(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

I have a song I love to sing, Since I have been redeemed. Of my Redeemer, Savior King, Since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. Song 229 on the second. I have a Christ that satisfies, Since I have been redeemed. To do His will, my highest prize, Since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. I have a witness, bright and clear, Since I have been redeemed. Dispelling every doubt and fear, Since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. I have a home prepared for me, Since I have been redeemed. Where I shall dwell eternally, Since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. Good singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Thank you, Lord, so much for this day and for our church. Thank you for salvation and all the blessings that you give us here in this life. We love you so much. Pray that you'd help us to sing out from our hearts. And praise you, Lord. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. For our second song, we'll go to 230, Heavenly Sunlight. 230, Heavenly Sunlight, though recently it's been like heavenly rain, at least for me, OK? We should just change the lyrics real quick. Heavenly Sunlight, 230, 230, Heavenly Sunlight. walking in sunlight, all of my journey, over the mountains, through the deveil, Jesus has said, I'll never forsake thee, promised divine that never can fail. Heavenly Sunlight, Heavenly Sunlight, flooding my soul with glory divine, hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing his praises, Jesus is mine. Shadows around me, shadows above me, never conceal my Savior and guide. He is the light, in him is no darkness, ever he's walking close to his side. Heavenly Sunlight, Heavenly Sunlight, flooding my soul with glory divine, hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing his praises, Jesus is mine. In the bright sunlight, ever rejoicing, pressing my way to mansions above, singing his praises, gladly I'm walking, walking in sunlight, sunlight of love. Heavenly Sunlight, Heavenly Sunlight, flooding my soul with glory divine, hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing his praises, Jesus is mine. Good evening, thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you did not already get a bulletin, and you would like one, lift up your hand nice and high. One of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin. On the front we have our Bible memory passage, John 1, verse 40. Any child 18 or under that can quote the verse is able to receive an ice cream treat immediately following this evening's service. Just quote that to either myself, Brother Oz, or one of our ushers, and we will help you out with that. Also, we have our service and soul wanting times, as well as our church stats. Please continue to submit that information to your soul wanting captain. However, if you forgot, and you have something to report, I am still going to try and capture that data. So does anybody have any soul wanting that was not a forgot to report, or need to have reported, or anything? OK, keep up the good work on soul wanting. Also on the right, we have the list of our expecting ladies. We also have our prayer list. Continue to pray for the Negara family for their health. Pray for Miss Lucy's mother for her tumors. Pray for Brother Cameron Hall's leg. I actually, we got to see him at the men's conference, and he said that it's been doing somewhat better. And so we just continue to pray for him. Also, pray for Mrs. Holder's husband's visa. Brother Pendleton in Faith Ward Baptist Church has brain cancer. Those are Mino's friends Cody and Isaac. Brother Carrasco's baby Leilani's kidney's health. Also, Brother Wallach's son-in-law is doing well now. So that's a praise report. Thanks. Praise the Lord for that one. Also, pray for Brother Jimmy Stewart's health. And also, Miss Sierra Ellie's health. She's getting close to her due date. And so just pray for easy delivery and that everything would go smoothly for them. We're going to just say a quick word of prayer as a church family for those that were mentioned. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this evening. Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to be gathered together for these church services. I pray that you would also just bless all of the ladies that are expecting in our church. Please just help them with their pregnancies. Please give them strength and allow their babies to be born in a timely way. I pray that you'd also give their babies just health. And I thank you so much for the rest of our church family. I pray that you would just help those that are struggling with various health concerns, that you could give them favor, give them health, give them strength during their time of tribulation and affliction. I pray that you would just help them. Please just also help our other church family request with the salvations, with wisdom, that you'd help them with favor. And we just thank you for all that you've given us. I pray that our church would continue to be a bright and shining light in this dark world. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Also this, I believe it's this upcoming, is it this Sunday or is it, I get confused on the dates. Yeah, I think it's this Sunday is our Sunday Sundays. So I'm really excited about this. If you participate in our soul winning on Sunday, immediately following the soul winning, when we come back to the property, we're gonna have Sundays. And so that'll be a lot of fun. And then you can have Domingo right afterward, you know, or Spanish service. But that'll be a great encouragement to participate. And for those that are already participating in Sunday, just you're locked in, right? And then also September 24th, we have a Shreveport Louisiana Marathon. There's a sign up sheet back here. Please make sure to sign up for that. Who's planning on coming to this Shreveport Louisiana Marathon? All right, so it looks like we have a lot of people coming. That's gonna be great. Definitely very excited about that event. I think that's pretty much all I have for announcements at this time. We're gonna go ahead and go to our third song. Two, 222, moment by moment, song 222. Again, that's 222, moment by moment. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] Dying with Jesus by death reckon mine Living with Jesus, a new life divine Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine Moment by moment, oh Lord, I am thine Moment by moment, I'm kept in His love Moment by moment, I fly from above Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine Moment by moment, oh Lord, I am thine Never a trial that He is not there Never a burden that He doth not bear Never a sorrow that He doth not share Moment by moment, I'm under His care Moment by moment, I'm kept in His love Moment by moment, I fly from above Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine Moment by moment, oh Lord, I am thine Never a heartache and never a groan Never a teardrop and never a moan Never a danger but there on the throne Moment by moment, He thinks of His own Moment by moment, I'm kept in His love Moment by moment, I fly from above Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine Moment by moment, oh Lord, I am thine Never a weakness that He doth not feel Never a sickness that He cannot heal Moment by moment, in wall or in wheel Jesus my Savior abides with me still Moment by moment, I'm kept in His love Moment by moment, I fly from above Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine Moment by moment, oh Lord, I am thine The Bible reads, Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night. And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid, and all the people that are with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only. And I will bring back all the people unto thee, the man whom thou seekest is as if all return, so all the people shall be in peace. And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner, what shall we do after his saying? If not, speak thou. And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time. For said Hushai, Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field. And thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place, and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt. For all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men. Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that thou go to battle in thine own person. So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground. And of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one. Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river until there be not one small stone found there. And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The council of Hushai the Archite is better than the council of Ahithophel. For the Lord hath appointed to defeat the good council of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus have I counseled. Now therefore send quickly and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over, lest the king be swallowed up and all the people that are with him. Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by in Rogel, for they might not be seen to come into the city. And a wench went and told them, and they went and told King David. Nevertheless a lad saw them and told Absalom. But they went both of them away quickly and came to a man's house in Bahirim, which had a well in his court, whither they went down. And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn thereon, and the thing was not known. And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. And it came to pass after they were departed that they came up out of the well, and went and told King David, and said unto David, Arise and pass quickly over the water, for thus hath Ahithophel counseled against you. Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan by the morning light, there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan. And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and got him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father. Then David came to Mahanaim, and Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab, which Amasa was a man's son, whose name was Ithra, an Israelite, and went in to Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zechariah, Joab's mother. So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. And it came to pass when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobai, the son of Nahash of Reba, of the children of Ammon, and Machir, the son of Amiel of Lo-de-bar, and Barzillai, the Gileadite of Rogalim, brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kind for David, and for the people that were with him to eat. For they said the people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty in the wilderness. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day, and thank you for the opportunity to hear the word of God preached. Pray that you would fill our pastor with the Holy Spirit now, and help us to be attentive to the preaching. I pray that you please minimize distractions. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. So we've been going through the book of 2 Samuel, and we're in chapter number 17. We still find ourselves in this drama between David and his son Absalom, and Absalom has come into power. Absalom has taken over the city, and David's kind of on the run, but that doesn't mean that the situation's been resolved, and essentially Absalom is trying to figure out what's the best course of action, because as long as David is around, as long as David is still out there and capable of doing things, he realizes the kingdom's not really established in his hand, and this is something that's kind of important to understand, but just because you're technically in charge doesn't necessarily mean that everything's going to go on successfully, and so the Bible will often even talk about things being established. If you think about King Solomon, Solomon had to, at the beginning of his reign, perform a lot of duties that his father left him in order for the kingdom to be established in his hand, because Adonijah had performed a rebellion, so as long as Adonijah's around, there's still a little bit of confusion there. He's got a handful of enemies that he has to deal with. He has to deal with Joab, who is treasonous against, and I'm kind of getting further ahead of the chronology of the Bible here, but further in the Bible we learn about Joab is end up being treasonous against King David and Solomon by siding with Adonijah, while Joab didn't side with Absalom, he does later end up falling on the wrong side of things, and he has to get cleaned up by King Solomon. King Solomon has to do a lot of things, and then it says kind of at the end of chapter, I think it's 1 Kings 1 or 2, it basically says that the kingdom is now established in Solomon's hand, and what that's basically suggesting is that no one's going to be able to take this thing away. It's rock solid. Things are going to move forward, and when it comes to kingdoms, when it comes to nations, a lot of times the person that's in charge of the leader, the kingdom may not be established in that person's hand in the sense that it's really fragile, and there's a lot of potential for them to lose that power or for another person to usurp their authority or usurp their position. You know, it's kind of like when you think about our election in 2020, the presidential election, they had to put up this giant barrier around all the capital, and they had all this military personnel, and they had all this machinery and equipment up, and they're basically securing the capital, and it's like, why would they do that? It's because there's a real threat to what was happening. A lot of people didn't believe it was legitimate, and it's questionable that the presidency was really established in Biden's hand. Now, Biden is technically the leader of America. He's the president of America, but a lot of Democrats rightly fear that the kingdom, quote, unquote, or the nation's not really established in Biden's hand. It's not like very many people like Biden. In fact, I would argue I've never seen a person ever wearing a pro-Biden anything ever. The only Biden material I ever see is mocking him or making fun of him, saying things like, let's go, Brandon, or other pejorative terms that other people are afraid to say publicly, for good reason, okay? Because you'll definitely get in trouble with a lot of goody-two-shoes out there. But when's the last time you've ever, I mean, I see Beto signs in people's yards, and that guy's a loser. I don't even see Biden signs. I don't even see Biden shirts. I'm not saying it's not out there. I'm just saying, like, where are these 80 million people that voted for him? I guess it's hard to see the Biden shirt on the people in the grave, right? You know, it's kind of, I didn't realize they changed garments down there. But it's hard to say that the kingdom of America, it's hard to say the nation of America is really established in Biden's hand while Trump's still alive. And so you notice that there's a lot of attacks going on against Donald Trump, like FBI raids and all kinds of weird things going on, because if they could eliminate Donald Trump, you know, it would make the kingdom, quote, unquote, a little more established in Joe Biden's hand. And it's kind of similar to what's happening here, except for even more so, that David, being the rightful king, being a man of God, being the God-appointed leader, which is, these aren't true of Donald Trump, okay? Don't follow my parallel too closely here. But David being the rightful person, the rightful heir, as long as he's still breathing air, as long as he's still out there, he's a real threat to Absalom's kingdom. And so they're trying to figure out what to do, and he had a leftover from some of David's counsel, Ahithophel. Well, it says in verse one, more of Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me now choose out 12,000 men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night. It says, And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid, and all the people that are with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only. It says in verse three, And I will bring back all the people unto thee, the man whom thou seekest is as if all return. So all the people shall be in peace, and the saying, Please Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. Now, Ahithophel is suggesting to Absalom, Let me deal with this problem. And this is what I think you should do in order to handle David. You should essentially give me 12,000 troops, and we're just going to hotly pursue after David, because David had to leave on such a quick trip, and was probably not able to take a lot of material with him, or a lot of goods. These guys are tired, worn out, low supplies, low morale. We got to strike while the iron's hot. This is our opportunity, and when I go there, I'm not going to just fight with everybody. We're going to go straight for the tip of the spear. I'm just going to take out David, and then once David's gone, everyone's going to just return with me. And so it's kind of the least amount of collateral damage. It's the least amount of death loss or issue. It's just simply taking out David. David's just the only problem here. Then it says in verse five, Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. Now, what Ahithophel said, everyone liked. Everyone's thinking, like, that was really good advice. But Absalom then decides to ask another person. Now, if you think about verses in your Bible, the Bible says in the multitude of counselors, there is safety, right? So doesn't it seem like a good idea to get multiple opinions, or multiple ideas, or try to figure out what's the best idea here? Well, that is true, but we have to kind of balance these things, because when we take the context of the Bible or the context of the Scripture, everything's always in the shade or in the light or in the context of doing that which is right, noble, honorable, holy. So whenever you want to figure out what's right, of course when you compare wrong, wrong, wrong, and right, the right will stand out like a sore thumb. The right will be obvious that you can pick from. But here's the problem when you're wicked, is that the right thing to do is not necessarily going to be beneficial to you. So, of course, when we're trying to decide what's the best option here, the multitude of counselors somewhat falls on its face in the sense that if I'm trying to get all the best advice about a particular subject, but I want to do evil, well, getting the best advice isn't going to necessarily work for me. You know, I have to think about the heart of the man, because think about Ahithophel has consistently given Absalom good advice but wicked advice, because he's helping him plot this mission. He's telling him, hey, sleep with your father's concubines. Well, anybody that knows the Bible would rightly realize that's not a godly wisdom. That's not a godly advice. This guy's not giving me advice according to the scripture. He's giving me advice on how to win or on how to be advantageous here. Well, Hushai, when he returned, he said, hey, why would I not serve the God appointed man? At what point did Hushai ever offer Absalom some kind of wicked advice or kind of illustrate that he's an evil person or a wicked person? You know, the thing that Absalom fails at under... Absalom's just not a good bad guy, okay, in the sense that, you know, whenever these people that are in gangs or mob affiliation or drug dealers or just evil wicked people, they have to worry about informants constantly. They have to worry about feds or police coming in, infiltrating their group, giving them bad advice. And so to kind of warn about that advice or try to prevent themselves from getting bad advice, they'll vet these people and they'll make them do something very evil or something wicked that a cop wouldn't do so as to basically ensure that this person's not feeding them bad advice. They're not an informant. But here's the problem. He never had Hushai do something really wicked against God to essentially ensure that Hushai's on his team, okay? Ahithophel's already proved beyond any shadow of a doubt he's on Absalom's team because he gave him advice to sleep with his father's concubines. No godly person would have given that advice. No person that's rejected David is going to do that. But you have to realize that Hushai hasn't necessarily done that, so Hushai could give him bad advice for him even though it might be godly advice or might be the right kind of advice here, okay? So we have to kind of evaluate this process that Absalom's going through and it's probably not a good idea to get the multitude of counselors when you're bad. When you're bad, you want to kind of stick with your for-sure bad guys, you know? You want to be like, okay, this has got a definite bad guy. We're just going to ride his train. We're going to ride his advice and continue down this dark path rather than kind of going back and forth because now all of a sudden it's not going to really work. So it's interesting when you think about how the Bible works. It works for the righteous, but it just doesn't work for the unrighteous. And it's funny. You think of liberals in this way because a lot of people get up and say, hey, I think