The Wood Devoured More | Pastor Paul McGee

Oh, let's thank him for being a just God.

Let's thank him for being a just God.

Hallelujah, Jesus for being a just God.

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, Yes Lord.

He's a just God. He's just.

He's a just God. It's not as though that he

winked at our sin or just didn't acknowledge it.

It's just that he served the sentence for it, right?

He served the sentence for it. What was free to us was a price

and the cost to him. Amen.

There's nothing free in this life.

We've I've said it 1000 times, if you ever see something free,

it's not free. It might be free to you, but

it's costing somebody something. It just might not be costing

you. Amen.

There's a price that's paid tonight, and I'm thankful for

that price, aren't you? Can we just raise our hands one

more time and thank him? Hallelujah.

He looked down and saw where I was.

Hallelujah. He supplied the deficiency that

I had. Hallelujah.

Jesus. No cradle love, no greater love.

Then a man would lay down his life for his friends.

He laid it down and he picked it back up again.

There's no greater love. Hallelujah.

Jesus, Thank you Lord, we love you, Jesus.

Someone say thank you Lord Amen. The here in the like next week

next week was actually going to be mortgage payment.

And so from the monies that was brought in this morning and then

the monies people around here ever since we've been here at

this Church of giving money some monthly some weekly for the

purpose of covering the mortgage around here at the church.

And so from their gifts and we got gifts last week, but just

from morning and some all of that, you can throw up the thing

as of 1/29/26, that was the payoff.

We're at 8540 collected. We're 56% there.

The rest of that will be paid for this week.

All right, and we'll come in here Sunday with zilch.

All right, let's give the Lord. I know he used you and your

sacrificial give him, but let's thank the Lord for health and

wealth and garnering this, the ability, Amen, to be able to do

that, Amen. We're grateful to him tonight

for that, Hallelujah, Amen. We're going to be turning to the

book of second Samuel tonight, Amen, As you're turning there,

yes. Mom said before service that it

had been since candlelight service, since she'd been here

in church, Amen. So I know that she's happy to be

here. You know, we're thankful for the

privilege of live stream and things of that nature that can

meet people in their homes, but our purpose is really for that,

to meet them because maybe of necessity, not because it's the

option that you choose. And so it's nice whenever that's

there, whenever you can't make it.

But I know people would rather be here.

At least that's the delusion I'm under, that you would rather be

here, Amen, in the House of the Lord and be able to encourage

one another and comfort one another and see each other in

person. Amen.

So we're thankful for her being here tonight and we're

appreciative of that. We're so glad.

Again, I echo Dawn tonight, so glad to see Lexie back and that

her mother is here and her sisters here.

Missy, so grateful for them this evening being here.

We're grateful, grateful, grateful.

Aunt Linda, it's good to see you Amen as well.

And the Addams family. And it's good to have Ray and

it's good to have Reese. And it's.

You know, once. You get started on one of that

name games, buddy. It's like, well, just let me go

through everybody. And we're always glad to have

our special consistent guests. Brother, brother Earl, Amen,

Amen. Glad that he came to work.

He told me last week that while we were praying here, he was

praying at his house. While we have him praying here,

he was reflecting that prayer at his house.

Brother Earl is a member of Greater Grace and he has some

type of pool coming to this place for some reason.

And I was under the impression it was my preaching on Sunday

nights. And that's a, that's, that's

another delusion, I think, another delusion that I'm under.

Amen. But we appreciate him.

Amen. Tonight, second Samuel, second

Samuel chapter #18 And I want to read 3 verses of scripture,

starting with verse number six. We're kind of just coming right

in the middle of a story here. David has a son by the name of

Absalom that's trying to usurp his authority and usurp his

throne, usurp his kingship. As a result of that, a civil

wars really broke out between Absalom and a cohort that he has

and David and the members of of his Kingdom.

So there's a little civil war that's taking place as a result

of this, and everybody knows that That's never good.

Look at the own history of our country.

It's never good. But Second Samuel chapter #18

and verse 6 says, for the people went out into the field against

Israel. The battle was in the wood or by

say the wood of Ephraim where the people of Israel were slain

before the servants of David and their was there a great

slaughter that day of 20,000 men.

