Fill In The Gap (Larry Brey)

0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.639 Well, we're gonna get to the message in just a moment, 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:05.840 but I wanted to make sure you knew about Elevation Nights. 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:11.240 It's gonna be amazing eight cities October twenty sixth through 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.800 November fourth. You got to go to Elevation Nights dot 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.360 com to see if we're coming to a city near you. 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:21.320 It's gonna be me, Elevation Worship, a few friends, and you. 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:22.640 I want to see you there. I want to see 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:24.959 you and everybody that you know there. Go to Elevation 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.639 Nights dot com. I can't wait to see you soon. 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:32.600 Here's the message. We are blessed, and I just have 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.199 one verse of scripture for you. Then then we'll take 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.000 a seat in a second, and I'm going to preach 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:40.080 today out of a passage that really has been my 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:45.080 life verse is First Samuel thirteen fourteen. But about six 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:48.840 months ago, Pastor Stephen stood in this pulpit any said 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:53.159 a word that made me see it differently. That verse 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.880 has been my life verse for sixteen plus years, but 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.720 one word made me see something that's always been there. 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:03.640 I just didn't have the potential to see it. And 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.280 I think that's gonna happen today. I think it's gonna 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:10.240 happen in a marriage. It's been seventeen years in motion, 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:12.640 but you've never seen the gift of your bride that 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.120 God wants you to see in her. It's gonna happen 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:17.959 in the blessing that He's given you. When you look 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.200 at everybody else, what they have makes you ungrateful for 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:24.320 what God's given you. You don't need something new, you 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.440 just need to see what you have differently. That's why 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:33.080 I'm excited to share this verse with you today. Those 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.240 that know me know that this is close to my heart, 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:37.959 and it's a verse A take with me wherever I go. 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:46.600 Verse Verse Samuel thirteen, Verse two says Saul chose three 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:50.800 thousand men from Israel. Two thousand were with him at 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.360 Micmash say mic Mesh and in the hill country of Bethel, 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:59.040 and a thousand worth Jonathan and Gibbia and Benjamin. The 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:03.360 rest of the men he sent back to their homes. So, Father, 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:05.840 we open up your word. Would you open up our 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.440 hearts and create an intersection that would allow your transformation 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:14.080 to happen in our hearts. We love you Jesus. Amen. Amen, 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:19.040 you guys can can have a seat and I grew 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.560 up one of five kids, and I grew up like 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.600 many guys, probably most kids. Up until about age seven 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.560 or eight, my dad was my hero. He everywhere he went, 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:30.680 I wanted to be with my dad. It was like 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:32.919 he was my hero, and so I just wanted to 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:34.799 go wherever he's going. I don't even care where you're going. 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:39.480 I'm just coming with dad. Let's go. And so I remember, gosh, 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:41.520 six seven, eight years old. We'd go to places and 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:44.720 he'd go inside, and I'd be out in the pickup truck. 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.280 We're in a farmtown in Minnesota. We'd be in the 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.480 pickup truck. I'd be out there for whoo, one person 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.079 from Minnesota, Praise God. I'd be out in the pickup 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.120 truck for a while, and then he'd hop back in 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:57.760 the truck and we'd drive home. And he seemed much 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.400 happier when he got back in the pickup truck. He 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:02.000 was talking a lot. He was jovial, but he was 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:06.160 kind of swerving around a little bit. And then finally, 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:08.400 at age about eight, I don't remember the exact day, 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.359 but we stopped at this place called the Delroy. It 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:16.120 was a bar in Minnesota, and I remember sitting out 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.760 in the truck and it was like cold, and I'm like, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:22.880 I wonder what Dad's doing. So I waited a couple hours, 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.360 and finally I snuck in through the back door and 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:28.120 I walk in and I see Jerry, the owner. He 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:29.600 kind of looks at me, and I remember his face, 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:32.840 and I saw my dad sitting at the end of 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.280 the bar, and I remember in that moment the gap 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.280 that was created in my heart because up until that 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:41.880 point he had only been my hero. But now I 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.800 saw his humanity, and that's the gap I want to 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.880 talk about today. And that gap is what's called disappointment. 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.520 This is a message for anybody who has been, is, 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.400 or will be dealing with the gap of disappointment. Disappointment 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.080 is an equal opportunity employer. It will enslave you based 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.640 upon your socioeconomic status, your zip code, your square footage. 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.600 It does not care because every one of us has 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.760 the gap of disappointment. He's always been my hero, but 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.800 now I see his humanity, and I gotta deal with 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.760 the gap. It's that gap that's created because you've lived life. 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.080 This is what I've expected, Lord, but this is what 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.640 I'm experiencing. It's the space of I thought we'd be 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.039 further along right now, but this is what we're dealing with. 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.800 I've been believing for the promises God, but now I'm 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.920 just picking up the broken pieces. You hope you'd be 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:36.200 married by now, and if your grandmother asked you one 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:41.560 more time, if you found somebody, you're gonna I love you, Grandma. 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:43.560 It's you have the surgery and they said you'd be 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.280 better right by now. But you're dealing with that gap. 