we should have open discourse. We should just talk about every single possible solution here because the best ideas always win. But here's the problem. In other words, that doesn't work because they only work through propaganda and lies. So they can't just let every idea come to the table because they'll end up realizing, like, actually they're fools. This doesn't make any sense. This good advice from Hushai or some other person is defeating their counsel constantly. So that's why they have to constantly censor people, have their own select panels and groups and everything like that because the best ideas will win. The truth will always come to the top. So that's why they have to censor the truth. And you know, some people get mad. Like, they get really mad about YouTube censoring preaching content. Who in here has been mad about YouTube censoring preaching content? Yeah, okay, two hands. I see that double hand. God bless you. You're double saved today, right? Double annoying. But here's the thing. It's kind of necessary because of the fact that if the truth were allowed to go on the internet unfettered it would alter the end times and it would alter God's plan because the truth is so powerful that if it were able to just spread like that it would just change our nation too quickly. It would basically, it would just reprobate so many more people so much quicker than you could even realize. Because you have to understand that the gospel, while it saves people, and we love that it also reprobates people. And the thing is, is like most people are going to hell. So exposing a large group of people to the truth if you've ever read the book of Acts, it never works out well. When the whole town hears about the gospel from Paul it's not like everyone gets saved and joins the Baptist church on the corner. No, no, no. They circle the house and want to kill Paul. And it's funny to me because it's like, I remember when I was going to be sent out to be a pastor I was talking with my sending pastor, Pastor Steven Anderson and he was talking about how, yeah, pretty soon, you know, they're going to hate you and everybody's going to be against you and you're going to have all these enemies. And I was like, nobody, I said, nobody cares who I am. Nobody is my enemy. Like, I'm such a nobody it doesn't even matter. And he's like, whoa, that's just because they haven't had time to hate you yet. He's like, they will hate you though. And I didn't understand that, but now I understand that. It's like, it's not like your message getting out is going to just turn everybody on your team or something. Even though it's true. Because while the truth is powerful, while the truth always comes to light the problem is people don't want the truth. Prophesy unto us lies. Prophesy unto us deceits. You know, people having itching ears, turning away their ears from the truth. You know, they're wanting to hear fables, wanting to hear lies. So, in fact, they like it when you're small and when it's a small movement or a small light being shown because then they can just keep playing in darkness. What they don't like is the light coming on because then they see how gross they are and they see how gross the world is and they hate that so they have to keep turning the lights down. It's like when you go to the nightclub or the bar, they don't want the lights on right there. They want it dark. And if someone turned on the lights, they'd be like, ugh. Like, ugh. You know, it's like turning way down where it's just like, I can't even see you. You know, you're just so beautiful in here. It's like they don't want to see what they look like. They don't want to know what they're really like. They hate the light. You know, there's a reason why Jesus Christ was crucified. It wasn't because he wasn't dispensing truth. It's because he was dispensing truth. Okay, so if our message was able to just get out to the whole world, to everyone just hearing exactly what we believe about every single topic, about every single thing, it would be hard to go anywhere because everyone, like, on every corner would want to kill you. Okay? That's what you have to understand is that there's a balance here, and God is going to allow these things to come to fruition in his timing and his planning, and there's a little bit of benefit to being unknown. There's a little bit of benefit to not necessarily having everybody know everything about you. I mean, this is the whole concept of discretion. Now, of course, as a church, we preach everything that we can from the housetops, but that's because we realize it's never going to encircle the globe. Not everybody's going to hear the message. We're just doing our best and trying, but if technology just allowed the best ideas to come to fruition and come to the top, then the Internet would just be 100% true because that would be the top result. I mean, the top YouTube channels would be, like, all new IP preachers. You know, it's just how it is. The top websites would be new IP-related content. It would be the gospel-related content. It would be the King James Bible. I mean, that's because it's the greatest information. You know, there's all these efforts and all this money and all this energy to kind of hold down the truth and hold down that which is right because the truth just always just defeats lies so quickly and so efficiently. You know, just the Word of God is so sharp and powerful. You know, that's why the Bible teaches, you know, the essence. And it's amazing. Think about it. You can literally go to someone's door. They've been a Catholic their whole life, and in 15 to 20 minutes, get them saved. I mean, that is quite a slicing and a dicing that the truth can do in just moments because the truth is just so much more powerful than any lie could ever be. So, again, that's why it's dangerous here for Absalom because he's not on the side of truth. And when you're not on the side of truth, it takes 10 times the amount of effort and energy to, you know, coordinate all this conspiracy. There's all these cover-ups, and you have to worry about all these things. When you've got the truth on your side, you don't have to worry about all that. You just keep doing right, and you just keep knowing that God's going to protect you. When you are wicked, I mean, you have to work overtime to make sure, well, did we get all the witnesses? Did we kill all the witnesses? Did we, you know, tie up every loose end? Does our story actually make sense? I mean, think about the stress that someone has to go through when they have to testify and they have to lie. Like, they have to constantly think about, is this true? Am I having the right emotion? Like, you know, all these different things. Whereas when you're just telling the truth, you just tell the truth. It's a lot simpler. It's a lot easier. Lying is very difficult. Lying is very stressful. Lying and doing evil and wickedness is so much more difficult of a task than just doing right, than telling the truth. And, you know, sometimes telling the truth and doing right can be hard. But you know what? From an energy perspective, it's so much simpler. You know, Jesus said, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. You know, the truth and doing right is always going to be easier in comparison to doing evil or wicked, no matter what the devil lies to you about. And here, Ahithophel, his advice, you have to understand this. It's not necessarily that it's bad advice. It's bad advice in the context that it's evil and wicked. But it's good advice in the context of it will probably ensure a victory for Absalom. Now, I can't say that with absolute certainty, but let's keep reading here and see what it says in verse 5. It says, Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner, shall we do after his saying? If not, speak thou. And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time. Now, the reason why I think that Ahithophel's advice is good is this reason. David sent Hushai in specifically to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel so that David would not be killed. If Ahithophel here had given really bad advice, I believe Hushai would have just been like, let's do it. Let's go for it. Yeah, that's a great idea. That's a great plan. But because it's really good advice, he has to say, No, no, that's bad advice. This is not a good idea. Now, Hushai is pretty quick on his feet because he has to come up with some, he has to think of this, he has to come up with a completely different plan that's going to keep David safe and at the same time be more compelling than what Ahithophel did. But I believe it's because God's kind of with him and he's on the right side of things that he's able to outwit Ahithophel here and come up with kind of a better or idyllic solution that sounds at least good to them. He says, Hey, this isn't a good idea. Verse 8, For said Hushai, Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and that they be chafed in their minds as a bear robbed over whelps in the field. And thy father is a man of war and will not lodge with the people. Behold, he is hid now in some pit or in some other place. And it will come to pass when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt, for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with them are valiant men. So Hushai says, Hey, well, this is a bad idea. If you go out there, they're pissed. I mean, these guys are angry, they're chafed in their mind. It's like a mama bear that's going to come after her bear cubs. This is not what you want to do because as soon as you go out there, you won't even be able to get David because David won't even be near the battle. David will be hid somewhere and you could never find him. And the guys that are on his team, they're like the best warriors ever. So they're obviously going to win a few of these little skirmishes. And as soon as the battle seems to be going towards David's side, everyone's just going to be a coward. Everyone's just going to instantly cower in fear and be terrified and afraid. And then essentially, rumors going to spread. Everyone's going to realize, oh, man, I don't know why we went to get David. I mean, David killed Goliath. David killed the Philistines. David's like the greatest warrior. What do we do? And they're all going to turn on Absalom. This is what Hushai suggests. Now, this is what I draw from this text. According to both of the greatest counselors at this time, people are just NPCs. And what I mean by that is, NPC in our culture is called a non-playable character, okay? This is like a computer game or video game term. It's basically, it's an animated character in a game that you can't play. And all he can do is just beep, boop, bop, and whatever the program's assigned to do or him to say, he just says it. But think about this. They're saying, if I kill David, everyone's going to come back with me and serve Absalom. And Hushai says, no, if you go there and you start losing, everyone's going to turn on Absalom. But notice, in both of their scenarios, they're thoroughly convinced that every single person will be on either Team Absalom or Team David based on just who's going to win the battle. Not based on who's right. Not based on what the Bible says. Not based on who's their favorite. Not based on anything but one factor. Who's winning. That's it. And you know what? This is a true thing. People are just bandwagon followers. They just follow the winner. They don't really care, and they will flip on you like a dime. Now, here's some evidence I'm going to put forward. Go if you want to keep your finger, go to Joshua chapter 2. Let me just put a little bit of evidence for her in our modern context of how you can understand this. Why is it that every single person that lives in Dallas is a Cowboys fan? Why is it that everybody that lives in Wisconsin is a Green Bay Packers fan? Why is it that everyone that lives in Jacksonville still isn't a Jacksonville Jaguars fan? You want to know why? Because Jacksonville sucks at football. And yet Dallas and Green Bay are dynasty teams that have won a lot. But there's a direct correlation to this in the context of this. Most people are simply just a fan of whatever team is in their area. Now, I'm not saying there aren't exceptions. I'm not saying there aren't people that live in Dallas that hate the Dallas Cowboys. I'm sure there are. I'm sure there are people that live in Wisconsin that are Dallas Cowboys fans. I'm sure there are people that live here that are Green Bay Packers fans. I'm sure there are even Steelers fans here because, of course, there are always tears amongst the weak. I mean, if you can support a team that has been the rapeless burger on it, then you deserve to give any hatred towards your way. I'm sure there are rapists on every team. Don't get too offended. But here's the thing. Why is it that everybody is just a fan of the area that they live in? It's because people just fall in line with whatever the system is, whatever the program is, whoever the leader is. It's just like, yep, vote for them. I saw an interview with a guy named Sam Harris. He's a famous atheist debater. Who knows what I'm talking about? Sam Harris. Okay, three people. This guy is a loser, all right? He's like a professional debater, an atheist, wrote a lot of books, often debates Christians. You know, Christians. Christians like James White, you know. That's not really a Christian. But this Sam Harris guy is a pretty notorious atheist, a pretty prominent public figure. He was talking about the presidential election and he said, he was like, you know what, I would vote for Joe Biden if they found children, bodies of children in his basement. And he's like, I don't care what was on Hunter Biden's laptop. I don't care what Joe Biden did or will do. It's just like, I'm not going to ever vote for Trump. And this is how most Democrats are, is it's not really that they like their candidate. It's just they're going to vote Democrat no matter what. And it's like, it doesn't really matter who the players are that play for the Dallas Cowboys. People that live here are just going to support the Dallas Cowboys. It doesn't matter who the coach is. I mean, they can have the worst coach in human history, Jason Garrett, and they'll still be a Cowboys fan. Now, you lost me with Jason Garrett. That redheaded stepchild is not worth supporting. But here's the thing. People just simply just fall lockstep with whatever team. You know, here's why, here's how I could tell what team you like, whoever your dad liked or whatever area you live in. I mean, riddle me that. It's like, show me what baseball team, football team, basketball team, whatever it is. It's like, well, I like the team because I grew up there or my dad liked them. That is the only reason they like that team. You know, it's the rare bird that decides to like someone else for any other reason. But here's the only other reason people like them is because they're a winner. There'll be plenty of people that, like, live here and they're a Tom Brady fan. But it's not because they like Tom Brady. It's not because they like New England. It's not because they like Tampa Bay. It's not because they like witchcraft or Victoria's Secret models. It's just simply because they like one thing. He wins. That's it. And everyone likes to be on the winner's team. So all they do is they just pick – it's like, I just like, you know, the Chicago Bulls. Why? Michael Jordan. You know, I just like this particular team because of this particular player. I just like the Golden State Warriors because of Steph Curry. And they just like to see someone win. They just like to see the – whoever's winning, I'm just on their team. And whoever's losing, you know, well, nuts to that guy. I'm ready – I didn't even like him anyways. I'm ready to drop him like a bad habit. And this is essentially what humans are like to their core. And if you look at Joshua, chapter 2, I'm going to show you some examples of this. Look at verse number 9. It says, then she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt, and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sion, and Nog, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and earth beneath. Now, the Philistines and the Canaanites and all those that dwell in the Promised Land, their hearts just melted when they heard a specific thing, when the children of Israel started winning battles. You know what? It wasn't that they just melted when they heard the word of God or they just feared the Lord. It's they're afraid because these guys are winning. Because if they had lost these battles, they wouldn't have been terrified. They would have thought like, oh, okay, these guys aren't that big and tough, but it's because they're winning. They're like, oh, man. It's like that one team in the NFL. They have an undefeated season. You're kind of terrified of those guys because no one's beat them yet rather than any other reason. And this is not necessarily, obviously in this context we like this. We think like, oh, of course they're afraid because the Lord's on their side. But what you have to realize is that they weren't really respectful of the Lord. They're just seeing these people keep winning and they're just afraid of them. They're just, their hearts melt because you know what? People, when they see someone constantly winning, it terrifies them. But God's people consistently do the opposite. Go to Joshua 14. I want to show you another example of this. But think about David. David goes and fights Goliath even though I guarantee Goliath is undefeated. Goliath has never lost a battle. Goliath's never lost a fight, but he's not afraid of him because why? Because he's on the right team. Because God's on his side. You know, the children of Israel lose battles. They lose the battle of Ai initially, but it was simply because they weren't right with God. But then once they get right with God, now they're not terrified to go up and fight that battle again. Because it's not about, oh, well they've won before. They're not on the bandwagon team. They're on the Lord's team. And whether they win the battle or lose the battle, they're going to stay on the Lord's team. You know, they're not going to basically just ditch the Lord because they lose a battle. Or they lose the fight. Or, you know, for whatever reason the enemy seems to be winning, they are going to simply stick with the Lord because he's right. Now look at Joshua chapter 14 and look at verse number 7. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him a word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly follow the Lord my God. So he's saying, look, the children of Israel, they won the battle against the Egyptians. I mean, they walk through the Red Sea. The Egyptians go into the Red Sea and the Lord closes them up in the ocean, destroys them all, kills them all. Then they go and they defeat other armies and they're just basically winning every kind of battle. They're walking through the wilderness. I mean, every single thing that they do is just turning out perfect. But then as soon as they get to the promised land, as soon as they're on the edge, the spies go in and they're like, oh, these people are too big for us. And it causes their heart to melt. Rather than just saying, you know what, I'm on God's team regardless of how big that giant is, regardless of what my foe looks like. You know, if they kill David, I'm not going to go and serve Absalom because that's the wrong person to serve. And if I'm on Absalom's team, I just find myself there. I'm switching teams to David even if Absalom is so big and strong and mighty and has got everybody on his team. Why? Because it's not about who's the strongest, who's the mightiest, who wins the battle. It's just being right with the Lord. And I would rather lose on the right team than to win on the wrong team. But unfortunately, that is a minority view. What we have to realize is the majority of people will not lose the valiant fight. They won't lay down their life in the right team. They're simply just going to switch teams. They're going to switch sides. They're just going to go with the flow. I mean, look at America today. I mean, America today is filled with people that are just going to go with the flow. It doesn't really matter. You know, they could say, oh, I don't think that right guy won, but nevertheless, let's just keep going. Let's keep marching down this path. It doesn't matter what happens. You know, that's not a righteous mentality. That's not a righteous attitude. And I'm certainly not going to say, you know what? Biden's so bad, I'm just going to vote for Trump anyways. No, I'm not going to vote for Trump because Trump's not the right candidate. Oh, but Absalom is better than nothing. No, he's not. I don't care. I don't care how pretty you make Absalom look. Absalom's not my guy. And you know, it's funny. It's like I preach against Biden and that automatically makes me the biggest Trump supporter on the planet. And it's like, no, I'm not. Or it makes me like these conservative women's supporter or something. You know, Marjorie Taylor Greene or Carrie Lake or some other woman, Sarah Palin. It's like, no, I'm not on their team either. It's like, well, who's team are you on? The Bible. Not getting involved in stupid politics. You know, I'm not going to vote for the lesser of two evils. And I'm not just going to follow the bandwagon whenever someone gets destroyed or when someone falls and just say, well, I guess he's the next guy. Let's just go for it. No, you don't have to solve. You don't have to serve Absalom. You don't have to go and continue and do wickedness just because your leader goes down or someone that you are following goes down. Hey, if the guy you're following goes down, you just keep following Christ, though. Paul said follow me as I follow Christ. He didn't say, hey, as soon as I die, just quit Christianity. Switch to Hinduism. Switch to Islam. Switch to whatever. You know, switch to flat earth or something. No, don't do that. Even if 99% of the world thinks the earth is flat, I'm still not going to think it's flat. Because you just don't go with the popular opinion. You don't just go with everybody. You know, if they want to believe something so idiotic or moronic, you know, I don't care if the whole world accepts the idea that men are women or men can get pregnant. I'm not. I will not accept that. I'm not going to use the right pronoun or whatever nonsense garbage that they're going to try and do. You know, as a man, I'm not going to wear a dress. I don't care if 99% of men wear a dress like Brad Pitt. I'm not wearing a skirt. I'm not wearing a dress ever. Never. And you know what? I don't care if the whole world uses the NIV. I'm using the King James Bible. I don't care if the whole world goes to the non-Nam church. I'm being Baptist. I don't care if the whole world takes the mark of the beast. I'm not taking it. You know, it's not like you think, like, oh, everybody's free thinking and critical and, you know, there's this truther movement. Let me tell you something about the truther movement. They're going to take the mark of the beast. They're going to be lining up. They might be the first in line. Oh, this is going to solve our problems. You know who's not going to take the mark is saved people. That's it. And you have to realize they're a remnant. They're a few. They're a minority. The majority of people will just follow a wicked leader off of a cliff. That's why it's, you know, dangerous to follow a multitude. You know, you're not supposed to follow the multitude to evil. You're supposed to separate yourself. You're supposed to be godly. And when it comes to comparing these kind of advices here, you have to understand that what Hushai is going to suggest here is that they gather every single person and every single warrior to then fight David. Now, did we read? Where did we last read? Who remembers? We didn't read that yet. No, we read that. What about Second Samuel 17? Someone help me. Did we read all the way to verse 10 already? All right. So in verses 5 through 10 then, their hearts are going to melt because of David winning this battle. And the point that I'm really trying to make here is the fact that people are up for grabs. Now, I use the word MPC. It kind of sounds pejorative, and maybe that's not the right wording. But really, the better way to look at this is just everyone is just kind of up for grabs, and everyone's kind of like a sheep. In the sense that they don't really know what's right. They don't really know what to do. They need someone to lead them. They need someone to guide them. And this can actually be a good thing, too, though. Because if we think about it, we evaluate Scripture. You know, Jesus, when he looked at the children of Israel, he called them sheep as having no shepherd. And also, another thing we can realize here is that without a clear leader, people end up just falling under wicked leadership, not even necessarily because they wanted to. You could argue a couple things here. Maybe all those men didn't really want to serve Absalom, but they feel like they have no choice, and they just don't want to die. And so they're kind of enslaved, or they're kind of trapped into this particular kingdom, even though they don't want it. You know, it's not really any different here. It's not like in America we agree with our leadership or agree with a lot of the authorities that exist here. We just submit ourselves because we don't really have much of a choice. You know, we're not a seditious people. We're not a rebellious people. We're not going to form a mutiny or form some kind of an anti-establishment movement to kind of usurp authority. We're going to kind of have to submit where we're at. And even though we find ourselves in a difficult position, we could still kind of reach some of these other people with our own influence. And go if you would to Jude for a second. I want to go over there to Jude. What I like about this is even though it seems pejorative to identify people like this as just kind of basically they're just going to follow whoever, it has its benefit because it gives us an opportunity to be the influencer. It gives us an opportunity to make a difference in someone's life. And in Jude, look what it says in verse 22, And some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now this is what I've noticed. When you go out soul winning, when you go out door knocking, people are often just up for grabs. Like you can just tell that they don't really know what to do. And they don't know what to believe. And what I've noticed is sometimes when you have a weak soul winner, it seems like they have a missed opportunity. Because they're not really impressing the importance of what's being discussed there. Or they're really compelling people to get saved in that moment. That they end up kind of losing out on that opportunity a little bit. Because people are very impressionable. And if you're not giving a certain sound, if you're not really confident, then they may just want to kind of disengage or move on. Whereas soul winners that are very confident, they know what they're saying. They are very compelling in their delivery. They often get more people saved because people are simply up for grabs. And notice that the Bible is literally teaching this. It's saying that others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. Notice that this person is more compelling. That this person is using some discretion to identify, you know what? You need to get saved today. Because hell is that hot. Because you may not have another opportunity. Because God could take this away from you. Now is the day of salvation. It's not today, it's now. You know when somebody doesn't want to pray with me, but they've understood kind of what I said and it seems like they're receptive there. You know, I make it very uncomfortable for them to say no. I'm not going to force their hand. Obviously we can't force someone to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I never want to force someone to pray unless they truly mean it or believe it. But what I am going to do is I'm going to put a lot of pressure onto them to make that decision. Because sometimes they'll be like, I don't know. Maybe later. Well, you know, today, it's not today. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. You know, and that's why I take them to places like Luke 8 and I show them really clearly in the Bible. Hey, there's people that have the word of God sown into their heart. But then the devil comes and takes away that which was sown into their heart, lest they believe and be saved. And I say, you know what, you're going to probably forget what I just showed you. You may disengage. You may not find it that interesting later. You may decide to forget and not pray or not get saved today. Hey, when's the last time someone knocked on your door and even showed you this? It's like this is not, I said, if you believe what I'm showing you, you don't wait. Now. Now you decide. I said, hey, if the building's on fire, you're not going to be like, hey, come back later. It's like I got to jump or die. You know, we don't we can't determine how many moments we have in this life. People are dying every single day. People are dying every single moment, let alone all the opportunities the devil has to come and to confuse somebody. Because I guarantee there's been a lot of people that have gone out, preached a clear gospel. Someone heard it, understood what they said, but was hesitant to believe. And this is what they did. Sunday morning, they went to their church and asked their false prophet pastor, hey, I want to ask you about the salvation by faith verse that this guy showed me at the door. And then they have this devil whisper in their ear and say, oh, no, no, no. Faith without works is dead. And they're like, oh, yeah, faith without works is dead. Faith without works is dead. And they're like, faith without works is dead. And they just turn into that NPC that they are. And if you had gotten them at the door and let the Holy Spirit come in, it wouldn't matter what that chicken pastor said later, it wouldn't have stuck. But because they didn't get sealed that day, because they didn't get saved that day, because it wasn't done that day, then that chicken pastor comes in there and, you know, comes in there with his work salvation and just rips out the gospel and the person doesn't get saved. And you have to realize, look, this battle between Absalom and David is very fragile. I mean, we are talking every second is precious in this battle. Every moment is precious. A hit the bell is saying, we have to go right now. We have to get them while the iron is hot. I mean, David is weary right now. This is our one opportunity. Who should I say, oh, we got to wait? But we all know the reality. We all know that this is precious moments here. If they take the wrong advice or the right advice, I mean, we are talking about tons of souls, tons of bloodshed, tons of war, tons of outcome all on the line right here. And let me tell you something. When you go out and you preach the gospel, it is a literal battlefield. It is a literal spiritual war zone and every moment is precious. Every second is precious. Every word that you utter is precious. And I will tell you, there are better soul winners than others. There are people that are compelling, efficient, commanding, because, you know, if you are not efficient, you just allow more time for someone to come in there and swoop them away. For that mom to come home. For that brother to come and interrupt. For that girlfriend to come and nag them away or whatever. You know, some Karen to come in here. And look, we have all heard it. We have all seen it. It is annoying. It is frustrating. You know, that is why it is good to get very skilled in your presentation. That is why it is important to know what you are saying. You know, sometimes people, they pick up on a lot from just your body language. If you just walk up and you are just like, hey, how is it going? Do you want to hear about the gospel or not? Okay, bye. See you. It is like, they weren't interested to hear that. It is like, hey, we are from the church. Do you want to hear the church invite us? What? Do you want to hear the church invite? No. No. Go away. You know. Or, you know, I usually try to make it clear that I am a Baptist right away because most people think you are a Jehovah's Witness and those people are weird. Those people are creepy. I want them to go away too. Okay. I want every salesperson, every Jehovah's Witness, every Mormon and almost anything and everything else in between to get away from my house as soon as possible. So, that is why it is important to be like, hey, we are from a Baptist church. Can I give you an invitation to distinguish yourself from all the snakes out there that keep knocking on the door? I don't know if you realize this, there is no soliciting signs on like all these doors everywhere. Why? Because they hate everybody else. And I hate them too. Okay. Don't hear me wrong. I hate answering the door. Do you want solar panels? No. Do I have them? I saw the 18 other tree services signs put on your door, but do you want mine? No. I don't even have trees. I chopped all of them down. I am like, why are you still giving me tree service flyers on my door? They are gone. You missed it, buddy. You know. It is like, it is annoying. I get it. Right. But what I am telling you is that you going out and preaching the gospel, it is important. There are literal people on the line. You know, you can have a Calvinist attitude and be like, well, if they are going to get saved, they are going to get saved. Or if they are going to go to hell, they are going to go to hell. I don't believe that. I believe that we make a difference. I believe that there is hypothetical opportunities for all of us. And that, you know, I don't want to get to heaven and there be a person that goes to hell that I knocked on the door and I did a bad job. Like, I think back and I remember that experience, too, of me knocking on the door and I am thinking, like, man, I could have done better there. Or to see someone that is not like just a genuine reprobate, you know, just that sweet old lady or that sweet little kid or that Catholic that didn't know any better or whoever and think, like, man, I could have done more. I mean, why would Jesus have to wipe away our tears at the great white throne judgment if it is just case closed, everyone got what they deserved in the sense of, like, there was no other opportunities, there was nothing wasted, there was no suffering of loss. I mean, what do you think it is talking about in 1 Corinthians 3 when the Bible talks about us suffering loss from all the wood, hay, and stubble in our lives? I mean, there is going to be regret. There is going to be sadness. There is going to be a very emotional response to people going to hell. You know, it is not like, I mean, the Bible says that the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come under repentance. You know, Jesus is, like, weeping over Jerusalem when he is coming into the town because he knows that they are not going to get saved and they are going to perish. You know, there is nothing wrong with being sad about people going to hell. You know, do not get this, like, heart in heart where you are just so glad that everyone is going to hell. You know, and I get it. I get that there are people out there that you kind of, like, you get a little smile on your face when you think about them going to hell. And I have the same feeling and emotion at times, but even your worst enemy, you know, you have to realize how bad hell is and it is just like, man, it is so bad. It is like I genuinely do not want anyone to go there. Now, the people that are going there and I cannot change it, I am like, well, we might as well pull the cord, you know. We might as well just go ahead and get over with. But if they could be saved, I would not want them to just be going to hell. It does not matter what they did. It does not matter what they said. And you know what? God is the same way. God is not up in heaven just hoping people go to hell. He is hoping they get saved. It is just that there are some people that he has already, like, realized this person is never going to get there and then he reprobates them and allows them to look like a disgusting freak or whatever just to show how God punishes people because there is no worse punishment than being a sodomite. I mean, that is, it is funny that when I walk out of here, go back, we are going to actually finish our chapter probably, hopefully, maybe. Go back a second and see them. It is funny to me when I walk out of here that they all accuse me of being a sodomite. And I am thinking like, but I thought there was anything wrong with that. You know, I mean, can you imagine if we did the opposite? You badness you. You fundamentalist. You Jesus follower you. You know, what? You God-fearing person you. You submissive wife. I bet you submit to your husband when you go home. I bet you cook him meals and do not complain. But we all know that does not happen. Can you, how, I mean, how whipped do you think these guys are that their wives drag them out to protest us? I mean, boy, did they have to go home to an earful. I guarantee they secretly agree with our doctrine. I guarantee they are sitting here thinking like, man, I wish my wife would treat me with respect, would make me pancakes for dinner if I asked. You know they are so envious. They are like, man, I wish my kids would be respectful to me. I wish my kids obeyed me. I wish I had kids. I wish I had a spouse that did not commit adultery and get monkey pox to me all the time and AIDS and HIV and every other disease known to man. I mean, because, you know, these people have to have the most miserable lives ever. I mean, some of them marry reprobates. It's like, that's got to be a rough marriage. I mean, you think your marriage is rough. Think about being married to a reprobate. I mean, we see Abigail married to Nabal. That doesn't seem like the funnest marriage ever. You know, just be thankful your husband or your wife is in a reprobate tonight. Okay. Because it could be worse now if they are sorry. You know, that sucks. Just get away from them. But let's keep reading your says in verse number 11. Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered under thee from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that thou go to battle in thine own person. So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground, and of him and of all the men that are with him, there shall not be left so much as one. Moreover, if he got into a city, then shall Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there. And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel, for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. I honestly just don't get verse 14, because it's like, it's almost like they don't know what they're saying, or I'm just not understanding it, but it's like, it's like they're saying like the Lord defeated the counsel of Ahithophel, which he did, and it said the good counsel of Ahithophel, which it was good in the context of being good for Absalom, and then it says to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. So it's like, the Lord somehow defeated Absalom's counsel, or Ahithophel's counsel, sorry, so that the Lord could not bring evil upon Absalom? Like, I don't know, maybe if you understand this passage you can make a sense to me for it, but obviously the general consensus that they're trying to say is that, wow, what Ahithophel had said was going to kill Absalom and everybody, but ultimately Hushai has better counsel here, praise the Lord. It's funny to me how they're still, they're spiritual, like as if the Lord is on their side or something, or that the Lord is giving them, you know, advice at this point. It's like, you're not following the scripture, but the Lord's on your team? You know, this just makes me think of all these fake churches out here. They don't read the Bible, and in fact they'll bring up things that aren't even in the Bible, and then they'll say how the Lord's blessing them. You know, like the Lord is speaking to the woman pastor, and it's like, well, is he speaking 1 Corinthians 14? Is he speaking 1 Timothy chapter 2? Is he speaking, what do you know, what is this word that the Lord gave this female pastor? Obviously it's funny how they try to pretend like the Lord's on their side, even though they're anti-biblical, you know? We just, you know, we're taking over the kingdom from David, the Lord's on our team. It's like, what? This is bizarre. But this is what false religion does, this is what bad leadership does, and people don't obviously read the Bible. Shocker, right? Verse 15, then said, Hushai and Zadok and Abiath are the priests, thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus have I counseled. Now they were sent quickly and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him. Now Jonathan and Ahimaiah stayed by in Rogel, for they might not be seen to come into the city. And a wench went and told them, and they went and told King David. Nevertheless, Elad saw them and told Absalom, but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man's house in Bahuram, which had a well in his court, whether they went down. And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn thereon, and the thing was not known. And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaiah and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, if they were departed. They came up out of the well, and went and told King David, and said unto David, Arise and quick, and pass quickly over the water, for thus had Ahithophel counseled against you. And then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan by the morning light, there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan. Now, why this is important is in this particular timeline of history, being on the other side of a body of water like this gives you a lot of advantages. Because number one, it's too far to shoot arrows or be effective militarily, but you can see each other, but you can't get to them. It's just going to take too much time. So, essentially, it gives you a twofold advantage. Number one, it gives you the advantage of actually spying out the enemy from a close range, but they can't get you. So, if they end up coming to attack them, they'll know right away, but they're still like several hours, even possibly a whole day ahead of them, so they can easily escape and get out of there if necessary. But if they were up against the water, they're kind of trapped, and you can't do anything quickly. So, it was really important that they get across this body of water at this particular time. Now, Hushai understands that even though they liked his advice, they may change their minds again, and they're fickle. So, he's like, we got to get them this information just so that David doesn't end up, they don't change their mind here. A Hithofel comes back with a counter argument or whatever the situation is because it's fragile, right? He's trying to warn them, like, this is what they said, you better get out of here fast just in case. Now, I still question whether or not a Hithofel would have been successful. I don't think he would have been. Just simply from the fact that no weapon formed against thee shall prosper is what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that though hand joined in hand, the wicked are not going to be unpunished. So, it doesn't matter how many people you bring to the battle. Just like the Egyptians, they were better off than the children of Israel, but then God brought deliverance, right? Or, you could see Jonathan and his armor bearer in the previous book of the Bible, 1 Samuel, he said that God is not, you know, unable to save by few or by many, meaning that it's not about numbers here. So, Hushai's argument about waiting to fight honestly doesn't even make sense because having all of the troops on your side doesn't matter. God has won many battles. In fact, the children of Israel inherited the promised land being way outnumbered. The children of Israel have won tons of battles being outnumbered. It's always been who's right with God. And so, of course, that's probably not a good argument to bring up with Absalom, like, hey, let's see who's right with God, you know? But he gave him this advice by his time. I don't even think Hushai gave good advice in the context of what would have been, like, would have worked. It's good advice in protecting David because it's going to take a really long time to gather all these troops. And here's the thing, why it doesn't, you know why it doesn't know that it's not going to work? Because it doesn't work. Because pretty soon, we're going to have the battle between them, and guess who doesn't win? Absalom. And if Absalom had brought the other troops, they wouldn't have won. Although, if David wasn't right with God, it probably would have won because when you don't have God on your side, that was the right advice, okay? So you have to understand, his advice is right when you take God out of the equation, but the problem is, since God's on David's team, it doesn't really matter what advice or what suggestion they made, they weren't going to win. Just like when Saul was trying to capture David, yeah, they couldn't find him. And so that was probably legit what Hushai was saying a little bit. When you think about it, it's like, he probably was going to hide, and even when we get to that chapter, he wants to go out and lead the charge, and they say, hey, 10,000 of our troops aren't even worth one David here. So you're going to hide by, you're going to stay back, and you're going to hide, and we're not going to risk you in battle. And as soon as they kill Absalom, the battle's over too. Because why? Everything's about leadership. Everything's about the influencer. And let me tell you something, the devil just wants to take you out of your children's lives because that's how he wins the battle. If he can take the influencer out, if he can take the dad out, if he can take the mom out, well, then he can win the battle. But let me tell you something, it doesn't matter how many influencers are in this world, if mom and dad are present, they can still win that battle. That's why mom and dad need to be in the battle with their child, being the primary influencers in their children's lives. Teaching them the word of God, educating them, being with them, guarding them, and protecting them, and it doesn't matter if the whole city joins hand in hand against you, you know what, you can still win that battle, you can still win that fight, and really all the devil can do to defeat you is to get you to quit on your own children. Stop being that influencer. You know, soul winning is going to work as long as we keep going soul winning. The only way the gospel is going to stop getting people saved is if we stop going out and preaching it. And look, isn't the devil been pretty effective at stopping churches from going soul winning? Lying to them, convincing them it doesn't work, making church about things not related to soul winning, all the other programs, all the other traps, all the other tricks, all the other things. You know, if people realize how effective soul winning was at getting people saved, and they cared about souls getting saved, of course you would do it. It's a no brainer. But the devil wants to come around and give you a bunch of advice that doesn't make sense to try and convince you or to trap you into thinking you should do something else. But you know what, you always need to stick with God's advice. Now look at verse 23. And when Ithachel saw that his counsel was not followed, he sat on his ass and arose and got him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order to hang himself and died and was buried in the sepulchre of his father. Now, here's another thing. I don't care how smart you are. I don't care what device you imagine against the Lord's people. If you imagine a wicked device, you're going to be killed by your own device. Go if you would to Proverbs chapter 26 for a moment. Go to Proverbs chapter 26. I want to show you a verse there. Look, you can win some battles on the wrong team. You can have some fun. You can commit some sin. I'm sure that Absalom had some fun, you know, lying with his father's concubines, taking the city, getting in charge, people bowing down to him, wearing the crown. I'm sure Ithachel enjoyed all the conspiring and the usurping and the planning and the plotting. He lives to give counsel. But you know what? Here's the problem. When you're not on the right side, you're going to get destroyed. You're going to ultimately fail. There's going to be egg on your face. And what he imagined against David happened to him. Proverbs, look at chapter 26, verse 27. Whoso digget the pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth the stone, it will return upon him. You know what? We don't want to dig pits for the wrong people. We don't want to roll stones at the wrong people. Because if you do that to the wrong person, it will roll upon you. You know, when we judge, we want to judge righteous judgment because we don't want to be hypocrites about things. And you know what? If you're going to go after people and be wicked and try to destroy people, God will cause you to be destroyed. Go back to Second Samuel. You know, it's interesting when these two spies went out to tell David that they had a winch hide them in a well, and then they covered the well. And you know, I don't know exactly what's all going on here, but you know, it kind of made me think of baptism a little bit. And it made me think of the gospel. It's like they are performing a little bit of a gospel where they're going, you know, they're going down and they're coming back up, kind of like a picture of the resurrection, right? When baptism were buried with Christ and then were risen again, and they're kind of buried in this well, and then they come back out of it. And it's like they escape death through a resurrection, in a sense. Through them going down in the well and then coming back up out of it. And it's like we escape danger, we escape threat, we escape hell through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and through trusting in that. If they had trusted in their own might, if they had trusted in their own strength, they would have been caught, they would have been found, they would have been destroyed. But rather, they just rested in the well, didn't they? I mean, what kind of works are they doing in the well? Nothing. And you could also look at it as the winch. It was her advice. It was her strategy that saved this man. It's that winch going out and preaching the gospel, getting people saved, saying, hey, hide in the well. Hey, let me cover you with the covering of Jesus Christ, and that's what's going to actually end up saving you. And you know what I like about this is it's a winch. It wasn't some great righteous person. It's just like a worthless person and not a desirable person in the community. But you know what? Even the worst person in our community with the gospel can make a difference in someone's life and get someone saved. And, you know, she didn't return. I don't know. She repented of her sins. It doesn't say it doesn't say that. She's just a winch. She's a lying winch. But you know what? She can tell the gospel right. You know, it doesn't matter how good a person you are. It matters how good a gospel you have. I think it's funny these people that condemn unrighteous soul winners as being hypocrites. Or it's like, if you sin wicked, how dare you go preach the gospel? You're a hypocrite. And it's like, I preach a gospel of salvation by faith without works anyways. I'm not being a hypocrite. I'm living my faith. It's like, how dare you commit wicked sin this week and go out and preach the gospel? It's like, that's the gospel I believe in. It's like, did you repent of your sins today? Well, I didn't. I should have. But I'm still on the way to heaven. Let me show you how. It's like, that's not being a hypocrite. Being a hypocrite would be claiming you believe salvation by faith and then teaching work salvation. Being a hypocrite would be suggesting that homosexuals could be saved if they turned from homosexuality while claiming to believe in salvation by faith. Because, you know, it's funny. Every one of these people get mad at us for believing in the reprobate doctrine. Their doctrine for sodomites is repent of your sins and believe the gospel. Right? I mean, when was the last time you heard someone get up and say, you could be a flaming homo and just believe and go to heaven? They never say that. Where's that church? Where's that pastor getting up and saying, we're all sinners. Be a flaming homo but just believe and you're going to heaven. No, no. They say this guy turned from his sodomy, turned from that lifestyle, and now he's saved. But wait a minute. Turning from sin doesn't save anybody, buddy. Number one, that guy didn't turn from anything. And number two, even if he did that didn't save him. You'd be like, oh, I know a sodomite that turned from sodomy. Well, you know what? I'm glad he's not being a predator or a pervert in this moment. But let me tell you something. He's still on his way to hell because turning from sin doesn't save you. It's not like, oh, then I stopped lying and now I'm saved. Oh, then I stopped drinking and now I'm saved. Oh, now I stopped whatever and now I'm saved. No, now I believe in Jesus Christ and I'm saved. That's what saves you. And it wasn't that these Ahimeyaz and whatever, it's not like they had to turn from sin. They just rested in the well. You know, but there wasn't any faggots in there. OK, so waiting for them. Go back to our chapter. Let's finish real quickly. It says in verse 24. Then David came to Mahanam, and Absalom passed over Jordan. He and all the men of Israel with him. And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab, which Amasa was a man's son whose name was Ithra, an Israelite, that went into Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother. So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. And it came to pass when David was come to Mahanam, that Shobai, the son of Nahash, of Rabah, of the children of Ammon, and Makar, the son of Amal, of Lodabar, and Barzillai, the Gileadite of Rokilam, brought beds and basins and earthen vessels, and wheat and barley and flour, and parched corn and beans, and lentils and parched pulse, and honey and butter and sheep, and cheese of kind for David and for the people that were with him to eat, for they said, the people is hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness. Now, it just kind of ends on this interesting note where a bunch of people come and help David. Also illustrating that God is on his side, God is using people to help them. What's interesting is this whole diatribe, this whole drama, is like a kind of a big picture of the gospel, of David, you know, traveling and weeping, and weeping was like a picture of him being betrayed, and ultimately kind of a picture of the death of Jesus Christ, and he's going to have the return, which kind of has the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, and we're going to kind of get there. What I think is interesting is, notice, who is it that's helping David? Well, it says in verse 27, the children of Ammon. Now, is that Jews? Is that Benjamin? That's funny. All of Israel is gathered together against David, and then who's on David's side? It's the Gentiles. It's the Gentiles that are with David, and look, this is demonstrably proven in the New Testament. All of Israel came together and crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, and who was it that trusted in him and helped him? The Gentiles. The Gentiles got saved, and it's the Gentiles that did good unto David, and, you know, you can go to Matthew 25. You go to a lot of places in the Bible and realize that it's only the Christians, it's only the saved that do good unto God's people. It's not the Jews. They're the synagogue of Satan. They rejected David. They rejected their Messiah. It was a remnant. Think about this. A remnant came out, and they were with David, but the majority is the Gentiles that are with David, and it's just like in the New Testament. You've got a remnant of the apostle Paul and Peter and John and a handful of brethren that come out that are Jews that get saved, but who's the majority? It's the Gentiles. The majority of the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, killed the Lord Jesus Christ, and, you know, another aspect here is, hey, let's go to the receptive. You know, people are up for grabs, and they're going to be influenced by someone. You know, everything rises and falls on leadership. That's why it's so important to have good leadership, and it's also important for you to realize that you're very susceptible to just following the loudest voice in the room, and not to just follow the loudest voice in the room, but rather to follow this voice. Hey, it doesn't matter if someone's getting up and saying, who's with me? And half the room gets up, or 90% of the room gets up and says, I'm following that guy. If it's not biblical, you don't follow that guy. If it's not righteous, you don't go with him, because the majority is going to just follow the wrong person off of a cliff. Yet, yet, if you're right with God and you're a good leader, you can draw a lot of those people back with you. You can bring them back. It makes me, I'm thinking about Jacksonville, you know. Jacksonville on Friday night, Adam Fanan drew a big crowd with him. You know, after the dust settled a little bit, some of the good voices there in Jacksonville, Brother Ben, Brother Joe, other men down there, started reasoning with people and they drew a remnant back out, and it ended up being the majority ended up siding with our church still, but you could kind of just see that a lot of people were just up for grabs, and they didn't know where to go, they didn't know who to follow, and still some of them probably don't even know. But that's because they're a flat earther, you know. You don't have it, you don't know what to do. But we have to be gentle and meek unto people, and we have to try and draw them to the right side and educate them, and we ourselves want to make sure that we're following the right people, that we're following the right Bible, the right leadership, and even if our leader gets taken from us, that we don't just follow the next leader, just carte blanche, but rather we say, you know, is this a righteous guy? You know, I'll say this, I don't want you to not be steadfast, but if God forbid something bad happen to me, and the next guy comes in here as a bozo, please leave this church. Don't just follow a bozo just because he's steadfast. You know, there was a guy that almost became the pastor of this church, Chad Morgan. And, you know, in hindsight it's real obvious that that was a really bad thing, but I wonder how many people would have just followed him because he was the next leader, and how many people would have just gone with that program because he was the next leader, and not really said, you know what, let's evaluate this guy to the Bible, you know. And even myself included, it's not like, you know, you decide in your own mind, but at any point if I'm doing something that's not following the Bible, ditch me and go for the next guy. But isn't it interesting, some of our friends in some of the churches we've seen, it seems like there's decent people in there, but then all of a sudden their leader's like a bad guy, and then you're confused, like, why is that person still following them? It's because people are really susceptible to just following, you know, whoever's there. It's like, I thought you were a Packers fan, why are you at the Cowboys game? It's like, because it's close, you know. You know, Jerry Jones, you know, AT&T Stadium, you know, I like the star, or whatever it is. It's like, don't just change teams because you're close. You know, if your guy goes bad, you know, if your quarterback has raped people, stop being a fan of his. Like, at what point do you have to determine, like, this is not a guy I can support anymore? Like, when Ben Roethlisberger is a known rapist, it's like, can't you just finally just realize, like, the Steelers are awful? I mean, these sports franchises have no morals. It's only about money. It's only about fame. And people just follow celebrities. They follow politicians. It doesn't matter what they've done, what they do. They'll follow pastors off a cliff, like that Greg Locke guy who divorced his wife and just ran off with the secretary. But you know what, he says some good things against Democrats. Well, that's hard to say anything good against Democrats, right? You could say any negative thing about Democrats and it would sound good. Like, there's probably almost nothing to say about leftists and liberals that I wouldn't agree with if it's negative. Like, you couldn't be harsh enough. You couldn't be mean enough. And it's like, most of the time, people, no one will say anything. It's just like, Democrats are bad. Oh, yo, Jared, cool. You know, it's like, it's like, really? You know, don't support Greg Locke just because you think Democrats are bad people or the leftists. You know, when is he going to preach against conservatives? When is he going to preach against Trump? When is he going to preach against himself? When is he going to sit down and shut up because he shouldn't even be a pastor anymore? You know, I'm not going to follow Absalom. Well, he used to be a good pastor. Absalom used to be a good guy. Well, he's not now. Well, Pastor Shelley used to be good. Look, if I was a bad pastor, get away from me. You know, never follow the wrong person no matter what. And I'm telling you this because you think that you're smarter than you are, but we're not. We're really easily tricked, really easily led astray. And we have to constantly look at the scripture and evaluate the Bible and try to renew our minds so as to make sure we're following the right direction. All right, let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for our church. Thank you for giving us the word of God as our compass. I pray that our steps would be in faith, not based on circumstance, not based on how likable a leader is, not based on who's winning, not based on location, not based on proximity, not based on anything superfluous, but rather what's right and that we would have our hearts just settled today that we're going to follow Christ to the end, that it doesn't matter what that looks like. It doesn't matter how ugly it gets. It doesn't matter what kind of wins or losses we have. It doesn't matter what our leader is. It just simply means that we're committed and devoted to the Bible as being our compass for our lives. And I pray that you would raise up men that fear God that are going to actually lead people in the right direction, that we'd raise up a generation of soul winners that are going to go out there and influence people in the right direction and see many people saved. And I pray that we would have it pressed upon our hearts that this world is up for grabs and it's for us to go out there and reap the harvest. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For our final song this evening, we'll go to 224. There shall be showers of blessing. 224, there shall be showers of blessing. Song 224, there shall be showers of blessing. There shall be showers of blessing. This is the promise of love. There shall be seasons refreshing sent from the Savior above. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, precious reviving again. Over the hills and the valleys, sound of abundance of rain. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, send them upon us, O Lord. Grant to us now a refreshing, come and now honor Thy word. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, O that today they might fall. Now as to God we're confessing, now as on Jesus we call. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.