September 13, 2024 • 44 mins
Do you escape to security when life gets hard? If you step out of your comfort zone, you might find that God wants to help you face your challenge.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
it gives you perspective to see God is moving in
your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This week's sam as Psalm on I got some good news.
My oldest son has fallen in love with an album,
something I feared may never happen because you know, we
live in the day of the single. Nobody listens to
albums anymore. But my son, having impeccable good taste, mostly
(00:42):
informed by his genetic code, has fallen in love with
an album. If we weren't in church, i'd tell you
that it's a Kendrick Lamar album. But what was so
good to me about that is I was scared that
he would never have the experience that I had when
I was about his age. He's twelve, and he uh
and he would just listen to songs, you know, Spotify
(01:04):
stream songs and just you know, garbage stuff that's out
there now. I didn't know if he'd get into good
quality music and and and I never knew if he
would have the moment that Eric and I had growing
up in the mean streets of Monks Corner, South Carolina,
falling in love with.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
With an album. Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
The first album that I fell in love with was,
of course by the great Christian worship band Guns n' Roses. Uh.
The prophet Axel Rose was the first preacher whoever touched my.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Soul in a powerful way.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And I wanted him to have that experience, to really
get into the music. And and he looked at me
the other day he said, I just feel like Kendrick
gets me. Compton and Wax are just to light. But
that point aside, it was good. It was good to
me to see him get into I wanted him to
know that, you know, I wanted him to feel that
(01:58):
I've I wanted him to know that it's not just
because see like in this series, I want you to
know that God gets you, and I want you to
get into God. Can you see how excited I am,
or caffeinated or something in some combination of caffeine and
(02:19):
Jesus Christ. You got me fired up to tell you
that God gets you and touch somebody and say I
don't get you.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Thank God he does.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
And the more you get into God, you realize that
God gets you all of you. And yet when we
come into church, sometimes we read little fragments of scriptures
and phrases and things that sound good. It's like people
who say, oh, I don't listen to the lyrics, I
just like the beat.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I hate those people.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
You don't understand the depth the backstory.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
You just like the beat.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And sometimes we're like that in church. You know, I
will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise
shall continually be in my mouth, not thinking about what
that says.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
You're just like how it sounds like, yeah, I will.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Bless the Lord as occasionally once in a while on
Sunday for twenty eight minutes. I will bless the Lord
at all time. I mean all the time, not all times,
not like all the time all the time. I'm not
going to get in front of people and do it
or anything like that. But you know, I'm not not
gonna lift my hands or any but you know it
sounds good.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I like to beat. So I thought what we do today.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Last week we were focused on Psalm fifty nine, which.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Was a banger.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We discovered that not only is David a shepherd, but
he is a goat, the goat the greatest.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Of all times.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Some people were offended by that assertation that David was
the greatest rapper of all time.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I stand by it.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We are rocking to his mixtape, The Book of Psalms.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Free Millennia.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
After he pinned these words, they still resonate in our souls.
But this week we're going to look at some things
that he said that might surprise us. In Psalm one
and this is more of a ballad.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
The tempo is a little slower.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Because David is conflicted and he cries out to God
about it. I want to read all seven verses from
Someone forty two where David says, I cry aloud to
the Lord. I lift up my voice to the Lord
for mercy. I pour out before him my complaint. Before him,
(04:52):
I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me,
it is you who watch over my way. In the
path where I walk, people have hidden a snare for me.
Look and see there is no one at my right hand.
No one is concerned for me. I have no refuge.
(05:13):
No one cares for my life. Elijah, nobody's praying for me.
I looked around for help, and all I found was hardship.
I cry verse five to you, Lord, I say you
are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.
(05:36):
Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need.
Rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are
too strong for me. Set me free from my prison,
that I may praise or name.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I want to so.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Bad, but I can't right now. Set me free. Only
you have the keys to do it. Then the righteous
will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
One more thing I want to read you before we
talk about it for a few moments from for Samuel
twenty two. This is the backstory. This is the backstory
(06:17):
to the to the beat, and just one verse for
now for Samuel twenty two, verse five. But the prophet
God said to David, do not stay in the stronghold,
go into the land of Judah. So David left and
went to the forest of hered My subject for today is.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
The setup in the stronghold.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
When we started song, I don't know if you found
yourself like me, wanting to tell.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
David that you're not allowed to do this.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
When he cries aloud to the Lord in verse one
and lifts up his voice to the Lord for mercy
in verse one.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
At this point in.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
The psalm, I have predicted this predicament. It is in
verse two that I'm a little surprised when David says,
I pour out before him my complaint. At this point,
I want to pull David aside and say, didn't you
know that you were supposed to bless the Lord at
(07:26):
all times and his praise continually be in your mouth?
And David said back to me, yeah, I wrote that
psalm too, that Psalm thirty four. But this one's a
little different, because sometimes before my mouth can be filled
with praise, I have to pour out something else to
make room for what I know seeing now disappoint of
(07:48):
the sermon where people start getting real confused on me,
because we have been taught sometimes that unless we can
come to God the right way, we can't come to
him at all. And the fact of the matter is
a lot of us don't pray, don't worship, and don't
enter into the presence of God in that specific and
tangible way wherein He can heal the issues of your heart,
(08:09):
because we are scared of what would happen if we
really opened ourselves up and told him. In fact, I
was talking to my friend. I'm not going to say
his name. I don't want embarrass Eric Phillips, but we
were talking the other day how for us, it's very
difficult for us sometimes to tell God how we're feeling.
Which is funny because I have a feeling that he
(08:31):
already knows how I'm feeling. But I'm scared to tell him.
And here's why I'm scared to tell him. I know
why I'm scared to tell him because of something my
dad used to say. My dad used to say whenever
I would start crying. He had this line he would
say to get me to stop, and the line was,
finish it if you know it. If you don't stop
that crying, I'll give you. Your dad was an abusive
(08:54):
maniac as well.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Now, my dad is a great time.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And I get it, and I get it, But when
David uses this image, I was surprised because I'm so
used to the psalms being a place where we.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Pour out our praise.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I was surprised to see David pour out his complaint
because I didn't think you were supposed to complain if
God was good to you.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
And I read the whole psalm, and he.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Started the song saying he was pouring out his complaint,
and he ended the song by saying that God was
good to him. And I couldn't put the two together,
because what do you have to complain about if God
has been good to you. I'm sometimes afraid to complain
in the presence of God, and so I don't pray
because I can't say what I know I'm supposed to say.
(09:51):
So I don't say anything because I'm gonna tell you,
I'm scared that if I say what I really want
to say, God might give me something to cry about.
I'm scared sometimes to pray to God before I come
preach what I really feel like praying to God, which
is I'm not feeling this today, because I'm scared if
(10:12):
I say that to him, he'll put some on my
voice box where I can't preach.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I'm afraid if.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I complain to God about my children, then he might
look on somebody else who's been praying that they could
have kids, and they can have kids. And here I
am complaining about something that I pray and ask God
to give me, and I feel kind of guilty. So
now I stand at the distance and I won't tell
God what I have to say. But I learned something
(10:41):
about God is that he is the only safe place.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Where I can pour out my complaint.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
And if I don't learn how to pour out my
complaints in His presence, they will spill over somewhere else
Where else can I go but his presence? Who else
could I tell but the one who knit me? Where
(11:14):
else where else is it safe? What are you gonna do?
You're gonna go on Facebook and tell your troubles. The
presence of God is not a place.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
To bypass your emotions. It's a place to process them.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And what that means is this, The only way into
the presence of God is from where you really are,
not from.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Where you wish you were.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You can start your prayers with O Sovereign God of
the Seas and Nemo and Dorian Sydney, Australia, Oh God,
Sovereign Father. Can start there.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
That's preferable.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
But in case you can't, in cases one of those days,
in case you don't even feel saved, in case you
just want to bash some heads, bust some heads, in
cases one of those stays, in case you don't feel
God at all, you know it's okay to tell God
I don't feel you right now, but I need you. God,
(12:24):
come to my rescue. You know who I am, You
know how much I need. How in the world are
you gonna get to the place the attitude, the mindset
that God wants you to have and where he wants
you to be if you don't start from where you
really are. So it gives me permission. If David did it, teuch,
(12:52):
somebody say, if David did it, If David did it,
so can I and pour out my complaint in his presence?
And he said, he said, I I cried allowed to
the Lord.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Allowed.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
The word has different meanings. If you spell it, you
know you're allowed to complain.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Allowed.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And this is something that took me a long time
to learn because I always tried to fight what was
going on in my mind in my mind. The only
problem with fighting what's going on in my mind in
my mind is that is enemy held territory because I
have strongholds in my mind. And when I go to
pray and my heart is overwhelmed, my mind.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Can't keep up with my spirit.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Because my spirit knows what I need to pray, but
my mind gets in the way.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Who am I helping? So far? Who am I helping?
So what I do? I wish I would have brought
him out. I didn't remember to bring him out.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I have some airport that I put in my ear
so people will think I'm having a conversation on the
phone in case they look in my car, or in
case they see me going through well. I don't ever
go to Target, but if I happen to go to
Target once a year my annual trip to Hell, I
would put in my AirPod.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And I don't fight my mind in my mind.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Because I can't win the level on the level that
I'm fighting on. I have to get altitude. I have
to fight from an elevated place. So I fight my
mind with my mouth. You can pray any way you
want to, but when you really get in a situation,
(14:51):
you don't fight in your mind. You pray out loud.
I want you for the next seven days. The next
seven days, you can do whatever you want after that,
but for the next seven days, tell somebody for the
next seven days you're allowed to pray.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Allowed. I want you to stop. I want you to stop.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Closing your eyes and worrying and calling it prayer because
you can think a thousand things at once? How many
can how many aren't even paying attention to me?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Right now? You got something in the.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Oven, but you can only say one thing at a time.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
So when I open my mouth.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I'm not just being emotional, I'm being strategic. In fact, Well,
this is a shout right now to let God know.
Come on rock Hill, shout somebody.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
In the back of Valentine, shout.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
In the overflow. Let's tell the place with praise. And
see what I love about God is.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I don't have to start with the script of the
mightiest onliest Goddess. One is stuff, the sunniest and the stars.
I can look at God and said God, I hate
myself right now.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Did you see how I just acted? And God will say, yeah,
matter of fact, I did. And I see how you're
gonna act tomorrow. And I decided to send my son
to die for you, with.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Complete foreknowledge of all of your false.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
If I make my bed in hell, you are there.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
If I say out dwell in the othermost parts of
the sea.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
God is in the depressed place. God is in the darkness.
God is in the cave. And David starts writing this
song and.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
He has good acoustics, because you know you can sing
good in the shower, because the acoustics make you think
you can carry a tune. You ever did that you
got in the shower, You like I should probably I
should probably get an agent.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I sound just like the recording. But the acoustics in
the shower make you think.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Okay, David has good acoustics because he's under attack.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
But he's in a cave.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And some of the best expressions of your relationship with
God will be born not when you are crowned in victory,
but when you are hiding in despair. So David is
(17:50):
a giant killer, and David has a future as a
leader of an entire nation that God has called out
his people. Have you ever had your calling in conflict
with your circumstances? This is David's situation.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
In PS.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
I mentioned briefly, but I want to go back to
it the historical record in First Samuel twenty two, because
David is in a safe place, a cave, in a duel,
the Bible says in verse one, David left Gath. Hey,
you want to do something real cool this week, go
(18:39):
and study where Goliath was from.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Okay, I'm go ahead and tell you now because I
studied it for you. It's Gath.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
So he has to go hide in the place where
he just defeated an enemy. He has to go hide
for a little while in a place that he doesn't belong.
The problem with Dave that going to get this when
they see him. He's still got Goliath's sword that he
took after he cut off his head and maybe a
(19:08):
little bit of blood on it.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
And David is on the run from Saul.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Who's throne he is going to occupy, and so he
can't stay in the place he belongs because the king
wants to kill him.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
But he can't stay with the enemies that he's fighting against.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Have you ever felt like you didn't fit anywhere? Just
kind of quite fit? Are there at least three weird
people like me in here? Do you ever feel like
you don't fit where you came from, you don't fit
where you're going. Have you ever felt too churchy to
be worldly, but a little too worldly to fit in
(19:43):
some churches where you have to And so David I
had something right there, and David he escapes. But watch this,
This is the phrase that got my attention. Everybody say escape, escape,
because everybody has a way that they escape. That's what
(20:07):
guns n' roses was for me. That's what that's what
Elijah's headphones are for him.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's a way for me to escape just for a
little while.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I can get out of my situation and get into
something else. But the way that you escape, here's the principle,
could lead to greater captivity. So it is it is
so important where you go when you run, because sometimes
(20:39):
what you run to will end up running you.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
The Bible says.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
That David escaped from the land of God and he
was safe from the sphere of Saul, and he escaped
to give me my verse the cave, which is a
safe place, but he escaped to something that he was
(21:10):
trapped in. Now we understand what David had to complain
about in Someone forty two, because he's supposed to be a.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
King and he's stuck in a cave and he's safe,
but he's stuck and he knows there is more to
me than this, and he is shocked. Now watch this.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
David is not surprised by the enemies that surround him.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
He's surprised by the friends that didn't.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
David was not expecting that it would be easy to
be a king. He was not expecting to ascend to
the throne without any battles. He wasn't expecting cotton candy, lollipop,
Santa Claus yahweh. He wasn't expecting to be able to
take the moving sidewalk to the throne to rule the people.
(22:15):
But he was expecting that the people God called him
to serve would have his back. And he looks around
in Psalm from the Cave of Adullam and says, I'm
not surprised by who's surrounding me to kill me. I'm
surprised that nobody is surrounding me that cares about me.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Have you ever looked around and been surprised?
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Where are the people I helped? Where are the people
I prayed for? Where are the people? This is what
it's like to be a parent.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I thought it must be lonely for David in the cave,
to be aul alone in the cave.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
And then I kept reading and I discovered he wasn't alone.
Can I show you I have a seat, I'll show you.
I love this stuff, man, touch.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Somebody, say get into it, get into it, get into it.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Don't just settle for a little a little cassette single,
a single. Yeah, don't just settle for a little, a
little This is the Dane the larn me.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Because you like to beat.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
The backstory is this David is in the deepest place
of despair, not because he's surrounded by trouble, but because
he can't find his support, and he's in a stronghold,
looking for a support system, looking for somebody to be
(23:48):
there for him. You mean I I killed this giant
that was defying the whole nation. You mean you mean
I helped you move, was trying to make it practical
or something we can live with, because most of us
aren't hiding from wicked kings.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
But it doesn't mean that we can't relate.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Mm hm.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
David says, I looked around and nobody was there, But
it wasn't true. Just read the whole rest of the verse.
Verse one, same verse. He's in the cave of Adullum.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That's where he was. He says, I looked to my
right and nobody was there.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
That's what he wrote some forty two, and his brothers
and father's household herd about it, and they went down
to him there. So he was surrounded. But there is
a difference between being surrounded and feeling supported. And God
(24:55):
sends David some people in a cave, and maybe he
wrote that before they came.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
And maybe he wrote it a they came. Here's one
thing I know.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Everybody in that cave needed something from David.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Here's how I know.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
The Bible describes David's team in verse two. It says,
not only did his brothers and father come, who, by.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
The way, didn't believe in him.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
His dad didn't even bring him in on draft day
when Samuel came through town with a horn.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Of oil looking for the next king.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Now you want some help in the cave because Saul's
gone crazy, and you think maybe I can defend you
because I'm good with a.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Sword in a slingshot.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
You feel like people only call on you in certain times,
like you don't hear from them for two years, and
when they call you, you kind of want to say,
why don't you just cut the crap and tell me
what you want? Because I know you didn't call me
to check on me. I know there's no way in
the world you just called me to see how.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I was doing.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Then let's just skip through the preliminaries.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
How you doing bro, how I'm doing is just tell
me what you need, and I'll tell you whether I'm
gonna do it or not. But let's just cut through
all this so I can save the time that you
would spend pretending like you care about me.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Maybe it's just me. I would bless the Lord at
all times.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And and David is surrounded, but he does not feel supported.
He's got a full email email inbox. Does anybody still
email anymore? By the way, Okay, And it's not that
he's not getting any text, it's just that they're all transactional.
(26:29):
It's not that he doesn't know anybody, it's just that
nobody really knows him. Nobody cares. He didn't say nobody came.
He said nobody cares. I got a crowd around me,
(26:49):
and I smile so good. They have no idea that
I feel like it's all fake, so quiet it's getting
That's when I'm preaching my bad when they're standing up
and shouting and all that, I ain't saying nothing really important.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
When it gets like that here, you're that funeral vibe.
After that, that's what I like. Who really cares?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
If I couldn't provide for them?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Would they care? I think I wonder sometimes if I.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Couldn't pick up the mic, if I couldn't do what
I did, who would I be.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
And who would really love me? If I didn't have
a big church.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
I'm just trying to tell you I'm not David, but
I can.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Relate, and I have a feeling.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Every husband can relate, every wife can relate, every friend
can relate.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I know every parent can relate.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
To look around in wonderm does anybody really care about
me as a person?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
When are they gonna ask me? How were you? And
everybody around me needs something from me. Look who God
sent to David in the cave. Thanks a lot, God.
Look at verse two.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
All those who were in distress, or in debt or
discontented gathered around him.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Really, this is my team.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Huh. Really, I don't know the sequence. Nobody does. But
what's God messing with?
Speaker 1 (28:41):
David?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Nobody surrounds me, And God said, all right, I'm gonna
put four hundred. The Bible says there were four hundred
of them. I'm gonna send four hundred rough the roughest
thugs you've ever seen in your You're gonna have some
company in the cave now, David Hey, make some room,
get the cot red. I heard you, David, here comes
some backup.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
But God one David didn't. No, can I preach? Can
I preach? These men would be the same men who
(29:27):
would bring him to the throne. These men.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
That God sent to David in the cave would be
the same man who would chase down lions in pits
on snowy days.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
And rip their mouths open. And if they wouldn't have
been rough, they couldn't have been relentless. And if David
hadn't been in the cave, they wouldn't have come. Damn.
It was a setup, That's what I'm trying to say.
It was a setup.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
There are some things that can only come together in
the cave when you get alone and you feel alone,
and you say God, I needs you, And God says,
now that you know that, I'm what's Indeed, I can
give you what you don't even know they pray for
if you'll get deferent and open your mouth and get real.
Come on, is anybody ready to get real with God?
(30:29):
I'm done pretending. I'm done playing do it by faith,
touch by people say you got what you need, You
got what you need, You got what you need.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Come on, you see you got what you need. You
got what you need.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
It might look like debt, it might look like disorientation,
it might look like discontent. But those were David's mighty
men in disguise. I'm telling you, a little boy, lunch
isn't all you can eat buffet with God puts his
hand on it.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
What you have is what's your need for where you are.
You are not stuck. It is not over, so can't
kill you. And you're not alone. Shout about it. Come on,
shout about it. So David is not alone. Touch somebody,
(31:28):
say you're not alone. You're not alone. Look them in
the eyes, say you're not alone. You're not alone.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
The person on the other side of you that you've
been ignoring every time I told you to turn to
your neighbor, look at them and say you're not alone either.
Don't leave him. You've been in a stronghold. David doesn't
know what's next, and he says something real crazy. He
says something real crazy because the men come to him,
(31:57):
the broke relatives come to him. Everybody wants a piece
of David now that he's got a contract, right, And
he's like, I don't know I'm in this place right now.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I'm in this cave. And he leaves the cave with
these folk, and he's got to do something with his
mom and dad.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
So he goes down to Moab, where they have good
retirement communities assisted living.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I don't know he went there.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
He had a tie there because his great great grandmother
was a moabike.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You can study this as much as you want.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
There's a lot of connections here, and which ones you
see determines is determined by how you look. When he
drops his parents off in Moab, I want to read
you this. I didn't really get to keen on this
last time, but I want to.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Say it here. He tells the king of Moab. He's like,
I need a place, a safe place for my family
to stay.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
So will you look after mom and dad who weren't
really looking out for me, who demean me. You know
how it says David was a man after God's own heart.
You know how Jesus is called the son of David.
They had one thing in common. They did it for
others who wouldn't do it for them. Wow.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
They were willing to die for the people who were
willing to kill them.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
And so David makes arrangements for his parents to stay
in Moab. Only problem with Moab is not really a
bad place. I don't want you to conjure up images
of Ninevu where they would impale their enemies.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I don't want you to think Nero or.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Anything like that was persecuting the New Testament Church, frying
them in vats of oil.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
But Moab Moab was a place where they worshiped other gods.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And so David goes down to a place that's not
necessarily bad, but sometimes you go places to survive.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
That end up imprisoning you in the process.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
And he drops off his parents and he says verse three,
verse three, can they stay while I or until I
learn what God will do for me? David, you know
that you're destined to be a king?
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yes, I do, but right now.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
I'm in this cave of confusion, and what I know
God has promised me does not take away the confusion
of wondering how he will bring it to pass. So
I need a safe place to stay while I figure
out how is God going to do this? And he
(35:17):
drops his parents off and he's got everything verse four
under control. The king says, sure, and what else are
you going to say to David, hit you with a
rock or something.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
You don't help him.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Out, and they stay with him as long as David
was in Oh, there it is the stronghold. God sent
me to preach to somebody today who's in the stronghold.
The stronghold is not a bad thing. Please understand that
when Second Corinthians ten four says we demolish strongholds, you
stick around church a little while. You hear us say
(35:49):
some churchy things, these little vocabulary words that we have,
and we'll talk about pulling down strongholds.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
But before you pull them down, understand what they actually are.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Now.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I know you understand the military term that a stronghold
is a fortified place.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
A stronghold is a place where opposing forces can't get
to you. But a stronghold that protects you from one
enemy might imprison you to another one. So the Prophet
God says to David in one of the only two
times that we see him in scripture, the Prophet God
says something to David that I believe the spirit of
(36:24):
the Lord might be saying to you today. Lake Norman
University Online, Kansas, Nebraska. From sea to Shining Sea, I
want to make an announcement teenagers, people who are not
teenagers anymore, people who have lived several lifetimes since your
teenage years. I want, I want to. I want to
declare the word of the Lord to you, and the
(36:45):
word of the Lord to you as this for Samuel
twenty two five. Do not stay in the stronghold because
it's a setup. Because if you stay in Moab too
long now, state of mind, it may not be a
physical location.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I'm not talking about your marriage.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
I'm not telling you to get a divorce and blame
it on God because he said leave Moab.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
I know people take my message and say twist them, but.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
The stronghold is usually something that you ran too.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
To protect you. Let's see how real you're willing to
be now.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
I want all the pessimists to raise your hand right now,
all the pessimist, all the spouses a pessimists, grab the
wrist of your partner and make them play along with
high interactive sir men. I'm gonna tell you why you're
(37:52):
a pessimist. It's a defense mechanism. It protects you from disappointment.
It protects you, like the gin Blossoms used to say,
(38:13):
if you don't expect too much from me, you might
not be let down. So I got let down and
I didn't like how that felt. So now I just
expect people to suck, and when they do, I'm not surprised.
Come on, how many pessimists in the house. And it's
(38:35):
fine to be realistic. But what you don't know when
you developed the pattern of pessimism neurologically in your brain
and spiritually in your heart. When you hide in that stronghold,
it protects you, but it traps you. It protects you,
but it also ensnares you because you now create the
(38:58):
reality that you projected through your expectation. So you are
not surprised that life sucks. But life sucks because you
were not prepared to be surprised by anything other than
the fallen condition of sinful man. And so when God
really wants to show you his goodness in the land
of the living, you can't see.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
It because you're in the stronghold.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
So pessimism protects you from disappointment.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
But it imprisons you as it protects you.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Every addiction is, at its root a form of self defense. Wow,
because I'm taking something, or I'm seeing something, or I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Something or I'm saying something.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Because you can be addicted to a whole lot of
stuff more than pills. I got some friends that are
addicted to problems. If it even looks it's like it's
going to be a good day, they will spike the
coffee just to screw things up so they can feel
normal in a state of self sabotage. I'm preaching like
(40:13):
I know you now. Only God could show me this
about you. You are addicted to drama.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
It protects you.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
The drama protects you from having to be productive and steady,
because if you create drama, you'll have something to blame.
It's a way of escape. That's why a lot of
us blame others. It's a stronghold. It's a stronghold. It's
a way for me to not have to take responsibility
because if I.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Blame you, I don't have to deal with the shame
of me. And now I'm imprisoned to bitterness.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
And David, if you stay in the cave, you won't
be able to save the people of Kayla. David had
a battle to.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Fight in Judah that he didn't know about.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
He had an army that God was forming that he
couldn't see for what they were because he was in
the stronghold. And there are things that God has surrounded
you with that you can't see in the stronghold. So
the prophet says, you gotta.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Go to Judah. You gotta go to Judah.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
If I had a fired up church, I would preach
this saying, if this was code Orange Revival. Oh, if
I was at Matthew's right now, if I was at
Lake Norman, I would have you touch seven people and
tell him get to Judah. Get to Judah as quick
as you can. Get to Judah. Judah is the place
that represents praise. In fact, the very word Judah means praise. Now,
(41:55):
I see what David was doing in Somes is what
it was saying in First Samuel twenty two. I'm leaving
this stronghold. I'm stepping outside of myself, outside of my feelings,
outside of my circumstance, and I'll step it in my
future hits.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Anybody going to Judah today, come on, get it, pray,
get to Judah. Get to Judah.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
You won't see what God can do for you in
this cave.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
You gotta go to Judah.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
You gotta get back to the place where you will
be crowned as king. You gotta get back to the promise.
See Thithan starts stand up and help me close this sermon.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
He starts some.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Trapped in a cave, but he ends put verse seven up.
He in someone for forty two coming out of prison.
He starts some one forty two behind bars, but he
ends someone forty two riding bars.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
He starts some one forty two in a cave that
seems safe.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
He ends someone forty two knowing that God is my
refuge and nothing can by any means harm me.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
Nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing, nothing, nothing, no one,
nothing can stand against the promise of God. He started
with complaint, but by the time he got.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Done, he was filled with praise.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
I know you came the third turning, but why.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Not lift your hands and praise out.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
I'm not stop where are starting?
Speaker 1 (44:02):
JP not stand where I start?
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
You can click the link in the description to give now,
or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
it gives you perspective to see God is moving in
your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This week's sam as Psalm on I got some good news.
My oldest son has fallen in love with an album,
something I feared may never happen because you know, we
live in the day of the single. Nobody listens to
albums anymore. But my son, having impeccable good taste, mostly
(00:42):
informed by his genetic code, has fallen in love with
an album. If we weren't in church, i'd tell you
that it's a Kendrick Lamar album. But what was so
good to me about that is I was scared that
he would never have the experience that I had when
I was about his age. He's twelve, and he uh
and he would just listen to songs, you know, Spotify
(01:04):
stream songs and just you know, garbage stuff that's out
there now. I didn't know if he'd get into good
quality music and and and I never knew if he
would have the moment that Eric and I had growing
up in the mean streets of Monks Corner, South Carolina,
falling in love with.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
With an album. Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
The first album that I fell in love with was,
of course by the great Christian worship band Guns n' Roses. Uh.
The prophet Axel Rose was the first preacher whoever touched my.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Soul in a powerful way.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And I wanted him to have that experience, to really
get into the music. And and he looked at me
the other day he said, I just feel like Kendrick
gets me. Compton and Wax are just to light. But
that point aside, it was good. It was good to
me to see him get into I wanted him to
know that, you know, I wanted him to feel that
(01:58):
I've I wanted him to know that it's not just
because see like in this series, I want you to
know that God gets you, and I want you to
get into God. Can you see how excited I am,
or caffeinated or something in some combination of caffeine and
(02:19):
Jesus Christ. You got me fired up to tell you
that God gets you and touch somebody and say I
don't get you.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Thank God he does.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
And the more you get into God, you realize that
God gets you all of you. And yet when we
come into church, sometimes we read little fragments of scriptures
and phrases and things that sound good. It's like people
who say, oh, I don't listen to the lyrics, I
just like the beat.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I hate those people.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
You don't understand the depth the backstory.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
You just like the beat.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And sometimes we're like that in church. You know, I
will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise
shall continually be in my mouth, not thinking about what
that says.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
You're just like how it sounds like, yeah, I will.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Bless the Lord as occasionally once in a while on
Sunday for twenty eight minutes. I will bless the Lord
at all time. I mean all the time, not all times,
not like all the time all the time. I'm not
going to get in front of people and do it
or anything like that. But you know, I'm not not
gonna lift my hands or any but you know it
sounds good.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I like to beat. So I thought what we do today.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Last week we were focused on Psalm fifty nine, which.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Was a banger.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We discovered that not only is David a shepherd, but
he is a goat, the goat the greatest.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Of all times.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Some people were offended by that assertation that David was
the greatest rapper of all time.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I stand by it.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We are rocking to his mixtape, The Book of Psalms.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Free Millennia.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
After he pinned these words, they still resonate in our souls.
But this week we're going to look at some things
that he said that might surprise us. In Psalm one
and this is more of a ballad.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
The tempo is a little slower.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Because David is conflicted and he cries out to God
about it. I want to read all seven verses from
Someone forty two where David says, I cry aloud to
the Lord. I lift up my voice to the Lord
for mercy. I pour out before him my complaint. Before him,
(04:52):
I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me,
it is you who watch over my way. In the
path where I walk, people have hidden a snare for me.
Look and see there is no one at my right hand.
No one is concerned for me. I have no refuge.
(05:13):
No one cares for my life. Elijah, nobody's praying for me.
I looked around for help, and all I found was hardship.
I cry verse five to you, Lord, I say you
are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.
(05:36):
Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need.
Rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are
too strong for me. Set me free from my prison,
that I may praise or name.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I want to so.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Bad, but I can't right now. Set me free. Only
you have the keys to do it. Then the righteous
will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
One more thing I want to read you before we
talk about it for a few moments from for Samuel
twenty two. This is the backstory. This is the backstory
(06:17):
to the to the beat, and just one verse for
now for Samuel twenty two, verse five. But the prophet
God said to David, do not stay in the stronghold,
go into the land of Judah. So David left and
went to the forest of hered My subject for today is.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
The setup in the stronghold.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
When we started song, I don't know if you found
yourself like me, wanting to tell.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
David that you're not allowed to do this.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
When he cries aloud to the Lord in verse one
and lifts up his voice to the Lord for mercy
in verse one.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
At this point in.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
The psalm, I have predicted this predicament. It is in
verse two that I'm a little surprised when David says,
I pour out before him my complaint. At this point,
I want to pull David aside and say, didn't you
know that you were supposed to bless the Lord at
(07:26):
all times and his praise continually be in your mouth?
And David said back to me, yeah, I wrote that
psalm too, that Psalm thirty four. But this one's a
little different, because sometimes before my mouth can be filled
with praise, I have to pour out something else to
make room for what I know seeing now disappoint of
(07:48):
the sermon where people start getting real confused on me,
because we have been taught sometimes that unless we can
come to God the right way, we can't come to
him at all. And the fact of the matter is
a lot of us don't pray, don't worship, and don't
enter into the presence of God in that specific and
tangible way wherein He can heal the issues of your heart,
(08:09):
because we are scared of what would happen if we
really opened ourselves up and told him. In fact, I
was talking to my friend. I'm not going to say
his name. I don't want embarrass Eric Phillips, but we
were talking the other day how for us, it's very
difficult for us sometimes to tell God how we're feeling.
Which is funny because I have a feeling that he
(08:31):
already knows how I'm feeling. But I'm scared to tell him.
And here's why I'm scared to tell him. I know
why I'm scared to tell him because of something my
dad used to say. My dad used to say whenever
I would start crying. He had this line he would
say to get me to stop, and the line was,
finish it if you know it. If you don't stop
that crying, I'll give you. Your dad was an abusive
(08:54):
maniac as well.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Now, my dad is a great time.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And I get it, and I get it, But when
David uses this image, I was surprised because I'm so
used to the psalms being a place where we.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Pour out our praise.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I was surprised to see David pour out his complaint
because I didn't think you were supposed to complain if
God was good to you.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
And I read the whole psalm, and he.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Started the song saying he was pouring out his complaint,
and he ended the song by saying that God was
good to him. And I couldn't put the two together,
because what do you have to complain about if God
has been good to you. I'm sometimes afraid to complain
in the presence of God, and so I don't pray
because I can't say what I know I'm supposed to say.
(09:51):
So I don't say anything because I'm gonna tell you,
I'm scared that if I say what I really want
to say, God might give me something to cry about.
I'm scared sometimes to pray to God before I come
preach what I really feel like praying to God, which
is I'm not feeling this today, because I'm scared if
(10:12):
I say that to him, he'll put some on my
voice box where I can't preach.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I'm afraid if.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I complain to God about my children, then he might
look on somebody else who's been praying that they could
have kids, and they can have kids. And here I
am complaining about something that I pray and ask God
to give me, and I feel kind of guilty. So
now I stand at the distance and I won't tell
God what I have to say. But I learned something
(10:41):
about God is that he is the only safe place.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Where I can pour out my complaint.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
And if I don't learn how to pour out my
complaints in His presence, they will spill over somewhere else
Where else can I go but his presence? Who else
could I tell but the one who knit me? Where
(11:14):
else where else is it safe? What are you gonna do?
You're gonna go on Facebook and tell your troubles. The
presence of God is not a place.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
To bypass your emotions. It's a place to process them.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And what that means is this, The only way into
the presence of God is from where you really are,
not from.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Where you wish you were.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You can start your prayers with O Sovereign God of
the Seas and Nemo and Dorian Sydney, Australia, Oh God,
Sovereign Father. Can start there.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
That's preferable.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
But in case you can't, in cases one of those days,
in case you don't even feel saved, in case you
just want to bash some heads, bust some heads, in
cases one of those stays, in case you don't feel
God at all, you know it's okay to tell God
I don't feel you right now, but I need you. God,
(12:24):
come to my rescue. You know who I am, You
know how much I need. How in the world are
you gonna get to the place the attitude, the mindset
that God wants you to have and where he wants
you to be if you don't start from where you
really are. So it gives me permission. If David did it, teuch,
(12:52):
somebody say, if David did it, If David did it,
so can I and pour out my complaint in his presence?
And he said, he said, I I cried allowed to
the Lord.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Allowed.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
The word has different meanings. If you spell it, you
know you're allowed to complain.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Allowed.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And this is something that took me a long time
to learn because I always tried to fight what was
going on in my mind in my mind. The only
problem with fighting what's going on in my mind in
my mind is that is enemy held territory because I
have strongholds in my mind. And when I go to
pray and my heart is overwhelmed, my mind.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Can't keep up with my spirit.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Because my spirit knows what I need to pray, but
my mind gets in the way.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Who am I helping? So far? Who am I helping?
So what I do? I wish I would have brought
him out. I didn't remember to bring him out.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I have some airport that I put in my ear
so people will think I'm having a conversation on the
phone in case they look in my car, or in
case they see me going through well. I don't ever
go to Target, but if I happen to go to
Target once a year my annual trip to Hell, I
would put in my AirPod.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And I don't fight my mind in my mind.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Because I can't win the level on the level that
I'm fighting on. I have to get altitude. I have
to fight from an elevated place. So I fight my
mind with my mouth. You can pray any way you
want to, but when you really get in a situation,
(14:51):
you don't fight in your mind. You pray out loud.
I want you for the next seven days. The next
seven days, you can do whatever you want after that,
but for the next seven days, tell somebody for the
next seven days you're allowed to pray.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Allowed. I want you to stop. I want you to stop.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Closing your eyes and worrying and calling it prayer because
you can think a thousand things at once? How many
can how many aren't even paying attention to me?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Right now? You got something in the.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Oven, but you can only say one thing at a time.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
So when I open my mouth.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I'm not just being emotional, I'm being strategic. In fact, Well,
this is a shout right now to let God know.
Come on rock Hill, shout somebody.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
In the back of Valentine, shout.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
In the overflow. Let's tell the place with praise. And
see what I love about God is.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I don't have to start with the script of the
mightiest onliest Goddess. One is stuff, the sunniest and the stars.
I can look at God and said God, I hate
myself right now.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Did you see how I just acted? And God will say, yeah,
matter of fact, I did. And I see how you're
gonna act tomorrow. And I decided to send my son
to die for you, with.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Complete foreknowledge of all of your false.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
If I make my bed in hell, you are there.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
If I say out dwell in the othermost parts of
the sea.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
God is in the depressed place. God is in the darkness.
God is in the cave. And David starts writing this
song and.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
He has good acoustics, because you know you can sing
good in the shower, because the acoustics make you think
you can carry a tune. You ever did that you
got in the shower, You like I should probably I
should probably get an agent.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I sound just like the recording. But the acoustics in
the shower make you think.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Okay, David has good acoustics because he's under attack.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
But he's in a cave.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And some of the best expressions of your relationship with
God will be born not when you are crowned in victory,
but when you are hiding in despair. So David is
(17:50):
a giant killer, and David has a future as a
leader of an entire nation that God has called out
his people. Have you ever had your calling in conflict
with your circumstances? This is David's situation.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
In PS.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
I mentioned briefly, but I want to go back to
it the historical record in First Samuel twenty two, because
David is in a safe place, a cave, in a duel,
the Bible says in verse one, David left Gath. Hey,
you want to do something real cool this week, go
(18:39):
and study where Goliath was from.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Okay, I'm go ahead and tell you now because I
studied it for you. It's Gath.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
So he has to go hide in the place where
he just defeated an enemy. He has to go hide
for a little while in a place that he doesn't belong.
The problem with Dave that going to get this when
they see him. He's still got Goliath's sword that he
took after he cut off his head and maybe a
(19:08):
little bit of blood on it.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
And David is on the run from Saul.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Who's throne he is going to occupy, and so he
can't stay in the place he belongs because the king
wants to kill him.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
But he can't stay with the enemies that he's fighting against.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Have you ever felt like you didn't fit anywhere? Just
kind of quite fit? Are there at least three weird
people like me in here? Do you ever feel like
you don't fit where you came from, you don't fit
where you're going. Have you ever felt too churchy to
be worldly, but a little too worldly to fit in
(19:43):
some churches where you have to And so David I
had something right there, and David he escapes. But watch this,
This is the phrase that got my attention. Everybody say escape, escape,
because everybody has a way that they escape. That's what
(20:07):
guns n' roses was for me. That's what that's what
Elijah's headphones are for him.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's a way for me to escape just for a
little while.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I can get out of my situation and get into
something else. But the way that you escape, here's the principle,
could lead to greater captivity. So it is it is
so important where you go when you run, because sometimes
(20:39):
what you run to will end up running you.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
The Bible says.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
That David escaped from the land of God and he
was safe from the sphere of Saul, and he escaped
to give me my verse the cave, which is a
safe place, but he escaped to something that he was
(21:10):
trapped in. Now we understand what David had to complain
about in Someone forty two, because he's supposed to be a.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
King and he's stuck in a cave and he's safe,
but he's stuck and he knows there is more to
me than this, and he is shocked. Now watch this.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
David is not surprised by the enemies that surround him.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
He's surprised by the friends that didn't.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
David was not expecting that it would be easy to
be a king. He was not expecting to ascend to
the throne without any battles. He wasn't expecting cotton candy, lollipop,
Santa Claus yahweh. He wasn't expecting to be able to
take the moving sidewalk to the throne to rule the people.
(22:15):
But he was expecting that the people God called him
to serve would have his back. And he looks around
in Psalm from the Cave of Adullam and says, I'm
not surprised by who's surrounding me to kill me. I'm
surprised that nobody is surrounding me that cares about me.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Have you ever looked around and been surprised?
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Where are the people I helped? Where are the people
I prayed for? Where are the people? This is what
it's like to be a parent.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I thought it must be lonely for David in the cave,
to be aul alone in the cave.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
And then I kept reading and I discovered he wasn't alone.
Can I show you I have a seat, I'll show you.
I love this stuff, man, touch.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Somebody, say get into it, get into it, get into it.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Don't just settle for a little a little cassette single,
a single. Yeah, don't just settle for a little, a
little This is the Dane the larn me.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Because you like to beat.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
The backstory is this David is in the deepest place
of despair, not because he's surrounded by trouble, but because
he can't find his support, and he's in a stronghold,
looking for a support system, looking for somebody to be
(23:48):
there for him. You mean I I killed this giant
that was defying the whole nation. You mean you mean
I helped you move, was trying to make it practical
or something we can live with, because most of us
aren't hiding from wicked kings.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
But it doesn't mean that we can't relate.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Mm hm.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
David says, I looked around and nobody was there, But
it wasn't true. Just read the whole rest of the verse.
Verse one, same verse. He's in the cave of Adullum.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That's where he was. He says, I looked to my
right and nobody was there.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
That's what he wrote some forty two, and his brothers
and father's household herd about it, and they went down
to him there. So he was surrounded. But there is
a difference between being surrounded and feeling supported. And God
(24:55):
sends David some people in a cave, and maybe he
wrote that before they came.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
And maybe he wrote it a they came. Here's one
thing I know.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Everybody in that cave needed something from David.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Here's how I know.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
The Bible describes David's team in verse two. It says,
not only did his brothers and father come, who, by.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
The way, didn't believe in him.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
His dad didn't even bring him in on draft day
when Samuel came through town with a horn.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Of oil looking for the next king.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Now you want some help in the cave because Saul's
gone crazy, and you think maybe I can defend you
because I'm good with a.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Sword in a slingshot.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
You feel like people only call on you in certain times,
like you don't hear from them for two years, and
when they call you, you kind of want to say,
why don't you just cut the crap and tell me
what you want? Because I know you didn't call me
to check on me. I know there's no way in
the world you just called me to see how.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I was doing.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Then let's just skip through the preliminaries.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
How you doing bro, how I'm doing is just tell
me what you need, and I'll tell you whether I'm
gonna do it or not. But let's just cut through
all this so I can save the time that you
would spend pretending like you care about me.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Maybe it's just me. I would bless the Lord at
all times.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And and David is surrounded, but he does not feel supported.
He's got a full email email inbox. Does anybody still
email anymore? By the way, Okay, And it's not that
he's not getting any text, it's just that they're all transactional.
(26:29):
It's not that he doesn't know anybody, it's just that
nobody really knows him. Nobody cares. He didn't say nobody came.
He said nobody cares. I got a crowd around me,
(26:49):
and I smile so good. They have no idea that
I feel like it's all fake, so quiet it's getting
That's when I'm preaching my bad when they're standing up
and shouting and all that, I ain't saying nothing really important.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
When it gets like that here, you're that funeral vibe.
After that, that's what I like. Who really cares?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
If I couldn't provide for them?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Would they care? I think I wonder sometimes if I.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Couldn't pick up the mic, if I couldn't do what
I did, who would I be.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
And who would really love me? If I didn't have
a big church.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
I'm just trying to tell you I'm not David, but
I can.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Relate, and I have a feeling.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Every husband can relate, every wife can relate, every friend
can relate.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I know every parent can relate.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
To look around in wonderm does anybody really care about
me as a person?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
When are they gonna ask me? How were you? And
everybody around me needs something from me. Look who God
sent to David in the cave. Thanks a lot, God.
Look at verse two.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
All those who were in distress, or in debt or
discontented gathered around him.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Really, this is my team.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Huh. Really, I don't know the sequence. Nobody does. But
what's God messing with?
Speaker 1 (28:41):
David?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Nobody surrounds me, And God said, all right, I'm gonna
put four hundred. The Bible says there were four hundred
of them. I'm gonna send four hundred rough the roughest
thugs you've ever seen in your You're gonna have some
company in the cave now, David Hey, make some room,
get the cot red. I heard you, David, here comes
some backup.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
But God one David didn't. No, can I preach? Can
I preach? These men would be the same men who
(29:27):
would bring him to the throne. These men.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
That God sent to David in the cave would be
the same man who would chase down lions in pits
on snowy days.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
And rip their mouths open. And if they wouldn't have
been rough, they couldn't have been relentless. And if David
hadn't been in the cave, they wouldn't have come. Damn.
It was a setup, That's what I'm trying to say.
It was a setup.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
There are some things that can only come together in
the cave when you get alone and you feel alone,
and you say God, I needs you, And God says,
now that you know that, I'm what's Indeed, I can
give you what you don't even know they pray for
if you'll get deferent and open your mouth and get real.
Come on, is anybody ready to get real with God?
(30:29):
I'm done pretending. I'm done playing do it by faith,
touch by people say you got what you need, You
got what you need, You got what you need.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Come on, you see you got what you need. You
got what you need.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
It might look like debt, it might look like disorientation,
it might look like discontent. But those were David's mighty
men in disguise. I'm telling you, a little boy, lunch
isn't all you can eat buffet with God puts his
hand on it.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
What you have is what's your need for where you are.
You are not stuck. It is not over, so can't
kill you. And you're not alone. Shout about it. Come on,
shout about it. So David is not alone. Touch somebody,
(31:28):
say you're not alone. You're not alone. Look them in
the eyes, say you're not alone. You're not alone.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
The person on the other side of you that you've
been ignoring every time I told you to turn to
your neighbor, look at them and say you're not alone either.
Don't leave him. You've been in a stronghold. David doesn't
know what's next, and he says something real crazy. He
says something real crazy because the men come to him,
(31:57):
the broke relatives come to him. Everybody wants a piece
of David now that he's got a contract, right, And
he's like, I don't know I'm in this place right now.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I'm in this cave. And he leaves the cave with
these folk, and he's got to do something with his
mom and dad.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
So he goes down to Moab, where they have good
retirement communities assisted living.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I don't know he went there.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
He had a tie there because his great great grandmother
was a moabike.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You can study this as much as you want.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
There's a lot of connections here, and which ones you
see determines is determined by how you look. When he
drops his parents off in Moab, I want to read
you this. I didn't really get to keen on this
last time, but I want to.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Say it here. He tells the king of Moab. He's like,
I need a place, a safe place for my family
to stay.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
So will you look after mom and dad who weren't
really looking out for me, who demean me. You know
how it says David was a man after God's own heart.
You know how Jesus is called the son of David.
They had one thing in common. They did it for
others who wouldn't do it for them. Wow.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
They were willing to die for the people who were
willing to kill them.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
And so David makes arrangements for his parents to stay
in Moab. Only problem with Moab is not really a
bad place. I don't want you to conjure up images
of Ninevu where they would impale their enemies.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I don't want you to think Nero or.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Anything like that was persecuting the New Testament Church, frying
them in vats of oil.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
But Moab Moab was a place where they worshiped other gods.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And so David goes down to a place that's not
necessarily bad, but sometimes you go places to survive.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
That end up imprisoning you in the process.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
And he drops off his parents and he says verse three,
verse three, can they stay while I or until I
learn what God will do for me? David, you know
that you're destined to be a king?
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yes, I do, but right now.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
I'm in this cave of confusion, and what I know
God has promised me does not take away the confusion
of wondering how he will bring it to pass. So
I need a safe place to stay while I figure
out how is God going to do this? And he
(35:17):
drops his parents off and he's got everything verse four
under control. The king says, sure, and what else are
you going to say to David, hit you with a
rock or something.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
You don't help him.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Out, and they stay with him as long as David
was in Oh, there it is the stronghold. God sent
me to preach to somebody today who's in the stronghold.
The stronghold is not a bad thing. Please understand that
when Second Corinthians ten four says we demolish strongholds, you
stick around church a little while. You hear us say
(35:49):
some churchy things, these little vocabulary words that we have,
and we'll talk about pulling down strongholds.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
But before you pull them down, understand what they actually are.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Now.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I know you understand the military term that a stronghold
is a fortified place.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
A stronghold is a place where opposing forces can't get
to you. But a stronghold that protects you from one
enemy might imprison you to another one. So the Prophet
God says to David in one of the only two
times that we see him in scripture, the Prophet God
says something to David that I believe the spirit of
(36:24):
the Lord might be saying to you today. Lake Norman
University Online, Kansas, Nebraska. From sea to Shining Sea, I
want to make an announcement teenagers, people who are not
teenagers anymore, people who have lived several lifetimes since your
teenage years. I want, I want to. I want to
declare the word of the Lord to you, and the
(36:45):
word of the Lord to you as this for Samuel
twenty two five. Do not stay in the stronghold because
it's a setup. Because if you stay in Moab too
long now, state of mind, it may not be a
physical location.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I'm not talking about your marriage.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
I'm not telling you to get a divorce and blame
it on God because he said leave Moab.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
I know people take my message and say twist them, but.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
The stronghold is usually something that you ran too.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
To protect you. Let's see how real you're willing to
be now.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
I want all the pessimists to raise your hand right now,
all the pessimist, all the spouses a pessimists, grab the
wrist of your partner and make them play along with
high interactive sir men. I'm gonna tell you why you're
(37:52):
a pessimist. It's a defense mechanism. It protects you from disappointment.
It protects you, like the gin Blossoms used to say,
(38:13):
if you don't expect too much from me, you might
not be let down. So I got let down and
I didn't like how that felt. So now I just
expect people to suck, and when they do, I'm not surprised.
Come on, how many pessimists in the house. And it's
(38:35):
fine to be realistic. But what you don't know when
you developed the pattern of pessimism neurologically in your brain
and spiritually in your heart. When you hide in that stronghold,
it protects you, but it traps you. It protects you,
but it also ensnares you because you now create the
(38:58):
reality that you projected through your expectation. So you are
not surprised that life sucks. But life sucks because you
were not prepared to be surprised by anything other than
the fallen condition of sinful man. And so when God
really wants to show you his goodness in the land
of the living, you can't see.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
It because you're in the stronghold.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
So pessimism protects you from disappointment.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
But it imprisons you as it protects you.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Every addiction is, at its root a form of self defense. Wow,
because I'm taking something, or I'm seeing something, or I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Something or I'm saying something.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Because you can be addicted to a whole lot of
stuff more than pills. I got some friends that are
addicted to problems. If it even looks it's like it's
going to be a good day, they will spike the
coffee just to screw things up so they can feel
normal in a state of self sabotage. I'm preaching like
(40:13):
I know you now. Only God could show me this
about you. You are addicted to drama.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
It protects you.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
The drama protects you from having to be productive and steady,
because if you create drama, you'll have something to blame.
It's a way of escape. That's why a lot of
us blame others. It's a stronghold. It's a stronghold. It's
a way for me to not have to take responsibility
because if I.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Blame you, I don't have to deal with the shame
of me. And now I'm imprisoned to bitterness.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
And David, if you stay in the cave, you won't
be able to save the people of Kayla. David had
a battle to.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Fight in Judah that he didn't know about.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
He had an army that God was forming that he
couldn't see for what they were because he was in
the stronghold. And there are things that God has surrounded
you with that you can't see in the stronghold. So
the prophet says, you gotta.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Go to Judah. You gotta go to Judah.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
If I had a fired up church, I would preach
this saying, if this was code Orange Revival. Oh, if
I was at Matthew's right now, if I was at
Lake Norman, I would have you touch seven people and
tell him get to Judah. Get to Judah as quick
as you can. Get to Judah. Judah is the place
that represents praise. In fact, the very word Judah means praise. Now,
(41:55):
I see what David was doing in Somes is what
it was saying in First Samuel twenty two. I'm leaving
this stronghold. I'm stepping outside of myself, outside of my feelings,
outside of my circumstance, and I'll step it in my
future hits.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Anybody going to Judah today, come on, get it, pray,
get to Judah. Get to Judah.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
You won't see what God can do for you in
this cave.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
You gotta go to Judah.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
You gotta get back to the place where you will
be crowned as king. You gotta get back to the promise.
See Thithan starts stand up and help me close this sermon.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
He starts some.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Trapped in a cave, but he ends put verse seven up.
He in someone for forty two coming out of prison.
He starts some one forty two behind bars, but he
ends someone forty two riding bars.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
He starts some one forty two in a cave that
seems safe.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
He ends someone forty two knowing that God is my
refuge and nothing can by any means harm me.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
Nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing, nothing, nothing, no one,
nothing can stand against the promise of God. He started
with complaint, but by the time he got.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Done, he was filled with praise.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
I know you came the third turning, but why.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Not lift your hands and praise out.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
I'm not stop where are starting?
Speaker 1 (44:02):
JP not stand where I start?
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
You can click the link in the description to give now,
or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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