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

So we're in second Samuel chapter number two and in the previous chapter Saul had recently died and so there's kind of this conflict where the people don't really know who's in charge and you kind of have this conflict between the house of David and the house of Saul. It says here in verse number one and it came to pass after this that David inquired of the Lord saying shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah and the Lord said on them go up and David said whither shall I go up and he said unto Hebron. Now that's important because David has fled Israel. He had fled to go into the Philistines and he had been there for a little bit of time but now that Saul's dead he doesn't have any reason to stay out of Israel. He doesn't have any reason to stay out of Judah because the only person pursuing him is now dead essentially. So he's kind of like should I go up but what I like about this is he asked God first and this is always an important step in your life is to ask God first every important decision of your life and you would say well how do I ask God first well it's the Bible. Anytime you're gonna make a decision you should go to the Bible first you should go to the scriptures first so that you're making the spiritual decision you're making a decision that's in line with the Word of God. Now of course this process is gonna speed up as you know the Bible better and better and as you know the Word of God more and more. If you're very unfamiliar with the Bible if you've never read any of the scripture it could probably seem pretty daunting how to live your life because I don't know how you would know where to go I don't know how you would know what to do I don't know how you would know who to marry I don't know what you would basically what you do is you just your own compass and of course that's what the world wants you to do Walt Disney World wants you to just follow your heart right just wherever you want to go just whatever desire you have but here's the thing the Bible teaches you're supposed to follow the light of the Word of God he's the lamp under your feet he's the light under your path and so the way that you know where to go is what does the Bible say and of course as we read the Bible and as we study the Bible it becomes more clear what you're supposed to do the decisions that you should make and a lot of times I think after you've actually read the Bible and you've kind of gotten in church the hard part is not knowing what God wants you to do it's doing it it stops becoming hard to know what to do it starts becoming hard to do it because at first I like in salvation or being a Christian is a little bit like getting married you know you get married at first the honeymoon is fun it's easy like liking each other hanging out where you're gonna go to the restaurants all this stuff and and both of you haven't kind of like let go of all your niceties yet you know you know as guys you you'll basically you won't burp and fart all the time and you won't you know basically lay your clothes everywhere and you're still kind of romantic and you know you ladies you know actually kind of you know conceal some things you're always trying to make yourselves look as best as possible and doing all the right things so it's like after you kind of get past the honeymoon phase reality starts to set in and you start becoming the person that you really are a lot of times and it becomes a lot more difficult the same can be with Christianity you know a lot of people that get saved and at first going to church is just so much fun they just like it so much it's not even hard work like it wouldn't matter if church was two hours away three hours away it wouldn't matter if they had to sit in the most uncomfortable black plastic chair wouldn't matter if it was hot like they don't care they're just like this is awesome but then after a year after two years after a little while it starts getting a point where it's not as much fun as it was it's not as cool as it was you know every story in the Bible is not brand new to you anymore in fact you already heard all the stories of the Bible maybe you've already read it several times through right so the newness starts to wear off and it becomes a little bit more difficult but it didn't change how important it is to still follow the Bible's instructions and so you have to kind of realize you know David has known the Lord for a long time David's been faithful unto the Lord for a really long time and he's in a really important transitionary period and I'm sure serving the Lord isn't as cool as maybe it was when he got to slice Goliath's head off I mean that would be pretty fun you know that would have been a pretty cool part of his life but now it's kind of you know it's really important because a lot of people are looking to him and if you serve God for a while you'll end up having people looking up to you you know you'll have maybe your wife you'll have your children you'll have other brothers and sisters in Christ you know maybe you're a soul winning captain you're gonna have other soul winning people that are looking to your example so the more you get plugged in the more that you're serving the more important it becomes the decisions that you make and that you're making spiritual decisions and that where you go other people are gonna follow look wherever David goes a huge host of people are gonna follow him at this point I mean if David says you know what nuts to Judah and Israel I've had enough of this mess I'm going to Egypt a bunch of people would have gone with him to Egypt said hey I'm gonna go to Assyria a bunch of people would have gone to Assyria you know what David's like hey where does God want me to go because God has been my lightning rod God has been my you know instruction he's been where my compass as it were and I'm not gonna stop no matter what happens I'm not gonna stop even when I become the leader and of course isn't it easy once you've kind of arrived to kind of just coast or setback or you know to fall into your own desires and wants but notice even now that he's the leader he's the top dog he's like let's still stick with the Bible let's still stick with the Word of God and you don't want to remove yourself from a dependence on God it's easy when you kind of get to a position where everything's established you know when you start in your career you could you could it'd be easier to depend on God because you're like I don't know where my next paycheck's coming but as you get more established in your career you start making a lot more money you can kind of start thinking like oh yeah I got this or whatever and you stop depending upon God you stop relying upon the Lord to be the one that provides for you and takes care of you and this is just a dangerous place to get we need to be reminded of David's example as he says well what does God want me to do at this point in my life we should always ask that question we should always say all right this is a brand new situation brand new territory of my life what do I do well here's question was God want you to do and you're gonna have new territory in your life you're gonna get married new territory you're gonna have the first kid new territory you're gonna have your tenth kid no it's good maybe some of you new territory right your kids are gonna start having kids new territory okay you may move you may have a new job you may lose you're gonna have people that die in your life you're gonna have new people come into your life you're gonna there's all these scenarios are gonna happen and every time you get into these new territories you're like okay well what did the Bible say because it's really easy for all the young single guys to amen all the marriage sermons because they're not married but when you get married then you need to remind yourself okay what did the Bible say and then you're like