“The Most Common Chain: Insecurity” by Caleb Cole

In week 3 of Name the Chain, Pastor Caleb Cole speaks on one of the deepest struggles many people face: insecurity. Looking at the contrast between Saul and David, this message shows how insecurity often reveals itself through fear, control, comparison, and partial obedience. This sermon is an invitation to stop living from self protection and start living with God confidence, trusting the Lord’s timing, design, and purpose for your life.

• (00:00) - The most common chain: insecurity
• (00:37) - A high school story about insecurity
• (02:13) - Why insecurity still shows up
• (04:03) - We need God confidence, not self confidence
• (06:07) - Saul faces pressure before battle
• (08:40) - Insecurity creates a need for control
• (12:48) - Fear will make you obey the wrong voice
• (18:23) - Trust God’s timing in the waiting
• (21:12) - Partial obedience is still disobedience
• (26:14) - Insecurity turns people into threats
• (29:46) - David trusted God’s control
• (35:25) - Faith must speak louder than fear
• (38:24) - Secure people build others up
• (39:38) - Who will you be, Saul or David
• (45:58) - Surrender your life and security to Jesus

Creators and Guests

Host

Caleb Cole

Caleb, a Sacramento native, grew up in a pastor’s home and is a third generation minister. At the age of 12, after one of his grandfather’s sermons, he felt a call from God to be a pastor. He consistently pursued that call throughout high school and college. Caleb attended Central Bible College in Springfield, MO where he earned a B.A. in Biblical Studies and went on to the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary where he earned an M.A. in Theological Studies.

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00;00;00;00 - 00;00;19;25
Speaker 5
All right, well, let's jump in here. If you have your Bibles, go to first Samuel. I'm going to be reading from chapter 13, but I'm going to name a chain today. We're going to we're going to address and go after a chain that I believe is the most common chain. All right. So this is relevant for us, right.

00;00;19;28 - 00;00;37;10
Speaker 5
You want to break off the most common chain that we deal with. All right. So this is what I believe is the most common chain that we deal with and battle through as human beings. I, I remember being a kid. I was a freshman in high school, and there was this girl who I thought was cute.

00;00;37;14 - 00;00;58;04
Speaker 5
And one day I was walking with her, in the hallways, and I was, you know, I was I was spitting some game, and I was feeling really I was feeling myself. I was feeling really good about myself, you know, as the kids would say today, I had some risk going, okay, so I had I had that risk going, and she's laughing and we're going back and forth and I'm like, oh yeah, like I'm killing this.

00;00;58;07 - 00;01;21;04
Speaker 5
And then as we're getting ready to go to our classes, she stops and she looks at me. She goes, Caleb, and she ruffles my hair. She says, you're just so cute and walks off. And in that moment I was like, my goodness. She sees me as like a little kid now. It didn't help that she was like six inches taller than me.

00;01;21;10 - 00;01;42;09
Speaker 5
You know, as a freshman in high school, I was all of five one, you know, 105 pounds. And she ruffle my hair. You're just so cute. Walk up. Let me tell you that insecurity followed me for years. I still deal with it. You know, I wake up having nightmares about this. You're so cute now. I'm kidding. But.

00;01;42;09 - 00;02;13;27
Speaker 5
But the insecurity was real. And so now here I am. Right? I'm 44 years old now. I've. I've, gone through puberty, praise God, and, became a man. Got married, had three kids, started a church. I've been a pastor for 20 years. And I would think, man, I don't have insecurity anymore. That's a that's freshman Caleb. And then what's crazy is I'll get thrown into a situation, a circumstance conversation, a space or a place.

00;02;13;27 - 00;02;38;00
Speaker 5
I've never been. And all of a sudden, little freshman Caleb pops out and that insecure little boy, those voices start speaking to my mind and my heart. So what I want to talk to you about today, the most common chain is the chain of insecurity. What I want to do today is I want to help us to move from insecurity to security.

00;02;38;02 - 00;02;59;26
Speaker 5
Now, some of you in this room are like, I don't know if I really battle insecurity. Caleb, let me tell you, until you get put in new environments, you don't always know. You may think, oh, I'm secure, but then the second you get put in a place or a space you've never been, suddenly these feelings of inadequacy, of insecurity start to rise up.

00;02;59;28 - 00;03;32;08
Speaker 5
Now insecurity is dangerous. You see, I've seen insecurity destroy marriages, ruin friendships, and destroy leaders. There's been leaders who they got the charisma. They got the talent. They got the platform. They got the swag right. They got it all going on. They got the organization. And then you really get to know them and you realize, wow, this person is just as insecure as the other person I know.

00;03;32;10 - 00;04;03;00
Speaker 5
You see, it's not about what you have or what you've done, even what you've accomplished. You could be the most accomplished person in here and still battle insecurity. Every single day. And I just wanted to confess to you that I still battle it to this isn't something that I have conquered. I do believe that God has made me more secure after all these years, but it's still something that at times crops up in moments and circumstances and conversations.

00;04;03;02 - 00;04;27;28
Speaker 5
So what I want to do is I want us all in this room to admit that, that we're weak. I want us all in this room to admit that at times we're insecure. I want us all in this room to admit and acknowledge our failures so that God can move us from insecurity to security. Now, maybe you're in this room going, okay, this is what you're saying is I just need more self-confidence.

00;04;28;00 - 00;04;53;14
Speaker 5
If I just get more self-confident. Right, then I won't be insecure. No, what we don't need is more self-confidence. What we need is more God confidence that I am confident in how God made me. How God gifted me, where God has placed me. I'm confident in what God did in making me exactly the way I am. That it's not about me.

00;04;53;14 - 00;05;13;02
Speaker 5
It's about what he did in and through me and what's to do in my future. You see, it's about him. When we become confident in God, we don't have to question why we're in the place we are. We don't have to question why we look the way we do. We don't have to question why we have the talent we have or the gifting we have, because we know God knew what he was doing.

00;05;13;04 - 00;05;31;12
Speaker 5
We trust in what God did in making us the way we are. You know, I've had to come to terms with the fact that I'm just going to be a white boy married to a Filipina. You know, I say, hey, like, I'm trying to get a little bit of that flavor on me, but ultimately I can't change me.

00;05;31;15 - 00;05;49;29
Speaker 5
I can't change how God made me. And I'm not saying we don't better ourselves. I'm not saying we don't grow. I'm not saying we don't ask God to change aspects of us, to grow us in some type of way. But what I am saying is true security is rooted in God confidence. Let's be confident in how God made us.

00;05;49;29 - 00;06;07;27
Speaker 5
Now, what I want to do is I want to contrast the lives of Saul and David. Today, we're going to look at the insecurity of Saul and the security of David. And I believe that this is going to frame for us how we can move forward as more secure individuals. So go in your Bibles first Samuel chapter 13.

00;06;07;29 - 00;06;31;07
Speaker 5
We go back a couple pages. First Samuel 13. I'm going to read verse eight through 12. But let me set this up. I want you to understand the context of this text that I'm about to read. So Saul has been named king. He has now been king for two years now, as he becomes king, there are enemies surrounding Israel and they begin to come up against Israel.

00;06;31;10 - 00;07;04;12
Speaker 5
So in this moment of chapter 13, they are confronted with the Philistine army. Now the Philistine army they amass with 30,000 chariots, 30,000 horsemen, and they say an army as numerous as the seashore, the sands of the seashore. Now, this is an exaggeration. It's hyperbole. But ultimately there's a lot of everybody say a lot. And in this moment, God tells Saul to wait for Samuel to come before he goes to battle.

00;07;04;14 - 00;07;25;01
Speaker 5
So that Samuel can sacrifice unto the Lord. And in doing so, the favor of God will be with the people of Israel. And as they go to battle, they will win. And so Saul is waiting. He's waiting with the army. He's waiting for Samuel to show up so they can sacrifice. So they can then, attack and go up against this Philistine army.

00;07;25;01 - 00;07;52;18
Speaker 5
And here's what it says. Verse eight. Are you with me? Say, let's go. He waited seven days. Everybody say seven, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, bring the burnt offerings here to me and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came.

00;07;52;18 - 00;08;12;24
Speaker 5
Everybody say, And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, what have you done? Saul said, when I saw that the people were scattering from me, that you did not come within the day's appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered out. McMaster I said, now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.

00;08;12;26 - 00;08;40;07
Speaker 5
So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. So let's start by looking at this moment in the life of Saul. We're going to look at some other moments of Saul's life, to look at what are some of the dangers of insecurity.

00;08;40;07 - 00;08;56;20
Speaker 5
Now, some of you in this room are going, kale, I don't know if I'm really insecure. Well, we're gonna look at Saul's life and if any of this is you, you're insecure. Okay. Are you with me? All right, let's do this. Number one danger is there is a need for control. All right? 90% of you just go, okay?

00;08;56;20 - 00;09;23;20
Speaker 5
I'm insecure. We have a natural inclination and need as human beings to have control, don't we? Like. I want control, like I told, I told this guy right here this morning. Nick. I said, how dare you come on this stage with a Lakers hat on? Like I want control even of what these people on stage are wearing is kings.

00;09;23;20 - 00;09;51;17
Speaker 5
My guy. Come on, I'm joking. Saul's life was defined by a need for control. He constantly was taking control of circumstances and situations. What happens here? God tells him. Wait. Yes, there's an army. But wait. Samuel's coming. Samuel says I'll be there. Wait. I will do the sacrifice. Only the prophet. Only the priest was allowed to sacrifice unto the Lord.

00;09;51;20 - 00;10;16;17
Speaker 5
And yet Saul, in this moment he says, I gotta take matters into my own hands. You see, insecurity always reaches for control. And what it's really saying, look, your desire for control, what it really says is if I'm in control, I actually don't trust God. And I know you're here, going. No, no, Caleb, I trust God. Well, your actions say otherwise.

00;10;16;20 - 00;10;36;21
Speaker 5
You can say you trust God. But when every time there's an opportunity to trust God with the situation and you take control, what you're saying is, I don't trust God. I actually trust me. Now, why do we do this? Because it's easy to trust in ourselves. It's harder to trust in a God that we don't know what he's going to do.

00;10;36;21 - 00;10;54;15
Speaker 5
All the time. We don't know how he's going to work it out. We don't know how he's going to fix it. Here's Saul. He sees the people leaving him. He's been waiting for seven days. There's this massive army amassed against him, and he goes, I bet I better sacrifice, says he forced himself. You know what control will do?

00;10;54;21 - 00;11;17;20
Speaker 5
It'll force you to do things you know you're not supposed to do. He force himself to do something that God had told him not to do. They got reserved only for the priest, the prophet, and yet he forced himself to watch because he needed to control the situation. You see, if I'm in control, I can work things in my favor.

00;11;17;22 - 00;11;47;20
Speaker 5
Did you see that? Saul actually said that? He said in this moment he tells him. He said it. I saw myself in I have. I had not sought the favor of the Lord. I would not have had the favor of the Lord if I did not make the sacrifice. You see, so often we try to manipulate the favor of God in our favor, and in so doing we actually push away the favor of God.

00;11;47;22 - 00;12;05;29
Speaker 5
He's like, if I sacrifice, I get the favor of God. But in doing this and being disobedient and trying to control the situation, he pushes the favor away. And Samuel says, if you had just waited, your kingdom would have been established forever, but you couldn't trust God.

00;12;06;02 - 00;12;24;14
Speaker 5
I know we got some control freaks in here. I want to challenge you that you would get secure enough to say I have God confidence more than self-confidence. I'm gonna trust God with the situation, even if it doesn't look like it's going to work out in my favor. Even if it looks like it doesn't make sense, even if it looks at.

00;12;24;14 - 00;12;48;20
Speaker 5
I don't know how this will even come to fruition. The second thing we see from salt in terms of a dangerous he was led by fear in first Samuel 1524. So I'm gonna jump forward a couple chapters. Samuel goes to Saul again. He's addressing him about this same issue. He's like, I still can't believe you did that. I still can't believe you sacrificed when you knew you're supposed to wait on me.

00;12;48;22 - 00;13;11;04
Speaker 5
And Saul is like trying to defend himself. And here's how Saul defends himself. Verse 24. They're going to throw it up. Saul says to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed. So he admits, look, I know I made a mistake. I have transgressed the command, and saith the Lord of your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

00;13;11;07 - 00;13;46;29
Speaker 5
You see, when you're led by fear, you will listen to the voice of the crowd rather than the voice of God. You are crowd controlled rather than God called. And I think about all the time how I have been controlled by people controlled by the crowd, controlled by what people think or say. You see, so often I allow fear to be what dictates my decision making.

00;13;47;01 - 00;14;09;21
Speaker 5
He says, pardon my sin, I'm sorry. Fear will literally make you sin. Think about that. That the fear, the spirit of fear that is not from the Lord will make you do things that others, would tell you to do, even though you know God has told you not to. It'll make you actually step out and do that which you know is against your own God.

00;14;09;24 - 00;14;16;28
Speaker 5
Fear will make you sin. You want to. I know this because I see it in marriage all the time.

00;14;17;00 - 00;14;34;08
Speaker 5
You will talk to your spouse in a way that you would never talk to them if you were operating from love, but you're operating from fear. I'm afraid because I was cheated on in the past, and I'm afraid you're going to cheat on me in the present. And so. So I try to control you, and I try to manipulate you, and I.

00;14;34;12 - 00;15;03;03
Speaker 5
And I shame you. And I call you out for things you're not even doing. What? Because fear is speaking. Fear will make you say things and treat people in a way that faith would never can. I just challenge us in our marriages, in this place, when we got a lot of married people in here, maybe engaged people, maybe dating people, can I challenge you in your relationships that you would not lead or operate in your relationships from a place of suspicion?

00;15;03;05 - 00;15;30;04
Speaker 5
The enemy wants you suspicious of everything they say, everywhere they go, every eye they turn. That every time I see. Oh, he looked in that direction. Oh, there's a woman over there. Oh, who are you checking out? Who do you want to talk to? It's suspicion. And suspicion will create an environment of unhealthy. And it will lead you to actually sin in your own marriage.

00;15;30;06 - 00;15;55;06
Speaker 5
To speak in a way that tears down and and brings anger and hate and disunity into your relationship, all out of fear. Now, listen, I, I remember being, a parent early on when my kids were babies and, waking up in the middle of the night and being afraid that they weren't breathing. Any parents experiences? Maybe just me.

00;15;55;06 - 00;16;12;22
Speaker 5
Okay, a lot of parents look good. Okay? I'm not weird. And so. So I would run into their room middle night 1 a.m., two and three. And I had this spirit of fear. I'd run and I put my finger under their nose. You kind of feel if there's hot breath, right? I put my hand on their back and okay, I feel their breath going up and down.

00;16;12;25 - 00;16;37;20
Speaker 5
And some you experiences in this fear. And it's funny because that that passes over time and I think, oh, I, I'm not led by a spirit of fear. And then every so often right. My life, this spirit of fear will grab hold of my heart. This morning actually drove, two hours this morning to get back to church.

00;16;37;22 - 00;17;03;01
Speaker 5
We were at our men's camp, and, this morning we woke up, me and my boys and my dad and 5:30 a.m., and we jumped on the road and drove back. But at 5 a.m., I woke up out of nowhere, woke up, and I had all this fear all over me. I had fear about my daughter and my wife who were at home and that they were alive, that I was going to see them at church.

00;17;03;04 - 00;17;19;09
Speaker 5
I feared that I wasn't going to. I was going to bring this word the way I wanted to. I had fear that you guys weren't even going to show up. I had fear that that our church was was not going to have a great day, and thus we weren't going to have a great end of the, summer.

00;17;19;13 - 00;17;38;00
Speaker 5
And thus we were going to have a great end of the year. And, and thus we were going to be in a dangerous space and place financially. And, and all of a sudden this cycle of fear started to take me down. Dangerous and scary and and terrible places in my mind. Maybe it's just me. You guys don't deal with fear.

00;17;38;02 - 00;18;02;11
Speaker 5
And in this moment I'm sitting there and I had to rebuke the spirit of fear. I'm in my room by myself, I said. God has not given me a spirit of fear, one of power. Love, the sound mind. And I started speaking faith to my fear. And then I got here this morning. My daughter came running into the lobby and saw me and gave me a big hug, gave me a kiss, and I'm like, it's going to be all right.

00;18;02;13 - 00;18;23;11
Speaker 5
They're going to show up. This word is going to touch someone's heart. We're going to have a great summer and a great end of the year, and God's going to bless us financially. And he's got a great future for us. See, too many of us are led by fear. I just want to challenge you. Don't be Saul. Don't walk in insecurity.

00;18;23;14 - 00;18;50;18
Speaker 5
Don't let fear lead you. See, the other thing that's that Saul did was he tainted the timing of God. What insecurity will do. And it's it's a, again, a control issue. But what insecurity will do is it will taint God's timing because you want to work in the time that you see fit. So we choose our timing over God's timing.

00;18;50;21 - 00;19;09;14
Speaker 5
So what happens? Samuel is running a little late. Y'all ever been late? Okay. My wife, she's always late. I don't know where she is, but she. She's late. She's a late person, late arrival, and, And so I told you guys I lied to her about when we're supposed to leave, so we leave on time. It works every time.

00;19;09;17 - 00;19;33;16
Speaker 5
But. But I've learned that I like my time. I like arriving on my timing. And so Samuel's running late. The seven days past that, he said he was going to be there. And so I was like, oh my goodness, he's not here. I gotta do something. The people are, are telling me to sacrifice and and pray that they're going to leave me.

00;19;33;21 - 00;19;53;09
Speaker 5
And I'm afraid they're going to lose the battle, and I'm afraid that my kingdom is going to be taken away. Right. The the cycle of fear that leads to him going, I'm I'm going to take control. We got to do this in my timing. And so he sacrifices. And the second it says he finishes sacrificing and here comes Samuel.

00;19;53;11 - 00;20;14;24
Speaker 5
Imagine just you just had to wait a few minutes, just a few moments. Just trust God a little longer. Here's what I say to you. Some of you believe that God has something greater for your life, but it's been delayed. You've been asking God for a promise. You've been waiting on God on the promise. He's put something in your heart and you think this delay is God's denial.

00;20;14;24 - 00;20;35;29
Speaker 5
I would just tell you, don't take control. Try to manipulate the timing. Trust God's timing. If God is having you wait, it's for a reason. There's nothing wasted in the waiting. God's developing something in you, something about you. Maybe he's developing character, integrity. You maybe aren't ready for what he's asking you to do. And so just keep waiting.

00;20;36;01 - 00;21;12;05
Speaker 5
Don't take the timing of God. You see, when we don't trust God's timing, you know what you take. You take God's role is what insecurity will make you do. I gotta take over God. Your timing isn't right. We see from Saul also an inclination towards partial obedience. I think this is actually one of the great, Christian ills that we battle, that we don't talk about enough.

00;21;12;08 - 00;21;45;22
Speaker 5
I think this is one of the greatest sins of the body of Christ that we choose partial obedience. We have the appearance of godliness, but we don't follow through to the fullness of what God asks us to do. Let me show you what I did. So Saul, just fast forward, a few months. If we go to chapter 1615, it shows that Saul now has, they had beat the Philistines in that battle.

00;21;45;25 - 00;22;03;00
Speaker 5
God did still bless them, even though he went out of sight of God's plan. And now God says, hey, there's this other group of people coming against you, and they're the Amalekites. What I want you to do is when the Amalekites attack you, you're going to win. And I want you to kill all of them. But don't just kill all of them.

00;22;03;05 - 00;22;25;06
Speaker 5
I actually want you to kill all of their oxen. All of their sheep. All of their herds. You're not going to take anything home. You're going to just wipe out everything about the Amalekites. And the Amalekites had stood against God and God's people for a long time. So they go to battle Saul and his army when they kill the Amalekites.

00;22;25;08 - 00;22;46;28
Speaker 5
But Saul sees their herds, and it says that he chose those that were beneficial, those that were healthy. And he says, we're going to keep these oxen. We're going to keep these sheep. We're going to keep these goats. We'll kill the rest, the unhealthy ones. But we're going to hold on to these because they're actually going to be a great addition to the people of God.

00;22;47;01 - 00;23;12;16
Speaker 5
And he goes outside of the prescriptive, asks that God gave him the prescriptive directive that God gave him, which is to kill every single animal, and he brings some home with him. And God says to him, here's what he says. This is the response to it. You see, when he sacrifices, when he wasn't supposed to sacrifice, God let it go.

00;23;12;18 - 00;23;30;25
Speaker 5
But when he doesn't wipe out everyone that he was told to wipe out. This is what God says in verse 26. And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.

00;23;30;27 - 00;23;38;20
Speaker 5
And in the very next chapter, David is anointed king.

00;23;38;22 - 00;24;09;28
Speaker 5
You see, it was Saul's partial obedience that led to his complete rejection from the Lord. And I say this to you, because what insecurity does is we only will obey God as far as it makes sense to us, we only will obey God as far as it seems beneficial to us. But if there's something outside of what God has asked us to do, but we think it could be a blessing or a benefit, we're going to do that anyways.

00;24;10;01 - 00;24;38;18
Speaker 5
My kids love partial obedience. I'll tell them Cain and Charlie, go clean your room. Then I go to their room. Now walk in and ten times out of ten, if the clothes are all in the hamper in, the bathroom's clean. The beds aren't made, and if the bed's made, the bathroom isn't clean. And if the bed's made in the bathrooms clean, the clothes aren't in the hamper.

00;24;38;20 - 00;25;02;05
Speaker 5
And ten times out of time, I go in and I go, you didn't do it. No, dad, we did it. We cleaned our room. No you didn't. You partially clean your room. I asked you to clean everything. This is a great example of how we operate as followers of God. I will obey to the point that it makes sense to me.

00;25;02;07 - 00;25;28;20
Speaker 5
I will obey to the point that is convenient. I will obey to the point that is comfortable. Comfortable. Christianity has ruined a generation of followers of Christ where we only do what feels good. We only do what makes sense to us. We only do what what seems practical. And I'm here to tell you, like God will ask you to do things to walk in obedience that is outside of what always makes sense.

00;25;28;22 - 00;25;35;04
Speaker 5
It's outside of what may even seem beneficial to you.

00;25;35;06 - 00;25;41;18
Speaker 5
So what does this tell us about Saul? Well, insecurity isn't always allowed.

00;25;41;20 - 00;26;05;25
Speaker 5
Saul isn't rebelling loudly. He's compromising quietly. Insecure. Is that hidden chain. Everyone can seem great, bold, confident, powerful. Got it all together on the outside. But internally, there's a mess.

00;26;05;27 - 00;26;09;14
Speaker 5
And then Saul finally.

00;26;09;16 - 00;26;14;09
Speaker 5
He saw others as threats.

00;26;14;12 - 00;26;45;26
Speaker 5
Can I just challenge us? Because we're in the the era of social media. We're in the moment of comparison. Comparison is more of a challenge now than ever before because we see everyone's highlight reels. And I just want to challenge you that as followers of Christ, we would begin to elevate and celebrate our brothers and sisters around us, that we would actually be happy for those when they get pregnant, even though we haven't been able to get pregnant for those women when they get married, even though we haven't been able to get married right, we would be happy for those who get that promotion.

00;26;45;26 - 00;26;57;15
Speaker 5
Even though I haven't gotten my promotion, I would be happy for that church down the road that is growing even though I think we should be growing more than they are growing. This, that one for me.

00;26;57;17 - 00;27;18;11
Speaker 5
And actually celebrate that the team is winning. It's not competition. We're on the same team and I want to tell you, God has enough blessing to go around. He can bless your brother, your sister in Christ and still bless you. You don't have to curse others to get your blessing. You don't have to tear people down to build yourself up.

00;27;18;13 - 00;27;43;23
Speaker 5
Don't tear down what God is building, because what insecurity will do is it will turn people into threats instead of teammates. So every person this is for some of you at your jobs right now. You keep tearing other people down thinking it's going to give you a leg up. It rarely works. It always comes back to bite you.

00;27;43;25 - 00;28;10;17
Speaker 5
Saul is trying to kill David. Why is Saul trying to kill David? Well, let me fast forward a little bit. We go to chapter 18. So now. So now David has been serving Saul. He's anointed one. But he's been serving Saul. And they actually go to battle together, right? David kills Goliath then. Then Saul brings him into the inner court, like into his his cronies.

00;28;10;17 - 00;28;26;17
Speaker 5
And he's like, all right, you're going to go, you're going to be in my right hand guy when we go to battle. So now they go to battle together and they go out and they have this amazing victory against another people group that have been attacking them. They win the battle. They come back into the city of Jerusalem, conquering heroes riding in on their horses.

00;28;26;17 - 00;28;56;24
Speaker 5
And the people are singing the praises. But here's what it says. The women are singing. And this is in, chapter 18. You can read in verse six, right? I'm not going to go there. The women begin to sing. It says, and they sing, Saul has killed his thousands. And David, his tens of thousands. Saul hears that. And instead of, oh, we did that together.

00;28;56;26 - 00;29;26;08
Speaker 5
Combined, we killed tens of tens of thousands. And he hears, this man is going to take my throne. He sees competition. He sees a threat. He sees someone that could replace him rather than an ally who's alongside of him. I think in this moment, if Saul had just changed this perspective, this posture, I think everything would have changed.

00;29;26;10 - 00;29;46;20
Speaker 5
This is what insecurity does. This is why I wanted you to look internally at you. Now let's talk about David. Let's talk about the posture of security. I'm gonna go through this quick. You see, these are contrasting to to Saul. While Saul had a need for control, David acknowledged that God is in control. Can I tell you the transformation you want for your life?

00;29;46;26 - 00;30;08;16
Speaker 5
The transformation you want for your future, the transformation you want for your faith? It is on the other side of surrender, not control. It's when you go, I'm willing and ready for God to surrender. The only way you're going to grow closer to God and grow in your faith, grow as a man of God. Woman of God is when you choose surrender and it is a daily choice.

00;30;08;19 - 00;30;28;26
Speaker 5
So what does David do? Chapter 24 I'm jumping forward even more now. Saul. He's fought alongside of David, and now he's trying to kill David. He saw him as such a threat then. Now David is hiding, running for his life. He's got his mighty men with him. And Saul has a search party and they're out hunting. David down like a dog.

00;30;28;28 - 00;30;55;16
Speaker 5
They're hunting him. And Saul, goes into a cave. It says to relieve himself, goes to the bathroom, walks into the cave. It's dark. And David's in there with hundreds of mighty men. Saul's alone, and his men are whispering to him that God has delivered him into your hands. Kill him and you can take the throne. We can stop this, this battle.

00;30;55;16 - 00;31;17;01
Speaker 5
We can stop this running. We can stop this hiding. And David says, I will not touch the Lord's anointed. But he sneaks up and he cuts a corner off of Saul's robe. And Saul exits the cave, and David walks out behind him and says, my king, I'm your servant. I've never come against you. In fact, God delivered you into my head.

00;31;17;01 - 00;31;24;11
Speaker 5
I could have killed you, but I did it. I took a corner of your robe to show you that I'm faithful to you.

00;31;24;14 - 00;31;44;26
Speaker 5
David acknowledged. God is in control. I'm not going to force this situation. I'm not going to kill this man. Secure people. Don't force what God hasn't finished. We have to trust his time. We have to trust what he wants. I'm going to teach you guys a little something about golf here. Is that all right? I'm a golfer now.

00;31;44;26 - 00;32;07;22
Speaker 5
Okay, so. So I grew up a hooper, and, and I still whoop a little bit, but I'm getting old, and so. So now I just golf most of the time. Okay. And so a few years back, I became a golfer. And, I was I was a baseball player, too. And so naturally, when I, when I play golf, right, I hit the ball my natural ball is a draw.

00;32;07;24 - 00;32;27;08
Speaker 5
All right. We're going to teach you guys something today. Okay. So a draw for a righty is when the ball goes from right to left okay. So it curves like this. That's what has always come natural to me when I start hitting golf balls. They go like this. Right to left, right to left, right to left a fade right for a righty.

00;32;27;10 - 00;32;54;24
Speaker 5
It's when the ball goes from left to right. Here's the thing. I've always naturally drawn the ball. But the challenge about that is that there's a saying that you can talk to a fade, but a draw won't listen. Here's why. Because the draw has topspin, which means when it hits, it'll run farther. But a fade has backspin, so when it hits, it'll sit.

00;32;54;26 - 00;33;08;07
Speaker 5
And so for the last couple of years, even though I naturally hit a draw, I've been trying to teach myself to hit a fete because I'm like, I need a fade. You can talk to a fan. I just kept hearing him. You can talk to think, but a draw won't listen. You talk to say, but draw won't listen.

00;33;08;14 - 00;33;26;13
Speaker 5
And so. So I was constantly on the range. And I'm like setting up my feet for for fade. You open your stance right. Try to hit a fade. But what happened is I would open my feet for free because that's what they told me on YouTube. And, and, and and then I hit an even bigger draw, which was like a hook.

00;33;26;15 - 00;33;51;19
Speaker 5
And I could not figure out how to hit a fade. And so a few months back, I said, you know what? I'm just going to play what my mama gave me. I said, unnaturally, he did your let me just play the draw. Here's this crazy. When I start doing that, I'm just going to learn to play my natural shot really well.

00;33;51;21 - 00;34;10;16
Speaker 5
All of a sudden, my score started plummeting. I'm down to a 5.8 handicap, praise God. Okay, golfers, no, that's pretty good for an amateur shot in the 70s a lot. I'm not trying to brag here. You know, I'm secure, but, just letting you guys know.

00;34;10;19 - 00;34;31;09
Speaker 5
What's the point, Caleb? What is the point? Right. But you learned something about golf, didn't you? Now, you know, for now, you know, draw. Okay. Okay. We'll talk about later. You'll tell your spouse, you know, this is why I learned. What's the point? The point is this God is in control. He knew what he was doing when he made you the way you are.

00;34;31;11 - 00;34;47;02
Speaker 5
And what I've seen so often, we're trying to force our way into places and spaces that God didn't design us to be in. We're trying to force our way on the stages that God did not design us to have. We're trying to force our way into talent or ability that God gave to someone else. He said, no, I made you to be you.

00;34;47;09 - 00;35;01;02
Speaker 5
I made you to hit a draw. Not of faith. Play the draw and watch what I can do with it. What I want to say to you church in this place is trust in the God who has control and knew what he was doing when he made you the way you are. He knit you together in your mother's womb.

00;35;01;06 - 00;35;25;26
Speaker 5
He made you for a time such as this. He designed you to be and operate in the giftings that he's placed inside of you. But we try to control, manipulate, change. I'm not saying don't get better, but I'm saying let's be confident that God knew what he was doing when he made you the way he did, that God is in control and he knows what's best for you.

00;35;25;28 - 00;35;52;03
Speaker 5
We gotta allow our faith to supersede our fear, don't we? You see, what I saw was led by fear. The people. They're telling me to do this. I'm afraid of them. I'm afraid of their voices. David was led by faith. You see, David shows up and everyone's terrified of Goliath. Everyone's like, look how big the giant is. David shows up and says, look how big my God is.

00;35;52;05 - 00;36;16;25
Speaker 5
I'll face this giant. Not because I'm great, but because he's great, not because I have nothing to fear, but because God has given me faith to overcome any fear that I have. I know that fear has ruined some relationships in this room. The insecurity and the fear that has risen up in your life. Break off the fear by speaking faith to your fear.

00;36;16;25 - 00;36;22;04
Speaker 5
Church. Third, we got to trust God's timing.

00;36;22;06 - 00;36;40;02
Speaker 5
So I'll try to manipulate the timing. David trusted God's timing. He waits years to be king. Think about this. Think about your anointed king, and then you're waiting years because the the the old king is still king.

00;36;40;05 - 00;36;47;06
Speaker 5
David had his chance to kill Saul and to become king. He says, no, I'm going to trust God's timing.

00;36;47;09 - 00;37;06;13
Speaker 5
David had his chance to to elevate himself quicker. He could have fought Saul through those years. So he's like, no, I'm going to just run. I'm going to hide because I'm not trying to touch what God has put in place. When God wants to elevate me, he'll elevate me. When God is meant is saying that this is going to come to fruition.

00;37;06;15 - 00;37;35;28
Speaker 5
It's going to come to fruition. I know that some of you have been waiting. Keep trusting and waiting. Think about Saul. He was moments from Samuel arriving, but he sacrificed anyways. He was moments from from Samuel getting there to do what only he was supposed to do. But he's like, I got to take control of this situation. I got to figure out the timing of this just because you're anointed doesn't mean that you've been appointed yet.

00;37;36;00 - 00;37;57;14
Speaker 5
I'm not saying it's not an anointing on your life, but maybe the reason you don't have that space or place, you don't have that job, you don't have that marriage, you don't have that relationship, you don't have that whatever is because the appointment has not come yet from God. You can trust God in the waiting season for it.

00;37;57;14 - 00;38;24;14
Speaker 5
You got to walk out full of obedience. I told you, partial obedience. This is the issue that we battle. Security says even when it cost me control, I'm going to obey. Even when it seems that this man has been delivered into my hand, I'm not going to touch him because I'm not meant to touch the Lord's anointed. And we got to lift others up.

00;38;24;17 - 00;38;29;29
Speaker 5
Saul. He killed threats.

00;38;30;01 - 00;38;58;09
Speaker 5
He wiped out threats. He came against any threat that was a threat to his kingdom. David, he's raising warriors. Says that he had mighty men going with him everywhere he went. We know their names. They're named here. Benaiah says he went down into a pit. He killed a lion on a snowy day. Little random Bible fact for you.

00;38;58;11 - 00;39;07;24
Speaker 5
We know their names because that's what David was raising. He was lifting others up. He was elevating men. He was elevating mighty men.

00;39;07;26 - 00;39;23;10
Speaker 5
You see, secure people don't compete. They complete what God has put in their hands to do. The enemy wants us competitive with everybody around you.

00;39;23;12 - 00;39;38;21
Speaker 5
I don't want us to tear people down any longer. When God has called us to build others up. So who do you want to be? That's my question to you today. Who do you want to be? Do you want to be? So do you want to be David? Do you want to be insecure? Do you want to be secure?

00;39;38;23 - 00;40;06;02
Speaker 5
I posted this on social media, but I haven't ever talked about it on a Sunday. I hesitated today, actually, to tell you this, but in January, something like, oh my gosh, in January, I started working in another job. So this is my first time telling the church the stage. I've been a pastor for 20 years. I've only ever worked in the nonprofit world.

00;40;06;04 - 00;40;25;18
Speaker 5
I've only ever operated in a church capacity. And in January, I had this opportunity brought to me to go into the corporate world. And I wasn't looking for a job, but, this guy knew. He said, hey, I think you should apply for this. I think you could pass your church and and do this. I'm like, wait, what?

00;40;25;18 - 00;40;47;06
Speaker 5
I never even thought about it. It's like, you know what? If God's open a door, I'll apply, so I apply. They said, hey, would you come in for interviews? I showed up her interview, they started to ask me questions. I never been interviewed in 15 years. I interview people and I say, we hire staff here. I'm being interviewed, asking me questions.

00;40;47;09 - 00;41;09;19
Speaker 5
She's like, what have you built? All of a sudden, all this insecurity starts rising up in me. I thought I was security. I'm not gonna lie to you. Three months ago. I'm a I'm the most secure person, probably in this whole church. I'm the most secure man I know. I tell my wife I'm so secure. I get thrown into an environment situation, a space, a place.

00;41;09;19 - 00;41;20;20
Speaker 5
I've never been asking questions I've never been asked. And all of a sudden that that freshman pew per.

00;41;20;22 - 00;41;35;18
Speaker 5
Pew pre pre-pubescent. Thank you. This is my third service. Guys are pre-pubescent Caleb came out insecure fearful.

00;41;35;21 - 00;41;54;06
Speaker 5
I go through this interview and I'm like oh my goodness that was horrible. And my pride rose up. At one point she's like what have you built? I'm like, Google me. Woman. No, I'm just yeah. For reals. You know, I'm I'm I'm human. I'm like, seriously, what have I been. I'll show you, you know, let's go on the internet right now.

00;41;54;08 - 00;41;57;17
Speaker 5
And,

00;41;57;19 - 00;42;27;06
Speaker 5
It's funny because the last three months have actually been amazing because God's been making me more secure. He showed me that I was insecure. I just hadn't been put in an environment for that stuff, deep down that I'd never dealt with to be brought out. And this has been three months and I'm still pastor in the church. Don't worry guys, I'm here all the time and so going to be preaching on the regular like nothing's changed there.

00;42;27;08 - 00;42;50;13
Speaker 5
But I'm doing this other thing and God's actually been developing me in like new ways. I kind of feel like one of you now, but I get it. You know, I, I know what they're going through. I understand more. And, in this corporate world. Right. Insecure Caleb has been becoming more secure.

00;42;50;15 - 00;42;59;28
Speaker 5
But it wasn't because of being there is because of God and me bringing that insecurity to him.

00;43;00;02 - 00;43;24;07
Speaker 5
Here's what's crazy. I've been there three months. I'll tell you what my goal is all the time because I'm on a team now. I lead a team here. I'm on a team there. Every chance I get. I build up every person around me, every chance I get. I celebrate the other team. I'm on every chance I get. I, I go, oh, did you see so-and-so?

00;43;24;10 - 00;43;33;09
Speaker 5
What they did here? Honor, celebration, elevate and lift up. And this this has been a very competitive environment.

00;43;33;11 - 00;43;56;26
Speaker 5
We're on a team. And I'm like, no, God sent me here to carry a different culture. I'm here to lift people up. I'm here to build others up. You know, it's crazy. The more I build others up, the more God elevates me, the more opportunity I get. The more God's favor follows me. So today, I just want to challenge us.

00;43;56;26 - 00;43;59;27
Speaker 5
Who? Who are we going to be?

00;43;59;29 - 00;44;14;16
Speaker 5
David or Saul? Would you bow your heads with me across this room? Heads are bowed. Eyes are closed. I just want to ask you in this room, if you're here, you say. I've been battling with insecurity. I need prayer right now.

00;44;14;18 - 00;44;27;11
Speaker 5
I want to be secure. I want to be David. But I know I've been more Saul, more insecure than anyone. That's you. Just raise your hand right now. Just shoot it up. You can put it down. Yeah. Going up all around the room. I just want to pray for you. Thank you. Put it down. You can put it down.

00;44;27;11 - 00;45;02;10
Speaker 5
Jesus. I just pray right now for your people. You see them? You love them, God. You see the part of them that's never healed. Maybe that that child that had negative words spoken over them, that teenager that was rejected, the college student that was hurt, that that married person that was cheated on. Lord, I just pray right now that in this room you would begin to heal that which has been broken, those wounds that have been festering.

00;45;02;10 - 00;45;32;06
Speaker 5
But today you want to cauterize and heal will always have the scars. But Lord, you want to make us whole. You don't want us bleeding any longer, bleeding on others. So Lord, right now I pray for security. I pray for David's to be risen up in this room. God, David's to be raised in this house. Lord, secure followers of you that are confident not in themselves, but in God and what he made them to do, called them to be so.

00;45;32;06 - 00;45;57;28
Speaker 5
Lord, right now we speak life, we speak opportunity, we speak elevation. We, Lord, we speak security. We come against insecurity, fear, control. We lay it down. I pray this in your name. You could keep your heads bowed, eyes closed. One last thing. You're in this room, you say, Caleb, honestly, I need to surrender control to the Lord with my life.

00;45;58;03 - 00;46;14;16
Speaker 5
Because ultimately, the reason you're struggling. Insecurities. Because you have not given Jesus. All of you. Maybe you're in this room. You've never given your life to Jesus. You've never surrender your heart disease. Or maybe you did at one time, but you've walked away. You know you need to come back in a right relationship with the Savior Jesus. If that's you, would you shoot your hand up?

00;46;14;16 - 00;46;42;00
Speaker 5
Say that to me, Caleb. I gotta give my life to Jesus. Yes. One, 23456789 1011. Amazing. You can put him down. Pray this with me. Church. Would you all repeat this? Just say Jesus today. I confess my sin and my need for a Savior. Change me from the inside out. You are who you say you are. My King, my Lord, my God.

00;46;42;02 - 00;47;07;08
Speaker 5
I love you Jesus. And today I place my faith, my confidence, my security in you. Lord, I pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. Come on, let's give God some praise for all these people who responded by faith. When you stand your feet. Hey, thank you guys. I know I went a little long today. I'll just send them out of here.

00;47;07;09 - 00;47;27;19
Speaker 5
Right? They were ready to sing. You guys can still sing as their leader the whole one minute. I'm gonna invite our our team down forward as you raise your hand to receive. Jesus. We got cards or new believer cards or. Sorry, I raise my hand cards. If you raise your hand and give your life to Jesus. We got a free Bible for you, some other information for you, and we love to get you connected in our new believer course.

00;47;27;19 - 00;47;46;28
Speaker 5
Maybe. So our team is going to walk back down the aisles and our prayer team will be up here. But hey, love you church. God bless you. Go in the grace of God. Let's go out. As David's confident in what God has done in our lives. Have a great rest of your Sunday.

00;47;47;01 - 00;47;50;10
Chrissy Cole
Thank you for being a part of our online community here at Project Church.

00;47;50;11 - 00;47;53;22
Chrissy Cole
We hope that this message and the whole service bless your life.

00;47;53;25 - 00;48;10;02
Caleb Cole
Yeah. And if it did, we want to ask that you would do something for us. First of all, if you're not already subscribed to our YouTube channel, be sure to subscribe. Like this video. But also, we would ask that you would consider financially supporting what God is doing through Project Church. You can give in a variety of ways.

00;48;10;05 - 00;48;25;11
Caleb Cole
You can text project to 97,000. Right now. You can give to our Church Center app, or you can give on our website project church.com/give. Thanks so much for being a part of our online community. And once again God bless you guys. We'll see you soon.