Bring Me A Sword

First Kings chapter 3 in verse 23 the Bible says then said the king The one sayeth this is my son that liveth and thy son is the dead the other sayeth nay Thy son is the dead and my son is the living The king said bring me a sword and they brought a sword before the king The king said I want you to divide the living child in two Give the half to the one and half to the other Then spake the woman whose living child was unto the king for her bowels yearned upon her and she said oh My lord give her the living child and in no way slay it But the other said Let it be neither mine or thine but divide it The king answered and said Give her the living child and in no way slay it for she is the mother thereof

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged and they feared the king for they saw The wisdom of God was in him to do judgment I'll offer you a little context on the passage that we read in a few moments, but I Read only these verses today for the sake of time. So you may be seated But let's pray together as you're being seated. Jesus. I thank you for this day in your great people I want you to give us ears to hear. I want you to help me speak your word comes already anointed But we stand in need of it now Help me Lord and help us and the church said in Jesus name Amen, I Preach today bring me a sword the Bible presents to us a situation of great concern It is quite literally a crisis of truth the story begins a few verses earlier

When it tells us that there are two harlots in one house No witnesses are present there is no means of certain proof to authenticate the claim of one woman over the other now It's one thing To look at a matter It is an entirely different experience to live through a matter I fear that sometimes it is easy for us to Read the Bible without actually considering its application to our lives So we look to this story as some ancient text of People in days gone by but I would pause this morning to invite us To step into the story The tragedy of which is unfolding in first Kings chapter 3 Is probably a narrative that we have never lived In the same manner, but I would submit the emotions of which we find are all too familiar the story goes as such that These two harlots in one house are both found with child and

one Rolls over on her infant in the night and to her shock and sorrow. I'm sure He dies so in an act of great deception she takes her baby into the room of the other mother and Takes out that living child and in the arms of the other mother places this dead child And so when that mother arises in the morning She is shocked to see that her child is dead Until she considered it in the morning life Only a few verses not much detail, but I would submit there is much for us to consider The tragedy no doubt brought sorrow and sorrow brought shame while this woman was not a woman of moral character and while I Do not condone the act of deceit in some measure. I still sympathize with the pain of this woman The pain becomes anger and anger turns into action and

theft in deceit are present all of this and just these few verses The entire narrative is embedded with Desire and emotions of which all of us are familiar in some measure grief regret shame and anger confusion and discord resentment And so well perhaps the the details of the story itself find no relation to our lives Of this I'm sure the emotion does The feelings are all too familiar the thoughts we have all encountered And as this woman rises early this morning to feed her child and is Shocked to see that her child is dead until the Bible says she considered it in the morning and said behold it is not my son and So I rise to tell somebody I have this Proclamation in my spirit for somebody in this house this morning. It is not always as it appears What you think you see is not always what you see and what you think you hold is not always

Is as life really is and so I caution us now I must remind you today that we all sit here With an adversary that is against us and John would tell us his intent is to steal To kill and to destroy Our adversary is such he is a master of trickery and illusion and it is not always as it appears It's important. You know this less you rest to judgment in the night When God has not fully revealed it in the light It is impossible that you would draw conclusions in the night Seasons and you settle for an outcome that could have otherwise been altered if you would not have been so hastily moving and deciding because here is the fact the night is not forever and The baby has been taken But it's not been killed And so I say to you today The future for which you have prayed is not lost yet

The dream that you one day pursued so passionately is not dead yet The promise that God spoke that you've not yet see come to pass and as days turn to weeks and weeks Turn to months and months turn to years and you feel like you're farther from the promise now Than you were when it was spoken. I I must remind you today. It is not always as it appears This devil is a master of trickery a king of deceit He plays on the illusion And so it is that we find ourselves in battles But it's not a physical battle Pastor preached it so well and so anointed last Sunday It is the unseen That which our eyes can't see and our hands can't touch yet It is just as real as the chair that you sit in now It's why Paul said though we walk in the flesh. We do not war after the flesh

Because there is a battle raging for the future There is a battle raging for your life and your family There is a battle raging for this church and this city and Here we find a lifeless baby and a case of she said versus she said We've already sung it this morning, but the fact is The resolution of some issues require a higher authority And here they come before the king The word of one against the other No witnesses to corroborate the story no evidence to examine and all of this means no outcome The complexity seems too much for human wisdom and in this Most trying moment scripture doesn't bear record of King Solomon Attempting to counsel or compromise instead. He does this most unusual thing. He calls for a sword Seems so contrary to human intellect Yet the scripture speaks that this man has been given wisdom by God

unequaled wisdom Never another like him to judge matters just like these Now I can't tell you for certain But I don't think it was ever his intention to cut the baby as much as it was to cut the lie Good judgment hear me now Good judgment is too easily clouded by the veil of human passion The confusion of competing voices is too much And so he does what a man with wisdom from God would do Bring me a sword I Know you think it's for death, but it's not it's for discernment Paul said it like this in Ephesians 6 and 17 the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit Which is the word of God? I preach to you today that the sword this sword always works There is never a situation in which you will find yourself in which this sword is

Insufficient you say preacher you don't know no, I don't know You can get all the degrees you want to get do all the figuring you can figure and they're still gonna be some trouble too great Some problems too complex and so what do you do you do what the wise man did you call? For the sword because the sword always works For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword Piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and joints in the moral. He said it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart That Which the human mind cannot calculate that which cannot be measured by any human instrument God said his word was so precise it it could pierce with such precision It could get on the inside where no hand can get it no

Scalpel can get it no machine can measure this word can get in there with such precision It discerns your thoughts it reads your mind and it measures your motive That sword is powerful It cuts away all confusion It pierces through every human emotion And when it's handled properly it is so powerful and so precise that it can free you from every Bondage it can deal with your grief and it can deal with your sorrow It can cut away your same it can deliver you a fear it can take away Frustration and it can give you peace and it can give you joy and it can give you hope and it can give your strength The word is so effective that it's work that it can Simultaneously deliver you from some things while developing you and other things as the Solomon says bring me A sword I need a sword that can cut through the atmosphere

I need a sword that can pierce the veil of human emotion I need a sword that that can cut away the trauma of bad decisions I need a sword that can deal with the regret and the sorrow present in this room I need a sword that saw to deliver us from the deception Bring me a sword It ought to be the cry I've ever parent now. I won't mention names. I Have three sons though who like any siblings have a little conflict ever now and then And in the middle of a little brotherly conflict a Few days ago I Said come here Come sit at this table And I opened up my Bible To Romans chapter 12 and started reading When I finished I said do you have any questions? Well He said obviously you didn't get it. Let's go back and read it in another translation

So I read Roman chapter 12 again and when I finished do you all understand now any questions? Well, he did this up evidently you didn't get it. Let's go back and read it again in another translation What was he saying? We're all members of one body prefer one another over yourself and love and serve and all of these things What were you doing? I was bringing a sword But I'm troubled today Paul's words and Galatians 3 trouble me Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit. Are you now made perfect by the flesh? it's Like a thorn in my side words that just Constantly put me in a place of evaluation of consideration Because they serve as a constant reminder of our responsibility my due diligence is this to be daily in the word and Daily in prayer for there is no other way in which I can finish in the spirit

Except by staying in the spirit and there is no way in which I can be in the spirit except through his word and by prayer and so It is in the absence of these things That we find the concerning reality That you can be in a spiritual environment and not be spiritual You can talk about spiritual things You can talk about church, but not be spiritual You can appear spiritual and not be spiritual You can put on your Sunday best Come to the altar when we worship you can lift your hands when brother Grant Doherty Challenges us to lift our hands you can speak the word when he says speak the word and still not be spiritual Because spirituality requires the consideration of not only what we do But why and how we do it? Hear me God made us humans Not robots. I don't want you to misunderstand me today

Christianity following Jesus is a call to Unwavering obedience however, I Would challenge us today We cannot be shallow people Jesus is not seeking compliance without comprehension. Think with me now Yes, we serve God with our hearts and with our hands We come with passion and lift our voice and we clap and lift our hands and We serve this campus so diligently as I sat studying yesterday afternoon Zach Wallace was going with the weed eater around the building and I thought this is great Another generation kingdom-minded serving the church giving to God thank God for it We serve God with our hearts We serve God with our hands We open our mouths and sing and pray and we move our feet and dance and we clap and work and we clean And we greet and all of this is good But Jesus said in mark 12 that you shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and

With all thy mind art is the passion. It's what we feel Strength is our service our work. It's what we do but our mind It's the place of our thoughts It's where our values reside It is what directs us in decision-making. It's what we think Paul would later say the carnal mind is enmity. It is against God this this this is a concern to me now Because this is what I conclude from the scripture It is possible to serve God with your heart and serve God with your hands But not serve God with your mind It is possible to be passionate towards the church and to serve in the church, but not yield your mind to the Lord So what does this look like? It looks like somebody who is spiritually stuck They love coming to church. They love working around the church But they're at the same place of spiritual stagnation or decline that they have been in for a long time

Why cuz the carnal mind is against God And scripture doesn't hide the sin or the sorrow of even God's chosen The stories are many of good people who made bad decisions Human thoughts become clouded by emotion The right way becomes blurred by the deceit of their own feelings and every time The outcome is costly Moses He seeks to do a good thing, but he's fueled by frustration and a moment of uncontrolled anger It turns into an act of aggression and he kills a man What about Esau? Hungry and desperate sales his birthright for a bowl of soup forfeiting the eternal for something so fleeting like a feeling so He is the king Cloaked in royal garments, but even they cannot silence the voice of his inner insecurity As the praises of David increase from the lips of those he rules over So does the insatiable jealousy working in the heart of Saul

His emotionally driven decisions result in God rejecting him as king And then there's David He whom the Bible says was a man after God's own heart But even he With his wandering eyes And lustful nature His judgment is clouded and he commits adultery He sleeps with another man's wife and would go on to plot the murder of her husband in order that he might hide his sin Because lust is a lying power Promises you pleasure without price Joy without commitment it lies to you Until the prophet sent by God put his finger in the face of David Val art the man Even Peter The one who's spiritually speaking in his hands holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven This is the apostle that'll stand up in the prized city of Jerusalem on the great day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 And preach the gospel that opened the door to the kingdom. This is him

who in a moment The torment of fear has so clouded his judgment that it has Motivated him to seek acceptance among the wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time He even the great apostle Denied the Lord And these are only a few Of the stories we could tell I rise today to preach to you of a concern given to me in prayer that Christians are too often Making decisions at the direction of human emotion and in the neglect of scripture It is possible for your own ambition to lead you astray from the will of God And I don't want you to misunderstand me. You are not a bad person and we are not a bad people Yeah, we once were sinners, but we've been saved by grace. We are heirs of the king It's not that we're bad, but maybe we're too busy

Because the battle of priorities is raging ever so violently in our lives and the lack of Consecration is not always the result of open defiance, but the subtleness subtlety of careless spirituality of Serving God with Your hands and your heart, but not your mind think with me the measure of time given to consideration of the scripture and Contrast to every other conversation or form of media that we digest It is not always that the people have an outright rejection of God It is simply the settling into routines that leave God out of our minds and has such out decisions And so it is we air and making decisions According to our feelings and not our faith We think and we talk and we act without ever searching the scripture We don't pause and pray and ask what is the Spirit saying? concerning this Jesus Constantly cornered by the Pharisees and the Sadducees in his earthly ministry

Asking interrogative questions trying to back him into a corner Trip him up on his own words and Matthew 22 is one such account and he responds with this statement you do air Not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God Of all the things he could have say that would have been an indictment against their attitude and their behavior and The corrupt motive which which they operate he looks at them and chastises them with this singular statement You have made a mistake because you don't know the scripture And perhaps no true words could be applied to Christianity at large in 2025 we Do air not knowing the scriptures people choose a church based on the building or the marketing and people decide how they're gonna live Based on a personality nobody consults the scripture Nobody opens up their Bible and searches what what is God saying about this is his what they're preaching even true

Is this out of a history textbook or is this out of the Bible? And so I say what he said then is still true now We air if we do not know the scripture For this is to serve God in all of the right ways, but not with our mind and You can't know the power of God Except you know the scripture it is wrong to not know But it is equally wrong to know and not live I present to you today a consideration Which I hope to God you will employ in the decision-making process of your life Acts 15 and 28 The Bible reads It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us That is profound I Know there's a contextual consideration and I know that's not even the ending of the verse But that is sufficient for a process by which we must decide if this is good or not

It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us When is the last time we paused amidst our conversations? Whether in our marriages our families our teams in the church or our workforce and said huh Does this seem good to God? What does God can feel concerning this matter has the Holy Ghost said go has God given peace He said it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us not to us and the Holy Ghost They didn't reason within themselves and look for God to affirm their decision They came out of a place of prayer and said this is what I feel from God Let's reason together about what God has said It seemed good to the Holy Ghost. What are you saying preacher? I'm saying this ought to be the philosophy of every parent in this room Young men young ladies this ought to be the philosophy that we live by

The guiding principle of how we make decisions not is it fun? Not is it good? Not how will it make me look or what can I buy? Is it good to the Holy Ghost? And my in my few short years of ministry I have watched Families fall apart and churches fall apart and ministries be shipwrecked as people got caught in the crossfire Otherwise avoidable drama and bad decisions if somebody would have just risen up with a word from the Lord and said bring me a sword It's not all about stuff and money It's not all about possessions and career I know it's necessary and I know it's good if yielded to God, but this is what I'm asking you Please yield it to God Is this sword? Oh my this sword It's powerful. It's a two-edged sword Because it's both logos and Rima The logos is the thought the plan the written word of God forever settled already revealed

But the Rima whoo shakama It's when the Spirit speaks Sometimes it comes from the pages of scripture you don't I'm talking about you read that verse you read that verse Sister Annie you read that verse two dozen times, but on that morning Hey, it ministered to you in a way. It ain't never ministered before why how that happened It was the Rima the Spirit brought the logos off the page and gave you a now word Right word at the right time to speak to you direction and peace and help In your time of need It's both logos and Rima So what do you do? What do you do? I'll tell you what you do you go to the scripture and you search the logos You find a place of prayer and you ask God for a Rima and I probably should clarify I'm not talking listen

There's a bunch of cracker jacks running around today think they have special revelation from God. They don't they're out to lunch I know some of them. They're operating an open rebellion I could tell you the names of people that I know for a fact who are being used on big platforms and big churches They haven't paid ties in years because I know they're pastor. I don't care if they sound spiritual Not everything that looks and talks spiritual is spiritual So what do you do? I'll tell you what you do Whether we're talking about your attitude or your attire Your media or your marriage Your parenting or your friendships Your secular career or your spiritual calling From your weekend hobby to your commitment to this house. I'll tell you what you do Draw the sword Because you may be operating under the pretense that all is well and everything is okay

But you've not brought the Holy Ghost into your decision You want to know the scary thing about David? He didn't lose his position Oh god He lost his family he maintained his image and his identity and He maintained his power and his function But the consequence of a decision absent of the scripture lived on for generations So My question today is this What does the scripture speak concerning this? Have you proceeded under the assumption that all is well When in reality you just ignored what the scripture had already spoken What is the spirit saying? Because the scripture says much But it is the spirit that rightly applies it To the right situation at the right time in order that we may do The right thing I preach today Bring me A sword well she said this and she said that and no she did this and she did that

Bring me a sword some things Necessitate a higher power A wisdom beyond which a man can have some things are too complex and too cloud and Passion and emotion makes it all too difficult. What then do you do? Open your bible Find your place of prayer And ask god Is your blessing on this decision? And here they stand before the king The revelation Of the real mother soon to be revealed It's only a few verses But oh the principles are profound Two women Both are mothers With very different natures One Speaks in the interest of herself And the other in the interest of the child The spirit of the one is selfish But the spirit of the other Is selfless It's notable to me now that The false mother the deceptive mother the thieving mother only speaks in response to the true Mother and not to the king

In contrast The true mother on multiple occasions Says oh My lord It is the recognition of authority It is the presence of honor in her words While the other is unsubmitted the true mother lives with these principles. No, she is not perfect But yes, she does grasp this And so the real mother Pleads for the life of the child Because love is not selfish The true mother always speaks in the interest of the infant But not the false mother She's motivated by jealousy And by bitterness And these evil vices Will always Permit the death of the future and so Let me break from the story And talk to us about us Because this is not just a story about them, but about you and about me It's a story about us because paul would write in the new testament in galatians 4 speaking have the

Jerusalem above god's spiritual family He said that is our mother the church Collectively the church that he has purchased with his own blood is The mother of us all and so the question should be rightly asked today What kind of mother will we be? It was already said well by brother sanders today But god set the tone of his house a long time ago Thank god for a shepherd And his wife and family That set the tone of this house Where no one has a past And everyone has a future That is the kind of mother we are There is an ever-present call that lingers in the atmosphere of new life fellowship to leave where we are And step out of the past that we have known because we are constantly being summoned toward the future But that future demands a selfless way of living

And paul would say in philippians 2 do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit But rather in humility you need to value others above your cells Not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interest of the others When that mother looks at the sword in the king's hand Knowing her baby is about to die. She says you know what? I'm not concerned about my wants and my preferences I'd love to nurse my baby. I'd love to raise him to manhood. But if it's life or death I will always speak in the interest of preserving the future and not my preference It's not about what I want. It's not about what I think or I feel It is always in the interest of the future and which we must speak because this this is a mother that always speaks In the interest of the future

With the only way The only way we can know the future and which god has for you and god has for us Is in those moments when we are so susceptible to being led astray by our own emotions Manipulated by our own feelings by acting without consideration or counsel of the spirit of god With not stopping to pause to say what does the scripture say? So I say Bring me a sword. I want to make my decisions Based off what the news says I don't want to live according to an amazon bestseller something that barns and noble puts I I don't want to be moved by the wayward opinions and those who want to propagate their own face and own message on forms of social media No, I need to bury my face in this book I need to draw the sword and free myself from the web of deception that is being weaved in the world

Bring me a sword if somebody today Could get a revelation of the relevancy Of this weapon Are you lost? Are you confused? Are you looking for direction? Are you tired of living in that turmoil? Are you weary of Being bound up in the web of human emotion Tossed to and fro by Cunning men and crafty opinions Are you paddling voices of deception? Have you walked into this house today wanting a change in your life, but not sure how? I have your answer Bring me a sword If you could just have an awakening To how awesome this book is To how powerfully transformative these words are Then your voice would echo what I have preached today At your dining room table and in your living room And on your family car ride You would say you know what? I'm not sure We're gonna figure it out together. How are we gonna do it dad? What are we gonna do mom?

We're gonna call for the sword We're gonna see what's god saying What's the scripture speaking? Listen, I'm troubled I'm troubled as I've traveled I've traveled far and wide Vast in the past several years. I'm troubled Had how casually we are Towards things of spiritual significance And I fear it's because we have given him our hands and we have given him our hearts But we've not given him our minds Hear me There's no such thing As being spiritually deep If you're going to be a shallow thinker This is why reels are so dangerous You want to read a book that'll mess you up Go buy the book called The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Hyde Go read the science behind the chemical rewiring Of children and teenage brains because they're constant consumption of short form content of an endless scroll That's given to them with no narrative

What's it doing? It's conditioning a generation of people to be biblically illiterate They want truth in a certain number of characters or in a few sentences or they won't buy Into truth We've got to be better There has got to be something inside of us that craves for the word That recognizes if left to my own devices if I have to do this recording to my own intellect and my own wisdom We are all in trouble, but please somebody bring me a sword Because that sword It'll pierce through human emotion that sword It'll cut away all carnality that sword. It'll make clear the will of god It'll show you the way in which you should walk, but you've got to get in the sword Don't settle for some rejurgurgitated form of truth hear me today I would to god they're from the youngest to the oldest we would have a bible revival have new life fellowship

What do you mean preacher? I mean get you a bible bring it to church read it at home Take notes study it learn it and live it bring me a sword There is no such thing as insufficiency in this book If you get in this You ain't no need Anything else you can stand with me. I'm almost done. Are you weary? Are you uncertain? Are you in need of confirmation? Are you seeking? Direction how about this? Do you have sickness in your body? Because as I've already said if you're not careful In the absence of a sword You may settle for an outcome that could have otherwise been altered Don't accept what you see in the night Wait until you get in the light darkness how the doctor's report can linger over your mind and mess with your emotion But when you walk into the house of god on sunday, there is a light a revelation that says by

His stripes we are healed The psalmist said it like this. He sent his word And healed thee You know why pastor injure because this is so precise this book. I'm telling you this book Why this book will change you it can get in somebody's body It can start cutting tumors out It can get in someone's brain and start fixing chemical imbalances come on brother gordon You know what i'm talking about. You know why because he's had it. He's been touched by he's been helped by the sword That right there Can do surgery All right, god help me that right there. Let me tell you what that'll do that right there That right there can go And cut racism out of a city That right there can go And take the desire for vengeance out of your heart that right there Cut away the vice of jealousy

That's ravaging your soul that right there Oh if you had any idea You know those streets that nobody likes to drive on nobody likes to talk about You know those places if the word gets in there if the sword gets in there It can start cutting the bondage of addiction That sword can cut away chemical dependency I thank god for our officers We ought to obey and we ought to honor But hear me Their job would be a whole lot better If we were better at ours Because what a badge can't stop What policy can't stop I said I shortly after I moved to tarahoe. I was in basers market one day And I was uniquely My interest was piqued Concerning a set of books written by a man on the history of tarahoe So I So I do my reading Time magazine called it

Sin City in one article the mayor Fearing the repercussion of the people I think it was the 60s if my memory is correct, but you'd have to verify Resisted the council the direction of the police department And outside politicians to deal with the prostitution rings in this city So the county sheriff just showed up and arrested A bunch of people shut down a bunch of them on his own This was a dark place Until just a few decades ago the largest International gambling ring the largest bust in american history happened right down here on wall bash avenue Been a lot of dark stuff Hanging around this city for a long time Until god said I'm going to send a mother who's not going to speak in the interest of herself She's going to subdue her preferences and silence her opinion Because her is a future

that god saw And now In many ways We are standing in that future It is one thing For pastor to draw his sword on sunday But it's another thing For you to draw it On monday So when this day is done and these doors are closed and this building sits empty I charge you in the fear of god When you wake tomorrow In another day With more problems Some recurring and some new Find its way into your world Do not let your life be dictated By the fleeting feelings of human emotion Call for a sword Father, I thank you For our great church I thank you for a pastor that preaches without fear Who comes to this pulpit having searched the scriptures and heard from the spirit I pray the fervency with which he preaches would infiltrate our hearts and our homes That we would search

As diligently on monday As passionately as he preached on sunday The way in which he hungers in order that he may speak to us I'm asking that that hunger would trickle into our homes That you may speak to us Because I know beyond the veil of This natural world there are some things raging in the spirit over this city And the way in which we win Would require The sword of the lord So I pray today That as we leave this house that you would let us walk in the light of revelation I pray for those in this room right now Who find it difficult to comprehend when they read the scripture And i'm asking lord that as they open their bible tomorrow in the days that follow That the spirit of revelation Would bring to life that which they read And you would help them find the application

What the spirit is saying to them And we thank you for it We believe you're going to do it and we're going to see the fruit of it in our lives In jesus name