Fighting Bears And Delivering Cheese! (Part 1 Of 3) Series

Title: Killing Bears and Delivering Cheese

Text: I Sam 17: 12-18; 34-37 and I Sam 16:18

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Introduction:

- This morning we are going to start a sermon series from David’s early years.

- This series is entitled, “Developing A Heart After God”

- The Bible says that David was a man after God’s own heart and it’s recorded in Acts 13:22, “After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ’I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do”

- Also in I Sam 13:14 it says, “But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command."

- How did David develop in his life a heart for God?

- What attitudes did he posses that prompted God to say “he will do everything I want him to do”

- That should be every Christian’s passion and drive to desire to hear God say those words.

- It’s not about perfection, because we know God sees the end from the beginning, and knew that David would sin.

- But the difference between David and some Christians today is that when - David was confronted with sin, he repented.

- His desire was to serve the Lord, evening if he was blinded by sin deception.

- When the church is confronted with sin, it gets angry and wants the preacher to preach on something more comfortable and easy.

- I believe David is an example to the church as to how to live for God in the good times and the bad times.

- David’s life answers all questions about my Christian walk.

- For example when I sin, what should my response be?

- When it comes to trials what should my response be?

- When it comes to blessing others what should my response be?

- When I have been betrayed what should my response be?

- When life is unfair what should my response be?

- When tragedy of gigantic proportions strikes, what should my response be?

- All these and more are found in the life of David, from family feuds, marriage problems, personal tragedy and the effects of sin.

- But yet in all of that, David is a man that God has said, is a person after my own heart.

- My desire in life, is not to pursue being exempt from hardship, but rather to be a person that will follow God and grow in Him.

- Many Christians today pray that God will deliver them from struggles but we should pray that we have a heart for God and follow Him in hardships.

Transition:

- So the first message this morning that we are going to look at in developing a heart for God is called Fighting Bears and Delivering Cheese.

- Let me explain what we are going to learn from this story:

A little girl walking in a garden noticed a particularly beautiful flower. She admired its beauty and enjoyed its fragrance. “It’s so pretty!” she exclaimed. As she gazed on it, her eyes followed the stem down to the soil in which it grew. “This flower is too pretty to be planted in such dirt!” she cried. So she pulled it up by its roots and ran to the water faucet to wash away the soil. It wasn’t long until the flower wilted and died.

When the gardener saw what the little girl had done, he exclaimed, “You have destroyed my finest plant!”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t like it in that dirt,” she said. The gardener replied, “I chose that spot and mixed the soil because I knew that only there could it grow to be a beautiful flower.”

Often we murmur because of the circumstances into which God has sovereignly placed us. We fail to realize that He is using our pressures, trials, and difficulties to bring us to a new degree of spiritual beauty. Contentment comes when we accept what God is doing and thank Him for it. (Taken from Sermoncentral)

- We see from our text that David was being prepared and lead by God to a new degree of spiritual beauty.

- I believe that David didn’t even know that God was using his trials and situations to make his spiritual life more beautiful.

- God saw the future in David’s life and knew that he needed to be trained for the task ahead.

- The task ahead being King of Israel and defeating the armies opposing Israel.

- David had a great calling on his life, and God had great plans for him.