[Music]
Go and raise your hand if you won. On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week Hebrews chapter 6 to the end.
So keep up the good work on this chapter. Remember those prizes at the end. On the inside is our service times listed Sunday morning 1030, Sunday evening at 430, and our Wednesday evening Bible study through 1st Samuel at 7 o'clock. Our soul winning times are listed there. Make note of the Saturday soul winning rally. We should have a lot of people from out of town this weekend. So I'm really excited to have a great rally.
We're going to some really receptive areas. So do make it out for this Saturday. If you can, nursing home ministry schedules listed there. One thing to note, they contacted me and said that the service for December 1st is canceled.
So make note of that if you were scheduled for that time. Our stats year to date are listed there. Salvation and baptisms. Make sure to report your salvation totals as usual.
On the right, please be in prayer for Ms. Whitney Reed for her pregnancy. Also upcoming events. Really excited about this weekend. Having some family in town. Pastor Shelley, Pastor Thompson.
It's going to be a great weekend transitioning from Steadfast Baptist Church to Anchor Baptist Church. We've got our invites at the front here so we're ready to turn the key. We're excited.
It's going to be good to have Pastor Shelley preaching here and Pastor Thompson of course. And like I said, there's going to be people from out of town so it's going to be really good soul winning as well.
And of course, Texas BBQ is a plus as well. So, looking forward to that. So yeah, this is the last Wednesday service of Steadfast Baptist Church so enjoy it while you got it.
But we are definitely excited for the future. And really, you know, not that much is going to change because we're still going to be great friends with Pastor Shelley.
We're nice and close to them so when they have events, we can go their way, they can come our way. So not too much is changing but we are excited nonetheless.
December 9th is Christmas caroling. We're going to meet here at 6.30pm, go out Christmas caroling. This is when we go out to the rich neighborhoods to do something for the year.
So I don't know, Nichols Hills, parts of Yukon, we'll find a place with lots of lights and we'll have fun there.
It's funny, the one time that I did Christmas caroling here, not only was the lights cool but I actually saw Starlink for the first time.
We looked up and saw, it looked like we were being invaded or something. Ten of those dots in the sky. That was pretty interesting.
December 20th ladies Christmas party coming up. December 21st is our Christmas soul winning push. That's a basically regular Saturday soul winning rally.
But in addition we're going to cater food and coffee for that one. Also December 31st is our New Year's Eve party.
We're going to have a men's preaching night first at 7 o'clock. After that we're going to cater some food and have board games and fellowship for as long as you want.
If you want to stay until midnight or later, you can do that on this night. So bring the caffeine and the fun. Should be good.
On the back is our prayer list. Please keep everyone in prayer on that list. And as usual, if you have a request, please let me know.
Email the church. I'd be glad to add that for you. And let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer as a church this evening.
Lord, thank you for this day and thank you for this church plant here and for the faithful people that have been content just being the satellite ministry for all these years.
And I just thank you for these people that come together, that want to serve you, that want to honor you, that want to preach the gospel to the lost.
I just pray that you bless this upcoming weekend. Bless our transition to an independent fundamental Baptist church.
And just help us, Lord, to have a vision in line with your vision, God. Help us to be sensitive to your will.
And I just pray that you bless us in the future to strengthen us and enable us to do your work.
We pray also for the people here this evening for all the requests that they have, that you answer these according to your will.
We pray for Brother James for his back to be healed, for him not to be in so much pain, and that his physical therapy would continue to work for him, Lord.
We also pray for Cameron's mother, that she recovers well from her surgery still, and that Lord willing she'd be healed from her cancer, and her heart be softened to the gospel.
We also pray for Brother Alex Lee in Texas, who has a job interview coming up.
We just pray that you would help him to find favor in the eyes of the interviewers, and that if it's your will that he would get this job, and that you would just bless his family financially, Lord.
We also pray for Ms. Sean Furze, co-worker Terry, that she be healed of her cancer, and also for healing for Ms. Remy as well.
And we pray for Ms. Whitney, whose brother needs to be saved.
We pray that his heart would be softened, and that he would get lots of opportunities to hear the gospel, Lord.
We also pray the same thing for both Zach's family members.
Their hearts would be softened, and that they would get lots of opportunities.
And help us all to remember that someone else's brother and mother is out there in this community, that we would not just love our own family,
but also be willing to preach the gospel to the lost here.
We love you, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
That's going to be it for announcements. We'll go ahead and go to our third song.
Alright, for our third song, if you would actually grab a white handout and turn to Psalm chapter 67.
Psalm 67. Psalm 67.
Go ahead and start there right on the first.
God be merciful unto us and bless us
And cause His face to shine upon us
That Thy way may be known us
Saving health among all shall
Let the people praise Thee, O God
Thee shall be glad to see
1 Samuel chapter number 14, the Bible reads
Now it came to pass upon a day that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armor
Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison that is on the other side
But he told not his father
And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron
And the people that were with him were about six hundred men
In Ahiah the son of Ahaitab, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phanehas the son of Eli, the Lord's priests
And Shiloh wearing an ephod, and the people knew not that Jonathan was gone
And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison
There was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side
And the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other, Dina
The forefront of the one was situate northward over against Micmash
And the other southward over against Gibeah
And Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised
It may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few
And his armor bearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart, turn thee, behold, I am with thee according to thy heart
Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them
If they say thus unto us, Tear until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up unto them
But if they say thus, come up unto us, then we will go up, for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand
And this shall be a sign unto us, and both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines
And the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves
And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, Come up unto us, and we will show you a thing
And Jonathan said unto his armor bearer, Come up after me, for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel
And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet and his armor bearer after him
And they fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer slew after him
And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men within, as it were, an half-acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow
And there was trembling in the host in the field, and among all the people, the garrison and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling
And the watchman of Saul and Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another
Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us, and when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there
The noise was in the host of the Philistines, and it came to pass while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased, and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand
And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle, and behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture
Moreover, the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan
Likewise, all the men of Israel, which had hid themselves in Mount Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle
For the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle passed over unto Beth-Avon. And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had adjured the people, saying,
Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening; that I may be avenged on mine enemies, so none of the people tasted any food; and all they of the land came to a wood, and there was honey upon the ground.
And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.
But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath; wherefore, he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes were enlightened.
He answered one of the people, and said, "Thy father straightly charged the people with an oath, saying, 'Cursed be the man that eateth any food this day,' and the people were faint.
Then said Jonathan, 'My father hath troubled the land; see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.
How much more, if happily the people had eaten freely, to dare the spoil of their enemies, which they found? For they had not been, now, a much greater slaughter among the Philcynes.
And they smote the Philcynes, that day, from Micmash to Ahijalon, and the people were very faint, and the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep and oxen and calves, and slew them on the ground, and the people did eat them with the blood.
Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sent against the Lord, and that they eat with the blood.
And he said, Ye have transgressed, roll a great stone unto me this day. And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say unto them, Bring me hither every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay them here, and eat, and sin not against the Lord, and eating with the blood.
And the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and slew them there. And Saul built an altar unto the Lord; the same was the first altar that he built unto the Lord. And Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and spoil them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatsoever seemeth good unto thee. Then said the priest, Let us draw hither unto God. And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines?
Wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel?
But he answered him not that day. And Saul said, Draw ye near hither and the chief of the people, and know and see wherein this sin hath been this day.
For as the Lord liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people that answered him.
Then said he unto all Israel, Be ye on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side.
And the people said unto Saul, Do what seemeth good unto thee. Therefore Saul said unto the Lord God of Israel, Give a perfect lot.
And Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped. And Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son, and Jonathan was taken.
Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what thou hast done. And Jonathan told him, And said, I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in mine hand, and lo, I must die.
And Saul answered, God do so, and more also, for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan.
And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel?
God forbid, as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he hath wrought with God this day.
So the people rescued Jonathan that he died not, and Saul went up from following the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.
So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon,
and against Edom, and against the kings of Zoha, and against the Philistines, and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them.
And he gathered, and host, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them.
Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishuay, and Melchishuah, and the names of his two daughters were these.
The name of the firstborn, Mirab, and the name of the younger, Micol, and the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimeaz.
And the name of the captain of the host was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's uncle.
And Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner, the father of Abner, was the son of Abial.
And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul, and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him.
Amen, alright, well, last week we got through a good chunk of this chapter. We got to verse 23, and this evening we'll be finishing it out.
And if you remember, last week we talked about how God gave Israel a really miraculous victory in battle, to the point where they were literally disarmed.
Yet God caused the Philistines to basically smite each other as a curse, and God gave Israel the victory.
And now, the latter part of this chapter is going to refocus in on Saul, because we were first talking about Jonathan.
Now it's going to kind of go back into Saul, and it's going to stay like that throughout this chapter and the next, where the Bible is kind of highlighting the downfall of King Saul.
But let's start reading in verse number 23 to remind ourselves, it says, "So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle passed over unto Beth-Avon."
Now that verse is really important in light of what we're going to read next, because what we're going to read next seems like a weird thing to do in light of a victory.
Look what it says in verse 24. It says, "And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had adjured the people, saying, 'Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies.' So none of the people tasted any food."
Now, I'll just be completely upfront that the second half of this chapter is a little bit confusing at times, because when we go through this story, the Bible doesn't necessarily tell us exactly who's right and exactly who's wrong.
So we kind of have to use other scripture to interpret this passage and learn some lessons from it. And go ahead and go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 6.
So I just want you to understand what's happening in the story first. So they get the victory, but then it says that all of the people were really stressed out.
They were distressed. Why? Not because they had lost, they had a great victory.
But because Saul, the king, adjured them, meaning commanded them, that they were not allowed to eat anything.
And the reason why, Saul says, is so that he may be avenged on his enemies.
Now, I don't know exactly, I don't understand fully his motive in that because he already just had a huge victory.
So it kind of seems like God already just did avenge you of your enemies a little bit.
Why are you now punishing your men by not allowing them to eat?
But maybe he's just trying to go all in saying, hey, I just want to completely wipe these people out.
And maybe if I just tell my soldiers, hey, you can't have any food.
You know, maybe it'll motivate them to want to work really hard and win so that they can eat some food.
I'm not really sure what's going through Saul's mind in this, but I do know this.
Saul is in charge.
Saul is the leader and Saul makes the rules for his armies.
And, you know, there's nothing in the Bible that says that this is a sin.
So technically it is permitted, it is lawful for what Saul commanded the people.
But look at 1 Corinthians chapter number 6 verse 12.
The Bible says this, "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient."
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
The Bible is explaining to us that there's plenty of things in this life that are technically not sinful.
That are technically not breaking God's commandments, it's not a sin, it's not a line in the sand.
Yet, it's not expedient. Now, let me define that word expedient.
I found this, the dictionary says, "Tending to promote some proposed or desired object.
Fit or suitable for the purpose, proper under the circumstances."
So, Paul is saying, "Hey, there are some things that are lawful, that are not sinful,
but are not necessarily proper for my goals or the goals of whatever."
And so, here, what is expedient in this situation?
Is it really to make your soldiers weak physically,
not allowed to get the sustenance that they need to go out and fight a battle?
That doesn't really seem to be expedient.
Yet, Saul did make this decision.
Go to Ephesians chapter number five, Ephesians chapter number five.
And here's the thing, and this is just my opinion, my opinion is that,
okay, Saul, you're the boss, you're in charge, you can make this decision
where it's going to be hurting your men making this decision,
but technically they have to obey, you're in charge,
and maybe for a while your people will obey you and follow you
just because you're in charge, but eventually when a leader
continues to make decisions that are harmful for his own people,
the followers lose respect for that person, and that leader loses credibility.
And just because, because there's some leaders in this room,
we've got husbands, we've got fathers, we've got men that lead in ministry,
but here's what you've got to understand is that just because you have the authority to do something
does not necessarily mean that it's the expedient choice to make.
Sometimes as a leader you can say, alright, I want all of you to stop eating,
we're going to go to battle, no food allowed, okay, technically you're not sinning,
but you know what, if you continue making decisions like that,
you're not really going to have a lot of followers.
Okay, look at Ephesians chapter number 5 verse 21.
The Bible says, "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
Now, the old IFB likes to take this verse and say,
"See, you know, sometimes the husband obeys the wife,
and sometimes the wife obeys the husband, and then we just submit to each other."
That's not what this verse is saying.
The Bible is teaching that God has put authority in this world,
and you as a man, you go to work, you're submitting to a boss.
Us, we're submitting to the government.
to the pastor wife is submitting to her husband children are submitting to their parents we are
submitting to each other because god has different spheres of authority in this world but now he's
going to get specific verse 22 the bible says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as unto the lord so okay we know that the husband's in charge verse 23 for the husband is the head of
the wife even as christ is the head of the church he is the savior of the body therefore as the
church is subject unto christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything so see
husbands they are the boss they have all authority in the home but verse 25 says husbands love your
wives even as christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious
church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish
so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies he that loveth his wife loveth himself
for no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth it and cherisheth it even as the lord
the church so the bible explains husbands are in charge husbands have authority wives are to submit
to their husbands then the bible gives an admonition to husbands to love your wife and the
bible gives us an example of how we're to love our wives we're to love our wives in the same way as
christ loved the church now does christ have all authority over the church yes he does does he get
to make the rules does he get to tell us what to do yes he does but here's the thing about the
leadership of the lord jesus christ though he has all authority all power every decision he makes
and everything that he did in his life was to benefit his followers and that is what a godly
leader does a godly leader uses their influence uses their authority to help those around them
not to just i have a title for the sake of having a title and so i'm just going to make some stupid
rule that benefits nothing and you got to be careful as a leader that you're not just hey just
i'm putting on my leader hat my authority hat i'm in charge so i'm just going to do whatever i want
you have to actually consider the consequences of the decisions that you're making on the people
that follow you why would you take your loyal soldiers that are literally willing to die for
you and tell them no you're not even allowed to eat food because i want to be avenged of my
adversaries again sal's just always making these really quick decisions he's constantly making
selfish decisions and he's not thinking about leading for the betterment of other people god
has already given him a big victory right they already defeated the philistines god miraculously
is working for them causing the philistines to destroy themselves you know this would have been
a good time to celebrate a little bit to let your soldiers rest and relax a little bit to let them
enjoy a good meal instead of just pedal to the metal at all times and just dragging these people
through hell if you will you know it's not a good idea go to second corinthians 13 second
corinthians 13 but you know this is how it should be at the workplace if you're a boss you know every
decision you make should be for the betterment of the customer the company your employees not
necessarily what is most expedient for you or that just tickles your fancy in some way you ought to
actually be thinking about your followers second corinthians 13 10 says this therefore i write
these things being absent lest being present i should use sharpness according to the power which
the lord hath given me to edification and not to destruction so paul saying look i don't want to
have to come here and use sharpness god's given me the power to use it and really the power that
god has given me the authority that god has given the apostle paul the influence that god gave the
apostle paul he said was for what for edification and not for destruction so your default as a leader
in any capacity your default should be thinking how can i edify the people that i'm influencing
how can i help how can i raise up how can i build people's lives not just try to make things as hard
as possible on them just for the sake of being hard on them and you know let's talk let's talk
about marriage again for a second you know husbands technically you have all authority
to absolutely micromanage every single thing your wife does you could make her a checklist
that this is what you're doing at 901 am this is what you're doing at 903 am look but i'm just
telling you that's probably not a good idea in fact i would say 99 percent of cases your wife
probably doesn't need that and it's just probably a terrible idea okay yes you could absolutely tell
her okay no this is where the knives are going to go on the counter or you just be like hey just cook
the meals and figure it out i don't care how you set up the kitchen i don't care how you set up the
furniture i don't care what color you have for our bedspread i don't care about the curtains
have at it you be the queen and you build this house and you decorate this house however the
heck you want i don't care you know and i'm not just going to be like we are going to have military
green drapes and military green bedspread and military green cups because this is a man's house
we're gonna make this place look masculine and by the way no food until i'm avenged of my adversaries
starve like this is ridiculous right but why is Saul doing this it doesn't make any sense to me
that's why i said this chapter is just kind of a little bit hard to understand because while the
bible doesn't specifically say that what he's doing is wrong and don't hear me wrong what he's doing
is not sinful but it's not expedient i don't think i don't believe it's a wise leadership style at all
go to matthew chapter number 10 matthew chapter number 10 now our philosophy is the exact opposite
of Saul's philosophy if we're going out to war we're going to eat some food hey if we're going
out to have a soul winning marathon we will eat food there's there's none of this oh you know i'm
so spiritual i'm just gonna go soul winning for six hours and not take a break you know what why
don't you just have some fellowship take an hour break at least and hang out with god's people and
eat some good food it'll be good for you the souls will still be there to save when we get done with
lunch you don't have to prove to everyone how tough and spiritual you are no it's good to enjoy life
enjoy serving god enjoy god's people enjoy good food you know it's not just a grind it's not just
war with no food okay look at what jesus said matthew said matthew 10 verse 7 he says and as
you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the
dead cast out devils freely you have received freely give so he's saying i'm going to put you
guys to work verse 9 provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses nor script for
your journey neither two coats neither shoes nor yet staves notice what jesus said for the workman
is worthy of his meat what is jesus saying he's saying look i want you to be provided for when
you go out and work for me and whether that means coats whether that means shoes whatever type of
carnal needs you have he's saying that god's going to provide that stuff for you god wants you to have
that stuff the workman is worthy of his meat and here in oklahoma we take that word meat literally
we enjoy steak and beef and good meat and for me personally as long as we're not living in some
hyperinflation communist hellhole i personally have a rule that every dinner has to have meat
okay i'm not saying that i would never eat a vegetarian meal but until we're living in that
communist state i want meat every meal why because the workman is worthy of his meat and i'm going to
eat that meat and i'm not going to just live this life where it's like just suffering and pain and
no one's allowed to eat any food all you have to do is work all day no food that's just ridiculous
it's not how god wants us to live go back to first samuel chapter 14 first samuel chapter 14 and look
when we go on mission strips we eat don't we brother perry go to the bahamas whoo good food
and i hope you guys will join us on a mission strip someday because not only is it just a great
spiritual experience not only will you see tons of people save and your life will be changed by
going to a mission strip let me tell you but you also will have a ton of fun carnally speaking
and guess what there's nothing wrong with that people want to act like this hyper spiritual life
you can't have any fun as a christian no god wants us to have some fun he just wants us to work hard
too verse 25 it says and they in all day of the land came to a wood and there was honey upon the
ground and when the people were coming to the wood behold the honey dropped but no man put his hand
to his mouth for the people feared the oath now my first admonition was kind of to leaders saying
look you don't need to make these decisions that aren't expedient for your followers you
should be considered of them you should be leading for their benefit but now let me address those of
you who are a follower and likely everyone in here is a follower of someone here's the thing the
people here actually did the right thing whether you agree with Saul's decision or not he is the
one in charge he's the one with the authority and these people made the godly decision to fear the
oath that Saul gave them and I just think that people need to learn this truth is that in life
you just need to get used to dealing with difficult people and not allow dealing with a
difficult person to cause you to just lose your mind to cause you to start to complain to cause
you to start to be rebellious to allow someone just because they're difficult now cause you to
sin on top of that you know rather you should just say hey whatever this person's in charge
this person has to account to god or this person has to account to their boss or whatever
and i'm just going to obey what the authority says because it's the right thing to do and we
live in a nation that glorifies rebellion partly because of our past when we rebelled against the
british but here's the thing look rebellion is not a good thing rebellion is a sin and even if
you disagree with the leader's decision with the rule even if it's a weird rule even if it's over
the top it is still your duty to obey go to first peter chapter number two first peter chapter number
two you see obedience is not doing what your leader wants when you also want to do it that is called
being friends that is called being a companion that is called having the same idea obedience
is when you disagree when you dislike your leader's decision when you say hey i don't see it that way
hey i think this is kind of a little bit over the top and you still obey with a good attitude
obedience is not well i'll do what you say but i'll give you dirty looks for the rest of the month or
whatever i'll do what you say but i'll murmur and complain and and backstab and rail and gossip
but i'll obey that's not obedience no obedience is these people just said hey they feared the oath
i'm sure they didn't like it i'm sure that honey looks really good there's nothing wrong with honey
honey's not sinful why can't they just eat the honey but their leader said no and they feared
the oath they did the right thing first peter 2 verse 13 says submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the lord's sake whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them
that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do
well you know the bible teaches that when the government is not telling us to sin we must obey
them and look that could be kind of hard to do sometimes because couldn't i give you a list that
could fill this room with things that we disagree with the government on doesn't the government do
things all the time that are unwise not expedient decisions things that we would look at and say i
disagree this is not a good idea yet does the bible tell us to obey or not look at what it lists
there it says the king as supreme in our land we could look at that as being kind of like the
president then it says or under governors right we got state governors then it says as unto them that
are sent by him right this could be like cops today and it says what are they for the punishment
of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well verse 15 for so is the will of god that with
well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men why does the bible say that by
obeying the government we're putting to silence the ignorance of foolish men well because during
jesus's day you had a bunch of foolish people accusing jesus falsely of trying to overthrow the
government not paying taxes being a troublemaker and so there's a lot of people that want to throw
that accusation against christians and by obeying the government and the things that we can we're
putting to silence the ignorance of those foolish people verse number uh 16 it says as free and not
using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of god honor all men love the
brotherhood fear god honor the king servants be subject to your masters with all fear not only
to the good and gentle but also to the foward so notice the bible doesn't say hey just obey your
leader when he's nice when he deals kindly with you when he makes good decisions when he's really
smart when he makes lots of money when he's succeeding no the bible just says obey no matter
what even if they're foward even if they are just antagonistic even if they yell and scream at you
even if they don't like you at times in regards to your boss or something like that even if they're
making bad decisions even if they tell you you're not allowed to eat food until we've destroyed all
the enemy even then the bible says to submit to obey why verse 19 for this is thank worthy if a
man for conscience toward god endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when you be
buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it you take
it patiently this is acceptable with god and here's the thing if you actually are in the right in a
situation where your leader is wrong but you obey anyways you know what you're doing is you're
getting favor with god god is looking down from heaven and he's saying look at this guy at work
who is being yelled at by his boss for something he didn't do who is just being treated poorly his
boss is making bad decisions you know what and look at him taking it patiently looking at him
still calling his boss sir look at him still obey the commands that his boss says then god's favor
will actually be on your life conversely you could be in the right but you start being rebellious
against your boss you start back talking to him you start disrespecting him whereas god could have
looked down from heaven and seen hey this person's in the right i'm going to bless them now you're
both wrong now you went from god's potential to bless you to now god looking down from heaven
saying well you know what you're just going to get buffeted for your faults now because now
you're the one in sin by being disobedient to authority and so look just get this idea in your
head you're going to deal with difficult people all your life i hope it's not the person you're
married to but listen ladies if it is deal with that difficult guy till the day you die obey him
until the day you die look you're going to deal with people at work that are just difficult
and unreasonable and foward just deal with it and have the mentality that you're obeying
because of god you're thinking of jesus christ you're thinking of the bible and you're going to be a
good testimony and a good worker for god's sake not necessarily for this foward man same thing for
the government it's not that we just love the government it's not like we just love these
politicians but when it's something that we could obey biblically if they're not telling us to sin
you know we need to do that and be a good citizen be a model citizen for the testimony of god go
back to first samuel 14 first samuel chapter 14 so the people they saw the honey they didn't eat it
they obeyed their leader verse 27 but jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with
the oath wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb
and put his hand to his mouth and his eyes were enlightened so of course jonathan didn't hear his
dad come up with this rule so he does what all these people would have normally done without
this rule he sees the honey he goes to it and he starts eating it and the bible says that when he
did this his eyes were enlightened now i don't know if anyone else experiences this but do you
ever work out super hard or run super super hard and you start to literally get a little bit blurry
vision can you raise your hand to be all right am i not crazy all right i was about to say do i need
to see a doctor or something okay a few other people have experienced that if you work out really
really hard especially if you have not had the right nutrition sometimes when you're done with
a workout you could literally have a little bit blurry vision and it could take a while to get
back to normal and in high school i dealt with this big time when i was a teenager for some reason
i would get super dizzy after like every workout has gotten better as an adult but here jonathan i
mean he probably just got done with a serious workout he's climbing up the rocks right he's
slaying all these people and he's faint he's tired he sees the honey he wants to eat it he eats it and
his eyes were enlightened okay and to me this made me immediately think about reading the bible
go to psalm chapter 19 psalm chapter 19 think about it he's out working hard he's fighting the
battles of the lord he's destroying the enemy he's doing what's right and then what does he do he goes
to the honey to get rejuvenated and to have his eyes enlightened look at psalm 19 verse 7 the bible
says the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the lord is sure making wise
the simple the statutes of the lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the lord
is pure notice enlightening the eyes what is one of the effects of reading the bible is that your
eyes would be enlightened and of course this isn't saying physically like when you have glory vision
you could see but spiritually when we go through this world even those of us that are saved we have
the flesh and our flesh comes with fleshly ideas fleshly thoughts sinful thoughts and what we need
is to go to the perfect law of the lord that could convert the soul that could enlighten the eyes and
sometimes i mean doesn't this happen to you guys you're reading the bible and there's all of a
sudden something clicks for you the light bulb comes on god illuminates something for you you
can see clearly right that's what the word of god does for you beyond that notice what it says in
verse 9 the fear of the lord is clean enduring forever the judgments of the lord are true and
righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold yay then much fine gold sweeter also
than honey and the honeycomb isn't that an interesting story how jonathan his his vision's
blurry he's tired but what does he get he gets the honey from the honeycomb and his eyes are
enlightened you know we need to remind ourselves that when we're going through life we're living
the christian life we're fighting the good fight of faith look there's gonna be times where you're
gonna be weary or you're gonna be tired and the harder you work the more you do for god you know
the more likely that you're gonna feel like that from time to time the apostle paul talked about
how he labored more abundantly than they all you know there had to have been times in the apostle
paul's life where he probably could have just fallen asleep standing up right i mean sometimes
you feel like that but you know what you need is you need to go to the honey you need to take your
rod and dip that honey and put it to your mouth and your eyes will be enlightened you'll be
rejuvenated it'll give you strength and sustenance to go forward in life and that's why it's so weird
that Saul prevented his people from doing this because look at the effect it had on Jonathan it
had a positive effect on him right you know why would Saul have wanted to keep that from his people
it makes no sense whatsoever go to if you would first Samuel 14 verse number 28 then it says
then answered one of the people and said thy father straightly charged the people with an oath saying
cursed be the man that eateth any food this day and the people were faint by the way this proves
that cursing is not saying four letter words right Saul is promising some sort of evil to be done
unto them if they eat you know Saul's not saying don't you bleep and eat any bleep and honey you
bleep and bleepers that's not what what Saul is doing okay but you hear this in a lot of Baptist
churches that every time the Bible says curse that means you're cussing you know when Peter denied
Christ he started cussing up a storm no he didn't he was saying things like I swear to God I don't
know him let me be accursed if I actually know Jesus Christ he's saying stuff like that when he's
swearing and cursing okay so Saul's not up here dropping an f-bomb fast over here he's just saying
like hey bad stuff is coming your way if you're going to eat any food that's what it means to be
cursed verse 29 says then said jonathan my father hath troubled the land see i pray you how mine eyes
have been enlightened because i tasted a little of this honey how much more if happily the people
had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found or have there not been
now a much greater slaughter among the philistines now here's the thing logically speaking i agree
with jonathan here he makes sense but we know that this is not an appropriate way to talk about your
leader to talk about someone that is your authority that's in charge so even though maybe jonathan was
right in his facts he's still wrong for how he handled it and how you treat your authority
matters to god it does go to ephesians chapter number six ephesians chapter number six you know
hey i get it i get it jonathan makes sense yeah your eyes are enlightened yeah the people are
tired they've been fighting they deserve this but what right do you have to start blowing your mouth
off against not only your king but your father it's like doubly disrespectful jonathan being his son
to go around saying oh my father's troubled the land hey that's not an appropriate thing to say
about your dad look at what the bible says ephesians six verse one children obey your parents and the
lord for this is right then it says honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment
with promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayst live long on the earth and in one
context we know that the word honor in the bible often denotes taking care of someone financially
that is absolutely valid but it also can apply meaning respect the bible teaches that children
are to respect their fathers and their mothers you know children should not be mocking their
parents children should not be back talking their parents and by the way if your parents are wrong
about something children that doesn't give you an excuse to rub it in their face to blast it to
other people even if your parents sin even if your parents make a bad decision you know it's not okay
for you to get up and just start blasting them start crap talking them that is wrong because the
bible says to honor your father and mother so jonathan here not only should he honor the king
like we saw in another scripture of this sermon the bible also says to honor your father and mother
so he's messing up in two areas here look you can be right in your facts but still be wrong in the
eyes of god and you know i would just rather i would just rather suffer wrong be done wrong
in my eyes but god looked down from heaven and say hey i'm still pleased with him though i'm still
on dylan's side rather than well my authority was wrong and i made sure that they knew it and i made
sure that i told everyone about it and i made sure i made a big deal about it in front of everyone
god's not going to be on my side if i do that you know that is not humility that is not being
obedient go back to first samuel 14 first samuel chapter 14 and you know this this is a skill in
life as well is learning how to respectfully disagree with authority without blasting them
without talking crap about them without saying my boss has troubled the company this day
don't go to your co-workers and never say that that's a bad idea you know my husband has you
know troubled our household this day don't say that oh my parents they've really troubled us
don't say that it's disrespectful verse 31 and they smote the philistines that day from mcmash
to Eijalon and the people were very faint. Hey, they obeyed. They did what he said. They didn't
eat. But notice the negative effect that it had on his people. And again, we got to be thinking
about as leaders, hey, what is going to be the ramifications on the people that I'm leading with
the decisions that I make? That's something we all have to think about. Verse 32 says, and the people
flew upon the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slew them on the ground. And the people
did eat them with the blood. So think about this. Saul with hood from them, withheld from them
something good, honey. Saul did not allow them just to eat normal food. So they're going out
and they're fighting a second battle basically, completely starved and they get kind of barbaric
here. And now they start eating with the blood, which is a sin. And so Paul, Saul's over the top
standards, over the top leadership style. He actually drove his people from, they would have
just eaten normal food and probably been good to now they're kind of just like losing their minds
from hunger and they go from nothing all the way to eating the blood. This is kind of like children
that grow up in the household of false prophets where the Mormons will just have these insane
rules that are not in the Bible. You know, like thou shalt not drink caffeine. I knew a lot of
Mormons growing up, they were not allowed to drink caffeine and I would make fun of them for it all
the time. And we one time had two Mormon missionaries come to our church at Sure Foundation
Baptist Church in their uniform and Pastor Thomas said like, "Yeah, you can come as long as you just
sit down, be quiet and don't try to teach anyone anything." And I said, "Hey, can I get you guys
some coffee?" You know, I knew, I knew. But here's the thing, a lot of times these kids, they grow up
in just like this over-the-top strict environment. Not rules from the Bible. Look, I'm for strict
rules according to God's rules, right? But they just go over, over the top. And you know what you
often see those Mormon teenagers do the second they get out of their parents' house? Like, I'm not
talking it's an anomaly, I'm talking like 99 out of 100 Mormon kids, they just completely go off the
deep end into fornication, into getting tattoos, into drinking alcohol, into doing drugs. I mean,
they all, it seems like, go down this dark road. And it makes me wonder, is it because they were
just living under these weird oppressive rules their whole life and they just like have to,
you know, go try stuff, which kids don't go try stuff. It's not worth it. You know,
and I hope parents do have rules according to the Bible and it's okay to have rules beyond that too,
but I would just caution you though. I would caution you not to go too extreme with that kind
of stuff because you see what happened here. All of a sudden they went from nothing all the way to
eating with the blood. Stay there. Leviticus seven 27 says whatsoever soul it be that eateth
any manner of blood. Even that soul shall be cut off from his people. That's a big deal. You know,
God's saying you're off. You're out of the congregation. You're out of the nation. You're
gonna be cut off from the people of God. If you eat the blood, Saul's entire army just did that.
You know, verse 33 says, then they told Saul saying, behold, the people sin against the Lord
and that they eat with the blood. And he said, ye have transgressed. Roll a great stone unto me
this day. And Saul said, disperse yourselves among the people and say unto them, bring me hither every
man his ox and every man his sheep and slay them here and eat and sin not against the Lord and
eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox with him that night and slew them
there. So now he kind of sees like, okay, look, look what happened here. Hey, stop. You don't need
to sin and eating with the blood. Bring your ox into me. We'll kill them. You can eat it. We'll do
this the right way. But you know, he should have thought about this before he made his rash decision
of his weird rule. It says verse 35, "And Saul built an altar unto the Lord. The same was the first
altar that he built unto the Lord. And Saul said, 'Let us go down after the Philistines by night
and spoil them until the morning light. And let us not leave a man of them.' And they said, 'Do
whatsoever seemeth good unto thee.'" So look, they still have a good attitude, still following their
leader, even though he had a weird rule. "Then said the priest, 'Let us draw near hither to God.'"
Which, of course, that's always a good idea to involve God before you go to battle, before you
do anything major in your life. It's good to draw near to the Lord. Make sure before you make some
big decision in your life that you're right with God, that you're walking with Him, that you're
close with Him, so that you can make a good decision. Verse 37 says, "And Saul asked counsel of God,
'Shall I go down after the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel?' But he
answered him not that day." Go to Psalm 66. So we see Saul, he wants to go in, he wants to finish
these people off, he wants to leave not a man of them, the Bible says, but he says, "Hey, let's go
to God." They go to God, but when Saul asks the Lord, should he do this, should he pursue them,
the Bible says God is quiet. God did not answer him, and I think there's a specific reason for
this. Psalm 66 verse 18, the Bible says this, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not
hear me." Remember a few chapters ago, Saul was confronted by Samuel for doing the sacrifices when
it wasn't his authority to do so, right? He was presumptuous, he took authority that wasn't his,
that was the priest's job only, not the king, and when he was corrected on it, you never see him take
ownership, you never see him just simply apologize, you never see him praying to God asking for
forgiveness, it's just kind of like the Bible just says like he got confronted on it and then the story
just keeps moving, and I would assume that Saul just never dealt with this issue with God, he never
got right with the Lord, he never apologized to God, it just seems like this happened and he kind
of left it un-dealt with. Here's the problem with leaving sin in your life un-dealt with is that when
you regard iniquity in your heart, the Bible says the Lord will not hear you. And so here's Saul
wanting to go to a big battle, even maybe having his heart in the right place, wanting to do the
Lord's work to destroy the enemies of God, yet God is not listening to him, God is not hearing his
prayer, is not answering his prayer, because he has regarded iniquity in his heart. And you know
that's a serious reminder, we just talked about prayer on Sunday and you know I hope you realize
what a blessing prayer is, and how powerful it is in our life, and how would you like God to just
never hear your prayers? For God to just not be listening to you, to not have his ear hearken unto
you, well just continue to regard iniquity in your heart, and that's exactly what's going to happen.
Go to verse 38 of first Samuel 14, first Samuel 14 verse 38, and Saul said, "Draw ye near hither
all the chief of the people, and know and see wherein this sin hath been this day. For as the
Lord liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there
was not a man among all the people that answered him." Now here I think that Saul is being a giant
hypocrite because here he is in his life. He had a serious big sin by being presumptuous
and doing the sacrifice, and he never dealt with it. He never dealt with it. He never apologized.
He never thanked Samuel for correcting him. Nothing. We see no response from him. But now
someone else has sinned. Someone else has eaten when they were told not to, and he's ready to
literally kill them. He's not thinking about the fact that he has a beam in his eye. Someone ate
honey, and he's saying, "Even if it's my son, Jonathan, you know what? He needs to die." He's
ready to kill someone for a rule that's not even in the Bible, for his own standard. This makes me
think of the Pharisees that Jesus dealt with. Go to Matthew chapter number 23. Matthew chapter number
23. And again, we're reading this story with hindsight. We're seeing the big picture. Obviously,
we're, you know, looking at Saul's mistakes. And I'm not saying, you know, when you're under a leader,
that you should be, you know, criticizing them like this. But we're just talking about this because
God even shows us bad leadership so that we can learn from in the future. Matthew 23 verse 1 says
this, "Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, 'The scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses's seat, all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye
after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be born,
and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their little
fingers." You know what hypocrites like to do is they like to lay heavy burdens on other people.
They like to lay heavy burdens on their followers that they themselves do not follow. This is every
false religion in the world, okay? This is your Catholic church that tells the clergy
that they have to be celibate, that they can get married and enjoy that relationship.
Meanwhile, all the higher-ups in the Catholic church are constantly getting busted for what?
These type of sexual sins all the time. What are they doing? They're laying heavy burdens on people,
but they are not touching them with one of their little fingers.
You've got a bunch of Catholic priests today that are literal pedophiles, right?
But they're telling their parishioners, "Make sure you fast at this time and at this time and for
this holiday. Make sure you put the cross ash on your forehead. Make sure that you're abstaining
from something that you like on whatever stupid Catholic holiday." I can't remember what it's
called right now. Does anyone know? Yeah, exactly. When I went to school, there's all these Catholics,
and when they had to fast, it's not even that they fasted from food, they like just fasted from
something they liked, like video games, you know? But it's just ridiculous because the Catholic
Church is just laying all these burdens on people, but the people running the Catholic Church aren't
living godly lives. The people running the Catholic Church are way more wicked than all of their
followers. A lot of Catholics are just genuine, sincere people that are just lost, that just need
the honey to enlighten their eyes a little bit, but the people running the Catholic Church are all
satan-filled reprobates. Some of the worst people on this earth are Catholic priests,
popes, cardinals. These people are wicked as hell, and just like the Pharisees, they want to lay all
these heavy burdens on people, but they won't touch them with one of their little finger. I mean,
not the Torah, the Talmud is so long, most people who have even studied the Talmud have never read
the whole thing. It's just nothing but the Jews laying grievous burdens on people that they
themselves don't follow. I've told this story. You know how I know this? Because one time I was on
an airplane with a rabbi and it was near Christmas. And so I was already a little perturbed that a Jew
was near me on Christmas when he hates Jesus Christ. Okay. Just saying, this is just how I felt. Okay.
And I'm just thinking like, what does a Jewish rabbi do on an airplane? So I'm just kind of
watching him. He's like right in front of me and I could see his phone and you know what the Jewish
rabbi is doing on the airplane. He's on an adult website watching adult content in public with other
people around him. Why? Because he's a hypocrite. That's why. Because he wants to walk around acting
like he's some godly person. Oh, I'm a rabbi. I, you know, I follow the Bible. I follow these
standards. You don't lift them with one little finger because let me tell you something. Someone
that would do that in public, someone that has so little shame that they would do that in public.
Can you even imagine what they do in private? I wouldn't want to imagine it. But what I'm telling
you is that these people that go over the top, laying heavy burdens on people, "Oh, you can't
turn on a light switch on the Sabbath." Yeah, it's the same guy doing that on the airplane. And I
confronted him after the flight. I said, "Hey, Rabbi, are you a man of God?" He's like, "Yeah."
I was like, "Well, why were you doing this?" And he's just like, he just darted into the bathroom
at the airport because I busted him. False prophet who's going to split hell wide open.
Go to first Samuel 14 verse 39. While you're turning there, Matthew 15, eight says, "This
people drawth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far
from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." And you
know, Saul, he is saved, but he's kind of got a Pharisee spirit going on here where he's got this
giant beam in his eye. He's sinned greatly against God. He never dealt with it. He never apologized,
but he's ready to literally kill someone else that sinned, someone else that made a mistake.
Don't you think the right response for Saul would be to look at himself and say, "You know what? I
messed up pretty greatly recently. Maybe we could just let this go and just eat some dang honey.
Just eat, army. Enjoy." But no, he wants to be a Pharisee about it. Verse 39, "For as the Lord
liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die." But there
was not a man among all the people that answered him. Everyone's quiet when he says this, and they
know. "Then said he unto all Israel, 'Be ye on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the
other side.' And the people said unto Saul, 'Do what seemeth good unto thee.' Therefore Saul said unto
the Lord God of Israel, 'Give a perfect lot.' And Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped.
And Saul said, 'Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son.' And Jonathan was taken." So now Saul's put
himself in a really bad situation here, because Saul has made an oath to God that he is going to
kill whoever it is that ate some food. Even if it was Jonathan his son, well guess what Saul,
it is your son. So now Saul has put himself in a no-win situation. You say, what should Saul do in
this situation? Because we know it is a sin to break your oath, but you know what also is a sin?
Murder! Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5, Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Saul can do nothing that would not be
a sin in this situation. Whatever decision he makes, it is bad. Look at Ecclesiastes 5 verse 4.
"When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools.
Pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest
vow and not pay." You know, the Bible demands that when you make a vow to God, you must follow
through with that vow. It makes me think of the story with Jephthah where he's saying like, "Hey,
whatever comes through the door, I'm going to sacrifice it to God." And then what happens is
his daughter comes through that door, right? And so it teaches us we have to be super very, very
careful when it comes to making vows like this because God expects us to fulfill our vows. And
it is a serious big deal when we break our vows. You could stay there or you go back to 1 Samuel
14. I'll read for you Numbers 32. The Bible says, "If a man vow a vow unto the Lord or swear an oath
to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that
proceedeth out of his mouth." So over and over again in the Bible, the book of Psalms teaches
the same thing. You know, God expects us to keep our vows. But Saul, he keeps doing this. He keeps
being a very hasty person, someone that just flippantly makes decisions. You know, he just
does the sacrifice when it's not time. He just makes a vow, "Oh, whoever this is, even if it's
Jonathan, I'm going to kill him." Then it becomes Jonathan. You know, it's a bad trait in a leader
when they're just so hasty to make decisions, when they're so indecisive in the decisions that they
make, or they're constantly just having egg on their face. They're constantly having to backtrack
the things that they do. They're constantly just like posting stuff, deleting it, posting stuff,
and deleting it. It's like, "What is wrong with you? There's something seriously wrong with you."
It's like, "No, it's Jonathan, my son. I'm going to kill this guy." Oh crap, delete. It's just like,
"Dude, what is wrong with you?" Verse 43, "Then Saul said to Jonathan, 'Tell me what thou has done.'
And Jonathan told him and said, 'I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in
mine hand, and lo, I must die.' And Saul answered, 'God do so and more also, for thou shalt surely die,
Jonathan.'" So Saul's trying to save face. He's trying to be like, "Yeah, I'm a leader. I'm tough.
I made a decision. I'm gonna stick with it. I'm gonna kill my own son." Either way, whatever he
does, it's gonna be a sin. It's gonna be terrible. And no matter what he does, he's gonna lose
credibility as a leader because when you suck as a leader, let me just explain something to you,
you lose credibility. When you suck at making decisions, when you suck at following the
commandments of God, when you just constantly are backtracking, when you're not decisive,
you are going to lose credibility. Because guess what? If he performs his oath, people would be
like, you just killed your son. What's wrong with you? You just murdered your son. Or if he doesn't,
then it's, well, Saul's not a man of his word. He says things that he doesn't mean. He's a paper
tiger. He doesn't actually have any rules. He doesn't actually have any authority. And so this
is why we have to be careful with our mouth. This is why we have to be careful with the decisions
that we make because you can get into a situation like Saul where it's a no-win situation. But look
at verse 45. It says, and the people said unto Saul, shall Jonathan die? Who hath wrought this
great salvation in Israel? God forbid, as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall
to the ground, for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan that he died
not. You know, all throughout this story, we've seen the army being super loyal to Saul,
being obedient, not eating the food, not talking bad about him. He says, go fight the enemy. They
do it. They obey everything that he says. But there comes to a point where they're like, hey,
don't kill your own son. And here's the thing. You should follow your pastor, but you shouldn't
follow your pastor off a cliff. When your pastor is going off a cliff, you might need to say
something. When it gets to the point, it's like, yeah, yeah, I'm just thinking about killing my
own son. Uh, no, this is a bad idea. You know, there can get to a point where the pastor is
sinning so egregiously or just leading in such a terrible direction that, you know what, the
people can't really stand behind that anymore. And I'm all for people being loyal. I preach this all
the time, but you know what? When you're under a king, Saul, there could be a point where that
ceases to be the case. What verse were we on here? Verse number 46, then Saul went up from
following the Philistines and the Philistines went to their own place. So Saul stopped fighting verse
47. So Saul took the kingdom over Israel and then this is kind of just summing up his kingdom
in general and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab and against the children
of Ammon, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah and against the Philistines and withers whoever he
turned himself, he vexed them and he gathered in host and smote the Amalekites and delivered Israel
out of the hands of them that spoiled them. Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan and Yeshua and Melkishua.
The names of his two daughters were these, the name of the firstborn Merab and the name of the
younger Micol and the name of Saul's wife was a Hinoam, the daughter of a Chimaz and the name of
the captain of his host was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's uncle, and Kish was the father of Saul
and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel and there was sore war against the Philistines all
the days of Saul and when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man took him unto him. Like I'd said
at the beginning of this chapter, you know some of this story can be a little bit difficult to
understand but I think that when you come to stories like this you find clear statements
elsewhere in the Bible to help you interpret the story. You know don't ever just come out with your
doctrine based on a story or on a parable. You always want to come away with your doctrine from
clear statements in the Bible. But in conclusion tonight, you know ask ask yourself this question.
If you're a leader in this room, ask yourself you know am I using my authority? Am I using my
influence to actually bless the people around me? To help the people around me? To lift up the people
around me? Am I making the decisions that's best for them? Or am I trying to do what's just expedient
for myself? Because that's one of the reasons why we see the downfall of Saul. And you know if you're
a follower ask yourself how well do I obey my authority? How well do I respect my authority even
when I disagree? Obviously you're not going to go off the cliff with them but you know what we should
still obey authority. Let's pray. Lord thank you for this day. Thank you for this chapter. Just pray
that you would continue to bless the remainder of this study through verse Samuel and bless those
traveling this weekend. Pastor Shelley and Pastor Thompson I just pray that we would have a great
weekend of serving you and of having fun together. Lord we love you and thank you for all that you
do for us in Jesus name we pray amen. Go ahead and sing one last song to conclude the service.
You would take a hymnal and turn to hymn number 374. Send the light number 374. 374 will
We'll start there right on the first.