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Yeah. you you All right good morning everybody Merry Christmas welcome to Sunday morning service at shield the faith baptist church It's great to see everybody here this morning. I'm sure You're anything like me. It's hard to get out of bed this morning, but it's good to see everybody here nonetheless Let's grab a hymn book, please Should be underneath the chair directly in front of you the red hymn book and Turn me to song of 165 a worship the king 165 a worship the king let's lift up our voices unto the Lord On the first, oh, worship the king, all glorious above, and gratefully sing his wonderful love, our shield and defender, the ancient of days, Pavilion in splendor and girded with praise, tell of his might and sing of his grace, Whose robe is the light, whose canopy's space, his chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form, And dark is the path on the wings of the store, thy bountiful care, one tongue can recite, In breeze in the air, it shines in the light, in streets from the hills it descends to the plain, And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain, frail children of dust and feeble as frail, In me do we trust, nor find me to fail, my mercy's how tender, how firm to the end, Our Maker defendeth, Redeemer and Friend. Amen. Brother Kevin, will you open us with a word of prayer, please? Yeah, I just want to thank you, God, for being able to show up today, God, with me in blessed passage to give you the word, God, for being here today. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, let's turn to song number 369. I know the Bible is true, amen? Amen. There's some things we can count on, amen, some are 369. I know the Bible is true. I know the Bible is sent from God. On the first, I know the Bible was sent from God, Behold, as well as the new, Inspired and holy, the living Word. I know the Bible is true. I know, I know, I know, I know the Bible is true, Divinely inspired the whole way through. I know the Bible is true. I know the story of Christ is true, His virgin, glorious birth, His life, His death, His return to earth. I know, I know, I know, I know the Bible is true, Divinely inspired the whole way through. I know the Bible is true. I know the Bible is holy truth, Peace it gives me within, It binds me, comforts me day by day, Yet gives the victory or sin. I know, I know, I know, I know the Bible is true, Divinely inspired the whole way through. I know the Bible is true. Composed in I with the Spirit, Lord, the message old but still new, His truth is sweeter each time He's told. I know the Bible is true. I know, I know, I know, I know the Bible is true, Divinely inspired the whole way through. I know the Bible is true. Amen. All right, well good morning. Merry Christmas. Hopefully everybody's doing well. I know the roads aren't the prettiest out there. But if you did get a bulletin, just raise your hand and we will get you one. So let's go through these announcements here real quick. Front page of the bulletin, weekly church service times. So we've got Sunday mornings at 10 30. Sunday evenings are at 6 and Wednesdays at 7pm. Underneath there is a list of soul winning times. Soul winning is a time where we go out into the community, we knock on people's doors, we try to find people who are interested in hearing the gospel and being saved. If you're interested in that, the only time down there that is consistent and the location is consistent is Saturdays at 10 30 meeting right here, except for yesterday, of course. The rest of the times, if you see something that you would like to, you know, go to that might fit your schedule, just give me a call first because we have to talk with you and just kind of explain how things go and that nature. 208-391-5323. You can always call or text or email, whatever you prefer. And also we are going to start a soul winning time in Mountain Home here very soon. So I'm looking forward to that. Let's see here, praise report. So looks like we're the same. Haven't heard from Brother Skulk, but that's all right. You get 66 people saved in less than a month. We won't give you a hard time, okay? That's a blessing there. All right, let's see here, back page. So tonight we'll be starting 1 John chapter number three and the next event that we have coming up will be next Friday. It's not a church service, it's just if you have some time and you want a fellowship, you can come here about eight o'clock and we will have games and nachos. So yeah, that's how I bride people and hopefully, well, they got to be out of here by the 31st, but I'm not promising that we'll have it all set up. Depends on how much stuff I have to sell and chop up and all that stuff. So, but that would be nice if they moved out. Anyways, our New Testament Bible reading challenge is going to start on the first, which is next Saturday. And so we've been passing out the sheets with a Bible reading plan and we're doing it different this year. We're doing a two month one and the idea is retention, okay? We want to promote retention and habit. Make sure we want to make sure that everybody's in the habit of reading the Bible on a daily basis. If you did not get one of those sheets, pick them up on the table on your way out. And if you want to read it in a month, you know, that's, that's great. We, we do that all the time. That would be nine chapters a day. So either way you want to do it, just make sure you read it all throughout the year. And birthdays and anniversaries for December. So we already had brother Mike's birthday. So next up will be baby Cruz. He's not a baby, but a little Cruz. And he owes us something. I don't know, a song, a beating, something. And his birthday is tomorrow. So I'll see here. This week's memory verse is Proverbs 22, 15, which says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. We'll talk about that this morning. We are a family integrated church. And so what that means is we don't separate children from their parents for any reason. However, if you need some privacy, there's a daddy baby room right over here to your left. And the mother baby room is right across the way. Just follow that lavender trail and take you right to it. No ties and offerings for December or right below that. Don't forget to turn your phone off or place it on silence. So it's not a distraction. And the very bottom line of your bulletin says, if you don't initiate what needs to be done, you will annihilate what could be done. And we talked about that last Sunday morning. So with that being said, we need a new songbook. All right, no problem. We'll have one more song before we receive the offering. All right, let's grab those handbooks one more time, please, and turn to song number 244. The great old standby, Amazing Grace, 244. Amazing Grace. Two, four, four. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now when I'm found, was blind, but now I see. What grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear to me, how I first believed. How many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already caught. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. Amen. All right, well let's go ahead and pray. Thank you so much, Lord, for allowing us to be able to meet here this morning. Just pray that you bless the service, Lord. Bless your titles and offerings, and we just pray that you would bring us back all safely this evening, Lord, and thank you again for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Turn to 1st King, chapter number 21. Verse 1. And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, heard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house, and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it. Or if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face and would eat no bread. But Jezebel his wife came to him and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money, or else if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise and eat bread, and let thine heart be married. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters saying, Proclaim a fast and set Naboth on high among the people and set two men sons of Belial before him to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king, and then carry him out and stone him that he may die. And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in the city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them, they proclaim a fast and set Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and set before him, and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones that he died. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned and is dead. And when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money. For Naboth is not alive but dead. And it came to pass when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whether he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, and the place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy prosperity, and will cut off from Ahab, him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And now Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dog shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab, in the city the dog shall eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord has cast out before the children of Israel. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and laid in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's days I will bring the evil upon his house. All right. Amen. So we're in First Kings chapter number 21. And before we start, something I did forget to say is I want to thank you guys for the Christmas present. It's a huge blessing to our family, and I really appreciate it. We all do. We love you guys a lot. We're going to continue to work hard and serve. And no matter how many people want to turn out to be devils, we're still going to stay strong and stay the course. So again, I appreciate that greatly. So we're going to continue on this morning with our series that we've been doing. We started this a few weeks ago. I'm not even sure what part this is, part four, something like that. But it's some part. All right. And so the series title is, it's all, we're talking about this subject, all good in the hood, right? And we're talking about improving manhood, womanhood, and childhood. And today it is time to talk about improving childhood. Okay. And so like with all of these sermons, right? Don't just think, Oh, we're talking about manhood today, ladies. I'm just going to take a nap and hang out. No, I've made it applicable to everyone. Okay. Same thing with the womanhood. The guys told you don't tune out because the subject definitely applies to you as well. Well, it's the same thing with childhood. Okay. Don't tune this out. You know, like, Oh, you know, I don't have any kids or whatever. No, this still applies to you. And here's one way. Let's say, you know, that you're, you know, still maybe new in the faith, for example, right? You've been saved. I don't care if you've been saved for 50 years. Okay. But maybe just now you're getting on board and you're starting to read the Bible. You're starting to serve God. Okay. Guess what? You're in an infancy or in a childhood stage, if you will, in your faith. And you still need to understand the things that we're talking about today. And the topic is correction. Okay. Correcting, taking correction. And most importantly, what happens when we don't take correction or what happens if we don't administer correction? Okay. If we don't tell people, Hey, no, you're wrong. You shouldn't do that. You need to stop. So on and so forth. And as you read through the Bible here, I mean, it's clear, God corrects his children all the time. We are supposed to take that correction and humble ourselves. And what did we learn a couple Sundays ago? It's all for our own profit is for our benefit, right? God wants to see us prosper and he wants to see us advance in the kingdom. And the way that you do that is by getting things right with the Lord. And the only way that you can do that, obviously it's through reading the Bible. And so we're going to start off talking about correction and so on and so forth. But the title of the sermon this morning is, are you ministering or are you manipulating? Are you ministering or are you manipulating? And I'm going to break that down. I'm going to show you how I came up with that and how that definitely applies to what we're talking about, but we're in first Kings chapter number 21. We're going to start reading here at verse number five. Now I've talked a lot about Ahab. I've talked a lot about this story over the last year. And again, because it's so applicable, you can read these things so many different ways and just get new, new, uh, information, new insights every single time that you read them. And so we're going to pick this story up. Like I said, in verse number five, this is the story where Ahab has desired to buy a vineyard and this vineyard belongs to a guy named Naboth. And he says, Hey, you know, I don't really want to sell this to you because this is my inheritance, right? This is, this, this isn't about money here, Ahab. Okay. He's like, I want to keep this. You're the King of the nation of Israel. Why don't you use your resources and your money and your time and go build one that's better. Why do you have to have mine, right? Who's ever seen that attitude in someone before, right? You know, why do you want what I have? Why do you want what she has? You know, you've got something better. You know, there's something about when people are content with what they have, it makes other people desire. You ever notice that? And so we're going to be talking about that here, but let's start off reading the story. We're just going to read down to verse number 10, starting at verse number five. So right after Naboth gives Ahab the bad news, look at what Ahab's wife does here in verse number five. This is very important. So, but Jezebel's wife came to him and said unto him, why is thy spirit so sad? That thou eatest no bread, right? So, I mean, she's there, she's a wife, you know, she's trying to be a help me and I suppose, and she's like, why are you so sad? The problem is how she handles the situation after this. Look at verse number six. And he said unto her, because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite and said unto him, give me thy vineyard for money, or else if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. Now let's stop right there. Understand something here. Ahab has already accepted the answer. He's already accepted. He's not getting the vineyard. Okay. So his response is to just pout. Okay. Just to pout and to just lay down. Okay. And you say, why is that important? You'll see here in a minute, look at verse number seven and Jezebel, his wife said unto him, dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise and eat bread and let thine heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Okay. So right now, what you're seeing is probably a position that all of us have been in. Okay. You know, if you haven't, you've definitely seen this. You know, we have little kids and they want something. You tell them no. And they start to pout, you know, or even if you have teachers, you know, you tell them no and they start to pout, you know, your heart pulls for them. It's like, because we don't want to see them in misery. We don't want to see them in any kind of pain or punishment. Okay. It's in that moment, which you decide to do, how strong you are that will determine how that person responds, how that person grows up, how that person carries on. And this totally applies to the church. There are churches all over the place today that see their people, you know, they read, they understand certain concepts of the Bible, certain things we're not supposed to have, certain things we are not supposed to get into as God's children, and they will never touch those subjects. Why? Because it brings a sad countenance to people. People don't like to be told no. What's the result? The result is you have a bunch of people today that don't know anything about the Bible. They're spoiled rotten, if you will, and you go ask them if you're saved and, oh, I'm calling the cops on you. Right? I'm going to call the police or better yet, I'm going to blow your head off. You know, that's not an everyday occurrence, but it does happen on occasion. Okay. So understand what is going on here. Understand the severity. Look at verse eight. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal and sent letters onto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in a letter saying, proclaim a fast and set Naboth on high among the people. Okay. Very interesting here. Now pay attention to this next verse here, because we're going to come back and talk about this tonight. She selects a certain group of people, a certain type of person to handle this wicked business. And you got to ask yourself, why does she select these types of people versus just anybody who might be loyal to her? Why didn't she just have the eunuchs take care of this? Why didn't they just have some just random person do this? Okay. You'll see here in a second, look at verse number 10 and set two men, sons of Belial. Okay. Those are sons of the devil before him to bear witness against him saying that it's blaspheme God and the king, and then carry him out and stone him that he may die. Now put yourself back into these times. Okay. Or just put yourself into this situation here. Okay. I don't care how down on your luck you are. I don't care how poor you are. Okay. There's no way that you wouldn't feel bad for this guy as a normal person. Okay. Knowing, Hey, I am lying. I am about to be responsible for his blood for his death. Okay. And so what Jezebel is doing here is she realizes, you know what? I can't take a chance. I can't take a chance that I send the wrong person, somebody with a conscience to go lie and have someone dead. And they start to feel sorry and they back out and things go wrong. So what does she do? She selects sons of Belial, sons of the devil. And again, you guys already know this, but the important thing here to understand is that these sons of the devil have no conscience. They are reprobate. They do stuff like this all the time. And she knows that because she's like them, right? I mean, she's a devil herself. And so she knows, Hey, when I have a mission that absolutely cannot fail, I'm going to hire the sons of the devil. You know, the United States government does this all the time. People who are very rich and powerful, they do this all the time. They will put sons of Belial into certain positions of power and give them orders and things to carry out because they know that they won't fail. They will do it. They have no conscience. They don't feel bad for shedding innocent blood here. Okay. And so we'll come back and talk about that again later tonight, but we're going to stop right there. Now, what, what should Jezebel's response have been? What, what, what is the role of a wife? Why did God make a woman, right? And help meet. She's supposed to help. Now she's kind of helping at the beginning, right? Like, why are you so sad? So she understands, she gets that he's, you know, he's down in the dumps and she's like, how come you're not eating? Right. So she cares about that stuff. But what you need to understand is that she's an enabler, right? Because he's already, he's already accepted. No, he's just pouting, right? He's already just pouting. He'll get over it with time. Okay. He didn't come up with this. She did. Okay. And so that's why I titled this sermon, are you ministering or are you manipulating? Okay. Because what happens is when we try to force openness, when we try to force correction on other people that will not listen, that have forsaken counsel or whatever it is, you are stepping into the territory of witchcraft. And I'm going to come back and I'm going to show you that here in a moment. Now turn to first Kings chapter, I'm sorry, second Kings chapter number nine, second Kings chapter number nine. So again, the title of the sermon, are you ministering or manipulating? Okay. This is very important for us to understand in regards to childhood, because we don't want to manipulate people into doing things that they just don't want to do. It's sad. It hurts. We get a little bit Ahab syndrome, right? But you know what? We don't want to go over to the Jezebel side and say, well, you know, if I lie or if I just kind of manipulate and trick them to come into church or, you know, trick them into doing this, you know, everything will be good. They'll see how great. No, it doesn't. It never works. That behavior does not work. All that did was shed innocent blood. It upset God and just brought down more punishment on them. And I'm gonna show you how big of a deal this is. Now, when I was in high school, Jessica, my wife took a childcare class and in that childcare class, their duties were to take care of little children. Now the way, and this was what, 90, 98, 97, somewhere around there. And in this childcare class, they would teach these teens, like my wife, and they would say, okay, here's what you do when you take care of these kids. There are certain words that you cannot say, okay? Don't, stop, can't, no, get up, come here, now, all those types of things. You cannot say anything like that to those kids. I had to write this stuff down because I was going to forget, because this is just a foreign concept to me, right? When the kids were out of line when they're young, they're like, stop, knock it off, or else, this is what's gonna happen, okay? Everybody knows that. But here's some examples what they would say. So if a child is throwing a toy, instead of saying, hey, stop that, don't do that, I'm telling your parents, I'm gonna write you up, or there's consequences, if you will, for your actions, what they say, you need to respond like this. It's better to keep the toys on the floor, right? There's a kid who used to sit right there, who grew up in that environment, and now he's a devil, okay? You see a child hitting someone, okay? Here's what you're supposed to say. You know, it's better to treat our friends nicely, right? Okay, here's another one. I know you like to play when it's time to learn, but it's better right now to sit on the carpet and look towards the teacher, right? Okay, here's why I'm bringing this up. You know, because they were teaching these kids, okay, no correction of any form, you could not correct them at all, okay? No timeouts, no discipline, no harsh tone of voice. Well, what do you think the result is gonna be? How are you going to get these kids to do anything? You have to resort to manipulation, and that's what all of that is. I mean, they completely bypass correction, bypassed reproof, right? Bypassed admonishment, threw all of that out the window, and I mean, they jumped the gun completely and just went straight to manipulation, because that's what this is. This is manipulation, and so these kids grow up, and they get jobs, they hold positions of power, and the next thing that you know, they cannot receive correction. They watch a YouTube video, and they figure, oh, I'm gonna come into church. This looks like a pretty good church, outreaching the people. They come in here and can't function with anyone. They cannot listen to correction. They cannot go and teach anyone anything, because they themselves, the only thing that they know is how to manipulate other people, right? And look, if you're like me, which most everybody in here is, you can probably relate, right? I mean, we've all had people that we've cared about, that we've loved, and we want to correct them. We have tried, and they just reject it. They just don't want to hear it. What do you do with those types of people? How do you handle that? Well, I'm going to show you that this morning, okay? Very, very important to understand. Now, you're there in 2 Kings 9. Look at verse 21. This is after Ahab, Jehoshaphat, King of Judah. They're already dead. They've already passed on. But if you remember, what was important about those two is that they like to pal around together. So, Ahab was a wicked king, you know, did sins that were beyond, you know, anything that his predecessors had done. And Jehoshaphat, who was the King of Judah, thought it good. You know what? I'm going to be ecumenical, you know, to each his own. I'm going to go and hang out, because he's Israel. We'll hang out together. We'll go ahead and conquer. We'll try to get this nation some balance here, or these two nations, if you will, some balance here. Well, God raises up a man named Jehu, who doesn't play games, who isn't about that soft soap type correction, okay? He don't play games, and he's going to go forth, and he's going to conquer and start setting some people straight, okay? You weren't going to go up to Jehu and say, hey, don't say that to them, because guess what? You'd get something in return that would be very painful. So look at verse 21, 2 Kings, chapter 9, verse 21. So now you have Joram, who is the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, and you have Ahaziah, who is king in Judah. And of course, just like their parents, they're palling around together. They're hanging out together. And let's pick it up here in verse 21. So, and Joram, who's the northern kingdom, he's the kingdom of Israel's king, it says, and Joram said, make ready, and his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu and met him in the portion of Naboth, the Jezreelite. Kind of funny how things that go around come back around. So what you just read there is basically the response. So they heard that Jehu was coming, okay? And Jehu had a reputation, and when he was coming with the fury, you knew something was about to happen, some kind of a battle, some kind of a war, some kind of a problem, and they knew they weren't going to be able to defeat this guy because I think that they believed and understood that he had the hand of God on him. But the guy was just zealous. I mean, he was just absolutely, he was like a bull in a china shop, okay? He had his issues, you know, definitely had his problems, but he was the kind of guy that would just go into a china shop, you know, give me five plates. He'd just tear the whole place up trying to get you those five plates. That's kind of how this guy was, okay? And so these two kings now, they're paranoid, they're upset, but look at verse 22, it says, and it came to pass when Joram saw Jehu that he said, is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, what peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel, and don't miss this, and her witchcrafts are so many. Now look at verse 23, and Joram turned his hands and fled and said to Ahaziah, there is treachery, oh Ahaziah. Now, isn't that interesting there? A couple things. First thing I want to point out here, right, this is really going to give you an idea of who Jehu was. So let me just kind of put this into today's terms. What he says there about the middle of that verse, verse 22, what peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many. Jehu was the kind of guy that could call your mom a whore and you'd run away, okay? He calls your mom a whore and you're out, right? He's like, well, I'm done, okay? That's how serious this guy was, okay? Because that's literally what he's doing. He's calling his mom a witch and a whore, okay? And he's like, I'm out of here, okay? You ain't going to stick around and fight. Why? Because Jehu had that reputation. He meant business and he is here to administer some serious correction to the nation of Israel and also to the nation of Judah because we're not going to take the time to read it, but what winds up happening is Jehu shoots both of them with a bow and arrow. They both wind up dying, so he winds up killing both of those kings. Now you can leave your place there and go to Proverbs chapter number 22. Now I had you focus on that phrase, her witchcrafts are so many. Why is that important, okay? Because, you know, we're kind of brought up in society to think of a witch as just, you know, having the black hat, the pointy hat, you know, the broomstick and, you know, the cauldron with a soup or whatever, the bone broth, whatever they put in there, okay? But real witchcraft is more than broomsticks and magic tricks, okay? Real witchcraft at the heart of it, and you're going to see in a little while as rebellion, but also manipulation, okay? Her witchcrafts. Well, what would be an example of Jezebel's witchcrafts? What she did in regards to Naboth, okay? Why do you think that God orchestrated this battle to meet here at the portion of Naboth, the Jezreelite, right? And what does Jehu say? Hey, your mom's witchcrafts