Empty to Filled week 1

“Filled with Encouragement”

Introduction:

Today, we begin our sermon series that I have entitled “Empty to Filled”

A few weeks ago, I spoke on the level in our emotional tank.

I asked you how full your tank was.

Many of you acknowledged that your tank is pretty low if not empty and running on fumes.

I believe we all have experienced times or even seasons when we have felt a sense of emptiness. But rather than focus on the side of emptiness, I want to discuss how we can receive fullness in the place of emptiness.

In a few weeks, we will celebrate Easter.

Easter is a time to reflect on an empty tomb.

Our reflection on the emptiness of the tomb reveals the resurrection of Christ.

The tomb was empty because it became filled with life.

As we work our way to the emptiness of the tomb, I want to talk about different aspects of our lives where we can become empty, but equally where we can become filled with the resurrection life of Christ.

To get started, I want to take us to an Old Testament story found in 1 Samuel. The setting is David running for his life from King Saul’s attempts to take his life.

Loss and Despair:

If anyone had a reason to feel empty, it must have been David.

He didn’t do a single thing wrong, yet Saul was attempting to kill him.

David ran for his life, only to find himself at one point in back of a cave named Adullam.

A group of 400 men gathered to David in the cave who Scripture describes as “everyone who was in distress, in debt, and who was bitter in soul.”

David continued to make the right choices.

Eventually, things got so bad that David actually lived with his enemies in order to remain safe from Saul.

We pick up our story as David and his men are returning from battle only to find that their houses have been burned down, and their families taken captive.

Text: 1 Samuel 30:1-6

1 Samuel 30:1–6 (ESV)

Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way.

And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David’s two wives also had been taken captive . . .

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Opening Observation:

The enemy attacked while David and his men were gone.

The enemy took what meant the most to them.

David and his men grieved their loss until they couldn’t cry anymore.

It went from bad to worse as the men started talking about taking their grief out on David.

Even in the midst of great loss and conflict, David found a way to encourage himself.

I believe this ability to encourage ourselves in the Lord is the key in living a filled life.

Until we learn how to encourage ourselves in the Lord, like David did on this overwhelming day, we will continue to find ourselves remaining in a place of unsustainable emptiness.

I believe there was a place David went in order to encourage himself.

It is a place of encounter with God.

It is a place of embrace of God’s presence.

It is a place of encouragement.

This place of David went to . . . where was this place, and How did David encourage himself in the Lord?

The text doesn’t tell us the specifics of how David encouraged himself.

We can only draw conclusions based on other portions of Scripture which describe who David was and his relationship with God.

It is one of the most famous stories in all of Scripture.

David the young shepherd boy picked up stones and carried a slingshot into battle against all odds as he faced a giant with battle experience.

Listen to what David says to Goliath on the battlefield?

1 Samuel 17:45 ESV

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

Where did David develop this courage?

We must go back a little further to find the answer.

English Standard Version (Chapter 17)

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

37 And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”

I believe David learned how to fight in the secret place of training:

Keeping sheep on the backside of the desert.

A place of obscurity.

A place unseen

A place forgotten

Forgotten by his Dad when Samuel came looking to anoint the next king.

A place of preparation

Lessons learned in the secret place prepare us for the public place.

David learned how to fight.

Sparring partners; a lion and a bear.

Success in the secret place prepares us for success in the public place.

Here is a truth about the secret place:

If I forfeit the secret place of training I will not be prepared for the public battle.

David needed the time caring for the sheep to develop him.

If David had not fought the lion and the bear, it is possible he would not have been prepared to fight Goliath.

One of the biggest challenges of the secret place’s development is the need for patience.

If I attempt to rush the process, I will miss some of the needed training.

The secret place takes time to not only learn skills and information, but more importantly, time for heart preparation.

The development that took place in David’s heart while caring for the sheep taught him how to “encourage himself in the Lord.”

The secret place is not a one time event.

There are times when I need to go back to the secret place for further training.

I go back to the secret place when my problems seem bigger than God’s promises.

I go back to the secret place when I need to remember God’s redemption. How He delivered me from the lion and the bear.

I go back to the secret place when I’m empty and need to become filled with encouragement.

Encouragement comes as I remember God’s faithfulness in the secret place.

The secret place reminds us of past victories which bring courage for current battles.

When David prepared to fight Goliath, he remembered God’s deliverance in the secret place.

I would imagine when David was getting ready to rescue his family, he remembered God’s rescue from Goliath on the battlefield.

The same holds true for us. We can remember the past times God brought the answers when faced with our current questions.

Where is your secret place?

Where is the place you go to learn how to fight?

Where is the place you go when you need to remember God’s faithfulness?

Where is the place you go when you need to be filled with God’s encouragement?

In summary . . .

We may not fight lions, bears, or giants today.

We may not have the experience of rescuing our sons and daughters.

We may not face stones in the hands of those we have faithfully led.

But . . .

We all need to learn how to encourage ourselves in the Lord.

The place we go to learn this lesson is the secret place.

Prayer . . .

Father, thank you for the secret place.

It is the place where You and I meet.

It’s the place where You teach me how to fight and how to have faith.

Father, I ask that You would help us return to the secret place often, so that we can fill the emptiness of our hearts with the fullness of Your encouragement.

Lord, I ask that hearing stories like David’s would become more to us than just a story.

I ask that You would enable us to live a life of bold faith and trust in the face of opposition and emptiness.

Jesus, I ask that You would fill us with Your resurrection life.

I ask this in Your name. Amen!