Don't Fool with the Foolish

Now you know the routine: give that hand clap to the Lord today. Come on — no man deserves it, but God deserves it. Clap your hands unto the Lord, all you people. But that's His [half of it] — and shout out. I know we can clap our hands, but can we shout unto the Lord? Oh, there is a shout of a king among us today.

Well, you may be seated in Jesus' name. What a wonderful time to be together, to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. What a mighty God we serve. What a mighty God that we serve.

You know, He told Nathanael, He said, "I saw you when you were under the fig tree." In other words, He said, "I saw you before you saw Me. I understood you before you ever came into My presence." Do you think — what a mighty God we serve. He didn't take notice of us when we came to the altar. He didn't take notice of us when we got baptized. He didn't take notice of us when we sought the gift of the Holy Ghost, or paid tithe for the first time, or quit wearing this or quit cutting that. Do you know why? We were out in the world — He saw us under the fig tree. What a mighty God we served this morning. While we were out in the world, He saw us.

For as long as I can remember — as long as I can remember, as a little boy, I suffered from an ear infection. I remember sometimes the only way that I could go to sleep at night — and this was before the day of microwaves and all of that. I've often said we were brought up poor. The river only ran once by our house weekly. I said we were so poor that the garbage man came by and left a bag for us. There we were, back before the microwave, or maybe before we could afford a microwave. Mama would take a towel and she would lay it in the oven, and she would get that towel just as hot as she could get it. And the only way I could go to sleep at night with an ear infection was to lay my head on that warm towel, and somehow it would soothe it for a while and get me to sleep. And I would wake up the next morning with all kinds of infection that had drained out. And that was pretty well a routine in Kenneth Carpenter's life as a little boy.

But at 16 years of age, my mother — my mother took me to a doctor, and that doctor said that your son has a large hole in his eardrum, and said we'll have to do a skin graft. He said, before we do that, we've got to put him on some antibiotics, clear up the infection. I didn't know the Lord. But on the way back from the hospital, my mother said, "I think I'm going to swing by the church, and I think I'm going to see if Pastor McCool would be there, that he could anoint you and he could pray for you." He was a sinner boy. I didn't know the Lord. I was under the fig tree. I didn't understand when he got a bottle of oil out, and I didn't understand all the things that he said. And I surely didn't — didn't understand the emphasis that he made when he said, "In Jesus' name." I didn't feel anything. No sparks were flying. No lights were blinking. He just prayed.

Two weeks later, we went back to that doctor, and he put a machine in my ear to examine how well the antibiotics had done on the infection. I remember him putting the machine in this ear — the ear that had the ruptured eardrum — and I remember him getting his chart out, Brother Davidson, looking at his chart, and he said, "We must have written that down wrong. It must be the other ear." And they took that machine and they put it around on the other ear, and he examined it. And he looked, and he said, "Well, I knew that these antibiotics were powerful, but I didn't realize they were this powerful." My mother said, "What do you mean, Doctor?" He said, "Your son has two perfect eardrums," said, "There's nothing wrong with these eardrums."

And although that's been over four decades ago, I can't help but give Him praise, that when I was underneath the fig tree, He knew me. Oh, how much more, if He knew me under the fig tree, does He know me now under the cross? Oh, what a mighty God we serve this morning. What a mighty God.

You may be seated for a moment. Over the top — Sister Carpenter and I will say over-the-top hospitality that has been shown to us since our arrival here on Wednesday. There was a delegation met us in the lobby and helped get our car unpacked and directed us to the room. And we got there to check in, and the lady behind the counter handed us a big old basket of fruit — some things we can eat, and some things I sneak and eat when Sister Carpenter's not looking. And she handed that basket — a great, big basket — she handed it across the counter, and a scripture came to my mind. I said, "The Lord is my shepherd; I see what I want" — I mean, "I shall not want."

And I absolutely thank you for the kind hospitality and the receiving that we have. Bishop Doug White and his wife have absolutely been pleasant to be with in fellowship this week. And what a message we heard last night. What a message we heard last night. You know, it's really easy for me today. It's just really — all I got to do is get on base. I just got to hit the ball and I just got to get on base, and Bishop White is going to knock that ball so far out of the park tonight that they'll be looking for it this time next week. Thank you, Bishop, for that great word and the passion that you delivered that in last night. Would you give him a hand right now?

