Running For A Reason

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:06.600 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.960 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.000 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:17.239 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:23.160 How many are grateful to be in God's house today? 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:24.800 All right? 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.800 For all the early adopters who sat down, stand back up. 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.880 I hadn't read my scripture yet you jumped the gun, 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:36.239 did you? Oh? Man? I have a message today that 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.960 I believe is going to inspire your life and encourage 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:40.800 your faith for all of the things that God has 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.640 called you to do. If you receive it by faith, 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.640 say amen. We're going to read two scriptures, First Samuel 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:50.840 chapter twenty two, verses one through five and First Corinthians 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:54.640 Chapter nine, verses twenty four through twenty six. The Word 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:57.440 of the Lord from One Samuel twenty two one through 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:02.440 five and First Corinthians chapter nine, verses twenty four through 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:08.320 twenty six. The first one is about the Great King David, 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:10.280 and the second one is from the Great Apostle Paul. 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.480 David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.559 When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they. 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:19.360 Went down to him. 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:24.400 There all those who were in distress, or in debt 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:29.360 or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.920 About four hundred men were with him. From there, David 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.360 went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the King 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.640 of Moab, would you let my father and mother come 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.399 and stay with you until I learn what God will 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:48.040 do for me. That is a very powerful way that 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.000 he says that until I learn what God will do 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.760 for me. So he left them with the King of Moab, 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.680 and they stayed with him as long as David was 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:03.000 in the stronghold. But the prophet Gad said to David, 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:08.280 do not stay in the stronghold, go into the land 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:12.560 of Judah. So David left and went to the forest 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.839 of Hareth. That's the first scripture. The second one, which 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.200 will come on the screen as well, is in one 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.200 Corinthians chapter nine. The apostle Paul, writing to the church 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:27.760 at corinth gives a metaphor that I want us to 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:31.800 apply our minds to for a moment today. Do you 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.400 not know that in a race, all the runners run, 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:40.160 but only one gets the prize. Run in such a 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.920 way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:48.320 the Games goes into strict training. They do it to 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:50.160 get a crown that will not last. 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:52.640 But we do it. 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.400 Look at your neighbors, say, we do it to get 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:01.440 a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.640 run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:10.480 a boxer beating the air. Let's stop there. I do 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:15.120 not run like someone running aimlessly. I want you to 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.639 look at your neighbor like you're on the same Olympic 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.480 team and tell them, real quick, just give them an 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.959 Olympic look, real quick, look at them with some Olympic eyes. 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:26.680 Did he say Olympic eyes? 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:28.000 Olympic eyes? 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:31.880 Look at him like a winner, Look them deep in 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.440 their eyes, and tell them we run for a reason. 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.200 We run for a reason. I want to remind somebody 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:47.200 that came to church today, we run for a reason. Yeah, 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:51.520 we run for a reason. God, only you know all 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.760 of the purposes that you have an eternity for this 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:55.960 moment in time. So I ask you, God of Heaven, 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:01.320 to invade Earth, fill these earthen vessels with the glory, 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.200 the oil of your anointing, so that we can flow 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:07.280 and move forward in everything you've called us to do. 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.320 We cannot afford in this season of our life to 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.400 run dry. So now, God, we asked that you would 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:17.760 pour into us, for we are poor without you. Your 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:19.839 word says that we will receive from you as we 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.839 acknowledge our need for you, and Father, we need you 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:26.040 this hour. Please come in a way that we didn't 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.240 ask for because we didn't know we needed it. Touch 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:31.400 the place in us that is too insecure to be 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.760 shown to others. But in your presence, there's no modesty 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.280 for you, our a maker, every hidden part, every secret thing, 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.880 Deal with it. God, in this place between you and them, God, 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.719 use me as your instrument. I'm available to you. Blow 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:49.800 through me, Holy Spirit, as if I were a woodwind instrument, 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.039 and speak to these people what you need them to 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.320 know for the place that you've called them to. I 0:04:55.440 --> 0:05:00.080 consider it done because you're good and you're faithful, and 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.799 I thank you for it in advance in Jesus' name. Amen, 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:10.680 you may be seated. All the runners in the house, 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:17.640 raise your hand. I wrote that title down. We run 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:19.960 for a reason. That's my message. Running for a reason. 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:23.680 I thought, now that sounds like I'm launching a five k. 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.560 That doesn't sound like I'm starting a sermon. But the 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:31.039 Lord comes with these amazing confirmations. You know. I put 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.880 my Bible down yesterday for a few minutes to take 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.719 a little study break. I've been up since early working 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.320 on this message and I just needed a little break. 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.400 And when I put it on the Olympics, they were 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.880 running the relay race, and I had already picked out 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.760 the title and the scripture we run for a Reason, 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.240 So I kind of took it as a little bit 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:54.960 of a sign. What I must confess to you is 0:05:55.560 --> 0:06:04.360 what so embarrassing? Are crying watching these people run? Now? 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.960 Not no big ugly cry tears or anything, not crocodile tears, 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.880 just a little trickle tear. But the bad part about 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:15.200 it was the person who won wasn't even American. They 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:16.400 weren't even from our country. 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:17.640 And I didn't. 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.800 I didn't. I didn't feel the tears come while she 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.520 was running. I felt that tears come when she was 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:29.560 looking at her teammates after she pulled ahead and won, 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.520 And I'm like, why am I crying? This isn't even 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:38.040 my country? I don't even like to run back. When 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.279 I see runners on the road, I judged them, like, 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:45.000 don't you know there's a better way to get in 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:51.080 shape than this? There are so many preferable ways to exercise. 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:55.400 Well it's the runners high. Okay, Well you know I 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:59.960 would choose a non runners low over whatever run. There's 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:01.960 no HI on the other side of that that makes 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:07.320 it worth it to me. But observing this lady, it 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.680 made me emotional. And as I paused and thought about 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.920 the correlation maybe between the message that I was preparing 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:18.920 and the emotion I experienced, I saw that watching someone 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:24.680 run and knowing the importance and the priority of what 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:30.320 they're running for and who they're running with. That's why 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:34.040 it made me emotional, because when I saw as a 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:37.960 relay race, so when I saw all the people that 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:42.440 the anchor of the race brought along with her into victory, 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.040 it touched me to know that something kicked in at 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:50.200 that moment that made her say for my country, I've 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:55.120 got to do this for my friend, I got to 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.120 do this for my mom, who sat at every track 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.400 meet since I was four years old, and I thought 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:05.080 about all the people that believed in her. When she 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:10.080 first started running when she wasn't much of a runner, 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:15.040 And I thought about my wife, Holly, And I'm just 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.680 telling you this because the connection was profound to me. 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.880 When we first started doing ministry together, I had no 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:29.000 visible gift or really any kind of clues that this 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.600 ministry would exist one day. But she believed in me. 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:34.840 She believed in me, and I know that she believed 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.600 in me because we served on a ministry team together 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.520 where we sat down and I didn't know how to 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:43.120 be a leader. I'd never let a ministry team before. 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.440 And we're sitting there and we're planning out our summer 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:48.200 that we're going to go around and travel and preach. 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:52.040 And I'll never forget this. I put up for a 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.440 discussion what should our theme be for the summer ministry? 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:58.160 And I was trying to get everybody involved, you know, 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.840 but I found out that God still love the world. 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:02.319 He didn't send a committee, and if you really want 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:04.640 to get something done, you just got to make a decision. 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.160 And we're going back and forth, and I threw out 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.880 the theme run to Win. I said, how about run 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:12.800 to win? Wouldn't that be a good theme from First 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.280 Corinthians Chapter nine, And well, one person didn't think that 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:18.640 was a very good idea because you know, well, it's 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.120 really not a competition. You know, it's really not about winning. 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.040 You remember when that girl told you it's not whether 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.160 you win. Or my son Elijah, my oldest son, a 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.360 girl told him one time, it's not whether you win 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.520 or lose, it's whether you're having fun. And he looked 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:33.440 back at her cold blooded and said, well, I'm not 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.959 having fun unless I'm winning. And he was like five 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.360 when he said that. So it's in the blood. Man, 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.240 we're kind of competitive. And I liked that theme about 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:45.480 run to win. And so this guy's saying, well, it's 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.520 not really a competition, and then this girl over here 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:50.680 is saying, well, I think that the Christian life is 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.839 really more like a walk. And one's got a problem 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:55.760 with the word win, and one's got a problem with 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.600 the word run. All I'm left with is too And 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:02.120 one of the team members looked at and she had 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:06.640 real soft spoken she said, Stephen, we need you to 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:14.000 lead us, tell us what to do. From that moment forward, 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:19.079 I decided you can be confused as long as you're confident. 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:26.600 That's a great secret for life. Yeah, you can really 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.320 bluff your way through a lot of stuff in life. 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:31.600 Because then I just said when she said that to 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.240 me so soft. I don't even know if anybody else on 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:34.960 the team heard, but she said that to me, and 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.560 I said, run to win. And then we went on 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:40.200 the road, right, We went on the road, and we 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.320 get to our first church. And I'm going to get 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:44.240 to this story about David in just a moment, and 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:46.400 what Paul said in First Corinthians, but just to set 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.640 the table for this revelation, we get to our very 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.520 first church. We're so excited. We have developed our curriculum, 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.320 we have developed our teachings. And this is Holly session, 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:57.680 and this is Seth's session, and this is Joni's session, 0:10:57.840 --> 0:10:59.719 and this is Grace's session. And I'm going to come 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:01.680 in and close it out, and we're going to do 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:03.920 it over the course of five days and really build 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.360 this theme of run to win. You know, all these 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:10.120 all these wonderful plans. But we arrived to the spot 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:14.400 and there were no people. Zero kids had showed up 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.920 for the youth camp. And it was our first camp 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:22.280 of the summer. And I looked at Holly and I'd 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:26.160 learned from our little committee meeting. We need you to 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:30.120 lead us, and I said, you make a flyer, and 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.280 I pointed at her, and I think that's the moment 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.520 that she fell in love with me. When I said 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:42.239 you make a flyer. I think something about that, just ooh, 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:47.800 make a flyer. And she she she made a flyer, 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:51.280 said run to win. We went to Walmart. We covered 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:56.280 five hundred wind shields with run to Win propaganda, telling 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:57.640 those kids to get to. 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:58.480 The Baptist church. 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:00.680 And by the end of the week there were twenty 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.120 five kids in the room. And I preached like it 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.680 was twenty five thousand, because I've always been doing it 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.560 from a place of passion, not a place of performance. 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.240 And I'll preach if there's five of you, five thousand 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:18.120 and five million. See. I think that this is a 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.680 common misconception about people that you see who go really 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.360 hard after something, is that a lot of times you 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.800 will see the results of their ambition and not really 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:32.480 understand the reasons for their ambition. And for me and Holly, 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.080 I'm thankful that not only have we always had something 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:40.760 to run four, but I'm grateful that I had someone 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.920 to run with. And that made me smile to think 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:49.360 about how here I am twenty how many twenty five 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:56.160 years later, still running with the right one. Now this 0:12:56.200 --> 0:13:00.000 is not a marriage seminar. So I'm crying watching the Olympics, 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:02.640 and I'm thinking, God, this is you speaking to me, 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:05.560 because I must be speaking today to people who are exhausted. 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.280 I must be speaking today to people who need a 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.920 second win. Come on, I must be speaking to people 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:17.600 today who are running the race of their life. Running 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.840 around running like a chicken with their head cut off. 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:25.480 What a disturbing image we use to just describe picking 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.320 the kids up from practice. I've been running around with 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:30.280 a chicken. Why you got to cut a chicken's head off? 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:33.600 Just say you're busy. But Paul said, watch this. 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:34.640 Do you not know? 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:40.000 Then, in a race, all the runners run. When I 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.280 asked a moment ago, how many runners do I have 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:43.800 in the room? 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:44.760 I was surprised. 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:50.040 I thought every hand should go up, cause everybody watch 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:57.640 me preach is running from something. As a matter of fact, 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:01.320 if you are not a runner, you will find yourself lonely. 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:05.600 In the context of the Christian faith, the Judeo Christian faith, 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.720 which takes its roots and has its ripples from this 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:13.559 Holy Scripture, is full of people who ran for different reasons, 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.520 starting with let's talk about our most famous runner in 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.360 the Bible. If I say a big fish swallowed him 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.280 up and spit him out, you say, Jonah, Look how 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.800 smart you were with that Bible trivia you studied, didn't you? 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:33.120 And the Bible says that Jonah ran away from the Lord. Okay, well, 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:37.920 judge Jonah all you want. But Moses ran from a 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:42.960 crime that he committed once it had been discovered. Moses 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.160 ran from a body that he buried in an effort 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:50.640 to defend his own people. Moses ran so far he 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.800 ended up leaving the place where he was the prince 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:57.760 of Egypt and becoming a shepherd for his father in law, Jethro. 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:03.160 Jacob ran from me. Saw he read from his own 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:08.440 brother because he tried to steal his identity. Did I 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:13.720 say Joseph, I meant Jacob. Did I say Jacob, Well, 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.600 Joseph didn't run. Joseph was placed in Egypt and he 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.560 couldn't run because they tied him up. You know, we 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:28.000 never talked about we talked about runners though in the Bible. David, David, 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:31.840 David ran. 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:37.520 You don't believe me, Well, he shows up one day with. 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:39.960 Some lunch for his brothers. Okay, check this out. And 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:43.160 he's just a young boy. He's like seventeen years old 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.840 something like that. He wasn't able to go out to 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.040 the war, but his dad charged him to bring his 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:52.280 brothers a meal. And I love this picture. What's the 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.880 first one I gave you in First Samuel seventeen. It's 0:15:55.880 --> 0:16:00.280 somewhere in the twenty something versus. Put it on the screen, please. Yeah. 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.840 It says David left his things with the keeper of 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:09.600 supplies and ran to the battle lines and asked his 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:15.560 brothers how they were. If you know this story, you 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:18.880 won't be surprised to find that when David ran to 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:21.760 the battle lines, look at verse twenty three. Next thing 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:25.800 that happens, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gatz, stepped out. 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:28.800 I feel the Holy Spirit from his lines and shouted 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.600 his usual defiance, and David heard it. Verse twenty four. 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.000 Whenever the Israelites, that's all the people who had been 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.080 watching this go down day after day after day after day, 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.800 they all fled from him in great fear. 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:44.680 So watch this. 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:51.400 David is running toward what others are running from. There 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:55.480 is a spirit about David There is a belligerence about David. 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.240 Some would say a naivete about David. 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.720 That what everybody else is run and then from he's like, 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:01.120 who's that? 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.879 Some would call David dumb. I believe he's running for 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.960 a reason. And the reason I believe he's running in 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:15.720 this moment is he hasn't lived enough yet to know 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:21.200 that you don't run toward giants, you run from giants. 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.639 Some things, being dumb and young will help you with 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:29.400 intrusting God, They really will. Sometimes being young and dumb 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.680 will make you go to Walmart or Kinko's and make 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.399 five hundred flyers when nobody showed up for your event 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.320 and walk around Walmart putting them on wind shields and 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:40.960 not even worry. What if somebody shoots me while I'm 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:43.000 touching their car without permission. 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:43.960 That's things I would think about. 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:45.840 Now, what if it's a lawsuit? If I don't want 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:47.879 nobody putting them on my windshield? I don't want to 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:52.639 do this. But something about being young will make you run. 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.680 We were laughing the other day because Elijah's been home 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.840 for the summer and I've missed the sound of him 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:04.120 just running through the house. No, not running for any 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:10.760 specific thing through the house, just running because apparently he 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:15.560 has the excess energy to just get where he's going 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.840 that much faster, and you would think maybe he was 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.439 late for an appointment, or maybe there was something that 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:25.720 needed attended to know, just running because he's young, just 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.040 running because why not? I just feel like running? 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:29.560 And I think to. 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:34.880 Myself, I wish that I had the energy just. 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:39.200 To run for no reason. But wouldn't that look weird 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.920 if you saw me run? I mean, why do you laugh? 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.680 Because it doesn't look right for me at this. 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:52.240 Age to just be running for no reason. 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.159 You are thinking to yourself, Look, man, I mean that's 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:55.800 kind of awkward. 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:58.159 We don't want to watch you run just for no reason, 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:01.000 just because you've got excess in to burn. 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.040 Touch your neighbor and say I'm running for a reason. 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:06.959 And a lot of the times, the initial thing that 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.879 fuels our passion in our walk with Christ is our ignorance, 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:15.119 not our awareness. It's why we run into relationships and 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.880 we have no trouble trusting people because we've never had 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:22.000 trouble with people we don't know yet not to trust them. 