The David Family
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Psalm 18:1 – 20
Psalm 18:1 – 20
Introduction: As we begin
Let me read you something
I found
The other day
It says
"I often wish
that I could lie down
and sleep
without waking.
But I will fight it out
if I can."
So wrote
one of the bravest,
most inspiring men
who ever lived,
Sir Walter Scott.
Because see
In his 56th year,
failing in health,
his wife dying
of an incurable disease,
Scott was in debt
a half million dollars.
Because
a publishing firm
he had invested in
had collapsed.
now
He could have taken
bankruptcy,
but Instead
He engaged
in a valiant effort
to pay off the debt
before he died.
And although
Scandal
Rocked
his world
He kept on
Keeping on.
and…
With that in mind
Let’s read our text
For this evening
The Bible says
In Psalm 18:1–6 “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me, And the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: The snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of his temple, And my cry came before him, even into his ears.”
Let’s go to the Lord
In a word of prayer
(Pray)
I. Consider David’s successes
Declaration
Now then
Psalm 18
Was written
by David
Not long after
God had given him victory
Over All his enemies
Including king Saul.
and...
Listen again
to
Versus 2 – 3
David said
(Psalm 18:2–3 “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
now
Psalm 18
was composed
after David
was firmly established
as king of Israel.
and
this Psalm
Reflected
on roughly fifteen years
of turmoil,
That David had.
it served
as a testament
t to God
as
a rock,
And as a fortress,
and a deliverer.
And by the way
The God whom we serve
Still functions
In those capacities.
He is our Rock!
That word
By the way
Refers metaphorically
To God
As an immovable
Secure
And faithful source of strength
Protection
And even salvation
For David
During a tumultuous time
In his life.
And
While God
Was David’s Rock
That’s true...
He is likewise
Our Rock...
That
When we lack strength...
He is
Our Strength.
When we lack
Protection
God is
Our Protector!
Likewise
Our God
Is a fortress for us too.
And that word fortress
Refers metaphorically
To a place
Of shelter.
And aren’t you so glad
That our God
Is a Shelter
In the time of storm?
Man
I am!
And don’t you love that song
Written by Vernon Charlesworth
A British pastor
In the 1800s?
He wrote...
The Lord’s our rock,
in Him we hide,
A shelter
in the time
of storm;
Secure whatever ill betide,
A shelter
in the time of storm.
But the point is
We can say with David
That
God
Is both our Rock
And our Fortress
He is our Deliverer
Just like He was
For David
Discussion
Now then
For the last several months
We’ve been talking about
Family lessons.
We have been
Looking
At one family
From the Bible
And then
Endeavoring
To glean lessons
From their life.
And
We looked at
The Adam family
The Noah family
the Enoch family
The Abraham family
Including
The Isaac family
The Jacob family
The Joseph family
We then
Looked at
The Joshua family
And last week
We talked about
The Jesse family.
But this evening
Let’s talk about
The David family.
Now
We could spend weeks
Talking about his family.
There are so many lessons
We could learn
From his life.
But there is one overriding lesson
That I want us
To talk about tonight.
And
That lesson
Is is simply this...
David
Is a lot like us
In many respects.
Because see
Like all of us
David
Had many successes
And
David
Had a few scandals
But David
Didn’t allow his Scandals
To dissuade him
From the service
Of the Lord.
And that was his life
And I suspect
It is ours too
So
Let’s talk about
The David family
This evening
For the next few minutes.
And the way
of information…
King David
Was the second king of Israel,
he was
a leader
yet
he was
a shepherd.
We talked about that last week.
He was likewise
a musician,
and a warrior
who
unified Israel
and Judah,
making Jerusalem
his capital.
And we talked about the fact
That David
was Known
for defeating the giant
Goliath,
And
As we will
talk about
In a few minutes here...
he authored
many Psalms.
And there’s one thing...
That I want to reiterate
And that is
God described him....
as
"a man after God's own heart,"
What a tremendous thought.
That phrase
By the way
Means that David’s heart
Aligned
With God’s will.
And that he loved…
What God loved!
And that he obeyed
the Lord.
Now
We Could preach
An entire sermon
About those things.
and...
How important it is
Even today
To have a heart
That is an alignment
With the will of God
And to love
What God loves.
Because
I’ll be honest
There are some things
God doesn’t love.
God doesn’t love sin
God doesn’t love
The philosophy
Of society today
By and large
God
Doesn’t love
When people hurt the saints
And oh how we need
A heart
That is in alignment
With the will of God
And that loves
What God loves
and....
God
Loves the saints
God loves
The Sanctuary
That is
The local church.
And because God
loves those things
And if I want to be
A man
After God’s own heart
Then
I’ll need to love
Those things as well
Deliberation
Now
By way of review
David
Was born in Bethlehem,
he was the youngest son
of Jesse
He was from the tribe
of Judah.
And in 1 Samuel 16
he
was anointed
by the prophet Samuel
to replace King Saul.
And right after
David Defeated Goliath…
King Saul
Took a personal interest
In David.
In fact
Following the victory
Over the Philistine giant
Saul permanently kept David
in his service,
As a musician.
But eventually …
Saul
appointed David
As the leader
over his armies.
In fact
Keep your place here
In Psalm 18
And turn back
To the book of 1 Samuel
1 Samuel 17
And read with me
Versus 57– 58
The Bible says
In 1 Samuel 17:57–58 “And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.”
And
In chapter 18
The Bible goes on to say
(1 Samuel 18:1–2 “And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house.”
And from that day on
David had a series
Of great successes!
In fact
If you know Bible history
And
If you know
The book of 1 Samuel
You know then
That
Following his promotion...
David led successful,
often unspecified, battles
against the Philistines.
he went
wherever Saul
sent him,
acting wisely,
commanding units
of 1,000 men,
and winning favor
with the people
and Saul's servants.
so
David
Was not only successful
Militarily
But he was successful
With people as well.
What an important thing.
David Likewise...
helped save the city
of Keilah
from the Philistines.
And to see that
Turn
To 1 Samuel 23
And let’s read
The first 13 verses
The Bible says
In 1 Samuel 23:1–13 “Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshingfloors. Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. And David’s men said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars. And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod. Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, He will come down. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up. Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth.”
So
Even as David
Was having successes
well...
at the same time too
He was having
Roadblocks
Hindrances.
King Saul
Was a great hindrance
to David
And
There is a lesson here
For all of us
That as we endeavor
To be successful
For our God
Satan
Will always endeavor
To hinder us.
Because
he wants us
To be inundated
By failure.
But we must not quit.
And David didn’t!
David and his men
Even
] With all the hindrances
They faced
David
And his men
saved the city
of Keilah
by defeating a Philistine force
and capturing their livestock.
And
The Bible notes
that whenever
"war
broke out again,"
David would go out
and strike
the Philistines
with such force
that they fled
before him.
My
How successful
David had become
Even before being king.
By the way
We don’t have to wait
Until we become
Some great leader
To try to be successful
For our God.
In fact
Success In God’s eyes
is not measured
By what we do
But why we do
What we do.
So David
Was endeavoring
To save
The people...
Of the Lord God
of heaven
Because again
As I said last week
David had the right perspective
On God.
But then
After becoming king
over all Israel,
David went on
to defeat the Philistines
in separate battles,
preventing them
from further attacking.
and ultimately
David captured
their stronghold, Gath
The Bible says
In 1 Chronicles 18:1 “Now after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines.”
And let me say that
Capturing Gath
broke the Philistine axis
of power
and
reclaimed territory
promised to Israel
By the Lord God.
But let us not forget
That David’s victories
Came from God
David successes
Came to him
Through the power of God
And
David no doubt
Understood that.
