 Get into our study, 1 Samuel, chapters 23 and 24. We're gonna actually look at two chapters this morning as we continue our study here in the book of 1 Samuel. Let's begin reading at verse one. I'll read to verse six in chapter 23 and we'll get into our study. Then they took David saying, look the Philistines are fighting against Kailah and they are robbing the threshing floors. Therefore David inquired of the Lord saying, shall I go and attack these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, go and attack the Philistines and save Kailah. But David's men said to him, look, we are afraid here in Judah, how much more then if we go to Kailah against the armies of the Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord once again and the Lord answered him and said arise, go down to Kailah for I have delivered the Philistines into your hand. And David and his men went to Kailah and fought with the Philistines, struck them with the mighty blow and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Kailah. Now it happened when Abba Iotha, the son of Ahimlek, fled to David at Kailah that he went down with an affod in his hand. So notice with me, we see that David is told that the Philistines are fighting against this particular city, a city that is pronounced Kailah. I have a new program that has actually helped me to learn to pronounce these names. You know, I just as soon call it Kailah and get away with it but the name is Kailah and the word literally means citadel. This particular city that we're looking at is a city that is in the lowlands of Judah. It's about 18 miles to the south and the west of the city of Jerusalem. And it's not far from where David has been hiding out there in the caves of Adulam. And it's not too far away from the Philistine border and so what happens is the Philistines are going into the city in order that they might plunder. And so David hears about that in verse one, the Philistines are fighting against Kailah and they're robbing the thrashing force. So David hears about this and notices his response in verse two. He goes and inquires of the Lord and asks God, shall I go and attack these Philistines? So the very first thing he does is he inquires of the Lord. It's interesting if you tie in verse six here it gives you some insight into how he's going about this prayer request. Because verse six says that when Abiathar, the son of Ahimlek, fled to David and Kailah, that he went down with an affod in his hand and that tells us what was happening. The affod is a priestly garment. It had some pouches that would hold what were called the urim and the thumim which were sacred lots that would be cast before the Lord. And that's what's happening. The priest is inquiring of God more than likely using the sacred lots to ask of God direction. You see that in Exodus chapter 28 verse 30. And so this is what's taking place. David hears that something is happening and because he has a great love for these people and is greatly concerned for them, he wants to know if God wants him to do something about it. Now this really falls under the authority of King Saul. King Saul is the one who should be caring about these people. But it shows the heart of David how that David hears that something bad is taking place and immediately wants to get involved. But notice with me that it's not an impulsive action on his part. David actually first and foremost sees the need and prays about it. Sometimes people will see a need and they immediately think well somebody ought to meet that need. I ought to go and do that. Well the need is not the call. Just because there may be a need doesn't mean that you're being called by God or selected by God to do something. It may be that God is calling you to pray about it and perhaps he may have you do something. He may not. He may have somebody else selected for that. So in the case of David what does he do? Well David takes this request before the Lord and says do you want me to go there? Shall I go and attack these Philistines? And as he asks the question the answer comes the Lord says to him go and attack the Philistines and save Calan. And so there's a need for salvation. There's a need for a rescue. So he prays for God's leading. And as he asks God to lead him God begins to lead him through this prayer and he says yes I want you to go and I want you to do this work. Now as David knows that, notice verse three David's men said to him look we are afraid here in Judah. In other words we already have enough problems here. We've got King Saul who's been chasing us all over the place and you're wanting to take us into further danger. Look we are afraid here in Judah how much more then if we go to Cala against the armies of the Philistines? No sooner does he have an army but they begin resisting his leadership. You see what happens is David sees in a way that he needs to encourage the men to see. This is a principle in ministry that I think is a very important principle. God wants you to see what he sees. David went and spoke to the Lord inquired of God. What do you want me to do? God says I want you to go and I want you to attack these people. David goes to his army and says to them we're gonna go and attack these people and deliver the city. Their immediate response is we've already got enough problems here. Why would you lead us into further danger? But what David has to do as a leader is help them to see what God sees. Cause God has already revealed to David that he's in this and that David is going to go and do something. Now David has to communicate that to the Lord and David has to teach them to see what God is showing him. So leadership is not seen with naturalized leadership is seen what God sees. Most people only see through the natural. David is seen through the spiritual. And there's something about that to begin to see what God sees. And God has wonderful things in store for you if you get on the same page with him. In the early 70s, I used to live just down the street right off of Philadelphia. If you leave here and you're on pipeline and you go to Philadelphia and you go west on Philadelphia, you're going to get to East End. When you get to East End there off of Philadelphia and you continue going west, there's a house on the right there and in a lot there that is owned by Lou Bay. And I think it's Lou Bay grain and feed or something like that. And there's a rock house and I don't mean a rock house. There's a house made out of rock that is there on the side. And as you drive by, you'll see this house that's made out of stone. It's actually covered with stone. I used to live there. I lived there in the mid-70s. I used to live there with three friends and we spent $25, I spent $25 a month to live there. Talk about good old days. $25 a month to live in this particular house. We used to have Bible studies there. And Marie and I would drive by this property back in the mid-70s. And I can still remember driving by looking at the church chapel there in the front of our property. And I remember looking at it saying to Marie, isn't that a gorgeous little church? Isn't that a neat church? Little did I know that God was saying, of course it is because I'm preparing that for your ministry when you come out here in 1992 to do ministry here in Chino. So you never really know what God wants to do until you get on the same page and you start seeing what he sees. And David's responsibility was to encourage the people to see what God had shown him. So when he speaks to them and he says to them, we're gonna go and have a battle. Immediately they say, you gotta be kidding me. We've been chased all around southern Israel and you're winding us to now go against the armies of the Philistines. There's no way we're gonna do that. And so what does David do? Well verse four says, David inquired of the Lord once again. And the Lord answered him and said arise, go down to Kailah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand. And David and his men went to Kailah and fought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Kailah. And so God not only this time commends him, God also gives him a promise. And God says, this is what you're gonna do. I am going to deliver them up into your hand. Just trust my promise and follow my command. Again, when our church had first begun, I can still remember there was times that we were making decisions that were pretty serious decisions. And oftentimes they involved purchasing property. And there was a particular time we were gonna buy some property. And as we're negotiating for the property at that time, it was I think $780,000. And I was thinking, Lord, do we have the finances for that? And I remember the Lord on one occasion speaking to my heart, it was almost an audible voice where he said, I didn't raise up this ministry to let it fall. It was one of the things that I needed to be encouraged in, to know that God was in control, that God wanted to do a work, that God was gonna do a work. And so God does that. And what he wanted to do is he wanted to speak to David and say, listen David, not only am I commanding you to go and battle, but I also want you to know that I will deliver the Philistines into your hand. It's interesting how he goes and he speaks to his men and simply tells him, this is what God has said and the result is gonna be that they take him at his word and it is a physical salvation of the city. And you would think that that salvation of Kaela would have caused those inhabitants to be very grateful, but they're not. It says in verse seven, Saul was told that David had gone to Kaela. So Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars. In other words, there's only one entrance and now he's locked in and there's no way he can get out safely. Saul called all the people together for war to go down to Kaela to besiege David and his men. When David knew that Saul plotted evil against him, he said to Ebiothar, the high priest, bring the fad here. Then David said, oh Lord, God of Israel, your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Kaela to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Kaela deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? Oh Lord, God of Israel, I pray, tell your servant. And the Lord said, he will come down. David said, will the men of Kaela deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, they will deliver them. And so here it is, God had used David to deliver them but they're unthankful and willing to deliver him into the hand of Saul because they're afraid of what Saul might do to them. They're afraid that Saul might destroy them. So David asks in verse 12, he's really asking, will these people protect me or will they give me up? And God's answer, they're gonna turn you over. So that's enough for David, verse 13. David and his men, about 600, so they've grown from the 400 to 600, arose and departed from Kaela and went wherever they could go. And then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Kaela and so he halted the expedition. And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness and remained in the mountains in the wilderness of Zeb. Saul sought him every day but God did not deliver him into his hand. So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life and David was in the wilderness of Zeb in a forest. Then Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that. So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. David stayed in the woods and Jonathan went to his own house. Now I want to find a point of application here. I want you to notice something. David has escaped. He's about three miles to the east. He's hiding away from the side of people. But Jonathan comes to him. Jonathan is aware that David is to be king. You've already seen that in chapter 20 verses 13 and 42. He's already aware. And he loves this one, David. And he sees God's hand on him. And as a result of that, Jonathan encourages him. By point of application, this is what friends often do. They encourage you when you're in a wilderness. And that's what's taken place with David. David is being chased. His life is gonna be forfeit if he's captured. He's moving from place to place. Even when he does good, people turn against him. But Jonathan finds him. And as Jonathan finds him, Jonathan speaks to him, administers to him, and encourages him. And that's what God has called us to do, one with another. Sometimes when we see a brother or a sister who are not doing well, they're in a wilderness of sorts, being chased around and feeling like they're gonna lose their life in one way or another. Sometimes what we do is we come to them and we immediately think that we're supposed to rebuke them or correct them or give them a scripture that's gonna set them free rather than just being an encouragement to them. Rather than simply saying, listen, you know, God's hand is upon you. And the work that he began, he's gonna continue and he's gonna complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. And what you need to learn to do is just trust in him and rely on him and hold fast to him because I know that God wants to do something good in you. That's a very important attitude to have because sometimes we believers are very, very quick to pull out a sword and chop off our fellow believers' heads with it. And we need to remember that the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, is also a surgeon's skelf. And God can use his word to remove the things from us and he can induce so, he can remove those things that are bad, and he does it through his word and through prayer and through loving concern that others have for us sometimes. Just having that mentality of being there with him and saying, listen, I wanna encourage you, I see God's hand on you, it's what's strengthening David here in this particular case here. When you read the New Testament, you see that God calls us to be encouragements to one another. In First Thessalonians, in the New Testament, First Thessalonians chapter three, verse two, Paul is speaking there, he's writing there actually and as he's writing there, it speaks of how that he had sent a young man named Timothy and he refers to Timothy as being a brother and a minister of God and a fellow laborer in the Gospel of Christ. And Paul says that he had sent Timothy to the church there to establish them and to encourage them concerning their faith. And that's what God wants to do in us is he wants us to be encourageers to others and we ought to receive encouragement in our times that we're going through very difficult times and that's what happens here. Now it's interesting in verse 18, rather verse 17, where it says, you shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you. What he's saying there very simply is, I am willing to release any claims to the throne because you are the true king of Israel. I don't need to be the king. I only desire to honor God's choice of king and I want to serve besides you as your friend. And so he encourages him in this. Now in verse 19, then the Zephyts came up to Saul at Gibeah saying, is David not hiding with us in strongholds in the woods in the hill of Hakkala which is in the south of Yashemon? And now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to come down and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand. Saul said, blessed are you of the Lord for you have compassion on me. Please go and find out for sure and see the place where his hideout is and who has seen him there. For I am told he's very crafty. See therefore and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides and come back to me with certainty and I will go with you. And it shall be if he is in the land that I will search for him throughout all the clans of Judah. And so what happens here, and I want to point out a couple of things here. One, these people here, when you look at them in verse 19, and you know, I'll be honest with you, I pronounce their name Zephyts. That's how it looks, right, Zephyts. I have this, I found this webpage that gives me pronunciation of the words now and Zephyts is how it's said. All I have to do is just look at my feet and I remember how to pronounce it. It's the feats. And the feats, there are people who are actually from the same tribe as David, but they're terrified because they knew what King Saul had done to the priests of Knob and how he had destroyed all those people and killed even the children. So they thought it best for their own security to inform Saul where David was and then they made this offer to deliver David to him. Now Zephyts on a hill and so they're able to see David and it's been as they pass by and they're able to report to Saul that's what's taking place. But I want you to look at verse 21. I want you to see something here. Notice how it says that Saul said, blessed are you of the Lord for you have had compassion on me. There's something here about Saul that we really should pity. And that is very simply put. His self absorption has reduced him as a person. He's brooded over his rejection as king, his hatred for David for some time and brooding over how you were done wrong results in depression and self pity. If all you think about is your lost opportunities and the bad that was done to you through a lifetime, you become so self absorbed that anybody who shows you any attention becomes your dear friend for awhile. And that's what happens here. He was so self absorbed. He was so caught up of what he lost. He lost the kingdom. He's so self absorbed in that that the minute these Zephyts come and speak to him, he said, oh, thank you. You've had compassion on me. Thank you. You've had pity on me. Look at when all we're looking for is other people's pity. There's something wrong with us. If I'm looking for other people's pity, there's something wrong with my walk with God. When I'm looking for somebody to always have compassion on me and understand my pain, there's something wrong with where I'm at. And that was something wrong with Saul. And so he says, oh, great. You've had compassion on me. You've pitied me. Just let me know so I can come and take him out. Well, it says in verse 24, so they arose and went to Zephyt before Saul. But David and his men were in the wilderness of Moan in the plain of the south of Jesuam. When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore he went down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Moan. And when Saul heard that, he pursued David in the wilderness of Moan. Then Saul went on one side of the mountain and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. So David made haste to get away from Saul for Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to take them. But a messenger came to Saul saying hurry and come for the Philistines have invaded the land. And therefore Saul returned from pursuing David and went against the Philistines. So they called that place the Rock of Escape. And David went up from there and dwelt in strongholds in Engeti. Engeti is an oasis. It's by the Dead Sea. And it's a place where David would hide and did hide. It has a lot of caves and it's a beautiful nature reserve today. We've been to Engeti many, many times. And it's a beautiful, beautiful place. But as you go into Engeti, you can see that it has out of the hillside, there are caves that are still carved out that have been there for 3,000 plus years. And so what David does is David goes into this area called Engeti and he's now hiding in there. And so in verse 24 it happened when Saul had returned from following the Philistines in verse one in chapter 24, following the Philistines that it was told him saying, take note, David is in the wilderness of Engeti. Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats. So he came to the sheepfolds by the road where there was a cave and Saul went in to attend to his needs. He had bathroom duties. David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave. Then the men of David said to him, this is the day of which the Lord said to you, behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand that you may do to him as it seems good to you. David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe. Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. It troubled him because to touch his robe was to touch his person. So he felt that he had done something wrong and he has a tender conscience about that so it cut him to the heart. And he said to his men, verse six, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master. The Lord's anointed to stretch out my hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. So David restrained his servants with these words. In other words, he exerted all of his authority to keep them from doing something. Did not allow them to rise against Saul. Saul got up from the cave and went on his way. David also arose afterward, went out of the cave and called out to Saul saying, my Lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face of the earth and bowed down. And David said to Saul, why do you listen to the words of men who say indeed David seeks your harm? Look this day your eyes have seen that the Lord deliver you today into my hand in the cave. Someone urged me to kill you, but my eye spared you. And I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord for he is the Lord's anointed. Moreover my father see. Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For in that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you. Know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it. Let the Lord judge between you and me and let the Lord avenge me on you. My hand shall not be against you. As a proverb of the ancient says, wickedness proceeds from the wicked, but my hand shall not be against you. After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue, a dead dog, a flea? Therefore let the Lord be judge and judge between you and me and see and plead my case and deliver me out of your hand. Okay, I want to summarize this and give you some things and I want to bring a point of application in this passage. David's hiding in Ingeti. Just so happens he's in the same cave that Saul decides to enter in so that he might relieve himself. As Saul is doing bathroom duties his men, David's men are there and they're saying he's by himself. God has delivered this man into your hand. Go and kill him. David goes close to him and takes his knife and slices out off a portion of Saul's clothing, but his conscience strikes him for doing that because he's not to touch the Lord's anointed. Now, remember with me the context. The Lord's anointed speaks of Saul being the king and what David is basically saying in this particular case here is he's saying it isn't up to me to remove the king because God is the one who establishes kings and it's up to God to remove them. And so it's not up to me to go and kill Saul and to take the kingdom by force. I'm going to allow God to do what God does. Now this phrase here, touch not the Lord's anointed is sometimes misused by teachers who don't want to be accountable to the people they're teaching. And so they'll use the scripture, touch not the Lord's anointed and do his prophets no harm. And when they say that it's another way for them to say you can't correct me. And sometimes people buy into that and so they say, well, no, I'm not to touch the Lord's anointed. Well, one, we need to remember the context of this phrase. The phrase that is being used here is in relation to the fact that he's a political king. He's a king who's been established by God and David is simply saying I'm not by force going to take a position that God gives to man. I'm not going to do that. But when it comes to correcting a teacher, especially if the teacher is bringing false doctrine, it's actually right for somebody to bring correction. Because if somebody is representing the kingdom of God wrongly, somebody ought to love God in his word and that person enough to bring a word of correction. And that does take place. There was a man in the Bible, his name was Apollos. Apollos was eloquent and very learned. He was from Alexandria, the learning center of the world. And he was a man who was well schooled and he was well spoken. But he didn't know the gospel that well yet he had this impulse to speak concerning the things of God. And on one occasion he was speaking and there were two people there present even as he was speaking. A man by the name of Aquila and his wife by the name of Priscilla. And as Apollos, this eloquent young learned man was speaking, they took him aside later on and spoke to him. And the Bible tells us they explained to him the way of God more accurately. You see that in Acts 1826. They corrected him because Apollos was in need of correction and it was to his credit that he received the correction and went on to become a very eloquent man to the point that people in Corinth were even comparing the apostle Paul to Apollos because Apollos was so eloquent and so well spoken. But this was a man who was willing to be corrected. So in context what David is speaking about very simply put is this, I am not called by God to remove a king. God removes the king. It's not up to me. But what happens is when Saul leaves that cave David steps out when it's safe and he calls to Saul. And he speaks to him and he calls him my lord and he speaks to him and says my father and as he's speaking to him he humbles himself even bows before him showing respect to him in his office and he says listen you're chasing after me with no cause. You're listening to people who say that I've got something against you. He said and that's simply not true. God delivered you into my hand today. I could have taken you. You know I could have because I slew Goliath. You would have been easy too. And you didn't even know I was present it would have taken nothing. I could have hit you one time and I wouldn't have to have hit you twice. I could have killed you but I didn't do it. That by itself ought to demonstrate to you that I haven't got anything against you. Even as he says in verse 13 wickedness proceeds from the wicked. My hand shall not be against you. Sinful nature produces sinful behavior but I have nothing evil in my heart towards you. Therefore, I didn't want to strike you. Application verse 12, when Murray and I my wife and I started going to a fellowship in the area back in 1977 in this area. I became close to the pastor. The pastor eventually saw that the Lord was moving in my life and the senior pastor ordained me into the pastoral ministry. I received ordination into pastoral ministry in July of 1979. I celebrate my 30th anniversary of ordination this month. And as a man on his board as an assistant I was there to help and to serve alongside of him. But this man decided that God had moved him out of ministry and he was to leave the ministry behind in the hand of one of his assistants and he left the ministry behind in the hand of an assistant. And I became the assistant pastor on staff to this young man who became the pastor over the fellowship. We worked together well for a while but over the course of about a year for whatever reason without casting any kind of aspersions on this man's character he and I began to have conflicts. Part of it had to do with the fact that whenever I had an opportunity to take the pulpit and teach, the people seemed to enjoy my ministry and they would tell him and they would say things. I have a different style of ministry today than I did back then but it was an exhortive, more direct ministry than his and I had this way of being with the people and talking to them and all and many of them grew to care for me and it became one of those Saul slew his thousands and David his 10 thousands and the senior pastor became envious and jealous to be honest with you and got upset. We used to have meetings every Monday night and after a while I became the focal point of that meeting and every Monday I would be attacked. Every Monday something would be said about me. Every Monday I would come home and it happened quite often and I would start coming home after the Monday night meetings and I started speaking to my wife Marie and I started saying to her, honey, I really feel that the Lord is moving me out of ministry here. We're gonna need to move on. And Marie at that time just was not thinking that that was true. She thought perhaps there's something I needed to grow and to learn and she said, I just don't really think that's what the Lord has for us. Now I wasn't about to move out without having unanimity in my home and so I just waited on the Lord but I started coming home crying. I would come home and I would weep and I would come home and say to her I was attacked again and it hurts. On one occasion one of the elders said it's time to give pay raises. You don't deserve one but because you have children we'll give you some extra. There were things said to me that were cruel and they were wrong and it was just hurtful and I started to endure those things and I was 30 years old. I was a young man at the time and so make a very long story short. I started telling Marie, honey, I know God is moving me out. I don't know how many more of these meetings I can take. Well finally one meeting came and the senior pastor said to me I'm letting you go as the assistant. I'm gonna reduce your salary to half of what you receive if you want to go back to school you can be a counselor in this ministry but you're not a pastor. You're not called as a pastor. You're a counselor. And I remember as he said that to me I looked at him and I said you know there's only one thing I know from the day I was saved and that is that God has called me to be a pastor. But it's obvious that it's not here so I can't become a counselor here in this ministry. I resigned and I resigned my position and a vote was taken and some people were angry at me and except for one there were several men in the elders board and this one says to me David I can't receive your resignation because I believe that God has called you to be a pastor. And I said well regardless of whether you receive my resignation or not I'm resigning. This is my last board meeting and I will leave this church in two weeks. And I remember, excuse me, stepping outside of this place that we were having a meeting and this man who said I will not take your resignation stepped out with me and I turned and I looked at him and I began to weep. I literally fell into his arms and he held me up as I sobbed my heart out because I stepped away from something that I knew God called me to. And I went home and I told Marie I said I had to resign baby that's it. She said that's good because I couldn't take any more of your pain that you were going through. And two weeks later this church was born. That pastor said that I wasn't a pastor but I know that I am. And this church is proof of the calling God placed on my heart and I thank God for what he did. That man who held me became my first assistant pastor. He remained with me on staff for several years and ultimately went and now pastors at church in Washington. We have seen the Lord do tremendous things over the course of the years. We've seen 20 churches and ministries planted from here. We're on multiple radio stations. God has done some wonderful things. I don't know where that pastor used to be my pastor over that church. I don't know where he is today but I'm sure glad to know where I am today. I'm here with you and the Lord has done some wonderful things over 28 years that I'm so thankful for. About a year after that event where I laughed and all the pastor had gotten very hurt and angry that I resigned and there were things being said and it just was not a good thing at all. God gave to me a scripture, not the yearly, actually within a couple of weeks. It was verse 12 here in first Samuel 24. The Lord judge between, I memorized it in King James, the Lord judge between thee and me and the Lord avenge me concerning thee but as for myself, I will not raise my hand against thee. I memorized that 28 years ago and I made a decision then as I have held fast to it for 28 years to not say anything that is unkind towards that man because God knows that there was wrong on both of us. Both of us were wrong and about a year after that had taken place and all I woke up one morning and the Spirit of the Lord said, it's time to reconcile and I called the church and I spoke to that pastor and I said, I need to see you and he said about what? And I said about the last year what's gone on this last year. He made some time I went in and sat down with him, we spoke to one another, we poured our hearts out to one another. We ended up praying with one another. I stood up and embraced him and he embraced me and I walked out of that room with a clean conscience knowing that God had called me to ministry and if God has given to us a ministry of reconciliation how important is it that he and I reconcile so we can go and do the things that God had called us to do and I did that 27 years ago and over the last 27 years this verse has been in my heart because it's easy for a person especially when attacked to immediately wanna take vengeance on their own to go and take care of business yourself. I've learned otherwise. I've learned let the Lord do his work. Many years ago now in this church there was somebody who got upset with me he wanted me to do something and I knew that it wasn't the proper action in his particular case and I wouldn't do it. He was well known at that time amongst many people in our fellowship and he began to sow seeds amongst many people and he said things about me that were just not true. I never stood up and said anything from the pulpit. I did come to the pulpit on many occasions very broken because of things that were happening we're very hurtful to be honest with you. I saw over 500 people in a summer believe this church based on the person's lies about me things that nobody ever asked me are they true they just simply believed and they left never approached me and said are these things true? Never did they just believed because it's easier to believe evil than it is good and they thought that this was a person who must know because after all he was somebody David knows very well and his case was he was incorrect he ultimately discovered that what he believed was wrong but he didn't undo the damage. I saw hundreds of people believe in this church but I never stood up and said anything. I came up tearful more than once I came up in pain more than once because there's a lot of things you go through in ministry that you can't stand up and say and it hurts it hurts when people I believe in lies about you it hurts when they don't love you enough to ask you but at the same time I knew God is my strength and I knew that God would win out I learned this lesson is it easy? No it's not easy it isn't easy to die to yourself it isn't easy to bite your tongue and step back and say God take care of this it isn't easy it's a lot easier to go out and say you've heard this but let me tell you the Lord taught me a long time ago let me fight your battles because God has never lost a battle he never loses I have lost so who do I want to fight my battles a loser or a winner? I chose to stay on the side of the winner God and he has a way and that's what happened with David David's heart is broken he's being chased in a wilderness he's got a king who's after him who's got a posse of 3,000 who want to kill him and David is there saying what have I done? You're hearing things about me that are not true you're believing things about me that are not true what have I done? If I wanted to kill you I could have I had your life in my hand I killed Goliath you'd be nothing but I didn't I had some telling me take his head off God has given to you this man but I didn't isn't that enough to prove to you that I have no evil in my heart towards you isn't that enough? And as he says that verse 16 so it was when David had finished speaking these words to Saul Saul said is this your voice my son David Saul lifted up his voice and wept and he said to David you are more righteous than I for you have rewarded me with good whereas I have rewarded you with evil and you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me for when the Lord delivered me into your hand you did not kill me for if a man finds his enemy will he let him go away safely therefore may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day and now I know indeed that you shall surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand therefore swear now to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father's house David swore to Saul and Saul went home but David and his men went up to the stronghold please show mercy on my house that my father's name may continue into the future and David said that he would and indeed David kept that promise he did show mercy to his descendants as he promised he would do but what's interesting is David knew that Saul had moments of sanity and did not expect this moment to last too long because it says in verse 22 Saul went home but David and his men went up to the stronghold he knew that this moment would last for a short time and before you know it Saul would be after him again and indeed he was listen let the Lord be God learn to turn the other cheek learn to trust in the Lord to take care of the problem learn to trust in God don't brood over things that have been done to you or could have been done for you that weren't done and now you're bitter and angry looking for people's pity and compassion when in reality you should be learning lessons that perhaps God just didn't want you there and didn't want to give you that we rejoice when God says yes to our prayers but we don't rejoice when God says no so we need to learn to rejoice when God says no as well as when God says yes because when God speaks to us it's a final word and it's always for our best it's never meaning to hurt us or it's never intended to harm us if God doesn't open the door here it's simply because he's got a door over there waiting for me to go into and instead of me always wanting other people to respect and to have compassion and pity what I need to do is just seek the Lord just do what God has called me to do and watch him bless and he does bless and he'll bless you too 28 years we've seen the Lord move here but I'm one who takes my head off to the past but I want to take my jacket off for the future because what he's done up to this point is nothing compared to what I know he wants to do in the future God wants to do more and he will do more he will do more because God is a God who makes all things new our Father we ask that you would work in us today we thank you for the work of your Holy Spirit and we ask Lord in Jesus' name that you would continue your hand upon us upon this fellowship upon this ministry Lord and Lord I ask that we would learn the lessons that you have before us in your word to trust you, to remember vengeance is yours that you will recompense and that we might just learn Father to trust in you so Lord I lift up this congregation and I pray that we might learn to love you and serve you with all of our heart because Lord you are worthy of all of our love and we do love you our eyes are closed, our heads are bowed perhaps there are some in this room right now the Lord is speaking to you you need to get right with the Lord as our eyes are closing and our heads are bowed in a moment of prayer if you sense that God is speaking to you you need to get right with him I want to pray for you would you raise your hand right now let me pray for you wherever you are Lord you see these hands and you know the reason why they're being raised to you Lord and I'm asking that you reach down now and touch them and Lord whatever burden they may be carrying whatever pain they may be enduring whatever sorrow of heart whatever disappointment whatever sin they've been battling I ask that you would be God to them wash them and cleanse them forgive them and empower them that they might live for you this day forward Lord every day we receive from you now and thank you and bless you thank you Lord you can put your hands down and Father I ask that you just keep your hand on all of us to your glory in Jesus name amen let's all stand we're going to gather tonight for a baptism I do hope that you're here with us as I've been saying the only requirement for baptism is be saved and don't wear speedos if you wear speedos I will drown you that's the truth we are going to celebrate though I would love it if you're able to be with us tonight to celebrate 28 years we're going to have a video and I'm going to give a message and then we're going to do a baptism and I'm really looking forward to it and I hope you're able to be with us our Father we ask that you'd work in us and through us and use us for your glory we give you all praise we give you all honor in Jesus name and as we go into the mission field we ask that you would use us to your glory in your name amen God bless you