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you you you you Well good evening everyone welcome to Mountain Baptist Church Take your song books and turn to song 424 No, I was just kidding song 179 It is Christmas is over All right And we are back in two We're gonna sing such love If you would stand we'll sing song 179 That God should love a sinner such as I should Yearn to change my sorrow into bliss nor rest He had planned to bring me nigh how wonderful is love like this such love Such wondrous love such love Such wondrous love that God should love a sinner such as I how Wonderful is love like this That Christ should join so freely in the scheme Although it meant his death on Calvary did ever Human tongue find no blur theme then love divine that ransomed me such love Such wondrous love such love Such wondrous love that God should love a sinner such as I how Wonderful is love like this that for a willful outcast such as I their plan the Savior bled and died redemption for a worthless save to buy who long Defied Such love Such wondrous love such love Such wondrous love that God should love a sinner such as I how Wonderful is love like this And now he takes me to his heart a son He asked me not to fill the servants place the far-off Country wanderings all are done wide open our his arms of grace such love Such wondrous love such love Wondrous love that God should love a sinner such as I how Wonderful is love like this Now let's pray Heavenly Father Lord again. We just want to thank you God for another Opportunity and privilege that it is to meet in your house and to hear your word preached I pray Lord that you would just fill our past with your power and spirit We love you for it's in Jesus name we ask all of it. Amen Are you may be seated and Take your mountain Baptist songbooks And turn to page number seven Page number seven in your songbooks will sing Psalm of one hundred and seventeen Song one hundred and I'm sorry page seven Psalm one hundred and seventeen Oh praise the Lord all ye nations Praise Him all ye people for his Merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the Lord and doth forever Praise ye the Lord Praise ye the Lord You Welcome Mountain Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening and the Grinch has returned and no more Christmas music for a whole another year apparently, so Let me see here as far as announcements go Service time should be normal this coming Sunday and We'll have our Sunday morning Sunday afternoon, but also we'll have our So any time at 1 p.m. So And as far as the regional sewing times Just be on the church group there as far as everything coming back to normal there as far as those times go But I'm thinking probably The Monday one, I think brother Charles will tell me that one may not be happening on Monday, but Just get just be on the group there When it comes to that and so and then as far as the prayer meetings, we have the men's prayer meeting this this Friday And then we have the Lord's Supper this Sunday. So that'll be after the afternoon service. So On the 31st, that will be this Sunday After the afternoon service, we'll do the Lord's Supper. So be in your places there if you can for that And if you never I think was everybody here has been here for the Lord's Supper So, but if you haven't been obviously we explain everything that we do and how we do it and everything every time we do it so and then as far as the chapter memory Luke chapter 2 is our memory chapter for the month and Matthew 121 is our memory verse for the week and she shall bring forth the son not shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins That is our memory verse for the week and Then pregnancies in prayer for Alyssa Anastasia and Tabby on the pregnancy list there be in prayer for all those that aren't feeling well I think there was basically Some kind of stomach thing going around or something like that. So But just sicknesses in general around this time. I just be in prayer for all the families and everything else When it comes to that I Think that's about all I have for announcements that I can think of Something forgetting something but Offering boxes in the back there If you want to give us higher than offering the mother baby baby rooms for the most babies only who's reading tonight, by the way So brother Wade's gonna be reading first Samuel chapter 18 will be continuing our study through the book of first Samuel But before that we'll sing one more song You All right, take your song books and turn to song number 86 Song number 86 in your song books will sing in the garden Song number 86 I Come to the garden You Oh So sweet the birds hush they're singing And the Melody that he gave to me Within my heart is ringing And he walks with me and he talks with me And he tells me I am as own And the joy we share as we Teary there None-other has ever known I'd stay in the garden with him Though the night around me be falling But he bids me go through the voice of woe his voice To me is calm Falling and He walks with me and he talks with me and he tells Me I am his own And the joy we share as we tarry there None-other has ever known All right, if you would take your Bibles and turn to the first Samuel chapter number 18 First Samuel chapter number 18 in your song books. I'm sorry in your Bibles. Well, I brother way you'd read that for us First Samuel 18 And it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul That the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul and Saul Took him that day and would let him go no more home to his father's house then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him gave it to David and his garments Even to the sword and to his bow and to his girdle and David went out With us however, Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely and Saul set him over the men of war And he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants And it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine That the women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tabarets with joy and with instruments of music and The women answered one another as they played and said Saul had slain his thousands and David is ten thousands And Saul was very Roth and the saying displeased him and he said they have ascribed him to David ten thousands and to me They have ascribed but thousands and what can he have more but the kingdom and Saul? I David from that day and forward and I came to pass on the morning tomorrow that the evil spirit from God Came upon Saul and he prophesized in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times and there was a Javelin in Saul's hand and so I'll cast the javelin for he said I will smite David even to the wall with it and David Avoided out of his presence twice and Saul was afraid of David because of the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul Therefore Saul removed him from him and made him his captain over a thousand and he went out and came in before the people And Dave behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely. He was afraid of him but all Israel and