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God wasn’t kidding, when he told David that the sword wouldn’t depart from him. God, by the way, never kids, never bluffs, never says something that He doesn’t mean. And for David, the “hits” keep on coming.

When is a victory not such a victory? — You can’t blame David for being crushed with grief. Not only was he probably grieving as only a parent can — “What did I do wrong?” — but he had suffered the grave offense of fending off a coup from a son (“My son wanted me dead?”), and despite orders to the contrary his son had been deliberately executed by Joab (David’s anger at Joab had to have been unimaginable). Nevertheless, the people that fight for you and have won the battle for you, need to see you satisfied with the victory — not grieving it! Thus, David’s grief was setting the table for even more trouble. David did manage to recover enough to come out and congratulate and thank his troops, but he had waited long enough to cause some to harbor some resentment — which later turns into another coup. Leadership has a number of burdens that often go unnoticed by their followers. We would do well to allow them to grieve their losses, suffer their personal pains, and let them give reasonable attention to their families; they and their families are, after all, human, too.

Joab, the loose cannon that won’t go away — David had put up with Joab the loose cannon, ostensibly because he had to politically. By David’s own admission, he felt too weak to control Joab. But Joab’s deliberate disobedience and vicious execution of Absalom was too much for David to bear; he tried to marginalize Joab by promoting Amasa as “general” over his army. In only a chapter later, however, in a surprising turn of events, Joab in what appeared to be a friendly greeting to Amasa assassinates Amasa! The loose cannon continues to wreak murder and mayhem with relative impunity. You begin to understand why David said he felt too weak to deal with Joab. Truthfully, he wasn’t, of course, but the faith-filled David who took down Goliath had begun to rely more on swords and troops than the Lord. Trust in the Lord, leaders, and do the hard but right things.

Covenants last — It had been approximately 450 years since Joshua had mistakenly made a covenant with the Gibeonites not to destroy them. Such a solemn promise might have been easily forgotten by men, but not by God. And when Saul had somehow violated that covenant (we’re not told what the event was), the God who watches and remembers and calls men to account demanded that justice be satisfied. This demand, however, really put David in a difficult situation, since David had made a covenant with Jonathan not to destroy his family. Thankfully, David was able to navigate a course that satisfied both covenants — even if it was somewhat bloody and sad. The point here is that covenants are sacred. “So?” you may ask. Marriages are covenants! And we are in covenant with God and, by extension, with one another. We don’t give up on these things, even if the world deems them to be less important than our personal happiness or prosperity. Work it out.

A tip on how to resolve a conflict — Those who were dissatisfied with David as king after Absalom’s attempted coup appointed a new king over themselves, a certain Sheba. His “reign” didn’t last long after David’s army pursued him to a city named Abel Beth-maacah. As the legitimate kingdom began to cast up a siege ramp against Abel Beth-maacah and began to make some progress in breaking through the wall, a wise woman called to Joab for a little conversation, and we get a chance to see how conflict is often avoided by simply discovering the underlying interests. Once Abel Beth-maacah found out what would satisfy Israel’s army, they happily complied in short order, and a much larger tragedy was averted. “Positions” are different from “interests”. The “positions” were “We’re attacking you,” and “We’re defending ourselves”. “Interests”, on the other hand, were “We want the rival king dead,” and “We don’t really want to fight you.” You’d be amazed how often the discovery of and the addressing of “interests” will either avert fights or solve them.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

I hope you’re enjoying the stories of David as much as I am. There is so much good stuff in here that it’s hard to decide what to comment on. There’s wisdom and something to think about in almost every line. Alas, neither you nor I have the time to write or read a tome, so we’ll just have to save some of it til next year about this same time, right?

Climbing the ladder the wrong way — Ziba was servant to Mephibosheth, the crippled son of Jonathan that David had taken under his wing and provided for out of loyal friendship to Jonathan. But being a servant wasn’t Ziba’s cup of tea, stewarding Mephibosheth’s land and property, never having any of it as his own, while Mephibosheth got to sit at the king’s table! Ziba believed himself better than that; he deserved to be the boss, not just Mephibosheth’s servant. And now that the nation was in turmoil Ziba thought he saw a chance to advance his fortunes, by currying the king’s favor and bad-mouthing Mephibosheth. Do you have a difficult time with your place in the world, in your family, in the church, at work, at school, etc.? Is there resentment? Do you look for ways to turn things around and be the boss? Now, there’s nothing wrong with clean ambition and climbing the ladder ethically and appropriately with the right spirit. But sometimes we face the same temptation as Ziba, to rise above those we resent by whatever means — currying favor with the boss and bad-mouthing our immediate boss, making him look bad.

Sometimes, when it rains, it pours —In order to spare his beloved Jerusalem, David took the battle away from it by leaving the city behind (an interesting lesson all by itself). But as David and his army were leaving a resentful relative of the late king Saul, Shemei by name, decided to heap insult upon injury by loudly cursing the king, throwing rocks (they still do stuff like that in the middle east), and throwing up dust as David and company retreated from his capital. One of David’s commanders was ready to kill him on the spot, but David forbade it. “What if God has told him to curse me?” David reasoned. David is pretty down. It was bad enough already, now it was even worse. Sometimes, when it rains, it pours. But it also gets better. Life is a sine wave of ups and downs, and we need to remember this for times, when we’re in the midst of the downs — and the ups.

David’s humility — But this part of the story also provides a great contrast between David and Saul. Both Saul and David were humble men at the start, but as time wore on Saul lost his humility and grew in a spirit of entitlement. Conversely, David never displays a scintilla of possessiveness of the throne or hubris. On a scale of 1 to 10, if Saul is 1 and David is 10, where are you?

Textual notes — Having sex with David’s concubines: This wasn’t a mere act of lewdness. This was a clear claim to the throne; it was common for any conqueror in ancient times to take the queen or harem of his vanquished enemy — it said, “I am now the king.” Absalom is, because of Ahithophel’s advice, saying it loud and proud, “I am now the king; David is no longer the king.”

A friend in need — Barzillai was a man of wealth and influence who offered to David the comfort and supplies that he needed at a time when he really needed it. We all have been in similar need in our lives and know how appreciated it is, when a friend takes a stand to support or help or encourage you. Be a Barzillai to someone else; nothing will be more appreciated.

Joab, the loose cannon, again — We’ve touched on Joab’s disobedient character already. And here he kills David’s enemy, his son Absalom, despite David’s specific command not to do so. Joab’s anger and impulsiveness leaves a wake of death and destruction behind him. Be discerning, be thoughtful, good intentions can ruin a reputation and all the good that you might have done. “Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor.” Ecclesiastes 10:1, NAS95.

A parent’s heartbreaking, lament — Too many times, too many times have heartbroken parents moaned words like this, too late, over terrible mistakes and choices and sins that their teen or adult children have made. The time to do something about it had passed, the once pliable clay had hardened, and now sorrows were multiplying. Be a good parent now, talk with your kids now, apply appropriate discipline now, set the right example now, teach them God’s ways now — not later.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

The kingdom of David and Solomon is the zenith, the Camelot, the glory days of Israel’s history — and that is where our reading today is launching off into. As always there’s much too much to consider in detail, but I thought I’d focus on a few instructive passages.

Ish-bosheth was a weak king to begin with, but after the death of Abner, he was a particularly weak king — the handwriting was on the wall. And a couple of Ish-bosheth’s captains thought it wise to get on the “right side” of the politics and ingratiate themselves to the man who was clearly the next king of Israel by delivering the kingdom to him by assassination (ch. 4). Much to their surprise, however, David punished their act of murder with summary execution and hanging their hands and feet beside the pool of Hebron as further a warning to anyone else who might want to buy the king’s favor with murder.

The story is a great illustration of the principle that the ends don’t justify the means. Even though David was clearly “benefitting” from Ish-bosheth’s death, it was still wrong to have killed an innocent man, apparently in his sleep. Naturally, David also was interested in honoring his covenant with Jonathan, but the stated reason for the execution of these two assassins was the murder of an innocent. Lots of things in this life may look inviting because they accomplish a good thing, but they are done the wrong way. “My husband was more successful, because I pushed and nagged him to.” “Evangelism through manipulative teaching.” “Providing more for my family by cheating, lying, or stealing.” It makes a difference. The ultimate “good” accomplished is often short-lived and destructive in the long run. Doing good the right way (even if it is more difficult) is the Christian way.

After Ish-bosheth’s death, the elders of Israel came to give their seal of approval on David as king, David also decided to move to a more defensible city as his capital — Jerusalem. And he was receiving recognition from foreign kings, like Tyre. After all these things, 5:12 notes that “David realized that the LORD has established him as king over Israel.” It was the LORD that established David’s kingdom — not politics, not assassination, and not military might. And that’s what makes David’s kingdom so great, the ideal kingdom to compare the coming Kingdom of the Lord to — it was established by the LORD.

So also today with the Lord’s Kingdom, the church. It is established not by fancy programs, or glitz, or grand buildings; it is established by… the Gospel, God’s word.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16, NAS95.

“For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” 1 Corinthians 1:21, NAS95.

In chapter 6, after capturing Jerusalem, fortifying it, and making it his capital, it was David’s sincere desire to have the Ark of the Covenant in his new capital, because of what it said about his love for the LORD, because of the blessings that apparently came from housing the Ark (6:11), and possibly because the Ark was otherwise relatively unprotected from raiders, Philistine armies, etc. So David made arrangements for the Ark to be transported from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem. Since the Ark had been transported last time on an ox cart, David or whoever was in charge of logistics decided to put the Ark on another ox cart — in spite of the explicit command to carry it on the shoulders of the priests. At the threshing floor of Nacon, an ox stumbled, the cart lurched, and the Ark almost tumbled — had it not been for the steadying hand of Uzzah, who was immediately “rewarded” by instant death for touching the Ark. David was, at first, angry at God for what appeared to him (and sometimes to us) to be an unjust punishment for something that seemed to be a good thing. David’s anger, however, didn’t last long; apparently after thinking about it, he remembered the proper way to carry the Ark, and made the appropriate adjustments on the second (and successful) attempt to bring it to Jerusalem.

There’s a point here, too. Careless disobedience isn’t erased by sincerity. Too often we human beings get taken in by Satan’s deception about sincerity — that it covers a multitude of sins, even if their deliberate or careless. We want an “E” for effort or an “S” for sincerity. But what God wants to see is a sincere desire to obey. The LORD is a holy God and not just anything will do. There’s a lot of religion today that cares little about what the Lord has said about worship and doctrine. They believe that despite their “technical disobedience”, their sincerity and God’s all-covering grace will be sufficient to get to Heaven. Uzzah’s story should give those who depend on sincerity to give them “a pass” on obedience some pause for thought.

Lastly, there’s the story of Michal. As David revels in the entrance of the Ark into Jerusalem by dancing and celebrating, Michal, the daughter of a possibly more reserved king Saul, shows disdain for David’s expressions of joy.

There’s a couple of things we might learn from this story. First, there will always be people among God’s people who are more reserved and those who are more demonstrative in their worship. Both have a sad tendency to disrespect the other. The reserved are often categorized as cold and passionless, while the reserved often regard the demonstrative as empty flash and touchy-feely. Neither are wrong — unless, of course, it really is coldness or empty flash. Both sides would do well to withhold judgment on the other and show Christian love and respect.

Secondly, Michal’s story shows that disrespect isn’t acceptable in God’s sight. Leaders are often scorned in our democratic, free-speech society. It might be good to rethink that mindset. Romans 13 tells us that we should show honor to whom honor is due, and this story today is one of a wife criticizing not just her husband, but her king. And there were consequences for her, and there might just be spiritual consequences for us, too.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

I guess I had never noticed the phenomenon, until I read Steve Farrar’s book, Finishing Strong; but there is in both the Bible and in my own real life experience not just a “Hall of Fame” but also a “Hall of ‘That’s a Shame'”. This latter is not a “Hall of Shame” — like they are super-villians or criminals — but rather a “Hall of Disappointment”, people for whom there was great promise and hopeful expectations, but who chose poorly from a spiritual perspective in the latter portion of life. Sometimes the poor choices happened in the throes of mid-life crisis, sometimes in uncritical pursuit of higher education, sometimes in fear of alienating an important relationship, sometimes for the sake of popularity, sometimes just because the “road in the wilderness” wore them down, sometimes because they lacked spiritual depth when they encountered a strong tempation. King Saul was one of them.

Saul began humbly and well. But then with his lapse of faith against the Philistines and his disobedience regarding the Amalekites the wheels just sort of fell off the wagon and he descended into jealousy, paranoia, hatred, and (in today’s reading) the occult. His story doesn’t end heroically. Will yours? Will you be faithful until the end? Will you stand for what’s right all your life? Will life’s temptations wear you down? Will you finish strong, or will you just finish? Will you be able to say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith,” (2 Timothy 4:7, NAS95)?

There interesting things to be seen in this story of Saul and the witch of Endor. First notice that Saul actually had been good about somethings in his reign — all the known occultists had been run out. But when God wasn’t answering an anxious Saul, he erroneously turned to seek answers from the dead — forbidden in Deut. 18. When the witch is fooled into trying call up Samuel from the dead, an interesting thing happens — she actually succeeds! She’s surprised and cries out — which tells us something about her usual real success. Like other mediums and necromancers, she had apparently just pretended to be able, and when she succeeds, she’s surprised.

Calling up the dead is also seen to be futile in this passage, since Samuel doesn’t know what’s going on the world of the living — Saul has to tell him why he called him up. This is in accord with other teachings of Scripture, which tells us that the dead, though they are conscious, are not aware of what is transpiring in the world of the living. So consulting with them is useless. In this case, however, Samuel continues to have prophetic powers and tells Saul that tomorrow Saul and his sons would be joining Samuel in Sheol. And by the way, how is Saul now profited from this illicit knowledge that he has obtained? People are ever looking for glimpses into the future, but they will always be disappointed, unless it is a glimpse that God Himself has allowed (e.g., Revelation).

At the same time, David has been invited by king Achish to join the Philistine armies now gathering against the Israelite army. It looks like David would have to either fight against his own people or reveal himself to Achish in battle by turning against him — and thus losing Ziklag as a “home”. But at the last minute the Philistine lords demanded that David go home, lest he be tempted to turn on them at some crucial moment. But when David returned, he discovered that the Amalekites had raided, while David was away at the battle line. No one, it appeared had been killed, but everyone and everything of value was missing. Although David and his men are weary from the 3 day march back from Mt. Gilboa to Ziklag, they immediately set off in pursuit of the raiders. After a short while, 200 of David’s men cannot go on and David decides to strip off excess baggage and leave the weary behind. When the rest of his outlaw band encounter a jettisoned Egyptian slave, who will show them where the Amalekites are, David and his men catch them by surprise, rout them, and recover everyone and everything, including significantly more plunder than they had lost. When they returned, the 200 who stayed with the baggage were scorned by the others who had fought; but David stopped the argument immediately and declared a new policy about those who stayed with baggage — they would always receive an equal share of the plunder.

It has an application among NT people, too. Every talent is necessary. A husband who goes to work everyday, while his wife stays home to work at home, take care of the children, etc. (although this doesn’t happen as often as it did a generation ago) needs to recognize the value of his wife’s contribution to the family. Paul has much to say about this within a congregational context in 1 Cor 12, doesn’t he? Those who stay with the baggage — how ever that may be defined in your situation — are just as important to the victory as those whose contribution was more public or high-profile. Possibly if more men had realize that, vocalized that, appreciated that, there might be fewer latch-key kids, more stay-at-home moms (we’re find out more and more about how important this is to healthy families).

Of course, Saul and (sadly) his son Jonathan (and Saul’s other sons) were killed on Mt. Gilboa. When the Philistines were looting the dead, they recognized Saul and brought his body to Beth Shean (a Philistine city set kind of in the middle of the land of Ephraim) to affix it to the city walls — a rather grotesque practice to modern sensibilities, but an often practiced victory declaration in the ancient world. Even Israel had practiced similar things, although God had specified that no body should be hung on a tree (the most common way of doing this) for more than a day (Deut 21:22,23) — to the vanquished it was a great shame and insult. But some good deeds don’t get forgotten, and some valiant men from Jabesh-Gilead, the first city that Saul had rescued from the hand of the Ammonites, came secretly at night, stole the body off the wall, transported it to Jabesh-Gilead, and gave Saul’s body an honorable burial. All of Israel should have fighting over the honor. David honored the men of Jabesh-Gilead for their heroism (2 Sam. 2:5). Later still (2 Sam. 12) David has Saul’s body reburied in his father’s tomb. Saul may not have been everything that Israel had hoped that he’d be, but he was the “Lord’s anointed” and he deserved to be honored for all that he had done for God’s people. Honor to whom honor is due. Who do you need to honor?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

David, in today’s reading, finds himself in such a difficult position; he wants to come home to Israel, but he is unjustly kept out by Saul. Consequently, he has to live by his wits and whatever “odd jobs” come his way.

One “odd job” that he made for himself was protection for herdsmen on the edge of Israel’s controlled territory. One such wealthy herdsman was a man by the name of Nabal — oddly but appropriately, a name meaning “fool” — and David and his men had guarded his two large herds. On the surface of it, it may sound like a “protection racket”, but when we read further down (25:14-17) the herders really had depended on them for protection. Kingdoms of the ancient middle east (especially on the borders or frontiers of national territories) had little or no (mostly “no”) military patrols to protect its people, and the concept of police forces hadn’t been invented yet — for the most part, you were on your own. Nabal’s herders were open to attack from Philistines, Amalekites, and other raiders. David’s protection — desired by the herders — had made Nabal’s prosperity possible. Yet, when David sent messengers to politely request some remuneration at shearing time (a big feast would ensue) for this protection (in the form of food), Nabal had scorned them, claiming that he owed David nothing. David had probably taken this insult as all the ingratitude that he was going to take, and he called his men together in a rage to attack and slaughter every male in Nabal’s household. But he was stopped by a woman.

Fortunately, Nabal was married to his opposite, a wise woman, Abigail, who interceded for the whole household and gave David and his small army the reward of food that they had earned by protecting Nabal’s herds. She did this without Nabal’s knowledge, because “no one can speak to him.” Later, when Abigail does tell him, he appears to have suffered an apoplectic stroke (from which he later died).

Have you ever been a Nabal? So foolish, so cock-sure, so bull-headed that no one could speak to you? Oh sure, many of us are this way in our late teens and early 20’s, but have you grown out of it, yet? Confidence is one thing, “Nabal-ism” is another. What would your spouse say? What would your colleagues say? What would your children say? It’s an attitude that leads down the path of folly and evil. It’s nothing to be proud of, even if Sinatra did immortalize it by singing, “I did it my way!” You really don’t want to be “that guy”.

And though we certainly don’t have time or space here to investigate it completely, Abigail is a great study in intercession. She was a firewall between David and Nabal. She diplomatically confesses that the sin was really hers, because she hadn’t noticed David’s young men with David’s request. She brings the food stuff David to satisfy their honorable request. She’s humble. And she reasons with David that he really didn’t want to take his own revenge in this matter — that it would be a great regret, when he became a great king. Everything she did was calculated to put David’s fire out; and it worked! No small wonder that David later proposed marriage to her. Her skills are useful in the church, too; as long as there are people in the Lord’s church, there will be a need for intercessors and “fire extinguishers” and brethren who will help us be our better selves rather than our proud and insulted selves.

But then in chapter 26 David gets yet another chance to end his suffering by eliminating his persecutor — but he refuses to touch the Lord’s anointed. And interestingly enough it has the same effect as the time in Engedi, when David deliberately passed on the chance to kill Saul. In both cases it sort of boiled down to…

“Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:19-21, NAS95.

It works and Saul leaves David alone again. Let it work for you, too.

Lastly, David flees to Gath to “work” for the Philistine king Achish. Even though David had been been a real spoiler to Gath’s military campaigns in the past, he was happy enough to have David on his side now. He even gives him Ziklag as a city to live in and rule. From Ziklag David launches a number of “black ops” on neighboring Gentile towns, completely “silencing” them, so they couldn’t tell Achish what was really happening. David’s deception toward an enemy of the Chosen People has been often debated. It has been suggested that this was merely another example of the Bible telling it like it is about the lives of even its great heroes — warts and all. And on the other hand, it has been suggested that it provides adequate justification for deceiving a “Gentile” enemy, when necessary — for example, in an effort to save an innocent Jewish family from Nazi murderers. Such a debate here would again be too long (and philosophic) for this format, but let’s just say that we need to be very, very careful, when we start playing with what could be called situation ethics.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Today’s reading is a study in where jealousy leads — irrationality, upside-down priorities, and sin.

David was now “on the lam”, running from jealous king Saul. He had been forced to leave Israelite civilization in a big hurry, including running by Nob for a little bread, an oracle from the LORD, and weapons — by not telling Ahimelech the priest everything. This had serious consequences for Ahimelech and his entire family.

Saul was really having a serious “pity party”, brought on by jealousy that had made him downright irrational. He whined that everybody was against him, nobody was helping him kill David, and that David was lying in wait for him. Doeg the Edomite, who was in Nob, when David took the consecrated bread, saw his chance to ingratiate himself to the king by both informing on David and later killing (unjustly) Ahimelech and his whole family — except Abiathar, who escaped. This is what jealousy does, but what exactly is jealousy?

The essence of it is intense feelings of possessiveness. Jealousy believes that something or someone rightfully belongs to me, yet someone is trying to take what is mine! We sometimes use the term in romantic settings, and sometimes it actually is appropriate. A husband or wife does have the right to be jealous, when there is evidence that the attentions and affections that are rightfully theirs are going to someone else. God says that His name is “Jealous” — intensely passionate against sharing mankind’s worship and faith with any other so-called god. In the case at hand, Saul was intensely — even irrationally — emotional about his fame and throne. It belonged to him by rights and was never to be shared with anyone. Saul had lost sight of the fact that any fame and throne had been given to him by God; it was not his possession. One can almost hear him whispering, “My preciousssssss!”

Here’s an important point for us all: we possess nothing — we have been given stewardships. All those things that we believe we’ve earned, we’ve “earned” with borrowed talents, energies, health, opportunities, education, etc. and in that sense we’ve really earned nothing at all. And like all stewardships they are subject to the will and decisions of the true owner. Saul’s jealous, like the ones we sometimes display over prestige or things, was greatly mistaken and led to a foolish — even crazy — waste of time, energy, and relationship.

In contrast is Jonathan, Saul’s son, who seeks out David not to kill him, but to reconfirm his covenant. His words are the polar opposite of his jealous father’s spirit:

“Thus he said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and Saul my father know that also.'” (1 Samuel 23:17, NAS95).

There’s no jealousy here. There’s no anger or hatred. Jonathan plays with tremendous grace what is said to be the most difficult instrument in the world — second fiddle. Jonathan was the one who should have been jealous; he was in line to be king. But knowing that David had been anointed, probably hearing what God’s judgment on Saul’s foolish mistakes was, and apparently recognizing the leadership and military talent of David, Jonathan was OK with taking second place. Here’s a scary question: are you a Saul or a Jonathan?

There’s something especially noble about David’s refusal to raise his hand against “the LORD’s anointed”, despite the fact the LORD’s anointed was hunting him down. And as David proves his loyalty to Saul by merely cutting off the fringe of his garment in the cave, he quotes an ancient proverb that bears a bit of thought even today: “Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness.” It’s not exactly rocket science, but it challenges Saul to look at David’s works, because you can tell a tree by it’s fruit. If I were wicked, David is saying, I would have done wicked things to you; yet, I’ve just spared your life. So, what is your life saying about who you are? Could we also say, “Out of the Christian comes Christian deeds?” or “Out of the compassionate person comes compassionate acts?” Or how about we turn it around: if we are crabbing at people, we are ______. If we are keeping our things to ourselves, we are _________. If we are keeping the good news to ourselves, we are____________. If we are inactive in the Lord’s service, we are ______.

See you tomorrow. Lord willing.