And whenever God gives us
Great victories
We Ought to be
Like David.
For example
When David gained victory
Over the lion
And over the bear
he
Didn’t take
The credit for himself
He didn’t say
Saul
You don’t have to worry about Goliath
I’ll take care of him
Just like I
Personally
Took care of a lion
and a bear
All by myself
That’s
Not what David said
Let me read it for you
in 1 Samuel 17:34–37 “And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.”
And the point is
David gave glory
To God
And I guess
That
Was David’s
greatest success
He
Was a man
Who gave glory to God
For all that He does
I’m reminded
Of something David said
In Psalm 86
Let me read it
(Psalm 86:12 “I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: And I will glorify thy name for evermore.”
And
Listen please
Every one of us
Ought to praise God
For what He does.
That if our Choir sings well
We ought to say
Praise God
For helping them
That if
Our Sunday school class
Goes well
Next Sunday
And we have a successful day
We ought to say
Glory to God
For helping us
That
If our business meeting
Goes well
We ought to say
Glory to God
That if we see someone
Come to know Christ
Through our personal witness
We ought to say
God be praised
For this salvation
Determination
What
I’m saying is
If God gives us success
Of any kind
Then our greatest success
Is giving Him
the praise
For helping us
With our successes.
So
Let me ask you
When you have success
On your job
Do you praise the Lord?
When you have success
In doing a project
Around your house...
Do you praise the Lord?
When
You have success
Where your family is concerned
Do you say
Blessed be the name
Of the Lord?
Or do you rather say
Look what I...
have accomplished?
Oh
Listen please
the greatest success
We can ever achieve
Is to recognize
That God is our fortress
God is our rock
Its just like David said
(Psalm 18:1–3 “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
II. Consider David’s scandals
Declaration
But
As we think about
David’s successes
We must not miss
David’s scandals.
Because see
Eventually
David got married
In fact
Michal
was David’s first wife
and King Saul’s daughter.
David paid double
the requested dowry
when he presented Saul
with 200 Philistine foreskins
for her hand in marriage
then
Abigail
became David’s second wife
while he was on the run
from King Saul.
Scripture describes her
as intelligent
and beautiful.
Ahinoam
was David’s third wife,
but Scripture lists her
before Abigail
because she is known as the mother
of David’s first son,
Amnon.
And
Amnon
Was one of David’s scandals.
But before we talk about
Amnon..
We must not forget
That on one occasion
While David’s men
Were out fighting the enemy
David
Stayed home
In fact
Turn if you would
To 2 Samuel
And Chapter 11
And read with me
The first 4 versus
The Bible says
(2 Samuel 11:1–4 “And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.”
My
What a scandal
That was.
But unfortunately
The scandal...
Didn’t end there.
In fact
Let’s read
Versus 5 – 15
)(2 Samuel 11:5–15 “And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.”
Now
I want you
To think about that.
David
A man after God’s own heart
A man
Whose heart
Had been in alignment
With the will of God
A man
Who had endeavored....
To love what God loved
And hate
What God hated.
Yet in 2 Samuel 11
This man
After God’s own heart
Was engaging
in Scandal
he
Has committed gross adultery
And now
He was plotting to murder
This woman’s husband.
And the obvious question is
How do you go
From being a man
After God’s own heart
To engaging in scandal
Like David had?
Well
That’s easy.
It happened
Because momentarily…
David took his eyes
Off of the Lord.
and my dear friend
That very same thing
Could happen to us
If we are not careful.
If
We take our eyes
Off of the Lord
For just a moment
We can be
Out of the will of God
And in a terrible place!
So
It would behoove us
To be
Where we are supposed to be
And to keep our eyes
On the Lord!
see
David
Should have been
Where the other kings were.
(2 Samuel 11:1 “And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.” )
Had
David been
Where the other kings were…
He wouldn’t have gotten
into that scandal.
And there’s a lesson
For all of us
This Evening
Discussion
That
if you want
to overcome scandal
In your life
Then you be
Where you’re supposed to be.
You be doing
What you’re supposed to do.
It’s kind of like...
The proverb
That
Solomon wrote
He said
In Proverbs 16:3 “Commit thy works unto the Lord, And thy thoughts shall be established.”
Well unfortunately
David
Didn’t do that
In 2 Samuel 11.
He Wasn’t with
All the other kings
Doing the work
That he was supposed to be doing
And therefore
His thoughts drifted
To a place
They ought not
to have been.
And the lesson is clear
We
Might be able
To avoid scandal
In our life
If we will just be
Where God wants us
To be..
Doing
What God wants us
To be doing.
But
Approximately two years later
Another scandal
Rocked
David’s house
Rocked
David’s family.
In fact
If you’re still in 2 Samuel
Turn
If you would please
To chapter 13
And read with me
Versus 1 – 14
The Bible says
In 2 Samuel 13:1–14 “And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any thing to her. But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man. And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king’s son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister. And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed, and make thyself sick: and when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come, and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand. So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick: and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand. Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to thy brother Amnon’s house, and dress him meat. So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was laid down. And she took flour, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes. And she took a pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, Have out all men from me. And they went out every man from him. And Amnon said unto Tamar, Bring the meat into the chamber, that I may eat of thine hand. And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother. And when she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come lie with me, my sister. And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly. And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee. Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her.”
My
What a terrible scandal
That was
The David family
Was rocked
By an awful scandal.
But the scandal
Didn’t end here
Because listen
to versus 20 – 21
2 Samuel 13:20–21 “And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? but hold now thy peace, my sister: he is thy brother; regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom’s house. But when king David heard of all these things, he was very wroth.”
But
As you continue reading
You find
That David
Didn’t do anything
To his son Amnon
As a matter fact
While David
was enraged,
yet
he failed
to take action
against Amnon,
his firstborn,
which prompted Tamar's
full brother Absalom
, to plot revenge
and kill Amnon
two years later.
Oh
What scandal.
By the way
Sometimes scandals rock us
Through no fault
Of our own.
And sometimes scandals rock us
Through negligence
On our part...
Or through disobedience!
Let's see
David
Had gotten his eyes off God
In Chapter 11.
But two years later
David was negligent
With regards to discipline
Where Amnon was concerned
and it cost that young man
His life.
Oh but
The Scandal
In the David family
Did not end there.
Because ...
And this is important.
But because
of David’s failure
to administer justice
or discipline
of his firstborn son ...
that
left a vacuum
that allowed Absalom
to harbor deep resentment
for two years.
By the way
Resentment and bitterness
Are terrible things
The Bible says
In Hebrews 12:15 “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”
By the way
Do you know
What that Word defiled
Means?
It means to taint
It means…
To evoke scandal.
David's inaction...
Caused further scandal
In his family
Because
After two years
of waiting,
Absalom
took vengeance
into his own hands.
He invited all the king’s sons
to a feast
and Then
he
ordered his servants
to kill Amnon
What an awful thing.
But the scandal
Did not end there
Because
Following the murder,
Absalom
fled to Geshur,
the home
of his maternal grandfather,
where he stayed
for three years
to escape David’s wrath.
So now
In the David family
There has been rape
Murder
And now isolation
Of one of David’s sons.
And let me tell you...
These things Weren't done
In secret.
No
Everybody in the kingdom
Knew what was going on
But then
In chapter 14:22 – 33
Joab,...
David’s army commander....
arranged for Absalom
to return to Jerusalem.
but David
refused to see him
for another two years,
keeping Amnon
in a state
of partial exile.
and
This forced separation ...
worsened
the relationship
between father and son.
And by the way
That was a mistake
On David’s part.
His own sinful heart
Made matters worse!!
