SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of the Revit at Chapel Hills.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Revit Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: My heart is to empower you to change the world.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this message impacts you.
SPEAKER_00: Here now is our guest speaker.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's my privilege this morning to share the word, and I really believe that God has given me something for you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And uh so I just want you to buckle your seatbelts um and we're going to talk a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Um, all of you are expecting that we're gonna talk about worship, right?
SPEAKER_01: Probably that won't come up, but uh no, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_01: Um we are gonna talk a little bit about worship, but actually it's a whole different uh direction than I'm going.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna talk about the life of David.
SPEAKER_01: And how many of you have heard the story of David and Goliath?
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're just gonna basically just touch on that.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about a actually the whole life of David and some of the things that he went through.
SPEAKER_01: But before I get into the life of David, I want to share an encouraging scripture with you.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you have your Bibles, your iPads, your iPhones, or your Androids, or whatever you look at the scriptures with, um, turn to Matthew chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: We will also have the scriptures come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: And um I want to share a promise with you.
SPEAKER_01: How many like promises from God?
SPEAKER_01: All right, these are this is stuff that you can take to the bank.
SPEAKER_01: This is uh, you know, things from God's word that you can count on.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the Bible uh you know speaks of the word being like a rock or a foundation, um a pillar, you know, things that don't move.
SPEAKER_01: And this is one of those amazing scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_01: Um you're gonna be so encouraged.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, can we say that together?
SPEAKER_01: Ready?
SPEAKER_01: One, two, three.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Now I can tell you that this scripture is just as true and just as much a promise as the goodness of God, as he will provide for you according to his riches and glory, um, forgiveness, salvation.
SPEAKER_01: This is a promise from God.
SPEAKER_01: So you're probably thinking, what does this have to do with David?
SPEAKER_01: Actually, this has a lot to do with David.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna make about six observations on David's life.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you want to take notes, you can you know write these things down if you still have your journal.
SPEAKER_01: I think you might learn something, maybe even a little bit of a fresh uh approach of uh David's life.
SPEAKER_01: But let's start with number one.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna go one through six, and then I'm leading somewhere going to um the end point.
SPEAKER_01: So, number one, are you ready?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody ready?
SPEAKER_01: All right, are you awake?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right, just making sure.
SPEAKER_01: Um number one, David the shepherd boy.
SPEAKER_01: Can I uh just kind of lay it out there that God has been after you for a long, long time.
SPEAKER_01: Some longer than others, the older you are.
SPEAKER_01: But God has been after you.
SPEAKER_01: There's an incredibly encouraging scripture that says this God first loved us.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, can we say that together?
SPEAKER_01: God first loved us.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that before David was a king, before David defeated Goliath, before David became the general in the armies of Israel, he was this little kid out in the shepherd field with a harp.
SPEAKER_01: And he played, he played his chord, and he was like ring, and then all of a sudden he starts singing, I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you if you know it singing.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my soul rejoice, take joy, my king in what you let it be a sweet, sweet sound.
SPEAKER_01: And something happened when he strummed his harp and he started singing.
SPEAKER_01: A presence came into the shepherd field, into the pasture, and all of a sudden, he's like, God is here.
SPEAKER_01: Now there was no promise from David that he was gonna be king at this point.
SPEAKER_01: He literally was just playing his harp, watching some sheep, and right there in the midst of everyday life, he encounters God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you would say this?
SPEAKER_01: See, I feel God's presence when I come into church.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, hopefully when we start singing last week, we said, oh, hail the power.
SPEAKER_01: It's like 500 voices in the choir, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's like everybody's like, and crown him.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, some of you guys were getting your opera voices on.
SPEAKER_01: I heard you.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you were singing, and it's like, oh man, I feel his presence.
SPEAKER_01: But just as powerful, how many of you would say this?
SPEAKER_01: I've been driving in my car or I've been in the nook of my house just listening or just reading, and that same presence comes and fills that space.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you would say that?
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you that God wants to encounter and have encounters with you, not just on Sundays?
SPEAKER_01: In fact, when we say God first loved us, most people admit I had a buddy of mine who was sitting at a bar, drinking a Budweiser, and God's presence came into the bar, and he just put the beer away and said, I need to get right with God.
SPEAKER_01: He said it wasn't church where I felt God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: He said, God came to me.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that he leaves the 99 to go after the one.
SPEAKER_01: How many are thankful that God wouldn't leave you alone?
SPEAKER_01: He kept after you and kept after you, coming after you until you yielded your heart because he first left, before you even knew what sin was, before you were ever existing, came out of your mother's womb, he knew you and he had already made a decision and already chose to love you and to die for you.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that an encouraging thought?
SPEAKER_01: God's been after you, just like he was after David before he was this world-famous, this incredibly talented and amazing leader.
SPEAKER_01: God was encountering him in the pasture.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, David, the anointed and rejected one.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say anointed.
SPEAKER_01: All right, you're anointed by the Holy Spirit to go preach the gospel to the poor.
SPEAKER_01: You're anointed.
SPEAKER_01: But guess what?
SPEAKER_01: That anointing also comes with rejection.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you have said this?
SPEAKER_01: Or I mean you've you've encountered this.
SPEAKER_01: When you took a stand for Jesus, when you made a decision to follow Jesus, not everybody around you was super happy about it.
SPEAKER_01: How many admit that?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you, some of you like your family's like, you go, you're nuts.
SPEAKER_01: You're crazy.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing with that Jesus stuff?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, here's the thing: when you become anointed, you also become rejected.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Persecuted for what?
SPEAKER_01: Persecuted for righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So here's how the story goes.
SPEAKER_01: David is out in the pasture field playing his harp, watching the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: He smells, there was no deodorant back then, just in case you were wondering.
SPEAKER_01: He's out, he smells like sheep.
SPEAKER_01: He's he wasn't even invited to the party, but Samuel shows up to Bethlehem and he says to Jesse, Come and bring your sons, because the Lord has something that he wants to say.
SPEAKER_01: So all of Jesse's sons line up.
SPEAKER_01: You guys know the story if you've if you've heard about David.
SPEAKER_01: There's seven sons, and he stands before the first one.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Oh, this must be the one.
SPEAKER_01: He must have been something quite a quite an athlete or you know, something to look at, and he says, Surely this is the one that you've anointed.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord says, No.
SPEAKER_01: Then he goes to the next one.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Oh no, maybe it's this one.
SPEAKER_01: And he the Lord says, no.
SPEAKER_01: He goes through all seven of Jesse's sons and says, He's not here.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, he says to Jesse, he says, Is there not somebody else?
SPEAKER_01: Don't you have another son?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, there's, you know, my youngest is out in the field.
SPEAKER_01: Um, he's a little little different, you know, singer, songwriter.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01: He wears skinny jeans, and you know, I mean, he said, we're not gonna sit down until he comes in.
SPEAKER_01: Now he now here's the thought that I have, because we know what happens.
SPEAKER_01: David comes, he breaks the oil over David's uh head, comes down, he's anointed by God, he's anointed as the next king of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm thinking, I'm thinking, you know, I just kind of like break down the story in my own way.
SPEAKER_01: Like, why did that happen?
SPEAKER_01: Why did it happen that way?
SPEAKER_01: And I've asked myself this question.
SPEAKER_01: If Samuel was this super powerful prophet, wouldn't you think that God could have spoken to him to go out to the pasture and just anoint him there?
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yeah, some all-knowing prophet, huh?
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you just and you don't even know that that that the seven guys weren't gonna be chosen?
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, why did God do that?
SPEAKER_01: Because there must be a reason.
SPEAKER_01: And I I finally figured it out.
SPEAKER_01: Because he could have.
SPEAKER_01: God could have spoken to Samuel to go out to the pasture, have this private encounter, and actually in detail tell him what's gonna happen to his life, but that's not what happened.
SPEAKER_01: David comes in, and in the presence of his father and all seven of his brothers, Samuel anoints him.
SPEAKER_01: As if saying this that you are chosen, and you, you, you, you, you, you, and you are not chosen.
SPEAKER_01: Now I don't know how many of you have brothers, but can you imagine how his brothers treated him after that?
SPEAKER_01: Here comes the next king, my liege.
SPEAKER_01: Go clean the stable.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you think you're oh, you think you're king over us.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, can you imagine the ridicule and the rejection?
SPEAKER_01: In fact, we see it on the battlefield when he went to fight Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: His his brother looks at him and he says, What are you even doing here?
SPEAKER_01: Well, why are you here?
SPEAKER_01: Why did you leave those few sheep to come over here?
SPEAKER_01: You just want to watch the battle.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I know how prideful and I know how arrogant you are.
SPEAKER_01: And David, the Bible says that David didn't even listen.
SPEAKER_01: He just turned and said, Now what will be done for the guy who defeats this guy?
SPEAKER_01: Which, by the way, let me just say this: David's motives were not all pure.
SPEAKER_01: He knew he was supposed to be the next king, and he was asking the question to kind of size it up.
SPEAKER_01: Is it worth it?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I can become the king's son-in-law.
SPEAKER_01: Is this my end to become you know close to the king?
SPEAKER_01: How many knows that God that God will also use your wrong motive sometimes, too?
SPEAKER_01: He will make sure to get you where you need to go and on the battlefield.
SPEAKER_01: So, number two, David was anointed, but he was also rejected.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll get more uh into the rejection piece.
SPEAKER_01: But then number three, David goes from zero to hero in a single day.
SPEAKER_01: David steps on the battlefield and he's like, How dare you defy the armies of the living God?
SPEAKER_01: And here's the amazing thing is um let me back up for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Is this okay?
SPEAKER_01: You guys learning?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right, all right.
SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping I'm giving you a different spin on the life of David.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking to myself, what would David, this 16-year-old kid, have to say to convince Saul that to let him go fight on behalf of the nation?
SPEAKER_01: I'm just thinking to myself, as he's walking to Saul's tent, I mean, somebody overhears David talking about, you know, I'll go fight him.
SPEAKER_01: And somebody's like, oh, okay, well, let me take you to the king.
SPEAKER_01: He's walking and he's thinking, what am I going to tell him to convince him to let me fight?
SPEAKER_01: And he stands before Saul and all the officials who are probably, you know, older, wiser, you know, uh commanders of the armies, and the 16-year-old kid standing there, and he said, I'll fight him.
SPEAKER_01: And you can just hear it in the crowd.
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, You're just a boy.
SPEAKER_01: And David says, and he looks them right in the eyes, and he says, How many of you have defeated a lion with your bare hands?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you, have you defeated a bear on your own?
SPEAKER_01: And they're all like, um, no?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Because when a bear and a lion attacked my family's sheep, I stepped in between them and I fought and defeated both lion and bear.
SPEAKER_01: And then Saul's like, good enough for me.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Give him some armor, guys.
SPEAKER_01: Let him go.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing David had been victorious in private when nobody was watching.
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And so now he was ready to go in public and face the giant when everybody was watching.
SPEAKER_01: And so David goes out.
SPEAKER_01: And let me let me ask you this question: how brave and how courageous and full of faith and a risk taker would you have to be to come up to Saul?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm sorry, come up to Goliath and say, I'm gonna cut your head off.
SPEAKER_01: And you don't even have a sword.
SPEAKER_01: David had a slingshot.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I'm gonna cut your head off.
SPEAKER_01: And he did not even have a sword.
SPEAKER_01: But he knew, I think he was speaking prophetically.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he saw it in the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, let me just say this: um, it was magic oil that was put on David's head when they anointed him.
SPEAKER_01: In the Old Testament, not everybody had the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You recognize that, right?
SPEAKER_01: We do, right?
SPEAKER_01: The power of the day of Pentecost came, and all of us empowered.
SPEAKER_01: We're filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We can be we can be empowered and have gifts of the Spirit and all these uh different accolades that we can do and all this stuff that we can do for the kingdom because we're all anointed.
SPEAKER_01: But in those days, it was just three different types of people who had the the the spirit of God in them.
SPEAKER_01: It was the king, the priest, and the prophet.
SPEAKER_01: Well, when when Samuel came up and he anointed David, it was like magic oil.
SPEAKER_01: It went into and all of a sudden, uh because because when when Saul was anointed years earlier, this is what was said.
SPEAKER_01: When they anointed him and said, You are um the king, the Bible says that whatever his hand found to do, the prophet said, Do it, because the Lord is with you.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you would like to like to have that promise?
SPEAKER_01: Whatever you do, do it, and God will be with you and it will not fail.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you would like to have that promise?
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: You do you do because that same magic oil that was anointed with that David was anointed with is the is the anointing oil, is the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within us to step in front of giants and say, I'm gonna cut your head off and not even have a sword in your possession.
SPEAKER_01: He will give you what you need, he will empower you to do what you're called to do.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not your power, it's the power of the Holy Spirit in you working through you.
SPEAKER_01: So all of a sudden, David knows.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, everybody knows David.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Mattel Toy Company made the Giant Slayer 2000, and they were selling, they were falling off the shelves.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, everybody had a slang, and everybody was, I want to be, I want to be David.
SPEAKER_01: No, you're Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm David.
SPEAKER_01: And they're everybody's talking about David, everybody's retelling the story.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's talking about the giant being slain by this little shepherd boy.
SPEAKER_01: And Saul recruits him and says, You're gonna be my armor bearer.
SPEAKER_01: But herein is the problem.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Do you realize that from what I can tell in scripture, and I've written two books on David's life, I've studied his life extensively.
SPEAKER_01: I don't ever see until his fall with Bathsheba, I don't ever see a time in Scripture that David ever lost a battle.
SPEAKER_01: He was anointed, and everything he went to do, he was successful.
SPEAKER_01: He was doing things right.
SPEAKER_01: He was doing, he wasn't doing things wrong, he wasn't doing things bad, he was actually doing everything well.
SPEAKER_01: So some of you who who are saying, I don't understand why I feel so frustrated, because all through COVID, I've done nothing but but try to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: And it still seems like I can't get ahead.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand why I feel rejected and I feel confused and frustrated because all I've done is what's right.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the world of David, a man after God's own heart who actually became rejected to the point that Saul was so jealous of David because everything he did, he did so well that he sent an assassin to his house to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: Now I know that you've had some bad times.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not sure that any of you have ever had an assassin show up at your door to kill you.
SPEAKER_01: Is there anybody, actually, somebody in the first service raised their hand, and then told me they said, yeah, this guy's trying to kill me.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and there was a contract and everything.
SPEAKER_01: But but this is this is how bad it was for David.
SPEAKER_01: They show up, and David, who is the rightful king of Israel, anointed to be king and ruler over Israel, is doing nothing but going out into battle and winning and winning and winning.
SPEAKER_01: Every single time he wins.
SPEAKER_01: And he comes back, and Israel is advancing and advancing because they have this amazing commander who's commanding the army to go out and defeat their enemies.
SPEAKER_01: But Saul gets a jealous eye, not because of what David did wrong.
SPEAKER_01: But because of what he did right.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe that explains some things for you.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're like, man, why even try?
SPEAKER_01: Why even do business the right way and not cheat?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody else does.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I just need to, maybe I just need to, you know, be shrewd like a s.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it amazing how we can we can use scripture to morph things to our advantage?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I can be as shrewd as a snake, you know.
SPEAKER_01: That's what scripture says.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta be shrewd like a snake.
SPEAKER_01: But but here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: David was totally committed to his.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, he said this in the Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: He said, God, according to the cleanness of my hands and the purity of my heart, judge me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if anybody in this room would be bold enough to do that.
SPEAKER_01: According to the cleanness of my hands and the purity of my heart, judge me, God.
SPEAKER_01: Man, talk about he was committed.
SPEAKER_01: He was doing what's right to the point that his life is being threatened.
SPEAKER_01: He's running for his life.
SPEAKER_01: He can't go home to Bethlehem because they'll find him there and probably kill him and his family.
SPEAKER_01: He can't go anywhere in Israel because everybody knows who David is.
SPEAKER_01: They all recognize him and they'll tell, and eventually Saul will find him.
SPEAKER_01: So where does David go when he has nowhere to go?
SPEAKER_01: He goes to the land of Gath, which is where Goliath was from.
SPEAKER_01: And he's wearing his, you know, his incognito outfit, trying to blend in.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, even there, they recognize him, and one of the king's men say, Isn't that David?
SPEAKER_01: And they call him in to the king and said, Come with us.
SPEAKER_01: And so they take him before the king, and that magic oil kicks in.
SPEAKER_01: And the Spirit of God comes upon David, and he gets down on all fours and goes, Oh! And he scurries over and scratches at the wall, and he foams at the beard, and he he's talking crazy.
SPEAKER_01: And the king is like this guy has lost it.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, I know the pressure gets to everybody, but this guy really went off the deep end, and the spirit of God came on David to not fight.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't grab a sword and cut everybody's throat and do the ninja thing and you know all the way around.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: He gets down and acts insane.
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you this?
SPEAKER_01: That sometimes the Spirit of God will cause you to do things that are very uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: And the Oscar goes to David, come receive your reward.
SPEAKER_01: How convincing, how good of a performance would David have to give to actually convince the king and all of his guards and his leaders that he really wasn't sane?
SPEAKER_01: How many of you were forced to do some very uncomfortable things during the pandemic?
SPEAKER_01: I'd say probably all of us were a little uncomfortable at some times.
SPEAKER_01: But can I tell you that the Spirit of God and how God works and operates and the things that he asks you to do?
SPEAKER_01: In fact, God won't even ask your permission to when he begins to show you what you're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_01: He'll just require it.
SPEAKER_01: He'll just require you to do things that, like, man, I never dreamed that I'd be working this job.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the provision, sometimes the answer, sometimes the things that God anoints us to do are very uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what you can know God is always good, and He will always anoint you and always help you if you do it His way.
SPEAKER_01: Number four, David is anointed to act insane.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, after David's kicked out of the court, the king's like, get this guy out of here, and they kick him in the butt, and he's like, you know, come comes out of the court.
SPEAKER_01: Now think about this.
SPEAKER_01: I can't go home.
SPEAKER_01: I can't go to Israel or to Judah.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even belong in the land of my enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever felt nobody gets me?
SPEAKER_01: And nobody understands.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I don't fit in anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: I've tried every church in Colorado Springs.
SPEAKER_01: In the last five years, we visited every single one, and guess what?
SPEAKER_01: I don't fit in any of them.
SPEAKER_01: And you ended up here at the road, less traveled.
SPEAKER_01: You think that's by accident?
SPEAKER_01: In fact, we do this.
SPEAKER_01: Have you heard of this thing called church shopping?
SPEAKER_01: We would never do that, right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go around and try a bunch of different churches and we get our notepad out.
SPEAKER_01: Worship from one to ten, uh seven.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Preacher, Pastor Steve is great, we'll give him a ten.
SPEAKER_01: And the children's ministry was an eight, and the youth ministry was a nine, and and we grade everything.
SPEAKER_01: And and to the point, and then there's some people they're like, well, you know, that that church, you know, they they just do too much worship, and it's just all spirit, and it's it's crazy, and there's no order.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's the people that are like this, no, you know, church is about the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: One hour at least in the Bible, and and we we all have our opinions of how the church should be run, too, right?
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine if Pastor Steve listened to everybody in this room of how to run the church?
SPEAKER_01: It would be the most chaotic, crazy place in the whole world.
SPEAKER_01: What is he doing right now in sabbatical?
SPEAKER_01: He is going away to get away from you guys.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm I'm dead serious.
SPEAKER_01: Because you all are so opinionated, and you want to run the church.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes, as leaders, we have to get away and just listen and hear what God's saying, and what what the next phase is and what God is.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, many, many many church leaders are kind of regrouping right now after COVID and rethinking church in general.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: Point four is this, I'm sorry, point five is this.
SPEAKER_01: David learns the value of God's voice over man's voice.
SPEAKER_01: So there's this other instance where David basically leaves the king's court after being kicked out.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, and by the way, let me just let me back up to that point real quick.
SPEAKER_01: In that point in his life, which I believe was the lowest of lows, up until that point.
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be some more lows.
SPEAKER_01: But David the rejected, the anointed, and the rejected, can't go to Philistine, the Philistines, can't go to Israel, can't go to Judah, he has nowhere to go.
SPEAKER_01: He pens these words, he grabs his harp.
SPEAKER_01: I will bless the Lord at all times.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 34.
SPEAKER_01: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, the humble will hear of it and be glad.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, magnify the Lord with me.
SPEAKER_01: Let us exalt his name together.
SPEAKER_01: Who is he talking to?
SPEAKER_01: He has nobody.
SPEAKER_01: Yet he is he is declaring the praises of God.
SPEAKER_01: How many songs have been written?
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed be the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed be, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, blessed.
SPEAKER_01: How many songs have been written on those words?
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord, oh my soul.
SPEAKER_01: Where was it written from?
SPEAKER_01: Why is it so powerful?
SPEAKER_01: It was because that was the moment that David literally had nobody except his God.
SPEAKER_01: And he began to praise and worship his God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what came out of his heart.
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you that some of the greatest worship that you have ever, ever encountered is during those seasons where you do not feel like saying the last thing you feel like doing is singing and lifting my hands or dancing and singing.
SPEAKER_01: That's the moment that you need to, because that's when it's so powerful.
SPEAKER_01: So David goes and lives in a cave.
SPEAKER_01: And he's in the cave of Adullah, and he's running for his life.
SPEAKER_01: He's literally sneaking around, and all these guys, like about 400 guys that were disillusioned, that hate church and were hurt by the church, and you know, uh, you know, just want nothing to do with church, and they come around him.
SPEAKER_01: And so they're in this cave, and it just so happens that Saul, who's seeking his life, comes into the cave to use the bathroom.
SPEAKER_01: And all of his men, all 400 of them, this must have been a really big cave, 400 of them are whispering in David's ear and saying, Look what God has done.
SPEAKER_01: Look, God has delivered your enemy to you.
SPEAKER_01: Kill him, and then you'll be king.
SPEAKER_01: And David's like, that makes a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_01: And his logic, you know, here's the thing: one of the worst things you can do is use your logic when it comes to the things of God.
SPEAKER_01: Because it seemed very logical, and it and it almost appeared like the Lord had delivered Saul into his hands.
SPEAKER_01: But David sneaks up and he grabs, he had disrobed himself and was doing his business a ways away, and he cuts the corner of David's robe.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that he was smitten in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes back to his men and he's like, I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what?
SPEAKER_01: 400 against one.
SPEAKER_01: 400 people trying to convince David to do something that was wrong but seemed right.
SPEAKER_01: Sound familiar about our culture today?
SPEAKER_01: If you're gonna be like David, if you're gonna be anointed, you're gonna be a man after God's own heart, if you're gonna be it, get ready for rejection, and get ready to be countercultural.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're gonna have to be.
SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna have to tune into the voice of God, and you're gonna have to listen with all your heart.
SPEAKER_01: I'm praying that Steve is hearing clearly the voice of God, and as he comes back, he's gonna say, here's where we're going, here's what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: The next five years, God's leading us in.
SPEAKER_01: I told him when I first walked in here, um, before the church was even growing.
SPEAKER_01: I walked in two years ago, and I said, and I just had the sense in my spirit, this church will be a church of 5,000 in five years.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I told him.
SPEAKER_01: I said, There's no doubt in my mind.
SPEAKER_01: I heard his story, and I heard what he had walked through in at Mountain Springs and the rejection that he encountered, and all of what was this?
SPEAKER_01: It was all preparation.
SPEAKER_01: This rejection was not coming from man.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you realize this rejection was coming from God?
SPEAKER_01: God was leading David through a very meticulous uh pathway to prepare his heart to be a man of integrity so that he could handle more and he could lead the nation and literally be the line in which Jesus stemmed from, which is our salvation even today.
SPEAKER_01: God was, God, there was a bigger plan that was being established, and it came through rejection, it came through difficulty, it came through persecution.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you are wondering, why do I keep coming up against this wall?
SPEAKER_01: And it seems like I struggle and it's so hard, it seems so easy for everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody else is just like smooth sailing.
SPEAKER_01: Man, my Christian walk is just great.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say something.
SPEAKER_01: If you are not encountering any opposition, any rejection or persecution or difficulty, you might want to take a step back and think about your relationship with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Because as I told you, the promise of God is we will encounter difficulty and persecution and trouble and trial.
SPEAKER_01: But the devil will leave us alone if we're not doing anything significant other than writing your tie check out.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't care about that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, but if you're not actually doing anything, well why would he fight you?
SPEAKER_01: But for some of those that are sitting in this room and you're saying, It seems so easy for everybody else and so difficult for me, maybe you're actually doing things right.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're actually encountering those things because he's developing and preparing you.
SPEAKER_01: And so David comes back, he said, I will not lay a hand against the anointed.
SPEAKER_01: I refuse to lay a hand against the anointed.
SPEAKER_01: And then David gets off track, number six, and he uses logic instead of the spirit inside of him to lead him and guide him.
SPEAKER_01: And and uh the the Holy Spirit, I don't know how they knew this, but they knew this.
SPEAKER_01: A couple years later, after he you know encounters Saul in the cave, David comes upon the Israelite camp and Saul is there and all of his commanders.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that there the Lord had put a deep sleep on the camp.
SPEAKER_01: I have no idea how they knew that, but maybe it was the snoring.
SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know how they knew, but everybody was asleep and in a deep sleep.
SPEAKER_01: To the point where David and his two officers with him walk through the camp.
SPEAKER_01: They're just strolling, whistling, and nobody's awake.
SPEAKER_01: And he he comes to the middle of the camp where Saul is laying in his sleeping bag, I'm guessing, and there's a spear right next to his head in the ground.
SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, literally, and his again, his his commanders are like, look what the Lord has done.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord has delivered your enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Just take the spear, and David says, You didn't hear me the first time.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna do it in my own power.
SPEAKER_01: Because if I do it in my own power, then man can take it away.
SPEAKER_01: But if I do it in God's power and God does it, nobody can take it away.
SPEAKER_01: That's a truth of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: When God moves on your behalf, who would have thought that our church would triple during COVID?
SPEAKER_01: We didn't do anything different, we just kept having services.
SPEAKER_01: But God is at work, he's moving.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's not in Steve's incredible strategy to make this happen.
SPEAKER_01: No, Steve's to the point where he's like, I'm not even the pastor anymore.
SPEAKER_01: God is the pastor, Jesus is the pastor, and I'm just following him.
SPEAKER_01: And when you get to that point where you don't have to manipulate and orchestrate and kind of try to make it all happen in your own power, and you allow God to actually work on your behalf, you just watch the results that take place.
SPEAKER_01: God will do amazing, exceedingly abundantly above what you could ever dream or imagine.
SPEAKER_01: But David runs away from Saul from the camp and he yells back and he says, Hey, I was there.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I hear you.
SPEAKER_01: And then he he uses logic and he thinks this thought.
SPEAKER_01: He thinks, you know, I've gotten pretty lucky so far.
SPEAKER_01: But one of these days, Saul is gonna catch me and he's gonna kill me.
SPEAKER_01: He said, We just need to pack up.
SPEAKER_01: He tells his men, pack your bags, we're going back to Philistine, the Philistines.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, and it's and the reason that I I've led here, and in about five minutes, I'm gonna take us through this journey of these four incredibly strange, probably the weirdest passages of scripture in the entire Bible.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Samuel 27, David spares Saul's life again, and then runs for his life and goes to the land of the Philistines in chapter 28.
SPEAKER_01: David is fighting among the Philistines.
SPEAKER_01: He's fighting for the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Is this weird?
SPEAKER_01: David, the future king of Israel, is fighting for the Philistines who he defeated when he defeated Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: So weird.
SPEAKER_01: Saul can't hear from God.
SPEAKER_01: Uh 1 Samuel 29.
SPEAKER_01: He he's going to see witches, fortune tellers, to try to get a word from God.
SPEAKER_01: He calls, he tells the witch, he said, call up Samuel from the grave.
SPEAKER_01: And it's hilarious because the witch does her little incantation or whatever, and this old guy with the beard comes up, and the witch is freaked out because it's never worked.
SPEAKER_01: She's like, Oh my gosh, it worked! And then and Samuel, and and Saul recognizes when he says, It is, it's Samuel.
SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, I mean, so Saul's consulting with witches, um, they're getting ready to fight.
SPEAKER_01: Well, then it gets to 1 Samuel 30, and um, I'm sorry, 1 Samuel 29.
SPEAKER_01: The Philistines are gonna go fight against Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you can indulge me for a second, I watch a lot of blockbuster films, and it always happens the same way.
SPEAKER_01: There's this battle scene at the end, right?
SPEAKER_01: Between the hero and the villain, right?
SPEAKER_01: And usually what happens is that you know they're on the battlefield and the hero falls off of his horse.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and he's josting around and kind of defending himself.
SPEAKER_01: Well, then about a hundred yards away, the the villain falls off his horse, right?
SPEAKER_01: He says, You've seen this movie, right?
SPEAKER_01: And he's got his sword and he's defending.
SPEAKER_01: Well, then all of a sudden the cameras capture the hero and the villain making eye contact.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's this dramatic walk, you know what I'm talking about, where they start walking towards each other, and it's in the, and then they meet in the middle, and then you know, all eyes are on and everybody's fighting, but there's this, you know, circle in the middle where the hero and the villain, and of course the hero wins at the end.
SPEAKER_01: This is what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: David is fighting for the Philistines, and he's gonna go, and there's gonna be, and the the Philistines are over here, and the Israelites are over there, David's on this side, Saul's over there, they're both gonna fall off their horses, and they're gonna meet in the middle, and then David's gonna finally defeat Saul once and for all.
SPEAKER_01: How many know that's what happened?
SPEAKER_01: No, David goes to the battle, and the leaders of the Philistines say, You can't fight with us.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, go home.
SPEAKER_01: And David's like, but I'm a warrior.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I you remember I defeated Goliath, right?
SPEAKER_01: And he's trying to convince them to let him fight.
SPEAKER_01: But they send him home.
SPEAKER_01: David's walking back home with his men.
SPEAKER_01: He can't be on the the epic battle scene, it is not gonna take place.
SPEAKER_01: He's not gonna be king.
SPEAKER_01: He gets back to a place called Ziklag where they were living, and his family has been captured.
SPEAKER_01: His sons, his daughters, his wives, all the plunder, the city is destroyed, and they've all been, all of the whole city has been captured and taken away.
SPEAKER_01: This was a low point in David's life.
SPEAKER_01: Why do I even try?
SPEAKER_01: Why do I even keep fighting?
SPEAKER_01: His men are threatening to stone him.
SPEAKER_01: Same guys that he had that had his back before, David has never felt more alone than he did in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: This is chapter 30, verse 7 of 1 Samuel.
SPEAKER_01: Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Bring me the ephod.
SPEAKER_01: Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the Lord, Shall I pursue this raiding party, or will I overtake them?
SPEAKER_01: Pursue them, he answered.
SPEAKER_01: You will certainly overtake them and succeed in attempting to the rescue.
SPEAKER_01: There's another portion of scripture where it says that David was at his wit's end and his men were threatening to stone him.
SPEAKER_01: But David encouraged himself in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: This is where we're going to leave the story.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to ask the worship team to come up.
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to go into a time of worship.
SPEAKER_01: And then I felt like that the Lord has given me a prophetic word based on this passage.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to preface it with this.
SPEAKER_01: Do you guys see what's happening in the story with David's life and the progression that he's been on with all this rejection and difficulty trying to pursue God and pursue God's calling on his life?
SPEAKER_01: And it's only left him in dire straits at times.
SPEAKER_01: While David was concerned about his calling and being the king and fulfilling this great thing that was inside of him to do, and the battle is taking place, David is sent home.
SPEAKER_01: And when he gets home, his home has been destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: I think what God has been doing during this pandemic is he's getting our focus off of business, church, culture, all these great things that we have, aspirations that we have.
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it's a weird time in Israel's history.
SPEAKER_01: Craziness is happening in the nation.
SPEAKER_01: All this craziness is going on.
SPEAKER_01: And David doesn't even know how to make sense of it.
SPEAKER_01: But the Bible says that he encouraged himself in the Lord and he got an ephod and he inquired of the Lord, what should I do?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even concerned about Saul.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even concerned about being king and all these things that have been prophesied and all this stuff that's been spoken over me that I'm supposed to do.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I just want my family back.
SPEAKER_01: I just I just want to get things right.
SPEAKER_01: And I felt like that there has been an onslaught of the enemy trying to steal, to kill, and to destroy our homes and the things that mean most to us.
SPEAKER_01: And if we will fight the battle and on the home front, if we will go back and we will inquire of the Lord and just say, God, I'm gonna go back to where where we start.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going back to where what matters most to me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get things right and inquire of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And He said, Pursue, go, I'll be with you, and you will retrieve what you've lost.
SPEAKER_01: Just go.
SPEAKER_01: Just just pursue.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe this isn't a word for everybody.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're like, you know, all is well.
SPEAKER_01: It is well with my soul.
SPEAKER_01: But I have a sneaking suspicion, especially based on last service, that God is wanting to get our attention.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe some questions are being answered.
SPEAKER_01: Why has it been so hard?
SPEAKER_01: And why have I encountered rejection and frustration?
SPEAKER_01: But let's fix our eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go after God.
SPEAKER_01: Let's inquire of Him.
SPEAKER_01: Let's encourage ourselves in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Whether you feel like it or whether you don't.
SPEAKER_01: Lift up your song.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for listening to the Road Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: It's been my joy to be a part of your life today.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's part of what we do here at The Road, and this is what I do in having this Road Podcast is to empower people to change their world.
SPEAKER_00: My passion and desire is that you would take God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit and make that relevant for your life.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the reality is that God has placed your life here on this earth to make a difference.
SPEAKER_00: And if you'd like more information about how to grow in Christ, if you need prayer, if you want more equipment in different areas of your life, go to theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: God bless you.