JUN 30 2019 | Shame of Thrones: The Story of David & Bathsheba S1E3 | All The King’s Horses

Sea Change Church · Shame of Thrones: The Story of David & Bathsheba · "All The King's Horses" Pastor Adam Stadtmiller · June 30, 2019
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Good morning. My name is Kimberly Davis and I oversee the women's ministry. I'm also a Bible teacher for the women and we'd love for you to this summer. We're doing the Wednesday discussing the notes, but we'll start again in the fall and we hope that many more of you will come and have fellowship and dig into the word of God with us. This morning, the scripture is from 2 Samuel 11, 1 through 5. He saw a woman bathing.

The woman was very beautiful and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, she is Bathsheba, the daughter of Iliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her. Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness. Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David saying, I am pregnant. The word of the Lord. We are talking about David now.

We're looking at this act that put his entire kingdom at jeopardy. Last weekend we talked about Bathsheba and literally it was one of the most talked about messages that I think we've ever had at the church here. I'm very positive. So many people contacting me, emailing me, talking to me on Tuesday. Great feedback from the small groups. If you haven't heard it, go check it out. But today we're looking at David and this message really is about the first corner.

It's about the corner of your heart and how do we have dominion over the kingdom which God has given you. And how do we not secede our dominion because of our choices. Each one of you has a kingship. Revelations 1.6. We'll look at that in a moment. So God has made you kings, queens. Has made you royalty, royal priesthood. And each of you have a dominion. He has given you a dominion. It might just be your cubicle at work.

It might just be your little 350 square foot studio apartment where you live with your cat. But whatever it is, it is a dominion that God has given you. And God wants to take and give you dominion so that he might expand it into other places. David has been given dominion. He has not only been given dominion. He has been given the blessing of rest on all sides. And freedom from attack from his enemies. You see that David has gone from being the one on the run to doing the attacking.

At least he should have been the one doing the attacking. But it says that David what? Sent someone to do his business. And this is one of the things we're going to look at today. Is not sending someone else to do your business. And living in season. There are four principles that we want to extract from this passage. This passage has some amazing principles. And that we can live by. And what we want to do is have practical principles.

That if you put these into your life. Every week if you come. And you're part of community. I love seeing the different posses that people come to church with in community. We have Eden and her whole family and friend group over there. We have Deb and Garrett over here with her whole marriage crew. We have the Wind and Sea crew. Find a posse at church. And come sit with your people. And be a part. You will find that if you walk in community.

And even come to service in community. And the more often you come to that community. The stronger you will live. And as we'll see is one of the things that we're extracting today. That personal victory is often won in community. It's really important. That's a second corner initiative. Where we talk about us being in community here at the church. But here's the four things for avoiding collapse. And not seceding the dominion within your own house.

Many people have seceded the dominion of their home to entertainment. To the internet. To different things that come into their home. To different attitudes. To the words. To words that are disrespectful to one another. Or perhaps sarcastic. You have seceded dominion. And given the enemy a place within the four walls. How do we not do that? Well here's the first thing. We see with David. Because David seceded his authority.

Now God gave it back to him. But he had to pay the price. One is to live in season. If you want to know what it means. And what it looks like to live in season. Be comfortable with the season you're in. Not always striving for the next season. Or regretting the one that is past. But embracing the blessing of a season. If you want to know what that looks like. Go to Psalm 1. And here's some prescription homework for the week.

Psalm 1. And read about a tree. Planted by water. That yields its fruit in season. And every season has a blessing. One of the curses I see of our culture. Is people continually living out of season. Young people that are growing up too quickly. Living out of season by what they see. We have put a crackdown on electronic entertainment in our home. And there has been wailing and gnashing of teeth. If you've seen Lord of the Rings.

And the ring wraiths screaming out. That's what it was like this week. As I added our pact. Parents. O-U-R-P-A-C-T. Get it. It's $6 a month. You have complete control over your children's electronics life. We did that. And it was crazy. And we're still. YouTube is full of influencers. And I don't want them influencing my daughter. So we can talk about how to do that. But we have kids living out of season. We have. You know.

I believe we have a culture of adolescence. Where many people in midlife like myself. Are trying to continue. Whether it just be two days a week. Or three days a week. On the weekends. To retain their adolescence. And we have an immature adolescent culture. Just walk around the beach. And look at all the people. 50 years old. I'm 50 this year. 50 years old. Acting like 14 year olds. There's an adolescent culture. And it's time to grow up.

And take personal responsibility. Amen. Okay. There you go. Wasn't a dominant. I wasn't sure there. You know. And then we have people. That are moving on in years. That don't want to embrace the blessings. That comes with that season. The wisdom. And their ability to. Bless other people. And to be. Wise in the culture. We're living out of season. It is like. Wearing shorts in a blizzard. I got out of the. Went to Paris.

And they lost our luggage. They gave us $800 credit. If we would change our flight. Which we did. I'll never do it again. Because they sent. My luggage. To Botswana. In December. And. I ended up. And I usually just wear something. Light for the plane. And I got out of the. To the. That might have been the hottest. Week ever. I guess in Paris. This week. It was the coldest day ever. The day I arrived. And I can't. I remember.

I turned the corner. To come out of the subway. The wind blew. And I got a chill. And I don't know. If you've ever had a chill. Where your body starts. Uncontrollably shaking. But I still had about a mile. To walk to the hotel. To where we were going. I was completely. Not dressed for the occasion. When we live out of season. It's like walking in a blizzard. With shorts on. And are you embracing the season. And are you aware.

That the season. That God has you in. And can you embrace it. David was living out of season. Be the king. Is the second one. Every one of us has a dominion. Don't succeed the throne of your life. Succeed. Three. Stay stuck in community. Personal victory. Is one. In. Community. Keep people on your flank. Keep the Lord before you. And behind you. Have a posse. Have a group of people. That you can trust. That's what we do here.

You come here. So you can be in. Community with people. And the best thing about the church. Is the people. And the most difficult thing. About the church. Is the. People. People are difficult. They are. They're messy. But. It is through conflict. And overcoming those. And through joys. And fun trips. And different things that we do. And adventure. Which is one of our values here. That you. Have a community. That you can go to.

And continue to move on. One of the reasons. AA works. Is because. You don't have a meeting. By yourself. You go to a meeting. In community. These groups work. Because of community. Then if you want to get better. Stay stuck. Number four. Have a plan. This is so good. This is. This is like the point of the day for me. Have a plan for the moment of temptation. Ninety percent of victory over temptation. Happens before it arrives.

The moment. To start fighting temptation. Is not when it arrives. You've usually lost. At that point. Jesus. We'll see in a moment. Talks about this. So the first thing we want to do. Is look at this idea. Of living in season. And whether it is a newly married season. Or you have small kids. I know a lot of parents. Disdain. A lot of the things. That come with. Living in. Having small children. And I get it. If you're.

Having to. The thing I. I would rather change a hundred diapers. For every time I had to put the kid. In the buckle seat. Because the buckle seat. Was like a Rubik's cube. But with a torture chamber. That if you pinch their little leg. In there. Oh. You know. It was just horrible. And. There's a season. In. When you. When you're in that season. To begin to disdain. Parts of the season. As opposed to embrace them. Many parents come to me.

And they say. I can never do a quiet time anymore. I have to go to the toilet. To do a quiet time. And hide in the bathroom. There's little fingers. Coming underneath the door. And. My kids. Knew not to do that. Can I step up. No. I wouldn't do that. Do that to me again. No. It's not true. But one of the things. I encourage parents to do. Is give up. Your amazing. Ultimate. Quiet time. That you still need to get away.

If you can. And when you can. But. Give it up. To have a community time. With your kids. Let your kids sit on your lap. Take them in. And it's just a short season. If they interrupt your quiet time. It isn't. I gotta give up now. No. Bring them in. Read the Bible with them. It's a see. Embrace the season. One of the things. David's not doing here. As we look at the scriptures. Embracing the season. He's living completely out of season.

Look in verse one. It says. In the spring. So there's a season. In spring. Things come to life in spring. At the time. When kings go off to war. One. It identifies him as a king. You are a king. God says in the scripture. And he is going off to claim victory. He is in a season now. Where he is no longer running. But he is taking ground. That is like what Pastor Harry spoke about. Moving from surviving. To thriving. When was the last time you took ground?

That you took ground in your financial life. That you took ground in your emotional life. That you took ground in your marriage. In your single life. In your family life. Where you're taking ground. David had done all the right things. Through 30 years. And he had been building a house. And when he finally got to a place. Where he had peace. He almost gave it all away. Because of this decision. And he was living out of season.

David. God had given David rest. But I want to say. That rest is something. That we need to be very strategic about. Rest is not laziness. And when we say. That one of our core values. As a church. Is rest. It means that you were strategically. Thinking about rest. Not just blowing everything off. David had taken a season of rest. And turned it into a season. Of shirking his responsibilities. God had him. As a season of king.

Where he was still leading. Men into battle. And now he was sending other people. To do his work. Not only his work. But he was seceding his calling. So easy. When God. When you start to see blessing. In your life. And you want to move. To a place of blessing. You want to move. To a place. Where you don't have. Enemies attacking you. All the time. Where there is rest. In your home. Rest in your work. Constantly working.

To get to those places. Obviously. We have things happen. Like health. And different things happen. In our lives. That we cannot. We can't. We don't have anything to do with those. They just come. But how do we have a season. Of peace. And then live in that season. The question. That I have for you. Is what season are you in. And are you able to embrace it. And to see the blessing of it. Ecclesiastes 3. 1. I love the book of Ecclesiastes.

I read it every day. Almost every day. I read Proverbs. And Ecclesiastes. Every day. As part of my quiet time. And then I'll read a New Testament. As well. A passage. And then sometimes the Old Testament. To everything. There is a season. A time for every purpose. Under heaven. I ought to say that. If there's one thing. That Christians are getting wrong. On a regular basis. It is embracing the season. That God has you in.

So you can get to the next season. That is supposedly. The purpose. That you're supposed to be in. The. The Christian. Message. That I hear regularly. Is do not embrace where you are. Try to embrace where you're not. Which is an impossibility. God is very clear. That if you do what you're supposed to. In the moment. That it is impossible. To miss where you're supposed to go. God will get you to that place. Many people are not happy.

With where God has them. I meet very few people. That are happy. There's a scripture I love. One of the corpus scriptures of my life. That says. Do everything within your power. To live a quiet and peaceful life. I'm trying to do that. I have done everything I can. You know. Even making the decision. To move from La Jolla Shores. To here. So I don't have to drive. You know you can commute. 45 minutes to an hour a day.

Living in La Jolla. I literally. I literally. You guys know it. You. You know. Belize is over there. I was having to drive my daughter. To school and back. With this. I don't know who figured out the traffic thing. If you're one of the traffic engineers. I apologize. But for 45 years. We've had the same. No. And so I'm driving. One day. I drove back and forth. Three times to work. It was an hour and a half. In my car.

In La Jolla. I never left La Jolla. I'm not even talking. I went to Torrey Pines. Like I was up where I was. One of the things I've tried to do. Is shrink my life down. To have a smaller platform. To be closer. Or we walk to work now. That is a nice thing. I've never walked to work before. It's a nice thing. But just to shrink. And to live in that season. And not be thinking about that next season. This is what I see with believers all the time.

They're being told that the next season. Is the one God wants you in. David was living out a season. And he had. And because of it. Paid the price. There's a blessing in every season. And so I have a question there for you. This is just a basic idea. Where am I out of season? Read Psalm 1. Write down Psalm 1. There is fruit. In the season. There's even plants. That grow in winter. If you are. If you do a. Urban garden.

Like I. We have a little urban garden. Every so often. And you can find. That you can get some amazing plants. In winter. You can feed yourself. During the dead of winter. God has even. Provided that. At least in our. In our climate. Where are you out of season? Where are you. Discontent. Where are you. Unhappy. And do you find yourself. Completely discontent. All the time. Unable to live in season. David. In the spring.

At the time. When king should be doing this. David wasn't doing. What he was supposed to do. He was doing something. Other than he was supposed to do. Say. You know team. One of the. One of the blessings. Of following God. Is knowledge. Understanding. And wisdom. I'm regularly praying. James 1. 6. God give me wisdom. But one of the blessings. Of following God. Is knowing what you're supposed to do. In the moment. Knowing what you're supposed to do.

And on the simplest things. Spending time with God every day. Staying in community. These type of things. Where are you out of season? Where can you draw back. And solidify. The dominion of the kingdom. God has given you. By living in season. Let's go to number two. Number two says. Be the king. This is a question of definition. Right. And I talked last week. About a definition. That you have for yourself. Every one of you.

Has a definition. Some of it is subliminal. You don't even know it. It's a tape. That just works behind your head. That oftentimes. Comes. From either. A fertile heart. Of God's love. Or one that is fallow. With rejection. And so the question is. Is understanding your heart. And knowing the definition. For yourself. Once you have. God's definition of you. I have to say. The entire. Path. That you walk upon. The entire trajectory.

Of your life. Will change. And people say. Well isn't that prideful. To think I'm so awesome. I don't think it's prideful. To think how awesome. God says you are. And to. Accept someone else's praise. The word of God. Says. In Proverbs. Let another person's mouth. Praise you. Do not praise yourself. That mouth. Happens to be God's mouth. And to come in alignment. And say. I believe. What God says about me. Is different than walking around pridefully.

Problem is. We've been sold this lie. Especially by the enemy. That wants us to believe. That any positive thinking. About our own character. About our own self. Is some prideful thing. We need to caution ourselves against. I would say. Incorrect. I would say. The more you know. What God says about you. The more you know. That you are his beloved. The more you steep yourself. Into that. You find verses. That you read.

My wife has a packet of verses. In a folder now. That whenever. When she's down. Or things happen. She will go pull it out. And begin to read. Through the promises of God. The word of God. Is there for a reason. It's not prideful. To know what God says about you. And in Revelations 1.6. God says this. And half. This is continuing on. It's 1.6b. God has made for us. Made us kings and priests. Unto who? Unto the father.

Unto God and his. Unto God and his father. To him be the glory and dominion. Forever and ever. The word of God has called you kings. Do you see yourself as a king? I'm not saying you rule other people. A king of the dominion that God has given you. And God has given you each a dominion. And I believe that God wants to expand your dominion. That God wants to give you more influence in people's lives. He wants to exponentially bless you.

To use the word of God as you speak it. That people will sense when you are comfortable in your own soul. And say are you comfortable in your own soul? Because this is a mental, emotional, and soul understanding of who God says you are. And I can almost, as you get comfortable in your own soul. And comfortable in your own skin. You don't have to prove who you are anymore. You don't have to try to jump over some bar anymore to make yourself feel good.

You feel confident wherever you are. As you become that person. You are going to, when you meet another person that has that in them. And is no longer striving to impress the world. You will see and you will recognize that in people as you have it yourself. That you can walk into a room and there's no more measuring anymore. I gotta tell you, this is a phenomenal place to be. And the more you accept who God says you are.

Understand that you're a king. Understand your dominion. You will no longer be chasing a purpose. You will no longer be chasing a definition that isn't in alignment with God's word. And no longer have to find some bar that you have to jump over. We see that David had stopped being a king. David had lived a life beyond his enemy's assessment. Now that is true. He lived a life beyond the assessment of his enemies. But now it accepted a life beneath his calling.

That's powerful. God had lived a life. Many people have given you a definition. Maybe it was your parents and there was words that were used with you. I know one woman and her dad, she wore makeup for the first time. She was a 12-year-old, 13-year-old. And came out and he says, do you want to look like a prostitute? I don't think you say that to a young girl who's experimenting with makeup. I think you're an idiot if you say things like that.

And you wound somebody. And this person now in their 40s never forgot it. So now they have a definition and they're very shy about how they present themselves because of a father wound statement that was made. Now God has the power to break the curse of that statement because God has words that are life. But will you accept that definition and step into it? David had been given definitions that he lived beyond over and over again.

And Goliath had a definition for him. His family had a definition for him. The kings of the Philistines had a definition for him. And he lived beyond it over and over again. But now he was in the calling and no one was saying anything to him until he runs from Absalom. Then they start talking again. They call him a dog and they throw rocks at him. But when he was in his kingship, everyone shut up. Because when you have that much victory in your life, no one wants to come against the victory.

So they had stopped talking. And now he had to live according to the king that he was. But he gave it away. And he couldn't do it. Be the king that you are. Know who you are. Once again, another question. What needs to change for you to accept God's definition for yourself? What needs to change? What do you need to look at that needs to change in your life? Number three. This one is a second corner initiative. I'm going to continue to use that language over and over again until we all memorize it.

It's going to be up on the wall. We have to make this known to our community. And when someone asks you what's our church about, we're about four corners. Super simple. It's your elevator pitch. Three. Stay stuck in community. Few things determine personal success or failure more than your community. That's true. And I say, when I was in high school and directly out of high school, my community was a great representation of who I was.

Now, I was fooling myself and telling myself that I wasn't a member of that community. I knew that God had a calling on my life and that, you know, I would do drugs with people. And as I was doing drugs, I would tell them, you know, I'm going to get sober one day. I'm not going to be doing this forever. Jesus died on the cross. Like, I would preach to people, you know, like it says in, it wasn't Joshua, maybe Deuteronomy.

I was a shepherd in the wilderness. The children, it says your children will be shepherds in the wilderness. And there's a lot of prodigals that are out there that are shepherds. They're living part of their calling, but they're shepherds in the wilderness. And that's what I was. And I was out there, but I was not living according to my calling. And I wasn't in the right community. When I got sober, and I've told this story many times, I remember getting on a pay phone.

Now, anybody under 20, there was these phones. And you'd put money. I'm just kidding. So I called my buddies, and I said, I'm not going to Mex this week. And my friend said, I'll see you on Friday. See you on Friday. I didn't show up on Friday. And I also said, we can't hang out. I had to break community. Well, isn't that ungodly? Isn't that unloving? Absolutely not, if you're trying to survive. No, because I ended up doing both of their weddings.

We're still friends now. They ended up getting married, called me, and asked me to do the weddings later on. God redeemed those relationships. Who are you stuck to? Do you have a community? And are there people you need to set some boundaries with? And say, look, it's just this community is not working. Might even be family for a while. I'm not saying detach with a hatchet. That's a 12-step term. We don't detach with a hatchet.

Some people don't know how to break off with somebody unless they detach with a hatchet. All of a sudden, they're gone. They don't need to know how pliable. Now, if something's unsafe, then sometimes that needs to happen. I went to a family member, extended family member, about 15 years ago after I'd gotten married. I've been married 23 now, something like 24 this year. And I said to them, you're not coming to Thanksgiving.

And they said, what? I said, yeah, you're not coming to Thanksgiving. This is my home. We're having it here. And what happened with my kids last time? I don't need my kids crying when you show up. And so Thanksgiving's off the table for you. We can hang out. Well, you know, and then it was interesting. Two weeks later, they called me before Thanksgiving and said, hey, look, I want to ask forgiveness. I want to apologize.

It won't happen again. May I come? And I said, absolutely. And that relationship has been completely restored. But at some point, sometimes, in wisdom, you need to be the king of your family. You need to be the queen of your family and say to your kids, this relationship is not going to happen anymore. That that person, that you have dominion over your children's life until they move out. And sometimes, with wisdom, with love, you need to step in.

Are you being the king of your family? Are you allowing relationships into your family? Is there a work relationship that is a little too close where you now have a work wife or a work husband? And the definition of that I read this week is somebody that you share everything with except a physical relationship. You share the same thing with them that you would your partner or your partner at home. Does that relationship need to end?

And have you done things to protect yourself and stay stuck in the right community? Personal victory, as it says in your notes, is often found behind the defenses of corporate triumph. Let's read out of Hebrews 10, 24, and 25. Now, back to the scripture, though. David had, remember, had extricated himself from the community. You see that at church. I mean, you guys have been in church long enough where people, you just lose them for one reason or another.

They miss a few Sundays, and then if they don't have a group that they're connected with, they get lost. And then they come back, and you hear oftentimes what happened. David had removed himself intentionally from the community. In Hebrews, it says, And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good needs. That's amazing. That you will have more love in your life and more good deeds if you're being spurred on by those.

Not giving up what? Meeting together. As some are in the habit of doing. But encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching. Where can I add righteous community in my life? You can add to the note there. And then the final thing, which I think is probably one of the most important of these four of this scripture. Is few victories are won without preparation. Verse 2 says, Interesting. Just that whole sentence just reeks of complacency.

The whole sentence. You can just feel the angst in his life. He had everything at this point. And what do you give the person that has everything? A lot of times the thing we want is the thing that we can't have. And so what are the things that we do to prepare for moments of temptation? All of us have moments of temptation. To be dishonest. To cheat. Whatever these things are. I'm going to say that David had been inadvertently preparing for temptation in the wrong way.

He had been preparing by removing himself from community. By believing the songs that people had sung about him. He had lost his edge. And by no longer going into battle. I want to say that rest is strategic. But battle is called upon. God calls us into battle regularly that we might take ground. Battle is part of the Christian life. I am not preaching a doctrine of just put your feet up and we should live in complete rest all the time.

There needs to be seasons of battle. Carrie and I, we go regularly to Corrine, one of our counselors here at the church. Because even when things are going well, we want to take ground. It is a season of battle. We almost took the financial peace class again this year. But we're doing this other one. Because we just want to stay in tune with the lessons that we got from it. We got out of debt. We had a little bit of debt.

We had allowed ourselves to get comfortable with debt. And we said no more debt. And so that helped us get out of debt. But it's strategic. And so even sitting with your partner or by yourself if you're a single person or with a friend. And say where am I going to take ground this year. And not constantly living in a defensive posture. Or only going to counseling. Or only going to a small group class. Or only reaching out when you get a bad report.

So many people never exercise until they are told that they're close to having a heart attack. And then all of a sudden they prepare. So often, by the time the moment of temptation comes, it's too late to prepare. Now maybe you're at the fair this week. They have a thing that if you hang on a bar for two minutes, you get $100. Did you guys see that? It seems pretty easy, right? But I didn't want to embarrass myself. So I went and tried it.

I got 22 seconds at the gym before I couldn't do it anymore. I'm like, thank God I didn't do that. And I thought next year I'm going to start hanging on a bar. Because next year I am going to prepare myself to hang on that bar for two minutes. I'm going to take one arm, a leg off. I'm going to look, you know, the whole deal. My daughter can do a minute like 30 or 40 or something like that. I know, she does gymnastics though.

So the whole point is, what makes you think that you can do things without preparation? I was at the gym yesterday. I've been going now, gee, for about two months now. But I couldn't have walked straight in there, loaded the thing up, and started working out and just hammering the bench. Why? Because I'm going to rip my shoulder off. I'm 50 years old. It doesn't work like that anymore. There's no more juice in there.

I've got to like warm it up to get it going. You know what I'm saying? Man, the same thing's true with temptation. What makes you think that if you were not preparing in advance to overcome, let's say you're a liar. Just come to grips with it. I'm a liar. I lie. Don't lie to yourself at least. And say, I need to fix that. How do you change that the next time there's an opportunity where you're going to be dishonest that you're no longer dishonest?

How do you prepare? Scripture tells us here a couple ways. The first, it says in Matthew 26, 41. This is so interesting. It says, watch and pray so that you will what? Not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. This is saying that temptation is one before the moment of temptation. Watch and pray that you will not. The scripture about not being led into temptation is actually, I believe, an incorrect statement.

But God keep us from temptation, I think, is how that prayer should be. And that's why the Pope is trying to actually remove that sentence to get it more in line because the Bible says that God cannot tempt us. And so we know that. But this idea of being prepared before temptation comes. How are you preparing yourself for temptation? What are your triggers? What are the things you go to? And do you have a plan? Or is it just we'll figure it out when we get there?

I got to tell you, figuring it out when we get there, I usually am the one getting figured, you know, when it comes to that. How do we do that? Do we have a friend? Do we have scripture? Praying in advance that God can protect you. What are the things that you do? Just having simple things. I keep a picture of my wife on my desk in my office for a reason. That she is front and center. And when you walk into my office, whoever you are, you are going to see who is numero uno.

I mean, we have the cross up there as well. But in regard to human relationship, numero uno. And there will be nobody in place of that. And that started when I was at work one day, not here, 20 years ago. I was married and a woman came up and closed the door in my office. And I was working on a computer and she came and started rubbing my shoulders. I turned around. I'm like, whoa, you need to get out of my office. And she's all what?

And I said, yeah, I don't need a back rub. And I went to HR and immediately reported it to HR and had it written down. From that point on, I thought, I got to let people know who's boss. Carrie's boss. I'm just telling you. She wears the pants. I wear the kilt. She wears the pants. I don't take my wedding ring off when I go on vacation. There's a reason I wear this. I was, we got a, we went, we stayed the other night at a hotel just to get a little staycation, Carrie and I.

And I went down to use a jacuzzi at 10 o'clock late. One woman in a jacuzzi. Adam didn't go in a jacuzzi that night. Okay. I took my little dry towel with my sore legs from working out and walked back to my room and didn't go in a jacuzzi. So I don't need to be in a jacuzzi with some chick at 10 o'clock at night that I don't know. FYI. What are these? These are things I don't write in a, have I ever ridden in a car with you alone?

Ever? Is there a woman here that I've ever ridden in a car with alone? Raise your hand. Exactly. Kimberly and I, we had a dinner and the guy who was with us bailed out and we were really looking forward to going to dinner. Said, I can't go to dinner with you. Love you. You're amazing. I love your husband too much. I don't go out to women alone with dinner. FYI. So anybody on the line, you want to tag me up that I went out with you?

No, it didn't happen. So the whole point is what are you doing to protect yourself? But if you're a single person, you can have the same rules. What are you doing to protect yourself? We have to be adamant that we will not fall into temptation and that we pray in advance. This is the kind of man that, you know, and woman and character that we want to develop at a church. And that you can trust us as individuals and you can trust yourself.

So there's four things and we want to see you do them in your life. So we come in for a landing. We're closing. First, how's your seasons? Psalm 1. Read it this week. Be a person that can produce fruit in season. No one to rest. It's strategic. Be a king. Change your definition. Three, stay stuck in community. Get stuck here. Stuck. Go to Tuesday night. Go to things you don't even want to go to. Go to stuff that's boring.

Stay in community. We try not to have it be boring. Get stuck. Find people. And four, have a plan for temptation. 90% of victory over temptation happens before the moment arrives. Let's stand if you would. And I'm just going to bless you because we went a little bit long today. If you need prayer, you can come forward after the service. And we want to bless you. We want to send you out. Today is Donut Sunday. And I heard Donut Sunday is Donut Fun Day is what somebody told me.

So go next door, get a donut, hang out. The coffee's dark. Chris will be playing some music after us. If you extend your hands, I want to bless you. Jesus. God, we thank you, Jesus, for this message. We want to have a dominion, Lord. And if you want a dominion and you know it's been taken, you seceded it for one reason or another, just say to God, I want dominion. I want kingdom. I want more influence, God. I want to have a legacy.

I don't want to have a David on the roof moment. I want to prepare myself. God, I bless you, Lord Jesus. And I bless these people as we unite, we lock our shields together as a church to make a difference for you. And I send them out, God, onto the corners of their lives to make a huge difference, God, that they would live in season and be blessed. May you be blessed as you go today. Pray for our country. We thank you for this 4th of July.

And keep us safe in you. In Jesus' name, amen.