okay now I'm gonna do it right when you don't have kids it's like it's really easy to say you would discipline them appropriately but then when you actually have the kids then you have to realize okay I need to actually do that okay so it's important to actually put into practice the right doctrines and always asking God what you should do look at verse 2 so David went up the other and his two wives also Hinnom the Jezreel itis and Abigail Nabal's wife the Carmelite so interestingly David has three wives already he's racking them up pretty quick notice that David doesn't have a problem finding a wife he has a problem staying with one okay number verse 3 and his men that were with him did David bring up every man with his household and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron so notice again what I said where David's going a lot of people are going and not just the men their whole families so David is like responsible for a large group of people and their well-being verse 4 and the men of Judah came and there they anointed David King over the house of Judah and they told David saying that the men of Jabash Gilead were they that buried Saul now what I find really important to understand in this chapter is that David is anointed by the the men of Judah but that's not where he's getting his authority from okay just because a whole bunch of people call you King doesn't make you a king according to God and just because a whole bunch of people call you pastor doesn't make you a pastor according to God either okay so it's important to understand why David is in this position and if it's even legit because there's a lot of people that we're gonna find in the Bible in these parts of this of history where they get a lot of people to call them king pastor whatever priest but they're not legit by God and they end up failing and burning out and basically ruining a whole bunch of people that follow them so if you're gonna follow somebody you don't only want to anoint them King you want to make sure that God anoint them King too you want to make sure that God anoint the pastor that God anointed them priests that God anointed them in these positions that they find themselves in so there's nothing wrong with human confirmation but we want to make sure that it's in line with God's will isn't that the first point that we're kind of talking about what does God actually think well go backwards the first Samuel chapter 15 of course if we talk about God's perfect will the only King over Israel would have been God God never really wanted a human king he desired for the king to only be him and for there to be just a system of judges that would essentially govern their nation however he also told them in the law way before it ever happened he's like you guys are gonna end up not liking this and being dissatisfied and set up a king anyways which is not what he wanted per se that's not his perfect will but it's still within his will in the sense that he said but when you do this I want to point that King okay he still is gonna appoint that King and set up the king whom he wants to be in that position even though that's not exactly what God wanted for their life and so that also helps me understand that sometimes you're not on God's perfect plan but that doesn't mean that God doesn't still have plans for you and that God isn't gonna make important decisions with you in your life isn't gonna bring important people in your life you know just because you've been divorced and remarried doesn't mean that God can't bless that that second marriage is my personal opinion now of course that's wrong of course I'm gonna get up and preach so hard against it that most people be so offended they won't even want to come to I mean I've had divorced remarried people say like am I even welcome at your church and I'm like well you know let's talk about first Corinthians 5 but you know it's not because you've been divorced right obviously not everyone's welcome at church but it's not because someone's been divorced remarried you know and just because someone's been divorced remarried doesn't make them a worse sinner than someone in here that's never been divorced there could be someone that's way worse of a sinner that's never been divorced than someone that has been divorced okay so I say that to say this you may find yourself in an unideal situation something that's not God's absolute perfect will that does not mean God doesn't want to use you that doesn't mean that God doesn't think that you're special and it doesn't mean that God can't anoint you to do great works for him in the future because King Saul is a great guy King David later down the line is a great guy of course we love King David we wouldn't had King David if they'd never rebelled right and you could think of this sometimes people literally commit fornication and what will be a result of it a bastard child okay now here's the thing a bastard child is not within God's will God does not want any bastard children however that doesn't mean that the child is doomed that doesn't mean that God doesn't love that child or want good things for that child okay but you know what I'm not gonna sit here and congratulate people on their bastard children of just like way to go you know good job now I'll treat that child with love and respect and I'll be kind to them or whatever but you know what I'm not gonna go around and congratulate people on bastard children you say why because I want bastard children to stop whereas all this liberal Christianity they praise everything because they say oh God's just love so God just tolerates every single thing and is always gracious and always love it's like have you read the Bible why would even call those children bass I mean did you not realize that bastards weren't even allowed to be within the congregation of the Lord according to the Old Testament law I mean that's a pretty harsh punishment a pretty harsh consequence to that sin you know and God killed many people just for the sin of fornication okay throughout the Bible so we don't want to minimize sin but that doesn't mean that just because someone sin they can't be used by God okay so we want to balance both of those concepts we want to tell people hey that's wicked and that's wrong but God still has a plan B for your life God doesn't play in C X you know Z it's like we need a new alphabet right we need the Portuguese alphabet or something we need to Hindi alphabet Hindi up as like 52 characters or something I mean just keeps going inventing gods and characters in their alphabet so there you go Sam first Samuel chapter 15 look at verse 1 Samuel also said unto Saul the Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people over Israel now therefore harken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord here's an important fact Samuel told him not to the point of King he said don't do this you're rebelling against God but then when they rebel against God and they're gonna do it anyways he's like but let me do it anyways isn't that kind of interesting it's like don't do this but if you do it let me do it okay so then Samuel actually is the one that anointed Saul and we see that Saul was anointed of God Saul was not a self-ordained King in fact he was little in his own sight as the Bible describes him even though he was the tallest man of their entire nation the literal tallest man in the entire nation head and shoulders above all the other Israelites little in his own sight anointed king by Samuel the Prophet the man of God now Saul rebelled against God and so God rejected him as king and wanted to set up a new king now how does God set up a new king does he just grab a bunch of the children of Israel and just they get to pick whoever they want again no he goes back to the same model and get Samuel and Samuel anoints the next king look at first Samuel chapter 1 chapter 16 verse 1 I'm sorry and the Lord said unto Samuel how long wilt thou mourn for Saul seeing I rejected him from reigning over Israel fill thine horn with oil and go and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlemite for I provided me a king among his sons so as soon as God is done with Saul he's like let's go to the next guy and notice we're anointing him as a king I'll skip down to verse 12 and he sent and brought him in talking about Jesse bringing in his son David now he was ruddy meaning that he's red red-faced or red-cheek and with all of a beautiful countenance meaning he was a good-looking guy and goodly to look at look to so he's he's not just got a good face he's like muscular whatever and it says and the Lord said arise anoint him for this is he so David is anointed from God's own direction God is telling Samuel anoint this kid anoint this young man David and it says in verse 13 then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the Spirit of Lord came upon David from that day forward so Samuel rose up and went to Rhema so when the children of Judah or the children of Israel which you have to understand at this time in the Bible there ends up becoming a delineation where you kind of have Israel is kind of like everybody but Judah and Judah is just the one tribe but if they're gonna pick a king what should they do shouldn't they inquire of God like who should be the king and then if they're gonna pick a king don't they want the guy that God picked not just whoever they pick or whoever they want that makes perfect sense now go back to second Samuel chapter number two let's read a little bit further we see that the children of Judah selected David what about the other tribes what did they do well second Samuel chapter 2 look at verse number 5 and David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh Gilead and said unto them blessed be ye of the Lord they have showed this kindness unto your Lord even unto Saul and have buried him and now the Lord show kindness and truth unto you and I also will require you this kindness because you have done this thing therefore now let your hands be strengthened and be valiant for your master Saul is dead and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them but Abner the son of Nur captain of Saul's host took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanam and made him king over Gilead and over the Asherites and over Jezreel and over Ephraim and over Benjamin and over all Israel and Ish-bosheth Saul's son was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel and reign two years but the house of Judah followed David so we see a divide here and in kind of in this context David is trying to persuade those of Jabesh Gilead they're saying like you guys need to pick like you guys should be strong and valiant and stick with me because I've been anointed by the children of Judah Saul's dead so you don't have a legitimate option here he's done and what happens though he's like but there's this rebellion there's this Ish-bosheth which is of the lineage of Saul but who anointed Ish-bosheth? Abner now here's the thing when did Abner get the privilege to anoint the next king it's kind of like his Patsy it's kind of like his Biden that he's just putting into office that nobody really voted for nobody really wanted we don't even know if he can make complete sentences or whatever but Abner is just like hey let's follow Ish-bosheth and notice he makes him king over everybody else over all Israel but of course here's the thing Israel didn't have to accept that but obviously they did obviously they just kind of hook line and sinker they just kind of like your sheep in the sense and they're just like oh that's the next guy in charge sure whatever you know we don't want to look into it it kind of reminds me of America it's like we just have this these fraud just come into office and it's like there's a lot of weird stuff going on it's just like whatever I got my alcohol I got my booze I got my COVID mask I'm good tell me how to wear it and where to wear it and where to go and you know can I watch the football game you know it's like you can but do you really want to follow this guy do you really want to go you want to follow this guy off a cliff I mean where are you gonna go and look there's gonna be consequences to who you follow who you're gonna follow you're gonna follow David are you gonna follow Ish-bosheth well here's the thing when did God anoint Ish-bosheth never not at any point in time now from a human perspective was everybody there when Samuel anointed David or was it just Samuel and his fam and David's family basically so oh how do we know you know but here's the thing if you consult the scriptures you can figure it out how about will he go ask Samuel you know that obviously is dead now but I'm saying like you know why don't we inquire and figure out like what was the plan here what would God want us to do you know we're just gonna let some military leader just some random person that was powerful you know and he would say well why not Ish-bosheth he's a son of Saul but was he anointed of God you know it's like a lot of churches they'll they'll start good they'll have their pastor you know he was sent out by a church and he's pastoring the church but he's got to retire he dies or something and they're like who's gonna be the next pastor why not his son and they'll just bring in junior to be the next pastor but his thing no one anointed him no one picked him and here's the thing why would I just follow the guy's son just because he's son you know that doesn't make you anointed as a pastor in the New Testament now in the Old Testament Levitical priesthood it was kind of a patriarchal system where the priests are basically a direct lineage and that's fine but that's because that's how God ordained it so they are anointed of God in that essence but from a pastor perspective or from a king perspective we don't see such a thing where they need to be anointed by God or God has to appoint them now go if you had to Hebrews chapter 5 this is important when you think about it Hebrews chapter number 5 and look at verse number 1 the Bible says for every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men and things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way for that he himself also his compass with infirmity and by reason hereof he ought as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins so it's saying there's a high priest who's ordained of God but he's ordained to help men like he's basically he's over men doing services for men offering sacrifices for men and he also has to offer sacrifices for himself look at verse 4 and no man taketh this honor unto himself meaning what the guy that God appoints did not choose to do that on his own he's not self-willed he didn't say I get to do that I decided I'm gonna do that it's of me the Bible says no man taketh his honor on himself but let me tell you something almost every single Baptist Church and America right now you know what they do they get up and they preach this really fire message about needing pastors and preachers and they say who's gonna surrender to the call right now and here's the thing who ends up coming down the line the person that decided on the road God wants me to be a pastor God called me to be a pastor God called me to be a missionary God called me to be an evangelist and here's the thing oh he really what's his number when did he call how did that even work well I was just sitting there and I felt like I really wanted to do it it's cool you know I go to church and I'd rather be up front than sitting back in the back row and it's like yeah but that's not really how the Bible works is it the Bible teaches that the people that are appointed are supposed to be appointed that's why it's called an appointment that's why it's called ordained that's why it's called just now of course the Bible says that if a man have a desire if a man desire the office