My bro & sis we are living in the last and evil days.
My bros & sis we are living in a crazy time.
We are living in a world where people are running around out of control.
We live in a world filled with people plotting terroristic attacks on our country
We live in a world where some of us has seen gas go from a nickel, to 45 cents to $1 to $2 to $3.00 a gallon.
We live in a world where girls are having kids at a younger age and high school drop outs is the norm
We live in a world where our kids are given psychiatric diagnoses at 3 & 4 years old and labeled un-teachable before the get a chance to prove themselves.
My bro and sis we live in a world full of girls gone wild, guys gone wild, kids gone wild, cat gone wild, dog gone wild, everybody is going wild.
And you know what makes it so bad, while everyone is going wild about the things of the world, it seems as though less people are going wild for Jesus. Nobody is going wild for saving souls. Nobody is caring about the kids
(Before you say Amen and Hi five)
I want to let you know that the church is not any better! Because it seems that Christians are going wild too.
You got deacons carrying guns to church
Preachers with 9 & 10 girlfriends in church
Women dressing like hoochi mommas in church
Folk are smoking, drinking, and cussing on the church ground
People coming to church just for a fashion show,
Coming to see who can sing the best, everybody watching everybody else
No body is willing to loose they mind for Christ.
Nobody willing to go wild for Jesus.
We come to church with our make up on and our hair straight and we leave with your makeup on and our hair straight.
Don’t nobody break a nail, break a heel, catch a run in your patty hose nothing.
My bro and sis not only has the world gone crazy but we in the church seems to be going crazy too
(Least I hold you to long) Let’s call our friend David for some help
Here in our text today, we find David has just come back to camp. He had been on a long journey, he has had to dodge Saul who was out to kill him and just came out of the land of the Philistines and he & his men were tired and ready to get home.
- Right off the bat, Can you connect with David right here?
- have you ever been tired and ready to get home?
- Tired from work or a long day running around shopping or even coming from vacation or out of town
somewhere and just ready to get home.
-Tired from a full day of going to church, or from a full day of out helping other people, or sick and tired
of being sick and tired and you just ready to get home. There is no place like home is it?
- I can see David saying yea, can’t wait to get home. Imma get my wife to fix me some bath water, Imma get the other wife to make me a plate of beans and kill me a calf. Soak in the tub, get my feet and back rubbed on, eat me a good meal and maybe have me a little wine. Can’t you see David saying I’m been running for Jesus a long time and I’m not tired yet, but I’m ready to get home. Anybody been like that, just ready to get home.
- But Oh what distress it must have been, Oh what heartache he must have felt when as soon as he got to the camp here comes the report that the Amalekites had burned the camp down, not only had they burned the camp down, but they took all the women and children. I might would have been able to deal with a house fire, but he got robbed and burned out. A Double whammy. My God anybody ever been hit with a double Whammy in one day?
- Anybody ever been told your son is sick, plus you bounced a check?
- You check got garnished and you got a shut off notice?
- You lost your job and your rent do
- Anybody ever been given bad news twice in one day?
Although David got the double Whammy we see that God was still in the situation. We have to learn to find God in all our situations, no matter how bad it looks.
Look at the Text! 1st sign that God was with David in this situation
Vs 2 but they slew not any – 1st sign of God in this situation, they could have lost it all, but it wasn’t lost it was just captive. Even though the camp had been burned, and the women captive, they were still alive
There is a difference! We keep crying over our stuff like it’s lost, but it’s just captive. We cry and weep over what the devil takes from us like it’s lost, but it’s not lost it’s just captive.
- You child is not dead, but the devil just has them captive
- Your money is not lost, but it’s just captive
- Your chance of finding a husband is not dead, but just being held captive
- You new house is not unreachable it’s just captive
- That new car is not unaffordable it’s just captive
- Stop weeping over you situation as if all hope is gone and the situation is dead, it’s not dead, it’s
just being held captive by the devil.
-Have Faith that you are gonna recover it all.
Because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen You got to have faith that you can get it back. You do know we can get it back don’t you?
We can go get it back! We can have our stuff back, we can get our joy back, and we can recover it all!
(Oh But keep watching our text)
Vs.4 (read) this verse tells us what we normally do, like David did.
-We have a pity party, we cry and weep. We holla out, woe is me. That’s our natural response.
- It’s ok to cry out, don’t let nobody tell you that you are weak because you cry out.
- Just don’t wolla in it. Just don’t in a 20 year pity party, don’t cry about you losing your car 2 years ago, and you still bumming rides this year.
- Don’t cry about loosing your house last year and you still living under a bridge this year.
- Don’t get a divorce 5 years ago and still hate all men today.
- You got to get over it and go get it back.
Tell your neighbor you got to get over it! You got to get over it, in order to go get it back!
Not only that, look at the text
Vs.6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him; then look what happens, the people turned on him.
- This let’s us know; don’t get discouraged cause your people turn on you. People are gone turn on you when times get rough.
- As great a man and leader that David was the people still turned on him in time of sorrow.
- As many as battles as David had won, the 1st sign of trouble they turned on him
- Leaders! Stop going home and crawling up under a rock when the people get distressed and want to stone you, you’re the leader that’s what they supposed to do, they gone talk about you.
- Supervisors stop getting mad at your people because they talk about you in the break room. That’s what they do.
- They set you on a pedestal and they will bring you down just as quick.
- Man Stop feeling bad when your wife says husband what you gone do, the bills are do and money gone.
- Stop looking crazy women when you got to run your house with no husband and the kids are acting up
- Kids don’t go kicking at the dirt and slamming doors when you don’t make the grade you thought you made or something happens at school and everybody laughing at you.
- That’s what people do!
But notice
That didn’t make David run off, or get all ignorant, look what was the 1st thing the bible said David did after the people turned on him.
B part of vs. 6 But David encouraged himself – Encourage yourself
We have to pick ourselves up off the carpet, we have to lift our head up, we have to stop dragging the ground and encourage ourselves.
We can’t wait for someone else to pat you on the back to hold your head up.
You can’t wait for somebody to send you a Hallmark Card
You can’t wait for the mission department to visit you on your sick bed;
You can’t wait for the mailman to send your next check
You can’t wait for tax season next year
You have to stand yourself up, be a man, be a woman of God, and dust your pants off
- put a smile on your face and say I am more than a conqueror through Christ that strengths me,
- I am the head not the tail
- I am blessed in the fields and out of the fields
- I am blessed coming and going
- No weapon formed against me shall prosper
- Tho he slay me yet will I trust in the Lord
- God is my rock and my salvation whom shall I fear
You have to encourage yourself! Anybody ready to Encourage themselves?
The next thing I see David did, Is found in vs7
Vs 7 David calls his priest and says bring me the Ephod (the garment of prayer).
That’s what we have to do.
1st encourage yourself, and then go to God in prayer. The bible says:
2 Chronicles 7:14
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.
We have to learn how to go to God in prayer. Look what happens when David went to God
He gave him instructions on what to Do!
- But we having to be wiling to go to God
- David encourages himself and then went to straight to the LORD. Notice what he didn’t do!
- He didn’t check the pantry for a bottle of wine or cold beer to sip on while he thinks about it
(Yall know how we do it)
- He didn’t stop by Wal-mart and buy a bunch of cakes and ding dongs to munch on while he contemplates it
- He didn’t stop and get a sack of weed to smoke on and talk about it
- He didn’t get on the phone and call up his sister or best friend, or home girl to talk it out
- He didn’t drive to Memphis to figure it out what he should do
- He didn’t go call the psychic hotline
- He didn’t go lock his door and hide at home with the lights off & hop in the bed
- He didn’t stop coming to church (hello somebody)
But he went to the Lord in prayer!
So David says in Vs 8 LORD SHALL I PERSURE? (Whooo) I can hear David going boldly before the throne of Grace. LORD do you want me to over take them. Lord Can I go kick some butt
- Notice He was confident in his request. He went to the Lord claiming victory with his request
- He didn’t go weak; he came boldly
- And that’s how we are to do!
- Stop going to God already defeated in your mind.
- Stop Praying them “now I lay me down to sleep prayers”
- Stop giving up before you even get an answer from God
Watch the TEXT!
Look how the Lord answers back. PERSUE! For thou shalt SURELY overtake them and without fail recover all!
Somebody should be shouting!
We can really go home right there. That’s really the end of the sermon. The Lord said you shall surely recover it all. What else is there to say? God said it and I believe it and that’s enough. You don’t have to ask any more, you don’t have to do no more fasting, you can stop calling people, once God said you can have your stuff back that’s it. It’s yours, it’s a done deal.
But here in lies, most of our problem; see I would be doing you an injustice if I stopped right there & went home
- One of our problems is we can rejoice over the proclamation of God, but we get hung up with the process of God.
- Nobody wants to go through the process that it takes to get what God has already told you that
you can have.
-We get happy about God’s word, but nobody wants to stand on it.
-We get happy about the Vision, but no one wants to step out on faith with there pledge.
- We rejoice because God has spoken to us, but we don’t take a step to go get what he said
Then the next problem is this….God told David to go peruse.
- But the problem we have is we don’t want to leave where we are at to recover it all.
- See Ziglag represents where we are right now!
- In order to get your stuff back you have to be willing to move from where you are now
- You have to be willing to leave from your comfort zone.
- You have to be willing to leave where you are to go get it!
- We have to be willing to move from 6147 Roundtop to 5217 Roundtop
- Even though our stuff is burned up where we are, we still don’t want to move to a
place of where God is calling us to go, so we can be prosperous, so we can go to the next level, so
we can get our stuff back
- We would rather stay here in the same old burned down situation; instead of doing what God has
ALREADY told us to do.
- We would rather stay instead of going to fight a battle that is already won
- We would rather stay Instead of going to get back stuff that is already ours
- WE been here since 1947 it’s time to go get what’s ours!
Anybody ready to go get it? Slap your neighbor and tell them to go get it!
So David took off to get his stuff back.
But again we see there is already trouble
Look at the Text
In vs. 8 God said Pursue! But in vs. 9 we already got trouble in the camp. Some of the men that started with David had gotten weak and had to be left behind. He started off with 600, but half way through the journey he lost 200. I got to stick and pin there and tell you
- Don’t get discouraged if everyone who starts out on your journey with you doesn’t make it.
- David started with 600 men but 200 fell off.
- But that didn’t stop David from being on his mission, that didn’t discourage him.
- He didn’t turn around and go back home because he lost some of his people along the way
- He didn’t get discouraged. He didn’t say, I knew it, I knew I couldn’t do it.
So stop tripping when some that started out with you are gone, everybody not going to the promised land.
Stop getting mad when your home boys or your co-workers don’t make the race with you
(The race is not giving to the swift, but to the one that endures forever)
Because if God said you are gonna win, then that’s it! Walk in it. Live in it. Go get it!
- Now notice David didn’t have to go back to God to re-ask the question over again.
- He didn’t need re-confirmation. He didn’t need to call the prophet!
- He didn’t have to do anything else but keep marching on
See a lot of times just because something happens along the way, we go back to God and if he don’t answer us we discouraged all over again and will end up turning around and going back home.
You ain’t got to ask God over and over again. If he done told you to go get it, then go get it.
(Tell your neighbor to go Get it!)
God had already said that they would recover it ALL!
What no use of going back to God.
God said it and that’s it.
So Go get it! Anybody ready to go get it! Anybody gone recover it all. Anybody going to get your stuff back?
So Look at God!
Along the way God intervenes, he allows David to find a young man that the enemy has left behind. Look at what he does, David blesses his enemy. (How many can bless your enemy) The young man tells him how to find the rest of his enemies.
- My God, along the way don’t forget the principles of God and his goodness. Don’t step over the little man along the way, even if they are your enemies.
- Because David blessed him, when he could have killed him, it allowed David to know which direction to go.
- God will use even your enemies to help you, Aint that just like God. God will use your enemies to bless you
So don’t turn your nose up to somebody that you don’t like while you getting your stuff back.
(ex………………..)
(Look at the text vs16)
The bible says that David came upon the enemies’ camp and they were dancing and having a good time, enjoying the spoils of war. They were going wild.
I can see the girls going wild, the kids going wild, the boys going wild.
They were partying having a good time, drinking it, kicking it, smoking on it. Everybody was laid back.
Then David came in and with guns a blazing, short staffed, undermanned, 200 men short, tired, homeless, broke busted and disgusted and whipped the enemy from sun up to sun down, and he did just what the Lord said he was going to do, he recovered it all!
He got his wives back, he got his son’s back, he got his daughters, he got his cattle back, David recovered it all.
Because David encouraged himself, he prayed to God, and he trusting in the Lord, he was able to recover it all.
Is there anybody ready to go get your stuff back?
Anybody ready to go recover it all?
Anybody done lost a family member and you ready to go them back?
- lost a house and ready to get it back
- lost a car and ready to get it back
- lost a job and ready to go get it back
-lost a relationship and ready to go get it back
- has the enemy took anybody stuff and you ready to go get it back
- Anybody ready to encourage themselves
- Ready to pick yourself up
- Ready to turn yourself around
- Ready to place your feet on solid ground
Anybody short staffed ready to go get it back, anybody been broke in 06 but in 07 you ready to get you money back
Anybody done lost some family members to the world and you ready to go get them back?
Slap your neighbor and tell them neighbor I’m going to get my stuff back!
