Speaker 1: Well, we're gonna get to the message in just a moment,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to make sure you knew about Elevation Nights.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be amazing eight cities October twenty sixth through
Speaker 1: November fourth. You got to go to Elevation Nights dot
Speaker 1: com to see if we're coming to a city near you.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be me, Elevation Worship, a few friends, and you.
Speaker 1: I want to see you there. I want to see
Speaker 1: you and everybody that you know there. Go to Elevation
Speaker 1: Nights dot com. I can't wait to see you soon.
Speaker 1: Here's the message. We are blessed, and I just have
Speaker 1: one verse of scripture for you. Then then we'll take
Speaker 1: a seat in a second, and I'm going to preach
Speaker 1: today out of a passage that really has been my
Speaker 1: life verse is First Samuel thirteen fourteen. But about six
Speaker 1: months ago, Pastor Stephen stood in this pulpit any said
Speaker 1: a word that made me see it differently. That verse
Speaker 1: has been my life verse for sixteen plus years, but
Speaker 1: one word made me see something that's always been there.
Speaker 1: I just didn't have the potential to see it. And
Speaker 1: I think that's gonna happen today. I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: happen in a marriage. It's been seventeen years in motion,
Speaker 1: but you've never seen the gift of your bride that
Speaker 1: God wants you to see in her. It's gonna happen
Speaker 1: in the blessing that He's given you. When you look
Speaker 1: at everybody else, what they have makes you ungrateful for
Speaker 1: what God's given you. You don't need something new, you
Speaker 1: just need to see what you have differently. That's why
Speaker 1: I'm excited to share this verse with you today. Those
Speaker 1: that know me know that this is close to my heart,
Speaker 1: and it's a verse A take with me wherever I go.
Speaker 1: Verse Verse Samuel thirteen, Verse two says Saul chose three
Speaker 1: thousand men from Israel. Two thousand were with him at
Speaker 1: Micmash say mic Mesh and in the hill country of Bethel,
Speaker 1: and a thousand worth Jonathan and Gibbia and Benjamin. The
Speaker 1: rest of the men he sent back to their homes. So, Father,
Speaker 1: we open up your word. Would you open up our
Speaker 1: hearts and create an intersection that would allow your transformation
Speaker 1: to happen in our hearts. We love you Jesus. Amen. Amen,
Speaker 1: you guys can can have a seat and I grew
Speaker 1: up one of five kids, and I grew up like
Speaker 1: many guys, probably most kids. Up until about age seven
Speaker 1: or eight, my dad was my hero. He everywhere he went,
Speaker 1: I wanted to be with my dad. It was like
Speaker 1: he was my hero, and so I just wanted to
Speaker 1: go wherever he's going. I don't even care where you're going.
Speaker 1: I'm just coming with dad. Let's go. And so I remember, gosh,
Speaker 1: six seven, eight years old. We'd go to places and
Speaker 1: he'd go inside, and I'd be out in the pickup truck.
Speaker 1: We're in a farmtown in Minnesota. We'd be in the
Speaker 1: pickup truck. I'd be out there for whoo, one person
Speaker 1: from Minnesota, Praise God. I'd be out in the pickup
Speaker 1: truck for a while, and then he'd hop back in
Speaker 1: the truck and we'd drive home. And he seemed much
Speaker 1: happier when he got back in the pickup truck. He
Speaker 1: was talking a lot. He was jovial, but he was
Speaker 1: kind of swerving around a little bit. And then finally,
Speaker 1: at age about eight, I don't remember the exact day,
Speaker 1: but we stopped at this place called the Delroy. It
Speaker 1: was a bar in Minnesota, and I remember sitting out
Speaker 1: in the truck and it was like cold, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I wonder what Dad's doing. So I waited a couple hours,
Speaker 1: and finally I snuck in through the back door and
Speaker 1: I walk in and I see Jerry, the owner. He
Speaker 1: kind of looks at me, and I remember his face,
Speaker 1: and I saw my dad sitting at the end of
Speaker 1: the bar, and I remember in that moment the gap
Speaker 1: that was created in my heart because up until that
Speaker 1: point he had only been my hero. But now I
Speaker 1: saw his humanity, and that's the gap I want to
Speaker 1: talk about today. And that gap is what's called disappointment.
Speaker 1: This is a message for anybody who has been, is,
Speaker 1: or will be dealing with the gap of disappointment. Disappointment
Speaker 1: is an equal opportunity employer. It will enslave you based
Speaker 1: upon your socioeconomic status, your zip code, your square footage.
Speaker 1: It does not care because every one of us has
Speaker 1: the gap of disappointment. He's always been my hero, but
Speaker 1: now I see his humanity, and I gotta deal with
Speaker 1: the gap. It's that gap that's created because you've lived life.
Speaker 1: This is what I've expected, Lord, but this is what
Speaker 1: I'm experiencing. It's the space of I thought we'd be
Speaker 1: further along right now, but this is what we're dealing with.
Speaker 1: I've been believing for the promises God, but now I'm
Speaker 1: just picking up the broken pieces. You hope you'd be
Speaker 1: married by now, and if your grandmother asked you one
Speaker 1: more time, if you found somebody, you're gonna I love you, Grandma.
Speaker 1: It's you have the surgery and they said you'd be
Speaker 1: better right by now. But you're dealing with that gap.
Speaker 1: Because that gap, here's the title for today. It's called
Speaker 1: Filling the gap. Filling the gap, because that gap of disappointment,
Speaker 1: something's going to grow in it. It is very much
Speaker 1: like your lawn, like your front yard. If you do nothing,
Speaker 1: something will grow. Just because it's green doesn't mean it's good.
Speaker 1: You don't need to do anything for weeds to grow.
Speaker 1: And in the sinful nature of man, the seeds of
Speaker 1: bitterness and defense have been sewed into our soul and
Speaker 1: they don't need any help to grow. That's what I
Speaker 1: want to talk about today. My assignment is to talk
Speaker 1: about the gap. And in our story with In for Samuel,
Speaker 1: you have a son named Jonathan and a dad named Saul.
