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Thank you. Thank you. All right, good morning everyone go ahead and take your song books 449 stent if you can song number 449 dwelling in Beulah land song number 449 Thank you for being here this morning welcome to first works Baptist Church 449 lift it up together on that first verse far away the noise of strife upon Upon my ear is falling Then I know the sins of earth be said on every Doubt and fear and things of birth in vain to me are calling None of these shall move me from Beulah land I'm living on the mountain Praise God, I'm drinking Oh Oh Praise God, I'm drinking On Let the stormy breezes blow I am safely sheltered By God's hand Here the Sun is always shining There's not Me Praise God On the man from a mountain Together Oh I'm drinking Great singing this morning. Thank you so much for being here Welcome to first works Baptist Church our first Sunday in our new building. Amen Great great things that God has prepared for us and we're looking forward to a great service Let's go ahead and start a service with the Word of Prayer father. We thank you so much for your word Lord We're thankful for salvation. We're thankful for the hymns and thank you again for providing for us Something better than what we had before and I pray God that you'd be with us throughout the service be with the singing and the Preaching of your word Lord I pray father God that you'd give us spear-filled ears to hear what you would have for us this morning We love you so much Lord, and we thank you pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated song number 296 Song number 296 right there in your hymnals. Whoops Song song number 296 follow on singing on that first Down in the valley with my Savior I would go Where the flowers are blooming and the sweet waters flow? Everywhere he leads me I would follow Anywhere everywhere I would follow on follow follow I would follow Jesus everywhere. He leads me I would follow Down in the valley with my Savior I would go Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow with his hand to lead me I would never never fear Danger cannot frighten me if my lord is near follow follow I would follow Jesus anywhere everywhere. I would follow on follow follow I would follow Jesus everywhere. He leads me I would follow Down in the valley or upon the mountains deep So ever keep Safely in the path that he has trod up to where they gather on the hills of God follow follow I would follow Jesus Anywhere everywhere I would follow on follow follow follow Jesus Anywhere he leads me I would follow on All right, great singing thank you for being here this morning just a few announcements before we sing our next song which will be 116 he leadeth me if you want to get that ready in your song books song number 116 Just a few announcements here. Of course today. We have our regular services scheduled as usual Our service at 1030 and then we have soul winning at 1230 We have Sunday night service at 5 p.m And so just keep that in mind there and we're gonna have bulletins on Thursday But we're still working out the kinks as far as the printer here is concerned So just bear with us, but we do have a prayer meeting at brother hikes house on Tuesday, and that's at 630 We typically have a meal for all the men that show up and then we pray together fellowship And so men encourage you to be there As we continue to pray for our church and the needs of our church and just different ministries that we have And then also on February 27th Not this Saturday, but the following we have an ushers training and that'll be at 11 o'clock We have lunch for all the ushers at 11 o'clock And if you're an usher in our church, if you serve at that capacity, it's mandatory that you're there So you can receive some training there, but you also receive some food Amen, and so trying to motivate you a little bit to come to the meeting But that'll be on February 27th and then on the 28th we have a miss Janelle who's gonna have a baby shower and so See my wife or actually seeing miss Angela for more details about that. So keep that in mind That'll be after the service after the sunny morning service on February 28th And I just want to remind you that quiet time is still in place Okay, and so we still have quiet time on Thursdays or excuse me on Sundays and what is quiet time? It's it's a time for you to take a nap during the afternoon here And I know many travel from far and wide and so if you stay here throughout the day, of course You're welcome to stay here throughout the day If you're gonna stay here for a Sunday night service and just know this is there from 3 to 4 15 is quiet time So the lights will be turned off here as well as in the main out I'm sorry. I'm like backwards here here and the mother baby room and so Parents if you have children need to take a nap They can take a nap in here or over there The lights will be turned off make sure there's no fellowshipping in here or in that room. No music playing here We want people to rest and get ready for Sunday night service But here's the thing we have a building so big The now you have a fellowship hall to go fellowship in okay Or a kitchen. Okay or a backyard. All right Here's the funny thing on Thursday You guys see how big this building is. This building is massive people get lost in this building. Okay? We had this massive building Thursday after church. I make my way to the Fellowship Hall where people fellowship It's supposed to hang out and the doors open and a group of men are outside Huddled together outside of the building. I'm like guys we got a new building There's everywhere you can fellowship in this building you choose to go outside Next to all the gardening tools and everything. It's like what in the world if you want to do that. That's fine. But um, I mean just don't you know, don't waste this place though Okay, so but just keep in mind from 3 to 4 15. It will be quiet time so the lights will be turned off here as well as in the mother-baby room and So the children caress or adults can rest in here as well But just make sure you don't leave your children unsupervised make sure you're with them at all times And so just keep that in mind and then no food or drink in the main auditorium except water or coffee. Okay? If you want to eat or drink and be married you can do that in the kitchen or in the fellowship hall So just keep that in mind and that's pretty much it for all of our announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song 116 116 he leadeth me song number 116 116 he leadeth me song number 116 see it on that first he 116 he leadeth me song number 116 116 he leadeth me song number 116 116 he leadeth me song number 116 116 he leadeth me song number 116 116 he leadeth me song number 116 116 he leadeth me song number 116 116 still tis his hand that leadeth me 116 he leadeth me he leadeth me 116 by his own and he leadeth me 116 his faithful follower I would be 116 bored by his hand he leadeth me 116 Lord I would clasp thy hand in mine 116 nor ever murder nor repine 116 content whatever love I see 116 since tis my God that leadeth me 116 he leadeth me he leadeth me 116 by his own hand he leadeth me 116 his faithful follower I would be 116 bored by his hand he leadeth me 116 and when my task on earth is done 116 when by thy grace the victories won 116 in death's cold way I will not flee 116 since God through Jordan leadeth me 116 he leadeth me he leadeth me 116 by his own hand he leadeth me 116 his faithful follower I would be 116 bored by his hand he leadeth me Amen, wonderful singing at this moment our ushers will be receiving the offering and turn your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 23 Amen. We read the book of 2 Samuel this morning chapter number 23. 2 Samuel chapter number 23. 2 Samuel chapter 23. Now these be the last words of David. David son of Jesse said the man who was raised up on high the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel said the spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue the God of Israel said the rock of Israel spake to me he that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God and he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth even a morning without clouds as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow but the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away because they cannot be taken with hands but the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place these be the names of the mighty men whom David had the Tachmanite that sat in the sea chief among the captains the same was Adonai the Esnite he lift up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time and after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahoy one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle and the men of Israel were gone away he rose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand claved to the sore the Lord wrought a great victory that day and the people were termed after him only to spoil after him was Shammah the son of Adji the Hararite and the Philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils and the people fled from the Philistines but he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it and slew the Philistines and the Lord wrought a great victory and three of the thirty chief went down and came to David in harvest time unto the cave of Adullam and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim and David was then in a hold and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem David longed and said oh the one would give me to drink the water of the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate and the three mighty men break through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David nevertheless he would not drink thereof but poured it out unto the Lord and he said be it far from me O Lord that I should do this is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives therefore he would not drink it these things did these three mighty men and Abishai the brother of Joab the son of Zeruiah was chief among three and he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them and had the name among three was he not most honorable of three therefore he was their captain albeit he attained none unto the first three and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada the son of a valiant man of Cabsio who had done many acts he slew two lion-like men of Moab he went on also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow and he slew an Egyptian a goodly man and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand but he went down to him with a staff and plucked the spear out of the Egyptians hand and slew him with his own spear these things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and had the name among three mighty men he was more honorable than the thirty but he attained none to the first three and David set him over his guard Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem Shammah the Herodite, Eliakah the Herodite, Heles the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkash the Tekoi Ebiezer the Anathothite, Mebunai the Hushathite, Zaman the Eohite, Meherai the Netophothite Helib the son of Beanna an Netophothite, Etai the son of Rebeai out of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin Benaiah the Porathenite, Hidayai of the brooks of Gaiash, Abi-Alban the Arbethite, Asmaveth the Barhimite Eliabah the Shai-Albanite of the sons of Jashen Jonathan Shammah the Hararei, Ahaim the son of Sherar the Hararei, Eliphileth the son of Ahazbi the son of the Meakathite Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilethite, Hezerai the Carmelite, Peyarai the Arbite Eigol the son of Nathan of Zobah, Benaiah the Gaidite, Zelach the Ammonite, Naharai the Beyarathite Amorbera to Joab the son of Zeruiah, Ira and Ithrai, Gerab and Ithrai, Uriah the Hittite, thirty and seven in all Let's pray to God, just thank you for your word, just ask that you would be with our pastor now as he preaches it please just fill him with your spirit and just ask that you would give us a readiness of mind to receive it and please just help us to grow in the knowledge of your son Jesus Christ and help us to be just equipped for the works you've ordained for us and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen Alright we're in 2 Samuel chapter 23 there, 2 Samuel chapter 23 and the title of the sermon this morning is for the love of their king, for the love of their king and we'll get back to 2 Samuel 23 in just a bit, if you can turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 22 1 Samuel chapter 22, hold your place there in 2 Samuel and go to 1 Samuel chapter 22 In 2 Samuel 23 we have basically the last words of King David and that's what he states in verse number 1 It says, Now these be the last words of David, David the son of Jesse said and the man whom he was raised up on high the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel and this might be referring to the fact that these are the last words that he penned down and within these last writings he begins to honor what is known as David's mighty men that's what he's talking about for the vast majority of the chapter and this is a famous list of warriors that basically followed David and assisted him in his various battles and wars now this is a great honor if you think about it, when your king, your leader is honoring you and kind of basically bragging about your exploits and your abilities and all the acts and the things that you've done this is a great honor, but aside from the fact that King David is honoring him think about it, God is honoring these men by allowing them to basically be penned down in the scriptures for all of eternity and so it's not only that David esteem these men as being great men, great warriors but God also esteem them as being great men and great warriors now when you read the Old Testament, you know obviously there's many pictures of Jesus Christ, right? there's a lot of people who represent the Lord Jesus Christ, but the one that sticks out the most is King David obviously when you read about King David and a lot of the prophecies that are found in the Psalms and different stories that he's involved in, you can draw a lot of parallels between him and our Savior and we see that a lot and so when you read about his stories and his exploits and the statements that he makes you can draw a lot of things that would run parallel to the New Testament Christians and to Jesus Christ himself now the goal of every Christian should be that we would be like these mighty men because if David is like Jesus, that means his mighty men could be basically like Christians, right? those who follow the Lord, those who serve God, those who are fighting his battles, you know? and we want to be recognized in the eyes of God as being honorable men, men who are valiant in battle and in war not a physical battle, but the spiritual one, you know we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world but we can pull the stories from the Old Testament and draw spiritual parallels to them, okay? you know we're not going to go out there and you know spear people and cut them down and blow churches up or you know stuff like that, you know we're not going to do those things because that's not the way we operate, amen? the way we operate is on a spiritual level by prayer, by preaching God's word, by taking a stand these are the battles that we