WEBVTT - Sudden Strength (Holly Furtick) 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:06.280 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:09.360 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:11.639 Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:13.720 new sermons every week. 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:15.040 Hope you're blessed today. 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:24.079 Today, I would like to dedicate my sermon to a 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:27.320 very special group of women. I've never dedicated a sermon before, 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:31.440 but today's sermon is dedicated to all the mothers of 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:32.760 teenage boys. 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.040 Well, all the mothers of teenage boys. 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.680 Just lift your hand, hold it up real high in 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:42.160 the chat. You can even tell us your son's name 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:43.040 and age in the chat. 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:43.760 No, I'm serious. 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:45.360 If you're a mom of teenage boys, I want to 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:51.440 see your hand. Everybody look around. We need your prayer. 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:57.320 Keep your hand up high, everybody look pray for us. 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:06.760 Parenting boys is no joke. Here's a picture of me, 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:11.760 me and my boys. All right, So that's Elijah. 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:13.520 On the well, I don't know. I guess he's on 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:14.000 the right. 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:18.360 I'm so bad at directions. Elijah's the older one. He 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.880 is seventeen, and he had just finished all of his 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.720 school work this week. He is graduating high school. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:27.360 And I just. 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:33.440 I'm on the stage show. 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:35.280 I get to say whatever I want. I'm just gonna 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.959 mom brag for a second. This boy is graduating with 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:40.640 a high school diploma. 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:42.800 And an AA in business at the same. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:49.160 Time, and he's going to be heading off to college 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:50.680 in the falling. I don't know if I'm sad or 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:51.480 excited about that. 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:52.680 I'm both. 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:58.360 And then Graham is fifteen and he's just finishing up. 0:01:58.440 --> 0:01:59.600 His freshman year. 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:01.880 Just for fun, here's an old picture of us. 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:07.160 Keep it up there for a second. Let me tell 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.400 you something about these two little boys. They ate my 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:11.720 lunch every. 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:19.160 Day, literally and figuratively. They were wild from the minute 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.799 their little feet hit the floor. They were jumping and 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:27.160 running and wrestling constantly and taking family. 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:28.520 Pictures with them. 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:36.080 It's like this weird form of self inflicted torture. So okay, 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:44.280 here's another one and one way. 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:49.400 Here they are today. Not much has changed. 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:55.720 I was not prepared for the energy of boys, and 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.120 I wasn't prepared that my husband was going to like 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:00.240 encourage it, and just. 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.239 Just I grew up in a house with. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.960 My mom and my dad and my two sisters, and 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:11.720 in our house tears and estrogen ruled. And now those 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.600 wild little boys are young men, and here I am. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:19.760 I just have to say that this whole testosterone, weightlifting, 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:26.280 protein eating situation, it's just enlightening for me. This is 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.840 why we need your prayers. I shared this story when 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.160 we were on tour this spring, but not too long ago, 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.239 our middle son, Graham told me. Came in the kitchen 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:36.160 and we were talking and he said that he was 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:42.160 constantly sizing himself up against every person that crosses his path. 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.680 And he told me when he sees someone, he thinks, 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:48.680 would I win in a. 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:54.440 Fight against that guy? And then he said, Mom, do 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:59.960 you ever do that? I'm like, are you a smc? 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.840 A fight to break out at any moment? Is this 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:06.400 what boys think? This is news to me? And then Graham, 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.240 he kept talking. You said something that really spoke to me. 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:13.839 He said, And then Mom, I just decide that if 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.480 I wouldn't win in a fight, I pretty much always 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:23.600 know that my dad could take them. So today I 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:29.120 want to talk to you about sudden Strength. If you've 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.000 been in church with us in the past few weeks, you 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.359 know that we have been looking at the life of 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.960 David through the lens of Psalm thirty four and the 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.799 events that inspired David to write that Psalm two weeks 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:44.479 ago we learned about ugly trust, and can I just say, like, 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.040 I don't know if you put two and two together. 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:51.320 That week, but that particular week, Stephen preached in arenas 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:56.320 all over the Midwest eight times in ten days, and 0:04:56.360 --> 0:05:00.040 then he came home and continued to pro out some 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:01.400 thing fresh to us. 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:02.960 That's when he preached ugly trust. 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:07.200 And then the next week we learned about delayed praise. 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:11.240 And on top of both of these insanely amazing messages, 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:15.039 they were centered around a song that he wrote for 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:16.119 our church. 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.680 Can we just take a minute to thank. 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:22.400 God for the feast that our pastor labors to bring 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.000 to us every single week? 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:43.680 Amazing He pours any pores, any pores, and he ministers 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:45.080 to me every week, as I know. 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:46.479 He does to you too. 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:54.239 So ugly Trust, delayed praise, and now sudden strength, because 0:05:54.279 --> 0:06:00.320 the truth is, sometimes an unexpected fight does break out, 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.800 not a fist fight, but maybe a fight for your marriage, 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.880 a fight for your health, a fight for your child, 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:13.120 and you find yourself sizing yourself up against what you 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:17.600 are facing. And today I want to talk about the sudden. 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.680 Strength that can be yours when. 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:23.320 You realize that you have a heavenly father who is 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:27.440 backing you up. And when you combine his power in 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.039 you with the weapons that he has given you, you 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.680 can take whatever you find yourself up against. 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.039 Can we talk about this today? All right? 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.040 So turn in your Bible to our passage for today, 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:46.120 which is First Samuel, chapter thirty. And while you're turning there, 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.080 I want us to slow down and I want to 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.120 bring you up to speed on where we are in 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.920 David's life, because David's story is extensive. David is one 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.360 of the most important characters in the Bible. And sometimes 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.880 we and we dropped down in a passage of scripture 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.200 and we preached you and you don't know, like, Okay, 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.240 I know David, but like, is this before Goliath? Or 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.400 is this after best Shiba? Like where does this come 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.240 in his story? So a little bit of backstory, don't worry. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.280 I'm really good at giving backstory. Sometimes I've had to 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.000 learn because people don't like the story before the story. 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:23.640 But I'm gonna give it to you quick, okay. 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.200 So David was anointed to be king when he was 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.520 a fifteen year old boy tending sheep in his father's field. 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.520 Not long after that, he defeated Goliath, and then he 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.440 lived as a part of Saul's court. That's where David 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:42.360 became best friends with the king's son Jonathan. But then 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:44.880 the king began to get jealous of David and he 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.040 wanted to kill him, so he had to flee to 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:51.280 the wilderness. And eventually David has gathered a small army 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:54.520 for himself of about six hundred men who are following 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:58.240 him and who are protecting him. And they're constantly on 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:01.440 the run from Saul his army, and it's getting more 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.120 and more dangerous. So David and his men they settle 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.080 all the women and children in a town called Zicklag. 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:11.640 And then David, as our pastor told. 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.400 Us, does the next best thing that he knows to. 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.720 Do, and he and his men flee to the. 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:21.280 Enemy territory of the Philistines to work as mercenaries. And 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:25.000 that is where Pastor Stephen left us off last week. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:26.440 All right, now we. 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:30.840 Come to First Samuel, chapter thirty, and it says this now, 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.320 when David and his men came to Zicklag on the 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:37.000 third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:41.760 Negeb and against Zicklag. They had overcome Zicklag and burned 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:45.920 it with fire and taken captive all the women and 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.400 all who were in it, both great and small. They 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.079 killed no one, but they carried them off and went 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.040 their way. And when David and his men came to 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.880 the city, they found it burned with fire, and their 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:03.280 wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.240 the people who were with him raised their voices, and 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.160 they wept until they had no more strength to weep. 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.880 David's two wives have been taken captive. 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:17.640 A Henoum of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabel 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:22.600 of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed for the people 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.360 spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:31.120 in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:36.800 strengthened himself in the Lord his God. All this time, 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:42.320 David has been running from Saul and living in the 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:49.120 Philistine territory, and he finally returns home to see his family, 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.280 and he finds that an enemy that he didn't see 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:56.080 coming has burned their town to the ground and has 0:09:56.160 --> 0:10:00.559 taken his family, and he is devastated, and so are 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:02.880 his men and the men are looking for someone to blame, 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.400 as we often do when we find ourselves in despair, 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:12.680 and David it's all alone. Jonathan's not there to protect him, 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.640 Abigail's not there to encourage him, Samuel the Prophet is 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:20.360 not there to remind him of his calling. And everyone 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.880 near and dear to him is gone, and his men 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:28.480 are plotting to kill him. We're watching David in one 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:34.240 of his lowest moments. He's tired, he's depleted, he's scared. 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:35.600 And what does he do? 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.240 How does he get up and do the next best 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.319 thing again, as we've seen him do over and over 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:49.040 in his story. Verse six tells us, but David strengthened 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.920 himself in the Lord his God. 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:57.000 What do you do when you need sudden strength and 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:57.679 no one is. 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:03.559 There to help you. Sometimes you got to strengthen yourself. 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:10.640 So David gathers every ounce of strength that he has left, 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.600 which he doesn't feel like is very much, and he 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:13.240 uses that. 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.360 Strength to seek God. Look what he does next. 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:21.000 And David said to a be a, oh man, I 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:22.400 practice how to say this word. 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:27.839 You guys. It's Abafar, son of Ahimelech. 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.520 Bring me the ephod so aba far brought the ephod 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:35.960 to David, and David inquired of the Lord. Shall I 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:40.400 pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them? David had 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:43.559 to get his next step from God. 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:46.040 He didn't have a pity party. 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:51.520 He didn't avoid the situation by hiding or numbing. He 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.080 didn't go into one of his caves. He didn't turn 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.839 around and blame his men, Well, you guys, we should 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.920 have left someone here to He didn't take a from them. 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:06.240 He cried until he had no tears left to cry, 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.920 and then when he could, he mustered all of the 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.160 strength that he had, and he took his pain and 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:19.360 his confusion and his fear right into the presence of God, 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.240 and he sought the Lord. 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:24.160 When we experience a. 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:29.439 Difficult situation, we have two choices. We can wonder why, 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:37.520 or we can ask what next. There is a time 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:40.400 to grieve and to mourn, and even a time to 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.360 be angry and confused. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:47.600 But at some point you have to move on with it. 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.640 And I want to tell you the pain will most 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.439 likely still be there no matter what you do. Stay 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.240 in it, move on. The pain's going to be there. 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.679 But I don't know about you. I find in my 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.520 life when I sit in my pain for too long, 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:09.400 I get stale, and I get bitter, and nobody. 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:13.640 Wants to be around me. But when I drag my. 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:19.480 Pain to the feet of Jesus, sometimes over and over again, 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:24.720 when I seek God, he answers Now. Sometimes he doesn't 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.040 answer the way I hope that he will. Sometimes he 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.960 says stay when I want to go. Sometimes he says 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.200 forgive when I want to hold on to that hurt. 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:40.679 Sometimes he says stop. And here in this case, God 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:45.400 responds to David with a call to action. God said, 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:50.360 pursue the enemy, David, they're not dead, go and get 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:54.640 them back. And David set out the Bible tells us, 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.800 along with his six hundred men, to go and get 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:01.600 them back. There will always be times in your life 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:07.000 when the only person who can strengthen yourself is you. 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.040 If you want to have big muscles, you're gonna have 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:16.120 to lift heavyweights, right my boys have taught me. You 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.400 also have to eat lots of protein and sometimes drink 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:26.240 powdery drinks. No one can exercise for you. The only 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.720 way for you to get strong is to get up 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:35.400 again and again and again, even when you're tired of 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.520 getting up. So let's talk about tired for a second. 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:40.480 Because David is exhausted. 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.800 He's been living in enemy territory, which you can imagine 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:48.360 would be stressful, and he's traveled three days to come 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:53.960 home to his family, and what do you think he's planning. 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:54.840 Like this whole three day trip. 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.920 He's planning on feasting and relaxing and hugging his wife 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.560 and playing with his kids. And he arrives home only 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.840 to find them stolen by an enemy that he didn't 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.360 see coming. For so long he'd been running from Saul 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:14.640 that he left himself vulnerable in another area of his. 