Don't Be A Usurper - Evangelist Ulises Hernandez

Amen.

All right, well, I just want to start off by thanking Pastor Mahia for giving me the opportunity

to preach.

And I know Brother Mark was just mentioning Pastor and his prayer, so I'm going to come

up again to pray.

But I'm just kidding.

But the title of the sermon this evening is Don't Be a Usurper.

Don't Be a Usurper.

And you're there in 2 Samuel chapter 15 and you look down at your Bible, verse number

2 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

1.

The Bible says, And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots

and horses and fifty men to run before him.

And Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate, and it was so that when

any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto

him and said, Of what city art thou?

And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.

And Absalom said unto him, See thy matters are good and right, but there is no man

deputed of the king to hear thee.

And Absalom said, Moreover, O that I were made judge in the land, that every

man which had any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice.

And as I said in the beginning that the title of the sermon is, Don't Be a Usurper.

And just as a way of introduction, I just wanted to define what it means to be a

usurper.

One of the definitions would be someone who ceases an office or a position of

power by force or without legal right or who is perceived to have done so.

And this is a problem we see nowadays and we've always seen it, you know,

wicked men in the Bible trying to overthrow the established authority,

undermining those that God put over to rule over the people, to lead God's

people, the flock of God.

And this is something that we don't want to be characterized as somebody

undermining the authority that God has already placed at church, at the

workforce, at home.

I'm referring to, you know, the wise usurping the authority of the husbands.

In any area of our life, we don't want to be somebody that usurps authority.

You don't want to be characterized as a usurper.

And just as a way of introduction, we see in the Bible that wicked

men such as Absalom, here he wants to overthrow King David.

He wants to be the one that holds the title King.

And like I said, this is something that we don't want to be characterized as,

but we see this throughout all the Bible.

And in one of the examples that I could think of right off the bat is people

that want to be a pastor by any means, right?

And that's one of the positions that people in church, when they go into the

ministry, that's what they hold and, you know, in a higher regards.

And as they should, you know, being a pastor is a privilege.

It's something that God has given to the church to oversee it,

to instruct his people, to teach the people the word of God.

And there are people that want the product without the process

by any means possible.

And a lot of times people want to be a pastor for several reasons,

but some people are just wicked and they want to do it for the wrong reasons.

Some of the wrong reasons that a person might want to be a pastor

is simply just to have the praise of men, you know,

have people call them by that title pastor,

or they want to have some kind of status, you know.

You know, in the new IV sometimes the pastors are well known

because of controversial sermons that, you know, they preach.

And it's not really that it's controversial,

it's just that they're preaching the whole counsel of God.

And a lot of people want that fame, they want that, you know,

that praise in a way that people, you know, they have them in high esteem,

but they don't want to go through the work that those pastors put in

in order to achieve what they have achieved.

You know, they just want to have that title as pastor.

Another reason why people become pastors, which is a wrong reason,

would be to have a large following.

And just because you become a pastor doesn't mean

that you're going to have a large following.

You know, not every pastor has a large following.

It's really only those that actually put in the work.

And another reason why people want to become a pastor sometimes

that would be a wrong reason is just to have people serve them, right?

Have people to do things for them.

And these are all wrong reasons why somebody would want to be a pastor.

And oftentimes there's people that, you know, creep on

unawares in the church and they want to overthrow

what God has already established in that church,

the person that they put, that God has put in that church

to be the pastor and they themselves want to hold that title.

And so go to 2 Samuel chapter 13.

2 Samuel 13 · chapter mention

2 Samuel chapter 13.

2 Samuel 13 · chapter mention

And so we see that, you know, when it comes to being a pastor,

this is all introduction.

The Bible says that this is a true saying.

If a man desired the office of a bishop, he desired a good work.

And so the Bible says that being a pastor is a good work.

It's not only a title.

It's something that requires a lot of work.

And a lot of people, unfortunately,

they want that title without the process.

They want the product without the process.

They don't want to put in that work.

You see being a pastor is not only something

or somebody that preaches three times a week.

You know, they're putting out content.

They're studying the Bible.

They're discipling people.

They're counseling people.

They're helping people with their marriages.

They're teaching people how to give the gospel.

They're motivating people.

You know, they're challenging people to do better.

And that requires a lot of work.

And a person that is a successful pastor,

sometimes people look at that and they say,

well, I want that as well.

But they don't put in the work, right?

If a person has a large following as a pastor,

it's because God has magnified them.

God has given them that ability to be able to reach the masses.

And it's all because of the work that they put in.

You see, if you become a pastor or anybody desires to be a pastor,

that's not a guarantee that you're going to have that following.

You know, you're not going to have the praise of men all the time.

And if you're only doing it for that reason,

you're in it for the wrong reasons.

And so here we see in the beginning that Absalon,

although he was a wicked individual,

you know, there are some things that he did in the beginning

that will go over in chapter 13.

But first of all, let me just go back to chapter 15.

Where it says that in verse number three,

actually go back to chapter 15.

I know I said go to chapter 13.

But go back to chapter 15.

Look down your vows at verse number three.

It says,

And Absalon said unto him,

See that matters are good and right.

But there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.

Absalon said,

Moreover, all that I were made judge in the land

that every man which had any suit or cause

might come unto me and I would do him justice.

And so we see here that Absalon is creating basically,

there's a problem, right?

King David is not hearing your matters.

He's not really judging the people.