I give honor to Brother Simmons, our Assistant Superintendent of the ALJC, of the Alabama District. I always love to go preach for him, because he's got a one-God church in a town called Trinity, Alabama. Amen. And God knows that Trinity, Alabama, needs a one-God church. Amen. And I'm so glad to be with him.

I had — last night, I was so — my wife and I were so enraptured, if I could use the word. Brother Inman and Brother Keith Ambrose met us over here. And I've known Brother Inman for some time, and I met Brother Keith last night. And these are precious men that have come out of the Trinity Pentecostal movement. They loved God. They walked with God according to all the truth they knew, and sincerity. But these are men that have seen the light of water baptism in Jesus' name. These are men that have seen the light of the Oneness of the Godhead. And they're a lot like Saul of Tarsus: they have turned their backs on ministries that were well established, because they want to walk in the truth of God's Word.

And we stood over there, Brother Davidson, and we cried, and we had chill bumps dance around us, and we talked about the Oneness of the Godhead. And I thought about them this morning when I got up. You know, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — a lot of people want to make persons out of them. Of course, we know that they are descriptive titles of one God. We understand they're descriptive titles, Brother Inman, of just one God. And we call that the Godhead. And Jesus is not in the Godhead, but the Godhead is in Him. Amen.

And we began to think — but I thought of something that I had heard quite a while ago. The Bible calls the devil the father of lies, does it not? The Bible calls the devil the son of perdition, does it not? And it also calls the devil the spirit of disobedience. So here we've got a father and a son and a spirit, but nobody goes around talking about the devil-head. There's only one devil, and there's only one God. And I'm glad to know the name of that one God, aren't you? I'm glad to know that His name is Jesus. And in Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him.

Well, go ahead and stand today. I'm going to go ahead and get into my Scripture, before I — I just love this one God. I just love this one God message. I just — I just love, I absolutely love this one God — God message. Oneness of God. The mighty God in Christ. It's our — it's our foundation.

I had a man — and I'm sorry, for I'm on a roll this morning about one God. But our first grandbaby that we had, Paris — our district superintendent from Louisiana put a package together for me, and for my grandbaby Paris. She had just been born, and he had put in there — but his wife had went and had some little baby clothes embroidered, and just a package of clothes for a little infant baby girl. He mailed it from a little town called Manifest, Louisiana. Anybody ever heard of Manifest, Louisiana? He mailed it from there. But when it got to Maryville, I opened the box. And when I opened the box, it was a large T-shirt in there from Fred's Car Wash. Brother Lewis — there was a leather Harley-Davidson hat in there, and a couple of blue jeans that would have fit four times what I am today. Well, I didn't say anything. It had Brother Pool's name on it. Did he send it? I didn't say anything. I mean, what do you do — call him up, say, "Hey, thanks for the clothes for a grandbaby"? I didn't say anything. About a month later, he called me, said, "Brother Carpenter, did you happen to get the package?" I said, "We did." He said, "Well, we were just concerned," said, "We had put a hundred-dollar gift card to Dillard's in there, and we wanted to make sure it got to you." I said, "Hold up just one minute." I said, "Brother Pool, what we got was a leather Harley-Davidson cap, a large T-shirt from Fred's Car Wash, and two or three pair of blue jeans." He said, "Brother," he said, "Somebody then opened that up and changed the content."

When this great truth left the Day of Pentecost, it was packaged with one Lord, one faith, and one baptism — one God and Father of all, and above all. It was packaged with water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost evidenced by speaking in tongues. But somewhere along the third century, men that had no right opened that package up, and they changed baptism, and they changed the Holy Ghost, repackaged it, and a world has bought it today. But I'm glad to be in Alabama, where a group of people have said, "We're going to go back and contend for the doctrine, for the faith."

Oh, I got First Samuel 25:23. Y'all just — Brother Davidson, I told y'all — made me feel so good here this week. First Samuel 25 and verse number 23. Can you say praise the Lord? "And when Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, fell at his feet and said unto him, 'My Lord, upon me let this iniquity be. Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not my Lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I, thine handmaid, saw not the young men of my Lord, whom thou didst send.'"

Romans chapter 1, verse number 21. Romans 1 and 21: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful." I won't stop right there — "neither were thankful." Can you say that with me today?

For a few moments, I would love to encourage every pastor and every worker in every church with this simple subject: "Don't fool with the foolish." Don't fool with the foolish. Would you say my title with me today? "Don't—" How many want to be successful? "Don't fool with the foolish."

Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I stand before You this morning. Lord, I thank You for the privilege, God, of salvation. I thank You, God, that You called me to proclaim and preach this great gospel. God, may we live the rest of our lives, with every breath that we take and all the energy that we can have, to advance Your kingdom, Lord, here on this earth. God, I pray today that You would anoint my mind and my thoughts, and help me to articulate the words to Your family. Lord, You said in Your Word that if I loved You, I would feed Your sheep. Lord, help me today to feed Your sheep, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.

Give Him a hand before you're seated. Praise team: "He's not finished yet." Because we are still in the phase of being developed. He's not finished yet. Dottie Rambo wrote the song, "He's Still Working on Me, to make me what I ought to be."

These Scripture texts find David in a time of his life that he is being developed to be a leader. He is being developed to be the king of Israel. It is in this time — between the anointing and the throne — that he finds himself much like a vagabond. Saul is hunting him to kill him. His name has been slandered. He finds himself much like a vagabond, traveling around and living off of the land.

It was at this time of his travels that he spotted a man's large flock of sheep. It got David's attention, because David was very fond of sheep. Now, I don't know if David decided to camp out close to this flock because he wanted the protection of the cover of Nabal's shepherds, as much as David was just fond of sheep. I wonder if he didn't camp out beside the large flock because he was fond of them. He loved them. He loved being around them. He had served his father in the keeping of sheep.

While he was there with them, and raiders would come down to spy out Nabal's flock, it was David and his men that would shoo them away — tell them they had no right to go in and take sheep that didn't belong to them. It's a matter of fact, a relationship developed between David and his men and Nabal's shepherds — a very kind relationship. As a matter of fact, Nabal's shepherds would later testify that they were a wall of protection around us by day and by night. Nabal's shepherds would later say they never took one thing that didn't belong to them. "We didn't miss one lamb the whole time that they were there."

Time went on, and it came that festival time of Nabal — shearing the sheep. The shearing of the sheep was the equivalent — if you've combined — if you believe in it — if you combine Christmas, New Year's, Fourth of July, your birthday, your anniversary — if you just combine them in one day. Shearing the sheep was a very festive, joyous time. Fourth of July — it was just a very festive time of joy among Nabal. They're shearing the sheep.

Well, David hears about the shearing of the sheep, and the roasting of the lambs, and the food, and the coleslaw, and the potato salad, and the watermelons, and all of that. And he says, "You know what, young men? We were good to Nabal. We were good to his sheep." Said, "Would you go down to Nabal's party, and would you greet Nabal in my name, and would you tell Nabal that we have come in a good day, and that we would love to receive just a little food — just a little compensation, just a little thank-you platter — for how we protected the flock. Just a little food." And so the delegation from David went off to Nabal's house.

But I've got to stop right here and tell you something about Nabal. Nabal's name means "fool." That's what it means. It means a fool. It also tells us — even the testimony of his wife. And I guess you know Abigail, his wife, called him — Abigail said his name is Nabal, and as his name is, so is he. You know, there's no proverb that says if one man calls you a donkey, ignore him; if two men call you a donkey, put a bridle on. All right. I would imagine if your wife called you a fool — I mean, if anybody that will defend you — I mean, my wife will fight a circle saw for me — but when your wife calls you a fool, you're sure enough a fool. Well, I'm just considering you — you sure would be a fool.

You see, when the delegation got to Nabal, he — not only was he a fool, and part of the DNA for being a fool — and it's even said about him, said, nobody can tell him anything. He said nobody can tell him. He's like Job's friends. You know, Job had some friends that was telling Job everything Job was doing wrong, and Job just looked at him and he said, "You know, I reckon that when you die, all knowledge from the earth will cease to be." That's what he said — when he — in other words, well, you know what the other words are. You know, you couldn't tell Nabal nothing. He was a fool. He was set in his way.