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.320 Life, and now he's just blindsided by it. 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:22.200 And so he wept until he had no strength left 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.360 to weep, and then he got up and he sought 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.600 the Lord, and God tells him to do something that 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:28.760 I'm guessing he didn't really want to do. 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.600 He wanted God to bring him back. God said, go 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:33.880 after them. 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:39.040 He said, you will recover everything that was taken. So, 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:45.280 on tired legs, David and his men set out to 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:49.120 get back what was theirs. And they had to travel 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.480 fast because they're having to catch up to the enemy. 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:53.640 And the story goes on to tell us that they 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.440 were so exhausted that two hundred of the men stopped. 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.480 They're like, we can't go any further. But David had 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:04.600 to keep going because if he didn't, he was gonna 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:08.000 lose everything. And so David and the four hundred remaining 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.520 men they finally catch up to the Amalekite camp, not 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.000 to just have a little talk with them, but they 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:19.760 have to fight now, and they arrive to the battle tired. 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.600 Just wondering, is anybody in this room tired today? 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.560 Raise your hand. It's okay, raise your hand. All right. 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:33.800 You might be sleepy, you might just be tired of it, 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:39.600 but look around. Raise your hand again. If you're tired, 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:47.000 We're all tired. Tired is a part of life now. 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:52.520 Some of us are stupid tired. Like perhaps you're a 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:56.960 teenage boy and you stayed up till four am playing 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:02.640 Fortnite or whatever game of your choice, and now you're 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:07.320 in church with your mom and you're. 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:08.119 Trying to stay awake. 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.480 Maybe you're tired because it's May and it's the end 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:14.520 of the school year and you have all of the 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.960 end of your programs and parties and teacher Gibson final 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.840 exams and making sure your kids cross the finish line, 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.760 and you've way over scheduled yourself this year. 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:26.840 Anybody on here that kind of tire. 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.640 Some of you are legitimately tired with no end in sight. 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.080 Maybe you're a single mom on Mother's Day with no help, 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.000 and you go every day from the time your eyes 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:40.040 open in the morning until the time your. 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.280 Head hits the pillow at night. 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:48.119 It's important to recognize when you're tired and why you're tired, 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:51.320 and it's important to evaluate your schedule, and even to 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.080 learn and to ask for help when you need help. 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.639 And we need rests in our lives, we do. We 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.600 need times of rest and Sabbath and all of those 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.080 wonderful things. But you know what I've learned in twenty 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:06.680 plus years of being a grown up. 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:13.159 I even get tired on vacation. I'm serious. Like for me, 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:15.199 I don't know what it's like when you wake up 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.399 in the morning, But if I get five. 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:22.679 Hours of sleep or nine hours of sleep, when I 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.320 open my eyes in the morning, I don't want to 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.800 wake up. I'm still tired, and I don't want to 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:35.880 sleep my life away. I want to stop being surprised 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:37.000 that I'm tired. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.480 Tired is a part of being a grown up. 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.960 It is no longer an excuse to not get done 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:50.000 what needs to get done. Baby sleep when they're tired. 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:56.080 Grown up sleep when the day is done. Some of 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.479 the most defining moments in my life happened when I 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:03.719 was tired, when I pushed through and came out on 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:08.000 the other side. And perhaps the biggest lesson that I 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:10.920 have had to learn in my life is that tired 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:16.320 is a part of it every day. So we've got 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:20.359 to learn how to fight when we're tired, because if 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.920 you wait until you feel one hundred percent, you're never 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:29.760 gonna get back what has been stolen from you. Guys, 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:35.720 David was tired, not fifteen minutes tired now I stayed 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.479 up too late last night. Tired. He was fifteen years 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:44.760 tired of fighting a physical battle against Saul and a 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:49.800 mental battle against himself, constantly wondering if God was really 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.359 gonna do what he said that he was gonna do 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:53.320 through David. 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:55.640 Or if Saul was just gonna eventually get him. 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:01.360 There is a real enemy out there, and he wants 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:07.120 you to be too tired to fight back for. 