Thank you, Dr. Savage. I appreciate so much your confidence to let me have the pulpit this morning and this evening in your church, and so thankful to be in your good church and love the area. West Tennessee is dear to my heart, and I appreciate the great ministry and testimony you've had in this community for the Lord Jesus Christ. And we need good churches, amen? Something, brother. But it is so good to be in your pulpit, and I appreciate your confidence in me, and it is not beyond me to get confused. I do that quite often. And it seemed like when we talked on the phone you asked me to be here on Sunday night. It seemed when I got the letter it said all day Sunday. And so I don't know if I took upon myself to be here or you scheduled me. But I do appreciate you tolerating my forgetfulness or however I do things. It happened this morning. I've been going to church for 42 years. I've been wearing a suit to church for 40 years. And this morning when I pulled into your parking lot I got out, opened the back door and said, I didn't bring my jacket. didn't wear my suit coat. And so there was a fellow here in the church that we mugged a few minutes ago, and now I have a suit coat to wear in the pulpit this morning. So if you'll please forgive me for robbing a man in the Lord's house. But I do appreciate his kindness to let me use his suit coat. And I'll have you turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel and chapter number 18 in your Bible, 2 Samuel and chapter number 18. And I do appreciate so much opportunity to preach. I do miss my church. I love being in our church and I'm thankful for the servants that we have of the Lord Jesus Christ in our church. And we're praying as they're meeting at the same time you do that we'll have great services and the Lord will have His way in that church. I want to confess to you right away that my goal is to try to motivate you this morning in both sermons. I'll try to encourage you. I'll try to to elevate your service for the Lord Jesus Christ, to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, to do more for Jesus. Paul, when he was praying for the church at Philippi, said to them that you abound. And one of his prayers was that they would abound. And that's what we need. Paul said to the Corinthian church, he said to those folks in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58, Be ye therefore steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain. And so it is not empty what we are doing this morning, what we do for the Lord Jesus Christ. You just giving attendance. You being here in the House of God encouraging your pastor, being in the position, the place you ought to be is an encouragement to the pastor, it is an encouragement to the church. But it is also a testimony as you left your homes to tell people in your neighborhoods, And on the roads as they seen you dressed for church, going to church, you have been a testimony that you are the called out assembly of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now from there we would like to see, if every pastor had his way, we would see that people who go to church would serve the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would elevate your service, that you would do things, the intangible things that make a church a great church for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I've taken this man this morning, I want to preach to you about a man by the name of Hemaz. And I want to tell you a little bit about this man who's just, I've sort of, if I had a title for the sermon, I would just use this biographical sketch and tell you that this man was a go-getter, and show you some qualities and some characteristic traits about this man that I think would be great if we could see these kinds of characteristics in various Church members. So begin your reading with me in verse number 19 of 2 Samuel 18, and I have a host of points. I would rather bring more material than to run out. It'd be a tragedy if we let you out of church early. And so we always bring more than we maybe need. And I don't know if we can squeeze it all in, but I want to just show you some characteristic traits in this biographical sketch. things I think would help us and make us better servants for the Lord Jesus Christ, and the type of servants that the Lord Jesus Christ is looking for. Begin your reading with me in verse number 19, Then said Emaz, the son of Zadok, Let me now run and bear the king's tidings, how that the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies. And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day. But this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran. Then said Emaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready? But howsoever said he, Let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi. And David sat between the two gates. And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate under the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near. And the watchman saw another man running. And the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold, another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. And the watchman said, Methinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Emaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings. And Emaz called, and said unto the king, all is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king. And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? Nemaz answered, When joy hath sent the king's servants, and me thy servant, I saw a great tomblet, but I knew not what it was. And the king said unto him, turned aside and stood still. And, behold, Cushi came, and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king, for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushiah answered, The enemies of my Lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as the young man is. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept as he went thus. He said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, I would, God, I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son. Father, please stir this preacher this morning that I may share with this congregation some things they could mark in their hearts and some things they could write down in their notebooks that would make them better servants for the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe some traits that we could practice when we come to Sunday school. Maybe some traits that we could practice when we go on visitation, when we're out soul winning, when we're serving in vacation Bible schools or serving in the school system here or whatever we're doing that we might do. Some of these things that would make us greater servants for the Lord Jesus Christ as I surrender my life to you to be used for God's honor and glory. I pray these things in Jesus' name, and amen. As much as the time allows, and Brother Preacher, we need to be finished about what time? 10 till. Oh, we've got some time. We've got some time. We've got some time, then, this morning. Try not to chase any rabbits, but let me help you a little bit by giving you some background information from this story so I can just bring you up to speed on the things that are taking place. These were bad days in Israel. You know that David is fleeing for his life. He is running from his son Absalom, who is overthrowing him. David is not sitting in a comfortable palace. There are no royal dinners, as you would read about in 2 Samuel 17, verses 28 and 29. There are no peaceful briefings. you might would see in 2 Samuel 15 and verse 14, They are fleeing Absalom, and he has already stolen the hearts of the nation of Israel. In 2 Samuel chapter 15, verses 6 and verse 13. The faithful men of David are willing to follow him in 2 Samuel chapter 15 verses 15 and 23. Absalom is descending on Jerusalem. He is a, not only just is he a son, but he has stolen also the other members of the family from King David. His cousin Amasa, Abigail, which is David's sister's son, desires to overthrow David also. Absalom was violent, he was a vulgar man, and he was a very vicious man. David crosses the Brook Kidron, on his way fleeing from the city of Jerusalem. When Zadok and the Levites come with this daring plan that they're going to bring David the Ark of the Covenant, David, as he leaves Jerusalem, he could carry the very presence of God with him. David sends them back, and he says to this crowd, take it back. David believes that God is going to bring him back to Jerusalem again. You read all of this in 2 Samuel, chapter number 15. verses 24-29. David begins his ascent to the Mount of Olivet. There he is weeping. He is barefoot. His head is covered on his way to the top of this mountain. And he begins to worship God, 2 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 30. Then Hushai, the archite, shows up. And David, he wants to follow David. He's also one of David's team members. And he says, go back and I want you to work in the palace as a spy, and I want you to be there to overthrow the counsel of others. You can read this in 2 Samuel 15, verses 31 through 37. It is Hushai who is used of God in chapter 17 to counter the advice of Enhetrophel, David's former counselor, one of his close-knit friends. The Bible says that when Enhetrophel counseled, it was as if the oracles of God were being spoken. This man had huge authority. He had huge, he had the minds of people, the hearts of people. But as we get into the story you'll realize that he began to hate David because of some of David's sins. And so he begins to counsel in his counsel, and he says to him, We need to right now chase David. We need to go after David. We need to chase him. We need to consume him. We need to crush him, 2 Samuel chapter 17, verses 1 through 4. But it is Hushai who said, well, David will do this, and David will do that. David will hide himself in some place. He'll find himself in some pit. Don't attack. Don't pursue. Well, they listened to Hushai, who sent word to David of his advice and of the Heathrow fellows' advice. This going on in 2 Samuel chapter 17. Now listen, I want to just, I'm bringing up the speed. And Heathrowville hated David, and probably with good cause. It's not the way to handle the situation. It's not right what he's doing. There are a lot of times in church that we feel like people have wronged us and we take vengeance in our own hands, thereby usurping God and bypassing God when we ought to let God handle the matters. Do we not have enough faith to just love people? Not have enough faith to follow the pastor in various items or various issues? Do we not have enough faith to do that? No, we sometimes take matters in our own hands thinking somebody's going to get away with something instead of trusting God to deal with the situation. He hated David, I should say. He hated David because David had shamed his granddaughter Bathsheba. He was upset with him for killing his grandson-in-law Uriah, the Hittite, and his great-grandson died, the child that was born, the Bathsheba. All of this is in the Bible. David, the king of Israel. All of this is culminating in chapter 18, when David is fleeing for his life, running from his kingdom. and trying to, at the same time, spare his son, who is creating all the problems. The troops have been organized. Absalom's army is there, 2 Samuel 17, verses 25 and 26. David's army is there, 2 Samuel 18, verses 1 and 2. And in the midst of all of this turmoil and all of this trouble, David asks his army to deal gently with Absalom. May I remind you, it is Absalom's fault that 20,000 men will lose their innocent lives and be slain in the battle. What about that, David? You remember when David calls Absalom back to the kingdom? He made him live in a house and would not let him visit with him or see him for two years, and now you want to spare his life and kill others? And so all of this is taking place, and the battle is raging, and as you know, in Mount Ephraim, Absalom gets himself hung up, in the oak tree, and Joab goes and slays Absalom 2 Samuel 18 and verse 14. Now someone must tell David, that's where we come in in our story. Somebody must tell David the king's son is dead. David is waiting. He acts more like a father. instead of a king. He is not interested in a victory speech. He is more interested in