Someone say that's a lot. Verse 8 for the battle was there

scattered over the face of all the country and the wood or by

say the wood devoured more people that day than the sword

devoured. It's really nothing new in

Scripture, but I want to minister just a little while

tonight. The wood devoured more.

The wood, it's kind of interesting concept when you

think about it, but the wood devoured more.

I don't know him. It's like I've, I've never stood

before a tree and really felt intimidated unless it was

already questionable and maybe I thought it was going to fall my

way. Dad and I used to cut some trees

in the woods and it's like, you know, he taught me what side of

the tree not to stand on except for once.

No, I'm just joking. But I don't think I've ever been

intimidated by wood. I'd probably be really

intimidated by if someone said I want to fight you.

But at the end of the day, the wood devoured more than the

sword. Let's pray this evening.

Father, I love you tonight, God. I'm so thankful, Lord, for you,

God allowing this Lord to come here.

Lord, people that have made choices to show up to be in the

House of the Lord, pray God that you would speak to us tonight.

God, we need the Lord God, your voice.

We need clarity in this house tonight.

God, from the pages of scripture, I know Lord, God,

that we can find life there. We can find Lord instruction

there. We can find guidance there.

So Lord, to find all of those things and even more God for

individual lives and will not fail to thank you for what you

do in Jesus name, Amen, the church, Amen.

You may be seated tonight in Jesus name.

Tonight, I I would dare to say this evening that most of us

don't lose because some single big moment that happened in our

life that takes us, if you will, to a losing spot or a place of

defeat. It's rarely due to some some

dramatic failure that that comes or from some towering adversary

that presents itself in our life.

It's. It's not typically usually a

public collapse that just totally undos us, or it's not a

rug that's just being jerked out from underneath our feet that

that does it, or some obvious crisis.

I would dare to say tonight, being a part of this fabric that

we call humanity, that most of the damage in life happens many

times quietly and over time because of where we are.

We spend a lot of times in our lives, I believe, looking for

the visible dangers that come on the horizon, things that we know

with certainty that that's that's a threat or that is a

danger. We spend our time focusing on

what are clear targets that we need to be mindful about and we

brace ourselves when we see those things.

We brace ourselves for the conflict that may ensue.

We, we prepare ourselves to resist temptation that we know

is apparent and we we confront opponents that are absolutely

there and tangible. And we talk about sometimes even

in our Christian lives, about fighting battles and about

standing strong and with the gusto, if you will, of

everything that we have within us.

But there's very few of us that really pause and, and ask a more

uncomfortable question. And that is this is my

environment or is my surroundings putting me at risk?

Is where I'm standing possibly slowly hurting me.

So that's the problem tonight, really, that we all share that

set here in this place. We stay alert, yes, for the

attacks that are visible and that are apparent, but what

about those that come in as a unawareness concerning the

atmospheres we find ourselves in?

Most people, from my understanding, I've talked to

him over the years, been doing this now for a few years.

Most people never come to me and say, well, you know what, Pastor

McGee, I, I, I just fell apart. They, they, they, they don't

usually say that, but usually what they say is this.

I just can't really put a finger on it right now.

When it all began. I can't put a finger on it right

now when this all started. They, they don't say Brother

Fred. They usually don't tell me.

You know what I I was just defeated and it over.

I mean they, they just start to say things like I only thing

that I know is I I was just becoming a little tired.

I I was just becoming a little weary.

And in those moments, nothing explodes.

There's there's nothing that obvious that breaks out.

They they just stayed somewhere or in a mode it too long.

And almost everybody in this room under the sound of my voice

tonight knows what I'm talking about and maybe knows perhaps

what I'm explaining that people have felt, if I could say it

like this tonight, sometimes it's people that that's on the

job and, and on that job. It's not that there was an

attack on their faith, but it's just that there were some

things, there were some circumstances, there was just

surroundings that that seemed to drain them or, or they had a

relationship, you know, that they were involved in.

And it, it didn't demand that they would compromise anything

or let down, let down, if you will, their standard of

anything. It, it just made compromise seem

to be normal. It just the, the, the feeling

and the surrounding that this is normalized and, and there's a

pace of life that they were working in.

Sometimes it, it didn't feel sinful, it didn't feel

incorrect, but it it just didn't make no space for God.

And so in all of these scenarios, people sometimes were

just totally taken out concerning their Christian

journey and their Christian walk.

But in reality, they weren't taken out.

They were taken in by their surroundings.

They were taken in by their environment.

That's the reason why many of the stories that we hear

there's, there's a little thread of sameness or similarity that's

in them. I've heard them off times.

It's not that a man has just burnt out and he's just stopped

loving his family, but it's because some of the, the

environment that's he's in, it's just demanding more than what he

can seem to give. It's, it's not that a marriage

drifts. It's not because of betrayal.

It's just because they're living in a surrounding of pressure and

stress and exhaustion and and it's just crowding out all the

tenderness that they would use to show in their life.

As a matter of fact, it's my understanding most believers

will never even leave the church because they're mine.

A lot of times they're walking away because there's just chaos

and they're confused. It's a true story that emerges

every year, Brother Fred. You can read about it.

You may even know of some because of some of the things

that you're involved in. But every year you can read

stories of search and rescue missions and reports, and the

stories usually go a little bit like this.

Hikers went into the woods or into a mountainous region or

area. They are equipped with all the

proper gear. They have all the correct

instrumentation. They have good intentions.

They are physically able to do what they are champion to do in

the woods or in the mountains. And then after a while after

they get in that space and they get in that environment and they

get in that place, Amen, Their physical strength sometimes

begins to give away because they're disoriented by the

environment that they are in. They, they don't fall, Amen,

Maybe to an injury or to their dismay because they were

unprepared, because they went prepared.

They don't fall because they didn't have the physical

strength, because they had trained just for this, but they

just fall because the terrain that they're now in it, it just

kind of distorts their sense of direction that they, they

thought they had the compass and they knew how to navigate it,

but it's just distorted it. And all the familiar landmarks

that they thought they had set in their mind.

They, they vanished from their mind's eye.

And when that starts to happen, Sister Sheila, there's, there's

a little bit of panic that starts to come into a person's

spirit. And it's not so much that the

forest or the the mountain range is attacking them, it's just

that this environment is entrapping them and they're

disoriented and they're confused.

And that confusion sometimes can be more dangerous than if there

were an enemy in those mountains or in that field.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Christian experience of

times because we think of danger as some apparent threat.

Come on, what I'm here to tell you tonight, it's not that there

is a danger that's an apparent that is a threat to you, But

sometimes the environments that we keep, sometimes some of the

surroundings that around us, they can shape you.

That's the reason why, Job said in his book and he pinned, he

said the waters where the stones, the waters where the

stones. Job saying the reason why those

stones are shaped like they are shaped, the reason why that they

are formed, the way that they are formed, it's not because of

a Craftsman that has laid a chisel to them and has chipped

away at them. They are as they are because of

their environment has made them as they are.

They have the fingerprints in the imprints of their

environment upon them. And so that's us tonight.

In many regards, that's the reason why humanity sometimes

keeps repeating the same mistakes, because we're

preparing for a absolute apparent threat.

We're preparing for a sword. But we underestimate the

environment. We underestimate our

surroundings. We underestimate Amen places we

find ourselves in and where our foot We're partying against

enemies, but unbeknownst to us, we are in a surrounding that's

not healthy. We're in an environment that's

not the Scripture tackles it over and over again, the very

human problem of our surroundings.

Scripture doesn't come, it doesn't condemn, it doesn't come

to do that, but it comes to expose, Amen.

That God was warning us even through Scripture, that

sometimes our greatest enemy, it's not the enemy per SE that

we're fighting, but the environment that we are

fighting. In.

This was not a battle according to scripture.

This was not a battle loss because Absalom lacked numbers.

He had a sizeable army. This was not a battle loss

because Absalom lacked courage. Because he was very courageous

#1 let's just understand it was a civil war.

It's a battle that he shouldn't even have been in.

But number two, it was lost because of a hostile environment

where he was fighting. It was lost because this hostile

of environment, he was fighting against God's will.

He was fighting against God's purpose.

The Bible tells us that the fight took place in the forest

or in the wood of Ephraim. The wood of Ephraim was known

not to be a flat field. It was known not to be an open

plain, but it was known rather to be a rugged place.

It was known to be a place of broken trees and broken

shrubbery. It was known to be a wooded

country. Amen.

On the east side of Jordan, among the woods of Ephraim were

ravined. Among the woods of Ephraim were

pits. There were thick oats.