fight, we wrestle not against flesh and blood and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God through the pulling down of strongholds and so I want to draw some parallels between David, his mighty men and of course Jesus Christ and Christians in general now you're in 1 Samuel chapter 22, the first thing that I want you to notice is that David's mighty men I mean we read through the list and these guys did some pretty great things you read this and you're like what? this guy slew 800 men with one spear in one day in one setting? this guy's crazy but here's the thing, David's mighty men were not always mighty they didn't start off being mighty is what I'm saying, okay? look at 1 Samuel chapter 22 verse number 1, it says in verse number 1 David therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave of Adullam and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it they went down thither to him and everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him, unto David and he became a captain over them and there were there with him about 400 men so this is actually the beginning of David's mighty men but it's prior to them becoming mighty what were they before? well it says that they were in distress, they were in debt and they were discontent so what does this tell us? this tells us that God always works with people who are in these situations you know he's not necessarily looking for the mighty, he's not necessarily looking for the most wisest individual he's not looking for those who are the strongest, you know he's looking for those who are just humble those who are in distress, those who are in debt, those who are discontent, those who basically just need someone to lead them and you know what? these men were looking for a man to lead them and in like manner, you know when we came to Jesus distressed, in debt and discontent, why were we distressed? well because you know maybe you're going through a deflection, some sort of sorrow in your life you had a loss of family, a loss of job, something was taking place in your life and it caused you to be open to the gospel or it caused you to be open to coming back to the ways of the Lord, is my mic not working? you're messing up my sermon man, I'm just going to leave this right here you know it caused you to seek out the Lord, the Bible says in Matthew 11 verse 28 coming to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls so not only were they in distress but they were also in debt now what does it tell you about David's mighty men prior to them being mighty? it tells you they had nothing else to lose so they're like you know what let's follow David, we got nothing else, you know I'm out of money, I'm out of possessions might as well just give my life for a righteous cause I don't know what's going on back there, you guys are fired, I'm just kidding is it working now or what? so I should turn this off, we're having a meeting here sorry alright I'm going to turn this off, so it's good, alright, don't interrupt me again Romans 1 14 says I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise Romans 13 verse 8 says oh no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law so you know what we could say that when we came to Christ, when we got saved, we were in debt as well we had nothing, we recognized that we had nothing we recognized that we had nothing and we came to the Lord and by the way sometimes this is not part of the sermon, sometimes that's what's needed in order to get people to the point where they recognize they need God they need to lose everything, they need to lose all their money, all their possessions maybe even their health to get them to a point where they recognize you know what I need God because you know when you have money, you have riches, you have possessions many of those people who have those things don't know how to handle them and they think well why do I need God, I'm rich why do I need God, I got a big house why do I need God, I have a car, I have all these possessions, I'm comfortable but when those things are taken away from you a lot of the times people begin to seek after the Lord so we see that they were in debt, we see that they were distressed and they were discontent, the Bible says now what does that mean, well I think that they're basically dissatisfied with the current leadership which is Saul, they're discontented like Saul is going the way of like evil here he's making bad decisions, he's not serving God, he's being disobedient I'm discontent with this type of leadership and you know what, a lot of times people who are already saved, they come to a church like ours because of the fact that they're sick and tired of weak leadership right, they're just like man my pastor preaches all kinds of heresy when I confront him about it he's just kind of like it is repenting your sins but it's not really and he just kind of plays both sides there and he's not willing to stand up for what he believes he doesn't even preach hard and if he does he just says sin is bad or something he's not specific, he's afraid of his own shadow, discontent Saul was afraid of his own shadow, paranoid, David was valiant so similar to how people can become dissatisfied with preaching today right they're like I want to go to a place where there's hard preaching, biblical preaching where there's a lot of content found in the sermon where I can learn something and become a valiant person so you know we can draw those parallels and say you know we fall into one of these categories when we came to this church or when we came to Christ when we got saved we fell into one of these categories now think about this, you know it says that David had about 400 people that came to him and obviously his army grew thereafter but even amongst those 400 there was 37 mighty men and out of those 37 mighty men you had chief captains and all that and amongst them there's like three of the mightiest now what does that remind you of? Jesus because Jesus had at least 70 apostles to begin with and out of those 70 he had the what? the 12 and out of the 12 who was he really close to? the three? Peter, James and John and these were like the most notable among the apostles right and in fact Paul even said that they seem to be pillars in the church in other words these were mighty individuals these are men of reputation, these are men who were famous in the camp so to speak and so I want to talk about that now as we look at these men obviously we can draw parallels and strive to be this individual but when I look at these three men that we're going to look at this morning I see them as in the New Testament as churches so we want to take on not only these characteristics as an individual we want to take these characteristics as a church now go back to 2 Samuel 23 if you would 2 Samuel chapter 23 before we get into the best ones which are the first three we're going to get into some honorable mentions first because you know he lists 37 of them some of them he just says their name which hey even if I was amongst that I'd be like that's cool hey I got my name in 2 Samuel 23 but even before the naming of those the remainder of them he talks about Abishai and Benaiah which are some pretty awesome guys look at verse 18 of 2 Samuel 23 and Abishai the brother of Joab the son of Zeruiah was chief among three now it's not saying that he was chief among the three just chief among a specific other three and he lifted up a spear against 300 and slew them and had the name among three was he not most honorable of three therefore he was their captain howbeit he attained not unto the first three like what so this guy goes out he slays 300 men with the spear he does a great work and what does David say he's honorable but man he