Judah Loved David because he went out and came in before them and Saul said to David behold my older daughter Marib Her will I give thee to wife only be they'll valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles for Saul said Let not my hand be upon him But let the hand of the Philistines be upon him and David said unto Saul who am I and what is my life or? My father's family in Israel that I should be son-in-law to the king But it came to pass at the time when Marib Saul's daughter should have given to David that she was given to Adriel the Mahalah tight to wife and Mikel Saul's daughter loved David and they told Saul and the thing pleased him and Saul said I will give him her That she may be a snare to him that and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him Wherefore Saul said to David thou shalt say thou shalt this day be My son-in-law in the one of the twain and Saul commanded his servants saying commune with David secretly and say behold the king hath Delighted thee and all his servants. Love thee now therefore Be the king's son-in-law and Saul's servant spake Those words in the ears of David and David says seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king's son-in-law Seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed and the servant of Saul Told him saying on this manner spake David and Saul said thus shall you say to David the king desireth Not any dowry but in a hundred foreskins of the Philistines to be avenged of the king's enemies But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines And when his servants told David these words it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law and the days were not expired Wherefore David arose and went he and his men and slew of the Philistines two hundred men David brought their foreskins and they gave them in full tale to the king That he might be the king's son-in-law and Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife and Saul saw and knew That the Lord was with David and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him and Saul was yet The more afraid of David and Saul became David's enemy continually Then the princes of the Philistines went forth and it came to pass after they went forth that David behaved himself more wisely Than all the servants of Saul so that his name was much set by Let us pray dear Lord. Uh, thank you for hearing your message and let us hear that tonight Just be with pastor as we go into the book of st. First Samuel. Jesus now pray So you're there in first same chapter 18 and if you know obviously in chapter 17 We had the famous story of David and Goliath. And so this is right after that happens This is before they come into Jerusalem As far as What actually actually is right before right after the battle and then before they come into Jerusalem? And so in the beginning of this chapter or actually at the end of the chapter you saw where Abner and saw like who is this young man and Basically confirming that he is the son of Jesse that he's David the son of Jesse and then in chapter 18 here in verse 1 we see Jonathan and basically what Jonathan thinks of David in verse 1 He says and it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul That the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul So basically David is talking to Saul basically stating who he is But Jonathan basically sees David and it's just like it's almost like when it says his soul was He was knit to the soul of David is kind of like a kindred spirit if you will you kind of think about that's how we Normally, that's how with the modern vernacular of what we'd say there is basically he's found someone that's just like just like him To where he loves him as his own soul in verse 2 here says Saul took him that day It would not let him go I'm sorry would let him go no more home to his father's house So if you remember before this in chapter 16 David was coming in playing music He was Saul's armor bearer, but then David is then sent back home to his father to keep the sheep And then after this event, he's no longer going back to keep the sheep at his father's house He's basically you're staying with me from here on out And so at this point, you know, it's a good relationship that's going on here But in verse 3 here says then Jonathan and David made a covenant Because he loved him as his own soul and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe That was upon him and gave it to David and his garments even to his sword and to his bow into his girdle and David went out of Out whithersoever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely and Saul set him over the men of war And he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants Now a lot of this is actually stuff that happens later on As far as him being set over Saul's servants or I'm sorry set over men of war but Then it gets into basically kind of this back and forth that's gonna happen with Saul Really from here on out this chapter going to the end of the book is you have this back and forth where Saul's gonna try to kill David and Saul is envious of David and there's this back and forth that's going on throughout the rest of this book. So There's basically a feud between Saul and David but it's mainly because of Saul it's not David's not trying to start anything He's not the one starting this feud Basically, Saul is envious of David and that's where a lot of this happens But the thing that I see here first is that Jonathan's love for David and basically his friendship with David here and There's a passage in 2nd Samuel after Jonathan dies So spoiler alert, but basically Saul and Jonathan die in battle and in 2nd Samuel chapter 1 go to 2nd Samuel chapter 1 and verse 25 and I Want you to see how much Jonathan loved David, okay? And it says in 2nd Samuel chapter 1 verse 25 it says how are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle Oh Jonathan that was slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee my brother Jonathan Very pleasant hast thou been unto me thy love to me was wonderful passing the love of women So this is quite a statement. Okay And you know, obviously there's people that try to pervert You know people in the Bible and they try to pervert relationships and all this stuff and in their mind They're like, oh, he's a homo. It's like no That's not it at all. It's just stating that Jonathan's friendship and love for David Basically Trump any love that a woman gave to him as far as his loyalty their loyalty and everything else Which actually you can see with Michael and and all that later on the line with his wives and everything Which by the way having multiple wives was a problem anyway, but but the thing is that When it comes to a friend a friend is someone that loves at all times. So think about Proverbs 17 verse 17 it says a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity and in Proverbs 18 go to Proverbs 18 24 Proverbs 18 24 Proverbs 18 24 Proverbs 18 24 Proverbs 18 24 says this it says a man that hath friends must show himself friendly and There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother and notice that what is what does David call Jonathan? When after he dies, he says my brother Jonathan And he talks about how his love Was wonderful to him Passing the love of women and You say well, you know, I think that that's you know, more than just a you know, a friendship love well, then you're perverted and You know, I can't help you're perverted the file of mind if that's what you think and obviously the world is constantly trying to Take that which is holy and just and basically make it wicked But this is a this is a good friendship with with a lot of love and and here's here's how you can prove that Hey, there's love that passes the love of women and it's not dealing with that perverted mindset is The love that Jesus had for his friends. Okay, meaning this is that no so it says go to John chapter 15 John chapter 15 So you say well what love would pass the love of women to men, right? What love passes that how about God's love? For God's love the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish But everlasting life would you say that love is greater? Can anybody even come close to the love of God, but how about the love that Jesus had? Here in John 15 in verse 12. It says this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you so he's saying I want you to love one another as He you know has he loved us right and as he's loved his disciples greater Love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever command you now I want you to think about Jonathan now We haven't got that verse that I showed you in 2nd Samuel is after all the things that we see between David and Jonathan Jonathan in this chapter David is is basically getting a javelin thrown at him But if you know the story that Jonathan actually gets a javelin thrown at him for trying to protect David You know hereby perceived we the love of God because he laid down his life for us And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren That's what we're dealing with here when it's saying that his love past the love of women You know the love that Jonathan had for him is because Jonathan was basically taking javelins from his own father To protect David and trying to save David and trying to keep him from being killed And so Jonathan was laying down his life for his brother essentially and It wasn't even his physical brother and even and even Saul saying that like, you know, you're confused You know basically talking about to the confusion of your mother's womb kind of thing, you know, his mother's nakedness It's like don't you know that as long as Dave is alive that your throne your throne won't be established He's basically giving them that whole thing Anna scoot over to the other chair and so When it comes to this what you see here is actually a very strong friendship this is a great case of a friend that sticketh closer than her brother a friend that loveth at all times That Jonathan was that friend to David from the very beginning which you can honestly see why Jonathan Was knit to David because when you see in in chapter 14 where Jonathan is literally doing almost the same thing that David was doing with David there with the Goliath Right is that he's by himself the only person that's with him is his armor bearer and he's taking out a whole garrison of the Philistines by himself and He's he's climbing up a hill and racing up to the to the Philistines and taking them out and then he sees David going off by himself to go face this giant and You know seeing that I think he's like You know, that's the man right there, you know, like that's that's it That's a good guy right there and just that basically two friends going together Hand and glove and just that friendship that's there. So Jonathan and David is a great Bible story the show friendship and You see that throughout the rest of this book is the friendship that Basically when everybody's against David and and Saul's trying to kill him. He's on the run Jonathan is there to basically bring him up and trying to help him out and trying to encourage him and David reciprocates that even after Jonathan's death as far as Jonathan's children and taking care of them the fibber chef being the probably the most famous One you can think of as far as that. He was gonna take care of Jonathan's house after he died and So there's a great friendship there and when people try to pervert that And try to say well, you know, this is something more than just friendship. That's wicked and the greatest love that's out there is The love that Jesus had for us to die for us and there's nothing you know Perverted about that and So therefore we need to love like like Jesus did for his it's a lay down your life And really that's what you see with Jonathan is you see a man that was willing to lay down his life for his friend and that is That is quite the love right there and go to first sandwich after 18, which is interesting because When you think about the love that you see between Jonathan and David and how that love passed It was so wonderful it passed the love of women meaning that basically Even the women weren't loyal to David like Jonathan was You know when it comes to that friendship and that basically Just loving at all times now listen women You know your wife should be that right your wife should be that friend and that that you know obviously your one flesh You think about this he loved them as his own soul. I mean How much more should your wife be that with you right is that you love your wife as your own soul? You know and wives you love your husband as your own soul and your knit together and you have that relationship there and It's kind of a testament probably to the fact that David didn't have that great relationship with his wives Plural right so you can understand you'd be like well. Why didn't he have why why would he say that you know? You know what about his wife? It's like well first of all multiple wives second of all look at the relationship He had with Michael and how that ended you know he's gonna marry Michael Saul's daughter, but that doesn't end well And actually his relationship with his wives must have not been going great because he wouldn't have committed adultery with Bathsheba So you can see that. There's a problem there when it comes to That whole situation, so it's actually not that out. It doesn't just shock me that he think that he had this That he's basically saying Jonathan's love for him out. Did the love that women had for him you know It's not that shocking to me when you think about his situation with women, okay? And that's not a good thing on David's part That's just more so the fact the fact of the matter there, but it's interesting too because actually what starts Saul off Not liking David is women And it's interesting how women have this power over men and even women that aren't even Even their wives and so look what it says here in 1st Samuel chapter 18 and verse 6 And it says and it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine That the women came out of all cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with habits with