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.
Yo, I'm at Elevation child. I know y'all, know y'all how good you have it.
But sometimes you can get so close to something that you take it for granted and you're like, oh, this is church every Sunday, and you have no idea how blessed you are. People don't get to walk into places like this all over the world every Sunday. You are the favored of the Lord. Somebody say Amen. And one of the reason why God favors you the way that he does is because of the phenomenal leadership that God
has given you. And Pastor Stephen and Pastor Holly, come on, can you put your hands to get come on with these golf collaps?
Can you honor?
If you know anything about us preachers, we're a little extra. And I was thinking about Pastor Stephen and us pastors. We have these terms that we use and we kind of delegate him for only a few type of people. But we'll say certain people are generals of the faith, like you ever talk people about talking about like Billy Graham or whatever, generals of the faith. And when you think about a general, they're the one that gives the
orders for the army to march out. And I don't know if y'all notice that I probably shouldn't say this from a platform, but there are bootleg elevation churches all over the world following what you guys do here, and it's not copycat.
It's because God is.
Giving you a general that is setting the pace for the Kingdom of God. And we are grateful, grateful, grateful. And I'm not just saying this. Pastor Holly is one of my favorite preachers.
On the planet. Come on out. A lot of times when you think about preachers, you're.
Like, oh, are they funny? You know, love how they tell stories or breakdown the word. But there's some preachers that when they preach, it's not the stories, it's not the word. It's the fact that you can tell that person has been somewhere with God and they have proven God in their life, and it loses out of everything that she says. One last time, put your hands together, Come on, get your honor.
Ah thluyah.
Hey, before you take a seat, high five two people. Tell them I've got perfect church attendance this year. Come on, tell somebody I have not missed a Sunday in twenty twenty five. Hey, turn to your Bible to First Samuel chapter twenty one, First Samuel chapter twenty one. And while you turn there, I want to show you why I am more blessed that you are. And I know that sounds ignorant because blessings are not a competition. But it's
not a competition because I win and you lose. I am more blessed than you are because my family is better looking than your family.
Don't blame me, blame your mama.
But uh, they're gonna throw up a picture of my beautiful family. Standing on my far left is my beautiful wife. I call her my African Queen. She hails from Cile On, West Africa. Her name is Zai Chandler. She is the preacher of the family. I am on the backup Standing next to me on my right is my son. He is my twin. He's six years old. His name is Roman. His rapper name is Roro. Sitting on the bench is my beautiful Queen, my oldest she's eight. Her name is Zoe.
Her rapper name is Zozo. Then on my lap is my fallen angel, my three year old. Her name is Jade Mariah. Her rapper name is Jamo's. Somebody say Jamo. Can y'all do me a favorite? Can you pray for Jmo? She is not a Christian, she looks like an angel. She acts like a fallen angel. And we were praying for the salvation of that cutie pipe.
But I'm pumped.
I'm ready to preach because my children are in Maryland and I am in Charlotte, which means I got the bestly last night I've had in a long time. Don't tell them, Mama, but I am pumped. I'm ready to go. Last thing before I preach. I've got a brand new book coming out in just two weeks. Relationship road Maps. If you're single, come on, can you wave at me? Can you wave at me?
Put it?
Keep your hand up, keep a hand up, put it in the chat. One of the reasons you're single is because you run right to your car after church.
Linger in the lobby, look around the room.
There ain't a better place to get chose than in the House of God. But it's where everywhere where books are sold. And I'm telling you it's gonna be a blessing to you. Are y'all ready to work today? Not preach? Preaching ain't my job, it's our job. But God's gonna work through this text. It says this and for Samuel, chapter twenty one, verse six. And let me give you a little context before I preach it. This is the
period when David was running for his life. Saul had just thrown spears at his head, trying to kill him. Jonathan said, let me test out my dad and see if he's serious about these death threats. And Jonathan comes to David and said, no, no, he's serious. He's trying to kill you. You've got to run for your life. So David leaves everything, brings no weapons, brings no food. And ah, I'm not preaching yet, but the first place he runs to is to the House of God as
he is running for his life. This ain't even the message, but let me preach it already.
Hey, if you are.
Running from something, don't run to gossip, don't run to friends, don't run to confusion, run.
To the house of God.
This is in verse six says So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there but the showbread, which had been taken from before the Lord in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord, and his name was Doeg and eat a mite, the chief of the herdsman who belonged to Saul. Doeg worked for David's enemy, and not the message.
But just know that when you're in the presence of God, the enemy is going to try to whisper to you opposite of what God has promised you. And you've got to develop the discipline of blocking out the thoughts and the whispers of the enemy and being anchored in what God has said over your life.
Verse aid, and.
David said him, is there not here on hand a spear or sword?
For I have brought neither my sword.
Nor my weapons with me because the king's business required hays. Now he was lying, he ain't on no king's business. He's running for his life. So the priest said, the sword of Goliath, the philistine whom you killed in the value of Ela. There it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephought if you will take that, take it, for there is no other except that one here. And David said, there is none like it. Give it to me,
somebody shout, give it to me. When David arose and fled that day from before Saul and went to Akish, king of Gath, and the servants of Akish said to him, is this not David, the king of the land. Did they not sing of him to one another in dances saying Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands.
Here's the message.
Now, David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of.
Akish, King of Gath.
Before we pray, can you give your neighbor my sermon title, Look at your neighbor and tell them the battle made me.
Come on, tell somebody, tell somebody the battle.
What you're looking at on battle orn? Father God, we're grateful, We're thankful for this moment. We say that we trust in you. Got You're heired, healed, delivered, and transformed, open eyes to move supernaturally.
God, do what only you can do.
And God will be ever so careful to give you all the glory, honor, and praise in Jesus' name, we pray. Come on, shot at me like you shot at your kids. Somebody say amen and amen. I I'm not gonna lie to you. I feel a little bit uncomfortable coming with a message about David, and uh, don't judge me, but I feel like David, particularly David and Goliath, is like
elementary preaching. I feel like when you get your trial sermon and it's like, this is my first time preaching that you don't know what to preach.
David and Goliath is what you go for.
Why, because you can't mess up David and Goliath. You get up there. The little guy was against the big guy. He took a stone. God helped them. Giants will fall in your life. Aim you fold up your Bible, you step down. You successfully accomplished your first message. But for
some reason, I get stuck on these biblical characters. And in this season, I'm just stuck on David because you see, as the Bible walks through his life, the hand of God and God's favor on his life every single step of the journey, and it is impossible to see how God's hand is on David's life and not also recognize how God's hand has been on your life every single
step of the journey. When we are introduced to David, we find him in the backside of a wilderness taking care of sheep that was a servant's responsibility, but yet his father relegated him to something that honestly was beneath him. The priest showed up and said, God has anointed a new king, and it's none of these sons.
Is there not another?
So we see God plucking David out of his family that is not a called family, bringing him out of a place of wilderness to use him in a great way.
And it doesn't take.
Much to look at your story and realize that God plucked you out of your family and annoying you for a particular reason. Here on earth, can somebody testify that the part of the country I come from, my town, my community, my family, it does not actually produce what God is producing through my life, but the favor of God. We've got a church in Maryland. I get irritated every time I tell people my church is in Maryland.
Ooh, Baltimore. Is it like the wire. No.
But what they're saying is almost like Nazareth. Can anything good come out of Baltimore? No, except for the hand of God plucking somebody out of a place that God is ready to do something. As we walk through David's story, not only do we see God pluck him out of a family, but we see God pour oil on his head, anoint David, and we see David get results out of his life that are not equal to the effort that he puts in.
Just in case you were wondering what anointing is.
Anointing is when you put in human efforts and you get back supernatural results. When you look at the results you get back and you realize it is not equal to the effort I put in.
This was none other than the hand of God.
And if you would be honest, and I'll be honest with you, ain't a lot of honest people in church. You cannot take credit for everything that has happened in your life. I know you are edgumicated, I know you worked hard.
I know you put that.
Effort in, but the results you are seeing in your life are not comparable to the effort that you've put in.
It is none other than.
The hand of God on your life.
Be careful being.
Jealous of what somebody else has because you have no idea. They didn't get it based on their effort. They got it based on the favor you. Ever, we're family, y'all said it, so you're gonna get the family stuff. I get irritated when you run into certain people and they begin to take credit for things that they should not take credit for.
You run into a married couple.
I'm talking about real married couples, not like five years or ten years. I'm talking about thirty five years, thirty seven years, forty years.
Come on.
Now, you run into some folks that have been married for three or four decades.
Wow, how do I build a godly marriage? Like you? And they've got the nerve to give you an answer? Whaw? You know?
Yeah, just gotta be long suffering. You gotta keep knowing record of wrong. You gotta make sure that you for a give and make sure that you come. I'm sure you communicated, I'm sure you forgave, but homicide was on your mind at least one night. You made it thirty five years because of the favor and and mercy of God. When you look at David. You see him plucked out of his family. You see the anointing of God. You
also see outrageous victories that David won. And God just had a way of making David win in front of his haters. It wasn't just a victory in the backside of nowhere, but the exact brothers that said, how dare you leave those sheep? What are you doing here? Who do you think you are? They had to watch David defeat Goliath. They had to watch David be celebrated. If you would look back over your life, you would see victories that God brought because of his hand of favor.
Somebody shout Amen in his play. The problem with David's story, y'all know, preachers, all that was a setup is you don't just see God pluck David out of obscurity. You don't just see anointed for the supernatural. You don't just see massive victories in David's life. The Bible also shows us the battles that David had to fight that David wish he never had to fight. It doesn't just tell us about the anointing, and it tells us about the lion that jump on him, that he had to fight
for the sheep and fight for his life. And it tells us about the bear, It tells us about Goliath, it tells us about the time that he was in battle against his own son. As you look over the life of David, you see the favor of God, but you see battles that David wish he had never fought. And if you look back over your own life, you can see the favor of God. But we all see battles that we wish we never had to fight. Maybe it was battles with depression, maybe it was battles with sickness,
maybe it was battles with confusion, or relational battles. But we we all have battles in our stories that we would not wish on our worst enemy. And we sometimes ask God, why did I have to go through this? And here's what I've discovered, That you can waste a lot of time commiserating over all the battles that you've been through, that you can actually forget all of the blessings and favor and open doors of what God has done.
New Year twenty twenty five, let's go.
It is hard to find somebody that has something good to say about twenty twenty four. Man, so glad that year was over. Believe in God has more for me in a new year. And yes, you may have had some rough things in twenty twenty four, but I'm telling you you had some miracles, and you had some favor, and you had some open door. It is all based
on what you choose to obsess over. And I'd like to submit to you that, whether you realize it or not, the battles that you wish you could have avoided, there is a blessing in those battles because for some reason, God uses battles to make us. You are not just who you are because of the parents who raised you. You are not just who you are because of the effort that you put in.
You're not just who you.
Are because how have you educated yourself and developed you. There are some things that were developed through the battles that you had to fight.
There are parts of your personality.
That you built based on the fights that you had to fight.
And I'm telling you it is the battle.
That God allowed you to walk through that made you. Three thoughts, Three Krik thoughts about the battles that we face. The first one is this, Some battles come looking for me. Some battles come looking for me. Pastor Steven a few weeks ago about how trying to avoid drama or battles is not a way to live in life. It doesn't matter how safe you try to live, some battles will find you. Now. I wish I had a great story about how I grew up. I used to fight and
all this other kind of stuff. But the reality is, I'm not a fighter. I'm a pastor's kid.
Okay.
And not only am I a pastor's kid, but I was homeschooled, so the only people to fight at school were my siblings. So I don't have any like I got into fistfights growing up. I've got one story. It's the only story half about a fight ever. Actually, what happened is a kid came to my house and he rang the doorbell. It was one of those deals, you know. Back in the nineties, parents used to live their kids
at home. Nowadays it's oh, you can't leave your kids. Well, they used to leave us at like six, seven, eight whatever. I think the statute of limitation is over. Sorry, dad, So my dad's at work, my mom's gone. You know how it is. Don't open the door for anybody. A kid comes to the door, and I didn't like this kid. The kid didn't like me. We knew we didn't like each other. Rings the doorbell, and because my mom said don't open the door, I do what every kid does.
I open the door and I'm like, what do you want? And he goes I came to borrow some.
Cheese, He said, cheese. I don't got no cheese.
He said, then, why don't you scrape it off your mother's teeth.
That's what I said.
Now, this pastor's kid, who's homeschooled and has never been in a fight in his life, it don't take a high IQ to understand you've got to protect your mother's honor. So I said what I took off running out the door. He took off running. I don't know if my dad's have heard the story. Sorry dad. Anyway, he goes running. I mean, we're running through the neighborhood, through people's backyards.
I'm chasing him. I finally catch him. I tackle him. But remember I've never been in a fight before. I didn't think this far. I do, what do you do now, y'all? I hit him.
It didn't cross my mind. So I went take it back, and he like, that's it.
I take it back. I'm like, yeah, for it away. I walk home.
You can't tell me, nah, some fights come and find you, no matter if you do everything.
You possibly can in life to avoid drama.
The Bible says in First Samuel seventeen thirty thirty four. But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheet. And when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth, And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and killed it. We're asking, David, why do you think you have what it takes to feat this nine foot giant? And David said, because this
fight ain't my first fight. I didn't go looking for a fight. But a lion came and found me, and that lion bit off more than he could chew, and a bear came and found me. And because I fought the lion, and because I fought the bear, I am now prepared to fight this giant in front of me.
Hear me, some fights come and find you.
By the way, be careful judging people for what they're battling. Do you really think they picked that fight. They didn't pick that fight. That fight picked them. They didn't pick addiction. Addiction picked them. They didn't pick mental torment. Mental torment picked them. And hear me, just because the fight picks you does not mean you get to surrender. You have Almighty God on the inside of you. You've got to fight the fight that comes your way. But not all fights.
We pick some of them like us. And here's what was wild. David gott in a fight with a lion and a bear and it wasn't even his sheep. He was taking care of his father's flock and God in a drama with an enemy because he was protecting something that does not belong to him. Some of you have been fighting for your life and you believe the lie of the enemy that you did something wrong, that maybe I messed up some way and that's why I'm battling the way that I'm battling, or maybe because of the
fight that you're facing. You're like, has God forgotten about me? Has he abandoned me? Has he left me? You're not fighting because you did something wrong. You are fighting because your Father's kingdom and purpose is on the inside of you, and the enemy is attacking the potential that God has placed on the inside of you. The fight has found you because there's destiny on your life. And by the way, the size of your fight is an indication of the
size of the call of God on your life. You're wondering, why does it seem like I am fighting for my life because of the potential that God has placed on the inside of you. The enemy said, let me take you out before you even realize who God has called you to be.
As you track through scripture, the enemy did it all the time.
When he knew Moses, the Deliverer was coming, he tried to have all the Hebrew boys executed. Why because he will always attack in infancy. What he does not want to deal with immaturity with somebody elbow. Your neighbors say, but he failed. He failed. He should have taken me out when he got a chance. He should have taken me out when I did not know God and did not in my right mind. But I made it a
church today. I made it into the house of God. Today, I made it into an atmosphere that is telling me who I am.
And whose I am. The fight did not take me out. You've got Aha.
I gotta get dramatic because I think sometimes we don't realize that that part of being a Christian means you're gonna take some shots. And it's not because of who you are, it's because of who your dad is. We are not living in a demilitarized zone.
We are at war.
And there is an enemy and he is trying to take out the Kingdom of God. And you've got to stand ten toes down saying I've got in a sick I know who my dad is, and I'm gonna fight for what he's One of the problems is we think what we're fighting over belongs to us. So I'm confused while I've got to battle so much over this marriage because this is my marriage. Can I put you on notice that ain't your marriage. That marriage belongs to God.
God created marriage a husband loving a wife and a wife loving a husband as an example to the world of God's love for his church and his bride.
And as you, guys, love each other.
And build a family that God has called you to build, it is example to unbelievers of the hope and love and joy of God, you're not just fighting for love, you are fighting for the Kingdom. I get in trouble because I tell these stories about my family and then y'all start thinking my family was ratchet, and we were, but we were educated in love God too. I was driving with my mom when I was a kid, and this would happen quite often. And there's this one mall
up in Maryland. If you're from Maryland, you know it. It's a massive, one of those, you know, kind of outlet malls. And there's like enough room in the mall for a million people, but they only have four parking spaces. I don't know if they want to have like Instagram fist fights. I don't know what it is, but you spend more time looking for parking that you spend in
the mall. So I'd go to this mall my mom, my siblings in the car, and my mom would be driving up one aisle and she would see a parking space in the other aisle. You would look at me and she would say, Stephen, I love these moments and preach it because half of y'all, like my mama, did the same thing, and half of y'all light I.
Don't know, and they say it's going. Hey, my mama said, get out the car.
Y'all have to say mama and go stand in that parking space until I could drive around.
So I come like, I'm like ten twelve, So I get out of the car.
I go stand in that parking space and my mom, I mean, it would seem like it take her four hours to go up and come back down. And as I'm standing there, a car would come and try to park in the space and they go honk, honk, and they move a little closer, and I'm like, it's taken. And they'd be like, you're not a car. Honk honk, and they move a little.
I'm like it's taken.
And sometimes it would get a little dicey, and it's like almost like they're gonna hit me with their car. What they did not realize is you hitting me with your car not hurt as much as what my mama gonna do to me if I So, you do what you gotta do. But I'm gonna say it, I need some believers that know what God has promised them, And you are gonna stand ten toes down on the healing, on the hope, on the purpose, on the joy, devil.
You can give it your best shot, but I know what my God has promised me, and I am not moving off of this. And you might not have picked the fight, the fight picked you. But you do not have the option of backing down. So there is a blessed scene in the battle. Do you realize that there are some things that you learned about yourself in the fight that you would have never learned about yourself if it had not been in that fight. You learn that
you have more faith than you thought you did. You learn that you have more fortitude than you thought you You learn that you have more creativity. Who takes a stone and a sling against someone who has their back against the wall and knows who their God is?
Man?
The worst fight of my life was when my mom was battling cancer for thirteen years and ended up passing away after thirteen years. And by the way, you can't tell me my God is not a healer because the doctor gave her three months to live, said that we could do with you. Go home, make your peace with God, and God extended her life thirteen years. But hear me walking through that battle, watching her battle the faith that it built in me to still preach about healing and
hope and purpose. There is something that battles develop on the inside of you that nothing else can. Some battles will find me, but some battles I go looking for. Here's what it says in First Samuel seventeen thirty two. Then he even said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him, your servant will go and fight with this philistine. So in one passage we find David fighting a lion and a bear that he did not
want to fight. In just a few passages later, we find David running towards a battle that nobody else wanted to fight.
What happened, well, what happened was.
When you make it through a few battles and you realize that the victory belongs to the Lord, it brings a confidence on the inside of you that all of a sudden in your life. I'm not intimidated by a fight. Matter of fact, I'm looking for a fight. And instead of running from the enemy, I start running towards the enemy.
I start picking a fight.
I start looking for places to push back the forces of darkness. The Bible says in Matthew Chapter A Lie and Versuol that says the days of John the Baptist. The Kingdom of God has suffered violence, but the violent take.
It by force.
I believe this year, a supernatural violence is gonna begin to rise up in the people of God, and we begin to realize I'm no longer gonna be on the defense against.
The enemy, but I'm going on the offense.
Why did David run after Goliath because Goliath dared to defy who God was.
Here's the battles.
You need to start picking in your life anything that defies the promise that God has made over your life.
You've got to.
Stop allowing the enemy to occupy territory that does not belong to him, and begin to declare, this is what God has promised me, and I'm taking it back. I'm taking my joy back, I'm taking my peace back. I'm taking prosperity back. I will not lack, i will not have not enough. I'm taking my health back, no matter of. I'm taking back every unbelieving family member in my family.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord Devil.
Get your hands off my teenager, get your hands off of my spouse, get your hands of aunt, off my uncle, addiction is broken in my family in the name of Jesus. Divorce is canceled in my family in the name of Jesus. You've got to start attacking.
What God has promised you.
Here.
Here's the problem. What happens when you're fighting.
Is is sometimes you don't know how to calm down.
And I see this a lot.
Can I just be ignorant on social media? People fighting fights that they ain't got no business fighting. As you are running after the fights that God has for you, make sure you're not picking fights that don't stand between you and the destiny that God has for you. Because one of the things the enemy wants is to get you occupied in a fight that ain't got nothing to do with what God has called you to do.
It happened to David.
He's fighting a lion, he's fighting a bear, he's fighting Goliath. He don't know who Insaul's army he can trust. And next thing you know, him and his army they're marching and they go ask a man, Hey, we have no food. Can you feed us? The man said, I don't know who you are. Y'all could be thieves, y'all, y'all could be enemies. I'm not gonna feed you. You know what David said, We gonna kill him. And it took somebody talking David down. Of David, this ain't your fight. Leave
that alone. Some of us men.
People talk to you the wrong way. Say something. Oh, I'm gonna give you a peace.
In my mind. First of all, you don't have much mind left. You can't be handing pieces out all willy nilly, Okay. You need to keep all the mind that you've got, keep your mind stayed on him, and you've just got to make a decision.
I'm not going to fight a.
Fight that doesn't have the ability to splock me from all that God has for me. Bible's Sysition, Chapter twenty one, verse eight. When David is in that temple, it says, then David said to a Himelek, is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the King's business required. Hayes, You've got to understand us, pastors. Our brains are like Rupek's cubes, and we write messages
and then the message writes itself. Even as I'm reading this, I'm reminded when Jesus told his disciples when they went out, don't bother to take anything with you, because when you get to the place, it is going to give you the resources that you need to accomplish what you need to accomplish. The priest said, the sword of Goliath, the Philistine.
Whom you killed.
Watch this in a past battle, is now available in your moment of need, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod if you will take that ticket, for there is no other except that one. Ear and David said, there is none like it. Give it to me. Come on, where's my bible scholars at You've already preached this to yourself. If I'm David and I'm fighting Goliath, the only thing I am thinking about is don't die. I ain't worried about being king. I'm not worried about the rest of
the Philistines. I'm not worried about who talking about me. I'm just worried about don't die. I'm trying to take Goliath out now. While I'm trying to take Goliath out, God ain't even thinking about the battle that I'm in right now. He's already two three year ahead in in my future and knowing yeah, Goliah's a big battle when you're gonna need a win. But make sure, David, you snatch his sword at the end of this battle, because
this battle is not about this battle. This battle is about equipping you for a battle that is coming on from your future. Hear me, Some of you are so consumed in this situation that you're in right now you can't see two three years down the road and not realize that this may be a battle to the enemy.
But it's only training ground to God.
This is a season where He is preparing you for what He is getting ready to take you to.
Can anybody testify?
I wouldn't want to go through that fight again, but I learned some things in that fight.
That I'm telling you, baby, I'm using right now.
I'm not happy that they walked out on me and stabbed me in my back, but I picked up desernment in that moment and ain't gonna get me twice. I can see it coming a myt somebody shout prove it. There was this passage in this Bible. The prophet came to this widow. It was just her and her son. There was a famine, you probably know the story, and they had nothing to eat. The prophet said, can you make me a cake? She said, bro, I ain't got nothing. We're gonna make a cake for me and my son.
Then we're gonna die and that's it. He said, great, do that, but first make me a cake. She had enough faith to obey the word of God, even though it made no common sense. She made a cake for the prophet and then for her. And it said that the flour and the oil sustained her through the famine.
Somebody say they survived the battle.
The Holy Spirit showed me something that passage that blew my mind years later. Here's what it says. It says after they survived that famine. Later on her son died. Uh, oh, what's a bigger deal, hunger or death. But when her son died, it was not her first battle, and she knew who her God was. And she said, I wonder if the same God who can multiply flour and oil can breathe life back into my dead boy. Let me take him to the same place where God did the last miracle.
Whole time, it was never.
About the famine, never about the flower, never about the oil, all about building.
That faith muscle.
For when she actually needed it, she knew how to use it. Hear me, the battles that you fought in your past were only preparing you for the victory that God has a head of you. You may have called it a battle, but I'm telling you it was a blessing because it made you who you.
Are.
Some battles, come find me, some battles I go looking for the last thing?
Is this?
But running from battles is not an option? Says this in verse eleven, the end of that story. David eat the bread, he has the sword, and it says the servants of Acus said to him, is this not David the king of the land? By the way, y'all, he was anointed king, but he wasn't operating his king. Here was the enemy calling David by his future, even though nothing about his current situation looked like the future that God had promised him. They said, is this not David
the King of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another and dances saying Saul has slain.
His thousands and David his ten thousands.
Now David took these words to heart and was watched this very much afraid. You would think, if people are reading your resume that your chest.
Would go out. Yeah, that's me. That's me.
I'm been killing for the days. Said fear came over David, and he says, watch this. So he changed his behavior and pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down.
On his beard. You can play him done. Here's David.
In the face of a new enemy with a resume of victory, and instead of standing ten toes down and saying, the God who brought victory in every season of my life, he will do it again, David started to pretend to be less than who God called him to be because he didn't want to fight another battle elevation. Hear me, there will be opportunities in your future if you do not have the right perspective to diminish who God has
called you to be just to avoid another fight. Oh man, when I get around these people and I talk about all that God's going to do through my life.
They get angries. So I'm just gonna stop talking.
When when I when I walk in boldness and I'm actually moving that, I get pushed back, I get flack, I get attacked. So let me there are gonna be temptations of let me just shrink, let me just stop dreaming, let me just stop pushing, let me just stop pressing. And if you're not careful, you can look at the blessings that God is done in your life up to this point and.
You can say this is good enough. The heat that I've had to take to get this far, I don't want to fight anymore.
A lot of times people they passed me that message, which just for me. Sometimes I'm transparent, sometimes I'm not.
But in this moment, I will be going. I tell you, this message ain't for you. This is for me.
Because I'm walking out of a season where I just said, God, I don't want to fight anymore.
This thinks I'm tired. I'm exhausted.
Our church has been outrageously blessed, and God has moved it forward and leaps and bounds, and every time it's moved forward, there has been an insane attack prior. And I'm like, God, if this is what building your kingdom is like, count me out. And I'm not talking about like stupid attacks like people talking about you. How many people know people talking about you ain't got nothing to do with nothing.
But it's tax like you know your children.
Our church went through the season where we grew exponentially, and right before we grew exponentially, we sit down in the doctor's office and doctor tells me my seven year old is losing her hearing and she'll never be able to hear. Let's begin to start this process of figuring out how she's going to live without hearing.
God, if this is I ain't signed up for this church.
Crew on the other side got supernaturally healed her, no healing problems, whatsoever. Another season like that comes, church grows exponentially. Me and my wife are traveling at some conference or whatever may be. We get a phone call or two year old broke her femur and is in the hospital and we're in another city. I am you want to talk about naus just nauseousness, I said, God, if this is the fight, count me out those last year She's run around healthy, healed, perfect good.
God's covered by the way. Pray for your pastors every time. God bless us.
You have no idea the battles that they fought and they won, But there's such a temptation.
I know that's my story.
You've got your own story of man, I just can't handle another fight, Dave. I read this and I'm gonna it' Second Samuel eleven, verse one. It says this, it happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Job and his servants with him in all Israel, and they destroyed the people. If I'm on besiege watched this, but David remained at Jerusalem.
Y'all Bible scholars, you know the story. You could preach it to yourself.
David was supposed to be at war, and Steady stayed home, ran across this chick called Bathsheba, and wrecked the whole deal. If you look at the life of David, there's one thing that you might miss that the only times David nearly died was when he was in the palace, not when he was out on the battlefield. The safest place for David was out fighting the debt battles that God called him to fight. It was in the palace that
sold tried to kill him. It was in the palace that Absalom created that q ku and tried to take him out. It was in the palace that he thought about Sheheba and ruined his legacy. David was safest when he was on the offense, going after all that God had called him to go after. But when David allowed the intimidation of the enemy to keep him blocked up in what he thought was a safe place, is when.
He was not safe at all.
Hear me, you are safest not when you're playing it safe, but when you are running forward in faith towards all that God has for you. And you may say, hey, I don't want to fight another battle, hear me, don't look at it as another battle. Look at it another victory on the other side of this battle that I'm gonna walk through. What in ten spies say, Hey, we
can't take the city. There's giants in the land. What in two spies say, when we kill these giants, we're gonna sleep in giants' beds, and we're gonna live in giants' houses, and we're gonna have giant blessings on the other.
Side of this.
Hear me, I got bad news and I got good news. The bad news is there's some battles ahead of you. You cannot avoid them. Here's the good news. If you don't back up, if you don't quit, if you don't throw in the towel. Victory has your name on it, and the size of the blessing on the other side of the battle will be greater than any battle you can face.
In your life. If you believe it.
Somebody shot hallelujah.
Come on, Can you hop up on your feet? Father God, We're grateful.
God, We're thankful that you said, though the enemy comes in like a flood, that you will raise up a.
Standard against him.
God.
I pray over every single person under the sound of my voice, God, that your victory will go before us, that you would cover us, that we would see your hand on everything that we do. Come on, right where you are, Can you close your eyes? Can you pray this prayer? Say, Holy Spirit, what are you.
Saying to me? And just give God a moment to.
Make this time to make this message personal to you. For some of you, you are in the fight of your life, and God's word to you, as you're not alone, this will end in victory. Your best days are ahead of you, not behind you. For some of you, if you'd be honest, you are fighting this fight by yourself because you've never asked God to be a part of your story. Well, if that's you, this is your moment where if you find yourself. If you say, pastor, I'm tired of fighting by myself. I need God to be
my victory. Right where you're standing, pray this prayer. Say Lord Jesus, this is my moment. I surrender to you. I believe it was your cross, it was your blood that bought my freedom.
And in this moment, I give you all of me.
Be my Lord, be my savior, and use me for your glory in Jesus' name.
Amen and Amen.
Come on, Can you celebrate for every single person? God bless you.
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God bless you.