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Thank you very much. Thank you. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Please take your seats. Take your seats and turn to hymn number 404. Song number 404, When the Battle's Over. Song number 404, When the Battle's Over. Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cause or bludge to speak His name? And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown. We shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Must I be carried to the skies on flurry beds of ease? While others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas? And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Sure, I must fight if I would reign and increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil and door, the pain supported by Thy word. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Amen. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for the opportunity to be in church. Gather tonight, Lord, in the middle of the week on a Wednesday. Lord, we pray that you bless people here tonight and may sacrifice the drive for all the traffic. We pray that you bless tonight the preaching that we hear, that we would open our hearts to the message. We will walk better Christians. Lord, we pray that you protect us on our way back home. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Turn to your hymnals. Turn your hymnals to 187. 187, Jesus Loves Me. Song number 187, Jesus Loves Me. Jesus Loves Me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones do Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, He who died. Heaven's gate to open wide. He will wash away my sin. Let His little child come in. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, He will stay close beside me all the way. Thou hast bled and died for me. I will henceforth live for thee. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Good evening, thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you need a bulletin, you can lift up your hand nice and high. Hopefully our ushers can get you a bulletin if you need one. On the front we have our Bible Memory passage, John 1 verse 43. And also on the inside we have our service and soul winning times, as well as our church stats. Is there any soul winning for the past few days that didn't happen to get reported, that needs to get reported? Okay, keep reporting that to your soul winning captains and leaders. I just want to make sure to gather any extra soul winning as well. Also on the right we have our list of expecting ladies. Please continue to pray for all of them. And then we have our prayer list. We also have several people kind of had recently sent in some prayer requests. So I'm going to try and get a few of those added. But we have the Negara family continue to pray for their health. Ms. Lucy's mother's tumors, brother Cameron Hall's leg. Ms. Holder's husband's visa. Brother Pendleton for brain cancer. The Zermano's friends Cody and Isaac's salvation. Brother Juan Carrasco's baby Leilani's kidney's health. Brother Goodwin, his brother-in-law's court case. Also he said that his wife was struggling with some lung health. And if we would be in prayer for her as well. Brother Conley was asking for prayer for his family, John and Earl Bond's health. And we also had brother Hernandez asking for prayer for safety during his night shift. Brother Cardona for her health and recovery. And for Benjamin. We see them today here. That's great to see you guys back in church this evening. We have the Naeems were asking for prayer for John and Leila for their health. Brother Garcia was asking for his friend Carlos' health. Also, brother Oz was also in need of prayer for his health. We have brother Jimmy Stewart was also fighting a cold. It seems like everyone's catching a cold. Like this massive cold thing going around or something. So just FYI. Also, Ms. Melissa Robertson had a friend who was a horrible victim of abuse. She was just basically asking if we would be in prayer for her. And possibly, she's also taken up some donations for her friend. Just like random clothing and food items and stuff like that. So if you have any interest in helping her friend, you can just reach out to Brian or Melissa Robertson on that. And then also, Marcel had texted me and said that Mateo was also having some cold issues. I think they're taking him to the hospital. So it seems like everybody's just getting hit hard with a cold recently. So just we'll definitely be in prayer for all of them. Let's go ahead and say a quick word of prayer as a church family this evening. Thank you Heavenly Father for our church. Thank you so much for giving us an opportunity to be meeting together this evening. And to be able to hear the word of God being preached. I pray that you would just bless our church family right now that's struggling with all kinds of health concerns. Please just give people just strength right now. Please give them favor. Please just bring healing for our various church members. We have so many church members that need health right now. They need healing. I pray that you would also just bless our church families with their various requests. And their needs for Friends of Salvation. And for their relationships. And I just pray that you would just help our church to be a bright and shining light in this very dark world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. On the back we have several events. On September 24th we have the Shreveport, Louisiana Soul Winning Marathon. And so I again really encourage you if you can participate. That's a great event. The following Sunday, just to keep you in spirits of soul winning, we got Sunday Sundays. So that's going to be a great Sunday. We have our Heritage of the Lord Conference, October 6th through the 8th. And I really think this is going to be a big success. We also have the Arlington Soul Winning Blitz, October 29th. October 31st is our Texas Chili Cook Off. Emphasis on the word Texas. And what that means is it's legit chili. So there are other places that recognize this. Good institutions like Outback. Now if you go to Outback, they have chili. And they'll say right on the menu, no beans. Because they actually know what's right and good. And so usually Outback is solid on its doctrine. It's usually better than like a Southern Baptist church. It's so much better. But it is going to be a Texas Chili Cook Off. No beans or fillers. Because here's the thing, once you start adding beans, then you start adding like corn and rice and just all kinds of weird stuff. Ask Ben, he'll tell you all the things he puts in his chili. And we just don't want to go down that road of just adding a little leaven, leaven it the whole lump. Once you start putting anything in the chili. And see, I have to judge the chili. So I don't want all those fillers that you thought of and were creative with. I just want the meat. So the strong meat of the word. So we're going to have a lot of fun. I think that's a Monday. Is that right? It's a Monday. So that'll be fun. Also November 5th, we have our music recital. November 10th through the 12th is our Matamoros soul winning trip. And it's cool. People have been reaching out to me saying that they're going to come to our conference and to our Matamoros soul winning trip. So we have people that are listening and paying attention. November 23rd, Thanksgiving dessert fellowship and December 2nd are ladies Christmas party. I found out today that I like my Facebook was just like nuked or whatever. And so was my wife's. And so if you used to try to reach me or contact me on that platform, just know that I will not respond to you. And it's not because I don't want to. It's because I can't. So just FYI. Also, I think our groups are gone basically just because like I don't I don't even know how to access them. We were like the only admins on them and stuff like that. So it's just kind of a weird issue. I do have some we sent an email to our church family of some other ways to stay in communication and other platforms that will try to communicate. But email groups will probably be the most effective way. So I'll continue whenever I have announcements or things like that that I need to communicate. I'll do it that way. Also, coming to church is a great way to stay in contact, obviously, when you're not sick. But that's another great way. We're we're still working on lots of different other avenues. I mean, I don't know what to think about social media. Me and social media aren't the best of friends right now. And so I've mostly just been putting all of my effort and energy into making our own type of solution that we can have. And we can stream on our websites and we can have those type of options. And I keep building that out. I'm going to keep making it better and better until they turn that off. And then I don't know what else to say. I would like to use technology for the rest of my life, but it may just never work. So it may get all shut down eventually. But you know what doesn't is us just walking out there and just knocking on someone's door and preaching the gospel. And yes, you might get eaten by 10,000 mosquitoes. OK, it