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Count your blessings, see what God hath done Count your blessings, name them one by one Count your many blessings, see what God hath done Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy, you are called to bear Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly And you will be singing as the days go by Count your blessings, name them one by one Count your blessings, see what God hath done Count your blessings, name them one by one Count your many blessings, see what God hath done When you look at others with their lands and gold Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold Count your many blessings, money cannot buy Your reward in heaven or your home on high Count your blessings, name them one by one Count your blessings, see what God hath done Count your blessings, name them one by one Count your many blessings, see what God hath done So amid the conflict, leather, great or small Do not be discouraged, God is over all Count your many blessings, angels will attend Help and comfort give you to your journeys and Count your blessings, name them one by one Count your blessings, see what God hath done Count your blessings, name them one by one Count your many blessings, see what God hath done Amen. Good singing. Brother Robert, would you help us with a prayer? Amen. For our second song, song number 440, Thanks to God. Song number 440, Thanks to God. Song 440, Thanks to God. Let's sing it together on the first. Thanks to God for my Redeemer Thanks for all Thou dost provide Thanks for times but not but a memory Thanks for Jesus by my side Thanks for pleasant balmy springtime Thanks for dark and dreary fall Thanks for tears by now forgotten Thanks for peace within my soul Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered Thanks for what Thou dost deny Thanks for storms that I have weathered Thanks for all Thou dost supply Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure Thanks for comfort and despair Thanks for grace that none can measure Thanks for love beyond compare Thanks for roses by the wayside Thanks for thorns their stems contain Thanks for home and thanks for fireside Thanks for hope that sweet refrain Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow Thanks for heavenly peace with Thee Thanks for hope in the tomorrow Thanks through all eternity Amen. With that, we'll have our announcements. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Sure Foundation Baptist Church. Let's take our bulletins and go through the announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, just lift up your hand. One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. If we have some left, do we have any left? All right. Just keep your hand up in the sky on the front cover while they're getting those out to you. I'll just read the verse of the week. It says, I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalm 139, verse 14. And that is one of the beautiful verses in Psalm 139. Some of them are ones that people don't like to sing, but that is one of the more favored ones that people like. On the inside page, there we have our service times. Sunday morning, 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening, 3 30 p.m. We are currently in the book of Joshua on Sunday evenings. And we'll be, let's see, I believe in chapter 5, coming up this Sunday night. And Thursday evening Bible study, we're in 1 Chronicles chapter 14 tonight. I'm going to find a way to work in Thanksgiving. So, I've been preaching for a while, so I've been able to do those things from time to time. So, let's see, are so many times we'll have to blow? I don't think we had so many today. I think it ended up getting canceled in Beaverton there. But we do have 20 salvations for the month. And we aren't going to probably, I mean we might get close to what we had last year in our salvations. Our baptisms are a little bit short from last year, but we still have had 30 baptisms this year. The attendance from last week is down at the bottom of the page there. And I did have a wonderful time in Oklahoma City, even though my wife got sick, and she wasn't able to attend any of the services, so she's not with us tonight either. So, she hasn't been feeling good, so if you'd pray for her, I'm sure she would appreciate that. But it was nice to see Brother Dillon become Pastor Oz. And so, it's very exciting to always see a new church start, and it's called Anchor Baptist Church. So, hopefully you got a chance to see the ordination sermon. And so, it's exciting to see a brand new start. It was exciting to see my grandkids. It was exciting to see Dillon and Jasmine and a lot of old friends there. So, that's exciting. And if you didn't get a chance to congratulate them, make sure you do so. Just maybe send them a text or something on one of the social media sites that you use if you do. Tonight, we're having a special Pi Social after the church service. It's our way of just saying thank you to ourselves. No, I'm just kidding. No, we're thankful to God for all the blessings that He's given to us for the year, and we do that by just having some fellowship. And the Lord loves us to have fellowship together as Christians, and to be thankful for not just one time a year, but we should be thankful all year round for the blessings that God gives us. And if you've had a particular tough year, you can still be thankful because there's going to be years to come that will be easier than this year was for you. So, if we only lived one year of our life, and that year was just a bad year, then we could complain. But I'm sure there's many good years that we all live also. So, we should be thankful to the Lord for our salvation and for all the many blessings that He provides for us, our families. And if you just sit and think about the many things that you have been blessed with, you'd probably come up with a huge list. And we tend to be negative as human beings, and we live in a sin-cursed earth, and there's a lot of negative news. And especially if you turn on social media, there's a lot of negative things that are on social media, and that tends to kind of skew your view that everything bad is going on in the world. But there are some good things going on in the world, too. And obviously, we have the holiday coming up this week, so take some time with your families, and just think about the things you're thankful for, and just be thankful to the Lord for all of His blessings. So, that's tonight. We're going to have a pie social right after church, and we're going to enjoy some very, it looks like some very tasty pie afterwards. And it looks like the eggnog arrived just on time, Baptist time, so we appreciate that. I'm going to bring some spare just in case, like I said. But it looks like we've got plenty of stuff for everybody to eat, so that's going to be great. And let's see, we've got the kids' choir practice starting this Sunday after. So, after the first thing, so December 1st, this Sunday after the evening service, we're going to have the kids' choir practice. I think everybody has all the song lists. And if you don't, see Rylan, and you can start practicing those songs so they can all sing together for the Christmas service. This will be December 22nd. We'll sing in the morning service. So, let's see, the December 7th cookie exchange is going to be at 11 a.m. at Julene and Rylan's residence. And that, see, Julene, for the details, there will be a white elephant gift exchange. And then, what is the cookie amount that needs to be made? How many cookies? Three dozen cookies, and then you all exchange them, and then you take them home to your husbands, and they devour them. And then pastor gets 10%. The juice is running. No, I'm just joking. No, I'm just kidding. But that's always a good time for the ladies. So, I'm sure the ladies are looking forward to that. And then December 8th, we're going to have, which is the next day, Brother Sean Conlon's ordination as evangelist. He's going to be sent up to Seattle to run the Seattle church plant there. And we are going to, so I'm going to ordain him. And then we're going to have round table pizza after the church service. And so we'll have a time of fellowship. We'll go out soloing him for a little bit. And then Brother Sean's going to preach the evening service for us on Sunday night. So, that's December 8th. So, make sure you get around and congratulate him on that. But don't count the chickens before they hatch. He could screw everything up before we get there. So, hopefully that won't be the case. But no, very excited about them. He's already bought a house, so he's committed. And so, looking forward to what Brother Sean and his family can do up there. So, December 12th, we're going to have the kids' Christmas party here at the church building. That's between 10 and 3. There'll be games and I'm sure candy and sugar and, you know, all that kind of stuff. So, I'm not sure