(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Amen, all right we're in Psalm chapter 18. The title of my sermon tonight is O Lord My Strength, O Lord My Strength. It says to the chief musician a psalm of David the servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this song and the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all of his enemies and from the hand of Saul and he said I will love thee O Lord my strength. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you Lord for this wonderful psalm and Lord there's a lot of messianic messages in here Lord for us to to latch on to Lord but there's also a lot of great things about David the king and Lord you're talking about both in this psalm and and Lord what what's evident in this psalm is also your mighty power and Lord how our attitude should be toward you as our God. I pray that you just fill me with the spirit now help me to preach this sermon and I pray that you fill me with power and boldness in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. So I got the title of the sermon from the first verse that says I will love thee O Lord my strength. So and then look at verse number two it says the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. So we see right off the bat that David here is personalizing God to himself and look what I mean he's saying some wonderful things about God here and so the reason I read that little intro to you is because this is after David is you know basically he's defeated all God's defeated all his enemies for him. I mean if you even think about the early life of David you know when David sunk that rock into Goliath's forehead what was it he sunk in again? A rock. And he hit him with one shot dead as a doornail right between the eyes and what did he do hit him with a rock right the Lord is my rock. Amen. I mean David was a mighty warrior but you know who his strength really was it wasn't he wasn't fighting with his own strength he was fighting with the strength of God and so when God is you know when you when you think highly of God like David did I mean is that is that the way you is that the way you perceive God in your life? Your rock is he your fortress is he your deliverer is he your God is he your strength is he the one that you trust in when you have when you're going through hard times is he your buckler which means basically like your shield the person that shields you from things is he the horn of your salvation is he your high tower is that what is that what God is to you because that's what God was to King David and David loved the Lord and he made a lot of mistakes in his life but one thing he did is he always put off his you know his strength came from God it wasn't from his own power and even when he got old he was still pretty tough I mean he was giving a giant all he could and the giant was about to prevail against him that was like the last time he went out to battle but I'm sure he was pretty old at that time so you know David wasn't the toughest out of all the mighty men but yet he was their leader and you know he might not have been the most talented physically might not have been the most talented guy out of all those guys but out of his mighty men but you know they followed him for a reason why because look at how he esteemed God he didn't esteem him as you know he like calling him every once in a while when I really really need him you know you know when God is your rock you know you're gonna you're gonna knock a giant down with one shot when God is your fortress you're not gonna worry about who's gonna break through when God is your deliverer you're not gonna you know God when God delivers us hey it's in a it's in an extreme case a lot of times like hey you know you're you're about to be late on your bill and you don't know how you're gonna pay it you paid your tithe and you're not sure how everything's gonna fall into place and then God delivers you with a nice check so yeah I forgot to plug that in sorry about that and so I mean God's done that for me lots of times like when I was like worried that something that you know oh man I don't know how this is gonna work out and then all of a sudden it did miss the mysterious check in the mail that I mean I used to think preachers were making that up before a long time ago but then when it's happened to me more than one time like now I understand you know you got to have faith God's gonna deliver you he's our God he's our strength you know we have some guys have more strength than others but I'll tell you what a little guy with a big God is a lot stronger than a big guy with a lot of strength that doesn't have God in his life so that will trust it's in whom I will trust hey who can you trust more than God you know we can trust his word we can trust his promises we can trust in the fact that he's going to save us for everlasting life there's a lot of things we can trust him with we can trust him with our finances for sure we can trust him with our children we can trust you know God is a trustworthy God amen and you know that that term buckler means a shield hey when our enemies are attacking us what are we going to use to defend ourselves sometimes we all we can do is stand like the Bible says and put in that shield is God shielding you from the fiery darts of the wicked and you know the horn of my salvation hey you know God pours out the Holy Spirit upon us and he what did he use to anoint people with he used a horn and he would dump that oil on their head and you know what God has given us the spirit of God and you know as the down payment for our salvation and we're filled with the spirit sometimes sometimes we're not but you know I trust in God as my high tower you know what is a high tower think about medieval times or you know maybe old times where castles were well the best place to be would be on top of a high tower where nobody can get at you and that God is a high tower for us what's God to you what is God to you tonight he says in verse three I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from my enemies and you know that's the key what do you do when you're in a hard spot is the first thing you say oh God would you help me or is it like mother beep beep beep beep what the you know what what is your response when you're in a hard spot when you're afraid one thing I mean Sarah Miller was telling me about this pit bull that like cornered Matthew like was it last week or a couple weeks ago and if it's the same dog that I saw walk past our door today that's a scary dog but what is it that you do