Cutting Corners

Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today.

Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.

Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving.

In your life. Enjoy the message.

One of my friends was saying to me, I don't want this series to end, and I was like, man, it's fine. We haven't even got David to the throne yet. Okay, we're just getting started. He's not even a king yet, and we're looking at his life and we're taking our time so we can understand where he came from and what he was called to and how God brought him from where he was to where God ultimately wanted him to be.

And it's a model for our lives.

And we're looking at it from two perspectives, and hopefully the contrast over time will begin to show you some things about how God works in your own life. Because I don't read the Bible really like a history lesson For me, the Bible is at its best in my life when it's living and active, and so it's more like heart surgery, not just to learn about a character that existed long ago, but so that God can shape his character in my heart. And so I have a

I'm serious, I'm serious.

Even if my sermon is boring, God can say something to you through a boring sermon that can change your life.

So don't depend on me.

I might not get much sleep on Saturday night and I show up, I'm off but God has never sleep deprived, and he knows just what you need for your situation. But I'm excited about this today because David said in Psalm fifty seven, verse two, something that really.

Ministers to me.

It might be one of my favorite things that he ever said. He said, I cry out to God most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. If you really listened to what I just said and thought about the content of it, it'll make your blood pressure go down.

Let me read it again.

I cry out to God most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. If you listen to that and really get it, let me try one more time. I cry out to God most High. That means that he has all authority in my life. And no matter what people do to me, or no matter what life has handed me, God is above it, working through it to accomplish Watch this his purpose for me. And that's one thing that David shows us. He shows us again and again the importance of serving the purpose of God.

He shows us how to serve the purpose.

Go over to First Samuel twenty four, verse one, because this gives us the context in.

Which David wrote those words. I cry out to God Most High, to.

God who fulfills his purpose for me. David wrote these words not from a beach or from a hammock, because it's easy to write, or to talk, or to believe about God fulfilling his purpose for you. When you are moving toward what you consider to be your purpose. It is one thing to pin those words when you are headed toward what you believe to be your destiny. It's another thing to say that when everything is headed in the wrong direction.

When we catch up with David and first Samuel twenty four, verses one through eight, is they're about to see.

Everything is moving away from what David is ultimately headed toward. But he's able to see something in this, and I want to share it with you today. For Samuel twenty four, verse one, after Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told David is in the desert of Hingeti. So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the crags.

Of the Wild Goats. By the way, when God has purposed for.

You to do something significant, expect the enemy to send out his special forces That might be why your life has been so hard, Not because God is not with you, but maybe God is so distinctively with you. Maybe his plan for your life is so intimidating and threatening to the devil that there's no way he's going to let you ascend to your purpose.

Without an attack.

That might be why you're fighting right now. And so David is on the road to royalty, but it will not be an easy road. David is on the road to influence. David is on the road to purpose, but it will not be It will not be easy for David or for you. And he's running as a refugee, although he's anointed as a king, and the circumstance he finds himself in completely contradicts the calling that he believes

To relieve himself.

Now, when the Bible says relieve himself, it means relieve himself.

Can we leave it at that?

People of God, you can do the Hebrew and the Greek, and the Latin and the Spanish.

I'm gonna resist.

There's some things that I want to say right now. I'm gonna save it. I'm gonna save those things. This is the spiritual service. This is all the people who really love God. So if I say what I want to say about that verse, because anyway, don't do it.

Don't do it.

If you knew what I was fighting back, watch David and his men were far back in the cave.

The men said, holy crap, I told you.

The men said, this is the day the Lord spoke up when he said to you, I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish. And then David crept up, unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's rove. I want to talk to you today about cutting corners because the scripture promises that God will fulfill his purpose for you. David said that, and then he demonstrated that.

I wonder if you really.

Believe that God will fulfill his purpose for you, or are you stressed out because you are trying to fulfill God's purpose for someone else. You know, we live in a day in time where we're only one click away from seeing how someone else raises their kids, and before long you can start to compare your purpose to their purpose. But touch somebody and say, God didn't call me to.

Fulfill your purpose.

So please do not judge me according to the standards of what God gave you, because my stewardship is not of your purpose. So I don't have to feel bad about the gifts that God did not give me. If I am fully maximizing the ones that He did. All I gotta do this will set you so free. All I've got to do is completely commit my heart to god purpose for me. Now it's a funny thing because what my podium understands and my microphone understands, I, as

And fearful, trying to do something. All custom testure, why isn't this working?

Because you have a purpose, and when you put the pressure on yourself to fulfill a purpose that God did not intend for your life, of course you're stressed out of course you can't sleep. Of course you feel like a failure. But God said, what I'm putting you is for you, and you are not responsible for anybody else's results. I feel Jame's falling off of somebody. Serve the purpose that God has given you.

That's what David did.

Notice that he never sought the position of king, never once. We live in a world that talks a lot about finding your purpose. But I wonder if what we're really doing is seeking a position and confusing position with purpose.

Can I preach a little bit.

When Paul talked about the body of Christ, he said, sometimes the ushers in the church are more important than the preacher. He didn't say it just like that, that we are many members one body, and the parts that you cannot see are the ones that sustain the life function of the body.

The parts that you can.

See you can do without your pinky. Sometimes the preacher is like the pinky. You see it, but if it wasn't there, it could still happen. But sometimes it is the stuff that is unseen. David understood how to serve the purpose of God.

So if we ever get to hang out and you ask me.

How will I know what God's purpose for my life is I won't have an answer to give you because only you can discover that.

But I can tell you how to discover it. Serve.

That's all that David ever had to do was to serve the purpose of his current assignment. And when you serve the purpose God, we'll give the promotion.

Let me tell you something.

You don't want a promotion that God doesn't give you.

You really don't.

You don't want a husband, that God doesn't give you a wife, That God doesn't give you a job, that God doesn't give you a responsibility, that God doesn't give you. All I want to do is serve the purpose of God.

That's what David did. There's one song I really love it. It's kind of got a vibe.

Do you remember that song from like one hundred years ago that Drake did called Started from the Bottom. It has that kind of vibe from that song. It's talking about David. This is Psalm seventy eight. I didn't get to it last night, but y y'all again, this is the advanced service, So I'm going to.

Do it with y'all.

But God, the Bible says, shows David his.

Servant.

God shows did his servant. This is how David came into the kingship. Not by standing in line for an opportunity, but God took David, his servant, chose him and took him from the sheep pins.

What was David doing.

In the sheeppin serving his purpose in a minimum waste job. David served his purpose. And when you serve purpose, you don't have to search for purpose. Purpose will find you.

You don't have to seek the position.

When you are in the position where God has placed you. God knows where to look. God knows where to find you. God knows when to raise you. God knows when to promote you. You don't have to worry about the platform.

Serve your purpose.

God took David from the sheep pins and made him a king, not because David sought the position, but because David served the purpose. Serve the purpose. Then you can have confidence in the promise. God has given you a promise. But you've got to number two. I only got three points. We're making excellent time guard the promise. I really want to minister this deeply. Holy Spirit, help me get this across. I think sometimes we assume that when God makes us a promise, that the promise is automatic.

Because the word of the Lord is sure.

But I've learned that the promises of God often in our lives get perverted. I noticed another thing sometimes is that, well, we'll take something and call it a promise, but it is only a partial promise. And so we take things that we like the way they sound in the Bible. Sometimes, at least I do this. You probably don't. But every

Of the promise.

Where Paul was right, a church of people who had learned to be generous, and in their learning to be generous, it released the abundance of God to their situation. Because when you learn to live with open hands, you live under an open heaven.

The context of the.

Promise is that God will supply all of your needs if you are living in accordance with His priorities. But in order for God to release his provision, you have to submit to his priorities. Yeah, it is good. It's good because it works. This other stuff doesn't work when you take a little piece of a promise. If you ever want to take a little piece of a promise, a little piece of a promise, like I like that. I want to pray that God will bless America and that I love stand beside her and God her. You

Don't even understand.

What's just see first the Kingdom of God and his righteous us, and all these things will be added to you. But the promise is contingent upon the process that produces it.

This is why I understand that David had to be very careful. Let's go back to the scene.

He said, he will fulfill his purpose for me.

That's what David believed, and he believed that so.

Much that he served his purpose even when his purpose seemed small, even when his purpose seemed insignificant, even if it was just leaving the sheep with the keeper of sheep and running running to the battle lines with the supplies for his brothers. David was willing to serve purpose because he had a promise. Somebody shout, I got a promise. You need to shout that thing. I got a promise.

Can do it in your life.

So David's hiding Indicave from Saul because Saul is coming for his life, and Saul represents the promise that God made to do when David was just a kid, that he was going to be a king. Saul represents what David is called to. And in a scene that you wouldn't put in the Bible if you wanted to make the Bible an impressive book, the first King of Israel is squatting in a cave and somehow he slipped his

And see what they're saying, it's partially true, kind of like the news that you watch. It's some truth in it somewhere. Maybe let's look at the verse.

Together and you can decide if this is what God promised David.

Verse four.

This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, I will give your enemy into your hands. So far, so good. That's exactly what God wanted.

To do for David.

But the next part, the next part is the part that I have searched Old Testament. I searched books about the Old Testament. I searched history of commentary, all these boring books that I was supposed to read in seminary, but I didn't read them. And now I'm having to read them because I actually need to know that stuff.

And I couldn't fight anywhere in any book. God ever said this to David.

To deal with as you wish.

Wow, you see what's happening.

Here comes an opportunity for David to get what God has promised him. For God to make it happen. I must squat down like Saul, just so you can get the picture, just so you can get the picture.

Of how vulnerable he was. And Saul was a sitting duck.

You remember week one, I was talking about duck David when Saul was throwing spears at David.

Now now Saul is the duck.

And David can do whatever he wants to do. He got something strange, and.

It's strange because number one, he doesn't kill him.

Number Two, we've never seen him do this before. David did something that he's never done before.

He cut a corner.

And I see to understand why this is so strange, you got to remember that whatever David did, he did.

It with his whole heart.

David was not one to cut corners. David was not one to skip stages. David was not one.

David was not the kind David was not the kind of person who would try to do God's thing his own way.

But now the.

Bible says, in the face of this opportunity, this unexpected opportunity, Because you don't know what's in your heart.

Until you have an opportunity, you.

Can theorize a lot about what you would do if but now is the moment where David has to prove do I really believe the promise of God? Or am I going to take this into my own hands and do it my way? And so he sneaks up and he has a sword with him. It's the same sword he killed Goliath with, probably because he took it from the temple at Knob, and he took it from the priest, and he took it and killed some Philistines with it.

But the Bible says in verse five.

That when he did it, when he cut the corner, when he.

Took matters into his own.

Hands, the Bible says afterward, David was conscience stricken.

For cutting off a corner of his role.

Why Why would David feel bad about killing somebody who was trying to kill him. Why would David in his conscience feel bad about avenging himself from a king.

Who was dangerous to the entire nation.

You know what I believe, I believe that what was happening inside the cave can only be understood by remembering what was outside the cave. If you noticed when I was reading in verse three, it described the exact physical location of this cave. It says that the cave was situated just behind put the verse up the sheep pens.

That's where David came from.

Follow me, please, Now inside the cave. Here's Saul with a robe that represents what David is called to. David is in between where he came from and what he's called too. Now, how many know that what you are called to is more important than where you came from?

Do you believe God.

Can raise you up, call your name.

Call you out, clean you up, turn you around, and use you for his glory. God need somebody in rock Hill to shout.

If you believe, it doesn't matter where you started from. When God calls you, he can pick you up from the sheep pins, still smell like Tom and bring you into a destiny.

But your eyes have not seen, in your ears have not heard.

What you are called to matters more than where you came from. Turn to the verses next to you and tell him where you came from.

What did you tell him?

You didn't tell him the whole thing. You told him the name of a town. I came from the corner Monk's Corner, to be exact. You want to mess with me Monk's Corner mafia. But you don't know about that, and we don't have time to discuss it, because I gotta get the next service in here.

David came from the sheep pen.

Now the sheep pin is outside, and Saul is inside, and Saul is what he's gonna be, and the sheeppin is what he was. And he cuts the corner of the row, and his conscience is stricken because.

He realized, I'm not that kind of king.

What I'm called to is more important than where I came from. But you know what, there's something more important than where you started, and there's something more important then where you're going, and it's how you get there. I found out that how you make money means more than how much you have and the priority that it has in your life. If it becomes your god while you're getting it, it will.

Not serve you.

You will serve it, and you will wonder why am I.

Rich and miserable? Oh there's miserable. Rich people in the house. They feel bad about it too, because they thought if they got it, if they got it.

There's a certain expectation attached if I if I get it, if I get it, if I get it, I'll be But when you get it in a way that is empty, when you get it in a when you cut corners to get it. If you miss your kids growing up to be successful at your job, you will have the success that you sacrificed for, But what you will have sacrificed to get it will make you wonder if any of it was worth it. David had a moment. It says that he was conscience stricken and he remembered who

He picked up.

He picked up with a motivational speech to his men. Now remember these men are an army information. But he turns to his men and says verse six, the Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, or lay my hand on him, for he is the anointed of the Lord.

And I don't cut corners.

That's not who I am. That's not how I do it.

I will not become something that I'm not in the pursuit of what I want. And yes, I'm called to be a king, but not like this. I didn't get here cutting corners. I started as a shepherd. I did start at the bottom. But I will not climb to the top on the back of my principles and my morals. If I do this myself, I'm going to be responsible for the outcome. But if I leave it up to God, if I don't cut corners, David said, I'm.

I'm better than this, not like this, Not like this.

Sometimes what you want isn't the problem.

It's the way you go about getting it.

There was nothing wrong with David's desire to be king. God gave him that promise, but David knew that God can't honor the promise if I don't honor the process.

My applause is dying out. Boy. When I was preaching.

About promises, we were about to take off, we were going somewhere, and I just shut the whole thing down because we had to go back to the sheep pin and remind ourselves of who called us to begin with, and if he called me and if he made the promise.

That means that it's not.

Just important where I end up, but how I get there.

It's not just important if.

I get it, it's how I get it, because the way that I get it will determine who I am when I get there. I'm not this kind of king. I can't do it like this. I want it, but there are certain things I won't do to get what I want. Those of you who are single need to

Any of that. Tell him this.

I just need you to know because I think you're cute, and I need you to know because you might be special. I need you to know. I enjoy spending time with you. But I don't cut corners. So we're gonna do this God's way because I tried some other ways.

And I watch what happens when I do God's will my way.

Oh, I'm preaching this thing. Tell somebody say I don't cut corners. I don't cut corners. It's not just important to me that I get there. I want to get there.

The right way.

I suck at this sometimes I try to get the right thing the wrong way. I want to fight with people on Facebook.

And I'm right and they're wrong.

I've got this thing in me to where there.

Are times where I just want to.

Say some things, some things that you would say too.

But I can say I'm real good because I do words professionally. It's my job. It's my job. So what I do.

I go on and write comments back to people. I cut corners, and then while I'm writing it, I know I got to delete it, but I still complete it, and.

Then I delete it.

And then I realize, you know, you can't respond to critics with the same hate that you despise in them and expect to change anything. Not like this, not like this to somebody saying not like this. Yeah, God wants you to have it, but not like this. That's why we need to be so careful church. There's a lot of hatred in the world. There's a lot of bigotry.

In the world.

There's a lot of ignorance in the world. But we can't fight ignorance with ignorance. We can't fight hate with hate. There has to be a higher law called love. I want justice, but if I have to sink to the same level of the people I'm trying to change.

Not like this, Not like this, I feel God on that.

Not like this, I honor process. I put my sword away because the kingdom will not be established by me cutting off Malcus's ear is established with a cross.

When Jesus went to.

Die, all his disciples could say, is not like this. We got to take over, We got to make it happen.

And Jesus said, not like that. I did.

You got the right robe, but the wrong way. You got the right desire. Is nothing wrong with your desire. There is nothing wrong with your desire. What you want is from God. But it is what you will do to get it that will determine whether or not you can keep it and walk in it. When you do, I cry out to God Most High.

He fulfills his purpose for me. You know what that means. I don't.

I'm not saying that I don't plan, that I don't strategize, but I recognize that every opportunity is not God, and I want what God wants me to have when God wants me to have it how God wants me to get it.

That's it. Not like this. I don't cut corners. I don't do it my way. I don't retaliate, not like this.

Sometimes I find myself parenting my kids and I'm trying to get the right behavior by demonstrating the exact behavior I'm trying to correct.

Shut up, elige it, I'll say him into that.

I'm screaming at my kids to get their emotions under control. Figure that one out at the top of my voice, contry yours out. Not like this, because now the very behavior that I'm trying to is the spirit I'm exemplifying.

And I found out something. I found out you can do it.

You can actually control an environment with anger.

You can actually shut an.

Argument down just by being the loudest one. You can actually manipulate people into going where you want to go by pouting. But what will you have when you get your way.

You'll be lonely.

And you feel guilty, and you'll have a corner of a robe when God wanted to give you the whole thing.

Come on, come on, not like this.

I honor the process.

And here's the promise. If I honor the process. God will honor me.

If I honor the process, God will.

Honor the promise.

If I honor the process, he will be again a good work in you will be faithful to performing.

I do cut corners.

I want God's will, God's way. I want God's will, God's way, and if I try to make it happen, I'm responsible for it. But the scripture didn't say I have to fulfill my purpose for God. It said he fulfills his purpose for me. Switch the position. Switch the position. You've been trying to do it for God. Let him do it for you. You've been trying to work it out in your own strength, in your own power, with your own mind. He wants to fulfill this purpose.

For you.

I want you to stand because I believe that many of us are at a point of decision like David was. And the decision is, am I going to trust God for the outcome with obedience. Am I going to let God do his job? Am I going to let God decide when the time is right? Or Am I going to manipulate my situation to resemble something that looks like God's will but it's really not.

Oh, I prayed about this message. I pray about all my messages.

One of my friends told me one time, he said, you do realize you don't have to work so hard on your sermons. He said, nobody would know the difference, but I would. That's not the kind of preacher I.

Want to be.

That's not the kind of preacher I want to be. That's not the kind of person I want to be.

I don't cut corners.

I want to do it with all my heart. I mean, I've got to when I remember where.

He brought me from. I didn't get here cutting corners. I didn't get here being fake. I didn't get here trying to control situations.

He will fulfill his purpose for me.

The only way he won't is if I don't let him.

If I cut corners.

And God has got you in the process right now of something that he's bringing to pass in your life. I want you to make a commitment right now. If you want to lift your hands, you can, you don't have to. But if you want to lift your hands,

Way, he positioned himself with surrender.

If I honor the process, God will honor the promise. Have you got a promise today?

Have you got a promise today?

Have you got a promise from him who said I will never leave you nor forsake you. Have you got a promise today?

Stay in the process.

It took five more years before Saul died and David became king. But you know what, when Saul died, David was ready. When you honor the process, God will schedule the promise.

Father.

We thank you today for your exceeding, great and precious promises. That's what your word calls them. We thank you for your incorruptible word. We thank you for everything that you have spoken over our lives. And we confess before you today that there have been times where we have taken shortcuts and cut corners. But we have our hands lifted in your presence to surrender our lives and our will

You need to move out.

We're gonna stop moving the pieces around and getting all up in your way. We're gonna stop trying to do it in our own strength. We're gonna stop responding in the flesh to spiritual principalities. Here before you today, God, we don't even want the shortcut. Have your way in our lives. We want to get there in your timing. We want what you want us to have. Do your thing, have your way. You are God, and we are not. As we look to the guilture, we look with great faith.

Come on, Brace is not your fast. Brace your last phrase fase. Thank you for joining us.

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God bless you