of a bishop he desire at the good work there's nothing wrong with wanting to go in the ministry there's nothing wrong with being wanting to be a pastor there's nothing wrong with wanting to do these works but you know what you need someone else to tell you that's what the Bible clearly teaches it clearly illustrates for every office for every position of God this only makes sense just like every company in America you know what I never show up and say I've decided I was gonna work for you today they're like what do you mean well I just you know I got the call and they're like who called you myself I God it's like that doesn't work in the business place they're like which manager did you speak to you know which boss called you and it's like none it's like okay bye how do you get employed at any company in America they call you and if you go to the interview and they say we'll call you later it's like you didn't get hired because they're not gonna call you later you know don't call us we'll call you you know and here's the thing working for God is the same way don't call us we'll call you okay but there's plenty people email me and they're like I'm a really good soul winner and you know it's just working in this world just so wicked it's just so evil I just can't stand I think I'd be better as a soul winner would you hire me as a full-time soul winner I'm thinking like I don't even know your name I don't even know you from Adam why would I then hire you like why did you decide that you've already been this is great soul winner that we can't live without that you're just so much more holy and righteous than every other person that you can't even stand the world it's just so bad it's interesting how Jesus could come in the world and eat among sinners but you're so holy and just so righteous you can't yeah it's like why don't you just wait to be called by God why don't you wait to be appointed by God look at it says in verse five so also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest but he that said in them thou art my son today have I begotten thee and look all the people that we know on a personal level they just end up doing these self appointments always turn out to be bozos don't they they always seem to be freaks and weirdos and they have all kinds of weird doctrine why because you already started wrong you didn't say the Bible is my final authority you said I'm my final authority and here's the thing when you're your final authority who's to stop you from believing any weird doctrine you know you you want a guy that says I just want to do what the Bible says as the starting point and then later go into this position and you know I also don't want Abner to call me because notice it's not just like oh well this person called me so that must mean I'm called of God yeah but is it Abner or is it Samuel okay because you know I don't really want to go in the ministry because Abner told me to go in the ministry I don't want to go in the ministry if just a bunch of Randall bozos say hey be our priest we're Dan we're gonna go up into the tribe of Dan we need a priest you want to come be our priest Jonathan he should have said no you know hey Micah needs a priest no Micah doesn't get to assign priests Abner doesn't get to sign priests and look I don't want one of these bozos to tell me to be a priest I want Samuel to tell me to be a priest I want Samuel to say be the king I want Samuel to tell me what to do you know and you think about Saul Saul was going out looking for oxen right and kind of could be a picture of like what a pastor does he's going looking for the lost he's doing the work of the Lord you know before they can't figure it out so he's like let's see what the Prophet has to say let's see what the man of God has to say first and he'll help us figure out what to do and then he goes and Samuel tells him he's gonna be king Sam was the one that appoints him Sam was the one that gives him the direction for his life and you know there's all these people they want to be these like YouTube evangelists they want to be like YouTube prophets they want to be these like parachurch ministries and here's the thing why did they go find a Samuel to go tell them what to do what why did you just get to decide to go and be your own prophet priest and king why didn't you just go submit yourself to the local church and go and find the same oh because every Samuels bad that's what they'll say it's like that's that's baloney I don't even believe that I went to an old IV Church and you know old IV whatever we call it I went to an independent fundamental Baptist Church and I asked the pastor there I said hey would you train me to be a pastor and you know what he said yes and then he said but I'm retiring so you need to ask the next guy I was like okay so then I go and I asked the next guy I say hey I don't really think Bible College is the best option I want to serve in the local church would you train me a pastor and he said yes they didn't say no they didn't say I would never do that but of course you know going there it wasn't really exactly the training that I was looking for it wasn't really moving anywhere and the guy wasn't even preaching anymore so I just thought you know what if I'm serious about this I'm gonna go somewhere else I'm gonna go find Samuel and I'm gonna go serve there and if he thinks it's gonna work then let's do it right so you go find a Samuel but you know what if Samuel said hey just go you know clean the bleachers I would have been like okay let's go clean the bleachers if he said hey it's not you buddy it's like okay that no problem how can I help the local church not like well if he said no I'm gonna go get daddy to ordain me oh is that oh yeah Tyler Baker right the only person that 'll ding you is your dad that's a problem oh well like I couldn't get anybody ordained me so I just got a few people off the street to ordain me Adam Fanon okay and they don't even go to that church anymore isn't interesting it's like all the people that like ordain you like half of them don't even go to your church anymore right how does that work I mean can I just basically like hand out a flyer saying like church service with free pizza and everybody shows up and be like hey I just want to know this is an ordination service please ordain me is that how you become a pass or do you just mail in the certificate online pastor right I mean there's so many people you run into so many people there's I'm a pastor and you're like oh really pastor of what there's a stupid tick-tock personality this guy pastor from okay he was he made a bunch of videos against me and I was like okay let's figure out what this guy's church is or whatever he doesn't have a church he literally just travels to other churches and just preach it he's a guest preacher but you know what he's against church and I was thinking like how ironic is this it's like what church would want to invite a guy that's against church into their church to preach anything you know this self-ordained guy who's the pastor from okay yet how many people are following these bozos losers and idiots there is so many churches in America where some guy basically you know he's oh God just called me to be a pastor God called me to be a minister God called me to start doing retreats in the wilderness where we just stare at the sky you know God just called me to do X Y & Z and it's just like when did he call you I don't even care if Abner came up and told you that when did Samuel come and tell you to do anything and you know what there's a reason why we have so much apostasy in America today it's because people aren't following David they're following ishbo chef they're following a bunch of ishbo chefs that have been self-appointed or appointed by an Abner with with strange ideas of course Abner couldn't appoint himself because nobody would have been like why is Abner in charge he had to go and grab somebody like a Biden you know candidate it's like why do they put Biden because they're like he's the most legit looking on the surface I guess not here just outside I guess you know he's old and white or something like that they're racist too okay so of course the party that loves the black people and loves women and this is for all the underdog they put in a rich white tall guy you know as their their leader who cares so much about the people that have been slighted you know it's a joke it's a joke ishbo chef is a joke my friend but you know what there's a lot of people that fall in fact think about the numbers here we have Judah following David and then we have literally everyone else following ishbo chef think about that and look that is how America is today where it's like very few people go to the right church most people are going to an ishbo chef's church and you're just thinking like where did this guy come from well we're a group of people that needed a pastor and we just called this guy and we made him our pastor that is literally the history of many churches if you want to know where the non-denom churches are coming from and that's the big this is the big chunk of these type of churches okay non-denom churches non-denom churches are coming from church splits or they're coming from like a like a complete just like trash can and it's kind of similar to a church split but not exactly church split would be like if half the congregation just decide hey Dylan's our pastor and we're leaving and we're gonna call it Dylan Dylan Oz Baptist Church or whatever okay that's how a lot of these non-denom churches get started there's just half the church just walks out the door and it's usually over a specific doctrine like um speaking in tongues where literally half the congregation you know and their little cell groups started doing all this weird speaking in tongues junk because they weren't even saved and then they just all leave because the other side of the church is like that's weird and y'all are bizarre okay so that's how a lot of these non-denom churches get started the other thing is you'll have a guy get like thrown out or some kind of a heretic or some kind of a weird heresy like denying the Trinity and that guy's tossed out and then he ends up like drawing a lot of people out of the church with him and then it ends up becoming one of these type of churches and look you look up any of these big non-denom churches that's usually how they started the church that I grew up in it's called Trinity Fellowship Church it's in Amarillo Texas it's the largest church I believe in that area for sure if not it's definitely second but they would run 10,000 people they helped found Gateway which is the largest church in this area arguably the largest church in America maybe the world I don't know it depends on how you really you know calculate the metrics on this thing but when we're talking about two of the largest churches in the world okay and you want to know how Trinity Fellowship started because interesting I started going to this men's group and they ended up just the the main guy ended up just telling me the whole history and I was so horrified I was thinking like why would you have repeated that out loud but there was a church called Paramount Church wasn't a Baptist Church was just kind of like I don't know what it was maybe a former Baptist Church or maybe a Presbyterian I think it was a Presbyterian Church or something like that but essentially they started doing life groups which life groups means they get all they let everybody just take people their homes they do little private Bible studies or whatever and this one small group of people started exploring speaking in tongues and these giftings and whatever okay well they ended up circling up to the pastor that there was this heresy and his church and so he had a church meeting where he said everyone in this room has to sign this doctrinal statement right here saying that speaking in tongues is a false doctrine or you're thrown out of the church and so like 30 people left the church is like several hundred people 30 people leave the church and they start their own little church called Trinity Fellowship Church that's how it started and they didn't have a pastor so then they started interviewing candidates and then they just called their own pastor anointed their own pastor he quickly went away and then they brought in the next guy Jimmy Evans who was an appliance salesman who said that he had a vision from God that he was gonna be a pastor one day and then he became their pastor and he he always told the story because it my whole life I went to the church I was hearing the stories like he said he was like standing and he's looking at himself from like the back like he's looking at himself like in the back like about standing behind myself like preaching to this huge crowd of people and he would tell the story for decades well eventually I heard he went to Gateway and he said today that vision has been fulfilled in your ears he said I just saw that vision today with me standing here and preaching to this giant crowd here Gateway and I'm thinking like what demon gave you that vision buddy ish posha and think they're literally thousands and thousands of people following these churches following these men I mean Jimmy Evans has one of the most popular ministries in the world called marriage today he's on television Robert Morris has been on television these guys are the most popular preachers ever and you know it's really funny sorry I'm going on a tangent but it works well with the sermon okay Robert Morris ended up buying a Bible College from Jack Hayford Jack Hayford had a Bible College in California I probably don't even know any of these people but Jack Hayford's a really popular like charismatic preacher and he wrote the song there's a song that I like I actually like the song but I won't sing it you know for our church or whatever what's the name of that song I'm gonna think of it a minute okay but he wrote some popular hymns majesty maybe you've heard the majesty worship his majesty who's heard that song okay a lot of people alright Jack Hayford wrote that song he's real famous for that he had a Bible College well Robert Morris bought it and moved it from California everything California's moving to Texas he moved it here to Gateway and then they renamed it to King's University King's University so they have a King's University here in Gateway that they bought and guess what King's University decided to do they decided to give Robert Morris an honorary doctorate degree so now it's doctor Robert Morris you know the guy that didn't even go to college is now a doctor and then of course they decided to give another honorary doctorate to none other than Jimmy Evans the pastor from Trinity Palace so they're both doctors you know doctors of theology and doctors masters of the universe or whatever they want to call themselves right I mean just super grandiose title and it's like talk about self-appointment I mean you think where when will the self-appointment stop with these guys I just get to be this pastor and I get to start whatever I want and look they're starting so many churches because they have satellite churches everywhere there's these little gateways everywhere there's a gateway next to you it's like Starbucks or something I guarantee just look up just type gateway it'll be one like within 15 minutes of your house it's like why do I have to drive to steadfast there's a gateway 15 minutes away well look you can follow Ishmael Sheth even from home just watch watch it online just make sure you tie that's the only thing they really care about just make sure you give them money and lots and lots of money and you'll be in the club but here's the thing why would I want to follow Ishmael Sheth off of a cliff when I got David as an option now go if you would to 2nd Timothy chapter 1 for a second go to the