WEBVTT 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:11.679 You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:17.120 For men and women, we need a covenant relationship, and sometimes it comes through brokenness. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:21.679 And sometimes, and maybe oftentimes it comes through struggles in our life. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:28.399 I rarely see guys that are up, cloud nine, everything's going well in their lives who want to have blood-slayed allies. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:37.359 It's usually at those dark places in the valleys of the shadow of death that we start to look for shepherds. 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:42.799 People. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:44.960 People in life. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:50.880 At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:55.359 For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:00.719 We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:14.400 We are in 1 Samuel 18, and this is the last message I'm going to do on the series Worshiper Warrior on the Life of David. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:20.959 As you know from my book, You That Have Bought the Book, 21 Chapters, I could go on and on and on. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:27.040 But I believe God's leading us now to move into a Kingdom of God revolution starting next week. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:38.640 But the situation with David, and I felt like this was a good place for us to close it up as far as this series on David, is he has defeated Goliath. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:39.760 We looked at that last week. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:47.680 The last two weeks we've talked about David and Goliath and having a God-saturated imagination. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:02:05.599 Well, now he's in Saul's court, and all kinds of things are about to happen in his life, and he's going to need what I believe is one of the most important things in your life, and most Christians don't have it, and that's what we call around here blood-stained allies. 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:07.439 Blood-stained allies. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.199 He's going to need a friend. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:25.120 He's going to need some people in his life to disciple him, to covenant with him, to stand before him as his ally against a mad, crazy, demonized king named Saul. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:30.240 So we're going to pick it up at 1 Samuel 18, verse 1. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:33.520 And I want to look at kind of four aspects of this. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:34.639 I mean, there's 20. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:41.680 There's 25 aspects of blood-stained allies, but I'm just going to hit on a few this morning for our time together. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:54.000 Now, when he had finished speaking to Saul, so Saul has brought him in to his court, into his home, and into the palace, if you would call it really a palace back then. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:03:06.400 The soul of Jonathan, now that's Saul's son, was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:08.800 Here's the first point about bloodstained allies. 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:11.759 Here's the first point of having deep level relationships. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:15.439 And this is really, really, this is the most important point, and this is it. 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:20.719 Number one, hearts knit together with the same cause. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:28.560 Men, you need some men, women, you need some women in your life. 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:39.680 And I don't think it needs to be more than two or three, where your hearts are knit together with the same cause. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:46.960 Not just friendships, not beer drinking buddies, hunting and fishing buddies. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:53.599 By the way, you can have those and be bloodstained allies, but you can have those and not be bloodstained allies. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:54.879 How many of you know that? 00:03:55.199 --> 00:04:02.400 You know, most of the fellowship in the church at large is very, very superficial. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:11.120 You know, in some ways it needs to be, and here's what I mean by that, is that you don't want to open up your heart to just anybody. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:15.680 So I expect when I'm out in the lobby and I'm meeting someone for the first time, how are you doing? 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:20.160 They say, Oh, I'm just doing, I haven't had a great weekend, and yet I'm finding out they're going through a divorce or something. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.399 Well, they don't trust me, I don't trust them. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:24.160 But we need some people. 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:27.360 And it starts with your spouse, I believe. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:30.000 That's the first blood-stained ally, is your spouse. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.519 And that takes a lot of work, right, men, right, women? 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.480 I mean, it's hard to have your spouse be your blood-stained ally. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:46.240 But it starts there and it's knit together, and this is so crucial, with the same cause, the same mission. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:52.319 My wife and I are about as different as night and day. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:56.319 If I say right on almost everything, she says left. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:59.120 If I say red, she says black. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:01.920 This is Georgia Colors, of course she would say that. 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:06.319 But we are we are just total opposites. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:25.920 She thinks differently than me, and we figured out somewhere along the way, because of our mission being the same, and our commitment from the beginning of the cause being the same, over all of our bumps and all of our struggles, we actually had our hearts get knit together over the years. 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:29.519 We really passionately love each other. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:32.399 And we love hanging out with each other. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:43.519 Um last week, Valentine, when we did Valentine's Day, um, I spoke at Men with a Purpose at the Pinery, which was really exciting and fun, and then we went to the Broadmoor. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:48.240 And I got this really great deal at the Broadmoor, so we stayed there, and it was just so much fun to be together. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:57.519 Our hearts are knit together, but it's taken a lot of work, it's taken a lot of hard effort to get there. 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:08.800 But then, but then I'll share later some things that have happened in my life that knit me together with some men here in this fellowship through some really tough times. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:10.560 Men, you need some men. 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:19.839 So the reason I say this is because I'm not talking about necessarily the people you go to work with or have a cubicle next to you, and you have a lot of things in common. 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:26.399 I'm talking about the same cause, same mission, same vision. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:40.560 I can't tell you how many times in counseling with people who are going through a divorce or going through a struggle or something, they say, Well, well, Susan said, I said, Who's Susan? 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:50.720 Oh, well, she's this lady at work, and she's had three divorces, and it's like, so you're getting her advice about staying together in marriage with her track record. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:55.439 And it's like, uh, hello, bump, bump, bump, anybody home? 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:13.279 And and and I say that, and I'm sorry if some of you fall into that category, but the reality is you need some blood-stained allies, same cause, same mission, glory of God on the face of the earth, passion for mission to see see Christ's name exalted in your own heart. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:16.639 A kingdom of God revolution begins in our own heart. 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:21.759 And so when we start having friends like that, they say, Well, how are you doing with the Lord? 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:27.600 It seems like from what you told me that you exaggerated the truth here. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:30.720 I think you need to repent. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:36.079 But it's it's blood-stained allies. 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:38.639 That means it's reciprocal. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:44.000 How many would say you struggle with sin sometimes? 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:53.279 What I love about the road is you guys are all pretty honest most of the time. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:01.120 Elijah had Elisha, even Jesus had Peter, James, and John. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:05.839 Paul had Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:10.319 Men and women, I'll share with you a couple stories at the end of my message today. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:16.879 All great men and women who've done great things for the kingdom had bloodstained allies. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:31.279 Matter of fact, I'd be willing to wager this that it's almost impossible to live the Christian life successfully, year after year after year, without blood-stained allies. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:42.639 And whenever I see someone falling away, and we see it all the time, people who are once walking with God, who decide to go their own way, they usually don't have anybody in their life who's a blood-stained ally. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:44.080 Now they did. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:52.000 Sometimes they did, but one of the first things they start to do is they cut off those people that used to speak into their life, right? 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:54.320 And they're a loner. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.600 Loners are dangerous. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:00.080 Loners are dangerous. 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:07.679 You're so set up as a loner to be taken out by the enemy because of self-deception. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:13.279 Every one of us have the capacity of self-deception. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:20.960 Where you run through your mind all your own alibis about your particular situation of this or that. 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:34.159 And if someone else who also isn't on that same journey with you for the kingdom of God and seeking the kingdom of God, who can say, Um, Steve, I don't see it that way. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:39.039 Liz does this all the time, and it makes me so mad. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.240 She did it this morning. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.840 I said, honey, I've got to speak on bloodstained allies. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:48.320 I don't need any living examples right now. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:51.360 No, she did. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:58.399 She came up to my office and that woman. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:01.120 She's down there teaching your children right now. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.960 She's a godly, beautiful woman, but anyway. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:07.519 Right? 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:08.080 Right? 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:09.200 You guys know what I'm talking about? 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:12.159 If you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't have any blood-stained allies. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:22.879 If somebody, several people can't say to you, I don't see it that way, without you receiving it's not a blood-stained ally. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:32.320 And I don't know how many times it's 33 years of marriage, Liz has said stuff, and I'm mad when I leave, and then I go, she's the reason I'm mad is because she's right. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:36.559 Because I know she's got my back. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:37.519 Right? 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:39.840 Verse 2. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:48.720 Saul took him that day, meaning David, and would not let him go home to his father's house anymore. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:54.960 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:03.840 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:13.840 So you're kind of looking into a medieval practice of covenant, of giving, giving his armor to his friend was a covenant commitment. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:21.279 It was a visible way, not of taking an animal in this case and cutting it in half, which is what a covenant was in Old Testament times. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:26.320 He's actually giving him his armor to him to show that you're my blood brother. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:28.399 You're my bloodstained ally. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:30.399 I'm making a covenant with you. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:31.919 So that's my second point. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:35.679 That a bloodstained ally is a covenant relationship. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:37.759 It's a covenant relationship. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:43.519 It's saying it's unconditional, that we're gonna stay in this relationship. 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:45.919 It doesn't mean we can't say the hard things. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:54.480 It doesn't mean that we can't say that you shouldn't be doing that, or you can't do that, or I'm not gonna go anymore to do that with you, but I still love you. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:56.799 I'm still committed to your heart. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:58.399 I have a covenant for you. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:11:59.200 You know why? 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:04.879 Because your number one blood-stained ally is Jesus Christ. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.159 And he made a covenant with you. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:24.799 And men and women, only we can make a covenant with blood-stained allies, a true covenant of the same cause of blood-stained allies, because we have Jesus Christ who came and unconditionally loved us, and he's our blood-stained ally. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:36.799 So Eugene Peterson says it this way: friendship, and I would say bloodstained allies, is a much underestimated aspect of spirituality. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:40.799 It's every bit as significant as prayer and fasting. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:54.879 Like the sacramental use of water and bread and wine and communion, friendship takes what's common in human experience and turns it into something holy. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:01.759 Many of you in this room know my story, and so I'll make it short because you've heard it before. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:13.919 But when I left Mountain Springs Church, feeling broken, feeling hurt, feeling betrayed. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:19.279 Something like Forrest Gump when Jenny left. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:35.759 And he in the next picture, if you watch the movie, he's got his Nikes on and his gump shrimp hat on, and he's sitting there on the porch, and he says, I just, for no real reason, I just started running. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:39.840 And I ran down the driveway and I just kept on going. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:44.080 And I ran through the town, I kept on going, I ran through Alabama and I kept on going. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:47.440 I just kept on running until there was no other place to go. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.759 And it shows him at what appears to be Santa Monica Pier in California. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.159 He turns around, he runs back, and he runs back. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:57.759 Well, one day, I just started walking. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:04.799 For no apparent reason, I just got up one morning and I put on my shoes and I just started walking. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:19.600 And for four years, almost every day, I walked for miles and miles and miles and hours and hours and hours, and I would come back to my fire pit, and inevitably on those particular days, there'd be two or three guys there. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:26.960 And we'd sit at the fire pit and we share our hearts together. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:30.399 And those men are in this room. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:39.919 And as I opened up my heart of the sense of betrayal that I felt, they began to share betrayals in their own life. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:48.559 As I began to share mistakes that I'd made and how I wanted to grow to be a better leader, they shared how they wanted to grow as a better leader. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:52.320 And I got born again again. 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:59.919 See, I got born again at the University of Georgia with Jesus over 30 years ago. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:04.320 But five years ago I got born again by a man named David. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:14.000 And began to open up the scriptures and read about David and Jonathan, began to read about David in the cave of Abdulon, began to read the Psalms in a fresh, new way. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:25.039 Of course I'd read all that before, but it came alive, it jumped off the page, and we began to coin a term, bloodstained allies. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:29.200 And we developed a covenant relationship. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:34.080 So many women, we need a covenant relationship, and sometimes it comes through brokenness. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:38.559 And sometimes, and maybe oftentimes it comes through struggles in our life. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:45.759 I rarely see guys that are up on cloud nine, everything's going well in their life, who want to have blood-stained allies. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:58.320 It's usually at those dark places in the valleys of the shadow of death that we start to look for shepherd through Jesus, who's got flesh on. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:15:59.840 People. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:04.240 So secondly, covenant relationships. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:09.759 Thirdly, defending the reputation of the other. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:13.440 Thirdly, defending the reputation of the other. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.600 Look at chapter 19. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:22.559 What happens in 18, men and women, you don't need to read it, but you can read it later if you'd like. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:33.759 As David begins to do the bidding of Saul, which is to fight the Philistines, he's hugely successful. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:51.120 As he's successful, on one particular campaign, he comes back, and the women of Jerusalem pour out into the streets and say, Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:17:00.480 And jealousy begins to rise up in Saul and he starts to try to figure out a way to kill David. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:07.440 And Jonathan, as you'll see in a moment, is key in saving his life. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:15.279 How many of you know that if you're successful at anything, you're gonna have two problems? 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:17.200 Actually, you're gonna have three. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:22.160 The first one is pride in your own life. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:28.640 I would say the more anointed you are in something, the more you will struggle with arrogance and pride. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:33.359 Secondly, somebody always wants your job. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:37.599 If nobody wants your job, you're not successful yet. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:43.759 But as soon as you start getting successful, get ready, because jealousy is going to be in somebody. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:46.000 It usually starts in your own family. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.839 It's really interesting. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:55.279 You know, uh the idea of a prophet not being welcome in his own hometown or in his own family. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:58.240 But then the third is the IRS always wants their part too. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:00.079 So that's the third one. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:02.960 Look at chapter 19, verse 1. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:09.039 Now Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants that they should kill David. 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:12.640 But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted greatly in David. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:17.359 So Jonathan told David, saying, My father Saul seeks to kill you. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:22.400 Therefore, please be on your guard until morning and stay in a secret place and hide. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:30.319 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.920 Then what I observe I will tell you. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:35.519 Now let me just say this. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:42.000 When we talk about guarding the reputation of another, it's about speaking truth. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.359 He's speaking truth about David. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:19:05.039 Now, if David's embezzling money, if David's got a gal on the side, if David can't keep his zipper up, if David is using power to try to take the throne from Saul, then this can't happen. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:06.799 So this is truth. 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:09.680 Jonathan's speaking truth to his dad. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:10.559 Verse 4. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:24.880 Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against a servant and against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:28.720 In other words, David has always been submitted to leadership. 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:32.960 That's one of the things that you notice about David in the Valley of Elah. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:34.640 He submitted to Jesse. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:45.119 This is what's great about submitting to leadership is that it sets you up to be where God can do amazing things that you might try to do on your own. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:50.960 So remember, David is just submitting to Jesse and bringing cheese and crackers to his brothers on the battlefield. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:20:04.160 We looked at last week, and that's how it got set up for him to hear what Goliath said, so that something within David rose up and said, That's not right. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:08.960 That's not kingdom, that's not the glory of God. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:29.920 And suddenly David, who just naturally aspires to be a warrior because he had developed a warrior's heart, not in the valley of Elah, but on the hills of Bethlehem, could pick up five smooth stones, knew how to use that sling. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:34.319 Do you guys realize they've done the ballistics on that sling on slingers? 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:42.319 Same velocity, up to 300 yards of a 38-caliber bullet with a slinger. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:48.640 Boom, nails him in the head, and suddenly he's thrust into fame and fortune. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:50.240 Was David seeking it? 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:51.279 No, he wasn't. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:54.480 But he he was set up because he was submitted to his dad. 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:59.680 Now he's been submitted to Saul and he just keeps killing Philistines. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:06.240 We won't go into the details of all of that, but man, Saul gets more and more upset for him. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:11.839 And Jonathan says, verse 5, for he took his life in his own hands and he killed the Philistine. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.519 And the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all of Israel. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:19.039 You saw it and you rejoiced. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:26.559 Why then will you sin against innocent blood to kill David without a cause? 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:33.680 So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, as the Lord lives, he shall not be killed. 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:42.640 Now it didn't last very long, but my point here today is that defending the reputation of the other is what Jonathan did, and it's the key to a bloodstained ally. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:45.039 It's thinking the best. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:49.519 It's covering their back and being there for them. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:54.960 And then fourthly, lastly, look at chapter 22. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:58.960 The rest of the story is a battle of. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:08.720 David on the run and constantly, constantly trying to figure out what to do next because he's faithful to what Saul does. 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:11.920 Saul's contrition right here doesn't last very long. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:16.319 Jonathan's loyalty to David only grows stronger. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:22.799 David's on the run, and we come to chapter 22, one of the great chapters of the Bible. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:27.519 David therefore departed from there and he escaped to the cave of Adulum. 00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:34.640 So when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:45.119 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, everyone who was discontented gathered to him. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:48.640 So he became captain over them. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:52.559 And there were about 400 men with him. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:59.680 You may know the rest of the story that these 400 become his 400 mighty men. 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:02.319 Fourthly, blood stained. 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:09.759 These are men and women who identify and suffer with each other's pain and shame. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:15.519 How many of you know that Proverbs 28-21 is really true? 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.400 Men will transgress for a loaf of bread. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:30.799 How many of you would say that at some case in your life, either a job or a marriage or a situation, you've been betrayed by people you thought you could trust? 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:32.720 Yeah. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:38.799 Usually whoever pays the best wins their heart. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:40.319 Isn't this interesting? 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:42.799 These guys that come to David. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:51.519 You guys that are in this room that were a part of the fireside chats, my blood-stained allies by the fellowship of the ring. 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:57.519 How many times I told you you're just the malcontents of the Cave of Abdulum type people? 00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:00.559 And they all went, yeah, that's us. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:03.119 We all had our story. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:08.799 Let me quote from my book, the way I explain it here. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:12.960 What is it that draws these men to David? 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:15.039 Why do they come? 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:18.640 Samuel writes to emphasize their desperate state. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:22.880 They were malcontents, failures, the desperate. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:27.519 What's curious is that they are men who can identify with David. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.759 The allies of Abdulam are men just like David. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:35.440 They get it, they understand the plight of David. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:40.559 Just days before, they would have never identified with anything about David. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:48.960 This blessed son of Jesse, this rock star, this MMA, Goliath slaying world champion, son-in-law of the king of Israel. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:55.119 There's nothing about David that these bankrupt, indebted thieves could have related to. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:58.960 But now David suddenly become one of them. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:01.519 David is one of them. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:03.519 He has nothing. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:05.839 He's lost everything. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:07.839 He's in distress. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:09.279 He's in debt. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:11.119 He's discontented. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:16.319 David is the captain of all their problems and all that they've lost. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:19.519 But now his life is their life. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:22.160 That's what allies are. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:26.160 Allies are men who are vulnerable and broken together. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:30.640 Allies are a group of ragamuffin men and women who love each other. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:39.680 The allies at Azalum were a gang of beat-up men who know they had nothing to bring to the table except themselves. 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:45.759 They have nothing, and anyone looking in would say they are nothing. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:49.279 Do you realize when you say you're nothing? 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:50.400 Let me say this. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:52.720 When you say you have nothing, it's true. 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:56.000 But when you say you are nothing, that's shame. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:57.680 That's not true. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:00.720 But they have everything. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:11.759 Allies are men and women who are mutually desperate for God, for a captain, for a cause, and for a purpose. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:16.640 The allies of Abdulum know that David has what they need. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.839 There's something about David that they all long for. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.960 They want David because David wants God. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:25.839 That's what we all need. 00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:28.400 We all need allies of Abdulum. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:34.640 We desperately need men and women who rally to the love of God as brothers and sisters. 00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:37.839 We were made for relationship. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:44.960 We men and women have spent our lives running from such people. 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:55.200 We've been told all our lives that being a man's man or a woman's woman is to be independent, self-made, lone rangers that can handle any problem on our own. 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:59.279 What a lie! It doesn't work, and it's never worked. 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:04.640 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor at the time of Hitler. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:15.680 As Hitler rose in power, the Lutheran Church of Germany capitulated to the demands of Adolf Hitler in the Third Reich. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:28.559 As success after success hit the nation of Germany and the economy began to grow again after World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, people began to believe in Hitler. 00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:56.720 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, on the other hand, is a gospel-believing, Bible-believing Christian, evangelical, who saw what was happening to the Jews, who saw what was happening to homosexuals, he saw what was happening to the gypsies, he saw what was happening to those that were mentally and physically challenged, being whisked away to concentration camps, took his stand. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:02.640 And he started a group, an underground group called the Confessing Church. 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:06.640 And he became a part of the hit list of the German SS. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:15.039 Bonhoffer writes Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:18.480 No Christian community is more or less than this. 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:25.200 Whether it be brief or the daily fellowship of years, Christian community is this. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:29.680 We belong to one another and only through and in Jesus Christ. 00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:31.119 What does this mean? 00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:36.480 It means first that a Christian needs others because of Jesus Christ. 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:42.799 It means second that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:51.279 It means third that in Jesus Christ we've been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity. 00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:54.720 That's a bloodstained ally. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:02.799 William Wilberforce is most famous for his tireless work through British Parliament and the abolishment of the slave trade. 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:07.119 He was a bundle of visionary energy. 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:16.799 As he made it his passion, two great passions of William Wilberforce's life were the abolition of the slave trade and the reformation of British manners. 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:20.559 And what he meant by that was the morals of British society. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:44.000 In addition to his abolition work, he was consistently involved in church work that included the Church Missionary Society, the sending of missionaries to India and Africa, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Proclamation Society against Vice and Immorality, the School Society, the Sunday School Society, the Bettering Society, the Vice Society, and about 25 others that are on this list. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:48.960 How in the world did he do that? 00:29:49.839 --> 00:30:02.319 Very few understand or even can comprehend this group of bloodstained allies that began to hang out with William Wilberforce called the Clampton Group. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:08.319 It was named after a section, which still exists in London, and they were called the Clampton Seven. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:09.920 They were sometimes called the Clampt. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:17.680 Hannah Moore was one of his closest friends, and she was key in telling him to write a manifesto. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:21.519 And in this manifesto, he spoke of the essentials. 00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:22.319 Listen to this. 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:23.920 How do you like this for a book title? 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:26.640 How would you like to find this one on Amazon.com? 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:29.519 This was the book he wrote, his manifesto. 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:38.960 A practical view of the prevailing religious system of professed Christians in the higher and middle classes in the country contrasted with real Christianity. 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:41.440 That was the title. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:46.799 It was an immediate bestseller. 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:53.759 And in 1807, he saw the abolition of the slave trade. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:31:10.720 But with the defeat the first time of the abolition in 1789, Wilbur Force and his closest friend Henry Thornton called together a group that became known as the Clampton sect, and they began to apply their Christianity to all aspects of culture. 00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:12.319 Talk about a kingdom revolution. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:14.720 This was a kingdom revolution. 00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:22.720 The Clamton group believed that they were representative of God's kingdom on earth and the faithful stewards of all that God had given them. 00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:31.519 Together, this Clamton Fellowship sought to make the British Empire an instrument of social and moral welfare of all people. 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:36.319 Throughout their time together, they remained remarkably committed to these goals. 00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:45.680 And they had some interesting characters in their group. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.400 Clean and unclean animals all hanging out together. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:12.160 Men and women, as God gives you a personal kingdom revolution, as you begin to develop those bloodstained allies in your own life, He's going to use you. 00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:16.880 He's going to use you in a mighty way. 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:22.559 As we begin to trust God with these areas of our life, watch out. 00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:24.240 Watch out. 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:28.799 Because God's going to just so move empower through you. 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:35.920 You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:39.039 We hope you have been blessed by today's message. 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:43.039 To connect with us further, visit theroad.org. 00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:47.119 If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you. 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:54.319 Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request. 00:32:54.640 --> 00:33:02.480 Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.