Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: How many are grateful to be in God's house today?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: For all the early adopters who sat down, stand back up.
Speaker 1: I hadn't read my scripture yet you jumped the gun,
Speaker 1: did you? Oh? Man? I have a message today that
Speaker 1: I believe is going to inspire your life and encourage
Speaker 1: your faith for all of the things that God has
Speaker 1: called you to do. If you receive it by faith,
Speaker 1: say amen. We're going to read two scriptures, First Samuel
Speaker 1: chapter twenty two, verses one through five and First Corinthians
Speaker 1: Chapter nine, verses twenty four through twenty six. The Word
Speaker 1: of the Lord from One Samuel twenty two one through
Speaker 1: five and First Corinthians chapter nine, verses twenty four through
Speaker 1: twenty six. The first one is about the Great King David,
Speaker 1: and the second one is from the Great Apostle Paul.
Speaker 1: David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam.
Speaker 1: When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they.
Speaker 2: Went down to him.
Speaker 1: There all those who were in distress, or in debt
Speaker 1: or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander.
Speaker 1: About four hundred men were with him. From there, David
Speaker 1: went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the King
Speaker 1: of Moab, would you let my father and mother come
Speaker 1: and stay with you until I learn what God will
Speaker 1: do for me. That is a very powerful way that
Speaker 1: he says that until I learn what God will do
Speaker 1: for me. So he left them with the King of Moab,
Speaker 1: and they stayed with him as long as David was
Speaker 1: in the stronghold. But the prophet Gad said to David,
Speaker 1: do not stay in the stronghold, go into the land
Speaker 1: of Judah. So David left and went to the forest
Speaker 1: of Hareth. That's the first scripture. The second one, which
Speaker 1: will come on the screen as well, is in one
Speaker 1: Corinthians chapter nine. The apostle Paul, writing to the church
Speaker 1: at corinth gives a metaphor that I want us to
Speaker 1: apply our minds to for a moment today. Do you
Speaker 1: not know that in a race, all the runners run,
Speaker 1: but only one gets the prize. Run in such a
Speaker 1: way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in
Speaker 1: the Games goes into strict training. They do it to
Speaker 1: get a crown that will not last.
Speaker 2: But we do it.
Speaker 1: Look at your neighbors, say, we do it to get
Speaker 1: a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not
Speaker 1: run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like
Speaker 1: a boxer beating the air. Let's stop there. I do
Speaker 1: not run like someone running aimlessly. I want you to
Speaker 1: look at your neighbor like you're on the same Olympic
Speaker 1: team and tell them, real quick, just give them an
Speaker 1: Olympic look, real quick, look at them with some Olympic eyes.
Speaker 1: Did he say Olympic eyes?
Speaker 2: Olympic eyes?
Speaker 1: Look at him like a winner, Look them deep in
Speaker 1: their eyes, and tell them we run for a reason.
Speaker 1: We run for a reason. I want to remind somebody
Speaker 1: that came to church today, we run for a reason. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we run for a reason. God, only you know all
Speaker 1: of the purposes that you have an eternity for this
Speaker 1: moment in time. So I ask you, God of Heaven,
Speaker 1: to invade Earth, fill these earthen vessels with the glory,
Speaker 1: the oil of your anointing, so that we can flow
Speaker 1: and move forward in everything you've called us to do.
Speaker 1: We cannot afford in this season of our life to
Speaker 1: run dry. So now, God, we asked that you would
Speaker 1: pour into us, for we are poor without you. Your
Speaker 1: word says that we will receive from you as we
Speaker 1: acknowledge our need for you, and Father, we need you
Speaker 1: this hour. Please come in a way that we didn't
Speaker 1: ask for because we didn't know we needed it. Touch
Speaker 1: the place in us that is too insecure to be
Speaker 1: shown to others. But in your presence, there's no modesty
Speaker 1: for you, our a maker, every hidden part, every secret thing,
Speaker 1: Deal with it. God, in this place between you and them, God,
Speaker 1: use me as your instrument. I'm available to you. Blow
Speaker 1: through me, Holy Spirit, as if I were a woodwind instrument,
Speaker 1: and speak to these people what you need them to
Speaker 1: know for the place that you've called them to. I
Speaker 1: consider it done because you're good and you're faithful, and
Speaker 1: I thank you for it in advance in Jesus' name. Amen,
Speaker 1: you may be seated. All the runners in the house,
Speaker 1: raise your hand. I wrote that title down. We run
Speaker 1: for a reason. That's my message. Running for a reason.
Speaker 1: I thought, now that sounds like I'm launching a five k.
Speaker 1: That doesn't sound like I'm starting a sermon. But the
Speaker 1: Lord comes with these amazing confirmations. You know. I put
Speaker 1: my Bible down yesterday for a few minutes to take
Speaker 1: a little study break. I've been up since early working
Speaker 1: on this message and I just needed a little break.
Speaker 1: And when I put it on the Olympics, they were
Speaker 1: running the relay race, and I had already picked out
Speaker 1: the title and the scripture we run for a Reason,
Speaker 1: So I kind of took it as a little bit
Speaker 1: of a sign. What I must confess to you is
Speaker 1: what so embarrassing? Are crying watching these people run? Now?
Speaker 1: Not no big ugly cry tears or anything, not crocodile tears,
Speaker 1: just a little trickle tear. But the bad part about
Speaker 1: it was the person who won wasn't even American. They
Speaker 1: weren't even from our country.
Speaker 2: And I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't feel the tears come while she
Speaker 1: was running. I felt that tears come when she was
Speaker 1: looking at her teammates after she pulled ahead and won,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, why am I crying? This isn't even
Speaker 1: my country? I don't even like to run back. When
Speaker 1: I see runners on the road, I judged them, like,
Speaker 1: don't you know there's a better way to get in
Speaker 1: shape than this? There are so many preferable ways to exercise.
Speaker 1: Well it's the runners high. Okay, Well you know I
Speaker 1: would choose a non runners low over whatever run. There's
Speaker 1: no HI on the other side of that that makes
Speaker 1: it worth it to me. But observing this lady, it
Speaker 1: made me emotional. And as I paused and thought about
Speaker 1: the correlation maybe between the message that I was preparing
Speaker 1: and the emotion I experienced, I saw that watching someone
Speaker 1: run and knowing the importance and the priority of what
Speaker 1: they're running for and who they're running with. That's why
Speaker 1: it made me emotional, because when I saw as a
Speaker 1: relay race, so when I saw all the people that
Speaker 1: the anchor of the race brought along with her into victory,
Speaker 1: it touched me to know that something kicked in at
Speaker 1: that moment that made her say for my country, I've
Speaker 1: got to do this for my friend, I got to
Speaker 1: do this for my mom, who sat at every track
Speaker 1: meet since I was four years old, and I thought
Speaker 1: about all the people that believed in her. When she
Speaker 1: first started running when she wasn't much of a runner,
Speaker 1: And I thought about my wife, Holly, And I'm just
Speaker 1: telling you this because the connection was profound to me.
Speaker 1: When we first started doing ministry together, I had no
Speaker 1: visible gift or really any kind of clues that this
Speaker 1: ministry would exist one day. But she believed in me.
Speaker 1: She believed in me, and I know that she believed
Speaker 1: in me because we served on a ministry team together
Speaker 1: where we sat down and I didn't know how to
Speaker 1: be a leader. I'd never let a ministry team before.
Speaker 1: And we're sitting there and we're planning out our summer
Speaker 1: that we're going to go around and travel and preach.
Speaker 1: And I'll never forget this. I put up for a
Speaker 1: discussion what should our theme be for the summer ministry?
Speaker 1: And I was trying to get everybody involved, you know,
Speaker 1: but I found out that God still love the world.
Speaker 1: He didn't send a committee, and if you really want
Speaker 1: to get something done, you just got to make a decision.
Speaker 1: And we're going back and forth, and I threw out
Speaker 1: the theme run to Win. I said, how about run
Speaker 1: to win? Wouldn't that be a good theme from First
Speaker 1: Corinthians Chapter nine, And well, one person didn't think that
Speaker 1: was a very good idea because you know, well, it's
Speaker 1: really not a competition. You know, it's really not about winning.
Speaker 1: You remember when that girl told you it's not whether
Speaker 1: you win. Or my son Elijah, my oldest son, a
Speaker 1: girl told him one time, it's not whether you win
Speaker 1: or lose, it's whether you're having fun. And he looked
Speaker 1: back at her cold blooded and said, well, I'm not
Speaker 1: having fun unless I'm winning. And he was like five
Speaker 1: when he said that. So it's in the blood. Man,
Speaker 1: we're kind of competitive. And I liked that theme about
Speaker 1: run to win. And so this guy's saying, well, it's
Speaker 1: not really a competition, and then this girl over here
Speaker 1: is saying, well, I think that the Christian life is
Speaker 1: really more like a walk. And one's got a problem
Speaker 1: with the word win, and one's got a problem with
Speaker 1: the word run. All I'm left with is too And
Speaker 1: one of the team members looked at and she had
Speaker 1: real soft spoken she said, Stephen, we need you to
Speaker 1: lead us, tell us what to do. From that moment forward,
Speaker 1: I decided you can be confused as long as you're confident.
Speaker 1: That's a great secret for life. Yeah, you can really
Speaker 1: bluff your way through a lot of stuff in life.
Speaker 1: Because then I just said when she said that to
Speaker 1: me so soft. I don't even know if anybody else on
Speaker 1: the team heard, but she said that to me, and
Speaker 1: I said, run to win. And then we went on
Speaker 1: the road, right, We went on the road, and we
Speaker 1: get to our first church. And I'm going to get
Speaker 1: to this story about David in just a moment, and
Speaker 1: what Paul said in First Corinthians, but just to set
Speaker 1: the table for this revelation, we get to our very
Speaker 1: first church. We're so excited. We have developed our curriculum,
Speaker 1: we have developed our teachings. And this is Holly session,
Speaker 1: and this is Seth's session, and this is Joni's session,
Speaker 1: and this is Grace's session. And I'm going to come
Speaker 1: in and close it out, and we're going to do
Speaker 1: it over the course of five days and really build
Speaker 1: this theme of run to win. You know, all these
Speaker 1: all these wonderful plans. But we arrived to the spot
Speaker 1: and there were no people. Zero kids had showed up
Speaker 1: for the youth camp. And it was our first camp
Speaker 1: of the summer. And I looked at Holly and I'd
Speaker 1: learned from our little committee meeting. We need you to
Speaker 1: lead us, and I said, you make a flyer, and
Speaker 1: I pointed at her, and I think that's the moment
Speaker 1: that she fell in love with me. When I said
Speaker 1: you make a flyer. I think something about that, just ooh,
Speaker 1: make a flyer. And she she she made a flyer,
Speaker 1: said run to win. We went to Walmart. We covered
Speaker 1: five hundred wind shields with run to Win propaganda, telling
Speaker 1: those kids to get to.
Speaker 2: The Baptist church.
Speaker 1: And by the end of the week there were twenty
Speaker 1: five kids in the room. And I preached like it
Speaker 1: was twenty five thousand, because I've always been doing it
Speaker 1: from a place of passion, not a place of performance.
Speaker 1: And I'll preach if there's five of you, five thousand
Speaker 1: and five million. See. I think that this is a
Speaker 1: common misconception about people that you see who go really
Speaker 1: hard after something, is that a lot of times you
Speaker 1: will see the results of their ambition and not really
Speaker 1: understand the reasons for their ambition. And for me and Holly,
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that not only have we always had something
Speaker 1: to run four, but I'm grateful that I had someone
Speaker 1: to run with. And that made me smile to think
Speaker 1: about how here I am twenty how many twenty five
Speaker 1: years later, still running with the right one. Now this
Speaker 1: is not a marriage seminar. So I'm crying watching the Olympics,
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, God, this is you speaking to me,
Speaker 1: because I must be speaking today to people who are exhausted.
Speaker 1: I must be speaking today to people who need a
Speaker 1: second win. Come on, I must be speaking to people
Speaker 1: today who are running the race of their life. Running
Speaker 1: around running like a chicken with their head cut off.
Speaker 1: What a disturbing image we use to just describe picking
Speaker 1: the kids up from practice. I've been running around with
Speaker 1: a chicken. Why you got to cut a chicken's head off?
Speaker 1: Just say you're busy. But Paul said, watch this.
Speaker 2: Do you not know?
Speaker 1: Then, in a race, all the runners run. When I
Speaker 1: asked a moment ago, how many runners do I have
Speaker 1: in the room?
Speaker 2: I was surprised.
Speaker 1: I thought every hand should go up, cause everybody watch
Speaker 1: me preach is running from something. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: if you are not a runner, you will find yourself lonely.
Speaker 1: In the context of the Christian faith, the Judeo Christian faith,
Speaker 1: which takes its roots and has its ripples from this
Speaker 1: Holy Scripture, is full of people who ran for different reasons,
Speaker 1: starting with let's talk about our most famous runner in
Speaker 1: the Bible. If I say a big fish swallowed him
Speaker 1: up and spit him out, you say, Jonah, Look how
Speaker 1: smart you were with that Bible trivia you studied, didn't you?
Speaker 1: And the Bible says that Jonah ran away from the Lord. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: judge Jonah all you want. But Moses ran from a
Speaker 1: crime that he committed once it had been discovered. Moses
Speaker 1: ran from a body that he buried in an effort
Speaker 1: to defend his own people. Moses ran so far he
Speaker 1: ended up leaving the place where he was the prince
Speaker 1: of Egypt and becoming a shepherd for his father in law, Jethro.
Speaker 1: Jacob ran from me. Saw he read from his own
Speaker 1: brother because he tried to steal his identity. Did I
Speaker 1: say Joseph, I meant Jacob. Did I say Jacob, Well,
Speaker 1: Joseph didn't run. Joseph was placed in Egypt and he
Speaker 1: couldn't run because they tied him up. You know, we
Speaker 1: never talked about we talked about runners though in the Bible. David, David,
Speaker 1: David ran.
Speaker 2: You don't believe me, Well, he shows up one day with.
Speaker 1: Some lunch for his brothers. Okay, check this out. And
Speaker 1: he's just a young boy. He's like seventeen years old
Speaker 1: something like that. He wasn't able to go out to
Speaker 1: the war, but his dad charged him to bring his
Speaker 1: brothers a meal. And I love this picture. What's the
Speaker 1: first one I gave you in First Samuel seventeen. It's
Speaker 1: somewhere in the twenty something versus. Put it on the screen, please. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It says David left his things with the keeper of
Speaker 1: supplies and ran to the battle lines and asked his
Speaker 1: brothers how they were. If you know this story, you
Speaker 1: won't be surprised to find that when David ran to
Speaker 1: the battle lines, look at verse twenty three. Next thing
Speaker 1: that happens, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gatz, stepped out.
Speaker 1: I feel the Holy Spirit from his lines and shouted
Speaker 1: his usual defiance, and David heard it. Verse twenty four.
Speaker 1: Whenever the Israelites, that's all the people who had been
Speaker 1: watching this go down day after day after day after day,
Speaker 1: they all fled from him in great fear.
Speaker 2: So watch this.
Speaker 1: David is running toward what others are running from. There
Speaker 1: is a spirit about David There is a belligerence about David.
Speaker 1: Some would say a naivete about David.
Speaker 2: That what everybody else is run and then from he's like,
Speaker 2: who's that?
Speaker 1: Some would call David dumb. I believe he's running for
Speaker 1: a reason. And the reason I believe he's running in
Speaker 1: this moment is he hasn't lived enough yet to know
Speaker 1: that you don't run toward giants, you run from giants.
Speaker 1: Some things, being dumb and young will help you with
Speaker 1: intrusting God, They really will. Sometimes being young and dumb
Speaker 1: will make you go to Walmart or Kinko's and make
Speaker 1: five hundred flyers when nobody showed up for your event
Speaker 1: and walk around Walmart putting them on wind shields and
Speaker 1: not even worry. What if somebody shoots me while I'm
Speaker 1: touching their car without permission.
Speaker 2: That's things I would think about.
Speaker 1: Now, what if it's a lawsuit? If I don't want
Speaker 1: nobody putting them on my windshield? I don't want to
Speaker 1: do this. But something about being young will make you run.
Speaker 1: We were laughing the other day because Elijah's been home
Speaker 1: for the summer and I've missed the sound of him
Speaker 1: just running through the house. No, not running for any
Speaker 1: specific thing through the house, just running because apparently he
Speaker 1: has the excess energy to just get where he's going
Speaker 1: that much faster, and you would think maybe he was
Speaker 1: late for an appointment, or maybe there was something that
Speaker 1: needed attended to know, just running because he's young, just
Speaker 1: running because why not? I just feel like running?
Speaker 2: And I think to.
Speaker 1: Myself, I wish that I had the energy just.
Speaker 2: To run for no reason. But wouldn't that look weird
Speaker 2: if you saw me run? I mean, why do you laugh?
Speaker 2: Because it doesn't look right for me at this.
Speaker 1: Age to just be running for no reason.
Speaker 2: You are thinking to yourself, Look, man, I mean that's
Speaker 2: kind of awkward.
Speaker 1: We don't want to watch you run just for no reason,
Speaker 1: just because you've got excess in to burn.
Speaker 2: Touch your neighbor and say I'm running for a reason.
Speaker 1: And a lot of the times, the initial thing that
Speaker 1: fuels our passion in our walk with Christ is our ignorance,
Speaker 1: not our awareness. It's why we run into relationships and
Speaker 1: we have no trouble trusting people because we've never had
Speaker 1: trouble with people we don't know yet not to trust them.
Speaker 1: Our trust muscle has not yet been ruptured, so we
Speaker 1: run so we run. We run to opportunities because we've
Speaker 1: never experienced loss. We run to investment because we've never
Speaker 1: experienced collapse. We run because we're young. David not only
Speaker 1: runs to the battle lies when he's delivering the food
Speaker 1: to his brothers, but when Goliath came toward him with
Speaker 1: the sword by some estimates, nine feet tall of philistine,
Speaker 1: fierce warrior energy, steps to the battle lines, and the
Speaker 1: Bible says in seventeen verse forty something put that one
Speaker 1: on the screen. I got to show you. As the
Speaker 1: Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran. He ran quickly.
Speaker 1: Something about this dumb young David that I think we
Speaker 1: all miss in our lives. That's the power of nostalgia,
Speaker 1: is taking you back to a time when it was
Speaker 1: new to you and you didn't know what you didn't know,
Speaker 1: so you would just go without a plan, because who
Speaker 1: needs a plan? When I got youth, who needs a plan?
Speaker 1: When I got personality? Who needs a plan? I'll figure
Speaker 1: it out when I get there, And y'all to me.
Speaker 1: These days, I don't go twelve minutes from the house
Speaker 1: without locating the nearest restroom that I might have stop
Speaker 1: at along the way. Now that's just the truth. But
Speaker 1: here's what I want you to know. Listen to me.
Speaker 1: Listen to me. It's one thing to run when you're young.
Speaker 1: It is another thing to intentionally run when you've been
Speaker 1: through some experiences that could have made you bitter, that
Speaker 1: could have made you afraid, that could have made you
Speaker 1: stay put where you are. Paul is describing in his
Speaker 1: Great Letter to the Corinthian Church how the runners run
Speaker 1: in a game. He says, they set their mind on
Speaker 1: a goal, and they set their feet on a path,
Speaker 1: and they run in a line. And when they enter
Speaker 1: the games, I don't know if you noticed this, he said,
Speaker 1: they go into strict training.
Speaker 2: And then David.
Speaker 1: Now, let's do a little bit of a relay race
Speaker 1: from David to Paul, because David, of course, was hundreds
Speaker 1: of years before Paul came along. David and Paul are
Speaker 1: both experiencing the same type of thing. Paul is taking
Speaker 1: the gospel to the churches that have never heard about Jesus,
Speaker 1: and he is dealing with these issues. David, of course,
Speaker 1: is the second king that Israel has ever known.
Speaker 2: He's following in the wake of King.
Speaker 1: Saul, who was supposed to support him and supposed to
Speaker 1: mentor him and supposed to show him how to do
Speaker 1: this king thing Ah, but Saul attacked what God was
Speaker 1: trying to anoint. There is a sense in which sometimes
Speaker 1: God is bringing you something that is intended to relieve you,
Speaker 1: but you resist it because of something that is within you,
Speaker 1: and you can't even figure out why you're pushing things away,
Speaker 1: things that God sent as an answer to your prayer.
Speaker 1: Have you ever pushed away and answered prayer because you
Speaker 1: didn't know how to sustainably deal with it? I have.
Speaker 1: I have prayed to God in seasons of my life
Speaker 1: to send me people to encourage me and support me.
Speaker 1: But when the encouragers came to support me, I didn't
Speaker 1: believe what they said because my own insecurity made it
Speaker 1: impossible for me to believe that you could really feel
Speaker 1: that way about me. So I pray a prayer for
Speaker 1: God to send a person. God sends a person in
Speaker 1: response to the prayer, but the patterns of my life
Speaker 1: will not enable me to receive that person. So I
Speaker 1: prayed a prayer for a person. I got a pattern
Speaker 1: that won't allow me to receive the person. And now
Speaker 1: I keep praying about people that God has sent and
Speaker 1: I am praying away what God gave because of something
Speaker 1: on the inside of me. What I'm trying to say is,
Speaker 1: as fast as God is running to you, some of
Speaker 1: you are running from the answer that he gave because
Speaker 1: it does not feel familiar. Now, let me slow down,
Speaker 1: because I feel like I might be going a little fast?
Speaker 1: Am I going a little fast? In Paul's letter, he
Speaker 1: was talking about people who run to get a prize,
Speaker 1: and in David's story there's a similarity. Both are about running,
Speaker 1: but for different reasons. I want to read you the
Speaker 1: story again now that I've set the context in for
Speaker 1: Samuel twenty two, verse one, and then I'll answer the
Speaker 1: question of the text. It says David left goat and
Speaker 1: escape to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and
Speaker 1: his father's household heard about it, they went down to
Speaker 1: him there. And here's where we need to take a
Speaker 1: little breakaway. David is in a cave, but he's called
Speaker 1: to be a king. Ain't it confusing? When God calls
Speaker 1: you one thing and your circumstances call you another man?
Speaker 1: It crazy when God calls you free and your habits
Speaker 1: call you addict.
Speaker 2: Isn't it crazy when.
Speaker 1: God calls you love, but your emotions feel closed. Isn't
Speaker 1: it amazing when God calls you chosen, but you feel
Speaker 1: left out? Enter David, the chosen one of God, the
Speaker 1: one who wasn't called to appear before the prophet Samuel
Speaker 1: when he came to anoint the future king. As a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, at the moment that the king was
Speaker 1: about to be chosen, David was just doing his chores,
Speaker 1: tending the sheep. But the prophet knew each time he
Speaker 1: went to anoint another son with oil that this is
Speaker 1: not the one that God has chosen. So one commentary
Speaker 1: says that the oil froze until David showed up. The
Speaker 1: oil would not move from the flask of the prophet
Speaker 1: to anoint the next king, and David did not have
Speaker 1: to chase the crown. The crown chase David. This may
Speaker 1: set you free from thinking that you have to be
Speaker 1: at a certain place at a certain time, or you
Speaker 1: have to get the attention of a certain person, or
Speaker 1: you have to be recognized in a certain way in
Speaker 1: order for your anointing to be real. Being recognized doesn't
Speaker 1: make it real. It is what it is before they
Speaker 1: say what they say, I was anointed to preach when
Speaker 1: there were no people come into the run to win seminar.
Speaker 2: I'm anointed to preach today.
Speaker 1: The only difference in what has changed is the number
Speaker 1: of people that I'm doing it with and for. But
Speaker 1: one thing I need you to know about your life
Speaker 1: is that it's one thing to run for something that
Speaker 1: you chose to run toward. I'm gonna start this business,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna find a husband, I'm gonna get my life together.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lose twenty pounds. I'm gonna run a marathon.
Speaker 1: The devil is a liar. The Lord didn't tell you
Speaker 1: to do that. It's one thing to run after something
Speaker 1: that you chose, but it's another thing to run when
Speaker 1: you're being chased. And I don't necessarily just want to
Speaker 1: preach to those today who are running towards something, because
Speaker 1: that's wonderful if you're motivated and you're inspired, and you're like,
Speaker 1: by fifty, I want to have this much money.
Speaker 2: By forty, I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: Have that much. So when I'm fifty, I can have
Speaker 1: this much. That's fine if you figured that out. But
Speaker 1: there is a sense in which you and I both
Speaker 1: know that sometimes what's really moving you in your life
Speaker 1: is not why you're running too. It's what you're running from.
Speaker 1: And people see what you run to and they judge
Speaker 1: you by that. People see what you run to, and
Speaker 1: sometimes they admire you for that. But the significance of
Speaker 1: the text and for Samuel twenty two, is that David
Speaker 1: is a king and he's in a cave, and he's
Speaker 1: not running from a giant. No, he's not running from
Speaker 1: his assignment from God. No, he is running from the king,
Speaker 1: and he is running from what he is going to be.
Speaker 1: Not by his own choice. David did not sign up
Speaker 1: for this event. Saul the King was supposed to hand
Speaker 1: David the baton, and instead he is beating him over
Speaker 1: the head with the baton that he is supposed to
Speaker 1: be handing off. See, some of us run because we
Speaker 1: weren't handed everything easily. Some of us run because what
Speaker 1: we were handed was hazardous.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm preaching some of us run. We don't even
Speaker 2: understand what compels us and drives us.
Speaker 1: And you don't really understand this until you take some
Speaker 1: time in life to reflect and say, why am I
Speaker 1: so hard on myself? Why am I so so prone
Speaker 1: to anger? Why do I always look for how things
Speaker 1: are going to go wrong even when they're going right,
Speaker 1: and you start discovering that some of the things that
Speaker 1: you are broken by or because of the baton that
Speaker 1: were not handed to you in the relay that never
Speaker 1: was because you are running from something. It's hard to
Speaker 1: run toward what I've never seen. It's hard to run
Speaker 1: toward wholeness when I only saw my parents cuss each
Speaker 1: other out. It's hard to run toward wholeness when I
Speaker 1: only saw people continue to self sabotage. It is hard
Speaker 1: to run towards something that has never been exemplified before me.
Speaker 1: So now I find myself watch this like David, running
Speaker 1: from something that I ought to be able to run too.
Speaker 1: Saul should have helped David, and he didn't. So David
Speaker 1: is in a cave because of a king that did
Speaker 1: not ever want his crown to begin with. And the
Speaker 1: Lord sent me to speak to somebody today to tell you,
Speaker 1: don't let the place you're in make you confused about
Speaker 1: the person that you are. Uh huh. That oil that
Speaker 1: was on David's head, it didn't just stop on his head,
Speaker 1: it ran down because when they anointed you in the
Speaker 1: Bible Times, the anointing was an announcement, and the Bible
Speaker 1: says that Samuel had a flask filled with oil.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a quarterfull, it wasn't half full. It was
Speaker 2: a full horn of oil.
Speaker 1: And it was dumped on David's head and it was
Speaker 1: dumped on David's head to signify David's destiny. And as
Speaker 1: the oil ran down his head, David didn't know what
Speaker 1: it really meant at the time, but the oil was
Speaker 1: trying to tell him something. The oil was trying to
Speaker 1: tell him that every king will.
Speaker 2: Have some caves.
Speaker 1: Don't let the cave that you're in right now cause
Speaker 1: you to forfeit or discontinue the thing that God has
Speaker 1: put in you. Maybe this is why it meant so
Speaker 1: much when I went to preach to the women in
Speaker 1: the prison this week, because every day they are surrounded
Speaker 1: by signals and signs that say my life is over.
Speaker 1: And when we went in with our worship team and
Speaker 1: our staff that go out there every month, not just
Speaker 1: once a year, and we showed up to announce to
Speaker 1: them that God knows your name, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: women who were stuck in a situation were lifted to
Speaker 1: a place to remember that before the situation, God spoke
Speaker 1: his word over your life. Uh huh, So this cage
Speaker 1: situation in one Samuel twenty two is not David's fault.
Speaker 1: He is not like Jonah who decided to run for God.
Speaker 1: He is not like an Olympic athlete who wanted to
Speaker 1: give their life to get a gold medal. He is
Speaker 1: not like Elijah. Remember Elijah, not that one in the Bible,
Speaker 1: the one who ran from Jezebel. And you want to
Speaker 1: be like, dude, what are you running from? You just
Speaker 1: called down fire on eight hundred and fifty false prophets,
Speaker 1: and excuse me, I'm not being sexist. But one woman,
Speaker 1: one woman won anything after what you've seen should be
Speaker 1: enough to make you stand firm. Maybe you need an illustration.
Speaker 1: I think you need an illustration. Okay, all, in our
Speaker 1: backyard we have deer. We also have a Boston Terrier.
Speaker 1: I noticed that the dog is smaller than the deer.
Speaker 1: I also noticed that the deer run from the dog. Now,
Speaker 1: if you watch bow chase the deer, you can see
Speaker 1: his arrogance. That is unjustified because this little dog, who
Speaker 1: can't do anything, is chasing a big deer. And I
Speaker 1: think of myself. This must be the most thrilling event
Speaker 1: in the world for his brain to process that I
Speaker 1: can make something this big run and I don't even
Speaker 1: have to bark. All I just got to do is this.
Speaker 1: But I saw a movie in my mind the other day.
Speaker 1: I wondered, what if the deer turned back and ran
Speaker 1: at Bow? What if the deer even hissed at Bo
Speaker 1: all of a sudden. I don't think Bo would be
Speaker 1: so bold, because he would realize this thing that is
Speaker 1: bigger is being triggered by emotion that can't affect him
Speaker 1: in the least, and so I can no longer manipulate
Speaker 1: this thing that is bigger than me into running from me.
Speaker 1: If the deer ever turned around, it would be the
Speaker 1: worst day of Bow's life. If the deer ever found
Speaker 1: out I'm bigger than you, BO wouldn't run up on
Speaker 1: a deer. BO wouldn't go outside. I told you last week,
Speaker 1: he's scared of a suitcase.
Speaker 2: What do you think he's gonna do with a deer?
Speaker 1: If you ever got the revelation that greater is he
Speaker 1: I am? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The devil is hoping you
Speaker 1: never find out you're bigger. The devil is hoping you'll
Speaker 1: always flitch and fall back.
Speaker 2: But I see.
Speaker 1: Somebody turning around today. Come about, Wait a minute, why
Speaker 1: am I running from you? I mean, if you're gonna run,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna quit your family, at least have a
Speaker 1: good reason.
Speaker 2: Don't do it because they got on your nerves.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna quit loving your wife, at least have
Speaker 1: a good reason.
Speaker 2: Don't do it because she didn't appreciate you.
Speaker 1: That's not a good enough reason. Trouble isn't a good
Speaker 1: enough reason for you to give up. Look, unto Jesus,
Speaker 1: the author and finisher of our faith, who for the
Speaker 1: joy set before him, endured the cross. Despising as shame,
Speaker 1: Jesus said, I hate this, but I love that.
Speaker 2: The joy set before him.
Speaker 1: What I'm running toward, what I'm running from, It all
Speaker 1: comes in concert in David's life. Now look at your
Speaker 1: neighbor and tell them with confidence. Okay, tell them. If
Speaker 1: God did it for David, I expect him to do
Speaker 1: it for you.
Speaker 2: Now, high five them and tell him run to wind.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait
Speaker 1: wait wait wait. God didn't protect David, Yes he did.
Speaker 1: He didn't protect him from being chased. He kept him
Speaker 1: chosen although he was chased. Our expectation of God must
Speaker 1: not be that there will never be anything chasing us.
Speaker 1: Our expectation of God is that we are chosen while
Speaker 1: we are chased. I'm not preaching to everybody today. Some
Speaker 1: messages are for everybody. This one's for somebody who's got
Speaker 1: something on your heels. Matter of fact, you got hell
Speaker 1: on your heels and you are running from something and
Speaker 1: you can't figure out why. And you're like, well, but
Speaker 1: the Bible says, rest in the salvation of God. Yes,
Speaker 1: rest in his salvation, but run toward his arms for
Speaker 1: this season of your life, and let him be your strength.
Speaker 1: You know this preacher from California, he pulled me aside
Speaker 1: one time and he said, I can tell you struggle
Speaker 1: with depression. I said, you act like that's a hieroglyphics revelation,
Speaker 1: the Da Vinci Code. I tell my church all the
Speaker 1: time that I deal with depression. He said, no, I
Speaker 1: can tell oh, And I thought this was a nice
Speaker 1: thing for him to say. So I could tell that
Speaker 1: you deal with it because you give people the tools
Speaker 1: to deal with it. And then he said something, And
Speaker 1: you know how preachers talking alliterated outlines. He said, the
Speaker 1: tools that you use tell me a lot about the
Speaker 1: trouble that you've been through. I said, that's a compliment.
Speaker 1: I said, I'm not depressed all the time. He said, no,
Speaker 1: I just can tell. I can tell what you've been
Speaker 1: through by your tools. And maybe this is a helpful
Speaker 1: way for you to look at the situations in your life.
Speaker 1: You know, David, I gotta tell you a little bit
Speaker 1: more about David. Do you know that David prayed in
Speaker 1: the cave. He's hiding from Saul, who's already thrown multiple
Speaker 1: spears at him at his head, talk about experiences on
Speaker 1: the job, training and and he's lost his best friend,
Speaker 1: and so he's all alone and he prays in the cave.
Speaker 1: Now look at this in Psalm one and forty two.
Speaker 1: This is the prayer that David prayed in the cave.
Speaker 1: And you're going to be surprised what David prayed in
Speaker 1: that cave. But maybe it'll be a tool for you
Speaker 1: to use when you're in the cave. Look at verse three.
Speaker 1: He said, when my spirit grows faint within me, it
Speaker 1: is you who watch over my way. In the path
Speaker 1: where I walk, people have hidden a snare for me.
Speaker 1: I'm reading this fast because there's one verse I want
Speaker 1: to get to.
Speaker 2: Look and see.
Speaker 1: There is no one in my right hand. No one
Speaker 1: is concerned for me. No one is concerned for me.
Speaker 1: I have no refuge, No one cares for my life.
Speaker 1: I cry to you, Lord, I say you are my refuge,
Speaker 1: my portion in the land of the living.
Speaker 2: Listen to my cry.
Speaker 1: I think he is feeling unheard. I think the key
Speaker 1: is feeling unseen. You don't say listen to my cry
Speaker 1: if you feel like the person is already involved in
Speaker 1: the situation. Listen to my cry for I am in
Speaker 1: desperate need. Oh David, I can tell you deal with depression.
Speaker 1: You think so, I put it in the Bible. I
Speaker 1: am in desperate need. The three people who need this
Speaker 1: message you're going to really receive from this next part
Speaker 1: right now. The three people who have been running a
Speaker 1: race and you are being chased by something and you
Speaker 1: cannot see what you are running from, but you can
Speaker 1: feel it and you know it, and it has become
Speaker 1: a template for the track that your life has taken
Speaker 1: and the trajectory that you're on. Watch this, he said,
Speaker 1: rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are
Speaker 1: too strong for me. Set me free from my prison,
Speaker 1: that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will
Speaker 1: gather about me because of your good to me. Now
Speaker 1: when he said the righteous will gather about me when
Speaker 1: you get me out of this, because somebody our prayer. God,
Speaker 1: when you get me out of this, Oh, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be amazing. I'm gonna pay my tize. Lord. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you fifty percent if you just get me out
Speaker 1: of this. Fifty five do I hear of fifty six?
Speaker 1: Do I here a fifty seven? Lord's like whatever, whatever,
Speaker 1: whatever this listen is. He's praying the righteous will gather
Speaker 1: about me. He's praying for support, he's praying for help.
Speaker 1: He's praying for somebody to care. He's praying for somebody
Speaker 1: to see. He's praying for somebody to hear. He's screaming
Speaker 1: em in the cave. There's echo, echo, and there's no
Speaker 1: one talking back. But watch what happened in Samuel twenty two,
Speaker 1: verse one. His father's household heard David was running, and
Speaker 1: they went down to him. There not only his family,
Speaker 1: which we're gonna talk about in a second, but look
Speaker 1: who else came all those who were in distress, or
Speaker 1: in debt or discontented gathered around him. Okay, God, remember
Speaker 1: how I was praying for you to send me people.
Speaker 1: I take it back. I don't need anybody, Lord, just
Speaker 1: me and you Lord. All my need is you, Lord.
Speaker 1: And here come four hundred lined up. And what are they?
Speaker 1: They are David's three D Army three D. You said,
Speaker 1: where you get that from? They were in distress, they
Speaker 1: were in debt, and they were discontented. God might show
Speaker 1: up at your door with three D this week. But
Speaker 1: remember how we were saying, sometimes you pray for something
Speaker 1: and then it comes and you don't want it because
Speaker 1: it came in three D. It came in debt, distress, discontented.
Speaker 1: It came in the form of a need. Why would
Speaker 1: God answer a prayer with a need? Come on and
Speaker 1: think with me, Think with me. I can't I can't
Speaker 1: just say stuff that makes you want to shout.
Speaker 2: I got to help you. So you know that.
Speaker 1: While he was praying in that cave these you know,
Speaker 1: he prayed, God, then the Righteous will surround me, and
Speaker 1: here comes in debt, in distress, discontented.
Speaker 2: David's like, let me try that again, then the.
Speaker 1: Righteous thought, I said, ratchet, I said righteous, Sorry, Lord,
Speaker 1: And now we have a decision to make church. The
Speaker 1: question is why did these four hundred people show up at.
Speaker 2: David's cave in the moment of greatest need.
Speaker 1: In response to God's answer to the prayer? And I
Speaker 1: will suggest to you that it's this because David was anointed,
Speaker 1: because he was chosen, because he was anointed.
Speaker 2: And for everybody who is in.
Speaker 1: The cycle of self pity, of why is everybody always
Speaker 1: making withdrawals from me and not deposits because you're anointed?
Speaker 1: Why doesn't anybody tell me good job because you're consistent.
Speaker 1: They won't tell you good job when you do it consistently.
Speaker 1: They'll tell you good job when they're surprised by it.
Speaker 2: The moment they.
Speaker 1: Stop being surprised, they stop saying something. Ask your kids,
Speaker 1: who ate your peanut butter? And didn't say a word,
Speaker 1: didn't even throw the jar away either, just left it
Speaker 1: in there because they expect peanut butter in the pantry,
Speaker 1: because they expect you to be on time, because they
Speaker 1: expect you to be kind, and their expectation is the
Speaker 1: greatest compliment. So don't cry about it. I told one preacher.
Speaker 1: One day, I said, you will know you're a good
Speaker 1: preacher when people stop telling you good sermon, because they
Speaker 1: will become all of a sudden less concerned about you
Speaker 1: and how you felt about it, and they will become
Speaker 1: more concerned about them and what God spoke to them
Speaker 1: through it. And I put this to you as a
Speaker 1: personal challenge today. Are they running to you for a reason?
Speaker 1: What did you think God annointed you for? What did
Speaker 1: you think the oil was for?
Speaker 2: What did you think.
Speaker 1: God blessed you with that experience for? And you say, well,
Speaker 1: they're using me? Uh uh?
Speaker 2: God is God?
Speaker 1: Is the moment that the oil hit David's head?
Speaker 2: He should have known?
Speaker 1: Oh, because there is no crown where there are no caves.
Speaker 1: So if God is going to do this thing for me,
Speaker 1: there are going to be caves along the way. Oh
Speaker 1: how I want to preach to everybody who has a
Speaker 1: great dream. Oh how I want to preach to everybody
Speaker 1: who wants to have a loving family or a righteous
Speaker 1: life in Christ, that there will be caves along the way.
Speaker 1: You will be confused along the way. Wait, I want
Speaker 1: this and I'm reaching for that, and I feel this
Speaker 1: and I'm doing that and I did that for them,
Speaker 1: and they did that to me. Don't let the cave
Speaker 1: confuse you. You're still anointed. Don't let their lack of
Speaker 1: appreciation confuse you.
Speaker 2: You're still anointed. Don't let the fact.
Speaker 1: That they don't want to run with you anymore confuse you.
Speaker 1: You're so anointed they don't want to go that direction anymore.
Speaker 2: That's fine.
Speaker 1: God to give you somebody else to run with, and
Speaker 1: they might be three D, but you're just gonna have
Speaker 1: to watch.
Speaker 2: This is the heart of the message. Look at me.
Speaker 1: This message is dedicated to my brother in law, who
Speaker 1: just turned forty seven yesterday. I told him I'm gonna
Speaker 1: dedicate this message to him. Look at me, Jody, Do
Speaker 1: it confused? Do it confused? David was used by God,
Speaker 1: but in this moment of his life, he was very
Speaker 1: confused about what God is doing. Can both be true? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: I am very confused about what God is doing a
Speaker 1: lot of the time that He is using me. Do
Speaker 1: you remember when Jesus knelt down and washed the disciple's feet.
Speaker 2: He told them something very important.
Speaker 1: He said, you do not understand what I do now,
Speaker 1: but later you will. Sometimes you have to take a
Speaker 1: lap and understand later. Sometimes you have to take a
Speaker 1: lap and understand later.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you have to take six.
Speaker 1: Laps around the walls of Jericho and trust that something's
Speaker 1: gonna happen when I blow this trumpet. Something's gonna happen
Speaker 1: when I blow this trumpet. I come against the discouragement
Speaker 1: in your spirit.
Speaker 2: That says, what's the point.
Speaker 1: I come against the catalog in your mind that tells
Speaker 1: you it was all in vain. I come against the
Speaker 1: tears that you've cried because of who wasn't.
Speaker 2: By your side.
Speaker 1: Open your eyes. David is a king in a cave,
Speaker 1: and so are you. So are you. He is running
Speaker 1: from a king, and he's going to be a king.
Speaker 1: But kings can be announced and anointed anywhere. That can
Speaker 1: only be developed in caves. The thing in me that
Speaker 1: needed to preach today needed to show up at age
Speaker 1: eighteen and there were no kids.
Speaker 2: It needed to be set.
Speaker 1: Free from the need to do it because of approval.
Speaker 1: I could not have delivered this word.
Speaker 2: To you today without my caves.
Speaker 1: And I am saying to you, my brother, my brother
Speaker 1: in Christ, my sister in Christ, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you're running from. I don't know if it's generational I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's recent, I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: been heightened. I don't know if it's other people. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's deep down inside of you. But
Speaker 1: God said to tell you, don't waste this cave. Don't
Speaker 1: waste this cave. Tell your neighbor, don't waste your cave.
Speaker 1: Caves come with the territory. Everybody's running from something, everybody's
Speaker 1: running after something. Paul said, I'm just not running a
Speaker 1: less anymore, running around like a Christian with your head
Speaker 1: cut off, not even thinking about it anymore, not even
Speaker 1: strategizing it anymore. Look what David did in verse three.
Speaker 1: The pressure was so overwhelming. He is already a fugitive.
Speaker 1: He is already confused. He looks around and here's his
Speaker 1: old dad and his old mom talking about, Hey, we
Speaker 1: heard you were in the cave. We came to keep
Speaker 1: you some company. Do you mean, Holly. This is the
Speaker 1: same Jesse that didn't even bring David in from the
Speaker 1: field when they were coming to get the king. But
Speaker 1: now he needs him. And I'm gonna tell you something
Speaker 1: very important about people. People see you, how they need you. Hmm.
Speaker 1: That's why some people hate you and don't even know you.
Speaker 1: They need you to be an enemy, because if they
Speaker 1: make you an enemy, they don't have to take responsibility
Speaker 1: and be honest with you. That's why some people think
Speaker 1: too highly of you, because they need you to be
Speaker 1: a savior, and the truth is you're neither. So in
Speaker 1: the moment that the three D Army, the dysfunctional Army,
Speaker 1: the three D Army of dysfunctional derelicts, arrives at David's
Speaker 1: door with his mom and dad. He goes to Moab.
Speaker 1: You remember anything about Moab? Remember a lady named Ruth,
Speaker 1: David's great grandmother. He had moabike blood, but Moab wasn't
Speaker 1: his home. But he had to leave his home for
Speaker 1: a little while, and he took his parents to Moab,
Speaker 1: and he went to the king of Moab, who wasn't
Speaker 1: exactly his friend, and he said, in verse three for
Speaker 1: Samuel twenty two, this most anointed verse I've read in
Speaker 1: a long time in this church. He said, would you
Speaker 1: let my father and mother come stay with you until
Speaker 1: I learn what God will do for me. My senses
Speaker 1: were heightened and my attention was riveted by the word
Speaker 1: until until, Because when the oil hit my head, and
Speaker 1: when it flowed in it and it ran all the
Speaker 1: way down. It ran for a reason, but I'm not
Speaker 1: sure what it is yet. I know God speaking to
Speaker 1: me about some things. I know there are some things
Speaker 1: that he's pruning off my life right now, but I
Speaker 1: don't know yet. And I'm not even doubting God's capacity
Speaker 1: at this moment. I'm just lacking clarity. Listen to that again.
Speaker 1: You're not doubting his capacity. You're lacking clarity. And David said,
Speaker 1: this is too much for me right now, he prayed God.
Speaker 1: I had no one to support me, and I look
Speaker 1: at me, Look at me. You can be surrounded and
Speaker 1: still not supported. You can have fifty thousand friends on
Speaker 1: your phone and no one to be intimate with. You
Speaker 1: can live in the house with them, breathe the air
Speaker 1: with them, share the food with them, and still not
Speaker 1: feel like you're one of them. And now David is
Speaker 1: charged with the task of receiving his own family.
Speaker 2: He is running from a king, and he is becoming
Speaker 2: a king.
Speaker 1: And he is about to occupy an office that he
Speaker 1: did not even run for. There was no process of
Speaker 1: David putting himself forth as a candidate for king. I'm
Speaker 1: here to preach to somebody today. You didn't ask for
Speaker 1: this battle. You did not even ask for this. You
Speaker 1: didn't even know what it was. You did not point
Speaker 1: to that item on the menu. You did not say
Speaker 1: I want to deal with this. You did not ask
Speaker 1: to be raised that way, exposed to that thing, dealing
Speaker 1: with that thing. You did not plant it. But now
Speaker 1: you are having to deal with the weeds of it. Well,
Speaker 1: what then, what then? What is the answer for those
Speaker 1: of us who are living in the until Because the
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is, David was anointed long before
Speaker 1: the others knew it. I want to say about you
Speaker 1: that what will be true of you in the future
Speaker 1: is true of you right now.
Speaker 2: You are a king even in this cave.
Speaker 1: You are valuable, even though no one else sees it.
Speaker 1: Right now. There are times when I'm preaching you just
Speaker 1: have to believe me where the Holy Spirit is giving
Speaker 1: me what to say. And it is for somebody, and
Speaker 1: I do not know who that it is. But God
Speaker 1: is calling you watch this, saying this cave that you
Speaker 1: have been in is closed for business because I have
Speaker 1: more for your future and I need you to move forward.
Speaker 1: Even though you're confused. You imagine a faith of that
Speaker 1: might to come out of a cave and to go
Speaker 1: to Moab and say, can you take care of my parents?
Speaker 1: I don't know what God's gonna do. I don't know
Speaker 1: how this report is going to turn out. I don't
Speaker 1: know if my kid's gonna come back. I thought they
Speaker 1: were the last time, but that was just a false alarm,
Speaker 1: and they're still not doing well.
Speaker 2: I don't know, Bud. Will you keep what's important to
Speaker 2: me even in my confusion?
Speaker 1: And I just pictured somebody in here today that you've
Speaker 1: been running with weights that God does not intend for
Speaker 1: you to carry forward into your future. There are some
Speaker 1: things that you need to drop for what God has
Speaker 1: called you to do. Expectation of where you should have
Speaker 1: been by now, the guilt that Christ paid for and
Speaker 1: nailed to his cross. Would you put that behind you
Speaker 1: so that you can run the race that is marked
Speaker 1: out for you. And while you're at it, stop looking
Speaker 1: around at other people's race. God has called you to
Speaker 1: run at your pace for this season.
Speaker 2: And I found out something about God, and I found out.
Speaker 1: Something about the enemy, And it's this. When God puts
Speaker 1: something significant in me, the enemy sends something significant after me.
Speaker 1: You should have known the moment that the oil hit
Speaker 1: your head that this was not going to be easy.
Speaker 2: You should have known the moment that you.
Speaker 1: Survived the car accident that there's a reason the devil
Speaker 1: tried to end my life right there. There is something
Speaker 1: ahead of me that is so great it makes the
Speaker 1: devil afraid. And that is the reason I run, because
Speaker 1: I figure if the enemy sent something against me in
Speaker 1: this season to try to get me to abandon it,
Speaker 1: there must be something ahead of me.
Speaker 2: That's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1: That it's amazing what's ahead of you, broke, It's amazing
Speaker 1: what's ahead of you. Man, your kids are gonna talk
Speaker 1: about that. He did it with the weight of the
Speaker 1: world on his shoulders. There's something amazing in you. Mom
Speaker 1: carried all that and she still carried us. So the
Speaker 1: Lord said, make me your stronghold. Make me your stronghold.
Speaker 1: You'll need that cave when you're called your cover. And
Speaker 1: the prophet told David, I know you're running, and I
Speaker 1: know there's a reason, but look at verse five. Do
Speaker 1: not stay in the stronghold. What is a stronghold church?
Speaker 1: It is a place of temporary protection. It is meant
Speaker 1: to be visited, but not lived. In some of the
Speaker 1: ways that you developed to deal with your life. They
Speaker 1: were temporary and they served a purpose. But they're over now.
Speaker 2: They're over now. And the prophet named.
Speaker 1: God told David something. He said, go to Judah. Why
Speaker 1: Judah put the verse up? Please verse five? Go to
Speaker 1: Judah because that was the place David was from, and
Speaker 1: that was the place where he would be anointed, and
Speaker 1: that was the place where he would be covered, and
Speaker 1: that was the place he would be protected. So God says,
Speaker 1: I will cover you in every place that I call
Speaker 1: you to. Would you come out of the stronghold? Would
Speaker 1: you come out of the stronghold just for a moment today.
Speaker 1: I know the cave felt safe for a season, but
Speaker 1: the cave is closed now. I know you kind of
Speaker 1: had to be like that for a season to get
Speaker 1: through it. And I know you were trying to prove something,
Speaker 1: having sex with every different woman to try to prove
Speaker 1: something that you never received in your childhood. But would
Speaker 1: you come out of that now? It's time to grow up.
Speaker 1: God's got something with your name on it to make
Speaker 1: a difference in the earth, and it's not just about
Speaker 1: you anymore. Come to Judah with me. Judah is the
Speaker 1: tribe that David is from, and Judah is the name
Speaker 1: that means praise. I found it significant that when David
Speaker 1: left the cave, God called him to a place that
Speaker 1: meant literally praise. I think it is a sign that
Speaker 1: when we praise God in the place where we are,
Speaker 1: I said, when we praise God in the place where
Speaker 1: we are, yeah, that God begins to move, that the
Speaker 1: oil begins to flow. And I don't run for nothing.
Speaker 1: Everybody runs, but I'm running for something. I'm running with someone.
Speaker 1: And the Lord told me that if I can't run anymore,
Speaker 1: he'll lift me up on wings like eagles. So I
Speaker 1: appreciate the cave, but I'm already covered. I appreciate the cave,
Speaker 1: but I'm already covered. Father, in the name of Jesus,
Speaker 1: I thank you for the blood that covers me today.
Speaker 1: I thank you for the times in my life that
Speaker 1: I've known it to be true that while I was
Speaker 1: praying in a cave, you were sending people Hallelujah. You
Speaker 1: were making plans, Thank you, Jesus, And you were fulfilling purpose,
Speaker 1: sending people, making plans, fulfilling purpose. I declare your word
Speaker 1: over this church. Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven says for
Speaker 1: I know the plans I have for you that just
Speaker 1: because we are not aware of them does not mean
Speaker 1: they are not active. God. I come against everything that
Speaker 1: shoved those kings in those caves. I come against everything
Speaker 1: that has told this child of God, this individual, that
Speaker 1: they will never be what you've called them. And right now,
Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus, I thank you for your covering,
Speaker 1: protecting presence over our families. Said, I allow, devil, in
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus, you can't have my kids. They're covered.
Speaker 2: Now start clapping like you know your kids are covered.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you Jesus. I am cover.
Speaker 2: Try this devil.
Speaker 3: You can't have my mind it's covered. Can't have my
Speaker 3: heart it's covered. Can't have my vision is covered. And
Speaker 3: I declare that.
Speaker 1: In Christ, I am a new creation. I am a
Speaker 1: child of God, and I'm running this race in the
Speaker 1: strength of Jesus. Come on, give God a great prayer.
Speaker 1: Hit back to Judah. Hit back to Judah. There's a strong, annoying.
Speaker 1: Bow your head, close your eyes. Somebody needs to come
Speaker 1: to Jesus right now. You need to run to Jesus
Speaker 1: right now. He's already running to you. The Bible says
Speaker 1: in the story of the Prodigal Son, the father ran
Speaker 1: toward his son. God is running towards you, running with forgiveness,
Speaker 1: running for your redemption, running to receive you with arms
Speaker 1: open wide. All you gotta do is repent. All you
Speaker 1: got to do is say God, I'm here. I'm sorry
Speaker 1: that I ran from you. I was running from you
Speaker 1: when I should have been running to you. There's somebody
Speaker 1: here today. You need to receive Jesus. This is your chance.
Speaker 1: I want to pray a prayer with you. If you
Speaker 1: will pray this prayer from your heart. The Bible says
Speaker 1: that God will hear you from heaven. He will forgive
Speaker 1: your sin. He will give you his grace, and he
Speaker 1: will make you new. You will be born again, You
Speaker 1: will be saved. This is your moment. Repeat after me,
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior.
Speaker 1: And I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
Speaker 1: God and the savior of the world. And today I
Speaker 1: make Jesus the lord of my life. I believe he
Speaker 1: died that I would be forgiven and rose again to
Speaker 1: give me life. I receive this new life. This is
Speaker 1: my new beginning on the counter of three shoots your
Speaker 1: hand up if you prayed that prayer.
Speaker 2: I want to celebrate you. What two? Three? Shoot it up,
Speaker 2: Shoot it up, shoot it up.
Speaker 1: I see it. God bless you.
Speaker 2: Incredible. Come on, we can do better than that. I said,
Speaker 2: we can do better than that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, high five. At least three people say I'm
Speaker 1: running for a reason. Campus pastors, you can have it, Valentine,
Speaker 1: look at me this week. You got something to run for,
Speaker 1: and you got someone to run with. You are not
Speaker 1: alone in this thing, you hear me. I know it
Speaker 1: feels lonely to be chosen. Sometimes you're not alone, You're chosen.
Speaker 1: The two feel the same. Sometime you're not alone, you're chosen.
Speaker 1: Tell somebody you're chosen. That's why you're running. That's why
Speaker 1: the devil's chasing you. You're chosen. But guess what, what
Speaker 1: I'm running toward is greater than what I'm running from.
Speaker 1: So I'll see you on the next slap and now,
Speaker 1: unto him, lift your hands. Who is able to do
Speaker 1: immeasurably more than you ask or imagine.
Speaker 2: To him, be glory through Christ Jesus in the church.
Speaker 2: Now and forever. I find somebody say, run your race.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 1: link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
Speaker 1: enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
Speaker 1: with your friends. You can click the share button, take
Speaker 1: a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
Speaker 1: tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
Speaker 1: bless you