happened. But you know what? They'll listen. They'll put down that McDonald's and they will pick up a Bible and start going through the gospel with you and get saved. And so if people can get saved in Watauga, OK, folks, then they can get saved anywhere. All right. So, you know, Watauga is rough, but there's still people out there that want to get saved and are interested in the gospel. And so that's what we're going to keep doing and keep emphasizing. Also, our best news. It's a girl. Congratulations to the Illy family on the birth of Sylvia Brooke Illy. She was born Sunday, September 4th, 6 14 p.m. weighing seven pounds, nine ounces and 20 inches long. Congratulations to them. That's exciting. I was visiting Oklahoma City this past Sunday and it was a great time up there. Great spirit. It's really good to see the brethren in Oklahoma City and that they're doing really well. And I did I do miss, you know, being down here, but it was it was fun to go up there. If you ever get a chance to be in the Oklahoma area, definitely encourage you to visit our church plant up there. Brother Evangelist Fur, he's doing a really good job up there and we love his family. And so definitely pray for him and pray for his church. It seems like for whatever reason, us and our church plants have been getting a lot of heat in all kinds of ways. And so definitely we're doing something right. You know, that's obviously we're getting this much resistance. We must be a threat to somebody. And so, you know, we're going to just keep keep going. We're going to keep being steadfast and we're going to keep inventing new ways to take it to the enemy. All right. So that's pretty much all I have for announcements. Let's go ahead and go to our third song three hundred and forty three. Revive us again. We're going to lead three hundred and forty three. Three hundred forty three. Revive us again. As we sing this hymn this evening, think about the words. Sing it from your heart to the Lord. Three hundred forty three. Revive us again. Praise thee, O God, for the son of thy love. For Jesus who died and is now gone above. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for thy spirit of light. Who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain. Who has shown all our sins and has cleansed every stain. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with thy love. Kindled with fire from above. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. As the offering plates are passed around, turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 20. We're going to read the chapter together. And you can follow along silently, starting in verse 1. 2 Samuel 20, the Bible reads there. And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichrai, a Benjamite. And he blew a trumpet and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance and the son of Jesse. Every man to his tent, so Israel. So every man of Israel went up from after David and followed Sheba, the son of Bichrai, but the men of Judah clave under their king from Jordan even to Jerusalem. And David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women as concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood. Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present. So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah, but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba, the son of Bichrai, do us more harm than did Absalom. Take thou thy lord's servants and pursue after him, lest he get in fenced cities and escape us. And they went out after him Joab's men, and the Kerathites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men, and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichrai. When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeah, Amasa went before them, and Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins and the sheath thereof, and as he went forth it fell out. And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand, so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again, and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichrai. And one of Joab's men stood by him and said, He that favorith Joab and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway, and when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field and cast a cloth upon him when he saw that everyone that came by him stood still. When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichrai. And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Bethmaica, and all the Beerites, and they were gathered together, and went also after him. And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaica, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench, and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. And he cried, A wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear, say, I pray you unto Joab, Come near hither that I may speak with thee. And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid, and he answered, I do hear. Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old times, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel, and so they ended the matter. I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel. Thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy. The matter is not so, but a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichrai by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichrai, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king. Now Joab was over all the host of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and over the Pelethites, and Adoram was over the tribute, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder, and Sheba was scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests, and Ira also the Jirehite was a chief ruler about David. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for 2 Samuel chapter 19, Lord, and for the spiritual truths and the carnal truths that are in this chapter, and I just pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and help him to explain the chapter to us, to expound it to us, and also, Lord, help us to pay close attention so we can listen and learn more about your word and apply the message to our lives. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. So we're in 2 Samuel chapter number 20, and in the previous chapter, we didn't really cover the last three verses, so I kind of want to just go back and read just a few of these verses just to kind of get the context of the story, but look at verse number 41 of chapter 19. The Bible says, And behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen thee away, and have brought the king and his household and all David's men with him over Jordan? And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us, wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? Have we eaten at all of the king's cost, or have ye given us any gift? And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye. Why then did ye despise us that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. So in chapter 19, David has initiated his return back into Jerusalem. He's going to cross over the Jordan River. He's going to come back into the city. And the city of Jerusalem is, for lack of a better word, the capital of the nation of Israel. And specifically of Judah, you kind of have the southern kingdom, and you have the northern kingdom that's going to later come into play. But at this point in time, with David, he's truly been ruling over all of Israel. So all the twelve tribes are subject unto him, but kind of the capital, the emphasis, the main location of the throne of Israel is Judah, and that's specifically of Jerusalem. And so David had been reigning successfully. I don't know the exact time at this point. I'm estimating this is pretty close to the end of his reign. So he's been reigning for thirty-five years, or somewhere in that range, thirty-five to forty years. Because we know he reigns about forty years in total. This is kind of towards the latter end. So he's been reigning for a very long time. The Bible talks about how he reigns like six, seven years in Hebron. Then he kind of reigns for another thirty-three years, approximately, in Jerusalem. So it's not like the people that exist don't realize that David's been in charge for a very long time. I mean, he's been ruling for decade after decade after decade. In fact, most of us probably couldn't even tell you who was the president five presidents ago or six presidents ago. And that's less time, typically, than what we're talking about here with David. So from everybody's perspective, he's just been the leader for forever, just the king forever, king forever. It's only been but a moment, only been but a few months, or maybe a few weeks, that Absalom has stolen the hearts of the people. They had this little rebellion faction, and they came out against David. Absalom was immediately squashed. And then David talks about returning. All the people say that he's going to return. So what would you think would be the most logical place for David to go back and rule and reign from again if he's returning? Wouldn't it be from the house that he just got kicked out of? Wouldn't it just be back in Jerusalem? That kind of just makes obvious sense. But then notice what the children of Israel say, the men of Israel say, in verse forty-one, Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen thee away? Now that is just a really strange statement. In my mind, it's what you'd call in our modern vernacular gaslighting, where they're kind of like re-writing the story. They're trying to suggest something that's not even true. They're trying to make it like the children of Judah are doing something weird or wrong here by setting up David in the city of Jerusalem. That's where David was from. That's where David's been ruling. That's where everyone has been ruling from. I mean, imagine if we had a new president, and you said, Where is he going to live? The White House. They're like, What do you do in the White House? No one's ever lived there. It's like, Of course the president is going to live in the White House. He's been living in the White House for the last several hundred years. Why would we not have the president live in the White House when he was just kicked out a few months ago from his location? Why would we not have David go back to Jerusalem, back to the Holy Temple, back to the Holy City, back to his residence, back where his wives are? I mean, is it really bizarre to say, Hey, why are you stealing this guy back to his house with his own wives? It's like, That's his house. I mean, this statement, don't just let the statement just go by unchecked. This is what the left and this is what liberals and Democrats love to do. They like to use really highly charged language on things that are just real obvious or just make a lot of sense. You know, you bring up something like the Constitution just says, like free speech and there's like, You can't say that. It's like, What do you mean? We've been living in a country with free speech for the last 400 years or 300 years or something. I mean, why is it that we have to pretend like that hasn't existed? Or why do we have to pretend like the Bible hasn't been the foundation of all our laws and still is today? Or why do I have to pretend like the Second Amendment is a brand new legislation? You know, owning a gun is just brand new. It's like, Oh, this guy's hateful or mean or derogatory or he's a danger or he's a terrorist. Yeah, I get news from Facebook and it says there's like four or five options. It says I'm like involved in human trafficking, a serial murderer, a domestic terrorist or organized hate and violence. And I'm like, That's a pretty cool list. Which doors do we got a winner? You know, it's like what kind of gaslighting kind of country do we live in? We're preaching the Bible, which people have been doing for hundreds of years in this country is now considered radical or extreme or strange or a new idea. I mean, no, these people are the freaks. These people are the ones that are changing. These people are the terrorists. These people are the violent ones. These people are the ones destroying our country and destroying our nation and wanting to flip everything upside down on its head. And I don't care how nice Facebook put that little post. You know what? My words are going to be fiercer than theirs. He's like, I don't get this chapter. They said they're the men of Judah's words were fiercer than the men of Israel. Yeah, because the men of Israel idiots because the men of Israel are trying to gaslight the narrative. They're trying to say, oh, you stole David away from us. He didn't steal anything. We're just returning what was rightfully his. We're taking him back to his house with his wives, with his toilet, with his curtains, with everything that's David's. We didn't steal anything from you, Jack. I mean, this is bizarre. This is the type of world that we live in, though, where people just fall hook, line, and sinker for some narrative and just, ah, you're stealing. What an accusation. They're going to bring back the rightful king into his rightful home, and then they have the gall to accuse them of being thieves or stealing something. Oh, you grabbed this guy, and you're taking him back, and all the men with him overdoored him. And they're like, why'd you do that? Because he's of Judah. Because he's our family, literally. I mean, do you not realize, like, all these people are, like, his brethren? Like, when I say brethren, I mean, like, physical brother, physical sister, physical cousin, physical aunt, physical uncle. I mean, wouldn't it just kind of make sense that you're going to have a family reunion with your family? I mean, he's like, hey, why are you bringing this guy back? He's our physical blood relative. Number one, why then would you be angry? Why are you upset that he's going to hang out with his family? Hey, I'm going to go back and see my family. Oh, man, you're stealing him. You're just stealing this guy away. And then they say, look, did he give us any food? No. Did he give us any gifts? Nope. Nope. He's going home. He's just going to take him to his house. Verse 43. Well, we have ten parts in the king. So they try to use their own logic as if, well, we're more in number than you guys, so, therefore, we have a bigger say. But that doesn't really matter. You know, it doesn't really matter what logic you come up with. You know, you could try to justify anything, but I like how they even say this. Why then did you despise us that our advice should not be first had and bring back our king? Now, it's like because it was a no-brainer, folks. That's why. It wasn't because they just hate the men of Israel. It wasn't like they were sitting here thinking like, now we could ask the men of Israel what we should do, but we hate them. We're not going to ask them. It was like, where should we take David back? To his house, where he was from, where the palace and the holy temple are, where God said he should live? Yeah, that sounds like a good option. It wasn't like maybe we should ask someone else what they think about this. Maybe we should figure out what to do. It's like we don't need to figure out what to do. We're going to do it. We're going to just put him back in charge. We're going to bring him back to his house. We're going to bring him back into the holy city. We're going to bring him back amongst his brethren. This just makes obvious logical sense. That's what David wants. That's what God wants. That's what the men of Judah wanted. That's what all of you wanted for the last 30 years. Why are we even having a conversation about this? I can see why they get mad. You know, when you talk to a leftist, you talk to a liberal, a democrat, it's like you just start getting angry at how stupid they are. But you start realizing it's not that they're stupid, they're dumb on purpose. Because they don't want to have the right answer, they're just wicked. They have some kind of an ulterior motive or a bad agenda. And of course, when you have a bad agenda, you know what's not on your side? Truth. You know what's not on your side? Logical arguments. So of course, whenever you fight, it's never going to make sense. It's never going to be with the truth. It's never going to be a good argumentation. But they can't just sit here and say nothing. So they just hurl slander and lies and defamation and just all kinds of junk that they'll just hurl at you and throw at you to try and distract you from their real motive. To distract you from what they really want to do or what they're really trying to say. And this is what's frustrating about republicans and conservatives in our country. It's like they're trying to explain to the person that's dumb on purpose why they're dumb. And it's like, it's not entirely that they're dumb. I used to think this when I was young, when I was a teenager, I used to think that democrats were the dumbest people. And I just thought like, man, why don't someone just sit down and explain to these people why all their policy and all their procedures and all the things they're doing are dumb and they don't make any sense. And they're going to be bad for our country and bad for them and they're going to cause issues and they're not actually solving the problem. And eventually I just kind of like woke up and realized like, oh, wait, they're not dumb. They're brilliant. They're just extremely wicked and they're bringing in bad policy on purpose. That's what they're really doing. And you know what? I've thought that since then. It hasn't changed. You know, when we look at bad policy, instead of trying to argue about why it's bad, we should start realizing the people that are arguing it are bad. Because the people in our politics are not dumb folks. They're some of the smartest people in our country probably, at least humanly speaking. You know, they understand the things that they're doing. They want to do that. They want to hurt the economy. Why? Why would they want to hurt the economy? Because it lines their pockets. Why? Why would they want to pass some bill and a special interest group? Because that special interest group has dirty photos of them. Why would they want to, you know, go to war with someone? Money. I mean, it's always about money, protecting their sin, protecting