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Good evening New Life Baptist Church. Please take your Bible and turn to Psalm 27. Let's look at verse number 14. Psalm 27 verse number 14. And it reads, Wait on the Lord, be of good courage. The title for the sermon this evening is Be of Good Courage. Psalm 27 really does instruct us on what it means to be courageous, how we can be courageous, how we can be men of bravery and leaders of bravery. And so I think it's a great psalm to work through. So let's start there in verse number 1. Psalm 27 verse 1. The Bible reads, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? So you notice immediately that the signs of a courageous man is a man who does not fear, a man who is not afraid of what his enemy is, what this world could do to him because he's got the Lord as his salvation, the Lord is his light. Now please keep your finger there and let's go to John chapter 1. John chapter 1 verse number 4 please. Keep your finger there in Psalm 27. Let's go to John chapter 1 and verse number 4. And I just want you to notice how the psalmist says that the Lord is his light, it's his salvation and his strength. The strength of my life, the psalmist said, the strength of my life. And we go to John chapter 1 and verse number 4. The Bible reads, In him, speaking of course of Jesus Christ, in him was life and the life was the light of men. And so brethren, the only one that can give us everlasting life, the only one that can give us not just everlasting life in eternity future in heaven, but also in this life. The enjoyment, the joy, having a fulfilled life, the only person that can do that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it says, In him was life and the life was the light of men. So not only is Jesus Christ our life, but he's also our light. And you know brethren, we definitely need the light of Jesus Christ, we need the light of his word to help us walk in the paths that the Lord wants us to walk. Obviously we live in a dark world, we live in a world that is anti-God, anti-Bible. We have so many thoughts, we're constantly challenged in different areas of life. And what's wonderful is when you can just have the light and you can shine that light in a place of darkness and you can have an answer. I love the Bible because when you study the Bible, when you know what Jesus Christ's will is in your life, you'll always have that light, you'll always know exactly how you should act or how you should react in a situation because you've been enlightened by God's word. And you know the world we live in, most people that we surround ourselves with, most people that we interact with are non-believers and they are living in the darkness of this world. And so we have Jesus Christ who is a light and then he has also made us to be the light of the world. So if you know the gospel message, if you know the way of salvation, God wants to use you as a light, as a candle that will shine bright the gospel in this dark world. Look at verse number 5, John 1 verse 5. It says, And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. And so when Jesus Christ was on the scene, he stood out, he shone brightly. It says the darkness comprehended it not. The works of darkness, those that want to and not acknowledge their sin, people that do not want to acknowledge that they're doing wrong, they're doing sinful acts, they want to remain in the darkness. They don't like the light, they don't like light shining on their wicked deeds. And of course salvation is understanding that we have sinned against God, we have committed wicked acts, we are worthy of God's judgment and ultimately a place in the lake of fire. But when we are willing to acknowledge our wicked behavior, when we're willing to acknowledge that we're sinners and that we're not good enough for heaven, that's when we can allow the light to shine in our lives, to show us the way of salvation. Verse number 6. There was a man sent from God whose name was John, that's John the Baptist. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. And so you can see here that John the Baptist was a gospel preacher. He was a soul winner and he came to be a witness of the light of Jesus Christ. And brethren if you're a Baptist, you might not be John the Baptist but you're part of New Life Baptist, well you also are called to be a witness of this light. You're also called to be someone to tell people to believe in Jesus Christ. And I love that about John the Baptist. The message is consistent from the very beginning. John the Baptist who was the last Old Testament prophet, hey what did he teach? He came teaching that salvation was by believing. Believing in the light of the world, of course referring to Jesus Christ. Verse number 8. He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lights of every man that cometh into the world. And sometimes people use this idea, people that do not believe in Jesus Christ, they'll say, I believe I've heard Billy Graham say something like this, that you can be saved, you can be sure you have your place in heaven if you just follow the light that you've been given by God. And so if the Muslim just follows the light of Islam, he'll get to heaven. If the Buddhist just follows the light of Buddhism, he'll get to heaven. If the atheist just follows the light that he has of the knowledge of how the word came to be, that he'll also be saved. And of course that is false. Of course that is heresy. Of course that is stupidity. No, the light shines in the darkness. Jesus Christ, his gospel exposes the false gospel of Islam. It exposes the false wisdom, the foolishness of atheism. And whatever false religion there exists, whatever false gospels exist, Jesus Christ in his gospel message shines a light in those wicked beliefs, in those wicked practices. And so Jesus Christ of course is the true light and it is only through him, every man that is born on this earth, the only way he can have the light and the knowledge of eternal matters, of the greater spiritual truths of life, is if he comes to the light of Jesus Christ. Back to Psalm 27 verse number 2. It says, So you can see here that David, the psalmist here, has enemies and he's expecting them to just stumble and fall when they come to attack him. Verse number 3. In this will I be confident. And so verses 1, 2 and 3 show us the mark of a courageous man. It shows us the goal that we should be striving to achieve to be people that are courageous, people that are brave. And you can see here that he knows or he expects that the wicked or his enemies will be destroyed. When they come after his flesh, when they come to destroy him, he expects that his enemies are going to fail. He expects they're going to stumble and fall. He has no fear of what his enemies can do unto them, or unto him I should say. And so you know brethren, if you're somebody that is worried about what people may do to you, if you're worried about how your enemies can attack you, you're lacking in courage. So what we see here in verse 1, 2 and 3 are the marks of a courageous man. And even in verse number 3 it says, even if there's like an army, even if an entire army comes up against you brethren, could you imagine if the prime minister becomes your enemy and he sends the Australian army, he sends the Australian navy, he sends the Australian air force to come and get you, to come and arrest you, to come and capture you. How would you react? The Psalmist says, I'm not going to be afraid. The Psalmist says that he knows the Lord will be with him. And it says at the end of verse number 3, in this will I be confident. I'm going to be confident even if an entire army came to capture me. So I mean this is quite a large goal. I think if I knew the Australian army was out to get me, I would be fearful. I would have some concerns, I would have worries. And so the point of this chapter, of Psalm 27, is to show us the first three verses, what the marks of a courageous man is, and then verses 4 to 14 teaches us how to become that courageous person. So yes, David was a man of courage, but when we read the rest of it, we understand that he did not start as a man of courage. He did not start with bravery. He had to work himself into that position. So this is what we're going to keep reading. In verse number 4, we have the first mark, the first method to become courageous is first of all, you must be a church member. For you to become courageous, for you to become brave in your faith, for you to just have the confidence that God will step in and defeat my enemies, you must first just be a church member. Get into your local church. Look what he says in verse number 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. What an amazing thing that, you know, David says, there's only one thing I desire, and my desire is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. You know, and of course the house of the Lord in his time was the tabernacle. You know, the temple was not yet constructed. The tabernacle was the house of the Lord. And, you know, if you went to David and said, David, what are you going to get up to this new week? You know, do you have any plans this week? What's your desire? What do you want to do? David will respond by saying, well, I'm going to the house of the Lord. I'm going to spend time with the Lord. That's what I want to do this week. And of course the house of the Lord in the New Testament is your local church. And so if King David lived in our time, you know, he would say, and if King David lived on the Sunshine Coast, he would be saying, you know, when the new week rolls around, when Sunday hits, you ask David, hey, what are you going to get up to this week? Man, I'm going to be in the house of the Lord. I'm going to be in church. I'm going to be at New Life Baptist Church. That's my one desire that he would say. And so you can see, you know, this is how he became courageous. He got himself into the house of the Lord and he considered the house of the Lord as his own house, his own dwelling place that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. You know, it was his permanent dwelling place as much as his own house. You know, when the church doors were open, he was there. He made sure he was there. You know, if church was on every single day, he would be there. He would be there to serve the Lord. Why did he desire to be in church at the end of verse number four? It says, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. And so why should we be people that go to church? What should church be like? First of all, church should be a place where we behold the beauty of God. It's a place where we come to think about God. We come to worship him. We come to glorify him. We come to serve him. You know, Jesus Christ says where two or three are gathered in his name, he'd be in the midst of them. And so we come to be in the presence of God. We come to hear, you know, from the Holy Ghost as the word of God is being preached, while the songs are being sung. We come to allow ourselves to be moved by the Holy Ghost and to be challenged in the way that we live. You know, if we're not living how God wants us to live, that's something that we need to change in our lives, right? And so he looks for the beauty of God. When David is challenged about his sin, he doesn't just turn around and say, well, I disagree with that. I don't believe that's right. He says, no, the words of God, the things I'm learning here, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. And I'm after the beauty of the Lord. So the church ought to be a place where God is glorified, where God is beautified, where we see God as beautiful, okay? And then it says, and to inquire in his temple, okay? So to inquire, of course, is to ask, is to seek knowledge, it is to learn. To inquire is to seek knowledge, to learn information. And so another reason why you ought to desire to be in the house of the Lord is to learn biblical truth, you know? And if your church is not teaching you things from the Bible, you know, you're a little bit handicapped, aren't you? You know, you really need to be in a place where you're learning, where you can inquire of the Lord. When you listen to preaching, it answers questions. You know, you don't want to be in a house of the Lord where you listen to preaching and you walk away with more questions. You know, I was just talking about this past week with the members here of Blessed Our Baptist Church, just about how, you know, in some of the previous churches that we've been at where you think you're going to get some questions answered but you walk away with more questions and you don't have anything answered. No, the psalmist says, I want to go to a place, I want to be in his temple where I can inquire of the Lord, where I can get information, where I can learn and grow, okay? And so this is the challenge of every preacher and I thank God for the preachers we have at New Life Baptist Church. I thank you all for, you know, great preaching, great information. You know, I've not missed a single sermon so far and, you know, it's great that even in my absence that you guys are putting the effort to teach the people of God, you know, the words of God, to give them knowledge because that is why we need to be in the house of God to, yes, the beauty of the Lord, to look at the beauty, to worship God but also to learn, to be able to inquire, to have answers to our questions. And so it's to learn biblical truth and, of course, in 1 Timothy 3.15, if I carry along it says, But thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The pillar and the ground of the truth. So church is the place that we go and inquire and we hear the truth, the truth of God's Word being taught. Okay, so let's keep going back in Psalm 27, verse number 5. Psalm 27, verse number 5. So we saw that to be courageous you first have to be a churchgoer, right? And it's the place that you just want to make it your permanent dwelling place. Verse number 5. And so listen, when the psalmist, this courageous man, in order for him to become courageous, when he had a time of trouble, he would go and find refuge in the Lord, okay? And so being courageous is going to the Lord. It's going and asking him for your help and the Lord's going to protect you. Let's keep going, verse number 6. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. What I love about that is, of course, when he refers to the tabernacle, as I told you, the tabernacle in David's day was the house of the Lord. And so he goes to the tabernacle, okay? Even when he's been attacked by his enemies, he goes there and he's lifted up against his enemies and there he offers the sacrifices of joy. Brethren, why should you be in church? To offer sacrifices of joy. You know, church ought to be a place where you find enjoyment. You like being at church. You know, if you say, well, Pastor Kevin, I really actually don't like being in church. Well, then you're not a person of courage. You know, the courageous person will love church. You know, the person who is steadfast and sure in the Lord will love church. And if you can honestly say, I don't like church. You know, I'm forced to be there. I just, you know, if I don't turn up, you know, people will think bad of me. Well, you really need to work on that. You need to go to the Lord and ask him to help you in whatever struggle you're in. You know, you're allowing the flesh to have victory in your life rather than the spirit. Because if you were walking in the spirit, if you were walking in the new man, you would love church. You know, you would love to sing praises to the Lord. And listen, a lot of people think going to church is, you know, I'm going to church to be served. No, you come to church, or maybe when you first came to church, you had the idea, I'm going to get served. But listen, once you're in church a while, you realize it's not about being served. It's about being a servant. It's about serving others. It's about serving the Lord. And David comes to the tabernacle, you know, with his service. He's coming with his sacrifices of joy. Say, what are his sacrifices? Well, he says, I will sing. I will sing praises unto the Lord. And so listen, brethren, when you sing praises to the Lord at church, you are offering sacrifices unto the Lord. And so singing is important. You know, singing and making melody in your heart. This is what the Lord loves. He loves his people to lift up their hearts and lift up their voices, to give God the glory, to give him praise. And so, brethren, I know the practice of our church and most churches, you know, before the preaching, there's a time of singing, you know. And please, you know, what time do we have church on Wednesdays up there? It's 6.30, right? So maybe we have singing for the first 20 minutes, let's say. And then, you know, 20 minutes into the service, the preaching is going to start. And so, you know, you might take the attitude of being, well, you know, it doesn't matter if I run late for church. I'm just going to miss out on the singing, you know. As long as I get there before the preaching, that's what matters. No, no, no, no. Okay. When you come for the preaching, you get there because you want to be served. You want to hear the word of God being preached to you so you can learn a few things. Hey, but you got to go there and bring your sacrifices of joy first. You got to go there and sing praises to God. You know, don't be in the habit of coming to church late where you miss out on the singing because if you're not doing the singing, you are withholding those sacrifices to God. You know, God wants you to sing. And when you turn up to church late, you are depriving God from that sacrifice. You are depriving God from that worship. And listen, again, we go to church to serve God. You know, singing praises ought to be something very important in your life, you know, and to your church. So please, you know, if you have the habit of being late to church, just put in your heart. We've got to get there before the service starts. We've got to get to church before the singing starts because I'm coming to offer my sacrifices of praise to God. Verse number seven, it says, So in order for David to become a man of courage, not only did we see him going to church, not only did we see him singing praises to the Lord, but we see him also praying to the Lord, right? He cries, he's, you know, yelling out to the Lord in his anguish and he's asking God to be merciful to him. He's asking God to answer his prayers. And so look, you know, David did not just start as a man of courage, he did not just start as a man of bravery. He developed into that person by just being a faithful servant to God, just by doing the basic things, going to church, singing praises, you know, praying to the Lord. That's the way, you know, that's the journey of becoming someone that is courageous. Look at verse number eight. You know, God wants us to seek him. God wants us to seek his face. God wants us to be in fellowship with him. God wants us to know him more. And the more you know your Bible, the more you know God, you know. And, you know, we need to take that challenge. God wants us to know him more than I'm going to seek his face. I'll just read to you Matthew 7.7. It says, What a promise from God. You know, if we go to God in prayer, you know, and we request things by the will of God, God's going to answer your prayer. You know, when we go and we see God's face, we say, God, I want to know you more. God's going to reveal himself to you. God's going to give you greater wisdom. God's going to show you the greatness of his lights, you know, in this place of darkness. And so we ought to be people that not only pray to God, not only go to church, not only sing praises to God, we ought to be people that truly want to know God. You know, people that truly want to spend time with God. You know, God, reveal yourself to me. Lord, I want to see your face, spiritually speaking. We know when God creates a new heaven and a new earth, we are finally going to see not only the face of Jesus, yeah, when he comes and he resurrects us from the dead, or if we make it to the rapture, but we're going to see the face of the Father. And, you know, no man has seen the face of the Father except for Jesus Christ. And so we get the benefit, you know, in the eternal state to come to see God face, to see God face, you know, to see his face. But we can see his face today. You know, we can see his face today in a spiritual sense because the more you know the word of God, the more you know who God is. And I think God is a beautiful, you know, being. You know, God is amazing. He's awesome and also terrible, you know. The more you know God and you realize your sinful state and you know, you know, the commandments that you broke and you know your weaknesses and you know your foolish thoughts and your wicked heart, there's also, and you know God, you start to tremble before him. You know, you have that fear of God before you. Hey, but fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. It's the beginning of wisdom. So the more you fear God, the more you know him and the more God's light will be opened up in your life. Let's keep going. Verse 9, the Bible reads, And so, you know, even David was not a perfect man. He would say, put not thy servant away in anger. You know, when David recognized that he had sinned against the Lord, he realized that God would be angry with him. But he would request that God would never leave him nor forsake him. And that is a promise to us today. You know, God does promise that he'll never leave us. Hebrews 13 verse 5, What an amazing promise from God. But you know, sometimes, just like David felt at the beginning of verse number 9, you know, sometimes we do feel like he's far away. You know, hide not thy face far from me. And so sometimes in our Christian life, it does feel like God's distanced himself. But never forget, God's never moved. You know, God is the same. He doesn't change, you know. And we're the ones, we're the ones that are unfaithful. We're the ones that, you know, we might be having great fellowship with God one day, and the next day, we've backslidden. Next day, we've walked away from God. Next day, we've forgotten to spend time with him, forgotten to pray, forgotten to read our Bibles. And before you know it, you know, if you continue down that downward spiral, it will feel like that God is far away. And you'll be like, God, where have you gone? Well, actually, God's not gone anywhere. He's remained where he is. It's you, it's me that have gotten ourselves far from God. And so, you know, it's important that we maintain a close walk with God. Verse number 10, What a sad thing to be forsaken by your family, you know, especially by your parents. You know, and this happens to some people. It saddens me when I hear the testimony of some who have come to know Christ the Savior. They've believed the Gospel. And they've done, you know, they realize, wow, you know, I've been saved from hell. I don't want my family to go to hell. And they share the great news of the Gospel to their family members. And then their families think they're in a cult. And their families think that, you know, they've been brainwashed or they start hating the message of the Gospel. And it's a sad thing because, you know, it does happen where you can be forsaken by, you know, I know someone very dear to me that's basically been forsaken by their father, you know, for believing the Gospel, you know, for no longer remain as a Roman Catholic. But here's what the Bible promises us in verse number 10, when you're forsaken by your family, the Lord will take you up. Your Lord will sustain you. The Lord will give you strength, you know. And the Lord does care. You know, we know that God cares for the fatherless, you know, for any single mothers that might be raising children on their own or maybe just an orphan completely with no father and mother. You know, just read your Bible through and you can see from the Old Testament to the New Testament, God definitely cares for the fatherless. You know, God cares because the family unit is so important. It's such an integral part of his plan on this earth, you know, families, mothers and fathers, children. You know, of course, because God himself, you know, he's got that family union within his nature with the father and the son. So that's a family unit right there. And so, you know, family is so important to God. And so when people have been forsaken by their own families, you know, God will step in and help you. And if you've been forsaken by your family, brethren, I'm sorry to hear that. But don't forget, God has not forsaken you. You know, God's not going to leave you. You know, you just run to God. He will sustain you. He will give you the ability to overcome that sadness, to overcome that rejection. And, you know, he is your father. You may be rejected by your earthly father, but he is your heavenly spiritual father and he loves you. You know, he loves you. He will never leave you. And I'm just going to read to you from Matthew 10 verse 34. Matthew 10 verse 34. It says, these are the words of Jesus Christ. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. What a sad thing. You know, when David here speaks of his enemies, obviously he's dealing with, you know, enemies of other nations, maybe even people within his own nation that are against his appointment as king or, you know, against the Lord God. Maybe they've gone and worshiped some false gods. But if you know the story of David, he had even his own son Absalom become his own enemy. You know, even David within his own family, you know, he was rejected by his own family. And so when we think about our enemies, what Jesus Christ taught us is that sometimes, and just like I said, if you've been forsaken by family members, sometimes your own family can become an enemy to you because you've simply believed on Jesus Christ, simply because you've seen the light of Jesus, salvation, the free gift, you followed after him, you know, and people see you and they, you know, within your own family, your own household, they can become an enemy unto you. And let's keep going back in Psalm 27, verse number 12. Sorry, verse number 11. It says, teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. And so, you know, our desire ought to be that we can be taught by God. Teach me thy way, O Lord. And of course, it's the Holy Spirit. The Lord's given us a great teacher. By having the Holy Spirit indwell every believer, when you read your Bible, you no longer need to be ignorant to God's Word. You know, you just need to be in tune with the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost will teach you all things, right? And what's wonderful about the teaching of God, the lessons that God gives us is they are, it's like being led, as it says in verse number 11, in a plain path. What are the plains? When people talk about the plains, it's obviously talking about a land that is mostly flat, you know, a land that is mostly flat with barely any trees or no trees at all. And so, you know, if you are walking a journey, you know, you would rather walk on a flat surface because then it's easy. It's easy to walk on a flat way. You know, there's no real obstacles. There's no real challenges. And when it comes to learning God's Word, it's like that. You know, it's not necessarily complicated. What may look like complication is when you've been taught false doctrines. You know, when people teach that salvation is by works or, you know, people are just flat out rejecting what God says, they're the ones that add complications to God's teaching, but really the teaching of God is very plain. It's very straightforward. You know, when I think about walking in a plain path, sometimes I think about when we go soul winning and, you know, in some of the areas near the church building, we have some hilly areas, right? And nobody likes going to a street which has a lot of hills or where the driveway, you know, it's a long driveway to the house and it's a steep climb. And, you know, man, I'm going to climb up those stairs. I'm going to climb up that driveway and I'm going to be exhausted. I'm going to knock on that door and people are going to reject me. So we normally just like the plain path. And you know what? God's teaching, God's Word is like that plain path. If you can please take your Bible and turn to Matthew chapter 11, please. Turn to Matthew chapter 11 and verse number 28. Matthew chapter 11 and verse number 28. Matthew chapter 11, verse number 28 reads, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Okay? So Jesus Christ promises us rest. You know, there are people that are trying to work their way to heaven and it's exhausting. It's exhausting trying to be perfect. It's exhausting trying to live righteously, not knowing if you're going to be good enough for heaven. That's exhausting. You know, when you're heavy laden, you know, when you don't know what to think in relation to, you know, things that are going on in this world, it can be a great burden in your life. But Jesus Christ promises us there that He will give us rest. Now the rest that we think about when it comes to Jesus is not like a rest of no works in that sense. I'm talking about the Christian life here, okay? Let's keep going because it says here in verse number 29. It says, Take my yoke upon you. What's a yoke? You know, if you're a farmer, you might yoke up two oxen. You know, it's a piece of wood that will cause two animals to work together. If you're trying to plow the ground, you're going to be more successful with two oxen than the one. So you put two together, you put a yoke that will cause them to work. And so when Jesus Christ says, Take my yoke upon you, you know, God is saying, Look, I want to help you in the work. Now, how good would it be? How good is that? I mean, how much can we achieve if Jesus Christ just helped us along? You know, when we moved from the Sunshine Coast of Sydney, there was a lot of carrying to do. There was a lot of heavy lifting, and I would get my three boys to help me carry a lot of that heavy furniture around. But, you know, when I got there to help the boys, because obviously I'm stronger than the boys, you know, I helped them carry. For them, it made the work a lot lighter. So what would it be like then to have the Lord God Jesus Christ help you in the work? Well, you wouldn't have to put as much effort, right? Because you know that Jesus Christ would do the heavy lifting. And that's what's wonderful about being yoked up with Christ. He says, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus Christ says, I'm going to do all the work. You know, if we just allow ourselves to be clean vessels that can be used by God, then God will do all the hard work. God will change what needs to be changed within us if we're open to His leading, if we're open to His guidance. You know, we should not, you know, try to live godly in our own strength. We should be relying on God to do a work through us, and that would make it a lot easier. And so we see that learning from Jesus Christ is easy. It's restful, right? And so the psalmist once again said, Teach me thy way. He wants the plain path. He wanted the easy walk, and it is easy in Jesus Christ. Back to Psalm 27, verse 12, the Bible says, Deliver me not over until the will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. And so we learn something about our enemies. One of the major tactics that an enemy would have against you is, like it says in verse number 12, false witnesses, you know, false accusations. And we can see here that David is concerned about the false accusations, the false witnesses that are coming up against me, right? That it's cruel. You know, people that make up lies about you, people that try to picture you as a bad person when you're not even that way, you know, it's out of cruelty. It's out of hatred. You know, that person is your enemy that's trying to discredit you. And, you know, there was a time, you know, in my teenage years where I was bothered by false accusations. You know, when people would say things about you, gossip about you, make things up, I used to get so frustrated about it. But then you grow, you know, you mature, you get thicker skin, you know, you're walking with the Lord, and you start to realize, man, you know, if people want to make false accusations about you, it just shows you how stupid they are. And, you know, there were times I just recently read a comment on YouTube. Someone said, and I'm just paraphrasing, but it's something like, you know, Pastor Kevin only believes in the Trinity because he's a servant of Pastor Anderson. You know, I mean, that is an outright false accusation. That is a false witness. Why do I believe in the Trinity? You know, number one, because I'm a Bible believer, all right, I read my Bible and I see the Trinity very clearly from the Word of God. But number two, because I've grown up as a Baptist my entire life. My parents took me to a Baptist church from, I mean, I can't even remember what other churches I've been to. It was always a Baptist church. And the Trinity is a Baptist doctrine. I mean, it's unusual to go to a Baptist church and be taught oneness or something like that. It's unusual. You know, I've never seen it before. I've never seen a Baptist church teaching these kinds of things. And so, you know, some people just want to make false accusations and say, well, the reasonability is in the Trinity is because he's trying to follow Pastor Anderson or something stupid like that. And, you know, for me, you know, those kinds of comments, those kinds of false accusations really don't really, you know, they don't really bother me because, as I said, if anybody knows who I am and knows my history, they will know that's just a bunch of garbage, right? And, you know, when people say those kinds of things, it just shows you how wicked they are. It just shows you how stupid they are. They open their mouths and, you know, they just make a fool of themselves because nobody truly believes what they're saying. But then there are other accusations that might hurt me a little bit. And, you know, when we talk about being of good courage, you know, sometimes you just need to experience these kinds of things and learn how to overcome the false accusations. So, you know, ever since I became a pastor, you know, I've had people say things like, oh, you know, he's doing it for the money. And I'm like, are you crazy? You know, you're doing it for the money or you're doing it for the power. You're doing it for, you know, to be known of men or something like that. I'm just thinking, are you nuts? You know, if I wanted to build this great church to be known of men, we would not have started an independent, fundamental Baptist church. We would have started some Pentecostal charismatic church, you know, to have all these people. You know, being paid as a pastor is the job where I've been paid the least in my life. You know, so, I mean, it's those kinds of accusations that do bother me to an extent, right? They are kind of painful because, you know, the reason you get into ministry, the reason you get into church is out of sacrifice. It's because you love the Lord, right? And because you love the Lord, you love the people of God. And, you know, the reason I'm in Sydney is, you know, it's not because, I mean, why did I come to Sydney, right? It's because I loved blessing off Baptist church. I wanted to be a leader and to help and encourage the brethren that are down here, you know. And, you know, you do things out of sacrifice. You do things out of love. You do it because you love God's people. You do it because you love God. And so when people criticize you about that and try to say, it's about the money or it's like, you know, those kinds of things do, you know, can bother you, right? They can be frustrating. They're especially frustrating when they come in from people within your church, you know, because, yeah, maybe an outsider can say a lot of stupid things, but someone within the church ought to see that the pastor or whoever it is, you know, they're serving the Lord, you know. No one's getting rich preaching God's word, you know. No one's getting rich. I'm saying preaching the truth of God's word. No one gets rich preaching the truth of God's word. No one gets rich, you know, just trying to serve the Lord. And, you know, pastors that do get rich, you can just, you know, just immediately say, you know, some of that makes millions of dollars as a pastor. You can just immediately just say that, hey, that person's a false prophet and that person's not preaching the truth of God's word. But you're not going to get rich preaching God's truth, you know, at least not rich on this earth. You know, you can have your riches in heaven, amen. And so, you know, especially when it's people within your own church that might say cruel or harsh things, false accusations, that's, you know, that stuff can really hurt because that person ought to know that you're sacrificing yourself. You're sacrificing your time, your family, you know, the comforts that you may have if you just stayed in the one place and, you know, if it was money, yeah, I just would have stayed in my job. I would have stayed in my high-paying jobs if that's all I wanted. And so those things can hurt. And you can see that the psalmist, you know, acknowledges this in verse number 13 that false accusations can sting a little bit because he says, after he mentions the false accusations in verse number 13, he says, I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. So he says, look, I would have fainted over these false accusations. I would have given up. I would have just, you know, just said, you know, I can't battle this in my... I can't be courageous, you know, except unless... This is what, you know, helped him overcome the false accusations. He believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living. You know, every time someone makes a false accusation about you, brethren, don't give up, you know, don't faint. Like the psalmist says, I would have fainted, but believe that God's going to do you good. And that's what's great, you know, you learn this as you mature in the Lord, the more false accusations, you know, when people make false accusations about you, I'm just expecting, well, this is good because God's going to step in and give me goodness. God's going to come in and bless me when people make false accusations against me. And so this is the attitude that we ought to have if we want to develop into courageous people. Let's keep going, verse number 14. Last verse, it says, wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Now, please go to Psalm 31, just a few Psalms across, a few chapters across, Psalm 31, verse 24. I just want you to notice this phrase, be of good courage, it's also mentioned in Psalm 31, verse 24, which says, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. So when we're talking about, you know, waiting on the Lord, be of good courage, wait upon the Lord, what this is telling us also in Psalm 31, that we ought to hope in the Lord. You know, expect and hope that God's going to step in and deliver us from our difficulties, our trials, that God's going to come and give us the courage, God's going to allow us to be brave in the face of adversity. Please go to 2 Samuel chapter 10, we're going to finish up on 2 Samuel chapter 10 and verse number 6. 2 Samuel chapter 10 and verse number 6. So we saw how we can become brave, and it's just, Reverend, it's the same thing as just living out your Christian life, going to church, singing praises, praying to God, you know, going to Him when you're down, you know, when you need help, going to Him, walking in the Lord, being in fellowship with God, right? And, you know, running to Him for safety. You know, these are things that we ought to be doing in our daily life, these are the attributes to help you become the courageous person that we read in verses 1, 2, and 3. But we're going to 2 Samuel chapter 10 and verse number 6, and we're going to a story here where David and the Israelites were, you know, under attack by some enemies. Let's have a look at verse number 6. It says, And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Bethlehem and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 footmen, and of king Makar, 1,000 men, and of Ishtob, 12,000 men. And so we have the Ammonites, you know, joining up with the Syrians to defend themselves or to attack against David. They were worried that David was going to come and attack them, so they make an allegiance with the Syrians, verse number 7. And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men. And the children of Ammon came out and put the battle in array at the entering in of the gates, and the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob and Ishtob and Makar were by themselves in the field. And when Joab saw that the fronts of the battle was against him, before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel to put them in array against the Syrians. And so you can see here that Joab, his concern, it looks like they're going to lose the battle. They're surrounded by their armies, right? Look at verse number 10. And the rest of the people, he delivered into the hand of Ebishai, his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon. So it starts to separate the army, you know, some to fight against the Syrians, some to fight against the Ammonites. Verse number 11. And he said, So he's got this strategy. And look what he says in verse number 12. So we see this in a time of battle. He's concerned that they might be losing this battle. He changes tactics. He just says, What does this mean to play the men? Say, look, let's act like men. Let's stand up against this enemy for our people. He says, look, how people that are looking at us as the mighty men, as the captains, they're looking at us, you know, for courage. They're hoping that their leaders are courageous. And this is what I want to end with you on. I'm going to read to you from 1 Chronicles 19, verse 13. You don't need to turn there. But 1 Chronicles 19, 13 has the same story. And it interprets it this way when Job spoke. It says in verse number 13, So he says, look, when we're of good courage, we're also being valiant. And of course, being valiant is showing courage. It's showing bravery. So when someone looks at you and they say, well, that's a valiant person. They're saying that person is courageous. Now look, Job says, let us play the men. You know, I'm sure he was concerned. You know, I'm sure he had some concerns that they might lose the battle. But he says, look, you know, even in the face of battle, we have to be courageous because people are watching us. We have to do it for the people. And, you know, we have to remind ourselves, especially I'm talking to the men here, you know, we're all leaders to some extent. You know, I'm a leader of New Life Baptist Church. And so, you know, the church needs to see me as a courageous man. You know, I'm a pastor of Blessed Hope Baptist Church. You know, this church, Blessed Hope Baptist Church, needs to see me as a courageous leader. You know, but if you're a father, you know, you're a leader of your family. You lead your wife, you lead your children, your family ought to see you as a courageous man. You know, people look up to you. And people are hoping that you can be a leader that shows bravery and courage. And if you're someone that can show that, then they will also be lifted up. They will also be able to join you in the battle and follow your lead. You know, if you're an employer, you're a supervisor in the work, you know, you've got to show yourself to be of good courage. You've got to show yourself as a leader. And, you know, I personally believe that all men are called to be leaders. You know, unless you're called to be a eunuch for the Kingdom of God, but even that type, in that sense, you know, like the Apostle Paul, you know, he was still a leader, right? And so any man that takes on a position of leadership, you know, you need to show courage. You need to show those that are under you that you are taking steps forward, you know, in the face of difficulties and battles, it doesn't matter. You're going to keep fighting and you need to show the courage to others so they can also help you in the battle. You know, if your followers don't see you as a courageous person, they don't see you as a bold and brave person, they're not going to follow your lead. They're going to be scattered when the difficulties come. And, you know, I think about when I was a child as well. You know, I remember when the United States entered into the Gulf War. It was in 1990. And I remember watching the news media and they were even concerned by some people, because I think if, you know, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Australia sent some of their soldiers as well to fight in the Gulf War. And, you know, I'm a child. I was only nine years old. And during that time, nine and ten years old. And I just remember there being concerns and worries and it's like, oh, you know, we're going to war, you know. And I just remember as a child thinking, yeah, but I've got Dad. You know, because, you know, at nine years old, you know, my Dad was everything. You know, I looked at my Dad and I just thought my Dad's brave. My Dad's strong. My Dad's courageous. My Dad's working. You know, we've got a roof over our heads. I never have to worry about whether I'm going to eat today or not. There's always food on the table. My Dad always seems to have an answer. My Dad's always leading the way. And so, you know, my father, in my family, showed himself to be courageous. He showed himself to be a strong leader. And, again, as a child, I was just like, you know what, I'm not going to be afraid because I've got my Dad. Okay? But then, of course, you grow and then you realize, oh, my Dad's just another man. Right? He's got his strengths. He's got his weaknesses. And, you know, we need to understand, men, you know, as fathers, just remember this, that your family, your wife, your children are looking up to you, you know, and they want to see a courageous man. They want to see a leader. So when there's a time of turmoil, you know, pandemic, COVID-19, or whatever other issues, maybe there'll be wars in the future. Maybe Australia will go through economic hard times. They look at you and just say, wow, this is a leader. This is a man of God and I'm happy to be following after him. I'm happy to be a member of this family because I've got Dad. I've got my husband there leading the way. Now, I'm going to keep reading there in 2 Samuel 10. Let's just finish up verse number 13. 2 Samuel 10 verse number 13. And Joab drew nigh, and the people that were with him answered the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him. And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, then fled they also before Abishai and entered into the city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon and came to Jerusalem. And so we see here that Joab, definitely a man of courage, you know. And I'm just going to end on this quote. You know, I was looking up who said this quote. I mean, I basically found this quote. Like everybody has said this quote to some extent, you know. But I'll say the quote to you because it really did help me understand what bravery or courage is. But the quote goes, bravery is not the absence of fear, but action in the face of fear. I'll just read that again. Bravery is not the absence of fear, but action in the face of fear. And so how was David brave? Because even when he was afraid, he would go to God. He would go to God and say, God, you need to help me overcome these difficulties. You know, when Joab was in this battle, when he was surrounded by the Ammonites and the Syrians, you know, it brought him fear. But in the face of fear, he just took action, he changed the tactics, and he went and made war against them and he succeeded. He prevailed against his enemies. And so, brethren, how can you be courageous? Say, well, I need to lose my fear completely. No, that's not it. You know, it's about doing what God expects from you even in the face of fear. You know, we all have fears, we all have concerns, but don't let that stop you serving the Lord. Don't let that stop you going to church. Don't let that stop you praying because it's taking that action that will cause you to develop bravery, for you to play the man, for you to grow up and be manly, to be strong and a courageous leader where other people can desire to follow after you. Okay, let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I just want to thank you for your Word. Lord, bravery, encourage qualities that are missing in the generation of today. And, Lord, I pray that as your people, as people that have the light of Jesus Christ in our lives, that you would shine your light in the darkness that we have, Lord, that you would shine the light on our sin. And, Lord, I pray that we would be people that would follow after you, help us to grow and mature. And, Lord, especially for the men that are leaders, Lord, I pray that you would help them become courageous, like the examples we see of David and of Joab. Lord, thank you for these stories that we have. Thank you for these psalms. They are very deep and they do teach us many great truths. Lord, help us to realize that you'll never leave us, that you'll never forsake us, Lord, even if we are in a point of weakness. We might have all our enemies gathered around us. We know that you will lift us up, that you will sustain us. We thank you so much for your promise. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.