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I have decided to follow Jesus, song 316. Again, that's 316. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back. The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me. No turning back, no turning back. Amen. Great singing. Word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you that we could be here in your house tonight with your people. The building you've given us to meet in. And we pray you will bless this night of fellowship and preaching. You help us, Lord, to be open and attentive to the word preach. That we can apply it to our lives and walk out of here better Christians. We love you, Lord, and we just ask these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Next is going to be 343. Revive us again. I know y'all need some reviving tonight, so. 343. 343, revive us again. We praise thee, oh 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, oh 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. 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. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. Amen. Great singing. This time we'll go through our announcements. Good evening. Thanks for being with 7th Baptist Church. If you need a bulletin, put it to your hand nice and high. One of us can come by and get you a bulletin. We have our Bible memory passage, John 1 verse 27. And if you're 18 or under and you can quote this verse, you get ice cream after the service, all right? So just in time for that summer heat. Let's cool down, all right? And then just quote that to one of our ushers, Brother Dylan or myself, and we'll help you get that ice cream. And then on the inside we have our service and soul winning times. Also our church stats. On the right we have the list of expecting ladies. Continue to pray for all of them. We also have our prayer list. We're going to go over real quick. If you have any other prayer requests, please try to email those in with the title prayer requests. That way we can add them to our bulletin. Continue to pray for the Negara family for their health, Miss Lucy's mother's tumors, Brother Cameron Hall's leg. Verity Baptist Manila. We've been praying for them over there. We need to get an update on what's going on over there. I don't know exactly what's going on over there. And Pastor Kevin Zabola. I think that they've still been having a lot of great success with the soul winning and everything. But I'll talk to Pastor Jimenez about that and see how things are going with Brother Stuckey. Also continue to pray for the Goodwin family. Miss Dawn Stewart, Jimmy Stewart's wife. Pray for her health. Brother Sue Hell is going to be traveling. May 28th through July 4th. So we'll be praying for his travel as well. That's pretty much all I had on the prayer list. Let's go ahead and say a quick word of prayer for those that were mentioned. Thank you Heavenly Father for our church. Thank you for this opportunity to be gathered. I pray that you would just be with all the expecting ladies. Continue to help them during their pregnancies. Help them with a smooth and timely delivery. Pray that you would also just bless our church family that's going through various health concerns. Please just be with them. Please strengthen them. Please bless them with favor and health right now. I pray that you would also bless our friends abroad. Help them in preaching the gospel to be strengthened, to be encouraged. I pray that you would just bless our brethren as they travel. There are other various concerns. We just thank you so much for our church. I pray that you would just continue to allow us to be a bright and shining light for you in this area and to reach many people for the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Upcoming events. We have the baby shower June 11th. We have our men's conference August 18th through the 20th. There should be a sign-up sheet on the back cabinet, so make sure to sign up for those. The baby shower is from 12.30 to 2.30. It's at the church. Mrs. Naim is registered on Amazon. You can bring a snack or dessert. It's also nursing's only preferred. That's pretty much all I had announcements as far as the bulletin's concerned. We do have, again, those new cards. Our church moved cards that you can hand out, and we've got a lot of these, so feel free to hand them out pretty liberally, as well as the tracts and everything like that we have back there. Also make sure to feel free to hand out a sodomite deception DVD. It's a good month coming up to hand those babies out and be like, what's that about? It's about this month. It's for you and for the taken. People really appreciate that. That's pretty much all announcements I have at this point. Let's go to song 356. I Must Tell Jesus. Again, that's 356. I Must Tell Jesus. 356. Let's sing it all together on the first. I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone. In my distress He kindly will help me. He ever loves and cares for His own. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. He is a kind, compassionate friend. If I but ask Him, He will deliver. Make of my troubles quickly and in. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior. One who can help my burdens to bear. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. He all my cares and sorrows will share. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. Oh how the world to evil allures me. Oh how my heart is tempted to sin. I must tell Jesus and He will help me. Over the world the victory to win. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. Amen. Great singing. As the offer plagues go around, please turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 6. 2 Samuel chapter 6 and follow along silently starting in verse number 1. 2 Samuel chapter 6, the Bible reads, Again David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Baaleh of Judah to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps and on salt trees and on timbrels and on cornets and on cymbals. And when they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error, and there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, and he called the name of the place Perez-Uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? But David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David, but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. The ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. And it was told King David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. And it was so that when they that bear the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. And David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was girded with a lidded ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. They brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in his place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it. David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. He dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to everyone a cake of bread, a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. To all the people departed everyone to his house. Then David returned to bless his household. Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovered himself. And David said unto Michal, It was before the Lord which chose me before thy father and before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore will I play before the Lord, and I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight, and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor. Therefore Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child under the day of her death. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you for 2 Samuel 6 and for the opportunity that we have this evening to learn more about this chapter. And we pray now that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and just enable him to the best of his ability to explain this chapter to us so we can learn more about your word and be with us as we leave and go our separate ways after the service. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. We're here in 2 Samuel 6 and we kind of think about where we've been previously. David has been taking over the kingdom and he's fighting the enemies in chapter number 5. And as we're kind of rolling into chapter number 6 it's a little bit different because they're having a little bit more peace. They kind of conquered a lot of their enemies and so they're kind of moving on from a time of warfare. They don't really have the civil war going on anymore. They've kind of defeated a lot of their external enemies. And so it kind of has afforded them the opportunity to now build the house of God. And that's kind of where we find ourselves in this chapter where David is going to try and return with the Ark of the Covenant and kind of start building the house of God and focusing on the things of God, specifically the service and sanctuary of God. So this is verse number 1. Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. David arose and went, all the people that were with him from Baal of Judah, to bring up from the fence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, to dwell between the cherubim. They set the ark of God upon a new card and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new card. They're going to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the city of David. And this is kind of a big transition for the children of Israel because the main city or main point of worship is going to be now in the city of David and they're bringing in the card. And this is where Jerusalem is going to end up becoming the new established city where everyone would come and worship the Lord. And of course, why not have the Ark of the Covenant at the center of that? That's really what the Bible describes as even where God is literally sitting. So God is in a sense ruling the children of Israel. He's their king. And that's why He got mad at the fact that they wanted a king because the king was already God sitting on this throne, sitting on the mercy seat, there with the children of Israel. He was the one leading them, going out and coming in. If you think about it, a king kind of represents the main leader coming out, coming in, defeating the foes. He's kind of the valuing one. And that's what Jesus was doing consistently throughout the Old Testament when they would enter into the Promised Land and all these areas. The Ark of the Covenant is going before them. When they go into Jericho, the Ark of the Covenant is going before them and they're following the Ark of the Covenant. It's like they're following their king. It's following their leader. And now it's got a physical king. But just because it has a physical king doesn't mean that God isn't still above him. He's the king of kings. He's trying to bring God back into the center, bring him back into the focus. He's the one that's dwelling on the mercy seat. I mean, that's in fact what this says in verse number 2, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwells between the cherry-bims. And the cherry-bims are, if you go back to the Old Testament kind of studying, these are creatures that are put on the ends of the mercy seat. In fact, their wings, part of their wings cover the mercy seat. And it's just kind of a royal emblem, a royal symbol of who God is, and he's sitting there on this ark. Now, David wants to bring it back, but here's the problem. He ends up deciding to put on a new cart. Notice that it says the sons of Abinadab drove the new cart. Well, here's the thing. When did the Bible ever bring up a cart? When did a cart get introduced as a way to transport the Ark of the Covenant? The only time you really have that was when the Philistines, who had stolen the Ark of the Covenant, they end up putting on a cart and having a couple oxen and end up driving it back into town. And maybe that's where this idea came from. Maybe they're kind of thinking like, oh, that's how we're supposed to do it. Or really, if you think about it, a cart kind of symbolizes it being really easy, you know, in the sense that you're not necessarily having to bear the burden. Something else is bearing the burden. They're making it really easy. But here's the thing. We don't want to take God's commandments and just decide, well, you know what? I know that's what God said, but I think it'd be easier if we did it this way. It'd be easier if we worshiped God this way. You know, God has already made it pretty easy. He's not looking to try and make worshiping Him really hard. But He does have certain parameters. He has certain guidelines that He wants us to follow. And it's really important that when you follow God's commandments, you follow them exactly. Not just like, we get the gist. A lot of people think that worshiping God is all about just the gist and the spirit and feeling good. God wants it done exactly right. That's how God actually operates. And I want to show you in the Bible, this is a Bible study, what the Bible actually said about this. But go to Exodus chapter 37. Keep your finger and go to Exodus chapter 37. How are you supposed to carry the ark? Well, you know, praise the Lord that He didn't just leave us hanging. He didn't leave the children of Israel hanging. And this is really true of every area of our life that anything that God wants us to know and be real specific on, He told us exactly. He didn't just leave us wondering and guessing and hoping how to worship God. He told us exactly how He wants it done. Now, obviously there's always a little bit of freedom when it comes to the Bible. And we get that. But there's also then boundaries. Let's find some of the boundaries. Exodus 37 verse 5. And He put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark to bear the ark. So, Bezalel builds the ark of God and he puts rings on the side of it. There's a specific reason there's four rings on the side of it. It's so that you can put two staves, or as you think about it, sticks. Two long sticks on both sides. And then essentially four guys would have to carry the ark. You have a guy on the front stick, on the back stick, and then you have another stick on the other side, a guy on the front, and a guy on the back. Pretty similar to even how you might see people carry a funeral casket. You know, you have the pallbearers, as it were. Sometimes pallbearers may have six, or they have a different number of men that are carrying. It kind of depends on how people want to do their funeral. But it's kind of, in essence, the same style where you're going to have men bearing the burden of the ark in unison and carrying the ark. That's how God designed it. And why would you have rings on it if you're not going to use them? God didn't put rings on it just because it's cool. He put rings on it so that you'd actually bear the ark. Now look at chapter 40. I want to show you a little bit more, and I'm just kind of cherry picking a few verses here to get a semblance. We're not going to study the whole book of Exodus. Exodus, chapter 40, look at verse 20. And he took and put the testimony in the ark, set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle and set up the veil of the covering and covered the ark with the testimony as the Lord commanded Moses. Now, you have to understand the book of Exodus is essentially the first part of it after they've finally left Egypt. First part of Exodus after that, God's telling them everything they're going to do. And then the latter portion of Exodus is them doing everything that God asked them to do. Sometimes it feels a little bit boring because you're like, I thought I already read this. But what's really important about Exodus and reading these chapters of the Bible is you realize that when God wanted them to follow their instructions, he wanted them to follow them exactly. And so the reason why God's saying it that way, because it could have just been like, here's how you do it, and then it's just like, and they did it. But then people kind of wonder like, well, I know it says that they did it, but they didn't do it exactly like God instructed them. They kind of just figured it out or here and there. So it actually just then spells out exactly what they did. So then you know they followed God's commandments to the team. Like they were just exactly as God instructed, exactly as God designed, exactly as God wanted them to carry it out. I mean, they're just doing it to the detail, and they're putting the stage in there, and that's how they're bringing the ark into that tabernacle. Those of you who did Numbers, chapter number four, Numbers, look to the right and go to Numbers, chapter number four. So in the book of Exodus, we learn how it's made. In the end of Exodus, we learn that's how they used it to carry it. In Numbers, chapter number four, we're going to have even more instruction about the ark specifically. Numbers, chapter four, verse four, this shall be the service of the sons of Kohath and the tabernacle of the congregation about the most holy things. When the camp seteth forward, Aaron shall come and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of testimony with it, and shall put there on the covering of badger skins and spread over it a cloth holy of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. So notice, he also gives them instructions. He says, hey, when you guys are going to move the tabernacle, let me tell you how you're going to do it. Number one, there's only a certain group of people that are allowed to even do this. The Kohathites. Because the sons of Aaron are broken into three families. The Kohathites, the Meraiites, and the Girgashites. Only these three families are really in response to the service of the Lord and doing the work of the tabernacle. All of them are then subdivided into different tasks. Kind of have the Kohathites, they're dealing with the ark and the special instruments, and the other groups are dealing with the curtains, and then other groups are dealing with the big pillars and the columns and all the underlying work. But if you're a Girgashite, you're not allowed to go in there and move the ark. You had to be of Kohath. I mean, you had to be a specific lineage, a specific family, a specific, not just tribe. This is subtribe, because the tribe is Levi. We're talking about the Kohathite subdivision of the Levitical priesthood. They're the ones that are allowed to move the ark of the covenant. In order to move it, they had to first cover everything in claws of blue. Now, of course, they have other claws mentioned here. Scarlet and these colors. And you say, why are they using these type of colors? Because those are the colors that essentially are associated with bruising, bleeding, and blood. Now, why do you think that God decided to use blue and purple and red to cover all these instruments? Because he's picturing what Jesus is going to do for us. And here's the thing. The only way for you and I to touch the holy is through the blood of Jesus Christ. It's through the beating