 Amen. All right, so Judges chapter 9 keep your place here. We're going to be going back and forth to Judges chapter 9 so we see quite a story here in Judges chapter 9 and The sermon this morning or this evening is going to be on a Bemelex kingdom a Bemelex kingdom And we're finishing up the train wrecks in the Bible series tonight and this story in Judges chapter 9 About a Bemelex kingdom is quite a train wreck. So what is the story first of all? Let's look at the story and see what we can learn from it this evening. So who's a Bemelex first of all So a Bemelex is the son of this man named Jerobo and he went you know the Bible says a Bemelex the son of Jerubo went to Session So who is Jerubo look back at Judges chapter 8 and verse number 35 Where the Bible says, you know, basically the Bible is telling us at the end of Judges chapter 8 What the people did so this is the time of the judges of course and a Bemelex is the son of Gideon a very famous Judge and the Bible says in verse 35 of Judges 8 35 neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerobo I don't know why I'm having such a hard time saying that Jerubo Namely Gideon so it's another name for Gideon. Okay, and if you look at Judges chapter 7 it says right in the very first Verse there it says then Jerubo, which is Gideon, okay? So we know that Jerubo is Gideon so Gideon had 70 sons from his wives and then the Bible says in Judges chapter 8 that he had this other son from a concubine named Bemelech and a Bemelech wanted to be in charge. He wanted to be the ruler He wanted to reign over the people look at verse 1 of Judges 9 The Bible says in a Bemelech the son of Jerubo went to Session under his mother's brethren and communed with him And with all the family of the house of his mother's father saying speak I pray you in the ears of all the men of Session Whether it be better for you either that all the sons of Jerubo which are three score in ten persons So that's 70 right three score three times 20 60 and then 10 we have 70 people reign over you or that one reign over you Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh So he's saying you know go to these people of Session these men of Session and say hey Is it better that all these 70 sons reign over you or that just me reign over you and his mother's Brethren spake of him and all the years of the men of Session all these words and their hearts were inclined to follow Abimelech for they said he is our brother and they gave him three score and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Belbeareth with wherewith Abimelech hired vein and light persons which followed him and when he went to his father's house at Ophra He and then he went he went unto his father's house at Ophra and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubo So he slew all of Gideon's 70 sons here being three score and ten persons upon one stone Not withstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubo was left for he hid himself So he he's he basically executes them on this stone whatever this stone is I mean it's it must have been quite a scene Executing all of Gideon's sons. I mean Gideon was a great judge Gideon You know freed the nation of Israel from the Midianites and I mean he had some serious Battles that he fought I mean he really Took it to the Midianites and he freed the nation and just You know one chapter later just one generation later. They do this to his sons All right, and then one of them gets away, okay? So Jotham the youngest he gets away and go back to verse number seven and Jotham the only son of Gideon that escapes lays a curse onto Abimelech and look at verse number seven and I just I love the curse here that that Jotham lays on him And I'll explain it to you in verse seven it says when they told it to Jotham He went and stood in the top of the Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice and cried and said unto them harken unto me he men of session These are the ones that turned against Everybody with abimelech that God may harken unto you the trees went now. He kind of gives a parable here He says the trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them and they said unto the olive tree Rain over us so he's giving a parable of trees Asking other trees to rain over them and they asked the olive tree first But the olive tree said unto them should I leave my fatness Wherewith by they honor God and man to be promoted over the trees so the olive tree says no I'm happy where I'm at with all my olives and the trees said to the fig tree Come thou and rain over us But the fig tree said unto them should I forsake my forsake my sweetness and my good fruit and go to be Promoted over the trees so the fig tree says no either. He's like I've got my own things I don't need to be king then said the trees unto the vine so he's kind of stepping it down Right, he's going from the top tree the olive tree down to the fig tree now He goes down to the vine and he says come thou rain over us and the vine said unto them Should I leave my wine with cheereth God and man and go to be promoted over the trees So the vine said no, I don't want it. I'm happy where I'm at and then said all the trees under the bramble So this is kind of a tongue-and-cheek slam at a bimilek right here He's make they basically go to the to the brush to the to the weed Brush the bramble and say come thou rain over us and the bramble said unto the trees Well, so the bramble wants the job Right the bramble wants the job. He's like hey I get to rule over the olive tree looks like a promotion if in truth He anoint me king over you then come and put your trust in my shadow and if not let fire come out of the bramble and Devour the cedars of Lebanon now therefore if he had done truly and sincerely and that you have made a bimilek king And if you've dealt well with Jerubo and his house and have done according Done unto him according to the deserving of his hands Skip down to verse number 19. He kind of repeats this and summarizes it He says if he then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubo and with his house this day Then rejoice in a bimilek and let him also rejoice in you So he's he's saying you know hey if you've done the right thing here He's saying then be happy with your new king and let him be happy with you He's saying you know just serve him and let him serve you and just be happy and then he says But if not and he knows the answer he knows the answer to the question He says but if not let fire come out from a bimilek and devour the men of session and The house of Milo and then let fire come out from the men of session and from the house of Milo and devour Abimelech so the curse is this is that he's like if you haven't dealt Well, if you've dealt treacherously with the sons of Gideon and with Gideon then he says you know Just let you destroy each other basically is what he says So he's straight up cursing a bimilek here and look go down to verse number 22 the men of session Betray a bimilek in verse number 22 it says when a bimilek had reigned three years over Israel and it wasn't that long Then God sent an evil spirit between a bimilek and the men of session and the men of session dealt treacherously with a bimilek look at verse number 26 and Gaul the son of ebid came out from with his brethren and went over to session and the men of session put their confidence in him So look the curse of Jotham comes true I mean how the story ends is basically a bimilek, you know commits this treachery And he murders the sons of Gideon of the great judge Gideon who had just freed the nation from the Midianites And then just three years later the very people that help him commit this treachery turn on him Then what does he do? He turns on them and he you know He burns their cities and he chases them down and during that war or those battles Some woman throws a rock on his head basically or a millstone on his head and basically kills it He's wounded to the point where he says just thrust me through so it's not said that some woman killed me So look he dies He's killed by fighting the people that put him into power That's the story So look I mean let me just give you some thoughts on the story and then you know all apply The story itself. Okay, so first of all, you know a bimilek wanted to be king He wanted to reign over the people look everyone can't be king. It wasn't his place To be the next judge. I mean he wasn't appointed by God So everyone isn't anointed to be the king. He was forcing something here, okay? So he was forcing this situation, right? It wasn't of God so that's the first thing, you know, we got to be careful not to force situations that aren't of God All right, the second thing is this Beware just thoughts on the story in general. Okay, beware of what the Bible calls vain and light men Go back to judges chapter 9 and look at verse number 4 Look at judges chapter 9 and verse number 4 the Bible says and they gave him three score and ten pieces of silver Out of the house of Bill Bill Beareth. Why? Why did he need money? Wherewith a benelic hired vain and light persons which followed him so he basically paid them off He paid them off to follow him and it worked because they were vain and light men They were not men of strong moral character. Okay, they were people that could be purchased They were people whose loyalty could be purchased I mean these were literally men that were paid to follow him is it a surprise that they turned against him You know just a few years later look at judges chapter 9 and verse number 19 And the Bible says, you know, this is the back to the curse It says if he have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubo in his house this day then rejoice But if not let fire come out from a bemelech and devour the men of Sasham and the house of Milo look a Bemelech built his house on betrayal He built his house on treachery, so the first thing is beware of the leaders that Surround themself with the shallowest of people This is a warning and you can see this you'll see this in your secular life You'll see this at work, you know, hopefully you never see it at church But beware of leaders that surround themselves with vain and light persons shallow people That have no death look wicked people always do this Always they choose the weakest and most easily influenced group of people why? Because it's easy to manipulate them That's why Okay, so this brings me to my main point a Bemelech built his house on betrayal He built his house on treason look a bemelech had a goal and the goal was not godly We know that but he had a goal and he executed his goal through treachery So the point I want to really make and really drive home this evening is this is it matters how you get there? in your Christian life You know this attitude that you know exists in the world today that you know We just need to make the right alliances and you know It doesn't matter if we betray people and do this as long as it gets us to our goal You know this political Maneuvering that you'll see out in the world today. Look, I mean even in politics publicly You'll see this it's ridiculous, right because the point is here is that the reason? I mean ultimately that because of the way that a bemelech rose to power The very reason for his success Was his downfall I Mean that was the curse coming true But that is the way that God Prosecutes things a bemelech's kingdom was his downfall the type of kingdom he built was his downfall He built it through treachery and he died through treachery. You see Let's talk about treachery for a few minutes just for a few minutes I'm gonna give you three points on treachery. You're like, how how will I recognize treachery? Does treachery exist today? You know How will I know if someone's treacherous? How will I know if I'm dealing with someone that is a treacherous type of person? How can I