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Number 04, win the battle's over. 404, win the battle's over. Number 05, win 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. Must I be carried to the skies on flowery 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. 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 increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil, endure 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. Good singing. Let's open up a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. Thank you for the opportunity to freely gather together as a church and to praise you. We pray that you would bless every aspect of this service and that you would fill our pastor with the Holy Spirit. We love you and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. For our second song, we'll go to 343, Revive Us Again. 343, revive us again. 343, revive us again. We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love. For Jesus who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah 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. Hallelujah thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah thine the glory. Revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain. Who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain. Hallelujah thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. Hallelujah thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah thine the glory. Revive us again. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you need a bulletin, lift up your hand nice and high and we'll get you a bulletin. On the front we have the Bible memory passage, John 1, verse 44. Any child able to quote this will receive an ice cream treat immediately following the service. And it's a pretty short one this week, so we'll probably give away a lot of ice cream. That's a good thing. Also, we have on the inside our service and soul winning times as well as our church stats. Is there any church soul winning numbers or anything that needs to be reported that was not reported yet? All right, just make sure to continue reporting that to your soul winning captains. We also have on the right our list of expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for all of our ladies that are expecting. We also have our prayer list and we've got a lot of prayer requests here, so we're going to try and cover this pretty quickly. We have the Negara family. Continue to pray for them, Ms. Lucy's mother's tumors, Brother Cameron Hall's leg, Ms. Ashley Holder's husband's visa interview, Brother Matt Pendleton from Faith Award Baptist Church. We're praying for his brain cancer. We're praying for their Zeminos friends, Cody and Isaac's salvation. Also, the Crossco baby Leilani, she was recently born, so we're just praying for her and for their recovery after birth as well. The Goodwins continue to pray for their brother-in-law's court case. Also, Ms. Goodwin's lung health. Brother Conley was asking for prayer for John and Earl Bond's health. We have Brother Hernandez was asking for prayer for his safety during night shifts. Brother Cardona, Benjamin, we've been praying for him. How's he doing? Is he doing any better? Okay, that's good that he's doing better. We're going to keep praying for him. Also, Brother Garcia's friend, Carlos, he's really all of our friend. Brother Carlos down there near the border, we're praying for him and his health. Ms. Naeem's grandmother's soul, her health. Melissa Robertson had a friend who had been a victim of abuse that she's trying to help, and she even asked if anybody has any ability to help with some minor donations like blankets or food or things. If you are interested in helping her friend, you could reach out to her. Also, Brother Nick Sherman, he was here for a little while. He's kind of been back to faithful word, but he's now in Ecuador, and he's trying to fully immerse himself just so that his Spanish gets to the next level, and he's just praying that we'd... He's asking for us to pray for him, for his safety down there. Also, he's planning on joining us for our Matamoros soul-winning marathon, so hopefully he can talk circles around us by then, all right? Something he's asking for, the Gales we're asking for travel during night school. Ms. Eva Garcia, we're praying for her neck and for health. Also, Brother Tony Garcia's health as well. The Scott family, we're also asking for prayer for their health. Brother Elijah's asking for prayer with his job interviews. And also, Brother Suhail was asking for his work and job applications. So we got a lot of prayers there. Let's just say a quick kind of general prayer for those that were mentioned. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for our church. Thank you for Steadfast and this family that we have here. I pray that you would just bless all of our expecting ladies. Please just give them health right now and give them strength during their pregnancy. Please help their babies to be developed fully and for them to come out timely. I pray that you would also just bless the rest of our church family that's struggling with a lot of health concerns, there's a lot of sickness, there's a lot of just overall issues there. I pray that you would just give them health and give them favor. Please strengthen them right now. Please give them joy and peace during their time of affliction. Please give them a speedy recovery. I thank you for our church family members who have a heart for their friends' salvation. I pray that you would soften the hearts of their friends and family members. You would give us a bold mouth and you'd send soul winners to the church. You would give us a bold mouth and you'd send soul winners out there to preach them the gospel and confront people about heaven and hell. I pray that you would just continue to use our church for your glory and your honor and that you give us favor as we go. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. On the back we have the list of upcoming announcements. We have a lot. This Saturday is our Shreveport, Louisiana Soul Waning Marathon. If you are taking the church transportation, show up here at 5.30. Otherwise, we'll just meet you there at 9 o'clock. It's about a three-hour drive from Dallas. Depending on exactly what part you are, it could be a little bit more or less. The following Sunday, if you missed out, or if you want to double dip, it's going to be Sunday Sunday. It's going to be a special treat. It's going to be a lot of fun. We have some good Sundays coming down the pike for Sunday. I'm really excited about that. No chocolate gummy bears this time, but they do exist. Maybe for the conference there might be some gummy bears coming out. But there's still going to be some really good stuff for the Sundays. Someone said you have not because you asked not. You asked for the chocolate gummy bears, you might get them. Also, we have our conference, like I said, October 6th to the 8th. Really exciting to have Pastor Menes and Pastor Mejia coming out here and preaching for us. Definitely thank them and let them know that you're appreciative of them coming out here and traveling. It's taxing to preach all the time and then travel and preach and stuff like that. So it's definitely a great honor to have these men come out here and preach for us even on short notice. Also, we have the Arlington Soul Winning Marathon, October 29th, Texas chili cook-off, October 31st. And of course, in God's country, we do it God's way, no beans in the chili. And November 5th is our music recital. I really think we're going to have a lot of kids participate and it's going to be a lot of fun. Again, this is for all instruments and even singing. Really the only requirements as far as singing is that it's just like a Christian hymn or spiritual song that you're singing. I do have to say that. Also, November 10th through the 12th is going to be our Matamoros Soul Winning Marathon. So I'm excited about that because I get to go eat at La Cantarilla. And so, you know, I say I'm excited about everything, but I'm truly excited about this one, okay? And specifically the food. So can I get a witness on the food? Okay, I got a witness. I got three witnesses, all right? Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, shall every word be established. Thanksgiving Dessert Fellowship, November 23rd, December 2nd is the ladies' Christmas party. We have the birth announcement for the Carascos on the birth of Leilani Brielle Carascos. She was born September 13th, 6.25 p.m. She weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 19 and three-quarter inches long. Congratulations to them. One other announcement that wasn't on the bulletin but I'd made it Sunday night is there is a fall swap on October 22nd. That's, I believe, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. And essentially this event is just like a way for you to donate goods that have value that no longer have value to you. But they still have value as emphasis on the keyword value. This is not a trash dump, okay? Also, if you just would like to come and just see what was dropped off or brought and you'd like something, it's free for the taking. So it's not a consignment or anything like that. Nothing is going to be bought or sold, but you can definitely come. And if there's something that fancies your interest, I've heard that a lot of good stuff has been donated in years past. And there's no shame in being only a donator or being only a taker. Both are very much welcome. So we don't want to just have a bunch of people show up and drop stuff off and then we drop it off at some other random charity place. We'd rather, you know, you guys benefit from that. So if you want to bring something and leave or if you want to just show up and grab something, both people are very much welcome. If you have any questions, Miss Natasha Zimino is going to be your point man and going to help you point lady. All right, sorry. Point sista. All right. And she'll help you with that. So I think that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements are concerned. We'll go ahead and go to our third song. Number 30. Nothing but the blood. Song number 30. Nothing but the blood. Song 30. Nothing but the blood. Again, nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. For my part. And this I see nothing but the blood of Jesus for my cleansing. This might be nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other found I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can force an atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other found 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. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other found I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. While the offering plates are passed around, turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 20. 2 Samuel chapter 20. And we're going to read the whole chapter as is our custom. You can follow along silently in verse 1. 2 Samuel chapter 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 in 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 unto their king from Jordan even to Jerusalem. And David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women his 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 infest cities and escape us. And there went out after him Joab'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. When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, 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 fasted 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 favoreth 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 Bereites, 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. Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Here, here, 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 was 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 was the king, 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 God, I pray that you would bless the service this evening, and that you would just help Pastor Shelley to explain this chapter to us, and Lord I pray that you would enable us to pay as close attention as possible so we can learn more about this portion of scripture. We love you, and we just ask for your protection over this church, and in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. So we're here in 2 Samuel chapter 20, and last week we kind of finished off chapter 19, the latter portion, and kind of started here in chapter 20, but we didn't quite finish chapter number 20, and so the goal is this evening to go ahead and just finish the rest of this portion of chapter number 20, and we kind of had left off in verse 8. The first seven verses were describing Sheba the son of Bichrai with a loud trumpet essentially telling all of Israel to go to their tents and to depart from David. Now Judah had stuck with David, but the children of Israel had departed, and they followed with Sheba, and David had told Amasa, who he had appointed as host over his army, to go and to pursue after Sheba, and said that what Sheba's done is going to be worse than what Absalom had previously done. Absalom basically had a mutiny with the entire nation against David. However, that unity of all being against David was still better in David's eyes than a complete anarchy that's being proposed by Sheba, where all the children of Israel are going to simply go leaderless back to their own town, back to their own area, and the whole nation of Israel would eventually just be destroyed, because without strong leadership, without some kind of a ruler, things will descend into chaos, and eventually what will really happen is you'll have a leader that you don't want. There's really no way to get away with having no leader. This is the foolishness and the nonsense of anarchy. Anarchy is essentially every man just does his own thing, but what happens with anarchy is very soon after you'll have someone take over you, rule over you by oppression or force. No one is just leaderless. Show me a nation in the world that's run as an anarchist-type nation. Everyone has a leader. Everyone has a ruler, and even if you don't technically have a king, everybody typically has a point man, and you kind of have that tip of the spear, no matter what you call it, prime minister, president, diplomat, it doesn't really matter, the tribe, the tribal priest, or whatever name you want to give it, almost every nation, if not every nation, you can basically point to just one singular person as the singular leader of that country and of that nation. Now in America, us having a president, while he's not quite like a king, he's still looked to as being the main leader of our country. Now, of course, conspiracy theorists and probably what's true, we realize the president's often a puppet of someone else, but even within that shadow government, even if you believe there's this shadow conspiracy, there's got to be someone at the top. There's got to be someone calling the shots because if no one's calling the shots, someone rises to power and ends up putting themselves and inserting themselves in that position of authority. If America tomorrow turned into anarchy, pretty soon a mob boss or somebody would just take over and would start calling the shots, at least for your local territory, you would be under the authority of someone, whether you like it or not. So the idea of anarchy is just a self-destructive philosophy. It's an ideology that just allows yourself to be taken over by other people. This is why feminism is so bad, because feminism is a woman saying, I'm not going to have any man tell me what to do. But that's so stupid because they will, whether they like it or not. If it's not their husband, if it's not their father, then you know it'll be their boss at work. Or it'll be Dylan at the checkout line telling you to make him a sandwich for you and that'll be your new boss. But you know what? Whether you like it or not, you're going to have some man tell you what to do as a woman. There is no, well, I'm just the top of the food chain. I'm going to tell everybody what to do. Everyone has an authority above them. And as a woman, if you say, well, I don't want it to be a husband, then you're just replacing that with a boss at work. And why is that better? Well, no, you don't understand, Pastor Shelley. I have a woman-owned business. I work for another woman. Okay, so is it better to have a woman tell you what to do? Well, no, I'm the owner. Okay, but do you have customers tell you what they want and you have to do whatever they say? Do you have the government telling you how much taxes and everything else? I mean, it's just a silly idea that you think you can escape authority. You can escape someone telling you what to do. That as a woman, it's so much more glorious and so much better to have some boss tell you what to do rather than a husband tell you what to do. You know, it's an illusion of happiness. It's an illusion of satisfaction that will never come. Why would I, if I have to pick a boss, why would I not like David? You know, why would I pick, well, let's just be anarchist, because what's going to happen is the Philistines will invade and take you over, and now it's Goliath telling you what to do, or now it's some Philistine-type boss, or it's Abimelech, or it's Pharaoh, or it's, you know, whatever ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, it's whatever ruler leader, Herod, or it's Pilate, or it's Caesar. But there's always someone, and so it's silly to think that you're going to just live in an area where you have no ruler. You know, when that existed, the tribe of Dan just went and invaded an entire area that was just, had no ruler, had no real government. They were just kind of carefree, just living out and doing their own thing. Well, then Dan just comes and wipes them all out and kills them all. So I guess, oh, is that better? You just have no government, no leader, no military, no structure, because if that's what Israel did, if Israel just departs from David and just lives on their own, they will essentially just be asking and begging for other countries and other enemies to come and just take them over, kill them, and destroy them. You know, that's why even America, you know, America was originally established by the UK, was originally established by Britain, by the British Empire, by the king of England. He's sending people here, and they're starting colonies that are under the authority of the British Empire. Now, at a certain point, it's so far away, and they're just sick and tired of taxes, and they're sick and tired of what they call, you know, taxation without representation, meaning that all the politics is rigged, voting isn't going to fix it, and they're being oppressed, even though their oppression is miniscule in comparison to what America feels today from its government. But even though they had some levels of oppression, they rebelled, and they decided to basically say, nuts to you guys, we're going to do our own thing. But in that rebellion, they didn't say, well, let's just be a colony. They said, hey, if we're just going to stay a colony, we're just going to beg Spain, or we're going to beg some other nation or country to come and just invade and take us over and basically steal all of our resources. So if we're going to be strong, we have to unite and become a nation together, and we'll have our own military, we'll have our own leader, and that's where you get the United States of America in the sense of we can't really defend off of enemy hordes individually, but together, united, then we can withstand the Canadians. Back then, they might have been a threat. We can withstand the Native Americans. We can withstand Mexico. We can withstand these other vying nations. Especially back then, there wasn't all this technology. America wasn't the superpower that it is today. It would have been easy for a military conquest to come in and just eradicate whole cities and villages and take over a lot of natural resources, but when you have it as a nation state, you have it as an empire, its own country that protects them. Now, of course, in their framing of the Constitution and framing of our country, they wanted limited federal government because they realized that power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts, and so they realized we want to have checks and balances. We want to have the government from a federal perspective being very limited, and what was its goal? What was its purpose? Military and essentially tax collection, which is really kind of the only real legitimate functions of a government, but now, as we see it today, our federal government's almost becoming a tyrant-type monopoly where it's a dictatorship, communism, and they're taking over every aspect of life. They're taking over public education. They're taking over health. They're taking over just everything you could think of, religion even. They're taking over everything, and that is not what was initially established or set up. So, of course, there's all different forms of government, and you say, which is the worst? They're all bad. The only thing that's perfect is the Lord Jesus Christ, but if you're going to say, humanly speaking, what's the best? Well, obviously, the system of judges was the best. That's what God gave, and if you honestly understand how America was established, that was how we were established. We were established as a nation of judges where essentially the judges would make the rules and the laws, and they would help dictate how we were governed, and most of the judging was supposed to come from the Bible. I mean, the Bible was our source for laws and for judging. That's why America was so successful for so long is because we had a pretty biblical system set up in place with biblical laws, and that afforded us freedom. That afforded us becoming one of the greatest nations in the world. You know, America started humble. It wasn't like, I mean, Spain and Britain and many other nations were more advanced, more developed, more resources, more people. How in the world did America end up becoming such a superpower over all these other nations that had so much more history, so much more knowledge, so much more everything? It's because our nation was founded on the Bible and was founded on the Word of God. Now, if you don't have that type of a country, government, what would be the second best? A king like David. Now, for the children of Israel, because they rejected the judges' system, that had been stripped from them as their option. So their only option was to have a king, and their absolute best option was to have a king, and their best king option was David. So to rebel against this is to simply just rebel against government. It's to rebel against authority. It's to rebel against what God has ordained. And the Bible teaches that those that are reprobate are the ones that rebel against authority. These are the ones that hate the government. They hate everything that it stands for and everything about it. But this is wicked. This is a wicked attitude. Go to 2 Peter 2, 2 Peter 2. That's why this Sheba, the son of Bichrai, has no problem just lambasting the government and speaking ill of the government of David. But here's the problem. Government is not bad. Government is a necessary evil in the sense that we need human government. The absence of human government is bad. Anarchy is not a solution. So we need government, but the problem is everyone that governs is a sinner. And so the best way to last is to have that checks and balances, to have these type of systems in place that can kind of help it be prolonged. So that's why America was successful for so long. But at the end of the day, it's going to eventually corrupt itself and get to a place where it's probably never going to be fixed. Okay? And we get that. But here's what I don't like. And of course, a church like ours, since we understand so much about sin, we know so much about the Bible, we know so much about history, we can really look at our government and see the moral decline of our government. We can see how evil it's gotten. We can see how rotten some of the leadership is. We can see some of the policies and decisions that are being made that are anti-biblical. And it could cause us to have the wrong perspective. Is it right to think, hey, I think Joe Biden and a lot of the people in his cabinet are wicked. That's biblical. Passing same-sex marriage laws in 2015. That was wicked. Abortion being legal in any state is wicked. So we have certain aspects of our government. You know, the government being in control of certain institutions in this world don't really coincide with a biblical framework. So, yeah, I can criticize the government, and I can say, hey, I don't like these certain things. These things aren't right. They're not biblical. I don't appreciate every person in leadership. There's a lot of wicked leaders in our government. But you know what I don't believe is that the government is just bad. Like, no government. We shouldn't have a president. We shouldn't have a congress. We shouldn't have judges. We shouldn't have any. You know, we should have those things. What we really need to do as a people of God is we need to shine a bright light on a bunch of people saved and then have them go in these positions of authority. Like, if you truly wanted America to be saved, that's what you have to do. You have to get a lot of people saved, and you have to educate people in the Bible, and you have to bring back biblical literacy. You have to bring back salvation. You have to bring back zeal for the things of God, and you have to try to encourage people to do the right thing. Even wicked people, even people that weren't saved, were still greatly influenced by saved people, and they made good biblical decisions not because they were saved, not because they even necessarily understood the Bible, because they were getting good counsel. Think about Pharaoh. Pharaoh, we don't know if Pharaoh got saved, but at least he let Joseph tell him what to do. We can think of other men in charge, King Ahasuerus. We don't really have any evidence that King Ahasuerus is necessarily saved, but it's getting a lot of good advice from Esther. It's getting a lot of good advice from Mordecai. We have kings with Daniel. Daniel's giving advice to the kings, to the people that are in charge. We have Nehemiah and we have Ezra giving advice to the kings in charge. And so we can't just sit here and think like, oh, well, we need every person in our political sphere to be saved for God to bless our nation. Not necessarily. I mean, really, this recipe for God blessing a nation is God's people doing right. And when God's people are right with God and there being a bright light, you can still have favor and you can still do the work that God has for you to accomplish despite who it is that's leading the nation. You know, whether or not certain leaders in our politics are good people or moral people or I even support them doesn't mean that I couldn't have a positive influence on them. You know, I'll give this as an example. Like Donald Trump. I don't support Donald Trump. I won't vote for Donald Trump. But here's the thing. If he was the president or if he was in a position of authority, I would still try to influence him. Now, why not? Why would I not try to influence him with education or knowledge about the Bible and try to have him make good biblical decisions for our nation or for our country regardless of if he got saved or not, regardless if he did right. You know, the same for local government, for the local judges or for the local mayor or for the local governor or whoever it is. You know, there's nothing wrong with me getting up and saying, Thus saith the Lord. This is what the Bible says. I mean, this is a consistent theme in the Bible where men of God would stand in the gate of the city. They would go and they would talk to the leaders. They would talk to the chief princes. They would talk to the rulers of their nation and give them biblical advice so as to be right with God or to get favor or, frankly, just as their last resort warning. Now it's for them to decide what they're going to do with that information. But we need to be that mouthpiece to let everybody know what the Bible says. Now, 2 Peter chapter 2, look what it says in verse number 10. It's talking about reprobates. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh and the lust of uncleanness and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. So according to the Bible, an attribute of a reprobate is one that just despises government. He's not afraid to speak evil of anybody in a position of authority. But rather he just hates all presidents are bad, all governors are bad, everybody's bad. Now it's easy to start thinking that just because of how corrupt our government is. Okay, so I get that. But we don't want to be the type of people that just, if you hear something's bad, I automatically agree. You said something negative about the government? Automatically agree. Automatically already like that point. You know, we need to be balanced as Christians and say, hey, there's some good things in government. There's still some people out there that aren't fully reprobate, you know, aren't fully horrible people that we could try to have a positive influence for. You know, I mean, the Bible talks about us even praying for kings and honoring kings so that they could be saved. You know, why would the Bible have that verse if every king was a reprobate and just every politician, just every person is just so bad and so evil. You know, I don't believe that. I even believe there's been plenty of kings of the past that have been saved. And even today there's probably plenty of leaders of countries and places in the world that are actually saved. Now it's not necessarily America, but who knows? It could be some of the countries in the Caribbean or it could be certain leaders of African countries or other parts of the Philippines. There could be some leaders in these other countries and these other areas that could get saved or could be impacted by Christianity, by the gospel message. And we don't want to just, because someone's a leader, just instantly think they're bad or instantly believe that all leadership or all government or all authority is bad. Because when you just think that all authority is bad as a man, what you indirectly do is you kind of help your wife and your children to think that you're bad too. Because if all authority is bad, then who's to say that you're not bad? And if it's okay for you to criticize all authority for every mistake they make, why is it not okay for your wife and your children to criticize you for every mistake you make? And so you have to be careful. You know, if you constantly complain about work and your boss at work, wouldn't you then think logically, maybe your wife is going to think, oh, okay, well, I complain about my boss and my workplace situation. Whereas if you're being respectful and you show the right attitude toward positions of leadership and positions of authority, then that can trickle down in your own life and you can be blessed by not just despising government in general. Don't be like Sheba and just hating on government just because. No, we need to preserve these institutions. David believes in this institution of government. David's not given up on human government. He wants to rectify the situation. And you know what? We, too, should do our best to not give up on the institutions that God has given us, such as human government, such as church, such as the head of the home being the man, as family, as parents, for children, as grandparents, all the different institutions, all the different authority levels that God has given us. We don't want to let the Shibas of this world come in and whisper in our ear. You know, we need to go after them and attack them and say, you know what? I agree with church institution. I agree with government institution. I agree with these things. I'm not for anarchy. I'm not for just saying we're all on a flat level. No, there is a hierarchy and God has given us that hierarchy and we need to submit ourselves to the hierarchy that God has provided us with. So it makes sense that we're sending out a mesa. Now, a mesa didn't go right away, the Bible says. It says in verse number eight, when they were at the great stone, which is in Gibeon, a mesa went before them. So everybody goes out to the battle and a mesa is like catching up. A mesa is kind of trying to get out there. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him. So a mesa is wearing Joab's garment. Now, that's probably because he was put in Joab's position as the captain of the host, as essentially the general, as it were, of the military. It says, a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof and as he went forth it fell out. So a mesa is late to the party. He has Joab's garment on and he drops his sword. He loses his sword. Verse nine, and Joab said to a mesa, Art thou and health, my brother? And Joab took a mesa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. But a mesa 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 Dichri. So Joab sees a mesa. Joab went out to the battle. A mesa is showing up. They encounter. And the Bible says that Joab went to greet a mesa and is like, Art thou and health, my brother? And grabs him by the beard to give him a kiss. But what is he doing with his other hand? And of course, isn't it interesting that any time someone gets this deceitful blow, it's with a kiss. It's the kiss of death, isn't it? Just like Judas. Just like Absalom. We see Joab giving the kiss of death. But here's another thing that I think is interesting is that the Bible says that Joab grabbed him by the right hand to the beard. So then what's the other hand with the sword? It's his left hand. And there's this interesting thing in the Bible about left hands versus right hands. Now, some people are left handed in here. I'm not going to have you raise your hand, okay? But go to Matthew chapter number 25. Go to Matthew chapter 25. One thing you have to admit about a mesa is he's not very smart. He was very easily deceived by flattery. I mean, Joab, what has Joab done to show that he and a mesa are really buddies here or pals or friends? You know, you would think he'd be a little bit skeptical of Joab considering his past, considering he's always quick to kill people. I mean, the sons of Zeruiah are pretty bloody men, according to David. It's a reputation they have. And you have to understand this about a mesa and Joab. They're like cousins. So it's not like these guys aren't aware of who each other are. They would have had some level of interaction, knowledge about each other. Probably very intimate and probably familiar with one another. So for him to just allow Joab to come in is really because he just falls for this flattery. I had you turn to Matthew. Stay there. But in Proverbs 29, I'll just read this. It says, a man that flattered his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet. And Joab just flattered him. Oh, you're my brother. Aren't thou in health, my brother? As I stab you with a sword. How's your health now, buddy? Right? As I grab him by the beard to give him a kiss, but it's really to kill him. And so you have to be beware of the person that you don't know for a fact you're on good terms with. But then it's just saying all these things like, hey, brother, and what's up, man? How's it going? If there's someone in church and the last time y'all talked, y'all were in an argument and mad at each other. And then the next time they come up, what's up, man? How's it going, brother? It's like, what do you want? And here's just another good rule of thumb. Don't let some guy get that close to you to try and kiss you. That's weird, right? Don't grab my beard. You know, that's not cool. You've got to be leery of this guy that just wants to get in so tight that the last time that someone took over as general or even threatened that, he killed instantly. Abner. I mean, Abner was already killed by Joab very deceitfully. And he was like, hey, I want to come talk to you. Killed. So not using a lot of discretion here. Not using a lot of wisdom here. You know, I think it's because, think about this. His sword fell out. Now, what does the sword represent in the Bible? The Bible. Okay? The Bible is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, according to Ephesians. And if the Bible is your sword, it's going to do what? It's going to help you fight and protect you against attacks. Protect you against people trying to hurt you, right? Well, what's a way someone tries to hurt you? Flattery. Deceit. They try to cheat. They try to trick you. But here's the problem. When you don't have any wisdom from the Bible, when you're not very wise concerning the scripture, what you're going to do is you're going to fall victim to that flattery. And I'll tell you this. People that are not saved often will fall victim to flattery because they don't know any better. We need to arm ourselves with the word of God, with the Bible, and not just let the Bible go by the wayside, forget the word of God, and think, oh, I got this. No, we need the scriptures to help us to defend against the wiles of the devil, against the enemy, as our protection. And when you don't know the Bible, you're really just setting yourself up to be taken advantage of by a lot of enemies. And, of course, the enemy doesn't fight fair. You know, the enemy is often not going to walk up to you and just say, I'm here to fight you and kill you. Goliath did it, but most of the times the enemies are not. Now, if someone's going to fight you, and it's real obvious, in my mind, their sword's going to be in their right hand. Because that's your primary, that's your dominant hand. You know, there's exceptions, weirdos that are left-handed, like Barack Obama. Okay. But you got your right hand. If someone's got a sword in their right hand and they're approaching you, you're thinking, like, this guy's ready to attack. They're ready to fight you, right? But a sword in the left hand, it's uncertain what's going on. You don't really know if this is Barack Obama or if this guy's just holding it or what's going on. Why is it in the left hand? It's deceitful. Well, that's because often the right and left hand have a different connotation with one another. Your right hand is often signifying that which is righteous, upright, true, and kind of how you carry yourself, whereas your left hand is showing guile, craftiness, deceit, and things like that. But look at Matthew 25 and look at verse 41. Then shall he say unto them, on the left hand, depart from ye cursed in the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Why do those on the left hand go into hell? Because of the symbolism of the left hand is picturing those deceit, guile, craftiness, wickedness. Go if you would to Ecclesiastes chapter number 10, Ecclesiastes chapter number 10. I'll remind you, how about Eglon, the fat king that Eud came unto, and what did he do? He offered him a gift. Oh, he's got a present for me. And he had all his men depart from him. And then before he knew it, what does Eud do? He pulls out his dagger, he's left handed, and the Bible says he stabbed him and killed him just right on the spot. Showing what? Again, kind of that deceit, that trickery, often a left hand is kind of associated with deceit, guile, these type of things. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 in verse number 2. A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart at his left. Notice that the Bible is saying that wise men are going to use that right hand, whereas what? Fools are using their left. I'm not saying if you're left handed, you're wicked, okay? I'm going to give that caveat, but the Bible's true no matter what it says, all right? And here's again, it's not so much that we're really focused on the carnal here as much as we're focused on the point that it's trying to make. Generally speaking, we're all right handed, okay? It's natural. It's what God intended. And so, of course, your right hand is a symbol, though, of if you're predominantly right handed, that's going to show your strength. That's going to show your might. That's going to show what you would present, your uprightness, okay, what you would display, whereas your left hand is kind of that secondary, not the primary, and so this is more your deceit, your guile. Your lifestyle should not be one of constantly going through deceit, guile, craftiness, disguising things. Rather, it should be upfront, upright, on display. Think about it this way. Our church, let's compare our church to the Mormon church. Is the Mormon church when they knock on the door offering you a right hand or a left hand? They're not saying, hey, we're trying to get you to become a god on another planet. You want to come to Kolob with us? They're not saying that at the door. They will lie to you. They are not upfront. They hide their doctrine. They're not clear about who they are. They are very deceitful. They'll even say they're Christian. That's a lie. And then after you pin them down, they'll kind of fess up a little bit, but at first they'll just lie like nothing. And see, that is someone offering a left hand, whereas us at Steadfast Baptist Church, we're not offering people left hands. You know, when we go out soul-winding, we're like, hey, right hand, Steadfast Baptist Church. It's like, what church are you from? Steadfast. Do you want me to spell it for you? Okay. Everybody's like, ah, you spelled it wrong. No, I didn't. You just don't understand that words can have multiple spellings, all right, folks? It's not misspelled. It's what the King James Bible has it, and I'm not saying that the spellings are inspired or anything like that, but at the end of the day, we like it, okay? But when we go around, we're not hiding what we believe. In my right hand's a sodomite deception. I don't have this left-handed trick. I'm showing you exactly what I believe. You know, you go to our website and you just look at our doctrinal statement, there's nothing like more radical than our doctrinal statement. I mean, if you read the doctrinal statement, you're good. It's not like you're going to be surprised or shocked by anything really that we preach. Maybe a handful of things, but like that's so much lower level. I mean, if you can get through the doctrinal statement, you can get through the sermons at Steadfast Baptist Church. Why? Because we're not trying to give you a left hand when you go to the website. We're not trying to give you a left hand. We wear sodomite deception t-shirts. We're not trying to give you a left hand. We're trying to give you a right hand. And you know what the Bible is saying? As a person, don't go through life giving everybody a left hand. Give them your right hand. You know, and don't give them a right hand in the seat, give them your left hand. You know, there's certain professions that are almost notorious for giving you a left hand. You know, the used car salesman. This guy's not giving you a right hand. It's like, how much is the car? Oh, it's $600 a month. Well, I can't afford that. Well, let me go talk to the manager. I'm going to give you a deal. Don't tell anybody about this deal. 550. Still can't. Well, let me go back. You know, it's like, they're not just giving you, hey, here's the price. Here's the number. What? They're just fishing. They're just giving. It's like, how much can you afford? That's magically the price of the car. You know, it's like, what's the maximum you can afford? Well, that's magically the number that we came up with. We just altered the payments to be like, you know, 50 years or something. So don't worry about that. You know, just sign here. Just put your initials on this piece of paper. You know, this is the type of philosophy that a lot of people live by is to kind of have a left hand. You know who's notorious for this? The Jews. Okay? Because they say it's fine to lie to the goyim. It's fine to be deceitful and to trick people. And you know what? As God's people, this is not a right attitude. We need to be upfront. You know, sometimes I even have people telling me, like, why do you have to preach all that? Or why do you have to say all that? Why do you always have to put all your sermons out there? Because I'm not going to offer the world a left hand. I'm going to offer the world my right hand. I'm going to tell you everything I believe. I'm going to tell you who I am. I'm going to tell you what I'm about. Now, of course, we use discretion. I don't have to yell it to every single person I encounter. You know, I don't walk up to the checkout aisle and I'm like, hey, by the way, I'm Pastor Shelley from steadfast Baptist Church. And I hate faggots. Okay? It's like, I don't have to go up to the counter and just say that. Right? But, you know, if they asked me, are you Pastor Shelley of steadfast Baptist Church? Yes. Do you hate faggots? Absolutely. Well, what? It's like, yeah, I'm not going to offer you a left hand here. Okay? And we don't want to be like Joabs in our life that are constantly offering a left hand. They do not truthful in who they are. They use flattery. They use deceit. You know, a fool does this. A fool goes around pretending to be something that he's not. We should be people that are comfortable with who we are. We're proud of who we are, for lack of a better word. We're pleased in being God's children. We're not ashamed to be called Christian. We're not ashamed to be called a member of steadfast Baptist Church. We're not ashamed to be friends with Pastor Shelley. Okay? We're not ashamed to be friends with Dylan. Okay? Even though he's left-handed. We're not ashamed, you know. And when we meet Dylan, we shake with our right hand. Okay? There you go. Gove you back to 2 Samuel chapter 20. But I think this is an important point to just be drawing out. I've heard some Baptist churches, they teach that if you're left-handed, you're wicked. Now, I get why they said that. It was just the wrong application of what the text is saying, though. Because it is kind of alluding that left-handedness is wicked. And that right-handedness is righteous. But it's more of a spiritual application than the actual physical application, you know. I'm for teaching your children to be right-handed just because it's more normal anyways. But if I had a kid that was left-handed, they would sit with my kid, okay, folks? You know? And, you know, Dylan still gets to work for the church somehow, all right? But if he was a left-handed person spiritually, we wouldn't let him work for us, okay? He's right-handed spiritually, okay? Which is the good thing. Now, if you go back to 2 Samuel chapter number 20, we also notice that in verses 9 through 10, he was stabbed in the fifth rib, which also is kind of significant in regards to death. I think I preached this in previous chapters, how the number 5 is often associated with death. There's all kinds of different numbers. I'm not for what's called biblical numerology, which I saw an example of this today, and it is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Maybe. I mean, I have read the book of Islam, so maybe there's that caveat. But the Quran might be worse still. However, there's this thing called the Epistle of Barnabas, and it has 21 chapters of just mind-numbing information. And this isn't an extra biblical book. The Epistle of Barnabas has a lot of weird junk in it. But I was just reading a little bit of it because what's so funny is who's heard of Sinaiticus? Okay. Sinaiticus is a manuscript that was found in the 1800s by a guy named Konstantin Tischendorf. Konstantin Tischendorf was visiting different monasteries in Egypt in search of ancient manuscripts. And he visited this particular monastery three different times. And in one of his trips, he found a bunch of parchments, 45 sheets of parchments in basically this basket that he says that was destined to the fire. So he says that there was this basket of just old documents, old papers they would use to kindle fires. And he saw 45 sheets of this, which was at the time he didn't know for sure, but it was Sinaiticus, okay? Fifteen years later, he comes back to the monastery and some guy hands him some book in a red cloth that included those very specific pages he had found in this basket destined for the fire, but along with other documents that was basically the entire Sinaitic Bible. Okay. This is his story. He wrote an entire book about how he found it. So what I'm telling you is coming straight from his book on what he did and what he found. But what's so funny is that when he found this discovery, he's like talking about how it's like the greatest treasure on earth, what he found. But then he's not talking about Sinaiticus, he's talking about the Epistle of Barnabas, okay? But the Epistle of Barnabas is just this extra biblical book that's garbage. And so I started reading it just to see what it was like. It teaches biblical numerology. And so it says that like in the book of Genesis, I believe it was, it's talking about Abraham and it's talking about Lot and him going after the men of Sodom that had taken his nephew, captive. And it talks about he went after them with 18 and like 300 men. And it's like, well, if you take the word eight, this is what the epistle of Barnabas is saying. If you take the word eight, there's an I in it. And I, if you take that letter out and then you take out the letter H, these are the first two letters of the name of Jesus, based on some number system. He's like, cause it's number 10 and it's like this other number. So I don't even know how he got to that leap of conclusion, but he's just saying these, I don't know