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:10.040 The things that he has stolen from you. 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.560 He wants you to give up on the calling that 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:18.840 God has placed on your life. But you can't stop 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.760 short of the victory that God has for you. Look 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.119 at Ephesian six. I know many of you just finished 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:31.040 studying Ephesians. This was my favorite part if even six. 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:36.520 Verse ten says, finally, be strong in the Lord and 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:38.080 in his mighty power. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:42.440 Put on the full armor of God so. 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.200 That you can stand against the devil's schemes. Now listen 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:46.960 to these verses because they're kind of scary if you 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:49.960 really read them. For our struggle is not against flesh 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:53.840 and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:56.960 the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:00.960 forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, he says 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.840 it again, put on the full armor of God, so 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.040 that when the day of evil comes, you may be 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:14.160 able to stand your ground. Paul is not talking about 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:18.920 a fight for us to take new ground. Jesus's work 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:22.480 on the Cross won the victory against sin and death. 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:26.600 Salvation is ours. We don't have to fight for that. 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:31.600 We receive that by grace through faith. But just because 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.720 we receive salvation doesn't mean that there is not still 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.000 a very real enemy. 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:42.240 And he is going to do everything he can. He 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:45.760 came to steal, kill, and destroy. 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.320 And we are fighting against spiritual forces in realms that 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.359 we don't see, things that you don't even know about, 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:56.840 stuff that you would read in a fantasy book. Abby 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:03.359 demons and spiritual forces that are battling for your soul. 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:08.000 And if he can't take your salvation, he's gonna blindside you. 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:10.080 He's gonna take your peace. 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:15.880 His job is to get you focused on how tired 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:18.719 you are. You've been fighting for your marriage for years. 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:21.800 He's going to do everything he can to get you 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.919 to give up on it. He wants you to be 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:27.159 too tired to get your joy back, he wants you 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:28.880 to be too tired to get. 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:31.000 Your confidence back. And if he can. 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:35.760 Take those things from you, you will live your life saved. 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:37.600 But in defeat. And he won. 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:43.320 As believers in Christ. So we're not fighting in our 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:45.960 own power. That's the amazing thing. 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:50.959 PAULSA be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:54.000 It's his mighty power that is at work on the 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:55.120 inside of you. 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:59.200 But sometimes you gotta get up. 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:03.320 If you want to activate God's power in your life, 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:04.200 you got to move. 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:08.720 You got to seek him. Again and again and again. 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:12.320 You got to arm yourself so that you can stand 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:13.600 against the enemy. 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.919 Don't give in, don't let him win, keep fighting even 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:19.359 when you're tired. 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:24.800 So David and his men fought the battle against the Amalekites, 0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:28.120 and the Bible says that it lasted a full twenty 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:30.000 four hours. 0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:34.439 That's how long they had to fight. And look what 0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:35.920 happened though verse eighteen. 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:43.920 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:45.080 rescued his two wives. 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:47.840 Nothing was missing, whether great. 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:51.840 Or small, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:55.760 been taken. Every tiny little piece of jewelry that was stolen, 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:02.320 David brought back all. Look at this one. David also 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:06.280 captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:11.120 the livestock before him and said, this is David's spoil. 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:14.480 Skip down the verse twenty six. When David came to Ziglag, 0:24:14.960 --> 0:24:17.399 he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:20.640 elders of Judas, saying, here's a present for you from 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:26.480 the spoils of the enemies of the Lord. Somehow, when 0:24:26.520 --> 0:24:30.879 you fight tired, you push through the longest battle of 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:32.880 your life. 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:36.920 You're gonna came away with spoils leftovers. 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:42.880 There's nothing Stephen Verdick loves to eat more than good leftovers. 0:24:44.880 --> 0:24:46.639 So when I cook something. 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:49.320 Good, like I know he loves this meal, I cook extra. 0:24:49.440 --> 0:24:53.520 I plan for leftovers. When you fight for something in 0:24:53.560 --> 0:24:56.400 your life, I'm here to tell. 0:24:56.240 --> 0:24:58.720 You you can plan for leftovers. 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:04.600 When you fight to get your peace back, You're gonna 0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:08.280 have enough to share with those around you. When you 0:25:08.320 --> 0:25:11.720 feel your joy slipping away and you're tired, but you 0:25:11.840 --> 0:25:14.800 take the time to write in your gratitude journal and 0:25:14.840 --> 0:25:18.040