#1034 Seek the Lord

1034 Seek the Lord Transcription

 

God bless you. Everybody has a bad day sooner or later. If you live in this world, the devil make sure of it. And knowing that you will have a bad day is one thing, but the reality is, how do you respond when you have a bad day? Where you go in your mind? You can beat yourself up and condemn yourself, or you can stop and think about God and the things of God.

1 Samuel 17:22-26 ²²And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. ²³ And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. ²⁴And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. ²⁵And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. ²⁶ And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

In 1 Samuel 17 there's a record concerning David. I know a lot of you have just returned from Sight and Sound on our trip and this should be fresh in your mind with the battle of David and Goliath. And this talks a little bit about David. He is a young man and when you're young, you're invincible. You will fight the whole world. It doesn't matter. This is where David is in his age.

David came to see his brothers because Israel was at war with the Philistines. And I believe the three older brothers of David. (There were more brothers, but the three oldest ones went to follow Saul to go to war.) So David's coming to visit with them. So he sees that Goliath was intimidating the entire army of Israel over and over again. Not only did he mock and intimidate the army of Israel, but he was mocking Israel's God. And when David was there this particular time he heard what Goliath was saying.

Israel saw how big Goliath was and they were afraid. They saw his armor. They saw and thought sense knowledge wise, "nobody can beat this guy." That's exactly what he wanted. That's exactly how fear works.

Fear feeds and it eats up that stuff. And it just gets bigger and bigger. "The men of Israel said, have you seen this man that is come up?" They didn't need any news station bragging on this guy. Israel itself was bragging on this guy. Now how stupid is that? Okay.

David overhears the reward King Saul is offering to the man who defeats Goliath. David wants to know who the guy is that would defy God. Now, that's probably the first brave statement made in the many days that Israel was being intimidated. And it was made by a teenager. And that's what he said, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine; who is this piece of ***." That's what it means in our day and time. Who's going to defile the armies of the living God? And it took a young man.

You had seasoned soldiers in this army. And none of them said that. God spoke to and works through the most unlikely person in that whole crowd. And that was a teenager. Now isn't that interesting to know that about God. Because he still speaks through and works in sometimes the most unlikely people in the crowd.

1 Samuel 17:27-29 ²⁷And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. ²⁸ And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. ²⁹And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

So the people repeated this to David again. You see that David's older brother got mad at him and accused him of a false motive. So he's being sarcastic and he's being brazen, brazen and sarcastic. It's an amazing thing that he is brazen and sarcastic to a 14-year-old, but where was his brazenness and sarcasticness to the idiot defying the armies of the living God? No. It wasn't right. The guy had it all wrong. He was one with the pride. So David didn't fight with his brother. He had enough brains to know that he is not going down that road. So he just went on and continued down the path that his heart was leading him.

1 Samuel 17:30-37 ³⁰And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner. ³¹And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him. ³²And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. ³³And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. ³⁴And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: ³⁵And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. ³⁶Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

Now somebody heard what David was saying and went to Saul and said, "either there's a lunatic in the camp or God's doing something. There's this kid over here and he's talking about this and talking about that." And so Saul said, "bring him to me". And Saul said to David, "good boy God is with you". No this is the King. which shows you that people follow their leadership. And the reason why Israel is scared was because their leader is scared. Look at the encouragement that the King, the one who supposed to be leading and encouraging people gives to David. "Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."

Was that true? Yes, it was true. Did David care? No, not at all.This is remarkable. David didn't take the out that Saul offered him. Saul offered him an out for him to keep face and he could have went back to his sheep. But you know what he did? He dug in. He knew he was there for a reason. He believed God and he dug in. "Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised piece of Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing that he hath defied the armies of the living God." They're powerful words. They're brave words. But you know what? David believed what he was saying.

"David said moreover, The Lord (verse 37) that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of the the Philistine. And Saul said unto David (you gotta be crazy.) Go ahead, go!" And you know the story. And did he win? Yes. Now there's a kid coming up through the ranks. He's young. He makes mistakes, but he speaks up. And not only did he speak up. He followed through with action, and God was with him.

And God would have worked with any one of those Israelites. Anyone of those men. If any one of those men would have rose up and stood up for God, and then God would stood up for them. See, and only one that was there to stand up was the one who wasn't there; the one who wasn't subjected to Saul's leadership. The one who wasn't subjected to Saul's fear. Someone from the outside that didn't know any better.

One time many many many years ago I was bartending in my father's bar and a Vietnam vet had just returned from war. He was a decorated hero. And he came in with a bunch of guys. He didn't come in as dressed up. He came in with a bunch of guys and they were partying. And my little sister happened to be at the bar at that time and this guy said something sarcastic to my little sister. And I grabbed him by his throat, walked up, threw him on the floor and pounced on him. Then I grabbed them and I threw them out of the bar; and with a couple colorful words. I said, "don't ever come back here again."

And one of the guys that was with him turned to me and said, "You can't do that to him, don't you know who he is?" And then he went on to tell me how he was all this whatever whatever whatever. And then you know what I told him? I said that I don't give a rats a** what he is. I said "not here he's not." Then they came back with a bunch of people and waited for me outside the bar. That's another story though. They didn't win then either. Listen, I didn't know him, I didn't care.

I knew that was my sister and no one was going to talk to my sister that way. That's the way David was. David didn't know these people. David didn't care. David knew that he was talking about his God, and nobody was going to talk to his God that way. So you know what David did? David acted. Had I know that this so-and-so was the whatever whatever whatever I probably wouldn't have acted the way I acted. And that's why those people in that camp acted the way they acted because they were around Saul; and they knew all that junk.

You know, sometimes you're better off just coming in and trusting God. And sometimes when I'm with people, this is what I tell them. "I don't want to know. Don't show me your bag of medicine. Don't tell me how many doctors you went to. I don't want to know because it doesn't help me." Sometimes you just better off going in there with you, and God keeping all this junk out of there.

That's why tell you stay away from the news. It's junk. All that it will do is teach you how to be in fear and not believe God. David was walking on the Word, walking with power, trusting God. This is the same David a few years later; a few battles later; a few scars later; a few sins later.

Psalm 56:2-4 ²Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High. ³What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. ⁴In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

David is crying unto God telling him how many people are trying to get him. When he was afraid, he trusted in God. What you know about that? So there were times in David's life that he was afraid. And you know what? It's not a sin to be afraid. It's not a sin to have something rise up in your life that you need to deal with.

But David also gives you the remedy. He says, "what times I was afraid I will trust in thee". And that's where you have to go when you come to places in your life where you're tempted to be afraid; when you're tempted to think that God is turned his back on you; or that God doesn't hear you; or you want to condemn yourself. You have to learn to stop; and go; and learn to trust God.

See, David was afraid. You know what he was, though? He was honest. He didn't hide his fear. You know what Peter, James and John did one time, especially Peter at Mount of Transfiguration. And he sees a vision of Moses and Elijah, and Jesus. All the stuff happens and Peter says: Oh Oh, it's good that he's here, they're here. Let us make three tabernacles and if you read the Word, you know what the Word says? It says he said this because he was afraid that he didn't know what to do. So he wanted to go look good.

David didn't do that. There's nothing wrong with being afraid. Okay, it's how you deal with your fear once you recognize you are afraid, see. This is the guy who stood up and said I'll take this SOB and this uncircumcised Philistine. And he did. And you do you know what he did? He chopped his head off. This is the same guy. But you know what? Everybody has a bad day. Everybody gets attacked. There's nothing wrong with that.

It's how you respond to the attack. Now what you going to do? When the lion roars, the lion roars to freeze the prey, so the lion can pounce. What are you going to do when the lion roars for you? Are you going to freeze in fear? Or you going to say, "What time I am afraid I will what? Trust in the Lord." You see, you have a decision. You can make this thing work. Or you can decide to crawl up in a ball and be full of fear and tuck yourself away in a hole and live the rest your life that way. The choice is yours.

Psalm 18:2-6 ²The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. ³I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. ⁴The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. ⁵The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. ⁶In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

So shall I be saved from mine enemies. Does it say people? It could mean people. It could mean sickness. Is sickness an enemy? Yeah. Is disease an enemy? Yeah. I will call upon the name of the Lord, so shall I be saved from my sickness. So shall I be saved from my disease. So shall I be saved from my fear. So shall I be saved from my enemies.

But it starts with calling on the name of the Lord. Do you understand? Not running away, cowering and hiding. Not eating more fear so that fear grows big inside of you. He was encompassed with fear of dying. He was honest. He was afraid. He said ohhh *. And then you know what he said? "Alright Lord. What are we going to do?" But there's nothing wrong with being afraid.

But he always bounced back. "The sorrows of hell compassed me about." The invitation of death is what that means. "The snares of death prevented me." The word "prevented" means they came to meet. The snares of death came to meet me. "Hello I'm Death. How are you?" That's a hand you don't want to shake. I'm not shaking that. That's what it means. The snares of death came to meet me. You want the guy next door. The wrong house, right? Especially if he's your enemy. Go down 2 houses. You have the wrong address.

Verse six says "And my cry came before him, even into his ears." You see David learned how to trust in the Lord. He was having a bad day, but he called unto the Lord. And it says this cry came before the Lord. You think the Lord needs hearing aids? No he can hear you. Your cry can come before the Lord. David trusted the Lord. David sought the Lord daily. And he learned how to trust the Lord with his life. That seems to be so hard for some people just to let it go and let God. Learn how to trust the Lord with your life. You do your part and then let God do the rest.

Psalm 9:9-10 ⁹The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. ¹⁰And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

That's where it first starts. You have to know God before you will trust him. You have to know people before you give your heart and trust them. "The Lord has not forsaken them that seek thee." Seek God. You learn how to trust God by first knowing him. And the Word then says, "The Lord has not forsaken them that seek him." And there's three ways you can seek God that I'm going to share with you this morning.

There are others, but there's three, I'm going to share with you this morning that will help you be victorious when the lion roars; when you have a bad day. Number one is to seek him in prayer. Number two is to seek him in activity. And number three is to seek him with your whole heart.

Psalm 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

Seek God in prayer. Pray together. Pray alone. But pray to God. Bear your heart to God and ask God for his help. Ask God for his direction in your life When you come across a path and you've got to make a right or a left; ask God which way to go. See, prideful people won't seek after God. And also I want you know that the word "wicked" is used in that verse. You know why prideful people won't seek after God? Because they've got to figure it out themselves. And the smarter you are (or the smarter you think you are) the harder it is going to be for you to just let go and let God figure it out. God calls that wicked. They won't seek after the counsel of God. God is not in all their thoughts. See?

When we moved to Chestnut Avenue, we moved there so we could teach the word of God. When we bought this house here. We bought this house here because of this room here so we could teach the Word of God. Because if this room wasn't here, you wouldn't be in this house, because that was number one. See? And we ran a class two days or the day we moved in. That's how ready this room was. It was perfect for fellowship and we've been teaching the Word of God out of this room thousands and thousands of times the word of God has been taught out of his room over the past X amount of years. Because God was in our thoughts. See, God was in our thoughts.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Pride keeps God out of your thoughts. Then you get to run your life; you get to direct your life. How is that working out for you. Sometimes not too good, right? So you seek God. Seek him in prayer if that's been a problem. You know what is the opposite of pride is? To be humble, right? "Shall humble themselves, and pray." See? A prideful person won't pray. A humble person will.

And God just said, "If you just humble yourselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land." Seek the Lord in prayer. Seek the Lord in prayer.

Hebrews 10:23-25 ²³Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) ²⁴And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: ²⁵Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

And then we've got to learn how to seek the Lord in activity. Where you go and what you do and how you pass your time and who you pass your time with is a big deal. Is that glorifying God? Is that seeking the Lord in the activities that you're doing in your life? Or is that taking you farther away from God? In Hebrews 10:23, the word "profession" means "confession". Hold on to your faith.

Don't waiver, because the devil is trying to take it away from you. Hold onto it. It's like a tug-of-war: hold onto it. Why, "for he is faithful that promised." God's faithful. Don't let the devil steal it from you. Let us consider one another to provoke (or to excite or to encourage) unto the love and good works. See, that's what we should do for one another. We should encourage one another unto love and good works.

You know what they do at the bar when you're three sheets to the wind? They put another drink in front of you and they all shout and try to encourage you drink it, drink it, drink it. That's not encouraging you unto good works. That encourages you unto stupidness so you can go out and do bad works. That's seeking the Lord in your activity; in your lifestyle.

Verse 25 says "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is." What's that mean? You're supposed to come to the church that you want to go to. This goes for any church, any fellowship. You go there. You're called to go there if God plants you there. Then you stay there and you support that church and don't forsake it.

When people assemble together the Bible says don't forsake it. Why? Because that's what you're going to be encouraged. That's where you want to be told the truth. That's where you're going to understand what's going on in the world and what to be near and what not to be near. Like be near the Word don't be near the TV. Unless you are watching the Three Stooges and that's okay.

I think a couple of them stooges are on CNN. I thought I saw one that looked like Curley. I could be wrong. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as a matter of some is but (to the contrary) exhort one another and so much more as you see the day approaching." Exhort one another. Encourage one another to get together to hear the Word; to learn the Word. That's how you seek the Lord in activity. You go where you can be encouraged. You do things that are a blessing.

God doesn't care if you go see a movie. Okay, he doesn't care if you go out to dinner. But go somewhere that's a blessing. See a movie that's a blessing; not something that's going to talk the word out of you. Not something that's going to teach you perversion: this sort of thing. God enjoys movies.

Hebrews 3:12-13 ¹²Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

And then you want to seek the Lord with your whole heart. You seek him in prayer. You seek him in activity. And you seek him with your whole heart. In Hebrews 3:12 what does take heed mean ? Beware! You see the sign on the fence: "Beware, killer dog". It gets your attention, right? "Beware rattlesnakes". "Take heed brethren, (beware) lest there be in any of you (so it can be in anybody) an evil heart of unbelief." And God calls it an evil heart. I didn't say that. Don't be mad at me. God said it. Get ticked off at him. "An evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." That's what unbelief is. You get talked out of the Word.

And boy do you got all the excuses why you don't need God, or why you're going to do better than God, or why you're just going on a little Hyannis for a while. Or hyena, I should say. But it's a laugh. You're never better without God. Okay, there's your PhD for the day. You never better without God. Never, lest you "depart from the living God. (to the contrary) but exhort one another daily."

If you're married, this is easy if you're married to a believer. You encourage one another with the Word. When your husband is acting like a jerk, you say "Honey, this is what the Word says." Or when your wife's doing it, "Honey. What does the Word say?" That's how you encourage one another. You don't fight with them. Don't be dumb. You hit him with a club big enough to knock him out. That's the Word.

Give them the Word. And if they're humble, they'll receive the Word. "Exhort one another daily while it is called today." You have a chance to do something while you're still living. It's today. "Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Sin's what hardens your heart. That's when you don't want to hear the Word any more. That's when you think you know everything. That's when you want to depart from the living God because your heart has been hardened because of the deceitfulness of sin. And the world has accomplished its objective in your life. Because that's what the world is trying to do, and is doing to many people: hardening their hearts.

And you know what? People will open their living room doors and say "Come on in and harden my heart while I'll sit down here and have a coke and eat some chips as you do it in front of the stupid one eyed monster. That's the boob tube, the TV, the media that works for the god of this world. And then they wonder.

Acts 2:46-47 ⁴⁶And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, ⁴⁷Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

See, that's how how they lived. That's what they did. They got together. They prayed. They continued daily. They ate bread together. They broke bread together.

Psalm 119:1-2 ¹Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the LORD. ²Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

You seek God in prayer. You seek God in your activities. And you seek the Lord with your whole heart. Psalm 119:1-2 says You seek him with the whole heart. Did you ever see somebody watching TV? Then you look over at them five minutes later and they're like this? Zzzz. "Huh? Yeah, I got that." That's not watching TV with your whole heart. Do you know what's worse than that? When you teaching up here and then you turn around and you see somebody going Zzzz. That's not seeking the Lord with your whole heart either.

You seek God with your whole heart. Do you know what that means? That means not just here. That means everywhere. You read at night. You read in the morning. You seek him in your marriage. You seek him in your job. You seek him in your personality. You seek him in your whole heart. Okay? And if you seek God in your whole heart and you're obeying his Word and his law, you're not going to be doing dumb things in dumb places with dumber people, okay?

Psalm 119:10-11 ¹⁰With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. ¹¹Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

This is David's testimony. "With my whole heart have I sought thee." Know what else he said? "Let me not wander from thy commandments." He not only sought God with his whole heart, He also sought for help. "Don't let me wander from your commandments." then he hid it in his heart. You have put the Word in your heart.

You've got to seek God's Word, put it in your heart, and once it's in your heart then you do his Word. And if you do his Word, you won't be sinning against him. So you seek the Lord in prayer. You seek the Lord in activity. And you seek the Lord with your whole heart.

David was afraid, and David did great things. There was nothing wrong with David because he was afraid. But when he was afraid he said "When I am afraid I seek the Lord." So if it works for David and it saved him many many times. Perhaps there's wisdom in that.

That the next time you're faced with a fear, or the lion roars at you. That instead of "Oh my goodness, what am I going to do;" seek the Lord. And if so, get a believer or two believers and call them and seek the Lord in prayer together. See? And then do the Word and stay faithful. Hold fast to your confession.

Just because you say it once doesn't mean the devil is going to go away. You understand? But you've got to hold fast to that confession; dig your feet in. David dug his feet in and he got the results. It is not sin when you're tempted to be afraid.

Proverbs 3:25-26 ²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. ²⁶For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

Don't be afraid of sudden fear. Sudden fear comes; but it says "For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken." Sudden fear happens but how you respond to it is the key.

Hebrews 4:14-16 ¹⁶Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. ¹⁵For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Once sudden fear comes, get back on track. Seek the Lord in prayer and activity and with your whole heart. And stay on it. Stay dug in until you get your answer. In Hebrews 4 verse 14, the word "profession" is translated "confession" in other places. What I say my mouth, I'm going to claim it. I'm going to hold fast to it. "For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities." Jesus knows how you feel. That's what it means. He knows what you're going through. He understands your situation.

Do you understand? He knows. When those nails went through his hands. He knows. When those thorns went into his head. He knows. When that whip ripped the flesh off of his back. He knows. He knows what you're going through. He is "touched with your infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are; yet without sin." He went through it."Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace… come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

You not going to come boldly unto God if you are condemning yourself; or if you think God is mad at you; or if you think you're not good enough, or if you think you're bad. All of those things are lies. I've got news for you, none of us are good enough, but Jesus made us good. None of us are clean enough, but the blood of Jesus washed us all. And every time we confess that, we are contradicting what the blood of Jesus Christ did for us. Do you understand? You don't have a right to say that. You don't have a right to condemn yourself. You don't have a right to think that God doesn't love you. That's sin.

The devil want you to think that way because as long as you think that way, you know what? You'll stay in the same shape that you're in. That's the trap. Here's the truth. God loves you. You are good enough. He made you worthy. You are valuable. You are priceless in his eyes. So much so, that he was willing to send his only son to die for you. And Jesus loves you so much that he freely gave his life to save you. Now, that's a win-win situation, Amen.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your love, for your goodness, for your kindness. Thank you Lord for the truth that you've given us. Because the truth will set us free, not a lie. Thank you, that we can seek you with our whole heart. We can seek you in our lives. And we can seek you in our prayer life. Thank you, that we can know you and know the power of the resurrection in Jesus Christ's precious name I pray, amen.

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