when you're in a situation where you are fearful of your life I mean is it oh God would you help me because that's what David said I will call upon the Lord who's worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from my enemies and hey if God is the first thing in your mind the first thing in your heart it's not hey I need to call 911 yeah that's that might be an important thing to do but you know the cops are never there when you really need them are they so but God can be so if the first thing in your heart and in your mind is hey God would you help me that's a lot better than any police force think it has better the whole you know Vancouver police department and if they show up usually they're going to say you need to get out of here because you're not supposed to soul went around here right they're not exactly there to be our friends a lot of the times unfortunately so look at look at verse four so it says the sorrows of death compassed me and floods of ungodly men made me afraid and so this is the point where it kind of turns into where some of these are talking about messianic prophecies and some of them and it kind of interchanges back and forth between David and messianic prophecies they're probably dual prophecies but when it says the sorrow sorrows of death compass me and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid i believe it's it's it's a dual prophecy type thing and look at verse number five it says the sorrows of hell compass me about the snares of death prevented me in my distress i called upon the lord and cried unto my god he heard my voice out of his temple and my cry came before him even into his ears now i definitely think that this has some cross cross reference to the book of jonah and if you look at the word and turn to jonah chapter 2 just keep your finger in psalm chapter 18 turn over to jonah chapter 2 and look at some of the wording that it's saying here i believe that this is definitely talking about when christ was in hell for three days and three nights and i know i preached about it a lot but i just wanted to show you this how it says you know just look at you can kind of keep your finger in psalm chapter 18 look what jonah says in verse number two chapter two verse number one it says then jonah prayed unto the lord out uh excuse me unto the lord his god out of the fish's belly and said i cried by reason of my infliction unto the lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried i and now hurtest my voice so verse number six back in psalm chapter 18 says i in my distress i called upon the lord and then in in jonah chapter 2 2 it says out of the belly of hell cried i and i believe that you know obviously that jonah was a picture of christ being in hell for three days and three nights he even says that that's the case when uh when they're talking when he's talking to the pharisees and they're asking him for a sign and he says i'm not going to give you a sign except for the sign of the prophet jonas uh for as jonas was three days and three nights in the will's belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth so and then it's talking about the in verse four and in psalm chapter 18 says the sorrows of death compass me and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid so in jonah it's talking about the floods and the waves going over the top of them but these floods in verse four in psalm chapter 18 is talking about the ungodly men the floods of ungodly men and the sorrows of death compassing him the sorrows of hell compassing him about and that's what christ you know was suffering in hell is this uh he was feeling the death and the sorrow of hell but in his distress he called upon the lord i believe when jesus was in hell for three days and three nights that he called out to the lord and the lord heard him in his holy temple and then he raised jesus from the dead that's what i believe i think that that's what this is teaching here look at jonah chapter 2 verse 3 if you still have your finger there for thou hadst for thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas and the floods compassed me about all thy billows and thy waves passed over me and so but jonah in the book of jonah it says jonah called out from the well from the whale's belly right and the first verse in chapter 2 says that jonah called out so but you know that picture is a picture of christ obviously calling out from from hell and asking god to help him so turn to act chapter 2 verse 24 i'll try to prove it here a little bit further for you but you can see how the language is very similar in jonah chapter 2 and psalm chapter 18 so but what happens if a regular unsaved person calls out from the belly of hell what happens nothing he's not going to hear them it's too late for them but see christ was different christ was sinless christ did not deserve to be there he took all of our sins upon him on the tree and when he died his soul went to hell acts 2 24 says whom god hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holding of it why was it not possible that he should be holding of it because he didn't deserve to be there but yet he still suffered for three days and three nights and it's as if it was an eternity for him and so for us you know we you know i just think it's so great that christ you know if he hadn't suffered at all in hell for us how is he how does that picture get fulfilled with the burnt sacrifice and and all that it just doesn't make sense to me and you know jesus didn't stay in hell for three days and three nights he got he got to leave he got to be resurrected so i just don't understand why people have such a problem with it i've already preached about this before but i just felt like these verses need to be covered so now after this song the song changes gears pause and what i think is is a foreshadowing of god's wrath upon uh mankind and it also just shows i believe the and it's very poetic the verses that we're about to read here is very poetic and these verses i believe show the power of god because sometimes it's hard for us to conceive and perceive the power of god because we've never seen god but you know if you see a big lightning storm or and hear cracking thunder you know and here we don't really get the cracking thunder so much i've i've i've heard that like the thunder and like texas and like some of the midwestern states and things like that in the east coast are a lot worse than it is here and i'm glad for that because sometimes you can hear a crack of thunder and it's it scares you it shakes it shakes the ground and people get scared dogs get scared animal like i can tell there's been some kind of weird thing because the dogs are all acting weird you know but anyway um but i believe these are poetic it's and there's a lot of hyperbole in these in these upcoming verses and what is hyperbole well it's exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally literally now i believe that some of these things can be taken literally but i don't think that all of them are and i'll show you what i mean by that look at verse number seven it says then the earth shook and trembled the foundations also the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth so yeah that means god is angry and when god is angry the earth will shake and you know the foundations of the hills will be moved and shaken and that's because god's angry there went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it now this is where i think it kind of is hyperbole here i mean his literal mouth his literal nostrils i don't know about that but it does say that coals were kindled by it this reminds me of revelation chapter 14 where the coal where the coals of hell are kindled by god himself by the lamb verse number nine he bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet and he rode upon a cherub and did fly now i think i mean i think this could be taken literally that he flies on the on the tops of the cherubs i just kind of picture like him with two legs with like you know he's flying on top of them like this i don't know that's probably not true it's just my stupid imagination but i just kind of think of well if i was going to ride some angels you know they have like a little steering wheel with some ropes or whatever i don't know anyway it's stupid but it says he rode upon the cherub and did fly yeah he did fly upon the wings of the wind and he made verse 11 he made darkness his secret place his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies and so when you know god can fly you know and obviously god is everywhere and could be everywhere in all places you know but i think it's very i think it's cool that he can fly because you know that means that we can fly too when we get resurrected i think when jesus comes back and makes our bodies new i think we'll be able to fly i think we'll be able to walk through walls i think we'll be able to do a lot of cool things that we don't normally get to do obviously you know the only time anybody anybody in here is flown is probably an airplane or a helicopter or something like that but i think it'd be cool to be able to fly so have you ever had a dream that you're flying anybody ever had that dream and like i've had but most of the times in the dreams that i fly i run and i can glide for like a long time have you ever had that dream and then like eventually you have to come down and you're like then you like have to run really fast and fly i don't know have you ever had that dream before okay i'm not the only one and sometimes i'll go back to towns or places that i've lived before in my dreams have you ever have you ever i don't know dreams are weird but i don't think they always mean something but sometimes they do maybe i just uh flying too high sometimes i got to come down i don't know i don't know what the dream is about but maybe it's future things but i think that we'll be able to fly like permanently without having to come back down if we want to so anyway it's interesting and a pavilion so when it says his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies i've been flying a lot lately and a lot of times we'll be flying and there's thick clouds and it's dark and it's like man that'd be so scary to be out there right now that's what god's talking about where his secret places are where he has his pavilion around him with dark waters and thick clouds of the sky so a pavilion is like a summer house or like a a decorative building used to shelter in like a park or a large garden it talks about in uh that neva kenezer will put his pavilion in the spot where jeremiah preaches that sermon in egypt and so a pavilion could be like tents or some kind of temporary structure or something it's kind of like a place where you can cool off and like kings will put their pavilions and so but god is a great king amen and he can have his pavilion out in the dark thick waters and the clouds of the skies which we cannot do god's very powerful look at verse 12 says that the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed by hailstones and coals of fire so you know and god actually makes hail he makes the the the stones of uh and coals of fire and you know you do see in the scripture sometimes that ice is mingled with with fire and i think in egypt when that when that hail came down that was mixed with fire and then the great tribulation uh the well the great the wrath of god is going to be a big great ice storm with with i believe coals of fire also i might be wrong about that but i'm pretty sure that that's where what i'm right about that so i don't know i could be wrong so but anyway god makes those things and if you look at joe chapter 38 god has a reserve of things that he uses to to destroy you know in the in his wrath he's going to use these great storehouses where he is going to launch for see he has his own arsenal that we don't know about it's better than the ak-47s and all the other things that we could possibly think you know when someone drops a talent of a of a hailstone on top of your head that's gonna that's gonna leave a mark right and god is able to make those things uh let's see joe 38 better get there myself joe what i say joe 38 verse 22 it says let's see hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail which i have reserved against the time of trouble against the day of battle so god has a a reserve up there in heaven of these uh of hailstones and and and snow that he's going to use against the day at the time of trouble and the day of battle and war god's arsenal is different than our arsenal but god's arsenal is way more effective than our arsenal he flooded the world to destroy the whole thing with water you know you think about those things you think water doesn't seem so dangerous but go out in the ocean by yourself sometime when the the swells are really high and see how afraid you are at that point you know just watching on the north shore of hawaii watching those waves come crashing in there's people actually on them on surfboards i'm just like you are crazy because when you crash down sometimes you fall and you're falling into coral and rocks and things like that and the ocean could be pretty scary i would definitely i i went out on the ocean for the first time when i was in hawaii last time that was the first time i've ever been out on it 44 years old i wasn't super scared i just wasn't we were like in pretty calm waters it wasn't like you know but anyway i'm not she's going on 45 i was 44 then all right you're wrong again so anyhow but god has a great reserve of hail and fire and brimstone he's going to rain those things down in the end times look at verse 13 the lord also thundered in the heavens and the highest gave his voice hailstones and coals of fire god can just say hailstones and coals of fire those things rain down and destroy things he can call the flood i mean i don't know i i hate to you know i feel bad when people lose their homes and floods and things like that but sometimes i wonder why is god allowing that to happen were they was he trying to destroy the wild horse casino in pendleton maybe maybe there's a lot of wickedness that goes on out there i don't know but uh you know i feel bad for the people that are homeless and things like that from from all that but also i wonder you know why did god allow that to happen and sometimes he does so but you know those people say well you know you don't want to mess with mother nature right have you heard people say that when we're when we're going when we had the little snow and ice scare a couple weeks ago they're like well you never know what mother nature is going to do you know whatever mother nature is i just i just want to say you know what it's father nature it's not mother nature god made this world god made the systems in this world god made the snow god made the ice god makes everything that is that that bothers us and hurts us in this world sometimes the snow though you know the torrential rains but it snowed 14 inches in the eastern mountains and in one day it all melted one day and so that's why the umentella river is flooded over right now but you know it wasn't mother nature that caused that you know there's no such thing as that god made this world and it's a system that continues to function and hey maybe god sends a flood people's way sometimes because of whatever reason he wants to but you know he also makes droughts he also makes it snow 14 inches and all melt in the same day you know who you know who are we to judge what god does you're like well god didn't do that it was mother nature i don't there's no such thing as mother nature i don't believe in that and i get really irritated when people say it so it's really it was at the tip of my tongue it's not mother nature i just want to choke him but anyway verse 14 yay he sent out his arrows and scattered them and he shot out lightnings and disconfited them when the channels of water were seen and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke oh lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils and you know god just it just says at his rebuke that the foundations of the earth of the world are discovered that's how powerful god is i mean man can't even drill through the crust of the earth you know we think we're so great we think we're so good we think we can do all these things we can go to the moon we can go to mars we can do all this other stuff but you know what you can't even get through the crust of the earth that's right and god could just rebuke and the the foundations of the world are revealed that's how powerful he is none of us can do that and it says that the breath of thy nostrils the at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils i think about like animals like you know obviously they go you know they're smelling something like my dog kovu like you know he's a food hound he just loves you know to he's he's a faraway beggar like he'll he'll lay in a corner but he's always looking at you you know i'm talking about but like if he smells something he's just like you know at the the blast of his breath or whatever but anyway i don't think god literally you know has nostrils that that do that but so that's why i think it's hyperbole but anyway uh it says he sent from above and he took me verse 16 he drew me out of the many waters he delivered me from the strong enemy and from them which hated me for they were too strong for me and so i think this could be talking about david and talking about christ at the same time you know christ had a lot of enemies that wanted to kill him too and obviously christ is they're not christ could have sent 10 legions of angels at any time he wanted to destroy them but he became a servant for us and so but you know god is the one that delivers us when we call upon him and we trust in him it's not ourselves that save us you know people like oh you just you know you just use god as a crutch yeah i do yeah i don't have a problem saying that um sometimes things are too hard for me sometimes my enemies are too powerful sometimes you know we have enemies that i've talked about this before just recently that we have enemies that we don't even know about they're ready to crouch like that cat on that meme or whatever that she will put up you know they're just ready to crouch and pounce on you but you know god will will protect us and you know we just got to trust in him verse 18 they prevented me in the day of my calamity but the lord was my stay and he brought me forth also into a large place he delivered me because he delighted in me now again i i say you know well christ wasn't delivered he was he was killed right god allowed him to die he allowed him to suffer david was delivered from his enemies so i would say this is probably talking about david but then also possibly going back in verse 20 into talking about hell again the lord rewarded me according to my righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me now that i think he's talking about christ because um in first and i'm not gonna have you turn there but in first chronicles 28 3 it says but god said unto me thou shall not build an house for my name because thou hast been a man of war and has shed blood so david's personal righteousness was not what got him anywhere with god it was the fact that he trusted in god for his righteousness and so it says the lord recorded me according to my righteousness and i don't think that anybody on the planet can say that their righteousness was what gave got them favor with god and it says that he had the cleanness of his hands well you know david was a bloody man and he was a man of war not that he was a bad guy he was just you know god didn't even allow them to build a temple because of that look at verse 21 for i have kept the ways of the lord and have not wickedly departed from my god for all his judgments were before me and i did not put away his statutes from me i was also upright before him and i kept myself from mine iniquity therefore hath the lord recompensed me according to my righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight so the reason why christ was is who he is now our savior is because of the things that he was able to do god gave him tasks to do he said hey you know you gotta live a sinless life you know and that's one of the things that christ did he lived a sinless life and you know all the things that god asked him to do he did everything he performed everything to the t and you know christ's hands were clean he never sinned and so when god recompense him according to his righteousness according to the cleanness of his hands that's the right that's right you know and we can't you know there's none of us can say that none of us can say that we have totally clean hands none of us can say that we're totally righteous you know and that's and that's the thing is that we exist and are saved because of the righteousness of christ not because of our righteousness turn to hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 hebrews 4 verse 15 now this is the longest song we've done since we started doing that it's 50 verses i'm going to try to get through all it tonight but i'm going to try i got to hurry up here so hebrews chapter i can't i can't there's no way i could just cover every single verse but i'll try hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 says for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin and so christ was tempted just like we are but yet he did not sin and that's what that's why he was able to be recompensed according to his righteousness and according to the clean cleanness of his hands look at verse 25 back in psalm chapter 18 it says with the merciful thou will show thyself merciful with an upright man thou thyself upright with the pure that will show thyself pure with the froward thou shalt show thyself froward so god is going to deal with you based upon how you are with him how you are with other people so with the murder if you're if you're a merciful person guess what god's going to be merciful to you you know we reap what we sow if you're never merciful to anybody and you're always just like you know god's going to be the same way with you when it comes time for you to have mercy on you and when it says and with the froward thou will show thyself froward well what does froward mean froward means of a person it means difficult to deal with contrary so if someone said hey you're a froward person remy you're just a froward person that's what they're talking about someone that's difficult to deal with someone's contrary to everything that's good somebody that is just a pain in the neck basically is what it's talking about and you know are you a pain in the neck are you god's pain in the neck you know i'll tell you what if you're froward with other people if you're froward with god what's it say right here well it says to the froward thou wilt show thyself froward and so god if you want god if you want to be difficult towards other people you want to be difficult towards god well guess what he's going to be difficult with you he's not going to be at like the way we forgive other people is the way he's going to deal with us also and so we got to keep that in mind you know when we're in our ultra i'm not going to forgive this person no matter what ultra pharisaical i'm holier than now attitude you know obviously some people do us dirty and you know maybe they don't deserve to get forgiven but you know you still can forgive them you don't have to get bitter because sometimes when you're just mad at someone all the time you get bitter and you can't help it and so when jesus said you know that that you know father forgive them for they know not what they do i think he really meant that you know but did he forgive everybody not necessarily i mean if they're already done they're done but that that was jesus's desire is that those people will be forgiven obviously obviously except for people like judas iscariot and things like in the pharisees but uh the way we deal with people is the way god's going to deal with us we got to keep that in mind verse 27 for that will save the afflicted soul but will bring down high looks for that will light my candle the lord my god will enlighten my darkness i think that's a great verse there and god's the one that lights our candle in the first place right and you know and what what do we do with that well you know if you're looking to be enlightened then you know god is the one that's going to light your candle but you got to trust in god for your knowledge in this life you know ask god to show you things because do you just read through the bible and just skip you know at the end you're like i can't remember anything i just read everybody does that right then you got to start over again like dang i just read that whole chapter it doesn't even count but you're like i'll count it anyway you're not going to get enlightened that way you know you got to read the bible and just put your phone away put all your stuff away and just focus on what god has to say for you and god's going to lighten you he's going to lighten he's going to lighten that candle i saw a meme the other day and it said people before the light bulb you know how they say the light bulb goes off and there's like a little little bubble it shows light bulb where someone gets an idea then in the before light bulbs were invented it was a candle you know it's like a little bubble thing with the candle there well that's uh that's kind of what i what i picture when i see this it's like god's going to light your candle if you he's going to give you knowledge he's going to give you ideas and the lord will lighten enlighten our darkness because a lot of our lives have darkness in them and you know god's the one that can do the enlightening for you now look at verse um i'm just going to have you go back to verse number two again i kind of want to reset here um verse number two bible we can kind of start connecting some of these other verses here uh the lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my god my strength in whom i i will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower now connect this with verse 29 and it says for by thee i have run through a troop and by my god i have leaped over a wall as for god his way is perfect the word of the trot of the lord is tried he's a buckler to all those that trust in him so you know he makes this statement in verse two and then he comes back to it talking about uh you know being a about god being a buckler and you know talking about god and his word being tried and and then verse 31 says for who is god save the lord who is the rock save our god and it says in verse 32 it is god that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect he maketh my feet like hind's feet and seteth me upon the high places so david obviously got skill from god on how to fight and how to do battles and and all that i think because i mean if you think about it david you know he had he possessed these powers of of fighting and how did he learn them i mean did he go to military school that was he in the rotc or something well the rotc is like for the brainiacs right but did he go through boot camp or something no he didn't who do you think taught him how to fight god did and so if you think about it god is the one that made his feet like hind's feet what is a hind it's like some kind of deer or something so when he's running through the the you know up and down these rocky places and things like that you know god gave his feet to be like that he says it is god that girdeth me with strength ours you could be the most strong athletic person in the world but you know god is the one that gives you your true strength the true ability to fight the battles before you now obviously we don't fight a physical battle but you know back then they did and god gave these men of god special strength that they were girded with said he set me on high places look at verse 34 he teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken in my arms now when i think about that i think you know broken to the boat that he was able to just pull the bow back because you know a steel bow is hard it's not like the compound ones that you know have you ever shot a compound bow and you're like you're like you're trying to get it back and then once it gets back it's like really easy so i don't know if he's literally talking about breaking it like he breaks the peat the bow that's steel i don't know or that he breaks it backwards so they can shoot it i'm not sure about that but you know david it says he teaches my hands to war david didn't teach his hands the war god did that for him now look at psalm chapter 144 verse number one keep your finger there psalm 44 144 verse number one and he talks about this again this says in psalm 144 verse number one blessed be the lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight so who is the one that gave him the strength to kill goliath god did who's the one that gave him the strength to you know and he actually snuck up on psalm and is able to kill him a couple times but didn't do it that's strength also strength to know when to fight and when not to fight because he had him dead to rights he could have killed him easily right there but he didn't do it and so god gave him the wisdom of when to win the battle you know he didn't want to touch god's anointed because he was god you know psalm was god's anointed but god is the one that teaches us to fight he teaches our fingers to fight and think about david's mighty men you know who taught them to fight does it say that they went through some kind of boot camp and i'm sure they did train to a certain extent but turn to second samuel chapter 23 let's just look at a few examples i don't have time to go through all of them but second samuel 23 verse number eight and listen to how mighty these mighty men really were because it kind of lists them in order here as to who the mightiest was so look at verse number eight it says these be the names of the mighty men whom david had the tack of the night that sat in the seat chief among the captains the same was adino the east knight he lived up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time so tell me anybody else on the planet right now today they could pick up his spear and kill 800 men by himself you know samson killed a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass did he teach him did he go through some kind of special military school was he one of the army airborne rangers was he oh that one of the marines no he wasn't he was god's marine he was god's mighty man of valor but god is the one that taught them how to fight do you think that that samson just you know got taught all these moves by somebody else i mean think about what it would take to kill a thousand men with a jawbone of an ass with a bone a donkey's jaw he killed a thousand men you know he's pretty tired afterwards and then he drank out of a you know out of a cheekbone or something afterwards but which is kind of gross but you know he was already touching dead bodies so he was already in trouble but anyway but so that's one guy and look at verse nine it says and after him was eliezer the son of dodo the ahoy one of the three mighty men with david when they defied the philistines that were gathered together to battle and the men of israel were gone away he arose and smote the philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto his sword and the lord wrought a great victory that day and the people returned after him only to spoil but notice the key thing in verse number 10 it says and the lord wrought a great victory that day it wasn't the main it was the god behind the man that made him so powerful and that he was able to fight off these philistines look at verse 11 and after him was shama the son of agi the herorite and the philistines were gathered together into a troop where a piece of ground full of lentils and the people fled from the philistines they're like hey guys you know are you gonna fight with me no they took off it says and the people fled from the philistines but he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it and slew the philistines the lord wrought a great victory and if you read that whole chapter it just talks about all these different things that they did and how they killed these giants and you know these guys were mighty men of god but who made a mighty it was god what were they before they became david's mighty men people of the land that were you know they were disgruntled they were you know they owed the king money just a bunch of ragtag group of guys that just said hey we'll join up with david he's doing righteous acts and so they followed david and they knew that david was the one that killed goliath obviously so that's a great champion to go to go after but they knew saul was trying to kill him and they just they were kind of these disgruntled guys that that end up becoming these mighty men of god how does that happen well they got behind a good leader and they got behind david who was a great leader and hey when when you get behind a great leader you're you're going to become a mighty man or mighty woman of god because you know but if people that don't follow the light right leadership what happens to them they end up just slipping off the path and going somewhere else they follow you're following the wrong people hey if you follow uh what's his name hagie what's that guy's first name is it john yeah john hagie you know what you're gonna slip you're gonna get you're gonna be slipping first of all he doesn't have the right salvation second of all he's a bootlicker of israel and third of all you know he's got a false gospel so but these guys they came to david out of all these different places and you know what god made them the mighty men that they were and he's the one that gives us the that teaches our hands the war so that a bow of steel is broken in our arms he's the one that gives us the power to you know and put that into our time right now you know god can make us mighty people also maybe we're not going to be breaking bows with steel or you know snapping people's necks with jujitsu or anything like that but you know we can spiritually go out and do that and god can make us mighty to go out and and and conquer this world for god and and you know six salvations today you know that's a great victory that's a lot better than killing 800 men isn't it i think it is you're you're saving six souls you know and obviously we're comparing apples to oranges here but but i think that there's a there's a spiritual application here for us you know god is the one that's going to teach us the war hey we're soldiers of the lord and hey we got it we got to be able to you know if we're following the right leadership you know the bible is our real leader the lord jesus christ is the leader of this church you know and i'm just going to try to do my best to you know to follow christ with all my ability and i hope that you follow me as i follow christ but and we can become mighty with god i think of another man you know actually i don't have time to go through that but jacob wrestled god himself you know he said he looked face to face with god and lived because he did because that was the lord jesus christ that he was wrestling but how did he have the ability to wrestle with jesus all night like that i mean jacob was a strong guy but who taught him to wrestle you know he couldn't really he couldn't win you know you're not going to beat god but he did pretty good but who taught him to wrestle like that i mean did he go to wrestling classes on the side or something he seemed like he was a hard worker he was always working so what gave him that strength it was god that gave him that strength to be able to do that and uh let's look at verse uh let's see back in psalm chapter 18 let's look at verse 35 thou has also given me the shield of thy salvation and thy right hand hath hold me up and thy gentleness hath made me great that's an interesting verse also because at the end of it it says thy gentleness hath made me great and you know god is merciful to us he's tender with us we deserve to get smacked around a lot worse than we do and sometimes it's god's gentleness that makes us be able to become great because if you beat us down over every single thing we did every single time we'd be you know going like this all the time you know because god will punish us for our sins but at the same time he's gentle with us he doesn't give us everything we deserve and i'm thankful for that look at verse 36 it says thousand large my steps under me that my feet did not slip i pursued my enemies and overtaken them neither did i turn against till they were consumed i have wounded them that they were not able to rise they are fallen under my feet for thou hast girded me with the strength into battle thou has subdued under me those that rose up against me thou has also given me the necks of my enemies that i might destroy them that hate me so and again i i see some parallels to christ like when he says bring them before them before me and slay them i kind of i kind of see that you know because they're putting their foot on their necks you know there's people that hate christ and they're going to live on through until the millennium the beginning of the millennium and christ is going to bring those people before them and they're going to slay them and kill them he's going to separate the sheep from the goats but you know david had a mighty victory too you know and how did he get that victory through following god through following christ and god was there for him every step of the way and you know how would it feel to be hunted for years and years and years against your own father-in-law who you love you know your wife is stolen from you you're sleeping in campgrounds every single you're hiding in different fortresses all the time and i'm sure that david when he wrote this song you know you get to see the passion that he has in these verses and how a great um how god just carried him through the whole way says they cried but there was none to save them even unto the lord but he answered them not so at some point these people you know were will they'll even call unto the lord like they realize hey i'm done it's over with i'm going to call to the lord but what does it say but he answered them not isn't that interesting to the so this destroys that doctrine of you could call upon the lord anytime and be saved it's not true whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved but it says right there they even called unto the lord but he answered them not you know what he didn't save them he didn't save them from their troubles and he didn't save their souls because there's a point where god's done with you verse 42 then did i beat them small as the dust before the wind i did cast them out as dirt into the streets so even though at the very end they're like oh god would you help us and they got smoked they're cast out as dirt into the streets if it's the street support one it's probably got aids on it but anyway 43 thou has delivered me from the strivings of the people and thou hast made me the head of the heathen a people whom i have not known shall serve me now obviously i think this is talking about christ because i mean when was david the head of the heathen i don't think he ever was in psalm 2 verse 8 it says ask of me and i shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance in the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession i think that's talking about the lord jesus christ here for sure because here we are the heathen that were converted right here in verse 44 it says and as they hear of me they shall obey me the strangers shall submit themselves unto me the strangers shall fade away and be afraid of their close places the lord liveth and blessed be my rock and let the god of my salvation be exalted it is the god that avengeth me and and subdueth the people under me so really when when david got the victory over saul did he have to lift the finger to do anything about it no because god is the one that avenges us god is the one that revenges for us in romans chapter 12 verse 19 it says dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place under wrath for it is written vengeance is mine i will repay saith the lord it doesn't say a vengeance is fine doesn't say vengeance is fine it says vengeance is mine okay it's not your place to take vengeance out on people it's not your place to avenge yourself and it's real that's really hard to me that's really hard because sometimes there's some people that i would really like to smack and if i smacked him it would hurt but you know i don't do that and i won't do that because i'm you know this verse right here i'm a pastor i'm not supposed to be going around hitting people but you know i know what turns the hand into the fist and there's people that i would love to smack in the mouth but i'm not going to do that because i'm going to let god smack in the mouth for me i'm going to let god break their teeth out for me i'm going to let god take his our vengeance out on them and he's going to repay everybody to their face the ones that hate him he's going to do the work and so we don't have to do it you know and honestly if we try to be the ones that are avengers ourselves and the revengers against people that do us wrong then god's not going to do it for us and your revenge might get you in trouble if i smack somebody in the mouth guess what i'm probably going to go to jail and they're going to have broken teeth but you know it's not going to help me to be in jail instead of being here where i'm supposed to be so i'm not saying that there's any there's not anybody that i want to put you know that i want to kill right now i'm not saying that i just there's a couple people i'd like to smack though and you probably know who they are but uh you know at least no one who i'm talking about but anyway so it says therefore i will give thanks unto the lord excuse excuse me look at verse 48 he delivered me delivereth me from my enemies yea thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me thou hast delivered me from the violent man therefore will i give thanks unto thee oh lord among the heathen and sing praises unto thy name great deliverance giveth he to his king and showeth mercy to his anointed to david and look what it says right here you know when i was saying that all these are a lot of these are messianic things look what it says to david and to what his seed forevermore who's the seed that he's talking about it's jesus christ i'm gonna have you turn to one last verse tonight and then we'll close with the word of prayer um look at verse uh galatians chapter 3 verse number 16 very famous verse in the bible that identifies who the seed is that he's talking about though so look at galatians 3 verse 16 it says now to abraham and his seed where the promise is made he saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is christ when you look at psalm chapter 18 verse number 50 when it says he showeth mercy to his anointed to david and to his seed forevermore it's not talking about his descendants just like when it comes to abraham it's not talking about his descendants it's talking about christ and we get the inheritance of god through christ through that seed in psalm chapter 18 and galatians chapter 3 verse 16 david was blessed by god tremendously he is he he gave him the ability to fight and to win battles but also to be a godly man when he showed mercy to david when david was repentant and you know david was a great man of god and of course this psalm was prophetic of christ i think i proved that very much in the very last verse there and this psalm actually shows us the great power of god can any of you fly through the through the clouds and and dark waters and all this stuff can you call down lightnings and thunder no but god can and that's the guy that we serve and so never forget just how powerful god is and hey personalize you know the things of god to your life too when david said my god you know my high tower apply those things to yourself because you know what you're a child of god just like david was and you know you gotta you gotta just think that you're important to god each and every individual in this whole room is is all different but you know what god loves all of you and he wants you to be a successful mighty person of god a mighty man a mighty woman and hey you have just as much power to tap into as anybody else does you're not you're not lesser than anybody else in the kingdom of god maybe you do less maybe you do more than some people there's some people in the kingdom of god right now up in heaven that are not good examples it's all being one of them so just think about that that god you know he he he finds every single person special there's different gifts for each person in this room start tapping into those resources you know david was a mighty man that was able to fly well what can you do maybe you can fight the hordes of muslims and win them to christ i don't know i mean there's lots of different spiritual things that we can do our gifts are spiritual our battle is spiritual and we need to remember that and realize that and be the spiritual beings that we're supposed to be let's pray heavenly father we thank you lord so much for this great psalm lord and i probably didn't do it any justice but i just pray that your word you know as it goes out would accomplish that that it was supposed to do pray lord that you would just bless this church lord we thank you so for all the people that were saved today pray that you'd watch over david in the hospital and help him to recover fully and we just pray for anybody else that's sick and out of church right now and we ask that you take us home safely tonight in jesus name we pray amen