Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you could please find your seats and grab your songbooks.
We're going to start off this evening by singing 343, "Revive Us Again."
343, "Revive Us Again."
143 on the second, we praise thee.
Open up in a word of praise. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening's service
and the time we get to worship you this evening.
I pray that you'd bless everyone here.
And I pray that you'd bless Brother Ben as he preaches it to us tonight.
Do you see me pray? Amen.
Alright, for our second song, let's flip over to 351.
Tell it to Jesus.
351. Tell it to Jesus.
Tell it to Jesus.
This time we're gonna go through our announcements really quickly.
If you don't have a bulletin, raise your hand and an usher will bring you one.
On the front there, we have our verse of the week, Proverbs 31, 17.
Got one back here, Brother John.
Proverbs 31, 17 for anyone 18 years of age or younger, if you could quote this to myself.
Pastor Shelley or an usher, you'll get an ice cream.
As always, our service times and soul winning times are listed there on the left.
Make note of those.
Please remember to turn in your soul winning maps from today into the bin hanging up in the hallway over there.
Also remember to be reporting your salvations to your captains.
And if you don't have a captain, let me know after the service and I can help you with that.
We have our stats listed there, our expecting ladies and our prayer list.
And just as a quick reminder about our two upcoming events we have.
January 20th, we're gonna start a 10-week class, a preaching class.
Gonna be led by Pastor Shelley and I'm gonna be helping a little bit with that too.
And looking forward to that for men that are soul winners.
I think Pastor Shelley said 18 years of older, I'll confirm that.
But yeah, looking forward to that. It's gonna be a great time.
And then we have the baby shower listed for Mrs. Katherine Kreikert and her baby girl on Saturday, February 3rd.
From 12.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. at the church, nurselings only preferred.
Please RSVP to Mrs. Lauren Milstead and please bring a side dish or a dessert to share.
That's really all we have for announcements this evening. Let's go ahead and go to Psalm 67, our Psalm of the Week.
Psalm 67. And your white handouts are in your King James Bible.
Let's all sing together, Psalm 67.
[singing]
Singing as the offering plates are being passed around.
Please turn your Bibles to 2 Samuel 23.
2 Samuel chapter 23.
2 Samuel 23, the Bible reads,
"Now these be the last words of David.
David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high,
the anointed of the God of Jacob,
and the sweet psalmist of Israel said,
"The spirit of the Lord spake by me,
and his word was in my tongue.
The God of Israel said,
"The rock of Israel spake to me,
"he that ruleth over men must be just,
"ruling in the fear of God.
"And he shall be as the light of the morning,
"when the sun riseth,
"even a morning without clouds,
"as the tender grass springing out of the earth
"by clear shining after rain.
"Although my house be not so with God,
"yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
"ordered in all things insure.
"For this is all my salvation and all my desire,
"although he make it not to grow.
"But the sons of Belial shall be all of them
"as thorns thrust away,
"because they cannot be taken with hands.
"But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron
"and the staff of a spear,
"and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.
"These be the names of the mighty men whom David had.
"The Tacimite that sat in the seat chief among the captains,
"the same was Adino the Esnite.
"He left up his spear against eight hundred,
"whom he slew at one time.
"And after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo the Ahohite
"of one of the three mighty men with David,
"when they defied the Philistines
"that were there gathered together to battle,
"and the men of Israel were gone away.
"He rose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary,
"and his hand clave unto the sword.
"And the Lord wrought a great victory that day,
"and the people returned after him only to spoil.
"And after him was Shema the son of Agge the Hararite,
"and the Philistines were gathered together into a troop,
"where was a piece of ground full of lentils,
"and the people fled from the Philistines.
"But he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it,
"and slew the Philistines, and the Lord wrought a great victory.
"And three of the thirty chief went down,
"and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adulam,
"and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim.
"And David was then in a hold,
"and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
"And David longed and said,
"'O, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem,
"which is by the gate.
"And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines,
"and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem,
"that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David.
"Nevertheless he would not drink thereof,
"but poured it out unto the Lord.
"And he said, 'Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this.
"Is not this the blood of the men, that when in jeopardy of their lives,
"therefore he would not drink it.
"These things did these three mighty men.
"And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among three.
"And he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them,
"and had the name among three.
"Was he not most honorable of three?
"Therefore he was their captain,
"howbeit he attained not unto the first three.
"And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel,
"who had done many acts, he slew two lion-like men of Moab.
"He went down also, and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.
"And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man, and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand.
"But he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand,
"and slew him with his own spear.
"These things did Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among the three mighty men.
"He was more honorable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three.
"And David set him over his guard.
"Asahel, the brother of Joab, was one of them of the thirty.
"Elhanan, the son of Dodo of Bethlehem.
"Shema, the Herodite.
"Elika, the Herodite.
"Heles, the Paltite.
"Ira, the son of Ikesh, the Tekoite.
"Abyezer, the Anathothite.
"Mabune, the Hushothite.
"Zalman, the Ahoyte.
"Mahari, the Natophathite.
"Helib, the son of Baana, a Natophathite.
"Ittai, the son of Ribi, out of Gibeah, of the children of Benjamin.
"Benaiah, the Parathenite.
"Hedi, of the brooks of Gaiash.
"Abaalbon, the Arbathite.
"Azmavath, the Barhumite.
"Aliaba, the Shalbonite.
"Of the sons of Jashin, Jonathan.
"Shema, the Horarite.
"Haim, the son of Shehrar, the Horarite.
"Alephalet, the son of Ahasphai, the son of Mayakathite.
"Aliam, the son of Ahithophel, the Gielinite.
"Hezrai, the Carmelite.
"Perai, the Arbite.
"Igal, the son of Nathan of Zobah.
"Bani, the Gadite.
"Zelech, the Ammonite.
"Nihari, the Berethite.
"Armor-bearer to Joab, the son of Zeruiah.
"Ira, an Ithrite.
"Girub, an Ithrite.
"Uriah, the Hittite, 30 and 7 in all."