Speaker 1: Dad is the king of Israel and what's happened At
Speaker 1: this point in chapter twelve, they'd had some small military victories.
Speaker 1: So Dad and son divis a plan to keep the
Speaker 1: momentum rolling. Hey, we're gonna keep these Philistines on the run. Boy,
Speaker 1: let's get it going. So they devise a plan. All right, Sault,
Speaker 1: you're gonna take two thousand men and you're gonna go
Speaker 1: to Mickmash, say Micmash. And then Jonathan's gonna take a thousand,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna go to Giba. So they hatch a
Speaker 1: plan like, all right, ready, break, let's go. Here's what
Speaker 1: we're gonna do. Verses three and four says Jonathan attacked
Speaker 1: the Philistine outpost at Geeba, and the Philistines heard about it.
Speaker 1: Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the whole land
Speaker 1: and said, let the Hebrews hear. So all Israel heard
Speaker 1: the news. Saul has attacked the Philistine outposts and anub
Speaker 1: and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines, and
Speaker 1: the people were soming to join Somel. What what Dad see?
Speaker 1: I think in this moment, Jonathan saw some of his
Speaker 1: father's humanity. They devised the plant says, I'm gonna do this,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna do that. The son goes and does this,
Speaker 1: but God, his dad does not do that. And now
Speaker 1: when Saul announces it to the nation, he says, all right,
Speaker 1: let all of Israel hear Saul has attacked and it
Speaker 1: says he had the trumpets phone. He's tooting his own horn.
Speaker 1: He's taking credit for something he didn't even do. And
Speaker 1: his son is looking like, Dad, you said you were
Speaker 1: gonna do that, but you didn't do it. And now
Speaker 1: he was looking at his father, going because of your indecision,
Speaker 1: Because of your bad decision, we're all gonna have to
Speaker 1: deal with the consequences of it. Isn't it amazing that
Speaker 1: what choices the unintended consequences that can ripple in the
Speaker 1: life of people. And I think that's what Jonathan is
Speaker 1: dealing with in this situation. Because Saul's got two thousand
Speaker 1: men and Jonathan has a thousand. Why can some people
Speaker 1: do twice as much with half as much resource? Why
Speaker 1: is it? That's the spirit of Jonathan. That's why I
Speaker 1: love this guy. I'm going on record right now and
Speaker 1: saying Jonathan is my favorite Bible character, and I want
Speaker 1: to show you why, because your impact on this earth
Speaker 1: is never determined by the size of your resource. It's
Speaker 1: termed by the size of your obedience. Jonathan demonstrates, but Saul,
Speaker 1: why did you do that, Saul? Because I think there's
Speaker 1: a connection between disappointment and disobedience. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: Samuel the Prophet had informed Saul just a few days earlier, Saul,
Speaker 1: just wait till I get there to offer the offerings.
Speaker 1: Just wait, don't don't pop the clutch, don't get started
Speaker 1: on this thing early. And so but Dad struggles with disobedience,
Speaker 1: and in verse eleven, Samuel the Prophet shows up on
Speaker 1: the scene. The battle was supposed to be fought where
Speaker 1: two thousand go this way, one thousand go this way.
Speaker 1: But Saul didn't do the king did not do what
Speaker 1: the king should have done. And now as a result,
Speaker 1: the people of Israel see this whole thing happening because
Speaker 1: because they became obnoxious, and all the Philistines they were like,
Speaker 1: you just whooped the dog, baby, Because the feeling is like, oh,
Speaker 1: you want to play like that, We're gonna show up
Speaker 1: in force, it says. They assembled all of their troops
Speaker 1: as numerous as the sands on this sea shore. And
Speaker 1: now the Israelites, as a result of Saul's bad decision,
Speaker 1: are staring at a situations. Oh snap, Philistines are coming
Speaker 1: and we're all gonna die. That's what happens when the
Speaker 1: leader sometimes makes bad choices. And now all of Israel
Speaker 1: has to deal with the disappointment of an indecision from
Speaker 1: their king. Samuel, the prophet shows up in verse LeMay says,
Speaker 1: what have you done, asked Samuel. Saul replied, well, when
Speaker 1: I saw the men were scattering and that you did
Speaker 1: not come at the set time, and the Philistines were
Speaker 1: assembling it at Mickmass, say Micmash, I thought, now the
Speaker 1: Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I
Speaker 1: have not sought the Lord's favor, so I felt compelled
Speaker 1: to offer the burnt offering. You've done a foolish thing,
Speaker 1: Samuel said, you have not kept the command of the
Speaker 1: Lord your God gave you. If you had, he would
Speaker 1: have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But
Speaker 1: now your kingdom will not in door, and the Lord
Speaker 1: has sought a man after his own heart and appointed
Speaker 1: him ruler of the people. Because you have not kept
Speaker 1: the Lord's command picture. Jonathan watching this scene unfold, He's
Speaker 1: just witnessed his dad be disobedient and they didn't execute
Speaker 1: the plan that they had worked out. Now Dad takes
Speaker 1: credit for what he didn't even do, and now all
Speaker 1: of Israel is being punished, and they're hiding in caves
Speaker 1: and thickets and in bushes. And now Samuel the prophets
Speaker 1: up and says, because of your disobedience, you will never
Speaker 1: be king again. And I've found one who's a man
Speaker 1: after my own heart. Now Jonathan realizes my dad's done
Speaker 1: all of this stuff, and now the kingdom will no
Speaker 1: longer be in his hands because Jonathan was supposed to
Speaker 1: be the second king, and your decisions feels like it
Speaker 1: derailed my destiny. How about that disappointment. But before we start,
Speaker 1: before we start jumping on the Saul's a bad guy bandwagon,
Speaker 1: it's important that before you to understand the behavior, you
Speaker 1: need to look at the backstory. It's really important. This
Speaker 1: is a gap because what you put in that gap
Speaker 1: determines what it becomes. There's that gap of when you
Speaker 1: don't understand what do you put in it. So with
Speaker 1: my dad, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's several years ago,
Speaker 1: and he passed away. Because when you're in the middle
Speaker 1: of the disappointment, you never see it for what it is.
