It's kind of difficult. As I was studying this lesson this week, you would think that facing our Goliaths in our lives, you would think that this would be one of the first lessons. But I see sometimes God's ways are not our ways, and our thoughts aren't His thoughts, and this gentleman's thoughts were to go a different way. So as you're turning to Psalms 23, Basically, I think I'm in the Psalms most of the day. And as we finish this lesson, and as we finish this course on facing the giants in our lives, I think of our teacher's meeting yesterday and how that came up. About giants. As it did in the 13 weeks that Mr. O'Mara and I went through with this. Now, did we hit on every giant that's going to happen? No, I think there's more than 13 giants. But this lesson, I think, as we finish, will give us a proper starting spot. Now, you may say, well, if we go through the life of David, he wasn't really You know, some people will say, he wasn't a picturesque man to follow. He had issues. We all have issues. His issues, yeah, led to the death of innocent people. What if our issues would get that far? It seems like it's a different time and God works in different ways. But David dared to walk with God. As we draw a conclusion to this study in the life of David, we are reminded that all of David, all David's admiral traits, things you really want to follow in his life, the most important one was his personal walk with God. It was this relationship from a heart that yearned after God, that truly set him apart. But why do you do all these mistakes if he was a man after God's own heart? Because he was a man. God did not build robots when he made all of us to are all the same. And you say, I'm surprised sometimes at what some Christian men and women or boys and girls will do. Well, we shouldn't be. And like I've told you the story, I can't wait till I get to heaven, because I'm going to ask Eve why she did what she did. Well, I already know why she did what she did. But when I was first saved, that was my thing. That's what I was going to do. I was going to ask Eve. But as the years went by, and it's been almost 50 years, that have gone by that you don't have to ask why anymore. We're not perfect. We can have our hearts and our minds right with God, and we still will fall. You know, some people think Satan's the guy that walks around with a pitchfork and a long red tail. No. size of our class this morning, most of us know exactly how he'll come. But he still gets to us. He's relentless. You know, he knows what his final destination is. He's a loser, but he's not a quitter. And has he properly learned how to lose? I don't think so, because if they put him away for a while and he comes out, he doesn't change. He goes right back to being the same as he always was. So as we go through here today, hopefully we'll be able to learn a little bit more about David and his walk with the Lord. Let us, though, go to the Lord in prayer this morning. Father, we are so grateful for your wonderful love. And now as we take this time, we ask and pray, Father, that you'd be with the hearts of all of us that are in this room. Father, many of us have, or all of us, might have issues and situations that maybe some of us know nothing about, but you do. Maybe we have that loved one we've been praying for for an awful long time. Maybe we have that child that's become wayward. And Father, help us never to give up praying for them. Because Father, there was a time in our lives when somebody was praying for us. So Father, we just ask and pray that you'd be with us now during this time. Help us, Father Lord, to be a little bit more like David was. And Father, maybe in a small way that we'd be able to follow you like he did in the admiral times of his life. Be with us and strengthen us, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Psalms chapter 23. You know, sometimes we read God's Word but make God's word personable to you. He wrote this book for you. He died on the cross for you. Now don't be prideful with it, but if you were the only person that was ever created, Jesus went to the cross for you. What do you do for him? Starting in verse one, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, and he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul, and he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, and thou anointest my head with oil, and my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This is a psalm that is read mostly at funeral times. But not only should it be read then. The Lord is my shepherd. David's relation with his God was not regulated to this small compartment in his life as sometimes some Christians do. I will give the Lord Sunday morning. It's a small compartment, right? I won't give him Sunday night, I won't give him Wednesday night. I probably won't give him Monday through Saturday. Now, I'm not saying me, okay? But that is kind of like the general tone because it's not... In my mind, it's important, but it's not the most important thing. You can, we've all, you know, I've asked, you know, you ask people, have you ever played in a play? You know, have you ever been in a school play or the school musical? I couldn't be in a musical, I can't sing. I've been to some musicals and I don't think any of them could sing. But that's where the rubber hits the road. Because we've all, we're all actors. Somebody goes to you and, how's your day? And you say, fine. And you know on a Sunday morning, Satan works the hardest to get Christians to become discouraged so they won't serve him that day. It starts with, the alarm doesn't go off. Then moms, who never do, burn breakfast. The children, if you