tell? Well, the Bible tells you turn to Jeremiah chapter 12 first of all The first thing to look for is this treacherous people will speak fair words to you always Treacherous people will speak fair words to you go to Jeremiah chapter 12 and verse number six I'll just give you a few points on how to recognize Treacherous people and then we'll get back to the main point But the point is that fair words will come from treacherous people. You're like, well, what if people are just being nice? Well, you you have to know look at Jeremiah chapter 12 and verse number six You must recognize this the Bible says for even thy brethren in the house of thy father Even they have dealt treacherously with thee. So here's some people who are dealing treacherously with you Yay, they have called the multitude after thee believe them not though they speak fair words under thee So basically this leads into turn to Proverbs chapter 29. This leads into things like flattery And how to recognize it Right because these people they were speaking fair words, but they were really dealing treacherously Behind the back of this person in Jeremiah chapter 12. Look at Proverbs 29 and verse 5 Talking about flattery the Bible says in Proverbs 29 a man that flattereth his neighbor Spreadeth a net for his feet. So somebody that flatters you is really trying to entrap you Okay, so I mean what's the difference between fair words and flattery and you know, how are you gonna tell right? Well, I mean it really has to do with sincerity Right. I mean if I say that, you know, brother Matthew, that's a nice jacket And I don't mean it. I think it's ugly Right. I think that's the worst jacket. I've actually ever seen in my life I'm just kidding brother But look if I say that's a nice jacket and I mean it then that's not flattering But if I say it's a nice jacket and brother though, man, I mean you're just you're just everything. I mean just You're just looking great man We buy me lunch. See The difference is sincerity with flattery folks go back to Proverbs chapter 27 And look at verse number six So I mean a verse that we've gone over several times in the last two or three weeks The Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend, but look at the next part of the verse It says but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful So the Bible here says that you know faithful are the wounds of a friend You know your friend means it. He's saying some some not good things to you, but it's sincere And he's trying to help you but on the other side of that you're getting good words from somebody who's really your enemy So I mean the world will teach you that your friend should just say nice things only to you But the Bible says that people that just say nice things only to you are probably your enemy It's deceitful look at Romans chapter 16 and verse number 18 Roman 16 and verse number 18 The Bible says for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly So here's people that are just they're trying to you know come into the church and cause problems and just serve themselves And the Bible says and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of what of The simple So the wicked people the wicked people they're always after the simple first They're always after you know the the vain and light persons, right? So like once again, we see the wicked they surround themselves with these types of people Easily manipulated type types of people look at Isaiah chapter 33 The second point is this treacherous dealers people that you know treacherous dealers now Here's this is rocket science. Listen treacherous dealers deal treacherously Look at Isaiah chapter 33. This is what this is what a bemelech should have known right here Isaiah 33 in verse number one The Bible says woe to thee that spoil list and that and thou was not spoiled So he's saying you know woe to somebody who goes and just you know does harm where you weren't harmed Okay, and deal is treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with these so the people that you know go and do something They're they're spoiling people and these people did nothing to you But you're dealing treacherously with them then it says when thou shalt cease to spoil thou shall be spoiled And when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously They shall deal treacherously with thee you see how that works So it says when you go out and you deal treacherously with people and then you're like all right. I got what I wanted I Spoiled you I took all your stuff. I got what I wanted. It says guess what? Now they're gonna deal treacherously with you So those that deal look so that leads to my third point the treacherous will end through treachery Treachery doesn't work Because treachery will end in treachery period I Mean see pretty much the entire kingdom northern kingdom of Israel history Treachery ends in treachery every single time a bemalax end was through the means of his rise See and it's fitting right. I mean he would have been better off just staying in his own vineyard like like the vine he would have been better off just you know Having what God wanted for his life instead of forcing something and then treacherously gaining something that he wanted and Then ending in treachery So look the application this evening is is a broad one, but it's this Goals are great. Okay. Goals are great in your life. They're necessary But it matters how you get there It matters how you get there look a bemalax reached his goal A bemalax he was king or he was the ruler. I Don't know if he was called a king, but he was the ruler. He made it. He said I want to be I want to reign over you He prosecuted this plan and he reigned over them for sure But it didn't matter to a bemalax how he achieved that goal. It was just anything goes so what look Life is not about setting goals and then just doing whatever it takes To get that to those goals. I mean look this can be considered a