An Answer For Your Critics | Pastor Eoin O'Sullivan

Welcome to the Springs Church Podcast.

We are so glad you joined us.

Our mission is to reach the lost by raising up fully trained disciples that are empowered by God to impact their world.

We pray that you are challenged and encouraged as you listen to this week's message.

2 Samuel chapter 16, verse 5 to 11.

2 Samuel 16:5–11

If you turn in your Bibles there, 2 Samuel chapter 16, verse 5 to 11.

2 Samuel 16:5–11

God's given me a word for our church today that I want to preach to.

Thank you, church, for continuing to be on the journey with us.

It's our third week after having moved to three services 8, 9:45 and 11:30.

I'm just so thankful for our worship team, for our volunteers, for those who work so hard to make everything happen so that we can make room for people to have an encounter with the Lord here on the Lord's Day.

And so grateful for that.

If you recognize it's a little bit different, we did put our announcements on the front end of the service, and that is intentional.

Now we're trying to just create that room where we just go from worship right into the word.

And so we're just uh just giving that an opportunity at the moment.

So let's enter into the word this morning.

2 Samuel 16, 5 to 11.

Now, when King David came to Baurium, there was a man from the family of the house of Saul who was whose name was Shemai.

If you could just say the word Shemai.

I have no idea if that's how you pronounce it, but I'm going with it this morning.

Or Shime, the son of Gira coming from there.

And he came out cursing continuously as he came.

He must have been Irish.

And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men who were on his right hand on him on his left.

Also Shemai said, Dust when he cursed, Come out, come out, you bloodthirsty man, you rogue.

The Lord has brought upon you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned.

And the Lord has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom, your son.

So now you are caught in your own evil because you are a bloodthirsty man.

Then Abishai, the son of Zariah, who was David's companion and comrade as in life in military all through the years.

Abishai said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?

Please let me go over and take off his head.

But the king said, What have I to do with you, sons of Zariah?

So let him curse.

Because the Lord has said to him, Curse David.

Whom then shall say, Why have you done so?

And David said to Abishai and all his servants, See how my son who came from my own body seeks my life.

How much more now this Benjamite?

Let him alone and let him curse.

For the soul the Lord has ordered him, it may be that the Lord will look upon my affliction, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing this day.

And as David and his men went along the road, Shemai went along the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went, and he threw stones at him and kicked up dust.

Now the king and all the people who were with him became weary, so they refreshed themselves there.

This marks a low point on David's reign as king over Israel.

It marked the moment where Absalom, his own son, had found himself at the city gate where he would undermine his father's leadership and began to talk to the people and say, if there was only somebody that could adjudicate for your situation, if there was only somebody that could deal with the situations that you're going through.

And in other words, he began to draw the affections of the people towards himself and then instill the rebellion that went through the entire nation.

And now David is having to flee for his life.

He had exited the palace, he was leaving the city.

The kingdom looked like it was in ruins and being pulled out from beneath their feet.

And in that moment comes this individual, Shemai, who is throwing stones and hurling all kinds of just all kinds of uh insults at David.

And I wonder for David as he walked down this journey that he asked this question, which I'm sure many of us have asked this before in our lives, where did that come from?

Has any have you ever been in a situation where somebody just got to a place where there was this overload of in of emotion that just came out, and you're like, where did that come from?

I know there's no husbands and wives in this room that's ever had this happen to them.

Where you're just you're you're taking out the trash and and and something just kind of outburst happens, or you're a boss and you send out an email, and then comes back this uh uh response that is so over the top to the situation that's happening, and it can seem like there's an outburst.

And where did that come from?

And we're living in a time, church, where it's not hard to see that there is a stirring that's going on beneath the surface.

See what had happened with Shemai, this wasn't an isolated situation, this was something that had been brewing underneath the surface for many years.

He just had found the opportunity for it to overflow on David at this moment in time.

And we're living in a time, you just see what's happening in France right now in Europe, with the protests on the streets and this anger that's overflowing.

And people are so easily offended now in our time.

People get angry quickly.

It seems like everybody's on edge, just something to spark, and there will be an ignition of just anger that will begin to unfold and take place.

