What if?

I think it’s quite humorous sometimes how God works, because I would be willing to bet that if God had given David the opportunity to pick 400 men to come alongside him, he would not have picked the men that came to him in the cave of Adullum! But apparently these are the kind of people that God picks!

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. (1 Cor 1:26)

In other words God often chooses the people that others might pass by to do His calling, He chooses people that the world might disregard.

• God will work through those that are not wise to do things that the wise could not fathom.
• God will take those who are not mighty to do things that the mighty could only dream about.
• God will take those who are not noble and elevate them to the highest positions in heaven!

Think about the disciples that Jesus picked: Most were fisherman (not a highly esteemed profession); one was a tax collector, and one a revolutionary. The Gospels record the constant failings of these men, the struggles, and the doubts of these twelve men who followed Jesus Christ. Yet it was these twelve men, when submitted to God and filled with the Holy Spirit, that set the world on fire for Jesus Christ!

These 400 men will come to be known, from that time until now, as “David’s Mighty Men.”

Mighty men of valor, men trained for battle, who could handle the shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as gazelles on the mountains. (1 Chronicles 12:8)

This was a group that became renown throughout the land. When these guys showed up, you’d better look out because something big was gonna happen! Enemies would scatter, the oppressed would be set free, and God’s name would be glorified!

What If?
What if - God did something like that here at our church? I look around our church, and I’m not down on anyone, but in all honesty we are not the church of the “rich and powerful”. I don’t see a lot of Escalades in the parking lot. I haven’t been invited to hang out on a yacht.

But what we DO have is a group of people that are:
#1 We are familiar with the distress that sin can bring into our lives, and we don’t ever want to go back there.
#2 We are a people that have been delivered from the distress of sin, and we understand how spiritually impoverished we are without Christ.
#3 We are a group of people that are not content with the things of this world, we seek a higher calling!

See when God determines to do something great, He doesn't look for the wise, the mighty, or the noble. He looks for people that understand that if ANYTHING is going to happen, it will be God that does it!

What if we became known in this town as “God’s mighty men and women”, that when we come together in the name of the Lord, you better look out, something big is going to happen! Demonic hosts would scatter, the oppressed would be set free, chains of bondage would be broken, and God’s name would be glorified!

Our church is filled with people that have been set free, redeemed, and filled with the Holy Spirit of God, and we all know people that are STILL distressed, oppressed, indebted, and discontent.

What if were bold enough to say “hey, you need to come to our church, because God is moving, and when our people pray over you, something BIG is going to happen!”

You might think “that’s a big statement,” and it is. But we serve a BIG God!

Band of Losers

“Man, I sure could use some company. Someone... anyone!” 

These might have been the words of David as he departed from Gath, and went to the cave of Adullam. David was in an even bigger jam now.  He couldn’t go home, he couldn’t go to Jonathan, he couldn’t go to Samuel, he couldn’t go to the tabernacle, he couldn’t even go to his enemies!  To be alone at a time like this is pretty tough indeed.  There is no one to talk to, no one to share your misery with, no one to strategize the next move with.  No one except the snakes in the cave!

But God is not going to leave David alone.  As always, our God knows where David is at, He knows exactly what David needs, and God is about to send some support to David.  But the men God sends might not be the men David would have picked.  God is going to send four hundred men who are distressed, indebted, and discontent.  In other words, God is going to send David a “Band of Losers.”  “Wow, thanks God!”   

But interestingly, this Band of Losers are going to become “David’s Mighty Men”, as we are told in 1 Chronicles:

Mighty men of valor, men trained for battle, who could handle the shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as gazelles on the mountains. (1 Chronicles 12:8)

But that does seem to be how God works; He uses the weak, the broken, the foolish, to do great and mighty things in His Kingdom.  The Apostle Paul understood this:

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. (1 Cor 1:26-28)

Join us Sunday as we break into 1 Samuel 22, “Band of Losers”.

... till the whole world hears,

Pastor Clay

Successful Failure

This Sunday we’ll be going back into 1 Samuel chapter 21, as we follow David's journey as an outcast and an enemy of the state.  During the first few months of his time on the run, David is going to make some decisions that are, well I’ll just say it, STUPID.  David is going to do things that are a far cry from the young man that stepped out to meet the giant of Gath with nothing more than a slingshot and the power of God. Lying to a priest, running to the capital city of the enemy, feigning insanity, these are not the actions of a man who is walking in the spirit and power of the Lord!  These are the actions of a desperate man, doing whatever he can to save his skin. 

If we happened to be living in that time, and were watching that situation, we might take the position that David was pretty much washed up.  We might think that David had fallen so low, that we might as well write him off, and maybe we should start praying for another king who could replace Saul.  

But if we thought that, we would be wrong. Sunday we are going to learn that God doesn’t write people off. We will learn that no matter how far we fall, God always has a way to turn our ashes into beauty.

Join us Sunday for 1 Samuel 21, for “Successful Failure”.

... till the whole world hears,

Pastor Clay