1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:03,440 Well, good morning, Crossing Church. 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:07,920 How are you doing today? It is good to see you. 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:09,520 It's good to be in the House of the Lord. 4 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:12,320 It's good to be with the people of the Lord. 5 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,640 And I'm just glad that I get to share this day with you. 6 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,160 From this vantage point, it this is Veteran's Day weekend. 7 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:24,200 I would just ask if you would indulge me for a second. 8 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:27,800 All of you that are here at all of our locations here, would you 9 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,280 please stand if you're a veteran and let us recognize you, would 10 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:36,960 you please do that right now. Thank you. 11 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:42,840 Thank you. There's so many of us that take 12 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,720 for granted the incredible freedoms that we have in this 13 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,560 country and it didn't come by accident, came because you've 14 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:55,040 continued to protect that and we thank you and appreciate you. 15 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,160 I want to welcome all of our campuses that are joining with 16 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,280 us today from all over these three States and online and 17 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,480 inside. So thankful for each and 18 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,080 everyone of you and a special shout out to our Kirksville 19 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,400 location that's celebrating 15 years today. 20 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,920 That's awesome. And there's there's a lot I'd 21 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:21,280 like to preach to you in just a little bit, but I want to share 22 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:23,840 something with you a little bit more personal. 23 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:30,840 Many of you don't under know the history of this church, but this 24 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:35,920 church started at his Payson Rd. Christian Church in 1974. 25 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:41,200 It was March of 1974 and there are 57 families that 57 26 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,040 individuals, excuse me, that volunteered to start this new 27 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,760 church from Madison Park Christian Church, which is just 28 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:53,000 over their ways. And young families at the time. 29 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:58,680 And they, Freddie Griffith was the senior pastor at Madison 30 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,040 Park at the time. And he had a vision that we 31 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,280 would have a church on the South side of Quincy. 32 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:07,400 And of course, he would have never dreamed of what would have 33 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,800 happened today with with what God has done. 34 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,320 And so those 57, we have many of those charter members that are 35 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:20,280 still a part of our church. But there were some at the time 36 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,600 who stayed back even though they wanted to be part of that 37 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,200 launch. They stayed back because there 38 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:31,640 was only about 200 left after 57 went to start this location. 39 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:35,400 Two of those people that stayed back at Madison Park were Howard 40 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:39,320 and Connie Bryson. And they stayed back for a time 41 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:44,640 until that Madison Park was able to kind of get their legs back 42 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:47,960 underneath them. And then they came later and 43 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,960 Howard and Connie were well, Howard was on the eldership when 44 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,840 I was brought on. So my first experience with the 45 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,200 Crossing involved him and he had volunteered, and he volunteered 46 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:07,040 for years to be the treasurer of the Crossing. 47 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,040 And you know, there's a lot of people in the church that do 48 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:15,000 incredibly important work, but they don't have any desire to be 49 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,640 noticed or to, you know, to be mentioned or to have stage time. 50 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,800 They just serve the Lord and they do it with joy and 51 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:25,560 gladness. And Howard and Connie are two of 52 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,800 those people. And they now if you're at 53 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,400 another location, you probably don't see where I'm pointing, 54 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,600 but the 2nd row and the two chairs right there in the center 55 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:40,600 2nd row they were that was kind of their place to sit and I 56 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,600 would always be able to see them first service on on Sunday 57 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:49,560 morning. What is so critical to 58 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,640 understand about Howard from an eldership and treasure position 59 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,680 is he had the conservative mind of an accountant. 60 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,000 He was an accountant for many years and he had the 61 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,800 conservative mind of accountant, but he also had the incredible 62 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,280 faith. And so he would talk about how 63 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,160 this was like practically impossible And then he would say 64 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:12,440 but we can do this. And so many of the really big 65 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,279 decisions that were made in the early days of the crossing that 66 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,519 allowed us to be 11 locations wide. 67 00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:23,000 And all these other things were were established in those in 68 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,200 those early days. And I'm just so indebted to him 69 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:28,280 and so thankful for him and for Connie. 70 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:34,520 And this last week on Facebook, his family posted that he's in 71 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:37,840 Hospice care. And you know, there's a part of 72 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:39,760 me that just that really hits me hard. 73 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:42,320 That's very sad. But you know what? 74 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,280 He's going to graduate. He's going to graduate. 75 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,600 And all the things that he's had faith in and he's hoped for and 76 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,760 he's desired. God's going to provide that for 77 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:55,640 him. And I just wanted to take a 78 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,840 moment out of the sermon time and just be thankful for Howard 79 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:02,800 and Connie Bryson. Would you do that along with me 80 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:04,600 right now? Just be thankful for them. 81 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:09,040 Just they might be listening. Family might be listening. 82 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,480 Thank you, Howard. Thank you, Connie, for your 83 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,960 great faith and for your heart. And I love having examples like 84 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:22,160 that to help instruct my heart on the way I should be. 85 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:28,120 And this series, Handle with Care is a study in David's heart 86 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,040 and how he wanted to be someone after God's heart and what I can 87 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,840 take from his life an example to to infuse in the mind. 88 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,600 So I'm thinking about that, thinking about the human heart, 89 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:45,360 and it caused me to think about my oldest son. 90 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:51,680 His mother-in-law has had heart trouble for many, many years, to 91 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,280 the point where she was on the heart transplant list. 92 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,120 And a year ago there was a donor. 93 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:04,920 And so she was going to have the opportunity to have her heart 94 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:10,160 replaced with another heart, which was a very big deal for 95 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,720 her to extend her life. And by the way, she has had that 96 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,560 heart transplant and she's doing very, very well. 97 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:19,840 She's doing great, healthier than she's ever been. 98 00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:20,800 That's awesome. But. 99 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:25,920 But as they were preparing for the surgery, the doctors, a 100 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:30,000 whole team of doctors, they came in and the doctors began to 101 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,280 explain to her what she might experience, what things might 102 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:39,480 happen and through the process, both in the operation and post 103 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:44,400 operative, and they said some really interesting things. 104 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:48,680 They informed her that there might be mood changes, that 105 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,120 there might be personality changes, that there might be 106 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:59,120 radical differences in appetite, even memories that were not her 107 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:03,480 own. Is that kind of weird to you, 108 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,920 that there actually maybe be something in that donor heart 109 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,480 that would be transferred to its new living host? 110 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,200 Now some doctors think that isn't true. 111 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,960 But there's actually doctors who not only have noticed this, but 112 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,000 have actually written about it. There's a book that she well, I 113 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,960 asked her for permission to share this said that she had 114 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,880 read called When Death Becomes Life notes from a Transplant 115 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:35,440 Surgeon. And what it explains is there's 116 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,760 actually four kinds of memory that are, that is cellular 117 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:46,360 memory, epigenetic memory, DNA memory, RNA memory and protein 118 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:48,800 memory. In her case, of course, you 119 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:50,720 know, the question is, So what changed? 120 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:52,920 Anything happened. I mean, meaning. 121 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,320 And she goes, you know, every week I wanted to go to Pizza Hut 122 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:00,720 and have a thin crust, pepperoni and mushroom pizza. 123 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,600 And after I had my heart surgery, I no longer have any 124 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:09,680 desire for a thin crust, pepperoni and mushroom pizza 125 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:14,320 from Pizza Hut. So that was about it for her. 126 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,680 But spiritually speaking, thinking about that, spiritually 127 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:21,800 speaking, we all need a heart transplant. 128 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,160 We really do. We've been learning about the 129 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:29,560 human heart, and we've been using David as this example 130 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,919 because he was described as a man after God's own heart. 131 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:37,240 And I want you to think about that statement that David wanted 132 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,280 God's heart instead of his own heart. 133 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:45,160 To be a man after God's heart means you want his, not yours. 134 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:49,040 That he knew that there were a lot of things in his heart that 135 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:51,760 really shouldn't be there or needed to be replaced with 136 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:53,240 something better. And you know what? 137 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,320 I think we are the same as David there. 138 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:01,160 I think that any of honest person here right now would say, 139 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:05,200 yeah, there's a lot of things in my heart that probably would be 140 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,440 a whole lot better if they were replaced with the things of 141 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:11,440 God's heart. I think we might all agree with 142 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:18,680 that to some extent. David's son Solomon told us that 143 00:09:18,680 --> 00:09:22,960 we had to be very careful how we treated our hearts, and he, he 144 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:27,000 wrote about it in Proverbs Chapter 4, verse 23, said above 145 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,640 all else, that's pretty big right there, that statement, 146 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:35,320 Guard your heart. Guard it for everything. 147 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:37,240 A very big word, all inclusive word. 148 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:44,120 Everything you do flows from it. So how are we doing? 149 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,400 How good are you at guarding your heart? 150 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:53,360 How open and susceptible is your heart to worldly things, 151 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,640 negative things, cynical things, discouraging thing? 152 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:02,040 Or are you doing a good job of guarding your heart? 153 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:04,840 That's important. It's an important question for 154 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,520 us to ask ourselves because our hearts, it's at the core of 155 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:13,240 everything that we are. And if someone gets a hold of 156 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:14,720 our heart, they get a hold of us. 157 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:21,400 You know, Jesus reasserted that truth in Matthew 1518, he said. 158 00:10:21,680 --> 00:10:24,840 But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the 159 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:29,360 heart, and these defile him. It was said in the context of an 160 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,120 argument he was having with the religious leaders who made a big 161 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:37,800 deal about, like, what kind of utensils you use when you ate, 162 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,440 how you prepared your food. And it was all about all all of 163 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:46,240 this legalism because they said if you didn't do these things in 164 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:50,240 the right way, it that that it would somehow pollute you. 165 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,320 Because this stuff would come into your mouth. 166 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:54,320 Yeah. And then it would, it would mess 167 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:56,040 up your heart. And Jesus goes, it's not what 168 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,840 goes into a man's mouth or a person's mouth that defiles him. 169 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:05,520 It's what comes out of his mouth because it proceeds from his 170 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:10,000 heart. Makes a lot of sense now. 171 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,320 We've learned now, kind of getting into David. 172 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,600 We've learned that David was still just a very young man when 173 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,600 he was anointed to become the king of Israel. 174 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:25,080 The time Saul was the king, a man named Saul and David honored 175 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:30,000 Saul as king and served the king by soothing him, playing his 176 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,080 harp and when he was having fits of madness carrying his armor 177 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,960 for him. And it wasn't until David 178 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,760 defeated Goliath that something radically changed in Saul's 179 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:47,240 attitude toward David. David and Saul's son Jonathan 180 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:51,360 were best friends at the time, and Saul made David the leader 181 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:55,160 of his army. He, David, won every battle that 182 00:11:55,160 --> 00:12:00,280 Saul sent him out to fight, and he was universally loved. 183 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:01,560 David was just loved. He was. 184 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:05,520 He was loved by Jonathan. He was loved by the soldiers, he 185 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:07,800 was loved by the people of Israel. 186 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:16,400 But something in Saul's heart grew very dark, to the point 187 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:23,840 where he wanted to kill David. That dark David ended up running 188 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:26,960 for his life, and Saul actually tried to hunt him down. 189 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:32,200 And maybe if we understood the difference between Saul's heart 190 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,880 and David's heart, it might inform us, you know, because 191 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,560 what are the things that we learn from Saul's heart that we 192 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:41,040 don't want? What are the things we learn 193 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,320 from David's heart that we do want? 194 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:46,880 And how do we contrast those two to develop a deeper 195 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:49,360 understanding of how to guard our hearts? 196 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:51,320 That's where I want to take you today. 197 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:58,160 You see what when you read the Bible narrative about Saul, his 198 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:04,360 heart didn't start out that way. In fact, he was a guy that 199 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,320 people would say had everything he needed to have in order to be 200 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:12,280 a great king. In First Samuel 9, it said that 201 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:16,880 he was a man of standing. We'll talk about what that means 202 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:19,280 in a little bit. It also said that he was really 203 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:23,160 handsome and that he stood a foot taller, like a head taller 204 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:26,560 than everyone else, all of the people around him. 205 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:30,000 So he just stood out in a crowd. He was just a bigger guy and it 206 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,320 was a nice looking guy and and people thought really highly of 207 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:36,760 him. He had the great reputation, all 208 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,760 of that. But he's also described in First 209 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:44,640 Samuel 10 and it goes to deeper than just those outward things 210 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,520 it says. Then Samuel took a flask of 211 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,160 olive oil and poured it on Saul's head and kissed him, 212 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:54,320 saying, Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his 213 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:58,240 inheritance? And the spirit of the Lord will 214 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:00,640 come powerfully upon you and you will prophecy. 215 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:04,840 So he was not only a king, he also had the gift of prophecy 216 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:10,480 and you will be changed into a different person. 217 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,680 So obviously there were things in Saul's life in his heart that 218 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:20,480 needed radical change. Once these signs are fulfilled, 219 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,400 do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 220 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:27,520 Wow, that's powerful. And as Saul turned to leave 221 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:33,960 Samuel, listen to this. God changed Saul's heart. 222 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,360 And all these signs were fulfilled that day. 223 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:40,640 So he had all of the had the whole package. 224 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,840 Handsome guy, tall guy, man of standing. 225 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,200 And then here comes the Holy Spirit. 226 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:51,120 And God's going to give him victory wherever he goes. 227 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:54,280 And he's, and he's got the ability to prophecy as well as 228 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:55,600 that. It's all this stuff. 229 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:58,840 How could he not be a great king? 230 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:03,480 Well, what does it mean to be a man of standing? 231 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:07,320 You know, that's how you're viewed by other people. 232 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:10,640 That's your Rep, right? How you're viewed by other 233 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,400 people and being viewed highly by others. 234 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:17,760 That can be a really good thing, but it can also be a bad thing 235 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:25,760 if you crave it right. He also is viewed as having a 236 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:27,760 humble heart. And the reason he's viewed that 237 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,920 way is there's a story of him when he's supposed to be crowned 238 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:36,160 as king, hiding in the baggage and luggage, because he he just 239 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,440 really didn't want to do that. And we we read that and we go, 240 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,280 oh, he must have been a humble guy. 241 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,880 Was he a humble guy, which would have been a really good thing? 242 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:51,240 Or was he more of a fearful guy? He's afraid of taking that 243 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:55,760 responsibility. What it does show you about 244 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:58,400 Saul's heart is even at that time, even though God had 245 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:03,080 changed him, he had a tendency to want to trust in himself 246 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:08,200 rather than in God. The fact that he was tall and 247 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,840 handsome would help people to recognize him as king. 248 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:16,160 But putting too much trust in yourself can cause a big 249 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:20,920 distraction between what you think of yourself and what God 250 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:23,680 is wanting to do with you and through you and where the real 251 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:29,840 power and authority comes from. So let's explore Saul's heart 252 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,920 and do this comparison and contrast, OK? 253 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,800 And I'm going to key in on four stories, and I'm not going to 254 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:38,240 spend a lot of time in those stories. 255 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:43,040 But just to give you an idea of the substance of Saul's heart, 256 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:50,440 first, he had a heart that lean toward disobedience to God, to 257 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,480 not just trust God and do what he said. 258 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,960 The story that goes with this is when he was going to fight a 259 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,160 major battle against an invading army. 260 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,400 But before they would go into battle, one of the things they 261 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:05,400 would do is sacrifice to God so that, you know, the glory would 262 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,200 go to God, the glory to victory would go to God. 263 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,520 And they would have, like, a worship service to God before 264 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:13,000 they would actually go fight the battle. 265 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:15,839 And they're waiting for Samuel to get there because he's a 266 00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,680 priest. And priests are the ones who can 267 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:22,400 offer sacrifices. And so they're waiting, and 268 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:24,319 they're waiting. And Samuel's not showing up, and 269 00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:27,440 he's late. And so Saul starts to get 270 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:29,520 nervous. And we got to go fight this 271 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,600 battle, and we can't keep waiting forever. 272 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:37,280 And so Saul decides as king that he'll offer the sacrifice. 273 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,680 And no sooner does he offer the sacrifice, Samuel shows up and 274 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:47,640 he goes, what have you done? Didn't I tell you that you need 275 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:51,360 to wait for me? Here's what Saul was doing. 276 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:53,680 I mean that it wasn't just disobedience. 277 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:58,000 Saul was trying to operate as a priest as well as a prophet. 278 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,320 And the king. And there's only one person in 279 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:04,000 all human history that was all three Prophet, priest and king. 280 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,320 You know who that was? That was Jesus. 281 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:11,520 And he wasn't allowed to take any of that stage time from 282 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,640 Jesus. Now that something that Saul 283 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,480 wouldn't have known at the time, but it was enough for him to 284 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,560 just be obedient to what Samuel said and Samuel said. 285 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:23,120 Because you've been this disobedient and this very 286 00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:27,560 important thing, your heirs will not be on the throne. 287 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:30,840 So he was disobedient and had a disobedient heart. 288 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,760 Second thing you see is that he had a heart full of pride and 289 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:40,680 selfishness that where he thought he knew better than God 290 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,880 like an egocentric heart. There's a story about him 291 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:50,120 fighting a battle with a with a nation or a group of people 292 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:54,040 called the Amalekites. They went to war against Israel 293 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:58,920 and he was going to fight for Israel and Israel succeeded in 294 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:03,480 the battle. But Samuel had instructed Saul 295 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:07,760 that because of the incredible sin of the Amalekites over so 296 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,000 many years, he wanted them wiped completely out. 297 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,440 So they were supposed to kill every soldier, and they were 298 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,640 supposed to kill even the animals. 299 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,240 The Bible uses the term the ban under the ban. 300 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:28,080 In other words, these are you have to do this well, Saul 301 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:29,480 started thinking in his own mind. 302 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:31,200 Some of these animals are really nice. 303 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,800 It's a shame to have to kill all these animals. 304 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:37,880 And why do I have to kill the king? 305 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,880 Wouldn't it be better if the king had to pay homage to me 306 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,640 than other people would realize just how great a king I am? 307 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:50,360 So what does he do? He spares the best animals, and 308 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:57,880 he spares the king. And I remember the story where 309 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:01,440 Samuel comes back and Saul goes, Look, we've defeated the army. 310 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,400 Look at all we've done. Isn't this great? 311 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,640 And Samuel says, what is this bleeding of sheep in my ears and 312 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,880 the lowing of cattle? Did you forget what I told you? 313 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:15,280 Did you forget what God told you? 314 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:21,560 He was full of pride and selfishness #3 He was full of 315 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:23,600 jealousy. Now we're going to delve into 316 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,760 that deeper in a moment, because David became a scapegoat for all 317 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,560 of his shortcomings. He wanted to blame David for 318 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,200 everything that was going wrong inside of his heart. 319 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:35,760 And #4, he had a heart full of fear. 320 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,840 He had a heart full of fear. He trusted in himself and he 321 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:43,000 didn't trust in God. Now this is how I know this, 322 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:49,520 because the last battle that he fought, he died in, and he 323 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:51,800 wanted to know if he was going to win the battle or lose the 324 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,080 battle ahead of time. Well, the person that you're 325 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,800 supposed to talk to would be a priest or a prophet and seek the 326 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:00,960 answer from God. But but you know what he did? 327 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,160 He went to a woman who was a witch, The witch of Endor, which 328 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,400 is a term that the Old Testament uses for a medium. 329 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:13,200 Someone who practices the art of divination, being able to 330 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:16,280 foretell the future even though he was a prophet himself. 331 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:20,200 Now what's absolutely interesting about this is that 332 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:25,640 he had already made it a capital offense to be a medium, except 333 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:30,320 for some reason, even though mediums were either expelled 334 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,600 from the country or killed, Saul happened to know of one that was 335 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,840 still around, so he was the exception instead of the 336 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:40,560 example. Do you see what I'm saying? 337 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:44,040 He goes to this witch of Endor while I win the battle and 338 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:46,760 something happens that he doesn't expect. 339 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:49,760 And I don't think the witch of Endor expected it either, 340 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:54,360 because Samuel, even though he had died and been dead a while, 341 00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:00,640 he appears and says by this time tomorrow, Saul, you're going to 342 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,680 join me. This is your last day on earth. 343 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:12,280 He was fearful. Now David's heart was very 344 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:17,040 different than that. And we see it in two times that 345 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,760 David had the opportunity to defend himself by killing Saul 346 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:25,040 when he was hunting him, but did not do it. 347 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:29,240 But before those opportunities, those two opportunities, David 348 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:31,960 had no doubt that Saul wanted to take his life. 349 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:37,200 In fact, Saul had tried to take his life four times before that. 350 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,600 The first time we read about in First Samuel 19, one to three, 351 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:43,400 it says Saul told his son Jonathan. 352 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:50,040 Now, by the way, David was given Saul's daughter in marriage. 353 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:55,480 He was married to the Princess. He was married to Saul's 354 00:22:55,480 --> 00:23:03,280 daughter, which makes him what relative to Saul he Saul 355 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:08,600 son-in-law, right? Saul has a son named Jonathan, 356 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:12,480 which is David's best friend. But it's not just his best 357 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:17,720 friend, it's his what? It's his brother-in-law, right? 358 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:21,600 Saul told his son Jonathan. The father-in-law told the 359 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,320 son-in-law all the attendants to kill David. 360 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:30,080 But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David and warned him. 361 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,920 My father, Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. 362 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:35,440 Be on your guard tomorrow morning. 363 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,720 Go into hiding and stay there, and I'll go out and stand with 364 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:41,800 my father in the field where you are. 365 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:47,360 I'll speak to him about you and I will tell you what I find out. 366 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,320 Saul was already plotting to kill David and already assigned 367 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:56,200 people to kill him. The second time he tried, David 368 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,720 was playing the harp for him to soothe him, and he picked up a 369 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,240 javelin, tried to pin him to the wall with it, threw it at David. 370 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,760 David dodged A javelin throw across the table. 371 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:13,640 The third time, Saul sent soldiers to his daughter's house 372 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:18,200 and son-in-law David's house to kill David while he was in bed, 373 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:24,640 but David escaped his grasp. The 4th time, word got to David 374 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:27,560 that that Saul was trying to kill him and so he ran to 375 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,760 Samuel. The high priest or the priest 376 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,640 and God intervened three times to prevent the soldiers that 377 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:40,480 Saul sent from killing him and that time Saul lost it. 378 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:43,760 He tried to kill his own son Jonathan. 379 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,880 He found out that there were a group of priests that had 380 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:52,240 protected David and helped him to escape 85 of them, and had 381 00:24:52,240 --> 00:25:01,280 them all massacred. Eventually David did escape and 382 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:02,840 he went to a place called Ingetti. 383 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,320 Now, I've been to Ingetti a couple of times. 384 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,680 It's really interesting place in the southern part of Israel. 385 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:14,040 It's at the North End of the Dead Sea, so it's all desert and 386 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:21,120 rock and sand and very lifeless. And you go a little bit east 387 00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:23,720 from the Dead Sea. There's a pathway, you can walk 388 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,440 it and there's like nothing, nothing growing or living. 389 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:33,040 And then suddenly you see this green and it's an Oasis and 390 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:38,480 there's this beautiful waterfall and a a beautiful pool and 391 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:40,760 there's, you know, caves and stuff all around there. 392 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,560 And it's like like what you would expect in your mind is an 393 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,040 Oasis. Well, that's where David was 394 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:48,600 hiding. He was hiding in Ingetti. 395 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:52,000 Well, Saul hears about it. This is what happens in First 396 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,400 Samuel 24, after Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, 397 00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:59,120 he was told David is in the desert of Ingetti. 398 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:07,360 So Saul took 3000 Abel Young at 3000, an army from all Israel, 399 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:11,120 and set out to look for David and his men near the crags of 400 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:15,000 the wild goats. He came to the sheep pens along 401 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:19,200 the way, and a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve 402 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:24,320 himself. OK, that's a pretty vulnerable 403 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:28,040 position, right? In a cave. 404 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:32,120 Relieving yourself. David and his men were far back 405 00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:34,360 in The Cave. Oh, David's back there. 406 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:40,080 And his men, The men said, This is the day the Lord spoke of 407 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:43,560 when he said to you, I will give your enemy into your hands for 408 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:48,520 you to deal with as you wish. Then David crept up unnoticed 409 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:54,200 and cut off a corner of Saul's robe. 410 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:58,640 Then David went out of The Cave and called out to Saul, my Lord 411 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,120 the king. When Saul looked behind him, 412 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:07,120 David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the 413 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:10,040 ground. And he said to Saul, Why do you 414 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,480 listen when men say David is bent on harming you? 415 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,600 To this day, this day, you've seen with your own eyes how the 416 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,280 Lord delivered you into my hands in The Cave. 417 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,880 Some urge me to kill you, but I spared you, I said. 418 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,640 I will not lay my hand on my Lord, because he is the Lord's 419 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,440 anointed. See my father. 420 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,760 Look at this piece of your robe in my hand. 421 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,400 I cut off the corner of your robe, but did not kill you. 422 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,360 See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am 423 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:43,120 guilty of wrongdoing. A rebellion. 424 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,960 I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my 425 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,960 life. May the Lord judge between you 426 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,040 and me. May the Lord avenge the wrongs 427 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,000 you have done to me. But my hand will not touch you. 428 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:01,440 As the old saying goes, from evil doers come evil deeds, so 429 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:07,920 my hand will not touch you. So Saul realizes that his life's 430 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:12,680 been spared and takes his 3000 soldiers and goes home. 431 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:18,360 But he doesn't stay there long. He hears that David is in the 432 00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:22,640 desert, so he brings that same army out again to kill him again 433 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:27,720 for Samuel 26, seven through 11. So David and Abishai went to the 434 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:29,760 army at night. So he's camped out in the 435 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:34,720 desert. Saul is intense, and David is 436 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,960 out there in the desert. And so at night time they creep 437 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,200 into the camp. And there was Saul, lying asleep 438 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,440 inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his 439 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:46,520 head. Abner and the soldiers were 440 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:50,800 lying around him, and Abishai said to David, today God has 441 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:52,520 delivered your enemy into your hands. 442 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:56,160 Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear. 443 00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:00,600 I won't strike him twice like I'll give him a merciful and 444 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,840 quick death. But David said to ABBA Shai, 445 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,160 don't destroy him. Who can lay a hand on the Lord's 446 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:11,440 anointed and be guiltless? But the Lord forbid that I 447 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,360 should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. 448 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:19,080 Now get the spear and a water jug that are near his head and 449 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,080 let's go. And the same thing happens. 450 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:23,880 He calls out the saw. He goes, Look at this. 451 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:28,040 Here's your spear. Here's the water jug next to 452 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:30,000 your head. I could have taken your life, 453 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,680 but I spared you again because I will not kill the Lord's 454 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:39,720 anointed. Each of these experiences shows 455 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,400 you that David has a much different substance to his heart 456 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,200 than Saul. Let's look. 457 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,000 Look at them. We talked about Saul was 458 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,600 disobedient, right? David instead was very obedient. 459 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,320 He recognized that God had placed Saul as king and he was 460 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,640 not going to usurp the authority of Almighty God. 461 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:03,920 He was going to stay obedient to God. #2 Saul had a prideful and 462 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,640 selfish heart, but not David. He had a humble heart. 463 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,320 He knew that he had been anointed to replace Saul. 464 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:16,680 He could have justified killing him, but he didn't because that 465 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,000 was up to God to do. He wasn't going to do that 466 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:20,440 himself. He was leaving that 467 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:25,800 responsibility to God, #3 Unlike Saul, he wasn't jealous. 468 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:28,560 He didn't want anything that Saul had to give him. 469 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,120 All he wanted was what he received from God's own hand. 470 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,480 And #4. Unlike Saul, he wasn't fearful. 471 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:40,320 Although his life was on the line, he trusted that God would 472 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:43,160 protect him. Now here's what I want to do. 473 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:44,800 I want us to apply that to ourselves. 474 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:46,720 OK? You just got a lot of Bible 475 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,240 lesson. What does that matter for us? 476 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,800 What can we take from the stories that we learn about 477 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,840 Saul's heart and the contrast to David's heart? 478 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:00,600 So that God can do something in our heart? 479 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:05,120 So that we would guard our hearts so that we could be like 480 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:09,120 David, a person who wants to be after God's heart? 481 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,920 Number one, keep God on the throne of your heart and your 482 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:19,640 life. Keep God on the throne of your 483 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:24,080 heart and your life. You hear Clayton say it a lot. 484 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:30,560 God's way is the best way. Now, a lot of us want God to be 485 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,560 in our heart. We want God to be in our life. 486 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,360 We might say I want Jesus in my heart or I want Jesus in my 487 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:40,520 life, but that's really not far enough. 488 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:43,600 God doesn't just want to be in your heart. 489 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:45,560 He doesn't want to just be in your life. 490 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:50,200 He wants to be on the throne of your heart and your life. 491 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,960 That's why when people get baptized at the crossing, we 492 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,760 don't say because I want Jesus as my savior. 493 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,280 We say because I want Jesus to be my savior and my Lord. 494 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,360 We don't want him to just occupy a place in our heart. 495 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:08,960 We want him to be in charge of our heart. 496 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,080 And you know what? That's an easy decision, then, 497 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,080 to do what God wants rather than what I want. 498 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:20,160 If he's the one making the decisions Jesus said in Matthew 499 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:24,960 633, seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these 500 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:29,960 things will be given to you as well, that he has to come first, 501 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,840 his Kingdom and his righteousness. 502 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:38,000 As long as David kept God first, God took care of David's needs. 503 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,200 Listen to me. He'll do the same for you. 504 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:45,560 If you keep God first in your life, he will take care of you. 505 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:53,280 He'll protect you. David really wasn't honoring 506 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:58,320 Saul by sparing his life. He was honoring God by sparing 507 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,400 Saul's life. Ultimately, this is all about 508 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,040 honoring God. It's not very lateral. 509 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:10,080 It's pretty vertical #2. Don't let the cares of life 510 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,720 become obstacles between you and God. 511 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:18,640 You need to turn those obstacles over to him. 512 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,400 In Matthew 625, Jesus said, Therefore, I tell you, don't 513 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,920 worry about your life, boy. Isn't that easy to say and hard 514 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,880 to do? Don't worry about your life, 515 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:34,520 what you will eat or drink, or about your body. 516 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:39,080 What you'll wear is not life more than food and the body more 517 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:42,280 than clothes. You know, Jesus goes on to say, 518 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:43,960 consider the lilies of the field. 519 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:48,480 Consider the birds of the air. You know they don't look what, 520 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:50,840 They don't participate in any of these things. 521 00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:52,960 And yet your Heavenly Father takes care of them. 522 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,600 And if he can can take care of that, don't you think he can 523 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:01,760 take care of you? You need to recognize that all 524 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:05,840 you have is coming from God and make sure that He's the one 525 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:09,920 getting the credit for that. And when you face a challenge, 526 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,600 trust that God is with you and he'll take care of you. 527 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,960 You know, we can look at the relationship between David and 528 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,639 Saul, and we might argue back and forth whether or not David 529 00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:24,800 forgave Saul. But what does that mean? 530 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,320 I think a lot of us, we misunderstand forgiveness. 531 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,800 We use statements like forgive and forget, which is a complete 532 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,679 lie, because as much as you like might like to forget, you can't, 533 00:34:35,199 --> 00:34:40,440 right? Or you might think that if I if 534 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:45,120 I ask forgiveness, then I should be restored in some way. 535 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,760 But that doesn't mean everything goes back to the way it was. 536 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:54,400 And the relationship between David and Saul didn't go back to 537 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,840 the way it was. But David was not going to let 538 00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:59,760 that become an obstacle between him and God. 539 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,600 Because the primary thing in forgiveness isn't this way. 540 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:08,200 The primary thing is this way because when we don't forgive, 541 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:10,880 we don't have a heart that's forgiving to other people. 542 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,680 It creates an obstacle between US and God. 543 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:19,520 That bitterness that we let take root in our heart, it can just 544 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:21,680 crack our faith in half over time. 545 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,280 And David wasn't going to let that happen. 546 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:30,280 So his forgiveness was I'm not. I am not going to retaliate 547 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,560 against you. The Lord can do what He needs to 548 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:36,560 do with you, but I'm not going to let that become an obstacle 549 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:38,360 between me and my heavenly Father. 550 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:42,880 So don't let the cares of life become obstacles between you and 551 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:48,200 God #3 Put God first in the most valuable things in your life. 552 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:53,280 Put him first. Matthew 621 says for where your 553 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:55,680 treasure is. Jesus says there your heart will 554 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,360 be also. That's true, right? 555 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:01,240 But it makes you think as What is it in my life that I 556 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:05,280 treasure? Well, I don't think that's that 557 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:07,440 hard to answer. Here are the three things that I 558 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:12,640 treasure ready my time, my relationships, and my money. 559 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,680 Would you agree with that? Like the three biggest things 560 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:18,520 that you might treasure in your life, your time, your 561 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:22,640 relationships and your money. But what's the problem with the 562 00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:29,040 way I said that? It's really not my time, because 563 00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:31,680 every moment of my life I'm living out. 564 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,560 I'm living by the grace of God who gives me that time, right? 565 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,080 It's not my time, really aren't your relationships, because God 566 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:41,560 has orchestrated your life in such a way that those 567 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:44,360 relationships aren't accidental. God knew about those 568 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:49,120 relationships before you do so, though they're really not yours 569 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:50,480 either. And what about your money? 570 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:55,720 It was never your money. You're a steward of what God has 571 00:36:55,720 --> 00:36:57,800 given you, right? Listen to me. 572 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:01,120 It's harder to lose something when you realize it was never 573 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:05,840 really yours in the 1st place, when you realize that God 574 00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:10,080 allowed you to use it but it's not really yours. 575 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,400 Saul was driven mad by trying to hold on to things that were 576 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:19,960 really never his to begin with. The difference in the two hearts 577 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,960 is that David put them in their proper place. 578 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:31,160 If I want to have a heart that imitates what David wanted, to 579 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:35,080 have a heart after God, I need to make sure that God stays on 580 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:40,160 the throne of my heart and life. I I need to be careful to guard 581 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:43,880 my heart so that the cares of life do not become obstacles 582 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:48,480 between me and God. And I need to put God first with 583 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,480 the most valuable things in my life. 584 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:54,040 And you know what? That can begin here, right now, 585 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,720 and right here. You can't change the substance 586 00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:02,920 of your heart by yourself. And some of you were listening 587 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,760 to me describe Saul, and you may be identified more with him 588 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:11,800 sometimes I do too. But you can give your heart to 589 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:16,120 God, and then he can do things with your heart that you could 590 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:22,640 never do by yourself. And you do that when you come 591 00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:25,520 into an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 592 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,160 How are you doing guarding your heart? 593 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,800 How are you doing allowing God to transplant the things of his 594 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:40,640 heart into your heart? We're moving to a time of 595 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:47,880 decision now. There's some of you that are 596 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:52,400 here right now, and what you're doing is you're trying to be the 597 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:55,280 hero of your own story. You think that if you could just 598 00:38:55,280 --> 00:39:00,320 muster up enough of whatever that is, you could set things 599 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:04,520 right in your life. You could get it worked out, 600 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:11,840 whatever it is, whatever vision you have of what you want to be 601 00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:16,400 or supposed to be. But I'm telling you, every time 602 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,280 you turn over a new leaf, it looks the same on both sides. 603 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:23,040 And some of you are pretty frustrated because you've done 604 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:29,440 that a lot, you know, and and maybe you've tried to access God 605 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:36,000 and say you know I want God in my life so that I can Have you 606 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:37,600 ever watched the. I mean there'll be football all 607 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:40,040 afternoon, right? And you see these guys, they go 608 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:42,120 in the end zone and they give glory to God. 609 00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:45,720 You ever see that they go in the end zone and they put their 610 00:39:45,720 --> 00:39:48,360 hands up in the air and it's like you to you gods you got. 611 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,320 You ever see them do that when they lose, they fumble the ball. 612 00:39:54,240 --> 00:39:59,080 Give them the glory to you. God, you ever see, You ever see, 613 00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:02,840 yo, you don't see them celebrate when something doesn't happen 614 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:04,760 the way that they want it to happen. 615 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:07,680 A lot of times we want things to happen the way we want them to 616 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:09,200 happen. We'll give glory to God then. 617 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,120 But you know God gets the should get the glory in all things, 618 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:14,000 right? Not just the things that make 619 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,720 you feel good about yourself. That means he's on the throne. 620 00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:22,880 You're not. And some of you are just weary. 621 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,160 You don't want to admit it. You try to show everybody else 622 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:28,240 that you look great and everything's great when it's not 623 00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:32,880 great, because you keep trying to do this yourself, in your own 624 00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:35,280 power, in your own strength, and you can't do it. 625 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:38,720 That's what Saul was doing. He was relying on himself for 626 00:40:38,720 --> 00:40:42,000 these things when he had all of the access to God and all the 627 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,520 gifting from God, and he didn't. So do you. 628 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:48,440 You have access to God right now, but you have to come into a 629 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:54,520 relationship with him. For some of us today, what we 630 00:40:54,520 --> 00:41:01,040 need to do is just say, I surrender, I give up, I need 631 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:03,600 you. There's going to be somebody 632 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,840 right there, up there by the baptistry that would love 633 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:09,160 nothing more than to talk to you about what next steps are in an 634 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:11,320 intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 635 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:17,520 And there's nobody stopping you today but you, some of you are 636 00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:18,320 going. Well, I don't want to be 637 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:19,680 hypocritical. Well, you are. 638 00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:25,560 So am I. That's the human heart. 639 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:30,640 But God will change all that. He can change all that. 640 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:35,640 The beautiful thing about the human heart is that someday it's 641 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:39,600 going to be a perfect heart. I told you about Howard Bryson 642 00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:42,720 earlier. And that he's on Hospice care, 643 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:45,880 which means he's not going to be that much longer for this world. 644 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:50,240 But you know what's going to happen in that moment when that 645 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:55,800 heart, that human heart, that flesh heart beats its last, God 646 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:00,840 is going to finish his work. He's going to give him a new 647 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:10,800 heart and a new body and a new mind all at once, and he's going 648 00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:12,960 to fill his lungs with the air of heaven. 649 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:21,520 And you can have that. If you come to Christ, he'll 650 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:26,120 finish what he starts. Some of you here today, you, you 651 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:32,680 have a relationship with Christ. You made that decision, but 652 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:35,080 you're still struggling. You're struggling right now. 653 00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:37,960 You're not having a good day or a good week or a Goodyear or a 654 00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:42,800 good decade. The fact is you can come to him 655 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:45,200 now. You know that's not a one shot 656 00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,240 deal with God. He's there every day. 657 00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:49,440 There's stuff in your heart that needs to change. 658 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:51,680 Sometimes we get caught up in the lower story. 659 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,760 It's like, you know, I don't know, circumstances take you 660 00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:58,880 down into the basement of your lower story, right? 661 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:03,640 And while you're down there, somebody locks the door and you 662 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:08,560 can't get back out, right. But I have a saviour who holds 663 00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:12,960 the keys, and he can unlock that door. 664 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:17,360 And he can get you out of that basement if you humble yourself 665 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:19,400 and come to him. That's what these steps are for. 666 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,480 For you to come up and just humble yourself before the Lord 667 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:27,080 and let him have his way. You can do that today. 668 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:31,600 Nothing's stopping you. Let the burden fall off. 669 00:43:31,720 --> 00:43:34,200 He'll take it. He'll clean up the mess. 670 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:39,200 After we're gone. Would you stand with me and 671 00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:41,360 let's pray together? Heavenly Father, I pray that all 672 00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:45,360 the strongholds and all the defense mechanisms in our hearts 673 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:51,680 right now where we try to guard our own heart, but we're not 674 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:55,960 trusting in you to guard that heart. 675 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:01,280 I pray that Father, before you they would all come down, and 676 00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:04,440 that you would have total and complete access to the hearts of 677 00:44:04,440 --> 00:44:06,760 your children, these your children, and you would do 678 00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:11,560 something amazing and incredible in each and every one of us. 679 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:14,720 I pray in Jesus name. Amen.