It's almost like just a can of soda.

You look at a can of soda and you look at it, it looks good on the outside.

But you know, we've we've been we enjoy an old diet can of soda every once in a while.

Now, don't send me an email telling me all of the negative health things about having just send them to Pastor Jesse if you're gonna send them to anybody, okay?

So, but every once in a while we we will do that.

And we've come to learn a few things about a can of soda.

One is is we like to have them cold, so we'll put them in the fridge, but if it's not cold enough, we'll put it in the freezer.

And what we've realized is if you put a can of soda into the freezer and you with the best intentions to come back and take it out at the right time, is sometimes you just forget and you leave it in there a little bit too long.

Sarah, what are you laughing for?

We I mean we and then you you hear this boom! And you open up the freezer and the can has exploded, and there's shrapnel everywhere, and the frozen contents have exploded all over your freezer, and there's a lot to clean up.

Actually, I was thinking about this after a second service, and I should have remembered it in the earlier two services, but it's not just if you put it in the freezer.

Also, in Florida, where it's constantly 300 degrees, if you leave it in your car, it'll also explode.

Has that happened to anybody?

It's like a boom, and you think Jesus is coming back.

You gotta be careful of that one too.

It's leaving it in the wrong environment for too long.

There's a pressure that builds up, like a volcano.

You see the headlines, but before the headlines, there was a pressure that was happening beneath the surface of the earth, and at just the right time, it exploded, and everything in its way was devastated by the lava that came out.

Such can be with humanity as well.

It's not just the eruption, sometimes it's something that's been happening for years under the surface that you've just you found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you were the recipient of an eruption that actually started years ago with a disappointment or an expectation that you had that was not fulfilled, and it can be stored up.

See, I believe as a pastor, when these kind of emotional eruptions happen, most of the time, it's not in the moment, it's something that's been building and brewing for years, a pressure.

When you understand the background of Shemai or Shimi or Shemai or whatever his name is, you will begin to realize a little bit more about the why behind his story and what happens here.

See, it says that Shemai was of the family of the house of Saul.

Now, if you know your Bible, you will know that Saul was the first king in Israel, and then David succeeded Saul as king afterwards, after him.

And now Shemai is accusing David of taking the kingdom from Saul, from whom he is of that household.

So probably in his mind, he had an expectation of life, of heritage, of inheritance, of things that would have been afforded to him, being of the household of Saul, that didn't come to pass like he had hoped that it would.

And now there's building up, he's pointing at David, and he's saying, The Lord has brought upon you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has delivered the kingdom out of the hand into the hand of Absalom, his son.

So now you're caught in your own evil.

See, Shemai's missing a lot of background.

Either he does not want to know, or he's blinded by bitterness.

See, before there was a 2 Samuel chapter 16, there was a 1 Samuel chapter 15 and 16.

2 Samuel 16 · chapter mention 1 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

And in chapter 15, verse 18, and then verse 23, it gives us the background to how Saul became from king to where the kingdom was ripped from him.

And it says in verse 18 how the Lord sent you on a mission.

This is Samuel speaking to Saul.

And he said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites.

These were the enemies of God's people Israel, and fight them until they are consumed.

He had a job, he had a mission to totally wipe out the nation of the Amalekites, but instead he preserved and he kept some of them in the livestock, which he was also instructed to consume.

And now Samuel says, Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord?

Verse 23, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he's also rejected you from being king.

See, it wasn't anything to do with David.

Shemai's blaming David, but it had nothing to do with David.

In fact, it had to do with Saul's own disobedience to God's word.

Now, this has got echoes that go all the way back to Genesis.

Back to Genesis chapter 2 and 3.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

When God put Adam and Eve in the garden and put them in this beautiful kingdom and said, Just do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But they couldn't even obey one commandment.

And God had to rip from them and take them out of this beautiful Eden and put them out of that garden, and yet immediately began to put in a plan of redemption for them.

See, God is still a God of redemption.

God is still a God who heals and restores.

See what Shemai was doing to David is he was placing at his feet a false accusation because he was either unaware of the true story or he was blind by his own bitterness.

Can I talk to you about bitterness for a moment?

Because bitterness can have some devastating effects.

Bitterness can erupt and cause chaos and disruption wherever it goes.

Bitterness doesn't always remember what happened.

Bitterness begins to build a story about what happened.

It begins to write its own narrative about what happened.

There's a difference between criticism and a reviler in the Bible.

Criticism is healthy.

I oftentimes would talk to my team on a Monday morning and we will talk about service and the word and maybe some things that could have been improved upon or done better.

There's a healthy criticism, but the Bible speaks also about a reviler.

And a reviler is a person who uses words to damage, control, or insult someone's character or reputation.

I don't know if anybody's been on the other end of a reviler in their life.

And it's no wonder, you know, that parents sometimes wonder about their young adult children.

How, after raising them in a godly household all of their lives, that suddenly they get to 19, 20, 21 years of age, or 15 and 16, and all of a sudden there's this eruption of emotion, and there is worldviews that they never thought possible.

They certainly didn't teach them to their children, exploding before them.

And they wonder to themselves why I didn't raise my children this way, I didn't do it this way.

Well, can I tell you, it's not random because there's something that's been stirring and brewing underneath for years.

Constantly being scrolled through on the algorithm, teaching and reinforcing thoughts about an opposite worldview, and it's becoming at them at constant speed over and over again.

That this brewing is coming forward, and then we're surprised when the eruption happens.

Then there's an eruption and a reviler.

What do you do when you're reviled?

What do you do when people say all types of harmful things towards you?

What do you do when people begin to demean your character and throw insults at you?

Well, look at what Jesus did according to 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 23.

1 Peter 2:23

He said, Who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return?

But when he suffered, he did not tread, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.

Peter was looking back at Jesus, going, When Jesus was reviled, he didn't strike back, he committed it to God.

He says, God is the God who judges righteously.

Now, when I think about David, on his journey down at a low point in his life, see the enemy has a way of adding insult to injury, doesn't he?

He has a way of kicking you when you're already down, when you're already struggling.

And here he is on a low point in his journey.

And then Shemai comes up and starts insulting him and accusing him and cursing him and throwing stones at David, throwing stones at David.

If I remember correctly, I think David was pretty good at throwing stones.

I think David must have been thinking about Goliath, that big old giant who defied the armies of God.

Here's a Shimmai.

Shemai sounds weak, doesn't he?

He just sounds like Shimmy.

I don't know.

He just like you blew him over.

Who's the Shimmy guy?

I can just one and he'd be gone.

I'm sure David's I could just pick up a few smooth more stones.

I still know how to use a slingshot.

I could just boop and Shimmai would be boop and it would be over.

And he must have been thinking to himself, man, I know how to throw stones.

But see, there's a difference between Goliath and Shemai.

Goliath was defying God and his purposes, Shemai was reviling David and his position.

David had to learn how to fight kingdom battles, and the difference, David also had to learn to trust God to fight his personal battles.

See, yes, there is a kingdom of darkness out there, and yes, there is opposition to the kingdom of God, and we don't have to fear it, we don't have to coward back.

Actually, we can advance.

God is commissioned to advance, to go into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, and to shine the light in the darkness, and the darkness will not comprehend it.

That the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty in God.

For the pulling down of strongholds is what God has told us for.

Oh, we don't have to fear, He's given us His Holy Spirit, He's given us His Word, the sword of Spirit, sharpening any two edges, sword cutting bone for an arrow.

That's the weapons that we have.

But you see, there's sometimes there's an advancing of the kingdom of God, and there's personal insults that are given to us that we have to trust God.

God, I do not understand where these attacks are coming from, but I'm trusting you, the God, that you can help in this situation as well.

I wonder which one took more faith.

I wonder which one took more courage.

Was it the moment that David stood before Goliath and threw a stone at him and took him down?

Or was it the moment when David was having stones thrown at him and he stayed in silence and he took the hits?

Some probably missed, but some hit him as well.

And I'm sure there was something within him that said, I could snuff him out of the mess.

And if and if he didn't need any encouragement, his buddy Abishai is right beside him.

And Abashai says, Who does this dead dog think that he is?

Let me go over there and cut off his head.

That would have been like, go for a bud.

Work away, you don't need to ask me twice.

And see, unfortunately, that's what a lot of us do.

Thank God for the Abish.

Thank God to have friends in your corner.

Thank God that you got people that were willing to defend you when people come and attack your character.

I know I'm grateful for my wife Sarah.

I mean, I'd like to say to you that if somebody said a word against Sarah, that I would you would, if the Irish man would come out, the fighting Irish would come out in me.

But I also say, God help the person that comes against her husband as well.

See, there's good to have people in your corner.

Anybody glad that you got somebody in your corner?

Somebody that loves you, somebody that's willing to fight for you, somebody that gets angry when people come up.

I think about Peter in the garden when Jesus is getting arrested.

He takes out a sword and he cuts off the ear of the person who wants to take him.

And Jesus takes the ear and he puts it back up and he heals him.

See, it's wonderful to have friends who will defend you in the corner.

But church, I want to just speak to him for a moment about gossip and bitterness and these wounds.

It would have been so easy just to go, yeah, go ahead, defend me, defend my battle here in this moment.

But you know what he says?

He says, No.

He says, Who are you?

It's actually if if God is allowing this moment to take place, put your sword back.

Sometimes the greatest wisdom and discernment we can have is to put our sword back in.

See, I want you to take note of this right here, just a mental note of this.

This will wrap up the sermon when we get to the end.

If Abishai and David had done what would have seemed right to man in that moment in time, would have what seemed right to every red-blooded man in this house that would have said, take him out.

If he had done it, they would have killed the kingdom purpose at this moment in time.

See, Shemai doesn't have context for what happened in the past with David and Saul, but Abishai doesn't have hope for the future of what God can do.

Abishai doesn't have hope that God can redeem the situation, that God can actually turn this around.

And David says to Abishai, let him curse, because the Lord has said to him to curse David.

Now I don't know about you, but when I read that, that's hard.

I read that and it's difficult.

He's saying that God has allowed him to continue to curse me, he's allowed him to continue to curse.

See, as Shemai is laying these insults at the feet of David, you are a bloodthirsty man.

Shemai might be wrong about David, but David knows.

Here it is, church.

Here's where it gets personal.

David knows that he's not an innocent man.

David knows that he's a guilty man.

Shemai might have the wrong evidence, but he has come to the right verdict.

David knows what he's done.

Yeah, it may have nothing to do with Saul, it may have nothing to do with the kingdom, it may have nothing to do with what the accusation is, but he knows what he did with Bathsheba.

He knows that when he should have been at battle, he was looking out from his rooftop, seen Bathsheba, another man's wife, brought him in and had an affair with her, then took Uriah off the battlefield, tried to convince him to sleep with his wife so that he could cover that sin.

When Uriah refused because of the battle, he didn't send Uriah out onto the front lines, then pulls the army back and has him murdered.

And God had to send the prophet Nathan to let David know that although you may feel like you got away with it, God still sees us.

You were the man.

And I'm sure as David's walking down, he's going, Yeah, he's got the wrong evidence, but he's but he's got the right verdict.

I am a bloodthirsty man, I am a wicked man, I'm a man that does not deserve the mercy of God.

I'm a man that does not deserve the grant.

Yes, it may be difficult in this moment in time, but at least I'm walking, at least I'm moving, at least I'm I'm still under the hand of God because he can remember back that when he deserved judgment, the Lord said to him in 2 Samuel 12 13 the Lord also put away your sin, you shall not die.

David understood that he was a recipient of grace.

That he did not deserve.

David let the stones fall where they landed because he knows that the judgment and grace are in God's hands alone.

It wasn't for David to take what only belongs to God.

It wasn't for David to step in and do what only God can do.

See, when you remember the judgment God didn't give you, you become a little slower to demand the judgment you think somebody else deserves.

Come on, somebody in this house today.

When you realize how much God saved you, you feel like, man, Pastor Well, I don't deserve to be going through this.

I've lived a good life.

I've lived a bad how could I be going through this?

I just want to remind you today.

You may feel like you don't deserve it, but if God really gave you what you actually deserved, if God actually gave me what I deserved, then I would not be here in this place today.

Can I tell you?

I understand fully well as a pastor of this church.

I did not get here by merit.

I did not get here by my works.

Somehow, in a strange circumstances of events, in the grace of Almighty God, He saved me, He washed me, He gave me purpose, He put a spirit within me, and He's drawn me into a place that I would never have gotten to in my own strength or my ability.

And if grace has brought you to where you're at, then it's only grace that can get you the whole way home as well.

It's the mercy of God, it's the grace of God.

And he understands that although these don'ts and accusations may be coming, he's still under grace.

Oh, it's good for you to know that you're still under grace.

Even though it's hard and things are happening that you did not want to happen, you're still under the grace of God.

And David begins to ponder in his heart.

Here's the hinge of the sermon.

The hinge happens right here.

Eugene Peterson paraphrases verse 11 and 12.

He says, And who knows?

Maybe God will see the trouble I'm in today and exchange the curse for something good.

Maybe God will turn it around.

Maybe God can take this difficult moment and he can turn this curse into a blessing.

There's a lot of us put a lot of trust in maybes.

Many of you will leave the service and you will go and you will turn on the TV and you will watch the Jaguars or Steelers or some other team, and you will watch them and you will put your trust in them.

Maybe, maybe Trevor Lawrence will throw a touchdown pass.

Maybe he will do that.

Some of you will be watching the Yankees and going, maybe the New York Yankees will win the baseball series world championship of the nations.

The World Series based that thing.

And maybe they're gonna win it.

Maybe they're gonna triumph this time round.

We put our trust, we put a lot of maybes in a lot of places.

Maybe President Trump will end up winning this war in Iran and fuel prices will come down.

Maybe the elections will go this way or they'll go that way.

Maybe the Federal Reserve will do this, or maybe they will do that.

We put a lot of trust in maybes, but I thank God David didn't put his maybe in some random person.

He put his maybe in God.

He said, Maybe God will turn this around.

If I'm gonna put my maybe anywhere, I want to put my maybe in the hands of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who has got all power and all authority to turn it around.

How many of you are grateful that God can still turn it around?

He can still turn sickness around, He can still turn broken marriages around, He can still turn what the enemy meant for evil and He can turn it for good.

I thank God when I come and pray for people at the altar.

I thank God, I'm not putting my maybe in the song or or some emotional goosebumps, I'm putting my maybe in the God that can turn it around.

Oh, the maybe's not in Ono Sullivan or Pastor Paul or anybody else.

It's not some anointed this, that, or the other prophet so and so.

Thank God for the gifts of the Spirit.

But I thought it's Jesus who does it, it's the Holy Spirit that does it.

Maybe if I get to that conference, my life will be turned around.

Maybe if I get before this preacher, my life will be turned around.

Maybe if I no, no, maybe God will turn it around.

Hey, put your faith in Jesus.

David says, Maybe God can turn this curse and he can turn it for good.

He had a big maybe.

He'd no throne, he was in defeat, he was in despair.

Probably like a lot of us this morning, facing destruction and rebellion and on the run and insulted, undermined, and betrayed.

And yet he could put his hope in a God because he knew that God has done it before, that God can do it again.

See, there's I want you to see the picture.

David's walk in a journey that is a reflection, it is a shadow and a type of a greater king that's coming.

His name is Jesus.

In verse 23, 2 Samuel 23, it says that, and all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people crossed over.

Here is King David himself.

He also crossed over the brook Kidron.

And in verse 30, it says that David went up by the ascent of the Mount Olives, and all the people wept as he went.

So we gotta catch the visual.

Here is Jesus.

This is for the Bible nerds in the house this morning.

Here comes here comes walking, a rejected king, a betrayed king, like those who are closest to him.

He's leaving Jerusalem, he's crossing the Kidron Valley, he's ascending the Mount of Olives, he's weeping.

Does it sound familiar?

Who else do you know crossed over the Kidron Valley?

Who else do you know crossed ascended the Mount of Olives?

Jesus did.

Jesus the King dead.

Jesus was rejected, betrayed, left Jerusalem, went over the Khidron Valley, ascended the Mount of Olives.

He was on a mission.

Maybe God can turn this curse into a blessing.

Maybe God can turn this around.

See David.

David deserved the accusations.

David deserved everything that he got.

David deserved everything.

Jesus didn't.

Jesus was pure.

Jesus was holy.

But when Jesus was into the Mount of Oz, when Jesus went to Calvary, he went there to give us what we did not deserve, which was what he deserved.

Jesus deserved heaven.

He deserved He deserved peace.

But He gives everything that's deserved of Jesus.

He gives it to us.

And He gives us what we do not deserve.

He gives us grace.

I'm not going to enter into a dispute with grace.

I'm not going to enter into some sort of conversation about the raising grace of God.

Why?

Because I have been a recipient of getting what I do not deserve, because 2,000 years ago Jesus crossed over for me.

He crossed over for me.

See, David wonders, can he?

But Paul declares in Galatians it's already done.

In Galatians in the New Testament, chapter 3, verse 13 and 14, it says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

That the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

There's a redemption story.

There was a redemption story for me.

What do you say to your recruit your critics?

What's the word that you give them?

The word is redemption.

That God can heal, God can turn it around.

Because in David, if you were to keep on going to chapter 19, God does turn it around for David.

Absalom, Ahithophel, the others that were coming against David are all taken out by the Lord.

And all that's left is David and Shemai.

Here in chapter 19, verse 19, it says, And now Shemai, the son of Girah, fell down before the king when he crossed over to notice when everything is restored.

When the tomb is empty, hallelujah.

When Jesus not only is gone to the cross, but he's rose again.

Then here comes the sinner Shemai.

He says, Do not let my Lord impute iniquity to me.

In other words, forgive me, God.

Or remember what wrong your servant did on the day that the Lord the king left Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart.

For I, your servant, know that I have sinned.

Therefore, here am I the first to come today of the house of Joseph to go and meet with the Lord the king.

But Abishai was right there, the son of Zariah.

And he answered and said, Shall not Shemai be put to death?

There's the accuser of the brethren again.

Say he deserves death.

And he's right.

You know, sometimes the devil, when he's speaking over you, it's right.

You are a sinner.

When he tells you you failed, you have failed.

When he tells you you don't deserve the mercy of God, he's right, you don't deserve the mercy of God.

When he tells you you're lost and you're broken, he's right, but he's missed the rest of the story.

You just gotta keep on reading because you get to the end of the story.

Do I deserve to be put to dead?

Yeah, I deserve to be put to dead, but the king is on the throne, and he says, For do I not know that today I am the king over Israel?

Thank God he's on the throne, King of kings and Lord of Lords, he ever lives to make intercession for me.

It's not what you say about me, it's not what my worst enemies say about me, it's not what critics say about me, it's what the Lord says about me.

And he says, You shall not die.

And the king swore to him.

In other words, there's a covenant, and because of that covenant, I can stand on this confidence, I shall not die.

Anyone want to give God praise today?

Anyone else want to give God glory in the house?

You think that would be the end of the story?

We could wrap it up right there, but I just want to conclude with one last thought.

This is what blew me away.

11:30 service.

I just wanted you all, I love the Bible, it's so wonderful, it's so you just go through so many connections there, and I just nerded out reading the scriptures this week.

And I came, I was like, Oh, praise God, Shem, I was spared, praise the Lord.

But something else if David and Abishai had killed David, they would also miss out on God's vehicle for a redemption for a nation, for protection for a nation.

On the eve or uh right after Pearl Harbor happened in 1941, a politically inclined newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, put as their headline after Pearl Harbor happened.

This was their headline.

Politics is adjourned.

In other words, we don't have time to be playing politics anymore.

Our nation's at war, we've got a bigger battle, we've got to unite for the sake of this nation.

Now, I just want to make a declaration here at the church today.

Politics is adjourned.

I'm not talking about Republicans and Democrats and all that kind of stuff and what happens in the White House.

Midterm elections are coming up.

Every person should pray and vote and vote according to your biblical convictions.

I believe that with all of my heart.

I'm not talking about what I'm talking about in the church for a moment.

Right here.

Politics is adjourned.

Why?

Because there's a nation on the line.

Why are we squabbling over things that don't even matter?

Why would we cast judgment when God wants to give mercy and grace?

Why would we want to chop the head off when God wants to restore and keep?

Why would we want to let die when God says nobody ain't gonna die?

I'm gonna protect, I'm gonna keep, I'm gonna love, I'm gonna restore, I'm gonna pour in the oil and the wine, I'm gonna nurse them back to health, I'm gonna bring them from image to image and glory to God.

I'm gonna save them, I'm gonna sanctify them, I'm gonna hold on to them.

They might still be rough around the edges, they may still curse every once in a while, they may fall back every once in a while, but I'm gonna keep drawing them by my holy spirit.

I'm gonna keep them, I'm gonna love them.

If he killed, if they'd kill Shime, you wouldn't have an Esther.

Just track with me.

Esther chapter two, a totally different book.

Years later, this is where I nerded out.

There was a guy called Mordecai who would intercede for the nation of Israel, and there would be a Haman who would be an enemy that would want to destroy Israel.

Chapter 2, verse 5.

It says in Shushan the citadel, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai.

Okay, Mordecai.

He was the son of Jair, okay.

Jair.

But he was the son of who?

Shemai?

Surely it couldn't be Shimmi.

Surely Shimmi's not showing up in Esther.

This Shimmi.

Now I can't I can't 100% prove that this is the same Shimmi, but I can't help but believe.

A Benjamite from the tribe of Saul.

So he's out of Saul's household, and he's here, and his grandson is Mordecai.

Then Mordecai will intercede for nation.

And Haman, Haman was an Agite, according to chapter 9, verse 24.

In other words, the people who Saul was supposed to kill and destroy and wipe out now are the enemies of God's people and want to wipe out all of Israel.

Because Saul spared the enemies, they have now grown to a place where Haman wants to kill them.

But because David, the king, spared Shemai, who deserves judgment, comes a Mordecai, who comes an Esther for such a time as this.

That's gonna stand in the gap and believe that God's got better for the nation.

Oh, make mercy always triumph over judgment.

You want a word for your critics?

Here is your word, your answer.

Your answer to criticism is not retaliation, it's redemption.

Jesus has saved me.

You think you've got something bad to say about me?

Let me tell you, it's so much worse than you've got to say about me.

I deserve to be in the grave, I deserve hell and judgment, but the mercy of God.

And if you want to take that up of God, you go ahead and take that up of God.

But I'm standing on the grace of Almighty God in the redemption of the work that God does.

Hallelujah.

If you're a recipient of redemption, can you stand your feet across this place?

Can you give God praise?

Can you give God worship?

Can you thank the Lord?

Can you exalt him?

Say thank you, Jesus.

You saved me, you redeemed me, you wash me, you've cleansed me.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah.

Come on, let's just sing to the Lord for a moment.

Let's lift our hands, let's worship him for a moment.

Hallelujah, Jesus.

Hallelujah, Jesus, hallelujah, Jesus.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Jesus, Jesus.

There's something in your life that you want prayer for.

It says that David and Abishai at that moment they went down and they refreshed themselves in the Lord in the middle of the opposition.

If you need to be refreshed by the Lord in this place, if you just need time to respond to the altar, if you just need time to just come and lay some things down, things down at the feet of Jesus.

If there's some things that have been bubbling underneath the surface, some pressure that's been rising, then you want to come and just ask God to deal with it, refresh you, heal you, restore, redeem something that the enemy has been working on, be breaking, been accusing.

You want to come and just respond to this altar day.

These altars are open just for as we worship here, as we just kind of come to this time of service, is always an important opportunity that we just leave this open for people who want to respond and who want to receive prayer and just come and bow before the Lord and say, God, help me, God, God, do work in me as we continue to say these altars are open.

Thanks for listening to the String Church podcast.

We pray that you were encouraged, uplifted, and challenged by the message today.

If you need prayer or want to learn more about the church, we would love to connect with you.

Visit the New Year page on TSCjax.com.

We pray you have a great week walking in all that God has for you.