Will You Act? - Summer Series pt. 8

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God, that you are so faithful and that you.

You wait on us. You wait. You wait on us. And you're faithful and you're so loyal. And God, I thank you for being in this place today. God, I thank you that your praise that you inhabit, your praises, Lord, and that you come down and you say, I'm going to be there with you. I'm going to I, I'm going to hear your call and hear your cries God and you are worthy.

And today we just honor you. We cry. Holy, holy, holy to you, Lord, and we honor you today. And Jesus, God be in the service today. God, I pray that you just shine your light on our life, on your will for our life. God, we just ask all these things. In Jesus name, Amen. Oh, so this is the second time that I've spoken.

I don't know if you guys were here for the first one, but the first one, I felt really oddly comfortable, which doesn't make any sense. But at the time, I really felt like the way I was kind of asked, forced to speak God, like just dropped a message to me. And I felt really confident in what God was trying to say.

But this time I'll tell you that it didn't quite happen that way. And I've been, you know, preparing for this message for a couple of weeks and and I've gone over it over and over. I was telling someone earlier this morning, last night at 7:00, I probably get sermon over a dozen and a half times. And at 7:00 I started deleting everything.

And I was so overwhelmed. And by that, like it was 7:00. Thankfully nobody was at home because I'm in my kitchen just booing and feeling like, oh my gosh, I'm going to look like I didn't prepare. I'm going to look like like I'm not ready for this. And God was like, Yep, that's where I want you to be.

That's where I want you to be. I don't want you to add all the things in that you added because you thought that that would be a good message. So I started deleting things and hopefully he'll delete more as I go. But so today we're going to look at a message in Psalms 14 one three, three. So only the fool says in their heart there is no God.

They are corrupt and their actions are evil. Not one of them does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race. He looks to see if anyone is truly wise. If anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away. All have become corrupt. No one does good. Not one single one. So I know this is a downer.

It started with a downer, but the message says it even more downer. It says he looks around, he comes up empty, a string of zeros, useless UN shepherded sheep, taking turns pretending to be the shepherd. So David wrote this psalm. So we're all kind of familiar with David's story. David was really good at recognizing what people should be doing.

He was great. He knew the expectations that God had on his people, and he was great at maybe acknowledging the sin in others, but not so great sometimes acknowledging them himself. As a matter of fact, God had to send people on a couple occasions to say, Well, check yourself. So Acts 13 1322 says, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart.

So we think about David and his willingness to see sin and others, and he was an adulterer. He was a murderer. He was super selfish. He did a lot of things for his own gain. So how in the world would God say that he was a man after his own heart? So the second part of that scripture says, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.

So there's the key to why he was a man after God's own heart. God knew that he could be trusted. God knew that He would act. As I was preparing this message, God said, What if no one says Amen when you talk? And I'm like, Well, I could do like Santi and be like, Can I get an Amen or something like that?

But God wants us to follow his will, even if it doesn't look how we think it's going to look. Amen. But amen. Thank you. Thank you for that. I just play up those in throughout my message. It would really build me up. Thank you. But God knew that he could trust David. He knew that if he called him, if he told him, he would do it.

And I think about how many times as Christians we say, Man, God is really been dealing with me about this for about three months. Well, shame on us, because David was a man after God's heart, because he immediately was going to do it. He heard the call and he followed it immediately. Is he killed 34, 23 and 24 said, I'll appoint one shepherd over them all.

My servant, David, he knew he knew that David was going to be a servant. He knew that God would answer the call and David would feed them. So David made plenty of mistakes. We know that. But he sought after the will of God. So I think that David is in the Bible. I think he's only spoken about less than Jesus.

So he's right behind Jesus. So he is spoken about the most in the Bible. And I think that the reason that is, is because he was an example that we could see that David was super flawed. I am super flawed. David disappointed God all the time in things that he did. But God had grace for him and he wanted to be used.

He wanted to use David. And so God is calling all of us as we search for what our purpose is, is are we willing to answer the call? I know last Sunday or a couple of Sundays ago, there was an altar call. If you wanted to kind of pray about what your calling is. And I'm ashamed to say I'm 46.

I'm ashamed of that part. And also that I'm 46 and I got saved 18 years ago. And I'm still asking God, like, what do you have for me? What's your call for me? So while I was at the altar that Sunday, I was saying, God, I just I want to know your will. God, tell me what your will for me.

And God spoke to me and said, You will never know what my will is for your life until you know what my will looks like, what my character looks like. But David, David had the character, the heart of God, and he had that because he immediately accepted the call. God called him. He immediately said yes. So we I've tried to look up exactly how old he was.

It said anywhere between ten and 15. He was anointed by Samuel. So Samuel was really disappointed in the way Saul was leading. So God said, You're going to anoint this person, be confident, I'll select him. You'll you'll know who it should be, and you can anoint them. So first, Samuel, 1613, says So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers.

We'll talk about that in just a minute. And from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. So he was anointed as a teenager, but then waited so he doesn't become king until way longer. 3033, I think is what it says. But during that time, David was confident and he was confident in the call that God had put on his life and he never questioned it.

The crazy part is that what he did is that he was anointed to be king and then he went back to tending the sheep. So can you imagine what that would be? Look what that would look like. I know for me I'd be like, Oh, maybe I didn't hear from the Lord because I'm still in the same spot that I was called out of.

So but David stayed confident confidently as the shepherd. He didn't say, Lord, maybe we should modify this plan. He didn't say, Hey, you're going to be king. And then David said, Okay, when? So how is this going to look like? What am I going to have to go through? David didn't do that. He just said, okay, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to be king. I can barely wait for a couple of weeks for promises to be fulfilled. So I think about surely along the way, David questioned whether Samuel was right. So Samuel, you know, anointed this young boy that obviously didn't look like the right selection. He went past all the more qualified people. Probably the older brother's the stronger.

And I think how many times in our lives do we see that happen where we feel like we've been overlooked? But Samuel calls David the youngest son, the smallest son, to be king. So I'm sure that it was tough for him to go back and tend to his sheep. And then what is even worse, they say, Hey, David, I know you're supposed to be king, but we need you to go and encourage Saul, the king who is in the throne that you've been promised.

And he did that. Why did he do that? Because it was the character of God that he was that God was developing in him. So I think about plenty of times I've had a boss where I felt like maybe I was more qualified for that job and I might not have said it to their face, but I didn't honor them with the way that God asked me to honor them.

If someone is in a position. Saul stayed as king for a plan and a purpose that God had. It wasn't an immediate promise that David would become king. But David, his character, was developed in trusting, trusting along the way, not understanding what would happen or how it was going to work out. Because Saul still sat on the throne and he was meant to go and encourage him so that he could stay on the throne.

So I just think that sometimes we could learn from that example is that God sometimes is allowing us to stay somewhere, not for us. But what example did David show to Saul? I mean, the whole time that David and Saul had a relationship, David encouraged Saul, he honored him, he respected him, and he showed the character of God.

Saul chased him, Saul tried to kill him. And every opportunity that David could have had to dishonor him to kill him, God said, No, I have put him as the king and you will honor him and you will respect him, and you will show the character that I have put in you. And can you imagine? I mean, I have been on the side of where I was.

I worked in the hospitality industry where people would be really ugly to me and I would just continue to be nice. I would just kill them with kindness. And I used to tell my staff what our goal is, is for one day for them to get to heaven and God's going to remind them of how nice you were when they were ugly.

But I think that that's what David did. David was supposed to represent exactly the personality of Christ. And so I think that sometimes we're asked to stay in something just simply because it's not our time or it's for someone else's benefit. So I think that sometimes Saul or excuse me, Samuel must have looked back and said, I'm pretty sure that that might not have been God.

I mean, I told him, Saul still king. David's pretty much a servant to him. He's sending him out, he's endangering him. So maybe I didn't hear from the Lord. So I really feel like somebody here has promised something to someone like God said, this is going to happen. Please go tell them. Confirm that I'm promising that their son, the prodigal son, is going to return, but their son is still living a life of sin.

And so you have question was that God? And I think that the enemy is so tricky like that, where he tries to take things that God has taught us and had planned for us and twists it so that we think, well, just because it didn't happen right now that I made it up or I can't trust God, because if he told me to do this, I'll look like a fool.

I've told these people that this is going to happen, but David trusted God along the entire way. Our will, our God's will for us is attached to our peace and our joy. And when I think about that, I think about how many people are living without joy, without peace. And maybe it's because God promised you something and it doesn't look like you thought it would look.

Or I know myself, God has called me to something and I'm like, Oh, but that's not really going to give me any kind of glory. They're not going to look and be proud at me about that. It doesn't gain me any fame or it doesn't gave me any. Certainly most of God's calling don't come with a lot of money.

And I think that that's what the devil does, is he tricks you. He makes you think that things that are important really aren't important. So I think that following God and understanding why sometimes we have no peace, we have no purpose we want our purpose is because we aren't surrendering to God's plan. Hebrews 12 one through three says, Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run.

With perseverance, the race marked out for who? For us. Not for you, but it's marked out for us. Fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith so that you will not grow weary or lose heart. Man David clung to that promise. He knew that what God had for him was just for him. We often think that the race is going to be a sprint.

Like just. Just a small little race. But our race that God has for us is a marathon. And I think sometimes our race is, what do you call it, where you hand the baton, what's a relay race? I think that sometimes our race looks like that. I mean, think about Moses. Moses was promised to take the people to the promised Land, but he never got there.

He never was there. So did he doubt that that was a promise that God made? No. He understood that he was just meant to start that. So maybe you're supposed to start something that God has given you a vision for and you will never see it happen, but maybe your kids will. I mean, the idea of my children taking over something that was for the kingdom is so humbling and so exciting, but yet can can you imagine not understanding or not trusting that what he told you was actually real and that you hadn't made it up?

But God prepares a race for each one of us. Everything that happens, he's going to work together. I absolutely love the idea of how God works everything together for our good. I think that when when we're making up our plan, it usually involves us. What benefits us involves today, what is today going to look like? And there's just no joy.

And that God's full plan is how do I work everything? How do I make Shannon so flawed that her children are then like, Oh my gosh, he's so graceful, you know? Or, you know, I just think that everything that we do has a bigger plan. And as David walked out trusting a plan, that doesn't happen right away. He walks out a lot of pain, a lot of anger, a lot of probably jealousy and confusion.

God's working it together, Saul. He's working it together for his future son, Solomon, that he would want knowledge because of it. But God is working all things together. I heard this week something it said we are so eager for God to give us a fresh word while He is so eager for us to just walk out the old word that he already gave us so God hasn't changed his plan.

He hasn't changed his plan for us, but he's preparing us along the way. So David was humble and he recognized that he was weak. So Psalms 84 five says Blessed are those whose strength is in you. He understand. Understand that he needed God and not God needed him. So I grew up in a family that we moved around a lot because my parents basically couldn't get along.

So they would separate and move and then get back together. But I saw so much love in that family. I think that part of the reason that me and my family are so affectionate and kind of touchy feely is because of the example that I saw in that house. But with divorce and fighting comes a lot of pain, a lot of sadness.

So I, I experienced firsthand seeing what it's like to have your heart broken by people that you love. So I think somehow, without knowing it, I created a wall. A wall that said I'm not I'm never going to cry over anybody. Like I'm never going to love anybody that could possibly hurt me. And so I put up a lot of barriers because I didn't trust I didn't trust that people would do what they said.

So I think that sometimes Satan is is again, he's so tricky and he creates a counterfeit of everything that God meant for good. And I think that the boundaries or the walls that we put up to protect ourselves, they only create a barrier to God for you. Seeing that God is has strength, that God can be trusted, that God's plan is better than yours.

Second Corinthians 12 nine says, My grace is sufficient for you, for for power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that God or Christ power may rest upon me. I think that I understand what it looks like. If so, I think that sometimes God tells you things and you should immediately write them down because I will forget them right away.

So for some reason the other day I was at the beach and I was thinking about this message and I was thinking about God. Strength is is in my weakness and what that looks like. And so I had this kind of silly vision of someone being on a deserted island. So I'm on this deserted island by myself and I'm trying to figure out how how am I going to get out of here?

So I start piecing together like rotten tree branches and I'm going to make a float. And so I finally pieced together something and the water's coming in and it's not working. And the whole time I had my cell phone, the whole time, I could have called nine more and I could have called the Coast Guard and they had everything that I needed.

But instead I was just trying to create my own rescue. And that is exactly what God is for us. He wants us to see that he is so gentle and so loving, and he wants good things for us. But we have to ask him. It doesn't say, I'll come and get all your cares. It says Cast all your cares upon me, because that's what he wants us to do.

He wants us to trust in him. And David believed that David understood his weakness, and he knew without God's hand on his future that it would never happen. So David was courageous. David saw the Israelites being taunted by a giant, and without hesitation he was like, I'ma take care of things. So I think like, why was he courageous?

So he came from the same family as the other guys. His brothers were right up in the front. They were scared. They were watching it. So what, David? What did David have that they did it? Why was he so courageous? So I think about the fact that he was anointed to be king. He went back to be the shepherd.

And so the whole time he's supposed to be king and he's the shepherd. So what happened during that time? So first, Samuel, 17, says, The Lord who rescued me from the path of the lion and the poor of the bear will rescue me from the hand of the Philistine. So in the waiting and the question of why am I not king?

Yet God was preparing him for the next step. He was preparing him to have the courage to stand up before the giant. I don't think it's any coincidence that the first Scripture where he is anointed by Samuel, it says that he is anointed in front of his brothers. So I have two sisters. So I know that we can be very competitive.

We can also compare ourselves and we can also be very jealous of each other and what we have. If it doesn't look like what we thought. So David goes to serve some food to his brothers that are on the the front line of battle. And he sees Goliath and he says, I'm going to take down Goliath. I'm going to make sure that that you guys can see that the God of Israel is still victorious.

It wasn't about the giant. It wasn't about his brothers. It wasn't about his call. It was about his conviction that God was enough. So I think that God allows the brothers to kind of see that, I think. And where is the one that says First Samuel, 1728, says his brothers say to him, Why have you come down here?

And with whom have you left your few sheep that you're supposed to be watching? So they minimize that he was not actually called. So I think that I think about all the time I'm one of three sisters and we're all very close in age. I'm the youngest. Just for the record, though, and we're all really different. So my oldest sister, she came last Sunday.

She's super smart, mean anything that she wants, commits to it, She she does it. No one could ever tell her. No, She could do absolutely anything. She's smart and talented and so strong. And then my middle sister, she's magnetic. Like when people come into the room with her, they want to be her friend. They want to talk to her.

She's beautiful, but she just has this personality that people are drawn to. When her kids were little, they all matched. They all had matching clothes. If anybody knew, most of y'all didn't know us when our kids were little. But Ryan hated to look fancy. She would never wear anything cute. So compare these beautifully, perfectly dressed kids. And then it just we never matched up.

You know? I always felt like I wasn't good as good as them. My sister would write the whole menu. I mean, literally, she would get a menu. She would write out what she was going to eat for every single day. Who does that Goes to the grocery store would have these magnificent meals. And I was lucky to be at home at night because I was working.

And so there's always this comparison that always happened with us. So we see that with David and his brothers and we just know that along the way the enemy takes what we see and others and we're not able to acknowledge that's amazing that we're not able to see. Okay, that's great. And I'm so happy that David got that honor.

But we don't we we're jealous. We ask, what about me? Why was I not anointed King? Why is my personality not dynamic? Why do I not have red hair? That's what we do is that we look around and we compare and then the enemy says we don't have value. I know I've my son has the most beautiful smile.

Like I just when he's in a room. I just love looking at a smile. And one day I was saying it in front of Ryan that I just love. My son's beautiful smile was like sunshine, and she was like, What's wrong with my smile? Well, there's absolutely nothing wrong with her smile, but that's what we do. And I think that that's what we instead of being like.

I am so impressed by the pastor's daughter's voice, but I don't I know that that's for her. And I am so impressed by how everybody else preaches up here. I mean, honestly, when I'm asked the whole like month before, I'm like, Oh, gosh, I'm never going to sound like that. Like I'm never going to have that same thing that you have.

But God is like, That is not what I have for you. What was for David was for David. And if we're all honest, like David worked for that. I mean, David was had a lot of stuff that happened to him. I mean, you think he earned. I think he earned every bit of the the riches that he had because of the life that he had.

We often look at people and we want what they have. But are we willing to go through that trial to become like David, to become a king? I mean, David waited. He just I mean, the waiting is I'm a terrible waiter, but just the waiting and then trusting. But David was a man after God's heart. Why? Because he trusted and he just followed him.

And God used absolutely everything that he did. There's many stories in the Bible where we can be really disappointed in David that he he was an adulterer. Obviously, we know the story about Bathsheba. There was one story where he sent for his old wife to come back and the husband cried running after as he called for her to come back to him.

You have to read that. I'll have to look it up. But David was really disappointing and I don't think God at all didn't know about all that when he said you should be king, He was like, okay, but he's going to he's going to turn it around. I can just feel it and God used absolutely everything along that journey to make him exactly qualified for the throne.

I think about the same thing is for us. I think that God uses my story. God, God knows that I would not be so tender sometimes to him if I wasn't so hard. Before that, I had I had been so guarded. I think my husband, even when we were engaged, I remember him saying, I love that you don't need me.

And he was like, Oh dang, that's appealing. But that's a whole another red flag story. But but I think that God takes all the things that that the enemy used or wanted to use. And he's like, Oh, I'm to make that a story. I'm going to tell somebody about that. So I'll never be able to reach like a single mom.

I'll never be able to tell you that God can deliver you from addiction. But I can tell you that I understand the sadness that divorce can have on you. And I know that. But God can rectify the pains that you see that you've you've witnessed. He can be trustworthy in your life. So I think that David became a great king simply because of his struggle struggles, because of his heartbreak, because of his conflict, winces with every triumph, every sin he was being developed into exactly the king that they needed.

God knew that his story and he knew ours would certainly be used for his glory. So David was willing to admit his mistakes. So David was a hot mess. I mean, we all know that he was self-absorbed, he was jealous. He just wanted things that that weren't his. And I believe that God just wants us to see with David's story that if you're willing, if you just offer yourself up whatever it looks like.

I know Crystal talked last week about making today a step. What are we doing today? I think that oftentimes we want to know what's going to happen in a month. Well, what's going to happen if this happens? And then what's our plan if this happens? And God just wants us to be faithful in the moment. David doesn't blame anybody for his sin when he is told and it's acknowledged he completely just is full of remorse and asks for God to change him in Psalms one, 1933 337 he says, Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees that I may follow it to the end.

Give me understanding so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of my of your commands. For there I find a line. Turn your heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gains. Turn my eyes away from worthless things. Preserve my life according to your word. So that was his prayer.

And I think I mean, all the time, as I was going through this, I've thought that's probably why he liked David so much, is because that was his prayer. Like, what do my prayers look like this? Hey, Lord, could you take care of that coworker? That's really mean to me. Or Hey, can you make sure my kids are taken care of?

Or can you make sure that I have enough of this? And that's what our prayers are looking like. It's a laundry list of check things, check things off like, Lord, could you help me with this? Hey, can you provide this? Hey, can you open my eyes to this? But David prayed in a different way. He prayed. Teach me your commands.

So what if we said, Hey, Lord, how you doing? I love you. Teach me your compassion. Tell me what to do. Lord, what if we said, Lord, help me understand? What are your expectations for me and what if I say whatever they are, help me obey it. So, God, if you open the door for something, or if you call me to speak in church, because I really don't want to lord help me love it or help me trust you.

He said, So what if we prayed? Turn my eyes away from the things of this world? I don't pray that. But when I read this I thought, Man, I'm going to start saying, Lord, what is it in this world that is causing me to not be faithful to you? I know that there are things that God has called me to stop doing or stop saying or stop going to.

And I've been like, Well, it's really not a sin. Like I've seen it, you know, nowhere in the word has it said that I shouldn't do this. Whatever it is that he might be telling me. And God is like, But you won't give it up, but you won't give it up. You want to hold on to it. So I think that when David prayed, he said, Lord, help me change my perspective, Lord, help me find my value as in you.

Everything that God is allowing us to go through, it's developing our character. And I think about what does my character look like? David's character was to honor and respect whether he agreed with it or not. David's character, or was to trust in his plan and not be like, okay, well, explain to me how this is going to work.

He didn't ask for an outline on what was going to happen. David was like, I'm going to do it. And when David was wrong, David was like, You're right, I did that. I need to change my ways. And I think that we need to see that the character that God is building in us is not fun. It's not we can't understand it.

God is telling me all the time, you don't know what I'm doing. So I'll be like, God, why would you do that? Because they're not even as a Christian and you're making their life really hard. How are they going to believe you? And God's like, Well, you don't know what I'm doing. You don't know how it's going to work out.

You don't know. David didn't know what would happen with Saul. He didn't know that Eventually he would become king, that his children would would honor him. In some ways he didn't know any of that, but God did. And God planned every single moment of that. And I want to have a heart after God. And I think that our heart after God is revealed in just following his will.

So as I was going through the sermon and God was removing things, I made everything. I make everything about me. I mean, I think that hopefully I would say a lot of us do that I make everything about me and and when we are willing to strip away absolutely everything, all the plans that we thought we had or all the the stories that we want to tell and we strip it down and we get to what is what is God trying to say?

How is God trying to use me? That's where David was different. David just had a heart after God where he just said, no matter what, no matter how flawed I am, somehow he wants to use me and I will trust in that. So if the choir wants to come back up here, I'm going to close with one last little bit of scripture.

So first Chronicles 28. Nine through ten says Acknowledge the God of your father and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek Him, you will find him. If you forsake him, he will reject you forever. And I believe that this was David telling his son as he was going to take over for King that we will seek after the heart of God, that if you seek him, you will find him.

If you're forsake him, he will forsake you. David knew he was a sinner. David knew that he was flawed, but God was willing to use him because he said, I'm here, use me. If you call on the name of the Lord, he will answer. So I think that as we walk and the journey that God has for us, what he's asking from us is, are you willing?

So if he's asked you to do something and you're just too afraid to do it, think about David. You know, he was afraid to fight the giant. There's no way that he got up there and was like, God got this. I'm so scared to get up here. But that's because I am not depending on me. I'm not. That's God being like, okay, yeah, you can't do this, but as soon as I take over, you'll be fine.

And that is what the message that God has for us is that if you want to know God's will for you, if you want to, to push forward, throw aside all the ideas of what you had planned, because I think that we're all locking out something maybe that we had planned. Maybe we've taken a a wrong turn. It's like navigation on your car.

God just keeps rerouting us. But how do we have a heart after God? How do we say God? Help us to see what you want us to see? So I think as we go forward, we say we've reread Psalms 119 and how David prayed that we would know him. He prayed that we would understand his character. I pray that God would use every flub up that I've had and use it for His glory, and that somehow, somehow the world would be changed by it.

And I don't think that I'm the only one that can change it. But I could change my daughter or I could change her friend sitting next to her. I can I can be changed and I can change people through my actions. So God help us to have your character. God help us to see what it is that you're trying to get us to see.

God help us to open our eyes to something past us. God help us to know that you are faithful and you are true. And just because you promise something and it hasn't happened doesn't mean that it's not still promised for us. God help us to be more like you. Help us to you willing to go help us to be willing to see that in you.

All things are possible, Lord, and help us to find our joy. The joy that only comes and knowing you and walking out the things that you have for us. God, I pray that you give us courage. Courage to be what you want us to be. I know that God, if I take over that my plans will always be smaller.

So God help us today to see you in the moments. Help us see you today and how we can be used. And to take that first step each day and to trust that your victory is in us. And thank you, Lord, Thank you, Lord, for just being with us today, for your presence being in this place. God, I pray that we lift your name up, that we give you glory with our words.

God help us. Holy Spirit right now to give you honor with our lives. In Jesus name, Amen.