FEB 24 2018 | David the Fugitive S1E4 | 1 Samuel 23

Sea Change Church · David the Fugitive S1E4 · "1 Samuel 23" · Adam Stadtmiller · February 24, 2018
1 Samuel 23
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Good morning. I'm doing the scripture reading this morning. It's yeah, I'm Alex. I'm one of the leaders from Surf Church. If you surf and want to come check it out Thursday nights next door, seven o'clock. Yeah, so the scripture reading today, 1 Samuel 23, verse one to six. When David was told, look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors. He inquired of the Lord saying, shall I go and attack these Philistines? The Lord answered him, go attack the Philistines and save Keilah. But David's men said to him, here in Judah, we are afraid. How much more than if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces?

Once again, David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered him, go down to Keilah for I'm going to give the Philistines into your hand. So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and save the people of Keilah. Now Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah. The word of the Lord.

Thanks, Alex. Tall drink of water. I keep getting huge men up here. Like I'm just, you know, last week we had Garrett and so, yeah, awesome. Hey, good to have you this morning. Great to see all of your beautiful faces here today. I hope you love coming to church as much as I do. I literally, I start looking forward to it on Thursday and what God's doing here.

The culture you're creating, we're just, we're blessed. We want to see more and more of that here. And just as a father, it's awesome to watch your kid want to worship and praise the Lord. And I definitely was not that kid. At the moments I was, but it's pretty special. So that's, that's one thing kids, and I've learned this. One of the best ways to bless your parents is follow God. Like they just like that. So they do like that. Hey, uh, we are talking about David. We are in, uh, the David series. We're in part two. We did the giant, uh, was part one. We did about 10, 12 weeks of him as a kid and kind of being raised up. And now he's on the run.

Saul has put him on the run because of his jealousy clutching to the kingdom. And we're in the series called the fugitive. We're going to do that for a couple of weeks after Easter. And then moving into some other, um, series. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do yet. And then we'll be coming back probably in the fall with David is the King. And so, uh, it's really interesting. One of the main books that has really influenced me in my thinking, uh, is a book by Jean Edwards and it's called, um, the three Kings.

And so if you want to read that book, it's a very, um, uh, underground book, but it's really well known in certain circles. It's a great book to check it out. One of the things I want to start with today is this. David did not know how to live without creating a culture of victory. This is something, uh, that was foreign. Uh, the capitulation other than capitulating his spirit to God in surrender in humility was something that was foreign to David, but living in victory with a culture of victory, even when he was on the run was something that came second nature to David.

Not only was it second nature, it was almost an unconscious competence. Uh, some of you have that you're in the kitchen and you can just, you can just look in a fridge and you can figure out what it needs to be. And it turns out to this amazing gourmet meal. It's just, you don't have to think about it. You know what flavors go together or perhaps it's in an athletic sport. Things just come naturally to you.

Wayne Gretzky said, they said, what makes you so great? He said, well, I don't know if I'm great, but what I do know is this is in the most intense, stressful moments, I get more peaceful. And one second seems like three seconds to me. That's a nice gift as an athlete, right? You know, one second always seemed like a millisecond to me. You know what I mean? Just crazy. I just don't have that gear.

I've just been a B plus athlete, B minus probably. So, you know, unlike some of you and David had this unconscious competence that was always creating a culture of victory and victory comes along with deliverance. I believe it's impossible to have victory without having some form of deliverance attached to it. I spoke last week about a culture and I think it's really important that in our culture that we are not only honoring, but understanding those that have been oppressed in a culture.

And I think it's really important that we highlight those things, especially the church. The church has been doing this for a very long time, caring for the poor. My brother works for a ministry in London. He was on the BBC this week. You'll see it on my Facebook page where he was helping those that are oppressed in London, refugees and different people that come in.

The church has been so good at identifying people that are oppressed. But what we want to be careful with is we can understand the victim, but we want to help the victim become the victor. We want to help the victim to move out of this and away from a culture that turns victimhood into a continuing identity. I saw one recent, someone recently posted, I thought it was an interesting quote.

They said, if you turn all victims into heroes, who will save you on the day the bear comes? And I think it's a really interesting point that we need to raise people up. Because David, as we learned last week, had the ability, when all these people came to him, it says the oppressed came to him, those that were on the run themselves, those that were desperate, the same type of people that came to Jesus.

And Jesus, it says, and David, it says, became their captain. And they began to lead to a place where they sought and learned how to become victorious. And I hope you can understand that balance. David was a king that was on the run. He was anointed as king, but he wasn't in his kingship yet. And maybe you understand that. David was never seeking to be king.

That's one thing that's really interesting. And I don't see it in the Psalms where he says, I'm king. I should get this. I deserve this. There was no entitlement with David. David was just who he was. And as part of being who he was, he was kingly. But beside being a kingly feature or having kingly features and a kingly ability, he also had an anointing from God to move into that next gear.

David couldn't help but live in a culture of victory. And my question to you is, is when you were on the run, are you using it to pivot into victory or are you becoming weaker and weaker? The thing that we see immediately here from the first move that David makes when he runs from Saul is he goes to a place where he is sustained with the bread of the Lord.

Because where does he run to? He always runs home. The first place he ran to was Nob where the Ark of the Covenant was. And so he physically did in his own life what he was doing invisibly in the spirit in his own life. As we read the Psalms, we can see that back story. The last couple of weeks, if you look in the notes, I've had the Psalms as the back story of what's happening.

My question is, when you go on the run, where do you run to? And do you run to a place that makes you weaker? Do you run to the bar? Do you run to the pills? Do you run to a relationship that isn't going to further you? That's going to diminish you? Where do you run to? David was strategic in his running. And he rarely, if ever, ran anywhere that didn't make him stronger.

And so he would move. He was very wise. We talked about that last week. And if you want to hear about how he did that, you could. But David acted like a king despite his circumstances. And so in your circumstances, I've got to ask you, who are you acting like? Are you acting like a chosen one? Are you acting like a beloved son or daughter of the king that has God's anointing?

You know, God does his best work when we're on the run. I believe that David was best when he was on the run. David seems to me, the David that I want to follow, seems more in tune with the father when he was running from Saul and running from his son Absalom. It's when he became the king, as we'll see in the next series, that he started to have some issues.

And blessing has its own pitfalls that come along with it. David acted like a king despite his circumstances. One of the things I like here is David had gone to the Philistines. Philistines had five major cities that they had different kings over. And he went to one and he tried to seek refuge there right after he left Nob. He left Israel territory, Israelite territory, and went there.

But they realized that he was king and he was under threat. And so he took off. And then we know, I don't think we have the map today. But he took off and he went all the way down to Moab. Because he had Moabite blood in his. And he left his parents there. Stayed in the stronghold for a while. Once again, going from the ark where the Lord was to a stronghold.

Continually thinking, where is the next place I'm going to go that is going to make me strong? And then he comes back and he finds out in this passage, as he goes to the forest of Horeth, which is in Israelite territory there where Saul could come and look for him because he was told by the prophet Gath, leave the stronghold. And sometimes God will tell you to leave the stronghold because he has somewhere for you to go.

And as he's there, he hears about a town in Judah that is being attacked. Now, when push comes to shove and you're on the run, are you thinking about how you were going to deliver other people? Or are you thinking about how I'm going to save my own hide? What I love about David is he had an unconscious competence that allowed him to constantly be thinking how I would deliver people.

He was a deliverer. That's a great question for me. I want to create a culture of deliverance at this church. And one of the things you'll see in your notes is that David constantly created a culture of deliverance. He was all about delivering people from the bondage that overtook them, whether it be financial. Some people were in, you know, debtors had issues with debt and all kinds of things.

They came to him because they knew this person would help set me free. I mean, question. When was the last time you helped someone get free? Besides yourself. When was the last time you cried tears for someone besides yourself? It's a great question. A culture of deliverance in our life. One of the things that I like seeing here is hearing more and more stories of deliverance.

Seeing more and more people move to a greater area of inheritance, of abundance, of blessing. I was listening to Chance the Rapper this week and been kind of getting into trying to understand what is going on in different areas of culture that I'm not familiar with. And he says, as you know, when the praises go up, the blessings come down. And that is so true.

