I'm going to start here. It's not going to be our full text, but just turn to the book of Luke chapter 16. I'm getting my notes situated here. Yeah, so Luke chapter 16. You know, when pastor goes away and he, you know, gives somebody, you know, the opportunity to come up here and preach and to, you know, ask somebody to come preach, we don't coordinate. He doesn't give me a text to read from or an outline to read off of, you know, he just gives it to the Lord's hands. I give it to the Lord's hands and prepare what the Lord would have us to say. And, you know, I don't know where your heart is at this morning. I know that the spirit of the Lord does. But does anybody here have a desire to serve God? Does anybody here have a desire to serve the Lord? I think I'm in a room of people that have a desire in some capacity to serve the Lord, to learn more of him, to find out what he wants you to do and to go and do it. And I remember being at youth camps and we got young folk coming back from youth camp. And I know they've gotten good messages and good rallies and pray that they've made some decisions for the Lord. But I know a lot of times, even as a young person, coming up and hearing those messages about what God has for you and what God wants you to do, you start thinking far out. These big plans that God has for my life. What is that big thing that God wants me to do to fulfill my purpose in Him, right? What's that big thing? And you start thinking about that and you start to lose track of what am I supposed to be doing right now, right now? And there's this quote here from Colin Powell. who for the TikTok generation in the room, Colin Powell was a former Secretary of State, four-star general, military strategist. And Colin Powell has this quote about when he was a young officer at Fort Benning. And he was around a lot of these other officers that were looking for that next thing, something to do. And he got around this second lieutenant who shared with him some advice that he got from an older general. See, this second lieutenant was coming out of World War II Korea. And he was at an officer's club. And he found this general sitting across the room. And he goes up to this old, crusty general. And he says to him, how do I become a general? And the old general answers and he says, son, you've got to work like a dog. You've got to have moral and physical courage. There may be days you're tired, but you must never show fatigue. You'll be afraid, but you can never show fear. You must always be the leader. And the young officer was so excited by this advice. He says, thank you, sir. So is this how I become a general? No, said the general. That's how you become a first lieutenant. And then you keep doing it over and over and over again. And Colin Powell goes on to say that throughout his career, I've always tried to do my best today, think about tomorrow, and maybe dream a bit about the future, but doing your best in the present has to be the rule. You won't become a general unless you become a good first lieutenant. And you're in Luke chapter 16, I want you to look at verse 10, because this principle of servant leadership is a biblical principle. It says in Luke 16, verse 10, he that is faithful in, in the which is least, in that which is least, is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. And turn over in Matthew chapter 25. Turn over in Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25, a couple of books earlier. Matthew chapter 25. And in Matthew chapter 25, again, this is all by way of introduction. In verse 21, and again I'll ask, is anybody here that wants to serve God? Well, if that's your hard attitude, I wanna hear this too. I hope you wanna hear this. Matthew 25, verse 21. His Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. And so this morning, I wanna look at what the heart of the servant of the Lord looks like? What the heart of the servant of the Lord looks like? Because we see this biblical principle that you've gotta be faithful over the things that God's given you before he's gonna give you more. And if there's any idea in your mind of some big thing that you want God to show you, I want us to focus our attention of what he's given us right now and how we're supposed to approach those things. So let's open up here with a word of prayer and we'll go on with the message this morning. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, Lord. I thank you for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. for our perfect example, Lord. Lord, I pray that you would just help me this morning just to preach your word this morning, Lord, not my thoughts, not my ideas or opinions, but just your word, Lord. I need to hear from you this morning, Lord. We all need to hear from you this morning, Lord. And so I pray that you would just, the things that you've shown me this week, Lord, just, I pray that you would just show me what to say, what not to say, Lord, and anybody here that doesn't know you as their Savior, Lord, I pray that they would be saved today, Lord, because you are so good, Lord, and you've done so much, Lord, and we need you this morning, Lord. And I ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so before we get going any further, I forgot to ask, is there anybody here that needs a Bible? If there's anybody here that needs a Bible, just put your hand up. There should be somebody in the back that can grab you a Bible. So if anybody needs a Bible, just put your hand up high, and somebody can grab you a Bible, all right? So we're talking about service this morning, talking about being a servant. You know, in God's eyes, that's the greatest honor that you can have right now, is to be a servant of the Lord, be a faithful servant of the Lord. You know, the day you get saved, you become a child of God, right? The Bible says, as many as believed him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, right? And it's been said before, if you're a child of God this morning, you are the aristocracy of heaven. All the things that you have in Jesus Christ, the salvation that you have, eternal security, a home in heaven, if you're faithful down here, a reward waiting for you. I mean, all these different things that you have as a child of God that generations before us couldn't even think of the things that we have as sons of God. I mean, it's an amazing thing. The Bible says that we're already seated in heavenly places. And if you understand that, please, after the service, come down and explain that to me, how I'm already seated in heavenly places, right? So all that is true. Sonship, all that is true. I don't take anything away from that because people in the Old Testament didn't get that. But you know what my example that I have in the Bible is that I'm not supposed to be focusing right now on the heaven. I'm not supposed to be focusing right now on all those things that I got waiting for me there, because I've got a job to do right here. And if I'm going to be thinking about just the things I have in heaven, right, if God's desire was just to save me and give me all those things, he would have pulled me out of here as soon as I got saved. The fact that he leaves us down here means that he has a purpose for each of our lives. And that's an encouraging thought, right? Because if you're sitting here and you're saved, and you're still here, that means God's got a purpose for your life. That means that you've got something that God wants you to do. That's an amazing thing. There's no one here that's got no purpose. You've got something in Jesus Christ. And so we've got to see how we're supposed to approach those things. And before we get ahead of ourselves, if you're not saved and you haven't trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, right? What we're talking about is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ who came and died on the cross in our place for our sins. He suffered, he bled, and he died in our place for our sins. And then he rose again on the third day. And all he asked for us to do is to call upon him to save us. because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so you need a savior to save you from your sins. And you just got to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Just got to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And if you've never done that, you come see somebody after the service and we'll talk about a little bit more about that. And if you're thinking in your mind, well, I come to church, maybe I've done it, maybe I haven't, you know, you talk about, you know, is there some special thing that I'm supposed to experience? We're not talking about being like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, where everything goes from black and white to color, all right? What we're talking about here, is there a moment that you remember trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior? There's gotta be a moment, right? And the example that came to mind is, and maybe you can relate to this, I can't tell you how many times I have left the house on the way to church in the morning, and before I even pull out of the driveway, all right, I'm thinking like, oh man, did I leave the stove on? Did I leave the oven on, right? And I start going through my mind, right? And I start replaying the morning and all the things that go on in the chaos of a Sunday morning in my house with the two girls, and I start thinking about, okay, I know I turned the stove on, but is there a moment that I remember going and actually turning that dial and turning that stove off? And maybe some people in the room right now are thinking that same thought, like, did I turn the stove off this morning on my way to church, right? But there's gotta be a moment, and I don't have any peace, and I can't drive away to church until I can remember in my mind a moment that I turned that stove off. And if it wasn't, then I'm going home in the house and I'm turning that stove off. And so can you remember a moment where you put the fire out? Can you remember a moment when you trusted Jesus Christ to save you? That's all we're talking about. If you can't remember that, if you can't think of a place or a time that it happened, then maybe today could be that day. You get that check, get that right, all right? That's what we're talking about. But let's turn to Philippians chapter two. Let's turn to Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two, and let's just be reminded of the mindset that we're to have. Because we know what we have in Jesus Christ, we know what we've got waiting for us, right? But this is a mindset we're supposed to have down here. Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two, verse five. It says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So the example that I have from Jesus Christ is he left all of his glory, he left everything that he had in heaven, and he humbled himself and became what? Took upon him the form of a servant. So that's my example. Down here, I should be taking on the role of a servant of the Lord, of a servant of the Lord. And if you study your Bible, you'll look and see all these men of faith in the Old Testament, the New Testament, you look through and so many times they are described as the servant of the Lord. All right, let's look at just one example. We're gonna look at some more this morning, but go to Romans chapter one, go to Romans chapter one. All right, this is the Apostle Paul. This is the first epistle that you have in your Bible from the Apostle Paul. We look at these church epistles, so we have the doctrine for right now, and this is how Paul introduces himself in Romans chapter one, verse one. It says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. He could have claimed to be a lot of things. He was a missionary. I mean, he was a great Christian, a great example. But first and foremost, when he's writing to the Romans, he says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. Now look at Romans chapter six. Look at Romans chapter six, all right? So I wanna lay some foundation here on how critically important it is for us to identify ourselves as servants of God. Romans chapter six. Verse 15, what then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness? But here, but God bethinked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. ye became the servants of righteousness. So think about this. Before you got saved, you did not have the ability to glorify God. You did not have the ability to serve God. You couldn't bring any glory to God in this flesh. But now, as a Christian, as someone who's saved, as a child of God, you can be a servant of God. You can serve God and bring him glory. That's an amazing thing. You actually have a choice to do that. You didn't have a choice before. You actually have a choice to do that. You can actually bring glory to God, just like all these people we're gonna look at in the Old Testament, just like Paul, just like Jesus Christ was a servant down here. You can actually bring glory to God. That's what we should be aspiring to be, servants of the Lord. So with all that, let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 17. Let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 17, because I wanna look at David. And we're gonna look at a bunch of people, but David, an amazing thing, David was a king of Israel. I mean, a great king. David was a warrior. He was a man of war. I mean, David was the most spiritual man in your Bible. David, I mean, he's a mighty man. I mean, a man of God, a man after God's own heart. And in first Samuel chapter 17, you know, one of the phrases about David, if you look throughout your Bible, so often David is described as his servant, the Lord's servant, the Lord's servant, the Lord's servant, right? And David is in 1 Samuel 17 about to go and fight Goliath, right? And you know the story, right? So the children of Israel are up against Goliath. No one's going out to fight him. Saul, their captain and leader, he's not going out to fight him. And so David comes to bring some provisions to his brothers on the front line, sees this giant Goliath, and he's wondering, why the heck is nobody going up against this guy? Why is nobody taking that step to go up against him? And so David goes to Saul in verse 32. And basically David gives a sales pitch to Saul for why Saul should let him go and fight Goliath. And we're gonna read these verses, verses 32 through 37. This is gonna form the text of our message this morning. So if you have a bookmark, put it right here. We're gonna turn back to it. But first Samuel chapter 17, and let's start in verse 32. And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.' And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against the Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And 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. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, go and the Lord be with thee. So I wanna point out to you here, we're gonna start here in verse 32. There are three things that David says to Saul of what he did in his capacity as a servant for why he should be able to go and fight this Goliath. Let's look at the first one. Verse 32, he says, let no man's heart fail because of him, thy servant will go. fight with this Philistine. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. You know what that shows me? That in the heart of a servant of God, you know what that has to be first? There's got to be a willingness to go. There's got to be a willingness to go. Let's look at our example here in Isaiah chapter 59. Isaiah chapter 59. there's gotta be a willingness to go. You may not know what it is exactly right now that God has in the big picture of your life, but you've gotta be looking around you right now and ask yourself, do you have a willingness to go and do anything for God? Isaiah chapter 59, this is our example in verse 16. Isaiah 59 verse 16, this is our example in Jesus Christ. It says, And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head. and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak. There was at one point where God looked around and saw that man was living in sin and had no savior. There was no one there to bring man back to God. And so you know what Jesus Christ did? He didn't turn to Michael the archangel, says, hey man, it's time for your number to be called. He didn't turn to Gabriel. He didn't turn to any of his armies and legions. You know what Jesus Christ did? He said, Here am I, send me. I'll go. I'll go bring that salvation. I see the need, I'll go fulfill it. Look at Psalm chapter two. Go to Psalm two. We're gonna be flipping around a lot this morning. Psalm two. We're supposed to have this mind. of Jesus Christ in us, and we're supposed to be looking at the example that he set as a servant, that I wanna see what he did. In Psalm chapter two, verse eight. Psalm chapter two, verse eight. Let's look at verse seven and eight. Look at this, this has got the Lord talking to the son. I will declare the decree the Lord have said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give you the heathen for that inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. That tells me that Jesus Christ at some point asked to go and to be that savior. He volunteered, he went and he did it himself. And so the question that I have to have for myself is, is there any willingness, any desire on my part to go? Is there any willingness or any desire on my part to go? And you know, when Jesus Christ was on this earth, I mean, look what he did. Look how many miles that he traveled. He didn't just stay in one place and have people come to him, right? I mean, he was at weddings. He was at funerals. He was traveling all over Israel. I mean, he had no place to lay his head. he was hungry, he was thirsty, but yet he kept going a little further and a little further and a little further, and he just kept going and going. For those three and a half years, he just went from place to place to place. You read in the Gospels, it's just Jesus Christ going somewhere and doing something. And that's the example that you and I have to follow. Are we willing at first to even go? Are we willing to go? Look at Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter six, verses five through eight. It's a familiar portion of scripture as well, it's Isaiah. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, lo, this hath touched thy lips and that iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged. Anybody here remember a day where your iniquity was taken away and when your sin was purged? Anybody here remember a day you got face to face with Jesus Christ and you made that decision to trust him as your savior? Verse eight, also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. See the biblical example here? If you've tasted the Lord's goodness, you've had your sins forgiven, you know what the next question needs to be, the next desire needs to be is, hey, here am I, send me. Remember Paul, on the road to Damascus, comes face-to-face with Jesus Christ, and he asks two simple questions. Who art thou, Lord, and what wilt thou have me do? Because once you get acquainted with the Savior, and you see what he did for you on that cross to give you that salvation, that next natural question is, what would you have me do? Here am I, send me. Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12. Let's turn to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, verse one. The Bible says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Your reasonable service. It all goes back to you being a servant of God. Your reasonable service is to lay down your life as a living sacrifice. That's my reasonable service, to lay down my life as a living sacrifice, to find out what it is that God wants me to do it and to go and to do it and to have that willingness to go and to do it. And you know we've got a lot of great examples we're gonna look at today but you know we've got a great example of a servant Lord that's got a willingness to go and do something is our own pastor, Pastor Pat. And we don't make big things about men around here but at the same time we are gonna read about some good examples in the Bible so we can learn from them, right? the first and foremost being Jesus Christ, but Pastor Pat is a living and very current example of what it means to be a good servant of the Lord. I can say that from experience because I remember he was my Sunday school teacher. He was my, you know, he taught a youth group. He preached at the camps that I went to. I've known him for a very long time, right? And I've seen his example, and he got to the point at First Bible Church in Staten Island where he said, here am I, send me, and he came out to New Jersey, and he started this church. which started in a back room with four or five people, and now I've got an auditorium filled with people, right? And that all is the glory goes to God, but there was a willingness on his part to go, to be sent, to be fruitful, to enter into the Lord's service somewhere else. He was already serving God in Staten Island, but he said, Lord, here I am, here am I, send me. And he came out to New Jersey. And I'm thankful for it. And we've been blessed for that. And so that's a great example of just the service. There's got to be a willingness to go. There's got to be a willingness. I mean, you look at all the things. He works a full-time job. He preaches on Sunday morning. He teaches Thursday night. He does things in between. He's available by phone. I mean, and again, if he was here, he probably pulled me out of the pulpit, you know, to stop saying all these things. But when the cat's away, all these things, you just, but why is that? there's a willingness, there's a willingness, there's a willingness, and in each and every one of us, there can be that same willingness, that same willingness to go, that same willingness to do something for the Lord. And you know what the problem is, though? and you will be your most miserable self as a Christian if you fight, if you fight against that willingness to go. If you fight against that call to go, you will be the most miserable person on this earth. You got the spirit of God living inside you and you fight against anything, about doing anything for the Lord. Because you're either serving the Lord or you're serving the God of this world. even as a Christian, you may not realize it, but that's the reality. Chris preached on Thursday night about that fruitful hill, and he made this point, is that you're either serving God or you're serving the God of this world. And look at Matthew chapter six. This is a sobering thought, Matthew chapter six. I want us to look at this. Matthew chapter six, because if I study my Bible, I realize that there's only two directions I'm going. I'm either going towards God or I'm sliding away from God. There's no middle ground. There's no me standing still. There's no standing still. You're either walking towards God or you're backsliding away from him. And in Matthew chapter six, verse 24, the Bible says, no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and Mammon." I mean, pay attention. You can only serve one master. You're gonna serve one of two masters. But there's nowhere in this verse 24, even if I try reading between the line, where there's an option where I'm not serving either one of them. I'm either serving God or I'm serving Mammon. I'm either following up the Lord or I'm following up to the God of this world. There's no middle ground, and in fact, the idea or the notion that you would even think that you could be serving neither one of them is itself evidence that you're following after the God of this world. Because only Satan could convince you that you could be your own God. That's what he did back in the garden, to convince Adam and Eve that you could be your own God. You can be as gods, knowing good and evil. See, the devil wants to make it seem like you can be on the same playing field as him. You guys don't need God. You can just do this thing on your own. And the Lord says, no, no, no, no, I'm here, you're here. And you gotta recognize that, and you gotta acknowledge that, and if you get to that place, that's actually the best place that you can be. Because you start deceiving yourself to think that you don't need the Lord, you don't need to serve the Lord, you know what the devil will start doing? He will start taking all those things that God could otherwise use for his glory, and he will use them to just bring glory to himself, to just manifest his own evil, and to get you out of the fight. And that's what the devil does. See, God comes to us and says out of love, will you just give, right? The devil makes us think that we're on our own, but meanwhile in the background, he's just taking and taking and taking and taking and taking and taking away. And so don't deceive yourself by not going out for God that you're good, because that's not the case. You're either serving one or the other. That's a sobering thought. So let's all lean into serving the Lord. Let's all lean into serving and going for God. And you know, in 2 Samuel chapter 11, 2 Samuel chapter 11, we see that David learned this lesson the hard way. 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11, one of my least favorite chapters in the Bible. is about David and his sin with Bathsheba. And we know that David sends Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba's husband, one of David's mighty men, to battle to die so that he could commit adultery and so he could have Bathsheba as his wife. And in 2 Samuel 11, verse one, we see how that ended up happening. You say, how is it possible that David would commit adultery with one of his mighty men's wife, with his wife, while this guy was out fighting for David, and then when this guy comes back, that you would send him again to get killed so that you can marry his wife? How could David do that? Well, in 2 Samuel 11, verse one, it says, it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David tarried still at Jerusalem. There was a time came where kings go forth to battle, and David was a king, which means, put two and two together, he should have been on the battlefield. But he tarried at Jerusalem. He didn't go. And because he didn't go, the devil made good use of David's time. And you and I, again, we talked about the aristocracy of heaven. You look at Revelation. We are, in Jesus Christ, kings and priests. But it is not my time right now to be a king. It is not my time. It is my time now to be a servant. It is my time now to go to battle. It is my time now to go to war against the enemy and to serve the Lord. And David tarried instead of going to the battle, and he lost some things. He was never the same after that, committing that sin. And so let that again be a sobering reminder to us on being mindful. Are we going? Are we going? Are we going? Let's go back to 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel chapter 17. I told you to keep a bookmark, I did not keep a bookmark, so let me get there. 1 Samuel chapter 17. All right, so we're back here, 1 Samuel chapter 17. And so again, this is what happens though. Right, so you find out what God wants you to do, and you go, and you say, Lord, here am I, send me, I'm gonna go. And then this is what the enemy does in verse 33. 1 Samuel 17, 33. And Saul said to David, thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. You can't go fight Goliath, David. You're scrawny, you're small. This guy's been fighting for years. You've got no experience in this area, right? I mean, David saw Goliath and said, hey, let's go take this guy out. And Saul's like, no, no, no, not you. Maybe somebody else. Maybe somebody else go do it, but not you. You don't got the experience. Listen, there's always going to be excuses for why you shouldn't go and serve the Lord. there is always gonna be excuses for why you don't go do it. I mean, look at Moses back in the beginning when he was called, right? All the excuses that he gave to God on Mount Sinai for, you know, he didn't, it wasn't eloquent, right? Who am I gonna send, who am I gonna tell them sent me, right? How are they gonna believe me? All these excuses, right? Now Moses eventually got it together, but that, you know, the excuse, there's always gonna be those excuses. And you know what? Saul doesn't say anything to David that's actually not true, right? See the subtlety here, the deceit? Everything that he's saying is true. David is but a youth, and this guy Goliath has been a man of war from his youth. That's all true. That's not a lie, that's all true. But that doesn't change the fact that when God prepares you, when God says go, that means he's gonna give you everything that you need to go and do it. He is gonna give you everything that you need to go and do it. God brings you to that and says, look here, you need to go and do this, then you go and you do it, and God will give you the strength and the power to do it. He's gonna do it. You just start building and building, but if you never go, you're never, you're never gonna go, you're never gonna get anywhere, you're never gonna advance, you're never gonna grow, right? I've been running recently, and if you had told me that on a Sunday afternoon I would go and run 10 miles three months ago, I would say you're absolutely out of your mind. But yet that's what I find myself doing. But before I ran 10 miles, I ran half a mile, I ran three miles, I ran whatever, just gradually up and up and up. If I just got out and just ran 10 miles, I would have just fallen and collapsed, right? You progressively load and load and load, right? And if you happen to be friends with someone that also runs long distance, they will make you run those long distances and encourage you to go and do those things. Which, by the way, is again a plug that if you've signed up for the 5K, for the Marketry mission, if Jason sent you a link, make sure that there's no zero after the five. All right, because if you sign up for a 50k, you're going to be running 10 miles in the afternoons with me. All right, so make sure that 5k, it's just a five, right? No zero after that. Be sure to get your t-shirt. All right, so, but God always, he loads and loads and loads, but he gives you enough. You keep going a little further, a little further, a little further. So there's always going to be an excuse for why you should not go. Don't listen to excuses. Just go, just go. All right. Does any of this making sense? All right, so let's go and we're in 1 Samuel 17 still, right? So let's look at the next thing here. So thy servant will go. There's gotta be a willingness in the heart of God's servants. Let's look at the next thing, verse 34, right? And this is what David responds to Saul to show him why he is able to go to fight Goliath, right? He says, thy servant kept his father's sheep. Let's stop there. Thy servant kept his father's sheep. You know something, when you are serving the Lord, the Lord is gonna put some people, some things within your care and keeping. And David was a servant and he kept his father's sheep. And I wanna look at what does it mean to keep your father's sheep? What does it mean to keep your father's sheep? Well, let's look again at our great example, the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to John chapter 18. Go to John chapter 18. John chapter 18, this is our, really getting into the heart of the message this morning, and we gotta lay some foundation, and we're gonna come back to 1 Samuel, but John chapter 18, I wanna look at it, what does it mean to keep your father's sheep? What does it mean? Let's go to John chapter 18. 17, yeah, John chapter 17, sorry about that. John chapter 17, all right? John chapter 17. And let's go to verse 11, all right? And now this is Jesus talking to his disciples in the upper room, and in John 17, he's praying to the Lord now before he goes to the cross. He's praying to the Lord before he goes on, and this is Jesus praying to the Father, and this is what he says to him. He says, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. and i come to thee holy father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are while i was with them in the world i kept them in thy name those that thou gavest me i have kept and none of them is lost but the son of perdition that that scripture might be fulfilled you know when jesus christ was on the earth and he had those disciples around him. You know what he did? He kept those disciples. He was a great testament, a great example to those disciples. He took care of those disciples. He fed them. He led them. He taught them the words of God. He gave them examples. He showed them signs and miracles and wonders. Even when he would disclose a parable, he'd go to the disciples and disclose to them the true meaning plainly of what it was. I mean, when those disciples stayed close to Jesus Christ, man, Jesus Christ kept them. He took care of his disciples. That's a great example of taking care of God's sheep. That's what Jesus Christ did. But he's praying to the Father because now Jesus Christ is gonna be leaving this world. And in verse 13, he says, and now I come to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. And so Jesus Christ, who kept the disciples while he was on this earth, knowing that he's gonna leave, is praying to the Father that he would keep these disciples from the evil. That he would keep the disciples from the evil. You know, I'm thankful that Jesus Christ prayed that prayer. Because if we look down in verse 20, he says, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. That's us. That's us. So this prayer isn't just to the disciples, the Peter, the James, and the Johns. This is to us as well that have believed since then, and he's praying to keep them from the evil. What a thing. You ask yourself, well, what is the evil that Jesus Christ is praying against, that the Father, that he's so concerned that the Father would keep them from? Is the evil persecution? No. He was not persecution. He told them that if the world hates me, it's going to hate you. If the world hates me, it's going to hate you too, guys. Paul suffered persecutions and shipwrecks in the service of the Lord. Was it persecution? Was it tribulation? Was it tribulation? Was that what Jesus Christ was concerned about? His disciples and his followers were gonna have to go through some tribulation? No, because if you look at John 16, verse 33, he says, these things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation. but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." So it's not tribulation, it's not persecution, it's not bodily harm, it's not poverty, it's none of these things, none of these physical things that can come on to us as servants of the Lord. We should be expecting those things, but the evil that Jesus Christ is praying against is what's on the other side of that spiritual warfare and that spiritual battle. is that on the other side of the temptation, that the enemy would try to lead you and I and take our hearts and lead us away from the Lord. And you look around this world today, you look at the sin in this world, we can name all of the evil that is in this world, that is trying to take your heart and your mind away from Jesus Christ. It doesn't take much. You just walk out the door and you can see the evil that is in this world. And in Ephesians chapter six, you wanna turn there, Ephesians chapter six, Keep your place in John 17, Ephesians chapter six. Again, this is Jesus Christ's desire for us. Ephesians chapter six. Verse 12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness on high places. You and I fight a spiritual battle every single day, and that enemy is real. That enemy is real. And so Jesus Christ is praying to the Father to keep us from the evil, but you know what? You gotta know your enemy, right? You gotta know your enemy. You know what that ultimate evil is that the devil's after? You want that ultimate evil that if he had his way, he'd get. Go to the book of Job. And again, say in John chapter 17, I told you we're gonna flip to a lot of verses. Go to the book of Job. Go to the book of Job. And we're gonna look at that ultimate evil that the devil wants to bring upon us. Go to the book of Job, Job chapter one. Job chapter one. Job chapter one, because Job is a great example of the servant of the Lord. The Bible says in Job chapter one, verse one, that he was described as perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil. Man, what's a God that I had the testimony of a Job? One that feared God and eschewed evil. Job was a righteous man, but look at Job chapter one. Job chapter one. Verse six, now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? Think about this. God is pointing out this man of God, this Job, and he's pointing him out to the devil. And what title does God give to Job? Have you considered my servant Job? Oh man, God was proud that he can call Job his servant. He's my servant, this is my servant Job. Verse nine, then Satan answered the Lord and said, doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made and hedge about him and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. You know what the devil, God's pointing out to the devil his servant Job. Consider this guy, consider this guy. And God gives the devil the opportunity in the book of Job to go after Job, to go after his faithful servant. And so Satan has his pick of what he wants to do to Job. Now he can't kill him, God prevents him from doing that, but he has his pick for what he can do to Job. And that's a good picture for us today. If you're trying to be a servant of the Lord, and you've got that same enemy, that same wicked, that same Satan, if given the opportunity, what he wants to do, and he reveals his hand, he reveals his hand, what he wants to do. He says, verse 11, put forth thine hand now, touch all that he hath. and he will curse thee to thy face." Man, if Satan could have his way, he would allow all those, use all those things, all those trials, all those temptations, all those tribulations, all the sufferings that we have in this world, and he would try to use those things to get us to give up on God. to get us to just quit having faith in God, to curse that God, to look at God and say, you know, God, I want nothing to do with you anymore. I want nothing to do with you anymore, God. I thought I was promised all these things. I thought you were a good God. I'm going through all these sufferings and all this stuff is happening to me. Woe is me. You know what, God, I quit. and I'm done. And Jesus Christ is about to leave this world and he's giving that pep talk to the disciples and telling them all those things he's warning them about that's going to happen. And he's praying, God, when I'm gone, keep them from the evil and keep them from this ultimate evil that through all those things, instead of leaning in and continuing to serve me, that they would quit, that they would give up, that they would stop loving me, that they would stop loving you the way that I loved you. All of those things, that they would give up that God, that Satan would sift them as we intake that from them. God, protect them from that evil. That's what Jesus Christ is praying for there. That's what he's praying, praying for each and every one of us that we wouldn't quit the race, that we wouldn't quit serving God. And so if you go back to John chapter 17, the question that I then have is that I see the importance, see the magnitude of what's out there, see the weight of what Jesus Christ is trying to keep from happening. and he's pleading to the Father, how does he ask God to accomplish that request? How does he ask God to keep us from the evil? John 17, verse 17. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. He says, God, keep them separate. Keep them clean. Keep that light and that line of demarcation very clear to them from that evil and do it with thy truth. Thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. Because Jesus Christ, while he was on the earth, was that incarnate word. He is the word of God. And the disciples, when they were around him, and anybody listening, you know what they got? They got the words of God. That's what they had. And he even went to Peter, when all the disciples were walking away, and he goes to Peter too, and he says, you know, wilt thou also go away? And what keeps Peter in the fight? What does he say to them? He said, whither will I go, right? The words of life. Where am I gonna go? Peter says, where am I gonna go? Thou hast the words of life. Jesus Christ spake as one that had authority. Never a man spake like this man, it was said of Jesus Christ. And so it's fitting that he calls on the word of God to be that which sanctifies us. His truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. But you know how I get to know Jesus Christ down here? Through the written word of God. through the written word of God. That's why we make a big deal about the Bible around here. That's why we turn to so many verses, right? Because it's all about the word of God. And I'm going to take a step further. Let's go to Psalm chapter 12. Psalm chapter 12. I want to show you this. Psalm chapter 12. Psalm chapter 12. It all comes down to the word of God, guys. Psalm chapter 12, verse six. The words of the Lord are pure words. A silver tride in a furnace of earth purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. You know, I read this verse again in light of what I was studying for this message this morning, and it clicked for me. in a way, I don't know if it clicked before, but the neon light went on, that here is Jesus Christ asking the Father to keep us from the evil. And he's asking the Father to keep us from the evil through his word. And I go to Psalm 12, six and seven, I have this promise that God kept and preserved his word. He kept his word. God made good on his end of the bargain. God fulfilled that desire by keeping and preserving the word and that's why we hold the conviction of the King James Bible that God preserved the words in this King James Bible because he promised that he was going to keep and preserve his word. And if I look at what Jesus Christ was concerned about, and I look at the magnitude of it, and I look at the value that He placed in the Word of God, and I see that God did in fact keep and preserve them, then my question is, where are those words? These words that are so valuable that I need to cling my heart on, where are those words? And that's why we held that conviction. And there's more to that. There's the manuscript evidence and all those things. If you have questions, you can ask us, you can go to the discipleship. And if you don't share that conviction, I'm not gonna stand here and try to convince you of that on a Sunday morning. No one's coming to take your Bible away. But if you wanna know why it starts with that hard attitude, is God, where are those words today? Where are they? Where are they? Because if they're only in the originals, then I have a problem. Because I don't speak those languages. And if you say you're crazy to think that through translation everything that God could preserve his words today. I mean, of all the things that you and I believe, and you believe that God spoke the earth into existence in six days? You believe that God became a man, that someday a woman gave birth, a virgin gave birth to a child? You believe that? You believe that a man lived, died, and rose again the third day? Do you believe that this morning? If you believe all those things, the least illogical, the least hard to believe of all those things is that the God who made languages could preserve his word through those languages up until now. And so that's why we make such an emphasis on the word of God and the King James Bible and the preservation. And the question then is, what are we doing with those words, right? What are we doing with those words? And if we look at John chapter 14, it's an amazing thing that all these things that Jesus Christ did to give us the manual, to give us the answer key, and what his expectation is for us, what his expectation for us is, is an amazing thing in John chapter 14. In John chapter 14. John chapter 14. Verse 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words. And my father will love him, we will come unto him and make our abode with him. You know what Jesus Christ says? He says, if you love me, if you wanna serve me, Can you just, can you keep my words? Can you keep my words? I mean, after everything Jesus Christ did on the cross and given us his words, he says, can you just love me and keep them? Can you just love me and get to know me through these words? Can you just love me and get to know my word? Out of love, just out of love. If you love me, keep my words, keep my commandments. That's what he asks us to do. And go back to first channel 17, because I know some of us are sitting here thinking, What in the world does any of this have to do with keeping sheep? 1 Samuel chapter 17, 1 Samuel chapter 17, we're gonna say, 1 Samuel chapter 17. Don't worry, we're gonna land this plane soon. 1 Samuel chapter 17. All right, you're back in verse 34. All right, I want everybody to look at this closely, verse 34. 1 Samuel 17, verse 34, the Bible says, And David said unto Saul, thy servant kept sheep. Is that what the Bible says? Thy servant kept his sheep. Now, what does it say? Thy servant kept his father's sheep. They're not your sheep. The people that God puts under your care and keeping as a servant of the Lord, whether that's as a parent, whether that's as a spouse, whether that's as a Sunday school teacher, whether it's just your coworkers at work, and if not the people, the things, your finances, your house, everything, the things he's given you, you gotta recognize first and foremost that they're not yours. They belong to the Father. And how can you and I expect to take care of those things the way that God wants us to if we don't even know what God wants us to do with them. I mean, David kept his father's sheep, right? I'm sure Jesse didn't just go to David and say, hey, David, go keep these sheep. I'm sure Jesse took the time and showed David what he needed to do to take care of the sheep, right? If somebody, I mean, let's make this real practical. If somebody came up to you, right? Um, let's say a shepherd comes up to Chris Lisa and he's got these sheep outside, right? And he says, Chris, I got to go use the bathroom. You go keep these sheep for a couple of days. I'm gonna use the bathroom. I got to get out of town, go on vacation. You go keep these sheep. I mean, I'm gonna speak for Chris. I'd have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I couldn't even get those sheep across Lloyd Road. I mean, you forget about fighting lions and bears, right? You gotta have instructions in what you're gonna do. And so when we talk about Jesus Christ keeping his disciples as the word of God, and we talk about God keeping us from the evil through his word, through his word, then all the people that we have under our care and keeping as servants, you know how we keep them and watch over them faithfully? by using the words of God, by finding out what it is in God's word that God would have us to do and following that. And I've got this quote here from Oswald Chambers. Some of you may be familiar with him. He's got this devotional, my utmost for his highest. And he says this here. It's just a sobering reminder. He says, we can ever remain powerless by trying to do God's work, not in concentration on his power, but by ideas drawn from our own temperament. We slander God by our very eagerness to work for him without knowing him. Amen, that is a sobering thought. If you've got anybody in your care and keeping for Jesus Christ that God wants you to minister to, Help them be fruitful, glorify God. You gotta find out from God's word what it is you're supposed to be doing. Gotta find out, because don't go into your master's field without finding out what he wants you to be doing. And final ticket down in verse 34, it's finishing, go to verse 36, look at this last thing. 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. Thy servant slew both the lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them. seeing he have to fight the armies of the living God. You know what I find in the Bible is that servant that's willing to go and that servant that's keeping his father's word and keeping watch over those people and things that the father has given him care and watch over, that servant, man, he identifies the enemy and he conquers and he wins every single time. No matter how big, no matter how intimidating, that servant that's got the Word of God, that sword of the Spirit, man, he is on watch and identifies that enemy and keeps them from keeping harm over the flock. Go to 1 Peter 5. Go to 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. First Peter chapter five. In verse eight, the Bible says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Whom resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Man, there is an adversary out there, and we've gotta be vigilant against him. We gotta be vigilant against him. And sin, I mean, it is like a cancer. You turn back a couple of chapters. In James chapter one, in James chapter one, You gotta recognize and know your enemy, and you gotta recognize and know what the end of that sin is. James chapter one, verse 14. The Bible says, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. If you're not close on watching your own life, on where sin's trying to creep in, and in the lives of