of Jesus Christ. And so you can't just walk in there and touch the most holy thing, because that would basically signify you can get to God without Jesus. But here's the thing. You can't get to heaven without Jesus. You can't touch any of the holy things without the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why you had to first cover it in that claw of the blue. You had to fully be baptized in that claw of the blue. You had to be able to touch and to handle these special things like the Ark of the Covenant. Now, what did they put in the Ark of the Covenant? Well, they had told us that they put specifically the Word of God into the tabernacle. So the Ark of Testimony is really like carrying the Ten Commandments literally. So God wrote with his finger the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone. When Moses came down from the mountaintop, he broke it. And then he had to go back and get it again. Now, that's an interesting picture too. It's kind of like the Old Testament being broken. But then when he came back, he came back with the Word of God again. He still came back with the Ten Commandments. Some people think, oh, we're in the New Testament, we don't need the Ten Commandments. No, you still have the law. Jesus fulfilled the law. But they put the Word of God in this Ark, and then they're literally carrying God's commandments around with them in this Ark, and that's what God's sitting on top of. So it's really important instruments. It's really important symbolism. There's a lot of special things here. And you can't just do whatever you want. Look at verse 15. And when Aaron and the sons have made an end to covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuary as the camp is a step forward, after that the sons of Coas shall come to bear it. They shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Coas and the tabernacle of the congregation. And that seems like a pretty important verse to be read before you start moving this thing around. You know, and it's like you look at these boxes, there's like warning real big on it. A lot of people don't read that. But this is one of those warning labels you really wanted to read. Like danger, high voltage. You know, you touch this thing, you're going to be electrocuted. It's like this thing, you touch it, God's going to kill you. And so it's kind of foolish to not read the instructions beforehand. You know, some of us men, we like to try and build things without reading the instructions. And I'm telling you, you know, hey, if you're MacGyver, go for it. But you know what, when it comes to the things of God, read the instructions first. You know, you don't want to be one of these type of Christians that's just like, I'm going to feel it out. You know, I don't know what these extra screws and bolts and these other parts are for. You know, you don't want to do that with the things of God. You want to just read the instructions and get it exactly right. Now, go to Deuteronomy chapter 31, Deuteronomy chapter 31. We have a lot of interesting information here, and here's the thing. David had access to all of this. In fact, the Bible even literally commanded the king. He was supposed to write himself a copy of the law and read it every single day. And it's supposed to humble him before his people. And honestly, I think that reading the law is one of the best ways to humble yourself. Because you start realizing, like, how terrible of a person you really are. I mean, anybody that reads the law and then thinks that they're great is just, there's no fixing their pride, apparently. Because when you read the law, I mean, anybody that reads the law, you start feeling pretty guilty and you start realizing you're doing things you shouldn't do. And it's really important that the king, the one in charge, knows what to do. Because if the king doesn't know what to do, then how much less his servants and all the other people know what to do. They're going to follow the king's lead here, and so it's really important for the king to know what to do. You know, this is true in every area of your life. If you're a leader, you should know what's going on. You should read the instructions, as it were. If you work for a company, you're in a management position, you should know all the policies, procedures, and rules for your company. You know, if you have a really important job that has a lot of code, you know, whether that be a plumber, or an electrician, or any area that has regulation, maybe that's in the medical field. Really important? No. All the different rules, all the different regulations, everything that is important related to that industry, so that way you're making good decisions. You're not leading people astray. And how much more, even, the things of God. And yet, it feels like there's so many pastors today that they don't really care what the Bible says. They're not interested in really focusing on the commandments of God and knowing what the Bible says, knowing it like the back of their hand. They're more interested in just feeling good and, you know, just feeling the spirit or the music. And we'll get there in a minute. But most important is that the pastor knows what the Bible says. And you say, well, I want to go to the church that feels good, and smells good, and all the other stuff. That's great, but, you know, the most important is that they know what the Bible says first. That's like the most important. That's the highest priority, and that should be the most emphasis is learning what the Bible says. Deuteronomy 31, look at verse 23. But he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of good courage. Thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land, which I swear to them, and I will be with thee. It came to pass when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book until they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, which bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying... Notice again how the Bible just, it kind of just throws in these, like, adjectives or phrases, descriptive phrases. It's saying, hey, you Levites, um, oh, and by the way, the ones that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, wink, wink, nada, it's like, who's supposed to be carrying this thing? Levites! When did it say, and the cart, which bears the ark of the Lord? Or the oxen, which bear the ark of the Lord? Or just any of the children of Israel? It's not even just any of the children of Israel, it's like the coethites vary specifically. Now, when you think about these statutes and these laws, there is freedom, because if you think about it, it didn't name, like, this specific coethite, or this specific, you know, person. It could be any of the coethites, right? So then they have freedom of the coethites who to pick, who to choose, what guy is going to do the job, but you know what, they don't have freedom to say, let's use a merei right. Or they don't have freedom to choose to use any other random person. They don't have the freedom to choose how to use a cart or anything like that. And so, when it comes to the Word of God, we have to understand that while God gives us liberties, He doesn't give us liberties with His commandment. He doesn't give us liberties with His instructions. We have to follow them to a T, then within those boundaries, now we have the freedom and the free will to make those decisions to the best of our ability. Just like when it comes to a New Testament church. You know, we have liberties. We also have boundaries. What's a boundary? King James Bible. We don't have liberty to decide which Bible we're going to use. We're going to only use the Word of God. That's not up for debate. That's not, you know, an option. Now, where we decide to read that Bible, where we decide to have that church service, that's a lot of liberty. What's not up for grabs is those if we should meet. You know, well, I don't know if we should meet. It's like, no, no, no. We're supposed to have church. Where? Liberty. So we see that balance of where and things like that. So when it comes to how to bring the cart in, God didn't say how long it was supposed to take. God didn't say exactly which coethites had to do it. But you know what? It needs to be a coethite and they need to be carrying it, not this new cart. Let's go back and let's keep reading our story. It says in verse number four, And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on salt trees, and on timbrels, and on cornice, and on cymbals. Now, here's the thing. There's nothing wrong with these three verses. And in fact, when did the Bible say play music when you moved ark? It didn't. Did it say that you can't? No. But this is fine. But here's the thing. Why would I get so wrapped up in what I don't have to do rather than what I should do? Right? Of course, is there anything wrong with playing music or getting excited about the things of God? No, there's nothing wrong with it. But no matter how excited you are, no matter how much good music you have going, God's still angry if you're not following his commandments. You know, there's a lot of churches today, I'm telling you what, I feel like their music ministry is more important than the preaching of God's Word. And that is not right. That is not biblical. I would way rather have a sub-par music program that's following the Bible perfectly than have the greatest music program in the world and not be following the commandments. Now, there's nothing wrong with having both. I'm not saying, let's