”Giant Slayer on the Run” Pastor Jamey Houghton, May 23, 2026

Hello and welcome to church. We're so

glad that you were able to join us here

at the McDonald Road Seventh-day

Adventist Church for our worship time. I

hope that your time is blessed. I hope

the music blesses your soul. I hope the

message touches your heart. And if if it

does, we would be honored if you would

share this content with somebody else so

they can be blessed as well.

We're so glad that you can be a part of

our online church here at McDonald Road

[music] and hope that you are blessed in

your worship together with us today.

God bless and enjoy our worship service.

Beautiful.

Happy Sabbath, church family.

>> [snorts]

>> It is good to be worshipping. It looks

like the sun's coming out a little bit,

at least it's not pouring rain. Some of

the earlier services had some rain to

deal with in coming in here. So, if you

got in dry, uh

congratulations. You made it in here

without having to

to go through the flood. Sometimes we

come in here and there's the flooded

areas and you're trying to make it in,

but uh it's nice when you get a dry

entrance into church here.

It's a special weekend. We have a

wedding coming up this weekend. Brandon

and Rachel, congratulations.

Um

I missed my phone call last night. Sorry

about that.

My Friday night phone call usually goes

out at like 6:00 or 7:00 and it was I

had music practice and then sermon prep

and it was 8:50 at night and I was like,

"Ooh, that's a bit late

to be calling the church and letting

them know what's going on here." But uh

excited for you guys this weekend. I

um

It two of our church leaders are getting

married, for those of you that don't

know. Uh some of our uh young adult uh

class leaders, assistant head deacon,

board member, uh worship leader. And so,

uh we're we're happy for you guys and uh

welcome to all of the the family and

guests that you guys have here this this

weekend.

1994,

June 17th. If you were alive at the

time,

there's a good chance that you were

watching TV that day.

Because there were 95 million other

people that were watching TV that day as

well.

And they were watching because there was

a very high-profile famous person

who was on the run from the police.

Does anybody remember this picture?

O.J. Simpson. Now, bonus question, do

you know what O.J. stands for? What does

his What does the O and the J stand for?

Anybody know?

I heard it.

Orenthal James Simpson was his name.

Anybody know somebody personally named

Orenthal?

Me neither. And the first time I heard

it I was like, "I'll never forget that

name. That's a bizarre name." Orenthal

James Simpson. O.J. Simpson of football

legendary

He was a legend with the Buffalo Bills,

broke a lot of records, famous guy,

failed to report to the police

as a suspect in a crime.

And he took off in a white Ford Bronco.

And it kind of it ruined white Ford

Broncos.

Nobody wanted a white Ford Bronco after

that. I saw one one time and the license

plate said, "Not O.J."

>> [laughter]

>> It ruined white Broncos.

Uh

actually kind of a cool car, but uh

anyways, it was known for his running

from the police.

And it wasn't a high-speed chase, but

everybody was wondering what's going to

happen. Why is he running from the

police? Why are so many police after

him? And it was non-stop for 2 hours

people wondering what is going to happen

here. And it's a little intimidating

when you're being chased.

If you can remember back when you were a

kid or if you are a kid right now,

remember the last time you played a game

of tag.

Some of you might be a little longer

than others.

But probably every one of us as a kid

had played tag at some point. And

usually it's a group of kids

and you never want to be the one that's

singled out because if the person who's

it starts chasing you by yourself, well,

then everything's everything's a whole

lot more intense now because you're the

prey and you've got to run extra hard

and extra fast to not get tagged. And

your your blood pressure goes up a

little bit, your heart starts racing a

little bit more because you're being

chased.

It's a little bit scary to be chased.

People coming after you.

That is where we find David in our story

in our series that we're looking at on

David's life. Turn with me in your

Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 18. We pick

1 Samuel 18 · chapter mention

up this story just after David has

killed Goliath. We looked at that last

week.

David is the hero. He saved Israel.

He was the only one willing to go out

and to fight Goliath. He kills Goliath.

Israel

is safe.

We pick up in verse 18 with the

friendship of David and Jonathan.

Jonathan is the son of King Saul and

they end up being very, very close

friends, which is a unique friendship

because when King Saul dies, who's next

in line for the throne?

Jonathan, right?

And Jonathan is best friends with David

who's already been anointed to become

the next king of Israel.

So, it's a bit of a weird friendship

here that they have, but it's a very

close and genuine friendship

that these two have. So, what is it like

for David now that life has changed for

him? He He was picked up from the the

shepherding business,

transitioned into a new job and it says

that David went wherever Saul sent him

and behaved wisely.

And Saul set him over the men of war.

Who were some of the people in the men

of war, by the way?

His brothers.

He's in charge of his brothers now.

Uh which is probably a bit of a hard

pill to swallow for those older brothers

who had just been mocking him and making

fun of him uh moments earlier.

But it says here that David behaved

wisely. David is in a very difficult

situation in life because he's been

already anointed to become the next

king, but he's not the king yet. King

Saul is still the king.

So David is in this limbo where it's not

time, but he knows it's coming at some

point because Samuel anointed him.

So what does he do now?

He waits.

Waiting can be a difficult thing, can't

it?

We don't like waiting that much.

Waiting tests our patience a little bit.

And yet sometimes waiting is just what

God has in mind for us because his

timing is different than our timing

sometimes. And it's hard to trust

God's timing because we like our timing

the best.

Our timing is our favorite timing

because we think that's what's best. And

when it doesn't happen our way, it's

easy to get frustrated with God

sometimes and be like, God, why isn't

this happening now?

Why am I waiting?

And here David is in this in this in

between stage where he's got to wait

for God's timing here.

Now they're coming back, verse 6 of

chapter 18 in 1 Samuel, it says,

"Now it happened as they were coming

home when David was returning from the

slaughter of the Philistines that the

women had come out of all the cities of

Israel singing and dancing to meet King

Saul with tambourines and with joy and

with musical instruments." Now, let's

pause here for just a moment and be

grateful that we don't have to worry

about wars in Uduwa versus Apperson

versus Cleveland versus downtown

Chattanooga.

Back then they had seasons of war. We

read in the Bible that it was the that

time of war that time of year again for

war that when the kings went out to

battle.

And when kings went out to battle, if

you lost, like we just saw in the

challenge from the Philistines, if you

lost, your people became slaves to the

ones that conquered them.

They took all of your stuff. They

enslaved you and your children, maybe

executed you if they didn't like you

very much.

But it was a very dangerous existence

back then. No wonder they're so excited

and they're cheering with all kinds of

musical instruments like, "We won. We

were that close to becoming slaves."

It's a very real fear at this time. And

so they're they're shaking tambourines,

singing with great joy. And here's what

they're singing.

They sing, "Saul has slain his

thousands." And Saul probably hears that

verse and he's like, "All right, I like

this song."

"Saul has slain his thousands." They

start.

But the next part he doesn't like quite

as much.

Because they say, "And David has killed

his 10,000s."

Imagine Saul What did they just sing?

What What is this song they're singing

now?

"Saul has slain his thousands and David

his 10,000s." And verse 8 says, "And

Saul was very angry." And the saying

displeased him.

And he said, "They have ascribed to

David tens of thousands and to me they

have ascribed only thousands. Now, what

more can he have but the kingdom?" As I

read this,

I hear in my mind the voice of like a

three or four-year-old child who's upset

cuz things aren't fair.

He's getting all the praise and I'm

getting none of the praise.

What else can he take but the whole

kingdom now? They said he killed more

people than me.

Kind of a kind of a childish statement

here, isn't it?

And it says in the Bible, verse 9, so

Saul eyed David from that day forward.

Why did he eye David?

What did he feel about David when he

heard those those women singing those

songs?

He felt jealousy, didn't he?

Why are they singing that about him and

not me?

Why do they like him so much? Do they

like him more than me?

Verse 10 it says, "And it happened on

the next day that the distressing spirit

came upon Saul

in his own house and David played music

with his hand as at other times. But

there was a spear in Saul's hand

and Saul cast the spear, for he said, 'I

will pin David to the wall.'

But David escaped his presence

twice.

Can you picture this in your mind?

Saul's having a rough day, they call

David in to play harp like he has in the

past. The harp music has always calmed

him down in the past.

And here's David playing this harp

and there's Saul brooding in a chair

staring at him with a spear in his hand.

If you're a musician

and you're playing music for someone and

they're holding a gun and they're aiming

it at you and they've got an angry look

on their face, how well are you going to

play your music?

It's going to be a little tense, won't

it?

And here's Saul just with a spear just

watching him and and it had to be

written all over his face, too. He

didn't like the guy.

Jealous of the guy.

He didn't like the song that was just

saying about the doing he's sitting

there with a spear just looking at him.

And David's probably like singing his

songs like, "What's going on here?"

Stands up, big tall Saul takes that

spear in an attacking mode and David's

probably like,

"Whoa, what's on now?"

Throws a spear at him.

David dodges out of the way, the spear

probably lodges in the wall.

Now, it says in the Bible that this

happened twice.

How do you recover from the first time

and get back to where you're sitting

down and playing music again?

What did Saul say to get David to say,

hold on a second. Sorry about that.

Sorry about the whole spear and trying

to kill you. Have a seat again. Let's

play play me some more music. I'm having

a rough day."

How did he talk David into sitting back

down?

And so David sits back down and keeps on

playing playing his his harp.

Now, did Saul have another sword right

by him and just grab it again and start

looking or did he kind of just like ease

over to where the to the spears where

the spears were and kind of like just

grab another one? I mean, how did this

all happen?

Cuz it happens a second time and and

Saul just snaps again, jumps up with the

spear,

heaves it at David.

David dodges out of the way and finally

David's like, "I'm out of here."

Why is it

that Saul hated David so much?

The book Patriarchs and Prophets, page

650, the author, going along with this

story and giving commentary on it, says

this.

The demon of jealousy

Let me Let me read that part one more

time cuz it's it's a pretty big

statement she makes in here.

The demon of jealousy entered the heart

of the king.

One great defect in the character of

Saul was his love of approbation or

approval.

This trait had a controlling influence

over his actions and thoughts.

Everything was marked by his desire for

praise and self-exaltation.

His standard of right and wrong was the

low standard of popular applause.

No man is safe who lives that he may

please men and does not seek first the

approval of God.

Saul opened his heart to the spirit of

jealousy by which his soul was poisoned.

It was envy that made Saul miserable.

Envy is the offspring of pride and it is

entertained and when it is entertained

in the heart, it will lead to hatred.

That first part caught my attention when

I read it.

When she says the demon of jealousy.

Now, don't raise your hand.

All of us have been jealous at some

point in our lives.

All of us have been envious at some

point in our lives.

It's something we as humans struggle

with.

Saul, a little bit more than your

average.

And jealousy and envy is such a big deal

in humanity that God decided to include

this topic in the 10 Commandments.

In the last commandment he said, "Thou

shalt not covet."

He gives a list of things that people

usually covet.

He knew that would be something that we

as humans struggle with.

I think the inverse of the 10th

commandment that says, "Thou shalt not

covet." would say something like this,

"Thou shalt be content."

Contentment

is one of the main goals I think that

that we should strive for in life.

There's uh a quote

I came across on contentment.

I don't usually quote Willie Nelson in

my sermons, but I'm going to today.

He says, "If you can be content right

now, then you'll always be content

because it's always right now."

When I read this I was like, "Okay, this

feels too simple. Did I miss something?"

But the simplicity of it is the

complexity of it as well.

If you can be content right now, then

you'll always be content

because it's always right now.

Contentment, I think, is one of the keys

to a happy life. Comparison,

I heard this saying, it says,

"Comparison is the thief of joy."

Totally true.

If you are always comparing yourself to

other people, you will never be happy

enough. Just a couple of weeks ago there

was an article

uh retired NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal

had rented like a 150-ft yacht for a

party.

Beautiful big yacht. And he had all of

his friends on this yacht and they were

having this great party and he was like,

"This is a sweet boat. Everybody's super

impressed." And then a billionaire with

a mega yacht brought his boat right past

where Shaq's yacht was.

And the article was saying that Shaq was

kind of upset that this guy that this

guy brought his big yacht and made his

little yacht look pathetic.

That's what comparison does.

It makes your 150 yacht look yacht not

quite good enough.

Everybody's always got something a

little bit bigger or a little bit

better. Comparison is the thief

of joy.

There's a

There's a picture that I've seen and

it's gone around the internet in a few

variety of different ways.

But it's a guy and his dog by this

bench. I love dogs.

Dogs are some of my favorite. They're

just They're My dogs are always happy to

see me. Even if they've been bad and

they've chewed something and I walk in

and my voice is like, "Well, you know, I

you say with a lower voice like my my

German Shepherd, Clancy, he's he's

usually the good one. That's the golden

retriever, Shelby, that usually is the

one in trouble.

I'll come in and be like, "Shelby!"

And she'll be like, she she has the most

guilty look on her face. She'll be like,

"I know I shouldn't have done it." She

puts her head down. She's like, "I know

it's totally me. It was totally me. I'm

not going to deny it. Please Please, can

we still be best friends? Can we still

be good? Can I still live here?"

And but she's great. The dogs are just

great. Dogs Dogs are some of the

happiest creatures God made, I think.

And And this picture is a beautiful

illustration of why I think dogs are so

happy. The guy in the picture's like,

"Man, if I could just have a Lambo and a

mansion."

Oh, if I could just have a Lamborghini

and a mansion or a fast car or this or

that. He's looking at other stuff that

he really wants to have that he doesn't

have. And the dog is like, "This is the

best day of my whole life.

I've always dreamed of this and here I

am. This is it. I'm right here with my

best friend. We've got a great view.

This is perfect. This is my whole dream.

I've always wanted to be right here. I'm

totally happy right here."

And it's totally true.

When you're always looking for something

else and you wish you had something

else, you're not going to be quite

happy.

But if you can find a way to be happy

right where you're at,

you're going to be the most content

person in the world.

Bible talks about contentment.

Philippians 4:6, and here's a way I

Philippians 4:6

think that we can avoid what King Saul

struggled with

and become content, and I think the key

is thankfulness.

Philippians 4:6 says, "Do not be anxious

Philippians 4:6

about anything, but in every situation

by prayer and petition with what?"

Thanksgiving,

present your requests to God.

How often have you said thank you to

God?

You see, when you pause and are thankful

to God for the things that he's blessed

you with, there's less room to look at

what you don't have.

You have an attitude of gratefulness

when you're being thankful and saying,

"God, I'm Thank you so much for this

blessing in my life."

You stop looking at what you don't have.

Colossians 2 4:2, "Devote yourself to

prayer, being watchful and thankful."

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "Give thanks

1 Thessalonians 5:18

in all circumstances." And that can be a

tricky one.

It's not easy to go through a fiery

furnace situation and be thankful.

Oftentimes we're like, "Well, I don't

think I have anything to be thankful

for.

I'm going through such a rough time

right now. I am so miserable. I'm hurt

so bad. There is no way

I have anything to be thankful for."

And we're not often We don't often say,

"Well, God, this this is going to be

such a character-building situation for

me. Thank you for allowing me to go

through this. I can't wait to see what I

learn from all of this."

We don't really

think that way.

But I would challenge you that there is

something in every situation that you

can be thankful for.

Even if it's just that you know you're

not going through that situation alone,

you can be thankful that God is giving

you the strength to make it through and

you're not going through it by yourself.

That even is something that you can be

thankful for.

First Timothy 6:6-8,

1 Timothy 6:6–8

"But godliness

actually is a means of great gain when

accompanied by contentment.

For we have brought nothing into this

world, so we can take nothing out of it

either.

We have food and covering, with these we

shall be

content."

Many years ago, Aaron and I lived in

Thailand

and uh

they said, "We've We've got an apartment

for you." And we thought, "Okay, an

apartment. I know what an apartment

looks like." And when we got to the

apartment that they'd reserved for us,

it was uh kind of a small

hotel room's size built uh room.

Um

and it was concrete walls that were

painted mint green all the way around.

All the furniture was painted mint

green. It was a very minty experience

living there.

And uh a little bit smaller than we had

thought, but it we did our dishes in the

bathroom sink because there was no

kitchen there. We had a hot plate and uh

I don't know if it was like 175 square

feet or something. It was It was pretty

tiny.

But we lived in there just fine.

Um

had a great time. Lived in this place

for a year.

And I've often walked into my garage at

my house, which is bigger than our

apartment was in in Thailand.

I've often walked into my garage and

thought to myself, "Could I go back

living in a space the size of my garage

and be content?"

Could I be happy

without my living room,

without my favorite couch and my

favorite recliner?

If I just went back to this, could I

still be content in life?

It's a great question for us to ask

ourselves.

What does it take to make you happy?

Is your stuff what makes you happy or

the people around you that makes you

happy? What is it that makes you happy

and content?

And I've looked at that. I often think

to myself, "If I lost everything, could

I be content in life? Could I still be

happy and smile the next day if I lost

everything?

Now, for sure there would be sadness if

I lost, you know, things like pictures

of my kids and stuff like that.

But, do things make me happy?

And if I lost those things, would I be

miserable? What is it that brings me

contentment in life?

Um

I think if it's things that make you

happy,

you might be miserable cuz you may not

ever have enough things.

If your relationship with God is what

brings meaning in your life, you're

never going to lose that.

And he can bring joy into your life in a

million different ways.

Contentment,

I think is one of the greatest gifts we

can have in this life.

Not chasing other things. So, how do we

become content? I think

I think thankfulness plays a big role in

it.

No matter how much or how little you

have, if you're thankful for what you do

have,

your heart's going to be full.

Saul's discontent and jealousy drove him

to do wild things.

His jealousy

turned to consuming hatred for David,

absolutely consuming him.

It says, "So, Saul eyed David from that

day forward." Tries to kill him twice.

Then, in chapter 18, verse 18, he offers

his daughter Merab

to David as a wife. Then, right before

the wedding's supposed to happen, he

gives Merab to another man.

And then he says, "Well, I'll give you

my daughter Michal." And it says that

Saul's daughter loved David. Michal

loved David.

And so, when when they proposed this to

David, David says, "Look, who am I to

marry the king's the king's daughter? I

can't afford

to pay a dowry for for king's daughter.

I can't afford this.

And so Saul hatched a plan that he hoped

would get David killed.

And it's a plan I'm not going to go into

in very much detail cuz it's a pretty

gnarly story.

But Saul's hope was as David went out to

fight some Philistines

that David would be killed in these

skirmishes.

He had to prove that he could kill 100

Philistines.

And Saul was probably like there's no

way he's going to make it.

No way. He'll be killed there. I'll be

solved of my problem with David. No

problem. David went out and doubled the

dowry.

Didn't kill him.

But Saul sure tried.

Verse 8 chapter 18 verse 29

says Saul became David's enemy

continually.

Chapter 19 verse 9 Saul again tries to

spear David while he's playing the harp.

I don't know how he convinced him to

come back in and play the harp. How

awkward was it then?

You wonder if Saul was like, "Hey man,

really sorry about those last two times,

but it'll be different this time. Have a

seat."

Love your playing.

You have

How's David even sit down and start

playing music?

With Saul and a spear in his hand again.

It's the same thing over and over. He's

got the spear in his hand again.

His face changes. He kind of just

brewing brewing up he comes again. Boom.

Tries to throw a spear again. Tries to

kill him again. David escapes and goes

to Rama where Samuel is.

It doesn't say they had a conversation

really, but you you can't help but think

that David was like,

"Samuel, you got to help me out. I don't

know what to do here. I mean you

anointed me, but this guy's trying to

kill me. I'm not going to make it to be

king."

Saul sent men to Rama to try and catch

David and to kill him. God took care of

that, solved that problem for him.

It's happening so often that in chapter

20 verse 3, David says to Jonathan, his

best friend, he says, "Truly as the Lord

lives and as your soul lives, there is

but a step between me and death."

He's always running for his life. Saul's

always trying to kill him.

He's tried to kill him four times at

least already.

It'd be easy for David

to try to take things into his own

hands, to try and move things along a

little bit in God's plans.

But David has patience.

David waits on God.

We see over in

Well, before we before we get there, in

chapter 20 verses 30,

Saul's own son, Jonathan, sticks up for

David at a dinner party.

He says, "Why are you chasing David? He

hasn't done anything to you."

Saul [snorts] stands up, grabs a spear,

and tries to kill his own son.

This is This is what jealousy and envy

can do to somebody's heart.

Take him and totally destroy him.

We see over in chapter 24, turn with me

over to a couple chapters.

>> [snorts]

>> David and his men have been running and

hiding.

King Saul keeps on trying to

track him down and kill him.

And it says, "Now it happened when Saul

had returned from following the

Philistine,

>> [snorts]

>> that it was told to him saying, 'Take

note, David is in the wilderness of En

Gedi.'"

And I'm pretty sure that's how you

pronounce that because that's how Uncle

Dan and Aunt Sue pronounced it in Your

Story Hour when I was a kid.

So, that's got to be how it's

pronounced, En Gedi.

>> [snorts]

>> Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all of

Israel and went seeking David and his

men in the rocks of the wild goats.

There was a cave there.

David and his men go in the cave and

they must have covered up their own

tracks. We have 600 men that go into a

cave that leaves a lot of footprints and

when you're trying to hide, they must

have covered up their footprints as they

go hide in the cave and rest. They're

deep in this cave.

Saul is close.

Close enough that they intersect right

by this cave. Saul and his 3,000

soldiers are just outside the cave. Saul

needs some rest. He goes inside, lays

down on the cool floor of the cave.

Escapes the sun outside.

Can you imagine the eyeballs of David

and his men as they realize that King

Saul is sleeping right there at the

mouth of the cave and they can see him.

And as they realize that Saul is now

sleeping, I don't know if he was snoring

or breathing heavy, but they knew he was

sleeping.

They sneak up right next to him. There's

no guard around him. They're just out in

the front of the cave in front of the

cave. Saul's just laying there by

himself.

They come right up and now what do we

do?

There's Saul. This is the guy that's

been hunting me for so long, trying to

kill me for so long. If I just took care

of him right now, I don't have to run

for my life anymore.

He could have solved that problem right

there. And his buddy right next to him

was like, "David, God has put him in

your hands."

Kill him right now.

And you're now the king.

You're not running for your life

anymore. This is a God thing. Now, it's

an interesting situation

because there had to have been some

divine

interaction here bringing him there. But

I don't think that killing him there is

why God brought him there.

Remember where it says that David acted

wisely in everything that he did?

Instead of being the one who cut Saul's

head off and walks outside of the front

of the cave and says, "I'm now the

king."

He handles this situation in a way where

instead of the people fearing him, the

people love him.

I think that changes everything.

He reaches down with his with his knife

and he he cuts

the corner of Saul's robe off, just a

corner of it.

While he's sleeping and they disappear

back into the night at the the back of

the cave into the dark.

Saul finishes his nap, gets up feeling

refreshed, walks outside, probably

mounts his horse and starts heading off

with his soldiers.

And then he hears the unmistakable voice

of his son-in-law

and enemy.

Verse 8 of chapter 24, it says, "David

also arose afterwards, went outside the

cave and called to Saul saying, 'My lord

the king.'" And when Saul looked behind

him, David stooped with his face to the

earth and bowed down. Can you imagine

the look on Saul's face when he hears

David's voice and he looks and David is

coming out of the cave where he just

took a nap?

Where he was vulnerable enough where

David could have killed him and he

realizes that?

David said to Saul,

"And this whole speech is in front of

all of David's men and 3,000 of Saul's

soldiers.

Look, this day your eyes have seen that

the Lord delivered you into my hand in

the cave and someone urged me to kill

you. But my eyes spared you and I said,

'I will not stretch out my hand against

my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.'

Moreover, my father, see, yes, see the

corner of your robe in my hand. For in

that I cut off the corner of your robe

and I did not kill you. Know and see

that there is neither evil nor rebellion

in my hand and I have not sinned against

you, yet you hunt my life to take it.

Let the Lord judge between you and me

and let the Lord avenge me on you, but

my hand shall not be against you."

What do you think Saul's soldiers all

thought when they heard this speech?

This is the guy we're hunting? He

doesn't even want to hurt you. He could

have just killed you in that in that

cave.

He seems like a pretty good guy.

Saul

has a brief moment of repentance.

One that he backs out of again later on.

But they have an interesting

dialogue there at the end of it.

And Saul says in verse 20, "Now I know

indeed that you will surely be king.

And that the kingdom of Israel shall be

established in your hand. Therefore,

swear now to me by the Lord that you

will not cut off my descendants after

me." This is an intense conversation

right here.

Saul is admitting right there in front

of all the soldiers and everybody that

he knows David is going to be the the

next king.

He says, "Please don't kill my

descendants when you become king.

Let my family line keep on going."

This is a huge admission

by Saul.

And yet still, even after this,

Saul's jealousy of David comes right

back. He keeps on trying to come after

David again.

And that jealousy poisons his soul later

on again.

How does David act?

David trusts

God's timing

on his becoming king.

And it's

a very big trial for David as well

to find contentment

in this limbo stage that he's in where

he's not king yet, but he's got a

following, but God has and had him

anointed to be king, but he still has to

deal with Saul and the complexities of

everything.

David learns to trust God in these in

these

difficult situations in life and learn

to be content

in these situations even though

he knows there's something else that's

coming.

That contentment in life

I think is a mirror of trust in God in

our lives.

And trusting that God will take care of

the things that need to be taken care

of.

The soldier saw that Saul honored

himself

and that David honored God.

There's a German tourist

visiting a Mexican

village on the seashore and he was

watching as the boats were coming and

going

and he saw a Mexican fisherman coming in

with his small boat and he had a small

catch of fish right there in his boat.

It wasn't anything impressive, not a

huge haul. But he came in with his his

catch of fish and he tied his boat up to

the side of the dock there and and he

kicked his feet up and tilted his hat

down a little bit to enjoy some shade

and was going to take a little siesta.

And the tourist came up to him and he

said, he said, "Hey man, if you'd stayed

out fishing a little bit longer,

you could have caught a whole lot more

fish.

And and if you would have if you would

hire a couple other boat drivers and

maybe buy a few more boats, you could

have a fleet of fishing boats, start

your own company,

maybe your company could even go public,

you could have investors,

you could sell your company, retire,

and just take it easy and relax."

The fisherman looked up at him and said,

"What do you think I'm doing right now?"

He was content right where he was at.

And that doesn't mean that we that we

aren't

industrious and work hard and try to be

successful,

but it means we're not chasing

something.

Means we're content where we're at.

We're happy. We're not looking somewhere

else wishing we had somebody else's

life.

First Timothy 6:6-8, but godliness

1 Timothy 6:6–8

actually is a means of great gain when

accompanied by contentment.

For we have brought nothing into the

world, so we cannot take anything out

either. If we have food and covering

with these things, we shall be content.

And I think that no matter where we are

in life, if we have Jesus in our lives,

we can be content. We have everything

that we need. And he'll provide for us

the things that we that we that we need

to have in our lives. I want to invite

our worship team to come up and help us

help lead our our closing song. Our

closing song is all the way my savior

leads me. And the words go like this,

all the way my savior leads me, oh the

fullness of his love. Perfect rest to me

is promised in my father's house above.

Rest here on this earth, I think, comes

with us being content with with God

taking care of us. You can't have rest

if you're not content. You're always

worried about We see that with Saul. But

with God, he gives us the perfect rest

and contentment that we need. Let's

stand together as we sing our closing

song, all the way my savior leads me.

>> [music]

>> Father in heaven, Lord, give us the

contentment that you want us to have.

Help us to battle the jealousy and envy

that sometimes creeps into our hearts

with thankfulness, God, cuz we have so

much to be thankful in this life for the

many blessings in our lives that you've

given to us.

And so, Lord, help us not to fall into

the same pit that Saul fell into, but

help us to always keep our eyes on you

like David did. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen.

Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road Seventh Day Adventist

Church for worship. [music]

Each month, we reach between 25 and

30,000 people with gospel content

online. We're looking to expand our

audio-visual department this year and

looking to raise $30,000 in this

project.

We would love for you to partner with us

on this and consider making a donation

to our audio-visual department as we

look at expansion [music] and reaching

more people with the gospel across the

internet this next year. You can go to

mrcsda.org

to make a donation directly to our

audio-visual department.

Thank you so much for considering making

this donation and the privilege is ours

to partner with you in making this a

bigger [music] and more effective

ministry here at the McDonald Road 7th

Day Adventist Church.

God bless each one of you and thanks

again for joining us here at the

McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist [music]

Church.