Sermon

A Man After God's Own Heart | Wednesday Night Service | September 30, 2026

Faithful Word Baptist Church

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  1. Man, the title of my sermon this evening is

  2. A Man After God's Own Heart.

  3. A man after God's own heart.

  4. Of course, this is a reference to David.

  5. And it's interesting, if you think about all

  6. of the different human characters

  7. that are mentioned in the Bible,

  8. David is actually mentioned more by name

  9. than any other character in the Bible.

  10. In fact, David is mentioned about 1139 times in the Bible.

  11. Jesus is mentioned 984 times.

  12. Of course, that's pretty much all in the New Testament.

  13. And then Moses, 848 times.

  14. Saul, 425 times.

  15. Jacob, 377 times.

  16. Aaron, 352 times.

  17. I mean, Abraham is mentioned 250 times.

  18. But David is mentioned 1139 times in the Bible.

  19. He's the most mentioned human character.

  20. So he's a pretty important character

  21. in the Bible.

  22. And he kind of just becomes the standard

  23. for all future kings of Israel or Judah.

  24. And so he's super important.

  25. Someone told me, oh, I don't really like the character David.

  26. Like, they were just offended by some of the sins

  27. and mistakes that he made.

  28. Like, I don't like David.

  29. It's kind of hard not to like David

  30. if you're gonna like the Bible.

  31. Because I mean, we're talking about somebody

  32. who's mentioned 1100 sometimes.

  33. And obviously he authored a lot of the Psalms

  34. and he's a super significant character.

  35. But the Bible says of David

  36. that he was a man after God's own heart.

  37. And so this is someone that we could look at

  38. and see what these attributes were

  39. that made David a man after God's own heart

  40. so that we could also be people after God's own heart.

  41. It's not that David is just special

  42. and that God just has a soft spot for David

  43. for no reason.

  44. No, because afterward people are compared to David.

  45. It's like he did right in the side of the Lord

  46. like David his father.

  47. Or he did evil in the side of the Lord.

  48. He was not like David his father

  49. showing that we can either be like David

  50. or not be like David even in 2026.

  51. And if we want God to like us,

  52. if we want God to be pleased with us,

  53. if we want God to bless us,

  54. obviously we wanna be like David

  55. in the sense that wanna be a man after God's own heart.

  56. So what was it that made David a great person?

  57. Well, let's look at what the Bible says here

  58. when we're first introduced to David.

  59. Now flip back a few pages to chapter 13 verse 14

  60. because the first time David is actually mentioned by name

  61. is in the book of Ruth.

  62. But in the book of Ruth, it's just part of a genealogy

  63. basically just explaining to you

  64. that Boaz begat Obed and Obed begat Jesse

  65. and Jesse begat David.

  66. And so that's the first time we get that name.

  67. But as far as in the narrative here

  68. in first Samuel chapter 13,

    1 Samuel 13 chapter mention

  69. this is the first place that he's actually mentioned

  70. as a character, as a person.

  71. And it says in verse 14 there,

  72. but now thy kingdom shall not continue.

  73. This is God speaking to King Saul.

  74. He says, your kingdom shall not continue.

  75. The Lord had sought him a man after his own heart

  76. and the Lord had commanded him to be captain

  77. over his people because thou hast not kept

  78. that which the Lord commanded thee.

  79. And this is where we first get the idea

  80. that David is a man after God's own heart.

  81. Go to chapter 15 verse 28.

  82. Just a couple of pages to the right.

  83. Chapter 15 verse 28, Samuel said unto him,

  84. the Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day

  85. and hath given it to a neighbor of thine

  86. that is better than thou.

  87. So again, we see David is a man after God's own heart

  88. and he is better than King Saul.

  89. Well, let's see what attributes made him better.

  90. Go if you would to first Samuel chapter 16

    1 Samuel 16 chapter mention

  91. where we started.

  92. And just to bring you up to speed in the story,

  93. of course, as God said,

  94. he's going to replace King Saul with a man

  95. after his own heart.

  96. That's gonna be King David.

  97. Well, the Lord appears unto Samuel in a vision

  98. and tells him, one of Jesse's sons

  99. is gonna be the next king of Israel.

  100. You're gonna go anoint one of his sons.

  101. And so Samuel goes there

  102. and all of the sons of Jesse are paraded

  103. in front of Samuel.

  104. And each time the Lord is telling him,

  105. this is not the right person.

  106. So it's like the first born, second born,

  107. seven sons paraded before him.

  108. And Samuel's like, none of these is who I'm looking for.

  109. God has not chosen any of these.

  110. Is there another son?

  111. Do you have another son that you're not showing me?

  112. And they're like, well, you know, we do have the youngest

  113. but he's out watching the sheep and whatever.

  114. So David is kind of an afterthought

  115. even in the mind of his father.

  116. They thought that these really tall strapping young

  117. men that had more physical prowess

  118. were gonna be the choice.

  119. Whereas it's David.

  120. So look at verse number 11 of chapter 16.

  121. It says, and Samuel said unto Jesse,

  122. are here all thy children.

  123. And he said, there remaineth yet the youngest

  124. and be able to keepeth the sheep.

  125. And Samuel said unto Jesse, send and fetch him

  126. for we will not sit down till he come hither.

  127. Verse 12.

  128. And he said and brought him in.

  129. Now he was ruddy and with all the beautiful countenance

  130. and goodly to look to.

  131. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him for this is he.

  132. So point number one, the first thing I wanna show you

  133. because remember he's out keeping the sheep in verse 11.

  134. Point number one about David is that he did a humble job.

  135. This is a guy who did a humble job.

  136. I mean, this is one of the greatest men of all time.

  137. 1100 some mentions in the Bible,

  138. man after God's own heart.

  139. And he's a man who did a humble job

  140. of being a shepherd of caring for the sheep.

  141. And you know what?

  142. You as men should never be ashamed to do a humble job.

  143. Any kind of honest work

  144. where you're out working for a living,

  145. whether it's blue collar or whatever it is.

  146. Hey, never be ashamed to go out and do an honest job.

  147. You know, there's no shame in being a garbage man

  148. or an electrician or a plumber or cooking food

  149. or whatever it is that you do.

  150. You should not be too proud to do a humble job.

  151. And you know, clean in bathrooms or whatever.

  152. Hey, that's the Lord's work.

  153. If you're doing it as unto the Lord, not unto men.

  154. And so David did a humble job.

  155. Being a shepherd is not a glamorous job.

  156. He's forgotten about, it's an afterthought.

  157. It's not a super highly skilled job,

  158. but yet he did that humble job and he did it well.

  159. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10,

    Ecclesiastes 9:10

  160. whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,

  161. do it with thy might, right?

  162. Give it everything you got.

  163. Colossians 3.23 says,

  164. and whatsoever you do, do it heartily

  165. as to the Lord and not unto men.

  166. And I guarantee you that if he would have been

  167. slacking off in his shepherding job,

  168. there's no way God is gonna bring him

  169. to shepherd the people of Israel.

  170. If you can't shepherd the sheep,

  171. you can't shepherd the people of Israel, right?

  172. Because that's the test.

  173. If you're faithful in the least,

  174. then you'll be faithful in much.

  175. And so when you're doing that humble job,

  176. God needs to look down at you

  177. and see you giving it everything you got,

  178. being faithful, taking it seriously,

  179. and then God's gonna move you on

  180. to bigger and better things.

  181. Now you might think, yeah, but nobody sees me.

  182. Nobody sees what I'm doing.

  183. God sees.

  184. Because nobody saw David either.

  185. He's not voted most likely to succeed in his yearbook.

  186. Because they're saying, hey,

  187. one of your sons is gonna be king.

  188. He's not even on the list.

  189. It's like, are you sure you don't have another son?

  190. Well, yeah, okay.

  191. Because he's so out of sight, off with the sheep.

  192. But at the end of the day, God is the one who sees.

  193. No matter what humble job you're doing,

  194. God sees if you're doing well or not,

  195. and God can give you bigger and better things.

  196. So number one, he's a man after God's own heart

  197. because he did a humble job

  198. and he did it faithfully and he did it well.

  199. Number two, what do we see about David?

  200. The next thing we learn about him

  201. is that he's good looking, right?

  202. Because it says right after this that he was ruddy,

  203. which ruddy, this is related to our word for red,

  204. meaning that I guess he has like blushy cheeks

  205. or something probably is what that means.

  206. He was with all of a beautiful countenance.

  207. So he has a very handsome face and goodly to look to.

  208. So he's handsome and good looking.

  209. And you say, well, what in the world

  210. does this have to do with being a man

  211. after God's own heart?

  212. Because, you know, let's face it,

  213. we can't control the way that we look.

  214. We can't control the face that God gave us.

  215. But if you would turn to 1 Corinthians chapter one,

  216. I think the significant thing here

  217. about David being such a good looking young man

  218. and being a man after God's own heart

  219. is that even though he was very handsome,

  220. he did not let that go to his head.

  221. He did not become puffed up because let's face it,

  222. most people who are very good looking,

  223. this could cause them to become prideful, arrogant,

  224. and maybe instead of serving God

  225. and spending time working hard and doing the right things,

  226. they could be out womanizing

  227. and doing all kinds of sinful things

  228. and just taking a different path in life

  229. because they've been blessed

  230. with that beautiful countenance.

  231. Good looking guy doesn't necessarily mean

  232. that he's gonna live for God.

  233. And so in spite of being good looking,

  234. he didn't let that get him puffed up.

  235. He still was a humble servant of God.

  236. Because look what the Bible says

  237. in 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse 26,

  238. it says, for you see your calling, brethren,

  239. how that not many wise men after the flesh,

  240. not many mighty, not many noble are called,

  241. but God has chosen the foolish things of the world

  242. to confound the wise

  243. and God has chosen the weak things of the world

  244. to confound the things which are mighty

  245. and the base things of the world

  246. and the things which are despised had God chosen.

  247. Yay, and the things which are not

  248. to bring to not the things that are

  249. that no flesh should glory in his presence.

  250. He said, look around,

  251. look at the movers and shakers in the church,

  252. look at the great men of God,

  253. look at the preachers that are being greatly used by God.

  254. And here's what you're gonna notice

  255. is that it's not many wise men according to the flesh,

  256. not many people where the world would say,

  257. this guy's a big time intellectual.

  258. There's not many wise,

  259. no, are there gonna be some intellectuals?

  260. Absolutely, but not many, okay?

  261. Not many mighty men after the flesh,

  262. not many that are noble.

  263. Look, God has chosen the foolish things of this world

  264. to confound the wise.

  265. So basically what the Bible is saying,

  266. if you look around at the people

  267. that are being the most greatly used by God,

  268. they're not necessarily, they're really smart people,

  269. they're really rich people,

  270. they're really good-looking people,

  271. they're really high-bred, well-born people.

  272. You know, God has chosen just the base people,

  273. normal people, average people.

  274. And look, you don't have to be super smart

  275. to be greatly used by God as a preacher, right?

  276. Because if you're filled with the spirit of God

  277. and you're preaching the basics of God's word,

  278. that's what most people need to hear anyway.

  279. You don't have to go super deep.

  280. You don't have to be super intellectual.

  281. You don't have to know Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic.

  282. You don't have to know all of this high-level stuff

  283. in order to be greatly used by God.

  284. You need to know the Bible and preach the word of God

  285. and be spirit-filled.

  286. Now, are there gonna be some people that are intellectual?

  287. Absolutely, so we're not saying God can't use

  288. the intellectual.

  289. We're not saying that no preachers are good-looking, okay?

  290. We're not saying that no preachers are very athletic.

  291. But in general, the most athletic people,

  292. the best-looking people, the smartest people,

  293. you know what they're gonna do, something else.

  294. Why?

  295. Because of just ego and pride

  296. and just wanting to serve themselves.

  297. And some of the more humble people,

  298. maybe they even struggled in school.

  299. They're not that good-looking, not that athletic,

  300. not that social.

  301. God could actually do a great work through those people

  302. and then he gets all the glory

  303. and no flesh glories in his presence.

  304. Because think about it.

  305. If God greatly used a man of God

  306. who was super talented and super smart,

  307. then people would just say,

  308. well, he's succeeding because he's so smart and talented.

  309. Whereas if he takes an ordinary guy

  310. and does something extraordinary,

  311. then people would look at that and say,

  312. it's the spirit of God that did that.

  313. And so the fact that David is good-looking,

  314. yet he didn't let it go to his head,

  315. he's one of the few that excels in some area

  316. and yet still can be greatly used by God.

  317. You don't have to turn there,

  318. you can if you want, but in Ezekiel chapter 28,

    Ezekiel 28 chapter mention

  319. you know, we have the prophecy

  320. that talks about Satan.

  321. And it talks about him being actually puffed up

  322. and arrogant and prideful because of his beauty.

  323. It says in verse 17,

  324. "'Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty,

  325. thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.

  326. I will cast thee to the ground,

  327. I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.'

  328. So we see that Satan was very good-looking

  329. and also very wise

  330. and because of that,

  331. his heart's lifted up and he's prideful.

  332. So if we were really good-looking and smart,

  333. we could also get prideful

  334. and then not be used by God

  335. and yet David overcame that.

  336. Now go back if you would to 1 Samuel 16.

  337. Also in Ezekiel, it mentions Satan's musical prowess

  338. and it talks about his pipes

  339. and his tabrets and so forth.

  340. And what we're gonna see about David

  341. is that he also was very musically talented.

  342. And again, if you're good-looking

  343. and musically talented,

  344. that's a recipe for being a womanizer.

  345. But that's not the route that David went.

  346. Instead, he dedicates his life primarily to serving God.

  347. Look at verse number 13.

  348. It says,

  349. "'Then Samuel took the horn of oil

  350. and anointed him in the midst of his brethren

  351. and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David

  352. from that day forward.

  353. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah."

  354. Okay, so the third thing I want you to see about David

  355. is that he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

  356. Now you say, well, that happened after he was chosen.

  357. He was filled with the Spirit of God.

  358. But he was a vessel that could be filled

  359. with the Holy Spirit and was filled with the Spirit.

  360. Because remember, it was Saul's sin and disobedience

  361. that caused him to lose the privilege

  362. of being filled with the Spirit.

  363. And the Holy Spirit departed from him

  364. and then the Spirit of the Lord rested upon David.

  365. He was no longer a suitable vessel

  366. to be filled with God's Spirit.

  367. Now in the New Testament,

  368. we all as saved Christians are permanently

  369. indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

  370. He will never leave us nor forsake us.

  371. We're sealed by the Holy Ghost

  372. under the day of redemption.

  373. But we still can either be filled with the Spirit

  374. or not filled with the Holy Spirit.

  375. And so we want to be Spirit filled.

  376. And here's the thing,

  377. living a life of sin and disobedience to God

  378. will preclude you from being filled with the Holy Spirit.

  379. And you will actually not be filled with the Holy Spirit

  380. because of your carnality and your sin

  381. and you're not living forgotten.

  382. And what did Jesus say?

  383. He said, without me, you can do nothing.

  384. You gotta abide in the vine

  385. if you want to bring forth much fruit.

  386. So if we want to be productive Christians,

  387. fruitful Christians, soul-winning Christians,

  388. want to be filled with the Holy Spirit,

  389. well here's the thing,

  390. if you start just living a life of sin and disobedience,

  391. well then you could lose that fullness

  392. of the Holy Spirit.

  393. Productivity is gonna go down

  394. or be non-existent.

  395. And so the Bible talks about in the New Testament

  396. the importance of being filled with the Spirit.

  397. Acts 4.31 says when they had prayed,

  398. the place was shaken where they were assembled together

  399. and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost

  400. and they spake the word of God with boldness.

  401. So we should pray for boldness, pray for power,

  402. pray for the fullness of the Holy Spirit

  403. so that we can preach God's word with boldness.

  404. Ephesians 5.18, be not drunk with wine,

  405. we're in his excess, but be filled with the Spirit.

  406. You know, that tells me that if you're drinking

  407. a bunch of alcohol, taking drugs,

  408. you know, you're not filled with the Spirit.

  409. That's the kind of stuff that's gonna prevent you

  410. from being filled with the Spirit.

  411. Be not drunk with wine, rather be filled with the Spirit,

  412. speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns

  413. and spiritual songs, singing and making melody

  414. in your heart to the Lord.

  415. And so being filled with the Spirit

  416. is what made David a great man

  417. and it's what's gonna make you a great man

  418. or you a great woman is being filled with the Spirit.

  419. Now, not only that, but number four,

  420. the next thing we learn about David

  421. is that he is an accomplished musician.

  422. And again, we just read the verse that said,

  423. be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves

  424. in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

  425. The Bible says in Colossians 3.16,

  426. let the word of Christ dwell in you richly

  427. in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another

  428. in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

  429. singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

  430. So we said number one, he did a humble job

  431. and he was faithful at that humble job.

  432. Number two, he was good looking,

  433. but he didn't let it go to his head.

  434. Number three, he was filled with the Spirit of God.

  435. What are we talking about tonight?

  436. We're talking about why was David a man

  437. after God's own heart?

  438. Why was he such a great man?

  439. And the fourth reason that he was a great man

  440. is that he was an accomplished musician.

  441. Look at 1 Samuel 16, 18.

  442. Then answered one of the servants and said,

  443. behold, I've seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite

  444. that is cunning in playing and a mighty, valiant man

  445. and a man of war and prudent in matters

  446. and a comely person.

  447. Again, comely person is again pointing out

  448. the fact that he's a good looking guy

  449. and the Lord is with him.

  450. Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse

  451. and said, send me David thy son,

  452. which is with the sheep.

  453. So we see that he is cunning

  454. at playing the harp.

  455. He is a skilled musician.

  456. And I believe that God likes this.

  457. I believe that God looks down at that

  458. and he respects that and thinks it's a beautiful thing

  459. because you see the longest book in the Bible

  460. is literally a song book, the book of Psalms.

  461. So apparently God loves music.

  462. And one of the verses in Psalms, Psalm 332 says this,

  463. praise the Lord with the harp.

  464. Sing unto him with the sultry

  465. and an instrument of 10 strings.

  466. Sing unto him a new song.

  467. Watch this.

  468. Play skillfully with the loud noise.

  469. So the Bible is saying praise the Lord

  470. using musical instruments.

  471. Play skillfully with the loud noise.

  472. So apparently this is something that God cares about.

  473. And not only is music a beautiful way to praise God

  474. and worship God and we're filled with the spirit

  475. when we're speaking to ourselves

  476. in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

  477. But not only that, getting good at playing an instrument

  478. just takes a ton of hard work.

  479. Now people who are not musicians,

  480. they don't understand this.

  481. They can't grasp it.

  482. If you don't play an instrument,

  483. you can't grasp what I'm saying right now

  484. because people just think like, oh yeah, no big deal.

  485. Or they think like, oh, you're so talented.

  486. Oh, it's so much talent.

  487. Okay, it's not talent,

  488. it's called thousands of hours of practicing.

  489. Okay, now talent is gonna make you a little better

  490. or lack of talent is gonna make you a little bit worse.

  491. But at the end of the day,

  492. it's 90% hard work, 10% talent, you know?

  493. And the reason, oh, what about Mozart?

  494. You know Mozart's dad had him just playing nonstop

  495. when he's like a toddler and stuff.

  496. You know, he's just, he's in that home.

  497. He's brought up that way and he's pushed

  498. and pushed and pushed.

  499. He's putting in thousands of hours of practice

  500. as a little kid, you know?

  501. And these guys that you see up here,

  502. you know, Moses on the sax, Kira on the piano,

  503. you know, all the, I don't wanna leave people out,

  504. but I'm just saying like,

  505. these people that are up here playing musical instruments,

  506. they put thousands of hours of work into that.

  507. Guaranteed, they're not just savants

  508. or, you know, autistic or something, you know?

  509. They actually just practiced a lot to get to that point,

  510. okay?

  511. And again, you know, what does that show you?

  512. That shows you some level of character

  513. of how about just sticking with something?

  514. Because I'm not gonna ask for a raise of hands.

  515. How many of you started an instrument

  516. and never went through with it?

  517. You know, I mean, it'd be hands all over the building

  518. if we're honest, right?

  519. It takes character, it takes follow through,

  520. it takes hard work to actually get good at it

  521. and then to take that talent and use it for the Lord.

  522. Because again, worldly musicians,

  523. they can get super talented and just go out

  524. and just use it to make money

  525. or even to sing songs that have a bad message,

  526. glorifying sin, glorifying drinking,

  527. glorifying drugs and fornication

  528. or just singing blasphemous songs

  529. that are just taking jabs at the Bible

  530. and jabs at Christianity and stuff like that.

  531. I mean, music like that abounds.

  532. But to put in the effort and the work

  533. and then use your talents for the Lord, right?

  534. That is praiseworthy.

  535. And so he was an accomplished musician.

  536. But not only that, the Bible says

  537. he was a mighty valiant man

  538. because in verse 18 it says he was cunning in playing

  539. and a mighty valiant man.

  540. You know, isn't it a shame that so many musicians

  541. get a stigma or a stereotype of being effeminate?

  542. And then unfortunately effeminate musicians make this worse

  543. by just proving it to be true or something like that.

  544. But there's nothing inherently effeminate

  545. about playing a musical instrument.

  546. You don't have to be a queer little sissy

  547. to be good at the piano or the guitar

  548. or the trumpet or whatever.

  549. So why is it though that there are so many

  550. effeminate musicians out there

  551. is because a lot of people just become

  552. imbalanced in their lives.

  553. Okay, and I'm a strong believer

  554. in having balance in your life

  555. and not being this one trick pony

  556. but that we should all kind of,

  557. for lack of a better word,

  558. we should be Renaissance men

  559. in the sense that we're balanced and well-rounded

  560. and we do a little of this, a little of that.

  561. And what happens is a lot of people,

  562. they kind of just go overboard on one thing.

  563. They're called nerds, right?

  564. That's what it means to be like a nerd

  565. or a geek or something, right?

  566. It's usually somebody who just goes way all in

  567. on one thing, whether that's, and it could be,

  568. there's all kinds of different nerds

  569. and geeks out there, you know,

  570. because the science geek is totally different

  571. than the Latin geek, like the classics geek

  572. or the music geek or whatever.

  573. And I'm kind of being silly and poking fun

  574. but at the end of the day though,

  575. we should all seek for balance in our life

  576. and so it's great to see a guy like David

  577. who is intelligent and he can play music beautifully

  578. but he can also get out there and fight

  579. and be manly and he's not being this soft musician.

  580. And so I think that a reason why a lot of musicians

  581. could be effeminate or get the stigma of being effeminate

  582. is because basically they're just kind of indoors

  583. practicing their instrument for hours and hours

  584. at the expense of going outside and getting physical

  585. and touching grass and doing stuff like more physical

  586. but here's the thing, there's 24 hours in the day.

  587. And even the most committed professional musicians

  588. they usually only practice for three, four hours a day.

  589. You know, what are you doing for the rest of the day?

  590. Get a, become a lumberjack or something, I don't know.

  591. Just get a physical job and if you don't have

  592. a physical job then you know what?

  593. You gotta get out, hit the gym,

  594. play sports, wrestle, do something

  595. because you don't wanna become imbalanced.

  596. You know, and then some of you,

  597. muscle heads out there, need to maybe get some smarts

  598. or learn how to play a little music or something.

  599. Get a little balance in your life

  600. because we don't wanna just be these rugged, manly men

  601. who have no appreciation for beauty and art, right?

  602. You wanna, yeah, you wanna be rugged and manly

  603. but you know what?

  604. Maybe you should do some music

  605. and maybe you should do some art

  606. and maybe you should be a little more of an intellectual

  607. instead of just being some kind of a big dumb animal, okay?

  608. But then some of you intellectuals out there

  609. or musicians or whatever, you know,

  610. you need to get out there

  611. and become a little more of an animal, you know?

  612. And get out there and play sports, get in shape,

  613. get outside, get in the sun, socialize

  614. and not become soft and weak

  615. just because you're playing an instrument for hours

  616. doesn't mean you have to be soft and weak, you know?

  617. And here's the thing, our world

  618. wants us all to be super specialized

  619. whereas I think we should strive in our lives

  620. to be balanced because think about it.

  621. You know what?

  622. When society wants you to be super specialized,

  623. do they want you to be super specialized

  624. because that's what's best for you

  625. or is it because it's what's best for them?

  626. You know, yeah, obviously the machine of society

  627. wants these super specialized cogs

  628. to just kind of do their job and be in their place

  629. but what's best for you as a person is to be well-rounded

  630. and if we study the Bible,

  631. we're gonna see that God praises music

  632. and playing music and singing and being musical.

  633. He also praises being strong and being manly

  634. and being a warrior and being physical

  635. and doing these things.

  636. And then he also praises wisdom and knowledge

  637. and reading and learning.

  638. So if God's telling you, get wisdom,

  639. get instruction, get knowledge, right?

  640. But then over here, he's also telling you,

  641. be a man, fight the good fight, you know?

  642. And then over here, he's telling you,

  643. play skillfully with a loud noise.

  644. I don't think that God wants us to be super specialized

  645. because people become imbalanced.

  646. They become so super intellectual

  647. they can't relate to normal people.

  648. You become, you know,

  649. you just become so physical and sports and everything

  650. and then it's like you're just,

  651. you need to get some smarts.

  652. You know, you need to appreciate the finer things

  653. and you know, that's part of the reason why

  654. we as men need to get married

  655. because if we didn't get married,

  656. like our houses would just be like super utilitarian.

  657. There'd be no decorations.

  658. It would just be like just so minimal

  659. and, you know, it would be weird.

  660. Whereas like, you know, you need that woman's touch.

  661. You ever walk into a house and you're like,

  662. yeah, there's not a woman who lives here?

  663. Or you walk in and you know,

  664. the woman does live here

  665. because she, you know, adds a woman's touch.

  666. You know, we need balance in our lives

  667. and that's one of the things about getting married

  668. is that your spouse kind of balances you out a little bit.

  669. You know, your wife kind of tones you down a little

  670. or fires you up or whatever you need, you know.

  671. And this is why a lot of times opposites attract.

  672. We can kind of compliment each other

  673. and fill in for each other's weaknesses

  674. and help each other out

  675. and become greater than the sum of our parts.

  676. But it's important that we as Christians have balance

  677. because here's the thing.

  678. Look at churches that are imbalanced.

  679. I mean, there are churches that are obsessed with one issue

  680. and that's all they talk about and all they think about.

  681. You know, there's a certain church I'm thinking of

  682. where the pastor just preaches

  683. for months and months and months,

  684. every sermon is political.

  685. Every sermon's about liberty, freedom,

  686. the United States, the Constitution,

  687. the Declaration of Independence

  688. for month after month after month.

  689. You go to other churches and it's just everything

  690. is just one subject.

  691. Oh, it's just family, family, family.

  692. It's just all sermons about the family, everything.

  693. It's just you don't wanna be balanced.

  694. Other sermons, it'll be prophecy

  695. and it's just that's all the guy preaches about

  696. is just prophecy, just prophecy.

  697. Other guy, oh, I'm just a creation ministry.

  698. It's just only gonna talk about creation.

  699. These people tend to be very imbalanced

  700. because I think that church should preach the whole Bible.

  701. We should read the whole Bible.

  702. We should all be interested in prophecy.

  703. We should be interested in the family.

  704. We should be interested in hard preaching against sin.

  705. We should wanna learn doctrine about Jesus.

  706. We should wanna learn about who Jesus is,

  707. the life of Jesus Christ, his death,

  708. barrel, resurrection, all those nuances.

  709. We wanna be general practitioners,

  710. not super hyper specialists where we're imbalanced

  711. because, you know, other churches

  712. are only positive all the time.

  713. Like Joel Osteen's like, well, you know,

  714. I don't talk about hell because I'm more of a coach.

  715. I'm more of a motivator.

  716. And so I only wanna talk about that which is positive.

  717. He's only preaching that which is positive.

  718. But then you'll have other people,

  719. every sermon's super negative.

  720. It's all hellfire and damnation

  721. and there's nothing positive.

  722. And I remember when we were in the preaching class,

  723. sometimes I would assign to different guys

  724. topics to get them out of their comfort zone

  725. because in the preaching class there'd be a guy

  726. who shows up and he just rips face every week.

  727. And then I told that guy, hey, next week

  728. you're gonna preach a Mother's Day sermon.

  729. You know, or you're gonna preach, you know,

  730. whatever the sermon on love and charity and grace

  731. or whatever.

  732. And then there's another guy

  733. that just he can just never rip any face.

  734. He's just preaching all these soft sermons.

  735. And I told him, I said, look,

  736. there's gotta be something that makes you mad,

  737. that gets you fired up.

  738. Figure out which sin bothers you the most

  739. and I want you to get real mad about it

  740. and get up and preach a hard sermon.

  741. You know, and just show us that you can preach hard

  742. because why?

  743. We wanna have balance.

  744. You don't wanna be negative all the time.

  745. You don't wanna be positive all the time.

  746. You gotta preach the whole Bible.

  747. And in our lives we don't wanna be super athletic

  748. but dumb as a brick.

  749. And we don't wanna be super smart

  750. and super good on music

  751. but just we get winded going up the stairs

  752. because we're gonna die young like that.

  753. You know, you gotta be healthy.

  754. You gotta be balanced.

  755. You gotta have the whole package and try not to be.

  756. And you know, this is what we try to do

  757. with people at our church

  758. because we've had people at our church.

  759. You know, they're super into serving God

  760. and they love the Lord and they love soul winning

  761. and the Bible and the preaching

  762. but it's like they're just so bad at socializing

  763. or they just don't even wanna socialize

  764. and they don't care.

  765. So it's like, we'll go soul winning.

  766. It's like, hey, let's go for food afterward.

  767. And they're just like, oh, I gotta go.

  768. Like they can never show up to any activity

  769. if there's fun involved.

  770. And you know what?

  771. These people never make it in the long run.

  772. They seem super spiritual.

  773. Like you see these people are like, whoa,

  774. this guy's a whole nother level.

  775. Like he's just all work, no play

  776. and he's just soul winning machine

  777. and just constant Bible reading, but no fellowship.

  778. And it's like, I'm thinking of several,

  779. I'm not even thinking of one person.

  780. I'm thinking of several people

  781. over the years that have been like this

  782. where it's like, they don't know how to have fun.

  783. They don't know how to laugh.

  784. They don't know how to show up

  785. and just eat a meal with people

  786. and just hang out and talk.

  787. They will literally,

  788. if there's nothing spiritual going out at the activity,

  789. they won't come.

  790. Hey, drop me off before you go out to eat

  791. or they'll just be off in the corner with their butt

  792. like they're Jewish or something.

  793. And they're just like,

  794. it's like, bro, you need to become a normal person.

  795. And I'm telling you, these people,

  796. they seem super spiritual.

  797. None of them is still here right now.

  798. It's not a single person in our church like that

  799. right now.

  800. Yet I can think of several examples over the years.

  801. Why are they not here?

  802. Where are they?

  803. You know what?

  804. I'll tell you where a lot of these people are

  805. is they go off the deep end,

  806. they get out of church,

  807. they crash and burn,

  808. they get back slidden,

  809. they stay home, whatever.

