The Mighty Men of Faith

May, 3, 2026

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Faith for an extraordinary God.
And I truly believe even when weexercise what God expects of us
with extraordinary faith.
Does anybody know God can doextraordinary things?
And that's what I'm trying tolay out in this series.
Last week we looked at Marionand tried to encourage the
sisters, but as the late Dr.
Manuel Scott would say, a gospelthat doesn't reach everybody is

(00:24):
not a gospel that is good foranybody.
And so, though specifically, weare trying to encourage our
brothers in the faith today,this is a word for all of us.
Amen.
If we can get that on thescreen, I'd love for us to read

(00:44):
that together.
Here we go.
He chose David, his servant, andtook him from the sheep king.
From handing the sheep, hebrought him to be the shepherd
of his people, Jacob, of Israel,his inheritance.

(01:05):
And David shepherded them withintegrity of heart.
With skillful hands, he led.
Shepherded him according to theintegrity of his heart.
The main text comes out of oneof his chronicles.

(01:29):
23 verses 14 through 17.
I want to encourage you to readreally chapters 21 through 24,
which is the context of thisparticular episode out of the
life of David.
I'm reading the NRV version, andhere's how it reads.

(02:03):
At that time, David was in thestronghold, and the Philistine
garrison was at Bethlehem.
David longed for water and said,Oh, if someone would give me a
drink of water from the wellnear the gate of Bethlehem.
So the three mighty warriorsbroke through the Philistine

(02:26):
line, drew water from the wellnear the gate of Bethlehem,
carried it back to David.
But he refused to drink it.
Instead, he poured it out beforethe Lord.
Farbid from me, Lord, to dothis, he said.
Is it not the blood of men whowent at the risk of their lives?

(02:48):
David would not drink it.
Such were the exploits of thethree mighty warriors.
I love that.
I want to talk about the mightymen of faith.
The mighty men of faith.
As I said earlier, the contextfor this episode in the life of
David is found in chapters 21through 24.

(03:12):
The last four chapters reallyserve as a fitting epilogue to
the life and the legacy ofperhaps Israel's greatest king,
King David.
Though many of us may uh knowDavid for his failures, David,
throughout the Old and NewTestament, and especially in
Jewish tradition, is hailed as agreat king and leader.

(03:36):
You must not forget, it wasDavid that conquered Jerusalem
and established it as Israel'scapital.
It was David that led the peopleto return the Ark of the
Covenant back to the nation.
It was David that defeatedIsrael's enemies and gave Israel
rest for the first time in herhistory.

(03:58):
It was David that took Israelfrom this scattered and
fractured tribal community, madethem a prosperous and powerful
nation with notable geopoliticalinfluence.
It was David that God makes thatglorious promise that one of his
descendants would sit on histhrone forever.

(04:21):
And in that promise, Godforeshadowed the coming of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But lastly, least we forget, itwas David who was perhaps the
most intimate, who had the mostintimate relationship with
Yahweh.
Least we forget the Lord is myshepherd.
I shall not want.

(04:43):
Lord is my light and mysalvation.
Whom shall I fear?
God is my refuge and strength ofvery present help in time.
I'm talking about David, y'all.
David knew how to talk to Godand he walked with God.
We can say all we want aboutDavid's failures, but what
separated him for others is thatDavid was humble enough to admit

(05:06):
his wrongs.
He loved God enough to changehis ways to honor him.
The word David here is the idealleader.
That's what the chronicle istrying to show us.
He's the example, he's the modelfor leadership.
He's the man you want runningthe country, not this criminal.

(05:27):
He's the one that you want to bethe supervisor in your company
that you would work for.
He's the one that you reallywant pastoring your church and
leading your community.
He's the ideal leader, whichexplains why his soldiers made
such a great sacrifice for himin our text.
He was a leader they trusted,y'all.

(05:49):
He was a leader that they lovedand they would give their lives,
and at risk to themselves, theywent behind enemy lines like
some CIA operative on someNetflix series.
Just to get this man a coldglass of water.
And it started with what Davidsays to himself.

(06:10):
He's kind of in the cave, he'sreally to himself.
That's what most scholarsbelieve.
And he's really whispering underthe sound of his voice.
And he says this, oh, that Iwish that someone would get me a
glass of water.
He's whispering to himself,church.
He speaks out of his mind.
He speaks what he desires.