cannot attain unto the first three though that's pretty big right there verse 20 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada the son of a valiant man of Cabsio who had done many acts he slew two lion-like men of Moab and he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow so what do we see with him well first and foremost we see that he's not afraid of anybody why because he slays two lion-like men now this doesn't mean that they were like you know half man half animal or something he's not slaying like a seraphim here this anthropomorphic just being what it's saying when it says lion-like men it means these guys were scary looking very scary looking they're probably bold and courageous themselves these men were probably men of war but he slew them he slew two lion-like men of Moab and if that wasn't enough he went down also and slew a lion an actual lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow now we're in California we don't know anything about snow and I'll be honest with you I don't want to know anything about snow but if I had to put up with snow I definitely don't want to put up with it while I'm fighting a lion in a pit it's like put a lion on the other side of a cage let me observe him and enjoy God's creation I don't want to fight a lion first of all in a pit which means there's no way out like someone's leaving dead basically when you go into a pit it's just like coming out and then aside from that it's snowing which means it's cold so it shows that this man is valiant he's courageous he's bold I mean he's taking risks he's not afraid this is someone who we would want to strive to be like spiritually speaking well we would be like I don't have fear I'll take on two lion-like men I'll take on the difficult tasks of this world I'll take on the difficult spiritual tasks of a lion which is the devil in a pit right and basically in hell here in California in a time of snow in the most uncomfortable conditions verse 21 and he slew an Egyptian a goodly man and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand and he went down to him with a staff so the Egyptian has a spear long weapon Benaiah has a staff it's like a stick no problem oh you got a spear I got a staff problem solved plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and slew him with his own spear he's like oh you got a spear I got a staff problem solved I'll just take your own spear and slay you with it what do we see with Benaiah he's a problem solver right he's not like well this isn't fair it's not a fair battle it's not a fair fight you got a spear I got a staff you're Egyptian you're goodly you're bigger than me he's like no problem I'll just slay you with your own spear no excuses now what is this what's something that we can learn from Benaiah in this regard well don't be a Christian who makes excuses right just figure it out but what if it's far then it's far then we drive longer then you check your gas tank before you go that's right you leave a little earlier yeah but he's got a spear well we'll just take their spear and slay them with their own spear what's the next problem be a problem solver amen don't be the kind of Christian that just because you run into a wall is just like well that's impossible we can't do it oh he's goodly he's an Egyptian he has a spear can't do it can't be done just go around the wall just figure it out be a problem solver okay don't see it as impossible see it as a way for you to be creative see it as a way for you to pray for witty inventions and for prudence and for wisdom and to do a great work verse 22 these things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and had the name among three mighty men yeah he should this guy's amazing he was more honorable than the 30 but he attained not to the first three and David set him over his guard and look let me just say this is the Benaiah obviously did more exploits than this because even after David dies Solomon takes over you know Benaiah basically operates as a hitman for Solomon he basically goes and says all right I need you to take out Shimei I need you to take out my brother I need you to take out Joab and he's out there just slaying these guys at the commandment of the king till the very end he was fighting till the very end he was still serving the king till the very end which by the way is another another honorable thing of his is that even when there is a transition of power to another king he still served that king as unto the Lord I'm sure these are the best of the best so those are the honorable mentions here but let's go back to go to verse number eight let's talk about those first three okay what made them great what made them mighty what made them more honorable than all four hundred or thirty seven or thirty what made Adino the Esnite so great well look at verse eight by the way this is the only verse that talks about him in the entire bible it says these be the names of the mighty men whom David had the Tachmanite that sat in the sea chief among the captains the same was Adino the Esnite he lift up his spear against eight hundred whom he slew at one time so we're a church of about a little over a hundred people this is eight hundred he basically took out a mega church in one setting with one spear don't just breeze over that whenever I was like eight hundred that's a lot and it's not like eight hundred of guys that weigh a hundred pounds each or something I'm sure there's some that are two hundred, two fifty, three hundred, three fifty various forms and by himself he slew eight hundred people not over a span of like weeks or you know months no in one setting at one time so you know David's like yeah you're mighty yeah you you're mighty you know when you can just go to war how long he was going to war for how many hours and just slay eight hundred men and not die not die and I'm sure he's not just slaying just like regular people these are warriors that he's fighting so what is what are some things that we can take from this spiritually speaking well first and foremost I want you to notice that God cares for numbers right he cares about numbers it didn't say well he slew like a bunch of people he says no he slew eight hundred men and the reason that's important is because today you have this attitude of oh why do you guys count your soul in why do you guys count you know how many people you got saved oh because God cares for numbers and so should we I mean isn't there a book in the Bible called the book of numbers go to Acts chapter two if you would Acts chapter two hold your place there Acts chapter number two we see that Adino was productive right he's a productive guy it's no wonder he became a chief captain if you can't slay eight hundred men in one setting I'm just gonna make you a ruler over these guys then you've earned your badge I know I see your reputation God cares for numbers now this is not encouraging you to go slay eight hundred of God's enemies okay you know because people literally take this sermon and literally say the exact opposite of what I just said right oh he's saying that he wants people to go slay eight hundred sodomites or something you know people say that like I preached a sermon called you know preparations for warfare where I literally said we're not physically gonna fight it's not a physical fight it's a spiritual battle and they literally said oh he says he wants to physically harm people like that's actually the exact opposite of what I said but that's how wicked people operate today they don't even check the facts okay chapter two two thirty eight then Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and to your children and to all that are far off even as many as the Lord our God shall call and with many other words did he referring to Peter testify and exhort saying save yourselves from this untoward generation then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day they were added unto them ah just a bunch of souls ah just a group of people we don't want to count you know just a lot of people no three thousand about three thousand souls God chose to put down and later on we see that he preaches to five thousand or more than a five thousand because five thousand end up getting saved you know what that tells me is that God is concerned with salvations how many? he said well how do you know that the people you're counting actually got saved we don't we just base it off of their profession of faith we base it off of their testimony we base it off of the soul winner that went to that individual whom we've trained and sent out and ordained to go out and preach the gospel to be honest and say I got this person saved and we count them and we say alright great well as far as we know this is how much we're getting saved you know when brother Will goes out to the Philippines he comes back with a good amount of numbers a dino right here spiritually slaying and going out there and rescuing souls we're concerned about the amount of people that get saved when everyone asks oh but that's so prideful but I guarantee you these same people who say that we're prideful for counting don't go soul winning these are the same individuals that don't preach the gospel you ask them when's the last time you went out soul winning well I believe in lifestyle evangelism so how many people have you seen saved through your lifestyle evangelism zero because the bible says that we need to open our mouths boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel the bible says we need to go out and preach the gospel into the highways and hedges that's what the bible says the bible says we need to open up the word of God and show someone how to be saved preach the gospel unto them and persuade them right to trust Christ as their savior to believe on Jesus you know knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men now obviously there's churches out there I'm sure that will inflate the numbers you know what I mean they'll lie about it I knew a church one time where literally they were just like well you don't have to believe all that just repeat after me this one two three pray after me that's what they would call it and that's definitely a model that we don't want to imitate you know we're not here just for the numbers but we understand that the numbers are important we want quality as well as quantity we want quality in our gospel presentation to be thorough to preach the word of God and you know to show them the right way but at the same time we also want quantity why because we know that every single soul is a soul that can potentially go to hell the bible says in Matthew 13 verse 7 and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them but other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit some in hundred fold some sixty fold some thirty fold so this is referring to the individual who gets saved they get plugged in, they get rooted and what do they do? they begin to produce fruit some of them produce thirty souls throughout their lifetime or in a year some of them produce sixty in a year but some produce a hundred fold wouldn't you say the one who produces a hundred fold attains to those three it's the greatest among three it's not because they're talented it's not because they're gifted what is it? it's because they are productive it is because they are willing to go out there and invest their time to see as many people saved as possible he lift up a spear against eight hundred whom he slew at one time why is David honoring this guy for doing that? I'll tell you why because that's eight hundred less people he has to worry about right? he's like well at least I know there's eight hundred enemies just take care of that go to second timothy chapter four second timothy chapter number four well what else do we learn from the fact that he lift up his spear against eight hundred well you know he didn't just slay his ten and just kind of call it quits he fought a good fight until the end he did his job until the job was done right? he did his job until the job was done right? he did his job until the job was done right? he didn't call it quits he didn't throw in the towel he didn't kowtow he just fought to the very end until there's no more enemies left to fight and you know what? spiritually speaking that's how we need to be that we fight I want to say to the bitter end but the end is never bitter for us fight until the sweet end right? we need to fight to the sweet end of things look at second timothy chapter four verse six Paul speaking here says for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand he's not talking about LAX or you know what he's talking about is like he's about to die I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith he's like I fought the spiritual battles I got people saved I you know defended the faith I exposed false doctrine I exposed false prophets at the end of his life and he's still fighting now what does he get because he fought a good fight look at verse eight henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them that also love his appearing so what's awaiting the apostle Paul when he dies? honor you know what awaited him recognizing him for his for being valiant and courageous and bold and in like manner when we fight a good fight to the very end to our departure is at hand God will honor us I don't understand people who just well I fought the good fight in my younger years when I was a little reckless you know when I had a little more energy but now that I'm getting older I just you know just kind of put it on cruise control what in the world we need to fight to the very end and look yeah obviously the older you get the slower things may become maybe you can't do as much but it doesn't mean you just throw in the towel it doesn't mean you just start compromising it doesn't mean you just stop fighting it doesn't mean you just start making up excuses why people are the way they are oh this is just the world we live in and false doctrine and all these wicked things you're just gonna sit back and watch it all burn we need to do our part yeah you know I might not be able to slay 10,000 but I can do 800 right you may not be able to win 20,000 people to the Lord but maybe you can win 800 you can still make a dent in this world and be honored by God go to Revelation chapter 2 if you would Revelation chapter 2 there is great honor in sticking it out until the very end and look if you've backslid in if you've gotten away from church you've gotten away from God you've gotten away from your Bible reading or prayer you know you can still come back and regain that honor you can still come back and serve God and still do great exploits think about Peter denied the Lord but what happened when he came back the 3,000 what happened when he came back the 5,000 he still did great works thereafter look at Revelation 2 10 fear none of those things which thou shall suffer that ye may pass some of you into prison that ye may be tried and ye shall have tribulation ten days be thou faithful unto death that will give thee a crown of life what is God saying hang on until the very end and I'll honor you preach until the very end win souls to the very end believe righteously to the very end be holy to the very end serve Christ to the very end faithful unto death and I don't believe he's necessarily referring to like you're about to die right now he's just saying be faithful until you die look at verse 25 but that which ye have already hold fast till I come and he that overcometh and keepeth my works until the end to him will I give power over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of potter shall they be broken into shivers even as I received of my father pastor you ever thought about going into politics maybe you know trying to overthrow Mayor Acona and you know just kind of you know turn the tide and that no because it will eventually happen in the millennium range if I just keep serving God and keep his words until the end you know what's going to happen is that I'm going to have power over the nations but I have to stick it out until the very end go back to 2 Samuel 23 so this guy's awesome I'm going to go back to 2 Samuel 23 so this guy's awesome he has a weird name but he's still awesome Adino you know Adino the Esnite was the greatest among three because he was productive he was tenacious he accomplished a great thing he had the tenacity to finish all the way to the very end okay look at verse number 9 and after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Eoite one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle look what it says and the men of Israel were gone away he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword and the Lord wrought a great victory that day and the people returned after him only to spoil so Eleazar is one of the three mighty men why was he mighty? well number one he fought and number two it says when they defied the Philistines they were gathered together to battle and the men of Israel were gone away what does that mean the Philistines came and were like I don't want to fight these guys they're too scary we might lose we might die and what happened when they fled away he arose he's like I'll fight them I'll stand up to them when all of Israel were too afraid they're too scared to stand up to the truth they're too afraid to stand up to the enemies of God Eleazar said I'm not afraid I'll stand up to them I'll do it if it's just me I'll still do it he arose Ezekiel 22 verse 30 says and I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it but I found none here's the problem with these Israelites who are running away they think that the battle is up to them they think that the victory is up to them folks when it comes to God's people the battles of the Lord God expects us to fight He expects us to fight to stand up to arise when no one else wants to and what is that that's an act of faith that in turn results in a great victory brought on by the Lord not by us you see the only way we can win victories is by just doing what God tells us to do no matter how great the opposition is do right even though there's many who are against you do right even though it seems impossible to win the war you still do right because at the end of the day the victory relies on God He's the one who's going to win the battle for us all He requires of you and me is to arise when everyone's cow-tied when everyone's cow-tied they're running with their tails between their legs and they're scared and I don't want to say anything this is getting kind of crazy out here they just need a church to just say we'll do it yeah but who are you guys? you guys are meeting at a strip mall who are you guys? I mean who's this new IV? you guys aren't even that big? you guys have buses? just stand up just stand up just stand up he sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap that he should not destroy but he found none you know what is something that we can learn from Eliezer we can learn that you know we need to be courageous as a church and just stand arise when no one else wants to I was talking to someone yesterday and they I've known them from times past and they pointed at me they're like I saw you on the news he's like I saw you on Telemundo I saw you on Fox I saw you on everything I'm like cool and he's just like he's like I saw you on the news and I went home and my wife's like you know brother Bruce is on the news he's like I just saw that like on whatever news outlet and then he says I couldn't help but just keep rewinding the video that I kept seeing it's just like I can't believe this is actually happening and he was you know he was like excited for us he was excited for me but then you know he's like but you got to be careful though you got to be he's like you got to be careful though and I'm like why he's like because you know what if something happens to you I'm like then I what do you mean like I die he's like yeah what if they do something crazy like that I'm like well then I go to heaven next question he's like yeah I get that but you know I was just like you know and I'm like hey don't be afraid because here's the thing I know that he agrees with me but here's the problem though fear afraid to stand up he's like yeah but you got to think about your kids you got to think about your wife I say I do what about them? well you know then they will have a privilege of having a martyr for a father and a husband if that happens but I said it's not going to happen but even if it does at least then they'll know hey my husband and my father was an Eliezer first works Baptist church is an Eliezer that when all of Israel flees and runs from the enemy and is too scared to do anything they arise I mean folks there's independent fundamental Baptist churches all over California over a thousand in attendance two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand in attendance every single one of them flee they flee they flee do you know what God does? he looks towards the smaller group because it's often the smaller group that says we'll stand we'll do it we'll arise but not only that he fought until his hands were weary and his hand claved unto the sword this is nuts so he's fighting so much I mean he has a sword in his hand he's swinging that thing and slaying he's doing it for so long his fist basically clamps onto that sword it just clamps on when it's time to stop fighting he's like I can't let go of the sword it's stuck I can't let go of the sword I'm tired I'm weary but I can't let go of the sword and let me say this when you fight the Lord's battles you're reading the Bible right? you're reading the scriptures you're listening to preaching and you know what? even though you're tired you won't be able to let go of that sword even though you're weary you're tired you might be discouraged no matter what happens I'm going to continue to hold onto the sword and look the same guy he said this he said yeah but you got to be careful what if you say something and something just slips out I'm not going to do any interview or to answer what I believe because I read the Bible and all that's going to come out is the Bible I'm not some like evil individual that's just harboring some violence in my heart I'm just going to say what the Bible says but that's why it's important you have God's word in your heart but this guy fought until he was weary this reminds me of Judges chapter 8 verse 4 where it says in Gideon came to Jordan and passed over he and the 300 men that were with him faint yet pursuing and that's exactly how we need to lead live our Christian lives and it's not always that we're going to be faint but you know there's going to be times when we're tired but we need to continue to pursue we need to continue to love the Lord we need to continue to read the Bible to win souls to fellowship to congregate no matter what happens faint yet pursuing and sometimes you're just faint of the thought of the things of this world bills, sicknesses losing a job health conditions whatever it may be you're just tired, you're weary but here's the thing be not weary in well doing for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not let us not be weary in well doing you say what do I do when I get tired though well go to Isaiah chapter 40 Isaiah chapter 40 if you would we got to turn that on you got it? I can't, I don't know how to do this what? yeah come on up everyone look at you Lisa everyone look at you let's just wait until he does it you got this? the pressure's on don't mess up man don't turn on the heater you got it? all right Isaiah chapter 40 verse 29 look what it says what do you do when you're tired? he give his power to the faint and to them that have no might he increase its strength yeah but I'm young I got power I deadlift even the youth shall faint and be weary though even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall God's like oh yeah even you young guys will fall even you young guys have a limit verse 31 but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint so how do we tap into this strength that is above beyond our strength by waiting upon the Lord I mean this strength is so great that you can mount up with wings as eagles you can run and not be weary what does that mean? well have you ever had a time in your life when you're going through a difficult trial you're praying and it's just like you're without strength but somehow you just keep on going you're just like I don't even know how I'm holding it together well that's what it is it's when he gives you that strength that is beyond yourself go back to second Samuel if you would second Samuel Eliezer is awesome this guy has slain people I mean his hand is cleaving unto the sword he can't let go of it he's just like hey why don't you put your sword back in your sheath and he's like I can't my hand is the sheath it's just stuck but not only that look he also was willing to share the spoil look what it says in verse 10 he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand cleaving to the sword and the Lord wrought a great victory that day and the people returned after him only to spoil so everyone else that ran they came back and were like oh man look at all this free stuff that we didn't work for right but you know what Eliezer didn't rebuke them for that he's like have at it take it why? because at the end of the day he wasn't really the one who really won the victory it was God and you know what if you can win battles for the brethren's sake and they benefit from that all the better sacrifices sometimes need to be made you know if what happened to our church could just embolden someone out there to just take at least take a stand that's a spoil if that could embolden someone to get back into church that's a spoil if that could embolden someone to preach the gospel at least win their first soul that's a spoil if that could embolden someone to just love the Lord a little more to love God's word a little more that is the spoil and look folks when we start getting new people in our church oh yeah well you weren't here when we were in the where were you during the protest how come you weren't there on that first Sunday how come you weren't fighting with us we don't say those things let them enjoy the spoils I mean this building is like the spoils right the spoils of war don't have this attitude yeah but where were you you're all scared and stuff how come you show up afterwards folks that's a wrong attitude to have the right attitude should be God used this and it was God who gave us this by the way not us it was God who won the victory not us share the spoils to whoever wants them and rejoice he shared the spoils with those who didn't fight but here's the thing I'm sure those who didn't fight who came and got the spoils started fighting afterwards people who got on board afterwards amen look at verse 11 here's the third guy Shammah the son of Agi the Harari it says after him was Shammah the son of Agi the Harari and the Philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils and the people fled from the Philistines again just always running people always scared but he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it and slew the Philistines and the Lord wrought a great victory he said what's so big about that when he ran he literally was in the midst of the battle he put himself right in the middle of the entire thing I mean you know he slew some but you know what it says here is that he just defended it and you know why he was great because of his defense and look folks sometimes we're on the offensive but sometimes we need also to be on the defensive defending our doctrine defending what we believe defending the Lord he was in the midst of the battle go back to Revelation chapter 2 if you would Revelation chapter 2 I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 28 verse 4 it says they that forsake the law praise the wicked but such as keep the law contend with them Jude verse 3 says this Beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints folks aside from the fact that we have wars on the outside wars with these reprobates you know we still have to defend doctrine we still have to expose the false heresies all these doctrines that are out there and earnestly contend for the faith look at Revelation 2 verse 12 and to the angel of the church of Pergamos write these things saith he which hath a sharp sword with two edges I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is and thou holdest fast my name and has not denied my faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth so I personally believe that this is actually referring to a synagogue that these believers were like right there smack dab in the middle where a synagogue was located and this is why they're receiving all this persecution but it says there I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is what's the state that people just like despise like Christians are just like I would never move there that's just a horrible aside from New York you know what's the conservative they're like California that's like where Satan's seat is like you're in the midst of the battle there you're like right there dead smacking Hollywood's right there it's a Democrat state Newsom is there just the worst kind of people are there but here God is honoring Pergamos and saying I know your works because you're right in the middle of it you're dead smack in the middle of all of the craziness and nonsense that's going on out there people have messaged me like how are you still staying in California I'm like because I'm a California native aren't you traumatized I'm like yeah but my whole life has been traumatized and I'm like I'm not traumatized I'm like yeah but my whole life has been traumatized this is where I live I've lived with trauma my entire life this is just the way life is you know it's just like it's not so bad if you were already born here to those who move here they're just like the world is crazy for us it's like just another day in the office so this is kind of like where Satan's seat is but you know what even in the midst of where Satan's seat is God can still do a great work God can still protect his people I mean think of think of Egypt right you know God's people were in Egypt they were in Goshen while the rest of Egypt was falling apart yet there was this one portion of Egypt called Goshen where everything was a-ok and where's Goshen for us our church where's Goshen for us well wherever we're serving the Lord that's where Goshen is even where Satan's seat is so we're defending the faith here we're like on the front lines in California hey it's easy to be a fundamental Baptist in some conservative state amen kind of hard to do that in California but it's possible anywhere though it's possible in New York it's possible here and you know what if we become an Antipas then so be it we get honored now go back to 2 Samuel I'm going to be finished right here 2 Samuel chapter 23 so we see all these parallels between these three mighty men and what we want to be as individuals or even as a church but what's one of the things that really stood out regarding these men because these men are mighty in and of themselves like individually they're mighty but you know what really made them mighty was the fact that they were able to work together look what it says in verse 13 and three of the thirty chiefs went down and came to David in the harvest time into the cave of Dulum and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim and David was then in a hold and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem and David longed and said oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate and the three mighty men break through the host of the Philistines there's three guys, there's three they're going through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, took it, brought it to David nevertheless he would not drink thereof but poured it out unto the Lord and said be it far from me O Lord that I should do this is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives therefore he would not drink it these things did these three mighty men so what do we see in regard to these three men aside from the fact that just individually they're great they were actually even greater when working together we want to be a great church we want to be like an Eliezer, an Edeno we want to be like Shammah but you know what, we want to work with those who are like Shammah as well we want to work with those churches that are like Eliezer and you know what, let me just say this I know some Eliezer Baptist churches out there I know some Edeno Baptist churches out there I know some Shammah Baptist churches out there and what we want to do as First Works Baptist Church is collectively work well with them to please the king so when the king says oh that one would go into this city and win a bunch of souls to Christ to just break through the garrison of the Philistines we would say let's do it all we need is three churches spoiler alert oh that someone would just go into Amonti and do a soul winning mega marathon there do a soul winning marathon and just preach the gospel there and get the remainder of the normal people saved out there hey I know a church up north an Edeno Baptist church up north in Sacramento I know an Eliezer Baptist church in Arizona I think we could all just get together and just break through those gates you know because the gates of hell should not prevail against it and go in there and preach the gospel and get as many people saved there as possible you would go back, don't you know they're seeking your life don't you know that you know you might be bound if you go don't you know the mayor is trying to vote you out of there don't you know you got people out there that hate you are you willing to jeopardize your life well it says here verse 17 be it far from you Lord that I should do this it's not just the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives you know the Bible says of the New Testament apostles these men who have what? hazard their lives they put their life on the line to do a work why? well do you remember the title of the sermon? for the love of their king it's Valentine's Day isn't it? gotcha it's the love of Christ that constrains us what would cause these men to go into a garrison and pull out just a cup of water that eventually he would even pour out I'll tell you what for the love of their king they love David so much that they said I'm willing to just risk it all I'm willing to die I'm willing to just put everything on the line to just get him a cup of water for the love of their king what would cause the apostle Paul to do everything that he did to be beaten with stones and with rods to be betrayed by his countrymen to be out in the deep to go through all those trials I'll tell you what the love of Christ that constrained them to do that for the love of his king why are you doing all this? why are you willing to go through all this turmoil and all this transition and preach these sermons and be threatened and go through the church bombing I'll tell you what it's not for fame it's not for popularity it's for Jesus for the love of our king go to Acts chapter 15 Acts chapter 15 it's no wonder why David said these three these guys are mighty these three churches these four churches these five churches these are mighty because even for a cup of water even for one soul and look I think it was last year our church along with Verity Baptist Church and Faithful Word Baptist Church we went into the area of the Philistines to go get a drink of water for our king it was called the San Francisco Soul Winning Marathon you guys remember that? we literally went I remember Pastor Anderson told me I was like San Francisco? you want to go to San Francisco? oh you want to go to San Francisco North San Francisco he's like yeah I'm like alright let's do it let's go get a cup of water for the king it was great I mean they broke through they broke in our van and shat and stole luggage I think they stole Ira's luggage and stuff and everything but you know at the end of the day it was for the love of the king so look if we can do San Francisco we can do El Monte I quoted this but let's read it Acts 15 verse 25 says it seemed good unto us being assembled with one accord to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ think of what Paul said when he's defending the resurrection he says why stand we in jeopardy if there is no resurrection he said why would I hazard my life why would I put my life on the line if this stuff wasn't real he said why are you doing all this because it's real the resurrection is real God is real the Bible is real what's the lesson today? well we should take on these attributes of these mighty men as a church but also recognize that everything that we do should be for the love of the king I know Valentine's Day is not you know it's a hallmark whatever you know people have their different opinions like oh this is just to make money but you know it's just a good thought to think of why we do the things that we do is because we love the Lord and we want to make sure that we do it for the love of the king Amen Spire our heads and have a word of prayer Father we thank you so much for your word and Lord we love you only because you would continue to protect our church use our church may your hand be upon us Lord and help us to continue to see many people saved and souls come to Christ Lord I pray that you'd show yourself strong on our behalf Lord and I pray that you help us Lord as these three mighty men to be faithful unto death faithful unto the end and we know that you will honor us Lord you've said within your word that you will honor us and I pray that you'd help us press through the things of this world that cup of water and from that well of Bethlehem we love you so much Lord and we thank you pray these things in Jesus name Amen Song number 106 Song number 106 there in your hymnals Abide With Me as our last song Song number 106 Sing it on that first Abide With Me fast falls even tight the darkness deepens Lord with me Abide when other helpers fail and the Lord will in comforts flee help of the helpless Abide with me swim to the close ebbs out life's little did its glories pass away change and decay if all around I see oh thou who changes not Abide with me I need thy presence every passing hour what but thy grace can boil the tempters power who might and stay can be through cloud and sunshine will abide with me hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes and through the gloom and point me to the skies heaven morning breaks and earth's faint shadows flee with me you