Best Laid Plans - Week 4

We're moving into the last message of this series, the

best laid Plans, and I want to talk to you

about we have called it before the meantime, that that

that space where we know God has something, but it

doesn't feel white hot and fervent and exciting right now

in this moment. Amen, if you got a Bible, go

to First Samuel chapter seventeen, First Samuel chapter seventeen, and

I want to read a passage. Now. This is uh,

this is just preceding one of the most powerful, one

of the most popular Bible stories that we tell in

children's church and Sunday School and vacation Bible School. How

many of you ever heard of David and Goliath. Amen,

this is a This is preceding that that that pivotal

moment in the life of David where he faces Goliath.

First Samuel, chapter seventeen, verse seventeen. It says, then Jesse

said to his son David, take now for your brothers

an eph of this dried grain and these ten loaves,

and run to your brothers at the camp, and carry

these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and

see how your brothers fare, and bring back news off them.

Now Saul and they and all of the men of

Israel were there in the valley of Elah fighting with

the Philistines. Let's pray, Father, I thank you for your word.

It's the only change agent on the face of the planet.

And I pray that today you allow us to see

deeper than we've ever seen into our own lives, so

that we can experience you in places we never even

you were there. Word, I ask it in Jesus name. Amen,

you know this is uh, this is a captivating time

when we when we read the life of David. You know,

if they made movies about the life of David, they

they would they would break block they would break box

office records if they really made the story. Come on, somebody,

because there's something in it for everybody. Right. David, he

was uh, he was anointed, but he was also just

one of the people. He had the same struggles and

the same issues and all of those things. And when

we come to this passage of scripture, we need to

understand a few things that have already happened in the

life of David. David was the youngest of the brothers

of Jesse. Samuel, the prophet had rode to the house

of Jesse, and he had his anointing hull, his anointing

horn full of oil. He was there to anoint the

next king. And he goes in and he asked Jesse.

He says, hey, I want to see your sons. One

of them is going to be the next king. And

Jesse lines them up according to the way that he

thinks their kingships should happen. And they all looked the part.

It was a room full of manly men. Come on, somebody,

a room full of people, you know, they look like me,

and uh that that and he marches them and he

said no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, nope.

And he looks at Jesse and he says, no, it's

not them. Do you have any other sons and and

Jesse says, well, yeah, there's this one. There's there's the

little one. He's out he's out tending the sheep. But

it's probably not him. And Samuel says, hey, go get

him any way, just you know, let's just make I

want to be able when when I kneel down and

pray tonight, I want to be able to tell God

that I checked all the boxes. So go get the runt.

Bring him in. Let's check him out, and let's see

what God says. And he comes in and God speaks

and Samuel anoints David to be the next king of Israel. Spiritually,

he had already inherited the throne. Listen to me, at

the spiritual level, he had already inherited the throne, not

at the governmental level, not at the earthly level. But

when God speaks, it's already done. Amen, it's it's settled.

It's done. Case closed. David was king, and then Samuel

rides away. And I'm sure that David not he's he's

the next king. He's like, this is gonna change things.

I mean, I'm probably getting my own bedroom. Come on, somebody,

you know when you've got a bunch of kids, you

know that I probably And if I don't get my

own bedroom, I'm getting the top bunk. Things are about

to change in my life. And Samuel rides away, he

goes over the hill, and Jesse looks at David and says,

get back out there and take care of them sheep.

They not gonna watch their self. David said, huh, I

don't think that's what kings do. But guess what David did.

He wouldn't watch the sheep. He went and watched the

sheep because that is what the moment required of him.

So many times our plans look different than our current situation.

That God has spoken and we see these things and

we know what God has planned for us, or we

feel what God has planned for us, or maybe we've

just envisioned in our own minds what we want God

to do for us, and we look around and right

now doesn't look like that. And then there's a this

moment where now Israel has engaged in this this conflict

with the Philistines, their arch enemies. If this was like

the Marvel movies, right, he would be this would be

like the Philistines would be the main character. They're the

they're the arch villain, and they're engaged in this conflict.

But something has happened and Israel is just consumed with fear.

They march out their they're champion every day, and he says,

send me your best so that everybody doesn't have to die,

win or take all. Let's do it on the battlefield.

And day after day there's no challenger that arises in Israel.

And now David, the next King of Israel, he's in

the field, taking care of the sheep and writing psalms. Listen,

he's out there, he's he's taking care of the sheep

and he's just you know, he's laying and he's looking

at the stars. He's yay the wah walk through the

Valley of the Shadow of Death. Now, first of all,

he is not even in the valley where the war's raging. Amen.

He's like, I'm about to be bored to death right here,

and yeave the wah walk through the Valley of the

Shadow of death. I will fear no evil. He's writing

those words. My soul chases hard after you, though ten

thousand would fall at my hand. David is there, and

he's in this relationship with God, and if his relationship

with God wasn't where it was, if he didn't have

the love affair with the Lord that he had, he

would have never been positioned to actually achieve the plan

that God had for his life. Because there came this

moment where he's out doing this thing and his daddy

calls him in, and I think in his heart he

probably thought, this is it, this is it. I'm about

to be king. And he comes in and his daddy

looks at him and says, hey, I need you to

carry some cheese to the army. Listen. You know your

brothers they like to get into this nonsense, So I

need you to carry this cheese to their captain just

in case they cause trouble. So he won't, he won't

punish him. I won't. I got ten cheeses. Take the

cheese to the captain. And David's like, yes, sir, Now listen,

it's not a king's job to deliver cheese after he

becomes king. But my question to you is God, can

God trust you to carry it? Can God trust you

to carry the cheese? Can God trust you in the

mundane ordinary things? Because if there was no cheese moment,

there would have been no giant moment. The cheese positioned

him for the giant. David carries the cheese and he

carries it in, and he sees his brothers and he

delivers the cheese to the front where the captain was.

They're all poised because evidently what's going on here. I've

never quite understood why we used to do war the

way we did it, where we lined up in straight

rows and let the other people shoot at us, right,

I've never understood why that happened. They all line up,

they get battle gear ready. Goliath comes out issues this challenge.

They stand there, Golith waits a minute, he goes and

sits down, and then they go back to the tent.

So David carries the cheese. Goliath comes out, and something

is stirred in this young boy, and he says, huh,

this don't seem right. I mean, I'm sure when he

said it, David was looking to see who was going.

Where's our champion, where's the one? David said, He's not

gonna talk about my God that way. He will not

speak of my God that way. Now listen, because he

brought the cheese, because he had the integrity to be trusted,

because he was faithful, because he served in the mundane,

just like he would serve in the moment. Somehow he

finds himself in front of us all. Listen to Proverbs

chapter twenty two, verse twenty nine, that says, do you

see a man who excels in his work? Literally? Do

you see a man who is faithful in what he does?

He just shows up. He just shows up and he

does what he's supposed to do. That's what that passage says,

do you see a man who excels in his work?

He will stand before kings. He will not stand before

an unknown man. He will stand just because he serves

the Lord and understands there's more, but serves faithfully where

he's at, and he's diligent about the things that he's doing.

It moves him and gives him favor to stand before king.

So he delivers the cheese. He's standing there and he says, hey,

I want to do this now. Listen, this is a

boy that is really not even He doesn't even qualify

to be in the army, or he would be there

and he says, hey, I want to go fight now. Now,

what's what happens? They take him to the king. I'm

just gonna be honest. If one of the kids that

was standing up here dancing today came up to Pastor

Clay and said, Hey, Pastor Clay, I got a I

got a word for today. I'm supposed to preach. I

just it's a banger man. People are gonna shout and

shake and it's gonna be holy ghost. Just carry me

up there to Pastor and let me and let me

tell him I'm supposed to preach state procticly gonna be high.

I know.

Now, no, probably not. Now, why don't we get that

we're about to give away a secret here? Let us

get that on the calendar. I'm just gonna give you

some transparency. Right. If I look at you and say, hey,

let me try to get that on the calendar, that

means I don't want to do it. That's what that means. Okay,

Just so you know, that means I don't want to

do it. From now on, you know that I'm letting

you down easy. It's it's not you, it's me, right,

it's not you, it's me. So this kid comes and

there's something about him. Now David knows the plan is

for him to be king, but nobody else knows. Nobody

else knows that he's supposed to be the king. But

they saw the faithfulness of the cheese, and it gave

him favor. That he stood before the king and he

looks ats All and he says, hey, let me go

take him out. It's winner take all. I just want

you to because we never think about we never think

like this. And when we knowed, we know that that

king Saul, he's got to be struggling, right, Ernie. I mean,

or somebody would have already went out there and whipped

the Jaia King saw struggling. He don't, he's not and

he's definitely not got a wide open line. He's not

hearing that this is what we're supposed to do. This

kid shows up and he says, hey, let me do it,

and Saul says, okay, sounds great, sounds good, and they

start trying to put the armor on him. He's like, no,

I don't fit. And he looks at Saul and he says, hey,

you know, I fought the bear and I fought the lion,

and I didn't have any of this. I fought the

lion and I fought the bear. See, even in the mundane,

watch this, Even in the mundane their battles, Even in

the day to day life that we live on the

way to purse pursuing what God has for us, there

are going to be those moments of encounter where we

have to get a little bit outside of our normal

effort to be able to persevere. And I'm sure in

that moment when the bear came, David thought, this is

going to be the biggest challenge of my life. When

the lion came. This is the biggest challenge of my life.

But each one of those things was small in comparison

to what God was preparing him to do. He says,

let me go, and then we all know the end

of the story. He takes the sling, and then it's

over and in a moment, look at me, And in

a moment, the next king went from obscurity to notoriety

because of the faithfulness over the cheese. We see it

time and time and time again, where faithfulness and integrity

leads us towards the plan because there's no there's no

missional drift when we're busy with what God is putting

in front of us, and we are absolutely embracing everything

that the mundane moment requires, and we're chasing after God,

and we just want more and more and more and

more and more and more. We see it in Joseph. Joseph,

God gives him this dream, and his brothers get mad

and they sell him. They pretend like he's dead, and

they sell him and he's a slave and ends up

at Potiphar's house and Potiphar's wife comes watch this for Mama.

Why would joseph story had not worked for David. See,

God's got your own path. Your destiny is not on

somebody else's path. Because if David had been at Potiphar's

house been a different story, wouldn't it. We know David

struggle there because God lines us in our training ground

to build our strengths and protects us from our weakness,

and he refuses to get us, so he's thrown in jail.

And even when he's in jail, he refuses to do

anything other than lead and be the person, and he's

elevated through prison until he stands before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh

recognizes the faithfulness and the integrity of the moments through

the invisible plan that Pharaoh knew nothing about. I've been

so much time trying to convince people that we're important.

But God doesn't need anybody to see that you're important

until the moment he pulls the curtain back and reveals

it to the world. He collapses timeframes, he breaks through barriers,

and he accelerates things, and he puts you in front

of the people you need to be in front of

in the moment that you need to be in front

of them, because that's what God does, because that's who

God is. In Matthew, Chapter twenty five, verse fifteen. It's

the parable of the talents, it says, And to one

he gave five talents, to another two and to another one,

to each according to his own ability, And immediately he

went on a journey. You know that word ability, when

when we think of ability, we think of skill, But

that word actually just simply means readiness to handle responsibility.

That's it, readiness to handle responsibility. He did not give

five to his crypto broker. That's not how that That's

not how that ability was divided, right, He didn't give

two to his stockbroker and one to his gardener. That's

not what it's talking about. The one he gave five

to had proved himself faithful and ready to rise to

the occasion. The one that got two had proved himself

to a level to be faithful and ready to rise

to the challenge. And the one that received one probably

checked in every day late. Because we're not all at

the same place in the developmental scale. God can't trust

us all with the same thing. There are certain things

that I realize about me, and gosh, why do Larry,

why do I say things that I just know? I

shouldn't say when I'm standing up here ap preaching. But

here's the thing. You know, our church is the size

that it's at because I just honestly don't really like people.

It's not something that I mean, just I don't listen.

I don't want to be eating dinner somewhere and twenty

people come up and interrupt me while I'm eating dinner. Amen.

I don't want to have to wear a hat and

sunglasses and a hoodie to shop for groceries. Amen. With

my good looks, I could have been in Hollywood. I

know that, no doubt, but it's not something that I

am equipped for responsibility in that area. The mundane moments

of life on our way to the dream. Pursuing purpose

is all about being prepared for the responsibility of the moment.

If David didn't have the bear and the lion and

the cheese, he would not have been able to handle

the notoriety that came after the giant. God is preparing

you for something so significant that you don't understand it

because you're not ready for it, and the moment you

become ready, you will understand it and be able to

receive it. So you continue in the training ground. And

here's the thing. Purpose is not the end, Purpose is

the journey. Purpose is getting their purpose is the cheese.

Your readiness to handle response to Pastor Clay, You guys

can come and get ready. Your readiness to handle responsibility?

You know, I have seen on more than one occasion.

You know, we live in a world, especially in ministry,

where it's rare. It is rare to find someone to

serve in one place very long. Now. Pastors do it

more than support staff. Pastors last longer than support staff, because,

after all, we're in charge, right, the illusion right, we're

in charge. But to have somebody that has served as

long as Pastor Clay is very rare, especially with his

giftings and his talents. He's very gifted. He's very talented,

not just at the things you see, but at the

things that actually move the needle in a church from

the administrative point. But here's the thing I know about him.

I can count him. I can count on him to

carry cheese. You like cheese, don't you a lot? I

just have to worry about him eating it. Come on, somebody,

he shows up to the captain. He got eight blocks,

Well last week there was ten. I don't know what happened.

But here's the thing, and this is what he says.

I don't know if I want that chair. I don't

feel like I'm ready that maturity, that is being equipped

for responsibility. That is what that looks like. Stop being

mad at God.

Because somebody else has more, because somebody else is further

along in the journey.

Because you feel like it's not fair. What's not fair

is God giving it to you and watching it crush you.

Whatever it is, continue to be faithful in the moment

and learn the skills necessary for the moment. Learn how

money works. Learn what a good employee looks like. Learn

what a good boss looks like. Learn what a good

owner looks like while you have a safety net. Learn

what a good husband looks like before you find out

it's hard. Learn what a good father looks like before

your tasked with the biggest decision of your life. Those

things are for the moment. If you're here, you're wondering

whether God has something for you. Maybe you don't even

know Jesus yet. Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven. I'm gonna

read it out of the New King James. Then I'm

gonna quote it to you. Out of the NIV show

it to me, says, for I know the thoughts that

I that I think towards you, The Lord thoughts of

peace and not of evil, to give you a future

and a hope. Then IV says it this way, I

know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

I know the plans I have for you, declares the

Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future. God knows

the plans he has for you. And right now the

plan may be to carry the cheese. But there's still hope,

and there's still a future. It doesn't matter if you're

four or ninety four. There's still a future. There's still

things to do, there's still things to accomplish, there's still destiny,

there's still purpose, there's still all of those things that

are right around the corner on the horizon. If we

learn integrity and faithfulness in the morning and peace in

the evening, we serve a good God whose desire is

for you to have the things.

He spoke.

Every head bowed and every eye closed. You're here today

and you've never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins.

You've never asked him to be the lord of your life.

You're talking about a journey from heaven to earth, to

brutal death to heaven so that he could forgive your sins. Today,

if you're here and you've never trusted him that way,

you've never asked him to forgive you, But today you

want to slip up your hand and say, that's my pastor.

I want to give my life.

To Jesus today.

I wanted to forgive me of my sins, make me

a new creation. Amen. Amen. Father, I pray right now

for every person in this place that you would work

and move in their lives. Father, I give you glory

and honor and praise in Jesus mighty mighty name. Amen.

I want want to do something real quick though you

guys already have the elements, so I want to go ahead,

and I want us to receive communion and then worship,

because when the Holy girls fauls, I don't want y'all

throwing grape juice and crackers all over each other. Amen. Amen.

So if you would everybody stand with me with.

The elements, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

As Jesus was pursuing his purpose, reconciling fallen men to

Holy God. There was this moment. Dinner could have come

and gone, but there was no ordinary moment. There is

no ordinary moment. There is no ordinary moment in your life.

Every single moment is spiritually significant. Jesus was sitting there.

He had his closest ministry partners around him, and he

took the bread from the table. He began to say,

this bread, this represents my body. It'll be broken for

you as often as you receive it. Remember me. Remember me,

because I am the fuel of your life. I am

your guiding purpose. Remember me. Then he blessed the bread. Father,

I pray it you bless this bread, the broken body

of Christ for me. Jesus, I'll never forget the things

you've done for me. Bless it. Let's receive it together.

And then he took the cup. He said, this is

my blood. This changes everything. New covenant, HM, new contract

between God and men, unlimited access. You're gonna bridge the

gap and my blood will wash away your sin so

that you can come before the throne room boldly that

you may have help and time of need. Father, bless

the cup. What it signifies is so far beyond our

understanding how you can do it, but even further from

my mind is why you would do it. That, in

my most deserving, undeserving moment, that you covered me with

your blood. Father blessed the cup in Jesus' name. Let's

receive it together. The scripture says that after they did that,

they sang a hymn, and then they went out. Let's

continue to model that moment. Let's worship together. H