There were the undergrowth and integument that you just

couldn't walk through, but your feet could get tangled up in.

This was the woods of Ephraim. The Bible says that the battle

that day was scattered over the face of all the country.

Amen. It tells us that it was an

orderly combat, but it was somewhat of a chaos.

Men were panicking. Men were running Amen.

Instead of the dancing, they're they're trying to get their

bearings in this overgrown wooded place among this ground.

And in that setting, the Bible begins to tell us that the wood

was more of a deadly enemy to them than the adversary that

they were trying to fight themselves.

Absalom in his army were in the wrong place at the wrong time,

in the wrong environment, in the wrong surroundings.

The sword didn't cause the most damage that day, no, it was

their surroundings that caused the most.

Had it been an enemy, maybe they would done a little bit better

because they were prepared for that and they could see it

coming. But you cannot brace yourself.

Many times you don't recognize the surroundings and the

atmospheres that you put yourself in.

The Bible says that 20,000 men were lost to the woods.

More lives claimed by trees and underbrush, pits and ravines

than a sword ever took down. In that battle, it wasn't about

the enemy, it was about their surroundings.

Because here's the fact of the matter, the sword only has so

far reach. Sword really has only so far

reach. I can I can extend my hand.

And this is not by no means a sword.

And I'll probably break something and we'll pay for it.

Hey man. But a sword only has so much

reach the enemy and the visibility of a weapon against

me. It only has so far reach.

The sword only going to impact me if it can reach me.

But there's something about when you're fighting in the wrong

place. At the wrong time.

Now, when you're in such an environment and surroundings,

it's not at the extent of a person's arm.

It's where your feet are presently planted.

It's, it doesn't matter if there's not a sword reaching

you. You, it's where you're at.

It's we're going to break it. It's where you're at, ladies and

gentlemen. Some of us don't need to be

worried about the sword of the enemy.

We need to be worried about the compromising situations that we

put ourselves in. We need to be thinking about the

surroundings and the environment that are put.

The word can kill anybody. That isn't discipline enough to

navigate through it. Let me be plain tonight, some

environments are not meant for us and some environments are not

prosperous for any conflict. The Bible teaches US men 20,000.

Are taken by the wood. There's men that's fallen in

ravines that didn't realize they were there.

There's men whose lives are taken by open pits that they

walked right into. There's others.

There's a bottlenecking of the army taking place where narrow

passages are. There's roots that's tripping

some of them up, falling down and impelling themselves on the

underbrush that's below them. Trees are snagging them.

Hey, man, The same listen, the same terrain that Absalom may

have thought should cover him with safety became a trap to him

and his army. This force was snagging and

disoriented and confusing. And consuming every single one

of them. And it's in the Scripture that

Absalom becomes a living parable himself.

The Bible says that his head gets caught in the branches of

the great oak. And the Bible says that the

captain of the army of Israel, Joab, shows up.

Absalom's there and he's alive, but Joab shows up.

I'll read the verses here in a little bit.

Joab shows up and he takes 3 darts and he plunges them into

the heart of Absalom, who was suspended from between heaven

and between earth. And as it was the woods, the

environment snagged Absalom's head and placed him in a

compromising position for the final blow of Joab.

Look at the Bible, Second Samuel 18 nine and Absalom met the

servants of David, and Absalom rode upon the mule.

They're already in the woods of Ephraim.

And the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and

his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up.

Between the earth and between heaven and the mule that was

under him went away. There's Absalom hanging by his

head, not because someone has a hold of it, but because the

environment has caught it. This wasn't some masterful giant

that had a little Absalom by his neck.

No, this was his surroundings. The Bible says in verse 14, look

at it now, read it with me, I want you to see it in Scripture.

Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee.

He's speaking to a servant. A servant had discovered this,

told Joab. And Joab's like, why didn't you

go on and kill him? He says, because that's the

King's song. I'm not going to do that.

Joab says, OK, tarry thus with thee, I have nothing to do with

you. Let's get to business.

And the Bible says And he, Joab took three darts in his hand and

thrust them. Through the heart of Absalom.

Note now, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

This whole scenario, this day with Absalom, it didn't end with

the clashing of steel swords. It ended with a man that's

hanging between earth in heaven, helplessly in an environment

that he trusted to save him. Hear me, a Bishop before the

three darts were put into his heart.

