1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,880 Welcome to the River City Church podcast and a message by our 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:07,960 lead pastor Jason Powers. Our prayer is that this message 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,240 would inspire and encourage you, build your faith and point you 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:14,840 to the life changing love of Jesus. 5 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,680 May you enjoy the goodness of God as you follow him today. 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:23,080 Good morning, church. How are you guys doing? 7 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:25,120 Who who all been on vacation already? 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,240 Any June, all July. All right, save the best for the 9 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:32,000 end of summer. All right, let me introduce 10 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,880 myself. My name is Brian Schneider and I 11 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,240 have the pleasure to serve as the executive pastor here at 12 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:38,480 River City. And I'm just honored they'll 13 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:40,080 share God's word with you this morning. 14 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:44,520 So let's begin in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank 15 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:47,960 you for this day. We ask you to open our hearts 16 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,560 and our minds just to hear from Your Word. 17 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:54,800 Lord, you are loving God who pursues US daily. 18 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,400 Lord, I pray that we can live faithfully to You and receive 19 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:00,000 all the blessing that you have for us. 20 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,960 And I pray Amen. All right, I received something 21 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:09,040 concerning this past week. I received an invite to my 20th 22 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,760 high school reunion. I have never gone on a high 23 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,560 school reunion, but I'm thinking about going on this one. 24 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,360 And then I started to think, would I even recognize anybody I 25 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:23,840 went to high school with? And so I pulled out photos from 26 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,480 high school just to see, don't do that. 27 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:30,800 It does not make you feel good, right? 28 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:33,280 As I'm looking at these old high school photos, I'm looking at 29 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,360 what I'm wearing. I'm like, Oh my gosh, what was I 30 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,200 thinking? Why did I care so much about 31 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,040 what people thought and what cars we drove and what we 32 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,400 pursued? And we were just chasing silly, 33 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,440 silly things. And it's easy now looking back 34 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:48,600 to say, oh, man, yeah, we were foolish. 35 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:50,840 We were young and we chased empty things. 36 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:53,000 How many of you still play the tuba, right? 37 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,720 That was a waste of time. How many of you are please still 38 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,120 playing football? No, now you're getting surgery 39 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:01,320 on your knees and your back because you played football, 40 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:03,880 right? So there's so much to look back 41 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:08,440 and, and, and to just regret. And so since I just regretted a 42 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:10,880 lot of stuff looking at those photos this week, I want you to 43 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:16,000 share with me in that. And so one thing that is a what 44 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,040 happens throughout the decades is close change. 45 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:20,640 And one thing you can look at from generation to generation is 46 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:22,760 what popular jeans were at the time. 47 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,680 And so I know you did it because back then we all wanted to be 48 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,560 loved and be popular. So I'm going to have everyone 49 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,120 just own what jeans you wore in high school, what the popular 50 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,040 style was. So if you went to high school in 51 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,560 the 70s and you wore those flared bell bottom jeans, hands 52 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:39,760 up, let me see it. Own it. 53 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,080 You did it. It's embarrassing, but you all 54 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,720 did it all right. And then those who went to high 55 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,880 school in the 80s and spent all their money on those designer 56 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:52,400 jeans are those awful acid wash jeans. 57 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,040 Hands up, own it. You did it. 58 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,400 It's embarrassing, but you all did it all right. 59 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:04,000 If you went to high school in the 90s and guys, you were, you 60 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,400 thought your Backstreet Boy, you wore those baggy jeans and 61 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,840 girls, you wore those high rise, AKA mom jeans. 62 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:13,840 Put those hands up. Own it. 63 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:15,880 You did it. If you look at the pictures, it 64 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:17,600 looks awful. Your hair is all poofy. 65 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:19,760 Jeans were too high. Own it. 66 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:23,280 We did that. It's embarrassing, but we did 67 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,720 it. And if you went to high school 68 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:27,640 in the 2000s, this is my generation. 69 00:03:27,640 --> 00:03:30,440 I'm going to own it. I had on those ripped jeans, 70 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,840 right way ripped, destroyed, easily come apart. 71 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:38,240 And then, ladies, those low rise jeans, you were showing a lot of 72 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:39,560 waste back then. Own it. 73 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,960 If you wore those jeans just to fit in, we did it. 74 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:50,120 And then finally, the 2000 tens, those skinny jeans, the jeans 75 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:53,560 you got to lay on your bed just to get them on, right? 76 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:55,520 Some of you probably still have some on. 77 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:58,600 Go ahead and own it. You are the skinny jeans 78 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:00,320 generation. Own it. 79 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:03,240 You. You cared more about being cool 80 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:07,200 than the blood circulation. That's all right. 81 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,560 So we can all look back and realize there was a time in our 82 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:16,560 life that we were foolish, that we chased empty things that just 83 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,920 didn't amount to much. And the reason I bring that up 84 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,480 is this much like our Christian faith, there was a time in our 85 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:27,400 life or we didn't know Christ and we didn't know our King. 86 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:31,440 And so we chased everything this world had to offer and we sought 87 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,360 validation in the world. We we put our identity and what 88 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,120 sports we played and all those stuff as Christians, we didn't 89 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:40,640 know any better. So we chased all the things of 90 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:42,920 the world. And one thing, hopefully now as 91 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:45,640 we move on in our faith, we've learned that those things were 92 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:47,680 empty. Because when you got one, was it 93 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,040 enough? No, then you had to pursue 94 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,240 something else and something better and something better. 95 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:57,000 And so that is where we're at in our faith is God has grace and 96 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,240 love for us. And he's saying this is a 97 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:02,200 process of sanctification. You're now in a period between 98 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,400 when you got to know your King and before you'll stand before 99 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:07,640 your king. And this is a time to be 100 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,840 faithful because God loves us and he wants to bless us. 101 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:13,240 And he says, you know what? I bless faithfulness. 102 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:15,880 You know what? It's going to lead you. 103 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:18,280 Nowhere is chasing the empty things of this world that will 104 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:22,480 one day, one day be destroyed. And so that's what God desires 105 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,080 from us. He desires faithfulness. 106 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,360 Our God says that you can't have two masters. 107 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,840 You're either going to serve one and hate the other, or you're 108 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:35,760 going to devote yourself to 1 and despise the other. 109 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,720 And so where we are, if you believe in Jesus as your savior, 110 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:45,080 you believe God is king, then one thing we believe is that 111 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:47,720 what God has for us is better than what this world can offer 112 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:49,680 us. But we live in a world with 113 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,640 social media that's doing its hardest to try to get us to 114 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:54,640 chase empty and meaningless things. 115 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:57,680 And here's what I don't want to happen one day. 116 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:00,600 I don't want us to stand before our King and regret all these 117 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,680 empty things we chased and miss out on all the good, lasting and 118 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,040 permanent things that God was hoping to give us. 119 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,560 We don't want to miss out on the blessing of God. 120 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,520 He loves us. He's always going to forgive us. 121 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,600 He's going to pursue us always, and He wants great things from 122 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:17,240 us. But if we chase empty things, 123 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:18,440 we're going to miss out on the good. 124 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:25,560 Things of God. So what I want us to the to just 125 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,400 go over this morning is 3 characteristics of a faithful 126 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,760 follower of God. And our goal is not perfection. 127 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,480 We cannot be perfect. This is why we needed Jesus to 128 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,600 come and die on the cross for us because God knows we are bent 129 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,440 towards emptiness and sin. We can't be perfect. 130 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:44,000 God doesn't expect us to be perfect. 131 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:45,520 He just hopes that we're faithful. 132 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,120 And he's saying I want faithfulness for you because 133 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:50,240 it's what's best for you. I want to bless you and do great 134 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,480 things in your life, but to receive that you got to be 135 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:55,640 faithful. And so we're going to go over 136 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:59,280 three things God desires and a faithful follower of him 3 137 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,080 characteristics. And how we're going to flush 138 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:03,720 those out is we're going to flush them out through the 139 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,080 example of David because we're, we got started in this series, 140 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,880 the life of David and it's a life in pursue the king and the 141 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,440 king is not David. We're not pursuing David or 142 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:14,480 pursuing our king. And we're looking at David 143 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,120 because at the end of his life, God said, you are faithful 144 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:19,560 follower of me. And because of that, I'm going 145 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,440 to bless you and do great things through you and your family. 146 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:25,160 And that's what we want when we stand before our king. 147 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,480 Now, I don't know how you were as a high schooler, but I, I 148 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,200 often learn from good examples, but I even learned even more 149 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,000 from bad examples, right? And I had all the sibling that 150 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:38,640 taught me a lot, right? And so there's also a bad 151 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:41,800 example we have and, and first Samuel, and that's King Saul, 152 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:46,080 the first king of Israel. That guy was chasing everything 153 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,880 in this world. And ultimately God says that's 154 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:52,400 not faithfulness. And so I want us to look at 155 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,240 these two characters, the first king of Israel and David, the 156 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:57,520 second king of Israel, and compare and contrast and see 157 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:00,040 what we can learn from them in a good example and a bad. 158 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:09,560 So our first characteristic that God desires for us is that God 159 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:11,360 desires for us to pursue and follow him. 160 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,680 He's saying, look, I want to bless you, but to do that, you 161 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:18,160 got to pursue and follow me. This is what faithfulness to me 162 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:20,000 looks like. It's pursuing to follow me at 163 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:21,280 times. You're going to get caught up 164 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,680 and tricked by this world to chase empty things. 165 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:25,080 That's fine. I could forgive that. 166 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:29,040 But point yourself towards me because I will do greater things 167 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,600 than you than you ever can imagine if you just point your 168 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,159 life towards me. So let's see how Saul does in 169 00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:38,919 this First Samuel 1311 through 14. 170 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:42,200 I'll give you a little background on Saul. 171 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:45,760 The people as as Greg right up here, the people rebelled 172 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:48,040 against God. They because we're broken. 173 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:51,280 We couldn't say faithful to God. And so they asked God for a 174 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,200 human king because they said a human king we can manipulate to 175 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,880 do our bidding, but God, we can't manipulate it. 176 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:58,480 This doesn't work. He doesn't fall for it. 177 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:00,960 And so out of their sin and rebellion against God, they 178 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,000 asked for a human king because they know they could pressure a 179 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,000 human king to to give them what they wanted. 180 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,240 And that was all the things this world had to offer. 181 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:11,600 And so here Saul is, is been chosen by God. 182 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,640 He's the biggest and best of his nation. 183 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:17,640 They say he's a head of tall, a head above the rest, right? 184 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:19,400 Everyone's looking up to him. Great leader. 185 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:21,320 A lot of times if you're tall, you get picked for leadership 186 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:23,040 positions, right? This is Saul. 187 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:30,440 And so he's, he's leading his army, getting ready for battle, 188 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:33,560 cause the, the enemies of God and his nation were coming up 189 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:34,960 against him. And every time Israel went to 190 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:37,840 battle, they were outnumbered, and it was scary. 191 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:42,360 And so he knows what he's supposed to do as king. 192 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,040 He's supposed to wait. And they go to battle when God 193 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,600 says they go to war because God gives them the victory. 194 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,040 And the people knew this. And so he's up there and he's 195 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:53,880 waiting, and he's been waiting and waiting. 196 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:55,880 And the prophet is not coming on time. 197 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:01,480 And so he sees his people start to leave the battlefield, and 198 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:05,080 he's counting the number of swords and Shields and Spears 199 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:06,600 leaving. And that's where he put his 200 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:08,800 trust because he was pursuing the world. 201 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:12,560 And so he freaks out and he says I'm not going to. 202 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:14,680 Wait on God, I'm going to go ahead and just do the blessing 203 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:18,400 and then the people feel confident we can go to war. 204 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:20,560 As soon as he does this, the prophet Sam becomes and look 205 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:24,680 what he says to him in verse 13. Then Samuel says to Saul, you 206 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:27,040 have made a foolish choice. You have not obeyed the 207 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:29,920 commandment that the Lord your God has given you. 208 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,480 Had you done that, the Lord would establish your Kingdom 209 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,280 over Israel forever. But now your Kingdom will not 210 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:37,920 continue. The Lord has sought out for 211 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,040 himself a man who is loyal to him. 212 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,880 The Lord has appointed him to be the leader of his people. 213 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,600 For you have not obeyed, but the Lord's commanded you. 214 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,040 God is seeing as Samuel, He's. Like you're about the wrong 215 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,160 things, man. You're investing and putting 216 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:52,160 your trust in the number of swords and Spears. 217 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:55,360 My Kingdom is bigger than that. That's what the world trusts, 218 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:57,480 and if you trust in that, it's going to let you down. 219 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:01,640 He's saying, pursue me. I promise you what I have for 220 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,040 you is better than anything this world has to offer. 221 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:07,480 Stop pursuing and trusting empty things in this world. 222 00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:11,400 They'll only let you down. They won't fulfill you. 223 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:14,600 We put our hope in that car. We get that car, and then our 224 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:16,680 neighbor gets a better one. And then we're like, oh, now I 225 00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:19,680 need a better one, right? We know this about the world. 226 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:24,680 It's false promises, but God's saying, if you want me to bless 227 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:27,200 you, you want me to do great things for you, just pursue me. 228 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,320 God always pursues us. He will never abandoned us. 229 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,360 He will always forgive us. All he asked in return is just 230 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,520 for us to pursue him. He's like a parent of a teenager 231 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:38,720 saying, look, I love you. I'll do anything for you. 232 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:40,200 Just show me a little bit of that back. 233 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,280 Come on, work. With me, that's what God desires 234 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:47,520 for us. But for Samuel or for Saul? 235 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:49,600 He just wasn't faithful. He was about. 236 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:52,000 The things of this world, that's what he was investing in, 237 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:54,680 putting his trust in. Now let's look at David and 238 00:11:54,680 --> 00:11:59,920 First Samuel 1745 through 47. You guys know this story. 239 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:03,680 This is the most famous story and scripture as far as what we 240 00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:05,880 teach in Bible school, right? Everyone knows David and 241 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,720 Goliath. Everyone knows this story. 242 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:12,400 And just to give you a little context, they was probably 243 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:14,160 around 12 years old at this time. 244 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,520 And Israel again is being threatened by enemies, the 245 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:20,480 Philistines, and they're outnumbered 3 to 1. 246 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:24,800 And so Saul has his troops there, and he's afraid because 247 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:26,960 he's greatly outnumbered. And remember, he put his trust 248 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:29,640 in swords and Spears. And he says, man, we don't have 249 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,880 enough to beat these guys. And not only that is they had 250 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,520 this giant Goliath who's standing in front of their army 251 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,680 guys probably like 8 feet tall things Shaquille O'Neal up 252 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:40,960 there, right? He's intimidating and he's 253 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,400 mocking Israel and mocking their God. 254 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:47,360 And so David comes to deliver lunch to his brothers who are 255 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:50,280 there getting ready for battle. And he hears this mocking of 256 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:55,000 this, this soldier, this Philistine soldier, and he turns 257 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:56,640 to everyone and. Goes guys, what are we doing? 258 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:59,560 Let's go, let's go, let's go fight him. 259 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:02,040 And everyone's like, no, we're not doing it, all right? 260 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:04,880 We're not dying today. And the person who should have 261 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:08,440 been fighting his soul, their biggest and best soldier, and he 262 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,160 didn't want to risk his Kingdom, didn't run and risk his status. 263 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,000 He didn't want to risk all the things he's gained on this 264 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,680 earth. And so they let David, a 12 year 265 00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:17,600 old boy, go out to fight their battle. 266 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:20,560 That shows you the unfaithfulness of this people. 267 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,440 But here's the crazy thing about David is look at his attitude as 268 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:26,480 he goes. If I was a 12 year old boy, I'd 269 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,840 be like, I'm I'm this is it. I'm dead, right? 270 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:33,680 Do I have the confidence he has to approach this giant and to 271 00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:36,160 know he's going to get victory because he knows who he serves. 272 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,560 He's been pursuing the Lord. Look what he says in verse 45 273 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:43,440 says, but David replied to the Philistine. 274 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,320 You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin, but 275 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:49,920 I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of heaven's 276 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:53,480 armies, the God of Israel's armies, who you have defied. 277 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,480 This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand. 278 00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:58,880 I will strike you down and cut off your head. 279 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:01,800 This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the 280 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:03,960 birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land. 281 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,320 Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God. 282 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,200 And all this assembly will know that is not by sword or spear 283 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,400 that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's, and He 284 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:18,240 will deliver you into our hand. Wow, that's some bold words 285 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,920 coming from a 12 year old with a stick in a slingshot, right? 286 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:23,600 But this is what David was about. 287 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:26,560 Bio says he was a man after it was God's own heart. 