Avoid the 7 Traps That Destroyed Great Men

You're listening to the Miracle Word Podcast. We believe that the Word of God gives you the power to experience never-ending increase in every area. If you're ready for revelation that will take you to the next level, you're in the right place. Here's your host, evangelist, author, and founder of Miracle Word University, 10 Shuttlesworth Jr.

Today, as you saw in the title, I'm talking about avoiding the seven traps that destroyed great men. And I'm going to give you great men from scripture. But avoiding these seven traps, you know, one of the things that we receive from the Word of God is not just what to do, but some are pictures of what not to do. Some of the stories that we have in the Bible are showing us what not to do.

And that's just as powerful. That's just as powerful because when you understand the things that please God, it's also important to understand the things that displease God. You know, we talked yesterday about how God opposes the proud, but gives more grace to the humble. And in one verse, we have what God likes and what God doesn't like.

He opposes the proud. God hates pride. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. God hates pride.

So in one verse, we see what God hates and opposes and what he blesses humility. He gives more grace to the humble. So in one verse, you can see what to avoid and what to pursue. And then there are stories of people.

And that's kind of what I'm going to give you today. There are more. And when I put the book out, I'll probably deal with more than just these seven traps. But today I'm going to give you these seven because they popped up in my spirit as I was studying this.

But I'm going to go down through the lives of seven men in the Bible that obviously God had set them aside for their generation. But they failed because of these traps. And by looking at them, you can avoid the traps that they fell into. And you'll be able to succeed and not be taken out like they were.

So the other thing is this, when you think about it, some ended worse than others. Some ended worse than others. One of the things that you can remember me teaching if you've been around for a while, we talked about a message that was preached by a man of God in Nigeria. His name is Daniel Olacoya, Pastor Daniel Olacoya, prayer reign ministries.

And he taught a message one time about mistakes that young ministers make. And there was a lot, I think it was like 30 or something like that. But one of the things that he said that I'll never forget, he said, some mistakes are easy to recover from. Other mistakes are hard to recover from.

And some mistakes you never recover from. Think about that. Some mistakes are easy to recover from. Other mistakes are very hard to recover from.

And some mistakes you never recover from. And so basically he was teaching about not being flippant with your life. And that's kind of what we're going to cover a little bit today as we look at these men. Because what you'll see very clearly is each one of these, each one of these dealt with something that could have been corrected.

Gina, his name is Pastor Daniel Olacoya. Olacoya. I believe it's spelled O-L-U-K-O-Y-A. Olacoya.

O-L-U-K-O-Y-A. I believe that's the correct spelling. Pastor Daniel Olacoya. And if you just search on YouTube, Gina, mistakes young ministers make, you'll probably find it.

That message. So I want to deal with these with you. And I'm going to give you the references that we can look over as well. But I want you to make notes on this because these are vital.

So these aren't small things, obviously. I'm giving you things that are big enough that they either fully destroyed a great man in the Bible or men that had so much potential or it derailed them. And you don't want to be, not only do you not want to be destroyed, you don't want to be derailed. Right?

So you don't want to be put off track by falling into a trap that you could have easily avoided. And so the first one is really interesting. I want you to go with me to second Samuel chapter six. And I want to talk about the man Uza because you may know his story, but you may not know his backstory.

And I believe that his backstory shows us why he fell into this trap. You may have missed that part. I know you know his story. So here's the context.

David becomes king of Judah. And the first thing that he does from Jerusalem is David says, listen, I'm not going to be the country. I'm not going to be the king of a country that has no power. So let's go and get the Ark of the Covenant and bring it back to Jerusalem.

So the Bible says that he assembled his chosen men and went to battle to bring the Ark of the Covenant back. So they get the Ark of the Covenant. And then of course, not to battle, but goes to what we bail Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of Host, who sits enthroned on the chair of him. So in 2 Samuel 6, we see David taking mighty man and going to get the Ark of the Covenant to bring it back to Jerusalem.

Now, the Bible says, let's go to 2 Samuel 6 verse number three. And they carried the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab. Okay, remember that. The house of Abinadab.

That's where they brought the Ark from out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uza and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab were driving the new cart with the Ark of God and Ahio went before the Ark. Okay, that's important. That's that verse three and four are very important to set up this story.

Let me read verses three and four again. And they carried the Ark of God on a new cart. Okay, right there is disobedience. Right there is disobedience because if you remember how God required the Ark of the Covenant to be carried, as it was designed originally, there were loopholes that were designed on the Ark.

What were they for? To put the poles through the holes on the sides and it was to be carried on the shoulders of the priests. They walked holding four priests would walk holding the Ark of the Covenant. It was not to be placed on a cart and carted around by an animal.

It was to be carried by the priests of God. But the Bible says Uza and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the Ark of God and Ahio went before the Ark. All right, go further to verse five now. And David and all those and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs and leers and harps and tambourines and cast the nets and symbols.

And when they came to the threshing floor of Negan, Uza put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it for the oxen stumbled and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uza and God struck him down there because of his error and he died there beside the Ark of God. He died next to the Ark of God. There's people that have read this and thought, well, that's a little harsh. That's a little harsh for God to do that to him.

No, actually God had given clear instructions that the Ark was never to be touched by human hands because it was so holy. It carried God's power, carried God's glory, and he would never touch it with human hands. That's why the loopholes were made on the Ark, so you could put the poles through so you didn't have to touch it. You could lift it on the poles on your shoulder and carry it.

But we have a problem here because Uza felt comfortable enough to just reach out and touch the Ark even though, now watch this, not even just reaching out to touch the Ark, but he and his brother felt comfortable enough to just throw the Ark on a cart, not carry it on the shoulders as God commanded to be done, but just to throw it on a cart like it was any old piece of baggage and let an animal carry it. And here if you want to see truly what the issue was, I want you to see this. Go to 1 Samuel, keep your finger in 2 Samuel. Go to 1 Samuel, chapter 7, and let's look at verse number 1.

1 Samuel 7 1. The Bible says, and the men of Karyath Jerem came and took up the Ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son, El Yazer, to have charge of the Ark of the Lord from the day that the Ark was lodged, now look at this, from the day that the Ark was lodged at Karyath Jerem a long time past, this is verse 2, some 20 years and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. How long?

20 years. And all this time later, David then goes to get the Ark. The Ark's been sitting in the house of Abinadab for 20 years, 20 years, which means that these two sons, Uza and Ahio, grew up around the Ark. Now that's implied from the text, they're his sons, and it remained in his house for 20 years.

So that means that they grew up around the Ark. Do you see the first trap? They became familiar with the anointing. They became familiar with what was holy.

And so what was holy became common to them. What was holy became common to them. I've not heard many people talk about this or preach on this, but this is what happened. I mean, how do you think Uza got to the place where he was comfortable enough to just reach out and touch it?

Even the guys had never touched the Ark with your hands. And Uza got to the place where he was fine to just reach out and touch it like it was any old common thing. The reason is because in his proximity to the Ark of the Covenant, over that time living in the Abb's house, 20 years, seeing the Ark all the time, all of that, he became familiar and what was holy became common to him. This is a mistake that I see people make, where they literally just go through the motions and stop valuing what's holy and stop valuing what's powerful and treating it like it's common.

Treating it like it's common. Oh really? Is it in one of his books, Christ? I've not heard that.

That's interesting to me. If it's in one of his books, let me know. I'd like to get it. I probably have it right there in that set behind me.

What was holy, they viewed it as common. And he was with him. It's just that he was out in front of the cart and the Ark, whereas Uza was obviously close enough to reach out and touch it. And the Bible says, and God judged him there.

So what did God judge him for? Why was the anger of the Lord kindled against him? Because it was direct disobedience to God's commands. How did it come?

He had lost the fear of God because of familiarity and his comfort level with what was sacred and what was holy. So notice it says, and God, God judged him there because of his error. So it's not just that God got angry one day and said, no, there were direct things that got direct instructions from God that he had just, I don't care. I'm going to reach out and touch it.

And God struck him down because of his error, the Bible says, because of his error. That's 2 Samuel 6. And so the first thing I want to deal with today is don't allow what is holy in your life to become common to you. Don't take it for granted.

I think one of the things that's really, and if you know me, if you've been around the ministry for any period of time, you'll know that I am, it's weird to say this because obviously I'm fully immersed in religion. I mean, I'm a preacher. I'm an evangelist. I'm a pastor.

I'm a preacher of the gospel. I'm Pentecostal to the core, you know, all of that. So, but you know what I'm talking about when I say that many people, especially in our circles, use the term religious in a negative way. Well, I'm not religious.

Don't get so religious. But obviously we're steeped in religion because, you know, we're a part of the body of Christ, and this is a religion and a relationship. But I think one of the things that has really changed me recently is I've been doing a lot of study, of course, as you know, we're doing study on the transmission of the Bible. But you can't even study the history of the Bible and the transmission of Scripture and the, you know, the translation of Scripture and all those things without going back through church history.

And when you look at church history, you really look and find, I mean, I've been reading recently the apostolic church fathers and their letters and commentary on their letters, men like Irenaeus and Polykarp and Ignatius of Antioch, you know, guys like that. And, you know, you read the anti-Nysine Fathers. Those are just the church fathers that existed before the Council of Nicaea in the early fourth century. You go back and read their letters, Clement of Rome, you go back and read their letters, and you read other documents like the Didache and other things from the second century, third century, fourth century.

What you're going to find out is that those early Christians did not take Christianity lightly. They did not look at it as common. They took it very seriously. And of course, as you know, I'm sure you know, the first 300 years of Christianity were steeped in extreme persecution.

It wasn't until Constantine became the emperor and gave what we now know and call the the peace of the church in the early fourth century until that happened. Christians were being slaughtered left and right, just slaughtered in the worst ways imaginable. They were using Christians bodies as torches to light their games in the arenas. They were just hand Christians up and then light their bodies on fire and use them as torches.

They were feeding them to wild animals, having them torn apart in arenas, cutting them in half, beheading them, all kinds of stuff, terrible ways. The church was being persecuted. But of course, that's going to make it very serious to you. But when you go back and read, what they thought, like even the sacraments of the church, this is the point I'm making.

This is where I was getting to in a very long roundabout way, even the sacraments of the church. You know, if you read the Didache, which is one of the earliest post New Testament apostolic documents that we have on record, the Didache, or sometimes it's called the teaching of the 12, the Didache gives, it's kind of like a discipleship guide, a catechism, maybe one of the first catechisms. So you read that document, it's very short. But what you'll find is they were serious about the sacraments of the church.

Let me give you an example. All the Christians, all of them, fasted for two days every week, Wednesday and Friday, every single week of their lives. Eastern Orthodox Christians still do it today. To this day, Wednesday and Friday, every week they fast and pray.

When it came to baptism, they didn't take baptism lightly. One of the things, and you know, this is not commanded in scripture, but we can just see what they did. It was their habit as the early church. The Didache tells us that when they were getting ready to baptize people in water, they didn't just baptize them randomly in water.

It was like, who'd like to be baptized today? Just run up here. We got extra shirts for you. It wasn't like that.

It was a serious, serious matter to the early Christians to baptize people in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you read that document, one of the things that they would tell people is the person who is being baptized should take time to fast, the person who's doing the baptism should take time to fast, and all of the people of that assembly, if they can, should take time to fast before that water baptism took place. What were they doing? Just consecrating themselves for a very holy moment.

Baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't take it lightly. It wasn't like, you know, oh, we got baptism. Put the announcement up.

We got baptism Sunday coming up in a couple of weeks. You know, it was a serious matter. When you go back and read what they thought about the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper communion, the communion meal, they were so serious about the communion meal that they wouldn't even let unbelievers into the meeting for the Lord's Supper. I mean, let alone partake in it.

They wouldn't even offer it. They didn't allow unbelievers into those meetings where they were partaking of the Lord's Supper. They understood how sacred and powerful even the communion meal is. And I'm going to be honest with you.

I do feel and I've always felt like this. I was just talking with somebody about this the other day, another preacher. I've always felt the power that's on the communion meal, the Lord's Supper. I've always felt the power on it and understood how sacred it is.

It's not something to be taken lightly. It's a holy thing. It's a holy thing. Jesus commanded us to do it.

I taught this on Sunday. We just had communion Sunday at the church. Anything God commands, he empowers. Anything God commands, he empowers.

And you can see even back then, they didn't take it lightly. It wasn't just like, I'll just grab some bread, grab some juice and let's, no, it was a holy moment. We're not letting unbelievers in this room. This is not for those who have rejected Christ or who don't want to be a part of Christ.

This is for those who have laid down their life and said, Lord, not my will, but your will be done. You're the master, we're the servants and we're partaking in the body and the blood of Jesus Christ and proclaiming his death until he comes again, participating in his sacrifice until he comes again. I read books about the communion meal by, I'll tell you who put out surprisingly, I found a book by Joseph Prince and I don't really follow his ministry that closely, but he wrote a book on communion that I thought had a lot of very good insight. Bishop David O'odepo wrote a book on the communion meal called the Miracle Meal, very powerful book, very powerful book.

But the more you study it, you realize there's such power. You know, I believe the same anointing in power that's on the laying on of hands or anointing with oil or prayer cloths or baptism is the same power that's on the communion meal. I believe that the anointing of God is upon it. Anything that God commands, he empowers.

I believe you can receive healing as you receive the communion meal. Paul said the negative aspect of that supernaturally happened. People started treating the communion meal as it was common and just like any other meal. And what happened?

He says, as a result, many of you are sick and some of you have died. So there's the negative aspect of the supernatural part of the communion meal. I believe the positive is also there that you can receive the anointing even as you partake in the Lord's Supper and receive healing into your body. Bishop O'odepo teaches that as well.

And I believe it. I believe that. And so why am I on this trail? It's because I'm describing the difference between how Uzo was familiar with the things of God, making them common, making them unimportant and understanding and understanding how sacred and holy and righteous the things of God are.

They're sacred. They're not to be taken lightly. And God has given you very holy things. He's given you very holy things.

If you take a picture from the Old Testament, what would they do? When God told Moses to create the anointing oil in the book of Deuteronomy, you can see that, excuse me, an Exodus, you can see Exodus, Leviticus, and then you read in Deuteronomy that they would go in. And what would they do? Anoint even the elements and the emblems in the temple.

Anoint what was on the table. Right? Anoint the elements, anoint the Ark of the Covenant with oil. And the Bible says, and when you do, these things will be consecrated and set apart for God's use.

These are holy things, sacred things. And I'm not trying to turn into cardinal Ted Shuttlesworth. But I think you can go overboard. You can go overboard.

You know, like the Roman Catholic Church has gone far overboard with sacraments. They've gone far overboard. I don't know if you know this. Roman Catholics will literally worship the bread of the communion meal.

That to the point where once it's been set apart for the Eucharist and they believe in transubstantiation, which is they believe it becomes the body of Christ actually and becomes the blood of Christ that they won't discard it. After that, it gets placed in a special position because why would you throw away the body of Jesus Christ? So they'll put it in a special place. There's actually a place they'll keep the bread that worship.

So they've gone overboard. They've gone overboard. But I would rather honor, I would rather honor the holy and righteous things of God than become flippant with what's holy. And that was Uzzah's mistake.

He became flippant with what is holy. Flippant with what is consecrated and powerful. And he got so familiar and comfortable with it. He had no problem just touching it.

We're living in a day where people don't even have a problem touching men of God. Did you know? I mean, there's all these YouTube channels that are just exposing men of God. Do you know, the Bible says, and I'm all for it, but the Bible says don't even bring a charge against an elder unless there are two or three witnesses.

Don't even bring a charge against an elder. Well, I think I heard something about so and so and I'm going to expo- the Bible's clear. Don't even bring a charge against an elder unless there are two or three witnesses to back up the claim. And I mean real witnesses, not two people that said, well, I think I heard this, I could believe that.

I think about it too. No, people that have actual evidence that could testify in court, that kind. But people have become so flippant, even with that that they don't care. They don't care.

There's people in churches that have no problem speaking against the men and women of God, speaking against ministries like they're common, speaking against the people that God raised up. Let me show you a passage real quick. I don't have it off the top of my head. So let me let me find it real fast.

It is found in Romans 14 and verse four. This is how I think about it. Of course, you don't ever want to see people destroyed ever. So even if people make mistakes, my job is to pray for them and ask God to restore them and to help them.

There's one idiot online. I just saw absolute retarded mindset that saw that Jimmy Swaggart had passed away and decided he was going to do a video exposing. It's like he's already dead and in heaven and his family's grieving. And your first thought is to do a video exposing the wickedness of Jimmy Swaggart.

That's your thought process. I mean, like what a what a moron and people have no problem. They have no problem. I'll get this.

Romans 14, 4, I'm going to read it to you. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls and he will be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand. Let me start with verse 1 because everybody, you know, big on context, let's read the context.

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but do not quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. For God has welcomed him.

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls and he'll be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person verse 5, a steam's one day is better than another. While another steams all days alike.

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord since he gives thanks to God while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God for none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live under the Lord.

If we die, we die to the Lord. So then whether we live or whether we die, we're the Lord's for to to this end Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or you? Why do you despise your brother?

For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God for it's written as I live says the Lord every niche about me every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account to himself for God before God. Don't so what is the concept there if you read the the header of that in the ESV which is not inspired scripture but just to help us understand context the header says do not pass judgment on one another. Who am I to judge another man's servant?

He's not my servant. You think? Let me ask you a question. You think I don't know about stuff behind the scenes.

I've been in the ministry for 25 years almost. You don't think I know stuff behind the scenes that people have done. You don't think I know mistakes that people have made? I know.

But do you see me getting on YouTube? It's like I'm going to expose someone so and so today. Get ready. I'm going to expose someone so and so you don't know this but you're in for a treat today because I've got a story for you.

No, they're not my servant. They'll have the answer to God. They're not. They don't answer to me and they don't answer to you.

They don't answer to me and they don't answer to you. They're not our servants. They're God's servant. God will decide what happens with them.

God will decide what happens with them. Who are you to judge another man's servant? They're not my servant. That's all I can say.

And I'm glad they're not my servant and I'm glad I don't have to have charge of them all the time. Stay on top of what you've been doing. It's not my business. It's not my business.

When these people think they have ministries online, it's not a ministry. You're not a ministry gift. You're a talking head on a YouTube channel. That's not a ministry.

Exposing ministries is not a ministry. Put that in the comments. Exposing ministries is not a ministry. It just makes you a person.

I can only imagine if David was here today, King David, everybody exposing his ministry. Paul the Apostle, let me tell you what he did just a few years ago. He was killing Christian. Peter, let me tell you about Peter.

He denied Christ three times. He was already a disciple. Exposing ministries is not a ministry. Who are you to judge another man's servant?

It doesn't mean we can't say what sin is. There is actual protocol. I don't know if you know that. There's actual protocol to where why was Paul able to call out people in the church?

He started the churches. He was the apostle over the churches. He was the leadership of that church. He could write back a letter to either the pastor of that church like Timothy.

He could write back a letter to the pastor of the church giving him instructions on what to do with people who caused problems, which he did. He did it for Titus. He did it for Timothy. Paul was not just like a member that sat in the third row of the church.

There's actual protocol in the kingdom of God. What do you do if your brother sins against you? You go to him personally. The Bible says you go to them one on one.

You don't jump on social media. That's what you do. You go to them one on one. If they apologize, repent to you and whatever, reconcile with you.

Then the Bible says you've won your brother back. You've won your brother back. But if they don't, if they refuse to reconcile with you, then the next step is, go straight to Facebook. No, the next step is bring a witness with you and try to reconcile with them and win them back as a brother.

If they still won't receive you and they say, I don't want to be reconciled. I don't want to be a fellowship with you. They still don't do that. It says then bring it to the church.

And if they don't listen even to the church, then reject them. They've had three chances to reconcile with you. Remember, the whole point here is to bring unity back to the body of Christ. This is all ties together.

I know I'm still talking about Uzzah, but the whole thing is comfort and familiarity with what's holy and what's consecrated and feeling familiar enough to put your hands on what's anointed. He touched the Ark of God. There's people that they put in their hands on what's anointed and they've not even followed biblical protocol. They've not even followed biblical protocol.

I've taught in our church, I've taught online, what does the Bible say in the book of Colossians? Make room for one another's false. Everyone's not going to be perfect in your life. There will be people that make mistakes.

Then you have to decide. Well, they said something shouldn't have. They did something shouldn't have. Okay, did you do what the Bible says and make room for one another's false?

That way you'll never be offended. That way you'll never be bent out of shape. It's a simple matter. I'm showing you this so you don't make the same mistakes.

And so this is what happened with Uzzah. He simply got familiar with the anointing and what was sacred. Exactly right, William. Pray for that person.

Don't try to pull them down. As Glenn said, we should be building the kingdom, not tearing it down. That's why if you ever hear me on this channel, I call out principles. I don't call out people.

I call out principles, not people. Principles, not people. I pray for the people, but I call out principles. There's been one time, one time on this on this whole channel that I mentioned a person by name when I was disagreeing with their teaching.

And the reason I did it is because they had already publicly taught it internationally. It wasn't a secret. I wasn't exposing somebody's secret sin. What was I doing?

They had stood in their pulpit and taught something that went on international television. And it actually had shaken up the body of Christ and people didn't know what to make of it. And so I went on and literally did a biblical teaching that showed the truth of the scripture in that on that subject. And you know, I've had tons, I was surprised by this.

I've had tons of people come up to me in churches, in green rooms, in lobbies and say, man, I saw that video, you did a dress on that subject. I was so happy you did that because man, I didn't know what to think. I'd followed that person. I'd followed that person for many years and I didn't know what to think.

I didn't know what to do because I just had trusted their ministry and this was out of the blue for me. I'm so glad that you taught on that. Yeah. And the only reason I mentioned it is because everyone knew what this person had switched to start teaching.

It wasn't a secret. And I even said in the video that now listen, we love him. We love his ministry. I've been blessed by his ministry.

We're not at we're not trying to expose him or tear him down. We're just trying to show you that this thing he's teaching doesn't really line up with the scripture. It's not a slam on his character, but we're addressing the scripture. And if you notice, I'm not even mentioning his name now, as I'm telling you the story, I'm just telling you what I did.

You see, and so we love people and we pray for people, but we address principles. Number two, let's jump in number two, another great man that was taken out by a trap, Samson. What was truly Samson's issue? Samson's issue was carelessness.

Carelessness. God, now, if you don't know about Samson's life, he took a Nazarene vow, couldn't cut his hair. God had given him power. He was one of the judges in the book of Judges.

It's in Judges chapter 16. Judges chapter 16. Carelessness with his calling. Carelessness with his calling.

Let's go to a judges 16. I'm going to show you something here. All the actions that he took stemmed from carelessness for his calling. Now, this woman, Delilah, had proven she was out to kill him, had proven that twice, and he didn't care.

She had literal plans to kill him. She was conspiring with his enemies to murder him. And he didn't care. Carelessness about his calling.

You can read the whole story from Judges 16 verses 1 through 21. But let me, let me start with verse 17. And he told her all his heart and said to her, a razor has never come upon my head. For I've been a Nazarete to God, for my mother's womb, if my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.

When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the Lords of the Philistines saying, come up again. For he's told me all his heart, then the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought her the money and put it in her hands. She made him sleep. She made him sleep on her knees and she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head and she began to torment him and his strength left him.

And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke from sleep and said, I'll go out his other times and shake myself free. But he didn't know the Lord had left him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles and he grounded the mill in the prison.

But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. Carelessness. Carelessness with his calling. He took what God had given him and was very careless with it.

Very careless with it. Sharing that secret of what brought him, that Nazareth vow after knowing that she was literally out to kill him. It's like, okay, one time these guys run out of the back room. Gotcha.

Second time these guys run out of the back room. You know, first time like, what were those dudes doing in your back room with all the knives and stuff? But the second time, you know, you've heard that phrase, you know, first time shame on you. Second time shame on me.

What about the third time? Because you keep going. Carelessness with his calling. And so he missed it.

He missed it. Now if you notice, Uzzah was struck dead. Samson was not killed. He actually had another chance to win a victory for the kingdom of God.

He had another chance to win a victory. His hair grew back and he actually killed more Philistines in his death than he did in his life, the Bible says. But carelessness. You know, think about the carelessness that's involved when God gives you something and people never pursue it.

God told you to do something five years ago. You're anointed to do it. You've got instructions to do it and haven't even started. People think I'm joking when I say I've gone to churches and people will say, well, you pray for me.

How can I pray for you? Well, the Lord called me into the ministry 10 years ago and I'm just believing he's going to start opening the doors. It's like the Lord called you to do something 10 years ago and you haven't even started. Carelessness with your calling.

Carelessness. I don't think people recognize this. There are people depending on your purpose. Think about that for a moment.

There are people depending on your purpose on what God's called you to do. God has people he's sending you to. People that need to be saved, people that need to be healed, delivered, whatever. And God's sending you to them.

If I don't step out and do what I'm called to do, see, let's say it this way. The great commission is a job that God gave the church. So if I get to heaven and never did the things God told me to do, I'm going to heaven. But why will he have to wipe every tear from my eye?

It's not because he's rehearsing my sins on a big movie screen. It's because, because obviously your sins are forgiven and your iniquities have been removed from you as far as the East is from the West. So that's not why I'm crying. So why would I be crying in God's presence?

And he has to wipe every tear from my eye and have me enter into the joy of the Lord. Obviously, because we have a different judgment, then sinners do. Sinners are judged for their sin. Righteous people are judged for their works.

So when I stand before the Lord, he's not going to be presenting my sins. He's going to be looking over my works that will pass through the fire. Some of them will burn up like chaff. Others will be refined in the fire like gold.

But I believe what we'll be able to see is what we could have done that we did not do. What we could have done that we did not do, and it'll sadden us to see who we could have reached, who we could have helped, what we could have done if we really would have stepped out in faith and not been careless with our calling. This is dangerous. Don't be careless like Samson with your calling.

Don't be careless like Samson with your calling. Number three. So first is familiarity and comfort with the anointing or what's sacred. Number two, careless with your calling.

Number three is the story of Esau. Now you remember Esau was the oldest son between Esau and Jacob. So being being the oldest, it meant that he had a double portion of his father's blessing and inheritance, a double portion. But if you know the story, he comes in and finds this plot.

He comes in from the fields. His brother's cooking his favorite meal. What is that? Smells so good.

Making the stew, beans and bread. Oh really? Man, I could really I could tear that up right now. I'll give you some.

Just trade me your birth right. Trade me your birth right. Trade me your birth right. For what?

For some lentils for beans and bread. I preached a message on this one time at a youth conference. Beans, it was just called beans and bread. Beans and bread traded his birth right for beans and bread.

Beans and bread. That's all it was. Lentils and some bread. Oh, it smells so good.

Appetite over assignment. That's the trap. Appetite over assignment. I want what pleases my flesh over what I should be doing.

Appetite over assignment. There's people that'll never fasten pray. There's Christians that will refuse. They'll never fasten pray.

They don't crack their Bible open ever. They don't follow the leading of the Holy Spirit ever. They don't give ever. They don't win souls ever.

Appetite over assignment. What pleases my flesh versus what pleases the Lord? What? You go back and read in Romans.

What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? Jacob, I have loved. Esau, I have hated or despised.

Despised. He despised the covenant. So God despised him. Appetite over assignment.

Thanks, Carolyn. I felt pretty good about it. I love you. How come you're not here teaching with me?

What are you doing? Let's get Carolyn on the phone. She's doing. Let's see if she's a little.

What are you doing? What are you doing? How come you're not here teaching? In my life.

Yes. I'm in the gym. My God, I'm in the spiritual gym. I'm working my spirit out.

You're working out your body. It's appetite over assignment. I don't hear anybody on this phone call. I literally just heard that when you felt me and I was like, what is going on?

All right. We'll work it out then. Give it. You just called me live.

Yeah, I just wanted to see why you weren't helping me teach this. All right. Keep working out. Oh my gosh.

This is so embarrassing. It's bathing season. All right. I'll see you.

See, some people are more worried about their outer appearance. I'm kidding. Appetite over assignment. Cared more about the right now than what God had set aside.

Cared more about right now. Cared on the right. Oh my gosh. Let me just hydrate and get some electrolytes.

There's so many people. I could go on a rant about this. We won't. I did that yesterday.

There's so many people that will never accomplish their purpose in life. They'll never do what God called them to do because they'll never step out of the comfort of what pleases their flesh. That's it. They will never accomplish what God called them to do because they'll never step away from the comfort of what pleases their flesh.

Tif, what is that? Give me that quote about everybody has the same amount of time, but you have to steal it. Yeah, or just kind of give me the rundown. Is it James Clear's quote?

But it's in his book. It's in your book. It's in Tiffany's book. How come I don't copy of your book?

I am the vision by Tiffany Jane Farley. It is a very important quote because what the whole concept is this. People always say, well, I wish there were more hours in a day. Well, I mean, and then people act like the people who are productive have like all this extra time to be productive.

And I just don't have that time. That's not how it works. Everyone has 24 hours. Everyone has 24 hours to accomplish their purpose each day.

Now, obviously you got to sleep. So you can take about anywhere between five to eight of those hours out, right? And let's say you're just like a serious sleeper and you're getting eight, eight full hours every night. Well, that's going to leave 16 hours.

I like this quote too. And we're going to I'm going to get that other quote too. But I like this one also. You can remind me who said this.

Maybe it's Alex from Ozzy. It's not your nine to five that's killing you. It's your five to nine because people go work from nine to five and then they just squander all the rest of their free time doing stuff that makes no difference in their life. No difference in their calling.

No difference in their purpose because there's people I'd start that business. I'd launch that ministry, but you know, I just don't have the time. You know, I work a full time job. You're full time job.

Nine to five, 40 hours a week. It's not your nine to five that's killing you. It's your five to nine. It's your five to nine.

What did you just post this morning, Tiff? Kristen said Tiffany just posted that this morning. Man, I haven't even seen that yet. All right.

Now we're going to now we're going to now we're going to Instagram to see what she posted. If you wait for the time to do that extra thing you want to do, the time will never come. Time isn't found. Time is created.

That's a good quote. Is that you, Tiff? Wow. That's Tiff's quote.

Tiffany Jane Penelope Gertrude Farley said time isn't found. It's created. Time isn't found. And so going back to that, going back to that, that quote.

And how would you say the quote? Oh, you texted me. All right. Let me read it to you from the text.

This is it right here. Now listen to this. This is so interesting. People are giving you shout outs in the comments.

Shout to Tiffany. Here's the quote. When you experience someone else's genius work, a little part of you feels that's what I could have would have and should have done. Someone else did it.

You didn't. They fought the resistance. You gave in the distractions. They made it top priority.

You said you'd get to it someday. They took the time you meant to. When this happens, you can take it two ways. You could let that part of you give up.

Oh, well, now I don't need to make that anymore. Or you could do something about that jealous pain. Shut off your phone. Kill the distractions.

Make it top priority and spend the time. It takes hours to make what you want to make. The hours don't suddenly appear. Get this now.

The hours don't suddenly appear. You have to steal them from comfort. I love that quote. The hours don't suddenly appear.

You have to steal them from comfort. That was somebody that James Clear quoted in atomic habits. So James Clear in his book, Atomic Habits quoted somebody who said that. The hours don't suddenly appear.

You have to steal them from comfort. What do people do? You could sleep in right or you could get up earlier before work and go to the gym. Well, I just want to be healthy.

Steal the hours from comfort. It's comfortable to sleep more. But you got to steal hours from comfort if you want to make progress. I like what Ben Foles said in the comments.

Success is built after 5 p.m. It's not your nine to five. It's your five to nine. Don't squander.

Esau was happy to squander his assignment because of his appetite. I talked a little bit about this, I think on Sunday, but we were talking about the fact that by default, your flesh wants comfort. Do you have anything that is valuable to do? You have to push to do it?

It's not interesting. Anything that's valuable to do, you have to push to do it. Your body doesn't want to work out. You have to push it to work out.

Your body doesn't want to eat healthy. You have to push it to eat healthy. Your flesh, your mind doesn't want to open the Word of God and read it, but your spirit wants to, but you got to push past the resistance. Your body doesn't want to pray, but you have to steal the hours from comfort and you got to make and push past to pray.

Your body doesn't want to fast, but you got to fast. Your mind and the natural doesn't want to give into the kingdom of God, but you got to give. In the natural, you don't want to step out of your comfort zone and talk to people about Jesus and wind souls, but you push past it to do it because there's value. There's nothing valuable that by default you want to do.

Anything valuable, you've got to push to do it. Sivers or silvers? Sivers. The quotes from Derek Sivers.

The hours don't suddenly appear. You've got to push past the resistance. Esau wasn't even willing. But you missed one meal, you've been out in the field working or hunting or whatever the heck you do with your hairy arms.

It's such a hairy body that in order for Jacob to deceive his father, he had to put an animal skin on his arms. You've got to steal the hours from comfort. Don't allow your appetite to destroy your assignment. Thank you, Mirza.

Don't allow your appetite to destroy your assignment. Listen to, let's go to it real quickly. Hebrews 12. Listen to this.

Hebrews chapter 12, verses 16 and 17. Hebrews 12, 16 and 17. Esau who sold his birth right for a single meal. For you know that afterward when he decided to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

For a single meal. For a single meal. Don't let your appetite destroy your assignment. All right.

Let's go on to number four. Giving you seven traps that destroyed great men. Don't let your appetite destroy your assignment. Eli, number four Eli.

Eli was a priest unto God, but he had two sons that he refused to correct. So the mistake the trap that Eli fell into was no course correction, no course correction. Now, whether that's because he was too soft with his sons, you can't, it's not that he didn't know, because you can't be held accountable for what you didn't know, is like, you know, his sons, he just didn't know what they were doing. Now, he knew what they were doing, and he wouldn't correct them.