He was still alive, but he was helpless.

Alive but helpless. And his surroundings put him in

that place. Someone say Lynn.

So Bernie McGee, that's just a military failure.

No, no, that's a contextual failure.

He wasn't conscious of his environment.

And the wood did to him what the sword didn't.

Listen. Listen, we got to be.

Cautious got past her for a little bit.

We got to be cautious of some of the things that we entertain in

our home, in our families, on our jobs.

We got to be cautious some of the things that we involve our

family in because all the while it may seem innocent and you're

looking for some humongous apparent threat, the surrounding

that you're taking them to the environment that you're

submerging them in may leave you helpless between heaven and

earth. The wood devoured more.

This is. My.

Sword and my stand I love it would devoured more tell brother

McGee that's great for a nice little story.

And in Second Samuel that's nice for a little solitary single

occurrence. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no. As we peruse the pages of

scripture, we find out that this is a common occurrence when what

would seem like a pair of enemies may be there, may be

present. But what took many people down

in scripture wasn't the apparent enemy, it was their

surroundings. Time after time God warns us

that the place where your feet occupy might be more dangerous

than the enemy that you see approaching.

And the sad fact is, is most of the time you don't even realize

it until it's too late. Take Lot, if you will, for

consideration we read in Scripture.

Lot never fought a battle. Lot never fought a battle.

He never drew a sword. But he settled near Sodom.

He moved into that place. He.

Sat down among its leaders, and by the time that the fire and

brimstone fell on that city, that environment had so warped

his conscience. Compromised his family, clouded

his judgment that he survived. But he lost his wife, He lost

his testimony, he lost his future.

That city didn't attack him. That city consumed him, his his

environment. Take consideration of the Book

of Judges. Samson reveals the same truth.

Man, I just read my Bible. God bless it.

We're breaking bread. Hey man, Samson reveals the same

truth, but in a different way. Here's a man that when the

Spirit of the Lord moves upon him, he has a strength that

seems to surpass the natural ability of men in this world.

The Bible describes that he's capable of tearing apart lions

with his bare hands. The Bible describes he could

take the gates of a city, which was no small thing, upon his

shoulders and carry them away. The Bible describes that he

could defeat many, even it would seem almost like armies, Amen.

And they would fall before him. But please understand that

because of the Philistines, he fought them, it would seem

sometimes tooth and nail, but he did not fight.

He did not fall because of any fight he ever had with them.

He failed because of the environment.

That he trusted in the Bible says he could have been in

Israel, but he made a lot of trips to the Philistine

territory in the Philistine land, the land that was not

God's land, the land that God had not sanctioned.

He makes trip after trip after trip and he's plunging himself

in an environment that he doesn't belong and he goes over

and over again and his surrounding Amen snafus him.

He's laying his head and relaxing his head on the lap of

the Kyla. Can I tell you tonight, ladies

and gentlemen? He rested his head in the wrong

place, in the wrong environment, in the wrong situation.

No soldier could kill him but a room and a lap and a

relationship. The sword never defeated him.

His setting defeated him. AM I doing OK?

Oh, that's great Old Testament stories, Peter.

Peter 2 proves the story. He's bold in public.

He's fearless and tenacious among the crowd.

But you put him in the arena of 1 fire pit in a courtyard, one

fire pit, rope surrounding in a courtyard unravelled the Apostle

Peter, casual talks taking place there, little subtle pressure

about aren't you one of them? Aren't you a Galilean?

Little persuasive surroundings that he finds himself in, and in

one small environmental moment where the Mason, what years of

discipleship, couldn't do. What happened in that one

moment, that courtyard of his denial, proved more dangerous to

him than possibly being crucified next to the Lord for

owning and acknowledging him. His surroundings, Sister Grace,

he might have been looking for. Maybe they'll take me captive

too and string me up with the Lord.

That seems to be the apparent enemy.

No, Peter, it's where your feet are right now around this fire.

Everybody OK, just a little bit more.

Jonah ran. He didn't run from enemies, but

he ran from where God told him to be.

He changed his environment. He changed his environment and

the ship that he was on became unsafe and the seed that it was

riding on became hostile. And the storm then for him

became very personal. And then we come back to

Absalom. He has numbers, good army, good

size. He has momentum.

He even has the popularity. He's kind of favored among the.

People, but he fights in a force that he don't understand.

Across Scripture, we have this pattern over and over.

God's people oftimes do not fall because they've been

overpowered. They fall because they stay

sometimes too long in the wrong environments.

Staying in that environment, I get disoriented.

My discernment. My discernment gets varnished.

When you get in the wrong environment and you're there for

so long that it starts to feel familiar, I want to.

Recognize that just as when I first entered this place, this

don't feel right. This don't seem right.

Folks, you never want that to leave you.

We're a place where you shouldn't be.

You don't want to ever get to a place where a place where you

shouldn't be starts feeling comfortable.

No, no, no. That's where our conviction gets

thrown out the window and we have no more conviction and it's

fine and I'm fine and everybody's fine.

And God, he'll just kind of turn his face.

He understands. They stayed in the environment

too long, so long that their judgement becoming clouded so,

so long, they begin to compromise some of their their

character. You say, well, brother McGee, I

can love God. Yes, you can.

You say, well, brother McGee, I'm very talented.

You might be. And I'm very gifted.

That's great. And I'm annoyed and that's

great. I'm sincere, pastor.

That's great. But you can still be undone by

where your feet keep showing up at.

That's not the right place. Victory isn't just about who you

fight. It's about where you're fighting

from. Am I doing OK?

Because this, this is not a trivial matter.

This, this not trivial matter. Sister, sister and brother

Trout, it's not a trivial matter.

This, this. The game here is not well, I've

got by with it three times. It's either Ecclesiastes or

right there in one of the the Wisdom Scriptures.

It says because of work or a person's misdeed has not been

judged quickly then that a person believes that they can

just all kind of go along the path because there's never been

the consequence. That, ladies and gentlemen, is

deception. That's that's Aaron.

That's Aaron being there whenever he and his sister

Miriam charged Moses for his wife and Miriam struck with

leprosy and Aaron seems unscathed.

That's that's Aaron that as Moses is upon the Mount and the

people says take this silver and gold, make us a God.

Let let something happen that we can go back to Egypt or or

something. He says, will you give me all

the give me all the things in your years that you took off the

Egyptians and you give it to me and the Bible says he put it in

there. He fashioned A graven image.

God Moses comes down, breaks the 10 commandments and there's

judgement on a lot of people. People die, but guess what?

Aaron's there like seemingly unscathed, but you wait till the

Lord says Aaron, I want you to come up this mountain years

separated from both those times. I want you to come up this

mountain and the Bible says Moses you're supposed to strip

the clothing off of Aaron and when he does, he dies.

The priestly garments, he dies and they're put up on his son.

What are you saying God had not missed a thing our environment.

Our situations, our surroundings, they can either

make you or they can break you. It's how we respond to the

environments that are dangerous that can help us.

And let me tell you ladies and gentlemen, one of the first

things we got to do now I'm preaching for us.

Then I got to say you're preaching this.

No, I'm preaching for us tonight.

The first step is this. How in the world can we respond

when the environment is dangerous and more dangerous

than the enemy are not right? How can we respond?

But the Mason, I believe this is a good leadership thing.

The first thing we got to become aware of the true condition of

our. Environment.

We got to stop placating to other people and telling them

it's OK while we're trying to convince ourselves it's OK.

You know what I'm saying? We do this all the time.

We we can. We're trying to convince people

about something that we're not convinced about.

That's the reason why we're trying to convince them, because

as we're convincing them, we're trying to feel better about how

we're unconvinced. Hey man, the first step is we

become aware, and the moment you become aware is the moment that

you avoid the wood that you become aware about.

Preferred danger isn't always a person or a circumstance, some

grand dramatic event, sometimes dangerous, just where you choose

to live day in and day out. The people that you desire to

bring in close into your circle and be your surroundings and be

the birds of feather that you like to flock together.

We'll, we'll, we'll take a pole later maybe.

What are you saying? I said, well, I've got to take a

pulse of, well, I'm in Mount Carmel.

No, no, no, no, no. You need to take a PO of your

spiritual geography. Where do you spend your time?

Who do you spend your time with? What habits do you practice?

What patterns do you follow? Oh, Jesus, we're doing all

right, folks. We're fooling ourself.

If we can play with firing, we think we won't get burnt.