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:49.920 Because that gap, here's the title for today. It's called 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:54.640 Filling the gap. Filling the gap, because that gap of disappointment, 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.960 something's going to grow in it. It is very much 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:02.799 like your lawn, like your front yard. If you do nothing, 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:09.400 something will grow. Just because it's green doesn't mean it's good. 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:15.440 You don't need to do anything for weeds to grow. 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.000 And in the sinful nature of man, the seeds of 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:23.240 bitterness and defense have been sewed into our soul and 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:28.120 they don't need any help to grow. That's what I 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.800 want to talk about today. My assignment is to talk 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:37.120 about the gap. And in our story with In for Samuel, 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.080 you have a son named Jonathan and a dad named Saul. 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.400 Dad is the king of Israel and what's happened At 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.479 this point in chapter twelve, they'd had some small military victories. 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:49.760 So Dad and son divis a plan to keep the 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.159 momentum rolling. Hey, we're gonna keep these Philistines on the run. Boy, 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.719 let's get it going. So they devise a plan. All right, Sault, 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.599 you're gonna take two thousand men and you're gonna go 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:04.280 to Mickmash, say Micmash. And then Jonathan's gonna take a thousand, 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.640 and he's gonna go to Giba. So they hatch a 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:12.000 plan like, all right, ready, break, let's go. Here's what 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:16.560 we're gonna do. Verses three and four says Jonathan attacked 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:20.880 the Philistine outpost at Geeba, and the Philistines heard about it. 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:24.200 Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the whole land 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:28.480 and said, let the Hebrews hear. So all Israel heard 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:33.200 the news. Saul has attacked the Philistine outposts and anub 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.760 and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines, and 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:41.640 the people were soming to join Somel. What what Dad see? 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:43.839 I think in this moment, Jonathan saw some of his 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:47.240 father's humanity. They devised the plant says, I'm gonna do this, 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.800 and you're gonna do that. The son goes and does this, 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.440 but God, his dad does not do that. And now 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.400 when Saul announces it to the nation, he says, all right, 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:01.040 let all of Israel hear Saul has attacked and it 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:03.400 says he had the trumpets phone. He's tooting his own horn. 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:08.200 He's taking credit for something he didn't even do. And 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:12.560 his son is looking like, Dad, you said you were 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:17.720 gonna do that, but you didn't do it. And now 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.640 he was looking at his father, going because of your indecision, 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:22.920 Because of your bad decision, we're all gonna have to 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.440 deal with the consequences of it. Isn't it amazing that 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:30.880 what choices the unintended consequences that can ripple in the 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.760 life of people. And I think that's what Jonathan is 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.440 dealing with in this situation. Because Saul's got two thousand 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:39.920 men and Jonathan has a thousand. Why can some people 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.080 do twice as much with half as much resource? Why 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.920 is it? That's the spirit of Jonathan. That's why I 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:48.200 love this guy. I'm going on record right now and 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.160 saying Jonathan is my favorite Bible character, and I want 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.960 to show you why, because your impact on this earth 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.480 is never determined by the size of your resource. It's 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:04.760 termed by the size of your obedience. Jonathan demonstrates, but Saul, 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:07.880 why did you do that, Saul? Because I think there's 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:12.000 a connection between disappointment and disobedience. And on top of that, 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.440 Samuel the Prophet had informed Saul just a few days earlier, Saul, 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:17.720 just wait till I get there to offer the offerings. 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.440 Just wait, don't don't pop the clutch, don't get started 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:26.360 on this thing early. And so but Dad struggles with disobedience, 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.920 and in verse eleven, Samuel the Prophet shows up on 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.080 the scene. The battle was supposed to be fought where 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.400 two thousand go this way, one thousand go this way. 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:40.920 But Saul didn't do the king did not do what 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.880 the king should have done. And now as a result, 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:47.240 the people of Israel see this whole thing happening because 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.760 because they became obnoxious, and all the Philistines they were like, 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.880 you just whooped the dog, baby, Because the feeling is like, oh, 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.320 you want to play like that, We're gonna show up 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.160 in force, it says. They assembled all of their troops 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.840 as numerous as the sands on this sea shore. And 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.480 now the Israelites, as a result of Saul's bad decision, 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:08.000 are staring at a situations. Oh snap, Philistines are coming 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:12.600 and we're all gonna die. That's what happens when the 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:18.480 leader sometimes makes bad choices. And now all of Israel 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.200 has to deal with the disappointment of an indecision from 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.600 their king. Samuel, the prophet shows up in verse LeMay says, 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.480 what have you done, asked Samuel. Saul replied, well, when 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.440 I saw the men were scattering and that you did 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:34.280 not come at the set time, and the Philistines were 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:38.439 assembling it at Mickmass, say Micmash, I thought, now the 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.480 Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.679 have not sought the Lord's favor, so I felt compelled 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.520 to offer the burnt offering. You've done a foolish thing, 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:49.520 Samuel said, you have not kept the command of the 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.280 Lord your God gave you. If you had, he would 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:57.720 have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:01.720 now your kingdom will not in door, and the Lord 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.680 has sought a man after his own heart and appointed 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.080 him ruler of the people. Because you have not kept 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:17.880 the Lord's command picture. Jonathan watching this scene unfold, He's 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.800 just witnessed his dad be disobedient and they didn't execute 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:24.040 the plan that they had worked out. Now Dad takes 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.240 credit for what he didn't even do, and now all 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.040 of Israel is being punished, and they're hiding in caves 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:33.439 and thickets and in bushes. And now Samuel the prophets 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.160 up and says, because of your disobedience, you will never 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.440 be king again. And I've found one who's a man 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:41.680 after my own heart. Now Jonathan realizes my dad's done 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.520 all of this stuff, and now the kingdom will no 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.920 longer be in his hands because Jonathan was supposed to 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:54.240 be the second king, and your decisions feels like it 0:10:54.320 --> 0:11:01.920 derailed my destiny. How about that disappointment. But before we start, 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.000 before we start jumping on the Saul's a bad guy bandwagon, 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:11.280 it's important that before you to understand the behavior, you 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.840 need to look at the backstory. It's really important. This 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:16.960 is a gap because what you put in that gap 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:18.839 determines what it becomes. There's that gap of when you 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.800 don't understand what do you put in it. So with 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:28.480 my dad, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's several years ago, 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:32.040 and he passed away. Because when you're in the middle 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.480 of the disappointment, you never see it for what it is. 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:36.720 You only see it when you look back at it. 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:38.520 It's only on the other side, but one second on 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:39.959 the other side. I don't want to look back at 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.720 it because I'm over it now. But if you don't 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:44.400 deal with it, the next time you see it, it's 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.560 just bigger. It's just bigger. That's what happens with this 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:52.120 gap of disappointment. So when I started asking people about 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.920 my father, they let me know he grew up on 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:58.680 a farm in Minnesota, and he had an eighth grade 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:01.400 education because his his dad forced him to drop out 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.440 of school to work on the farm. It was an 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.040 alcoholic home. It was a lot of abuse going on. 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.439 I always saw the forty three year old that was 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.200 sitting in the bar, but Grace allowed me to see 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.199 the thirteen year old that was told you can't go 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:20.559 to school anymore. And my heart started to be tender 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.800 for the thirteen year old, and it made sense of 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:25.719 why when I was older, he would make me read 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:30.120 the instructions onto everything because he never felt smart, because 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:34.360 he forfeited his education because of somebody else's dysfunction. And 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.040 now the cycle was trying to be repeated in my 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:41.720 see that space of grace when you understand the backstory. 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.880 The backstory allows you to have some grace because in 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.520 that space, fill in the gap. It will either be 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:54.720 blessing or bitterness, your choice, and if you do nothing, 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.640 something will grow. And so when we look at Saul before, 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:01.760 because often when Saul has preached, he's like the poster 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:03.640 child for who you don't want to be. Don't be 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:07.080 like Saul. No, no, the goal is to not be 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:09.920 like somebody else, is to be like Jesus, and to 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:13.400 understand when you're like that person. Because here's the part 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:15.480 about Saul. Saul never wanted to be king of Israel. 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:17.839 He did not want it. It was the last thing 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.920 from his mind. Because nation Israel looked around and says, WHOA, 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.160 we want to be like all the other nations. We 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.320 want to be like the Kenites, the Hittites, of the Jebisides, 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.640 the Gurgashites. We want to be like everyel, So give 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:32.360 us a king. Isn't it amazing what happens when you 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.839 start to use other people as your comparison for what 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.400 you want to become. That's what Nation Israel had, That's 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.840 what they were doing. You have God as your king, 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.280 but you want to settle for a human king. But 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:46.679 the reason that they were pushed towards that was often 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.880 the religious system. Though So if you hop back to 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:51.920 chapter nine, if you want to do some more study 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:57.400 on this, Samuel the prophet is getting old. It says, 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.440 he's got a couple boys that are religious leaders, but 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.400 they're taking bribes. So Nation Israel is looking out and go, yo, Samuel, 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:06.319 you're about to die anyway, and your kids are a 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.280 little wicked, so we don't know what's gonna happen beyond 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:13.400 it suggests give us a human just give us a king. 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.320 And so the last thing often God wants to do 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.520 is to give you what you want. And the worst 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:21.600 thing that could often happen is you get what you want, 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.880 and Nation Israel gets what they want. So when Shawl 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.240 shows up on the scene as a boy, as a 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:32.720 teenage boy in Tewod Samuel verse chapter nine, verse two, 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:34.560 it says, I just want to read this. I'm gonna 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.480 do it in my best like James Earl Jones voice, 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:43.000 because picture this The only reason Saul got picked is 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.920 because of how we looked. It was like he was 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.200 being typecast for a role in a movie. Not established 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.360 as a king over a kingdom. This is an audition 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:56.040 and it says this kish had a son named Saul, 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.120 as handsome, a young man, as could be found anywhere, 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:05.520 and he was a head taller than anyone else. That's him. 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:09.680 You look the part. Let's take you. We all do it. 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:12.440 Some guy is watching church right now. It's eleven a m. Like, Lord, 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.080 I'm gonna hold out for missus. Right, I'm gonna hold 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.360 out for missus right eleven PM. You get a little lonely, 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:19.360 you start making making phone calls. You just start looking 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:21.920 for missus right now. So don't tell me you're not 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:28.040 like Saul. We all settle for the outward appearance. That's 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.600 what he did. And he was only picked because of 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:33.240 what he looked like. What a horrible place to be 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.400 to feel like you're being used for somebody else's game. 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.240 That's how the whole story was. Saul gets started. He 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.000 didn't want to be king. His father lost some donkeys, 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.080 so he sends his son Saul to go look for 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.480 the donkeys. Takes a servant with him. They spend three 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.000 days looking for the donkeys and they can't find the donkeys, 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.240 and he starts to stress, I bet my dad's gonna 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:55.480 be sad, or my dad's gonna be worried. I wonder 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:56.960 if he's gonna think him a failure. And he goes 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:59.400 to all these things. Finally they bounced into like and says, 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.000 wyn't you go talk to priest, talk to the preacher man. 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.960 He's like, huh, we haven't tried God, so let's try God. 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:08.280 Isn't it funny how Saul represents doing everything in her 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.440 own effort before we ever seek God's help. Don't tell 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.440 me you're not like Saul. Well often use God as 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:19.360 the last resort, not a first option. That's Saul. He says, all, 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:21.040 let's go to the preacher man. So they go to 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:22.520 the preacher man and they walk up and said, are 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:24.120 you the preacher man? He didn't even know what he saw. 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.920 He says, yes, your donkeys have been found, and Samuel 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:33.240 the prophet speaks something over teenage Saul. He says, here 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.600 is the one in all of the hopes of Israel. 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:40.480 Lie you will be king. And he's like, uh, I ain't, no, no, no, no, 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.320 I'm like from the tribe of Benjamin. We're like the 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.160 smallest tribe. My klan is the smallest plan and like 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:47.480 I'm just my family's like the worst family. There's no 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.560 way I belong. That's how it got started. Saw Samuel 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.440 the Prophet takes him to a dinner for all the leaders, 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.600 and he puts him at the head of the table, 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.240 and Saul's looking at it like, I don't belong here. 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.680 I don't want any of this. So when you picture Saul, 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:08.679 don't just picture the king, picture the boy and allows 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.560 you to have grace in that space. Fill in the 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:14.399 gap with some of that grace. Next day, Samuel the 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:18.920 Prophet anoints him private anointing ceremony, sends him home. When 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.159 Saul goes home, they ask him, what'd you do? What 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.240 we found the donkeys? But he never told anyone that 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:26.720 he was annointed to be king of Israel. He never 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.640 mentioned one word of it to anybody. And then when 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:32.679 Samuel the Prophet shows up some days later to do 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:35.399 a public anointing, he says, all right, nation Israel, you 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.560 wanted your king, let's pick him. Has all the tribes 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:40.479 come forward, then all the families come forward, and then 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.719 it's Kish's family and they're like, Saul could not be found. 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:48.560 He was hiding with the supplies. He didn't want to 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:50.960 be king. And the only reason they found him is 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.919 because he was tall. Said, they bring him and they 0:17:54.960 --> 0:18:00.560 anoint him. And that's how Saul begins his reign, being 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.399 put in a situation he never asked for and he 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.520 never wanted. And I think what started as a teenager 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:10.520 was a tremendous amount of insecurity. Here he is a 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:13.560 guy who couldn't find couldn't find the donkeys, couldn't find 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.280 his donkey with both hands, and now he's made king 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.719 of Israel. I mean, imagine, like some of you, you 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.119 know that feeling like I can't do it I've been 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.200 asked to do? How did I end up in this space? 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:26.520 I don't belong here? But what you do is you 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:28.159 fake it till you make it, but you feel like 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:32.399 you'll never make it. That's Saul represents doing everything in 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:36.120 her own strength and in her own power. But what 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.480 you put in that space determines what it becomes. You're 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.200 at work, or you're at the grocery store and somebody 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.399 you know walks by you and they don't even acknowledge you. 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:47.399 I think you put one of two things in that space, 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:52.919 insecurity or offence. Insecurity like, oh did I do something wrong? 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:55.879 Oh my god? Should I do something wrong? Or offense? 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.639 What's wrong with them? Think they're better than me? No, 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.320 their cat just died. It has nothing to do with you. 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:03.200 But why do I always put myself in the middle 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.640 of the equation. It's because I'm driven by insecurity, because 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:10.320 I'm a lot like Saul. Turns out, there's a little 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.800 bit of saw in all of us. But what you 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:16.880 put in that gap determines what it becomes. I remember 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:18.679 my wife and I we went on a cruise, probably 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:20.479 a couple of years ago. I loved it. I'll never 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.320 get her back on a cruise ship ever again. I 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:25.159 could go on a cruise five times a year. She 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.040 will never set foot in another boat. The first night 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.240 we were there, I go down to the restaurant because 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.880 I need to make a reservation, and I'm in line 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:34.760 to talk to the matre d right in front of 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.520 me as an elderly couple. Professional cruisers like live life 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.960 on a cruise ship. Long line behind me and up 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:43.760 talking to the matre d as a man who's taking 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:46.359 a very long time. And the couple in front of 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.240 me is using all kinds of colorful language that would 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:53.000 make a sailor blush, and they were entitled to make 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.720 their reservation at any time, and they were letting everybody 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.080 know their displeasure with colorful Well. I can't ignore that stuff, 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:01.560 so I'm like, what do I do? So I tapped 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:03.800 him on the shoulder, said I'm sorry you probably didn't 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:07.320 know this, but that man's taking a long time because 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:10.200 he's on this cruise ship with his wife and she's 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.960 terminally ill with cancer, and he's planning their last meal 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:20.439 together so that every detail would be accounted for. I 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:21.800 just thought you might want to know that. And they 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:26.480 looked at each other like we're horrible people. Amazing what 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.600 a little bit of understanding does. Now, in full disclosure, 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:34.800 I made that story up and I never told them 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:44.480 it's a ray habline. But in our it's amazing what 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:48.280 a little bit of understanding does, a little bit of 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:52.720 grace changes the way you see everything. Maybe you walked 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:54.800 in seeing a fence for somebody, but God will give 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:57.600 you grace to see them as a thirteen year old, 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:01.440 not a forty three year old. And in this story, 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:06.439 when Saul, when Samuel shows up on the scene in 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:09.840 verse eleven, he says to him, what have you done, 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:12.199 asked Samuel, Saw said, well, when I saw that the 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:13.840 men were scattering, and that you did not come at 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:18.600 the set time, the Philistines were assembling at mic Mess, say, Micmash, 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:21.600 let me show you what's going on in this scene. 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:23.640 I want to show you, Chris, I need your help. 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.200 Come stand at the top. What's your name right there? 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.280 Come here? Yeah, you you come on at the top 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:31.840 of the steps. So let me show you what's happening 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:33.040 right here. Go to the top of the steps. Your 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.359 guys are gonna be my philistines. Say, hey, philistines, some 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:39.960 good looking philistines right here. So what happens, Philistine is 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.320 at the top of a mountain and we're Saul and 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:44.720 everybody's else sat there down at the bottom. And what 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.399 you have is a positional disadvantage that Saul is staring 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:51.240 up at the Philistines and he's going, oh snap, Because 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:53.720 now when it says in verse eleven, when I saw 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:57.919 the Philistines assembling at Micmash, he's reminded of what he 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.120 should have done something with days earlier. If he would 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:03.199 have handle Mick Mash the first time around, he wouldn't 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:06.360 be seeing a second time visit. And he is reminded 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:10.240 of what he should have done, and now he's staring 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:14.600 at what he should have done with regret. Now, let's 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:20.200 watch what Saul puts in this gap right here is fascinating. 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:24.800 Give me verse eleven. It says, when I saw that 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:27.480 the men were scattering and that you did not come, 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:31.680 and the philistines, he is filling the space with excuses. 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:36.800 Insecurity always expresses itself as excuses. It's the man they 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:39.200 were leaving. And then you preach a man you didn't 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:41.399 show up when you're supposed to. And then the enemy 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:43.359 was doing all this stuff and he could not take 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:45.919 any blame for it. Why because he's a twelve year 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:50.760 old little boy. He's living in the same insecurity that's 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:53.280 plagued him his whole life, and because he never dealt 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.200 with it. Now it's so big, he can't avoid it. 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:58.399 Now it's so big, everybody has to see it. And 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:00.800 what happens often when a man has a laural bankruptcy 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:03.359 at age forty five, it's a thought that he started 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:05.840 with at age fifteen that he never dealt with, and 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:07.840 he buried it, and he buried it, and he buried 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:09.639 it and he buried it. And now it gets to 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:12.520 the point that everybody can see it because this is it, 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:16.560 This is the Philistines. And I wonder if God would 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:19.800 give you the gift of remembering what you say, because 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:22.639 some of you are living life one excuse at a time, 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:25.200 and it becomes such a part of your language you 0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:27.719 can't even distinguish with it. And every time you come 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:31.960 to this gap and your insecurity is exposed, you fill 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:34.800 it with excuse. You fill it with excuse, You fill 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:37.879 it with excuse, and insecurity is a weapon of the enemy, 0:23:37.880 --> 0:23:41.119 meant to intimidate you. And that's what's happening in this 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.520 scene right now. Can you think of the battles you've 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:45.760 come to that you've run from, because whatever you run from, 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:50.400 you recreate and you force future generations to deal with it. 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:53.000 That's what happens when you come to this gap right here, 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:56.600 this gap, this is this is it right here. But 0:23:56.720 --> 0:23:59.119 it didn't start in that moment. It started when he 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:01.040 was a teenage boy at the table that he didn't 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:05.480 not feel like he belonged at so the insecurity you're 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:08.760 dealing with didn't start. Now, it's just being expressed in 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:13.280 a bigger way. Now, listen to the language of your heart, 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:15.840 because some of us will say, well, that's just the 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:18.800 way God made me. Why are you blaming your dysfunction 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:22.600 on God's design. He don't make junk. He makes great things. 0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:26.639 He formed you, He fashioned you. Quit excusing it and 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:34.280 blaming God for your dysfunction. No, this gap, this gap 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:39.320 he didn't know how to handle, so he retreated. Thank you, Philistines. 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:40.960 You guys did a phenomenal job. Give it up for 0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:47.720 our Philistines. Yeah, you did. But that's when you think 0:24:47.720 --> 0:24:51.400 of saul. I want you to think of insecurity. Let 0:24:51.400 --> 0:24:54.120 me illustrate it like this. Let me let me take 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:59.600 out my phone, let me let's do this. I want 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:03.760 to I want to take a I'm wanna take a salfie. 0:25:06.840 --> 0:25:11.560 You know, salfie. What's all about me? Jesus? I mean, 0:25:12.560 --> 0:25:14.679 so let's take a let's take a salfee, I mean 0:25:14.720 --> 0:25:17.720 a selfie. So everybody smile if you're in the room. 0:25:17.840 --> 0:25:23.000 Why so when I post that later, who are you 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:29.520 gonna look for yourself? We're all narcissistic, We all start 0:25:29.560 --> 0:25:33.240 with iye, but the grace of God allows you to 0:25:33.240 --> 0:25:36.040 move beyond it. When you're living according to the pattern 0:25:36.080 --> 0:25:40.159 of salt, you get stuck with iye every time. And 0:25:40.200 --> 0:25:42.560 it's not because you don't care, it's just all you know. 0:25:43.560 --> 0:25:47.600 That's the thing about insecurity. But the grace of God 0:25:48.800 --> 0:25:51.040 allows you to move beyond it. We all start with 0:25:51.240 --> 0:25:56.680 I just don't stop there, Just don't stop there. That's 0:25:56.680 --> 0:26:03.600 what God wants you to here today. And Jonathan hears 0:26:03.640 --> 0:26:07.240 that Samuel has issued an edict that says, Saul, you're 0:26:07.280 --> 0:26:10.560 no longer the king. I've chosen a man who's after 0:26:10.600 --> 0:26:14.720 my own heart. God says, that's David. So that's the 0:26:14.760 --> 0:26:17.440 first mention we get of this little farm boy who's 0:26:17.920 --> 0:26:21.400 tending the back forty well. One king is being rejected, 0:26:21.400 --> 0:26:24.639 another king is being selected, and in between both of 0:26:24.680 --> 0:26:27.639 those is this guy named Jonathan. Because in reality, I 0:26:27.680 --> 0:26:30.320 don't relate to I relate to Jonathan and David, but 0:26:30.359 --> 0:26:33.600 I don't relate to Jonathan and David because Jonathan represents 0:26:33.640 --> 0:26:36.199 this guy who's tall and handsome. I don't know what 0:26:36.240 --> 0:26:38.679 the camera looks like. I'm five foot seven standing on 0:26:38.760 --> 0:26:42.960 something like. I am not tall handsome. There's two people 0:26:42.960 --> 0:26:44.600 in this world wh would say I'm handsome, my mom 0:26:44.680 --> 0:26:48.719 and my wife. That's really it. I have never been 0:26:48.760 --> 0:26:50.880 felt like I've been picked first by anybody, so that's 0:26:50.880 --> 0:26:53.680 hard for me to relate to Saul. Now, David's a 0:26:53.720 --> 0:26:55.760 man who's after God's own heart. He's picked by God. 0:26:56.040 --> 0:26:57.600 Like I don't walk hond most days go like I 0:26:57.640 --> 0:26:59.439 feel like I'm picked by God. I don't feel like 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:01.520 the I'm somewhere in between it. And that's why I 0:27:01.520 --> 0:27:03.920 love Jonathan because he represents this space that's between it, 0:27:04.640 --> 0:27:07.160 Because in some way he could have said, my destiny's 0:27:07.200 --> 0:27:10.320 been derailed because of my dad's decisions, but it wasn't derailed, 0:27:10.359 --> 0:27:14.480 it was redirected. That's why I love this guy, because 0:27:14.480 --> 0:27:17.840 of the obedience he walks with. And David enters the 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:21.800 scene and now, Saul, I'm sorry. Jonathan would end up 0:27:22.560 --> 0:27:25.080 honoring his father through the rest of his life and 0:27:25.560 --> 0:27:29.960 serving David. Dad would get all shades of crazy like 0:27:30.040 --> 0:27:32.480 Dad would go through jealous fits of rage and anger, 0:27:32.880 --> 0:27:35.600 and he even tried to kill David multiple times, tried 0:27:35.640 --> 0:27:38.159 to kill his own son once, and yet he still 0:27:38.200 --> 0:27:43.560 remained in a space that honored him. That's hard people. 0:27:44.480 --> 0:27:47.080 That's why I love Jonathan. But he built this relationship 0:27:47.080 --> 0:27:49.320 with David that would be force. So I want to 0:27:49.320 --> 0:27:52.679 share one verse that kind of shows the relationship that 0:27:52.720 --> 0:27:55.720 they developed. Because David would go on to be the king, 0:27:56.960 --> 0:27:59.320 Jonathan would end up submitting to him and serving him, 0:27:59.359 --> 0:28:03.000 even though he should have been the next king. He's 0:28:03.000 --> 0:28:06.320 serving the one that he should have been king over Haus. 0:28:06.359 --> 0:28:08.400 He realized there's a greater agenda at store, and it's 0:28:08.440 --> 0:28:13.320 not about me. I don't think Jonathan ever took a selfie. 0:28:14.960 --> 0:28:18.600 I think he took a groupie. That's a bad one, 0:28:18.640 --> 0:28:24.440 I know. But in First Samuel, chapter twenty, it says 0:28:24.480 --> 0:28:26.800 this because this is at a moment that it's a 0:28:26.800 --> 0:28:29.520 tenuous moment in the story. Saul's tried to kill David 0:28:29.520 --> 0:28:33.359 a couple times, and Jonathan strikes this relationship with him. 0:28:33.359 --> 0:28:34.960 He says, but if my father in sends to harm you, 0:28:35.000 --> 0:28:37.960 may the Lord deal with Jonathan be it ever so severely. 0:28:37.960 --> 0:28:40.840 If I do not let you know and send you 0:28:40.880 --> 0:28:44.040 away in peace, may the Lord your God be with 0:28:44.080 --> 0:28:47.640 you as he has been with my father David. But 0:28:47.720 --> 0:28:50.200 show me unfailing kindness, like the Lord's kindness as long 0:28:50.280 --> 0:28:53.080 as you live, so that I may not be killed, 0:28:53.640 --> 0:28:56.880 And do not cut off your kindness from your family, 0:28:56.920 --> 0:28:58.880 not even when the Lord has cut off every one 0:28:58.920 --> 0:29:02.400 of David's enemies from the face of the earth. Because 0:29:02.440 --> 0:29:06.560 what Jonathan realizes is that like every other nation, anytime 0:29:06.560 --> 0:29:08.320 you would have a new king, that new king would 0:29:08.400 --> 0:29:11.800 kill the entire bloodline of the previous king. It would 0:29:11.840 --> 0:29:14.200 could be completely blotted out, so that there would be 0:29:14.240 --> 0:29:16.520 no chance of anybody coming back trying to usurp the 0:29:16.560 --> 0:29:20.560 authority of the throne. And David knows what's about to happen, 0:29:21.800 --> 0:29:27.200 and he's saying, would you remember my family? And he 0:29:27.240 --> 0:29:31.600 makes this covenant with him, and then the story goes 0:29:31.600 --> 0:29:35.520 on because in the scene of chapter thirteen, it gets 0:29:35.560 --> 0:29:38.000 so crazy that all the people are hiding in thickets, 0:29:38.000 --> 0:29:41.360 in caves and in bushes. Now Jonathan sees his dad 0:29:41.400 --> 0:29:44.520 practicing witchcraft. He's given completely up on the battle, and 0:29:44.560 --> 0:29:46.800 he's doing whatever he can in his own human efforts 0:29:46.840 --> 0:29:49.120 to hold on to what he's already lost, and he's 0:29:49.160 --> 0:29:51.840 looking hero on, going this is ridiculous. I can't believe 0:29:51.840 --> 0:29:54.640 we're living like this. What have we become? Nation Israel? 0:29:54.920 --> 0:29:56.840 And it comes to this. This is the verse that 0:29:56.920 --> 0:30:00.240 gets me. This is what I started to see. Twenty 0:30:00.280 --> 0:30:03.120 three of chapter thirteen. It says, now a detachment of 0:30:03.160 --> 0:30:09.120 Philistines had gone out from the pass at micmash say, mcmash, 0:30:10.120 --> 0:30:13.680 are you kidding me? The thing that his dad avoided 0:30:13.760 --> 0:30:16.880 multiple times now is being stacked with more of the enemy. 0:30:17.000 --> 0:30:20.080 And he's looking at what should have been done with it, Dad, 0:30:20.160 --> 0:30:22.240 You should have done something with it by right now. 0:30:22.400 --> 0:30:26.240 And he sees micmash and micmash is this place of 0:30:26.280 --> 0:30:33.760 his biggest disappointment. Where's your mcmash? An unnamed enemy will 0:30:33.760 --> 0:30:37.560 never be defeated. And what Jonathan demonstrates for us is 0:30:37.560 --> 0:30:40.600 what we need to do with that gap. Let me 0:30:40.640 --> 0:30:42.560 show you what the scripture shows here, give me give 0:30:42.600 --> 0:30:46.400 me fourteen, verse one, it says, one day Jonathan, son 0:30:46.440 --> 0:30:48.200 of Saul, said to the young arm bear, come, let's 0:30:48.200 --> 0:30:51.560 go over the outpost of Philistines on to the outpost, 0:30:51.640 --> 0:30:54.440 the Philistine outpost on the other side. But he did 0:30:54.480 --> 0:30:58.560 not tell his father, Hey, Philistines, come back up there again. 0:31:02.040 --> 0:31:06.560 So what you see with Jonathan is staring at a 0:31:06.600 --> 0:31:08.720 situation at his father never dealt with. This is called 0:31:08.720 --> 0:31:15.880 generational sin. This is what it is. And when one 0:31:15.960 --> 0:31:19.280 generation doesn't put in the gap what God wants to be, 0:31:19.320 --> 0:31:23.720 it is handed to the next generation. And now Jonathan 0:31:24.320 --> 0:31:27.200 is staring at a situation he never chose, but he 0:31:27.240 --> 0:31:29.600 knows he has to go towards what his father retreated from. 0:31:29.640 --> 0:31:31.720 He's going to go towards and the beauty of the 0:31:31.720 --> 0:31:34.560 scripture says he did not tell his father, He did 0:31:34.600 --> 0:31:36.640 not post it on Instagram, he did not put it 0:31:36.680 --> 0:31:39.640 on Facebook. He did not call anybody and complain about 0:31:39.680 --> 0:31:43.240 his dad. Because freedom will never be found through your 0:31:43.240 --> 0:31:46.320 father's voice. It will always be free your heavenly father's hands. 0:31:48.800 --> 0:31:53.880 The disappointment came from his father, but it would not 0:31:53.920 --> 0:31:57.880 be resolved through his father. And you keep waiting for 0:31:57.920 --> 0:32:00.360 that person that disappointed you to say something with their mouth. 0:32:00.720 --> 0:32:02.920 Healing will come from the hand of your God, not 0:32:03.040 --> 0:32:09.520 the voice of your earthly person. But he's got this gap, 0:32:09.960 --> 0:32:12.280 and he's like, oh snap, I gotta do something about this. 0:32:12.720 --> 0:32:14.880 He says, One day, how about today be the day 0:32:14.920 --> 0:32:17.960 we deal with that disappointment. I love those two words together. 0:32:18.120 --> 0:32:21.440 One day, how about this ordinary Sunday that we start 0:32:21.480 --> 0:32:23.840 dealing with the disappointment. The thing you've been running from 0:32:23.920 --> 0:32:25.960 the thing you've been avoiding, the thing you've been burying. 0:32:25.960 --> 0:32:27.880 God is saying, right now, this is the day that 0:32:27.960 --> 0:32:30.200 we're gonna deal with your micmash. It is time that 0:32:30.280 --> 0:32:32.760 you face your micmash. And he looks around. He says, 0:32:32.800 --> 0:32:34.480 I can't have everybody be a part of this, but 0:32:34.560 --> 0:32:36.760 I just need one person. I need an armor bearer. 0:32:36.920 --> 0:32:39.280 Come here, Corbin. He just got He says, one person. 0:32:39.280 --> 0:32:42.760 This is my son, Corbin. He just needed one person. 0:32:43.000 --> 0:32:46.520 That's all he needed. I think what he demonstrates is 0:32:46.640 --> 0:32:50.120 this idea of community and accountability. It's too easy to 0:32:50.120 --> 0:32:53.200 walk away from that. You only know by yourself. And 0:32:53.200 --> 0:32:55.880 he says, if I tell you, I'll probably see it through. 0:32:56.600 --> 0:32:59.280 That's why you need somebody to have your back, who 0:32:59.320 --> 0:33:02.920 has your back, who has God put in your life 0:33:03.000 --> 0:33:05.480 that you need to bring closer. And he said, come on, 0:33:05.560 --> 0:33:08.440 let's go, let's go. Let's go. You see them? Yeah, yeah, 0:33:08.680 --> 0:33:16.720 give me give me Verse verse one again fourteen one 0:33:17.280 --> 0:33:20.520 one day, one day, Jonathan, son of Saul said to 0:33:20.560 --> 0:33:21.760 his young arm bearer, come let's go over to the 0:33:21.800 --> 0:33:23.600 outposts on the other side. But he did not tell 0:33:23.640 --> 0:33:30.040 his father give me. Verse six Jonathan, let's go a posts, 0:33:30.240 --> 0:33:33.720 and he says, perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. 0:33:33.760 --> 0:33:36.960 Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many 0:33:37.640 --> 0:33:41.000 or by few. Because now he's got this gap, He's like, 0:33:41.080 --> 0:33:43.720 let's go, let's take them. We can't live like this anymore. 0:33:43.760 --> 0:33:46.560 And the best I can give you is perhaps perhaps 0:33:46.680 --> 0:33:50.360 we might die. Perhaps in my work, what we often 0:33:50.400 --> 0:33:52.640 want God to put in the gap is the outcome. 0:33:58.320 --> 0:34:02.640 What Jonathan demonstrates this is he puts in his obedience. 0:34:03.960 --> 0:34:09.360 That's the difference. That's the difference. Perhaps I don't know 0:34:09.360 --> 0:34:12.040 how it's gonna work out. God's job is the outcome. 0:34:12.320 --> 0:34:15.120 Our job is the obedience. Let's go. I don't know 0:34:15.160 --> 0:34:17.080 how it's gonna work. I don't know what's gonna happen, 0:34:17.160 --> 0:34:18.879 but we're gonna go take him. We're gonna go get 0:34:18.920 --> 0:34:20.920 him because we can't live like this any longer. And 0:34:20.960 --> 0:34:26.720 he chooses to close the gap. But in this space, 0:34:27.360 --> 0:34:32.280 not all disappointments are created equal, because what I realize 0:34:32.320 --> 0:34:36.400 is now is a dad. I realize my biggest disappointments 0:34:37.040 --> 0:34:41.959 are when my son sees my humanity and my insecurity 0:34:42.480 --> 0:34:49.799 forces him to feel like it's his fault. That's the part. 0:34:49.880 --> 0:34:54.719 That's where I relate the soul, because sometimes the disappointment 0:34:54.760 --> 0:34:56.200 is so big you just want to hide because you 0:34:56.239 --> 0:34:59.359 can't even look at yourself. Now, for me, as a dad, 0:34:59.400 --> 0:35:01.960 when I find moments, I gotta let the grace of 0:35:01.960 --> 0:35:05.040 God get in that space. The grace of God allows 0:35:05.040 --> 0:35:06.600 me to separate what I did from who I am. 0:35:07.440 --> 0:35:09.160 You made a bad decision as a dad, but that 0:35:09.160 --> 0:35:12.240 doesn't mean you're a bad dad. That's grace, y'all. That's grace. 0:35:13.200 --> 0:35:22.560 That's grace. Grace. Grace doesn't excuse the behavior. It just 0:35:22.600 --> 0:35:26.600 helps you know the backstory. Grace allows you to see 0:35:27.120 --> 0:35:28.919 who God says you are in that moment. Then grace 0:35:28.960 --> 0:35:33.319 also allows you to say, son, I'm sorry, Would you 0:35:33.360 --> 0:35:36.239 forgive me? That's my fault, You had nothing to do 0:35:36.320 --> 0:35:45.240 with it. That's grace. You want to cut off generational sin, grace, grace, grace, 0:35:45.320 --> 0:35:48.520 it's obedience. Grace is not just a flowery word. It's 0:35:48.520 --> 0:35:52.120 an action. It's an empowerment to step into a situation. 0:35:53.000 --> 0:35:54.680 But then there's a whole other level of grace. This 0:35:54.840 --> 0:36:01.000 is let me share my thorns with you, because if 0:36:01.040 --> 0:36:02.880 I show you my thorns, maybe you won't have to 0:36:02.920 --> 0:36:06.680 fight them. But when you hide the thorns, you force 0:36:06.760 --> 0:36:08.600 the next generation to face the enemy that you were 0:36:08.600 --> 0:36:15.600 intimidated by. What are you putting in the gap? Now, 0:36:15.600 --> 0:36:18.480 what's amazing about this story is let's go. Let's go 0:36:18.520 --> 0:36:20.960 take them. Come on, let's Philistines. They're big, but we 0:36:21.080 --> 0:36:23.960 get them. There's thirty to forty fighting men, all with 0:36:24.040 --> 0:36:26.480 swords and spears, and they're at a strategic advantage at 0:36:26.520 --> 0:36:27.640 the top of the hill. But we can get them. 0:36:27.719 --> 0:36:33.720 Let's go, let's do it. Is only by God, because 0:36:33.760 --> 0:36:36.240 what happens is they would ascend the hill, they would 0:36:36.280 --> 0:36:39.600 overthrow these thirty to forty people. In all of nation 0:36:39.680 --> 0:36:41.520 and Israel would see the battle and they would come 0:36:41.560 --> 0:36:43.799 out of hiding. Do you know that your micmesh is 0:36:43.800 --> 0:36:48.960 somebody else's miracle? Your micmash is somebody else's miracle. Thank you, 0:36:49.040 --> 0:36:52.600 armor bearer, Thank you Philistines. That's the thing about your 0:36:52.640 --> 0:36:58.680 micmash is as you move towards it, people are watching you. 0:37:00.120 --> 0:37:03.800 In this scene, Jonathan and his armor bearer, two people 0:37:03.840 --> 0:37:06.120 that should not have been in that place end up 0:37:06.160 --> 0:37:07.880 doing something that they should not have had to do 0:37:07.960 --> 0:37:10.399 because of their father's disobedience. But they chose to face 0:37:10.440 --> 0:37:13.319 it in all of Nation Israel. Because here's the key 0:37:13.400 --> 0:37:17.520 language of David. He says, perhaps the Lord will act 0:37:18.480 --> 0:37:26.960 in our behalf. The key word for Saul was I Jonathan, 0:37:27.040 --> 0:37:31.040 it was our. There was a very present tense for 0:37:31.160 --> 0:37:35.600 hour because in that moment Jonathan meant, perhaps armor bearer, 0:37:35.760 --> 0:37:39.400 you and me, perhaps we might not die. But then 0:37:39.440 --> 0:37:44.360 there's also the scene of perhaps Nation Israel would be saved. 0:37:45.640 --> 0:37:50.319 But I also think there's a distant thought in Jonathan's 0:37:50.320 --> 0:37:53.919 heart because as he's going up the hill, he's also 0:37:54.000 --> 0:37:59.440 a father himself. It's one thing to experience disappointment as 0:37:59.480 --> 0:38:02.560 a son. It's a whole other thing to experience the 0:38:02.600 --> 0:38:09.680 disappointment of your son. And David would go on to 0:38:09.719 --> 0:38:14.680 become king. Jonathan would die in battle some years after 0:38:14.719 --> 0:38:18.200 this with his father. How he could keep serving his 0:38:18.239 --> 0:38:21.680 father is a bit of a mystery to me. That's 0:38:21.719 --> 0:38:24.560 why he's my favorite Bible story. I'm still trying to 0:38:24.640 --> 0:38:26.359 uncover what God would want me to see of how 0:38:26.400 --> 0:38:30.800 he could serve underneath the wicked Dad and honor him 0:38:30.880 --> 0:38:33.520 and yet still be loyal to David. I want to 0:38:33.520 --> 0:38:35.279 live that life. I want to stand in that gap 0:38:35.320 --> 0:38:39.920 and walk in that tens, but Jonathan would pass away 0:38:40.160 --> 0:38:44.360 David would be king, and some thirty years after this story, 0:38:45.760 --> 0:38:48.880 the whole kingdom has been united. Peace is finally resting 0:38:48.960 --> 0:38:51.760 in the land, and David is king. And God prompts 0:38:51.840 --> 0:38:58.880 David's heart one day and in Second Samuel, this is 0:38:58.920 --> 0:39:04.399 some thirty years after this battle. At mcmash two Samuel nine, 0:39:04.520 --> 0:39:09.759 Verse one, David asked, is there anyone left of the 0:39:09.800 --> 0:39:13.040 House of Saul to whom I can show kindness? For 0:39:13.160 --> 0:39:19.719 Jonathan's sake? He remembers back to his obedient servant Jonathan, 0:39:21.280 --> 0:39:25.000 and God prompts his heart to say, is there anybody 0:39:25.000 --> 0:39:28.920 that I could show kindness to? Because Saul represents man's 0:39:29.120 --> 0:39:35.400 best effort. David is God's perfect king. He is a 0:39:35.440 --> 0:39:39.960 foreshadowing of a Messiah. He is a forefather to Jesus. 0:39:40.120 --> 0:39:43.719 He represents Christ. He represents what he would be when 0:39:43.760 --> 0:39:47.320 he would come one day, because like all the other nations, 0:39:47.360 --> 0:39:52.640 all the family bloodlines should have been wiped out. But God, 0:39:54.040 --> 0:39:58.600 but David, he remembers, and in verse three one of 0:39:58.600 --> 0:40:02.120 his servants says, there is still a son of Jonathan, 0:40:02.280 --> 0:40:07.160 but he's lame in both feet, and then the Second 0:40:07.200 --> 0:40:11.640 Samuel nine verses six and seven says, when Bfibischef, that's 0:40:11.680 --> 0:40:15.640 the son of Jonathan, miss Fibischef is he's a grown man, 0:40:15.680 --> 0:40:17.840 he's got his own kids. At this point, he was 0:40:17.920 --> 0:40:21.880 living outside of the Promised Land for fear that he 0:40:21.920 --> 0:40:25.840 would be killed. So he's been hiding his whole life. 0:40:26.560 --> 0:40:30.000 Choices of consequences, and sometimes it causes people to go 0:40:30.000 --> 0:40:36.000 out into hiding for decades. But God, but God, but David. 0:40:36.480 --> 0:40:41.120 David remembers my son, my friend Jonathan. Oh yeah, I 0:40:41.160 --> 0:40:47.279 made this covenant with him to show kindness. When Maphibethus Maphibieth, 0:40:47.560 --> 0:40:49.600 son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, 0:40:49.880 --> 0:40:53.759 he bowed down to pay him honor. He wasn't sure 0:40:53.760 --> 0:40:55.920 if he would be killed at that point or what 0:40:56.040 --> 0:40:58.839 was about to happen, because again all the other nations, 0:40:58.880 --> 0:41:01.000 you'd kill all those people. And he might have been 0:41:01.040 --> 0:41:04.320 wondering as David only calling me because he needs to 0:41:04.400 --> 0:41:10.680 kill me. But God, but David, don't be afraid, David 0:41:10.719 --> 0:41:14.520 said to him, for I will surely show you kindness 0:41:15.000 --> 0:41:18.560 for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will 0:41:18.600 --> 0:41:23.040 restore to you all the land that belonged to your 0:41:23.080 --> 0:41:27.280 great to your grandfather's Saul, and you will always eat 0:41:28.040 --> 0:41:33.600 at my table, the table that Saul never felt like 0:41:33.680 --> 0:41:36.919 he belonged at the table where he didn't see how 0:41:36.960 --> 0:41:40.759 he fit in. Because in our own effort, we try 0:41:40.800 --> 0:41:43.680 to prove that we belong at the table. We try 0:41:43.719 --> 0:41:45.560 to show that we deserve a seat at the table. 0:41:46.440 --> 0:41:48.640 Some of us are going through life living in the flesh. 0:41:48.640 --> 0:41:50.759 The spirit of Saul is trying to show you I 0:41:50.800 --> 0:41:55.880 deserve it. But God, but David representing no, it is 0:41:55.920 --> 0:41:58.959 not based upon anything you've done. Is based upon who 0:41:59.440 --> 0:42:07.720 I Yeah and the Phibist. You will have everything restored 0:42:07.800 --> 0:42:13.440 to you. Everything the enemy stole everything, your grandfather forfeited, 0:42:13.719 --> 0:42:16.560 everything you thought you lost out on. I will restore 0:42:16.600 --> 0:42:18.960 it to you, and you will always have a seat 0:42:19.400 --> 0:42:22.160 at my table. Map phibis chef because I am good 0:42:22.360 --> 0:42:26.000 and I am showing you kindness. Because Jonathan stood in 0:42:26.120 --> 0:42:28.440 that gap, and he didn't make it be about me 0:42:28.680 --> 0:42:33.480 or I, but he made it be about our Maybe, 0:42:33.520 --> 0:42:37.080 just maybe God, your grace would shine upon my son 0:42:37.239 --> 0:42:45.000 one day. Stand up at all of our locations. The 0:42:45.080 --> 0:42:49.239 presence of the Lord is here because there was a 0:42:49.280 --> 0:42:51.279 gap that was created between us and God, and that 0:42:51.400 --> 0:42:55.840 was sin. And then the same way Jonathan inserted obedience 0:42:55.880 --> 0:43:00.279 into it. That's what Jesus did. He inserted himself into 0:43:00.320 --> 0:43:02.600 that gap and he filled it with his precious blood 0:43:02.880 --> 0:43:04.920 so that you and I would be forgiven, so that 0:43:04.960 --> 0:43:06.840 you and I could be restored, so that you and 0:43:06.880 --> 0:43:08.920 I could have a seat at the table. Why are 0:43:08.920 --> 0:43:11.239 we settling for crumbs that fall to the floor when 0:43:11.239 --> 0:43:13.319 God has given us a seat at the table with him. 0:43:13.520 --> 0:43:20.560 We are seated in heavenly realms and right now at 0:43:20.560 --> 0:43:22.560 all of our locations and people watching around the world, 0:43:22.560 --> 0:43:25.680 someone needs to begin a relationship with Jesus. God has 0:43:25.680 --> 0:43:28.760 made you wear in this moment that you've been trying 0:43:28.800 --> 0:43:33.360 to prove your worth through your work, through your own efforts. 0:43:33.360 --> 0:43:35.799 You're trying to show that you deserve a seat at 0:43:35.840 --> 0:43:40.520 the table. That's why Saul didn't work, because it can't 0:43:40.520 --> 0:43:43.480 be by the flesh. It can only be by the spirit. 0:43:44.160 --> 0:43:46.280 And if you need to begin a relationship with Jesus, 0:43:47.360 --> 0:43:50.000 if you're becoming aware that his grace filled that gap 0:43:50.160 --> 0:43:52.320 so that you could have a seat at the table, 0:43:52.320 --> 0:43:54.359 this moment is for you and of all of our 0:43:54.400 --> 0:43:56.120 locations would you buy your heads and would you close 0:43:56.120 --> 0:43:58.479 your eyes and with everybody online joining me in faith 0:43:58.520 --> 0:44:01.880 right now, if you need to begin this relationship with Jesus, 0:44:01.880 --> 0:44:04.120 I'm going to lead us in a prayer as we 0:44:04.160 --> 0:44:06.000 say these words with your mouth. If you believe it 0:44:06.040 --> 0:44:08.960 in your heart, God will hear you. He will forgive you, 0:44:09.200 --> 0:44:11.759 and he will restore you, and he will give you 0:44:11.800 --> 0:44:15.080 a seat at the table, calling you son, calling you daughter, 0:44:15.320 --> 0:44:18.759 calling you forgiven, not labeling you by your behavior, but 0:44:18.800 --> 0:44:21.640 based upon who he says you are. That's the God 0:44:21.680 --> 0:44:25.200 that we serve. So pray with me out loud, church family. 0:44:26.120 --> 0:44:30.320 I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God 0:44:31.560 --> 0:44:34.560 who died on the cross and rose from the grave 0:44:35.600 --> 0:44:39.800 to forgive me of my sins. I give you my life, 0:44:40.480 --> 0:44:43.279 I give you my sin, I give you my shame. 0:44:44.400 --> 0:44:49.560 Forgive me, and I'll spend my life following you with 0:44:49.600 --> 0:44:51.759 your head still bowed and your eyes still closed. If 0:44:51.800 --> 0:44:53.640 you displace your faith in Jesus, I'm going to count 0:44:53.640 --> 0:44:56.759 the three when I get there, without hesitation, boldly shoot 0:44:56.800 --> 0:44:59.799 your hand into the air. One, two, three, shoot your 0:44:59.840 --> 0:45:03.040 hand up, Shoot it up, keep it up, hyeh online, 0:45:03.440 --> 0:45:05.640 drop it in the chat. If you just made that 0:45:05.719 --> 0:45:09.359 decision for Jesus, come on, let us know we're celebrating 0:45:09.400 --> 0:45:13.760 with you. Come on, church family, let's celebrate the family 0:45:13.840 --> 0:45:17.680 of God. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are 0:45:17.680 --> 0:45:19.560 a couple of things I'd love for you to do. 0:45:19.680 --> 0:45:24.040 Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You 0:45:24.080 --> 0:45:26.480 can also help us reach others by investing today at 0:45:26.520 --> 0:45:30.480 Elevationchurch dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining 0:45:30.600 --> 0:45:32.160 us on the Elevation Podcast.