1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,240 Welcome to the official podcast of Rock Hill Baptist Church 2 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,480 where we are focused on glorifying God, spreading the 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,840 gospel, and making disciples of Jesus Christ right here in the 4 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:16,520 heart of Greenville, SC. Each week we bring you a life 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,600 changing word from our Senior Pastor, Pastor Matthew D Long 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,760 Junior, or one of our anointed guest speakers. 7 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,920 We pray this message strengthens your faith, deepens your 8 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:32,479 understanding, and empowers you to elevate in every area of your 9 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,840 life. Let's join the service already 10 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:47,240 in progress. Say neighbor, the ugly side of 11 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:53,640 elevation. Wow, the ugly side of elevation. 12 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:04,720 Honestly, it had happened so suddenly, and their brothers and 13 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:09,320 sisters. The smoke still hung in the air. 14 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:16,480 The smell of fire clung to everything that used to feel 15 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,360 like home. What was laughter yesterday has 16 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:27,800 become lament today. A city silent, a camp charred, 17 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:34,440 and a people crushed. David and his men returned from 18 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:39,160 the battlefield, but the real battle was waiting at home. 19 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,680 They didn't walk into victory. They walked into vacancy. 20 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,280 Every tent still standing was empty. 21 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:55,520 Every dream was on fire. And there in the ashes, as seen 22 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,280 behind me. There lies ziglag. 23 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,160 The story takes a turn. Before we rush to shout about 24 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:08,960 elevation, we need to remember that sometimes the road up runs 25 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:14,800 straight through but burns down. This isn't a mountaintop text. 26 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:20,880 It's a valley like scene, a low place for a highly anointed man, 27 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,920 a man with oil on his head and. Ashes at his feet. 28 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:28,600 It ain't too hot in here for you, is it? 29 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,680 A leader. A leader who's about to discover 30 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:38,240 that elevation isn't just about rising, it's about balancing. 31 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,360 But everything around you falls, falls apart. 32 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:48,000 You can almost feel the tension of this text in our own time. 33 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:52,440 Just this week, matter of fact, almost the 1st of October, in 34 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:56,400 Chicago, a neighborhood not far from where families played and 35 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:01,200 worked, children had slept. Federal agents stormed an 36 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:06,200 apartment building. Doors shattered, children 37 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:11,880 screaming, mothers trembling black and brown bodies. 38 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:17,320 Families, some of them U.S. citizens, were zip tied in their 39 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:22,000 own living rooms. And according to one man and the 40 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,640 Chicago Sun Times, he said, I feel defeated. 41 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,600 If you close your eyes long enough, that sounds a lot like 42 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,280 ziglag. Because broken homes burn dreams 43 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:39,000 and displaced people aren't just Bible studies, Deacon Glen. 44 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:43,640 They're breaking news. And the question that lingers in 45 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,800 the smoke is what? Do you do when you come back to 46 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,800 nothing? What do you do when the people 47 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,240 who counted on you are crying because of you? 48 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,720 What do you do when the anointing you carry can't keep 49 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:05,640 your world from Catching Fire? And that's where David stands 50 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:10,760 between calling and collapse. It's there that we find the ugly 51 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,200 side of elevation. Matter of fact, that's where we 52 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:19,240 find ourselves in between the black and white pages of the 53 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,920 book before you are the electronic device from which she 54 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:25,000 may be reading from standing shoulder to shoulder. 55 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,200 Brother Greg with David peering into the ashes of ziglag. 56 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,200 Now as we walk through this passage together, we will watch 57 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:37,240 David try to study himself and four movements. 58 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:39,600 If I can do this, I may do it in three. 59 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:44,280 Let's see your Bible says in first Samuel chapter 30 I got 60 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:45,520 nothing. The Bible for you. 61 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:52,480 Verse #1 And and it came to pass, when David and his men 62 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:57,960 were come to Ziglag on the third day, that the Amalekites had 63 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:04,800 invaded the South, and Ziglag and smitten Ziglag, and burned 64 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:11,120 it with fivers too, and had taken the women captives that 65 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,200 were therein. They slew not any either great 66 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,320 or small, but carried them away and went on their way. 67 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,920 Verse 3. So David and his men came to the 68 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:28,800 city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and 69 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:33,080 their sons and their daughters were taken captives. 70 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:36,440 The very first movement of this touch I think we should all 71 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,120 explore is the fire that throws you off balance. 72 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,080 When we meet David, my dear brothers and sisters in verse #1 73 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,040 he's not in the palace, Sister Chris. 74 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:51,440 He's actually in the field. He's not wearing the crown that 75 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,440 is soon to be placed on his head. 76 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,200 But Mother Gordine, he's wearing the dust of duty. 77 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,960 And your Bible says it comes to pass. 78 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:06,200 David and his men were now in ziglag before we turned about. 79 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,240 Before we talk about what you see behind me as being burned, 80 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,880 we need to talk about really who burned the fire. 81 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:21,600 Because the text says in verse one, the Amalekites had invaded. 82 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,320 And that name alone ought to make every Bible reader from 83 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:31,480 Sunday school to VBS sit up, sit up real good and straight. 84 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,520 Because they're Malachites. They were not just enemies of 85 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,680 Israel. They were enemies of identity. 86 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,040 I. Better work right through here. 87 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,040 They're Malachites. They represent the ancient 88 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,240 spirit that hates anything connected to covenants. 89 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,840 And the first time we meet them is in Exodus chapter 17. 90 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:54,400 You remember your Bible? Why? 91 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,120 You remember that one? That's when the Israelites had 92 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:01,840 just crossed the Red Sea. And here, as they're on the 93 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,920 other side going through a wilderness, the Malachites do 94 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,400 not attack Egypt. Instead they attack the weak. 95 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:12,680 They didn't fight the front lines. 