 Amen. All right, so Judges chapter nine is the topic this morning. We're not this morning this evening We're going to get through not quite half of it this evening We're going to talk about the beginning half or not quite half of Judges chapter nine So where are we at here? So judges chapter nine starts after the death of Gideon So we talked about for the last three chapters the judge Gideon the judge Gideon freed the Israelites from the Midianites And much more than Midianites he defeated the army of the Midianites and all of their Conglomerate people from the east the Bible calls it. So Gideon Was a great judge and he freed the people and some great Victories that God granted through Gideon Gideon is now dead And of course if you look back at Judges chapter 8 and look at the verse Just the last verse of Judges chapter 8 look the last two verses and the Bible says and the children of Israel Remembered not the Lord their God who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side Neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubal namely Gideon according to all the goodness Which he had showed on to Israel. So look as soon as Gideon was dead the verse break before that says you know Gideon died and then these things happened So basically Gideon defeats the Midianites frees the children of Israel and they have 40 years of peace But as soon as Gideon dies, they just turn away immediately. Okay, and we'll see how immediate it was In Judges chapter 9 right away. Let's just get right into it Israel turns away again and look at what the Bible says in Judges chapter 9 and verse number 1 and abimelech the son of Jerubal went to set Sheikham onto his mother's I'm going to change the way I pronounce it to match brother Ryan's pronunciation So I don't confuse anybody So we're going to call it Sheikham unto his mother's brethren and commune with him and with all the family of the house of his mother saying Mother's father saying speak I pray you in the ears of all the men of Sheikham whether it is better for you either that the sons of Jerubal which are three score and ten persons that 70 sons rain over you or that one rain over you remember also that I am your bone and your flesh So who is abimelech first of all go back to Judges chapter 8 and verse number 31 The Bible says look at verse number 30 and Gideon had three score and ten sons of his body Begotten free had many wives of course in verse number 30 It says that he had three score and ten a score is 20 So three times 20 plus 10 is 70 sons in Jerubal had 70 sons with his many wives The Bible says and then in verse 31 says and his concubine which is basically one of it's a lesser form of a wife A maid servant who is in the role of a wife and his concubine that was in Sheikham She also bear him a son whose name he called abimelech So this is the man. He's kind of he's he's not really from one of his wives He's he's from a a concubine and he lives in a different part. He's separated from the From the other 70 brothers. So that is who abimelech is. He's the son of this concubine Okay, and in Judges chapter 9 verses number 1 and number 2 he's basically trying to convince you know these people of Sheikham to let him be in charge or put him in charge of them He's saying look would you rather have 70 people rule over you or just me just you know He's basically pining for the job to be in charge. So sheikham is in Manasseh That's where Gideon is from on the west side of Jordan Of course Manasseh was on both sides of the Jordan if you remember it was a tribe that was cut in half One side was on the east one side was on the west but sheikham is in Manasseh It's a city on the west side of Jordan. So look at verse number three So this is who abimelech is and this is what he's doing. He's trying to gain power over you know his His father's people that he was ruling over or being a judge over in judges chapter 9 look at verse 3 and His mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of sheikham So he's trying to basically be you know a king over this city is what he's trying to do all these words and their hearts Incline to follow abimelech for they said he is our brother. They're like well, okay. He's from the same city as us He's basically he's giddy and son. He's from our town, you know, let's you know that he convinced them And they gave him three score and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Belbarath where where with abimelech hired vain and light persons which followed him So look they give him it's interesting that they give him the exact amount of money that is the same amount as You know giddy and sons are so basically what they did was they paid You know him money to have giddy and sons killed Okay, so this is this is basically blood money that they gave to him and he hires these vain and light persons To follow you basically hires a mercenary army to go and kill Gideons, I mean look vain and light persons means that these are not men of principle Okay, that they can be bought they can be paid for they're the kind of people where you could go up and pay the money and say Hey, I need to have you kill somebody for me and they would be like, okay. That's a vain and light person Okay, now look This is you know typical of insurrections in the Bible I mean we could go into this but basically, you know Absalom did something similar. He took you know, he he he found 50 men to run before him Okay, and you know Adonijah, you know another one of David's sons did the same thing He had 50 men to run before him to show his importance and to just look these these guys before their Insurrections before you take over before you have an insurrection you have to get rid of the opposition and you also need to Look the part. Okay, so that's why Absalom and Adonijah, you know Hired those if they hired them or got those 50 people to run in front of them so they could look the part and