right in your Bible or left I'm sorry 2nd Timothy chapter the number 1 and look at verse number 11 look at the Apostle Paul how he is describing himself he says we're on to I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles now there's a thing it's not like only pastors are the only appointments in the Bible look many men of God are appointed to do all kinds of works but here's the thing let someone appoint you you know whenever we ask someone to preach a sermon that guy has been appointed a teacher of the congregation you know what no one gets to just decide to do that it's like hey I decide I'm preaching the Sunday morning sermon no you didn't okay you know and it's weird how there's all these people they just want to do their own thing they want to be their own man they want to be their own little you know club or whatever rather than submitting themselves look the Bible is all about submission it has nothing to do with self will everything that self will is coming from the devil all of it every aspect of Christianity is submission and you say like oh well you men you don't have to submit to your wives yeah but I have to submit to God and I have to submit to local church and I submit my boss at work you know there's a lot of submission hey I even submit to the local government talk about a bad boss talk about someone I want to submit to hey I don't like tax season just as much as the next guy but you know what we're supposed to submit ourselves we're supposed to submit under the the powers that are ordained of God and notice he said all the powers were ordained of God he didn't say hey do whatever you want now of course we understand that some people set themselves against God's will but even when it's against God's will he's still allowing them to be in that position and it's still an appointment from God and we're supposed to submit ourselves and you know what if you do the right thing and you submit yourself God will elevate you in due time and you say well why am I not getting elevated well good God doesn't want you to be elevated it's that clear you know it took a while for David to get that point you know when you try to point yourself when you try to be a big man probably a big show you can you can get a following it's not like you can't get a following and some people typically will look at the following and act like that's that's an approval of God like well I'm just gonna try it and if I get a bunch of people to follow me then I'll know it's of God that okay Joseph Smith okay Muhammad okay Pope I mean look just because you have followers doesn't mean it's real doesn't mean it's sincere I mean you can get all kinds of freaks will follow a loser I mean there's people that voted for Biden they're all dead but they voted for him you know that's impressive when you get dead people to vote for you okay go back to second Samus chapter number two and you know what it makes me think of when I think about Israel and Judah is it makes me think of the fake Christians and the real Christians in this world we have a bunch of fake Christians following ish Bosheth in America and we have a bunch of real Christians following Judah and you say like oh are you following you know David or whatever it's like because that's the guy that God picked why are you following ish Bosheth that's a better question well he's the he's the son of the king you know he should he should be the guy or I picked him when does when did you get to pick the next prophet of God I mean how presumptuous are you how much power and authority you think you have when you get to do that I mean if you thinking if you believe in congregation ordination I mean think about how lofty and prideful you are about yourself I I you know when they think about presidential elections I don't agree with any of it but you know it's like when you think about voting it's like why would you ever want an uneducated voter base you know it used to be you had to be landowning you had to be able to read and write and of course they're like oh these are only rules to keep slaves down well it may have been but it doesn't sound like they were bad rules either though like do we really want a bunch of people that don't own any property to make a bunch of rules about a place where everybody actually owns property do you really want people to vote when they can't even read they can't even write I mean I think you should at least have to pass some kind of a competency test and you should be you know they should basically ask questions that you can't even tell what person to be voting for based on the questions and if it doesn't align with who you're voting your votes rejected you know if they like they're like oh I would never want to do that or this or that it's like okay well you're not Democrat it's like you cannot vote for them then it's like do you worship Satan it's like no do you want to kill babies no it's like okay I mean it's like then why are you voting Democrat you know it doesn't even make any kind of sense so well how presumptuous is it you're like I'm not a pastor I know nothing about the Bible I've never read it but I should get to pick who's gonna be the next one it's like what I mean that's how a lot of churches operate every single member gets to vote on all the positions in the church the next pastor youth pastor minister whoever that man woman boy child I mean basically it's like 18 and up I mean they all get a vote and it's gonna be the next pastor it's like half these people have never even cut open their Bible this year and they're gonna tell us who the next man of God is like where did you see that in the Bible I never saw that you know except for in a few really really bad examples look at verse number 11 now let me make sure I covered I think yeah verse number 11 and at and the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months says in Abner the son of Nur and the servants of Ishmael said the son of Saul went out from an Aham to Gibeon and Job the son of Zoriah and the servants of Saul went out and met together by the pool of Gibeon and they sat down the one on the one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool and Abner said to Job let the young men now rise and play before us and Job said let them arise look at how these generals act about their men hey you guys gonna kill each other just go out and have some fun you know it's sick how this world is you know throughout history men have been like that generals been like you have the gladiator games right where they literally put people in to fight to death and even in this world today bloodsport or they have these activities where they just literally are letting people kill each other and they just think it's cool or they think it's fun or something like that I don't know if these guys thought it was that fun when they died they probably didn't even realize what they were doing they're just following their leader in a battle and he's like hey go fight these guys it's like okay and then they all die look at the consequences to following this kind of lunacy okay and obviously Joab's not in the right on this one either now notice who said it though Abner said to Joab let the young men now rise and play before us so Abner just picks a random ishbo chef to be the king and then he's just like hey and let's just start killing people let's just start fighting each other let's just start killing one another it's like that's your Republican I mean the Republicans they love playing war it's a game to them it's just like Xbox or something like that I mean they have no I mean if you've seen some of the the leaders of the Republican Party going over into foreign countries going in Ukraine who what's the stupid guy Lindsey Graham going over into Ukraine and he's just basically just playing with Ukrainians just like hey we support you guys go over there kick some Russian but you know he's just basically just assigning them to go die and just take as many Russians out as possible and why does he care okay Lindsey why don't you leave the charge then buddy why don't you strap on you know machine gun and let's go lead out the charge why don't you go lead the troops buddy you know actually means something when you're out there on the battlefield it was a lot easier to follow David when he killed Goliath and he's leading the charge that makes sense but when they're sitting back in a lawn chair and like hey let's go let's play them in that's wicked that's evil you know it's one thing to go to war when the enemy's on your doorstep right Goliath's knocking on the door it's like it's time to go to war you know why do I need to go to some other foreign country go to some other foreign nation or create some kind of a civil war you know it's just so they can profit off of it what is Abner he's all in for the profit right let's just you know set up my king and I'll be in charge and he's just basically the man behind the curtain says in verse 15 then there rose and went over by number 12 Benjamin which pertained to Ishmael said the son of Saul and 12 the servants of David and they caught everyone as fellow by the head and thrust his sword in his fellow side so they fell down together wherefore that place is called Hellkath-hazurim which is in Gibeon and there was a very sore battle that day and Abner was beaten in the men of Israel before the servants of David and there were three sons of Zoriah there Joab and Abishai and Asahel and Asahel was light as a foot as a wild row and Asahel pursued after Abner and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner then Abner looked behind him and said art thou as hell and he answered I am and Abner said to him turn thee aside to thy right hand or thy left and lay thee hold on one of the young men and take thee as armor but Asahel would not turn aside from following of him and Abner said again to Asahel turn thee aside from following me wherefore should I smite thee to the ground how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother now you know what's funny to me about this because I'm always wondering like why does Abner care so much about seeing Joab again because aren't they like enemies or whatever but if you actually understand Abner and Joab's relationship they're not enemies in fact Abner wants to be buddies this is like the Republicans and the Democrats where they pretend like they're enemies but they're really not and they just cause all this fight and contention just for their own profit their own benefit but if he kills Asahel he knows for sure Joab's not gonna want to play that game anymore it's kind of crossing that boundary so of course these Republicans these Democrats they basically they're fighting each other in all fairness but they would never pull out the real blows they would never be like this guy's actually a pedophile you know because then the other guy would be like well he is too you know it's like they're not gonna bring out all the real cards on the table they just bring out you know this guy didn't vote for the right bill and this guy's a hypocrite and he's like this guy's a hypocrite and he's they just kind of keep it light so they can keep fighting but think about it if Joab was your sworn enemy and Judah was your sworn enemy why would you have a problem killing one of their top guys Asahel you wouldn't have a problem but he knows there's gonna be a problem that he can't keep profiting from war when he crosses that line he knows that he's gonna ruin the treaty kind of as it were between them and that Joab's no longer going to play anymore because it's gonna become real so he doesn't want to have to kill him but he gives good advice to Asahel and I think there's a spiritual picture that we can take from this Asahel's pursuing Abner but notice he doesn't have something he doesn't have armor and Abner's telling him to hey get some armor before you come after me and here's the thing some people are pursuing after the enemy without armor on and you say what what armor well the Bible teaches about armor in Ephesians chapter number six go there keep your finger go to Ephesians six real quick but think about this Asahel's literally the fastest warrior isn't that a great attribute I mean speed is a very important attribute in war especially in this kind of a hand-to-hand combat where they're on the ground so he has a great opportunity here he has great potential but because he doesn't do things right he makes himself vulnerable to the enemy's attacks and look at Ephesians chapter 6 look at verse 13 wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore having your loins girt about truth and having on the breastplate I'm sorry breastplate of righteousness so according the Bible one of the pieces of armor that's really important is a breastplate of righteousness now here's what you have to understand the helmet is salvation so when we talk about the breastplate of righteousness we're not talking about the imputed righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ we're talking about your own righteousness and here's the thing it's important to have your own righteousness so that the devil will not destroy you early hey I'm so glad you want to pursue after the enemy I'm so glad you want to do great works for God but don't be like an as a hail and do without any righteousness do without any holiness because you know what the devil will take your wicked sins and use them against you to destroy you just like Abner here is warning him and if you go back go back to second Samuel chapter 2 look at verse 23 how be it he refused to turn aside wherefore Abner with behind her end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib that the spear came out behind him and he fell down there and died in the same place and it came to pass that as many as came to the place where as well fell down and died stood still so notice as well dies and this is sad and I've honestly seen this where there's young men or family men doesn't matter they are really excited to serve God and they start going soul-winning they get real zealous but you know what they don't actually start following all the commandments though they don't actually take church serious they don't take Bible reading serious they don't take sin seriously and then they end up letting some sin come in their life that totally stops them from doing all the stuff that they were originally doing now they're not soul-winning now they're not doing that which is right and some people say why do I need to go to a church where the pastor is gonna yell at me for an hour why can't I just go so winning on my own I'll start my own little soul-winning ministry and just run I'm faster than they are I can do it quicker than they can why do I have to go with a partner why do we have to take lunch breaks you know I mean you have these like over the zealous over the top type people that think that they're just gonna chase Abner and they're gonna kill Abner by themselves but they didn't actually put a breastplate of righteousness on they're not taking the whole armor of God they're just running them with a sword and here's the thing the devil has a spear it's longer than a sword what if he'd had a breastplate on he would have nicked it and he would have it wouldn't matter then they would have gotten a tangle and then maybe as the hell would actually been able to win the battle and how presumptuous is it how prideful is it for you to go and fight Abner by yourself Abner's a serious foe here Abner's not joking around Abner's not just some weak little vessel here and of course you know it makes me also think of the Republican Party hey look the Democrats need to be pursued and the Democrats need to be destroyed but you know what the Republicans are gonna fail because they don't have a bless a breastplate of righteousness they're wicked themselves and they're gonna destroy themselves because they don't have any real standards they don't have any real I you know convictions they don't have a word of God to stand on churches are gonna do the same thing churches pursuing the lost without a breastplate of righteousness your modern evangelical churches today doing anything and everything to reach people but because they don't actually have any holiness of righteousness they're not reaching anybody and destroying themselves why do you think there's so many evangelical churches where the pastor's committing adultery getting divorced you know there's predators and pedophiles come in their churches and all this weird stuff and what happens it completely runs the church many times you know steadfast Baptist Church could have been an example like that but praise God God decided to you know rescue a bunch of people that had a good heart towards him but honestly there could be think about it there's nothing stopping a really good church from just completely being destroyed right now by one man's failure I mean and that happens a lot that happens very often I mean sometimes there's not a good option and and there's a complete destruction there's a complete setback as I literally died you know that's why it's important to have righteousness along with your sword you know along with your fighting ability oh I'm really good you know a little folly can ruin your entire reputation as Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 says all the good works you did all the wonderful things you did you know it starts becoming sour and it's just like who cares about all that remember what you did then remember the last thing you did goviewood back to second Samuel chapter 2 and look at verse number 24 Joab also an Abishai pursued after Abner and the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Amah that lieth before Gaia by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon children Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner and became one troop and stood on the top of an hill then Abner called to Joab and said shall the sword devour forever knowest thou not that it'll be bitterness in the latter end how long shall it be then ere thou bid the people returned from following their brother Joab says God liveth unless thou hadst spoken surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother so Joab blow it trumpet and all the people stood still and pursued after Israel no more neither fought they anymore now Abner gives job some good advice here he's like look we're brethren at the end of the day there's no point and you destroying all of us because after the battle you'll kind of be like sad that all of us are dead and that's true and and here's the thing there's gonna be people that we wrestle with a little bit or that we fight with a little bit that are actually our brethren and we should never have the goal to just destroy them to wipe them out you know there's been preachers that I preached against some of the doctrines or some of the decisions they've made or some of the behavior that they've had but I still think they're saved and I don't want them to be destroyed I don't want their church to be destroyed I don't want the work of God to cease you know but the end of the day sometimes we have to point out problems when there's problems and say you should probably stop following this guy hey stop following Abner stop following Ishmael chef I don't want you to die but I do want you to stop following these losers you know and so sometimes you have to point out the guy and be like this guy's it's not a good guy to follow but I still want you to go to church I still want you to get plugged in the soul I still want to do the right thing just not with him you know he's got serious problems he's got serious issues you know stay away from Saul you know maybe reference that sermon and we see that Joab stops them with the blowing of the trumpet which pictures preaching you know you get people to follow you preach the Word of God okay says in verse 29 and Abner has been walked all that night through the plane and passed over Jordan went through all Bithron and they came to Mahanaim and Joab returned from following Abner and when he had gathered all the people together their lack of David's servants 19 men and Azael but the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin and of Abner's men so that three hundred and threescore men died and they took up Azael and buried him in the sepulchre of his father which was in Bethlehem and Joab and his men went all night and they came to Hebron at the break at break of day now this is how I want to just conclude is if you think about the numbers here 20 men of Judah die approximately and 360 men of Israel notice that Israel is more severely punished than Judah why because they're following Ishmael chef and think about all the loss you know the loss here on Israel side is because they're following Ishmael chef they should have never followed Ishmael chef Azael's loss is because he's not pursuing Abner in righteousness is the symbol right he in through pride and through arrogance he he's not humbling himself he's not seeking the armor he's presumptuous and we also have the consequence of Joab and Abner fighting each other letting the men play you know it's the common denominator in all of these losses none of them had anything to do with what God said should you have followed Ishmael chef no there's 360 right the the few men that died the 12 on each side with the playing that wasn't something that God told Joab or Abner to do to kill their brethren when did the Bible say for them to kill each other never to go play when did it tell you know Azael to go and pursue after Abner the way that he did it didn't and notice it cost all of them their lives why because you cannot resist God's will if God appoints David I don't care how many people are following Ishmael chef it's gonna fail and David's gonna prevail and you know what I don't care how big your parachurch ministry is it's gonna fail but the church is gonna prevail and you know it's better just get on God's program and stop resisting his wheel and get on his program and stop saying I'm gonna do my own thing and follow Ishmael chef or follow Joab follow Abner or follow as a hail no no no let's follow David and who does David picture Jesus who in this chapter did anything that David said I mean all the people that did what David said and just following the Hebron they're fine all the people that are going with Joab and Abner and all its death destruction confusion it makes no sense it's bitter anyways because they killed their own brother you know civil war is a bitter war no one likes the Civil War no one wants to be in a fight with their own brethren with their own family member and you know when God ordained someone they're gonna be victorious not the guy that self appoints himself you know and it's important that we always do things the right way no matter how unpopular no matter how difficult it seems it's always better to do things the right way even if it seems slower even if it seems more difficult even it seems less popular because you're gonna be blessed by God hey you know what I'd rather do things slower and God's way than do them faster or the wrong way like as a held in it's closing prayer thank Heavenly Father for giving us this great chapter and giving us great reminders of the importance of trusting the Bible and not ourselves I pray that we wouldn't be so prideful and arrogant to think that we should that we should make all these decisions and decide all these things but rather we would just accept the appointments and the ordinations that you've already given us that we would look to your will over our own I pray that you would just fill us with your Holy Spirit that we would seek your will in all areas of our life and that we wouldn't be hasty to pursue without righteousness and in Jesus name we pray amen