Good morning, Springhouse.
Speaker:Today we're gonna talk about
Speaker:Saul. And we're going to read a passage of Scripture
Speaker:that doesn't have anything seemingly to do with Saul until I
Speaker:tell you what it has to do with Saul. Cause it's actually from the
Speaker:New Testament and actually the first time that you stand to read
Speaker:you're only going to have to read one verse. But as we get
Speaker:further into the end of the sermon and you guys
Speaker:get hungrier and sleepier, we'll stand again and we'll read
Speaker:a much longer passage. But would you stand with me and
Speaker:let's read from Hebrews
Speaker:chapter 12 verse one. Therefore,
Speaker:since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of
Speaker:witnesses, let us throw off everything that
Speaker:hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,
Speaker:and let us run with perseverance the race
Speaker:marked out for us. Father I thank you for your word, I
Speaker:thank you for the presence of the Holy Spirit in this place because
Speaker:without the Holy Spirit, nothing happens. I pray that the
Speaker:Holy Spirit would quicken our hearts, our minds,
Speaker:give us ears to hear in Jesus' name, amen. You may
Speaker:be seated.
Speaker:Saul and Saul, there are actually two prominent
Speaker:Sauls in the Bible. Most of you know that but maybe some don't.
Speaker:The Old Testament Saul was king of Israel, First King of
Speaker:Israel. The New Testament Saul
Speaker:was an apostle whose name was later changed to Paul.
Speaker:It's not unusual for people when they come
Speaker:to Jesus for their names to change because they
Speaker:change. When before Peter came to Jesus,
Speaker:his name was Simon. And that meant a reed blowing in the wind
Speaker:and Jesus he came to Jesus and Jesus met him and he could
Speaker:see that reed blowing in the wind cause that's what Peter was.
Speaker:But he said, you're gonna have a new name and it's going
Speaker:to be Peter, not Simon anymore. A
Speaker:rock. And so Paul, used to be
Speaker:known as Saul. He came to Jesus, his name changed.
Speaker:We don't know who wrote the Book of Hebrews but
Speaker:Paul is one of the names that's often mentioned. And the writer of
Speaker:Hebrews mentions a phrase that I, that I hope you caught as we went
Speaker:past. You'll, you'll catch it now but the phrase is this, the
Speaker:sin that so easily entangles.
Speaker:We all have such sin And you
Speaker:may or may not be aware of what that sin is in your
Speaker:life. Now if you're not aware of what that sin is in your life, you
Speaker:may think, well, I don't, you know, I don't know what he's talking about.
Speaker:But if you are aware of that sin
Speaker:that's in your life, you're closer to God than the one who goes, I don't
Speaker:know what they're talking about. Because the closer you get to
Speaker:God, the more clearly you see your own
Speaker:sin, your own inequity. As a matter of fact, you may think you know what
Speaker:that sin that so easily entangles is in your
Speaker:life, but you may get closer to God and find out oh no, that
Speaker:that wasn't even it. There's even one, there's even one
Speaker:more than that. When Isaiah saw the
Speaker:Lord and this is Isaiah, he
Speaker:said, I am undone. Woe is me. I'm a man
Speaker:of unclean lips. I dwell among an unclean
Speaker:people because I have seen the Lord. And
Speaker:so just because you're not necessarily aware of sin doesn't
Speaker:mean you're doing okay. In fact, it probably means you're not doing okay.
Speaker:That was free. For some the sin
Speaker:that so easily entangles is obvious. And for
Speaker:others it's not so easily identified.
Speaker:Now in in our in our culture, certainly in our
Speaker:church culture because it's kinda been
Speaker:passed down to us for a few hundred years. When we think of the sin
Speaker:that so easily entangles, one of the first things that comes
Speaker:to mind is immorality. Because immorality, I mean
Speaker:that's sin for sure. And it's it's
Speaker:talked about in the Bible. Paul certainly talks about it for
Speaker:sure. And it's easily identified. I mean, you
Speaker:know others may not may not necessarily see it in your
Speaker:life, but you know
Speaker:Crickets. But you know for
Speaker:sure. On the other hand in our
Speaker:particular culture we have a sin, just as deadly and
Speaker:perhaps even more deadly that we celebrate
Speaker:pride. That's right, and I'm not talking about
Speaker:immorality and pride mixed, I'm talking about pride.
Speaker:Drunkenness. Drunkenness is that's a
Speaker:real sin. And you know what? Not only do you know it,
Speaker:sometimes you don't know it. But everybody around you knows
Speaker:it if that's, if that's what's going on. I mean they, they can,
Speaker:they can see what's, what's happening. And
Speaker:you know, but on the other hand there's this
Speaker:sin because I, now drunkenness is wrong.
Speaker:Don't get me wrong, I mean it's, it's definitely a sin and it
Speaker:certainly entangles people.
Speaker:But on the other side there, Jesus didn't say too much about
Speaker:that. He did say a whole lot about being
Speaker:judgmental. He did have a lot to say
Speaker:about that. And it's pretty easy to look at the
Speaker:drunkenness and kinda go,
Speaker:And it's even easier to be judgmental when you're
Speaker:driving.
Speaker:I can't believe that they do that. You
Speaker:know, what Michelle and I call it Sleepy
Speaker:Smyrna.
Speaker:And if you don't know why we call it Sleepy Smyrna then you're probably
Speaker:part of the problem.
Speaker:Because you know, sometimes people just and there's
Speaker:Enon Springs Road, the new part where it's got
Speaker:one lane going here and a big old median and then one lane going
Speaker:this way. And and I'll admit the speed limit is ridiculous,
Speaker:35 miles an hour.
Speaker:But 28?
Speaker:Yeah, you got the right, but I'm sitting back here thinking, you're just
Speaker:doing
Speaker:that. The first service didn't hear any of that.
Speaker:Slothfulness, I mean yeah, people who are lazy and don't
Speaker:work and blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah, that's a sin that easily
Speaker:entangles people. Greed on the other hand is pretty good stuff. I mean
Speaker:I'm a I'm just a go getter, you know. So
Speaker:anyway, some of it is, some of it's pretty easy to see, some of
Speaker:it's a little more difficult to recognize. Today we're gonna look at the
Speaker:sin that easily entangled the Old Testament Saul.
Speaker:And it's a sin that also entangles many
Speaker:who may not think they have an obvious besetting
Speaker:sin, because this sin is, is somewhat of a
Speaker:chameleon and it masquerades as, as many things
Speaker:and probably the most damning thing that it
Speaker:masquerades as is wisdom.
Speaker:I'm just being wise in what I do.
Speaker:But it's sin nevertheless and it has a name and the name is
Speaker:simply this, fear.
Speaker:Fear. There's a reason why the
Speaker:Bible tells us almost 70 times
Speaker:to not fear. And there's a reason why over
Speaker:in Revelation 20 one:eight when it lists, those
Speaker:whose fate is damnation, the first on the
Speaker:list is the fearful. Fearful, this is
Speaker:this is serious stuff. This is pretty, pretty important stuff.
Speaker:And fear, if I were to say okay, well what's the opposite of fear? Well
Speaker:you'd, we'd probably jump into saying courage.
Speaker:No, no, no. Because you see, well actually
Speaker:courage doesn't exist without some element of fear. I mean fear's
Speaker:actually got to be there for for courage to exist. And the
Speaker:opposite of courage isn't fear, the opposite of courage is cowardice.
Speaker:Now fear can produce cowardice, but it's not the same thing.
Speaker:Now fear is an antonym for
Speaker:another f word which is faith. It it
Speaker:is the opposite of faith. You may say,
Speaker:Well I thought the opposite of faith was unbelief. No, the opposite of
Speaker:unbelief is belief.
Speaker:Little English lesson here, right? And
Speaker:and he got it.
Speaker:You know, you can actually believe and not have faith.
Speaker:There are people who believe that God exists, who believe
Speaker:that Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son, but they don't have any
Speaker:faith in Him. Because
Speaker:belief is passive, faith is active.
Speaker:See. Faith is
Speaker:required to please God. And
Speaker:it is also the means by which we are we are saved.
Speaker:And and so no wonder the Bible keeps saying, don't
Speaker:fear, don't fear, don't fear because fear
Speaker:is the opposite of faith, is the antithesis
Speaker:of faith. And Saul, King Saul
Speaker:had three specific fears that the Bible brings out and
Speaker:we're gonna look at those and we're gonna see, you know, how maybe that
Speaker:might relate to us. And the first one, first one is this,
Speaker:fear of the enemy. Over in
Speaker:First Samuel 13, Saul and
Speaker:his army were encamped and the Philistines were encamped
Speaker:and they were gonna engage one another and the Philistines
Speaker:more and more kept coming. I mean, they there just seemed to be an
Speaker:endless supply of Philistines, but the Israelites on the other hand, when
Speaker:they saw the Philistine army and how strong they were, how many
Speaker:people they had, they started melting away. They started deserting. They
Speaker:started going back home. They started hiding
Speaker:and hiding out. And Saul
Speaker:was kinda getting freaked out by this. Now he was supposed to wait for Samuel
Speaker:to come and offer a sacrifice to the Lord before they could
Speaker:start the battle. But as he saw the
Speaker:Philistines increasing and the Israelites
Speaker:decreasing sim seemingly,
Speaker:excuse me, I live in Tennessee. As
Speaker:he saw that happening,
Speaker:Samuel's not here, we gotta do something. We gotta engage before
Speaker:this thing gets totally out of hand. Bring the sacrifice, I'm gonna
Speaker:offer the sacrifice. The thing that he knew he wasn't
Speaker:supposed to do, he did and and as is often the
Speaker:case virtually immediately after
Speaker:he did it. Who shows up?
Speaker:Yeah, you all were in the first service.
Speaker:Samuel. Samuel shows up and
Speaker:just as he finished the offering, Samuel arrived and
Speaker:Saul went out to greet him. What have you done?' Ask
Speaker:Samuel. And Saul replied, well when I saw that
Speaker:the men were scattering and that you did not come at the
Speaker:set time, it's really your fault that you did not come at the
Speaker:set time and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash.
Speaker:I thought, now the Philistines will come down against me at
Speaker:Gilgal and I have not sought the Lord's favor. So I
Speaker:felt compelled to offer the burnt offering. You
Speaker:have done a foolish thing, Samuel
Speaker:said. Now we all understand
Speaker:fear of the enemy or, or think that we do.
Speaker:But we seem unaware that this
Speaker:fear of the enemy tempts us to act in our
Speaker:own strength, tempts us to do
Speaker:something instead of trusting in the Lord
Speaker:and waiting on the Lord, waiting for him. You
Speaker:have done a foolish thing, Samuel
Speaker:said. Proverbs three:five through
Speaker:six says this, trust in the Lord
Speaker:with all your heart and and lean not on
Speaker:your own understanding. In all your ways
Speaker:acknowledge Him. Acknowledge that He's there and He'll make
Speaker:your path straight. He'll straighten
Speaker:that thing out. When you trust in
Speaker:the Lord, you don't panic.
Speaker:You don't go chasing after a solution.
Speaker:You wait for it to come to you. I used to play racketball.
Speaker:And I know that doesn't sound like it fits, but I'm just gonna
Speaker:tell you something here. I was pretty good.
Speaker:But when I first started out it was
Speaker:such exercise, it was so exhausting,
Speaker:and it was so frustrating to lose so much.
Speaker:Because I was, I was going here, there, there's the ball,
Speaker:there, you It all changed
Speaker:when I learned to just stand in the right place and
Speaker:wait and let it come to me. And
Speaker:when you trust in the Lord, you can do that with life. You stand in
Speaker:the right place, you wait, you let it come to you.
Speaker:Psalm fifty six eleven says this, in
Speaker:God I trust and I am not afraid.
Speaker:What can man do to me? What can man do to you?
Speaker:Oh, I don't know, you know, kill me? Maybe?
Speaker:Well Jesus had something to say about that. I tell you my friends,
Speaker:do not be afraid of those who kill the body
Speaker:and after that can do no more. So what can what can
Speaker:man do to you? I mean I'm asking that question.
Speaker:Can man make fun of you? Take
Speaker:money away from you? Take stuff away from you? What can man do
Speaker:to you? Psalm
Speaker:fourteen one says, the fool says in his heart there
Speaker:is no God. Samuel said to Saul, you have
Speaker:done a foolish thing. To give
Speaker:in to fear of the enemy is to discount
Speaker:God.
Speaker:That was more profound than many of you think that it is. But
Speaker:to give in to fear of the enemy is to discount God because it's
Speaker:basically saying, Hey, I'm afraid of
Speaker:them. You ain't enough.
Speaker:Not all enemies we face are people. I mean, most of you are
Speaker:familiar with Paul saying we don't wrestle against flesh and
Speaker:blood but against powers and principalities and high
Speaker:places. And and to be honest it's not
Speaker:actually the the enemy that we fear anyway, it's the enemy's
Speaker:weapons that we fear. An enemy who has no
Speaker:weapons, no.
Speaker:I've got a nine year old grandson who lives next door
Speaker:and occasionally we fight.
Speaker:We wrestle. He ain't
Speaker:ever beat me and
Speaker:I'm He probably isn't going to for another year or
Speaker:two. I'm
Speaker:not afraid of him. He doesn't have the weapons.
Speaker:But our enemy has weapons. This is Memorial Day
Speaker:weekend and, not many of us face the military
Speaker:type of enemies that these
Speaker:people face that we celebrate, that we honor. That's
Speaker:really probably a better word for it. But we
Speaker:all face dangerous enemies. We face their weapons.
Speaker:I'm gonna mention three. There's there there are more but I'm I'm gonna mention
Speaker:three and just throw it up against the wall and see if any of
Speaker:it sticks. First one is
Speaker:want. One of the enemies of
Speaker:the weapon one of the weapons of the enemy is
Speaker:that we come against is is want. I
Speaker:can't do that. I I can't give that, I can't
Speaker:because I may need it. I
Speaker:I mean seriously if I if I if I if I
Speaker:tithe, that that's a financial thing, but if I
Speaker:tithe, what what am I gonna do if I need it?
Speaker:You know? Or if God says, you know, we'll we'll
Speaker:feed that person. Well, I I don't know if we got enough food,
Speaker:you know? Clothe that person. Well, I, you know, I I might
Speaker:need
Speaker:I I I need some of these 17 shirts that I've got in
Speaker:here. I need some of those 18 pair of
Speaker:shoes that I've got.
Speaker:Fear of want. The day You know I haven't worn no shoes
Speaker:in two years but one of these days I'm planning on wearing
Speaker:them.
Speaker:So we don't obey God because
Speaker:we're afraid we might not have what we need.
Speaker:How about this one? Fear of failure.
Speaker:I know nobody in here
Speaker:is faced with that ever.
Speaker:Well what's the worst that that can happen? I
Speaker:mean, somebody gonna laugh at you?
Speaker:I used to direct plays.
Speaker:And we would have auditions, and people would come in and audition
Speaker:for for a play. And you know, it was
Speaker:it it it could get long sometimes, but for the most part it was
Speaker:pretty good. But you know who the most fun people were
Speaker:to see audition? It was the ones who didn't give a
Speaker:rip if they did poorly,
Speaker:you know? Yeah, I'm going to audition for
Speaker:Scrooge.
Speaker:Bahamba, you know, kind of thing. You sort of go, Well
Speaker:that's interesting. This is this is fun. This has
Speaker:kind of woken us up. I'm gonna find a place for that person
Speaker:because they'll do anything.
Speaker:And we don't even know what failure is.
Speaker:We don't know. Have you ever
Speaker:really wanted something and you didn't get it?
Speaker:And then I don't know, a day later, month later, a few
Speaker:years later you went, boy I
Speaker:dodged a bullet on that one. You thought
Speaker:you failed, but you actually ended up much better
Speaker:off. And even worse, have you ever really wanted something and you
Speaker:got it?
Speaker:Only to find out a few months later, a few years
Speaker:later, oh man, what am I gonna do now?
Speaker:I didn't, I am the proud owner of a bass boat.
Speaker:We we don't we don't we don't even know what failure is. The
Speaker:most obvious looking failure of all time
Speaker:was the Son of God hanging on the cross
Speaker:as a common criminal. We considered Him
Speaker:stricken by God, afflicted by Him,
Speaker:but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was
Speaker:bruised for our iniquity.
Speaker:He was supposed to come and redeem Israel.
Speaker:He was supposed to come and be their Messiah. Well you know what?
Speaker:He came and he not only redeemed Israel, he redeemed us
Speaker:all. And he is their Messiah and ours as
Speaker:well. Yet to us it looked like a
Speaker:failure.
Speaker:One other thing that we tend to have fear of
Speaker:is tomorrow. Tomorrow.
Speaker:Man, I just don't know. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I
Speaker:got this meeting. I got this I got this interview. I got
Speaker:this appointment with the doctor. I don't know what they're going to
Speaker:say. You know, tomorrow, whoo.
Speaker:Well Jesus said, don't worry about it.
Speaker:You got enough to worry about today. Don't
Speaker:add tomorrow's worries to today's worries.
Speaker:And you know when you get and don't and for sure don't add next
Speaker:week's worries to today's worries. Yeah, not not
Speaker:He said, Don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about
Speaker:itself. It's got some worry when you get there, you can do
Speaker:that. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Speaker:We don't know what tomorrow holds.
Speaker:I I One of my favorite artists is Paul Simon. And
Speaker:I I really like his, sometimes his lyrics just
Speaker:have so much truth in them. You know, all lies and jests, still a
Speaker:man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. True
Speaker:that. Yeah. One man's ceiling is another man's
Speaker:floor. True that. A couple weeks ago
Speaker:I, I heard him in concert at the
Speaker:Ryman. And he sang Slip Sliding Away.
Speaker:And one of my favorite verses that he ever wrote was
Speaker:through that song, God Only Knows. God
Speaker:makes His plan. The information's unavailable
Speaker:to the mortal man. We do our job,
Speaker:we get our pay, we think we're
Speaker:gliding down the highway, when in fact we're slip
Speaker:sliding away. We don't know what's gonna
Speaker:happen tomorrow. We we rarely know where
Speaker:where we're headed.
Speaker:In fact, you don't really wanna know about the future.
Speaker:Because I promise you at some point it ain't gonna be
Speaker:good. And if you knew
Speaker:about it, you knew what was gonna happen and you knew when it was gonna
Speaker:happen, that's all you'd think about.
Speaker:It's enough to know who holds the future. When when
Speaker:I was growing up there was there was a song that we'd hear in church
Speaker:for pretty often. I know not
Speaker:what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.
Speaker:It's a secret known only to Him.
Speaker:And I trust Him. And I'm not afraid of tomorrow.
Speaker:Let's go to Saul's second fear. I mean fear of the enemy we get,
Speaker:but this one is probably even more pervasive among us
Speaker:and it is fear of his own people.
Speaker:And Saul, over in
Speaker:over in chapter 15 of first Samuel, Saul
Speaker:was tossed a softball by by the
Speaker:Lord to and he was supposed to hit it out of the park but he
Speaker:whiffed. He was told to go and wipe out the
Speaker:Amalekites. And the Amalekites apparently
Speaker:weren't much of a challenge. And so he goes and
Speaker:and he whiffs because of fear. And
Speaker:after that happens, guess who arrives on the
Speaker:scene? Samuel. And
Speaker:now you get to stand up and do the real reading that we were gonna
Speaker:do today. And I know, you know, you're getting hungry But
Speaker:just just stay with me.
Speaker:Samuel said, although you were once small
Speaker:in your own eyes, do you not
Speaker:So for Israel, The Lord anointed you king
Speaker:over Israel and He sent you on a mission
Speaker:saying, go and completely destroy
Speaker:those wicked people, the Amalekites. Wage
Speaker:war against them and wipe them out.
Speaker:Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you
Speaker:pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the
Speaker:Lord? But I did obey the Lord, Saul
Speaker:said. I went on the mission the Lord assigned
Speaker:me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites
Speaker:and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers
Speaker:took sheep and cattle from the plunder. The best of
Speaker:what was devoted to God in order to sacrifice
Speaker:to the Lord your God at Gilgal. But
Speaker:Samuel replied, Does the Lord delight in
Speaker:burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in
Speaker:obeying the Lord? To obey is better than
Speaker:sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of
Speaker:rams. For rebellion is like the sin of
Speaker:divination and arrogance like the evil of
Speaker:idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the
Speaker:Lord, He has rejected you as king.
Speaker:Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned,
Speaker:I violated the Lord's command and your instructions.
Speaker:I was afraid of the men and so I gave in
Speaker:to them. Please be seated.
Speaker:And read that last sentence again in silence
Speaker:and pondering.
Speaker:You can read it out loud, Connie. Yeah. It's okay.
Speaker:I love Connie. She she doesn't think she's
Speaker:brave, but she has become brave since I've known
Speaker:her. And that's a fact. Yeah. I usually
Speaker:do this, this teaching for pastors.
Speaker:And while this is an all too common fear for
Speaker:leaders, it applies to followers as well. So don't, you know, don't think,
Speaker:Well, I'm not a leader so you're not talking to me now. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker:am actually. In terms of leaders, this is
Speaker:the Achilles heel of leaders.
Speaker:Being afraid of their own people.
Speaker:It's the Achilles' heel of democracy. It's why stuff doesn't get done
Speaker:right because they're afraid of us.
Speaker:Afraid they're not going to get reelected, you know. So we gotta please
Speaker:this group or please that group or do do do something right
Speaker:now rather than something that's gonna be good for the future because
Speaker:those people ain't voting for me. These people are.
Speaker:It's also, the bane of the church.
Speaker:When when I was growing up we we would come and worship the
Speaker:Lord on on Sunday and then we'd have church business
Speaker:meeting so that the Devil could get his due.
Speaker:Because everybody had their own opinion that they had to bring and you know, and
Speaker:they only caused divisions and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker:And I hated those things, I really did.
Speaker:What if Moses had given in to the people?
Speaker:We wanna go back to Egypt. You know, why why did
Speaker:you bring us out of here? We don't get enough manna.
Speaker:We we like more than one day supply. You know, I There was just so
Speaker:much stuff that if he had been the kind
Speaker:who would give in in fear to the people, we wouldn't have
Speaker:never We'd never heard about him, heard about them.
Speaker:But okay, let's let's let's say we're let's say we're talking about
Speaker:followers. What about your friends?
Speaker:What do you mean my friends? I I don't hang out with bad people. I
Speaker:mean bad bad company corrupts good character and I don't I don't
Speaker:hang out with bad people. Okay. And I'm certainly not afraid of the
Speaker:people that I hang out with. Oh, okay. I I hear you. Are you any
Speaker:different with them than you are when you're here?
Speaker:Are are you any different at work from what you
Speaker:are on Sunday morning? Are are you any different,
Speaker:at school than you are with your family? Are you
Speaker:different with someone you're trying to impress, than you are
Speaker:with somebody that you think is beneath you?
Speaker:Fear of others causes us to lose our real
Speaker:self. We don't know who we're
Speaker:all who we are after a while.
Speaker:I found it hard being a preacher's kid
Speaker:for a number of reasons. The most obvious of which was,
Speaker:everybody's looking at you. And you got, you
Speaker:got you're held to a different standard from everybody and they're
Speaker:all focusing on you. But
Speaker:probably even even more difficult than that, though
Speaker:at the time I didn't recognize it, was the fact that your parents or
Speaker:your father or mother, whatever, is
Speaker:up there in church and they're who they are and then they come home
Speaker:and maybe they're somebody else.
Speaker:And you and you kind of go, I don't like what I see behind the
Speaker:curtain.
Speaker:My parents were quite good at being the same as home
Speaker:as they were elsewhere, as they were anywhere, actually. But you
Speaker:but you know the thing is that when you're when you're 10, when
Speaker:you're 13 and God help you when you're 16 and
Speaker:17, you know. Just the tiniest little
Speaker:crack gets magnified. You kind of go,
Speaker:well you know, you you say this but
Speaker:you you are that
Speaker:and I'm not gonna be that way.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:Well let's take this a little a little bit deeper. Let's get specific
Speaker:with Saul's third fear. And Saul's third fear was fear of the
Speaker:Lord's favor on another. And
Speaker:that other was, was David. He was afraid of
Speaker:David. First Samuel eighteen twelve
Speaker:says, Saul was afraid of David because
Speaker:the Lord was with David and had departed from
Speaker:Saul. Well what what caused
Speaker:this fear? Really?
Speaker:Because you see, there are
Speaker:There's a man I know who used to be
Speaker:here at the church. He was actually on staff.
Speaker:And he seemed extremely
Speaker:confident. And, in fact,
Speaker:he'd tell you right now, I'm not afraid of anything. Not afraid
Speaker:of anything, anybody.
Speaker:And he was good. He was good at his job.
Speaker:And and I love this guy but we've reconnected
Speaker:many years later and, you know, he's kind of admitted two
Speaker:things. Number one, was actually I was afraid
Speaker:of you. Oh, okay.
Speaker:Afraid of me? I don't get it but you know,
Speaker:he's not telling me what I've heard say that so, boo.
Speaker:And but the second thing is I was
Speaker:afraid that people were going to find out
Speaker:that I'm just, that I'm not that good. I'm
Speaker:afraid people will find out who I really am.
Speaker:You afraid of anybody? You you
Speaker:afraid of people finding out who you really are?
Speaker:Afraid of people getting to know you?
Speaker:Seeing behind the curtain?
Speaker:The main issue is this, it's not jealousy, it's not envy,
Speaker:it's not really even insecurity. The main issue is this,
Speaker:it's misplaced identity.
Speaker:You draw your identity from the wrong source.
Speaker:Retirees suffer from this real often, especially pastors. You know,
Speaker:they're used to being in charge and they're used to
Speaker:people honoring them or or whatever, you know. And then, all
Speaker:of a sudden they aren't that anymore and it's kind of like, well who am
Speaker:I? Sometimes teachers,
Speaker:businessmen, you know, whatever it
Speaker:is, you know, if that become if your
Speaker:position becomes your identity,
Speaker:then you got some reason to be afraid.
Speaker:One of the issues we had here for, for several years, and occasionally it
Speaker:pops up again, is people unwilling to step aside from their
Speaker:position for others.
Speaker:In fact, there'd be times that they weren't even doing the job anymore,
Speaker:and then we'd say, well, you know what? We're gonna,
Speaker:we're gonna we're gonna let Wade start doing that job. Oh no, no, I'm
Speaker:ready, I'm I'm ready to do it now, you know.
Speaker:And they weren't ready to do it now, they just weren't ready to let it
Speaker:go.
Speaker:Saul feared for his kingdom.
Speaker:He wasn't afraid that David was gonna kill him.
Speaker:He he wasn't afraid that David would be bad for Israel, I
Speaker:mean come on. David fought Israel's battles.
Speaker:David protected Saul. David had Saul's back.
Speaker:But he was afraid that he was gonna lose his
Speaker:kingdom. David was gonna get
Speaker:it.
Speaker:And so he was unable to receive the greatest gift
Speaker:that God gave to him, gave
Speaker:to his kingdom. David,
Speaker:couldn't receive it. When you know who you are
Speaker:in Christ, it changes the calculus on everything. When
Speaker:your identity is rooted and grounded in Christ, it changes the
Speaker:calculus on on everything. When it shifts
Speaker:from who am I to who am I in Christ.
Speaker:Yeah I know I'm running a little late but,
Speaker:just hang on.
Speaker:I used to do a lot of my major in college was
Speaker:theater, and I used to do a lot of acting and before I came to
Speaker:the Lord I mean I was, I was doing that all the time. And you
Speaker:know what, I was good.
Speaker:I was good, and I knew it. And I
Speaker:felt like I'm a really
Speaker:good actor. And so I enjoyed acting.
Speaker:I did not enjoy going to the theater, Because when I
Speaker:went to the theater, one of two things would happen. I would see somebody doing
Speaker:a role that I should have been doing.
Speaker:And they weren't very good. And I would be sitting there the whole
Speaker:time instead of into the play, I'd be sitting there the whole
Speaker:time going, yeah. That's
Speaker:not how I'd do it. And it was even worse if they were
Speaker:great and much better than I could
Speaker:do it. Because I would sit sit there,
Speaker:something inside of me, kind of
Speaker:falling apart I guess, crumbling.
Speaker:And then I came to Jesus, came to Jesus in
Speaker:in in my mid twenties and and I didn't know this was gonna happen
Speaker:because I didn't know it was a problem. Because I
Speaker:was stupid, and ignorant, and away from the Lord, and
Speaker:couldn't see things. But I started enjoying
Speaker:going to the theater. Because if I went and somebody
Speaker:was really good, I would, wow, that blew me
Speaker:away. I really enjoyed that. And if someone was
Speaker:really bad, I just go, you know,
Speaker:God love you. I mean look at what they're doing.
Speaker:They don't even know their path. They're just up there, they're just up there
Speaker:having fun and enjoying life and and living it
Speaker:big. That's, I mean it changed everything.
Speaker:It's not time for this, I'm gonna tell it anyway.
Speaker:It's a play called Frost Nixon. And it's about David Frost
Speaker:and Richard Nixon, and interviews and stuff. And, and
Speaker:I I I've always
Speaker:thought that I could play Richard Nixon very well.
Speaker:And, and Studio ten over in
Speaker:Franklin did that play, and I thought, oh wow, I'm gonna
Speaker:audition for Well they already precast Nixon and I was going, oh
Speaker:well. But then the guy had to drop out and
Speaker:they asked me to come and audition. And
Speaker:I did. And I feel like I
Speaker:nailed it. And they didn't cast me.
Speaker:They, they cast a friend of mine,
Speaker:that I had known previous years, named Robert Kiefer.
Speaker:And I went to see him, I went to see the play, and
Speaker:Robert was fabulous. He
Speaker:was fabulous. And and I
Speaker:remember after after the show, I was in I was in the foyer,
Speaker:I think they call it a lobby. I was in the lobby and one of
Speaker:the guys who had been at my audition had decided not to cast me.
Speaker:I went over to him and I said, you guys
Speaker:absolutely made the right choice. And it was from the bottom of my heart and
Speaker:it felt so good to be able to say it. Because my identity was
Speaker:not in the fact that I I can do a Richard
Speaker:Dixon or that I was an actor or anything. My identity is in
Speaker:Jesus Christ and how well somebody else did had no impact
Speaker:whatsoever on who I
Speaker:was.
Speaker:Back in the seventies, people used to say, what are my rights in Christ?
Speaker:Kinda go, well, you
Speaker:know, because of bad teaching they thought was
Speaker:having stuff, and, and,
Speaker:being never getting sick, or something like that. You
Speaker:know, having stuff doesn't make you free from want.
Speaker:In fact, the more stuff you have, the more stuff you want, usually.
Speaker:Having stuff, having faith makes you free for
Speaker:want.
Speaker:Your rights are to die daily,
Speaker:to forgive others,
Speaker:to consider others ahead of yourself.
Speaker:In other words, to take up your cross daily and follow him.
Speaker:Those are your rights. And if you will exercise those
Speaker:rights, the more you exercise those right,
Speaker:the result is that you you find your true self, you
Speaker:find freedom, you find freedom from
Speaker:fear. No fear.
Speaker:Colossians two ten says, in Christ you've been brought to fullness.
Speaker:Think about what that means. Do you feel like your
Speaker:life is full? Do you feel like it's it's
Speaker:fullness? If you don't, it may be because
Speaker:it's not grounded in Christ.
Speaker:For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in
Speaker:God. Stop looking for your life in the wrong
Speaker:places. Your your life is
Speaker:not about your politics, it's
Speaker:not about your position, it's not about your possessions, your pride,
Speaker:hidden in
Speaker:Christ. And
Speaker:then finally, it's hidden in Christ.
Speaker:And then finally,
Speaker:do not fear what they fear,
Speaker:do not be intimidated by them but in your hearts
Speaker:revere Christ as Lord.
Speaker:Two options, you can
Speaker:fear what they fear and be intimidated or you can revere Christ
Speaker:as Lord in your hearts. Those are in inverse
Speaker:proportion to one another, inverse ratio.
Speaker:Many of you watch the news.
Speaker:It may be your sin that so
Speaker:easily entangles you. I'm just saying that,
Speaker:not to be funny, but because it's
Speaker:true. Because it promotes fear.
Speaker:But if you will truly revere Christ in your
Speaker:hearts, your fear doesn't stand a chance
Speaker:when you stand in his love.
Speaker:Would you stand with me? Will those who are
Speaker:gonna pray with people come forward? And
Speaker:if you need prayer for anything,
Speaker:especially if there's anything out there that you're feeling fear or anxiety
Speaker:about, it may be an interview, it may be a doctor's appointment, it may be
Speaker:a bill that's coming bill that's
Speaker:coming to I mean, but anything, it doesn't have to be
Speaker:about fear specifically. We're going to worship for just a few
Speaker:moments, give you an opportunity, to come and
Speaker:be prayed for. His brothers and sisters would love to pray with you.