Pastors Brian and Jacque Lother
Pastor Brian: The men have been at their men's retreat since Friday night and they have been looking at the life of David, a wonderful, wonderful character, person of the Old Testament. Not flawless, not sinless, but just a man that God said was after his heart. And, so I thought, well, why should the men have all the fun? I'll bring a message to you today on David, and it is in line with the kind of the series that I've been doing for the last few months about “do it anyways”. It can be confusing and even frustrating to be attacked by people you are trying to help. Has that ever happened to you? You are trying to help somebody. Sometimes it's family members, sometimes it's friends, sometimes it's someone in your community and for whatever reason, they don't receive your help. They begin to attack you. Doesn't make any sense at all to you. Your intentions are good and all that you are trying to do is help them, and they can act so ungrateful. And sometimes it boggles the mind, doesn't it? It just boggles the mind.
When we look at the story of David and King Saul, we see that this is actually not a new problem. It's been a problem that has existed for a long time. And it happened and it existed in the life of David. We see how an evil spirit came to torment Saul. Saul had been made king. Saul was really not God's choice to be king. In fact, it wasn't God's choice at all that Israel had a king because God wanted to be their king. But how many know that oftentimes God just will defer to our wishes? Doesn't he? He doesn't leave us, doesn't abandon us. He doesn't say, well, now you made your bed sleep in it. But he does defer to us. Israel wanted to be like all the other nations rather than all the other nations becoming like Israel.
We have to make sure that we don't fall into that trap ourselves that we want to become just like everybody else in the world, rather than the world becoming as we are. And so, God, I don't know if I wanted to use the word capitulated, but he gave Israel what they wanted, a king. And so they picked the biggest, tallest guy, maybe the best-looking guy, not at all, looking at the character of his heart. They placed him as their king because they felt like this outward appearance was going to put them on a par level with all the other surrounding nations.
Life goes forward. God is doing his best to bless Israel, and along comes a situation where Saul does not obey the Lord. He doesn't honor the Lord. And God lifts his favor off of King Saul. Now, he didn't lift his love off of King Saul. But we have to understand there is a difference between being under the favor of God and the fact that God will still love us, right? How many know that you can't just do whatever you please in your life and be in the favor of God. There are principles we need to follow to walk in this favor of God. There is nothing greater than the favor of God, but sometimes it can be very costly to us. It can cost us to say no to our feelings and all sorts of things of that nature. And so, when the favor lifted off of Saul, that opens Saul up to more of the demonic realm. We see this happening in one Samuel 16, beginning at verse 14. Once you read it, then I'll just make a couple comments.
Jacque: Now, the spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear.
Pastor Brian: Let's understand something here. When the favor of God lifts, there becomes, in a sense, a vacuum. How many know that when there is a vacuum something else will fill that in, right? Something else will come in there. God allowed this spirit to come. But I struggle with the concept that God sent this spirit because this spirit is looking to harass. That's what demonic spirits do. Satan is called the God of what? This world. This world has a God and it's Satan. This world does. But the scripture says, the kingdoms of the earth shall become the kingdoms of our God. So that's what we are moving towards: this kingdom of heaven coming to earth. That's what Jesus prayed: Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. If the earth was God's kingdom already, we would need to pray that, would we?
This earth is governed in a sense, by the demonic realm, but as believers, we are filled with the spirit and greater is He that's within us, and he that's in the world. But there is a conflict. There is a conflict that we are all in. we are born into it. It's kind of like the Terminator movies. When you were born and the terminators were in charge, well, you can say, "well, I don't like this place. I'm going to leave." there is no place to go. You were born into it. We are born into this conflict, this spiritual warfare. And there are all sorts of ways to do spiritual warfare. That's a whole other topic, maybe a series sometime.
But this demonic spirit now had access to Saul because God's favor had lifted off of Saul, because of his disobedience. We often say we get-- we don't obey the Lord. We walk in disobedience. And then all sorts of consequences of that disobedience happened to us. And then in frustration and anger, we lift up our heads and screamed to heaven, why are you doing this to me, God? And God's not doing anything. We did it, didn't we? It's good for us to take ownership of our failures, our sins, our shortcomings, so we can repent of them. And then God's favor can now come back upon us. Okay?
Jacque: I'm glad you talked about consequences because that's what I wanted to say, that when we do bad things, bad consequences come. But when we do good things,
Pastor Brian: There can be good.
Jacque: Good consequences come.
Pastor Brian: Consequences aren't always bad. Remember the old TV program called Truth or Consequences? I'm dating myself when I talk about that program, but it was like, wait a minute, it's like good or bad. And consequences are always connected with bad. But there are good consequences that come into our lives from doing the right things, and there can be uncomfortable or bad consequences by doing the wrong things. So anyways, this tormenting spirit came against Saul and filled him with depression and fear.
Jacque: Some of Saul's servants said to him, A tormenting spirit is troubling you. Let us find a good musician to play the harp. Whenever the tormenting spirit troubles you, he will play soothing music and you will soon be well again. Alright, Saul said, find me someone who plays well and bring him here.
Pastor Brian: Let me ask you a question. How many of you have ever kind of been under, shall we say, a spiritual attack? The enemy's coming against your mind. Maybe he's trying to bring depression, doubt and all this kind of stuff into your life, and you put on some worship music and you start worshiping the Lord, what happens?
Jacque: It goes away,
Pastor Brian: It starts to dissipate. And that was the spiritual principle that I don't know if these people understood it as so much of spiritual principle here with Saul, but that is a spiritual principle that God has given to us as a gift, that when you are under it, don't close the shades and put your head under the blanket and just say, everybody leave. I want to be by myself. That's exactly what the devil wants you to do. What the Lord wants you to do is open your window shades, look at the sky, lift up your heads, put on some worship music, and start to praise the Lord. Start to praise the Lord and give him the glory that he deserves in spite of how terrible your circumstances might be. They understood this, so they said, "Hey, we need to find someone that knows how to play the harp, and it'll bring some peace to you."
Jacque: One of the servants said to Saul, one of Jesse's sons from Bethlehem is a talented harp player. Not only that, he is a brave warrior, a man of war and has good judgment. He is also a fine-looking young man, and the Lord is with him. So Saul sent messages to Jesse to say, send me your son, David the shepherd. Jesse responded by sending David to Saul, along with a young goat, a donkey loaded with bread and a wine skin full of wine. David went to Saul and began serving him. Saul loved David very much, and David became his armor bearer. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, asking, please let David remain in my service for, I'm very pleased with him. And whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp, then Saul would feel better and the tormenting spirit would go away.
Pastor Brian: What a wonderful principle we see here. He worshiped, David played worship, he probably sang some of his songs, and he played his harp, and this tormenting spirit went away. What a wonderful principle we can learn from that. The next chapter, we then go into the wonderful story of David and Goliath. And most of us are very familiar with that incredible story. One of my favorite places to go to in Israel is actually the brook, where David took his five stones. I've been there three times and it's like my favorite place to go. Just walk there because you can see where the Philistines were on this mountain. And the Israelites were over in this mountain, and they would, , Goliath came out and challenged the armies of God, and they were afraid. David shows up and we know the story. He kills Goliath with just a sling and stone. A wonderful, wonderful story. He becomes this hero, in a sense, this war hero.
The fact of the matter is Saul needed help. He needed help with his depression. He needed help with his fear. He needed help to fight this giant. And God brought David to Saul. Saul really needed help. At first, Saul was very grateful that David helped him. He gave David a very high position in the Army. We actually see that in chapter 18, verses 5 through 9.
Jacque: Whatever Saul asked David to do, David did it successfully. So Saul made him a commander over the men of war, an appointment that was welcomed by the people and Saul's officers alike. When the victorious Israelite army was returning home after David had killed the Philistine, women from all the towns in Israel came out to meet King Saul. They sang and danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals. And this was their song. Saul has killed his thousands, and David his 10 thousands. This made Saul very angry. Yeah. What's this? He said, they credit David with 10 thousands and me with only thousands. Next, they'll be making him their king. So from that time on, Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
Pastor Brian: He's jealous now. Now, here is the thing. David wasn't desirous of his throne. David was just there to help. He put his life in jeopardy by fighting the giant. He took his skills that God had given him, that he had perfected by practicing hours and hours and hours on the backside of some hill someplace watching over a sheep. He gave himself two helping Saul. And we see that jealousy starts to get into the heart of Saul. If we look at verse 10 of the same chapter, just the next verse that we read, it says this:
Jacque: The very next day, a tormenting spirit overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp as he did each day, but Saul had a spear in his hand, and he suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall. But David escaped him twice.
Pastor Brian: His jealousy now explodes. He throws the spear to try and kill David. Most of us probably would've picked up that spear and thrown it back. Let's be honest. Now we get lots of spears thrown at us. they are not literal spears like this one was. Most of the spears that are thrown at us are verbal spears. What do we do with those spears? We figure out a way to one up and throw it back. And yet this is not what David did. As a matter of fact, when Saul calmed down a bit, we see another situation in verses 12 through 16 where we read this.
Jacque: Saul was then afraid of David, for the Lord was with David, and had turned away from Saul. The Lord had turned away from Saul. Finally, Saul sent him away and appointed him commander over 1000 men. And David faithfully led his troops into battle.
Pastor Brian: Why do you think Saul actually put him over a thousand men to put him out in battle? So hopefully he would die. That's what his motive was. That's what he wanted to have happen. But every time David went out, he had what? The favor of the Lord with him, because he wasn't picking up those spears and throwing them back.
Jacque: David continued to succeed in everything he did for the Lord was with him.
Pastor Brian: Well, could that frustrate Saul? Everything David did, he became successful in even the things that Saul did to try to kill David, not just himself, but putting him in positions to die. God blessed him and he won great victories. Saul was hoping to hear the news: Ah, David got killed in battle. No, David just killed another 10,000 Philistines.
Jacque: When Saul recognized this, he became even more afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was so successful at leading his troops into battle.
Pastor Brian: Obviously, there is a third party here. His name is Jonathan. Jonathan and David were very, very good friends. I love the story later in second Samuel, where David now has been king for over 20 years. Saul has been dead for over 20 years. David is pondering one day, and he says to his court leaders, he says, "Is there anyone of Saul's household that I can bless for Jonathan's sake? Is there anybody alive from Saul's household, his lineage that I can bless because of Jonathan's sake?" That's really how God thinks. He wants to bless us because of Jesus' sake, not because of just everything we do. And there was a man, his name was Mephibosheth. I like to say he was in eighth grade before it could actually pronounce his name. But his name was Mephibosheth, and he was a young boy when the Philistines came against the Israelites in the battle that Saul lost, and his help, the maiden that was taking care of him. It was Jonathan's son. She was carrying him out of the palace and she fell and tripped and he fell and broke both of his legs, his feet, and they never set properly. And the scripture says, and he was crippled. That's the King James version, crippled all the days of his life.
He was the one guy that was still left living in a city called Lo-debar. And they found him and brought him. And David said, you'll sit at my table all the days of your life. And then it finishes with this, even though he was crippled in both feet. God invites us to sit at his table even when we are not flawless, even when we are not perfect, even when we have issues that we are trying to overcome. Because if our hearts are right and our relationship with Jesus is in the right place, he will pour out all these blessings upon us. So now, Jonathan-- backtrack here. Jonathan now is trying to reason with his dad about David, and he speaks to his father. We see that in one Samuel 19 verses one through 6.
Jacque: Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan, to assassinate David. But Jonathan, because of his strong affection for David, told him what his father was planning. Tomorrow morning, he warned him, you must find a hiding place out in the fields. I'll ask my father to go out there with me and I'll talk to him about you. Then I'll tell you everything I can find out. The next morning. Jonathan spoke with his father about David, saying many good things about him. The king must not send against his servant David, Jonathan said. He's never done anything to harm you. He has always helped you in any way he could. Have you forgotten about the time he risked his life to kill the Philistine giant and how the Lord brought a great victory to all Israel as a result. You were certainly happy about it then. Why should you murder an innocent man like David? There is no reason for it at all. So Saul, listen to Jonathan and vowed, as surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.
Pastor Brian: The problem with Saul is he never could keep a vow. Scripture says, when thou vowest a vowed, defer not to pay it. We see just three verses later, same chapter that Saul is sitting at home.
Jacque: But one day when Saul was sitting at home with spear in hand, the tormenting spirit suddenly came upon him again.
Pastor Brian: And David had been invited to come back. I had a professor that once said, "You know, Brian, even a dumb dog doesn't kiss a hot stove twice." But David kept coming back because he wanted to honor the authority that God had placed over him.
Jacque: And he didn't hold any grudges.
Pastor Brian: He didn't hold grudges. So anyways, he's now invited to come back. He's sitting at home. Saul was spear in hand.
Jacque: As David played his harp. Saul hurled his spear at David, but David dodged out of the way and leaving the spear stuck in the wall, he fled and escaped into the night. So
Pastor Brian: This is where David now kind of sees the handwriting on the wall and says, you know what? I need to probably navigate in a different way. Basically, it was another way of him saying he ran for his life for about 10 years. He literally ran for his life. He stayed out in the wilderness. He went from city to city. He still fought the Philistines. And Saul would hear word about his victories over some of the Philistines. And yet Saul still had this hatred in his heart to kill him.