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.760 Our trust muscle has not yet been ruptured, so we 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:31.600 run so we run. We run to opportunities because we've 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:35.320 never experienced loss. We run to investment because we've never 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:41.440 experienced collapse. We run because we're young. David not only 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.840 runs to the battle lies when he's delivering the food 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.480 to his brothers, but when Goliath came toward him with 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:56.000 the sword by some estimates, nine feet tall of philistine, 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:01.040 fierce warrior energy, steps to the battle lines, and the 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.480 Bible says in seventeen verse forty something put that one 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:06.320 on the screen. I got to show you. As the 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:15.240 Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran. He ran quickly. 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:21.919 Something about this dumb young David that I think we 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:27.760 all miss in our lives. That's the power of nostalgia, 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:31.199 is taking you back to a time when it was 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:35.439 new to you and you didn't know what you didn't know, 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.720 so you would just go without a plan, because who 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:43.320 needs a plan? When I got youth, who needs a plan? 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.639 When I got personality? Who needs a plan? I'll figure 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.080 it out when I get there, And y'all to me. 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:52.680 These days, I don't go twelve minutes from the house 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:55.480 without locating the nearest restroom that I might have stop 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:57.959 at along the way. Now that's just the truth. But 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:00.480 here's what I want you to know. Listen to me. 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:05.520 Listen to me. It's one thing to run when you're young. 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:13.800 It is another thing to intentionally run when you've been 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:18.439 through some experiences that could have made you bitter, that 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:21.480 could have made you afraid, that could have made you 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:25.639 stay put where you are. Paul is describing in his 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:30.320 Great Letter to the Corinthian Church how the runners run 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:34.399 in a game. He says, they set their mind on 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:36.879 a goal, and they set their feet on a path, 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:39.880 and they run in a line. And when they enter 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:41.680 the games, I don't know if you noticed this, he said, 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:43.760 they go into strict training. 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:46.160 And then David. 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:48.760 Now, let's do a little bit of a relay race 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:51.680 from David to Paul, because David, of course, was hundreds 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:55.240 of years before Paul came along. David and Paul are 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:58.800 both experiencing the same type of thing. Paul is taking 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:02.000 the gospel to the churches that have never heard about Jesus, 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:05.600 and he is dealing with these issues. David, of course, 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:08.040 is the second king that Israel has ever known. 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:10.640 He's following in the wake of King. 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.840 Saul, who was supposed to support him and supposed to 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.479 mentor him and supposed to show him how to do 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:21.040 this king thing Ah, but Saul attacked what God was 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:25.000 trying to anoint. There is a sense in which sometimes 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:29.000 God is bringing you something that is intended to relieve you, 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:32.680 but you resist it because of something that is within you, 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:36.280 and you can't even figure out why you're pushing things away, 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:40.280 things that God sent as an answer to your prayer. 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:44.600 Have you ever pushed away and answered prayer because you 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:48.400 didn't know how to sustainably deal with it? I have. 0:22:49.320 --> 0:22:52.000 I have prayed to God in seasons of my life 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:55.560 to send me people to encourage me and support me. 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:59.520 But when the encouragers came to support me, I didn't 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:04.080 believe what they said because my own insecurity made it 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:07.200 impossible for me to believe that you could really feel 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:10.280 that way about me. So I pray a prayer for 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:13.119 God to send a person. God sends a person in 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:16.359 response to the prayer, but the patterns of my life 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:19.439 will not enable me to receive that person. So I 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:22.440 prayed a prayer for a person. I got a pattern 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:25.160 that won't allow me to receive the person. And now 0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:28.560 I keep praying about people that God has sent and 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:32.240 I am praying away what God gave because of something 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:35.480 on the inside of me. What I'm trying to say is, 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:39.639 as fast as God is running to you, some of 0:23:39.680 --> 0:23:42.440 you are running from the answer that he gave because 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:47.200 it does not feel familiar. Now, let me slow down, 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:49.760 because I feel like I might be going a little fast? 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:54.960 Am I going a little fast? In Paul's letter, he 0:23:55.119 --> 0:23:59.720 was talking about people who run to get a prize, 0:24:00.000 --> 0:24:06.160 and in David's story there's a similarity. Both are about running, 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:09.800 but for different reasons. I want to read you the 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:12.320 story again now that I've set the context in for 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:15.440 Samuel twenty two, verse one, and then I'll answer the 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:18.879 question of the text. It says David left goat and 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:23.159 escape to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and 0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:26.320 his father's household heard about it, they went down to 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:30.159 him there. And here's where we need to take a 0:24:30.160 --> 0:24:35.679 little breakaway. David is in a cave, but he's called 0:24:36.640 --> 0:24:42.359 to be a king. Ain't it confusing? When God calls 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:49.159 you one thing and your circumstances call you another man? 0:24:49.280 --> 0:24:53.080 It crazy when God calls you free and your habits 0:24:53.119 --> 0:24:53.880 call you addict. 0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:57.280 Isn't it crazy when. 0:24:57.119 --> 0:25:02.400 God calls you love, but your emotions feel closed. Isn't 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:05.840 it amazing when God calls you chosen, but you feel 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:12.239 left out? Enter David, the chosen one of God, the 0:25:12.240 --> 0:25:15.320 one who wasn't called to appear before the prophet Samuel 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:18.720 when he came to anoint the future king. As a 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:21.560 matter of fact, at the moment that the king was 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:24.760 about to be chosen, David was just doing his chores, 0:25:25.240 --> 0:25:29.000 tending the sheep. But the prophet knew each time he 0:25:29.040 --> 0:25:32.119 went to anoint another son with oil that this is 0:25:32.160 --> 0:25:35.760 not the one that God has chosen. So one commentary 0:25:35.800 --> 0:25:40.360 says that the oil froze until David showed up. The 0:25:40.400 --> 0:25:42.960 oil would not move from the flask of the prophet 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:46.040 to anoint the next king, and David did not have 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:51.240 to chase the crown. The crown chase David. This may 0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:54.119 set you free from thinking that you have to be 0:25:54.240 --> 0:25:56.800 at a certain place at a certain time, or you 0:25:56.800 --> 0:25:59.679 have to get the attention of a certain person, or 0:25:59.720 --> 0:26:02.720 you have to be recognized in a certain way in 0:26:02.840 --> 0:26:06.960 order for your anointing to be real. Being recognized doesn't 0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:10.880 make it real. It is what it is before they 0:26:10.880 --> 0:26:14.480 say what they say, I was anointed to preach when 0:26:14.480 --> 0:26:16.840 there were no people come into the run to win seminar. 0:26:17.960 --> 0:26:19.320 I'm anointed to preach today. 