disadvantage What I'm saying can be considered a disadvantage to the world. I Mean you think of your corporate psychopath Or whatever The person that will just do anything that it takes to get to the top They will do anything that it takes to get that promotion to get that credit to get whatever to make themselves look good Make their people look good make you look bad Look, but you have to operate under this this moral authority of the Bible The world could look at that as a disadvantage But let's see, you know if it is a disadvantage, you know, you have to operate morally you have to know the law like we talked About this morning Otherwise look otherwise God will not be in it God will not be in it in an a bemalax case God destroyed it a Bemalax kingdom the kingdom he built the very kingdom destroyed him What are some examples of this for for us today? Well, what's a what's a goal that that most people have especially, you know men look financial success Right, I mean isn't that isn't that something that everybody wants right? I mean look you should not have a goal to be rich But let's take a poll You have to support your family you have to to make a living guys Let's take a poll raise your hand if you want to be broke. I don't see any hands You have to make a living the Bible says this you are to support your family you are to work you are look nobody wants to be broke I Mean there's a line you're not to have this goal to just be rich But you have to support your family. I Mean there are a lot of people making a lot of money off the government lately Did you know that I? Said at the beginning of this whole thing back in February or whatever it was And I'll say it again. It's almost like they're trying to get everyone on government support It's it almost feels like that's what they're trying to do and I'm more convinced now than I was then I Mean business. I mean I hear all kinds of stories from people businesses getting grants that don't need them It's like it's a free-for-all out there. I Mean whenever the government is handing out billions yay trillions of dollars I mean look the people the vultures are going to swoop in and people are good at this To take advantage right I mean think about the individual the worker You know just staying home and go on instead of going to work For 50% of people 50% of people did you know that 50% of people being on unemployment right now? We'll make you more money than going to work You could do this But you're building a BIMLEX Kingdom the world can get away with it You can't That's the problem These things that look attractive these things like unemployment Sick leave calling in sick when you're not sick workman's comp all these things look never Why ever do that? Because you're building a BIMLEX Kingdom. I mean you're you're you might say to me. Oh, you've never been hurt It work. You don't know when I was 19 years old I was working for a steel building company and I was on three sets of Scaffolding on a trailer which is six times three It's 18 feet in the air from the bottom of my feet to the bottom of the trailer and one of the hooks wasn't hooked And I was carrying two blankets of insulation and I fell 18 feet and landed on my back My hard hat broke everything. I landed on all these pipes. Thank God the pipes were there It's like I bounced off the trailer and onto the ground And you're like what did you do well? I mean thank God that I wasn't I didn't have any broken bones. I wasn't really hurt I had some bruises and I was cut from my neck to my tailbone with cuts So what did you do? I went to work the next day That's what I did That's what I did. You know what? This is the opposite of a BIMLEX Kingdom because I could walk to the owner of that company today, and he'd give me a job tomorrow 1000% No problem. You must do things the right way Or you're kicking against the pricks as Jesus would put it But here's the flip side. Okay. Here's the flip side. It's not all bad news Okay, here's the flip side where there are are all these people that are just taking advantage There's opportunity You know, I've always said that about homeschooling I've always said that about homeschooling as the as the government education system destroys 99% of the the coming generation in this country And that 1% is going to be in high demand high demand Homeschoolers will stand above the rest Hands down no problem. There'll be opportunity everywhere Imagine a kid today. I'm already seeing it by the way a kid today that shows up to work on time every day Is like some kind of superhero. It's embarrassing It's crazy. That's all it takes there's opportunity everywhere because a Bemalek is everywhere all these people just dealing treacherously with their employers and And everybody out there. That's why there's so much opportunity So you say, okay, you know, how will this destroy my kingdom? You're being a little over dramatic So you say, okay, you know unemployment workman's comp sick time all this stuff. Look, here's the thing That kingdom that you're building will be your own downfall and here's why First of all getting a job especially if you have no experience in anything I Mean you have to convince someone to invest money in you. Did you know that? You won't produce anything useful for an employee if you have zero experience for probably a year or more. I Mean they will pay taxes on you. They pay benefits for you They pay insurance on you and they make zero money on you You have to convince them You young guys like you're like, are you looking at me? I'm looking at you This is what you have to do You have to convince someone to invest into you and everyone's in a Bimalek You know how many small business owners? I know that don't even look for people anymore Because they it's not that they don't need people. It's that they're tired of a Bimalek's just ripping them off They can't afford it They can't afford to just get ripped off again You're taking food off