Well, that last verse might be a good baby name there.
Selaham Alekhov.
Great name, right?
First Samuel chapter 23.
You know, if you remember last week,
we talked about Saul,
and we kind of saw his continual downward spiral,
how he was suffering majorly from paranoia.
He was imagining there was this big conspiracy against him,
even though it wasn't happening.
And it caused him to go down a really wicked road
to where he even ordered that the Lord's priests would be slain.
And of course, he had his wicked yes-man with him,
Doeg, the Edomite,
that went ahead and fulfilled that request.
And here in verse number one, it says,
Then they told David, saying,
Behold, the Philistines fight against Calah,
and they rob the threshing floors.
Now, who's the they there?
If you remember, in the last chapter,
it talked about this large band of men
that went to David and kind of sought him as a leader.
And the Bible described them as being people
that kind of had a lot of issues,
being in debt and discontented,
and just having some issues.
And you can kind of see a little bit of their immaturity here,
because this is something that an immature person does.
Then they told David, saying,
Behold, the Philistines fight against Calah,
and they rob the threshing floors.
Notice they just, like, point out an issue.
But this is what...
The issue's not pointing out an issue.
The problem is pointing out an issue
without ever bringing a solution.
And this is something that just annoys me,
and it, quite frankly, annoys your boss.
It annoys anyone in a position of leadership.
When someone's just like,
Hey, David, here's a problem.
Like, that's not fun to hear.
That's not a good thing to hear as a leader.
You know, you want to hear a solution
when a problem is brought to you.
I'll read for you a verse in Proverbs 11.
You can stay there.
Verse 14 says,
Where no counsel is, the people fall,
but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
See, there's a lot of people there
that could have maybe offered some sort of a solution,
like saying, Hey, the Philistines
are going to go fight against Kayla.
They're robbing all the threshing floors.
Hey, David, what do you think about us
going and helping them?
Or, Hey, David, do you have any contacts
that we can go get in touch with to help these people?
But notice they just kind of bring a problem to David,
and they just leave it right there.
They don't really offer any solutions.
And that is kind of an annoying thing.
You know, just a tip,
if you bring a problem to your boss,
or, you know, no one's in the military here,
but if someone's in the military,
you know, you bring a problem to your commanding officer
or something like that,
generally speaking, you want to be providing
multiple solutions to bring them that idea, right?
It's a good idea to just bring them multiple ideas
and then let them decide.
And once they decide,
you just obey with what your leader goes with.
But you don't really want to be the person
that just brings problems
and just doesn't do anything about it.
You know, all the time when I was working for steadfast,
sometimes people would crack me up
and it'd be like, Hey, you know, brother Dylan.
I was brother Dylan.
Hey, brother Dylan, you know, the coffee's out.
I'm just like, man, this is a challenging situation.
How are we going to fix this?
Maybe we can make another pot of coffee
or we can just quit the ministry or something like that.
We can just fold up the church, one of the two.
But it's like, you know,
sometimes you just need to come up with a solution.
Sometimes you need to bring solutions,
not just be like, hey, there's a problem,
fix it, do something about it.
Like, hey, actually just bring a solution to the table.
Now, David is a good leader.
So notice what he does in verse two.
It says, therefore, David inquired of the Lord,
saying, shall I go and smite these Philistines?
And the Lord said unto David,
go and smite the Philistines and save Calah.
So notice David as a good leader,
he's confronted with a problem.
He's confronted with an issue and he doesn't panic.
He doesn't say, what are we going to do?
He doesn't say like, oh,
let's throw our hands up and just give up.
He immediately starts seeking for solutions.
And this is what separates people like his followers
and leaders like King David,
is that when David's confronted with a problem,
he starts looking for answers.
He starts seeking a solution
and notice the first place he went for a solution
was to the Lord.
And you know, that should be our default setting
as Christians.
When we face a situation where we don't know what to do,
where we feel overwhelmed,
when there feels like there's this big challenge
in front of us,
your default setting should be to go to the Lord
and inquire of him what you should do.
Now go to Proverbs chapter two.
I'm going to read James 1 five.
The Bible says, if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally
and abraighteth not,
and it shall be given him.
See David here,
he didn't just have his own fleshly wisdom
that he was relying on.
He wanted to know what the right thing to do was.
God, should I go up to Calah?
Should I go up and deliver these people?
You know, he was sincerely asking that of the Lord
and we could do the same thing
because the Bible says in James
that if we lack wisdom,
we can go to God and ask him for that wisdom
and he's not going to deny us.
He's not going to tell us no.
You know, that's a prayer request
that if you are sincerely asking God,
God, I want wisdom.
God, I want answers.
He's for sure going to answer that prayer.
That's not, it's not even a question.
If you want wisdom and you are sincere,
you will get wisdom.
Proverbs 2 verse 6 says this,
For the Lord giveth wisdom,
out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
So, you know, there's two ways to figure out
what you need to do when you don't know what to do.
The first thing is inquire of the Lord,
pray, right?
And that's an important aspect.
You know, you shouldn't skip that step.
That's very important to show God
that you're serious, that you want the answers,
but you know what else is equally,
if not more important is actually listening
to what's come out of the mouth of the Lord
because that's where wisdom comes from,
it says there.
For the Lord giveth wisdom,
out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
Here's the thing.
God speaks to us today through his word.
Yes, wisdom, knowledge, it comes from the mouth of God,
but here's the thing.
You're not going to just pray to him
and hear some voice in your head, right?
There was times in the Old Testament
where God spake to man, right?
Where he was face to face with man
or where he spoke with men in a vision
or in a dream or something like that.
That's not how it is in the New Testament.
You know, today, God speaks to us through his word.
So if you want to know what to do,
if you want wisdom in a situation
where you don't know what to do, yes, pray,
but don't just stop there.
Read the Bible because I have heard from so many people
where they're facing the situation
and to them, it's a really challenging situation.
And here's the thing, we all have different levels of wisdom
and different levels of knowledge
and I'm sure there's situations that I go through
that I think are really challenging
and the answers are right here.
I just need to look at what the Bible says, right?
But sometimes I hear people, they're like,
man, I'm just really struggling
with what the right decision is here
and I'm just praying that God will give me the answer.
I'm just praying that God will show me what's right
and I'm just thinking like the Bible clearly says
what you need to do.
Like in this situation, there's no question,
there's no waiting for an answer from God,
all you have to do to get the answer
is go to the mouth of the Lord, the Bible.
Let me give you a really clear example of things I've heard
where this situation comes into play,
divorce and remarriage.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard,
you know, I'm just praying that God shows me
what the right thing to do is.
You know, I just want God to show me,
should I stay with my spouse?
Should I go on and find someone better?
Or someone will already be divorced
and they're struggling and they're wrestling
and they're praying, you know,
God, should I remarry this other guy?
Should I get remarried as a divorced person
while their spouse is still alive?
And it's like, look, stop praying
or here's what you need to pray,
pray for wisdom, then open the Bible and believe it.
But a person who's not sincere,
this is what an insincere person does,
they tell you they're praying for answers,
but then they don't listen to what the Bible says.
That's an insincere person.
If you truly wanna know the answers,
God will give you the answers.
God's given us the book,
God's given us everything we need to know in this life,
but you have to actually want to know the truth.
And a lot of people, they just wanna say,
oh, this isn't hard saying,
oh, you know, if the case be so with a man,
it's good not to marry.
You know, that's an insincere person
that doesn't wanna know what Jesus said, okay?
Now let's look at some verses on divorce and remarriage,
and let's just use this as an example.
You wanna pray for wisdom,
you wanna look at what the Bible says.
Matthew 5, verse 32, turn to Matthew 5, verse 32.
The Bible says,
but I say unto you, that's Jesus speaking,
that whosoever shall put away his wife,
saving for the cause of fornication,
causeth her to commit adultery,
and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced,
committeth adultery.
What is Jesus saying?
There is one, you know, annulment provision in the Bible,
where if before you consummate the marriage,
you find out that there was some sort of marital fraud
going on, where your wife, you know,
or husband claimed to be a virgin,
and it comes to your attention that they were not,
you were allowed to have what we would call
in our modern vernacular an annulment,
and you were able to put her away, and that's not adultery.
But if it's for any other reason,
any other reason you divorce your spouse,
adultery, abuse, abandonment,
all the things that people use as excuses to get divorced,
if it's for any other reason,
and that person goes and marries someone else,
they have committed adultery.
Now here's the thing, it's like,
oh God, you know, should I stay with my spouse?
Okay, pray that, then open your Bible,
start reading the New Testament,
you'll get five chapters in, and you'll get the answer.
It's not hard to know what to do.
It's hard to do it, but it's not hard to know what to do.
Go to Romans chapter seven, Romans chapter seven,
you say, I don't know, that verse is kind of confusing,
I need to see something more clear on that.
Okay, there's plenty of scripture on this.
Romans chapter seven, verse two,
notice what the Bible says,
it says, for the woman, which hath an husband,
is bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth.
That's pretty severe, right?
It's pretty intense saying like,
as long as your husband is alive, you are bound to him.
Period, end of story.
But if the husband be dead,
she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband liveth,
she be married to another man,
she shall be called an adulteress.
But if her husband be dead, she is free from the law,
so that she is no adulteress,
though she be married to another man.
You see how clear the Bible is?
And isn't it just a shame how so many preachers
will twist and corrupt what the Bible says on this issue?
And they'll sit there and counsel women
and counsel people in marriage that,
oh, you know, you could get a divorce
in certain situations, abuse, abandonment,
all these different things, when it's like,
if we just go to what the Bible says,
it's, hey, if your husband's alive, you're bound to him.
And if you get remarried while your spouse is still alive,
that's adultery.
That is a wicked sin.
Now here's the thing.
If your husband, if your wife has died,
or if your wife has died, if you're a husband,
you're free to get remarried.
There's no sin there whatsoever.
It's not like the Mormons where we're eternally married
or something like that.
It is till death do us part.
That is a biblical statement.
Till death do us part.
Go to 1 Corinthians 7.
1 Corinthians 7.
So we're looking at three different books
of the New Testament,
and they're all very consistent on this issue.
1 Corinthians 7, verse 10 says,
and unto the married I command,
yet not I, but the Lord.
You say, God, tell me what the married people should do.
Okay, here's what God says.
Let not the wife depart from her husband.
Now, can you get any more clear than that?
Well, what if in this situation,
let not the wife depart from her husband.
Let's keep reading.
But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried
or be reconciled to her husband
and let not the husband put away his wife.
I often talk about how there's a difference
between what's right and what's ideal
and what people will do, right?
And God knows that too.
He says, here's what's right.
Don't depart from your spouse.
The wife should not depart from her husband.
The husband should not depart from his wife.
But if they do, if that does happen,
here's what's supposed to happen.
That person is supposed to remain unmarried.
Because what did Jesus say?
If you got remarried, if you're with someone else
while your spouse is alive, you're committing adultery.
And notice what it says, or so here's your other option.
So you've separated from your spouse.
You've divorced from your spouse.
If you didn't get remarried, here's your other option.
Be reconciled to her husband.
And it's so funny, like I've seen people
in this exact situation.
They've divorced, right?
And this person's praying like,
should I go back to my spouse?
Should I reconcile this relationship
or should I get married to someone else?
And it's like, okay, pray for wisdom,
but here's the answer.
God gave you the word of God
so that you can know what to do.
The Bible is described as a light to our path, right?
As a lamp that goes before us living in this dark world.
We don't know what to do on our own.
We don't have enough wisdom.
We have the Bible to shine the way for us.
And God's word is very clear that divorce is wrong.
That remarriage is wrong if your spouse is alive.
That these things are adultery.
You know, God hates it.
And this applies to not just marriage, not just divorce.
You know, this applies to anything,
any of God's commandments.
What you should do is pray for wisdom
and then read your Bible and do what it says, right?
Like how the Bible tells us
that we're supposed to go out into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature, right?
Then you have humanists coming along
and people using their own carnal wisdom
that wanna tell you like,
no, you know, you shouldn't go preach the gospel to them.
You can get them saved by like lifestyle evangelism, right?
By you just being a good person.
You're just gonna have this glowing effect
and get people saved.
No, that's called leaning on your own wisdom.
Leaning on your own understanding.
Pray, God, I wanna get people saved.
God, use me for you.
Use me for the kingdom of God.
Then you open your Bible and it's like,
oh, preach the gospel.
Oh, he that win souls is wise.
You know, there's constantly,
the Bible's telling us exactly what we need to do.
You know, how about going to church?
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is,
and so much the more as we see the day approaching.
It's like, hey God, should I go to church
or should I just watch the live stream?
It's like, God wants you to go to church.
You could sit there and pray about it all you want.
God's given you the answers.
You know, God, how do I raise my kids?
God, I'm not sure.
You know, the psychologists are saying,
put them in a corner, put their nose in a corner.
You know, the psychologists are telling me
to give them timeouts.
It's like, the Bible says to spank them.
The Bible says to beat them with the rod.
So pray all you want, but God's given you the answer.
You know, this is just with so many things in life,
God's already given us the answer.
It's very, very few situations that I've encountered
having read the Bible a lot,
where I even have any hesitancy in my mind of what's right,
because the Bible is just so clear.
And it's only like in some bizarre, weird, obscure situation
where sometimes we have to stop and pray and read the Bible
and pray and read the Bible, right?
But most of the time, if you've read the Bible,
the Bible's clear on what we should do, folks.
There's no question about what we need to do.
Go back to 1 Samuel 23, 1 Samuel chapter number 23.
So we saw David prayed, God said, go against them.
Verse three says, and David's men said unto him, behold,
we be afraid here in Judah.
How much more then if we come to Calah
against the armies of the Philistines?
You know, this is an immature attitude
that they have here, right?
And it's very similar to the attitudes
that a babe in Christ would have,
where meanwhile, David, he's prayed,
David's gotten the answer from God.
You know, we know what's right here,
but even though sometimes you know what's right,
that doesn't necessarily mean
that it's easy to do what's right.
That doesn't necessarily mean
that you're gonna feel super excited
about doing what's right.
And that comes with maturity
to where you just see something in the word of God.
And you know what, you've been like,
hey, I've trusted the Lord before.
I know that God's commandments are always for my benefit.
And I'm gonna just do what he says.
I'll read for you 1 John 5.3.
The Bible says, for this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments,
and his commandments are not grievous.
See, the spiritual person realizes
that whatever God tells us to do is for our benefit
and is not grievous.
God is not giving us rules for the sole purpose
of just making our lives harder,
keeping us from having fun, keeping us from enjoying life.
You know, the Bible says that his commandments
are not grievous.
You know, Jesus said that he came to give us life
and life more abundantly, right?
He came to save us from hell,
and that's the most important thing, right?
That's the motivator to get saved.
But beyond that, not only did he save us from hell,
but he also came to give us a better way of life
on this earth.
And so anything that the Bible says,
regardless of how you feel about it,
regardless if you're scared to obey it,
you know, it's for your betterment.
It's gonna make your life better.
It's going to bless you.
You know, I think sometimes, especially ladies
in the culture that we're living in,
when every woman, it seems like,
grows up wearing pants only,
and it's kind of seen as a weird thing to some people.
If you wear skirts and dresses only,
they might have that feeling of fear of saying like,
I don't know, I don't know if I wanna go through with this.
But the question is, is it what God said or not?
Because if God told David, go, fight,
and you're one of David's men, go do what David said,
because it's from God.
And you know, when you're faced with anything,
and just apply this to yourself,
anything in the Bible you read that you say,
that's scary, that's hard to follow,
that's gonna take a lot of faith.
Look, if God said it, not only is it true,
but it's for your own benefit every single time.
Look at verse number four, 1 Samuel 23.
It says, then David inquired of the Lord yet again.
And the Lord answered him and said,
go arise down to Calah,
for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
I mean, David's being extra careful here.
He's double checking everything.
He goes and checks again with the Lord.
Lord, are you sure about this?
God says, yes, go down to Calah.
I'm gonna make you guys prosperous.
And at this point, it's just time to execute.
It's just time to do what God said.
And you know, if you're a leader, if you're a husband,
if you're a father, if you're a business owner,
you know, and even ladies,
there's people that look up to you
and that you're influencing in this world,
sometimes you have to realize that not everyone around you
is going to understand what you're doing
or like what you're doing or agree with what you're doing.
But here's what you have to think about as a leader
is what did God say?
At the end of the day, that's who you're accountable to.
That's who you need to be following.
And it doesn't matter if you go to make a decision
and everyone around you is telling you, you know,
they're afraid, they don't see how it could work.
This is a bad decision.
If it's what the Bible says,
then it's the right thing to do.
And you should have the courage to do that regardless.
That's what made David a great leader.
I mean, he's got all these men around him,
but keep in mind, there's a big difference
between David and all these men that are discontented
and in debt and having all these issues.
You know, David is right with the Lord.
David is a man of God.
When David hears from God and David knows what to do,
he needs to just go through and do that
whether people are afraid or not.
And the people following him could just get on board
or get out at that point.
Verse five says, so David and his men went to Calah
and fought with the Philistines and brought away their cattle
and smote them with a great slaughter.
So David saved the inhabitants of Calah.
Notice the result and the benefit of having a leader
that just sticks to his guns and does what was right.
You know, David would have just caved into the pressure
of his followers being scared
and he decided not to go through with that.
I mean, look at the result.
They got a bunch of cattle,
they smote the enemy with a great slaughter
and they saved the inhabitants of Calah, right?
So David wrought salvation to Calah
even though his followers were scared,
even though they weren't on board.
You know, it makes me think about this idea
that the old IFB has of a church voting run system
for a church or a deacon board or some sort of system
where the whole church votes on everything.
And you know, I've read church manuals
written by independent fundamental Baptist pastors
that literally recommend that the church votes on everything
down to every penny that is spent at the church.
I'm talking toilet paper, I'm talking office supplies,
like raise your hand and have a vote type thing
for everything.
How would that have worked in David's situation here?
How would that have worked for the inhabitants of Calah
if David just asked his followers for a vote?
You know, this idea of democracy is a terrible idea
and it's so exalted and it's like this buzzword
in our society, especially by leftists.
I mean, it's just like, oh, we gotta save our democracy.
Oh, you know, this person's a threat to our democracy.
Look, democracy is trash.
Democracy is a terrible idea.
You know that your home should not be a democracy.
How would you like it in my home
if I took a vote with my kids
of what we're eating for dinner every night?
It's like lollipops, chicken nuggets, soda, right?
That'd be a nightmare.
You know, do you think I should take a vote
with my children on whether or not I should go to work?
I would never go.
They would want me to stay home every single day, right?
And if David would have taken this vote,
you know what would have happened?
The people of Calah would have been destroyed.
And you know, we need pastors in America to say like,
hey, our church is gonna be
a confrontational soul-winning church.
We're gonna go out and preach the gospel
with the King James Bible
and we're not having to vote about it because guess what?
There's a bunch of people out there that need to be saved.
And if we took a vote, hey, do we wanna be soul-winning?
There'd be even less churches that are soul-winning
because let me tell you something,
soul-winning is not super popular.
Soul-winning does not come naturally to the flesh.
People don't wanna be like, hey, I know what I'll do.
I'll wake up super early on a Saturday in the cold, okay?
I'm gonna go knock on random people's houses in the ghetto
where their pit bull is almost biting my legs off.
I have to smell their stupid marijuana.
I have to step over all the crap on the ground
and all this nasty stuff and just, you know,
in the eyes of the world, make a fool of myself.
Just be like, hey, random stranger,
if you were to die today,
are you a hundred percent sure you'd be going to heaven?
Right, that doesn't come natural to the flesh.
And if we just took a vote for that,
I'm pretty sure most Christians would be like,
yeah, no, that doesn't sound fun.
Let's just leave a door hanger, you know?
Let's try to get them on the bus ministry
or something like that.
But you know what?
I'm glad we go soul-winning
because we saved the inhabitants of Oklahoma City.
I'm glad that David said, you know what?
You guys are scared.
Well, too bad, we're gonna go fight them anyways.
And guess what?
They won.
And when you do what God says, you know what happens?
You win.
When you pray, you ask for wisdom,
you say, this is what the Bible says,
and we're just gonna do it.
God always gives us the victory.
Go to Luke chapter number five, Luke chapter number five.
This exact thing happened when it came to
the disciples of Christ listening to Jesus's instructions.
If you're in Luke five, look at verse one.
It says, and it came to pass that as the people
pressed upon him to hear the word of God,
he stood by the lake of Gennesaret
and saw two ships standing by the lake,
but the fishermen were gone out of them
and were washing their nets.
And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's,
and prayed him that he would thrust out
a little from the land.
And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.
Now, when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon,
launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft.
And Simon answering said unto him,
master, we have toiled all the night
and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net.
So notice he kind of has a negative attitude
towards it at first.
He's saying, look, Jesus, you're telling me to do something
I've already done.
We've been toiling all night.
We haven't caught any of the fish,
but I like this phrase.
He says, nevertheless, at thy word,
let's go ahead and do it.
Let's do what you say.
And notice what happens when you actually obey God.
Verse six, and when they had this done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes
and their net break.
When you listen to Jesus, when you follow his instructions,
fruit is a result of that.
There will be results.
And look, there's a lot of people in 2025
that are down on the idea of soul winning.
There's people that disparage soul winning,
that say it's not effective,
that think that our numbers are highly inflated,
that we're not getting that many people saved.
Look, we need to go at the word of Jesus Christ.
When he said, go out into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature,
you could sit here and be afraid.
You could sit here and doubt.
I'm gonna go do what he says.
You know what's gonna happen?
There's gonna be a great net with tons of fish in it.
We're gonna have a great harvest.
And already this year,
we're seeing lots of people getting saved.
We're seeing other churches that are friends
doing great exploits for God.
And you wanna know how it's getting done?
It's getting done through soul winning.
It's getting done by confrontationally
looking someone in the eye
and preaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's the way to get results.
That's the way that God said to do it.
Don't sit here and pray all day
about how to get someone saved.
Pray and read your Bible.
Pray and listen to the truth.
Go back to 1 Samuel 23.
1 Samuel chapter 23.
Ahem.
Verse six, and it came to pass when Abiathar,
the son of Ahimelech, fled to David, to Calah,
that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
And it was told Saul that David was come to Calah.
And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand,
for he is shut in by entering into a town
that hath gates and bars.
Notice the difference between David,
a man right with the Lord,
and Saul, a man who is not.
What is David doing?
David is praying.
He's asking and inquiring of God.
He hears the answer, and he's going out and doing it.
He's going out and fighting the enemies of God.
He's going out and bringing salvation.
He's going out bringing forth fruit, right?
Whereas Saul, notice the self-deception that he has.
As David's over here doing these great exploits,
as David is over here close with God,
Saul is so deceived in his own mind
that he thinks that God is actually for him.
He literally, look what he says.
God hath delivered him into mine hand.
Can you see how blinding pride is?
Nothing can be further from the truth.
God just answered David.
God just told David what to do, and he did it.
And God came through for him with a great victory.
Meanwhile, Saul just finding out where he is,
thinks, oh, God must be on my side.
Go to 1 Samuel chapter 15.
Here's the truth of the situation.
And we could find out the truth
by comparing scripture with scripture,
is that God no longer had any favor towards Saul.
God was done with Saul.
God was with David, and Saul could think all he wants
that God's with him that doesn't make that statement true.
Look at 1 Samuel 15, verse 10.
Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel,
saying, it repenteth me.
He's saying, I regret this.
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king.
Why?
For he has turned back from following me
and have not performed my commandments.
So notice Saul is in a position.
Saul has a title.
Saul's the king, but in the eyes of God,
God is standing there saying,
I regret making this guy king.
And why is it that God regrets making him king?
Because he's turned his back from him.
Because he's turned his back from following the commandments.
You ought not to be so simple
as to just see a person with the pastor title,
with the evangelist title, with the deacon title,
and just automatically think,
God is with this person, or God is with this church.
You could have a title, you could have a position,
you could have a building, you could have a kingdom,
yet the truth could be that God has departed from you,
that God is no longer with you.
And Saul could think all day long,
God's delivering David into my hand.
Yes, God's gonna let me kill him.
No, God's far from you, Saul.
God has already rejected you.
And so, yeah, wear your crown, sit on your throne,
but those things don't mean anything
when you actually don't have any closeness with the Lord.
I'd rather be like David, who's actually right with God,
than just having the title of king,
and having an army, and having followers,
and not actually being with the Lord.
Go to 1 Samuel 15, verse 23, it says,
for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord,
he hath also rejected thee from being king.
You know, we think about sins like witchcraft and idolatry.
I mean, those are extremely serious sins.
I don't know anyone that's a witch, right?
I know people who struggle with covetousness.
I know people who struggle with anger.
I know people who struggle with lust.
I don't know a witch.
Right, that's a serious sin, right?
Idolaters, people bowing down before statues.
I know those people exist, they're called Catholics.
They're called Hindus.
But you know, I don't know a Baptist
that struggles with idolatry, I should be honest with you.
I've never known a Baptist to kneel down before an altar,
or before a idol, and worship an idol.
You know, but here's the thing,
God compares those extremely wicked sins to this, rebellion.
See, I do know some people that are rebellious.
I do know some people that are stubborn.
And when someone is rebellious,
rebelling against rightful authority,
stubborn against being corrected by the word of God,
or being corrected by a man of God,
you know what, God looks down at that rebellious person
and says, this is just like a witch.
This is just like an idolater.
And that is to the point where Saul got in his life.
He went from being the guy that God chose,
to God is saying like, you're like a witch,
you're like an idolater.
That's how wicked you are
because of the rebellion in your heart.
Flip the page to chapter 16, look at verse 14.
But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul,
and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.
You know, you read in this book,
we read about David continuing to do great exploits.
We see God coming through for him.
We see David praying to the Lord.
And every time we see Saul,
he's sitting under a tree doing nothing,
holding a spear or attacking David.
And it's like, which one do you think God is with?
The one that's bringing in tons of fish in his net,
the one who's saving cities, Kayla,
the one who's destroying the Philistines,
or the guy doing nothing but attacking God's people.
Who do you think God is actually with?
Yet Saul's, they think God's with them
because they're attacking David.
They think that they're justified in their mind,
but God is not with them.
Verse eight of 1 Samuel 23,
look at 1 Samuel chapter 23.
It says, and Saul called all the people together to war
to go down to Kayla to besiege David and his men.
So as soon as he finds out that David is there,
he's just going straight to war.
He doesn't do what David did.
David inquired of the Lord.
David asked, God, is this the right thing to do?
Yes, he asked again, just to make sure.
God, is this the right thing to do?
Yes, I'm gonna deliver them into your hands.
Then he gets the victory.
Saul, notice what he is, same problem he's always had.
He's self-willed and presumptuous, right?
He's self-willed and presumptuous.
He doesn't ask God, hey God,
should I go attack David right now?
Should I go try to kill David right now?
Because the answer would have been no.
So he just does it on his own.
He doesn't ask advice from God.
He just acts with whatever is in his own heart.
Now, there's a reason why in the New Testament,
one of the qualifications of a pastor
is that you would not be self-willed.
Okay, let me read this verse for you, stay there.
Titus 1.7, for a bishop must be blameless
as the steward of God, not self-willed.
You know, it is a terrible attribute in any leader,
especially a pastor, when you are self-willed, right?
Because the role of a pastor is to take what God said
and apply it to the people to feed the flock of God, right?
To rule in the house of God.
But we're not just ruling on a whim or on our own opinions
or on our own philosophies.
We're supposed to submit ourselves to the word of God.
And when we go out to war,
when we go out to fight a spiritual battle,
I'm not supposed to just pick fights
that are just my pet peeves or just my opinions.
I'm supposed to stand on the rock here.
I'm supposed to stand on what the Bible says
and fight the way that God told me to fight.
Not like Saul where he's just like,
oh, okay, let's just go attack David.
We're not even gonna ask if that's the right thing to do.
We're not gonna think about it.
Just being self-willed.
And you know, a self-willed leader is a scary, scary thing
because that person,
they're not gonna just get corrected very easily.
It's gonna take something major or in the case of Saul,
you know, it never really happens.
They never get corrected.
And he ends up just dying in shame.
1 Samuel 23, verse nine.
And David knew that Saul
secretly practiced mischief against him.
And he said to Abiathar, the priest,
bring hither the Ephod.
Then said David, oh Lord God of Israel,
thy servant hath certainly heard
that Saul seeketh to come to Calah
to destroy the city for my sake.
You know, notice how Saul's just willing
to kill all these people just to get to David.
He's willing to attack anyone and destroy the city
just to kill David.
Verse 11, will the men of Calah deliver me up into his hand?
He's saying like, are these people gonna betray me?
Will Saul come down as thy servant hath heard?
Oh Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant.
And the Lord said, he will come down.
Then said David, will the men of Calah deliver me
and my men into the hand of Saul?
And the Lord said, they will deliver thee up.
So notice David is, he continues to do the right thing.
He's very close with the Lord here.
He's having good fellowship and good communion
with the Lord.
But he asks, he asks God this question.
And so it's such an interesting question
because you would think that it'd be a given
when you just saved the city from the Philistines
that these people would just have some level
of loyalty to you, right?
Like you would think David and his men just came through
and saved everyone's life literally from the Philistines.
But David as a leader knows what all leaders know
that people are so quick to be disloyal.
People are so quick to stab you in the back.
And here David is, he literally just saved their town,
but he asked God, are these people gonna just give me up
to Saul?
And you know what God said?
Yes, that's exactly what they're gonna do.
The Bible says, a faithful man who can find.
It's a rare trait for a person to be loyal.
But you know what, just because that's the truth
doesn't mean that that should be so for us, right?
Just because most people are disloyal
and most people will stab you in the back
at the drop of a hat doesn't mean
that you should be that way.
Doesn't mean that I should be that way.
I'll read for you this verse, 2 Corinthians 12, 15.
The Apostle Paul said,
and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you,
though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
Isn't that a sad statement?
I mean, could you imagine living in the New Testament
at the time of the Apostle Paul,
and he's preaching at your church
and he's starting churches all over your area,
he's getting everyone saved.
And yet the people that were actually around Saul,
or the Apostle Paul, excuse me,
very close together there.
The people that he actually ministered to,
the people that he actually loved,
it says that the more that he loved them,
the less that he got love in return.
That's just a reality of life,
and it's a sad reality of life.
The admonition for us is,
hey, someone comes through and saves our town,
let's have some loyalty to that guy.
When someone ministers to us, when someone helps us,
when someone's done good unto us,
let's be loyal to that person.
Let's be looking for reasons to be loyal to that person,
not just trying to be,
oh, Saul wants me to turn him up, no problem.
We'll just deliver him into the hands of Saul.
You know, that's wicked, cowardly, pathetic behavior.
Getting saved like that, taking the good from David
and just turning him over like that, it's disgusting,
but you know what?
Christians do the exact same thing.
Christians will get saved and they'll go to a church,
the church that got them saved,
the church that invested into them,
and a year later, they're cult survivors on YouTube,
detoxing from their cult experience.
You know, it's a sickening thought,
but it's just the reality of church,
and I've seen it for over a decade.
There's probably someone in this room right now
that someday will be a cult survivor.
And you know, that's sad, and I hope that's not the case.
I hope I'm wrong about that.
But you know, I was told that when I'd start a church
and I'd become a pastor, that in five years,
the church will look totally different,
but no one told me it'd be five months.
Okay, it was supposed to be five years.
So you know, if you think that I'm just 100% convinced
that in 10 years that everyone's still gonna be here,
I hate to say it, I'm not 100% convinced of that.
I want that to be true.
I want you to be loyal.
I want to be loyal to the word of God.
I want to be loyal to my office as a pastor,
but I'm just telling you that human nature is to be a snake.
That's just how it is, but you know what?
You should decide in your heart
that you're gonna be the exception to that,
that you're not gonna be like the men of Calah
that literally just take salvation
and then just turn him over at the drop of a hat.
It's disgusting.
Go to Proverbs chapter three, Proverbs chapter three.
You know, I also like the beauty here
of the relationship between David and the Lord,
because even though David's going through hard stuff,
it's cool to see, you know, from the bird's eye view
of the Bible where we get to know all the details,
it's cool to see how God is just guiding David
every step of the way.
And you know, in our lives, we don't have that same,
you know, ability to communicate with God
where we just pray and he speaks back to us audibly.
But you know, I do believe that for us too,
God is working on our behalf when we're right with him.
And that is a good thought.
Psalm 37, 23 says,
"'The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.'"
You know, that's a comforting verse to know
that when you're doing what's right,
when you're on the side of God,
when you're a sincere person that wants wisdom,
that wants to do what's right,
the Bible says that your steps are ordered by the Lord.
And you know, yeah, you got enemies coming after you.
Yeah, Saul wants to kill you.
Yeah, the men of Calah are about to betray you,
but at least God's there to let you know about it.
At least God is there to warn you about it.
I told you to go to Proverbs three, verse five says,
"'Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,
"'and lean not unto thine own understanding.
"'In all thy ways acknowledge him,
"'and he shall direct thy paths.'"
See, it's not a guaranteed promise
that God is gonna direct your paths in life
if you don't acknowledge him.
But what does David do here?
He prays, he asks counsel of the Lord,
and then he takes the word of the Lord and does it.
And if you want God to direct your paths in life,
it's not some spiritual, mystic, you know,
experience or something like that.
You're not gonna see a bright shining light
showing you the way to go.
You're not gonna hear an audible voice.
You know what it's gonna be?
It's gonna be you opening up your Bible,
reading the black words on a white page
in front of your face and doing what it says.
You know, people like to just over-spiritualize Christianity
and everything's this, you know,
Pentecostal, charismatic experience.
No, spirituality, if you want God to direct your steps,
it's actually read what God told you to do and do it.
And you could have God direct your steps
in the same exact way as David's steps were ordered,
but you have to have the same mentality as David.
You have to do the same things as David,
praying to him sincerely, wanting wisdom.
And when you get the answer,
actually just obeying him and just doing what he said.
Go back to 1 Samuel chapter 23,
1 Samuel chapter 23, verse 13 says,
"'Then David and his men, which were about 600,
arose and departed out of Calah
and went whithersoever they could go.
And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Calah
and he forbear to go forth.'"
You know, I find it interesting that King David,
one of the greatest men in the Bible,
a man who went on to be one of the greatest king
in the nation's history,
he's just wandering around aimlessly in the desert here,
whithersoever he could go.
And it kind of reminds me of the Lord Jesus Christ,
how the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests,
but the son of man have not to lay his head, right?
But David was willing to go through this season of life.
David was willing to go through the pain, the suffering,
the, you know, just turmoil of this crazy aspect
of his life and he reaped the rewards later, right?
And Jesus Christ was willing to endure the cross.
He was willing to endure temptation
from the devil 40 days, 40 nights.
He was willing to endure hell for three days
and three nights for us.
And guess what?
He's King of Kings and Lord of Lords
and every knee will bow to him.
And you know, even though David's in this low spot
where he's got just this ragtag group of people around him
and he's just out in the desert by himself,
doesn't look like he's gonna become a great king,
but soon he's gonna be a charge.
Soon he's gonna be running the show.
Soon the nations of the earth are gonna be scared
of him and his kingdom.
And I just think it's an interesting picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Also notice it says it was told Saul that day,
that David was escaped from Calah
and he forbear to go forth.
So notice as soon as David's not there to attack,
Saul's out.
Why?
Because Saul has one motivation to live
and one motivation to live only,
and that's to attack David.
You know, that's a sad life right there.
And there are Christians that are the exact same way.
Verse 14.
And David abode in the wilderness and strongholds
and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph.
And Saul sought him every day,
but God delivered him not into his hand.
You know, there are Christians like this today
that live to attack other Christians,
that live to be envious and hate on other Christians.
But here's the sad part about this,
is that they are only hurting themselves.
You know, Saul here, King Saul,
if he would have repented a long time ago,
if he would have gotten right with God,
his life would have looked a lot different
and his end probably would have looked a lot different.
But you know what?
He's wasting, the Bible says every day,
he's wasting his time,
he's wasting his influence and power
that God gave him as the king,
not to use it to bless his nation,
not to lead his armies, to fight the enemies of God,
it's just to attack David.
And you know what?
He's only hurting himself doing that,
or he's especially hurting himself doing that, I should say.
He's also hurting his nation,
but he's especially hurting himself.
And this is like Christians that do this.
You know what?
Now is the only time that we have
to earn rewards for Jesus Christ.
Now is the only time that we have to win souls,
to earn rewards in heaven.
You know, if you just waste your whole life
attacking other Christians
and hating good men,
you are the one that's gonna suffer.
You're the one that's gonna be empty handed
at the judgment seat of Christ.
David is still getting victories.
David's still saving people.
David's still doing great works for God.
David is still communing with God and getting answers.
You can attack him all you want,
you're hurting yourself, you're not hurting David.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter three,
1 Corinthians chapter three.
No, I think it's a good reminder
to every once in a while,
put your life in perspective of eternity,
because we live in the flesh, right?
We live in this carnal world
and it's very easy for us as human beings,
all of us to get caught up in the affairs of this life
and to just be thinking about your job
and your bills and your money and food and clothing
and just all the things that we do in this world.
But you know, we need to constantly remind ourselves
of what's going to happen to us in the future.
1 Corinthians 3, 10 says,
according to the grace of God,
which is given unto me as a wise master builder,
I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon,
but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.
For other foundation can no man lay,
then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now, if any man build upon this foundation,
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,
every man's work shall be made manifest.
For the day shall declare it
because it shall be revealed by fire
and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
Someday our works are going to be made manifest.
Every person that is saved will stand
before the Lord Jesus Christ
and give an account for the works
that he has done in his body.
You know, God is going to look at your works
and look at your life and all of the wood and hay
and stubble and worthless things
that we all waste our time on.
But you know, you don't want to be like Saul
where every single day is just doing something vain,
worthless, yay, sinful.
Yay, actually going against the kingdom of God,
hurting the kingdom of God.
I mean, imagine standing before the Lord Jesus Christ
and this was your testimony.
You attacked the kingdom of God in your life.
That's a terrifying place to be.
How would you like to stand before your creator?
And here's what you've done with your life.
You spent every day attacking David.
You think that God's pleased with someone like that?
No, that's why God departed from him a long time ago.
That's why God was sorry that he made him king
long time ago, right?
You know, I think there's some people that God is sorry
that got into positions of leadership in this world,
in this country, pastors, preachers,
because it just seems like so many people are so envious
and just waste their life attacking David.
And guess what?
You're going to be the one that has to stand
before Jesus Christ and answer for it.
You know, we're going to be over here
serving the Lord.
We're going to put our head down
and try to get a ton of people saved
and try to preach sermons that help people's lives
and edify people and not just sit here
and hating David our entire life.
That's a waste of a life right there.
Verse 14, if any man's work abide,
which he hath built upon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss,
but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire.
You know, that's what happened to Saul.
He suffered loss.
He lost his kingdom.
He ended up losing his life.
He lost his son.
Jonathan died with him.
You know, that's kind of a picture of a Christian
that just wastes their life,
whether that's on the vain things of this world,
money, pleasure, vacations, you know,
whatever it is that you're into,
or whether it's a Christian that actually taxed
the work of God, that hinders the work of God.
At the end of the day, those are the people
that are going to be lacking at the judgment seat of Christ.
You know, we need to take our lives seriously
and constantly remind ourselves that this life
is not what's important.
Your house is not what's important.
Your car, your job, what's important is that day
when you stand before Jesus Christ.
And you're going to regret how much time you've wasted.
I'm going to regret how much time I've wasted.
You know what?
We should try to keep that in perspective now
so we could waste as little time as possible
and do things that actually matter.
Go back to 1 Samuel chapter 23.
1 Samuel 23 verse 15.
And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life
and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.
And Jonathan Saul's son arose and went to David
into the wood, and notice,
and strengthened his hand in God.
You know, these are the friends
that you want to have in your life.
Friends that don't, you know, tempt you to sin,
tempt you to go back into the world,
tempt you to be worldly,
but a friend that when you're around them,
they actually strengthen your hand in God.
They actually make you want to be a more spiritual person.
They make you want to love God more and serve God more.
That was the result of Jonathan and David's friendship.
And you want to know why they had such a deep friendship
to where their love in an emotional friendly connection
actually surpassed that of the love of women.
It was because of how much they both loved God
and how they strengthened the love of God in each other.
Stay there.
Romans 3, 3 says, can two walk together
except they be agreed.
You know, I think it's a fool's errand
to try to be friends with everyone.
I think it's a foolish idea to think
that every person is just going to have
tons of close friends.
Look, we should be friendly to everyone.
We should be kind.
We should be pleasant.
But the Bible says, hey, can two walk together
except they be agreed?
For someone to truly be my friend,
they have to share my vision
and they have to share my values, period.
And if they don't,
I'm never going to truly be that person's friend.
That's what real friendship is,
is that, hey, we could actually walk together,
meaning we're actually going the same direction.
How can you walk together with someone
when you're going two opposite directions?
That'll last for about a second
and then you're apart, right?
And yet people today,
they try to hang on to every friendship.
They try to hang on to every relationship
if they just have one little tiny thing in common.
It's like, you know what?
Life's too short for that.
I want some real friends
and those friends have to be agreed with me.
I have to be agreed with those people.
And if I don't agree with those people,
I'm not interested in being their friend.
Go to Romans chapter 16.
Let me give you an example of this.
Romans chapter 16.
Romans 16, verse 17.
When you turn there,
the Bible says,
now I beseech you brethren,
mark them which cause divisions and offenses
contrary to the doctrine which you have learned
and avoid them.
You know, he's saying like, hey, I beg you,
I'm beseeching you.
Mark them, make them known,
make it plain of the people that cause divisions
and offenses contrary to the doctrine
which you have learned and avoid them.
So notice people that don't agree,
people that don't share the same vision,
that don't share the same values,
when they're causing division and offenses contrary
to the teachings, to the doctrine,
to the truth that we believe,
we're supposed to mark those people and avoid them.
A lot of people get the first part down,
marking them,
but then sometimes they forget the second part.
And you know, for me, when I was a church member,
if my pastor marked someone,
if my pastor kicked someone out of church
or publicly marked someone as someone to be aware of,
you know, I was never going to be that person's friend.
I was never gonna wanna hang out with that person.
And look, I'm not a respecter of persons
because I've applied this to guys that I really liked
and that I was friends with for a long time.
But look, the best thing that I could do to that person,
if I care about that person,
is for them to experience the punishment
of church discipline so that their heart will get right,
that they will repent and get right with God
and get restored to fellowship in the church.
And let me tell you this,
not only, this is just my personal opinion.
I'm never gonna police anyone on this.
I don't care what you do.
I'm just saying this was my standard
when I was a church member.
If someone even just left our church
and they don't like our church
and our church isn't good enough for them,
our pastor isn't good enough for them,
our program isn't good enough,
they don't like our church anymore.
Even if they weren't marked,
even if they weren't kicked out of church,
I don't wanna be that person's friend anymore.
Why?
Because to be that person's friend, we have to agree.
But here's the thing, people are simple
because people like to emotionally manipulate you.
Here's what they'll do.
They'll say, they won't say this part,
but they'll say, hey, your church isn't good enough for me.
Your pastor isn't good enough for me.
It's not good enough that we can hang out at church.
That's not good enough for me,
but I still wanna be your friend.
I still wanna hang out with you.
I still wanna be buddies with you
because I love you, because I think so highly of you.
You know what that is?
That's a person that's manipulative.
Or maybe I just have some sort of crazy standard
because for me, when someone left our church on a bad note,
when someone doesn't like our church,
I'm just thinking like, hey, if you wanna be my friend,
why can't you come to church?
Why can't we be friends at church?
I've known people that left church,
they don't like the pastor, they don't like the program,
but they'll show up on a soul winning time
with their friend that leads the soul winning time.
What's wrong with you?
Look, if you think that person cares about you,
you are simple, you are deceived.
No, when someone is divisive,
division contrary to what we believe,
when someone's not agreed with us,
I don't wanna walk with them anymore.
Now look, I will never, never police someone
as to their, you know,
I'm not gonna be lording over God's heritage,
I'm not the boss of who your friends are,
but I'm just saying when I was a church member,
that's what I did.
And to me, it kind of says something like,
bro, they're manipulating you,
they're taking advantage of you
because if they were actually your friend,
then they would agree with you,
they would be having the same vision as you,
they would have the same values as you.
Go back to 1 Samuel chapter 23, 1 Samuel chapter 23.
You know, and I'm not saying it's easy,
you get emotionally attached to a person,
you truly love a person,
and it's hard sometimes to let those relationships go.
You know, at least at first.
Quite honestly, I'm past that in my life
because I just wanna spend time with people that agree
because I wanna walk in the same direction.
And I wanna bring people alongside of us
as we're going this direction,
but I'm not interested in stopping our hike here,
I'm not interested in taking a detour,
I'm interested in just going in our destination
of serving Christ, and if you wanna join,
great, we're happy to have you.
And if you don't, see you later.
I don't wanna drag anyone along serving Christ,
I don't wanna drag anyone along
going to Anchor Baptist Church.
Look, come here if you like it here.
Come here if you agree with us.
Verse 17 says, and he said unto him, fear not,
for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee,
and thou shalt be king over Israel,
and I shall be next unto thee,
and that also Saul my father knoweth.
And they too made a covenant before the Lord,
and David abode in the wood,
and Jonathan went to his house.
Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah,
saying, doth not David hide himself with us
in strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hakula,
which is on the south of Jeshemin?
So notice just everywhere we turn in this chapter,
people just betraying David.
It's like the men of Calah, yep, delivering him up.
Oh, the Ziphites, hey Saul,
let me just tell you exactly where it is.
It's like, what is wrong with people?
But it's like people be, people say,
oh, you know, this pastor or the new IFB,
you know, they just have too much drama.
They have too much drama,
and it's a proof that they're not right with God.
And it's like, David's as right as God
as you can get in this chapter.
He is close to the Lord.
He's praying.
He's sincere.
He wants wisdom.
He wants to know the truth.
God tells him what to do.
He does it.
He executes, right?
He's right with God, yet what surrounds him?
Drama everywhere.
What did David do wrong here?
Nothing.
Did he ask for this?
No, he didn't.
David is minding his own business,
trying to get away from Saul,
trying to remove himself from Saul,
and yet all this drama surrounds him.
Saul trying to kill him.
The men of Calah betraying him.
The Ziphites betraying him.
Let me just tell you something.
If you actually want to serve God,
there's going to be drama.
Get used to it.
Stop being so squeamish.
Stop acting like it's weird.
Stop acting like you're uncomfortable with it.
I'm just telling you,
that's the reality of serving God.
You know, you guys probably know I love World War II.
I love reading about World War II, okay?
And I love reading about the bombing campaign World War II.
And in World War II,
there was something known as flak.
And flak is basically these cannons
that people from the ground shoot into the air,
and they explode at the same altitude as the aircraft,
and they send shrapnel all throughout the aircraft,
going through the people,
going through the aircraft systems.
And there's this saying that you get the most flak
when you're flying over the target.
You know, during World War II,
you know who is not getting flak?
Planes flying in Australia.
Planes flying in Oklahoma.
There was no flak hitting those planes.
Why?
Because they weren't in the battle, that's why.
But if you're going to actually be in the battle,
if you actually want to charge the enemy,
if you actually want to fly over the enemy
and do some damage and drop some bombs
on the enemy spiritually,
there's going to be flak around you.
There's going to be casualties.
There's going to be drama.
There's going to be blood.
It's going to be nasty.
But guess what?
That's the price of actually fighting.
Or you could have just peace and no drama and no problems
and no explosions and no bombs.
But guess what?
You're not in the fight.
You're not doing anything.
There's plenty.
Go to any other Baptist church in this area,
and it's going to be peaceful and nice and calm and quiet.
And the preacher's never going to yell.
There's never going to be any, you know, drama.
But guess what?
Those churches aren't doing a lot of things for God.
Oh, that's prideful.
That's the truth.
That's the reality.
And so when you see someone
where they're doing what's right,
they're preaching what's right,
and drama surrounds them,
that's an indicator that they're good,
not that they're bad, okay?
You know, don't look at David here and say,
oh, what's wrong with David?
I've heard people say to Pastor Shelley,
oh, the fact that you had the lawsuits
and the protest means you're not right with God,
you know, quite the opposite.
Quite the opposite.
Steadfast Baptist Church was doing great works for God,
and that's why the devil attacked it.
Because when you're flying over the enemy,
that's when you get flak.
Go to verse 20.
It says, now therefore, O king,
come down according to all the desire
of thy soul to come down,
and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand.
And Saul said, blessed be ye of the Lord,
for ye have compassion on me.
Such a pathetic attitude.
Verse 22, go, I pray you, prepare yet,
and know and see his place where his haunt is,
and who hath seen him there?
For it is told me that he dealeth very subtly.
See therefore and take knowledge of all the lurking places
where he hideth himself.
And come ye again to me with a certainty,
and I will go with you,
and it shall come to pass if he be in the land,
that I will search him
throughout all the thousands of Judah.
Again, the Bible just highlighting
how this is the singular obsession of Saul's life.
He's willing to kill innocent people to get to him,
and if he has to search through thousands and thousands
of people to get to David, that's what he's gonna do.
What a wicked attitude.
You know, it kinda even makes me think of Herod,
how Herod wanted to seek out and kill Jesus so bad
that he said, hey, any of these kids in Bethlehem
that are two years and under, just kill them all,
because he wanted to seek out Jesus.
He wanted to kill Jesus.
And Saul just kinda has the same just bloodthirsty,
insatiable, implacable mentality,
where he's like, I'll go through thousands of people
to find David.
That is a wicked attitude.
Verse 24, and they rose and went to Ziph before Saul,
but David and his men were in the wilderness of Mahon
in the plain on the south of Jehemon.
Saul also and his men went to seek him,
and they told David,
wherefore he came down into a rock
and abode in the wilderness of Mahon,
and when Saul heard that, he pursued after David
in the wilderness of Mahon.
And Saul went on this side of the mountain,
and David and his men on that side of the mountain.
And David made haste to get away for fear of Saul.
Notice, for Saul and his men compassed David
and his men round about to take them.
Put yourself in David's shoes here.
You've been fleeing, you've been on the run,
you've been fighting, you're probably tired,
your men are probably tired.
You get sold out, right?
You get betrayed, and you just continue to run
and run and run, and finally you're at the point
where the Bible says that Saul and his men
compass David and his men round about.
You know, they're surrounded.
They're probably feeling like, this is it.
This is the end of the road.
Saul's got me, I'm dead, right?
That, I mean, that is where David is at in his life.
But notice what happens, verse 27.
But there came a messenger unto Saul saying,
haste thee and come, for the Philistines
have invaded the land.
Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David
and went against the Philistines.
Therefore, they called that place Silahama Lekkoth.
And David went up from thence and dwelt
in the stronghold at En-Gedi.
You know, right at the end, right where it seems like
it's all over, David's gonna die.
You know what was happening?
God was working for David, even though he couldn't see it.
Because right as they were surrounded,
all of a sudden Saul hears,
hey, the Philistines are coming into the land.
You know, we gotta go into the land, we gotta defend them.
And then the whole army gets diverted
and goes and fights against the Philistines.
And this is the principle that God is highlighting
in this chapter.
God is highlighting two different Christians right here.
One Christian is rebellious, prideful, self-willed,
presumptuous, on his own program,
doesn't care what God's will is.
He's not seeking the Lord.
He's not asking God for wisdom.
He's not doing what the Bible says.
He's just doing his own thing and being wicked.
Then you have David, who's close to God,
praying, asking for wisdom, doing what God says.
Doesn't mean that his life's easy.
Doesn't mean that everything's peaches and roses.
He's going through tribulation.
But you know what's happening
in the midst of that tribulation?
God is working for him, even though he doesn't see it.
You know, the application for us
is that we could have that exact same thing.
But guess what?
It's not just being saved.
Look, being saved, it gets you into heaven, folks.
But you know what?
If you want God working for you in your trials,
in your tribulations, in your fights,
in the midst of people betraying you,
in the midst of people attacking you,
if you want God on your side then,
you gotta be like David and actually be on the Lord's side.
Draw an eye to God, and he'll draw an eye to you.
What was David doing this whole chapter?
Drawing an eye to God.
He wasn't asking in anything in return from God.
He was just simply loving God.
And as a result, God was helping him.
Go to Romans chapter eight.
We'll finish in Romans chapter eight.
Romans 8 28 says,
And we know that all things work together for good,
there's more to that verse, to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
See, not everything works out for good to every person.
Not everything works out for good to every Christian.
Because you know, I firmly believe
that King Saul was a saved man.
But you know what?
It wasn't working well in his life.
Things weren't working well.
He didn't end well.
He dies by committing suicide
surrounded by the enemies of God.
Not all things were working together for good for him.
But you know what?
It was working together good for King David,
that even though he could look at his life right now
and say, wow, you know,
God supposedly chose me to be the next king of Israel.
Here I am almost getting killed.
Here I am in the desert.
This isn't what a king should be doing.
There's no honor in this.
There's no glory in this.
I'm running around in the desert.
I'm getting betrayed.
I've got this ragtag group of people following me.
But yet, God worked it all out together for good for David.
And not only did he just work things out together for him,
God was even extremely merciful to David
in times in his life where he sinned greatly.
Why?
Because he actually was a man after God's own heart.
He actually sincerely desired the truth.
He actually sincerely wanted to follow God,
even though he was a man and messed up.
He wasn't just this completely self-willed,
presumptuous, prideful jerk like Saul was.
Look at verse 31.
What shall we say then to these things?
You know, I wonder what David's men were saying
when they were surrounded.
What were they saying to these things?
They're probably saying, this is it.
We're done.
It's over.
But look at this.
If God be for us, who can be against us?
You know, don't let that just be a verse in your Bible
that you just read once a year and skip over.
You know, ask yourself that question.
If God be for us, who can be against us?
You know, we get to make the decision as a church.
You get to make the decision as an individual.
Are you gonna be like Saul?
Are you gonna be rebellious?
Are you gonna be prideful?
Are you gonna attack people, men of God, good Christians?
Or are you gonna align yourself with God's word?
Or are you gonna align yourself with seeking wisdom,
seeking to do what's right,
and actually doing it when you know to do it?
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for this great story.
And thank you for King David
just being a good example of a leader here
that sought you, stuck to his guns, did what was right.
And we saw that you came through for him, Lord.
I pray that we would all have the same faith
to realize that you can come through for us
in any situation, regardless of how hopeless it may seem
or frustrating the ordeal might be.
I just pray that you'd all give us a heart here
to desire truth and desire to follow your commandments.
We love you in Jesus' name we pray, amen.