Managing The Whisper Series

“What Are You Good For?”

Part 3 – Managing the Whisper

VIDEO – Are You Equipped #1 (Available at SermonSpice.com)

Two weeks ago, I told you that we, like David’s mighty men, are misfits. I said this because their description is our description . . . distressed, in debt, and discontent. However, I also told you that there is still hope for us if we will do what they did, rally around a common cause (What is our cause?), rally around one another, be willing to fight, and we have to be willing to trust leaders. That is how we find our destiny as a body and then last week we began dealing with principles that you can use to find out what you are good for. We did this by starting the story of David’s nephew Abishai. You will remember that Abishai’s father whispered over him, “Your name is Abishai”. That doesn’t seem that significant until you discover the meaning of his name. His name means “The Father of a Gift”. This christening sent him on a life time journey of trying to give his gift. So I told you that the first two steps of discovering you purpose was to first hear the whisper again. Your Father has named you Abishai too. You too are the Father of a Gift. It doesn’t matter how hard life is or how many wrong choices you have made you are still destined for significance. We just have to tune in to the right voice. Second, I told you that Abishai was constantly trying to give his gift. He didn’t wait for someone to ask him he just stepped up and tried to give his gift. So I challenged you to try something. Don’t sit there and do nothing. Don’t sit there and let the gift that is in you die. Try something. So let’s pick up where we left off.

TEXT: I Samuel 26:6, 8-9; I Samuel 24:3-4, 6-7; II Samuel 16:5-6, 10; 19:16, 19, 21-22; I Chronicles 11:10, 20-21

I Samuel 26:6, 8-9

“Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered up thine enemy into thy hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time. And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not; for who can put forth his hand against Jehovah’s anointed, and be guiltless?”

I Samuel 24:3-4, 6-7

“Saul went into the cave to relieve himself. David and his men were hiding at the back of the cave. They whispered to David, ‘The Lord told you he was going to let you defeat your enemies and do whatever you want with them. This must be the day the Lord was talking about.’ David sneaked over and cut off a small piece of Saul’s robe, but Saul didn’t notice a thing. He said to his men, “GOD forbid that I should have done this to my master, GOD’s anointed, that I should so much as raise a finger against him. He’s GOD’s anointed!” 7David held his men in check with these words and wouldn’t let them pounce on Saul. Saul got up, left the cave, and went on down the road.”

II Samuel 16:5-6, 9-10

“And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out thence a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he came out, and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Because he curseth, and because Jehovah hath said unto him, Curse David; who then shall say, Wherefore hast thou done so? ”

II Samuel 19:16,19, 21-22

“And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. And he said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed Jehovah’s anointed? And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel? ”