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though not, as thou hast been, thou forever will be. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Yeah. Page 401 on the last. Set my soul afire. Page 401, set my soul afire on the last. Set my soul afire, Lord, in my daily life. Far too long I've wandered in this day of strife. Nothing else can be more than this day of strife. Nothing else will matter but to witness as you live in me. Set my soul afire, Lord. Set my soul afire. Make my life a witness of thy saving power. Millions grope in darkness waiting for thy word. Set my soul afire, Lord. Set my soul afire. Pastor, 370, 378 on the first. Bringing in the sheaves, page, oh, I'm sorry. A Passion for Souls, page 378. A Passion for Souls, sing it out on the first. Give me a passion for souls, dear Lord, a passion to save the lost. Oh, that thy love whereby all adored and welcome at any cost. Jesus, I long, I long to be winning, men who are lost and constantly sinning. Oh, may this hour be one of beginning, the story a pardon to tell. One more, Sheila, page 396. So Little Time, page 396. So Little Time, sing it out on the first. So little time, the harvest will be over. Are we being done? We reapers taken home. Report our work to Jesus, Lord of harvest, and hope he'll smile and that he'll say, well done. Today we reap or miss our golden harvest. Today is given us lost souls to win. Oh, then to save some dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go to bring some sinner in. Good singing at this time. We'll have our announcements. Welcome back to Sherr Foundation Baptist Church. Some of you never left, all right. But it's been a great day so far. We had, I believe, five salvations today out soul-winning. So praise the Lord for that. Well, we had two visitors that got saved in the morning service. So if you had someone saved today, would you just raise your hand? You got one, Justin? You had three. But yeah, we'll just count them. Just go ahead and count them, three, four. You had five? No. Three, four, five, six. OK, cool. Is that right? Three, four. Oh, and I had one, seven. So anybody else? Amen, so we had seven salvations today. So praise God for that. Let's take our bulletins and look through them real quickly. I just want to get that out of the way before I forget. So anybody need a bulletin, if you do, raise your hand. All right, everybody's got one. The verse of the week is, though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase. Job chapter 8, verse 7, service times, 1030 AM for Sunday morning, 3 30 PM Sunday evening, and Thursday Bible study, 6 30 PM. We had our soul-winning time. Again, we had seven salvations for the day. So it sounds like five for the soul-winning times themselves. So let's see. So that's 18 salvations from Friday to Sunday. We had one saved after church on Friday. We had 10 saved yesterday. So yeah, OK. Yeah, that sounds right. The math sounds right. If I'm wrong, just let me know. I'm definitely not a complex math person. Anyway, our soul-winning times are listed below. And the regional soul-winning captains are underneath that, our praise report. You can see that the baptisms. We had three baptisms this morning after the service. So that brings us to 15 baptisms for the year. And our attendance this morning was 107. Then the two visitors came. So that makes 109 for attendance. And we need to get a count for tonight. But Friday night, we had 106 in attendance. So it's been great attendances, great services, and lots of people getting saved. So praise God for that. Today, we had our one-year anniversary morning service. I preached at 1030 AM. And then Pastor Jones is here visiting us from Shield of Faith Baptist Church. He's a great friend of mine and a great friend of our church. A lot of people know him. If you haven't had a chance to meet him yet, try to get it in quick, because we got to go straight to the restaurant from here. So we're going to leave. If you want a fellowship with Pastor Jones afterwards, you got to go straight to the restaurant, all right? So we're going to Golden Tent Baptist Church. No, I'm just kidding. Golden Tent Baptist Tabernacle. It's been a while since we've been there. It's been a couple of years, I think, or at least a year and a half or something like that. Not for me. But I was there last weekend just to test it out and make sure it was still good for y'all. So anyway, we'll be heading there right afterwards. I got the back room as reserved. That holds 30 people. If it's going to be more than 30 people, then y'all are just going to have to find a place to sit. So sorry about that. First come, first serve. And anyway, we're going Dutch. So if you need someone to help pay for your food, just come talk to me and I'll say no. No, I'm just kidding. But we'll try to help out anybody that isn't able to afford to go. So anyway, so that's going to be right after church service. So 5.30 is what time I told them we'd be there. Pastor Jones might be preaching for an hour and a half. You just never know. He's not like me, though. He usually does like 50, 55 minutes an hour. So anyway, looking forward to hearing Pastor Jones preach, all the rest of the things we can just talk about later, because I want to get this service going. Anyway, you know where the mother baby rooms are back there, dad baby rooms here. I think everybody was here from the morning service. Pretty much everybody knows what's going on. And is Ethan here or Eiley? No. OK, well happy birthday to Ethan and Eiley. I'm not going to sing if you're not here. You've got to be in church. See my sermon from this morning. All right, we're going to sing another song and then we're going to receive the offering. And then we'll get right into the preaching service after that. Page 207 in your green hymnals. Only a sinner, page 207. Page 207, only a sinner. Sing it out on the first. Not have I gotten but what I received. Grace have bestowed it since I have believed. Boasting excluded, pride I abase. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Once I was foolish and sin ruled my heart, causing my footsteps from God to depart. Jesus has found me happy, my case. I now am a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Tears unavailing, no merit had I. Mercy had saved me or else I must die. Sin had alarmed me, fearing God's face. But now I'm a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows, loving his Savior to tell what he knows. Once more to tell it, would I embrace? I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. And great singing. At this time, we'll have our offering. Brother Justin, can you bless the offering for us? Heavenly Father, I love you, God. I just thank you for this church, Lord. And for all you do for us, I thank you for all your salvation today, God. I just pray that you will help those people to finally get to church and get baptized, God. I pray that you will bless this offering, God. So, Brother John, let's all go so we can preach to all God. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. All right, good evening. Turn with me to the book of 1 Kings, Chapter 1. The book of 1 Kings, Chapter 1. All right, the book of 1 Kings and Chapter 1, the Bible reads, Now King David was old and stricken in years, and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. Wherefore, his servant said unto him, Let there be sought from my lord the king a young virgin, and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him, but the king knew her not. Then Adonijah, the son of Hagith, exalted himself, saying, I will be king. And he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and 50 men to run before him. And his father had not displeased him at any time, and saying, Why hast thou done so? And he also was a very goodly man, and his mother bare him after Absalom. And he conferred with Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar, the priest, and they following Adonijah, helped him. But Zadok, the priest, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan, the prophet, and Shimei, and Reih, and the mighty men which belong to David, were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah slew sheep, and oxen, and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel, and called all his brethren the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants. But Nathan, the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty man, and Solomon his brother, he called not. Wherefore, Nathan spake unto Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not? Now therefore, come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon. Go and get thee in unto King David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly, Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne. Why then doth Adonijah reign? Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words. And Bathsheba went in unto the king into the chamber, and the king was very old. And Abishag the Shunammite ministered unto the king. And Bathsheba bowed, and did obeisance unto the king. And the king said, What wouldest thou? And she said unto him, My lord, thou swearest by the Lord thy God unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly, Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne. Now behold, Adonijah reigneth. And now, my lord, the king, thou knowest it not. And he hath slain oxen, and fat cattle, and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host, but Solomon thy servant hath he not called. And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders. And lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in. And they told the king, saying, behold, Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. And Nathan said, my lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? For he has gone down this day, and hath slain oxen, and fat cattle, and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king's sons, and the captain of the host, and Abiathar the priest. Behold, they eat and drink before him. And say, God save King Adonijah. But me, even me thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not called? Is this thing done by my lord the king? And thou hast not showed it unto thy servant? Who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? Then King David answered and said, call me Bathsheba. She came into the king's presence and stood before the king. And the king swear and said, as the lord liveth that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even as I swear unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, assuredly, Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead. Even so will I certainly do this day. Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth and did reverence to the king and said, let my lord King David live forever. And King David said, call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. The king also said unto them, take with you servants of your lord and call Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule and bring him down to Gihon. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there, king over Israel, and blow ye with the trumpet and say, God save King Solomon, then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne, for he shall be king in my stead. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, Amen, the lord god of my lord the king say so too. As the lord hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David. So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherithites and the Pelethites went down and caused Solomon to ride upon King David's mule and brought him to Gihon. And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle and anointed Solomon, and they blew the trumpet. And all the people said, God save King Solomon. And all the people came up after him. And the people piped with pipes and rejoiced with great joy so that the earth rent with the sound of them. And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar? And while he yet spake, behold Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, the priest came. And Adonijah said unto him, come in, for thou art a valiant man and bring us good tidings. And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, verily our lord King David hath made Solomon king. And the king hath sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherithites and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride upon the king's mule. And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. And they are come up from thence rejoicing so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard. And also Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom. And moreover, the king's servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, God make the name of Solomon better than thy name, and make his throne greater than thy throne. And the king bowed himself upon the bed. And also thus saith the king, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which hath given one to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing it. And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and arose up, and went every man his way. And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told, Solomon, saying, behold, Adonijah feareth King Solomon. For lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, let King Solomon swear unto me today that he will not slay his servant with the sword. Solomon said, if he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not an heir of him fall to the earth. But if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die. So King Solomon sent. And they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to King Solomon. And Solomon said unto him, go to thine house. Brother Robert, would you pray for us? All right, amen. Well, praise God. Thanks, brother Eli, for reading that chapter. It's great to be here. It's been two years since I've preached a sermon here to you guys. I can definitely tell you it's different. I mean, a lot of you obviously I've known and I've recognized. But man, what a change just from two years ago. It seems like it's grown, and that's a good thing. Congratulations on the building. I do want to thank Pastor Thompson for the hospitality and for inviting me. And like you said, he is a good friend of mine. Like I preached about at the Red Hot Preaching Conference. He's a guy that's met all those requirements. Somebody who's been loyal, somebody who's been steadfast, somebody I can trust. And that is so hard to find today. When you find people like that, man, you've got to keep a hold of them. Keep them close and don't let them go. Don't let silly things get in between you and them. But I can remember five years ago, it was five years ago when this church first started, when it was Verdi Baptist Church Vancouver. And I can remember Pastor Thompson was like, you're going to come down? You're going to come down? I'm like, yeah, I'm going to come down. But in the back of my mind, I was thinking, yeah, I'm going to come down. But there's no way I'm going to be able to continue to drive down there, because it's like two and a half hours one way. And after the first day, I was like, you coming back? I was like, yeah, I'll be back next week. He's like, you ain't going back to your old church. I was like, yeah, probably not. And he's like, you might as well just start preaching Sunday nights. And I was like, yeah. I was like, what about if Pastor Mendez says that's cool? He's like, I already asked him. I was like, well, I guess he knows. He already knew. He already knew. But it's been great to talk to you guys. If I haven't met you yet, if I get a chance right after the sermon, we'll have to leave rather quickly. But I'm excited. Hopefully, what I've got for you this afternoon will give you some value. So we'll just go ahead and jump right in. We're in 1 Kings chapter 1. And so we just read the story. You know the situation here. David is at the end of his life, right? He's having a hard time keeping body heat up. And just life has gotten to him. He's winding down. And you know the prophecy. The prophecy was that his son Solomon would begin to reign and take over the kingdom. However, there's a problem here. He's got another son who thinks that he's going to be the guy in charge, right? So what this guy does, he just decides, you know what? Well, I'm going to go ahead and at least try. I'm going to go ahead and try to assume the position of king here. Let's see what happens. So look down at verse number 5. 1 Kings chapter 1, look at verse number 5. It says this. It says, then Adonijah, the son of Hagath, exalted himself, saying, I will be king. And he prepared him chariots and horsemen. And 50 men to run before him. And his father had not displeased him at any time, saying, why hast thou done so? And he also was a very goodly man. And his mother bare him after Absalom. The title of my sermon this afternoon is The Disease to Please. The Disease to Please. I learned this morning from some of the brothers that I guess it's a book. So somebody wrote a book about it. I haven't read that book. And I guarantee you, even if we did, it would be totally different than what I'm about to say. So don't even have to worry about that there. And you know, not like I'm against reading the books and stuff like that. But I guarantee they're not gonna talk about it like we will. But looking back up here at verse number 6, it says, and his father had not displeased him. You know, I was reading this and I was thinking, you know, it's interesting that it doesn't say his father never chastised him about this. He never rebuked him. He never corrected him. He never, you know, did anything like that to him. But the word that the Bible preserves for us is displeased. And it's interesting when you think about that because that means that he never even attempted to annoy him or to dissatisfied him, to discomfort him. He didn't want any beef whatsoever with his son. And this is terrible because he knew the prophecy. He knew at some point that these two things were gonna collide. Adonijah and Solomon were gonna have to settle this issue out here because the prophecy was to Solomon. He knows this, right? But he's just letting this thing go. And, you know, you might think to yourself, okay, well, that's