, I do kind of envy, you know, these Instagram models or, you know, these guys on Instagram who seem to have it all together. First of all, it's all fake. Let me just say that. Number one, it's all fake, folks. Look, I'm really good at Photoshop, so I know that it's fake. We got someone here who's really good at, you know, Lightroom and taking photos. You know a lot of that stuff is fake, okay? And in fact, we know how to take a picture just right so everything that's in frame looks like it's all together, whereas everything that's out of frame is just completely chaotic. And that's how typically it is, okay? But here is the antidote to fix the envy problem, okay? When you envy the rich and famous, number one, just go look at Johnny Depp and his whole situation, okay? Right? The guy has five houses, but the only reason he has five houses is when his wife is beating him, he can flee into another house. It's not because it's like a flex. He's not flexing because he has five houses. He needs five houses. You know, because, you know, the Bible says it's better to dwell in the corner of a housetop. It's better to dwell in the wilderness than with a brawling woman. Well, he's not going to go through the corner of his housetop. He'll just go to another house, okay? And so, you know, when you begin to envy the rich and famous, just know that it's not always glitz and glamour and fun with them. Folks, that's what the Bible says, you know, that a dinner of herbs is better where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. And look, for God to say it's better to have a dinner of vegetables than, you know, than have hatred therewith where your wife is just constantly screaming at you and throwing pans at you and beating you and, you know, amber herding you and all that, defecating on your bed to get back at you. You know, it kind of shows you, yeah, you know what? I think I'd rather take a dinner of herbs where love is because at least my wife loves me even though I'm eating salad. And asparagus, can you wrap some bacon in it though at least, you know? Whereas, you know, I'm sure someone like Johnny Depp can have like the best steak there is in this world, but his wife doesn't even love him nor does she respect him, okay? And so, you know, if you ever envy the rich and famous, just know this, they got all kinds of problems. If you were to take just, you know, a panoramic view of all the issues that they have that they don't show, you'd be like, man, I'm happy where I'm at now. But not only that, you know, what helps with that is actually being in the house of God will control your temptation to envy the wicked. You say, what? How does that work? Well, because being in the house of God is just a great reality check. And in fact, this is a problem that Asaph had in the book of Psalms, okay, where he was envious at the wicked. He saw that they were prospering and he felt everything was just going bad for him. His feet were in slippery places. He felt like he just wasn't succeeding. He wasn't going forward. He wasn't happy. But then he says this at the latter end. He says, until I went into the house of God, then understood either end. He's like, it wasn't until I went into church. I went to the house of God. I heard the preaching of God's word. And then I understood, oh, I know what's going to happen to them at the end. You see, we all like to look at what's currently happening in their lives or what they're displaying that's going on in their lives. But we never take into consideration that that has an end. And their end is never good. And so, you know, the solution, the antidote to envy is that you're in the house of God. You observe the wicked and how happy they're really not. And then you're just content with where you're at. You're content with the family that God gave you. You're content with, you know, the body that you have, the color of skin that you have, because that's a big thing nowadays. You're content with the height that you have. You know, you're content with, you know, the features that you have, the church that you have, the wife that you have, the husband that you have, the children that you have. Just be happy with what God gave you. And let me just say this. What you have, I'm talking about you in here in this church, in your families. There's people out there that would die for that. And you may be going through a hard time, but I guarantee you it pales in comparison to what the unsaved go through out there. They would love to have one day of what you have. To be able to experience just one day of what you have, the joy that you can experience, the joy that you have access to. They would love one day of that. Whereas for us, we have it eternally. So it's all about perspective as well. But let's get back to the text here. Go back to 1 Samuel 18. Envy can destroy a Christian for sure. Don't become envious of someone else in our church. Don't become envious of their position, of the opportunities that God has given to them. And this is something that is also common even in churches, believe it or not, amongst leaders sometimes. That's not the case here, but I've known in times past, people, leaders that were envious of other leaders. So how do you know? Did they say they were envious? No, their actions were like souls. Where they wanted to tear another person down so that that person would not succeed in life. That's called envy. Unless that or they're just a really wicked person. I'll just give the benefit of that and just say they're envious. And so, you know, Saul is very, he's intimidated by David. He doesn't like the fact that people are accrediting him with slaying tens of thousands. He's not understanding that David is just simply a great asset to the kingdom. He was a good employee, amen. So we see the affection between Jonathan and David. We see the acclamation. Now we're going to see the attempted assassination. Things took a turn for the worse real fast, okay. He went from like loving David to wanting to kill David like overnight. It's crazy how unstable Saul is. Look what it says in verse 10. And it came to pass on the morrow, like the day after, okay. That the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times. And there was a javelin in Saul's hand. Okay. Now before I get into this particular point that I want to make, I want to explain something that's actually perplexed me for a long time. And that is this concept that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house. Kind of wonder like, what's that about? Because we actually see this later on with him where the evil spirit comes upon him and then he begins to prophesy. And I've always kind of wondered like, you know, how is that? How is it that he has like an evil spirit but he prophesies? And then it just kind of clicked to me and it was just so simple. It's like, well, it doesn't say that he's prophesying anything good. It's just making a statement that he's prophesying. Okay. And when you look at the concept of the evil spirit in the Bible, when it comes upon a person, it's often synonymous with like a lying spirit. You understand? Like when the lying spirit came to be in the mouth of the prophets to prophesy falsely. You understand? And so we see here that the evil spirit comes upon Saul and he begins to prophesy. But it doesn't mean that he's preaching anything biblical. It doesn't mean that he's doing anything righteously or saying anything good. It just means that he's prophesying. And it could be that he's just kind of prophesying falsely. Okay. I just want to make that point in case anybody else was also wondering about that passage. All right. And if you weren't, well, it's just good food for thought. Amen. So he's prophesying. Who knows what he's saying? He's just kind of probably saying nonsense here, lying. And if I were to guess, because evil spirit is synonymous with lying and lying, another way of saying lying in the Bible is what? Flattery. He's possibly flattering David or flattering those who are around David. Okay. And so he's flattering here. It says, And David played with his hand as at other times. And there was a javelin in Saul's hand and Saul cast the javelin for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. So not once. This didn't happen one time. This is like a common thing here. It's happening twice. So we see that a sinful solution. What is Saul's sinful solution? It's not. You know what? I just need to get right with God. I need to appreciate David for all the work that he's put in. And he's a blessing. He's very loyal to me. He has a great relationship with my son. You know, he might be the next one up to be the king. I should help him and assist him to become the next king of Israel. No, he's like, I'm just going to kill him. I'm just going to smite him to the wall. And then, of course, David, you know, apparently he's just really quick with it and he just avoids it. And he goes out of his presence, which, by the way, shows you how loyal David still is. David is so loyal to Saul that even when Saul tries to kill him twice or let's say this. He tries to kill him once. He still goes back to play for him when the evil spirit comes upon him. This is a very loyal person. It's amazing. Look at verse 12. And Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul. So what was Saul's greatest fear regarding David? It wasn't necessarily that he was a great warrior. It was the fact that he knew that God's hand was on him. And nothing will strike fear in the hearts of your enemies more than knowing that God is with you. Your talents don't strike fear in anybody's heart. Your abilities, your physical abilities, your intellectual abilities. The thing that causes fear in the hearts of people more than anything else is knowing that you have a divine person backing you. In their minds, it's a divine person. For us, it's like the God of the Bible. You understand? And obviously, he sees that God is with him because of the fact that he's delivering him out of his hand. And we don't know how exactly this played out, but I'm sure Saul saw something in this altercation whereas that God had to have been with David and wants to keep him alive. And so therefore, he feared him because of it. Pretty awesome. Verse 15. Wherefore, when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. I'm sorry, verse 14. And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Wherefore, when Saul saw that he behaved himself wisely, he was afraid of him. So aside from the fact that God is with him, he's still just a wise young man. Still making wise decisions. He's not losing his temper. He's still serving under Saul. Basically, he's got it together, which causes more fear in the heart of Saul because he sees how unstable he is in comparison to David. He's obviously seeing that David is king material, whereas Saul, on the other hand, has fallen apart. It says in verse 16, 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. So he comes up with this sinful solution of killing him, but that fails. So now he says, well, let me put him in a position where I'll put him basically in the hottest part of the battle, fighting against the Philistines, and then the Philistines kill him. And the only reason I would guess that that's exactly what's taking place is because he prefaces it with, you can have my daughter. Kind of to just give him the good news before the bad news type of thing. But I don't know about you, anytime someone tells me you want the good news or the bad news, I always say bad news first, because I like to end on a good note. And then if they give you the good news first, and it's not that good, it's like, man, the bad news is going to be really bad then. It's like, you just came up with that good news, just to give me really bad news. So I think what he's doing here is basically he's trying to give David, his daughter, to wife, because he doesn't want David to suspect, because he's been trying to kill him since this whole time, he doesn't want him to suspect that he's actually putting him in the hottest part of the battle so he can fall by the hand of the Philistines. Now, this is later on, but this is very sad if you think about it. Because David, in his flesh, when he becomes carnal and fleshly, actually ends up doing something like this, where he sends Uriah to the hottest part of the battle as well. And he actually succeeds, and Uriah dies by the hand of the enemy. And so, look at verse 18, it says, And the thing pleased him well. Excuse me, the thing pleased him. Verse 21, it says, So, what do we see here? Well, first and foremost, we see the sinful solution, he wants to put him to death himself, he fails at that. So then he separates him from his presence, and basically puts him in a different camp or different leadership, so he's not necessarily communing with him every single day. And of course, that causes him to become afraid of him, become scared of him, because he's wise. He fails to give off his daughter Merah to David, but then he knows that Michal loves David. Now, here's what's funny about this, okay? He's like, I'm going to give Michal to David, to wife, so she can become a snare unto him. Isn't that weird? Well, if you've read the Bible, you know why he says that. Because Michal is a cantankerous, cantankerous woman, right? Like, she's a nagger, right? She's like rebuking David, right? You know, when David is like, he's like dancing before the Lord, he's not sea walking or anything like that. He's just like, dancing just means like he's jumping up and down, he's just happy that the ark is back. Michal sees this, this is later on, and then she rebukes him for it. You know, she tries to shame him for dancing before the Lord, and David's like, you're done, you know what I mean? Like, he just kind of rebukes her back, and then she doesn't bear after that. But you can see that Saul knew that Michal was like a cantankerous woman. So he's like, I'm going to give Michal to him so that, you know, it could trouble his flesh, you know what I mean? Because if he's married to her, I know how she is, and she'll nag him, and she'll say all these things. I mean, look folks, when the dad says, you know, this is your punishment, like I'm going to punish you by giving... I mean, it's pretty bad here, you understand? He's like, killing him didn't work, you know, trying to send him to the Philistines doesn't work. Ah, Michal, this will definitely work, okay? Very sad. So this is the affinity that he makes with him. We saw the affection between Jonathan and David, the acclamation, the attempted assassination, the affinity that he wants to make with David by getting him to marry one of his daughters. He plans his demise. Of course, now David is dumbfounded because of this. He's like, wow, how would you choose me to be your son-in-law? Who am I? You know, my father, my father's house is poor. So it really shows the humility of David. Because David, honestly, during this time, he's the man. The dude's the man. Like, people in Israel love David. He's succeeded, but even in his own eyes, he's still small in his own eyes, and he's thinking to himself, like, I don't deserve this position. You know, I don't deserve to be the king's son-in-law. You know, he's very thankful for it. Of course, Saul declares for David to be his son-in-law in verse 20, verse 20 to 21. Let's read it again. It says in verse 21, And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. So maybe he's thinking, like, you know, he will, you know, Michal's so cantankerous that he's not going to want to dwell in the house. He's just going to want to be out there fighting wars. And then that for sure will cause him to fall by the hand of the Philistines. Because it says there that she may be a snare to him, that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Okay. Wherefore, Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law in the one of the twain. Verse 22, And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delighted thee, and all his servants love thee. Now, therefore, be the king's son-in-law. So we see he's going to give him the assignment in just a bit. But we see the servants driving him to make a decision. They're just kind of like, Hey, man, you know, Michal loves you. Saul loves you. Which would indicate that, obviously, David is wise, but he kind of knows what's going on. You know what I mean? He's just like, Why is Saul being so nice to me? One moment he's trying to kill me. He's trying to pin me up against the wall with a javelin. But now he wants me to, he wants to be my father-in-law. Like, what's going on here? So what Saul does is sends his servants to say, Hey, you know, it's all good. You know, he likes you. He's just having a rough time. He's going through a midlife crisis or whatever, you know. And he's just kind of telling them, you know, just be a son-in-law. Verse 23 says, And Saul's servants spake these words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you as a light thing to be a king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed. And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spake David. Which obviously, you know, if Saul hears that this is what David's saying, it would probably cause him to be more afraid of him. He's like, Man, this guy is stinking humble, too. Is that really what he said? You know, it's just like, he can't believe how real David is. David's not a fake. He's not a phony. He's not there to kind of prop himself up. He still considers himself to be a poor man. He still considers himself to be like nothing. You know, he's lightly esteemed. And so that's obviously troubling Saul quite a bit, okay. You know, because David's trying to make him out to be like a bad guy. You understand? He's trying to make him out to be a bad guy. He thinks he wants to take over. But he constantly sees over and over again that David is just a really good, godly man. Verse 25, and Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. So, you know, he obviously sees that he's humble enough. He's like, Well, then I have an assignment for you. You don't have to give me a dowry, but this is what you do have to do. Now, this is really weird, okay. I mean, how do I expound this? Like, how do I even talk about this? What a strange thing to ask for. In other words, he wants him to slay a hundred Philistines and essentially circumcise them and bring that to Saul. So it's just such an extreme, morbid thing to ask for, right? He's just like, Why are you conjuring up this? Are you sure you don't want money? I have good money. I got gold. What do you want? I can give you something else. But this is what he's asking for. Now, if I were to surmise why he's asking for this, he's possibly hoping that just in David's endeavor to collect a hundred foreskins, he's going to somehow die by the hand of the Philistines. But, you know, David is such a savage. Part of his credentials is just he's a Philistine killer. That's what he does best. That's a specialty. He's just like, Philistines, this is what I do for a living. I kill the Philistines. But he's asking for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. He's just to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. You know, what a strange, strange thing to ask for. Let me just say this, okay? I think a father has every right, okay? Listen to this. Has every right to require a future son-in-law to jump through hoops with fire on them and do all those things as much as possible. A father has a right to do so. Okay? But sometimes it just can get a little too extreme. Okay? Gets a little extreme. Okay? Now, I will say this. You know, I've jumped through some pretty crazy hoops to get my wife. But first of all, my wife is not Macau. Okay? I got a great wife. You know, I'll give you some examples of some of the foreskins that I had to collect, okay? For example, my father-in-law, he told me this. This is what he said to me. He said, this is before he was my father-in-law. He said, for me to even consider you for my daughter, this is what you have to do. Okay? I'm like, bring it. This is what you got. You know? And then he said, okay, number one, he goes, you need to go get an HIV test and an STD test for all of these venereal diseases. Now, initially, you're just like, you're like insulted. You're like, what? But then, you know, from a father's perspective, you can understand why because of the crazy world that we live in. Right? So I collected that foreskin. You know? And I was just like, and folks, it was weird going to a place to try to get that blood test drawn and everything because there's weirdos there, you know? And they're all sweating bullets, and they're all worried and stuff. I'm not worried. You know what I mean? I'm not a fornicator. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not involved in any uncleanness. I wasn't then, and I'm not now. But, you know, then especially, I'm just like, I'm a Christian here. And so I'm just kind of sitting there. For me, it was grievous to be there just because I have to do that. But the people that are coming in, they're just like, I need to get a test. I'm just trying to get in and out because it's just embarrassing to be there, you know? But I collected that for him. Okay? And then he had me collect the foreskin, so to speak, right, of doing like a background check. I had to get a live scan background check because he wanted to make sure I wasn't some criminal. You know, that I wasn't like an, he didn't use an infiltrator, but I wasn't some infiltrator or whatever who had some criminal background. Maybe I had like a different life before or something like that. You know what I mean? He's just like, you need to collect this. And by the way, I have to pay for all of it. He's like, you have to pay for all of this too. You need to pay for all this, you know? So I had to go to some place and get fingerprinted. You're like, were you nervous? No, because I ain't got nothing to hide. You know, at that time I was maybe a little nervous because I didn't know how much money I had on the bank account at that time. I'm like, can I afford all this? And so, you know, I had to get the live scan. I had to do the testing. And then aside from that, he gave me like 500 questions that he wanted to know about. He literally gave me 500 questions and he said, you better answer these as honestly as possible, okay? I want to know everything about you. Because he knew me at that time, but he knew me as a pastor, knows a congregant, and we're close, but we weren't that close. You know what I mean? We weren't 100 foreskins collecting from the Philistines close. Let's put it that way, okay? And he's like, you need to answer these as honestly as possible. And some of them were very just uncomfortable questions. I'll just be honest. But I thought to myself, you know what? I'm going to answer them as honestly as I can because at the end of the day, I believe the Lord is with me. And so I'm going to answer this honestly. And, you know, if he freaks out over some of the stuff that's on here, then maybe it's just not God's will. But I'd rather just be honest. Because it just wouldn't sit right with me afterwards if I was being deceptive, right? So I answered the stupid questions. And yeah, mark it down. I felt it was really stupid, okay? But I did it to honor him and what he wanted. And then, you know, he collected all this data about me, right? He collected all this data. And then he says, this is so that I can approve you. He goes, but if I approve you and my daughter does not want you. I'm sorry, man. This is not even so you can start dating my daughter. This is just for me. Because you've got to go through me, he said. He's very protective of his daughter and rightfully so. And so he's like, I want to prepare you because if I approve you and I go tell Sarah, hey, Bruce is interested in you. And she's just like, ugh, I don't like Mexicans or something. I don't know. Then she's like, I don't know what to tell you, man. He goes, so are you willing to do that? I was just like, let's do it. I'm a risk taker. Let's do it. You know? So he approved me. And, you know, thankfully, of course, we're here today. And so you obviously know how that ended, okay? She did like Mexicans, all right? I'm Guatemalan or whatever, but. What I'm saying is that, you know, obviously that was pretty extreme, right? But it wasn't 104 skins extreme, okay? And, you know, I'm sure there's dads out there. And by the way, you know, looking back, obviously it was a grief to me. And I don't know if I would go 500 questions far, okay? But I probably would go HIV, STD, live skin far. But looking back, it's just like, actually, that was a really good idea. You know what I mean? Because, you know, he actually told me this. He said this. He said, I know this seems extreme to you. I'm like, really? Whatever, give me that impression, you know? And he's like, but here's the thing. The reason you need to go through me is because once I give the green light and my daughter's interested, she's basically yours. She's basically yours. So you have to go through me first. She's like, because I have no emotional ties here. I have to screen you and make sure that you're formidable or whatever, you know? And so I'm going to save a lot of that for the family nights because we're going to talk about that as well. But, you know, David, I'm sure he had a complaining spirit just like me maybe at one point, you know, where he's just like, 100 foreskins? And he's with the soldiers. He's like, yeah, he said 100. Like, foreskins? Yeah, you heard right. So, hey, bro, are you going to help me or what? He's like, they're just like, all right, man. I'm like, this is weird. I know, but this is what I got to do to get married, man, you know? Hey, I'm sure David had some good friends. All right, back to the text here. Verse 26. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law, and the days were not expired. Wherefore, David arose and went, he and his men, and slew the Philistines, two hundred men, and David brought their foreskins. Now, did you catch that? How many did he ask for? One hundred. How many did he bring? Two hundred. What does that show? It shows that David is a second-mile Christian. He went the second mile. He's like, he wants a hundred, I'll bring him two hundred. He wants to show that, number one, he's serious, right? And number two, that it's always good to go above and beyond. Now, poor hundred other Philistines out there, you know, if they caught worthy, he was collecting foreskins. He's just like, we just got to make sure we're not part of the other hundred, you know? And David comes like, I'm collecting two hundred, you know? He collected two hundred. Yeah, I had a little extra credit. But he brought him a double portion. But the spiritual principle there is the fact that, you know, David was willing to go above and beyond. And this is a Christian character quality that all of us need to have. Is that we don't just do what's required of us. We want to go the extra mile. In fact, the Bible says that when we do that which is required of us, we are what? Unprofitable servants. That's what the Bible says. When we do that which God has already required of us, the Bible says that we are unprofitable servants because where's the prophet? The prophet is what comes above that. You understand? What you make above that. And so in order to be a profitable servant, you need to bring two hundred foreskins, not just a hundred. You need to go the extra mile in your Christian life, okay? And so what a great concept here that, you know, David is obviously a young man of great character who's willing to go above and beyond, okay? And by the way, young men, that's a good principle for you to learn when it comes to collecting the foreskins for your future father-in-law. Go the extra mile. Don't just do that which is required of you. Go a little above and beyond that to show how serious you really are, okay? It says in verse number 27, And they gave them a full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife. So that probably caused Saul to become even more afraid. You know, he just brings the foreskins and he's just like, I didn't get a hundred, I got two hundred. It's just like, oh man, this guy's the real deal. I mean, he has nothing else left to do but to give him to David, give her to David. And so Saul requires this strange dowry, not because he loves David, not because he has his best interest in mind, but he obviously had a nefarious agenda behind all these weird things that he's asking, but God worked it out together for good. And this is a great principle that when people do things against us or they challenge us in this manner, even if they mean it unto evil, God can always mean it unto good. And it's always an opportunity for us as Christians to exercise Christian principles. You see, the Bible, Christian principles are there to be exercised in difficult situations like this. You know, it's like, how can I live a Christian life? Well, by being put in a difficult situation like this, you understand? He says in verse 28, The term much set by simply means that it was esteemed. So why does it say that at the latter end of verse 30? Because of the fact that David, he has to fight these battles on two fronts. One of them is the Philistines. He just took out two hundred of their soldiers and somewhat desecrated their bodies a little bit. But then he also has his own king that he has to be aware of as well, you understand? So he's like, he's fighting against his own people or defending himself against his own people, against his king, but he's also defending himself against the Philistines who also want to kill him. And at the end of the day, this is a great picture of what the Christian life is like. And you know, the Christian life is not all roses and daisies. It's not a bed of roses. It's not just a walk in the park. You know, it's fighting the Philistines, but it's also sometimes defending yourself against other believers who don't like your message either. And that's, you know, we have to deal with that as Christians. You say, when? How about June? Right? June, we're going to be fighting the Sodomites, not physically. You know, we're going to be battling spiritually against the Sodomites. But unfortunately, we also have to battle Saul, who's persecuting the house of David, and Saul's saved. He's a believer. He's just backslidden, and he's persecuting David. Well, that's the way the Christian life is. You know, sometimes it's false brethren unawares. It's by our own countrymen. It's by the enemies of God. But folks, that's what makes the Christian life exciting. The fact that we're fighting on both fronts, and sometimes we have to fight the enemies of God, and sometimes we just have to defend ourselves against the brethren who don't like our message. Sometimes we have to fight against people who are preaching false doctrine, and there's heresies, and then we're dealing with problems in church, and then we're fighting this battle over here, and then we got the Sodomites over here, we got the Philistines over here. David's just like, what do I do? Well, he has to behave himself wisely. So in like manner, you and I, we have to behave ourselves wisely. In other words, understand what the will of the Lord is, walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, understanding what the will of the Lord is. And look, if you're getting beat up on both sides, and people are fighting you on both sides, just know this. The only thing you got to make sure that you do is that God is with you. You just got to see, is the Lord with me? Yeah, he is with me. I ain't got nothing to worry about. Doesn't matter how many Philistines fight against me, doesn't matter how many times Saul throws a javelin at me, I'll be fine because the Lord is with me, and he shall prosper me, he shall protect me, and look folks, that's why we have the book of Psalms, amen? A lot of it is just David testifying of God's deliverance in his personal life, and how many times he could have died, and how many enemies persecuted him, and you know what? David died the way all of us would love to die. He literally, I mean after being a man of war, killing, I mean how many people did this guy kill? He killed a lot of people. He did a lot of exploits, but at the end of his life, how did he die? In his bed, surrounded by his family. He just went home to be with the Lord, surrounded by his family, and in a good old age. What does that tell us? It tells us that the only thing we need to make sure more than anything is that just God is with us, that he doesn't forsake us because of our sin, because of our disobedience, that he's with us, that we're filled with the Spirit, that we're pleasing him, because as long as we have that, everything else will fall into place, everything else will be fine. We're going to keep destroying the Philistines, and he'll keep delivering us out of the hand of Saul as well, amen? Great chapter here, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for David's example and all the symbolism that we see, Lord. I pray that you'd help us to be like David, to behave ourselves wisely, and may you bless our church, Lord, bless our church members, and help us, Lord, to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. I pray that you'd help us as we continuously fight this world, fight the flesh and the devil, Lord, and I pray that you'd empower us to do so, but more than anything, may you be with us, Lord. I pray that your presence would stay here, that it would stay with each individual, that we would be Christians that are pleasing unto you. We love you, we thank you, pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Song number 19, for our last song, There is a Fountain. Song 19, There is a Fountain. Everyone nice and strong all together on that first verse. There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's face. And sinners lunch beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains. And sinners lunch beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoices to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church of God be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church of God shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church of God be saved to sin no more. There since by faith I saw the stream, thy flowing wounds applied. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme. And shall be till I die. Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing thy power to save. When this poor, lisping, stammering come, lie silent in the grave. Lie silent in the grave. Lie silent in the grave. When this poor, lisping, stammering come, lie silent in the grave. .