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2 Samuel 15 (Part 2) Bible Study | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  I'm excited to be here tonight. I can't recall the time where I
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  wasn't excited to come before people who want to be with God's
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  people and to be before God's word, but this particular study
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  stirred, my heart in many ways and I trust that it will stir
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  yours as well. If you were here last week, we
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  took the first six verses of this chapter, to look at a
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  teaching on how division occurs among the people of God.
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  It's not exhaustive, but it is pretty insightful of how it is.
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  That there can be a severing among even the spiritual among
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  God's chosen among those who are called by his name.
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  And the way we did that, as we looked at the example of
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  Absalom, the son of David who had a conspiracy against his
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  father, and who brought about successfully a Chasm between him
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  and his father. And between the people of God
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  Among the nation of Israel, and the three things That were
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  recognized as ingredients for division was number one division
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  begins in the heart of Unholy men.
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  If you have a person who is dominated by selfish ambition
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  division is very likely. Some kind of Discord is very
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  possible, but secondly, we looked at how the vision
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  requires deception and accusation division requires
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  deception accusation. And last week, we looked at how
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  division is strength Thousand by naive Hearts who are not
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  Discerning, who do not take their time to investigate and we
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  just receive anything from anybody that is very dangerous
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  and you realize that we just looked at the first few verses
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  we didn't even cover anything really passed verse seven down.
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  We looked at the first six verses in detail and we have all
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  this terrain to deal with. But instead of looking at each
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  verse carefully and commenting on these verses, I want us to
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  continue in that theme. I want us to continue with the
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  theme that we began last Friday and I want us to specifically.
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  Look at David's response to absalom's collusion I want us to
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  see how David reacted when he was betrayed, when there was
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  relational treason. When there was a person in his
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  life who went beyond the point of reconciliation, like you
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  can't even talk to this person more.
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  You can't reason you can do everything you can biblically
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  but this person is determined to destroy your reputation, your
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  life your ministry, this is where David is at, he's crossed
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  the line. In his relationship with Absalom
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  regardless of what he has done for him.
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  And we want to see how to respond to that because if you
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  serve God long enough, you will know some level some level of
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  hurt from another and maybe that's not the case for you.
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  And I praise God for that. I pray that you would never know
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  that bitterness, but it does happen often especially for
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  those who serve God in some capacity.
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  And so I think it's incredibly valuable to look at how David
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  responded. What will that require of us?
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  Well, again, we have to just kind of glean and take specific
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  versus rather than take everything that this chapter has
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  to offer. And so you might feel like,
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  well, there's that I want. What about this?
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  This, in this point to Christ, there is a lot in here, for the
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  sake of honoring, the theme and being consistent with what we
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  learned last week. We're going to trust that the
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  Holy Spirit has much to say in consideration of what we will
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  read. Now here's what I need you to
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  remember though, as we move. Forward.
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  Everything that David is about to undergo as for one main
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  reason and the primary lesson of this point of David's life, is
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  that he is reaping what he has sold.
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  Every single ache, every pain, every single update of some new
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  crisis, is all the result of his sin.
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  Nathan told him that this was going to happen and so if you
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  need to take away anything, it's that sin produces sorrow, it
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  will hurt you and it will inevitably disturb others that
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  you did not intend to disturb. That is what we see primarily
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  here, nonetheless. Even in this example, we see
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  practical steps offered to us, that can apply to the faithful
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  servant of God. Who is now who's now brought
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  into a season of life that is beyond their control and
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  agonizing situation, a painful set of predicaments.
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  That are applicable to us the suffering that we want to keep
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  in mind. Here is the suffering that I
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  just mentioned that of disloyalty a various kinds.
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  Betrayal. Treason collusion and even
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  conspiracy. When there is a plot with you
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  being the target, what do you do?
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  How do you go about it, how do you respond?
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  And tonight, you're going to hear four things, four things in
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  the life of David at this point, in this episode of his story,
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  that will equip you When something happens through
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  somebody else that is completely uncalled for and undeserved.
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  What do you do with betrayal? What do you do with this
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  loyalty? Let's read the first two verses
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  beginning in verse 13. And a messenger came.
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  To David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel have gone
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  after Absalom, then David said to all his servants, who are
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  with him at Jerusalem, arise, and let us flee or else, there
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  will be no Escape for us. From Absalom go, quickly lest
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  the overtake us quickly, and bring down ruin on us, and
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  strike the city with the edge of the sword.
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  The first thing that you, and I have to understand when it comes
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  to pain caused by another person is this rule.
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  Avoid more bloodshed Avoid more Bloodshed in the first two
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  verses here. With David receives the news of
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  absalom's conspiracy and the success of it, we already see
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  his Shepherds heart. David is now calling his
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  servants to follow him from the palace and to flee Into the
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  Wilderness and environment, that he's very familiar with.
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  If you remember his time with Saul, And he urges them to get
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  up and to go and the reasons are here.
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  We see that he realizes that the support that Absalom has is
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  enough to overtake and overwhelm them.
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  They're outnumbered, they're not going to succeed even if they
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  stay but that's not the main motivation.
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  Necessarily that is one of them but the main one for our focus
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  is what he says. After afterwards, he says and
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  strike the city with the edge of the sword.
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  David is concerned not only for himself and his men and his
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  family. He is concerned about the
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  innocent inhabitants of Israel. That if David chooses to remain
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  in Jerusalem and stand his ground and resist and fight,
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  what can happen at a cost? Is that there would be
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  casualties? and so David, here is concerned
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  that there are some if not many, who would get caught in the
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  crossfire Of Absalom selfishness and David's rightful defense of
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  his own throne and his own position.
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  And what David is doing here is incredible.
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  He is willing to surrender. What?
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  Rightfully belongs to him. What rightfully belongs to him
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  for the sake of peace. For the sake of others, not
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  experiencing the blunt and the collateral damage that can come
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  from a feud between him and his son.
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  And here's the instruction for the follower of Christ today
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  that there are times in your life that you will know, some
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  kind of conflict that will demand of you to surrender.
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  What you believe, rightfully belongs to you for the sake of a
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  greater cause And I hope you understand that and I hope you
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  believe that. There are going to be times that
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  in conflict in Warfare unfortunately, through people.
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  Where you have to make the willful decision to surrender,
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  what you believe to be your right for the sake of a greater
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  cause. And you see many examples of
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  that not just in the old, but in the new, you've heard me use
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  this example. Many times, we're Paul instructs
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  the Corinthian Christians. When he received news that they
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  were suing each other Christians going to court, Christians,
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  trying to to to win a case over another brother in Christ.
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  And you know what Paul says, why not suffer loss?
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  Why not be defrauded? Why don't just lose?
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  Why don't you just just let that person get away with their
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  offense and what is his motivation because he does not
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  want the internal strife of the Believers to be a stumbling
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  block for the watching unbelieving world.
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  That's your greater cause and so so don't don't worry about the
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  preservation of your property. Don't worry about the harm that
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  somebody might have caused especially if he's a brother for
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  the sake of the greater cause surrender.
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  And that's not the only example, you think of Paul applying that
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  rule to himself personally as an apostle to the very same
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  Christians. He says that he has some rights
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  as an apostle in the apostles held certain rights and the
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  right that he is speaking about there.
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  In chapter 9, is the right to be compensated, materially for his
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  spiritual service. He makes a case.
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  They're in First Corinthians that a person who is dedicated
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  any portion of his time or energy to serve the people of
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  God. Deserves to be compensated in
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  one way or another. And he goes to the Old Testament
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  to prove that case. But at the same time in verse
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  12, of First Corinthians, nice. He says, we do not make use of
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  that, right? We don't make use of that,
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  right? Why Leslie.
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  Put an obstacle in the way of the Gospel.
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  And what is Paul trying to say? This is what he's trying to
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  instruct about. He's saying you Gentiles you
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  fresh territory. I refused to implement this
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  right less. I Cloud your judgment unless I
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  give the potential persuasion that I'm doing this for money.
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  I'm actually going to reserve myself from exercising.
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  The right for you to give me my needs, as I serve you because
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  there's a greater cause I have in mind and that is you to
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  understand. My pure intentions, then I'm not
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  doing this for any selfish purpose, for any financial gain.
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  I want your soul saved. I want your soul Sanctified and
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  so, I will put aside this right for the sake of a greater cause
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  and what we see in David as he's willing to let go of his right
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  as the promise anointed king, for the sake, of preserving, the
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  lives of people who can get caught up in the Warfare between
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  him and his son, and there is a call for wisdom in knowing how
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  to go about this. There is a call for the Holy
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  Spirit to help us understand in. What situations.
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  This rule will supersede any other conviction that you might
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  have. And so there are times where
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  again, you might say Okay, I have to let go of whatever was
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  offended, whatever was taken, even my own reputation, not
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  being defended. For what purpose, considering
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  the possibility of the harm that my retaliation, or my resistance
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  can cause to the cause of Christ.
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  As I said that is not always the case.
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  Because Paul instructed the Corinthians hey, what just
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  suffer loss. Just Let It Go, the gospel.
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  The gospel is more important than your hurt.
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  Your what you lost or what somebody did to you in the
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  church and my right, my right as an apostle I'm going to I'm
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  going to work as a tent maker and I'm am I going to raise up
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  support for myself and actually see that he's supported even
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  others? And I'm going to preach the
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  gospel freely to you. I'm going to teach you freely
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  because I know the Temptation that you have and I know what
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  people are saying about my Ministry.
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  So I'm gonna I'm not going to put any obstacle in your way,
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  but there was times where Paul stood his ground and there were
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  moments where Paul utilized his rights.
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  And made a defense for himself. But for no different reason than
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  if he had not used his rights for a cause for specific, cause
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  can I show you one go to Acts chapter 16 and I want you to see
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  in your Bibles at this point of Paul's Ministry where he is in,
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  Philippi Phillipi with his missionary partner, Silas.
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  And as they are, they're attempting to reach people.
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  They are instead in prison beaten Shackled.
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  And then that famous scene as they are bruised and bloodied,
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  and blistered, they sing hymns to God in the Midnight Hour and
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  they pray and they pray and an earthquake comes.
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  And when the earthquake comes, they can run off, they don't run
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  off because this Jailer is there he pleads with them asking how
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  he can be saved? He gets saved his family gets
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  saved. His whole household gets
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  baptized and then something interesting happens.
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  It would have been great if historian to there and then you
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  transition to Paul's next missionary endeavor.
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  Ever, but it doesn't something happens.
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  And what happens here is in verse 36 And the Jailer the
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  Jailer who is just freshly saved the Jailer reported these words
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  to Paul saying the magistrates have sent to let you go
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  therefore come out now and go and peace.
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  Pause here the same magistrates that bound Paul beat Paul.
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  Rip Paul's closed and threw him in that dungeon are now
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  realizing that they were wrong and they sent word to the
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  Jailer, who was hosting them and said, hey we may dismiss Steak
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  we made a mistake with these two guys.
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  Let them know that they can. They're not arrested, they're
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  not in prison anymore. There's no case against them
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  just let them. Let them head out peaceably and
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  we can just forget this ever happened.
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  What would be the Christian thing to do?
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  I'll praise God. Okay?
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  And just sweep it under the rug and let's just move on.
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  That's that's that's wonderful. Is that is that what Paul does
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  look here and see what Paul does?
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  But Paul said to them, verse 37, they have beaten us publicly
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  uncondensed and men who are Roman citizens and have thrown
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  us into prison and do they now throw us out?
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  Secretly know, let them come themselves and take us out.
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  And here's what some passes would say to Paul Paul, it's not
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  very christ-like. Turn the other cheek Paul Just
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  just go about peaceably and ignore this.
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  And there's no need to cause waves here, Paul.
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  They want this to end smoothly. Why don't you just move on and
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  not cause a stir and Paul says, no, no, no.
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  If they want us to go, let them come here, themselves, and
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  escort us. We want a private escort from
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  the police. We're not stepping on till they
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  arrive here, and they do that. Here's my question to you, a
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  Bible study tonight. Why is Paul doing this?
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  Very good. Did you hear it?
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  If you read this without much meditation, you would think
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  Paul's a little bitter here that Paul has something in his heart
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  where he wants some kind of humiliation for these police.
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  You would think that he just wants to get back at them and
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  one way or another that he's not going to leave without some kind
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  of a nudge. Not some kind of a little punch
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  in the gut before they can just move on.
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  That is not what Paul is doing here.
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  Paul appeals to his Roman citizenship.
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  For a greater cause. He's not doing this for himself,
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  he's not doing this because he was humbled, he's not doing this
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  because he was embarrassed, he's doing this because something
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  happened earlier in the chapter, and you heard me, allude to it,
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  he was beaten publicly. He was arrested before the eyes
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  of many witnesses. He was shamed, and he was
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  imprisoned. And these men, Paul and Silas
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  entered into this region as missionaries.
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  They came Paul cast out a devil devil out of me.
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  Girl, there is an obvious sense that these men were different.
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  They came with some kind of mission and the last that people
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  have seen of them is that they were apprehended and they were
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  put away, they were in essence, seen as guilty of something.
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  And this is how Paul's think what a brilliant man.
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  What a brilliant man. Paul was, here's a Paul.
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  Is thinking he's saying the last that these Philippians have seen
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  of us, is that we were some sort of criminals.
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  Silas hear me out. Hear these police that
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  wrongfully treated us in this way.
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  They have to rectify. What happened here?
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  And here's what Paul is demanding in the same way that
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  they were condemned publicly, they wanted to be seen as
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  innocent publicly and it would be the presence of these
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  magistrates in these police that would validate their innocence.
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  And that would show that they were an error in their judgment
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  against these missionaries for what for what, cause for the
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  sake of the unbelieving to realize that there's no real
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  Scandal here. For the sake of these witnesses,
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  to realize that these men are not men of ill repute that they
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  are not questionable in their character.
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  Their innocent men, they are good men.
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  And if they are good men, the surely.
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  There's something about their message that is pure So even
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  when Paul exercises his right that same Temptation you feel
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  when Injustice has been caused to you it's still gospel
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  focused. It's still gospel-centered.
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  It's still Soul. Winning driven motivation.
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  And so I understand that when he didn't use his right, it was for
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  the sake of the Gospel. When he did use his rights, it
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  was for the sake of the gospel. And so we need the wisdom, the
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  spirit. And we need an honest
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  investigation of our own Hearts. Whenever we have to determine,
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  how do I go about what is happening in my life right now.
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  And this is what we see from David.
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  David is not going to cause more Bloodshed more shame or
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  embarrassment more chaos by restraining and holding on to
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  what belonged to him, which will require.
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  What when you experience some kind of suffering at the hands
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  of another Point. Number two, number one was to
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  avoid much Bloodshed or more Bloodshed rather and number two
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  in the conflict as arrows are flying by and bullets are
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  whizzing through. Trusting the sovereignty of God.
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  trust to the sovereignty of God and you're going to know how
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  important that is when you do surrender or write that, you
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  know, you can really fight for make a case for Where do I see
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  that? I scroll down in first Samuel.
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  Excuse me. Second Samuel chapter 15 verse
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  25. Look at verse 25 of second
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  Samuel. 15. We can look at verse 24 to
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  understand what's happening. And I'd be, I thought our verse
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  24 came up and behold zadok came.
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  Also with all the Levites bearing, the Ark of the Covenant
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  of God, and they set down the Ark of God until the people had
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  all passed out of the city. Then the king said to tzadik
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  carry the Ark of God back into the city.
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  If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back
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  and let me see. Both it and his dwelling place.
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  But if he says, I Have no pleasure in you.
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  Behold here. I am.
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  Let him do to me. What seems good to him.
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  Here's what David is admitting the outcome of this.
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  Uncontrollable situation is ultimately determined by God.
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  By God, this is all in the hands of God.
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  Absalom is not the one calling the shots here almighty God is.
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  And if God wants me to go back to Jerusalem and to behold the
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  Tabernacle, he will bring me back, but if God in his perfect,
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  wisdom says, you're not going back, you're going to stay out
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  here as a fugitive forever. Then so be it, the understanding
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  here of David is I completely trust that even though Absalom
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  is controlling this whole thing and determining, how we're going
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  about this? God is still Supervising the
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  situation. He is still Sovereign over all
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  of this. And this was his Solace.
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  This was his comfort. This was his assurance and it's
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  true here. That David's confession is an
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  awareness of the discipline of the Lord.
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  The reason why he can humbly receive this.
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  As he knows that this is tied back to his sin with Bathsheba.
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  And that he is experiencing the chastisement of God.
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  And so he just he just Embraces it and he says, this is how the
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  Lord is, is disciplining me then?
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  So be it. But more than that, his attitude
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  here applies even to the faithful servant of God.
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  Not just the one under Going God's discipline, the faithful
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  servant of God, who is now losing control of their life of
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  what's happening to them. It is one of the greatest
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  secrets to successfully enduring all kinds of suffering,
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  including the suffering of betrayal.
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  When you can't control, what people say about you do to you
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  plot against you. Here's the Glorious thought.
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  No matter how strong someone selfishness is, it will never be
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  able to overpower The Sovereign purposes of God for your life.
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  Never. That's what David Is Anchored In
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  and the extent of his trust is so inspiring.
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  You see that at? You see it in subtle ways.
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  You see that David here is very realistic about this whole
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  ordeal. He's not pretending here he's
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  he's not he's not playing these mind games where he's he's just
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  dismissing the severity of it. No, he's very honest.
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  Look at verse 19. Then the king said to a tie that
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  get tight. Why do you also go with us?
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  Go back and stay with the King for you are a foreigner and also
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  in Exile from your home, what stands out to you from that
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  verse When he instructs it tie to head back.
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  The king. who is he referring to not him Absalom, David calls
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  Absalom, the king David acknowledges that absalom's
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  conspiracy succeeded. And he was willing to humbly
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  receive how things were playing out.
• 23:35
  And at this point, he was completely convinced that
• 23:38
  Absalom gain the throne and gained the title and gain the
• 23:41
  crown. He's not saying that
• 23:44
  sarcastically. He's saying this with complete
• 23:46
  honesty saying just go back to the King right now, I'm not the
• 23:51
  king. I look at that and I think to
• 23:54
  myself, this is a man who knew and trusted in the wisdom of
• 24:00
  God, no matter what was taken from him, no matter where he was
• 24:04
  headed. He didn't try to console his
• 24:07
  soul Again by playing pretend and imagining things not to be
• 24:11
  what they are. He just received it and he
• 24:17
  rehearsed he rehearsed, not what he wanted, necessarily he
• 24:23
  rehearsed that God was in complete control and it was
• 24:25
  difficult. it was not easy for David to confess this the
• 24:29
  description of him and his men as they walked away from their
• 24:32
  homes, their family, the palace, the temple was one of great
• 24:38
  honesty as well, look here verse 30, second, Samuel, 15, 30, but
• 24:44
  David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives weeping as he
• 24:49
  went weeping as he went Barefoot and with his head covered and
• 24:56
  all the people who are with Him, cover their heads and they went
• 24:59
  up weeping as they went Here's what you can take out.
• 25:04
  As here's what I can take out of this.
• 25:06
  I can weep while I trust I can weep.
• 25:13
  While I believe. I can be broken in my faith.
• 25:20
  David's confidence in the sovereignty of God, not only
• 25:24
  caused him to be unrealistic about the situation.
• 25:28
  Also did not encourage him to deny how he really felt This is
• 25:36
  painful. My son, the son, that I gave so
• 25:42
  much Mercy to the Sun that I was willing to return and to restore
• 25:49
  the Sun that I kissed. When he deserved an axe to the
• 25:52
  neck that same son. Now has taken everything that
• 25:57
  I've ever had everything that God has promised me and is now
• 26:00
  even out to kill me to ensure that I would not get it back
• 26:03
  again. He's a king.
• 26:08
  And so he's weeping and what you see with David's weeping is
• 26:12
  this, that genuine faith in God does not require the
• 26:18
  accompaniment of positive feelings to make it legitimate.
• 26:23
  Okay, let me put it this way. The presence of Sorrow, the
• 26:28
  presence of pain, the presence of a sense, Of grief.
• 26:35
  Does not indicate the absence of faith in God.
• 26:40
  Remember that for yourself. You can't you can know truth.
• 26:45
  You can say it, you can rehearse it and you can memorize it.
• 26:48
  You can you can share it with others.
• 26:50
  And at the same time, when you lay your head, on your pillow
• 26:53
  that night, feel the coldness, Of all that is happening around
• 27:02
  you. Don't lie, remember that for
• 27:05
  yourself. Please remember that.
• 27:06
  When you counsel another believer, please remember that,
• 27:10
  as you look at another believer who's come to you and is broken
• 27:13
  about a situation And don't disqualify their faith.
• 27:17
  Just because their voice is cracking and their eyes are
• 27:20
  swelled up because they couldn't sleep the night before.
• 27:25
  You can weep while you trust you can trust and still weep.
• 27:30
  That's what's happening with this man.
• 27:32
  And that's what's happening with these Warriors who are with him,
• 27:35
  you know what I find? So encouraging about this.
• 27:38
  Not only that, you're not supposed to misinterpret.
• 27:40
  Someone's Brokenness as a lack of confidence of God.
• 27:43
  No. Look at the amount of times, I
• 27:45
  wish I could read the rest of this chapter, because you would
• 27:48
  be overwhelmed by certain word. In this chapter, especially
• 27:54
  Beyond verse 13. You would see a slight
• 27:57
  exaggeration of an emphasis. And I can't read the rest of
• 28:02
  these verses. So I'll read 23 verses and
• 28:04
  you'll pick up on it. Look what the narrator does.
• 28:07
  Look what the author does. By the guidance of the spirit in
• 28:11
  verse 15, the verse 17, just listen carefully.
• 28:14
  And the King's servants said to the king behold, your servants
• 28:19
  are ready to do whatever my Lord, the king, the sides.
• 28:22
  So the king went out and all his household after him and the King
• 28:26
  left Hancock device to keep the house, and the King went out and
• 28:29
  all the people after him. And Halted at the last house.
• 28:34
  Do I have to tell you what? Word, The King, The King, The
• 28:39
  King, The King, The King, and his more, There is almost the
• 28:43
  mention of the king in every verse The King, The King, The
• 28:47
  King, The King. David said, the king concerning
• 28:50
  Absalom. The Holy Spirit through the
• 28:51
  author is saying David. You're the true king, You're the
• 28:56
  king. Why is this happening?
• 28:58
  So that the reader as they come to this moment where David
• 29:01
  himself even perceives? That Absalom is now the king,
• 29:05
  you would realize here, that know, no one nor anything could
• 29:10
  change. What God had already decreed?
• 29:13
  God, had determined David to be the king and no matter how
• 29:16
  forceful, or aggressive, or devilish Absalom was to try to
• 29:21
  take that position from David, it's still belonged to David It
• 29:27
  was still his because God said it was his and it would remain
• 29:30
  with David if all held belched out, every demon possible, it
• 29:35
  would still not alter the reality that God had set for his
• 29:39
  servant, The King, The King, The King, The King servants, The
• 29:43
  King, The King, The King to tell you hey no matter what Absalom
• 29:47
  is doing. David will go unscathed.
• 29:54
  And nothing will ultimately change in the end.
• 29:57
  David trusted in the sovereignty of God.
• 30:00
  Yeah, he had tear-stained cheeks, but his heart was
• 30:06
  swollen with this trust in the sovereignty of God.
• 30:10
  How much the David trust in the sovereignty of God so much so
• 30:14
  that he wrote a song In This Moment.
• 30:17
  There is actually a psalm. You heard it in the beginning.
• 30:22
  This is why you have to show up early, you get extra bonus
• 30:24
  scripture. But there's Grace, so you're
• 30:27
  going to hear it again, right? David wrote A Psalm.
• 30:33
  Exactly when he was going through this period of Exile and
• 30:36
  it's Psalm chapter 3 and I want you to see something in the
• 30:40
  psalm that indicates the extent of this man's trust in God at
• 30:46
  this very moment. And Beyond this moment, beyond
• 30:49
  the day of his exit, this is how he felt Okay, you're at Psalm 3.
• 30:54
  Look at verse 5. Now, as I'm reading this Keep in
• 30:58
  mind, the background that this man is Barefoot ashes weeping.
• 31:04
  Not knowing what tomorrow will bring living with the
• 31:08
  realization that. At any time, Absalom can say the
• 31:12
  word and we will be surrounded and swallowed up by his army.
• 31:17
  look what he says, Psalm 3 verse 5 I laid down and slept I woke
• 31:25
  again for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many
• 31:32
  thousands of people. Who have set themselves against
• 31:37
  me all around. You know how much David trusted
• 31:42
  God, he could sleep. He could sleep.
• 31:50
  He could sleep knowing again that just a few miles away.
• 31:58
  Just like the Israelites at the Red Sea, they can turn around
• 32:01
  and see the smoke of chariot wheels.
• 32:04
  As the enemy is headed towards them and numerically speaking
• 32:08
  humanly speaking, they would be done and here's what David
• 32:11
  saying as an exile, I could actually sleep.
• 32:16
  And I can wake up because the Lord is sustaining me and even
• 32:20
  though thousands May surround me, I will not be afraid.
• 32:24
  That's how much he trusted the Lord.
• 32:27
  And so this man don't be fooled. Don't be mistaken.
• 32:30
  Don't misinterpret this man's Brokenness here, down deep
• 32:33
  inside, he was on shaken. I'm Shakin.
• 32:39
  He really believed that God was with him and for him.
• 32:47
  So trust in the sovereignty of God and trust this scene in
• 32:51
  faith like this but faith is not passive.
• 32:53
  It's active. Faith isn't just something
• 32:56
  that's there and oh, there it is.
• 32:58
  It's I didn't realize I had this in me.
• 33:00
  Know, that's not the case. Faith is active.
• 33:03
  You act on that Faith. You exercise that faith.
• 33:07
  You move about with what, you know, to see that faith
• 33:10
  strengthened and flourishing in your life and then you reap the
• 33:12
  blessings of it, which brings me to the third point.
• 33:14
  So, the first point was in war, for, in betrayal, in the pain
• 33:18
  caused by another person, whatever the extent of that
• 33:22
  betrayal is, whether it's an attack on your ministry, and
• 33:24
  your church coming from within your church or somebody in your
• 33:27
  family. That's just downright devilishly
• 33:31
  annoying. and harassing, whatever, the case may be, Avoid
• 33:36
  more Bloodshed know what your rights are, sure.
• 33:39
  But know when to use it and know when to surrender for the sake
• 33:42
  of a greater cause number two, trust trust trust in the
• 33:46
  sovereignty of God, especially when you realize I have to
• 33:49
  surrender this, right? Because I want to please my
• 33:51
  master but lastly you're not lastly, thirdly commit your
• 33:55
  cause to God commit it to God. Where do I see that will come
• 34:01
  here at verse 30? Verse 31.
• 34:07
  And it was told David. I Heathrow fell.
• 34:14
  Is among the conspirators with Absalom.
• 34:19
  And David said, oh, Lord. Please turn the Council of a
• 34:25
  heath, offal into foolishness. So, with all the devastation
• 34:32
  that this man is already dealing with, you have a messenger
• 34:35
  running by and catches up to David David.
• 34:38
  There's an update on this whole thing, your good friend, your
• 34:40
  counselor, your advisor. He's so full.
• 34:44
  He has now joined the cause of Absalom and he is, he is with
• 34:47
  him on the campaign to have you killed And this is what this man
• 34:54
  here is on top of all that he's already trying to manage in his
• 34:56
  mind and what happens when this news comes to him.
• 35:01
  What comes out of the man? A prayer.
• 35:06
  His immediate reflux with this news, is to turn toward heaven
• 35:12
  and to sigh a supplication. Very brief.
• 35:17
  Very direct, very simple, very effective.
• 35:22
  See when this man was squeezed, when he was pushed further into
• 35:25
  the corner of Despair and hopelessness, what really came
• 35:28
  out of him was just more trust in God, more trust in God, and
• 35:34
  he knew how to just throw it at the feet of the Lord.
• 35:36
  And you have to understand that this is a very painful moment.
• 35:39
  You have your son, you have your son who now betrays?
• 35:41
  You? But now you have one of your
• 35:43
  best friends added to it. okay, one betrayal is enough you're
• 35:48
  telling me to on top of that, a bunch of Naive Israelites who
• 35:54
  love the looks of Absalom, and his charm that are swept up with
• 35:57
  him, never mind them. The one that David said, I walk
• 36:00
  with you in the house of God and took sweet counsel with you,
• 36:03
  remember that? I believe David had a, he
• 36:07
  fulfill and mind when he wrote Psalm 41 verse 9 and Psalm 41
• 36:11
  verse 9, he spills his soul and he says the following, even my
• 36:16
  close friend in whom, I trusted, who ate my bread.
• 36:20
  He came over for dinner. Many times.
• 36:23
  Who ate my bread, Has Lifted his heel against me.
• 36:28
  More than just turned his back on me.
• 36:29
  He lifted his heel against me to strike me.
• 36:34
  My close friend, not just a friend that just do employer,
• 36:37
  not just an employee, my close friend, And so some of us here,
• 36:43
  have have sipped from that bitter cup of betrayal.
• 36:46
  And if you haven't yet, don't be surprised.
• 36:50
  If it comes your way and you have to sit from it without your
• 36:54
  control, no matter how much you plead for peace and
• 36:56
  Reconciliation. There are some people who have
• 36:59
  unfortunately ulterior motives and agendas and who like a he
• 37:02
  fell for bitter and has to do something with you.
• 37:05
  And so, they will come against you when the opportunity arises
• 37:12
  When David's close friend turned against him, what did David do?
• 37:16
  He turned to the friend of friends and he poured out his
• 37:19
  soul? I love that.
• 37:22
  He turns to God. And he speaks to him.
• 37:27
  Yes, as Lord. But also someone who can who can
• 37:32
  promise more than just willing to hear you and even heal you in
• 37:36
  that place of discomfort. But David, David reaches out to
• 37:41
  God, knowing that he will can actually do something about it,
• 37:45
  that's how real God was to David.
• 37:48
  He didn't just, you know, Pastor said that, Bible study, if you
• 37:52
  if you're feeling overwhelmed because of somebody's
• 37:55
  Foolishness and selfishness. Just pray.
• 37:57
  Not he, that was like his reflex, it wasn't some
• 38:00
  premeditated. Think he just cried out to God.
• 38:03
  Lord, you got to do something here.
• 38:05
  You got to do something about. He fell for, you know, I he's
• 38:07
  hopeful, I know, I feel full and it can get real ugly real fast.
• 38:10
  You see beyond the pain of personal history being violated,
• 38:14
  what he knew about. He felt was that he was a
• 38:16
  strategist. He was somebody that he received
• 38:19
  counsel from concerning military Affairs and Internal Affairs.
• 38:23
  And so this is dangerous. Is this is more than just you
• 38:27
  hurt my feelings. This is our future can be gone
• 38:30
  if they listen to a heath offal. So this is a scary moment.
• 38:35
  A man, with many resources, much power.
• 38:37
  Much persuasion is now against them.
• 38:40
  At one point, he was a partner with him and now he's his enemy.
• 38:42
  So he turns to the Lord. And the Glorious thing about the
• 38:45
  Friendship of God is that you can turn to him and he is
• 38:47
  trustworthy and reliable and he is accessible.
• 38:52
  He is accessible at all times. I realized.
• 38:56
  In my past with all the shards of broken relationships, all
• 39:00
  they have really done is serve as a backdrop to portray the
• 39:04
  absolute Beauty, and Reliance and consistency of my Jesus.
• 39:12
  All the Blackness of people failures and disappointments and
• 39:18
  condemnation whatever. All of that just serves as a
• 39:21
  backdrop and it just makes Jesus look more beautiful.
• 39:26
  He'll never fail you. If you walk with him
• 39:28
  consistently you will know beyond just Savior and Creator
• 39:33
  and provide you will know him as friend.
• 39:37
  And you can find it in your heart because, you know, how it
• 39:40
  what it's like to spend time with them and to love him and to
• 39:42
  worship and privately that when these things come to you, you
• 39:45
  can turn to him and actually believe he hears you, yes, he
• 39:48
  can heal you sure but he can actually do something on your
• 39:52
  behalf. You touching the apple of God's
• 39:56
  eye. When you touch a servant of God,
• 39:59
  Servants of God are not just pastors anybody here who loves
• 40:03
  God and wants to obey him and so David turns to the Lord.
• 40:07
  And here's the thing, I want to ask you tonight.
• 40:10
  How do you think God would answer this prayer?
• 40:12
  Like I'm a, if you don't know the story, this will be,
• 40:14
  especially more engaging if you do.
• 40:19
  Reserve your answer for now but I'm wondering here.
• 40:22
  This is a prayer. In your mind, in your
• 40:26
  understanding of how things can play out, understand the extent
• 40:28
  of God's power and wisdom. How do you think God could?
• 40:32
  Let's put it that way? God could answer this prayer and
• 40:36
  thwarting, the Council of a thief offal.
• 40:39
  I have a couple of things that came to my mind.
• 40:43
  What's that masterfully. Sure.
• 40:45
  But more specifically. What can God do?
• 40:47
  You know what? I think I could have done.
• 40:48
  He could have muted. I thoughtful you no longer able
• 40:52
  to speak. When that be something I he felt
• 40:55
  was there and they saw Council. Now I can't talk what's going on
• 40:58
  with this man. He could have paralyzed them.
• 41:02
  He could have blinded him. You could have just outright
• 41:05
  just killed them and got rid of him and that very moment, the
• 41:06
  moment, David uttered that prayer and he felt he could have
• 41:09
  lost his life. Did God answer this prayer?
• 41:16
  Did he okay for you who know that he answered this prayer?
• 41:19
  How did he do it? What's that?
• 41:27
  You're right. He did bring in somebody else.
• 41:31
  Who did he bring in? Asshai.
• 41:36
  Oh, would you look at it with me here in verse 32, while David
• 41:39
  was coming to the summit where God was worshiped, behold his
• 41:43
  shy, The Arc, I came to meet him with his coat torn and dirt on
• 41:47
  his head. Do you see the word behold
• 41:51
  there? That is intended to highlight
• 41:55
  the significance of who shies arrival.
• 41:59
  It's almost as though, as you're reading especially verse 31, you
• 42:02
  just learned that David uttered, his prayer to God, that
• 42:05
  something would happen. And what the holy spirit is
• 42:08
  trying to do, is when you come to verse 32, hey, pay attention
• 42:11
  to what's about to happen behold.
• 42:13
  Look at this. See what is now entering into
• 42:16
  the scene, who shy. This is important reader,
• 42:21
  recognize the significance of this reader.
• 42:24
  This is not disconnected from the context reader.
• 42:27
  This is a fact, very much associate with what you just
• 42:29
  learned in verse 31, the moment David prays this prayer, he
• 42:33
  walks towards the summit. And what you see here is that
• 42:35
  who shy enters the scene and the writer is saying behold check
• 42:40
  this out. And it's supposed to grab your
• 42:44
  attention and make the connection with the previous
• 42:46
  thing that you just saw. His shy is the answer.
• 42:54
  That God provided for David's plea.
