A Heart After God - Part 1 - Sermon Dr. Michael Youssef - The Church of the Apostles

hello my friends welcome to the Church of the Apostles it's always a joy and a delight to know that people watching in China Australia England all over the world thank you for joining us [Music] many years ago I read a story about a well-known American by the name of Wendell Willkie you can google him now thank out for Google and you will get to know more than you really want to know he was a friend of President Roosevelt that is Franklin Delano Roosevelt and he came to him one day in the Oval Office and he said mr. president can I ask you a question they said sure he said why do you have this who keep this this frail sickly man Harry Hopkins constantly at your elbow in the Oval Office everywhere you go without a moment's hesitation President Roosevelt answered he said Mr Wilkie through the door into this Oval Office there are incessant stream of people coming in and out of my office almost all of them want something from me Harry Hopkins on the other hand desires nothing but serve me he desires nothing but help me and that is why I keep him close to me and I remember that story as I thought of the life of David because David was a man at the elbow of the King of Kings as always close to the Lord a man whose heart was after God David was young and he was despised I'm going to show you throughout the series of messy who is despised but by his older sex more successful brothers David was obscure in the household of Jesse and I'm saying this for the outset and I don't I want you to keep remembering this if somebody here or around the world watching right now who would say I do mater I can't do anything IIIi am just I am no one know I wanted to listen very carefully because God is looking at your heart right now David was a nondescript and he was no match for his bigger successful brothers David could not have been more unlikely choice to be the king of Israel but because he stayed close to the king of kings because he has a had a heart that was willing not only to serve but to obey the King of Kings because he had one longing and one desire to be close to the king of kings and to be the servant of the king of kings the King of Kings kept him at his elbow all the time and made him the king of Israel most unlikely person so don't tell me that you think you're unlikely because God specializes in using the unlikely people Amen but that's not all because of his ready and willing heart David did not only become a great king for Israel but he became one of the most important figures in all of history you say why you see because God always is looking for a ready and willing heart that's what he's looking for because God is always looking for more more availability than ability because God is always looking for a generous and giving hearts not hoarders and takers because God is always looking for servants not for those who are self-serving now you don't have to look hard to find so many clever people in the Church of Jesus Christ you don't have to look very hard to find so many gifted people in the Church of Jesus Christ but God is not looking for talent he's looking for testimony God is not looking for ability he's looking for availability God is not looking for those who are wishing he's looking for those who are willing that's what God does the first thing God looks at is the heart listen this is a contrast of all contrasts when you think about our 21st century shallowness superficiality and we look at the fame and we look at the outward appearance and we look at the wealth and we look at this and we look at that God in contrast says I look at the heart I don't look at this outward appearance beloved listen I am NOT minimizing ability because all the abilities are god-given he gives us all of our abilities anyway where there would be abilities you're born with the gifts of the Holy Spirit he gives you later they're all from God but all of the abilities are god-given any way therefore I am NOT minimizing them but human right here is a use of formula if you taking notes write them down I used to formula you can blame me for it if you don't like it all right ability without availability is inability how do you like that I had to think long and hard now of course one of them that the dangerous things about preaching from the life of David is this such a well-known character even non-believers know about David and so he is so well known in fact most people really know those only two events in David's life the great victories over Goliath and his great failure in adultery with Bathsheba that's only two things they know about David but the truth is there is a whole lot more that some of you even did not know us in the Bible I'll be going through in the next several messages as we go through this amazing life of this amazing human being because God said of him I have examined David's heart and I found it after my own I know this is the longing of my heart see there's a lot more to learn in the next fourteen messages from this life of David then there's two great events in his life let me give you just a perspective just a small perspective from the scripture about David so you understand framing it from a from a scriptural biblical point of view Abraham the father of faith Abraham the great man occupies 14 chapters in the Bible Israel or Jacob occupies seven chapters in the Bible Joseph whom God used to save Israel from starvation occupies 14 chapters in the Bible David occupies 66 chapters you get the point and he has been mentioned in the New Testament 59 times at least but the one thing that you'll see again and again and again about David's life that his life was not that Teflon where everything and all the problems of life just slid by it was a Teflon you know they said things about some certain people and said he's like a Teflon everything is false no he did not live quote/unquote charmed life he did not the truth is any heart that is after God's own heart listen to me any heart that's after God's own heart does not necessarily experience charmed life in many ways I want to show you that David lived a difficult life David lived a tragic life David lived a lonely life David lived a broken dream life of broken dreams he lived the life of brokenness before God I know in the 21st century there are some snake oil salesmen in the church hello now those of you younger generation don't know this in the old days in small towns you get somebody comes in the town and sell snake oil and it says this is cures everything it's a cure-all and people buy it and by the time they discovered it was useless the guy already checked out of town they here you hear them all the time they're selling your formulas for health and wealth they sell your formulas for charmed life they sell your formulas for getting it all getting all you want in this life it's a formula for life of ease they give you formulas of how to create a constant sunshine and blue sky in your life now thank God for those moments of sunshine in our lives I do not minimize those I thank God for them but as CS Lewis said that God allows those in our lively stress pits and those moments of joy in our lives but don't ever confuse them with heaven because heaven is where our charmed life is going to be in such a time and in such situation when you tell you that everything can be hunky-dory if you just have a positive thought what that does it obscure reality it pushes aside truth those who preach perpetual sunshine are not preaching the full truth of the word of God to be sure the Bible shows us how to snatch life out of the jaws of death the Bible shows us how to snatch victory out of the jaws defeat the Bible shows us how to rise above the floods in life to be sure that's there but it does not mean we will not face real and prison dangers in this life you know when our children were little just like every all parents we used to read them the nursery rhymes the nursery rhymes it used to you know you're ready no I'm kind of weird anyway I kind of think things over most people kind of don't think about it I have those weird thoughts you must have you know this so we I would read this thing when my is my turn about Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall remember that and all of the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again and I remember saying this thinking in my head I didn't tell the kids that but Humpty Dumpty does not need the king's men in the king's horses Humpty Dumpty needs the king that's what she needed he needed the king but again that's that's a weird way of thinking in fact if you think about David you're gonna find that David fell again and again and again and the King of Kings put his life together again and again and again and he does the same with you and with me amen amen thank God for His grace now beloved after all these years of walking with the Lord I can tell you that there are only two ways about which we can react to brokenness in our life only two ways after all these years you either become better because of it or you become bitter in it either you face it with humility repentance and restoration or allow bitterness and resentment to consume you and render you ineffective I know you've heard me say this before and you're gonna keep hearing it until the Lord either takes me home will takes me out I'm gonna keep repeating it because I love the honesty of the scripture don't ever ever minimize that the honesty of the scripture is very important to me I know it's very important to many of you most of you the honesty of the scripture I am so thankful to God that he did not take these characters in the Bible wash them sanitize them starched them and then wrapped him in a yellow silicon because silicon is really very very attractive and then he placed him on a pedestal and he said now guys you need to imitate them how can I identify with them if they're all Bell all that was done in the back in the back room and I have not seen it and that is why I am so grateful for the truthfulness of the scripture instead the Bible shows us the sinfulness of sin it shows us that the blinding power of sin and the consequences of sin for which I'm very grateful and after I see all of that I want to stand on the mountaintop and shout thanks be to God that I'm living in the New Testament where Jesus has washed all of my sins away on the cross of Calvary amen amen give God praise in all truthfulness the 66 chapters of life of David would make a far better soap opera than Hollywood can ever produce let me assure you you'll see some of it in fact I'm gonna give you as much of it as I can throughout the series why do I say this well because the difference between this true life drama in the life of David and all of the drama that Hollywood produces the difference is very clear the Bible in this drama shows us the wages of sin the result of sin the consequences of sin Hollywood washes and sanitizes and sugar coats the pain and the portion of sin so as I begin this new series of messages for the rest of this fallen and into the end of the year I'm entitling it a heart for God or heart after God but before I really even begin to come to First Samuel 16 which I hope you have already opened in front of you I'm going to come to it in a minute I want to give you a historical background don't go to sleep and start yawning and say oh this is a boring history lesson it's not if you blink he gonna miss it well some of you blinked but it would be so fast trust me after Joseph and his family went to Egypt they grew in number there were 400 years down there God delivered them from the slavery of Egypt through the leadership of Moses there in the wilderness they sat for 40 years Joshua comes in and he leads him into the Promised Land when Joshua died we the following generation after Joshua they basically forgot all what God did for them they forgot about the god of their fathers and the Bible said that each of them began to do what is right in their own eyes this my beloved friends is the beginning of what we see today as no absolutes no absolute truth this is the beginning movement the truth is relative your truth my truth everybody's truth that's the beginning of it it began right there beginning at that period which you call it the period of the judges when the Israelites get into trouble and they get indulgent into their pagans lifestyle there will cry out the God when their suffer and God would send them a deliverer we call them judges but there really are delivers again and again and again you read at least eleven twelve times in the book of Judges you see it they rationalize our sin they indulge in their sin and they would wink at their rebellion against God they abandon all responsibility to God who blessed them so they basically got into this falsehood that if it feels good do it now consequences but we you and I know differently so in the midst of this dreadful period this difficult period this is this hard time we call the period of the judges we read a beautiful story it's an amazing story of God's grace if you have never been grateful for God's grace I hope that one thing you learned today is you begin to value and appreciate and not take for granted the grace of God it's a beautiful story Ruth Ruth loyal dedicated loving but gentle woman did you know the ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ was not Jewish she would Judah Ruth she marries a Jewish man by the name of Bauer's and then they have a son they named him orbit orbit had a son they named him Jesse Jesse had eight boys David was the youngest I'm getting ready to shot because I know what I'm gonna say twenty-eight generations from David go home and count him 28 generations from David in the same city of Bethlehem where David was born that descendant of David was born of a virgin who who is God's Messiah and no other than our beloved Lord Jesus Christ amen amen what a what a great God we have listen to me listen to me I know it is not fashionable so many folks on preaching on television they denying the sovereignty of God my friend Artie Kimball wrote a book on the sovereignty of God and so many of his famous friends on television would not endorse it because they did not believe in the sovereignty of God but I'm gonna tell you my beloved beloved beloved friends don't underestimate or take lightly the sovereignty of God don't ever underestimate or take lightly how much God can accomplish when you cooperate with him don't ever underestimate or take lightly the untold blessings that can only come from obedience now if you read this book life-changing prayers that I told you about you will read about a desperate woman she was persecuted but the other wife of kind of suffered pain anguish mocked and she came to the wall crying out for a baby and she made God a promise she said if you give me a baby I will dedicate him to you he will serve you and sure enough she kept her words Hannah kept her word she kept her word and she gave him to the service of the Lord but here's the good news you read further it says God blessed her with a whole lot of other kids he's been amazing that's our God that's our God He blessed an abundance that boy grew to be the last of the judges and the first of the prophets his name was Sam well Sam well during samples time the spiritual condition of Israel was at a low ebb just like our day during that time rebellion against God and his moral absolutes took a defiant tone they rejected God's plan for them they rejected God's headship and leadership they rejected God's kingship over them and they wanted an earthly king so God gave them one was more of a judgment over their rejection of him than anything else Saul the first king God gave him to Israel now Saul was gifted on paper Saul had all of the human credentials Saul had all of the human qualifications to be a king Saul had all the good looks Saul had all of the deceptive appearances are you with me but his heart was not right his heart was rotten he his heart was self-seeking and self-serving his heart was self-centered it was not after God's own heart but even then the God of all grace the god of grace overruled he overruled and had mercy on Israel and he gave them David here's the problem before I get to the text I haven't started the sermon yet just in case some of you start panicking I want you to panic even more I haven't got to the text yet but but but I want to tell you this is very important here's the problem was solved and you see it in the scripture in the text he was rejected by God but Saul kept on functioning as king even after the Spirit of the Lord departed from him beloved let me ask you this how many churches do you know continue to function even after the leadership has departed from the truth how many ministries continue to function even after Sleater ship has ceased to please God how many churches do you know that have started right but kept on going even though when it was hitting wrong here's something of equal importance and that's in the text now once you get the text out if you have your own Bible I hope you have a pen and if you have your iPad if your technical and you don't get iPad I found all that stuff you can mark I don't know I don't know how to do this but I know some people do thank God for you all the technologists we have here you know if you can put a mark between the first half of chapter 16 of First Samuel and the second half you're going to find they are absolutely in contrast with each other the first half in the second half the first half in the second half in the first half of chapter 16 David is anointed king by the prophets M in the second half he enters into the service of soul in the first half you see the Spirit of the Lord come upon David in the second half you see the Spirit of the Lord has come out from soul and an evil spirit replacement as some of you probably would think what was this evil spirit from the Lord well because when the Lord basically take his spirit out what comes in is an evil spirit the first half of the chapter David gets anointed by the Holy Spirit and the second half is he saw being tormented by an evil spirit in the first half you see Samwell mourns and he grieves Oversoul in the second half of the chapter Saul is oblivious to his abysmal condition spiritual condition that he's in and God tells Sam we'll stop grieving over Saul some of you here and I'm talking about those special who are watching around the world you support and you go to a churches from which the Spirit of God has departed you need to move on get out stop grieving over soul beloved let me ask you this is it possible for you to mourn and grieve for too long over someone or something is it possible yes is it possible yes the Bible says that there is a time to mourn and there is a time to rejoice mourning for too long over past sins that God has forgiven you long ago mourning for too long over past bitterness that you have given to the Lord again and again but you keep on nursing mourning too long over past hurt mourning too long over past in Justices mourning too long past betrayals morning too long over past losses listen to me you may have every right to mourn for a period of time but not forever okay it is time to move on can you say that with me it is time to move on now what you say it with enthusiasm it is because mourning for too long creates a fog over your future mourning for too long of a past can rob you of great future joy and service and that is why God said to the prophet Samuel you have mourned long enough of a soul get up get your flecks of oil and go to Jesse's house at this point of history this this part when God said to Sam we'll take a flex of all and go to Jesse's house now this is my testimony I'm confessing to you for years probably decades troubled me really has not about you but every time I read every time I think about every time I preach for me it bothered me and I was the Lord this and believe it on that I'm so thankful the Lord answered me he doesn't that all look do that all the time where she does but not always I said Lord why didn't you say to Sam well Sam will take your flexible go to Jesse's house and anoint his younger son David to be king I really did it troubled me mind a trouble some of you but it did trouble me for years and years here's what the Lord taught me and I share it with you I pray God who will use it in your life God does not always give us all the information ahead of time even to his prophet he doesn't give us information ahead of time I tell you why he doesn't do that that's how I understood this from the Word of God if he did we would not learn to lean on him are you with me if he did we would not grow in our faith and in our trust in our confidence in him if he did we would not mature in Christ that will become babies and livers Bailey spiritual babies for all of our Christian life here God is about to teach Samwell a lesson in fact he teach him a lesson that many of us refused to learn because he was to teach you every one of you he wants to teach us that same lesson first of all notice Sam was reaction verse to First Samuel chapter 16 look at his reaction he said yes Lord whatever you say Lord I will do whatever you ask me to do I'm ready to do it he did not hello hey can you identify with that you know what he said lord if soul finds out about this he'll kill me you notice he was very concerned about the safety of his wife's husband he knows that some of you will get that tomorrow morning a prayer coffee well he was concerned about his wife safety of his wife's husband beloved don't be quick to judge Sam well I sometimes say things but I go back is it Nana I can't I can't judge him because this is a legitimate fear now there is type of fear that's illegitimate of which I'll be talking about next message next Sunday there is an illegitimate fear but this is very legitimate very legitimate and so my very very special difference beloved in Christ listen to me sometimes God asks us to do things that are scary sometimes God asks us to do things that requires risk-taking sometimes God ask us to do things that demands sacrifice sometimes God asks us to do things that require what I call not the Bible I call it spiritual bungee-jumping have you seen one of those things hanging by your ankles he jump over that bridge they started in New Zealand and evidence took over the world there is no way on God's earth I trust God with all my life man gonna do that but I can tell you I've done that couple of times at least spiritually speaking a budget job spiritually couple of times why why is this God asked us to do that he's testing to see our willingness to trust him we could sing and tell we trust you lord under all that said can you really do you really he is testing us to see how willing we are to take him at his word so God places an opportunity in front of us and he pauses the question and then he waits and he waits and he wish to see what our response is going to be look at verses 6 all the way to 13 Sam will takes the plunge and goes to Bethlehem to Jesse's house now from this point on I'm gonna give you not a use of translation but a use of interpretation because if you're going to look for it in the Bible you're not gonna find it it's a youssef interpretation don't like it blame me okay his I want you to imagine this scenario okay Sam will comes in and he said Jessie my friend give me your best and your brightest and the most handsome of all your boys give me the most impressive of all eight boys well Jessie said here is Elliot he's the oldest I confess to you I've always wanted to be the oldest I wasn't I was the runt but I admire people who because I I know people who come in the oldest in in the bunch they have a strong heart they're overachievers and they are very successful at least that's what they tell me and I'm inclined to believe them Sammy looks at Ella yeah probably looks up there somewhere probably short guy he looks up in Civil War what an impressive man sorry Jessie not this one what do you mean what do you mean not this one this guy played for the Bethlehem Steel errs he was the MVP of the year for three years in the running sorry Jesse prophet of God this boy was the top of his class in Bethlehem University sorry Jesse but prophet of God okay he's a being Adam I've been at AB you got to know he has a PhD and his research papers are published in Jerusalem Harvard Review he actually has made the name Jesse very famous throughout the land and simple thought himself probably for a moment and said oh okay God must really want to scholarly type Sam will get silly all that started knowing him and God said no sit down Sam well sit down not this one so Jesse brings Shama number three now this guy you got to understand this guy runs three corporations I mean his record at Harvard Business Review meant with where he earned his PhD his records have never been matched there's never matched Shama actually put together some of the biggest merger and acquisition deals known on Wall Street oh he understand leveraged buyout like no other one in the business world ah Sam will probably thought ah God is looking for a shrewd negotiator once someone who knows the art of the deal I mean he's got to deal with all his tricky business people in in Jerusalem and Israel so you got it this guy's is a negotiator he must be the one he's got to deal with these tricky merchants no said no sit down Sam will sit down sit down not this one either by that time I'm convinced of my own heart son the Bible the Sam we'll just gave up guessing and second-guessing God he said I give up I mean all these qualified people he stopped assuming and presuming on God now beloved listen to me then have I lost you yet have our last you just listen a few more minutes I know and you know and you may have been there yet have not been there yet but I have I have many times we run this way and run this way and every time we convince ourselves this was God must what God wants this surely this must be the one surely this must be the way surely this must be the deal surely it must be what God wants me to do only to discover that we're really actually answering our own prayers have you ever done that okay don't raise your hand but I am all the seven boys paraded in front of Sam with and the Lord said no no no no no why is that I think you and I and all of us and everybody around at the sound of my voice listen to me we need to frame verse seven you can hang it on a wall but more importantly you can have it in your heart verse seven second first samuel 16 verse 7 it needs to be printed on the cortex of our minds and hearts why because we judge by appearance but God sees a heart we get taken by the ability but God is looking for availability we can be duped by one's resume but God sees the heart finally out of desperation Sam will asks are these all of your boys well yes basically these are ones that really matter these ones are significant these are the ones who are qualified for the job and progestin stammered started stumbled and said well well not quite there's the runt but he's not here the runt of the family you know in Old England used to say the first one is runs the family estate and the second one guys become a doctor or something and then the youngest always it was the preacher very interesting that that is actually true culturally read about it but the runt he's doing the menial tasks that the others wouldn't do he's taking care of the sheep out in the desert and the wilderness beloved listen to me I'm about to finish in a culture that only the firstborn mattered in a culture where only success mattered in a culture where the runt is the runt no matter what God says none of these boys are really my choice and so Samwell sits down until they're sent for David and bring him home I want you to imagine just to put yourself in the place I always like to imagine things and I'm at the same one sitting down and finally after a while it's sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting this young teenager who walks in I wanted every teenagers listening to me to listen very carefully God is looking at your heart don't worry about what people say be concerned about what God says you might be down on yourself and you think I'm not important I don't matter listen to me God says you do and that's who count say comes in dirty face dirty clothes most likely smell because it was with his sheep all times and Samuel must have looked at him and thought is this really the wine and God answered his question Samwell this is the one you got yourself a winner here I'm going to tell you this as I conclude I'll prepare that uh pray that everyone as you prepare your heart walk down this aisle participated in the Lord's table I want you to not only examine yourself but I want you to begin to say God let me see myself the way you see me and I'll tell you this as a man who had made so many mistakes in my life and this is just not something nice to say it was something kind of acceptable I'm telling you God in heaven knows a man who made so many mistakes in his life it is my daily Prius my daily prayer is constantly in my heart is Lord I plead with you blind me to my own opinion give me only the mind of the Holy Spirit then empower me to obey Him I mean he would come many of you come to me and say how do we pray for you that's how you can pray for me in fact the vestry members know for thirty-one years I've been saying this and I'll keep on saying it I said guys we are here because each of us have an opinion and all of our opinions are wonderful they're brilliant but when it comes to the work of God we're only looking for one opinion and that's the mind of the Holy Spirit and that's our prayer every vestry meeting that the Holy Spirit will give us his mind and then empowers us to obey Him will you pray with me now I don't know everyone here I don't know in fact any of your thoughts but God does I don't know where you are and I don't know how you thought of things and you don't know how you figured things out but if the Holy Spirit has spoken to you today and let you know that God is looking at your heart don't be impressed by appearances I want you to say Holy Spirit of God convict me empower me strengthen me guide me I'm all yours a loving father we thank you for your word because it constantly encourages us and we see how your hand and your grace again and again and again put David together and you put us together again and again and again what a a wonderful grace of God we plead with you that none of us no one that the sound of my voice will ever take that Grace for granted Oh presume on that grace but we forever indebted and father as we come to remember this amazing grace the God of heaven slaughtered on a cross because he loved us and redeemed us may we never ever let that thought go out of our heads we pray this in Jesus name Amen thank you so much for watching and for being part of this worship time it is our prayer that God would use this time to bless you but also we want to hear from you if you've never been in touch with us why don't you contact us we love to hear from you god bless you have a wonderful week [Music]

Channel: The Church Of The Apostles

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Length: 49min 15sec (2955 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 06 2018