Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these.
New sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today.
Oh man, it's good to see you.
I want to do something kind of interesting today. I want to preach off of that song we were just singing. I want to preach on trust in God. Would it be all right if I expound a little bit on what we were just preaching. I'm gonna show you where that came from what you were just singing. And that is such a great confession to make. I sought the Lord, and he heard and he answered. I want you to put all of that right now in your heart. I
sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. And if you're watching online, I want you to put it in the comments.
Does anybody have a phone?
I can pull up YouTube and make sure they're doing what I'm telling them to do. Cole, go to the Elevation Church YouTube make sure they're following instructions. Welcome to our epham around the world. Let's thank God for our family all around the world joining us right now. I think that that was like a six out of ten welcome. I think we could give them a better welcome than that. Let's warm it up.
You got it, you got the comments. There is my marketing director right there. He was on it.
He was ready. Wasn't elevation? Night's incredible cold? Yeah, just incredible.
Everybody in here is a little salty.
They're jealous they didn't get to come out to Toronto or Kansas City one day. I'm going to load the whole church up. You remember how Oprah used to take everybody to Australia one day. I'm gonna load the whole church up. Take y'all all eight nights, and you're gonna have to quit your job and believe God for a paycheck, because I'm gonna take you away for two weeks. I almost took today off to rest. I just got in
late last night. But the Lord wanted me to release this word today, so I came on to church to preach. I know his voice. I've been doing this a long time. I know when he wants me to preach, and he wanted me in my pulpit today, so I came over. It's good to see you. I love y'all. If I say anything inappropriate, blame it on the sleep deprivation. All right, that's my explicit sermon, moarning like they have on the album explicit. Yeah, they're doing it all right, there go
things cool. I just had to make sure y'all were there because this is gonna be very powerful from one of the most beautiful psalms in the Bible, Psalm thirty four. And hey, I'm doing it in the King James version. Uh oh. I just wanted to warn the devil I'm coming from King James today so he can go ahead and clear the building. This is.
This is the psalm. I'm gonna give you eight verses of it.
Say it. I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually. Don't get ahead of me on the scripture, follow the preacher. His phrase shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Come on, don't watch me like I'm a movie. Magnify him with me. There's no popcorn here today. This is not big. George Foreman this
is a house of God. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of his trucklebles. The Angel of the Lord in campeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
I want to talk to you today about trust in God.
Father. Our faith is in you, our hope is in you, our confidence is in you. You will never fail. Right now, I thank you that as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are your ways above our ways, your thoughts above our thoughts. And I thank you that you hear every prayer, you pity, every groan, you see every need in this room, at our campuses all over
the world. As this word goes forth, thank you in advance for answering the prayers of your people, even the prayers they don't have words for, even the prayers they put away because they prayed a long time and nothing happened. We expect miracles today in your name, in your presence, by your word, by your hand, in Jesus' name, I pray. Everybody said together, Amen, Amen, you may be seated. I trust in God. I trust in God. I love watching
you worship. I love it. I'm sorry if that sounds creepy, like I'm a stalker, but I just it's one of the joys of my job to get to see you sing to your God, so much so that I spend half of my time in my job writing songs for you to sing with our team. The song that we just put out, called trust in God, was a song that came quickly and then slowly quickly in the initial draft, slowly in the revisions. But to hear you sing it, it was worth every rewrite. It's really beautiful when you
take something straight out of scripture. And I think I told you a few weeks ago, or I don't remember if I just said this on one of my basin recordings. I do these little recordings that I only send to a few people. Sometimes I put them online, but I don't remember where I said this, or if you know this or not but my job is to put God's word in your heart. That's my job. And sometimes it'll have a melody to it. Sometimes it'll be nice and calm.
I just finished making you another one of those tracks. I don't know if you'll remember when I used to do these hype tracks that you could listen to at the gym, like I will fight and I will be confident. I just finished this new one. It's lethal you're going to be able to do eighty five close script pushups when you listen to this consecutively.
It's gonna be amazing.
But then when God gives our church a song that comes straight from the Word of God, I think that's wonderful because if I tell you go memorize these scriptures, you're.
Like a a lank homework. I'm not good at memory.
You memorize every single football player that was on your pretend lineup, but you can't memorize the Bible. I get it. I'm not mad about it. I didn't mean for that to come out harsh. I was just try and be funny, but it came out real mean.
But I didn't mean it mean.
If we put it in a way that you can sing it, I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, Well, you were singing scripture, so you did scripture memory today. So gold star A plus. If you don't get around to anything else you were supposed to do this week, you did that.
You memorize that scripture.
I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, he delivered me from all my fear. And this is not only a little verse, but it's from one of the most poetic pieces of literature that you could ever study. You see, Psalm thirty four is an acrostic poem where they take the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and each one of the verses is the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. You don't get that from the English
because we don't speak Hebrew. So I mean, it's still beautiful, But imagine how we would be shouting if we really got to see how it was written, where it's like ooh ooh, technically like every single That's why I once called David the greatest rapper of all time. Some people think it's pot some people think it's Biggie. I definitely
think it's David. I mean, who can do this? Every single verse is a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and so there's a technical component to this song that is just beautiful enough to let us know that he really worked on this. He didn't just throw this together or tear a page out of his diary. He really took the time to dissect these different elements and then put them together where we could learn from them about
how to trust God in our own situations. While the psalm follows the form or the technique of a thanksgiving psalm for an individual, it's pretty clear from the form that it was written for a whole community, which means it wasn't just written through the filter of his own personal faith or fear, but rather it came through that funnel so it could be passed to us so that we could see what does it really look.
Like to trust in God.
So whenever this was written, it was not written while the author was going through his struggle, because nobody can pray in alphabetical order when they're going through hell. You don't pray alphabetical prayers when you have three different bills looking at you.
And you can't pay any of them.
You don't pray alphabetic prayers when your kids are acting like they need three different medications. You don't pray alphabetical prayers when they start firing people who are more qualified than you and you're wondering what if they fired them. I know I'm not, so you don't pray that's not That's not those King James prayers.
Is it?
You don't say words like I sought the Lord when you're really going through a difficult storm.
Maybe you do.
I don't. I don't say I trusteth the Lord. In my low moments. I may go back and look on them and say I'm so glad that I trusteth him, that I bequeathed my trust unto the divine. But when you're going through stuff, you don't say it that fancy. So it brings me to the question what does it really mean to say I sought the Lord? As I reflected on that this week, I thought we should definitely study it before I preach it like I feel it.
Let me teach it just a little bit. When he says I sought the Lord, that definitely could mean that he went to the temple to pray. There are times in scripture where they will say I sought the Lord, and it means that they went to the temple offered sacrifices and prayed. But based on the context of this psalm, it's unlikely that that's what the psalmist means.
Instead, he is.
Probably talking about a type of seeking God that doesn't have to do with going to a phsy location. But it's a particular state of mind. This particular state of mind is not a singular state of mind, because he says, give me verse four again, let's take it apart. Let's break it down. Let's find out what we were singing about. It's one thing to sing it, but I don't need you just to sing it. I need you to really get it in your spirit. Kill those monitors back there,
because I can hear it. It has given me a little slap back, and it's messing with my head. Verse four. I sought the Lord, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. Everybody say fears. It's interesting that he's so confident on one hand and so honest on the other. He said, I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. Well, if you're seeking God, what are you afraid of? If he heard you, what are you afraid of? If you
trust him, what are you afraid of? This word fear has to do with dread. This word fear has to do with the anticipation of something bad happening. More particularly, it's a certain state of your soul or your thoughts that is trouble.
So the Psalmist is saying.
I had a troubled thought pattern, and I sought the Lord and he heard me. I don't think you know how good that was. I don't think you know how good that was. He said, I had thoughts of doom and gloom, but I sought the Lord even while I had the thoughts, and he heard me. So why that makes me happiest? Because the psalm started so beautiful. I will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise will continually be in my mouth. That I almost got intimidated when I read it, because I thought, well, I
don't do that all the time. I don't always just walk around praising God.
I'll bump my toe.
Oh, praise the Lord for a coffee table to bump my toe on. Some people don't have coffee tables. Somebody would. Somebody would really be grateful for a coffee table to bump their toe on. And I don't say saw it When I bump my toe on the coffee table. It starts with an ask what I think in my head? But it's not sorry? So why I love it? Isn't that why y'all come to church here so we can talk for real? Because that's so beautiful, the acrostic praise of the Almighty God. I will bless the Lord at
all time. I love it too, It's so beautiful. I love words. I love language, I love poetry. I love beautiful sounding words, beautiful sounding songs. I love watching you worship. You look so pretty when you worship.
You really do.
I mean, you have this RBF, this resting blessed face. It's just an amazing thing to see, just to watch you worship God. And I look around, I'm like, oh, look, this is so sweet, so beautiful. Here we are all trusting God, and different ages, different stages, different people, all
just trusting God. I sought the Lord. What encouraged me about the psalm was not the first three parts that sounded so beautiful, but after he said his praise will continually be in my mouth that he went on to say that God hurt me when my heart was filled with fear the Psalmi says, my faith did not keep me from feeling afraid. Rather, my faith in God, my trust in God, was enough to get not only for me to seek Him in my fear. But he heard me. That's why I praise him. He heard me. That's why
I love him. He heard me. He didn't wait for me to say the right words. He didn't wait for me to bust it out in King James. He didn't wait for me to memorize thirteen more verses. All I had to do was holler help. Had he heard me? It didn't even sound pretty. I just hollered help, and he heard me. I didn't even have much of a voice left. I just hollered he. Now I love him. I love him. That's why I trust him, because he heard me.
Do you know?
The Bible says that his spirit will intercede when you will have only a groan that you can't get a word to go around. Felt a groan and anxiety, a torment that you couldn't even name. But you called a name that was greater than the feeling that you couldn't name, And he heard what you wanted to say that you didn't have the words to say. But somehow God intercepted and interpreted your grown God. I'll be good. I'm sorry. I'm just on that tour energy. Y'all gotta be patient
with me. Today I called on him and he heard me. You know how Alexa can hear you. You know how Siri can hear you. You say hey, Siri, and sirih starts telling you stuff. Well, you can say, Hey, Spirit, Holy Spirit, I need you right now. I'm appreciate this just to you. You can say, hey, Holy Spirit, I feel dry right now, but I need you to come through for me. You can say, hey, Holy Spirit, we're in this hospital room and we need a miracle. And if you don't give us a healing, we need a
supernatural piece. You can be preaching your mom's funeral and say, hey, Holy Spirit, I need you, and he will hear you. He'll hear you from your heart. That's why I trust him. That's why I praise him. That's why I can't just sit there and charge. Sometimes I gotta throw up both my hands and say, hey, Holy Spirit, hear him. I high five somebody say he heard me. He heard me, And I'm glad because my friends got tired of me complaining so I had to stop talking to them or
they wouldn't be taking my calls anymore. He can take it, he can hear me, he can hear me. Like I was saying, this is an acrostic song. I got off track a little bit there, but y'all come back. And it is contrasting the fear that the author felt with the response that God gave. And he summarizes this so simply that it is almost.
Deceptive on the surface. I sought the.
Lord and he heard me and delivered me. I will bless the Lord at all times. Remember, he wasn't talking like this while he was going through it. So when I told you I want to talk to you about trusting God today, I wasn't lying to you, but I was headfaking you a little bit. And I hope that's okay, Just to bring you to this point, because see, there's different types of trust. Can we all agree there's different types of trust. You trusted the chair to sit down
in today, that is a level of trust. You will not trust the chair to get you home down forty five. That is a different type of trust. You will need something with wheels for that. You will not trust the chair or the car I hope to confess your deepest, darkest sins to That is a different level of trust. Hopefully you trust me to share with you what God's word means to the best of my ability today. But that's one type of trust, because it's to the best
of my ability. Then there is another level of trust that knows that God will take what I say to you today and apply it to your life in the way that only you needed to hear it. That's another level of trust. So I don't want to talk to you today just about the moments where you totally trust God. I want to talk to those of you today who are having to trust God in a different way. If I were given this message a title which I am,
it's called ugly trust. Ugly trust. Thankfully, for us, we not only have the psalms that were written, but in some cases we have records of the specific situations that those psalms were inspired by. Such is the case with Psalm thirty four. So if you want to know what happened in between the space where David said I sought the Lord and he answered, make some noise that was just above the line of where I feel like I should do it. I mean, it was right there.
But I'm gonna tell you, I'll.
You what happened with David was that God had called him to be a king. But as with anything that God promises you in your life, there is usually not a straight line between what.
He speaks to you and when it comes to pass.
Many of us will be familiar with the name Saul from Scripture, who was the first king.
That Israel ever had.
It wasn't a very good king. He was an insecure king. He didn't ask God what he should do. He did whatever he thought he should do, just to make sure that he kept what he thought he had. But that's the surest way to lose it, because if you keep an open hand to God, he can fill it. But if you close your fist around what God gave you, he will have to pry your fingers off of it.
So Saul lost the kingdom that way. One of the worst mistakes that he ever made was that when God sent David to fight battles for him, he tried to kill what God sent him to help him. He chase David, I mean chase David. One day, David was playing the harp for Saul, right because David had this ambidexterous ability to play beautiful music, but he was also one of the baddest warriors to ever draw breath on the planet.
He was really cool because he could pick up a sword with his left hand, or he could strum a harp with his right hand. Now that is multifaceted. But one day, as he was playing a beautiful song for Saul to get the evil spirit that was resting on him to dissipate for just a few minutes, Saul picks up a spear throws it at David across the room. David's athletic he missed. David's athletics he miss God is sovereign,
he missed. Not only does David have grateful lexibility and catlike abilities to dodge, but also God has supernatural wisdom so that he will never allow anything to happen in your life that doesn't first pass through his hand. Saul hates David so much that he gets his daughter, who is one of David's wives, and we won't talk about polygamy today.
The Old Testament kind of vibe on that.
But he tries to get him trapped and that doesn't work, and David takes off running in caves and Saul tries to hunt him down. And there's this one specific incident that I wanted to tell you about as we talk about I Trust in God, where David found himself in a unique situation where he has God's spirit and seal of approval, but he's having to run from Saul in the process of waiting for God's promise to come to pass.
God sent me to preach to somebody today who is having to trust God in between something that you believe he spoke to you and something that you are going through on the way to what He spoke to you. So who's a I need to know who's this message for? Okay, here's what David had to do. He had to go down to a place called Gath that's in the territory of the Philistines. Do either of those ring a bell for anybody in the room, just even if it's one person.
Do you remember a famous Philistine in the Bible that David had an encounter with. Starts with Goli, ends with f Goliath, the famous giant that David had to kill. He was from Gath in Felictia. Now David is running from the King that he wants to be serving and helping and fighting for him and playing music for him. And he has to run to the place where the enemy lives that he was destined.
To kill, to hide for a little while. The Bible says that when he got there, they recognized him. They're like, this is the dude that killed Goliath.
This is that little boy who was keeping shit, came up with a sling and a stone. Your enemy recognizes you. Your enemy knows what you're capable of, sometimes more than you do. They said, this is David. What's he doing here? He was trying to hide out, get some cover, buy some time to figure out what God was gonna do next. They said, this is David. And David was like, oh no, I'm in trouble. They know who I am. So watch
what he did to get away. This is in First Samuel, chapter twenty one, verse number Yeah, go back to twenty one that late one I sent, y'all. I didn't send them this, so they didn't have it ready, But then I sent it to him, So put it up there, y'all. Yeah, I had to.
Show you what it looks like to really trust God.
David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Akish. Akish is not a name, Akesh is a title. It's like Pharaoh or something like that. For the Philistine rulers. He was very much afraid of Akish, King of God. Watch what he did. He sought the Lord, so he pretended to be insane in their presence. Repeat after me. David went crazy. I will bless the Lord.
At all times. If this is David.
Blessing the Lord, watch, watch, watch King David. Back up on the screen, y'all. He pretended to be insane in their presence, and while he was in their hands.
He acted like a madman, making marks on.
The doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. I thought about acting this out. I prayed about it. The Lord said, let them use their imagination occasionally.
But you get the picture. He's running from Saul.
And he's seeking the Lord, with saliva running down his beard, scratching the door, trying to get out of a situation that he really doesn't have an answer for yet. I felt compelled to show you that picture for several reasons. One, you feel like you're going crazy right now, not everybody, but some of you. So when we sing I sought the Lord and he heard. You are not yet sure about he heard yet, And to be honest, you're really not sure if you're seeking him because sometimes you don't
feel like you're seeking him. Because not everybody that listens to me preach has a three hour prayer time every morning. Not everybody who listens to me preach quotes the Bible in Hebrew across tics. Not everybody that listens to me preach goes home and listens to elevation worship as they walk around the kitchen, blessing the Lord at all times. Even this morning, I was pretty tired, so on my way to church, I listened to Metallica. Sorry, I needed something to wake me up, just one song and then
I switched to worship. But I needed James Hetfield to get me started. I'm sorry, I just needed energy. It was early and I'm low on sleep, and it helped me. And I'm telling you that because sometimes we talk so fancy about faith. I soaped the Lord, did you? Or it's guilty? And me? He's like, you're not seeking God.
You don't pray enough, you don't worship enough, you don't praise Him enough, you don't really love him.
David's got spit in his beard in enemy territory and he's talking about I sought the Lord. So before you get ashamed of the fact that sometimes it feels like you're losing your mind, can we celebrate the fact that at least you're losing it in church. At least you're losing it in a room with some other crazy Christians on a Sunday morning when it was raining just enough to tell you I'm not going, but just said, no, I'm going.
I'm not going crazy without God. Don't you love knowing that?
Oh? Oh, technical difficulties trying to stop me from preaching today. But you know what, sometimes in my life I have found that it is when I am in the sloppiest, most scramble. They used to say that I preached better jetlagged, and I said, I wonder why that is because my mind wasn't in the way so much, because I would just let it come from the spirit. And then they say, well, just let the spirit flow through you. Easier said than done.
And I think seeking God is like that sometimes, because the question becomes when we say I sought the Lord, what to sought? Even mean? It doesn't mean just that I went to church. It doesn't mean just that I sung a song. It doesn't sang a song. It doesn't mean just that I quoted a Bible verse. It doesn't mean just that I had a wish. It doesn't mean just that I made it a prayer request. It doesn't
mean just that I had a desire. It means something very different to David, because he wrote that about a situation where spit was running down his beard and he had no idea what was next. That's where some of you are today, and when you go to pray about it, you don't really feel like you.
Get a clear answer.
And there are some things that you're singing. I sought the Lord, and he heard and he answered, And there are some things that you're singing. I sought the Lord, and I hope he heard. But right now now I don't see any evidence to support the conclusion that he heard. Because when Jesus was asleep on the boat and they said, Master, don't you care? It lets me know that there will be times in my life where it will appear that he doesn't hear me, and I will conclude that he
doesn't care. But in some of these spaces, your seeking is defined by what you do in the space between.
When you seek him and when he says yes.
So if you are there today and it's not a pretty situation, the psalmist wants you to know that one of the most beautiful psalms in the Bible came from one of the ugliest situations and some of the most beautiful testimonies that you will have in your life. Where you will be singing two years from now. I sought the Lord back in April twenty twenty three, I was
standing in church singing. I sought the Lord, and I was seeking him, but I couldn't see him, and I was groping but I couldn't feel him, and I was stretching my hands in faith, but I didn't feel it. And I sought him, and there was a space for David. There was a seven year space. Did you hear what I just said, Not seven minutes, not seven months, seven years that Saw chased him, seven years that he made his home in caves, seven years that he dealt with depression.
You say David wasn't depressed. He blessed the Lord at all times. Thank God, I've got a Bible. I don't just have to go off of one little verse. Look what David did. One time he ran to the King of Death. He lets spit run down his beard, so the king let him go. A period of five more years elapses, Saul is still chasing him. Three times. David has the opportunity to take matters in his own hands and kill Saul, but he won't do it because he
trust in God. Three times he could take him out, but he doesn't do it because he said I trust in God. He's not saying I trust in God meaning I never feel fear. He told you I had fear. That disturbed me to my core. It wasn't a feeling of trust. It was a decision of trust. It was a decision to keep doing it God's way despite the evidence that God's way wasn't working. So David has It's been seven years he's been running from this guy. It's been three times he was close enough to kill him.
One time he caught Saul going to the bathroom in a cave. That is a vulnerable position to be in. I don't know, man, for me, I probably would have just ended it right there. If I see the king who's been trying to kill me, and he's in the process of relieving himself. I am going to relieve him of his duties as king and kill him so I can get some relief from the situation. But David said,
I trust God. It's got to be his timing. It's got to be his way, it's gotta be his route, it's got to be his means, it's got to be his strength, it's gotta be his power. I'm not gonna do this David's way. I'm gonna do it God's way, because if it's God's will, if it's God's hand, if it's God's favor, then I can have God's strength to support me as I go through each season. Trust in God.
Talk about ugly trust. You're in a cave with a king who is defecating while he is trying to decapitate you, and you have the opportunity to kill him, but you walk away. One time, he stole Saul's water jug and his spear just to show him I could kill you, but I didn't leave me alone. Why do you keep messing with me? Why do you keep doing this? And Saul shouts back to him. He says, oh, David, thank you so much for sparing my life. You're gonna do
great things. Nothing like encouragement from somebody who tracked you out into the desert to kill you. That'll bless you. God's gonna do great things through you, David. And look what the Bible says about David who trust in God. Hey, I'm trying to bring you into a conversation today to let you know that this trusting God thing is trickier than it sounds on the surface, and that none of us totally trust God all the time like we wish we did. That all of us have this back and
forth battle. If I can't get you to see anything other than that, today I did my job because when you go into those moments where you toggle between trusting God and having a I don't know what you call these moments, but I call these moments humanity. I don't call these moments moments of weakness anymore. I call them moments of humanity. And they don't mean I don't love God. And these moments don't mean I don't trust Him. But we're in a world where we're having to figure things
out by step and faith is not always fancy. I don't always seeketh him, if I don't always have a king James courage. Sometimes I'm caught in conflict this or that or the other. Okay, God, maybe it's option. See so, David, I just want to bring you up to date with what it means when he says I sought the Lord, and he heard and delivered me from all my fears. When Saul told David after seven years of David running, he said, God's going to do great things for you. David,
You're a better man than me. Thank you for not killing me. Look what David did for Samuel twenty seven, verse one. But David thought to himself, one of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. Read it again, He thought to himself, Saul's gonna kill me. The same guy who said I sought the Lord and the answer thought to himself, I'm gonna die. What have you been thinking to yourself? I am not done with
that verse. Put it back on the screen. They're trying to take me out of this scripture so quick today. Let's stay here a minute. I'm not scared of the uncomfortable silence, are you?
Y'all?
Don't intimidate me looking at me like you always seek the Lord.
I know you don't I know you seek some other stuff too, in some other places. Don't make me prophesy.
I will get specific. The Lord will show me. You're seeking some food in the pantry, stress eating at night, seeking some comfort on some different websites, stuff too. But I want you to know something about all of that. I don't say that to shame you. I say that to show you that famous David spear dodging. David got to a point of seven years of waiting where he thought to himself, one of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul, and this phrase, Oh God,
this is why I got up here today. This is why I flew in Layton, got up early and listened to Metallica to appreciate you. Y'all didn't like that I listened to metallic I got. I could tell you a judgment. I don't care sought the Lord. Watch me, watch me, watch me, watch me. David thought to himself. One of these days I will be destroyed. I will bless the Lord and Author. David thought to himself, one of these
days a praise shall continually. It's kind of hard for God's praise to continually be in my mouth when this God keeps trying to kill me. It's kind of hard for God's praise to be in my mouth when my life keeps going backwards. It's kind of hard for God's prayse to be in my mouth right now? That's okay, David thought to himself. One of these days, and I know we have a lot of thoughts about the future. You know, one of these days this is gonna catch up with me. I can't keep doing this. I can't
keep going like this. I can't keep holding out like this. I can't keep I can't keep I can't I'm doing pretty good right now, but I can't keep running like this. I can't keep pretending like everything's okay. David thought to himself, This does not end well for me. How could you think that, David, you have the promise of God? How could you think that, David, you had the oil of the annoying thing from the prophet Samuel that was on you. Don't you remember he said he would raise you up?
How can you think that, David? Because seeking God doesn't mean you will never think fearful thoughts. Seeking God does not mean that you will never feel like you're going crazy. The truth is Nobody knows what you really go through. Nobody knows what you really pushed through. Nobody knows all the things that you didn't say that would have been worse than the thing that you said that you had
to apologize for. Nobody really knows how crazy it is, how close you came to quitting, how much you struggle with feeling like enough, how much, how hard it has been for you to fight for these fourteen months of sobriety, how hard it has been for you to continue to go home to a situation where you're underappreciated, at a job where you're undervalued. Nobody knows. But he heard.
He heard when you cry, he heard when you prayed, He heard when you said I can't He said I can't heard.
What a word for somebody who has felt like you're going crazy. You're not going crazy. You're building faith. See you're building faith. You're getting strong in your spirit, You're getting strong in your beliefs. You're learning to walk not by what you see, but by what God spoke. Jesus. I'm trying to find five people who really need this word.
I'm trying to find five people. Now give me my verse one more time and David thought to himself, one of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul.
The fear is real.
When he said he delivered me from all my fear, he doesn't mean he kept me from feeling it.
It was on a loop in his head.
He thought to himself that the language means he continued thinking. If he didn't think this once, he thought it so many times that he began to believe that the lie was true. Because Saul couldn't kill him, because God had crowned him. Who needed to hear that Saul can't kill you. God called you.
You know what the Bible says.
It says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may lift you up in due time. But it's been seven years and David doesn't see a clear path to what God has committed to him.
So he thought to himself, one day, Saul's.
Going to kill me. And here's the phrase, the best thing I can do. Everybody say that the best thing I can do. What this means is David's situation is not ideal and yours may not be either. That you're looking at a range of options where you really want God to do this but it's not happening. So David says, the best thing I can do is escape to the land of the Philistines. It's not where he wanted to be, It's just the place he had to go. For now, everybody say, next, I don't know how God is going
to deal with Saul. Some of you are awaiting legal verdicts right now. Some of you are awaiting resolution to relational situations. Some of you are waiting to see if you're going to have to move or not. Some of you are waiting to see what the doctor says in three weeks, and you're waiting for that. So I wanted to get this in your spirit as a new way to look at what it means to seek the Lord. To seek the Lord doesn't mean that you will know exactly what He's going to do every step along the way.
David said, the best thing I can do is to go to the land of the Philistines and to escape there, and then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel and I will slip out of his hand.
Is it possible that.
David in this moment isn't even really sure where God's hand is working? But all he knows is I've got to get out of here. And when he says I sought the Lord, he's referring back to this incident where he had to go to the Philistines, the enemies that he wanted to kill, and live with them for a season while he waited for God to do what he
had promised to do. And is it possible that you are in a season right now where you're seeking the Lord, but he hasn't exactly shown you what's going to happen in a sequence of events that you can logically understand. So the word of the Lord for you is what is the next best thing for you to do? The next best thing? Because for David, what he really wanted
was to be the leader of Israel. But sometimes you can't do exactly what you want to do, and sometimes the will that God has for you is still in the process of unfolding. And sometimes the person that you're supposed to marry hasn't even moved to Charlotte yet. And sometimes the job that you're supposed to have isn't even opened yet. So you get rejected three times for jobs
that you think you'd be a perfect fit for. But the truth is if you got that job, it would become a snare to you for the door that God is going to open. I'm talking about trusting him. I'm talking about trusting him. I'm talking about I sought the Lord and there was a space and I didn't know if he heard. So what did David do? The next best thing. I would love to be fighting Sauls battles right now. I would love to be killing Philistines like
I did with Goliath. I would love to be taking my kids to school every day, but I only get to see him every other weekend right now. So when I get him every other weekend, I'm gonna make that count because that's the next best thing. I would love to have somebody to take long walks on the beach with, but I don't have somebody and I don't have a beach, So I'm gonna get on this treadmill and get a podcast and take myself on a walk, because that's the
next best thing. I would love to have a heeled body right now, so I could be in church with Pastor Stephen. But right now I can't leave the house because I'm confined to this bed. But I'm gonna lift my hands because even though I can't get out of this bed, I'm gonna do the next best thing.
I would love to be further along in.
My finances by now, but I did just say it in that season because nobody taught me. But I'm trusted God. Can I've ever see.
The rights forsaken nor seed begging bread. So I'm gonna do the next best thing. I'm gonna get.
In what I'm I can't trust him with one of them knocks, I will bless the law.
That all God, good times bad God.
As fall in silence. I'd love to be out of this prison, but they didn't release me yet. So let's do the next best thing. You praise him on the first first, I'll raise him on the second. First. You sing the chorus, I'll sing the bruise. I'm gonna do what he gave me to do with what I've got to do with Yes, sir, the next best thing for you, that's all you gotta do. You have to figure out the next fifty things. That's God's job. He said, you're fired from trying to be God. And I just want
you to think about it. I just want you to think about it. What's the next best thing you can do. Go complain about it, or praise him like he already knows. What's the next best thing. I sought the Lord. Oh it wasn't pretty. My fears were terrible. The word fears that he uses is only used three other times in the Bible. It is a state so intense that it's only used three times in the Bible.
It means horror.
He said, I was in a horrible place, a lonely place, an isolated place. I was talking to a brother yesterday. He said, I'm creative, but I can't find anybody to collaborate with. I wanted to tell him, well, the next best thing is going to be you got to open up some kind of app on your phone and just start collaborating with your phone. Y'all don't want me to teach this because we just want. We want, We want magic, wand God.
We want.
I sought the Lord any hurt? I saw the herd? But sometimes should I do it? Should I do it? I can save it. I can save it. I plan to be here next week. I can save it. I can say that you want to now, you want to next week? Do you want it now? Or do you want to next week? Do you want it right now while I'm freshly annointed with this holy sphory to break a saint off of you going I can't go here, I can't go there. I don't have a degree. I can't start the business. I can't get out of the contract.
I shouldn't have signed the lease. Why don't you just turn the apartment you're in into a habitation of a holy God while you wait on another one.
Because the next best thing for you to do is connected to the next thing that God is going to do that you don't even know about yet.
God killed Saul. David didn't have to. Oh, oh, oh, it's better than that. You don't even know how good God is. Saul fell on his own sword. So you do the next right thing. You have integrity, you have character. You just move on. You forgive you be bigger than that. You look back and forth with Saul. What a word? What a word? What a word? It's hard for me to preach it to you while the Holy Spirit is
still giving it to me. I'm just trying to decide, Lord, what should be said out loud and what should I ponder? Because he said they don't know what they're singing the power of it. When they say I sought the Lord, they think that's what they're doing only in church right now. But this seeking the Lord thing is sometimes gonna look like you spitting and scratching. Nobody really knows what it's like to be on those tours except Holly. Nobody knows what it's really like to look up at an arena
full of people and go, Jesus, this is wonderful. And I'm terrified, except the woman that was back there with me two hours before. When I'm saying, it feels like razor blades in my vocal chords, and I don't want these people to feel cheated tonight. I don't want it to feel stale tonight. And I don't feel like I have the energy. And sometimes before you preach, you feel like you get the flu, but it's not in your body,
is in your mind. And for her to be with me, she'll say come over here, and sometimes she'll just put her hand on my shoulder, and sometimes she'll press strength into my mind. I know we're supposed to be better than that, We're supposed to float on the stage on a cloud of Chicaina glory. But sometimes I'm scribbling and scratching and spitting, just like you.
But I'm seeking him. David thought to himself, Saul's going to kill me. But he kept seeking God even while he was thinking crazy stuff to himself.
And that's what I want you to do, Church. I want you to say, I sought the Lord and I saw him again. And I saw him even as I thought he didn't hear me, even as the devil told me, you're never gonna be free from this. Your dad did it. His dad did it, and you will die an alcoholic too. Even while you are thinking that to yourself, you do the next best thing. That's all you gotta do.
I promise you.
I'm giving you a testimony. I saw it in my family. I saw it when my dad was dying of als. I wanted God to heal him. God didn't heal him. I wanted to take care of him. That didn't work out. For two years, I couldn't take care of him. My mom was taking care of him. He became abusive toward her, so we had to put him in a nursing home. And he was way too young to be in that
nursing home. I was crushed the day I walked in and he was calling bingo in a nursing home when I knew I wanted him down the street with my mom, but they couldn't be together. It wasn't safe for her. So why were we doing a Thanksgiving dinner in a nursing home with my dad while he was dying with an uncertain time limit left? And why were we eating off of paper plates a microwave meal in a nursing home with a man who was in his sixties. That wasn't what I wanted. It was the.
Next best thing.
That's what it means to seek him.
It's oh, it's such a good quote.
He said that faith doesn't show you the whole styse, just enough to take the next step, the next best thing. My camera operators are usually better in this. I want them to show you the stairs. Can y'all not get that shot? I'm gonna buy some more cameras before next week. Come over to this side. I wanted that illustration. But let me do the next best thing. I use this
side of stairs. Yeah yeah, yeah, just like that, Just like that, Just like that, just like that, just like that, And watch this, watch this.
It's gonna be ugly. It's gonna be ugly. Sometimes it's gonna be ugly.
Sometimes every prayer is not gonna be pretty.
Every prayers are gonna happen in church.
Every faith experience isn't gonna happen in a controlled environment. But the Bible says to humble yourself under his hand, because Saul's hand is nothing compared to his hand, and one Peter five us. In due time, he will lift you up, one next best thing at a time. That's how he's going to bring you out. Ugly, trust, spitty beard, trust trust in your eyes, but went anyway, tears on your pillow, sleepless nights. But I'm not giving up on God. Ugly trust. You know what that means to me, ugly
Put it on the screen, y'all. It means trusting God until God lifts you.
In due time.
He raised David up, but in the meantime, David had to go to a place that he didn't want to be.
Who is this I'm preaching to that you are in and.
Until God lifts you, Until God lifts you, humble yourself.
And seek him.
Stand all over the room, lift your hands to your father. He said, I will bless the Lord at all times.
When salt spears are flying when my heart is breaking, when answers don't come easy, I will bless the Lord at all times. This is ugly trust. Some of you need to have, you know, they have ugly cry. Some of y'all need to have ugly praise. Just say, God, this is what it looks like for our family right now, even right now.
My whole family isn't in church with me.
Even right now, I can't get everybody together, even right now, I can't get everything worked out. But my hands are lifted. Lift him up, Lift him up, Lift them up, lift him up, Lift him up. This is ugly trust because he said, I will bless the Lord at all times. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt. What does exalt mean? To lift him up? So until he lifts you up? What do you do? What do you do? Lift him up? I want you to begin to lift
him up right now in your heart. I want you to begin to praise him right now with your own mouth.
I will bless the Lord at all times. I trust you God. I trust you with my future. I trust you with my family. I trust you with my children.
God.
I trust you with this decision. I trust you with this economy. I trust you with this move. I trust you with this transition. Come on and lift him up, Lift him up, Lift him up.
This is ugly trust. It doesn't have to be pretty. It doesn't have to be in an alphabetical order. It doesn't have to be King James English. Just say, I need you God. I trust you God.
Here's my life, Lord, here's my dreams, Lord, here's my heart.
Lord, it's yours. Lord.
I saw the Lord and the her I sought the Lord.
That's why.
Look at me.
I don't trust him because of how long it took him to answer it. I don't trust him because he answered it when I wanted him to answer it. I don't trust him because he answered it how I wanted him to answer it. I trust him because he is God.
And he is the highest, and he is the greatest, and I'm gonna seek him as long as it takes is and I'm not letting God of the word that he's fall.
That's why. That's why, just that's why, that's why, just because he's solely and hear because he's great. Lit up, fine cats fly see thank God for you. Make God tell over you.
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