WEBVTT 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:03.560 Helping us to answer. 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:08.760 We appreciate the chosen city church family. 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:10.280 I love you all. 00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:13.239 I count it a privilege to stand before you. 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:17.959 I want to start with first giving honor to our senior pastor. 00:01:18.039 --> 00:01:20.120 Come on, y'all, make some noise. 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:23.240 Pastor Walter Power Jr. 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:27.879 Without her. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:33.560 I don't know that he would be able to do it how he does it. 00:01:33.879 --> 00:01:38.920 Y'all make some noise for our first lady, the lovely Lady Tiffany Holloway Bower. 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:40.920 She's in the building for today. 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:52.120 I give honor to them both for allowing me to stand at this sacred desk while Pastor Wall is writing vision to make it plain. 00:01:53.240 --> 00:02:01.719 He thought it not robbery to have me stand before you, so I'm honored to be here to buy good things. 00:02:03.320 --> 00:02:04.120 Thank you. 00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:14.359 And I often tell people when they ask me about my husband. 00:02:14.519 --> 00:02:16.840 I say he's one of the best people I know. 00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:20.519 And that's a blessing to be able to say those words. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:29.960 We're not gonna labor the time. 00:02:30.599 --> 00:02:34.199 Um we're gonna have a word of prayer, and we're gonna move right into the word. 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:35.319 Did I forget anything? 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:36.840 I think I covered it all. 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:37.719 All right. 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:39.640 Let us go before the Lord in prayer. 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:41.319 Heavenly Father, we thank you. 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:44.120 We thank you for the word that you sent to this house. 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:47.080 We thank you that you started up early this morning. 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:51.879 We thank you for the servanthood of Minister Ronda Holmes, Lord God. 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:59.240 We thank you, Lord God, that she came back from every setback to deliver that word because we needed help today. 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:06.520 We honor you, God, that you're already making a way, and I thank you that your word says it will not return for it. 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:14.920 So even as I stand before your people, Lord God, I believe, Lord God, that I don't own your result, but I trust that your word would not return for it. 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:24.360 That it will meet the need of someone in this house, that they will hear your word and they will know, Father God, that your ear is not too far, that you have not heard their cry. 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:26.039 Father God, have your way. 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:27.800 Let me decrease, Father God. 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:29.400 You increase, Father God. 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:32.039 I have emptied so that you can feel me up. 00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:38.360 And even in all my preparation, Lord God, I leave room for your Holy Spirit to have its way. 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:40.840 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:41.719 Amen. 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:42.520 Amen. 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.199 While you're standing, we're gonna move right into the word. 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:51.000 It's customary that we read the word of God together here in this house standing. 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:56.039 So I'm gonna ask them to bring up 1 Samuel chapter 22, verse 1. 00:03:56.120 --> 00:03:57.719 We're gonna do King James version. 00:03:57.800 --> 00:03:59.000 All right, y'all with me. 00:03:59.159 --> 00:04:01.159 Uh, I'm a little bit of an old school girl. 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:14.360 I'm gonna give y'all some NIV a little bit later, but we gotta start with the King James floor, just for the purpose of this text, we're gonna read verses one through five, first Samuel chapter 22, verses 1 through 5. 00:04:15.080 --> 00:04:20.199 David therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave of Adela. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:27.560 And when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:41.240 And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them. 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:45.879 And there were with him about four hundred men. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:05:03.240 And David went thence to Mizpah of Moab, and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth and be with you till I know what God will do for me. 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:12.280 And he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hole. 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:22.280 And the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the hole, depart and get thee into the land of Judah. 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:26.920 Then David departed and came into the forest of Herod. 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:30.199 You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:42.680 I'm gonna just try to move quickly through this as the Holy Spirit allows, but uh I want to talk to you a little bit on today about entrances and exits. 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:47.480 We all have some common knowledge of an entrance and an exit. 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:53.240 An entrance is generally an opening or a way to allow access into a space. 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:57.879 It allows people to come in and partake of whatever is going on in that space. 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:03.240 So generally, when we think of an entrance, we're entering into some sort of opportunity. 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:08.759 And an exit, on the other hand, we look at it as a departure, a way out. 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:19.879 An exit allows people to come to leave out of a space, but it also provides an opportunity for you to either leave bitter or better. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:27.639 We get to choose how we interacted when we went in and also what we brought out of it. 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:41.879 But regardless, entrance and exits are very entrances and exits are very important because when you think about safety, when you enter a building, you need to know if there's an emergency, how do I get out of here? 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:47.000 So generally there's some signage that says enter and exit. 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:53.800 And we in our minds, when we look at the entrance or the exit, sometimes we try to take a shortcut. 00:06:54.600 --> 00:07:01.720 We know it says enter this way, and y'all do it at the movie theater because your car is right outside that door. 00:07:01.959 --> 00:07:08.439 But you're when you come out of the theater, they want you to go down the long hall, out the back, all the way around the side, right? 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:13.800 Entrance and exits though, they're they're put that way for a particular reason. 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:18.120 So if there's an emergency, people need to control the flow of traffic. 00:07:18.280 --> 00:07:23.879 You need to know how to move and when to move, and that's okay in the world system. 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:27.240 And they even set up doors that open a certain way. 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:36.280 So whether the door is a swing door that opens in one direction or it's a double action door for all my builders in here, that means it'll swing forward or backwards. 00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:38.519 Either way, you can gain access to it. 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:45.079 If it's a result revolving door, it still in some way allows an entrance or an exit. 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:52.920 But here is our challenge: we tend to have a fixed position about entrances and exits. 00:07:53.639 --> 00:08:03.560 Even if the door shares the same signage, if it says an entrance, then we think that we're going in and we have an expectation to get something. 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:08.519 But the challenge is when it says exit, we think that's the end of it. 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:17.399 We see an exit sign, and we automatically in our finite minds, we put a stop sign on it and we think that that's the end of it all. 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:28.920 But I came by today, and I just want to use for a short topic to let you know that even though whether it's an entrance or an exit with God, the door works both ways. 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:36.120 Whether it's an entrance or an exit with God, the door works both ways. 00:08:36.839 --> 00:08:45.559 In life, oftentimes we look at a door and we feel like I don't know if I should go in it because I don't know what's on the other side of it. 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:51.399 But the God we serve can turn that uncertain place into your destiny. 00:08:51.639 --> 00:09:00.839 He can make it a clashroom, sometimes he can make it a hard lesson, but he can turn it around, and all things will still work together for your good. 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:09.319 We find David here, and he's fleeing, he's he's fled to Gath and he's on his way to a cave. 00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:11.319 And why is he fleeing from Gath? 00:09:11.959 --> 00:09:15.479 He did something that I thought was ironic in the text. 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:24.759 If you back up the chapter 21 and chapter 22, David went to a place that he shouldn't have gone before he went to the cave. 00:09:25.239 --> 00:09:29.399 David was anointed, he was appointed, he had the call on his life. 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:34.359 But when he was in a panic, he made a hasty decision. 00:09:35.319 --> 00:09:40.839 Y'all, I'm not judging him because I've been in a panic before, and I tried to do some things on my own. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:46.679 I made some decisions in haste that left me running faster than the way I ran into it. 00:09:47.079 --> 00:09:55.399 So David he went in desperation to gas, to gas, fleeing from Saul because Saul's trying to kill him. 00:09:56.359 --> 00:10:06.279 He had what I like to consider three major components that's necessary when you're moving into entrance and exits, but he didn't demonstrate them all at the time. 00:10:07.079 --> 00:10:14.439 He had movement, he was in transition, but this time he was without divine direction. 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:20.919 Anytime you're moving, whether it's an entrance or an exit, you have to have movement. 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:28.199 There's always gonna be a transition, but you don't want to do it without God's divine direction. 00:10:29.319 --> 00:10:34.679 So because David missed the divine direction piece, he fled to Gath. 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:38.279 And you may say, Why is that such a big deal? 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:41.479 Well, Gath was Goliath's hometown. 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:46.439 He fled to the very place of the man he had already killed. 00:10:46.839 --> 00:10:47.799 Y'all come on. 00:10:47.959 --> 00:10:54.359 When when you are in desperation and you're facing pressure, sometimes you can run to the wrong people for safety. 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:57.799 If y'all are gonna be real with me today, that that was just me. 00:10:57.879 --> 00:10:59.319 That wasn't y'all, that was just me. 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:03.959 Sometimes in desperate moments, you'll run to the wrong place. 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:08.919 But I need about two or three of you all to know that there is no refuge among the enemy. 00:11:09.319 --> 00:11:19.559 Don't let desperation turn you back towards a place that you already defeated and crossed over, it's gonna cost you too much. 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:26.119 But to God be the glory, as fast as David went in, he got out. 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:29.399 And his exit was not random. 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:38.839 And the proof in this is that even though you make a misstep, God can still turn your missteps into stepping stones. 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:43.239 Don't get down on yourself because you didn't get it right that time. 00:11:43.479 --> 00:11:46.199 There's still a lesson, even in that. 00:11:47.319 --> 00:11:53.639 I need you to look at your neighbor one time, make sure they're not sleeping and tell them with God, the door works both ways. 00:11:56.679 --> 00:11:59.239 But but here's the challenge. 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:05.000 In our mind, we expect the entrance to look a certain way. 00:12:06.039 --> 00:12:10.359 When we walk into an office space, we expect it to be clean and open. 00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:14.199 We have a perception of what the entrance should be. 00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:23.959 When we think about God setting up an entrance for us, we have a perception that this entrance is gonna be a walkway paved in gold. 00:12:24.199 --> 00:12:29.159 We have a perception that we're gonna be met with large brass gates. 00:12:29.959 --> 00:12:39.639 However, these when we lack these pieces of grandeur, we start looking over our shoulder like, God, you sure? 00:12:40.599 --> 00:12:42.199 Entrance right in front of us. 00:12:42.359 --> 00:12:47.239 Wait a minute, this don't look like this don't look like streets paved with gold. 00:12:47.319 --> 00:12:48.359 Wait a minute. 00:12:49.079 --> 00:13:13.399 We want the entrance based on what we think we need and what we feel should be on the other side, but sometimes your next entryway with that same divine direction is gonna harness your momentum and your transition connected with God's timing, and it's gonna drive you right into the stillness of a cave. 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:18.359 That's the hard part. 00:13:19.799 --> 00:13:29.399 All of this momentum and energy and excitement I got, but when it met with God's divine direction, I landed in a cave. 00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:35.479 It left me at the entryway of something that looks dark. 00:13:36.119 --> 00:13:38.919 I can't even see on the other side of it. 00:13:39.479 --> 00:13:46.039 But I need to encourage you that don't be like David when he first fled to Gath and get in a state of panic. 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:55.639 This is the place that you got to start to walk in the faith that you talk about because you can't truly see what's on the other side of the entrance. 00:13:55.799 --> 00:13:59.399 Some people might tell you when you step forward, have you lost your mind? 00:13:59.879 --> 00:14:02.599 I don't believe that God told you to do that. 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:05.000 They might have a Job's wife moment. 00:14:05.239 --> 00:14:08.359 Won't you just curse him and die because that just looked too bad? 00:14:08.599 --> 00:14:10.919 But in this journey, it's a faith walk. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:12.679 Tell somebody it's a faith walk. 00:14:13.079 --> 00:14:26.039 And if you you can say, I'm a walk by faith and not by sight, and it sounds real good until you got to learn that in real life that faith is the substance of things hoped for. 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:29.159 And it's not just words on a page. 00:14:29.479 --> 00:14:44.039 And sometimes the inner the entryway is gonna make you stand face to face to find out for real what grandmama and mama meant when they said I had to trust him when I couldn't trace him. 00:14:44.599 --> 00:14:49.799 It's a faith journey, and this is where David finds his life. 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:58.919 He's shown up at the cave of Adela, and to the outside, it looks like this is a bad place. 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:07.799 You're anointed to be king, you're supposed to be in charge of everything and everybody, and now you're running into hiding. 00:15:08.519 --> 00:15:20.759 But sometimes what looks like a place of hiding and despair can actually be the moment that God has designed to prepare you for what he already anointed you for. 00:15:21.559 --> 00:15:32.279 Sometimes what looks like darkness is just the entrance to your place of fortification, the entrance to your place of healing. 00:15:32.519 --> 00:15:34.759 It's the start of preparation. 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:40.039 Listen, Adullum, we think about stronghold as something we gotta break free from. 00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:47.479 But adulum was a stronghold, and in this context, it meant a place of safety and protection. 00:15:48.359 --> 00:15:53.000 Everything that's holding you ain't holding you back from something back, something good. 00:15:53.239 --> 00:15:55.959 Sometimes it's holding you back from destruction. 00:15:56.119 --> 00:16:04.119 So sometimes we got to thank God that he places us in a cave or a stronghold to be still while we heal. 00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:07.159 And you're saying, wait a minute, David needed to be healed. 00:16:07.239 --> 00:16:10.119 Yes, he came into that cave a fugitive. 00:16:10.439 --> 00:16:15.159 He was fearful because look at the decisions he was making up to that point. 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:21.159 He was running to people he shouldn't have been running to, trying to figure out how I can just get to safety. 00:16:21.479 --> 00:16:33.000 He came to this place fearful, in despair, distress, and with a broken heart because he has served well a king who now wanted to take his life. 00:16:33.319 --> 00:16:46.039 Let me tell you, don't nothing hurt you worse than when you've given somebody the best you had, and then they look at you and recognize that you have what they don't, and now they're trying to cut it down. 00:16:46.839 --> 00:16:55.399 David found himself in this place, and he needs to go for some healing, and God recognized that. 00:16:55.479 --> 00:17:01.079 So when he yielded to his divine direction, he wound up in a cave. 00:17:01.319 --> 00:17:05.480 But let me tell y'all, never despise your cave experience. 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:12.440 The cave is gonna force you to escape, but it's also gonna help you find your safe place in God. 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:20.119 By the time David got to this cave, God had directed him to get a few things from this place. 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:23.399 And you said, What can I get from a cave? 00:17:23.639 --> 00:17:27.000 A cave can provide you a few important things. 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.000 I I'll just give you three of them. 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:32.200 One, it gives you a safe place to recover. 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:42.919 We have bought into the world system that while we're hurting and broken, we still gotta look like we are right. 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:46.119 We still gotta fake it till we make it. 00:17:46.759 --> 00:17:56.440 But for a few of you all that God has called to do something that's gonna impact a lot of other people, you gotta find a safe place to heal. 00:17:57.319 --> 00:18:07.319 David had to find a safe place to heal from the wounds that he had gotten from dealing with the king, from the wounds he got from serving where he was called to serve. 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:12.679 The Bible says that God will bind up the wounds and that he'll heal them. 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:18.039 But the cave is the place sometimes that he calls you to to be able to do that. 00:18:18.359 --> 00:18:23.319 You got to be reminded that the cave gives you a place to recover in. 00:18:23.879 --> 00:18:28.440 Secondly, the cave gives you a place to develop real relationships. 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:34.679 I don't know who told you that you always had to heal in isolation, but the devil is a liar. 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.960 We're called into community and relationship with one another. 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:46.440 Now, everybody don't get to watch you heal, but God will send you who needs to be in the place while you're healing, especially if you're leaning. 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:49.559 God is gonna send you who needs to be there with you. 00:18:50.679 --> 00:18:54.759 Listen, I'm I'm a 70s baby. 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:55.879 I don't want to tell my age. 00:18:55.960 --> 00:19:00.759 Some Lord, sometimes I don't tell the truth about my age, but I'm a 70s baby. 00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:05.079 And one thing we used to say, real recognize real. 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:17.559 And I don't need nobody that's folding under pressure, that's being fake, who only want what I got, who only want to be around me when I'm winning, who only want to hang out with me because of the neighborhood I live in. 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:20.200 You want to wanna be around me when I got it. 00:19:20.279 --> 00:19:28.039 But Lord, send me some people that's all right when I don't have it, that can hold me up and encourage me when I need a word. 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:33.000 Lord God, I need some people that's gonna be birthed out of the struggle with me. 00:19:33.159 --> 00:19:35.879 I don't need you to show up when the light is on. 00:19:36.039 --> 00:19:39.399 I need to see how you're gonna function when it's dark in my life. 00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:40.200 Come on. 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:47.319 We ain't gonna always pick our circle, but don't discount who God sends to you while you're in a dark place. 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:53.480 Listen, because the people that come to you in a dark place, they don't want anything from you. 00:19:53.720 --> 00:20:01.000 They just agree with what God said about you, they just agree with what he said while you're yet becoming. 00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:03.639 You hadn't even arrived yet. 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:09.079 The cave will set up some real relationships. 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:20.759 Third thing that a cave will do, it'll provide a place of separation for preparation. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:31.559 There is a certain patience and a maturity in response that has to happen when you face trials. 00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:42.119 David was anointed as a young man, but he still had some maturing to do when he faced the trials that were before him. 00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:56.519 Just because I tell you that I gotta be separated and you can't go in with me, it doesn't mean I'm cutting myself off from the responsibility of you. 00:20:57.639 --> 00:21:02.359 But there's a preparation that has to happen, and everybody can't go. 00:21:03.639 --> 00:21:17.000 Verses three and four of our text, it says, David went thence to Mizpah of Moab, Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father and mother, I pray thee, come forth and be with you till I know what God will do for me. 00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:24.839 And and he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hole. 00:21:25.399 --> 00:21:29.159 David had a responsibility to his aging parents. 00:21:29.399 --> 00:21:39.079 The cave of Adullah was a training ground, it was a place where soldiers were being built, and it wasn't the place for his elderly parents to show up. 00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:47.879 We have to be careful that even in the things that we're responsible for, that we don't try to take everybody into the cave journey with us. 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:58.519 Sometimes you have a responsibility to make provisions for what you're responsible for, and then you go take care of the preparation for what God is calling you to. 00:21:58.839 --> 00:22:09.319 See, in this cave, David knew that they were at risk for some battles, some raids, there was constant presence of danger because Saul hadn't stopped looking. 00:22:09.639 --> 00:22:20.200 David just was covered, so he left out of the cave, and this is where I love the maturity we can see that David is already getting from this experience. 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:33.240 He goes to Moab and he goes to the king and says, Can I leave my parents here while I seek, till I know what the Lord will do for me? 00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:39.879 That to me demonstrated that his faith was growing and his maturity and decision was growing. 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:55.399 When he said, Till I see, it means that I don't know what God's gonna do, I don't know how he's gonna do it, but in this thing will I be confident that he who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. 00:22:55.720 --> 00:23:02.919 So while I'm waiting to see how he's gonna complete this thing, I need to leave my parents here. 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:05.720 What's the maturity in this in this? 00:23:06.039 --> 00:23:08.839 He understood the season was not permanent. 00:23:09.319 --> 00:23:19.799 He understood that where he was was in his final place, and rather than endanger his family in an uncertain waiting place, he entrusted them to a safe place. 00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:25.000 But this time he didn't go to a foreign land, he went to his great-grandma's people. 00:23:25.079 --> 00:23:28.519 Okay, y'all know Ruth was his grandma, she was a Moabitus. 00:23:28.679 --> 00:23:30.679 So he goes to the right place. 00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:33.879 Wiz sometimes you mess up, but wisdom will teach you. 00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:42.279 I told you that first lesson taught him something when he went to find a king, which was what he needed, but he just went to the wrong king. 00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:47.720 So he didn't abandon his plan and strategy, he just had to rework it and think it. 00:23:47.879 --> 00:23:52.359 I need about two or three of y'all to go back and visit, revisit the vision. 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:59.159 I know this is entrepreneurs and we're looking at our marketplace meetup, but I need y'all to go back and revisit it. 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:09.480 Just because it didn't work out, I promise you, if you've been in the cave and if you've been preparing and God's hand is on you, you might just need to rework the strategy. 00:24:10.039 --> 00:24:14.599 We we see David maturing, he's reworked his strategy. 00:24:14.839 --> 00:24:21.319 So he he went to go find a king, but he went to find the right king and he he got protection for his family. 00:24:21.399 --> 00:24:23.000 And then what'd he do? 00:24:23.879 --> 00:24:26.359 He went back to the stronghold. 00:24:26.679 --> 00:24:31.879 Oh my lord, listen, how many of y'all had to go in the same cave two or three times? 00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:33.399 You walk to that exit. 00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:37.720 You ever been trying to walk through a parking garage or you at Disney World? 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:40.039 You like, didn't we just pass this place? 00:24:42.039 --> 00:24:46.039 God didn't you just bring me through this entrance? 00:24:46.359 --> 00:24:52.519 And didn't you just allow me to exit to take care of some responsibility? 00:24:52.599 --> 00:24:54.200 Now I have to go back. 00:24:54.519 --> 00:24:55.960 God says, Yes. 00:24:57.159 --> 00:25:01.399 The Adela was not just a stronghold, it was a place of transformation. 00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:06.200 While David had gotten some things that he needed, he hadn't gotten it all. 00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:10.119 There was still a few things that God had to work out for him. 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:15.159 Tell somebody the door is working both ways, it was still working in his favor. 00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:22.759 God allowed him to safely enter cave, he exited the cave while somebody was still trying to take his life. 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:28.119 He found safety for his parents, and then he's back in the cave safely. 00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:38.919 While he's preparing, while he's healing, he's still leading others and he's still training others. 00:25:39.159 --> 00:25:42.679 I told Minister Rhonda she set up the alley oop for me this morning. 00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:46.200 I was bopping in that chair, I was patting Minister K on the hand. 00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:50.679 Listen, literally everything you were saying brings me right here to this point. 00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:56.599 Just because you're in the cave does not mean that you get to stop leading. 00:25:56.839 --> 00:26:03.799 Some of us think because we have scars and scabs and we got a cast on, we get to sit this one out. 00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:13.879 But for about five of y'all in the room, I need you to know that God is calling you to be mature to a place that He can trust you to lead with the thorn. 00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:21.879 He can trust you to lead with the injury, He can trust you to lead because you're not gonna bleed on everybody. 00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:27.559 He can trust you that while you're growing other people, you're still working on your own healing. 00:26:27.879 --> 00:26:30.279 This is where David is finding himself. 00:26:30.519 --> 00:26:36.919 He's healing, he's letting God prepare him while he's leading 400 men. 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:41.319 400 men who just showed up and said, Tell us what you want us to do. 00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:43.720 What kind of vision do you have for us? 00:26:43.879 --> 00:26:47.559 Now David could have said, No, y'all got to come back later. 00:26:47.879 --> 00:26:50.039 I got to focus on me right now. 00:26:50.279 --> 00:26:53.559 But he was anointed for this very moment. 00:26:53.960 --> 00:26:58.200 And when you're anointed for it, sometimes you gotta grow through it. 00:26:58.359 --> 00:27:00.839 That means you got to be in pain through it. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:11.639 You might have to hurt a little bit, but if you trust the God who released the oil on your life, then you'll be okay to press in spite of it. 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:28.200 It's so important that we understand that if we're going to lead in any area, don't relic, don't confine yourself to the church. 00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:35.799 If we're gonna lead in any area, we can't be running around making decisions in panic. 00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:43.399 We can't be running around not leading ourselves well and expecting somebody else to follow. 00:27:44.039 --> 00:27:49.960 Before God can trust you with somebody else, He gotta know He can trust you with you. 00:27:53.079 --> 00:27:57.879 And that's even in the cave season because that's the time we self-sabotage. 00:27:57.960 --> 00:27:59.399 We have a pity party. 00:27:59.639 --> 00:28:00.919 Oh Lord, why me? 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:03.399 I may as well go back to doing what I was doing. 00:28:03.639 --> 00:28:05.000 This money looking funny. 00:28:05.079 --> 00:28:07.960 I might as well go back over there and flip it, cut it. 00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:09.799 Kids in the room. 00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:12.039 This ain't this ain't this ain't right. 00:28:12.119 --> 00:28:14.440 Let me let me just go back to what I know. 00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:19.639 It's easy to pop back in the familiar when you're having a cave moment. 00:28:20.279 --> 00:28:24.440 But I came by this morning to tell you it's just a moment. 00:28:28.919 --> 00:28:35.879 This cave was never designed to be David's final destination. 00:28:36.839 --> 00:28:45.960 Even though he had entered it, he exited it, God's divine direction brought him right back to the same entrance. 00:28:46.599 --> 00:28:51.240 This time he's preparing for a transition with the exit. 00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:56.119 If we go to verse 5, and I promise I'm I'm not gonna hold y'all long. 00:28:56.359 --> 00:28:59.720 If we go to verse five, it says it this way. 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:03.319 I'm gonna read it in the New King James, and then we'll go to the NIV. 00:29:03.639 --> 00:29:13.319 It says, and the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the hold, depart and get thee into the land of Judah. 00:29:13.639 --> 00:29:18.200 Then David departed and came into the forest of Hereath. 00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:20.679 Can I get the NIV version? 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:21.639 All right. 00:29:21.879 --> 00:29:30.519 But the prophet Gad said to David, Do not stay in the stronghold, go into the land of Judah. 00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:34.759 So David left and went to the forest of Here. 00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:40.519 Now God has prepared him for the exit. 00:29:40.679 --> 00:29:43.319 I told y'all the door works both ways. 00:29:43.639 --> 00:29:49.879 But you are you prepared to walk out when God sends a prophetic word for you to come out. 00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:54.519 While you were in the cave, you may have gotten some certain benefits. 00:29:54.839 --> 00:29:56.759 Your vision gets sharper. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:03.079 You ever been in a dark room and you can't see nothing, but the more you settle into it, you start to see a little bit clearer. 00:30:03.319 --> 00:30:07.639 Well, these benefits are not just for the cave, they're for your exit as well. 00:30:07.879 --> 00:30:14.919 So the things that you couldn't see clearly when you walked in, God has refined your vision in that cave experience. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:26.679 And when When you walk out, you're gonna have to protect your vision because you're gonna be a lot more sensitive in the spirit realm and in the natural realm for the things that you about to face. 00:30:26.839 --> 00:30:30.599 But I need somebody to know that the cave still had benefits. 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:36.359 But right now it's time for David to exit where he had gotten comfortable. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:40.519 At first, when we walked in, we didn't like the space. 00:30:40.919 --> 00:30:49.879 But we know we know, as ladies, we done hung some curtains, we got a little throw blanket, we done, we done put something soft over the rock that we can prop our feet up on. 00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:55.799 We done made it comfortable, but you can't stay there. 00:30:57.720 --> 00:31:04.759 Don't let the safety of the stronghold become a stronghold against your exit when God has called you out. 00:31:05.879 --> 00:31:14.919 Don't let the safety of the stronghold now become a stronghold against your exit when God has called you out. 00:31:16.359 --> 00:31:28.119 David entered into this door for a place of safety, but now it's time for him to exit because he does still have a destiny on the other side of that exit. 00:31:28.919 --> 00:31:36.359 We sometimes forfeit our destiny because what brought us to the cave was too hard. 00:31:36.839 --> 00:31:40.759 What brought us there, we don't want to have to deal with it anymore. 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:49.879 So I'd rather just stay here and deal with just enough than go after the more than enough that God really has called me to. 00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:54.200 Here's our challenge. 00:31:55.799 --> 00:32:06.519 We talked about interests, but truth be told, we really don't always have a problem with entering in because interest is oftentimes brings a perspective of hope. 00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:13.720 Oftentimes when we're entering in, we're broken, we've gone through some things. 00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:17.799 Many times the new place is our refuge. 00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:26.440 So we'll enter through a door that God opens with a little less uh hesitancy than when it's time to exit. 00:32:27.879 --> 00:32:31.000 The exiting is a problem when we're healed. 00:32:31.399 --> 00:32:36.599 The exiting is a problem because now we don't want to encounter another injury. 00:32:36.919 --> 00:32:42.279 So when we see exit signs, we sitting in between talking about, Lord, is that you? 00:32:43.480 --> 00:32:47.000 Tell me one more time, Lord. 00:32:47.159 --> 00:32:56.359 If you want me to do it when I get to church tonight, the prophet is gonna call my name and they're gonna tell me to come up and they're gonna tell me exactly what you already told me. 00:32:58.519 --> 00:33:03.399 The exits we generally have to be drug out of. 00:33:04.679 --> 00:33:05.319 Why? 00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:14.359 Because exiting means leaving a place of either safety, familiarity, or hiding. 00:33:14.679 --> 00:33:35.240 Some of y'all have been hiding in the cave too long, but if you trust the God that not only led you but kept you the last time, you gotta believe that this same God can use this place that you enter in pain as a place that he allows you to exit in power. 00:33:35.639 --> 00:33:37.000 You have to trust that. 00:33:37.079 --> 00:33:40.679 Listen, in the story, David came in alone and broken. 00:33:41.079 --> 00:33:45.480 He entered in pain, but he exited a commander with 400 men. 00:33:45.720 --> 00:33:47.480 He exited in power. 00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:52.279 You gotta trust the God that did it before that he'll do it again. 00:33:53.399 --> 00:34:05.559 What you're calling a cave of despair might actually be God's classroom for your destiny, it might actually be the place that he's trying to teach you what you need to know for the next place. 00:34:06.039 --> 00:34:10.920 David could not ascend to the throne on the run from Saul. 00:34:11.240 --> 00:34:17.800 He couldn't ascend to the throne on the run, feeling like, let me just run to any man for some help. 00:34:18.039 --> 00:34:22.280 He had to go through preparation and maturity in his process. 00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:31.880 He had to have not only movement, he had to have transition, but he had to seek God's divine direction for what the next step would be. 00:34:32.279 --> 00:34:44.360 So if we believe that God is sovereign and if we believe that he's all knowing, then we also gotta accept that he'll give us divine direction to our next exit. 00:34:45.079 --> 00:34:49.320 When you don't exit, you create a revolving door. 00:34:52.039 --> 00:35:08.679 You can see where you just came from, you can see where you could head, and then you can stand in the drum of the revolving door. 00:35:09.400 --> 00:35:12.039 What's in the drum of the revolving door? 00:35:12.279 --> 00:35:24.599 The drum is just a hollow well, and it has wings for people to stand in the sections, but all it's doing is trying to condition the air to keep the temperature a certain way. 00:35:24.920 --> 00:35:27.799 Everything in your life don't need a cool temperature. 00:35:28.440 --> 00:35:30.679 Some things are refined in the fire. 00:35:30.920 --> 00:35:38.119 You're gonna have to deal with the heat, you're gonna have to leave the air conditioner and the comfort of that place, and you're gonna have to step out. 00:35:38.279 --> 00:35:39.960 But here's a problem. 00:35:41.320 --> 00:36:04.599 We I I can't call it fear because y'all uh get upset when people say fear, but we hesitate because we know what's familiar to us, so we stay in that place, and I ain't gonna talk about your life, talk about me so we can be friends after this. 00:36:05.880 --> 00:36:29.480 I know that boss, and I know that job, and I don't like them, and they don't like me, but I don't know what's over here, so let me just keep going in cycles because I'm fearful of the God I say I trust on this side, and I'm gonna keep looking back what's on the other side of the door. 00:36:29.719 --> 00:36:37.639 Meanwhile, I've made no progress, I'm just going in circles, repeating cycles. 00:36:38.279 --> 00:36:48.920 I can see where I'm hopeful that I wanna be, which is out of this, but I'm afraid to let go because at least I know what that is. 00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:51.880 At least I know her attitude is gonna be bad. 00:36:52.039 --> 00:36:57.400 I can't go deal with another hurt because I'm I I don't know how I'm gonna handle it right now. 00:36:57.480 --> 00:37:03.159 But I need to let you know that that cave prepares you for the next entryway. 00:37:03.320 --> 00:37:06.599 You're gonna have to exit out before you can enter in. 00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:12.039 We say we want something different, but you're gonna have to be open to do something different. 00:37:12.360 --> 00:37:15.079 God said, I sat before you an open door. 00:37:17.239 --> 00:37:31.400 Meanwhile, we stuck in the drum of the revolving door, worried about limitations, wondering if if I woke out, is this exit the end of the road? 00:37:32.519 --> 00:37:36.199 But the end of the road can be the starting line for God's plan. 00:37:38.279 --> 00:37:41.000 You won't know until you take a step. 00:37:41.719 --> 00:37:46.279 We have to stop being content with glimpses of the other side. 00:37:47.799 --> 00:37:52.759 I'm not worried about what I left or where he moved me from. 00:37:53.719 --> 00:38:06.279 By the time I've recovered and God has allowed me to exit, the one thing that I know is that I can, if I survive that with the hand of God, I can survive whatever's on the other side of it. 00:38:06.840 --> 00:38:11.960 I came by to tell you this morning, you've already recovered, it's just time for you to exit. 00:38:12.119 --> 00:38:16.199 You built solid relationships, you've recovered in the cave. 00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:24.119 God has protected you in the safety of the stronghold, but you have to get prepared for the next transition. 00:38:25.880 --> 00:38:26.840 It's time to move. 00:38:26.920 --> 00:38:29.719 Tell somebody it's time to move, it's time to move. 00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:34.119 With God, the door works both ways. 00:38:34.679 --> 00:38:41.320 God can use the same door that you entered in as an exit. 00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:48.360 You can enter in in refuge and you can exit on a launch pad into your destiny. 00:38:48.759 --> 00:38:51.799 You can enter in weakness and you can come out with strength. 00:38:51.880 --> 00:38:54.199 We see it in the story with David. 00:38:54.840 --> 00:39:00.279 The prophet God told him, Come on, you can't abide in the hole no more. 00:39:00.920 --> 00:39:02.119 That season is over. 00:39:02.279 --> 00:39:03.559 You got what you needed to get. 00:39:03.719 --> 00:39:04.599 Come on out. 00:39:05.320 --> 00:39:07.400 Go to the land of Judah. 00:39:08.119 --> 00:39:13.559 And the when where we ended the text, it said David departed and came to the forest of Herath. 00:39:14.440 --> 00:39:17.159 He exited to another transition. 00:39:18.759 --> 00:39:24.759 Oh my god, God told me to step out into this, and now I'm in another transition. 00:39:26.440 --> 00:39:28.199 But this is what we have to know. 00:39:28.360 --> 00:39:32.679 Even going into the forest, he was still covered. 00:39:32.920 --> 00:39:35.400 There's protection even in the thicket. 00:39:35.639 --> 00:39:36.440 But guess what? 00:39:36.519 --> 00:39:39.880 He didn't need as much protection as he needed last time. 00:39:40.279 --> 00:39:46.920 The cave gave him a little bit more, but now he's stronger and he needs to be able to maneuver and move. 00:39:47.079 --> 00:39:50.360 So God had to transition him to a different place. 00:39:50.519 --> 00:39:54.039 So where he exited, now he's entering into something else. 00:39:54.199 --> 00:39:56.599 Oh my god, y'all won't help me on today. 00:39:56.840 --> 00:39:59.880 You keep thinking that I when I exit, that's it. 00:40:00.039 --> 00:40:02.360 Or when I come in, I've arrived. 00:40:02.519 --> 00:40:06.119 But Paul said, I count not myself to have apprehended. 00:40:06.279 --> 00:40:09.480 Listen, you got to keep pushing in this season. 00:40:09.719 --> 00:40:12.039 You didn't arrive just to stop. 00:40:12.360 --> 00:40:15.400 That thing set it up for the next thing. 00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:19.159 We keep saying, God, do a new thing, and I'm ready for my next. 00:40:19.559 --> 00:40:27.000 But when the exit is before you, if you don't step into it, if you don't exit, you won't ever enter into the transition. 00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:33.480 The prophet Gad. 00:40:34.279 --> 00:40:39.880 I I just call this such a bold, prophetic, uh, divine direction. 00:40:40.599 --> 00:40:43.559 He said, Go to Judah. 00:40:46.360 --> 00:40:47.559 My translation. 00:40:47.960 --> 00:40:50.360 I ain't gonna say hood, I don't want to offend nobody. 00:40:50.519 --> 00:40:55.559 I didn't grow up in the hood, but all my cousins was in the hood, so I was always in the hood. 00:40:55.880 --> 00:40:57.799 Your people need to see you. 00:40:58.679 --> 00:41:03.559 The prophet said, your people need to see you. 00:41:04.679 --> 00:41:15.480 They have to be able to see that God is still doing what he said he was gonna do because you've been gone away from them a long time. 00:41:15.799 --> 00:41:19.400