Well, it is awesome to be with you today, Church. My name is Russ. If I hadn't had the chance to meet you, um, I want to say welcome to Church of the Grow. We're so excited you're here. I know some of you are here uh you know every week and you're part of our church family, but maybe some of you are here for the first or second time. Um and we want to say a big, big special welcome to you. And and Russ mentioned the uh little tap tags on the back of your chairs. We we we want you to use those. And and not it's not just for giving. It is if you haven't um connected with us in a way that we have your name and your information, uh and and and listen, there's no pressure because I know sometimes you just want to, hey, I want to know if I want to belong to this place or not before I you know uh get that far and get emails and all those things. We're not necessarily interested in filling up your inboxes, but we want to connect with you. We want to build a relationship with you. And and we believe the kingdom of God is built in relationships. Uh yesterday we we hosted a uh a memorial um for a young man that was uh a part of our church before he moved away. He's a firefighter, and uh his mother uh tragically passed away, and so so we had a we had a large group of firefighters uh and and uh first responders here yesterday, and one of them that I had not seen in quite some time. He walked into the lobby and and he just he looked around and he said, This is incredible. He said, I remember when you were in the middle school, and and then he asked me a question, and it's a question I hope that we can address a bit this morning. He said, What do you owe the successful growth of this church to? What do you owe it? What do you owe your success to? Number one, I as soon as he said success, and then you'll you'll understand why, because I've been I've been working on this passage, when he said success, I just bristled because I don't really like that word when it comes connected with measuring ministry and measuring what we do and advancing the gospel and the kingdom. Success is a word that has meaning. It means you know, it might mean growth, it might mean uh, you know, financial growth, it can mean um, it can be career, uh career growth, advancement, all these things. Success can be good grades, success can be a lot of things, but it I bristled when he said success in terms of this church because I don't, I don't, I don't really consider us successful at all. Here's another thing that does happen on occasion. People will will approach me here on Sunday. Uh they maybe they've been visiting or worshiping with us for a while. Uh sometimes I'll run into people in the community and they'll say, I love your church. I love your church. Well, first of all, it's not my church. This is God's church. This is the church that belongs to Jesus. And I'm not even the senior pastor. Now, if by age, I am the oldest pastor on South. So, but but Jesus is the senior pastor of this church. I'm an under shepherd to the senior pastor of this church. And so I bristle. I uh here's what I love it is when the your turns into our. I love our church. Our church. Here's a funny one. Uh a little girl came up to me in the last few months, tugged on my shirt. She said, um, she said, I got a question. She says, Do you own this church? She asked me, an eight-year-old girl, which tells me exactly what her parents had been talking about the previous week around the dinner table. She said, Do you own this church? And I said, Sweetheart, God owns this church. This is God's church. We I said, I am a steward. We are all stewards. All of God's people have a place and a role. And it's not, listen, it's not about one person, it's not about um ownership, it's it's about stewardship. And so so it is a good question to ask. Uh, what is success and what how do you recognize success? And when I say this, I mean in a positive sense. What does it mean? What is it, people, and why, listen, why do people respond differently to some success? Why do people respond differently? When things go their way financially, career-wise, um, uh responsibility, why why do people change how they their character, they change how they respond, they change how they live, they change how they walk, maybe they walk with a little bit of a strut or whatever. All the different things, ways that we can respond. And and what what what does it mean? How do we respond when things aren't really going our way? See, why do some people change when they succeed? We've seen it all. People receive recognition or promotion, influence, or success, and suddenly their attitude changes, their countenance changes. But yet the success or the fruit, the positive results, isn't the problem. Success acts like a spotlight exposing what is already there. In 1 Samuel 18, where we are today, we're in this series. We've been in this series the last few weeks where we're looking at the life of David. The life of David. And we're in 1 Samuel, so we are in 1 Samuel 17 this past week. Today we're going to be in 1 Samuel 18, and you're going to begin to hear, and you're going to begin to see this conflict that takes place with the existing King Saul and the now soon-to-be king, anointed king, but not yet in the throne king David. I mean, everything's been fine, but now things are changing. David is not a child anymore. He is grown up and he is a warrior. And if in 1 Samuel 18, David experiences incredible success, success on the battlefield, success in his leadership. And at the same time, Saul faces some success, but it's looked at from a different perspective. David's success reveals humility. David's success reveals his trust in God. Saul's response to