• 42:58
  The openness, the humility, the position, just all the
• 43:01
  providential pieces that fit hoosh I would serve a purpose
• 43:08
  connected to David's prayer. You get to see that in the next
• 43:12
  few chapters, and if you doubt that who shy is actually the
• 43:16
  answer to David's prayer. This is the person that God
• 43:18
  provided that would bring about Deliverance.
• 43:21
  Go to chapter 17 and look at verse 14, and I want you to see
• 43:25
  how God confirms that who shies. In fact, his provision for
• 43:29
  David's prayer. Second, Samuel 17, verse 14 and
• 43:36
  Absalom and all the men of Israel said, the Council of who
• 43:39
  shy. The our kite is better than the
• 43:42
  counsel of ahithophel. For the Lord, had ordained to
• 43:46
  defeat the Good Counsel of a he fell so that the Lord might
• 43:50
  bring harm upon Absalom. Do you see it?
• 43:55
  Who shy is going to go back to the Palace?
• 43:58
  Who shy is going to interact with the king who shine must
• 44:00
  have had some kind of counseling position even during David's
• 44:03
  Reign Absalom recognizes that. And then they receive a hateful
• 44:08
  instruction. His advice for this whole thing
• 44:10
  and they turned to his shyah shyah says, you know what, I
• 44:13
  thought was usually good. But this time he missed the mark
• 44:16
  and he gives his advice and the advice would suspend and give
• 44:19
  the the men and David more time to escape and to establish
• 44:22
  themselves, and God allowed this to happen.
• 44:25
  So that when they received They received who shies advice, it
• 44:29
  would be to their own detriment, okay?
• 44:32
  When I read this, I thought to myself, there's so much in this
• 44:36
  We don't have the time necessary to unpack each of it in great
• 44:38
  detail. So pay attention because we have
• 44:40
  incredible insight about prayer. Your, we have incredible insight
• 44:44
  about what we can take for our own lives.
• 44:46
  Here's the first thing you have to understand.
• 44:50
  When God answers our needs. If you're praying person, pay
• 44:53
  attention. When God answers your request,
• 44:57
  it doesn't always come and predictable packages.
• 45:02
  Okay, sometimes when we pray, we don't only pray.
• 45:04
  We imagine and fantasize how God is going to answer that prayer.
• 45:09
  This is how God's going to do it.
• 45:10
  This is how it goes into it, right?
• 45:12
  And that's a dangerous thing to do.
• 45:14
  Because as much as you need to be specific with your prayer,
• 45:16
  you also need to be open with how God will answer.
• 45:19
  Or else we can miss, how God provides you can fail to see how
• 45:23
  God brings about his faithfulness in your life.
• 45:26
  And here's the thing, one of the most overlooked ways in which
• 45:29
  God provides for us. Is through friends.
• 45:37
  It's true, friends. Look at how David's friend here
• 45:41
  is described in verse 37 of chapter 15, second Samuel, 1537.
• 45:49
  So shy David's friend, David's friend.
• 45:55
  Came into the city, just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.
• 45:59
  I think one of the ways in which you, and I overlooked God's
• 46:03
  faithfulness as when we fail to see him working through
• 46:07
  friendships saying, brother, you might be reading too much into
• 46:10
  this. No, I think it's a principle
• 46:12
  that is that is valid what did Paul say about the comfort that
• 46:16
  he received from God? At the coming of who Titus, it
• 46:22
  was the coming of Titus that God brought about Comfort to his
• 46:24
  soul. The people in your life the very
• 46:29
  people you're sitting with can be God's answer to many things
• 46:33
  in your life. And we can Overlook that.
• 46:38
  His answers are not always predictable his packages.
• 46:41
  Very they're not always flashy, they're not always Supernatural.
• 46:47
  Sometimes it's flesh and blood. And God just finds a person
• 46:51
  like, who shine was a loyalty and our openness in their heart.
• 46:55
  To bring about some kind of support and it's totally
• 46:58
  directly from God and you just need the scriptural insight to
• 47:02
  see that. This is one way in which God
• 47:04
  extends his hand to you as much as through somebody else with
• 47:07
  their personality and their history with you.
• 47:09
  It's very much God who moves that heart to help yours.
• 47:15
  That's what we see. God's answers to our prayers are
• 47:18
  not always predictable packages but secondly, we see that.
• 47:21
  His grace is so wide. That he considers our prayers.
• 47:26
  Even though the duration of that supplication is no longer than a
• 47:31
  single breath. Put a put a clock, put a timer
• 47:37
  to that prayer. That David prayed in verse 31,
• 47:39
  what? Like, half a second, a second
• 47:43
  and still God heard it because God is not impressed by
• 47:48
  drawn-out, elaborate painful cries.
• 47:54
  And intercessions it's not the length of prayer.
• 47:58
  That moves the heart of God is the depth of that prayer.
• 48:01
  And you can have a one-sentence prayer that is so genuine and
• 48:05
  sincere that will win God's favor over three hours of
• 48:09
  hypocritical Pharisee, local like praying.
• 48:13
  This is the grace of God. It's so wide.
• 48:15
  David can just say this God I need you here and he'll provide
• 48:21
  The provide, that's the grace of God.
• 48:23
  That's how wide it is, that even and how just our weakness and
• 48:28
  how pathetic our prayers are and all the intrusive thoughts that
• 48:31
  come when God Zooms in even while you're trying to push
• 48:34
  through the laundry idea and what you're going to make for
• 48:37
  dinner. But you know you need to pray
• 48:39
  and you know that God is the only one who can supply and you
• 48:41
  have no other way out. God will say, I'll still give
• 48:44
  you this grace. That's how wide is Grace's.
• 48:49
  But here's the third thing, I take out of this, God does more
• 48:53
  than we can ask. David's prayer was very simple,
• 48:56
  right? He just said please turn the
• 48:59
  Council of a he fulfill into foolishness.
• 49:02
  That's all he asked of God, very simple, just confuse him,
• 49:06
  confuse the hearers Lord. Whatever it is that you need to
• 49:09
  do to ensure that there will be this this missing Mark here from
• 49:14
  a. He fulfills mind to the hearts
• 49:16
  of these evil men. Just please do that.
• 49:18
  You know what God does? He goes beyond that?
• 49:21
  You heard it. Right.
• 49:22
  And second Samuel 17, 14, when we were told that they took the
• 49:26
  advice of who shy Can I remind you what else happened?
• 49:31
  It says to defeat the Good Counsel that he fell for but it
• 49:33
  didn't end there. He goes on to say so that the
• 49:36
  Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.
• 49:41
  I'm not only going to make a, he fulfills Council unconvincing,
• 49:48
  I'm gonna let who shies Council be convincing and be the very
• 49:52
  death verdict of Absalom. I'm going to take care of
• 49:56
  Absalom once and for all. I'm not going to let absent
• 50:00
  Advance one more Step, Beyond my perfect will And so he does more
• 50:06
  than what you ask. Even if what you ask you think
• 50:08
  is sufficient God, says your faith.
• 50:11
  I'm going to take it beyond what you intended it for and I'm
• 50:15
  going to give you more than you thought you needed.
• 50:17
  I'm going to deal with Absalom and my answer to your prayer is
• 50:21
  going to be multi-purpose manifold.
• 50:25
  Here's my favorite part. Here's my favorite part.
• 50:28
  Those are all great Parts, but here's my favorite part about
• 50:30
  this lesson of David praying in this context, when you think
• 50:34
  about David's prayer, he's praying about a specific, man.
• 50:38
  He's praying about a man who had a brilliant mind.
• 50:42
  A frightening, Lee, sharp mind. A man who was praised.
• 50:50
  We're told later that the advice of a he Fofo was like the very
• 50:55
  Council of God. Imagine knowing somebody that
• 50:59
  you can rely on their every word that there is no doubt that when
• 51:03
  they tell you to do something, it's the absolute best outcome
• 51:07
  that could come about in your predicament.
• 51:09
  That's who I fell for was and what you see here is that when
• 51:15
  David prays It beats that. Prayer is more powerful of a
• 51:23
  weapon than the most brilliant. Mind a person can have I love
• 51:29
  this point. This point excites me, David was
• 51:33
  not as smart as I felt full. They vote.
• 51:35
  David was not as wise as a, he thoughtful Deva was not as
• 51:38
  successful and trying to find out a practical way to come
• 51:41
  about something. But David was a praying man, and
• 51:43
  a praying man is more dangerous than a smart man.
• 51:47
  Oh, you don't believe it, right? Because we worship the brain.
• 51:49
  These days, we worship the brain.
• 51:51
  So many can get up there and just wax eloquence, and have a
• 51:54
  bunch of letters by their name. And we just listen to their
• 51:56
  every word, listen, up, to be honest.
• 51:57
  Some people that people listen to their popular and they have
• 52:00
  millions of views, I don't get it, I don't get it.
• 52:05
  One not that you can't glean some things from the world, but
• 52:08
  one they don't have Christ wisdom.
• 52:11
  They don't have God's wisdom and you have Christian people more
• 52:15
  excited about secular philosophy and psychology than God's word.
• 52:23
  Personally, not not not just because I want to defend God's
• 52:25
  word and I want to sound simplistic.
• 52:29
  I just, I don't see it, I don't understand.
• 52:31
  And that's besides the point, I don't want to go down that
• 52:33
  rabbit hole. But here you have a man who
• 52:36
  prays and this man who prays is that a greater Advantage than
• 52:41
  the man who has a mind unlike any other.
• 52:43
  But whose heart is far from God, give me a man who has a limited
• 52:48
  mind but a heart filled with God, over a man who has a great
• 52:51
  mind but has no connection to the God that I love and serve. a
• 52:55
  praying man is more to be feared is more guaranteed success and
• 53:02
  peace and protection than a man who can configure and figure out
• 53:08
  all these things with his own human, wisdom and reliance
• 53:14
  Believe that about prayer. Believe that God backs up a
• 53:18
  praying, man. Oh, this got against
• 53:21
  intelligence. Absolutely.
• 53:23
  Not as God against thinking. No is God.
• 53:25
  God against knowledge and acquiring knowledge?
• 53:27
  No, I'm sure you read. Proverbs and many other places
• 53:30
  to realize, that's not the case. But God, opposes the man who
• 53:34
  relies on the strength of the Flesh and the arm of the flesh.
• 53:40
  He backs up the man, they'll pathetic in his situation.
• 53:45
  But strong in prayer. Commit your cause to God.
• 53:53
  Bring that person to God as he got.
• 53:55
  I surrendered my right here. I'm not going to deal with this.
• 53:58
  You need to come in and deal with this.
• 54:00
  You need to step in here. I'm not going to do it.
• 54:02
  Lord. And watch how God will come
• 54:05
  through. Watch how God will defend you,
• 54:08
  watch how God will? In a scary way.
• 54:14
  Set you up for a future. What do I do?
• 54:19
  What do I do? What do I do?
• 54:21
  What do I do? When something like this is
• 54:24
  beyond my control and it's very painful and my whole world is
• 54:28
  being flipped upside down. Well, avoid avoid more bloodshed
• 54:33
  Trust in God's sovereignty, commit your cause to God.
• 54:37
  And lastly take the opportunity. In that season to give special
• 54:43
  worship to the Lord or do I see that look again at verse 32.
• 54:50
  While David was coming to the summit where God was worshiped,
• 54:56
  that's an interesting description of where he was
• 54:58
  headed, behold who shy The Arc. I came to meet him with his coat
• 55:03
  torn and dirt on his head who has a King James Version.
• 55:08
  Who has a new King James Version.
• 55:11
  Who has ESV and all the hands go up, right?
• 55:13
  Okay. Yeah.
• 55:15
  If you have the new King James of the King James, it will say
• 55:19
  in that part where it says, where, what God was worshiped,
• 55:21
  it will say in those versions where he worshipped God, right.
• 55:25
  Where he worshipped, God, where he worshipped, God, the new King
• 55:28
  James in the King James will say that, I believe, whatever
• 55:30
  transition you're holding. They're saying the same thing.
• 55:36
  There's the mention of David headed towards somewhere where
• 55:39
  worship was, and I believe where he went to worship David and his
• 55:45
  mind in all of this chaos in all of the development of all this
• 55:51
  thing. Right, that's happening in his
• 55:52
  life and all the fireworks and all the bombs that are just
• 55:56
  around him, dropping around the Minefield, all these things?
• 55:59
  David purposed in his heart. Hey I got to pause at some point
• 56:03
  here, and give God worship. This is just astounding to me.
• 56:09
  He comes to seek the Lord in a specific way and give him
• 56:12
  particular recognition. Here's the thing, you have to
• 56:16
  understand. What does this kind of
• 56:20
  disciplined? Adoration to the Lord.
• 56:23
  What is that due to God's heart? That was my question when I
• 56:26
  looked at that. My question was not anything
• 56:29
  else other than Lord, what does that mean to you?
• 56:35
  When a man like David at this point in his life is choosing to
• 56:39
  stop before, moving on to give worship to God.
• 56:44
  And to seek God, at the prod, his heart to God.
• 56:48
  And when I especially love about his worship to the Lord, is this
• 56:51
  look again at verse 31. It was told to David that he
• 56:54
  thoughtful joined absolon, right?
• 56:57
  David and verse 31. He prays to God, he seeks God
• 57:01
  for this thing. And verse 32, we are told that
• 57:05
  he goes where God was worshiped or where he worshiped God and
• 57:10
  then after that, we see the behold who's shy dark.
• 57:15
  I came to meet him. What do I mean by that?
• 57:19
  What I see here is that David gave God worship or was headed
• 57:23
  towards the place of worship before the answer to his prayer
• 57:26
  came. So his worship to God was not
• 57:31
  dependent upon a solution that was provided him or some kind of
• 57:35
  answer, some kind of provision that God made his, he was
• 57:38
  totally intended to give God glory and honor and praise even
• 57:43
  before a sign of some kind of improvement was made known.
• 57:49
  That's worship. That I believe is the sacrifice
• 57:54
  of praise. I'm not going to wait to worship
• 57:58
  God and give thanks to him once. He answers that prayer, I will
• 58:02
  when it does but I'm going to give it to me even before just
• 58:04
  because God is God. It's because God is God and he's
• 58:09
  worthy. And this is what he does.
• 58:11
  Here it is, he not he worshipped before, and his adoration was
• 58:15
  not dependent upon answers. His adoration was not dependent
• 58:19
  upon answers, it was totally energized.
• 58:24
  By his understanding of how much God has adorned in his person
• 58:29
  with Holiness, and goodness and infinite Beauty and power and
• 58:34
  love toward him. And even in this, you could say,
• 58:36
  I want to worship you. And I wonder if this is where
• 58:40
  the beginnings of Psalm 3 were birth.
• 58:44
  I wonder if the words of Psalm 3 began when David here says I'm
• 58:49
  going to worship God. And I wonder if that's not true,
• 58:54
  that Psalm 3 was something that David.
• 58:57
  David did during this whole Exile because he slept, and he
• 59:01
  woke up. So there's, there's, there's
• 59:03
  continuous worship through all of us.
• 59:05
  Not just a moment but continuous worship. and so I think that
• 59:12
  it's worth ending, this Bible study I'm just reading all of
• 59:15
  Psalm 3 again. You just got a little glimpse of
• 59:21
  what David was enduring. And we started the service with
• 59:25
  the reading of Psalm 3, now all that you've accumulated.
• 59:30
  Maybe it'll bring a different light to Psalm 3 as you read it
• 59:34
  again. and when we come to it, I'm sure it will be a blessing
• 59:41
  to you. Psalm 3?
• 59:46
  A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son.
• 59:54
  Tired, exhausted. Weary.
• 59:58
  Dirty. Oh, Lord.
• 1:00:03
  How many are my foes? Many are rising against me?
• 1:00:08
  Many are saying of my soul. There is no salvation for him in
• 1:00:12
  God C'est Le But You O Lord, are a shield about me.
• 1:00:20
  My glory and the lifter of my head, I crowd allowed to the
• 1:00:25
  Lord, and he answered me from his Holy Hill.
• 1:00:28
  I laid down and slept. I woke again for the Lord
• 1:00:31
  sustained me. I will not be afraid of many
• 1:00:35
  thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around
• 1:00:39
  arise. O.
• 1:00:40
  Lord, save me. Oh my God, for you strike all my
• 1:00:44
  enemies on the cheek, you you break the teeth of the wicked
• 1:00:49
  salvation Belongs to the Lord, your blessing, beyond your
• 1:00:53
  people, say, aloha, Listen, if praising God is for God.
• 1:01:07
  Then in those seasons. Where nothing is in your favor,
• 1:01:13
  do you understand what an opportunity is to give God
• 1:01:16
  worship? Do you interpret that as an
• 1:01:20
  opportunity to give God worship? When everything has literally
• 1:01:24
  been stripped from you, if worship is really for God than
• 1:01:29
  bless him. Bless him, even when you don't
• 1:01:33
  feel like you're being blessed that's worship.
• 1:01:36
  My goal here is not to make you feel guilty.
• 1:01:38
  My goal here is not to just break your arm and to convince
• 1:01:42
  you of something. My goal here is to show you how
• 1:01:45
  worthy God is for you to consider blessing him.
• 1:01:53
  When you're being blunted and when your soul is blistered, and
• 1:01:58
  when your eyes are blinded with tears to in that moment,
• 1:02:02
  consider, oh God, this is an opportunity to worship you when
• 1:02:08
  it really counts, unfortunately, you have people they disappear
• 1:02:13
  when they suffer. I'm not saying we don't, we
• 1:02:16
  don't have compassion and patience and reach out to the
• 1:02:19
  people. That's part of what the church
• 1:02:21
  does. But what a blessing it is not to
• 1:02:26
  anybody else know, it is a blessing to others.
• 1:02:28
  What a blessing it is to the Lord your God.
• 1:02:30
  I'm sure of it to be like David and to say I want to worship
• 1:02:36
  Him. I need to make time in all of
• 1:02:39
  this, while I'm figuring out my life and I'm being sued and
• 1:02:43
  people are stealing from me and people are tarnishing my name
• 1:02:46
  left, right and center and my Ministry might fall apart.
• 1:02:51
  My family is. Threatening me this way or that
• 1:02:54
  way. There's there's a hit list and
• 1:02:56
  my name is on it, whatever the case, maybe I need to find some
• 1:03:00
  time in this place to worship, God.
• 1:03:06
  Why brother? No other reason not to impress.
• 1:03:09
  Anybody not for your pastors, say what a good Christian just
• 1:03:12
  to bless him just to bless the Lord.
• 1:03:15
  He's worthy. What do you do?
• 1:03:18
  Well, just avoid avoid bloodshed.
• 1:03:23
  Trusting, God's sovereignty, commit, your cost to God and
• 1:03:26
  interpret this as an opportunity in your little life.
• 1:03:30
  Where everything that you can suffer is considered light
• 1:03:34
  Affliction to say, I want to worship Him.
• 1:03:40
  But whatever strength and maybe your worship is acai, but it's
• 1:03:44
  still worship and just bless God and bless God, let's pray.
• 1:04:18
  Lord. Like a woman from Ethiopia who
• 1:04:26
  is astounded by the wisdom of Solomon.
• 1:04:29
  We recognize the wisdom of the one greater than Solomon, and
• 1:04:32
  there is no more breath in US. we have been confronted by the
• 1:04:37
  depths of your mind and we haven't even we haven't even
• 1:04:44
  treaded beyond the shallow place.
• 1:04:49
  Lord. We just thank you.
• 1:04:51
  That how in a text like this. We can acquire significant.
• 1:04:57
  Reliable resources. To know, great blessing, more
• 1:05:04
  importantly, more glory to you. And we do.
• 1:05:07
  Pray that in this house. Our hearts would have been
• 1:05:12
  changed in one way or another. Our hearts would have been
• 1:05:15
  changed. And Lord, we do worship you
• 1:05:20
  tonight. Regardless of where we're at, we
• 1:05:22
  want to take this opportunity to give you glory.
• 1:05:24
  Help us remember these things. In those tumultuous periods,
• 1:05:31
  where are our thoughts? And our energy are being pulled
• 1:05:34
  in a thousand, different directions when we are being
• 1:05:36
  drained? By those who have no good in
• 1:05:42
  mind toward us, help us Lord to be like David.
• 1:05:47
  So, prepared through our meditation.
• 1:05:50
  So invested in you that when the news comes, and when the updates
• 1:05:54
  are worse and worse, what comes out of us is prayer, is Praise.
• 1:06:00
  Is Love is trust even through the tears.
• 1:06:04
  Even through the exhausted voice.
• 1:06:06
  Even through the sleepless nights help us O, Lord, to be
• 1:06:09
  Sophie. Filled with you that when we are
• 1:06:11
  crushed by conflict, what comes out is Christ.
• 1:06:15
  That's our prayer. You only can make that happen.
• 1:06:20
  We want that. I want that.
• 1:06:21
  I want that more. And only, you can provide that
• 1:06:26
  reality. So tonight we praise you, we
• 1:06:30
  praise you. Because your word is so alive
• 1:06:33
  and it touches us And we want to touch your heart by thanking you
• 1:06:37
  in song, in Jesus name. Amen.
• 1:06:41
  We just stand as we sing.