WEBVTT 0 00:00:04.920 --> 00:00:07.286 Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast. 1 00:00:07.430 --> 00:00:11.094 This is where you can find audio from Sunday morning, messages and more. 2 00:00:11.254 --> 00:00:14.350 Make sure you're subscribed so that you don't miss future episodes. 3 00:00:14.422 --> 00:00:15.914 And thanks for listening. 4 00:00:20.374 --> 00:00:22.554 Well, good morning, Willow Ridge. 5 00:00:23.574 --> 00:00:24.030 Hey. 6 00:00:24.102 --> 00:00:28.074 That's actually pretty energetic for a church that had come in in the rain this morning. 7 00:00:28.454 --> 00:00:29.406 I appreciate that. 8 00:00:29.430 --> 00:00:30.998 A little bit of energy is good. 9 00:00:31.126 --> 00:00:32.358 Want to thank the choir. 10 00:00:32.446 --> 00:00:34.638 Y'all did make David Allen look good. 11 00:00:34.686 --> 00:00:35.254 That's sharp. 12 00:00:35.294 --> 00:00:36.514 I appreciate that. 13 00:00:37.054 --> 00:00:38.014 That's great. 14 00:00:38.134 --> 00:00:38.494 All right. 15 00:00:38.534 --> 00:00:40.254 Hey, it's good to be back with you once again. 16 00:00:40.294 --> 00:00:43.950 I'm Steve Rorlak, work for the South Carolina Baptist convention. 17 00:00:44.022 --> 00:00:48.102 David did a much better job introducing me than I introduced myself. 18 00:00:48.238 --> 00:00:54.806 Trying to explain what I do when your title is a strong team leader, it just gets real confusing real quick. 19 00:00:54.870 --> 00:00:57.372 Am I the strong team leader? 20 00:00:57.558 --> 00:01:00.296 Am I the strong team leader? 21 00:01:00.360 --> 00:01:04.512 So anyway, the whole discipleship strategy thing works out really, really well. 22 00:01:04.648 --> 00:01:06.056 So it's good to be back with you. 23 00:01:06.080 --> 00:01:11.920 And I will tell you that being here this time is a whole lot easier than it was last time. 24 00:01:12.072 --> 00:01:17.592 Last time I was here, Bo was in a series through James, and he assigned a passage of scripture to me. 25 00:01:17.608 --> 00:01:25.674 He wanted me to continue in the series, and it felt an awful lot like a seminary class because I will tell you, it was not the most attractive passage to go ahead and preach. 26 00:01:25.784 --> 00:01:27.798 I understood why he was gone that Sunday. 27 00:01:27.926 --> 00:01:30.034 So today I actually get to pick. 28 00:01:30.534 --> 00:01:36.262 I actually get to pick the passage that I'm going to preach, and hopefully it'll connect as well as it did. 29 00:01:36.278 --> 00:01:40.438 Y'all were a great audience last time, so hopefully it'll connect just as well this time. 30 00:01:40.526 --> 00:01:44.994 I want you to go ahead and make your way over to first Samuel, chapter 30. 31 00:01:45.414 --> 00:01:57.506 And as you do that, I am probably going to convince you that I am not the smartest guy that has ever spoken on this stage before. 32 00:01:57.650 --> 00:02:05.994 All right, what I want to do is kind of take you back to my preteen years and then an event that happened in my latter teen years. 33 00:02:06.114 --> 00:02:11.218 So we're going to begin by visiting Steve at about twelve years old, maybe eleven years old. 34 00:02:11.266 --> 00:02:12.586 I was in middle school. 35 00:02:12.730 --> 00:02:16.162 And let me go ahead and say up front, I did not grow up in South Carolina. 36 00:02:16.218 --> 00:02:20.084 I've been here a very long time, but Florida is home for me. 37 00:02:20.124 --> 00:02:22.036 About 45 minutes for the beach. 38 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:23.444 I am a water rat. 39 00:02:23.484 --> 00:02:24.276 I love the water. 40 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:26.212 Growing up in Florida, it was perfect for that. 41 00:02:26.268 --> 00:02:29.748 All right, so 1112 year old Steve loves the water. 42 00:02:29.796 --> 00:02:34.344 And one of his middle school buddies comes to him, says, hey, you want to buy a surfboard? 43 00:02:35.524 --> 00:02:37.892 And I thought, yeah, that'd be a lot of fun. 44 00:02:37.948 --> 00:02:39.820 I think I do want to go buy a surfboard. 45 00:02:39.852 --> 00:02:41.868 And he begins to tell me about this surfboard. 46 00:02:41.916 --> 00:02:49.708 He had two older brothers that surfed, and they took a great big, long board and they cut it in half, and they made two surfboards out of it. 47 00:02:49.876 --> 00:02:56.024 And I gave him my lunch money for two straight weeks, and I bought the top half of this surfboard. 48 00:02:56.404 --> 00:03:03.036 Now, for everybody in this room, if you were to see that surfboard, it was the raggediest looking thing you could ever imagine in your life. 49 00:03:03.140 --> 00:03:07.988 And there's no way you would get in the water to paddle that thing around. 50 00:03:08.036 --> 00:03:10.724 But for me, I loved it. 51 00:03:10.884 --> 00:03:15.672 And I developed very quickly this amazing passion for surfing. 52 00:03:15.828 --> 00:03:18.000 I just absolutely loved it. 53 00:03:18.032 --> 00:03:22.816 I got into it, and over the course of a couple of years, I actually got pretty good at it. 54 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:27.656 And there was a crisis in my life where I thought maybe I wanted to surf as a living. 55 00:03:27.760 --> 00:03:30.936 This is a couple years before I found Christ to be my savior. 56 00:03:31.040 --> 00:03:35.592 So the beach was holding an unusual and perhaps uncomfortable attraction to me. 57 00:03:35.608 --> 00:03:37.304 And I did have that decision. 58 00:03:37.384 --> 00:03:39.128 I had been surfing on some teams. 59 00:03:39.216 --> 00:03:42.834 Do I want to surf for a living or do I want to eat? 60 00:03:43.024 --> 00:03:46.734 Because if you're going to surf for a living, you're probably not going to eat. 61 00:03:46.774 --> 00:03:48.518 Very, very few people do that. 62 00:03:48.646 --> 00:03:50.430 So I'm 19 years old. 63 00:03:50.462 --> 00:03:51.686 I now have a real job. 64 00:03:51.750 --> 00:03:53.350 Dabbling in school just a little bit. 65 00:03:53.382 --> 00:03:55.414 Hadn't figured out what I want to do with that. 66 00:03:55.574 --> 00:04:00.794 And we get the word that there is a hurricane coming. 67 00:04:01.894 --> 00:04:06.894 This is where I start to prove to you I may not be the brightest human being that ever spoke on this stage. 68 00:04:06.974 --> 00:04:11.074 All right, now, if you surf in a hurricane, you're nuts. 69 00:04:11.564 --> 00:04:16.024 If you surf a day or two before the hurricane, you're committed. 70 00:04:16.924 --> 00:04:18.264 I'm committed. 71 00:04:18.844 --> 00:04:19.980 Had the day off. 72 00:04:20.052 --> 00:04:20.932 I was fit. 73 00:04:20.988 --> 00:04:21.860 I had the skills. 74 00:04:21.892 --> 00:04:23.036 I thought, this is perfect. 75 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:29.524 I'm going to go to the beach, me and a couple of buddies, and we're going to ride some of the biggest waves we had ever ridden before. 76 00:04:29.644 --> 00:04:35.964 Now, the wave, Florida, there's describing the land and the beach and all that sort of thing. 77 00:04:36.044 --> 00:04:40.028 When the hurricane comes, the waves do get pretty big, but they break very much offshore. 78 00:04:40.076 --> 00:04:43.100 So about a mile offshore, normally, you're about a half mile here. 79 00:04:43.132 --> 00:04:44.804 I'm at least a mile offshore. 80 00:04:44.924 --> 00:04:45.900 I had paddled out. 81 00:04:45.932 --> 00:04:47.116 I had surfed a little bit. 82 00:04:47.140 --> 00:04:48.060 I was having some fun. 83 00:04:48.092 --> 00:04:52.964 Now, folks, I want you to understand the hurricane is coming, but this is a bright clear, sunny day. 84 00:04:53.004 --> 00:04:56.276 The weather of the hurricane did not come, but it was pushing the waves. 85 00:04:56.420 --> 00:04:58.988 So the water was rough, but we were having a good time. 86 00:04:59.036 --> 00:05:00.156 We were surfing. 87 00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:06.236 And I'm guessing that most everybody in the room has seen some videos of somebody surfing before. 88 00:05:06.380 --> 00:05:13.572 And as a wave is coming and they're paddling back out, you just simply grab your board, you dive under the wave, and you pop up and you keep going. 89 00:05:13.708 --> 00:05:16.220 If you don't do that, the waves going to wash you back. 90 00:05:16.332 --> 00:05:20.452 Well, it was a very rough day, as you can imagine, with a hurricane coming. 91 00:05:20.588 --> 00:05:23.620 And I see the wave I had ridden was paddling back out. 92 00:05:23.652 --> 00:05:24.684 I go to dive under. 93 00:05:24.724 --> 00:05:27.436 Well, my board slipped out from under my arm. 94 00:05:27.580 --> 00:05:44.144 Not a problem, because just like the boogie boards that you take to Myrtle beach, there's a leash that's attached to the ankle of the surfer and then to the end of the surfboard, if you happen to get away from your surfboard, the leash will grab, it'll stretch a little bit, and it'll come back. 95 00:05:44.184 --> 00:05:46.160 So wasn't that concerned about it. 96 00:05:46.192 --> 00:05:46.896 Board slipped. 97 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:52.324 I dove under the wave, felt a tug on my leg, and then all of a sudden, something felt different. 98 00:05:53.024 --> 00:05:55.792 It wasn't like what I would normally feel. 99 00:05:55.928 --> 00:05:57.844 It was a whole lot less pressure. 100 00:05:58.144 --> 00:06:06.164 I come up and I turn and look, and what's happening is my surfboard is rolling on its side in a barrel roll up off the water. 101 00:06:06.514 --> 00:06:08.494 My leash had broken. 102 00:06:09.434 --> 00:06:14.654 Now, this is not the point where I thought, uh oh, I'm in trouble. 103 00:06:15.074 --> 00:06:17.578 I had done some open water swimming before. 104 00:06:17.666 --> 00:06:23.970 I knew that I was about a mile off shore, and the next 45 minutes or so was going to be kind of long and kind of rough. 105 00:06:24.002 --> 00:06:25.650 But I knew how to body surf. 106 00:06:25.762 --> 00:06:34.646 I honestly was more concerned about how banged up my surfboard was going to get while it was flopping around on the way back because I knew there was no way I was going to catch it. 107 00:06:34.810 --> 00:06:42.206 So I start my swim in, and again, I'm probably three quarters of a mile or a mile out, and you body surf a little bit. 108 00:06:42.230 --> 00:06:45.766 And the waves, it's like a washing machine as you get closer to the shore. 109 00:06:45.950 --> 00:06:53.874 So I'm swimming in, and I misjudged a wave, and it took me under, not a problem. 110 00:06:54.534 --> 00:06:55.486 Popped back up. 111 00:06:55.510 --> 00:07:02.794 But before I had a chance to catch my breath, another wave broke, and it pushed me much farther underwater. 112 00:07:03.434 --> 00:07:05.494 Now, that's a problem. 113 00:07:06.194 --> 00:07:15.614 I had no air, and as it pushed me down, I also lost my bearings as to which way was up and which way was down. 114 00:07:16.314 --> 00:07:27.498 Now, I had been surfing long enough to know, and I've been going to the beach long enough to know, that if you just lay still, your body is buoyant, you have air in your lungs, and eventually it will slowly bring you to the top. 115 00:07:27.666 --> 00:07:32.250 My problem was I didn't really have a full lung full of air when I went under. 116 00:07:32.362 --> 00:07:38.482 So now my head and my lungs are having a conversation about my head saying, just relax, you'll float to the top. 117 00:07:38.538 --> 00:07:40.866 And my lungs are saying, no, no, you got to do something. 118 00:07:40.930 --> 00:07:42.466 Floating's not doing something. 119 00:07:42.610 --> 00:07:44.574 I don't have any air. 120 00:07:45.434 --> 00:07:53.554 Managed to figure it out and get to the top, manage to catch a little bit of breath, manage to swim on in. 121 00:07:53.714 --> 00:07:58.734 Now I'm about 2 miles from where my car is parked. 122 00:07:59.354 --> 00:08:00.698 Y'all have been to the ocean. 123 00:08:00.746 --> 00:08:03.698 You know how it kind of moves you down and you're a long way? 124 00:08:03.786 --> 00:08:08.738 Well, when it's rough and when the weather's coming in, it's really going to wash you down. 125 00:08:08.906 --> 00:08:16.250 So here I am with this broken leash in my hand about this long, and I'm carrying it, and I walk and I walk and I walk. 126 00:08:16.282 --> 00:08:19.214 And I've finally come up to where my surfboard is. 127 00:08:20.194 --> 00:08:22.978 Only it's not just my surfboard. 128 00:08:23.026 --> 00:08:26.282 A crowd of people have gathered around my surfboard. 129 00:08:26.418 --> 00:08:30.050 And as I'm walking up, you know, the beach is flat, and you can see it for a long way. 130 00:08:30.082 --> 00:08:36.961 And I'm watching these people, and they're looking down at the surfboard, and they're looking out at the ocean, and they're looking down at the surfboard and looking down at the ocean. 131 00:08:37.057 --> 00:08:39.273 And it takes a while to walk to where I'm going. 132 00:08:39.313 --> 00:08:48.297 So for 15 or 20 minutes, I'm watching this scene, and I walk up, and nobody really says anything. 133 00:08:48.345 --> 00:08:51.693 They just kind of look at me like, is this yours? 134 00:08:52.233 --> 00:08:53.929 So I reach down and I grab it. 135 00:08:53.961 --> 00:08:56.945 One of the guys actually said, hey, is that your surfboard? 136 00:08:57.129 --> 00:09:02.281 And I've got the broken leash in one hand and the busted part of the lease attached to the surfboard on the other hand. 137 00:09:02.297 --> 00:09:03.933 I'm just kind of looking at him like, really? 138 00:09:04.334 --> 00:09:04.886 Really? 139 00:09:04.990 --> 00:09:05.406 Yes. 140 00:09:05.470 --> 00:09:06.994 This is my surfboard. 141 00:09:08.854 --> 00:09:13.354 All of that is not what I remember most about the story. 142 00:09:14.254 --> 00:09:17.678 What I remember most, and again, folks, I'm 19 years old. 143 00:09:17.806 --> 00:09:20.622 19 year olds don't normally have this feeling. 144 00:09:20.798 --> 00:09:24.274 All I wanted to do was go home. 145 00:09:25.254 --> 00:09:33.474 I wasn't smart enough or old enough to recognize what I had done was fairly dangerous and probably not the brightest thing in the world, all right? 146 00:09:33.894 --> 00:09:39.314 But all I can remember is all I wanted to do was go home. 147 00:09:39.694 --> 00:09:45.094 Had about a 50 minutes drive to get from the beach where I lived at that time, still living with my parents. 148 00:09:45.254 --> 00:09:48.674 All I wanted to do was go home. 149 00:09:50.174 --> 00:09:57.034 I'm going to guess that in this room, there are an awful lot of people that have had that same emotion. 150 00:09:57.414 --> 00:10:09.284 It's probably not because you tried to surf in a hurricane, but for whatever reason, the hurricane of life just caused a few waves to crash on your head, and all you wanted to do is go home. 151 00:10:11.464 --> 00:10:20.648 Everybody in this room can connect to that emotion, and that's what I want you to hang on to, and I want you to bring into the passage that we're about to read. 152 00:10:20.736 --> 00:10:24.240 All right, now, I need to give you a little bit of background so you know where we are. 153 00:10:24.272 --> 00:10:26.280 We're in first Samuel, chapter 30. 154 00:10:26.432 --> 00:10:31.728 A ton of stuff has happened in David's life leading up to one Samuel, chapter 30. 155 00:10:31.776 --> 00:10:33.592 I need to give you a little bit of this background. 156 00:10:33.648 --> 00:10:34.224 All right. 157 00:10:34.344 --> 00:10:38.960 David's had a lot of waves crashed on his head, figuratively, not literally, all right? 158 00:10:38.992 --> 00:10:41.208 But there's been an awful lot of waves that have crashed. 159 00:10:41.296 --> 00:10:44.724 He is in the most difficult circumstance in his life. 160 00:10:45.664 --> 00:10:56.880 Now, as I tell the story of David, I want you to keep in the back of your mind that this is the season when many of the leaders of these nations would go to war. 161 00:10:57.032 --> 00:11:01.840 And it was coming to an ultimately, there's going to be a huge battle in north. 162 00:11:01.912 --> 00:11:07.496 All of the skirmishes were going to end up in this major battle in the north of the kingdom. 163 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:13.208 This is all building in the background, and David goes all through these other things that I'm about to tell you about now. 164 00:11:13.336 --> 00:11:15.544 David, at this point, was not the king. 165 00:11:15.624 --> 00:11:19.624 David was one of the leaders of the soldiers for the king. 166 00:11:19.744 --> 00:11:21.744 He was an excellent commander. 167 00:11:21.784 --> 00:11:23.664 He was an excellent soldier. 168 00:11:23.784 --> 00:11:27.444 He was an excellent leader of soldiers. 169 00:11:27.844 --> 00:11:41.584 And he had gotten to the point where he was so successful in the battle, God had been with him in all of these battles, to the point where now the people are not celebrating the king for the victories, they're celebrating David for his victories. 170 00:11:42.684 --> 00:11:50.380 And that becomes an incredible challenge for David, because Saul, who happened to be king at this time, was an incredibly jealous man. 171 00:11:50.412 --> 00:11:53.664 He was also an incredibly unstable man. 172 00:11:55.064 --> 00:12:05.004 He is so consumed with the jealousy for David being a better leader than him that he orders his best general to be killed. 173 00:12:06.064 --> 00:12:10.872 And his son, who happens to be the best friend of David, says, dad, what are you doing? 174 00:12:11.008 --> 00:12:12.432 He is our greatest general. 175 00:12:12.488 --> 00:12:19.000 And Saul is so upset with his son for questioning him that he actually throws his spear and his son tries to put his son to death. 176 00:12:19.152 --> 00:12:24.064 That's how unstable we find the king who is chasing David. 177 00:12:26.084 --> 00:12:28.884 King bribes troops to hunt down David. 178 00:12:28.924 --> 00:12:31.172 David's a great leader and the other troops know it. 179 00:12:31.188 --> 00:12:33.144 So he's got to bribe them to hunt him down. 180 00:12:33.804 --> 00:12:37.900 There is no protection right now for anybody that disagrees with the king. 181 00:12:37.932 --> 00:12:45.804 And let me tell you, you do not want to be a priest right now because they're communicating God's word and is absolutely opposed to the king's word. 182 00:12:45.924 --> 00:12:49.224 He doesn't like it a bit, so he's going to take care of the priests. 183 00:12:49.604 --> 00:12:52.068 You do not want to be a priest at this time. 184 00:12:52.236 --> 00:12:54.504 David is on the run. 185 00:12:55.204 --> 00:13:01.404 There's part of this story as we lead up to chapter 30 where the king actually gets very close to capturing David. 186 00:13:01.524 --> 00:13:08.784 But God causes a skirmish at home to divert Saul's attention so that David is protected. 187 00:13:10.004 --> 00:13:16.344 Move on just a little bit farther and we find there are 3000 men that are now hunting for David. 188 00:13:17.824 --> 00:13:27.488 There's two different stories in this section of one, Samuel, where David could have taken care of the king. 189 00:13:27.616 --> 00:13:38.164 He could have put the king to death, but he chose not to because he knew that Saul was God's anointed and he would not go against the wishes of God. 190 00:13:39.184 --> 00:13:45.754 It finally gets to the point where the king is just so upset with all this and he's so disgusted with David. 191 00:13:45.874 --> 00:13:58.294 The final injury that he can press on David is he takes back the daughter he had given to David in marriage and he gives her to somebody else. 192 00:13:59.354 --> 00:14:02.610 This is how upset or so upset the king is with David. 193 00:14:02.642 --> 00:14:04.226 This is what David has been living with. 194 00:14:04.250 --> 00:14:07.042 And the chapter is leading up to one Samuel. 195 00:14:07.098 --> 00:14:08.094 Chapter 30. 196 00:14:08.704 --> 00:14:22.160 Even as this major battle is coming in the north, David and his men can't find anybody that will accept them to fight with them. 197 00:14:22.272 --> 00:14:27.208 There had been some other nations that he had actually helped and they won't allow David to fight with him anymore. 198 00:14:27.296 --> 00:14:31.604 David has been completely cast off by his nation and by his friends. 199 00:14:31.984 --> 00:14:38.844 So finally rejected and persecuted and pursued, lied about abandon. 200 00:14:39.184 --> 00:14:42.044 All David can do is go home. 201 00:14:43.384 --> 00:14:50.208 And that's really all right with David at this point because really all he wanted to do was go home. 202 00:14:50.376 --> 00:14:57.640 That same emotion that I brought into that story of me surfing is the emotion I tried to connect you with and the emotion that David has. 203 00:14:57.752 --> 00:15:01.096 All he wants to do is go home. 204 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:06.884 And as we get up to chapter 30, what we find is home is about 60 miles away. 205 00:15:07.244 --> 00:15:11.824 It's about a three day march for David and the 400 men that are with him. 206 00:15:12.484 --> 00:15:18.544 And if there was ever a man that needed a homecoming, it was David. 207 00:15:20.524 --> 00:15:28.504 Now, that's an awful lot of introduction, and I recognize that, but it gives me the opportunity to ask a couple of questions. 208 00:15:32.204 --> 00:15:35.474 Why are you here this morning? 209 00:15:39.054 --> 00:15:41.230 I'm going to make a bold prediction. 210 00:15:41.422 --> 00:15:45.590 There's not a single person in this room who woke up and said, hey, we need to get to church. 211 00:15:45.622 --> 00:15:47.674 Steve Rahrlak is preaching this morning. 212 00:15:48.894 --> 00:15:49.470 Now. 213 00:15:49.582 --> 00:15:50.310 I'm okay. 214 00:15:50.382 --> 00:15:51.862 I'm comfortable with that. 215 00:15:52.038 --> 00:15:54.854 There's only a handful of folks in this room that really know me. 216 00:15:54.894 --> 00:15:55.670 We're good with that. 217 00:15:55.702 --> 00:15:57.142 I'm the guest preacher. 218 00:15:57.318 --> 00:16:01.514 Not many of y'all probably didn't even know that Beau was going to be gone this Sunday. 219 00:16:02.744 --> 00:16:04.804 So what brought you here? 220 00:16:06.104 --> 00:16:09.724 I'm going to guess, for many of you, Willow Ridge feels like home. 221 00:16:10.904 --> 00:16:14.164 There's an emotional connection that you have to this place. 222 00:16:14.984 --> 00:16:21.044 There's some things that have happened here that give you a great sense of peace, a great sense of comfort. 223 00:16:21.584 --> 00:16:27.464 My guess is, for many of y'all, there are some people here that are just a great part of your lives. 224 00:16:27.504 --> 00:16:31.032 They're an important part of who you are, maybe who you become as a believer. 225 00:16:31.128 --> 00:16:36.496 There may be some folks in this room that shared Christ with you, help lead you to understand that Jesus is away. 226 00:16:36.560 --> 00:16:37.752 The truth and the life. 227 00:16:37.888 --> 00:16:42.804 There may be some people in here that are just absolutely an important part of your life. 228 00:16:43.704 --> 00:16:55.884 Maybe the place, maybe the people, maybe it's the proof of what God is doing in this fellowship. 229 00:16:57.664 --> 00:17:13.684 My contention would be for an awful lot of folks that are gathering in churches on Sunday morning today, that we ask them why church feels like home, and their number one answer is going to be the place. 230 00:17:14.664 --> 00:17:21.124 And they're really kind of focused on the facility, and there's some emotional connection with that, and that's okay. 231 00:17:21.984 --> 00:17:25.084 Number two would probably be the answer of people. 232 00:17:25.624 --> 00:17:30.854 There are some folks that have played an important part in their lives, and they're connecting with the people. 233 00:17:31.234 --> 00:17:45.974 And then a distant third is going to be the proof of how God accomplished something special, either in their lives or used the church to be that hub of activity where God is proving that he really is active and alive in the community. 234 00:17:48.514 --> 00:17:52.962 My contention would be, is the order is not the place, and then the people. 235 00:17:53.018 --> 00:18:08.834 And then the proof, the order should be the proof of how God used his people to bring about something incredible, and the place just happened to be the church. 236 00:18:11.414 --> 00:18:13.806 So here's what I'm going to do to you this morning. 237 00:18:13.990 --> 00:18:17.714 I'm going to ask you to use your imagination for the next couple of minutes. 238 00:18:18.174 --> 00:18:20.382 Now, this is imagination. 239 00:18:20.518 --> 00:18:22.400 This is not prophecy. 240 00:18:22.502 --> 00:18:24.500 Okay, I want to be clear on that. 241 00:18:24.532 --> 00:18:27.188 I'm about to mess with you just a little bit. 242 00:18:27.276 --> 00:18:28.868 I'm using your imagination. 243 00:18:28.996 --> 00:18:30.784 This is not prophecy. 244 00:18:31.564 --> 00:18:36.304 Suppose this place was gone. 245 00:18:40.764 --> 00:18:43.308 Maybe a little unusual to think about on a rainy morning. 246 00:18:43.356 --> 00:18:57.044 But suppose, as you were driving to church, you saw the lights and you may have heard the siren, and you see the fire trucks, and the place that you were intending to come to this morning was gone. 247 00:18:58.904 --> 00:19:04.684 Fire had completely destroyed the facility at Willow Ridge. 248 00:19:06.464 --> 00:19:10.124 We're going to give just a minute for the emotion to pass away. 249 00:19:10.504 --> 00:19:17.724 But how would coming to church change if the facility wasn't here? 250 00:19:21.034 --> 00:19:22.814 Get your attention, doesn't it? 251 00:19:23.834 --> 00:19:34.494 If we were worshiping at First Baptist cow pens this morning, we would be about 18 months into their brand new sanctuary, where fire completely destroyed the old sanctuary. 252 00:19:35.234 --> 00:19:37.054 Now they're in a new sanctuary. 253 00:19:37.874 --> 00:19:40.106 They didn't understand what God was doing. 254 00:19:40.170 --> 00:19:46.878 You ask them now, and they would tell you it was an incredibly tough time in the church's life, but they came out very well on the other side. 255 00:19:46.926 --> 00:19:50.314 Church is about twice as large now, twice the number of people are attending. 256 00:19:51.254 --> 00:19:53.994 We can go over to Trinity over in Casey. 257 00:19:54.294 --> 00:19:59.394 They're about six months into their facility, having been refurbished because of a fire. 258 00:19:59.934 --> 00:20:02.434 We could go to Haygood in Barnwell county. 259 00:20:03.934 --> 00:20:08.954 They're in the midst of dealing with lightning, having destroyed their church as it burned. 260 00:20:10.994 --> 00:20:20.574 Suppose you drove up this morning, even though it's a rainy morning, and all you saw were the sirens and the smoke and the rubble, and there was no more place. 261 00:20:23.474 --> 00:20:27.186 How would that affect your relationship with God? 262 00:20:27.250 --> 00:20:31.066 Being able to prove himself in the fellowship? 263 00:20:31.130 --> 00:20:36.050 Even then, there's no place that he could use as a central hub, at least for the short term. 264 00:20:36.162 --> 00:20:38.374 How would that change things for you? 265 00:20:42.024 --> 00:20:45.624 Gonna read to you a couple of verses in one Samuel, chapter 30. 266 00:20:45.744 --> 00:20:48.576 Now, I have burned down your church. 267 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:51.696 I've almost drowned myself in a hurricane surfing. 268 00:20:51.800 --> 00:20:54.536 All right, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you. 269 00:20:54.560 --> 00:20:57.808 What I'm about to read is not exactly sunshine and rainbows. 270 00:20:57.856 --> 00:20:58.604 Okay? 271 00:20:59.104 --> 00:21:01.376 I'm gonna go ahead and give you a spoiler alert. 272 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:05.724 At the end of the story, things turn out very, very well. 273 00:21:06.054 --> 00:21:10.238 But we're not going to hear that in the first six verses that I'm about to read to you, okay? 274 00:21:10.326 --> 00:21:12.158 So I've given you the spoiler alert. 275 00:21:12.206 --> 00:21:14.046 There's a happy ending, but we're not going to hear it. 276 00:21:14.070 --> 00:21:17.902 What I'm about to read first Samuel, chapter 31st, six verses. 277 00:21:18.038 --> 00:21:22.354 David and his men arrived at Ziklag on the third day. 278 00:21:22.654 --> 00:21:27.474 The Amalekites had raided the Negev and attacked and burned Ziklag. 279 00:21:28.094 --> 00:21:30.134 30 seconds of understanding here. 280 00:21:30.174 --> 00:21:32.942 Ziklag is the hometown of David and his men. 281 00:21:33.038 --> 00:21:34.950 The Negev is kind of a region. 282 00:21:35.062 --> 00:21:39.118 All right, so picture the Midlands, and then we've got west Columbia or Lexington. 283 00:21:39.166 --> 00:21:41.990 I'm not sure exactly what town we're in, but you get the idea. 284 00:21:42.062 --> 00:21:44.926 Okay, so the negeg would be the Midlands. 285 00:21:44.950 --> 00:21:46.198 Ziklag would be the town. 286 00:21:46.246 --> 00:21:47.214 The church is in. 287 00:21:47.294 --> 00:21:50.854 The Amalekites, they're just a roving band of land pirates. 288 00:21:50.934 --> 00:21:58.622 They're just opportunists understanding that an awful lot of the fighting men are going to be away, moving towards the north for that big battle that we've been talking about. 289 00:21:58.718 --> 00:22:02.358 So David and his men arrived at Ziklag, their hometown, on the third day. 290 00:22:02.446 --> 00:22:06.190 The Amalekites had raided the negam and attacked and burned Ziklag. 291 00:22:06.342 --> 00:22:10.878 They also had kidnapped the women and everyone in it, from the youngest to the oldest. 292 00:22:11.046 --> 00:22:17.314 They had killed no one, but had carried them off as they went on their way. 293 00:22:18.134 --> 00:22:22.430 When David and his men arrived at the town, they found it burned. 294 00:22:22.622 --> 00:22:27.014 Their wives, sons, and daughters had been kidnapped. 295 00:22:27.174 --> 00:22:33.464 David and the troops with him wept loudly until they had no strength left to weep. 296 00:22:34.364 --> 00:22:42.584 David's two wives, Ahinaham, the Jezreelite, and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had also been kidnapped. 297 00:22:42.964 --> 00:22:55.224 David was in an extremely difficult position because the troops talked about stoning him, for they were all very bitter over the loss of their sons and daughters. 298 00:22:56.524 --> 00:23:00.644 If you are underlining in your Bible, please underline those last few words. 299 00:23:00.684 --> 00:23:09.414 In verse six, it says, but David found strength in the Lord his God. 300 00:23:11.514 --> 00:23:16.706 I gave you all the background of David, just an incredibly difficult season in his life. 301 00:23:16.810 --> 00:23:34.312 But in that season, for David and those 400 men that were fighting with him, they were continual illustrations of God proving his faithfulness to them in protecting them in victories, in battle, and then and also keeping Saul from actually creating a great deal of physical havoc in their life. 302 00:23:34.368 --> 00:23:39.280 Yes, it was difficult when the king was hunting them down, but in all of that, God protected them. 303 00:23:39.312 --> 00:23:42.048 There was a great deal of proof. 304 00:23:42.176 --> 00:23:48.808 And yet they come up to their hometown, and it is completely burned, and their families are gone. 305 00:23:48.856 --> 00:24:07.550 This roving band of land pirates again, the Amalekites, they recognize that all the fighting men are moving towards the north, and it gave them a perfect opportunity to go through all those small towns and villages take the people, take the animals, take the possessions and gather it all up for themselves and just raid city after city after city. 306 00:24:07.622 --> 00:24:10.594 They knew the fighting men were going to be gone. 307 00:24:13.014 --> 00:24:20.794 But we've gotten to the point where David's men lost the proof and they were exhausted. 308 00:24:23.014 --> 00:24:27.754 And those they were looking forward to seeing, most were no longer there. 309 00:24:28.074 --> 00:24:39.242 And, folks, I want you to see the contrast in the two responses between David and his men, because it's an incredible illustration of godly leadership on the part of David. 310 00:24:39.338 --> 00:24:46.034 There's an incredibly difficult response between the two groups in the emotion of the moment. 311 00:24:46.114 --> 00:24:48.454 David's men wanted two things. 312 00:24:48.834 --> 00:24:52.414 They wanted action, and they wanted accountability. 313 00:24:54.454 --> 00:24:59.254 The group that had that little bit of physical strength left actually was talking about stoning. 314 00:24:59.294 --> 00:25:00.014 David. 315 00:25:00.174 --> 00:25:04.714 I want to make sure everybody in the room understands what we're talking about when we say stoning. 316 00:25:05.614 --> 00:25:09.342 Every boy in this room over the age of five has been in a rock fight. 317 00:25:09.518 --> 00:25:12.686 We've all picked up rocks and thrown rocks as guys, girls. 318 00:25:12.710 --> 00:25:18.126 I don't know if y'all do that as much as guys do, but if you're a boy, you've thrown a rock at somebody in anger, or at least in fun. 319 00:25:18.230 --> 00:25:18.830 All right? 320 00:25:18.942 --> 00:25:21.192 That is not what we're talking about here. 321 00:25:21.318 --> 00:25:23.988 Traditionally, in the Old Testament, we're talking about stoning. 322 00:25:24.036 --> 00:25:26.148 We're going to take somebody that's going to be stoned. 323 00:25:26.236 --> 00:25:35.252 They're going to be put on a very high place, some sort of a cliff or a height, and they're going to be pushed off where the fall would probably disable them. 324 00:25:35.308 --> 00:25:38.308 That's the goal of that drop, is to disable them. 325 00:25:38.396 --> 00:25:42.044 And then those that are going to participate in the stoning would pick up boulders. 326 00:25:42.084 --> 00:25:43.876 I'm not talking about rocks you throw. 327 00:25:43.980 --> 00:25:48.914 I'm talking about boulders that you drop, and they would be dropped on the individual. 328 00:25:49.294 --> 00:25:51.182 This is not a rock fight. 329 00:25:51.358 --> 00:25:54.694 This is the intention of putting somebody to death with rocks. 330 00:25:54.734 --> 00:25:56.910 It's an incredibly gruesome way to die. 331 00:25:57.022 --> 00:25:59.214 And that's what's being talked about in scripture. 332 00:25:59.254 --> 00:26:04.714 That's how upset David's men are at him because of the town being burned. 333 00:26:06.494 --> 00:26:14.354 But David, having never lost the understanding of the proof of God's protection, responds incredibly differently. 334 00:26:15.314 --> 00:26:21.734 Verse six says, but David found strength in the Lord. 335 00:26:24.594 --> 00:26:31.338 His strength of faith ultimately is going to lead to a physical strength that is actually pretty incredible. 336 00:26:31.386 --> 00:26:41.062 A little farther down in the story, the care because of God's proof becomes strength and courage. 337 00:26:41.198 --> 00:26:44.894 That's going to lead him to do some amazing things in leadership. 338 00:26:44.934 --> 00:26:57.114 As we go through the rest of this story now, in this section of one Samuel, chapter 30, it also lets me know that there are a couple of Baptists in the Old Testament. 339 00:26:58.254 --> 00:27:08.404 As you read through the story, what you find is David's men, they want a business meeting, but David, David wants a prayer meeting. 340 00:27:10.024 --> 00:27:16.360 David only wants to do business with God, whereas his men want to do things in an incredibly different way. 341 00:27:16.552 --> 00:27:24.656 What I'm saying to you is, just like us, David's men lost the correct order of things. 342 00:27:24.840 --> 00:27:27.712 As a matter of fact, as you read through this story, we talk about the place. 343 00:27:27.768 --> 00:27:29.524 The place is destroyed. 344 00:27:29.824 --> 00:27:30.924 It's gone. 345 00:27:31.384 --> 00:27:33.528 There's nothing there but rubble and burn. 346 00:27:33.656 --> 00:27:36.192 The people, they're in all kinds of turmoil. 347 00:27:36.248 --> 00:27:39.124 David's men are all upset, and the families are gone. 348 00:27:39.544 --> 00:27:44.844 And in the midst of all of this, David's men lost the proof. 349 00:27:46.864 --> 00:27:51.404 But David found strength in the Lord. 350 00:27:52.824 --> 00:28:01.604 And because of that strength, there is an amazing series of events where God proves he actually is with David and with his men. 351 00:28:02.634 --> 00:28:06.094 Number one, what we're going to find is the proof of clarity. 352 00:28:07.034 --> 00:28:07.930 David said a point. 353 00:28:07.962 --> 00:28:09.214 He doesn't know what to do. 354 00:28:09.514 --> 00:28:12.882 He's got to go to the priest and say, guys, I don't know what to do here. 355 00:28:13.018 --> 00:28:14.450 I know that God is faithful. 356 00:28:14.522 --> 00:28:15.314 What do I do? 357 00:28:15.354 --> 00:28:18.154 Do I go find the families? 358 00:28:18.194 --> 00:28:19.610 Do we go get the families back? 359 00:28:19.642 --> 00:28:22.794 And there's a clarity in those passages that absolutely. 360 00:28:22.834 --> 00:28:25.214 God says, david, go get your families. 361 00:28:26.634 --> 00:28:29.622 Now, there's also some clarity. 362 00:28:29.678 --> 00:28:32.954 And, oh, by the way, David, I need you to go that way. 363 00:28:33.494 --> 00:28:36.670 Because David had no idea where his family had been taken. 364 00:28:36.742 --> 00:28:39.590 He had no idea where the other families had been taken. 365 00:28:39.702 --> 00:28:42.798 But God provides the clarity. 366 00:28:42.966 --> 00:28:47.234 Go get your families back and go that way to pursue them. 367 00:28:48.414 --> 00:28:52.102 Number two, God gets the right people involved. 368 00:28:52.158 --> 00:28:54.310 This is one of the fascinating parts of this story. 369 00:28:54.422 --> 00:28:56.238 David's got 400 fighting men. 370 00:28:56.286 --> 00:28:59.478 This is the seal team, six of the army. 371 00:28:59.566 --> 00:29:07.638 These guys are incredibly good as warriors, but 200 of them are to a point where they are exhausted and they can go no further. 372 00:29:07.766 --> 00:29:14.102 And in verses nine and ten of this story, what we find is the army arrives at a place called Wadi Bezor. 373 00:29:14.278 --> 00:29:16.958 You'll see the word wadi in scripture all the time. 374 00:29:17.086 --> 00:29:20.394 Essentially, what that means is a wide spot in the river. 375 00:29:20.854 --> 00:29:27.634 During the rainy seasons, the water would come and it would expand the rivers, and sometimes they're very difficult to cross. 376 00:29:27.774 --> 00:29:29.714 There's quite a rapid current. 377 00:29:29.794 --> 00:29:30.882 It's just got very large. 378 00:29:30.938 --> 00:29:31.850 It's deep and muddy. 379 00:29:31.882 --> 00:29:33.786 It's just a difficult thing to do. 380 00:29:33.890 --> 00:29:39.294 200 of David's men had gotten to the point where they just don't have the energy to move on any farther. 381 00:29:40.474 --> 00:29:44.602 And that's okay because God gets the right people involved. 382 00:29:44.658 --> 00:29:55.714 He takes 200 of those mighty warriors and his warriors and he sets them aside, and he introduces to the group one sick slave. 383 00:29:57.814 --> 00:30:01.958 There's a man that's been outcast by the Amalekites, that raiding party. 384 00:30:02.126 --> 00:30:03.278 He had been left for dead. 385 00:30:03.326 --> 00:30:05.262 They thought he was dying, so they left him behind. 386 00:30:05.318 --> 00:30:11.214 And David finds him and they give him some food and they give him some water and they nourish him, kind of help him back to health. 387 00:30:11.254 --> 00:30:14.670 And he said, hey, can you help us find our families? 388 00:30:14.862 --> 00:30:17.354 God says, absolutely, under two conditions. 389 00:30:18.174 --> 00:30:20.352 Number one, you don't kill me. 390 00:30:20.488 --> 00:30:21.960 Now, that seems pretty fair to me. 391 00:30:21.992 --> 00:30:23.844 I'm going to help you if you don't kill me. 392 00:30:24.544 --> 00:30:28.244 And then number two, don't give me back to my master. 393 00:30:28.664 --> 00:30:32.184 That also seems like a fair request for somebody that's about to help David. 394 00:30:32.304 --> 00:30:34.600 And David says, absolutely, we will not kill you. 395 00:30:34.632 --> 00:30:36.336 We will not give you back to the master. 396 00:30:36.440 --> 00:30:39.404 You help us find our families. 397 00:30:41.904 --> 00:30:44.004 There's another proof in this story. 398 00:30:44.844 --> 00:30:47.564 It's a little hard to find if you don't recognize it. 399 00:30:47.604 --> 00:30:49.504 It's the proof of distraction. 400 00:30:50.444 --> 00:30:55.036 Those amalekites that we've been talking about, they're not worried about what's going on. 401 00:30:55.140 --> 00:30:58.244 Remember, all those fighting men have been moving to the north. 402 00:30:58.284 --> 00:31:03.332 There's this big battle that's going to occur, and anybody of fighting age is kind of moving towards that sea. 403 00:31:03.348 --> 00:31:04.948 The Malachites are staying behind. 404 00:31:05.076 --> 00:31:06.596 They're raiding all these cities. 405 00:31:06.660 --> 00:31:08.332 They're keeping everything they want for themselves. 406 00:31:08.388 --> 00:31:13.460 They knew they were saved, so they decided, hey, while everybody else is gone, we need to throw a party. 407 00:31:13.532 --> 00:31:22.584 We need to celebrate all of these people and all of these things and all of this wealth that we have accumulated as we've gone from town to town to town. 408 00:31:24.404 --> 00:31:33.144 The clarity of distraction placed in the lives of the Amalekites was part of God proving his love for David and his men. 409 00:31:33.924 --> 00:31:38.824 Because what the Amalekites didn't know is that David had been sent home. 410 00:31:41.664 --> 00:31:44.444 And we get the one final proof in this story. 411 00:31:45.704 --> 00:31:50.484 It's the proof of an incredible God sized victory. 412 00:31:50.944 --> 00:31:53.484 It's in verses 18 through 22. 413 00:31:53.864 --> 00:31:58.584 Now, I'm going to go ahead and spare everybody the gory details if you want to go through and read it that you can. 414 00:31:58.624 --> 00:32:02.656 But what you're going to find is there was 24 hours of a battle. 415 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:08.424 Now, remember, a couple of passages ago, these guys were too tired to do anything but weep. 416 00:32:08.504 --> 00:32:10.592 They were just absolutely exhausted. 417 00:32:10.688 --> 00:32:12.336 And they develop enough strength, and they. 418 00:32:12.360 --> 00:32:14.328 They can start out in these 200 guys. 419 00:32:14.376 --> 00:32:16.912 They make it over the water, that wadi bazor. 420 00:32:17.048 --> 00:32:21.568 And now they find the Amalekites and they see their families and their strength is renewed. 421 00:32:21.656 --> 00:32:25.000 And for 24 hours, there is this incredible battle. 422 00:32:25.112 --> 00:32:39.164 And what we find at the end of this battle is not only do they get their families back, not only do they get their possessions back, but they also get all that has been collected by the Amalekites from those other cities. 423 00:32:39.524 --> 00:32:43.420 So they've got their stuff, plus a whole bunch of other people's stuff. 424 00:32:43.572 --> 00:32:45.524 They've made a profit on this whole deal. 425 00:32:45.564 --> 00:32:47.708 And I want to say that in a positive way. 426 00:32:47.756 --> 00:32:58.264 Not that they're benefiting from the suffering of others, but what I want you to recognize is all that the Amalekites have have now come in the possession of David and his men. 427 00:33:00.204 --> 00:33:03.724 Remember that spoiler alert I told you about as we read those first six verses? 428 00:33:03.764 --> 00:33:05.664 Well, here's where you get to it. 429 00:33:05.994 --> 00:33:16.682 Because what started out as an incredibly difficult circumstance, where their place had been destroyed and the people were gone, and God's proof couldn't be found in their lives anywhere. 430 00:33:16.738 --> 00:33:19.854 Now, what we've got is it's a parade. 431 00:33:20.434 --> 00:33:36.304 And you read those passages scripture, and you hear about David and his men and those families and the flock, they're making their way back in this great procession of victory, having gotten everything that they owned in all of their family plus all of those other possessions. 432 00:33:40.924 --> 00:33:48.384 Have you ever noticed that there are some people that are just really good at ruining a parade? 433 00:33:50.044 --> 00:33:58.224 There are those folks that are naturally gifted at drawing victory from the jaw, or, excuse me, drawing defeat from the jaws of victory. 434 00:33:59.664 --> 00:34:03.324 David had a couple of those knuckleheads in his army. 435 00:34:04.264 --> 00:34:09.024 See, what happens is they're enjoying this parade and they're marching back. 436 00:34:09.104 --> 00:34:27.464 And they get to the point where they had left the 200 guys behind and many of those that fought in the battle to regain all of those possessions and regain those families, saying, hey, they can have their families, but they get nothing else, and we're going to let them go. 437 00:34:29.324 --> 00:34:34.624 And this is where the godly leadership of David really does begin to kick in. 438 00:34:38.004 --> 00:34:42.784 The man David, who we're told in verse six, found strength in the Lord. 439 00:34:45.324 --> 00:34:50.224 He goes to his men, said, guys, we cannot do this. 440 00:34:50.863 --> 00:34:53.047 We cannot act this way. 441 00:34:53.175 --> 00:35:00.559 Now, I have to confess, if it was me and I had a group of my men that were acting like that, I would rant, I would rave I would scream. 442 00:35:00.631 --> 00:35:01.535 I would point. 443 00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:06.923 I know that I would just be in their face telling them what a really ridiculous thing that they're doing. 444 00:35:07.543 --> 00:35:09.563 David doesn't act that way at all. 445 00:35:09.863 --> 00:35:12.751 He says, my brothers, we cannot do this thing. 446 00:35:12.887 --> 00:35:15.203 With love and care and compassion. 447 00:35:15.943 --> 00:35:19.387 He says, my brothers, we cannot do this thing. 448 00:35:19.535 --> 00:35:22.244 This is what God has done to us. 449 00:35:22.404 --> 00:35:32.064 Instead of ranting and raving and screaming, he looks into the faces of those men, and he reminds them that this is God's proof of his hand being with them. 450 00:35:33.324 --> 00:35:38.012 And he maintains the relationship of those guys that are in his fighting force. 451 00:35:38.188 --> 00:35:41.744 And then we get to, for me, is the funniest part of this whole story. 452 00:35:42.684 --> 00:35:45.664 I'm going to talk to the wives for just a second here. 453 00:35:46.134 --> 00:35:47.774 Now I've told you the story. 454 00:35:47.894 --> 00:35:49.430 200 guys are left behind. 455 00:35:49.502 --> 00:35:56.514 The other 200 go, there's a battle with those 200 guys that fought for 24 hours, and they get all the families back. 456 00:35:57.574 --> 00:36:08.194 Ladies, imagine with me for a moment if at the end of that battle, when the families are reunited, your husband wasn't there. 457 00:36:09.734 --> 00:36:15.914 Your husband was one of the 200 guys that was left behind at the river. 458 00:36:18.134 --> 00:36:30.910 Now, if this was a movie, this is about the time I would be able to feel my wife's stare kind of drilling through my head as she would look at me, and I'd know, sheepishly look over and said, you better be there to fight for me. 459 00:36:30.982 --> 00:36:32.230 Hey, hey, I didn't do anything. 460 00:36:32.262 --> 00:36:32.830 It's a movie. 461 00:36:32.862 --> 00:36:33.358 It's a story. 462 00:36:33.406 --> 00:36:34.354 It wasn't me. 463 00:36:35.094 --> 00:36:38.914 Ladies, imagine with me for a moment if your husband was not there. 464 00:36:41.834 --> 00:36:45.934 In David's incredible leadership, he protects 200 families. 465 00:36:46.874 --> 00:36:48.946 It's fair for the wives to have a question. 466 00:36:49.050 --> 00:36:51.866 David makes it clear we left these guys behind. 467 00:36:52.050 --> 00:36:53.146 Yes, they were tired. 468 00:36:53.210 --> 00:36:54.250 Yes, they were exhausted. 469 00:36:54.282 --> 00:37:00.854 But we also gave them the responsibility of looking after what little possessions we had left. 470 00:37:02.394 --> 00:37:09.564 So not only does David rally his guys around, the proof of God also protects 200 families. 471 00:37:10.464 --> 00:37:22.552 And, oh, by the way, as he was those 400 guys marching those 60 miles, going through different communities, and when you march 400 guys through different communities, you're gonna leave some rubble in your wake. 472 00:37:22.728 --> 00:37:30.524 He sends some of that extra that they had collected, and he provides it to those towns as a way of saying, thank you for letting us march through. 473 00:37:31.504 --> 00:37:43.268 And then he also takes some of the extra and he begins to give it to some of the other nations that didn't have any part in his men walking through, but he's using it to build relationships. 474 00:37:43.316 --> 00:38:00.184 And some of those relationships with those other nations lasted throughout the entirety of David's reign as king, the incredible leadership of a godly man in the foresight to make sure that he was providing for his nation. 475 00:38:01.584 --> 00:38:07.644 This is all incredibly important because in two chapters later, David becomes king. 476 00:38:08.224 --> 00:38:14.764 And in three chapters later, David's men who would have lived in Ziklag are now going to the palace. 477 00:38:15.104 --> 00:38:20.924 So that town that had been burned down, they were going to leave it anyway because they were going to serve the king. 478 00:38:21.824 --> 00:38:31.142 Where the throne is the proof of God throughout the entirety of this story is incredible. 479 00:38:31.248 --> 00:38:32.490 So why tell the story? 480 00:38:32.602 --> 00:38:36.170 Why tell the story from one Samuel to a New Testament church? 481 00:38:36.362 --> 00:38:38.434 Well, folks, it's supposed to do two things, really. 482 00:38:38.474 --> 00:38:42.054 It's supposed to be a reminder, and it's also supposed to be a challenge. 483 00:38:42.434 --> 00:38:45.850 It's supposed to be a reminder of what the correct order really should be. 484 00:38:45.882 --> 00:38:53.174 As you drive into this parking lot on Sunday morning, as you think about the fellowship that you're a part of, what's most important? 485 00:38:53.754 --> 00:38:58.546 What should be most important is God's proof of how he's using his people. 486 00:38:58.690 --> 00:39:02.214 And the place just happens to be the hub of activity. 487 00:39:03.104 --> 00:39:09.324 What's most important about God's fellowship is his proof in the lives of his people. 488 00:39:11.024 --> 00:39:18.680 So leaders of the church is the legacy of Willow Ridge one of the proof of God's activity in your fellowship? 489 00:39:18.832 --> 00:39:23.432 Those of you that are leading your homes is the proof of your home being committed to Christ. 490 00:39:23.608 --> 00:39:30.836 His activity in your home, David leaves an incredible legacy of proof. 491 00:39:31.020 --> 00:39:39.664 All of what I told you was going on in his life leading up to chapter 30 is an incredible proof. 492 00:39:40.564 --> 00:39:54.748 Protected from the former king, protected by the son of the former king, the distractions of other armies leading the king away, David expressing his loyalty to God's anointed twice. 493 00:39:54.836 --> 00:40:02.764 All that is in that story is an incredible proof of David's faithfulness to God. 494 00:40:03.744 --> 00:40:07.444 So that leaves us with the challenge we find at the end. 495 00:40:10.504 --> 00:40:18.364 Is your home going to be a home that's led like David's, where you find strength in the Lord? 496 00:40:19.984 --> 00:40:34.384 Those of you that are leaders in this fellowship, are you committed to Willow Ridge being a church where collectively the church finds its strength in the Lord? 497 00:40:35.684 --> 00:40:43.384 Are you committed to there being ongoing proof of God's action in the lives of the people? 498 00:40:44.804 --> 00:40:49.624 We're not simply a gathering of a group of people on a Sunday morning. 499 00:40:50.354 --> 00:40:54.054 We are the active body of Christ. 500 00:40:55.154 --> 00:41:08.746 And the goal is for this place to simply be a hub of activity where God can prove he is using his people in the lives, in this fellowship, in this community, and ultimately on the other side. 501 00:41:08.770 --> 00:41:12.094 Of the earth, as your pastor happens to be today. 502 00:41:14.234 --> 00:41:23.474 Is there a proof of God's activity in this fellowship that is a place worth coming home to? 503 00:41:25.454 --> 00:41:27.114 One final thing, and I'll close. 504 00:41:30.774 --> 00:41:37.126 As I've talked about God proving himself, some of y'all may be struggling just a little bit with that. 505 00:41:37.310 --> 00:41:38.614 You can connect to the place. 506 00:41:38.694 --> 00:41:42.394 You can connect with some people, but there's a lack of proof in your life. 507 00:41:44.554 --> 00:41:48.334 You may have lived with constant waves crashing over your head. 508 00:41:49.114 --> 00:41:56.058 You related to that illustration I told at the beginning, because you feel like your life is a constant set of waves, and sometimes it's holding you down. 509 00:41:56.186 --> 00:41:59.202 My question for you is, are you trying to live your life alone? 510 00:41:59.338 --> 00:42:02.434 Are you trying to live your life through the lives of other believers? 511 00:42:02.514 --> 00:42:05.894 Or have you responded to Christ? 512 00:42:08.394 --> 00:42:13.576 In order for Christ to prove he's real, you first have to accept him into your life and into your heart. 513 00:42:13.610 --> 00:42:14.184 Heart. 514 00:42:14.924 --> 00:42:18.092 In just a few moments, we're going to go into a time of invitation. 515 00:42:18.148 --> 00:42:33.264 There'll be some folks off to the side if you would acknowledge I am one of those people that the waves are breaking hard, and I've tried everything but Christ as my savior to fight those waves. 516 00:42:34.244 --> 00:42:41.324 And it's time to close my eyes and open my hearts and give my life over to my lord and savior, Jesus Christ. 517 00:42:42.104 --> 00:42:44.084 Pray with me and we'll close this morning. 518 00:42:47.984 --> 00:43:03.364 Father, what we find in one Samuel, chapter 30 is a great story of how a man in an incredible difficult circumstance chose not to focus on the surroundings, but to focus on the love that you had for him. 519 00:43:03.704 --> 00:43:13.020 He recognized that there were many, many times in a most difficult time of his life where you are proving your love, your care, and your protection. 520 00:43:13.212 --> 00:43:34.564 Yes, there were difficult circumstances, but beyond that, father, what we find is your hand was on David and his men and what looked like an incredibly difficult circumstance where a home being gone is actually you completely restoring them in a way where they built relationships that lasted for generations. 521 00:43:36.744 --> 00:43:52.384 Father, my hope is if there is someone in this room that is relating more to the burn and the rubble than to the proof of your son being active in their lives, they will give up their effort and respond to your effort today. 522 00:43:52.464 --> 00:44:05.104 May the spirit move in their hearts so they may exchange the rubble for a forever relationship and proof of your son being active in who they are and what they are. 523 00:44:06.084 --> 00:44:23.684 Father, we thank you for a time where we can celebrate your love in this place, where we can celebrate the fact that Willow Ridge really is a hub of activity, where you continue to prove your love in the people in the community and ultimately on the other side of the world. 524 00:44:23.844 --> 00:44:27.894 Father, may we celebrate you today as we bring this time to a close. 525 00:44:28.234 --> 00:44:31.814 And we offer it in the wonderful name of your son, Jesus Christ. 526 00:44:32.594 --> 00:44:33.494 Amen. 527 00:44:39.514 --> 00:44:44.034 Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode. 528 00:44:44.154 --> 00:44:51.714 In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.