WEBVTT 00:00.500 --> 00:02.940 Man, the title of my sermon this evening is, 00:03.500 --> 00:05.940 is Saul also among the prophets? 00:06.640 --> 00:09.560 Is Saul also among the prophets? 00:09.680 --> 00:12.320 That's the question that's asked in this chapter 00:12.320 --> 00:14.680 and it becomes a proverb in Israel, 00:14.920 --> 00:16.820 meaning that it becomes like a saying 00:16.820 --> 00:19.600 that people would just say about all kinds of situations 00:20.060 --> 00:21.840 when someone does something, I guess, 00:21.940 --> 00:23.960 really out of the ordinary or unexpected. 00:24.280 --> 00:27.300 It's like, whoa, I didn't expect that from that person. 00:27.680 --> 00:30.140 You know, is Saul also among the prophets? 00:30.740 --> 00:32.020 And as you read this whole chapter, 00:32.480 --> 00:34.480 you can see that people didn't really, you know, 00:34.520 --> 00:36.860 necessarily expect much from Saul. 00:37.020 --> 00:39.120 In the first place, he didn't really expect much from himself. 00:39.680 --> 00:41.380 He was little in his own sight. 00:41.500 --> 00:43.360 He was surprised about the fact 00:43.360 --> 00:44.720 that he's gonna be the king of Israel. 00:45.240 --> 00:46.920 But he ended up, of course, 00:47.380 --> 00:48.960 being filled with the spirit of God, 00:50.000 --> 00:53.020 prophesying, preaching, and it's an amazing story. 00:53.120 --> 00:54.340 Now, here's the thing. 00:54.780 --> 00:55.720 Before we get into the sermon, 00:55.720 --> 00:56.920 I wanna just clear up. 00:57.260 --> 01:00.180 A lot of times when people hear the word prophet or prophecy, 01:00.740 --> 01:03.240 they will automatically have a preconceived idea 01:03.240 --> 01:05.460 that we're talking about telling the future. 01:06.040 --> 01:07.820 And this is not necessarily true. 01:07.900 --> 01:10.980 Now, sometimes that's what prophesy can mean 01:10.980 --> 01:15.080 because the word can literally mean to say in advance, 01:15.460 --> 01:18.940 like to predict something and to prophesy the future. 01:19.240 --> 01:22.660 But it can also, instead of being foretelling 01:22.660 --> 01:26.180 of the word of God, it could be forth-telling 01:26.180 --> 01:27.220 of the word of God. 01:27.520 --> 01:29.000 So you're just prophesying, 01:29.060 --> 01:31.900 meaning you're speaking forth the word of God. 01:32.240 --> 01:35.140 And in fact, that is how it is used in the Bible a lot. 01:35.560 --> 01:37.340 And just to prove this to you, 01:37.760 --> 01:40.000 in Proverbs 31, that famous passage 01:40.000 --> 01:42.080 about the Proverbs 31 woman, 01:42.540 --> 01:45.400 it says that these, this is the prophecy 01:45.960 --> 01:47.460 that his mother taught him. 01:47.760 --> 01:49.620 And if you read that chapter, Proverbs 31, 01:49.920 --> 01:52.900 there are not any future predictions being made. 01:52.980 --> 01:55.820 There's no eschatology or end time stuff. 01:56.260 --> 02:00.400 It's just preaching that his mom preached to him. 02:00.820 --> 02:01.940 This is prophecy. 02:02.560 --> 02:04.880 So when the Bible says prophet or prophecy, 02:05.280 --> 02:09.040 it's just talking about the preaching of God's word. 02:09.220 --> 02:10.720 And that's what it means in this context. 02:11.260 --> 02:13.020 So the first verse I wanna look at 02:13.020 --> 02:14.880 is in chapter 10, verse six, 02:15.300 --> 02:18.840 it says, the spirit of the Lord will come upon thee 02:18.840 --> 02:21.540 and thou shalt prophesy with them 02:22.040 --> 02:25.640 and shalt be turned into another man. 02:25.960 --> 02:27.640 Jump down to verse number nine, it says, 02:27.940 --> 02:30.240 and it was so that when he had turned his back 02:30.240 --> 02:32.920 to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart 02:32.920 --> 02:35.260 and all those signs came to pass that day. 02:35.480 --> 02:37.660 And when they came thither to the hill, 02:37.960 --> 02:39.840 behold, a company of prophets met him 02:39.840 --> 02:42.100 and the spirit of God came upon him 02:42.100 --> 02:43.460 and he prophesied among them. 02:43.720 --> 02:45.000 The first thing I wanna point out 02:45.360 --> 02:49.780 is that being in the right place with the right people 02:50.280 --> 02:53.840 is going to affect you spiritually in a profound way. 02:54.280 --> 02:58.020 So the fact that Saul is with the company of prophets 02:58.020 --> 03:02.140 is when he gets around these other spirit-filled men of God 03:02.140 --> 03:05.300 that the spirit of the Lord comes upon him also 03:05.780 --> 03:10.200 and he prophesies with them, along with them. 03:10.580 --> 03:12.420 And so the first point I wanna give you tonight 03:12.420 --> 03:14.520 is that if you wanna be a prophet, 03:14.520 --> 03:16.620 you gotta be among the prophets, right? 03:16.780 --> 03:19.080 Getting around spiritual people 03:19.080 --> 03:20.780 is gonna make you more spiritual. 03:21.120 --> 03:23.980 The Bible says that he that walketh with wise men 03:23.980 --> 03:27.440 shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. 03:28.040 --> 03:31.920 And I'm telling you, getting in a soul-winning church 03:31.920 --> 03:34.240 is what's gonna make you a soul-winner, right? 03:34.760 --> 03:36.660 You are going to evangelize 03:36.660 --> 03:38.520 if you're in a church that evangelizes. 03:38.900 --> 03:40.980 You are gonna be filled with the spirit of God 03:40.980 --> 03:42.760 if you're surrounded by people 03:42.760 --> 03:43.920 that are filled with the spirit of God. 03:45.440 --> 03:46.520 And you know, I'm telling, 03:46.640 --> 03:47.940 and he says you'll become another man. 03:48.760 --> 03:51.260 People, what, this is Saul among the prophets? 03:52.000 --> 03:54.580 What is Stephen Anderson among the prophets? 03:55.020 --> 03:57.380 You know, this guy, that's not who we expected. 03:57.940 --> 03:58.280 Why? 03:58.660 --> 04:00.660 He's with people of God. 04:01.320 --> 04:02.360 He gets fired up. 04:02.760 --> 04:04.300 He prophesies along with them. 04:04.840 --> 04:05.820 Spirit of the Lord comes upon him. 04:06.080 --> 04:06.760 Let me tell you something. 04:07.340 --> 04:09.400 If you took our church, 04:09.400 --> 04:12.660 which our church, the vast majority of people here 04:13.100 --> 04:17.180 are actively evangelizing, going out, knocking doors, 04:17.660 --> 04:20.340 preaching the gospel, going out on mission strips. 04:20.560 --> 04:24.840 I mean, we probably have higher per capita participation 04:24.840 --> 04:29.440 in soul-winning than almost any church in the world, okay? 04:29.700 --> 04:31.660 And all of our friends' churches are the same way. 04:32.060 --> 04:34.080 So these new IFB type churches 04:34.480 --> 04:36.640 that are like our church, other churches, 04:36.640 --> 04:40.060 first works, anchor Baptist, steadfast, whatever, 04:40.660 --> 04:42.820 you know, stray paths, all of these churches 04:42.820 --> 04:46.860 have way higher participation in evangelism 04:46.860 --> 04:47.980 than almost any other church. 04:48.320 --> 04:50.660 You know, they have like 80 or 90% of the people 04:51.520 --> 04:53.940 participating in soul-winning in some way. 04:54.940 --> 04:57.040 If you took this same group of people 04:57.680 --> 04:59.520 and put them in different churches, 04:59.840 --> 05:01.240 you would not have this result. 05:01.800 --> 05:04.840 The reason that a lot of y'all go soul-winning 05:04.840 --> 05:06.840 is because you go to Faithful Word Baptist Church. 05:07.040 --> 05:08.940 And I'm not saying that to insult you at all 05:08.940 --> 05:11.000 because that's why I go soul-winning. 05:11.240 --> 05:13.100 It's because I go to Faithful Word Baptist Church 05:13.100 --> 05:15.400 because guess what, when I was growing up, 05:15.760 --> 05:17.560 I really wanted to get people saved. 05:17.720 --> 05:19.820 I loved the Lord, I loved the Bible, 05:20.340 --> 05:21.800 I had a burden for the lost, 05:21.920 --> 05:22.940 I wanted to get people saved, 05:23.160 --> 05:25.040 but I didn't get anybody saved 05:25.040 --> 05:28.160 until I actually got into a good soul-winning church. 05:28.520 --> 05:30.340 And then once I got in that soul-winning church, 05:30.620 --> 05:34.180 you know, they motivated me, they equipped me, 05:34.640 --> 05:37.160 they taught me the ropes, they gave me an opportunity, 05:37.460 --> 05:39.420 they sent me out there with a partner 05:39.420 --> 05:40.600 to show me how to do it. 05:40.820 --> 05:42.100 And I learned how to go soul-winning 05:42.100 --> 05:44.000 because I went to a soul-winning church. 05:44.220 --> 05:45.360 And I'm telling you right now 05:45.360 --> 05:48.820 that if any of us were to get out of the soul-winning church 05:48.820 --> 05:50.780 and to be in some dead church somewhere, 05:51.060 --> 05:52.720 the chances are very slim 05:53.180 --> 05:56.080 that we're just gonna like get ourselves out soul-winning 05:56.080 --> 05:57.440 by ourselves. 05:57.900 --> 06:00.060 I mean, going soul-winning by yourself is pretty hard. 06:00.400 --> 06:02.540 It's a lot easier when you got a partner 06:03.040 --> 06:03.980 and it's a lot easier 06:03.980 --> 06:04.880 when you're in a church, 06:05.240 --> 06:06.680 where everybody's doing it, 06:07.120 --> 06:09.160 it's convenient, there's a program, 06:09.960 --> 06:11.600 it's the culture of the church. 06:12.760 --> 06:15.480 And so it's not a coincidence that we just, 06:15.660 --> 06:17.060 man, we just happened to just get 06:17.060 --> 06:18.060 all the soul-winning members. 06:19.220 --> 06:21.520 You know, faithful work just got to soul-winners, 06:21.820 --> 06:24.340 you know, and all of our friends just got, 06:24.480 --> 06:27.420 no, no, no, we actually are the ones 06:27.420 --> 06:28.920 that are making them soul-winners, 06:28.960 --> 06:31.200 just like the church that I went to 06:31.200 --> 06:33.840 as a 17-year-old boy made me a soul-winner. 06:34.200 --> 06:35.700 They made me a fisher of men. 06:36.140 --> 06:37.780 You know, that's the purpose of the church 06:37.780 --> 06:40.440 as an institution is to equip you, 06:40.740 --> 06:42.960 to train you, to motivate you 06:42.960 --> 06:44.400 and send you out there preaching the gospel. 06:44.560 --> 06:46.300 And so all that to say this, 06:46.740 --> 06:49.280 you know, it's really important what church you go to. 06:49.900 --> 06:51.340 And you might just think to yourself, 06:51.640 --> 06:53.100 oh, I'm such an awesome Christian 06:53.500 --> 06:54.720 and I'm so spiritual, 06:55.160 --> 06:57.600 I could go to any church and I'd be the same way 06:58.140 --> 07:01.000 and I can just go join one of these watered down 07:01.000 --> 07:02.640 lame churches and I'll be fine. 07:02.920 --> 07:05.760 And you know what, maybe you really are that awesome. 07:06.240 --> 07:08.740 But you know, most of us, we need to be in a church 07:08.740 --> 07:11.880 that keeps us fired up, preaches hard, 07:12.580 --> 07:14.180 is super zealous about soul-winning, 07:14.460 --> 07:16.060 and just getting around that 07:16.060 --> 07:17.880 is gonna take you to the next level. 07:17.920 --> 07:21.140 The best thing you can do for your spiritual growth 07:21.140 --> 07:22.880 is to make Christian friends. 07:24.300 --> 07:25.760 You know, get around people 07:26.300 --> 07:28.080 that are the way that you wanna be. 07:28.080 --> 07:30.980 Go to a church that is the way that you wanna be. 07:31.380 --> 07:34.060 So if you wanna become a zealous soul-winner, 07:34.240 --> 07:35.520 zealous about evangelism, 07:35.760 --> 07:37.140 if you wanna be a spirit-filled Christian, 07:37.380 --> 07:38.860 you wanna go to a spirit-filled church 07:39.500 --> 07:40.760 and get in that group 07:40.760 --> 07:42.360 so that you can prophesy with them. 07:42.640 --> 07:44.500 The Spirit of the Lord's gonna come on you also 07:44.500 --> 07:46.780 and you will prophesy with them 07:46.780 --> 07:48.200 and you will be among the prophets 07:49.000 --> 07:51.200 as unlikely as you may think that you are. 07:51.660 --> 07:52.600 Because here's the thing, 07:52.780 --> 07:55.560 preaching is a spirit-filled activity. 07:56.170 --> 07:58.120 And that goes for preaching behind the pulpit 07:58.600 --> 08:00.960 or preaching the gospel of the lost, that's soul-winning. 08:01.680 --> 08:03.860 You know, you wanna be filled with the Spirit of God. 08:04.020 --> 08:05.540 Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing. 08:06.060 --> 08:08.800 And so you gotta be tapped into the vine. 08:09.200 --> 08:11.140 He's the vine, you're the branches, 08:11.580 --> 08:13.140 and without him, you can do nothing. 08:13.500 --> 08:16.160 And we wanna go forth and preach the Word of God with power. 08:16.520 --> 08:18.840 I could get up and just in my own strength 08:18.840 --> 08:22.960 just preach a sermon where I'm just talking 08:23.520 --> 08:25.120 and explaining the Bible. 08:25.520 --> 08:27.740 And maybe I took a course in public speaking 08:27.740 --> 08:29.720 or I went to Toastmasters or something. 08:29.900 --> 08:31.720 I don't know if that's still even a thing. 08:32.160 --> 08:35.440 But maybe I went and got like speaking lessons or something. 08:35.660 --> 08:38.860 And I could just get up and learn how to speak and talk. 08:39.080 --> 08:42.340 And I could just do it 100% in the flesh, okay? 08:42.640 --> 08:45.460 But it's not going to do a great work for God 08:45.460 --> 08:47.160 in the hearts of God's people 08:47.160 --> 08:50.680 unless the Holy Spirit is involved, right? 08:50.680 --> 08:52.940 What's the difference between one guy 08:52.940 --> 08:53.900 who gets up and preaches 08:54.440 --> 08:57.060 and hearts and minds are not really impacted? 08:57.480 --> 08:59.120 People aren't really getting saved. 08:59.580 --> 09:01.520 People aren't really fired up or motivated. 09:02.000 --> 09:03.380 The sermon doesn't really speak to them 09:03.380 --> 09:04.940 versus another guy gets up 09:04.940 --> 09:07.340 and just gets all these great results with this preaching. 09:07.640 --> 09:09.240 The difference is the Spirit of God. 09:10.880 --> 09:13.440 And that's why you can accept no imitation 09:14.060 --> 09:16.720 because you can't imitate being filled 09:16.720 --> 09:17.700 with the Spirit of God. 09:18.100 --> 09:19.400 It has to be real. 09:20.020 --> 09:23.680 And so, preaching is a Spirit filled activity, 09:23.820 --> 09:24.520 going soul winning. 09:25.140 --> 09:26.920 You got to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. 09:27.500 --> 09:29.320 You want to get around Spirit filled people. 09:29.540 --> 09:30.540 You want to be Spirit filled 09:30.540 --> 09:33.000 so that you can be greatly used as a soul winner. 09:33.700 --> 09:35.740 Virtually every time I get up to preach 09:36.280 --> 09:37.780 and I'm standing over there 09:37.780 --> 09:41.240 and there's a guy praying for me before the service. 09:41.360 --> 09:42.420 Like we'll read the scripture 09:42.420 --> 09:44.060 and then there's the guy praying 09:44.060 --> 09:47.820 and praying that God would fill the pastor 09:47.820 --> 09:49.380 with the Spirit as he preaches. 09:50.160 --> 09:51.420 Not every single time, 09:51.500 --> 09:54.300 but I would say probably 90% of the time 09:54.300 --> 09:57.520 right at that moment that he is saying that, 09:57.760 --> 09:59.300 I am saying in my own heart, 09:59.680 --> 10:03.020 like yes God, please fill me with the Holy Spirit 10:03.020 --> 10:05.720 because without you, this sermon 10:05.720 --> 10:07.420 is not going to be a good sermon. 10:07.960 --> 10:09.860 Like I need to be filled with the Spirit. 10:10.020 --> 10:11.780 Like I acknowledge that right now 10:11.780 --> 10:14.680 that me and my own strength, I can't get it done. 10:15.280 --> 10:17.320 It's got to be through the power of the Holy Spirit. 10:17.320 --> 10:17.800 Period. 10:19.620 --> 10:20.880 And if you would, 10:21.140 --> 10:23.420 flip over or we'll stay there in first Samuel 10. 10:23.720 --> 10:26.220 But in Acts 431 it says when they had prayed, 10:26.820 --> 10:29.960 the place was shaken where they were assembled together 10:29.960 --> 10:32.280 and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. 10:32.440 --> 10:32.860 Watch this. 10:33.300 --> 10:35.660 And they spake the word of God with boldness. 10:36.000 --> 10:37.280 And look, one of the biggest problems 10:37.280 --> 10:38.860 with the preaching in our country today 10:38.860 --> 10:41.200 is just the weakness of the preaching. 10:42.360 --> 10:45.780 Passers are scared, they're walking on eggshells. 10:45.780 --> 10:48.060 They want to be real careful not to offend people, right? 10:48.420 --> 10:50.140 But what about just getting up 10:50.140 --> 10:52.660 and just preaching from the heart 10:52.660 --> 10:56.340 the word of God with power, no apology, 10:56.840 --> 10:59.700 no sugarcoating of anything, right? 11:00.060 --> 11:01.800 This comes from the power of the Holy Spirit 11:01.800 --> 11:04.480 to be able to boldly preach the word of God. 11:04.900 --> 11:06.100 When they were filled with the Spirit, 11:06.220 --> 11:07.680 they spake the word of God with boldness. 11:08.020 --> 11:10.080 Also, even when you're outdoor to door soul winning, 11:10.480 --> 11:12.100 it can be a little bit daunting. 11:12.320 --> 11:13.820 It can be a little scary sometimes 11:14.180 --> 11:16.020 to just walk up to a complete stranger 11:16.420 --> 11:17.580 and talk to them about the gospel. 11:17.760 --> 11:20.560 Maybe at school or at work, you can be nervous. 11:20.720 --> 11:21.780 I mean, I remember there were times 11:21.780 --> 11:24.220 when I was at work giving someone the gospel 11:24.220 --> 11:25.780 and I was literally trembling 11:25.780 --> 11:28.220 because I was so nervous giving the gospel 11:28.220 --> 11:31.460 to like a supervisor or somebody important at work. 11:31.940 --> 11:33.100 You know, I was really nervous. 11:34.060 --> 11:36.040 You know, what is gonna give us the courage, 11:36.540 --> 11:38.980 the boldness to be able to preach the word of God, 11:39.020 --> 11:40.600 to be able to bring up that subject 11:41.160 --> 11:43.060 on the job, at school, 11:43.060 --> 11:44.040 whatever it's appropriate. 11:44.220 --> 11:45.060 And you know, I've heard it said, 11:45.460 --> 11:46.820 if you're ever alone with someone, 11:47.100 --> 11:48.800 that's a good opportunity to give them the gospel. 11:49.800 --> 11:51.740 You're kind of waiting for that magical, 11:51.760 --> 11:52.700 perfect opportunity. 11:53.000 --> 11:54.100 Well, when you're alone with someone, 11:54.240 --> 11:55.640 that typically is the opportunity. 11:57.160 --> 11:58.640 And so, you know, you gotta watch out 11:58.640 --> 12:00.080 for those opportunities where it's appropriate, 12:00.200 --> 12:01.100 where it makes sense, 12:01.300 --> 12:03.920 where you got a good chance to give the gospel 12:03.920 --> 12:05.720 and what's gonna give you the courage? 12:05.860 --> 12:06.540 Because how many times, 12:06.660 --> 12:07.700 I think we've all been there. 12:08.080 --> 12:09.640 You're like, I know I need to give the gospel 12:09.640 --> 12:12.360 to this person and the opportunity comes and goes 12:12.360 --> 12:14.380 and you just chickened out, right? 12:15.080 --> 12:16.100 Let's get a raise of hands. 12:16.460 --> 12:17.580 Who's ever chickened out? 12:17.780 --> 12:19.660 Like, I need to give the gospel to this person 12:19.660 --> 12:20.840 and I chickened out. 12:21.100 --> 12:22.400 Definitely, I've been there. 12:22.580 --> 12:23.340 I've chickened out. 12:23.500 --> 12:24.880 And then you're kicking yourself like, 12:25.000 --> 12:26.380 oh, why didn't I just do it? 12:26.420 --> 12:27.700 I'm such an idiot, you know? 12:28.060 --> 12:28.900 I'm so weak, right? 12:29.200 --> 12:30.860 We want the fullness of the Holy Spirit 12:30.860 --> 12:32.960 to have the courage to do what's right 12:32.960 --> 12:34.540 in every situation, 12:34.580 --> 12:36.680 but especially when it comes to preaching the gospel, 12:37.080 --> 12:38.920 you know, take some God to take some courage. 12:39.080 --> 12:39.980 You gotta be filled with the spirit. 12:40.220 --> 12:41.740 You say, well, how do I get it? 12:41.740 --> 12:44.900 Well, the Bible says they prayed and asked for boldness 12:45.420 --> 12:47.720 and God answered that prayer and they had the boldness. 12:47.900 --> 12:49.480 And you know, we need preachers across America 12:49.480 --> 12:51.280 praying for the boldness to get up 12:51.280 --> 12:53.500 and preach unpopular things that people need to hear. 12:54.840 --> 12:57.480 Cause that's the biggest problem in the pulpit today 12:57.480 --> 13:00.940 is fear, scared preachers, not preaching. 13:01.120 --> 13:02.560 I don't even want them to preach what I believe. 13:02.900 --> 13:04.180 I just want them to preach what they believe. 13:05.200 --> 13:06.280 I just want them to have the guts 13:06.280 --> 13:07.480 to preach it unfiltered. 13:09.400 --> 13:10.700 So we said, number one, 13:11.020 --> 13:13.100 you want to be among the prophets to be a prophet. 13:13.760 --> 13:16.140 You know, you want to go to a church 13:16.140 --> 13:18.940 of fired up Christians if you want to be fired up. 13:19.100 --> 13:21.220 If you go to first church of the deep freeze, 13:21.680 --> 13:22.440 well, then guess what? 13:22.600 --> 13:25.760 Your spiritual life is going to suffer, you know? 13:25.880 --> 13:27.860 And by the way, I don't think that, 13:28.260 --> 13:29.040 I'll put it this way. 13:29.120 --> 13:31.240 I would never pick a church based on, 13:31.400 --> 13:34.100 oh, I agree with everything about this church the most. 13:35.600 --> 13:36.900 That's not what I would choose. 13:37.300 --> 13:40.900 I would go to the church that is gonna fire me up the most, 13:41.100 --> 13:43.460 motivate me the most, preach the best sermons 13:43.460 --> 13:45.220 to get the sin out of my life 13:45.220 --> 13:47.720 and to help me grow and be a better Christian. 13:48.020 --> 13:50.320 Not just, oh, on paper, I just agree 13:50.320 --> 13:52.100 with every single thing about this church. 13:53.080 --> 13:54.120 You know, you're never gonna agree 13:54.120 --> 13:55.460 with everyone perfectly anyway. 13:55.760 --> 13:57.700 So that's why, like, if I'm sitting in a church 13:57.700 --> 14:00.140 and the pastor's up there preaching a really hard sermon 14:00.140 --> 14:01.700 and maybe one thing he says, 14:01.820 --> 14:03.000 a little bit over the top, 14:03.300 --> 14:04.900 or I don't agree with that. 14:05.020 --> 14:06.060 I was a little too much or something. 14:06.060 --> 14:08.180 I'm just like, so what? 14:08.920 --> 14:10.420 I still got a lot out of the sermon. 14:10.580 --> 14:11.340 It's still a great sermon. 14:11.560 --> 14:12.860 At least the pastor's got guts. 14:13.260 --> 14:14.580 At least I'm learning stuff. 14:14.980 --> 14:16.100 At least I'm going soul-winning. 14:16.360 --> 14:16.880 At least I'm growing. 14:17.000 --> 14:19.680 Look, and even when it came time for me 14:20.440 --> 14:22.260 to be trained for the ministry, 14:22.800 --> 14:24.980 you know, I wanted to just be trained in the local church. 14:25.400 --> 14:28.560 And I tried to just get my local pastor to train me. 14:28.840 --> 14:30.760 I didn't like the idea of going to Bible college. 14:30.940 --> 14:32.560 I just wanted to be trained in the local church. 14:32.760 --> 14:34.260 And my pastor kept telling me, 14:34.340 --> 14:35.740 he's gonna train me, he's gonna train me. 14:35.740 --> 14:37.680 And he just kept not training me. 14:37.940 --> 14:39.840 So then finally I just realized like, 14:40.100 --> 14:41.900 I guess I just have to go to Bible college. 14:41.980 --> 14:43.340 Apparently that's just the only way 14:43.340 --> 14:44.740 to get any kind of training. 14:45.140 --> 14:46.880 Apparently that's the only way to go into the ministry. 14:47.420 --> 14:49.760 And you know, when I was picking a Bible college, 14:50.160 --> 14:53.040 you know, I ended up picking Hiles Anderson College. 14:53.240 --> 14:54.860 And the reason that I picked Hiles Anderson College, 14:55.080 --> 14:56.320 it wasn't because I agreed with them 14:56.320 --> 14:57.060 on every single thing. 14:57.480 --> 14:59.000 Because I think that there were probably 14:59.000 --> 15:01.140 other Bible colleges that I might have even agreed 15:01.140 --> 15:03.520 with more doctrinally on paper. 15:04.300 --> 15:06.520 And there were a few things about Hiles Anderson 15:06.520 --> 15:07.960 that I knew I didn't agree with. 15:08.320 --> 15:09.980 But I was like, you know what though? 15:10.340 --> 15:13.180 This seems to be a church that's gonna really like 15:13.180 --> 15:15.960 motivate you and they're really zealous. 15:16.520 --> 15:19.160 And they're really gonna push us to do a lot for God. 15:19.400 --> 15:22.960 And I just wanted to get fired up and get zealous. 15:23.400 --> 15:25.660 And that's where I figured, you know, 15:25.780 --> 15:27.800 is my best bet for an independent, 15:27.800 --> 15:29.840 fundamental Baptist Bible college. 15:30.020 --> 15:32.580 That seemed to be the one that had the hardest preaching 15:33.100 --> 15:34.740 and the most soul winning going on. 15:34.980 --> 15:37.800 And just seemed to be the most fired up, 15:38.480 --> 15:40.740 motivating type place with hard preaching. 15:41.180 --> 15:42.380 Like that's what I was thinking about. 15:42.800 --> 15:44.080 Now, obviously you don't wanna go to church 15:44.080 --> 15:45.380 to believe heresy or something. 15:45.560 --> 15:46.340 But I'm saying, you know, 15:46.380 --> 15:48.840 there's gonna be little minor disagreements and points. 15:49.220 --> 15:51.200 And look, I guarantee you there's gonna be times 15:51.200 --> 15:53.420 when I preach things that you don't agree with 15:53.420 --> 15:54.000 or something like that. 15:54.200 --> 15:55.700 Don't just be like, oh, well, that's it. 15:55.760 --> 15:56.640 I'm leaving, I'm gonna go. 15:56.740 --> 15:59.140 And then you go to some dead as a doornail, 15:59.140 --> 16:02.580 water down church, because you agree with them more. 16:03.120 --> 16:04.620 Okay, well, what good does that do you 16:04.620 --> 16:06.220 when they're not preaching on sin, 16:06.660 --> 16:08.760 when the soul winning program super weak 16:08.760 --> 16:11.180 and anemic and pathetic, right? 16:12.120 --> 16:14.260 You know, instead of looking for the perfect church, 16:14.400 --> 16:15.920 why don't you look for the church 16:15.920 --> 16:18.660 that's actually serving it up three times a week 16:18.660 --> 16:20.900 and going out and doing the work seven days a week 16:20.900 --> 16:22.400 and actually getting it done 16:22.400 --> 16:25.880 instead of just being perfect people with a perfect whatever. 16:27.200 --> 16:28.920 That's just a little advice, you know, 16:29.040 --> 16:31.240 about how to pick a church, you know? 16:31.560 --> 16:33.360 I want the church that's getting it done, 16:33.700 --> 16:35.520 not the church that crosses every two of you 16:35.520 --> 16:36.400 and dots every eye, 16:36.560 --> 16:39.160 but it's weak and sad and dead and pathetic. 16:40.700 --> 16:44.080 So number one, we said be among the prophets 16:44.080 --> 16:44.840 to be a prophet. 16:45.100 --> 16:48.120 Number two, preaching is meant to be 16:48.120 --> 16:49.180 a spirit filled activity. 16:49.860 --> 16:52.900 Number three, God doesn't always use the ones 16:52.900 --> 16:54.540 that we think he's gonna use. 16:55.240 --> 16:58.700 And that's what this whole saying is Saul among the prophets? 16:59.280 --> 17:02.320 This kind of shocked explanation of what? 17:03.280 --> 17:04.660 Saul among the prophets, 17:04.800 --> 17:07.120 because God will sometimes use people 17:07.120 --> 17:08.620 that we don't think he's gonna use. 17:09.020 --> 17:10.980 And this could be encouraging to us 17:10.980 --> 17:13.540 that we can be used by God no matter who we are. 17:13.940 --> 17:15.380 Look what the Bible says in verse 12. 17:16.620 --> 17:18.260 Because somebody said in verse 11, 17:18.420 --> 17:19.800 you know, is Saul also among the prophets? 17:19.900 --> 17:22.540 Verse 12 says, one of the same place answered and said, 17:22.540 --> 17:23.980 but who's their father? 17:25.100 --> 17:27.820 You know, so it's like, what makes them special? 17:28.680 --> 17:30.520 I mean, why can't Saul be one of the prophets? 17:30.740 --> 17:33.620 Like, who are these people anyway that are the prophets? 17:33.900 --> 17:35.760 Oh, these are the prophets. 17:36.300 --> 17:39.440 It's like, well, is that because their dad is a prophet? 17:40.140 --> 17:42.060 Like, where does that end? 17:42.480 --> 17:44.220 Somewhere at some point, 17:44.420 --> 17:46.780 somebody had to be the first prophet in that family. 17:47.760 --> 17:48.800 Who's their father? 17:49.180 --> 17:51.460 You know, like, is Saul among the prophets? 17:51.460 --> 17:52.140 Why not? 17:52.400 --> 17:53.540 That's the idea here. 17:54.360 --> 17:56.560 And so it became a proverb. 17:57.000 --> 17:58.560 Is Saul also among the prophets? 17:58.980 --> 18:00.720 Verse 13, when he made an end of prophecy, 18:00.840 --> 18:01.620 he came to the high place. 18:01.720 --> 18:02.900 Keep your finger there in 1 Samuel 18:02.900 --> 18:05.780 and go to 1 Corinthians chapter number one. 18:06.160 --> 18:07.540 1 Corinthians chapter number one, 18:07.600 --> 18:09.480 God doesn't always use the ones 18:10.040 --> 18:11.920 that we think he's going to use. 18:12.480 --> 18:17.400 And there is nothing special about me 18:17.400 --> 18:19.700 or any other preacher or pastor 18:20.140 --> 18:22.780 or anybody who has ever been a preacher or pastor 18:22.780 --> 18:26.200 where there's just some special magical person 18:26.740 --> 18:29.240 and that's why God used them or something like that. 18:29.640 --> 18:33.560 No, pastors are ordinary people just like you. 18:33.700 --> 18:34.600 They're definitely like me, 18:35.000 --> 18:36.460 but you know, just like me and you. 18:37.060 --> 18:39.180 Ordinary people, okay? 18:39.320 --> 18:41.700 They put on their pants one leg at a time 18:42.300 --> 18:43.980 and there's nothing magical or special. 18:44.120 --> 18:45.980 The Bible just says if a man desired 18:45.980 --> 18:49.840 the office of a bishop, he desired a good work 18:49.840 --> 18:52.620 and he lists the type of guy that you want to look for. 18:52.880 --> 18:54.120 These are the qualifications. 18:54.880 --> 18:58.420 This is what, but it doesn't have to be anyone 18:59.080 --> 19:02.620 in particular from a certain family or something like that. 19:02.860 --> 19:04.780 You know, God doesn't always use the ones 19:04.780 --> 19:05.980 that we think he's going to use. 19:07.260 --> 19:09.480 Look what he says in 1 Corinthians 1-26. 19:10.080 --> 19:11.480 For you see your calling, brethren, 19:11.840 --> 19:13.940 how that not many wise men after the flesh, 19:14.330 --> 19:16.980 not many mighty, not many noble are called 19:16.980 --> 19:20.280 and noble specifically has to do 19:20.280 --> 19:21.480 with what family you're from. 19:21.620 --> 19:24.760 What makes someone a nobility is that they come from 19:24.760 --> 19:29.340 a respected, special, noble family, okay? 19:30.060 --> 19:33.860 So there aren't really that many mighty, powerful, 19:34.520 --> 19:38.800 super smart, intellectual or noble men of God. 19:39.340 --> 19:43.060 In general, God, verse 27 has chosen 19:43.060 --> 19:46.380 the foolish things of the world to confound the wise 19:46.380 --> 19:49.180 and God has chosen the weak things of the world 19:49.180 --> 19:51.440 to confound the things which are mighty 19:52.050 --> 19:53.700 and base things of the world 19:53.700 --> 19:56.500 and things which are despised have God chosen. 19:56.700 --> 19:57.700 Yeah, and the things which are not 19:57.700 --> 19:59.560 to bring to naught the things that are 19:59.560 --> 20:03.540 that no flesh should glory in his presence. 20:03.740 --> 20:07.140 And so he's saying, look, it's not the most talented, 20:07.440 --> 20:09.200 the best looking, the smartest, 20:09.700 --> 20:11.900 the most gifted, charismatic speaker. 20:11.900 --> 20:15.900 No, God sometimes will use the most unlikely candidates 20:15.900 --> 20:19.300 that are ugly or dumb or whatever. 20:19.580 --> 20:21.480 And you say, well, how could God use someone 20:21.480 --> 20:24.540 who's not that smart or how could God use someone 20:24.540 --> 20:26.680 who just doesn't have great people skills 20:26.680 --> 20:28.860 or how could God use someone who's just 20:28.860 --> 20:31.400 from this poor family or just from this, 20:31.880 --> 20:34.100 this other ethnicity or whatever. 20:34.440 --> 20:37.660 Hey, God will choose to use the base things 20:37.660 --> 20:40.240 and the foolish things in order to get all the glory. 20:40.240 --> 20:44.300 You know, God gets more glory for defeating Goliath 20:44.300 --> 20:46.640 when it's a boy that kills Goliath. 20:46.700 --> 20:48.560 When it's a teenager, a young boy, 20:49.120 --> 20:51.040 kind of, you know, a little bit of a pretty boy 20:51.040 --> 20:52.440 by some people's description 20:52.940 --> 20:55.880 that's gonna defeat Goliath if Saul would have done it. 20:55.940 --> 20:57.580 Well, Saul's already head and shoulders 20:57.580 --> 21:00.200 above everybody else, kinda expect that, right? 21:00.620 --> 21:03.340 And so he'll use an unlikely person 21:03.340 --> 21:05.000 to fulfill the task. 21:05.140 --> 21:06.480 God doesn't always use the one 21:06.480 --> 21:08.280 that we think that he'll use. 21:09.080 --> 21:10.640 And you know, when I was growing up, 21:10.780 --> 21:13.340 there were kids in the Christian school 21:13.800 --> 21:17.100 that were kind of bad kids or troublemaker kids, right? 21:17.380 --> 21:18.540 Some of them are pastors now. 21:18.860 --> 21:21.540 I mean, this is not autobiographical, okay? 21:21.940 --> 21:24.980 But I'm saying, you know, I'm like, that guy's a pastor? 21:25.620 --> 21:27.880 I'm like, he's also among the prophets? 21:28.400 --> 21:28.840 Really? 21:29.260 --> 21:30.460 You know, I kinda had that reaction 21:30.460 --> 21:31.700 hearing about some of these guys. 21:32.080 --> 21:34.020 So I'm like, that kid was a pretty wild kid. 21:34.380 --> 21:36.280 Now he's a pastor of a church. 21:36.280 --> 21:39.260 And then other kids that were goody two shoes kind of kids. 21:39.380 --> 21:41.200 And then they're just out living like the devil. 21:41.360 --> 21:42.600 You're like, what in the world? 21:43.100 --> 21:44.260 You know, you don't really know. 21:44.600 --> 21:46.720 And God sometimes ends up using the ones 21:46.720 --> 21:48.420 that you don't think he's gonna use. 21:48.580 --> 21:49.640 Because at the end of the day, 21:49.860 --> 21:52.560 I firmly believe from the top of my head 21:52.560 --> 21:53.420 to the bottom of my foot 21:53.420 --> 21:55.460 that God is willing to use anybody. 21:56.100 --> 21:57.640 God's not a respecter of persons 21:57.640 --> 22:00.220 and God wants to use everybody, 22:00.960 --> 22:02.600 every man, woman, boy, and girl. 22:03.000 --> 22:04.700 He wants them to be spirit-filled. 22:04.700 --> 22:07.020 He wants them to win souls to Christ. 22:07.520 --> 22:09.780 And he is ready to pour out his spirit 22:09.780 --> 22:13.620 upon whomever is ready to receive. 22:15.740 --> 22:17.340 But the next point I wanna make is this, 22:17.540 --> 22:19.240 that preaching is not hereditary. 22:19.660 --> 22:20.140 Right? 22:20.280 --> 22:21.720 And what I mean by that is that 22:21.720 --> 22:25.260 preaching is not passed down from father to son. 22:25.360 --> 22:27.680 It's not like, oh, well my dad's a preacher. 22:28.280 --> 22:29.340 And so I'm a preacher. 22:29.820 --> 22:31.520 And so my son's gonna be a preacher. 22:32.020 --> 22:33.420 You know, these positions are not hereditary. 22:33.420 --> 22:35.700 Now, if you would flip over to First Samuel, chapter eight. 22:36.300 --> 22:37.580 First Samuel, chapter eight. 22:37.700 --> 22:39.160 Now, some people will point to the fact 22:40.220 --> 22:41.480 that throughout scripture, 22:41.820 --> 22:43.980 you'll find 11 mentions of the phrase 22:44.560 --> 22:46.640 the sons of the prophets, okay? 22:47.300 --> 22:50.320 So when you see this phrase, the sons of the prophets, 22:50.900 --> 22:54.460 it makes it seem like this is like a hereditary thing 22:54.460 --> 22:56.580 where it's like this guy's a prophet 22:56.580 --> 22:58.540 and then his son is gonna be a prophet. 22:58.740 --> 23:01.300 Like dad's a carpenter, so I'm a carpenter. 23:01.840 --> 23:04.440 Dad's a plumber, so I'm a plumber, that type of thing. 23:04.720 --> 23:07.540 Because you see this statement, the sons of the prophets. 23:07.660 --> 23:08.720 But what you have to understand is that 23:08.720 --> 23:11.980 just because something exists doesn't mean 23:11.980 --> 23:15.540 that that's God's plan or God's way of looking at things 23:15.540 --> 23:17.840 or that God says, the Bible is describing 23:17.840 --> 23:20.440 the reality of the world that we live in. 23:20.680 --> 23:23.340 And of course, the reality of the world that we live in 23:23.340 --> 23:27.300 is that tons of churches, the pastor's sons 23:27.300 --> 23:30.420 are just automatically gonna be groomed 23:30.420 --> 23:32.980 for that position of being the next pastor 23:32.980 --> 23:37.280 or being on staff or being the assistant pastor or whatever. 23:37.720 --> 23:39.760 Just because that is happening 23:40.220 --> 23:42.340 does not mean that it is God's plan. 23:42.500 --> 23:44.540 It's a thing that has always existed 23:44.540 --> 23:47.140 and always will exist and we can look around 23:47.140 --> 23:50.060 and see tons of examples of pastors 23:50.060 --> 23:52.860 where their son is just kind of automatically 23:53.420 --> 23:55.580 put into that position and just comes up 23:55.580 --> 23:56.700 through the ranks that way. 23:56.700 --> 23:59.300 And it's just kind of like an electrician 23:59.300 --> 24:02.160 and his son becomes an electrician and so forth. 24:02.640 --> 24:04.960 That's how a lot of people think it is. 24:05.480 --> 24:08.620 But just because something happened in the Bible 24:08.620 --> 24:11.840 doesn't mean that that is prescribed by God 24:12.310 --> 24:15.180 because if I say the Bible on this, 24:15.540 --> 24:20.180 I find one example of a man like ordaining his own sons. 24:20.900 --> 24:22.940 And it's a bad example, okay? 24:23.460 --> 24:28.380 Now look, I'm sure that there are good examples out there 24:28.380 --> 24:30.940 of a dad who's a good preacher 24:31.380 --> 24:32.760 and his son's a good preacher, 24:32.860 --> 24:34.960 maybe even a third generation keeps it going 24:34.960 --> 24:36.200 with the grandson or whatever. 24:36.520 --> 24:38.140 I guarantee you that out there, 24:38.420 --> 24:40.220 there are good examples of this. 24:40.480 --> 24:40.900 But you know what? 24:40.920 --> 24:42.480 There are also a lot of bad examples of this. 24:44.040 --> 24:50.380 Because the thing is, being a pastor is a big deal. 24:50.380 --> 24:52.020 It's a big responsibility. 24:52.640 --> 24:54.160 It's a difficult job. 24:54.420 --> 24:57.620 And it's also a job that is really only appropriate 24:57.620 --> 25:01.700 for someone who really loves the word of God 25:02.160 --> 25:04.520 and really loves the Lord Jesus Christ, 25:04.920 --> 25:05.960 really loves the ministry. 25:06.200 --> 25:08.900 Like this is the kind of job for a person 25:09.540 --> 25:12.140 who wants to just eat, breathe and sleep 25:12.140 --> 25:14.740 the word of God all day every day, right? 25:14.900 --> 25:16.320 This is the kind of person that we want 25:16.900 --> 25:17.960 preaching behind the pulpit. 25:18.080 --> 25:18.860 It's the kind of person that we want 25:18.860 --> 25:22.260 leading the church, not a politician, not a business man. 25:22.620 --> 25:25.500 We want somebody who eats, breathes 25:25.500 --> 25:26.840 and sleeps the word of God. 25:27.340 --> 25:28.620 This is what he's all about. 25:28.840 --> 25:29.920 This is what he lives for. 25:30.520 --> 25:31.340 That's what we want. 25:32.580 --> 25:33.760 And in the book of Acts, 25:34.180 --> 25:37.060 you know, when the apostles were getting tied up 25:37.060 --> 25:39.100 with just a lot of like daily administration 25:39.100 --> 25:40.880 and menial tasks, they said, 25:40.940 --> 25:42.440 hey look, this doesn't make any sense 25:42.440 --> 25:46.560 for us to leave the word of God and to serve tables. 25:47.460 --> 25:49.720 You know, we want to dedicate ourselves 25:49.720 --> 25:52.360 to the ministry of the word and prayer. 25:52.760 --> 25:55.780 We want to be full-time on the things of God. 25:55.840 --> 25:57.040 We don't want to do all those menial stuff. 25:57.240 --> 25:59.180 So then they ended up ordaining deacons 25:59.180 --> 26:01.040 to do all the kind of just everyday, 26:01.540 --> 26:05.000 daily administration stuff so that they could be freed up 26:05.760 --> 26:07.320 because that's the kind of guys 26:07.320 --> 26:08.680 that we want ministering. 26:08.780 --> 26:10.460 People who just want to eat, breathe 26:10.460 --> 26:11.560 and sleep the word of God. 26:12.120 --> 26:12.760 Well, guess what? 26:13.080 --> 26:14.720 A lot of people in church, 26:14.720 --> 26:16.020 they're good people. 26:16.340 --> 26:17.360 They're great people. 26:17.620 --> 26:18.680 They're godly people. 26:18.960 --> 26:20.680 They're good, solid Christians. 26:21.180 --> 26:22.640 They're the backbone of the church. 26:22.820 --> 26:24.420 But does that necessarily mean 26:24.420 --> 26:25.800 that they just eat, breathe, sleep 26:25.800 --> 26:27.060 the word of God all day, every day? 26:27.180 --> 26:28.320 No, right? 26:28.340 --> 26:29.840 You could have an awesome church member 26:30.480 --> 26:32.880 who, you know, he reads his Bible for 15 minutes 26:33.540 --> 26:35.460 and you know, he goes to his job 26:35.460 --> 26:38.600 and he's a good Christian, comes to church, 26:38.780 --> 26:40.920 does a little evangelism here and there, 26:41.060 --> 26:41.860 a little bit of soul winning, 26:42.360 --> 26:44.180 a little bit of Bible reading, a little bit of prayer. 26:44.180 --> 26:47.340 You know, not everybody is going to be super into it. 26:47.840 --> 26:49.500 And that's okay, right? 26:50.040 --> 26:52.740 Not everybody is just going to be super gung-ho. 26:53.000 --> 26:55.220 Obviously, we all want to be as gung-ho as possible 26:55.220 --> 26:58.100 but just the reality of the situation is 26:58.100 --> 26:59.640 that for a lot of people, 26:59.920 --> 27:02.120 this is just kind of part of their life. 27:02.440 --> 27:03.840 It's just kind of a thing that they do. 27:03.980 --> 27:06.780 They come on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. 27:07.560 --> 27:09.960 They spend 20 minutes reading the Bible. 27:10.080 --> 27:10.500 It's great. 27:11.040 --> 27:11.280 Amen. 27:11.280 --> 27:12.820 I'm not saying that they're bad people. 27:14.080 --> 27:15.160 And you know what, here's the thing. 27:15.800 --> 27:18.060 And you know, I grew up in a Christian home. 27:18.160 --> 27:19.440 My parents are great parents. 27:20.100 --> 27:21.340 I had an awesome upbringing. 27:22.040 --> 27:24.520 My parents are, you know, great Christians, 27:24.760 --> 27:27.060 took us to great churches, you know, 27:27.240 --> 27:29.140 and so I'm super privileged to have grown up 27:29.140 --> 27:29.640 in a home like that. 27:29.900 --> 27:32.380 But, you know, the reality of my upbringing is 27:32.380 --> 27:35.300 neither of my parents were super into it 27:35.860 --> 27:38.740 in the sense that they weren't super into, 27:38.740 --> 27:41.600 you know, just, they weren't like necessarily 27:41.600 --> 27:44.100 the super deep into it church members 27:44.600 --> 27:47.540 and they were not super deep into, 27:47.660 --> 27:49.240 and I'm not saying this to criticize them at all. 27:49.560 --> 27:50.880 I mean, it's just the reality of it 27:50.880 --> 27:53.580 is that they were just, they were good Christians, 27:53.880 --> 27:55.600 good church members, good parents, 27:55.680 --> 27:57.500 but they weren't that, you know, 27:57.540 --> 27:58.560 my dad wasn't the type of person 27:58.560 --> 27:59.880 that's gonna be a pastor of a church 28:00.420 --> 28:01.740 or something like that, you know. 28:01.920 --> 28:05.920 And my parents both, you know, it was part of their life 28:05.920 --> 28:08.400 and you need people like that in the church 28:08.400 --> 28:09.800 and the church is filled with people like that 28:09.800 --> 28:12.880 and maybe they're gonna raise a preacher, you know, moi, 28:14.160 --> 28:17.660 but at the end of the day, that's just the way it is. 28:17.880 --> 28:20.820 And so you can't as a pastor just assume 28:21.440 --> 28:24.180 that basically your kids are gonna be 28:24.180 --> 28:26.960 the super godly people or super into it 28:26.960 --> 28:30.760 or, you know, it's just not everybody's cut out for it. 28:31.520 --> 28:33.700 You know, everybody's got their path 28:34.140 --> 28:36.640 and everybody's got God's will for their life 28:36.640 --> 28:39.060 and it's just not God's plan or God's will 28:39.060 --> 28:41.680 for every person to be a pastor. 28:42.020 --> 28:44.000 Some people just don't have that dog in them. 28:44.900 --> 28:48.000 Even if somebody is super into the Bible, 28:48.460 --> 28:49.760 super into the word of God 28:49.760 --> 28:52.020 and just loves the Lord with all their heart, mind, 28:52.140 --> 28:54.100 soul and strength, yeah, but what if they're just 28:54.100 --> 28:56.620 not really a fighter, not really a warrior? 28:56.980 --> 28:57.560 Well, guess what? 28:57.880 --> 29:00.060 If you're a pastor, it's a battle. 29:00.240 --> 29:00.920 It's a fight. 29:01.160 --> 29:02.140 It gets bloody. 29:02.420 --> 29:03.220 It gets ugly. 29:03.580 --> 29:04.620 And you know, if you're this person 29:04.620 --> 29:06.380 who could just never say no to anyone 29:06.380 --> 29:08.060 and could never fight anyone 29:08.060 --> 29:10.440 and never wants to be mean and whatever, 29:10.640 --> 29:12.620 it's like you're not cut out for this job, period. 29:14.280 --> 29:17.140 And you could be greatly used by God in other ways. 29:17.860 --> 29:19.760 You could be great at evangelizing. 29:19.880 --> 29:21.180 You could be a great deacon. 29:21.360 --> 29:22.560 You could be a great assistant. 29:23.080 --> 29:23.580 But you know what? 29:23.620 --> 29:26.020 If you're gonna be the pastor of the church, 29:26.300 --> 29:28.580 you have to be ready to be sometimes 29:28.580 --> 29:31.320 just up to your ankles and blood 29:31.320 --> 29:33.400 and guts and gore and fighting. 29:33.400 --> 29:35.420 And you know, you think I'm wrong about that? 29:35.540 --> 29:36.220 Well, guess what? 29:36.560 --> 29:37.760 I've been pastoring for 20 years. 29:37.880 --> 29:38.780 How long you've been pastoring? 29:39.040 --> 29:40.460 That's what I thought, okay? 29:40.780 --> 29:42.340 Because people who've actually done the job 29:42.340 --> 29:43.540 know that what I'm saying is true. 29:44.040 --> 29:44.980 It's a battle. 29:45.220 --> 29:46.460 It's a spiritual battle. 29:46.920 --> 29:49.680 It's an onslaught of hell itself. 29:50.120 --> 29:51.200 It's rough at times. 29:51.300 --> 29:51.700 And you know what? 29:52.000 --> 29:53.960 You gotta have that dog in you. 29:54.800 --> 29:56.400 You know, to be able to fight 29:56.960 --> 29:58.300 and to be able to say no 29:58.300 --> 30:00.100 and to be able to stand your ground 30:00.520 --> 30:01.660 when it comes to the word of God. 30:03.020 --> 30:06.260 And so, you know, I think that we should avoid nepotism. 30:06.800 --> 30:08.180 This is a fancy word for this. 30:08.620 --> 30:11.200 Nepotism is when people get jobs and positions 30:11.200 --> 30:14.140 and ordinations just because of who their dad is. 30:14.900 --> 30:17.420 So it's like, oh, because your dad is so-and-so, 30:17.900 --> 30:19.740 yeah, you're gonna be groomed to be the pastor. 30:20.100 --> 30:21.880 You're the heir apparent, whatever. 30:22.320 --> 30:24.280 You know, every person should be treated 30:24.280 --> 30:26.360 on their own merits is all I'm saying. 30:26.840 --> 30:28.860 And I think, and look, I'm not mad 30:28.860 --> 30:30.880 if somebody disregards my sermon. 30:30.880 --> 30:32.760 One of my pastor friends, you know, 30:32.820 --> 30:34.040 ordains his son or something. 30:34.120 --> 30:34.900 That's not my problem. 30:34.980 --> 30:35.520 That's not my business. 30:35.640 --> 30:36.700 I'm not criticizing anyone. 30:36.940 --> 30:39.560 I'm just saying that if the only person 30:39.560 --> 30:41.940 that's willing to ordain your son is dad, 30:42.140 --> 30:43.340 then there's a problem. 30:44.300 --> 30:46.840 Because it's like, well, you can't find any other pastor 30:46.840 --> 30:49.040 that's willing to ordain your son. 30:49.260 --> 30:50.980 Then, you know, what's going on with that? 30:51.140 --> 30:52.520 Because here's the thing, as parents, 30:52.880 --> 30:54.420 sometimes we could be biased 30:54.420 --> 30:57.300 and not see things that everybody else can see. 30:57.300 --> 30:59.560 And so it would make more sense 30:59.560 --> 31:02.940 that you would be trained and or ordained 31:03.460 --> 31:06.620 and approved by someone other than mom and dad. 31:07.240 --> 31:08.600 You know, and when I was growing up, 31:08.640 --> 31:10.240 they'd always talk about the mama-called 31:10.240 --> 31:11.460 papa-cent preacher. 31:12.160 --> 31:14.820 You know, it's sort of like people vicariously living 31:14.820 --> 31:16.180 through their children, 31:16.600 --> 31:18.360 their dreams of going to the Olympics or something, 31:18.480 --> 31:20.600 and you know, and they're gonna make their kids train 31:20.600 --> 31:22.580 and become some figure skater or whatever. 31:22.960 --> 31:24.380 And it's kind of the same way. 31:24.520 --> 31:25.860 It's like, oh, they're gonna groom 31:25.860 --> 31:26.920 their son for the ministry. 31:26.920 --> 31:28.620 I mean, I talked to a pastor one time 31:29.020 --> 31:31.660 and his daughter, he said, 31:31.800 --> 31:33.200 I will not allow my daughter to marry 31:33.200 --> 31:34.760 any man who's not gonna be a pastor. 31:35.860 --> 31:38.160 Or at least he has to be full-time Christian service. 31:38.900 --> 31:41.040 So she can't marry an electrician, 31:41.180 --> 31:43.180 plumber, carpenter, computer programmer, 31:43.820 --> 31:47.200 doctor, lawyer, nope, she has decided 31:47.200 --> 31:48.780 she's only gonna marry a man 31:48.780 --> 31:50.500 that's going into full-time Christian service. 31:50.580 --> 31:51.700 It's just kind of like, wait a minute, 31:51.880 --> 31:53.820 you know, your teenage daughter, 31:54.100 --> 31:55.060 your college age daughter, 31:55.060 --> 31:57.620 you're just basically saying she has to marry a guy 31:57.620 --> 31:58.780 that's gonna go into the ministry. 31:59.080 --> 32:02.300 And then the teenage son, the college age son, 32:02.420 --> 32:04.240 he must go into the ministry. 32:04.600 --> 32:05.780 Here's the thing, maybe these people 32:05.780 --> 32:06.740 don't belong in the ministry. 32:09.160 --> 32:10.200 I mean, stop and think about it. 32:10.200 --> 32:12.580 Can you imagine my three oldest sons in the ministry? 32:12.740 --> 32:13.720 That'd be great, huh? 32:14.700 --> 32:15.480 Wouldn't that be wonderful? 32:17.500 --> 32:18.780 Okay, just stop and think about it. 32:19.080 --> 32:21.600 Okay, the bottom line is not everybody 32:22.120 --> 32:24.560 is cut out for this life, 32:24.560 --> 32:25.480 for this job. 32:26.080 --> 32:27.680 And here's the thing that you have to understand 32:27.680 --> 32:29.040 is that, you know, adults, 32:29.640 --> 32:32.040 they chose to come to Faith Word Baptist Church 32:32.040 --> 32:34.280 because they're super zealous, super fired up. 32:34.360 --> 32:35.420 That's why they go to this church 32:35.420 --> 32:37.840 because they could go to some weak sauce church 32:37.840 --> 32:39.220 down the street if they weren't serious 32:39.220 --> 32:40.440 about their Christian life. 32:40.780 --> 32:42.100 Most people that come to Faith Word 32:42.100 --> 32:44.140 are pretty serious about being a Christian, 32:44.240 --> 32:46.060 or they wouldn't even come to a church like this. 32:46.220 --> 32:47.640 But here's the thing, your kids, 32:48.080 --> 32:50.760 they didn't choose to come, 32:50.880 --> 32:52.860 they were just born into your family. 32:52.940 --> 32:53.800 They're just brought here 32:53.800 --> 32:56.260 and they may not be as super into it as you are. 32:56.520 --> 32:57.260 Hey, that's great. 32:57.440 --> 32:59.280 Let's just try to teach them as much as we can 32:59.280 --> 33:01.560 and hopefully they'll become the best Christians 33:01.560 --> 33:02.180 that they can be. 33:02.460 --> 33:04.000 It doesn't mean that they're necessarily cut out 33:04.000 --> 33:05.880 to be a pastor, though. 33:06.060 --> 33:08.740 So we have to be careful that nepotism does not, 33:08.820 --> 33:10.600 and I've seen this destroy churches 33:10.600 --> 33:12.520 where people get disgruntled 33:12.520 --> 33:15.000 because the pastors just putting all his kids on staff 33:15.540 --> 33:17.900 and hiring them and paying them huge salaries 33:17.900 --> 33:18.760 and stuff like that. 33:19.000 --> 33:21.120 It's a bad way of doing business. 33:22.080 --> 33:22.660 And you say, 33:22.660 --> 33:23.860 I can't believe you used the word business. 33:24.080 --> 33:24.960 Well, last time I checked, 33:25.020 --> 33:26.840 Jesus said I must be about my father's business. 33:27.320 --> 33:29.000 And the only people who don't like the word business 33:29.000 --> 33:31.360 are usually communists and hippies 33:31.360 --> 33:32.780 that don't like the word business. 33:33.380 --> 33:34.380 And by the way, 33:34.560 --> 33:36.240 I can understand why some churches are offended 33:36.240 --> 33:36.940 by the word business 33:36.940 --> 33:38.960 because they don't have any busyness 33:38.960 --> 33:40.780 because they're lazy and dead 33:40.780 --> 33:43.440 and we're actually working around here. 33:44.100 --> 33:46.440 So we call it the Lord's business. 33:46.980 --> 33:49.420 God's business is the greatest business in all the world. 33:49.900 --> 33:52.220 Look at 1 Samuel chapter eight verse one. 33:52.560 --> 33:52.940 It says, 33:53.060 --> 33:55.260 and it came to pass when Samuel was old 33:55.760 --> 33:57.840 that he made his sons judges over Israel. 33:57.920 --> 33:59.000 Now look, maybe I'm wrong, 33:59.480 --> 34:03.220 but this is the only place I could find a judge 34:03.820 --> 34:05.940 ordaining his own son to be the next judge. 34:06.040 --> 34:07.900 Because if you look at the book of Judges, 34:08.360 --> 34:10.880 the judges were in that position 34:10.880 --> 34:14.960 because they stood out as being great, powerful, 34:15.060 --> 34:17.200 men of God, warriors, fighters, whatever. 34:17.200 --> 34:20.840 They were basically put into that position 34:20.840 --> 34:23.180 because of their own merits, 34:23.640 --> 34:25.380 not because of who their dad was. 34:26.060 --> 34:27.560 And that's what you see throughout the book of Judges. 34:27.880 --> 34:29.060 This is the only example I could find 34:29.060 --> 34:31.060 of someone making his son a judge. 34:31.340 --> 34:32.780 I can't find any prophet 34:33.600 --> 34:35.240 ordaining his son to be a prophet. 34:35.760 --> 34:39.200 Now you obviously have the hereditary priesthood 34:39.200 --> 34:41.380 with Aaron and Aaron and his sons 34:41.380 --> 34:44.840 and God set that up that the priesthood was hereditary 34:44.840 --> 34:46.640 that the high priest, 34:47.020 --> 34:48.680 his son's gonna be the high priest, et cetera. 34:49.000 --> 34:51.980 You have monarchies where David is the king, 34:52.300 --> 34:53.720 his son's gonna sit on the throne, 34:54.040 --> 34:55.060 his son's gonna sit on the throne. 34:55.380 --> 34:58.440 I understand that the king and the high priest 34:58.440 --> 35:00.480 and the priesthood are hereditary positions, 35:00.900 --> 35:02.720 but I'm saying being a prophet 35:03.260 --> 35:06.980 and being a judge was not hereditary, okay? 35:07.340 --> 35:09.280 And I would say that in the New Testament, 35:09.680 --> 35:12.000 I do not believe that being a pastor, bishop, 35:12.160 --> 35:13.880 or elder is hereditary. 35:14.380 --> 35:15.860 I don't think there's any evidence of that. 35:15.940 --> 35:17.280 I think there's zero evidence for that 35:17.780 --> 35:19.980 and I think it's not the way to do it. 35:21.080 --> 35:25.000 And again, does it mean that one of my sons 35:25.540 --> 35:27.260 may not ever potentially be a pastor? 35:27.400 --> 35:29.460 I mean, perhaps one of my sons will be a pastor someday, 35:29.820 --> 35:31.940 but if one of my sons is ever a pastor someday, 35:32.340 --> 35:34.620 he would need to be ordained by someone else, 35:34.860 --> 35:38.420 in my opinion, so that someone else could evaluate him 35:38.900 --> 35:41.460 and decide, okay, he's qualified, 35:42.500 --> 35:43.660 he's a good fit for this. 35:43.660 --> 35:47.260 And that'd be great, but it shouldn't necessarily 35:47.260 --> 35:48.060 just come from dad. 35:48.520 --> 35:51.060 So Samuel, he makes his son judges over Israel. 35:51.760 --> 35:53.560 Now, the name of his firstborn was Joel 35:53.560 --> 35:55.160 and the name of his second Abaya, 35:55.600 --> 35:57.340 they were judges in Beersheba, watch this, 35:57.640 --> 35:59.460 and his sons walk not in his ways 35:59.460 --> 36:01.520 because look, your son is not necessarily 36:01.520 --> 36:02.520 gonna turn out like you. 36:03.180 --> 36:05.520 I mean, Samuel is this great man of God, 36:05.980 --> 36:06.740 awesome preacher. 36:07.060 --> 36:08.840 I mean, the Bible has so much positive 36:08.840 --> 36:12.800 to say about Samuel and what's negative about Samuel? 36:14.500 --> 36:17.020 Have fun finding negative things about Samuel. 36:17.120 --> 36:18.760 I mean, Samuel is just a great man of God, 36:19.240 --> 36:21.700 and yet his sons walk not in his ways, 36:21.820 --> 36:22.380 and what did they do? 36:22.860 --> 36:26.640 They turned aside after Luke and took bribes. 36:26.660 --> 36:27.940 These guys are in them for the money, 36:28.220 --> 36:29.900 and this is not a small sin. 36:30.620 --> 36:33.960 When you are a judge and you're taking bribes, 36:34.160 --> 36:35.840 I mean, what about in the United States of America? 36:36.140 --> 36:39.000 What if a judge was receiving bribes? 36:39.540 --> 36:42.960 He'd go to prison for decades or something, right? 36:43.360 --> 36:46.020 I mean, that would be a big, huge scandal. 36:46.440 --> 36:47.960 He'd go away for a long time 36:47.960 --> 36:50.520 because that is a very serious crime. 36:52.120 --> 36:54.720 They're stealing, they're bearing false witness, 36:55.500 --> 36:56.640 they're perverting judgment. 36:56.940 --> 36:57.960 I mean, this is super wicked. 36:58.580 --> 37:01.160 They turned aside after Luke and they took bribes, 37:01.420 --> 37:02.700 and they perverted judgment. 37:03.060 --> 37:04.860 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves 37:04.860 --> 37:06.440 together and came to Samuel and to Ramah, 37:06.640 --> 37:08.260 and said to him, behold, thou art old, 37:08.400 --> 37:10.120 and thy sons walk not in thy ways, 37:10.120 --> 37:13.940 make us a king now to judge us like all the nations. 37:14.580 --> 37:17.000 And so they end up kind of just destroying 37:17.000 --> 37:18.380 the whole judge's system 37:19.040 --> 37:21.440 because they had the judges for like 400 years, 37:21.700 --> 37:25.760 but because Samuel ordains his own sons to be judges 37:25.760 --> 37:29.360 and they're total wicked, corrupt idiots, 37:29.700 --> 37:31.200 they end up just ruining it all 37:31.860 --> 37:34.040 and they end up just getting rid of the whole system. 37:34.560 --> 37:38.600 So you can see how somebody ordaining his son 37:38.600 --> 37:40.780 that's not cut out for the job could destroy the church. 37:41.440 --> 37:43.020 And again, I'm not saying it's always bad. 37:43.380 --> 37:45.560 I'm saying that this is a bad example 37:45.560 --> 37:47.580 and I've seen in my life growing up 37:47.580 --> 37:49.320 multiple bad examples of this. 37:49.820 --> 37:51.980 And so we need to be aware is all I'm saying. 37:52.780 --> 37:55.700 You know, and again, nothing wrong with a father-son. 37:55.900 --> 37:56.940 You know, and I was thinking of a good example. 37:57.360 --> 37:59.060 You know, Curtis Hudson is a great preacher 37:59.060 --> 38:01.640 of yesteryear and his son Tony Hudson 38:02.220 --> 38:04.480 is also a Baptist pastor that seems 38:04.480 --> 38:05.380 like pretty good preacher. 38:05.540 --> 38:07.520 And so there's a father-son combo. 38:07.520 --> 38:09.320 I don't know who ordained him or whatever, 38:09.400 --> 38:11.500 but I'm not saying it has to be bad. 38:11.540 --> 38:13.860 I'm just saying that it should never be like, 38:14.120 --> 38:16.040 well, we're gonna give this guy a pass 38:16.040 --> 38:17.920 because he's so-and-so's son. 38:18.080 --> 38:20.020 It's like, no, everybody needs to be judged 38:20.020 --> 38:22.460 on their own merits or demerits. 38:23.900 --> 38:25.580 Go through it to Numbers chapter 11. 38:26.220 --> 38:27.120 Did I already tell you that? 38:27.440 --> 38:28.420 Numbers chapter 11. 38:30.680 --> 38:32.220 So we said, you know, one thing 38:32.220 --> 38:33.420 that we can learn from this question 38:33.420 --> 38:35.040 is Saul also among the prophets. 38:35.760 --> 38:37.040 Well, who's their father? 38:38.000 --> 38:40.520 You know, it's not a hereditary job. 38:41.300 --> 38:45.540 You know, it's just whoever wants to do the job 38:45.540 --> 38:47.980 and whoever loves the Lord and wants to be used by God, 38:48.320 --> 38:50.360 God can pour out his spirit and use that person. 38:50.800 --> 38:54.200 And at the end of the day, God's stamp of approval 38:54.200 --> 38:57.560 or God's mark of approval on a preacher 38:57.560 --> 39:00.480 or on a ministry is the Holy Spirit of God. 39:01.060 --> 39:04.240 You know, so if a pastor is spirit-filled 39:04.780 --> 39:06.220 and doing great things for God, 39:06.280 --> 39:08.940 then that's showing that, okay, God is using this guy. 39:09.400 --> 39:12.080 If a church is being fruitful and multiplying 39:12.560 --> 39:13.880 and reaching people with the gospel 39:13.880 --> 39:15.360 and lives are being changed, you know, 39:15.400 --> 39:18.240 that's a sign that God's hand is on that church. 39:18.560 --> 39:20.860 It's sort of like Aaron's rod that butted 39:20.860 --> 39:24.580 showed that Aaron was a legitimate man of God, 39:24.860 --> 39:26.640 that Moses was a legitimate man of God 39:26.640 --> 39:28.160 because it bore fruit. 39:28.680 --> 39:31.020 You shall know them by their fruits, the Bible says. 39:31.240 --> 39:32.580 And a lot of people try to apply that 39:32.580 --> 39:34.600 to figure out whether people are saved or not. 39:34.980 --> 39:35.920 The Bible never says, 39:36.220 --> 39:38.020 well, you can tell if someone's saved by their fruit. 39:38.620 --> 39:40.780 But that's what people say all the time, don't they? 39:41.520 --> 39:42.520 It literally says this, 39:43.020 --> 39:44.740 beware of false prophets, 39:45.180 --> 39:46.620 which come to you in sheep's clothing, 39:47.100 --> 39:48.620 but inwardly their ravening wolves, 39:49.000 --> 39:50.100 you shall know them by their fruits. 39:50.900 --> 39:52.900 What does that have to do with a salvation check 39:52.900 --> 39:53.900 on Joe Church member? 39:54.280 --> 39:55.800 That's talking about testing a preacher. 39:57.980 --> 39:59.260 False prophets, false what? 40:00.160 --> 40:01.220 Beware of false what? 40:02.040 --> 40:03.760 Prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing. 40:04.200 --> 40:04.920 What are we talking about? 40:05.040 --> 40:06.160 We're talking about preachers, 40:06.600 --> 40:08.480 prophets, we're not talking about just, 40:08.740 --> 40:10.900 oh, this average guy, he's not saved 40:10.900 --> 40:12.440 because I don't think he has enough fruit or something. 40:12.640 --> 40:15.400 You know, that's a bogus misuse of scripture 40:15.400 --> 40:16.640 because to be saved, 40:16.780 --> 40:19.640 all you have to do is believe in Jesus, you know? 40:20.160 --> 40:23.020 The evil trees that were bringing forth corrupt fruit 40:23.020 --> 40:24.580 that were gonna be hewn down and cast in the fire, 40:24.580 --> 40:26.780 the Pharisees, the Sadducees, 40:27.180 --> 40:29.520 they were the people that John the Baptist 40:29.520 --> 40:31.420 is preaching about when he talks about the fruit, 40:31.600 --> 40:32.320 bringing forth fruit. 40:32.720 --> 40:34.420 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit 40:34.420 --> 40:35.480 is hewn down and cast in the fire. 40:35.720 --> 40:38.900 He's talking about false teachers and preachers 40:38.900 --> 40:40.560 that are corrupting religion. 40:44.340 --> 40:46.060 So look at Numbers chapter 11 40:46.060 --> 40:48.160 because we see that being spirit filled 40:48.160 --> 40:49.340 and being used by God, 40:50.160 --> 40:51.960 you know, is a sign of God's hand on someone. 40:52.020 --> 40:52.500 So here's the thing, 40:53.320 --> 40:55.320 it's not our place to get in the way 40:55.820 --> 40:58.840 or try to stop a pastor that's being greatly used by God 40:58.840 --> 41:01.240 because we don't like him or we don't approve of him 41:01.240 --> 41:03.600 or we should just stay out of the way 41:03.600 --> 41:05.040 of somebody who God is using. 41:05.980 --> 41:07.700 If somebody's filled with the spirit of God 41:07.700 --> 41:08.640 and bringing forth fruit, 41:09.220 --> 41:11.320 we might just decide, well, I don't like that guy 41:11.320 --> 41:13.280 but I'm just gonna just leave him alone. 41:13.860 --> 41:17.580 Let him cook because apparently God's using him, okay? 41:18.200 --> 41:19.120 Now look what the Bible says 41:19.120 --> 41:20.620 in Numbers chapter 11 verse 16, 41:20.620 --> 41:22.040 it says in the Lord said unto Moses, 41:22.640 --> 41:25.640 gather unto me 70 men of the elders of Israel 41:26.180 --> 41:28.300 whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people 41:28.300 --> 41:29.960 and officers over them 41:29.960 --> 41:33.000 and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation 41:33.000 --> 41:35.400 that they may stand there with thee. 41:36.200 --> 41:39.620 And Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord 41:40.120 --> 41:43.040 and gathered the 70 men of the elders of the people 41:43.040 --> 41:44.900 and set them around about the tabernacle. 41:45.000 --> 41:47.360 Now notice, there's an instruction given here, 41:47.420 --> 41:48.820 it's a clear instruction that says, 41:49.340 --> 41:53.180 get these 70 guys, get them to the tabernacle, right? 41:53.860 --> 41:55.640 Round them up, bring them out there. 41:56.560 --> 41:58.340 And they told them this is the word of God, 41:58.520 --> 41:59.060 this is the plan. 41:59.700 --> 42:02.440 And the Lord came down in a cloud and spake unto him 42:02.440 --> 42:04.740 and took up the spirit that was upon him, 42:05.000 --> 42:07.140 talking about Moses has the spirit of God upon him 42:07.600 --> 42:09.160 and he gave it unto the 70 elders. 42:09.780 --> 42:11.920 And it came to pass that when the spirit rested 42:11.920 --> 42:15.520 upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. 42:15.520 --> 42:19.680 So basically God's power comes upon the 70 men 42:20.120 --> 42:22.220 who were called out by name, 42:22.480 --> 42:23.700 they come out to the tabernacle, 42:24.200 --> 42:25.620 spirit of the Lord is upon them, 42:25.820 --> 42:28.780 now they are preaching the word of God with power 42:29.780 --> 42:31.800 because the spirit of the Lord is upon them. 42:33.080 --> 42:34.660 But look at verse 26, it says, 42:35.020 --> 42:38.780 but there remained two of the men in the camp. 42:39.660 --> 42:41.120 The name of the one was Eldad, 42:41.540 --> 42:43.240 the name of the other Meadad. 42:43.240 --> 42:45.240 And the spirit rested upon them 42:45.820 --> 42:47.600 and they were of them that were written 42:48.380 --> 42:51.780 but went not out under the tabernacle. 42:52.440 --> 42:53.820 And they prophesied in the camp. 42:54.000 --> 42:56.660 Now look, were these guys really following instructions? 42:57.580 --> 42:59.020 I mean, the instruction was pretty simple. 42:59.320 --> 43:03.300 Like, hey, everybody goes out to the tabernacle, right? 43:03.820 --> 43:05.860 70 guys, here's the list. 43:06.160 --> 43:08.020 We read off all the names as they were written. 43:08.320 --> 43:10.980 So they had a written list where Moses, 43:11.380 --> 43:13.100 you know, had this written list. 43:13.520 --> 43:18.200 These are the 70 guys that are gonna help me bear the burden 43:18.200 --> 43:20.760 because Moses is trying to lead millions of people 43:20.760 --> 43:22.480 by himself, he needs help. 43:22.920 --> 43:28.020 So God is gonna also create 70 spirit-filled leaders 43:28.420 --> 43:29.840 that are gonna help preach 43:29.840 --> 43:32.300 and lead the people spiritually, okay? 43:33.200 --> 43:34.680 And so the instruction is clear. 43:35.100 --> 43:36.320 Go out to the tabernacle. 43:37.100 --> 43:38.700 We're gonna all go out to the tabernacle, 43:38.740 --> 43:39.400 but here's the thing. 43:39.400 --> 43:41.260 These guys are written on the list, 43:41.420 --> 43:43.900 their names on the list, they aren't there. 43:45.020 --> 43:47.620 It says that they remained in the camp 43:48.480 --> 43:50.620 and it says they went not out, 43:50.700 --> 43:51.920 verse 26 at the end there, 43:52.140 --> 43:53.640 they went not out of the tabernacle 43:54.060 --> 43:55.240 and they prophesied in the camp. 43:55.780 --> 43:56.340 So here's the thing. 43:56.720 --> 43:59.480 Even though these guys didn't follow the instruction 43:59.480 --> 44:00.660 and we don't really know why, 44:00.800 --> 44:04.120 I don't understand why these guys are still in the camp. 44:04.460 --> 44:06.380 Why are they not with the group? 44:06.820 --> 44:08.720 Why are there only 68 guys 44:09.080 --> 44:10.080 instead of 70? 44:10.220 --> 44:11.500 Apparently they didn't do a head count. 44:12.080 --> 44:14.440 They get there, spirit of the Lord comes upon them, 44:14.520 --> 44:16.040 they're preaching, they're filled with spirit of God. 44:16.640 --> 44:17.760 Where are these other two guys? 44:22.000 --> 44:23.980 And it says, you know, we might look at this 44:23.980 --> 44:25.260 and say like, these guys are bozos. 44:25.520 --> 44:27.680 Like why can't they just follow instructions? 44:28.200 --> 44:29.300 Why can't they show up? 44:29.600 --> 44:30.460 Why are they late? 44:30.960 --> 44:31.680 What's going on? 44:33.180 --> 44:34.220 Maybe they had a reason, 44:34.340 --> 44:36.100 maybe they didn't, we don't know the situation. 44:36.100 --> 44:38.420 All we know is that these guys are AWOL. 44:38.880 --> 44:39.720 Where are they? 44:41.160 --> 44:42.660 And it says in verse 27, 44:42.860 --> 44:44.720 there ran a young man and told Moses and said, 44:45.140 --> 44:47.300 El dad and me dad, do prophesy in the camp. 44:48.040 --> 44:50.460 The two missing guys are in the camp 44:50.460 --> 44:52.860 and they're preaching to people in the camp over there. 44:53.440 --> 44:55.540 And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, 44:55.680 --> 44:57.400 one of his young men answered and said, 44:57.760 --> 44:59.640 my Lord, Moses forbid them. 44:59.900 --> 45:01.940 He's like, look, you need to tell these guys 45:02.520 --> 45:04.120 that they need to stop preaching. 45:06.860 --> 45:08.100 Because why didn't they come? 45:08.320 --> 45:09.120 Why didn't they show up? 45:09.180 --> 45:10.500 Why aren't they here with us? 45:10.640 --> 45:11.500 Like they're supposed to. 45:11.940 --> 45:13.720 That was the word of the Lord that said, 45:14.000 --> 45:16.060 I mean, the Bible said they're supposed to be there 45:16.060 --> 45:16.820 and they're not there. 45:17.020 --> 45:17.840 What's going on? 45:21.040 --> 45:24.320 And Moses said unto him, envious thou, for my sake? 45:25.240 --> 45:27.560 He's saying, you know, like, what is your issue? 45:27.700 --> 45:29.700 Like, why are you upset if these guys 45:29.700 --> 45:33.040 are actually preaching powerful sermons 45:33.040 --> 45:33.940 from the word of God? 45:33.940 --> 45:36.980 If the Holy Spirit of God is upon them 45:36.980 --> 45:40.280 and they're preaching powerful sermons in the camp, 45:41.280 --> 45:44.080 should I envy them or think like, 45:44.220 --> 45:47.760 hey, these people are taking attention away from me? 45:48.440 --> 45:49.880 You know, who do they think they are? 45:50.000 --> 45:51.560 They're in the camp, you know, 45:51.680 --> 45:54.280 trying to get a bigger crowd, bigger audience or whatever. 45:54.520 --> 45:55.460 Like, why are they there? 45:56.340 --> 45:57.500 But he's saying, you know, like, 45:57.820 --> 45:59.560 are you envying for your own sake? 45:59.780 --> 46:01.160 Are you envying for my sake? 46:01.160 --> 46:03.300 Like, what is your problem, Joshua? 46:04.100 --> 46:07.140 Why does it bother you that they're doing this? 46:07.220 --> 46:07.900 And then he says this. 46:08.040 --> 46:11.140 He says, would God that all the Lord's people were prophets? 46:12.840 --> 46:15.300 And that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. 46:15.900 --> 46:17.640 And Moses got him up into the camp. 46:18.000 --> 46:18.800 He and the elders of Israel. 46:19.100 --> 46:21.160 So they're all eventually coming into the camp anyway. 46:21.380 --> 46:22.860 These two guys though, you know, 46:22.900 --> 46:25.380 they didn't show up when they were supposed to show up, 46:25.600 --> 46:29.300 but apparently God still felt 46:29.740 --> 46:31.440 that these guys should still be leaders 46:31.440 --> 46:33.760 and that they should still be filled with the spirit of God. 46:33.960 --> 46:36.180 Even though, seemingly outwardly, 46:36.220 --> 46:38.880 they seem like they disobeyed a pretty clear directive 46:38.880 --> 46:39.700 from the word of God. 46:40.660 --> 46:42.140 So here's the thing, don't you think 46:42.140 --> 46:45.580 that it's possible for us to maybe look at a person 46:45.580 --> 46:48.140 or a church, a preacher, a pastor, 46:48.320 --> 46:50.120 and look at him and say, well, hold up, 46:50.360 --> 46:53.700 this guy is, you know, a little different than us. 46:53.960 --> 46:55.100 He's not in our group. 46:55.800 --> 46:57.360 He's, you know, his church name 46:57.360 --> 46:58.800 is different than our church name. 46:58.800 --> 47:01.460 He doesn't call himself Baptist or, you know, 47:01.800 --> 47:05.500 he's off on this doctrine or he's off on that doctrine. 47:05.680 --> 47:07.380 And I mean, that doctrine is clear in the Bible 47:07.380 --> 47:09.040 and he's just doing something different. 47:09.500 --> 47:10.160 But here's the thing. 47:10.780 --> 47:14.760 If the man is filled with the spirit of God 47:15.200 --> 47:16.540 and bringing forth fruit, 47:17.120 --> 47:20.280 forbid him not, leave him alone. 47:21.480 --> 47:23.620 Doesn't necessarily mean that you're his buddy. 47:24.080 --> 47:25.940 You don't necessarily have to hang out with him. 47:26.180 --> 47:27.940 You don't have to be tight with him. 47:27.940 --> 47:31.380 You don't have to, you know, recommend his church or whatever. 47:31.700 --> 47:32.180 But here's the thing. 47:32.380 --> 47:36.220 If the man is preaching spirit filled sermons 47:36.220 --> 47:37.920 and it's evident that God's hand, 47:38.000 --> 47:40.300 and I'm not talking about these dead lame, 47:40.500 --> 47:44.980 washed up losers who run their churches into the ground 47:45.480 --> 47:47.240 and all they can do is babysit people 47:47.240 --> 47:48.240 that other people reached 47:48.240 --> 47:50.900 and then just run it into the ground slowly over time. 47:51.160 --> 47:53.220 I'm talking about somebody who's out there 47:53.220 --> 47:55.080 doing great works for God 47:55.840 --> 47:58.760 who cares if they're not exactly like us? 47:58.900 --> 48:01.740 Who cares if they don't cross the T and dot the I? 48:02.040 --> 48:04.280 Even if you say, well, they're wrong on this. 48:04.980 --> 48:06.740 What they're doing is against the Bible 48:06.740 --> 48:07.980 in this area or that area. 48:08.260 --> 48:08.640 Here's the thing. 48:08.780 --> 48:09.700 It's not our problem. 48:11.480 --> 48:14.980 Like I will never understand fighting 48:15.460 --> 48:17.860 and trying to stop a ministry 48:18.500 --> 48:21.440 that is effectively winning souls 48:21.440 --> 48:22.800 and preaching great sermons. 48:22.800 --> 48:24.280 It just, it makes no sense. 48:24.320 --> 48:25.120 It's bizarre to me. 48:26.540 --> 48:28.420 You know what's even more bizarre 48:28.420 --> 48:30.880 is when you'll see someone attacking the person 48:30.880 --> 48:31.880 who got them saved. 48:32.680 --> 48:35.220 And you know, when you're attacking the person 48:35.220 --> 48:38.320 who got you saved, fighting the person who got you saved, 48:38.580 --> 48:40.100 trying to destroy the ministry 48:40.100 --> 48:41.140 of the person that got you saved. 48:41.420 --> 48:43.300 You know, this is exactly like the child 48:43.300 --> 48:45.340 who is smiting his father or mother 48:46.620 --> 48:48.760 because that's your spiritual parent 48:48.760 --> 48:50.720 that begats you in the gospel. 48:50.720 --> 48:53.040 Like Paul said, Onesimus, 48:53.040 --> 48:54.560 whom I've begotten in my bonds, 48:54.860 --> 48:56.820 he said, Timothy is my own son in the faith. 48:57.300 --> 48:58.480 Titus is my son in the faith. 48:58.840 --> 49:00.860 You know, if someone begat you in the gospel, 49:01.200 --> 49:03.240 the person who actually won you to Christ, 49:04.580 --> 49:06.560 I mean, apparently God has used that person 49:07.860 --> 49:09.300 because they got you saved. 49:10.480 --> 49:13.680 You know, and to imagine smiting that person 49:13.680 --> 49:15.340 and trying to fight that person, 49:15.460 --> 49:16.140 trying to destroy that person, 49:16.220 --> 49:18.600 you know what, it's the same type of person 49:19.140 --> 49:21.300 that would physically assault their mother and father, 49:22.200 --> 49:24.360 murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers. 49:24.600 --> 49:26.500 It's the kind of person that would be like Ham 49:27.120 --> 49:28.340 where they'll go out of the tent 49:28.340 --> 49:31.420 and tell everybody about Noah's nakedness, right? 49:31.640 --> 49:32.800 Genesis chapter nine, anyone? 49:33.440 --> 49:36.260 You know, it's that Ham mentality. 49:36.760 --> 49:38.480 They would curse father and mother, 49:38.920 --> 49:40.600 smite father, that's the same type of mentality 49:41.260 --> 49:43.360 that's going to smite and curse 49:43.360 --> 49:44.980 the person who got you saved. 49:44.980 --> 49:48.340 What kind of an ungrateful fool are you? 49:48.760 --> 49:50.360 But here's the thing, I'm just saying this, 49:50.640 --> 49:55.940 look, my enemy is not some spirit-filled, fired up guy 49:55.940 --> 49:58.420 who's wrong on this doctrine or that doctrine or whatever 49:58.420 --> 49:59.640 because it's just not my problem. 50:00.760 --> 50:03.320 And look, people don't have to be in our group 50:03.320 --> 50:04.500 to be doing great things for God. 50:05.280 --> 50:07.740 I mean, there are great pastors all over America 50:08.300 --> 50:09.840 that we never hang around with, 50:10.060 --> 50:12.760 we never fellowship with, we're not their friends, 50:12.820 --> 50:14.340 but they're doing great works for God 50:14.340 --> 50:15.680 in their own way, they're winning souls, 50:15.860 --> 50:17.460 they're preaching great sermons, you know, it's just, 50:17.960 --> 50:21.520 look, leave people alone if their spirit filled, 50:21.660 --> 50:23.900 if the evidence of the spirit of God 50:23.900 --> 50:25.640 is upon their preaching. 50:27.480 --> 50:29.880 And look, if it's an awesome sermon 50:29.880 --> 50:32.420 and people are getting saved and people are responding, 50:32.740 --> 50:35.140 yeah, that's the spirit of God at work, you know? 50:35.480 --> 50:36.080 It's that simple. 50:38.120 --> 50:41.540 Forbid them not, don't envy them, don't forbid them. 50:41.540 --> 50:45.020 And you say, well, I know that he's wrong here. 50:45.580 --> 50:47.840 Well, I know that these guys are in the wrong place 50:47.840 --> 50:49.900 because God told them to go to the tabernacle 50:49.900 --> 50:51.140 and they didn't go there. 50:52.380 --> 50:54.920 So, me, dad, and L, dad are definitely disobeying 50:54.920 --> 50:56.540 the word of God here, but apparently, 50:56.780 --> 50:59.100 God has decided to continue using them 50:59.520 --> 51:02.120 because other times that people disobey God's word, 51:02.220 --> 51:03.000 what does he do sometimes? 51:03.980 --> 51:05.760 Sometimes he'll just smoke people, like, right, 51:05.900 --> 51:07.880 like, how about Nadab and Abihu? 51:08.780 --> 51:12.440 They offered strange fire unto the Lord in Leviticus 10 51:12.440 --> 51:13.980 and they both just fall over dead. 51:14.340 --> 51:16.200 You know, Uzzah puts forth his hand, 51:16.360 --> 51:19.060 touches the Ark of the Covenant and just falls over dead. 51:20.400 --> 51:22.340 Well, nothing happened to these guys. 51:22.760 --> 51:24.040 They didn't fall over dead. 51:24.520 --> 51:25.420 They're still preaching. 51:25.840 --> 51:26.980 They're preaching great sermons. 51:27.120 --> 51:28.320 They're clearly filled with spirit of God. 51:28.380 --> 51:30.340 So Moses is just like, whatever. 51:32.380 --> 51:34.060 And maybe there's something that we don't know. 51:34.140 --> 51:35.560 Maybe there's a reason why they're in the camp. 51:35.700 --> 51:37.280 Maybe they were providentially hindered. 51:39.000 --> 51:40.180 Maybe they disobeyed. 51:40.560 --> 51:41.260 Maybe they obeyed. 51:41.500 --> 51:42.920 The point is we don't have all the information. 51:43.620 --> 51:44.120 And you know what? 51:44.180 --> 51:45.700 You don't have all the information necessarily 51:46.400 --> 51:49.060 about some pastor or some church or some ministry 51:49.060 --> 51:51.140 that you just wanna trash them 51:51.140 --> 51:52.680 because they're not in your group. 51:52.960 --> 51:53.400 And you know what? 51:53.500 --> 51:54.920 You see this kind of stupidity 51:54.920 --> 51:56.000 and hypocrisy all the time. 51:56.380 --> 51:58.880 Like, you know, just we've been talking about it 51:58.880 --> 52:00.720 because it was a big thing that went viral 52:00.720 --> 52:02.160 and got millions and millions of views. 52:02.460 --> 52:04.440 But you know, it's like Pastor Shelley 52:04.960 --> 52:07.200 smashed a Catholic idol. 52:09.040 --> 52:09.980 So what? 52:10.240 --> 52:10.300 Amen. 52:10.740 --> 52:11.620 Like all allow it? 52:12.120 --> 52:13.100 Smash them all. 52:13.840 --> 52:16.100 I mean, there's like dozens of Bible verses 52:17.020 --> 52:19.720 telling you, smash every idol, break every image. 52:19.880 --> 52:21.140 Pastor Shelley breaks an idol 52:21.140 --> 52:26.740 and some old IFP pastor is just criticizing him, 52:27.620 --> 52:31.240 judging him, super prideful and arrogant 52:31.240 --> 52:33.240 about the way he's judging and criticizing him. 52:33.240 --> 52:37.520 And it's like, bro, this man took over a church 52:37.520 --> 52:40.120 that was messed up and had all these problems, 52:40.600 --> 52:43.680 fixed all the problems, doubled the size of the church 52:43.680 --> 52:46.000 and has gotten tens and the church has gotten 52:46.000 --> 52:48.900 tens of thousands of people saved through missions 52:48.900 --> 52:49.580 and all this stuff. 52:49.700 --> 52:52.060 And it's just like, yeah, let's just attack bro. 52:52.220 --> 52:53.520 But here's the irony of it 52:53.520 --> 52:55.560 is that a guy in their movement, 52:56.060 --> 52:57.520 a guy that's in their circles, 52:57.920 --> 53:00.240 a guy that just preached at the Bible college 53:00.240 --> 53:03.340 that he came out of did the exact same thing. 53:04.040 --> 53:07.080 And he brought actually a life size Mary statue. 53:08.080 --> 53:10.620 Like, you know, I mean, Pastor Shelley smashed one 53:10.620 --> 53:11.540 that was like this big. 53:11.940 --> 53:14.520 I mean, this guy had a human life size Mary statue 53:14.520 --> 53:17.500 and the guy was like a 75 year old man 53:17.500 --> 53:19.800 and he has a big giant axe 53:20.260 --> 53:22.440 and he's just swinging an axe 53:22.440 --> 53:25.240 and just beating this Mary idol in Mexico. 53:26.520 --> 53:29.520 I mean, this guy is doing it in a Mexico. 53:30.360 --> 53:32.680 They're fake Virgin de Guadalupe, 53:32.900 --> 53:34.380 American Indian looking Mary 53:34.820 --> 53:36.720 and he's smashing it. 53:37.460 --> 53:39.040 And it's like, that's fine 53:39.620 --> 53:40.920 cause he's in our camp. 53:41.840 --> 53:44.420 But oh, this guy that's in the other camp, 53:44.900 --> 53:48.160 he can't do it without us criticizing and envying 53:48.160 --> 53:49.100 and what do you see what I mean? 53:49.640 --> 53:54.660 And so it's like, Jesus said that one of his apostles 53:54.660 --> 53:55.260 came to him and said, 53:55.300 --> 53:57.260 well, we saw this man casting out devils 53:58.920 --> 54:02.620 in your name, but he doesn't follow with us. 54:03.300 --> 54:05.500 And Jesus said, forbid him not. 54:06.700 --> 54:09.340 If he's out doing a spirit filled work 54:09.340 --> 54:10.880 in the name of Jesus Christ, 54:11.300 --> 54:13.960 even if he's not in our group, so what? 54:14.840 --> 54:17.620 And he said, if he's not against us, he's for us. 54:20.280 --> 54:24.300 And so it's really sad when people can't understand 54:24.900 --> 54:28.720 that a spirit filled powerful church ministry, 54:28.760 --> 54:31.200 pastor, whatever should be allowed to continue. 54:31.300 --> 54:34.240 I mean, like if there was someone that I just super disliked, 54:34.240 --> 54:36.280 but I knew they were getting tons of people saved, 54:36.420 --> 54:39.760 I'd just be like, let this guy get people saved. 54:39.860 --> 54:40.900 Cause I just want people, 54:41.020 --> 54:42.120 I just don't want people to go to hell. 54:42.700 --> 54:44.940 You know, I think that's kind of obvious, isn't it? 54:45.520 --> 54:46.740 I gotta hurry, I'm out of time, 54:46.740 --> 54:48.640 but go to first Samuel chapter 19. 54:49.920 --> 54:51.620 I gotta skip some stuff for take a time. 54:51.720 --> 54:54.980 For a sake of time, I was gonna go to Acts chapter two 54:55.540 --> 54:57.320 and show you where it says, 54:57.560 --> 54:59.360 I'll pour out my spirit upon all flesh. 54:59.500 --> 55:00.560 Because remember Moses said, 55:00.860 --> 55:02.980 hey, would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, 55:03.460 --> 55:04.480 that spirit of Lord would come upon them. 55:04.700 --> 55:05.900 In Acts chapter two, he says, 55:06.000 --> 55:07.560 I'll pour out my spirit upon all flesh. 55:07.820 --> 55:10.780 And he says, the servants and upon the handmaidens, 55:11.140 --> 55:13.060 even female, he says, male and female, 55:13.800 --> 55:15.280 I'll pour out my spirit upon all flesh 55:15.280 --> 55:16.040 and they will prophesy. 55:16.040 --> 55:18.920 Now, obviously the Bible clearly prohibits women 55:19.360 --> 55:21.660 from pastoring or preaching in the church. 55:21.800 --> 55:23.040 They're supposed to learn in silence, 55:23.400 --> 55:26.520 but out evangelizing, outsolding women 55:26.520 --> 55:27.780 can be greatly used by God. 55:28.100 --> 55:29.480 I've done whole sermons on that. 55:29.780 --> 55:31.240 The Bible talks a lot about that. 55:31.480 --> 55:32.680 Acts chapter two, he says, 55:32.740 --> 55:34.820 he'll pour out his spirit upon the women. 55:35.380 --> 55:36.700 And when we have these missions trips, 55:37.160 --> 55:39.860 it's men and women getting multitudes of people saved, 55:40.200 --> 55:41.680 preaching the gospel to every creature. 55:42.000 --> 55:43.500 So this is not a sermon just for men. 55:44.060 --> 55:45.660 Obviously the office of the bishop, 55:46.000 --> 55:48.400 preaching in the church is just for men. 55:48.620 --> 55:50.920 But when it comes to soul winning, evangelizing, 55:51.380 --> 55:52.660 it's for man, woman, boy and girl. 55:54.300 --> 55:56.860 The last point I wanna show you here 55:56.860 --> 56:00.680 is in 1 Samuel chapter 19, verse 19. 56:01.060 --> 56:04.100 And I gotta hurry, but it says in verse 20, 56:04.340 --> 56:05.980 Saul sent messengers to take David. 56:06.060 --> 56:09.040 This is when Saul is hunting David way later in his life. 56:09.300 --> 56:12.180 So in chapter 10, he's spirit filled, preaching, 56:12.640 --> 56:14.200 and he's a great man of God. 56:14.800 --> 56:17.060 He's spirit filled, preaching a great sermon. 56:17.500 --> 56:18.780 Is Saul also among the prophets? 56:18.920 --> 56:21.620 That's the positive side in chapter 10. 56:21.700 --> 56:23.240 Now we're fast forwarding to chapter 19. 56:24.260 --> 56:26.360 And this is a dark time in Saul's life 56:26.360 --> 56:28.320 where Saul is not right with God. 56:28.800 --> 56:30.540 The spirit of the Lord is departed from him. 56:30.840 --> 56:31.960 He's disobedient. 56:32.260 --> 56:35.480 He's persecuting the right man of God, which is David. 56:36.820 --> 56:38.920 So Saul sent messengers to take David. 56:39.180 --> 56:40.940 And when they saw the company of the prophets 56:40.940 --> 56:43.940 prophesying and Samuel standing as appointed over them, 56:44.360 --> 56:47.060 the spirit of the Lord was upon the messengers of Saul 56:47.060 --> 56:48.460 and they also prophesied, right? 56:48.860 --> 56:50.780 So they're having like a men's preaching class, 56:50.960 --> 56:54.200 a preaching night where Samuel is the emcee 56:54.200 --> 56:56.900 and he's having these young guys get up and preach 56:57.460 --> 56:58.280 and they're all preaching. 56:58.600 --> 57:01.020 And then basically the messengers that Saul sends, 57:01.320 --> 57:02.720 they get so fired up. 57:02.940 --> 57:05.300 They get so inspired by the preaching that they're hearing. 57:05.440 --> 57:06.920 And the spirit of the Lord comes upon them 57:06.920 --> 57:08.620 that they actually start to participate 57:09.320 --> 57:10.320 in the preaching class. 57:10.320 --> 57:12.940 And then they get up and they also prophesy. 57:14.780 --> 57:16.660 And when it was told to Saul, 57:16.860 --> 57:18.400 he sent other messengers verse 21 57:18.400 --> 57:19.560 and they prophesied likewise. 57:21.160 --> 57:23.240 And Saul sent messengers again the third time 57:23.240 --> 57:24.020 and they prophesied also. 57:24.340 --> 57:26.080 I mean, hey, we wanna be the kind of church 57:26.080 --> 57:27.560 where anybody who comes here, 57:27.740 --> 57:29.740 it's like you just end up evangelizing. 57:30.200 --> 57:31.340 You end up soul winning. 57:31.660 --> 57:33.220 You end up preaching the word of God. 57:33.580 --> 57:37.440 You can't help but be sent out to be a fisher of men. 57:38.740 --> 57:41.040 You can't help but be filled with the spirit of God. 57:41.620 --> 57:43.880 I mean, look, when the Bible talks about an ax, 57:44.160 --> 57:45.120 they're all assembled together 57:45.120 --> 57:46.680 and they're all filled with the Holy Spirit. 57:47.080 --> 57:48.980 There's probably varying levels of spirituality, 57:49.080 --> 57:50.840 but if you're in the right place at the right time, 57:51.300 --> 57:52.260 you're gonna be spirit filled. 57:53.940 --> 57:55.760 You go to a church like ours, 57:56.180 --> 57:57.840 then it's gonna rub off on you. 57:58.880 --> 58:00.900 Okay, is what the Bible teaches repeatedly. 58:03.000 --> 58:04.520 And so then finally, 58:04.900 --> 58:06.280 he's already sent messengers three times. 58:06.280 --> 58:07.780 Finally, he's like, I gotta go do this myself. 58:08.860 --> 58:11.100 So then it says that he went there 58:11.580 --> 58:12.640 and it says in verse 23, 58:12.760 --> 58:14.380 he went nither to Neoth and Ramah 58:14.380 --> 58:16.560 and the spirit of God came upon him also 58:16.560 --> 58:18.540 and he went on and prophesied 58:18.540 --> 58:20.280 until he came to Neoth and Ramah 58:20.280 --> 58:22.840 and he stripped off his clothes also. 58:22.960 --> 58:24.700 This might seem strange at first. 58:24.900 --> 58:26.980 Like why is Bro just getting naked, you know? 58:27.820 --> 58:29.120 He stripped off his clothes also 58:29.120 --> 58:31.180 and prophesied before Samuel in like manner 58:31.660 --> 58:34.480 and laid down naked all that day and all that night. 58:34.480 --> 58:35.680 Wherefore they say, 58:35.920 --> 58:37.640 is Saul also among the prophets? 58:38.260 --> 58:40.560 Now, it was already out of character. 58:41.160 --> 58:43.920 Nobody who grew up around Saul in chapter 10 58:43.920 --> 58:45.560 thought this guy's gonna grow up and be a preacher. 58:46.640 --> 58:48.260 This guy's super into the things of God. 58:48.540 --> 58:50.440 This guy eats, breathes, sleeps, the Bible. 58:51.660 --> 58:54.380 But he ended up actually preaching 58:54.380 --> 58:55.600 and being filled with the spirit 58:55.600 --> 58:57.540 and being a great man in the short term. 58:58.000 --> 58:59.580 Later he goes down a dark path 58:59.580 --> 59:01.400 and now it's even more unexpected 59:01.920 --> 59:03.280 because he's super backslidden, 59:03.280 --> 59:04.780 super not right with God 59:05.300 --> 59:07.040 and the Spirit of the Lord has departed from him 59:07.040 --> 59:09.020 but now all of a sudden he just gets up 59:09.020 --> 59:10.840 and just the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him 59:10.840 --> 59:12.620 and he's preaching a powerful spirit filled sermon. 59:13.320 --> 59:14.360 Say, where is this coming from? 59:15.120 --> 59:16.540 Now, the stripping down, 59:17.040 --> 59:19.800 I think is symbolic of the fact that he's showing up, 59:19.880 --> 59:22.420 he's probably showing up in some kind of a royal apparel. 59:22.660 --> 59:23.580 You know, he's probably showing up 59:23.580 --> 59:26.060 in some kind of a special king outfit 59:26.640 --> 59:29.700 or maybe he's showing up in like armor and gear 59:30.120 --> 59:31.340 and whatever for fighting. 59:31.340 --> 59:32.620 That's the kind of stuff that Saul, 59:32.840 --> 59:33.700 as the king of Israel, 59:33.860 --> 59:35.760 he's either wearing some super royal garment 59:36.220 --> 59:38.860 or he's wearing some kind of a armor or something like that. 59:39.120 --> 59:41.740 And so I don't know that the Bible is necessarily saying 59:41.740 --> 59:46.140 that he's stripped down like utterly completely nude. 59:46.920 --> 59:48.360 You know, it's possible 59:48.360 --> 59:50.200 that he's just down to his underwear or something 59:50.200 --> 59:53.000 because of the fact that he's humbling himself 59:53.000 --> 59:56.020 and it's like, I'm not here as a king, 59:56.200 --> 59:58.300 I'm not here to arrest David. 59:59.060 --> 01:00:01.060 He's just like being one of the guys 01:00:01.750 --> 01:00:04.060 and basically stripping all that apparel 01:00:04.510 --> 01:00:07.240 and preaching from a place of humility. 01:00:07.440 --> 01:00:09.980 It's like Saul is having a moment of clarity 01:00:10.530 --> 01:00:12.300 as alcoholics will talk about, right? 01:00:14.000 --> 01:00:16.140 Saul has a moment of clarity here. 01:00:16.380 --> 01:00:19.100 He has a moment of humility here, right? 01:00:19.300 --> 01:00:20.640 Because he's in a dark place 01:00:21.090 --> 01:00:24.780 and he ends up preaching a spirit filled sermon. 01:00:25.200 --> 01:00:27.400 And God is basically using this to give David 01:00:27.400 --> 01:00:28.340 a chance to escape. 01:00:28.760 --> 01:00:29.860 Everybody's getting tied up 01:00:29.860 --> 01:00:32.820 at this awesome preaching revival service 01:00:33.580 --> 01:00:35.200 impromptu red-hot preaching conference 01:00:35.200 --> 01:00:37.800 that goes just day and night for 24 hours 01:00:38.420 --> 01:00:41.700 and then David just gets away, you know, is the idea. 01:00:42.540 --> 01:00:44.380 But what can we learn from this last, 01:00:44.580 --> 01:00:46.080 because this is kind of a weird passage, 01:00:46.240 --> 01:00:46.880 kind of a weird example. 01:00:47.340 --> 01:00:49.180 I think that what we can learn from this last part 01:00:49.660 --> 01:00:53.120 is that even an ungodly or a backslidden preacher 01:00:53.620 --> 01:00:55.280 can rarely or on occasion 01:00:55.280 --> 01:00:56.720 preach a spirit filled sermon. 01:00:59.000 --> 01:01:00.480 You know, I think that the guy 01:01:00.480 --> 01:01:02.760 who's consistently preaching spirit filled sermons, 01:01:03.100 --> 01:01:04.680 you know, that's where you want to go to church. 01:01:04.900 --> 01:01:06.300 That's the guy you want to listen to 01:01:06.300 --> 01:01:08.140 and download the sermons and so forth. 01:01:08.440 --> 01:01:11.920 But I think that even Balaam, you know, 01:01:12.060 --> 01:01:14.360 was able to preach the word of God. 01:01:15.240 --> 01:01:17.300 Even though he's an ungodly false prophet. 01:01:17.360 --> 01:01:19.520 Even the high priests, Annas and Caiaphas, 01:01:19.620 --> 01:01:21.200 you know, spake by the Holy Ghost. 01:01:22.400 --> 01:01:23.880 You know, once in a blue moon. 01:01:24.080 --> 01:01:25.940 And this is kind of like the broken clock 01:01:26.520 --> 01:01:28.260 being right twice per day. 01:01:28.880 --> 01:01:30.740 You know, every once in a while, 01:01:31.180 --> 01:01:34.740 even a guy who's a washed up sorry has been, 01:01:35.600 --> 01:01:37.460 like Saul was at this time, unfortunately, 01:01:37.820 --> 01:01:40.600 could still get up and preach a spirit of God 01:01:40.600 --> 01:01:43.480 filled sermon in the right place at the right time 01:01:43.480 --> 01:01:45.820 in the right environment, have that moment of clarity. 01:01:46.040 --> 01:01:48.280 Doesn't necessarily mean that we want to follow him 01:01:48.280 --> 01:01:50.800 or that we, you know, want to be his best buddy 01:01:51.200 --> 01:01:53.760 cause he's a dangerous guy that's usually trying to kill you. 01:01:54.860 --> 01:01:55.800 But you know what? 01:01:55.980 --> 01:01:57.720 At this point, he's having a moment of clarity. 01:01:58.180 --> 01:01:59.120 You know, I want to get in. 01:01:59.280 --> 01:02:01.080 I just want to be in that kind of church 01:02:01.660 --> 01:02:03.280 where everybody wants to preach. 01:02:03.700 --> 01:02:05.300 Everybody wants to go soul winning. 01:02:06.040 --> 01:02:07.840 Everybody's excited about the things of God. 01:02:08.800 --> 01:02:11.060 Everybody's pumped up and spirit filled. 01:02:11.280 --> 01:02:12.800 I mean, it will rub off on you. 01:02:13.240 --> 01:02:17.600 Even Saul at the darkest point in his life, 01:02:17.600 --> 01:02:19.740 when he shows up here, it's like, 01:02:19.820 --> 01:02:21.080 even he gets caught up in it. 01:02:21.340 --> 01:02:22.180 That's pretty awesome. 01:02:22.460 --> 01:02:24.060 That's pretty, it shows you how powerful 01:02:24.060 --> 01:02:25.040 the spirit of God is 01:02:26.340 --> 01:02:28.760 and how powerful good preaching can be, 01:02:29.260 --> 01:02:30.760 the impact that it can have. 01:02:31.160 --> 01:02:33.260 And so all that to say this, 01:02:33.720 --> 01:02:35.340 is Saul also among the prophets? 01:02:36.120 --> 01:02:37.380 Well, who's their father, right? 01:02:38.040 --> 01:02:39.320 The whole sermon is about this. 01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.280 Any of us, any of us can become spirit filled. 01:02:44.920 --> 01:02:46.620 We can do great things for God. 01:02:46.620 --> 01:02:48.660 We can be greatly used by God. 01:02:48.820 --> 01:02:50.820 If we will yield ourself to him, 01:02:51.080 --> 01:02:53.080 if we will study the word of God 01:02:53.080 --> 01:02:55.340 and pray and read our Bibles and go to church, 01:02:55.520 --> 01:02:57.540 you know, God can greatly use anybody. 01:02:57.640 --> 01:02:59.820 He's not looking for a special person 01:02:59.820 --> 01:03:01.220 from a special family, right? 01:03:01.660 --> 01:03:03.380 Anybody can be greatly used by God. 01:03:03.920 --> 01:03:05.140 And here's the thing, 01:03:05.400 --> 01:03:08.920 if we see someone else who is spirit filled 01:03:08.920 --> 01:03:10.260 and being greatly used by God, 01:03:10.460 --> 01:03:11.340 even if there's something 01:03:11.340 --> 01:03:12.900 that we don't like about that person, 01:03:13.380 --> 01:03:15.820 even if we don't agree with that person, 01:03:15.820 --> 01:03:18.500 even if we know for a fact that the person 01:03:18.900 --> 01:03:22.660 is going against the word of God in some side issue. 01:03:23.860 --> 01:03:27.700 Like, we're not talking about false doctrine or heresy 01:03:28.280 --> 01:03:30.520 that affects salvation or, you know, 01:03:30.580 --> 01:03:32.420 we're talking about a site like, 01:03:32.500 --> 01:03:33.820 hey, he's supposed to be at the Tabernacle 01:03:33.820 --> 01:03:36.780 and he's over here or whatever, you know, 01:03:36.900 --> 01:03:41.400 stuff like, it's just like, let those people go. 01:03:42.340 --> 01:03:43.360 Let them do the work, just, 01:03:43.520 --> 01:03:44.800 and if you don't like them, avoid them. 01:03:44.800 --> 01:03:45.480 Stay away from them. 01:03:45.680 --> 01:03:47.080 Don't feel like you have to forbid them 01:03:47.080 --> 01:03:48.440 or fight them or stop them. 01:03:48.840 --> 01:03:49.160 And you know what? 01:03:49.220 --> 01:03:50.160 Here's the thing, you know, 01:03:50.300 --> 01:03:53.120 all of the evil slanderers 01:03:53.120 --> 01:03:55.100 and people who've been bearing false witness 01:03:55.100 --> 01:03:57.780 and fighting me and trashing me for the last two years, 01:03:58.400 --> 01:03:58.740 you know what? 01:03:58.880 --> 01:04:01.600 If I saw any of them preaching awesome sermons, 01:04:02.100 --> 01:04:04.320 you know, just being in the news 01:04:04.320 --> 01:04:05.820 for preaching just, you know, 01:04:05.880 --> 01:04:07.560 hell raising awesome sermons 01:04:07.560 --> 01:04:09.280 and going viral on social media 01:04:09.280 --> 01:04:11.480 and just preaching killer sermons. 01:04:11.720 --> 01:04:13.780 Or if I saw their churches booming 01:04:13.780 --> 01:04:16.900 and growing and thriving and people being saved 01:04:16.900 --> 01:04:18.740 and you know what, here's the thing. 01:04:19.040 --> 01:04:20.040 I would say, well, you know what? 01:04:20.100 --> 01:04:22.200 Even though this person has done evil unto me, 01:04:22.840 --> 01:04:24.360 you know, I would just say like, 01:04:24.600 --> 01:04:26.580 hey, we should never say anything negative 01:04:26.580 --> 01:04:27.700 about this guy again 01:04:28.200 --> 01:04:30.740 because look at how he's being greatly used by God. 01:04:31.620 --> 01:04:34.020 You know, apparently God thinks this guy's fine. 01:04:34.800 --> 01:04:37.380 So we should just back off from this guy. 01:04:38.740 --> 01:04:41.300 You know, but I haven't seen that. 01:04:42.080 --> 01:04:45.320 You know, and if it's out there, I'd love to see it. 01:04:45.420 --> 01:04:46.460 I'd love to be proven wrong 01:04:46.460 --> 01:04:49.120 and see how people, you know, 01:04:49.200 --> 01:04:51.940 after they became slanderers 01:04:51.940 --> 01:04:53.700 and became enemies of our church 01:04:53.700 --> 01:04:55.880 that they started to do better works for God, 01:04:56.160 --> 01:04:58.800 preach better sermons, right? 01:04:59.220 --> 01:05:00.680 I would love to see that. 01:05:01.100 --> 01:05:03.160 And their churches are booming 01:05:03.880 --> 01:05:07.040 and they're doing all these awesome missions trips 01:05:07.040 --> 01:05:08.380 and just getting multitude saved. 01:05:08.720 --> 01:05:10.420 You know, I haven't seen it. 01:05:10.420 --> 01:05:11.840 I've seen them all go downhill. 01:05:12.180 --> 01:05:13.040 That's what I'm observing. 01:05:13.420 --> 01:05:14.920 Maybe I'm wrong about, you know, 01:05:15.020 --> 01:05:16.500 the exception that might prove the rule. 01:05:17.260 --> 01:05:18.420 But at the end of the day, 01:05:18.620 --> 01:05:21.480 if we ever see God's hand on anyone, 01:05:22.040 --> 01:05:25.260 we need to just say, hey, God is more powerful than I am. 01:05:25.740 --> 01:05:27.400 God is the judge, not me. 01:05:27.560 --> 01:05:29.800 And just because I decide that I don't like someone 01:05:29.800 --> 01:05:30.700 or that they're wrong, 01:05:31.000 --> 01:05:33.180 it doesn't mean God has discarded that person. 01:05:34.620 --> 01:05:37.040 You know, if God discards someone, that's one thing, 01:05:37.260 --> 01:05:38.940 but it's not our job to fight people 01:05:38.940 --> 01:05:40.640 whom the Lord is using. 01:05:41.240 --> 01:05:42.120 Inspired is not born to prayer. 01:05:42.440 --> 01:05:45.340 Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. 01:05:45.720 --> 01:05:47.120 Thank you for the example of Saul 01:05:47.120 --> 01:05:48.260 that could encourage us 01:05:48.900 --> 01:05:51.820 that even an unlikely person could be greatly used. 01:05:52.040 --> 01:05:53.960 Lord, help us all to be filled with the Spirit. 01:05:54.100 --> 01:05:55.820 Help us all to be greatly used by you. 01:05:56.140 --> 01:06:00.000 And Lord, help us never to settle for watered down churches. 01:06:01.520 --> 01:06:04.320 If there's a Spirit filled, fired up alternative Lord 01:06:04.780 --> 01:06:07.680 and help us to be here physically present at church 01:06:07.680 --> 01:06:09.100 as much as we possibly can 01:06:09.620 --> 01:06:12.920 so that that could rub off on us. 01:06:13.500 --> 01:06:15.440 And we know that when two or three of us 01:06:15.440 --> 01:06:17.080 are gathered together, you're there in the midst. 01:06:18.200 --> 01:06:22.600 And Lord, please fill us with your Spirit as we go, Lord. 01:06:22.940 --> 01:06:24.960 Fill us with your Spirit every time we gather, Lord 01:06:24.960 --> 01:06:27.420 and use our church to do great things for you. 01:06:27.460 --> 01:06:28.340 And in Jesus' name we pray amen.