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you so much for this evening,
for the chance to hear the Word of God preached.
I pray that you would fill Brother Ben
with the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit
and help him to deliver his message to us boldly tonight.
We love you, and Jesus, may we pray.
Amen.
Amen, I want to begin by thanking Pastor Shelley
for the opportunity to fill the pulpit this evening
and to all of you for coming.
Look down at 2 Samuel chapter 23
and we'll begin reading in verse number 8.
The Bible read there,
"These be the names of the mighty men whom David had.
The Tacmonite that sat in the seat,
chief among the captains,
the same was a dino, the Esnite.
He lifted up his spear against eight hundred,
whom he slew at one time.
And after him was Eliezer, the son of Dodo,
the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David,
when they defied the Philistines that were gathered
together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.
He arose, verse ten, and smote the Philistines
until his hand was weary.
And pay attention to this, his hand clave unto the sword,
and the Lord wrought a great victory that day.
And the people returned after him only to spoil.
So what we have here in 2 Samuel 23 is a highlight reel.
And it's a highlight reel of David's mighty men.
If you want to look for some positive examples in scripture
that we should follow in our Christian lives,
you have it here in this chapter.
But specifically, there's one of them that I wanted to highlight.
There's one of them I really wanted to focus on here this evening,
and his name is Eliezer, one of David's mighty men
who defied the Philistines.
And the men of Israel, they were gone away.
So what that tells me, I think what we can surmise from the text
is he was outnumbered.
The Bible also says that he smote them until his hand was weary.
Yet, what does it say about him?
How can we look at Eliezer and define his character?
His hand clave unto the sword, didn't it?
That's the title of my sermon.
His hand clave unto the sword.
What does that mean?
Well, it's the past tense form of the word cleave.
To cleave.
To stick.
To adhere to.
To hold.
Turn to 2 Kings 18, if you would, 2 Kings chapter 18.
Meanwhile, I'll read for you from Deuteronomy chapter 10 as you turn to 2 Kings 18.
And in Deuteronomy 10, the Bible says, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, him shalt thou
serve, and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name."
We see this concept in scripture multiple times where the Bible talks about cleaving
to the Lord, holding on to God with everything we've got, sticking to him, sticking to the
doctrines found in the King James Bible, even though we're pressured on a daily basis to
do the opposite, and to let go.
And we'll see as we go through the message that Eliezer did not let go.
His hand was almost, you could say, stuck to that sword, congealed to it.
I mean, he just did not let it go no matter what, and I think there are so many powerful
truths that we could take from that, and we will, but first of all I want to show you
another way that this word is used, and this has something to do with Hezekiah here.
In 2 Kings 18, notice verse 5, 2 Kings 18, notice verse 5 where the Bible read, "He trusted
in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah,
nor any that were before him."
Verse 6, "For he clave to the Lord," but there's more, "and departed not from following
him, but kept his commandments which the Lord commanded Moses."
When you study the line of Judah, and I'm talking about the kings, so many wicked kings,
one after the other after the other, that Hezekiah sticks out in a good way.
And how is he described?
Like Eliezer, he clave, didn't he?
He's special, he did not depart from following Him, the Bible says.
Look at Ephesians 6, if you would, Ephesians chapter 6, let's go back to the New Testament
for a second, and I'll quote for you as you turn to Ephesians chapter 6, Hebrews 4.
I read it this morning, Hebrews 4 says, "For the word of God is quick and powerful and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
The Bible tells us about the Bible in Hebrews chapter 4.
It is so precise, we let this sink in, it is so precise it can divide even soul and
spirit, which if you've studied that, they're intertwined, the soul and the spirit, and
yet the word of God is so precise and so sharp, it's possible to divide them.
When I think about that verse, there's only one translation in English that comes to mind.
It's the King James Bible.
You know, when I think of the modern versions, not to go on too long of a rabbit trail here,
but when I think of the modern versions, I don't think of a sharp sword that's able
to divide soul and spirit.
I think of a slinky.
Pastor Shelley has used that analogy before, and I thought of ripping him off and bringing
a slinky.
I ended up not doing it.
I'll leave that to him.
That's his thing.
I would just be a second rate ripoff.
But my point is, it's a slinky, isn't it?
It's because they take sharp words in our King James Bible, like sodomite and sharp
words, fornication, things of that nature, and turn it into things like sexual immorality
and other vague terms that the modern perversions of scripture use because they're not sharp.
They resemble a plastic butter knife, and if you've ever used one of those, you know
how easy they are to snap in half.
I've experienced that many times in my life, trying to eat Chinese take out with those
cheap knives, and they always break.
Well that's the modern Bible verses.
Look at Ephesians chapter 6, if you would, and what's the title of the sermon?
His hand clave onto the sword.
What is the sword spiritually, or what does it typify?
Verse 17 tells us in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 17, notice this, "And take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit," which is what?
The word of God.
So what can we learn?
We learn this, that when you cleave onto the sword like Eliezer did, you're cleaving to
the word of God.
You're cleaving to the word of God, but beyond that, when you cleave to the sword, you're
also, like I just said, cleaving to the word of God, but when you cleave to the word of
God, if you read John chapter 1, what do we know about that?
Well we know that the word is Jesus Christ, isn't it?
So when you cleave to the sword, who exactly are you cleaving to?
You're cleaving to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Now some people, they freak out when you say that, that the word is Jesus.
They don't like that.
It kind of sounds a little weird to them.
But of course, I'm not talking about the binding on this book.
I'm not talking even about the paper.
I'm not talking about the Meriva calfskin.
I'm sorry.
This is French Morocco.
Sorry.
You've got to be accurate.
Okay.
Anyway, I'm not talking about the way that this book is constructed physically, but I'm
talking about the words.
They are Jesus Christ.
And so when you cleave to the sword, you're cleaving to him.
But let's zoom out a little bit further.
When you cleave to Jesus, I believe what you're doing is you're cleaving to the Christian
life itself.
You're cleaving to the Christian life itself.
And the reason why I wanted to preach this sermon, you know, it wasn't just to fill
the hour.
I wanted to preach this sermon because I want to inspire you.
I want to inspire you to cleave to this Christian life that we're all living in right now, no
matter what.
No matter what.
And turn back to 2 Samuel chapter 23, 2 Samuel chapter 23.
And let's learn about Eliezer because he is our example of this.
He's an example for us of a man who cleave no matter what.
He's someone who did not give up.
He never dropped his sword.
Even after the battle was over, I believe he still held on to that thing.
He still held on to the sword.
And in verse 9, we'll read this again, "And after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo the
Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that
were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away."
So the men of Israel, gone away.
His allies, gone away.
Verse 10, "He gave up and went home."
Nope, nope.
"He arose," the Bible says, "and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his
hand clave unto the sword, even in hard times he stood, he claved, and he did not let go."
Realize what Eliezer was faced with.
Turn if you would to 1 Chronicles 11, the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles chapter
11.
And what you have to realize when you compare the account in 1 Chronicles chapter 11, there
may be numbers that are seemingly discrepancies.
It may seem a little different, but there's no contradiction in your King James Bible.
It just offers, in 1 Chronicles 11, a different perspective.
And if you pay attention to verse 12, look at verse 12.
Let's look at the parallel passage, 1 Chronicles 11 and verse 12, the Bible read, "And after
him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighties.
He was with David at Pasdamim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle,
where was a parcel of ground full of barley, and the people fled from before the Philistines."
So again, you have people fleeing likely out of fear, and verse 14, "And they set themselves
in the midst of that parcel and delivered it and slew the Philistines, and the Lord
saved them by a great deliverance."
I'll have more to say about that later on, but the Philistines are gathered where was
a parcel of ground full of barley.
Like I said, the people fled from before the Philistines.
We see that Eliezer is left with David to defend the ground.
I believe he was outnumbered.
The odds are stacked against him.
Understand what Eliezer was faced with.
Just to recap, we have a significant challenge for him here.
What's the significant challenge?
The Philistines are gathered together to battle and the men of Israel fled away.
He's pressured to surrender his ground.
We noticed that in 1 Chronicles chapter 11, didn't we?
He's pressured to surrender his ground, the parcel that he ended up standing in the midst
of.
He's pressured to give it up and yield that to the Philistines.
He's fatigued.
On top of all of that, the Bible says he smote the Philistines until his hand was weary,
which tells me he was also dealing with fatigue, wasn't he?
Yet, what does the Bible say?
His hand clave unto the sword.
He held his weapon.
He would not let it go.
And understand this, as a Christian, you will go through challenges like this in your life.
I don't come to church and dump all my problems on you guys.
Nobody would want to talk to me like that, all right?
If I'm just constantly just depressed and just constantly venting about things and being
negative all the time.
But I go through issues in my life.
I'm sure you guys do as well.
There's ups, there's downs, there's challenges.
There's times where you're wondering, where is God in this situation?
As a church, we went through significant challenges over the last few years.
And I'm talking about persecution.
And yeah, there's times where you start to wonder, what is the end of this going to be?
Where is God?
Are we going to be victorious?
But it's in those moments where you're starting to doubt, and it's in those moments where
you're kind of down in the dumps, even though you really shouldn't be.
But it's in those moments where you're kind of wondering, what's going to happen here?
I can't see the end from the beginning.
It's in those moments where we have to remember His hand clave under the sword.
We have to remember Eliezer.
We have to remember this example.
Even as he was weary, challenged, faced with a coming onslaught of Philistines, he didn't
give up.
He kept swinging that sword.
How though?
See, here's the thing.
I could just get up and repeat that over and over again.
Don't give up.
And then we could all just close our Bibles and go home.
And some of you are like, well, that sounds pretty good.
But here's my point.
Let's get into some specifics.
How exactly was he able to cleave under the sword?
Well, turn, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 11.
Hebrews chapter 11.
And my first point, and I only have three.
My first point is this, Eliezer clave unto the sword because he had faith.
Eliezer clave unto the sword because he had faith.
And turn to Hebrews 11.
Like I said, I'll quote for you this about Eliezer.
It says, "He arose and smoked the Philistines until his hand was weary."
Eliezer was weary, I already went over that, yet his hand clave anyway because he had faith.
Eliezer was weary, but he had faith.
He had faith.
Even when the men of Israel went away, he still stood.
Why?
Because his faith, I believe it wasn't in the men of Israel.
His faith was in God.
Man will let you down.
Man will disappoint you.
Man will flee when the going gets tough.
They get going.
But God doesn't do that to us.
He could not have possibly done it on his own though.
And the Bible tells us in Galatians chapter 6,
"And let us not be weary and well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."
Spiritual warfare.
Eliezer, he was going through carnal warfare, physical warfare, but spiritual warfare.
What we're engaged in as New Testament Christians, it can be tiring.
It can be tiring.
But we shall reap if we faint not.
Here's the thing though, you can't do it on your own.
We need God to help orchestrate victory in our lives like we need oxygen to live, folks.
Hebrews 11, it builds to this epic crescendo towards the end of the chapter, and it's awesome.
I don't know how else to describe it other than this word, awesome.
Look at verse 32, "Great victory requires faith."
Look at verse 32, "And what shall I more say, for the time would fill me to tell of Gideon
and of Barak and of Sampson and of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel, and of the prophets,
who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped
the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out
of weakness, were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the
aliens.
It kind of makes what we've been through seem like nothing in comparison.
Subduing, think about this, through faith subduing kingdoms, quenching the violence
of fire, escaping the edge of the sword, their lives were on the line, they escaped, but
how did they do it?
It wasn't through carnal means.
They for sure didn't order storable foods from Infowars.com.
I tell you what they did do though, they had faith that God would deliver them and so that's
why the Bible tells us what it says in Hebrews chapter 11.
Through faith though, this is my point, through faith strength can be derived from weakness
and when you're fatigued, you're weak, you're tired, you're not as strong as you normally
would be and we see the part that I really wanted to focus in on in verse 34, Hebrews
11 verse 44, it says, "Out of weakness were made strong."
Eliezer was weak, Eliezer was weary, Eliezer was fatigued because of his weariness.
He was a strong man, but he was weary.
He smote the Philistines until he was weary, yet he had the persistence to cleave under
the sword no matter what, I believe, because of his faith, because of his faith in God.
It can be tiring to fight the flesh every single day as Bible-believing Christians,
we're called.
This is the battle that we have to engage in, which is what?
Fighting the flesh, subduing the flesh.
It could be tiring to do that on a daily basis.
It could be tiring to do that.
It could be tiring to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
and keep bad influences away from them.
In a world that's getting darker and darker by the day, it could be tiring to do that.
It could be tiring to home school your children.
It could be tiring.
It could be tiring to come to church every single time the doors are open.
It could be tiring to go soul winning.
Every single time you're able to do so once a week, maybe even twice a week.
My point is it could be tiring to do that.
It could be tiring for men potentially to lead their family.
The responsibility on your shoulders to protect.
The responsibility on your shoulders to provide.
That could be tiring mentally, physically if you work a hard job, a physically hard
job.
That can be tiring.
It could be tiring to have that pressure on your shoulders.
There's no doubt about that.
But how do you overcome that weariness by faith?
Because the Bible, here's the thing about this folks.
The Bible says out of weakness we're made strong, doesn't it?
How do you overcome that weariness by faith?
Because faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
Faith in God's promises that, "Hey, he will reward me for the work that I'm doing and
at the end of the day, everything will work out."
Faith that if I keep going, "Hey, just one more church service.
Just one more soul winning time.
Open up my Bible just one more time in the morning to do my daily reading.
Hey, just one more homeschooling session.
Just one more day on the job.
You take it a day at a time and you chip away.
And if you have faith that God will keep you going, if you have faith in the rewards that
are waiting for you in heaven, if you have faith that God will bless you for continuing
to stay on the right path, that's the fuel that you need to overcome your weariness like
Eliezer was and continue to cleave under the sword.
One more church service.
One more soul-winning time.
By faith, you can keep your hand held tight to the Christian life even when you face the
temptation to drop that sword and go back into the world again.
No wood to God that it could be said about you.
His hand cleave onto the sword because of his faith.
Look at 1 Chronicles 11 again, 1 Chronicles 11.
We can't do it on our own.
We have to have faith that God will see us through.
We have to have faith that it will all be worth it in the end.
That when we get to heaven, there's going to be a lot of rewards waiting for us for
our persistence.
Now my second point is this, Eliezer clave onto the sword because he had fight.
Eliezer clave onto the sword because he had fight.
If you remember, I said he faced a significant challenge.
He faced a significant challenge, but he had fight.
He had fight.
And in 1 Chronicles 11, we'll look at verse 13, where the Bible read, "He was with David
at Pastamim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel
of ground full of barley, and the people fled from before the Philistines."
So the parcel of ground is under attack.
I have more to say about that later, but the people fled.
And that can be discouraging.
I don't know about you, but I'm discouraged when our allies flee, when the going gets
tough.
If I know somebody, if I know a brother in Christ who's been battling with me by my side,
and that person decides to go back home out of fear, and that person gives up on the Christian
life and gives up on God because of the persecution or the difficulties or the challenge that
we face as Christians, whatever reason, that's discouraging.
Because you know what, when I come to church and I see you guys, I'm encouraged by that.
When I see you guys here and we're serving God together, I get encouraged by that.
It's great to see the brethren who actually care about the things of God and that can
serve as rocket fuel.
That could serve as something that kind of keeps us going and keeps us encouraged and
keeps us engaged in the battle knowing that we have brothers and sisters fighting by
our side who care about the word of God and want to fight the good fight of faith.
That's encouraging.
And so when the opposite happens, it's discouraging.
And Eliezer faced that, but he had fight.
He had fight.
And specifically, he had fight to do what?
To deliver that parcel of ground that was under attack from the Philistines.
He had enough fight in him to deliver that parcel from the Philistines.
Go to 1 Timothy 6 if you would, 1 Timothy chapter 6.
You say I want to cleave under the sword no matter what.
You need fight.
You need fight yourself like Eliezer had.
The Bible reads as you turn to 1 Timothy 6, I'll quote this to you from Jude, went over
it on Wednesday night from Brother Oz.
It says in Jude, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."
What's the emphasis in scripture?
Contention, fighting, the spiritual battle, being a part of a spiritual army, God's army,
being a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
This language is used repeatedly in the New Testament that we have a fight to fight.
We should be contending for the faith.
The emphasis in scripture is that of being a fighter.
Fighting the right battle though, because I can go get involved in the political battle.
I can go enlist in the army of the Republican party and try to get Donald Trump elected
and all this useless garbage that'll solve nothing because Trump will not save America.
The word of God will.
See, I could waste my time doing that.
That's the wrong battle.
We need to enlist in the right battle.
We need to fight the right fight, the spiritual fight, for we wrestle not against flesh and
blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
The Bible says we need to contend.
You want to cleave under the sword, you need to have fight.
It's unfortunate though that so many Christians, and some of them are so called Christians,
instead of having fight, what are they doing?
They're laying their sword down on the ground willingly and yielding the parcel that they
were supposed to be defending to the Philistines.
Makes me sick.
You know, it angers me.
I get upset about it.
I'll try and control my emotions though.
Let me give you one.
It's a fight about the King James Bible.
And I want to read a quote for you from a pastor.
This is one of the reasons why he decided to drop the King James Bible from his church,
a church I used to attend.
He said the third thing, this is the third reason why he wants to drop the King James,
why he did it, I should say.
This is why he's transitioning.
Don't use that word in 2024, please.
There's a connotation there.
This guy is leading the textual transition movement.
And this is what he said.
One of the reasons why he switched his church away from the standard sacred text, known
as the King James Bible, the Preserved Bible.
He said, "I did it for the future of my church, feeling like the next pastor cannot be bound
by this, as if you're in some kind of bondage by being King James only.
Give me a break."
Chances are he's likely, talking about the next pastor who will eventually replace him,
he's likely going to be younger than me.
I mean, I'm in my mid-40s now.
The chances of me resigning and the next pastor being older than me are slim to none.
It's likely going to be a young guy.
Of course, by that time, I might be 60, so he might be 40.
That guy is not going to be King James only, nine times out of ten.
And if he were, he certainly would not be interested in my church, or he will be in
training.
So let's go ahead and deal with it.
So here's what he's saying.
Let's just rip the band-aid off now and transition away from the King James Bible, because the
following generation, the next generation, isn't going to be King James only anyway.
So let's go with the flow.
Let's acquiesce to that which is going to be the popular thing and transition, quote
unquote, over to a modern Bible, so that way when the next pastor comes in, who's reading
from the ESV or the NIV or the HIV or whatever, that this guy feels comfortable enough to
take over the church.
Now I think that's garbage, and let me tell you why.
Because we're called to fight a spiritual fight, and obviously this guy doesn't want
to fight that fight because he's not King James only anyway and he doesn't see that
as a battle that's worth getting involved in, but let me tell you something, it shouldn't
matter if every single other church on the face of the planet is using the NIV.
We should be the one church that says not here, it's not going to happen here.
We're going to stick to the King James Bible, we're going to fight for the King James Bible,
we're going to use our spiritual sword to slay the false doctrines that are contained
in the modern Bible perversions and we're going to stick to what God has given us, not
the strange fire known as the ESV or the NIV or the NKJV, yeah, new King James version.
You could throw that one in the trash as well.
It's like fake conservatives, no, no, no, no, no, they're not that much better.
I'm not going to hitch my wagons to them either.
I'm not going to hitch my wagon to new King James, but here's my point.
This is a battle worth fighting and this same pastor, he'll lament the fact that these King
James onlyists, they're just so divisive.
They just constantly want to fight about the Bible, it's so horrible and you know, one
of them, I'll just drop the name, it's already been dropped behind the pulpit so I feel like
I can do it, Jonathan Burris, this guy on YouTube, I'm getting blank stares, I'm actually
happy that you guys don't know who this is.
But anyway, this guy, Jonathan Burris, used to be King James only, now he's not and he's
made videos, he's put videos out there just lamenting, just so upset, so sad that these
King James only-est out there are so divisive and they just want to fight and they just
want to contend over the Bible.
Well, you know what, if the very words of God aren't worth fighting for, my question
is what is that?
You know, you want to get up and you want to get all upset about the political battle
and you want to get all upset about your favorite sports team losing and all this useless junk,
but you don't care about the fact that they've changed the words of God?
That doesn't bother you at all?
And you know, last time I checked, the Bible says about Jesus Christ that he came to bring
division, didn't he?
Matthew chapter number 10 tells us, "Think not that I came to bring peace on earth, I
came to bring a sword."
Isn't that what he said?
And it said a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
Folks, he came to bring division and that division will revolve around the word of God.
We need to fight that fight in 2024 and beyond because that battle is not going away.
It's only going to rage even more.
There will be more Jonathan Burruses out there.
There will be more James Whites out there.
There will be more people who want to undermine the very words that are sitting in your
lap this evening.
There will be more people who want to destroy your faith in that King James Bible that you
have in your hand.
And we need to be willing to fight that battle.
We need to be willing to go out into the high wages and hedges and yes, preach the gospel
of course, but how about we couple that with handing them a version, or I should say, let
me repeat this here.
How about we couple that with handing them a documentary called The Preserved Bible?
How about we couple that with handing them some material that they can use to understand
the significance of this issue?
Now more than ever, it's time to stand up and fight, and we need to have fight.
If you want to be someone who's hand a clave under the sword, you need to have fight and
take this issue seriously.
But this isn't the only issue out there.
There is plenty to fight about.
There's false prophets out there every day deceiving people.
All hours of the day, seemingly, deceiving people.
False prophets are, they're seething kids in their mother's milk.
Remember that sermon that was preached?
They're seething kids in their mother's milk.
They're taking that which should be nourishing babes in Christ and helping them to grow.
And they're cooking them in it.
They're hurting them with it.
They're hurting them.
There's innocent people.
They're being hurt by false prophets every day.
And their faith is being overthrown by false prophets every day.
And that should light a fire inside of us to say, "I want to have fight.
I want to be involved in the fight.
I want to support the man of God who's getting up behind the pulpit and preaching against
false doctrine.
I want to support the ministry that's committed to the spiritual fight.
I want to get involved.
I want to get plugged in.
I want to make an impact."
That should be our attitude.
You want to cleave under the sword?
Have fight, like Eliezer did.
He didn't just lay down and allow the Philistines to trample him and take that parcel of ground.
No, he fought.
He fought.
And that's one of the reasons why he never let go, because in him was fight.
I'm sick and tired of having to hear about young black men getting sucked into black
Hebrew-Israelite cults.
And if you give up, if you just say, "You know, I'm done with the Christian life,"
hey, that's one less person that you could pull out of that filth.
That's one less person that you could lead to getting sealed with the Holy Spirit and
out of, or defend them rather, from getting sucked into this black Hebrew Israelite garbage,
which is a scourge and a cancer on this area.
Multiple times I've had to hear from soul winners that they ran into some black Hebrew
reprobate, interfering in a gospel presentation, stopping a gospel presentation to preach their
satanic filth, their garbage, their lies.
These people are psychopathic, demon-possessed freaks.
And if you lay down your sword, you know what you're doing?
You're helping them win.
It's not just them, though.
You have.
You have Paul Washer.
You have Ray Comfort.
You have these false prophet devils undermining the faith, undermining the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
We need to have fight to defend right doctrine from them, defend that parcel of ground from
them.
Now, we need to fight for the Trinity.
Let this be the year that we keep fighting for the Trinity.
It will continue to be under attack.
That parcel of ground will continue to be under attack.
Deliver that parcel of ground from the Philistines who want to preach oneness.
We need to fight for the deity of Jesus Christ.
We need to fight for the King James Bible.
We need to fight for soul winning.
We need to fight for baptism by immersion.
We need to fight for repentance.
We need to fight for the biblical definition of marriage and what marriage really looks
like, not the feminist perversion that it has become in mainstream society.
Hey, we need to fight for creation.
You go to the public fool system today.
What are they teaching young impressionable minds?
What are they teaching young impressionable minds today in the public fool system that
their biological ancestor is a fish.
Stupid.
And then they call us dumb.
No, we got to fight for creation.
We need to fight for the fundamentals of the faith.
We need to fight for good doctrine.
If you want to cleave under the sword, you need to have fight, just like Eliezer did.
Plenty to fight about.
First Timothy 6 is where I had you turn.
Look at verse 12.
The Bible says there, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto
thou art also called, and has professed a good profession before many witnesses."
Eliezer's hand clave under the sword.
He was committed to battle.
He fought the good fight of faith.
Physically, let's do the same thing spiritually in our lives.
Let's fight the good fight of faith.
And just as sure as Eliezer clave, he held on to that sword.
Let's lay hold, like the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6, on eternal life.
And of course what I think this means is have an eternal perspective on your life.
This is why later in the chapter it says, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation
against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Having an eternal perspective.
But here's a potential secondary application.
We know in 1 John chapter 5 and elsewhere that Jesus is referred to as eternal life.
So when you lay hold on eternal life, you're laying hold onto Jesus.
Look at 1 Chronicles 5 if you would.
1 Chronicles chapter 5.
But if you're going to have fight, you know, you might as well be skillful at it.
You might as well be skillful.
1 Chronicles chapter 5 is where I had you turn.
I'll read for you from Hebrews 5 where the Bible read, "For everyone that useth milk
is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe."
1 Chronicles 5 is where I had you turn.
Babes are unskillful in the word.
And here's how you know that.
When they say things like, "Judge not, lest ye be judged," what that tells me is, "Unskillful
in the word."
You have to love everyone no matter what, even the pedophile.
Unskillful in the word.
And that's okay.
We've all been there.
Let's help them grow.
Let's lovingly explain to them what the Bible actually teaches.
First Chronicles 5, look at verse 18, "The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and half the
tribe of Manasseh of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword and to shoot with bow, notice,
and skillful in war."
The Reuben Knights, Gadites, half the tribe of Manasseh, they end up settling in the east
part of Jordan and, I should say on the east of the land beyond Jordan, valiant, capable,
skillful, is I think how you can describe them.
"Eliezer clave unto the sword, he had fight, but I believe he had skill as well, or else
he would have lost."
You say, "How can I be skillful in this battle?"
Well, here's the most obvious point in the world, read your Bible, then you're using
the sword.
But beyond that, go soul winning, we already know that one.
How about this one?
How about family Bible time?
How about we spend time with the family?
We sit down our children, and if you're your wife, if you're a man, and you teach them
the scriptures, you have a Bible study together, you have family Bible time.
How about this one?
Come to church with all your might.
You want to be skillful in the word, you might as well pay attention to the preaching.
You might as well come to church and really try and listen and not use the sermon as nap
time.
If you want nap time, my advice for you is to stay in bed.
It's a heck of a lot more comfortable.
So pay close attention, maybe take some notes if you want to.
I'm not saying that's mandatory.
All I'm saying is this, pay attention and apply the preaching, and that's one of the
components of going to church with your might.
Get plugged in.
Apply the preaching.
How about this one, fellowship?
You say, you know, people don't talk to me.
Go talk to them.
Start a conversation about something.
Maybe you found something cool in the scriptures that you want to share.
Fellowship with the people of God.
And you can gain, you can gain skill, you can be skillful.
Also use the sword to cut the sin out of your life.
And that'll make you a more skillful Christian because the sin is what chokes you and prevents
you from reaching your potential.
Use that sword to chop some of the sins that are preventing you from reaching your potential,
whether it's laziness or covetousness, whatever it may be.
Use that sword to chop those out of your life.
Let's look at 1 Chronicles 11 again, 1 Chronicles 11.
This is my final point.
Of course, it's not automatic.
We know that Romans 8 tells us that we should mortify the deeds of the body.
Just as sure as Eleazar slew the Philistines with the sword, we should mortify the deeds
of the body.
The flesh is there, and we have to fight it.
We have to battle it.
There's no question about that.
And if you do, it'll help you gain some skill and be a more skillful fighter.
We may have a significant challenge.
We may have a formidable opponent that we're dealing with, whether it's false prophets
or even our own flesh.
But hey, like Eliezer, it can be said of you, each and every one of you.
His hand clave unto the sword.
Why?
Because he had fight.
Now first Chronicles 11, this is my third point, and final point.
Eliezer clave unto the sword because he had fortitude.
Because he had fortitude.
And here's what I mean by that.
Fortitude can be defined as strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger
with courage.
Eliezer encountered danger, but he encountered it with courage.
He clave.
He stood and he clave.
He had fortitude.
First Chronicles 11, look at verse 14.
Let's look at his fortitude.
Verse 14, "And they set themselves in the midst of that parcel and delivered it."
Pay attention to the wording here.
This is interesting.
They set themselves in the midst of the parcel.
What that tells me is they were in a vulnerable position.
They didn't stand in kind of the side of it, hiding behind a tree or something like that.
Right there in the midst is where they stood in response to the challenge that they faced
from the Philistines.
They stand in the midst and they deliver it.
And to stand in the midst of the fight, it takes courage, it takes fortitude.
Turn to Acts chapter 17, Acts chapter 17.
Who do the Philistines represent?
You could argue the flesh, talked about that already.
But I would say the Philistines represent New Testament enemies.
The Philistines represent New Testament enemies and we know exactly who they are.
Philippians 3 just spells it out for us when it says, "Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision."
So in the Old Testament, you had the Philistines among others who were enemies of God's people.
And in the New Testament, we have enemies as well.
You've got your false prophets and things like that, but you've got your dogs, your
evil workers, and the concision.
And Christians need to wake up about this, that yeah, we have enemies.
They're very real enemies, and we need to have the fortitude to defend our ground against
them.
And let me tell you something.
These enemies are gathered together to battle.
Just like the Philistines were gathered together to battle against Eliezer, New Testament enemies
today are gathered together to battle against us.
Acts chapter 17 verse 5, Acts chapter 17 verse 5, "But the Jews which believed not
moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a
company and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought
to bring them out to the people.
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren under the rulers of the
city crying, "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also."
We have dogs, evil workers, and the Concision represented right here in verse 5 and also
in verse 6.
And I'll give you a summary of this passage.
Jews use fags to attack God's people.
These faggots, they set the city on an uproar, don't they?
They assault the house, why?
To stymie the work of God, to prevent the cause of Christ from going forward, from being
perpetuated.
Now, why would Jews, in their underground tunnels, use faggots to do their dirty work?
Well, I'll tell you why.
Because sodomites are capable of any evil.
They're filled with all unrighteousness, according to Romans chapter 1.
You read Genesis 19, you read Genesis 9, you read Judges 19, and you'll know real quickly
what they're capable of doing.
You'll understand very quickly that they're predators.
You'll understand very quickly that they have no conscience.
And so they are the perfect tool, the perfect minions for Jews to use to attack God's people.
There's nothing they won't do.
This is why we have to hear stories about one of our soul winners, the Spurgeons, being
told by a mother that her daughter, that a sick individual attempted to kidnap her, attempted
to kidnap her daughter, her little child.
Why?
Because the sodomites will not, they have no boundary.
They'll do anything.
And that guy was a faggot, by the way.
You're either straight or you're crooked.
You go after children, you're crooked, which makes you a fag.
But what's wrong?
You don't like that word?
Is there an issue?
Here, I'll say it again for you.
Faggot.
They're fags.
They hate God.
Listen, let me do you a favor here.
You go to Psalm 139, not right now, but after the service.
You don't like what I'm saying?
You go to Psalm 139.
You go to 2 Chronicles 19, 2.
You go to Jude.
You go to 2 Peter chapter 2.
And then you get back to me and we'll talk.
But don't get offended about me using the word faggot and then stay silent about the
faggots hurting children.
There is nothing that they won't do.
This is why they're shooting up schools and murdering innocent people, tranny after tranny
after tranny, walking into a elementary school and murdering innocent children.
This is why drag queens, faggots, chant, we're coming for your children up and down
the streets at pride parades, loudly, openly telling you what they want to do.
And then you have Christians laying down their sword and say, "Hey, come take this parcel.
We'll roll out the red carpet for you.
Charles Lawson, we'll roll out the red carpet for you, Philistines.
Come take the parcel of ground."
This is why the San Francisco fag choir said this will convert your children.
There is nothing they won't do.
They said it happens bit by bit, quietly and subtly, and you will barely notice it.
Just like you're worried they'll change their group of friends, you won't approve of where
they go at night, and you'll be disgusted when they start finding things online that
you kept far from their sight.
What kind of animal, what kind of sub-human scumbag would say something like that?
I'll tell you, a faggot, a sodomite.
They're vile, they're reprobate, and they want you, make no mistake about it, to drop
your sword.
They're gathered together to battle.
Let me give you a sampling.
Here's a voicemail our church received at one point.
This was directed at Pastor Shelley.
"I hope your children are expletive.
I hate you.
I hope that you die.
I hope that you rot in expletive hell.
You're a stupid blank blank.
I hope that your wife is ..." I'm not going to say forced carnally.
"I hope that your wife gets a bullet to the head like she deserves.
Like you deserve.
Just like your children deserve.
Because if you're going to sit there and talk about LGBTQ, you expletive deserve that.
Jonathan Shelley, I hope that you rot in hell, you stupid blank.
And you better hope that I don't fly to expletive Texas.
You blank, blank you, blank your family, and blank your wife, you blank.
All of you guys can take a bullet to the head.
I hope your mother dies, I hope your children die.
Oh, but I'm wrong for saying faggot.
Here's another one.
Hey, I want you all to know that you should probably commit mass suicide and do the world
a favor.
Here's one I got.
I've only gotten one in like a few years, but it says, somehow they got my email.
Homophobic piece of expletive, I will kill you.
That is a written thread.
I'm shaking in my boots.
Bible says the wicked plotted against the just and gnashed upon him with his teeth.
The Lord shall laugh at him for he seeeth that his day is coming.
Like the Philistines, New Testament enemies are gathered together to battle.
Those voicemails prove it and what's their goal?
To get you to drop your sword and acquiesce to them and give up your parcel of ground.
And Pure Words Baptist Church is going through that right now.
Those are our brothers.
And the demon-possessed dogs won't leave them alone.
They want to make us drop our swords.
They want to flee.
They want us to yield our ground.
But if you're going to cleave under the sword, you need to have the fortitude that Eliezer
had.
You need to have the fortitude to say, "I'm not budging.
I'm going to stand in the midst of this parcel and I'm not going to move a muscle.
If you want to take this from me, you're going to have to make my heart stop somehow, some
way."
We need more Christians to follow the example of new IFB pastors who faced the Philistines
head on and said, "Bring it on.
Go ahead.
I'm not apologizing.
I'll double down.
I'll say fag it even more.
Fag it.
Doesn't matter to me."
We need more Christians to follow the example of new IFB pastors and instead of yielding
their parcel of ground to the Philistines, they stand in the midst of it and say, "Hey,
come and take it."
They stand in the midst of it and say, "You know what?
I'm not giving up my dress standards.
I'm not giving up my soberness.
I'm not giving up my King James Bible.
I'm not giving up the old fashioned hymns and I'm definitely not going to give up my
biblically grounded hatred for fags.
My biblically grounded, check Psalm 139, hatred for sodomites.
I'm not going to give that up no matter how many of you gather outside my church and foam
at the mouth like a bunch of subhuman freaks.
Doesn't matter to me.
I'm not giving it up.
You can threaten me a thousand times.
It won't change a thing.
I'm standing in the midst of this parcel and I will deliver it from you.
We need more Christians to follow that example.
The Bible says only let your conversation be as it becometh, or suitable, the gospel
of Christ that whether I come and see you, the apostle Paul said.
Or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand, that ye stand fast in one spirit
with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing, and in nothing
terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to
you of salvation and that of God.
Eliezer was in nothing terrified by his adversaries and what happened?
God wrought a great victory through him.
He delivered that parcel of ground from the Philistines.
The last time I checked, the Bible says, "Hey, resist the devil and he will flee from you."
And I think this church knows a little something about that over the last several years when
we followed the example of the man of God who stood in the midst of his parcel in spite
of the death threats, in spite of the intimidation, in spite of the pressure to yield his ground
and compromise on what the word of God says.
And he said, "I'm not going to do it," and he stood and he defended the word of God.
And what happened?
God wrought a victory through him.
I don't see him anymore.
They've moved on to something else, and they may come back.
I don't know.
I don't care.
Because we need to stand.
Eliezer not terrified.
He stood.
He claved.
He was delivered.
Would God, more Bible-believing Christians, would stand up and cleave and refuse to yield
their ground to faggots, to sodomites, to New Testament enemies?
I want more men to rise up who have a backbone and a spine and say, "Hey, you can't have
our culture.
You can try and cram it down our throats every June until you're blue in the face.
You can't have our culture.
We're going to defend that parcel of ground from you."
Would to God, there'd be more men who would rise up and say, "You can't have our churches.
Get the hell out.
If you're a faggot, we're going to throw you out, buddy."
Would to God, there'd be more men who would stand up and have that attitude, and would
to God that there would be men who would stand up and say, "You sure as hell, you sure as
hell can't have our children.
Back off, freak.
Go back to the deepest, darkest, hottest part of hell where you belong and stay the hell
away from our kids.
You want to propagandize them.
You want to shove your filth down their throat.
You want to snatch them from the streets.
You want to put them in trafficking.
We know what you're up to.
We know who you are.
We see right through your mask.
And we will not let you come within a hundred feet of our children.
You back off.
Now, we need more men of God to have that kind of attitude.
And then sit back and watch.
Just watch as God delivers you.
It happened here.
It'll happen in Houston.
It happened in Tempe.
It happened in LA.
It happened in Sacramento.
It'll keep happening.
Turn back to 2 Samuel 23 and we'll be done.
You know, like Eliezer, it can be said of you, he stood, he defended his ground.
His hand clave, his hand clave under the sword because he had fortitude.
Because he had fortitude.
Now, your turn, I heard you turn back to 2 Samuel 23.
Last verse.
You say, "Why preach this?"
Well, here's why.
Look at verse 10.
"He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave under
the sword, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him
only to spoil."
Eliezer's hand clave under the sword.
What happened as a result?
Victory.
Why would I preach this sermon?
So you can have victory too.
So you can have victory in your Christian life too.
How?
Faith, fight, fortitude.
Faith, fight.
If you have faith, if you have fight, if you have faith, even if you're challenged like
Eliezer was, and you're weary, and you fight, and you have fortitude.
I believe you will be another person that we can look at and say, "His hand clave under
the sword."
He did not give up.
They threatened his life.
They tried to pressure him.
They told him, "If you keep preaching that, we'll kill you."
Didn't mean anything.
Water off a duck's back.
His hand clave onto the sword.
Why?
Faith, fight, fortitude.
Here's the thing about Eliezer.
What was the end of his story?
It was victory.
The end of his story was victory.
And my question for you is how are you going to finish your story?
How are you going to finish your story?
When our life is said and done, at the end of the day, we're not going to live forever
physically.
We're not going to live forever.
And I think it would be a shame if your children sitting next to you right now in this building,
it would be a shame in my mind if they look back at you and your life and what you accomplished
and the legacy you left behind.
And the only thing they can say is, "Man, he could name every single player on the Dallas
Cowboys roster, but he couldn't name the 12 disciples."
That would be kind of embarrassing in my opinion.
You know, rather, I think it would be cool.
I think it would be better.
I think it would be a heck of a lot better if your children can look back at your legacy
after you're gone and they can say, "That guy had faith, that guy had fight, that guy
had fortitude."
You know, they could say, "Hey, that guy, he spiritually, she spiritually fought the
Philistines of his or her day."
They could look back and they'd say, "Hey, this person was victorious like Eliezer was.
This person never, ever gave up on God through the ups and downs of life.
This person persevered.
This person was persistent.
This person didn't care what the world thought of him.
This person loved the Lord Jesus Christ.
It'd be great if your children could look at you as an example one day and look at the
legacy you left behind.
And they can say about you.
They could say about what you've done.
They could say about what you've accomplished.
May not have been perfect.
None of us are.
But they can say, "Through it all, his hand clave unto the sword."
No matter what.
Powerheads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, we just thank you, Lord, for this church and the courageous men of
God in our movement who stand up to New Testament enemies, who have faith, who have fight, who
have fortitude.
And Lord, I just pray that you would enable us to be like Eliezer and enable us to cleave
under your word, to cleave to the Christian life, to cleave to the sword, no matter what,
through the ups and downs of life.
And Lord, that somebody in this room, even if it's just one person, is inspired by this
message to make some changes.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Here we go.
Let's sing our final song.
Three hundred and fifty-five, what a friend we have in Jesus.
Three five five, what a friend we have in Jesus.
Sing it out together, watch me for the timing on this, ready, dismissed.