Why God Isn’t Blessing Lukewarm Christianity | Don't Be A Pecker

Foreign.

All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the King's Council. What's happening, brother?

What's happening, man? Live.

We're live. Happy Friday. I'm gonna say again, we got a fun little catchy title. If you guys has saw the title when you clicked on the link here, it's gonna be a fun day today. Yeah, I'm pumped. Welcome. Welcome back up to Minnesota, too, by the way.

Yeah. Getting chilly. Well, it's been getting chilly up here, but.

Yes, yes. It's snow. Snow on the ground.

Yes. Nobody can see your slippers that you're wearing. You didn't offer me any slippers.

Yeah, I bet your feet are freezing.

They're a little chilly, yeah.

Oh, man. The. The joys of living in Minnesota. But. But we're. We get to do it. Yeah, we get to do it until God calls me to Florida full time.

So. Florida. What about Texas?

Or Texas? I don't know. Any place where the sun shines.

Yeah.

Without frigid temperatures. The problem is in the winter, when the sun shines, it's even colder up here.

What do you mean?

You know, when the. Like, in the winter?

Yeah.

My people in the chat, you guys know this. If it's up here in the north and it's just blue sky and sun, it is freaking cold.

Really?

Oh, yeah. It's better when it's, like, overcast. Yeah, it's like a little bit of a, I don't know, blanket on us.

Yeah, the overcast today did not warm me up. Okay, that's true.

That is true. Oh, man. Well, let's dive into it. This is gonna be a fun topic today. If you saw the. If you did see the title, are you a pecker? Which gotta be kind of catchy, right? And when Christian sent me these notes over, I was like, what is this? But he's also volunteered to give us the. The entire he version of this, Right?

Maybe not the entire Hebrew version. No, come on, give it a.

Give a shot, man.

Well, well, the. The whole. Yeah, yeah,

You need a little bit more Flemish.

But. But anyhow, why don't we get into the context of what we're talking about? We're talking about first kings, chapter 18, the. The infamous story of Elijah when there's a showdown on Mount Carmel. And the showdown is between Yahweh, the one, and true living God. By the way, even though that was the Old Testament, he's still the one and only true living God. Yahweh. That's his name. Yahweh. Exodus 3:14 I am that. I am Yahweh. Okay. And it was a showdown between Yahweh and another God, false God, that was worshiped at the time baal. And BAAL was a God of storms. He was a God of fertility. Whenever you see a foreign God or a pagan God, best believe they have something to do with fertility. Right? Fertility and weather. Yes, Right. If we need to make babies, let's pray upon this God. If we need. Need to rain so we could have some food, let's pray upon this God. So they, they were always about weather, fertility and whatnot. But there's a. A showdown. And essentially the people of Israel at this time, ever since the. The kingdom divided about 100 years prior to this point, we know King Saul was the first king, then King David. Right. And after King David, Solomon, but Solomon's son, Rehoboam, he became king of the south. That's when there was a split between the 10 northern tribes. They were up there in the the N that was called Israel, with Samaria as the capital, and then in Judah with Jerusalem as the capital. And it was a divided kingd. Now here we are about 100 years post that split of the kingdom. And yeah, what, what they found in the north, real fast with all the kings is that they were all evil, they were all wicked. They. They all turned and rebelled from Yahweh. And God sent prophets like Elijah to go speak his word to the people. And where we are here in chapter 18 of First Kings is it wasn't that people were just Baal worshipers. They were worshiping Yahweh and Baal.

It's like, okay, that sounds like a lot like America. Right?

Right. It's like, oh, I'll pray to God here when I need something, I'll worship him. You know, I'll go to church, I'll do some things. But you have idols in your life, and the idol in your life doesn't have to be BAAL or some pagan God, whatever, is taking the place of your heart's affection rather than Christ. Then that's idolatry. Yep, that's idolatry. Yep.

That's good. Just reminded me. I know we were talking before we. We got on here. I've been watching.

Let.

Let me know in the chat too, if any of y' all been watching.

Said y', all, y'. All. I like it, man.

Maybe that got that Texas twang.

Yeah, I try to throw it in at least. At least once a week. Once a week. You brought it up here in Minnesota, bro.

Anybody Been watching House of David in on Amazon. If you guys haven't watched it, there's two seasons out now. It's really good, right? It's not, I mean they take some, some liberties with, I mean they even do that in the chosen right with just kind of what's happening in between scripture. But it's really good. It's just done really well and it just reminded me there's, there's a moment I don't even remember. I think it's just season two. But one of the episodes, Uriah, I love it too because they just show like Uriah is just like a good dude and like always there for David. And then we, we know that David just ultimately ends up being a big butt head to him.

Yeah, well, for people don't know, steals his girl Bathsheba. He was supposed to be out fight the battle with his, especially Uri, one of his mighty men, one of his, one of his OGs, one of his right hand men. And yeah, he wasn't there. He was kind of peeping. See that dime piece over there? And the way the Bible describes Bathsheba, you know, she was a tent, she was a tent, she was a dime piece. And you know he, he calls it, summons her and sleeps with her and then she gets pregnant and he's like, oh snap, Uriah's out, out fighting right now. We got to call him back. So people think this is his baby. And that dude was so honorable, right. He said, I can't even get my wife right now while my men are fighting. I got to get back there.

Y.

So David sends him back to the front line so he would essentially get killed.

Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah. Anyways, where I was going with that, there was a moment where David and Uriah are talking. They're like, they're heading out to go to battle and David asks him, or I think somebody asks him, he's like, why didn't, why, why are you here? Why didn't you go back to I think Egypt or something? And Uriah said my God's there made of statue and your God is real, right? And it's like to me that's just like a cool moment of like, man, our God is real, right? And then so many other people are. I mean back then obviously they're talking about you know, worshiping BAAL and different idols and statues and you know, people made lots of money making little figurines and things like that. But as you mentioned, it's like we all have idols in our life and we, we have the Luxury. Most of us listening to this, I think, are here in America. It's like we have the luxury of living in this country and we make lots of things, our idols, whether it's, you know, our, our businesses, our, you know, our jobs, making money, sometimes maybe our spouse. Right. Maybe our kids. Lots of different things can actually be idols in here. And I love. We're just, we're going to dive into this. But let me, I'll just, Let me. Can I just read verse 21 here specifically?

Yeah.

Then we'll dive onto this. Okay, so this again, First Kings, chapter 18, verse 21 says, Elijah went before the people and said, how long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if BAAL is God, follow him. But the people said nothing.

Yeah. And the Showdown was the 450 prophets of Baal were going to call upon Baal to perform a miracle. And then, then Elijah was going to call upon Yahweh to perform a miracle. And, and that. This, the whole title. Are you a pecker? Don't be a pecker. Don't be a pecker. Is this idea of how long will you waver between two opinions? It's waiver. Some translations say how many. How long will you falter between two opinions? But the, the idea of this word in the Hebrew is a bird jumping and pecking from branch to branch, just kind of going back and forth, back and forth. So you get how it fits in this context 100% and how there's nothing new under the sun. As you mentioned, kind of sounds like America today. Sounds like Christianity today. There's a lukewarmness that the, in the year 2025, that's an epidemic throughout the church. Right. And you know, there, there's been times of lukewarmness, but 100% now, and this infiltration, and we talked about it a few weeks back, just talking about sins that once you start to tolerate sins, then you eventually affirm the sins, then you start to celebrate the sins. And now all of a sudden you got one foot, I don't even want to say in the church, but serving God and the other foot serving the world, just doing worldly things. And the two, they, they don't mesh. They. You can't combine the two.

It's, it's so good. Yeah, just, I think just in thinking of this, so many of Christians, I mean, myself even included in this, sometimes it's like we only, we only want to serve God if it serves us. Like, and it just, that's just who we are, like the selfishness of just who we are, like just our flesh. And it's like, you know, I, it certainly I'll go to church, right? I'll, I'll, you know, I'll pray thinking that it's going to set my day up better for my day. But am I doing it because I want to have a better day, right. Or am I doing it because Jesus is Lord, right? Like, like Christ Christ. He is, he is actual Lord of my life. It's not something that I'm, it's just a ritual that I'm gonna do or you know, I think just this, this self help culture that we live in, it's like we, Christianity oftentimes gets, gets pushed into that. Right? And Christianity isn't about self help. Yes, you will have help in it, right? But doesn't mean you're going to have, you're not going to have trials, you're not going to have tribulations. It's just that you're going to be able to bear the fruit of the spirit through those. Yeah, the love, the joy, the peace, the patience, the kindness, the goodness, the faithfulness, the gentleness and self control. Yeah, look at that baby. Got all nine of them, right? And it's like, it's not about bettering our lives here on this earth. It is about just an eternal mindset of, of I get to be here and I'm going to do whatever God has for me here on this earth versus just like what's, what's going to make my situation better, right? Just a lot of soft Christians out there, right, don't want to do hard things. And I think God asks of that, that of us, right? I think he requires it of us at many times and we choose not to do it. And so this kind of just comes back to the idea of like, are we, we, we want to, we want to do what, what serves God, if it serves me right. But we're also pecking back and forth of like, well, but also I, I'll do that on Sunday, you know, but throughout the rest of the week I'm going to do what's going to be best for my business or what's going to be best for, you know, my workout schedule or what's going to be best for anything, right? Our family, you know, it's just like, no, no. Who is Lord? Is, is Jesus actually Lord? Is Yahweh actually Lord? Right? So I think that's where it just comes down to just this. It just reminded too of like when Christ came. He didn't c come to bring peace, but he brought a sword that penetrates, you know, dividing between soul and spirit. And it's like when you completely submit, and not just surrender, but submit your life, it's like it's a new understanding that the point of this life isn't just to make it easy or to get through it. It is to actually grow through it and pursue this sanctification process. So I know that's not on topic here at all.

That's good.

Just, even at church yesterday, so we're attending.

You got the days wrong, brother.

I know, sorry. At church this. Well, yes, at church this past week. Yeah, we. There's. So we've been attending a church here in Minnesota called Destiny Christian Church. Shout out. Apple Valley, Minnesota. Small little community. I don't think it's gonna be small for long because it just. There's just like great culture there. And one of the things that Tyler. Pastor Tyler Brock. B R A U C H T I'm just giving a shameless shout out if you follow him on, on social media. I just love what he, what he stands for. But he, he made this, this mention of. He said, people, oh, gosh, now I'm have to. I wish I had my notes down here with me. He's like, God, people won't give God attention until he gets their attention. Something along those lines. And it's like a lot of the topic was about goodness and, and, you know, just the, the goodness of God. We're kind of going through the fruit of the spirit. But it's like, people, when things are going well, we don't necessarily give God attention. Right. But whenever we hit rock bottom, it's like that's, that's finally when we're going to cry back out to God. Right? And it's like, well, he. He had to get our attention, but what if we just gave him our attention the entire time?

Right?

It's like we don't have to go through these hills and valleys. Yes. You're going to have good news and bad news in your life, but it's not what's happening to you, but it's. It's all happening for you. Right. And if we start to take on that mindset, it's just, it's a different type of walk that we have here on this earth now. So God will get your attention. Right. We're going to see here. I mean, you got some people's attention by Raining on fire.

Yeah.

Yet did they still choose him? Right. I mean, it Just, Yeah. You think when you see, just kind of after the fact, there's still just nothing but terribleness that took place.

Yeah, I, I was trying to butt in, but you're, you're going all right, so. No, it's okay, it's okay. I'll let you go, I'll let you go. Say Christianity is not self help. I was thinking it's not self help, it's self denial.

Okay, that's, that's really good.

Because if you truly are a Christian, then it's no longer you who lives. You've been crucified with Christ and it's not Christ who lives inside of you. So if you take that perspective, if ever, if everybody who said I'm a Christian, they took that perspective of, well, it's no longer I who live like my life is not my own. I bow down, I surrender everything to the Lord and it's, it's crucifying my flesh daily. It's like, that's not such an attractive offer anymore of Christianity because Christianity is the way the world sees it now is, oh yeah, I got this. God and I, I, he's in control. He, you know, he, he's our creator and all that and they, they know he's there. But to actually follow him, to be his disciple, it's, it's sacrifice. Right? I mean, it's the greatest decision you could ever make in your life. And it, you become, literally become a new person, you have a new identity in Christ. But yeah, that, the whole self help Christianity, that, that's exactly where we are in this culture, dude.

Yes. That's so good. I feel like I've heard that in the past, but that just like hit me hard again. It's like, yes, it is about just denying yourself. Pick up your cross and choose today whom you're going to serve.

Yeah, right. Yep. You can wake up every morning and, you know, go through a ritualistic prayer just to kind of start your day knowing that the day will go better if I, you know, spend a couple minutes with the Lord or just say something habitually. But ultimately, if you actually take on the, the heart's posture of, of denying yourself for that day. And, and it's an act, right, to, to do that. And it's, it's a willful act. But then your day isn't just if you're totally surrendered to the Lord. That's the type of day I want to have because that's when the miracles start to happen. That's when you start to hear his voice during prayer. That's when you know you lay hands on people and they're healed.

Yeah, right.

That, that's when you truly see Christ in your life. And, and that's, that's the way I want to be defined as a Christian. Yeah. I don't even like calling myself a Christian anymore. Like, I, I am. It's my name.

Right?

It's my name first of all. But, but just so many people say they're, they're Christian and it's just like, well, I don't know. But that's a topic for another day.

We'll talk about that in a few. Your future here for sure.

Anyway, back to this text. So Riley just read to you verse 21. And again the, the. This pecking back and forth. So we are telling everybody who's listening watching today, don't be a pecker. Right? Don't be a pecker. You tell me all the time, hey, don't be it. But you don't use pecker use, right? No, you, you don't say that. That's probably how you would say it. Don't be it anyhow. But if it goes on, says the people answered him, not a word. Right. And that's what happens when you conf. It takes confrontation sometimes, right? And not confrontation as far as far as it being a bad thing. But we have to confront people, right? Because yes, we'll see later in this chapter that Elijah's heart for these people isn't like a lot of Christians today where we look around at all the evils, like God just, just wipe them off the face of the earth. Right. And there's times where I even feel like that too. It's like, God, just be done with these evil people. They're never going to turn to you.

Right? Dude, serious.

But Elijah's heart, when he, he prays later on in the chapter. His. His heart is at the hearts of all these people who are. And doesn't say why they're worship. You could be born into a family where we're worshiping both BAAL and Yahweh. Whatever it is. It could be they're just confused. They're deceived for. For certain. But whatever it is, his prayer ultimately is that their hearts turn back to the one and true living God.

Yeah.

And then it says, then Elijah said to the people, I alone am left the prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Therefore let them give us two bulls and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood, put no fire under it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call in the name of the Lord and the God who answers by fire. He is God. So this is the challenge. I love this. Like, I, I, every time I read this, I, like, see this scene in my head.

Yeah.

So all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. So everybody, you know, you got the 450 prophets of Baal, Elijah here, they're cutting up the bull, they're setting up the altar, and everybody is around like, yeah, let's do this thing. Let's see how this plays out.

Imagine all this smack talk taking place during this, too.

Yeah, right, right, right. And, yeah, it's funny because you're talking about the house of David and, and taking liberties and stuff like this. And even in the midst of this, when you read the Bible, I mean, as descriptive as this is, you don't know everything. What, what's, what do the faces look like of everybody?

Who, Right.

You know, are they, are they rooting? Is there somebody on the side taking bets? Which guy? You know, that's what I would have been back in the day. Who do you got? Yahweh or bail? Who do you got? Who do you got?

Seriously, taking a little haircut off each vet?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. The house always wins, baby. Now, Elijah said to the prophets of baal, choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many. And call on the name of your God, but put no fire on it. So when they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it and called on the name of BAAL from morning even till noon, saying, oh, baal, hear us. But there was no voice, no one answered. So for hours, they're calling on the name of baal, no voice, no one answered. Then they leaped out of the altar, which leaped about the altar which they had made. And so it was at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, and this is how, you know, like, we would have been boys with Elijah, because he had to talk some crap too, along the way. He said, cry aloud, for he is a God. Either he is meditating or he is busy, or he's on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened. So they cried aloud. And when it said, you know, just being a.

Right there, I love it.

And literally the word busy there, I. Some translations literally say, like using the restroom or something like that. That's literally what it Means like he, he's busy going to the bathroom.

Yeah.

So think about that. Talking crap. It's like for hours. Like. No, no, keep on calling him. Surely he's just busy. He's probably taking a crap right now. Right. He, you know, just let him wipe and he'll, he'll send that, that fire down.

So just before you go on there, the idea here, as, as I'm like thinking through this, it's like, okay, so there was, has been, I'm assuming, prior to this crazy, what they would call miracles and things. Because the reality is BAAL is there's demons, right. It's. There's evil spirits. And evil spirits can do miracles and other things as well, masking themselves. I mean, Satan himself is, Comes masked as an angel of light. Right. And it's like, it's not that the. So they probably witnessed those miracles and different things like that that have taken place. And Elijah comes along and he's so confident in this. I'm just curious, like, do you think God spoke to Elijah, like, go do this Exactly. Or is he just so like zealous at that point where God's gonna do what he asks of him at the time? You know what I mean? Like, I'm just, yeah. Kind of thinking through this.

I think he's so zealous. I think whatever Elijah asked God to do in this moment, he would have done and it was just out of the act of faith.

Yeah.

Of Elijah. Yeah. Because I, I don't think anywhere it says he was specifically instructed to.

Right. Because he laid out these rules for

the, this showdown, this challenge here.

Yeah. Because he literally comes on the scene. Chapter seven, chapter before this.

Yep.

Right. We have no clue about Elijah up until.

Boom, one, one chapter, one chapter before this.

Right?

Yeah.

This is wild.

Yeah. And, and the, the, the times right now, they're in, in the latter part of a three and a half year drought. And that's how Elijah comes on the scene in chapter seven, in chapter 17 it says, and Elijah, the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, and Ahab was. Now all the kings in the north, all the kings of Israel were wicked. He was the worst one. He was the one married to Jezebel. He was the one that, that the Bible specifically says, like he was the worst of the worst. The worst of the worst. Right. And he said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word. And it turned out to be Three and a half years that there was a drought. Right. So now of all times for BAAL to answer. Baal, the God of the weather.

Yeah.

This should be the time because that people are dying. Also in chapter 17 is when that widow was about to die, she cooked her. Yeah. With the. The last little bit she had, thinking this was her last meal. Because they're. They're in the middle of a famine. It's a drought. Yeah. Right. Y. So you would think the. If BAAL was going to show up at any moment. Right. And prove who he is and then probably bring the rain after. It'll be in this moment. Yeah, but like Elijah said, he was taking a crap. He was busy. He was busy.

Yeah. Continue reading. Because it's. It's so good, as you made mention, like they're. They're going to now ask for water to be poured out on this. Right. And so go. Just continue.

Verse 30 says, Then Elijah said to all the people, come near to me. So all the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, israel shall be your name. Then with the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seas of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bowl in pieces and laid it on the wood and said, fill four water pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.

So it's a drought.

It was a drought. So with this, when I first read this, I was like, go ahead, Elijah. You're gonna really show off God now because not only is he gonna send fire from heaven and consume this altar, as if that's not a great enough miracle, but it's gonna be wet wood. It's like, oh, look at God now. Right. But the significance of this is that the. These folks who are just kind of watching and now some people are probably doubting BAAL a little bit. And what did Elijah said? He said, come near. Come closer. It's like, okay, I. I got your attention now. Now I want you because I. Clearly, Elijah is a man of faith. When, when God said there's going to be drought, he prayed that that drought would come. And shortly after this, when the rain comes, God said it would rain again. And he fervently prayed seven times before the rain came. He was a man of faith. But what, what did it take here. What? How did God show himself to be so. So real, so powerful, so mighty, so. So majestic, so miraculous? The people who probably. And he said, fill four water pots with water. Can you imagine walking around with maybe a canteen of your last couple sips? You're a few years into this drought now. Your last bit of water, and Elijah is saying, poured on this altar, and you do.

Yeah.

It's like you believe God's gonna do something in this moment. Right. You're not doing that just because Elijah said so. Yeah. You're trusting. Not in Elijah. You're trusting in God. Right?

Yeah. So good. It'd be like, literally in America. It'd be like a guy on the street calling out to all the homeless people. Put together 100 bucks here. Right. 100 bucks here. And they're like, I don't think so. I've got, like, 16 cents to my name.

Right.

They brought four pots together, right?

Yeah.

They did it multiple times.

Yeah. Then he said, do it a second time. And they did a second time. Can you imagine that? It's like, okay. Even if it's like you're not fully willing, but you do it. It's like, what do you mean, a second time? I just gave you. Now I got one little sip left. I got kids over here. Everybody's going thirsty. Do the second time. Then he said, do the third time. And they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water, and it came to pass at the time of the offering. Now think about this. This offering, like. Like David says it in second Samuel, I won't sacrifice to the Lord that which cost me nothing. Right. And of course, we don't have to sacrifice animals anymore to receive forgiveness for our sins or to make atonement for our sins. But whatever we give to the Lord, it should be sacrificial, right?

Right.

It shouldn't be. God gets our leftover scraps. Shouldn't be. Oh, I know Leroy over there. He's got that whole. He's got the whole jug of water. Go get him. He'll do it. We don't have to. No, he doesn't want. Because that costs that guy nothing.

Yep.

He wants us to be willing to give our absolute last. And that's. That's there throughout Scripture. That's when he performs his biggest miracles. When the Israelites crossed over the Jordan, they said, you know, Joshua was like, there's the. There's a promised land right there. And there was a big river standing between where they were in the promised land. And it wasn't until the Levi. The Levites who were on the front lines, it was until they started marching. They said, that's the land. God said, it's ours. We're just gonna go take it. They started marching. It wasn't until the soles of their feet touched the water that the water parted for them to have the path. So if they just sat there waiting, it was like, I know God could split this river like he did the Red Sea back in the day.

Yeah.

If they just sat there, I don't know how this story would play out. Right. If they didn't have the faith to actually go take what God said was theirs.

Yes.

But so good. Let. Let me finish the story. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me. That this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you have turned their hearts back to you again. So again, his heart, his request to the Lord is that they may know that you're real and you're responsible for turning their hearts back to you, that they fully commit to you. They stop this pecking back and forth. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. So all. All that water God. Yeah, Right. Now, when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. And Elijah said to them, seize. The prophets of BAAL did not let one of them escape. So they seized them and Elijah brought them down to the brook. Kashan. And executed them down there.

So the version I read said, slaughtered.

Yeah. Yeah, He's a little ruthless, too. But, I mean, this isn't just Elijah, you know, in his flesh, this is God's judgment. Yeah. These prophets of baal.

Right.

Because my guess is that. And this is me just kind of looking into Scripture, but my guess will be if any of those prophets of baal, if they actually were one of these voices shouting, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. That wouldn't be one of the ones that.

Right.

Elijah took down. Right, Right.

Yep.

And then the. And then the drought ends after this. But with this. With this story, you can't Help but to read it and say, man, I want to be like Elijah, where there's other, other things pulling at my heart for its affection. But I, I can't peck back and forth. I, I, I just gotta say st. Stay sold out for Jesus Christ and Jesus alone. And because every time I, I peck over here, I peck over there, it's such, it's such a rude, like, slap in the face to God when He's our provider, he's our sustainer, he's our deliverer, he's our protector, he's our absolute everything. And I'm choosing on any given day to not just keep pecking at that branch there, but to go peck over here. It's like, yeah, oh my gosh, totally. But, yeah, but God is so merciful. And this is why. Like, yeah, the prophets of baal, they got wiped out, right? But God is so merciful because how many times in your life, anybody watching or listening now, how many times have you kind of like, in scripture, they talk about this, that, this idea of idolatry where they, they equate it throughout Scripture to adultery, right? It's adultery. You're cheating on God.

Absolutely.

You got the goods at home and you're stepping out. You're cheating on me?

Yes.

Have you ever had that, that, that friend that, you know that he's, he's got the. Probably before, like, we're married, right? Like back in the day, he had that, that dime piece girl and then he's cheating on her for. I was like, with her? Where her? You're gonna cheat on her with her, Right?

Right.

What are you nuts? Right?

Yeah. So many things I want to say about that. I'm holding my tongue right now.

Not suitable.

Yes, dude, you had said it like, he is our Jehovah Jireh, right? Our provider. And so many times we cry out to God that He is our provider when we got nothing, right? We're crying out to God that He is Jehovah. Rafa. Right? He's like our healer, right? Yes, he's our healer. And we're only crying that out when we need healed, right? It's like, why, why can't we continue to make those declarations when we're the, the bank account's fat, right? It's like, yes, it, it's God who did this, not me. He is my source. My resources are always going to change, but he is my source. And it's, it, it takes that, that rock bottom unfortunately, to get our attention, and then we're finally crying out to God. And you said, like, in his. His such mercy. And then the. The grace that he just lavishly pours out upon us is like, I can't help but just like at times during worship, just break down at just like, man, how many stupid things have I done and. And said when I know, like, God is. He's got it. He's got my back in this. Because at the end of the day, if you live your life sold out for Jesus, it's him. It's his reputation that's on the line. Right? This is what Elijah did. Yeah, Right. And it. But if you are pecking back and forth where it's like, he's my provider when I'm not providing for myself, right? He's my healer when I'm not healing myself. Right? Because I can do it through good nutrition. And yes, you should do that. Right. But ultimately it is God who, Who is the great physician, right? And it's like he is. Is the provider of all things. Yes.

He's.

He gives you the grace to be able to go do certain things. And some of you listening may be better at, you know, doing certain things than others. I'm just thinking of like, just, you know, we disciple a lot of entrepreneurs and it's like, if you've been given that ability to go create wealth, then you're. You should do it to the best of your ability. Right? Because it's. But it's. It's God's grace that's doing it through you because he's bestowed that upon you. Yeah, Right. And when you start to take the credit, you're starting to pack, right? You're starting to go back and forth here versus you giving all glory to him. And none of. I want. I want no glory for any of it. And this is where our flesh just slowly starts to creep back in until we got to hit rock bottom again. And then we cry. Oh, Jehovah Jireh. It's like, dude, he. He's always been your provider. He's not just your provider when things are. Are bad, but he's more so your provider when things are good.

Right?

But this is where we got to get this into our freaking head. As many times as God has to beat it into us, thankfully he's patient, right? He is so patient with us. But, man, I would not be a good God.

None of us would.

Right?

None of us would.

So true. Thank you, God.

Thank you, Lord. Amen. But and this idea of pecking back and forth, it's. How long are you going to keep going to and fro on the, these two different opinions, two different branches that are so opposed to one another like the world and God that if you're friends with the world, you're at enmity with God. Right. And we're not James. Yeah. We're not to love the world. Right. Or the things of the world. Right. So if we have these divided thoughts, it just takes you to that James verse. It is like a double minded man's

unstable, stable in all his ways.

All of his ways. And. But we, this culture, it's okay to not. You know what it is? It's, it's loyalty. It's okay to not be loyal. Right. And I appreciate cultures. I, I like Italians, they're very loyal. Right. Sure. They may not know the Lord, maybe they do. But when it comes to like family, it's like they're loyal. We've just, we're part of a culture now where there's no allegiance, there's no culture. Everybody's very wishy washy on everything. People want to be people pleasers in every every which way possible. Nobody wants to offend. Right. Cancel culture started how many years ago? And now we're at the point where if you try to speak truth into somebody, not now, it's, it's offensive to just simply, you know, be a Christian. Talking on a college campus somewhere. I follow a guy named Nicholas Bowling. You ever see him?

Yeah, yeah.

Young, young kid. Ll, I think it's maybe, I don't know. But he very warm, gracious, loving when he's evangelizing and just sharing the gospel. And I mean people put hands on them like it's awful. It's like, why do we have to tolerate and accept and affirm everything that's not of God? But as soon as you speak truth, we know there's going to be opposition.

Yeah, right.

We, we know that 100 because the people who aren't of the spirit, they, they find the things of the spirit folly. Right. And they don't understand the things of the spirit. So I, I get it and I once was in that place myself. But why do we have to be so tolerant of, of differences except for one nowadays? Right, right. And it's one thing to become tolerant of differences, but we can't become tolerant of sin because ultimately if we, if we shy back and we decide, no, I'm just not going to open my mouth, I'm going to be persecuted now, you know, now I'm going to be hated now people are going to be coming at me, well, do you really Love your life more than that person's life. Yeah. What, at the end of the day. Yeah. How do we. What's real love? Right. You would lay down your life for somebody else. Totally. Right. And even that person that hates you, that mocks you, that that's coming for you, wants to literally put hands on you and it physically hurt you, that if you don't regard that person's life as more valuable than your own, then are you fit to, to call yourself a Christian?

Right. Well, that's good, man. That's good. Yeah. Because so this just comes back to. I think I'm just saying this. We included, as Christians, as we seek comfort versus seeking the Lord. And if, if you're, I mean, Jesus even tells us, like, we gotta count the cost. Count the cost. Are you willing to continue to lay your life down, right. To pick up your cross daily and follow him, knowing that it's going to be hard if you're not, if you're a believer and you're not experiencing hardships, you're not experiencing persecution. I question who's Lord, you know, because it, it's just like that's, that's part of it. Right. And that's, that's not a very good, like, advertisement for Christianity.

Right.

But it is just a part of the process. And, and the reason it's so worth it is because we take on an eternal mindset like what happens here on this earth, it shouldn't, it shouldn't matter to us, like the persecution that we're going to experience, the junk that we have to go through, because we're not doing it for the reward here on earth. We have an eternal reward that I want, the crown of life. Right. The crown of righteousness. These crowns are things that are going to be rewards for us for those that endure till the end. But we've got to be willing to actually do it and we have to choose who we're going to serve in that process. Right. And it's just like if we're, if we're seeking comfort, if we're, we're concerned about, you know, what's going to happen to us, I think there's, there's a, there's an issue with lordship.

Yeah.

Right.

Amen. Amen.

Looking up.

Well, I just want to remember exactly where it was in Joshua 4, when I guess it's on my mind because I mentioned Joshua, them crossing the Jordan River.

Yeah.

When they crossed the Jordan river, they picked up stones that they could look back on in remembrance of this mighty thing that God did. So when God does something mighty in your life, your stone, your memory stone may be just a journal entry. Yeah, I, I, I don't even think I told you not too long ago, I, I found I, I was always so bad. I, I was good at keeping journals, but never the same one. So I got, like, different notebooks, like, all over the place. It's like, this one's like 2011. This one's like 2 16. Then it comes back 2016. Then it comes back to, like, different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyhow, I found one, and I read about something that God had did where he just, like, blew my mind. I was like, oh, my gosh, I forgot about that. If I didn't reread this right now, I would have never remembered it. And it, it just kind of reminds you of one. How good God is one, how you're undeserving of everything good that he does offer you, but then his faithfulness to us in it. Right? So I think it's important that we, we pick up those, those remembrance stones or memory stones along the way so we could look back, because there's going to be times where we're in a pickle and it's like, God, I don't feel your presence. I don't feel like you're hearing my prayers. Going to feel like we're in this dry place and we need to look back at the times where, you know, God showed up in mighty ways, miraculous ways, where nobody could explain it apart from God.

Y.

And then there's going to be times where, hey, you, you are walking in this gift of faith, and you just let the, you know, everything is done in the past. Just, just give more impact. Right. Just, just kind of. I'm at a loss for the, the word I'm looking for. I think about, I'm sure as soon as we're done with this episode, but it'll just, like, magnify the, the power and strength and the faith that you have. Like, look back and when you pray, like, pray so many times, you know, Elijah, as a prophet, you, you pray the prophetic word that God already spoke. Pray these things that God already spoke. But, but pray almost like, remind God of the things that he did do.

Right.

Not that he forgot, but remind God and kind of affirm within yourself, like, oh, yes, I am praying to a God who hears and is strong and mighty and is faithful to me.

Yeah, because you're not. You don't have to remind God. Right. But it's, yeah. When you do start to read those and you're reminding yourself, right? It's like our default is flesh, our default is, is sin, right? That's just, that's natural in the world, right? But we have to turn that natural upside down and, and, and move into the kingdom. And it's like it is declaring these words, making these declarations, reminding ourselves of, of things that have, that he has done in the past. And if you're a new Christian, start to write these things down, right? If it's like, I mean, you could probably look back and be like, yeah, God saved me from that dui. God saved me from that murder, right? Like, seriously, maybe get a little too personal on that. But like, that's, that's reality. God has, has always had your back. No matter how long you've walked with him or didn't walk with him, you can look back and you can always remember those things. Even coming back into this kind of topic of who we're serving, I'm always reminded of just Matthew six. Six. Yeah. Right. We can't serve two masters.

Yeah.

Where, you know, it's ultimately he's talking about money or mammon, right? In this. But I, I think it's relevant for anything, right? So you cannot serve two masters, right? Then he says, then he goes on and says, what does he say? You can't either serve God or you serve money, right?

Yeah. Or mammon.

Mammon. Mammon, which is like the spirit of money, right? It's just like, it's like, it's just because it better believe as a spirit, there's a spirit attached to that. And it's like, for me personally, as I've struggled with this because money has been a big, it's been a big topic in my life, right? An idol in my life, unknowingly, really. Right. Because it's just like that was my pursuit of success and, you know, what I wanted to do and what I wanted to accomplish. And again, me, me, me, me, me, making a name for myself. And when I really started to dive into this and understand this, it's like, all right, how do I know who I'm serving in any decision that I'm making, right? And it just boils down to coming down to it of like, who or what is dictating the decision, right? Is like, is, am I doing this because I want something out of this or I, I think it's going to serve me in some manner or am I doing it because I feel God has led me to do this? Right. As Christians, we can be spirit filled, but I think we need to be spirit led more, more importantly, right? Maybe not more importantly, I don't know. But, but we're, we're all. The Spirit dwells within us, right? If you've declared, if you've repented, you turn from your ways. You declared Jesus is Lord, right? He's. He's Savior of our life. Holy Spirit indwells within us, right? So we are filled with the Holy Spirit, but also we need to be led by the Holy Spirit in, in the decisions that we make. Right? And so when I'm, when I, when I come into those situations, it doesn't have to be about money. It can be about literally anything. But it's like, am I doing this because I'm feeling led by God or led by Holy Spirit in this, or am I doing this because it's going to make a name for myself? Right? And I think what you'll find even when you start to make the decisions based upon, you know, who's truly Lord in your life, the rest just doesn't matter anymore. And God will actually still bless you in other ways. Right? So I think of Solomon and this is just like, he didn't ask for money. He didn't ask for any of those things. He asked for wisdom. And God said, because you gave, you asked for that. I'm also going to give you all of this. Right? The wealthiest dude that's ever walked this earth. Yeah, right. And it's, it's like where, where's. What's your heart's disposition in, in any situation, any circumstance, any decision that you're going to make, are you doing it because you're being led by, by God, led by Holy Spirit, or are you being led by some of your selfish desires?

Amen.

Amen.

Amen. I'll put a bow on this.

Let's put a bow on it. It's good. I mean, there's lots. I think that we could still dive into this, but it, it does come down to like, who, who are we going to declare as Lord, right? And, and idols in our life? Whoever that is, whatever that is, if it's something that, and this is, I mean, if we can be real like this, it kind of sucks like this. It kind of sucks to, to when you start to pray these prayers of God. Do whatever it takes. Break my heart for what breaks yours. He'll start to prune you in areas that are going to hurt. They're going to be painful. But if, if that's truly your heart's disposition, he'll. He'll allow you to Go through the ringer, that rock bottom, so to say. But you're going to come out so free. Yeah, right. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom, there's liberty. And, and when, when you surrender to that submit. Right. Like submit to that process, there's so much blessing, there's so much favor on the other side of that.

Yeah. Think about this, Elijah. He, he knew that the way God judged based on when, when God told the people in Deuteronomy that if you turn to idols, turn from me and turn to idols, that I will bring famine to the land. So he knew that, but. So he knew God was going to judge them at some point. And verse 7 or chapter 17 starts with him literally praying for this drought. Now, a drought doesn't mean for these people who rebel, a drought means a drought for everybody.

Yeah.

So imagine you're. So you want to follow God's will so much that if it means you being in a drought, you living in a, a famine, a time of famine, season of famine, which can't be fun.

Right.

Can't be fun. Not know, especially for you. Right. As much as you eat. But I want God's will over my will so much that even if it means I have to suffer because God ultimately, he said this is what he's going to do. His word will prevail. It'll never return void. So I'm going to pray even though I know this is going to impact me, this is going to make my life tough. But if, if you're a true follower of Christ, then that's what we do, right? Yep, that's what we do. Because your will, not mine at the end of the day. But we've mentioned Joshua a couple times. Might as well close this, this bad boy out. And if you guys, I mean, we should have had people in the, in the chat say, hey, if you're a pecker, feel like you've been pecking back and forth, just, just write pecker in the chat. But I don't know if you want to confess right now that you're a pecker. Go ahead, just write, Just write pecker in the chat.

It's good. There's probably like a picture of a bird or something, an emoji like that, right? Dude, before you even get into that, what you just said, like, so just how God judges nations. Right? And best believe when you, when you look at the entire Bible, like there's. That's taking place. Right? And I think this is something that, I mean is, is partly what's happening in America. Right. When you see these, these mayors being, if, if God appoints people, appoints those in authority. Right. The scripture tells us that. And this is again, for anybody that thinks that Christians shouldn't be involved in politics. Of course, if you're not a Christian and you think that, then I wouldn't, I would agree, I would understand why you would say that. Right. But if you are a Christian and you think that you shouldn't be involved with politics, you're an idiot. I'm just, I, I, I have to say it. I have, I have to say it because if we're not, if we're not the ones that are helping to make moral and ethical decisions in our country, we, who else is going to the unmoral right, the unethical, and, and we see this is just what's starting to take place in America, it saddens me, but at the end of the day, I'm still going to choose. Which I think is the verse you're going into. As for me, in my house, I will, I will serve the Lord.

Yeah.

No matter what. And no matter what continues to unfold here in America. Our prayer is the prayer from Second Chronicles of like God, like, heal our land. Right. But we have to, we have to repent. We have to, to turn our faces back to him. Right. That, that he would have mercy on our nation of, of just all the wickedness that's taking place.

Yeah. So amen. Yeah. I mean, maybe next week we'll, we'll dive into this, this topic a bit. But 100 that this nation of Israel, what happened as, I mean, just decades and decades and centuries even of rebellion and idolatry happened. God allowed the Assyrian empire to come in and take them captive.

Yep.

At that time, those two tribes that were serving in Judah, they, they had some, some good righteous kings along the way. And when you look at 2nd Chronicles 16, I believe and forgive me, because I got so many verses in my head right now, But Hezekiah, right. 18, maybe it is.

I got no clue. So.

Yeah. Or maybe 2 Kings 18. I don't know. It, it's, maybe it's 2nd Kings 18.

2 Kings.

Yeah, because we're in 1st Kings 18 today. I think that's 2 Kings 18. Okay, but Hezekiah, that whole story there, Hezekiah, who's in Judah. Right. And after, once Hezekiah is introduced, he becomes the king of Judah. And you don't hear anything about the northern tribes for a bit because they got taken by Assyria. Yeah. But God, he, withstood judgment because of this king named Hezekiah, who, who, who, who restored worship to Yahweh, who took down the Asherah poles. Right. And when you see this, and eventually, you know, Hezekiah died and there's some other evil kings, and eventually they got taken captive by Babylon.

Yeah.

But you had a stretch there where it was just Judah and the Assyrian Empire. They're trying to get Judah as well. And Judah, you got just two tribes compared to the 10 up north. And the 10 had no shot. It was because ultimately it wasn't a physical war that was being waged, it was a spiritual war. And God said, I'm going to judge you. This is how I'm going to do it. They're going to come in and take over your land. And you look at where we are in America today and you see our land being taken over by. And really it doesn't matter if it's another religion, if it's another ideology, a different worldview, if it's anything but God, God knows that our hearts and our, our faces aren't seeking his face. Our hearts aren't seeking his face. We're seeking other things. Even if we have, you know, we're pecking at this branch a little bit and then we're hopping, we're pecking back and forth. God's like, no, I want 100% sold out devotion from you. And, and that's what it's going to take. So ultimately, and we could get into this in another episode, but everybody thinks America, you know, we're the, we're the richest country, we're the strongest military. All this, there's been empires and nations that have been stronger and mightier than this nation right now that were around longer than 250 years that we've been around. And they're. They're nothing today, right? Nothing. So I think we need to hold our horses and not just kind of take for granted that God just, you know, we, we were founded as a Christian nation, but we're far from it.

We have to maintain that. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, we'll dive into that more, bro.

Yeah. So Anyway, back to second Joshua or

not get back to Joshua.

So Joshua 14:25 says, and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen. Yeah. Make a Choice, make a decision.

Choose this day who we will serve.

Yep.

So good. That being said, man, we're. Join us every Wednesday Bible study Christians leads us through that. Kingscouncilbiblestudy.com if you guys want to go deeper, we, we open that up. I mean, you come on zoom with that and, and yeah, ask hard questions. It's kind of a fun, fun topic. We. We dive into a little prayer prior to that, 30 minutes prior. But yeah, that's. Otherwise. Join kingscouncil.com to learn more about us. We got, we're do some fun stuff in 2026. Got some, some events and things like that kind of on the. The horizon. So stay tuned. We'll keep you guys abreast to everything that. That we've got laid out here for the calendar here in 2026.

Yeah, and check out the breath work video on YouTube. Yeah, you gotta. It's not. Riley just saying that for 10 minutes, but it is, I think it, it's a phenomenal. I, I think it, it's good. Everybody that I know, that's not. Just listen to it, but actually have done the breath work.

Yeah.

For it. It's powerful. Yeah, it's powerful.

Yeah. The first, like the, the first round,

if you, if you have, if you

haven't done it yet, I would encourage you. But also if you've stopped, like first round, get back into it. Because sometimes the first round, when I'm going through it, it's like, yeah, it's kind of hard, but by the time you complete round two and then you go into round three, I'm like, I want to go again. Yeah, right. Because it's just like, you push through that and if it's hard, we're called to do hard things, baby. Get after it. Yep, get after it. Yes, absolutely. So check it on out. It's on our YouTube page, King's Council Media. For all of our rumble listeners. We do have a YouTube page as well. And that's where you'll find that at King's Council Media.

Amen.

All right, that being said, we'll see you guys all next week.

Peace.

Have a great weekend.