Groundwork

I would like to turn your attention to the book of second Samuel. And I'm going to read to you a couple of verses of scripture, but I'll also turn to the book of 1 Timothy chapter three. And I want to read to you a couple of verses of scripture, second Samuel chapter 18 and verses 17 and 18. The word of the Lord says this, and they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood and laid a very great heap of stones upon him, and all Israel fled every one to his tent. Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar. Everybody say pillar, which is in the Kingsdale for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. And he called the pillar, everybody say pillar, after his own name, and it is called unto this day Absalom's place. From 1 Timothy chapter three, I will read to you from the 14th verse of 1 Timothy chapter three. We will read verses 14 through 16. The word of the Lord says this, these things right I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground. Everybody say pillar and ground. The pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Praise God. And I'd like to concentrate our attention on those words pillar and ground. My subject tonight is this ground work. Ground work. Could we lift up our voices unto the Lord and ask His blessing upon the preaching of His word? Lord, I thank you for this night we have in your presence where we can share of your holy word. I pray Lord for a quickening spirit that your word would be that lamp and light, that He would order our steps and order our words. I pray in the name of Jesus that you would accomplish all that you desire in this house. Let your moving of your spirit be ordered of your will. We humble ourselves before you and we surrender ourselves unto you in the precious and the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Everybody said in Jesus' name and everybody said amen. You may be seated in the name of the Lord. I would like to observe the similarities between these passages of scripture. At first glance, they don't seem to have a lot of common ground. But I do see a commonality and I would like to observe it with you.

We see in the first passage that we read concerning the life of Absalom, not just the life of Absalom, but the very end of the life of Absalom where that it describes the inglorious conclusion of this man's life. And the scripture points and paints a picture that is impossible to escape, that this man comes to the end of it all and it did not work out the way he anticipated. The way he had hoped it would be. We see language that is disturbing and we see that it tells us that in his lifetime, that is the only time in the Old Testament that there is a word translated as such, lifetime. In his lifetime, he took and reared up a pillar unto himself. He bared his name. He said that it was because he did not have a son. Now he ended up having some sons. So perhaps this was built before he had the sons or they wonder if maybe they passed on. Not much is said about them. But what we know is that he was concerned about his personal legacy. And he said, I'm gonna build a monument, a pillar to myself so that I am not forgotten so that people know just how great my lifetime was here on earth. It can be a disturbing thing to consider that when we pass from this earth, we pass many times from people's memories. Solomon described that and said, the vanity of vanity is all his vanity. And he said, we labor for riches, give it to someone and we are forgotten. And Absalom apparently observed that and said, I don't want that to be said of me, I'm gonna build a pillar unto myself. But that is not the way his life concluded. There was no great parade in his honor. There was no great celebration of him as a legacy builder. No, he was cast into a pit with wood and covered with a heap of stones. It was not how he envisioned it, but it is how it ended up.

Now the common ground that that has with the New Testament passage is that the New Testament passage refers to the church of the living God. It refers to Paul's admonition to Timothy, that I write unto you these things. And there were a great many things that Paul had written to Timothy and would write to Timothy. And he explained why he would write these things to Timothy. He said, because I want you to know how to behave yourself in the church of the living God. Behaving, something people don't know a lot about today. But you need to be acquainted with that word. It determines who you'll be and what you'll have. Behaving, I want you Timothy to know how to conduct yourself. I want you to know how to live your life in the church.

And Brother Elms, you talked to us today about the church. You brought to us that glorious bride of Christ without spot, without wrinkle, washed in the blood of the Lamb. You reminded us of that great church of the living God, the church triumphant, oh glory, built by the hand of the Lord. It's been through the fire, but the fire couldn't burn it. It's been through the flood, but the flood couldn't turn it. Hallelujah, it's the church triumphant, oh glory, and it's built by the hand of the Lord. I'm talking about the church in the book of Revelation. Built on a rock on a firm foundation. Hallelujah, it's been through the flood, it's been through the fire. But one of these days, this church is gonna move up a little higher. It's the church triumphant.

And Paul told Timothy, he said, this church to describe its resoluteness, to describe its strength, to describe its capacity, he chose a geometrical reference. He chose an engineering reference. He chose to express it and explain it in such a way that Timothy could understand it. He said, it's a pillar, it's strong. It stands a strong. It holds things upright. It's the pillar. And Absalom understood the value of pillars. That's why he created a pillar unto himself. But the difference between Absalom's pillar and the pillar Paul was talking about was Absalom's pillar, there is no mention of the base of that pillar. However, Paul said it's not just the pillar of truth, it's the pillar and the ground of truth. And I believe that a lot of times, we can be so enamored with the pillar, with the uprightness, with the exaltation of, with all of the splendor and all of the glamour, can I say, with all of the things that are visible and tangible, all of the things that have a little glitter and glimmer to them, and we forget about what really holds everything upright. It is not the height of the pillar, it is the ground of the pillar. That's what Absalom didn't understand. He didn't understand the base of it all. He didn't understand the foundation of it all.

Let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it matters what you build your house upon. I would like to remind somebody that Jesus said there was a wise man and there was a foolish man. And they were both builders and they both wanted a house, but only one knew how to build the house. And the importance of the foundation, the importance of the ground upon which that house is built, he said it was a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, but it was a wise man who built his house upon the rock and when the floods came and when the winds came and when the rain came and fell upon that house, the house that was built upon the rock stood the test of time. Oh, I can hear Jesus say, Thou art Simon Peter. Flesh and blood has not revealed to you who I am, but my Father which is in heaven, he has revealed it unto you. And upon this rock I will build my church. When he builds his church upon the right foundation, it is built upon the rock and the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church. This is why when the Lord gave Moses the instructions concerning the construction of the tabernacle in the wilderness, he gave to him all of these various materials that would be included in the construction of this ancient facility, whereby people could receive atonement for a little while for their sins. But when he got to the pillars that held up the whole structure, when he got to the columns that bore the weight, he explained to him, I want the pillars to look like this. I want these columns to look like that. I want them to be so many cubic inches. I want them to be this particular circumference. I want them to have the ability to hold this amount of weight. And then he began to concentrate on the sockets. Don't forget the sockets. Don't forget that base at the very root of the pillar. Don't forget to lower your eyes. You can get so caught up with looking at what is high and lifted up. What is high and lofty that you forget to look down at what really makes the difference of it all. God forbid that we should ever get caught up in the pillar and the monument and the legacy and the self glory that we can sometimes mistake for the glory of God.

Jesus talked a lot about the ground. He talked a lot about the ground. He was serious about it. He said there was a sower that went forth to sow and he went to sow seed in this ground. He threw that seed indiscriminately upon the ground and some seed fell upon the wayside and some seed fell upon shallow ground and some seed fell upon thorny ground and some seed fell upon good ground. Hallelujah. I want you to know, ladies and gentlemen, that particular parable is interesting to me because of the fact that it almost seems as if 75% of the ground was good for nothing and it's a little discouraging because we look at that and understand that's what we're doing when we sow the seed of the word of God. And sometimes we get to believing that if we sow the seed, well, we can only expect a certain percentage and it's a low percentage because there's only so much good ground. A lot of it's thorny, a lot of it's shallow, a lot of it's by the wayside, but let me tell you something about all that other ground. All it needs is a little groundwork. All it needs is a little groundwork. If you begin to break up the fallow ground and clear the debris and clear the way, if you just begin to move some dirt, if you put your shoulder to the plow, that's what Jesus said to do. He said, I want you involved and engaged in groundwork. I want you to put your shoulder to the plow and break the logs of dirt. Why? Because I want you to be good ground. I don't want you to just look at the thorns and say, well, I guess there's just a bunch of thorns there. That ground's good for nothing. No! Robinette, you said today, sweep it out. Don't just live with the cobwebs of carnality. Clean it up! Up the fallow ground. Get down to some rich soil under there. All it needs is a little groundwork. All it needs is a little groundwork.

God loves dealing with the ground. He created this earth and He put inside of this ground the ability for so much to grow. We have, listen, don't ever believe the word of someone who tells you they've never seen a miracle. They see miracles every day, all day. If they're looking at a tree, they're looking at a miracle. They have no idea what goes on under the surface of that soil. But there is a God in heaven, the creator of all things who created that soil, properties and powers to move upon seed. And He put a sun in the sky. And He put rain and oxygen in that water. Hallelujah! And hydrogen and put it into the earth to move upon seed. It's groundwork. It's groundwork. It's groundwork. God said, I'm gonna create a people. I'm gonna make a people for my namesake. And so the Lord God formed man of the dust, of the ground and breathed into His nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. It's groundwork. Hallelujah. I've come to call somebody today to some groundwork to break up the fallow ground. I thought, my goodness, I don't even know if I need to preach after Brother Robinette and Brother Elms. I thought I could just play their messages today and let them just say what they said all over again because I'm just gonna chime in and say there's got to be a part of you that gets down to the nitty gritty. Forget the lights. Forget the hype. Forget the compliments and the flattery. It's not about any of that. It's about this. That's why not only when He created a humanity of people but when He came to redeem that people, God was manifest in the flesh. That's where we get the term down to earth because that's what God did. He came down from His glory. Ever living story. Our God and Savior came and Jesus was His name born in a manger. To His own a stranger, a man of sorrow, grief and agony. He was not something that we beheld and were smitten by but when we looked at Him, we hear as it were our faces from Him. He was, there was no beauty nor comeliness that we should desire Him. He came down into our human flesh. This flesh that came from the dust of the ground and He was seen of angels and He was preached unto the Gentiles and He was believed on in the world and all of that happened before He was received up into glory.

I would love to preach to you about glory. I wanna talk to you about that heavenly city. I wanna talk to you about that glory land way. I wanna talk to you about this glorified body we're gonna have. I can't wait to talk to you about the heights of these pillars. But before you ever get to the height of the pillar, you've got to get to the ground of the pillar. You've got to deal with the base of it all. You've got to deal with the foundation of it all. So caught up in this beautiful dream of stars and shining suns and stars that are brighter than other stars and stars that make obeisance to your star and the intergalactical cosmic depiction of how God is gonna use you. Yeah, Joseph, God is gonna use you just like that.

And I'm preaching to some millennials today. I'm preaching to some pastors and pastors' wives and teachers and evangelists and young adults and young people. God's gonna use you greatly. He's gonna use your mouth to declare His word. He's gonna use your hands to work in His kingdom. You're gonna do great things for God. But don't get mesmerized by the stars of the sky. There's another dream God wants you to have. The other dream doesn't have anything to do with stars, bright and shining stars. It has to do with sheaves in the field. It has to do with stuff growing out of the ground. It has to do with sheaves and your sheaves standing this way and these sheaves standing that way. You're gonna have to go through the sheaf process before you experience the elevation of the stars because you'll never be able to handle the height of that pillar unless you understand the ground of that pillar. It's about groundwork and I just don't think Absalom understood that. Absalom was focused on the pillar and it didn't pan out well. It didn't work out and it never works out when you're trying to make a name for yourself.

Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost right now. I wanna preach to you about this man, Absalom, just a little bit. And I know that when we think of him, we kind of categorize him with some of the villains of scripture and rightly so because he really truly became a treacherous person. We put him in the ranks of people like Cain and Delilah and Jezebel and Judas Iscariot and others who were treacherous, who betrayed, who were not trustworthy, who had no loyalty in them. But I want to preach to you today a little bit about Absalom from the perspective of his father because David thought of him differently than anybody else thought of him. David was the one who was betrayed by him. David was, he actually sought to kill David and he removed David from his throne to where David had to go into exile with those who would stand with him. And the Bible says that Absalom stole the hearts of the people and he developed a loyalty from them. And yet in all of this, David never lost his hope for Absalom. Never did he lose his hope for Absalom.

The first thing I want to share about him is that we mispronounce his name. His name is not pronounced Absalom. His name is pronounced Ab Shalom in David's eyes. He named him Ab Father. It's where we get the word from Abba. Paul said, we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Abba Father. And it means affectionately I am connected to my father. He is not just some ambiguous figure that is far off in the galaxy somewhere but I am close to him and he is close to me and I have relationship and communion with him. Paul said, that's who our father is. We have received the spirit of adoption. In one place he said, we are made nigh by the blood of Christ. We who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. There is no middle wall of partition between us. We once were strangers and foreigners to the household of faith, to the commonwealth of Israel. We were aliens but there now we have access by one spirit to the father. Abba. Ab Shalom, David called him. Ab Shalom, father of peace. It's where we get Abraim, the father of many nations or Abram, a high father, Ab Shalom, the father of peace and David could never get away from seeing him in that light. It didn't matter how treacherous he became, David held on to what he named him. I put a name on that young man and I believe he can come back someday. It's a treacherous story. It's a difficult story. I won't even go into all the beginnings but David understood why Ab Shalom had his issues.

There were issues from the very outset. There was injustice involved. Ab Shalom, his sister was defiled by his half brother Amnon. What a terrible thing it was. What a folly in Israel it was. And David, I don't know where David was in all of that. I know David was still trying to catch himself from what he had done in the case of Uriah, the Hittite and Bathsheba. He lost a baby in that process that sent him to the floor and caused him to cry out before God. To purge me with a hiss up so I can be clean, wash me, so I can be white as snow. He felt the very gift of God drifting from his hands. He said, take not thy holy spirit from me. Cast me not away from thy presence. He called on God. He delivered me from this blood-kiltiness. Created me a clean heart, renewed me a right spirit. I don't know what happened, but by the time Ab Shalom came along and Amnon did what he did with Tamar, that terrible act of sin, David did not act upon it, perhaps like he should have. And Ab Shalom could not live with that. He couldn't deal with that after two full years. He had seen enough. He'd waited long enough and he took justice into his own hands. I don't know who was writing that story. I don't know. I'm not gonna pretend to know, but I will tell you, be careful how you handle justice and injustice. Be careful how you handle justice and injustice. Be careful how you look at authority. Be careful how you deem whether authority is doing what they ought to be doing or not. It can set in motion an idea within you where you start thinking that you know what's best in all cases. It may be cut and dried to you. It may be, there may be no gray area to you and you may even be right, but you've got to respect authority. You do, you do. Hear me, I have to tell you this, ladies and gentlemen, do you have authority issues? Habshalom, do you have authority issues?

Let me tell you about Habshalom. The Bible says that he was beautiful and that they sang of his beauty and he was praised for his beauty and that from his head to his foot, there was no blemish in him. Priestly favor he had from God. Priests who were described in that way were the only ones who could approach the glory of God in the holiest of all places. Absalom carried with him almost a priestly favor from God. He was blemish less from head to toe. He was absolutely beautiful, stunningly, stunningly gifted and everybody knew it and everybody praised him for it. His charisma was off the charts. It was a gift from God. How are you handling the gifts that God has given you? Do you think they qualify you to take justice in your own hands? Do you think it qualifies you to speak ill of the anointed authority of God? Issues are not until you disagree with authority. If authority is doing everything just exactly the way you want authority to do it, then you're fine. But as soon as authority does something different than the way you think it ought to be done and now you've got an issue and now you think it justifies doing what you do and taking justice into your own hands and speaking in a way of deception and speaking in a way of condemnation of authority. That's when you know if you have authority issues or not. Be careful, be careful. Sounds like you need a little groundwork done. Sounds like you need a little groundwork.

I remember when we built our building in Cincinnati just recently, just in the last year and a half, almost two years ago. My goodness, I had a vision for that thing. That large auditorium, that large welcome center, everything, we said we were gonna have a large platform. Everything was large, large, large. We were just trying to make it as big as we could. Then we all had to scale it down to what we could afford and that's a whole different story. But man, that vision, I'll never forget when I had this vision of what it was gonna feel like, what it's gonna look like, what it was gonna sound like, what it was gonna be like. And then we all threw on hard hats and suits and ties and stood out in the ground where it was gonna be built. I put my foot on that shovel and put it into the ground and we broke ground. In place, imagine my surprise when the excavators came in and over the next several weeks and months, they didn't build anything. They tore everything up. They began to move debris and move earth and move dirt. They found stuff buried. We didn't know it was buried. We're starting to get scared of what else we were gonna find. If we needed to go ahead and report to the authorities, if there was something else under there, dear Lord have mercy, we were pulling stuff up from ancient days and earth was being moved and we were digging up that earth and what was going on, it was groundwork. You can't build anything until you do groundwork, until you excavate. And I've come to tell somebody, you're never gonna be what God calls you to be until you deal with that authority issue you've got on the inside of you until you deal with that part of you that thinks you can do it better and you know what's best and you don't care who God has anointed and you don't know who he has anointed. It's the one who raises people up and God's the one who sets people down. One, two, but I've come to tell you, God said, I did it. I have to get used to saying, I'm gonna trust in God and I'm gonna stand still, stand still, stand still, stand still. I'm not gonna raise my voice. I'm not gonna raise my voice against a God called leader. I'm preaching to some young Absalems today. You've got anointing, you've got gifts, you've got favor, it's unique favor, it's special favor, it's powerful favor, but you've got to be able to build the ground before you have a pillar. Don't get caught up in that monument built for yourself. Come on Absalom, snap out of it, snap out of it.

David never gave up on Absalom. He said, Absalom. He said, listen, and when it was all, when they was in the middle of betraying him, when he was seeking David's life, when David was moving back in to take the throne back, David said, don't kill. Hope for him. I've got belief in him. The time came when Absalom killed Amnon and word got to David that he'd killed all the sons of the king. And that was the word David received and David believed it for a while until he learned from Jonadab that that wasn't the case. And Absalom fled after Amnon died. He fled. Let me tell you something. Sometimes in ministry there are words of misinformation sent out about you. The Elms just preached about it a moment ago. There are times even in this body of Christ, even in this kingdom of God where people are gonna say things about you that are false and people are gonna believe false things about you. How you gonna handle that, Absalom? I'll tell you how you handle it. Groundwork, groundwork, groundwork, groundwork. That's how you handle it. You get back to checking your spirit.

How the Bible says that David longed for Absalom. Absalom had fled but David longed for him. His heart longed for him. He missed his son Absalom. Joab, another name, Joab. It means Jehovah fathered. It means a child of God, Joab. Joab realized that David was missing his son Absalom and he made arrangements for a little woman of Tekoa to come and he put words in her mouth and she spoke to David. David seemed to have trouble looking past his own four wall, something my father calls provincial thinking and he could not see past the province of where he lived and he had trouble. So somebody would often come to him with a parable that would disassociate him from the issue. It happened in the case of Bathsheba and the Uriah the Hittite and the little lamb from the prophet Nathan and it happened here with the woman of Tekoa, the words of Joab in her mouth and she said to him there were two brothers who were striving against one another and there was nobody to break up the fight and the fight got too hot and one struck another and that one died and it was a fight between them and the whole family ganged up upon me, the mother of these boys and they want me to turn this other one who acted in a rage because he had been wronged and I don't feel comfortable turning him over to the violent gang. What do I do? I'll protect you, I'll protect you and I'll protect him. And she said okay, then why won't you do that for Absalom? Why won't you, why are you letting him be banished?

She said we all must die. We are like water spilled out upon the ground. And she said, but God devises means that the banished be not expelled from him. Times where banishment is needed. There are times where people have to be set aside. There are times where people have to be set down, but God help us to understand that the Lord devises means and ways that even though they're banished, they don't have to be expelled from him. I'm gonna have to put something in our spirit, ladies and gentlemen, and if you have trouble with that notion, sounds like you need a little groundwork. Sounds like you need a little groundwork. Sounds like you got a little flesh to crucify. Sounds like you've got a little bit of yourself to lay upon the altar. Cause I'm gonna tell you God devises means to bring water spilled on the ground. Joab put these words in her mouth and Joab said the water cannot be gathered up again. That's not the case with God. God devises means that he will evaporate that water and he will bring it up into a cloud and he'll hold it there for a while and then he will rain it back down upon the earth. That's where water goes. It doesn't just disappear unable to be gathered. It is gathered by God. And I've come to tell you that in this last day in time revival, in this latter reign, there is gonna be a return of some absulums who were gifted and they got mixed up and they built a pillar under themselves. But they never got to the foundation of it. But you better get ready because when this water falls from heaven, there's gonna be a revival. A revival but not expelled from him. Hallelujah, Absalom. Come on man, step out of it. Stop getting fixated on the monuments for yourself. Stop getting fixated on the pillars that you build unto your own name. Stop getting caught up in your own press. The things, the good things people say about you. Stop it, stop it. Get to the groundwork. Get to the groundwork.

Absalom gathered horses and soldiers and began to march around with an entourage. Why are you doing that? Hear me. Why are you posing as a king, Absalom? You're not a king. You may think you will be one day but that's only gonna be if you wait on the Lord and be of good courage. Brother Glasgow said it a moment ago when David was anointed, he didn't go try to act like a king. He went right back into the shepherd's field and said I may be anointed but I've got some fieldwork to do. I may be anointed but let me tell you what you do with that anointing. You plant and you water. You water the ground. You get busy doing the work of the Lord.

Absalom did this thing. He did this thing where people would come to the gate. He would stand there and they would have an issue and Absalom would say to them, he would say, oh, if only the king had a deputy who could handle these kinds of matters. I guess he just doesn't have the kind of foresight that I have. I guess he just doesn't have the kind of judgment that I have. Oh, that I were made a judge in the land. Be careful, Absalom. I can tell what you're interested in when you do things sneaky and subtle, when you do things conniving and you don't think anybody notices and you have even convinced yourself that it doesn't matter because it's just, you're saying one thing but you mean another. What you mean comes through even the false words you were saying. Be careful. You've got to have pure motives. We've got to have purity, brother Robinette. You said it today. We've got to have purity in our motives. You don't look at the people and try to turn them against man. God has anointed for that position. You don't do that. You're acting like one who's trying to build a pillar for themselves and it doesn't end well for people who try to build a pillar for themselves. We're not in this to build a pillar for ourselves. We're in this to behave accordingly in the church of the living God that is the pillar in the ground of the truth. There's some people who will even pretend to believe a thing so they can get people on their side. The Bible said, Absalom stole the hearts of the people. That's the wrong way to lead. You don't steal people's hearts from them. You don't manipulate people's loyalty to you. You don't bring people into your favor in a way that is unlike the Lord. The Lord didn't steal anything. It's the thief's coming, not but for to steal, to kill and to destroy. But Jesus has come that you might have life and that more abundantly, that's what we do for people. We bring abundant life. We bring everlasting life. We bring the gospel that saves to the other. No, we don't manipulate. We don't coerce. We don't trick people into thinking we're on their side. We don't talk down to them. We don't talk bad about them. They are his people, the sheep of his pasture. And if we love him, we'll feed them. Inest of the wheat. You don't get the finest of the wheat unless you do ground work. You have no finest of the wheat. Jesus said, accept a corn of wheat. Fall into the ground, the ground, the ground and die in a bite of the loan. But if it die, it bring forth much fruit. Get down in that ground and die. Get down in that prayer posture and die. Get down in that repentance and die.

Absalom had this thing he would do where when people would come to him, they would make obeisance to him like they would the king. And they would go down to make obeisance to him. You know what he would do? He would grab their hands and say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't require that of you. He does, but I don't. I don't require things of you that that old man requires of you. Building a monument unto himself, you'll be thrown into a pit, cast over with the heap of stones. You will never be what God intended you to be. And if you only knew what God has in store for you, you wouldn't try to build your own monuments. You wouldn't try to build your own pillars. You wouldn't try to make a name for yourself. You wouldn't try to establish your brand. Haven't you learned by now that if you exult yourself, God will abase you. But if you will humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, in due season the Lord.

I'm raised in a home that taught us groundwork. My father and mother taught us, it's not about the platform, Joel. It's not about the pulpit, Joel. It's about outreach on Saturday. It's about praying in the altars. It's about being available to do whatever is needed in the church of the living God. I'm preaching to you here tonight. And I thank God and listen, hear me. Apparently there's a particular assignment I have of the Lord in this season of my life where he has me preaching behind pulpits. But I don't want anybody and it grieves me. Should anyone feel that this is the work of God and that this is what it's all about? God forbid, this is not what it's all about. It's about getting in that ground. It's about getting in that field and putting your shoulder to the ground. This happens to be a part of the field where the Lord has assigned me in this season. But if God changes my assignment, so be it. I want groundwork. I want foundation. I want this pillar to be high as high as God can make it built upon the rock that the gates of hell cannot prevail against.

Oh no, Absalom, you're getting it wrong. You're manipulating people to think, oh no, you don't have to follow what that old man said. I don't do that. I don't require obeisance and obedience. I don't require submission and humility. I don't require modesty and holiness. I don't require, I'm not super radical about exactly how you baptize. I just, I don't do it quite like that old man did it. You better be careful, Absalom. You'll be cast into a pit overlaid with a heap of stones. Humble yourself, humble yourself. You better get back down into the dirt. You better get back down on the ground. Cover yourself, Nineveh. Cover yourself, Nineveh, with sackcloth and ashes and go back to the ground.

Went way off the rails. He lost it all. He went as far as he could go. He was debauched in the eyes of Israel. He had disrespected his father on so many levels. It would seem irredeemable, irreconcilable. And yet, and yet, when they were coming to reinstall David as king and they were making their move to keep Absalom from being the danger that he was, and here's the scary thing. God had turned on Absalom. You don't wanna get there, but you will if you're proud. God resisteth the proud. Absalom, hear me. You may be beautiful. You may be gifted. People may sing your praises. You may have no blemish from head to toe, but God hates the proud. Look, because he pride. He hates the look up. He doesn't like the way you look down at people. He doesn't like the way you walk around like your God's gift. Listen, Absalom, I know you've had some trauma. Listen, Absalom, I know you've had a front row seat in justice. Listen, Absalom, I know, I know King David didn't even do everything just exactly as he ought to have done it. I get all of that, but you've got some groundwork to do. All of this, you know what David said. David said, don't slay my son. Don't kill him, because I know all it takes. This little ground, it can be made right. It can be made right. That's, listen, folks, you're hearing the words of a man after God's own heart. That's how God feels.

Should we, what should we do with this woman? She was caught in the act of adultery. What should we do with her? Should we stone her? Like the law of Moses said, we should stone her. No, no, no, no, no, here. Let me do a little groundwork here. Let me, let me just do a little groundwork. Because all it takes is just a little groundwork. Brother Robinette, all it takes is sweeping out those cobwebs. All it takes is coming back to a place of purity. All it takes is repenting. Let me tell you what the Bible says. If the wicked will turn from their wickedness, then I the Lord will remember their wickedness no more. Because he realized Absalom was a threat forever. Again, I don't know who was right here. It's a conflicting thing. It's a conflicting ethical situation. Here's what I know. Absalom probably had it coming to him. But here's what I also know. David said, don't. It doesn't matter who's right, it matters who has the authority. You let God be the judge in the end. You let God be the judge in the end. You have to respect who has the God given, God ordained authority.

Took it upon himself. And you wanna know what his real issue was? He wanted Absalom to come back. He wanted him to come back until he came back and couldn't see the face of David. And you be careful when you don't see the face of the king. You have to wait in those seasons. And David knew the value of not seeing the face of the king. This is why frequently in his Psalms, he would say to the Lord, hide not thy face from me. Stood what would happen in him when the Lord would hide his face. It would cause David to go back to the groundwork. He'd cause him to go back to fixing, working, humbling, submitting. And so he'd come back to seek the face of God. And so he was purposely hiding his face from Absalom because he knew it was good for Absalom. It was good for him. You don't know why God does what he does. You just let God be God and you do some groundwork. Waiting to see the face of the king. He got so mad that he burned up Joab's barley fields. So what matters? How do you treat your neighbor's harvest? How do you treat your neighbor's harvest? Waiting season in your frustration while you're trying to build a pillar under yourself when your neighbor has a harvest, it will bother you. If you're trying to build your pillar and your neighbor's having a harvest, it will bother you. It will eat you up because you're trying to build a monument for yourself. But if your monument isn't about you and you just wanna build up the pillar and the ground of the church of the truth, if that's all you're interested in, then you celebrate when your neighbor has a harvest. You don't go burn up their fields. You rejoice with them that rejoice. And if you get blessed, I'm glad if you get promoted, I'm glad if you get invited, I'm glad if you get elevated because it's about the pillar and the ground of truth. It's not about my...

Joab, he found Absalom and predictably, Absalom is caught by his hair, which was his most prized possession. He only cut it once a year, he needed a haircut. And he's caught by his own prized pride on a mule, that stubborn vehicle he used. He was caught and here came Joab and he thrust him through. Until he died. And when they came back to David, David had one request, don't kill him. Don't slay my son, don't slay my son. They did. And when they came back and said, he's dead. The lamentation of David would break your heart. He went to the chamber over the gate and as he went, he wept as he wept. He said, oh, Absalom my son, my son Absalom, Absalom my son, my son Not my betrayer, my son Not my enemy my son Not my adversary my son Not my rival my son Father of peace, Absalom, Father of peace Father of peace, o'ho Father of peace Father of peace Oh, I would to God that you could hear how God feels for you. What he thinks of you, how he loves you, even when he resists you, it is for your good. Even when he allows you to go through a season of experiencing the fiery trial, it is to refine you as gold. It is to burn the dross off of you. Yes it is. Oh, my son, my son. This is what David said, would God that I would have died for thee? Shalom, father of peace.

He also killed Abner, father of light. This man who had the name of the father upon him killed other men who had the name of the father upon them. Scripture says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves. Oh, child of God, you've got the name of Jesus on you in baptism. Don't you sling stones at other people of the name? Don't you take, don't take your sword, don't take your weapon, that sword you carry. This is not a samurai sword. This is a surgical instrument. This is so that we can reach the lost with the gospel of salvation. You hear what I'm telling you? Come on Simon Peter, put that sword up. You're just wielding it so carelessly and you're doing damage to people when you do that. You're cutting their ears off when you do that. Some of you know just enough scripture to put somebody in hell. Some of you know just enough scripture to make somebody have shame on them for the rest of their lives. You need to rightly divide the word of truth and you can all do that. And you can only do that with a surgical scalpel of his word. It's not sharp as a two-edged sword. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. Yes, it tells us all about hell, but it also tells us about a savior, about redemption plan, about deliverance. Hallelujah.

Come on, Joab, come on, Joab. Let him live. David said to, let him live. All he needs is a little groundwork. That's what you need tonight. I don't know where you are, what you're facing or what you're up against. Who's saying this man or his parents? Neither, it's for my glory. All he needs is a little groundwork. Spit in the ground. Let me get down here and do a little groundwork. We're gonna make something beautiful out of this situation. Oh, my son, my son, my son. Absalom, absalom. I want somebody right now who feels like you're far from God or you know somebody far from God. How about you lift your hands to them right now and put them into the hands of a loving God?

If my people, what you're called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face from their wicked ways. Can I tell you the whole goal is to turn from your wicked ways. Everything up to that point is a buildup. It's making it possible. It's the groundwork. You can't just turn from your wicked ways, cold turkey. There's groundwork that has to be laid. There's groundwork. Here's the groundwork. If my people, called by my name, will humble themselves. Hallelujah. Before you ever pray, you've got to humble yourselves. And if you're humble yourself, you'll find it easy to pray. And if you pray, you'll seek his face. And if you'll seek his face, you'll have the power to turn from your wicked ways. Then, will he hear from heaven? Forgive your sin and heal your land.

I want somebody just to reach out to him right now in the name of the Lord. Reach out to him in the name. Wonder if we can do, we've done it all day. Called to repentance. We've been called to purity. Young preacher, it's not about what opportunities you get. Forget about quote opportunities, unquote. Focus on the ground. Focus on the field. Do some groundwork. Paul said, I fought a good fight. Some of you are fighting everything but the good fight. And I've come to tell you the only fight God wants you to fight is the good fight. Very because you're fighting things that God is not interested in you fighting. So the Lord won't fight those battles for you. Battle is not the Lord's. The good fight. That's the only battle I fight.

You wanna know what the good fight is? Here's the good fight. It's me. There's this guy. There's this guy who is constantly working against me. Constantly tearing me down. Constantly trying to sabotage my calling, my gifting, my anointing. He tears me down with his words. He tears me down with the things that he points out as what he deems as flaws in others. He tries to make me critical. He tries to make me super opinionated. His name is Joel. Joel Urchin. I have to fight him every day. That's the good fight. Wrestle that flesh to the ground. Wrestle that flesh to the ground. Crucify that old man with the affections and the lusts in the name of Jesus.

Come on somebody right now. Let's do some groundwork tonight. Let's do some groundwork. Let's do some groundwork. Come on. All across this house. Let's do some groundwork. In the name of Jesus. I'm opening up these altars. Come on, that's it. Somebody come forward. I wonder if you could cast down the monuments you've built to yourself. The pillars you've made for yourself. Go ahead and cast them down. It's not about your name. It's not about your reputation. It's about your opportunities. It's about the pillar and the ground of truth. Which is the church of the living God. Come on, that's it. Find somebody to pray with and celebrate their harvest with them right now. Find somebody to celebrate their harvest with them right now in the name of Jesus. Come on, that's it. That's it. Everybody together, humble yourself.