When Opportunity Seems to Strike! - 1 Samuel 24

[Music] kingdoms [Music] is [Music] much [Music] is [Music] streaming through history life to me oh jesus oh jesus [Music] welcome to you all today and we pray the weather may stay as it is now i will read from romans 5 about the love of jesus romans 5 starting by first one this is the gospel proclaimed in this letter therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace in which we now stand and we boast in the hope of the glory of god but not only so we also boast in the glory in suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope and hope does not put us to shame because god's love has been poured out into our hearts through the holy spirit who has been giving to us you see a just the right time when we still were powerless christ died for the ungodly very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person so for a good person someone might possibly dare to die but god demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners christ died for us father what a magnificent message of glory you have for us a message of hope a message of mercy and grace thank you so much father for these powerful words for the reality of it for the fact that we are newborn children we thank you so much for your presence this morning father we we pray to you father to to guide us in this service to be with us to open our hearts to open our minds to receive from you all the good things you have in store for us this morning to speak to us father and we thank you so much that you know us all by name we are your children and you love us glory to your name in jesus name amen continue to russia let's stand church and praise the lord [Music] when i stand before no more tears or broken it was meant to be [Music] we will [Music] hallelujah i will see you as you are [Music] god and we were [Music] you an endless hallelujah [Music] no more tears [Music] no more fears more pain we will see you face to face see you face to face [Music] we will see [Music] hallelujah [Music] we will see [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah eating [Music] leading [Music] need [Music] oh how bright the path [Music] safe and secure from all [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen that was a resounding i mean wasn't it are we glad to be with one another today wonderful and we are at this uh special time where we give thanks for yet another baby born to us i think there were about 11 babies born during lockdown and certainly eleanor marian is one of them and it's a joy to have sven olaf where are you there you are just just stand up saying olaf was part of our church for many years with the stina it's very difficult for stina to travel but i'm glad that this is recorded and she'll be able to see this in finland it's great to have some of the grandparents here now i've mentioned before that every time you see a baby you need to realize that this is an unrepeatable act of god there's not going to be another elenora marian and she has such a beautiful name you've given her such beautiful names elenora in hebrew means god is my light mariana it's a two names together means beloved and grace so it's very easy for us as her spiritual family to be praying for we pray that by god's grace this beloved child known to god will become a beacon of light now i've never met a parent who's not overlord at the responsibility that you're given and you talk to any of the parents and grandparents in our church and they will tell you that time passes very quickly and before you know it this little child that's dependent upon you has to be released into the world so i have a promise for you psalm 127 verse 1 unless the lord builds the house those who build it are going to labor in vain because building a house building a family it's a messy business you've got to prepare be prepared to get your hands dirty and i'm not just talking about the nappies god is god is working with us he's working in our families he's building memories he's building character for the future and you can you know i just think about the fact that a few years ago god brought each of you to himself you're born again by the spirit you have the greatest gift jesus and then he gave you to one another how many years have you been married no nine years ago he gave you to one another as a gift and now he's given you an additional gift and he's saying to you that along with all the gifts i've given to you i've given you all the resources that you need to build your family i've given you my spirit i've given you my word i've given you a church community so now your chance to speak i don't know who's going to speak but i'm going to ask you why is it important for you to give thanks publicly for illinois today before us well it's it's too big well two things really one it we think that it's just as important as it is to have a wedding and to have a baptism it's just as important to have a child blessing thanksgiving and then and then also um it is also important that well in a way to know that god is saying blessing your child and the the the child will know god so yeah we were we were so blessed to to have her so i we think that it's important to give thanks to lord fantastic do you think do you think elenora will come to me i think or would she only come to grand park because she's got just gotten to know grandpa so um the moment i feel that she wants to be with mom or dad i hand her over so i've just got some questions to ask and then i will ask one question of those who are members of our church family don't feel you have to stand if you're not a member of the church family but i will ask the question at the end because we want to take our responsibility seriously uriah manuela do you gratefully acknowledge that illinois is god's creation known to him known even before she was born and god's gift to you we do i mean do you promise to provide through god's blessings for the physical emotional intellectual and spiritual needs of eleanor looking to god for the wisdom to serve him in this way god helping us great do you promise to seek every means of grace all those resources that we spoke about a moment ago do you promise to seek those means of grace to lead elinora to a saving knowledge of jesus so she may follow him as savior and lord and glorify him in all of life god helping us give it back to you now great she's quite happy with everybody he's one of the quietest babies i know okay a nice question to our church family will you the members of the ibc family seek god's help to pray and care for uri and manuela in their parenting as we worship and serve the lord together in brussels if you can say big amen to that i'd like you to stand please stand while i pray lord i i don't think we can ever get over miracles in your world this is your world and every time we see a baby it's just amazing to know that that baby has her specific dna there's not going to be another eleanora with all of the mix of gifts and talents that you're going to give to her you knew it in eternity that you would entrust this child to these parents this is not by fate this is not by chance you know all that illinois needs far more than any of us do and even far more than iran and manuela do i pray for them as parents you have prepared them for just this chapter i thank you for the influences that have shaped their characters i thank you so much that sven olaf could be here today i pray for stina i thank you too for your eyes mom and family and i thank you that they are who they are because of your grace through the lives of others i pray for this beautiful young girl that you've entrusted not just to them but to us as a church family oh lord oh lord you know the chapters that lie ahead of her of joy and sorrow but thank you for what her name represents thank you that we can pray that she will be a true beacon of light she is your beloved child we pray that you will fill it with your grace so that you may come to know and love jesus from an early age and go on to be a blessing to many others and we'll give you the glory in jesus name amen amen god bless you god bless you great so now uh boys and girls uh i met yesterday i think i met on the walk caleb and luke are caleb and lukia we have a special seat for you up in the front all the boys and girls as auntie didi speaks where's caleb and luke and mom can bring them up too that's okay but we want those rows filled we're not continuing until some children come and sit on those benches yeah you come with dad too that's fantastic janice and chanel yeah right good it's not not working speak again just just say test testing testing okay that's good good morning good this is great this is much better than you sitting way at the back don't you think so we have two bible verses for this morning and i thought they'd be printed in the program but obviously there was so much text to be put into the program that couldn't fit these two verses i would like for us all to try to say because i think a lot of people children too have learned them by heart i know one person who knows them okay and it's proverbs 3 5 and 6. trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight now you're supposed to say it with me proverbs 3 5 and 6. proverbs 3 5 and 6 trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight very good and you know these words tell us a lot about what it means to follow jesus but to make these words clearer i brought along something today does anybody know what this is do you know what it is what is it it's a harness for your dog exactly you strap this onto your dog before you take a walk so the legs go through here and then there's some little loops here that you put the leash you connect it with the lease right there's a little clip here and then this stretches out okay so with the harness it's supposed to be pretty easy to control the dog when you walk it but if you have a dog like ours it's kind of a different story sometimes it works and sometimes times it doesn't so our dog's name is cece this is cece sometimes cece is really happy to take a walk especially on sunday afternoon we like to drive to a park usually and she loves it as much as we do we love going to the park but when we're just walking in the neighborhood it can be very different when she walks she stops and she sniffs around and she stops and she starts she's constantly distracted she wants to sniff everything in her pathway bushes grass flowers trees sometimes she just sits down and she digs her healing and she won't budge well the lord jesus often uses simple things like this to teach us important things and in this case with cece he repeats them every day you know i've just realized that our little dog um has a harness around her and a leash but i realized there's one on me too a harness harness and a leash from the lord and you know what every single person who's come to love jesus has a harness on them and a leash because he wants to protect you but he wants to bless you as well we can't see our harness and our leash they're invisible but we know they're there because if you've ever been close to being in a really bad accident but you weren't even touched you know that god has a harness on you probably on the other people as well maybe you were on a bike and you came really close to either falling over or bumping into somebody or what and it didn't happen and you know i am not alone my guardian angel is with me so the holy spirit helps us every day to go the way he wants to do the things he wants to do protecting and keeping us following in jesus's tracks and that's what we want to do is keep on track with jesus the best way to do that is when you wake up in the morning you say good morning lord jesus please come into this day and to everything that i do let me walk on track with you today now there's three things three main things that i've learned just by walking the dock and as i said before it's repeated every single day so i think the lord knows that i need to really learn it it's really not hard to love a little dog especially when she smiles even people on the street want to pet her because she's smiling at them but you know our heavenly father loves us so much more than we could ever love a little dog and how did he show that to us he showed that to us when the lord jesus came to this earth and finally died on the cross taking our place to take all of our sin upon him and then he arose and in great power he ascended to heaven so he showed us by giving his whole life for us just how much he loves us and if i believe that then i can believe that then i can really trust him if i know that i'm loved like that and i just wondered have you ever prayed and asked jesus to come into your life if you haven't it would be wonderful if you could do that he wants to walk with you every day no matter where you go and he wants you to stay close to him he wants you to trust him and you know no matter how old you are when you come to know jesus even an adult it doesn't mean that we can do anything or say anything we want when we're a christian we want to do what he wants us to do to bring him glory that means really trusting him and i wonder if somebody can help me and tell me how do we stay close to jesus what are ways that we can stay close to jesus anybody no you don't know come on favor okay you don't want to talk all right um well if we come to church that's one way we can come close to him if we allow mom or dad to read the bible and listen to that or if we have our own bible that's a way of coming close and then there's one more thing and it's what does this mean pray exactly if we talk to him that makes him so happy that's so important okay and then there's one last thing and that is it's good to come to vacation bible school martina i thought through and i'd throw that in too because we can meet we not only get some wonderful lessons and fun things to do but we make good christian friends there as well so the second thing we need to do is submit and submit means obey and i don't know about you but obey doesn't sound like a real friendly word to me at first it sounds unfriendly but then we have to remember that if god is the one designing his commands there's always love behind them he wants the best for us no matter what so if he asks us to obey him that means it's going to be something good for us okay now cece has a little problem in this department she can be pretty lazy at times um sometimes she's strapped into our harness and we begin to walk and like i said she really doesn't want to go she becomes like a stubborn donkey we have to pull her until she gets in her legs into motion and then she's just doing fine are you stubborn sometimes i am i know because i want to do things my way right but if we do things god's way we will make him really happy and so the first thing was trust him the second thing was obey and the third thing is we want to become holy like jesus now it may sound kind of strange we don't want to grow wings we can't do that we don't need to have a halo we can't do it anyway we just want to be sure that we keep going back and back to jesus to ask him to forgive us for the things we do wrong and we need to choose to do right we need to stay away from bad and dirty and evil things like hating somebody or not forgiving somebody we have to stop saying bad words and watching bad television programs or the videos we see it's really a choice to be pure and holy we want to live for him then he can also really use us as messengers and boys and girls are the best missionaries to tell other people about jesus so just in closing there's a verse in psalm 23 that says he leads me on paths of righteousness for his name's sake let's let our wonderful god lead us we need to trust him obey him and choose to be pure and holy will you pray with me now i want to say a little prayer thank you lord god for loving us so much thank you for each one of the children here today and for the love that you have for them thank you that we can come to know you the true and living god we ask you to help us by the power of the holy spirit to trust you to obey you to choose to want to be pure and holy help us to stay on track with you in jesus name amen can we pray together as diddy has taught us now father i'm so impressed that we are able to pray to you that we may come to you that we may come before your throne of grace and mercy you the o mighty god the one who created the heavens and the earth who reigns above all things and yet so near and yet so close father it's such a privilege to know you it's such a privilege to be called your children such a privileged father to to come before you with everything that is on our hearts to bring it before you and we know father that you listen we know that in a marvelous way you hear prayers and you fulfill prayers your way not our way on your time not our time but all you do is perfect all you do is good all that you do father is out of your love for your children so father if as we come before your throne it's it's not a habit it's a privilege and we thank you so much that we can bring people and situations before your father and we all have names of people we want to pray for and i thank you as we have a congregational prayer together father that each of us has in mind people to whom to apply the prayers and the marvelous thing is that you hear our inner voices that you know where our hearts go out for so father as we come as a congregation before you we thank you father for all the prayers you will answer and father as we start to pray we first want to pray for our country and for our nation father for this continent this week we remembered that there is 76 years of peace in this part of the world we live in peace and we live in abundance most of us live in abundance father it's not a we don't take these things for granted and we pray for those who are not in this situation father we pray for persecuted churches for persecuted people for people who are not in abundance we bring them before your throne father you know them we pray for them we not only pray for them urge us father guide us to to help them to reach out to them for them to be there for them father touch our hearts and lead us on the way that you want to have us to show the mercy of christ we thank you so much father that we can pray for the countries and the nations who are in deep trouble for south africa for south america for many countries there are in deep trouble we pray for them that however situations are people are reminded of you father we thank you for our missionaries all over the world preaching your gospel we ask your father to be with them to give them the right words to guide them to the people father that are predistant to receive your message of glory we pray for the persecuted churches father for the unbelieving ones we know father we bring them before your throne we all have names of beloved ones who don't know you yet we bring them before your throne father and we ask you to help us to reach out to them to give us the right words at the right time but to open their hearts father to open their hearts and their minds for you we pray for our youth for protection for our youth we pray for those who are looking for a partner for life father making plans for their future we bring them before your throne that you will help them that you will guide them that you will bring the right person on the right time to them we pray for the elderly people among us father that you strengthen them that they may have joy in their lives father that the that we may be there for them we pray for the sick we leave them lift them up to your father that your blessing hands may be on them and also father that they may enjoy your presence in their lives but to be prayful for healing as well father you are able for all things you are a god of miracles we pray for those who travel be with them father guide them protect them give them a joyful time father a time of release a time of rest and those after in times of transition many are in new seasons in their lives youth or people who have to go to another country father you know them all be with them we thank you so much father for those who have important decisions to make that's your wisdom may guide them that they may understand father your purpose for their lives we ask this for all of us that we may know your purposes for our lives that our eyes may be opened for the things you want us to do so marvelous father to to realize time by time by time that you are so present in our lives like diddy just told the children we pray for these children we pray for the children that we meet father we pray for the children growing up in our midst that we made educate them father the way you want us to educate them i pray for all the parents here who have this responsibility in the lives of their children and their youths your young ones father be with them give them wisdom and yeah be with them and then father we pray for vbs that's coming up soon and we pray for workers we pray for the whole team we pray for the event itself father for subscriptions for everybody to participate in this we pray for france and erica manches in south africa and we pray for your protection against kofit we pray for the wedding of andreas and daniela we pray for hajj and kareem father and for many others i will thank you time by time father that you are with us we pray and we thank you father for your presence in the in our lives i pray for pastor roland as well father as he brings his word will you guide him but also for us father i pray that we may be receptive for the message and not only father to hear it but to apply it in our lives in jesus name we ask amen can you hear me at the back oh there we go i know what i feel like when i'm sitting for a long time so please just stand up stretch your legs maybe say hi to someone whose eyes you don't recognize above the mask but just just to stretch just a little while before we look together at god's word oh well that's that's wonderful perhaps we can take our seats and uh remember there's plenty of opportunity you don't have to rush away after the service plenty of space and you can engage with others whom you haven't seen for a long time for those who have not uh been with us before we've begun a series which i've called studies in an imperfect heart for god and i'm speaking of course of david the bible there's so much to say a great deal to say about david we're following him through the ups and downs of life and at this stage he's in a downer he's going through 10 years in the wilderness and i guess like most of us we'd rather skip those wilderness days but actually they're very important days when god is molding us for greater things in the future and we come today to the first of three events that they kind of hang together but they're in different chapters we're going to look at chapter 24 which is called the robe episode chapter 25. uh abigail a wise woman and a foolish husband nabel we're going to look at the feast episode chapter 26 in a few weeks time the spear episode and what they all have in common is uh the great need that david has for wisdom to discern what god's plan is so i'm going to read one samuel 24 1 samuel 24 i'm reading from the new international version try and imagine yourself where david is at this point in time and what decisions you would be making 1 samuel 24 after saul returned from pursuing the philistines he was told that david is in the desert of engetti so saul took three thousand able young men from all israel and he set out to look for david and his men near the crags of the wild goats he came to the sheep hens along the way a cave was there and saul went in to relieve himself actually the hebrew says he has he had his pants down his cloak down on his feet david and his men were filed back in the cave and the men said this is the day the lord spoke of when he said to you i will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish then david uh crept up a notice and cut off a corner of saul's row afterward david was conscience stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe he said to his men the lord forbid that i should do such a thing to my master the lord's anointed or lay my hand on him for he is the anointed of the lord and with these words david sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack saul and saul left the cave and went his way and then david went out of the cave and called out to saul my lord the king and when saul looked behind him david bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground he said to saul why do you listen when men say david is bent on harming you this day you've seen with your own eyes how the lord delivered you into my hands in the cave some urged me to kill you but i spared you i said i will not lay my hand on my lord because he is the lord's anointed see my father look at this piece of your robe in my hand i cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you see that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that i'm guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion i've not wronged you but you are hunting me down to take my life may the lord judge between you and me and may the lord avenge the wrongs you've done to me but my hand will not touch you as the old saying goes from evil doers come evil deeds so my hand will not touch you against terms the king has the king of israel come out who are you pursuing a dead dog a flea may the lord be our judge and decide between us may he consider my cause and uphold it may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand and when david finished saying the saul asked is that your voice david my son and he wept aloud you're more righteous than i he said you've treated me well but i've treated you badly you have just not told me about the good you did to me the lord delivered me into your hands but you did not kill me when a man finds his enemy does he let him get away unharmed may the lord reward you well for the way you treated me today i know that you'll surely be king and that the kingdom of israel will be established in your hands now swear to me by the lord that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family so david gave his oath to saul and then saul returned home but david and his men went up to the stronghold i thank you lord we heard today about a harness i thank you for the harness that you put on david in both the ups and downs of his life to get him exactly to the point of trust and obedience and rest in you as you worked in him so you work with us speak to us lord unless you work our hearts cannot be changed teach us your ways we pray in jesus name amen you know there are times in life when it's very hard to know how to take something i think of the story about the norwegian fisherman and his son they went out fishing and the boat was enveloped by fog and they were really wondering how on earth are we going to get home well back home wife is doing a little bit of cooking and there's an accident in the kitchen and the house erupts into flames and the wife is frantic she tries to put out the flames but she cannot she's devastated and eventually her husband and son come home she looks at them and she says we've lost everything and the house has burned and everything is gone there's just silence from the males didn't you hear what i said she said everything is in ashes and then the fishermen responded a few hours ago we were lost at sea then we saw this gleaming in the foggy sky and we'd given up hope and we decided to row towards the light so our house is no more but the flames that burned the hearts have saved our lives sometimes it's very hard to tell what you're facing in life and that's certainly what you see with david in chapter 24 david's got a discern like you and me in this week we've got to make decisions choices during these covert times we've had to make many choices which we don't want to be rash choices but need to be fully informed by the will of god what do you do when opportunity seems to strike this seems so real this seems it's got to be of god but what when it's actually temptation so the two responses that i think will help us guide our choices in life firstly when opportunity seems to strike be prudent and see past the shortcut now here are david and his men and uh they certainly don't want to be found they're in the desert of engetti and some of you have traveled to israel and getty is 70 kilometers southwest of jerusalem on the western shore of the dead sea and it's a place where they're both springs and there are these great caverns they're caves and they're not just holes in the ground you could get lost in them and saul though king is as human as the rest of us so he finds a cave to do what you've just got to do now one thing i've learned about europe when we came here eight years ago is that before you visit a city you better find out where the restrooms are and sometimes you better make sure you've got to take coins with you that's exactly where we find ourselves but in seoul's day saw goes anywhere and he's gone into any cave right to relieve himself the hebrew says he covers his feet it's a gentle way of saying he's performing the office of nature or to interpret it he's going to the toilet we're not told if they had any air spray we're told something more important of all the caves that he might be in he is in the very one where david and his men have sought refuge at the back coincidence or god incident you know we used to sing a chorus in the 1980s some of you may remember it this is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and david's men are saying man this is the day let's rejoice let's be glad now's your chance don't you see what the lord has done for you what part of it don't you get david saw's in the cave his sword is on the ground now's the time kill him and your troubles are over seems so right sometimes in life things seem so right and david does something rather strange he cuts off a little piece of the cloak it's a kind of symbolic action to show later that saul can trust him and immediately he does that his conscience strikes him don't ignore your conscience it is a gift of god and it speaks of the righteousness of god his conscience strikes him and he says to his men the lord forbid that i should do this to my master verse six the lord's anointed or lay my hand on him for he is the anointed of the lord now i need to explain that a little bit we live in a democracy so we choose our leaders in those days there was one leader who was the king and the king was appointed by god and was known as the lord's anointed david understood that he knows that he's not yet the king he believes that one day he will be but at this stage he's going to respect the king because he realizes that if he seeks to harm him he's actually working against god who has appointed him that isn't the reaction that his men want sometimes we shouldn't listen to the crowd especially when we're in leadership and we have to make decisions sometimes it's a decision that we have to make which is between us and between the lord and i'm grateful that david has this wisdom in fact we're told in verse 7 that david gets very rough with them literally in the niv we're told he sharp he rebuked them but those that means he literally tore them apart with his words he was he used almost threatening language to cool their blood has david gone mad you're getting rough with us when anybody can see that soul has been given into your hands and that's just the issue and brothers and sisters is the issue which we face in life more times than we realize is this providence is this the opportunity or is it temptation david are you meant to seize the moment or wait for the future and if you think that it wasn't a struggle for david you would be wrong we've all known those kind of situations there was a comedian some years ago called emo phillips and he was very realistic about that kind of temptation he speaks of finding a wallet which has in it 150 euros and boy he's wanting to sing out this is the day that the lord has made what will he do so he says let me be guided but by what i would want if somebody find finds my wallet i'll take it to the police so they can find the owner but then on the way there he stops and he thinks would i really want to be treated that way no he says i would want to be taught a lesson and so he keeps the money we we have a way brothers and sisters we have a way of justifying the easier thing you see as the right thing and this isn't just for the old testament can you think of somebody years later who faced the same dilemma it's the one that jesus faces david's greatest son god son matthew chapter 4 he's been baptized he's feeling on top of the world if you like and he's immediately led into the wilderness for 40 days and satan really takes him on top of the world to a high mountain and he says in matthew 4 verse 9 all this i will give you if you will bow down and worship me it seems a no-brainer and the tricky thing is that there was some truth in what satan was saying because psalm 2 if you read psalm 2 god says to his messiah he says to his son ask me and i will make the nations your inheritance the ends of the earth your possession that's what satan is offering he's offering what really belongs to jesus but jesus is clear that the inheritance and the way you get there is linked together and you and i would not be here today we would not be saved by the grace of god if jesus chose the easier way he chose the way of suffering and temptation praise god that he did i think we need to admit that it's very easy to love shortcuts and to anchor for them and i just think of the path of of holiness holiness becoming like the lord jesus christ is a long hard walk in one direction if you watch any of the olympics in any of the marathons that's really what holiness is one writer says that apart from grace driven effort people don't naturally gravitate towards godliness or prayer or obedience to scripture rather we drift towards compromise because that's easier and then we call it tolerance or we drift towards disobedience and then we call it freedom or we drift towards superstition and we call it faith and he warns us and you know in my own life i've experienced this in in different ways i remember when i was a young man somebody taking me aside and said [Music] you know you you need a second experience you need you need a baptism of the spirit so that you can you can become more holy or somebody comes and says there's a decisive moment that you you need when you surrender all or you you need that technique of prayer and when you pray that way then you're going to be holy please don't go down that road as a church let's be men and women of the word of god infused by the spirit looking not for the shortcuts being prepared to run the race i wonder if when the writer of hebrews wrote hebrews he was thinking of david as one of those witnesses when he says we are surrounded by witnesses and think of the life of david so let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us running the race well includes avoiding any shortcut that may hinder you rather than sanctify you but i think we can be even more specific i came across an article the other day which was entitled what if satan told the truth when he tempted us i'm struck by how many marriages i hear of are breaking up after sometimes even 20. or 25 years and satan would come perhaps say if you meet somebody and he would say why not be unfaithful to your spouse and maybe that that person who's taking an interest in you maybe this is a kind of a god-given opportunity and i've met people sadly call themselves christians who reason like that if satan told you the truth he would speak about one benefit a few moments of pleasure if he told you the truth he would speak about the costs of unfaithfulness eroding your communion with god humiliating the partner with whom you exchange vials messing up the lives of your children or your grandchildren and let's not forget the dishonor being brought on the church in these days let's not only be praying for our marriages and our children's marriages but for marriages in the church and for single people to find godly spouses and to reason according to a biblical worldview and not to find shortcuts i'm glad for the lessons i'm learning from david's life when opportunity seems to strike be prudent see past the shortcut but then be patient be patient a lot of the christian life is like this and wait for the long solution you can imagine how saul feels as he exits the cake he doesn't even know that part of his robe is gone he's got zero idea of what's happening in the cave behind him and even if he did how deeply would it touch him we read at the end of the chapter didn't we that soul was pretty impressed well i tell you if i was a centimeter away from death and got away with it my life was spared i'd be impressed too but i think he's an example that impressions are not always conscience working they're not always the same as convictions i think saul would have gotten pretty well with judas who was also impressed with jesus but never really knew a work of grace in his life we want to know the conviction of jesus but i'm more interested in how david views this and it's very important his response response number one two responses but his response first response is he's he is very important he's content to wait and respect a failed leader look at verse 11 some men urge me to kill you but i spared you i said he is the lord's anointed see there's nothing in my hand to indicate that i'm guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion i can't say for sure but you know as i read this and then as i read one peter i wondered if peter the apostle peter who lived under emperor nero i wonder if peter was thinking at least in part of david when he said in one peter 2 verse 17 show proper respect to everyone love the family of believers and then as if he connects the two and this is important for us in the day in which we're living fear god and honor the emperor you are showing your devotion to god when you respect of the second it's a kind of hot potato today in the world in which we're living the decisions that leaders have to make i mean if you didn't know peter you'd think he'd be he was crazy nero was responsible for the deaths of many christians peter himself would die a terrible death and you need to be clear brothers and sisters that we don't respect the authorities because they are right sometimes they are not or because we always agree with their policies often we won't agree we respect them we obey the law where it doesn't contradict god's law because it is god who has put them where he is and the alternative to authority even if it's bad authority is chaos and unrestrained evil and i wouldn't want to live in a country like that it's very applicable i think today as we have to make decisions i don't have to tell you that there are good number of christians who while they differ on many other points they sort of seem to be united on their opposition to vaccinations or whatever you like some even are saying you know this is the mark of the beast now we can have different convictions it's a matter of your conscience whether you want to take the vaccination or not but it seems to me that satan is distracting the church from jesus christ and the gospel and sharing the good news i confess that i myself have felt very uneasy when it comes to restrictions but when i do i try and think of the christians in north korea i think of the 60 000 believers who are in camps right now in north korea because they love the lord jesus christ they cannot sing and i i think of eric foley of voice of the martyrs in korea who said i have never encountered a north korean christian who has prayed for the regime to be overthrown not once in 15 years underground christians are praying that kim jong-un will come to know jesus christ oh lord make us a church who know what it is to pray more for our leaders than we criticize them that god may grant them the wisdom that they need so he's content to wait lord work that in us as a church and then we'll end with this he's committed to trust and leave vengeance to the lord and that's not easy and you see that in verses 14 and 15. as david bows before saul he says to him why such effort in pursuing me you might as well go after the flee since i mean you no harm may the lord be our judge may he decide between us may he consider my cause and uphold it may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand david doesn't know many things just as we don't know many things about what god is doing in our lives because he's the creator and we're the creature but what he does know is that i i have a god who is both merciful and just this i know i don't need to become a vigilante i don't need to avoid one evil by committing another lord you vindicate your truth and i will trust in you i think that helps us to see why david wasn't into quick fix solutions so often we're tempted to be yes if you'd ask david he would have said to you i hate living in the wilderness i'd much rather be home and be with my wife and family but i have god and i've got his promise and i place the mat in his hands and if there's going to be vengeance it's going to be from god it's got to be his timing and not mine he is my avenger and before you say to me you know that sounds pretty weak for a would be king go home and read psalm 139 and there you know we we love that verse and i think of this you know the baby thanksgiving today we love that verse where david says you knit me together in my mother's womb and your thoughts are precious to me and in the very same breath he says in verse 19 if only you not me if only you would slay the wicked i hate those who hate you david can say both things with no shame we don't like the second part we say david be a little bit more tolerant but don't tell somebody to commit their cause to god and then slap their hands when they say something about the enemies of god and it speaks to us because i think you some of you may be in a situation in life where you maybe in these last weeks or months have been tempted to hit back the boss that you kind of trusted maybe for many years you now feel man i he put a knife in my back or the family member that you you really loved has in some way betrayed you and you have reasons that you can justify for lashing out i don't want to be a doormat why should they get away with that we want to control the situation but you know i come to david and i see that if the essence of ungodliness is to take things in my own hands what is the essence of faith it's not to say i believe god is just and then try and fix it it's to say i really believe god you've got this and if there's going to be vengeance i trust in you alone the year is 1964 and in the book by their blood the author tells of a conflict that was going on in the form of belgian congo a group of rebels called the simbas were in control and they came into churches to disrupt the services and they came into one aim church and they basically took over for the first part and they got up and they extolled their leaders and the people listened sort of grim-faced and then eventually they set on and then the the pastor asked a lady called mrs fartina papala scalise to pray she was a mulatto which means that she was the child of a mixed marriage between a greek man and a congolese woman and in those days they were ridiculed because of their color so he asked her to pray and she stood up and she prayed like this lord we ask you to help us in our hour of great need you know that the congo is in need of you at this time you know that we have evil men who've come into our area and many of them are thieves and murderers they beat and they kill our people for no reason lord judge these evil men bring your wrath down and these terrible men put the fear of god into them save us from these people and bring us peace and freedom once more in jesus name she said i'm in and she sat down and there was silence as the christians looked on amazed and the pastor preached me announced the benediction and the rebels filed out silently with nothing else to say that woman understood that even if she could do anything to the rebels which she couldn't it was not her place but she knew someone into his hands she could trust her future and her safety as i closed this morning i don't have to tell you that we live in a world that is calling for much wisdom and god's people have always needed discernment but i i believe we need discernment in these days more than ever not to go with the crowds not to believe everything we see in the media to use our god-given minds to know the word of god and the will of god so that like david we may know by his grace how to act in difficult situations or situations that seem like a great opportunity but actually it's only a temptation i want to be like david i really do i want to keep my eyes open and my ears open but more so i want to be like the one who is far greater than david because david will fail and we will see that i want to be like jesus christ jesus christ who for the joy set before him did not choose the shortcut he endured the cross he scorned its shame and he sat down i don't know if you've yet met the lord jesus christ with all the love in my heart realizing how fleetingly short life is perhaps this is the day that the lord has made for you to surrender yourself to jesus christ and don't delay and we who do well we're going to sing a song in a moment which simply says let's make this our prayer i turn to wisdom not my own for every battle you have known my confidence will rest on you because lord your your love endures and your ways are good our lord our hearts are full today they're full because the gods who protected and cared for david the god who guided david even in its worst days is our god you're the god and father of our lord jesus christ the father who sustained the son in his great moment of temptation you are the same god thank you lord jesus christ that we can learn lessons from the old testament but that they always point us to the lord jesus christ to the gospel thank you jesus christ that you did not choose the easy way you could have called 10 000 angels you could have avoided the cross and the suffering but if god is just there has to be justice and so there was thank you that you are our substitute and our savior you are our example and our friend lead us into this week and give us all the wisdom that we need for every situation and we'll be careful to give you the glory in jesus name amen let's stand and sing together and i know we're singing behind mosques but we can really power this one out [Music] no [Music] he is [Music] is i in you [Music] i shall run till you complete the work begin one day all these will bury them i'll praise your faithfulness david had his inheritance thank you for the inheritance that you have given to each one of us and thank you for these words that are ever true there is a day coming if there wasn't you would be a liar and you are not there is a day coming when all things will be made new when we will see the hope and we will be in your kingdom and then we will praise you for your faithfulness as even here we were not able to do hasten that day and until that day may the love of god the father the grace of jesus the son and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with us all nigh and forever and god's people together say amen well please be seated we really aren't going to keep you for that much longer but a big thank you to firstly to all who contributed we had about two or three days and uh we're just grateful for all of those who contributed towards the victims of the flood on monday the transport came and some folk have asked for bank details and we can pass those on to you really grateful that we can share in the small way with the suffering of fellow citizens here in belgium then last week we mentioned vacation bible school and we've had some responses there's still room for kids and there's still room to for crew workers so you can speak to martina all the information is on the website and this is such a highlight in the year and we wanted to be a really special one this year so please uh take note of that jacques told me as he was leaving that two folk came to him a little bit late to ask for a copy of the book that i commended so i'm going to take the opportunity and commend it again it is one of the 10 books i would give to any christian new or old maturity growing up we've spoken a little about that in david's life and going on in the christian life it's only 10 euros and jock will be there you can go into the building and there will be books there and he can give you information on other books i have found that christians who grow not only read the bible first of all but have developed an appetite for reading good literature so i commend this book to you now next sunday god willing we share communion together so i know that people are coming and going but if you are here in town we would love to have you join with us and god bless you those who are traveling away we do and we will pray for you now we have tended to have visitors which is great almost every sunday and i if you are happy to introduce yourself tell us what country you're from somebody will come to you with a mic and we have a little gift that we would like to give to you so i'm going to start on my left side here anybody here for the very first time okay everybody has been here once before didn't i meet or no you're here for the first time right okay i know just put your hand up because we've got a gift that we'd like to give to you and actually we can give one to his mom as well and his brother because they were here i think it was uh two two sundays ago uh well yeah hello everyone i am arna and this is my first time coming here uh i'm from belgium so yeah like it's uh it's been a nice service actually i've enjoyed it so well good to get to know you [Applause] anybody on that section uh at the back there no okay hi everyone i'm rovana i'm here for the first time with my family also i enjoy the service so thank you very much welcome [Applause] okay let's do the middle row here the middle rows okay i can't see any hands but the tents can get in the way anybody on the right you have for the first time nope okay it's good to see fred and janet uh god bless you and uh janet i'm gonna pounce on you because i know you've written a book and uh for those who are french speaking you're not even french speak i think it could be a good book to give do you want to come up and say just a few words about it and where it's available i know i'm pouncing on you but uh yeah yeah in fact you can stay right there and maybe share thank you yeah as many of you know fred and i were injured in the bombing uh at the seventh airport five years ago and it has been a terrible i think to live of course but i wanted to write a book about it because it has been amazing to me to realize how god has helped us has helped me even as i thought i was dying that he gave me incredible peace of course recovery was very difficult and but there i was amazed that the word of god gave me a path like the path you were talking about what to do in situations that present themselves to us in all the emotions that i was living and i wanted to share that with as many non-believers as i could because god is truly interested in our lives and he is the light he gives us a direction to follow in life and i wanted to share that with non-believers that they are not alone in this dark violent world and i wanted to share that with believers because my testimony can give you joy and i would say boldness to share your life your struggles i was very transparent i think in my book how difficult this has it has been but how incredible it was to experience the hope and the joy of belonging to god knowing that my life is in his hands no matter what and that his purpose for my life the absurdity of violence can destroy you and anyone that has lived through trauma knows that and i wanted to share that our god is really living and that he is love and that he loves all of us he also loves the terrorists and everyone in the country that was terrified by what they did thank you janet would you just tell us the name of the book and where folk could get it from yes the title is paris brussels at the heart of the attacks the terrorist attacks because what happened in belgium was instigated by a belgian terrorist cell and as well as the one in paris and i tell my story like a novel but everything in it is as accurate as i could make it and so you can buy the book on amazon fnac dot be in many bookstores clubs um um i have a few copies i could maybe put it on the table there feel free to do that but okay so um lord so very grateful for um fred and janet the way we have watched them navigate those waters since the time they woke up dazed after that bomb blast at the airport the way you protected their lives is an incredible providence in and of themselves but i'm particularly grateful for the genuine way they have navigated all the surgeries without ever losing faith or confidence in you but on the contrary being wonderful examples to others always ready and eager to give a reason for the hope that is within them i pray for your continuing hand upon them as they recover and may have to undergo in the future future surgery but continue to strengthen and uphold them and may you use this book may it reach the right people in the right hearts for your glory giving hope to many and we will praise you for it in jesus name amen i mean thank you well i think we're ready to stand and sing the doxology together [Music] here [Music] down

Channel: IBC Brussels

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Id: ci8_tb6u2nk

Length: 86min 18sec (5178 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 25 2021