others that you are watching over and sin creeping in. If you are not on careful watch, that sin's gonna creep in and you're not gonna catch it until it's too late. And it's gonna bring upon some spiritual death. It's gonna bring upon some spiritual death because that's what sin does. And if we're gonna sit on the side and just let it grow and let it fester, that is not a good strategy. And just hope that it just goes away on its own. Hope is not a strategy when it comes to that. It is not a strategy. Sin is like a cancer. We've had people here that have gotten cancer screenings and gotten cancer identified and gotten detected early, right? And you got that detection early, the next step is find out how do we remove that thing from my body as quickly as possible and just get it out. before it spreads. Because once it starts spreading, problems start to grow. And that's the same thing as sin. You gotta catch that early. You gotta catch it early. And how do you do that? You gotta be watching over that flock just like David was. And when you see the enemy, just like David saw that lion and saw that bear, you go after it. You go after it. You go identify it and you go after it with the word of God. And be bold, be bold. Man, the enemy, there's ideologies in this world that are trying to creep in. I think of my own kids trying to creep into their lives through, on TV, through books, through, I mean, everything. The devil has no shortage of ways to come after our children, no shortage of ways. And I'm thankful, and I think about the plans that God has for my kids, right? But I've also gotta be wise that the devil's got plans for my kids too. And I'll tell you right now, I'm not letting him come and get my kids without putting up a fight. I'm not letting that happen. That's my heart. And I know that's your heart for your kids as well. And so what do we do? Don't be on our heels. Be on the balls of your feet and be looking for those things. And go out and root out the enemy where he is. Identify and root it out where he is. And we'll end here in 1 Samuel chapter 17. Thank you for your kind attention. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, we're gonna end here. 1 Samuel chapter 17. Looking at that heart of the servant, 1st Samuel chapter 17. And this is again, David is gonna go fight Goliath. We know how it ends. He kills Goliath, amen? And in 1st Samuel 17, 38, Saul says, Saul armed David with his armor and put on a helmet of brass upon his head and armed with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armor and is saved to go, for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them. And David put them off. You know, you be faithful over what God has put under your care and keeping right now. And if the next thing comes, God will give you that next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing, will gradually build and gradually give you more things to care over, more things to be responsible over, more responsibilities, the more faithful you are with the things that he's given you. But every time God gives you more responsibility, you're gonna be facing a challenge that you haven't faced before. And you are going to be tempted, because I see this is what Saul tempts David with. Saul, this picture of the flesh and the antichrist tempting David to not lean on the things that David leaned on before, where he got victory, but to start leaning on something new, something shiny, leaning on Saul's armor. Don't do that. Regardless of what that next challenge is, you know where the word of God is. And if you're following the Lord, you've been proving that word of God against all those enemies and against all of those things throughout your life. And there's no big enemy that God and his word cannot take care of. And so keep relying and keep focusing on the word of God. And keep trusting the word of God and that's gonna be your weapon that's gonna defeat the enemy. And, you know, I think, and we'll close here, I think about this. I think about, you know, growing up I was fortunate to see my great-great-grandmother. She passed away when I was five. Then her daughter, my great-grandmother. My grandparents, you know, and I've been blessed to know my grandparents, even, you know, lots of great-great-grandparents. And I remember being at my great-grandmother's funeral. And she was about 93 years old when she passed away. And I remember coming away from that, and I believe she was saved. She was a great woman, my great-grandmother. And I remember coming away from that funeral, away from that gravesite after we buried her, and I remember just thinking about the people that were around the gravesite. And it occurred to me that there really wasn't anybody from her generation that was still there. Anybody from her generation had already died and passed on. It was only people, the next generation and the following one. And it might be a morbid thought, but it got me thinking that you just give it a few generations and nobody's even gonna remember my name. And nobody's gonna remember your name probably either. And I don't say that to be you don't matter, no one cares about you. What I say that is this, is that that means that the physical and the temporal cannot be what I'm focusing on right now. And if I am gonna be remembered for anything. And if there's any fruit and any proof of my existence on this earth, let it be that somebody else took up the mantle by following my walk and seeing my service. Because you look at like a Moses as a servant of the Lord, right before Moses died, right when he dies, he's noted as a servant of the Lord. And the book of Joshua, there's like 18 times Joshua talks about Moses and refers to him as the servant of the Lord, the servant of the Lord. And Joshua, when he dies, he's called the servant of the Lord. And so Joshua, Moses' servant, saw something in Moses. And when he thought to recall Moses when he wrote the book of Joshua, he referred to Moses as the servant of the Lord. And so Moses' testimony encouraged Joshua to pick up that mantle and to go on. And these are both mighty men of God, mighty men of God. And so my challenge to all of us today is whether we're also gonna have that heart of the servant, and whether we're also gonna be willing to go, and whether we're also going to keep our Father's sheep by first and foremost keeping His words, and that we're gonna be vigilant over those things and those people and just root out all that evil and all that enemy and all that sin that we see by those very words. And as God keeps putting weight on the rack, that I would just be faithful to keep trusting those same words, this blessed old book and not look for another, not look for anything else. So that one day when I'm gone and I go to before Jesus Christ, it can be said of me, well done, my good and faithful servant. and that somebody else, generations down the road, if the Lord tarries, who doesn't even know who I am, but could be the product, the fruit of my faithfulness and me just willingly bringing glory to God, not for me, but for His glory, for His glory. Amen? Let's pray.