1Sa 26:18 And he said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand?
1Sa 26:19 Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods.
1Sa 26:20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
1Sa 26:21 Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.
The great Greek army stood at the himalayan mountains and realized that they had marched off their map, their map had only part of asia minor and there they stood
The land that stood before them that separated India from china was to them unchartered territory
(1804−1806) was the first United States overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark of the United States Army. It is also known as the Corps of Discovery. 28 months
They met bad weather mutiny death fight w/ indians horses stolen near starvtion sickness yet they found Observed and described 178 plants and 122 species and subspecies of animals and mapped out the west
Strenghtned the us claim to oregon
They crossed the natural know boundaries
Abraham was a boundary crosser and has become the father of the faithful
Sociologist say that there is a large percentage of people who are born go to school get a job and die with out ever going further that 40 miles of their home
This rings true in the spirit the same the familiar the mundane the normal yet there is beautiful flowing holy ghost rivers there are mighty awesome mountian tops that we can expereince if we will cross the boundary of security
When we begin to get close to crossing the boundary , there is a vast expanse of battlefield it is here when men and women have crossed in the past that we can see that some did not make it but if we can press through to the other side
The smoke filled blood soaked battlefield will turn into a beautiful land of riches and opportunity
There is a land of opportunity there is a land that flows w/ milk and honey there is a land filled with precious gems and stones rubies and pearls but between us and that land is a battlefield
Our chief enemy is excuse and laziness oour chief enemy is a hard heart
Hardened to the call of the lord
Hardened to his word hardened to the need of the hour
There is game that is called trivial pursuit released in 1981 and peaked its sales in 1984 w/ 20 million sold
You win the game by knowing the answers to mostly popular culture trivia.
Trivial means- of very little importance or value
pursuit is that which occupies our time
Why would one fill their hours days and lives with the pursuit unimportant things and goals.
It is through these types of lives that people gain, they gain homes but are still homeless
Illus. A young banker was driving his BMW, in the mountains, during a snowstorm. As he rounded a turn the vehicle slid out of control and toward a cliff. At the last moment he unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped from the car.
Though he escaped with his life, his left arm was caught near the hinge of the door and torn it off at the shoulder.
A trucker passing nearby witnessed the accident, stopped his rig, and ran back to see if he could be of help. There standing, in a state of shock, was the banker at the edge of the cliff moaning, "Oh no, my BMW, my BMW". The trucker pointed to the banker’s shoulder and said "man you’ve got bigger problems than a car".
With that the banker looked at his shoulder, finally realizing he’d lost his arm, and began crying ":Oh No, my new Rolex, my new Rolex".
The pull of the world can easily steal our affections away,
Samuel maverick was a texas cattle rancher his ranch was surrounded by hills and so he felt like his cattle could not escape so he built no fences and he did not brand them
But his cattle would escape and when his neighbors would find his escaped cattle they would drive them back to him
Over a period of time when the cowhands would find the unbranded cattle around they began to call them mavericks
There are far to many of us who are mavericks uncontrollable will not stay in the right pasture and have been unbranded we do not bare on us the marks of prayer and faithfulness
We have not had the hot brand of revival on our lives , what would happen is some instances if men would find these unbranded cattle they would snatch these cattle and put there own brand on them
The apostle paul said in Galatians 6 that he bore in his body the marks of the lord jesus Christ
He had been so faithful he put aside his own trivial pursuits to follow the lord and he was a branded man
Our jobs will either play out or we will one day be unable due to age or sickness to perform our duties
Our monies will not last forever
If not taken out by rapture everyone of us will one day pass from this life
Will our lives be marked by shallow accomplishments , will it be marked by hitting and missing, will it be marked by trash or treasure
Trivial pursuit is somewhat of a dichotomy two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups: a contradiction between thought and action.
We are not supposed to busy ourselves w/ trivia the unimportant and shallow
we are not supposed to be passionate about the unimportant and lighthearted concerning the important.
Christmas night 2002, Jack Whittaker had five out of five numbers in the West Virginia Power ball drawing.
Jack Whittaker had just won $314 million, the largest undivided lottery jackpot in history. He took the one lump payment and received $113 million after taxes.
Listen closely to this part. He tithed, gave 1/10th of his winnings to his church. That’s 11.3 million…to his church.
Jack was a solid church attender and respected member of his church. Over the next few months he frequented a strip club called the pink pony, and was picked up for a DUI.
Over the next 2 years Jack’s marriage would dissolve, his granddaughter, who he had raised, would die from a drug overdose, his business deals would lead to numerous lawsuits, and close friends would abandon him, as his winnings changed him to the point where many couldn’t stand to be around him any more.
We need to take a lesson from Solomon – he wanted to know what was really important in life. And in his search, he tried everything.
Listen to what he discovered. “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
Solomon chased after everything in his life. He pursued Science, philosophy, humor, drinking, partying, women, architecture, gardening, possessions, wealth, music…this guy tried it all!
Solomon tried : Humor, drinking, building projects, cultural arts, dance, music and singing, having fun…
His conclusion: “This too is vanity”. Worthless, meaningless.
In fact, Solomon uses the term “Meaningless” 35 times.
• Literally, it comes from the word that means breath. It refers to things that are fleeting, transient, futile. One translation uses the word “smoke.” It’s here, you can see it, but in a moment it’s gone.
I’m not trying to stand in front of you today and convince you that pleasure is not fun. Sure it is. That’s why it’s called pleasure! Because it is pleasing, and pleasurable! But what I am telling you today is that it doesn’t last!
We live in a world that has put a high value on entertainment. Look at the professions that make the most money in our society. Entertainers. Sports figures, movie stars.
St. Thomas Aquinas Wrote; “No man can live without delight, and that is why a man deprived of spiritual joy goes over to evil pleasures”.
Jesus said that the pleasures of life can choke out the Word of God. Luke 8:14
Solomon was the richest man who ever lived.
He owned : Houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, fruit trees, slaves, flocks, singers, so much silver that it was as common as dirt, gold shields, a solid ivory throne, a solid gold throne, fleets of ships, robes of the finest materials, weapons, Storage buildings full of exotic spices, herds of mules, peacocks, 1,400 chariots, 12,000 horses, and land that extended farther than the eye could see.
Ecclesiastes 2:10: “He was denied nothing his eye desired.”
But he was not satisfied: Barna Research Group - the average American adult believes he needs an additional $8,000 - $11,000 per year to live comfortably. Tracking studies show, however, that even when adults reach or exceed the income levels to which they aspired, they still claim they need another $8,000 - $11,000 to live comfortably.
Solomon’s insight on stuff…
Eccl 2:18,19 “Eventually all we own we leave to somebody else.
Who knows, he may be a fool.”
Prov 23:5 “Money grows wings and will fly away.”
Prov 23:4 “Don’t wear yourself out to get rich.”
Prov 27:24 “For riches are not for ever…”
CS Lewis once wrote "If I find in myself a desire that this world can’t fulfill, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
So if we were made for eternity, it makes sense that we should live our lives now in light of eternity
Eccl 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
