Christianview Church
July 16, 1995
Don’t Quit Now
1Samual 30:3-20
When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?"
"Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue."
David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Ravine, where some stayed behind, for two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and four hundred men continued the pursuit.
They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat- part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.
David asked him, "To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?"
He said, "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and the territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag."
David asked him, "Can you lead me down to this raiding party?"
He answered, "Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them."
He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David’s plunder."
Well here we are in the lazy, hazy, crazy, days of summer in Nova Scotia. Life is good and it’s tempting to want to just forget about everything and kick back and relax.
There is nothing wrong with taking a vacation of course; the problems arise when we decide to take a little break from our relationship with God as well.
I have known far to many friends who decided to quit all involvement and take time off work to rest and to “seek the Lord”, who wound up seeking the beach and falling away from faith in Christ.
Even if you take a break, your enemy will not say, “Oh time out on the spiritual battle, he’s having a little break so to attack now wouldn’t be fair.”
The enemy of your soul does not fight fair!
We need to ask ourselves as the weather heats up if we are still on track. Are you still on fire? Is there passion in your walk with God?
Your slack approach to things spiritual may have dire consequences.
2 Kings 13:14-19
Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. "My father! My father!" he cried. "The chariots and horsemen of Israel!"
Elisha said, "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.
"Open the east window," he said, and he opened it. "Shoot!" Elisha said, and he shot. "The LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha declared. "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek."
Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times."
Have you been lazy in your carrying out of a spiritual directive? Our God is worthy of a people who are passionate about living for Him.
Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Have you been faithfully serving God and waiting expectantly for an answer to prayer?
Have you been seeking God in prayer and the word?
Have you been working in the ministry, loving and serving God’s people?
Are you tired and on the verge of throwing in the towel?
Don’t quit now! Stir up the gift of God that is in you!
1. Dream the dream again.
At times everyone gets worn down, but as children of the living God we have got to remember one thing: Our future is so bright we need to wear shades!
Proverbs 4:18
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
What has got you exhausted?
Are you battling the bulge? I encourage you to join the gym again.
Are you trying to upgrade your education? Dig deep and study and get that diploma. You can do it!
Are you paying off debt and trying to get free from that bondage? Don’t reward yourself with a little break and a spending spree, keep going, knuckle down and get yourself free!
Are you trying to get off welfare but not finding work? Get out there again and work eight hour days finding a job until you can start to look in the mirror again with a little bit of self-respect!
Your dream is not a fantasy; with God you can do it!
Luke 18:27
Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
In God the possibilities are endless, so don’t quit now! Instead:
2. Lay aside the weights.
At this point I went and grabbed a bunch of rope and weights and draped them over my shoulders.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 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 us.
Now if you saw me with all this junk tied around my neck and asked what was up, what would you think of my intelligence if I told you I was on my way to run a marathon? Crazy right?
But that is exactly how many of us approach this Christian race that is set before us.
If you are running to win you must lose the baggage!
Bad habits, sinful indulgences, negative attitudes, bitterness, excuses, unbelief, the enemy wants to keep us all tied up and guess what; sin is an entanglement.
Lay it aside!
Right now it’s going through your mind, you know what you need to drop, so instead of quitting under the load, lay aside those weights and get back in the race.
When you are exhausted and you feel like quitting, it is time to dream the dream again, it is time to lay aside the entangling weights, and it is time to:
3. Formulate a plan for new growth.
Even in the natural realm growth does not just happen, feeding is required.
What have you been feeding yourself to foster spiritual growth?
If your plan is to hear one sermon a week, I challenge you to eat one meal a week and see how that goes. You need on purpose planning.
I am always telling my son’s that average is so average that the world is available to the slightly above average.
A little extra is all it takes in most things to shine!
Spiritual growth is no exception!
Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Our champion is no quitter so it is not an option for us either.
Don’t quit now, dig deeper and grow to new heights in God!
