 Amen. Well, thank you for having me and thank you for being here. Of course, I want to thank Pastor Pozarnski for his friendship, for everything he's done for me and for our church. And it's an honor to be here preaching for you guys. So just thank you for having me. So we're there for Samuel 30. And in first Samuel 30, if you know the story, this is the time when Samuel, I'm sorry, when David is running from King Saul. And at this time, David is actually with King Akish, the King of Gath, and he's with the Philistines. And at this time, the King of the Philistines, he sends David back to Ziklag. First Samuel 30, look at verse number one again. The Bible says, in the kingdom of the past, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the Southland. Notice, and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire. Now Ziklag at this time, this is the city of David. This is where he's living with his people, with his family. This is the town where the King of Gath gave to David to live in. And it says in verse number two, notice what it says, and had taken the women captives that were therein, they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way. So as David returns to Ziklag, he finds his home, he finds his city in ruins, burned by the Amalekites. Look at verse number three, the Bible says, so David and his men came to the city and behold, notice it was burned with fire. And their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives. It says then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to see David in his life, coming back in a dark time in his place. He returns to his home at the time. And he expects to see his house, his wife, his kids, but he comes back to Ziklag and that is burned with fire. His family has been taken captive. All the wealth has gone, the possessions are taken, the children have been taken captive. So in this story we see a very dark time in the life of David. Look at verse number five, it says, notice, and David's two wives were taken captive. Ahinoa, the Jesualitis, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite, notice it says, and David was greatly distressed. The word distressed means he was in extreme anxiety. He was in sorrow, he was in pain. It says, for the people's sake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved. Every man for his sons and for his daughters. And so we see at this time, David was a man who probably felt very alone at this time. You know, David is leading his men and they get back to their hometown, the cities burned down, everyone's been taken captive, they're kidnapped. The people speak of stoning King David. And I can imagine David at this time, it says he is very distressed. Going through extreme anxiety, his men are turning on him. The Amalekites have burned the city. They've taken the people captive and we see a man going through a very lonely time in his life. And there will be times in your life and in my life where we'll go through times of deep distress, extreme anxiety, extreme sorrow, and extreme pain. And we see this is the time of life that David is going through, a time of deep anxiety. But notice what it says in verse number six, it says notice, and David was greatly distressed for the people's sake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved. Every man for his sons and for his daughters. But notice what it says about David. It says, but David noticed, encouraged himself in the Lord, his God. The buses that David, he was able to do it to encourage himself in the Lord, his God. What does it mean to be encouraged? When you encourage someone, you give them support, you give them confidence, and you give them hope. And it's great when people can come alongside you when you're going through a dark time in your life, when they can come alongside you and help you and encourage you and be there for you. And look, people need that today. When I'm going through a hard time, I need people to come around me and to help me and encourage me. We need people and thank God that we have people in our lives, like a great church, like a pastor, like a pastor's wife who can come alongside you and encourage you. Key places are first hand, we go to Ecclesiastes 4, if you would, Ecclesiastes 4. Ecclesiastes 4. But the truth is, sometimes we can find ourselves like King David, he's not a king yet. We can find ourselves like David in this time when we can feel all alone. When we feel like there's nobody there to encourage us. And what makes David special, what makes David different is the fact that David was able to encourage himself in the Lord his God. And you and I ought to get to the place where you and I can encourage ourselves in the Lord. Ecclesiastes 4, look at verse number nine. Ecclesiastes 4 and 9, the Bible says, notice, it says two are better than one. And it's great to have people to help you encourage you. Why? Because the truth is that, yes, two are better than one. It's just because they have a good reward for their labor. Verse 10, there's, for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But then it says, but woe to him, notice, that is alone, when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. And the truth is sometimes in your life, guess what, you will feel alone. And it can be a very dark time when you feel like you're all alone. And it happens to the best of us. But praise God, yes, two are better than one. Praise God that there are people who can come alongside you and encourage you. But as Christians, we should grow and develop to the place where you and I can encourage ourselves in the Lord. A child, for example, a child is not mature enough to take care of themselves. If they fall, if they need help, they have mom and dad rushing there to help them. They need mom and dad. But you know, as a Christian, as you grow and mature in the Lord, you gotta get to the place where you can just encourage yourself. Because sometimes in life, guess what, you will feel alone. And you know what, we gotta get to the place where we can actually just encourage ourselves in the Lord. So this evening, I wanna preach on how to become the person who can encourage himself in the Lord. Go back to the first Samuel 30, if you would, first Samuel 30. How do you become this person? And the truth is, it's very rare to find a Christian who can get to the place when they can encourage themselves in the Lord. Because look, in your life, as a Christian, mark it down, you'll go through struggles, you'll go through trials, you'll go through times, so maybe you wanna put it on God, you wanna quit living for the Lord, it's gonna get difficult for everyone. But you ought to get to the place where you can just be mature enough to encourage yourself. Tonight, I have four ways that you can become the person who is different, who doesn't need somebody just to constantly be encouraging them, but where you can actually just encourage yourself in the Lord. First Samuel 30, look at verse number three again. Notice what it says, it says here. It says, so David, notice, and his men. I want you to notice, as we read the story, we have two groups of people here. We have David on one hand, who is the leader, David on one hand, who is leading the people, and we have, and his men. It says, so David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters were taken captive. I want you to notice, we have two groups of people. We have David, and we have his men, but both people, they're going through the exact same struggle. I mean, David just had his wives taken, he had his children taken, his houses were burned, the men, they had their wives taken, their houses burned down, their families taken captives, and notice what it says in verse number four, it says, notice, then notice, David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. We have two different sets of people going through the exact same struggle, but isn't it interesting that you can have the same situation with the same people, but both people can handle it completely differently? Here we're going to see that David stands apart from the rest of the people. David going through the exact same situation handles it completely different than most people, and you'll find that it is a rare thing when you find a Christian who goes through a hard time, who goes through a struggle and can just take it head on and take it and just encourage themselves in the Lord. Notice what it says in verse number five, it says, notice, and David's two wives were taken captives, I had known the Jesualitis and Abigail, the wife of the neighbor of Carmelite, and David was greatly distressed. Notice, for the people, spake of stoning him. Notice, these are the same people who at one point, they needed David. At one point, David was the man who helped them, who saved them. At one point, this is the man who the people needed. Now they're speaking of stoning David. It's just because the soul of all the people is grieved. Every man for his sons and for his daughters. But notice the opposite, it says those buts. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Two groups of people going through the exact same struggle. They both lost their homes, both lost their family, both lost everything. Here we have most people, what do they want to do? They want to blame King David. They want to stone King David. It's all David's fault. And we have David on the other side. What does he do? He encourages himself in the Lord. He places the first Samuel, third to go to first Samuel 22, first Samuel, chapter number 22. And I find that ironic. Now, you're going to first Samuel 22, that now that David is in distress, he has no one to go to. First Samuel 22. First Samuel 22, look at verse number one. It says, David therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave of Dolom. And when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. Notice what it says about these men who now want to kill David. It says in verse two, everyone noticed that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him, referring to David. See these men who now want to kill David, who when David is now in deep distress like they are, David has nowhere to go. David has no one to encourage him. But a little while ago, these men were in distress. They were discontented in debt and they run to King David for encouragement. They run to David because they need him. And I find it ironic now that King David needs some encouragement, he has nowhere to go. And the people going through the exact same trial, what do they want to do? They just want to kill King David. They want to stone King David. It says, notice, and he became a captain over them and there were with him, about 400 men. It says that these men, because they were in distress, they were in debt, they went to David looking for leadership, looking for encouragement. And David became what? Became a captain over them. And my first point on how do you become the person who encourages himself is that you must maintain a personal walk with the Lord. You must maintain a personal walk with the Lord. Go back to, go back to 1 Samuel 30 if you would. I find, actually look, two people going through the exact same trial, exact same struggle. You find one person, you find a Christian who can encourage themselves in the Lord. On the other hand, you find somebody else who does what? Who just wants to blame other people. And sadly, these men, at one point they were in distress, they were discontented, they were indebted. They did a good thing of joining themselves to King David. But sadly, they did not grow to the place in their life when they could handle a difficulty in their life. And look, and in your life, the way you will encourage yourself in the Lord is by you maintaining a personal walk with the Lord. These 400 men, along with everyone else who joined themselves to them, they had not grown spiritually to the place where they could encourage themselves in the Lord. And it's a sad truth because you know what? They had King David there, or it wasn't King yet, but they had David there to encourage them, to lead them, and David was the only one who could encourage himself in the Lord. And those other men, they couldn't do it. They hadn't grown to that place. Actually, if you go to 2 Corinthians, if you go to 2 Corinthians, keep place on 1 Samuel 3, but go to 2 Corinthians. You see, how do you become the person who encouraged himself in the Lord? You maintain a personal walk with God. Like sadly, these men, they did not grow to the place where they could deal with this trial in their life, where they can deal with this hard time. Because look, you can have a King David for years. I keep saying King David. He's not the King at the time. But you gotta have a David, a leader, to encourage you to help you, but you personally must get to the place where you can maintain a personal walk with the Lord so that when the hard time comes in your life, you will be ready. And you see this in people. You see it that when a hard time comes, a struggle comes, instead of encouraging themselves in the Lord, sadly, they don't go spiritually. And what do they wanna do? They wanna just blame David. They wanna blame other people. They wanna quit. They wanna run. They wanna hide. But look, this is not not to be asked, but look, our daily walk with the Lord is what causes us to handle those difficult situations. Securities four, like verse number 16, it says, notice, for which cause we faint not. It says, notice, but though our outward man perish, it says yet the inward man, notice, is renewed day by day. See, the truth is that the outward man, the circumstances in your life, the physical, the exterior, the houses, the things in your life, look, those things can perish in your life sometimes. You can go through a hard time in your life sometimes. But notice, it says that yet the inward man, notice, is renewed when day by day. See, the truth is daily devotional or our lack of daily devotional will determine how we deal with the trial. We'll determine whether or not we actually encourage ourselves in the Lord. See, we don't just say, hey, make sure you pray and read your Bible every day. Just say, please read your Bible every day. No, we say that so that when the trial comes, you can grow spiritually to the place where you can just encourage yourself in the Lord. And look, and obviously you'll have a David, you'll have people in church, you'll have people around you to help you and encourage you. But let's get to the place where we can actually just encourage ourselves. Well, how's it done? It's done by renewing ourselves, notice day by day. And notice what that does for you in verse 17. It says notice for our light affliction, which is but for a moment. See, when you renew the inward man day by day, when you can maintain a personal daily devotional, it'll cause you to look at a situation completely different. Some people will say, man, look at this, this is affliction. I have to quit, I have to leave, I'm gonna get mad at David. And no, Paul says here notice for our light affliction. See, it'll cause you to see things a little bit differently. It says which is but for a moment. It says notice worketh for us, a far more exciting glory. It says notice while we look, notice not at the things which are seen. Notice but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. See, notice it says while we look, not at the things which are seen. See, our focus, our daily walk with the Lord should be focused on that which is eternal. On the things which are noticed which are not seen. And look, and when we say that we walk by faith and not by sight, this is what we're talking about. When we say that every day, hey, we live a life of faith, because what is faith? The substance of things which are not seen. The evidence notice of things not seen. It says while we look at the things which are not seen, focused on that which is eternal. And look, in our lack daily Bible reading, lack of prayer life will cause us to week, to quit, to not be able to encourage ourselves during those difficult times in our life. So look, if you wanna, if you wanna become a person who can encourage yourself, I do, then a daily devotion time is vital for your life. And right now you're determining today how you handle the next trial in your life. You're determining by your daily walk with God how you will handle the next trial in your life. So you make a priority to do it. Knew the end word man day by day. Go to Romans 14, if you're Romans chapter number 14. You say, how do you become the person who encourages himself and the Lord? You maintain a personal walk with the Lord. And sadly, these men had not grown to the place spiritually, or they could handle what was going on. But thank God that David was a man who was able to say, you know what, I'm gonna encourage myself in the Lord. And you know, some of the pastor always tells us is that you're either in a storm, you're about to head into a storm or you're coming out of a storm or going into a storm or there's one coming. But either way, look, you're preparing yourself today for how you will deal with it tomorrow. So make sure that you prioritize a daily walk with the Lord. But not just that. In Romans 14, look at verse number 11. Romans 14, 11, that's what the Bible says. It says, for it is written, as I live, say to the Lord, it says, every knee shall bow to me and every one shall confess to God. It says, so then every one of us shall give notice, account of himself to God. You see, how do you become the person who encourages himself and the Lord? You ought to remember that you are personally responsible for your walk with the Lord. In verse 12, notice what it says. It says, so every one of us, notice, shall give account of himself to God. And like when you're going through a struggle, when you're going through a hard time in your life, you personally are responsible for how you will handle that situation, how you react. And what people wanna do when they're not ready, when they haven't prepared, what they'll do is they'll wanna blame David. They'll wanna stone David and blame other people. But this is like hard times will come in your life. And whatever the circumstances are, look, you in your life, you are personally responsible for how you handle that situation. And so whether or not it's David's fault, whether or not it's anyone else's fault, how you handle it is between you and the Lord. Why? It says, for every one of us shall give account of himself to God. It is like that your question line, it comes down to you. And God can do everything for people. I mean, God has given us the word of God. He's given us a church. He's given you a pastor. He's given you a pastor's life. He can do everything for you. But at the end of the day, you must take personal responsibility for your own walk with the Lord. And you can't get to the place, and look, people wanna do this. They wanna blame, they quit church because they wanna blame some people. They wanna blame this person. They wanna blame that person. But look, at the end of the day, you will give account of yourself to the Lord. So how do you maintain, how do you become the person who encourages himself and the Lord? You gotta remember, you gotta maintain a personal walk with the Lord. Which means what? Which means you gotta maintain a daily emotional time with the Lord. And what you mean is that you are personally responsible to the Lord yourself. Go back to 1 Samuel 30 for what? 1 Samuel 30, 1 Samuel 30. So number one, how do you become the person who encourages himself and the Lord? You maintain a personal walk with the Lord. Which means you have a personal daily devotional. Which means that you are personally responsible to God. But how else do you become the person who encourages himself and the Lord? You maintain a proper perspective of God and men. You maintain a proper perspective of God and men. Look, it's your life. God must always keep God in his proper place. 1 Samuel 30, look, verse number six, again notice, and David was greatly distressed. You see why? It's his notice. For the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people is grieved. Every man for his sons and for his daughters. And I wanna ask myself, was it David's fault that the Amalekites invaded the land and burned the city down and took them captives? Was it really David's fault? But these people, they just wanna take it out on King David. Their first focus of attention, is it, man, let's pray to the Lord. Is it, man, let's go to God in prayer. Let's encourage ourselves from the Lord. No, the first thing is let's just stone the reason, which is David. But notice, but notice what David does. It says, but. But David encouraged him in the Lord his God. And we see that while the people were putting all their faith in David, what was David doing? He, David, was looking to the Lord. And look, and in your life, look, you must maintain a proper perspective of God and men. You must always remember that, look, that God is our ultimate source of strength. That these are our ultimate source of everything. Go to Psalm 71, if you would, Psalm, Chapter 71. Psalm, Chapter 71. Look, how do you encourage yourself in the Lord? Look, you encourage yourself in the Lord by doing it in the Lord. It's at the end of the day, the Lord ought to be your strength. The Lord ought to be the one who give you the power. He ought to be the one that you run to during times of trouble. God ought to be your ultimate source of strength. Psalm 71, look, verse number one. Psalm 71, one, it says in thee, O Lord, notice, do I put my trust? It says, let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness and cause me to escape. He says, incline thine ear unto me, notice, and save me. He says, notice, be, notice thou my strong habitation, once I may continue to reward. He says, thou hast given commandment to save me. He says, for, notice, thou are my rock and my fortress. Verse five. He says, for thou art my hope, O Lord God. Notice, thou art my trust from my youth. See, at the end of the day, look, you must remember that your ultimate source of strength, it ought to come from the Lord. He says in verse six, he says, by thee, have I been holding up from the womb. Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels, my praise continually of thee. You see, how do you know, look, how, when God is your ultimate source of strength, look, you will know when you go through a hard time in your life, when you go through a struggle. And if people want to get bitter and just think about people, get mad at people, but you know, when you go through a hard time, your first reaction ought to be, you know what, let me go to God in prayer. Let me go to the Lord. Cause you know what, at the end of the day, he is my ultimate source of strength. And him, and thee, do I put my, he says, thou art my hope, thou art my strength. He says, by thee have I been holding up from my womb. Go to 2 Corinthians 1, if you would, 2 Corinthians 1, 2 Corinthians 1. You see, how do you encourage yourself from the Lord? You maintain a proper perspective of God and men. You must remember that God must be number one. God must be your ultimate source of strength and comfort. 2 Corinthians 1, look at verse number three. 2 Corinthians 1, 3 of the Bible says those. Blessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercy, he's noticed. And the God, notice of all comfort. It says, comfort us in all our tribulation. What is it? Those are the hard times. Those are the trials. Those are the struggles. Cause look, in life, you will go through hard times, you will go through struggles, but you must always remember that your ultimate source of strength, it's not David, it is the Lord. And if you focus on David, when David lets you down, you're gonna wanna kill David. But David, guess what? You know what David is? David's just a man. David is just a man. And we see David, David is a great man of God, a great character in the Bible that we see, but you know what we see? We see David doing these things right. Making mistakes, because David is a human being just like you and just like me. And we must remember that, man, man bleed, people are people. People bleed like you, people sweat like you, people go through hard times like you and I. Look, at the end of the day, David is just a man. And our ultimate source of strength must be in God. Why? Because he is the God of all kinds. This is the one who comes with us in all our tribulation. Go to Psalm 118, Psalm 118. You see, how will this help me when I go through a difficult time? How will this help me to become the person who can encourage himself and the Lord? Well, this ought to help you because you know what? At the end of the day, when you go through a hard time, the first person you go to ought to be the Lord. Psalm 118. And look, and it's good to have hope and trust in man. Look, there's people that I have faith in, I trust in. But look, at the end of the day, people are people. At the end of the day, man, somebody said that the best of men are but men best. At the end of the day, men are men. But you know what? God is God. And the Bible says in Psalm 118, look at verse number eight, it says, notice, it is better, Psalm 118, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Verse nine, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. And these people, first thing with 30, they maybe they've had a little too much faith in David, a little too much faith in that he was the everything. But at the end of the day, no, God is everything. And is it good to have hope and faith and trust in man? Absolutely. But you know what? It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in men. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Why? Because at the end of the day, the best of men are but men at best. And look, this ought to help you in your life. Because look, when you go through a hard time in your marriage, for example, your spouse is a human being. Your husband is just a man who will make mistakes, who is a sinner. Your wife is just a lady who will make mistakes. Your kids are just people. They're gonna make mistakes. They're gonna do things that are wrong. At the end of the day, people are just going to be people. And sometimes, guess what? People make mistakes. Was it David's fault that this happened? I mean, I don't think so. But look, the people, they should have realized, David is hurting just like we're hurting as well. And why would they want to kill David? Maybe they had too much hope in David and not enough hope in God. Instead of running to the Lord, what they want to just go to David and just kill David. Go to 2 Timothy 4, food, 2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy 4. How do you become the person who encourages himself and the Lord? You ought to maintain a proper perspective of God in men. Realize that God ought to be number one all the time. 2 Timothy 4, like verse number 16. 2 Timothy 4, 16, it says those. And my first answer, those apostles, he said, no man stood with me. And we see those apostles, he says, but all men forsook me. He says, I pray God that I may not be laid to their charge. Here we have the apostle Paul going through a dark time in his life, through time of the stress. He said, all men forsook me. And you have to ask yourself, did you get bitter about it, Paul? Did you get upset about it? Did you want to stone them? No, he said, no, I pray God that I may not be laid to their charge. See, here we have the apostle Paul as someone who was able to do what? To encourage himself and the Lord. But here we have the apostle Paul going through a dark time when people are just leaving him for taking him. But notice, he says, no, he says, I pray God that I may not be laid to their charge. He says, you know, just forgive them, Lord. They messed up. But guess what? My faith is not in men, no, my faith is in God. He says, verse 17, not withstanding, the Lord stood with me. It says, and strengthened me. And look, what to God that you and I as Christians, we get to this place in our life when we can go through a hard time, when we can go through a struggle, and we say, you know what? Not withstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me, the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered to the mouth of the Lord. Verse 18, notice, and the Lord, not men, and the Lord shall deliver from every evil work, notice, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom. You know, does Paul sound better that people left him? Nope. Paul is a man who was able to encourage himself in the Lord. And look, this is where you gotta get to the place in your life when you realize that the people that you surround yourself with, they're just people. And sometimes when you go to your job, like people will do things that are wrong. Your boss will make mistakes. Your family members will make mistakes. People will do you wrong in life. It happens. But when you get so bent out of shape about it, it just kind of shows maybe you're putting a little too much confidence in man and not enough confidence in the Lord. Because at the end of the day, look, David is just a man. David is just a human being. But you know what, David, a man of faith, those hard times, what does he do? He runs to the Lord. He encouraged himself in the Lord. Look back to 1 Samuel 30, 1 Samuel 30. 1 Samuel 30. You see, how to become the person who encourages himself in the Lord. Well, number one, you maintain a personal walk with the Lord. You maintain a daily devotional. You remember that you are personally accountable to God. You maintain a proper perspective of God in men. You don't remember that God ought to be our ultimate source of strength. And not just that, but look at verse number seven, 1 Samuel 30, verse seven. Notice what David does in the story. It says, and David said to a by-a-thar, the priest, a Himalayan son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. You see, how to become the person who can encourage himself in the Lord. Number three is by inquiring at the Lord. See, David, he tells a by-a-thar, bring me hither the ephod. And a by-a-thar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired at the Lord. I want you to notice that David is not just jumping to conclusions here. David goes to do what, to inquire at the Lord. You know what does it mean to inquire? It means to ask. He's asking the Lord what's going on here, Lord. And look, how do you become the person who can encourage himself in the Lord? You must remember to inquire at the Lord, to go to God in prayer when you're going through those hard times. Go to Philippians four, if you've heard of Philippians chapter four, Philippians four. So you ought to inquire at the Lord. When you go through a difficulty, when you go through a hard time, like David and his men were at this time, instead of jumping to conclusions like his men were doing, what does David do? He prepares to seek the Lord and he prepares to inquire at the Lord. So when we go through hard times, we shouldn't have some questions in our mind when we go through difficulties. We should ask ourselves, you know, God, why are you allowing this to happen? God, is there something, is there something you're trying to work in my life? We should always have this attitude of just inquiring, praying and asking the Lord, you know, why is this happening, Lord? Philippians four, like verse number four, it says rejoice the Lord always and again I say, let us rejoice. Now, that's a hard statement because it says rejoice in the Lord always and look, we don't always want to rejoice because we're going through hard times because we're going through a struggle. But yes, even through the hard times it is and again I say rejoice. He says, let your moderation be known until all men, the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing. You know, when it says be careful for nothing, it means don't be overly worried for things. Don't be overly consumed. Don't be overly anxious or depressed. It says be careful for nothing. But how is it done? It says, but in everything that is by prayer and supplication, excuse me, let your requests be made known unto God. It says be careful for nothing, but in everything that is by prayer and supplication. You know, what is supplication? Supplication is when you earnestly beg for something. When you earnestly ask, when you're begging for something. And here as the Bible says like in everything rejoice. And in everything do it by, it says be careful for nothing. Don't be overly consumed, overly worried. You say, why? It says here, but in everything by prayer and supplication it says let your requests be made known unto God. And it's easy for us to read this and say be careful for nothing. Don't be overly consumed because look the truth is difficulties arise in our life. Hard times come, but look we should become the Christian who is able to inquire, to ask, to go to God in prayer, to make supplication, with our requests being made known unto God. You say, why would I do that? Because you ought to know as a Christian that God has a plan and a purpose for your life. You should know that all things work together for good to the middle of God. Look, everything works together for good. And when you're going through a hard time, you're going through a difficulty, instead of jumping to conclusions, trying to make things happen, trying to make things change, make sure you remember to always inquire at the Lord. Cause look at the end of the day, he allowed things to happen. But you gotta get to the place where you can go to God when you can just in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God. And like I don't know about you, but it's comforting for me knowing that when a hard time comes, you can go to God in prayer and ask him, God, why are you allowing this to happen? But at the end of the day, look, you know that God has a plan and God has a purpose. And you can rejoice in knowing that God knows. And look, sometimes we don't know why God allows difficulty in our life. Go to Job 23, Job 23. So you should go to God, you should inquire at the Lord when you go through those hard times. You should ask, go in prayer, and ask, you know, why are you allowing this to happen, Lord? Why did the Amalekites come and burn the city? Why did they take the people captive? And look, the truth is, sometimes we don't know why we're going through hard times. Sometimes we don't know why God is allowing us to go through a difficulty. Go to Job 23, if you have Job chapter 23. Job 23, look at verse number eight, Job 23, eight, the Bible says, behold, I go forward, but he is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he did the work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him. And look, isn't it true? This is how it is sometimes when we're struggling in life, when we're going through a hard time, we have no idea why God is allowing this to happen. He says, I go forward, but he is not there. Backward, but I cannot perceive him. And look, and we know the story of Job, a man who lost his health, his wealth, his children, a man who his wife turned on him, a man who went through the worst things that a man could go through. And even Job is a man who, he didn't know why God was doing this. And like, and it's okay, it's okay to not know why God is doing what he's doing. And sometimes we may, sometimes we don't, it's allowing these hard times to come in our lives. Should that get us disgruntled or discouraged? Well, notice what Job says in verse 10. It says, but he knoweth the way that I take. Look, that ought to be comfort enough for people that God knows the way that you take. It says, notice when he hath tried me, he says, I shall come forth as gold. And when you don't know, like here we have Job, a man who he didn't know what was happening. But Job knew this. He said, you know what? Even though I don't know, he says, you know what God knows the way that I take. And when God hath tried me, he said, I shall come forth as gold. Cause look, when you inquire at the Lord, sometimes you'll not know. You'll search for it, the answer, but it's not gonna be there. But you ought to just know, you know what? Maybe God's just trying to make us better. And Job is saying here, look, he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, he says, I shall come forth as gold. Cause the way that God changes you and I, cause look, we don't like change. Cause you know what, we like who we are. You know, we don't like to change. I like who I am. I like me. But you know what? There's some things about me that God doesn't like. There's some things that I do that God just needs to just push me and get me to do things and change some things. But naturally, humanly speaking, we don't want to change. Cause you know what? We think we think we're okay. You know what? We think we're all good. We don't think we need to change. But you know what? God, we should just know when we don't know what's going on, we should just know that. You know what? God knows the way that we take. And when he's tried us and perfected us and perfected us, he shall come forth as gold. And we gotta know that God has a plan and God has a purpose. Even if we don't know what is going on. Go to James 1, if you're with James 1. See maybe, just maybe God is working on us to make us better. And that ought to be reason enough just to trust God when things don't look like they're working out for us. When we're going through a hard time, maybe that should just make us trust God in knowing that you know what? God knows the way that we're taking. God has a plan for our life and there's a purpose for our life. And even when times seem difficult, those are the times that maybe God is just molding us to make us a better person. James 1, look at verse number two. He says, James 1, 2 of the Bible says, it was my brother and he says, counted all joy when he fall into diverse temptations. You know, temptations is referring to the life. It seems like counter-intuitive. You know, why would I want to joy or be happy about the fact that I'm going through all these diverse different trials in our life? Well, he says, knowing this, that the trying of your faith, notice what it says, it says a worketh patience. See the trying, the difficulties, the hard times in your life, it says those are the times that God is working. It says it worketh patience. It says, should you get mad about it? Should you get upset about it, bitter about it? No, verse four. It says, but let patience have her perfect work. It says, notice that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. And sometimes we need to just be like David and just inquire at the Lord. You say, God, what are you trying to change about me? What are you working on in my life? And sometimes we don't have an answer. We don't know why God is doing what he's doing, we should just trust the fact that God knows what he's doing. And maybe the trying of our faith, guess what, that's just gonna make us perfect. It's gonna make us a better person. So we get mad about it. No, it says, count it all. Count it all with joy. It says, let patience have her perfect work. Verse 12. It says, notice blessed is the man, notice that endureth temptation. The word endure means to patiently suffer, to patiently go through it in the hard times. It says for, notice when he is tried. It doesn't say you might be tried, it says when he is tried. And look, you know the stats that sadly most people who start the Christian life end up quitting the Christian life, why is that? Maybe they just didn't grow into the place where they can handle a trial in their life. And the trial that God had for them to make them a better person, to work their faith, to work their patience, to complete them, to perfect them, they just, they couldn't take it. And they just decided to quit. But the Bible says to you here, no. It says blessed is the man that endureth. You know what, the word endureth entails, the word endureth entails that it's not gonna be comfortable. Now you're patiently suffering. It says endureth those hard times for when he is tried, he shall receive, notice the crown of life, which the Lord have promised to them that love him. See, how do you encourage yourself in the Lord? How do you become the person who can encourage himself in the Lord? When you can realize that every trial that goes on in your life, maybe God has a purpose and a plan for that trial. Is it comfortable? No. That's why it's called the trial. That's why it's called the trial of your, the trying of your faith. That's why it's called enduring. That's why it's called a trial because he's trying you, because we're tried with fire. And the truth is we're comfortable. We like who we are. We don't wanna chase naturally. We wanna settle into ourselves, but you know what? Hold us into the image of his dear son. Look, there's a new man inside of you created in righteousness and true holiness who has not conformed to this world, but it was conformed to Jesus Christ. And there's some things about us in our life that we need to change and allow those trials to make you a person. Will you always know why God is doing it? No. But whatever it is, just know that God has a plan, God has a purpose and allow that to mold you and to change you. So what should you do when you go through a trial? You should inquire at the Lord, ask him, God, why are you allowing this to happen? And will you always know? Look, you may not know. God may not tell you or you may know. Look, the truth is there may be some sin that you know that God is dealing with you with. If there's a trial and you know it's because of sin, then look, then just if we confess our sins and he is faithful and just to forgive us for sins, it declenses from all in righteousness. Look, if you know there's a sin that God is dealing with you with, then look, that's God telling you, hey, you gotta get this right. And realize that that's how God wants to mold you and just work on that. So when you go through a hard time, how do you encourage yourself? Because look, I don't know about you, but for me it is encouraging knowing that when I'm going through a hard time, I know that God has a plan. And you have to choose just to make you a better person to make you a better Christian. Go back to 1 Samuel 30 for it, 1 Samuel 30. You say, how do you become the person who encourages himself, Lord? Number one, you maintain your personal walk with the Lord. Number two, you maintain a proper perspective of God and men. Number three, you inquire at the Lord. And number four, you continue for the Lord. And look, it's difficult and it's not gonna be overnight. When you become the person who can encourage himself and the Lord. And obviously praise the Lord that we have a church, that we have a pastor and a pastor's wife, that we have people that we can run to to help us and to encourage us. But look, maturity, maturity, Christmas is when we can get to the place where we can just encourage ourselves in the Lord. 1 Samuel 30, look, verse number seven. And David said to Abaithar, the priest, and Himalek's son, I pray that you bring me hither to the Ephod and Abaithar brought hither to the Ephod to David. Verse eight, and David inquired at the Lord. And notice the question that David asks. And this is the question that we often ask ourselves when we go through a hard time. He says, notice, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And look, and isn't that the question that people ask when they go through a difficulty, when they go through a struggle? They ask the question, shall I pursue? What does it mean to pursue? It means to just keep going. You know, should I just keep going in this marriage when you're going through a hard time? Don't people ask that question, marriage problems? They just say, should we even keep doing this? When they go through a struggle with their kids, they just ask, can I just keep doing this? They go through a hard time at their work. Should I just keep working here? Just pursue in their Christian life when things get a little difficult. Like this is a very common question that people ask themselves. They say, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And look, the truth is when we get to our times of discouragement, difficulties, the times that are hard, those are the times that we feel like quitting. Naturally, what do we do? We don't want to pursue. Naturally, we don't want to keep on going. But notice the answer from the Lord. It says, and to even inquire to the Lord in verse eight, saying, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he, this is the Lord, answered him. He said, notice, pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all. And what's the answer from God? Is the answer from God, hey, just quit it? No. He says, you know what, pursue. He says, you know what, keep going. And you don't realize, look, the answer in the Christian life is always pursue. When you find yourself discouraged, what's the best thing you can do is you could just keep going, just continue. And look, the truth is, not only is this the best answer, it's really the only answer, but you know what, it's probably the hardest answer. The hardest answer, when you're going through a hard time in your marriage, is keep going. When you're going through a hard time in the Christian life, is just keep going. That is the hardest thing to do. But you know what, that is the best and only thing to do. Because what are we talking about? We're talking about encouraging ourselves in the Lord. And you have to ask yourself, what would the Lord want me to do? Well, you know what, guess what? I think the Lord would want me to bring my life. The Lord would want me to keep praying. The Lord would want me to be in church three times a week. The Lord would want me to go soul-winning. The Lord would want me to continue to pursue. See, the answer is always to continue. Go to 2 Timothy chapter number three. And look, this is how we see when people get to the place, when they fail to become a Christian who can encourage themselves in the Lord. How do we know when somebody fails to become a person who can encourage themselves in the Lord is when they stop pursuing and they decide to quit? Because look, if you ask the Lord, he's always going to say, hey, keep going. Second Timothy three, look verse number 10. Second Timothy three, 10, the Bible says it was, but thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience. He says, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me in Antioch at Ecolonium at Lystra. What persecutions, again, notice, I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Here we have Paul preparing Timothy for the ministry. He says, look, I went through persecutions and afflictions. He says, I endured. I suffered patiently through them. Verse 12, yay, notice, and all that would live Godly in Christ Jesus, notice, shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seditious shall walk worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. And here we have Paul, look, he doesn't paint a pretty picture for the Christian life. He says, look, if you want to get in this thing Timothy, look, guess what? You've known my manner of life. You know how I've lived. You've known that there have been trials, there have been persecutions, there have been afflictions I've had to endure I've had to patiently continue. You know that everyone, all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution. Does he want him to be afraid or stop? Well, notice verse 14. He says, notice, but continue. He says, but pursue, but just keep going. He says, but continue, notice, thou. And the things which thou has slurred and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them. See the best thing that thou that you can do as a Christian is to just keep going. And look, this is the easiest answer. This is the only answer, but yeah, this is the answer that people don't want to hear. Cause you will just look, you're going to go through a hard time in life, in church, in Christian life, in your home, at your job with your kids, through difficulties, but the answer is always to just keep going. Cause look, encourage yourself in the Lord. Guess what it means? That you're doing what the Lord wants you to do. Cause what you want to do is probably not what the Lord wants you to do. And you know, and don't get mad. And this is what people do. Don't get mad when the preacher says, hey, keep going. Hey, continue. Hey, pursue. Look, that's what God wants you to do. He wants you to keep going. He wants you to pursue and continue. And look, the worst thing you could do in the Christian, the only way to fail in the Christian life is to just quit. It's to stop pursuing. Go to 1st Timothy 4, if you go to 1st Timothy 4, you say, what should I do? How do I encourage myself in the Lord? How do you become the person who encourages himself in the Lord? It's when you can actually just be the continues in the Lord, continues pursuing, continues fighting, continues doing what you're supposed to be doing. 1st Timothy 4, like verse 13, he says, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. You say, how do I continue in the Christian life? You ought to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Verse 15, meditate upon these things. He says, find thyself holy to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. In verse 16, he says, notice, take heed unto thyself. I like how Paul tells Timothy, he says, take heed unto yourself. He says, watch out for your own Christian life. He says, and unto the doctrine. And he says, notice, continue in them. He says, keep going, keep pursuing. And he says, for in doing this, notice thou shalt both, notice, save, notice thyself and them that hear thee. See, the best thing you can do is to, if you want to take heed unto your Christian life, you ought to just decide, you know what, I'm going to continue. I'm going to keep going, because look, there's going to be mornings, there's going to be Sunday evenings, Wednesday evenings, that you're going to wake up and you're just not going to want to go to church. You're just not going to want to go soul-inning. You're just not going to want to do whatever God wants you to do. But you know what, he just gets to the place and you just say, you know what, I'm just going to do it out of duty, because this is what God wants me to do. Because if you inquire at the Lord, and he say, Lord, should I pursue? Lord, should I keep going? He's going to say, you know what, pursue. He's going to say, keep going. And look, this is the hardest thing you can, this is probably the hardest thing. But this is the best and only thing that will help you stay encouraged, is if you, what, if you just continue for the Lord. Go back to 1st Samuel 30, what 1st Samuel chapter 30. Because what are we talking about? We're talking about being the person who can, become the person who can encourage themself in the Lord. And look, this is a rare thing. This is a rare person who can just encourage themself in the Lord. You say, how do we come this personal? Number one, you maintain a personal walk with the Lord. Number two, you maintain a proper perspective of God and men. Number three, you inquire at the Lord. Number four, you continue for the Lord. I want you to notice what happens in the story here with David in verse number nine. It says, so David went. He and the 600 men that were with him and came to the Brook B store where those that were left behind stayed. Jump down to verse 17. It says, and David smote them from the twilight, even into the evening of the next day. And there escaped not a man of them, say 400 young men which rode upon camels and fled. It says, and David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away. And David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoiled or anything that they had taken to them. It says, David recovered all. You know, it's a great way to encourage yourself when you're going through a hard time, is that you just gotta remember that tomorrow is another day. Now you know what? In the moment when things are looking terrible, when the city's burned, family's taken, when God says, keep going, guess what? You know what? Tomorrow, guess what? You will recover all. Tomorrow is a new day. And as a Christian, don't lose sight of the fact that, guess what? When we go through struggles, when we go through hard times, we think they'll never end. We think they'll never change. But look, tomorrow is a new day. Look, the Christian life is a life of ups and downs. Some days you're ups, days you're down. But you know what? You just keep going. And tomorrow, guess what? Tomorrow's a new day. Go to Psalm 30 if you would, Psalm 30. Psalm 30. Psalm 30, as you go on there, I'll read for you, Lamentations 3. The Bible says, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. It says, they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Look, hard times will come in life. But there's always tomorrow. There's always the next day. Psalm 30, look, verse number five. Psalm 35, it says, for his anger endureth but a moment. In his favor is life. It says, notice, weeping may endure for a night. It says, but joy cometh in the morning. And this is not a great statement. It says, weeping may endure for a night. But you know what? There's always tomorrow. He says, but joy cometh in the morning. And praise the Lord that David was a man who kept on going, who led the people, who was able to encourage himself, thus encouraging the men, and getting this great victory. And when he goes through a hard time, you know what, weeping will endure, but for a moment. But guess what? But joy cometh in the morning. You say, why would I want to be the person who encouraged himself and the Lord? Because look, you don't know what tomorrow holds in your life. And become the person who can get to the place where you can grow spiritually, because guess what? A trial is coming. Trials will happen. And you prepare for that trial today. Become the person who can encourage themselves in the Lord and face the trial, go through the trial, know that God has a plan, know that God has a purpose, and know that tomorrow is a new day and become the Christian who could just be like David and encourage themselves in the Lord. Let's close in prayer.