still have children at home, all of a sudden get sicker than normal. The car won't start. The dogs made a mess on the floor. I mean, a mess on the floor. You saw a little gray thing go scooting across the floor. You've been distracted. Satan uses those kind of effects. Somebody cuts you off on the way to church, and you've got a carload of kids, and all of a sudden, you have to spike the brakes. The kids are in their seats, but the seatbelts are never tight on a child. I laugh at Devin sometimes. He sits in a car. Yeah, right. I should put him in a car seat. I should put him in a car seat with a harness. You know Devin. He doesn't sit still. But he'll sit there, and he brings his knees up to his chest with a seat belt on. And I've got to tell him, and I've constantly got to tell him, if I have to stop this car quickly, your legs are both broke. You'll be catapulted, whether you've got a seat belt on or not, straight past me. He's got that look of fear in his eyes. And I tell them, put your feet down, please. And that's exactly what I do inside. And we keep driving. So we're all actors. We've all, on a Sunday morning, acted. Everything's fine. Everything's great. My walk with God has never been better. And that may be true, because before it's been so bad, but. It is in this relationship that we as Christians need to seek in our lives. We need to seek Christ in our lives, in this relationship. Don't worry about the millions and billions and trillions. Whatever, people say there are people on this earth. There's millions, right? Billions, billions. I don't know, when it comes for election time, it only seems like there's thousands. I just don't get the change of that. You know, the Apostle Paul, in his life testified that David was a man after God's own heart. In Acts chapter 13, verse 32. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king. To whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. After God's own heart, His thoughts aren't our thoughts, our thoughts aren't his thoughts. Do you know what God's heart is all about? So, what was it about David's heart that made him a man after God's own heart? Hopefully by the end of the lesson today, I'll stay on course and we'll be able to get through this full sheet. Number one, David knew God. Psalms chapter 23, There's a definite difference in knowing about someone and actually knowing that person. We all agree to that? Okay. I know Pastor Seth. Do I know everything about Pastor Seth? No, I do not. I know Brother Sean. Do I know everything about Brother Sean? No, I do not. Or one that we all could answer, we know I don't want to use his name, about the President of the United States. But do we actually know that person? Do we actually know him? No. Could we be doofed and hoodwinked by people that we know but that we really don't know? Have you ever thought you knew somebody and then they've done something? I never thought that person would do that. You didn't really know them. What's a person like when they're alone and there's nobody around? There is at times two different people. We put on a front in front of church people and church members, and people say, well, I don't have to go to church to be saved. Agreed, 100%. You don't have to. Not everybody that's saved is saved in a church setting. But we go to church not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together so we can learn about the Lord and then what he's taught us, share with others. Sometimes we think that, woe is me, I am the only one that has this problem. And then we find out there's people with bigger problems. My dad always said, Keith, before you make one statement about any person, walk in his or her shoes. But in order to walk in his or her shoes, you have to know what his and her are all about. I know that's terrible English, but you understand what I'm talking about, right? You got to get close. And people are afraid to get close, especially now. Especially now. We just stereotype almost everything. And we've stereotyped a long time in the United States, and people have stereotyped a long time in the world. Did Jesus Christ stereotype? I can't think of anyone that he turned his back on. His own turned their back on him, but he never turned his back on someone else. Red and yellow, black and white were all precious in his sight. I was talking with a gentleman who actually was my best man in our wedding. He came home from one of these 50-year reunions. Why would anybody want that? I've never been to a high school reunion since I graduated from high school. My word is, I'm out. Then I wasn't out. Then I got hired by the school, but that's something. But I've never been to a reunion. The oddest thing is, is that, yeah, I should be better than this. I just didn't hang around with the kids I graduated with. I really didn't. I either hung around with my Kids a year older than me or the kids that were a year younger than me? I had issues with some of these kids that were my age, the way they treated other people. Did you ever see a snob? I mean, a really snobbish person? Far from being a selfless person, as we talked about a little bit yesterday. But I'm not going to go there, because God has taken me from there. So number A, David knew God personally. Let's look at verses 1, 2, and 3 again. Verse 1, the Lord is my shepherd. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Why are we afraid sometimes to go to God? It's kind of funny. You think Adam and Eve thought they could hide from God and God wouldn't see that they didn't have any clothes? They never hid from Him before. Did you ever see the look on your child's face the first time they did something wrong? You look at them and say, what did you do? I never did that. It's easy to tell when they do something wrong. I know as a kid, I couldn't hide it. My children growing up couldn't hide it. My grandkids can't hide it. And I think that's a good thing, because they know when they do something wrong, it is easier to say what you did wrong than to have it be found out weeks, months later that you weren't honest. But David knew God personally. To David, the Lord was not just a shepherd, He was his shepherd. He took care of everything that David needed personally. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He led David personally to the green pastures and the still waters when he needed to be provided for. He restored David's soul personally. when he was troubled and he needed reassurance. He led David in the paths of righteousness personally when he needed guidance. Well, God knows when I need all these things, why do I have to ask him? Do you ever think about that? Why do we have to ask God to do things for us when he knows what we need? I believe, I think he wants to see how much you really need that. When you pray for a loved one, sometimes a loved one gets saved, maybe immediately, but why does it always seem like a grandma or a grandpa or a mom or a dad or a sibling? It takes forever for the Lord to touch them. You know, it's like I was saying last week, you live a life for 50 years, And then you get saved. And then you go and you pray. You say, OK, Lord, I will give you six days to show me what it is you want me to do. So you kind of like put a fleece out there. You know, Lord, show me exactly what it is you want me to do in six days. And the Lord looks back to you and doesn't say this verbally, you want me to correct your life in six days after you totally ruined it for 50 years. It doesn't work. Now, can the Lord do that? Of course he can. Can the Lord make you a billionaire? Of course he can. My father owns a cattle on a thousand hills. Now, I don't see a lot of farming going on nowadays. I know it's difficult. But there was a time as a kid, we'd go for rides. Yes, we did. And we'd go up through the country. Yes, we did. My uncle picked up milk from farmers and took it into the milk plants, either into the city or up. There was one in Collins Center. And so when he got a new farmer to pick up from, he basically went with his car and mapped out how it was going to work. But he didn't go alone. He took all of us. Did I like that? No. Until all of a sudden he started taking me on the truck at 4 o'clock in the morning. Talk about having to, you ever have to climb up into a milk truck? I never could do it now. There's no way. You know, Mr. Upgrove talks about how difficult it is to work in cars, especially trucks, because they're up so high in the front. You know, when I go out with Pastor Seth with the van, I got to step, grab, and then go above the van to slide in under the van. You know, my boys' trucks are like that. It's like, you know, I feel like a goof. Here I am six foot or whatever, I'm like eight feet in the air above, and then I got to duck back down under, Neither here nor there, I guess, but I'm not going to buy myself a $60,000 truck. Any gentlemen want to give me one? That's okay. So David knew God personally. We need to know God personally. You know, we've all heard the stories that if your mom and dad are saved and you're in the church, you are not getting to heaven on their coat strings. Every one of us stands someday before Jesus Christ. Every one. Every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess in saying, well, my mom and dad were saved and I went to church all the time with them. Now, I know Jesus has a little humor in him. What if he says, so? What did you do with me? Well, I listened to the sermons and I did everything mom and dad told me to do. What did you do with me? Well, I thought I was doing the right thing. Depart from me, I never knew you. Heaven's God's place, Jesus' place, he's got the right to say who comes in and who doesn't. 1 Samuel 17, verses 34 to 37, I think it's on your notes. David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep, And there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him." Ah, it's a fairy tale. No, it's not. It's God's word. It's true. Thy servants slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defiled the armies of the living God. David said, moreover, the Lord hath delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear." Listen to this. He will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. The Lord will deliver me. His God was a personable God. Can you say God will deliver me? When you read Psalms 23, do you say the Lord is my shepherd? Do you know that Jesus Christ is your shepherd, your shepherd? Not anybody else's, but yours. And then if you do, do you live a life that'll show that? It's a giant. I know Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. Show me. Prove it to me. Do you love others? Do you reach out to others? You know, I heard a gentleman tell me the other day, I was talking with him, and he says, you know, I've been to church for an awful long time, and you know what doesn't work? I said, what's that, brother? He goes, programs. And that's all he said. And I started thinking. And I started reading parts of scripture. Jesus was not a robot himself. He didn't have a certain program that he followed. He followed hearts. He followed lives. He followed those that were down and out. He followed those that were rich. He called those that were down and out. He called those that were rich. He put 12 of the most Crazy men together at one time that we today would never put together, and he made it work. Because he's God, yeah. But see, in the 70s, it was almost like a numbers game. You go out on visitation, had a set program that you used. You came back and one group would say, well, we led four people to the Lord tonight. And we said, wow, that's great. We led five. Another one, we led six. OK, so that's 15 people, right? And they all said they're coming Sunday morning. Sunday morning comes. Sunday morning goes. No 15 people. And then sometimes we just dropped it there instead of doing what we should do. And that's discipling. going back and talking to them. I don't have time. That was the 70s. We had plenty of time in the 70s. We didn't have all this garbage that affects our lives now. There was corruption in politics in the 70s, but there wasn't the media to get it out to you that much. So I'm saying, folks, please, know God. Know Him. Sometimes you'll hear people, especially from the South, and it's a term sometimes that kind of rankles me a little bit, but they'll say something about God and they'll call Him Daddy. My brother-in-law was like that. He would say Daddy or Papa. That, in my mind, doesn't show a whole lot of respect for God. He's God. He can smote you in an instant. What did he do to Lot's wife? And all she did was turn around. Turned her to a pillar of salt, right? Because he said he would do it. Imagine if God says, you turn your back around and look at this city, I'm going to turn you into a pillar of salt, and he didn't do it. There goes his credibility. There basically goes Christianity. David knew God secondly, number B, intimately. Back again to Psalms chapter 23, and we'll go through verses 4 and 6. Yea, though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death. Did David have those times in his life? David was king. David had a man killed. He walked during that time through the valley of the shadow of death. David thought what he was doing was correct, but you don't really know what David was thinking about, there's no way what he did was correct. When he counted his own people for his own pride, and God killed people, that wasn't correct. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Oh, on a bright, sunny day, when I can see everything that's around me, I will do exactly what God tells me to do. All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit says, I want you to go see so-and-so. Okay, where does he live? Not a very favorable place for you to go. When do you want me to go? I want you to go at night. You believe I'm with you, right? Now, if you're a Christian, and you say you are, And I'm not going to say you're not, but I don't want to be point blank. I don't know for sure. The only person I know that's a Christian in this room for sure is me. I know you and I know your lives, but I don't know you. Remember, we already established that. You'll do anything for God when you got your finger on the pulse and you see what's going on and you're in control. Oh, if God's not in control, then you are. God calls you to be a missionary to one of the worst countries in the world. Are you better off staying in the United States or go where God tells you to go? Go where God tells you to go. You're a whole lot safer there. Some of you have been in the military. You've been in countries that have not been safe. But as a Christian, You know God is with you. But still. Verse 5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemy. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. There's a story one time about a young man. He did something really, really wrong during the day. Really bad. Came time for supper time and it was his turn to pray. So Johnny, it's your turn to pray tonight. I need you to pray for supper. And so he says, OK. He bows his head and he says, Lord, I want to thank you for this table you prepared for us in the presence of my enemies. He thought mom and dad were an enemy because he did something wrong. He did something wrong. And they corrected him for it. We heard a little bit yesterday. Of course, we know it seems like that doesn't happen anymore. You do something wrong, that's fine. But David came to know God in a way that people do only when they experience times and sufferings. Why does God put us through suffering? Why? I don't know. Maybe because he wants us to depend more on him. Have you ever gone through life and everything is going hunky-dory, and there's no issues, there's no problems, and it's like, it's a month, it's two months, it's three months, it's four months, it's five, it's a year, or whatever, and then all of a sudden, bang, something happens. Why did it happen? God let it happen. How did you react to it? Did you react to that issue the same way you reacted to the year that God blessed you every day? Which, by the way, God blesses us every day no matter what. He wakes you up. He helps you. Yeah, some days are tougher than others. I'll admit that. Even being retired some days can be tougher than others. But he came to know God in a way that people do only when they experience tough times. When everything is going smoothly in our lives, it becomes easy to take God for granted. Amen? We may know him personally, but often the relationship becomes casual and routine. We treat God like brother Joe, or Uncle Sam, or a friend that you have coffee with every morning at the coffee shop. When you get older, that happens a lot. My father-in-law was like that. We'd go down to Cedarville, Ohio to see mom and dad when they were both alive. And dad would say, okay, son. He always called me son. Becky's grandfather called me boy, which I could never understand that because I was three feet taller than him. But I would never want to mess with him. But dad would always call me son. And so we'd go down and we'd walk into the coffee shop. And as soon as I walked into the coffee shop, it was like, it's kind of weird. Grandpa would kind of like do one of these. Becky's dad would do one of those, he'd go, I want you to meet. And they all said, hi, Keith, how you doing? Now, I've met him four or five times already, but, you know, dad was getting to the point where he just didn't remember things. Do you feel that way about God? I want you to meet my God. When you go someplace and you drink coffee, in the village of Hamburg now, the men have gone from inside Tim Hortons to outside Tim Hortons. If you've noticed that, if anybody goes through Hamburg a lot. Of course, nobody likes going through Hamburg a lot because it's terrible to drive your car through Hamburg a lot. But they sit out on the sidewalk. Now, older gentlemen, they're all retired. Every once in a while, a couple of ladies join them. Is that how you treat God? Like another friend? David had storms in his life. He became a great hero after he killed Goliath, remember? And he became the object of Saul's jealousy and then his hatred. As David walked through the valley of the shadow of death, he got to know God more intimately. Though he was in the presence of evil, he learned that he didn't have to fear it. because he knew that God was with him. But why is God putting me through this? Yours is not to ask why. You're not your own. You're bought with a price. God has a reason for everything he puts us through. Why have I had all these health issues for the last, what, three, four years? Because I'm stupid? A little bit, Becky would tell you. But God had a reason. Came out of the bank the other day, and the gentleman as I'm walking in, he goes, excuse me, sir, older gentleman. He goes, are those considered compression socks? And I said, yes, sir, they are. He goes, you know, I just got, I don't know who this guy is, I just got a prescription from my doctor saying that I need these socks. And so we talked a little bit. If you ever get a prescription for compression socks, not like buying them off racks at Walmart. Those compression socks are tough to put on. You think the ones from Walmart are tough to put on. You actually got to put these compression socks on like you put your foot into a fireman's boot. You know, you just don't slop it in. You got to roll over, roll it in, put it in, pull it out. You better be able to follow instructions or it's going to hurt because they compress. The reason, compression. They compress your legs. He goes, you know, I just got this prescription from my doctor, but I had some surgery done. I can't remember what it was in my leg. And the surgeon that did that like two, three years ago told me never to wear compression socks. I said, well, it sounds like, sir, you've got to go back to your original surgeon that did the surgery on your legs and find out if that is true. So hopefully, I helped the gentleman to realize, you know, please, folks, don't think a doctor's word perfect. I had a friend who all the time had his medicine changed, and one night he just passed out in the auditorium watching a hockey game. I was with him. Oh, scary. When I had one of my procedures done, the nurse came in and she goes, you're going to hear a sound. Don't be excited about it. rapid response room, blah, blah, blah. And if you know what rapid response means, everybody that's on this rapid response team has got to hustle to the room. The doctor that did the procedure forgot to take me off all my heart medicine, and my blood pressure dropped to 30. Never been that low. I had a nurse sitting on my gurney. Hi, how are you? Things happen. Medicine's getting mixed up, but getting back to this, you know, the Lord prepared a table before David in the presence of his enemies. If David never had any enemies, he wouldn't have learned how God could provide him no matter what he did. Psalms 56.4 says, In God I will praise his word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. Let us get going because Keith kind of messed up again. Number two, David loved God. And for verses, if you get a chance, read Psalms 116. You know, David was able to walk with God because he knew God personally and intimately. David loved God. How can you say David loved God and he did all he did? I wasn't in David's shoes. But I've been in mine and I love God and I've done some pretty stupid things in my Christian life. We all have. God has forgave us. Maybe, if you haven't asked him to though. Number A, David loved God gratefully. Psalms 116 verses 1 through 9, I won't read them all. Verse 1 says, I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. David loved God out of gratitude for all God had done for him. Are you grateful for what God does for you? Are you grateful that God gives you the ability to skirt around a car that's coming right at you and you don't know how you ended up where you ended up? Normally, as an individual, your reflexes are slower than slow. What about that deer that bounds out of the woods and hits the road once and then bounds over your car? Instead of stopping and looking around, and you just destroy your car and the deer. David loved God out of gratitude for all God had done for him. Do we really sit back and think about the things that God has done for us? What about all his wondrous works? What about his holy name? What about his strength? His judgments? His covenant? His goodness and his mercy and all those can be found in 1 Chronicles chapter 16. Oh, that's Old Testament. No, it's Bible. Old and new, it's all together. You know, David in his life was brought low by persecution and by grief. even by problems he caused for himself. But when David went to God, he always found exactly what he needed. Peter, walking on water, slips, falls, takes his eyes off the Lord, sees all the things that are going on in the world. And he goes, God save me. And God says, ah, not right now, Peter. I'll let you tread a little more water for a little longer. Did he do that? No, he immediately put his hand down and pulled Peter up out of the problem. Did he know Peter was going to fall? Of course, God knows everything. Does God know when you're going to fall? You know, if God doesn't come up to you sometimes and talks to you and tries to straighten you out, you better put yourself in a closet all by yourself and think about it. Are you truly saved? because God will not let his children get away with everything that we seem to get away with. Number B, David loved God devotedly. Love is just not how you feel. Love is what you do. Oh, I don't feel like loving you today. Did you ever say that to anybody? Did you ever have a child tell you, I don't think they say it much anymore, but a parent wants to go to a child, I wish you were never born. I heard a father say that to his son when we were children. Devastated the child. Devastated him. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever talk to anybody when you are angry. I was talking the other night with Isabella's last practice and I was telling them how I learned the plus, minus, plus theory. You're a disciplined child, you come out with something positive in their life. Then you hit them with what they did wrong. And then you don't let them go with that. You come back with something more positive they did in their life. A kid will do things wrong. You do. They will do things wrong, folks. And you do. David loved God devotedly. Love is not just a feeling. It's what you do. And when we say that David loved God, we're saying David served God. Too many times as we read through David's life, what's the first thing that comes up? David and Bathsheba, first thing. Well, how did that turn out? Solomon came out of the deal. How did that turn out? Well, David had all kinds of other issues in his life. Yes, I know that. Is your life perfect after you did something wrong for Christ? There's something called consequences. You must pay. Consequences. Number third, David agreed with God. You get a chance, slowly sit and read Psalms 119. As we look at the life of David, we see a man who was also fundamentally in agreement with God. He saw things as God saw them, not as he wanted to see them. If you're walking together with somebody, it means you're going in the same direction, correct? You're not going off to the left or the right, but you're going straight. You're going at the same pace. You're not getting ahead of the other person. You're not getting behind the other person. Walk with harmony. Walk together. Viewing the lives of others, we can't help but wonder why some people would be so foolish to argue. about the precepts of God and the teachings of God. Number eight, David agreed with God submissively. Do you submit or are you too proud? I am not gonna do what God tells me to do. Okay, don't. Are you gonna change anybody's mind that's so vehemently against doing what God tells them to do? The only thing you can do is pray for them. David submitted himself to the Word of God. It was his rule book, his guide book. You get drafted by the Buffalo Bills, you show up to training camp, you get a playbook to learn how to play against your enemy. Our playbook in the Christian life is the Bible. If we don't learn it, the enemy is going to run you over. He's not going to take your name. He's not going to give you $200 when you pass go. He's just going to run you over. He may still run you over and you're still close to God. God lets things happen. But you gotta be in the Word. Not just a flash in a pan. You gotta be in the Word. You gotta be living the Word. You know, when we study these lessons, it's hard on us. Number B to that is that David agreed with God consistently. And we'll stop, I think we can stop there. So folks, as we finish, the conclusion I have for you is this. There is no doubt that the submission of David's knowing God, loving God, and agreeing with God helped to knit his heart with God. It would be a wonderful thing if God were to look down now and see his people striving to have the same attributes in their lives today. But as God looks at our hearts, does he find us to be people after his own heart? Or do you know him today? Do you love him? Do you agree with him? You know, you sit in church on a Sunday morning, and hopefully nobody plays games, but it's like putting a pistol and playing the game of Russian roulette. Everybody know what the game of Russian roulette's about? Six chambers and a pistol. Five have bullets. I mean, five are empty. One chamber's got a bullet. And you sit there and you go back and forth with people, pointing the gun at your temple. Yeah, that's pretty stupid. But that's how we are with sin sometimes. Come here, get a little closer. You've heard me tell the stories about rattlesnakes and about this and about that. Why would you get so close to one? I'm screaming and I'm going the other way. Folks, don't get close to sin. Get close to the Lord. Father, we thank you now for this time. And Father, we pray now as people are coming into church, we ask Holy Spirit, lead, guide, direct, Save souls, we ask and pray today, Lord, for Your sake. Change lives especially, though. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen.