Stop Cutting Corners | 1 Samuel 24

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Casey Kendall, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. Let's dive in Psalm 57, verse 2.

Psalms 57:2

The author of this Psalm is a man that you might know.

His name is David and he writes these words I will cry out to

God most high, to God who performs all things for me.

Once again he writes I will cry out to God most high, to God who

performs all things for me in first Samuel 24.

If you would join with me in verse 8, the Bible says that

David also arose afterward. He went out of The Cave and he

called out to Saul, saying, My Lord the king.

And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to

the earth, and he bowed down. And David said to Saul, why do

you listen to the words of men who say, indeed, David seeks

your harm? Look, this day your eyes have

seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in The Cave

and someone urged me to kill you, but my eye spared you and I

said I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for he is

the Lords 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 did not kill, you know, and see that

there's neither evil nor rebellion in my hand.

And I've not sinned against you, yet you hunt my life to take it.

If you would just look at your neighbor this morning and say,

neighbor, my neighbor, that's all of us participating this

morning together. Neighbor, my neighbor, stop

cutting corners. Yep.

Again, tell your neighbor, stop cutting corners.

Parents say this with a lot of grace to the child that's

sitting next to you. Stop cutting corners wives, look

at your husbands and say, stop cutting corners husbands, look

at your wives with a great smile on your face and say, Pastor

Casey told me to say this to you stop cutting corners.

Say this to your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your friends around

you. Stop cutting corners If there is

something that First Samuel chapter 24 delivers to us,

1 Samuel 24 · chapter mention

shouts loud through The Cave and echoes through the hallways of

in Getty is stop cutting corners.

You know already that First Samuel is not a hard book to

understand. I love biographies and This Is

Us getting to watch the lives of people that are in this story.

You remember the story of Eli, the high priest who was at the

place called Shiloh? Good.

I'm glad that you remembered that in Shiloh family arrived to

come and worship the Lord in this place.

In Shiloh, Hannah comes with her husband named Elkanah.

In this time that Elkanah the husband is with his wife Hannah.

Elkanah had another wife. I don't recommend this to any

husbands, to have your wife and another wife there with you

alongside of that. But this was the case during

this time and this age. And there is a woman by the name

of Pinena who is the wife of Elkanah.

Pinana had children, but Hannah had no children.

Pinana was a woman who would provoke Hannah.

I wonder if she said, I have my kiddos, you have nada, you have

nothing at all. And so Hannah is grieved in

spirit. She comes to worship the Lord.

And as she's worshiping the Lord Eli, the high priest with

Phineas and Hoff and I, you remember his two boys.

They look at Hannah and they say she must be drunk and Eli hears

the words of Hannah and says I am not drunk.

I am just sorrowful of spirit. And Eli says to Hannah, you will

bear a son. You remember that Hannah want a

boy for the family, but God wanted a prophet for the nation

of Israel. In this moment Samuel is born

and as Samuels born through Hannah, he she had already made

a gesture to the Lord that said, I will give this boy back to

you. So Samuel goes back to Eli and

he's trained. The context of First Samuel, as

you remember, is written at a time of the book of Judges,

where it says that every man was doing that which was right in

his own eyes. It sounds like our world today.

To say that the Bible is not relevant is wrong, Spurgeon

said. Let the lion out of its cage and

let it let it do its work. The Bible is relevant.

Every man was doing that which was right in his own eyes.

And so Samuel as the prophet and judge of Israel, hears from the

nation of Israel that they wanted a king like all the other

nations. And so God provided a man that

was head and shoulders above every single other person.

He was TikTok famous. He was had a high profile.

He was on the front page of GQ magazine.

He was handsome, but he was hiding behind the baggage.

And God provided a king for the nation of Israel.

His name means asked for, and that's exactly what they got.

Be careful what you ask for. Saul wasn't a really good king.

He disobeyed the Lord, and disobeying the Lord, God speaks

to Samuel. And Samuel comes and says that

the Spirit has departed from you.

You've lost the ability and the opportunity to be king.

And so God says I will anoint myself another king.

And in this time, Samuel goes to the House of Jesse, where Jesse

presents seven of his sons, but not the 8th, the eighth sons out

in the field. His name is David.

David comes in Ruddy, an appearance.

I'm sure he's smelling like sheep because all good kings

smell like sheep. And there is David coming into

this place. And at this place God says,

that's my man. And the Lord said to Samuel,

you're looking at the outward appearance, but I'm looking at

the heart and I'm getting to the heart.

So God raises up David. David comes into this place and

you remember he goes back to the sheep.

He doesn't immediately go into being king as the position of

all of it, but he finds himself in this place now where Saul was

tormented by evil spirits. And God called David to play the

harp in the palace as David was playing the music.

The spirits would be released from Saul.

There would be peace. And in this moment, you also

remember that David was called upon to bring lunch, cheese,

bread, a security board to his brothers.

He brought everything. He didn't come to fight Goliath,

but that's what ended up happening.

He fought Goliath. Great opportunities happen when

natural obedience is taken. And there is David in the midst

of all of this, and he defeats the great Goliath, the one who

was taunting Israel and the God of Israel.

David runs over, as you know with a sling in his hand and he

throws the rock and from the rocket hits Goliath in the

forehead. He falls to the ground.

David runs over and he cuts the head of Goliath off.

Now Saul is jealous and now David runs for his life.

When we come to the context of First Samuel chapter 24, if we

1 Samuel 24 · chapter mention

would like to put anything above this chapter, you could put he

was chased but not caught. And here in this moment, David

has the opportunity to end Saul's life.

And everyone saying just cut, just do it, just do it.

He's the enemy. So David just takes a the sword.

I'm wondering if it's the sword of Goliath and he cuts the

corner of Saul's robe off and he's grieved in his heart.

The Bible says that he's troubled.

At that moment, David realized that he should not have cut the

corner of the robe off. And if there is something

shouting from the caves to us today, it is stop cutting

corners. I want to introduce you to two

brothers. In 1999, they ran in a marathon

in South Africa. Their names were Sergio and

Arnold. They actually won third place in

this marathon and as they won third place at this spot in

South Africa, they weren't just running, they were actually

cutting corners. They had changed places in a

porta potty. One ran and then as he got

tired, met at the porta. Potti and the brothers switched

roles and one stayed in the restroom while the other one ran

the rest of the race. They weren't just running, they

were actually cutting corners. I want to introduce you to

another man. His name is Rob Sloan, who

finished the English Marathon also in 3rd place.

But as he was running, he was also cutting corners.

He cut out mile one, mile 2, mile three, mile four, mile

five, mile Six, Mile 7, mile eight, mile 9, mile 10, mile 11,

11, mile 12, mile 13, mile 14, mile 15, mile 16171819 and 20.

He entered the race mile marker 21, getting off the public bus.

He was running, but he was cutting corners.

The years 2023. This is not just something of

the past, this is very recent. In Mexico City, 11,000 marathon

runners were disqualified. They were running, but they were

cutting corners. 1 runner and author.

Put it this way, when the starting gun goes off, the only

thing that matters is whether you have respected the process.

Running doesn't reward those who avoided the hard work.

Instead, it celebrates those who have embraced the grind, who

have consistently laced up their shoes and push through the

discomfort and took no shortcuts.

I wonder if I could put your life in line with all these

other names as a person that did not respect the process.

Do you see? The process is not that you

would get the work done on earth speedily, but that you would get

the work done on earth faithfully.

You see in this moment in time that we are coming in to become

who God wants you to become, to receive what God wants you to

receive, to go where God wants you to go.

I want to put this in runners language and in scriptural

strength. You must respect the process in

which God has placed you in. This is exactly what the Bible

teaches over and over again. Rome Agglatians Excuse me 6 The

apostle Paul said Don't grow weary in doing good for in due

season you will reap if you do not lose heart.

It's the Apostle Paul that also said let us run the race with

endurance. I believe also the Bible says

through the Apostle Paul in Second Thessalonians chapter 3.

2 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

And As for you brothers and sisters, never tire of doing

good. Do you see it's not an easy Rd.

God loves you too much to let you go through life the easy

way. There are no shortcuts.

There's no freeways, there's no elevators that lead into the

Kingdom of God. So I want to just challenge you

today to stop cutting corners. Look at First Samuel chapter 24,

verse 24. Then the men of David said to

him, This is the day of which the Lord said to you, Behold, I

will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to

him what seems good to you. The popular vote was that Saul

became the enemy, but David still Saul, Saul as the king.

And this is where often times we get it wrong that no matter the

place that you're in, you still should not take any shortcuts.

No matter the perspective that you have, you should not take

any shortcuts. No matter the pressure that

you're feeling upon yourself is that you should not be cutting

any corners at all in your life. This is what David learns in The

Cave and in Getty. But this is what I'm begging and

I'm pleading with you to learn in the city of Glendora.

Is it you as a husband, you as a wife, you as a child, you as a

student, a worker would stop cutting corners.

David. He had the anointing of God, but

he was still battling Saul. David had with him the promise,

but he was still not in that place.

Do you see, Samuel had said it over him, but God had not fully

fulfilled it in him. And this David, when we come to

first Samuel 24, he runs now with the promise of God for 10

to 15 years before he becomes the king over the nation of

Israel. And in this spot, although

Samuel said it, David was not experiencing it.

And now in this cave, David cuts the corner of Saul's robe, and

the Bible says that he's troubled on the inside.

And that is exactly where you find yourself today.

Troubled. Troubled at the corners that you

keep cutting. The word troubled there in the

Bible literally means to strike someone down.

And because of the decisions and the cutting of corners, this

will always leave you struck down and never lifted up.

I want to spare you from the pain of the future.

Stop cutting corners. I want you to be more present in

the present situation that you're in.

Stop cutting corners. I want you to be at a spot in

your life as a single person that you will make a decision

today in dating that you will not cut any more corners.

Husbands, I want us to be in our marriages, at a place in our

lives where your wife would look at you and say you don't cut any

corners. Wives, I want us to come into a

spot today where we don't cut any more corners.

I want us to realize that in our lives with your taxes.

Stop cutting corners when you're on the freeway and you're

driving by yourself, but you chose to go in the carpool lane.

Stop cutting corners when you're doing your homework and it is a

temptation for you to allow AI to do the rest of your ChatGPT

homework for yourself. Stop cutting the corner when you

come to a spot in your life. I want to just say this with all

grace. When you are shopping and you

have the cart in your hand and you're going to your car and you

unload your groceries in your car, I'm going to say this with

all grace. Push the cart back to where you

found it. Stop cutting corners.

Well, it's too far to go back. That's a long no, no, no.

Listen, stop cutting corners with pornography.

Stop cutting corners with alcohol.

Isn't it interesting that the government regulations have more

guidance on alcohol sometimes than the church does?

They say that buzz driving is drunk driving, but in the church

we're like, oh, we can get a little buzz, it's OK.

No, no, no. Stop cutting that corner.

Stop using food as an opportunity to comfort your

hearts. We have to choose to stop

cutting corners in our lives. Listen, listen.

I, I, I just want to say this to you from a great preacher named

CW Kendall. He once said these words.

That was me. Sorry.

The the The greatest losers are the greatest winners who cut

corners. I want to say that to you again.

The greatest losers are the greatest winners who cut

corners. I want you to hear this.

You might be delayed, but that does not mean you've been

denied. We need to start being

comfortable by being uncomfortable in the process

that we're in because it's here that the greatest work is being

done in our lives. Not that you're receiving a

great gift from God, but God is forming you into a great person

to be the great gift that He's about to give you.

Listen, you might be asking, and I'm glad you are in your mind

and in your heart right now. Just look at your neighbor and

say, how did David do this? How did David do this in First

Samuel 24? How did this all happen?

If there's we, we have no excuse.

No matter the place, no matter the perspective, no matter the

pressure. How did David do this?

How can I do this in Glendora? I don't live in in Getty.

In Getty sounds like a Star Wars movie location, and this is a

biblical location. Glendora is just the same as in

Getty. For many of you, it's a

wilderness experience. Right now you're confused

because God's timing is not matching what He actually said

to you. How do I not cut the corner like

David in this place? Well, like David, if you have

cut the corner, it's time to confess.

It's time to allow what's troubled you to come out of you

and to bring it to the Lord and ask for His forgiveness.

But what does David do in this moment where he is confessing?

I just want you to write these things down if you can.

You're going to remember 70% more of every sermon if you

write some things down. That is this.

You have to have the right posture.

You have to have the right posture.

Look at what David does. He he comes to a spot in his

life in verse 8. And David arose afterward and he

went out of The Cave. So they're no longer in The

Cave. And in Getty now they're coming

out of The Cave. And David called out to Saul

saying these words, My Lord the king, my Lord the king.

Is that how you talk when people have wronged you, my Lord the

king? Notice this.

And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to

the earth and bowed down. Now you remember that in The

Cave, Saul was bowing down. The Bible says that he was

relieving himself, which literally means that Saul was

using the restroom in The Cave. Can you imagine hundreds of men?

King Saul comes in, pulls down his pants, puts his robe out and

uses the restroom. This is a very defenseless

position, and he's using the restroom, and David cuts the

corner of his robe off. Saul's finished doing his duty.

And there David comes out of The Cave after and says, hey, my

Lord and my king, Can you imagine the shock?

You've just gone to the restroom and someone is calling your name

from the stall that you were just were in.

That's a shock. And here in this moment, David

says, my Lord and my king. And then he does this.

He comes down to the ground and he puts his face to the ground.

Now David comes to this spot in his life, posturing his body

because he's already postured his heart.

And what is in your heart normally will come out of your

body. And here is David in this moment

and at this time, he allows his mouth to say something to Saul.

Now notice what David doesn't say.

David also arose after he went out of The Cave and he called

out to Saul saying you're an idiot, you're stupid.

What are you actually thinking? You you're going to get it,

Saul, Saul, do you actually know who I am and who you're not?

Isn't it interesting That's David says to Saul, My Lord and

my King David was already anointed as king.

But notice David stooped down as Saul's servant, with his face to

the earth. And as he stooped down, David

bent his body in a posture of submission, not strength.

Notice his posture. If you're fighting your enemy

and people are about to fight you because you're wearing

Brewer's gear at Dodger Stadium, let's let's just say that in

that moment when you're about to defend yourself, the goal for

you is not to put your eyes to the ground.

The goal for you is to keep your eyes on the person that's in

front of you for defense. David didn't have to do that

because the Lord was his defense.

And because of that, notice David's posture was to keep his

eyes on the ground because his eyes were already on God.

Oh that that's, that's a good spot for the church to go.

Amen. Listen, this is so important

because how he submitted to God would determine how he spoke to

Saul. This is important because when

you go home this week, there's going to be opportunities for

you to say things to your husband, your wife, kids, to

your parents that that you're just like, Oh no, why did I say

that? How he submitted to God would

determine what he spoke to Saul. Notice what was happening in

David's heart would be evident in David's mouth.

And I just want to highlight that what is happening in your

heart is evident of what comes out of your mouth.

I didn't mean to say that. No, no, no.

You meant to say that because that's how you felt in your

heart. Oh, I'm just joking.

Are you really joking? Because this is something that's

very important, posture meant for David, that he didn't see

Saul as the enemy. He still saw His Majesty.

This is vital for us when it comes to cutting corners,

because I think we cut corners in one area.

Often times I'm guilty of this is in how we communicate to

people. We'll often cut corners and this

is what we do. Like David, No, notice this.

His communication was not with brutality because he did not

compromise Saul's identity. And I think sometimes when it

comes to how we communicate, if we were to strip back all the

veneer and we were to strip back everything about our lives, if

we were to see the raw, you and me, they're scratches because of

what people spoke over us on our bodies.

For some of you, they're not scratches right now.

They're actually wounds that people spoke over your life.

For some of you right now, you are actually bleeding out.

No one knows it in here. No one can see you bleeding out,

but emotionally you're bleeding out because of what people said

to you about your life. This is what people often will

speak over other people in their lives.

And that is this oftentimes is why did we ever get married?

Why did I ever marry you? This is not who you were.

I wish I would have never gotten married to you.

This is what we will often speak over people not, not, not just

in in, in our marriages, but we say these words.

I hate you. I hate you.

You're actually stupid. How many times do I actually

have to tell you this over and over again just for you to get

it? We'll speak words like you get

the award for the worst parents. You actually are not a good dad,

mom, child. And this is what it leads to.

You're not enough and you'll never be enough.

And I can't stand to be around you.

No, no, no, no. Listen, David's posture was

determining his proclamation towards Saul.

So if I could just have you speak a word of encouragement to

the person that's sitting next to you that desperately needs to

hear it, and that is you are loved by God.

Just say that to the person sitting next to you are loved by

God. I am sorry that I would even

speak this way to you. Yeah.

Yeah. I am sorry that I would even

speak this way to you young people.

I am sorry I would go in my room and scream about how bad my

parents are when they're actually a gift from God.

Look at this. David's posture determined

David's proclamation. He wouldn't cut the corner, but

also I, I've noticed this in the text is that David's posture

would determine David's purpose. David was a man that wasn't seek

seeking to be in a certain position.

David was seeking to live in his purpose.

And I think we get those mixed up so many times.

We think that get the position and we find our purpose.

No, no, no, no, no, no. This is how it works.

You live in your purpose and then God entrusts you with a

position. David wasn't at the spot where

he's like, I got to be king here.

I just have to be in this position.

If I'm not in this position, than that I, I, I actually

cannot live. No, no, no.

David lived in his purpose when he was tending to the sheep.

David lived in his purpose when he served his brothers in the

House of Jesse. Do you know David lived in his

purpose when he played worship for King Saul?

David wasn't looking for a room that was full of people.

David was looking to fill God in the room that he was at.

And the way that he did that was by living according to the

purpose that God had called him to DC.

David was living in his purpose when he was bringing the lunch

to his brothers. David was living in his purpose

when God brought Goliath. David was living in his purpose

when he would. Now I'll be anointed as king of

all of Israel. Listen, we do not often times

respect the process. We have promise and then we have

place, but in the middle we have process.

But I don't want to go through the purpose, living in the

process of it all. And David postured himself to

live in that purpose. So.

So I want you to remember these words.

When I serve in my purpose, I guard the promise and God will

lead me to His position. Did you get that?

I'll say it again, when in my life, when I live in my purpose,

I guard the promise and then God will lead me to the position.

Look at the posture, if you would.

David bows down to the Lord. And I just want you to hear this

today. God will not honor the promise

if you will not honor the process that He's to put you in.

So we cut corners. We cut corners in a place to

find that in this place. We, we, we don't want to honor

the process of what God's doing. It was just this week that we

got the news from our kids on after Sunday night.

We have normally Family Day on Sunday, all our kids come over

for dinner and mom and I, we went to bed early.

That's Lisa. And as we went to bed, we woke

up the next day and the kids are like, dad, it smells like cheese

in the living room. It stinks so bad.

So we blamed our son. We're like, stop sleeping on

this couch. And we had him put baking soda

all over the couch and spray it with alcohol and wipe it down.

And the living room still smelled like cheese.

And so we're like, we got to do something.

So Lisa and I, we tore the living room apart.

No one could really experience the living room smelling this

horrible rotten cheese smell. We cleaned the couch.

We ripped the couches apart. We took off every cushion and my

wife sprayed baking soda and powder back all over it.

We sprayed it down with this fresh aroma.

We wiped the couches down. We vacuumed the couches.

We even turned them upside down and put a hole in that netting

on the bottom. And we vacuumed the bottom

because we thought maybe there's something stuck in there.

And still we mopped the floor. We vacuumed the carpet again and

it still smelled like cheese. I thought it was a big problem,

so until I looked up in the corner and I saw this plant.

My wife loves plants. They breathe oxygen in the room.

And when I saw this plant, I, I maybe that's the plant.

It can't be the plant because the plant breathes life into the

room. So I went over to the the pot

that it was hanging up in the corner and it has in this like

pretty like anthropology netting, you know, ladies that

I'm talking about and I put my nose up to it and I'm like the

plant was the issue. This is what the I felt the Lord

say to my life and I want to say to all of your lives.

It doesn't have to be big to be bad.

It doesn't have to be big to be bad.

And here is this plant now we took it out of the room and

we're like, get this thing out of here, get it out.

And I really believe that posture is about receiving and

removing. I really believe this.

This is something that should have been alive, right?

Breathing life. This isn't bad.

It looked healthy in the corner. I mean, it had climbed my walls

and attached itself. I don't know what they're called

in planting terms. It had attached itself to the

wall where we had to yank little things off of it.

It was alive, but it's stuck. And you could be alive today and

stink really, because you're cutting corners.

And I just want to encourage you that if there's something you

have to receive, receive it. But if there's something you

have to remove from your life, be willing to remove it.

Listen, David had the right posture, but David also, he

lived by this principle. Check this out.

Just write that down. David live by principle.

The Bible says, and David said to Saul, why do you listen to

the words of men who say, indeed, Notice this, indeed

David seeks your harm. Look, this day your eyes have

seen that the Lord delivered you today 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 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. As the proverb of the ancient

says, wickedness proceeds from the wicked, but my hand shall

not be against you. And after whom has the King of

Israel come out? And whom do you pursue?

A dead dog flea? Therefore let the Lord be

judged, and judged between you and me, and see and plead my

case, and deliver me out of your hand.

And so it was when David had finished speaking these words to

Saul, that Saul said, Is this your voice, my son?

David? And Saul lifted up his voice and

he wept no notice. David's principle was this.

David's first question was, is why are you listening to the

words of other men? In verse 9, then David makes a

state in verse 10, he tells him my eye spared you and I said I

will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for he is the

Lord's anointed. Notice the principal.

Now notice this also David comes and he makes the statement and

then he gives the evidence. Here's the evidence.

Moreover, verse 11 my father, see yes, see the corner of of

your robe. I could have taken your life

now, but because I follow after the Lord, I will not do this.

So he says these words, let the Lord judge between you and me.

Then he says in verse 15 that the Lord avenge me.

Then he says again, he says let the Lord judge let the Lord see

and let the Lord place and let the Lord delivered.

I want you to get this David's focus in The Cave was based upon

the command of God and the character of God.

The darkness of David's moment did not determine David's

decision in the moment. Here is the moment that David's

in that he could have been misdirected from the mission

because he did something that could have seemed right at the

wrong time. And here is this moment that

David says the principle, I live by the Lord.

If we would stamp that over everything in our lives, I know

we're not going to be perfect, but if we would stamp that over

the people that we're dating, I live for the Lord.

If we would stamp that over the way we handle things in our

marriage, I live for the Lord. If we would handle this at our

college, at our high school and our middle schools, I live for

the Lord. If we would do that, I think we

would see houses being built instead of corners being cut.

I think we got to go back to the simple focus and that is this,

that your conviction will always determine your conduct.

David had the chance, but he lived by a whole nother charge.

And the charge was God. What do you want me to do?

And after last week's sermon, I was so convicted in my own

heart. I was so convicted.

You want to know why I was getting on the freeway?

At Azusa going West and I ran the red light.

Do they even understand? No one's there.

And I ran the red light and I'm like inside my heart, I'm like,

how could I do that? I just told my whole church to

stop cutting corners and it's packed.

You know, the 210 going West in the morning, It's a great place

to park. And I ran the red light.

And I began to justify this in my mind.

After my conviction, I went into justification.

There were two things that I I brought to the Lord as I was

driving. I ran the red light, Lord,

because I have a deadline and you're not on my timeline.

Those were the two things I begin to tell the Lord.

But Lord, you know I have a deadline.

My deadline is this has to be completed now.

And we set deadlines without believing in the power of the

resurrection. Did you get that?

We set deadlines because we don't believe in the power of

the resurrection. We set deadlines that God never

set for us. And we often think things are

dead and they might be dead, but they have to be dead before God

can resurrect it. And we set things of over God of

a deadline that he never even said over us.

And I'm just thinking to myself, IA God, I, I got to do this.

And now because I'm at this deadline, Lord, now I'm confused

of why you didn't work. And now I'm just contemplating

quitting. And So what happens in this

place is we set deadlines on God because our eyes are on what's

in front of us many times rather than what God said to us.

And I think there's another thing why we begin to justify

not living by principle is the the timeline.

The timeline that we're actually in is not the timeline that we

like. Can I just say this to you

again, might seem a little strong.

God's Love's not a pampering love to you.

It's a perfecting love for you. And sometimes our timeline

doesn't match God's timeline. But God is late.

God is slow. God, you don't even understand.

My time is really not in his hands.

So I rush around with a hurried heart rather than a holy heart.

And sometimes I feel like in in my life that God, you've

actually missed the mark. You've missed this mark.

But I love what Oswald Chambers said in his devotional.

He says sometimes it looks like God is missing the mark because

we are too short sighted to see what he's actually aiming for.

He's aiming for something in our lives and the goal is the

principle in which God has placed within us.

So how do I move forward when it seems like there's a red light

and God's telling me to stop, but I really don't want to stop.

I just want you to move forward in this by fulfilling His word,

focusing on His character, being faithful by what's in front of

you, and not forfeiting your blessing.

You can listen to the podcast for that because I'm running

late if you want to hear that again.

But the opportunity that David was in was for a posture and

principle. And what I believe, what helps

fight cutting corners is praise. Notice what David does verse 17.

Then he said to David, You are more righteous than I.

For you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded

you with evil. And you have shown this day how

you have dealt well with me. For when the Lord delivered me

into your hand, you did not kill me.

For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely?

Therefore may the Lord reward you with good, for what you have

done to me this day. And now I know indeed that you

shall surely be king, Saul says, 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, and that you will not destroy my

name from my father's house. So David swore to Saul, and Saul

went home. Notice this.

But David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Now they go to the stronghold. Now notice what happens.

Flip over to Psalm 57 in your Bible.

Psalm 57 is in the context where David is coming out of this cave

and listen to what David writes when he's coming out of The

Cave. We know that Psalms are the song

books for the nation of Israel. So these are actually songs.

These are worship songs there. There's like they're strumming

in the background. It's like the worship team

travels with you when you drive to work on Monday.

The worship team is behind you as you as you're walking into

the office, the worship team is behind you.

When you're going into the construction site, or you're

wiping another dirty taking care of another dirty diaper, or a

wiping the tears off of your teenager.

The the the worship team is there.

Praise enables you to stop cutting corners.

Listen to what he says coming out of The Cave.

He came out in praise, not bitterness, not frustration.

How do I know that? He wrote Psalm 57.

Listen to what he says. Be merciful to me, Oh God, be

merciful to me for my soul. Trust in you and in the shadow

of your wings I will make my refuge.

Where did they go? They went to the stronghold and

David is saying, Lord, you are my stronghold and until these

calamities have passed by, notice the verse 2.

I will cry out to God most High to God who performs all things

for me. He shall send from heaven and

save me. He reproaches the one who would

swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy

and his truth. My soul is among lions.

You ever felt like that? No.

OK, David, did I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire?

Whose teeth are Spears and arrows in their tongue a sharp

sword. Be exalted, O God, above the

heavens. Let your glory be above all the

earth. Listen where David wrote this.

Coming out of The Cave. They have prepared a net for my

steps. My soul is bowed down.

They have dug a pit before me. Into the midst of it they

themselves have fallen. Sailor, pause.

My heart is steadfast. Oh God, my heart is steadfast.

I will sing and give praise. I will sing and give praise.

I will sing and I will give praise.

I will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples.

I will sing to you among the nations, for your mercy reaches

unto the heavens, and your truth unto the clouds coming out of

The Cave. David says, be exalted, O God

above the heavens, let your glory be above all the earth.

He already said that. He said that in verse 5 and

you're thinking, why? Why do we always repeat the same

words of the song? We just sing that that lyric,

and now we're going to go over that again.

David does it. He's reinforcing truth through

song. And I believe what would build a

life is praise postured worship into principle.

Truth leads to passionate praise.

So then I can come into a room and if I'm not feeling good with

my Lyme's disease, that doesn't have to be the determining

factor of how I praise the Lord. I could still come into this

room and sing. Great is your faithfulness.

I could still come into this room and sing.

The steadfast love of the Lord never see.

He says his mercies never come to an end.

They are new every morning, new every morning.

Great is thy faithful, oh God, great is thy.

As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth thy

dir thee. You alone are my desire and thy.

I could shout to the Lord all the earth.

I don't feel good today. I don't feel good.

But your feeling doesn't have to determine your praise.

I feel sick today. I've been having severe

nightmares, not because of thank you, Dora, for many sermons to

come. I've been having severe

nightmares not not because I'm watching scary movies, but

because that's what my disease brings.

And so I wake up in the middle of the night at 2:00 in the

morning, and I can't fall back to sleep until 5:00.

I'm not going to let that determine my praise.

I feel like my whole body is set on fire, but I'm not going to

let that stop my praise. I feel like sometimes the the

fatigue is so overwhelming that I, I just can't take any other

thing in my life. But I'm not going to let that

determine my praise. I have a Lord and it's not

Lyme's disease, it's Jesus. I have someone to praise and I

come into this room and we come and we're able to be real.

Like I could be real in front of you and not a victim to my

disease. But the reality of it is that

it's painful and I don't like it and I don't want it to be there.

And I believe that a God and a God who heals in his timing, in

his way, according to his power. And I believe in a community

that's willing enough to be real and not to allow what we're

facing externally to determine how we praise God into

eternally. I'm not going to be dictated and

directed by this in my life, where The Cave of my life is the

consummation of my life. The Cave that I'm in is not

where my life will end. The darkness that I face is not

the darkness that I'm going to continually walk through.

There's a day coming where the glory of God is going to shine,

where there's no need of the sun, where I will walk on

streets of gold and I will not hear any more ambulances or have

bars on windows or hear any other fighting and news.

I there will be a time where disease will be wiped away and

if God chooses to heal, now is the time I receive it.

If he chooses not to, this will not determine my praise because

listen, our praise is not based upon the way that I feel in the

moment that I'm in, but it's based upon the character of God

who said that He is eternal and I could place my steadfast hope

and life in Him. So today I seek to praise Him

and this is what stops me from cutting corners.

Let everything be done in Word and indeed to the glory of God.

And I don't know how you have walked into this place.

I don't know what you're feeling right now.

I don't know what you're caring for.

Some of you. I do know a little bit of your

story. I do know some of your pain that

you've walked through. But but listen, I don't know

everyone's pain, but there's a God in heaven who sees you, who

loves you, and he's placed you in this time and he's preparing

you for something even greater. And maybe that might not just be

healing in the moment. Maybe that might be reaching

someone in the moment of your pain.

And so we have a man in the story of Scripture who wasn't

perfect. And this man comes to us and

says to us, will you keep praising him?

Will you keep praising him? And I just want to ask you as a

church to do this one thing as we join together in this moment.

And that is in your struggle, you choose to sing that in what

you're wrestling with, you choose to go back to the Word,

and that what you're willing to bring to the Lord is coming from

a broken vessel and vase that perfumes the house.

We hope you enjoyed this message and we'd love for you to join us

in person every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

For more information and updates, visit

wearebridgetown.com. Thanks for tuning in and we'll

see you next week.