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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] All right, good morning everybody, and welcome to Sunday morning service at Shield of the Faith Baptist Church. And it's great to see everybody here this morning on Smiling Faces, ready to sing Praise unto God. So let's turn to song number 343, and we'll start off with Revive Us Again. Let's grab that hymn book directly into the seat in front of you. 343, revive us again. Praise the O God, on the first. We praise thee, O God, for the Son of thy love, for Jesus, who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for thy spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain, has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with thy love, may soul be rekindled with fire from above. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. Amen, Brother Moses, will you open us with a word of prayer, please? Amen. All right, let's turn to Psalm 15, right at the front of your hymn book, Psalm 15, lead me to Calvary. Number 15, lead me to Calvary. King of my life, king of my life, I crown thee now, thine shall the glory be. Lest I forget thy thorn crowned brow, lead me to Calvary. Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget thy nagony, lest I forget thy love for me, lead me to Calvary. Show me the tomb where thou wast laid, tenderly mourned and wept, angels in robes of light arrayed, guarded thee whilst thou slept. Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget thy nagony, lest I forget thy love for me, lead me to Calvary. Let me, like Mary through the gloom, come with a gift to thee. Show to me now the empty tomb, lead me to Calvary. Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget thy nagony, lest I forget thy love for me, lead me to Calvary on the last. May I be willing, Lord, to bear daily my cross for thee. Even my cup of grief to share, thou hast borne off for me. Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget thy nagony, lest I forget thy love for me, lead me to Calvary. Amen. All right, well, good morning. Welcome to Shield of Faith Baptist Church. If you need a pen or something like that, just raise your hand and we'll get you one. So let's go through these announcements here real quick. Front page of your bulletin, weekly church service time, Sunday mornings at 10.30, Sunday evenings at 6, and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Underneath there's a list of our soul winning times. We've got Saturday mornings at 10.30 meeting right here. Sunday afternoons at 2 with Brother David. Mondays at 6.30 with Brother Mauser. Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Brother Briley. And Thursdays about 6.30. So again, if you do want to go Thursdays, don't forget to call, text, let me know, 208-391-5323. Praise report. So for August, or August and October. Man, this time is going quick. Yeah, August we have five. No, October we've got five. Five salvations, 83 year to date. Let's see here, back page. So tonight we'll be in 2 Samuel chapter number 19. And don't forget about the chili cook-off. That'll be after the Sunday evening service on October 31st. And I brought the part of the reward. So there we go. Look Kara's eyeballing this here. So it's this plus the gift card, right? So Kara says she's taking this home until Mike gets his chili in order. I'm just kidding. All right, we'll see. We'll see what happens. See if we still have a church left this year. All right, so underneath there, let's see. We have Kara's baby shower, November 6th at 3 p.m. And a baby sprinkle for Miss Rachel and Brother Mike. We're gonna sprinkle Mike this time. So again, it's not a baptism. It's like a partial baby shower. It's a baby shower without all the work. That's a good way to look at it. It's a cheater shower is what it is. So don't forget about that. Let's see here. What else? Ah, birthdays and anniversaries for October. So next up will be at the end of the month, Miss Melissa's birthday. So I'm looking forward to that because it's your first year, we won't sing to you. We might have Kevin sing. I'm not sure yet. We got it. I'm just kidding. This week's memory verses Proverbs 22 verse 8, which says remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. We are a family integrated church. And what that means is we don't separate children from their parents for any reason. But if you do need privacy, there's a daddy-baby room right over here and a mother-baby room right across the hallway over there. Let's see here. Don't forget to turn your phones off. Place them on silent so they're not a distraction. And there's still a little bit of food left on that table over there and some clothes back there and different things. So take whatever you would like. And the very bottom line says, if you strive for man's approval, you will earn God's disapproval. And that was from last Sunday morning. And so we're going to have one more song before we receive the offering. All right. Let's grab those hymn books. One more time and turn to song number 97, I Need Thee Every Hour. Amen. Song number 97. 97, I Need Thee Every Hour. On the first. I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can peace afford. I need thee, oh, I need thee every hour, I need thee, oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee. I need thee every hour, stay thou near mine. Temptations lose their power when thou art nigh. I need thee, oh, I need thee every hour, I need thee, oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee. I need thee every hour, enjoy your pain. On quickly and almighty more life is paid. I need thee, oh, I need thee every hour, I need thee, oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee. I need thee every hour, most holy Lord. Oh, make me thine deed, thou blessed Son. I need thee, oh, I need thee every hour, I need thee, oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee. Amen. All right, well, let's go ahead and pray. Thank you so much, Lord, again for allowing us to be able to meet here this morning. I just pray that you bless the service, Lord, and everything that we have going on today. And again, I just pray that you be with us as also we go throughout the week, Lord, and execute your mission upon this community. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. Morning, everyone. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 19. Chapter 19, Deuteronomy. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Exodus. I mean numbers and Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 19. Starting in verse 1. When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwelleth in their cities and in their houses, thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare thee away and divide the coast of thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit into three parts that every slayer may flee thither. And this is the case of the slayer which shall flee thither that he may love, whoso killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past, as when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the health, and lighteth upon his neighbor that he die, he shall flee unto one of those cities and love. Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him, whereas he was not worthy of death inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. Wherefore I command thee, saying, thou shalt separate three cities for thee, and if the Lord thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and giveth thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers, if thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in his ways, then shalt thou add three cities more for thee beside these three. That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee. Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of all time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth, at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong, then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days. And the judges shall make diligent inquisition, and behold, if the witness be false witness, and have testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother, so shalt thou put away the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. And thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot. Brother Brierley, you want to pray for us? Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for this church, and for the word of God, and for the possible stand-up that has to do with survival. We just pray that you will all hear the message of the church, receive the message, and have to do the lesson for us. We just thank you for everything you do for us in this church. Good luck. Amen. Amen. All right. So we're in Deuteronomy chapter 19. We're going to break that down here in just a moment. But the title of the sermon this morning is called The Ghost of the Moving Goalpost. The Ghost of the Moving Goalpost. And I'm going to explain that here in great detail this morning, but basically what we're talking about is dealing with people that like to shift and move expectations on you. Let me show you an example of what I'm talking about. So some of you may remember this here. This is a church favorite for a long time. So let's say I'm like, all right, Lonnie, you can't hit this dartboard from where you're sitting. Let's say he throws a dart and he hits the target. I'm like, okay, that's not what I was talking about. You can't hit the bullseye. Throws another one, hits the bullseye. And I'm like, see, you couldn't even do that on the first try. That's what I meant by you can't hit the target. That attitude is what I'm talking about. This is a hot button with me. I've lived this several times in my life. You see this all the time. I'm talking about what makes people do that, how to deal with them and how to beat them at their own game. That's what we're going to be talking about this morning. You see this all the time with many things. For example, you might hear a church start-up. They'll start preaching things that sound right. Oh, hey, if you want to be a good Christian, why don't you come down here and go soul-winding. We'll go knocking doors. We'll go try to get people saved. It doesn't matter. I know you're new. I know you're not experienced with this sort of thing. Just come on down. And then what they'll do later on is they'll up the ante and say, well, you know, it's not good enough now that you're showing up to soul-winding. You're not living your life right. You're preaching a false gospel with your life, and so therefore you're not meeting the expectations. And it's like, wait a second, man. Where did that come from? Is that what God told Jonah? I'm not going to use you now because you disobeyed me. No, he still can use you. Look, I don't want to get too far off in that. I'll come back to that in a moment. But you can see, actually most of us saw that this week. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll fill you in after the service. Here's an example of somebody moving expectations or the goalpost. Now, if you would, look at verse number 14. The Bible says this. It says, Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. So with that being said, we're going to break that down here. Now, it's important to understand what's going on here. So God is giving the children of Israel instructions basically in human relations or civil matters in this chapter. And so what's going on now is that that first generation that saw the Red Sea split and that observed Moses come down from Mount Sinai with the law. They were disobedient. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. And so that generation, by and large, has been removed. They passed on. And so there's this new generation that's sitting in the plains of Moab. And they are about to go into the Promised Land. And God's giving them instructions on how they are supposed to function, how they are supposed to operate. We just read the chapter, and we learned about the cities of refuge. So for example, if somebody is guilty of manslaughter, right? They didn't mean to kill somebody, but they accidentally did. There's supposed to be a city for those people to flee to. However, if somebody lies in wait and commits the act of murder, what did God say in the chapter? He said, well, the avenger of blood is to go retrieve that person and put them to death. And the people of the land are not supposed to have pity on that person. In fact, it's mentioned twice in this chapter, right? He talks about it again after a person or a couple of people have a controversy, right? So two people have a matter that they can't resolve by themselves. They go to the priest. They go to the judge. God says that that priest and that judge are to diligently inquire into the matter. They're supposed to seek God's counsel. They're supposed to know the law. They are supposed to resolve the situation. And whatever the punishment is, whatever the punishment is that they come up with, God is saying, hey, for the people, you ought not to have pity on that situation here. And so that is what's going on here. Moses is at the end of his life. Remember, he got mad. And instead of speaking to the rock, what did he do? He smote the rock. And so God said, you're not going to go into the promised land, but you will see it. And so that's what's going on right now. The children of Israel, they're in the plains of Moab. They are awaiting Joshua's takeover so that they can go ahead and go into the promised land. Now, real quickly, go to Deuteronomy chapter 27, Deuteronomy chapter number 27. And so the verse that we open the sermon with is, thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of all time have set in thy inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land of the Lord, that God giveth thee to possess it. So God's saying, hey, when you get into the promised land, the land is going to be divided up. You know, different tribes are different sizes. They're going to get different sizes of lands. And you just read the chapter. God said, you're going to dwell in the enemy's houses. You're going to take their possessions. You're going to take their land. And so with that being said, he's saying, hey, once you're established and you're settled and you're rooted, you know, respect these boundaries. Respect this landmark. Don't move them. Don't try to defraud your neighbor. Don't try to steal from them. Don't try to rob them. And just to give you a good definition of landmark, it's an object or a feature of a landscape or a town that is easily seen and recognized from a distance, especially one that enables someone to establish their location, okay? That is a good definition there. And God's just basically saying, hey, there's coming a time where we're going to set these up, okay? And it is what it is. Don't be envying your neighbor's property. Don't be trying to steal it. Don't be trying to move that landmark. Well, what we're going to do today, this morning, is kind of look at that metaphorically, because people do this all the time, right? For example, you'll go to work, and your boss, you know, might be a narcissist, and this tactic is very common with these types of people, people that think excessively well of themselves. They will often set these expectations, and then when you meet them, they'll redefine them, and they keep moving the goal post, and they're doing that for a reason, which we're going to take a look at. But in the same way that God says it's theft when you remove your neighbor's landmark, guess what? When your boss, when you, when we do this, it's fraud is what it is. It's not right. It's damaging, and it's very, very dangerous. Like I said, I have experienced this so many times in my life. I've seen it at work. I've seen it in churches. I've seen it all over the place, right? You know, now in today's day and age where we have the Internet, it's very easy to see what's going on in a lot of other churches and a lot of other organizations, and you can sniff this out a mile away, and you'll see why I'm so upset about this and why this is so damaging here in a moment, but think about this. You know, people are always moving the goalposts on salvation, right? I mean, you see that all the time. You know, you ask somebody, hey, if you were to die today, are you 100% sure you'd be on your way to heaven? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure I'm positive. It's a free gift. It's all by grace through faith. I believe that. Great. Do you think there's anything you can do to lose it? Well, if you don't live right, if you don't follow the commandments, you know, what does that tell you? That they're going to a place that is preaching the goalposts of salvation like this, you know, and it just keeps moving. It just keeps moving. It just keeps moving, and that's a terrible thing. You know, people in relationships will often do this. They'll set boundaries. You know, oh, you know, I'm a godly Christian, and, you know, it's good for a man not to touch a maid. It's good for, you know, a man not to touch a woman, and then they'll be like, well, you know, we can hold hands. Oh, we can be in a car. Oh, you know, we can do all these things. Oh, you know, we can kiss, and then it just goes on from there, and the next thing you know, that goalpost is removed so far that you're in all kinds of deep, deep trouble. People do this for friendships, for example. You know, you can find yourself in a situation where you really maybe initially thought, you know, I got a lot in common with this person, you know. We're kind of getting along, but they keep yo-yoing you along. They keep moving the carrot. They keep moving that goalpost and changing the expectations on what it means to be their friend, and I'm going to show you that this morning. Deuteronomy 27, look at verse number 17. So you're going to find this word landmark in the Bible four times, but landmarks one time in the book of Job, and it's always going to point you to when it's moved, it's fraud. Look at verse number 17. You're there in Deuteronomy 27. Look at verse 17. It says, Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark, and all the people shall say amen. Now go to Proverbs chapter number 22. Proverbs chapter number 22. And so God is saying there in that verse, cursed be the person that removes his neighbor's landmark. Why? Because it's his property. It's what God has given him. It's his inheritance. It's what he is supposed to maintain, but the Bible is very clear that all the people are supposed to say amen. So this is something that we are all to be in agreement on, and I think we could all sit here this morning and say, yeah, we should all be in agreement. You know, when you tell somebody this is what you expect, don't change it on them. Don't keep moving that goal post on them, because you're defrauding your neighbor. You're defrauding your brother in Christ. You're defrauding your brother, your sister in what God has given them or what you are entrusting them with. Proverbs 22. Look at verse 28. It says this, remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. So by the time you're in Proverbs chapter 22, obviously the nation has been established for a long time, and it looks at it as an ancient landmark. So this is a statute. This is a precept that was supposed to be maintained forever for all time, and he's saying don't do that. Go one chapter over. Chapter number 23. And so this is, again, a teaching or a doctrine that should be passed down from generation to generation. Proverbs 23. Look at verse number 10. It says remove not the old landmark and enter not into the fields of the fatherless. So you say, man, what does that mean? How does that apply to today? Well, obviously God knows humankind, and he knows that there's going to come a day that after you get your property, after you get your land, you're not going to be content with it. You're going to want to control more, because you're going to get filled with pride. And he says once you get to that position, don't get greedy. Don't get covetous. Don't try to go out and defraud your brother. But, again, how do we do this today? Well, for example, I think the best illustration is probably the government. They do this all the time. Dr. Fauci is doing this on a regular basis. Wear a mask. Wear two masks. Don't wear them. Get the vaccine. It just keeps changing. They keep moving that goal post, and you ask yourself why are they doing that? Are they really that incompetent? I don't think they're that incompetent. I think they have an agenda is what that is. Now go to Matthew chapter number 23. Matthew chapter number 23. And so, again, this is just a tactic that people use to manipulate other people. It's the same thing when it was done in the nation of Israel. It's the same thing when the city does it, and they come to your house, and they're like, hey, we did a survey, and actually you owe us five feet all around your home. Again, it's a thing. It is what it is. It's manipulation. It's fraud, and it should not go on in the house of God, first and foremost. Now I'm going to give you the key thought for today, which is this. People that shift expectations are pulling you into their planned accusations. People that shift expectations are pulling you into their planned accusations. You have to understand, when you experience this, when you're at work, you're in a relationship, you are somewhere where this is taking place. You need to realize that you are being set up for something, okay? And I'm going to show you that here in Matthew chapter 23. So if you would, look at verse number 1. It says this. It says, Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. And so what is Jesus saying there? He's saying, hey, look, you've got this group of scribes, and you've got these Pharisees, okay? He's like, and they're sitting in the seat of Moses, meaning they claim to have the knowledge of the law, and they're teaching the law, and they did, right? But they did it without authority and without power. But look at verse number 3. It says this. It says, All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. So he's saying it's not necessarily everything that they teach you that's wrong. He's saying, but the way that they conduct themselves is not right. So what they would do is they would teach a law, and it would be accurate. They would read from the Scripture. But then they would go on and build up these expectations that people couldn't meet. Look at verse number 4. It says, For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. And how many people in here have seen this in life, seen this at work, or seen this even in your own families, where people will just come up with these expectations? And it's like, you yourself can't even do that. You want to talk about, oh, I'm not good enough. I can't meet your standards, when you can't even meet them. And so I would like to say another statement, and that's this. People that shift expectations are fearful of their limitations. It's so true. It's so true. People that often do this, that will shift their expectations, they are fearful of their limitations. So instead of taking a hard look at themselves, saying, no, I'm really not that good at whatever it is I'm doing. I'm really not that good at my job. I'm really not that good of a friend. I'm really not that good of a husband or a wife or whatever it is. Instead of just taking ownership of that and trying to improve it, it's easier to move the goal post and to move the standard and make other people look bad, and that's exactly what these people were doing. They were always doing that. Oh, show us a sign, Jesus. Show us something. You know, prove it, even though he was doing that in his whole ministry, doing miracles, teaching the gospel with power, and doing all of these things. And what would the Pharisees and scribes do? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, right. You walked on water because you can't swim. Isn't that pretty much their attitude, by and large? Look at verse number five. It says, but all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. Love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues. And greetings in the marketplace and to be called of men, rabbi, rabbi. So again, they do this to be seen of men. And that is their goal. That is their priority. It's to control their environment, to control their atmosphere, to control how they are perceived by other people. That was the goal of the scribes and the Pharisees. I think it's interesting, though, how Jesus didn't mention the Sadducees. You know, he's like, look, the Pharisees and scribes, you know, I'll give credit and do what it's due. You know, they do teach, but he doesn't mention the Sadducees. Why is that? Well, because they didn't believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe in angels. You know, they were like your original manuscript only guy today, right? It's just like, well, you know, I don't think it really meant that. I don't think it really says that. That's basically a Sadducee. And Jesus doesn't even give them credit for sitting in the seat of Moses. Now if you would go to 1 Kings chapter 20 where we're going to spend most of the sermon this morning, 1 Kings chapter number 20. So again, I've got this sermon boiled down basically into this phrase. People that shift expectations are pulling you into their planned accusations. You've seen that with the scribes. You see that with the Pharisees. They were always doing that. They'd set up something and say, all right, guys, I'll bet Jesus can't do this. He'd go out and do it 10 times better than what they, you know, said. And they'd be like, no, no, no, that's not what we meant. You know, that's not what we meant at all. But you have to understand that they already had a way to try to entangle him in his talk or a way they wanted people to perceive him before they even moved the goalposts because that is what people do. And you're going to see that here in 1 Kings chapter 20. Now we've gone over this passage here recently. I think within the last couple of months. And so we're going to look at Ahab here. So obviously the situation, the nation of Israel is no longer under one king. Remember they had Saul. They had David. They had Solomon. And so they had about 100 years, a little more than 100 years of basically having a king with one, I'm sorry, with all 12 tribes under that king. And then they split after Solomon died. And so the northern kingdom of Israel during this time in the Bible is ruled by a guy named Ahab. Okay. And he's about on his way out. But he's in trouble with the Syrians. And you're going to see that basically the Syrian king named Ben-Hadad, it's really more of a title but we'll get into that some other time. He has already taken captive. He's already besieged and started waging war in Israel. And he's besieged Samaria. Look at verse number 1. It says this. It says, In Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria gathered all his hosts together, and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses and chariots, and he went up and besieged Samaria and warred against it. So he's got forward momentum. He's got steam going here. And look what happens next. In verse 2 it says this. It says, And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-Hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine, thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest are mine. Right. So Ben-Hadad sends messengers to Ahab. And he says, Hey, here's what I expect. I just took your capital city. Right. I've got all this military supply, all these things here. You don't stand a chance. And he says, But this is what I want from you right now. I want your gold. I want your silver. I want your family. And look at the answer that he gives here. Verse number 4. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine and all that I have. Right. So he complies. Okay. That's the expectation. That's the standard. No problem. I'll give you my family. I'll give you my riches, whatever. Now, it doesn't say specifically here, but Ahab could possibly be thinking, well, maybe he's just going to put us under tribute. Maybe he's not going to actually rip my family away. It doesn't say that. But, you know, I would hope that would be what he was thinking. Not just so weak and cowardly as, yeah, I'll just give you all my money and my wife and, you know, my wives and my children. That's just a soy boy move to the highest degree there. But look at verse number 5. It says this. And the messengers came again and said. So understand that this is taking place over a process of time. Because, again, they didn't have instant messenger. It wasn't like, you know, they were texting back and forth or even sending letters. They're sending people to relay these messengers or these messages. So Ahab's like, okay, I see your expectations are Ben-Hadad. I'm going to comply. No problem. Verse number 5. And the messengers came again and said, Thus speaketh Ben-Hadad saying, Although I have sent unto thee saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver and thy gold and thy wives and thy children. Verse 6. Yet I will send my servants unto thee tomorrow about this time. And they shall search thine house and the houses of thy servants. And it shall be that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand and take it away. Okay. It's like, well, hold on. Wait a second here. You just said you were going to take all my money and my family and I agreed to it. All right. So Ahab's like, I just said I was going to play your game. I was going to meet your expectations. What does Ben-Hadad do? Well, he moves the goal post. He takes that landmark that he set up. He wants more. And Ahab's like, what am I going to do now? But the question is for the first point, why does Ben-Hadad move the goal post on Ahab? And you have to think, what did we just read here? What's the goal of Ben-Hadad? Well, it's control. Right? He just took Samaria. He's warring against Israel. And so now what he wants to do is he wants to put the king down. He wants to make sure that the king knows he's not really the king. He's just the puppet. And so the first point that I want to make this morning is this. People, especially narcissists, move goal posts to manipulate and control. Okay. Ben-Hadad knows that if he's going to be successful, if he's going to take the entire nation and fulfill his will, he's going to have to control the king. And if you control the king, you control the governors. You control the elders. You control the entire system. And that is what Ben-Hadad wants to do. And so that's what he's doing. He's just messing with him. And so when people do that to us in the workforce, they are doing it because they want to control. They want to control, like I said at the beginning, they want to control their image. They want to control how they're perceived. They want to control how other people perceive them. And instead, like I said, instead of just being a man, instead of just being a woman, instead of just being a decent human being, what they'll do is they'll move the landmark. They will move the goal post to make themselves look better. That is what people do. That is exactly what this guy is doing here. And what this does is it keeps you off balance. It keeps you concerned. It keeps you fearful. It keeps you caged mentally and physically. This is physically exhausting here when this happens to you. You know, they will do this to make sure also that they're dissatisfied with you. Because sometimes, you know, I'm not saying all these people are extremely wicked or reprobates that do this, right? Sometimes people want to find a reason not to like you so that they can achieve their will. And one of the ways they'll do that is by moving the goal post because they build this thing up in their minds and they're like, okay, if he doesn't meet this, if she doesn't meet this requirement, now I'm going to be mad. Now I'm going to be upset. Now I've got justification. They start lying to themselves and they start to believe that lie and they start to execute that plan. That's exactly what, you know, you'll hear stuff like this, and I've heard this myself, I can get 20 guys to replace you right now. You know, I'll never forget this. When I was in Japan, the last time that I was there for six months, I worked for a guy who was an extreme narcissist. And he didn't like me because, you know, he just kind of knew my reputation. I was up and coming. I knew my job very well. And he would always do this. He wouldn't just do this to me, but he would do this to almost everyone in our crew. He'd be like, okay, you know, go on board the aircraft carrier. You're going to run this system here. You're going to do this job. And he would tell us the expectations. He would tell us the standards. And obviously we have processes that we have to follow. We all know that. We would go do that job. We'd be getting compliments from the officers and the different people on board the ship. And then he'd come on and be like, I wouldn't have done it like that. You know what, I could just send you home. You know, that was a big common thing they would do. I'll just send you home. Because everybody wanted to be there. Well, most everybody wanted to be there. You know, I could replace you with 10 guys. I could replace you with 20 guys. I could replace you with little kids and they would do a better job than you. And they're always moving the goal posts. That's what this guy would do to us. And you know what it did? It cost me money. That's what it did. Because I didn't want to work Saturdays. I didn't want to work any overtime. And I'd be like, I'm not going to work for this guy any more than I absolutely have to. And so it defrauds you of your efforts. It defrauds you of your mental safety that you're supposed to have. Hopefully if you're at work or especially at church. But you have to understand that control is the goal. That is why people do this because they are trying to control you. And you say, why is that? Okay, great. Big deal. You need to know when someone's trying to manipulate you. You need to know when someone's trying to control you so that you can respond accordingly. Because why? We are ambassadors for Christ. We can't act like the world. See, a lot of people I work with, they would just start cussing and flipping out and be like, you know what, I'm going to take you outside and do all that stuff. And that never works. You know, even though that feels good, it never works out for the better, especially when you're God's child. Now, look at verse number seven. So again, point number one, control is the goal. It's manipulation. That is why Ben Haddad is doing this to Ahab. He wants to mentally control him. Look at verse number seven. It says this, then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief. For he sent it to me for my wives and for my children and for my silver and for my gold, and I denied him not. How would you, I mean, you know, here, I'll just tell you this here. I would rather have Ahab than Joe Biden. You know what I mean? I'm just going to say that right now, okay? Ahab is weak and pathetic as he was. He's probably better than any politician that we have today, okay? But he's like, look, I'm so weak. I was willing to give him my family and all my wealth and resources. Why? And he's actually bewildered. He's like, I don't get it why he doesn't want to just comply. I don't understand why he just keeps moving to goal posts. Ahab is literally bewildered. He's literally just blown away, and he doesn't understand why Ben Haddad's doing that. And if you're an elder at this time, you'd have to be thinking like, I guess we just deserve you. You know, we must have really messed up with God, and they did, and that is why Ahab is the king. But, I mean, that's just insane here. And so here's the second point that I want to make this morning. If you play the game, they will make you feel lame, okay? If you play the game, they will make you feel lame. And that's their tactic. That is their goal. They want to keep you off balance and feeling like garbage, okay? So when you don't recognize what's being done, it can literally change who you are. Because you're like, wait a minute. I know I'm a good worker. I know I'm a good friend. I know I'm a good spouse. I know I'm a good, you know, in relationship. Whatever it is. I'm a good church member. All of these things. And you know that, and you know you're working hard, but when somebody just keeps you off balance, it's because you're playing the game. Okay? You're playing the game. And then all of a sudden you're like, man, like, what's wrong with me? And you start questioning yourself. And then you're like, well, I got to start changing things. And the next thing you know, you're sacrificing your real friendships. You're sacrificing your other tasks. You're sacrificing your other duties and the other things that you're supposed to be doing. All because of one person who is controlling you and manipulating you mentally. And this is a very sad, a very, very dangerous thing here. Now, just to kind of illustrate this again. So, this week here, a pastor over in Tennessee, and I'm not going to name his name because he's not worthy of that. But, you know, he was basically spitting off accusations in a sermon that people like us in our church, you know, that we're venomous. Okay? Now, do we have problems? Absolutely. Are there people out there that say horrible things and do stuff and attack people? Of course there are. Of course there are. For sure. But you're going to find that attitude in every church, in every organization, in every area of life. And I'm not saying that that's here. I'm just saying that that's just a part of life. Okay? And so, what he basically was saying is that, okay, well, you know, you got all these people that are super zealous for knocking on doors and trying to get people saved and going out there and preaching the gospel. But yet, they, you know, sin. Or they have sins in their lives and they're not cleaning up their lives. Okay? And you got to stop and just kind of think about that for a second. Okay? Why would you say something like that? Why would he do that? Well, if you know anything about the guy, okay, he lost his job because of preaching against the sodomites. Okay? And if I know human nature and I know how people are, right, they expect a return in that sacrifice. And when their YouTube channels don't grow to 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10K subscribers, they start getting upset. They don't say that. But what they do is instead of looking at their selves and what they preach and what they teach and how much work they're actually putting into their ministry, instead of being honest with themselves, what they'll do is they'll move that goal post and say, oh, you know, the reason why all these people aren't giving to my church and my ministry and subscribing to my channel is because they're sinful and because they're all fanboys and because they all suck. They'll never tell you this. But that's what it is. That is why they do that. They are doing that for control. And you say, how do you know that? Because he made a follow-up video when he was called on the carpet for it and he wouldn't answer the challenge because what he said in his sermon was, you know, in a lot of these churches, there's people in there that are divorced that are praying for their wives to die so they can become pastors. That's what he said. That means this church. That means our friends. That is absolutely absurd. I don't know anybody that would do something like that, and I'm sure they're out there, okay? I'm sure they're out there, but does that mean that we're all venomous? Does that mean that we're all dead? Does that mean that we're all trash