Speaker 1: You only see it when you look back at it.
Speaker 1: It's only on the other side, but one second on
Speaker 1: the other side. I don't want to look back at
Speaker 1: it because I'm over it now. But if you don't
Speaker 1: deal with it, the next time you see it, it's
Speaker 1: just bigger. It's just bigger. That's what happens with this
Speaker 1: gap of disappointment. So when I started asking people about
Speaker 1: my father, they let me know he grew up on
Speaker 1: a farm in Minnesota, and he had an eighth grade
Speaker 1: education because his his dad forced him to drop out
Speaker 1: of school to work on the farm. It was an
Speaker 1: alcoholic home. It was a lot of abuse going on.
Speaker 1: I always saw the forty three year old that was
Speaker 1: sitting in the bar, but Grace allowed me to see
Speaker 1: the thirteen year old that was told you can't go
Speaker 1: to school anymore. And my heart started to be tender
Speaker 1: for the thirteen year old, and it made sense of
Speaker 1: why when I was older, he would make me read
Speaker 1: the instructions onto everything because he never felt smart, because
Speaker 1: he forfeited his education because of somebody else's dysfunction. And
Speaker 1: now the cycle was trying to be repeated in my
Speaker 1: see that space of grace when you understand the backstory.
Speaker 1: The backstory allows you to have some grace because in
Speaker 1: that space, fill in the gap. It will either be
Speaker 1: blessing or bitterness, your choice, and if you do nothing,
Speaker 1: something will grow. And so when we look at Saul before,
Speaker 1: because often when Saul has preached, he's like the poster
Speaker 1: child for who you don't want to be. Don't be
Speaker 1: like Saul. No, no, the goal is to not be
Speaker 1: like somebody else, is to be like Jesus, and to
Speaker 1: understand when you're like that person. Because here's the part
Speaker 1: about Saul. Saul never wanted to be king of Israel.
Speaker 1: He did not want it. It was the last thing
Speaker 1: from his mind. Because nation Israel looked around and says, WHOA,
Speaker 1: we want to be like all the other nations. We
Speaker 1: want to be like the Kenites, the Hittites, of the Jebisides,
Speaker 1: the Gurgashites. We want to be like everyel, So give
Speaker 1: us a king. Isn't it amazing what happens when you
Speaker 1: start to use other people as your comparison for what
Speaker 1: you want to become. That's what Nation Israel had, That's
Speaker 1: what they were doing. You have God as your king,
Speaker 1: but you want to settle for a human king. But
Speaker 1: the reason that they were pushed towards that was often
Speaker 1: the religious system. Though So if you hop back to
Speaker 1: chapter nine, if you want to do some more study
Speaker 1: on this, Samuel the prophet is getting old. It says,
Speaker 1: he's got a couple boys that are religious leaders, but
Speaker 1: they're taking bribes. So Nation Israel is looking out and go, yo, Samuel,
Speaker 1: you're about to die anyway, and your kids are a
Speaker 1: little wicked, so we don't know what's gonna happen beyond
Speaker 1: it suggests give us a human just give us a king.
Speaker 1: And so the last thing often God wants to do
Speaker 1: is to give you what you want. And the worst
Speaker 1: thing that could often happen is you get what you want,
Speaker 1: and Nation Israel gets what they want. So when Shawl
Speaker 1: shows up on the scene as a boy, as a
Speaker 1: teenage boy in Tewod Samuel verse chapter nine, verse two,
Speaker 1: it says, I just want to read this. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do it in my best like James Earl Jones voice,
Speaker 1: because picture this The only reason Saul got picked is
Speaker 1: because of how we looked. It was like he was
Speaker 1: being typecast for a role in a movie. Not established
Speaker 1: as a king over a kingdom. This is an audition
Speaker 1: and it says this kish had a son named Saul,
Speaker 1: as handsome, a young man, as could be found anywhere,
Speaker 1: and he was a head taller than anyone else. That's him.
Speaker 1: You look the part. Let's take you. We all do it.
Speaker 1: Some guy is watching church right now. It's eleven a m. Like, Lord,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hold out for missus. Right, I'm gonna hold
Speaker 1: out for missus right eleven PM. You get a little lonely,
Speaker 1: you start making making phone calls. You just start looking
Speaker 1: for missus right now. So don't tell me you're not
Speaker 1: like Saul. We all settle for the outward appearance. That's
Speaker 1: what he did. And he was only picked because of
Speaker 1: what he looked like. What a horrible place to be
Speaker 1: to feel like you're being used for somebody else's game.
Speaker 1: That's how the whole story was. Saul gets started. He
Speaker 1: didn't want to be king. His father lost some donkeys,
Speaker 1: so he sends his son Saul to go look for
Speaker 1: the donkeys. Takes a servant with him. They spend three
Speaker 1: days looking for the donkeys and they can't find the donkeys,
Speaker 1: and he starts to stress, I bet my dad's gonna
Speaker 1: be sad, or my dad's gonna be worried. I wonder
Speaker 1: if he's gonna think him a failure. And he goes
Speaker 1: to all these things. Finally they bounced into like and says,
Speaker 1: wyn't you go talk to priest, talk to the preacher man.
Speaker 1: He's like, huh, we haven't tried God, so let's try God.
Speaker 1: Isn't it funny how Saul represents doing everything in her
Speaker 1: own effort before we ever seek God's help. Don't tell
Speaker 1: me you're not like Saul. Well often use God as
Speaker 1: the last resort, not a first option. That's Saul. He says, all,
Speaker 1: let's go to the preacher man. So they go to
Speaker 1: the preacher man and they walk up and said, are
Speaker 1: you the preacher man? He didn't even know what he saw.
Speaker 1: He says, yes, your donkeys have been found, and Samuel
Speaker 1: the prophet speaks something over teenage Saul. He says, here
Speaker 1: is the one in all of the hopes of Israel.
Speaker 1: Lie you will be king. And he's like, uh, I ain't, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm like from the tribe of Benjamin. We're like the
Speaker 1: smallest tribe. My klan is the smallest plan and like
Speaker 1: I'm just my family's like the worst family. There's no
Speaker 1: way I belong. That's how it got started. Saw Samuel
Speaker 1: the Prophet takes him to a dinner for all the leaders,
Speaker 1: and he puts him at the head of the table,
Speaker 1: and Saul's looking at it like, I don't belong here.
Speaker 1: I don't want any of this. So when you picture Saul,
Speaker 1: don't just picture the king, picture the boy and allows
Speaker 1: you to have grace in that space. Fill in the
Speaker 1: gap with some of that grace. Next day, Samuel the
Speaker 1: Prophet anoints him private anointing ceremony, sends him home. When
Speaker 1: Saul goes home, they ask him, what'd you do? What
Speaker 1: we found the donkeys? But he never told anyone that
Speaker 1: he was annointed to be king of Israel. He never
Speaker 1: mentioned one word of it to anybody. And then when
Speaker 1: Samuel the Prophet shows up some days later to do
Speaker 1: a public anointing, he says, all right, nation Israel, you
Speaker 1: wanted your king, let's pick him. Has all the tribes
Speaker 1: come forward, then all the families come forward, and then
Speaker 1: it's Kish's family and they're like, Saul could not be found.
Speaker 1: He was hiding with the supplies. He didn't want to
Speaker 1: be king. And the only reason they found him is
Speaker 1: because he was tall. Said, they bring him and they
Speaker 1: anoint him. And that's how Saul begins his reign, being
Speaker 1: put in a situation he never asked for and he
Speaker 1: never wanted. And I think what started as a teenager
Speaker 1: was a tremendous amount of insecurity. Here he is a
Speaker 1: guy who couldn't find couldn't find the donkeys, couldn't find
Speaker 1: his donkey with both hands, and now he's made king
Speaker 1: of Israel. I mean, imagine, like some of you, you
Speaker 1: know that feeling like I can't do it I've been
Speaker 1: asked to do? How did I end up in this space?
Speaker 1: I don't belong here? But what you do is you
Speaker 1: fake it till you make it, but you feel like
Speaker 1: you'll never make it. That's Saul represents doing everything in
Speaker 1: her own strength and in her own power. But what
Speaker 1: you put in that space determines what it becomes. You're
Speaker 1: at work, or you're at the grocery store and somebody
Speaker 1: you know walks by you and they don't even acknowledge you.
Speaker 1: I think you put one of two things in that space,
Speaker 1: insecurity or offence. Insecurity like, oh did I do something wrong?
Speaker 1: Oh my god? Should I do something wrong? Or offense?
Speaker 1: What's wrong with them? Think they're better than me? No,
Speaker 1: their cat just died. It has nothing to do with you.
Speaker 1: But why do I always put myself in the middle
Speaker 1: of the equation. It's because I'm driven by insecurity, because
Speaker 1: I'm a lot like Saul. Turns out, there's a little
Speaker 1: bit of saw in all of us. But what you
Speaker 1: put in that gap determines what it becomes. I remember
Speaker 1: my wife and I we went on a cruise, probably
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. I loved it. I'll never
Speaker 1: get her back on a cruise ship ever again. I
Speaker 1: could go on a cruise five times a year. She
Speaker 1: will never set foot in another boat. The first night
Speaker 1: we were there, I go down to the restaurant because
Speaker 1: I need to make a reservation, and I'm in line
Speaker 1: to talk to the matre d right in front of
Speaker 1: me as an elderly couple. Professional cruisers like live life
Speaker 1: on a cruise ship. Long line behind me and up
Speaker 1: talking to the matre d as a man who's taking
Speaker 1: a very long time. And the couple in front of
Speaker 1: me is using all kinds of colorful language that would
Speaker 1: make a sailor blush, and they were entitled to make
Speaker 1: their reservation at any time, and they were letting everybody
Speaker 1: know their displeasure with colorful Well. I can't ignore that stuff,
Speaker 1: so I'm like, what do I do? So I tapped
Speaker 1: him on the shoulder, said I'm sorry you probably didn't
Speaker 1: know this, but that man's taking a long time because
Speaker 1: he's on this cruise ship with his wife and she's
Speaker 1: terminally ill with cancer, and he's planning their last meal
Speaker 1: together so that every detail would be accounted for. I
Speaker 1: just thought you might want to know that. And they
Speaker 1: looked at each other like we're horrible people. Amazing what
Speaker 1: a little bit of understanding does. Now, in full disclosure,
Speaker 1: I made that story up and I never told them
Speaker 1: it's a ray habline. But in our it's amazing what
Speaker 1: a little bit of understanding does, a little bit of
Speaker 1: grace changes the way you see everything. Maybe you walked
Speaker 1: in seeing a fence for somebody, but God will give
Speaker 1: you grace to see them as a thirteen year old,
Speaker 1: not a forty three year old. And in this story,
Speaker 1: when Saul, when Samuel shows up on the scene in
Speaker 1: verse eleven, he says to him, what have you done,
Speaker 1: asked Samuel, Saw said, well, when I saw that the
Speaker 1: men were scattering, and that you did not come at
Speaker 1: the set time, the Philistines were assembling at mic Mess, say, Micmash,
Speaker 1: let me show you what's going on in this scene.
Speaker 1: I want to show you, Chris, I need your help.
Speaker 1: Come stand at the top. What's your name right there?
Speaker 1: Come here? Yeah, you you come on at the top
Speaker 1: of the steps. So let me show you what's happening
Speaker 1: right here. Go to the top of the steps. Your
Speaker 1: guys are gonna be my philistines. Say, hey, philistines, some
Speaker 1: good looking philistines right here. So what happens, Philistine is
Speaker 1: at the top of a mountain and we're Saul and
Speaker 1: everybody's else sat there down at the bottom. And what
Speaker 1: you have is a positional disadvantage that Saul is staring
Speaker 1: up at the Philistines and he's going, oh snap, Because
Speaker 1: now when it says in verse eleven, when I saw
Speaker 1: the Philistines assembling at Micmash, he's reminded of what he
Speaker 1: should have done something with days earlier. If he would
Speaker 1: have handle Mick Mash the first time around, he wouldn't
Speaker 1: be seeing a second time visit. And he is reminded
Speaker 1: of what he should have done, and now he's staring
Speaker 1: at what he should have done with regret. Now, let's
Speaker 1: watch what Saul puts in this gap right here is fascinating.
Speaker 1: Give me verse eleven. It says, when I saw that
Speaker 1: the men were scattering and that you did not come,
Speaker 1: and the philistines, he is filling the space with excuses.
Speaker 1: Insecurity always expresses itself as excuses. It's the man they
Speaker 1: were leaving. And then you preach a man you didn't
Speaker 1: show up when you're supposed to. And then the enemy
Speaker 1: was doing all this stuff and he could not take
Speaker 1: any blame for it. Why because he's a twelve year
Speaker 1: old little boy. He's living in the same insecurity that's
Speaker 1: plagued him his whole life, and because he never dealt
Speaker 1: with it. Now it's so big, he can't avoid it.
Speaker 1: Now it's so big, everybody has to see it. And
Speaker 1: what happens often when a man has a laural bankruptcy
Speaker 1: at age forty five, it's a thought that he started
Speaker 1: with at age fifteen that he never dealt with, and
Speaker 1: he buried it, and he buried it, and he buried
Speaker 1: it and he buried it. And now it gets to
Speaker 1: the point that everybody can see it because this is it,
Speaker 1: This is the Philistines. And I wonder if God would
Speaker 1: give you the gift of remembering what you say, because
Speaker 1: some of you are living life one excuse at a time,
Speaker 1: and it becomes such a part of your language you
Speaker 1: can't even distinguish with it. And every time you come
Speaker 1: to this gap and your insecurity is exposed, you fill
Speaker 1: it with excuse. You fill it with excuse, You fill
Speaker 1: it with excuse, and insecurity is a weapon of the enemy,
Speaker 1: meant to intimidate you. And that's what's happening in this
Speaker 1: scene right now. Can you think of the battles you've
Speaker 1: come to that you've run from, because whatever you run from,
Speaker 1: you recreate and you force future generations to deal with it.
Speaker 1: That's what happens when you come to this gap right here,
Speaker 1: this gap, this is this is it right here. But
Speaker 1: it didn't start in that moment. It started when he
Speaker 1: was a teenage boy at the table that he didn't
Speaker 1: not feel like he belonged at so the insecurity you're
Speaker 1: dealing with didn't start. Now, it's just being expressed in
Speaker 1: a bigger way. Now, listen to the language of your heart,
Speaker 1: because some of us will say, well, that's just the
Speaker 1: way God made me. Why are you blaming your dysfunction
Speaker 1: on God's design. He don't make junk. He makes great things.
Speaker 1: He formed you, He fashioned you. Quit excusing it and
Speaker 1: blaming God for your dysfunction. No, this gap, this gap
Speaker 1: he didn't know how to handle, so he retreated. Thank you, Philistines.
Speaker 1: You guys did a phenomenal job. Give it up for
Speaker 1: our Philistines. Yeah, you did. But that's when you think
Speaker 1: of saul. I want you to think of insecurity. Let
Speaker 1: me illustrate it like this. Let me let me take
Speaker 1: out my phone, let me let's do this. I want
Speaker 1: to I want to take a I'm wanna take a salfie.
Speaker 1: You know, salfie. What's all about me? Jesus? I mean,
Speaker 1: so let's take a let's take a salfee, I mean
Speaker 1: a selfie. So everybody smile if you're in the room.
Speaker 1: Why so when I post that later, who are you
Speaker 1: gonna look for yourself? We're all narcissistic, We all start
Speaker 1: with iye, but the grace of God allows you to
Speaker 1: move beyond it. When you're living according to the pattern
Speaker 1: of salt, you get stuck with iye every time. And
Speaker 1: it's not because you don't care, it's just all you know.
Speaker 1: That's the thing about insecurity. But the grace of God
Speaker 1: allows you to move beyond it. We all start with
Speaker 1: I just don't stop there, Just don't stop there. That's
Speaker 1: what God wants you to here today. And Jonathan hears
Speaker 1: that Samuel has issued an edict that says, Saul, you're
Speaker 1: no longer the king. I've chosen a man who's after
Speaker 1: my own heart. God says, that's David. So that's the
Speaker 1: first mention we get of this little farm boy who's
Speaker 1: tending the back forty well. One king is being rejected,
Speaker 1: another king is being selected, and in between both of
Speaker 1: those is this guy named Jonathan. Because in reality, I
Speaker 1: don't relate to I relate to Jonathan and David, but
Speaker 1: I don't relate to Jonathan and David because Jonathan represents
Speaker 1: this guy who's tall and handsome. I don't know what
Speaker 1: the camera looks like. I'm five foot seven standing on
Speaker 1: something like. I am not tall handsome. There's two people
Speaker 1: in this world wh would say I'm handsome, my mom
Speaker 1: and my wife. That's really it. I have never been
Speaker 1: felt like I've been picked first by anybody, so that's
Speaker 1: hard for me to relate to Saul. Now, David's a
Speaker 1: man who's after God's own heart. He's picked by God.
Speaker 1: Like I don't walk hond most days go like I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm picked by God. I don't feel like
Speaker 1: the I'm somewhere in between it. And that's why I
Speaker 1: love Jonathan because he represents this space that's between it,
Speaker 1: Because in some way he could have said, my destiny's
Speaker 1: been derailed because of my dad's decisions, but it wasn't derailed,
Speaker 1: it was redirected. That's why I love this guy, because
Speaker 1: of the obedience he walks with. And David enters the
Speaker 1: scene and now, Saul, I'm sorry. Jonathan would end up
Speaker 1: honoring his father through the rest of his life and
Speaker 1: serving David. Dad would get all shades of crazy like
Speaker 1: Dad would go through jealous fits of rage and anger,
Speaker 1: and he even tried to kill David multiple times, tried
Speaker 1: to kill his own son once, and yet he still
Speaker 1: remained in a space that honored him. That's hard people.
Speaker 1: That's why I love Jonathan. But he built this relationship
Speaker 1: with David that would be force. So I want to
Speaker 1: share one verse that kind of shows the relationship that
Speaker 1: they developed. Because David would go on to be the king,
Speaker 1: Jonathan would end up submitting to him and serving him,
Speaker 1: even though he should have been the next king. He's
Speaker 1: serving the one that he should have been king over Haus.
Speaker 1: He realized there's a greater agenda at store, and it's
Speaker 1: not about me. I don't think Jonathan ever took a selfie.
Speaker 1: I think he took a groupie. That's a bad one,
Speaker 1: I know. But in First Samuel, chapter twenty, it says
Speaker 1: this because this is at a moment that it's a
Speaker 1: tenuous moment in the story. Saul's tried to kill David
Speaker 1: a couple times, and Jonathan strikes this relationship with him.
Speaker 1: He says, but if my father in sends to harm you,
Speaker 1: may the Lord deal with Jonathan be it ever so severely.
Speaker 1: If I do not let you know and send you
Speaker 1: away in peace, may the Lord your God be with
Speaker 1: you as he has been with my father David. But
Speaker 1: show me unfailing kindness, like the Lord's kindness as long
Speaker 1: as you live, so that I may not be killed,
Speaker 1: And do not cut off your kindness from your family,
Speaker 1: not even when the Lord has cut off every one
Speaker 1: of David's enemies from the face of the earth. Because
Speaker 1: what Jonathan realizes is that like every other nation, anytime
Speaker 1: you would have a new king, that new king would
Speaker 1: kill the entire bloodline of the previous king. It would
Speaker 1: could be completely blotted out, so that there would be
Speaker 1: no chance of anybody coming back trying to usurp the
Speaker 1: authority of the throne. And David knows what's about to happen,
Speaker 1: and he's saying, would you remember my family? And he
Speaker 1: makes this covenant with him, and then the story goes
Speaker 1: on because in the scene of chapter thirteen, it gets
Speaker 1: so crazy that all the people are hiding in thickets,
Speaker 1: in caves and in bushes. Now Jonathan sees his dad
Speaker 1: practicing witchcraft. He's given completely up on the battle, and
Speaker 1: he's doing whatever he can in his own human efforts
Speaker 1: to hold on to what he's already lost, and he's
Speaker 1: looking hero on, going this is ridiculous. I can't believe
Speaker 1: we're living like this. What have we become? Nation Israel?
Speaker 1: And it comes to this. This is the verse that
Speaker 1: gets me. This is what I started to see. Twenty
Speaker 1: three of chapter thirteen. It says, now a detachment of
Speaker 1: Philistines had gone out from the pass at micmash say, mcmash,
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? The thing that his dad avoided
Speaker 1: multiple times now is being stacked with more of the enemy.
Speaker 1: And he's looking at what should have been done with it, Dad,
Speaker 1: You should have done something with it by right now.
Speaker 1: And he sees micmash and micmash is this place of
Speaker 1: his biggest disappointment. Where's your mcmash? An unnamed enemy will
Speaker 1: never be defeated. And what Jonathan demonstrates for us is
Speaker 1: what we need to do with that gap. Let me
Speaker 1: show you what the scripture shows here, give me give
Speaker 1: me fourteen, verse one, it says, one day Jonathan, son
Speaker 1: of Saul, said to the young arm bear, come, let's
Speaker 1: go over the outpost of Philistines on to the outpost,
Speaker 1: the Philistine outpost on the other side. But he did
Speaker 1: not tell his father, Hey, Philistines, come back up there again.
Speaker 1: So what you see with Jonathan is staring at a
Speaker 1: situation at his father never dealt with. This is called
Speaker 1: generational sin. This is what it is. And when one
Speaker 1: generation doesn't put in the gap what God wants to be,
Speaker 1: it is handed to the next generation. And now Jonathan
Speaker 1: is staring at a situation he never chose, but he
Speaker 1: knows he has to go towards what his father retreated from.
Speaker 1: He's going to go towards and the beauty of the
Speaker 1: scripture says he did not tell his father, He did
Speaker 1: not post it on Instagram, he did not put it
Speaker 1: on Facebook. He did not call anybody and complain about
Speaker 1: his dad. Because freedom will never be found through your
Speaker 1: father's voice. It will always be free your heavenly father's hands.
Speaker 1: The disappointment came from his father, but it would not
Speaker 1: be resolved through his father. And you keep waiting for
Speaker 1: that person that disappointed you to say something with their mouth.
Speaker 1: Healing will come from the hand of your God, not
Speaker 1: the voice of your earthly person. But he's got this gap,
Speaker 1: and he's like, oh snap, I gotta do something about this.
Speaker 1: He says, One day, how about today be the day
Speaker 1: we deal with that disappointment. I love those two words together.
Speaker 1: One day, how about this ordinary Sunday that we start
Speaker 1: dealing with the disappointment. The thing you've been running from
Speaker 1: the thing you've been avoiding, the thing you've been burying.
Speaker 1: God is saying, right now, this is the day that
Speaker 1: we're gonna deal with your micmash. It is time that
Speaker 1: you face your micmash. And he looks around. He says,
Speaker 1: I can't have everybody be a part of this, but
Speaker 1: I just need one person. I need an armor bearer.
Speaker 1: Come here, Corbin. He just got He says, one person.
Speaker 1: This is my son, Corbin. He just needed one person.
Speaker 1: That's all he needed. I think what he demonstrates is
Speaker 1: this idea of community and accountability. It's too easy to
Speaker 1: walk away from that. You only know by yourself. And
Speaker 1: he says, if I tell you, I'll probably see it through.
Speaker 1: That's why you need somebody to have your back, who
Speaker 1: has your back, who has God put in your life
Speaker 1: that you need to bring closer. And he said, come on,
Speaker 1: let's go, let's go. Let's go. You see them? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: give me give me Verse verse one again fourteen one
Speaker 1: one day, one day, Jonathan, son of Saul said to
Speaker 1: his young arm bearer, come let's go over to the
Speaker 1: outposts on the other side. But he did not tell
Speaker 1: his father give me. Verse six Jonathan, let's go a posts,
Speaker 1: and he says, perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf.
Speaker 1: Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many
Speaker 1: or by few. Because now he's got this gap, He's like,
Speaker 1: let's go, let's take them. We can't live like this anymore.
Speaker 1: And the best I can give you is perhaps perhaps
Speaker 1: we might die. Perhaps in my work, what we often
Speaker 1: want God to put in the gap is the outcome.
Speaker 1: What Jonathan demonstrates this is he puts in his obedience.
Speaker 1: That's the difference. That's the difference. Perhaps I don't know
Speaker 1: how it's gonna work out. God's job is the outcome.
Speaker 1: Our job is the obedience. Let's go. I don't know
Speaker 1: how it's gonna work. I don't know what's gonna happen,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna go take him. We're gonna go get
Speaker 1: him because we can't live like this any longer. And
Speaker 1: he chooses to close the gap. But in this space,
Speaker 1: not all disappointments are created equal, because what I realize
Speaker 1: is now is a dad. I realize my biggest disappointments
Speaker 1: are when my son sees my humanity and my insecurity
Speaker 1: forces him to feel like it's his fault. That's the part.
Speaker 1: That's where I relate the soul, because sometimes the disappointment
Speaker 1: is so big you just want to hide because you
Speaker 1: can't even look at yourself. Now, for me, as a dad,
Speaker 1: when I find moments, I gotta let the grace of
Speaker 1: God get in that space. The grace of God allows
Speaker 1: me to separate what I did from who I am.
Speaker 1: You made a bad decision as a dad, but that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're a bad dad. That's grace, y'all. That's grace.
Speaker 1: That's grace. Grace. Grace doesn't excuse the behavior. It just
Speaker 1: helps you know the backstory. Grace allows you to see
Speaker 1: who God says you are in that moment. Then grace
Speaker 1: also allows you to say, son, I'm sorry, Would you
Speaker 1: forgive me? That's my fault, You had nothing to do
Speaker 1: with it. That's grace. You want to cut off generational sin, grace, grace, grace,
Speaker 1: it's obedience. Grace is not just a flowery word. It's
Speaker 1: an action. It's an empowerment to step into a situation.
Speaker 1: But then there's a whole other level of grace. This
Speaker 1: is let me share my thorns with you, because if
Speaker 1: I show you my thorns, maybe you won't have to
Speaker 1: fight them. But when you hide the thorns, you force
Speaker 1: the next generation to face the enemy that you were
Speaker 1: intimidated by. What are you putting in the gap? Now,
Speaker 1: what's amazing about this story is let's go. Let's go
Speaker 1: take them. Come on, let's Philistines. They're big, but we
Speaker 1: get them. There's thirty to forty fighting men, all with
Speaker 1: swords and spears, and they're at a strategic advantage at
Speaker 1: the top of the hill. But we can get them.
Speaker 1: Let's go, let's do it. Is only by God, because
Speaker 1: what happens is they would ascend the hill, they would
Speaker 1: overthrow these thirty to forty people. In all of nation
Speaker 1: and Israel would see the battle and they would come
Speaker 1: out of hiding. Do you know that your micmesh is
Speaker 1: somebody else's miracle? Your micmash is somebody else's miracle. Thank you,
Speaker 1: armor bearer, Thank you Philistines. That's the thing about your
Speaker 1: micmash is as you move towards it, people are watching you.
Speaker 1: In this scene, Jonathan and his armor bearer, two people
Speaker 1: that should not have been in that place end up
Speaker 1: doing something that they should not have had to do
Speaker 1: because of their father's disobedience. But they chose to face
Speaker 1: it in all of Nation Israel. Because here's the key
Speaker 1: language of David. He says, perhaps the Lord will act
Speaker 1: in our behalf. The key word for Saul was I Jonathan,
Speaker 1: it was our. There was a very present tense for
Speaker 1: hour because in that moment Jonathan meant, perhaps armor bearer,
Speaker 1: you and me, perhaps we might not die. But then
Speaker 1: there's also the scene of perhaps Nation Israel would be saved.
Speaker 1: But I also think there's a distant thought in Jonathan's
Speaker 1: heart because as he's going up the hill, he's also
Speaker 1: a father himself. It's one thing to experience disappointment as
Speaker 1: a son. It's a whole other thing to experience the
Speaker 1: disappointment of your son. And David would go on to
Speaker 1: become king. Jonathan would die in battle some years after
Speaker 1: this with his father. How he could keep serving his
Speaker 1: father is a bit of a mystery to me. That's
Speaker 1: why he's my favorite Bible story. I'm still trying to
Speaker 1: uncover what God would want me to see of how
Speaker 1: he could serve underneath the wicked Dad and honor him
Speaker 1: and yet still be loyal to David. I want to
Speaker 1: live that life. I want to stand in that gap
Speaker 1: and walk in that tens, but Jonathan would pass away
Speaker 1: David would be king, and some thirty years after this story,
Speaker 1: the whole kingdom has been united. Peace is finally resting
Speaker 1: in the land, and David is king. And God prompts
Speaker 1: David's heart one day and in Second Samuel, this is
Speaker 1: some thirty years after this battle. At mcmash two Samuel nine,
Speaker 1: Verse one, David asked, is there anyone left of the
Speaker 1: House of Saul to whom I can show kindness? For
Speaker 1: Jonathan's sake? He remembers back to his obedient servant Jonathan,
Speaker 1: and God prompts his heart to say, is there anybody
Speaker 1: that I could show kindness to? Because Saul represents man's
Speaker 1: best effort. David is God's perfect king. He is a
Speaker 1: foreshadowing of a Messiah. He is a forefather to Jesus.
Speaker 1: He represents Christ. He represents what he would be when
Speaker 1: he would come one day, because like all the other nations,
Speaker 1: all the family bloodlines should have been wiped out. But God,
Speaker 1: but David, he remembers, and in verse three one of
Speaker 1: his servants says, there is still a son of Jonathan,
Speaker 1: but he's lame in both feet, and then the Second
Speaker 1: Samuel nine verses six and seven says, when Bfibischef, that's
Speaker 1: the son of Jonathan, miss Fibischef is he's a grown man,
Speaker 1: he's got his own kids. At this point, he was
Speaker 1: living outside of the Promised Land for fear that he
Speaker 1: would be killed. So he's been hiding his whole life.
Speaker 1: Choices of consequences, and sometimes it causes people to go
Speaker 1: out into hiding for decades. But God, but God, but David.
Speaker 1: David remembers my son, my friend Jonathan. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: made this covenant with him to show kindness. When Maphibethus Maphibieth,
Speaker 1: son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David,
Speaker 1: he bowed down to pay him honor. He wasn't sure
Speaker 1: if he would be killed at that point or what
Speaker 1: was about to happen, because again all the other nations,
Speaker 1: you'd kill all those people. And he might have been
Speaker 1: wondering as David only calling me because he needs to
Speaker 1: kill me. But God, but David, don't be afraid, David
Speaker 1: said to him, for I will surely show you kindness
Speaker 1: for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will
Speaker 1: restore to you all the land that belonged to your
Speaker 1: great to your grandfather's Saul, and you will always eat
Speaker 1: at my table, the table that Saul never felt like
Speaker 1: he belonged at the table where he didn't see how
Speaker 1: he fit in. Because in our own effort, we try
Speaker 1: to prove that we belong at the table. We try
Speaker 1: to show that we deserve a seat at the table.
Speaker 1: Some of us are going through life living in the flesh.
Speaker 1: The spirit of Saul is trying to show you I
Speaker 1: deserve it. But God, but David representing no, it is
Speaker 1: not based upon anything you've done. Is based upon who
Speaker 1: I Yeah and the Phibist. You will have everything restored
Speaker 1: to you. Everything the enemy stole everything, your grandfather forfeited,
Speaker 1: everything you thought you lost out on. I will restore
Speaker 1: it to you, and you will always have a seat
Speaker 1: at my table. Map phibis chef because I am good
Speaker 1: and I am showing you kindness. Because Jonathan stood in
Speaker 1: that gap, and he didn't make it be about me
Speaker 1: or I, but he made it be about our Maybe,
Speaker 1: just maybe God, your grace would shine upon my son
Speaker 1: one day. Stand up at all of our locations. The
Speaker 1: presence of the Lord is here because there was a
Speaker 1: gap that was created between us and God, and that
Speaker 1: was sin. And then the same way Jonathan inserted obedience
Speaker 1: into it. That's what Jesus did. He inserted himself into
Speaker 1: that gap and he filled it with his precious blood
Speaker 1: so that you and I would be forgiven, so that
Speaker 1: you and I could be restored, so that you and
Speaker 1: I could have a seat at the table. Why are
Speaker 1: we settling for crumbs that fall to the floor when
Speaker 1: God has given us a seat at the table with him.
Speaker 1: We are seated in heavenly realms and right now at
Speaker 1: all of our locations and people watching around the world,
Speaker 1: someone needs to begin a relationship with Jesus. God has
Speaker 1: made you wear in this moment that you've been trying
Speaker 1: to prove your worth through your work, through your own efforts.
Speaker 1: You're trying to show that you deserve a seat at
Speaker 1: the table. That's why Saul didn't work, because it can't
Speaker 1: be by the flesh. It can only be by the spirit.
Speaker 1: And if you need to begin a relationship with Jesus,
Speaker 1: if you're becoming aware that his grace filled that gap
Speaker 1: so that you could have a seat at the table,
Speaker 1: this moment is for you and of all of our
Speaker 1: locations would you buy your heads and would you close
Speaker 1: your eyes and with everybody online joining me in faith
Speaker 1: right now, if you need to begin this relationship with Jesus,
Speaker 1: I'm going to lead us in a prayer as we
Speaker 1: say these words with your mouth. If you believe it
Speaker 1: in your heart, God will hear you. He will forgive you,
Speaker 1: and he will restore you, and he will give you
Speaker 1: a seat at the table, calling you son, calling you daughter,
Speaker 1: calling you forgiven, not labeling you by your behavior, but
Speaker 1: based upon who he says you are. That's the God
Speaker 1: that we serve. So pray with me out loud, church family.
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God
Speaker 1: who died on the cross and rose from the grave
Speaker 1: to forgive me of my sins. I give you my life,
Speaker 1: I give you my sin, I give you my shame.
Speaker 1: Forgive me, and I'll spend my life following you with
Speaker 1: your head still bowed and your eyes still closed. If
Speaker 1: you displace your faith in Jesus, I'm going to count
Speaker 1: the three when I get there, without hesitation, boldly shoot
Speaker 1: your hand into the air. One, two, three, shoot your
Speaker 1: hand up, Shoot it up, keep it up, hyeh online,
Speaker 1: drop it in the chat. If you just made that
Speaker 1: decision for Jesus, come on, let us know we're celebrating
Speaker 1: with you. Come on, church family, let's celebrate the family
Speaker 1: of God. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are
Speaker 1: a couple of things I'd love for you to do.
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You
Speaker 1: can also help us reach others by investing today at
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining
Speaker 1: us on the Elevation Podcast.