are many. There is no peace, okay? And what does she do in that situation? She completely manipulated the outcome, right? She completely enabled to steal a man's life and to steal all of his property. So you say, what's the big deal? Well, the big deal is we need to make sure that we be careful and realize, you know what? Sometimes there are some people that we just can't help. You know, you say, well, what do you do about that? We'll get into that, okay? We'll get into that. There's still a way to help them, but I want to make sure that we understand there's no way that we can manipulate or trick people into doing correction, okay? Sometimes with our children, sometimes with kids, sometimes with new believers even out stolen, you know, we'll have to just, okay, okay, go ahead and try that. Go ahead and try that. Didn't work out too well, did it? No, okay? Sometimes we have to go down that road, but you know what? Going down that road and allowing them to stumble a little bit, allowing them to fall a little bit is better than trying to manipulate the outcome. Because when you try to force somebody to do something, guess what? You're really crossing over into that witchcraft direction, and we got to be careful of that, okay? So you're in Proverbs chapter number 22, and we're going to look here at verse number 15, but before we do, I want to give you the bottom line today, which is this. When people fail to take correction, you need to go the other direction, okay? So what do I mean by that? Well, we're going to talk about that here as I preach the rest of the sermon. So Proverbs 22, look at verse number 15. The Bible says this, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him, okay? Understand what this is saying. Every child has foolishness, has silliness bound in their hearts. And you know what? You see this a lot of times with new believers too, okay? Because they don't know. It's not like you get saved and you just know everything, okay? You have the unction, you have the anointing, you have the ability to understand the Bible now that you're saved, okay? But you still need to read it. You still need to be taught. And this is a giant book of correction, okay? Because we as human beings, we need a lot of correction. But especially our children, we need to make sure that we are fostering an environment of correction, okay? Now don't read this incorrectly, right? There are more forms of correction than the rod, okay? Now obviously the Bible says, hey, you know, we need to use the rod, right? We need to apply the rod. They're not going to die because you use the rod, you know? Spankings are good. There's a time and a place. Where I think sometimes we might go wrong is when we spank them for every infraction, right? Because then they just toughen up to it. I know this kid and I think I've told the story before, you know, his dad was doing this to him and, you know, administering punishment. And he got to a certain age, about five, six years old, where he'd spank him for something, you know, even at church and, you know, which is fine. You got to do that correction right away. But he just looked at his dad and he just goes, ow. And he looks at me, he's like, what am I going to do with this kid? You see, don't even faze him, you know? And I just started laughing. Yeah, because you've been, you know, everything he does, that's his form of correction. You know, sometimes you just need to sternly talk to them, you know, like, hey, stop, you know, do the opposite of what Jessica was taught in that childcare class. Because guess what? Those people are now adults, you know? Those people are the ones that we're battling out here with. Think about this. Why do people get so offended? We just knocked on your door because we care about where you go when you die. You know, and a lot of times we're offended before we even get to that point. It's like, hey, I just want to invite you to church. I'll kill you. This sucks. And it's like, how did they get that way? I'll tell you how they got that way. By being raised in an environment where there was no correction being administered. Okay. No correction, no direction. That's the first point that I want to make. No correction, no direction. And you seen that with people who have come into this church that just constantly refuse correction, constantly refuse correction. I don't care what you say. I know everything. I know better, right? They may not exactly say it in that way, but that's what they mean. You know, you take someone to the side, hey, you know, I really want to help you out with your soul winning presentation. You know, there's a couple of things you got to work on. Oh, I don't need that. Or I can't read. Can't read? Why did you ask me about starting a soul winning time then? If you can't read, you know, maybe we need to sit down and tutor you on how to read, you know, and then in a couple of years, well, I won't be here in a couple of years because I'm going to move to the middle of the woods. The apocalypse is coming. I got to get out of here. I think this whole city is going to be ran by females by, you know, in the next 10 years, I got to go. It's a little late for that, pal. And if you're confused with what I'm talking about, come see me after the service. But I am mad. But anyways, foolishness is bound in the heart of the child. It is our job. It is our commandment to drive that far from them. Okay? Far from them. Don't be that person. Don't be that parent. Don't be that edifier. Don't be that disciple that rejects this. And then later on down the road, you're coming to me like, hey, got all these problems, got all these issues. It's like, you've been coming to the church for five years. I mean, we haven't been five years yet, but you know, you get what I'm saying, you know? And it's like, hey, are you enabling? Did you cross over from ministering to manipulating? Because that's probably why you're having issues. Now, here's the thing. Not everyone comes into this thing with their ducks in a row. Almost none of us do. Okay. And that's okay because God's word has the solution for all of that. You say, well, I didn't start understanding the subject until my kids were, no problem. We can get them the help that they need. But what we need to understand is when people fail to take correction, you need to go the other direction. What I mean by that is sometimes we have to step back and let God deal with those people. That's what Jezebel should have done. She should have stepped back and let God deal with Ahab. But what does she do? Oh, I'm going to get you what you want at the expense of everyone else. Right? This doesn't just affect you and your family. This doesn't just affect you and the believer you're trying to disciple. No, this affects other people, right? This affects other people because misbehave people, people that are fools when they get around other people, they don't click. It doesn't work out as you have seen recently. So let's see, you can leave your place there in Proverbs 22. We'll probably come back to the neighborhood of Proverbs later on, but go to Matthew chapter number 10, Matthew chapter number 10. And what's another result of this, which we just learned recently? When someone just fails to learn correction, they fail to receive instruction, right? Over the process of time, what happens to those people? They become blown around by every wind of doctrine, okay? You got a kid who wanted to start a soul winning time in this church, okay? And then decides to blast me with a bunch of messages on why this church is terrible, why we're unloving, why we're unkind, blah, blah, blah, okay? He just releases a video on his YouTube channel, probably to try to mess with us, it doesn't matter, it's too late, that is teaching a false gospel. He releases a video on his YouTube channel saying that easy believism is false doctrine. So the kid who sat right there, the Grand Wizard, okay, because he's no Canyon, he's no Colorado River, he's the Grand Wizard of the Cunaclux clan is what he is, okay? That individual is now promoting works salvation. He's, understand the magnitude of this. This kid who was so apparently zealous, right, so zealous, oh we gotta go get everyone saved, oh if anybody doesn't believe like us, I'm gonna blast them. You know, he would take it upon himself to go to the park and start problems with other people, calling women skanks and hoes and stuff like that, you know, just being a vexation to his parents is now promoting that you have to turn from your sins to be saved. Gee, what a surprise. It's like clockwork, it's what all these people do, because he was a devil from the beginning. He went out from us but was never among us, he was never part of us. We'll talk about that tonight, okay, but you know, I saw that in him two Saturdays ago, when we were out sewing, okay, I don't know, I think I told some of you guys the story, we're knocking on this small apartment complex off of Franklin Road, Franklin and Philippi, I think, and we get almost to the end, right, we got like maybe four, six doors left or something, the apartment manager comes out, okay, and some so-called Christian turned us into the apartment manager, which was funny, that's the story for another day, but I'm like, okay, you know, it didn't go too well, because that guy tried to kick us out a couple years ago, so we leave, I was like, let's just go, it's not worth it, this apartment sucks, to be honest with you, okay, the people are terrible, it's not gonna go anywhere either way, he's gonna call the police, that's what he was gonna go do, so let's just