and garbage and that we just need to stop soloing because we're preaching a false gospel with our lives? Look, you can roll down coal here, right? Have somebody cut you off. Give them the salute. Yell at them. And I'm not saying you should do this, but I'm just saying, you know, and then show up to soul winning. Go knock on some doors over here. They don't know that you did that. They don't know you. They have no idea who you are. They've got no clue. Now, should you clean up your life? Of course we should. But as long as you're wearing that old man, guess what? We're all going to have some problems in life. We're all going to have some problems. You're going to clean up one area and another one's going to come up to bite you. And it's a constant battle until the day that you die. That's why Paul said, chief sinner that I am. So if Paul had the integrity and the guts to say that he was a sinner, shouldn't we have that same integrity? But instead, no, we've got people preaching sermons saying, you know what? You've got all these people going around soul winning and stuff and blah, blah, blah, but they don't clean up their lives. What are they doing? They're taking that goal post and they're moving it. For control. He's trying to manipulate people. And all the fanboys, a lot of these bleeding heart types out there took the bait. They took the bait and they're like, oh, I thought it was a great sermon. I thought it was awesome and outstanding. Really? So you think that we're venomous. Well, when you attack my friends or you attack me, you attack this church, you're going to see some fangs come out. And rightfully so. That is not OK. But here's the deal. When you play their game, they make you feel lame and they've got you. So at this point in time, in our story here, in 1 Kings chapter 20, Ben-Hadad has Ahab right where he wants him. I mean, think about this. He's messing with him and he's got him in such a weak mental state that he's like, I'll just give you my lives. I'll just give you my children. I'll just give you all my all my money. No problem. For 01K, it's yours. And you know what? That can happen to anybody in here. When you subject yourself to that kind of control and manipulation. So if you would skip ahead and look at verse number nine. 1 Kings chapter number 20, look at verse number nine, it says this. It says, Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben-Hadad, tell my Lord the king. Look, hopefully most people in here wouldn't be like, you know, talking to them all kindly like this at this point. Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben-Hadad, tell my Lord the king, all that thou did send for to thy servant at the first I will do. But this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed and brought him word again. We're going to come back to verse eight here at the end of the sermon. But I just wanted to read this. So he's like, look, that first expectation that you set, Ben-Hadad, I can meet that one. I told you, I can do that. But I can't do this other one. Okay, so he's groveling here. He's trying to reason and he's trying to plead. Look at the result here. What do you think? You think Ben-Hadad's going to be like, you know what? You're right, Ahab. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that to you. You were willing to try. I'm going to give you a trophy. Just, you know, no problem. No, look at verse 10. And Ben-Hadad sent it to him and said, the gods do so unto me and more also if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow him. So what does he do? He says, prepare for war. And he insults him at that. So it's like, wait a second here. If you take a look at the situation here, Ben-Hadad definitely has the upper hand. He's got Samaria. He's got Samaria. Ahab is in trouble with the Lord like he always was. So, you know, obviously God in this chapter does deliver him. But, you know, Ahab is at such a disadvantage here. You know, he's at such a bad place that Ben-Hadad knows, you know what? You're a nation. You're not even going to get a handful of people to follow you and to fight with you. And Ben-Hadad just probably like got a tear running down his cheek, you know what I mean? And you've got to ask yourself, okay, why try? What happens when we decide, you know what? Yeah, let's play that game. Let's keep trying and trying and trying to meet that expectation that they keep moving. What happens? Well, what happens is what I just told you. They're going to make you feel lame, off balance. They've got you under control, manipulation. But what you have to understand here is if you look at Ben-Hadad's reaction, and it says this. And Ben-Hadad sent it to him and said, the gods do so unto me and more also if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls of all the people that follow me. And so he's basically saying, you've got nobody left to even follow me back to my homeland. And so that is a prideful statement, okay? And so we've talked about control. We've talked about the off balance, the manipulation, how they implement that into people. And so the third point that I want to bring up is this. The ghost behind the moving goal post is pride, okay? That's what it is. It goes all the way back to pride. Like with that illustration with that pastor in Tennessee that said that we're all venomous, that we're all snakes, that we're all some of the basically the worst people on the planet. Because all we care about is winning souls and we're messed up and we don't live our lives right. It's like welcome to the club. You know what I mean? Hey, hey, welcome to the club. But behind all of that, behind, oh look at me, we're actually trying to clean up our lives. They're not. Behind all of that control, all that manipulation, you know what it is? It's pride. It is pride. It's I don't have the will power. I don't have the strength to actually go out and build something. And to have endurance and patience and to suffer the people that come in and want to change things and kick them out and to have the numbers go up and down and to deal with all the sorrows and the woes of ministry. So instead what I'll do is I'll cut everyone else down. That's what I'll do. I'll cut them down and that will elevate myself. That's what all of these people do. Instead of grinding day after day, week after week, studying the Bible, getting your interpretations down, getting the applications out, making sure your observations are in order. Instead of doing all of that stuff because it's hard work, what I'll do is I'll bring them down to my level. I'll keep moving the goal post. That's prideful. But you know what else it is? It's robbery. It's theft. You see, that's the thing also with that individual is he is robbing us of our efforts. He's literally moving the landmark. He's literally moving the goal post. He's stealing from his own brothers and sisters in Christ. And then when the fanboys that are supporting him get up and they're like, you know, that's not very nice that you guys come out and call him out and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like, okay, where's the sermon against that individual? Because I read this message from this kid and he starts attacking all these other pastors and wanting them to thank him for all promoting him and stuff. He made a couple of clips about our church. And when I unfriended him, he didn't say nothing. But when the pastors have influence unfriended him, oh, wait a second now, we've got a problem. Why is that? It's because fanboys usually just fan themselves out of any organization that they're a part of. They just take that thing right on out the door. Every single time, 100 percent of the time, it is a fact. It is a guarantee. But the question that I have for that pastor that called us out is this. Are you going to preach against that guy who actually started threatening and making demands of other pastors online? So you need to rebuke your church members. It's like, wait a second, boy, who