A Stolen Crown

Genesis 4, verse number three, says: "When it was time for the Harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift — the best firstborn lamb of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and when he looked dejected — 'Why are you so angry?' the Lord asked Cain. 'Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out. Sin crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it, and be its master.'"

And from 1st Samuel 15, verse number 24: "Then Saul said to Samuel, 'I have sinned. For I have transgressed the Commandment of the Lord and your words, because I fear hear the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may Worship the Lord.' But Samuel said to Saul, 'I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being King over Israel.'"

With the help of God today, I want to preach a message that's been heavy on my heart this whole week. It's been a thought — it's just captivated me. And I need you to help me. I need you to pray for me today, that God will use me as his voice, what I know he has for us today. I want to preach about a stolen crown.

"I love you, God, so very much. I'm humbled to be here today. God, I pray, God, that I could get out of my spirit what you placed in. I pray, Lord, you would anoint our minds and our hearts to receive the word that is already Anointed. God, help us apply it where we need to, and draw closer to you. In Jesus' name we pray." And amen. God bless you. You may be seated.

It was more than a decade ago — it may be close to two decades ago now — that my friend Roy Duke gave me a book by Dell Carnegie called How to Win Friends and Influence People. Now, this book has been around — I looked it up, I believe it's since 1936 — and it still remains one of the bestselling books when it comes to business, business models, and planning out things in there. But bring it up for this reason today: I would love to win some friends and influence people. But if given the option between those two today, I would rather influence someone today, and you could find a friendship somewhere else. And I hope you understand my heart today. I feel very strong that God has laid something in my spirit.

I was reading in my own personal Bible study time, and I stumbled across a verse that I've read — I don't know how many times I've read the Bible through, a lot. And it was one of those Holy Ghost moments, where it just stood out to me in a way that I never really thought about it. And I set it to the side, because it was my personal Bible reading. So I came back to it later on, because it just kept coming back to my mind. And that usually is a good indicator that God's trying to tell me something. And as I began to unpack it, I felt him continuing to guide me and direct me, for what I'm going to bring to you today.

My preaching subject is going to be about King Saul. And there are other examples that I could use from scripture. But I feel very few of them failed as dramatically and as tragically as Saul failed. So I want to draw your attention again to the word of God. And if you'll give me a few minutes to lay down some groundwork, and a little bit of the story, today I feel like God has something special for us.

In 1 Samuel chapter n, we get introduced to Saul for the first time. And it says, "There was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of of eel." And it goes on to talk about his family L. He gets down to number — chapter — verse number two, and it says: "And he had a choice and handsome son, whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the people."

Now, I want to be honest with you: if, on the surface here, you read that — if I was going to be put down in the Bible, I'd love to know that my name was associated with being the most handsome. Feel like we got a good start going on right here. So he's a good-look guy. And he's not just good-look, but he's tall too. So there's a added us. The Bible tells us that he was a choice man. That phrasing there in the Hebrew is quite unique. It talks about his outward appearance, that he was handsome. But it's more than that. It's actually talking about his overall Persona and personality. He was just an attractive person all the way around — both in looks, but also in the way he conducted himself. There was nothing offputting about him at all. He had a great attitude. And that word there is actually translated in superlative tense, basically saying that of all of those ones who were in Israel, there was none that was better than him. He was Choice.

And then, as you continue to read about him, it also talks about that he was a very humble person as well. In fact, as they were wanting to bring him forward in the appointment of him being King — when it come time to do that, they couldn't even find him. He went and hit himself, because he didn't want to be in the Limelight. He didn't want the attention. And so, as we are introduced to Saul, it's hard not to like him. It's hard not to understand, based off of how he's being described, and how he's being portrayed in scripture, as it would be obvious that he would be the choice. He had the looks. He had the personality. He had the smarts. He had all — he was a total package, when to come together for that. And on top of that, he was humble, which is something very rare.

But this occasion in the opening text, which I read to you just a few minutes ago — Samuel comes to Saul, because Saul has disobeyed the Commandment of the Lord. Now, we all know that transgressions have a penalty. But this one is the product of a direct word from God. Direct counsel. 1 Corinthians 1:21 says: "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

There's something special about preaching. There's something special about a man who's anointed by God, and has had a word placed in his Spirit, who stands behind a pull pit, and he begins to deliver his heart and his soul. I know we study the Bible out, and we should have personal Bible study time. I believe that's important. But God didn't choose personal Bible study to save. We need to read the word of God for ourselves, but it didn't please God, by simply choosing to read the scripture, to save. He chose preaching. Matter of fact, he chose the foolishness, is the wording, of preaching to save. God uses anointed men and women to stand behind lectern and pull pits, after they have spent time in his presence. After being in the audience of the King of kings and Lord of lords, that he gives them something to say to his people. It's God's method of delivery. He made the decision. We didn't. I didn't choose it. He chose the foolishness of preaching. Something that occurs when an anointed Holy Ghost man or woman of God touches the Frailty of Flesh.