Because
In chapter 15:1 – 6
Upon returning,...
Absalom
began a four-year campaign
to undermine David.
He positioned himself
at the city gate,
acting as a charismatic,
accessible judge for those
with grievances,
telling them:
"If only I were appointed judge
in the land!
Then everyone
who has a complaint...
could come to me
and I would see
that they receive justice".
And
In verses 7 – 12
of Chapter 15
Absalom requested permission
from David
to go to Hebron
under the pretext
of fulfilling
a religious vow made
during his exile.
but
Once there,
he sent secret messages
throughout Israel,
declaring himself king,
and gained the support
of Ahithophel,
one of David’s most trusted counselors.
And
To make a long story short
David almost lost
Not only the kingdom
But his life
And the life
Of the rest of his family…
Because of a scandal...
That
Was precipitated
By his own negligence
Determination
And
There is
An important lesson for us
Right about now.
Sometimes
Scandal just finds you
Through no fault of your own.
But on the other hand
Sometimes
You find scandal
Because of negligence
Or spiritual carelessness.
So it is so important for us
To be spiritually careful.....
How we live our lives.
So that we can
At the very least
Minimize scandal
In our lives
Because
Scandals
Can hinder the work of the ministry
Can’t they?
I’ve seen it happen
And it is very hurtful.
Scandal
Can hinder
The work of the ministry
It
Hindered David’s ministry
As the king of Israel.
But
Thank the Lord
God is gracious…
That even though David
Precipitated
Much of the scandal
In his life…
Yet
God graciously
Eliminated the scandal
And
David
Was able to continue
To minister
To God’s people
And
Aren’t you glad
For the grace of God
That God gives you
What you don’t deserve sometimes
He gives you grace?
But
Now that we have talked about
David’s successes.
And he had many…
In his tenure
Before becoming King
And after becoming king.
But David had some successes
And
David’s life
Was sometimes rocked by scandal
Much…
Of which was brought about
By his own negligence
Or spiritual carelessness
But
Now that we
Have talked about
David’s Successes
And David’s scandals
III. Consider David’s service (sweetness)
Declaration
Let’s conclude
This evening
By considering
David’s service.
In spite of David’s scandals
David had a desire
To serve the Lord
By serving people.
And serve he did!
For example
David wrote somewhere
Between 73
And 75 Psalms
And Psalms by the way
Were songs
Written
To minister to the hearts
Of people
While ministering to the heart
Of God
Psalms
Like
Psalm 18:1–3 “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
And Psalms
Like Psalm 23 “A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
And Psalms
Like Psalm 103:1–5 “Bless the Lord, O my soul: And all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
And
listen please
Writing these Psalms
Were acts of service
For David’s God
And David’s people.
And
they are still ministering
To people today!
But
Not only
Did David serve God
By writing beautiful songs
But David also prepared
For the building of the sanctuary
The temple
In fact
The Bible says
In 1 Chronicles 22:1–5 “Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight; Also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David. And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.”
and
According
to 1 Chronicles 29,
King David personally donated
3,000 talents
of gold
roughly 112–113 tons
and 7,000 talents
of silver
roughly 260–263 tons
from
his personal treasury
for the temple.
And modern estimations
suggest the value
of this personal contribution,
along with other preparations
Exceeded billions of dollars
so
I would say
That even though
David
Had had scandals...
David never lost
his desire
To serve the Lord
Determination
And then
There is us...
Do you have a desire
To use whatever you have
To serve the Lord...
Whether or not
People oppose you?
Whether or not
Scandal
Rocks your world?
That
Even if it does
You brush yourself off
And just keep trying
To serve the Lord?
Well David did
And God used him
And is still using him
In a mighty way
And
In just a few moments
You might need
To come to the altar
To commit your way unto the Lord
And to ask God
To help you serve Him
And His people
The way you should
No matter what happens
In your life!
Conclusion: Let’s close in prayer