There is a wonderful place in Israel called Ein Gedi. It's a spring-- lots of water flowing there out of the rocks. It's kind of a real miraculous thing. It's where many recent fines, archeological fines have been found. Many people think it was the area that John the Baptist was raised in. David was hiding in one of these caves in the area of, in Getty. And Saul is pursuing him throughout the wilderness and Saul happens to come into this cave to relieve himself. That was the way to describe it. We see this story now in 1 Samuel 24 verses 4 through 11.
David's men are deeper in the cave and they see that Saul has come in. He's by himself. It's the perfect setup for them to get rid of this guy that's trying to kill him. Makes sense? Look what God did. He put him into our hands where we can take care of this. We'll get it over with one fell swoop.
Jacque: Now is your opportunity, David's man whispered to him. Today, the Lord is telling you, I will certainly put your enemy into your power to do with as you wish.
Pastor Brian: This is what they were saying. David's men were saying, the Lord has put your enemy into your power so that you can do with them as you wish. You know what they were? They were false prophets. That wasn't the Lord. It wasn't the Lord that did that.
Jacque: So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul's robe. But then David's conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul's robe.
Pastor Brian: Do you know why his conscience bothered him? It wasn't just because of what he did. Because that robe represented authority. His robe was a different robe than any other robe anybody else wore. He wore the robe of the king; he wore the robe of authority. And David went and cut up a little bit of that robe and then his conscience began to get to him. Where did that conscience come from? From God. His conscience began to eat at him because he had come against the authority that was above him.
Jacque: He said to his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this to my Lord the king. I shouldn't attack the Lord's anointed one for the Lord himself has chosen him. So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul. After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, David came out and shouted after him, my Lord the king. And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him. Then he shouted to Saul, why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn't true, for the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave, some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you for I said I will never harm the king. He is the Lord's anointed one. Look, my Father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of the hem of your robe. I cut it off, but I didn't kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.
Pastor Brian: One of the things that I think really stands out in my mind about David more than anything else is David understood the principle of honoring authority. We are a muck in understanding that in America today. I'm sad to say we are a muck in understanding that even in much of the church of Jesus Christ today. We do not understand the principle of honoring authority. Did you know that everywhere you go, you are under someone's authority. You can't go to the grocery store without being under someone's authority, can't go to the gas station. And there are authorities that make decisions such as, return your carts here. And we say, "It doesn't pertain to me. I'll just leave it up here on the median. Let someone else bring it back." All of that is eroding our attitude about how we honor authority in our lives.
David was blessed, not because he was sinless. His sins are very public, aren't they? He was guilty himself of adultery. He was guilty himself of murder. And yet because he honored the set authority that was over him, God's favor was still on him. His favor was still on him. We all come into this world under our parents' authority. God had something to say about that. We find it in Exodus 20 verse 12. And it reads this:
Jacque: Honor your father and mother, then you'll live a long, full life in the land. The Lord your God is giving you.
Pastor Brian: Did you know that's the only one of the 10 commandments that has a promise connected to it? Honor thy father and mother. So thy days may be long and numbered. Many times I've heard people say they don't deserve my respect. The respect isn't based on their behavior. The honor and respect is based on the position they have in your life.
If you look at Romans 13, which we are not going to read today, but maybe go home and read it this afternoon, you'll see what Paul says in terms of our political leaders, all government authorities. Believe it or not, the scripture says, the government authorities that are over us were placed there by God. How can that be? They are so bad. And your job and my job as a believer and a follower of Jesus is to pray for them, not get on Facebook and tell everybody how terrible they are, not get on some other kind of public media form and start to lambast those leaders.
But look how terrible they are. Look what they've done. Could it have been any worse what Saul did to David? And what did David do? He came back, he served, he never picked up a spear. He never threw it back at his accuser. And finally, when he had no alternative but to run for his life, he did it in such a way that still would honor the authority that God had placed over him.
There is a promise connected to this "honor thy father and mother". A person is to honor their parents not because of their behavior, but because of their position. We don't honor our authorities because of their behavior. We need to honor them because of their position. Their position. And when Saul had died, he died in battle, and Jonathan with them, David got word of it and he wrote like a funeral dirge, a funeral lament song. We see one of the lines in this song that David wrote. We find it in Second Samuel chapter 1 verses 11. Let's read this first when they got the news.
Jacque: David and his men tore their clothes in sorrow when they heard the news.
Pastor Brian: Here is a guy that's been on the receiving end of spear throwing, and he gets word that the spear thrower is dead. And here is his response.
Jacque: They mourned and wept and fasted all day for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the Lord's army and the nation of Israel. Because they had died by the sword that day.
Pastor Brian: They tore their clothes in sorrow when they heard the news. When I read this story, I realize just how much of my flesh is still in me. When I have people that are critical of me and then some demise happens to them. I don't remember when I've ever mourned over their suffering. I'm just being honest with you. I'm not sharing this sermon because I've achieved it. I think I've achieved it in some areas over the course of my life, but I have so far to go. When the word came officially that he was dead, Saul and Jonathan were dead. David wrote this song. I want to read just one verse of this song that he wrote.
Jacque: How beloved and gracious were Saul and Jonathan.
Pastor Brian: Just think about that. Here's a guy that pursued David to kill him for over a decade, made him hide in the wilderness, inconvenienced his life. He couldn't go home and see his dad. And he writes this, how beloved and gracious were Saul and Jonathan. They were together in life and in death. They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.
Pastor Brian: Are we realizing how far short we have become in this area? I want to tell you a story. It's about my family. And then I'll conclude this. most of you are aware that my dad and his parents immigrated from Poland to Canada when my dad was about five. Shortly after they immigrated and they landed in Manitoba, maybe an hour west of Winnipeg, my grandfather, my dad's dad left the family. My dad was around six years old or thereabouts when he left. He came back from time to time, but not too often, and he was never part of the family's life. I never heard my dad ever be critical of his father. I never heard him say one negative thing about his dad.
My father also had a younger brother who didn't have the same response to his father as my dad did. When my grandfather died, and I remember being with my dad when he got the news, how sorrowful he was. And later on, the family discovered where he was buried. And the younger brother went to his burial site, was in a different city, went out to the cemetery and desecrated my grandfather's grave; he urinated on it. And then he laughed. That uncle of mine died at the age of 42. My father lived to be 88. Now, nobody will ever convince me that my uncle didn't die prematurely because he dishonored his father. His father didn't deserve honor and respect by his behavior. But the position he had did require it. Did require it.
I know that we have bad policemen and we have bad politicians, and we have bad priests and we have bad pastors. Hopefully I'm not one of them. But the position these people hold in our lives mandates that we honor that position. Because if we are given freedom, the freedom that we are given can't be used to do whatever we please. Freedom means to do what is right, which is based on a moral ethic and a conduct that is absolute.
Today, we are living in a culture where the only people that I have any confidence in to help steer this ship in the right direction are the followers of Jesus. It's up to us to live a life that shows respect and honor to all authority in all places. Jesus called us to be people who love and help others. That's who we should be no matter how people treat us. David was called to be a help and he helped Saul and Saul tried to kill him for it. what David did? He helped him anyways. He helped him anyways.
People really do need help and they may even attack you if you do help them, help them anyways. Help them anyways. I want to read one more portion of scripture. We find it in Acts chapter 23. I'm going to jump over Hebrews 6:10. You can read that later. Acts chapter 23 verses one through five. Paul has been brought before the high council. And this is an interesting scenario. Let's read it.
Jacque: Gazing intently at the high council Paul began. Brothers, I have always lived before God with a clear conscience. Instantly an Ananias, the high priest commanded those close to Paul to slap him on the mouth.
Pastor Brian: So here's the high priest. Ananias replaced Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the high priest that was there with the crucifixion of Christ. We are probably some 15 years, 18 years, maybe more down the road from that. Ananias is now the leader of the high priest. They call Paul in. He's obviously not wearing his high priestly robes. Paul doesn't know who he is, never had an introduction to him. And Anani says, "Slap that guy across the mouth."
Jacque: That was a very interesting church discipline. Yeah.
Pastor Brian: How would you like that for church discipline? Slap that guy across the mouth because, because Paul said, "Hey, I've always tried to live before God with a clear conscience." I mean, what is so offensive about that? Slap that guy across the mouth. And he goes on to say this:
Jacque: But Paul said to him, God will slap you, you corrupt hypocrite,
Pastor Brian: Because Paul doesn't know who he is.
Jacque: What kind of judge are you to break the law yourself by ordering me struck like that? Those standing near Paul said to him, do you dare to insult God's high priest? I'm sorry brothers; I didn't realize he was the high priest, Paul replied, for the scriptures say, you must not speak evil of any of your rulers.
Pastor Brian: What a poignant portion of scripture. Wouldn't you say? Sometimes we actually do insult people. We get into the flesh, we respond, and then if we find out, geez, this guy is actually the high priest, or this guy actually has authority, this guy really is this political leader. We need to understand that honor and respect doesn't go with behavior. It goes with the position that these people have, the position these people have. And I will dare say this, that if we will honor all of the authority that God has placed over us, whether it's in our churches, whether it's in our cities, whether it's in our state, our country we live in, whether it's in the jobs, the jobs that we have, honor the boss that you have. If it's wherever, the gas station or the grocery store, if you honor the authority that God has placed over you, I believe with all my heart, there will be a favor starting to be poured out upon us that we can't contain it.
Look where David ended up. He didn't have to lift a finger to get to where he went to because God did it all. All he had to do was honor and be submissive in the right way to authority. Now, I know a lot of questions you might have is, well, what about if they are abusive? Or what about if they are trying to take your life? Well, like Paul or David, protect your life. Run. But don't start a blog on how bad those people are. Just preserve your life. Honor the people, the authority that God has placed over you.
This is such a foreign message today. And I'm not trying to be a maverick here. I really desperately believe this is a super much needed message for us to understand on how we as followers of Jesus model what it is like to follow Jesus when we honor the authority that God has placed over us.
Jacque: It's so important that we respond and not react in every situation.
Pastor Brian: And it's not easy.
Jacque: And many times, saying nothing is the best thing.
Pastor Brian: It's hard to keep a guard on your mouth, isn't it? Or your fingers
Jacque: A guard on your fingers. Yeah, that's good.
Pastor Brian: We need finger guards. Let's just pray and ask the Lord to help us to really embrace this truth. There are so many blessings to come from God when we live this way, when we actually live this way. But it's a challenge. Like Jacque said earlier today, maybe we just need to say, Lord, just help with about 15 exclamation points behind that help.
Father, today I, I pray that our hearts and minds will be open to this truth. Your word says, honor thy father and mother, not just if they are good parents. Your word says to honor those who have been placed in authority over us, not just if they are good people. And it's hard at times for us to even have any remote desire to want to help and do it. But Lord, help us to do it for you because you are the one that set these principles in place. And so as we go forward, when we speak with our bosses, when we speak with politicians, when, when we speak with managers of a store, may we understand Lord, that the manner in which we speak reflects upon you.
And that Lord, we can do this in a way that would give honor to your name. Make our concerns known without having to be demeaning or angry or disrespectful in any way, shape or form.
Honey is so much better tasting than vinegar. May we have sweet honey come from our lips. May we look around and be aware of the authority that you have placed us under wherever we go. And ultimately, when we begin to honor the authority that we are under, maybe just maybe we will begin to see how we have so often dishonored you, the ultimate authority over our lives. Because that is not what's in our heart. We want to honor you. We want to be a blessing to you. We want to do, Lord, what brings great pleasure to your heart. And so we give ourselves and I commit again my life and myself to living in a way that would be respectful and honoring all authority that you placed in my life.
And when I begin to circumvent that, convict me, Jesus convict me, prick my heart, Lord, a conscience as David did when he cut off Saul's robe. May you, Lord, have free access to my heart and mind, to lead me, to guide me, to speak to me in such an important area. May we as a church, Christ-follower culture, may we be set apart differently in how we interact with authority. You have placed them over us to protect us and to serve us, but we need to honor all authority. And when we disagree, then we need to disagree honorably, honorably. You don't require us to agree with every authority, but you do require us to honor and give respect to all authority. So help us to do that, Jesus. Help us to do that. We pray this in your name. Are you willing to say amen to that? Amen.
Thank you for being here today. We love you. I feel like I need to ask, are you willing to really receive this message today? Let's really do our best to live this way. Let's really do our best to live this way. I know that when I do a message like this, I'm sure I'm going to be challenged probably sometime this afternoon on it, but that's okay. That's okay.
Sherry is going to be serving communion at the end of the service for anybody who would like to have communion today. We'll have people at the altar to pray with you as well. Thank you for being here. And thank you all of you who have been watching on livestream. We are so appreciative of your being a part of our community here. We love you and we hope that you have a wonderful, wonderful day. Let's raise our hands together.
And now, may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace and give you his favor because you are walking in an honorable way under authority. This we pray in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful, wonderful day.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 8-20-23. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.