Charlie Hughes - I Learned My Lesson

Good morning, good morning. Is anybody glad to be in the house of the Lord today? Put your hands together if you love Jesus. Good to see you. I'll tell you what, I know there's a lot of places you can be on a Sunday during Memorial Day weekend, but there's no better place to be than Church by the Glades. Does anybody know that to be true? You look good, you sound good. You guys are worshiping like rent was due or something, man. How good was that? How rude of me. My name is Pastor Charlie Hughes. I have the honor of leading the young adult movement of this church for people between the ages of 18 and 30 called Rally. And this upcoming Friday night at First Baptist Fort Lauderdale in the heart of downtown at the ripe hour at 8 p.m., Rally is going down. But it won't be the same without you young adults. So if you are between the ages of 18 and 30, we encourage you, pull up for an encouraging message. I'll be preaching a different message on Friday night from the one I'm getting ready to preach right now. There'll be awesome worship, creativity, an after party, and many, many, many, many, many, many young adults who would love to be your friends. So come rally with us this Friday night. Put your hands together.

If you think every young adult should be there, it's gonna be awesome. But I am so excited to preach today. Somebody say today. Today. I believe God wants to speak to you today. I'm tickled to preach today. Can I even say that? I'm just that excited. Like, I'm so excited. I just wanna give you the title of my sermon just right now without any preface or explanation. The title of today's sermon is this, I've Learned My Lesson. Look at somebody you're sitting next to and tell them, you're gonna learn your lesson today. You're gonna learn your lesson today. Because in 1 Samuel chapter 30, 1 Samuel chapter 30, if you have a Bible, you can take it out. You can turn it on. 1 Samuel chapter 30 is where we're going to be. And in 1 Samuel chapter 30, we find the one, the only, you know him, you love him. We find David in the process and on the journey of learning a lesson the hard way that today I'm hoping and praying we can just learn from his example. Because wise people receive their education from the tuition that someone else paid. Wise people say, I'm cool and perfectly fine

with learning this lesson secondhand if learning this lesson firsthand means that I have to throw hands. So today I'm hoping we can just learn this lesson from David's example. We're gonna read the first six verses of 1 Samuel chapter 30. And the sixth verse, forgive me, we're going to switch to the King James version. It's old school just because I like the way it sounds. Beginning in verse one, the word of the Lord reads this, then it happened. When David and his men came to Ziklag, somebody say Ziklag. On the third day, they discovered that the Amalekites had carried out an attack on the Negev and on Ziklag and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire. And they took captive the woman and all who were in it from small to great, from young to old without killing anyone and drove them off and went their way. When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire and their wives, their sons, their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him, his mighty men, they raised their voices and wept until there was no strength even left in them to weep. Have you ever felt like the fire around you put out the fire within you? David and his men can relate.

Now David's two wives had been taken captive whose names I cannot pronounce, so I'm going to skip over them. And the widow of Nabal, the Carmelite. In verse six, King James Version now, and David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved. Every man for his sons and for his daughters, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. You know, they say that preachers and professional fighters are a lot alike. Who says that? Don't worry about it. Because much like how before a professional fighter ever steps in a ring or in an octagon, they go through extensive training and serious preparation. I may not be wearing a mouthpiece or have gloves on my hands, but I brought a sword and you best believe I trained and prepared just as seriously. Because preaching the word of God is not a game to me. It's not something I take lightly, so I would not dare disrespect this moment, all of you, and definitely not God, by getting up here, opening up my Bible and just winging it. No, I would never do that. But also, I believe the job of a preacher is much like that of the job of a professional fighter in that a professional fighter may have a corner, people outside the ring who are coaching them

and encouraging them during the fight, but in the ring, in a very real sense, it's just the fighter in there. Like the corner can't jump in and start throwing punches for the fighter, at least they're not supposed to. And preaching's kind of similar in that respect. Don't get me wrong, I understand that up here. I'm not completely by myself. I know that the Holy Spirit is with me, speaking through me to your hearts in ways that I may not even hear about. But it is much like a professional fighter's job in that while I'm up here in the time that we have together today, I should not be relying on all of you to feed me what I prepared just for me to then recite it back to you. Because that would be awkward and strange and weird and odd and you'd probably leave here saying he did not prepare and for that reason, I am not coming back. No, before I get up here, people can encourage me, people can pray for me, people can even teach me. But in a very real sense, when these lights turn on and it's time for me to open up my Bible and begin speaking in this mic to all of you, it is just me, the Holy Spirit, and the moment. And I know that it will be what I prepared that will come out of me when this moment finds me. And the reason I tell you all this is because I need you to understand today

that you are more of a preacher and a fighter than you even realize. Because you may not be writing sermons or you may not be throwing punches but make no mistake about it, you have your own battles in this life, don't you? And you actually do have your own sermons to preach because this life is a fight. And the greatest sermon that anyone could ever preach will not be with the words they speak, it will be with the life that they live. And you cannot fake what is in you when this fight finds you. If discipline is in you, devotion will come out of you. If prayer is what is in you, then power will come out of you. If this word is what is in you, then truth will come out of you. And I believe it will be how you encourage yourself in the Lord like David did before this fight ever even begins that will equip you with what you want coming out of you when this fight finds you. So today we are going to study and examine and understand how David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. But before we do that, I think we need to understand why David needed to encourage himself in the Lord his God. So David at this point in his life had already been anointed to one day become king, but at this point on his journey,

he had not yet been appointed as king. And so for this reason, because he was kind of the heir apparent to the throne, because he was next in line, the current king, King Saul, felt threatened by him and plotted to kill him. So for this reason, David had to flee the land that he loved and the people that God told him he would one day lead. Translation, at this moment in his life and on his journey, David's life looked nothing like what God told him he would one day do. So his fear is at an all time high and his faith is at an all time low. He is absolutely scared to death, confused and terrified. And so for this reason, without consulting God, that's very important, without asking God for permission to do so, David went to the Philistines to ask them to protect him and preserve his life, keep him alive until King Saul died and until he became king. But maybe you know your word very well. You are a Bible scholar and you hear me say that and you're like, hold up, Charlie. Did you just say David looked to the Philistines for protection? Did you say the Philistines? Like Goliath, the giant, Philistines, those Philistines? Yes, David looked to the people of the giant that God helped him kill to protect him instead of trusting the God

who helped him kill the giant to protect him. This just goes to show how scared David was in this moment, how fearful he was in this moment, how low his faith was at this moment. Because what we see David doing in this moment is trying to preserve a promise that God made in his own strength. What we see in this moment is David looking to the world for protection instead of looking to the Lord, his God, for direction, which is very crazy to me because in what other relationship in our lives do we ever try to keep someone else's promises for them but in our relationship with God? Well, last I checked, God is the most trustworthy person any of us know. God keeps his promises every single time, not just part of the time, not just some of the time. Your God keeps his promises every single time, not just when he feels like it, not just when you do right, your God keeps his promises every single time. Even when keeping his promises leads him to a cross, your God keeps his promises every single time. Even when keeping his promises leads to nails in his hands and in his feet, your God keeps his promises every single time, even when keeping his promises puts him in a grave for three days, your God keeps his promises every single time.

Is there anybody who knows that your God is not a liar and that he's Lord? Is there anybody who knows that your God is not a fibber, but he is in truth's offer and he keeps his promises every single time? So if your God keeps his promises every single time. This means that whatever he promised, he will preserve every element needed in order to provide it. But David seems to have forgotten this, and so he looks to the Philistines to keep him alive until God keeps his promise and makes him king. But before we judge David, I think we should take a look at our own lives, because I think we often do the same thing too. We look to the world to help us to accomplish the work that God has called us to do. I'm sure there are many people here in a room this size who know that God has given you a dream to one day do or be something great. But maybe you've been waiting for a while now. At this point in your life, you are not yet doing or being what you thought God called you to do or be like you thought you'd be doing or being it by now. So you've gotten impatient. You've been questioning God. You're confused with God. And maybe somewhere along the way of trying to become all that God has called you to be,

you notice someone else doing something similar, but not quite the same to what God has called you to do, but they're crushing it. And because you have your own human desire to crush it, over time you've begun stapling aspects of what God has called them to do to what God has called you to do, but it's gotten to the point over time where now you've adopted so many aspects of what God has called them to do to what God's called you to do, where you're not even chasing the dream that God has called you to anymore. You are chasing the dream that God has given someone else. And yet you wonder why things aren't working. Yet you wonder why you're discouraged and disappointed and depressed and depleted and feel like a failure and feel as if you have no future. It is because discouragement comes from where we depart from God's plans for us. Because it won't work. It won't work. It's like trying to eat soup with a fork. It's like trying to use shampoo as toothpaste. It's like trying to use the keys to your car to open up your house because you, my friend, are an intentionally crafted piece of equipment that has been set apart and specifically designed for significant use. So do not degrade yourself or disrespect the plan

that God has for your life by departing from it in any way. Because can I tell you, a plan from God requires total trust in God. And God will not give fruit to what is not fully faithful. God has a plan for your life, but you've got to stick to the plan. Somebody say stick to the plan. You got to stick to the plan. But David, he didn't stick to the plan. And so for this reason, as we've already observed, he looked to the Philistines to protect him and keep him alive until Saul died and one day he would become king. But the funniest part about this is when David looked to the Philistines to protect him, ultimately they rejected him. They said, no, they said, we won't do it. Puts too much of a bounty on our heads. And so with his tail between his legs, David goes home back to Ziklag, embarrassed and ashamed, but at least he knows he can expect to see his kids playing, and smell dinner cooking, except when he gets back to Ziklag, he sees ash. And he smells smoke. And this camp that had once been filled with the sound of laughter and kids playing is now dead silence and their wives and their children and everything is gone. Ziklag had been burned to the ground and David was devastated, depressed,

just broken to pieces in a way that words cannot quite describe. But here's what I need you to understand, that David's discouragement did not begin when he returned to Ziklag and discovered it in ruins. No, the source of David's discouragement really began the moment he left Ziklag to go ask for the Philistines help without asking God for permission to do so. And the reason why I take a second to make this delineation and distinction and point this out to you is because in our own lives, our discouragement does not start at the discovery of our lives in ruins. No, our discouragement starts at the moment we stop seeking God's counsel. Can I say it like this? Discouragement does not begin at the discovery of the disaster. Discouragement begins at the departure from God's will for our lives. Because courage will always be taken from you when you look to what did not put your calling in you to sustain you. This is why it's oh so important before we ever find ourselves too far down along the road and chasing a certain dream or chasing a certain dream, a certain way to ask ourselves, who called me to this? Did God call me to this? Or did insecurity call me to this? Who called me to this?

Did God call me to this? Did God call me to this, or did comparison call me to this? Who called me to this? Did God call me to this, or did Instagram call me to this? Who called me to this? Did God call me to this, or did this world's illusion of success, telling me I have to be a millionaire with a home on a water, call me to this? Who called me to this? Did God call me to this, or did living in my sibling's shadow my entire life and still as a grown person want to hear my parents tell me they're proud of me? Call me to this. Who called me to this? Who called me to this? Who called me to this? Because last I checked in this world, people, God never called me to be famous. God called me to be faithful. Last I checked, God never called me to influence. God called me to integrity. Last I checked, God never called me to opulence. God called me to obedience. Last I checked, God never called me to a certain network or net worth. God never even called me or you to be the best. He just called us to do our best for his glory. Because your enemy, the devil, Satan knows that if he cannot cancel your calling, then his best next option is to confuse your calling. Because the reality is God only gives us grace for our own race. So maybe it was the mercy of God letting certain things in your life fail you. That way, once again, he can grab a hold of you. Maybe it was God's mercy to allow certain things in your life that you were chasing and pursuing to fall apart.

That way you can fall once again back in his arms. Because I've got some good news for people under the sound of my voice today. You can't come back from this discouragement you've been feeling. And you can't come back from these tears you've been crying. And you can't come back from this hopelessness that you've made a home in for quite some time now. But in order to come back, you have to come back. In order to come back from this, you have to come back to God's plan and commit to taking his way of getting there. You've got to commit to what God wants you to do. So David, even in Ziklag, in the rubble, in ruin of the scene, he decides to encourage himself in the Lord, his God. And it's crazy. It worked. And here's why I think it worked. A couple months ago, a few months ago actually, I was having some car trouble. About every three or four times, I would go to start my car. I have a push start in my Jeep. My Jeep would make this sound and then shut off, stall out. But this would only happen like every three or four times I would go to start my car. So honestly, I was being a little lazy. I wasn't thinking much of it because my car would always start the second time I pushed my push start. And so I let a couple of weeks go by without doing anything. But because I let a couple of weeks go by without doing anything about this and went from this happening every three or four times, I tried starting my car to almost every single time I tried starting my car. The first time I would push my push start, it would stall out and shut off. And of course, as you can imagine, the more this began to happen, the less peace I had. It got to the point where I would even be afraid to pull out of my house when this would

happen out of fear just maybe my car is going to shut off on the side of the road and leave me stranded or something. So eventually, I did take my car to the dealership. And I cannot tell you the moment I did, I had peace. I did not yet know what was wrong with it. There had not yet been a solution told to me. But the moment I put my problem in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing with it, I had peace. And I believe this is why even with his home in rubble and ruin, with nothing yet regained or rebuilt, why David was able to first regain and rebuild his trust in God. Because yes, Ziklag is where David's life hit rock bottom. But it's also where he decided to stop pretending like he knew what he was doing. And it's where he decided to stop running and to return to the Lord his God. So I think David was encouraged in knowing that it's not on me anymore. The weight of the situation, it's not on my shoulders anymore. The pressure of this problem, it's not on me any longer to pretend like I know what I'm doing. Because hear me today, God can rebuild from rubble. And God will restore from ruin. But he won't if you keep running. And I can't speak for anyone else today, but I'm tired of running, man. Running has worn me out. Totally exhausts me. I've never had good cardio. But in all seriousness, it's exhausting me having to pretend like I know what I'm doing. Like I know where I'm going. Like I know how to handle this situation. Because life has proven to me that there's no real peace in my plans. The best my plans can do is pretend like I know what I'm doing. but they cannot promise.

The best my plans can do can guess, but they cannot guarantee. The best my plans can do is make me feel as good as things are certainly going, but I don't want a peace that is only as stable as things are going in my life. No, I want a courage that is so rock solid, and I want a bravery that is so bulletproof that it does not matter how good or bad things may be going in my life, but in order for this to be the case, then the courage within me cannot be found in how things are going around me. It must be found in someone who's greater than me, who has a perspective that I don't have, who has wisdom that I don't have, who has strength that I don't have. In order for my life to be like this, then my courage cannot be found on how things look on the outside. It's gotta be found in the same Holy Spirit that rules Christ from the grave that lives on the inside of me. So I gotta do like David, and I've gotta encourage myself in the Lord, but how do we do this? Here's how, we read this, that David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Because here's the thing, you cannot receive courage from the Lord

until you have called him your Lord. You cannot encourage yourself in God until you have expressed him to be your God. What I'm saying to you today is this, you have to make your own decision for Jesus. You've gotta have your own relationship with Jesus. Student, it's not enough that your parents love God, because God does not have grandchildren, he only has children. And it is not the blood in your veins that saves you, it is the blood that Christ shed on the cross. I thought there'd be some Christian people who would clap their hands right there. You gotta have your own saving relationship with Jesus. And all you need in order to do this, it's just this Roman chapter 10 verse nine that tells us, just declare with your mouth and mean it that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart and really believe it that Christ raised him from the dead. And what does it say? You will be saved. This is the promise of scripture. And here's the promise I make to you, this is where your encouragement will start, because this is where repentance begins. And please know repentance is not some shameful, guilt-filled thing, no, repentance is a celebratory thing. It's a joyous thing, it's a peace and pleasure-filled thing, because repentance is your restart. It's the opportunity you never knew you have again

to begin again, because the Bible tells us that when we place our faith in Jesus and when we repent of our sin, we are made new. Brand new, completely new, totally new. It's your restart, and we all need this restart, because at one point or another, we have all run from God in our own way. This is a no perfect people allowed gospel I'm preaching today. We've all run from God in our own way. Take it from David, the man who scripture describes as a man after God's own heart, he ran from God too. We witness it in the scripture we're studying today. At this point in David's life, from God, he had never run further. Remember I told you, his fear had never been higher. His faith had never been lower. In this moment, because of how things went, his own men are speaking of stoning him. His life in this point, everything is telling him everywhere he looks to give up, to quit, to roll over, to die, but David made a different decision. Sometimes it's not a feeling. Sometimes it's not an emotion. Sometimes there's no goosebumps to go along with it. Sometimes it's just a decision. David made the decision from this place, in this scene, to encourage himself in the Lord, his God. And because he did, as a result, he appears to have learned his lesson.

Because in 1 Samuel chapter 30, verse eight, in the rubble and ruin of this scene, David cries out to God and says, Lord, shall I pursue this raiding party? If I do, will I overtake them? David learns his lesson. He learns his lesson. Because do you remember what got him in this mess in the first place? Him moving, him acting, him asking for the Philistines' help without doing this, without asking God, what should I do? Without consulting God, where should I go? He did not discern, and it resulted in disaster. But this time, as David navigates the rubble and ruin of his disappointment and discouragement and depression, he says, God, I remember. Remember how things went last time when I moved without asking you what I should do and Lord it was painful, God it hurts, I'm still having to deal with the consequences and I don't want to make that same mistake again. So Lord if you say move I'll move but God if you don't I won't. I'm not going anywhere until you speak and because David discerns God said go. If you chase after them you will certainly overtake them. Catch this, David discerned and he was then encouraged to pursue. In other words his discerning led to his greatest encouraging because and this is what someone came to hear today, discernments is how you defend against discouragements. I'm sorry if it's not the sexiest message ever but this is what some of you came to church to hear today. This will save you from so much headache and heartache and frustration and failure in your life if you just take a second to discern, to ask God what should I do? Your life will have a peace that transcends all understanding because you know what discernment does? Discernment does this, it protects you from unnecessary pain. Think about it, David

never would have been in this situation the first time around if he just would have asked God should I go ask these Philistines for help? But discernment it will also it will also protect you from missing out on your guaranteed victory. David never would have learned of how he would defeat the Malachites if he would not have discerned and because David discerned and he did eventually chase after these Malachites and defeat them he would also then discover that nothing that was taken was missing and he would actually regain everything and I'm not just talking about his family, I'm not just talking about his possessions, I'm also talking about his perspective because based on how David acts after he got his family back it seems as if David came to the realization, wow God if you're able to preserve my family even in the company of my enemies then maybe just maybe you're able to preserve me on my way to my destiny too with a crown on my head sitting on a throne. Wow God maybe you are a man of your word after all. Maybe you do keep your promises every single time after all. Maybe you are a greater King who actually is control of all after all because Church Father Glaze make no mistake about it when these Malachites showed up and stole David's family and burned his home to the ground the devil wanted this event to be the final straw in a string of events that led to David ending it all and led to David acting in a lack of discernment that would have led to his ultimate discouragement and disqualification from the throne because these Malachite people they are not some random enemy no no no no this is the very people that in his own life and in his own leadership King Saul chose to pursue without discerning of the Lord and for this reason because of this event because of King Saul not discerning and deciding to chase after these Malachite people God said to Saul, Saul I can't trust you anymore because you've shown me that obviously you don't trust me and so I'm taking my hand off of you and I'm putting it on David so you best believe that when these Amalekite people showed up the devil was trying to run the same play twice he was trying to take out two kings of Israel with the same enemy the same feeling of fear that he was hoping would result in the same lack of discernment causing two

kings of Israel to be taken out with the same blade but too bad for the devil by this point David had learned his lesson and so he chose to discern and inquire of God and as a result the very enemy that took David out confirmed what God had put in David and proved to David that he had the makings of a king that King Saul could never be even though there was not yet even a crown on his head because the enemy that took Saul out would not take him out can I say it like this as I close today what the enemy meant for evil and for David's discouragement because he discerned is what God used for his good and for his encouragement because in our lives our discernment is what will be the difference it will be the difference between what ruined them and reveals the king in you so I've come to speak to some people navigating their own personal ziklag the rubble and ruin of disappointment and discouragement and depression in your life I want you to hear me when I say today Zik lag does not have to be where your faith dies Zik lag can be where your faith decides that baby I'm beginning to discern because hear me your life may be in rubble But your faith is not people may have left you but your God has not your dream may have died But you're really calling has not so get up and praise the Lord yet again because he will rescue you yet again He will save you yet again. He will pull you out of this pit You've been in a yet again and you're discerning will be the reason why we ended their marriage won't end your marriage What kept them in addiction won't keep them in addiction will ruin them Won't ruin you and actually will reveal the king the queen the man the woman the fighter The preacher of God in you before God ever even puts a crown on you Are there any people discerning in the house of the Lord today if you are lift up your voice in a way that lets the devil Know he lost that lets him know he failed that lets him know he's through and lets your God know that you trust him with all your heart So with every hand raised Lord We declare in this moment That we trust you

That God we're deciding not to move without discerning for your will So God, I pray Lord over every hand raised that as a result of how they choose to discern That God you would speak to them so clearly and So obviously that God they cannot miss it and God as a result of their discernment and the following your direction God Will they find themselves living in your peace in your purpose and your protection and your promise like never before God I pray Lord that we would decide that Ziklag this disappointment This discouragement is not where our faith dies, but God it is where our faith decides It is where we defy the enemy and say nope you were close But you didn't kill me You just made me stronger You made my face stronger and the one who is stronger than you so God I pray a blessing over every person in this room and that God they would find themselves living in your goodness in the land Of the living us and Jesus saying we pray together Amen