But if you come unto me, I will see that you get justice.

And so Absalon, what is he trying to do?

He's trying to steal the hearts of the people.

And this is a lot of things that we see out in the world,

you know, when people try to usurp somebody's authority,

you know, they go after the people that are

following the person.

And most of the time they go after people that are simple.

People that don't have that much wisdom

or the Bible refers to as simple or, you know,

just dumb, simple people.

Those are the people that they try to obtain

to follow them through flattery, through different means.

And so here we see that Absalon is doing such.

And, you know, this kind of reminds me of the old I.B.

when you have a church, right, an English ministry,

oftentimes the large church, and then other than them,

they have the senior pastor and then they have

the youth pastor, they have the Spanish pastor.

And oftentimes, you know, the one that's supposed

to be calling the shots and making sure

everything's in order is the one that is

the pastor of the church.

But then you have the Spanish pastor, you know,

doing his own thing, not really listening

to what the pastor wants him to do.

And this is something that we see that's not right at all.

And God is not pleased with that.

And I used to hate it, you know,

when there used to be like a church split

and then the Spanish pastor, what often would happen

is like, instead of just going under

some other pastor's authority,

he's just going back to a different church,

he remains a pastor.

And that's not right because the Bible shows us that,

you know, churches are supposed to start churches,

pastors are supposed to send out pastors.

But when there's a Spanish pastor

that remains a pastor without the leadership

of the main pastor, you know, that's not doing it

the way God intended it.

And the people that follow them, you know,

I would say they're just simple, they're stupid,

they're not really like knowing what the Bible says.

And they develop this admiration for somebody

that at the end of the day proves to be wicked

because if they were a righteous individual,

you know, they see the church split

and, you know, they would tell the people,

hey, you know what, you need to stay in that church.

You know, I'm not a pastor no more,

I'm not your pastor, this is the pastor of the church.

But when the church splits, as I'm saying,

and the Spanish pastor remains a pastor,

takes the people with them,

that's somebody that is usurping the authority of a pastor.

So go to 2 Samuel chapter 13, 2 Samuel 13.

2 Samuel 13 · chapter mention

And I'm going to finish reading here

in 2 Samuel chapter 15 in verse number five it says,

2 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

and it was so that when any man came nigh to him

to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand

and took him and kissed him.

And see, right off the bat right there,

that's like a red flag.

You know, if somebody's trying to,

you strip the authority and they're trying to flatter you

and then they just come to you,

it's like, hey, here, I'll hear you out

and they just give you a kiss.

Well, you know, you're like, hey, hey, chill, you know.

Like that should be like a red flag already, right?

You're not going to let some dude just give you a kiss

and say like, hey, you know, what's the issue?

Let me hear you out like, heck no, right?

So that's a red flag already in and of itself.

And then in verse six it says,

and on this matter,

the abstinence to all Israel

that came to the king for judgment,

so abstinence stole the hearts of the man of Israel.

And so here we see that he stole the hearts

of the man of Israel.

See, when people win over the people,

usually they do it by flattery, they win their hearts.

And that's why it's important, you know,

if you're in a position of leadership

that you win the heart of the people, right?

They trust you, you gain credibility,

not only as a pastor, but as a father.

You want to gain the credibility of your children,

have credibility with your children,

win the hearts of your children

so that if anybody tries to undermine your authority,

you know, they reject that opinion.

They reject that advice.

And unfortunately, sometimes as parents,

we fail to do that.

We fail to win the hearts of our children.

You know, we take it for granted

that God has given us several children sometimes,

and we don't do anything to win their hearts

so that when another person comes in to their lives,

whether it be like an uncle or grandparent,

any relative that they have,

you know, it's easy for them to follow them

instead of us.

And that's something that we have to work on as parents.

You know, this is not the subject of the sermon,

but you know, it is an area that we as parents

have to make sure that we cover,

that we win the hearts of our children

so that they can follow us

and not any other person

that tries to turn them against us.

And so in 2 Samuel chapter 13,

2 Samuel 13 · chapter mention

go there real quick with me.

Look down at your Bible as the verse number one.

It says,

And it came to pass after this,

that Absalom, the son of David,

had a fair sister whose name was Tamar.

And Abnen, the son of David, loved her.

And Abnen was so vexed

that he fell sick for his sister Tamar.

For she was a virgin,

and Abnen thought it hard for him

to do anything to her.

But Abnen had a friend whose name was Jonadab,

the son of Shimei, David's brother.

And Jonadab was a very subtle man.

And so here we see that this is what created,

you know, problems in the first place,

the fact that Tamar,

her brother, Abnen, was in love with her.

And it should have just ended there.

You know, he's in love with her,

okay, whatever,

but he could control what he does after that, okay?

First of all, it's not even right

to be in love with your sister.

That's already like,

you know, Pastor's talking about

being their friend, not weird.

That's already weird.

But, you know, it should have just ended there.

And then the Bible goes on to says,

but Abnen had a friend whose name was Jonadab,

and we see that he was a subtle man.

And through this friend, you know,

he was pretty much encouraged

to pursue that relationship

and ultimately force her.

And what we could get for this is that,

you know, we need to be careful

who we're friends with,

because oftentimes, obviously,

we're all sinners,

we all have temptations,

we all sometimes have the tendency to veer off.

But we need to surround ourselves

with people that would encourage us

to stay in the fight,

to stay in the course,

not somebody that's gonna enable us

to do what's wrong.

