The Danger of Power Hungry Leaders: Judges 9

The story of Abimelech is one of the darkest chapters in the book of Judges and one of Scripture’s clearest warnings about the dangers of selfish ambition and corrupt leadership.

In this Midweek Bible Study, Pastor Charlie begins unpacking Judges 9 by examining Abimelech’s violent rise to power after the death of Gideon. Through Jotham’s famous parable of the trees, we see why character matters far more than charisma, why the pursuit of power often reveals the heart, and how God’s people suffer when they reject His leadership.

This lesson also explores the difference between God’s active judgment and His passive judgment, showing how God sometimes allows people and nations to experience the consequences of their own sinful choices. Along the way, Pastor Charlie applies these timeless truths to families, churches, and our culture while challenging believers to pursue humility, accountability, repentance, and faithful leadership.

Transcript

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Those were good. It's hard to believe that those songs were 40 years ago. You know, it seems like you just think blink and you know you turn around and I'll see a pickup truck every now and then from the 90s, which is kind of, you know, my main area of growing up. And I think to myself, well, that's not that old. It's 30 years ago. My kids are like, what are you talking about? It's not that old. Like that thing's ancient. Like, what's wrong with that thing? And you're like, you know, it's just interesting how as time flies, uh, you know, with how quickly it goes. But yeah, 40 years ago, those songs were put together, and man, they are great songs. Great, you know, it's funny, I've talked about this all the time, but just where your mind takes you as you remember singing those songs and worshiping with them, and maybe, you know, it was in a church service, or maybe it was at a conference or a convention or something of that, and you just kind of have those moments where you reflect. Uh, you know, it's good to hear our voices together. I'm up here singing out loud. Doesn't sound good, but I'm singing out loud, and uh poor Miss Kathy, and uh she has to sit by me every Sunday and has to hear me singing, and but you know what? We said it before, the Bible doesn't say make joyful music to the Lord, it says make joyful noise, and I can make make noise about as much as anybody can. So, Judges chapter 9. Well, I apologize for not being with you last week, but I was not well. I had esophagitis. I don't know if you've ever had that or not. It's an inflammation of the esophagus, and uh it can come from like acid reflux or something that irritates it. And I I don't necessarily know what caused it, caused it. I I think I did, and I wasn't even eating anything very spicy, but something irritated me. And uh as last Wednesday, I couldn't even drink water without being in great pain. And so I was visiting with my doctor. Fortunately, uh over the weekend it kind of cleared up, and so I'm clearly, as you can tell by me eating over there, uh I'm doing a lot better now. But I was gone last week, so I appreciate Jason on short notice stepping in and filling in for me. Uh, he's on vacation this week, so just be praying for them and their family as they're gonna be returning soon. Because as you can tell behind me, vacation Bible school is right around the corner. And so we've got kids and people that are in here decorating today, and so that's a lot of the traffic that we see because next week uh we're gonna be filled up in this church as we like to be with kids and getting the opportunity to love on them and share the gospel with them, encourage them in their faith and all of the things they need, uh, so we can do our best to present or prevent what we've seen in Judges 2 of a generation growing up and not knowing the Lord, not hearing of the Lord, not being able to testify to what he's done. And we want to do our job as a people of God to make sure that every generation is hearing of the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God, the grace of God that's been given to us in Jesus Christ. That being said, let me be quick to remember so I don't forget, uh we will not meet for three weeks after today. And the reason being is we won't meet next week for vacation Bible school. There is a week where we could meet, and then the following week there's something else going on in the church that would prevent us from meeting. And so we just decided rather than anybody being confused and with vacations and things going on after today. We're gonna take the rest of the month of July off and here in the morning, and then starting back in August, we will meet again. And so just make sure you pass that word along. Just we've got some things for the summer scheduled that are gonna, uh we're actually one of the other things is we're hosting a conference for kids' worship uh from the Metro Association. So this building's gonna be filled with kids doing worship art stuff, and so that's what's gonna be that following week. And so if you're upset, just blame it on those pesky kids. You know, it just seems like life is always about us revolving around these kids. And you know what? The kids don't even have to be young for your life to revolve around them. The older I get, the more I realize like these kids are a full-time job. And I'm sure my mom would tell you today that I'm still a full-time job. And so that's just kind of the way I think that it works. Well, Judges 9, it's a long chapter. I don't know how far we're gonna get in it. It's really another one of these tragic stories of just when sin is working in the life of a people, uh, how far it will go. And what we're seeing in this regard is the sin in Israel's leadership, their desire for sinful leadership. And sometimes I think we fail to understand that there is what I think the Bible shows us is what we would call the passive wrath of God, passive judgment. And then the reason I say that is because there is some judgment in the Bible that's just very clear. So let's just give an example. The flood in Genesis chapter 6, 7, 8. That is an example of God's active, clear wrath. Sin is running rampant on the earth. God has said, I have finally come to a place where I've had my fill, and I am now going to open up the windows of heaven and pour out rain like it's never been seen, and I'm gonna flood the entire earth. And outside of those in this ark, I am going to destroy every other living creature on the earth. That is a clear example of God's active wrath. Sin is evident. God says, I've had enough, here is the punishment. Sodom and Gomorrah, another example in the Bible. Both of these examples are used throughout the Bible in God's active wrath, by which he looks and says, Okay, you don't want to listen to me, you don't want to repent, you don't want to be obedient to me. I'm gonna send down fire and brimstone from heaven, and I'm gonna decimate this entire city because you are gonna understand that I am God, that I am in control, and that I have an extent by which I am going to bring about judgment. The Bible points us to the end of time, right? Where there's going to be a judgment that's gonna take place, uh, that Christ will return. Once and for all, all of those who have refused the gift of grace that has been bestowed on us through Jesus, all of those who have rebelled against God and not repented of their sin will be subject to divine wrath. We even see examples of this in the New Testament, though not as clear as often as we see in the Old Testament, but the example of Ananias and Sapphira, a couple who wanted to present as if they were giving of everything, but yet at the same time they were holding some back and they fall over dead right there in front of everyone. And you know, again, example of God's act of wrath. So when we think about God's wrath and judgment, we tend to only think of it in terms of, well, God's had enough, and so he's gonna zap us, he's gonna strike us, he's gonna do these things. And God does do that. God will do that. God is not mocked. A man, what a man sows, he also is gonna reap. Now, there's also examples, though, of God's passive wrath. And what is that? When God looks and says, you know what, you want that? Even though I've told you not to have it, you don't need it, it's gonna destroy you. I'm gonna let you do what you want. And I'm gonna let you experience the consequences, the fruit, the result of that. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and dare I say that I think America is experiencing some of the passive wrath of God. And what we're looking at is a culture in a place today where sin is running rampant. Our political leaders, we we're not even shocked anymore when we hear of uh scams and lies and all of these things going on, like it's expected. We look at our leadership and our state governments, even specifically our national government, and and we're appalled in some ways by the things that they do, yet at the same time it's so expected anymore. You're like, we live in the swamp, right? I mean, that that that's what this is. And it's on both sides of the aisle. Both of them have decided that they want to put their desires, their wants, their hopes above the elected or the people that have elected them and they're supposed to represent. And it's just evident on both sides. I mean, so regardless of what side you're on, you can pick at the other, but anybody with any bit of objectiveness can see that there's scoundrels on both sides, and we're not even shocked by it anymore. And my point of that is I think God's looked and said, you know what? I don't have to send fire and brimstone from heaven. Because I'm just gonna let you do it to yourself. I'm just gonna let you have your way. I'm gonna let you do what you want to do. You want to eliminate me from your life, so be it. Now you get what is going to come to you from that. Which is why we have so much sexual brokenness in our culture and world today, while our families are falling apart. We can't even keep our schools in alignment today because we've lost all ideas of order and discipline. We see it in the streets, we see it everywhere. And really what's happening is God has taken a step back and said, you want it, you can have it. Now experience the consequences of your choice. Well, we're seeing this in the book of Judges a lot of times, that in some ways God will bring judgment by sending in these marauders, these other nations that are going to do to them. And in some ways, as we're gonna see in today's passage, Israel's gonna do it to themselves. God's going to allow them, all right, live in sin and see what happens and what's gonna happen. And I think we're just probably gonna get through verse 15 today, because what I want us to see is what happens in leadership when everything goes astray. And I think we can see this in our current culture, and this isn't a dig at our current president, although I think pretty much everybody that that's in Washington, D.C., I think we can apply some level to this. I I mean, you know, and this isn't about that. Really, what it is about in all things, though, is is the danger of dangerous leadership. But what produces that type of leadership really the culture does, right? I mean, really, it's the people that sin begins to set in, and all of a sudden it just begins to infiltrate everything to the point that you kind of get what you asked for and what you deserve. I'm a full belief that the rampant I'm trying to think of what word I want to use here, uh the problems in our younger generations today are an exact result of older generations today. And it's not just to like blame any one person or one generation, but it's this it's this cyclical effect. It's this picture of sin when not dealt with continues to trickle down, but it doesn't get smaller, it gets bigger. I once heard a man say, what you do in moderation, your kids will do in excess. I think that's a true principle that goes both ways. Good and bad, right? You know, what you're sowing and distilling in the life of your children, they're gonna take that and it's gonna multiply. And one of the prayers that I've prayed for myself, for my kids, but I I've prayed before, God, take all of the good that was in my parents, because there was good there that God had placed, and will you multiply that in my life? And God, will you take the sin of my parents and will you put that to death in me so it doesn't continue on? And I find myself now, especially as my kids are older, praying the same thing, like, Lord, whatever is good in their mom and me, Lord, will you multiply that? That the things that you've blessed and passed down, will you multiply that in the life of our children? And God, the sin in us, will you put that to death so in our kids so it doesn't continue on and trickle down and and and and grow because at some point some generation has to say, not us. My dad might have been a drunk, but not me. My dad might have been an abuser, but not me. My dad might have been a swindler, but not me. And you know, we can go through the list of all of those things. And and sure, I was raised to see things this way. I was taught that this is okay, but now my eyes have been open and I see, and now I'm gonna put that sin to death in me so it doesn't continue on. When we don't do that, however, it multiplies. And what we're gonna see here is Abimelech is the son of Jerubabel, also known as Gideon. And he's just not a good dude. And I think that's just one of the simplest ways to put it. Like he sees power, he wants to seize it for himself. I think there's some manipulation here. Uh, I think he's a man of action. I think he's a man that seems fine to the people of his day, but they all of a sudden get exactly what they ask for in some of his first actions and what he does. And so it says, Abimelech, son of Jerubal, went to Shechem and spoke to his uncles and to his mother's whole clan, saying, Please speak in the hearing of all the citizens of Shechem. Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubal, rule over you, or that man, one man rule over you? Remember, I am your own flesh and blood. And so what he's doing is making a power grab. He's making a scheme. You know, is it better that the seventy sons of Gideon rule over you in a, you know, a more scattered pattern, or would it not be better for you that one man rule over you? Now we do know this, right? I mean, and I think we see this principle in leadership, that it eventually at some point, somebody has to answer. At some point in leadership, and we see how God orchestrates this in the home. And so leadership is a pattern that God has developed, but that at some point, you know, somebody has to answer for things. At some point, you know, why do we call the president the commander-in-chief? Underneath him is a variety of different leaders and people of all different expertise, but at the end of the day, somebody's got to make a decision to be able to do things. And so the idea of leadership isn't wrong. It's not wrong to be a leader. God's ordained that. God has gifted that, God has given people uh the ability and spiritual abilities to do it. But I will, I do think, and most of us in this room have lived long enough now to see, it's a little bit of a dangerous concern when a guy just really wants it. I mean, when a guy just looks and says, you know what, I think we need to have one leader, and I'll volunteer. Because there's an agenda, there is a reason why. It's one thing for there to be a consensus among people and say, hey, you know what? I think we need to pick a leader and let's pray and let's let's seek the Lord and let's see where God leads us in this, and you see qualities and giftedness in a guy and say, all right, we're trusting that God is going to use you. You know, whenever uh Israel finally wore God down, and I use that term loosely, and said, We want a king, we want to be like the other nations. And they went and picked a king for themselves. And what did they do? They picked the guy that they thought looked the right part. The problem with that was it wasn't the guy that God wanted for the position. And so it goes well for a little while, but before long it goes off the rails, and God uses that as an opportunity to say, now let me show you, if you want a king, the kind of guy that you should have. Not perfect, clearly has issues, clearly makes mistakes, as all men can and probably eventually will do. But the difference is it was a man after God's own heart. But here we see Abimelech desiring this power for himself. And we know this power-hungry people, it never tends to go well. I mean, it can go well for a little bit, it can go well for a time. Hey, bud, hey, bud, go around that way, okay? Go around that back way. Thank you, buddy. Uh it can eventually, though, always tends to go in a southern direction. So here's where we see it. His mother's relative spoke all these words about him in the hearing of all the citizens of Shechem. Of course it was his mom, right? To a mom, little Abimelech could never do anything wrong. My little Abimelech, he's the best. My little Abimelech, you just allow him to lead you and he will lead us in the right direction. So the mom's relatives are really speaking him up to all the citizens of Shechem. And they were favorable to Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother. So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of Baal Bareth. Now here's a problem, right? Baal Bareth, that's that's pagan worship. And so we see how Israel has declined back into this pagan worship. Abimelech used it, so here's his first act as leaders. Abimelech used it to hire worthless and reckless men. Let's just put it this way: he hired some scoundrels. He went and found some no-good guys who were used to being up to no good. Group of marauders, and they followed him. So essentially, he puts together a form of a mercenary army of scoundrels. He went to his father's house in Oprah and killed his 70 brothers, the son of Jerubabel, on top of the large stone. Quite a first act, right? Now, interestingly enough, throughout history, this is not uncommon. That a guy takes power, he's afraid that his brothers are gonna try to overthrow him, and what the first thing he does is go in and wipe out any competitors, any other heirs. And you think about the sickness of that, right? The whole idea that that power, control, domination is the most important thing, and I'm gonna get rid of anybody that would dare reign on my reign. And so he takes them out, though, and on a large stone, 70 of them are put to death. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubabel, survived because he hid. Then all the citizens of Shechem and of Beth Milo gathered together and proceeded to make Abimelech king at the oak pillar in Shechem. Now the question is, well, why would you make a guy like this king? Well, because he has now taken your money and used it to hire a group of scoundrels who just killed all the leaders of the clans, and you're like, where will he stop? So all of a sudden now the idea of sweet old Abimelech, his mom sure loves him, is all of a sudden now like, oh no, what have we got in here? We've got a dictator, we've got a controlling party who wants to uh to dominate now, like his desire is not for good for us, but his desire is to control us with a heavy hand, need be. Well, verse 7, Jotham, the brother that got away, climbs to the top of Mount Gezarim, raised his voice, and called to them, and said, Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, and may God listen to you. The trees decided to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, Reign over us. But the olive tree said to them, Should I stop giving my oil that people use to honor both God and men and rule over the trees? Then the tree said to the fig tree, Come and reign over us. But the fig tree said to them, Should I stop giving my sweetness and my good fruit and rule over other trees? Later the tree said to the grapevine, Come, reign over us. But the grapevine said to them, Should I stop giving my wine that cheers both God and man and rule over trees? Finally all the trees said to the bramble, Come, reign over us. The Bramble said to the trees, If you are really anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon. Now, one of the interesting things, if you go back a generation, is we know that Jerubal or Gideon was not a perfect man. Matter of fact, toward the end of his reign, we see that his leadership, that people began to turn back to idols and they prostitute themselves. However, when they wanted to make him king, he said, No, I'm not gonna be king. God's gonna rule over us. I uh that that's not my job to be a king. God is our one true king, he is our ruler. And that was God's plan from the beginning with the people of Israel, to make them a nation distinct from every other nation. They were to be a theocracy, a group of people who look to the Lord and see Him as their leader, as their guide, as their protector. And while He works through men, they were not just to look to a man to be this figure for them, but instead they beg, they charged. And they said, no, we want someone like this. And that's going to happen later, but we see this pattern already beginning to develop now in the people of Israel that they're looking for a king. And really, essentially, what he's saying here is people of quality, the fig tree, the olive tree, all these things, they want what's best. They don't just necessarily want to be the dominating, controlling, but you get to the bramble, the the uh stickers, yeah, the thistles, the what else do we call it? Thorns. That's the word I'm looking for. I'm thinking, I'm I can see it in my mind telling Adeline, don't touch that. Like she was picking roses one day. She said, Can I pick these? I'm like, you can pick all you want, I don't care. Just don't touch those. Why? Because they hurt. And you know, and so I'm thinking that. But like the picture here is of the dangerous type. Come find shelter under me. But if you don't, I'm gonna consume you, I'm gonna destroy you. And we see we see the parallel of the parable there. Uh again, I think back to George Washington after the United States of America uh got their freedom from Great Britain. And what did the people instantly want to do? Be our king. Do what we just came away from. And he said, had the wisdom to say, no. No. Not only that, but a guy doesn't need to be president indefinitely. We don't need to set up this idea where a guy can just rule and lead as long as he wants. Why? Because even the best men, when given too much power, are easily corrupted. When I was at El Reno, one of the things that we were doing when I left as the pastor there, we had we had not finished it, and but but the church had decided to do it, is I became increasingly more uncomfortable after 12 years of ministry there, that I was making all the decisions. And part of the reason that I was allowed to make all the decisions is I think I had earned their respect. I think things were going well, and so it just became easier and easier. Like, well, Charlie, what do you want to do? Well, that sounds good, but I know this. I know that humanity, even on their best days, uh, can make bad decisions. I know that not any of us are against the ability to sin, to fall into sin. And so I began to think to myself, you know, there's got to be a better way. I began to become uncomfortable with uh the fact that like when it came to biblical interpretation on things, they would say, Well, Charlie says. Well, I'm saying it because I believe it's what the Bible teaches, and I do my best to stand up there and rightly divide the word of truth, but like it was uncomfortable to me. Like, well, don't believe it because I say it. And I'm like, but we need to have like stances on things, right? And and why do we have a stance on these things? Well, because the Bible says, but what happens when we have a moment that we're having to make decisions on biblical things that aren't necessarily clear, but we got to, as a church, take a stance and say, well, this is our belief on that. And I didn't want it to be, well, because Charlie said he's a good guy. He he seems to know what he's talking about. He he wouldn't ever lead us astray. Well, not intentionally. And so I began to look in the Bible, and one of the things that I saw more clearly, especially, you see it in the Old Testament, but you see it even more clearly in the New Testament, is the Bible talks about elders, pastors, bishops, but it always speaks of it really in the plural. It's never really a singular thing, it's always a plurality. And so what you begin to kind of see is like this pattern in the Bible of elders leading, caring for, shepherding. And one of the things that I began to realize at El Reno was this like we're never going to have enough money to hire enough pastors to shepherd the flock well. And so we need to be looking at lay elders, like men in the church who meet the qualifications of Scripture, who can fulfill some of these responsibilities. And while I would be the lead pastor, still responsible for leadership, direction, things of those natures, the primary preaching and teaching, I wanted other men to be able to sit down with biblical wisdom and say, all right, well, here's what the Bible says. Now, some people would say, Well, you got deacons for that, but that's not what the Bible says deacons are, is my problem with it. The Bible says deacons are servants, and elders are something completely different. And I even had some of my deacons, because I began to kind of lean on the deacon sometimes for some of these hard decisions, and some of the deacons would tell me, rightfully so, I didn't sign up for this. I signed up to serve. I will serve in any way that you want, but like I don't feel adequate or that it's my responsibility to dive into this situation, specifically sometimes with like church discipline situations. And I began to have to tell myself, like, I'm not the sheriff of the church. I don't want to handle every church discipline issue by myself. Like, I need to weigh in on it, I need to be a part of it. But like I began to realize also sometimes it affects my ability to minister to people because if I'm not careful, I become like the sheriff in the town. Like, what's wrong? And I'm having to be judge, jury, executioner, I mean, all of these things. And I'm like, wait, I don't know if I should do this, don't know if I want to do this. So we began to go through the process of looking at what the Bible said about eldership and what's the picture that we see in the New Testament, and what's the role and the responsibility, and came to the conclusion that we needed to begin to implement eldership for my sake, as the pastor who's asking for it, the lead pastor, but also for the sake of the congregation, just the health of the body. And then that way, because I do believe there's wisdom amongst many. I mean, I think collectively, putting our heads together and things of that nature. And so I say all of that to say when a guy just wants to be in control, there's danger from it. Because not one, you can be blind. I don't know everything about everything. I mean, one of the things I had to learn right off the bat, when you become a pastor, you get a lot of responsibilities that you've you didn't know existed. I didn't know how to read a site plan before I became a pastor. Still to this day you can barely read one, but you know what I had to learn? You're gonna relocate a church, you better figure out how to use a site plan. I've looked at more documents and things of that nature. Praise God that I had men in our church who had real estate backgrounds, development backgrounds, construction backgrounds, and like I can remember calling them and saying, hey, come sit down with me. Come explain this to me because I just got these things handed to me and I don't even know what I'm looking at. And uh all of that being said, right, God's gifted and equipped multiple in that. Now, again, my point is not, well, let's get rid of every leader. That's not biblical either. My point is, though, that we need to be looking at the right kind of character of leaders. And I think that's what Jotham is getting at right here. He's like, you know, men with character, the fig tree, the olive tree, the grapevine, like like they're not quick just to say, give me it all and I'll take care of it. But there is a type of character that's very dangerous. And it's the type that's like, hey, just hand it over. I know exactly what to do here, and just wants to take, take, take. Now, in verse 16, he says, Now, if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done, you have, if you have done well by Jerubal and his family, and if you have rewarded him appropriately for what he did, for my father who fought for you, risked his life and risked, rescued you from Midian, and now you have attacked my family, father's family today, killing his seventy sons on top of a large stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his slave woman, king over the citizens of Shechem, because he is your brother. So if you have acted faithfully and honestly with Jerubal and his house today, rejoice in Abimelech, and may he rejoice in you. But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the citizens of Shechem and Bethmiroh, and may fire come from the citizens of Shechem and Bethmiloh and consume Abimelech. Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and lived there because of his brother Abimelech. So he does what every preacher does when he has to deliver a message. He says the hard words, then he runs. He says, Thus saith the Lord, I'll see you next Sunday. Maybe. Essentially, what he's doing is, are you guys really done what's right? I mean, in your heart, do you really believe this is what this is supposed to be and what it's supposed to look like? Because this has led to the murder of the sons of a man who fought for you and strived to rescue you. If you haven't done what's right, may you destroy yourselves, essentially, is what he says. And what we're gonna see unfold in the rest of this story is both of that. That there is going to be an attacking of Abimelech and the response and the chaos that ensues. And you know what that reminds me of? Whenever we are quick to take leaders for ourselves and not seek the Lord and what he says. And I can't help, and I'm I'm not trying to politicize this and trying to make this into something that it's not, but I can't help but look at our own country and see some of this. Like there's chaos in the middle, and and there's a consuming of one another, and there's no civil discourse or dialogue, there's no true looking at what's best for the people and what does the Constitution say? It's all about how I can evoke my will, my power, get you to kneel and do what I want. And look at what is just happening in our country today. And it's almost as if Jotham, in some ways, have said these same words to us. If this is what you guys want, these leaders up here, and you think they're what's best, may both of you rejoice in it. But if not, may you guys just destroy one another along the way. Now, I'm not trying to be the weeping prophet and the prophet of doom. God is sovereign, God's in control, and one of the things that we're gonna see in these next few verses and passages is how God's gonna still be working in the midst of all of it. Chaos to us is not chaos to the Lord. It never is. You know, I think when the Bible looks and says that the earth was formless and void, he's trying to help us understand what was going on at the beginning. It wasn't formless and void to the Lord. Why? Because he knew what he was gonna do with it. Just because the land was maybe uninhabitable and wild wilderness doesn't mean that God didn't say, but wait, I'm gonna bring something beautiful, a garden, in the midst of what's wild and uninhabitable. So when God, when we see chaos, God doesn't see that. He sees it for what it is, but he also sees what he's doing in the midst of all of it. But I do think that there is a bit of a call, and I'm preaching to the choir here at church on a Wednesday morning, for us as a people to be repentant, to be wise, to open our eyes and see what's going on around us and say, how much of this is our own doing? Don't be surprised when we vote for a man of no character, and I'm talking about in any election, so don't label it to one. Okay, so don't come away saying, he said this, no names are being spoken. You interpret it as you will. Well, he seems like he can do the best of us, but he doesn't have any character. That later things don't go as well as we once hoped or thought they would. Character matters. Following the Lord matters. Being obedient to what God has to say, hearing his voice matters. And on a spiritual context, may we key these warnings and these in these words. And it's a it's a warning for me. It's a warning for me who stands in a role of leadership. What's my motives? What's my reason? Uh our men's group has been meeting on Wednesday evenings, and let me remind you that we'll be meeting again tonight, both our men's and women's groups. And so we had a time of prayer around the tables. And I'm very aware that as you read through the news today, it seems that hardly a day goes by that there's not some news of some pastor who has failed somewhere. And the failures come in a thousand ways. We tend to think of immorality as far as sexual, and that unfortunately happens. But it comes in terms of guys being abusive, using their power in the wrong ways. You know, church, it just comes in a thousand ways. And and I don't know anything about most of these men, and I'm not gonna, you know, speak to their character as far as who they've always been. I would bet some of these guys, though, they were probably that way before they became a pastor. I mean, I think basically the fruit of their character came out. I also think some of these guys were good men who along the way lost sight. And so here's what I've asked the group to pray for me for for the last two weeks. I don't want to become that. I'm not trying to become that. It's not my goal, it's not my intention, it's not my plan. I don't know that those guys plan that either. I don't know if Jerubbable was bad from the get-go, or if somewhere along the line something happened and all of a sudden he began to see things differently. I know this, David's enough of a story that good guys can do terrible things. Men after God's own heart can make mistakes. And I don't want to do that. And so I stories like these in the Bible, you know, the Bible tells us in the New Testament, these things were recorded as far as the Old Testament scriptures for you. And I think ultimately they're recorded to point us in the direction of Jesus. I think they also are recorded for us to give us warnings, to say, hey, all kinds of men make mistakes. All kinds of women and men can sin and fall short of the glory of God. If there's a way to break something, we'll do it. And how do we guard against that? Well, we pray. We take character seriously, we take the Lord seriously, we fight temptation, we meet together, we pray for one another. You know, as Tyler talked about Sunday morning, you know, Paul says, pray for me, pray for boldness. You know, I think he made a great point. Like nobody thinks of Paul not being bold. Well, maybe because he kept praying saying, God make me bold. I mean, he doesn't seem to want to be timid, but maybe Paul knew because he saw it in Timothy, like, you know, you can be timid, Timothy, so so be the man of God that God wants you to be. And maybe Paul felt himself at times like wanting to shrink back because the message wasn't popular, because he got tired of being called names. He got tired of fighting with these different churches, and there was a point in his life where he's like, you know what? I don't know if I want to go meet with these people again. It reminds me of a story I once heard, and I'll end with this, that there was a guy who got up one morning and he was in bed, and his wife, the alarm went off, and he had snooze several times, and finally the wife said, You gotta get up. He's like, I don't want to get up. She said, It's Sunday. You gotta get up. We gotta go to church. And he said, Give me one good reason why I should go to church. And she said, You're the pastor. I've been there. Sometimes you're just tired. You're like, you know what? I don't know if I want to go do this today. You know, fortunately, here we're in a season that I think is a good season, and I can honestly say, like, I can't wait to be at church on Sunday morning. There's a reason why Sunday, even when I wasn't preaching, I was here. There's a lot of churches I could have gone to when I had a week off, but why go there? I like this one. I mean, you know, I like to be with you even when I'm not preaching to you. Like, my connection to the church isn't just because I get paid to stand up in the pulpit. Like, my connection to the church is being part of the body. And Renee and I are like, Well, where else do we want to go? Now, sometimes, you know, we might go check things out or go see somebody, family, a friend, or something like that, which I think's, you know, good. Sometimes it's good to take a break. Fortunately, we're in a season here where I don't feel that, but like sometimes Paul's probably like, I'm just tired of fighting, tired of correcting. And so he says, pray for boldness. So, what's that long story mean? Pray for me. I don't want to be a Abimelech. I don't think I am. Don't tell me if I am right now. Let me just let me just enjoy this moment. But like, you know what? Abimelech might not have always been an Abimelech. I don't know. Let's pray. We'll be done. Father, we love you. We thank you. Thank you for the food we ate today. Thank you for the fellowship that we enjoy. Thank you for your word, God, how it reminds us, how it teaches us. Father, I ask that you would be with me as the shepherd of these people and the other pastors that we have. And Lord, help us to be men of character, men of faithfulness, men who listen to your voice, who care for your people, who want to do what's right according to your word. Keep us from pride, keep us from the desire for power. Keep us from sinful thoughts that we might not even know are sinful. Give us hearts of repentance. Father, be with this church. Lord, will you continue to strengthen us? Father, will you help us to see things for what they are? Father, help us to love, to support, to care for one another. I pray for vacation Bible school. Lord, as uh next week this room will be filled with kids. Uh, will you move in their hearts? Soften hearts, draw kids to you in salvation, strengthen those who are believers. Father, we pray for our nation. God, we live in a day and time where we look at leaders and just think, is there any good men and women around? And Lord, help us to be the kind of people that would create, put out, elect good people. We love you, we praise you, we thank you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.