March 27, 2018, March Gladness, "When All Seems Lost", Rev. Dr. F. Bruce Williams

[Applause] [Music] and you can tell when someone is walking by fear and not faith because they don't think straight because he had come to the conclusion that he would rather be lured protected by his enemy than by God I'm not saying it right he decided he would get from the enemy what he used to get from God just and I said instead of letting God bless him he decided he would let his enemies bless him and listen whenever you let the enemy bless you instead of God you in trouble because whenever an enemy blesses you that blessing always ends up turning into a curse this is the day that the Lord has made will rejoice and be glad in it amen amen it is good to be in the house of the Lord one more time we we honor God and we give Him praise for the opportunity to just be in the house of God one more time - yes yes the psalmist said I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of the wicked so the church is still the best place in town as far as I'm concerned and I'm certainly grateful to be back here at Alfred Street and then coming back home a man I really appreciate the opportunity to come back I'm not completely sure if I like it under the circumstances yeah you know I'm just trying to get this off my chest now your pastor called me and asked me to come and he said you know John Adolf was going to be here can't be I want to know if you would come and I said oh yeah sure you know I hung up the phone I was like Lord Jesus and I wanted to tell him okay so if I'm gonna come and John Adolf was supposed to come one day I wanted to say two things to him first I needed to ask him a question do they know that John Adolf was supposed to come do they that's the first question did they know who was supposed to be here and I knew they'd you all know he was he was supposed to be here so and so my my next statement to him was okay since they know he was going to come I get to keep all the tomatoes and lettuce and eggs that they throw up here when they see I'm here and not John a toughie right that's got to be part of my honorarium all the groceries go yeah I get to keep him and it is a delight to be here and I know John a dog is an extraordinary pulpit ear yes he is and trying to get him to come to Louisville as soon as I can so it's but it's still good to be here do me a favor would you give God praise for your pastor and my friend amen a marvelous man of God amen [Music] marvelous men of God and I'm so grateful to God that our paths have crossed and that we are for informing and forging a relationship with one another my life has been enriched by the relationship and from watching this ministry I told you all I watch this ministry been doing it for years and I am just blessed that what I see God doing in his life his ministry and in the ministry of Alpha Street everybody everywhere knows about this marvelous ministry here and I thanked him for so many people at base memorial that this ministry has been blessing because they watch it online they see your kiya and saves me a lot of work you know the day and so I'm just grateful to God for this ministry but for real God is doing a great work here and I hope and pray I know this can't be the case but I hope and pray that you do not become so accustomed to what God is doing here that you take it for granted and think this is happening everywhere it is not and amen please don't you don't want to get too used to this and sometimes we can become so accustomed to handling holy things that they become dull and our handling so don't don't ever get used to what God is doing here God is doing a great work here and he's doing a great work for a great purpose and it is not just for the people who are connected to this church but because God wants to use this the tentacles of this ministry to touch the globe for generations and I'm confident of that and I think a large part of that has to do with the leadership that God has brought here under the password of your pastor and my friend and so don't let anybody love him more than you do amen the Bible says a prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown y'all be the exception and learn how to appreciate and I know you do I'm not telling you anything you don't know but you know how we can be sometimes don't don't take this for granted God is doing a great work here amen what a blessing it is to be a part of this church and the part of the future that God has for this congregation well y'all ready for the word tonight and then I'm ready to share what I believe the Lord has laid on my heart let's go to God first in prayer if you don't mind join hands with those around you now as we go to God in preparation for the word in prayer let us pray father we thank you for this moment for this one yesterday is the cancerchat tomorrow's not even a promissory note the only redeemable time we have is right now so this moment god we thank you now God as we prepare for the preaching moment we confess today that we can do nothing until you come bless your people make fallow the ground of the souls of your people that the seed of truth might find depth that relationship might be established between some soul and the Savior then lord help me your preacher breathe on my word and make them thine rescue me from me feel me a nip to me at your will love me and do whatever you want with me you can be reckless without my permission hide me behind Calvary's cross make my preaching so thin in human wisdom that only the shadow of the cross can be seen beneath take your glory but master please give us the blessings we pray we ask it all in the name of the pre-existing incarnate crucified resurrected ascended and soon-coming king's name we pray all the people of God said together amen would you give God praise right now [Music] if you were turning your Bible a tap in your Bible app to First Samuel very familiar passage the script you want to see what the Spirit has to say to the church for Samuel chapter 31 lift up and line out for our consideration the first six verses of a familiar passage at least the Bible readers if it is your custom to stand stand out of reverence for the Word of God First Samuel chapter 30 the first six verses and we're gonna see what the Lord has to say there might be a fresh word for someone and if you hear something here before remember that two coats of paint is better than one First Samuel chapter 30 if you found it say Amen I'll be reading from the King James Version it reads like this beginning with verse 1 and it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire and had taken the women captives that were there in they slew not any either great or small but carried them away and went on their way so David and his men came to the city and behold it was burned with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captive then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep and Dave his two wives were taken captive Hunnam the jezreelite and abigail the wife of navarre the carmelite and David was greatly distressed for the people speak of stoning him because the soul all the people was grieved every man for his sons and for his daughters but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God amen he may be seated in the presence of the Lord they help the Holy Spirit in your prayers I want to talk to you from this simple theme when all seems lost when all seems lost would that you would flank me with your prayers help me do this look at your neighbor just tell him that tell him when all seems lost you know yeah look at your other neighbor you put your other neighbor look at your other neighbor telling the same thing tell them when all seems lost we're gonna find out what to do and all amen and I would that you inflate me with your prayers when all seems lost it is true without question that David is perhaps one of the greatest biblical personalities in the Bible it is crystal clarion clear that he is considered to be the greatest king in all of israel he was the one who had United all the tribes and brought it to its greatest glory it was because of his leadership because of David and even if you were to compare him not just to other kings in Israel but if you were to compare him to all other biblical personalities male and female in old and new Testament you would have to agree that he is among the brightest stars and gods galaxy of human greatness God has used David to do great things in fact his legacy is so certain and sure that whenever they refer to the lineage of Kings they call it the household of David David was an extraordinary man spiritually he was a man the Bible says after God's own heart and there's nothing greater you can say about the spiritual relationship that a person has with God he was a gifted man a man who could use both sides of his brain he was a critical thinker which made him a great military genius and he never lost the battle but it was also not just critical but creative the Bible says he was a musician who played the harp and not only a musician but also a composer because much of the Psalms are saw was composed by David and the Psalms composed by David are songs that grew out of his life experience with God and much of it out of his adoration for God he had a Shepherd's heart and you could see him if you could see him in his earlier life on the backside of the Judean Hills keeping his father's sheep often out there alone because he was not considered to be equal with his brothers and still in spite of the fact that he was not treated the same if you had ever peeked over the ridges of the mountains and watched him out in the fields with those sheep you could see a man who really loved God was every now and then even though it was just he and the Sheep you could see him out in the field thinking about how good god is and you can see his eyes to the sky hands to the heavens spinning in the field giving God praise David wasn't the kind of person that needed a Hammond organ to praise God didn't he'd acquire ashes or a preacher to praise God he didn't need an audience to praise God he loved God so much that he praised God all by himself anybody love God like that David loved God and was noted to be king of all of Israel and what a king he was and yet when you read the life of David you'll discover that David like all other biblical personalities was great but he was not perfect David had his flaws of false and failures and one of the things I love about the Bible is that when it comes to telling the story of those who were a part of the redemption plan of God that it never tells a story of a life that is without flaws it always gives the life warts and all and I believe that's one of the reasons why the Bible can be trusted because if you were writing something false and you were writing about heroes and heroines you try to you know kind of sand ties the versions of their story but but if you read the life of David you'll see on the one hand he was a great worshipper and on the other hand you can see him meandering on the Miranda of his mansion looking at another man's wife ended up having a weekend rendezvous with her then her getting pregnant and then him trying to cover it up by deceiving her husband and that didn't work had him killed and then married her out of respectability and then lived a whole year acting like nothing was wrong until he was confronted by a prophet who told him it's you and you knew it and he moved from writing Psalm 23 to Psalm 51 have mercy upon me O God according to your loving-kindness according to your multitude of your tender love and mercy blot out my transgressions perch me with hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit don't take your Holy Spirit from me God won one day he's like an angel the next day he's like a devil that's that's the kind of life you live up and down perfect famous and infamous doing right and then doing wrong a man of great passion but not a man who was perfect so oftentimes when people look at David's life they see David on the throne but if you start looking at David's life as the king on the throne you only see his glory you don't see his story and oftentimes when people see people in great positions like David they often make the mistake of wanting to be like David on the throne but you have to be careful being envious of where people are positioned because you don't know what it took for them to get there you know David David was a great king but but David was put in a process that prepared him for the throne in fact if you would just back up a bit in his bio-data you'll see that it is so because you remember when Saul was chosen to be the king he was the people's choice but Saul messed up and God rejected Saul and Samuel the Prophet who anointed Saul was all upset you know the story and God came to him and told him stop crying I've rejected Saul quit looking behind you look ahead of you I'm all ready chosen another King and the Bible says he sent him to Jesse's house and said the king is at Jesse's house y'all know the story he went to Jesse's house and said the king is here and I need to find out bring your boys out brought all his boys out one by one and when Samuel saw him you said no he ain't the one mm-hmm he ain't the one no he ain't the one and then they're all lined up there and there's no one else he said are these all your boys he said because I know God sent me here and I know the king is here but I don't see the king yet and and Jesse said well yeah I got another son but it can't be him where is he he's on the backside of Judean iam keeping my my she bring him here and you can you can see him he's not dressed very well he's got dung between his toes he comes smelling like sheep and and when as soon as Samuel saw him he said there he is he said he may not look like it I may not smell it but but that's him and as soon as he saw him the oil started flowing and he anointed David to be king but wait a minute before you get too excited notice that after the oil was on him before it could even drive he wasn't put on the throne they'd sit him right back out on those heels to take care of his daddy this is she which means he was anointed to do something before he was given the opportunity to do it which means that it is possible for you to be unknown to do something but not ready to do what you're anointed to do that's why you got a you got a wait on God you got to do it according to God's timing because you may be gifted but your character may not match your gifts and your gift may put you where your character can't keep you and and so and so david was anointed to be on the throne but he had to go through something to prepare him for where he is headed it I don't know who I'm talking to today but I got a sneaking suspicion that I'm talking to somebody who knows that you have been anointed for something but you're trying to get in there hurry watch the Bible says your gift will make room for you the Bible doesn't tell you to make room for your gifts I can't get no amens in here and so David David had to go through a process he had to go through a series of ups and downs he had to go through his own personal pilgrimage from the time he was anointed to the time he was appointed to that position as king over Israel what we have in our text today is we have a point on his personal pilgrimage it's a place in his process where he's on the cusp of a crisis there's trouble right here in the text and the trouble the crisis is there in part because of a decision he made which led to series of decisions he made that brought him to the point of this crisis if you let me have a few more minutes I want to put the text in context because David ends up at this crisis because it is partially his fault and it is partially the circumstances he's in and how he has responded to the circumstances God God anointed him to be king and he went back on the backside of those Judean Hills but but then Saul who was the king decided that he would be of some benefit to him so he asked Jesse sent his son to him and the Bible says that David served Saul for a while one of the ways in which he served him is that he would play music one of the reason why it was necessary for him to play music is because he since he had been rejected by God every now and then he would have these spiritual fits the Bible describes by saying that he would be overcome by a spirit of evil and and and David was called upon to play on his harp and let the music therapy eclis help him deal with that spirit that was in him that that's why it's good to come to church it's it's good to hear the choir sing don't just come in time for the sermon you you need to come here to choir your same because sometimes what what you really need is you need to hear God's Word song in song to help cuz it's therapeutic for some of the demons we bring to church when we come I may not ever begin body to come back it he he would play and when he played the demons would leave him alone and so everything was going well for David David had a good job I mean he was working for the King so I'm sure his family was proud of him and all of his friends were envious of him but the Bible says while he was working for the King something happened I there was a war between Israel and the Philistines y'all know the story and David was too young for the draft but he his daddy said your brothers are down there fighting I need you to take some supplies to the frontline and so David couldn't wait to go he couldn't wait to go because he just knew that if he got to the frontline that he would see the enemies of God being routed by the army of God so he couldn't wait to see the victory I could see him packing his his hands were sweating and he was excited he could hardly hold him his peace because he was taking supplies to the frontline for his brothers but he knew he would get to see his people winning the victory but when he got there he did not see what he thought he would see instead of the people out there and winning the battle none of the men had left the barracks yet they were still in the barracks they were looking at family pictures and playing dice playing card games and nobody was out there fighting and David want to know what is the problem he said he went out to the front line and saw this big old man out there talking crazy about his god and after a while he said it's somebody gonna do something you're not gonna just let him talk crazy somebody ought to do something I I know I'm not I'm too young for the draft I know I had had any military experience Hank or no academies but if somebody don't do something I'm gonna do something myself because y'all might be scared but I ain't scared of it and after a while he realized watch that none of the adults [Applause] would do anything so he decided that even though I'm a child it doesn't matter how old I am right is just right and so you got a child deciding to do what adults should have been doing y'all ain't even got time you got a I ain't got time he so he decided I'm gonna take him for myself and so he started talking about what he was gonna do y'all know the story and and the King heard about it and so Saul said bring him to me and so David walked in and said King don't worry I got this said I ain't worried about the force all over with we will have won this battle and the King said I appreciate your passion he said but you don't understand you're just the child and he's been fighting ever since he's a child so you can't take him and and and and and David David said all right King I hear what you're saying King said well look the reason why you can't take him is because you don't have any experience he said I don't have any experience yeah you don't have any experience you have no training he says when I just cuz I don't have no training on me don't have a testimony he said I think I could take him well what makes you think you could beat him he said well let me tell you why I know I can beat him he said you see while I was on the backside of those Judean Hills keeping my daddy's sheep a bear came and tried to take my daddy cheap and I had to I had to kill the bear and God help me kill the bear and then a lion came tried to run off with one of my daddy's sheep I had to grab him by the beard I had to cut him and get my daddy's sheep out of his mouth and God helped me kill the lion and I just deduced that if God was with me with the lion if God was with me with the bear I know God will be with me when I fight this uncircumcised Philistine Saul said I hear you I hear you he said look up before you go at least have cysts enough to put some armor on in fact you can borrow mine David was just trying to be polite he said all right King I borrow yours and so they put put the girl on it and his sag down like sagging pants he put put the shoes on and he was clanking around in the shoes he put the breastplate on it and slipped to the side he put the helmet on it fell over his nose he had to pull it back he put the sword his hand and the tip fell to the ground because it was too heavy for him to hold and he start walking around with it and he after a while he said looking out I don't mean no harm he said but I never tried these before and if these were the answer why I child out there with him fighting me he said if you just let me go for what I know and and use what I know works he said I'd knock something out he said I'll all I need is my slingshot and all I need is a stone and they all got another story so he went down to the brook got five smooth stones and the Bible says he ran toward Goliath cly said a nurse and a boy out here to do a man's job he even got no hair on his face and I could see David say you talk about trash if you want to he said you come out here with your short and your spear in your she'll but I come in the name of the Lord let the rock go got God grab that rock and guided it to the head of Goliath and knocked him out and and David looked at him and said I ain't come here and knocked him out I came to take him out and he took the he took the giant sword and cut his old head off and the Bible says after that his popularity was pulsating throughout Palestine in fact he had become so famous that the women composed a song about him in one of the major verses in the song was Saul has killed his thousands come on but David come on kill this 10,000 come on it was on social media and everything here everybody was singing that song now it is because of Saul's insecurity that when he heard the song he could not celebrate simply the fact that the victory had been won on behalf of the people of God but he was envious of their of the attention that David was getting at the Bible says because of his insecurity that he became jealous and envious and he decided that this town is not big enough for two kings so he said imma have to take him out and in fact the Bible says on two occasions that he tried at least two occasion tried to pin him against the wall with a spear he was he was Saul's target but Saul couldn't get him because he may have been a target buddy he was a moving target and so I ain't got time I wish I had time he he he couldn't get him and so David could feel the rising hostility of Saul for me knew Saul was serious about taking him out and so David was on the run David had to take to the wilderness David it was hound a bad day and harassed by night but David was what was clear that it doesn't matter what he tries to do to me he said I'm not gonna act like him I'm not gonna touch the Lord's anointed he it almost as if he said to himself I wish saw knew that I ain't tryin to take nothing from him and and so in fact on two occasions chapter 24 in chapter 26 David could have killed him he was in a cave chapter 24 and and and David was in the cave too and David got close enough to cut off a piece of his robe and then went back outside and was waving and say looking I'm not trying to take you out because if I was trying to take you out I could've got you when I cut this in fact the Bible says that David even felt guilty that he had even cut a piece of his robe off because he didn't want to touch God's anointed and when Saul saw him he repented but then in chapter 26 it happens again he's Saul and the people are camped out in there and the men are laying around King Saul and King Saul sword and his staff and the water bottle is there and David and his men saw him so they snuck down in the camp and when they saw saw what a davis men said the Lord has given Saul into her hands David our God didn't give us this opportunity to take him out and so he took his staff and water bottle went back up on the hill and showed him he said I could have taken you out he said but I'm not trying to take you out I don't mean you any harm the Bible says it's all said you a better man than I am and he wept and repentance can I just pause here for more put a comma I'll put a period one of the things that David teaches us at this point is that when God has a divine destiny designed for you then you ain't got to resort to hook or crook to get wherever God wants you to be no no no no no you-you-you don't have to you don't have to be like other pork for other people to get where God wants you to be because if God wants you to be there one way or another you're going to be there can I get a witness now it may take you a little longer because you're trying to do it right but you got to be careful what you do to get where you end up it come on if you got to stab people in the back to get there if you if you got to be hypocritical and duplicitous to get there if you got to lie to get there then always remember whatever it took you to get there it's gonna take that to stay there you got to keep line just stay there the only problem with lying is that if your lie long enough you won't be able to remember the last lie you told if God wants you there no devil in Hell can stop you from getting there preach holy Davis said no I'm gonna wait on God but Saul just turned up the heat on it Saul was after them to try to kill in it and and and when you under that kind of pressure when it's when it's relentless when it's when it's persistent when you are separated from kith and kin when when you don't seem to have a friend in the world and the only thing you can feel is the breath of your enemy on your neck trying to take you out I don't care how unknown as you are I don't care how holy you are you and God can be on a first-name basis but when trouble just hangs on you like it was hanging on David if if you're not careful your faith will begin the flag and fear will begin to replace your faith and that's what happened to David is his faith started stacking under the waiting pressure of what was going on with he and Saul and after a while fear took over he he he began to be controlled by fear and you know when you're controlled by fear in the context of pressure if you're not careful you'll make some bad decisions David was desperate in chapter 26 he told Saul I ain't trying to take you out but in chapter 27 he said you know what if he ever catches me it will be the end of me so he was so frightened that he decided to no longer trust God but decided he would take matters into his own hands and listen whenever you transfer your trust from God's hands to your hands you in trouble come on don't even look at me like that you know how our lives were when our lives were in our own hands must not be on am I the only one in here who can testify that when my life was in my own hands it was a mess but as soon as I transferred my life into the hands of God I'm saying I had no ups and downs I'm not saying I had no trouble but when every time I had a trouble I also had a troubleshooter no matter what I got in God was there Oh y'all don't hear me to get me out or to get me through or to keep me in the midst of it but David but David David was staggering and so David decided he's decided he said I'm gonna have to take matters into my own hands so David made this critical decision to step outside of the will of God watch what David does David decides that the safest place for him to be is to be in the land of the Philistines come on now any Bible reader here knows that the Philistines are the age-old enemy of the Israelites and yet David has become so desperate that he has deduced that the best place for him is to be in enemy territory fellowshipping with the enemy now God had been protected if God had been keeping him he'd had some ups and some downs but the enemy had never been able to get to him because you know when you're in the will of God no weapon hey formed against you shall be able to prosper and yet even though God had kept him through it all he has stepped outside of the will of God and you can tell when someone is walking by fear and not faith because they don't think straight because he had come to the conclusion that he would rather be Lord protected by his enemy than by God I'm not saying it right he decided he would get from the enemy what he used to get from God y'all said I said instead of letting God be his source he decided he let the enemy be his source instead of depending on God he decided he would depend on his enemies instead of letting God bless him he decided he would let his enemies bless him and listen whenever you let the enemy bless you instead of God you in trouble because whenever enemy blesses you that blessing always ends up turning into a curse and so now David has decided that he was going to hang out in enemy territory to get help sustenance security and safety with the enemy can I ask the question at this point in the preaching do you owe anything to the enemy I must not be asking right has the enemy done anything for you lately okay look back over the expense of your life are you where you are right now because of the enemy I don't know how you feel about it but I've come to the place of my life well I don't owe the enemy anything Oh God everything because Kay nobody do be like Jesus preach pastor wimps and all the enemy anything the enemy didn't wake me up this morning the enemy is not responsible for food on my table and clothes on my back and shoes on my feet the enemy didn't put money in my pocket the enemy didn't put joy in my heart peace solar sanity in my mind the enemy didn't come and die and get up and go up the enemy ain't coming back for me ah don't owe me anything I don't even trust the enemy David David decided he was gonna hang out with the enemy so that's what he does in fact he forms this friendship with a Koosh who's the Philistine King he's the he's the son of boy who's the king of dad where where Goliath was from Gulf where the life was from and so he's made this alliance with King a Kish he's decided the king a Kish is gonna be his protection he's gonna be his hook up he's gonna be his source in enemy territory now during that time he Garner's the support of about 600 men 600 men and their families and so now David is a transfer distrust from the Lord to the enemy he's formed this alliance with a caste she was the son of the king over a goth in enemy territory and now he's got these 600 men and their families that are rolling with him and so David is in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people doing the wrong thing now what makes matters even worse is while he's there he just says to Akers she says look man he says it doesn't it's not right for us to be in the Kings City with you so once you give us a place to be and so a Casilla I tell you where you can go you can go to Ziklag Ziklag used to be in the possession of Israelites but now it's in the possession of the enemy he said I'll let you and your men live in Ziklag and so David said thank you very much and so he and 600 men and their families started making their homes in sick leg in enemy territory now david has this also responsibility of not as the leader of making sure that all of the needs of his men and their family are taken care of he's got to figure out how to support these people who are gathered around him who in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people doing the wrong thing and so in order to do it David decides that he's gonna have to have a series of military raids two nations one of which somebody say one of which want to see if he was away one of which was the Amalekites the Amalekites said had been at war with them at one time and so he decided he may have this series of raids on these nations these villages now there was no animosity between him at the time but David was desperate and so David decided to do something that was not good or just or right in order to supply for these men if they had gotten so desperate that now they are doing things that they ordinarily wouldn't do but the reason why they're doing the wrong thing is because they're in the wrong place with the wrong people at the wrong time doing the wrong thing you know sometimes if you're not careful when you turn your back on God and end up outside of his will you end up doing the very stuff that you promised you and your mom and him that you would never do before in fact if you're not careful you will end up going back to the very things that the Lord has delivered you from and and don't look at me like that don't look at me like that don't don't be so sanctimonious don't be so holy because you know sometimes when when we're desperate we think we will be the exception to the rule if we go back we'll be able to manage it and I know why some of y'all acquired you ought to klappa you won't give yourself away because some of y'all come on our is sick like right now preach master win and so they had a series of raids a series of rage y'all got time for me to work this out stay with me because I'm going somewhere they had a series of rays and because they were doing something wrong they couldn't even let the people who they were depending on know what they were doing they couldn't the Philistines no because what they were doing wrong and in order to cover up what they were doing David would attack these places including the Amalekites and when he would attack these outpost he would kill men women and children because he did not want any witnesses around to be able to testify of the wrong he was doing now look at David he's put his own life in his own hands and now I'm not only his he resorting to deception but now he's resorting to brutality and murder all because even though he is anointed by God he's in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people doing the wrong thing and listen when you do that if you're not careful your life will begin a downward spiral out of control so he's out just destroying various outposts and then somebody from the Philistines asked him one day man what are you doing how you're faring he said oh we're doing all right we're doing just fine so again he had to lie about what he was doing all we're doing just fine we're doing but he couldn't tell him what he was doing because it was wrong it was it was it was wrong and so he's getting along real well you know David is is supplying for the six hundred men and their families they're getting away with murder but all of a sudden something happens that David does not anticipate I'm almost finished off the Bible says that they decide to go to war against the Israelites and now David is a part of the Philistines and so now because he's a part of the Philistines when they decide to go to war against the Israelites that means that David now is put himself in a position where he has to fight against God's people he got to fight against his own people oh I'll tell you whenever you step outside of the will of God it'll put you in some damn double and dangerous situation and David I believe when you read the text it sounds like David is saying okay let's go I really want to fight but you can't make me believe that David was anxious to fight his own people because you know sometimes when you're in the wrong place with wrong time doing the wrong thing with the wrong people you got to put on airs and act like you're one way when you're really not in order to stay protected so he said yeah let's go ahead we're on let's go I'll be with you 100% and so the Bible says that they get ready to go to war and start marching to war and the Bible says that David and his 600 men are in the back there pulling up the rear now let me show you how good god is sometimes when we're in our Foolish nests one of the things that David my god had going for him is he had a divine destiny God had a purpose for his life and he said David now I know you messing up but God is so good that God is trying to create a situation for him to give him another chance to get back in his will I wish I had some help in here now watch what God does he's getting ready to go face to face with his own people and I believe that the providential hand of God is orchestrating circumstances to give him a way out watch what happens the Bible says they're on their way to fight but some of the captain of the Philistines see David and his men pulling up the rear and they come to a courage and said what is he doing with us and Egger says oh that's David he's cool been hanging out with me he's all right and they said oh no ain't he the one they were singing that song about soul has killed his thousands and David his killed his 10,000 no he can't fight with us because if we get in battle we're afraid that he's gonna start having flashbacks and change sides and fight against us y'all are missing a good place to shop let me show you what's happening David is not saved because some Israelites see him and know who he Davis in the wrong place but the enemy says we don't mind you living with us but you can't fight with us cuz you ain't one of us y'all still a missing a good place to shout it's a good thing when the element knows who you belong to and I don't know who I'm talking to today but you running in some circles and you bout to be called out there's somebody gonna say now wait a minute what are you doing here now I know why we're here I know what we're doing what we do but don't you go to alpha Street that there's something about you you're a little bit different than we are and you ought to thank God that there's something about you come on that even the enemy knows that you don't belong among them oh my god and so they said he can't fight and so he just goes back to David said man I'm sorry he said but they don't beat you you're not one of us they don't trust you so David David had to leave and go back to Ziklag now I believe that David was released I believe that David was life thank you lord and what I love about God is even when you're wrong even when you're outside of his will even when you're thumbing your nose out of a shake and your fist at them even when you've turned my god your back on him God's grace is so amazing that when you turn your back on God God won't turn its back on you and when you act like you don't want God God says I don't care I still want you back I don't know why somebody I'll look at all sanctimonious in here today cuz you wouldn't even be in church if it hadn't been for God orchestrating the affairs of your life when you were in enemy territory to give you a chance to come back in his will that's why you ought to tear up the britches not every time you come to church because if it had hold me up Holy Ghost so so David is relieved some I see relief yeah he's relief he's he's taking a deep breath he said man that was a close call so he and his 600 men on the way back to sig life he said but did you want to fight no really I didn't want to fight I was hoping there's some way we could get out of it and thank the Lord so they're on their way back to sick leg but when they get back home the Bible says that they find their village burned to the ground nothing but smoldering piles of rubbish ashes everywhere and their their wives and their children have been kidnapped and guess who did it the Amalekites the very people they were running these raids against y'all are missing it you see what goes around comes around and wait it was David and his men The Anointed One who had happened to which is a reminder to us that just cuz you a child of God does not mean that the Bible doesn't apply to you I don't care how much fast and how much praying it is still true you reap y'all don't want to hear this what you sow and if you keep on doing what you're doing I say it as you are and refuse to repent listen to what the Bible says be sure your sin will find you out and I know why you can't say that cuz some of y'all got says lookin for you right now I'm almost finished text says they came back and they saw the village burned to the ground the enemy had come through and taken the families away had taken all of their goods away that burned what they had to the ground the Bible says when they saw it they were so devastated that all six hundred men began to weep like children in fact the Bible says they wept and they wept and they cried and they cried and they wept and they cried until they had no more strength or tears have you ever had a night like that have you ever been so broken so hurt so lacerated that you couldn't stop crying and you cried until tear ducts dried up crying until your body felt like a sponge that someone has squeezed all of the water out laying on the floor wish you could cry because you're still in pain but there's no more tears just the tracks of where the tears used to be six hundred grown men on the ground weeping but you know that was time to weep and wet cheeks on a man is not a badge of shame and I wished a minute here we'll hear what I got to say because you know my brothers and sisters we we men would live longer if we just learned how to cry come on y'all help me preach this thing these sisters live longer that's one of the reason why they live longer than us it's because they ain't got to walk around acting like they got it all together one of the things I respect about sisters is they're in pain you know what they gonna do they gonna call each other they go meet in a room they go snot they gonna cry they gonna hug each other they gonna encourage one another and when it's over with the problem is still out there but they're now prepared to do battle but we meant gotta act like everything is alright and so we got hair fall out high blood pressure and everything else listen you will live longer if just gonna cry if you sit next to her brother hug him and say go on cry if you ain't never cried because they told you real men don't cry then you ain't as good as Jesus is because the Bible says Jesus what and he's the best man that ever lived nobody was stronger than Jesus you better go on and let it out because if you don't let it out constructively it's gonna come out destructively if it don't come out you're gonna take it out on somebody you love Bobby says they cried and wept and wept and cried wait it gets worse because the text says once they lost all their tears and all the strength that their pain turned to bitterness the bitterness turned to anger and the Bible says that they decided that they would start playing the blame game that's what happens when you don't properly process the pain Bob says they all looked at David and they said it's your fault we're in this mess right now and you know this blame game is a game as old as humankind it's been in the DNA from very beginning don't read your Bible y'all remember when God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree Adam and Eve ate from the tree and God showed up and they were hind he said why you're hiding they said we're naked he said who told you you were naked did you eat from that tree he looked at Adam and said did you eat and Adam didn't say yes Lord I did I take full responsibility no he said it was that woman you gave me God looked at the woman she didn't say I'm gonna be better than him I'm gonna take full response he big eyed me God looked at the serpent he had nobody to blame because we always have a tendency in the midst of pain if we're not careful to play the blame game they acted like they didn't have any choice that they did what they did cuz David made them but we gotta learn how to at least take responsibility for the part we are responsible for am i right about it so here they are they blaming Devi and they become so angry that they've decided the Stonem so they're picking up stones to break his bones somebody say crisis yeah it's a crisis but can I tell you something about crises crises not only can develop a person but a crisis has a way of disclosing what kind of person you really are ain't nothing like a crisis to show you what you're really made of come on when life puts the squeeze on you whatever is really in you it's coming out of you you can't squeeze in orange and get apple juice whatever is in that bad boy it's coming out and it's easy to talk tough when you ain't under no pressure it's easy to judge other people who follow when you ain't never been through nothing but you let a little pressure come you let the bottom fall out you let a crisis come in your life it'll show you who you really are Bible says those are the hands poised with which to break Dave his bones and look how bad it is for David because David lost his house too lost his wives too lost his family too David was crying too was in pain too was hurting too and now the people who were hurting with him have now turned on him what do you do when it looks like all hope is gone when all is lost David right now here and find out something about David because David could have done like they didn't turn the finger back on him and say it my fault y'all to blame as well or David could have run David could have waved the white flag of surrender David could have put of spiritual finger in his mouth that had a little Perpetual personal pity party but I like David the Bible says when the chips were down when he had no friends no family had nobody on his side the Bible says and David encouraged himself oh that was good in the Lord y'all a missus yourself did anybody feel it like I just felt it when I said it he said look he's got a bunch of people with stones in their hands not a bunch six hundred if there's ever time to despair it's then but the Bible says instead of despairing he chose to encourage himself you're not giving it say you won't help you won't encourage me you won't support me so I'll have to encourage myself in the law now I guess about his mental mechanisms clicking right now you say well what does that mean that's a good question when the Bible says he encouraged himself in the Lord the Bible says he encouraged himself for the Lord but the Bible doesn't tell us what that means so how do you encourage yourself in the Lord don't you think that's a good question because if you live long enough a crisis that gon come knocking at your door and the devil is gonna try to use it to make you give up hope on God and hope on your divinely designed destiny so watch I believe that when it says he encouraged himself in the Lord David just acted like David the first thing I think David did or at least one of the things David did in order to encourage himself in the Lord is David remembered look at your neighbor and say remember David I bet you David had said to himself this ain't the first time that my back has been against the wall this ain't the first time when I've been in a cul-de-sac of circumstances with no human way of escape this ain't the first crisis I've ever had this ain't the first challenge I've had to face and I know how I got through that one and that one and that one and that one and that one the reason why I got through the previous crises is God brought me through and the kind of God I serve is even when you're not loyal to him God is loyal to you when you're not faithful to him God is faithful to you and if he did it before he can do it again look at your neighbor's television over till God says it's over ya long is you got breath in your body and there's a God on the throne there's always hope [Applause] y'all the way to come I feel like running around the parking lot look at your neighbors say remember you all upset all frustrated all flustered acting like God and God and God ain't good and God ain't eating come on you come to church save go back home wringing your hands and pacing the floor like this the first time you've been in trouble do you honestly think that God brought you through all he brought you through just to leave you you think he healed you of cancer to leave you you think he got you through that divorce to leave you you think he got you through that bankruptcy to lead you God did bring you this far he's got too much invested in you look at your neighbors say he can do it again cuz I got to hurry up I don't kept you too long so I believe he remembered somebody say remember I think there's something else that he did is well I might have mentioned it before but it's worth repeating I think one thing that he probably did that we all ought to do is I believe he encouraged himself in the Lord by engaging in constructive self conversation in other words I believe he knew how to talk to himself y'all give this in a minute because see sometimes people ain't talking right but you can't quit cuz folk don't know how to talk to you when folk don't know how to talk to you you gotta know how to talk to yourself like the psalmist said why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God here talking to nobody but himself what shall I render unto the Lord for all of his benefits towards me he's talking to himself bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His Holy Name bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all of his benefits but he's talking to himself y'all ain't got it yet y'all remember the woman if I could just she was talking to herself doctor said stop hoping the Baker said stop spinning frist and stop trying she said y'all have done y'all talking now it's time for me to talk to myself and it just seems to me that if I could just touch the hem of His garment you better learn how to talk to yourself when the crisis comes you got to learn how to talk powerful purifying possibility worse to yourself because sometimes the only words you can depend on are your own words going in practice tell yourself I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me tell your separators heaters in me than he that's in the world tell yourself no weapon formed against me shall tell yourself the Lord is my shepherd I spoke to yourself [Applause] Myra says Bible says that David talked to himself and I believe he encouraged himself because he remembered how God had brought him out before I believe he had encouraged himself because he knew how to talk to himself and so after he had finished talking to himself in the midst of all of the turmoil bitterness pain and potential hurts Bibles suggests that now he thinks his time to talk to God though he said I gotta talk to God about what to do now because you see so far he's been in enemy territory and hadn't been consulting God like he used to but now ain't nothing like a crisis to grab you by the lapels of your life and shake you back to your spiritual senses he said no Lord I know we ain't talked in a long time but Lord I've run up against something that I don't have sufficient power to deal with and so Lord if you're not busy can I talk to you because you see my village is burned to the ground and the enemy has taken my wife's and my children and all my girls it's Oh Lord I need to check with you can I go after my stuff and God said go get your stuff he said when I win the battle he gossiped yeah you gonna win the battle and so the Bible says that Davis attitude became contagious because the fellows had had stones in their hands to break his bone but David turned around and said you know last night I talked with the Lord and Lord told me that we can get our stuff back and because his attitude changed his attitude altered the atmosphere and when the atmosphere was changed everybody else's attitude was changed as well and what I'm trying to tell every leader in here that you ought not be a Thermal thermometer but you ought to be a thermostat don't let the people you leave set the temperature but you need to end you need to influence the atmosphere by your powerful positive and purifying language the Bible said David said come on y'all I believe God said we can get our stuff back and so the Bible says all 601 of them started writing looking for the enemy looking for the Amalekites and the Bible said they found the Amalekites camped out somewhere and when they peep the Amalekites they saw that their wives and children and goods were still in order and David must have said now God you told me we can get our stuff back so God we're getting ready to go down in the valley and fight for what belongs to us God must have told him going down there and get your stuff back because if I said you can have it you can have it in fact it's already awesome all you got to do is fight for it the fight is already fixed I've determined you gonna win in the air and the Bible said they went down and kept on fighting til they got all this stuff back got the wives back got the children back up got their dignity back ship worth and self-respect I'm about to take my seat but can I tell somebody in here today that you need to stop crying stop feeling sorry for yourself ask the Lord if you can have it back you can have it back you can have it back [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] when all seems when all seems lost is not lost it's not over don't put a period where God puts the cup you'll stop it commas you just pause and then move on when you leave here tonight please remember that it's not too late it's not all over and if you lost something that God won't give back to you you don't need it in [Music] you

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

Views: 32,914

Rating: 4.7245507 out of 5

Keywords: Alfred Street Baptist Church, 2018, When All Seems Lost, Rev. Dr. F. Bruce Williams, March Gladness, 1 Samuel 30:1-6

Id: rYRhvp6ETH8

Length: 72min 50sec (4370 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 30 2018