But Psalm 54, look at verse number 4.
Behold, God is my helper.
The title for the sermon this afternoon is God is my helper.
God is my helper.
I hope you can say that about your life.
I hope you can say that God is my helper.
I hope you've experienced the help of God in life
when you've gone through challenges, difficulties, trials, tribulations.
And it's a very short psalm.
So, of course, I'm going to pad this out with a few more verses from around the Bible.
But what's interesting about the psalm, again,
if you've got a Bible with a title sort of given before the psalm,
if yours says this, maybe yours says this,
it says, mine says anyway,
to the chief musician on Neganoth, Maestil, a psalm of David.
So, again, we see that David's the author of this one.
When the Zephthims came and said to Saul,
Doth not David hide himself with us?
Can I just get a show of hands?
How many of you guys actually have that title in your Bible?
All right, so you can definitely see a few of them there.
So, we see when this psalm was written, we see why the psalm was written.
Once again, David is being persecuted.
Once again, David's surrounded by enemies.
And in this process, he calls out to God, says, God is my helper.
Lord, I need you. Please deliver me.
As we've seen many of the psalms, it's got that very same flavor about it.
But, again, when the psalm gives you that title,
it's always good to go back to the story as to when this took place.
Again, it says, the psalm of David, when the Zephthims, who were the Zephthims?
Came and said to Saul, we know that King Saul at one point was persecuted
and trying to kill David.
Doth not David hide himself with us?
So, let's have a look at this story.
Keep your finger there.
In Psalm 54, we are going to come back.
But let's go to 1 Samuel, chapter 23.
1 Samuel, chapter 23.
1 Samuel, chapter 23, and verse number 7.
So, we are up to that point once again.
When David's done achieved great things,
the people of the land, they love David and Saul's become envious.
Saul's become envious.
He believes that he should remain to be king.
He believes that his bloodline should be the kingly line.
But God had already chosen David to be the next king of Israel.
And so, David's on the run.
We may recall, even in Psalm 52,
where David was a fugitive, you may recall that.
And he went to the house of the Lord,
and got some bread for himself and for his men.
Well, this takes place a few chapters afterwards
in the story of as David as a fugitive.
So, David's still a fugitive in this story here.
In 1 Samuel 23, look at verse number 7.
And it was told Saul that David was come to Kylar.
And Saul said,
God hath delivered him into mine hand.
For he is shut in by entering into a town that have gates and bars.
So, again, Saul is hunting for David.
What does Saul say to him?
I find it quite interesting.
Because at this point in time, Saul is far from the Lord.
Saul is far from the Lord.
And yet, as David is trying to hide here in Kylar,
Saul says, well, the Lord hath delivered him into my hand.
Is that true?
Is the Lord helping Saul, you know, persecute and kill David?
Of course not. Of course not.
The Lord is on David's side.
The Lord has chosen David to be the next king of Israel.
But, you know, sometimes what may happen
is that people may start persecuting you.
Even amongst other Christians.
Don't forget, Saul is a saved man.
King Saul is in heaven right now with King David.
They're both in heaven right now.
And yet, Saul is trying to kill David.
You know, sometimes persecution can come even from
your own brothers and sisters in the Lord.
And sometimes your brother or sister might be persecuting you,
might be trying to cause you harm,
and they think they're doing God's service.
Okay?
And they can speak, well, God is leading me.
God is giving me direction here.
When that person is so far from the Lord, persecuting even God's own people.
Let's keep going there. Verse number 8.
Oh, man.
Just keep you inside and pray that my voice holds out, please.
Verse number 8.
And Saul called all the people together to war,
to go down to Kyla to besiege David and his men.
And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him.
And he said to Abiathar, the priest, bring hither the ephod.
Okay? So, David's like, man, I'm in trouble.
Saul's after me.
He goes to the house of the Lord.
Okay? And what he's got is this ephod.
The ephod was worn by the high priest at the time.
And I'm not sure exactly how David received the message from the Lord through that.
Okay? But somehow he did.
He went seeking the face of the Lord for help.
And he says in verse number 10.
Then said David, O Lord God of Israel,
thy servant have certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Kyla,
to destroy the city for my sake.
Will the men of Kyla deliver me up into his hand?
Will Saul come down as thy servant have heard?
O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee,
tell thy servants, and the Lord said he will come down.
So the Lord warns David, look, Saul's coming.
He's coming with great men, he's coming to make war, he's coming to destroy you.
Okay? So somehow God is able to communicate to David through this process.
Now you say, man, I wish I had that ephod of God.
You know, I wish God could speak to me in the same way that God spoke to David.
But don't forget, you've got the Holy Scriptures.
You've got the whole Bible. God is speaking to you.
If you need God's direction in life, just open God's Word and he will tell you.
Ask God to guide you and he will guide you.
Okay? So it's no different to us.
You know? And it's such a sad thing to be hated by brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Such a sad thing.
You know, I didn't realize that even as a church pastor,
I mean, something I already had to face,
is when even my own church members want to take you down.
Even when your church members start to hate you,
start to spread rumors about you that aren't true, obviously,
you know, seeking to disgrace your name or your reputation,
hey, it's a hurtful thing.
It's a really hurtful thing.
And look, you know, I am the pastor of this church.
God has given me authority, alright?
And, you know, I'm going to uphold this office as much as I can.
With the Lord's help, I want to uphold this office, okay?
But I also realize that I'm a target, even amongst Christians.
You know, you're going to find sometimes that you're a target even amongst Christians, alright?
But promise me this, you go to God's Word, you seek guidance from the Lord, okay?
You be careful. We know that King David, even though he's being persecuted by Saul,
even King David was careful to go up against Saul,
because he realized Saul is still God's anointed king over Israel.
He was just waiting for his time, you know, God's timing when he would be elevated to that position.
But he left it in God's hands to take care of Saul.
Reverend, if you start to feel that, you know, your fellow Christians,
your fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord are out to get you, please take it to the Lord.
Please take it to the Lord.
If there are conflicts in this church, okay, if you have a conflict with a brother or sister in this church,
don't bring it to me. I don't need to know about it. I don't want to know about it.
Take it to that individual one on one if there's been an issue, if there's been a conflict.
Go and sort it out, gain your brother, gain your sister, work out your problems, alright?
It's the right thing to do. Sort things out, okay? But you know, it can happen.
You know, if someone desires to be a pastor one day,
I'm warning you that you're going to find that your church members sometimes are going to raise up against you.
They're going to say weird things about you.
You know, they're going to come up with wild imaginations and cause people to hate you.
Alright? And you know, I could be doing anything else but pastoring.
You know, all I'm saying, brethren, is I want a peaceful church.
I want a church that comes to worship and honor God.
You know, I want us to get along. We don't have to be best friends, okay?
We don't have to have the same interests.
We don't have to agree with what everybody does in their life.
But you know, we can still love each other.
We can still be friendly toward each other.
We can still care for one another.
We can still pray for one another.
We don't have to get to the point of soul.
Where we see God is using some other man or someone else and you get envious about it.
God can use you too.
God used soul.
God used soul. Soul was a great king at the very beginning.
But then he became envious of how God will use someone like David.
Okay, we should not become that way.
You know what? If we see God doing a great work in a fellow Christian's life, we should rejoice.
Say, praise God, you know, that God can use this sinful creature.
You know, God can use this brother or sister in the Lord.
You know, I hope God can use me to do great works for you.
Please support your pastor.
You know, even if it's not me, in some future where you might have some other pastor, please get behind the pastor.
Okay, it's sacrificial work.
You know, people are going to say things about the pastor.
Alright, please give me at least the benefit of the doubt.
You know, that I'm trying to do what is right, that I'm trying to follow God's word.
I know I'm not perfect.
You know, I know I'm not perfect.
And because I know I'm not perfect, I know you're not perfect either.
Okay, but please get behind your pastor.
Get behind the man of God.
Okay, because it is a sacrificial work.
I could be doing anything else but pastoring.
In fact, I would have much preferred if some other man raised himself up and said,
you know what, I'm going to the Sunshine Coast to start a church and be the pastor.
I'd be like, great, I'll get behind you.
I'd much rather that.
Okay, but there was a gap.
There was a need.
You know, and I'm here to serve this church.
I'm here to serve Blessed Up Baptist Church down in Sydney as well.
You know, it's so important that we have peace and unity.
You know, that we pray for one another, that we love one another.
Because this would have been a hurtful time for David.
Don't forget, King Saul is not just another brother in the Lord,
but King Saul is also his father-in-law.
You may recall that he married Saul's daughter.
Let's keep going there, verse number...
Sorry, where am I up to?
Does anyone recall where...
Ah, yeah, verse number 12.
Then said David,
Will the men of Kylar deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?
And the Lord said, they will deliver thee up.
So you will be betrayed by the people that you live around.
Alright?
And verse number 13.
Then David and his men, which were about six hundred,
arose and departed out of Kylar,
and went whithersoever they could go.
And it was told so that David was escaped from Kylar,
and he forbade to go forth.
Alright?
Now look at verse number 14.
And David abode in the wilderness, in strongholds,
and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph.
Now we're getting to the story, really, of the psalm.
I wanted to just give you that background,
that he's being chased from town to town, from city to city, by King Saul.
So he's in the wilderness of Ziph.
Now remember, the title for Psalm 54 was a psalm of David,
when the Ziphoms came and said to Saul,
Doth not David hide himself with us?
So even though David's gone to Ziph,
he's going to find the people of this land,
they're going to betray him as well.
They're going to go to Saul as well,
and say, well, he's living with us.
Go and hunt him down, King Saul.
It says, and Saul sought him every day,
but God delivered him not into his hand.
So notice, even though Saul thinks God is delivering David into his hand,
very clearly, God is not.
God is delivering David from the hand of Saul.
Verse number 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's soul son arose,
and went to David into the wood,
and strengthened his hand in God.
And by the way, brethren, if you have fellow brothers and sisters being persecuted,
okay, for their faith, you ought to be like a Jonathan.
You ought to go up to them and pray to them, encourage them in the Lord.
Brethren, you know, there are people in this church this very morning that are hurting.
This very morning, there are people in pain, hurts, going through problems.
And they won't always speak up about it.
I understand that's the case.
But we need to be a Jonathan.
We need to be a good friend, especially to God's people.
We need to be encouraged.
Look, we know that David is a man after God's own heart.
We know that David was used by God to write these beautiful psalms.
You know, David's surely going to become king soon.
He knows the promise that God has given him, all right, through the prophet Samuel.
But notice, even then, what a blessing to have someone like Jonathan,
a good friend, the son of the enemy,
to come up to him and say, look, I'm coming to encourage you.
The Lord's with you.
The Lord's going to deliver you out of the hand of my father.
You know, Jonathan was definitely a good friend, a good friend.
Verse number 17.
And he said unto him, fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee,
and thou shall 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.
Look at verse number 19.
Then came up the Ziphites.
So they're the same people that I mentioned there in the psalm.
Then came the Ziphites to Saul, to Gibeah, saying,
Doth not David hide himself with us?
Which is the way you get the title from the psalm, right?
Doth not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the wood,
in the hill of Hachalah, which is the south of Jeshamon?
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.
So sad.
David's seeking refuge, he's seeking protection.
Again, the people of the land, they rise up against David,
they go to King Saul, and they betray David in the hands of Saul.
And so you can see then why, when you get to Psalm 54,
you can see where David's condition was, where his heart was.
He's in despair.
Once again he's being betrayed.
Once again he's going to have to escape out of this land, the land of Ziph.
And if we can go back to Psalm 54 now,
now that you understand the context of this psalm,
Psalm 54, let's have a look at the words of David.
And again, if you're being persecuted,
especially if you're being persecuted or hated by your own brothers and sisters in the Lord,
Psalm 54 is for you.
Psalm 54 is for you, to give you direction.
Who do you go to when you need help?
Verse number 1, Psalm 54 verse 1, David says,
Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength.
Remember, we must go to the Lord.
So who is David? Remember who David is?
He's a great warrior.
He's taken down the lion.
He's taken down the bear.
He's taken down Goliath.
This man knows how to fight.
This guy knows self-defense.
He's not some weakling.
And even then he says,
Save me, O God.
You think you're stronger than David?
You think you can go through life without asking God for help?
You're mistaken.
I don't think there's anybody here that can fight as strong as David can.
And the example he's been set there, he goes before God and says,
God, save me, help me, deliver me out of the hands of my enemy.
Deliver me from this persecution.
Reverend, that's who you go to.
You're being persecuted.
Don't come to me. I'm not God.
Hey, if you want me to pray for you, I'll pray for you.
If you want me to be a Jonathan, I'll try to encourage you.
But you must go to God.
It must be you.
Sometimes I get people, and look, there's nothing wrong with this.
It's perfectly normal and correct.
But I get people say to me, Pastor, can you pray for me about this situation?
And I'm more than happy to pray for you. Please don't get me wrong.
But have you prayed?
Have you gone to God?
You're still a child of God.
I'm not some special child of God.
God is not a respecter of persons.
I've been saved by the same blood that saved you.
I'm a sinner just the same as you.
And I will pray for you.
But you need to pray to God.
You need to be the one that goes directly to God.
You have access to him in prayer.
And then if you want me to be like a Jonathan,
get behind you and encourage you, I'll do that as well.
But please, don't replace going to God with replacing that with going to my pastor.
You must go to the Lord.
Seek the Lord. He's your savior.
He's going to be the deliverer in your time of trials.
Verse number two.
Hear my prayer, O God.
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
And once again, are you a praying Christian?
Are you a praying Christian?
Do you just pray at church?
Do you just pray before your meals?
Or do you spend quality time with the Lord?
God wants to spend time with you.
God wants to speak to you.
God wants your fellowship.
God wants to hear what's on your heart and your mind,
even though he already knows what's on your heart and mind.
But he wants to hear those words coming from your mouth.
Prayer is powerful.
I know all religions of the world pray,
but they don't pray to the one true God.
They don't pray to the one that can change
events of this world to answer your prayer,
to help you in a time of difficulty.
Hey, be praying Christians.
Speak to the Lord on a regular basis.
Verse number three.
David says this,
For strangers are the people of Ziph.
For strangers are risen up against me,
and oppressors seek after my soul.
Who's the oppressor seeking after his soul here?
King's soul, right?
King's soul is seeking after his soul.
Oppressors seek after my soul.
Look at it. I went to those next words.
They have not set God before them, Selah.
Again, what was soul thinking?
I'm doing God's business.
God's delivering me, David, into my hand.
David says they have not set God before them.
Remember this morning I said we've got to be careful as Christians,
okay, that we stay true,
you know, spiritually and mentally on the true God of the Bible?
It's very easy to say,
well, I think God's leading me to do the X, Y, and Z.
But it's not God.
David says you've not set God before them.
I hear people say,
oh, you know, God's leading me to do X, Y, and Z.
And God does lead us to do things.
But you know what, if God's leading you,
he's going to equip you to get there.
I hear sometimes Christians,
and if this is you, I'm not having a go at you.
I believe the Lord is leading me to,
maybe I'll have a go at you, sorry.
Anyway, the Lord is leading me to do this,
and two months later,
oh, now the Lord's leading me to do that.
You've not set God before you.
It's just a wild imagination.
And you're calling it God,
just to justify your mistakes.
Just to justify your own selfish will.
I'll call it God.
God is leading me. No, it's yourself.
If God is leading you, he'll direct your paths.
He'll give you everything needed.
To make it happen.
So be careful about the God that you speak about.
Make sure it's not just your brain that you call God.
So, yeah, he knows God.
He knows of the God, of the Bible.
Of course, it's his Savior.
But when he says that God has delivered David into my hands,
it's not God.
It's his own brain thinking,
that's what God is doing, but it's not the Lord God.
And David's able to recognize this.
Don't forget, David has been moved by the Holy Ghost
to pen these words.
This can happen with them.
This can happen with you.
Don't come and say, well, God's telling me this or that.
Don't tell me that if it's contrary to God's word.
If it's not in this book,
if it's not in the Bible,
it's not God telling you.
It's some other God that you've set before you.
It's your own brain that you've called God.
It's your own wild imaginations.
In fact,
I should have told you to stay in 1 Samuel.
Did you stay there?
When we get to 1 Samuel 23,
we're looking at the story.
The story that gives us this psalm.
1 Samuel 23,
verse number 19.
1 Samuel 23.
And in fact, stay in 1 Samuel
as we keep going back and forth in the psalm.
1 Samuel 23, verse number 19.
Again, it says,
Then came the Ziphites,
to Gibeah, saying,
Doth not David hide himself with us
in strongholds in the wood,
in the blood of Jashamon?
Now therefore, O king,
come down according to the desire
of thy soul to come down,
and our part shall be to deliver him
into the king's hand.
We've read that part already.
But look at verse number 21.
And Saul said,
Blessed be ye of the Lord,
for ye have compassion on me.
Again, he thinks, man, the Lord's doing this.
The Lord's blessing our goal
to hunt down David.
God set God before them.
Please be careful
about how you speak of God.
Please be careful how you communicate with God.
Look, I believe
God led me to the Sunshine Coast
to start this church.
I truly believe that.
And guess what? He's equipped it.
He's made it to happen.
If I said, God is leading me to start a church
on the Sunshine Coast, and I come here,
and like six months later, it all falls apart.
I tell you, it wasn't God.
It was just someone else that I called God.
Which was my own brain, my own will,
my own desires.
Now, if you can please
keep your finger there
in 1 Samuel 23 and Psalm 54
if you can go to another passage for me.
2 John, go to 2 John,
2 John and verse number 7.
How else can we apply
this, about being careful
of who and how we describe God.
But in 2 John, please,
2 John and verse number 7.
And verse number 7.
2 John
and verse number 7.
And I feel like
as Christians, and maybe not so much
as my regular church members,
I think you're pretty on the ball about this.
But I think many Christians
need to wake up to this truth
in verse number 7, which reads
2 John verse 7
For many deceivers
are entered into the world
who confess not
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
this is the deceiver and antichrist.
So we're looking at deceiving
false prophets here.
Now,
I know where
some Christians come from.
Because I thought for a long time,
especially in my teenage years,
I just thought every church that names Christ
are believers and they're all saved.
And we just differ on secondary doctrines
and that's why there are different churches.
No, no, no.
I started to open my eyes eventually.
When I started to hear the gospel being preached,
when I started to hear of the God
being preached from some of these churches,
I had to say to myself,
this is not the God that I know.
This is not the God that I've heard from the Bible.
This is not the gospel that I've heard before.
And even
within independent fundamental Baptist churches.
There are, look,
many deceivers
are entered into the world.
Look,
I don't believe I'm exaggerating.
I'd say the vast majority
of religious leaders
are false prophets.
The vast majority.
If you're not in this church
and you need to find a good church one day,
listen to what the preacher is saying.
Please don't just think,
oh, it's Baptist, King James only.
Oh, they seem like they're okay on the gospel.
They speak of Jesus.
Listen, ask the pastor questions.
What do you guys teach on the gospel?
Who is this God that you speak about?
Can you tell me a little bit?
Because I want to decide if this is the right church for me.
Let them speak out of their own mouth
to explain, okay?
Look at verse number eight.
Look to yourselves
that we lose not those things
which we have wrought,
but that we receive a full reward.
Whosoever transgressive
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ
hath not God.
These false preachers, they don't have God.
He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ,
he hath both the Father and the Son.
You need both Father and Son to be right.
All right, verse number 10.
This is what I want you to pay attention to.
If there come
any unto you,
and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house,
neither bid him Godspeed.
Godspeed is basically your blessing.
You're saying,
God's helping you.
God bless you, brother.
Listen, if someone comes to your house,
and look, I hope it's the Baptists.
I hope it's the members of New Life Baptist Church
that knocks your door.
Oh, sorry, brother, didn't know that was your house.
Let me go to the next house.
I hope it's the Baptists.
But you know it's going to be the JWs,
all the Mormons most likely
that are going to knock your house.
Brethren, they don't have the same doctrine
that you hold to.
They don't worship the same God that you worship.
They don't have the same Savior that you have.
Look, don't bid him Godspeed.
Don't say God bless.
God bless you.
No.
Look at verse number 11.
For he that bideth him Godspeed
is partaker of his evil deeds.
All right, listen.
When a JW or a Mormon
or some other false religion
knocks your door,
listen, that is a false prophet.
They believe they're doing God's business.
Just like King Saul at one point.
Well, God's the one that's leading us.
God's the one that's delivering these people
into our hands.
Don't even receive them into your house.
And I remember being like,
I think I was like 18 or 19,
and I had these false prophets come to my house,
some random church.
I can't remember what it was now.
And I did permit them into my house.
I said, hey, come inside.
Because I wanted to give them the gospel.
And I did preach them the gospel.
They didn't get saved.
Of course, they're on their mission.
They're trying to convert me.
And then I didn't know this passage.
I guess I overlooked it.
I just thought I was doing the right thing,
bringing them into my house.
And I realized, no, I should never have brought them into my house.
I don't know, did I say God bless?
I don't know. I can't even remember.
I hope I didn't.
God bless.
Now, look, if I'm preaching the gospel door to door,
and someone lets me give them,
like, just John 3.16,
that they're not interested,
and I give them John 3.16,
I've got no problem saying God bless you.
Because I do want God to bless them.
Like, I do want God to take that John 3.16,
or that small little passage of scripture,
that small little preaching they received,
and I want God to do a great blessing in their heart,
and they would be saved.
Nothing wrong with that.
I'm not saying, you can't say God bless you
to people that are not saved.
But obviously, if someone's doing the work of the devil,
someone is doing work,
and it's not the work of God,
do not bless them.
Do not bless them.
God says you'll be a partaker of their evil deeds.
God's going to hold you accountable.
You're saying God is with you.
God bless you.
God is not with them.
So again, there are many deceivers.
Be careful.
Young people, be careful.
Another church you decide.
I hope you get older,
and I hope you guys find another church one day.
You find another great pastor.
I hope you've learned what you can learn from me,
and you can be a blessing to some other church.
I hope, you know,
I'm not trying to hold on to you guys
and be this dictator or something.
I would love nothing more for our children
to grow up, be older,
and be a blessing to other churches.
And be an encouragement,
be a Jonathan to other pastors that are out there.
I would love that.
I would love that testimony
if that could come out of our church.
Now make sure you get into a church
where the pastor is at least saved.
At least saved.
Oh man, so many churches, pastors are not even saved.
How sad.
And then they're trying to teach people
the word of God
when they haven't even got the Holy Spirit.
Within them, teaching them these things.
Now King Saul was saved.
Again, we just see how bad
even a Christian can go though.
How bad even a Christian can think
he's doing God's business.
But he's far from the Lord.
Doing wickedly.
Attacking his fellow brother in the Lord.
Attacking King David.
David was just a blessing.
He delivered Israel
from the Philistines.
What a great champion.
I'd love to have David right here now.
That can encourage us.
That can fight for us.
I hope I could never become envious.
So I don't mind
if other men come up here
and you guys preach better than me.
I'm not going to get envious, I promise you that.
I want you to preach better than me.
Brother Jason, I want you to preach better.
Brother Matt, Brother Callum
and whoever else gets up to preach.
Brother, preach better than me.
I don't want to be envious.
Say yes, Lord.
Now give us good, godly men.
Help us to be like Jonathan's, Lord.
To support men.
That can preach a word.
That can teach a truth.
Be careful. Be careful of envy.
Especially in church. The worst thing.
I love our church right now.
I love that we're not too big.
Because the bigger you are, guess what?
The bigger the problems.
Our problems seem pretty well contained.
There are little problems here and there.
It's like to me, we love each other.
We try our best to be an encouragement.
Let's keep that going.
God's added some new people to our church recently.
Let's continue to extend that love
and friendship and support.
Be a Jonathan to the people that come to our church.
That are visiting.
Be a Jonathan. Be an encouragement.
Be a support.
Back to Psalm 54, verse number 4.
Psalm 54, verse number 4.
So we'll get the title.
Behold God is mine helper.
The Lord is with them that uphold my soul.
Now notice that. God is mine helper.
Yes, God's going to help you.
But then also, the Lord is with them
that uphold my soul.
Hey, David had Jonathan.
Jonathan encouraged him in the Lord.
And David says in the Psalm,
the Lord is with them, that's with Jonathan,
that uphold my soul.
Reverend, you know, if you see me
going through some difficulties
and if you see people attacking me,
even within our church,
can you please uphold my soul?
Can you please get behind me?
And don't get into gossips.
And look, if I've done some great sin,
then we need to call that out.
Don't get me wrong.
Pastors need to be accountable for the sins
that they commit.
Don't get me wrong.
But listen, obviously I commit sin every day.
So do you.
Alright?
And look, we don't need to just be constantly
trying to find everybody's
little issues in life
and then turn against the pastor
and cause divisions and problems in the church.
Look, uphold one another.
Uphold your pastor.
And if you uphold your pastor,
the Lord is with them.
You want the Lord on your side,
you want the Lord supporting you,
encouraging you, then you need to encourage those
that sometimes face difficulties.
And it's the pastor that faces those kinds of
issues, those kinds of statements.
Now, if you can, please,
let's go to another passage.
1 Peter chapter 4.
Are you going through
persecution of the pastor right now?
No, I'm not. I hope not.
I wouldn't be surprised if people say
things about me that are a bit, you know,
strange or rumors.
It happens in life. It's happened before.
But again, just a reminder,
1 Peter chapter 4 verse 12,
it says,
Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial
which is to try you
as though some strange thing
happened unto you.
Listen, when you're being betrayed
and you're being persecuted
and even God's people are lying about you,
don't think it's strange.
But we do think it's strange, don't we?
Because we're like, but we're brothers.
We're trying to serve God together.
It happens.
Please understand, these fiery trials
are going to happen to you.
Don't think it's strange.
Verse number 13.
But rejoice.
I don't like those words.
Like, if I'm being persecuted
and people are lying, I like to complain.
Don't you?
I like to have a whinge about it.
Lord, why? Rejoice, it says here.
Rejoice in as much as
ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings, that when his glory
shall be revealed, ye may be glad
also with exceeding joy
if ye be reproached for the name of Christ.
Happy are ye
for the Spirit of glory
and of God resteth upon you
and on their part he is
evil spoken of, but on your
part he is glorified.
Wow. If you just serve God
and you just try to be an encouragement
and live a Christian life,
and you get this persecution,
God is glorified in you.
You're partaken of the sufferings
of Christ.
It's not strange.
Please don't quit Christianity
when some of that church
backstabs you.
Please don't quit the church
if you have a conflict with a brother or sister in the Lord.
Okay? Rejoice.
That's what you do. Rejoice.
Thank you, Lord.
I want you to be glorified in my suffering.
Because Christ suffered so much for me.
Thank God that I can just suffer a little bit.
And he is a little bit, really.
It's only a little bit.
It's not going to destroy your life.
I don't know if they're conflicts,
but they happen.
It's a strange church if everyone's just
holding hands,
seeing kumbaya every single moment,
where people
have real lives,
we all have problems,
we're all a little bit selfish,
we always look at each other and identify
those problems in other people
before we identify those problems within ourselves.
Okay? But just remember, you're like that
and so are your brothers and sisters in the Lord.
So be a little bit merciful,
be a little bit long-suffering, alright,
and understand that problems happen.
But when these problems happen, you rejoice
and say, you know what, I'm going to stay in church
because Christ has been glorified.
Let's keep going to verse number 15.
Verse number 15 is important as well.
Let none of you suffer as a murderer
or as a thief or as an evildoer
or as a busybody
in other men's matters.
Okay? If you're being persecuted because you became a busybody,
you're telling other families what to do,
that's not,
you can't say, oh man, I've been persecuted
for the name of Christ.
No, you're being persecuted or you're going through troubles
and difficulties because you're a wicked person,
that's why. Because you're a sinner, that's why.
That's nothing to glory about.
But then it says in verse number 16,
yet if any man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed,
but let him glorify God on this behalf.
So okay,
in church you can go through two different types of persecution.
Just being godly.
I don't mind you suffering in that regard.
Rejoice.
But don't turn around and be a problem maker.
Don't be a thief.
Don't be a wicked person.
Don't be a busybody, alright,
and then go, oh man, I've been persecuted in church.
Oh, glory to God.
No, no, you've got it all wrong.
Okay, if you've been persecuted just for being godly,
then praise God for that.
What an opportunity to suffer
a little bit for Christ.
Okay.
See, these things, brethren,
even in the time when the Bible was written,
these things happen in churches.
Conflicts happen, problems happen,
brothers and sisters,
they steal from each other, they cheat,
they lie about each other.
Don't think it's strange when it happens to you.
Okay.
Back to Psalm 54.
Psalm 54, verse number 4.
Behold, God is mine helper.
Sorry, what am I up to?
No, sorry, verse number 5, sorry.
The psalm says,
He shall reward evil unto mine enemies.
Cut them off in thy truth.
So again, remember,
it's not your job to take vengeance.
God says vengeance belongs to him.
Okay, you leave it to God.
You do what you can if there's a conflict,
one on one, you go and sort it out.
If things are beyond your fixing,
you've done what you can,
the other party does not want to be involved
or sort out issues,
you leave it to God.
Say, God, you take vengeance, it's yours.
He shall reward evil unto mine enemies.
But I love the next part of this verse.
Cut them off
in thy truth.
In thy...
Why is it saying that?
Lord, can you cut them off?
Can you judge them?
Can you destroy them,
whatever you need to do, God,
in thy truth?
You see, sometimes when there are issues
amongst brothers or whatever,
you sometimes have your own truth.
It's my truth.
And you're like, listen,
you've got to hear my side of the story.
It's not your truth.
Just trust God's truth.
You see, our truth is not always true.
But God's truth is always true.
What are you talking about, Pastor?
Sometimes when there are issues,
and you start communicating
those kinds of things,
it's very easy to exaggerate.
Because you're trying to appeal
to someone else's emotions.
And you know, something happened,
but then when you think about it, it's not that big of a deal, really.
How do I make it a big deal?
You start to exaggerate.
You start to tell half-truths.
You know?
And you start to maybe hypothesize.
You know,
instead of relying on logic
and fact,
you start to, well, I reckon,
you know, this brother or this sister
did this to me.
You know, I reckon they're going around the whole church and
if you don't know, you don't know.
Okay?
Look,
our truth can be corrupted.
Because we're full of pride.
We always want to look like the hero.
Listen,
when there's conflict,
it takes two to tango.
Honestly.
It's not like there's this one perfect, wonderful person
and then there's this one wicked person.
It's not always like that.
Because we're all wicked. We're all sinners.
And sometimes the response
of the one that might be in the right
could have been better.
Okay?
But maybe they didn't react the right way
and caused the little issue to explode.
Become a greater issue.
But listen, it's always like,
you've got to hear my side.
It's your side. It's your truth.
How about we leave it to God's truth?
God knows what's happened.
God knows if you're at fault,
how much you're at fault.
God knows if that person's at fault
and how much they're at fault.
That's why we let God take vengeance.
In need of that as well.
Sometimes God will have to take vengeance on both parties.
Because both have made mistakes.
It's not always, I'm just the perfect
righteous Christian pastor.
Please hear what I have to say.
And it's all the problems with this other person.
It's not always like that.
In fact, it's very rarely like that.
Because we're all sinners.
So why? I love it.
He says, God, can you hold my enemies accountable?
But according to your truth,
because I can't trust my truth.
I'm emotional.
I get upset and maybe I exaggerate it.
Maybe my recollection of the events
aren't even correct anymore.
But I'm just trying to make them look more horrible than they really are.
So yeah, go to God.
Pray to God, but Lord, you know the truth.
I'm going to leave it in your hands
to take care of it.
Verse number six.
And I love the confidence of David.
He says, I will
freely sacrifice unto thee.
So this is expecting God to deliver him, right?
And of course, the sacrifices,
the tabernacle, the house of God.
He says, look, I'm going to be there, Lord.
I'm going to offer sacrifices.
I will praise thy name, oh Lord,
for it is good.
Once again, brethren, especially in church,
if there are conflicts and problems,
you say to God,
say, Lord, please, I've done what I can,
or hope, if you haven't done what you can,
do what you need to do, okay?
And then just say, I will freely sacrifice unto thee.
Lord, I'm still coming to church.
Lord, I'm still coming to the house of God.
Lord, I'm still going to praise your name,
because it is good.
I'm going to do that which is good.
I'm going to continue praising you
and serving you, even if I'm having a little bit
of problems at church.
I'm not feeling quite comfortable, Lord,
but I still need to be in your house,
because it's good for me,
and it's good for you, Lord,
for me to praise you, righteously.
And so,
you can see that
and look, obviously,
he's being persecuted.
His life's on the line,
the most powerful man in the kingdom
is after him.
Of course, he's praying for God for deliverance,
but I love how he kind of has a different perspective here.
He goes, the reason I want to be delivered, Lord,
is so I can serve you better.
So I can be in your house, Lord.
I don't like this running around.
I just want to be in your house
and worship you and serve you.
I reckon that's a good way to go with God
and give him some help.
If you need deliverance, say, Lord,
can you deliver me out of this difficulty?
Not because I'm just looking for my own selfish deliverance, Lord,
but if I can get delivered from this,
then I can commit myself more to your house,
more to your service.
I can love you more, Lord.
I can praise you more, Lord,
without all these distractions.
That's a good way to go, I reckon.
But then when the Lord does deliver you,
you know where you better be,
in the house of the Lord.
Verse number seven.
He says,
For he have delivered me out of all trouble,
and mine eye have seen his desire upon mine enemies.
So David then says,
Look, I saw actually, Lord,
I did see you carry out your vengeance.
I did see how you took justice and judgment and vengeance
and how you delivered me from the hands of mine enemies.
Of course, King Saul would eventually die,
you know, in the time of war.
But let's go back to 1 Samuel 23.
1 Samuel 23.
So again, where this story comes from,
the psalm where the story comes from.
1 Samuel 23, verse number 22.
Let's continue what happened here.
Because again, David in the psalm saying,
Lord, you've delivered me out of all trouble.
And in 1 Samuel 23, 22,
it says here,
Go, I pray you, prepare you.
This is the words of King Saul.
And know and see his place where his haunt is,
and who have 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 the certainty,
and I will go with you.
And it shall come to pass,
if he be in the land,
that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.
So it says to,
sorry, to the Ziphites.
He says, look,
just spy out what he's doing,
tell me where he goes in your land.
He's trying to get more information.
He doesn't want to lose David this time.
He's trying to gather as much secret information about David's
how he moves,
so he can finally get in there and take a hold of David.
Verse number 24.
And they arose and went to Ziph before Saul,
but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon,
in the plain of the South of Jeshamon.
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 Maon.
And when Saul heard that,
he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.
So we see that Saul's, you know,
hot on the heels of David here.
Verse number 26.
And look how close they were to being captured,
how close David was to being killed.
Verse number 26.
And Saul went up on this side of the mountain,
and David and his men on that side of the mountain.
So I guess King Saul's like,
they're climbing up the mountain to get to David,
and David's literally on the other side,
you know, trying to get away from Saul.
That's how close he's gotten.
And David made haste to get away for fear of Saul,
for Saul and his men come past David,
and his men ran about to take them.
You know, sometimes when people rise up against you,
it's gonna feel like they've won.
Like, it's gonna feel like that's it, it's all over.
You know, Lord, it looks like they're gonna destroy me.
You know, I mean, I can understand the fear of David here.
You know, I mean, sometimes the Lord just leaves it
to the 11th hour to come through.
So many of my prayers have been answered.
I'm not saying like persecution, but just like,
seems like at the 11th hour,
like just when I think I'm ready to give up,
I don't think the Lord's gonna come through in this regard.
The Lord just comes through somehow.
It happens so many times.
Sometimes you guys share with me, you know,
how God has answered your prayers.
It's just always the 11th hour.
It's a final moment.
It just seems like it wasn't gonna happen
and the Lord just steps in.
Look what happens at the 11th hour.
Verse 127.
But there came a messenger unto Saul,
saying, hasty and come,
for the Philistines have invaded the land.
So Saul's after David and all of a sudden,
Israel's like number one enemy of the Philistines
have invaded the land.
Who do you think put it in the heart of the Philistines
to invade the land?
Do you think it's just a coincidence
when David's been praying to the Lord?
He says, we already saw, no,
it's the Lord that delivered me out of all trouble.
We saw that readiness.
Listen, somehow, and again, the power of God.
Don't underestimate prayer.
How can God move an entire nation,
an entire army to go to war against your enemy
to protect you?
That's what God did.
We know the Philistines were an enemy to Israel.
They worship a false god.
We understand all of that.
And yet God was even still able by his power
in the heart of the Philistines to come
at the right time,
literally as David is about to be captured.
All Saul has to do is climb over the mountain
and he'll see David running down on the other side.
And this messenger comes,
Saul, the Philistines are here.
Obviously, a greater problem for the land.
All right?
Verse number 28.
Wherefore, Saul returned from pursuing after David
and went against the Philistines.
Therefore, they called the place,
Silla Hamalekof.
And David went up from thence
and dwelt in strongholds of En-Gedi.
Now, this wasn't the end of David's problems.
If you know your Bible as well,
you know that he was constantly being chased
over and over and over again.
But this was a turning point
as David has a future.
It was a turning point.
Because in your own time,
you can do your own reading, you know.
But the Lord started to deliver
Saul in the hands of David.
You know, shortly afterwards,
these are the stories where
David comes so close to Saul
and cuts off a piece of his coat.
Another story where David comes so close
to killing Saul,
you know, he takes a spear of Saul.
You may recall those stories.
It all starts to change from there.
You know what, but David sought the Lord.
Alright, the title for the sermon
was God is my Helper.
God is my Helper.
Listen brethren, we serve a powerful God.
We serve a God that answers prayers.
Maybe the reason you haven't seen
as much deliverance in your problems is
maybe you've just not gone to God enough in prayer.
Maybe you expect it to just be a coincidence
when you go through difficulties
and you come out of difficulties.
It's the hand of the Lord.
God can step in and do amazing things,
amazing miracles,
but you must go to God.
God is your Helper.
Let's pray.