suck at music so that we can follow the commandments of the Lord. What I am saying is this though, I don't care how good a music program you have, it does not cover up for your breaking of God's commandments. And there are Baptist churches in this world that have a great music program but you should never go to because they won't follow God's commandments. They're not interested in the law, they're not doing things right, they don't have the right guy behind the pulpit, they have other serious sin issues, they're not going soul winning. I mean, you can't make up for soul winning with really beautiful music, my friend. You can't make up for a lot of other issues and when you break God's commandments, there's still going to be consequences through that. And we don't want to go to the church that's just, oh, it's easy or convenient. You know, it's got the cart, you know, it's got the coffee cart going up and down the aisle, it's got all the pretty music. I mean, they have literally every instrument. I mean, think about it. I mean, they've got firwood and arps and salt trees and timbrels and cornets and cymbals. I mean, this is a Pentecostal church, you know, I'm just kidding. Like, they've got it all. It's loud, it's exciting. You know, some people are like, they even equate a church's spiritual liveliness to how loud the music is. Like, they'll go to a church service and it's just kind of quiet and they're singing the hymns and like, man, it's kind of dead. You know, they go to the church, they got the drums and they got people swinging and swaying and they're playing the timbrel and, you know, all the cymbals and it's loud and they're just like, woo! And they're like, this is a live church, I can feel it! Here's the thing, that's not what determines if the church is live or dead. How about, how many people are getting genuinely saved? That's a good question. How many people are getting genuinely baptized? Not baptized the 16th time because you don't even know what baptism is. And you know that's out there. You know that that's happening. They're just baptized. I mean, they don't even ask you if you're saved. They're just like, who wants to get baptized? Come on down! You know, it's just like, why don't you make sure they get saved? Because they don't want to never get someone baptized. They just have to, you know, baptize a bunch of people that aren't even saved or whatever. I mean, it seems like in this area, people have gotten baptized so many times. I was talking to a guy recently, and he's just like, he's like, I'm going to get baptized. Like it's again, I just feel like I need to get baptized again. I'm just like, what? He's like, just for myself. And I'm like, thinking like they turned the confessional booth into baptism or something. Like, you know, that's just, you know, take showers and stuff, but you know, you don't need another baptism. Okay. You get baptized one time after getting saved because it's a spiritual connection to it. It's not, it's not this like, you know, thing that you need to constantly do like a shower. That's a different thing that you do need. All right, please take a shower. Look what it says in verse number six, and when they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand of the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The hand of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error. There he died by the ark of God. So we also learn here through inference that this cart was being led by oxen. Okay, so cattle were carrying this ark. Cattle end up shaking the ark, and the ark admittedly is in some level of danger. Now we don't know for sure if it would have fallen. We don't know exactly. We can presume maybe it was. What we do know is that Uzzah was worried about it falling. Maybe he fully believed it, maybe it was falling, and so he decided to put his hand forth, touch the ark, and God's angry and kills him. Now we've already taken this thing out of this verse. We already know why. Why? Why? He's trying to do a good thing here, because God said if you touch it, you die. Is this guy a coethite? Did they cover it in claws of blue? Are they bearing it on the shoulders of men? And you know, that'll help so that you don't have stupid animals tipping it over. Okay, when you've got four guys carefully walking, bearing the ark, making sure that they're not going to drop this thing or tip it over, that's an important picture here. And Uzzah is honestly, when you think about the story, you kind of feel bad about Uzzah a little bit, just because you're thinking like, well, Uzzah just doesn't want the ark of God to fall. I mean, it's not Uzzah's fault necessarily that they put it on this ark. And here's the thing. Uzzah, I personally believe when you look at Uzzah, like, it's not necessarily his fault. I think it's really David's fault. And that's why it's also important for leadership and those in charge to make the right decisions, because their failures, their rebellion can be the downfall of other people. When you're doing wrong, when you're doing evil, you can cause people downstream to stray, suffer the consequences for your sin and for your issue. Now, of course, I believe that there's a spiritual picture here. And if you kind of think about the elements, we have the children of Israel bringing this ark. Who's kind of the main person responsible for this? And my bit is David. David is at the house of Judah. So you can kind of look at this as being the Jews' fault as a spiritual picture, right? And if this ark tips over and falls, what's going to happen? It's going to break. And what's inside it? It's the law. You kind of look at this picture, it's like Judah is breaking the law, okay? Now, if they're breaking the law and the ark of God pictures the law being broken, well, what's the only way to fix this? Well, someone whose fault it's not to catch it from breaking. Now, who would be someone that would, you know, have to stretch forth and put their hand to stop the law from being broken to take the burden? That's Jesus Christ. Uzzah, I believe in this picture, is kind of picturing Jesus Christ because he's preventing the ark from falling and being destroyed. And so he basically takes all of the sin, all of the punishment. I mean, this is arguably everyone's fault. This is David's fault. This is everybody's fault. One man ends up taking all of the curse and all of the punishment for the children of Israel for this breach, and he fills the entire full brunt force of this. But he also does this. He keeps the law from being broken. So the ark of the covenant was going to break, is going to smash, is going to become irrelevant. Uzzah preserved the law. And if you kind of think about this, keep your finger and go to Galatians chapter number three. Go to Galatians chapter number three. The thing the Bible says about Jesus is that he fulfilled the law. You know, some people think that Jesus came to destroy the law. He didn't come to destroy the law of the prophets. He came to fulfill. And just like Uzzah did not intend on the law being broken or destroyed, he preserved it. Okay? And it wasn't Uzzah's fault that they put it on this cart. It wasn't Uzzah's fault that David wasn't following the instructions. Uzzah is just there simply taking the blame, taking the burden of everybody else. It makes me think of Galatians chapter number three, specifically verse number 13. The Bible says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For his written curse is to everyone that hangeth on a tree. So Jesus literally had to take the entire curse of the law by touching these instruments. And, you know, we have Uzzah touching the instruments, taking that curse, and ended up dying to preserve the law for them. So, you know, it's really kind of an interesting story. It's kind of something that is a little bit perplexing the first time you read it because I think at first you kind of feel bad for Uzzah. Then when you kind of realize it's Jesus, then it makes a lot of sense. And then, you know, what you should do is you should take that feeling of feeling bad for Uzzah and realize you should feel bad for Jesus having to die on the cross for your sin. And taking all of that burden and taking all of that weight and taking all of that punishment and taking that curse that we deserve. You know, David is the one that should be punished here. Judah should be punished. Jerusalem should be punished. But only Uzzah gets punished. Only Uzzah takes that and he takes the ultimate price by dying. Now, of course, we look at this and we think of Uzzah as being kind of an idiot. Like, I feel like maybe I've heard that. Maybe people have said that. I don't know if I have that thought. But I don't see Uzzah as being an idiot here. Uzzah is just basically the guy that's trying to preserve things and he's a picture of Christ. So, you know, while really the person I get mad at in this story is David, not Uzzah. Uzzah is the guy that's kind of helping cure the problem. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that what Uzzah did, the person was right. Obviously, Uzzah shouldn't touch God. But we see that God allowed this to happen so that we get a picture of Jesus Christ. And it's beautiful him taking that sacrifice just like what Jesus did for us is beautiful. Now, it says in verse number 9, And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David, but David carried it aside in the house of Obed-Edom to get tight. The Bible does say, And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom to get tight for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. And it was told King David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertaineth unto him because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David's badness. So you have another character, Obed-Edom, says to get tight. Keep your finger here in Samuel chapter six. Go to Joshua. Go backwards. Go to Joshua chapter 13. Joshua chapter number 13. Let's see who the get-tites are. To be reminded in Joshua chapter 13, look at verse number three. The Bible says, So in fact, the get-tites are Philistines. So Obed-Edom is a Philistine. Now, Obed-Edom, if he's a Philistine, here's another word that makes him a Gentile. And what's pretty interesting, as soon as we have Perah and Uzzah, we have Uzzah dying, and we have this breach. Where does the blessing go? It goes straight to the Gentiles. And you know what? It's a picture of the fact that the gospel went straight to the Gentiles. It didn't go to the Jews. It went to the Gentiles. Now, of course, eventually, that's going to then be brought back under, and everyone's going to be blessed, Jew and Gentile, which is coming with what? Christ bringing in the fold, Jew and Gentile, millenial reign of Christ. We have even another picture here of the gospel, going to the Gentiles, getting them saved. That's got to make them Jews a little angry. David's a little bit jealous here. You know, in fact, the Bible says in Romans that one of the goals of giving the gospel to the Gentiles was to revoke them unto jealousy. And say, hey, you should be mad that they're getting all the blessings and you're not when it's your ark. I mean, this is David's ark here, and he's not getting it. You know, that really made Paul mad at the Jews. He's thinking like, look, you guys are the ones that pertain to the adoption. This is all about you guys. You can really feel it in Romans chapter 9 and chapter 10 and chapter 11. Paul's just like, guys, come on, let's bring the ark back home. They just won't do it. It's stubborn. And that stubbornness, that fear, as it were, whatever feelings or emotions they have, ended up blessing the Gentiles. They end up receiving it and getting those blessings from God. Now, it says in verse number 13, and it was so that when they had bare the ark of the Lord, had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. So now we've learned something different. When they, that bare the ark of the Lord, had gone six paces. So now, all of a sudden, we switch from animals and a cart to people. Now, it's not giving all the information, but I'm guessing at this point they're like, hey, let's get some coethites out here and let's get some stays on this thing. Let's pick this thing up. Let's do it right. In fact, they treat this with so much respect. Think about how much fear of God they have when they said, we're going to carry this ark only six steps at a time. That is some, that is some care. You know what it really says to me? That's some fear of God. You know, they're terrified of doing this thing wrong now. They're terrified of dropping this thing. They're terrified of getting it wrong in any kind of way. And they're just going to take it six steps at a time. You know what that also tells me is this. Hey, when we're going to do something, we better make sure that we're doing it right rather than how quick we can get it done. Speed is not as important as accuracy when it comes to following God's commandment. And we as a New Testament church, we want to make sure that we're doing things right and we're building upon the right footsteps and we're going in the right direction because it's easy to speed up. It's hard to reverse course. Hard to get things right when you're doing wrong. So, any area of our life, whenever we've made a mistake, any area of our life that we need to get back on track, any area of our life that we are charting uncharted territory, sorry, we're going down uncharted territory, we want to make sure that we're doing it right rather than let's see how fast we can do it. Let's see how quick we can do it. And I like that they take this care, they take this diligence. In fact, they're even offering sacrifices even every two months. Sounds like a barbecue brisket. I mean, you know, feast or something. Oh, they're just like having a good old time, lots of feasting. And here's the thing, even though they're doing it careful and they're doing it really slow, you have to understand that this is actually a time of rejoicing. They're excited. They're excited about the things of God. They're excited they get to serve God. They're excited that they get the ark. They're excited that the Lord is their God. They're not doing this thing as a burden. It's fun. And you know what? God wants us to worship Him and have some fun. You know, it's not vegan Baptist church. Texas barbecue Baptist church, okay? And you can have some fun while serving God. You know, that's why if we go on soul winning trips or we go on missions trips or we do these things, I try to make sure that we have a good time. And that we even enjoy really good food. It's not like here's McDonald's. Don't try the McNuggets, okay? Or a silly argument. I saw this silly argument on Facebook. It's like, which dipping sauce is best with these nuggets? And I'm thinking like, you know, that's like which side of hell sounds good. You know, it's like, you know, it doesn't matter if you're on the left or the right side. It's hell, okay? It doesn't matter what kind. It doesn't matter if you put gasoline on those things or barbecue sauce or whatever. I mean, gasoline is probably good. Just burn it up. But when it comes to making decisions in our lives, you know, God, I don't believe is this guy up in heaven that's hoping that we just have a horrible time serving him. He wants us to enjoy it. And he gives us the opportunity to enjoy serving him. You know what? Serving God is fun if you do it right. If you do it wrong, it's never fun. It doesn't matter how much good music you have. It doesn't matter what you have to eat. You know, the thing that's fun is serving God correctly. Doing things right. It says in verse number 14, David danced before the Lord with all his might. David was girded with a linen ephod. David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet. So again, this doesn't sound like they were mad or upset or nervous. This sounds like they're real excited. I mean, David, what the Bible describes is dancing with all of his might. Now, it's been a historical doctrine from Baptist that dancing is sinful or something. And that's not true. Now, of course, typically what they mean by that is like dirty dancing or like what most people think of as dancing. And I do agree that that stuff is wicked. But not because dancing in and of itself is inherently sinful. But that there is a style of dancing, a bedroom style of dancing that no one should be partaking in. But that doesn't mean that dancing in and of itself is wrong. Now, of course, as a church, we do things decently in order. We're not going to have people up here doing cartwheels and running around and doing that kind of stuff. That doesn't make sense. That's not for here. You know what? If someone wants to be excited about the things of God and dances or whatever, I'm not going to condemn that. I'm not going to get mad at that. In fact, there's nothing wrong with being really excited about God. Even some people, they'll clap or they'll shout or whatever. That's great. Some of our songs even literally have shouting built into the song. And I think that's great. Some of the psalms literally say, clap your hands. I mean, it'd be hard for me to sit here and be like, don't do that. I don't think that that's right. The Bible also has playing certain instruments. You have the Church of Christ. They won't play instruments when the psalms are literally saying, play an instrument. And that's thinking like, that's a weird way to follow the commandments of God. So we want to make sure that if God's saying something, people can do it. In fact, some of the psalms even talk about dancing. So if you're going to say dancing's wrong, then that would be a bad doctrine. That doesn't mean that dancing everywhere is good. Just like shouting everywhere is not good. Clapping everywhere is not good. Clapping's not good at a funeral. There's a time and a place to dance. There's a time and a place to clap. There's a time and a place to shout. And obviously, we want to make sure that everything we do is decently done in order, done appropriately. And this dancing is not necessarily a church service setting. This is outdoors. They're traveling. David's excited and he's dancing. And that's probably a good place to dance outside. But I'm not even going to say, you know, some people would say like classical dancing or what is it, square dancing or that kind of stuff is sinful. I don't think it's sinful. But of course, use your own discretion. Obviously, if you feel awkward, it's probably wrong. All right? Just don't do it. The Bible says to abstain from all appearances. You know what? I don't think there's anything wrong with dancing, having fun. My kids love to dance and I didn't even teach them. So, you know, I don't know how they learned it, but they just do it. All right? They're better than me already. Okay? But it says in verse 16, And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. Now, here's what we have to understand about this passage is, just because you enjoy serving God