 Well, today we're in chapter 2 here in 2 Samuel. We're going to read verses 1 through 4, and we'll get into our study. 2 Samuel chapter 2 verses 1 through 4, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 4, it happened after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him, Go up. David said, Where shall I go up? And he said to Hebron. So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoum, the Jezreolitis and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household, so they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David, king over the house of Judah, and they told David, saying, The men of Yavash Gilead were the ones who buried Saul. Now as we begin here in chapter 2, let me give you a couple of thoughts, and we'll look into this. And actually I'm going to spend a few minutes here in chapter 2 verse 1 to try and lay some application for you in this particular verse. But as we look at chapter 2 here in verse 1, I want you to notice how it begins by simply saying, It happened after this. Now so we have to ask ourselves, it happened after what? It happened after this. Well, it happened after the deaths of Saul. It happened after the deaths of Saul and his three sons. He had three sons who died alongside of him, according to 1 Samuel. As we went through chapter 31, we saw that. We saw Saul die, but he died also with his son Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malkeshua. He also died alongside of his soldiers. He died alongside of his bodyguard. So a number of men died, and so this is speaking concerning after Saul died and those things that were related to that. But it also speaks concerning a period that would have taken place called mourning, a period of mourning that normally would take place after the death of somebody. And when you read the Bible, you see that there are various days that people would put aside that were suitable for mourning the loss of somebody. Sometimes it could be as long as 30 days. Sometimes it may be up to 40 days. In the case of Saul, according to chapter 31, 1 Samuel, there was mourning that took place for seven days. And so it's after the mourning had taken place that these events that we're looking at in chapter 2 transpire. And so it says, it happened after this that David inquired of the Lord saying, shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And so after a suitable time of mourning, David now begins to inquire of the Lord. And notice the question he asked here in verse 1. Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? You see, Saul's dead. Remember with me that in the history of David's relationship with Saul, Saul had on numerous accounts attempted to kill him, was pursuing him for quite some time. And so David was down south. He was in the southern portion of Israel and wasn't spending any time in any of the portion that Saul might be able to get to him in. And now Saul is dead. And because Saul is dead, David now has the ability to go anywhere he wants to in this particular nation. He can go to the north, he can go to the east, he can go to the west, he can go pretty much anywhere he wants to because Saul is no longer there to pursue him. And so the first thing he's going to do now that he has freedom to choose where he would like to live is he's going to ask God for directions. He can go anywhere he wants, but the first thing, and I want you to see this and I'm going to make application through this, the first thing you see him doing is inquiring of the Lord, where do you want me to be? I think that's a good habit. I think it's a good habit for us as believers to ask the Lord to lead us. I think it's a great habit for Christians to ask God where would you have me to be? You know sometimes when I'm giving Bible studies, as a matter of fact I have to be honest and say pretty much all the time, almost every time that I'm giving Bible studies, I make an assumptions, even as I teach, I was mentioning this just the other day, I make assumptions, I make assumptions that everybody who's in that Bible study reads the Word. I make an assumption that every person who's here even this morning are believers who read the Word of God. I know that not every single person is, but I assume that the majority are doing that and so a lot of times what I end up doing is I end up speaking Christian speak, you know, Christianese if you will, I speak concerning, you know, the Spirit moves a word and things like that, making this giant assumption that everybody understands and everybody does the same thing. I assume that people will make a decision based on prayer and the Word of God. Any time they're going to make a decision if you're going to move or do something, I assume that. I assume that you spend time reading the Word and you have spent time reading it, you've seen how God moves and and you pray. I mean that's what we're seeing take place here, we're seeing that David has an opportunity. He can live anywhere He wants to, but the first thing He does instead of just packing the bags, grabbing His wife and kids and moving is He inquires of the Lord. The very first thing we see David doing is asking of God, what would you have me to do? Now the Bible says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. God promises to direct your path if you acknowledge Him, and to trust in Him. You see, and that's just a very basic tenet, if you will, of the Christian faith. Believing God, talking to God, following God is what we're supposed to be doing. David could have gone anywhere he wanted to do, or to go rather, but he