just because he's old age, you know, he's tired. You know, and I would almost believe that, but if you know anything about David, this isn't anything new. And we're gonna take a look at all of that. In fact, you can leave your place there and go to 1 Samuel chapter number 17, 1 Samuel chapter number 17. And so the topic is basically this. It's understanding the devastation that can be caused when we are given over to please other people. And I'm gonna actually dial this down to get a little bit more specific here in a moment. But one thing I want you to keep in mind here is that as this is going on, I mean, think about this here, right? There's a question in leadership. So what does that mean for the nation of Israel? Well, it means there's confusion, right? There's political turmoil going on is what that means, right? So if they were to be attacked during this time, that wouldn't be ideal, right? You know, like even with this country, the whole thing with, you know, Joe Biden and Trump and the elections, right? The world's laughing at us. They're just like, you know, what's going on with America here? They can't get anything settled. Everything's corrupt, you know? And I believe if we were to be attacked right now, it would be a very different story than it would have been even 40, 50 years ago, just because of just the political chaos that we're going through. And obviously, it's not as bad there. They don't have BLM running around Israel and Antifa, you know, all these idiots out there. But it is a problem because the prophecy's been known. This isn't the secret. It's not like, oh, you know, we don't wanna tell anybody that Solomon's supposed to reign. A lot of people know that. The prophets know that. David knows that. That's the way it's supposed to be. But because David isn't even willing to annoy his son with the truth, right, it's causing an issue. There's confusion in the land. And we're gonna take a look at that. We're gonna take a look at how to deal with that, because I'm sure that we can all relate to this in some aspect, okay? Now, what we're gonna do this evening is we're just gonna learn how to deal with this, because everybody in here, you get that feeling from time to time. When you're around people that are close to you or people that you're working with, people that you don't wanna have a fight with, you know, maybe they do something that's just not right, and you're having this thought, like, I really should say something. I really should maybe displease them, not fight with them, but I maybe should bring this up, maybe should correct them on this. But you have that old man, right, that flesh that just wants to pull you away and say, don't do it, it's not worth it. But I'm telling you, the consequences of not displeasing people, when they need to be displeased, are disastrous. It will ruin lives. I mean, think about this. It could possibly even ruin this nation if it didn't get corrected. And you know, I can definitely relate to this. You know, when I was a new parent, I got these three chubby cheek little kids running around, you know, and they're doing stuff, and it's silly. And it's like, man, part of me is just like, don't spank them, don't laugh, especially. My youngest, Kinley, you know, she could get me to life. Even Kylen, you know, when she was younger, she had these two little pom-poms who were just super cute, and she would do stuff, and I'd be like, where's your mom, you know? Let me get Jessica over here and she could take care of the discipline. But that's wrong, that's not the way it should be, right? Because what would happen if I were to raise those kids like that? I wouldn't be standing up here before you today because that means I wouldn't have been ruling my house well. Right, well, it's the same thing, you know, when I was a new supervisor. You know, I would just take over a crew, and it's like, you know, there's always problems, and I'd be like, man, I don't wanna start a fight with these guys, I just want them to do the work. You know what, but despite that feeling, we have to be strong enough, we have to be mature enough to learn that, you know what, sometimes people need to be displeased. And I let this happen to me when I was a new pastor, you know, I had a situation where we kicked someone out of church, and the bleeding hearts were like, we wanna have a meeting. And keep in mind, these bleeding hearts that came to me, they were upset about this, they were the ones telling me to kick this person out. They were like, he's bad, he's doing this, doing that, and then they like turned on me right after I did that. And you know, and I let this happen, I let them take me into a room, we talked about it, this guy's wife, she was talking down to me, and I was like, you know what, everything's new here, I don't wanna displease the situation to a certain point, and I just kinda let it go. I was like, maybe they'll change, maybe they'll get right. I have learned very quickly that that was a mistake, and I've just told myself, I'm not letting that happen again. Next person that even remotely talks down to me at my church is getting it some way, shape, or form. You gotta cut this stuff off quick, you gotta let people know, because if you don't, man, they will walk all over you. I mean, what do you think would've happened here in 1 Kings if David never did say anything? If he just told Nathan in Bath Street, hey, just go lie down, go take a nap, don't worry about it, it's gonna be fine. It would've been utter chaos is what would've happened. And we need to realize that. So you're there in 1 Samuel chapter number 17. So what I wanna do is I just wanna get a basic foundation here, because we're talking about King David, a man after God's own heart, and you need to realize that this was a man's man. I mean, this guy really loved God. You guys know that. This guy did so many different feats and just awesome things for God that it just makes you wonder, like, what happened? How were you like that with your own children? So let's pick this up here. 1 Samuel chapter number 17, look at verse number 33. So it says this. This is the passage about David and Goliath. It says, And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. Now, I heard somebody read this passage one time, and they're like, see, David was just barely above the age of a toddler. Okay, that's not what it's saying. He's just a young guy, okay? He's just young. He's not a toddler. He's not like seven or eight years old. And Saul's just basically saying, hey, this guy that you wanna fight, this guy that we're all afraid to fight, the entire nation is afraid to fight. He's been fighting since he was your age, okay? So verse number 34, it says this. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep. And there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he rose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. Now, look, I mean, that's insane, okay? Think about this. This guy is a youth, right? He doesn't have a lot of combat experience, right? But he gets here, he's working for Saul, he's Saul's employee, and he runs into the situation where he sees a need, he sees an opportunity. And you gotta kinda understand this here, the whole nation is afraid to fight Goliath, right? So they've got like this representative war thing going on where the Philistines are like, we'll send our best guy, you send your best guy, and whoever wins is basically gonna be the dominant force, is gonna be in control here. And David's like, why isn't anybody willing to fight this guy? He's like, I took out these animals, I smote a lion and a bear. You know, I had a pit bull attack me and my son down in Sacramento, and I was scared. I mean, I couldn't get my knife out, and I was like, my heart was racing, and I was thinking about this story afterwards. I was like, I had trouble with a pit bull, let alone a lion or a bear. But this guy's like, hey, no problem for me at all. Right, I got this in the bag, look at verse 36. It says this, thy servant slew both lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. I mean, how's that for courage? How's that for faith? How's that for a heart after God? Jump down to verse number 50. It says this, so David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. Verse 51, therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheaf thereof, and slew him and cut off his head therewith, and the Philistines saw their champion was dead. They fled. Keep your place there, because we're going to come back one chapter, but go to 2 Samuel chapter number 12. 