doesn't mean everyone around you enjoys it. And this is kind of a sad reality, but it is a reality. That in some situations, in some households, you know, husbands and wives don't always agree on the service of God. And here's what's a really wicked attitude, but it exists out there, is where a spouse is jealous of God in a relationship. And what I mean by that is one spouse is serving God or doing some great thing for God, and the other spouse ends up becoming jealous of that person's affection and time and energy and end up treating that person poorly because of their zeal for God. You know what? This is not how our church should operate. This is not how Christians should operate. You know, in a marriage, you have to understand, while that is the most important relationship you can have, humanly speaking, God is still above that marriage. God is still the number one person in everyone's life, and they should be. Now, of course, we don't always do that, and we strive for that. That is a commandment. That is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to put the Lord God above every relationship that we have. But in this situation, my cow is not. And it makes sense, if you kind of think about the story, that this is a pretty commonplace thing. My cow hasn't seen her husband in a while. In fact, they've been apart for a long time. Now, all of a sudden, he's coming into town, he's leaping, he's dancing, he's showing a lot of emotion, a lot of affection towards God. It makes sense that a wife might feel like, well, you know what, I kind of want to be his number one. I wish I had that kind of affection, and I wish I had that kind of attention from my husband. And here's the thing, there's nothing wrong with wanting attention and affection and having your husband desire you, but here's the thing. You should never be jealous of his affection towards God, because that is in the right place. And you don't want to rain on his parade or despise your husband for serving God. Or you don't want to despise your wife for having a zeal for God and loving God more than you, because in fact, they should, according to the Word of God. Go to Luke chapter number 14. Go to Luke chapter number 14. Notice that my cow despised David and the Bibles real clear because he was dancing before God. It didn't say just because he was dancing. It didn't say just because he was leaping. It said very specifically, he was leaping and dancing before the Lord, to the Lord. And of course, I'll also say this, almost no one would probably ever admit that out loud. Even my cow. When we get into this story, my cow's not going to say, I'm mad at you because you love God so much. That just sounds weird. That just sounds selfish. That just sounds wicked, because it is, but it happens. Look what it says in Luke chapter 14. Look what it says in verse 26. If a man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Notice that Christ says that you have to put him above every relationship you have. All of them. And so, you know, I've had some people, they'll even email me. They'll say, my spouse doesn't want me to go to church. And I'm saying, go to church. Now, I'll say this. If you are a wife, if you're a husband, just go to the best church in your area, period. If you're a wife, I believe you should submit to your husband as long as he's taken to a scriptural church. So if your husband is willing to take you to a church that's right on salvation and has the right Bible, you should submit to him. If he's saying, I want you to come to this church, you go to that church. But if your husband's going to drag you to Todd White's church, you come to Steadfast Baptist Church. Okay? If your husband's going to drag you to the Catholic church down the street, you don't go there. You go to a Bible-believing Baptist church. Why? Because God is more important than any human relationship. And the only time that a wife should ever, ever disregard what her husband says is in regard to the Bible. That's it. Now, some people think that they have a lot of reasons to disobey their husband. Usually, no. But I'm just saying, on these circumstances, there are a handful of circumstances where a wife just obeys God. You know, I'm not going to read the NIV. I'm going to read the King James Bible. I'm not going to go to that church. I'm going to go to the right church. You know, I'm not going to murder my children. I'm going to have them. You know, if your husband's asking you to commit a sin, murder, lying, stealing, any sin, you say, I'm going to obey God rather than man. Every single time. But, if your husband's saying, make me a sandwich, you make him a sandwich. If you make him a sandwich, and he's like, you know what, I don't want crust on this, and he throws it in the trash and says, make me another sandwich, you make him another sandwich. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. If, you know, whatever your husband says, you do it. If he says, well, you know what, I want you to, you know, do some extra favor for me to go to church, you just do the extra favor. You know, you're supposed to do everything you can possibly do to obey your husband, but there is a boundary. That's the word of God. And for husbands, if your wife is saying, well, I'm not going to make you sandwiches if you go to that church, you go to the church and get some Subway over here, all right? Make a sandwich, okay? But what I am saying is this, you know, we should serve God first, and notice, it's not just saying your wife or your spouse, it's saying, even here in this context, your own self. Whatever you want, you're supposed to say no to yourself and say yes to what the Lord says. It's not about us, it's about God, and God is supposed to be number one. Now, of course, you can see, with such loyal devotion, with such adoration and such praise, why a spouse may be jealous of that affection and want that for themselves. Wouldn't you want that? Wouldn't you want someone that's just going to say yes to your every wish, want, and desire, and to love you with all their heart, and to leap and dance just by being in your presence? Of course, isn't that what, who, what wife doesn't want that? For their husband to literally be coming, skipping home, so excited to see them, you know, all the sacrifices, all the things they could ever want, praising them and singing their praises, I mean, of course, isn't that what every wife wants? Yeah. But see, here's the thing, that's supposed to first go to God, and then it goes to the spouse. And you know what? Sometimes this could happen. It could happen in a relationship where a wife gets mad at her husband because he went out soul winning. It could be where a wife gets, or a husband gets mad at his wife for wanting to go soul winning, or wanting to go to church three times a week, or wanting to read the Bible to their children, or wanting to go to a special church event, or any of these categories, you know, anything, you know, just serving at the church. And you know what? It's a wrong attitude, it's a wicked attitude, it's not right. And we need to make sure that we're putting God first and that we encourage our spouse to put God first. Not just thinking about, you know, when we hear a sermon like this, it's really easy to think about the other person. What you should be thinking about is you. And you should think about this, hey, am I pleased with my spouse serving God first, putting me behind God? You know, do I care more about my wife giving me time today, or her giving time to God today, or serving God? Or do I care more about me being inconvenienced so that my wife can serve God, or am I all about me? You know, well, my wife better not get mad at me for going out soul winning. But here's the thing, do you ever make a sacrifice, men, so that your wife can go soul winning? So that your wife can go out and preach the gospel, or make things easier on her to serve God? You know, or even if your spouse is not necessarily as jazzed about the things of God, you know, helping them. You know, saying, hey, I'll take you to your favorite restaurant if you go to church with me. You know, because they want that attention, okay? And you shouldn't just be like, well, I'm going to put God first and you like 92nd on the list. Your wife still needs to be number two, okay? So you got God, and then you got your wife. And it's really important to try and get both of those really high on the priority list. And then you put your children number three, and then I find this, you don't have time for number four. And some people, they always think like, how do you do all this stuff? It's because I don't have a four, and a five, and a six, and a seven, and an eight, and a nine. You know, I'm just so focused on number one, two, and three, I can't even hardly get that stuff done. You know, number four is like your job, right? Depending on, you know, we're talking about men or these different circumstances. But we really want to emphasize our priorities. You know, some people, their number one is like football. And then their number two is like their nachos or something. Or their beer time. And then number three is playing pool. Number four is playing poker with the guys. And then like way down the list is like the wife. Way down the list is the children. Way down the list is God. And we see that in our country today where men don't have God as number one. You know what, that's a shame and that's an embarrassment to our country. You know what, if you're a wife and you have a David in your life, you actually have a man that puts God number one, you should never criticize him for serving God. You shouldn't get mad at him for going to church. You shouldn't get mad at him for preaching the gospel. You shouldn't get mad at him for wanting to serve the Lord. And in fact, that will make him a better husband anyways. You know, but we have people that will get mad at each other for serving God. This is always a bad argument in a relationship. This is not a place that you want to be. And I will submit to you the reason why. Why is it that my cow is so mad at David for putting God first? It's because she's not putting God first. Because when you're putting God first, it's a lot harder to get mad at your spouse for them wanting to put God first. You know what, when you're not really interested in church, you're not really interested in preaching the gospel, you're not really interested in the things of God, then all of a sudden you start looking at those things as a burden and you start getting mad at your spouse for doing it. You know, when you just love God and you just love church and you just love soul winning, you want more than anything for your spouse to love those things too. And to go out there and be in church and preach in the gospel. And so, you know, the best thing you can do is just love God. And that will help your spouse to love God too. And when you don't love God, it makes it where you'll end up despising your husband because of their love for God. And this is why all of our family members and friends get mad at us. Because you love God so much and they don't and they basically, it just grinds their gears a little bit. Because we keep reading this passage, it says in verse number 17, And they brought in the ark of the Lord, and said in the high place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it, and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. It says, And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine, so all the people departed every one to his house. Then David returned to bless his household. Now here's the thing. What David did was great. Think about this. They just brought the ark of God back into the city of David, into Jerusalem. They had this huge party, this huge celebration. David literally blessed every single person. He blessed people with food. He blessed them with drink. They're all going back to their homes spiritually blessed. I mean, he's done this great, wonderful work for God. I mean, this is one of the greatest days ever. He's at the highest point, and he comes home, and you think about it. He's taking care of God. I mean, the spiritual checklist is just like, check, check, check, check, check. What is the second priority for David? Think about this. We're not talking about third, fourth, fifth. We're saying, what's the number one thing he does after taking care of God? He returns to his home to bless it. But it's not like his priorities are screwed up here. God, number one. What's number two? My house. Okay? So he's got his priorities straight, but he goes back home, and Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, how glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants as one of the vain fellows, shamelessly uncovered himself. Yeah. This is just, you know, I don't even know what word to use here, because it's not appropriate, but it's like, man, this is a nag. I'm thinking, like, this guy is, like, the greatest man of God who just did one of the greatest services to God ever, and then he has to come home and get an earful from his wife. This is wicked. This is wicked. And you know what? It's a shame when people do this, and you know what happens. You think about what the Bible even teaches. It teaches that a prophet is not without honor saving his own house. You know what? That is not an excuse verse. It's a reality verse, okay? Not an excuse verse, all right? You shouldn't get the, I mean, the worst, your husband comes home from an all-day soul wedding, and you're like, finally. It's like, you just went in the battle and got all these people saved, and it's like, you have to come home to that? It's like, that's wicked. Okay? Or if your wife is going to church, if your wife's helping people, you know, maybe your wife goes to a baby shower, and you're home with the kids, and you're just like, oh, man, you have to sit there and talk for so long. It's like, give her a break. You can either minister to other ladies and do good unto other ladies or preach the gospel or whatever. I mean, it's like, get off of your spouse's back when it comes to serving God. It's already hard enough. Then you got your spouse breathing down your neck? Let me tell you something. God does not like my cow for this. God is very angry at my cow for this. And who, you know who also is mad? David. Is he just, did David do all this selfish? I mean, think about this. David's bringing the ark of God. That's not for him. He just gave food to every other person. I mean, he's one of the most selfless people on the planet who's just giving of himself, ministering to other people, blessing other people, serving God. I mean, just the most humble person. And then he has to get this earful from his wife calling him a vain fellow and calling David selfish, acting as if what David was doing was just to get honor and glory from all the handmaids, saying like, oh, you're just there to just get all these women to like you. And it's like, oh, yeah, they do like you. He's like, I'm doing this for God. I mean, look what his answer is. And David said to Michael, it was before the Lord. He's not saying, hey, that is a false accusation. I'm not doing this for women. I'm not doing this, I've got enough women. I'm doing this for God. In fact, I came home to see, I mean, think about this. David is excited to see his wife and to bless his wife and then she totally just ruins it. Totally just nukes it. Now he's mad. Rightfully so, it was before the Lord which chose me before thy father and before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel, therefore will I play before the Lord. He's saying, look, God literally told me to serve him and that's what I'm gonna do. Hey, God told me to be the ruler over your dad, over everybody, I am the guy in charge here and I'm gonna get that job done and I will play before the Lord. I will serve God. And you know what, sometimes you have to have a hard conversation with people in your life and you have to just say, hey, God's number one. You wanna get in line, get in line. You're not getting in front of the line. And you know what, that's an important rule for every man, for every woman, for every person in their life to say, you know what, God is number one in this relationship, period. Now, he also continues and says, and I will be more vile than thus and will be based on my own sight and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor. Now, I'll say this. This verse is a little bit hard to understand. This is how I interpret this verse is what he's saying is he's saying I will yet be more vile than this. So he's saying like in the future I'm not gonna be as glorious as today. I'm gonna be more vile, okay? And what I think he's basically saying here is he's basically saying that whatever you're despising about me right now, it's only gonna get worse for you. Like if you're mad that I just serve God today, just wait. Because guess what, I'm gonna serve God tomorrow, too. And I'm gonna serve God the next day, too. And I'm gonna serve God even more. And in fact, sometimes when he serves God, it may not even be as cool as this one. Like, but guess what, Honey Buttercup? It's like, I'm gonna serve God. And yet, in the future, it may be even worse than this. And even if I'm serving God worse than this, and even if I make mistakes, because he says, I'll be based on my own side, he's like, even if I did things that I thought were stupid, the handmaidens, all these girls that you're talking about, they would still think I'm awesome. And we know that's true. I mean, you and I both know that the groupies of any band, the groupies of any celebrity, them on their worst day, those groupies would be like, he's the greatest ever. I mean, you could take any of these heart robs that these girls are interested in, they could have the worst hair day, the worst clothes, I mean, they could be literally wearing sackcloth, and they would still just be like, he saw me so dreamy and so wonderful. And he's kind of trying to make a point here that's saying, look, if these girls like me no matter what, how much more my wife? My wife should just be my number one cheerleader. And look, I've always said this, and I'll continue preaching it. As a spouse, you should be your spouse's number one cheerleader. And if you're a man, you're a cheerleader too. You'd be your wife's cheerleader. The worst thing you can do is go around and talk crap on your spouse, and even to them. Why do you get to talk crap about your spouse? That doesn't make any sense, honestly. You shouldn't do it. Now, go over to 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 3, Let me take this to an extremity, because, you know, what's interesting here is you could say, oh, well, Michael shouldn't have done it because David was serving God. Definitely. What if your spouse isn't even serving God? What if your spouse is a terrible spouse? You know, what does the Bible say? 1 Peter 3, verse 1, Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word. Now, here's my question. Is a spouse breaking God's commandments good or a bad one? That's kind of a crappy spouse. I mean, if you ask me. It says that they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wise. Father, behold your chaste conversation coupled here. Now, here is a really important phrase. Notice this phrase. Maybe you ladies should underline it. Without the word. Without the word. Well, if my husband screws up, I'm going to tell him. How about without the word? Well, but, you know, the Bible says so and so. I'm going to tell him what the Bible says without the word. You know what? A wife should just submit to her husband, period. She should just obey her husband. She should just be respectful to her husband. And you know what? If you want your spouse to be better as a wife, you're just supposed to obey him and just have chaste conversation. I mean, look what the Bible says. That you're going to be winning him over by the conversation, meaning your lifestyle, not nagging him, okay? And it says chaste conversation coupled with fear. Chase means obedience. So your husband being a crappy husband and then you're still obedient to him, he's going to be like, weird. Why are you so nice to me when I suck? I'm kind of expecting you to nag me or to get onto me. And it says coupled with fear. Now, here's what you're really fearing is God, not them being such a great person. And, you know, it's so funny to me when you always put these in modern context because what I'm saying sounds so radical right now, but everyone agrees. Think about it this way. If you go to work, if a lady goes to work and she has a professional job or professional career, when is it okay for her to just mouth off to her boss and call her boss an idiot? They never do, even when their boss screws up. And if they did, they would get fired. Why are they afraid to talk crap on their boss at work? Because they don't want to get fired. You know, when you get married, it's like you just think, well, I can't get fired, so then I'll just say everything that I want. You know what? The slaves should act like they can get fired around their husbands. And while their husband will never divorce them, they should never divorce them. That's not even an option. You know what? They should be afraid that God will fire them. And when we read about Michal, you know what happens? God fires Michal. In fact, their punishment is that she never gets to have a child ever. Now, let me tell you something. God is the one who opens and closes the womb. It's not David's fault she doesn't have a kid. It's her fault. It's God that's cursing her for being disobedient to her husband. You know what? If you're a wife, you should treat your husband better than you would your boss at work. And I fear and I know for a fact that's typically not the case. And it's funny to me because my wife's work in a secular job, and I've known other ladies that work in a secular job, they don't like their boss at all typically. In fact, they think he's pretty crappy. They think he's a jerk. They think he's a loser. They think he's incompetent. They think that he's whatever. Yet, they treat him with respect at work. But then they wouldn't treat their husband with more respect, with more honor than they would a secular boss. It doesn't make any sense. And you say, oh, that's so, you're just so mean to women. Look, men, that's how they're supposed to be at their job, with their boss. You know, it's all just contextual. We're all in the same boat. It's just different people that we have to submit to. And I'll say this. I think it's, you know, probably better to submit to your spouse than a random person. Like me as a guy, I have to just submit to this random dude that I didn't marry, okay, that I don't like smelly and ugly and everything like that. A wife gets to submit to her husband. That should be more honorable and more fun and more exciting. But you know what? There's a tendency to just, well, since I can't get fired, I'm just going to talk trash on him and treat him however I want. Go to Proverbs 31. It's the last place I'm going to return. But you know what? Michal had no child under the day of her death, is what the Bible says. And I believe that. Some people say that's a contradiction, but she ended up raising children from other people, but she didn't have a child of herself. The Bible says, therefore, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child under the day of her death. In Proverbs chapter 31, when we think about the proverbial woman, the Bible talks about how she speaks. And this is how ladies should speak to everyone, not just their husband, every single person. Look what it says in verse 26. She opened her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. Is that really what you could say, Michal? Oh, she just opened her mouth in kindness. I mean, David's coming home. Just did one of the greatest works for God, and he has to get an earful from Michal. And he's saying, man, these maidens that aren't married to me, I'm not their husband. I didn't pledge anything to them. They have more respect for me than my own wife. And it's not that David didn't like Michal, because we already read the chapter, but when David was offered from Abner to take the kingdom, he says, hey, I want one thing. I mean, think about this. He can have the whole kingdom. He can have everything given to him. The sky's the limit. And you know what he asked for? Michal. That tells me that David really liked Michal. That tells me that she was pretty high on the priority list. You know what? You can't be number one, honey. And you should not want that. And you know what? We should want all of our spouses who want God to be number one. Let me tell you, young men, you want to marry, you know, I think this is like the MGTOW movement. This is all these single guys worried in their biggest fear. It's like, I just don't want to marry a woman to tell me what to do. And I'm thinking, how weak are you? You're so afraid that some woman's going to tell you what to do. Here's how you know if your wife is going to be a good wife. That she goes so away. Because I've seen a really, I'm just giving you my personal anecdote of it. This is my personal opinion, all right? I've seen a direct correlation. If you're going to say, hey, which wives do you feel like, I'm not married to anyone but my own, which wives seem to be the most submissive to their husbands and the most respectful of their husbands, it's the ones that go soul winning. And you say, why? Because they're putting God first in their relationship. And anyone that's putting God first in their relationship is going to end up treating their spouse better, generally speaking. Now, of course, I'm sure there's exceptions, okay? There's probably that one wife out there that goes soul winning and dykes. And then there's that one woman that's never gone soul winning and boy, is she an angel, okay? And I'm not here to point fingers at anybody. I'm just giving you a tip. And so I'm saying, hey, you guys think like, man, I want to know if this woman is going to treat me well. Well, here's my question. What's her relationship like with God? Is God more important to her than you? That's a great woman to marry. Is going soul winning really important to her? That's a great woman to marry. Now, of course, all of us can get better. Women can change. Men can change over time. But women, same thing. You want to marry a good guy? Find a guy that loves God more than you. And wants to do good work for God over that. And don't get mad at him for liking God. Don't get mad at him for doing the job that God is doing. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for the word of God. Thank you for this group of people. I pray that you would just help us to realize the importance of following your commandments exactly to achieve. And I pray that we'd have great zeal in our hearts to serve you and that we'd have excitement to serve you and that we wouldn't despise those in our lives that put God first, but rather we would all be convicted to put God first in our lives and that those that are around us that put you first, that we would encourage them and support them, that we wouldn't be jealous of that effect. Rather, we would try to encourage others to have the same zeal and the same love towards God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, for our final song, we'll go to song 314, More Love to Thee. 314, More Love to Thee. Song 314, More Love to Thee. More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee, Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee, This is my earnest plea, For love, O Christ, to Thee, For love to Thee, For love to Thee, Once earthly joy I crave, Rest now, Thee alone I seek, Give what is best, This all my prayer shall be, For love, O Christ, to Thee, For love to Thee, For love to Thee, Let sorrow do its work, Send grief and pain, Sweet are Thy messengers, Sweet they refrain, When they can sing with me, For love, O Christ, to Thee, For love to Thee, For love to Thee, Then shall my latest breath, Whisper Thy praise, This be the parting cry, Shall raise, This still its prayer shall be, For love, O Christ, to Thee, For love to Thee, For love to Thee. Another quick announcement. We have two Ottomans and an extra chair over here. It kind of needs some new upholstery. I just want to give them away. So it's just first come, first serve. Possession is 100% of the law. So if you want it, take it. It's yours. Otherwise, we're going to just scrap it.