didn't choose to just go. He had all Israel open to him, but he didn't just get up and leave. Instead of finding the most beautiful city, and saying, oh I want to live here, I've always wanted to live here, he prays and asks God, where do you want me to be? He's making sure that he's going to settle in the right place. Now when we read our Bibles, we read about Abraham. Abraham, who later on became Abraham, was a man who lived in the area of Israel, modern Israel. When we read concerning him, we read that he was a rich man. We also read that he had a nephew. The nephew's name was Lot, and that his nephew Lot also became a very rich man. And so, because both of them were rich, especially because they had a lot of herds, it caused them to have a lot of conflict between the two, because the land could not adequately contain both Lot's and Abraham's herds, and it caused a conflict to erupt between Abraham's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. Now Abraham, known at that time as Abram, didn't want strife, and therefore he's seeking to put an end to it, and what he does is he takes his nephew Lot, and he has him survey before him the land, and he begins to speak to him, and he asks him to make a choice. Where do you want to live? It's recorded in Genesis, if you take notes chapter 13, verses 8 through 13. Abram said the lot, please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right, or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left, and Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you go towards Oar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. So Abram says, look, if you want to go to the left, I'll go to the right, you go to the right, I'll go to the left. Bottom line is there's a lot of conflict between us, we're family, I don't want that problem. Make your choice. I want you to notice, even as I read out of Genesis 13, I want you to notice that Lot, and nowhere does it say, and Lot sought the Lord. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say that he went out and said, well, God of my uncle Abram, where would you have me? You don't see that, you simply see him standing there, looking. And as he's looking, he sees the beauty of that plain, and he realizes how lush and beautiful, well-watered it is, that it would be a great place for him and his herds. And so the first thing he says is, I'll go there. And he goes off into this plain and moves on, and the Bible is very interesting how it puts it. It says that Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. When you're introduced to this, this is really his first step towards backsliding, because he is now directing his tent towards Sodom. Later on, you're going to see him in the city of Sodom. So he actually moves by virtue of the fact that he sees something that with his eye is delightful to himself, and he says, this would be great for me. There's no inquiry of the Lord whatsoever. He simply decides, I'm going to live in this beautiful place. It'll sustain me. It'll take care of my herds and everything, and oh yeah, we won't have conflict with Abram any longer. So the bottom line is having the opportunity to live in a place that you think is beautiful is not always a door that God is opening to you. You need to make sure that you look before you leap. It's always best to patiently wait on the Lord and to ask Him to direct your footsteps. Before we planted this church, before I went into full-time ministry, my brother Frank moved from California to New Mexico and decided to at first live in a city called Deming, and I began to think maybe the Lord is moving me to move to Deming to plant a church. That was back in about 1977, and I thought, well maybe that's where I'm supposed to go Deming, and so I told Marie, my wife, I said to her, do you think we ought to go and check it out? Frank's over there, maybe we ought to go and see, maybe God would have us to plant a church. My brother's there, he needs to be ministered to, and so she and I said, we agreed that we should go, and on a Friday we decided to go. Now, let me ask you a question. How many people in this room know where Deming, New Mexico is? I'm interested. How many of you know of Deming? See, a few of you do, and you know why you don't live there, huh? We got up and we drove all night, we got in real late at night, and the next morning in the full light of day we knew God's will was not Deming. He opened my eyes to more than just a little bit. It's just not a place that you want to live. You know, that's wrong, I shouldn't say that. It's not a place where I want to live, it isn't a place where I want to live, and so I told my brother, go with God, I'm out of here, I hope you find a church, bye. And I left. Deming, New Mexico. You know, it's the desire and hunger, but you ask the Lord, you ask God, where do you want us to be? Where do you want us to go? What do you want for us? There will be a sense of your spirit will just resonate with that place, it's going to be something that God confirms, and you're going to know that. I resigned my position as an assistant pastor. I'd been an assistant pastor in a church for a couple of years. I resigned my position. I went to my wife, Maria, and I spoke to her about that. I said, honey, I resigned and now that I have no position in ministry any longer, I have no job. Maybe this is one of the ways that the Lord is simply setting us free to move. We were living in Ontario at that time, and I liked where I lived. I liked my home, I liked my neighborhood, but I've always had another place that I wanted to live, and that was San Luis Obispo. Since 1968, I've been wanting to live in San Luis Obispo, and so we go there to this day. When I go on vacation, I guarantee you I am in San Luis Obispo. That's where we go. Come and look me up. That's where we are. I like the city, and so I've been going there since I was 18 years old, 41 years. I've been going to this one place, and so once again, back in 1981, I resigned my position, and I tell my wife, Maria, I think that it's possible that we can move there. Honey, I'll sell the house, we can buy a home there. I said, I have a friend of mine who works for a bread delivery company. I said, I can work for them. I said, I can still be delivering bread. It just won't be the bread of life. I just think that the Lord would, and she's looking at me, and she says, you know that God has not called you to San Luis Obispo. You know that. I said, get thee behind me, Satan. What's this all about? You know where I'm supposed to go? But she was 100% of course, 100% right. But let's face it. I love Chino, but it was not my first choice. I mean, who can really love a city that has a fly for a mascot? You know, people in Paris are not waking up in the morning saying, before I die, I got to get to Chino. That's not happening right now. I guarantee you, Hawaiians aren't saying I got to get to Chino. They are not. Well, maybe a few, but not many. It doesn't work that way. It's just not the wonder of the world. It's not the place that you want to come unless it's where God wants you. For me, it is. I love, I really do. I tease about it because I love, I love this city. I love this city. My kids graduated from Chino High School. My wife graduated from Chino High School. My, my wife's mother and father graduated out of Chino High School. We have a long history here on Marie's side of the family. I love Chino. I love this city. It's a great city to live in. It's a great city to minister in. But, but if God would have said, Chino or slow, Chino or San Luis Obispo, thank you Jesus. My bags are packed. I'm ready to go. It didn't work that way. Now again, I make assumptions that everybody makes decisions the way that, that we make decisions. Let me share how we make decisions because the scripture gives us some direction here. I want you to see this again. Notice it says David inquired of the Lord. Where would you have me to go? It's a great, a great habit to have, guys, a great, great habit to have. You see the Bible in Proverbs chapter 16 verse nine says a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. And so you may have a plan in your heart, but you're asking God's direction. See, David saw the land open to wherever he wanted to go, but the first thing we see him doing is asking directions because God had a place he actually was going to lead David to as he has a place that he leads you to. But you have to seek where that may be. Some people are very impetuous. They make decisions emotionally. Now I feel this, it feels good to me. I'm going to do it. Others are extremely rational. It doesn't matter how they feel. They're going to wait until they have enough evidence that really helps them to make a good decision. You have the rational, you have the emotional. Sometimes it's a mixture of the two, but you can make mistakes being so rational that you don't move and you can be making a mistake when it's just a flesh to be impetuous and move into the wrong place. You need to have proper direction. Psalm 3723, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. God has a way of leading us and God has a place that he wants to take us to. And so what do we do? Well, one, read your Bible. As you're reading your Bible, you'll see the great stories of how God moved, how people ended up in certain places, and what God did with them there. And you begin to see the ways of God unveiled before you. And you can begin to say, well, let's see now. Abram said, you choose to lot and lot made that choice. Maybe, maybe lot should have sought you the way David is. And so one of the things you need to do is spend time in the Word of God because God will direct you. Psalm 119, verse 133, direct my steps by your Word. And so the things that were written were written for our instruction, even as Paul said to the Romans. And so we read the Word of God and we say, well, Lord, I see how you worked in the life of Abram. I see how you worked in the life of Moses. You took him from one place and brought him to another. Lord, I see how you work in the life of David. I see how you work in the life of Saul. I see the things that he did and did not do. And you're instructing me. So help me to be directed by your Word. And so spend time in the Word of God. And secondly, be open to the power of the Holy Spirit and the leading of the Spirit. Romans 814, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The Word of God, the Spirit of God working together can help to direct you. And they'll be that sense. Sometimes people make a decision they're going to move to another state. They say, you know what? I'm tired of Southern California. I'm tired of the traffic. I'm tired of all the problems we're going through here. I'm just tired of it. And they say, you know what? I'd like to move. So I'm going to move to Boise, Idaho, or I'm going to move to Portland, Oregon, or I can move up to Spokane, Washington, or whatever. They just see Colorado Springs. I'm out of here. And so they decide we're going to move. And they pick up and they move wherever it may be, the whatever state or city they determine. And sometimes they'll come back and visit. And I speak to them and I'll ask them, how are you? They'll say, well, you don't pass when we moved. We live in whatever. How's it going? You don't always hear that it's going great. A lot of times you hear that it's really not going great. So let me give some advice. Never move. Never, never move until you know the Holy Spirit's in it. Never. Don't just get up and move. No, this is something I have to add kind of a caveat to because it may not apply to something. You know, because some people look at churches as being like motels. It's just a temporary place to stay. It's like motel. You know, you go on a vacation and stay in motel. You stay there one day, two days. It's nice. It's nice to have somebody else make the bed, isn't it? It's nice just to have... It's just a hotel, though. It's a motel. It's just a place that I'm staying temporarily. It's not my home. We go home. Well, a lot of people look at churches, even this church, as being... It's a hotel. It's a motel. It's a place that you stop by. It's a place that you do what you do. And then you move on someplace else. For you, it's not difficult to get up and leave whenever you feel like it because there's no attachment. You don't have friends. You don't have any ministry. You don't have anything you're doing. It's just something you stop in and you get bored and you move on. That's what people do, and they move from place to place. So for them, they can move to Colorado. They can move to Oregon. They can move to Washington. It doesn't really matter because they're going to jump from church to church once they get there anyway. They're not hooked up and doing anything. It's just... So you have to ask yourself, are you a person who likes to live in a motel or are you a person who wants a home? Now, if it's a home, now that makes it even a little bit different. And this is how it works. Everybody thinks that their home is pretty much the best. Let's face it. Now, we didn't have the best home. It's nobody's going to say, oh, I had a perfect home. You know, what I mean is, but it's home. Whatever it is, it's home. I'm familiar with it. It's where I live. It's where I grew up. It's my neighborhood. I'm familiar with all of that. It's my home. It's my family. So that's my home, whatever. Some people had great homes and some people had homes that weren't great, but they were their homes. Church can be similar. When people move, I tell them to do this, because if they'll come up and talk, and sometimes they do, they'll say, pastor, I have an opportunity to move too, and they'll say the city of their choice or whatever. And they start telling me about it. I'll listen. I'm very interested. Really? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's got schools and it's got... It's nice neighborhood. It's quiet. My job is going to transfer me. They're going to give to me ability to move. They're going to do all kinds of things for me. You've got everything all set. Yes. What church are you going to go to? And I have heard this many times. They've got a lot of churches in the city. It's a great churched city. And I go, great. I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad to hear there are churches there, of course. Which one are you going to go to is what I asked. Well, you know, when we move there, we'll find one. That's not a good idea. What you need to do is know where you're going to go to church before you move there. You've got to know that. If that doesn't matter to you, I don't know why it doesn't. Because I can't tell you how many people I have talked to over the years who have said, you know what, we moved. And pastor, I thought everything was going to be like it was here. Not to say this is the greatest church, it's not. What I'm trying to say is it was a home. I thought it was going to be like that. Everything's different. We're not fitting in. It is in the place. Did you pray before you went? Did you go? Did you get a, because this is what I'll tell them. I'm just giving you practical advice. Did you get a CD of the teaching to hear how they teach there? Well, no, I really never thought about that. Did you pay a visit to the church when you were there? I mean, you went there and you were in that hotel and you were walking through the streets and you saw the shops and you saw how nice the little cafes are and all of that. Did you go to a church while you were there? No. No, because I figured that they're all the same. No. I'm telling you, if you're going to plan on moving on, the best thing you can do is pay a visit, find a church, listen to the CDs, get a bulletin. If you can get a Wednesday night or a midweek and get a Sunday morning, get a feeling and a flavor of the type of ministry is there. When you have a settled in your heart, I can grow here. My kids, if you're married and have children or you've got children, my kids can be fed here. I can serve here. I can grow here. This would be a great place for me spiritually. Then that's a good first step. Never move just because you're tired of the smog or you're tired of the crowd or you're tired. I have to be honest with you. Look, I'm one of the few Californians who are born and raised here. A lot have moved in, you know, from other states of the country, born and raised in California, 59 years. I have seen this state change into the millions and millions that we have now from a time when on a Sunday you got on the Santa Ana freeway and there was no traffic because when I grew up, nobody was out on Sundays. We all stayed home. We had Sunday dinners. We all stayed home. I have a friend of mine who was driving on the 605 freeway in the mid-60s who actually stopped his van on the 605 at midnight, climbed off the van, did some things, got back on the van and drove away. There was no traffic. There was no traffic anywhere. I grew up in a time when then it took me 15 minutes to get to LA from where I grew up. I grew up in Norwalk. Jump on the 5 and bang you're there in 15 minutes. Yesterday I went to the Nokia and we're driving on the 63 way and I'm turning to my wife and I turn to her and I said honey you know how do you normally go into LA? I'll follow your direction. She says I usually take the 60. So I'm thinking 60 sometimes gets crowded but we'll see. I turned to her I said I think it's gonna get crowded. She says well you know I always I say fine fine we drive and then bang we're sitting in traffic on the 60 freeway and I'm late to get to where I'm going and I'm thinking rapture rapture now rapture take me home Jesus get me out of this place coming home the same thing coming home there's an accident packed up and and this I can remember days and this isn't a good old days talk by the way but I remember days when that just that wasn't the way it was. I can remember the 91 being empty when's the last time you saw an empty 91 and so yeah you can get frustrated yeah you know I'd like to go out to Idaho I'd like to move into Oregon I'd like to move into Washington I'd like to move off into Colorado I'd like to go to slow Jesus and he keeps saying no anyway so I shouldn't have said that but where are you gonna go to church where are your children going to be fed where are you going to serve because I promise you like the psalmist said that God gave them their request but he sent leanness to their soul they got what they wanted they dried up on the vine and so David is wise because the first thing David does is he asks of God where do you want me to that is so important I hope I didn't I hope you got that it is so important I hope I hope that made sense to just I'm going to go here I'll go there oh it's not entertaining enough here all right they didn't give me that there that's not the way to go to church anyway when you go to church what do you go there for what do you expect from it what do you want do you want to grow in the things of the Lord do you want to serve God or is it going to be one of those fast food places you go get what you want choose this kind of a cafeteria grab that grab that grab that but I don't want that you got to know what you want and you find that by being in the word of God you have to know what you want where am I supposed to be you find that through praying and saying God give me the peace to know and then you find that by making the determined effort to know if I'm in this place and you want me there then I need to know where I'm going to go to church to serve you I want to be fed by you David inquires of the Lord and I want you to see something about it because notice how he's he asks he first asks a general question should I find somewhere in Judah which is southern Israel so God says yes the Lord said to him go up now he gets specific where shall I go he says Hebron and so that's where he's going to locate he's going to be in a city called Hebron it's 20 miles southwest of the city of Jerusalem it's a highly it's a city built on a high elevation it's going to be a great place for him to live and he's going to be there for the next several years and so that's what he does verse 2 through 4 tells us that David went up there if there's two wives Ahinuam and Abigail it says he brought up the men who were with him every man with his household they all dwelt there in the cities of Hebron now verse 4 the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah now David had already received an anointing as a king we saw that in 1st Samuel chapter 16 verse 13 where Samuel had come and anointed him and the Bible there says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward the men of Judah are members of his own tribe David was born in Bethlehem he's from the tribe of Judah and what this represents is his own tribe recognizing him as being king Saul is dead and so these people from Judah are saying we recognize you as our king now as his own people from the house of Judah are recognizing him they go on to say they told David here in verse 4 saying the men of Yavish Gilead were the ones who buried Saul so David sent messengers to the men of Yavish Gilead and said to them you are blessed of the Lord for you have shown this kindness to your Lord to Saul and have buried him and now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you I also will repay you this kindness because you've done this thing now therefore let your hands be strengthened be valiant for your master Saul is dead and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them this is a wise thing for David to do he finds out that that these are the men who had buried Saul and so he goes and speaks to them he takes the opportunity to thank them by by showing for showing such loyalty to the king but he also is declaring to them that he's a king in Judah and what he's doing is he's inviting them to show him the loyalty that they showed to Saul he's also promising to repay them this kindness because he's going to provide protection for them and so this is what he did through these messengers as he spoke to them in that way now verse eight but Abner the son of Nur commander of Saul's army took Ishmael the son of Saul and and brought him over to Mahaneem and he made him king over Gilead over the Ashrites over Jezreel over Ephraim over Benjamin over all Israel Ishmael Saul's son was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel he reigned two years only the house of Judah followed David and the time that David was king in Ebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months and so here you have Saul's cousin we saw that in chapter 14 verse 50 of first Samuel and he's taken Saul's son Ishmael the word Ishmael his name means son of shame he's the one who didn't go to the battlefield didn't die alongside of his father he has a name now son of shame and what has happened is he as a highly respected commander of the army is placing Ishmael the heir of Saul into the position of king and what he's doing is dividing the kingdom he's actually creating a division you see with the Philistines slew Saul Abner survived and he and some of the men took off and they went across the Jordan River to the east into a region called Mahaneem and now that he's extremely popular and all he's decided to appoint a king to replace Saul and so he puts Ishmael in that position and as he does so he begins to actually have a rule if you will over most of Israel except for Judah now this is taking place it would seem at the end of the seven and a half years because he only reigns two years and then he dies and so this is taking place within the the first few years of David's reign there in Judah now as this is taking place verse 12 Abner the son of Nure and the servants of Ishbushah the son of Saul went out from Mahaneem to Gibeon so they travel from the east of the Jordan and cross into the south into Israel and Job the son of Zeruia now Zeruia was David's sister so that makes Joab David's cousin and the servants of David went out and met them by the pull of Gibeon so they sat down one on one side of the pull and the other on the other side of the pull Abner said to Joab let the young men now arise and compete before us Joab said let them arise so they arose and went over by number 12 from Benjamin followers of Ishbushah the son of Saul and 12 from the servants of David and each one grasped his opponent by the head thrust the sword into his opponent's side they fell down together therefore that place is called the field of sharp swords which is in Gibeon so there was a very fierce battle that day and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David and so what they do is they gather together you've got Abner on one side of this pull and you got Joab on the other side they have their men with them these men who are with Abner are from Benjamin they were warriors and you have the men of Valor who were alongside of David and so there's a challenge that is being made because what's the point of us conducting a war when we can send 12 champions to fight it out and save the bloodshed and so they go together to compete but the problem is is at the same time that one struck one the other struck him and they both died so all 24 of them die there as a result of that there is a war anyway there's a battle that's going to take place anyway and it says according to verse 17 that there was a fierce battle and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David so verse 18 the three sons of Zeruya were there Joab and Abashai and Asa Al and Asa Al was a was fleet of foot as a wild gazelle so Asa Al pursued Abner and in going he did not turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner Abner looked behind him and said are you Asa Al he answered I am Abner said to him turn aside to your right hand or to your left lay hold on one of the young men take his armor for yourself but Asa Al would not turn aside from following him so Abner said again to Asa Al turn aside from following me why should I strike you to the ground how then could I face your brother Joab however he refused to turn aside therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear so that the spear came out of his back and he fell down there and died on the spot so it was that many as came as many as came to the place where Asa Al fell down and died stood still so here's Asa Al chasing Abner Abner's running Asa Al is known for being a very fast runner and there's no doubt he's going to catch this commander from Israel Abner looks behind him and he sees this young man catching up to him and begins to warn him now you need to know that Asa Al was one of David's mighty men Asa Al was a man who was actually a captain who had responsibility over 24 thousand men and so this was a man who was well known as a mighty man he undoubtedly believed that he could take Abner he also wanted the honor of doing so because he felt that if he were to catch him and defeat him in defeating the commander of the armies of Israel it would bring him great prestige now Abner knows that he can not outrun Asa Al but he also knows that he can take him and so he begins to warn him he says why are you pursuing me he says look at if it's valor that you want if it's some kind of battlefield credit take the armor of one of the young men but don't pursue me and he's warning him and he finally says to him it's because I don't want a blood feud to go on between me and your brother if I kill you then your brother Joab is going to be after me it's going to create a feud between us and I don't want to do that but Asa Al is not thinking and so he chases him down and so instead of taking the sharpened end of that spear and driving it through him he actually kills him in a brutal way by driving in the blunt end of that spear and he kills him