are you? Who are you to message another pastor? You need to do this. Who do you think you are? So is Mr. Captain Super Mega Righteous going to call that guy out or no? No, because his goal is control. It's influence. So I hate these independent Baptist churches. Then why put that on the Internet? I don't care about people online. I don't care what they think. Then why say anything about it? I care. We have people that support us with prayer in all kinds of ways. I care about those people. I don't even know who they are. You don't have the time. But I care about them. I care what they think. I want to help them out, too. I want to help everybody out. That's the goal. So again, point number three is this. The ghost behind the moving goalpost is pride. It's so true. So you're there in 1 Kings chapter number 10. I'm going to give you one more. Before we look at verse eight, I'm going to give you one more illustration of that. So before I left my job in Washington and moved to Sacramento to train for the ministry, my boss had put me in for supervisor of the quarter. He'd done this a couple times. The top dog of my organization, he did not like me. I could never quite figure out why. He was one of these guys that wouldn't move the goalpost. Word kept getting back to me. My boss was like, man, I put you in for this award. He's like, this is the second time I've done it. We called him Dirty D. He's like, Dirty D just keeps finding something. He keeps finding something he doesn't like about you, something that you're not meeting. He's like, and I've got all this paperwork here, all these things that you've done. And he keeps saying, you don't have enough recreation time. You don't have enough safety time. You don't have enough whatever. And he's like, I've got the proof right here, but he just keeps changing it. And he's like, I just can't figure it out. Well, God figured it out and actually caused me to win that award. And I wish you guys could have been there and seen the look on this individual's face when he gave me the award. He literally holds his hand out for a handshake like this. He comes down, and he's got like his finger. He's just like. I was just like, I just took my award and just walked off. You know, and you should have heard everybody cheering. It was one of the highlights of my life, you know, because I literally felt like Joseph in Egypt, you know. Because, I mean, just for two years, my boss had been trying to get me this award. And it came with all kinds of perks. You know, time off, you know, a big monetary bonus, just all of these different things. And the guy kept moving the goalposts. But somehow God worked it out to where I was able to get that award. And really what it boils down to for that individual was pride. It was something that he didn't like about me. And like I said, I could never figure it out. But you know what? I just realized in my life during that time, I'm not even going to play your game. I'm not even going to try to placate you. I'm not even going to try to do that because it's not worth it. Here's another one that I saw the other day. Who's heard of Jesse Duplantis? He's this prosperity preacher down in Louisiana. Friends with Kenneth Copeland and that whole crowd. I got this video recommended to me. It was like, Jesse Duplantis says the rapture hasn't happened yet because people aren't giving enough money. I'm like, okay, I've been doing a lot of study on these Pentecostal guys because we're making these tongues videos. And so I'm like, cool, I'm going to click on this thing here. And I'm watching it, right? And sure enough, you know, he starts going off and, you know, he makes this statement here. He says, he's like, you know, I was at a news station one time. We were getting ready to make a commercial for the church or something like that. And, you know, getting ready to do some work. And this guy comes up to me, he's like, I don't like you. I think you're robbing God's people. And I heard you're a millionaire. And he's like, you're wrong. I'm a multi-millionaire. He goes, I'll buy this whole entire outfit here and fire you. That's what he said. He said, I'll fire you. It's like, wow. Talk about pride. But what's Jesse Duplantis doing? He's moving the goalposts. Right? So now all of a sudden, you know, it has nothing to do with God's kingdom here. It has nothing to do with getting people saved. They didn't have no idea how to get people saved to begin with. But now it's like, well, because we didn't raise $10 million this year, okay, then God's not going to come back. Jesus isn't going to come back. He just keeps moving that monetary amount. You know, if he's going to live another 10 years, which I doubt, he's, you know, it's probably going to be 20, 30 million. You know, every year it increases, right? The monetary value goes up. Well, because you guys aren't giving, we can't do this. It's like, you know, God's not going to come back. He's not happy with us. Completely full of lies. So let's back up here to verse number eight. I skipped it for a reason. We're going to wrap this thing up here. I'm going to give you the main application. How do we deal with these sorts of people? I'm going to give you some tips for this. So look at verse number eight. So after Ahab's like, okay, guys, I don't understand. Why is this happening to me? Why won't Ben-Hadad accept the fact that I'll meet his first expectation? Verse number eight says this. And all the elders and all the people said unto him. Now, don't miss these two phrases here. It says, harken not unto him nor consent. So the elders are smart here. They're like, don't harken unto him. Don't listen. Don't take to heart what he's saying. And don't consent. You say, how do I respond to somebody who is trying to manipulate me, who is trying to mentally control me, who keeps shifting expectations? You do that by following these two things. You don't harken unto him and you don't consent. What did Ahab do right afterwards? He tried to harken and he tried to consent. He tries to meet Ben-Hadad in the middle. Oh, okay, I know what the elders are telling me. So, okay, I can't listen to you, Ben-Hadad, so I'm not going to give you free access to my servants' homes and to my house, but you can have the other stuff here. That never works. That never, ever, ever works. And so quick example here. You've got a boss. Keeps shifting the expectations on you. What do you do? This has always worked for me. Okay? Make sure that you have a notebook. Make sure that you have something. And when they're giving you a task, you write down what they want and try to read it back to them and make sure that there's somebody with you. Make sure that you got it right. So, okay, you want me to stack 14 pallets over here, 15 pallets over here? Is that correct? I just write it down so I don't forget, right? You can still have tact and do that. And then if he says yes and comes back and is like, no, no, no, I said 32 over here and 33 over here and I said to have it done in five minutes. It's like, that's not what you said. Okay? And then if this progresses, if this keeps going on, what you have to do is you say, you know what? I need to talk to your boss. You need to keep moving this thing up the chain because here's what a lot of these narcissistic bosses will do. Once they see that you're doing that and you're paying attention to the goal post and where it's at and you're saying, oh, the landmark's right there? This is how much space I have? What they'll do is they'll say, you know what? Just figure it out for yourself. Okay? I told you what to do. You've been here long enough. You should know how to do this. They'll start talking to you like that. What do you do? You go right to their boss. Look, you cannot afford to stay in that kind of abuse. Okay? And maybe you're in the military. Maybe you're in some kind of a situation where you can't get away from these people. There's always a chain of command. There's always a way to go about climbing that ladder and saying, hey, look, here's what's going on. I've got witnesses, right? Isn't that what we learned in Deuteronomy 19? You know, you shouldn't just take evidence on somebody based out of the mouth of one witness. You want to have multiple if possible, but you definitely don't want to just have one. So you want to make sure that you have other people that have witnessed this or who have experienced this as well. That way you can take that to their boss and say, hey, look, we've got a problem here. Can you talk to them? You know, is there something? But the other thing is that you need to actually turn to Proverbs 22. Turn to Proverbs 22 and I'll get to that here in a second. So first thing I would say, make sure you are absolutely clear on what they expect. Make sure that you are letting them know tactfully that you understand what they said clearly, okay? That's what you do. If that doesn't work, you need to take that up a notch and take it to their boss. Now, here is the deal. What about relationships, okay? I'm gonna say this here and some of you aren't gonna like this. If you are dating somebody, you are in a relationship with somebody that keeps doing this, get out. Don't lie to yourself, oh, they're gonna get it right. They might. They might get it right later on. You never know, they might humble themselves later on but the odds of them doing that are very slim. You're dating somebody that's doing this, get out. Just stop right now and find somebody else. It's not worth it. The amount of people that are able to recognize that they're doing this to other people and have the integrity to change are very, very slim and more than likely, the odds are that if you continue in that abuse, you are going to have a ruined life. It's not worth it. So before you're married, get out. Just stop. You say, what if we are married and what if I can't get away from my boss? What if there's nowhere else to run? I'm backed into a corner, what do I do? I'm gonna show you that here and we're gonna leave it with this. Proverbs 22, look at verse 29. The Bible says this. Verse 29, seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean men. The key in that situation and in every situation regarding this is your diligence in your job, in your relationship, in your marriage. If you cannot escape, even if you can't escape, our goal is to be diligent, to be thorough, to understand what we are doing perfectly. That's what he's saying here. He's saying, hey, if you see a business owner who is very diligent in what he does, if you see an employee who is very diligent in what they do, no matter what happens, they are not gonna be the guy that's always in the boss's office, that's always having to explain themselves, that's always in trouble. Because guess what? Not every boss, not every husband, not every wife, not every spouse, not every situation has a narcissist who's there to manipulate and control you. These people come in and out of our lives it is a thing, but there's always gonna be other people around that observe. Like that story I told you about being supervisor of the court, there were so many other people around that have observed the jobs that I had done that basically said, you know what dude, I know you've got a problem with him, he deserves it, he's getting the award and God ensured that I got it. So at the end of the day, I didn't stand before him with trouble. People recognize, you know what, Jones is doing a good job. He's getting these jobs done, he understands it, we have to give this award to him, we have to. It's not right, people are gonna freak out if he doesn't get it, that's literally how it was. And that's how it'll be for you too. When you learned to be diligent. See when I used to work in appliance repair over here in Eagle, the owner would do stuff like that. He would say, he would just give you something to do and then you'd come back later and it was like, oh you didn't do all this other stuff. I would have to go to his family member who was actually in charge and say, hey, look at this problem here and she would take care of it every single time. So the solution for us is diligence. In everything that you do, make sure you are doing a good job. That way when you run into these types of people, even if they're over you for a short season, the kings and the people that are around them, that are around you are gonna see the work that you're doing because you're diligent. This is a promise. Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings and shall not stand before a mean man. So when you go to work and you're working for somebody like this and you think there's no way out or you're in a marriage and you think there's no way out, when you have that good diligent conversation and you're working hard, guess what? God sees it and their opinion and their thoughts and their moving expectations don't count. It doesn't mean anything. So you can still function even in that situation and that is the most important thing out of this entire sermon for us to understand is diligence. Diligence with your gospel presentation, diligence with your job, diligent as a husband, as a wife, as a father, as a child, as a teen, whatever it is, whatever it is that you find to do, do it for the Lord. Do it diligently and guess what? These mean people will have no power over you whatsoever, even if they are your boss, even if they are your spouse. It's not going to matter in the end. You can defeat this type of control. Like I said, this is a hot button for me because I've lived it so many times. And it wasn't until somebody explained that verse to me that I really was able to experience freedom even working for these types of people. I'm telling you, this is a big game changer. You follow these precepts here and you will be successful. God says it's a guarantee, it's a promise. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, again, for these truths that you preserve for your kingdom, Lord. I just pray that you would help us to be able to tactfully follow these ideas, these commands, Lord, that you have in the Bible and to help us to recognize when someone's trying to take advantage of us, to manipulate us, to control us, and help us to deal with it accordingly, Lord, that we do not compromise our mission as ambassadors for you. Just pray you bless this whole morning today, Lord, and bring us back safely tonight. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, let's grab those hymn books one final time this morning and turn to song number 180. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Amen. Amen. Song number 180. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? On the first there will never be a sweeter story Story of the Savior's love divine Love that brought Him from the realms of glory Just to save a sinful soul like mine Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me Boundless as the universe around me Reaching to the farthest soul away Saving, keeping love that wasn't found me That is why my heart can truly say Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me On the last, sing it out. Love beyond our human comprehending Love of God and Christ, how can it be? This will be my theme in never ending Great redeeming love of Calvary Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me Amen, brother David, we close out the Word breakfast Dear Father God, we just thank you for this morning that we can hear your word, faithfully preach We thank you for this church, we thank you Pastor Jones and his family for everything they do for us, Lord We just ask you to please bless this church Bless our soul and efforts out in the community Let us just take what was taught in the sermon and apply it to our lives, Lord We ask you to please continue to bless this week and bring us all back to our place this evening We love you, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen We love you, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen