1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Thank you for listening to this message from Lifehouse Church. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:58,000 All right, just by a show of hands, how many people remember that song? 3 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,000 I think yes, yes, half of the crowd. 4 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,000 How many of you are like, I have no idea just what happened just now. 5 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,000 No clue what's taking place right now. 6 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,000 Listen, that song is called Feelings. 7 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,000 It's very dramatic, right? 8 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:18,000 And if you're older like I am, you remember that song, you have fond memories, you're probably just swaying just a little bit inside, right? 9 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,000 It's got a little bit of movement going. 10 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,000 If you're younger than probably 45, you're like, what is happening? 11 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000 What is this dramatic noise that I hear that's going on? 12 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,000 But feelings, all right, feelings, we all have them. 13 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,000 We all experience them. 14 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,000 And sometimes they're feelings of love. 15 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,000 Sometimes they're feelings of anger. 16 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:43,000 Sometimes there's feelings of pure joy and ecstasy in something. 17 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Sometimes there's a feeling of peace. 18 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Sometimes it's a feeling of turmoil. 19 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000 Sometimes it's frustration. 20 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,000 Sometimes it's maybe just kind of melancholy. 21 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,000 There's all kind of feelings we experience. 22 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:57,000 There's all kind of emotions. 23 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:04,000 And whether we want to admit it or not, our feelings often influence decisions that we make. 24 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Things that we're going to do, things that we're going to, how we're going to act, how we're going to respond, what we're going to say. 25 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,000 All these things take place. 26 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:19,000 And my feelings may change how I respond, maybe to my spouse, maybe to my child, maybe to the dog or cat, right? 27 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:24,000 A co-worker, right, or that neighbor that you never really liked in the first place. 28 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:33,000 And listen, if you're in a bad mood day, right, angry day, how am I going to know everybody around you is a jerk except you? 29 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:34,000 That's true, right? 30 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,000 It's true. 31 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:42,000 And if you're having a good day and you're feeling it and you're on top of your game and you're on top of the world, the neighbor that you didn't really like isn't so bad, right? 32 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,000 You can tolerate the kids. 33 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,000 You don't kick the cat or the dog going out the door and you actually kiss your spouse goodbye. 34 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,000 You know, in the morning. 35 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,000 But we can get into ugly trouble. 36 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Say ugly trouble. 37 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:01,000 You can get into ugly trouble if we allow our feelings to have too much influence in our decisions. 38 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:07,000 We can travel down the wrong roads and we can go down roads we really don't even want to travel. 39 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:15,000 We can land in a place we really don't want to be if we let our feelings influence our decisions too much. 40 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:27,000 And the Bible scripture gives us some very cautionary tales of people who lose it all because they put way too much value on their feelings in making a decision. 41 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,000 And this morning we're going to go to a man. 42 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,000 That very man is named is Saul. 43 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:35,000 So if you got your Bibles, you can turn to Samuel chapter 13. 44 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:40,000 I'm going to start at verse one, but it's Samuel chapter 13 verse one. 45 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,000 And while you turn this morning, I'm going to pray. 46 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,000 Father, we thank you for this day. 47 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:46,000 I thank you for your word. 48 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:47,000 God that sets us free. 49 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:48,000 God that opens our lives. 50 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,000 God that shows us the truth. 51 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:51,000 God that speaks the truth. 52 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:57,000 And Lord, I pray that today, God, we would hear and know the truth of God's word and Lord God that we would apply it to our lives. 53 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:01,000 And we just give you praise and glory and honor in Jesus name. 54 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 So you're if you're in Samuel 13, say amen. 55 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,000 All right, you're there. 56 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,000 Listen now, the person, Saul, that I'm going to talk about before I go reading. 57 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Saul is the son of Kish, who is from the Israelite nation. 58 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,000 And he's actually from the tribe. 59 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,000 There's there's 12 tribes in the Israelite nation. 60 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,000 And the tribe that he is from is Benjamin. 61 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:30,000 And he is anointed by a priest and a prophet named Samuel to be the very first king of Israel. 62 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,000 So I was going to be the first king of Israel. 63 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Now, God wasn't really on board with all this. 64 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:41,000 If you read about the historical account of this and you can go back and do that. 65 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,000 The nation of Israel was calling for a king. 66 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:52,000 They up until this point in time in history, they had always been led by God himself, speaking to a prophet, speaking through a man of God. 67 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Or it's been by judges that were take place and were appointed in in the in the society. 68 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:10,000 But all of a sudden, the nations around Israel have a king and Israel decided we need to have ourselves a king against God's actual advice on all this. 69 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 And God allows them to have a king. 70 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,000 He's not in favor of it, but sometimes he allows it. 71 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,000 How many of we do that with our kids sometimes, right? 72 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:18,000 We don't in favor of it. 73 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:19,000 We allow it. 74 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,000 And that's really what God does it because Israel's in this comparison thing. 75 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,000 And how many of you get in trouble when you start comparing yourself to somebody else? 76 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,000 Right. Israel heads down a path they probably shouldn't have headed down. 77 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,000 But God allows them to do it anyway. 78 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:37,000 And he speaks to the prophet Samuel and he denoits Saul as king. 79 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,000 And Saul is a human. 80 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,000 He's a man just like any other. 81 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,000 And God's hands upon him for this particular assignment of being king. 82 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:57,000 But at the same time, Saul has this tendency, this problem to follow his feelings a little too much in what he's doing. 83 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:58,000 It's kind of a weakness in his life. 84 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,000 So first Samuel 13, one says this. 85 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,000 Saul reigned one year. 86 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:08,000 And when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. 87 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:13,000 Two thousand were with Saul in Micmash and in the mountains of the Bethel of Bethel. 88 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:17,000 And a thousand were with Jonathan, that is Saul's son. 89 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:18,000 All right. 90 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,000 In Gibia of Benjamin, the rest of the people he sent away every man to his tent. 91 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:28,000 And Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was in Giba. 92 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,000 And the Philistines heard of it. 93 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,000 The Philistines are a neighboring nation to Israel. 94 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:39,000 And at this time in history, they're considered enemies of Israel. 95 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:43,000 But they are living at this point in time peacefully with one another. 96 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,000 So much so that they would even trade goods. 97 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,000 There was things like that taking place. 98 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,000 They were enemies, but they were peaceful with one another. 99 00:06:51,000 --> 00:07:00,000 And in the second year of Saul, King Saul's reign, Jonathan, his son, takes a thousand men and decides I'm going to attack the garrison. 100 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,000 Right. A military outpost of the Philistine nation. 101 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,000 And he stirs up the Philistines. 102 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:11,000 He basically, Jonathan goes with a thousand men and basically picks a fight. 103 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:12,000 All right. 104 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:13,000 He just pick. 105 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,000 How many of you push somebody when you want to pick a fight? 106 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,000 He just goes over to the Philistines. 107 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,000 He's like, I'm going to pick a fight. 108 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:19,000 And he pushes them. 109 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,000 And he kicks the proverbial hornet's nest. 110 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:23,000 All right. 111 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,000 How many know if you kick a hornet's nest, you better get ready to deal with the hornets. 112 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,000 Right. If you go up and kick a bee's nest, don't try this. 113 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:36,000 But if you did, right, if you kick a hornet's nest, YouTube, but somebody else did it somewhere, right, on YouTube. 114 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,000 But if you kick it, you're going to deal with the hornets. 115 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:42,000 Matter of fact, a few summers back, I did this very thing. 116 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:48,000 I kicked I did unknowingly kicked a hornet's nest up and it was it was a ground bees. 117 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Now, I don't know if you've ever stirred up a bunch of ground bees, but they're aggressive little buggers. 118 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:59,000 And I stirred up basically kicked it and they came out and they defended their hole that they came out of. 119 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,000 And they stung me multiple times. 120 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,000 Now, I just got to say for the record, they drew first blood. 121 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,000 OK, and it was on. 122 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:07,000 All right. 123 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,000 They stung me four or five times and I was mad. 124 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,000 And I went and got every can of was spray I could find. 125 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:14,000 I had these big long cans of waspray. 126 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:19,000 I dumped every single I fired every one of those things into that hole and then bees just kept coming. 127 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:27,000 So I found some semi flammable materials, poured down that hole and I lit them up. 128 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:28,000 All right. 129 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,000 And then when I got done, I dug the hole up just to make sure they were all dead. 130 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,000 And you know, and it was on and I kicked the hornets. 131 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:39,000 And that's exactly this is exactly what Saul's son Jonathan goes and does. 132 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:47,000 He goes and he kicks the hornets that he goes and he picks a fight with the Philistines and it takes a thousand men to do it. 133 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:53,000 The scripture says this, then Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land saying, let the Hebrews hear. 134 00:08:53,000 --> 00:09:00,000 Now, all Israel heard it said that Saul had attacked a garrison of the Philistines and that Israel had also become an abomination to the Philistines. 135 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:05,000 And the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal. 136 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,000 Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel. 137 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:10,000 Now, look at the numbers. 138 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:17,000 Thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen and people as the sand, which is on the seashore and multitude. 139 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,000 Man, it's on big time. 140 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,000 And they came up and encamped in McMash to the east of Beth-Avon. 141 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:28,000 And when the men of Israel saw that they were in danger for the people were distressed, 142 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,000 then the people hid in caves and thickets and rocks and holes and in pits. 143 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:36,000 And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. 144 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:41,000 As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal and all the people followed trembling. 145 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,000 Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. 146 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:51,000 But Samuel did not come to Gilgal and the people were scattered from him. 147 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:57,000 Now, just to be clear on the situation here, Paul had a saw as two thousand men. 148 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,000 Jonathan has a thousand men. 149 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,000 They attack a garrison, right? 150 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Jonathan goes attacks a garrison of the Philistines and invokes an incident, a military incident. 151 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:15,000 And the Philistines, they return in kind, except they come back with thirty thousand chariots, 152 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:20,000 six thousand horsemen and an endless number of foot soldiers. 153 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:26,000 Now, I'm not sure what Saul and Jonathan were feeling before they did this. 154 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,000 I'm not sure if they were feeling proud. 155 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,000 I'm not sure they were feeling bold. 156 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,000 I don't know if they got all cocky about things. 157 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,000 I don't know if they were angry about something. 158 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,000 But I can tell you what they were feeling after they picked a fight. 159 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,000 They were feeling dread. They were feeling anxiety. 160 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 They were feeling in the words of Scooby Doo, yoinks, right? 161 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,000 They were like, oh, no, what's going on here? 162 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:53,000 And we see in this passage, this impulsive attack on the Philistines. 163 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:54,000 He didn't think it out, right? 164 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,000 He didn't go through. He didn't. 165 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,000 Here's some things you don't see in scripture. 166 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:00,000 And I tell you this all the time. 167 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:05,000 You want to see what's in scripture and then sometimes you want to see what's not in scripture. 168 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:12,000 And what you don't see in scriptures, you don't see Saul going and consulting with any other military experts within his country, right? 169 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:18,000 You don't see him going and doing some recon work, sending some spies, find out how much military might they have. 170 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:19,000 You don't see any of that, right? 171 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:30,000 And if you know a little bit about this time in history, a matter of fact, Israel is really super low in swords and weapons because the only ones that were making them at that time were the Philistines. 172 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:31,000 They didn't consult. 173 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:36,000 He didn't go to Samuel, the prophet, and say, Samuel, should we go right? 174 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,000 Should we go in and should we go to battle? 175 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,000 They don't consult God at all. 176 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:51,000 Whatever feeling or idea that drove them to attack. Now there is a national incident on their hands. 177 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,000 So what am I saying? 178 00:11:53,000 --> 00:12:00,000 I'm saying this. We need to have more than a feeling before we move forward on something, right? 179 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,000 We need to have more than a feeling. 180 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:08,000 Israel had a long history of consulting God before they went into battle. 181 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:12,000 They would go they would get with God. They would get with the prophet and they would get God's okay to go into battle. 182 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:17,000 And the reason they did that is because if they got God's okay, they knew God would go with them in the battle. 183 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,000 They knew that God was going out ahead of them. 184 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:28,000 Sometimes God would just create mass chaos with the enemy and the enemy would literally kill themselves like in all the chaos. 185 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:37,000 And this happened with Israel even when they were outnumbered, even when they were outgunned, even when their military position was not stellar, was not good. 186 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:41,000 You know, they would do this. They would consult God. 187 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:48,000 If you're going to go right, especially if you're going to go pick a fight, you know, always go with God. 188 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,000 Always have God with you. Make sure it's a God thing that you're going to do. 189 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,000 And Jesus, how many of you are going to go pick a fight, take a big gun? 190 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:01,000 Jesus is the big gun. He's the one you wanted with you in this. 191 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,000 Don't make a decision just based strictly off your feelings. 192 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:11,000 At a minimum, Saul could have called on Samuel, the priest and the prophet, who of that day, 193 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:17,000 and he would have gone on Saul's behalf and spoke to God and prayed to God to find something out. 194 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:22,000 But instead, he went with his gut, right? His feelings. 195 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:26,000 Zero direction, zero God direction, zero instruction from God. 196 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:34,000 And if I can help us out, our gut should never be the only indicator in a decision. 197 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:40,000 My gut alone is not good. All right. Say that. My gut alone is not good. 198 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:44,000 My gut alone is not good. And you might say, well, Pastor, why are you hitting this so hard? 199 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:51,000 And I'm talking about this today because in this portion of scripture, because in our society, we champion the idea. 200 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:56,000 We praise the idea of being independent, doing it all on ourselves, being self-reliant. 201 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:00,000 Right. We celebrate that. I how I feel about anything. 202 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:06,000 In matter of fact, how I feel about anything is overvalued in our culture. Can I say that? 203 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:13,000 It's overvalued. Our feelings, right? So much that our feelings, what we express as feeling, 204 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:20,000 is literally referred to sometimes as my truth. You ever hear that? Oh, that's my truth. Right. 205 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:26,000 I feel this way. But so is my. Can I tell you something? Our feelings should never be equated with the truth. 206 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:33,000 It really shouldn't. It could be true, but it might not be what you're feeling might be true or it might not be. 207 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:39,000 How many of you have ever felt super passionate about something you thought you had the right idea? 208 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:44,000 You got into a discussion with somebody you thought you were right. You're pounding your fist on the table. 209 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:50,000 I am right about this. You're passionate. You're having all kind of feelings while you're having that discussion. 210 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:56,000 Only to find out 10 minutes later, you were completely wrong. Anybody ever do that other than me? Thank you. 211 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:02,000 Thank you for your honesty. Right. Your feelings are not an accurate indicator of the truth. 212 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:08,000 It really aren't right there. An active indicator of what your notion is at the time. 213 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:16,000 That's what your feelings are doing. Right. It's our and our our notions can be wildly accurate or they can be wildly inaccurate. 214 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Depending on what we're doing. How many of you have ever got mad at somebody that startled you? 215 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:30,000 How many of you ever somebody you were doing something somebody came in the room and they said, hey, and you and you got so mad you just slapped him. 216 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:35,000 Come on. Right. And they didn't do it intentionally. They just came in and said hello. Right. 217 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,000 I mean, that's not an accurate indicator of that person's motives and what's taking place. Right. 218 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:43,000 It's just scared you so bad. How many of you are smackers if you get scared? Come on. Come on. 219 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,000 There's a there's a help for that. There's there's therapy for that. All right. 220 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:58,000 Our feelings are not defenders of the truth. Our feelings follow what we think might be right in that moment. 221 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:07,000 Saul and Jonathan concoct a very poor military plan to attack the Philistines because of what they felt like was a good idea. 222 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:13,000 And they ended up in a heap of trouble. A whole nation is trembling. 223 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:17,000 They are they're afraid of being annihilated and Saul lands himself. 224 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,000 Probably the biggest problem, at least to date in scriptures, right. 225 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:26,000 From his impulsive actions, a national incident is taking place. 226 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:36,000 People are freaking out. They're deserting. They're hiding in rocks and beyond rocks and in case some of them are crossing over the Jordan River just to get away to desert. 227 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:44,000 And finally, Saul's in the middle of all this and he decides, you know, I did all this, but it's probably a good idea to get Jesus involved right now. 228 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:51,000 Right. I should call on the Lord at this point. How many know sometimes we have an afterthought of God. 229 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Right. When all else fails, I'm going to call on the Lord. I call him crisis Christianity. Right. 230 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:01,000 Crisis Christians or crisis Christianity. Well, I need you, Jesus. 231 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,000 I'm in big trouble. My back's against the wall. I got all kind of things going wrong here. 232 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,000 Jesus, I need you. I need you. I mean, we have feelings when we do that. Right. 233 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:14,000 Jesus, I need you. Right. Jesus, I need you. And God comes in and rescues us. 234 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:20,000 And three weeks later, who's Jesus? Right. I don't show up to church until the next crisis comes. 235 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:27,000 And then I call, you know, one eight hundred bail me out. Jesus. I'm back on the phone again to Jesus. 236 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:37,000 Saul sends for Samuel and is now because everybody's quaking in their boots and he's waiting on him to arrive and bail him out. 237 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,000 He has he's waited for seven days for seven days. 238 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:48,000 He's got a massive army on the other side strategizing how they're going to take him out for seven days. 239 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:53,000 His troops are shaking in their boots. People are deserting. They're heading over the Jordan. 240 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:57,000 Right. They're going to Gad and Gilead. They're going to those places. Saul's looking. 241 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:02,000 Saul's looking more and more and more incompetent. There's no unity. There's no fight in him. 242 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:08,000 Right. It's fight or flight. And they're all going for flight. And seven days. What do I do now? 243 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:13,000 You know, thinking how many know seven days a long time when you're pinned up against the wall. 244 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:20,000 Right. Which is a bad combination for an impulsive person who's just following their kind of feelings kind of guy. 245 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:24,000 Seven days of wondering why why Samuel hasn't showed up. Right. 246 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:29,000 He doesn't know Samuel might have already headed across the Jordan. He might never come. 247 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:34,000 He's waiting on the prophet. He's waiting to hear from God now. But he doesn't know. 248 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:40,000 So verse eight says this. Then he waited seven days according to the time set by Samuel. 249 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,000 But Samuel did not come to Gilgal and the people were scattered from him. 250 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,000 So Saul said, Bring a burnt offering and a peace offering here to me. 251 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:58,000 So he offered the burnt offering. And now it happened as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering that Samuel came and Saul went out to meet him that he might greet him. 252 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:03,000 And Samuel said, What have you done? 253 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:12,000 Saul said, When I saw that the people were scattered from me and that you did not come within the days appointed and that the Philistines gathered together, you hear the panic in his voice. 254 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:18,000 You hear the emotion and what he's saying here, the feelings well up. Then I said the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal. 255 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:23,000 And I have not made supplication to the Lord. Now he's getting religious. Right. 256 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:31,000 Therefore, I felt compelled. There it is. I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering. 257 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:37,000 Saul said, I felt compelled to do your job, Samuel. 258 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:45,000 So you got to understand something in Israel. God, the only ones who could do the sacrifice were the priests. 259 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,000 God had appointed the priests to do the sacrifice. 260 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:53,000 Only those from the line and the lineage of Aaron were allowed to do the sacrifice. 261 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:57,000 And Saul is getting his he's got his back up against the corner. 262 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:05,000 He's feeling the pressure. And instead of waiting on God and waiting on Samuel to get there, who is the priest and is the prophet, 263 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,000 Saul decides, you know what? I don't know if he's going to come. 264 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:14,000 So I'll do it myself. And he disobeys God and he no more than gets it done. 265 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:21,000 And Samuel shows up and says, Saul, what did you just do? 266 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:29,000 Impulsive, impulsive feeling instead of faith in God will lead us into trouble every single time. 267 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:37,000 Feeling instead of faith in God, trusting my feelings over my faith in God and what he said is going to head you to trouble. 268 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:44,000 Trusting in feeling over my faith in God's written word, over my faith in God's revelated word. 269 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:50,000 I'm heading for a downfall. My feelings cannot direct my decisions. 270 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,000 It's got to be faith in God. It can't be feeling alone. 271 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:59,000 And you might be thinking, well, this is true. Why in the world did God give me feelings? Right. 272 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,000 Because all of us have them. We all have feelings. 273 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:06,000 You might have a feeling right now that you might be feeling like I need to get to lunch and you need to get done, pastor. 274 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,000 Right. You might be having we we are a feeling kind of people. 275 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,000 And sometimes our feelings seem to confuse the issue. 276 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,000 And sometimes it seems to blur the lines. And sometimes we don't. 277 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,000 It seems to knock us off balance because we have these emotions. 278 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:25,000 We have these feelings that are tied to everything. Why in the world did God give us all these feelings? 279 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,000 You know, what's that all about? Why do I have these? 280 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:40,000 If it's going to mess up, you know, following God cannot tell you that God has a purpose and a plan in everything that he did in the way that he designed you in the way he made us. 281 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:46,000 He has a purpose. And all you have to do is look at the second king in Israel, not Saul, who is the first king. 282 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:54,000 But if you go to the second king of Israel, who is David, and you begin to read, you'll see the reason God gave you those emotion. 283 00:21:54,000 --> 00:22:00,000 I'm going to take you to Psalms 56. One. It says this and this is David in a very similar situation. 284 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:05,000 He's in a distressful time. He's got pressure on him from from his enemies as king. 285 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:12,000 And he says this. Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up, fighting all day. 286 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:19,000 He oppresses me. My enemies would hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me almost high. 287 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:25,000 Whenever I'm afraid. How many know I'm afraid? How many afraid is an emotion? It's a feeling, right? 288 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:30,000 I will trust you and God. I will praise his word in God. I put my trust. 289 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:35,000 I will not fear. He talks about his emotion. What can flesh do to me all the day? 290 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,000 They twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. 291 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:44,000 They gather together. They hide. They mark my steps. They lie and wait for my life. 292 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:49,000 Shall they escape by iniquity and anger? Cast down the people's, O God. 293 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:58,000 You number my wonderings. Put my tears in your bottle. Come on. That's feeling. All right. 294 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:06,000 Are they not in your book? When I cry out to you, when my enemies will turn back, this I know because God is for me. 295 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:12,000 In God, I will praise his word in the Lord. I will praise his word in God. I have put my trust. 296 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:18,000 I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Vows made to you are binding upon me. 297 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:22,000 Oh, God, I render praises to you for you have delivered my soul from death. 298 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:28,000 Have you not kept my feet from falling that I may walk before God in the light of the living? 299 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:32,000 What does King David do with his feelings? He doesn't. Here's what he doesn't do. 300 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:37,000 First of all, he doesn't stuff his feelings away, right? He doesn't pretend that they don't exist. 301 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:42,000 He doesn't beat his chest and say, I don't feel anything. He's the king. 302 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:46,000 He's a warrior. He's a mighty warrior. He doesn't do that. He doesn't stuff him. 303 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:52,000 He doesn't ignore that he is having some feelings about some things and frustrations and anger and fear on all these things. 304 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,000 He doesn't spew his feelings all over social media. I know they didn't have it back then, right? 305 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,000 But he doesn't post it all over social media. Got to get that in there, right? 306 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:04,000 He didn't throw them up. He didn't barf them all up over his family, right? 307 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:10,000 Just spew all his feelings all over his family. He doesn't go somewhere looking for somebody to commiserate with. 308 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:15,000 Right. So I can commiserate in my feelings. He certainly expresses it. 309 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:21,000 And he writes it. He sings it. He does all these things. He's not only a warrior, but he's a poet. 310 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:27,000 He's also a writer and a musician. So what's his feeling for? Feelings are for this. 311 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:34,000 God gives you feelings. So when you have a feeling, that is a flag. Wave a flag right now. 312 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,000 Just pretend. All right. Come on. Your feeling is a flag. 313 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,000 And what that feeling is meant to do is to drive you to the master. 314 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:51,000 It is when you've got a feeling, it's to get you to God. It's to point the way when something's off and something's messing with you. 315 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:55,000 And you're all stirred up in your spirit. It is not for you to act on. 316 00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:02,000 It is to drive you to the God of heaven so you can get some advice, so you can find out what you need for the moment, 317 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:09,000 for the difficulty, for the stress, for the issue that's taking place. Jesus said this in Matthew 11, 28. 318 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:14,000 He said, Come to me, all you who labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. 319 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:23,000 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 320 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:29,000 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Do you know what your soul is? At your emotional center, man. 321 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:35,000 You got a spirit, man, but you got a soul. That's where your mind, will, and emotions all come together. 322 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:42,000 He says you'll have rest for your soul. When you get mad, run to him. Run to him. 323 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:49,000 When you get happy, praise him. When you get anxious, look to him for direction. 324 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:56,000 When you're getting sad, rest in him. Come on. That's why he gave you emotion. 325 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:04,000 It's not to go make crazy hair, brain decisions on. Right. It really isn't. 326 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,000 Let me tell you, let me end with this. I'm going to get ready to close this out. 327 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:15,000 There is a deep, deep danger when I follow my feelings alone in something, 328 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:20,000 when I let it begin just to influence my decisions. I'm going to ask you to stand. 329 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:24,000 I'm going to read this last portion of scripture while the worship team comes, 330 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,000 and while they're getting ready at East Shore and online. 331 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:33,000 I want to read this last portion of scripture, and you got to hear what happens to Saul in all this, 332 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:40,000 because he's already, he's only in his second year of being a king, and God's anointed him to be king. 333 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,000 But listen what happens in Samuel, and this is all in the same portion of scripture, 334 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,000 and Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. 335 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:52,000 You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. 336 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:58,000 For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, 337 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:04,000 but now your kingdom shall not continue. It cost him everything as king. 338 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:10,000 The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, who is David, the second king, 339 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:18,000 and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. 340 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:27,000 Saul, using his feelings as a primary lead for decisions, brings his downfall. 341 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:33,000 He disobeys God so many times in this that God sends Samuel to him and says, 342 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:41,000 in this same whole scenario, this whole thing that played out, and God told him, I am going to take the kingdom from you. 343 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:50,000 He basically withdrew the anointing that was on Saul, and he said, I'm going to put it on someone who will follow me. 344 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:57,000 David felt, David felt deeply. He wrote about it, he sang about it, but one thing that David did, 345 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:05,000 almost without fail, except for one place in scripture, you can read about that, he would go to God with whatever was taking place in his life. 346 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:10,000 Every time he was feeling this, he was going to the house of God. He was calling on God. 347 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:15,000 He was lifting himself. He was encouraging himself in the Lord. It says that in scripture. 348 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:20,000 And we live in a world that feelings are championed. We live in a world that says, 349 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:30,000 well, whatever you're feeling is the truth, and it simply is not true. It's not true. Our feelings should drive us to God. 350 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:36,000 So I got to ask you this morning. What role do feelings play in your life? 351 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:42,000 I know it sounds like such a subtle thing, but it is enormously important. 352 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:49,000 What role do feelings play in your life? When you start having a feeling, all right, how many had feelings this week? 353 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:55,000 If you got a pulse, you had feelings. All right. That's true. 354 00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:02,000 Did it drive you to Him? Or did it drive you to just make some decisions? 355 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:07,000 And I know some of you are thinking, I got a pretty good gut, man. I follow my gut. It works out some of the time. 356 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:12,000 It will only work out some of the time. I can tell you that. It will not work out all the time. 357 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:17,000 Is it driving you to God? Or are you making decisions based on a feeling? 358 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,000 Let me give you just a little scenario of what I'm talking about here. 359 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:25,000 Sometimes I get young people, right? And we do premarital counseling or they come to me. 360 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,000 And when I was a youth pastor, they come talk to me about dating and those kind of things. 361 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:34,000 And they're like, I'm so in love. They love this person. I just love everything about them. 362 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,000 I love how they chew food. I love how they walk. 363 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:43,000 Seriously, I had this couple that she literally counted the number of times he chewed steak and hamburger. It was weird. 364 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:48,000 Okay. Yeah, I know. It was a little creepy. But you know, the couples will come and they're so in love. 365 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:52,000 And that's the feeling, right? And that's all right. That's all God gave you that. 366 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000 You should that attraction, that feeling of love, all those things are there. 367 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:59,000 But that should drive you to the master and say, Lord, is this the one? 368 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,000 Right? Because ultimately you're looking for the one. Is this the one? 369 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,000 Is this the person that I'm supposed to experience the feelings? 370 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:09,000 But at the same time, is this the person I'm supposed to land with? I need to know that. 371 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:14,000 Give me confirmation in that, God. Give me confirmation. 372 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,000 Help me in this. Help me in this. Amen. 373 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,000 It's true. I did this the wrong way when I first started dating. 374 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,000 Nobody explained this to me. 375 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,000 I did it until I got to Dixie. I started praying, man. 376 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:32,000 Like, God, is she the one? I knew. I knew that I knew that I knew. 377 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:36,000 I'd have married her on the spot when God confronted her right there. I'd have scared her to death. 378 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:40,000 I'd have been dating a little while. I knew. 379 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,000 Have the feeling, but let it drive you to God. 380 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:48,000 And it's in anything that you do. It's in anything you do. It's true. Amen. 381 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,000 So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to let you answer that question. 382 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:56,000 I'm not going to come back and interview because we don't got time. 383 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,000 But I need you to pray. I want you to have an honest moment. 384 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,000 I want you to close your eyes right now, bow your heads, because you've got to have a really honest moment in your heart. 385 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:08,000 And if you're listening online, be honest in this. If you're listening to East Shore, be honest in this. 386 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,000 Be honest. 387 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,000 What are my feelings? What role do my feelings play in my life? 388 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:19,000 Are they driving my decisions or are they driving me to the master? 389 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:24,000 When things start getting stirred up in me, do I just go off and go do this or I go do that? 390 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,000 Or I step this way or I step that way? 391 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:33,000 Or is it driving me to the master to find out what to do and how to do it and when to do it? 392 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,000 So many people go astray right here. 393 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:44,000 Christians, people who believe in Jesus, people who love God, and they get down this trail and they get in a mess. 394 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,000 And they get their backs to a corner. 395 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:53,000 And it's almost like a national incident in their life. 396 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:59,000 And if you step through and you continue to step through, you can walk away from God doing these kind of things. 397 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,000 Father, I come to you today. I thank you for each person in the house. 398 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:07,000 God, as there's self-examination take place here today. God, this is a check message. 399 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,000 I need to know message and I got to be honest with myself message. 400 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,000 Lord, I pray God that every ear that hears me today, Lord, whether in the house or online, 401 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:21,000 God, that you would speak to them and Lord, they need to know, Lord, that now is the moment. 402 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,000 Now is the time. Be honest with yourself. 403 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:28,000 If you're following your emotions, you're making decisions out of emotion. Change it right now. 404 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:36,000 Confess it. Repent of it. Say, God, from now on, when emotion stirs up in me, I'm going to look to you first. 405 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:43,000 Before I react, before I move, before I take on an action of some kind, I'm going to check with you first. 406 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,000 I'm going to find out what this is all about because you gave me this. 407 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:50,000 This is a gift in my life, but it is meant to lead to you. 408 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,000 And Lord, we just praise you. I give you glory. I pray each person here. 409 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:59,000 God is admitting, God, where they're at. God, praise God if they're consoling you first. 410 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,000 But if they're not, Lord, God, shift it right now in their spirit. 411 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:11,000 One change today, one small change can change, Lord, the direction of their life. 412 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:14,000 All right. Now I want you to look up at me. 413 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:22,000 If Saul would have consulted the Lord, the Word of God says his kingdom would have been established forever. 414 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,000 Now in Israel, they'll talk about King David, right? 415 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,000 The kingdom of David, it would have been the kingdom of the Saul. 416 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:35,000 He lost all of that because he did not consult with God about a feeling. 417 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,000 It can change the course of your life. Amen? It's true. 418 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,000 Come on, Zach, sing one song. I want you to contemplate it. 419 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,000 Then we're done singing. I'm going to dismiss you. 420 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:49,000 But I want you to think about this because God's got something in front of you. Amen? 421 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:50,000 Sing that verse. 422 00:33:50,000 --> 00:34:04,000 Sing, I just want to speak the name of Jesus over every heart and over every mind. 423 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:15,000 Oh, cause I know there is peace within your presence. Oh, I speak Jesus. 424 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:29,000 Sing that chorus, your name. Oh, your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. 425 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:41,000 Break every stronghold. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like a fire. 426 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:52,000 Oh, sing that one more time. Your name. Your name is power. Oh, yes it is. Your name is healing. Hallelujah. 427 00:34:52,000 --> 00:35:11,000 Your name is life. Oh, break every stronghold. Oh, break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like a fire. 428 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:16,000 Praise name. Praise name. 429 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:25,000 As I think about this message, Dixie and I have been married 34 years and heading for 35. Yeah, that's awesome. 430 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:31,000 I know she's put up with me that long. It's awesome. Thank you for giving her a hand. She deserves it. 431 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:37,000 You know, but I thought about the times that we've had marital disagreement, let's call it. 432 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:47,000 Okay. Spirited disagreement. If I had just taken the time when I had a feeling and prayed and asked God what this was all about, 433 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:52,000 I probably would have saved myself a whole bunch of headache and a whole bunch of apologizing and a lot of money and flowers. Amen. 434 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:59,000 Come on, it's true. It's true. It's true. It's true. God is good. 435 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:07,000 He gives you his word so that you walk through his life in success so he can take you from glory to glory to glory. It's true. 436 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:14,000 It's true. Turn somebody give him high five. Tell him I got a feeling right now. Come on. I got a feeling, but I'm not going to act on it. 437 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,000 I got a feeling. Amen. God bless you. 438 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:25,000 Invite somebody back next week. If you need prayer for something individually, a healing, a difficulty, you need to talk with someone. 439 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:31,000 You need to make your way straight to the back right now. Don't let don't talk yourself out of it. Move right to the back. 440 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:38,000 They want to pray with you. The prayer teams back there and they will be glad to speak with you this morning. God bless you. 441 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:58,000 Thank you for tuning in to this message from Life House Church. We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message. 442 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:11,000 If you've been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com.