of their table is what you're doing So you have to convince. I mean look you can rip some people off You can once or twice Then you're marked Then you're marked I joke with my wife. She's probably sick of this joke after 21 years But I often joke with my wife with all the credit card application I don't even know if we still get him we probably do she probably just throws him away and I don't even see him But I'm like we should just take out all The credit cards that we can and just like whoo-hoo. Let's just go spending and then we'll just like move to the Philippines or something We'll live with brother Stucky. Well, I mean look you can do that once and then you know you've destroyed yourself and And no one will touch you with a 10-foot pole you can get there You can get there you can build this type of rep yet reputation a Bimalek's kingdom that you're building will be your downfall It may work for three years Like it worked for a Bimalek, but it'll be your downfall You know the guy who's like, you know what I'm gonna get into a career Work hard be loyal. Look that's someone who's building his house on a solid foundation And there's a lot of opportunities for that today a lot You ladies you moms you're like, yeah, give it to the guys get them Moms these moms that are putting their kids and I like how it's not even really called daycare anymore. It's called school Like you know you're putting your one-year-old in school You know I'm putting my oh, where do you where's your child? Where's your child? Oh, oh he goes to school How old is he he's four days old So the mom that sets her child in front of a screen for hours a day so she can be on Facebook or whatever Look your child may learn their ABCs before my child if you put them in front of an ABCs video when they're Six months old they may learn their ABCs When they're two or whatever I don't even know these dates. So see my wife for proper dates But look that kingdom That school Sending them off to daycare setting them in front of a screen, you know, basically being you know handing your motherhood Off to somebody else or some electronic piece of equipment that will be your downfall Your kids may learn their ABCs when they're two But that will be their downfall for sure But ah, you know, it's hard to take the time. It's hard to take the time and teach your children face to face I mean it's stressful, right and it's like impossible to text when you're doing that or Chat on Facebook when you're doing that or make stupid YouTube comments when you're doing that I mean, it's impossible to do that But that kingdom will look I'm not confused at where the people get I'm you know I say many times like I don't know where you guys come up with all the time to watch YouTube videos Not you guys, but I don't know where people Come up with all the time to watch all this YouTube and get into all this Facebook and all this kind of stuff I actually know where the time comes from you're taking it away from your family You're taking it away from your kids, you know, you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing It's just a sign to me people that spend all their times doing that stuff, especially moms that are supposed to be home You know what homeschooling is what you make it. I Mean homeschooling is hard. I mean if you're done homeschooling in half an hour, you're not doing it, right. I Mean the few times when I had to work from home I mean, I'm just it stresses me out all the stuff that's going on I'd rather just you know be away at work and and have my wife be able to do all that But it's a lot and you're like, well, it's not a lot for me. Well, you're not doing it, right and If you're just having some screen or whatever raise your kids look you're building a Bemelex kingdom and that kingdom will be their downfall I mean the church just I mean just Things in the church and how things are prosecuted in the church. I mean not to get into this I don't really even have this in my notes, but look When I think about the things that are prosecuted in the church and why they're done that way There's not a lot of things. No, let me just clear that up. There's nothing that's done here by accident There's nothing that's done here by accident turn to Hebrews chapter 10 10 Let me just show you something real quick because this quite frankly This as we come up on our one-year anniversary This one thing is probably the biggest learning curve that I've gone through since I started, you know going from being church member to Church leader. This is probably one of my biggest learning curves. I've learned a lot, but look at Hebrews chapter 10 and Look at verse number 24 Now you're like, I've heard this a million times. This is telling me to go to church. No, let's look at something different Look at verse number 24 The Bible says we're just gonna read the first part of verse 24 The Bible says and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Underline underline if you don't mind writing in your Bible underline consider one another There's a lot of things that sitting in the in the seats. I Didn't really understand why it was that way There's a lot of things like that. I mean a few things I can just think of on the top of my head I wasn't really one to go to the pastor and ask. Hey, why do you do it that way? Why do you do it that way? But look that would have been fine if I would have done that I just I just kind of put that trust in him that you know, there must be a reason for it I know the reasons now. I know the reasons now. I I have had so many moments in The last year where I'm like, that's why pastor does it that way I'm like, ah that makes sense I mean just like light bulb light bulb light bulb but here's if I could just cover a lot of those things in In one verse it would be Hebrews 10 24 It's not every reason but look there whenever we have a church event or we have church things that we do or Activities all these different