Amen. Why are you talking about stuff

like this nightmare at Medium? Well, listen, from my

understanding, someday I got to give an account for everybody

who sits in this room. Bible says praying to do it with

joy, not with sorrow. And so I'm just like in the book

of Zeke. I'm just kind of sounding it.

And if they accept that, they accept that they reject it.

I've sounded it is everybody. I'm trying to be sweet and kind

and everything. But do you understand what I'm

saying? Folks?

We, we got to be conscious tonight.

I feel like sometimes we're going to look over our shoulders

and we're going to think, I wish I would have done.

I wish I wouldn't have done. And we're going to have a lot of

regret and sorrow over how we wish we'd have chose our

surroundings and our environment differently, how we went.

I like the little kids. I remember it playing tag so

great, right again at South Gibson.

They had two flag poses out there and we would run back and

forth and do tag after church and got in trouble and all that

good stuff. And I remember, oh.

Brother yes I remember jump away from the flag.

Toe PO, not toe. Someone reach out the yard.

Their their their arm told me. It's like I said, you didn't get

me, you didn't get me. And I had to jump back over to

the flagpole and I jump away. They reach out to.

Her just barely miss. I'm like, you didn't get me.

And that was so fun as a kid until they got me.

Because you can only step away from your environment so many

times into a place that you don't need to be and not get

touched until you have gotten grabbed.

It was all fun and games and it was cute.

It was cute and I love the adrenaline of the risk.

Until now I'm it. Just Melinda not making any

sense tonight. OK, I appreciate it got taken in

awareness because my awareness then allows me to choose proper

terrain where I know God will help fight with.

Me rather than to be fighting against.

God. So recognizing a dangerous

environment is our first step. That's your first step toward

victory. That's your first step toward

victory. Hanson needed to be worried.

David was walking in tandem of God's will and God's purpose.

He was being warred against wrongfully.

David had servants in that same woods, but he wasn't fighting

against God. He's fewer in number, but his

men had traversed this place before the rugged terrain.

They knew about it. They understood they were

discipline in these matters. They, they, they had placement

that was there. He understood the traps.

He fought with the strategy. It's even he that wrote the

Psalms 23 that we often times had have at all of our little

funerals. And he even speaks at one time.

He says even though I walk through the valley of the shadow

of death that should be a bad surrounding.

But he says I know this particular valley is the one

that the Lord has me in. And so thou art with me.

No evil is going to come because the environment that I'm

presently in. Although it may seem even bleak.

It's not one where I'm fighting against the Lord's will.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm coming to a close.

You can stand for me and we'll end the plane and somebody can

go make a touchdown. But tonight, I understand not

every situation is avoidable. Absolutely not, but if every

situation isn't avoidable, not every surrounding we can go in

is avoidable. At least we need to walk into

some places with the certainty. That God is where I'm.

At We in bow our heads tonight. I don't want to talk to us as a

congregation here this evening. We need to ask ourselves some

questions, and I wish we'd be very introspective in this

moment and ask ourselves, God, are there any places or people

or are there any routines that's gradually pulling me away from

you, Brother McGee, you preach. You preach this morning seems

like along some of these lines. Well, I guess it's that Sunday.

Are there any environments or surroundings, God that I'm

keeping that's not benefiting my faith, but it's eroding my faith

because we got to we got to choose.

We got to choose the terrain wisely.

And and I'm just sorry to tell you, Alex Mason, I'm just sorry

to tell you. I'm just sorry to tell you and

Sister Grace. With that little girl over

there, it's not up to her to choose her terrain right now.

That's your responsibility. You know, I've had to have more

than one talk with my kids through the years about

surroundings and environments and what's acceptable, Not

acceptable. If nothing more, for a reminder,

if nothing more to pull back the curtain on the threat that they

didn't see. And that was environment and

surroundings. Yes,

Sir. Jesus.

Yes. Yes, Sir.

Yes. Come on.

I'd be a fool. We'd be a fool.

See our young ones laying a hand on the heart of it.

Say, well, I guess just go on. You really shouldn't be that

close. That's a dangerous environment,

but just go on. There's been too many fatality

counts. Of no grandparent, parental

whatever guardianship guidance allowing people to frolic in

unsafe zones and environments. We got to choose the terrain

wisely. We got to remove ourselves from

situations that will subtly harm.

US. Because sometimes it can happen

so slow, it's imperceptible to us.

It's like the frog in the boiling water, Right?

I was reading my devotional this past week.

The guy who wrote it, he's talking about whenever he's in

high school. Now, this would probably be,

like, animal, you know, abuse. And they probably have a lawsuit

on their hand. But he was quite old.

He's talking about. Yeah, I remember being biology

class and had a beaker water in there and they had a bunch and

burner in there and he said like every minute it would raise a

degree. That frog, she's chilling

Ribbit, Ribbit until over. I think it was approximately an

hour and a half. It was.

He said there are no more Ribbit.

He said that frog is dead and comfortable being dead because

he never realized the danger of his environment.

Sometimes it happens so gradual, it's imperceptible to the one

that it's happening to. And that's the reason why as

parents and leadership and youth pastors and pastors, we stand on

the wall and say. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

wait. I don't think you want to cross

that line there. If I put in these terms right, I

see the purple paint on the trees.

We don't need to be trespassing here.

That's not our land. That's not our environment.

That's not. Well, McGee, are you calling us

to a place of perfection? No, no, no, no, no.

I'm not calling you to perfection.

I'm not telling you you got to fight every battle all at once,

but I am saying this. We do that have the ability to

choose where we stand, where we walk, and where we plant our

feet. And when you choose a God

directed God wield ground for yourself, you know what happens.

Your environment becomes an ally rather than a dangerous pitfall.

Oh yeah, the wood. So weird.

Their surroundings devoured more people than the sword of the

enemy. Let me just already clear the

air. Tonight you're in a good

surrounding. Tonight you're in a good

atmosphere Tonight you're in a good environment.

Tonight. This is the place you want to

bring your children. This is the place where you want

to raise your babies. This is the place where the

elderly need to sat and the young Mary need to sat.

And this is the place where the widows need to sat and this is

the place where the single parents need to sat.

This is where the divorce need to sat.

This because I know this is propagating God's will.

So this is some God ground and I'm going to have hills and

valleys, but I know he's going to be here with me because I'm

not fighting against him. I'm not fighting against God.

I'm. Admonishing us tonight, please.

Hear me, if you survey life right here at the end of the

service and you say you know. What?

There's some. There's some.

Surroundings that I There's some surroundings that I walk in

through the week that I need to take the long way around.

There's some environments that we've entertained.

You know what, I'm, I'm starting to get an inkling.

You know what, I remember when I first did this, it didn't feel

right, but I just did it anyway. And now after tonight, I'm

starting to feel that maybe you might need to pay attention.

You know what that is? If you had the Holy Ghost,

that's God's Spirit inside of you, that's pricking you.

That is a wonderful gift that God has for us all.

You know what it's called? Conviction.

You know what conviction does? It draws us from wherever we

are, back to God. Wherever we are, back to God,

however far back to God. That's conviction.

You know what I want to do, God? I want to surrender.

I want to surrender to that. Let my feet be positioned in a

place where you can fight for me, you can fight with me and

that my environment becomes an ally to push me forward.

These halters are open this evening.

I wish as many of us that could would find a place to pray

tonight. I know this has been a strong

Sunday, but I wish as many of us as could could find a place

tonight and say, God, Lord, if, if, if my feet and my activity

are involved in some circles that are not conducive to my

life with you, not conducive to my walk with you, then help me,

Lord. Let me have an awareness about

it and help me, Lord, to respond according to the awareness that

I get. Help me to respond according to

the awareness that I get. Folks, it may be that we need to

break off some relationships. We got to break off some other

thing. It may be some of those things,

but we need to take inventory tonight.

God help me, Lord, to become aware of my surroundings, to be

aware of the woods. God, there's entanglement and

there's pits and there's ravines and there's underbrush.

God, it's tripping me up. It's entangling me.

It's consuming me. I'm disoriented, I'm confused.

It's chaos. Hear it tonight.

Come on, just pour your just pour yourself out before the

Lord. Just pour yourself out before

the Lord. Just pour yourself out.

Sometimes we just got to be a David Lord.

If I'm not aware of it, search me O God, and know my heart.

See if there be any winked way. See if there be any winked way.

Oh Lord, help me, God. If I'm, if I'm not aware, help

me. If I've, if I've become dull and

callous to it, help me. The wood devoured more, the

surroundings took more the environment took.

More.