exactly what the plan is, but I know that it's going to be fun. So, if you want to ask my wife any questions about it, I think she's the one that's kind of putting it on. So, and then December 15th is Dr. Stringer preaching for us both services Sunday morning and Sunday evening. He's going to be coming back from his trip to Egypt. So, he's going to tell us all about it. And that's my Egyptian dance, I guess, whatever. But excited about hearing about what he gets to do over there. And kind of jealous a little bit that he gets to go to Egypt because it's something I've always wanted to go do. At least to just see the pyramids or something. So, anyway, December 22nd is our Christmas service. We're going to have the children's choir singing in the morning. And we're going to have a Christmas dinner potluck service between the first and second service. And it's not actually Christmas day, so it'll be just normal services as usual. But the church will provide the meat for the church for the main meal. But on the 21st, I'm planning on doing some extra soul winning. So, the 21st, which is a Saturday. So, we'll do our Super Saturday that day before. So, I'll probably just make it a four-hour stretch. Normally that would be our full soul-winning marathon. But it's going to be the dead of winter. So, probably just do the four-hour thing. We'll find some place good to warm ourselves up and get a nice meal afterwards. And then, of course, all the other stuff you guys already know. The rules and all that stuff. The offerings have come in so far. And Jazzy, did we get to sing happy birthday to you? Okay. Happy birthday. And then Nicky Richie is on the 25th. Keziah Acorda is on the 30th. And we already sang happy anniversary to Brandon and Nia. Alright, that's all we have for announcements. Go ahead and sing another song. And then we'll receive the offering. Our next song will be song number 441, Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Song 441, Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Song 441, Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Let's sing it together on the first. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not thy compassions, they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest. Sun, moon and stars in their courses above. Join with all nature in manifold witness. To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. Amen. Good to see you. Brother Jesse, would you bless your offering for us? Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. All right, go ahead and open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians, chapter number 14. 1 Corinthians 14, if you don't have a Bible, there should be one under the seat in front of you. 1 Corinthians, chapter 14. 1 Corinthians 14, the Bible reads, Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no... Uh-oh. You did. 1 Chronicles 14. What's that? Yeah. Okay, 1 Chronicles 14. Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David and timber of cedars with masons and carpenters to build him house. David perceived that the Lord had confirmed him king over Israel, for his kingdom was lifted up on high because of his people Israel. And David took more wives at Jerusalem, and David begat more sons and daughters. And these are the names of his children, which he had in Jerusalem. Shemua and Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, and Ibhar. Elishua and Elpalit, and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japheth. And Eli-shammah and Belatia, and Eliphelet. And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David. And David heard of it, and went out against them. And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines, and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto him, Go up, for I will deliver them into thine hand. So they came unto Baal-parism, and David smote them there. And then David said, God hath spoken in upon mine enemies by mine hand, like the breaking forth of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-parism. And when they had left their gods there, David gave a commandment, and they were burned with fire. And the Philistines yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley. Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said unto him, Go not up after them, turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle. For God has gone forth before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines. David therefore did as God commanded him, and they smote the host of the Philistines, from Gibeon even to Gezer. And the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations. Brother Bill, will you pray for us? Then he had to read all those names that he hadn't practiced beforehand, so I apologize for that. Alright, 1 Chronicles chapter 14. The title of my sermon tonight is Friends, Family, and Foes. Friends, Family, and Foes. And point number one is David's friend Hyrum. So, in verse number one the Bible says, Now Hyrum king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and timber of cedars, with masons and carpenters to build him an house. And David perceived that the Lord had confirmed him king over Israel, for his kingdom was lifted up on high because of his people Israel. So, here we have this guy named Hyrum, who is the king of Tyre, and he is obviously not of Israel. He is a heathen king, but I would say to you that Hyrum probably ended up being a saved man. He obviously loves David. It doesn't say that in this passage, but if we go to 1 Kings, go ahead and go over to 1 Kings, and we'll learn a little bit more about Hyrum. But Hyrum is a friend of David, and he's also a fellow king. And a lot of times when you meet friends, a lot of times you meet them as people you deal with in business. Maybe they're just fellow workers that you've worked with. But, you know, they're in the same business. They're in the king business. So, you know, they're both equals in the same field of work. So, it makes sense that they would deal with each other, and, you know, kings deal with other kings. So, for whatever reason, they end up becoming friends, and, you know, David has pretty much secured the kingdom of Israel, but this is really becoming the zenith of when the children of Israel were their most effective, where God starts to impress upon the heathen, you know, who really is, you know, the most powerful. You know, the only true God is God, you know, the God of the Bible. There's no other God beside him, and it becomes very evident to some of the kings that, you know, the God of the Bible is the right God. And that's why he always says, you know, that the whole earth may know that there's a God in Israel. So, Hyrum apparently understands this, and I would say if I had to, you know, just put all the combined writings about Hyrum together, you know, it's not like he just is doing it because David's making him do all this, but he supplies David with all the stuff that's needed to build the temple, his house, and then later on Solomon's house. As you'll see in 1 Kings 5, verse 1, it says, And Hyrum king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon, so this is after David's already dead, for he had heard that he had anointed him king in the room of his father, for Hyrum was ever a lover of David. So, Hyrum loved David. Hyrum was obviously a friend of David, and it said, And Solomon sent to Hyrum, saying, Thou knowest how the David my father could not build a house unto the name of the Lord his God, for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. And behold I purpose to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son whom I will set upon my throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon, and my servants shall be with thy servants, and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint. For thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians. So, now that David, you know, this is going obviously way into the future, where David has, you know, this is, you know, at the beginning of this story, David has just become king, but now we're in 1 Kings 5 where Solomon has been made king, so early in Solomon's. So, obviously, David's an older man than Hyrum is, or at least he, you know, this is what it appears to be. And Hyrum, because Hyrum lives deep into Solomon's reign also. But, you know, Solomon is seeking a friendship with David's old friend, which is Hyrum, king of Tyre. Look at verse 7, it says, And it came to pass when Hyrum heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the Lord this day. Sounds kind of weird if he wasn't saved that he would say that, right? You know, Hyrum, this king, is saying, Blessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people. So, he's blessing the people of the Lord, he's blessing Solomon, and he's talking about David having this wise son. So, it sounds to me like he at least is, in lip service at least, blessing the Lord God, you know. Now turn to 2 Samuel, chapter 5, verse 11. 