There are so many areas in our life that if we do things before God, like praise or help deliver other people, what you cast out will come back to you. The seeds that you sow. And trust me, if you worked more at other people's deliverance than your own, I have a strange feeling that the scripture talks about something that says, you will be more delivered than if you work on your own deliverance constantly.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't have some self-focus on the issues that we struggle with. That we need to be focused on having our own delivery. But I would say, what would it look like if you started trying to help other people? If you mentored somebody? If you came along and were a sponsor in perhaps a group that you're a part of, a 12-step group or whatever it is, constantly living in deliverance.

One of the blessings of being a pastor at a church is having the ability, now not all churches do this, but having the ability to create a culture of deliverance. Deliverance has momentum. When people get delivered from illness, when people get delivered from thoughts of negativity, this week I was talking to Kai on the phone, and they had some specific challenges and health things and different things going on, and Kai's one of our elders.

And I had lunch with him earlier in the week where we talked, and he said, you know, we just don't have time or the effort to think about what could go wrong. We need to just keep pressing in to trying to have victory. And later in the week I got a text from him where he took his son, Zach, when they went skiing last week. And they were going down the hill, and he's behind his son.

You know, and perhaps you know Zach from our congregation. This awesome picture is they're going on black diamonds together, and Kai's right behind him. And I love that him and Bev are warriors. Later in the day someone, I got another text with him and Zach. They're living the bachelor lifestyle from the TV show. They're in a plane. Someone has gifted them with a plane ride, and they are up flying.

And I get a picture of Zach and Kai in a plane. I'm like, I want that life. You know, I just love that your elder, I mean, Kai and Bev, and I can talk about a ton of people, but they are such an inspiration to me because they're warriors. And no matter, you know, they said, the reason we say lock shields is because they said that, he said that one up here, when they said, what have you guys done with your marriage?

He said, we've just locked shields together. And I love that example of people in the congregation that want to move towards deliverance. Do you want to move towards deliverance? Are you going to lay down in the valley of the shadow of death? David wrote, Psalm 23, as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I say that over and over again.

I will preach that over and over again because it is so easy to lay down. I want to say, start being in deliverance. Deliver people, and you will see deliverance come. So he says in verse 2, what shall I do? Shall I go attack these Philistines? I love that. David's creating a culture of deliverance. Jesus did the same thing. Galatians 1.3. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who what? Who gave himself for our sins to rescue us all from this present evil age. You know what I love about David and Jesus? I believe that they were somewhat reckless. Now, I'm in this Facebook conversation right now about that song we just sang, Reckless. And there's, I don't usually get into Facebook conversations, okay? I just don't do it.

But somebody is saying, well, you shouldn't sing that song because God's not reckless. We've gone back and forth, back and forth. And it might be or it might not be. And it is a song. I tend to like it. But one of the things that I would say, at least for David, and I would say for God himself, is he was willing to risk everything to save the lost.

God emptied heaven of its jewel to send Jesus. Reckless. David never lost the ability to risk it all to save others. I just like that. He had a reckless abandon. And no matter what you think about the theological implications of that song or not, because we all can do that. We have songs about sloppy wet kisses. You've heard that one as well. You know, we're trying to figure out the balance between our artistry and, you know, pure worship.

David kept risking to save others. I mean, I got to tell you what, people are going to follow that. Let me just tell you. And not to be a martyr. You see, David wasn't trying to be a martyr, and he didn't ever brought it back up. Hey, look what I've done for you. Over and over again, I will risk myself so that others may be delivered. I got to say, that is a kingship calling.

That is the calling of kings. That is the calling of politicians. That is the calling of Christians. That is the calling of the military to risk ourselves. Even people that are in financial, of teachers, to risk ourselves that others might be lifted up. David did this. Can you pattern yourself off someone like that? David never lost his ability to risk it all for the right cause.

Saul, on the other hand, was living in a culture of capitulation, a culture of fear. When he became king, where did he go? He went and hid in the baggage. You know, David, what did he do? David went and killed Goliath. Saul was constantly afraid that the kingdom would be taken from him. Jonathan, who I love, Saul's son, even says to David, I will be your second in command.

He was willing to give up the kingship. Saul said to him, if this David, this boy from Bethlehem, continues to move forward, you will lose your kingship. Jonathan did not care. He held the keys to the kingdom lightly. That's a good word. However, there's very few things you should hold with a death grip. There's many, many things you should hold very, very lightly.

I would hold your wealth very, very lightly. I would hold your, you know, pride, other things, a title that you have very, very lightly. There's other things like your children, your love for God, your humility. These things you want to hold with a death grip. But other things we need to let go. David knew what to hold on to and what to let go of.

And that is so much of a deliverer. Because he was willing to risk it all, risk his own life. It's funny. If you're on the run because of your life, you don't go engage in battle, right? With Philistines that are stronger than you. Why did David not engage Saul? Because he was God's anointed. And this was a new battle for David. Because David knew, I do not touch the Lord's anointed.

David could have taken out Saul so many times. But God said no. This was a new enemy. This was an enemy that he could not raise a hand against. And this was somewhere where he did not have an unconscious competence. Because he had never fought a giant before that he could not touch. And God was going to say, in this one, you have to let me have the victory.

I say this regularly. How good are you at giving God margin for victory? Or is there a quick go-to of control every single time? You know, there's days here where I get overwhelmed. I don't know what to do. And I think, you know what I need to do? I just need to grind a little harder. Run a little faster. It'll be like two in the afternoon. And you think, you know what I'll do?

I'm just going to bounce. I'm out. God, you know what? You need victory today. Me grinding a little harder isn't going to do this one. I need to go spend some time in prayer. I need to go get a walk away. I need to take a nap. Whatever it is. I just need to get away and give you margin for the victory. I want to give God margin for victory. Are you giving him margin for the victory?

So the final question there is, Saul was constantly giving things away, hiding in the baggage, afraid things were going to be taken away. David was acting like the king that he knew he was. The question to you is, do you know who you are and do you act like it? I mean, really, do you know who you are as a child of God? The angels will one day stand back in awe when the children of God, you, walk by them.

It says they will stand back. C.S. Lewis says that if you were to see a glorified state of any, even the lowliest Christian, you would be tempted to bow down and worship if you saw them in their glorified state. You see, do you know who you are? Do you know that you are immortal? Do you know that you are a child of the king, affected with his love?

That the love of God rests on you, knowing who you are when you go out. David was willing to risk his own life, but he wasn't willing to risk his own life for the wrong things. And I got to say over and over again, I see a culture that is willing to risk their life and their health and their mental stability or whatever it is for all the wrong things.

We got to get our compass true north. David was gaining strength on the run. This is powerful. Strength on the run. This is one of the things that I had not seen before that has really stuck out to me as I've gone through this fugitive series. He just got stronger and stronger. Isn't that interesting? Imagine if your health struggle, emotional struggle, we talked about strongholds last week.

If you have anxiety, depression, loneliness, where are the physical strongholds you go to battle that? Are you battling it or are you just laying down and giving into it? I got to say, you do not have to give in to anything. You do not have to give in to anything. I'm not saying everything can be healed in this age. Sometimes we'll have thorns in the side that we'll press on, but you do not have to give in.

And one of the things with David and with Jesus is they never gave in. They never quit. Like Winston Churchill said, never give up. It had that stern ability to say, I will fight till I die after this one. And so he gained strength. Can we gain strength in a position of weakness? Well, the scripture says we can. For when I am weak, I am strong. But how are you gaining strength?

David was so strategic. He knew where to go. He knew who to surround himself in. He knew the things to do that caused him to grow and have strength along the way. Here's a few things that you'll see in the text. He fled with a few men. Then he had 400 two chapters ago. And now in 1 Samuel 23, 13, he has 600. He is having exponential growth of people flocking to him.

Why? Because he was a deliverer. Man, our culture needs deliverers. I mean, true deliverers. People are delivering mind, soul, body, spirit from the disease that is the world. He fled from the Philistines, but now he attacked them. Interesting. We're not much further into the story. He fled from the Philistines last time, but acted like a madman. So he wouldn't, you know, he would be able to get away and they would let him go.

But now all of a sudden he's inquiring of the Lord. Lord, do you want me to go on the attack? We talked about the Hebrew word for stronghold last week, that it can be interpreted to mean the hunter. I love that, that when you are on the stronghold, that you find a place, whether it be in prayer or a physical stronghold. We love the beach. I talked about my wife this last, over Lent.

She's getting in the ocean every day for 40 days during Lent. It is a strong place for her. And her emotions, her attitude, everything gets strengthened when she goes there. It is a physical place where the presence of God is. Where are these places where you become exponentially stronger? Or do you have them? Or do you keep going places that make you exponentially weaker?

A stronghold gives you ability as a thousand people to fight off 10,000 and actually puts the enemy in a place of weakness where they lose great numbers because of your ability to be in the stronghold. Whether that's prayer, and we want to have our spiritual strongholds match our physical strongholds. Where are these places that you go? David now has become the hunter.

And he goes out, but not without inquiring of the Lord. Number three, he left empty-handed, but now he possessed Goliath's sword. He possessed the ephod that had come down to him. The ephod we'll talk about in a moment was this vest that helped discern what God was saying. We'll talk about that in a moment and what that means. Four, he left with no provisions, but now he had gained livestock because of this victory over the Philistines and other plunder.

I like the idea of having plunder. Where are you plundering? You know, in regard to emotional territory. Are you demolishing strongholds, like it says in the New Testament, so that you can build up new strongholds of joy? I've been teaching my children on how to develop strongholds of joy. What does that look like? Joy is a thing that is earned. On occasion, it might come over you.

Heard someone yesterday, I was in line, and she said, I'm so happy. I'm just happy. I'm happy all this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened, and I'm happy because this happened. Joy happens because, not because you happen upon it, but because you choose to dive into it. And so I want to develop strongholds of joy. This makes me happy, but this makes me joyful.

And so God's presence, creating these cultures around your home, cultures of victory, cultures of deliverance, cultures of encouragement, cultures of joy, of peace. What is the culture? You create the culture in your home. David was creating a culture on the run. Men that respected him. He was respected. And he was a man who walked with dignity. And he was a man that others wanted to follow.

And I ask the question, does anybody want to follow you? You know, they told me, you've heard this before. If you want to know if anybody wants to follow you, look behind you. You'll see. If you're walking alone, maybe it's time to change your path. He left the fugitive, but now had become the deliverer. Or God was making his name great. And maybe you feel like a fugitive, but maybe God has a calling on you to be a deliverer.

Just because you're a fugitive right now in your life and the things that are happening in your life doesn't mean you can't be a deliverer. Let's get over worrying about ourselves so much and have eyes that are outward. Jesus didn't go to the cross thinking, oh, woe is me. Oh, this sounds horrible. Oh, me. I'm innocent. I'm innocent. I didn't do it.

I didn't do it. No, no, not me. Not me. No. No. It's not what Jesus did. Jesus went for the joy that was set before him. He went for you. He went for me. He went to the cross. No one killed him. He gave up his own life. He was not murdered. He gave his life over. Why? So that you might be delivered. That I might be delivered. Like Billy Graham said, that we might be delivered.

Jesus was a deliverer even on the cross. And you might feel that you are up on the cross right now. You might feel that you are in a place that you have never been in so desperate of a place before. And let me say that you can still have a calling of victory because we always have a calling of victory and a calling of deliverance. I want to have a group of people here that change the mindset that you're not a hero because you're a victim.

You're a hero because you overcame victimization. And you not only led yourself out of it, but you led others with you through Christ because he is the ultimate victor. Turn your notes over if you would as we come in for a landing. I love this. David regularly sought audience. Audience. That word came to me. I thought, what word am I going to use?

I love using words. What word? If we're going to create something during our week with God. I know we have our prayer list and I wrote a book about prayer list and I like it and it's cool. But I'll give up the prayer list for audience. Audience. When are you creating an audience with God? Where it's just you and him together. Where is that place that you go?

That place of audience where you meet with him? David again in verse 4 it says inquired of the Lord. He had an inquiry of the Lord. God I need to hear from you. And back then hearing was so different because now we hear internally. You see God desired that the Holy Spirit would live within us. That he might have complete union with us. And now our hearing and though we hear from outside and we hear speaking.

Ultimately the ultimate voice that speaks to us now is the spirit of God from within us. And it is a presence. And I have to say when it comes to making decisions for myself, for the church, for my family. It usually comes down, always actually, comes down to presence. Do I feel the presence of God upon this decision? I had somebody come up to me this week and they said, you know, there's a lot of decisions that have worked out here that I never would have made.

He said, I'm really surprised. You make these decisions. I would never make those decisions. It was actually Harry. He says, I would never make those decisions. He says, I wouldn't have hired me. I said, but I wouldn't have hired me either. And, but I just knew. Not that you know all, but it's a presence. I'm going to say audience. David, more than David wanted answers, David wanted presence.

Let's skip ahead to the bottom of the notes. But so many of us today would rather have answers than presence. God, what's my purpose? I don't know what your purpose is. Like, I know it's important. You know what your purpose is? Love God. Know God. He is your purpose. His presence. We worship at the idol of purpose. If I can just understand what I'm supposed to do, then I'll be happy.

Then I'll have joy and know that God loves me. No. You can know all that without him ever telling you anything about what to do with your life. God desires your presence. He desires you. He wants to spend time with you. And I want to encourage you over this next, you know, days we have left until Easter to maybe get away from seeking answers and start seeking audience with presence.

When was the last time you felt God's presence? You felt it. Or is the only time you feel it is when you come here on Sunday during worship? Are you able to, to harness it? You can't really harness the presence of God, but in order to sit in his presence. To know his presence. Back in the, in the Old Testament, they focused on this external hearing.

They had ephods. They had the, I think it's Urim and the Thummim, where they would throw like these dice and they would cast lots to figure out what God was saying and God would have to give a left or a right. Jesus died on the cross that we can have an eternal presence within us. That we might understand hearing through his presence more than some dice being thrown on the ground.

God wants to be with you in presence. Seeking God today is less about absolute answers and more about relationship. I would say Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purposes. You know what that verse says to me? If you decide to go left or right, or you turn around and go the other way in regard to your purpose, it don't matter.

Because God's going to work it out. Because he loves you. And he wants to be with you. And if I can do anything, and I say it all the time, if I can just let us as Western Christians just demolish the altar of personal purpose and rise up an altar of Jesus Christ and the Father and the Spirit and worship at that and be satisfied with the presence.

Because so many people, myself included, would rather have answers than presence. presence. And we want to be a people of presence. And I've got to say, if you walk around the streets with the glowing presence of God on you because you met with him that day, and there will be a difference. You'll know the difference. When you meet someone who walks in the presence of God, you will know it.

You will see them. There will be something that is absolutely different than anyone else you meet. I've got to say, it would be awesome to have all the right answers and to come to people, I've got the right answers from God. Go do this. Go left. Go right. Or if they sit with you and they experience a presence of God, that is the spiritual currency that we want to use.

That is where we want to live. And I want this to be a culture of presence. Not that God doesn't want to give you answers. Not that he doesn't want to tell you and say yes and no. He loves you walking into his purpose. But as you read the scripture, it's never been your purpose anyways. It always says, according to whose purpose? His. Fall back in love with Jesus.

Let me just give, just fall back in love with Jesus. Remember when you first met him? Remember what it was like? You didn't have all these questions, these theological things we figured out in Bible studies? Fall back in love with Jesus. That's what we want to do. We want to sit at his feet. We want to rest. You know, I don't want to have a really successful church that, you know, just blows up all the charts and never experienced the presence of God here.

Disneyland has crowds every day, but I don't know how much they're doing for the presence of God. Every day, crowds. We love crowds. Pastors love crowds. More crowds. I'd rather have three people in the presence, to tell the truth. And to wean ourself from the wrong type of victory. Looking for things, yes, they're successful because of this. You know, you never see the small church highlighted.

You never see the 22-person church with a write-up in some of the big Christian magazines. Let me talk about this 22-person church. They are just killing it for God. No. It's always, we've had quantum growth. I just want the presence. And hopefully you want the presence of will because the presence will deliver you. And we will become deliverers together.

Amen? Amen?