the safety of his son than the success of his soldiers. Now, with this battle for the kingdom over, as David the king awaits with anticipation, this great story in the Bible unfolds. Don't you like, don't you just love how heroes come out of these kinds of stories? And that sometimes we give our accolades, our stars, our medals, our honor to others, and God just takes this This one man who seemingly is insignificant in the story, unused in the story, and I think gives us some great traits of what we could use in our church and what would be good servants in the Lord's house. It is a story that shows service, surrender, loyalty, and faithfulness. I submit to you that I have never heard the story of Ahimaz ever preached in a good way. He is always, Brother Savage, criticized, ridiculed, and mocked. They oftentimes will use Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 11. Our brother may put that on the screen if he gets a chance, but in Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 11, they always use this verse to discredit him, saying that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. But if you study the life of the Hemaz, you'll see why he did not deliver the news to David. And I think it is a just reason. I think it is a great reason. I think it is a godly reason why he doesn't deliver the message to David. He knows the news, but he doesn't deliver the news because this man had a reputation for a different kind of news. When we get to the end of the sermon, I'll show it to you. You'll see a life of sincerity, validity, valence. He's a servant devoted to his king. They criticize him for not having the message, but he did. You can read it in 2 Samuel 18, verse 28. He knew what happened to the king's son. 2 Samuel 18, verse 20. We know our message, and we ought to know when it's needed. Amen. My, oh my, I don't mean to start nitpicking. I try to leave all the controversial things up to the pastor. Let him do the punching. Let him do the disciplining. Let him share with you the behavior you ought to have in God's house. And my, if we would blab the news of the kingdom, and if we blab the news of soul winning, like we blab the news of somebody's problems. He didn't blab the news even though he knew it. Verse 20 and verse 29. Now why didn't he do it? Because it wasn't his message. Verses 20 and 21. He tamed his tongue. And so I want to preach to you this morning or teach to you this morning about this little-known man and why I think he was a great man of God. And he, Mass, the guy who just wanted to run and be the first to get there and share some news, Well, here's what I like about it. This is simplistic. I'm not trying to be deep, but I am trying to be motivational, and I hope this helps you a little bit. But what I like about Ahimez is he was simply a go-getter. Not deep, not a fancy point, but he was simply a go-getter, and I've got a lot of little sub-points. that I think qualifies somebody for being a go-getter. A lot of little sub points that if you'll start writing them down and remember them later saying, look, this is the character traits. This is the behavior. This is the life of somebody who's a go-getter. And I want to say to you, he was a go-getter. He was willing to go. He was willing to be involved. Jesus told you and I to go in all the world and preach the gospel. How well are we going and sharing the gospel? When Jesus himself was here. You'll read him, and I love how the book of Mark starts out. It is a book where some have said Jesus was on the go. You don't even get through the first chapter of the gospel of Mark, and Jesus said, I must go unto the other towns, and every seemingly, every paragraph or every few verses, Jesus is going somewhere else and sharing the gospel with people. And you see it just unfolding in the gospel of John, how that he goes to the, Nathaniel and how he goes to Andrew and how he goes to all of those in chapter 1, how he goes to the marriage supper or the marriage feast in chapter 2, how he goes to Nicodemus in chapter 3, how he goes to the woman at the well in chapter 4, how he goes to people in chapter 5, 6, 7, constantly on the go winning people to Christ. This man was a go-getter. I would say to you this morning as I give you some sub points, a go-getter is simply a volunteer. Not deep, but what is, can I say this? Now brother, I don't mean to get controversial, but it amazes me. However, I go to church at whatever churches I visit the pastor is always standing up asking somebody to volunteer We need nursery workers. We need bus workers We need choir members and pastors are always asking for folks to volunteer It amazes me that when people come to our church and they have no history with our church, but they have history with Christ They've been saved my brother hunt and brothers sister hunt came to our church years back Right away we had places they could step up and feel we didn't know who they were didn't know what their lifestyle was We didn't know what they had done for the Lord Jesus Christ, but boy we were looking for workers My brother savage wouldn't be nice after all of these years and decades For somebody to walk in the doors and y'all say no just said we don't have any need for workers got it all covered, all the teachers will ever need, all the piano players will ever need, all the organists will ever need, all the choir members will ever need. But in every church we are looking for volunteers. Why is it that so many sit idle in the church unwilling to be a volunteer for the Lord Jesus Christ? And so here we have a man who just wants to run and deliver a message. He's a go getter because I think a go getter is a volunteer. Now, let me he said, let me now run. He wasn't going to get skipped over. He asked. He didn't wait for the draft board or didn't wait to be even asked. He just volunteered. Now, watch this. Remember, David was coming with his lunch. Now, how can you imagine this? Could you imagine this? Get this get this set up in your mind. Your dad calls you into the house. You're out tending the sheep. He said, son, I want you to take this lunch. I prepared a lunch. I want you to take it to your brothers in the war against the Philistines. Don't you find that somewhat humorous? Would you do that? Hey, hey, I want you to jump on a plane, take these fish and eggs over here to your brothers in Iraq fighting the war. That seems unusual to me. David gets there and guess what? They're all cowering in their tents. They're all hiding, waiting for somebody to stand up and fight the blabbermouth, the big-mouthed Goliath of Gath. David's walking there, and he hears him blaspheming God, and he gets angrier and angrier. And so what he says is, hey, I'll go fight him. If nobody else will fight him, I'll go fight him. You remember when the Lord was going to defeat the 5,000 in John chapter 6? And he wanted to test them and see how they would handle the situation. And so he goes to Philip and said, how would we feed this crowd? And Philip begins to crunch the numbers. You've been around folks like that and they start crunching the numbers. Some of the disciples had this attitude. If you read it in other other books of the Bible, you'll see that they decided, hey, just ship the problem off, send the problem away. We're not going to feed them, send them home, let them go to their houses and eat. And so some just said, send the problem away. Some said, Well, I've counted the numbers crunch numbers. We can't do it. But then somebody comes running up this little man, this little boy. And sometimes you think this big you think this big sack lunch, you think this boy is really carrying something, but he carried probably a normal lunch for that day, which would have been more like five unleavened crackers, five loaves of bread, five unleavened crackers and a couple of throwbacks, as Charles Keane always said, probably something like sardines. And a little boy comes up and says, you have my lunch. How many of you ever taken a lunch to school? You'd be willing to give away. See, I don't know about you, Brother Savage, but when I was growing up, there wasn't any. The schools did not provide lunch for us. We took a sack lunch. That's how it was. You fixed your own. And boy, I'm going to tell you, you ought to see some of the lunches mom could fix. I mean, on Monday, peanut butter and jelly. On Tuesday, peanut butter. On Wednesday, peanut butter and banana. On Thursday, peanut butter and jelly. On Friday, if you were good and well behaved and did not get any letters sent home, did not do anything wrong, did not have any missed grades or missed assignments, you got peanut butter on Friday with sugar on top. Y'all don't seem impressed. We didn't have hot lunches in our day. Could you imagine? I've had some lunches I'd give away. If Mama had sent me to school with five crackers and a can of sardines, I'd have gave that away in a second. Amen? What I'm saying, though, is how many of us would just say, Preacher, here's our lunch. Can you use it? Hey, Preacher, you need somebody to fight this. We'd like to help you fight this. Do you know preachers themselves are volunteers? The Bible says he that desireth the office of a bishop desireth a good thing. Preachers are volunteers. Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 tells us to present our bodies a living sacrifice. The word present means to yield. The word yield means to give. Give yourself to God. That's what a volunteer does. They just give themselves to God. Some of you may, could help your choir to minister better, but some of you may be like Brother Hunt and myself that most folks don't want you in the choir. about the only use you'd have for Brother Hunt and I. Have you ever heard Brother Hunt sing? Yes. You know what I'm talking about. Sometimes you've got to line your volunteers up in the right place. If we were to volunteer for the choir, Brother Hunt and I was volunteering for the choir, he'd say, look, I have a couple of extra seats back there. It would look good with your suit and ties on. It'd make the church choir look a little fuller. But whatever you do, don't open your mouth. Don't even be tempted to open your mouth. That's what they'd have to say to us. but just volunteer. That's what he's doing. Number two, or letter B, I guess you'd say, under point number one, a go-getter is an encouragement. It was a blessing to Joab to have a man willing. Paul said to John Mark, he was profitable unto me for the ministry. So simply, being a volunteer, being an encouragement, these are the signs of a go-getter. Ask your pastor what it does when the gaps are filled, when the hedge is prepared. I mean, when somebody's just willing to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, somebody's just willing to make the church look better, make the church look right, to make the church look like it cares. They're an encouragement. I'll tell you another thing about a gold getter. He needs to follow leadership. Look at verse number 20 in your 2 Samuel 18, verse 20. And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day. But this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. And so he had to listen to leadership. To have everybody run to David would have been a disaster. And so sometimes within the church organization, God sets up this leadership so that we can direct people in the various areas so that every area has its ministry and it is functioning strong. And so what you have to understand is go-getters need to follow leadership. You've heard the phrase, too many chiefs and no Indians. A lot of times one of the places I've dealt with it all my ministry and I'm not trying to be ugly about it. I'm not trying to be condescending about I'm not trying to be mean about it. But we go a lot of times you go to work and you have no say and you go to the house and you have no say. And finally, when you go to church, you figure that's the place I can just voice my opinion. The next thing you know, the pastor has more folks telling him what to do than he has to tell what to do. And a go-getter is somebody who recognizes leadership in his life. Now I give you another letter, D, here. A go-getter needs submission. You see it again in verse number 20 and verse number 30. He could have rebelled. He could have rejected. He got there before Cushide did. He could have said, well, who is Joab to tell me what to do? Joab never listened to David. David would tell Joab things to do, and David just do what he wanted to do. He didn't listen to the king. He could have said, the king likes me, we're friends. As a matter of fact, David said in our story, he's a good man, let him come. Hemaz already had a reputation. He'd already been helping the king, so he could have said, listen, just defy the orders of Joab and tell me. I've got to know right now. Tell me what's going on. I can't wait until Cushiah gets here. But here's a man who understood that he needed to have submission in his life. He could have said the king likes me. He could have said, I'll get some praise and some some promotion. And we have to watch out for those things, because a lot of times folks are using those things in their lives. And a lot of times folks are are trying to get what we call the edge or they're trying to get above everybody else, and they don't mind stepping on everybody else to get there. In their day, people were stepping over dead bodies. to get the king's praise, to get the king's promotion. Do you remember when they came and told them that Saul was dead and David killed the man who claimed to have killed Saul? Do you remember when the man took Ish-bosheth's head, Saul's son, and brought it to him and said, look, I've killed Ish-bosheth and David killed him? And so you have all through the story people who are willing to step on people. You know, sometimes we live in a society that's very aggressive. I could say it that way, I guess, or a society that's very cruel and they don't mind who they step on to get to where they're going. It's not the practice of a New Testament church. It's not how to behave in a New Testament church. And so a go-getter is somebody who needs to practice submission. Now I'm doing pretty well right now. I don't think I made anybody mad. But I believe I could step over that line a little bit right here and say, let's talk about marriage for just a moment. Isn't somebody supposed to be submissive in that relationship? But we'll leave that preaching to the pastor. I'll tell you another thing about a go-getter. He needs persistence in his life. Letter E. He needs persistence in his life. Verse 22 and verse 23. He just keeps on showing his availability. He kept asking for an opportunity. Yet again, verse 22. Brother preacher, I don't know about you, but have you ever had those around you just keep coming and saying, what can I do? How can I help? And finally, you know, they want to do this or they want to do this. And finally, you just say, I can almost see joy standing here and He's saying, now Kushai, I've got some bad news, and it's not going to be good to the king. And he didn't mind killing the king's son, but he just says, you need to go tell the king. And man, I hate to use somebody who has a good reputation to go tell bad news. And so he said, I want you to go tell this news. And you tell him that he died. And here's Hemaz saying, I can run faster. I know the route better. I can get there. The king likes me. He trusts me. Stand down a second. I need somebody else do this job. Hold off soldier stand down Finally comes back says can I go if you ever just it's I guess best way I could say to sort of like this if you've ever had children and They want something you see how persistent children are to ask and to ask and to ask and to ask Finally, you just cease your I'm saying run get out of here go Wouldn't that be nice to be loaded with the church? I Now I hope I'm helping you with this message a little bit. Here's what I'm trying to get you to see. Here's all of a sudden in this story of the tragedy of war, this is a different kind of war. This is anarchy. This is a revolution. This is an overthrow. Don't you know how many details God could have told us about? This is anarchy. Do you understand in their day they couldn't go down to Kinko's and make a copy. In their days you understand to write the Word of God and how they would write the Word of God. I would submit to you brother preacher I wouldn't want to waste any lines. I wouldn't want to waste any room on the tablet yet throughout all of your Bible as precious as the writing utensils were and what they wrote on as precious as that was. God takes the space here to tell us about a man that had unusual character. And I believe some character traits that we could have. A go-getter needs to be persistent. Isn't that what your music director is asking for when he asks you to come every Sunday night and practice again? so that you can be a blessing to the congregation, that maybe your song can prepare a heart for the preacher's sermon, maybe your song can open up somebody who naturally might would be against something, or have you ever seen folks come to church and they're there as a visitor that day and you know they don't want to be there, they're sitting there, they are locked up, they are angry, they are not, they have that mindset, he's not going to say anything to get to my heart. That happens even to Christians. That happens to folks who might even be here this morning saying, I don't care what the visiting preacher says. I'm not giving more. I'm not surrendering more. I'm not going more. I am giving God all I'm going to give God of myself, of my finances. I am saying this is as far as I'm willing to go. And the Bible says, He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And so even your, your choir is asking you to be persistent. Your pastor is asking you to be persistent every week in Sunday school, get here, come to Sunday school, be faithful, be available. What is he preaching? He's preaching persistence in your life. Something God can use, something God wants to use. You know, Jacob had that persistence when he began to wrestle with God. He's got some major problems facing him. He's about to see Esau for the first time in decades. He knows how he left Esau. He's got his family, they're vulnerable. He's got his flocks, they're vulnerable. And he begins to wrestle with the angel of the Lord. And he is persistent. And he continues until he gets the blessings that he wants from Almighty God. Blind Bartimaeus. Hush, be quiet. Don't say a word. Who's coming through? What is all this crowd gathering? What is all this noise I hear? What is the movement that I'm seeing? Well, Jesus of Nazareth is about to pass through. And they began to cry out unto Him. And they would say, Hush, be quiet. Don't disturb Him now. And He continued to cry out. And I would say to you, How long do you want to stay in your blindness? And somebody told you, Be quiet. Stay blind another decade. Be quiet. Don't bother the Master. And He's crying out. I want to see. How bad do you want to see? How bad do you want revival in your church? How bad do you want the church to grow? And that's when I would say to you, if that's going to happen, there's going to have to be some persistence in our lives. May I move on to letter F? A go-getter gets privileges and praise. Now, he's not in it for praise. He's not in it for privileges. But there's a natural reward process. There is this thing of recognition. Verse 23, He kept on keeping on. So persistent was with Joab that Joab said, you just go ahead and run. And I think he said it with a capital R. I think he screamed at him, run. I would say this to you real quick, don't be jealous when someone doing something gets some praise. Don't be jealous about that. I'm running out of some time here and I've got a lot more to say, but I think I can sum it up this way. When we were pastoring in East Tennessee some years ago, There was a couple in our church that was just really praise God. They were lighting a fire. We had a couple of men in that church. We had a bus guy in our church that just we got there. The buses were running 20, 30 people. And we just he had a zeal for buses. He had a desire for buses. And we figured the church was spending a lot of money. And this is just how we did it. OK, I'm not trying to tell you you follow your pastor. I'm just trying to tell you what worked for us. Just had this guy that loved buses. So we got him some buses to see how many he could feel. We got him a 66 passenger. He filled it up. We made him bus director. He kept that one full. We got him two or three more buses. There were some Sundays. I think our record attendance on the buses was 240. I mean, the guy just, he got, but we had another guy who, when I, when I moved there, he was barely in church. Matter of fact, they were thinking about quitting church. He's pastoring a church today, been pastoring the same church for 16 years. But they were discouraged. They were disillusioned. The church was having problems. The church had went through some rough times. It split and went way down in attendance. We got there and this guy said, I'm going to give this preacher one more chance. And he came with that attitude. See if you can impress me. See if you can move me. I've seen it all come through here. So I just went and asked him what his heart was for God. Do you want to just sit or do you want to serve? And he said, I'd like to start a young marriage class in this church. I said, well, let's see how easy that is. I figured he'd fail, Brother Savage. I mean, that's not easy, getting young families in church, young marrieds in church. And he started having activities. He had cookouts on Saturday. He had people over to his house. He went outdoor visiting. He liked to warm me out. Wanted to go out on visitation Monday night, Tuesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday morning. Wanted to go out every night knocking doors. We would knock, let's say we'd knock a subdivision. There might have been 50, 60 homes in this little subdivision. He'd say, one more subdivision, preacher. That's how he was. Next thing, you know a church that had nobody in its young marriage class was running 35 in the young marriage class. But it rose up jealousy in the church. They felt like these two were the preacher's pets. These two were the preacher's favorites. They get everything, they ask for something, and finally the man who started the young marriage class as pastor today said, we don't get what we want, we get what God wants. And he said back to this person, he said, if you want something from our pastor, just connected to soul winning, just connected to people getting saved. And our pastor before, he'll spend every dime of this church's money he can on getting people saved. That's not, he said, that's not favoritism. That's not, we're not his pets. We're just doing what he believes the church ought to do. I think that's a great idea. You see, what I'm trying to say to you is, don't be jealous when somebody gets praise or privileges or recognition. Just get to doing what God can praise. Get to doing what God wants to bless. Amen? Let me give you another one here. Letter G. I'm almost about done with this first point and the second and third point is very, very short. But I want you to see something else. A go-getter stays focused. Verse number 23. He saw a way that was better, the plane. He could have said, well, I don't have to hurry. I don't have to keep going. I can stop in the middle. Kushai will get it. It's his job anyhow. But he stayed focused. He decided he wanted to overtake everything in his life. That was him or he I should say he wanted to overtake everything and let nothing get in the way overtake any obstacle between him and David. He stayed focused. Now let me read some verses to you real quick that help you in Hebrews chapter number 12. We know these so, so famous, but read them with me anyhow. Hebrews chapter 12 and verses 1 and 2 and you'll see what I'm talking about, because sometimes we lose our focus. See, what happens a lot of times in churches is you may be teaching a Sunday school class, you may be in the choir, you may be in this program or you may be in that program and something comes up, something secular, something on the outside comes up and it gets in the way of your service. you can't do this, you can't do that because of this, this, and this. And the pastor tries to tell you, look, these things are natural to the Christian life. These things happen. These things come up, but we don't ever let these things get in the way of Jesus. We don't do that. You