success begins to reveal itself through jealousy, anger, insecurity, and fear. And this passage teaches us that success is not merely a test of ability, it's a test of the human heart. And let me say it this way: success does not create your character, it reveals your character. Here's a simple big idea for today is this success reveals really what's really in your heart. Success reveals what's really in your heart. Let's read this. 1 Samuel chapter 8. We're going to start in verse 5. David. David marched out with the army, was successful in everything Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in command of the fighting men, which pleased all the people and Saul's servants as well. As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy and with three stringed instruments. As they danced, the women sang a song. Saul has killed his thousands. Now, let's just stop there. I think Saul, knowing from our perspective, Saul's heart is not where it should be. I think Saul is, hey, I've killed my thousands. Yeah, bring it home. I like that song. Write another song about me. Right what? And then they and then they change their tone a little bit. They go to a different song. Because they said Saul has killed his thousands, but David has his ten thousands. And so all of a sudden Saul's like, thank you, thank you. Wait a minute. Ten thousands? I mean, this is the shepherd boy. This is this this, I mean, I know everybody's talking about him being the anointed king, but I'm still the king. I'm the one that should be getting the accolades. And all of a sudden the attention shifts, and here's the response, verse 8. Saul was furious and resented this song. They credited 10,000 to David, he complained, but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom? So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward. The next day, an evil spirit sent from God came powerfully on Saul. And he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear. And he threw it, thinking, I'll pin David to the wall. I mean, this is, can you see how quick things have changed? Listen, there is a spiritual darkness at work here. There is a spiritual war that's taking place over the hearts of humans in this story. Saul, rather than stewarding his heart in a way that would cultivate humility, he has allowed the enemy a doorway into his soul. And he goes, He goes from having a servant, a young mentore, a young protege, all of a sudden there's this evil spirit that affects David in such a way that he throws a spear trying to kill David with one shot. But David got away from him twice. Verse 11. Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but had left Saul. Now, can I just read that line again? Because I think that all of us can have some fears and insecurities. But maybe our greatest fear should be the fear that God would not be with us. That God would depart from us, that God's presence would leave us. But it says there, Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but had left Saul. Therefore, Saul sent David away from him and made him commander over a thousand men. David led the troops and continued to be successful in all of his activities. He continued. What does it say about David? He continued to be what? Successful in everything he did. Because the Lord, let's say it together, was with him. That's the key. The Lord was with him. When Saul observed that David was successful, very successful, he dreaded him. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was leading their troops. I want to hit on three things regarding success and the human heart. And how it reveals. It reveals it doesn't, success doesn't cause, it reveals who we are, truly. And the first thing I want I want to want us to recognize is that success reveals whether we will walk in humility or pride. It reveals whether we will walk in humility or pride. Going back to verse 5, David marched out with the army and was successful in everything Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in the command of fighting men, which pleased all the people, and Saul's servants as well. As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy and with three-strings instruments as they danced. The women saying, Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands. And I think David's just, I think David's enjoying the moment. I think David is enjoying the victory. David is probably in a mode of worship and response to how God has shown himself faithful. And all of a sudden, David's not aware of what's being sung. He hears them singing the praises of Saul, but all of a sudden they said, and David has killed his 10,000. And so the first time this young shepherd boy, anointed to be king, who has now become a warrior, has attention on him that he's never had before. And he has to choose how he's going to respond. Now we've just seen how Saul responds. Saul responds with a bit of pride. Yeah, I like that. Wait a minute. Now you're talking about David killing his 10,000s? See, success reveals whether we're going to walk in humility or pride. And as we see in this in this passage, we see it right here. You've got two leaders, two men. God chose both of them. Both of them have opportunities to choose whether they're going to continue to pursue after God or whether they're going to give in to the sin of comparison and pride and jealousy. And we see what happens. David's just killed Goliath. His popularity has exploded. Saul placed him over the army. Everyone approved David was successful. Here's something I'm convinced of that I that I'm convicted of is the reality of this. Most people can handle obscurity. Few people can handle applause. Most people can handle obscurity. Few people can handle applause. Few people can handle success in the terms of how the world measures success. Few people can win the lottery. And when I say the lottery, I mean that as a metaphor. Few people can instantly receive some type of wealth. And you it reveals who they are. It doesn't cause them to be. You've got two kids, and the parents have done well, and there's an inheritance. And both children receive the equal inheritance. What do they do with their inheritance will reveal the character of their heart? Matter of fact, we see that played out in scripture, right? One son gets an inheritance early, and he goes and squanders it in wild living. The other had taken his inheritance and put it back into the investment of the household. But listen, what you see is you see two different hearts. You see two different hearts. One heart goes his own way, but eventually comes back in repentance. But the other heart, even though that child is obeying and doing everything he's asked to do, inside he's building this fortress of resentment and jealousy and hatred. So we can handle obscurity. Few people can handle applause. David doesn't demand more attention. He doesn't seek revenge against Saul. He doesn't seek to elevate himself, he simply continues to serve faithfully. There's two words that just has been rattling in my mind over the past couple of weeks, and it's the word faith. And David is a man that exhibits what it means to have faith and live out your faith. And the word that comes from that is faithfulness. So it's one thing God gives us faith, but we choose what we do with it. Are we going to squander our faith or are we going to live faithfully? Serving the Lord. How should listen? Here's a question. How should we respond when God blesses us with fruitful ministry, with success, with with abundance, with the life, a good life that God has given us? How should we respond? I can tell you this. First of all, we need to give God all the credit, all the glory, because every bit of it comes from Him. That all be our first response. You know what else we should think of? We should remember. We should remember from where we have come. We should remember our past. We should remember when we didn't have before we had. We need to remember what it was like to be lost and hopeless without any purpose or plan or agenda for our life. But surrendering our heart, Jesus has saved us. Remember how he brought us out of darkness into light. Remember how we came out of poverty and we came into a life of blessing. Remember that God has shown up. Even in the tough times, God has proven himself faithful. We should remember that. Thank you. You know how else we should respond? We should continue to serve. We could continue to serve even when we are celebrated. Somebody says, Hey, good job. You stand and enjoy the applause, or you can just put your nose down and keep serving. See, humility, we've said this, it's not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. Here's what else success reveals. Success reveals whether we will celebrate others or we will compete with them. Whether we'll celebrate others or whether we will compete with them. I believe that comes from the sin of comparison. Comparison can kill us. Verse 8, Saul was furious and resented this song. They credited tens of thousands to David. He complained, but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom? So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward. Saul hears the song. He becomes angry. Notice the progress. He hears the praise. And what does he do? He begins to compare himself to David. Oh, they're praising him because he's killed his ten thousand. And he becomes jealous. That's the progression. And the progression leads to beginning to watch David suspiciously. Listen, listen, here's something I've learned in life: that comparison is the fuel that feeds jealousy. Man, you know, Russ just mentioned something. So listen, we're gonna baptize, I think what, five people here this morning and two in social circle. And listen, I'll let me tell you what'll happen. This happens to me all the time. Man, I drive out of here on a Sunday with this unbelievable level of peace and satisfaction that we have seen God move and we are seeing him work. And we've baptized seven people. Man, it's oh, it's it's incredible. And then I pull my phone out and I just I'm just relaxing. I'm just having a bite to eat, and I begin to scroll. And and and one of my friends has just posted that his church in one day has baptized 200 people. And all that excitement drains out of me. Sin of comparison. You know what that reveals? That reveals that reveals something in me. You know what I should be doing? I should be, man, praise the Lord. They baptized 200. Praise God that my friend Joby down in uh down in Jacksonville, Florida, a few weeks ago, and one Sunday they baptized 2,500 people out at the ocean. Outside the city of Jacksonville. Yeah, praise God. Praise God. The kingdom of God is moving forward everywhere we. Look, he's moving forward. Maybe in some places it's it's it's it may be at one degree, in other places at another degree, but God's gonna do his work, and comparison is the fuel that feeds jealousy. And so that revealed something in my heart. I didn't like it, so I had to submit that to the Lord. And I gotta go back to remember God is still faithful, God's changing lives here, God's doing a work here. And celebrate that. Remember what God has done. Someone else's success does not diminish God's purpose for your life. When the sin of comparison rears its head, how should we respond? When you feel that temptation to compare yourself, celebrate God's work in others. That means I need to, you know, when I see somebody post something like that immediately, I need to I need to pick up my phone and text, man. Way to go. Man, I saw what God's doing. I'm so excited for you. I uh man, and I need to celebrate what God's doing. Refuse to compare your chapter to someone else's chapter in life. And then finally, thank God for the gifts. Thank God for the opportunities. Thank God for seven lives changed. Thank God that God is working in our church. And then finally, here's what success reveals. It reveals whether we trust God or we try to protect ourselves the next day. An evil spirit. Sent from God came powerfully on Saul. He began to rave inside the palace. David was playing with the liar as usual, but Saul was holding a spear and he threw it. He threw it. They're on the same team. They're part of the same people. And he threw the spear, thinking I'll pin David to the wall, but David got away from him twice. David, Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but had left Saul. You know what? Obviously, the Spirit of God had left Saul for him to do something in that moment, that singular moment, so drastic and so crazy. And I'm telling you, listen to me. That's how the enemy works. We are in a season in our community where I feel there's a spirit of darkness, and that spirit of darkness is after the hearts of our children. And I'm telling you, church, we need to be a church that prays and engages in spiritual warfare over the lives of the next generation. And when the enemy threatens to give a thought in the life of a young person, whether it's a young woman or a young man, that the Spirit of God would come alive inside of their hearts and they would realize that they were formed in their mother's womb and that they were given a purpose at conception, and that their life has meaning and purpose, and it counts. And we need churches who will invest and speak life into young people and make sure that the enemy of darkness does not have power over their minds and their hearts and their decisions. So Saul sent David away from him and made him commander over a thousand men. David led the troops and continued to be successful in all his activities because the Lord was with him. When Saul observed that David was very successful, he dreaded him. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was leading their troops. See, Saul's jealousy, it goes from jealousy into fear. Twice he tries to take David's life with a spear. And see, what we see, and just this is how I want to conclude this. I want to draw some comparisons, and I want you to see it visually. I want you to see it visually. Where on one side Saul is fearful, but on the other side, David is faithful. On one side, we see Saul manipulates. On the other, we see David serves. We see one side, Saul preserves. He's wanting to preserve and protect. He's wanting to preserve his kingdom. See the language there? His kingdom. Rather than God's kingdom, David trust God's timing. And verse 14 is so important in this. And continued to be successful. David continued to be successful in all his activities. Here's the phrase. Let's say it together. Because the Lord was with him. See, David's confidence was not in his popularity, his confidence was in the presence of God in his life. See, when success becomes your identity, fear will control you. When God is your identity, when Jesus is your identity, success cannot control you. So how do we respond? When we struggle between protecting versus trusting, how is it that we respond? We trust God's plan rather than striving to protect our own reputation or our own identity. We cultivate, see, we we we've come, we've bought into the lie that you can cultivate an identity digitally and electronically, which takes us out of this real world that we live in where there are real people who desperately are looking for hope and meaning. It's not in your what do you call it, your Facebook or your Instagram profile. My friend Tyler took a picture of me last week. I was preaching, I told him, I said, Tyler, I'm gonna have this comparison of Muggsy and Shaquille and Goliath. And I said, hey, I'm gonna hang out over here on the Muggsy side and between Muggsy and Shaquille because I'm I don't know if y'all know this, I'm not of great stature. I said, I need to I need to look a little bit taller. So he took a picture, he takes a picture. I literally look 6'4 in the picture. I don't I don't have it, I don't have it up here. But but I kept it. I'm thinking about making it my profile page on Facebook. But then now I've just ruined it. How do we respond? How about we let God's approval matter more than people's applause? God's approval matters more than people's applause. How about we anchor our confidence in God's presence and not our performance? The story is really about two hearts. It's about Saul's heart, which is a heart that's jealous, competitive, fearful, and consumed with protecting himself. And David's heart is humble and faithful and trusting and focused on serving God. The same success that elevated David exposed Saul. Success is a test, I'm telling you. Success is a test. It reveals what's already inside. So when God blesses you, we should stay grounded. When God pours out his spirit, let's be grateful. When God works, let's celebrate. When we see God do something in somebody else's church or somebody else's ministry, let's celebrate with him. When we see God um when we see God working in anywhere, let's let's just come back and trust God with our future. When success comes your way, it will either reveal pride or jealousy. Humility, gratitude, fear, or faith. What is it going to reveal? Because success does not create your character, it just reveals your character. A.W. Tozier said this. He says, we often treat Jesus the way Saul treated David. We want him to slay giants and send spirits away, but we don't want him to be king. Because king is giving away our authority, he's giving away our identity. But I'm telling you, Jesus is a good king. He is a good king. He gave his life for us. And we're about to celebrate communion. And when Jesus was celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he gathered them together. And I don't know if anybody has a chair or a towel out here to bring to me. I had a volunteer. There it there he comes. So Brandon's gonna help me out. So Brandon, would you just kind of open up that chair and turn it turn it sideways? Alright, then have a seat. Let me tell you what your king did to model, to model the difference between a prideful heart and a trusting heart. Jesus said, I I want you to do this with one another as you move on in life. Now he's about to get to the Lord's table, he's about to get to communion. But before he does that, he takes a bowl and he wraps the towel around his waist. And he just begins to kneel down at the feet of each one of his disciples. And I think when he knelt down, I think he had to look them eyeball to eyeball. And say, you know what, you might have been a fisherman. You may not be all that intelligent in the world's sense with a degree. But I can say this probably Jesus was speaking some life into Peter and John and James and these other disciples, just like Brandon. I believe this about you. Is you're a man of God, you're a godly man, you're a godly husband, you're a godly daddy. And you you've listened you can play the lick out of that guitar, man. You can, you can, you can sing, you can do all those things, but you know what's the best, most incredible thing I see in your life is just, man, you go after Jesus every day. You spend hours putting sermon notes in for the pastor. You spend all the time investing in worship leaders. And Jesus is speaking. I believe he's speaking life into these disciples, and he's modeling to what it means to wash feet. And this may not mean anything to you and me in 2026, but I'm telling you, in that day, in that age, it was despicable to walk into a place with dirty feet. They didn't have, they didn't have Jordans or whatever shoes you have, man. We need to up your game a little bit. But what but but so they didn't they had dirt and and sheep poop and whatever on their feet, and they covered a house, and and what they did is they hired servants to wash the feet of the people in their house, and it was a it was a sign of respect to have your servant do that. But the how the homeowner would never stoop to wash feet. But the king of the universe stoops to wash the feet of his disciples and speak life into them and to tell them they have worth and they have hope. And because of that, you're gonna see things when the kingdom comes that you've never dreamed of seeing because you have been faithful all the way to the end. And so we are gonna come to the Lord's table. And we're gonna follow with Jesus' example where he says, hey, listen, this has been a Passover meal that celebrates how God delivered our people out of Egypt. But now it's gonna be a meal that takes some some new meaning on, and you and see, this is before he's crucified and before he's bodily resurrected, so that they they don't fully see it yet. And you know what? You don't fully see what God has for you yet, but we come to the table because he promises us a life that will move beyond this broken world where there'll be no more pain and suffering. There'll be no more issues with whether we matter or not. There won't be young people questioning whether they have a place or not. There won't be parents struggling with finances. It'll be a place with no physical shortcomings whatsoever. People will be whole and healed. He said, You're gonna come to that day, but until you come to that day, I want you to come to this table and I want you to continue to this until I come into my kingdom to establish it. And so we come here this morning. Just let me give you a couple of logistics here at Church of the Gold. We practice open communion, which means you don't have to be a part of a member of our church or a certain tradition. If you have put your faith in Christ, that is the requirement. That's the first requirement. Second requirement is that you come examining your heart, making sure there's nothing unconfessed to God and making sure that if we have some issues with other people that we get that resolved. And when we come, we come as a body and as a people, and we dip the wafer into the juice. And you come individually, you can come as a couple, you can come as a family. It's sweet to see people circle up, see our young people circle up and pray together. But I want you to remember that the king who instituted this meal is the king that was willing to stoop to wash feet, and he is the perfect example to follow the example that David set. So would you pray with me? Father, we are so grateful for your goodness and your gratefulness, your goodness and your graciousness, and God, we are so thankful for the example that you've set in your word with people like David. What what a what a beautiful story of a of a young man who could have been proud, but he decided to keep his heart humble before you. Hopefully, in humility, God, in a way that that is faithful to your commands, but also in a way that is worshipful, and how we partake of it, that our hearts would be at the right place. It's in Jesus' name I pray. And everybody said together, I'm gonna ask as our team leads us out, that you would make your way as the Holy Spirit leads you to the table.