themselves. They don't want to die. That's ultimately why these wicked people are doing what they're doing. And instead of trying to argue with them in Congress or something like that, you know, we need to start actually investigating wickedness and crime and sin in our nation. You know, we need some real righteous men to rise up in our country and start judging things, some righteous judges, some righteous men, some righteous law enforcement, some righteous people to actually take the bull by the horns and start calling it like it is. Instead of saying, you know what, let's just argue about it forever. You know, we need some action. And that's what the left is so afraid of right now. That's why they're censoring everybody so hard, why they're raiding everybody and swatting everybody and doing all kinds of just bizarre stuff. Because their communism will only succeed if good men do nothing. The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. And you know, that's not a quote coming from the Bible, but I think that principle is biblical. You know, the only thing necessary for the devil to win in this world is for Christians to not stand up and to fight against the devil. And you know what, the reason why they won't fight is because they just don't want to fight. You know, it's funny to me how it's so manly in our culture today to fight, right? Because it's all about USC. It's all about jiu-jitsu and fighting and boxing and mixed martial arts and just there's this explosion of fighting. I mean, you could go to some sports bar and there's some fight on. People are fighting. But you know what, no one ever seems to want to fight evil. Oh, you talk a big talk about how tough you are and all the moves you have and how you can do a roundhouse kick and you can submit the foe so quick and you're so big and you're so strong. But you know what, who's taking it to the wickedness of this world today? Who's fighting against the human traffickers? Who's fighting against the real terrorists in this country? You know, it's funny that our military and all of our government virtually has to get up and put their hand on a Bible and say they're going to protect the Constitution. I haven't seen that from anybody. What a bunch of truce breakers. What a bunch of cowards. What a bunch of losers that this country is that's just letting the devil and enemies just take it over and take it from them. You know, why aren't other churches getting persecuted and cancelled and destroyed and attacked and everything else that can be imagined under the sun? It's because they won't preach the truth. They won't preach things that are necessary. They won't preach the Word of God. You know, I'm sick and tired of it. I'm sick and tired of nobody else ever doing the right thing and so that's why I sound mad. You know, why are the men of Judah sounding so mad? It's because nobody will get up and do anything for God anymore because nobody cares anymore. I mean, the enemies of our church are putting their time, effort, money, energy into destroying God's people and it's like Christians won't even put their money and energy into it. You know, it's sad when you have dozens of protesters that come to church more than people that are saved that live here. I mean, you'll have people that go to church Sunday morning only every once in a while whereas you have God's enemies. You have the devil's minions literally trying to show up more regular than God's people. What a shame. What an embarrassment to the God of heaven when you care less about the things of God than they do the things of the devil. And they have a gingenda, folks. They're trying to shut down Christianity completely. I mean, they're just trying to stop it from even being heard in this land. And I'll tell you what, there's not a lot of candlesticks to be put out. It's not like there's all these candlesticks. I mean, most of the candlesticks in this country are putting themselves out. I mean, they're trying to blow the candlestick out themselves with their preaching. You know, we need people to get serious about the things of God and stop caring about what's going to happen to you. I mean, how is it that Donald Trump and all of his friends, they can withstand getting swatted and raided by the FBI and losing their jobs and losing their bank accounts and losing their stuff or whatever. And they're still fighting for their cause. And then Christians come up to me and they're all nervous about doing it for Christ. I'm like, Trump is still going to go to hell. Did you realize that? If Trump doesn't get saved, which you know what, I would hope he does. I don't care. I mean, I'd love for the man to get saved because I'd love anybody to get saved, but it doesn't look like he's going to get saved. And if he doesn't, he's still going to go to the same hell that Joe Biden's in whenever he dies. You know, it's not like they're really fighting for a righteous cause entirely. Yeah, hey, anybody standing for truth, go team. But at the end of the day, you could do all the right things and still go to hell if you don't believe in Jesus Christ and if you're not saved. And then why would I want to sit here and waste my whole life fighting battles that don't really matter? You know, here's a battle that really matters. Where are we going to put David? You know, that's a battle. You know what the fight is when we're fighting about David? Jesus. That's what we're really talking about. And where should Jesus be? He should be in his city. He should be in his house. You know what? And you say, well, what does that mean? Well, let me introduce you to Jesus. And let me tell you where he's supposed to be. Here. And you know what? Parts of that, we like all of it. We put Jesus Christ in his house with his rules, with his wives, with his stuff and his holy temple. And you know what? We are going to preach all of the Bible at Steadfast Baptist Church. I don't care what the majority says. Hey, I don't care where you want to put the Bible out there. You know what? It's going to be here. And I didn't have to ask you about it. It's not because I despised you. And it's like, well, I don't know. What kind of Bible should we use? No, we're going to use the King James Bible. We're going to put it in God's house and we're going to preach all of the Bible. And I don't care what the men of Israel say. You know what? You guys are liars anyways. These other churches are liars and they're scumbags because they're not preaching the whole counsel of God. You know, our country should be infinitely different. I mean, there is a Baptist church on almost every corner. There are churches everywhere, all over this city and all over this state and all over this nation. How is it that no one cares? It's because all these churches are fake. And the people in them are fake. And our nation has become fake. And you know what? Even in this story, isn't it pretty sad that the majority are kind of fake? I mean, we've got 10 parts. And we're not, think about this, we're talking about Israel alone. We're not bringing in the Philistines. We're not bringing in the Amorites. We're not bringing in Egypt. We're not bringing in the world here. We're talking about the select few. We're talking about those that should be God's people, of God's people. They don't even want David. And let me tell you something. Even people that are saved, even them, they don't want the whole Bible being brought into church. They would love, I mean, there are people that have come to our church, I guarantee it, they would love it if I preached 90% of the Bible. They don't like that 10%. They would like it if I preached 80% or 50% or get a softer tone or, you know, welcome everybody. Step fast, you know, smooth, crisp, clean. Hey, we're just going to go, you know, Sunday nights, let's all just go have fun, no more church. You know, Wednesday nights, it's far to drive over here. We'll just have our own little copy-clatch Bible studies at home. Everybody can just go to their own houses. You just go to the next-door neighbor and you can all just chill out and we'll just watch a 15-minute video. I'll make these cool little 15-minute videos. You can just watch them and then you'll just have coffee, dessert, you'll just hang out. You know, someone is getting just kind of a drag. We'll replace that. We'll just mail everybody an invite. We'll just mail everybody a fire. You know, and this name Steadfast has got kind of a bad ring to it. So we'll just change it to just, you know, soft church. Welcome to soft church. We're not going to yell at you. You get yelled at too much in the world. We're going to love on you. You know, that's what some people want. That's what a lot of saved people want today. They don't want to put David back into the throne. They don't want to put him where he lives. And let me think of this. David being on the throne, picture something, someone, authority, who's in charge. And let me tell you something. Christians don't want this to be in charge of their life. They just don't want, because you know what, when you become King James only, some things change. You know what changes? Somebody's right and someone's wrong. Because when you're King James only, now all of a sudden, whenever you're conflicted with how do I live my life, whatever this says, because you're King James only, it's like, well that's actually right. I'm wrong. You know, whereas you're the Book of the Month Club or something, the NIV, NLT, HIV versions, you can just change it to whatever you want. Whenever you want, however you want, you can make it up as you go and then just, well the Spirit wasn't leading me in that way, brother. But you know, when you've got cold hard facts, just like when David's not really in the throne, he's got to do whatever you want. But you know, when David's in the throne just decreeing orders, it's like, oh I guess we've got to do whatever Dave wants to do. You know, and people don't like that. It shows that they have a hatred for the law, they have a hatred for truth. You know, look at our country today. Why is it there's so much resistance to us? They don't want God's laws being brought back. They don't want, you know why they don't want Leviticus 20, 13? You know why people don't like that verse? Because adulterers are supposed to be put to death too. That's why. Because murderers are supposed to be put to death. Because rapists are supposed to be put to death. That's why they don't like that. Because they know if we accept that logic, we're going to have to accept the whole cart. And if we accept the whole cart, our nation's going to have to change. And we're going to have to, you know, eat crow for all the wickedness that we've done too. And so they just don't want to. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. That's what the Bible says in John chapter number 3. And let me tell you something. These children of Israel, you know why they don't want to put David back in charge? Because they just rebelled against him five minutes ago. Wake up, folks. They just had a giant mutiny with Absalom where they were going to kill David. Why are you putting him back in charge? It's like, don't you think they'd be a little nervous about that? Of how David might respond? That's why they're so, you know, not interested in bringing him back right away. That's why they have all this hesitation. And they're taking all their frustration of their own sin out on the men of Judah. Oh, you guys stole. No, you guys are the ones that stole. Oh, you guys hate us. No, you're the guys that hated us. You're the guys that have hatred in your heart because you hated David. You wanted to kill him. You want to rebel against him. You know, don't let the gaslighters change the narrative. You know, we like to stick to facts, and we like to stick to what is reality and history because those things are indisputable. But, of course, you know, evil people can't really use the truth to their advantage if they lie and slander. Look at verse one now. Second Samuel chapter 20, verse one. We're actually going to look at chapter 20 today, too, okay? And there happened to be there a man of Belial. Isn't that convenient? Whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichrai, a Benjamite, and he blew a trumpet and said, We have no pardon, David. Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man do his tents, O Israel. So the only guy being loud is this false prophet blowing a trumpet, sounds like a bullhorn if you ask me, and then telling everybody, Hey, go away. You know, stop serving God, right? And notice he says, We have no pardon, David. Well, you don't have any pardon, David, because you're a son of Belial. You know, as for us, we love the Lord. We love Jesus Christ. You know, and why is it that saved people often will listen to the devil? I mean, this is coming straight from the devil. This is coming from a man of Belial. It's because of their own sin. It's because of their own issues, and they're going to listen to this guy. This guy is super wicked. I mean, what was wrong with having David be your king for the last 30 plus years? Sounds like they had some resentment in the heart. Sounds like they had some rebellion in the heart, and Absalom coming along kind of helped them realize how rebellious they truly were, helped them realize how they like the idea of anarchy, or they like a wicked king where they can just get away with murder, and they can get away with stealing, and every judgment they have is always right and always good, and everything they say and do is good. You know, people like this. This is what the Bible warns about in the end times, that they'll be itching ears, where people won't like the truth. They want to hear that they're good when they're not. They want to hear that everything's good when it's not. People don't like the truth, and it's not like we just invented history, people, or truth. All those things are just universal facts. Today, it's no different. People despise the truth, and even amongst God's people, you know what? Infiltrators come in. I mean, this is David and his men, and there just happens to be this man of Belial there. You know, some people are just naive, and it's mostly through just ignorance or inexperience. They think that everyone coming to church is a good person. There was times when I thought that, okay? So I'm not mad at you. I'm not saying you're a bad person, but what I am saying is you're naive. What I'm saying is you're kind of simple. If you think that everyone walking through these doors is a good person, you are wrong. They are not. Number one, we're all sinners, okay? We're all capable of doing really bad things. But then on top of that, there are some people in this room, and especially of the past, people that have come to our church that are filled with the devil. They are filled with evil. They are malicious. They probably are even demon-possessed at different parts in their life. You're like, oh, I don't know if that's true. I'm telling you what reality is. People walking into church, I mean, we've had people do the craziest, most bizarre things. People that have come to our church lie about people, malicious, evil, trying to destroy and ruin people. And let me tell you who they really try to hurt is the weak. You know, they'll go after the women because women are weaker. They'll go after single people. They'll go after people that are going through problems, whether it be health problems or whether it be financial problems or, you know, maybe church is difficult for them. For a couple of reasons, they could live far away. They could have, or sometimes people have all of this. It's like they live far away. They have health problems. They have money problems. They have relationship problems. They have all of it, and then the devil will come and just attack them on top of that. And it's so frustrating because you look at this person and you're like, I know what you need. You need to just hang on tight and just keep going to church. Just don't quit on the Lord. But it's so hard because it's just like a hurricane. It's just like everything's just attacking them and coming against them. And you know what? That is the reality of church. That is the reality of this world. And if you're getting attacked, it's because the devil wants you to stop serving God. You know, you think like, why am I being attacked? And often what happens is you're like, oh, it's because of church, so I need to quit church. But that is not the right answer because quitting church, all of your other problems will magnify. You know what? I've seen people have a lot of problems and they just keep church going and then all of a sudden a lot of those problems start getting a lot better. And their life starts improving and they start seeing, you know, a lot of blessing. You know, the Bible says resist the devil and you'll flee from it. It doesn't say like give in to the devil or compromise or just say, you know what, life's too hard, you know, nuts to it. Or, you know what, why do we keep having church when we have infiltrators? Well, what else are we going to do? Just not have church because infiltrators exist? Well, then we should vet everyone that walks through the door. It's like, what are we going to do? Are we going to get like a machine and hook you up to it? You know, what is that called lie detector yet? We're going to get a lie detector test and we're going to study your eyeballs and we're going to try. You know, I was reading about some conspiracy theories. I preached on this in Oklahoma. But it was an article about conspiracy theories that were true. And apparently the Canadian government, not that long ago, a few decades ago or something like that, they were trying to eradicate all the sodomites in their government. And, you know, it sounds weird, but it was true. In Canada, they wanted to eliminate all the sodomites and find out who they were. So they would hook guys up to a machine and then show them really gross images just to see how they responded. And then based on that, they would like fire them or figure out how to like get rid of them or something like that. And it's just like, is that what we're going to do? You know, it's like instead of sodomite, we're going to hook you up to a machine then put sodomite deception on and see like, was that a genuine smile or no, like what is this person doing? I mean, this is bizarre. Okay, we're not going to do that. Jesus didn't do that. Jesus let Judas hang around, you know, and sometimes they fulfill a purpose. Because what they do is they go around and they all try, they like test all of you guys. And then the people that are also wicked, they end up becoming friends. And then a lot of times what happens is they just drag all the wicked people out in just one throw. You know, so sometimes when we have an exodus from church, it's not like one person is just like 20. It's just like getting all the cancer out with just one big swing. It's like you just preach a really, really hard sermon on the earth not being flat and you just lose like 20 people overnight. And you're thinking like, great, you know, what else do I need to preach on? What else do I need to do to clean up this church a little bit, you know, or preach a sermon on taking up the trash or, you know, whatever sermon it is that you need to preach. You got to preach but, you know, bad people will exist. And that's why it's important that you guys are vigilant. You don't just, don't trust people at church with your children ever. You know, I love you guys and I think highly of some of you all in this room. But even the people that I really like and I think very highly of, I will not trust my children with you, with them, or with my children with you. Because, for a few reasons. Number one, I don't trust you enough. My children are more important than anything. But number three, even if you are trustworthy and even if I'm trustworthy and you watch my kids, what can happen is that other people see that and they think, oh, okay, cool. And then they start doing it but they don't actually use a trustworthy person so you end up modeling bad behavior for everyone else. You know, and that's why I also, I preached this whole sermon on like preferences and it wasn't so much like I'm going to force you to do the right thing. But I want you to still try to do the right thing because when you don't do the example that I'm setting, sometimes you're not only doing it for yourself, you're encouraging other people to make bad decisions in their life. And to trust the wrong people and to put themselves in bad situations and they basically are putting themselves in danger. And that danger, while it may not even bite them, it could bite some other person. What the parents do in moderation, the children do in excess. You know, even me and my wife, I try to sometimes hold ourselves up to a higher standard than just sin because I don't want to set such a low bar that if you're just one nautical notch, there's one tiny little notch off from what Pastor Shelley's doing, you're in sin land now. You know, that wouldn't be cool. You know, it'd be nice to just be like way up here. So it's like when someone's like down here, they're still like way away from sin, you know, and that's the kind of standards that you should set for yourself and you should be careful with the friendships you have. You should vet every information that you get. I mean, this guy yelling with the trumpet sounds authoritative, you know, better do it. Hey, it makes sense. You know, we don't have a part in David. Isn't that logic consistent? Because he's saying he's of Judah. We're not of Judah. So I guess by see you later. But wait a minute. You just were submitted unto David for the last 30 years. Why? Why would you number one? Just rebel again. You just rebelled okay with Absalom. Why rebel again? Number two, number three. What's your alternative here? Did he say? Oh, well, here's the new leader. Here's our new government. Here's our new system of plan. Here's our new thing that we're going to do. It's just like not scum. You know, that's what it seems like, you know, that's why churches are so bad is because they don't have a certain sound and just everybody's just at home and it's just anarchy. Nobody really has a vision. You know, there's a lot of people that are against Church, but you know what? Those people are idiots and fools and really they hate the blood of Jesus Christ because the blood of Jesus Christ paid for this church. So if you don't like this church, you don't like the blood of Jesus. You can take it up with him. You know what? I love this church and I love church and, you know, we should never forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but so much the more as you see the day approaching. Not the less. You know, we're supposed to provoke one another into love and good works. And we need church to give a certain sound so that we can go out in unity and do the work. You know, if we didn't have so many marathons, if we didn't have so many times, you guys wouldn't go sowing that much. I wouldn't go sowing that much. We wouldn't read the Bible as much if we didn't have church. We wouldn't sing as much as we do. I mean, I guarantee many people in this room don't sing hymns except for at church on a weekly basis. I hope that you do sing it other times, but I'm just saying I guarantee a lot of people in this room are not really singing a lot during the day singing hymns or praising Jesus. It's like reserved only for church. But you know what? That's not how the Bible works. We're supposed to do it every day. You're supposed to do it constantly. But you know what? At least if you're going to church, you're forced to do it at least some because you really expect me to believe that the Christians that are not going to church are just at home singing songs. and hymns all day. They're probably just sitting home reading the Bible, going soul winning, and singing songs and hymns just on their own, right? No, they're not. They're going out and partying and having fun and doing their own thing and singing John Lennon or whatever, singing the new Britney Spears song or some garbage. That's what they're doing. And you know what? We need church. We need these institutions. We don't need anarchy. Anarchy is not a solution to problems. You know, I really despise this attitude of anarchy and sometimes it even comes from a libertarian perspective where they kind of have this idea of just like, well, leadership's bad, so let's just get rid of leadership. No, you're bad. People that are against leadership are bad. People that want anarchy are bad. And you know what? You might sound like, oh, that sounds like a good idea because these institutions are so bad and so wrong. No, no, no, no. We need to get bad people out of leadership. What we don't need is no leadership. No leadership is just as bad or worse. It's very dangerous, wild, wild west style. If we had no authority in this country, if it just went straight up, there's no, cops are gone, there's no judges, there's no suing, there's no criminal record, and there's no cops. You know what happened? Overnight, gangs would take over. Overnight. It wouldn't even take, it wouldn't even take five minutes. Instantly, gangs and mafia and like a militia style government would instantly form. And you know what? They don't have anyone to cry to. You don't call 911 when they show up. You just do whatever they say. It's called the Middle East. You know, as soon as we left the Middle East, it's just like the Taliban just takes it right back over. And then all the women are wearing a hijab. They're not having women's sports competing against men, okay? You know, they think it's rough competing against men in women's sports. Try wearing a hijab and living in the Middle East. You know, you can't even drive. Talk about women's rights being gone, you know, because all of a sudden they don't have anybody to pander to. They don't have to pretend like they care about women. You know, it's so funny, all these feminists and women want this communist takeover. They have no idea what communism really is. They have no idea. As soon as the women vote the communists in, women are going to become fifth rate citizens. Not second, not third, not fourth, fifth. They are going to become just scum on the bottom of the communist shoes that they just use and abuse. And they want nothing to do with it. They don't care about women whatsoever. And that's so funny why they give women a chance to vote and they vote themselves into destruction. They like vote themselves into bondage and vote themselves into slavery. You know, they're still pontificating, they still pretend like they care about women right now. Pretty soon that will just be completely eradicated. I mean, have you ever studied history for five seconds? When has any communist regime ever had a great time for women? I remember in China being a woman was really great. It's been really great through history, hasn't it? North Korea. I think in North Korea they starve the women and they put them in military and the women don't even have a period. Not because they're on birth control. Because they're so malnutritioned that their body is just in so much pain and it's atrophying in every possible way that it can't even have a cycle because it's just hurting so much. I mean, if you think feminism is so great, join the military. But not our military, the woke military. Join North Korea's military. Join the Russian military. And I know what they use the women for in those militaries, you don't want that. Go to Europe and see what it's like being a woman over there where there's now anarchy virtually, where Islamists are just going up and down the street, just having a heyday with women, and when you call the cops they'll arrest you. There was a guy, he was out with his wife, they beat him up, raped his wife in front of him, he goes and tells the cops and then they put him in jail for being a terrorist. Why? Because the Muslims have the cops on the payroll and they threaten the cops that if the cops come after them they'll do the same thing to the cop. And these weak little, you know, baton wearing cops aren't going to do anything anyways. They'll have a little rainbow flare, they go around in a little rainbow car, the Gestapo. You know, that is the world that we live in, and that's the world that is coming when men do nothing. Why is it that even guys that aren't Christian just basically are just promoting masculinism in our country are being censored? Are being shut down and turned off? Because they know if all the men in our country just become these weak, fat blobs that have no guns, no fighting ability, and they're just feminine, who's going to ever fight against the communists? I mean, how do you stop a slave rebellion? You have to keep them weak and uneducated. You know, I studied this a lot because even in high school I got nicknamed Spartacus. Now who knows what I'm talking about? I got nicknamed Spartacus because in Africa they just were constantly overtaking and enslaving all the Africans, especially the Roman Empire, and they were having extreme conditions. You know, you would just starve to death, or they'll rape and pillage your whole family, and I was just like, why would you not rebel? Like, why would you not fight back? And my teacher's just like, you're like Spartacus or something, because he would let a slave rebellion. But I'm just saying, you know, why is it that our country is doing the things that it's doing? It's because wicked, evil people, men of Belial, are sounding alarms. And we should not listen to their voice. We should listen to this voice right here. Now I'm not going to lead some slave rebellion. We fight a spiritual fight, a spiritual war, but you know, it's still a war. We still need to be strong. We still need to do something. We still need to let our voices be heard. We need to fight against this rhetoric that's getting up here and just saying, oh, you know, let's just go back to our tents. Let's just do nothing. Trust the plan. What plan? You don't have a plan. You know, this guy is a loser. This guy is, you know, of the devil. You know, David's the rightful king. Why do we consult Scripture? You're not so frustrating about this section of the Bible. When is anybody ever consulting the Bible? It just makes me mad. It's just like, when is anybody opening up the Bible and saying, here's what the Bible says? It's like, what should we do? Well, God said that David was the king. Ergo, let's let David be the king, because that's what God said. And notice that in these sections of Scripture, it's just always a horrible problem after a horrible problem and all these issues. It's because no one's consulting the Bible. You know, when people aren't consulting the word of God, they're not consulting the Bible, you're going to have bad decision making. He should have never been usurped in the first place, and only in the minds of a reprobate have things changed. Why is it even now that we're even arguing about who should be in charge? Like, when did we even have a legitimate discussion about this? You guys just formed a mutiny and tried to overthrow the government, and you failed. So why are we now talking about overthrowing the government again? It's like, that makes no sense. And then also, why would you depart from David? Isn't David the guy that killed Goliath? Didn't David rescue all of you from the Philistines? And I think that sometimes we don't realize this parallel when it comes to a Christian life. Didn't Jesus rescue you from your sins? Didn't He defeat the Philistines spiritually for you? Didn't He go to hell for you? And it's like, then why go back to those things? Why go back to those things? All the problems that you have in your life, they're not because of David. They're not because of this church. They're because you were lazy. They're because you lied. They're because you stole. They're because you committed fornication. They're because you didn't consult the Word of God in every area of your life. They're because you didn't marry someone that was saved. They're because you didn't stay married to someone. They're because you didn't drag your family to church. They're because you didn't sit your children down and teach them the Bible. They're because you didn't read the Bible. They're because you don't work hard at your job. They're because of all of the things that you've done. These are the problems that you have because of what you've done. It makes no sense to then go back to those things thinking that that'll fix the problem. You need to cling to David. You need to cling to the Lord. You need to cling to the King James Bible. These things will clean you up. They will make you better. They will make you stronger. You will have less problems. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Oh, let's just go back to our tents. No, that's the reprobate talking. That is the devil talking. He wants you to just go back and just keep going down that road. But I'll tell you, I've seen it. I see people going down this road. And their lives, at least from my perspective, seem miserable. Just miserable. I know people, their marriage is full of adultery. They're just drunken all the time. Their children are just having bastard children. They're stupid. They have no career prospects. They have no marital prospects. They're just ruining their bodies. They're ruining their minds. They're ruining their futures. They probably would vote for Biden. And not even through the machines. They might just legitimately do it. And you're thinking like, what are you doing? Nothing. That's what they're doing. Nothing. Doing nothing in this world is going to be the scariest thing. It would be the same as there's a giant water cliff. And the stream is just dragging towards it and you just don't swim. I don't care how hard that current is, you swim. Because you don't want to go off the cliff. And this world is going to drag you down. You've got to cling to David. You've got to cling to him. Look at what it says in verse 3. And David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women as concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward and fed them. But he went not in under them. So they were shut up under the day of their death, living in widowhood. And David said to the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present. So Amasa went to assemble the men in Judah. But he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed them. And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichrai do us more harm than did Absalom. Take thou thy Lord's servants and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities and escape us. And there went out after him Job's men and the Carathites and the Pelethites and all the mighty men, and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichrai. Now, I'm probably just going to finish here, because I can't get through this whole chapter. But this is kind of an interesting point to continue thinking on, is David says that what Sheba has done is worse than Absalom. Now, on the surface, that doesn't sound right, because think about what Absalom did. Absalom slept with ten of his wives. Absalom came in the city with an entire army to fight David. Absalom literally pursued after David's life and tried to kill him. All Sheba did was just go home. That's it. By comparison, you would think like, wow, that is just not even close to the same. Absalom is way worse. But what did David say? He said what Sheba has done is going to be way worse. Why? Well, what is the ramifications of what Absalom did? Absalom got defeated, Absalom got destroyed, and still everybody's together. They could reunite back under King David and just keep going as a nation. But what Sheba is going to do is he's going to literally tear the entire nation apart and cause everyone to be apathetic towards the things of God and just destroy the entire nation. Anarchy will just destroy everything. Absence of strong leadership will just destroy everything. You know, even a church. You know, if a church went with just no leadership for a while, it would just completely get destroyed. Just totally wiped out and eradicated and just it would be bad. You know, whenever you've ever seen a church thrive without a pastor, some churches can't even thrive with a pastor, let alone without a pastor. You know, everything rises and falls on leadership, and David knows this, and you know, even having Absalom as a leader was better than having anarchy, than people just doing whatever they want. You know, we need to submit ourselves to the leadership opportunities that are there, and we also need to realize one of the worst things somebody can do is go around and try to draw people out of church. Go ahead to Proverbs chapter number 6, go to Proverbs chapter 6. You know, probably one of the most satanic attacks that you've ever had, whether you realize it or not, is when people text you, email you, or whisper in your ear some reason for you to quit church. That is really a satanic attack, and that is coming from devil. Devil spirits, devil mind, a reprobate mind, and is often way more dangerous than even just a bad guy, than some evil people, or someone that committed a lot of sin. Look at Proverbs chapter number 6, verse 19. I'm going to back up, verse 16. Notice that last one, someone that's sowing discord among brethren. And let me tell you what, there are a lot of people out there, whether they're saved or not, I don't really care, but when they're sowing discord among brethren, they are speaking words from the devil. Just like Peter, Peter got up and even basically tried to announce Christ and tried to tell him to not die on the cross, and to try to withstand him from fulfilling the gospel message, and Jesus said, Jesus said, Peter, thou art an offense unto me. Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but they that be of men. And he looked at him and he said, get thee behind me, Satan. That's some pretty harsh words, but that's the kind of words that I have for people that are trying to draw away my church members from church. Now, if you go to another godly church, praise the Lord, that's not the same. But someone that's just trying to draw you out of church, that is a satanic attack. And here's another one that's a little subtle. It's not that they'll say like, oh, go to church, just don't go to steadfast. But you know what, that's like the Sheba son of Bichrai, where he didn't provide an alternative. He didn't say, go to this church instead of steadfast, just don't go to that one. Why? Because he knows if you just don't go to this one, you probably just won't go. He just knows if you won't go to this kind of a church, you probably, even if you just go to a lame church, you're basically not going to church anyways. In many ways. And so it's just, that's just that little subtle, little just, any other church, just go somewhere. Look, that is the devil knocking on your heart and trying to say, come with me and do something else. Just go back to your tents, just get away from David. You know what, this is a danger for every person in this room, and I guarantee everyone's had someone say this to them. Family member, friend, former church member, I mean, I think it happens on a regular basis. Who in here would say this has happened to me in the last six months? Yeah, I mean, hands all over. I mean, it happens all the time, where people are trying to draw you out of church, and you need to recognize it for what it is. It is Sheba, the son of Bichrai, trying to get you to stop going to church. You know, that's why anybody that does anything that is ultimately this same goal makes me feel like this person is not of God, at least right now. You know, I think people can sometimes say stupid things or could say something wrong. You know what, I've seen pastors, former evangelists, I've seen all kinds of people say things, and my ears get triggered by stuff like this. It's like, whoa, what? Oh, we're just going to go home. Oh, we're just going to do our own thing. Oh, we're just going to take a break for a while. Oh, why don't you come with us? I think that all churches are bad. Oh, you know, I don't want to be in a cult anymore, whatever it is. It's just, what do you mean? You know, you're commanded to serve God. That's not a suggestion, folks. You will have to stand before Jesus and have to give an account for how you served Him, not for how you were at home doing whatever, drinking coffee and playing video games. He doesn't care about that. He wants to know how you served Him. How did you do with the talents that He gave you? Did you just bury it in a napkin and hide it? You know, that's why it's so important that you don't get surrounded with men of Belial and men of Israel and all these different voices. They're constantly competing and fighting for you and fighting for your attention and fighting and trying to draw you away. You know, we need to resist those people. And you say, well, you seem more fiercer than they are. Good. Because I care more. You know, I always say this. If you're not fighting in your marriage, it's because you guys just don't care. You know, when, when you fight a lot, it's not the best, but it's still okay when you stop fighting. That's when it's scary. Why? Because now you, neither do you care. You know, I'll argue with someone. So I'm, I'm red in the face and I'll, I'll argue with you about everything that I feel passionate about when I care about you. But, you know, the, the person that I don't care about at all, they can scream and yell me and I just walk right in. I don't, I don't have fierce words for them because I don't care about them. I guess they care a lot about me. But you know what? Someone being passionate and someone being loud and someone being a little angry is not a bad thing. It means they care. And you know what? The men of Judah care. I don't care about the silver-tongued devil in the pulpit of all these other churches. How much, how, how he cares for you guys so much. He's just got the heart of a pastor and he just loves you and he loves your family. No, he doesn't. If he's not getting up and screaming right, I mean, I don't care what pastor it is in this country. If he's not getting mad more than half of the time, he's probably a false prophet. Because I don't see how you can preach relevant sermons in our culture today and not be getting super mad, super furious. I mean, the men of the Bible were not these, this weak little sissy men going around caring about everyone's feelings. They preached so hard everybody wanted to kill them. Everyone wanted to stone them. People were throwing stuff at them in the sermon. In the middle of Stephen's sermon, they just threw stones at him and killed him. It was such a good sermon. It was so epic. Talk about cancellation. We found that your sermon is hateful, so we killed you. That's their logic, right? You're so violent, we had to kill you. You said that we were mean and Jews. It's kind of what he said. It's the same group, isn't it? It's the same group coming after the same people for the same thing. Sermons. You know what grinds everyone that's evil's years more than anything? Sermons. That's why they're just obsessed with us. That's why they're always just listening to it and just sharing it and posting it and blogging it and whatever. Then they censor it and then they get all mad that they can't find it. Then they have to go find it again. It's like this vicious cycle that they can't get out of. They don't understand their problem. I don't have time to finish this chapter. We'll finish it next week. I do want you to just be aware there are bad people out there. There are a lot of gaslighters out there that want to draw you away from the things of God. We have to be vigilant to fight against them because it can be worse than someone just coming straight on saying they're going to attack you. It's easier to fight against someone that walks up and says, I hate you and don't go to that church. Then someone that's like, I love you brother. I wish you wouldn't go to that church. But that's actually a more dangerous attack. Because the one that's coming up front, you know, it's whatever. Go away loser. But that family member, that friend, whoever it is that comes and whispers in your ear how much they love you but they want to draw you away from Jesus. They're a liar. And they want to just draw you into their sin with them. You don't do it. You fight them. I don't care how fierce your words are. You stay with David. Let's go to prayer. Thank you Heavenly Father for the word of God. Thank you for giving us an anchor to our soul. Something that we can cleave to. Something we can fight for. Something we can have pleasure in. I pray that we would not be naive to the attacks of the devil. That we wouldn't let the sheba's and the men of Israel that are out there wear us down, entice our ear, draw us away to do nothing with our lives. But rather we would stick with David. We would stick with the Lord Jesus Christ. That we would go and we'd continue in the fight. That we would realize that we have an important job to do here. And I pray that He would encourage us and He would strengthen us and He would help us to be aware of all these evils out there. And when we are tempted or drawn away, have that feeling of being drawn away by the wicked, that we would resist it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, turn in your hymnals for the last song to song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30, Nothing But The Blood. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. Song number 30. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. No precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. God bless you. You are dismissed.