(06:31):
He's not trying to induce hismen to risk their lives for him
on a whim.
And that was common in thatculture.
Kings uh did not value the livesof their soldiers, and on a
whim, they would have them givetheir life.
That's not what David is doinghere.
Instead, he's hiding in a cave.
He's on the run from thePhilistines.

(06:51):
And many believe that this eventoccurs sometime during his reign
as king of Israel.
And somehow the Philistines haverun him out of his
administration and he's inhiding and he wishes for a cold
glass of water and he blurts itout out loud.
Anybody ever talk to themselves?

(07:12):
Just kind of wish a few thingsout loud?
My daddy said, as long as youdon't answer back, you ain't
crazy.
Amen.
That's what David is doing here.
He's wished it out loud.
He's talking to himself, and hisbuddies overhear him, his boys,
and they love him so much thatthey turned his wish into a

(07:32):
command.
And at great risk to theirlives, they broke through the
Philistine lines to get a glassof water for David.
Tell your neighbor, that'ssacrifice, that's love.
When David turns around andrealizes what the men had done
for him, he refused to drink it.

(07:52):
You mean to tell me we go behindenemy lines and we risk our
lives?
We on this clandestine missionfor you and you don't appreciate
it enough to at least take onesip of water?
David said, No, I can't do it.
Far be it for me that I wouldtake advantage of the sacrifice
of the men who care for me.

(08:14):
I would not be who I am if itwere not for these wonderful men
in my life.
He was a leader they couldtrust.
And here's my thesis statement.
And for men and sisters, for allof us, and here's ordinary
faith.
Ordinary faith relies on a goodexample of faith.

(08:35):
We all need a good example.
Really, when we talk aboutChristian discipleship, you can
have all the Bible, you can getall the theology, uh, you can
learn all of church history andall of Christian ethics and
philosophy.
But if you don't have a goodexample to follow to learn how

(08:58):
to live, it's gonna be verydifficult to live out the life
that God calls us to live.
We all need good examples.
Not just the pastor, we needrelatives, we need friends, we
need neighbors, we need elders,and we need young folk.

(09:18):
We need men, we need women, weneed young men and young women.
We need models, those who havegone where we're trying to go.
We all need a good example, andthe reason why the men were
willing to risk their lives isbecause God gave them a good
example.

(09:38):
Hear me well, brothers.
I know this is a struggle forus.
Many times the devil loves toput up the bad examples, but you
better hear me well for everybad example.
God's got a good example.
God's got somebody that you canfollow, somebody that you can
emulate, somebody who has gonewhere you're trying to go that
can help you be strong in yourfaith.

(10:01):
Doesn't mean they're perfect,doesn't mean they don't make
mistakes, but it does mean theyhave David-like characteristics.
They know how to walk with God,they know how to talk to Him,
they know how to deal with men,they know how to handle
difficult things in life, andthat example helps us to grow in
our faith.
Said it time and time again, butI believe every Christian ought

(10:23):
to have three types of people intheir life.
Number one, everybody ought tohave a Paul in your life.
Somebody you can look up to,somebody who's been where you're
trying to go, somebody that canremind you from where you came
from.
You want to know what's wrongwith the world, folk and forgot
where God has brought them from.

(10:44):
And sometimes we need thegeneration before us to remind
us of where God had brought usfrom.
Everybody needs a Paul in theirlife, but then everybody needs a
barnabas in their life.
A barnabas is somebody in yourgeneration, somebody who knows
your experience and knows howyou've been crafted and designed

(11:05):
different than previous orsubsequent generations.
Someone who can walk with youand understand the struggle that
you're in.
We all need a barnabas to knowthat we're not alone in this
foxhole called life.
But then also, we all need aTimothy.
Yeah, that's young folk.

(11:25):
Folk that come behind us.
Because the truth is we can getstagnant in our ways, we can get
stuck on ourselves, and God hasa way of using young people to
push us to our better selves, toremind us that God still has a
future, no matter how old youmay get.

(11:46):
We need good examples in ourlives if we're gonna be what God
calls us to be.
We need those examples, andthat's why I like my meditation
text right here, where it saysof David, he shepherded them
according to the integrity ofhis heart and guided them with
skillful hands.
But it says that God choseDavid, and he chose him because

(12:09):
he was tending sheep.
I like that.
And the Hebrew word there fortending is more than just the
general uh practice or thegeneral uh career of taking care
of sheep, it's very specific.
He had a habit of followingbehind sheep.
He knew where sheep had been.
And because he knew where sheephad been, he knew how to deal

(12:31):
with them where they were.
And to lead them where theyneeded to go, preach, Pastor.
In other words, he first had tolearn to follow sheep before he
could lead sheep.
Preach this thing.
I'm trying to preach it.
And that's what leadership is,brothers.
Leadership is not this crazy,uh, uh tyrannical leadership

(12:51):
that we see in the politicalarena.
But leadership starts wherepeople are to know where they've
been and to live where they'vebeen and then lead them where
they need to go.
We need that kind of example inour lives.
We need that kind of model inour lives that we might be the

(13:14):
mighty men that God calls us tobe.
Couple things, and I'm gonna beout of your way.
So, what does that look like?
Number one, an ordinary faithdoes not live for recognition.
Ordinary faith doesn't live forrecognition.
I say that because in this text,it says during the harvest time,
three of the 30 chief warriorscame down to David.

(13:35):
We don't know who they are.
Text never tells us who theseindividuals are.
There are plenty other storiesin this last four chapters, 21
through 24, of these kinds ofepisodes where men go unnamed.
And what they're remembered foris for what they did.

(13:57):
Because what we do will alwaysdefine who we really are.
That's where you get yourcharacter, that's where a sense
of who you are.
Sadly, we live in a day wherethe church has transformed the
sacred desk into a stage ofperformance.
It's about celebritiism in ourchurches when in fact Jesus is

(14:19):
the only celebrity that ought tobe on the stage.
And we must be mindful thatwe're not here to perform, but
hopefully by engaging thesupernatural presence of God,
we're transformed into the imageof who He is.
And this this is a reminder toall of us that really the old

(14:41):
religious cliche is appropriatehere.
Only what is done for Christwill last.
Be careful about chasingrecognition.
Now, recognition is notappreciation.
You ought to be appreciated forwho you are and for what you do.
God is not saying that we oughtnot be appreciated for our
sacrifices.

(15:02):
Tell your neighbor, don't takeit grant, don't take me for
granted.
Uh-uh.
Show me some appreciation everynow and then.
That's what we ought to do.
Recognition is more about myego.
Recognition is more about makingsure the spotlight is on me
rather than the one who put mein the spotlight.
God is not opposed toappreciation, but he is opposed

(15:25):
to opposed to personalrecognition to satisfy my ego.
A professor said it so well, hesays, it um he says, praise and
recognition is like perfume.
It has a wonderful whiff or ascent to it, but the last thing
you want to do is drink it.
And the problem today is a wholelot of folk is drinking

(15:48):
recognition at their demise.
And we wonder why ourcommunities are a mess and our
families are a mess and ourcountry is a mess, because no
one wants to be a leader the wayGod has made us leaders.
So I'm reminded of what Jesussaid to the Samaritan woman in
the Gospel of John.

(16:09):
He told her, after talking toher for a few minutes, go call
your husband.
She said, I don't have ahusband.
He said, That's the first timeyou spoke right.
Because you don't, you're right.
You don't have a husband.
You've had five husbands.
And the one you living with now,the one you living with now, the

(16:30):
one you living with now, you'llcatch it on the way home.
The one you living with now,that ain't even your husband.
You'll catch that on the wayhome.
And and she kind of in aroundabout way said, Why are you
getting in my business?
That's what she was saying.
And she said, Woman, I'm tryingto tell you that you that what
you're chasing will never quenchyour thirst.

(16:52):
You can chase every man on theplanet, you can chase the right
man and think you have the rightone.
But the only one who can quenchyour thirst is the man that's
standing in front of you.
What am I trying to say?
Status can't satisfy you.
But the one who gives complain,he is the one that can satisfy

(17:17):
me on the inside.
And can I testify for a moment?
If I stop chasing recognition, Ilearned a long time ago.
God has a way of blessing mewith what exactly I need.
He'll lift me up where nobodycan tear me down.

(17:39):
Number one, ordinary faith said,I'm not looking for recognition,
but I trust the Lord to bless meand to raise me up.
But then number two, ordinaryfaith conveys restoration.
That's what we see in this text.
These three mighty men, theybroke through the Philistine
line, verse 16.

(18:00):
Because they were concernedabout David.
They saw he was broken, y'all.
I'm gonna get to that in aminute.
He needed restoration.
Psalm 23 and 3 says, He restoresmy soul.
Redemption is not restoration.
Redemption seeks to secure mysoul in relationship with God.

(18:22):
Redemption is about mysalvation, it brings me into the
family of God.
Redemption forgives me andcleanses me of my sins and
removes the penalty of sin.
Redemption makes me born again.
Sometimes I get weary.
Sometimes I get thirsty.

(18:44):
Y'all don't hear me today.
Sometimes I get tired.
I'm not lost.
I haven't left the Lord, butsometimes life, as the young
folks say, be life in, and Idon't know if I can take another
step.
And in that moment, I don't needredemption, I need restoration
in my soul.

(19:08):
That's what David is trying totell us here.
It's kind of like what Asap saidin Psalm 73.
You ought to read that song.
ASAP said, I looked at thewicked and I looked at how well
they were doing.
And he said, I almost slipped.
Now he wasn't talking aboutslipping off the stage or
something, y'all.
No, he he was talking aboutslipping spiritually.

(19:30):
He said, I almost left the faithwhen I saw how well the wicked
were doing.
And here I am, scratching andclawing, trying to live right,
trying to do what God told me todo, and seem like I gotta fight
on every side.
But when I look at the wicked,look like their life is just as
smooth.
God, what are you doing here?
I almost slipped.

(19:53):
David here is in that placewhere he's about to slip y'all.
Because in 2 Samuel chapter 7,God had made a promise.
And that promise was that I'mgonna establish your throne
forever.
And here he is, he's been madethe king of Israel.
He's over the kingdom, but nowthe Philistines have run him out

(20:14):
of his administration.
He's back on the run.
Ah, here it is.
He's having a John the Baptistmoment.
Are you really the mother one tocome?
So when he asked for a cold,fresh, a fresh, cold glass of
water, he's wishing for thekingdom, y'all.
Maybe I misheard you.

(20:36):
You ain't never been therebefore.
Maybe I misheard you, God.
Did you really come to me?

SPEAKER_01 (20:43):
And thank God he had a great man who said, I'm not
gonna leave you in a place whereyou struggle.
I'm gonna help you come out.

SPEAKER_00 (20:57):
That's a mighty man of faith.
Hear me well, brothers.
Not about how much doctrine youknow, or how many scriptures you
know, or how much Hebrew youknow, or Greek you know, or who
you know, but when a brothergets down, can you help that
brother get back up?
Can you help him get back in thefight?
That's a man of faith, andthat's what these three brothers

(21:20):
do.
They said, I'm gonna help Davidget back in the fight.
That's what they do, they don'tleave him there.
Hear me well, people.
A good brother of ordinary faithis committed to helping a
brother remain at their best.
I'm not gonna let you slip.
You better hear me well when Isay that.

(21:42):
You gotta be careful about thepeople you surround yourself to
help you in dark times.
Hear me well.
When life goes around, make sureyou have the right kind of
mighty people of faith in yourlife.
Make sure you have friends like.
David and not friends like Job.

(22:04):
See, some folk got friends likeJob.
They'll be quiet for a few daysand act like they're your
friend.
But the moment you get down, andthe moment it looks like God may
have left you, they'll starttalking about you behind their
back.
Oh, I thought you were holy.
I thought you were a man of God.
I thought you were the woman ofGod.
And they'll be the first one tokick you when you're down.

(22:28):
Because the truth is, the onlyreason why they were your
friend, they were waiting foryou to fall.
Thank God David had some mightymen.

SPEAKER_01 (22:37):
They didn't condemn him for his struggles.
They didn't talk about him.
Look at him now.
They went and got what he neededto lift him up.

SPEAKER_00 (22:51):
I'm gonna say it like the songwriter said.
He said it so well.
If I can help somebody, I passalong.
If I can cheer somebody with theword or song, if I can show
somebody he's traveling wrong,then my living shall not be in
vain.
That's faith, y'all.
You don't need to make it deep.
When my heart is hurting, mylife is not going the way I

(23:15):
want.
I I don't want to hear ascripture.
No, show me that God is still onmy side.
Show me that God has notabandoned me.
Show me that God is still on thethrone.
Let me know that God is stillworking behind the scenes, and
for some reason I can't see whatGod is doing.

(23:36):
Put some glasses on me so I cansee that God is still in
control.
Ordinary faith knows how toshare restoration.
Let me last one out of here.
I'm feeling all right.
Ordinary faith honors God withreference.
Oh, I love this.
So these three brothers, theylove David so much.

(23:59):
Go behind enemy lines, retrievea glass of water, brings it to
David.
And David pours it out on theground.
And that's how it would havebeen.
David said, No, I can't do it.
David said, I know I can make itif it wasn't for y'all.

(24:25):
And you helped me be my best.
So I would never ask you to dosomething that I wouldn't do
myself.
That's the first thing he said.
He said, I appreciate y'all somuch for the sacrifice.
I want you to know I do the samething for you.

(24:49):
Say it, but that's a friendright there.
That's a man of faith.
That's a woman of faith whosaid, I'm not gonna take
advantage of you in yourvulnerable moment, but more than
anything, I will go the extramile to let you know how much I
care for you.
But then David offers it as adrink offering.
And the drink offering in theOld Testament was an offering of

(25:11):
thanksgiving.
So David here, it's an act ofworship.
He's giving thanks.
Why is that?
Because David is basicallysaying, as a king, I never would
have given y'all the order.
If I had known that this is whatyou all were trying to do, I
would have said, No, you can'tdo it.
I would have, I would havebroken up the command.
But God knew what I needed.

(25:33):
God knew I was slipping, y'all.
God knew I was losing my grip.

SPEAKER_01 (25:39):
And though I never would have given the order,
aren't you glad God overruledyou and gave you what you need?
Does anybody in here know thatGod knows how to give you what
you need?
That's what he did.
So David said, I'm gonna givethanks.

SPEAKER_00 (25:59):
It didn't go the way I wanted, but thank God God was
involved.
Let me close with this.
And so I was out somewhere thisweek, and I was in, and it's
amazing as a pastor, some of thethings people will ask me.
They will ask me some of thecraziest things.
And it happened again this week.
And so you know this whole weekit's been overcast.

(26:19):
No sun, just dreary rain.
And one person, bless theirheart.
I'm not gonna call their name asmuch as I want to so badly.
Help me, Jesus.
Not gonna do that.
They said, Pastor, is itpossible that you can pray and
do something about the weather?

(26:43):
I said, You serious?
And they said, Yeah, I'mserious.
I said, Let me tell yousomething.
I learned a long time ago, nomatter what happens in life, it
could, I know it's dreary, butit could have been a hurricane.
So the only thing I know how todo is give thanks.
I thank him when it's sunshine,and I thank them when it's

(27:03):
raining.
I thank them when it's snowing,and I thank him when it's hot.
I'm gonna give thanks no matterwhat.
Because I know it could beworse.
But in spite of that, Godcontinues to preserve me in the
midst of what I'm going through.
And that's my word to anybodywith ordinary faith that no
matter where you are, you oughtto always give him thanks.

(27:27):
I'm gonna say thank you, Lord,for watching over me when I
couldn't watch over myself.

SPEAKER_01 (27:33):
Thank you, Lord, because you kept me sane through
this craziness.
Thank you, Lord, because youstill have a plan, even though
they're trying to tear up ourrights today.
Thank you, Lord, because youstill on the throne.
Thank you, Lord, because Jesushung blood and died 2,000 years

(27:55):
ago, and you paid the penaltyfor my sins, but thank you,
Lord.
He didn't stay dead, but earlyon a Sunday morning, he got up
with all power.
Thank you, Lord, and Jesus gotup.
I'm gonna get up.
Grandmama gonna get up.
All of us gonna get up.

(28:17):
Thank God! He's on my side allthe time.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Thank you, Lord!

SPEAKER_00 (28:35):
Can't do nothing about the weather, but I can
always give thanks.
And I'm gonna give thanksbecause my God is good.
All the time.
And all the time my God is good.
Come on, give the Lord a handcap of praise with me.