Sermon

2 Samuel 5 (Part 3) Bible Study | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  1. We're doing something a little different tonight.

  2. I hope you're okay with it. We did this in the past where I

  3. was in so elevated and we'll see how this goes.

  4. If it's more distracting that I'm going to go back up there if

  5. it's more engaging than I'm going to stay right here.

  6. Okay. Meet me in the book of second.

  7. Samuel chapter five in your Bibles.

  8. Second, Samuel chapter five. I hope me coming down here.

  9. Doesn't mean more people going to move back.

  10. Because we already have that issue.

  11. So if you want to come forward, I won't bite.

  12. I might yell but I won't buy. There you go.

  13. Thank you one person did it actually.

  14. There you go. If you want that close I mean

  15. that's that's those are that's really close okay.

  16. Great second, Samuel chapter five, are you there?

  17. Let's pray one more time. My brother pray but I think it's

  18. worth praying one more time as we come to the text.

  19. Lord indeed, we thank you that we have this chance to be

  20. together in your house on a Friday night.

  21. We don't take it for granted. Hello, we know that when we come

  22. in the name of Jesus Christ, you were in the midst, you the Risen

  23. Christ are here with us and Lord, more than that, you are in

  24. us and we pray that you would illuminate these words and where

  25. that we would sense your voice. We would realize your

  26. fellowship, Your Love toward us in providing this portion of

  27. sacred scripture, but we ask for your anointing in the delivery

  28. of this word. We pray for your anointing as

  29. first John 2 and understanding this word.

  30. So that we can be centered in your will and that we can be

  31. elevated in our worship and our glorifying of you.

  32. We ask these things in the precious name of Jesus, who

  33. purchased who purchased our Salvation in Jesus name?

  34. We pray. Amen.

  35. This is different and I'm going to do something else.

  36. Different, here's what's going to happen.

  37. I'm going to read this tax, the part 3 of chapter 5 and then I'm

  38. going to ask you. I'm gonna ask everyone here to

  39. participate in, including your observations of this text.

  40. There's going to be a lot more teaching and interactive.

  41. And so, pay attention as I read, follow along in your Bibles, we

  42. are here in verse 17. This is our third installment in

  43. this chapter, And I'm just going to read it straight through.

  44. And then I'm going to ask what you see in the initial reading

  45. of this text first 17, when the Philistines heard that David had

  46. been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to

  47. search for David but David heard of it and went down to the

  48. stronghold. Now, the Philistines had come

  49. and spread out in the valley of rephaim.

  50. And David inquired of the Lord. Shall I go up against the

  51. Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?

  52. And the Lord said to David go up for I will, certainly give the

  53. Philistines it into your hand and David came to Baal perazim

  54. and David defeated them there. And he said, the Lord has broken

  55. through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.

  56. Therefore, the name of that place is called Baal perazim.

  57. And the Philistines left their Idols there and David and his

  58. men carried them away and the Philistines came up yet again

  59. and spread out in the valley of rephaim and David inquired of

  60. the Lord, he said You shall not go up go around to their rear

  61. and come against them opposite, the Boston trees.

  62. And when you hear the sound of Marching In the tops of the

  63. balsam trees, then Rouse yourself for then.

  64. The Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the

  65. Philistines, and David did As the Lord commanded him and

  66. struck down the Philistines from giba to his ear.

  67. Initial observations. Anything that stands out?

  68. Yes, he inquired of the Lord of what he should do.

  69. Good. Yes.

  70. The confirmation that this will. In fact come?

  71. Yes, John. Yeah, so all the Philistines so

  72. this is this is an important Mission.

  73. This is serious to the Philistines.

  74. Yes, very good. So we heard from John that he

  75. inquired of the Lord and Barrett observed.

  76. I'm sure you did as well that he inquired the Lord again about a

  77. matter that was so similar to the first time.

  78. Interesting. Yes.

  79. Yes, he followed, he obeyed. We're told in the last four as

  80. David did. What?

  81. The Lord commanded him? Yes.

  82. Amen. Yes.

  83. And the Lord has broken through my enemies.

  84. Absolutely Laurie. Sure.

  85. So he goes directly to the Lord. Now somewhat assume that the

  86. priest was there, but we're not told clearly.

  87. So we just gonna have to go with what we see hear and say from an

  88. initial observation, he's going directly to God.

  89. Very good David and his men carried away, the idols that

  90. significant will get to that. Yes, so the first thing is knew

  91. about David obviously so they had a close watch on David,

  92. very, very good. What prompted the Philistines to

  93. come up against David when they heard that he was anointed.

  94. So the timing of the attack is very very important as well.

  95. Very good, this is great. Any other observations Pastor

  96. Brown. Yeah.

  97. So David went down to the stronghold.

  98. That's an interesting observation as well.

  99. Where do we go? When we feel like we're

  100. overwhelmed, David Goes Down, Anything else?

  101. The Philistines were Relentless. So even though they experienced

  102. a crushing defeat, the first time they would again, come and

  103. attack its audacious. Okay.

  104. So in the, in the new King James, you said yeah, the new

  105. King James, it reads, that that God came through, like a, like a

  106. Breaking of water, like a flood and we'll get to that as well.

  107. That's a great detail. Yes, very good.

  108. So, the second time, the victory goes, even Beyond the Valley and

  109. extends. So, it was even, it was even

  110. more than what happened initially.

  111. Awesome, wonderful observations, anything else?

  112. Yes. Yes that was the sign.

  113. Once you hear the rustling of the leaves on the balsam trees

  114. that's the signal for you to go ahead significant.

  115. Very significant of course anything else.

  116. Marching. So who's marching?

  117. Well, it's an invisible Army. Surely yes.

  118. Any other observations, wonderful?

  119. The reason why I'm doing this and we'll do this from time to

  120. time, maybe we'll do it every week.

  121. I don't know, but the reason why I'm doing this is because I want

  122. us to be able to practice the tools that we should be

  123. implementing when we seek to excavate from God's word, right?

  124. And those tools are simply reflective questions that we

  125. should be engaging with the text.

  126. And so I want to offer you questions that I have whenever I

  127. read any portion of scripture, my first question always no

  128. matter what text I come to Leviticus or Romans.

  129. It doesn't matter. I'm always asking this, what is

  130. this teach me about? God, what is this?

  131. Say about God, his nature, his character his ways, right?

  132. Secondly, what does this tell me?

  133. And teach me about, man about me in Christ about men outside of

  134. Christ, man. Walking in obedience, man,

  135. walking in Disobedience. What is it?

  136. What does it teach me? What is this text teach me about

  137. about that? What do they teach me about and

  138. then you can get their sub questions?

  139. What does this teach me about worship?

  140. What is this? Teach me about my engagement

  141. with the world. So as men and the horizontal

  142. level, what is this? Teach me and even my vertical

  143. relationship with God. Another question is beyond that,

  144. what do I know from the surrounding context?

  145. That will help me understand the flow of this text.

  146. So I'm always looking just prior to what I'm reading in my daily

  147. reading. I'm looking at what I read

  148. before this. And then from there, I'll say,

  149. well, the wider context. So the book now, what is it?

  150. What's the themes of the book, your house, the flow of thought?

  151. How is this happening? And what are these things

  152. connected bring about? In terms of a greater

  153. Revelation, then I'm going Beyond.

  154. I'm saying, okay, I'm looking at this text again.

  155. And the way I visualize reading over the sink tax.

  156. It's as though you're digging deeper and deeper, right?

  157. So you read again, and then you read again and it seems like

  158. you're just getting any. You find one nugget here and you

  159. could keep digging, you find another Jewel here.

  160. That's how you should look at it.

  161. So then after that, I'll ask something along and it's not

  162. even in this particular order, but I'll ask, do I see any

  163. repetitions? Do I see any emphasis in this

  164. text? Do I see any names?

  165. Or places. That might help me understand a

  166. deeper meaning, like we read here of a couple places but I'll

  167. pair azim rephaim, what are those names mean?

  168. And when you go, when you go the extra mile, it's always worth it

  169. because you will indeed find something of worth in that

  170. Pursuit. And then I might continue to

  171. read and say, what new testament.

  172. I always do this and you're the only way you can, you can

  173. consistently and carefully. Apply the Old Testament is, if,

  174. you know, the new, which I don't think we struggle with.

  175. But the way I go about engaging with the oldest, What new

  176. testament principles or truths? Do I see Illustrated, especially

  177. in the narratives of the old? So, I look, we look David

  178. inquired of the Lord. So there's lessons there about

  179. prayer. Do I see anything in the New

  180. Testament that I can see being exemplified in real life here in

  181. the story, very simple tools. But if you, if you just, if you

  182. go beyond just, oh, I read my text.

  183. Okay, I paid my dues. That's where you're going to get

  184. Revelation. That's where your Bible.

  185. The Bible gets exciting, and when you come to a new text or a

  186. new book, whenever I come to a new book, like what, I just

  187. finished acts, right? And I actually Romans and now

  188. I'm coming in to First Corinthians and now I've First

  189. because I've lost count, how many times I've read it.

  190. But as I come to First Corinthians with those tools in

  191. mind at all, what am I going to see?

  192. Now, what am I going to see this time?

  193. Because, you know, over the years I've dug, I've dug, but

  194. here's the thing with the word of God, it's endless, it's

  195. endless so you keep digging it. Does you don't like Kink and you

  196. don't come to a place where the, okay.

  197. I think I figured it out. It's endless and so have that

  198. Faith as you approach the word of God.

  199. So here we are in second, Samuel chapter 5, and what's happening

  200. here in the context is David as we heard was anointed king of

  201. Israel. And we know here that a familiar

  202. foe to the Israelites have now they arose.

  203. And now their attention is up. There are learn about what's

  204. happening in this shift, in Israel's political Arena.

  205. And so they are ready now to attack, and David here is not

  206. unfamiliar with the Philistines, his own personal history, he's

  207. dealt with them before, he's gone to war with them.

  208. He has ransacked and he's defeated them more than that.

  209. Remember when David was back slidden.

  210. A little bit over a year, he was with who these guys.

  211. And so I'm sure David was a smart individual.

  212. He gathered Intel and he understood how they thought and

  213. he probably heard conversations and so he was even more equipped

  214. at this point and understanding how to deal with the Enemy.

  215. But what's interesting here is that David and choirs of the

  216. Lord and he does it again and with his General, contextual

  217. frame of I now we're going to dig in and see exactly what it

  218. is. That the Holy Spirit has

  219. prepared the meeting details in these verses.

  220. I'm telling you I was on verse 14.

  221. So long, I was scared we were going to finish with you apart

  222. for. So I had to force myself a

  223. little bit, not that I want to, but in order to cover the

  224. context, look at verse 17, when the Philistines heard that David

  225. had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went

  226. up to search for David, okay, the timing of the attack, the

  227. timing of the attack personally reading this, I took three

  228. lessons out of you. Just at the timing.

  229. When the Philistines came, what do you see there in the timing

  230. of the Philistines that you can draw principles from in our own

  231. lives? Yeah, very good point.

  232. So it is often the strategy of Satan that when there is

  233. progression in the will of God advancement in the will of God,

  234. a graduation in godliness that he will fight and he will gather

  235. his troops. He would gather his schemes and

  236. he will launch them towards you need, because he is very

  237. Vigilant of the spirits activity.

  238. He's very aware and he is observant and he's calculated.

  239. And he knows something is gaining traction, then he is on

  240. alert and he preemptively seeks to bring a halt less something,

  241. whether it's individually, or corporally, advances further.

  242. And so that is that is something that we should understand less.

  243. We become discouraged for no reason.

  244. If we understand that, this is how the enemy works, then we

  245. will be prepared in those transitional moments and those

  246. times where you put your mind to do something or when you're set

  247. on putting your hand to the plow and a particular Ministry, or a

  248. habit, or a conviction know that the enemy is right there, ready

  249. to put it to a stop as early as possible.

  250. And I wonder if because of the lack of this, understand, you

  251. have so many people who don't grow or who is easily just fall

  252. back into where they started from.

  253. Because they don't realize that if I'm really going to do

  254. something for God in God's name, the enemy is not just going to

  255. sit back and that includes so many things.

  256. So many things, I was reading this.

  257. And I thought of a simple visit that Paul wanted to make to the

  258. Thessalonians. And first Thessalonians chapter

    1 Thessalonians 2 chapter mention

  259. 2, I just want to read the student.

  260. Notice what Paul. Says to the church.

  261. He says in verse 18 because we wanted to come to you, that's

  262. the desire. We we wanted to come to you.

  263. I Paul again and again but Satan hindered us.

  264. So he was fully aware, we're trying to get to you physically

  265. and Satan is putting one obstacle before us after the

  266. next. And what was it?

  267. What was the plan just to come to them?

  268. And that's important because that shows just how much Satan

  269. hates you coming here with the people of God.

  270. Sunday morning. Okay, Friday night.

  271. You got to be kidding me and he'll do anything to make sure

  272. because there's a special Grace, a special protection from Satan

  273. himself. You read that in First

  274. Corinthians 5. I was in my reading today.

  275. There's a special protection from Satan.

  276. That's why excommunication is terminal eyes.

  277. As what being given over to who Satan.

  278. So we have to understand that there's there's something

  279. special that this the enemy hates.

  280. So even when bosses we want to come to you cause I don't know

  281. how I'm going to put up a fight. And when you set yourself to do

  282. something for the little one and Ministry, seeks to be gospel

  283. centered and to go out and Mission.

  284. The enemy will show up, the enemy will show up and he'll do

  285. it as early as possible. One of the ways I've seen is the

  286. most in my personal life, pre Ministry during Ministry when

  287. people decide to get baptized. When people make the decision

  288. that they're going to make that Monumental step and actually get

  289. in the water die to self. Right?

  290. As a symbol. But as an act of obedience to

  291. the Lord, Jesus Christ and that ordinance.

  292. It never fails. It never fails to see spiritual

  293. warfare, come like a flood and so now it's come to the point

  294. where it's so common. When somebody comes up to me and

  295. they're serious about getting baptized one of the first things

  296. I say to them is, hey, watch the opposition.

  297. It's coming your way and the enemies creative.

  298. So be extra vigilant, be extra prayed up.

  299. Don't give yourself to the Flesh.

  300. And warfare, blows up at home, things happen in their own

  301. minds. I've had people call me the

  302. night before. True Born Again.

  303. Spirit-filled people call me brother.

  304. I can't do this. There's no way.

  305. I don't know why. Whoa, what's going on?

  306. I don't know, I just, I can't imagine myself, relax, and it

  307. happens all the time, because Satan does not want you to walk

  308. in obedience and it does not want you to glorify God in any

  309. way. And so this is the first thing

  310. anything else from the the timing of the attack.

  311. I was kind of like to mention this but when I see when I see

  312. David and the Philistines reminds me of Ukraine and

  313. Russia, okay. And one

  314. the Ukraine now and the Ukraine people Taking all the weaponry

  315. and the reclaiming, the land again.

  316. It's almost like what he is. Yeah.

  317. So I see what you're saying and I think I want to do something

  318. else with this text. Now you want to look at the

  319. principle. So we saw the very obvious

  320. interpretation of it, but look at the principle of it even

  321. though this is the devil, you know, it's revealing his tactics

  322. towards the children of God. There's something here about a

  323. strategy that we should apply as the people of God, concerning

  324. Warfare on our end. And here's what I want to say.

  325. It's our Warfare concerning sin, So the same way that Satan came

  326. as early as possible to put a halt to this advancement of

  327. God's Will, and God's purpose and God's Kingdom on the earth.

  328. You and I should look at sin as a threat as early as possible

  329. and do everything that we can to extinguish its influence in our

  330. lives, okay? And this is why it's important

  331. because many strongholds that people are trying to pull down

  332. today, could have been dealt with much earlier when they were

  333. just but seed All right, so much of the struggles that people

  334. have in their lives today is because they refuse to see the

  335. Hazardous danger of sin when it was just a thought pattern. when

  336. when they saw their emotions begin to Cloud their judgment

  337. and they began to be reactionary and they begin to be in the

  338. flesh towards things towards people towards situations when

  339. they failed to realize that words will eventually lead to

  340. actions, And so in the same way, the Philistines came to David

  341. Wright when he was anointed right when when he was beginning

  342. to gain strength you and I should have the exact same

  343. approach and attitude when we see sin.

  344. Not just not just in full force, but sin and its seed form in its

  345. in its embryo state. So I have to do something about

  346. this. Now right here right now let's

  347. this become something that will be overwhelming.

  348. It's like extinguishing a spark, you don't wait for the bushel to

  349. burn up. You don't wait for a tree to

  350. combust in Flames it requires much more energy and much more

  351. counseling and much more conversation if you had just

  352. dealt with it. When it was there in the

  353. beginning, things could change. And here's the thing, if you and

  354. I want Avoid dealing with sin and its destructive stage.

  355. Then you and I by the wisdom of God in the pursuit of true

  356. Holiness deal with sin and its desire phase, don't wait till

  357. its destructive deal with it, even when it's a desire.

  358. And so, where do I get that idea from?

  359. Well, James tells us, James tells us the sequence of sin

  360. developing its strength in our lives.

  361. If you don't know the passages in James chapter 1 and James

    James 1 chapter mention James 1 chapter mention

  362. chapter 1, we read in verse 14, but each person is tempted, when

  363. he is Lord and enticed by what his own desire eyes are looking

  364. up. So I'm assuming is behind me

  365. yes. By his own desire.

  366. Then desire when it has conceived, it gives birth to sin

  367. and sin when it is fully grown, what brings forth death, here's

  368. the thing that I want to say that if you and I just deal with

  369. sin while it's a desire, We don't have to wait for death to

  370. come. And and what I want to help you

  371. see, is that unchecked desires will eventually and can lead to

  372. Untold devastation. So look at the wisdom here.

  373. James is telling us you don't have to wait for sin to

  374. conceive. You don't have to wait till

  375. Decay comes in when it is just a desire, then you can go to war

  376. with it. And so here's what I want to

  377. say. Just give me one moment.

  378. Just here's what I want to say. When you look at something like

  379. this, go to God with your imaginations, when you see them

  380. going in the wrong direction, don't wait till they manifest

  381. into Deeds. The moment you begin to see it

  382. become a pattern and an Unholy highlight reel.

  383. Do something about it then don't wait for that.

  384. Friction to turn it to faction when you know that there's

  385. something off with a brother or sister and you don't understand

  386. what it is. Communicate early on, don't wait

  387. until divisions happen deal with it right there.

  388. As early as you can. Bring that brother.

  389. Bring your wife. Bring your husband.

  390. Bring your children. Bring your parents before you

  391. and communicate. If you think about it, even in

  392. different ways ways that you don't even perhaps perceive when

  393. your heart begins to feel the chill.

  394. Of worldliness cooling off your Zeal for God don't wait until

  395. it's completely crystallized. Go to God right away.

  396. Say Lord, this frost on my heart.

  397. I can't be like I don't want to stay like I see where this is

  398. going. Would you do something with my

  399. heart now? Would you rekindle a fire and me

  400. now? And so if there's anything to

  401. learn from the enemy, if there's anything to relate to our own

  402. lives is go at it as soon as you can go at it in its early form.

  403. Don't wait till it matures. Don't wait till takes root.

  404. Squeeze the life out of it while it's still a seed.

  405. I want to give you a third one. So there's two right there.

  406. There's a third one. When the Philistines in verse

  407. 17, heard that David had been anointed king over Israel.

  408. And here's the thing, what happened to Israel when David

  409. was anointed king? Very good.

  410. Unity prior to this, you had David's Kingdom in Hebron and

  411. you had the kingdom of ishka Chef the son of Saul.

  412. And there was division for how long seven years, right?

  413. During those seven years, there wasn't a single interference by

  414. the Philistines. Not one.

  415. We don't see the Philistines Gathering their troops in their

  416. armies. To come against David why

  417. they're fighting themselves. There's internal strife right

  418. there. Let them just go out as long as

  419. possible of anything. What was happening for seven

  420. years? Were serving the purposes of the

  421. enemy? What a horrific illustration?

  422. For what happens when Believers turn on one another.

  423. If you need any motivation, if you have any sense of the fear

  424. of God in you, if you if it shouldn't be the greatest moment

  425. as you. But if you need any motivation

  426. realize that in those moments, when you fail to forgive, when

  427. you fail to reconcile, when you fail to communicate, if somebody

  428. is offended, you, if you're offended, somebody else the way

  429. Jesus that you are an ally in the eyes of Satan, And I'll lie,

  430. they're just killing themselves, they're biting each other, we

  431. don't deal with them. And we'll go on to the next

  432. church that has a little bit more wisdom in the things of

  433. God. So imagine that the Philistines

  434. did not interfere, but the moment that David becomes king,

  435. and all the tribes are now unified.

  436. This is trouble, this is now there's something serious here

  437. and so the Philistines now come against David, they seek to do

  438. something. Before becomes too strong for

  439. them to even handle how much more for the Church of Jesus

  440. Christ. Unity is such a like it's such a

  441. it's again it's in the christianese language, but we

  442. don't understand how important Unity is one.

  443. Many people do understand what true Unity is.

  444. So the unify just because people use the name Jesus, they have a

  445. cross in front of their building.

  446. That's dangerous. We don't unify with those who

  447. have false Doctrine. Do they claim a Christ?

  448. That's not right Unity. But true.

  449. Unity among Believers is absolutely.

  450. If you just look at the Bible and study Unity New Testament,

  451. presents to us, how Unity is absolutely foundational to

  452. effective gospel. Witness It is.

  453. What did Jesus say in John 17:21 that they may be what one just

    John 17:21

  454. as you father and I are in me and I in you rather that they

  455. also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have

  456. sent me. Let me let me just repeat this

  457. one more time, pay attention. I'm going to ask you a question

  458. that they may all be one just as you father are in me and I in

  459. you that they also may be in us so that the world may believe

  460. that you have sent Meet John 17:21.

    John 17:21

  461. Here's my question. What is the relationship between

  462. unity in the church and the world?

  463. Realizing Jesus was sent by the father and to the world we had

  464. asked questions, what's the relationship there?

  465. Because according to the prayer Jesus, in this text, there is an

  466. effective witness, a gospel witness to a watching,

  467. cold-hearted divisive unforgiving world that when they

  468. behold how Believers treat one another, it will actually direct

  469. them to the gospel. Any ideas?

  470. It's not very complicated. Yes, corgis Okay.

  471. Amen. You need apart from Christ is

  472. impossible. Some people unify for evil

  473. things. And a lot of those times they

  474. eat each other eventually. They devour one another but true

  475. Unity of course is not possible apart from Christ but what else

  476. how it is. Believers becoming one lead

  477. people to the conclusion. Jesus was sent by the father.

  478. He must have been sent by the father The tangible evidence of

  479. Christ's redeeming power, which also includes the indwelling.

  480. Holy Spirit. Is that you and I from different

  481. tribes, different tongues, different, cultures different

  482. backgrounds, different sin. Histories can actually come

  483. Together live together. Get along.

  484. And such a way that a watching world would say how is it that

  485. you have Chinese and you have Arabs and Assyrians and you have

  486. you have Romanians and you have African-Americans and you have

  487. Mexicans all coming together. How is it that you have 85 year

  488. olds and 15 year olds, 20 year olds and six-year-old all coming

  489. together, consistently loving each other, embracing one,

  490. another serving one, another upholding one.

  491. Another, what's the secret? And then they would realize

  492. That's the power of the Gospel. That's the power of the Gospel.

  493. So we're saying, let's be missional, okay?

  494. You want to be missional, forgive You want to be

  495. missional, listen to Jesus when he says, if a brother offends,

  496. you deal with it. And Paul gets very, very

  497. specific with these instructions and Paul understood the prayer

  498. of Jesus when he spoke to the Corinthian Church because news

  499. comes to Paul, that one Corinthian is taking another to

  500. court. They're actually going before

  501. unbelievers and suing one. Another.

  502. And I love what Paul says because I Revisited today,

  503. listen to what he says just hear the language and First

    1 Corinthians 6:6

  504. Corinthians 6 verse 6, but brother goes to law against

  505. brother. And that before unbelievers,

  506. then he goes on to say in verse 7 to have lawsuits at all with

  507. one. Another is already a defeat for

  508. you. I love Paul.

  509. It was the fact that you're even the suggestion that you're going

  510. to take your brother to court, you already lost.

  511. Like you already lost your testimony is gone.

  512. Look what he says, why not rather suffer wrong?

  513. Why not rather be defrauded? Here's what he's saying, so a

  514. Believer wants to take you to court.

  515. Why not? For the sake of your testimony?

  516. Just give the guy what he wants, if he wants to be in the flesh,

  517. give him what he wants. Why don't you suffer Rock for

  518. what sake, for the sake of the testimony of Christ?

  519. For the sake of the Gospel. See you want to be a serious

  520. Christian, huh? This is what it means to die to

  521. self because everything in you would say you want to take me to

  522. court. I'll hire a better lawyer.

  523. You want to do this? Let's fight.

  524. You want to go for it. Let's go for it.

  525. Paul saying, why don't you just lose just loose?

  526. Why? Because you're going to

  527. ultimately lose if you go before the world and show, what Jesus

  528. said that he would want from us, there's something greater here

  529. than your house, your car, more money, your business

  530. flourishing, there's something more and here's the I read this

  531. in a came to this conclusion, that people who continually

  532. strive, who can't forgive, who don't want to have conversation

  533. to, don't want to seek reconciliation, those people do

  534. not care about the lost. Have you ever thought of it like

  535. that? We always think that they're

  536. just in the flesh that they're selfish, that they're proud.

  537. No. No.

  538. According to what Paul is saying, here, they don't

  539. actually care about winning those who are perishing Because

  540. what Paul is using here, as a motivation to bring matters to

  541. an end to settle things. Is, there is a world that is

  542. perishing and desperately needs to see the power of the Gospel

  543. at work. So, for Christ's name, and for

  544. his message, sake, would you not die?

  545. And people who can't people, who remain in the flesh, in terms of

  546. relationship, with other people, those people don't have a sense

  547. of the Gospel. That's what I take out of it.

  548. Any of us claim to be serious about winning people to Christ,

  549. then you and I will be serious about dealing with our offenses.

  550. And seeking to put things in total Clarity and even willing

  551. to do what Paul says I'm willing to actually suffer wrong.

  552. So people always criticize, the gospel is not the solution to

  553. everything. Well, read the New Testament.

  554. The gospel is the motivation for a lot of things.

  555. Even in your marriage, what does Paul uses a motivation?

  556. The gospel go to court. What's the motivation?

  557. The gospel witness, the message of Christianity, our faith.

  558. And so the deeper understanding that you have a gospel, the

  559. moral impact your practical day-to-day life.

  560. And so, if you see anybody acting out and one specific way

  561. or another, you can know one thing.

  562. The fundamental issue there is that there is not understanding

  563. of the depth of the love of Jesus Christ and the witness

  564. that we should have out in the world.

  565. So notice once Unity came. Then the Philistines came,

  566. we're, I don't know how we're going to finish this tonight.

  567. We're still half of verse 17 can.

  568. Now, let's come down to verse 18.

  569. Now, the Philistines had come and spread out in the valley of

  570. rephaim and David inquired. Of the Lord.

  571. Shall I go up against the Philistines?

  572. Will you give them into my hand? And the Lord said to David go up

  573. for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.

  574. Here's what makes us so special and so exciting.

  575. David wasn't an expert at War David understood how to war

  576. against the Philistines. Especially, and for many, when

  577. it comes to prayer, it's usually engage with when they enter into

  578. the unknown. Or when they feel like there is

  579. no other option, there's no other Solutions.

  580. And so might as well just pray because we're desperate and

  581. there's there seems to be nothing that I can do or anybody

  582. else they can do for me. But here's the thing, true

  583. prayer, as David demonstrates. Is that even though you think,

  584. you know what to do, even though you may have strategy, you may

  585. have gifting, you may have knowledge.

  586. You still want to invite God's intervention into the matter.

  587. That's true. That's like true prayer.

  588. People say if you pray your humble.

  589. Yeah. But if you really want to pray,

  590. you pray like this man who in essence is confessing Lord.

  591. This may seem right. I may seem to know what to do,

  592. but you see what? I don't see.

  593. You know what, I don't know. You understand what?

  594. I Can't comprehend and totality. And so I'm asking you Lord that

  595. you would bring about the best possible outcome and that you

  596. would protect me from the worst because I live for your name, I

  597. represent your name and I want to glorify you in all that I do

  598. I want all that you can offer in this.

  599. I'm not going to presume. I'm not going to assume.

  600. Yes, I have a history defeating these people.

  601. Yes, I am Fearless. Yes I'm educated.

  602. But Lord, I come before you and I say, would you would you Would

  603. you be with me in this? That's true prayer and the

  604. principle behind David's prayer here.

  605. Although we may not receive verbal step-by-step instruction

  606. like he gets, we get to experience what he experienced

  607. and what he experienced was, ultimately confidence, he was

  608. looking for answers. Yes, but the core of it, he was

  609. looking for courage to get confirmation from God and he

  610. received that courage. And here's the thing, you and I

  611. whenever we pray, we can expect the same thing.

  612. That's your inheritance in mind because here's the thing,

  613. whenever you bring Matter before God, there is absolutely no

  614. reason to fear the outcome, no matter what it is.

  615. Because you've done your part and you brought it before the

  616. Lord. And so the outcome is favorable

  617. in the moment or not. You can rest assured.

  618. I've done my part, I've brought it before the Lord and God

  619. understands that I want his will so God will honor that.

  620. So you may not get an audible voice.

  621. That will tell you, go here go there.

  622. But the scriptures are absolutely filled with promises

  623. about what you get when you do one simple thing.

  624. Dang, can I read you one promise?

  625. Psalm 91, precious song verse 15.

  626. I want you to notice, if you want to turn that you can about

  627. all the, I Wills that God declares as a result of one

  628. decision that you. And I make one simple posture

  629. will open a world of divine, I Wills for you.

  630. And I Psalm 91 verse 15 when he calls to me.

    Psalms 91:15

  631. So as a result of that, when he calls to me, look at all the I

  632. Wills, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble.

  633. I will rescue him and honor him with long life.

  634. I will satisfy him and show him. My steadfast love.

  635. I will answer him. I will be with them.

  636. I will rescue him, I will honor him, I will satisfy him.

  637. I will show him. Direction.

  638. Presence. Deliverance and even in some

  639. cases promotion, I will honor him.

  640. Here's the point, in David's case he had all those things

  641. happen in this situation, And here's the guarantee for you and

  642. I when you call to him, he will is a simple as that he will do

  643. something with that prayer every single time.

  644. That's what makes prayer so exciting.

  645. That's what gets me giddy even when a situation comes my way

  646. and it does not seem possible. By any human means to solve, oh,

  647. I'm going to bring you before a God, who can, who will?

  648. And I want to see what he's going to do with this.

  649. A prayer of this person has no hope they have no guarantee you

  650. have every reason to fear you have every reason to run around

  651. and waste your energy. If you do not take the time to

  652. pray, just one simple thing, it's amazing.

  653. It didn't say you will, you will you will.

  654. And I will do. He goes, you do?

  655. And I will not, I will not. I will not.

  656. I will not. I will.

  657. What more how much easier do you want it to be?

  658. It would make sense as Mortals and creatures.

  659. You do you do you do fill out Step 1.

  660. When you're done with that form, go to form a b and then fill

  661. that one out and then I will do. Maybe if I feel like it.

  662. No no you do I will, I will, I will.

  663. I will You can't find the motivation, the pray, yo, mama.

  664. So you praise. Now look what happens in verse

  665. 20. And David came to Baal perazim

  666. and David defeated them there. And he said, the Lord has broken

  667. through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.

  668. Therefore, the name of that place is called mph azim.

  669. So something happened with this. David has seen victories in his

  670. life but something spectacular happened at this moment in such

  671. a way where he wanted to memorialize it and he want to

  672. have a testimony for generations to come Come to recall an aspect

  673. of God's faithfulness that is unique to this text.

  674. That it's a title that you and I have not really heard often

  675. about who God is and what he's able to do.

  676. So what was it here? That impressed David so much.

  677. I mean, read verse 20, there was something that he saw God, do

  678. that marked him for life and our brother read it earlier.

  679. It's the way in which God came How did he come like a what?

  680. Breaking flood. If you want a visual, it's like

  681. the tsunami that crashes through a crack.

  682. Damn without notice with David observed in God's dealing with

  683. his enemies is that he overwhelmingly.

  684. And without without any ability to stop it was Unstoppable swept

  685. up the Enemy Within the blink of an eye.

  686. That's what he saw before him and goes.

  687. But I'll pair azim. I mean if you have an advanced

  688. Bible you will see that the definition, there's in the

  689. bottom of the page. What does Baal perazim mean?

  690. What was it? Okay.

  691. There's by all means what? Anybody understand what by all

  692. means. Not God.

  693. Lord or master. A azim is generally translated

  694. as breakings fourth or break through even.

  695. So when you can read, this is the Lord of breakthrough.

  696. The Lord of breaking forth, breakings forth and that is what

  697. he's on the visual. There again is like, it's just

  698. like a flood that comes out of nowhere without without notice

  699. without any update, just suddenly happens and this is how

  700. David renames the region. He goes this area for will be

  701. known to our people as Baal perazim.

  702. And when you put all the pieces together with the context, what

  703. you see here is that David comes to this conclusion that he is,

  704. he is able to Suddenly shift a situation.

  705. Despite the obstacles that would make such a dramatic change in

  706. possible in the natural. Here's my question to you, Bible

  707. study Friday night Have you ever viewed?

  708. God is the god of breakthrough. Have you ever heard him referred

  709. to in such a way? I've heard, I've heard him

  710. referred to as the god of breakthrough but in a very

  711. shallow way. But when you see the context,

  712. when you understand that, this is actually a Biblical title, I

  713. wonder how many of us perceive the Lord in such a way.

  714. Because the way David Psalm was God has the ability to

  715. miraculously change the course of action in a moment.

  716. So, what does that look like in our context?

  717. Because we're not going to war with Philistines?

  718. What that can look like is? You have an enemy one day, who

  719. threatens? You may be friends you to go to

  720. court the next day, they just disappear.

  721. Where do they go? It looks like not having

  722. groceries and not having food to eat and not knowing where you're

  723. going to get your next meal and all for a sudden grocery show up

  724. at your front step enough to feed you.

  725. For the next three weeks, it looks like not having a church

  726. building. And before your next meeting a

  727. church building shows up, that's what it looks like.

  728. Baba, a Azeem, the Lord of breakthrough all for sudden.

  729. God just did it. And there's no way to explain in

  730. human terminology or human explanation.

  731. This was God himself and although God doesn't always work

  732. that way he does. And he's able to work in this

  733. way and you and I should have that faith and you and I should

  734. trust God to be able to do that. And do you know how you can open

  735. your life for Baal perazim to make his way in your life?

  736. Do what David did? He pray.

  737. He brought it before, God, he sought the Lord.

  738. The only way of Baal perazim was be able to manifest himself was

  739. because of a man who humble themselves before this kind of

  740. God, I don't know how this is going to happen.

  741. Lord, and God said just watch. Watch How I will break through.

  742. That excites me, but I would caution you to not ask for that.

  743. If you're not ready for what it will require, you want you want

  744. to see the Lord break through? You want to see the Lord do that

  745. and create memorials in your life, then expect to be placed

  746. in positions that will make you extremely uncomfortable.

  747. Sometimes in oftentimes for a season grueling testing,

  748. pressing X that will leave you in a place where you have

  749. literally, no, hope unless Heaven comes to your help.

  750. So, people ask for this, they want this, they want the

  751. testimonies they don't. Just they do, they don't want

  752. the test for the testimonies though they begin to squeal.

  753. Where is god? Well.

  754. You wanted to see him do what he can only do.

  755. Yes, and hold on. Keep praying stay before the

  756. Lord seek him. He was here's what's amazing,

  757. the beauty of that. Is that God will do something

  758. and he's able to do something to such a degree that you will

  759. never forget it. What was this?

  760. What was this Valley called? Because he renames it.

  761. Valley of what somebody said that Ruffian, does anybody know

  762. she again here's the tool belt. What is r?

  763. Fa e mean because that's not in my English vocabulary so you do

  764. a little bit of research and you realize that Refugee means while

  765. Giants. Valley of giants.

  766. So put the pieces together. Now, your morning, devotions are

  767. getting exciting now, you're not even concerned about your cup of

  768. coffee. Now you're in it and now you're

  769. engaged, hold on the Lord of breakthroughs comes into the

  770. valley of giants. And the understanding is so

  771. simple without over spiritualizing, it is that God

  772. is able to suddenly remove the most fierce and intimidating

  773. enemies in my life. The most overwhelming as I stand

  774. in the shadow of things that would easily swallow me up.

  775. If I didn't have God on my side and God can do something about

  776. it. Not in stages, he can do it

  777. suddenly suddenly you and I should see God in such a way,

  778. because then you don't fear any man, no matter what kind of a

  779. giant he is physically political Giants, giant businessmen, Giant

  780. gangs gang leaders, gang Lords. You're dealing with the God who

  781. looks at Giants like grasshoppers.

  782. And in a moment, he can come and deal with you.

  783. I'm glad to be on his side but I also see secondary thing here.

  784. The Philistines were defeated and our brother brought it up to

  785. us earlier verse 21 and the Philistines left their Idols.

  786. There And David and his men carried them away.

  787. So why do you think the Philistines brought their Idols

  788. to the battle? Oh yeah.

  789. There are God's going to deliver us.

  790. You're always in trouble. If you can carry your God and

  791. your pocket, all right, if you can put your little got on a

  792. cart and bring them, along with you, and put some fruit in front

  793. of him, because it's going to whatever you're probably in

  794. trouble, all right? And so the these guys, they

  795. bring their gods and then all four sudden they realize in a

  796. very dramatic way. Our God's failed us.

  797. And they were so disappointed that it was such a rude.

  798. Awakening that they did even, they didn't care to bring their

  799. gods, under the backpacks, and their shoulders and run back.

  800. They just left them on the field useless.

  801. And I read this and I thought to myself because I know some

  802. Prosperity people who love to use the Lord of breakthroughs.

  803. And what they mean by that is sudden prosperity.

  804. That banking I'll give you filled, just give us a seed.

  805. You want the psalm 91 blessing sow a seed of $91 and watch how

  806. the Lord of breakthrough will come in that sound nice.

  807. What a load of breakthrough suddenly will bring recovery to

  808. your body. All you have to do is buy our

  809. anointing oil by my handkerchief, the Paul go around

  810. selling his handkerchief. And they stop there.

  811. Why don't you honor the context and understand what the lord of

  812. breakthrough did if there's any suddenly that God will and is

  813. able to bring its to tear down idols and render them powerless?

  814. I See You gospel truth here, maybe you don't, I do here's the

  815. gospel truth that when God by the power of His holy spirit

  816. enters into a life, he brings Idols down He brings sin down

  817. and the law of Grace brings about dominion over that, which

  818. the flesh could not see victory in. and so if there's anything

  819. that got can do suddenly in believe it is that when he truly

  820. enters into your life, in the power of the regenerating work

  821. of the Holy Spirit, he can bring about your Idols to be as

  822. nothing. And that's the gospel I believe

  823. in. I don't believe in the gospel

  824. that saves you but doesn't save you from the power of sin.

  825. That's not the gospel of the Bible.

  826. And so you have to understand here that this is a wonderful

  827. picture of these Idols submitting to the Lord who can

  828. come and suddenly change how Idols operate, how Idols worked

  829. in your life. The power that they might have

  830. had in your life and some might object and say, well, brother, I

  831. believe in the gospel, but I am honest with you, I can't seem to

  832. shake off. What Idols do in my life, what

  833. sin does in my life? It seems to just have total

  834. control over my will and then, I would answer in this way as much

  835. as God can and will and purchase the ability for you to know

  836. victory over sin, you have a role to play in it.

  837. I hope that didn't sound blasphemous. because here again,

  838. we see, and if you want another question to put in your tool

  839. belt, is there a paralleling passage to this text?

  840. And if there is what other details Does it include, that is

  841. not here. We see here that the Philistines

  842. left their Idols, there and David and his men carried him

  843. away to do what with them, put them in their homes.

  844. Somebody said it, what how do you know?

  845. Close. Yes.

  846. What John know Deuteronomy is a passage though.

  847. You're right Deuteronomy. Chapter 7.

    Deuteronomy 7 chapter mention

  848. So I'm not discrediting you because God told him to cleanse

  849. the land from Idols. But in the exact same passage

  850. and a paralleling text we have exactly what it is that they did

  851. with these items. You want to see it first

    1 Chronicles 14:12

  852. Chronicles chapter 14, verse 12. And they left their gods, their

  853. and David gave command. And they did what and they were

  854. burnt. Yes.

  855. So these Idols felt powerless before God who intervened and

  856. now they were able to carry these Idols in their hands.

  857. And let me tell you in the gospel, God puts the weapon of

  858. Grace in your hands but you have a choice in what you're going to

  859. do with that Idol. That's what.

  860. Yeah. Unfortunately for some people

  861. they just they're still infatuated with certain sins.

  862. They still love certain says they still can't let go of

  863. certain since they can't let go of the pleasure or the benefit

  864. or whatever it is that a certain sin offer so they can't fully

  865. get rid of it. Well, God did what he can.

  866. Now you got to do your part and your part is to burn it.

  867. Your part is to willingly say, I want to see this turn to Ash, I

  868. never want to see it. Resurrected ever again in my

  869. life? That's the kind of hard posture

  870. that she's complete victory over sin and so if you really want to

  871. see it, it's not God's fault. He did all that he can on

  872. Calvary. It's now with the grace that

  873. he's purchased play, sitting in your hand, so that you can now.

  874. Look at those things that in the law, you could not do to say.

  875. Now I will put you to Extinction.

  876. I do not tell you about sinless perfectionism because look what

  877. happens. Next verse 22 and the

  878. Philistines came up yet again. And spread out in the valley of

  879. rephaim. Our brother said, it sin is

  880. Relentless. The flesh is ambitious.

  881. Satan is a fighter. And so let us encourage the

  882. people of God who go to war with her sin who want to grow in the

  883. will of God. No, this you are not going to

  884. see total relief until the resurrection.

  885. Okay, you're not going to seek. It's not going to ever.

  886. I promise you be a vacation in this life.

  887. That's awaiting us, when were clothed with white robes.

  888. And we're In our minds and our bodies in every way possible.

  889. Why do I bring that up? Don't be weary.

  890. Don't, don't be discouraged. If Satan's going to do anything.

  891. He might remove himself for a season but not for very long.

  892. Unless you're not doing anything to advance.

  893. The will of God. He will come again, he will show

  894. up. He is again very, very

  895. ambitious. so the Philistines show up and look what David does

  896. in verse 23 and when David inquired of the Lord, What a

  897. wonderful example. I mean, God put this story here

  898. for us for a reason, David inquired of the Lord and here's

  899. what's so special. He does not implement the same

  900. strategy. Although the situation is the

  901. same, the same guys, in the same Valley.

  902. Okay, let's just do what we did the first time.

  903. And he doesn't do that. He pauses again.

  904. And he comes before the Lord and He inquires?

  905. What a reflex, what an attitude? What humility?

  906. Can I encourage you to do something, please believer.

  907. Talk to God about everything. Talk to the Lord about

  908. everything, bring it all before him, just just let your humility

  909. shine before him. As you say, oh God I need you

  910. again. There's trouble in my marriage

  911. again, I need you again, right? And I think there's a lesson you

  912. learn is that just don't give up seeking the Lord.

  913. Oftentimes it is the testimony. Many Believers were prayer was

  914. so fervent in those beginning phases and you really saw God do

  915. things and if for some reason maybe because we get jaded or

  916. you come familiar or we just feel like we could figure things

  917. out and maybe we've tried things without prayer and it seemed to

  918. be okay. So we just remove ourselves from

  919. that place. No stay there.

  920. Stay there. He inquires of the Lord, he

  921. seeks the Lord again. And here's what's so incredible?

  922. God's going to answer differently.

  923. Here's what I take out of this. What you shouldn't take out of

  924. this is maybe we should explore unbiblical methods to deal with

  925. certain situations because maybe the Bible, doesn't prescribe to

  926. every dilemma wrong wrong, know what you do?

  927. See out of this is that we must learn how to be dependent upon

  928. the Lord, even in the application of the wisdom and

  929. precepts that he has provided us.

  930. So with the truths that we have, we should be, we should still be

  931. able to say. Lord, how do I go about this?

  932. How do I implement this truth? How do I how do I deal with

  933. this, with what you have given me?

  934. Let me give you an example. Let's say, for example, a dear

  935. servant of God approaches you and or they call you in this a

  936. brother. I'm so sad.

  937. I'm my mind is so cloudy. I'm even.

  938. I'm even entertaining. Thoughts that?

  939. I never thought I would, I want to just give up.

  940. I'm going to pull away. I think I'm done with this.

  941. I'm just going to. I don't know what to do with

  942. myself anymore. I'm just overwhelmed.

  943. I almost feel like I just want to go to heaven now.

  944. Okay. Now stop don't answer out loud.

  945. I know it's tempting to but just think about it.

  946. How would you prescribe a remedy to that person?

  947. Can I give you the general, answer it read and pray, the

  948. read the Bible and pray, right? Read the Bible and pray now that

  949. is wonderful and that is that is a core action to everything.

  950. But Elijah had that problem. What did God do?

  951. Did he say read your Bible and pray?

  952. That he know the man was suicidal.

  953. You know what? God did eat drink.

  954. Take a nap. This is how very spiritual

  955. that's it. It was God wakes up.

  956. Okay here eat again during a go back to sleep.

  957. What's the Great Commission? Go into all the world and preach

  958. the gospel right Make Disciples of all Nations, baptizing them,

  959. and teaching them everything that I've taught you.

  960. Pulsar to preach the gospel when he, when he wants to go to free

  961. gun. When he went to go to galatian

  962. acts 16 and we're told in Acts 16 that the Holy Spirit forbade

  963. him. Okay.

  964. So what does he do? He thinks.

  965. Okay, maybe I'll go to my jie. So he goes up north and it says,

  966. the spirit of Jesus did not allow him.

  967. Well, I thought the Great Commission was go out to all the

  968. world and preach the Gospel. Holy Spirit says, not here wants

  969. to go that not there. So he goes south and he comes

  970. down to troas and there he receives a vision of a

  971. Macedonian man says come here and help us but it was also

  972. there when he met dr. Luke Because if you read acts

  973. carefully, the narrative changes from an outsider writing to, now

  974. the word we being introduced and Luke wrote the Gospel out so

  975. must have been there at that location where Luke joined the

  976. missionary team, so God didn't want to go there.

  977. Got there, want to go there. God wanted to go where he would

  978. meet dr. Luke And in dr.

  979. Luke would join the team and what a blessing dr.

  980. Luke was. So you see, even though things

  981. are clear and they're black and white in the scripture and there

  982. are things that people say I'm praying about, it's like, you

  983. don't have to pray about forgiving your brother.

  984. Okay, you know how to fasten ask people to help you you forgive,

  985. but there are some things that require timing and action and

  986. and even just just the way you do, things that we must seek the

  987. Lord for Lord help me. I don't know what to do with

  988. this. I know what I'm supposed to do

  989. to certain degree but I need your grace and and doing it in

  990. your absolute wisdom. I hope that makes sense.

  991. But here's the thing I believe, and we're closing in a moment

  992. that these two battles were put side by side to teach us.

  993. Thing about a balanced view of the ways of God in our lives.

  994. Because we see here that when David sought the Lord, the first

  995. time, it was extraordinary, it was like credible.

  996. And then when you see him coming to this same situation, look how

  997. the Lord answers him. He says in verse 23, you shall

  998. not go up, go around to their rear and come against some

  999. opposite. The balsam trees the first time.

  1000. He said, go up What Davidson, what do I do?

  1001. Are you gonna give it to my hand?

  1002. So you can just go up right now. It's time to move forward when

  1003. you seek some again, he says don't move.

  1004. Until you get this sign. So we just heard about the Lord

  1005. of breakthrough who can suddenly do things and then the same

  1006. passage, we have the Lord who makes you wait.

  1007. The Lord will makes you wait. And here's here's where we have

  1008. to be careful, especially because we can Harbor

  1009. discouragement and we can invite even bitterness. when we look at

  1010. how God is moving in, somebody else's life in the same area of

  1011. your life and it's not the same If we're not careful, look, this

  1012. is the same situation and two different approaches

  1013. orchestrated by God. And if you just widen that

  1014. application to our lives, facing a same situation or enduring a

  1015. similar season and then you look around and you see how God's

  1016. doing it for brother so-and-so or sister.

  1017. So, and so, and it does, it's very sudden, it's very glorious.

  1018. It can go viral, they do the testimony on YouTube.

  1019. You can get discouraged easily. and God was no less glorified in

  1020. the second way that he answered that he was in the first And so

  1021. you have people who discouraged in Ministry, they don't see

  1022. that, they're they're years our ranking up and they're not

  1023. accelerating at, they're not seeing the numbers that they

  1024. thought they would. And, I mean, I would say this to

  1025. ministers, especially, but you can apply in any way.

  1026. You have people in relationships, we're looking for

  1027. a relationship. They look at people, their age

  1028. range, and they say they're getting married.

  1029. And why didn't happen to me so quickly, and why is my story?

  1030. So Bland, it's not as exciting and riveting.

  1031. Well, hold on, it's the same God, Here's a different script

  1032. for each of our sanctification. It's not going to be the same

  1033. script. So don't envy don't be worried

  1034. the same God who answered David and two different ways for the

  1035. same situation will very likely do the same in your life as you

  1036. contrast it to the. Next person's all you need to do

  1037. is seek Him and trust them as David did.

  1038. So be encouraged timing is much different, no less glorified and

  1039. David saw victory. When you hear the sound of

  1040. Marching In the tops of the balsam trees, then Rouse

  1041. yourself for then. The Lord has gone out before you

  1042. to strike down the army of the Philistines.

  1043. Oh, I wonder what that was like for them to wait and all for a

  1044. sudden. They may be heard a wind or

  1045. maybe they heard something in the distance, but there was it

  1046. was obvious that these trees were moving and God went out

  1047. before them and that was their confidence and really that's

  1048. what prayer. Is it not?

  1049. It's inviting God's intervention in the matter.

  1050. God go before me God do this. I don't want to do it without

  1051. you. I just call upon your name and

  1052. let me know that you are indeed in this.

  1053. Let me know. Your hand is out of want to do

  1054. this. If your hand is not in it, I

  1055. don't want to pursue this any further.

  1056. If you're not going to go before me, that's what it looks like.

  1057. That's what it looks like. Moses had that same cry.

  1058. If your presence does not go with me.

  1059. I don't want the land. I don't want the angel that you

  1060. promised. I don't.

  1061. Victory over the enemies. I want your presence. and if you

  1062. really want to know true joy in this life, it's when you know

  1063. that God goes before you That's where you will know true,

  1064. sincere satisfaction. And all we can say so much more,

  1065. can we not? But I trust that.

  1066. As you have these tools, maybe you can say something about this

  1067. passage, maybe we could talk about it over Fellowship.

  1068. Let's pray. Lori.

  1069. Tell you from the bottom of our hearts.

  1070. What? A mighty God.

  1071. We serve You are indeed the Lord of breakthrough.

  1072. You can come crashing in. You can come and deal with it

  1073. within the blink of an eye. And Lord by faith.

  1074. We ask that if there is a need in this house, That you would

  1075. break through. And it would heal.

  1076. You would provide, you would bring an answer, you would

  1077. subdue. The enemy who seeks to devour

  1078. our faith. But Lord, you're also The God

  1079. Who says wait. It's a lord teach us to wait and

  1080. teach us that if you do not come suddenly you were still in

  1081. control and you know exactly what you're doing with our

  1082. lives. You know exactly what kind of

  1083. testimony you are preparing for your namesake through us as your

  1084. vessels. Lord, we pray that if there

  1085. would be any suddenly, he's in our lives, it would be the

  1086. gospel work of sanctification. That would shatter the work of

  1087. sin that has eroded and destroyed us prior to coming and

  1088. knowing you destroy it. Lord, we believe you.

  1089. Not just for our justification, we place our faith in you.

  1090. Sanctifying us that the holy spirit in US.

  1091. Can resurrect and bring to life Holiness and strength to soar

  1092. above that, which seeks to have dominion over us.

  1093. Lord, we pray that we would be so serious.

  1094. About gospel, work and gospel witness that we would nurture

  1095. and protect the unity of this ministry and that Lord, we would

  1096. trust in the words that you said that in our Unity, the world

  1097. would say surely the father has sent Jesus into this world to

  1098. die for Sinners. Look at that church.

  1099. They are unified and it has to be a supernatural source.

  1100. Lord may we with our short lives.

  1101. Glorify you in such a way we bless you for this study.

  1102. We bless you for the interaction.

  1103. We pray that our hearts would be edified and Lord, we just give

  1104. you. Thanks and song tonight in Jesus

  1105. name. Amen.

  1106. Let's stand and Worship the Lord.