joy and with instruments of music and the women answered one another as they played and said Saul has slain his thousands and David his 10,000 and And Saul was very wroth and The saying displeased him and and he said they have ascribed it to David ten thousands and to me they have astride But thousands and what can I have what can he have more? but the kingdom and Saul I David from that day and forward so Basically, this is the turning point is that a bunch of women that are just crying out things that they said about David and And it's not even that they're they're bragging on Saul they're just basically lifting up David a little higher right and So you can see that And I want you to think about this on a human level Saul's married. He was the king, right? David's not at this point and if you think about it just women in general if you saw like this this warrior that came back This champion that came back. You're probably gonna lift him up a little higher than the rest, right? And it's just this idea of one Saul should be little in his own eyes and not care that a bunch of women are giving a higher accolade to someone else You know, why why do you need the highest praise? I mean did Saul actually win this battle? It's not like Saul's the one that killed Goliath and then they come in and start praising David above him David's the one that won the victory David's the one that caused all this victory to happen obviously in the Lord is the one that caused it to happen But Dave is the one that actually had the courage to fulfill it And so therefore he should be getting higher praise than Saul in this matter But Saul is obviously, you know envious of this this praise but this out of this also gets into the idea of Proverbs 31 3 that The prophecy that that the mother of Lemuel gave to him where it says give not thy strength unto women nor thy ways to that which destroy the Kings Saul is putting all his it basically his emotions and strength into what women had to say Let's just put it on the bottom of the table here Women came out and started praising David more than him and he caused that to be the catalyst for him to want to go after David and In the end the influence of women should not be that should not be what drives us men on what we do as far as leaders Okay You we think about Solomon and all his wives what they do they drove his heart away from following the Lord and he gave his power unto women and Husbands this is something that we always have to basically put in check and I'm not saying this isn't a Stab at our wives and say like listen don't speak to us unless spoken to don't give us advice unless we ask it We're not saying that's not what we're saying here. Okay? but ultimately We are the leaders and basically we have to be careful that You know what are we obviously want to please our wives but we don't want to please our wives to the point where they become the boss and There's a lot of hen pecked husbands out there That are basically being brought the women the woman is running the home because they are basically giving their strength unto women I don't know if you know this but the husband stronger Mean the woman is the weaker vessel according to the Bible physically speaking, right? like my wife, I mean, you know if my wife I Obviously can hold her back from doing anything She wanted to do like I'm strong enough to like put her over my shoulders and carrier and just run down the street if I Wanted to with her Like a gorilla, I mean I you know like that I could do that now I'm not going to do that right now but But that being said is that I have that strength to do that and the idea here is that it's interesting how men Even though they're stronger than women have given their strength up to women Look at the leadership today You know and you're like all you know, are you saying that women are our inferior and intelligence not saying that at all But we are different in the the roles of men and women are clearly defined in the Bible that the women are not the sort Assert authority over the men point blank Now let me ask you a question in America when it comes to all those women that are in authority right now The only reason they're in authority is because men let them be in authority. Let's be honest Men, let them in a let that happen It wasn't because women strong-armed some men into that position Like they just like made him say uncle, you know that we got into a fight listen Women wouldn't be able to put themselves into that position just point blank men. Let it happen And it is it is what it is. I'm not I'm not here to say let's go overthrow the government or something like that I'm just saying that that's what's happened in our country If if if men had the vote when it came to abortion abortion would have been illegal a long time ago It never would have been legal This is some hard facts, but it's just a fact and the idea here is that Saul is Basically letting women and the opinions of women dictate his emotions Dictate what he thinks it's kind of like what you think about Peter when Peter denies Jesus three times Remember it was some some little maid, you know, like some little handmaiden, right? Some little damsel came up and said You know aren't that with them and he's just like I know not the man, you know and he's just like going crazy because some little girl came up to him and said that he was with them and It's interesting how? You he's basically given that strength giving your your your basically strength mentally and your your leadership skills over to the desire of women and I see that with with Saul and that's basically what started all of this And obviously he's saying well, you know, the people basically are going after David and Therefore he's gonna have the kingdom God already told him that David was gonna have the kingdom Right. It's not like this is a secret like he's just figuring this out This is the fact of the matter is is that he knows that that's what God has already established He's already told him that he that the kingdom is taken away from him and that it's gonna be given to a neighbor That's better than than him and he knows that that's true. And obviously he doesn't want it to happen and so but I do think that this is interesting that the women are the ones that are causing this this whole feud to happen and Really if Saul were just that why does Saul care what they think? That's the question that you have to ask yourself and this gets into our lives as Christians When people start praise, let's say someone praises somebody else that maybe you don't like that much Okay, let's say Let's say there's another Christian that's basically doing something and you don't like that person very much. You're not a fan of them You're not a fan of what they do. Stop talking girls, or you're gonna be in big trouble You don't like what they do you don't like them as a person but you're like I love them as a brother but that's about it right so that person does something that's not even as good as Maybe someone else that you know, that's doing something and that person gets praised and accolades they get all the limelight They get every you know, everyone's looking at them be like look at them. They did all this stuff. Whereas someone over here is doing is doing a lot more and All of that and you're just like this seems off why is this person over here getting so much praise and They're not even doing half of what this person is doing over here This person over here is humble this person over here filled with pride, you know, like there's and but this person's getting all this praise Because they're putting themselves out there and they're in all this stuff, right? I'm just giving this is it like a hypothetical situation because this happens all the time this happens at work this happens you know at your job where someone that doesn't do as much work gets praise gets the gets the promotion gets different things like that and You can see how you could be envious of that or you could basically be like this is this is unjust This is unfair but ultimately We serve the Lord Christ and you know what it doesn't does it really matter what everybody else thinks and What how much they praise somebody what you should care about is who God praises? And We shouldn't love the praises of men. We should love the praises of God the praises of God are gonna be way more than any man can ever give you and so sometimes you see that and you're just like you know the this this person is getting all this praise and you're just like You don't think they deserve it but here think Who cares? Stop comparing comparing yourselves among yourselves It's not wise and ultimately it's God that's gonna reward anyway It's not going to be you know just because Let's say the majority of people praise one person That doesn't that doesn't persuade God one way or another as far as who should get Rewards or who who's actually doing the best or who's actually doing well. Just remember this unknown yet. Well known a Lot of times the Christians that are very unknown are the ones that are actually doing a lot more And I'm not against obviously there's gonna be cases where people get more limelight and it's not saying just because someone's well No, just because someone's known more doesn't mean that they're like wicked or they're you know, not doing what they should be doing Right when it comes to let's say preachers and stuff like that. I'm not saying that, you know, because obviously People can be known but a lot of times when it comes to good preachers They're gonna be more so not famous but infamous right when it comes to the fact of What they're standing for and obviously if you're standing for the Word of God But I do see this in the idea of sometimes we can Be jealous of other people that are envious of other people being praised more than others, right It's like this one person Think about it this way and just kind of put it on another level Someone wins their first person to Christ and Everybody's just like this is amazing. This is great. And then you're over here like I won two people today, though Right, I won two people to the Lord Yeah, but you've won people to the Lord throughout for years now, right and you can think to yourself be like Why is this person get all this praise? Why is this person getting all this attention? It's like well, maybe it's because hey they started something good and we're excited about it, right? It gets into the whole thing of you know One sinner that repented right is that there's this great rejoicing that someone comes back kind of like the prodigal son But then there's not like this big joyous Type of celebration for the person that never left right and that person that just keeps chugging along But know this is that in the story with the prodigal son the prodigal son wasted all his inheritance And the son that didn't leave everything that the father had was his So instead of like focusing on The party and the rejoicing and all the praise it's given Just you know what work quietly with your own hand, you know Just keep doing what you should be doing and let the Lord praise you and ultimately Shouldn't worry about anything until until that doesn't see the Christ at that point then then you're rewarded and for your own work, you'll be rewarded and You know, that's just something that I see with this and it's something that I think sometimes we just need to not care what other people are saying about other people and Because because I could I could you know when it comes to I Give you an example. There's times where I preached the doctrine. I preached I preached the passage where I you know explained it a certain way and I preached that for a long time and then someone else preaches it the same way and Everybody's just like man. They figured it out and you can look at that and be like You know great But part of me is just like I've been preaching that for years, you know or I've been like explaining it that way for years, but that gets wet more well-known and Way more people here because of you know, maybe like their platform or whatever and part of you in the flesh is just like You know, I preached that before they did, you know, and you know, you know, why wouldn't I get the praise? Why don't I get the accolade? Why don't I get the you know limelight for that, you know But ultimately it comes down to this is that there's nothing new under the Sun and every doctrine That I preach has been preached before And so I'm not the first person to figure that out anyway So why why would I look at that and be like hey, I deserve the glory I deserve you know, like the accolades for that. I deserve the attention for figuring that out We're all just refiguring it out throughout the ages. There's information that's maybe lost and people rediscover it right and ultimately Not worrying about that type of stuff and just you know, and ultimately here's the thing when it comes to And I'm using preaching as an example just because that's what I'm just thinking about at the moment in the end We want God's Word and the truth to abound and does it really matter? Who's the mouthpiece? Doesn't right I mean when it comes to good doctrine and the gospel does it really matter who's mouth and Who's the vessel in which it happens through if God gets the glory for what's done? Obviously we all want to be a part of it But it's just like when we go out soul winning and the fact of the matter is is that sometimes I come back I didn't win anybody personally, but a whole bunch of other people did you know what I rejoice over that But You all know as well as I do that you want to be a part of the people that got someone saved, too Right. It's more fun If you're the one it's more exciting if you're were there to see someone get saved you got to lead them personally to the Lord But in the end we should all rejoice and say hey this many people got saved and they're gonna be in heaven forever and glory glory God gets the glory for all of that and We're all in this together And we should have that mentality instead of this, you know, I want the attention I want the accolades I want you know the praise and all that And so anyway, it's just one of those passages that just makes me think of that as far as like hey, you know Don't think you deserve that praise anyway It ultimately Saul should be thinking I don't even deserve them to say I've slain a thousand thousands Have the humble mentality to say, you know what? Yeah, David should get the glory for this. I Shouldn't even get the glory for thousands because I didn't even offer to fight this guy have a humble attitude about things and then God will exalt you and That's the attitude. We should have now in first Samuel chapter 18 In verse 10 here it says and it came to pass on the morrow That the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as At other times and there was a javelin in Saul's hand and Saul cast the javelin for he said I will smite David even to the wall with it and David avoided out of his presence twice Now, I don't know if this is twice meaning like he played for him He threw javelin at him and then he went away and then he came and played for him again and threw javelin at him and he Got out of his presence again It sounds like that because it's saying out of his presence twice. It seems like it's out of his presence twice Meaning that this probably happened a couple times It could be that he threw a javelin at him and then threw another javelin at him and he missed them twice in the same event But this just keeps happening, you know when you're reading through first Samuel is that it's always kind of like someone needs to get javelins out of the Eating chamber, you know and because Saul keeps throwing them at people and so And again, this happens with Jonathan. So when David is fled later on Jonathan comes back and basically making supplication for David and trying to get Saul to not try to kill him and all this stuff and Saul ends up throwing a javelin at Jonathan. And so this is obviously he's trying to kill David which would be wicked He's trying to murder David for no reason and so This is the feud if you will that's between them and in verse 12 here it says and Saul was afraid of David Now here's why? Because the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul See the the righteous are bold as a lion But the the wicked flee when no man pursue it and when you have the Lord on your side First of all, you have confidence, but when you when you don't have the Lord on your side, you know that boldness That power that flees from you and you know what that gives you fear because God has not given us the spirit of fear but a power and of love and of a sound mind David has that spirit upon him and Saul doesn't and so Saul is afraid He's afraid of David because the Lord's with him and not he's with David the Lord is with David and not with him and in verse 13, it says therefore Saul removed him from him and Made him his captain over a thousand and he went out and came in before the people so basically he basically has David go out from him and not be around him and basically Sets him up over a thousand. So he's basically a captain in his army Verse 18 and David behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him Wherefore when Saul saw that he saw that he behaved himself very wisely He was afraid of him but all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them And that's gonna be very actually, you know thinking in the future as far as going in the second Samuel as far as Absalom The thing that David the reason the reason that the people love David is because he was around them He wasn't like this mystic type of you know Person in the army or in Israel to where no one can talk to him or you know Basically interact with him and so this is something I believe personally as a leader is that you do want to have Communication and Bible does talk about communicating with him that teaches in all good things You know that the idea is that You know, you should communicate with the leadership You should be You know be able to talk to them and commune with them because there's gonna be a relationship that's born there But also not just for the the people but for David himself too if you're going to be a good leader, then you also want to care for the people and It's hard to care for people that you don't interact with That you're not around you don't talk to right and so that is something that that needs to be there as well I think about the fact that Anytime I've ever seen evangelists come in and preach for churches The thing that I see a lot of times is the lack of care that that evangelist has for the church and I'm not saying it can't you can't have someone come in and that cares for the church That's preaching for you But in a lot of cases you have like these circuit riding type of like Evangelists that are just going around church by church and that's how they get paid That's how they make their living right? But they go into a church and they don't give a rip about the people that are in there, right? they'll just rip their face off and just be like, all right, see you later and just don't care and You know that is something that people see right and listen people are more willing to hear a Rebuke from someone that they know cares then hear a rebuke from someone that they don't think you know doesn't know them from Adam, right and So that is something that's very important when it comes to leadership as far as the fact that they know hey You know David loves them. So therefore if he leads them and does something for them He knows that they have their interests. He has their interest in heart so in but he behaves himself very wisely and This makes me think about the fact that they obviously Saul is afraid of him because of this That he's behaving himself wisely right and the idea here is that Saul wants to kill him and he would love nothing more than for David to make some stupid mistake and be basically a troublemaker and So where he can accuse him be like hey, you know, you're out of here or hey You're gonna be put to death or basically just trying to find something wrong with him This makes you think of Daniel and the fact that they couldn't find anything wrong with Daniel So they had to find something wrong with the way he worshiped God And they had to make some crazy law up to basically get him thrown into the den of lions You see the same kind of thing here. Is that you know, basically he's he's afraid because It's kind of like he He's a wise man. He's just he's just a guy that's just doing what he should be doing And not say David's sinless, but he's not doing anything grievous. He's not doing anything crazy He's not doing anything to where it would warrant any type of real punishment From the king and this reminds me of what they did to Jesus now Obviously Jesus was perfect without sin But they would constantly try to trip Jesus up and what he said Go to mark chapter 12 mark chapter 12 verse 13 mark chapter 12 verse 13 You Know who people are afraid of you know, like when you think about the wicked people in our government You know who they're afraid of people that they have no dirt on Right people that haven't been to Epstein's Island Right people that haven't been to like these crazy secret societies and haven't done crazy wickedness to where They can control you and blackmail you They're afraid of people that are just normal people that are just trying to just living everyday lives that aren't these crazy wicked people like they are and So they're afraid of those people because they behave themselves wisely, right? They're just you know Living their everyday life and they don't have any type of dirt to bring up on them. That's why they're afraid of them Because they can actually speak With boldness and they're not afraid of them basically bringing up something that's going to destroy them and so this is something that they were constantly trying to do with Jesus and obviously there was nothing to bring up against Jesus because he is perfect and in mark 12 verse 13 it says and they sent and They send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to catch him in his words Go to Luke chapter 20 Luke chapter 20. I'm gonna read to you Luke 11 53 it says and as he said these things unto them you're going to Luke 20 and as he said these things unto them the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently and to provoke him to speak of many things Laying wait for him and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him So they're just basically like trying to get him just say all but they're just bringing up a whole bunch of stuff They're just like there's he's got to say something wrong Right, you know in the multitude of words, you know, it's hot, you know, the Bible talks about sparing let your words be few because basically Foolishness is found in the multitude of words and the more you speak the the more chance you have to say something wrong But the problem that they have here is they're dealing with the Word of God They're dealing with God himself. So they can have Jesus could speak For all eternity and they'll never catch anything. They'll never be able to accuse him and In Luke 20 verse 20 it says and they watched him and sent for spies Which should feign themselves just men that they might take hold of his words that so They might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor So they're trying to find something that he's gonna say to where they can basically bring him over to the governor and get him put To death or get him punished right and in verse 26 Despair you every you know the stuff that Jesus is saying here as far as like the length of story here As far as it says in verse 26 and they could not take hold of his words Before the people and they marveled at his answer and and held their peace It is just constant they would always try to trip him up and they're just like they just not ask him any more questions Right. They're just like we're no no man would dare ask him anything else after that, right? It's just basically stop in their mouths. They had nothing to say they couldn't trip him up and Obviously David isn't the Lord But it's kind of I believe that same kind of scenario where it didn't matter, you know David would say, you know, they would try to trip David up and basically there's just nothing He was saying or doing to where he could accuse him of anything and that made him even more afraid Because now you have this really good guy this righteous guy. How are you gonna kill this guy? Right think about killing somebody that's just a troublemaker and this person dies people are just gonna be like, whatever You know that guy was kind of a troublemaker anyway Now try killing someone that's that everybody knows is a really good person like a really good guy that they love a lot Right now try killing that person and thinking that the people are gonna be okay with that So the more that David's around the people and the more that they see who he is The more they care about him the more they love him the more that Saul can't kill him right the more that he would be in hot water if he were to do something against him and The idea of the matter is that he can't really find anything to accuse him anyway The thing about this being being younger to go to Titus chapter 2 Titus chapter 2 David's a young man, obviously in this this story and I mean, he's called a young stripling. He's he's ruddy, you know, obviously he's he's not even like a full-grown man at this point so he's obviously a young guy and a young guy that's very wise and Very intelligent very and just behaving himself wisely. So you have a very mature young man and a valiant man on top of that and So this is something that as a young person whether it's a young lady a young man, you have to understand this is that there's there is a microscope on you And You say well, how do you know this because I used to be there and by some I was I'm still in that camp, right? You know being 38 years old not 39 till next year being 38 years old To a lot of people that you'd be like, well, you're not that young right But if you were talking to someone that's like 60s in their 60s, they'd say I'm some young buck, right? I'm some young guy some young whippersnapper, right? Now if they say that they're probably 70, okay 80 90 But when it comes to this being younger Listen, there's there's this magnifying glass to be like, hey, you're young and stupid You're young and ignorant You're young you don't know anything and this is something I know I dealt with being in my 20s when I was in my 20s and you know reading the Bible and learning things about the Bible and all that and just being basically being brushed off because You're you're so young right? How could you know? How could you be right on this and we're not right on this kind of thing, you know And this is really where I believe you really need to be Thinking about how you behave yourself at a higher level than you may think to be They can kind of get you know Older people can a lot of times get away with a lot more stuff because they're older and it's like well You just gonna have to deal with it. I'm older than you, right? when you're younger You had to have to set yourself to a higher standard notice what it says here in Titus chapter 2 and verse 6 says young men likewise exhort to be sober minded in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works in doctrine showing uncorrupt corruptness gravity sincerity Sound speech that cannot be condemned that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed Having no evil thing to say of you. I I mean, I remember going out soul-winding and you'd give something the gospel be like who are you to give me the gospel now? Here's the thing the Word of God is quick and powerful and then to edge sword, you know So obviously the Word of God is powerful That obviously that's true, right? But there is this idea where they're they're gonna basically see if they can find any Hole and or basically try to trip you up in anything that you say so they can discount your whole argument And The younger you are the more they think they can do that As you get older You get a little more intimidating to them. Okay, but listen when I was in when I was 20 21 22 23 when I was in that that age right there. I wasn't