288 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:30,120 He said, look, I've, I've, I defeated a lion in a bear 289 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,200 before, not because I'm awesome, but because my God is awesome 290 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,520 and I pursue and follow him. And so if someone's mocking my 291 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,000 God and I serve my God, let's go. 292 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,040 And I know what my God can do. That's the attitude we want to 293 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,840 have that confidence. So many times we get caught up 294 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,480 putting our our faith and our trust in our savings account or 295 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:52,680 in in our health and this and that and that stuff can all go 296 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:55,600 in a minute. But let's maybe put our 297 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,320 faithfulness and hope and something better and something 298 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:01,880 laster more lasting, something that is eternal and that's our 299 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:07,880 king. So God desires us for for us to 300 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,280 pursue and follow him. Sounds simple, but it's not easy 301 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:13,240 because we're broken and our world is broken. 302 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:15,240 And God doesn't expect perfection. 303 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,160 He just expects a little bit of faithfulness. 304 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:20,200 And he's saying, if you're faithful, I will. 305 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:25,920 Do more in you than you could ever realize #2 What God desires 306 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:28,120 for us. Characteristic that God desires 307 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,920 in His people and and and those who claim to faithfully follow 308 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:36,440 Him is God desires for us to respond to and obey Him as King, 309 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,160 God desires for us. To respond to and obey him as 310 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,000 king. Now when I say respond to this 311 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,200 is this is like repentance. This is submission. 312 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,280 This is saying God saying, look, I know you're going to screw up. 313 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:52,640 You're human beings. That's why to send my son to die 314 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:54,120 for you. I know you're going to screw up. 315 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,560 If you think you can live perfect, you're nuts because you 316 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:00,680 are going to screw up. But how you respond to me is the 317 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,680 difference, right? If you rebel against me, I'm 318 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:05,560 going to give you to the empty things you chase. 319 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:07,520 But if you respond to me with repentance. 320 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,680 I'll do great things for you. I'll respond and with 321 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:12,160 faithfulness to your faithfulness. 322 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:19,680 And so let's see what Saul does in First Samuel 1514 to 24. 323 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,680 Again, Saul is at battle. And every time Saul went to 324 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,760 battle, when he got a victory, he would build a monument on 325 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,280 that mountain to himself. That shows you what Saul was 326 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:31,920 about to him. It wasn't the IT was, it wasn't 327 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:34,320 God's victories. It was his victory. 328 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:40,280 And here. He was told specifically by God, 329 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:43,760 look, there's a group of people that harassed my nation coming 330 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:47,160 out of Egypt and Israel and just out of pure evil, we're trying 331 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,080 to be a thorn in Israel's side and, and hurt them and kill them 332 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,040 at every moment for no reason. And he goes, so I'm going to 333 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,560 bring justice for my people because our God loves us and he 334 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:59,720 wants us to have justice. As he says, I'm going to command 335 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,560 Israel to go and defeat these Amalekites, and I will give you 336 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,400 victory. But Saul, listen to me because 337 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,560 you screwed up last time. When you go do this, do this for 338 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:10,880 me. Pursue me and my victory. 339 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:12,520 Don't pursue yours. Don't rush on the. 340 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:15,560 Plunder saying destroy it all. This is not about you getting 341 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,680 rich. And let's look what Saul does. 342 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:23,440 Saul rushes on the plunder and the prophet Samuel has to call 343 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:25,480 him outlook. In verse 19 it says why haven't 344 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,480 you obeyed the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed 345 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:31,200 upon the plunder and you have done what is wrong in the Lord's 346 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,920 estimation. And verse 20 says then Saul, 347 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,520 Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the Lord. 348 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,000 I went on the campaign, Lord sent me on. 349 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,360 I brought back the king of a God, of a God of the Malachites 350 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:43,840 after exterminating the Malachites. 351 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:46,600 But the army took from the plunder some of the sheep, the 352 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,120 cattle, and the best of what was slaughtered to sacrifice to the 353 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:52,040 Lord and Gilgal. So there's actually 2 excuses 354 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,840 that Saul gives here. The first one he's called out, 355 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:57,600 right? He's saying I obeyed the Lord. 356 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,520 And the prophet says what holy sheeps and cows I hear here. 357 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:03,320 Clearly you didn't because you were commanded. 358 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:06,880 To destroy these. And you kept them and his first 359 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,920 excuse, and we do this sometimes when we get caught in sin and 360 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,600 God lovingly challenges because God disciplines the ones he 361 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:13,960 loves. So he's always going to come and 362 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:16,560 challenge us either through other believers in our life or 363 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:18,760 directly through him and and prayer as we seek him. 364 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:22,840 And so he's challenged. And Saul gives this excuse. 365 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:28,320 He says, OK, well, yes, you know, I did take those, but I 366 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,160 did it for God. How many of us have done that? 367 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,360 Oh, well, I know I don't have the money to buy this new car, 368 00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:35,320 but I bought it. But I'm going. 369 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:37,440 To use it for the Lord. No, you're not. 370 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:39,760 You did it so you can stroll around in a new car, right? 371 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,520 We do this all the time. We try to justify our actions of 372 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:45,680 pursuing the things of this world and try to say, hey, they 373 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:47,800 can also be for God. God's like, no, it's either me 374 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:49,680 or this. I don't care that you have a 375 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:50,800 car. I just don't want you to love 376 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:52,760 it, right? I just don't want you to love 377 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,000 the things this world love me. And that's what Saul was doing 378 00:18:55,000 --> 00:19:00,120 as he was loving the the, the, the the status he was in more 379 00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:02,120 than he cared about what God thought of him and what God 380 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:04,880 said. And then when that excuse didn't 381 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,520 work and Samuel didn't buy it, he gives another one look in the 382 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:13,520 second part of verse 24 says, for I was afraid of the army, so 383 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:17,480 I obeyed their voice. His excuses. 384 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:19,400 It's not my fault. It's the people's fault. 385 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,120 How many times do we do that when we're caught in sin? 386 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,400 Well, I only responded that way. It's because they were acting 387 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,320 this way right? Every Co worker you have that 388 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,000 you start to scuffle with, it's always their fault right? 389 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,800 It's never ours. But if they don't know God, the. 390 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:37,640 King, and we do. Why should we act that way? 391 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:41,520 Right? So God desires for us to respond 392 00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:46,880 with repentance and obedience and saw because of what He was 393 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,840 seeking in life, responded with excuses, manipulation and 394 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,280 blaming of others. That's not going to get you 395 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,120 anything but more emptiness that you pursue. 396 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:59,160 God's saying, man, don't do that because you're chasing after 397 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:01,600 empty things. Repent so I can bless you and 398 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:06,520 work through you. Now let's look at David and 399 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:13,240 Second Samuel 1213 through 17. You guys heard a little bit of 400 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,320 this story last week with Pastor Jason talking about David's 401 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,880 biggest mistake, right? He screws up again. 402 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:21,480 God knows we're going to screw up. 403 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,280 We're not perfect. So David messes up big time. 404 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,400 He commits adultery and then he murders the husband just to help 405 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,240 cover it up. And so he screwed up. 406 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,320 He's not in a good place. And so because our God loves us, 407 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:38,200 he's always going to pursue us and and seek us to correct 408 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,120 ourselves. And so the prophet Nathan comes 409 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:45,320 to David and he says, man, you screwed up, you're lost. 410 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,320 You're, you're getting caught up and things that just don't 411 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:48,640 matter. Things that one day when you 412 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:50,560 stand before your king, you're going to regret. 413 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,240 And look at David's response to this. 414 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,520 Then David exclaimed to Nathan. I have sinned against the Lord. 415 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:03,200 Nathan replied to David. Yes, the Lord has forgiven your 416 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:04,960 sin. You are not going to die. 417 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,400 Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such 418 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,920 contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will 419 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,000 certainly die. Then verse 16. 420 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,920 Then David prayed to God for the child and fasted he would even 421 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:18,800 go and spend the night lying on the ground. 422 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,360 The elders of his house stood over him and tried to lift him 423 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:24,840 from the ground, but he was unwilling and refused to eat 424 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,920 food with them. This is a different response 425 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,640 than Saul. This is kind of what what 426 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,720 brokenness looks like when we sin, that sin doesn't only just 427 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,040 impact us and impacts the people around us. 428 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,320 David sees this and he's he's sorrowful for the consequences 429 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:42,760 that others are going to have to pay because of his brokenness, 430 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:46,840 because his bad decision. And so he's sad, he's fasting 431 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,280 and he's praying. He's saying, God, please, I know 432 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:53,280 I deserve punishment, but please let others not suffer because of 433 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,920 me. This is what repentance looks 434 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:58,280 like. It looks like sorrow and sadness 435 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,280 for our sin because we know that thing that we pursued, that we 436 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,400 did isn't going to lead to anything but shame and guilt and 437 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,360 sadness and hurt for other people. 438 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,560 And so he felt that hurt. David felt that and he said, 439 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,280 God, if there's any way you can have these others not suffer 440 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,240 because of me, let that be. But ultimately your will be 441 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,880 done. And then the punishment came and 442 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,760 then his response is, OK, let's move forward. 443 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,440 God, I own what I did and now let's move forward in obedience. 444 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,320 That's what God wants. That's what faithfulness looks 445 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:31,000 like. When we screw up and we're going 446 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,680 to screw up and we're going to screw up a lot, what 447 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,080 faithfulness looks like. If you want to see God work in 448 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:39,680 your life, respond that way. Respond like David say, you know 449 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,520 what, I own this, I screwed up. Let's go forward and do that 450 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,120 with your spouse one time. They're like what? 451 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,080 You never owned that right? You admitted you let let forgot 452 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:52,280 to take out the trash, right? It requires a different response 453 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,040 because we claim to be followers of a king who loves us and is 454 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:58,360 going to forgive us and give us mercy and grace. 455 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:01,240 So let's act like David. Let's own it. 456 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,680 Let's respond with ownership and then let's move to obedience. 457 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,400 Let's not be like Saul. And say, you know what, I'll 458 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,920 give you excuse and manipulation excuse that's going to lead us 459 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,000 nowhere. God wants to bless us, but he 460 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,640 blesses faithfulness. Let's look at our third thing 461 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:22,400 that God desires in a faithful follower of his in order to 462 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,680 bless us and us be the the to live out the life that he 463 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,320 intends for us. And this is God desires for our 464 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:30,880 identity and value to be in serving our king. 465 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,640 He wants our identity and value to be in serving king. 466 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:35,880 This is one of the hardest ones that the realize. 467 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,000 Because we don't necessarily realize what we're putting our 468 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,000 identity and value in. In high school, we wore those 469 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,480 Letterman jackets, right? Because that's where our 470 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:45,400 identity was. It was tied to a sport, it was 471 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:49,160 tied to a friend group. And So what we should know is 472 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,840 wherever we put our time, our energy and our resources, that's 473 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:54,240 where our identity is going to go. 474 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,920 So if it's in your job, then your identity is going to be in 475 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,480 your job. If it's in having the, the, the 476 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,560 looking better than your neighbor, then that's where your 477 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,160 identity is going to go. And we can see that. 478 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:14,000 And Saul's life and first Samuel 18 seven through 9 verse 7 says 479 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:18,160 the the women were playing the mute were playing the music and 480 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:21,400 saying Saul has struck down his thousands, but David is 10s of 481 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,280 thousands. This made Saul very angry. 482 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,920 The statement displeased him and he thought they have attributed 483 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,280 David 10s of thousands, but to me they have attributed only 484 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,640 thousands. What does he lack except the 485 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,520 Kingdom. So Saul was keeping an eye on 486 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,880 David from that point on. Saul was jealous because what 487 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:45,120 Saul valued in life was the the love of other people, the love 488 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:47,400 of this world. Everything Hollywood tells us, 489 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,960 this is what life's about. Chase after that. 490 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,680 That's what Saul was about. It's about building his Kingdom, 491 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,360 not God's Kingdom. And so when he hears like I 492 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:58,720 would, I would like if people said, hey, this guy defeats 493 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:02,320 thousands, that's good. But it wasn't good enough for 494 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:03,840 Saul. Saul's like, man, they're saying 495 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:05,560 better things about David than me. 496 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,880 This can't be because my identity is in being the best. 497 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,440 Unfortunately, that's what our high schools train us to think. 498 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:14,560 They say you got to be the best to be of value. 499 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:15,960 You got to be the best in the sports. 500 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,080 You got to be all A's and B's. Then you get to college and 501 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:20,840 you're like, oh, everyone has A's and B's, Like, I'm not 502 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,720 special, right? And it kind of trains us to 503 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:26,800 pursue the things of this world and put value in the thing in 504 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:28,120 this world. And it's not till later in life 505 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:29,520 we realized, man, those things were empty. 506 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,680 I probably could have done just as fine getting B's, right? 507 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,400 I could have been just as fine being on the second string and 508 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,360 now still having my hip work. You know, those things were 509 00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:43,440 empty that we chased. But for Saul, you could see 510 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,600 where he put his time, energy and resources was in building 511 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,120 his Kingdom. And it shows you how he responds 512 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,520 when he feels his identity and those things are threatened. 513 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:58,400 Often times this is how we act and we don't realize our 514 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:01,480 identity and value slowly creeps into things of this world until 515 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:05,880 we're in it, right? Until something happens and and 516 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:07,800 someone says something bad at you and work and you're like, 517 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:09,880 whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, do you know who I am? 518 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:15,400 Right, that pride comes. Out like Saul and says no, I did 519 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:19,000 this, I deserve this reality. When we stand before our king, 520 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,680 what do we what does he owe us? He's already done everything for 521 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:24,760 us. So let's look at what a 522 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:28,000 characteristic in the attitude that we should have and where in 523 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,520 placing our identity and value. Let's look at David's life. 524 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:34,880 I love this prayer at the end of David's life. 525 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,960 And Second Samuel 718 through 22. 526 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,480 This is at the end of David's life. 527 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:42,760 This is the guy who killed the giant. 528 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,000 This is the guy who's expanded his Kingdom three times to what 529 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,800 it was. He's defeated every enemy 530 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:52,080 handedly. He's built palaces and forts and 531 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:55,240 is the man like no one's greater than him. 532 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:57,400 And throughout the rest of history, everyone's like David 533 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,840 was the man. And so he's, if anyone should 534 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:02,520 have something to boast about, it's him. 535 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,280 But David doesn't. He says, look, my identity isn't 536 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,240 who I pursue and who I follow and that's God. 537 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,320 And I know compared to my God, I'm nothing. 538 00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:13,960 And so God decides, he says, look, you are faithful. 539 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:15,520 You are man after my heart, own heart. 540 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:17,640 So I'm going to bless you and I'm going to do amazing things 541 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,400 through your descendants and have the Messiah come through 542 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:21,720 you. And after receiving that 543 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,000 blessing, look at David's response and verse 18. 544 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,640 King David went and sat before the Lord and said, Who am IO, 545 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,640 Sovereign Lord, and what is my family that you should have 546 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:37,080 brought me to this point? And you didn't stop there. 547 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,840 O Lord God, You have also spoken about the future of your 548 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,760 servant's family. Is this your usual way of 549 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,400 dealing with men? O Sovereign Lord, what more can 550 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:48,280 David say to you? You have given your servant 551 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,960 special recognition, O Sovereign Lord, for the sake of Your 552 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,800 promise and according to Your purpose, You have done this 553 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,840 great thing in order to reveal it to Your servant. 554 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,000 Therefore you are great, O Sovereign Lord. 555 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,640 There is none like you. There is no God beside you. 556 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:04,720 What we have heard of you is true. 557 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,040 Wow. I wish I would respond like that 558 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,160 all the time. This is the guy who's the best 559 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,240 in the world at that time and his responses. 560 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:15,600 Man, I am nothing. Who am I? 561 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:17,360 God that you would bless me this way. 562 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,040 I promise you what's going to happen is if we're pursuing God 563 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:23,240 and we're responding God and we're obeying him and our 564 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,240 identities in him, this is what God's going to do. 565 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:27,360 He's going to bless you and work through you in ways you didn't 566 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:29,960 think possible. And in those moments, we want to 567 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,800 respond like David and say, wow, God, why me? 568 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,040 Why are you doing this? Why did you bless me in this 569 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:37,120 way? Why are you working through 570 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:39,680 this? That's what we hope. 571 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:41,200 That's what faithfulness looks like. 572 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,120 But if we're like Saul and we're trying to build our own Kingdom 573 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:48,400 and and make our own name and putting our pride in what we've 574 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,280 achieved and what we've earned and what we've made on this 575 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,640 earth at the end of our life, what Saul had was shame, regret 576 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,160 as he was killed in battle and his descendants were not 577 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,040 remembered. God says that's not 578 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,200 faithfulness. I wanted to bless you. 579 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,800 I he's pleaded with Saul. He said, look, if you just will 580 00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:09,280 obey me, if you just chase after me, what I can give you. 581 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:12,120 He wanted to give to Saul what he gave to David. 582 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:15,960 Saul wasn't faithful. He couldn't figure it out. 583 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,720 He was pursuing something dead and empty in this world and 584 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:22,040 therefore sacrificed what was better for him, what God had for 585 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:23,520 him, what God wanted to give him. 586 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:29,040 And that's how it is for us. God wants to do a great thing 587 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,200 through your life more than you could ever imagine. 588 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,600 He wants to do great things to your kids and their lives in the 589 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:36,800 generations to come. But to do that, all he's asking 590 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:39,200 for is faithfulness is if you just be faithful to me, I will 591 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:41,280 do great things to you and I will bless you in ways you 592 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:43,840 couldn't imagine. But if you chase after this 593 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,040 world, you're going to end up getting what this world has to 594 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:51,760 offer you, which is nothing. And here's my fear for us is 595 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,600 that one day when we stand before our God and King in 596 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:59,560 heaven, we're going to see our lives flash before our eyes and 597 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:01,040 we're going to look back. And it's going to be like 598 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,160 looking back at high school and be like, oh man, why did I 599 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:07,040 invest so much in that? Why did I care so much about 600 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:08,120 that? Because at that point, we're 601 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,600 going to realize what really matters and what didn't. 602 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:15,360 So I don't want us to look back and be like, oh man, why did we 603 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,040 spend 10 hours a week as a family chasing sports and only 604 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,560 one hour chasing God? Can we get that back? 605 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:22,680 Is anybody? Nope, right. 606 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:24,880 You lost that. You missed out on something. 607 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,160 Or I say, man, why did I put all the extra time chasing that 608 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,080 promotion, chasing that title for what? 609 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:36,800 Man, I regret that man. Why did I care so much about 610 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,560 what that one person thought of me and so little on what God 611 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,280 thought of me? Those are the things we're going 612 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:44,800 to regret. So because God loves us and He 613 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:46,800 cares about us, He's trying to save us from that regret. 614 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,600 He's saying you're good. Don't miss out on the blessings 615 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,360 I have for you by chasing empty, worthless things. 616 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:57,760 If I'm your king, pursue me. When you screw up and you will 617 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:01,440 screw up, Respond to me as your king. 618 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,280 Don't ignore me and blow me off because I'm trying to help you. 619 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,400 I'm trying to work through you. I'm trying to get you back on 620 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:10,120 track. And then let's put our identity 621 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,040 and value in him. And if you don't know where your 622 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:14,760 identity and value is, it's real easy. 623 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:16,720 Look at where you spend your time, your energy, and your 624 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,320 resources. And that's where our identity 625 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:24,960 usually follows. Let's look at Ephesians 421 626 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:30,960 through 24. In verse 21 it says since you 627 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:33,680 have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes 628 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:36,880 from Him, throw off your old sinful nature in your former way 629 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:40,080 of life which is corrupted by lust and deception. 630 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,480 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 631 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,000 Put on your new nature created to be like God, truly righteous 632 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,840 and holy. Our God has so much love and 633 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:53,040 grace to give us. He's saying there's no amount of 634 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,880 screw ups you could do that would cause me to reject you. 635 00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:57,720 I love you and I'm going to pursue you. 636 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,560 Chase after me too. Let's have a relationship. 637 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:06,760 Pursue me saying throw off. This is what sanctification is. 638 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:10,120 It's between the time we accepted God as king and the 639 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:12,200 time we will stand before our God and King. 640 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,720 That's the process the slowly learned as Shuck off the empty 641 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:19,080 old things of this world and to fill them with more lasting and 642 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:22,200 better and eternal things. That's what we're doing here. 643 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,480 This is the process was the reason we gather the church and 644 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,960 we're in community as we're learning to stop being deceived, 645 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,920 chasing after empty and useless things that one day we'll regret 646 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,480 and start to chase after things that matter in the will fill our 647 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,480 life and that will bless us for all eternity. 648 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:40,360 That's what we desire. That's what we want. 649 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,160 That's what God wants for us. God wants to bless you and work 650 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:46,800 through you. And if you follow these 651 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,080 characteristics, if we can learn to be a little bit more like 652 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,640 David and less like Saul, and it's not a comparison because I 653 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,600 want to get in there. And he's like, oh, you're not 654 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:56,960 good enough. It's not about being good 655 00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,320 enough. It's about just loving our God 656 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:03,240 the way he loves us. We're badly broken, but deeply 657 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,360 loved. If we accept him as king, let's 658 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,960 pursue him as king. Let's submit to him as king, and 659 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,400 let's put our identity and trust in him as king. 660 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:17,120 So I want to own a, a, a story real quick of a way that I 661 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,000 didn't always used to do that. Well, I used to be more like 662 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,600 Saul than David in a lot of ways and probably still am. 663 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,080 But if you don't know in, in Texas, if you tell people for, 664 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,040 for guys, whenever you introduce someone, our identity is often 665 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:29,680 times and what we do for a living, right? 666 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,080 You, Oh, here is my name. What do you do for a living is 667 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,440 the first question we're asked, right, Because that's a lot of 668 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,720 times where our identity is. And so when you're a pastor, 669 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:39,520 right in Texas, I have no problem. 670 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,640 Like, Hey, I'm a pastor and be like, Oh cool, if you go outside 671 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:45,320 Texas, that's not the response you get, right? 672 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:48,040 Coming out of seminary, I was in Tucson, AZ. 673 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,680 Not a lot of churches in Tucson, AZ. 674 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,040 And so I didn't know I was naive. 675 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,400 And then you get on the plane with somebody and I'm right next 676 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,280 to this person for 8 hours and they're like, what do you do? 677 00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:58,280 And I was like, oh, I'm a pastor. 678 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:00,760 And they're like, oh, you're like in a cult. 679 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:02,200 Or something. I would get the weirdest 680 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:04,920 expressions and the person would treat me like I'm a leper. 681 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:06,280 Right there, you're one of those. 682 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,280 Weird religious types. OK. 683 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:10,320 And so I started to get a little scared. 684 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:13,120 I'm like, I'm a stop telling people I'm a pastor, I'm going 685 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,239 to tell my to work for a non profit or something. 686 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,920 I don't know anything better than than that 'cause it wasn't 687 00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:21,280 didn't feel good to be rejected by the world. 688 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:23,800 But then God started to convict me of that. 689 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,320 And he goes, Hey, who do you belong to? 690 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:28,800 You belong to the world or you belong to me. 691 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:30,040 And I was like, ah God, you're right. 692 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:32,600 I belong to you. And he goes, trust me, be 693 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:36,080 faithful, own your identity and me and watch me do greater 694 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:40,920 things than you could imagine. And so after Tucson, I was in 695 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:42,199 Austin. Same reaction. 696 00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:44,480 Not good reactions. All right. 697 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:47,120 And I'm travelling around the world a lot of times as I served 698 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:49,400 as a pastor in the missionary. And so I'm often on planes with 699 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,320 people. And I said, oh, OK, God, I'm 700 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:54,320 going to trust you. And so sure enough, sit next to 701 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:56,040 the people next to me in plane, especially when you get that 702 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:57,400 middle seat, you got to do it twice. 703 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:00,960 And I'm like, hi, yeah, my name is Ryan. 704 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:01,960 And they're like, what do you do? 705 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,600 And I was like, I served the Lord, right? 706 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:06,440 I'll just own it. That's what I, that's what I'm 707 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:11,480 about and man, every single time I respond that way, God blows me 708 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:14,920 away and this person I'm like covered in tattoos and all I 709 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,120 have like this person definitely not going to like me and they 710 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:19,320 go, you know what? I'm interested in that. 711 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,920 Tell me more about this Lord. I had this issue coming up and 712 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:26,360 every time they respond in ways I never could imagine and that 713 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,320 the whole time I'm like worried and nervous because one, I'm in 714 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,400 the middle seat and hate it, but two, because I'm in the 715 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,360 situation and I'm trapped. But I'm like, God, I trust you, 716 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:36,960 I'll be faithful to you. This is who I am and so many 717 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:40,120 times people have said, wow, I'm glad I sit next to you. 718 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:42,680 That encouraged me. I'm going to look more into the 719 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:46,080 Bible and to God in his word and other times it'll be believers 720 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:48,160 and they're like, man, I just had this happen and that's 721 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:50,920 encouraged me so much. I'm like, man, God, the things 722 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,480 you do when we're faithful is so much greater than if we would 723 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:56,640 claim this world and chase after the things this world. 724 00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:01,000 So my encouragement for you this week is spend some time and 725 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:03,840 reflection and say, where am I putting my time, my energy, my 726 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,400 resources? What am I pursuing right now? 727 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:09,800 What am I missing out on that God wants to do through me and 728 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:11,560 through my life and through the life of my kids? 729 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:16,000 If we would just chase after him, if we would respond to him 730 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:18,520 and we put our identity and value in him, God's going to 731 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,040 bless you and do amazing things more than you can imagine. 732 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,720 And then one day when we stand before our Lord and King, we're 733 00:36:23,720 --> 00:36:26,640 going to have regrets, but he's going to say, well done, good 734 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,400 and faithful servant you. My expectation wasn't 735 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:31,280 perfection. It was just faithfulness. 736 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,120 And you were faithful. And thank you for investing in 737 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:36,240 my Kingdom. That's what we want to hear. 738 00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:38,400 Let's go ahead and bow and end prayer. 739 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:44,080 Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your truth and your word 740 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:47,040 and the way you work through King David and even the way that 741 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:50,680 you showed us and saw how empty this world is and chasing it is 742 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,640 the word. We pray that you continue to 743 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:58,160 love us, show mercy on us and grace as we seek in this time to 744 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:02,200 pursue you more to put our identity and value in you more 745 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:06,800 to respond to you in in obedience and love as you love 746 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:11,080 us and I pray, Amen. Thank you for joining us today. 747 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,320 River City Church is all about experiencing and expressing 748 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,000 God's love in our lives and community, and we hope that 749 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,040 you've been able to experience that today. 750 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:22,240 As grateful as I am that you've spent this time listening in 751 00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:25,280 this morning, this podcast is no substitute for full 752 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:29,160 participation in a local church. I love it when River City people 753 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:32,520 listen to other pastors, but it is those who show up week after 754 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,440 week faithfully giving their support and time and resources 755 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,800 that make all of this possible. If we can help you get connected 756 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:42,800 to a local church, pray for you, or support you in any way, click 757 00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:44,440 the link in the description and let us know. 758 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,120 If you'd like to financially support the ministry of River 759 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:50,000 City, click the give link on our website in the description. 760 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:53,240 Don't forget to subscribe and don't forget to share this with 761 00:37:53,240 --> 00:37:55,200 your friends. Thanks so much for listening. 762 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,400 May the Lord bless and keep you in all grace and peace.