2 Samuel chapter number 12. And so there you have it. You know, you have the passage that they won't teach you in Sunday school. Right, if you grew up going to church, you know, or you watch the Veggie Tales, you know they're not going to cover this. Man, they ain't going to make no Veggie Tales on this whatsoever, okay? I've told people out soloing this story here, this part of the story, and they're like, he didn't cut his head off. I'm like, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17, and then show them the lie. Whoa, that's what it says? Like, yeah, that's what it says. Because you go to a church that's super weak, right, that wants to actually please everyone, you're not going to get this truth, okay? But think about this guy here. No combat experience other than with the lion and the bear. He's willing to do what no one else is willing to do. I mean, think about it. That's not most people in Christianity today, right? I mean, think about that. That is awesome. What did he do after that? I mean, he beat down the Philistines. He was told by Saul, hey, I'll give you my daughter to wife, if you give me a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. He's like, no problem, he goes and gets 200. I wouldn't even, no one in here would even do one. Okay, we'd be like, no, I'm sorry, I'll find somebody else. Thank you very much, I'm good, okay? So this guy definitely wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, to do the work, whatever the cost, okay? So 2 Samuel chapter number 12 here. So this is later on in David's life. Basically the situation here, Joab has taken a city, which is called Rabbah, and he sends a message back to David and says, hey, if you don't get out here soon, this city is gonna be named after me. So David's like, all right, well, I'm gonna make a statement here, right? I'm gonna make a statement and let people know they're gonna name this after me. Look at verse 31, 2 Samuel 12 verse 31 says this, and he brought forth the people that were therein and put them under saws and under harrows of iron and under axes of iron and made them pass through the brickland. And thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem. I mean, think about that by itself. I mean, I left out a lot of stuff that David did, but I think one thing that we can all agree on here is that he was definitely a man of courage, right? So again, why was he able to go to war against his enemies, against God's enemies, but when it came to those that were closer to him, he wasn't able to even so much as displease them. What causes that? We need to know this. We need to look at these things. Go back to 1 Samuel, if you would, and go to chapter number 16, 1 Samuel chapter number 16. And so again, you know, I get it, you know, our type of churches, we have a lot of people that are extremely zealous. They're well-versed on the Bible. They go soul-winning. They do the works for God, right? Kind of like David. I kind of liken this movement to be like, you know, churches filled with people that are like David or want to be like David. You know, they want to be like the apostles, get beaten, go to jail for the gospel's sake. Super rare. However, look, if this could happen to David, where he could beat down all of his enemies, all of God's enemies, but still be afraid to displease those that were close to him, it can happen to any single person in this room. This is something that I believe we need to drive out of ourselves, because think about it. What's going on in 1 Kings when Adonijah is causing all this chaos? Well, they're not as strong as they could be. They're weak. So the actions of one man, one king with his child affected the entire nation. You're gonna see the same thing here in 1 Samuel chapter number 16. Look at verse number three. And so you know the story here. Saul's done. God's like, I'm done with this guy here, okay? Samuel, I'm gonna go show you who the next king is here. Look at verse number three. So he tells him this, says, And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do. And thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. Verse number four, And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? Verse five, And he said, peaceably, I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord, and sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. So understand this, what's going on here. Right, first of all, Samuel's like, okay God, if I go and I go do this, you know, and Saul finds out about it, he's gonna kill me. So God's like, hey, just go do the sacrifice. There's your out. You're good to go. It's perfectly legal. You're not lying. Everything's fine. So Samuel comes to town, and these people, the elders are scared. They don't know what's going on. They're like, whoa, what is the judge doing in our town? You know, what is the prophet, what is he doing here? Right, and so Samuel says, hey, get ready for the sacrifice. So this is a very big deal here. There's gonna be a lot of eyeballs, a lot of, you know, things happening here. And he goes and he has a conversation with Jesse. Right, and he says, hey, the next king is gonna come from your family. Bring out all your sons. Right, that's what he did. He told him, hey, bring all of your sons before me, because we need to figure out which one the Lord has chosen. Very interesting to understand that. Now, look at verse number six. It says this. And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. Right, so the first one, the first son, the oldest, he comes by and Samuel's like, yeah, this is it. And I bet Jesse was like, yeah, you know, look at this guy's buff. You know, he's got all this muscle. He's definitely gonna be the king. Even Samuel's like, yeah, this is gonna be it. What does God tell him? Nope, he says, I look on the inward, whereas man looks on the outward, right? And so he makes all seven of Jesse's sons pass by. And so now Samuel's like, man, what the heck's going on? The Lord hasn't chose any of these. So jump down to verse number 10. It says this. Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, the Lord hath not chosen these. And look, we've probably all been in this situation too, where you get, you're saved, you start coming to church, you start doing all the things, you start doing all the things that Pastor Thompson is preaching about. You're like, yeah, I'm gonna increase my Bible reading. I'm gonna start going soul winning. I'm gonna start doing these things. And all of a sudden, guess what? All hell breaks loose. All of a sudden you're getting phone calls from your family. Hey, I heard you're part of a cult now. How's that going for you? You start losing friends, people at your work are like, what's going on with you? How come you don't wanna come out with us anymore? And all of a sudden you're like, man, am I doing something wrong here? Right, but Samuel's kind of like having this moment like, what's going on? I thought I told you to bring all your children, all your sons out here. Look at verse number 11. And Samuel said unto Jesse, are here all thy children? And he said, neither remaineth yet the youngest. And behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. Now I get it. The youngest, he's with the sheep. That was probably his job. But what do you think about this? That Jesse didn't think enough of David to even bring him out to be considered for the position of king. Right, I mean, think about that for a second. You know, and I've heard some people, you know, I've been to a lot of different churches in my life, I've heard it preached that, well, it was because his mother, you know, he was born in fornication, stuff like that. It's like, you can't get that from the Bible, right? This dude obviously, you know, loved to tend to the sheep. That was his job, that was his position. But one thing that we can learn from this is that Jesse thought differently of David than he did his other seven sons. I think we can all agree on that. And look at the impact that it had later on in David's life. I mean, think about this, it's a form of rejection, is really what it is. You know, and I'm not standing up here saying like, you know, he was in an abusive family or anything like that. But I mean, you know, because that's how some people preach this, they're like, oh, you know, that's why he stuck around when Saul was casting the javelins at him, because he was, you know, used to being abused. Now that's just, he was just a man after God's own heart, he respected authority, okay? But it doesn't change the fact that Jesse did view him differently. And I believe that he probably overcompensated for that when he grew up and he had his own children because he never was able to address that, right? That was a problem. I mean, think about this, you know, the fact that he killed the lion, that he killed the bear, you don't think his brothers heard about that? Do you not think that Jesse knew about that? I mean, that'd be a pretty big deal. I know they didn't have Facebook, I know they didn't have Twitter, I know they didn't have Instagram back then, but I'll bet that they knew about that. Hey, what's that big bear doing out in the backyard there, David, what's going on? Oh, you know, he took one of the sheep, I got him, it's all good, it's under control. Okay, no problem, right? So again, what is it that caused David to be able to fight wars outside the home but not fight wars inside the home? And I'll tell you, it's because I believe that he had a little bit of an affection from rejection. I believe that, I believe that that somehow just maybe played out later on in his life. He just said, you know, maybe I don't wanna be like my parents, and a lot of times, you know, we're like that, I was like that, luckily it worked out great for me, because my mom, for example, you know, my mom and dad, they were both born and raised in San Francisco. And if you knew my parents when they were younger, I mean, everything that goes along with San Francisco was inside of them. My grandfather ran as a Democrat, he tried to become the mayor of San Francisco, I wanna say back in the 40s or the 50s, and he was a hardcore communist. He was a hardcore communist, and he ran on the Democratic ticket because that was the closest thing to communism there was back then. Thank God he lost, but a lot of those not values, a lot of that wickedness and stuff like that actually transferred onto my dad, you know, and a lot of stuff rubbed off on them. And so by the time they had me, they were trying to like make me into a liberal. My mom grew my hair out when I was a little child. She always wanted me to get my ears pierced, always wanted this stuff. I would be talking about queers and saying all this, you know, I can't stand those people, I hate them. Before it was even popular or unpopular, if you will, and they'd be like, you know, we don't know where you're getting this from, this is not how you were raised, you should respect everyone. I was like, I don't respect people like that, I hate them. You know, when I came back from the military, my anger intensified for queers, because back in the 90s, man, that was the lowest thing that you could be, was a sodomite. And so when I came home, man, my parents were like, I told you not to go in there, you know, and then they broke the news to me that my uncle's a San Francisco sodomite, right? Because I was gonna go visit him, and they're like, well, now we're afraid you're gonna hurt him. I was like, well, it's possible, you know? Thanks for letting me know. I was wondering why he never got married and never had children, you know? I don't know why it never dawned on me, but you know, it just wasn't a thing back then, you know? It just wasn't that popular. And so, you know, I can relate to that. So I overcompensated right off the bat. You know, with my kids, I'm like, girls, you're gonna be as feminine as possible. Kanan, I'm putting you in wrestling. I don't care if you wanna do it or not. I'm training you how to use a knife. We're going out to the woods. We're doing all this stuff, right? So luckily, I overcompensated. I don't even know if I overcompensated. Luckily, I just got myself back on track, but I'm sure you can relate. And you know, in other ways, I've failed. You know, other ways, I have failed. You know, discipline was lacking in my home. I had a problem throwing rocks at cars, unfortunately, when I was a kid. And my parents would always make excuses for me because they didn't wanna displease me. But yet, if I said something about queers, they were all over me, you know? And just absolutely ridiculous. So I've spent a lot of my adult life learning how I should live, right? And that's all of us. All of us can find ourselves in that position. You know, it is hard to sometimes displease those around us, but here's what you gotta understand. You have to realize this here, is that nobody here's perfect, right? Just because you're in a room full of Bible-believing Christians, and you hang out with them all the time, whatever the case is, you know, sometimes there are gonna be things that happen where you're gonna maybe need to displease that individual. And I see this all the time, where people are like, I don't wanna say nothing. Next thing you know, we've got a serious issue on our hand. Our church is, well, all of a sudden, we're not getting people saved. We've got like this aching situation going on where someone's took an accursed Babylonian garment, and I'm trying to figure out like, okay, where's the heretic at, you know? And then after it gets exposed, people are like, oh yeah, back then, he said this back then, did this, and I'm like, oh great, you know. That's how it always goes. That is how it always goes, but that's all right. We'll get it done here. So this is one of those sermons where I've got one point. I mean, I've got a lot of little points or whatever, but it is one point, one bottom line, and it's this. Your fear of rejection will cause organizational infection. Your fear of rejection will cause organizational infection. And so this isn't just in the family. This is everywhere. Wherever you work, wherever you are, wherever there is a leadership structure that you are a part of, the leader at any time, when they have the disease to please, you can bet your last dollar you've got a big problem, and that organization is headed for trouble. And this is why we in churches like this often find ourselves at battle a lot, right? Because people say, oh, I can't believe you kicked that person out, or I can't believe you pulled him in the office and rebuked my friend and all this and that, and it's like, hey, but if I don't do that, guess what's gonna happen? If we get under attack, who's gonna be left to stand because everybody's confused? We've got all this chaos going on, right? That's exactly what's happening in Israel. Now, if you would turn back to 1 Samuel, I'm sorry, 2 Samuel, go to 2 Samuel chapter number 13. 2 Samuel chapter number 13. So again, our fear of rejection will cause organizational infection. I hope you remember this. Understand this and learn what this means because every single person in here is going to deal with this, has dealt with this, and needs to learn how to manage this. Again, your boss at work, who's ever worked for somebody who has the disease to please everyone, right? It never turns out good, does it? It always leads to disaster every single time. Well, guess what? The king that is afraid to displease somebody, guess what? The nation always goes belly up. The parent, I mean, think about Eli, not Eli Lambert, but the Eli of 1 Samuel chapter one, two, three, you know? What happened because he wouldn't displease his sons? How did they turn out? Right, reprobates, sons of Belial, sons of the devil, right? And I'm not saying if you have a problem displeasing your kids, that's how they're gonna be, but you know what, it could happen. You never know, you have to understand that this is very dangerous. Now, let's talk about this. The pastor that has the disease to please, what happens? Who's heard of David Platt? David Platterpuss Platt, right? He's a megachurch pastor in Washington, D.C., and he came out not too long ago with basically preaching this white guilt, critical race theory, I'm ashamed that I'm a white guy, and all this garbage, I watched the clip. I had to watch it in chunks because I was just getting so angry, right? Just because, I mean, the Bible's clear, God has made all the nations of the earth of one blood. You can't control your skin color, that is ridiculous, but he's bought off into that lie, why? Because he wants to please everyone. He wants to please the Southern Baptist Convention, but he doesn't wanna be part of the Southern Baptist Convention. He wants to please these woke people, which they're not woke, they're a joke, and they're gonna make him go broke, right? That's what's gonna wind up happening. Because now he's facing, I guess he's facing a lawsuit, but his church is in turmoil because every time he gets an email from one of these BLM Antifa people, and they're like, you should call your church Melanin Church instead of McCleary or whatever it's called, he's like, you know, that's how people perceive us, and we've gotta change our ways. You know what? To hell with BLM and Antifa. They're weak, they can all drop dead. They're a bunch of faggots is what they are. Look, I got off the airplane over here in Portland, and it wasn't 10 minutes that went by before this idiot stepped in front of me with a hoodie on that said, what'd it say, it said, it said, burn down churches, not witches. Right, and had a picture of a church on fire, and then like a nice modest woman with like a kindling fire underneath her feet. What do you think about that? Hey, that's what this woke stuff's gonna get you. That's what that liberal commie agenda will do. And to think that there are people that would even go to this David Platterpuss Platts Church is absolutely terrifying, and it's absolutely insane. And what's even more insane is that we have a bunch of these so-called patriots around here that are saying, you know what? As soon as Biden comes to get the guns, man, we're gonna stand up and we're gonna take America back. No, you won't, because you're weak. You're gonna join them is what you're gonna do. It's over, it's done. So you know what? We, as God's people, better just set our hearts on the things of God and just be content and count ourselves blessed and worthy that he even countered us worthy to suffer for his name's sake. That's what we need to do. Not be worried about pleasing other people. Because this David Platt guy, his church is in utter chaos right now. I mean, they just have like some vote to vote in these elders and people are like, well, we're suing because it wasn't a legal vote. The same thing that's happening in America is happening in his little church. It's like a little representation of actually what is going on politically in Washington DC. I mean, that's how you can really think of it. Take all the garbage that goes on there in DC with Biden and all these commies. That's exactly what's going on in David Platt's church. It's not even a real church because the guy's like a Calvinist, right? Probably repenting your sins. I didn't look it up, but definitely, you know, false Bible version, false doctrine all over the place. They should just drop the church, drop any reference of the Bible and just be a communist organization. Why don't you just do that? Might as well. Instead of preaching to your people, you know, you should feel guilty for being white. You shouldn't feel guilty because of the skin color that you were given by God. Absolutely disgusting. Now, what I want to do though, is I want to show you where the disease to please leads. And I've already been alluding to it. I've already been talking to it. Second Samuel chapter number 13, obviously before the Adonijah incident, but this is important here. Look at verse 21. Second Samuel 13, look at verse number 21. It says this, But when King David heard of all these things, he was very rough. So here's the situation. I've been mentioning the story a lot because our church is in Second Samuel. And so it's kind of how the sermon was born. You know, there's a lot of stuff that goes on. I just been studying. I got a lot of ideas for sermons, but the story of Amnon and his disgusting love for his half-sister Tamar, that incident has already transpired. And so it says here in verse 21, that when David finds out about this situation here, that he's very rough. Now think about this. What did Absalom tell his sister Tamar when she came running out? Said, So he's basically training her to be passive aggressive. He's basically training her to accept learned helplessness. That's what he's doing, right? So David's not mad about that, but he's definitely mad about this. He's upset. Okay, look at verse 22. And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had forced his sister Tamar. And rightfully so, Leviticus chapter 20 verse 17 should have come into play. As hard as that would be, what does that say? That if you have that incident happen with a sibling, with your sister or your brother, you should be put to death. It's a harsh reality, but that's what should have happened. And guess what? The man after God's own heart, I'll bet he knew that. So he's upset. What happens? Look at verse 23. And it came to pass after two full years, Absalom had sheepsharism, Baal Hazor, which is beside Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king's sons. So you ask yourself, David was wroth, and then what happened? Two years went by, that's what happened. Absolutely nothing. We'll turn to Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. And keep your place here, because we'll come right back to it. But go, if you would, to Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. So obviously David was livid. He was upset, you know, but he doesn't wanna displease his children. It's the same thing. Because where does Amnon live during this time? In the king's court. Absalom's the one that is gonna wind up getting in the boot here, but I wanna show you what happens to Absalom here. And this happens to all of us, but Ecclesiastes seven, look at verse number seven. It says this, "'Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad, "'and a gift destroyeth the heart.'" So we understand that. We understand that a bribe destroys people. If you know somebody, a boss, or any kind of leader, that is keen to taking bribes, to taking gifts, in order to give an action, that is a corrupt individual. Ought to stay away from that person. But it says here, "'Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad.'" I believe that Absalom was wise. Unfortunately, he used that wisdom for wickedness later on. But because Absalom doesn't see justice being carried out, he goes nuts. He goes absolutely crazy. And what does he do? He's very calculated. He's very subtle. He doesn't speak either good or bad to his brother. You can go back to 2 Samuel. In fact, go to 2 Samuel chapter 19. 2 Samuel chapter 19. And how does that story end? He winds up killing his brother, right? What does Absalom do? Then he has to flee. And then after he flees, he's invited back for a season. There's obviously still tension between Absalom and David. And then what happens? He uses that time, he uses that opportunity to very subtly start winning people over to his side and for his cause. And then he leads a real insurrection against King David. And look, I get it. I get that David is distraught. This is his household. Unfortunately, God did tell him, "'Hey, the sword is never gonna depart from your house "'because of the sins of Bathsheba.'" And so there's a certain amount of protection I can't give you. However, any one of us who have had this type of issue happen, it would be absolutely just terrifying here. But in 2 Samuel 19, this is after Absalom has been killed. And you guys know the story. You're probably familiar with it. What was it that ultimately led to his death? What was his long hair? The thing that he shouldn't have had to begin with wound up being a snare. So he winds up getting a dart thrusted through. And Joab was wrong for wanting that because David's orders were clear, don't kill my son. He's like, I didn't say dead or alive. He said, I wanted him alive, okay? Now, should he have suffered? Should he have died? Yes, absolutely, because he's trying to overthrow the nation. That goes against God's law. Look, just because it's David's son doesn't make it any better, doesn't make it any easier. But what Joab is gonna tell David here, because David's sobbing, he's just out of control. Any one of us would be if we ever lost a child. I get that. I understand that. But I wanna show you something here in 2 Samuel 19. Look at verse number five. It says this. And Joab came into the house of the king and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters and the lives of thy wives and the lives of thy concubines. Verse six, in that thou lovest thine enemies and hatest thy friends. So this is, I mean, Joab is actually kind of right here because this is how the nation is perceiving him. Think about this. Because David wouldn't displease his children, this happened to him. And again, it didn't just affect David. It didn't just affect his family. It affected the entire organization, the entire nation. So this is why when you guys see things go on inside church and not just nitpicking, but things that are a real problem. When somebody's sticking their foot in the door out soul-winning, somebody's bowing to somebody soul-winning. You know, you got some kids, maybe they're grinding Play-Doh into the pews. It's okay to be like, hey, hold on, man, what are you doing? No, stop. It's okay to displease them. It's okay to nip that thing. You know, when people are weird out soul-winning and they're like, okay, so, you know, you don't have to repent of your sins, but honestly, if you really got saved, you'd be crying right now, right? And you, you know, and they start getting all weird and they're getting like on that border. They're like, are you preaching works? Like, what's going on here? Like, if you're really saved, you'll come to church, okay? And you'll get baptized. If not, we'll just kind of know that maybe you didn't really mean it. Maybe we'll try again next year. This stuff goes on. This stuff happens, okay? Look, it's our job to do something about that because your pastor will displease anybody for the right reasons. That's why he was ordained, right? And I believe that he's got a congregation of people here that are willing to be on board. Otherwise you wouldn't have this building, right? Think about that. So, hey, let's level up and let's make sure we don't forget about this because again, you know, when you see somebody who's new, who's fresh in, you know, and they're, they're doing the right thing, there could be this temptation to be like, man, I don't want to displease this person. I don't want to say anything to them because it's going to cause this beef. You know what? I want you to just let the beef happen and I'll show you what God says about that here towards the end of the sermon. And so Joab is telling him, hey, you know, it seems like you love your enemies and you hate your friends. The rest of that verse there in verse number six says, for thou has declared this day that thou regardest neither prince, I'm sorry, neither princes nor servants. For this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. Verse seven, now therefore arise, go forth and speak comfortably unto thy servants. For I swear by the Lord, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night. And that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now. So Joab is basically like saying, hey, you'll kill your enemies, you'll kill God's enemies, but you won't do anything to those in your family. You'll let those that you love kill you. And what does David do? He takes that advice and he realizes, yeah, the nation right now is about to crumble. It's about to completely split, right? I mean, there was already a fracture way before this, right? When David was reigning in Hebron and Ish-bosheth was reigning over Israel, you know, Abner's little puppet, right? So that, I mean, that has taken some time in itself if you know the story to actually heal. And so you can see how vulnerable it is. Anytime something happens, Israel's like, hey, to your tents, you know, away from this guy, we'll just leave. David realizes that, he understands that, and he knows something needs to be done. And so what he does is he goes and he addresses the situation. Turn to Proverbs chapter number 29. Proverbs chapter number 29. And so all that to say this, a lack of discipline is weakness. A lack of discipline is weakness. I've been on this kick lately where I keep mentioning this, and I probably just need to preach a whole sermon about this. But you know, there's nothing wrong with motivation. I think we all need motivation from time to time, but there is a problem when people get hooked on motivation. And I've seen this, it's just something I've observed in people, that when they have to constantly like go to YouTube to watch these motivational speeches, or these documentaries to get motivated, sooner or later, those people wind up getting out. And you know who that largely applies to? It applies to fanboys. I'm serious. You know, fanboys, you know, God bless them, we love them, but you need to become a fan of God. If you're gonna be a fanatic, be a fanatic like David was towards God, and towards his word. You know, so anytime we get these guys that come in, we immediately jump on them, and we just please them, and we tell them, hey, we have a 100% failure rate for fanboys who don't get right after eight months. Because I keep track. I do, I keep track. If you don't get off this fanboy wagon and get into your Bible, you will fail, because you need discipline. And when we just let these things slide, and we don't address them, because we suffer from the disease to please, guess what, people suffer. Look, we have to tell people the truth, no matter what. No matter how hard it hurts. That's why Paul told Timothy, hey, preach the word in season and out of season. It doesn't matter, because the truth hurts, but the truth is what we need to hear, and that's how we need to carry out our mission. We will not be successful as God's children in the long haul if we suffer from the disease to please everyone. You will never be able to please everyone. It's impossible. It's not going to happen. So just stop right now from even trying, and especially those in your organization. You guys that are leaders, you own businesses, or you're a leader at your work, you know what? Sometimes you need to displease those employees, because if you don't, they will not grow. They'll forgive you, but they're not going to forgive you if your organization crumbles, because you didn't have the guts to stop someone from stealing, because you didn't have the guts to stop somebody from being a jerk at the door. This is a big deal, you know? And it applies to us so much today, because we pride ourselves, and I get it. We've got the truth. We're out there in the trenches. You know, you guys had sodomites protesting you, and it's funny. We're like, yeah, we'll take on these queers. We'll take on these false prophets, whatever, right? But then all of a sudden, when it comes to each other and the beefs that we have, it's like, I don't know, or our children. And I've been there, man. I have been there. I know, I can sympathize 110%. So again, because Absalom wasn't disciplined, probably most of his life, he felt that he could take control, right? Same with Adonijah, because he wasn't displeased. Because these kids weren't displeased, they figured they could take control. And that's how I was when I was a kid. You know what, and I believe that's why God put it on my heart to go to the military, because God's like, I'm going to straighten you out, boy, one way or the other. And that worked, that did it. I was like, okay, I want out of here, Lord. I'm sorry for the rocks and all that stuff that I did. I just need to get out of here. All right, let's move on here. Proverbs chapter number 29, look at verse number 25. Proverbs 29, verse 25. It says this, the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. We need to realize this, we need to realize when we put our trust in the Lord, and we need to administer any kind of correction, when we need to displease somebody, you know what? What does this say here? We will be safe, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. But before that, what do we learn? The fear of man bringeth a snare. That's exactly what happened to David. That fear to displease his children, guess what? It led to a snare, which infected the entire nation. Look at verse 26. Many seek the ruler's favor, but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord. Many seek the ruler's favor. This is so true in any organization, right? A lot of times I'll notice the kids, they'll want to do stuff because they crave their parents' attention. There's nothing wrong with that. It's like, hey, pat the kids on the back. You know, reward them when they do things that are good. But when we grow up and you go to church, you go to work, there's these people that never learn, okay, that's cool with mom and dad, but in the workforce, you got to kind of earn that, right? Because these people come in, you know, we'll have sometimes people come in and they're like, I am so good. I mean, I've read the Bible like a half a time and we're like, okay. I listened to the Old Testament and then I read the whole New Testament. It's like, that's great, but that's like milk, man. You actually need to read the whole thing and apply it. What I tell my church all the time, if you're not applying, you're dying. You are dying. You know, and we look, we need to displease these people sometimes. Many seek the rule of favor. This is why I try to drive that fanboy syndrome towards the Lord as soon as I see it. You know, and I'm looking around here and I don't see a lot of that. In fact, I haven't seen any of it yet. A lot of you, I don't really know. So if you're a fanboy, I'm talking to you after the service. You know, we're going to have some words. I'm going to displease you, but you'll thank me in five years. When I come back, if Pastor Thompson has me come back, you'll thank me, okay? So turn to Psalm chapter 103. Psalm chapter 103. So again, David's nation is actually divided because he failed to acknowledge that it was his fear of rejection. He didn't want to displease his children. Why? Because he was afraid they'd reject him. Possibly could have been carried over, because of his father. So here's what we're going to do about this, is I got to get this thing stopped here. Psalm 103, I want you to look at this here, verse number two. And I get it, sometimes we just get exhausted. You know, you fight these false prophets, you're out stolen and you're fighting, the spiritual battle, it's real. The war wages on and then you get to church or you get to work, you get home and it's like, man, I got to deal with this now? Yeah, it's time to level up, man. It's time to get some endurance and just be a grinder, because there's none of those left today, it seems like. Just grind all the time. And sooner or later, God's going to give you that peace. But don't forget about this here. Psalm 103, look at verse two. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. We all look for jobs that have the best benefits packages. But you know, being a Bible believing Christian has the best benefits of any benefit program in the entire planet. Just because he doesn't come down and present you with a 401k and all this stuff, you know, like right off the bat and sign here, I got you, you're good to go, your medical's free, okay, and no commie strings attached, just because he doesn't do that doesn't mean we don't get these benefits, okay? So, I hate commies if you haven't noticed that. Look at verse number three. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. So, what are we doing right now? We're trying to learn, what do we do? Because we all have this desire, right, to like, ah man, I don't want to address this. I want to avoid this battle here. I'll do the other battles. I'll do the battles outside the home, but man, inside the home, inside the organization, inside the church, I just don't want to do it. We have to learn how to overcome that, and this passage is going to do that for us. Look at what it says in verse three again. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, and who healeth all thy diseases. Look, you're not going to get a disease because you displeased somebody. It's not going to happen. You're going to get fruit. You will get benefits. That is what is promised here. Verse number four, who redeemeth thy life, notice this, from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. Turn, if you would, we're getting close to being done here, but turn to 1 Peter chapter two, 1 Peter chapter two. So it says that God redeems our lives from destruction, who crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies. Just to kind of give you an example of that, obviously you guys know the story. Genesis chapter three, I'm going to read for you a couple of verses out of Genesis three. So you stay there in Peter. Genesis three one says this. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Verse two, and the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. Verse three, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. So what happened there? Why read that? Well, just to highlight for you the fact that that's the fall of humanity. And what did it include? A garden and a tree. What are we learning right now? We're learning how to apply this to our lives. We're trying to get the right perspective. I think a lot of times we fail because we just don't understand how great God's benefits are, how great his mercies are, how much he wants to deliver us from destruction. And look, you come to an awesome church that gives you truth week after week that you can use and apply to your life. Why? Because God's mercy is so abundant that he preserved his word for you. Look, there's churches all around this building, right? We were talking about that during soul winning. And you know what? Not a single one of those churches out there is gonna give you a shot of truth. Because when you read their doctrinal statement, what does it say about the Bible? It was perfect in the original manuscripts, which we don't have anymore. So of course they're not gonna apply anything because they don't believe anything. They're a joke, a sick, twisted joke. But yet we have the story of creation here, which we actually believe. And we realize humanity failed with the garden and with the tree. John 19, 41 says this. You don't have to turn there, stay in 1 Peter 2. But John 19, 41 says this. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid. You're there in 1 Peter 2, look at verse 24. It says this. Who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. So humanity messed up in the garden with the tree. And Jesus healed us in a garden on a tree. You know what I mean? We need to realize that. He is in the business of healing the mistakes that we made. We messed up. And he's provided a way for us to be saved. And you're saved, you're in here, you're born again. You've got the truth. Why wouldn't he care about the other ways that we've messed up? We've all met. We're just a room full of people that are messed up. But hey, thank God that you're not as messed up as that lunatic church right over here on the side with that woman pastor. You know, I bet you go in there on a Sunday if they even have services. I don't know what's going on. I didn't see anybody over there today, thank God. But you know, what's she gonna do? She's gonna pull the David Platt on you. Oh, you're white? You need to do some Hail Marys over here. Kneel down on a bed of rice. I mean, who knows? And by the way, these people, they don't like black people that come to our church or brown people. They say, oh, you're a traitor. It's not about the skin color. It's about burning this entire system to the ground is what it is. And you know what, when we have a bunch of leaders, so-called, they have the disease to please, they're enabling. David Platt needs to be arrested and locked up for the rest of his life, I believe. You see, that's kind of harsh. No, because you're, he's an American traitor is what he is. He is an American traitor because he is enabling communists to come into churches and to be put on a platform to destroy this country. He's helping the enemy. I think the United States government needs to arrest these people. So, I'm sure I'll get a message later. Oh, good thing we don't live in a theocracy. Good thing that Jesus is the king. You can say that right now, but you won't be saying that during the millennium. Because guess what? That rod of iron is real. These people, it's so bizarre to me that we'll have Christians, like, I can't believe you said that about these sodomites. That's so wicked and it's so wrong. You know, and I just start going off on that. Or I can't believe you're so harsh on these false prophets. I can't believe that. You should try to please everyone. You should try to be kind and nice to everyone. It's like, do you think that that's, is that the Jesus Christ of the Bible? Not even close. Have you ever, it's like, have you ever read Matthew chapter 23? Have you ever read the things that Jesus called the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes? You not call them hypocrites? But yet when we call people hypocrites, oh, how dare you? That's not very Jesus-like. That's not very loving. Well, see, the problem is we don't have that disease to please everyone, and thank God for that. But all of us can be affected by it on a lower level if we're not careful. Last place I'm gonna have you turn, Proverbs chapter 16, Proverbs chapter number 16. So again, our God is in the business of fixing things that we have messed up. We're promised in Psalm 103 that He's got benefits. He's the best in the world at giving benefits, right? He gives us promise, forgiveness for all of our iniquities. He heals our diseases. And again, don't forget my bottom line. Your fear of rejection will cause organizational infection. It will, it happens every time. Proverbs 16, look at verse number six. I'm almost done here. It says this, verse number six. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. And by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. And so here's the thing. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. You know, it's kinda like the old A-A thing. You know, you gotta admit you got a problem. You know, we as God's people, we need to be open when we hear the word of God. We need to be open with ourselves. We need to be honest with ourselves because that's part of this mercy. That is part of truth. And we need to say, is this me? Do I have this problem? And if so, you know what? It's better to fear the Lord so that you can depart from evil because that is what happens. When you get infected by this, guess what? Evil's coming. It's a 100% fact. It is a guarantee. Evil is coming. Verse number seven. When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Think about that for a second. When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. So the next time you're in a situation where you have to, and you know it's the right time to displease somebody, and you're like, man, I'm about to give over to the flesh and not do it, you need to remember this verse. Write this down. Memorize it. When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. You know what? Guess what's gonna happen? You will eventually get that peace back. I believe wholeheartedly, if David would have displeased his children, if he would have displeased Adonai, if he would have displeased Absalom, if he would have displeased those that were close to him, guess what? God will straighten that situation up. He's going to make even your enemy. So if they start to look at you as their enemy, you know what? As long as you're following the Lord, guess what? He's gonna make that situation into peace. It may not be instantly. It may not be next week, but it will happen. And at least you can lay your head down at night on your pillow and say, you know what? I did the right thing. I told that person the truth that they needed to hear. And now you know what? You spared your organization from an infection and possibly even a hostile takeover. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church. Lord, I just thank you for the blessings that you've bestowed upon these people, Lord. Pray you'd help us to be strong, Lord, and to not suffer from this disease that is just so prevalent in humanity, Lord. It affects all of us. And I just pray you bless the fellowship after the service, Lord. You be with us this week, Lord, and thank you for the souls that were saved today. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. Let's turn our hymnals to page 12. Green hymnals to page 12, Blessed Redeemer. Amen. Blessed Redeemer, page 12. Sing it out with me on the first. Up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful morn, While Christ my Savior, weary and worn, Facing for sinners, death on the cross, That He might save them from endless loss. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading, Blind and unheeding, dying for me. Father, forgive them, as did He pray, Meanwhile His light, blood flowed fast away, Praying for sinners while in such woe, No one but Jesus ever loved so. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading, Blind and unheeding, dying for me. On the last. Oh, how I love Him, Savior and Friend, How can my praises ever find end? Through years unnumbered on heaven's shore, My tongue shall praise Him forevermore. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading, Blind and unheeding, dying for me. Amen. Thank you for watching. . . . .