intimidating to people By coming up to them be like, hey, let me show you the Word of God Now I'm probably a little more intimidating just because I'm almost 40 and I'm getting like some I'm getting some salt my beard, you know, like there's there's a little bit of a little more gravity Behind what I'm saying. I'm a pastor of a church, you know, like there's a little more like hey, you know What are you gonna say? What are they gonna say to me, right? When you become like a full-grown man, what are they gonna say to you know, and I'm kind of being a little facetious You know, but the idea here is that When I was younger, I had to be like I'm not saying I'm not on my game when I'm out It's all winning and when I'm talking to somebody but they don't give you the same respect Okay When you're younger Just facts. Okay, I'm talking to the younger guys right now younger women You're not gonna get the respect that the older ones get Do you have to? compensate that With gravity and sincerity and uncorruptness purity righteousness and what you do Because that can't be gained saved And when they see that, you know what they see they don't have anything to say what they can say to you Like he's doing everything. He should be doing she's doing everything. She should be doing she knows exactly what she believes on that He knows exactly what he believes on that I can't say anything against what they're saying Because they studied to show themselves approved unto God and a workman that needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth What are they gonna say to that? And you're like that's not fair life's not fair deal with it You know, it wasn't fair when I was in my 20s, it wasn't fair when I was it, you know a teenager It wasn't fair when I was in my well, I'm still my 30s But every group of people has their own that has kind of their own hurdles and everything when it comes to this But I think about David David was in that range. He was in his teens to getting into his 20s and Saul the king of Israel was afraid of him. Why because he behaved himself wisely in all his ways And That is something to think about when you're in that age range and listen, it just is what it is Like I don't want to be that way tough. I Don't I don't want I Don't want Biden to be our president, you know, I don't want I don't want a lot of things, you know I don't want half it. I don't want them probably ninety to nine percent of the people that are in our government right now I don't want them in that position Most the pastors that are passing right now probably should be replaced with better men, you know and you know what, there's a lot of things that I don't want to be but they just are what they are and You have to deal with the situation that you're in and David is is someone You know as a young man, I looked up to David and said I want to be like that I want to be like that young man right there behave myself wisely They can't gain say what I say. I have uncorrupt sincere grave when a doctrine and what I say They can't say anything against And if you don't think that when I was talking to pastors and when I was talking to other people That I wasn't choosing my words wisely You have another thing coming meaning. This is that I was very careful when I said I was very Methodical and the fact that I if I know I said this right here they could counter it over here. It's like a chess game For those that play chess and in our church, it's like a chess game You have to think a few moves ahead as far as what people are gonna say, you're like you're cynical Yes, I am. So let's move on to the next point in in Acts chapter 4 Acts chapter 4 the thing to think about here is that There's a lot of people out there especially in the realm of Christianity that Are Lifted up high and They're in positions of authority but not necessarily because They have the qualifications to be in that position of authority or they have The knowledge to be in that position of authority. What do you think about the Pharisees and the Sadducees? Okay, they were the leaders of Israel. The Sadducees didn't even believe in the resurrection an angel or a spirit Who could be less qualified to be in the leadership position? Right when they just completely reject that And obviously the Pharisees believed in the workspace salvation not qualified to be in that position, but think about this and and Acts chapter 4 verse 13 it says now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marveled and They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus Here's the thing to them. They were ignorant and unlearned why because they didn't come up before their feet Right like Saul Which is Paul right Paul in the Bible. He came up under the feet of Gamaliel and he was a Pharisee the Pharisee So technically Paul was a learned man, right? He was he was someone that wasn't ignorant about their religion and what they believe and everything right and so But here's the thing. Would you rather be ignorant and unlearned in the in the Pharisees and Sadducees religion and been with Jesus? Or be with Jesus, right? What would you rather have and ultimately what's more important? That you've been with Jesus and and I this gets into the the Bible College mentality It's like hey, you know, I've been to Bible College. I have my masters of divinity. I have my PhD and you know, I don't know what what's it what's a I can't think of what what what kind of degrees they have over there All right, brother Dave testify at some point all the different degrees that are at these colleges but The idea though is that Because you haven't been learned in their ways Therefore you're discounted But at the same time what's more important reading the Bible? More important than going to any type of college or learning any type of You know, let's say pastoral type of You know classes and stuff like that is reading the Bible I'm not saying you can't learn anything from those classes or there wasn't anything to be learned from that but what's more important? reading the Bible and When it comes to this as a young man as a young woman You need to get with Jesus You need to get in the Word of God You need to study the Word of God you need to meditate upon the Word of God and you know what? Doing that is gonna cause you to behave Wisely and you're gonna know more than the ancients as David said he knew more than his instructors Why because he meditated upon the Word of God gives us a lamp unto his feet right and a light unto his path because he loved the Word of God and Read it on a daily basis so When you're younger, this is a time the Bible says to bear the yoke in your youth and Be like David who was behaving himself wisely at a young age and You have older people that are afraid of you because of that because they can't say anything against you And know this is that you do have a target on your back when you're younger you have a target on your back facts and And a lot of times it's it's it's unfair, you know, but it is what it is he's got to deal with it and But in First Samuel chapter 18 going back to First Samuel 18 here