why we picked I and H, but you just did. And then he's like in the next, the next letter is 13 is T and T is like a cross. So it taught the gospel and Abraham saying 18 and 300 because it's Jesus in the cross. I'm just like, what I was excited to take any word with the letter I H in it and then a T afterwards. And I was looking, it's like an Exodus when you got the plagues, it's like the fish died or whatever it is like saying, but it says like the fish and then it uses that. And I was like, Oh, fish, I H and there's a T right after there was the gospel again. This is the kind of stupidity that comes with biblical numerology in the epistle of Barnabas, the greatest treasure on earth. No, no, no, it's trash. It was in the trash and you should have left it in the trash, but you pulled out the trash from the trash can and you know what it was trash. I say all that to say this, you know, when it comes to false doctrine, when it comes to, you know, this biblical numerology, I'm not for it. When we talk about numbers that are actually found in your Bible, like five, that's a real number that's found in your Bible. There is some significance when the Bible uses numbers like three and five. I if you were going to say, Hey, I think every third letter of the English Bible has a secret code. I'm not interested in talking to you about it. Well, if you take all the numbers and you add them up and you divide them by three and you add Jew to the end of it, it's like, no, I'm not interested. That's the Talmud. Okay. The Talmud is in the numerology, the secret hidden codes, but you know what that sounds like? It sounds like a left hand, you know, it's a right hand five, cause it's a number. I didn't have to guess that it was a number. It was a number. It's inherent that it's a number. Okay. So let's not base our Christianity on these left-handed doctrines of biblical numerology of just guessing why in the world would I guess that the number 18 I'm supposed to pick out the letter I and H why not the E or the G or the, or the T in that one or E or it's like, I don't get it. Okay. Well, if you were as smart as I would, you would understand, you know, no, it's just junk. Okay. And one of Job's men stood by him and said, he that favored Joab and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. And Amazah wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amazah out of the highway into the field and cast a cloth upon him. When he saw that everyone that came by stood still, 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 Bichra. Now this is what you call covering up your sin. When you kill someone and you just put a sheet over, it's like, he's just, don't worry about him. Don't worry about the dead bodies in the room, you know, because before everybody's just staring at the dead body, like, Oh wow, I don't know what's going on now. That was awkward. And they're just like, Hey, let's just put a sheet and just kind of move them over. And then we'll just all just keep trucking. This is wicked folks. Okay. So just cover up your sin like this. The Bible warns that you're not going to be blessed when you just cover up your sin. Go to Proverbs 28. I'll show you a verse there. And this is important to us also understanding the character of Joab, Joab will just kill people for any reason, especially if you threaten his position as the leader of the military. You try to take Joab's job for one day, he'll kill you. You know, Joab is not really interested in sharing power. This is why you have to understand about Joab. He's just a power hungry individual. If you kind of understand that all of the decisions about Joab makes sense because every decision he makes really is kind of about power and manipulating people. And he just wants to be in control of a situation. But Proverbs 28, look what the Bible says in 13, he that cover this sin shall not prosper, but who so confess that the forsaken them shall have mercy. So is Joab going to prosper by just covering the sheet and just moving on? Nope. He's going to have to suffer consequences for this. Go to second Kings, chapter number two, I'm sorry, first Kings, chapter number two. I'm meaning first Kings, first Kings chapter two, and look at verse number five, the Bible says, moreover, thou knowest also what Joab, the son of Zaria did to me and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel under Abner, the son of Nur and unto a Mesa, the son of Jethur, whom he slew and shed the blood of war in peace and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins and in his shoes that were on his feet. Do therefore according thy wisdom and let not his whore head go down to the grave in peace. Doesn't sound like Joab's going to prosper here. David is warning his son Solomon about Joab and says, Hey, this guy needs to die. Now at the moment in time, Joab had followed Adonijah, which was a rebellion. But notice that David doesn't even want Joab to be put to death for that. He remembers what? He remembers him killing Abner and killing a Mesa, and that is his sin being remembered. And you know, God doesn't forget your sin in the sense of, let me caveat, obviously we understand salvation. He forgets our sins in a context, but earthly speaking, you know, if we sin, it's not like it instantly just God doesn't care or is not interested in that. We essentially still have to reconcile that issue with the Lord, and that's where we have the benefit of praying and having Jesus intercede on our behalf and having the Lord forgive us of our sins on a daily basis. So there's a forgiveness of sins in context of going to heaven. And then there's a forgiveness of sins, which is in context of God dealing with you and having pleasure towards you in this life is in regards to the pleasure of this life. That's just not automatically forgiven. You know, Joyce Meyer's book, God's not mad at you. That's a stupid book because God still gets mad at sin, even if you're saved. What show me a safe person that sins and God doesn't care. You know, he always cares. He's always still angry about that. But when we get right with the Lord, he can forgive us. You know, and it's kind of similar to how the children of Israel would have to offer sacrifices on a regular basis for their sin. It number one pictures Christ every single time. But in addition, it kind of signifies getting right with the Lord in your heart, showing some kind of a penance and and again, penance is a Catholic term, but I still get the idea of the fact that we're trying to essentially ask the Lord for forgiveness and we're still saying, Lord, you know, please forgive me. There's not an amount of money. It's not like we go and pay an indulgence fee or we we pay some extra tithe or something like that. The Bible teaches that God wants us to have a contrite heart and spirit and to basically get on our knees and confess and forsake our sins. And that's how God gives us mercy. You know, it talks about an Ezekiel, guys that one day were for their whole lives have been great, but then the one day they sin and then God's mad about that sin or the one guy that's been bad his whole life, but then gets it right that new day and now God's fine with him. So it's not so much that you can't get forgiveness of your sins in this life and have pleasure with the Lord. It's just that he wants us on a daily basis and on a regular basis, confess and forsake our sins. You know, I use this an illustration of divorce. Divorce is a sin. It's not even a question. It's a bad. It's a bad sin. It devastates people. It destroys people's lives. It will destroy your children's lives, and it will give you heartache for the rest of your life. I'm super against divorce. It's super wicked. You'll probably suffer consequences of a divorce until you die. But from God's perspective, I believe someone that's divorced but then forsook that sin and say, You know what, Lord? I was wrong in doing that. I'm not going to do it again. I don't believe that God's just constantly mad at them because they were divorced. And I also don't believe that their marriage now, if they've been remarried or something, is doomed forever. I believe that God can still give this couple a good marriage to the best of their ability while they have that marriage. And you know, I'm not saying there won't be consequences. I'm not saying that you couldn't suffer for past issues that you've done. It's like, you know, if you commit fornication and you get an STD, it's not like getting saved is going to magically go away. You still have to suffer. But God could potentially still be okay with you when you forsake that sin and you confess that sin. You know, divorce is the same thing. It's an initial act of adultery to get remarried. But after that, yeah, of course, then the Lord can restore you and give you the best possible option or whatever. What's silly, though, is, and again, I believe if you've been divorced, you should never remarry. I will never remarry someone that's been divorced unless their spouses die. That would be the only caveat or exception to that. But if you have a living spouse, you're not allowed to get married again, according to God. I won't do it. I'll never recommend it. But you know, some people, they'll just stay in a state of divorce and then commit fornication on a regular basis instead of getting remarried and looking down on people that get remarried. That's bizarre. It's bizarre to think that God's pleased with you being divorced and committing rampant fornication as opposed to the guy that was divorced and then got remarried. You know, and I'm not, I don't like either of these options. That's why Jesus pretty much just said, if you put away your spouse, you're causing them to commit adultery. Because good luck, any person on this planet who's been divorced being celibate for the rest of their life. You know, that is just probably impossible, virtually speaking. And again, I'm not advocating anything. You've doomed yourself, okay? You put yourself in