  810. Let me tell you something.

  811. If you are imbalanced,

  812. you're like a cake not turned as the Bible says.

  813. You wanna be complete and entire wanting nothing.

  814. You don't wanna be lacking in your Christian life.

  815. You wanna add to your faith virtue

  816. and add temperance and add charity.

  817. You wanna have the whole package

  818. and not just be partially done.

  819. And I'm telling you, you might think like,

  820. oh, I'm just too super spiritual to hang out

  821. and have fun and fellowship.

  822. You're imbalanced.

  823. And it's like, oh, I'm just going to the gym

  824. and working out and playing sports.

  825. That stuff's also carnal.

  826. It's good for you.

  827. It's good for you physically.

  828. It's good for your soul.

  829. It's good for you actually mentally to actually do.

  830. And you know what?

  831. I think that people were smarter

  832. when they're learning the whole package

  833. and getting a variety of subjects.

  834. Then if they just go super specialized on one thing,

  835. you gotta be cross trained.

  836. Even in your job, like when you're a tradesman,

  837. it's good to know what the other trades are doing

  838. and how to interface with them

  839. and how to interact with them

  840. and not be so super specialized

  841. that you only know your job and nothing else.

  842. So not only is David an accomplished musician,

  843. he is also, and the Bible calls him, quote,

  844. the sweet psalmist of Israel.

  845. So he's the sweet psalmist of Israel,

  846. but he's also a mighty man of valor.

  847. He's also a man of war.

  848. He's a warrior.

  849. He's a fighter.

  850. Now look, that sounds like a pretty good balance.

  851. He's this sweet psalmist

  852. writing all these lovey-dovey psalms

  853. and then he can turn around and kick some butt.

  854. It sounds like a great guy.

  855. I like him already.

  856. So number four, he was an accomplished musician.

  857. Number five, he was a mighty man.

  858. And obviously that's talking about his physical prowess.

  859. We should also seek to be mighty spiritually, right?

  860. We want to be spiritually strong,

  861. not just physically strong.

  862. We want to be spiritually strong as men.

  863. The Bible says, finally my brethren,

  864. be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

  865. Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace

  866. that is in Christ Jesus.

  867. Now go to Deuteronomy chapter 31.

    Deuteronomy 31 chapter mention

  868. Deuteronomy 31, David was a man after God's own heart.

  869. I want to be a man after God's own heart.

  870. We all want to be people after God's own heart.

  871. We want to be people that God looks down on

  872. and he's pleased with us and he likes us.

  873. You know, because it also says of David

  874. that God quote, liked him.

  875. David said he liked me about God in chronicles.

  876. And so number one, what made him such a great man of God?

  877. Well, he did a humble job and he gave it his best.

  878. Number two, he's good looking,

  879. but he didn't let that go to his head.

  880. Now look, you can be as ugly as homemade sin

  881. and still be a man after God's own heart,

  882. a woman after God's own heart.

  883. In fact, the uglier you are,

  884. probably the better chance you have

  885. of being a man after God's own heart

  886. or a woman after God's own heart

  887. because you know, God uses very few

  888. mighty, noble, wise, good-looking people.

  889. You just, he chooses very few people like that.

  890. Most people that do great things for God

  891. are gonna be delinquent in some area

  892. because then that keeps him humble

  893. and then God gets all the glory.

  894. And even David, even though he's a good-looking guy,

  895. he's small of stature.

  896. So when he goes up against Goliath,

  897. David kind of seems like a joke

  898. compared to Goliath physically

  899. and then God gets the glory for David defeating Goliath.

  900. So he's good-looking, didn't let it go to his head.

  901. Number three, he's spirit-filled.

  902. You know, you're not gonna do great things for God

  903. if you're not spirit-filled.

  904. And if you're living a life of sin,

  905. then you're gonna lose that privilege

  906. just like King Saul did.

  907. Number four, he's an accomplished musician.

  908. God likes that.

  909. Number five, he was a mighty man.

  910. He's a strong man.

  911. He's a powerful man.

  912. He wasn't a weak little sissy.

  913. He was a strong man.

  914. And look, obviously some people

  915. are gonna be naturally stronger than others,

  916. but those that are weak should get a little stronger.

  917. Those that are dumb should get a little smarter, right?

  918. Those that have a deficiency,

  919. we should work on our weaknesses.

  920. You know, the world sometimes will tell us

  921. to just work on our strengths.

  922. So we can be a super-specialized cog in the machine,

  923. but I think we should all work on our weaknesses

  924. and try to be well-rounded, healthy individuals

  925. that can be in church for decades.

  926. And we know how to fellowship.

  927. We know how to win souls.

  928. We know the Bible.

  929. We know how to get along with people.

  930. We can go out and talk to the worldly people

  931. out at the doorstep, and we can go to the res,

  932. and we can go to the ghetto,

  933. and we can go to the rich area,

  934. and we can talk to everybody

  935. and connect with as many people as we can

  936. and preach the gospel to all kinds of people,

  937. get along with each other, have a good time,

  938. be in it for the long haul.

  939. So he's a great musician.

  940. He's a mighty man, but he's also a valiant man.

  941. Now what does it mean to be a valiant man?

  942. To be a valiant man means courageous.

  943. This means that you are brave.

  944. Now look at Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse six,

    Deuteronomy 31 chapter mention

  945. it says, be strong and of a good courage.

  946. Fear not, nor be afraid of them.

  947. So notice the opposite of being courageous

  948. is being afraid, right?

  949. And he says here, be strong and of a good courage.

  950. These things go together.

  951. Mighty, valiant man.

  952. God wants us to be strong physically,

  953. but he also wants us to have spiritual strength

  954. because when they're filled with the Holy Spirit,

  955. they spoke the word of God with boldness.

  956. They weren't scared and afraid.

  957. And you know, the biggest problem with preachers

  958. in America is that they're scared to preach.

  959. What needs to be preached?

  960. They need to be valiant men.

  961. They need to be strong and of a good courage

  962. and stop fearing persecution.

  963. The Bible says, fear none of those things.

  964. It's not supposed to suffer.

  965. Don't fear the faces of the congregation.

  966. And look, I've been up here preaching

  967. and had people glare at me and fold their arms

  968. and look at me and it's like, okay,

  969. let's park it on that point.

  970. Let's turn this into the whole sermon.

  971. One thing I've learned is that

  972. you can't always judge people's faces

  973. because I've looked at some people

  974. and I thought, oh, this person hates me

  975. and they walk up to me afterwards

  976. and just said, that was the most awesome sermon ever.

  977. And I'm just like, great.

  978. Other people are smiling at me the whole time

  979. and it's like, yeah, I hate this

  980. and I'm never coming back.

  981. Like, wow, you looked like you were so happy.

  982. You know, so you can't always judge a book by its cover

  983. but at the same time, even if people do hate you,

  984. even if people are glaring at you,

  985. getting up and walking out,

  986. you know what the Bible says?

  987. Be not afraid of their faces.

  988. Be of a good courage.

  989. The Lord is with us who could be against us.

  990. For the Lord thy God, verse six, be there.

  991. He it is that doth go with thee,

  992. he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

  993. And Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him,

  994. in the sight of all Israel,

  995. be strong and of a good courage.

  996. For thou must go with this people

  997. into the land which the Lord has sworn

  998. of their fathers to give them

  999. and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

  1000. And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee,

  1001. he will be with thee, he will not fail thee,

  1002. neither forsake thee,

  1003. fear not, neither be dismayed.

  1004. So the opposite of valor is when you're just dismayed

  1005. and disheartened and you're throwing in the towel

  1006. and you're scared and you don't wanna face the enemy.

  1007. We gotta be valiant.

  1008. You wanna be a man after God's own heart?

  1009. I mean, God looks down and he says,

  1010. man, David is a man after my heart.

  1011. I like this guy.

  1012. You know why I like him?

  1013. Because he's not doing his humble job

  1014. and he's working hard at it

  1015. and he's doing it with his might

  1016. and he's jamming on that harp

  1017. and it sounds awesome

  1018. and he's not some soft little queer effeminate musician

  1019. but he's also a bad dude that can get down

  1020. and throw down if he needs to

  1021. and he's not a weakling.

  1022. And you know what else I like about him?

  1023. I like the fact that he has guts,

  1024. that he has courage, that he has valor.

  1025. Look at Joshua, just a couple pages to the right,

  1026. Joshua chapter one, verse six.

  1027. And look, this is the Bible.

  1028. Oh, I don't really like David.

  1029. I don't like the character David.

  1030. I don't know, do you like the Bible?

  1031. Cause he's mentioned like 1,100 sometimes.

  1032. If you like the Bible, you better start liking David

  1033. cause it's kind of hard to like the Bible

  1034. without liking David.

  1035. You certainly don't like the Old Testament very much

  1036. if you don't like David.

  1037. This is kind of the main character in many ways.

  1038. Joshua chapter one, verse six.

  1039. Be strong and have a good courage.

  1040. For unto this people shall thou divide

  1041. for an inheritance of the land

  1042. which I swear unto their fathers to give them.

  1043. Only be thou strong and very courageous.

  1044. He said, you know, what does that mean?

  1045. Only be thou strong and very courageous.

  1046. He said, look, this is the one thing

  1047. that's gonna screw you up more than anything else.

  1048. Like you can do this as long as

  1049. you just only do this one thing,

  1050. be strong and courageous and it's gonna be fine.

  1051. To me, when I see that word only there,

  1052. it kind of spells out

  1053. that this is probably his biggest potential pitfall.

  1054. He's like, look, it's gonna work.

  1055. Only be strong and courageous.

  1056. Sounds to me like if you're not strong and courageous,

  1057. you're gonna crash and burn.

  1058. This seems to be the principal thing.

  1059. He says, do, or sorry, verse seven.

  1060. Only be thou strong and very courageous

  1061. that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law

  1062. which Moses my servant commanded thee.

  1063. You know, it sounds to me like it takes guts

  1064. to follow the Bible.

  1065. He says, you're gonna need courage and strength

  1066. in order to do everything that the Bible

  1067. is telling you to do.

  1068. So you know what makes you the baddest dude?

  1069. You know what means that you have guts

  1070. is when you have the guts to say,

  1071. as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord

  1072. and you actually follow the Bible and obey the Bible,

  1073. that makes you a lot tougher

  1074. than being some guy who goes around

  1075. and gets in physical fist fights.

  1076. Because when I talk about being a man of war

  1077. and being strong and courageous and being tough,

  1078. I'm not talking about being a brawler.

  1079. The Bible says that being brawler is a bad thing.

  1080. Being a striker is a bad thing.

  1081. Going out and picking fights with people

  1082. and you know, going out and doing violence

  1083. or getting in these ego trip fights with people,

  1084. there's no glory in that.

  1085. That's not what the Bible is saying here.

  1086. The Bible is talking about being athletic

  1087. and being a fighter in legitimate scenarios

  1088. like going off to war as a soldier

  1089. and being a great warrior in a situation

  1090. where you're supposed to be fighting

  1091. or where you're training and sparring

  1092. and doing those kind of fights

  1093. or just being physically strong so that you can work hard

  1094. and swing that axe or swing that hammer

  1095. or run that, what do they call it?

  1096. Jackhammer or power drill or whatever.

  1097. But he says, be strong and courageous

  1098. that that may as observed to do according to all the law.

  1099. The biggest thing that takes guts in 2026 America

  1100. is standing on the word of God

  1101. and following the word of God

  1102. and doing what the Bible says.

  1103. You know, it's like, oh, I'm so scared.

  1104. And look, people are often scared to do the right thing.

  1105. Why don't people go soul winning?

  1106. Some of it is like, well, I'm scared.

  1107. I'm scared, I'm nervous.

  1108. Like, what am I just gonna knock

  1109. on some random person's door?

  1110. Super embarrassing, I've stage fright, I'm scared.

  1111. I can't do it, you know,

  1112. some people won't go soul winning because they're scared.

  1113. You know, and then now we have these broads

  1114. that are calling themselves pastor's wives

  1115. teaching and saying, oh, well, if you're scared,

  1116. leave your husband if you're scared.

  1117. How about this?

  1118. Have the guts to do right.

  1119. You know, if I was scared of my wife

  1120. and you know, I'd just stay married

  1121. because I'd just be like, well, you know,

  1122. I'd rather just be in God's will.

  1123. And you know, hopefully she doesn't come

  1124. kill me in my sleep, you know?

  1125. But it's like, it is what it is.

  1126. If I perish, I perish.

  1127. That's what Esther said.

  1128. If I perish, I perish.

  1129. But now in 2026,

  1130. the Independent Fundamental Baptist are like,

  1131. oh, you know, just all the, you know,

  1132. if there's, if you're scared at all,

  1133. I mean, you got to just get out of there for your safety.

  1134. It's so stupid.

  1135. It's the dumbest advice.

  1136. And here's the thing, if your husband's that scary,

  1137. you know, leaving him's probably just gonna set him off.

  1138. He'll probably come kill you.

  1139. He'll just come find you and kill you.

  1140. He's not gonna care about the restraining order.

  1141. He's not gonna care about the gun for his own.

  1142. He's gonna take the gun into the gun for his own.

  1143. Okay, because if he's that much of a psycho

  1144. and that much of a weirdo, you know what?

  1145. Then maybe you should just trust in the Lord a little bit

  1146. because it sounds like only God can save you from this guy.

  1147. And my bigger question is,

  1148. why did you marry this guy in the first place?

  1149. Why are you out there marrying a psycho?

  1150. Why are you marrying, you know,

  1151. a lot of times unsaved people or rotten people

  1152. or known fornicators and adulterers and stuff.

  1153. But then it's like, oh no, I'm so scared.

  1154. Well, you know what?

  1155. If I'm scared to do the right thing,

  1156. I'm just gonna do the right thing anyway.

  1157. If I'm scared to go soul winning,

  1158. I'm gonna go soul winning anyway.

  1159. Scared to preach on a subject,

  1160. I'm just gonna preach it anyway.

  1161. Oh, I'm scared of my wife.

  1162. Well, you know what?

  1163. I'm gonna stay married anyway.

  1164. And no, I'm not actually scared of my wife.

  1165. Although I am glad she's on our side, amen.

  1166. You know, because she's formidable.

  1167. She's no joke, you know?

  1168. I mean, this kid threatened not too long ago,

  1169. this kid, or I say kid, he was almost 18.

  1170. He was like almost 18, so he's pretty much a grown man.

  1171. He threatened to come and I wasn't here,

  1172. but he came and said that he was gonna come

  1173. and shoot up our house and kill our whole family.

  1174. And I wasn't here, my wife was there.

  1175. And she said, she's like, let me tell you

  1176. how the house is laid out.

  1177. She said there's this one staircase

  1178. and everybody's up there.

  1179. And she's like, I'm gonna be at the top of that stairs

  1180. and I'm gonna blow your bleepin' head off

  1181. and I'm not even gonna care.

  1182. I'm not even gonna think twice about it.

  1183. Amen.

  1184. I mean, if somebody comes to kill our family,

  1185. my wife's like, let's go.

  1186. You know?

  1187. She's like, make my day, punk.

  1188. She's like, I'm gonna be at the top of the stairs

  1189. and I'm armed to the teeth.

  1190. And she's like, I'm gonna kill you

  1191. and I'm gonna empty every round into your body

  1192. and it's gonna be a suicide mission for you, buddy.

  1193. So don't even think about it.

  1194. Amen.

  1195. But I'm not scared of her.

  1196. I'm the boss of her.

  1197. She answers to me.

  1198. But you know what, the shooters,

  1199. the terrorists of this world are shooters

  1200. and burglars, they ought to be very afraid.

  1201. And I'm glad she's on our side.

  1202. Because she doesn't play.

  1203. So, how did I get off on that?

  1204. I was kind of a wild little rabbit trail.

  1205. But the thing is that being valiant

  1206. means having the guts to do what's right.

  1207. And yeah, we can all picture it on the battlefield.

  1208. You're charging the enemy.

  1209. You're not scared.

  1210. You're not retreating.

  1211. You're not breaking ranks.

  1212. But how about spiritually having the guts

  1213. to basically turn down alcohol when it's offered to you?

  1214. Turn down drugs when they're offered to you, right?

  1215. Turn down women that are offered to you

  1216. that are not your wife.

  1217. And when the opportunity to fornicate is there,

  1218. having the guts to say, no, this isn't right.

  1219. This is not being peer pressured into fornication,

  1220. adultery, whatever.

  1221. Or, oh hey, let me show you something on my phone.

  1222. And they want to show you pornography.

  1223. How about having the guts to say,

  1224. hey, get that out of my sight.

  1225. I'm not gonna look at that.

  1226. That's trash.

  1227. The guts to stay married.

  1228. The guts to do what's right in every scenario.

  1229. All of this takes courage.

  1230. And the problem with Christians today

  1231. is there are a bunch of cowards in many cases.

  1232. They don't have the guts to stand up for Christ,

  1233. to preach the gospel, to stand for what's right,

  1234. to speak against sin, to speak out against wickedness

  1235. and perversion.

  1236. They want to go with the flow

  1237. because they're weak and soft

  1238. and they're not mighty men of valor.

  1239. So he's a valiant man.

  1240. He has the courage to do what the Bible says.

  1241. Look at verse eight.

  1242. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth.

  1243. We're still in Joshua chapter one.

  1244. But thou shalt meditate therein day and night

  1245. that thou mayest observe to do

  1246. according to all that is written therein.

  1247. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous

  1248. and then thou shalt have good success.

  1249. Have not I commanded thee?

  1250. Be strong and have a good courage.

  1251. He's like, look, what's the disconnect here?

  1252. He's like, didn't I tell you what to do?

  1253. So do it!

  1254. What's the obstacle between us doing

  1255. what God told us to do?

  1256. Like, didn't God command us?

  1257. I mean, didn't God command us, stay married.

  1258. Didn't God command us, go preach the gospel.

  1259. Didn't God command us, abstain from fornication.

  1260. You know, do not be drunk with wine.

  1261. Be sober.

  1262. Didn't God command us?

  1263. Okay, then why would we get in a situation

  1264. where we're just like, oh,

  1265. I'm not gonna preach the gospel.

  1266. Oh, I gotta drink to fit in.

  1267. I gotta do drugs to fit in, you know, or whatever.

  1268. Oh, my husband threw a raw hot dog at me

  1269. and now I'm scared for my life

  1270. so I gotta go flee or whatever.

  1271. You know, the Bible says the wicked flee

  1272. when no man pursuits.

  1273. I mean, look, if my wife were literally chasing me

  1274. with a weapon, I'd run away, you know?

  1275. Because at that point, it's just like,

  1276. yeah, I mean, that makes sense.

  1277. But you know what I'm not gonna do?

  1278. I'm not gonna flee when no one's pursuing.

  1279. You know, I mean, if someone's coming at you

  1280. and actually swinging a weapon at you

  1281. or pointing a weapon at you,

  1282. then yeah, taking cover makes a lot of sense at that point.

  1283. You know, I mean, if somebody walked through that door

  1284. right now with a weapon, you know,

  1285. then we'd all be ducking for cover, right?

  1286. Except for 30 of us would be pulling out guns

  1287. and blowing them away, turning them into Swiss cheese.

  1288. But you know, it makes sense

  1289. when there's actually a clear and present danger

  1290. that's happening right now to go run and scared,

  1291. but the wicked flee when no man pursuits, okay?

  1292. And we're not gonna run because of a pre-crime

  1293. because of something that might happen.

  1294. You know, I mean, I might get struck by lightning.

  1295. You know, I might get stung by a whole hive of bees

  1296. and die.

  1297. I might get killed by a shark if I go swimming in the ocean.

  1298. I could just get eaten by a shark.

  1299. But you know, at the end of the day,

  1300. I'm still gonna go swimming in the ocean

  1301. and I'll worry about it when I hear the Jaws music come on.

  1302. That's when I'll know that something bad's about to happen

  1303. or if I see a fin or something, you know.

  1304. One time I saw a dolphin and it looked like a shark

  1305. and it scared me, you know.

  1306. But the thing is like the wicked flee

  1307. when no man pursues,

  1308. but the righteous are as bold as a lion, right?

  1309. And so we need to have the courage to trust God

  1310. even in dangerous situations.

  1311. You know, I would rather walk through the valley

  1312. of the shadow of death knowing that God is with me

  1313. than to be like, oh, I gotta go be a feminist

  1314. and leave my spouse and whatever because I'm scared.

  1315. And like I said, here's the thing.

  1316. People that are actually in real danger,

  1317. they don't ask themselves what does Pastor Anderson

  1318. think about what I'm doing right now.

  1319. Like do you think that if somebody came at me

  1320. with a baseball bat or a gun or a club or a crowbar

  1321. or a knife, I'd be like, oh, I wonder what my pastor

  1322. friends think.

  1323. What would Pastor Anderson do?

  1324. You know, what would Jesus do even?

  1325. You'd just be like, you know,

  1326. instinct just kicks in at that point.

  1327. Am I right?

  1328. And you run away.

  1329. You grab something to defend yourself with.

  1330. You run whatever, but it's just like this stuff

  1331. are just like, oh, you're scared.

  1332. Oh, you're nervous.

  1333. Oh, you know, your husband has a temper.

  1334. Oh, your wife said something scary or whatever.

  1335. It's like, bro, I'm sorry,

  1336. but I'd rather be in the will of God

  1337. than out of the will of God

  1338. because you could be like, oh, I'm just Mr. Safety.

  1339. Hey, safety's of the Lord.

  1340. You know, if I were running from a bear

  1341. in the woods or something

  1342. and I run into the cabin and shut the door

  1343. and I'm in the safety of the cabin,

  1344. you know, God could just make a snake bite me

  1345. in the cabin or a spider bite me in my sleep.

  1346. At the end of the day, if God wants to smoke you,

  1347. he can smoke you whenever he wants.

  1348. You could just be in bed at night and something, you know,

  1349. or you could just be surrounded by the enemy

  1350. and nothing about it.

  1351. I mean, David wrote in one of his Psalms.

  1352. He says, you know, if, man, I haven't memorized

  1353. but I'm drawn a blank.

  1354. Like he said, you know, if 10,000 people

  1355. encamp around me, I'm not gonna be afraid.

  1356. I'm just gonna sleep like a baby.

  1357. I'm paraphrasing because I'm having trouble

  1358. with the actual quote.

  1359. But he says, I could be surrounded by 10,000 enemies

  1360. and I'll just sleep like a baby

  1361. because God's protecting me.

  1362. You know, so I feel like the safest thing you could do

  1363. is to just do whatever the Bible said to do.

  1364. That's always the safest thing to do.

  1365. He's like, oh, we gotta worry about people's safety.

  1366. Okay, here's the safe thing to do.

  1367. What the Bible says.

  1368. And people look, some people think it's too dangerous

  1369. to go soul-winning, you know,

  1370. because who knows what's behind that door?

  1371. Who knows what you're gonna run into?

  1372. But you know what, I'd rather be doing God's will

  1373. and God's work because he said,

  1374. I'm with you all the way, even under the end of the world.

  1375. And so I think being a good courage is gonna allow you

  1376. to do great works for God and follow the Bible

  1377. and fear and cowardice is gonna be the thing

  1378. that keeps you a lame Christian.

  1379. Afraid to step out in faith.

  1380. Afraid to give your marriage a chance.

  1381. Afraid to turn down drugs or alcohol or whatever.

  1382. Afraid to not laugh at the blasphemous, filthy jokes

  1383. because you wanna fit in with people.

  1384. I mean, it's just, fear is the enemy.

  1385. So one last quick point here.

  1386. I'm almost out of time.

  1387. But you know, we said he's a man of war.

  1388. You know, he's a mighty valiant man, he's a man of war.

  1389. And what does the Bible say?

  1390. You know, war or good warfare?

  1391. Fight the good fight spiritually.

  1392. But the last thing I wanna show you

  1393. is go if you would to Proverbs 12, verse 16.

    Proverbs 12:16

  1394. Because we saw eight attributes of David tonight.

  1395. He did a humble job.

  1396. He's good looking, didn't let it go to his head.

  1397. He's filled with the Holy Spirit.

  1398. He's accomplished musician.

  1399. He's a mighty man.

  1400. He's a valiant man.

  1401. He's a man of war.

  1402. And lastly, it says that he's prudent in matters.

  1403. So even though he's got guts, he's not stupid.

  1404. You know, he's got courage to follow the Bible,

  1405. to do what's right, to fight for what's right,

  1406. to defend his family, to defend the flock of sheep,

  1407. to fight the Lord's battles.

  1408. He had the guts to go up against Goliath.

  1409. I mean, Goliath is way bigger and stronger,

  1410. but yet he said the Lord's gonna fight this battle.

  1411. The battle is the Lord's.

  1412. And he went and fought, he had the guts.

  1413. But that doesn't mean that he's stupid.

  1414. He's also a prudent man.

  1415. Now, what does it mean to be prudent in matters?

  1416. Well, I looked up prudent in the dictionary

  1417. and it means wise or judicious in practical affairs.

  1418. Discrete or circumspect.

  1419. Meaning that you're careful

  1420. and you know what's going on around you.

  1421. And you kind of know what is the practical right move to make.

  1422. And you're not just a bowl in a china closet,

  1423. just doing a bunch of stupid things,

  1424. saying a bunch of stupid things.

  1425. So let's look at prudent in the Bible.

  1426. Proverbs 12, 16 says a fool's wrath is presently known,

  1427. but a prudent man covereth shame.

  1428. So one of the things a prudent person does,

  1429. they don't just say everything

  1430. that's on their mind all the time.

  1431. You know, they're gonna hold back things.

  1432. Like for example, look at verse 23.

  1433. A prudent man concealeth knowledge,

  1434. but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.

  1435. But then in chapter 13, verse 16,

  1436. it says every prudent man dealeth with knowledge,

  1437. but a fool layeth open his folly.

  1438. So, you know, prudence is gonna know

  1439. when is it appropriate to speak?

  1440. When is it appropriate to be silent?

  1441. You know, you're gonna be practical

  1442. and you're gonna make good, wise,

  1443. judicious decisions in your life.

  1444. And the Bible also says,

  1445. we'll just go through some of these quickly.

  1446. It says the wisdom of the prudent

  1447. is to understand his way.

  1448. Chapter 14, verse 15, the simple believeth every word,

  1449. but the prudent man looketh well to his going.

  1450. He's not gullible, he looks into things.

  1451. The simple inherit folly,

  1452. but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

  1453. A fool despises father's instruction,

  1454. but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.

  1455. The wise in heart shall be called prudent.

  1456. The sweetness of the lips increase at learning.

  1457. The heart of the prudent geteth knowledge.

  1458. And so I think one of the themes

  1459. that you'll see with prudence in the book of Proverbs

  1460. has to do with knowledge, learning, and intelligence,

  1461. but also how to practically apply those things

  1462. and know when to speak and when not to speak.

  1463. So, it sounds to me like David is a Renaissance man.

  1464. He's got the whole package.

  1465. He's a balanced guy.

  1466. He's spiritual.

  1467. He's artistic.

  1468. He's physical.

  1469. He's intellectual.

  1470. And obviously, we're all gonna have our strengths

  1471. and weaknesses, but I think that we should work

  1472. on our weaknesses and try to be the most well-rounded

  1473. Christian people that we can be

  1474. so that God can use us in a variety of ways.

  1475. And so that we can succeed,

  1476. not just in one area of life, but in others.

  1477. I wanna be healthy so that I can physically

  1478. go out and do the serving of God.

  1479. I mean, look, I've taken people out soul-winning

  1480. for the first time and they just couldn't physically

  1481. keep up.

  1482. Like, I've taken people on a mission strip

  1483. and they're just like, well, I'm not used

  1484. to walking this much, you know?

  1485. And the Bible says how beautiful are the feet

  1486. of them that preach the gospel.

  1487. Because preaching the gospel, you use your feet a lot.

  1488. Now, look, if you're older or if you're injured

  1489. or if you're in some way impaired,

  1490. God can still use you as a soul-winning.

  1491. You can go soul-winning in a wheelchair.

  1492. But I'm saying in general,

  1493. if you don't have to be in a wheelchair,

  1494. why would you, you don't wanna just choose the wheelchair?

  1495. Am I right?

  1496. So it's like, you wanna make sure

  1497. that you're at least in good enough shape

  1498. to where when you go soul-winning at the apartment complex,

  1499. you can walk up the stairs and knock that door.

  1500. Or you can get off the cruise ship

  1501. and walk to the soul-winning field.

  1502. And you know, some people, they struggle physically.

  1503. We wanna be in the best shape again.

  1504. Obviously, we're all gonna get old someday.

  1505. We're all gonna get injured at times and things.

  1506. But we should just do the best with what we've got.

  1507. We can do the best with what we've got, that's all.

  1508. Be as healthy as we can be.

  1509. We wanna be as smart as we can be.

  1510. Study to show ourselves approved under God.

  1511. You know, be well-rounded.

  1512. Why? Because if we're not smart,

  1513. if we're not studying the Bible,

  1514. we could be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

  1515. Cause we don't know the word of God.

  1516. So we need the knowledge.

  1517. But you know what? Knowledge puffs us up.

  1518. Knowledge can just make you arrogant.

  1519. So knowledge puffs us up, but charity edifies.

  1520. So we need to not only have the smarts,

  1521. but we also need to be able to condescend

  1522. to men of low estate and be humble enough

  1523. to talk to simple people about simple things.

  1524. You know? And look, I'm glad you go soul-winning,

  1525. but you know what?

  1526. You should also have a little fun and fellowship too.

  1527. Cause if you're all work, no play, I'm telling you,

  1528. you're not gonna pan out in the long run.

  1529. I've never seen it.

  1530. Never seen anybody pan out in the long run

  1531. who doesn't know how to have a good time.

  1532. You know? And look at the Bible.

  1533. They're making merry.

  1534. They're having fun.

  1535. You know, David, he's a guy who he gets excited and has fun.

  1536. When the Ark of the Covenant came to Jerusalem,

  1537. he's dancing and playing before the Lord with all his might.

  1538. He's just out there just cutting loose,

  1539. dancing and playing the harp and praising God.

  1540. He's physical, he's spiritual, he's mental.

  1541. He's got the whole, you know,

  1542. we should strive for balance in our lives.

  1543. And we should strive to have these godly attributes

  1544. of a man after God's own heart.

  1545. Courage, strength, wisdom, prudence.

  1546. These are all the things that made David

  1547. a man after God's own heart.

  1548. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.

  1549. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.

  1550. And thank you for David,

  1551. that we could learn so much from him and see

  1552. what it was about him that made him

  1553. a man after your own heart.

  1554. And Lord, of course, you created us.

  1555. You created us to be artistic.

  1556. You created us to be physical.

  1557. You created us to be intelligent, Lord.

  1558. And so you must love those things

  1559. because you instilled those things in us, Lord.

  1560. Help us to cultivate those things

  1561. and be the best, most fruitful, effective,

  1562. healthy Christians that we can possibly be.

  1563. And in Jesus' name we pray amen.