Paul said, in the spirit we speak Mysteries. And there, sometimes under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, the preacher will speak a revelatory thing that is forthcoming. And many times you've spoke with me after I've preached a message, and said, "Pastor, when you said so and so, and thus and such, it was speaking directly —" Often times I don't even know that I said those things. There's been times I've actually went back and watched the video, because what I spoke was not in my notes. It wasn't even a thought that I had beforehand. It was something that God gave me in the moment, that was directly — and in this case, it was directly for you. That's what God does. He uses the preaching of his word to reach us right where we are. And I know I stand in a room of witnesses who willing to say there have been moments in time when the man that was preaching was speaking specifically for me. There may have been three or four or 500 people in the room, but he was talking to me. He knew where I was at. He was reaching for me, in my moment, right?

We preach Apostolic doctrines, because you need to have it reminded to you and rehearsed. But I'm thankful that I said under men in my life, and in my time, that were never intimidated by someone who may sit there with their hands folded and just stare back at him, as a man was preaching the word. I'm thankful that I had a pastor in my life — our Bishop — who stood up without fear or favor and preached what was the word of God, and as a God laid it on his heart. He wasn't intimidated by the culture or the times, but he got down in the word of God. You need that kind of man in your life. Someone that doesn't care whether you like them or not — they're going to bring to you what thus saith the Lord.

There are times when I feel stronger than others when I stand behind a pull pit. Today is one of those times, where there is an urgency in me, and a Brokenness in my spirit, as I preach today. That I'm reaching for someone that God knew was in this room. Someone that God knew was listening online today. You need to hear this word.

I'm thankful that there was a group of people who gathered in a prayer room before service today, and touch the Throne of God. So every one of you who was in that prayer room today — thank you. Because I felt confirmation again in that prayer room, that God has something for us today.

You know, the Apostle John used very blunt words when talking about those who wouldn't listen to the preacher, when he said in 1 John 4 and6: "But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. And if they do not belong to God, then they do not listen to us." I want to preach a direct word.

Samuel came to Saul. He came to him in 1st Samuel 15. He shows up with a very direct word for him. Verse number one of chapter 15: "Samuel also said to Saul, 'The Lord sent me to anoint you King over his people, over Israel. Now therefore, he the voice and the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: I will P punish Amalec, for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalec, and utterly destroy all that they have.'" Everybody say, "All." "All. Do not spare them. Both kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, Ox, sheep, camel, and Donkey."

Now we read this, and there should proba be a moment that we have a little bit of check inside of us, that says, "Man, that sounds really, really harsh, what God's wanting to do. That he's wanting to just wipe out an entire nation, that is — there, this band, this tribe of Amalec. Like, what is going on here? Why is God so bent against them? What did Amalec do, that everybody had to be punished, that everybody had to die, that he had to utterly — the words, 'utterly destroy them all, everything they have' — got to die." It's hard to hear that.

Now, Amalec was just a band of Roman Bandits. They were never a serious threat to Israel. They were never someone like the Philistines, or other tribes — the Moabites — that we see in the scriptures, that the Israel is constantly fighting with. AMC was a little bit different. But they had earned a reputation for being ambushers, or snipers. In fact, Deuteronomy 7:17 says: "Never forget what the Amalekites did to you, as they came from Egypt. They attacked you when you were exhausted and weary, and they struck down those who were straggling behind, and they had no fear of God. Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all of your enemies in the land, and he's given you a special possession, you must destroy the Amalekites, and erase their memory from under Heaven. Never forget this."

Again, we see here such strong words. But we're given a reason. Because Israel — when they were TI, and they were weary, and they had been on the Chase, and had been on the hunt, and the Amalekites found out that they were very tired — they attacked not from the front, but they went around behind the back, and they got the stragglers, and the lame, and those are the ones they attacked. They brought them. Because of that, God was angry at them. He was angry for what they did. He was angry to the point that he made a promise: that you have to, once you get into your promised land, and once you've had some rest, you're going to wipe them out. You're going to erase all memory of them, because of how they treated you. God had promised this would happen.

So God send Samuel to King Saul, to tell him, "I want you to take the army of Israel, and I want you to war against Amalec." Now, to put this in some perspective, and give you a little bit of history: there have been 400 years that had passed since the initial word had been given in Deuteronomy, that I just read to you, to where we find oursel in 1st Samuel 15. The king's been anointed, because the people ask for a king. And the prophet goes up and says, "You've been anointed to be the king. You've had some Affairs that you've taken care of. But here, God has a direct Mission he wants you to accomplish." It comes time now for him to seek the Vengeance that he spoke of many years ago. And he wants you to go to am, to the Amalekites. And he wants you to wipe them out. He wants you to kill all that are there. Everyone who's living: man, woman, Child, Nursing child, Ox, camel, donkey, sheep. They all got to die. Because he is going back to what he said he was going to do.

Now here's the deal: you know, the word of God says, "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." Now, we like that verse sometimes. Cuz when people mistreat us, we want to quote it like, "Yeah, I know what you did to me, and God's going to get you back." Now here's what I have realized about God: more often than not, he takes care of it. But he doesn't usually take care of it with you watching. He doesn't usually take care of it with you standing in the grand stands, cheering him on, saying, "Yeah, God, stick it to him."

There was — the generation that had been abused by Amalec had been dead long and gone. 400 years has passed. But God always keeps his word. He's a God who sees. He's a God who hears. And he's a God who says, "Vengeance belongs to me. And I will revisit when the time is right." And the time was right. And he asked King Saul to take care of this. But the problem was not the fact that they were going to be outmatched by fa of — and the Amalekites, as I said, they were just a little band of Misfits. When Saul went in — in fact, we read about it — there was just one battle, and he took care of it in one battle. It wasn't like it was a prolonged fight. It went on forever. He had the ability, with the army that he had put together, and the captains and everybody. And they marched in against the Amalekites, and they easily were handed a victory.

But the problem was that Saul did not fulfill all that God asked him to do. The problem was, Saul didn't seem to be as taken back with how important God's command was, as he should have been. He received a word from a man who had just came out of a one-on-one, a moment where he had Direct contact with God. And the prophet showed up to tell the king what he was supposed to do. And the King took, and he picked out what pieces of the word that came from God that he wanted to do, and he disregarded the rest. He's like, "I hear you. I hear you. We got to go fight him. I hear you, we need a victory. I hear that God says we need to do this." But Saul didn't really hear everything. He was not listening completely. He was picking out of what was being commanded, what he wanted to do. And he went into battle. And he was victorious in the battle. But the problem was, he didn't kill them all. He didn't do what God asked him to do. Because after the fight was pretty much over, and everything was done, and he was handed — he saved King AAG alive, the king of the Amalekites. He didn't kill him off. Instead, he decided to do what was the tradition of the day, which was to march the defeated King back into town, so that he could present him on a parade, and as a prize of: "Look what God has done for us. Look what we were able to do. I brought the king back, that we were fighting." And then, after the all the fighting was over, they begin to look around at all the spoils that was there. They to look around at the camels and the donkeys and the sheep, and begin to say to themselves, "Look, there's some pretty goodlooking stuff here. There's some choice livestock that is here. We should take that back with us." And they disregarded what God had said do.

And then, as you get halfway through chapter 15, you see God speaking to the prophet again, saying, "I regret that I ever anointed Saul to be king." Of course, the prophet's upset by that. He had a personal connection with him. He was the one that did the anointing. So he wakes up, and he gets up. He goes out to the battlefield. He goes out to mount Gilboa. And he goes out there to where the fight's been going on. And he shows up, and he's trying to see what's going on. And he tries to find Saul. "Where's the king at?" "Well, the king's over there. He's erecting a monument to himself."

Now remember, when I was describing him earlier — when he first comes onto the scene, he was good-looking, he was smart, he was knowledgeable, he had a great personality. He checked all the boxes. But one of the ones that was the most impressive was, he was humble. But Captain humble is building a statue to himself after the victory. Captain humble, all of a sudden, is caught up in h what he was able to do, and how things had went. And he thought, "You know what, I think it'd be good if we had a monument here to me." Man, isn't it interesting how fast he's fell off the backside of that slope, of being elevated to a position?

What happened was that the Commandment that came from God to Saul, he didn't treat as a really big deal. And the problem is that everything that God says is a big deal. There are no insignificant Commandments from God. There's never anything about God that is insignificant. And sometimes we like to categorize the Commandments. Sometimes we like to look at the word of God, and we say, "You know what, I don't know that I personally have a conviction about that." I don't know that it matters, if you have a conviction about it or not. What did the word say? It doesn't matter how good you thought the spoil was. What did God say? It didn't matter that you were able to capture the king. But what did God say? What is he asking you in his word? I don't believe he sits down and says, "Let's counsel together, you and I, and together we can decide what the best choice is." No. God likes being God. He doesn't a real good job at being God. We do a real bad job at being God. And the problem was, King Saul forgot who the real King was. And he got to a little bit puffed up in his own self, and his own ability. After all, I mean, things were going, and people were liking him. And he rose to status. And he began to believe his own press reports. And he began to see — and when the man of God showed up and said, "I've been in a counsel with God. God has given me a direct word, what he wants you to do. He wants you to go, and he wants you to avenge his people. And the Amalekites got to die, every one of them." "Okay, I hear you. We're going to go fight the amalik kites." "No, you're not listening, Saul. This isn't about you. This isn't about you building a monument. This isn't about your satisfaction. This isn't about you being praised. It's about God keeping his word. It's about God. Because it's always about God."

Samuel confronts Saul. And here's where the real tragedy comes in. He comes to Saul and says, "I'm troubled. God sent me here to tell you that he has rejected you from being King." I see King Saul like, "What do you mean, rejecting me? I just got my Monument up. I got my statue over here. What do you mean, you can't reject me as being King? What are you going to reject me? I just want a great victory for God. I just showed the whole world what happens when you mess with God's people. That we will come in, and we will put you in your place. What do you mean, he's rejected me?" "Well, Saul, you didn't listen to what I told you to do." "I don't know what you mean. I me went in." He said, "Well, what is this bleeding of sheep that I hear in the background?"

And then, how quickly the tables turned. If you read the chapter, instead of him taking any ownership himself for what has happened, he began to say this: "Well, the people — the people decided that we should keep the spoils." "Well, I didn't know that the people were a part of the counsil that you and I had, when I come to you and I said, 'God has given a word that you're to go and utterly destroyed.' I don't remember the people being a part of that conversation. So why do the people have a voice in what God wants to do? Why is there a king sitting over there? Why did you leave someone alive, when God said everyone who's breathing — everything that's breathing — has to die? What are you doing, you and Saul? Who gave you permission to disregard, and be disobedient?"

When Saul's put it under the microscope, all of a sudden he begins to turn the tables and say, "Well, hey, hey, hey, hey — hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. How about we do this? How about we make a sacrifice? Look, I'll take all these oxen. I'll take all these sheep. I'll take all these Lambs. Hold — we're going to have, right now, let's get an altar. And let's have a big sacrifice. And let's just do this — do this, all this, for the Lord." "You —" "No, no, no, Saul. God has rejected you. It's not about sacrifice. Obedience is better than sacrifice. You're missing the point. It's not about how much it's about to cost you."

A lot of times, Apostolics, we begin to build up in our side ourself, about all the things that I've given up to be a part of this. It's not about the sacrifice. Often times it's about the Obedience. It's about the things that you do, even if you don't fully understand it and have your mind wrapped around it. God has spoke about it, and you got to be obedient to it. You can choose to not, just like Saul made a choice. He made a decision. He had a direct word from the prophet to come and said, "I just got out of a prayer meeting where God was speaking to me. And he wants you to go wipe the Amalekites out. Every man, every woman, every child, everyone who's nursing, every sheep, every oxin, every bow — every — they all got to die." "I got it." But you didn't. You may have heard it, but you were not obedient to it. Because you decided to pick and choose what it is that you were willing to do, and what it was you were not willing. You decided to pick and choose what it is that was going to be okay with, and what it was you were going to let the others tell you about. Who is it, Saul, who really has influence in your life? Because it's not God. Because you have disobeyed God. In fact, you have actually entered in to being a rebellious person, which is the sin of Witchcraft.

Saul, you had it all going on for you. Everything was good. Everything was perfect. And there was an anointed Prophet who came and spoke a word to you from God — directly from God. And you decided what piece of it you were going to do, and what piece of it you were going to not do. See, he doesn't realize — he's not comprehending — his actions have just cost him the throne. God has rejected you from being King. He's not processing that. He's not processing that God had already spoke to the prophet and said, "I'm done with him. I got somebody else who has a heart to follow after me." That's a whole another story, a whole another sermon, for a whole another day. But Saul doesn't realize this. He's still trying to weasel his way out of it. He's still trying to justify why he made the decisions he made. He's still trying to make sure that God understands that it wasn't a bad decision on my part, because I have reason behind why I did what I did. "I brought this in. This is for you, God. I'm doing this. I'm commit —" "No. God never asked for those things. He said it's all got to die, whether it makes sense to you or not. So I don't care. I'm not going to sit down and reason with you. This is beyond you. This is something that was set in motion a long time ago. It's all got to die."

But your choices not only have cost to your throne — but what he doesn't understand: even though he's going to Forfeit his office, Saul still has an opportunity to have a right standing with God. His relationship with God can still be Savage, if he will maintain a right attitude. Samuel is pleading with Saul: "Saul, please repent. Please turn from your ways. Would you fall in the mercy of God? Put yourself in the hands of the Lord. All he's saying is — this is Saul saying, "I did good today. I did good. We had a good victory. I don't understand how am I in trouble. It's not a big deal. Look — look, I did it. We fought them, the Amalekites. They're taking care of. Look, I got the king tied up right over here. And all we did was, we took the spes. But hey, we'll sacrifice the SPs to God. Let's let that — we'll make an offering." "No, no. Obedience is better than sacrifice." Samuel said, "You disobeyed. I gave you a word, and you didn't receive it."

Problem is, being right with God — God is better than any sacrifice that you will give. Because being right with God is not always about what it cost you. Being right with God is not always about what it cost you.

I open up the scripture today — or open up our service to disc sermon tonight, this morning — by reading to you a scripture for Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel brought their offerings to God. It's very beginning of the story that is there. First two children of Adam and Eve. We see there, that opens up, and the Harvest Time was there, and they brought their sacrifice before God. And I'm going to be honest with you, if you'll give me just a minute — I hope I can unpack this. If I think about it logically — if we approach this in a rational fashion — Abel's sacrifice — or excuse me, Cain's sacrifice — was much more costly than abble sacrifice. Excuse me, I mix that up. Abel's — yeah, yeah, kan's C's sacrific is much more costly than abble sacrific. What I mean by that is, Cain — he had to dig in the ground. He had to plant the seed. He had to tend to it, and dig the weeds out of it. He had to irrigate it. He had to stand there and watch, and make sure that there was no insects, no bugs, that were going to eat the leaves and all the stuff that was in there. All the stuff it takes for produce to grow. He had to do that. All Abel did was set up and scratch his belly, and watch the lamb eat grass. So between the two, logically thinking, Cain had more invested in his sacrifice than Abel did.

But when they appeared before God, the word says — and God accepted Abel in his sacrifice, and he rejected Cain in his sacrifice. Now maybe you're thinking, "Well, how did they even know what to do?" God had given them an example, when his mom and dad messed up. God sacrificed an animal, to show what it was that he approved, to cover over the wrong. So there were without excuse. The family's already been shown what to do. But Cain thought he had a better way. So he presents what he thought was the better way. And it's the honest — from a fleshly standpoint, I agree. I think it was a better sacrifice. But it wasn't what God wanted.

So he's downcast, and he's dejected. And there's a moment here where he can tell he's contemplating what I need to do. And God intervenes and speaks, and says: "Be careful. Be careful. Don't be rejected. If you do well, it's going to be okay. You'll be accepted. You messed up. You made a mistake. But how you handle this mistake makes all the difference in what your future is going to look like. Because sin's crouching at the door. There's something waiting on you, on just the other side — is waiting for you to succumb to your own personal feelings about things. And I'm telling you, Kane, I know you thought you brought a good sacrifice. But that wasn't what I was asking for. You — your brother called on to the message, and he understood. And maybe you think is less than. But I wasn't asking about you to Value the sacrifice. I was asking you to be obedient to what I want. Be careful. Be careful, Caine. Be careful. Right — I'm right around the corner. It's wanting to pounce on you. It's wanting to control you. But you need to take control of yourself, so that you can control that. Be careful."

True Holiness is not always measured by how much you give up for God, or how much you do for God. It's measured by giving up the right things, and doing the right things. God didn't have any respect for Cain's offering. Cain's trouble — it's there, it's going. But Cain looked to God and said, "Wait a minute. I've labored for this. I've worked hard for this. I've sweated for this. I'm sorry — God, you have to accept this." Well, God doesn't have to do anything that goes against his word. He is God.

Jesus said in Matthew 3 and8: "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance." You can bring fruits, but not every fruit is worthy of repentance. You got to acknowledge that there are some times that you need to ask God to forgive you for, because you have done things according to the way you wanted them done. "Pastor, you don't understand. I'm Apostolic. I've been baptized in Jesus' name. I spoke in tongues on the Holy Ghost came." I'm glad that you did all those things. I'm sorry — repentance is not a moment in time. It's not just an act. Repentance is a lifestyle you live. It is a lifestyle you live. And I'm afraid too many of us take it very casual. I don't care who you are — everybody drops their watermelon every once in a while.

That's why — you know, if you've been here any length of time, I say it's important. You may not believe this, but I believe that you ought to periodically be visiting the altar area. Because you're not good enough. And I am not either. I'm not either. I need repentance in my life. I need his covering in my life. I know how I am. I know how I feel. I know what goes on inside my own head. I know what's there. I need God in my life.

And sometimes I think we feel like God judges on scales. And, "Look at everything I did, God. Look at what I've done. Like, I've sacrifice for the church. I've given this." And there is — don't get me wrong — there's a right time to do sacrifices, and God calls us to live sacrificially in our lives. But I feel like sometimes we try to base Merit, and win favor with him, over "Look what I did, God. God, look what I gave. God, I gave him my time, and I gave him my finances. And I — G — surely God, you know —" when I look around, I begin to compare myself. You know, "I'm better than this one. I'm better than that one. I'm better than this." And we compare ourselves among ourselves. And that, the Bible says, that's unwise. So we think that God is doing all this stuff. And he's beginning to put together things on scales. But I — God doesn't measure on scales. He measures on balances. Listen to me: he puts you on one side, and he puts his word on the other. He puts his will for your life on the other. And they got to balance out. It's not a merit-based system. It's about being obedient.

God's calling Saul to repent. Saul says, "No, no, I don't want to." No — he admits that he didn't follow through, but he's still trying to justify what was going on. "Let me sacrifice. Let me do this." And then we get to the moment when the prophet's walking away, and he grabs them, and he begins to tear his robe to stare. And he says, "Just like this — this garment's been torn — your kingdom has been torn from you, and given to another." And he pleads with him and says, "Come back with me. Come back with me. At least honor me in front of the elders and the people."

And then you get a true Glimpse. You get a true glimpse into what really matters to him. He says there, in 1 Sam 15 and 30: "And Saul pleaded again, 'I know I have sinned. But please Les Le least honor me before the Elders of my people, for Israel, to come back with me, that I may Worship the Lord your God.'"

Did you see it? Did you catch it? Leave that scripture up for just a second. Did you catch it? Did you catch what's there? It's important. There's an indication right there, where the problem is. "Let me be right in front of the people's eyes, so that I can go back and Worship the Lord your God." What's happened? What's happened, Saul? How have we gotten here? How have we gotten from where you were, in chapter nine — as we're introduced to this man who's humble, and good-looking, and small, smart, and right, and a great personality — how have we gotten to hear you're more concerned about what the people think about you, and you don't even have a personal relationship — it's somebody else's God? What's going on, Saul? How did we get here? How did we slide this far? How have you gotten to building monuments for yourself, and justifying what part of God's word you'll be obedient to, what part you'll willingly walk away from? How have we gotten here, Saul, to where you're deciding what's right and wrong? How have we gotten here, Saul? I don't understand. Do you understand? It's more than just you being the king. There's more than just a position. There's more play here.

Listen to me, ladies and gentlemen: I'm the pastor of this church. And it's one of the greatest honors of my life, to be your pastor. But if I'm pastor, and I'm not right with God, the pastor title means nothing. I'm a presper in our movement. It's an honor to fill that role, when I've been in elected positions, and I set on boards. And it's all great. It's an honor, it really is. But if I'm not right with God, none of that means anything. None of that — none of that's going to do me any good in the long run. They're just titles and positions I held. And in the span of Eternity, they're inconsequential. They make no difference whatsoever. Sa — it doesn't matter that you hold the King right now. God has rejected you. You got to get to a place where you can get back in a right standing with God. There are Eternal things at play. There are generational things that play, Saul. Wake up. Wake up.

Then we have this interesting Dynamic, that I feel like many of us don't even pay attention to: that he left AAG alive, the king of the amalik sites. So he brings him over. And Samuel has this whole thing — and he calls the AAG over, because he's got to take care of some stuff. We got to be careful. We know the Bible says that the devil's like a roaring lion, walking around seeking who may devour. And we think, often times, he comes at us roaring. That's not how Lions hunt, okay? Lions don't go roaring out after their prey. How do they go after their prey? You don't see them — like a bunch of antelopes out there, and they're just like, they're just going to lay down if I yell you, I roar at them. They're just going to lay down. Now what they do: crouching, sneaking up. The Devil, he's sneaky.

In fact — well, I bring this up because what you see playing out, it's even in this chapter right here. 1 Samuel 15:32: "Then samuy said, 'Bring AAG, the king of the Amit, here to me.' So AAG come to him." What's the word there? What's the word? It's not a pop quiz. What is — it's right in front of you. Open those test cautiously. The word — the word in the Hebrew there is only translated four times in the Bible. Four times. Three of the four times it's translated, it's translated as delicacy. It's delicate. He comes before the king very delicately. It's wrong. It's a representation of everything that goes against God's people. But he comes in with a very delicate attitude. CU he isn't want — he want to be — "What do you think you're doing, coming attacking my people?" No. He comes in very slide. Very — that same Spirit — AAG comes in, and'll come into your life. It's trying to woo Samuel over. "We're not that bad. It's okay. Please, please." Of course, what does Samuel do? He gets pretty brutal in there, right? I mean, basically, the best way I know to say is, he takes a sword, and he hacks it into pieces. Cuz he knows that you can't leave a place for the devil anywhere. Wow. You can't leave a place for the enemy anywhere.

In fact, Ephesians 4 — Paul, writing to the church, says, "Neither," in verse 27 of chapter 4, "neither give place to the devil." That word, that word "place," is translated there — is the Greek word for Scabbard. You know what a Scabbard is? It's where you put your sword, where you put a knife, in a Scabbard. And it's custom made for something. He saying, "Don't allow the enemy to have a customade place that you have opened up for him." Cuz he doesn't need a much of a place, right? He doesn't need much, the enemy does mean.

Ladies and gentlemen, this whole thing fell apart because the enemy was in the garden. And he used three letters to change the whole course of history. Eve said, "If we eat it, we're going to die." And he said, "Thou shalt not." You don't have to give much room for him. Don't give place for the enemy. It may sound right. You may convince yourself. You may find somebody on Instagram, or find another social media platform that will justify how it is, that you don't think I have to kill it all off. "Oh, they're just — there's misquoting. They're just taking stuff out of context." Don't give place. Don't give place.

What really infuriates me is people who are spiritually inferior, listening to other spiritually inferior people misquote the word of God. They have not — you haven't dug in the word of God. You haven't fasted. You saw — you haven't — you just heard what you needed to hear, and you went and did what you wanted to do, and then you came back and tried to justify. You haven't been in the presence of the almighty God. You haven't walked out of a hot prayer room. You haven't spent — you haven't spent 30 days fasting and praying over some decision you're about to make. You just don't want to do it. So you decide to walk away from it, and you found somebody to justify and say, "It's not fair. It's not all this." You found some other hater out there.

Be careful, Saul. Yeah, be careful who you hang out with. Be careful who you bring around. Be careful that you don't make place for the devil.

Saul refused to repent. And the Bible said the spirit of the Lord troubled him, from that day forward. He rejected him, and the Lord sent a troubling Spirit his way. "Saul, wasn't just going to cost you your job, your position. It may have cost you just a little bit of steem. But you could have still been right with God. But Saul, this Rebellion that's in you — it's a spirit of Witchcraft. Saul, here's the deal. Like, you got to find a place. Because Saul, if you keep going down this path, it's going to lead you to someplace you don't want to go. You're allowing yourself to be offended, because you were disobedient. You being offended — and when you allow the offences inside, it gets a foothold. Don't give the enemy a place, because he'll take a foothold, and he'll put a beach head in there. And next thing you know, it spills into the other areas of your life. And at one time, when you used to go to the man of God and ask his opinion, you're going to find yourself in front of a witch, in front of a sorcerer, trying to find some direction in your life, because you don't know what to do. And you're going to find yourself in a battle one day, and you're going to find yourself in a fight one day. And you're going to be overwhelmed. And you're going to do anything, because you're desperate, because you allowed yourself to be influenced, because you're direct Disobedience to God."

As they get ready to end, King SA leaves this encounter, and everything just goes on. Listen to me now — Holy Ghost is moving — everything just goes on, for 20 years. He was still the king. Brother Moore, it's so good to see you back. I love you. 20 years, Brother Moore. He kept being King. He kept creating edicts and making law. And he kept sleeping in the palace, and eating at the king's table, for 20 years. 20 years, he'd go in, and he would have fights, and he'd win. For 20 years, right? "What do you mean? What do you mean, God has rejected me? I'm Still The King." 20 years, life just kept going on. But didn't realize that the blessings of God do not remove from your life immediately. Just like the prodical son — when he left, he was spending daddy's money for a while. Everything was good. But there came a time when the money ran out. When the blessings ran out.

See, what I'm afraid of is, even in amongst the Apostolic Pentecostals, I'm seeing some stuff going on. It's making me nervous. It makes me think about Jacob and Esau. I see some Jacob's and Esau's in the church. Jacob, eventually — he ends up getting it right. Eventually he figures that out. But Esau — this guy, we don't get him right. It hit me one day — hit me one day — what was going on. Because I never understood why he gave the birth right away, right, for a bowl of beans. I preached the whole message on that: "All for a Bowl of Beans." And God gave me some Revelation. He gave me some insight in that. It wasn't about the birthright. It was about what the birthright represented. "What do you mean, Pastor Kevin?" Well, the birthright came because he was one of two. So that meant he got 2third of The Inheritance. The two-thirds inheritance came with a little bit of a tag to it. Something was attached to it. Why was he getting the 2/3 inheritance? There was something he had to be responsible for. He had to take care of Mom and Dad. And Esau — Esa thinks with inside himself, "You know what, I don't think I want that responsibility. I don't know, I think I'll pass." Because in Esau's mind, this is what he's thinking — because this is how it goes down: "I'm not worried about the birthright. I just want the blessing. So yeah, I'm hungry, and beans smell good. You know what, you want that birth right so bad — sure, take that responsibility. You can have it. Hand me that bowl beans. It's all yours." Right there, there was nothing. He didn't cry about it. He didn't fuss about it. He just sits back and rubs his big old belly. "It'ss his fool. That's good beans." Looking at his brother, saying, "You don't even know. Now you got to take care of Mom and Dad. Now you got to listen to her yap and her complain. You got to go over there and help her with the Porta poot. You got to do all that. That's on you. I don't want that responsibility. I'm going to get the blessing." But what he didn't realize is, when he gave away the responsibility, he gave away the blessing.

He — I'm seeing in my day, I'm seeing a generation who's willing to say, "I don't need that Holiness stuff, the responsibility. I'm going to live in the blessings of God." You don't understand: if you don't take the responsibility, the blessing will be taken from you.

Saul, wake up. Wake up. If you'll just pay attention, Saul, it's not about the position. Yeah, I know the kingship had meant something to you. But there's more in play here. There's more than you see. You're going to find yourself fighting one day. We find him, 1st Samuel 30 — Philistines have surrounded him, and he's fighting. He's been seeking counsel from every place but God. Justifying what he's trying to do. He's trying to recall old stuff up. "Let me hit me hear from the man of God one more time." The man of God's already dead. He didn't try to Foster that relationship. His voice has gone silent. He's fighting. The word of God says, in the battle wax is hot. And he looks out — and because of his choices, he watches the Next Generation die. His sons die in the fight. He says, "I can't go out like this. I can't be overrun by the Philistines. Don't let it —" He's still — Pride's still there. He's still fighting Pride. "I can't be captured by the Philistines." So he looks around. He tries to get his armor bear to kill him. His armor bear says, "I ain't going to do that. I a't going to touch the anointed person. I'm not going to do that." So he falls on his own sword.

But even that — listen to me, stay with me, stay with me. If you got a Bible, open it up right now to 1st Samuel 30. He's fighting. He falls on his own sword. He's trying to die. That if you leave it there for Samuel 30, and you end the chapter, you think he's dead. But here's the deal: 1 and 2 Samuel was originally one book. When they canonized the Bible, they divided it, made it two. But it was one book. So 1 Samuel 30 ends with him being dead on his own sword. But you got to go to second Samuel chapter 1, cuz the story continues on.

See, here's what's going on. The story is this: Samuel didn't die from his self-inflicted wound. His armor bear won't do anything. So he looks around. He sees a young man running up. And he cries out to him. The young man comes over to him. He says, "Look, I can't let the Philistines take over. I need you to kill me." "But son, I don't even know who you are. Who are you?" Verse number eight of 2 Samuel 1: "And he said to me, 'Who are you?' So I answered him, 'I'm an Amite.'" He shouldn't even have been there. He shouldn't even have been there. Saul was supposed to have destroyed him. But the very thing that he refused to destroy has now come back to kill him.

Yes, sister Sue — I didn't see it. I read it, I don't know how many times I've read it. And the Holy Ghost had just wed up in me this week, and I'm like, "Oh my goodness. The Amite shouldn't even been on that mountain. Shouldn't even have been there."

See, this story is being recounted to Saul's replacement, David. Because verse number 10, the amikit, speaking to David, says: "So I stood over him, and I killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head."

Please hear me: I'm not trying to win any friends right now, but I'm trying to influence somebody. If you want do what God asked you to do — if you won't take care of what God asked you to take care of, it will be your down fall. It'll be the very thing that, left unchecked, that will take your crown for you. Because here's the deal: the one thing that Calvary can't cover is an unrepented sin. You hear me? The one thing Calvary can't cover is an unrepented sin.

I don't know who I'm for today. But I really don't have anything else left to say. Will you allow what God has already declared that you are to have victory over, and he guaranteed assurance that you could conquer it — but you've left the place. You decided, "You know what, those spoils look pretty good. Those cows, those sheep, they look pretty good. That King — I'm going to bring you back. I'm going to pray him around, because I want everybody to know why I was able to do —" What are you doing? What are you doing? Obedience is better than sacrifice.

"I love you, Jesus, so very much. I'm so thankful for the truth and the Revelation that is in your scriptures. God, I've unburdened my heart today to your church. I pray in this moment that you would draw all men and women to a place where they can make things right with you. God, that we could settle the lordship issue, and we could put to death the very thing that has the potential to control us. God, I pray that there will be a restoration take place today. In Jesus' name."

This altar is open. I invite you to come. I invite you to find a place. Let God work on you, so that you don't have anything that would steal your crown.