instantly there and lays him out and here comes the pursuing people from Judah and as they come there's the body of Asa Al one of their mighty men dead on the ground and they stop there in silent reverence and they're looking at this captain and they don't want to proceed for a moment but here comes Joab his brother verse 24 Joab and Abashai also pursued Abner the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Amma which is before Gia by the road to the wilderness of Gibyan now the children of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became a unit and took their stand on top of a hill then Abner called to Joab and said shall the sword devour forever do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end how long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren so he basically is saying Abner is basically saying to him you have control over the whole issue now do you want to create something terrible or do you want to put an end to it now he's afraid of the blood feud he doesn't want it to go any further than that but i want you to notice the response in verse 27 Joab said God as God lives unless you had spoken surely then by mourning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren it's up it's your fault the whole thing is your fault don't be putting that on me is what he's saying don't be saying it's my fault don't be saying i'm hurting when it's you you're the one who started it you're the one who said let's get 12 of our of our men to compete you knew what would take place you're the one who instigated it you also know that David would not fight against his own people unless provoked David had never done that remember with me when he was living in exile he would tell the king that he was living under exile with that he was actually raiding the jewish people when in reality he wasn't at all David wouldn't lift his hand up against his own people and that's exactly what Joab is saying to him he's saying this is all because of you you're the one who challenged him you're the one who started the problem you know that David would not have done this on his own and now because of you it's you who started it and that's what he means when he says as God lives unless you had spoken surely then by mourning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren it would have been all over but you provoked it you created the problem now he's angry but what happens verse 28 Joab blew a trumpet and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore and did nor did they fight anymore he didn't want many to die simply because of his anger at abner abner killed his brother and there's no way he's going to let him get away with that but he doesn't want others to die he doesn't want to be guilty of a needless slaughter he knew the time would come when he deal with abner for what he had done in proverbs 16 verse 32 it says he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty he who rules his spirit than he who takes the city and he just says i'm going to calm down but you will have your day it is going to happen well verse 29 abner and his men went on all that night through the plane crossed over the Jordan went through al-bitran and they came to mahanain joab returned from pursuing abner and when he had gathered all the people together they were missing of david servants 19 men and asa al which makes 20 but the servants of david had struck down of benjamin and abner's men 360 men who died which demonstrates the incredible combat readiness of david's troops david's men suffered far fewer casualties because his mighty men were superior they had greater tactics and that gave them victory but verse 32 then they took up asa al and buried him in his father's tomb which was in bethlehem and joab and his men went all night they came to hebron at daybreak in bethlehem they bury a great warrior 1000 years later in bethlehem a great warrior is born jesus jesus is from bethlehem when you read these stories again you make assumptions the bible makes it very clear no man can call jesus lord but by the spirit of god sometimes the plans that we have for ourselves are not successful because as believers we haven't pursued the lord and we haven't asked of him as a person who doesn't have a relationship with the lord you're pretty much on your own because it would be difficult for you to speak to somebody that you really don't know very well and ask favor or direction from it's kind of like the stereotypical guy who doesn't like to stop and ask for directions my dad was a truck driver my dad knew you know all the all the areas around he was a a man who spent many years behind the wheel and he was very good when it came to taking us on family vacations but i'll tell you something about my dad that used to make me laugh when i was a little boy whenever my dad got lost we would be driving and we recognize that we'd been there for a little while and hadn't moved on he would turn and he would say something like you know i've always wanted to see this part of town i've always wanted to see this part of town and that's when i finally realized dad's lost he doesn't know where he's at but a lot of times guys don't want to stop and get directions they don't want to stop and pull in now i do because you know what i'm too old to worry about how dumb i look i'll i'll stop i don't care then i'll send marie to go ask and they go ask him tell me you're lost i have discovered it just saves a lot of time to ask directions doesn't it it really does when in doubt follow the directions it just saves a lot of time and if i'm in a place yesterday marina going off to we're going off to to the nokia center for the for the outreach that dave truhio and south los angeles was doing and i haven't been to the nokia and i thought it was next to staples but i wasn't sure so we're driving and so i have a nav system and i program it and i programed the wrong address i put in nokia service center so i'm just driving and i'm already late and as i'm driving past where i'm supposed to get off i keep driving and i'm telling me i don't think i'm going in the right direction now i'm in culver city and i say i ought to stop and visit my cousins because i have cousins in culver city but i drive and i said to me no i'm obviously going in the wrong direction we turn around we go back and try to reprogram the nav and i am lost and do it again and i didn't put south figure on it before you know it i'm going by the alley coliseum and i'm driving the coliseum and i'm saying i know i'm lost so marie says well we ought to call dav on the phone and find out what's what is called i said that's a good idea he gave us the wrong phone number so we can't get to him so now i'm just driving out there and i'm turning to marie i'm saying you know i'm going home i know how to find my way home because i can't find the nokia so we end up pulling off the street and then she calls up and she talks to one of the other guys he says oh yeah it's over here it's exactly where we thought it was where we should have been 30 minutes earlier i'm just not real good at asking directions you would think that i would have learned by now but i haven't yeah i'll find it i got a nav system i'll go to culver city i mean and a lot of people are really not good at asking directions and so one that's why i'm trying to encourage directions are found in the book the bible but what happens if you don't have a relationship with the lord keep in mind that the book was written to those who believe in god when i was in the military we used to have mail call and they would stand there and they would call out your name and if you got a letter they'd hand it to you and and then the guys would sit down and they'd be reading letters from their moms or family members girlfriends whatever and and you know and they'd say here read this if i picked it up and it says uncle matt says hi and aunt bertha just had her second child it meant nothing to me i don't know who matt is i don't know who bertha this is not my family why should i read your letter it's not to me what made sense to me is when that was addressed to david and my mama could say well dad did this and we went on vacation here that's news from home but that's my family when i read somebody else's letter it's somebody else's mail it is not my life being spoken of it somebody else's when you pick up the bible if you don't have a relationship with jesus christ you can read it it's not going to make an awful lot of sense because you're reading somebody else's letter but when you open your heart to the lord that letter is now yours that's the letter written to you it doesn't matter if it says to the romans or the chrysians or the aphesians that's a letter to you and now as you read that it says this is what i have for you this is what i want for you this is what i'll do for you this is what i don't want you to do you take it personally because this is a letter from god it's a letter from home and he's speaking to me and he's directing me that's why sometimes people say i just don't know what to do that's why i make assumptions that everybody has a relationship with god listen when the holy spirit comes and dwells within you and you become the temple of the spirit of god you're born again like jesus said now there's a life within you no longer are these words simply on a page now these words go directly within you and through that god writes on the tablet of your heart and he directs you through his word and by his spirit and it may be that i have some today who've never opened their heart to the lord in that way that the spirit of god is right now not working in you other than in the way of convicting you saying you don't know me you know a lot of times when people come to church especially churches like this where we take time to go verse by verse through a book they get bored but i don't blame them in a way i'll tell you why it's because they're listening to somebody else's story because it's not theirs it doesn't apply to them it applies to somebody else they get bored or they're so busy getting a text message they're not even listening to the message from god because they're more interested in the text than they are with god's text that's how it works but when you have a relationship with god you read these old stories and you say lord simple as it is david could have gone anywhere he wanted to but he asked you first and you actually answered him he asked you a simple question and you gave him a simple answer he asked a direct question you gave him a direct answer he said should i go into the places in judo you said go and he said should i go where you said hebron well lord i want you to direct my footsteps like that i want to know you and i want to hear you so i'm going to read your word i'm going to pray i'm going to seek you now if you don't have a relationship with the lord then today is the day to have one if you have sin in your life it cuts off communication that has to be dealt with once that's dealt with once again the lord is once again going to be able to speak to you my invitation to you is to open your heart up to the lord