You know, if, you know, you have a home girl,

I'm talking to the ladies, right?

And you're having problems with your husband,

and then you surround yourself

with wicked women that say,

you know, you should dump that guy, right?

That's not pleasing to the Lord.

You know, that's somebody that's subtle,

that's somebody that, you know,

wants the worst for you,

and that's not somebody looking out

for your well-being.

You need to surround yourselves with women

that tell you, you know,

obey your husband,

you know, listen to your husband,

not surround yourself with women

who are loud mouths,

who are busy bodies,

you know, who get involved

in other people's matters.

These are things that we have to look out,

you know, you guys as women,

and not have those kind of friends.

Go with me to Proverbs chapter 13.

Proverbs 13 · chapter mention

And the same goes with the men,

you know, we have to surround ourselves

with people that are, you know,

credible, that have successful marriages,

that are righteous people,

so that if we have any, you know,

idea, any thought of even ever doing anything,

wake it, they could tell us,

hey, you know what?

That's wrong, you know,

the Lord doesn't want that for you.

We need to surround ourselves

with people that will hold us accountable.

And I'm glad I have friends in this church

that will keep me accountable.

I can't just go to anybody

and just like throw something

while out there

and expect them to like enable me, right?

At the moment, I believe that all the friends

that I have right now,

if I were to think of something bad to do,

you know, they would talk me out of it.

And that's the kind of friends

that we have to have,

not people that are going to enable us.

And in Proverbs chapter 13,

Proverbs 13 · chapter mention

looked down in verse number 20,

the Bible says,

wise men shall be wise,

but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

And we see this oftentimes,

you know, with the women again,

you know, they have these bad friends

that instead of encouraging them

to stay with their husband

despite having problems,

because every marriage has problems

here and there, right?

But the important thing

is to resolve the problems.

But if you surround yourself with women

that, you know, have failed at their marriage

and then they tell you,

hey, you know what?

You should just leave them.

You know, that person wants you

to be destroyed.

If you ever get advice like that

for any of the ladies here,

you know, you should like rebuke them.

You should let somebody else know

so that we can rebuke them

and stay away from people like that.

Now go to 2 Samuel chapter 15.

2 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

2 Samuel chapter 15.

2 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

And I'm going to read to you

from 2 Samuel 15 verse number 10.

Actually go to verse number 10.

It says, 2 Samuel 15 verse number 10,

but Absalom sent spies

throughout all the tribes of Israel

saying, as soon as you hear

the sound of the trumpet,

then you shall say,

Absalom reigneth in Hebron.

And with Absalom went 200 men

out of Jerusalem that were called

and they went in their simplicity

and they knew not anything.

And so we see here

that He was able to gather 200 men

and it says that they went

in their simplicity.

And again, we see that

these are people that were simple

that followed Him.

And you shouldn't be a person

that, you know, somebody can look at you

and say, well, that's a simple person.

We should be somebody that's wise,

somebody that's prudent.

The Bible says that the prudent man

foreseeeth the evil

and departed from it.

And if you're simple,

you know, you're going to follow

a multitude to do evil

just like the people did here.

And in verse number 12,

it says,

In Absalom sent for a hitahil,

the Galo knight,

David's counselor from his city,

even from Galo while

he offered sacrifices

and the conspiracy was strong

for the people increased continually

with the Absalom.

So he was getting pretty much

momentum here to overthrow

his father.

Now go to 2 Samuel 18,

2 Samuel 18.

And in verse 13,

I'm going to continue reading to you

from verse chapter 15.

It says,

And there came a messenger

to David saying,

The hearts of the men of Israel

are after Absalom.

And number one,

we see that usurpers,

they pray on the simple.

I said that the prudent man

foreseeeth the evil

and hiding himself

but the simple pass on

and are punished.

And then sometimes they do go

after those that are closest

to the leader.

In this case, a hitahil

that was David's counselor.

And so people that want to overthrow

in this case,

you know, in this example,

the pastor,

they're going to go over to the,

they're going to go

and try to reach those

that are closest to him.

And we have to,

you know,

nip it at the bud

when whenever we see these things

happening

when somebody has

kind of that vibe

of them trying to overthrow

authority,

you know,

they despise authority,

we need to be able to identify

and to let somebody know

so that it won't go

beyond that.

Because oftentimes problems

like this

get bigger

because it doesn't get handled

at the very beginning.

And we don't want to

create this environment

where there's like clicks,

there's like little groups

or facets forming in the church.

You know,

as we get bigger,

obviously there's going to be

more clicks per seger groups

of people.

Because you're going to click

with other people naturally,

but we don't want to be

the type where it's like,

oh, this group is always

by themselves

and they're always,

you know,

plotting,

you know,

plotting to do evil.

We don't want to have that

in our church.

You know,

like just weird people

and we don't want to have

weird people in our church.

One people that are normal,

right?

Any person that's weird

eventually gets exposed

because it's pretty hard,

you know,

to be a weird person

in our church.

You know,

you're pretty much

on your own at that point.

So go to Numbers chapter 16,

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

Numbers chapter 16.

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

And I'm going to read to you

from 2 Samuel 18,

before I move on.

So you know,

what's the end of

Absalon?

Obviously,

he's destroyed.

He's not successful.

And when it comes

to his sister Tamar,

obviously,

he started off

and he ended up killing

his brother Abnan.

And then later on

in 2 Samuel chapter 18,

2 Samuel 18 · chapter mention

the Bible says in

verse number nine,

and Absalon met

the servants of David

and Absalon rolled upon

a mule

and the mule went

under the thick

bowels of a great oak

and his head caught hold

of the oak

and when he was taken

up between the heaven

and the earth,

and the mule that was under

him went away.

And so we see that

and then later on

Joab takes the three darts

and then he kills them,

right?

And we see that

at the end of the day,

Absalon wasn't able

to fulfill what he wanted

to do

and that was to overthrow

his father David.

And you know,

this is what's going to

happen to those

that try to overthrow

authority.

You know,

God is not pleased

with those that despise

the media

and despise government,

people that hate authority.

And sadly,

you know,

we live in a day and age

where a lot of kids

they want to throw

the authority of their parents.

You know,

one day,

we were young too.

You know,

now we're all old.

No, I'm just kidding.

But now we're older,

right?

And at some point,

we did think that

we knew more than our parents.

And as we get older,

now that we have our children,

we realized our parents knew

a lot more than us.

You know,

and a lot of things,

even if they weren't saved,

they had some wisdom to them

that they were able to

convey to us

that we should have followed.

You know,

a lot of the mistakes

that we made,

you know,

if you made any as a teenager

was because you didn't

listen to the instruction

of your father or mother.

And so we want to be able to

raise up children

that don't develop this attitude

of wanting to usurp our authority.

You know,

at home,

we don't want to create

an atmosphere where,

you know,

our children see our wife

usurping our authority.

You know,

the husbands go out to work

and when we're at work,

the wife is in charge of the home.

You know,

she's able to tell the kids

what to do.

But at the end of the day,

as a father,

as a husband,

we have the last say.

When it comes to any

decision that we make.

Now go to number 16.

Number 16,

let me show you another

usurper in the Bible

by the name of Quora.

Never name your children Quora,

right?

Or Absalom.

There's a lot of ladies on that list.

I'm going to have to make that font

smaller and out on the bulletin.

But you know,

never name your kids Quora.

Look at verse number one here.

Verse number one,

it says,

Now Quora, the son of Ishaar,

the son of Kohath,

the son of Levi,

and Thaython,

and Abiram,

the sons of Eliab,

and An,

and the son of Peleth,

the sons of Reuben,

took men.

And they rose up before Moses

with certain of the children of Israel,

250 princes of the assembly

famous in the congregation,

men of renown.

And they gathered themselves

together against Moses

and against Aaron,

and said unto them,

ye take too much upon you,

seeing all the congregation are holy,

every one of you,

and the Lord is among them,

wherefore then lift ye up yourselves

above the congregation of the Lord.

And so here we see again

another example of men

rising up against the leadership.

And we know Moses to be

the friend of God.

He was the meekest man on earth.

He was a respectable individual.

He was a man of God.

And so we see Korah

and a group of men

trying to overthrow him.

And it says that they took 250 men.

And they're telling Moses,

you know,

why can't everyone in the congregation

basically do what Moses is doing?

But here's the thing,

in a church setting,

you know,

there's one pastor,

right?

And there's one pastor

that's leading the flock.

We can't all be pastors.

We can't all be,

you know,

in charge here.

In our church,

we have pastor,

we have the soul-winning team leaders,

we have members,

we have different ministries in our church,

but we all can be

doing the same job at church.

And I don't think it's right

for anybody to,

you know,

desire the position of somebody else

because you should be content

where God has put you.

And here we see that Korah,

he was not content

with what he was supposed to do.

I looked down in verse number 8.

The Bible says,

And Moses said to Korah,

Here I pray you,

ye sons of Levi,

seemeth,

but a small thing unto you

that God of Israel

has separated you

from the congregation of Israel

to bring you near

to himself

to do the service of the tabernacle

of the Lord

and to stand before the congregation

to minister unto them.

So he says unto him,

you know,

seemeth,

but a small thing unto you.

See, he had his own responsibilities.

And the way we could apply this here

is that,

you know,

at church,

at home,

at your job,

you know,

you have your own responsibilities

that the people

in Charter have given to you

and you should be content with that.

You shouldn't seek to overthrow

somebody else that's over you.

Right?

There's this thing,

I forget what it's called,

but basically

the way somebody,

sometimes overthrows,

somebody at a company

is that they slowly start taking upon

like themselves the task

that that person is responsible for.

If another person

has a certain amount of task

and then the person

under them,

they start like,

hey, you know what?

Let me do that for you.

And then they start taking over that task

and then that task

and then that task.

A lot of times

they're often doing that

because they want that position.

Right?

And they're doing it subtly,

but this is something

that we shouldn't do.

You know,

stay in your lane.

If you're told to do

a certain amount of tasks,

a certain job given,

that was given to you,

be content with that job.

Don't be somebody

that tries to overthrow

the people that are above you.

And so here we see

the example of like

in a church setting,

we all have different functions.

We all can't be in charge.

We all can't be doing the same thing.

Not everybody's going to be

a so many team leader,

but we need to be able

to support those

that are over us.

Now go to,

go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

And so I'm saying

that Quora,

in this case,

usurpers of authority

are not content with

where with God has them.

And in 1 Corinthians chapter 12,

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

look down at verse number 14.

The Bible says,

for the body is not one member,

but many,

if the foot shall say

because I am not the hand,

I am not of the body,

is it therefore not of the body?

And the ears shall say

because I am not the eye,

I am not of the body,

is it therefore not of the body?

If the whole body were an eye,

we're with the hearing.

If the whole we're hearing,

we're with the smelling.

But now had God set the members,

every one of them in the body,

as it had pleased them.

And so the point I'm trying to make

is that serve God where you're at.

If you just got saved,

get plugged into church,

learn how to give the gospel,

learn how to be a team player,

support your team leader.

Pray for them.

One of the best ways

that you could show your support to them

and it's just by showing up

for so many.

No team leader here wants to,

on a Sunday,

and realize

that nobody's going to go out so many.

That's not a way to support your team leader.

If you want to be an asset to your church,

be here on time.

Be here on service days.

Be here when the church doors are open.

Be consistent.

And the thing about soul winning,

a lot of people oftentimes,

well not a lot of people,

I would say we have a good amount

of introverts here,

but the best way to make friendships,

long lasting friendships,

is by going out and soul winning.

Why?

Because when you're with your partner,

you get to know them,

you get to laugh,

you get to create memories,

you get to share experiences,

learn from them.

These are ways that you can make friends

in our church.

And so what I'm trying to convey here

is that you need to be a team player.

You know, don't worry about being

the one in charge,

worry about supporting

the person that's above you.

And in this case,

pray for your team leader.

Show up.

Now Core and his company,

you know, they were questioning

the leadership of Moses

and you know,

it just reminds me of people

that always complain,

you know,

why is this person in charge?

Why does this person get to do this?

You know,

be content where you're at.

At your job,

whatever position you have,

be content with that position.

You know,

be the best that you can

in that position.

And it really doesn't matter

what you're doing for the Lord

in the sense of like,

wherever you're serving,

you have to do it

as unto the Lord.

And God sees that.

God is going to reward you.

God is going to reward

your consistency

and your faithfulness.

Now go to,

go back to first,

go to number 16.

Go to number 16.

And this kind of reminds me too,

there's churches

and different denominations where,

you know,

they rotate the pastors

like every five years.

And then they do this.

And I know this because like,

I have family that are SDAs,

you know,

seven-day Adventists,

and they rotate the pastor

every five years

so that the people there

doesn't develop

like some kind of

like loyalty to the man

instead of God.

And that's the reasoning for it.

But you know,

if the pastor is following Christ,

you know,

we could follow the pastor, right?

If the past man of God

is following Christ,

we should be able to follow them

as they follow Christ.

Now the pastor ever,

for some reason,

and I don't think that would ever happen

with our pastor,

you know,

God forbid,

but if you were to,

you know,

eventually,

you know,

fall into sin or whatever,

is we still got to follow Christ.

You know,

if I were to fall into sin,

get away from church,

get out of church,

my kids should still follow Christ.

Right?

Because at the end of the day,

they're not following me,

per se,

they're following Jesus Christ.

Now I think I told you

go to Numbers chapter 16.

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

Look down in verse number 28.

The Bible says,

And Moses said,

Hereby ye shall know

that the Lord has sent me

to do all these works

where I have not done them

of my own mind.

If these men die,

the common death of all men,

or if they be visited

after the visitation of all men,

then the Lord had not sent me,

but if the Lord make a new thing

and the earth open up her mouth

and swallow them up

with all that appertain unto them,

and they go down quick into the pit,

then ye shall understand

that these men have provoked the Lord.

And it came to pass

as he had made an end

of speaking all these words,

that the ground clave

asunder that was under them,

and the earth opened her mouth

and swallowed them up

and her houses,

and all the men that appertain

unto Korah

and all their goods,

they and all that appertain

to them,

went down alive into the pit,

and the earth closed upon them,

and they perished from among the congregation.

And so here again,

we see that the usurper

eventually is destroyed.

And in this instant,

you know, he was destroyed

in a crazy way.

Like the earth literally opened up

and hell swallowed him up alive.

You know, that's how much God

hates those that try to usurp authority.

Now go to first Kings chapter one.

First Kings chapter one.

First Kings chapter one.

I'm going to give you

another example of another usurper.

And so the Bible is filled with people

that try to always overthrow

the man of God.

And here in first Kings chapter one,

like down to verse number five,

here's another son of David.

It says that then Adonijah,

the son of Haggath,

exalted himself,

saying,

I will be king

and he prepared him chariots

and horsemen and 50 men

to run before him.

And that's another characteristic

of somebody that is a usurper

is that they exalt themselves, right?

They try to like praise themselves,

magnify themselves.

Whereas the Bible says

in Joshua 414 on that day,

the Lord magnified Joshua

in the sight of all Israel

and they feared him

as they feared Moses

all the days of his life.

Now go to Luke chapter 14 real quick,

Luke 14 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 14.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

And so somebody that tries to

pass as a figure of authority,

you know, they're going to exalt themselves.

And the Bible always says

that let the other man praise you,

not that own lips.

So you don't ever want to be this person

that is constantly praising yourself, right?

You never want to say,

well, you know, I'm pretty much

like the best soul winner

or, you know, I'm pretty much

like the best looking sibling

in my family.

No, I'm just kidding.

But it's not that much of a competition.

No, it's okay.

But like you never want to be

one that praises yourself.

And in Luke chapter 14

Luke 14 · chapter mention

and verse number 11,

the Bible says for whosoever exalted himself

shall be a base and he that humbleth himself

shall be exalted.

So the way to be exalted by God

is by humbling yourself,

serving quietly.

You know, one day if God wills,

he's going to magnify you.

And you don't want to be like Adonijah,

the son of Haggath,

the Bible says exalted himself.

Now go to first Kings,

go back to first Kings chapter one.

Now continue reading chapter one,

verse number six,

the Bible says and his father

had not displeased him

at any time insane.

Why has thou done so?

And he also was a very goodly man

and his mother bear him after Absalom.

And he conferred with Joab,

the son of Zariah and with Abayathar,

the priests and they following Adonijah

helped them.

But Zadok, the priests of Benaiah,

the son of Jehoida and Nathan,

the prophet and Shimei and Rai,

and the mighty men which belong to David

were not with Adonijah.

And so we see Adonijah with self-will

and that's a quality that we don't want

for somebody that's trying to be a pastor,

somebody that's just self-will.

Right, in order to be able to

serve as a pastor,

serve as somebody that has

a position of authority is that you

need to be learned to be under somebody else.

You should learn to follow other people.

You should learn to take instruction

for other people and not just automatically

expect to be a person

with a position of authority.

And so we see in the beginning,

Saul was chosen to be king,

David was chosen to be king,

and they both fought their battles

in their day.

But Adonijah, I don't think

believe we ever see him fighting any battles.

And so he wanted the product

without the process.

He just expected this position

without ever putting any work.

Now go to,

well you're in First Kings chapter 1,

1 Kings 1 · chapter mention

look down at verse number 25.

The Bible says,

For he has gone down this day

and had slain oxen and fat cattle

and sheep in abundance.

And I called all the king's sons

and the captains,

and the captains of the host

and a biathor of the priests

and behold they eat and drink before him

and say, God save king, Adonijah.

And we see the same thing with

Absalom, you know,

they both wanted to put themselves

above David.

They wanted to overthrow their father.

I looked down at verse number 39.

The Bible says,

And Zadok the priest took a horn

of oil of the tapernacle

and anointed Solomon.

And they blew the trumpet

and all the people said,

God save king Solomon.

And all the people came up after him

and the people piped with pipes

and rejoiced with great joy

so that the earth rent

with the sound of them.

And so we see that Solomon

was actually the one that was

set as king and not Adonijah.

And you know,

this is pretty humbling for him

because even though he thought

he was going to be the one next,

he was going to he was going to be

the one that was to be king.

We see that God put Solomon

as the king of Israel.

And so what a humbling thing

for it for that for that to happen

to him.

And this kind of reminds me too

when, you know,

with Bible college graduates, right,

that without ever putting any work,

you know,

what do they expect after graduating?

You know,

just to have some type of leadership

position.

And it does happen oftentimes

because of the requirements

in the old IB

sometimes are not,

you know,

that great, you know,

as long as you have a degree of some sort,

you're able to be a pastor.

You know,

I know pastors from the old IB

that had no kids,

whereas the Bible says,

you know,

you need to have faithful children.

And so there are things that people

from the old IB do

that obviously are wrong,

but because they want that product

so bad

without ever going through the process.

Now,

go to First Timothy chapter two,

First Timothy chapter two.

And so the first three serpents

that we saw was

Absalom,

Adonijah,

and Korah.

And these are all people

that try to throw

overthrow the man of God.

You know,

another type of usurper

that we can see in the Bible

that is pretty clear

that the Bible condemns

is women pastors, right?

These are people that

try to overthrow

the office of a bishop.

And before I get into this,

you know,

I just want to say

that we do see a pattern,

like I said,

of usurpers,

you know,

that the main thing

that they want

is the title.

They want the authority

without putting the word,

without going through

the proper channels.

And so women pastors

is the same thing,

you know, they want to be

over the flock of God.

And the Bible clearly says

that let the woman

learn in silence

with all suggestion,

but I suffered not a woman

to teach

nor to usurp the authority

over the man,

but to be in silence.

And so God is a God of order,

right?

At the home,

he's put the husband

as the head of the home

and the wife

is supposed to submit to him.

And in the church,

God has put,

you know,

a man

to be in charge, right?

We're never going to have

a woman come up here

and preach

a whole sermon

or anything like that.

You know,

that would be,

you know,

that would be crazy,

first of all.

But I want,

I kind of want to show this

because this is something

that if I still,

oh, they don't,

they took it down.

So we got this

at Hobby Lobby, right?

Not just kidding,

but it says,

let the woman

learn in silence

with all subjection.

And so if you want to

get one of these,

you can go to Hobby Lobby,

not just kidding,

but I think somebody

gave this to our church,

but it's funny because,

you know,

every time that,

like I'm cleaning the

restaurants,

I see this in there

and I was like,

oh, that's always

a good reminder

for the women

in the church, right?

And, you know,

this is something that,

you know,

I encourage everybody

to have,

you know,

because sometimes

people forget,

you know,

and I think it's

important,

you know,

as a lady,

you know,

if you ever do forget

for some reason,

you didn't read

your Bible that week,

when you go into our

restroom,

you're going to read this,

right?

So it's a reminder,

just a little

plug there,

if you want to buy one

and you can use

my promo code.

Not just kidding,

but, you know,

these are verses

that are in the Bible

that clearly teaches

that the man

is in charge,

right?

We're never going to have

women pastors,

we're never going to have a

woman,

you serve the authority

of a man in our church.

Right.

Now go to Revelation

chapter two,

verse 20,

and the Bible says

in verse 20,

now it's standing,

I have a few things

against thee,

because thou

sufferest that woman

Jezebel,

which called herself

a prophetess,

to teach and to seduce

my servants to commit

fornication

and to eat things,

sacrifice into idols.

Idols.

And, you know,

women pastors,

I don't think it's a thing,

it's not even a thing

in the IFB

and, you know,

independent Baptist churches

I think in Southern

Baptist churches

they might have it,

but we see this a lot

in Pentecostal churches,

right?

And I've never been

in Pentecostal church,

but I adjourn by them

and you could always see

a lady just up in the

pulpit just,

you know, preaching

and, you know,

that's something that,

you know,

God forbid ever happens

in our churches.

Now go to 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14,

or actually go to

Ephesians chapter five,

Ephesians chapter five.

I'm going to read to you

from 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14,

it says,

let your woman

keep in size in the churches

for it is not permitted

to them to speak,

but they are commanded

to be under obedient

as also say the law.

And they will learn anything.

Let them ask their husbands

at home for it is a shame

for women to speak

in church.

And so here we see

God's instruction

for the wives.

If you have any question,

you know,

let them ask their husband

at home, right?

They're not supposed

to just speak up in church

and say amen,

and, you know,

try to usurp the authority,

try to usurp the service.

You know,

that's why as a husband

you should be able

to teach your wife the Bible.

You should be able

to teach your children

the Bible.

And don't be one

of these husbands

where, you know,

your wife knows more than you.

And I remember, you know,

back in the day,

I think it was like

one of the red hots

where I was at

and I was with brother Alex

and there was a lady,

you know,

there was a couple

that were just dating

and the guy was actually

asking the girl,

his girlfriend

at the time,

it was embarrassing.

You know,

what does the Bible say

about this?

You know,

as a guy,

you kind of get,

you know,

like this feeling like,

damn,

that's freaking like embarrassing,

right?

But you don't want to be

characterized

as somebody like that

where your wife knows

more than you.

As a husband,

you do want to know

more than your wife.

Even if you just,

both recently got saved,

you should put in the work

to be able to teach your wife.

There's no excuse for it.

Now, Ephesians chapter five,

it says in verse 22,

it says,

wife, submit yourselves

into your own husbands,

as unto the Lord,

for the husband

is the head of the wife,

even as Christ

is the head of the church,

and he is the savior

of the body,

therefore,

as the church

is subject unto Christ,

so let the wives be

to their own husbands

and everything.

And you know,

I hope the ladies

never get tired of hearing

these verses, right?

Because it's in the Bible

and we're going to keep preaching it

because we live in a day and age

where other pastors

are no longer preaching that.

And our pastor

preaches that constantly

because he's trying

to help the guys out, right?

He doesn't want your wife

thinking that it's ever okay

to serve our authority.

And you should be thankful

that we have a pastor

that constantly hits on this.

Every other service

throw it in for good measure,

less women should forget.

We shouldn't care

what other people think,

the haters and all that stuff.

If they want to be

ruled by their wives,

let them be ruled by their wives.

But our church,

you know,

we as men,

we're going to rule our wives.

We're going to be the ones in charge.

Now go to

Isaiah chapter 14.

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

I'm almost done.

Isaiah chapter 14.

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

And so here,

I was just making the point

that as wives,

you shouldn't,

you serve the authority

of your husband.

I also brought up

at the fact in the beginning

that kids

should not,

you serve the authority

of their parents.

And that's why it's important to

be careful

with who you let

around your kids.

You know,

be careful with that

uncle,

with that on.

You know,

back in the day,

you know,

you have relatives

that your parents

have a set of rules

for you at home.

But then there's always

that uncle, right?

That says like,

well,

if you come here,

you can do this.

You know,

just tell your parents

you're going to come

with us

and then they let them

go to a party

or something.

That's why you got to pay

attention to

who's around your kids.

You don't want them

to be around grandparents

that spoil them, right?

When they're kids,

it might be like

funny or like you,

you know,

they give them candy

here and there.

But you don't want them

to be around grandparents

that will usurp your authority,

right?

You need to be the one

that's in charge of your children.

So be careful

who you let around your children.

You know,

God gave us our kids.

We're responsible for them

as long as they're

in our home.

And we want to make sure

that, you know,

they learn to do it right

and they learn to know

who's in charge.

Now I'll go to,

I think I'll tell you

go to Isaiah chapter 14.

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

Another usurper

that we see,

and this is the last one,

would be Satan, right?

And this is the,

you know,

Satan would be

the biggest usurper

that we see in the Bible.

And this is in Isaiah 14

in verse number 12.

How art thou falling

from heaven,

a usurper,

a son of the morning?

How art thou cut down

to the ground

which did is

weakened the nations?

For thou hast set in thy heart,

I will ascend unto heaven.

I will exalt my throne

above the stars of God.

I will sit also

upon the mount of the congregation

in the size of the north.

I will ascend

above the heights

of the clouds.

I will be like the most high.

Yet thou shall be

brought down to hell

to the size of the pit.

They that see thee

shall narrowly look upon

thee and consider

thee, saying,

Is this the man

that made the earth to tremble,

that did shake kingdoms,

that made the world

as a wilderness

and destroyed the cities

thereof,

that opened not

the house of his prisoners?

And ultimately,

Satan,

the biggest usurper,

is going to be

destroyed in hell.

And here we see that,

you know,

Satan wanted to be

like the most high.

And so any person

that has this characteristic,

they're being like the devil,

right?

They're trying to usurp

the authority

that God has placed

in our lives.

And go to Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

Go to Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

And what does Satan want?

He wants people to worship him,

right?

He doesn't want people

to get saved.

He doesn't want people

to come to the knowledge

of the truth.

He wants people

to follow him.

And that doesn't necessarily

mean that they're going

to worship him

in the sense that

they're all going to be

Satanists.

No.

He's content with people

which is never getting saved,

with people which is being

part of a false religion,

with people which is

being distracted,

you know,

by their phone,

by anything,

by any means,

the whole point

that Satan,

the whole goal and mission

of Satan is for people

not to get saved,

not to go to heaven.

And for those that are saved,

you know,

his main goal is,

you know,

to disarm them,

to render them useless,

right?

To distract them enough

to where they don't do

anything great for God.

And go to Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

Look down in verse number 8.

The Bible says,

again, the devil

taketh him up,

the friends of Jesus,

into an exceeding high

mountain

and showeth him

all the keenness

of the world

and the glory of them.

And saith unto him,

all these things

will I give thee,

if thou will fall down

and worship me.

Then saith Jesus unto him,

get thee hand Satan,

for it is written,

thou shalt worship the Lord

thy God and him only

shall thou serve.

And so here we see,

this is what God,

it was Satan tells people,

you know,

hey, worship me

and I will give you this.

And we see music

made about this,

you know,

about them worshiping

Satan

and them getting

what they wanted.

You know,

this is what Satan wants.

He wants to be God.

He wants to have,

you know,

he wants to be

in the place of God

and receive praise and worship.

And just like the other

you servers

that we saw today,

Absalom and Korah

Adonijah

and these women passers,

they're like the devil

in the sense that they want

to usurp the authority

that God has placed.

Now go to Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

What is the end of Satan?

Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

The Bible says in verse number

one,

And I saw an angel

come down from heaven

having the key of the bottom

of this pit

and a great chain in his hand

and he laid hold

on the dragon,

that old serpent,

which is the devil

and Satan bound him a thousand,

is the devil and Satan,

excuse me,

and bound him a thousand

years and cast him into the bottom

of this pit

and shut him up

and set a seal upon him

that he should receive

the nations no more

till the thousand years

should be fulfilled.

And after that

he must be lost

a little season.

Now skip down

verse number 10

and it ends with

and the devil

that deceived them

was cast into a lake of fire

and brimstone

where the beast

and the false prophet

are and shall be tormented

day and night

forever and ever.

And so God is never

going to allow

your serpent

to just,

you know,

live out their days.

In this case,

Satan eventually will go to hell,

go to the lake of fire.

Now go to 2nd Thessalonians 2.

2nd Thessalonians 2.

And what's the sermon tonight?

It's just to not be a usurper.

You know,

anywhere that you're at

at your job

in church

at home

for the women,

don't usurp the authority

that God has placed

in your life.

You know,

don't exalt yourself.

Don't praise yourself.

You know,

humble yourself

and follow those

that are above you.

Now in 2nd Thessalonians 2,

lastly,

we see the Antichrist 2,

where it says in verse number one,

Now we beseech you,

brethren,

by the coming of our Lord,

Jesus Christ,

and by our gathering

together unto him,

that ye be not soon shaken

in mind or trouble,

neither by spirit,

nor by word,

nor by letter,

as from us,

as that that day

of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you

by any means

for that day shall not come,

except there come a falling

away first,

and that man of sin

shall be revealed

the son of perdition

who opposes it

and exalted it.

Again,

it says exalted himself

above all that is called

God,

or that is worshiped,

so that he as God

sitteth in the temple

of God showing himself

that he is God.

And again,

we see this characteristic

which is constantly

exalting yourself.

So the characteristic

of the usurper,

if you remember

anything from the sermon

or get anything,

is that they hate the authority

that God has in place.

You know,

they rally up the simple,

you know,

by flattery.

That's how they obtain

their positions,

and then they obtain

a position of power

by the seed and force.

So number one,

what can you do?

First of all,

don't be a usurper.

And if anybody comes to you

trying to overthrow,

you know,

those that are over you,

first of all,

don't be simple,

you know,

don't be stupid,

don't be dumb,

and get some wisdom

so that you could be able

to discern

when somebody's just

trying to flatter you.

You know, flattery is

oftentimes goes

like unnoticed

if you're not like

really paying attention.

And you should be honest

with yourself

to be able to like

identify flattering

because sometimes,

you know,

we take it as compliments,

but it's really just flattery.

You know,

don't flatter yourself

as well,

don't flatter yourself.

So learn to discern

flattery,

don't be a usurper,

and just be a team player.

You know,

whatever you're doing

in our church,

keep doing it

as unto the Lord.

You know,

I'm thankful for all the people

that help out,

for those that help to clean,

to set up,

for those that are in the teams,

you know,

supporting the team leader.

You know,

these are all things

that we all do

to serve Christ,

but we do it

as unto the Lord.

If it ever comes to our head,

you know,

like I'm not really pleased

with what I'm trying to do,

then go through the proper channels,

put in the work.

You know,

try to do your best

to be faithful

where you're at

and consistent

so that one day

God will magnify you

and exalt you

and put you in another position.

But until then,

you know,

just serve quietly,