Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1: In your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: One of my friends was saying to me, I don't
Speaker 2: want this series to end, and I was like, man,
Speaker 2: it's fine. We haven't even got David to the throne yet. Okay,
Speaker 2: we're just getting started. He's not even a king yet,
Speaker 2: and we're looking at his life and we're taking our
Speaker 2: time so we can understand where he came from and
Speaker 2: what he was called to and how God brought him
Speaker 2: from where he was to where God ultimately wanted him
Speaker 2: to be.
Speaker 1: And it's a model for our lives.
Speaker 2: And we're looking at it from two perspectives, and hopefully
Speaker 2: the contrast over time will begin to show you some
Speaker 2: things about how God works in your own life. Because
Speaker 2: I don't read the Bible really like a history lesson
Speaker 2: For me, the Bible is at its best in my
Speaker 2: life when it's living and active, and so it's more
Speaker 2: like heart surgery, not just to learn about a character
Speaker 2: that existed long ago, but so that God can shape
Speaker 2: his character in my heart. And so I have a
Speaker 2: long way to go. Touch somebody and say you've got
Speaker 2: a long way to go. I can tell you really
Speaker 2: need this series. I want to look at something today
Speaker 2: concerning David and the way I want to set it up.
Speaker 2: I just want to look at one verse from Psalm
Speaker 2: fifty seven to something that David wrote, a declaration that
Speaker 2: he made, and then, as we've been doing each week,
Speaker 2: give you a little bit of the background behind what
Speaker 2: was going on in his life when he wrote it,
Speaker 2: and we'll see what God will speak to us today.
Speaker 2: How many expect God to speak to you today? That's
Speaker 2: so important? That is so important that that you don't
Speaker 2: come to hear me preach. What am I going to
Speaker 2: tell you? What good can I do you? But if
Speaker 2: you come expecting God's Spirit to speak to you, you
Speaker 2: will not leave disappointing.
Speaker 1: I'm serious, I'm serious.
Speaker 2: Even if my sermon is boring, God can say something
Speaker 2: to you through a boring sermon that can change your life.
Speaker 1: So don't depend on me.
Speaker 2: I might not get much sleep on Saturday night and
Speaker 2: I show up, I'm off but God has never sleep deprived,
Speaker 2: and he knows just what you need for your situation.
Speaker 2: But I'm excited about this today because David said in
Speaker 2: Psalm fifty seven, verse two, something that really.
Speaker 1: Ministers to me.
Speaker 2: It might be one of my favorite things that he
Speaker 2: ever said. He said, I cry out to God most High,
Speaker 2: to God who fulfills his purpose for me. If you
Speaker 2: really listened to what I just said and thought about
Speaker 2: the content of it, it'll make your blood pressure go down.
Speaker 1: Let me read it again.
Speaker 2: I cry out to God most High, to God who
Speaker 2: fulfills his purpose for me. If you listen to that
Speaker 2: and really get it, let me try one more time.
Speaker 2: I cry out to God most High. That means that
Speaker 2: he has all authority in my life. And no matter
Speaker 2: what people do to me, or no matter what life
Speaker 2: has handed me, God is above it, working through it
Speaker 2: to accomplish Watch this his purpose for me. And that's
Speaker 2: one thing that David shows us. He shows us again
Speaker 2: and again the importance of serving the purpose of God.
Speaker 1: He shows us how to serve the purpose.
Speaker 2: Go over to First Samuel twenty four, verse one, because
Speaker 2: this gives us the context in.
Speaker 1: Which David wrote those words. I cry out to God
Speaker 1: Most High, to.
Speaker 2: God who fulfills his purpose for me. David wrote these
Speaker 2: words not from a beach or from a hammock, because
Speaker 2: it's easy to write, or to talk, or to believe
Speaker 2: about God fulfilling his purpose for you. When you are
Speaker 2: moving toward what you consider to be your purpose. It
Speaker 2: is one thing to pin those words when you are
Speaker 2: headed toward what you believe to be your destiny. It's
Speaker 2: another thing to say that when everything is headed in
Speaker 2: the wrong direction.
Speaker 1: When we catch up with David and first Samuel twenty four,
Speaker 1: verses one through eight, is they're about to see.
Speaker 2: Everything is moving away from what David is ultimately headed toward.
Speaker 2: But he's able to see something in this, and I
Speaker 2: want to share it with you today. For Samuel twenty four,
Speaker 2: verse one, after Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he
Speaker 2: was told David is in the desert of Hingeti. So
Speaker 2: Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel
Speaker 2: and set out to look for David and his men
Speaker 2: near the crags.
Speaker 1: Of the Wild Goats. By the way, when God has
Speaker 1: purposed for.
Speaker 2: You to do something significant, expect the enemy to send
Speaker 2: out his special forces That might be why your life
Speaker 2: has been so hard, Not because God is not with you,
Speaker 2: but maybe God is so distinctively with you. Maybe his
Speaker 2: plan for your life is so intimidating and threatening to
Speaker 2: the devil that there's no way he's going to let
Speaker 2: you ascend to your purpose.
Speaker 1: Without an attack.
Speaker 2: That might be why you're fighting right now. And so
Speaker 2: David is on the road to royalty, but it will
Speaker 2: not be an easy road. David is on the road
Speaker 2: to influence. David is on the road to purpose, but
Speaker 2: it will not be It will not be easy for
Speaker 2: David or for you. And he's running as a refugee,
Speaker 2: although he's anointed as a king, and the circumstance he
Speaker 2: finds himself in completely contradicts the calling that he believes
Speaker 2: he's walking in. Have you ever been there? Looking verse three,
Speaker 2: He came to the sheep pins along the way, and
Speaker 2: a cave was there, and Saul went in.
Speaker 1: To relieve himself.
Speaker 2: Now, when the Bible says relieve himself, it means relieve himself.
Speaker 1: Can we leave it at that?
Speaker 2: People of God, you can do the Hebrew and the Greek,
Speaker 2: and the Latin and the Spanish.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna resist.
Speaker 2: There's some things that I want to say right now.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna save it. I'm gonna save those things. This
Speaker 2: is the spiritual service. This is all the people who
Speaker 2: really love God. So if I say what I want
Speaker 2: to say about that verse, because anyway, don't do it.
Speaker 1: Don't do it.
Speaker 2: If you knew what I was fighting back, watch David
Speaker 2: and his men were far back in the cave.
Speaker 1: The men said, holy crap, I told you.
Speaker 2: The men said, this is the day the Lord spoke
Speaker 2: up when he said to you, I will give your
Speaker 2: enemy into your hands for you to deal with as
Speaker 2: you wish. And then David crept up, unnoticed and cut
Speaker 2: off a corner of Saul's rove. I want to talk
Speaker 2: to you today about cutting corners because the scripture promises
Speaker 2: that God will fulfill his purpose for you. David said that,
Speaker 2: and then he demonstrated that.
Speaker 1: I wonder if you really.
Speaker 2: Believe that God will fulfill his purpose for you, or
Speaker 2: are you stressed out because you are trying to fulfill
Speaker 2: God's purpose for someone else. You know, we live in
Speaker 2: a day in time where we're only one click away
Speaker 2: from seeing how someone else raises their kids, and before
Speaker 2: long you can start to compare your purpose to their purpose.
Speaker 2: But touch somebody and say, God didn't call me to.
Speaker 1: Fulfill your purpose.
Speaker 2: So please do not judge me according to the standards
Speaker 2: of what God gave you, because my stewardship is not
Speaker 2: of your purpose. So I don't have to feel bad
Speaker 2: about the gifts that God did not give me. If
Speaker 2: I am fully maximizing the ones that He did. All
Speaker 2: I gotta do this will set you so free. All
Speaker 2: I've got to do is completely commit my heart to
Speaker 2: god purpose for me. Now it's a funny thing because
Speaker 2: what my podium understands and my microphone understands, I, as
Speaker 2: a preacher, have a hard time understanding. I've been preaching
Speaker 2: at this church for about twelve years, and never once
Speaker 2: have I seen my podium try to do my microphone's
Speaker 2: job and amplify my voice. Nor have I seen my
Speaker 2: microphone try to hold my Bible. But we walk around
Speaker 2: all the time, frustrated.
Speaker 1: And fearful, trying to do something. All custom testure, why
Speaker 1: isn't this working?
Speaker 2: Because you have a purpose, and when you put the
Speaker 2: pressure on yourself to fulfill a purpose that God did
Speaker 2: not intend for your life, of course you're stressed out
Speaker 2: of course you can't sleep. Of course you feel like
Speaker 2: a failure. But God said, what I'm putting you is
Speaker 2: for you, and you are not responsible for anybody else's results.
Speaker 2: I feel Jame's falling off of somebody. Serve the purpose
Speaker 2: that God has given you.
Speaker 1: That's what David did.
Speaker 2: Notice that he never sought the position of king, never once.
Speaker 2: We live in a world that talks a lot about
Speaker 2: finding your purpose. But I wonder if what we're really
Speaker 2: doing is seeking a position and confusing position with purpose.
Speaker 1: Can I preach a little bit.
Speaker 2: When Paul talked about the body of Christ, he said,
Speaker 2: sometimes the ushers in the church are more important than
Speaker 2: the preacher. He didn't say it just like that, that
Speaker 2: we are many members one body, and the parts that
Speaker 2: you cannot see are the ones that sustain the life
Speaker 2: function of the body.
Speaker 1: The parts that you can.
Speaker 2: See you can do without your pinky. Sometimes the preacher
Speaker 2: is like the pinky. You see it, but if it
Speaker 2: wasn't there, it could still happen. But sometimes it is
Speaker 2: the stuff that is unseen. David understood how to serve
Speaker 2: the purpose of God.
Speaker 1: So if we ever get to hang out and you
Speaker 1: ask me.
Speaker 2: How will I know what God's purpose for my life
Speaker 2: is I won't have an answer to give you because
Speaker 2: only you can discover that.
Speaker 1: But I can tell you how to discover it. Serve.
Speaker 2: That's all that David ever had to do was to
Speaker 2: serve the purpose of his current assignment. And when you
Speaker 2: serve the purpose God, we'll give the promotion.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something.
Speaker 2: You don't want a promotion that God doesn't give you.
Speaker 1: You really don't.
Speaker 2: You don't want a husband, that God doesn't give you
Speaker 2: a wife, That God doesn't give you a job, that
Speaker 2: God doesn't give you a responsibility, that God doesn't give you.
Speaker 2: All I want to do is serve the purpose of God.
Speaker 1: That's what David did. There's one song I really love it.
Speaker 1: It's kind of got a vibe.
Speaker 2: Do you remember that song from like one hundred years
Speaker 2: ago that Drake did called Started from the Bottom. It
Speaker 2: has that kind of vibe from that song. It's talking
Speaker 2: about David. This is Psalm seventy eight. I didn't get
Speaker 2: to it last night, but y y'all again, this is
Speaker 2: the advanced service, So I'm going to.
Speaker 1: Do it with y'all.
Speaker 2: But God, the Bible says, shows David his.
Speaker 1: Servant.
Speaker 2: God shows did his servant. This is how David came
Speaker 2: into the kingship. Not by standing in line for an opportunity,
Speaker 2: but God took David, his servant, chose him and took
Speaker 2: him from the sheep pins.
Speaker 1: What was David doing.
Speaker 2: In the sheeppin serving his purpose in a minimum waste job.
Speaker 2: David served his purpose. And when you serve purpose, you
Speaker 2: don't have to search for purpose. Purpose will find you.
Speaker 1: You don't have to seek the position.
Speaker 2: When you are in the position where God has placed you.
Speaker 2: God knows where to look. God knows where to find you.
Speaker 2: God knows when to raise you. God knows when to
Speaker 2: promote you. You don't have to worry about the platform.
Speaker 1: Serve your purpose.
Speaker 2: God took David from the sheep pins and made him
Speaker 2: a king, not because David sought the position, but because
Speaker 2: David served the purpose. Serve the purpose. Then you can
Speaker 2: have confidence in the promise. God has given you a promise.
Speaker 2: But you've got to number two. I only got three points.
Speaker 2: We're making excellent time guard the promise. I really want
Speaker 2: to minister this deeply. Holy Spirit, help me get this across.
Speaker 2: I think sometimes we assume that when God makes us
Speaker 2: a promise, that the promise is automatic.
Speaker 1: Because the word of the Lord is sure.
Speaker 2: But I've learned that the promises of God often in
Speaker 2: our lives get perverted. I noticed another thing sometimes is that, well,
Speaker 2: we'll take something and call it a promise, but it
Speaker 2: is only a partial promise. And so we take things
Speaker 2: that we like the way they sound in the Bible. Sometimes,
Speaker 2: at least I do this. You probably don't. But every
Speaker 2: once in a while I will. I will take something
Speaker 2: that I like from the Bible, and I'll cut it
Speaker 2: up into slices, and I'll take a certain slice that
Speaker 2: I like, a certain verse that I like, a certain
Speaker 2: concept that I like, and I'll cling to that and
Speaker 2: call it a promise. But it's a partial promise. It's
Speaker 2: a partial promise. Okay, a few examples of this. My
Speaker 2: God shall supply all of your needs according to his
Speaker 2: glorious riches in Christ. I like that helps me know
Speaker 2: that God's going to help me whatever situation again and
Speaker 2: give me what I need for wherever I am. So
Speaker 2: I like that part of the promise. But it's a
Speaker 2: partial promise. I don't mean that the promise is partial.
Speaker 2: I mean that to really understand that promise, you have
Speaker 2: to understand the context.
Speaker 1: Of the promise.
Speaker 2: Where Paul was right, a church of people who had
Speaker 2: learned to be generous, and in their learning to be generous,
Speaker 2: it released the abundance of God to their situation. Because
Speaker 2: when you learn to live with open hands, you live
Speaker 2: under an open heaven.
Speaker 1: The context of the.
Speaker 2: Promise is that God will supply all of your needs
Speaker 2: if you are living in accordance with His priorities. But
Speaker 2: in order for God to release his provision, you have
Speaker 2: to submit to his priorities. Yeah, it is good. It's
Speaker 2: good because it works. This other stuff doesn't work when
Speaker 2: you take a little piece of a promise. If you
Speaker 2: ever want to take a little piece of a promise,
Speaker 2: a little piece of a promise, like I like that.
Speaker 2: I want to pray that God will bless America and
Speaker 2: that I love stand beside her and God her. You
Speaker 2: know that Bible verse that says he God will bless America. Well,
Speaker 2: the Bible does say if my people who are called
Speaker 2: by my name, and it tells us a few things
Speaker 2: to do. It says we need to be humble and
Speaker 2: stop clinging to our own opinions of what is right
Speaker 2: and wrong, and be humble and stop going on Facebook
Speaker 2: and spewing our ignorance all over each other. It does
Speaker 2: say that if we will turn from our wicked ways
Speaker 2: and our crazy ways of interacting with people, then will
Speaker 2: I hear from heaven, Then will I heal their land.
Speaker 2: But we cannot claim a promise that we.
Speaker 1: Don't even understand.
Speaker 2: What's just see first the Kingdom of God and his
Speaker 2: righteous us, and all these things will be added to you.
Speaker 2: But the promise is contingent upon the process that produces it.
Speaker 1: This is why I understand that David had to be
Speaker 1: very careful. Let's go back to the scene.
Speaker 2: He said, he will fulfill his purpose for me.
Speaker 1: That's what David believed, and he believed that so.
Speaker 2: Much that he served his purpose even when his purpose
Speaker 2: seemed small, even when his purpose seemed insignificant, even if
Speaker 2: it was just leaving the sheep with the keeper of
Speaker 2: sheep and running running to the battle lines with the
Speaker 2: supplies for his brothers. David was willing to serve purpose
Speaker 2: because he had a promise. Somebody shout, I got a promise.
Speaker 2: You need to shout that thing. I got a promise.
Speaker 2: But you've got to guard the promise. You've got to
Speaker 2: grasp it for what it is and not what you
Speaker 2: want it to be, and not let the enemy come
Speaker 2: in and try to pervert the promise of God until
Speaker 2: you're expecting something from God that is separate from the
Speaker 2: process by which God.
Speaker 1: Can do it in your life.
Speaker 2: So David's hiding Indicave from Saul because Saul is coming
Speaker 2: for his life, and Saul represents the promise that God
Speaker 2: made to do when David was just a kid, that
Speaker 2: he was going to be a king. Saul represents what
Speaker 2: David is called to. And in a scene that you
Speaker 2: wouldn't put in the Bible if you wanted to make
Speaker 2: the Bible an impressive book, the first King of Israel
Speaker 2: is squatting in a cave and somehow he slipped his
Speaker 2: secret service and thought he was all by himself. Now
Speaker 2: you got to get this picture, because I know how
Speaker 2: it is. You came and kind of tired, and you
Speaker 2: missed it when I read it. The guy that has
Speaker 2: chased them into the cave is now vulnerable to them,
Speaker 2: and David's voice they're kind of rough, so they don't
Speaker 2: pray about it. They're like, this is it? Do it now?
Speaker 2: If you kill him now we can stop running. If
Speaker 2: you kill him now, we can leave this cave and
Speaker 2: establish kingdom. After all, isn't that what God told you
Speaker 2: when you were a little boy.
Speaker 3: And see what they're saying, it's partially true, kind of
Speaker 3: like the news that you watch. It's some truth in
Speaker 3: it somewhere. Maybe let's look at the verse.
Speaker 2: Together and you can decide if this is what God
Speaker 2: promised David.
Speaker 1: Verse four.
Speaker 2: This is the day the Lord spoke of when he
Speaker 2: said to you, I will give your enemy into your hands.
Speaker 2: So far, so good. That's exactly what God wanted.
Speaker 1: To do for David.
Speaker 2: But the next part, the next part is the part
Speaker 2: that I have searched Old Testament. I searched books about
Speaker 2: the Old Testament. I searched history of commentary, all these
Speaker 2: boring books that I was supposed to read in seminary,
Speaker 2: but I didn't read them. And now I'm having to
Speaker 2: read them because I actually need to know that stuff.
Speaker 1: And I couldn't fight anywhere in any book. God ever
Speaker 1: said this to David.
Speaker 2: To deal with as you wish.
Speaker 1: Wow, you see what's happening.
Speaker 2: Here comes an opportunity for David to get what God
Speaker 2: has promised him. For God to make it happen. I
Speaker 2: must squat down like Saul, just so you can get
Speaker 2: the picture, just so you can get the picture.
Speaker 1: Of how vulnerable he was. And Saul was a sitting duck.
Speaker 2: You remember week one, I was talking about duck David
Speaker 2: when Saul was throwing spears at David.
Speaker 1: Now now Saul is the duck.
Speaker 4: And David can do whatever he wants to do. He
Speaker 4: got something strange, and.
Speaker 1: It's strange because number one, he doesn't kill him.
Speaker 2: Number Two, we've never seen him do this before. David
Speaker 2: did something that he's never done before.
Speaker 1: He cut a corner.
Speaker 2: And I see to understand why this is so strange,
Speaker 2: you got to remember that whatever David did, he did.
Speaker 4: It with his whole heart.
Speaker 5: David was not one to cut corners. David was not
Speaker 5: one to skip stages. David was not one.
Speaker 2: David was not the kind David was not the kind
Speaker 2: of person who would try to do God's thing his
Speaker 2: own way.
Speaker 1: But now the.
Speaker 2: Bible says, in the face of this opportunity, this unexpected opportunity,
Speaker 2: Because you don't know what's in your heart.
Speaker 1: Until you have an opportunity, you.
Speaker 2: Can theorize a lot about what you would do if
Speaker 2: but now is the moment where David has to prove
Speaker 2: do I really believe the promise of God? Or am
Speaker 2: I going to take this into my own hands and
Speaker 2: do it my way? And so he sneaks up and
Speaker 2: he has a sword with him. It's the same sword
Speaker 2: he killed Goliath with, probably because he took it from
Speaker 2: the temple at Knob, and he took it from the priest,
Speaker 2: and he took it and killed some Philistines with it.
Speaker 2: But now he's got that sword in the cave, and
Speaker 2: the same sword that he cut off Goliath's head with.
Speaker 2: He now cuts off a corner of Saul's robe. He
Speaker 2: doesn't kill him, but he cuts a corner. He doesn't
Speaker 2: kill him.
Speaker 1: But the Bible says in verse five.
Speaker 2: That when he did it, when he cut the corner,
Speaker 2: when he.
Speaker 1: Took matters into his own.
Speaker 2: Hands, the Bible says afterward, David was conscience stricken.
Speaker 1: For cutting off a corner of his role.
Speaker 2: Why Why would David feel bad about killing somebody who
Speaker 2: was trying to kill him. Why would David in his
Speaker 2: conscience feel bad about avenging himself from a king.
Speaker 1: Who was dangerous to the entire nation.
Speaker 2: You know what I believe, I believe that what was
Speaker 2: happening inside the cave can only be understood by remembering
Speaker 2: what was outside the cave. If you noticed when I
Speaker 2: was reading in verse three, it described the exact physical
Speaker 2: location of this cave. It says that the cave was
Speaker 2: situated just behind put the verse up the sheep pens.
Speaker 4: That's where David came from.
Speaker 2: Follow me, please, Now inside the cave. Here's Saul with
Speaker 2: a robe that represents what David is called to. David
Speaker 2: is in between where he came from and what he's
Speaker 2: called too. Now, how many know that what you are
Speaker 2: called to is more important than where you came from?
Speaker 1: Do you believe God.
Speaker 2: Can raise you up, call your name.
Speaker 1: Call you out, clean you up, turn you around, and
Speaker 1: use you for his glory. God need somebody in rock
Speaker 1: Hill to shout.
Speaker 2: If you believe, it doesn't matter where you started from.
Speaker 2: When God calls you, he can pick you up from
Speaker 2: the sheep pins, still smell like Tom and bring you
Speaker 2: into a destiny.
Speaker 1: But your eyes have not seen, in your ears have
Speaker 1: not heard.
Speaker 2: What you are called to matters more than where you
Speaker 2: came from. Turn to the verses next to you and
Speaker 2: tell him where you came from.
Speaker 1: What did you tell him?
Speaker 2: You didn't tell him the whole thing. You told him
Speaker 2: the name of a town. I came from the corner
Speaker 2: Monk's Corner, to be exact. You want to mess with
Speaker 2: me Monk's Corner mafia. But you don't know about that,
Speaker 2: and we don't have time to discuss it, because I
Speaker 2: gotta get the next service in here.
Speaker 1: David came from the sheep pen.
Speaker 2: Now the sheep pin is outside, and Saul is inside,
Speaker 2: and Saul is what he's gonna be, and the sheeppin
Speaker 2: is what he was. And he cuts the corner of
Speaker 2: the row, and his conscience is stricken because.
Speaker 4: He realized, I'm not that kind of king.
Speaker 2: What I'm called to is more important than where I
Speaker 2: came from. But you know what, there's something more important
Speaker 2: than where you started, and there's something more important then
Speaker 2: where you're going, and it's how you get there. I
Speaker 2: found out that how you make money means more than
Speaker 2: how much you have and the priority that it has
Speaker 2: in your life. If it becomes your god while you're
Speaker 2: getting it, it will.
Speaker 1: Not serve you.
Speaker 2: You will serve it, and you will wonder why am I.
Speaker 1: Rich and miserable? Oh there's miserable. Rich people in the house.
Speaker 1: They feel bad about it too, because they thought if
Speaker 1: they got it, if they got it.
Speaker 2: There's a certain expectation attached if I if I get it,
Speaker 2: if I get it, if I get it, I'll be
Speaker 2: But when you get it in a way that is empty,
Speaker 2: when you get it in a when you cut corners
Speaker 2: to get it. If you miss your kids growing up
Speaker 2: to be successful at your job, you will have the
Speaker 2: success that you sacrificed for, But what you will have
Speaker 2: sacrificed to get it will make you wonder if any
Speaker 2: of it was worth it. David had a moment. It
Speaker 2: says that he was conscience stricken and he remembered who
Speaker 2: he was. He remembered, this is not the way I'd
Speaker 2: do it. Sorry, montell Jordan, this is not.
Speaker 1: He picked up.
Speaker 2: He picked up with a motivational speech to his men.
Speaker 2: Now remember these men are an army information. But he
Speaker 2: turns to his men and says verse six, the Lord
Speaker 2: forbid that I should do such a thing to my master,
Speaker 2: the Lord's anointed, or lay my hand on him, for
Speaker 2: he is the anointed of the Lord.
Speaker 4: And I don't cut corners.
Speaker 1: That's not who I am. That's not how I do it.
Speaker 2: I will not become something that I'm not in the
Speaker 2: pursuit of what I want. And yes, I'm called to
Speaker 2: be a king, but not like this. I didn't get
Speaker 2: here cutting corners. I started as a shepherd. I did
Speaker 2: start at the bottom. But I will not climb to
Speaker 2: the top on the back of my principles and my morals.
Speaker 2: If I do this myself, I'm going to be responsible
Speaker 2: for the outcome. But if I leave it up to God,
Speaker 2: if I don't cut corners, David said, I'm.
Speaker 1: I'm better than this, not like this, Not like this.
Speaker 2: Sometimes what you want isn't the problem.
Speaker 1: It's the way you go about getting it.
Speaker 2: There was nothing wrong with David's desire to be king.
Speaker 2: God gave him that promise, but David knew that God
Speaker 2: can't honor the promise if I don't honor the process.
Speaker 1: My applause is dying out. Boy. When I was preaching.
Speaker 2: About promises, we were about to take off, we were
Speaker 2: going somewhere, and I just shut the whole thing down
Speaker 2: because we had to go back to the sheep pin
Speaker 2: and remind ourselves of who called us to begin with,
Speaker 2: and if he called me and if he made the promise.
Speaker 1: That means that it's not.
Speaker 2: Just important where I end up, but how I get there.
Speaker 1: It's not just important if.
Speaker 2: I get it, it's how I get it, because the
Speaker 2: way that I get it will determine who I am
Speaker 2: when I get there. I'm not this kind of king.
Speaker 2: I can't do it like this. I want it, but
Speaker 2: there are certain things I won't do to get what
Speaker 2: I want. Those of you who are single need to
Speaker 2: make this a part of your pre dating relationship speech. Okay,
Speaker 2: tell the next guy that you enter into a relationship with,
Speaker 2: Tell him right off the jump, before anything gets too serious,
Speaker 2: before you get lost in love, before you start naming
Speaker 2: babies together at Ruby Tuesday or.
Speaker 1: Any of that. Tell him this.
Speaker 2: I just need you to know because I think you're cute,
Speaker 2: and I need you to know because you might be special.
Speaker 2: I need you to know. I enjoy spending time with you.
Speaker 2: But I don't cut corners. So we're gonna do this
Speaker 2: God's way because I tried some other ways.
Speaker 1: And I watch what happens when I do God's will
Speaker 1: my way.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm preaching this thing. Tell somebody say I don't
Speaker 2: cut corners. I don't cut corners. It's not just important
Speaker 2: to me that I get there. I want to get there.
Speaker 1: The right way.
Speaker 2: I suck at this sometimes I try to get the
Speaker 2: right thing the wrong way. I want to fight with
Speaker 2: people on Facebook.
Speaker 1: And I'm right and they're wrong.
Speaker 2: I've got this thing in me to where there.
Speaker 1: Are times where I just want to.
Speaker 2: Say some things, some things that you would say too.
Speaker 1: But I can say I'm real good because I do
Speaker 1: words professionally. It's my job. It's my job. So what
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: I go on and write comments back to people. I
Speaker 2: cut corners, and then while I'm writing it, I know
Speaker 2: I got to delete it, but I still complete it, and.
Speaker 1: Then I delete it.
Speaker 2: And then I realize, you know, you can't respond to
Speaker 2: critics with the same hate that you despise in them
Speaker 2: and expect to change anything. Not like this, not like
Speaker 2: this to somebody saying not like this. Yeah, God wants
Speaker 2: you to have it, but not like this. That's why
Speaker 2: we need to be so careful church. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of hatred in the world. There's a lot of bigotry.
Speaker 1: In the world.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of ignorance in the world. But we
Speaker 2: can't fight ignorance with ignorance. We can't fight hate with hate.
Speaker 2: There has to be a higher law called love. I
Speaker 2: want justice, but if I have to sink to the
Speaker 2: same level of the people I'm trying to change.
Speaker 1: Not like this, Not like this, I feel God on that.
Speaker 2: Not like this, I honor process. I put my sword
Speaker 2: away because the kingdom will not be established by me
Speaker 2: cutting off Malcus's ear is established with a cross.
Speaker 1: When Jesus went to.
Speaker 2: Die, all his disciples could say, is not like this.
Speaker 2: We got to take over, We got to make it happen.
Speaker 1: And Jesus said, not like that. I did.
Speaker 2: You got the right robe, but the wrong way. You
Speaker 2: got the right desire. Is nothing wrong with your desire.
Speaker 2: There is nothing wrong with your desire. What you want
Speaker 2: is from God. But it is what you will do
Speaker 2: to get it that will determine whether or not you
Speaker 2: can keep it and walk in it. When you do,
Speaker 2: I cry out to God Most High.
Speaker 1: He fulfills his purpose for me. You know what that means.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that I don't plan, that I don't strategize,
Speaker 2: but I recognize that every opportunity is not God, and
Speaker 2: I want what God wants me to have when God
Speaker 2: wants me to have it how God wants me to
Speaker 2: get it.
Speaker 1: That's it. Not like this. I don't cut corners. I
Speaker 1: don't do it my way. I don't retaliate, not like this.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I find myself parenting my kids and I'm trying
Speaker 2: to get the right behavior by demonstrating the exact behavior
Speaker 2: I'm trying to correct.
Speaker 1: Shut up, elige it, I'll say him into that.
Speaker 2: I'm screaming at my kids to get their emotions under control.
Speaker 2: Figure that one out at the top of my voice,
Speaker 2: contry yours out. Not like this, because now the very
Speaker 2: behavior that I'm trying to is the spirit I'm exemplifying.
Speaker 1: And I found out something. I found out you can
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 2: You can actually control an environment with anger.
Speaker 1: You can actually shut an.
Speaker 2: Argument down just by being the loudest one. You can
Speaker 2: actually manipulate people into going where you want to go
Speaker 2: by pouting. But what will you have when you get
Speaker 2: your way.
Speaker 1: You'll be lonely.
Speaker 2: And you feel guilty, and you'll have a corner of
Speaker 2: a robe when God wanted to give you the whole thing.
Speaker 1: Come on, come on, not like this.
Speaker 2: I honor the process.
Speaker 1: And here's the promise. If I honor the process. God
Speaker 1: will honor me.
Speaker 2: If I honor the process, God will.
Speaker 1: Honor the promise.
Speaker 2: If I honor the process, he will be again a
Speaker 2: good work in you will be faithful to performing.
Speaker 1: I do cut corners.
Speaker 2: I want God's will, God's way. I want God's will,
Speaker 2: God's way, and if I try to make it happen,
Speaker 2: I'm responsible for it. But the scripture didn't say I
Speaker 2: have to fulfill my purpose for God. It said he
Speaker 2: fulfills his purpose for me. Switch the position. Switch the position.
Speaker 2: You've been trying to do it for God. Let him
Speaker 2: do it for you. You've been trying to work it out
Speaker 2: in your own strength, in your own power, with your
Speaker 2: own mind. He wants to fulfill this purpose.
Speaker 1: For you.
Speaker 2: I want you to stand because I believe that many
Speaker 2: of us are at a point of decision like David was.
Speaker 2: And the decision is, am I going to trust God
Speaker 2: for the outcome with obedience. Am I going to let
Speaker 2: God do his job? Am I going to let God
Speaker 2: decide when the time is right? Or Am I going
Speaker 2: to manipulate my situation to resemble something that looks like
Speaker 2: God's will but it's really not.
Speaker 1: Oh, I prayed about this message. I pray about all
Speaker 1: my messages.
Speaker 2: One of my friends told me one time, he said,
Speaker 2: you do realize you don't have to work so hard
Speaker 2: on your sermons. He said, nobody would know the difference,
Speaker 2: but I would. That's not the kind of preacher I.
Speaker 1: Want to be.
Speaker 2: That's not the kind of preacher I want to be.
Speaker 2: That's not the kind of person I want to be.
Speaker 5: I don't cut corners.
Speaker 1: I want to do it with all my heart. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've got to when I remember where.
Speaker 2: He brought me from. I didn't get here cutting corners.
Speaker 2: I didn't get here being fake. I didn't get here
Speaker 2: trying to control situations.
Speaker 1: He will fulfill his purpose for me.
Speaker 2: The only way he won't is if I don't let him.
Speaker 1: If I cut corners.
Speaker 2: And God has got you in the process right now
Speaker 2: of something that he's bringing to pass in your life.
Speaker 2: I want you to make a commitment right now. If
Speaker 2: you want to lift your hands, you can, you don't
Speaker 2: have to. But if you want to lift your hands,
Speaker 2: it's a sign of surrender. And that's what David did
Speaker 2: in a situation where he could have made something happen,
Speaker 2: in a situation where he could have rushed the process
Speaker 2: in a situation where he could have claimed that he
Speaker 2: was doing the right thing and done it the wrong.
Speaker 4: Way, he positioned himself with surrender.
Speaker 2: If I honor the process, God will honor the promise.
Speaker 2: Have you got a promise today?
Speaker 1: Have you got a promise today?
Speaker 2: Have you got a promise from him who said I
Speaker 2: will never leave you nor forsake you. Have you got
Speaker 2: a promise today?
Speaker 1: Stay in the process.
Speaker 2: It took five more years before Saul died and David
Speaker 2: became king. But you know what, when Saul died, David
Speaker 2: was ready. When you honor the process, God will schedule
Speaker 2: the promise.
Speaker 1: Father.
Speaker 2: We thank you today for your exceeding, great and precious promises.
Speaker 2: That's what your word calls them. We thank you for
Speaker 2: your incorruptible word. We thank you for everything that you
Speaker 2: have spoken over our lives. And we confess before you
Speaker 2: today that there have been times where we have taken
Speaker 2: shortcuts and cut corners. But we have our hands lifted
Speaker 2: in your presence to surrender our lives and our will
Speaker 2: to you, and we declare no more shortcuts. Whatever you
Speaker 2: want to do in our lives, whatever you need to
Speaker 2: do in our lives, whatever junk.
Speaker 1: You need to move out.
Speaker 2: We're gonna stop moving the pieces around and getting all
Speaker 2: up in your way. We're gonna stop trying to do
Speaker 2: it in our own strength. We're gonna stop responding in
Speaker 2: the flesh to spiritual principalities. Here before you today, God,
Speaker 2: we don't even want the shortcut. Have your way in
Speaker 2: our lives. We want to get there in your timing.
Speaker 2: We want what you want us to have. Do your thing,
Speaker 2: have your way. You are God, and we are not.
Speaker 2: As we look to the guilture, we look with great faith.
Speaker 1: Come on, Brace is not your fast. Brace your last
Speaker 1: phrase fase. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 2: or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2: God bless you