things here's and you're like, why do they do it that way and all this kind of stuff? I mean look here's the main thing so you have an idea and how some and look there's no issues here I'm just trying to explain some things that I've learned over the last year There's no issues at this church that I know of right, but here's the thing You are like, oh, I have an idea on how to do this or I have an idea on this or whatever Maybe we could do it like this, but here's the thing you're considering You know yourself and your idea and maybe your family. I have to consider everybody on Everything I mean that the stories I could tell you about it like how my wife and I talk about just the social Situations and well we could do this and have it there and oh but then oh can't do that because we have to consider everyone So that is where I mean the driver of probably 90% of why we do things the way we do around here It's because we're just trying to consider everybody You see what I mean, so That I mean that's my job is to consider Everyone I mean it's your job to consider one another. I have to consider everybody So I mean that's been a real eye-opener a real you know perspective Adjuster for me as I stepped into the ministry, but so I mean just realize that in the church You know we prosecute things especially in a biblical church We we prosecute things Specifically in a specific way church disciplines and other things all these different things I mean they're gonna be prosecuted in a very I mean nothing will be by accident Nothing will be by accident at all right. I mean a lot of times it's not comfortable A lot of times maybe I have to have a conversation with somebody but look it's on purpose And it's for a reason Okay, and the main reason is just so we can consider everyone and we're supposed to consider one another right So look back to the main point There should be no christian of emilex All right, because look the way that of emilec prosecuted things here. It was not moral It was not it was not the right way to do things obviously to murder all these people and treachery You know so christians should know better Is is the bottom line? I mean look at romans 8 and verse 31 Don't turn there turn to proverbs chapter 3 and we'll just read proverbs chapter 3 Romans 8 31 says, you know, it's a famous verse right if god if god be for us who can be against us Right, I mean that that's what romans 8 31. It's a famous verse in the bible if god be for us Who could be against us? But what's the opposite of that? Look at a bemilec. He's the opposite of that. Look at proverbs chapter 3 and verse number four the bible says So shall thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of god and man It's talking about reading the law if you read a couple verses up Then it says in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths So look it says if you acknowledge the way god wants you to do things And it says in the verses above, you know forget not my law and verse number one If you don't forget the law and you do things the way that god wants you to do He'll direct your paths and he'll be with you and if god be for us who could be against us So look if it's saying that if god is for you if you're doing things the right way I mean forget about what the world thinks. So the world is actually wrong The world is actually wrong when they think the corporate psychopath way is the way to go because if god be for us Forget about it. It's not close So look, I mean romans. I mean sometimes I wonder if people even believe the bible Sometimes I mean If god if you are not doing things the right, I mean Romance 13 says the government is there to punish evil. It says nothing about supporting you Nothing it's not in the scope of the bible And look and here's the biggest one where you just like you see christians and you're like, what are they reading? What are they listening to because look? If god is not with you Your efforts are futile I mean worthless You will get nowhere And I can't tell you how many times I have seen this play out before my very eyes Somebody just can't get something going and they're just not it's not working out and I'm like, I know why it's not working out Because you're not doing it the way god wants you to do it And if god be for us who could be against us, but if god's against you forget it Forget it You have to do it The right way goals are great Goals are great, but it takes more than goals. You're like, man, this sounds hard and complicated. Well Welcome to church That's why I'm telling you these things But guess what? You know like it's complicated the bible gives you this direction The bible gives you the direction on you know, look the bible gives you the goals And then it tells you how to get to the goals In the right way I mean If we don't do this, it doesn't matter if you get there. You're like, but it's working. I'm almost there. It doesn't matter Abimelech made it to being king He was king or he was the ruler God will be against you just like he was against Abimelech I mean, look it's it's a theme folks. It's a theme. Remember the the sermon on idols Put something before god God is a jealous god and he is going to destroy whatever you put before him It's a theme game something in a treacherous way. It's it's the same type of theme God will destroy you with that very thing Look, I don't I don't want to be In this type of position and I don't understand who would Abimelech's kingdom was his very downfall Because of not because of the goal. Look, it wasn't a godly goal But it wasn't really because of the goal. It was because of how he got there and what he did It was both right it was the goal and how he he prosecuted but god used the method To destroy him with it I mean talk about poetic justice So look folks methods matter And you need god to be on your side or you will get nowhere In this christian life. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer