Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Unity, and I sure love your pastor. and so love this church.
We had a wonderful tent meeting and all down through the years with Brother Myers and being around even when I was just about 18 or so, I reckon. And I've known of this church. And Brother Ralph and tents back in the day and then getting to be here for the tent meeting on the anniversary, what a joy and a privilege. All of those days wasn't an honor to be here today. And I'm glad the Lord worked all of this out.
And we're certainly praying with you for the upcoming revival, Brother Pauly, God's Man, and then all that will be going on in those days. And how many of you know we really need God in this hour? We've already found out that no matter how good or bad it goes in Washington, it is not the answer. Uh Our country's in such a mess that they'll mess it up even when it seems like we might be getting some victory. And so here we are, and I won't go too deep down that hole.
You and me will both be depressed today. But I'm glad that there's a God that's still on the throne. And the answer is sitting in this building. The answer is what you've been doing: preaching and praying and praising and believing God. That's always worked and it still will.
And so I appreciate the burden that this church is carrying. And how you're believing God and wanting to see the Lord do something in these days. And I believe certainly that He will.
Well, grab your Bibles this morning. And I've been really praying. I was on a prayer trip this week. We were taking some men, me and Brother Daniel Buchanan. Many of you met him during the meeting.
And we had really a large group this time. Praise God for it. A lot of men, senior pastors, and God really helped and moved. And so I've been praying all week and been between different things because you don't just need a message. You need what God.
Has for our hearts. And really, what the theme, I guess you would say, that's just been churning in my heart for today in both of these services is truly about. Just loving Jesus. That may sound very simple, but Vance Habner. The great revivalist of yesteryear that's buried over here in Greensboro, he's from our area, he said it this way: church.
He said, Revival, simply put, is really just falling in love with Jesus all over again. Love is really what it's all about because if you love right, everything's right. It truly is. And so you hang with me this morning. Tonight will certainly seem like a message on loving Jesus.
This morning, you might be a little taken back by the title or confused, but hang with me. It does have to do with loving the Lord. This morning in your Bible, 2 Samuel chapter number 15. 2 Samuel chapter number 15 and verse number 12. Just one verse this morning, but there's a lot more than maybe what we realize on the surface.
Boy, I trust that the Word of God will be a help to you this morning. You stand if you don't mind. When you found your place, I sure appreciate all the singing. What a blessing it's been to our heart. It's wonderful to see how beautiful the building looks, all the hard work.
And, you know, it's a good problem to have. to not be able to fit up in the other building. I preach a lot of places. Where it seems as though They're just one generation away from death. A handful of precious old people that thank God for them.
But you look around and you say, boy, if God don't do something, What will be, but thank God for a church where the Lord's hands are on and God's working. And we appreciate all of your hard work and prayer and effort. 2 Samuel chapter number 15, verse number 12. The Bible says, and Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilanite. David's counselor from his city, even from Gilo, while he offered sacrifices.
Notice now, and the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually. with Absalom.
Now look at this man by the name of Ahithophel this morning. And by God's help for just a little while, I want to preach to you on this thought: living bitter. and dying broken. The danger, if you will, of living bitter. And dying broken, let us pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do bow before you one more time. And God, we ask you that you would help us now. God, thank you for what our hearts and what our ears have already heard and felt. Thank you for this dear pastor, this dear place. God, thank you for this, God, honor and humbling opportunity, Lord.
God, it's always a privilege to stand behind the sacred guest. God, it's really a privilege for all of us. We don't have to come to church. We get to come. God, we didn't have to come today and pray and worship.
We get to. God, what a privilege. And we thank you for it. I pray you'd touch me now as thy little servant. I can't do it without you.
I wouldn't want to try. I'm well aware of my inabilities and God's limitations. Dear God, may another world come upon us today. May you, the Holy Ghost, endue us with power. May you be the honored guest and walk these aisles and make that connection from the pulpit to the pew and anchor the word of God deep within us.
May Jesus Christ, the only and the most attraction, behind, holy, and lifted up. God, may you just breathe in this place today. Save any lost sinners among us. And no doubt there is a crowd this size. Church members or not, there's lost people, no doubt, across this building.
Dear God, for those that are saved, how we pray you would stir us. Fan those flames towards revival and the efforts coming up. God, may you just do a holy and a mighty work in this church and town. God, we just pray today, less of us and more of you. God, have your will and way now, and we'll give you the glory, the honor, and the praise.
Be with the children's ministries, teaching all them precious children. We thank you for them. And God, be with my precious wife and children. God, the needs there until I get home. In Jesus' name, we do pray.
Amen. You can be seated, church.
Well, I know even by the title this morning, if you're anything like I am this morning, I'll be the first to confess to you that I don't have it all figured out. And sometimes I think, boy, I don't need this or I don't have that in my life. And then God has a way of uncovering layers in our life and things that God didn't even mention to us. And as far as we knew, we were thoroughly right with God. But when He knows we're mature enough or the time is right, everything, there's a season.
God doesn't throw everything on us at once. He's patient and merciful, just like we have to be with one another if we're going to have unity and see God move. God's patient, long-suffering, goes for the long place, sees the big picture. But at times, God will squeeze in on our life and show us things we didn't even know was there. And ladies and gentlemen, by the title, you might think, well, he must be preaching to someone backslid or someone lost or a new Christian that needs to get some things uncovered.
But can I say that this message applies? To every single one of us. Whether you've been saved for six minutes or 60 years, all of us can benefit from this man by the name of Ahithophel.
Now, before the devil tries to tell us he was obviously just a fleshly man or a carnal Christian or some man Old Testament-wise that didn't have it all figured out or he wasn't as strong as some of the other men, let me just give you this man's credentials and I'll get right into the message. But notice with me, according to Jewish history, this man was second in command to David. He was his most trusted advisor. They were best friends. They made all the war decisions together.
As a matter of fact, according to history, ladies and gentlemen, he was the prime minister of Israel. What's that mean? That means he was a giant of the faith. In other words, I put it this way: he was the vice president, as we would say it. When you've seen one, you've seen the other.
Folks would no doubt name their children after this man. He was revered, respected, and looked up to on the same level that King David was. These two men were at the top of everything that Israel had going on. To make it even more, as it's already a wonderful resume, what a man of God. But notice this.
Also, according to the word of God, Israel believed that he knew and spoke the oracles of God. What's that mean? That means that he was on the same level as Samuel and other prophets. They did not have the word of God.
So, in the Old Testament, the men of God that would say, I got a word from God, I'm a prophet, I'm gonna speak the word. This was one of those men. And listen, they didn't have phony guys that was pretending to give the oracles of God. Why? Because if you prophesied and it didn't come true, or it came true and it wasn't correct, healthy, and whole, you were stoned to death.
That'd weed out a lot of preachers today if that was the requirement. Can I get a witness? There wouldn't be so many signing up for a paycheck. They knew that this man and everything, not only did he speak the word, and obviously the stoning would have put the fear, so he's not lying, but he spoke the word over and over and over, ladies and gentlemen. And it all came to pass.
We are literally talking about a giant of the faith. Why did I take time to tell you that? Because I want you and me to understand. If it could happen to Ahithophel, it could happen to any one of us today. We all put our britches on the same way.
There's none of us that have gotten to a place with God where the devil can't get us or bitterness couldn't cripple our love. You see, I thought this was about loving Jesus. It is today. But understand when you have pain, when you're hurting, it's hard to love. If my wife hurts me or I hurt my wife's feelings, it's hard to show love.
It's hard to truly have the right kind of loving relationship until that pain's dealt with, until there's victory there, until there's healing. Healing there, and many of God's people, you can work bitter, you can serve bitter, you can sing or preach bitter, even. You can have pains and still come to church and still produce if you will. But it is impossible to love with all of your heart from a pure love with total trust and with total love if there is not healing on the inside. And I go enough places by the grace of God that I know a lot of good Baptist people that want to do right, that want their family to grow up in the things of God.
They want to be effective at their church. They want to be an asset to what God's doing in the man of God. But we've got to call time out long enough. Instead of trying to always help everybody else and say, boy, I want God to revive our community. I want this one to get help and that one to get help.
But sometimes the very core of the church, the ones that are toting the load, we need to make sure that everything's right in our life because I promise you this, ladies and gentlemen, if we lay. Jesus correctly, everything else will come to pass. Revival will come. That is revival. Let me give you three stages of how this happened to him.
And I'll take my seat. Notice with me, first of all, the pain. of the past. That's in 2 Samuel 11, but most of us today are already familiar with this story. I won't even need to read it.
But in 2 Samuel 11 is where David, the great king, has had all kinds of victories. And up to this point in his life, he's really had no major failures. And he's been the great king of Israel. And he's unified Jerusalem and expanded the kingdom. And God has used him in a mighty way.
But in chapter 11, he's not in the right place at the right time. Might I just say you won't always love Jesus correctly? That's why we need accountability. And that's why we ought to do the small things well in our life. It could save our home.
It could save our marriage. It could save our testimonies. If David would have just been on the battlefield where the king belonged with the men, even if his heart was cold, this would have never happened. But he was back at the house and probably strutting in pride and had come to a place where he was looking at all that he had and he was just enjoying the victory, if you will, and kind of thinking about what all he had. And the devil can lose a hundred times, ladies and gentlemen.
He's already a loser. He's got no reputation to keep up. He's just got to take us down. one time and on this day he caught him. You know the story, David and Bathsheba and all the pain that goes.
David covered the Seattle and then David become a murderer. He killed Uriah. He killed her husband. He destroyed everything that was going on. He covered Seat and all of this explodes up.
And when you think of David, we all know, you think, at heart after God, warrior, psalmist, writer. But we also say, boy, we know about Bathsheba.
Now What has that got to do with Ahithophel? This is where God began to speak to my heart. I didn't know this for years. I heard something. I read something.
It just kind of all culminated together. But notice with me, this is what it has to do with Ahithophel. If you were to read in 2 Samuel 23, we're given some genealogy, ladies and gentlemen. And right in the middle of verse 34, here's what the word of God reminds us of, is that Bathsheba's grandpa. Was a hip-hop.
Whoa, Sion preacher. I'm saying we have got a disaster on our hands writing the word of God. A daytime soap opera ain't no more crazy than this. One day David and it hit the foul march up the steps. And they go to the tabernacle and they're in Jerusalem and they're worshiping together.
And they're offering praises and sacrifice to God. And they're counseling and they're believing God for more victories and war. And they're best friends and they're loving God and loving each other. And then just a day or two later. All of a sudden...
Word gets out. All of a sudden, David's covered it for who knows how long. And Nathan comes to town, the country preacher, and uncovers it all as God sends him to do. And Ahithophel finds out. Watch this now.
His best friend. His soulmate in the ministry. His prayer partner. The person that he trusted more than anybody. has literally just ran the knife all the way through its back.
He's committed adultery with his granddaughter. He's killed his grandson-in-law. ruined his whole heritage and family. And now all of a sudden, although David's sorry at this point, although Nathan has called him out and he's going to repent, he's going to make it right. But nonetheless, I hit the fell is still looking at what should have been and what could have been on this side.
A man on one side is sorry, but a man on the other side is seeing the pain and saying, you can be sorry, but it don't change what you did. And we have the scenario that many of us come to in life, and it's called pain. You can say you don't have it today. You can try to convince me that everything's fine in your life. But you hear me, I preach to young people and I preach in churches, and everybody is okay with identifying that young people have pain and some have been done wrong.
And there's young people from abusive homes and struggles and problems. But ladies and gentlemen, all of us in here today have got pain somewhere.
Somebody's hurt us.
Somebody's let us down.
Somebody didn't do right.
Somebody broke your heart. And it's hard to trust. More and more and more, because here's what the devil knows how to do. If you got hurt 20 years ago, there, and then you got hurt 10 years ago, there, he'll say, Well, the next church will break your heart.
Well, the next preacher will let you down.
Well, the next person you can't love, they'll do this.
Well, the next friend that you have, he wants to isolate us so that he can assassinate us. You're strong together. A three-fold cord's not easily broken. But if you get off by yourself, or I get off by myself, we're no match for the devil. And he does it with the pain of the past.
Now we Baptists this morning. And I don't know much about anybody else, but I've been a Baptist all my life. Matter of fact, nine months before I was born, that's all I've known. And here's how we operate. We come to church and cry the whole way.
Heartbroken. Family broken. Pains, hurts, issues. But we don't want nobody to know. We got the right doctrine, right dress, right Bible, right everything, and I'm for all of it, thank God.
But we're so right that it's hard to be real sometimes. Because we don't feel like he can fit into something so right.
So we button our jacket. When we hit the parking lot, everything's wrong and we get here, but then we... And you know that door greeter's coming. By the time you get to the door, you start high-stepping a little bit. You put the fake smile on.
You shake hands, and we say what every Baptist does. How are you doing today?
Something along the lines is going to come out. Here's what you hear all the time. Heaven bound. Saved as you are? God is good.
All those sayings and all that may be true. But we're not really okay.
Now I'm not talking about being negative, Nancy. I'm not talking about just always whining and complaining and make people run when you start coming because they're afraid you're going to hold them hostage for an hour. Life's not that bad. But it is okay to not be okay. As long as you do something about it.
And sometimes we can't do nothing for each other. But I promise you, there's one that if you'll pray, and no matter how ugly or how bad it sounds, just tell him the truth. He already knows. I'd be reverent, yes, but if you're mad at God, tell him. If you're hurt at God, tell him.
They some of us, you ain't got over a graveyard yet. You haven't got over a hospital visit. You haven't got over a car wreck. You haven't got over a cancer situation. You haven't got over someone breaking your heart.
What about just prayers you're believing God for? And the more you pray, the worse it gets. Wayward children, broken homes, dreams you had, thoughts that you thought, promises you thought you had from God, but you missed it somewhere. And the devil will try to get things wrong this way. It's not just this way, but it's really hard to pray.
Have revival. Believe God. Love Jesus. If you got something deep in that corner of your heart that you don't want to go to, where the devil always is twisted on and said, well, believe God. Pastor says, come for three hours somewhere there in the floating prayer meeting.
Believe the Lord. Get ready for revival. Let's seek the Lord. But then something in there will go, ps.
Now start knocking. And that voice will say, hey. Remember what happened the last time you prayed? You don't want to get your heart broken again. Because see, we're inevitably made.
to avoid pain. I don't like getting hurt neither. And if we're not careful, it's easy to make this comment.
Well, if I just shell up. I won't get that vulnerable before God or anybody else. And no one can hurt me then. But hear me, church. You get hurt more.
by hiding in a corner. I'd rather love. And get 12 out of 12, have 11. that truly love me. And make free ends.
And have the memories. Even Jesus had one that broke his heart. But you will lose more. Bah. I wondered this morning.
Your fault, others' fault, pain's a life. I wonder, where's your pain at? What kind of pain do you have? Let me illustrate it this way. I'm moving on.
But here's what a lot of people think.
Well, preacher, you don't know my story. I don't have to. You say, well, preacher, me and God, talk this thing out. God doesn't make deals with anybody, it's all the same, no matter what. What do you mean, preacher?
Imagine it this way: here's what bitterness is like. Here's what pain, because pain that's not dealt with immediately turns to bitterness. It's one and the same. And here's what bitterness is like. What you're telling me today, or what I try to tell God when God put his finger on things in my life when I was preparing this message some time ago, here's what it's like: it's like saying, Lord.
I got this. But the equivalent Would it be like going in a small utility closet over here and locking yourself in with a room? Full of rattlesnakes. And saying Well that rattlesnake's bitterness. But it's okay.
I can handle it. I got it under control. I got my own understanding, but hear what I'm telling you, church. Have you ever known a rattlesnake to play nice? What if you feed it?
Or if you pet it. There might be one or two of you crazies in here. But you watch enough of them YouTube videos, you'll find out. All they know to do is kill. To hurt.
Well, I'm saying this to you today. You lock me in that room with them rattlesnakes. Only one of the two of us is going to get to live. That's just a harsh reality. I'm either going to unload a gun.
And kill every one of them that they quit wiggling. Only good snake I know of is a dead one. Can I get a witness? You're either going to kill that snake or it's going to kill you. That's what it's designed to do.
It assumes it's all fear. It attacks everything around it. That's the DNA of those snakes. That's how the killers operate. Understand today, bitterness has got the same DNA from hell in our life.
It latches on. It's a slow death. The venom runs through. It takes a while. But some of us are dying and we don't even know it.
Some of us are absolutely poisoning everything around us and we don't even know it because it's hard to tell. These folks have snake bites and don't realize till it's too late that it actually was a venomous snake. They don't feel it at first. They go numb. They lose their sensory.
They don't even realize they're dying. That's what the devil's doing to many of the best Baptist folks I know. We got so many things right, but there's venom inside and we're dying a slow death. That's why nothing's ever right. That's why it's not doing what it once did.
Anytime I can't worship, anytime things aren't right. It may not be me, but I better start right here and say, Lord, is it me? Is there something inside? Is there some venom running somewhere? Is there a snake somewhere that needs to be shot?
We cannot play with it today. You can't pet it. You can't want to waller in your misery. You can't continue to want to play the victim card. At some point, we've got, by the grace of God, to shoot the snake and rise above it before it kills us.
Pay in the past. Number two, we find the persuasion of the present. Hear the verse, yes. Absalom So when I read to you today, Absalom sent for Ahithophel. The Gilanite.
David's Counselor. We mean the persuasion of the present. Ladies and gentlemen, here's what I'm talking about this morning. Mm-hmm. If you don't deal.
This is sin. Whether we want to call sin or not bitterness is sin. You cannot pray and have sin in your life. The psalmist tells: we regard iniquity, I will not hear thee. It's a big deal.
It's just as big a deal to be full of pride or bitterness as it is to be a drunk. It cripples our relationship with God. and be able to pray and see God answer. You know? Take this in love this morning.
But could it be the reason that we're not seeing God move like He did 50 or 75 years ago? Because it's obviously not a problem with God. The Bible made that clear. Same yesterday, today, and forever.
Nowhere in there is there any time expiration. He said to that Philadelphia in church. Folks try to say, well, it's Laodicea. But Philadelphia's right in the middle. And he said, I've left thee a door that no man can shut.
So, what's the issue? Could it be? That there's CN's. that's holding us back that we're not even thinking about. Because God said he's a God that delights in hearing and answering prayer.
So God wants to, and God has the power to.
So it can only leave us. When was the last time you saw God really do something big in your life? A big prayer answer that just you and God knew about. When was the last time you really heard from God and He melted your heart? Watch this now.
I hit the fail.
Now, let me just say this. Thank you, Lord, for that reminder. I don't want anybody to go out here thinking that I believe in sweeping sin under the rug. And I'm not talking about it. I mean, listen, if you did that to my granddaughter.
I'd want to kill you. But listen, at some point, you can't change the past. And it's not hurting them anymore. It's like bitterness is like you drinking the poison and waiting for them to die. At some point, we've got to be like the Lord and say, Father, forgive them.
You got to lay it down because if you don't, it's only hurting you. You say, I'm not giving them that power over me. They have that power over you until you do forgive them. That is you taking control. That is when you get the victory and the power.
That is showing strength. That's God's strength. That's grace and action for it. That's where you can get your life back on the rails. I know it's ugly.
I know David's wrong. I know they can never be best friends again, but he's got to at least bury it under Calvary, ladies and gentlemen, and give it all to God. Because if he doesn't, and if we don't, watch, here's what happens: eventually, God said, All right. No doubt he's worked and worked and worked with his servant Ahithophel and begged him to get it right.
So at some point he pulls off. And at the same time that the devil God allows the devil to stir up Absalom to take the kingdom from his daddy. He's been in a plan for a while, he's wooed their hearts. He's told them everything they want to know. He's politicked his way right into being loved more than David is.
The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally. Would you take a moment to hear this to-day? Every man is born with a sin nature. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
No matter how hard we try, We're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven. Because of that sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life for the through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept Him as our Savior. Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ.
by faith as your Saviour. Romans 10.9 says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name.
Bible says whosoever that's anyone can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior? There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Saviour? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Crowin Baptist Church.
Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times. We hope you have a great rest of your day. God bless you. Mm-hmm.
