The Right Heart In A Bad Situation | Tyrone P. Jones | House of David | Full Service

"...Music Playing..." Good morning CTC. Welcome to church on Sunday. How are you all today? How many of you were here for our prayer seminar this past week? Was it not amazing? I don't know about you but I am still riding high off of that. So if you were there let's keep that momentum, let's keep that atmosphere and bring it into the service today. And if you weren't here don't worry a rising tide lifts all boats. It's God's movement and we're all gonna feel it and I love it. I would like to welcome you if it's your first time with us or if you're joining us online. Thank you so much. We love having you join us and worship with us. I want to read what I think is probably a pretty well-known verse and I just want everybody to be encouraged by it. It's Romans 8 38 39 and Paul says, "...For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created things will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing can separate us church. Once He's got us, He's got us. Nothing can pluck us out of His hand. We belong to Him and He belongs to us for eternity and that's something we can come before God and worship Him. So would you join me as we come before the Lord. Father God we thank you Lord that we can trust your faithfulness. We can trust the constant Lord of your heart and your love for us God that we can always come back to you. We can always come to you. We can always lift our voices in prayer and in worship to you Lord God that you always have something for us and we thank you for what you have planned for us today in this service and we give ourselves, we lift our hearts to you today in Jesus name. Let's worship Him church. I'm throwing caution to the wind. No I am not ashamed to praise like this. Some would say it's foolishness. But I say it's worth the risk. I can't forget what Jesus did. No I am not ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains I once held me. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone how can it be. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was.

I'll sing, I'll dance cause I believe. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. Oh yes we thank you. I found a friend that never quits. No one loves as good as this. And I don't care what anyone says. I'll never be ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains I once held me. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone how can it be. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance cause I believe. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood now the sinner can sing. My debt is pain and my record is. I couldn't do. Come on church sing it out with me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood now the sinner can sing. My debt is pain and my record is. I couldn't do it so you did. You took the cross and You shed Your blood My debt is paid I couldn't do it But only God can do it Only God can do it Only God can do it Only God can do it Where are those chains I once held? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was I'm free, I'm free, I'm free You took the cross You shed Your blood My debt is paid

I couldn't do it You took the cross You shed Your blood My debt is paid I couldn't do it Could have only been Jesus Could have only been Jesus Only God can do it Only God can do it Look at what the Lord has done Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Oh we thank You Jesus Oh we lift up Your Name There was a moment when the lights went out When death had claimed its victory The King of love had given up His life The darkest day in history There on a cross they made for sinners For every curse His blood had torn One final breath and it was finished But not the end we could have known For the earth began to shake The man who sinned Sacrifice was made As the heavens roared

All hail the King Jesus All hail the Lord of heaven and earth All hail the King Jesus All hail the Saviour of the world There was a moment when the sky lit up A flash of light breaking through When all was lost He crossed eternity The King of life was on the moon For an eternity ♪ A dark old tomb ♪ ♪ Where our Lord was laid ♪ ♪ One miraculous breath ♪ ♪ And we're forever changed ♪ Sing all hail! ♪ All hail King Jesus, all hail the Lord ♪ ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and the Savior, all hail Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Savior of the world, all hail Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, all hail the Lord of heaven and the Savior, all hail Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, all hail the Lord of heaven and the Savior, all hail Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Savior of the world, all hail Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Savior of the world, all hail Jesus ♪ ♪ We bow before the King of kings, let every tongue confess that he is Lord ♪ ♪ Lift up your shout, let us join with all of heaven singing, holy, singing, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, singing, holy, you're so worthy God ♪ ♪ All hail King Jesus, all hail the Lord of heaven and earth, all hail King Jesus, all hail the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ You're so worthy of our praise ♪ ♪ I wanna be like Mary, I wanna sit with you, every second is sacred when you're in the room ♪ ♪ I wanna be like David, I wanna sing to you, unashamed of my worship, there's nothing I won't do, and it's my honor, and it's my joy ♪ ♪ You are all that really matters, I could sit at your feet for hours, I could sit at your feet for hours, desperate for a fresh encounter, I could sit at your feet for hours, I could sit at your feet forever ♪ ♪ And I don't care who's watching, it's just me and you, you're the only one worthy, you're my one pursuit ♪

♪ And I don't care if it's costly, I'll pour it out on you, my life is an offering, I'll lay it down right here, right now, and it's my honor, and it's my joy ♪ ♪ You are all that really matters, I could sit at your feet for hours, I could sit at your feet forever, and it's my honor, and it's my joy ♪ ♪ All that really matters ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ Desperate for a brushing counter ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet forever ♪ ♪ You are all that really matters ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ Desperate for a brushing counter ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet forever ♪ All right, church, let's turn our attention to the screen and ask someone who goes public with their faith. My name is Fernando. Growing up, my mom would read me the Bible, but I never went to church. My first time in church was when my aunt invited me to my cousin's baptism. I started attending CTC, but I was still struggling mentally and started to distance myself. I was stressing over my future. I tried to find ways to cope on my own. I encountered the reality of God after Micah Green prayed for me. God told me to put my trust in him and let go of everything.

On the second night of youth camp, I got prayed for by two pastors. During the prayer, I started to cry. I felt like all my problems were gone and I felt weightless. That moment, I surrendered my life to Jesus. Since giving my life to Jesus, my mentality has changed. I haven't stressed about anything. I'm enjoying life instead of stressing over every detail because I know God has a plan for me. I've been going through my days thanking God for everything. I'm not ashamed or scared of telling anyone that I'm Christian. I want to spread the word of God to others and then invite them into his house. Today, I'm going public with my faith. Banana, Jesus said that every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith, today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And according to scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I'm not gonna waste another moment. I'm not gonna waste another moment. Here's my oil, here's my oil. I'm not gonna waste another moment. I'm not gonna waste another moment. Here's my oil, have it all. Have it all, have it all.

I'm not gonna waste another moment. I'm not gonna waste another moment. Here's my oil. Oh, here's my oil. Oh, here's my oil. I'm not gonna waste another moment. I'm not gonna waste another moment. Here's my oil, have it all. You can have it all. You can have it all. I'm not gonna waste another moment. I'm not gonna waste another moment. Here's my oil. Here's my oil. I'm not gonna waste another moment. I'm not gonna waste another moment. Here's my oil, have it all. You can have it all. You are all that really matters. I can sit at your feet for hours. I can sit at your feet for hours. Desperate for a fresh encounter. I can sit at your feet for hours. I can sit at your feet forever. You are all that really matters. I can sit at your feet for hours. I can sit at your feet for hours. Desperate for a fresh encounter. I can sit at your feet for hours. I can sit at your feet forever.

Another moment. I'm not gonna waste another moment. Here's my oil. Have it all, have it all, you can have it all I'm not gonna waste another moment, I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil, oh, here's my oil I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil, have it all, you can have it all Amen. Amen, church. Amen. God, you are so worthy of our praise. We love you, Lord. Well, hey, church, we're gonna go into one more verse. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. So, hey, church, we're gonna go into what we call a minute to mingle. Go ahead and greet your neighbor. Tell them that you're happy they're in the house today. Oh, well, God bless you. Welcome to Church for the City, where we will teach the word of God, will encounter the presence of the Lord. Can we give it up for the worship team? Man, what? What a moment. What a moment. Glory to God. Glory to God. And we'll spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm just so grateful that you're on this journey with us. We want to help people that are far from God find life in Christ. How many are glad to be in God's house? Yeah. Best place to be today. Best place to be. In first service, I had a young man come up to me that said that he has been watching our service in prison since we first started. And he's been waiting two years to get out of prison, and he showed right up at church as soon as he got out. So thank you for absolutely being part of what we believe the Lord is doing to have an impact on people everywhere. I do want to thank the team, those of you that were here first Wednesday and even during

the prayer seminars. It's been a powerful week. The whole week has been just so impactful. I know all of the teams have been working all through the week, volunteers, staff, etc. And I just want to thank them for everything that they did just to make all the things that we did this week spectacular, honestly. And I just want to just say something. When we do these various seminars, we probably roll out one, I don't know, maybe every three months or so. They usually fall from or come off of the first Wednesdays. There really is a reason that we do it. You know, if you could think about this in dealership terms, when you come to Sunday morning, honestly, you're just in the showroom floor. We do our best to pursue excellence. The services are tight. We want to make them full of worship, full of word. But when we do these seminars, honestly, we take folks in the garage and we change oil. We replace transmissions. We fix motors. We fix engines. We break folks down. You'll find BMWs, Jaguars in the garage because we want more of what God is doing and to be able to walk us through those seasons. So I just encourage you when we roll those out, do your best to be part of them. Now, next, sorry, the 23rd of August, after each service will be a life group fair. That's our city life groups. And many of you are in life groups, but we encourage everyone to be in one. One of our values is community, which does remind me, I didn't mention this last Sunday, but Pastor Wong gave an outstanding message two weeks ago. And he spoke about this thing of community and challenges, not to do life alone.

And city life groups provide that opportunity where you can really, you know, it's easier to grow in a circle than it is in a row. When you have people right there with you, you can develop some friendships, you can grow in the word of God, you can build your faith, find people to walk alongside you. So if you're not in a small group, again, what we call our CLGs or city life groups, every one of those will be represented on the 23rd after each service. And you'll find one that has a teaching that I believe that you would be attracted to and even in the evening when those are done, evening and morning that those are done. So please take a moment to do that after each service on the 23rd. I do want to thank you for your generosity. Every time you come into the building there is opportunities to give and you'll see that all noted on the screen there. School is going back. I know some students have already went back. There'll be some others that will be going back also this coming week and there's five or six schools that we give backpacks to every Friday with food in it. They're mostly in lower income areas honestly but we want those children to be able to have food throughout the weekend. It's your financial support that helps us do that. Hundreds of kids receive these power packs, these backpacks every Friday. So thank you for doing that and being part of that. Now I want to pray over a few things and then we'll stand for the word of the Lord. Let's go before him. Father, I do want to thank you for this opportunity to be in your house and Lord where we can experience the praises of you. We can be in the place where your presence is known and realized. We hear the word. We join in with the people of God in singing. We're part of community and fellowship. It does remind us of what the psalmist said, I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. So we're thankful for this time together and I do pray Lord even as I bring forth the message I trust Father that you will guide me. Of course I pray I decrease that you might increase and that it's your anointing Lord that's upon me and you help me to bring forth the message with clarity that it will have a just a good infection upon everyone that's listening, watching or joining in with us. Father we also want to lift up Sylvester as she goes through her medical treatments. I pray your grace upon her and for the Salazar family, the Luna family Lord through their time of grief and loss. Lord I know that there's still some students that will be going to school this week. I pray for them that they will go into the school year with excitement

and Lord really taking the opportunity to learn the things that they're being taught. There will be a number of university students that will be heading to school this week. We pray for the parents in that transition and pray for the students Lord as they move to a different location. May you protect their hearts and their minds as they engage in the studies that they need to have for the further their to move toward their degrees but also pray Lord God that they will remain students of the Word of God and stand strong in their faith and so Lord we pray your grace upon them. Lord I do pray for the churches in our area here around us for Champion Church, First Christian, for New Mountain, for Journey, for Destiny, for Prince of Peace Lutheran. Lord God I pray that you in our hearts desires for every church to grow. I pray Lord God for for good leadership, wise leadership. I pray for every leader, every pastor, every leadership team to be healthy. Our desire is for every church in Yuma County to be a safe place for people to go into to hear the gospel and do the work Lord God that you want to do in the lives of our community. So we just we just put that before you and and Lord thank you for allowing us to be a church that can serve our city that we love so much. It's in Christ's name we pray. May the people of God say amen. Amen. Can you stand and take your Bible? I want you to turn to first Samuel chapter 16. I'm actually going to read verse 6 through 13 and then we'll spend some more time in a in chapter 18 of first Samuel. Okay let's start in verse number six. Here's the word of the Lord. When they came he looked on Eliab and thought surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I've rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel and he said neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by and he said neither has the Lord chosen this one. And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel and Samuel said to Jesse the Lord has not chosen these. Then Samuel said to Jesse are all your sons here? And he said there remains yet the youngest but behold he's keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse. Send and get him for we will not sit down until he comes here and He sent and brought him in now

He was ready and had beautiful eyes and was handsome and the Lord says arise anoint him for this is he Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David From that day forward so far of the reading of the word. Can you say man? Man you may be seated. I'm gonna take my theme or topic for this message is the right heart in a bad situation The right heart in a bad situation. Thank Thank You Alice I just want you to imagine and many of you what I'm saying imagine probably have experienced but just Imagine that you woke up tomorrow morning and someone has posted something about you. It's not true It's slanderous Hundreds of people have have already shared it You see where you got text from friends want and know had you seen it? You get to work and you know co-workers already looking at you differently. You you know, who said it, you know who started it? you know who did it and the truth of it is, you know some things about them and You actually think you know what I could destroy them with one post. I Could do the same thing that they're trying to do I could ruin their reputation with one click one sentence one screenshot that that's where the real battle begins and It's honestly not the battle of whether you can strike back The real battle is is whether you'll become the kind of person that you are to be in Christ Or whether you'll be the kind of person their sin is dragging you in That's that's where the challenge comes and that that's where David is in this situation with Saul and And we're gonna look closer at the dynamics of we talked a little bit about it last week but we're gonna look closer at it about the dynamics between David and King Saul the background of this message really is in first Samuel chapter 15 because That's when King Saul started to unravel That's when the doubt downfall began when he rejected God and Also rejected the prophet Samuel That's when you see King Saul start to lose his mind start to unravel a little bit become emotionally distraught and

David handled that David Handled that in the very presence of a madman with love and He did it. So he did so faithfully The big idea of this message honestly is don't let someone else's sin Determine who you become Don't let someone else's sin determine who you become When people treat you wrongly don't don't let their sin determine your heart You'll find that it's in cases like that in situations like that where your heart really gets forged That those kind of seasons when your character is challenged is when get good character or godly character is forged when you're going through injustice or unjust things David was was anointed in first Samuel 16 and Somehow another in the region they heard about David's plane and the gift that he had and the ability that he had and So they they asked David to come to be in the palace so that he could bring a soothing to Saul When Saul began to act the way that he was acting They believed that the plane of David the music of David the songs that David's song would would bring Saul from his unreasonableness to right behavior and Initially it had an effect on him, which was quite Remarkable we're gonna play a clip of that now first. You're gonna see the liar. This is the instrument that David Was playing and then you'll see a clip on the effect of Saul You . . . . . . . .

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . of every kind. And so once you let that stuff get in you, and that becomes what your eye gets full of, that's what you'll be focusing us up on, and it will affect your heart. I wanna read verse number 10. This is 1 Samuel, also 18, verse 10. I think only 10 and 11 will be on the screen,

but I'm gonna go down through verse 15. It says, the next day a harmful spirit came from God and rushed upon Saul. I do wanna pause there for a minute, because when you read this, you get the impression that the Lord sent this harmful spirit from, that the Lord, he sent it to put it on Saul. That's not necessarily the language. The, basically what the scripture is saying is, is Saul allowed, the Lord allowed Saul to be who he was becoming. So you need to keep an eye on that. If you insist on being certain ways, the Lord will let you. Keep on being me, and watch where me get you. You can drop the mic and walk off right there. The next day, a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had a spear in his hand, and Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall, but David evaded him twice. Saul was afraid of David because of the Lord. The Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him from his presence, and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. And when Saul saw that he had great success,

he stood in fearful awe of him. See what's happening to Saul now, in this case, regarding David. His jealousy has become suspicion. His suspicion has become fear. His fear has become hatred, and his hatred has become murder. He's digressed in that sense because of what he's seeing, and what he's letting fester in his house. But it didn't keep David from serving. It didn't keep David from still leading, still winning. And God was with him. It's a reminder to us that no one or nothing can stop God from blessing his chosen people. No matter the acts of people, no matter what attempt and assault the enemy tries to bring upon us, God will cover you and protect you to accomplish what he has purposed and intended for your life. He'll cover you, he'll protect you to do it. Here it is in Romans 8, 29 through 31, and I hope you see yourself in this. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his son so that his son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And listen to this. And having chosen you, he called you to come to him. And having called you,

he gave you right standing with himself. And having given you right standing, he gave you his glory. What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for you, who can ever be against you? That's the word of the Lord. That's the truth of God's word. Who can ever be against you? Now, here's the ultimate problem with Saul. The ultimate problem with Saul was pride. Pride is one of those things we don't hear much preaching about because it's not as easily identified on the outside as other stuff that people could be doing, other vices. But I want you to hear this. Pride is the gateway drug of your soul. It's the gateway drug. All sins come and stem from pride. You let pride get in, it will absolutely take over. It will take over. Here's a few verses, Proverbs 16, 18. Pride goes before destruction and hardiness before a fall. Proverbs 11, two, pride leads to disgrace. Proverbs 13, 10, pride leads to conflict. Proverbs 29, 23, pride ends in humiliation. Saul gradually suspected that David was the anointed one. He didn't know for sure. And when Samuel did that, he did it privately with David's family and a few of his armor bearers.

But he, because David was able so many times to escape everything that Saul was trying to do. do to kill him. He started suspecting or being suspicious, maybe he's the one to replace me. Saul tried to kill David or set David up to be killed six times. Six times he did that. Now one of the times, and I'll keep this clean, he had it set up where the Philistine army knew that David was going. He had it set up for David to be killed by the Philistines. Saul told David, you'll prove your loyalty to me if you can go and engage the Philistine army and bring me back 100 foreskins. Do y'all know what foreskins are or do I need to explain you what foreskins are? How many of y'all know what foreskins are? You better say something because I'll break this thing down. All right. So he had to go get 100 foreskins. David came back with 200, even though he was set up to be killed. The Lord had protected him over and over because of Saul's suspicion he came to the right conclusion. We'll show this clip and then I'll jump more into this message. It's one thing to deal with that, with your enemies. It's another thing to deal with that with people who you're loyal to or people that you love or people who say that they love you, whether it be a coworker or a fellow Christian or a family member or a friend. What did David do? If you read this narrative further through, even through 1 Samuel 21, 22 and beyond, you'll see that David refused. He refused bitterness. He refused revenge. He established some distance, but he refused to act upon Saul the way that Saul was acting upon him. And so, so what I want to address with you with this is many of you may have already been like David and been in these situations. Some of you, some of you may be David now. And if you haven't been David, I'm just going to give you some good news. Just keep on living because you will be. You will experience it. And what is it that we learn from David from these narratives that we should practice? And the first thing I want to tell you is you can't be surprised. Don't be surprised. People coming against you is actually par for the course. That's part of what we bought into with Christianity. Jesus told us this early on. He says it in John 15, 18. Listen to this. If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. People will betray you. People will hurt you. People will let you down. People will do things against you that you just don't expect because of your love to them and your loyalty. And I'm telling you as Christians, there's a greater chance that that would happen to us simply because of our beliefs. Just because

we believe the Word of God and we stand on our convictions. And you cannot take that personal. It's spiritual. It's not personal. That's what occurs because we are Christians. They did it to Jesus. And Jesus didn't do any harm to anybody and they did it to him Acts 10 38 says and you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power then Jesus went around doing good Healing all that was oppressed by the devil for God was with him and look what he experienced Christians now We face some some tangible consequences because of biblical convictions It's not something we should be afraid of or something we should shy away from or we shouldn't even think it's odd To sit around and say well, why would they come against me? I'm a Christian you just said why? Because you are a Christian People we're seeing it every day Christian adoption agencies are losing funding Government contracts because they refuse to place certain children in certain homes. That's inconsistent with their beliefs We see Christian University Professors and employees being disciplined because they've expressed their Christian views on sexuality We see coaches and teachers faced with employment disputes because they're connected with certain religious expressions and Christian views small Business owners that are that are being taken to court because they refuse to participate in a same-sex a wedding This is the kind of stuff that's happening all along now brothers and sisters around the world. They're they're being beaten Imprisoned and killed because of their faith. We're not experiencing that yet in America But but but these things though the ridicule lost opportunities legal battles Damaged reputations because we refuse to abandon our biblical convictions. That's the kind of persecution We're not we're now facing and we'll continue to face But Jesus told us don't be surprised Are y'all y'all doing? All right Don't be surprised 2nd Timothy 3 12 listen to this yes, and Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ. Jesus will suffer persecution

everyone Listen, I went to you my high school and I know what everyone means That means every one of us will Turn your name and say that means you too We'll first face persecution But here here's the issue just keep in mind God chose you He's got you through all of this David was chosen David was appointed David was promoted. It didn't protect him from Saul But it certainly brought in the protection of the Lord upon his life. Can you say man? Here's the second thing do not become spiteful or vengeful The temptation to get even is there can we be honest about that? That's just our flesh The temptation to get even I'll tell you another temptation that we we battle with the scripture tells us Not to rejoice when our enemies suffer But but I'm telling you it Shoot, it's a it's a temptation for me Somebody do me wrong. I'm like, mm-hmm I'm just waiting for this. I'm gonna be right here front row when God get your butt. I'm just gonna be right here But the scripture tells us otherwise we got to go by the Bible baby I told you first Peter 3 9 Don't repay evil for evil Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you Instead pay them back with them with the blessing Watch this Pay them back with the blessing that is what God has called you to do not suggested that you do He didn't suggest you pay them back with a blessing. He didn't say If you want to do something good for him, you work it out. No, no. No, he called you to do it He called us to bless people who do us wrong and watch this and he will grant you his blessing That's a beautiful word So so here's the deal for David to kill Saul Would be David becoming Saul

For David to kill Saul would be David becoming Saul and how many times do we do that? How many times do we as as married couples? How many times how many times while we're trying to kill something in our marriage we become what we trying to kill? How many times how many times as Christians we become Saul trying to kill song I was appalled when we haven't had that anymore, thank God, but When Christians who was opposed who opposed abortion, which of course I do also when those Christians was going going around killing doctors who was doing abortions. They just became song. They became the very thing that they were opposing. David had a chance to do it. We're actually gonna talk a little bit more about that next week, I think. David had a chance to do it, but he didn't. I was reading an old, it was an old Anglican guy, lived to 1400, 1600, something of that nature. But he made a statement that I thought, oh my goodness, I don't wanna pass this up without writing it down. He said this, living well is the best revenge. Does that resonate with your spirit? Living well is the best revenge. Proverbs 3.3 says this, never let loyalty and kindness leave you. Tie them around your neck as a reminder, write them deep within your heart. Don't let loyalty leave you, don't let kindness leave you. Here's the third thing, resist and uproot bitterness. Resist and uproot bitterness. The spear missed David, but bitterness could have got in his heart, even though the spear missed him.

Bitterness could have lodged in. Hebrews 12.15 tells us the real issue with bitterness. It says, watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. When bitterness sets in, I'm telling you, it will defile you and it will defile anybody around you or that defilement would have an effect on anybody around you. Uprooting bitterness absolutely means you gotta let go of some deep hurt. You gotta let go of anger, you gotta let go of unforgiveness because that does not stop growing in you. We have a tendency to bury our emotions alive and think they're gonna stay down. We bury them alive and think they're gonna stay there. They're gonna keep growing and they're gonna keep growing and they're gonna keep growing. And so the signs of bitterness is unresolved anger where you just hold on to past hurts and spreading negativity, criticizing or gossiping or pulling others into your frustration. It is a real truth. Misery loves company. People don't like to feel miserable alone. People don't like to be angry at somebody alone. People don't like to be frustrated with somebody alone. People don't like to be mad at somebody alone. They want you to be part of it and they wanna bring you in it.

And then eventually you start having emotional distance, pulling away from friends and family and eventually you start to lose peace with God. So the scripture tells us to uproot that stuff. Just to be honest. It's okay to admit that you got pain and that you got anger. It's okay. And then take that stuff to the Lord. Choose to forgive. Release that offense and rely on the grace of God. When people treat you wrongly, you do not let their sin determine your heart. You don't let their sin determine your heart. All right, here's the fourth thing. Set some boundaries. I just think, I think Jesus is brilliant. How many would agree with me on that? I think Jesus is brilliant. What he did here in Matthew 10, 16 is absolutely brilliant. He says, look, I'm sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd or as wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. I would have never thought to put serpents and doves in the same verse to say be like them. But Jesus did. It's brilliant because this is what he knows. Wise as a serpent. Serpents are smart. Serpents are alert.

Serpents know how to get themselves out of stuff. And at the same time, doves are very gentle. They're peaceful. They're honest. They just have a purity of their heart, of their nature. Jesus says, be like that. Have that kind of balance. Be wise as a serpent. Watch out and see bad situations. Keep yourself from getting hurt by them. At the same time, stay kind. Respond with love and respond with peace instead of fighting back. Be safe. Protect yourself with good choices while you keep a good name. You can do that. Protecting yourself, it's not unloving, it's wise. You think David was ducking just to improve his skills? No. Dude was getting away from a spear. He wasn't trying to see how flexible he could be at 62, which that didn't feel too good right there. But you can protect yourself. It's not unloving, it's wise. It's not unloving to have some boundaries. It's not unloving to do that. And here's the last thing, keep going forward in the Lord. Keep going forward in the Lord. David kept serving, he kept trusting God.

He didn't let any enemies shut down his purpose and his calling. He kept doing what God had called him to do. He knew that there was a protection upon him. He knew that the Lord was with him. We see a narrative of this with Nehemiah in the Old Testament. He was, of course, sent by the Lord, or sorry, sent by the King. The Lord had put it upon his heart, but he was sent by the King to go back to Jerusalem during the time of exile. It was toward the time when the Lord was going to release the Jews to go back. Nehemiah was sent back to start the work of building the wall in Jerusalem. And from the wall, of course, they were gonna go on and build the temple. And when we read Nehemiah, you'll find through chapter four that Nehemiah is proclaiming about the work that they're doing and how good the work is that they're doing. But there were some enemies in that territory. There were some folks who did not want the Jews to come back, who did not want them to build a wall or even build a temple there. And so they were always trying to get, they were trying to frustrate them. They were doing things to even the people to annoy them, little persecutions here and there,

and trying to get Nehemiah to stop doing what he's doing. Team, you can come. And so those enemies was Tobiah, Sanballat, and Geshem. Listen to this in Nehemiah six, two through three. It says, so Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But I realized that you were plotting to harm me, that they were plotting to harm me. So I replied by sending this message to them. I'm engaged in a great work, so I cannot come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you? Listen to what Nehemiah is saying. I know what I'm doing is of the Lord. I know your whole intent is opposition. You call yourself wanna have a meeting with me. I know what you're up to. I'm not taking no time to stop doing what I'm doing for the Lord, to go meet with you with your bitter, angry nonsense. Sometimes folks, you gotta say oh no to the valley of oh no. You gotta know what folks is inviting you to and learn how to say oh no, I ain't doing that. I ain't doing that. Nehemiah said, I'm not coming down to do that. I got a work that God has called me to do. There's a fellow named Kent Keith. When he was, he's still alive, but when he was 19 years old, this is in 1968,

he wrote what he called the 10 Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership. They focused on love, honesty, perseverance, regardless of the obstacle. They're all very good, but I'm only gonna read four of them. This is working in an opposite spirit. This is being counter to what could be coming up on you. Listen to this, I'll read four of them. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway. People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway. That's the right heart in a bad situation. Now, I want you to understand this. David was not perfect in everything that he did, but you know the Lord still commended David because his heart to do the right thing was there. First Kings 15, five, it's a remarkable statement about David, for it says David did what was right in the Lord's sight, and he did not turn aside from anything he had commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah. The Lord said in his sight, David done all things right,

except that one matter, with Uriah. He had the right heart in a bad situation. But if you've been in CTC, though, any length of time and heard any preaching here, you know at the end of every sermon, if it's not mixed into the sermon, I'm not trying to make you like another person in the Bible. You know this message is not ultimately about David, right? You know this message. ultimately about the greater David, and that's our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's about the greater David, because indeed, Jesus served people who hated him. He loved people who mocked him. He forgave people who crucified him. David spared Saul, but Jesus died on the cross for all the Saul's of the world. And that's the heart that the Lord is forging in us. That's the heart that he wants us to have, a heart that knows how to do right in bad situations, how to respond to people who may do bad things, having the heart of Christ. And the Bible tells us how we can have that kind of heart, every one of us, how we can have it. And I want you to know this. You will never develop that heart on your own. Your flesh will not allow you to. Your flesh will never allow you to come up, create, devise a heart that's right in every bad situation. It's impossible.

That's why we need a new heart. We need the Lord to create in us a clean heart and a right heart. You can never make your heart be right in every situation, but he made a way for us. Second Corinthians 5, 21 says, for God made Christ who never sinned to be the offering for our sin, that we could be made right with God through Christ. It comes in Jesus, a right heart, a new heart, a clean heart. It comes from Christ alone. Romans 3, 22 says, we are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true of everyone who believes no matter who we are. There it is. Faith in Jesus Christ, we're made right. Heart is made right. Righteousness of God comes upon us. That's what the Lord wants to do, is to give us that heart, for us to have a right heart. Romans 10, 9, 9 and 10 says this, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, you speak that out of your mouth and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One who believes with the heart, it results in righteousness. One who confesses with his mouth, it results in salvation. You want a right heart?

You wanna be able to do the right things in bad situations? There's one choice to make and that's to choose him. That's to choose Jesus. That's to surrender yourself to him and let him take the heart that you have, that's wounded, that's hurt, that's broken, that's been betrayed. No matter how loyal you've been, no matter how loving you've been, your heart has been damaged. Every one of our hearts have been damaged. Hurt people, hurt people. Our hearts have been damaged. You cannot fix this heart. You need a new one. Our God can take this jacked up, messed up, damaged heart and give you a new one. It's trusting him. It's trusting him. It's no longer trying to fix it all on your own. You're gonna find yourself, sometimes you might be successful. You might get through one situation and think, whew, I got through that one, but trust me, another one is coming. And it's sometimes they blindside you. Sometimes you don't expect them and you're gonna keep trying. I can fix it. I can get over it.

No, no, you never will. You gotta turn from doing it your way and give it to the Lord and let him do it his way. You gotta repent of that and surrender yourself to him and let him be the one that gives you a new heart. Everybody stand if you would. You want the right heart for a bad situation, prayer team, you can come. I'm gonna pray two things here. If you're here in the house and you want a right heart, you want to do things right. Some of you, again, have been through bad situations. Some of you are in a bad situation now. You contemplate in all kinds of ways. How can I fix this? How can I make this better? You can't, you can't. You need the Lord to give you a new heart. Come to him. Trust him as your Lord and savior. Make the best decision you can make for your life to say, I don't want this old jacked up, damaged, broken heart. It hurts, it's painful. I see the ugliness in it at times. I don't want it anymore. I want a new one. Come to Jesus. Let him give you a new heart. And there's some of you in here who you are David right now.

I'm just gonna encourage you. These folks here, they've been trained, they're equipped, they're designed to join with you and war with you that you may overcome this situation, this David that you're in. Help you get your heart in alignment with God because you know Christ, you know him as Lord and Savior. They'll help you, they'll fight with you, they'll war with you, they'll remind you of the things that you heard so that you indeed can overcome this situation to do the right thing in a bad situation. Father, I wanna thank you now for this opportunity, Lord God, that we've had to share the word. I trust and I believe you, Lord God, for your goodness and your faithfulness. For those, Lord God, who today wanna make you as Lord and Savior, I'm trusting that the Holy Spirit is gonna finish the work that you began. And for those who do know you, and right now as I speak, they're thinking of situations that they're in right now, and they're in those moments of being tempted to do the wrong thing. Father, I pray that they respond, surrender that matter, get prayer, have someone pray with them that they may warfare through this and allow your power, your strength, the blood of Jesus to come and help them and be with them that you may be glorified.

Lord, that every one of us may have a good heart, a right heart in a bad situation. Father, we thank you, in Christ's name we pray, amen. God bless you, altars are open. Let's worship the Lord. Come on. ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ Here's my I'll have it all ♪ ♪ Have it all, have it all ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ Here's my I'll, oh here's my I'll ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ Here's my I'll, have it all ♪ ♪ You can have it all you can have it all ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ Here's my I'll, oh here's my I'll ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment ♪ ♪ Here's my I'll, have it all, have it all ♪ ♪ You are all that really matters ♪ ♪ I could sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I could sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ Desperate for a fresh encounter ♪ ♪ I could sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I could sit at your feet forever ♪ ♪ You are all that really matters ♪

♪ I could sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I could sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ Desperate for a fresh encounter ♪ ♪ I could sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I could sit at your feet forever ♪ We love you. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.