96 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,600 They crept up from behind and and bushed and tried this. 97 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:21,160 This fragile, weary, fighting, little faith testing, God 98 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:27,000 forgotten people. That's really the Malachite way. 99 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,880 They look for what's weary, and even the moment the question 100 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:34,480 populates, is the Lord among us or not? 101 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:39,160 The Malachites always come for you when you're tired. 102 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:44,520 They are opportunistic enemies that show up when your guard is 103 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:49,200 down, when your rhythm is off, and even when your energy is 104 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:53,680 divided. They are proof that some battles 105 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:57,440 don't wait until you're ready. Because by the time we reach 106 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,680 First Samuel Chapter 30, the Malachite should have been 107 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,320 extinct. I think your neighbor's trying 108 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:07,040 to go to sleep on me. So help me out. 109 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:12,680 Nudge your neighbor and say, neighbor, this devil ought to be 110 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:18,960 dead by now. God told Saul in First Samuel 111 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,240 chapter 15 to wipe the Amalekites out completely. 112 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:28,600 But as you would know in the text, Saul spared which should 113 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:33,440 have been slain. He let what should have die live 114 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,520 and anything you don't kill in one season will come back to 115 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:43,200 taunt you him the next. And that's how Ziglag ziglag 116 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,680 caught fire. This isn't just a random raid. 117 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:51,880 This is a residual rebellion. The unfinished, the unfinished 118 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:55,880 obedience of one king becomes the unwanted rarefare or 119 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,400 warfare. Excuse me of another Monday, 120 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,240 brothers and sisters, I think I better get and drop this 121 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:04,680 notification on you real quick that sometimes you're fighting 122 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:08,840 fires that started and someone else's disobedience. 123 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:12,960 The Amalekites. The Amalekites are what happened 124 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:17,120 when yesterday's compromise meets today's calling. 125 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:22,240 And before David can be elevated, he has to confront. 126 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:25,480 But another man refused to conquer. 127 00:09:26,680 --> 00:09:29,600 So when the touch says they burned it with fire, it's not 128 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:33,680 just about the flame. It's about unfinished business 129 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:38,520 catching up. It's about what happens when old 130 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:43,440 enemies find new openings. And my dear brothers and sisters 131 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,600 don't rush past that. That phrase, they burned it with 132 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:50,200 fire because it's not symbolic heats, but flames. 133 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,840 Real smoke, real laws. The Malachites didn't just burn 134 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,040 buildings, sister house. They burned balance. 135 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:00,640 Help me out. Turn to neighbors and neighbor 136 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:05,800 balance. They struck David in the one 137 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,120 place he called safe. Thank you, Lord. 138 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,160 While he was fighting 1 battle on the field, another battle 139 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:17,480 started at home. And that's what the enemy aims 140 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:19,480 for. He aims for your equilibrium. 141 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,400 The word means your balance. It's it's when your mind and 142 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:29,960 your heart and your faith are all trying to stay steady at the 143 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,760 same time. You can't worship when your 144 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:34,480 world is wobbly. You can't even. 145 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:38,600 Think straight when life keeps tipping nuts what the enemy 146 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:44,680 wants not just to steal your stuff, but to shake your 147 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:47,560 stability, are you still in the room? 148 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,160 Because when you lose your equilibrium, even small things 149 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:56,160 start to feel like big ones. You forget what you still have 150 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,960 because you can't stop staring at what's been burned. 151 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:01,320 And that's that's how the Amalekites fight. 152 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:06,200 Not just to destroy your possessions, but to disturb your 153 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,640 position. My mother, Mother Gordine, the 154 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:12,600 devil can't defeat you. So he'll obviously try to 155 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,480 disorient you. And that's where some of us are 156 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,360 right now. Trying to walk in the will of 157 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:23,640 God while the ground underneath us won't stop moving. 158 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:30,000 Trying to stay strong in public while you're shaking in private. 159 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,600 Shaking and private in US all. That's not just life. 160 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:41,240 That's a battle for balance. Monday, brothers and sisters, 161 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,480 that's how the enemy works. He'll wait until your back is 162 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,840 turned, until your attention is on advancement. 163 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,200 Then he'll light a match under what matters most. 164 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,560 Look, look, look, look, look at what David and his men had come 165 00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:56,280 home to. Look at it. 166 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,080 Look at it. They had just came from a three 167 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,000 day journey of being dismissed from service. 168 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,280 They are technically displaced and the place they have set up 169 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:11,200 shop they've they've gotten comfortable in is now burned but 170 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:16,440 was a symbol of stability and unstable times is burned. 171 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,760 Everything that once said you're secure here is now a smoking 172 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:24,480 shell of what used to be the air. 173 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:26,880 The air. The air smells like 174 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:32,280 disappointment and the ground beneath them feels unsure. 175 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:37,480 The men can still see the outline of what used to hold 176 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,480 them, but not enough to hold on to. 177 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:44,040 And that's where the balancing act begins. 178 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:48,280 Because fire disorients it. It throws your faith into 179 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,880 Vertigo. Some of y'all know about that by 180 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:52,840 throwing off your reference points. 181 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,760 When what you built in permission burns, often times 182 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:01,760 your mind starts spinning. Sister Chris spinning with 183 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:06,400 questions like did I miss God? Did I? 184 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:11,200 Did I mess up Sister Sherry? Did I move too soon? 185 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,440 Sister Retta and And that's how the enemy tries to unbalance. 186 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,800 I'm balance you not with the blades itself, but with the 187 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,240 questions it raises from the fire. 188 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:26,320 My dear brothers and sister, the text teaches us that God 189 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:30,520 sometimes allows the fire not to punish you, but to purify what's 190 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:34,240 holding you back. Please remember that ziglag, 191 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,360 ziglag ziglag was a Philistine territory. 192 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,960 It was a gift from a foreign king who was a known enemy of 193 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:45,600 the Israelites. And David had accepted comfort 194 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:50,120 and a compromised space. He's been living under borrowed 195 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:54,680 favor, but God is ready to give him divine favor. 196 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:59,880 So God, let's fire touch what have been outgrown in his life. 197 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:02,880 He burns. He burns what's been borrowed so 198 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:07,360 that they can stop depending on what doesn't belong to them. 199 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:12,120 And my dear brother and sister, sometimes that means the job you 200 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:16,360 love stops loving you back. Sometimes the relationship you 201 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:20,720 pray to keep becomes the one God uses to teach you to release. 202 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:25,200 Sometimes the plan that once you worked doesn't work anymore. 203 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,440 Not because you failed, but because you finished. 204 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,680 Then come here, I got more. Sometimes it's like a child 205 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,080 who's sad they can't fit their favorite shoes anymore, not 206 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:40,040 realizing they've outgrown, overgrown what once carried them 207 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:42,120 and protected. Them. 208 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:46,560 I think I better give you this download real quick. 209 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:49,960 God won't let you build permanence on what was meant to 210 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,400 be provisional, and I feel a strong need to pull out of this 211 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,240 text the reality that Ziglad had to burn. 212 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,320 I'm going to say it again. Ziglad had to burn. 213 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:00,360 I'm going to say it a third time. 214 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:04,680 Ziglad had to burn because the next level couldn't be built on 215 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:08,480 Philistine property and now now look my dear brothers and 216 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:12,080 sisters more closely that David doesn't just lose things, he 217 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:16,040 loses people. Verse 2, verse two of first 218 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:20,600 Samuel chapter 30 says and have taken the women captives that 219 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,680 were therein. They slew not any either great 220 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:28,080 or small, but carried them away. He went on went on, went on the 221 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:30,560 way family. You can replace furniture. 222 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:35,680 Yeah, yeah, you you can be build some tents. 223 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:42,080 You you can even replace clothes, cars, cash, cribs. 224 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,720 But what do you do when what you've lost has your last name 225 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,480 attached to it? What do you do? 226 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:52,440 What do you do when what you've lost carries your life in it? 227 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:57,160 This isn't about possessions. This is about people who carry 228 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:01,160 David's promise. It's about losing what you love 229 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:04,080 most and still having to lead what's left. 230 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:05,720 But. Here here. 231 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,120 Here's where. It gets real revelatory, sister 232 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:12,200 Chris, because what they thought was gone come here was only 233 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,320 taken No, I thought y'all were shot right there. 234 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,600 I I really I thought you would just be like I got it. 235 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:24,920 I I said what they thought was gone was only it was only taken. 236 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,160 They weren't killed, they were carried. 237 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:30,160 They weren't destroyed, they were detained. 238 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,760 And sometimes God will let something be taken just long 239 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,200 enough to prove. That it still. 240 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:41,000 Belongs to you. I better say this for the cyber 241 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,560 campus Sir, for those on Twitch or Twitter today. 242 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:48,080 That the enemy can take it, but he can't keep it because what's 243 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:51,040 Covenant connected can't stay in captivity forever. 244 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:57,640 And I'm afraid, my dear brothers and sisters, that we've got too 245 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:01,760 many looking around. Well, people are being carried 246 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:06,319 off. Too many distracted leaders and 247 00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:11,680 too many detached Saints watching people get snatched by 248 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,760 life and not moving to recover them. 249 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,079 But that's. That's the real. 250 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:25,079 Ugly side of elevation when your hands are full of one fight and 251 00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:26,040 your heart. Can't. 252 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:28,920 See the one happening behind you? 253 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:32,760 I'm going to work by myself. But wow, wow, wow. 254 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:37,000 We're fighting in one field, somebody's family is being 255 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,800 carried off in another. And that's what makes this tech 256 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,280 so sobering. Because David's men weren't 257 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:46,560 lazy. They, they were actually loyal. 258 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:49,600 They, they were not negligence. They were needed. 259 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,360 But check this out didn't Glenn. They were needed elsewhere. 260 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,920 They were out serving, they were out fighting. 261 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,240 They were out doing what was right. 262 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:03,840 And yet while they were defending one assignment, the 263 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:08,720 enemy attacked another one. Can I clue you in real quick? 264 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:12,800 Sometimes you can be an obedient sneaking nauser and still be 265 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,960 blindsided. That's not your responsibility. 266 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:21,160 That's the reality of leadership that sometimes elevation 267 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:26,160 stretches you so far in One Direction that you lose sight of 268 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:33,200 with slipping away in another. If you listen close enough, that 269 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:38,240 same cry, that same cry still echoes in our world today, from 270 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:42,200 cities like Chicago to Memphis, from Los Angeles to little towns 271 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,160 like Folly, Alabama. You can hear it in the trembling 272 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:47,800 voice of a mother saying, they took my babies. 273 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:52,040 You can hear it in the father's cracked whisper, I feel 274 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:53,480 defeated. You. 275 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,520 You can still see it in black and brown family, citizens of 276 00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:00,800 this country, watching the safety of their homes turn into 277 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,880 the scenes of chaos. Doors broken in, children 278 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:10,200 terrified, lives disrupted. That's what Ziglag looks like in 279 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:15,800 modern form. A world on fire and a people off 280 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:19,400 balance. Maybe someone here, someone 281 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:21,920 here, knows that feeling too well. 282 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:24,720 Because you too didn't ask for this fire. 283 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,080 You too were living wrong. You too were just trying to 284 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,400 serve God faithfully. Leave your family, stay focused. 285 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,240 And suddenly the ground gave way. 286 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,520 But, but here's the tension of the test for my Bible scholars. 287 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:41,160 David's greatest test didn't happen. 288 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:44,480 And The Cave of a Dulum when he was trying to run and hide. 289 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:49,240 But it's actually right here, right here in the ashes of Zig 290 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:51,240 Lab. Because sometimes the fire isn't 291 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:54,600 meant to test your platform. It's meant to test your poise. 292 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,440 OK, come here since I'm in in this little world history thing. 293 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,200 You remember in 1956, Doctor King by he was preaching peace 294 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:06,720 in Montgomery, AL, a bomb tore through his home. 295 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:10,080 His wife and seven week old daughter Yolanda were inside 296 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:12,440 house shaking but the man stood still. 297 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,560 He walked through the smoke and you know the words he said we 298 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,800 must meet hate with love. He showed the world. 299 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:23,320 But it means to keep your balance when your house is 300 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:25,760 burning. And that's what David is 301 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:28,320 teaching Garcia. That before God can elevate you 302 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:32,560 up, he first has to see if you can balance by everything around 303 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:36,920 you burns down. And that's what David is 304 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,800 teaching Sister Shirley, that before God can elevate you up, 305 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,880 he wants to see, wants to see what you're going to do in 306 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,480 between here. Because this is the part of 307 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:51,920 elevation that they don't put in in the brochure. 308 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,240 This is the part, the part that does not get on somebodies 309 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:00,560 Facebook reels. This is this is the part that 310 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:05,080 nobody likes to talk about when the air gets thin and the climb 311 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:07,600 gets costly. This is the side of elevation 312 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,160 that doesn't shine. It actually scars. 313 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:15,160 It's the ugly side when what was supposed to lift you up, Brother 314 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,360 Paul actually leaves you looking around, wondering who's still 315 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:21,640 with me. And right here and the smoke of 316 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:25,840 zig lag, David learns what it feels like to be called higher 317 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:30,960 by life, drags you down lower. I guess I better move on so I 318 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:33,360 don't bore you. And the second movement of this 319 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:37,880 text is found in the fourth verse, the first Samuel chapter 320 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:39,720 30. Read it with me, it says. 321 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,720 Then David and the come on, read it with me. 322 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:48,040 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their 323 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:53,320 voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. 324 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,080 The second movement of the text is the tears that threaten your 325 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:00,200 balance. There's there's something 326 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,960 haunting about this scripture right here. 327 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,320 First Samuel, chapter 30, verse 4. 328 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,920 It's not just describing a scene, Deacon Davis. 329 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:14,040 It's really revealing a season because the hardest sound 330 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:18,000 sometimes in Scripture is not Thunder, Sister Hauser, neither 331 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,480 is it war. But it's really mother weeping. 332 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,640 You can almost hear the exhaustion in that voice. 333 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,040 These are warriors, not weak men. 334 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:36,400 Men who had outrun song, men who had outlasted scarcity, men who 335 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:40,480 had out worshipped their wounds. They have survived swords, 336 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,680 survived exile, survived betrayal. 337 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,520 And in this moment, the moment breaks them. 338 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,240 This time the tears outnumber their triumphs, because grief 339 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:57,240 would do what giants could. Sorrow can break, but Spears 340 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,560 could never Pierce. And when they stood before 341 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:02,720 giants, they were swinging swords. 342 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,240 But when they stood before loss, they just dropped to their knees 343 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:08,800 because disappointment would drain. 344 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:13,280 But distance never did and the text says they wept. 345 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,560 Sometimes we like to skip over a scripture so fast and get to the 346 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,000 good beautiful parts. And he recovered all. 347 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:25,080 But the truth of the matter is, this is real life, that here 348 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:29,080 they are not whispering, nor are they sighing, but they are 349 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,760 weeping out loud until their tears take their strength. 350 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,720 I've got to admit to you, minding brothers and sisters 351 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:40,720 online and in person, that you can survive battle after battle, 352 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,640 at the battle, at the battle, at the battle, at the battle, and 353 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:51,000 still go home and break down. That's the tough part of this 354 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:54,560 lesson, that elevation doesn't exhibit you from emotion. 355 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,920 My dear friend, I want to let you know that you can be chosen 356 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:03,400 and still cry. You can be anointed and still 357 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,400 ache. You can be next in line and 358 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,960 still feel like you're running out of faith. 359 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,240 And I believe if you got your Bible open, you'll see for 360 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:17,400 yourself that the text says that they lifted up their voice and 361 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:22,560 wept, lifted up their voice. And Hebrew means to cry aloud 362 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,800 together in unity that this wasn't just one man moaning, 363 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:30,240 Mother Thelma. It was a chorus of grief. 364 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,640 For the first time in the touch, David does not sound like a 365 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:39,400 commander. He actually sounds like a 366 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:44,400 companion in pain. Because elevation doesn't just 367 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:47,200 stretch your faith. Come here, it stretches your 368 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:51,320 feelings. Elevation isn't about titles, 369 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:55,040 tiaras, or Thrones. Elevation is about assignment. 370 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,560 I guess I better give it to you one more time because this whole 371 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,360 year, this whole year, you might have just missed that one piece. 372 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:02,960 That was that. That was a nugget right there. 373 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:07,320 The elevation is not about titles and tiaras and Thrones. 374 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:13,320 Elevation is about assignment. David is living in between the 375 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,640 conundrum of anointment and appointment. 376 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,240 And I've got a humbly submit that tears don't cancel your 377 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,680 anointing. They confirm your humanity. 378 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:27,680 And just like God wrapped himself in humanity to save the 379 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,880 world, God is not intimidated by your emotion. 380 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:33,000 Come here. Matter of fact, Sister Shirley, 381 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,680 God wants to be invited into your emotions. 382 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,840 David tears. David's tears didn't make him 383 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,600 less chosen, they make him more connected. 384 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,240 Some of us have mistaken composure for faith. 385 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:50,920 I'm going to say it again for you. 386 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:54,000 Some of us have mistaken composure for faith. 387 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,160 But faith isn't pretending not to feel. 388 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:01,560 But faith is trusting. Wow, you feel everything. 389 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,680 That's why you shouldn't care how loud someone praise the Lord 390 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,920 or how long they rolled on the floor, because you don't know. 391 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,800 But they had to survive to steal. 392 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,560 Have a sound. You don't know what they had to 393 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:20,440 endure just to steal. Have energy to exhale. 394 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,360 You don't know what they had to endure. 395 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:27,280 You don't know what kind of Ziglar they had to walk out of 396 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,880 just to steal. Worship, and that's why the same 397 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:35,680 David would later write in Psalm 126 and five, they that sow in 398 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:40,400 tears shall reap in joy, I believe because he learned that 399 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:44,240 sometimes your praise is born in pain and your worship is watered 400 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,200 by worship. Worship through reaping. 401 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,600 Let me add that for you. I'm going to say it again, that 402 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,840 they that sow in tears reaping joy. 403 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:57,920 So we must now learn that sometimes your praise is born in 404 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:01,040 pain and your worship it's watered by weeping. 405 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,680 But your Bible, your Bible, your Bible says in first Samuel 406 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,960 chapter 30, verse 4. Then David and the people that 407 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,320 were with them lifted up their voice and repped check this out 408 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:16,680 until they had no more power to weep. 409 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:22,040 That word power in Hebrew is clock, which doesn't just mean 410 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:27,360 strength, Deacon Davis. It needs capacity, endurance, 411 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:31,720 Braylon energy to continue. They didn't just run out of 412 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,680 tears, but Paul, they. Ran out of try. 413 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,880 Because there comes a moment in life when your tears clock out 414 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:43,760 before your task does. They had cried so hard that 415 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,360 their bodies had betrayed them. Sister Jackie. 416 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,720 The throats were raw, the eyes swollen, the energy gone. 417 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:54,120 And this was not just emotion. This was exhaustion. 418 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,160 I think I better give you a quick homological highlight real 419 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:00,480 quick. But when tears drain your 420 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:02,880 strength, trust becomes your stamina. 421 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,120 I'm going to say it one more time. 422 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:10,960 When tears drain your strength, trust becomes your stamina. 423 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,600 There's a fatigue that comes from fighting, but but there's 424 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:16,720 another fatigue that comes from feeling. 425 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,200 And many people don't burnout Mother Gordy from battle. 426 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:28,360 They bleed out from the burden. They run out of emotional energy 427 00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:31,160 since the bird before they ever run out of calling. 428 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,960 That's why some of us feel heavy even when nothing's wrong, 429 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,560 because you're caring too much emotionally for where you are 430 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:43,240 spiritually. And before God recharges your 431 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,760 mission, He has to release your mourning. 432 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:51,520 Ziglag is where God drains you to develop you. 433 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,400 I got to move on to this next movement. 434 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:57,840 But ziglag is the kind of place that teaches you the difference 435 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,720 between breakdown and a breakthrough. 436 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:05,560 And sometimes the only thing separating the 2 is what you do 437 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:07,600 next. Look at the text. 438 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:12,240 Look at the text first Samuel chapter 5 says and David's two 439 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:17,280 wives were taken captives. He know him the Jeselitis and 440 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:20,120 Abigail the rival Nabel the Carmelite verse 6. 441 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:28,240 And David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning 442 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:31,160 him. I got to stop that. 443 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,280 I can't even go all the way. The third movement of this text 444 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:38,880 is the breaking point of the balance, the breaking point of 445 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,200 the balanced. Look at this mother, brothers 446 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:45,760 and sisters. We moved from they to he. 447 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:48,640 Previously they were crying together. 448 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:52,880 Previously they were weeping together. 449 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,960 Previously they were wailing together. 450 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:01,880 But now your text, your Bible, my Bible, shows us moving from 451 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:06,600 they to He right. The communal cry of verse 4 has 452 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:11,080 now quieted down and now the weight rests currently on David. 453 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,800 Matter of fact, verse 5 shows us that the loss wasn't just 454 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:18,520 public, it was personal. That the right of this text 455 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,920 slows down to name the two women, the two wives of David, 456 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:27,400 because the text wants us to feel the ink behind the ashes. 457 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:32,160 They weren't just wives, they were witnesses that they had 458 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:36,200 seen David at his lowest and loved them still, that they had 459 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:38,880 walked with him through rejection and rebuilding. 460 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:41,480 It's it's one thing, it's one thing. 461 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:45,120 It's one thing to to lose your soldiers, but it's another thing 462 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:50,560 to lose your support system. One thing, one thing to lose the 463 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:55,440 crowd, but it's another to lose the comfort of those who knew 464 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,040 your heart. Because sometimes elevation cost 465 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:01,800 you the people who helped hold you together. 466 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:07,240 And he's no longer surrounded by comfort, but he's surrounded by 467 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,960 conflict. But the same crowd, Lord, I hear 468 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,320 you. The same crowd that once cried 469 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:18,000 with him now contemplates stoning him. 470 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:25,440 Deacon Davis, The same hands that had helped him fight on, 471 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:32,240 now ready to harm him. The same voices that shouted 472 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,200 David, our leader, are now whispering. 473 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:40,440 David, our liability. And that's the ugly side of 474 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:45,800 elevation when the same people who once held you up now hold 475 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:52,240 stones, when the ones who said I got you now say I blame you, 476 00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:58,840 elevation will expose what emotion can't sustain. 477 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:03,800 Look at this the Texas David was greatly distressed. 478 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:09,280 The word in Hebrew is Yahtzee are which means to be pressed or 479 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:11,920 y'all like going to the fair, right? 480 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:16,520 They're not the fair. They have squeezed lemonade. 481 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,440 That word Yahtzee means to be squeezed. 482 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:23,080 Or check this out. To be him then. 483 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:28,640 So phrase the old folks used to say, confined by pressure on 484 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,240 every side. It is not just external, but 485 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:37,320 it's internal compression. David is hemmed in between grief 486 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:41,520 and blame, between calling and criticism, between pain and 487 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,080 purpose. He's pressed between leadership 488 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:48,400 and loneliness, squeezed between memory and mission, pulled 489 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:54,000 between what he was known for to them and now, who he must be for 490 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,840 God. And that's where some of us 491 00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:58,400 live. I'm sorry. 492 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,000 I feel them coming. We live in the tension between 493 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:05,640 what we feel and what we must still fulfill. 494 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:11,440 Trying to lead while leaking. Trying to walk and divine 495 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,760 purpose while waiting through personal pains. 496 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,760 Because being a child of God, Sister Hauser, isn't the absence 497 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:24,280 of pressure, it's learning how to breathe under it. 498 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,240 David is experiencing what I call the pressure of proximity. 499 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:33,040 Because the closer people are to you, the heavier the 500 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,840 expectations become. And the same closest that was 501 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:42,040 once comforted, yes, God comforting him now confines him. 502 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,200 Now watch how the crowd, how the crowd changes. 503 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:47,160 They cried with David for a while. 504 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,040 But but grief has a way. It has a way. 505 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,920 It has a way of turning company into conflict. 506 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,240 Wow, that's good. They all lifted up their voice 507 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,200 together, but not all of them knew what to do next. 508 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,040 And mess around and have a family member die. 509 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,960 I promise you, you'll see for yourself. 510 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:11,000 Because tears bring people together, but trauma can tear 511 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:15,480 them apart. Elevation will reveal who can 512 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,360 fight with you and who can feel with you. 513 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:25,320 And after all of that, it's the separation that brings shock to 514 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:28,040 you. Look at the text they had 515 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:32,120 wrapped together. But David's name is the only one 516 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:36,840 God mentions next. Because Elevation exposes who 517 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:42,520 can cry with you and who can stay still with you after you 518 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:46,840 cry. When people can't process pain, 519 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:51,239 they need someone to blame. They, they, they can't strike. 520 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:53,560 They can't strike their malachite, so they strike their 521 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,239 leader. They they, they can't manage the 522 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,200 loss, so they misplaced the anger. 523 00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:01,640 And that's. The ugly sign, the ugly side of 524 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:05,040 elevation, that when you become the face of someone else's 525 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:07,880 frustration, you find that they're crying. 526 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:12,280 But here in the text, David's balancing that they're weeping, 527 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:17,800 but David's watching. David's, they're falling apart, 528 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:21,680 but David's holding together with little he has left in the 529 00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:24,120 most. And if I can leave you with some 530 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:26,720 wisdom for the journey, please know, my dear brothers and 531 00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:31,440 sisters, that leadership is crying enough to stay human, but 532 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:36,200 standing enough to stay holy. Come here, come here. 533 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:39,280 Don't, don't, don't that like that you play so hard to get 534 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,160 sometimes. Have you ever? 535 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:44,480 Have you ever had to find yourself smiling in public while 536 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:48,040 silently screaming in private? Have you ever found yourself 537 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,200 walking the floor all night trying to figure out how you 538 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,960 won't get that bill paid? Have you ever found yourself 539 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:58,120 trying to hold a house together when you were falling apart 540 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:00,080 yourself? Have you ever found yourself 541 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,440 going to work with a broken heart, trying to lead with 542 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:05,920 excellence while living on empty? 543 00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:07,800 OK, come here. Maybe you going to school? 544 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,240 Have you ever tried to study hard, do yourself your best, but 545 00:36:11,240 --> 00:36:16,480 still feel unseen, unheard, uncelebrated, doing your 546 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,240 homework in tears, Trying to believe that hard work still 547 00:36:20,240 --> 00:36:24,120 matters? Because sometimes faith requires 548 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:26,160 functioning about. Frustrated. 549 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:33,160 That's where David is, holding his tears in one hand and his 550 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:37,120 task in another, and here he is. He can't quit. 551 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:43,360 He can't crumble, he can't call time out because too much is 552 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:48,200 depending on him and somebody in the room knows what that feels 553 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,760 like. To be chosen but feel like 554 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:56,800 you're crushed, Crushed by life. To be elevated and to also be 555 00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:03,520 exhausted, to have oil on your head and ashes at your feet. 556 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:07,120 And this man and brothers and sisters, is the breaking point 557 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:11,320 of the balance, that fragile intersection where your faith is 558 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:15,080 fighting fatigue and your calling is clashing with their 559 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:19,240 capacity. David is anointed but anxious. 560 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:25,240 He's crowned and promised but crushed and pressure, and he's 561 00:37:25,240 --> 00:37:28,280 too called to quit. But he's too tired to keep 562 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:31,240 pretending he's OK. And I will let you know that 563 00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:35,120 sometimes the hardest miracle is maintaining your balance by 564 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:36,800 everything around you is breaking. 565 00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:41,280 And for those in the room, as I get on in the sky, we'll let you 566 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,600 know that that's the place where God does His deepest work. 567 00:37:46,720 --> 00:37:50,240 Not in your comfort, but in your compression. 568 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:56,160 Even those compression socks you may have on because the oil that 569 00:37:56,160 --> 00:38:01,600 anoints you can't flow into the olive gets crushed and squeezed. 570 00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:05,480 You'll never know what kind of oil is on you until life 571 00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:10,640 squeezes it out of you. And maybe, just maybe, God had 572 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:15,560 allowed Ziglag to press David, not to punish him, but to. 573 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:19,160 Prove. Him and to show that the same 574 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:24,160 hands that once held a harm can still handle the heat. 575 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:27,040 I think I better go in the sky and get y'all home. 576 00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:32,360 Now this text shows us him that David really is being revealed 577 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:36,640 of what's inside of him. It's stronger than what's 578 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,240 surrounding him. And it's here in the young Bible 579 00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:46,360 for Samuel, chapter 30, verse #6 at the sea clause, the sea 580 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,720 clause of it all. It says, but David encouraged 581 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:54,160 himself in the Lord. That's not survival talk, 582 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,360 Mother. That spiritual ignition. 583 00:38:58,320 --> 00:38:59,640 He. Didn't have a crier. 584 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:01,320 With him, No, no, no, no, no, no. 585 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:06,960 He didn't even have a worship team there, but he became the 586 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:11,800 worship leader for his own self, and he became his own crier. 587 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:14,560 He. Didn't even have a crowd all 588 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:17,600 around him. All he had was a covenant. 589 00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:23,720 He didn't even have someone to applause him, but all he had was 590 00:39:23,720 --> 00:39:27,200 assurance. Because sometimes God will strip 591 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:33,560 your support so you discover your sores and it's right there 592 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:37,960 in the ashes. David preaches his own revival. 593 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:42,880 He said. I may have lost my city, but I 594 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:47,120 didn't lose my Savior. I may have lost my help. 595 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:51,720 Yeah, but I did not lose my hope, he says. 596 00:39:51,720 --> 00:39:56,680 I may have lost my people, but I didn't even lose my power. 597 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:01,360 Because when they can't find strength, yes, Lord, strength 598 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:07,400 all around you, you've got to find it, find it within you. 599 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:12,240 And when you can't hear a word from them around you, you're 600 00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:15,200 going to have to recall a word from him who's in you. 601 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:19,960 And when life takes your melody. You're going to have to make 602 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:22,280 music out of all of those memories. 603 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:24,680 That's when it means. That's what it. 604 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:26,680 Means. That's what it means when. 605 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:31,400 The text says David encouraged himself. 606 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:38,200 Yeah, that word encouraged. Now it means to seize hold of 607 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:42,720 what God said with nothing else seems to stick. 608 00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:48,320 The Hebrew word here means to strengthen yourself by grip. 609 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:53,600 David had to reach back and grab ahold of grace. 610 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:59,320 He had tied his trembling faith to a trustworthy God. 611 00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:07,440 And I can hear him say now the Lord is my light and my 612 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:10,960 salvation. Whom? 613 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:16,560 Shall I fear the Lord? Is the strength. 614 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:22,000 Of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? 615 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:28,680 Maybe he even said, I will bless the Lord at all times, and His 616 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:38,880 praise shall continually shall continually shall continually be 617 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:41,960 in my mouth. Maybe he didn't have. 618 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:45,280 Those words then, and he just told himself. 619 00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:53,040 I still believe. Because. 620 00:41:53,040 --> 00:42:00,960 Faith doesn't stop the fire, but Faith makes it flame proof. 621 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:07,480 And the text shows us that he encouraged himself while others 622 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:12,320 are talking around him, encourage themselves by the 623 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:17,880 planning to stone him. Encourage themselves even though 624 00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:23,960 we didn't change around him, he got himself up. 625 00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:29,360 Yes, Lord wiped his face, straighten his back up and 626 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:35,880 started to pursue again. Because Zig line teaches you how 627 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:42,480 to recover without revenge, Singling teaches you how to 628 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:45,960 worship without a cry or praise. Team. 629 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:54,000 Singling God teaches you how to lead when you're losing and how 630 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:59,200 the praise even while they're still burning around you, not 631 00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:03,000 their brothers and sisters. This is the ugly side of 632 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:08,000 elevation, but it's also the holy side, the holy side of 633 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:15,080 endurance, because life will burn down some places in your 634 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:20,400 life all the way down to the ashes. 635 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:24,520 Vanguard, I'm sorry y'all, I got happy. 636 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:33,360 I said God can still raise, raise you up from what remains. 637 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:39,760 And when people walk away, God, he walks right in. 638 00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:44,800 It's something about the fire God doesn't stay away from. 639 00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:49,080 I've got to go for real now. But when the fire takes 640 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:55,840 everything great, still gives you something, I've got to go 641 00:43:55,840 --> 00:44:00,360 for real. But I've learned that the same 642 00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:07,240 God who lets you weep in one season is the same God who will 643 00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:13,480 let you win in the next season. The same God who let you burn 644 00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:18,640 down is the same God. The same God who will help you 645 00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:23,440 build, build it back again. I'm sorry, I'm over my time. 646 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:26,120 I really want us to go home for real. 647 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:27,800 I want to eat some fried chicken. 648 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:31,280 How about you? But I'm so glad that the text, 649 00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:36,680 that text is telling the teachers that the same God who 650 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:42,160 watched you cry in verse 4 is the same God, God who will make 651 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:47,840 you shout in verses because the power of sick laggy is you can 652 00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:53,240 lose everything, surely, and still have enough love to get it 653 00:44:53,240 --> 00:44:57,920 all back again. I can't help but think about I'm 654 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:04,080 not the son of David who also stood surrounded, surrounded by 655 00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:09,640 sorrow, betrayed by those he blessed, pressed between heaven 656 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:12,680 and earth. Yeah, they thought his story was 657 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:16,280 over, too. They mocked him all night long. 658 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:21,960 They whipped him all night long. Put him on this balance beam 659 00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:28,200 between cross and arrows. They made sure they beat him 660 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:32,880 long enough. They made sure they pierced him 661 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:37,480 deep enough. They made sure they lifted him 662 00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:43,040 high enough. And the crime that cried Hosanna 663 00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:48,200 one week, cried crucified the next week. 664 00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:53,480 And that's the ugly side of elevation, because even Jesus 665 00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:58,120 had to be lifted up before he can lift us up. 666 00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:04,720 But I'm so glad he died. Y'all ain't Baptist for real. 667 00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:09,680 I said he died side of that old rugged cross. 668 00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:15,080 Golly for real. He died until the moon shook the 669 00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:19,120 blood side. Until. 670 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:22,640 The arrows of heaven begin to collide with the men of the 671 00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:24,960 earth. He died. 672 00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:27,480 Until they had. To find a borrowed place for 673 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:31,080 him. But I'm so glad that early 674 00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:36,080 Sunday morning, the same God who watched him hang. 675 00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:40,880 It's the same God who raised him higher. 676 00:46:41,720 --> 00:46:45,320 Raise him higher. Raise him higher. 677 00:46:46,240 --> 00:46:50,240 Raise him higher than the ashes he was in. 678 00:46:50,240 --> 00:46:53,760 Raise him higher than the pain he was in. 679 00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:55,960 Come on, help me. Let's have church here. 680 00:46:56,640 --> 00:47:00,640 Raise him higher. Higher than what he's surrounded 681 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:04,040 with. But I'm so glad that when he was 682 00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:11,760 raised higher, he got up higher with all power in his hands. 683 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:19,360 Power to repeal what was ruined power. 684 00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:23,160 Yeah. To restore what was lost power. 685 00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:29,600 To redeem what was broken. Because Calvary proves that zig 686 00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:38,440 lag may be a place of everything burning up, but God has a plan 687 00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:42,600 to build back better. That's all I came to tell you. 688 00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:46,680 Build back better. That's all I came to remind you. 689 00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:52,320 Build back better. And if God can do it for his Son 690 00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:59,120 Jesus, I need you to be reminded that this is not how your story 691 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:03,680 is. This is not how your story is. 692 00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:12,040 This is not how your story is. This is not how your story is. 693 00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:19,880 This is not how your story is. This is not how your story is. 694 00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:24,120 This is not how your story is. This is not how your story is. 695 00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:31,920 This is not how your story is. Cry but it ain't over yet. 696 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:39,880 Weep, but it ain't over yet. Well, but it ain't over yet. 697 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:46,000 But after you do all of that, encourage yourself and the Lord. 698 00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:53,800 I will trust in the Lord with all, all my heart. 699 00:48:54,720 --> 00:49:00,000 I wanna lead to my own understanding. 700 00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:08,320 But in All in all you know Him on my lace. 701 00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:12,200 Y'all don't want to have no church Him on the ways I'll 702 00:49:12,200 --> 00:49:14,840 acknowledge I'm sorry. I feel glory. 703 00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:20,160 I'll acknowledge him because the Lord's not under me. 704 00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:27,640 This is not how my story is. I ain't ending with broken 705 00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:31,680 bones. I ain't ending in defeat and 706 00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:35,600 delay. I ain't in think in despair and 707 00:49:35,600 --> 00:49:39,520 grief. I ain't nothing and sorrow and 708 00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:46,080 small, but I'm mending help. God says I'm the head, I got to 709 00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:51,720 stop, not the tail. I'm a bell and I'm not beneath. 710 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:55,640 I'm the lift up and not the borrower. 711 00:49:56,240 --> 00:49:59,880 That's why you got to go. Go get some brother. 712 00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:02,400 That's right there. I just thought I forgot. 713 00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:07,240 Got to get it's your sister, you got to kill them because the 714 00:50:07,240 --> 00:50:11,760 story ain't over. You might be stoic, but it ain't 715 00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:14,560 no. Y'all don't want this word? 716 00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:22,280 It's all right. It ain't over, Hallelujah, It 717 00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:25,400 ain't over Hallelujah. It ain't over. 718 00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:33,040 Hallelujah the sad. Part is 600 men who had who had 719 00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:39,120 been with David from a place of debt, desolation and distrust 720 00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:50,560 give up at Zig Lab and there are some of us in person and online 721 00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:54,720 that to find themselves in this. Ugly. 722 00:50:54,720 --> 00:51:00,560 Side of elevation. And instead of being David, 723 00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:04,360 you're one of them once. Who are stuck in your feelings 724 00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:09,480 and God just wants to know, can I get in your feelings? 725 00:51:11,160 --> 00:51:16,200 I want to use your feelings. I'm going to use that too. 726 00:51:23,380 --> 00:51:26,740 The more I I studied this text, I didn't know all this was 727 00:51:26,740 --> 00:51:28,380 there. No lie. 728 00:51:28,380 --> 00:51:31,140 I don't know how it gave me probably 27 pages of notes. 729 00:51:33,540 --> 00:51:37,880 I know that's that's ambiguous, but I gave you that because I 730 00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:42,960 want you to realize that elevation is about assignment. 731 00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:46,840 It's not about a promotion, not about getting the title. 732 00:51:47,440 --> 00:51:51,280 It's not about a, a new car, new discount prescription car. 733 00:51:54,280 --> 00:52:00,240 What you say to Chris, not not in the AARP, but that's inside 734 00:52:01,960 --> 00:52:07,160 elevation is about assignment. And before David can get his 735 00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:09,440 second anointing, Deacon David, she might enjoy this. 736 00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:13,720 David has only had one anointing when he was at his daddy's 737 00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:18,120 house. Nobody knows publicly, other 738 00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:21,800 than the chatter of who this David is. 739 00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:25,040 Because everybody knows how the rumor mirror goes. 740 00:52:25,920 --> 00:52:31,080 It spreads all around. David is living in between 741 00:52:31,120 --> 00:52:38,320 anointment and appointment, and the crazy part is some Lord, I'm 742 00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:42,760 sorry we got to get out here, but some of us have learned how 743 00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:48,560 to live in the ruins of Zig Lag instead of crying in Zig Lag 744 00:52:50,080 --> 00:52:54,280 bearing but need to be buried but moving on because there's a 745 00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:59,600 headburn on the way. I know, I know, it's hard to 746 00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:01,680 clap right there. I get it. 747 00:53:03,600 --> 00:53:08,840 Because you want to get the second Samuel chapter 1 when 748 00:53:08,840 --> 00:53:16,560 Saul has died and now David is to ascend to this seat. 749 00:53:16,840 --> 00:53:21,200 We want to get there to to where we get the big chair, where we 750 00:53:21,200 --> 00:53:24,840 get the house, get the car to Boo and we get the five bank 751 00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:27,680 accounts. But sometimes God will sit us 752 00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:32,080 right in between zig lag. To purge and prune. 753 00:53:32,080 --> 00:53:36,920 US. And it's how you manage here. 754 00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:42,480 Rather you rather you will breakdown or you will 755 00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:51,280 breakthrough. Today I invite you to to get to 756 00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:53,880 know Jesus for yourself and the free part of your sins. 757 00:53:55,400 --> 00:53:57,640 He died on the cross for you and I. 758 00:53:58,680 --> 00:54:01,440 He's already Lord and Savior. He just simply wants you to 759 00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:04,680 acknowledge Him. He just wants you to accept them 760 00:54:04,680 --> 00:54:10,560 to your heart and confess at your mouth and believe that's 761 00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:16,000 all. I believe that he died and rose 762 00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:19,520 from the grave. And Paul tells us if you do 763 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:23,400 that, you are saved. The man on the cross simply 764 00:54:23,400 --> 00:54:27,400 said, Lord, Remember Me and he was saved on the cross. 765 00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:33,360 We we say this prayer together, not because you can't pray, but 766 00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:37,120 to help our our brothers and sisters in case you need words 767 00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:39,960 to pray. So repeat this prayer to me if 768 00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:45,640 you want to be saved, say Lord Jesus, come into my heart, save 769 00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:47,840 me. I want to be saved. 770 00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:53,640 Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross of me. 771 00:54:55,120 --> 00:54:59,960 Lord Jesus, thank you for soon coming again for me. 772 00:55:01,800 --> 00:55:08,120 Lord Jesus, thank you, in Jesus name, Amen. 773 00:55:09,120 --> 00:55:10,800 Come on, put those hands. Together in my faith. 774 00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:12,640 That someone just. Received Jesus. 775 00:55:12,680 --> 00:55:14,280 Come on for real, clap those hands. 776 00:55:14,640 --> 00:55:17,240 Someone just received Jesus into the heart. 777 00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:21,160 Thank you for tuning in to the Rock Hill Baptist Church 2 778 00:55:21,160 --> 00:55:24,400 Podcast. We pray today's message planted 779 00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:26,960 something in your spirit and gave you the strength to keep 780 00:55:26,960 --> 00:55:30,440 growing here at the Rock Hill Baptist Church 2. 781 00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:33,920 We're a growing church, and growth starts with one step. 782 00:55:34,440 --> 00:55:37,200 If you're ready to go deeper, visit us online at 783 00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:43,800 www.myrockhill2.org and click Next Steps to get connected, 784 00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:47,200 join a ministry, or give your life to Christ. 785 00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:51,680 Be sure to follow the podcast so you never miss a message and 786 00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:54,760 share this episode with someone you know is ready to grow too. 787 00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:58,440 And remember, no matter what comes your way, you were built 788 00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:01,840 to elevate. Until next time, walk in 789 00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:05,240 purpose, live in power, and grow in grace.