know, there's nothing wrong with loving your mother and father. You're commanded to love your mother and father, but you don't let even that get, you don't ever let family get in the way of serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember when Jesus said the test of discipleship? That's the test of discipleship. And one of the guys says, I have to go bury the dead or I have to go to this or that. And Jesus lets him know that you can't put family, you can't put finances above the Lord Jesus Christ. And people always begin to shirk their spiritual responsibility because something comes up. And the pastor tries to tell you this. You're losing your focus. You're not staying focused. What you need to do is this right here. It may take you to a verse like Hebrews chapter 12 where it says, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which thus so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Look, and here's what he says to you. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. And your pastor will say to you over and over and over, don't lose your focus. Don't take your eyes off of the, Messiah, don't ever turn from what God has you doing. Let all these things be subjugated to God. Because you know what? If you're going to be a go-getter, you'll have to stay focused. May I say this as I move on? A go-getter will not be proud. Verses 24, 26, and 27. He may be faster, he may be more gallant, but he's not puffed up. He realizes others have messages too. He realizes everyone can be used of God. Too many stop in the race to admire themselves. I've seen too many stop in the race to reminisce about what they used to do instead of what they are doing. When you ever go to a church, you get to hear all of that, how they used to do it. And so what you see here is a go-getter will not be proud. I'll give you another one here, a go-getter will have zeal. Verse 23, they want to do something with excitement. Remember when Jehu in 2 Kings chapter 10 was going to go and dethrone and restore the nation back to God as best he could. And he said to one man, he said, are you with me? And the man said, yeah. And he said, give me your hand. And then he says, come and see the zeal of the Lord. Come and see my zeal. Colossians chapter 4, verses 12 and 13, the papyrus had a great zeal. What I'm saying to you this morning, these are characteristic traits. These are the actions of a go-getter, things that you would see in the life of a person who's committed and sold out for the things of God. I'll give you another one. This is letter J. Go-getters have courage. He had courage to go against the enemy. Now listen, I'm trying to wrap this up quickly and run through this, but I'm going to show you something here. Joshua 1, verses 6, 7, 9, and 18, over and over God says to Joshua, Be strong and have good courage. He is going against Absalom. Absalom has won the hearts of people. Have you ever found in God's work a job you don't want? And how you end up getting to do that job? I thought for sure, brother, when I became pastor, I'd be done cleaning toilets. I did that to get through college, but I thought when I became pastor, I'd be done cleaning the toilets. And I found out a lot of times in churches, folks aren't ashamed to let their pastor clean the toilets, vacuum the carpets. They're so busy. And I almost want to say to them, you try to prepare four messages a week. You try to make all the visits. You try to be at everybody's phone call, everybody's text message, and have time to do that. See, they act as if we have more time than they have. And so what you have here is, in my opinion, a go-getter, has courage. And what I was going to say about this is, there are just some things I'm not going to do. Brother Hunt, I have decided I'm done crawling under houses. I see enough brown recluses. I've killed two of this. I looked at this thing before I killed it and said, what do you not understand about your name, recluse? Crawling, I've got the light on next to the wall and it's climbing right up next to that. Killed two, same hour, 9 o'clock each night. I'm going somewhere with this. I'm telling you right now, if it involves snakes and spiders, somebody else is going to have to serve the Lord. I'm tired of those things. crawling under houses, crawling under churches, to save the church a dollar, to save the church some money, so we can use that money elsewhere. I'm tired of it. I'm going to find somebody else, like Brother Hunt or Brother Allen or somebody that's going to go under there. We've got a guy in our church that thinks spiders are to be studied, captures them, watches them, looks. He can crawl under the house. I'm done doing it. So here's what I said, all that say this. If David needed me, to spare his kingdom, he was in some trouble. Do you remember in the story of Emaz? They are running to tell David the message. Absalom's soldiers catch on to it. So this lady hides them in a well, covers the well, and they stay in the well till they're safe. I would rather face Absalom's firing squad than spiders in a well. Just telling you, where are you going with this preacher? I'm just saying, you know what? You've got to have courage. You know how many people don't sow when because they're afraid? They're afraid to consult somebody about their soul. I've got to get going. Go-getters need messengers. Go getters. That's letter K. I don't have time to deal with it. Go getters are messengers. Tell what you hear in the king's house. That's what he told him in 2 Samuel 15 36. Here's what David told him as to do. Tell what you hear in the king's house. I've got to move on. But what does your pastor ask you every week to do? Tell what you hear in the king's house. Then I'll give you this one. A go getter is faithful. Our Bible gives us stories of Antipas, Stephen, faithful. Hebrews 12, 3 tells us to be faithful. What hinders most faithfulness is weariness. Now watch this. You're obviously the ones that are here this morning. We're here to praise you. We're here to say, thank God you came to Sunday school. But I am always trying to get folks to come to Sunday school. Our morning service crowd is bigger than our Sunday school crowd. And I always try to get folks to come to Sunday school. So I finally just look at them and say, look, why are you so weary? It's not church that's wearing you out. You need to schedule things better. I would say to them, let me illustrate. People are so wore out that four hours of church is asking too much. If you sleep eight hours a day, that's 56 hours a week, 14 hours of sleep to one hour of church, which some sleep through church. But God's wearing you out. You eat maybe three or four times a day. Sometimes you eat snacks, sometimes you eat out. And so some of your meals may take as much as one hour to each meal. It would be 21 hours, but four hours of church wears them out. You work 40 plus hours a week, but church wears you out. You have 47 hours left and let the preacher go 15 minutes past his time limit and it wears you out. We ask for two and a half percent of your time a week. Could you live on two and a half percent or what would be called four hours of work out of an entire week's hours? Could you live on four hours of sleep a week? How can you, how can you live on two and a half percent of Jesus? You can't do it. You can't, you can't live on four hours of sleep a week, four hours of eating a week. But yet we seem to live on Jesus. And some only go maybe one hour. Now, for sake of time, I'll give you a second and third point. I just think he was a great, he was a go-getter. And that's why I think his story makes it in the Bible. But I'll tell you another thing, he's a good man. 2 Samuel 18, 27. Now I know people say there's none good, no not one. Brother Hunt would always do this to me. He would say, I'd say, Brother Hunt, you're a good man. And he'd say, there's none good in the Bible. And I know that's about matters of salvation, but then I'd always say to him, but the Bible calls Barnabas a good man. Called him as a good man. In a day of revolt and rebellion and treason he could be counted on. And we need some good men in our days. And we need some good men and ladies in our churches. As 1 Timothy 6 tells us to do good works. As Matthew 5, 16 tells us to do good works. And then I'll close with this thought this morning. He was a bearer of good news. You know why I think that he was not allowed to tell the story? Remember, here's what Joab said to him, remember? He said, you go tell the king. Or let me back up, he says, you can't go tell the king today. The tidings that must be said to the king today are tidings of bad news. Absalom is dead. And if you study, if you go back and study 1st Samuel, I'm sorry, 2nd Samuel 15 and 17, chapter 18 verses 19, 20, 28, 29, you'll see that every time this man is involved in something, he's always bringing good news, not bad news. Joab didn't want to use him to bear bad news. I'm kind of like, I like good news. I like good news anytime over bad news. I remember one time my wife said to me, Hey, are you aware? That they're going to do this to you. I said, when are they going to do it? She said next week. I said, why don't you not tell me then I could have a whole week, not worrying about it. Whole week, not knowing about it. You don't want to be blindsided. Well, now I know about it. I'm going to get blindsided and I got to worry about it. I could live without bad news. Amen. I read the story. I'll try to finish these stories up real quick. I read the story of David Livingstone and maybe the stories will help you to see what I'm talking about. We know his great work in Africa in the 1800s. Many praise his work, some though are wagging their tongue. Even in those days there were those who were criticizing David Livingstone. David Livingstone's wife died on the mission field. Cause of death would be attributed to malaria or fever. But let me tell you what exposed her to death. Many believe the tongues of the Gossips killed her. You'll read Mary Livingstone died deep in the interior of Africa April 27, 1862 during the evening. You'll not read she died April 27, 1862 cause of death gossip. You see, Mary was frail and too frail for David's trips to the interior of Africa, the constant struggles and sickness of Africa where people would die. David would leave her in the village to pray for him, but the gossips soon began to whisper of marital problems. So she joined him in the jungles, and within three months, she died. He lay on her grave weeping, Oh, my Mary! Oh, my Mary! But the gossips never heard that. They were too busy wagging their tongues with their tails. But I believe God has bottled in heaven his tears, and they will witness against the gossip's tongue." What are you saying, preacher? I'm saying that Ahimaz is in this Bible, and he's one of the great, great characters we read in a biographical sketch because of his good news that he bore. No other news is worth repeating but a bare good news for the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember reading this story, and I'll close. King George VI went to Canada during his reign. He was introduced to Chief Whitefeather. They asked the chief to sing something, hoping he would sing an Indian song in the native tongue or some Indian folklore. They wanted to patronize this Indian for the king. But he was a Christian. And when they asked him to sing and say something in the native tongue, he began to sing the song, I'd rather have Jesus than silver and gold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by his nail-pierced hand. Then he looked the old king in the eye, squared up to him and said, than to be a king of a vast domain or to be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. Everyone waited to see what the king would say. Everyone waited to see what the king would do. He took the chief's hand and said, I'd rather have Jesus too. You see, I believe what made Ahimeh as a great man of God and a character that we could follow and why he takes up space in such a valuable piece of material is because he was a go-getter, because he was a good man, and because he would never let his tongue bear bad news. He only carried the good news. We have so much to talk about that's good for people. why spend time talking about the bad. God bless you.