leave, so that we don't have to take up another hour dealing with the police, we could just go knock this other apartment, go, you know, join brother Jeff and brother David, so we're over there, and he's like, we can't let that guy tell us what to do, we need to go finish those other four doors, I'm like, do you just not understand, I'm like, do you not get it, we go back over there, now it's gonna look like harassment, because we just got in an argument with this guy, you know, I'm like, no, it's fine, but what was his mentality, he was trying to portray, oh, we're gonna go get everyone, every single door, look, we have that goal too, but let's be realistic here, okay, when you're in a situation where it's like, okay, I could either take up an hour explaining myself and what we're really doing to the police, because you never know who's gonna show up, if the sheriffs show up, we're probably good, if the city PD shows up, we might be in trouble, okay, it just depends, or just to forsake those last four doors and come back another day, you know, maybe in like four or five months, and just go to the other apartment and get some more people safe, okay, guess what, knocked on the apartment manager's door there, this guy comes out, and he's like, he just kind of puts his head down, he goes, you know what, they can only kill me once, he's like, just don't get me in trouble, guys, just, you know, just try to be cool to people, and I'm just gonna go inside and just let you do this, and he says, but by the way, no one lives in that door, okay, pointing to his neighbor, no one lives in that unit there, so you don't have to knock that one, there's a giant mattress outside the door, right, there's chairs, it's obvious somebody moved out, there's the little lockbox with the little combo thing, and that doesn't always mean no one's in there, but okay, all of that put together, okay, I'm not gonna knock that door, why would you do that, so this guy here, actually gave us a blessing, okay, and he actually is saying, I'm putting my job on the line, because I'm not interested in what you're doing, but I appreciate it, you know, he wasn't saved, he was just like, these people need the Lord, okay, he's like, I'm good, but these people definitely need it, so I'm just gonna let you do what you gotta do, okay, and he's like, we can't let him tell us what to do, right, the grand wizard, we can't let him, we need to go knock that door, what if he's lying, what if there's somebody in there, okay, and all that to say this, he releases a video saying that what we believe is false doctrine, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him, right, every parent here is concerned about how their children will behave out in the world, well guess what, the only way you can find real joy and peace is to drive it far from them, and that's what we have to do to believers, that's why God gave us the Bible, so that we can preach these things and teach these things to one another, and drive that foolishness far from us, okay, because when you get saved, of course the new man's perfect, right, but we don't always understand how to walk in the new man, right, we've still got a lot of foolish ideas from the world, and we need that correction drawn out, in fact I'm gonna read this verse for you, very familiar, you guys already know it, you don't have to turn there, Hebrews 12.7, so the writer of Hebrews says this, if ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as sons, for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Okay, so that is a perfect picture there of what I'm talking about here, that's what God's view is for us, he wants to chasten us, he wants to get us right, get us on the right path, and he does that through correction, and we are to be humble, and receive that correction, and make the changes, and keep marching on, that is the goal and the idea for every child in this room, every teenager, and really anybody who's a new believer, if you won't, okay? So you say, what do we need to do about this? Well, we need to understand that correction will drive foolishness far from a child as he develops, or she develops, okay? Very important, we're not going to take a look at all the correction verses and the proverbs, because we're going to talk about some of those as we go on in the coming weeks, but also because we had kids day at the church here recently, and we've already gone through a lot of this, so we're going to move on. Point number one, no correction, no direction, okay, very simple. We need to understand the urgency, we need to understand the severity of that, okay? Because you need to recognize that when people come in here, and you guys did, okay? And what was his response? You're unloving. Of course, you go into one of these other Baptist churches, and I'm not, you know, I'm not saying we're the only people you can come to for truth, but I'm saying we're in the end times, and most people aren't going to tell you the truth. They're not going to, you know, they're not going to rebuke you, they're not going to tell you, hey, that's what God says, and you're wrong. No, they're going to come into your, oh, you poor baby. You poor little, I'll get you what you want. I'll get everything that you want. Why? Because they want that cash, that's why. They want that money, that's what it's all about. But anyways, I'm getting off on a rabbit trail here, let's move on here. So point number one, no correction, no direction, okay? This is what will happen if we neglect correction. So you there in Matthew chapter 10, look at verse number 14. So this is Jesus obviously commissioning his disciples here, and he's sending them out to go soul winning, sending them out to preach the kingdom of God, he's sending them out two by two, and he says this in verse number 14, okay? He says this, and whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verse 15, verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that city. We don't have time to take that apart, we'll do that another day, but I want you to pay attention to the end portion of verse number 14. What does Jesus say that we are supposed to do when people reject our word? Right, shake off the dust of your feet. You know, you go to some of these Zionist type churches and they'll be like, oh well that was a Jewish custom that they did back then, to kind of signify that the people rejected the message. And it's like, yeah, okay, is that the best that you've got? Look, there's a whole world of principle on here, right? You don't need to go to some historical Jewish Talmud book to get what it really meant back then. He's saying shake the dust off your feet, one, as a reminder that these people rejected your message, which is correction, because when you think about it, when we're out there knocking on people's doors, we're trying to correct politely though, right? We're trying to correct our view, saying, hey, you're here trusting on all your works, the Bible says something different, you know, can you receive that correction and be saved and go to heaven? But Jesus is saying, hey, I'm sending you amongst a group of certain types of people, okay? And these people are very dangerous, these people are not to be trusted, and these people might treat you a certain way, but I'm giving you the remedy, I'm giving you the formula on how to handle that, how not to take it to heart, okay? Look at verse 16, she says this, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves, okay? One of the key components there in remaining harmless as a dove and being smart is to understand what Jesus is talking about here when he says, shake the dust off your feet, okay? He's saying, hey, let it go. When someone rejects the gospel, talk about it amongst yourself, actually shake the dust off your feet and rejoice, because what happens when we don't do that? What happens, metaphorically speaking, if you don't shake the dust off your feet, you leave one house, you leave one town, you leave one city, well that's gonna compound, and that's gonna build up on those feet of yours, right? And then what? All of a sudden you're gonna get bitter, which is gonna lead to you not listening to Bible preaching, not reading the Bible for yourself, not getting your feet washed by the water of the word, which we've talked about, right? And so what happens? Bitterness leads to not being able to take correction, which we all need till the day that we die, and the next thing you know, you're gone, you're done, you're out of church, or you're like the grand wizard, and so many people who have come in here, and you start wanting to cause problems between other people, right? He come in here and he's always trying to pit people against each other, always. This guy was a relational nightmare, that's what he was, but that's what he was trying to do out here in town, being weird out soloning, oh, are we just inviting people to church? No, idiot, if they're not interested, I'm gone, because I understand what this verse says, shake the dust off of your feet, let it go, don't take it personal, understand that there are people out there that you're gonna try to feed, you're gonna try to give them some food, like a wolf, right? And they're gonna turn around and try to rend you, you know? He's so dumb, he wants to go back to the people that, oh, these people that were angry today, we need to go back there and try to talk to them. You can't, look, there are some people you just can't help, we need to just realize that and let it go and understand that. And so my second point is this, failing to realize that some people can't be helped will cause your heart to melt. What's another way of saying that? What's that poster say back there, that wall, snowflake, right? You become a snowflake, that's what happens, failing to realize that some people can't be helped will cause your heart to melt. If you fail to shake the dust off your feet, if you fail to just in your heart and in your mind realize, you know what, honestly, most of these people out here are not gonna listen, okay? But out of most of those people, right, not all of them are terrible, not all of them are bad, some of them will listen next year, but you're always gonna have that one or two on each street, or maybe in each city block, or each apartment, they just really take it to the next level. 357 Magnum, pretending to be the apartment manager, you know, they will call the cops, you're gonna have those types of people, okay? Right? I'm gonna preach about them, I'm gonna talk about it, right? Because I think it's important for us to get those things off of our chest, I think that's part of shaking the dust off your feet. You know, he's not saying, hey, keep it inside, but you know, do a little after action review, you know, before you go to the next house, the next door, talk about it for a minute, get that off your chest, and just realize, you know what the heck with them? It's, look, we're not a Calvinist church, everyone has free will, they made their choice, that's not your fault, you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, right? And guess what, parent, when you're administering correction, and the kids are like, guess what, you don't have to worry about it, you can shake the dust, hey, I told you, I told you, and now you're gonna have to suffer the consequences for your actions. And we've all been there with the Lord, but it's what you do with that correction that determines your direction, okay? So let's see here, I'm gonna have you guys turn to Acts chapter number 13, Acts chapter number 13. So failing to realize that some people can be helped will cause your heart to melt. This is so important, this is how snowflakes are made, removing correction, and just basically not teaching them how to properly respond to an infection from rejection, basically, which is what's going on here. So you know, when Jesus is saying, hey, shake the dust off your feet, I guess another way that we would say that is, you know, I'm washing my hands of it, okay? I'm not, you know, I'm done with that. And sometimes just saying that, even in your mind or out loud, it does something, and it helps us out. Here's an example of that Here's an example of that happening here. Acts chapter 13, Paul, you know, tearing things up, turning the world upside down with the other apostles and just preaching the gospel everywhere. Look at verse number 15, Acts 13, look at verse 15. It says this, but the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their coasts. So they got kicked out of the apartment, right? But even worse, man, they're getting kicked out of the coast, they're getting kicked out of the whole place. Verse 51, but they sat around and devised a plan on how they could go back and really speak to them in a way that just turns their heart right. No, verse 51, but they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came to Iconium. So notice what he says there. Did you catch that? But they shook off the dust of their feet against them. This is how we fight back against them. It's wise, but it's also harmless. You need to, sometimes you just need to reject those types of people in that form. Shake the dust off. Just realize, you know what? I've tried to help you and it just isn't working out. And so now you're going to have to live with those consequences. And when you become okay with that, when we become okay with that, we can do more because now we're not bogged down by that. Wait, I wish I could go back to that one guy who called the cops on us and said he hated God and just really preached to him the Bible. Look, it don't work. It doesn't work. When you run into somebody and you guys know this, that hates God, they're changing because a lot of times they move and we accidentally knock on their door again. And guess what? Two years later, they've got the same attitude, the same thing. Okay. Understand that. Now let's see, I'm gonna have you go back to Proverbs, but Proverbs chapter number 15, Proverbs chapter number 15. So while you're turning, I'm just going to explain this a little bit further. What does this look like? What does this mean? What does this do for us when we shake the dust off our feet? Well, it gives you your freedom back. It gives you that joy. It gives you that rest and peace, right? Because a lot of times we have a tendency to think, oh, I'm a failure. Maybe I didn't speak right. Maybe I didn't communicate right. Whatever the case may be. No, you know what? A lot of times it's just people don't want to listen. You know, people in this community on judgment day, they're not going to be like, oh, no one told me. No, if you didn't hear it from this church, you heard it from another one in the past, or you heard it somewhere on the internet, you know, you heard it. God wrote his law on your heart. You have no excuses to begin with. There are no excuses, but this is how we stay in the fight. Seriously, shake off the dust. It is wise and it is harmless. You know, that old man, you know, your flesh is like, oh, and I'm sure Jezebel wrestled with this internally, you know? Oh, but if they're in discomfort, you know, we got to, we got to go back. We just got to enable them. We just got to help them out. We just got to do something. But the problem with that is it takes your joy away because when you cross over to that manipulation factor, you know, you're done. You're, you're, you're crossing into witchcraft and we need to be careful about that. So let's move on here. Proverbs chapter number 15, look at verse number 10. So this is the part of the sermon where we're going to get into what happens, what happens to a person? What do they become? What possibly could they become if we fail to give them correction? Look at verse number 10. Correction is grievous unto him. Now don't miss this. That forsaketh the way and he that hateth reproof shall die. Think about that. You know, you know, your, our family members and people that we're trying to reach with the gospel, you know, that don't hate God, but they're just like, ah, maybe later, later on. And I just keep pushing it off and pushing it off. You know, you'll notice over time, unfortunately that they'll get worse and they'll get worse. And every time it gets brought up by someone else or someone at their workplace or, you know, another friend that they have, or, you know, something that they see on the internet, that correction will begin to be looked at as a grievous thing. Right. And that's how that progression goes. You just start to learn to hate it and they don't like it. Right. They forsake the way. This is what happens all the time. It says, and he that hateth reproof shall die. So what's the end result of the person who's just like, ah, I'm going to keep putting it off. Keep putting it off. I'm gonna go down here to BSU. I'm going to learn how we evolve from rocks. You know, that's pretty cool. Maybe that's true. Well, you know what happens? They move into the apartments over by Boise High and then you go knock on the door and they want to scrap, you know, or they want to call the cops or they start screaming at you. You tell them, look, that's not how adults behave. I just tried to invite you to church. Not like I came until I get knocked on your door with a pistol. This is uncalled for spoiled rotten little brat or worse. They'll come out and just start screaming. And don't you ever come back to my door again. I know you're not soliciting, but don't you ever come back here again. I won't. Why do you get so upset? Well, it's because correction has become grievous unto you. And this is the way of the world. I mean, this, this isn't just like Jessica's little class. No, this is the philosophy of the world. You know, you can watch your Dr. Phil and your Oprah and all that stuff. You know, you're going to see elements of that. You know, don't say, you know, we've got a much better way. Don't say no, don't say don't, don't say can, don't say stop, right? You want to try to talk to them in a way which enables them to do the things you want them to do. Sounds clever, but it's witchcraft. Okay. Let's just, let's just call it for what it is. It's witchcraft. It's manipulation. We don't want to be manipulators. So again, correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh away and he that hateth reproof shall die. And so, you know, the person who just hates correction, hates correction, you know, they're going to destroy their way, right? No correction, no direction. That's why these kinds of guys will bounce over all these churches, getting them all mad. How are you going to get liberal churches mad? That's when you know you're, you're, you're really messed up, but that's what this clown does. So three types of people that you cannot help. Three types of people that our children will become if we don't administer correction. Now you can leave yourself or leave Proverbs alone there and go to Jeremiah chapter number two. We'll come back to Proverbs one more time and that'll be it, but go to Jeremiah chapter two. So number one, you can't help the person that rejects help. Big surprise there. Okay. You just can't help them. Number two, you can't help the person that knows they need help, but reject it. And number three, you can't help the person that knows and says they want help, but they're really not willing to do what it takes. Okay. I'm sure there's more going to think of more, but I think that those three there will, will suffice for this morning. Now, what I want to do now is kind of talk about this on a national level. So you're in Jeremiah chapter number two, the Northern kingdom of Israel is gone. They are taken captive. And what is going on here is God is basically using the prophet Jeremiah to rebuke the kingdom of Judah. And he's just going through their history in this chapter. And he's just saying, Hey, you know, there was a point in time where you sought me, where you came to me, where you depended on me. And now I can't even be heard amongst the lips of anyone in there. Okay. And he starts talking about all the correction, all the prophets I sent to you, right? All the help I tried to give you. Now look at what God says about that help, about that correction in verse number 30. So he says this in vain, have I smitten your children. They received no correction. Your own sword had devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. Now go to Jeremiah chapter number five. We'll continue on with that thought. So God's saying, Hey, on a national level here, you know, he's like, I tried to help you. I tried to administer discipline to the children of Israel. I tried to spank you. I tried to, to chase in you, if you will. And it didn't work. You would not receive the correction. And what was the result over time? They started to kill the prophets, started to shoot the messenger, right? That's where that saying comes from. Jeremiah chapter five, look at verse three, same concepts here. It says this, O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved. Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. Right. And so, you know, the story God was saying, Hey, you're going into captivity and you better just go. You better not fight it. You better not do anything with it. You better just obey my voice. And I will make things well for you. Even though you've already pushed me to this point. What happens? What does Jeremiah say here? He's angry with him. He's upset. And he makes this statement here, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. Right. This is what happens when we leave out correction, because we're more concerned with how we feel in that time. Okay. This is the problem here, right? When that emotion arises, right? I was talking to a guy on, on Thursday about this. I think, yeah, it was Thursday. It doesn't go to this church, but he's struggling with this. You know, he's like, yeah, my wife, you know, doesn't want to do any kind of correction. And you know, this kid is just out of control already. He's only two. He's like, she's the same way. He's like, she is way out of control. He's like, but I can't be your dad. He's like, you got to help me out here, man. You got to really help me out. And I'm trying to explain these things to him. Well, this is how she got that way. And here's what you need to do. You know, but on a national level, what does it say? They made their faces harder than a rock. Okay. So this is what we do to our children. This is what we do to our converts when we don't correct them. I'm not saying you got to go up to them, get over here. You know, there's a time and a place for that. Maybe not with a convert, but you know, with the children, there's times where you got to, you got to lay them all down, man. You got to tell them, Hey, stop doing that. Or this is going to happen to you. And then you got to mean it. Right? Look, if you, if you go down that road and you say, Hey, you're getting a spanking. If you do that one more time, you got to follow through with that. Because if you don't, they're going to be, ah, I got, I got you. Those kids are smart. They know they will mop you. And you know, that is true. Go to first Samuel chapter number 15, first Samuel chapter number 15. So again, I said this, you can't help the person that rejects help. You can't help the nation that rejects help. Okay. What do we do about it? Well, we shake the dust off of our feet, you know, and praise God, there's still people around here that are willing to be saved. Right. Right. You know, I mean, we did this whole locked down, you know, super luxurious apartment in Eagle. Right. And we had a problem with two people, you know, and David got two people saved and they were neighbors. You know, that's, I haven't seen that here yet. That's amazing. Now, before we take a look at Saul here, cause you know, that's where we're going. I'm just going to read for you Mark chapter six, verse 18. How about this for one, for John had said unto Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have that brother's wife. You know, the story there, you know, John the Baptist preached against Herod, preached against his adultery, preached against his wickedness. And what does the Bible say about Herod? You know, he liked to hear John. Right. So what category does he fall into? They know they need help, but they reject it. So Herod's own foolish mouth put him into a position to where he had to deliver John the Baptist unto death. Okay. So again, you can't help people that know they need help, but reject it. Let's take a look at Saul here. Okay. First Samuel 15, what was Saul told to do? He was told to do a lot of things. He was told to wait for Samuel for the offering. He was told to destroy the Amalekites a hundred percent. He wasn't told to just destroy, you know, the poor and the wicked ones and keep the best stuff for yourself. No, you're supposed to get rid of everything. Well, Samuel hears about it, goes down and rebukes him. Saul is in a stage in his life where he's getting correction left and right. And you know what, it seems like he's getting it, you know, like later on in Saul's life, if you remember when he was trying to kill David and David would catch him and he'd be like, I have sinned. Right. And then a little bit of time would go by, he'd do it again. I've sinned. Right. Those are the worst, right? When they give you that little carrot, like, man, maybe he's going to listen. Maybe they're, maybe, maybe we're getting somewhere here. Right. But eventually you realize it isn't going to happen, but let's take a look at this here. Look at verse 23. This is what Samuel is explaining to Saul because he's like, help me out anyways. I know I disobeyed, but just help me. Look at what Samuel does. He says this to him, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Now let's stop right there for a second. Okay. It's as the sin of witchcraft. It's on the same level. Okay. Just like manipulation. Okay. That's what I'm saying. Look, we've all done these things. Let's just be honest. Okay. And I'm not saying you're a witch, you know, you rebelled against the word of God. You're a witch, you know? Okay. But we just need to understand this is how God views it. Okay. And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. And Samuel says this, because thou rejected the word of the Lord. He has also rejected thee from being King. Right. What is God doing? He's chastening here. Verse 24. And Saul said unto Samuel, I am sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in thy words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. This look, this, this is the worst type of person here. These are so hard because you don't know what to do with them. You know, he's like, I've sinned. I get it. And, and, and, and he's even being honest. He's pouring his heart out. He's like, I felt sorry for the people, you know? And that's why I didn't follow through. I became a bleeding heart. Verse 25. Now, therefore I pray thee, pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. Now here's what Samuel does in verse 26. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee for thou has rejected the word of the Lord. And the Lord has rejected thee from being King over Israel. Sometimes you need to shake the dust off your feet. Sometimes you just need to put your feet down. Sometimes you need to realize that some people cannot be helped. And you know what? If it's our fault, learn from it. Okay. That's all you can do. Learn from it. But ultimately Samuel's just giving it to God. You say, what do I do? It's too late. You just give it to the Lord. You put it on the prayer list as an unspoken. You come and talk to me. We work something out and we pray. And you know what? God will change. I've seen God change people that are like almost Saul status and get them right. It is possible. You know, if you're saved and I believe Saul was saved a hundred percent, you know, I believe that prayer changes things, but what doesn't change things is that when we keep enabling people and we keep trying to manipulate, it's a form of witchcraft. It's on that same level. And we ought not to go down that road. Last place that I'm gonna have you turn Proverbs chapter nine, we're going to wrap this thing up here. Proverbs chapter number nine. So again, no correction point number one, no correction, no direction, right? We understand that. We took a look at that. And point number two, failing to realize that some people can't be helped will cause your heart to melt. You cannot bear that pressure. You can't do it. The only way to overcome that is to realize, you know what? They're going to have to learn from themselves. They're going to have to just go down that road. It is what it is. Okay. What does the Bible say though? If we haven't made this mistake, chasing them be times early. Okay. Early. So for those of you that got the young munchkins, you know, prime opportunity, you know, get that correction, have those hard talks, have those discussions, you know, tell them, no, you don't do stuff like that. You know, about the time I could tell that Kayden, Kylan and Kinley could understand what they were doing. I'd be like, Hey, no, stop. Don't eat that phone cord, Kayden. Get that phone cord out of your mouth. You remember the old phone cords? I think we still had that back when he was little. Times have changed, you know, Kylan, don't throw that rock at that guy's head. Proverbs nine. We're almost done. Look at verse number six, forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of under standing. Again, the point of this sermon is to foster a godly childhood, whether that's with our kids, our teens, or people that are new in the faith, right? We want to foster that environment. And the way that we do that is through correction. Obviously it's through, uh, you know, admonishment and it doesn't always have to be harsh. You know, sometimes it can just be like, Hey, here's, look at this. What you're doing is wrong. This is why. And explain to the people, but when it's too late and you've tried and you've done the correction and you're, you know, you're going forward and you keep administering it and they keep rejecting it and anything, whether you're a boss at work, whether you're a father, a mother, or you're just trying to, you know, lead about somebody, a sibling, you need to understand when people fail to take correction, you go the other direction. And that other direction is no longer trying to force correction, trying to teach correction. It is now giving them up to the Lord and he has his ways of dealing with people and he will get the job done. That is a 100% fact, a guarantee. Look at verse number seven. He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame. You see this out soul winning all the time, right? That's what the grand wizard would do. Oh, I'm going to go, I'm going to go argue with these guys that hate us. It never works out. It just brings shame to you. And he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Look, people that are wicked, people that are sons of Belial, for example, sons of the devil, okay, stay away from them because they, you've seen this, what do they want to do? They want to go right to violence, right to violence. It's not worth it. Look at verse eight. Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. This is some great discernment for us to tell whether or not a person is teachable or even trainable. How should we respond to a person? Like you're like, man, I can't tell which way this is going. Well, this verse here is perfect. If you try to rebuke a scorner and he hates you like the grand wizard, well then guess what? We know we're not dealing with somebody who is wise, somebody who can be trained. We have a big problem here and now comes the painful part of waiting for the right opportunity. But he says this, rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. So when you're chasing somebody and they're like, yeah, you're right. And they actually make the corrections in their lives. You know what I mean? They actually follow through with what they say. They don't pull the salt on you. Then guess what? That's a person you need to invest in. That's a person that's going to be wise. That's a person who is wise, even though they don't seem like it at the time. Verse 10, almost done. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Okay. And what are we talking about today? We're talking about improving childhood. We're talking about making sure that we don't cross from ministering to people to manipulating people. And we do that by understanding. You know what? Sometimes you got to walk away. Sometimes you need to go the other direction. Verse 11, for by me thy days shall be multiplied. Well, who's the me there? Yeah, it's the Lord. It's wisdom. It's the wisdom that the Lord gives us. This is for by me, thy days shall be multiplied, right? The fear of the Lord. It says this, and the years of thy life shall be increased. That's what God does. He gives us wisdom and we need to abide by that. Verse 12, if thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself. But if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it. And that's the wisdom that I want to leave you with. You need to understand that if a person makes that choice, makes that decision, hey, I don't care about this. I'm going to go my own way. Then you know what? Let them go that way and watch what happens. Watch that outcome. And so we need to realize that, you know, childhood, man, it is crucial. Correction is absolutely crucial to fostering a godly childhood in our kids, in our teens, in our own lives, in our own families. You know, even at work, even, you know, you guys working around people that don't believe, you know, administer that correction, you know, when they're being stupid and stuff like that, you know, just try to live peaceably with all men, though. Just try to rehearse the conversation in your mind. Try to find a tactful way, you know, to correct these people. And you know what? Some of them are going to love you for it. Some of them are going to respect you for it. And then they're going to go and talk, oh, you got this issue? Go talk to him, you know, and you're going to become a leader without even being in a position of a leader. And that's how promotions happen. So to all the correctors, parents and leaders, you know, I would say this, you just understand that failing to correct our children is going to take us from ministering to manipulating. And that is what we do not want. Can't afford that. We don't have that problem here. And the person that did have that problem is gone and going to be dealt with very harshly. Because that is the Bible. You know, and I started this series before I knew the outcome of that, you know, and it just fits perfectly. And hopefully nobody in here thinks, oh, you're being too harsh. This guy's trying to ruin people's lives. He's trying to ruin, looking back, he's trying to ruin people's lives in this church. And now he's out in the community telling people they got to work for the salvation. That's demonic. And it needs to be dealt with. But you know what? He's the result of two parents that spent their lives going to church and never either learning or caring on how to administer correction. Because there was a time where he could have got right. There was a time where he could have done right in his life. I don't know when that time was. But his parents, and he even admitted, he come in here, my parents didn't know how to deal with me. So they just left me to my own devices. He has unfettered access to the internet, which is why I will no longer use his name, because I believe that's what he wants. And I believe that's why he put that video up. So he's going to go by his nickname, just like False Nimrod, because they are out of the same cloth. Out of the same cloth. But hey, this church, you just had a perfect living example of what happens when we neglect correction. We become the grand wizard. So I'm done. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you again so much, Lord, for the examples, the real life situations that you show us, for your word. I just pray there would be a church, Lord, that would be loving, but loving the way that you want, Lord, and administer correction and help people out to get right, Lord, and to realize that, you know what, there are times where we need to shake the dust off of our feet, and that is a wise and harmless way of conducting ourselves, Lord. And I just pray that everyone in here would realize that and apply that to their lives. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right, let's grab those hymn books. One final time this morning. I'll go towards the front of the book, song number 45, When I Can Read My Title Clear. And we'll sing it with all our hearts. Song number 45, When I Can Read My Title Clear. On the first, when I can read my title clear, two mentions in the sky, I'll bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes. And wipe my weeping eyes. And wipe my weeping eyes. I'll bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes. Should earth against my soul engage and my regards be heard, I can smile as Satan's rage and face a frowning world. And face a frowning world. Then I can smile as Satan's rage and face a frowning world. Let cares like a wild day lose from and storms of sorrow fall. May I but safely reach my home my God my heaven my all. My God my heaven my all. My God my heaven my all. May I but safely reach my home my God my heaven my all. May I but safely reach my home my God my heaven my all. There shall I made my weary soul in seas of heavenly rest and on the wake of trouble roll across my peaceful breast. Across my peaceful breast. Across my peaceful breast and on the wake of trouble roll across my peaceful breast. Amen. We're going to close that with a word of prayer please. Amen. Amen. I know right a little bit yeah. Yeah oh yeah for sure yeah. Over here is barely even it's a little thin layer of ice everywhere. Christmas Eve huh yeah yeah yeah I'm in Boise. Okay I just stayed in um off the hill over christmas with my mom snowing over there. Yeah oh yeah right now it looks like we started snowing. Yeah I know I know it's different over there oh it gets more snow over there. Yeah yeah I mean I think this is okay okay. I think that's mostly black. I think so you have to go through uh full checkpoint. Okay. Thank you.