And when this delegation — now, get the scenery with me now. David's hungry. He smells the food coming, drifting down through the valleys, and he knows it's shearing time. He's hungry. He sends this delegation out, and he's just waiting, licking his chops, just waiting for the men to return. Well, unbeknowing to David, when David's delegation got to Nabal, they greeted Nabal. They said, "Hey, Nabal, we greet you in David's name, and we come today — we were shepherds, we were around your shepherds with protection day and night. We kept your sheep safe, and we were a wall of protection around them. And," said, "now that you've got a good day going on in your life, our master David would like a little compensation — just a little bit of food, if you wouldn't mind — to have a little bit of food for us."

And listen to what the fool opened up his mouth and said. He opened up his mouth and he said, "Well, just who is David? And who is the son of Jesse?" Now, the first thing about it is, he knows who David is, because he said "the son of Jesse." He knew exactly who David was, and he knew exactly the situation that David was in. He said, "There be, nowadays, many of runaway slaves. There's many a man that are running away from their master. And should I take my [bread]?" And if you read the verse there, he uses "my" five times in one verse. I almost named this message "My, My, My, My, My." "Shall I take my sheep that have been [sheared] for my servants, and my wool and my [meat], and give it to runaway slaves like David? I think not." And he railed on them.

The ten men got back to David's camp. David's mouth is watering. He can just imagine the potato salad and the meat. He can just imagine all of this. And here comes ten men back with empty hands. And he said, "Wait a minute. I thought — I sent you to get some food." He said, "You did, but," said, "Nabal the fool railed on us, called you a runaway slave, said that you're not worthy, slandered you."

And about that time — you see, we've got to be careful: in the midst of our development, we can do more harm to our ministry by allowing fools to get the best of us. We can get out of our character — just hold on to me for a moment. People that don't know the value of the church. People that don't know the value, home missionary, of you planting that work. People that don't know the value of being bi-vocational. People that don't know the value of you being in prayer for their souls, and for the souls of their family. People that don't understand that while they were asleep at night, and the hounds of hell wanted to tear up their family, there was a pastor, there was a leader, there was a church that was somewhere standing around saying, "I rebuke you in Jesus' name. I rebuke you."

A hungry man goes to an angry man. He swiftly orders for all the men — 400 of them — to strap their swords on. He uses such language that I would not share it in a mixed audience like today. He tells about going down to Nabal's house, and he's going to kill every man in Nabal's house. "When I get through with this blood bath, Nabal's name will not be able to be carried on. There will not be one male left alive to keep this fool's seed going in the line of genealogy." He grabbed the horse, and away they went. His veins are protruding out of his neck. His face is red, and his blood pressure's high. He's hungry, and now he's hungry and insulted. He's going to have a blood bath.

But meanwhile, back at the fool's house — somehow this fool had managed to marry a girl by the name of Abigail. And Abigail is a lot like my Sister Carpenter. The Bible said Abigail was of good understanding. That meant she had a good brain. But it also said she was of a beautiful countenance. That woman not only had a good brain — she was good looking. I told you, like Sister Carpenter — she was good. Abigail was good. She wasn't only smart; she was good looking.

And one of the servants went — notice, one of the servants didn't go to the fool. You've got to understand, when you want something done, sometimes you need to go to the right people. They didn't go to Nabal. They went to Abigail. And they said, "Abigail, we are in trouble. Your husband has railed upon David's servants. Your husband has railed upon David and slandered his name. And," said, "we just believe there's mischief coming our way. We just believe there's danger coming our way. We just believe that David is going to come and he's going to wipe out the whole city here that we're living in."

And all of a sudden, Abigail knows what to do. As a matter of fact, Abigail's name means "my father is joy." My father is joy. Abigail begins to order for bread to be put upon the donkeys, and meat to be put upon the donkeys, and raisins to be put upon the donkeys, and bottles of champagne — I mean, bottles of wine — to be put upon the — I mean, she begins to load these donkeys down. It looked better than any semi going down the road advertising a grocery store. I mean, she had all this bread put on here. And then she said, "Let me lead the way." And she began to go toward David. She began to travel toward David.

She comes down over a hill. Here comes David, riding on these horses, blood pressure high, hungry and insulted, ready to draw his sword and kill every man in Nabal's house. But all of a sudden, David beholds the most beautiful woman coming down over the top of the hill. And as she comes down over the top of the hill, she stops her animal, falls off of the animal, and she gets down on her face, and she begins to ask David for permission to speak. She went into a sermon. I like to call it a sermon, because it was a message that reminded David: Please, David, don't mar your good name. Please, David, don't fool with the foolish. Please, David, don't waste your giant-killing ability fooling with the foolish.

She first introduces him — and she says, "David, my husband's name is Nabal. It means fool, and he's lived up to the word. But I, thy servant, saw not your servants when they came." And then she goes in and she says, "For you are fighting the Lord's battle." Now, let me just go down — let me break this off into two things here. She begins to tell David: Don't waste your energy on this fool. I want— I want to come to every church leader this Friday morning of camp, and I want to tell you: all of us have fools in our lives. All of us pastor Nabals. All of us have people that don't realize the value of the church. They don't know the tears you cried. They don't know the sacrifices you've made. They don't know the days that you have spent in sacrifice. You didn't have to go to that town. You left a well-established church. You could have went to church and sat on a pew and been part of a large church, but you felt a burden for that little city. You built a burden to go dig a work out. And you go there, and you run into fools. You run into people that question your motive. You run into people that want to know how much tithe is coming in. You run into people that are not excited when you get a new suit. You run into people that are not excited when you get a new car. Don't fool with the foolish.

It's all right for their banker to make plenty of money. It's all right for their doctor to drive the finest. It's all right when that happens. But yes, we do pastor fools that think that this ministry is all about wearing a suit and getting up and preaching. They have no idea the nights that we've kept them safe. They have no idea when the spirit of perversion drifted down upon their son, and their son began to act effeminate — they couldn't see it, but you saw it, and you began to pray devils off of that young boy's life. They don't understand that when they're out talking about what kind of car you're driving — what kind of, you know, there's no accountability, all of this — you were on your face saying, "Devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, you take your hands off that girl. She's not going to be a harlot. She's not going to be a—" Listen, some of your kids would be out in the world today if it wasn't for a David that kept watch. I wish somebody would shout, "Don't fool with the foolish." Come on — don't fool with the foolish.

The old song says, "I've watched them come, and I've watched them go, as I press toward the mooring." With pastor fools — it's the best way I can put it — we pastor some fools that don't know the value. They call preaching "yelling." Preaching's not yelling. It may be, if you're a fool. When a man gets red-faced, preaches the way our bishop did last night, he ain't yelling. He's trying to save our souls from hell. Let your house get on fire, and see if the firemen don't come. He ain't using a whisper and a monotone, and a little voice that he learned how to speak and raise his voice and drop it. No — he's trying to get you out of the house.

"David, you are fighting the Lord's battles. David, you have an enemy named Saul. Nabal's not your enemy. Nabal's your distraction." My God of heaven, I feel the Holy Ghost. Sometimes we think our distractions [are] our devil. It's just a distraction. The little girl that said to Paul and Silas, "These are the servants of the most high God, that show unto us the way of salvation" — that wasn't the devil. The girl wasn't the devil. The devil was in the girl. Paul didn't rebuke the girl; he rebuked the devil that was in the girl. We've got to understand today, the devil would love for us to fool with the foolish while he runs roughshod over our ministries and rapes our churches. For God's sake, don't fool with the foolish. Lift your hands up and praise Him right now.

Don't — a pastor, I still do. Many years ago, I pastored a man who was born again, but not converted. You may be seated. You do know there's a difference between being born again and being converted. He was born again, but he wasn't converted. No wonder Jesus said to Peter, "When you are converted, strengthen your brother."

About every six months, he had a little index card. And about every six months, he would want a meeting with me. "Want to see you in office." I always have to call you three or four days before and tell you, "I need to meet with you." "Well, brother, would you mind telling me kind of what it's like, what you want?" "No." No — he's not going to do that, because the devil loves to keep a pastor and his wife in suspense for several days. He'd come in the office and have your little index card: "You didn't do this right. You didn't do that right. I don't really think that's the right doctrine." And we'd go over his index card. As a matter of fact, it got so to where I'd tell my wife, I'd say, "Honey, it's about time for so-and-so. I was preaching the other night, and I saw him get his little card out he had [in] his pocket."

About the last time — not about the last time, the last time he came to me — he came in the office, and he sat down, and he reached for his little index card. And I said, "Brother, don't you realize what's happening?" He looked at me — "No." I said, "The devil's trying to separate you and I. The devil's trying to separate us from one another. I need you, and you need me. You need my voice in your life, and I need your family to become workers in the church." I got up from my desk, went around, laid at his feet, and prayed for him and his family. That's the last time he's ever brought an index card to my office. They are still in the church today, living for God. His family has grown up in the church. Can I tell you: don't fool with the foolish.

We are not out to make saints happy. We are out to spread the gospel. We are not out — I'm glad these speakers are right here, because I get feelings of good. I jumped off the platform — I did that one time, and broke my ankle, just about. So—

"David, my husband's a fool," said — "please, you're fighting the Lord's battles. You're fighting the Lord's battles." And said, "David, God will take your enemies and put them in a slingshot, and whirl them round and round and round around, and throw them out." Can I tell you something? Jesus never attacked Judas. He let Judas take care of himself. Sometimes we want to do God's work; we mess it up.

"David, my husband's a fool. Leave him alone." About that time, David — maybe he reached up and got one of them grapes, maybe reached up and got a loaf of bread. His blood pressure went back down. He looked at her — and if you could see the little caption beside him, he was thinking, "Oh, she good looking." He said, "Blessed is your advice, for truly, had you not met me today, there would not be a man alive in your house to keep your — your husband's name alive."

They parted ways. They parted ways. Abigail went home. The Bible said Nabal was very drunk. The Bible said she didn't say anything to him. You know, you can't say anything much to a fool anyway, much less when he's drunk. But next morning he woke up, and I could just imagine — I'm adding this — I can just imagine old Nabal looking over at her and said, "And you look pretty rough this morning." And she said, "Well, Nabal, fool, I've been up most of the night." "What you've been up most the night for?" "Well, because you railed on David and his men, and they were coming to kill you. You'd be dead by now if it wasn't for me. You'd be dead by now. You'd be sheepless if it wasn't for David, and you'd be dead if it wasn't for me."

And the Bible says that it so shocked Nabal that he apparently had a stroke or a heart attack, laid in bed. Can I tell you something? Don't ever let the foolish cause you to write your resignation, because God's got an Abigail on the — don't ever let a few families that want to control you — they wanted to control the last place they was at; what makes you think you'll be any different? Don't let them cause you to get in an office on Monday morning and write out your resignation. Don't fool with the foolish. God's got an Abigail on the way.

Sister Carpenter — you remember that Bible study that we went to that time? God loves — God loves everybody. We're no respecter of persons. But this woman was very poor, and we went to her little house to teach her a home Bible study. And when we went there, she — we — she was receiving the word. But I noticed one time we went there and we were teaching: I was sitting here, and Sister Carpenter was here, we had the Bible study chart here; she's sitting across the coffee table. And so help me, my righteous God, there was a rodent — now, that's a polite word for saying "cockroach." There was a cockroach that I watched come down the wall. And he had such — he had antennas, I mean, he had antennas like a military jeep on him. I'm talking about Abraham and circumcision and the bloodline, and I'm watching him come down that wall and across the floor. And Abraham got Isaac, and I watched him — God, I'm not adding to this story, so help me, it happened — I watched him come across that floor and make a beeline for my foot. I'm teaching that Bible study, and here he comes. I mean, he zeroed in on it, you know. And he got on the end of my shoe. And he saw — and Jacob got in a wrestling match — and I'm trying — I don't want to embarrass a woman. I mean, I don't want to embarrass this woman, say, "Man, you got a cockroach in this house." I mean, Sister Carpenter's sitting there, and she keeps looking at my foot, looking at me, look in the middle, look at me. And then, Bishop, when that old boy went north — he came around behind my leg and up the back of my calf. I could feel him. And I was saying, "And Hagar left the house." And about that time, with one methodical swoop, I just went down, and he was at the crease of the back of my knee, and I just sent him on to cockroach heaven or hell, whichever he was ready to receive. I just took care of him. And Hagar left, and Sarah got mad, and the Bible study rolled on, the whole time Sister Carpenter going—

We got out to the car, and I said, "Honey, I'm going to be scriptural. I'm going to shake off the dust." The next week went by, for lesson number four. We went and knocked on her door. Her car was there. We knocked on her door — no answer. We knocked on her door — no answer. Drove down, got on a pay phone, and called her, and she answered the phone. I said, "Sister So-and-so, we're here for our Bible lesson." She said, "I'm not letting you back in my house." I said, "Why?" "You think you're too good for my house." "What are you talking about? Your wife's seen that bug — that cockroach. She saw that. You all think you're too good for my house." "Oh, no, ma'am, we don't think we're too good. No, ma'am, please let us come." "No, I won't let you come back in my—"

Now, we had done everything we could not to embarrass her, but I liken her to a fool today, because she let that one simple thing keep her from hearing a Bible study. She never allowed us back in her home. She never — we later heard that she had cancer. We later heard some tragic things about her, but she never let us back in her home. We left that day — my wife and I left — we'd put time in that woman. We left that day feeling discouraged. "Is this — Bible studies — is this how Bible studies are going to go? Is this how — we did everything, Jesus. We did everything we could do."

But we got a phone call. A man who was a Bible teacher at the First Baptist Church in Friendsville called, and he said, "I would like to have a home Bible study." He was an air traffic controller there in Knoxville. We went to his home. He had books of Greek and Hebrew and all of this. We opened up that same Bible study chart, and about a year later, I baptized James R. Stevens in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He received the gift of the Holy Ghost. He left the Baptist Church. He served as a trustee in our church for 33 years. I preached his funeral about a year or so ago. God may have enabled — but God's got an Abigail coming to you. You may have some fools leave your church, but God's got an Abigail. Don't write that resignation. God's got an Abigail headed your way. Could you give Him some praise right now, please?

I don't know why I've got a burden for church leaders today. I'm talking about pastors or wives. I'm talking about assistant pastors. I'm talking about youth pastors. I'm even talking about Sunday school teachers. Please don't allow foolish people that — they don't have enough insight to put their kids in your Sunday school class — please don't let it — don't let an empty Sunday school class on one Sunday cause you to turn your book back in. God's got some Abigail children that are on the way. God's got some Abigail—

Please, if you're in a small youth group, and half your youth group walks away — they're foolish to walk away from this. You've got to be a fool to walk away from the church. You're a fool to go to anything that's less than full-blooded apostolic. You're a fool to go to a charismatic church when you know the church of the living God. You're a fool to do that. You may be seated. You're a fool to do that. You're a fool to do that. I don't care if they buy their carpet by the miles. I don't care if they have 12 services on Sunday and have a hundred in each — a hundred thousand in each service. If they're not apostolic, Jesus name, and you're the only apostolic church in that city, and you won't run 12 — according to God, you have the largest church in that city.

I've wrote a resignation letter or two. I've sat down on a Monday or Friday and wrote out — "an honor to be here with you; it's an honor, and I've served as your pastor" — Brother — Bishop White, I think you can understand this. You know what it's like to take a small church and evangelize, preach, have more offerings come in from evangelizing than the church takes up in a month, but some old Nabal there in the church wants to accuse you and slander you of being there for the money.

I told a neighbor when I first started pastoring — I told a neighbor that said that to me. He said — it's being rumored; you ever notice these people that speak for other people? Don't let a fool speak for the whole clan of fools. They say, "You come here for the money that was here." And I said, "Well, brother, I'll tell you one thing: if I was going to some place for money, I sure wouldn't have come here."

Don't allow a fool to cause you to resign. "Well, nobody — we're up in the choir. We're just a small choir, and when we look out, nobody's worshiping God." Don't allow fools to get you out of the choir, because can I give you a little realignment today? Who is singing for them, or Him? Come on. If nobody in that church appreciates your music ability, play it for Him. If nobody in that church appreciates your voice, sing it for Him. But don't stop singing for a fool. Somebody shout my title out again. Come on — shout it out.

Build that church, sir, but don't fool with the foolish. Nabal will come and try to get you out of your character. Abigail said to David — said, "If you killed this fool," said, "years from now you're going to have a trophy that you don't really want to have in your office: a killer of fools." But isn't that a thing to brag about? She said, "Don't let — don't mar your good name. Don't let it be rumored that you slaughtered people, because they will only remember how you act, not what the fool said." I'm feeling like saying some things. I heard my wife say, "God help us."

Do you know that there are fools that have a fetish on hearing you preach about them? You're getting it. They have some kind of — it just strokes them the right way when you get up, and there's 99 Abigails in the house, but you spend 45 minutes on a fool. And they're sitting there looking — you know how you have a good flower bed: water the flowers and pull the weeds. Don't get it turned around. Don't water the weeds and pull the flowers. Get your mind on an Abigail.

I know she may not run. I know she may not spin. I know she may not talk in tongues a lot, but she's faithful to the house of God. She's there every time the doors are open. It's — I'll quit here in a minute, I promise, y'all. Don't fool with the fools. Don't give them pulpit time. If you give kids a bad behavior attention, they'll keep on in their bad behavior. What you need to do is award the right behavior. Sometimes you can walk up to a fool and say, "I saw you lift your hands. I saw you in the prayer room." Not, "I heard you've been talking about me at Shoney's." That's what they want. But all you do — you really want to have the trophy? I wear the trophy of — I get all the fools told. Sometimes just leave the fools alone.

Sometimes God will take care of our fools and reward us with an Abigail. Because after about 10 days, old Nabal died. The old fool died. And word got back to David that the fool had died. Now, none of you would want David as a pastor, because when they came and they said, "Nabal is dead," David said, "Blessed be the name of the Lord most high." He said, "Well, blessed be the name of the Lord most high, who had taken care of my enemies." And then all of a sudden it clicks: Abigail's single. And he said — so help me God, now, this is in the Bible — he sent for Abigail and said, "I want to marry you." And Abigail said, "I'll marry you, too." And Abigail rode off to marry David.

Don't fool with the foolish. God will take care of the fools. You can marry David — you can marry an Abigail. You're going to raise up some faithful saints. You're going to raise up a mighty church. You're going to outgrow the Nabals in your church. Come on, stand with me right now. Somebody shout the title again. Say it again: "Don't fool with the foolish."

There'll be a mark on your name. I've often looked at our church — that God has given us just a little bit, Brother Davidson — and God has given us just a little bit of success. And I've often thought of those resignation letters that I wrote. Where would we be today? Hey, not only that — where would our kids be today? Do you know that we are so blessed — and I'm bragging on Jesus right now — all three of our children, their husbands and their wife, are employed at our church. That Christian school that we've got, that this year we'll have a record [attendance] — that's K-5 through twelfth grade — of 250 students. That day care center, that really is a covert operation to get sinners inside of our building. I'm the only pastor that just has to go stand in the lobby of our daycare, and I can shake hands with 90 or 100 people that don't even go to our church. My family works in the church there. And I've often thought, had it not been for their mom and dad that stayed there and endured all the Nabals, where would my family be today?

Home missionary pastor, you've got some kids right now. Some of them, you've got them on your lap, and it's God's plan — by the time that they get old enough to play a piano — to play the piano on your platform. You've got a little boy — you may have him in your womb this morning. God has seen him under the fig tree. And God knows that little boy is going to be the youth pastor of the church that you're going to build. But if you deal with the Nabals, that church will never be there.

Dad, I understand God leads us to other places, but please don't let a fool lead you to another place. Please don't let a fool — there's a lot of foolish talking going on in our circles. A lot of foolishness. A lot of foolish talking. Stay with the truth. I have never seen one apostolic ministry flourish that's listened to foolish talking of going a different direction. I've never seen one. I've been preaching for over 43 years, and I've never seen one church flourish because they said, "We believe this way is holding you." Don't listen to the Nabals. Stay away from foolish men. Stay away from foolish questions. Stay away from foolish talk. Build your church. Build the Alabama District. Build the work of God. Build your youth group. But for the love of God, don't fool with the foolish.

I'd like to close today, to see if you'd gather with me up around the altar. We could identify the voices of fools in our lives, and once and for all we could crucify them upon this altar. We could tell God today: "God, I'm not going to allow that to stir my emotions. God, I have stayed up long enough at night. I've lost enough sleep. God, Lord, I'm going to crucify every Nabal this morning. God, I will not allow the Nabals to cause me to get out of Your will. I will not allow the Nabals of my life to cause me to get out of the direction that You've headed for me."

Come on, pastor. I know your heart may be broken. Come on, pastor's wife. I know you may look out over empty pews and wonder, are you doing any good? But you're doing good. You're doing good today. Come on. Could we just have a season of prayer right now? Just join everybody. Push up as close as you can, up around the altar. I'd like to get everybody out of the aisles and into the altar today. It's time to crucify the Nabals that are among us. It's time to crucify them this morning, in the name of the Lord Jesus.