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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening. We're in the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 16, and the Bible reads, and when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold Zeba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of asses saddled and upon them 200 loaves of bread and 100 bunches of raisins and 100 of summer fruits and a bottle of wine. And the king said unto Zeba, What meanest thou by these? And Zeba said, The asses be for the king's household to ride on, and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink. And the king said, And where is thy master's son? And Zeba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem, for he said, Today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. Then said the king to Zeba, Behold, thine are all that pertaineth unto Mephibosheth. And Zeba said, I humbly beseech thee that I might find grace in thy side, my lord, O king. And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei the son of Gerah, came forth and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thy bloody man, and thou man of Belial. The lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom, thy son, and behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the lord hath said unto him, Curse David, who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai and to all the servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life. How much more now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone, and let him curse, for the lord hath bidden them. Maybe that the lord will look on my affliction, and that the lord will require me good for his cursing this day. And David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on a hillside over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. And the king and all the people that were with him came weary, and refreshed themselves there. And Absalom and all the people the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Erethe fell with him. And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king, God save the king. And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Why when is thou not with thy friend? And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay, but whom the lord and his people, and all the men of Israel choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide. And again, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son, as I have served in thy father's presence? So will I be in thy presence? Then said Absalom to Erethe fell, Give counsel among you what we shall do. And Erethe fell said unto Absalom, Go on to thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house. And all Israel shall hear that thou art aboard of thy father. Then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong. So they spread Absalom at hand upon the top of the house, and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. And the counsel of Erethe fell, which he counseled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the counsel of Erethe fell, both with David and with Absalom. Let's pray. Father, we thank you dear Lord for the King James Bible. We thank you for this church you've given us. We thank you for our pastor, dear God. Please bless him as he preaches your word. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in second Samuel, chapter number 16. And the time of my sermon this evening is don't be shimmy. I don't be shimmy. I, of course, shimmy. I hear in this particular passage as many shimmy eyes in the Bible, but in this particular story is dealing with the man who is essentially, by summary, we can say it's kicking a man while he's down. We know in this particular here, King David has essentially been run out of his kingdom by his son, Absalom. And Absalom has essentially seized power in Jerusalem by fair speeches, by essentially winning the hearts, stealing the hearts of the men of Israel, ultimately leading this coup against his father, seizing the position of king and running out his father out of Jerusalem. And when you look at this, you kind of think to yourself, man, what's taking place? Why is this happening? But obviously we know because we've read the story, we've seen what takes place before and after this, that at the end of the day, God's will was for King David to still remain the king of Israel. He was still to remain there. He still had God's blessing and God's hand on him. And in fact, God had selected David to replace King Saul. King Saul being the first king of Israel, but was immediately disqualified from being the king because of his rebellion against God, because of the fact that he became a very violent man. He ended up being a very self-willed king who did not obey the word of the Lord and ultimately ended up even going to a witch of Endor, right? Committing the abomination of necromancy. And that was essentially the straw that ended up breaking the camel's back. The Lord wanted Saul to die and to be destroyed because of the fact that he had essentially, you know, destroyed his kingdom. And at that point, he had already told Saul before that, that the kingdom of God was going to be taken from him and given to someone who is better than him. And that fulfillment was King David. Well, obviously King David had a lot of issues, especially with his family, mainly or namely because of the fact that one of his sons ended up raping one of his daughters. Okay. And there is a whole controversy with that. Absalom in spite because of the fact that he hated his brother and he hated what took place against his sister, took vengeance and ended up slaying his brother. And there's an entire story. I'm not going to, I'm not going to go through the entire story, what happened with Absalom, but obviously through a series of events, Absalom ends up taking power, seizing power of Israel and David eventually had to run out. And David's not alone. Of course he has his mighty men with him, but if you're to assess David at this time, you would say, man, this guy's down on his dumps. He's going through a very difficult time. He is being persecuted by his own son. He's experiencing a lot of tribulation and difficulty, but obviously because we know the entire story, we know that the Lord is with him. Okay. And let me just say, this is that, you know, you and I are going to experience times like this in our lives when just, it seems like all, everything's against us. Maybe our circumstances are not the best. Maybe we have family members that are against us. We're friends. Maybe our finances are down. Our health is down. Just things of different, you know, the evil day will come upon each and every one of us, especially if you're doing something for God, you're living a godly life. You're doing that, which is pleasing unto the Lord. You know, all that will live godly in Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution. And in David's case, you know, the men of his own house became his foes, just as Jesus Christ said in the New Testament. Now, let me also say this is that when you're in this position, when you're down in the dumps, when you're going through a difficult time, when it seems as though like you've kind of hit rock bottom, you will always have a shimmy eye who wants to get involved and kind of just kick you while you're down to keep you down. Okay. And let me also explain the fact that, you know, as Christians, the way we're supposed to respond to other Christians going through a hard time is not to kick them while they're down. Okay. Even if they're like an enemy of yours, even if it's someone that you don't necessarily like, you know, obviously Christian principle shows us that we need to bless our enemies and bless those that curse us. And in fact, the Old Testament teaches us that if our enemy thirsts, give him to drink. If he's hungry, give him food. So shall he keep coals of fire upon his head. You know, if you really want to be vengeful against your enemy, then you know, you do good into him. Okay. And so obviously shimmy eye is not someone who fits that description or, or lives by those values and principles. Shimmy eye would be considered someone who is a byword and a proverb of what we should not do when someone is found in this lowliest state, when they're going through a tough time. Now, this morning, this evening, I want to preach on this particular subject because of the controversy that's been going around on the internet. And let me just preface this by saying that none of this affects our church whatsoever. Okay. So why it does affect our church, you know, what are we going to do? Oh, we're going to keep soul winning. We're going to keep preaching. And one of the reasons why is because we're an independent, fundamental Baptist church. What is independent means we operate, we operate independently from other churches. Okay. We are an autonomous church. What takes place in other churches has zero effect upon us. And the only effect that it would have on any person in our church are those who are just enthralled in what's going on on social media and on the internet. Okay. You know, it can mess with your emotions. It can get you angry. It can cause you to say things. But at the end of the day, it doesn't really affect the local New Testament church. And the statements that I'm going to make tonight, the things I'm going to talk about will not change anything in our church. We're still going to have church on Thursday. We're still going to have a church on Sunday. We're still going to continue to win souls. And in fact, the churches that I'm talking about tonight, it won't affect their ministries either. My sermon is not here to necessarily defend someone so that their church does not die because whether I preach this or not, that church is going to continue to thrive. They're going to continue to win souls to Christ, their pastors behind them. And the, the pastors that I'm preaching against, pastor that I'm preaching against, it's not really going to affect this church either. His church is going to continue to get people saved. Their church is going to continue to grow, be under his leadership. And yes, we will live happily ever after, no matter what you say, then why even preach the sermon? Well, it's because it's important to correct behavior. Okay. And it's important to defend those who won't necessarily defend themselves. And it's a good opportunity to just talk about biblical principles that we should live by as Christians. Okay. And of course, I'm mainly talking about pastor Steven L. Anderson of Faithful World Baptist Church and some of the attacks that he's received from people online who are just misguided. And specifically, I'm also talking about Tommy McMurtry, pastor Tom McMurtry and Rock Falls. I believe it's Rock Falls, Illinois. Okay. And you know, this, this topic of shimmy eye is directly applicable to him, obviously, but it's just applicable to anyone who takes this position. And, you know, obviously I'm going to make biblical application to us as a church, because we don't want to be found in a position where we're doing the things that shimmy I did to David. And we will suffer the consequences of those actions if we do. And so let me preach here and tell you first and foremost, who is shimmy? Who is shimmy eye? Let me give you some points on who he is and how we should avoid being a person like this. Number one, when it comes to shimmy eye, who is he? He's a man. Number one, who is on the wrong side. He is on the wrong side. Look at second Samuel 16, verse five. It says, when King David came to hear him, behold, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was shimmy eye, the son of Gira. He came forth and curse still as he came. So as David is leaving the city, he's fleeing is this exodus of David and his mighty men. This man by the name of shimmy eye, who's of the house of Saul, the son of Gira, he's coming forth and now he's trying to provoke David into a fight. He's slandering him and saying a lot of wicked stuff about him. But I want you to notice that he is of the house of Saul and we'll see some based upon some of his statements. One of the reasons he has this vitriol against David is because he's for Saul. Now, Saul started off as a good man, but you know what? He did not end a good person. He's a good man. To begin with, when he started off as a king, he did a lot of great things, but he did not end well. He became wicked in the sight of the Lord. The Lord had to chastise him. The Lord had to reprimand him. The Lord stripped him of his kingship and he was replaced by someone else. And you know what I see with shimmy eye is that he is attacking the man of God based upon his relations to that previous king known as Saul. And you say, well, let him have that opinion. If he doesn't like King David because of what happened with Saul, then that's on him. Let him have that opinion. But if you read the story, he's never really vocalized that opinion when David was still king. The only time you see shimmy eye pop up is when David is down. When he's there and he's under the leadership of King David, he's in right standards with King David, none of this is really being stated until David is found in a vulnerable position where he feels like he can take advantage of that and hurl these cruel and bitter criticisms against David. The reason why is because it seems that it's fueled by his loyalty to Saul. And here's the thing, folks, is that, you know, at the end of the day, obviously what people say and do can discredit them, right? Can discredit them as a spiritual leader, as a pastor, as a Christian, what they say and do. But sometimes the people that they are associated with can often also discredit them too. Not that it should, it just kind of helps the case against them because it kind of just proves that they don't have the right judgment or discernment to surround themselves with the right kind of people. And if they lack judgment and discernment regarding the type of friends they have, regarding their associations, then you kind of question if their judgment is viable or not in other areas. I'm not saying it's right, you know, I'm not saying it's okay to just write something off based upon the people that they're hanging out with, but it doesn't help their case either. So the Bible is telling us that Shimei is of the house of Saul, so when he's attacking David, automatically you think, okay, that's why. He's attacking David because he's for Saul and Saul hated David. If they're defending wicked people, if you're associated with people who are defending wicked people and going to bat for false prophets, you know, they're constantly siding with the enemies of God, you know, that's questionable. And let me say this about Tommy McMurtry, Pastor Tommy McMurtry, is that I personally believe that he is a safe man. I know there's people probably just building to disagree with me. I think you're wrong. I think you're majorly wrong. I don't believe he's a reprobate. I don't think he's a false prophet. I don't think he's like a son of Belial. I think he's saved. And by the way, I don't think he's disqualified himself from being a pastor. I think he's a legitimate pastor of a church. But, you know, the only thing I question him about is his discernment and the associations, the company he keeps. Because on one point, he's criticizing Pastor Anderson and claiming that he should step down and he's disqualified. But, you know, on the other end, he's also associated with people who are clearly disqualified based upon just their gospel presentation. The fact that they believe a false gospel. And who am I talking about? I'm talking about Stacey Shiflett. You know, that's not a minor point either. And I'm tired of people making minor points big and big points minor. You know, we need to get back to the brass tacks of doctrine and understand if a pastor is openly preaching a false gospel, meaning they're saying that you have to repent of your sins to be saved, and they're kind of just avoiding people when people are clearly confronting him about it, you know, that's an issue. If they're not willing to get that right and step down, you know, I want to see him make a post against Stacey Shiflett saying that he's disqualified himself as a pastor because pastors are supposed to preach a right gospel. But, you know, what we see is the exact opposite. We see him making excuses for Stacey Shiflett. Not only that, but he also has people on his, I've never seen his podcast, but I've seen clips of it where he has false prophets on there like Tyler Baker addressing him as pastor. I like to see the clip where he says, by the way, you, and I could be wrong. If I'm wrong, then let me know I'm wrong. You know, but I want to see the clip where he says, by the way, you should step down from being a pastor because you teach heresy, damnable heresy at that. You should step down from being a pastor because you took that power and position as a pastor illegitimately. You know, you have the, you have the boldness, apparently, to just call people out and say what no one wants to say. Well, let's see you do the same with your guests if you're so bold. And I don't think he is. And you know what? I don't care if he does or not. I'm just saying uphold yourself to the same standard that you are supposedly holding to because you associate with bad people. Now, look, that's not enough for me to just write him off as reprobate. And I've never said that he was a reprobate. I've never said that he's a false prophet. I've always held the position, even though I don't really like the guy. That's just me as a human being, as a Christian. I just don't like the guy. But you know what? Me liking him doesn't mean I can just go out and call him a reprobate and say he's a false prophet because I do not believe that. I just think he's a Christian who surrounds himself with the wrong type of people and has a tendency to defend the wrong kind of people. Now, it could be that the reason he's like that is because a lot of old IFB pastors are like that. They have a tendency to turn a blind eye to some of the most grievous doctrinal errors of other pastors and just kind of give them the benefit of the doubt. And you know what? That's wrong. And in fact, that's a lack of character and judgment on your end. The Bible tells us have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. And the reality is this. Let's just pretend, for example, that Pastor Anderson was his enemy. It's not right for him to do this. And it's not right for us to ever rejoice or kick an enemy while they're down at any time. The Bible tells us rejoice not when thy enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it and displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. So what's the problem with Shimei? Shimei is on the wrong side. And here's a good way for you to get some wisdom when something like this arises. This is not the major marker, but this is a good way to determine what side to be on. It's not the only way, and I'm not saying this works 100% of the time, but most of the time this works. Pay attention very closely. If you're wondering who's on the right side, just look at who's on each side. When you have fags and reprobates, people who usurp authority, people who slander and rail and have just a wicked disposition against Christianity, and you're with them, you're probably on the wrong side. It's not that hard. Now, I expect for Christians to just know that, just period. And in fact, honestly, it doesn't even require biblical judgment. It just requires common sense. And so if a pastor does not have that common sense, I'm not saying it disqualifies him. It just causes me to question, why are you always on the wrong side? Shimei's on the wrong side. And you know what? He might have had loyalty to Saul, but you know what? The Bible tells us not to be a respecter of people. And if King David is the legitimate king, he should support King David. Why not? But no, he is criticizing him with these statements and criticisms and just slandering him and trying to provoke him to a fight, which is my next point. So who is Shimei? Well, Shimei is someone who is on the wrong side. And look, let me just make it very clear. You say, well, you're just always going to side with Pastor Anderson. No, I'm going to side with the Lord. I'm going to side with the Bible. And obviously, if there comes a point where Pastor Anderson, or any pastor for that matter, violates and trespasses certain things in the Bible that would disqualify him as being a pastor, then I don't side with him anymore. I've always held that position. And let me just put my two cents here, because this is my church, the pastor of the church. And you don't have to listen to this and people online that don't have to listen to this. I do not believe that Pastor Anderson should step down. I don't believe that. Now you say, well, yeah, that's because, you know, he's like the pope of the new half bee or something. Well, you know, you can check our bank account or you can check our mail. Like, we don't, we don't receive like a $10,000 check every week or something or month from Faithful Word. You know, he's not, I'm not on his payroll. You know, he doesn't promote me from the pulpit. We're not a satellite church of Faithful Word Baptist Church. There's literally no tie there other than beliefs. Plain and simple. And in fact, let me just say this. I could literally cut ties with Pastor Anderson today, today, and it won't affect his church or mine. And in fact, he probably wouldn't think anything of it because we have no ties other than the friendship that we have, the beliefs that we have. And so there's no motive for me to remain friends with Pastor Anderson or something like that. Yeah, but you're just doing it so you could get his followers. Well, let me just be honest with you. You know, I'm doing pretty well. Just getting my own followers without Pastor Anderson. I don't mean that in a negative way. I just mean like, I know how to reach people. I got like 10,000 followers on Instagram, got a couple thousand followers on Rumble. I can, you know, implement something to get followers and I don't necessarily need him for that. That's not a, that's not a negative or positive thing to say. I'm just saying, there's no reason, there's no ulterior motive to maintain this relationship with Pastor Anderson other than the fact that he is a friend. He is a pastor who I respect, and we share a lot of the same doctrinal beliefs. Yeah, but if you just call them out, you would, what would happen to me? What do you think? You think he'd send agents or something? Like what? Folks, that is smoke and mirrors by people on the internet trying to make it seem as though he is puppeteering all the new IFB pastors, and it's nonsense. There's no ulterior motive to maintain a relationship with him. There's no motive of, there's no financial motive. There's no motive of, oh man, we just want to remain popular in the new IFB. The new IFB is not a denomination. And you know what? These people who are constantly saying these things are people who want to make it a denomination. You know, IFB churches are just churches that believe the same, but are actually vastly different in a lot of other ways. We're not on each other's payroll, plain and simple. We invite each other to preach. In fact, I would preach at an old IFB church at the drop of a hat if they would invite me to. If my old church said, hey, we'd like to reconcile and we've reconciled, and we'd like to reconcile to the point you could preach, I would preach over there, and I wouldn't like go crazy on them. I would preach a sermon over there. I had no problem, but old IFB churches don't want me to preach there. He said, then why do you only associate with new IFB? Because they're the little ones who want to be my friend. That's why. It's not because, you know, we don't want to associate with any of the churches. In fact, you know, what was it, like a month ago, we were trying to reach out to churches nearby. And we ended up, Brother Hernandez and I ended up going to some old, we thought it was an old IFB church, you know, nearby. And it just wasn't what we thought it was going to be. But we're still gracious and kind. We weren't rebuking anybody. We were just like, all right, this is not what we thought it was going to be. This is a bad idea. And look, I've had old IFB pastors visit me here and say, hey, we enjoy your preaching, and we're starting a church, you know, a couple of miles down the road or whatever. And I wasn't like, well, I'm new IFB, so, you know, I don't touch the unclean thing. You know, so back off, buddy. I don't have nothing to do with you. You said, what did you do? I told him, that's awesome. Let me know how I can help. I can send sitters to go join your church for services. So it doesn't look like your church is empty. You'll have people singing and serving there. Let me know how we can help. We can send soul winners. Because I'm for just churches growing. The point that I'm making here is that when people try to pull out this card of like, oh, you're just saying that because he's like the pope, pray tell, explain to me what is it that he's doing for me exactly. Because obviously I can call him at any time. We have great conversations. I probably speak to him about, you know, one, maybe two times a week. And you say, what do you guys talk about? Well, we talk about, we talk about conspiring, how we can destroy our enemies. No, we talk about the Bible is what we talk about. That's what we talk about. Some of you actually believe that. It's just like, whoa, you guys are hardcore. No, actually, when I call him, I say, hey, I got a question for you. What do you think about this idea in the Bible? That's what we talk about. Now, obviously he helped us greatly by starting this church. Absolutely. And I'm not taking anything away from that. Okay. But at the end of the day, my loyalty to friends is not because of something they did for me necessarily, but because I have a deep belief in friendship. I have a deep belief in loyalty to people who are right with God and they're doing that, which is right in the side of the Lord. The point that I'm making here is that Shimei is on the wrong side and you don't have to have a whole lot of discernment to see who is on which side, who's on the right side and who's on the wrong side. Easy. Tranny, wrong side. Interviews with trannies, wrong side. Your opinion matches up with the tranny, wrong side. Your opinion matches up with railers and all these people who don't hold the Bible as being the word of God, you're on the wrong side. That's easy. Isn't it great that God just gives us these plain things that we can just look at? You don't have to know the Bible cover to cover. You can just say, reprobate, wrong side. And I'm not even saying you have to join a side, but at least make righteous judgment though. Shimei is on the wrong side. Join David, back up David. Who is Shimei? He's a man who's on the wrong side, but also he's a man who wants to provoke a fight. In other words, he's an instigator. Look at verse six. And he cast stones at David and at all the servants of King David and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus says Shimei when he cursed, come out, come out thou bloody man and thou man of Belial. What's he trying to do? He's trying to provoke him to a fight. He wants to invoke some sort of reaction from him to try to make it seem as though David is on the wrong side. He's calling him a bloody man, a son of Belial, a man of Belial, provoke. He's trying to instigate. The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 10, verse 12, hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins. Now, here's the thing. Let's say, let's just pretend for a minute that I disagree with pastor Anderson remaining the pastor, which I don't because just looking at it from a biblical perspective, and I met with the church about this last week where I explained the reason he does not have to step down is because the sons are doing this, are doing it and they don't live within his home. So according to the biblical model, he has to rule over his children, over his family while they're under his roof. And if people say, well, no, no, no, I don't, I don't think his children are in subjection. They are unruly. Well then I guess you got to ask yourself, how long do we have to rule over our children for until, you know, what if when they're married and they have kids of their own, do I have to, do I usurp his authority over his family? I mean, how does that go? Well, at that point, yeah, you know, they, you know, you should just leave, but where's that in the Bible though? The Bible makes it explicitly clear that a man has to rule over his own house. That is what he's responsible for. So at that point, if you were to assess his situation, the kids don't live there, he's not disqualified. And here's the thing is that it doesn't even matter what I think either, because this church is not faithful for Baptist church. At the end of the day, because that is a self-governing, autonomous, you know, church, independent church, you know, they have the choice whether they want the pastor to step down or not. And guess what? He asked this church that. And they're like, no, because you say, well, why are they saying no? Because they know the Bible. That's why. But here's the thing, let's say I disagreed and let's say I believe that he didn't need to step down because of it. I don't, but let's say I did. Is that really the most proper way to address a situation like this online? By just hearing one side and then jumping on this head, you know, you need to step down, new IPs drinking Kool-Aid and no one's willing. It's just, just, just this vitriol of slander and accusations and attacks. Is that really the most proper way to address that situation? You see, I don't know if you know this, but there's things that you can disagree about that you can do in a very honorable, noble way where you would actually garner more respect from people if you did. So let's say I wanted to disagree. I could easily have gone on there and say, I think he should personally, I believe that he should step down from being the pastor and here are my reasons why. And then I would say this, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter because that's not my church. That's not my congregation. And that's not my business. I'm just putting in my two cents as a pastor. And at the end of the day, pray for his sons to be restored. Pray that they be reconciled. He's done a great work. Let's pray that this gets resolved. That would be a respectable way to address the situation. And in fact, it's, it's such a respectable thing to say that people who disagreed with you would have nothing evil to say of you because you are sincerely addressing the fact that you disagree, but that your motives are, I hope there's reconciliation with your children. But that's not necessarily what we see. Now you say, why would you think that that's a proper way to address it? Well, because love covers all sins. Go to Philippians chapter one, hold your place there in second Samuel chapter 16. Hey, let me, let me give you some advice tonight. Don't be shimmy eye. Let me give you some advice. If someone finds themselves in a difficult situation in our church, don't be a shimmy eye. Don't kick church members while they're down. Well, yeah, but you know, they had it coming to them because they kicked me when, when I was down. Well, I thought the Bible says don't render evil for evil. Isn't that what the Bible teaches? Yeah, but I'm, I'm, I'm basically this on principle. Oh, that's funny. Cause the principle of the Bible says that we should cover all sins. The love covers a multitude of sins that we essentially pray for them to be restored and not kick a person while they're down. Not cover all sins, but love covers all sins. The Bible says the principle is that if you don't have all the story, you don't have all the facts. You shouldn't speak on it. Now let's just pretend. And I'm sure he does. Let's say he does know all the facts. The response should still be the same. And if he does have all the facts, why is he coming to a conclusion before he got all the facts? That's what the, that's what the posts are saying. Why are you jumping to conclusions? Look at Philippians 1 17. I'll tell you why. Some indeed preach Christ, even of envy and strife. What does that mean? It means, you know, some people preach the Bible and they essentially parade themselves and masquerade themselves as being a man of God and preach God's word, but they're doing it with the motive of the fact that they have envy and they have strife in their hearts. That's what it is. They envy someone's position. They have strife in their hearts. They want to fight. Shimei wants to fight. The reason these long posts are made, and he's casting stones, calling them a bloody man, saying that he should step down. They're drinking Kool-Aid. No one's willing to speak up for this. No one's willing to say anything. It's because he's trying to provoke a fight. And let me just tell you that he knows I'm preaching against him tonight. Of course he knows. Because he knows the man of God is going to come after him for his dumb behavior. You say, oh man, is this going to be like a war? There is no war. This is a sermon, my friends. There's no war. Don't try to be the victim here and say, oh man, this is like war between no IFB and new IFB or something. There's absolutely no war. His church will continue to be a church. I'm correcting behavior. I'm correcting dispositions. I'm telling my church, this is not the way you should react when something like this happens. Don't be like that guy. Don't be a Shimei. Don't be a person who's always on the wrong side, defending wicked people, defending false prophets, all the while attacking the man of God. You're a hypocrite. Don't be someone who's just trying to provoke someone to fight. Be an instigator. Kicking a man while he's down. Go back to 2 Samuel. Who's Shimei? He's a bad guy. Shimei is a man who's always on the wrong side. He's a man who wants to provoke a fight. And obviously in 2024, how does that look like? It looks like a post. It looks like comments. You know, because people are more bold in a comments section than they would be in person. That's a fact. People are black belts in being a keyboard warrior. They know how to get down on the keyboard. They know how to look so bold and courageous and, oh man, this guy's willing to stand up to the monster of the new IFB. He's the only one who has the stones to stand up to Pastor Stephen L. Anderson and Faithful Word. And man, we're praying for you because you're so bold and courageous. You typed it out. And even then, a phone conversation. Wow. Let's just be honest. Most people would not say to your face what they're willing to say on a phone conversation. They're willing to say on a comments section, on a phone call, or even on FaceTime. In person, people think twice of how they speak to you. Bottom line. And if they don't, then they're just stupid people. Who is Shimei? He's a man with extreme vitriol and unreasonable conclusions. Because it says in verse seven, and thus says Shimei when he cursed, come out, come out, thou bloody man and thou man of Belial. The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul and whose stead thou hast rained. And the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom, thy son. And behold, thou are taken in thy mischief because thou are a bloody man. What does it say? All this is happening to you because of all the blood of the house of Saul. This is your fault. What goes around comes around, David. He's coming to these unreasonable conclusions about David just because he's mad. And obviously he's had this bitterness and, you know, anger towards David that's just kind of built up. He didn't confront the king when he was on the throne. He's confronting him when he's down in the dumps. So he's a man with extreme vitriol and unreasonable conclusions. Let me just say this is that, you know, a lot of the times, and I don't want to get ahead of myself, people do this online because they want to get people riled up. They want to rile people up because, you know, it can mess with the emotions. It can get you mad. It gets me mad. I get upset because I don't like injustice. I don't like people behaving like this, especially pastors. And you know what, you know, I don't know much about McMurtry's family. As far as I know, he has a great marriage. He's got kids. I think one of them is married. They're in church. But let me just say this is that, you know, a pastor went on there and I don't even know if he agrees with Pastor Anderson or not or who he agrees with, but he made a great point. You know the point that he made? He said, you might want to be careful saying these things because you're not done like raising your kids. You're not done. Now, that's a scary thought. Now, I hope that his kids would stay in God's will. I would say that they would because in general, turn up a child in the way he should go. When he is old, he would not depart from it, you know, and if that's what he's doing, then praise God. But you know, children have their own will and you know what, sometimes like we see, sometimes it can go straight. But I'm just saying this, you're not done though. And I would more readily take criticisms like the ones he dished out from a person who has actually succeeded all the way through and has raised children who are already married, serving the Lord. I wouldn't agree with him, but I would readily accept that and say that's a respectable opinion because you can talk. I'll give you an example. My father-in-law would be one example. All of them are serving God. All of them are in church. All of them married in church. All of them have a godly marriage. All of them are serving in their local New Testament church. All of them have high standards. They're just like these good old-fashioned fundamental Baptists. And then they got me as the black sheep, but you know, that's different. I'm cool with that though. But you know, they love and they respect me and we have great talks sometimes, but I admire that about my father-in-law. And if my father-in-law came to me and he had that criticism, I would actually just keep my mouth shut because the man can talk. I'm not saying that I would agree. I'm just saying he's actually been down that road and he has succeeded in raising all these children to the point they're at the altar, virgins, marrying Christians, serving God together with their spouse in church. They're like heavily involved in their church. They're like leaders in that church. I mean, they've essentially dedicated their lives to serving the Lord Jesus Christ, albeit with Jews and pre-trib and all that, but you know, whatever. No one's perfect. The point that I'm making here is that he would actually have some room to talk. Not someone who hasn't finished though. You need to take that into consideration before you do that because you're not there yet. And things can change. Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And sometimes that measurement comes decades later. And unfortunately, the internet is forever. Just keep that in mind. And I'm not only telling him, I'm telling all of you. Show mercy, show kindness, you know, and, and make sure you recognize that your actions and your words have a ripple effect. That will come back to bite you in the rear end, years from now. We'll see how it goes with you. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 11, 9, a hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor, but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. Now, let me give you a little bit of an interlude here that has really nothing to do with, you know, what's going on in the world. A little bit of an interlude here that has really nothing to do with the sermon per se, but it's just, it's cool to kind of talk about. Look at verse nine, a little interlude here. Then said Abishai, the son of Zeruiah unto the king, why should this dead dog curse my Lord the king? Let me go over at Parady and take off his head. Now in this particular instance, I kind of want to be like Zeruiah. And in fact, the sermon may be like that. You know what I mean? I'm not trying to be, but I'm just kind of like, why is this guy talking? Let me just spiritually take off his head. That's what I want to do, right? Because, you know, I have love for that man. I respect that man. And I feel like he's being kicked while he's on the ground. And you know what? Abishai is just like, I'll take care of it. And he won't talk anymore. I'll just expose them. I'll preach against them. But here's the thing is that David has a more godlier response. Look at verse 10, it says, and the king said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Let me just say this. We all need a little Abishai every now and again, though. They get a little out of hand sometimes, but you know what? It's always good to have those guys around though. It's nice. I'm not saying what they want is right. I'm just saying like, it's encouraging to know like, hey, let me just take care of this for you, pastor. And then King's like, what am I going to do with you guys? He says, so let him curse, because the Lord said unto him, curse David, who shall then say, wherefore hast thou done so? So what is he saying? He's like, you know what? Don't get involved in this. Just let them curse. Maybe the Lord sent him to do this. This is a really godly response. You say, then why aren't you doing it? Well, because I'm not David. In the story, I'm not David. I have every right to defend my friends if I want to. I have every right to defend the innocent and those, especially if they don't want to defend themselves. And you know what? My pastor friends have had godly responses to this, especially the one in question. The man who's involved in this, Pastor Anderson, has had a wonderful disposition in this regard. He answered, not again, as the sheep before shears is done. So he answered, not again. And he's had that disposition. And you know what? David, David could have easily just taken off that guy's head too. David's a mighty warrior. He actually didn't need Abishai or anybody else to do the work. He could have, he probably could have thrown a javelin, just like, and just put him out of his misery if he wanted to. But obviously he has a godly disposition. He's like, you know what? The Lord's probably causing him to do this. And so let him curse. You know, let's not mess with them. Look at verse 11. And David said to Abishai and to all servants, behold my son, which came forth of my bow, seeketh my life. How much more now may this Benjaminite do it? Let him alone, let him curse for the Lord has been in him. It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. So he obviously has a godly disposition and he knows like the Lord was going to render unto Shimei that evil that he's doing unto David. Okay. And that'll go to my next point, uh, towards the end of the sermon. The point that I'm making here is who is Shimei? Well, he's a man with extreme vitriol and unreasonable conclusion, has some self-control on social media. Not everything that my father-in-law did I agreed with by the way, but for the most part, I pretty much honored him anytime I could behind my pulpit. Not because I have to be, because I want to. There's a lot of stuff I don't agree with him about, but I honored him because he's done a