0:26:19.400 --> 0:26:21.680 The only difference in what has changed is the number 0:26:21.680 --> 0:26:24.399 of people that I'm doing it with and for. But 0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:26.480 one thing I need you to know about your life 0:26:27.440 --> 0:26:30.239 is that it's one thing to run for something that 0:26:30.320 --> 0:26:33.920 you chose to run toward. I'm gonna start this business, 0:26:34.359 --> 0:26:37.800 I'm gonna find a husband, I'm gonna get my life together. 0:26:38.200 --> 0:26:41.520 I'm gonna lose twenty pounds. I'm gonna run a marathon. 0:26:41.600 --> 0:26:43.520 The devil is a liar. The Lord didn't tell you 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:46.960 to do that. It's one thing to run after something 0:26:47.320 --> 0:26:50.040 that you chose, but it's another thing to run when 0:26:50.080 --> 0:26:55.359 you're being chased. And I don't necessarily just want to 0:26:55.440 --> 0:26:59.680 preach to those today who are running towards something, because 0:26:59.680 --> 0:27:03.560 that's wonderful if you're motivated and you're inspired, and you're like, 0:27:04.200 --> 0:27:07.040 by fifty, I want to have this much money. 0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:08.879 By forty, I'm gonna. 0:27:08.640 --> 0:27:10.879 Have that much. So when I'm fifty, I can have 0:27:11.000 --> 0:27:14.679 this much. That's fine if you figured that out. But 0:27:14.760 --> 0:27:16.720 there is a sense in which you and I both 0:27:16.840 --> 0:27:21.760 know that sometimes what's really moving you in your life 0:27:22.040 --> 0:27:29.280 is not why you're running too. It's what you're running from. 0:27:29.359 --> 0:27:31.760 And people see what you run to and they judge 0:27:31.760 --> 0:27:34.879 you by that. People see what you run to, and 0:27:34.920 --> 0:27:39.480 sometimes they admire you for that. But the significance of 0:27:39.520 --> 0:27:43.680 the text and for Samuel twenty two, is that David 0:27:44.440 --> 0:27:48.360 is a king and he's in a cave, and he's 0:27:48.359 --> 0:27:52.840 not running from a giant. No, he's not running from 0:27:52.880 --> 0:27:58.400 his assignment from God. No, he is running from the king, 0:28:00.440 --> 0:28:03.600 and he is running from what he is going to be. 0:28:05.080 --> 0:28:09.640 Not by his own choice. David did not sign up 0:28:09.800 --> 0:28:15.160 for this event. Saul the King was supposed to hand 0:28:15.320 --> 0:28:20.359 David the baton, and instead he is beating him over 0:28:20.400 --> 0:28:23.320 the head with the baton that he is supposed to 0:28:23.359 --> 0:28:26.960 be handing off. See, some of us run because we 0:28:26.960 --> 0:28:31.280 weren't handed everything easily. Some of us run because what 0:28:31.359 --> 0:28:33.840 we were handed was hazardous. 0:28:34.600 --> 0:28:37.240 Well, I'm preaching some of us run. We don't even 0:28:37.320 --> 0:28:39.800 understand what compels us and drives us. 0:28:39.880 --> 0:28:42.960 And you don't really understand this until you take some 0:28:43.080 --> 0:28:45.640 time in life to reflect and say, why am I 0:28:45.720 --> 0:28:49.840 so hard on myself? Why am I so so prone 0:28:49.880 --> 0:28:52.640 to anger? Why do I always look for how things 0:28:52.680 --> 0:28:54.800 are going to go wrong even when they're going right, 0:28:55.280 --> 0:28:57.800 and you start discovering that some of the things that 0:28:57.880 --> 0:29:00.479 you are broken by or because of the baton that 0:29:00.520 --> 0:29:03.480 were not handed to you in the relay that never 0:29:03.760 --> 0:29:09.880 was because you are running from something. It's hard to 0:29:09.960 --> 0:29:12.640 run toward what I've never seen. It's hard to run 0:29:12.680 --> 0:29:15.280 toward wholeness when I only saw my parents cuss each 0:29:15.280 --> 0:29:17.880 other out. It's hard to run toward wholeness when I 0:29:17.920 --> 0:29:21.760 only saw people continue to self sabotage. It is hard 0:29:21.800 --> 0:29:25.720 to run towards something that has never been exemplified before me. 0:29:26.760 --> 0:29:30.800 So now I find myself watch this like David, running 0:29:30.880 --> 0:29:34.800 from something that I ought to be able to run too. 0:29:36.880 --> 0:29:41.240 Saul should have helped David, and he didn't. So David 0:29:41.640 --> 0:29:44.440 is in a cave because of a king that did 0:29:44.480 --> 0:29:47.480 not ever want his crown to begin with. And the 0:29:47.560 --> 0:29:50.400 Lord sent me to speak to somebody today to tell you, 0:29:50.920 --> 0:29:54.360 don't let the place you're in make you confused about 0:29:54.360 --> 0:30:04.600 the person that you are. Uh huh. That oil that 0:30:04.760 --> 0:30:08.440 was on David's head, it didn't just stop on his head, 0:30:08.880 --> 0:30:11.640 it ran down because when they anointed you in the 0:30:11.640 --> 0:30:16.560 Bible Times, the anointing was an announcement, and the Bible 0:30:16.600 --> 0:30:20.000 says that Samuel had a flask filled with oil. 0:30:20.320 --> 0:30:23.800 It wasn't a quarterfull, it wasn't half full. It was 0:30:23.840 --> 0:30:25.720 a full horn of oil. 0:30:26.240 --> 0:30:29.600 And it was dumped on David's head and it was 0:30:29.680 --> 0:30:33.680 dumped on David's head to signify David's destiny. And as 0:30:33.760 --> 0:30:36.880 the oil ran down his head, David didn't know what 0:30:37.000 --> 0:30:39.880 it really meant at the time, but the oil was 0:30:40.040 --> 0:30:43.480 trying to tell him something. The oil was trying to 0:30:43.560 --> 0:30:46.680 tell him that every king will. 0:30:46.480 --> 0:30:47.480 Have some caves. 0:30:48.560 --> 0:30:52.000 Don't let the cave that you're in right now cause 0:30:52.040 --> 0:30:54.960 you to forfeit or discontinue the thing that God has 0:30:55.000 --> 0:31:01.040 put in you. Maybe this is why it meant so 0:31:01.160 --> 0:31:02.920 much when I went to preach to the women in 0:31:02.920 --> 0:31:08.280 the prison this week, because every day they are surrounded 0:31:11.040 --> 0:31:15.880 by signals and signs that say my life is over. 0:31:18.160 --> 0:31:21.920 And when we went in with our worship team and 0:31:22.000 --> 0:31:23.960 our staff that go out there every month, not just 0:31:24.000 --> 0:31:27.960 once a year, and we showed up to announce to 0:31:28.000 --> 0:31:34.000 them that God knows your name, all of a sudden, 0:31:35.160 --> 0:31:40.120 women who were stuck in a situation were lifted to 0:31:40.200 --> 0:31:46.560 a place to remember that before the situation, God spoke 0:31:46.600 --> 0:31:54.680 his word over your life. Uh huh, So this cage 0:31:54.760 --> 0:31:59.400 situation in one Samuel twenty two is not David's fault. 0:32:00.320 --> 0:32:04.080 He is not like Jonah who decided to run for God. 0:32:04.720 --> 0:32:07.760 He is not like an Olympic athlete who wanted to 0:32:07.760 --> 0:32:10.160 give their life to get a gold medal. He is 0:32:10.240 --> 0:32:14.080 not like Elijah. Remember Elijah, not that one in the Bible, 0:32:14.600 --> 0:32:17.120 the one who ran from Jezebel. And you want to 0:32:17.160 --> 0:32:20.800 be like, dude, what are you running from? You just 0:32:20.880 --> 0:32:25.440 called down fire on eight hundred and fifty false prophets, 0:32:25.480 --> 0:32:27.960 and excuse me, I'm not being sexist. But one woman, 0:32:29.880 --> 0:32:34.520 one woman won anything after what you've seen should be 0:32:34.640 --> 0:32:40.760 enough to make you stand firm. Maybe you need an illustration. 0:32:40.840 --> 0:32:43.160 I think you need an illustration. Okay, all, in our 0:32:43.160 --> 0:32:48.360 backyard we have deer. We also have a Boston Terrier. 0:32:50.400 --> 0:32:54.920 I noticed that the dog is smaller than the deer. 0:32:56.520 --> 0:33:00.800 I also noticed that the deer run from the dog. Now, 0:33:00.800 --> 0:33:04.240 if you watch bow chase the deer, you can see 0:33:04.240 --> 0:33:09.840 his arrogance. That is unjustified because this little dog, who 0:33:09.880 --> 0:33:12.360 can't do anything, is chasing a big deer. And I 0:33:12.400 --> 0:33:14.160 think of myself. This must be the most thrilling event 0:33:14.240 --> 0:33:17.120 in the world for his brain to process that I 0:33:17.160 --> 0:33:20.240 can make something this big run and I don't even 0:33:20.320 --> 0:33:23.080 have to bark. All I just got to do is this. 0:33:24.240 --> 0:33:26.040 But I saw a movie in my mind the other day. 0:33:26.040 --> 0:33:29.840 I wondered, what if the deer turned back and ran 0:33:29.880 --> 0:33:33.920 at Bow? What if the deer even hissed at Bo 0:33:34.880 --> 0:33:37.360 all of a sudden. I don't think Bo would be 0:33:37.400 --> 0:33:41.200 so bold, because he would realize this thing that is 0:33:41.240 --> 0:33:45.920 bigger is being triggered by emotion that can't affect him 0:33:45.960 --> 0:33:49.720 in the least, and so I can no longer manipulate 0:33:49.800 --> 0:33:53.200 this thing that is bigger than me into running from me. 0:33:53.640 --> 0:33:56.560 If the deer ever turned around, it would be the 0:33:56.600 --> 0:34:00.680 worst day of Bow's life. If the deer ever found 0:34:00.720 --> 0:34:03.600 out I'm bigger than you, BO wouldn't run up on 0:34:03.680 --> 0:34:07.440 a deer. BO wouldn't go outside. I told you last week, 0:34:07.480 --> 0:34:08.920 he's scared of a suitcase. 0:34:09.200 --> 0:34:11.240 What do you think he's gonna do with a deer? 0:34:11.800 --> 0:34:15.520 If you ever got the revelation that greater is he 0:34:15.680 --> 0:34:20.160 I am? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The devil is hoping you 0:34:20.360 --> 0:34:24.439 never find out you're bigger. The devil is hoping you'll 0:34:24.480 --> 0:34:26.919 always flitch and fall back. 0:34:27.600 --> 0:34:28.480 But I see. 0:34:28.360 --> 0:34:32.719 Somebody turning around today. Come about, Wait a minute, why 0:34:32.800 --> 0:34:41.880 am I running from you? I mean, if you're gonna run, 0:34:41.960 --> 0:34:44.799 if you're gonna quit your family, at least have a 0:34:44.800 --> 0:34:45.440 good reason. 0:34:45.520 --> 0:34:47.480 Don't do it because they got on your nerves. 0:34:49.520 --> 0:34:52.160 If you're gonna quit loving your wife, at least have 0:34:52.239 --> 0:34:52.960 a good reason. 0:34:53.040 --> 0:34:55.719 Don't do it because she didn't appreciate you. 0:34:58.000 --> 0:35:02.000 That's not a good enough reason. Trouble isn't a good 0:35:02.080 --> 0:35:06.200 enough reason for you to give up. Look, unto Jesus, 0:35:06.760 --> 0:35:09.520 the author and finisher of our faith, who for the 0:35:09.680 --> 0:35:13.760 joy set before him, endured the cross. Despising as shame, 0:35:15.400 --> 0:35:17.319 Jesus said, I hate this, but I love that. 0:35:19.200 --> 0:35:23.120 The joy set before him. 0:35:23.600 --> 0:35:27.480 What I'm running toward, what I'm running from, It all 0:35:27.520 --> 0:35:31.759 comes in concert in David's life. Now look at your 0:35:31.760 --> 0:35:34.680 neighbor and tell them with confidence. Okay, tell them. If 0:35:34.680 --> 0:35:38.960 God did it for David, I expect him to do 0:35:39.040 --> 0:35:41.000 it for you. 0:35:41.080 --> 0:35:43.080 Now, high five them and tell him run to wind. 0:35:44.320 --> 0:35:46.880 Yeah. Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait 0:35:47.320 --> 0:35:50.560 wait wait wait. God didn't protect David, Yes he did. 0:35:51.640 --> 0:35:55.440 He didn't protect him from being chased. He kept him 0:35:55.560 --> 0:36:01.000 chosen although he was chased. Our expectation of God must 0:36:01.040 --> 0:36:04.240 not be that there will never be anything chasing us. 0:36:05.280 --> 0:36:09.280 Our expectation of God is that we are chosen while 0:36:09.320 --> 0:36:13.239 we are chased. I'm not preaching to everybody today. Some 0:36:13.320 --> 0:36:17.239 messages are for everybody. This one's for somebody who's got 0:36:17.280 --> 0:36:21.080 something on your heels. Matter of fact, you got hell 0:36:21.160 --> 0:36:24.120 on your heels and you are running from something and 0:36:24.160 --> 0:36:26.080 you can't figure out why. And you're like, well, but 0:36:26.160 --> 0:36:29.200 the Bible says, rest in the salvation of God. Yes, 0:36:29.560 --> 0:36:33.239 rest in his salvation, but run toward his arms for 0:36:33.320 --> 0:36:38.440 this season of your life, and let him be your strength. 0:36:42.320 --> 0:36:44.600 You know this preacher from California, he pulled me aside 0:36:44.640 --> 0:36:47.360 one time and he said, I can tell you struggle 0:36:47.400 --> 0:36:53.560 with depression. I said, you act like that's a hieroglyphics revelation, 0:36:53.840 --> 0:36:56.560 the Da Vinci Code. I tell my church all the 0:36:56.600 --> 0:36:59.600 time that I deal with depression. He said, no, I 0:36:59.640 --> 0:37:02.239 can tell oh, And I thought this was a nice 0:37:02.239 --> 0:37:04.319 thing for him to say. So I could tell that 0:37:04.400 --> 0:37:10.640 you deal with it because you give people the tools 0:37:11.400 --> 0:37:15.839 to deal with it. And then he said something, And 0:37:15.880 --> 0:37:20.879 you know how preachers talking alliterated outlines. He said, the 0:37:20.920 --> 0:37:23.000 tools that you use tell me a lot about the 0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:28.200 trouble that you've been through. I said, that's a compliment. 0:37:29.960 --> 0:37:31.960 I said, I'm not depressed all the time. He said, no, 0:37:33.400 --> 0:37:37.799 I just can tell. I can tell what you've been 0:37:37.840 --> 0:37:41.160 through by your tools. And maybe this is a helpful 0:37:41.160 --> 0:37:43.560 way for you to look at the situations in your life. 0:37:43.560 --> 0:37:46.440 You know, David, I gotta tell you a little bit 0:37:46.480 --> 0:37:48.640 more about David. Do you know that David prayed in 0:37:48.719 --> 0:37:54.080 the cave. He's hiding from Saul, who's already thrown multiple 0:37:54.160 --> 0:38:03.120 spears at him at his head, talk about experiences on 0:38:03.280 --> 0:38:10.360 the job, training and and he's lost his best friend, 0:38:11.200 --> 0:38:13.399 and so he's all alone and he prays in the cave. 0:38:13.440 --> 0:38:16.279 Now look at this in Psalm one and forty two. 0:38:16.400 --> 0:38:18.240 This is the prayer that David prayed in the cave. 0:38:19.120 --> 0:38:22.759 And you're going to be surprised what David prayed in 0:38:22.760 --> 0:38:25.920 that cave. But maybe it'll be a tool for you 0:38:25.960 --> 0:38:27.920 to use when you're in the cave. Look at verse three. 0:38:28.160 --> 0:38:30.160 He said, when my spirit grows faint within me, it 0:38:30.200 --> 0:38:31.520 is you who watch over my way. In the path 0:38:31.520 --> 0:38:33.120 where I walk, people have hidden a snare for me. 0:38:33.160 --> 0:38:34.839 I'm reading this fast because there's one verse I want 0:38:34.840 --> 0:38:35.200 to get to. 0:38:35.480 --> 0:38:36.040 Look and see. 0:38:36.040 --> 0:38:39.200 There is no one in my right hand. No one 0:38:39.280 --> 0:38:43.000 is concerned for me. No one is concerned for me. 0:38:43.280 --> 0:38:47.799 I have no refuge, No one cares for my life. 0:38:47.920 --> 0:38:50.480 I cry to you, Lord, I say you are my refuge, 0:38:51.040 --> 0:38:52.760 my portion in the land of the living. 0:38:53.840 --> 0:38:55.080 Listen to my cry. 0:38:56.320 --> 0:39:00.319 I think he is feeling unheard. I think the key 0:39:00.360 --> 0:39:03.760 is feeling unseen. You don't say listen to my cry 0:39:04.120 --> 0:39:06.279 if you feel like the person is already involved in 0:39:06.320 --> 0:39:11.040 the situation. Listen to my cry for I am in 0:39:11.520 --> 0:39:15.760 desperate need. Oh David, I can tell you deal with depression. 0:39:15.840 --> 0:39:19.759 You think so, I put it in the Bible. I 0:39:19.800 --> 0:39:23.560 am in desperate need. The three people who need this 0:39:23.600 --> 0:39:26.160 message you're going to really receive from this next part 0:39:26.400 --> 0:39:28.640 right now. The three people who have been running a 0:39:28.719 --> 0:39:31.680 race and you are being chased by something and you 0:39:31.719 --> 0:39:33.960 cannot see what you are running from, but you can 0:39:33.960 --> 0:39:36.280 feel it and you know it, and it has become 0:39:36.280 --> 0:39:38.680 a template for the track that your life has taken 0:39:38.719 --> 0:39:42.320 and the trajectory that you're on. Watch this, he said, 0:39:43.239 --> 0:39:47.759 rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are 0:39:47.800 --> 0:39:53.200 too strong for me. Set me free from my prison, 0:39:54.160 --> 0:39:57.520 that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will 0:39:57.560 --> 0:40:00.719 gather about me because of your good to me. Now 0:40:00.719 --> 0:40:02.600 when he said the righteous will gather about me when 0:40:02.600 --> 0:40:04.239 you get me out of this, because somebody our prayer. God, 0:40:04.280 --> 0:40:05.879 when you get me out of this, Oh, it's gonna 0:40:05.880 --> 0:40:08.719 be amazing. I'm gonna pay my tize. Lord. I'm gonna 0:40:08.719 --> 0:40:10.520 give you fifty percent if you just get me out 0:40:10.520 --> 0:40:13.879 of this. Fifty five do I hear of fifty six? 0:40:13.960 --> 0:40:17.480 Do I here a fifty seven? Lord's like whatever, whatever, 0:40:17.560 --> 0:40:22.040 whatever this listen is. He's praying the righteous will gather 0:40:22.080 --> 0:40:24.600 about me. He's praying for support, he's praying for help. 0:40:24.640 --> 0:40:26.920 He's praying for somebody to care. He's praying for somebody 0:40:26.920 --> 0:40:29.719 to see. He's praying for somebody to hear. He's screaming 0:40:30.000 --> 0:40:34.520 em in the cave. There's echo, echo, and there's no 0:40:34.520 --> 0:40:39.279 one talking back. But watch what happened in Samuel twenty two, 0:40:39.760 --> 0:40:45.719 verse one. His father's household heard David was running, and 0:40:45.760 --> 0:40:49.920 they went down to him. There not only his family, 0:40:50.280 --> 0:40:52.399 which we're gonna talk about in a second, but look 0:40:52.440 --> 0:40:56.759 who else came all those who were in distress, or 0:40:56.800 --> 0:41:05.200 in debt or discontented gathered around him. Okay, God, remember 0:41:05.239 --> 0:41:07.000 how I was praying for you to send me people. 0:41:07.200 --> 0:41:11.520 I take it back. I don't need anybody, Lord, just 0:41:11.680 --> 0:41:16.080 me and you Lord. All my need is you, Lord. 0:41:16.480 --> 0:41:19.759 And here come four hundred lined up. And what are they? 0:41:19.840 --> 0:41:24.080 They are David's three D Army three D. You said, 0:41:24.080 --> 0:41:28.000 where you get that from? They were in distress, they 0:41:28.000 --> 0:41:34.799 were in debt, and they were discontented. God might show 0:41:34.880 --> 0:41:39.000 up at your door with three D this week. But 0:41:39.080 --> 0:41:41.840 remember how we were saying, sometimes you pray for something 0:41:42.560 --> 0:41:45.760 and then it comes and you don't want it because 0:41:45.800 --> 0:41:53.600 it came in three D. It came in debt, distress, discontented. 0:41:54.400 --> 0:41:56.360 It came in the form of a need. Why would 0:41:56.360 --> 0:42:00.160 God answer a prayer with a need? Come on and 0:42:00.200 --> 0:42:02.200 think with me, Think with me. I can't I can't 0:42:02.239 --> 0:42:04.000 just say stuff that makes you want to shout. 0:42:04.520 --> 0:42:06.520 I got to help you. So you know that. 0:42:06.480 --> 0:42:10.239 While he was praying in that cave these you know, 0:42:10.360 --> 0:42:15.160 he prayed, God, then the Righteous will surround me, and 0:42:15.239 --> 0:42:22.760 here comes in debt, in distress, discontented. 0:42:24.000 --> 0:42:26.080 David's like, let me try that again, then the. 0:42:26.200 --> 0:42:32.319 Righteous thought, I said, ratchet, I said righteous, Sorry, Lord, 0:42:35.280 --> 0:42:41.120 And now we have a decision to make church. The 0:42:41.280 --> 0:42:46.400 question is why did these four hundred people show up at. 0:42:46.320 --> 0:42:50.080 David's cave in the moment of greatest need. 0:42:49.960 --> 0:42:54.160 In response to God's answer to the prayer? And I 0:42:54.200 --> 0:42:58.000 will suggest to you that it's this because David was anointed, 0:43:01.040 --> 0:43:04.600 because he was chosen, because he was anointed. 0:43:06.040 --> 0:43:07.399 And for everybody who is in. 0:43:07.360 --> 0:43:11.400 The cycle of self pity, of why is everybody always 0:43:11.400 --> 0:43:16.840 making withdrawals from me and not deposits because you're anointed? 0:43:20.600 --> 0:43:25.560 Why doesn't anybody tell me good job because you're consistent. 0:43:28.400 --> 0:43:31.480 They won't tell you good job when you do it consistently. 0:43:31.840 --> 0:43:34.360 They'll tell you good job when they're surprised by it. 0:43:35.520 --> 0:43:36.520 The moment they. 0:43:36.400 --> 0:43:40.560 Stop being surprised, they stop saying something. Ask your kids, 0:43:40.600 --> 0:43:42.920 who ate your peanut butter? And didn't say a word, 0:43:43.400 --> 0:43:46.120 didn't even throw the jar away either, just left it 0:43:46.160 --> 0:43:49.840 in there because they expect peanut butter in the pantry, 0:43:50.280 --> 0:43:53.640 because they expect you to be on time, because they 0:43:53.719 --> 0:43:57.319 expect you to be kind, and their expectation is the 0:43:57.360 --> 0:44:04.920 greatest compliment. So don't cry about it. I told one preacher. 0:44:05.000 --> 0:44:06.879 One day, I said, you will know you're a good 0:44:06.880 --> 0:44:11.080 preacher when people stop telling you good sermon, because they 0:44:11.080 --> 0:44:13.759 will become all of a sudden less concerned about you 0:44:13.840 --> 0:44:16.239 and how you felt about it, and they will become 0:44:16.239 --> 0:44:18.239 more concerned about them and what God spoke to them 0:44:18.239 --> 0:44:23.120 through it. And I put this to you as a 0:44:23.160 --> 0:44:30.120 personal challenge today. Are they running to you for a reason? 0:44:31.480 --> 0:44:35.719 What did you think God annointed you for? What did 0:44:35.760 --> 0:44:37.439 you think the oil was for? 0:44:38.560 --> 0:44:39.480 What did you think. 0:44:39.360 --> 0:44:44.120 God blessed you with that experience for? And you say, well, 0:44:44.400 --> 0:44:46.240 they're using me? Uh uh? 0:44:46.320 --> 0:44:49.520 God is God? 0:44:49.680 --> 0:44:57.960 Is the moment that the oil hit David's head? 0:44:58.000 --> 0:44:58.799 He should have known? 0:44:58.880 --> 0:45:04.480 Oh, because there is no crown where there are no caves. 0:45:05.719 --> 0:45:08.120 So if God is going to do this thing for me, 0:45:08.560 --> 0:45:11.640 there are going to be caves along the way. Oh 0:45:11.719 --> 0:45:13.840 how I want to preach to everybody who has a 0:45:13.840 --> 0:45:17.000 great dream. Oh how I want to preach to everybody 0:45:17.120 --> 0:45:20.320 who wants to have a loving family or a righteous 0:45:20.400 --> 0:45:24.960 life in Christ, that there will be caves along the way. 0:45:25.680 --> 0:45:29.040 You will be confused along the way. Wait, I want 0:45:29.080 --> 0:45:32.799 this and I'm reaching for that, and I feel this 0:45:33.000 --> 0:45:35.319 and I'm doing that and I did that for them, 0:45:35.360 --> 0:45:37.560 and they did that to me. Don't let the cave 0:45:37.680 --> 0:45:42.160 confuse you. You're still anointed. Don't let their lack of 0:45:42.480 --> 0:45:44.280 appreciation confuse you. 0:45:44.280 --> 0:45:47.960 You're still anointed. Don't let the fact. 0:45:47.800 --> 0:45:50.399 That they don't want to run with you anymore confuse you. 0:45:50.400 --> 0:45:53.280 You're so anointed they don't want to go that direction anymore. 0:45:53.320 --> 0:45:53.920 That's fine. 0:45:54.160 --> 0:46:00.319 God to give you somebody else to run with, and 0:46:00.360 --> 0:46:06.120 they might be three D, but you're just gonna have 0:46:06.160 --> 0:46:06.520 to watch. 0:46:06.560 --> 0:46:07.960 This is the heart of the message. Look at me. 0:46:08.000 --> 0:46:10.359 This message is dedicated to my brother in law, who 0:46:10.400 --> 0:46:12.480 just turned forty seven yesterday. I told him I'm gonna 0:46:12.480 --> 0:46:14.719 dedicate this message to him. Look at me, Jody, Do 0:46:14.800 --> 0:46:22.040 it confused? Do it confused? David was used by God, 0:46:22.239 --> 0:46:24.520 but in this moment of his life, he was very 0:46:24.560 --> 0:46:28.880 confused about what God is doing. Can both be true? Absolutely? 0:46:29.880 --> 0:46:33.719 I am very confused about what God is doing a 0:46:33.760 --> 0:46:36.319 lot of the time that He is using me. Do 0:46:36.360 --> 0:46:39.799 you remember when Jesus knelt down and washed the disciple's feet. 0:46:40.440 --> 0:46:42.400 He told them something very important. 0:46:42.440 --> 0:46:45.320 He said, you do not understand what I do now, 0:46:45.360 --> 0:46:49.360 but later you will. Sometimes you have to take a 0:46:49.440 --> 0:46:54.200 lap and understand later. Sometimes you have to take a 0:46:54.320 --> 0:46:56.560 lap and understand later. 0:46:57.080 --> 0:46:58.920 Sometimes you have to take six. 0:46:58.760 --> 0:47:04.160 Laps around the walls of Jericho and trust that something's 0:47:04.200 --> 0:47:08.440 gonna happen when I blow this trumpet. Something's gonna happen 0:47:08.480 --> 0:47:14.000 when I blow this trumpet. I come against the discouragement 0:47:14.120 --> 0:47:15.320 in your spirit. 0:47:15.000 --> 0:47:16.440 That says, what's the point. 0:47:17.120 --> 0:47:20.320 I come against the catalog in your mind that tells 0:47:20.360 --> 0:47:23.640 you it was all in vain. I come against the 0:47:23.719 --> 0:47:26.400 tears that you've cried because of who wasn't. 0:47:26.120 --> 0:47:27.120 By your side. 0:47:27.640 --> 0:47:39.520 Open your eyes. David is a king in a cave, 0:47:40.920 --> 0:47:46.440 and so are you. So are you. He is running 0:47:46.960 --> 0:47:51.520 from a king, and he's going to be a king. 0:47:52.160 --> 0:47:56.680 But kings can be announced and anointed anywhere. That can 0:47:56.719 --> 0:48:03.960 only be developed in caves. The thing in me that 0:48:04.120 --> 0:48:08.360 needed to preach today needed to show up at age 0:48:08.440 --> 0:48:10.560 eighteen and there were no kids. 0:48:11.640 --> 0:48:13.440 It needed to be set. 0:48:13.160 --> 0:48:16.160 Free from the need to do it because of approval. 0:48:17.200 --> 0:48:20.040 I could not have delivered this word. 0:48:19.920 --> 0:48:22.239 To you today without my caves. 0:48:23.040 --> 0:48:26.280 And I am saying to you, my brother, my brother 0:48:26.360 --> 0:48:29.600 in Christ, my sister in Christ, I don't know what 0:48:29.640 --> 0:48:32.680 you're running from. I don't know if it's generational I 0:48:32.719 --> 0:48:34.759 don't know if it's recent, I don't know if it's 0:48:34.760 --> 0:48:36.759 been heightened. I don't know if it's other people. I 0:48:36.800 --> 0:48:38.960 don't know if it's deep down inside of you. But 0:48:39.040 --> 0:48:45.799 God said to tell you, don't waste this cave. Don't 0:48:45.840 --> 0:48:50.640 waste this cave. Tell your neighbor, don't waste your cave. 0:48:52.280 --> 0:48:56.799 Caves come with the territory. Everybody's running from something, everybody's 0:48:56.880 --> 0:48:59.759 running after something. Paul said, I'm just not running a 0:49:00.200 --> 0:49:04.560 less anymore, running around like a Christian with your head 0:49:04.560 --> 0:49:09.160 cut off, not even thinking about it anymore, not even 0:49:09.200 --> 0:49:12.359 strategizing it anymore. Look what David did in verse three. 0:49:12.600 --> 0:49:16.400 The pressure was so overwhelming. He is already a fugitive. 0:49:16.680 --> 0:49:20.000 He is already confused. He looks around and here's his 0:49:20.200 --> 0:49:23.840 old dad and his old mom talking about, Hey, we 0:49:23.880 --> 0:49:26.040 heard you were in the cave. We came to keep 0:49:26.080 --> 0:49:29.160 you some company. Do you mean, Holly. This is the 0:49:29.200 --> 0:49:32.440 same Jesse that didn't even bring David in from the 0:49:32.480 --> 0:49:34.640 field when they were coming to get the king. But 0:49:34.760 --> 0:49:38.839 now he needs him. And I'm gonna tell you something 0:49:38.920 --> 0:49:48.279 very important about people. People see you, how they need you. Hmm. 0:49:52.800 --> 0:49:54.839 That's why some people hate you and don't even know you. 0:49:57.560 --> 0:50:01.279 They need you to be an enemy, because if they 0:50:01.280 --> 0:50:04.520 make you an enemy, they don't have to take responsibility 0:50:06.600 --> 0:50:10.279 and be honest with you. That's why some people think 0:50:10.280 --> 0:50:13.000 too highly of you, because they need you to be 0:50:13.080 --> 0:50:18.360 a savior, and the truth is you're neither. So in 0:50:18.440 --> 0:50:25.840 the moment that the three D Army, the dysfunctional Army, 0:50:26.440 --> 0:50:31.520 the three D Army of dysfunctional derelicts, arrives at David's 0:50:31.560 --> 0:50:35.719 door with his mom and dad. He goes to Moab. 0:50:36.200 --> 0:50:39.479 You remember anything about Moab? Remember a lady named Ruth, 0:50:40.320 --> 0:50:45.680 David's great grandmother. He had moabike blood, but Moab wasn't 0:50:45.680 --> 0:50:47.640 his home. But he had to leave his home for 0:50:47.640 --> 0:50:49.960 a little while, and he took his parents to Moab, 0:50:50.000 --> 0:50:51.680 and he went to the king of Moab, who wasn't 0:50:51.719 --> 0:50:54.000 exactly his friend, and he said, in verse three for 0:50:54.160 --> 0:50:56.400 Samuel twenty two, this most anointed verse I've read in 0:50:56.400 --> 0:50:58.320 a long time in this church. He said, would you 0:50:58.440 --> 0:51:00.399 let my father and mother come stay with you until 0:51:00.440 --> 0:51:04.480 I learn what God will do for me. My senses 0:51:04.480 --> 0:51:06.879 were heightened and my attention was riveted by the word 0:51:07.040 --> 0:51:14.560 until until, Because when the oil hit my head, and 0:51:14.600 --> 0:51:17.000 when it flowed in it and it ran all the 0:51:17.000 --> 0:51:22.120 way down. It ran for a reason, but I'm not 0:51:22.160 --> 0:51:26.200 sure what it is yet. I know God speaking to 0:51:26.200 --> 0:51:29.399 me about some things. I know there are some things 0:51:29.400 --> 0:51:31.279 that he's pruning off my life right now, but I 0:51:31.320 --> 0:51:37.480 don't know yet. And I'm not even doubting God's capacity 0:51:37.560 --> 0:51:42.080 at this moment. I'm just lacking clarity. Listen to that again. 0:51:42.760 --> 0:51:48.919 You're not doubting his capacity. You're lacking clarity. And David said, 0:51:48.920 --> 0:51:52.160 this is too much for me right now, he prayed God. 0:51:52.280 --> 0:51:54.040 I had no one to support me, and I look 0:51:54.080 --> 0:51:56.640 at me, Look at me. You can be surrounded and 0:51:56.680 --> 0:52:03.719 still not supported. You can have fifty thousand friends on 0:52:03.760 --> 0:52:07.840 your phone and no one to be intimate with. You 0:52:07.880 --> 0:52:10.160 can live in the house with them, breathe the air 0:52:10.200 --> 0:52:13.000 with them, share the food with them, and still not 0:52:13.040 --> 0:52:18.160 feel like you're one of them. And now David is 0:52:18.360 --> 0:52:23.000 charged with the task of receiving his own family. 0:52:24.160 --> 0:52:27.960 He is running from a king, and he is becoming 0:52:28.000 --> 0:52:28.560 a king. 0:52:29.320 --> 0:52:33.000 And he is about to occupy an office that he 0:52:33.040 --> 0:52:37.440 did not even run for. There was no process of 0:52:37.520 --> 0:52:41.319 David putting himself forth as a candidate for king. I'm 0:52:41.320 --> 0:52:43.480 here to preach to somebody today. You didn't ask for 0:52:43.520 --> 0:52:47.839 this battle. You did not even ask for this. You 0:52:47.880 --> 0:52:50.800 didn't even know what it was. You did not point 0:52:50.840 --> 0:52:53.480 to that item on the menu. You did not say 0:52:53.520 --> 0:52:55.600 I want to deal with this. You did not ask 0:52:55.640 --> 0:52:59.360 to be raised that way, exposed to that thing, dealing 0:52:59.400 --> 0:53:02.000 with that thing. You did not plant it. But now 0:53:02.040 --> 0:53:04.480 you are having to deal with the weeds of it. Well, 0:53:04.560 --> 0:53:09.800 what then, what then? What is the answer for those 0:53:09.840 --> 0:53:15.680 of us who are living in the until Because the 0:53:15.719 --> 0:53:19.800 truth of the matter is, David was anointed long before 0:53:19.840 --> 0:53:23.200 the others knew it. I want to say about you 0:53:23.280 --> 0:53:25.600 that what will be true of you in the future 0:53:26.560 --> 0:53:27.880 is true of you right now. 0:53:29.520 --> 0:53:33.080 You are a king even in this cave. 0:53:34.680 --> 0:53:38.400 You are valuable, even though no one else sees it. 0:53:38.520 --> 0:53:41.080 Right now. There are times when I'm preaching you just 0:53:41.120 --> 0:53:43.920 have to believe me where the Holy Spirit is giving 0:53:43.960 --> 0:53:47.239 me what to say. And it is for somebody, and 0:53:47.360 --> 0:53:50.080 I do not know who that it is. But God 0:53:50.160 --> 0:53:55.880 is calling you watch this, saying this cave that you 0:53:56.000 --> 0:54:00.680 have been in is closed for business because I have 0:54:00.880 --> 0:54:04.600 more for your future and I need you to move forward. 0:54:05.120 --> 0:54:11.759 Even though you're confused. You imagine a faith of that 0:54:11.880 --> 0:54:16.600 might to come out of a cave and to go 0:54:16.640 --> 0:54:19.080 to Moab and say, can you take care of my parents? 0:54:19.320 --> 0:54:21.759 I don't know what God's gonna do. I don't know 0:54:21.880 --> 0:54:24.000 how this report is going to turn out. I don't 0:54:24.080 --> 0:54:26.239 know if my kid's gonna come back. I thought they 0:54:26.239 --> 0:54:28.960 were the last time, but that was just a false alarm, 0:54:28.960 --> 0:54:30.600 and they're still not doing well. 0:54:30.920 --> 0:54:36.520 I don't know, Bud. Will you keep what's important to 0:54:36.560 --> 0:54:39.759 me even in my confusion? 0:54:41.200 --> 0:54:45.080 And I just pictured somebody in here today that you've 0:54:45.080 --> 0:54:49.960 been running with weights that God does not intend for 0:54:50.000 --> 0:54:54.040 you to carry forward into your future. There are some 0:54:54.120 --> 0:54:57.640 things that you need to drop for what God has 0:54:57.719 --> 0:55:02.640 called you to do. Expectation of where you should have 0:55:02.680 --> 0:55:06.600 been by now, the guilt that Christ paid for and 0:55:06.719 --> 0:55:10.000 nailed to his cross. Would you put that behind you 0:55:11.239 --> 0:55:13.560 so that you can run the race that is marked 0:55:13.600 --> 0:55:18.240 out for you. And while you're at it, stop looking 0:55:18.320 --> 0:55:22.759 around at other people's race. God has called you to 0:55:22.880 --> 0:55:25.280 run at your pace for this season. 0:55:31.400 --> 0:55:35.320 And I found out something about God, and I found out. 0:55:35.160 --> 0:55:40.040 Something about the enemy, And it's this. When God puts 0:55:40.040 --> 0:55:46.080 something significant in me, the enemy sends something significant after me. 0:55:50.480 --> 0:55:54.160 You should have known the moment that the oil hit 0:55:54.239 --> 0:55:56.440 your head that this was not going to be easy. 0:55:58.040 --> 0:56:00.440 You should have known the moment that you. 0:56:00.480 --> 0:56:03.480 Survived the car accident that there's a reason the devil 0:56:03.520 --> 0:56:07.080 tried to end my life right there. There is something 0:56:07.120 --> 0:56:11.040 ahead of me that is so great it makes the 0:56:11.080 --> 0:56:19.040 devil afraid. And that is the reason I run, because 0:56:19.080 --> 0:56:23.719 I figure if the enemy sent something against me in 0:56:23.800 --> 0:56:26.799 this season to try to get me to abandon it, 0:56:28.200 --> 0:56:31.319 there must be something ahead of me. 0:56:34.320 --> 0:56:36.360 That's absolutely amazing. 0:56:38.800 --> 0:56:43.360 That it's amazing what's ahead of you, broke, It's amazing 0:56:43.480 --> 0:56:48.680 what's ahead of you. Man, your kids are gonna talk 0:56:48.680 --> 0:56:52.799 about that. He did it with the weight of the 0:56:52.880 --> 0:57:04.160 world on his shoulders. There's something amazing in you. Mom 0:57:04.280 --> 0:57:10.360 carried all that and she still carried us. So the 0:57:10.400 --> 0:57:18.480 Lord said, make me your stronghold. Make me your stronghold. 0:57:19.840 --> 0:57:26.560 You'll need that cave when you're called your cover. And 0:57:26.640 --> 0:57:30.320 the prophet told David, I know you're running, and I 0:57:30.360 --> 0:57:32.760 know there's a reason, but look at verse five. Do 0:57:32.960 --> 0:57:38.920 not stay in the stronghold. What is a stronghold church? 0:57:39.560 --> 0:57:44.160 It is a place of temporary protection. It is meant 0:57:44.200 --> 0:57:48.600 to be visited, but not lived. In some of the 0:57:48.640 --> 0:57:52.000 ways that you developed to deal with your life. They 0:57:52.000 --> 0:57:55.640 were temporary and they served a purpose. But they're over now. 0:57:57.000 --> 0:58:01.760 They're over now. And the prophet named. 0:58:01.560 --> 0:58:06.240 God told David something. He said, go to Judah. Why 0:58:06.440 --> 0:58:09.680 Judah put the verse up? Please verse five? Go to 0:58:09.840 --> 0:58:15.240 Judah because that was the place David was from, and 0:58:15.280 --> 0:58:18.720 that was the place where he would be anointed, and 0:58:18.760 --> 0:58:21.760 that was the place where he would be covered, and 0:58:21.800 --> 0:58:25.600 that was the place he would be protected. So God says, 0:58:26.640 --> 0:58:29.560 I will cover you in every place that I call 0:58:29.640 --> 0:58:36.120 you to. Would you come out of the stronghold? Would 0:58:36.120 --> 0:58:38.320 you come out of the stronghold just for a moment today. 0:58:39.680 --> 0:58:41.760 I know the cave felt safe for a season, but 0:58:41.800 --> 0:58:45.200 the cave is closed now. I know you kind of 0:58:45.200 --> 0:58:47.000 had to be like that for a season to get 0:58:47.000 --> 0:58:48.760 through it. And I know you were trying to prove something, 0:58:48.800 --> 0:58:50.880 having sex with every different woman to try to prove 0:58:50.920 --> 0:58:53.320 something that you never received in your childhood. But would 0:58:53.320 --> 0:58:54.880 you come out of that now? It's time to grow up. 0:58:56.440 --> 0:58:58.280 God's got something with your name on it to make 0:58:58.320 --> 0:59:00.400 a difference in the earth, and it's not just about 0:59:00.440 --> 0:59:06.000 you anymore. Come to Judah with me. Judah is the 0:59:06.040 --> 0:59:08.200 tribe that David is from, and Judah is the name 0:59:08.240 --> 0:59:12.520 that means praise. I found it significant that when David 0:59:12.600 --> 0:59:14.720 left the cave, God called him to a place that 0:59:14.840 --> 0:59:18.680 meant literally praise. I think it is a sign that 0:59:18.720 --> 0:59:21.760 when we praise God in the place where we are, 0:59:23.080 --> 0:59:25.680 I said, when we praise God in the place where 0:59:25.680 --> 0:59:31.800 we are, yeah, that God begins to move, that the 0:59:31.840 --> 0:59:37.160 oil begins to flow. And I don't run for nothing. 0:59:38.600 --> 0:59:43.240 Everybody runs, but I'm running for something. I'm running with someone. 0:59:43.600 --> 0:59:46.080 And the Lord told me that if I can't run anymore, 0:59:46.320 --> 0:59:51.080 he'll lift me up on wings like eagles. So I 0:59:51.160 --> 0:59:59.720 appreciate the cave, but I'm already covered. I appreciate the cave, 1:00:00.560 --> 1:00:04.280 but I'm already covered. Father, in the name of Jesus, 1:00:05.120 --> 1:00:07.800 I thank you for the blood that covers me today. 1:00:08.440 --> 1:00:10.440 I thank you for the times in my life that 1:00:10.520 --> 1:00:13.880 I've known it to be true that while I was 1:00:13.960 --> 1:00:20.120 praying in a cave, you were sending people Hallelujah. You 1:00:20.200 --> 1:00:25.160 were making plans, Thank you, Jesus, And you were fulfilling purpose, 1:00:26.320 --> 1:00:33.720 sending people, making plans, fulfilling purpose. I declare your word 1:00:33.800 --> 1:00:37.440 over this church. Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven says for 1:00:37.600 --> 1:00:41.800 I know the plans I have for you that just 1:00:41.840 --> 1:00:44.040 because we are not aware of them does not mean 1:00:44.040 --> 1:00:47.720 they are not active. God. I come against everything that 1:00:47.880 --> 1:00:51.160 shoved those kings in those caves. I come against everything 1:00:51.200 --> 1:00:55.320 that has told this child of God, this individual, that 1:00:55.400 --> 1:00:58.720 they will never be what you've called them. And right now, 1:00:58.760 --> 1:01:02.680 in the name of Jesus, I thank you for your covering, 1:01:03.200 --> 1:01:10.040 protecting presence over our families. Said, I allow, devil, in 1:01:10.080 --> 1:01:14.480 the name of Jesus, you can't have my kids. They're covered. 1:01:15.160 --> 1:01:17.440 Now start clapping like you know your kids are covered. 1:01:19.240 --> 1:01:24.640 Oh, thank you Jesus. I am cover. 1:01:31.760 --> 1:01:33.160 Try this devil. 1:01:34.280 --> 1:01:38.880 You can't have my mind it's covered. Can't have my 1:01:39.000 --> 1:01:45.600 heart it's covered. Can't have my vision is covered. And 1:01:45.720 --> 1:01:47.680 I declare that. 1:01:47.800 --> 1:01:54.640 In Christ, I am a new creation. I am a 1:01:54.920 --> 1:02:00.120 child of God, and I'm running this race in the 1:02:00.120 --> 1:02:03.960 strength of Jesus. Come on, give God a great prayer. 1:02:05.960 --> 1:02:16.560 Hit back to Judah. Hit back to Judah. There's a strong, annoying. 1:02:16.600 --> 1:02:18.800 Bow your head, close your eyes. Somebody needs to come 1:02:18.840 --> 1:02:21.320 to Jesus right now. You need to run to Jesus 1:02:21.440 --> 1:02:24.760 right now. He's already running to you. The Bible says 1:02:24.800 --> 1:02:27.040 in the story of the Prodigal Son, the father ran 1:02:27.160 --> 1:02:31.080 toward his son. God is running towards you, running with forgiveness, 1:02:31.280 --> 1:02:34.520 running for your redemption, running to receive you with arms 1:02:34.520 --> 1:02:37.440 open wide. All you gotta do is repent. All you 1:02:37.520 --> 1:02:39.960 got to do is say God, I'm here. I'm sorry 1:02:40.000 --> 1:02:42.360 that I ran from you. I was running from you 1:02:42.400 --> 1:02:44.840 when I should have been running to you. There's somebody 1:02:44.880 --> 1:02:48.520 here today. You need to receive Jesus. This is your chance. 1:02:48.880 --> 1:02:50.800 I want to pray a prayer with you. If you 1:02:50.840 --> 1:02:53.560 will pray this prayer from your heart. The Bible says 1:02:53.560 --> 1:02:56.560 that God will hear you from heaven. He will forgive 1:02:56.640 --> 1:02:59.640 your sin. He will give you his grace, and he 1:02:59.680 --> 1:03:02.760 will make you new. You will be born again, You 1:03:02.880 --> 1:03:06.760 will be saved. This is your moment. Repeat after me, 1:03:06.880 --> 1:03:11.600 Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior. 1:03:12.480 --> 1:03:16.840 And I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of 1:03:16.880 --> 1:03:21.680 God and the savior of the world. And today I 1:03:21.840 --> 1:03:26.080 make Jesus the lord of my life. I believe he 1:03:26.160 --> 1:03:31.200 died that I would be forgiven and rose again to 1:03:31.240 --> 1:03:36.480 give me life. I receive this new life. This is 1:03:37.160 --> 1:03:39.920 my new beginning on the counter of three shoots your 1:03:39.920 --> 1:03:41.200 hand up if you prayed that prayer. 1:03:41.200 --> 1:03:44.080 I want to celebrate you. What two? Three? Shoot it up, 1:03:44.120 --> 1:03:46.040 Shoot it up, shoot it up. 1:03:46.880 --> 1:03:49.800 I see it. God bless you. 1:03:51.280 --> 1:03:56.959 Incredible. Come on, we can do better than that. I said, 1:03:57.040 --> 1:03:58.320 we can do better than that. 1:04:01.520 --> 1:04:06.880 Yeah, man, high five. At least three people say I'm 1:04:06.920 --> 1:04:13.480 running for a reason. Campus pastors, you can have it, Valentine, 1:04:13.560 --> 1:04:17.120 look at me this week. You got something to run for, 1:04:18.400 --> 1:04:21.520 and you got someone to run with. You are not 1:04:21.640 --> 1:04:25.800 alone in this thing, you hear me. I know it 1:04:25.840 --> 1:04:30.800 feels lonely to be chosen. Sometimes you're not alone, You're chosen. 1:04:32.400 --> 1:04:36.200 The two feel the same. Sometime you're not alone, you're chosen. 1:04:37.200 --> 1:04:42.120 Tell somebody you're chosen. That's why you're running. That's why 1:04:42.120 --> 1:04:46.880 the devil's chasing you. You're chosen. But guess what, what 1:04:46.960 --> 1:04:50.000 I'm running toward is greater than what I'm running from. 1:04:50.040 --> 1:04:55.479 So I'll see you on the next slap and now, 1:04:55.560 --> 1:04:59.160 unto him, lift your hands. Who is able to do 1:04:59.240 --> 1:05:01.880 immeasurably more than you ask or imagine. 1:05:02.120 --> 1:05:05.600 To him, be glory through Christ Jesus in the church. 1:05:06.160 --> 1:05:11.200 Now and forever. I find somebody say, run your race. 1:05:13.600 --> 1:05:16.160 Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of 1:05:16.200 --> 1:05:19.160 you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of 1:05:19.200 --> 1:05:22.160 you that this ministry is possible. You can click the 1:05:22.160 --> 1:05:25.920 link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch 1:05:26.080 --> 1:05:29.320 dot org slash podcast for more information and if you 1:05:29.400 --> 1:05:32.640 enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it 1:05:32.680 --> 1:05:34.960 with your friends. You can click the share button, take 1:05:35.000 --> 1:05:37.360 a screenshot and share it on your social stories and 1:05:37.400 --> 1:05:40.280 tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God 1:05:40.280 --> 1:05:45.680 bless you