2 Samuel, chapter 5, verse 11. And so, you know, David and Hyrum had this relationship where, you know, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. They kind of traded in the things that they had in common, you know, but it kind of seemed like Hyrum gave a lot more in this relationship than they did to him, but, you know, he wanted to be a blessing, it seems like. You know, he wanted to be a blessing to his friend David, and said, And Hyrum king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons, and they built David in house. And not only this, but like when the temple was being built, he sent his most skilled worker, a man that was so skilled that he was able to build all these great pieces of work to go into the furniture of the house of the Lord. So, the original stuff that was built in the tabernacle was built on a grander scale in the temple itself, and this, you know, it was, we're talking about brass without weight, like they stopped weighing stuff, it was so much and so excessive compared to what the other temple, or the tabernacle was like when the temple was built, it was on a way more grander scale, and he sent another guy named Hyrum, and this is where the masons get all this, you know, weird stuff, and they're like, they take Hyrum and say this guy's name was Hyrum Abiff, and he knew the secrets of masonry or whatever, and, you know, anyway, it's a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but this guy Hyrum, king of Tyre, sent this guy Hyrum, who was, he was a skilled man, and built all this stuff. So, Hyrum, king of Tyre, you know, did a lot of great things for David and for Solomon for the kingdom of Israel. So, but he also, you know, he provided these labors and things like this, so he built a house for David, I mean, who's had a friend in here that built a house for them before, anybody? I mean, wouldn't that be nice? Hey, you know, I like you so much, I'm gonna build a house for you. I'll be like, dude, you are the best friend I've ever had. You know, like, that'd be a nice gift, wouldn't it? Turn to Proverbs chapter 27. So, you know, I mean, guys like this are, you know, friends like, good friends are hard to come by, and, you know, it's, there's a saying in this proverb here that's a really important thing to remember. You know, your dad's friend, you know, the one that is a good friend to your dad, and Solomon should have lived by this, but Solomon, I think, forgot this as time went on with Hyrum, because Solomon started off really good, but then he kind of ended off his life not very good, and he, obviously, he forsook the Lord and married a whole bunch of wives, and they turned his heart away, right? Look at verse 9, it says, So it's good to have friends, to have hearty counsel by them, because thine own friend and thine father's friend forsake not. See, when we have friends, we should be good friends to them, so it says thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. We should not forsake our friends, especially in their time of need, and that is really when the rubber meets the road when it comes to friendships, like, you know, how do your friends treat you when you're in need? You know, when you actually need them to be friends, because most of the time, you know, when you're friends, you know, there's not, like, this great need that they need to do stuff for you all the time, and, you know, a good code to live by to be friends is that there shouldn't be any stipulations to, you know, you're my friend if you do this, this, and this. There shouldn't be, like, you're my friend unless you do this, or, you know, I mean, obviously there's things that you shouldn't do to your friends, but I'm just saying that, like, there shouldn't be, like, this strings attached type of friendship, but, you know, this thine own friend and thine father's friend forsake not, we should not forsake our friends in their time of need. You know, we should help them when it's time to help, and be there for them when it's time to be there for them, but, you know, it's like Reb Boam did the same thing when it came to, you know, listening to his father's counsel, his father's friend's counsel, the people that advised his father, they didn't, he didn't, his son didn't listen to them, he listened to the young, to the young counselors, and then it ruined everything. Of course, it was of God, but he still forsook the old man's counsel and listened to the young men, and then the ten tribes rebelled. But even with his friend Hiram, he soured that relationship later on. Look at 1 Kings 9, verse 10. It's very important, you know, because friends are hard to come by. Real, true friends are hard to come by, and we have enough problem having a lot of great character ourselves because we're human, because we're air, because we make mistakes, and, you know, every person in this room makes mistakes, and maybe we've been bad friends at times ourselves. Maybe we said something about a friend that we shouldn't have said, or we weren't there for a friend when we should have been, but we can remedy those mistakes. You know, we can change and say, hey, you know what, I know I haven't been a good friend before, maybe I was a bad friend in the past, but I want to change those things about myself and be a friend of character, be a friend that people can count on, be a friend that when I'm called upon, then I'll be there for them when they need me. Look at 1 Kings 9, verse 10. It says, and it came to pass at the end of 20 years. So this is 20 years after Hiram starts dealing with Solomon. So it says, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house. So he built the house of the Lord in seven years, so it took, what, 13 years to build his own house? Or it took, however long it took, it's 20 years from that time. Now Hiram, the king of Tyre, had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold according to all his desire, that then King Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee. So the place where Jesus was from, he gave him 20 cities up there by that Sea of Chenareth, which is the Sea of Galilee, right? And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they pleased him not. And he said, what cities are these that thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Kabul unto this day. There's another place called Kabul today. It's in Afghanistan, it's not very, it's kind of like a byword or something, right? I'm not exactly sure what Kabul even means, I forgot to look it up, but it probably doesn't mean something very nice though, I'm guessing. So if anybody has a smartphone, you can look it up real quick for me and help me out here. But nonetheless, you know, after giving him everything he asked for, he gave him everything he desired. He built his dad's house, gave him all the supplies for the house of the Lord, which were limitless brass, everything that he wanted built, and then gave him all the supplies for his own palace that was like magnificent, so much that none the like was built like it ever before. People came from all over the world to look at Solomon's house and look at how majestic it was. Nothing was like it ever built before it. And what's he do? What's he do? He builds him 20 cities that apparently he's not too impressed with. What's it mean, brother Bill? AI says it's either what does not please or like nothing. What does not please or like nothing. The margin though is that is displeasing or dirty. So none of those things sound very good, do they? So I mean, he's really not happy about the return, you know, but he gives him everything his heart desires, and then in return he gives him some gnarly old beach towns or something, you know, some lake towns that are not pleasing, right? So unfortunately, there are very few friends out there today, and you know, it's just the truth that you can't really count how many true friends you have in this world, and it seems like people, you know, you'll think that they're your true friends and then they stab you in the back. But that's never stopped me from still trying to continue to make true friends and to still try to be a true friend to people, even though I've been stabbed in the back countless times by people who say that they're my friend. So let's look at some scriptures though about this. Let's look at Exodus chapter 33 verse 11. And I know I've preached about friendship fairly recently, but I still think it's a good thing to cover these things because, I mean, we're talking about David's friend Hyrum here. I've got three alliterated points and one of them is friends, so let's delve into this a little bit. So Exodus 33, 11, all right? So the Bible says, And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. So what is something that we think about when we think about friends? Well, friends talk. God talked to Moses like a man speaks face to face to his friend. So what does that tell you? Well, friends should probably talk to each other at some point, right? So if you're saying that you're friends with somebody and you never talk with them, you know, communication is a two-way street. So if you're the one that's always calling the other friend and that friend never calls you, never communicates with you, that's not a very, that's what's called a one-way friendship. You know, if you're the one that's always doing like in this situation, it's like Hyrum's doing, doing, doing, doing, doing for Solomon, and then when it comes time to do back, it's like he gives this half effort and gives him something that's kabul. Thanks for kabul, you know? It's the rat nest of the armpit of Israel or something. It's the washing pot of Israel, you know? That's not a true friendship. Proverbs 18 verse 24 says, A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly. So if you have friends, you still must shew yourself friendly. So it's not, you know, hey, yeah, I got a lot of friends. Well, are you friendly to them? Do you shew yourself as a friend to them from time to time? Because that is kind of a requirement and people are like, well, I just don't have any friends. Well, maybe you're not very friendly. Have you ever thought about that? Do you shew yourself friendly? Do you do friendly acts to let people know that you are actually friends with them? You know, it's kind of weird to say, oh, yeah, these people are all my friends, but you never talk to them? How is that being a friend? I mean, obviously people get busy and life happens and you kind of drift away sometimes from your high school friends or whatever and all that, and sometimes there's people that you just need to drift away from. They can be friends from a distance because you just don't have much in common with them. Maybe they're not saved. They're not Christians. They're not someone you would hang around with. I get that, but when you have a friendship with somebody that you have things in common with, friendship is a two-way street. Friendship is something that both people participate in, and so you can't really say that you're a friend to someone if you never are showing yourself friendly to them, if that makes sense. It says, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse 6. Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse 6. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 13, verse 6, it says, If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or thy wife, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul enticed thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers. So if this situation happens, if you're friends with someone that's gonna tell you to go serve other gods, friends shouldn't be a detriment to your spiritual walk. That is probably a friend that you should no longer be friends with. If that's your friend, and then you're forsaking people that are actually a friend that you should be hanging around with, friends should not be a detriment to your spiritual walk. They should be someone that's a positive, and I'm talking about Christian people here. We're all Christians in here. We're in church tonight. So hopefully your friends that you're hanging out with on a regular basis are not the heathens of the world. They shouldn't be people, Hey, let's go serve other gods. Hey, let's go to the bar. I mean, because what are they serving? Themselves beer at the bar. They're serving themselves football, and darts, and women, and gambling, and keno, and whatever else stupid things that they're doing, and fights, and saying perverted things to women, and whatever else they're doing at these places. Look at Judges chapter 14, verse 20. Judges chapter 14, verse 20. You're like, well, this isn't a very good Thanksgiving Day sermon. Well, I mean, welcome to a Baptist church, folks. Judges chapter 14, verse 20. I didn't say I was preaching hearts and flowers tonight. I just said there will be some Thanksgiving worked into it, okay? Judges chapter 14, verse 20. But Samson's wife was given to his companion whom he had used as his friend. You shouldn't have friends just to use them for what you want, or what you can get from them, or as a means to an end. Hey, this guy is 16. He's got a car, so let's all use him so we can get rides places. That's what people used to do in high school. Hey, I know this guy's kind of a dork, but let's go ride with him anyway, because he's got a car. What, you don't think that happens? Of course it does. People use people for all kinds of things, and so we shouldn't be being friends with people just so we can use them for some sort of advantage, whether it be business or whatever advantage you think it's going to get you. This is what Samson was doing. He used him as a companion, and then he ended up paying the price for it because his wife got given to his friend that he used. So when you use people, guess what happens to you? You reap what you sow, you get used in the end, right? Second Samuel chapter 13, verse 3. Second Samuel chapter 13, verse number 3. Let me tell you something, kids. Peer pressure is a real thing. You're like, what is that? Well, that's where people that are the same age as you put pressure on you to do things that you shouldn't want to do or that you shouldn't be doing, that you know is wrong and you know will get you into some sort of trouble. It says in Second Samuel 13, verse 3, it says, But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shemaiah, David's brother, and Jonadab was a very subtle man. So subtle man means he was a very cunning man. He was smart in a very clever way to where he was able to get his way by back dooring things. You just couldn't tell that he was trying to lead you to do something that you didn't want to do or that you shouldn't be doing. But Jonadab was a friend that helped ruin Amnon's life. And in the end, it cost him his life. And David did have this warning in his heart to not let him allow his daughter to go visit Amnon. But David ignored that feeling. And then his daughter ends up getting violated by his own son, and it just ruined his family. You know, it ended up causing a lot of problems. So what happened? Well, Jonadab pressured him to do something that he shouldn't have done, and then it ended up causing this young man to lose his life. Obviously, he didn't have to choose what he did, but peer pressure is a real thing. And so we shouldn't want to be friends with people that are going to pressure us to do things that are wrong and wicked. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 15. 2 Samuel chapter 15. Not all of these are negative. I just had a negative bunch there. But it's very important who we choose to be friends with. Sometimes we want to be friends with people because we think they're cool or something, or they make us laugh or whatever. But a froward man is not a good person to be friends with, a person that, just because they're funny doesn't mean that they're somebody we should hang around with. 2 Samuel chapter 15 verse 37 says, So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem. So David had other good friends, and fortunately, Hushai was one of those friends, and Hushai is the one that broke the counsel of Ahithophel, and he was such a good friend that he risked his life. You know, David is on the run, and he risked his life to pretend to betray David, and goes to Absalom, and Absalom says, hey, what kind of friend are you? You know, ditching your friend like that. He's like, well, you know, I'm just gonna be on the winning side or whatever, and then that was enough to convince him. And then he actually takes his counsel over Ahithophel's. Ahithophel goes and hangs himself. He hanged himself, excuse me. But this is an example of a good friend. Ahithophel's that type of person, that's the type of friend that you actually want, someone that's actually willing to put their neck out on the line for their friend. That's a true friend. A true friend is going to see the predicament and say, hey, you know what, I mean, that's my friend. I'm gonna go stick my neck out on the line for him. He wasn't like, oh, David, you need to step down as king and let Absalom take over. That's not what he was saying, was it? He was like, hey, I know you screwed up, David, but I'm still your man. I'm still your friend, and I'm still gonna help you. He wasn't like, you wicked adulterer. You wife-stealing pig. I'm glad your baby died. That's not what he said. He was like, I'm your friend. He wasn't helping Absalom. Absalom who's going to his concubines and trying to murder his own father. So how did the Absalom crew, what ended up happening to them? Well, he ends up hanging from a tree in a dart being thrust through his liver. How did Ahithophel, who betrayed David, who was his friend also, how did he end up hanging himself from the nearest oak tree? And how did the guy who was kicking rocks at him, Shimei, how did he end up? Well, he ended up, you know, he lived a little bit longer, but then his hoary head went down to the grave in blood, didn't it? So, you know, it's just, being a loyal friend, there's something to be said about that, and like, all the people that were disloyal to David ended up just dying these terrible deaths, but, you know, was David a perfect guy? Of course he wasn't. But it was very clear who was on the right side here, isn't it? Like, David was on the, David did wrong, David was judged for what he did, but it was very clear who was right here. It wasn't Absalom. It wasn't the guy trying to murder his own father. So, and then you got people like Job's friends, the miserable comforters, who just for chapter, I mean, you know, I'm not trying to be, I'm not trying to be sacrilegious or something, but one of the books that I didn't like the most early on in my Christianity was the Book of Job. Because a lot of it is just his friends talking crap to him for like chapter after chapter after chapter in poetry. I'm not much of a poet, okay? But I've learned to love the Book of Job because now I understand a lot of what is going on there, but what's really just miserable about the whole story is the fact that Job finally just says, miserable comforters are you all. And it's like, instead of just saying, hey Job, you know, they did comfort him for seven days, they laid down, they shut their mouths, but they should've just kept doing that. But instead, then they just started blaming him and telling him all the wicked things he did. Instead of just saying, hey, you know, whatever, comforting him, giving him the benefit of the doubt, they just wanna make him into the worst sinner that ever walked the face of the planet, and God at the end says, you guys are wrong. And Job is right. And Job is gonna pray for you, and then Job prays for them, and then God's wrath comes off of them. But, you know, it's funny, we just think that we know everything because someone's going through a hard time, and we don't always know what's going on. So instead of just acting like we know, we should probably give our friends the benefit of the doubt sometimes instead of just thinking we know everything. Look at Psalm chapter 41 verse nine. Psalm chapter 41 verse nine. How does that verse go, even a fool, when he closes his mouth, has counted his wives? I know that's not quoting the word perfect, but it's true. It's better to just keep your mouth shut when you don't know something than to just run your mouth when you don't know what you're talking about. Psalm chapter 41 verse nine. This is written about Judas, and it's quoted in the New Testament where Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was nothing but a good friend to Judas even though he knew the whole time he was gonna betray him. How hard must that have been to be? Knowing he's a devil, knowing he was gonna betray him, knowing what exactly everything that he was gonna do, knowing he was destined for hell, that he was always gonna be a devil, he was nothing he ever said was ever gonna affect him, he was never gonna get saved, but he still treated him as a friend, didn't he? And the Bible says in Proverbs 17 verse 17, it says, a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity. A friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity, and look, Jesus practiced this. Even though Judas was a devil, even though he picked Judas and knew what he was gonna do, he still loved him at all times, even up until the end. And the Bible says, faithful are the wounds of a friend in Proverbs 27 verse six, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. You can take this two ways. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Proverbs can be taken in different ways. It can be interpreted in different ways, but yeah, your friends are gonna tell you the truth when you need to hear the truth. That's one way of interpreting this, but the other way of interpreting this is your friends are gonna betray you and stab you in the back too. There's another way of interpreting it. You can interpret it both ways, but I think that the first one is probably the main interpretation of that because it says, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful because it's saying a but. So the true interpretation is the first interpretation. But the Bible says, iron sharpened with iron so a man sharpened with the countenance of his friend. We're here to sharpen each other as friends. If you can't say something honestly to a friend without them crying about it, without them melting like a snowflake, we should be able to be honest to our friends without them never being friends with us again. You know, especially Christians. We should not be just offended over every little thing. You say one thing and we're like, I'm never friends with you again. And I've said this before. When I worked at the city, we would get in some of the biggest screaming matches even in the middle of the street sometimes, you know, sorry, but it's true. Or we're just like, ah! I mean, the sun is beating down on you, it's 100 degrees outside, it's the end of the day, you've already worked 12 hours, and you're burning with a blowtorch basically trying to get all these emblems in and everybody wants to go home, you've been on 300 degree, hot and mad all day, you're done. You're ready to go home. And people are making dumb mistakes because they're tired and the crew leader's just like, ah! And then you're like, ah! Everybody's just yelling at each other. And then the next day you all come in and everybody's cool and laughing and just having a good time. Nothing is even remembered. How come heathen can do that, but Christians can't? Isn't that weird? But if that happens with the Christians, like, I'm done with them forever. I can't be friends with them anymore forever. Blocked in perpetuity on all social media accounts forever. And that is the new reprobating or whatever. Not reprobating, but just, it might as well be. It's just bizarre. I don't understand why Christians can't be a little more thick-skinned about stuff. But they can't be. So, look at Matthew chapter 26 verse 47. Matthew chapter 26 verse 47. I'm gonna have to really hurry up here. Matthew chapter 26 verse 47. Excuse me. And while he had spake, lo Judas, one of the 12, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, and from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same as he, hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, master, and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, friend, even when he's betrayed him, what's he call him? Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him. I mean, even unto the end, when he's kissing him on the face and betraying him to be crucified, he calls him friend. A friend loveth at all times. And Jesus proved that that can be done. But yet we can't even get over some little Facebook post or something. It's sickening. We can't get past yelling at somebody getting mad about something. It's just ridiculous. So, let's look at a couple more verses here. Let's just look at Zechariah 13. I'll read for you Proverbs 16, 28. It says, A froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separated chief friends. People like to try to start fights between people by sending little clips to the other person. Oh, look at this. Look at what they said here. And don't even put the whole thing in context and try to start fights between friends. That's what people do though. They wanna start fights between, and what is chief friends? That means best friends. The best friends that you have. And they're gonna try to start a fight with you? It's ridiculous. He that covereth transgressions seeketh love, and he that repeateth the matter seperateth very friends. You start repeating, look, somebody does something and you have to repeat that matter to somebody instead of just saying, you know what, I can just pass over that. Do you have to just answer every transgression that happens? No, you don't. You don't have to repeat that. See it's saying repeating the matter is separating friends, but covering it, seeking love. So you don't have to, people just think that they have to just repeat everything that they hear. Every slight that they've heard against somebody. You don't have to do that. As a matter of fact, the Bible's saying don't do that. You wanna be loving? Don't do that. That's what it's saying. Zechariah 13, six says, and one shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. It's a real shame that Jesus went to his friends. He went to his own and they received him not. And what this is talking about is his family, his house. He goes to them and they're like, where'd you get the wounds in your hands and your feet? Oh my friends did this to me. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, right? I mean, they actually, his own people killed him and crucified him. Sickening. But that's what his friends did to him. You know, we should be better friends. We really should be. So what's our application? Well, how about be the friend that you want others to be to you? How about that? How about we just start being the friend that we want to, we want people to be good friends to us. Well, why don't you be the friend that you want others to be to you? How about that? How about follow that golden rule? Therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. Well, my friends never call me. Well, why don't you call them? You ever thought about that? Well, my friends never want to hang out with me. Do you ever try to hang out with them? Well, nobody likes me. Do you like them? Do you like other people? Or do you just have your own little circle that nobody else can get into? You don't like people coming over. You don't like people getting into, oh, someone tries to get into your circle and then you just hate on that person. Like, that's not how it should be, folks. So the Thanksgiving takeaway should be be thankful for the friends that you do have, if you have any, by the way, because true friends are a very rare thing. True friends. And they're more rare than precious gold also, the ones that you can actually count on, the ones that actually truly will be there when you need them. And if you're saved tonight and you don't have any friends at all, like you have zero friends, Jesus is still your friend, so you do actually have one friend, okay? So don't be so sad, because you have the best friend that anybody could ever have. We all have at least one friend here. We all have Jesus as our friend, as long as you're not a friend of the world, right? But he'll never lie to you. He'll never sell you out. He'll never cheat you. He'll never run off with your woman. He'll never steal from you. He'll never borrow and never pay you back. He'll never move in as a roommate and leave you with all the bills to pay. He'll never pretend to be your friend and talk crap behind your back. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. And he likes you despite the fact that you have all the flaws that you have, all the character flaws that people don't like about you. He likes you even though you have him. He'll never use you for what he can get from you or what you can do for him. He likes you anyway. And that's cool. I like that. And I'm glad, you know, even if you have to pay people to be your friends here on earth, you don't have to pay Jesus to be your friend, all right? That was a long point number one, but let's get to the point number two here. David furthers his family, all right? Let's go back to our text, verse number three. It says, David took more wives at Jerusalem and David begat more sons and daughters. So he took more wives. That means he already had plural wives. And he took more wives. So the Bible specifically commands kings not to multiply wives in Deuteronomy chapter 17. The Bible specifically spells this out. I'm just gonna have you turn over to Deuteronomy 17. We'll look at that real quickly. Deuteronomy 17, verse 14. It says, I'll just chop this down so that we don't have to cover the whole chapter here. And this really kind of goes to, you're not supposed to multiply power to yourself. That's why they weren't supposed to multiply all these horses. Because with horses is power. It's kind of like back then, it was kind of like having tanks. Because those horses pulled what? Chariots. That's why they had stalls with the horses and the chariots, right? So that's like having military might. Don't go to Egypt to get your horses and multiply horses to yourself. Don't multiply wives to yourselves. And verse 17 says, neither shall he multiply wives to himself that his heart turn not away. Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold, amassing great amounts of wealth. Because what? That will also corrupt you. Riches, the love of money, is the root of all evil, right? And so David, where he's sitting here multiplying wives, last week we kind of learned that he learned the hard way by one of his people getting killed because he touched the ark, right? Others have reached forth and touched the ark, but he never should have been put in that position because David should have known not to carry the ark that way. So now he's gonna learn some other hard lessons in life because he's choosing to multiply wives and multiply wives unto himself. And it does kind of turn his heart away because his man's eyes are never satisfied. And David's eyes obviously has a problem with wanting to look at other women because he's married to all these wives but then he still looks at Bathsheba later on. And he still commits this sin with Bathsheba that really causes all the problems in his house. And so let's go back to our text here. In First Chronicles chapter 14 verse four. But David has an issue that many men have, like just not being able to keep their eyes where they belong. And he should have stopped at one wife. But that wife didn't work out and then he went on the run and then he picked up himself some other wives and then he comes back to Jerusalem to be king and then he picks up more wives. So he's got wives and now it's about to mention all these sons that he has but verse four says, verse four says, Now these are the names of his children which he had in Jerusalem. Shemua, which if you're looking for baby names here's a list here. And Shobab and Nathan, here's a normal one. And Solomon. So Solomon of course is the son that becomes the king. Nathan, actually if you look in the genealogies when we first went through all the first genealogies, Nathan, his children end up living on into, they're not in the line of the king but they do live on into the Babylonian captivity. And probably some of the other ones I can't, I'm not gonna read all those names. CJ had a hard enough time so I know I'm going to too. So but verse five, six and seven lists some of the other children that were born in Jerusalem. But the problem with what David's doing here is that Solomon is the one that does in excess what his dad did in moderation. And so we have to remember as parents that what we do in moderation that our children will probably do in excess so we gotta try to limit the things that we do here on earth, the sins that we commit. And obviously everybody commits sin though so that is a problem. But there are inherited sins and I wouldn't say they're, people talk about generational curses. Well the curse of the law is sin. So if you want to call that a sin then I would say that that's a generational curse. So but do people, my grandpa always said, well he doesn't always say it but he said it once, he said the only thing I ever inherited from my dad was alcoholism. Which you know, I laughed when he said it but it's really not funny because it's kind of true. You know, some people have a proclivity to alcohol so they should, if they know that they're, they had come from a long line of alcoholics, maybe you shouldn't pick up the bottle. Ever. You know. If the gambling bug had your family members then maybe you should just stay away from Keno and Blackjack and going to Vegas and all those other things or any scratch off tickets because, and you might not even know who had proclivity. I mean how far can you really go back with your ancestry? I mean some of these Appalachian people you might be able to, Brother Bill might know some things about his family history. I think he does. But I can't really go back that far. I mean I know some cities where my family members used to live but that's pretty much it. Who do you really know, do you really know your great great grandparents that well? I mean you used to kiss them on the cheek every once in a while when you see them at Christmas and Thanksgiving or whatever but most people don't know their great great or great great grandparents if they even knew them that well. So we don't know very far back what our family members were doing. So we just gotta be careful when it comes to what kind of things, hey I've never tried that before. Well you don't know how deep that runs back in your family to how much of a problem you're gonna have with it. So we should limit the things that we would do that would be a sin. Obviously we're not trying to get into sin but there's a lot of people, like alcoholism is one thing I can think of. When the natives, when we came over here and Native Americans were introduced to alcohol it destroyed them. It destroyed them. And they were trading everything they could for fire water basically. And they still to this day, it destroys those tribes. The reservations are just littered with problems with alcohol and drugs. And they still have problems this day. So it's just something that their bodies genetically could not handle because it was not introduced into their bloodstream or whatever for all those generations and so when they finally got it just their body couldn't handle it. It's just like any kind of diseases like small and smallpox came over to this continent it just decimated millions of people because they had never encountered it before. So it just wiped out all these people. So anyway I'm off in the weeds here. But the problem with Solomon is that he married 700 wives and 300 concubines. Where David had wives like Solomon was just like let me just quadrillion down on this and like you know let's just outdo dad here. And it ruined his life. And it ruined his son's life. And it really was a vexation upon the rest of the kings from here on out. But it really did start with David didn't it? For the multiplying of wives. And some of the kings were able to to reign it in a little bit. But you know Solomon obviously went big or go home but the rest of the kings were just like that. I mean Rehoboam still had a lot of wives too. So I would just say this. What's the takeaway for us for Thanksgiving? Well be thankful for the wife that you have. And don't seek another. It's against the law anyway. You know be thankful for the wife that you do have and if you don't have a wife well I got a verse for you. Not that I speak for respect of want for I have learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content. And you know there's a lot of little ones that don't have spouses in here. You know be content with the phase of life that you're at. And I'm not saying don't you know be content and be like Paul or whatever. I'm not saying to anybody in here that's single don't seek a wife or whatever. If you want a wife then go get one. But I'm just saying that be content though with the fact that like hey you're not married at this point and you know if you're seeking a wife that's great you know get married whatever it's your choice. But as for like children you know at this stage of your life don't try to grow up so fast. Enjoy your childhood. You know some day you're going to be paying bills working for the man every night and day right. You're going to be paying bills or you're going to be married and working for your husband and your children. And in life it doesn't get any easier than it does when you're children. You think oh it's so hard I have to do these chores. Wait till doing chores is like mandatory. Or you get fired and you have no home and you live in a tent on the side of the road over there with all the other losers. So you know you if I could go back to being a kid I probably wouldn't but because I just you know I'm content with my life but where I'm at now but I mean I liked being a kid if I could go back to being a kid just for one year it'd be 1985. I was ten years old. My best year. But I can't. But that would be the year. Anyway now I'm dreaming. But I'm thankful for where I'm at now. I'm thankful for the family I have. I'm thankful for my grandchildren. I'm thankful for my children. I'm thankful for my church. I'm thankful for my church family. I'm thankful for my friends. I'm thankful for my wife. And we shouldn't seek another. Let's go on to the final point here and that's David fights with his foes. So and obviously be thankful for your children parents before I move on because David went on to have a bunch more children there's nothing wrong with that. So be thankful for your children don't seek to have you know I wish my kid was like so and so's kid. Hey be thankful for the kids that you have. Mold that child that you have. Be thankful for them. Because God gave you that specific child for you to raise. You know he forms the child in the womb. He's the one that allows people to have children and he made that child to be born by you. So do your best that you can with them. Love them. Number three David fights his foes the Philistines verse eight it says and when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel the Philistines went up to seek David and David heard of it and went out against them. So David's got friends he's got family he's the king he's living he's on top of the world right now and what happens the foes come out to fight him and who are their main foes? The Philistines. How did David make the Philistines his foes? Well he killed the biggest one that they had Goliath. It was a showdown he won the gunfight at the OK Corral cut his head off and walked around with it for a while and gave it to Saul. And then he kind of fought on the side of the Philistines for a while but now he's about ready to show him who the new sheriff in town is and who the boss is here. But it says the Philistines came in so the Philistines went up to seek David and David heard of it and went out against them. So David's not afraid of them David's ready to go and it says and the Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim and David inquired of God saying shall I go up against the Philistines? So this is a very important point about David. David just doesn't go willy nilly out and just do whatever he wants. When the enemy comes David's like I'm going to the Lord first I'm going to figure out what God wants me to do here. Shall I go up against the Philistines? This is the question he has he inquires of God and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? So he asks them two questions shall I go up against them and will I win? Am I going to win this fight? And the Lord said unto him go up for I will deliver them into thine hand. And that's all David needs to hear right? So this is something that David always does before he goes into battle it seems. If you even go back to first Samuel go ahead and go to first Samuel chapter 30 real quick. First Samuel chapter 30 when the Amalekites before David's king the Amalekites come and they take their wives when David's gone they come into the town that he has and they come and take the wives and all their stuff and remember he has 600 people with him and they come back to the town and everybody's gone and they want to kill David. They speak of stoning him. And David is distraught. And it says in verse 1 it says and it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south in Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire. And he had taken the women captives and that were therein and they slew not any either great or small but carried them away and went on their way so David and his men came to the city and behold it was burned with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep and David's two wives were taken captive Ahinoam the Jezrelitess and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite and David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him because of the soul of the people was grieved. Every man for his sons and for his daughters but David encouraged himself and the Lord is God. And David said to Abiathar the priest Amalek's son I pray thee bring me hither the Ephod and Abiathar brought thither the Ephod to David. So this is just important because this is how he inquires of the Lord. He doesn't just pray right there he goes to the priest and he gets the Ephod and this is how he does it right and David inquired at the Lord saying shall I pursue after this troop shall I overtake them and he answered him pursue for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all. So this is something that David is already in the habit of doing so when we are fast forwarded into this chapter this is the first thing he does. So what does that tell you that David is a man of habit of prayer and you know if you want things in life if you want things to go your way you know don't forget about God and the equation. You think that God is just going to lay it all out for you all the time without you ever having to ask for something. You have not because you ask not and David was always wanting to know shall I do this thing shall I go up and fight against the Philistines. You know because look we have foes and you might your foe might not be the Philistines but it might be some co-workers at work that are sabotaging you it might be the boss that hates you it might be you know the the lady in the homeschool group that's trying to hate on you or whatever that doesn't want you to get whatever you're supposed to be getting I don't know what whatever you guys are doing out there but I'm just saying it could be just something in your daily life some foe shall you know and then we don't go to God about things and we just complain well God is there to help us you know what we don't have to put on some special ephod we don't have to go to some priest to do this you know this is what it's showing us in this chapter but David had to do those things but we don't have to we can just go right to God that's our advantage look at verse 11 back in our chapter I'm almost done here hang with me verse 11 so they came up to Baal Perazim and David smote them there then David said God hath broken in upon my enemies by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters therefore they called the place Baal Perazim the name of that place Baal Perazim I'm sorry I think that my words got jumbled up here anyway so the breaking forth of waters remember last week it was that Peraz so Baal Perazim the breaking forth of waters like the you know talking about the the breach so the Perazim there is a similar word there the breaking forth of the waters and when they had left their gods there David gave a commandment and they were burned with fire David doesn't leave stuff around like Saul did so you see the difference between him and Saul Saul is like let's leave the best stuff to sacrifice for no David is just like burn it all burn it with fire get rid of it and the Philistines yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley therefore David inquired again of God and God said unto him go not up after them turn away from them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees this is where the song you know pop goes the weasel came from but anyway and it shall be when thou shall hear the sound going in the tops of the mulberry trees that then thou shall go out to battle for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines and when they hear the rustling then pop goes the weasel and they killed them all right David therefore did as God commanded him and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer so God just said it wasn't like he said you're not going to defeat him it's just like let's not meet him in the open field let's come around and flank them verse 17 and the fame of David went out into all lands and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations so this is the beginning of David just being the the top dog in all the areas everybody else is afraid of him but this is also a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and you know his first his first coming where he's on the earth it pictures that because of the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ he was very famous the Bible says in Matthew chapter 424 it says and his fame went forth throughout all Syria and they brought him all sick people and they were taken with diverse diseases and torments and those that were possessed with devils and those which were lunatic those that had the palsy and he healed them in Luke chapter 4 verse 37 it says and the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about so David of course again pictures the Lord Jesus Christ and so the fame of David goes out into all the lands just like in the New Testament the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ goes out into all the country round about him but that's not where the fame is going to end the fame is also going to be in the millennial reign of Christ when the fear of all the nations also is going to be shown to everybody else because he's going to be ruling and we're going to be ruling and reigning with him and he's going to dash anybody that comes against him like a potter's vessel he's going to rule with a rod of iron that's not just like hyperbole he's he's going to be like literally ruling people and showing people how it's done turn to Isaiah 66 the last verse I'll have you turn to Isaiah 66 it says in Isaiah 66 it's the last chapter in Isaiah Isaiah 66 verse 18 the Bible says for I know their works their thoughts it shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my glory and I will set a sign among them and I will send those that escape of them onto the nations to Tarshish, Pole, Lud and draw the bow to Tubal and Javin to the isles afar off that have not heard of my fame neither have they seen my glory and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles and they shall and they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of the nations upon horses and in chariots and in litters and upon mules and upon swift beasts to my holy mount in Jerusalem saith the Lord as the children of Israel bring an offering and a clean vessel unto the house of the Lord and I will also take of them for priests and Levites saith the Lord for as the new heavens and the new earth will I make shall remain before me saith the Lord so shall your seed and your name remain and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the Lord so you know obviously this transcends into the new heaven to the new earth but it goes from you know it's probably talking about the the millennial reign into heaven evermore but the point is is that that Jesus Christ is going to be famous forever his fame is going to be in the millennial reign of Christ where he's going to rule and reign and he is going to be that conquering king when he comes back when he comes back his eyes are going to be like a flame of fire and his name is going to be called the word of God and everybody's going to come and bow themselves before him and you know we do have foes these days but you know the thing that we can be thankful for is that we don't have to be afraid of them anymore and really we shouldn't be now we really shouldn't be now we shouldn't be afraid of our enemies and our foes they should be afraid of what's coming for them Jesus is going to come back and you know he is going to you know the Bible says that we shall the you know the righteous will rejoice when they see the vengeance that we shall that we shall bathe in the blood of the wicked that's what the Bible says I mean that's pretty gross but like it's true you know so there's going to come a time when you know these wicked people that are ruling our world are not going to be ruling it anymore these Philistines these evil people so we should be thankful you know we got a lot of things to be thankful for this year I know this isn't the traditional thanksgiving you know sermon but we should be thankful for the good friends that we have and for the good church that we have and for the lord and savior of Jesus Christ for our families and we should be thankful for our you know if you're married for your spouse for your children if you have children and you know for your friends if you're single you know and we should be thankful for the fact that we have a great church to go to we should be thankful that God is always going to give us the victory through our lord Jesus Christ just like he gave David the victory when he inquired of the lord and he's going to give us the victory in the end just like it says in Isaiah 66 and you know what's really cool is that our best friend the lord Jesus Christ is also our king he's also God he's also the most famous person in the whole universe and you know there's nothing that beats him I mean we got it all we got everything you know we might just be a little ragtag group of soul winners here but you know we have it all coming to us and we should really be thankful for that we should be thankful for every blessing that we get here on this earth because we have all of eternity to enjoy it so happy thanksgiving let's pray lord we thank you so much for the bible thank you so much for our church we thank you so much for all the people that are here tonight lord we pray that you just bless those that couldn't be here tonight and lord those that are going through hard times lord I pray that you just bless all of our churches lord all of our church families all the church plants that we have lord I pray that you just bless each and every leader that we have that are standing in the gap in Washington state and Canada all the churches we've started lord I pray for our church in Indianapolis I pray for the church we started in England pray that you just bless each and every place and lord the ones that we haven't started yet that are in the future lord I pray that you just bless each and every single person in our church and the husbands the wives the men the ladies and all the children in our church lord pray that you give us a special holiday season to enjoy and lord that you give us some peace and rest from our enemies and lord that you give us victory over them and I pray that you just bless your foundation Baptist Church in a very special way this coming year and I pray these things in Jesus name Amen Song number 198 Joy Unspeakable Song 198 on the first Full of glory it is joy unspeakable and full of glory all the half has never yet been told I have found the pleasure I once craved it is joy and peace within what a wondrous blessing I am saved from the awful gulf of sin it is joy unspeakable and full of glory full of glory full of glory it is joy unspeakable and full of glory all the half has never yet been told I have found that hope so bright and clear living in the realm of grace oh the savior's presence is so near I can see his smiling face it is joy unspeakable and full of glory full of glory full of glory it is joy unspeakable and full of glory all the half has never yet been told I have found the joy no tongue can tell how its waves of glory roll it is like a grain or flowing well springing up within my soul it is joy unspeakable and full of glory full of glory full of glory it is joy unspeakable and full of glory all the half has never yet been told Amen, good to see you brother Alex, can you close a word of prayer? Thank you.