lot for me. And so it's important for us to realize, you know, there's people who've helped you and been a blessing to you. You know, you're a rotten person if you just turn around and just don't give the benefit of the doubt. You just jump on that person as soon as they're vulnerable. That's a wicked thing to do. It's a wicked disposition. Who is Shimei? He's a man who's on the wrong side. He's a man who's trying to provoke David to fight. He's a man with extreme vitriol and unreasonable conclusions. Oh, he should step down. What business is that of you though? You think you're going to inherit his church members or something? You think all his subscribers are going to go to you? You think anybody's going to listen to your podcast because of it? The podcast that everyone's talking about? What's that thing called? You think somehow you're just going to inherit his godliness or his influence? What's the point? What's the point, Shimei? He's already down in the dumps. He's already suffering affliction. Why add to that? I'll tell you why, because he's Shimei. Who is Shimei? He's a man, number four, who can cloud proper judgment. What do I mean by that? Look at verse 13 of 2 Samuel chapter 16. It says, and as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hillside over against him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and cast dust. Now, this would look very just confusing. He's throwing rocks. He's just throwing dust. It just looks chaotic. The way we can apply this spiritually is that when people muddy the waters online and they're casting stones and they're just making a lot of noise, just casting a lot of dust, people who are straddling the fence can't necessarily make a proper judgment on what to do because so much noise is being made. Noise can often confuse people. Even people who believe the Bible, they know right judgment. When people just make noise, they make comments, they make points, that can often cloud proper judgment. So it's good to just kind of stay offline sometimes. You know, making all these accusations, attacks, these arguments, these things about stepping down, saying that the new IFP are a bunch of Kool-Aid drinkers or whatnot, stuff like that can cloud people's judgments because in general, people know, well, here are the factors. This is what the Bible says. This is what took place. And they can come to a reasonable conclusion. But if you have people fighting against that, throwing up dust, casting stones, it can cause people who are straddling the fence to say, well, maybe there is some validity to this. Go to Exodus 23, if you would. Exodus 23, hold your place here in Second Samuel chapter 16. Exodus 23. Look at verse number one of Exodus 23. It says, Thou shall not raise a false report, put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. What is the Bible saying? It's telling us that you shouldn't necessarily just follow the bandwagon and follow a crowd to do evil. People who are trying to rest judgment, decline after many to rest judgment, just raise a false report. And look again, let me just reiterate what I said last week. Just because two people raise up a false witness doesn't make the accusation true. Whatever happened to against an elder received not an accusation. Whatever happened to just giving people the benefit of the doubt. But all of a sudden, well, this is different because this is us. Well, that's funny. Where's that caveat in the Bible? Where's the exception in the Bible to that? If the Bible is telling us against an elder received not an accusation, there is no exception to that rule unless of course there is substantial evidence to prove that. Oh man, someone brought this evil report must be true because it was his sons or whatever. Where's the evidence though? Where is the evidence? And look, there's pastors out there who are probably guilty of things that they're accusing pastor Anderson of. And there is evidence for that. I'm sure it's out there. What the Bible's telling us to do is to make diligent inquiry for these things. Go to Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy 17 and look at verse number two of Deuteronomy chapter 17. And often it's really unstable and unlearned Christians who get caught up in all this. One thing I've seen online is just like, I'm just kind of looking through comments. I'm like, unstable, unstable, unstable. Dang, I didn't know you're that unstable. Unstable. Whoa. You know, it's just like, I thought this person was a very mature individual. Oh, you're just biased. Yeah, I'm biased towards the truth. Yeah, for sure. Thanks. Yeah, I'm biased towards the Bible. Absolutely. I defer everything to the Bible. No, you just have a bias towards pastor Anderson. Evidence? Proceeds? None of my arguments have been, oh, it's because he's just my BFF or something. Oh, he's just pastor Anderson. He just can do no wrong. Oh, he's pastor Anderson and this is why. No, it's all biblically based. Look at Deuteronomy 17 verse two. If there be found among you within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee man or woman that has wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God and transgress in his covenant and have gone and served other gods and worship them, either the sun or moon or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have not commanded. And if he told thee that thou was heard of it and inquired, listen to this, diligently and behold, listen to this, it be true. And the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel, then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman which hath committed the wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shall stone them with stones till they die. What's it saying? There needs to be a diligent investigation of these things before conclusion, a judgment can be passed. And look, folks, this is why the Bible talks about evil reports. People are going to bring up an evil report about me in the coming years. They're going to lie about me. They're going to lie about other pastors. Do we just believe every Tom, Dick and Harry on the Internet? It's nonsense. If that was the case, we could just people could just make stuff up about everyone. And then people would just be stepping down all over the place, just based off purely on accusations. There needs to be and needs to be made certain and needs to be true. Diligent inquiry needs to be made. You say, well, you know, he has all the facts. Yeah, but he claimed that he didn't have all the facts and he still came to that conclusion. He said he should step down before because he specifically said in that post, you know, I've reached out to him and I've been able to get in contact with him and he still believed that he should step down because of it. That is an unrighteous practice by a pastor. That's a man who does not follow biblical principles. What would cause him to do such a thing? Could it be that he has something against David? Plain and simple. The point that I'm making here, go to Proverbs chapter 28, Proverbs chapter 28. The point that I'm making here is that Shimei is a man who can cloud proper judgment. He knows how to make a stink. He knows how to raise up a cloud, kick up dust, cast rocks, get people angry and riled up. Oh, you're just saying that because you're just afraid of what's going to happen to the new IFP Empire. You know, because people believe stuff like that. They think this is like an empire. And what I'm doing right now is the empire striking back or something. It's weird. It's weird. And you know what? There might be good people that think that, but there's also bad people that think that as well. And there's people out there that do hate the new IFP. They hate new IFP churches. They don't like the pastors. They're either disgruntled church members or members that were kicked out of their congregations or just online goons that just don't like them because they have some fat cousin that we preach against or something. We said something that they didn't like, or we didn't treat them right or blah, blah, blah, snowflakes. And so they carry this bitterness with them and they jump on the opportunity to try to take down the new IFP. But the crazy thing is, if you look at what the new IFP is accomplishing right now, no one is affected. And in fact, when this all came about online, like three posts were like record breaking attendance, Verity Baptist Church record breaking attendance, you know, Steadfast Baptist Church record breaking attendance, First Works record breaking attendance. All these souls have been saved. And it's just like, it keeps growing. You guys aren't doing anything. You can make up all the things that you want. It's not affecting our ministry at all. So this, this, this Candyland fantasy of an empire that you're thinking of, you know, apparently it's, you're just making it stronger because the more you hate, the more attention you give us, the more we grow, I guess. Oh no, the new IFP is dying. If we're dying, then why are you even paying attention to us then? And if we're dying, then why are the churches growing numerically, spiritually, numerically, baptisms, salvations, new people. The preaching is still going. I mean, we're banned from YouTube. We're still reaching people online. Why aren't you banned from YouTube? Why is it the only controversial content you could come up with is content about us? Yeah. Why can't you, why, why can't you fight like the enemy? Why aren't the enemies of God like interested in you? Proverbs 28 verse 10 says, who so caused the righteous to go astray in the evil way. He shall fall himself into his own pit, but the upright shall have good things in possession. Let me just say this too. You know, if there's a pastor I disagree with and I don't like, but I see fags attacking him. I'm not going to side with the fags. I will never side with the baser sword against a pastor. It's not going to happen. Not going to happen. And you know what? The baser sword always gets involved to make it look worse than what it really is. I mean, you think of Naboth's vineyard, right? Where Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard. He couldn't have it. So he throws a fit, goes home and cries. His, his wife Jezebel, who's really running the home. What she fixes the situation and says, I'm going to get you the vineyard. And what did she do? She, she, she gathers this baser sword, these sons of Belial to raise up a railing accusation against Naboth so he can be destroyed and killed. Why are you giving credence to these fags and reprobates online? Why are you, why are you believing what they're putting out? It's so disgusting. Why are you even, why are you just by your actions, just validating and giving credence to these scum of the earth against God's people? Should this not help the ungodly and love them to hate the Lord? What's wrong with you, Shimei? Obviously in this particular story, Shimei is not doing that, but you know, Shimei is calling him a reprobate. He's calling the son of Belial. He's raising up these accusations. And I'm not saying that's what's taking place in this specific application of what I'm talking about, but it has happened. Not with that particular pastor, I'm sure it's happened with other pastors. The point that I'm making here is that Shimei, who is he? Well, he's a man who can cloud the proper judgment. You know what you need to do is go to the Bible. And you know, if there's anyone here who doesn't agree with me, it's perfectly fine. And you think, well, I think he should step down. You can actually have that opinion for sure. Now it's not going to do anything though. It's not going to change the price of tea in China. You know, it's not going to change anything that's going on in Arizona. It's not even going to change anything here. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, right? Now, one thing that people are not entitled to do in our church is just raise up a false accusation though. You cannot raise a railing accusation against a pastor or anybody else for that matter, because at that point you're transgressing the biblical commandment, you're railing and you are essentially, you know, causing God's wrath to come upon you and to be excommunicated from a church if you're unwilling to repent of that. But let me just say this is that I hope beyond all things is that you just go to the Bible first to see if that's true and not just make an emotional judgment, which is what a lot of women, I mean, a lot of Christians on Facebook are doing. A lot of women on Facebook, I mean, Christians just losing their minds over this, coming up with unreasonable conclusions, just getting all mad and emotional and it's just like simmer down, calm down. It's like, no, we don't want any new IFP teaching on the family in this group as if all of us just agree 100% on child rearing or something. What are you talking about? What do you think we're teaching as far as child rearing is concerned? But I'm telling you, what is it? It's casting of dust. So all it is is casting of dust, just throwing dust, casting stones, trying to rest the judgment of people who might be straddling the fence. And let me just say this regarding people who straddle the fence, I'm all for just kicking that person over the fence. It's like if that's where you want to be, I have no quarrels with just people going against the new IFP, our church or anything for that matter. I'm not interested in just babysitting, you know, babes in Christ who are just so easily persuaded. Like after the sermon, if you're not convinced and as far as I know, everyone's on board here, but if you're not convinced, you know, put yourself on the fence. I'll help you to get, I'll give you a boost. I got you, go, you know, do a front flip over there while you're at it. Go to the other side if that's what you want. Yeah. Go join them. Yeah. That's what we're going to destroy this empire though. Yeah. Just collect all of the disgruntled new. Yeah. Collect our trash for us, please. Go back to Second Samuel. Go to Second Samuel chapter 19. Excuse me. Second Samuel 19. Who is Shimei? Number five, Shimei is a man without conviction. You know, if you really believe this about David, he would have stood his ground when David came back, right? If he's a man of his word, if he's a courageous individual, if this is a conviction of his, when David was reinstated, he would have said, David, you have the liberty to put me to death if you want. I still feel the same about you though. And I'm not going to change this because you're reinstated. Verse 16 says in Shimei, the son of Gira, Benjamin, which is a Bahirim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. And there was a thousand men of Benjamin with them and Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul and his 15 sons and his 20 servants with them. And they went over Jordan before the King. And there went over a ferryboat to carry over the King's household and to do what he thought good. And Shimei, the son of Gira fell down before the King as he was come over Jordan and said unto the King, let not my Lord impute iniquity unto me. And neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my Lord, the King went out of Jerusalem, that the King should take it to his heart. So obviously Shimei doesn't really believe this. It's more so he's just bitter towards David, but now that his life is on the line, he's just like, Hey, just kidding. I didn't really mean it. Please don't kill me. And then of course, look at verse 21, Abishai, the son of Zira answered and said, shall not Shimei be put to death for this? Because he cursed the Lord's anointed. He's like, can I do it now? David's a godly man. Cause if I was in David's position, I'm like off with his head, bro. Verse 22 says, and David said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zaria? That you should this day be adversaries unto me. Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? For do not I know that I am this day King over Israel. Therefore the King said unto Shimei thou shall not die and the King swear unto him. Now, obviously this particular point doesn't really apply to the story, but it is applicable just in general. You better make sure that what it is you believe you believe to the very end. And I'm not talking about secondary third doctrines. I'm talking about main doctrines or main positions that you take. If you're taking a hard stand on something, you better make sure you keep that and allow it to be your conviction. And I'm preaching to myself as well. God forbid one of my pastor friends ends up going down that road where they disqualify themselves at that point. Yeah. I would have to say something. Why don't you say something now? Cause I don't believe he's disqualified. Go to first Kings chapter two, if you would first Kings chapter two. Now David showed him mercy. Okay. He showed him mercy. He didn't kill him. He could have, but David is a human being. And deep down inside, David wants him dead. He will. He does want to destroy Shimei because Shimei is a buster. You know, point number whatever Shimei is a buster. Plain and simple. And so what he does instead is he basically hands off the responsibility to his son, Solomon, to take him out. It's like a Godfather thing going on, you know, he did me much evil, render him according to his words. Don't let his head go down to the grave. You know, it's one of my favorite parts of the story, which leads me to my sixth point. I think it's my sixth point. Yeah. My sixth point here. And that is that Shimei is a man who will reap what he sows. First Kings two, eight says, and behold, thou has with the Shimei, the son of Gira, Benjamin of Bahirim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in that day. When I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at Jordan. I swear to him by the Lord saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. And you know what? He kept to his promise. He's like, I swore that I wouldn't kill him. But then never said, I would swear that you wouldn't kill him kind of thing. Verse nine says, now, therefore, hold him not guiltless for thou art a wise man and knows what thou oughtest to do unto him. But his whore head bring thou down to the grave with blood. Look at verse 36 and the King sent and called for Shimei and sent him to build thee a house in Jerusalem and dwell there and go not forth, sense any wither. Now I'm not going to belabor this particular, but we're not going to read the whole story. But basically tells him like, hey, my dad want you dead, but you're not going to die. Here's where you can dwell. Never leave there because the day you do, then I'm going to kill you. Now, people could speculate why he said that. And it might be that he kind of wanted him to leave. He put him in a position where eventually he would have to leave and just give him a reason. And of course, he ends up leaving and he gets put to death. He's killed. He's rendered according to his works. Go to Proverbs 25, if you would, Proverbs chapter 25. Proverbs 26, 27 says, Whoso dig at the pit shall fall there in, and he that rolleth the stone, it will return upon him. Just know this, you know, people who do stuff like that online, they're going to reap what they sow. Plain and simple. God's not pleased with that. No, you're not taking a stand. No, you're not bold. No, you're not courageous. No, you're not some guy who's just going to say what no one wants to say. No, you're not a hero. No, no, we're not impressed. No, you're not a threat. No, stop. And you know what? He probably wants it to make a big impact, but the only impact he's going to make is for his own future. What he sows, what he reaps, should I say? Look at Proverbs 25 verse 8, Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbor hath put thee to shame. Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself, and discover not a secret to another, lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver. I'm gonna tell you right now, McMurtry had a perfect opportunity to just reverse all of the criticisms that we've had against him over the last couple of years. This would have been a perfect opportunity for us to just reconcile with him in a great way, because he could have spoken like apples of gold and pictures of silver. He could have jumped to the defense of a man who is going through a hard time. And you know what? I probably would have had to eat a little bit of crow and said, you know what? He's right about this. And I was kind of wrong about my judgments on this man. Obviously, he's not that way anymore. He had that opportunity, but the opportunity is gone. And you know what? The reality, he has not changed. Here's my assessment on Tommy McMurtry. You say, oh, I thought you didn't want nothing to do with him. I don't. That's why I don't like go to church. I don't promote him. I correct him. And I don't even correct him because I want to change his mind, because his mind will not be changed. I do it for the sake of others. Here's my assessment of him. And obviously, people are listening right now. And they're like sending him the sermon and the minute this and that, timestamp, this is what he said about you. And he's probably going to mention me on the podcast or whatever. It'll help his views and all that. Here's my assessment of Tommy McMurtry. He's a new IFB grifter who capitalizes on controversy in order to garner a following. That's what it is. He's a new IFB grifter who capitalizes on controversy in order to garner a following. The only people who are really siding with him is either old IFB dudes, who we just don't know who they are, and people who are disgruntled with the new IFB. He's the head of the new IFB cult. He's a new IFB grifter who capitalizes on controversy in order to garner a following. He's a narcissist. He's prideful. He's a manipulator. He's a gaslighter. He's a person who refuses correction and is blind to the error of his ways. And he's set in his ways. And let me say this, again, I don't advocate for his ministry, but I don't want his ministry to be destroyed either. So don't quote me and think like, oh, he's trying to destroy McMurtry. Not really. And even if I wanted that, how can I really make that happen? It's not going to happen. I think he's a safe person. He's a legitimate pastor of a church, of a real church. I don't know how many people he has in his church, but there's people who go listen to him. I'm sure there's people in his church who have said that his sermons have been a blessing to them. I'm not taking away from that. I'm just correcting his behavior. I don't think he's a false prophet. I believe he's a safe person. I just think he's definitely a narcissist, prideful, and it goes for his wife, too, by the way. And I'm not careful to answer the in this matter either. He is a gaslighter. And anybody who's convinced about his claims or whatever, it affects us nothing. No way. It does nothing to us. All you're doing is drinking poison, hoping that we die. That's all you're doing. What's the sermon this evening? Well, the sermon is simply this. Don't be a shimmy eye. Don't kick a man while he's down. If someone is struggling in their personal life and they're going through a hard time, here's some good advice. Why don't you be a Christian about it? Why don't you exercise some biblical values, some biblical principles, show some love, show some grace. What about you? You're not showing grace. Of course, I'm showing grace. I'm showing grace to a friend who's down on his dumps. He's going through a hard time. And look, it's not that I agree with everything that Pastor Anderson has done in the past or whatever. I don't agree with everything, but that doesn't matter. He's going through a hard time. He's going through a lot of affliction. He needs prayer. I hope his sons get reconciled. And you know what? His sons know me and they know that I mean that. His sons and I have had lengthy conversations in the past, one in particular that I've communicated with a lot. And you know, I care for that guy. And I hope he gets right with the Lord. I hope he gets restored. And he knows for a fact that I'm being sincere about that. Because I do care. Because you know what? I see my kids. I see myself in that situation with my kids. And God forbid that that should ever happen to my kids. She may have should have thought about that before he opened his mouth. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And Lord, thank you for David's response. And I'm even thankful for Abishai's response, because even though David rebuked him, at least he knew that Abishai cared for him. And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us not to be like Shimei. And you know what? We just need more pastors to rise up who are just not like this. And Lord, help us as a church to raise up pastors who are not self-willed, not narcissist, prideful, arrogant people who are just blind to their own characteristics and flaws that just cause them to be envious and full of strife. I pray, Lord, that you'd help us. Thank you for the growth of our church and the growth of the churches that are in this movement. I'm thankful for the influence of all the churches, whether it be Faithful Word, it's Mountain Baptist Church, it's Verity Baptist Church, it's Shurve Foundation Baptist Church. Lord, I've been to all those churches and all possess godly people who are doing a righteous work for you in spite of what the enemy has tried to do to tear them down. And Lord, we know that one church does not define who we are. We are defined by what we do here at this church. And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us as your people to continue to do the work of the Lord, undistracted. And when someone in our church or abroad is going through a tough time, help us to get all the info first before we make a judgment call, before we come to a conclusion. And I pray that you'd help us to be the people that will bring people up, not tear them down. False prophets need to be torn down. Wicked reprobates need to be torn down. But the men of God who are innocent need to be lifted up and help. And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.