You know people would think that they're the king. Okay, but in this particular case, you know, this money was paid to Adonijah Not Adonijah of Bimelech to kill the sons of Gideon. Okay. I mean talk about forgetting You know what Gideon has done for you? I mean these are basically men that will do what they're told for money. Okay, look at verse number five And he went on to his father's house at Ophrah and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbabel Being three score and ten persons upon one stone So they basically take these 70 men with this mercenary army and they kill them They execute them all in the same place not withstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbabel was left So they only killed 69 of them and one of them got away Okay, for he hid himself All right, and the men have set Shechem Shechem gathered together and all the house of Milo and went and went and made a Bimelech king by the plane of the pillar That was in Shechem so they make him king of this you know of of this town or of Shechem Right, so now I mean you can ask yourself. Is this the first king of Israel? I mean they made You know they made a Bimelech king here, but here's the thing So this is first of all this is the tribe of Manasseh, and it's a city inside Manasseh There's no indication that he was king over Israel at all and of course he was not chosen by God He just basically paid a bunch of people to kill some people and pretend that he's king Okay, so now he's not the first king of Israel But one thing that we can see so far is if you go back to judges chapter 8 and Look at verse number 22 You already see we already see in the book of judges just this innate desire of the people to have a king Okay, now that'll that that you know that's important as we move forward in the history of the Bible, but look at verse 22 of Chapter 8 judges chapter 8 the men of Israel said unto Gideon rule thou over us both thou and thy son and thy son son also For thou has delivered us from the hand of Midian so basically you have a situation where even when Gideon You know won the battle against the Midianites. They asked him to be king They're like hey rule over us and we know that they asked him to be king because they said hey rule over us and your son and his Son they're basically asking him and his family to be the dynasty to be that royalty that will rule over the nation of Israel but Gideon of course said no You know, but that just shows that there is just this innate desire that is that is coming out of the children of Israel for an earthly king, okay Gideon of course said no the Lord shall rule over you and that's why of course when they asked for an earthly king that God said You know, they didn't reject you Samuel, you know They rejected me because they rejected God's leadership to ask for an earthly king look at verse number seven of Judges chapter 9 Now this is Jotham and this is going to be the main focus of the sir the sermon this evening This is Jotham. He escapes. He's the son of Gideon and when they told it to Jotham He went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice and cried and said to them Harken unto me ye men of Sheikham that God may harken unto you these trees now He gives a parable he gives a parable that is really what we're going to call the curse of Jotham Okay so he is giving this parable that is really a curse upon Abimelech and it starts in verse number eight the Bible says the trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them And they said unto the olive tree reigned thou over us, but the olive tree said to them should I leave my fatness? Wherewith by me they honor God and man and go to be promoted over the trees and the trees said unto the fig tree So basically the olive tree said I don't want the job He said I don't want the job things are going good for me You know I don't want the job and the tree said so they go to the fig tree come thou and reign over us But the fig tree said unto them should I forsake my sweetness in my good fruit and go to be promoted over the trees So again the fig tree says a similar thing then said the trees under the vine Come thou and reign over us and the vine said unto them should I leave my vine which cheereth God and man to Go be promoted over the trees So you know the the olive tree the fig tree and the vine are like we're good You know things are pretty good for us You know we don't need to be in charge over the trees You know we got our grapes and you know our figs and you know the fatness of the olives is like we're good No, thanks, right and then said all the trees unto the bramble verse 14 Come thou reign over us and the bramble said unto the trees if in truth You 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 So of course you have a quite a contrast here in verse number 15 where you have the bramble was a bramble as a weed Bramble is a is a thorny bush. That's worth nothing. Okay. It's not it's not a great tree So you have this contrast in verse 15 of this bramble ruling over what I mean the cedars of Lebanon So the the trees that are asking to be ruled over are the cedars of Lebanon now Go look the cedars of Lebanon in the Bible and those are the the greatest trees They were sought after they were the trees that were used to buy hyrum to build the temple of Solomon. I mean They're they're up on the top of the food chain as far as trees go in the Bible look at verse 16 now therefore If you have done truly and sincerely in that you have made a bimalek king And if you have dealt well with Jerubo in his house and you have done unto him according to to the deserving of his hands in In verse 17 we have a you know parentheses here This says for my father fought for you and adventured his life far and delivered you out of the hand of Midian And you have risen up against my father's house this day and have slain his sons three score in ten persons upon one stone And have made a bimalek the son of his maidservant servant king over the men of Sheikah because he is your brother And if you have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubo in his house this day Then rejoice he in a bimalek and let him also rejoice in you So he said if you've done the right thing then enjoy your king and let him enjoy you and live in peace And he's saying this but look he knows that and they know that they haven't done the right thing and then in verse 20 he says but if not Let fire come out of a bimalek and devour the men of Sheikah and the house of Milo and let fire come out from the men of Sheikah And from the house of Milo and devour a bimalek. So Jotham Essentially Curses the men of Sheikah Against a bimalek and he curses a bimalek against the men of Sheikah Essentially saying to them you know what you deserve each other is What he's saying, okay? Now look at verse 21 That's as far as we're going to get on this evening and then I want to go back and I want to talk about the curse of Jotham look at verse 21 and Jotham ran away and fled it went to beer and dwelt there for fear of a bimalek his brother So look we're going to talk about you know What happens after the curse and how the curse comes true in the last half or the second half of this sermon But look the bottom line is I want to look at Jotham's curse this evening And I want to talk about how Jotham's curse can show us how we can recognize a good leader and a bad leader in our lives And what God and what God is telling us with Jotham's curse on the type of leaders that we should be Because everyone here in some way shape or form is or is going to be a leader in their life So look let's look back at Jotham's curse and kind of cut this thing up a little bit and see what he's actually Saying so look Jotham is talking about trees and he's talking about vines and he goes through Basically he goes through four different examples here. The first examples are good examples Okay, he asked the people first asked the olive tree to rule over them The olive answer is this says should I leave my fatness? Wherewith by they honor they honor God and man then he asks the fig tree He says, you know rule over us to the fig tree the trees ask the fig tree to rule over them And he says should I forsake my sweetness he says and then of course they asked the trees asked the vine And he says should I leave my wine with cheeryth God and man so look these are all good trees These are all trees that produce something good. That's the first thing now I could go into and I've heard a lot of sermons about you know Just comparing the different things about an olive tree symbolizes this and you know the vine symbolizes this and the fig You know tree symbolizes this and I'm not you know downplaying any of those But I don't want to miss basically the overall point of this curse or this parable this evening So what I want to talk to you about is basically what this parable is talking about is It's trying to get you to think and it's trying to get these people to think I mean really it's a curse But it should get us to think who we want leading us is what this curse this parable is talking about look This is who you want leading you is this olive tree and this fig tree and the vine That's the point of this parable, but most times as Jotham points out he will not want the job Is the interesting thing about it look the olive trees throughout history that have taken the job did not want it The good trees the good leaders they were put in roles They took those roles, but they didn't really want those roles. They did it out of sense of service Because you know they were already in a situation where things were good for them Why would they want to do that? Maybe they were already wealthy. Maybe it was something like that Maybe they had everything going for them Just like these three trees are saying is like look things are good for us. You know no thanks But look that is what made these trees good And that is an example of something that we can look for as far as a leader that is going to be a good Leader over us right look there's many examples of this in the Bible as well There's many examples of this of good men good men Good trees that didn't necessarily want the job Moses He's like I am not eloquent Moses said you know I can't even speak He's basically said to God God wants him to be a spokesperson and go free You know the the children of Israel from the Egyptians from Pharaoh. He's like I can't speak So he provides him Aaron but look he goes he goes out of service and out of you know reverence to God Jeremiah didn't want the job Jeremiah didn't want the job Jonah Jonah literally ran away Jonah tried to run away from God But then you look at what these and there's many more examples in the Bible But you look at what these men ended up doing they did great things out of service for the Lord There's many examples of this in early American history of You know olive trees, you know taking the job of leadership out of out of service, you know There's not that many today, you know, I can't give you that today everybody, you know Everybody wants the job today. So look look at go back to judges chapter 8 and verse number 22 Look here. Here's the thing Gideon was the olive tree Gideon was the olive tree here. Look at judges chapter 8 and verse number look at 20 verse 23 of judges 8 They asked him to be king. They said hey rule over us have your sons and your sons sons rule over us What does Gideon say he said to them? I will not rule over you neither show my son rule over you the Lord shall rule over you So Gideon basically just said you know God's gonna be you know Gideon didn't want the job And didn't say you know he didn't want the job because he you know he wanted to be wealthy But he just didn't want the job. It was God's job and he knew that Okay, so he didn't want the job, but then you go to judges chapter 9 and verse number 2 and look what you see You see in verse number 2 he says speak I pray you in the ears of all the men of Sheikham Whether it is better for you either that the sons of Jerubbabel which are three score and ten persons reign over you or that one reign Over you remember also that I am your bone and flesh. So here you have this guy It's kind of the opposite of the olive tree, which is a bimalek. He's out. He's out wanting the job He's out scheming to get the job to be king that Gideon didn't want that Gideon Refused because the Lord was in charge. So look the olive tree the fig tree the vine. They were good They were good trees. They produced good fruit. They didn't want the job. They're like, you know, why would we want that job? But then you have this other tree this other Plant if you want to call it the bramble and the bramble is the weed It's the thorny brush and it wants the job And it's out pining for the job. Now. Look, this is who you don't want in charge Is this guy? You don't want the bramble in charge. Look, this is the guy who wants the role It's a promotion for him I mean look, he's never really gotten anywhere. He's a weed He's never really gotten anywhere. He's never really done anything He's never really had anyone that wanted to follow him yet. He just wants the job so badly. He just can't wait to get it He's pining for the job. He wants to just rule over the cedars of Lebanon Oh, if I could only get that job to rule over those cedars of Lebanon. We're look Typically people would just cut him down as a nuisance People are probably been cutting him down his whole life as a nuisance, but he just wants to be in charge He just wants to be in charge of people. This is the guy that wants power for the sake of Being in power Why turn to mark chapter 9? Why why would someone want power for the sake of being in power? Look, this is the guy look everybody look everybody wants to be the boss, right? Everybody wants to be the boss. Why so they can have things their way Everybody wants to be the boss. So everyone is to do what I say That's the wrong kind of boss. I'm telling you right now and that's what this parable is teaching us Look at mark chapter 9 in verse number 35 Why why is that because if you want to be the boss just so you can be the boss just so you can get your way It doesn't work. Why because the Bible it's it's outside the model. It's not the model of leadership Look at mark 935 and he sat down and he called the 12 and say a thunder then if any man desired to be first The same shall be last of all and Servant of all so look that is the opposite of Bramble leadership philosophy right there Look at judges chapter 9 and verse 15 Look at judges chapter 9 and verse number 15. So this guy is this Bramble You know, he wants the job. He's pining for the job He wants to be in charge for the sake of being in charge to get his way to just you know Have you know the preeminence over people the look at judges 915 and the Bramble said under the trees This is the opposite of mark 935 and the Bramble said under the trees if in truth He annoyed 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 11. I know like this is very you better listen to this verse Because he's saying look if you want me in charge He's like, you know, he wants people in his shadow and he's gonna rule, you know with fire The Bible says it's not good This guy wants the job to have preeminence over people. It's not gonna work. It's outside the biblical model It's anti-bible in so many ways Look at turn to 3rd John chapter 1 3rd John verse number 9 3rd John verse number 9 The problem is is that the Bible teaches that leadership, you know If you want to be in charge for the sake of being in charge You probably shouldn't read much in the Bible about what it says about leadership because it says leadership is servitude It says leadership is you know putting others in front of yourself. It's not about the preeminence at all Is what the Bible says look at 3rd John verse number 9 I wrote under the church, but diatrophies who love to have the preeminence among them receive us not So look the preeminence. What does that mean? It means you have basically you have a superiority complex You think in your mind that I mean look this is a this is a bramble right here somebody that thinks in their mind That they're they're superior to everybody, but for some reason no one's ever put them in charge So they're always pining for that job to be in charge put me in charge I should be in charge. They're the ones trying to climb the ladder, you know at work They're just kicking people out of the way to try to get up that ladder no matter what Right, but look here's the thing. Let's do here's the thing this applies This applies to ordained leadership as well. You say are you talking about pastors? No, I'm talking about ordained leadership I'm talking about leadership that you know, you will find yourself in According to the Bible in your life. So let's do let's do a thought experiment What's a thought experiment a thought experiment is something that I can just give you a scenario and we could all think through This scenario together and what thought experience is the great thing about them You can do thought experience Experiments you don't have to build anything you don't have to do anything You can just think through something and see if it comes to a logically good conclusion or not and then decide if you Want to build something so first do a thought experiment. So let's do that Let's talk about you know parents. I mean, that's an ordained leadership role. Let's talk about husbands Fathers that's an ordained leadership role. You're like, I don't really want to be a leader I don't need to be a leader. Well, guess what you get married and have kids. You're a leader now You're a leader. You're a leader over your wife. You're leader over your children. That's an ordained leadership role So what kind of leader do you want to be? So let's talk about if you're the kind of person that that wants to lead like the bramble in your ordained Leadership role. You're like, yes, I'm a parent now. I mean these kids have to do what I say. I mean, that's true Okay, but look you want the power? Just just to get your way You know to put people in your shadow But look, this is the kind of person you are you want the power just for the sake of having the power You're now a parent. You're now a father. You're now a husband You want the power just to have the preeminence over people now you have a family you have the preeminence It's ordained to you. You now have that preeminence. You have that superiority You have that leadership role. Luckily, no one at work has ever put you in charge of anything Because they they've avoided this they're like this guy's a bramble They've avoided this in you and people in the world have recognized this and avoided your leadership But now you're in charge of a family and you have that ordained leadership role So you rule over people in the shadows you threaten with fire That's the bramble. It's and I'm taught look I'm talking about as your kids get older here folks A lot of young kids in in the church, but as your kids get older, you know, you're this bramble You're a my way or the highway type of leader, you know as your kids get older you think about this dad What type think about this as you rule as you rule people in the shadows and threaten them with fire Let me ask you what kind of people are you training your sons to be? What kind of people are you training your children to be are you training men that will cower in the shadows? That's what are you training a bunch of submissive beta males with no ability to lead anything Is that what you're training? I? Told I'm gonna I'm gonna out Garrett on something here. I asked his his permission to tell this story, but it's interesting at a story The other the other day like two days ago at the dinner table We were talking about something at the dinner table, and I can't remember it was like a political work type situation And he was telling me about this work situation, and it had some political people Ramifications to it, and we were kind of going back and forth on this issue, and he had a different opinion than I did and And I said and I just I said to him I said well, you know here's what I think and Just just think about that he's like yeah, but I think this and that you know I might do this and whatever but look when he when we got up from the table You know what I told him I said you know what I'm glad that you're thinking and having your own opinions on things But I'm not talking about Bible doctrine I'm not talking about major things, but like we didn't actually see eye-to-eye on this exact situation And he'll eventually realize that I was right, and I'm just kidding But but the point is it's nice to see that he's got a couple different thoughts on things that I might have a chance of raising an independent man a Chance it shows that you could be raising an independent person Because guess what? He's gonna need to be and your kids are gonna need to be prepared for leadership one day They're gonna need that I mean Won't your children have to lead do you ever want grandkids? We're in the thought experiment now think about it. You ever want grandkids Your sons will lead families Your daughters will lead children and Your children will need to step out of the shadows at some point That I mean think about it. I mean think about Look, it's not about crushing people into the shadows and threatening with fire If you lead as a book if you turn to Ephesians chapter 6 if you lead We're still in the thought experiment here if you lead as a bramble One of two things will happen Guaranteed if you lead your family if you're in an ordained leadership role Ladies listen up to if you lead as a bramble one of two things will happen Ephesians chapter 6 look at verse number 4 The first thing is this here's the first thing that could happen. There's only there's only two things that will happen here It's one of two things the first one is this the first option is that you will provoke your children to wrath The Bible says in Ephesians 6 4 and ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but look at this But this is the opposite of the bramble here I mean you think it's a coincidence that this stuff just kind of fits together perfectly throughout the entire Bible Look what it says it says provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Look now here's the thing you could provoke your children to wrath if you lead like the bramble But I think I think that that's probably the best option that could happen When you think about these two options that could possibly happen if you lead you by shoving people into the shadows and threatening with fire I Think the best thing that could happen is that you know you provoke them to wrath because the other choice is this You will raise a submissive child that is only comfortable in the shadows Who that's serious? You ever met one of these people? I meet these people all the time I mean you ever heard of the kid that will never leave home You ever heard of the kid that can never handle anything you ever heard of the kid who who can't hold the job You ever heard of the kid look look folks. You have to get this right with your kids You have to get this right with your kids because once they're adults. It's very hard to fix You have to get this right You can't lead like a bramble and end up with children that can't handle anything. I mean that You'll end it. You'll end up you'll end up with these children that are these submissive shadow dwellers that are just getting burned by Brambles their entire life if you raise your children and lead like the bramble It's it's ugly and I don't know. I don't know if there's I Mean with God anything's possible, but it's it's a hard thing to fix So look Just in conclusion. Let me tell you something about the world. Okay, the world is full of brambles That's the problem That's the problem if you raise a child with no strength that you've crushed into the shadows and Threatened with fire the world's full of brambles and the world is just gonna is just gonna burn them to their knees Again and again and again. Look. I mean this world is a tough place. I Mean it's it's it's not easy out there It will beat you down And and as you raise these kids in your shadows threatening them with fire Here's what you will do. You will destroy your legacy You'll destroy your legacy. You know that that proper secession That proper secession that we talk about so much, you know that that that adherence to God's word from generation to generation What are we talking about in judges? Are you getting sick of of in judges chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 children of Israel again Did evil in the side of the work the children of Israel again? again again Again Gideon What me by all intents and purposes one of the best judges? One of the greatest judges are three whole chapters in the Bible about him He destroys this huge army God takes him and just wins this huge victory for you know through Gideon I mean they wanted him to be king. I mean they're just like rule over us and His kids Couldn't even he had that they couldn't even have that secession go from even Gideon to the next generation You think you've got this thing figured out You think this is easy Look at Joffam's curse if you lead like the Bramble You will you will produce you will destroy that secession. It's only it's one way to do it There's lots of ways how to do it, but this is one way look this is It's it's something like this this proper secession How do I how do I live my life as a Bible-believing Christian and serve the Lord in my life? Look, it's hard enough, right? How many people are in here? There are a thousand people in here How do I live my life as a Christian and live my life according to how God wants me to live my life? and and go soul-winning and serve the Lord and do what I'm supposed to do and come to church and Just serve and in all the ways and just just have a pleasing life towards the Lord. How do I do that? That's tough, but hey, oh I figured it out now. How do I pass that on to my kids? Everybody fails at that Why? Because it's hard Because it's a rough world and it's full of brambles out there I mean the the majority of the problem is the world is The world coming after what you're trying to do is the world You know with the false gods and the false everything and the wickedness that's out there just coming after you trying to pull I mean look you got to raise strong kids You got to raise strong kids you can't have these kids are just like this all the time you could create that By being that person by being that bramble you could literally create kids that are destroyed by the same type of Person that you are Christian Possible That I mean that's the lesson of this curse Look this this question on how to pass this down on how to take hey, I figured out Look I'm not perfect, but you know you guys all think hey, we're good. We're in church on Wednesday night We're serving the Lord. We're doing the right things and and I think I can sustain this through my life Look, that's great if you figure that out. That's great But everybody fails at passing it to the next generation not everybody, but kings failed Nations failed That's why the children of Israel soon as he was dead just like that false gods Just forgot everything killed his own children the man. They wanted to be king the children. They wanted to be king they killed him Because they couldn't figure out this secession. It's a it's look. It's the problem in the Bible and The Old Testament it's the problem. I mean I mean all the guys Moses and and Joshua Don't forget. Don't forget. Don't forget. Don't forget That's all they said was don't forget the word of the Lord again and again and again and again and immediately one generation later They forgot So don't ever stop taking this seriously You have to lead like an olive tree. You have to follow the leadership example of the Bible You have to be a servant leader in the Bible. You can't be a bramble. You can't raise weaklings because it takes strength and I bet you I well I guarantee you if you Men and women adults in this room if you are the type of people who are gonna be in this Christian life ten years from now You're a strong person There's people in this room that won't be in the Christian life in ten years But the ones that are our strong people They're they're olive trees and their vines and their fig trees They're not and and they're their servants and I guarantee look I Hope that that you're all here But we can't raise weaklings and We can't and look you can't you will raise weaklings by being the bramble leader That that is just my way or the highway you say how much that makes me a tough leader and I'm just You know and this is how The Bible is telling you right here what you'll raise if you rule people in the shadows and threaten with fire and We'll see We'll see how this curse comes literally true in the in the last half of Judges chapter 9, but there is great leadership lessons for us and and everybody's the leader here Like I'm not a leader. Yeah, you're a leader Even the teenagers in this room. You are a leader To the younger kids to the next generation of children coming up parents wives dads your leaders and How you lead matters and if you say I want to be in charge because I want to have the preeminence You better just you better fix that Because you're gonna you're gonna ruin people's lives That is Jotham's curse let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer