A Life-Changing View Of God Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• I you take the time to examine the life of David; you will find that David lived an interesting life. He lived a life that at times you could see his faith in God shine through and at other times he seemed to struggle to find his bearings.

• No matter how far off David would stray, he always found his way back home.

• The times in which his faith really controlled his life were the times he was closest to God.

• Why did David have ups and downs in his walk with God? Why do we?

• How was David who was a man after God’s own heart capable of committing adultery and subsequently be responsible for the death of another person?

• What is it that keeps us close to God? How is it that we can follow Jesus for sometimes a long time and yet still not be Christ-like?

• The obvious answer is that none of us are nor will any of us be perfect no matter how hard we try.

• I believe that one of the reasons that David was able to always find his way back to God is that one, God pursued David. Even with YOUR THE MAN moment David had with the prophet Nathan, God was trying to get David’s attention.

• The second reason David was able to get back on track was that he had a life-changing view of God.

• The longer I live in Christ the more I realize that our view of God will affect how we live for Him.

• There are so many views of God even within the church. I used to assume early in my walk that ALL Christians had the same view of God, but the longer I serve the more I know that is not necessarily true.

• In our text today we will see the life-changing view of God that David possessed.

• This passage is repeated in Psalm 18 also. The text indicates that David wrote it in celebration of his deliverance from the hand of Saul and other enemies, but some feel that David wrote this after Absalom’s rebellion toward the end of David’s reign.

• Our view of God will either take us to a deeper relationship with God or it will keep us distant and aloof in our relationship.

• Let’s turn to 2 Samuel 22:1-3 top begin.

• SLIDE #2

• 2 Samuel 22:1–3 (ESV) 1 And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

We will experience real life change when we see…

I. God as our rock.

• In verse 2 it David starts off by saying that he sees God has his ROCK.

• In Psalm 18:1-2 it begins with the thought that David LOVES God.

• By the way the entire song we find in this chapter is a lightly edited version of Psalm 18.

• Psalm 18 is the longest Psalm written by David in the bible.

• SLIDE #4

• Psalm 18:1–2 (ESV) I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

• I love the imagery that David uses when describing how he feels about God. When David was running for his life from Saul he would seek refuse in the rocky wastelands of the Judean wilderness.

• As David was going through these harrowing times he would need something to anchor to, something solid something that would hold steady.

• When we face the difficulties of life, we need something to anchor our lives on.

• If you have been in a boat in rough water having something solid to anchor to can keep you for being carried out to sea.

• David kept his sanity during times that made no sense to him. David was in trouble for doing nothing wrong, for most they would have forsaken God long ago, but David knew who his anchor was!

• While David was evading Saul he used the refuge of the rocks to keep him protected also.

• This imagery of God being a Rock is used throughout the Old Testament.

• Genesis 49:24; 1 Samuel 2:2 in Hannah’s song to God and the imagery is used throughout the Psalms.