a position where you're going to commit all kinds of horrible sins. You know, people that have been divorced and remarried, I'm not going to sit here and just be super mad at them, like just, you know, get there and beat up on them or whatever. As long as they know it's wrong and they've confessed and forsaken their sin, I hope they can move on. You know, and there's people at our church that have been divorced and remarried. And I'm not saying you can't come to my church because you've been divorced and remarried. But what I am saying is you better like the preaching, you know, because I'm going to bring it up. And even if you don't like it, you better bite your tongue because I'm still going to bring it up. Okay? You know, I've had people ask me, they're like, I can't even come to your church because I've been divorced and remarried. And I'm thinking like, no, I don't believe that, but yeah, you better believe I'll preach against it. You better believe I'll never marry someone that's been in that situation until their spouse dies because I'm not allowed to sin as the pastor of the church. I'm not allowed to just enable you in your sin, but at the same time, I'm not going to just say that you're permanently just an evil person. You can never have any kind of restitution. You're just permanently damaged or whatever. Okay? That's not the right doctrine either, okay? And some churches, you know, they kind of go too far on either extreme. One extreme is they're just letting everybody get divorced and swap wives and whatever. You know, I'm going to preach as hard against that as possible and hopefully nobody will make that stupid decision. But if someone does make that decision out there, you know, I'm not going to say you can never come to my church or something like that or you're just eternally doomed or there's no restitution or anything like that. I disagree with that decision. I'm not encouraging it. But I don't want you to just never serve God again with the rest of your life, okay? Just move on. Just like I always think like guys that get a girl pregnant out of wedlock, it's like marry the chick, you know, and then move on with your life, right? There's going to be ramifications of your sin, but, you know, face the consequences and move on. Let's look back at Second Samuel chapter 20 and we kind of have this last little story here, but don't just cover up your sin. Don't just be like, you know, don't worry about this. Look the other way. No one's paying attention. Churches will do that. Whether it's just the pastor will do something wicked and it's just everybody just looks the other way. Don't follow Joab if he just killed someone, okay? That's weird. And don't pretend like it didn't happen. And don't just think like, oh, well, you know, I know Greg Locke just divorced his wife and married the secretary, but let's just follow that church still. No. Stop following Greg Locke. The guy's an idiot and a moron and a fool and I don't even care if he's saved or not. He's not a biblical pastor anymore. Okay? And you know what? He's not going to get away with that sin. Now, do I want his marriage to be doomed? No. Okay? But at the same time, he shouldn't be pastor anymore. He should step down. And we're not going to just cover our sins and pretend like they didn't happen or whatever. You know, we're not going to let pastors just commit rampant adultery and do whatever and just be like, well, you know, cover that up. No, we're going to expose that. And we're going to say this guy shouldn't be the chief ruler anymore. This guy shouldn't be leading the charge, right? Verse 14. And he went through all the tribes of Israel and Abel and to Bethmeicah and all the Barites and they were gathered together and went also after him and they came and besieged him and Abel of Bethmeicah and they cast up a bank against the city and stood in the trench and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. Then cried a wise woman out of the city, here, here, I 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 thy 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 from me that I should swallow up or destroy. The matter is not so, but a man of Mount Ephraim, she but 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. 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 she but 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. It says, and now Joab, and then it just goes on and explains who's in positions of authority. Now what's interesting about this story is Joab has got a town encircled and they're going to destroy this entire town. But this woman, being wise, realizes there's no point in all of us dying here. Let's figure out what this guy wants, let's give him what he wants. He wants Sheba, let's just throw his head over the wall, which will prove that he's dead. You can't really throw someone's head over the wall and they survive that one. As it kind of ensures their safety, because from their safety perspective, they're not letting any, you know, if they go back on their word, they still have the wall up. So they can kind of protect themselves a little bit longer. So she's doing essentially the best kind of options. She's not trusting Joab entirely. But she's also willing to comply in an effort to see if he's going to honor his bargain. You know, when you're making negotiations with a hostile person, you don't want to just open the doors and just say, come on in. But you basically want to figure out what's the minimum thing I can give you. And I'm going to give you that information only, you know, in any situation, you want to give people the minimum amount of information they need, you know, need to know, because you don't want to just open the floodgates because what a job I mean, job hasn't lied before has he? He hasn't just killed a bunch of people before has he? So it makes sense to say, let's just cut this guy's head off, throw it over the wall. And then if that's true, then he'll leave. Okay? If not, then, you know, maybe the Lord will curse him because he's lying. He's a liar. So and this woman, of course, is a spiritual woman. Notice she describes herself as a woman in Israel. She's described as a wise woman, which, of course, if you're a wise woman, sounds like she's probably a soul winner. He that win his souls is wise, according to the Bible. You know, and so it's important to realize that, you know, as a woman, you can sometimes decide that a man's head needs to get cut off. We need some tough women, okay? And I believe that the women in this church are tough, but we need to help women realize it's okay that some people's heads get chopped off. And we need some sheba's heads to be chopped off in this nation and in this country. You know, there's other great women in the Bible, like Jael, who's smote off the head of her enemy. Coming in, laying down, she butters him up, literally, and then she just gets the hammer, and she just smote off his head, okay? And really, we need women to get a little bit of grit. You know, they need to get some toughness and realize that not everybody's a good guy. There are some sheba's out there, and some sheba's need their heads cut off. Like the snake that they are. Go if you would to Proverbs 31 for a moment, go to Proverbs 31. You know, if you have a sheba in your life, you need to cut him off. And maybe not physically, but at least spiritually. What would be a sheba? Well, think, what is sheba doing? He's trying to get everybody away from David. What does David represent? Christ. So if you've got somebody in your life, women, that are saying, you know, you need to stop having children, you're hurting yourself by having all these children, you know, that's a sheba that's trying to draw you away from Christ, you need to cut that head off. Because the Bible says that children are a blessing. The Bible says that she shall be saved and child-bearing. It doesn't say that children are a curse or a bad thing. In fact, it talks about them being a joy, as the main purpose of a mother is children. You know, this is a great fulfillment, is to have that. You know, there's so many people that want to tell you not to have children. Who? Dr. Sheba. Dr. Sheba will prescribe you birth control. Dr. Sheba will prescribe you all kinds of medications, all kinds of inventions, all kinds of devices. You're not ready to have children. You need to get on birth control. No, you don't. You never need birth control. Ever. Well, what about before they get married? You don't want to commit fornication. You don't need any birth control when you're not going to commit fornication. Well, what about after? You know, you don't want to just keep popping them out. Yes you do. Well, but every nine months? Okay, well, breastfeed, obviously, right? Obviously you don't want to have Irish twins, necessarily. I get that. That's not healthy either. But at the same time, God's system works. You don't need birth control to space your children out. Use what God gave you. Use the methods that the Lord has delivered, has blessed you with. And it's not like God was sitting here thinking like, you know what, having lots of children would work if they had birth control. They need that darn birth control for that to work. We need some Margaret Sangers of this world to help bring in some control of those fundamental Baptists. No, no. That's a silly idea. My wife, I remember when we had our first child, she had a female gynecologist, which I would never recommend a male gynecologist. But her doctor, she was just expressing health concerns and said that she was a little irregular after her first birth, which is actually very normal. But the doctor is like, oh, just get on birth control to help regulate you. That's a foolish attitude to just say, oh, just get on birth control. Because birth control can have lasting effects. It could cause a healthy, normal woman to not actually have birth later in the future. It can cause some kind of an issue later. Not only that, birth control will really tamper with your hormones. And when a woman's hormones are messed up, the sky's the limit on that one. But it's all the worst kind. Because birth control actually lowers libido. So why would, as men, you ever want that? That's the worst thing you could do to yourself. It also just causes the hormones to be out of whack. It increases their chances for all kinds of cancer. It lowers their chances to have children. These birth control pills and these shots and things like that are very horrible. We need some women to cut off the heads of these doctors, in essence, and say, look, no. I'm going to let you help me destroy my children and destroy my body and destroy my future. I'm going to have the children that God has decreed to bless me with. Now, if you have no children, you can't affect that. But if God blesses you with 1,000, have 1,000. He's not going to give you 1,000, folks, OK? Don't get too nervous. I remember this. It's funny. When me and my wife were talking about this a long time ago, a long time ago, and I was saying, I don't want to ever use any of these things, and I always want to have as many kids as possible, she's, like, freaking out about having, like, 15 kids or something like that. And it's like, we only have one. We're so far away from having 15, you know, or 10, let's, you know, because some women could have one kid and then never have another one. You know, there's no guarantee you're going to even have 15 children. Some people freak out about a future that's not even on the table yet. You know, it's like, start freaking out about when you have 15. I mean, there's very few families in this church that could even possibly get there. Now, there's some. OK? I won't point any fingers. I'm just saying, some people could get there. All right? And if you do, God bless you. I'm not against you. I'm for you. All right? We've got to grow the church some out, right? No, I'm just kidding. But what I am saying is this. You know, just let the Lord do his work in your life, and whatever that is, don't let these shivas come around and convince your other. Oh, don't. You don't need church. Cut that head off. You don't need to serve your husband. You don't need to serve your family. You know what? Cut that head off. You know, whatever that is in your life, you know, you need to start cutting those heads off. And you know, here's one. How about alcohol? We need some women cutting off the head of Jack Daniels, of Captain Morgan, and throwing it over the wall, and saying, not for me and my house. I'm not going to let Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan come into my house. You know, look at Proverbs 31, verse 4. It is not for kings, O Lemuel. It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any inafflicted. You know what I like about this woman? She says, hey, no drinking around here, because then you'll be a pervert. She says, people who drink alcohol are perverts. Hey, if you have to drink alcohol to have fun, you're a pervert. I don't know. I like alcohol. Yeah, because you're perverted, because you like to be perverted in your mind. And you know what? People that gets drunk then often then goes out and commits adultery, probably physically, but at least in their heart and in their mind. What do you think they're doing at the bar? What do you think? Oh, they're just probably sitting there talking about Ecclesiastes, huh? Having a chess tournament. Doing some sewing or something, right? Yeah. No, what are they doing at the bar, lusting after other women? Oh, I don't know about that. Why is it then that bars have whorish women that are there to serve? Is it because they just really want to help them in their college tuition? No. It's because they want to think perverted thoughts. And you know what helps you think perverted thoughts? Alcohol. But I love that this woman is not afraid to just call people a pervert for drinking alcohol. She says, hey, this is not for my house. My sons aren't going to be perverts. I'm not going to let them pervert their judgment. Nuts to that. Not only that, the preceding verse, where she said in verse 3, give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroy the kings. You know what she's saying? Don't hang out with these whorish women. I love this mother. She's just like, get rid of the whores and get rid of the alcohol. And you know what, I guarantee this woman's daughters aren't dressed like whores. We need some women that are willing to cut up the disgusting miniskirts and all the flashy outfits and throw them in the trash and not let their daughters dress like whores and not let their sons date whores and not let their sons drink alcohol and not let just their family just run amok and do whatever they want. Because let me tell you something, kids are going to do whatever they want. You know who's going to stop fornication in this country? Fathers. You know who's going to stop fornication in this country? Mothers. You know who's never going to stop committing fornication? Teenagers. You know who's going to stop committing fornication? College students. You know who's not going to stop committing fornication? Young people. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. You know what, we need parents to rise to the occasion and say, you know what, I'm not going to let my kids go alone with the opposite gender, go hang out at the bar, go do whatever they want. You are just begging for your child to come home knocked up. You are begging for your son to come home and say, I knocked up some girl. Was she a fundamental Baptist? Probably not, since you knocked her up. I've had people tell me, they're like, oh, my son's going to marry a virgin. And then they just knock up some random person. Well, my daughter would never commit fornication. And then they get knocked up. You know, I have to deal with this on a personal level. I know all kinds of people personally that have gotten knocked up, bastard children. And every scenario virtually, almost every single scenario that I've heard personally in the last few years where someone got pregnant out of wedlock, they did not get married and they did not have a relationship. Almost every single one. That's so sad. There is just even more single mothers, even more fatherless children, even more just situations where these people are just destroying their lives, ruining their future, not realizing what they're doing. Why don't you just keep the walls up and throw the head over the wall? Don't let Joe out through the gate. If some guy really wants to marry my daughter, he doesn't have to commit fornication with her to decide that. He can date me first. And then after we've successfully dated, he can marry my daughter and meet her. But he doesn't need to know that. He doesn't get that opportunity. He doesn't deserve it, OK? There's no point in doing these things. You think that I'm going to let my 16-year-old daughters just have a car and just drive wherever they want, do whatever they want, go out hours of the night. You're lying to yourself. And really, I just don't understand how men just want their daughters to be taken advantage of by men. Because the men of this world, even men in this room aren't that great. I can't even imagine the men outside this room. There's plenty of men in here that would abuse your daughter too, OK, that wouldn't treat her the way that she should be treated. Because they're sinners too. But let me tell you something. A sinner can't do anything when I got the bars of the castle locked up. You're out there, OK, and my shotgun's in here. And you have to pass all the tests before you're going to date my daughter. And you know, we need women to have the same attitude too. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this chapter. Thank you so much for the wisdom you give us in the scripture. I pray that we wouldn't be prideful and haughty and arrogant to think that we know better than the Bible. I pray that we just submit ourselves to your ways, that we wouldn't despise the government institutions that you've given us and set us up with. Pray we wouldn't fall victim to all this heat and flattery out there, but we keep our sword sheathed. We wouldn't just forget what the Bible has to say about life. Rather, we see the importance of church, we see the importance of Bible reading, we see the importance of memorization, singing the psalms and the hymns, taking our family and our children to church, teaching them the ways of the Lord, and not just teaching them, but actually just being a barrier for them, protecting them and guarding them from the evil of this world. And I pray that you would just help our church to establish the youth and the future generations to have a good course of action, to have a good marriage, to have a good start to life, to not just be loaded down with all kinds of sin and baggage and woe, but rather they can start with a good head on their shoulders, with a good spouse, and that they can serve you with their lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. For our final song, we'll go to 174, my Jesus, I love thee. 174, my Jesus, I love thee. Song 174, my Jesus, I love thee. I know thou art mine for thee, all the follies of sin, I resign. My gracious, gracious, gracious, gracious, gracious, gracious, gracious, gracious, my Savior, art thou. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. I love thee because thou hasst first loved me, and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree. I love thee for wearing the thorns of my brow. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. I'll love thee in life, I will love thee in death, and praise thee as long as thou lendest me breath, when the death do lies cold on my brow. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. In mansions of glory and endless delight, I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright. With the glittering crown on my brow. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed.