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Man, the title of my sermon tonight is Sheba, the Son of Bikrai. Sheba, the Son of Bikrai, or you could title it Adam Fanon, the Son of Bikrai. But for those who understand what's been going on over the last week and a half, you'll understand all the parallels that I make in the sermon. But if you're here tonight and you're not familiar with what's going on and you're not up to date on the situation, why I was gone for the last week and a half, and what I had to deal with in Fort Worth, it's okay because the principles that I'm going to preach about tonight from this Bible story are applicable in any situation. You know, that's the great thing about the Bible is that the Bible is filled with timeless truths, and there is truly nothing new under the sun. Every situation that we find ourselves in, it has parallels in the Bible, and the Bible has a lot of commandments and clear statements and teachings that guide us in our lives, but it also has a lot of stories that we can look to, and they give us insight about our lives. And so even if you don't know what I'm talking about tonight, you're still going to be able to glean the biblical truths that I show you from this passage. I'm not going to sit here and try to tell you the whole story tonight, so if you're up to date, great. If not, well, try to learn what you can, amen? So I felt like I was living a Bible story last week, and out of all the Bible stories that I felt like I was living, this is the one that I just kept going back to, because this would seem to be the one that was the most applicable. Let's go back to chapter 19, verse 41. The Bible says in 2 Samuel 19, 41, And behold, all the men of Israel came to the king and said unto the king, Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen thee away, and have brought the king and his household, and all David's men with him, over Jordan? And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, because the king is near of kin to us. Wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? Have we eaten at all of the king's cost, or hath he given us any gift? Now let me just bring you up to speed in the story. There had been a rebellion in David's kingdom where Absalom had rebelled, and David had to actually flee. He had to cross over the Jordan, he had to flee his palace, he had to leave everything behind, and Absalom took over the kingdom and reigned instead of his father. But of course, now they've had that civil war where David and his men came back in, and they fought their way back in, Absalom's dead. And so now that Absalom's dead, there are all these people who rebelled with Absalom, and what are they going to do? You know, are they going to put David back where he belongs? David is the God-anointed ruler of the kingdom of Israel. He was the right man, Absalom was a wicked man. So at the end of the situation, David is going to return and become king again, but the men of Israel are upset because the tribe of Judah, they installed David, or brought David back, without consulting with them first, okay? So everybody knows that the right thing is for David to be put back as king of Israel. Everybody understands this is God's man, this is God's anointed, and we were wrong to have followed Absalom, and so that wasn't the issue. The issue is that the men of Israel are saying, well, why did you guys do it without us? Why did you, the tribe, you ever read this stuff and just think how silly this is, how they bicker over these things? It reminds me of in the book of Judges, where they say, why did you defeat the enemy without inviting us? It's like, well, who cares, the enemy got defeated. So what? We wanted to be included or whatever. So this is another one of those petty type things here, okay? And the men of Judah are basically saying, look, so what? It's not like the king has given us a bunch of gifts or we're eating a bunch of meals on his dime or something like that. I mean, we're just bringing the king back and it makes sense for us to do it because we're near of kin to him. I mean, he's of the tribe of Judah, we're of the tribe of Judah. Jerusalem's right here, it makes sense that we would go and bring our king and put him in his place. Verse 43 says, and the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, we have 10 parts in the king and we have also more right to David than ye. Why did he then despise us that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king and the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel? Look at chapter 20 verse 1, and there happened to be there a man of Belial, isn't it interesting how there always just happens to be that man of Belial around when you need him to screw things up? I mean, just when you think, we've gotten through this horrific civil war, we got through all this garbage with Absalom, David's coming back, everything's great, then all of a sudden the men of Israel just have to just create this conflict of, well, yeah, but why didn't you ask us? It's just like, oh, man, what in the world? And then there just happens to be a man of Belial that sounds a trumpet whose name was Sheba, the son of Bikrai, a Benjamite, and he blew a trumpet and said, we have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, oh Israel. Notice he's not providing an alternative. He doesn't say, well, here's this other king that we should have. He's just basically saying, we don't want David then. If you're not going to get our advice, we don't want him. To your tents, oh Israel, everybody just go to your tent. We're waiting for a better option, is basically what we see here. Now, let's back up and analyze some of this, okay? And let's apply this to the situation that just happened with Steadfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, and then the Steadfast Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Basically what happened is, the pastor in Fort Worth has to step down because he was involved in sin and he's disqualified himself. He cannot be the pastor anymore. So he has to step down, right? And so they need a new pastor. Now, some people's attitude was, well, what's the hurry? I'll tell you why. Because whenever there's a void in leadership, bad people step in. Certain sons of Belial are waiting in the wings to jump in and screw things up and mess things up. But a church without a pastor, that's not a good situation. Everything rises and falls on leadership. You need to have a leader. Look, I found out about this before anybody else, okay? Because of the fact that Mrs. Romero came to me with this and, you know, I talked to Donnie Romero and I confronted him with this and I'm the one who basically talked to him and told him, you've got to step down. And so I was involved from the beginning, whether I wanted to be or not, I was involved. Number one, because they came to me with this, okay? Number two, because of the fact that, you know, Pastor Romero came out of our church, okay? So that puts me in a position where I'm involved, okay? So what ended up, you know, I don't have time to tell the whole story, but anyway, I end up going out there and stepping in because he stepped down on Wednesday night. I basically stepped in and took over the leadership for three days while they had no pastor. And I told them, I said, hey, if anybody wants me to go home, I'm ready to pack my bags and go home. I would love nothing more than to pack my bags and go home, but I want to be here to help. You know, you guys need leadership right now. Things were a mess and I was literally working 16 hours a day while I was there from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed. I was go, go, go, go, go, go, go for seven days straight. Why? Because this was a bad situation, okay? Everything was a mess and, you know, I'm trying to help counsel with Mrs. Romero and Donnie Romero. I'm having to deal with, you know, how does the church move forward, getting a new pastor, just putting out fires left and right, and it was a full-time job. I mean, I don't even have time to go into it all. I'll go into it another time, but I did not have any moment's rest except when I went to bed at night, I knew the importance of getting sleep, so I would just put my phone on airplane mode and sleep eight hours every night because, you know, I don't want my body to just collapse. But then as soon as it's morning, turn it on and let's go, okay? Now here's the thing. I pastor a church in Phoenix, Arizona. I've got a wife and 10 kids, and we had to move on Monday, so I had to be back here on Monday no matter what. And I told them, I said, look, no matter what happens, I got to fly home Monday morning. I got to move. I got to be in Phoenix. I got to pastor my church. I got to be there for my family. Hey, I'm willing to step in and help out, but I said, look, I can be here Tuesday, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, but Monday I'm gone. And I said, look, it's best if we can get a new leader installed because when I leave, somebody else is going to have to take over. We need a leader here, okay? Because who's going to do what I'm doing for 16 hours a day when I'm gone? Who's going to be cleaning up all this mess and going to these banks and talking to the financial auditor, talking to the accountant, talking to the lawyer, talking to the, you know, just dealing with all the people and running the church and being a leader, okay? I said, look, when I'm gone, who's going to do this? You guys are going back to work. You guys have jobs to do. You guys have lives to live. Let's get this done. And I presented an option to the church, a godly qualified man that, you know, just was really a godsend. Pastor Jonathan Shelley, an anointed man of God that was, and here's the big thing too. He was willing to do it. Not everybody's willing to step in and take care of something like this. So I presented that to the church and I told them, I said, look, you know, I want to hear your voice. I want to hear your opinion. You know, I'm coming in here as a friend. You want me to leave? I'm gone. No, no, no, no. Please stay. That's what everybody was saying, okay? We need your help. And I told them, I said, look, here's my cell phone number. Everybody take it down. Be sure to lose it after next Monday. No, just kidding. But anyway, you know, I gave my cell phone number to everybody. I told them, this is where I'm going to be eating lunch. This is where I'm going to be eating dinner. Come talk to me. Voice your concerns to me. Call me. Text me. Meet with me. Let's get through this. Then we had a big meeting on Friday night where we basically, you know, just everybody got a chance to talk of just all the men of the church. We explained everything and everybody was unanimously for Pastor Jonathan Shelley without reservation. Everybody was unanimous. Everybody was happy. And look, thank God, by the time I left Fort Worth, man, everything was great. And on Sunday morning in Fort Worth, even in spite of the tragedy of, you know, this man that had basically just desecrated the office of being a pastor by going and committing all these bad sins, you know, even in spite of all that, there was a packed house on Sunday morning, a packed house on Sunday night, great spirit, joy and gladness at saying, look, this is bad, but thank God, here's a, we've got a great pastor, Jonathan Shelley. We're ready to move forward. Everything's fixed. Great spirit. So you say, well, what's the problem? Problem is those darned men of Israel, those other 10 tribes. Judah was great. So Judah is Fort Worth, okay? So the men of Judah, they're Fort Worth. David is Pastor Jonathan Shelley, right? So they're basically saying, okay, let's bring Pastor Jonathan Shelley across the Jordan River and let's, you know, make him our pastor. Everybody's happy. Then all of a sudden these people out in Florida are saying, well, why was our advice not had? And just to give you the background, the church in Fort Worth had planted a church in Florida, so it was like a church plant, so they don't have their own pastor. They're accountable to the sending church and the idea was that it would eventually become an independent Baptist church. Now it's sort of like we planted a church in L.A. and Brother Bruce Mejia runs that church and that church plant is going to, God willing, become an independent Baptist church this summer, this August, and Pastor Bruce Mejia is going to be August and forward. That's the plan, okay? And so right now he's there as a church planter. He's leading it, but he's going to be actually ordained as a bishop and he's actually going to take that responsibility. And then at that point we cut the umbilical cord. It's an independent Baptist church at that point, but it's not independent right now. Let me just explain this word independent, okay? Independent means that you don't depend on someone else. I mean, does everybody understand that? So what's the opposite of independent? Dependent, okay. So if you're relying on money from somewhere else, if you're relying on leadership from somewhere else, if you're relying on anything that you can't exist without that, then you're not independent. You're independent when you're doing your own thing and you're not reliant on someone else. Now if one person helps another, I could help you. I could buy you groceries or buy you clothes. It doesn't mean that you're not independent. I could help you. But if you're naked, you're dependent. And I'm like, I got to get you some clothes, okay? Or if you're starving, you're dependent, okay? So independent is when you're not relying on someone else. Does everybody understand that? So the whole point of having independent Baptist churches is that the churches function on their own. They're not relying on someone else financially. They're not relying on leadership from somewhere else. You know, they have their own pastor, they have their own set up, they make their own decision. That's what it means to be independent, okay? Does everybody understand that? So like the United States became independent with the Declaration of Independence because before that, they were like this country plant, like a church plant. You know what I mean? Basically, they're a colony and their leadership was King George. So that's their leader, okay? So anyway, this is a one-way valve, okay? So basically, the church plant in Florida is under the authority of the sending church until they get their own pastor but not vice versa. They don't rule over the sending church. That would be like the tail wagging the dog. That would be like the LA church telling us what to do or something, right? That wouldn't really make any sense. So that's the situation. So them in Florida became the fly in the ointment of them saying, well, why was our advice then not first had? You know, why did you despise us? Don't we have a say in this? Don't we have a voice in this? And the answer is no because you got a local church in Fort Worth. They've lost their pastor. They need a new pastor. They pick a pastor. We can't consult with people that are thousands of miles away. They're not there. They just frankly weren't a part of it. That's just the way life works, okay? Now what we had originally said was, hey, we got enough to say grace over in Fort Worth here. So what we told them to do out in Florida was we just said, just stay cool. Keep doing what you're doing. We told them, look, you got your deputy there who's running things, Adam Fannin. Let him continue. He was running things last week. Let him run things next week. We don't want to mess with you guys. We got other stuff to do. Just business as usual. Just keep doing what you're doing over there in Florida. We're trying to stop the bleeding here in Fort Worth. We're trying to comfort hurting people here that have just had this devastation in their lives and so we said, you guys are on the back burner and you know what you guys need to do is just be on autopilot. Just keep doing what you're doing and we'll probably get to you in say a month or so. You know, Pastor Jonathan Shelley will probably have time for you in a month or something because you're not the priority because you didn't just have your preacher that you're going to church with every week fall into this horrible sin, you know. So basically, you guys need to just stay strong, stay cool, keep doing what you're doing but they wouldn't do that. They rejected Pastor Jonathan Shelley and not all of them but there was an element over there mainly just the guy who was running it, Adam Fannin and some of his people that just rejected Pastor Jonathan Shelley. They don't want him to be their pastor not because of any scriptural reason but just over dumb things and I'll get into that a little bit later but they don't want him to be their pastor. Now I want you to notice verse 43 at the end there where the Bible says, you know, why did you despise us that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king and the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. I want to point out the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. Now let me ask this. Who was right in this situation? Who was right? Judah. I mean Judah is with the man of God with King David and Israel is with the son of Belial, son of Bichrai. Okay. Judah was right. Notice the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. You know what that tells me is that just because you're soft and nice, that doesn't make you right. And in fact, in this situation, yeah, the words of the men of Fort Worth were fiercer than the words of the men of Florida. Why? Because over in Florida, you got Adam Fannin with his flattering tongue. With the flattering tongue. Now what is a flattering tongue? And listen to me. If you only take one thing out of tonight's message, take this message. Beware of the flattering tongue. It is the number one, two, three red flag that you're dealing with bad people. The flattering tongue. Now what did you say? Well, what does it mean to be a flatterer? Now giving someone a compliment is not flattery. People like to get compliments. There's nothing wrong with saying to somebody, hey, I like your hair today or hey, you know, you preached a good sermon or hey, I really like what you did there with your yard work or you know, your landscaping or hey, I like your new car or hey, you look great today or hey, you did a good job leading the singing. I mean, hey, you play piano well. I mean, those are just compliments. Those are, that's not flattery. What makes it flattery is when it's insincere. You say, well, how do I know whether things are insincere or not? Well, one of the things you would look for is over the top compliments or compliments that you know are not true. You know you're not looking good today and they're telling you that you're looking good, all right? But I'm saying, you know, compliments that are not true, compliments that are over the top. But I'll tell you the biggest thing is when you see somebody who's doing you wrong, harming you, attacking you, criticizing you, talking bad about you behind your back, but then to your face it's like, oh, you are such a great pastor. You're such a great friend or you're such a great person. You're such a godly lady. It's when there's an inconsistency where it's like I got all these compliments over here, but then these are your actions and your actions are not matching with your words. This is flattery. Let's flip over to Proverbs and get some scriptures on flattery. This is very important. Now, why were the words of the men of Judah fiercer than the words of the men of Israel is because the people in Judah are mad. And when you get mad, you're going to say fierce words, okay? But here's what's even worse than having somebody get mad at you and say fierce words to you. The worst thing is when somebody's mad at you and they hate you and they say nice things to you. That's way worse. I mean, if somebody's mad at me, I want them to express anger to me. I don't want somebody to be mad at me and pretending how they love me and how great I am and how they're not mad and they're happy. That's insincere. I mean, look, there's a time for anger, but we don't let the sun go down on our wrath. Be ye angry and sin not. But my friend, when somebody's mad, they ought to act like they're mad. And when somebody's happy, they ought to act happy. And when somebody loves you, they ought to act like they love you, but they ought not goo all over you with all their love and affection, all the while they're hating you and stabbing you in the back. That's the worst possible thing. Insincerity. This is what flattery is. If you would, flip over to Proverbs 26. While you're turning there, I'll read for you Psalm 12 verse 2. They speak vanity, everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. Double heart, flattering lips. You know what the Bible says about deacons? They shouldn't be double tongued. Double tongued. Speaking out of both sides of their mouth instead of just sincerely telling you what's going on, whether it be good or bad or ugly, just tell me the truth. Just let me know what's going on. Let me know where I stand with you. I can't even count how many times I've said to somebody, I'm mad at you. There's nothing wrong with saying I'm angry with you. I'm offended. You've hurt my feelings. I'm sad. Why don't you just express yourself? Instead of pretending to be something you're not, pretending to feel things that you don't feel, that is duplicity. We need never use the flattering tongue. The Bible says in Proverbs 26 verse 28, a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. Look at Proverbs 28 verse 23. Proverbs 28, 23. He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue. It's better if somebody's wrong to rebuke them than to flatter them with your tongue and tell them that they're doing great and everything's fine and they're wonderful. Look at verse 5 of chapter 29. Chapter 29 verse 5. The man that flattereth with his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet. When somebody's flattering you, they're trapping you. It's a trap. They're spreading a net for your feet. People that are simple, they'll fall for this. Let me tell you something. Earlier in life, I did not understand this lesson I'm teaching you tonight. What I'm teaching you tonight is something that I've learned the hard way over the years. When people would say nice things to me, I just assumed they liked me. Imagine that. When people praise me and tell me I'm great, I just thought they really liked me. I'm like, great. But you know what? Now I notice and I watch out for the flattering tongue. And it is the number one way to spot bad people. It's the number one. It's the biggest red flag. That's why the Bible keeps warning about it over and over again. So don't fall for this. And here's the thing. In a conflict, one guy's speaking fiercely and the other guy's just all gooey and nice and you just say, oh, well, I'm going to side with this guy because he's such a nice guy. You know, you're a fool because you know what? You're siding with the flattering tongue is what you're doing. You're siding with somebody who is a flattering devil, okay? A wicked person that's trying to put a net under your feet. Let's apply this to the situation, Adam Fanon. The first video he puts out attacking Pastor Shelley and myself, he names the video. Here's the name of the video. Why I love the new IFB and Steadfast Jacksonville. Why I love the new IFB and Steadfast Jacksonville. In this video, he says, you know, the enemies of the new IFB and people who hate us, they say we're a cult. And they say that we have a pope out in Arizona. That's what our enemies say. That's what people who hate the new IFB say. That's what he said in the video. His video is called Why I Love the New IFB. He says, well, the people who hate us, what do they say? What do the people who hate the new IFB say? What do the enemies say? That we're a cult and that we have a pope named Steven Anderson. The next day, he uploads a video where he says, the new IFB is a cult. And Steven Anderson is the pope, hashtag cult. Now, can somebody explain to me how you can go in one day, why I love? And you know what? When you have to tell everyone, when people have to tell you in the title of the video how much they love you, you know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of a pizza place that I grew up near. And it had a thing on the sign that said, families welcome. And when I saw that pizza place that said, families welcome. My mom told me, I'll bet you that place doesn't have a family atmosphere. Because why do they have to tell you that families are welcome? Because it looks like a bar inside. So they just want to make you know, hey, you can bring your family. It reminds me of the Latter Day Saints, the Mormon church. It says, visitors welcome. Why? Because they know everybody thinks it's a cult, which it is. And so they're like, do I have to get inducted through a strange ceremony? Or am I allowed to just show up? It's like, hey, visitors welcome. You know, that means visitors should probably stay away. And when it says families welcome, that means families should probably stay away. It's probably not a great family atmosphere. There's probably another pizza place that's more family oriented. Amen? Oh, I just love the new IFB so much. I'm not like those people that hate us and say we're a cult. Those people that hate us and say Stephen Harris is the pope. Next day, cult, pope. You know what that's called? Flattery. Oh, but I just respect Adam Fanon so much because he didn't resort to any name calling and he was so kind and loving and gentle. You are a fool. Get some wisdom. Look out for that flattering tongue. He says, oh, I love Pastor Anderson. Who here thinks that Adam Fanon loves me? Anyone? Does anyone think that, but isn't that what he said? What is, that's the flattering tongue. Oh, I just love everybody. Oh, you're so godly. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Folks, it doesn't take a genius to see through these things. I'm telling you, bad people, they don't just wear a sign that says, hello, my name is Judas. They don't just wear a sign on them that says, I hate you and I'm here to rip you off. That's not what they're going to do, friend. They are going to use flattery. They're going to give you gifts. They're going to compliment you all the time. They're just going to be so kind and loving and give you so much grace, grace, grace and more grace. But you know what? The men of Judah, their words were fiercer than the men of Israel and you know what, they were actually the ones that were right because they were actually indignant and they expressed that. The men of Israel were pretending to be something that they're not. I don't think Sheba, the son of Bichrai, just advertised that he was the son of the devil, son of Belial. That's what son of Belial means. Belial is the devil, Beelzebub, Baal, Baal, Belial. But he was, in fact, a son of the devil. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 5, for neither at any time used we flattering words as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness. Let's go back to our little case study of this week with Sheba, the son of Bichrai, aka Adam Fannin. When Pastor Shelley called him up, he told Pastor Shelley, hey, I'm in. When Pastor Shelley called him up and said, hey, I'm going to be the new pastor. This is what's going to happen. This is what's going on. You thought you were going to get ordained in six months. It's actually going to be a couple of years. I don't know you. I'm not going to ordain you in six months because I don't know you. It's going to be a couple of years. And here's what he tells Shelley to his face. He said, or not face, unless it was FaceTime, I don't know, but, you know, he told him on the phone, he said, hey, that's okay. He said, I'm in. And he said, you know what, even if I have to serve under you for 10 years, no problem. Yeah, do I need it? Okay, so then Pastor Shelley says, okay, great. Now that we're on the same program, now that you've told me you're willing to go with the flow, you're willing to, he said, is there anything I can do for you, you know? He said, well, I was supposed to get a raise. First thing out of his mouth, I'm supposed to get a raise. He wants a $10,000 a year raise. That's the first thing out. I mean, he just found out, supposedly, that his pastor has been involved in these wicked sins and that the family is in turmoil. I mean, instead of being worried about the families in Fort Worth, the church, Leslie Romero, the kids, it's just, oh, well, I'm supposed to get ordained in six months. Is that still happening? And he's told no. It's not still happening. Oh, well, I'm supposed to get a raise. Just thinking about himself. I mean, can't we deal with that in a month, two months, three months? What's the hurry? To be worried about yourself. Why? Because this guy is characterized by covetousness. He covets other men's authority. He's not a pastor, but he wants to be a pastor, covetous. He's not willing to serve and be faithful as a lieutenant. He's got to be, you know, I got to get ordained in six months. I got to get that $10,000 raise. What about me? And I kept telling, and I talked to the phone on the guy, and I'm telling him, look, man, just chill. Just continue. Just do what you're, you know, just get under Pastor Shelley. He's a good guy. I'll vouch for him. Just go with it. No, no, it's not going to work. Thinking about himself, constantly bringing up money. We had a meeting in Texas on Friday night where we went over everything about the new pastor and how things are going to work and getting him ordained on Sunday. They had a meeting on Friday out in Florida. He walks in. The first thing he does is hold up his church debit card. He pulls out his church debit card and says, you know, I just want everybody to know that everything I've done on this card has been legit, and I've never used this card for anything that was not a legitimate church expense. I just want everybody to know that I have, you know, and it's kind of like when you walk into your house and the first thing your kid says is, hey, I didn't eat any cookies while you were gone. He's like, who said anything about cookies? And you know what? I believe Adam Fannin that he didn't do anything illegal on his church debit card because it was all done in cash, because the fraud was all done in cash. That's why. Constantly just talking about the money, the money, the money, the books, the books, the books, turns out books don't exist out in Florida, and that's a whole other story. I don't even have time to go into everything, but you see what I mean? It's flattering words, and you know what goes with flattering words is the cloak of covetousness. The cloak of covetousness. Neither at any time use we flattering words nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness. Nor of men sought we glory, the next verse says, neither of you nor yet of others when we might have been burdensome as the apostle of Christ, hey, it's not about glory, it's not about having a title, it's not about being called pastor, it's called service. Hey, the Bible says, he that desireth the office of a bishop desireth a good work. Brother Bruce Mejia is here sitting in the front row. He doesn't have the title of pastor, he does not have that title. But he does that same job as if he were a pastor, you know, in his position, basically being trained, being part of a church plant, he is de facto doing the job that a pastor does. And you know, when he gets ordained in August and gets the title of pastor, that's not going to really represent a dramatic change in his life. He's pretty much going to be doing the same job that he was doing. I mean, obviously, he's going to have a higher level of responsibility because he's not going to be able to lean on us anymore and lean on my leadership or lean on our church for help as much. Obviously, we're still going to be here as a friend. But here's the thing, you know, he's not just in a hurry chomping at the bit like, oh, man, I can't wait till I get that title. Oh, man, I can't wait till I'm pastor. My name in lights, Pastor Bruce Mejia. You know, he can't wait to get the shingle above his office. He can't wait for the business card. Yeah. Pastor Bruce Mejia, call me sometime. You know, it's not like it doesn't matter. You know what? He doesn't care. He doesn't care. If I told him, hey, we're going to push it back a year, he'll just be like, cool. That just gives me more time to just keep doing what I'm doing and learn and everything. Now look, you know, but that's precisely why we're planning on ordained him in August because that's his attitude. That's the right attitude. You know, what matters is, hey, I get to get up and preach. That's a great privilege to get up and preach to God's people and to preach to a crowd of a hundred people. I mean, man, that's a blessing. You know what? That is a huge, huge honor. I don't care if your title is janitor. If your title is sanitation engineer, but you get to get up and preach to God's people and preach to the unsearchable riches of Christ, you know, that's an honor. That's cool. I mean, that's a blessing. Why? Because it's about doing the work, not about having the title. Because he that desireth the office of a bishop desireth the good work. But you know what? People's true colors come out in times of stress, in times of stress. You know, when you're under pressure, that's when we meet the real you, right? So I mean, a lot of people got to meet the real me this week out in Fort Worth. And I got to meet the real win. I got to meet the real them. They got to meet the real me. And you know what? We liked each other. And we got along great. And I'm always going to have a special place in my heart, second only to Faithful Word Baptist Church. I'm always going to have a special place in my heart for Steadfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Because I got closer to them in that one week than I've ever been to any other church outside of this church, okay? Because we went through a battle together. We went through, you know, a very difficult time together. And when you're in the trenches with people like that, man, just the love and the bond, it's just, you know, you, it's just, you'll always have that experience that you shared together. Do you ever think about staying married for a long time, right? Because with your wife, you go through difficulties together and you bond in a way that you don't bond with anyone else. So we got to get back to the passage, though, 2 Samuel, because there's a lot more ground to tread and I'm losing time here. So so far, what have we talked about so far? We've got the men of Judah. They're following God's will. They're putting God's man in God's man's proper position of leadership. The men of a foreign place are whining that their advice wasn't had, even though they still wanted the same guy. Yeah, but I mean, why didn't you ask us, though, okay? Then this bozo stands up, Sheba the son of Bichrai, and he blew a trumpet, verse 1 of chapter 20, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tents, O Israel. What's he saying? Wait for a better option. He didn't say anoint me king. He didn't say anoint anybody king. He just said every man go to his own tent. No leadership. No leader. Hey, that's a bad situation when there's no leader. That's the book of Judges where every man does that which is right in his own eyes. Now let's keep reading the story. Verse 2, so every man of Israel went up from after David and followed Sheba the son of Bichrai, but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem. And David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women as concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood. Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me, the men of Judah, within three days, and be thou here present. So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah, but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. So what's this guy doing? You know, he sends this guy and says, look, we've got to now, now that we've got things straight here at home in Judah, here in Fort Worth, he's saying, now we've got to deal with this Jacksonville situation. You know, we've got to bring that into the fold here. And there's a delay, there's lagging, people wasting time. Let me explain something to you about leadership. When you're a leader, you've got to be decisive, you've got to act, you've got to show strength, and you can't delay. You see, people who are doubtful and double minded, and they delay, and they're indecisive, they're bad leaders. They're bad leaders, folks. A good leader makes decisions, gets things done, and he doesn't just wait for the sake of waiting when there's no reason to wait. This guy's delaying, and that's a negative thing, to delay. Hey, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Go to now you that say today or tomorrow we'll go do this or that. No, if you know to do good and you do it not, it's sin, do it today. If you know the right thing to do, do it today. You don't need to wait until tomorrow. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. This guy delays. And so because he delays, David gets frustrated. Look at verse 6. And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba, the son of Bichrai, do us more harm than did Absalom. He's saying this fanon mess is worse than Romero. It's causing more damage. I mean, Romero sinned, and the church was just devastated, but they got through it. This fanon thing's going to split the church out in Florida. He's saying, you know, this Sheba is going to be worse for us than Absalom. Take thou thy Lord's servants and pursue after him, lest he get him, fence cities, and escape us. They're saying, look, go after this guy, take him out, take him down. And that's what they did. So it says that they went after him. Verse 15, They came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmeaca, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench, and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. So that's basically what we did. We declared war on this son of Belial, Adam Fanon. This Judas Iscariot. He showed his true cause. You say, why do you call him a Judas Iscariot? Isn't he saved? Look at how nice he is. Let me tell you something. First of all, I can explain Pastor Romero's actions. As wicked as they are, you know what, the Bible says, out of the heart of man proceed adulteries, fornication, drunkenness, blasphemies, pride, foolishness. Look, bad things come out of the heart of man, and you know what, if you, even as a saved Christian, feed the flesh, get involved in alcohol, drugs, I mean, look, you can go down a very dark path, and especially if you have a very sinful past, you can revert back to that even after you're saved. And you know what, the flesh is going to crave after these wicked sins. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. So I can understand, even though it's wicked and bizarre, the sins, and especially if you've grown up in a Christian home, it's hard to wrap your mind around how anybody could do these things, but you can see how it happened. But you know what? A person like Adam Fannin, just sabotaging the work of God, kicking the church while they're down, sabotaging a godly man, and making the issue all about him, when a church is grieving in Texas, he's going to make it all about, well, when's my promotion? When do I get my raise? There's only one way to explain that, that he's a wicked person, not letting the crisis go to waste. And let me tell you something, you say, how do you know he's a wicked person? Because of all the junk and false doctrine that he's always preached. Look, I came this close at the Red Hot Preaching Conference to calling him out for that garbage that he preached at the Red Hot Preaching Conference, and I was this close, I walked up to that podium, and my heart was pounding, and I'm like, do I say something? Should I say something? But I'm thinking to myself, this isn't my church, I'm not the pastor, this isn't my conference, it's kind of like that Kermit and the evil Kermit, who knows what I'm talking about? The Kermit meme? It was like the Kermit saying, this isn't your church, you're not the pastor, this isn't your conference, it's not your place, and then the one with the hood is just like, get up and tell everybody what kind of junk they just heard. And I should have listened to the Kermit with the black hood on this time, okay, is what's going on. I'm telling you what, what he preached was so weird, it could only come from the heart of an unsaved person, because unsaved people don't understand the Bible, okay? Adam Fannin got up and preached that whores and sodomites are the same thing, or that whores should be put to death, or that whores are not, that they're reprobates or something, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. You know, we could take a five-year-old out of Sunday school and he'll tell you that the harlots followed Jesus. I have personally won prostitutes to the Lord. I've gone out soul-winning and personally out soul-winning, door-to-door, I have won prostitutes to the Lord, and they told me, how can I be saved? I'm a prostitute. And I said, here's how you can be saved, because the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And I showed them, I said, look, the Bible says in Matthew 21, 32, the publicans and the harlots believed Jesus. And in verse 31, Jesus told the Pharisees, hey, the harlots and the publicans are going into the kingdom of heaven before you. It's a major theme that I think even the most baby Christian understands, that Jesus Christ had prostitutes that got saved and followed him. I mean, even one of the most basic Sunday school stories is the story of Rahab the harlot. I mean, she's in the hall of faith, for crying out loud, that by faith, Rahab the harlot, she hid the spies, she received the messengers with peace, she sent them out another way. The Bible says she was justified. She was saved. She's in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Folks, that was the dumbest sermon. But here's the thing, when somebody doesn't know the Lord, they don't have the Holy Spirit, but they want to impersonate hard preaching, what do they do? They impersonate it, they emulate it, they simulate it, they copy other people, but then here's the thing, every once in a while they're going to do it wrong. And they're going to think like, oh, this is some hard preaching. But it's coming from someone who doesn't understand God's word because they're not saved. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. So I got up and I just preached my sermon because I had to preach after that garbage. And it ruined my whole night. So if I seemed angry in that sermon, that's why. I hear this garbage sermon and my heart's pounding, I get up and I want to rebuke it, but I'm thinking it's not my church, not my place, I'm just going to keep on, I'm just going to preach my sermon and whatever. And then afterward Pastor Jimenez gets up and says, hey, two great sermons tonight because he had his baby, he missed half the sermon from Fanon. You know what I mean? Because he had to take his kids out and everything. He didn't even hear it. He only caught part of it and the part he caught was fine. So then after he says that, I'm like, well, now I really can't say anything. You know, and I mean, now, look folks, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes and you know what? I wish I could go back in a time machine and just say, let me spend the next hour preaching to you why what you just heard was unbiblical garbage. Okay. But I made the wrong decision. You know, I kept my mouth shut and I should have said something because it was so far over the line. It wasn't a minor thing. It was such a false doctrine. I should have got up and said something. But you know what? I can't change the past. Hindsight's 20-20. But you know what? I'm learning for the future. And look, if it would have been in my church, it wouldn't have even been a question. If somebody got up and preached garbage like that behind this pulpit, I'll get up and call it out. So if you ever have an opportunity to preach behind this pulpit, you better watch out and not say any weird, unbiblical garbage because I will call you out. And next time, and hey, if anybody wants to invite me to a conference somewhere, just know, next time I'm calling it out when it gets weird. I'm calling it out. I'm sick of keeping my mouth shut about things like that. So here's what I did. I was like, you know what? I don't want to embarrass anybody. I don't want to fight anybody because sometimes I'm a little too nice. I just marked my calendar three months from now, make a video correcting this. And I wanted to keep it really subtle and gentle. So in November, I put out a whole video. And who saw my video called The Word Sodomite in the King James Bible? And I went through and explained why he was wrong. And I explained it through that video, okay? Because I wanted to set the record straight. I wanted to teach the Word of God. But you know what? That's not the only weird thing that that guy has preached. That guy has been preaching stupid, shock jock, click bait, weird stuff because he's a weirdo, that's why. And you know what? Look, if I'm 90% sure somebody's bad, I still give them the benefit of the towel for the 10% chance. I'm always trying to apologize for people in my mind. I know, my wife's shaking her head at me. Okay, I should have listened to you, honey, I'm sorry. But she told me like, this guy's, she has hated him from day one. And I'm telling her like, look, I can explain. You know, I'm like trying to make, I'm always trying to make excuses for people to my wife, you know? Like, why? Because it's like, I'm trying to give people the benefit of the doubt. And you know what? When you have a good heart, you kind of project that on other people and you think they're good. And you're just like, oh, forgive them, they know not what they do. And you're trying to, but look, you know, we got to just, I got to work on that, okay? I got to work on, I need to get a little meaner. But anyway, but here's the thing, he went ahead and removed all doubt for us this week with his Judas Iscariot, covetous, backstabbing, I mean, look, think about with a flattering tongue that tells Jonathan Shelley, I'm in, I'll serve with you for 10 years, good to go, hangs up the phone and calls Pastor Emanus and says, look, I can't work with Jonathan Shelley, can you help me out? Can you adopt me? Pulls me up and says, hey, what do I do here? I need another option. And I'm like, see what I mean? I didn't know that he told Jonathan Shelley that everything was great. And then he just gets off the phone and starts calling everybody under the sun. He called seven different pastors telling them I can't work with Jonathan Shelley. What do I do? He's bad. He's immature. No, he's not immature. He is a godly leader that has proven himself this week. And you're talking trash about him. You're trash. Let's look at the story here. So let's get back to, so basically where we're at in the story is we besieged Sheba. So you say, why did you attack Adam Fanon so hard? Because he's Sheba. And that's what David does when Sheba tries to take over the 10 tribes. You know what Sheba does? He gets attacked hard by David. And so that's what we did. We went after Adam Fanon, and you know what? Pastor Shelley came out and he hit him hard. He came down on him like a ton of bricks. And let me tell you something. If you only want to listen to one extra sermon online this week, listen to Pastor Shelley's Sunday night sermon. That was a great sermon. If you get a chance to go online, listen to Pastor, you know, if you're driving or something and you want to listen to some preaching, listen to Pastor Shelley's Sunday night sermon and tell me that's not a spirit-filled man of God right there, okay? He preached a great sermon. He came down hard. It was called Be Ye Steadfast. Jonathan Shelley, Sunday night. What's your question? No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, it is. It's on our channel, Sanderson 1611, yep. So because we mirrored it. So yeah, you can find it there. So you know, we came down hard and what's everybody, oh, you guys are so mean. Where's the love? Where's the grace? You know what? It's war. Right? When you rebel against the church, when you're going to split the church, when you're going to just elevate yourself, exalt yourself, the Bible says if you exalt yourself, you're going to be a beast and if you humble yourself, you're going to be exalted. You know, the way up is down. You know how you get to be in a position of authority is by being a great follower. Great followers are great leaders. That's how you get to where you are. You know, it's funny, Brother Bruce Mejia, you know how I met Brother Bruce Mejia? Because we're using him as the good example and it's just a coincidence that he's here tonight because this was planned weeks and weeks ago that he would be here training our guys on some things. But you know how I met Brother Bruce Mejia was that my wife and I were going through a difficult time. My wife had to have surgery out in Southern California and we were just looking for a church to go to on Wednesday night because my wife was in the hospital or she was about to go into the hospital. So we looked for a church and the closest church to Hollywood, California because the hospital was called Hollywood Presbyterian, which sounds like an oxymoron, but anyway, this hospital is called Hollywood Presbyterian and the closest church, we drove 45 minutes on a Wednesday night to go to, what was the name of that town again? Maywood to go to an area called Maywood and we attended church where Brother Bruce Mejia was running the service. He was doing singing, he was preaching the sermon and I walked into that church and Brother Bruce Mejia, he vaguely knew who I was, but he wasn't like a big fan of me. He didn't listen to my preaching or anything. He was just an independent fundamental Baptist who just vaguely knew who I was and I walked in and my wife was there and we sat down and you know what, we really enjoyed that service and that service was a blessing to us in a time when we were grieving, the preaching was good, the music was good, the spirit was good and I was really impressed by the service and I was taking notes. I walked in and I saw the way things were running and Brother Bruce Mejia's service and I thought to myself, you know what, we could learn some things from this and take them back to Faithful Word because this guy is running a good church here. I want to learn from this and what it was, he wasn't the pastor. He was running like a church plant, exactly what he's doing right now is what he was doing for them. They were planting this church. But what I did not know, here's what I did not know, that was his last day preaching. So if we would have come a week later, we would have never met. He would never be doing what he's doing right now. Things would have been totally different. That was literally Bruce Mejia's last time preaching in Maywood, happened to be when I showed up, I saw him do a good job, run the service, preach a good sermon and so forth. Well here's what's interesting, several weeks before or a few weeks before, his pastor, his boss had told him, you're not going to run that church plant anymore. Even though he had invested in it, worked into it, put toil into it and he's just being told, you're being replaced. Because at the time, Brother Bruce was single, there was another guy who was more qualified, he's married, had kids, stop me if I tell the story wrong at any point. There was another guy that was more qualified and so obviously Brother Bruce, he didn't want to hear that. He didn't want to hear, hey, you're being replaced, you're done. But you know what, he knew that that's what the leadership is saying, that's what the pastor is saying, I'm going to be humble and go with it. So Brother Bruce was in the middle of a series on Romans 12 going through spiritual gifts and the pastor told him, you know what, because his attitude was good and he said, hey, whatever I can do to serve, wherever you want me, here am I, send me. He told Brother Mejia, he said, you know what, you can go ahead and finish your series. You know, go ahead and finish out your series. Now here's the thing, if he would have polled a famine, if he would have polled a Sheba the son of Bichrai, you think they would have told him, finish your series? They would have said, get out of here, man, you're fine. And you know what, and then we never would have met and then he wouldn't be doing what he's doing right now where he's influencing hundreds of people, thousands of people, winning a lot of people to the Lord, being used by God, serving God in a great place with great people. I mean, are you happy with where you're at, where life's taking you? He's loving it and you know what, you know how he got here? By being humble. You know how he got here? When somebody said, you need to step down, he said, yes, sir, I'm just here to serve. Put me in, coach, you know, you need me to go to the bench, you need me in the game. Hey, I'm following the leader. And you know what, that's how he got where he's at. Not by being self-willed. And the Bible says the pastor cannot be self-willed. Not self-willed, that's one of the qualifications. We don't talk as much about that qualification, but we'll probably talk more about it in a future, because, you know, he was humble and not self-willed. By exalting yourself, you end up getting abased. You end up getting humbled and even humiliated, okay? The way up is down, according to the Bible. So let's keep going. So we came after him hard, we besieged him, and you better know we besieged him. We backed him into a corner. That's why he admitted defeat. That's why he walked away, because we besieged him. You say, how'd you besiege him? Well, look, we exposed all of his lies, we documented and proved him to be a liar over and over again, we proved him to be the flattering, covetous devil that he was, we proved that he was doing wicked things with the finances and everything else over there, and we proved all these things without a shadow of a doubt, and then he's lying and deceiving and dissembling and he basically hijacked that building over there. So we ended up pulling out the lease of the building and, you know what, the lease didn't have his name on it. The lease was Steadfast Baptist Church, Donnie Romero, so the guys out there, the righteous remnant out there, which is the majority of the church out there, by the way, is not with Fannin, the majority of the church out there, you know what they did? They called the police to evict him and said, here's the lease, here's the, you know, we got a letter from the new pastor, we got a letter from the old pastor, we got the lease in our hand, this guy is squatting in this building, and then all of a sudden he makes a video, hey guys, I'm just going to walk away, guys. Yeah, you better walk away, punk, because the cops are going to come try, you know. But what a phony to act like, oh, you know, it's getting weird, man, it's getting dangerous. Yeah, you better know it's getting dangerous for you, you thief, you liar. Bad boys, bad boys, what you got to do, what you got to do when they come for you. And you know what, let me tell you something. In my position as pastor and just as a human being, hey, I want to root out corruption wherever I see it, I want to expose evil wherever I see it, whatsoever maketh manifest is light, and you know what, this isn't the Roman Catholic Church, we're going to, well, why are you going to be so public about it? It's going to be public, it's going to be public, where's that in the Bible? Them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear. You know what, when a man of God is in a public position of trust and he betrays the people, it has to be open. And you know what, I'm not taking lessons from the Catholic Church, and you say, well, this makes Christianity look bad, well, then you know what, then so be it, the thieves and the liars and the whoremongers, they made Christianity look bad, I'm not trying to make Christianity look good by covering for the evil. You know what, when Nathan the prophet confronted David, he said, you've given great occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. He said to David, you know, because you've committed adultery, you're giving an occasion or an opportunity for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme because the evil that you've done, Nathan didn't say, hey, we better cover this up, otherwise the enemies of the Lord are going to blaspheme. Last time I checked, it's not covered up because it's in the Bible. That means it's been published into every language in the world. So it's, yeah, did David's sin get swept under the rug or did it get published? Look folks, when people are wicked and when they preach heresy, call them out publicly. You know, you say, I'm not comfortable with that. Well, I'd hate for you to be uncomfortable, but we need to shine the light. You know who hates the light? Cockroaches. You shine the light. You know who's so scared? You know who's scared is they think, I'm next. And you know what? If somebody's out there visiting the casino and visiting a prostitute and visiting the bar and they're claiming to be a man of God, if somebody's claiming to be a man of God and they're stealing money from God's people, be very afraid. Be very afraid. You ought to be afraid. You ought to be scared. You ought to be shaking in your boots. And you know what? Pastor Anderson's not going to cover for you. And you know what? I don't care if the old IFB sweeps things under the rug and these guys commit adultery, they just put them in another city, in another town, another state and they just keep shuffling them around and hide it and cover it up. Hey, I won't participate in it. You say, yeah, but it makes us all look bad. Well then you know what? Let's all look bad then. Come on. I'm ready to look bad. I'm ready to look bad. Well, everybody's going to hate you. What? I mean, I don't know what that's like, but I'm willing to go through it. You know? You're making enemies. People aren't going to like you. You're making Christianity look bad. You know what makes Christianity look bad is when people lie about it and sweep it under the rug. Hey, why don't we root out the corruption? And you know what? You'd probably have a lot less of these pastors going out and doing this stuff if they actually would see some examples of getting exposed. You know what I mean? Then the next guy who thinks about giving in to the lust of the flesh and the cravings is going to think, ah, I don't think I'm going to. I don't think it's going to be worth it. I got to hurry up. There's so much to say and so little time. I got to hurry. So yeah, we besieged Fannin, right? We besieged him by exposing the fact that the crook over there, how he's basically taken the offerings and not counting them until he's gone. He takes it home with him and he has no record. We're like, hey, we need the financial records. He's like, what financial records? I don't have any. I don't have any records. That's bizarre folks. Folks, I've been a pastor for 13 years. I started this church when I was 24 years old and you know what, I have the tithe and offering records all the way back to when I started the church 13 years ago and they're all there, witnesses signing off on it and doing it all above board. The Bible says to provide things honest in the sight of God and in the sight of man. So we need to be honest, not just before God, but before man. And what kind of a church takes the offering week after week? And look, Adam Fannin is not some young punk. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think he's older than I am. The guy's like pushing 40 and he's not a dumb person. He's a very intelligent person. No one is that stupid folks. When you're doing shady things, it's because you're stealing. No business would accept that. No IRS man would accept that garbage. Multiple witnesses have confirmed. I'm not going to go on and on and then, oh yeah, and then I called him out on it on YouTube and you know what he does? He files a privacy complaint on my video. I have to take down that video now within the next 48 hours. The video called, you know, audit of the finances in Jacksonville are complete because there's no books to audit. Well, you know, that video has to be taken down in the next 48 hours because it's too privacy. Well, sorry to invade your privacy there with your hundreds of thousands of dollars that's been going through your hands as you skim off the top, devil. Ah, that's too private. You know what? When you're a pastor of a church and offerings are being taken, that's not private, okay? Let me just explain to you how the offering is done at our church. The offering is taken up and it is counted immediately. Not later. It's counted immediately. They take it into that room right there and at least three men go into that room and it's not the same three men every time. They're cycled through. It's not one guy and his two buddies even, right? They go in there, three men, and they count it, all of them count it, all three of them count it, and they write down all the checks, all the cash, and then all three sign their name to it and it goes in an envelope right there. And you know what? Monday morning, that's how much makes it into the bank. Whatever was written down, that's what makes it into the bank. Somebody tried to use whiteout on that book one time, I said, ah. No whiteout. No pencils. If you make a mistake, you strike it through with the line. I mean, this is just, right? We got an accountant sitting right here. How would you like to open the book and see a bunch of erasing and whiteout? That's not good, is it? Like somebody's cooking the books or something. Hey, but this isn't some thing that I made up. Just Google, how do I count the offering in a church? They're all going to tell you the same thing, just Google. How do I count church offering? And it's going to explain to you. Free people. Do it immediately. Do it on site. Everybody signs off. Everybody checks it. Sign off. Checks and balances. It's common sense, folks. Look, even if you work at Taco Bell, they're going to count the cash. It's going to be counted. And you know what? They're going to say, we're missing $20 cash. And they're going to get to the bottom of where that $20 went. Or somebody's busted. Who knows what I'm talking about in the business world? But I'm supposed to believe that a 40-year-old man, or 38 or whatever he is, is so stupid that he thinks, well, and then he's told by Romero, hey, you need to have witnesses here. You need to have two witnesses. And you need to change this, okay? Six months ago, because it was so shady. So he's like, okay, so he brings in two witnesses. And here's how they do it with two witnesses. You're not even going to believe this. And this has been confirmed. I have this in writing from three witnesses that explain this is how the offering was done. They said, okay, we've got to get our witnesses, right? So they took the money, and they're like, okay, witnesses, let's make sure that the money gets in the bag. So three witnesses stood there while they put all this money in a bag without counting it and without writing it down, and then they just put it in the pulpit, and then Adam Fanon takes it home. So witnesses are there. So basically, there's witnesses there to check that the money went into a bag that went home with Fanon. But it wasn't counted. You know, I think you're kind of not understanding the point of the witnesses. They're not there to watch you, everybody, this is me taking all the money and going home with it. Everybody, everybody witnessing this? Folks, you can't make this stuff up. The witnesses are there to count the money and to write it down. Not to just be like, all right, hey, did we verify Fanon got all the money, right? All right, great. Fanon's got the money. And then when Romero came to town, they said Romero took all the money. We know where that went, okay? So anyway, I got to hurry up. Now what about the people who followed Sheba? Did good people follow Sheba? Yeah, Sheba's a man of Belial. Did good people follow him? Yeah, but I'll bet a bunch of rotten people followed him too, right? Now were they all bad? No, let's see what happened in the story. I know I'm preaching long tonight, but look, you've had a break from me for three services in a row. I'm getting you caught up, all right? And plus, Corbin preached pretty short last Wednesday night, so he yielded the balance of his time to me. He said, I yield the balance of my time. So I'm finishing Corbin's time from last Wednesday, okay? Look what the Bible says. They battered the wall. So we're battering Fanon with all the truth and whatever. And there cried a wise woman out of the city, here, here, say I pray you unto Joab, come near hither that I may speak with thee. And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, art thou Joab? And he answered, I'm he. Then she said unto him, hear the words of thine handmaid. She's being humble, right? And he answered, I do hear. Then she spake, saying, they were wont to speak in old times, saying, they shall surely ask counsel at Abel. And so they ended the matter. I mean, like, whatever Abel says, that's end of story. So people recognize this woman as being a very wise woman. So if you ask this woman, it's good advice, okay? So she said, well, I'm one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel, verse 19. So she's saying, I'm not like this Sheba faction. I'm a good person. Thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. She's referring to herself. She's saying, look, I'm a mother in Israel. And I don't think she means a physical mother. I'm saying she's an old lady. She's wise. People look to her for counsel. They look to her as a mother. It's like you're destroying a city with your battering ram, and you're destroying a mother in Israel. Sort of like when Deborah the prophetess said, I was a mother in Israel. Remember that part in Judges chapter 5? Why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? Verse 20. He's like, look, I don't want to fight. I don't want to destroy. I know it seems like I do, but I don't. All I want is peace, but we've got to get rid of the son of Belial. The matter's not so, but a man of Mount Ephraim, the Sheba, the son of Bichrai by name, had lifted up his hand against the king, even against David, deliver him only and I'll depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, this is a very wise woman. Now I can see why they liked her advice, behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. I mean, he just says, just deliver him. Just deliver him. You know, so you'd expect like put him in handcuffs, okay, here he is. She's just like, no, no, no, I get it. I read you. I'm going to just go and I'll just throw his head over. Is that okay if I just throw his head over the wall? Folks, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Oh, where's the love for Fannin? Where's the grace for Fannin? Look, we begged this guy for two or three days. We begged him. Look, stop thinking about yourself. Make peace. Don't do this. Don't do it. And he just wouldn't listen. He's rebellious and stubborn because he's the son of Belial. And it's possible for Christians to be stubborn and rebellious, but he's the stubborn and rebellious Judas. He's not of God. That's why he doesn't understand the word of God. That's why his preaching was toxic. His head will be thrown over the wall and then the woman went out unto all the people in her wisdom and they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichrai and cast it out to Joab and he blew a trumpet and they retired from the city, every man to his tent, and Joab returned to Jerusalem under the king. You say, well, what about all these people that followed Fannin? You know, now that Fannin has walked away, even though yesterday he's like, I'm done, I'm walking away, I'm just going to go join a church and I'm done with this. And then today he released another video. Well, you keep using that word walk away, I don't think it means what you think it means. Because here you are, you're back today and, you know, you're still rebellious and fighting against the ordained pastor of the church, Pastor Jonathan Shelley, the man of God, the David of the story. So you say, what about the people who followed? Well, first of all, there's a wicked element out there at Steadfast Jacksonville. There is a wicked element. There are certain sons of Belial and it's not just Fannin. Because out of the people that are following Fannin right now, which is a minority of the church, look, folks, most of the church, my understanding is that they're back in the saddle, they're back in their building and they had services and, you know what, the church is going to go on. It's fixed. The war is over. But let me say this, what about the people who followed Fannin? You know, Jonathan Shelley rightly judged and said, those people are not welcome back. Now, there's an element amongst that crowd that are sons of Belial. They're the same people who are defending Tyler Baker, the same people who had to be pried away from Baker with a crowbar, some of them. And you know what, some of these people to this day, they reject the doctrine that Jesus has always been the son of God, even right now. And I'll just name one of them, Doug Ropel, denies the eternal sonship of Christ. Even Bozo that was defending Tyler Baker back in the day denies the eternal sonship of Christ. He's just right there with Fannin. Now look, I'm sure that there are some good people who got duped by Fannin and made that video with him condemning Pastor Shelley and following Fannin. You say, how are they going to get back in? What's their pathway home? Throw Sheba's head over the wall. That's how. Throw Sheba's head over the wall. You know, it's funny, you can make a YouTube video supporting Adam Fannin and condemning the rightful Pastor Shelley. Well then, you know what? Why don't you make a video, since you like making videos so much, why don't you make a video condemning Adam Fannin? And until then, they shouldn't be allowed in. Ah, that's so cruel. That's so mean. Well, you know what? Then don't go to war with Pastor Jonathan Shelley. Don't go to war with the man of God. Then don't go to war with God's people. Then don't rebel and be stubborn and follow a covetous, wicked, duplicitous, flattering son of Belial. You know what? There were all kinds of people in the Bible who suffered because they followed Absalom. Or they suffered because they followed Adonijah. Or they suffered because they followed Sheba. Look, people get hurt. That's life. You know what? You think before you just jump on some wicked bandwagon. Don't follow a multitude to do evil. Don't jump on some wicked bandwagon, because you know what? If you do, you might get hurt. And look, you say, well, I don't know which side to be on. They keep your mouth shut. Keep your mouth shut. You say, I don't know all the facts. Then trust your pastor. Why don't you trust your pastor until he's proven to be wrong? Now look, if I'm proven to be wrong, if I'm proven to make a bad decision, then that's one thing. But why don't you give me the benefit of the doubt until that, instead of just jumping on board with our enemies, jumping on board with the rebels, folks, you say Pastor Shelley was too harsh. You know what? Pastor Shelley handled it perfectly. And you know what? When I saw Pastor Shelley putting out that sermon and when I sat in the service when Pastor Shelley was preaching, you know what I was thinking to myself? I was thinking to myself, I wouldn't have handled it this way. This is better than the way I would have handled it. I'm like, this rules. I was thinking like, this is the perfect guy for the job. I mean, you know, here I am. I'm being a friend. I'm giving advice. I'm like, he doesn't need my help. He's got this. You know what I mean? I'm just like, all right, I'm ready to fly home Monday morning. My work here is done. You got this. Say, do you approve of everything that Pastor Shelley has said in those videos? Yes. Every word, every word. You approve of the way he preached on Sunday night? The thing. Yeah. Every word of it. Nailed it. He did better than I would have done. I was impressed. I thought it was great. Now let me just end on a positive note. First of all, I think it's pretty cool how this Bible story is just super relevant. I mean, this story, I felt like I was living this story. It just kept coming into my mind as we were going. Let me say this. I'm not discouraged about the fall of Pastor Romero. I'm not discouraged about Adam Fanon. I mean, that's like the best thing that happened all week. It was like Christmas morning when I found out that he's gone. Once I found out he's for sure getting fired, I was like, great. So sick of that idiot. I never have to sit in a conference like sweating, like what weird crap is he going to say? Am I being a little too blunt with you? Am I being a little too frank? Well, you know what? At least I don't flatter you with my tongue. At least you know that what you see is what you get. And you know what? You don't have to ever come to me and say, hey, Pastor Anderson, tell us how you really feel. So look, you say, oh, man, such a sad week, such a terrible week. But here's the thing. This week was just a diagnosis of a cancer that was already there. We just didn't know about it. Isn't it great that we were diagnosed? There was a stage four cancer, surgery was performed, and we're in full remission. Now look, if you were diagnosed with stage four cancer that you didn't know you had, and the doctor told you, you've had this for years. And then you're looking back and you're like, man, that's why I kind of felt crummy the last few years. Right? Man, I felt crummy, I kept getting sick, I didn't know why, I didn't feel well. And then you're like, now it makes sense why I felt that way. And then you go through a painful surgery, all the cancer's removed, and then it's all buttoned up, you're sealed up, you recover, and then the doctor checks you out and says, you're cancer free. You're healthy now. You know what? I don't think you'd be sad. I think you'd be like, praise the Lord. That's how I feel right now. And I'll be honest with you, on Monday I was sad. Well, Monday I was more angry, a little bit angry. But I didn't lose my temper, though, but I was angry. And if Pastor Romero thinks that I lost my temper, then he doesn't know what it's really like when I lose my temper. Because I was sad on Tuesday, I went through periods of sadness on Wednesday, Thursday, and some of the thoughts I was having were thoughts like, is everybody a phony? And that's not a right thought to have. But it's like when David said, I said in my haste, all men are liars. That's kind of how it felt. So I was sad, I was angry, I was upset different times. But by about Friday, I started seeing how, you know what, this is going to be okay. This is going to be okay. God's going to work this out. This is actually a good thing. We're being purged of things that shouldn't have been there. We're being purged of wickedness. We're being purged of the cancer. This is actually a blessing. This is actually a good thing. Hey, if there was sin all along, thank God it's been exposed and removed. And so by Friday, Friday morning was probably the turning point. Once I knew Fannin was fired Friday morning, I was just like, you know what, this is going to be great. And then I felt good Saturday. Boy, Sunday morning was great, Sunday night was great. And you know what, a guy walked up to me on Sunday night after church and he literally said to me, he said, I think this is the happiest I've ever seen this church since I've been here for two years on Sunday night after the service. Now, how can you say that when they just found out four days ago that their pastor had been involved in all these wicked sins after all this fighting and battling. But you know what, we had such a great spirit on Sunday. I wish you guys all could have just been there to experience the spirit on Sunday morning and the spirit on Sunday night that literally, if you would have walked in there as a first time visitor on Sunday night, you would have never known that something horrible had just happened because you know what, people said, you know, there's been kind of a dark cloud in our church over the last couple of years and we didn't really know why. And it feels like the burden's been lifted and people were happy, they were joyful, and they were excited about their new pastor and everything was great. And it was just like, man, this is great. So look, this is not a story with a sad ending because you know what, our church is doing great. Thankfully, our church wasn't affected by this. But even the church that was affected, they're doing great too. And there's no reason why 2019 can't be the best church that our church has ever seen and the best church that Steadfast Baptist has ever seen. And even I feel great about Steadfast Jacksonville. So what if they lost 20, 30 people? You know what, so what? Our church lost 30 people one time, and then we had the best year we'd ever had. And we're still breaking attendance records. So what? So what if Jacksonville lost 30 people? Oh, but don't you want to bring all those people back? Not really. I mean, if any of them want to beg their way back in, then that's up to them. But if they're all too prideful, then good riddance, bad rubbish. See, how dare you call them trash? Well, you know what, even Paul said he didn't want to be a castaway, and you know what a castaway is? It's not somebody on a desert island, folks. A castaway is somebody who God throws in the trash. Now they're still saved, obviously. You can't lose your salvation. But you know what? God talked about branches that don't abide in him just getting plucked off and thrown in the fire. They're just trash, just the burden, trash, rubbish. Folks, a church split, sometimes it's just God's way of taking out the trash. And you know, I don't like it. It's too mean. Well, you know what? Then don't come back. You say, I don't like you, Pastor Anderson, you're too mean. I'll find you a nice pastor. There are guys in this church, there are pastors in this town that are godly men, soul-winning churches, King James Bible, men of God who love the Lord, who are not like I am. And if you say, I think you're too harsh, I think you're too mean, this church is too radical. Look, come up to me after the service and I won't get mad at you. I'll tell you about a great church 20 minutes from here that I can recommend and say, that's a godly man. And he'll preach a lot nicer than me. Huh? Yeah. If you're looking for something a little softer. And it's a great church. I like it. If I didn't go here, I'd go there. But you know what, there's a time of war and there's a time of peace. And if you can't take the heat, then get out of the kitchen. It's that simple, folks. When you're on the front lines, when you're in the special forces spiritually, you know what, expect it to get hot. Expect there to be action. Expect there to be a fight. And if you can't take the heat, then get out of the kitchen. It's that simple. It's power. It's never worth a prayer. Father, we love you. Thank you for the Bible. Thank you for these relevant stories, Lord, that are as relevant as today's newspaper, Lord. God, thank you for our church. Thank you that we have such wonderful people, Lord, and we have such a great spirit. And Lord, just I pray that 2019 would be the best year. I'm still optimistic. And I pray that you'd bless these churches that are hurting, especially Steadfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth and Steadfast Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Lord. Bless them both. The real Steadfast in Jacksonville, Lord. And Lord, if there's any other corruption out there, if there's any other stealing and sin and wickedness going on, Lord, Lord, expose it all. And Lord, if you want to use me as your instrument to expose it, I'm ready to do it, Lord. Here am I. Here am I. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to have integrity and honesty above all else. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.