The Stones & The Sword | Tyrone P. Jones | House of David | Full Service

Hey welcome back. Good morning, CTC family. Go ahead and stand with me. Well, hi, happy Sunday. It is so good to be in the house of the Lord this morning. And we are so grateful that you could gather with us. If it is your first time joining us, we would love to get to know you. And make you a part of our CTC family. So please be sure to stop by the Connect table on your way out of service. So our team can help you get plugged in. If you are joining us online and it's your first time, we want to welcome you. And just let you know, you can absolutely tap the Connect card in the chat. And our team will help you get plugged in. We're going to start this morning with scripture. We're actually going to be reading one of my favorite verses. Psalms 27.4. It says, one thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. So as we're coming into service this morning, let's not forget what a gift it is to be here. Let's turn our faces towards Him and seek Him and press in. Amen, church. All right, let's go ahead and pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this morning. God, we thank you that we get to be in your house. That we can gather together as one body under your name. And Lord, we just thank you for whatever it is you have in store for us this morning. God, we come to you with open hearts. And we just say yes and amen to your will. Jesus, we thank you so much for the lives that are going to be changed in this service.

And Lord, we just love you. We give you all the glory, honor, and praise. We pray this in your name, amen. All right, church, let's go ahead and get ready to worship together. The wind of storms may wave us free And never cease from where I'm standing I see the evidence of your goodness All of my life All of my life I see your promises in fulfillment All of my life All of my life Help me remember when I weep The fear may come, the fear will leave You are my heart to victory You are my strength and you always will be I see the evidence of your goodness All of my life All of my life I see your promises in fulfillment All of my life All of my life See the cross, the empty grave The evidence is endless All my sin rolled away Because of you, oh Jesus See the cross, the empty grave The evidence is endless All my sin rolled away Because of you, oh Jesus

I see the evidence of your goodness All of my life All of my life I see your promises in fulfillment All over my life, all over my life I see the evidence of your goodness All over my life, all over my life I see your promises in fulfillment All over my life, all over my life So why should I fear? Oh, the evidence is here So why should I fear? Oh, the evidence is here Let's give a shout of praise to Sokka Looking back at where I came from Just to see how far you brought me It's amazing all the things that you've done And I just want to say thank you If there wasn't a time or a place You weren't there with me If there were a trial or a fire You didn't walk with me My God, you're so safe, aren't you? Oh, my world, your friend, I found in you My sacred shoulder, my refuge You'll learn my steps and keep leading me through You stayed so faithful, willing and able To see anything more than I ever dreamed You've been so steady, you've been so steady Here's the heart of what I'm saying Lord, I never would have made it If it wasn't for your goodness If it wasn't for your mercy If there wasn't a time or a place You weren't there with me If there were a trial or a fire You didn't walk with me My God, you're so steady, aren't you? Oh, my world, your friend, I found in you My sacred shoulder, my refuge You'll learn my steps and keep leading me through You stayed so faithful, willing and able To see anything more than I ever dreamed You've been so steady, you've been so steady I can't even walk without you holding my hand Every hour, I need thee to stand It's only by your blood that I'm even here When I draw close, you draw even near I said I can't even walk without you holding my hand Every hour, I need thee to stand When I draw close, You draw even near When I draw close, You draw even near

My God, You're so steady, yeah True, oh God, what a friend I've found in You My sacred shoulder, my refuge You order my steps and keep leading me through You stay so faithful, willing and able Exceedingly more than I ever could dream You stay so faithful, willing and able Exceedingly more than I ever could dream You've been so steady, yeah You've been so steady You've been so steady, yeah Oh, for You, Jesus We praise You, Lord, we continue to worship You, Jesus Oh, how worthy are You, Lord You woke me up this morning And my cup is overflowing You have blessed me and I know it So I owe You my praise You're the author of my story When I thought that it was over But Your mercy kept me going So I owe You my praise Praises, oh Lord, You deserve Come on, church Oh, Lord, You deserve all my praises Oh, Lord, You deserve Only You deserve all my You deserve all the praise You deserve all the praise I know I'm far from finished But Your grace is still sufficient And that's what made the difference So I owe You my praise Now I'm standing here forgiven Knowing life is worth the living You're the God of new beginnings So I owe You my praise Praises, oh Lord, You deserve Oh, Lord, You deserve all my praises Oh, Lord, You deserve Oh, Lord, You deserve all my praises Oh, Lord, You deserve Oh, Lord, You deserve all my praises Oh, Lord, You deserve Only You deserve all my praises Come on, if you have a reason to celebrate, let's raise some praise in the house He is worthy of honor and all the glory Come on, let's celebrate someone going public with their faith this morning Hi, my name is Christopher Video, and before I had a relationship with God, I was lost I thought I wouldn't be saved I often questioned God and stopped going to church

I felt alone and like no one cared I had struggles with addictions and wanted to do life my way And everything always led to disappointment After dealing with many medical, physical, and mental struggles, I tried to commit suicide I prayed asking for forgiveness of what I was about to do During my life-altering experience, I walked away with only minor injuries I knew it was because of God I survived Even after this, I struggled and felt like there was a barrier keeping me from finding community One Tuesday, I woke up feeling like I was going to have a heart attack after everything I was dealing with I felt an urge to go to church church. I went to CTC and Chris Lerma sat and prayed with me. Within 20 minutes, Alfred Gomez called me and invited me to his life group. That's when I realized that there are actually people who care, and that day I surrendered my life to Jesus. Since giving my life to Jesus, I am clean from addiction, I am attending CTC weekly, and I never understood why I had gone through all the challenges that I faced until Jesus saved me. Without fellowship, I would not be where I am. God put the right people in my life to help me, and I'm forever grateful for them. Today, I'm going public with my faith. Christopher, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because you're a 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. When I think of all you brought me through, when I think about your love, I can never say enough, may you know. For the ways that you have made, for the price that you have paid, for your mercies every day, and that's why I owe you praise. For the ways that you have made, for the price that you have paid, for your mercies every day, and that's why I owe you praise. For the ways that you have made, for the price that you have paid, for your mercies every day, and that's why I owe you praise. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praises. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praises.

Oh Lord, you deserve all my praises. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praises. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praises. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praises. When I think of all you brought me through, when I think about your love, I can never say enough, may you know. When I think of all you brought me through, when I think about your love, I can never say enough, may you know. When I think about your love, I can never say enough, may you know. And that's why I owe you praise. Come on, we give you praise, church. We love you, Archie Jesus. Amen, amen, amen. An incredible time of worship. We love sharing these moments with you. We're going to transition to what we call a minutes mingle. Turn to someone you haven't met and we'll prepare for the message. Turn to someone you haven't met and we'll prepare for the message. Well, all right, welcome to Church for the City, where we will teach the Word of God, where we'll encounter the presence of the Lord, and we will spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How many are happy to be in the God's house? Amen. So good. So good. So good. Let's give a shout-out. We might have done this, I'm not sure, but a shout-out to the online campus, and those that are watching us in prison, and those at the Yuma County Jail. And we just welcome them also being with us. All right, first Wednesday—this Wednesday, sorry, is our first Wednesday. For those of you who've never been, we do a service one—the first Wednesday of every month is from 6 to 8.

We bring in a speaker from out of town. We usually give them a particular subject that we want them to speak on, that we obviously believe is biblical, but important to build into our life. Pastor Ken Wild from Boise, Idaho, Capital Christian Center will be with us this Wednesday. It's always a great time of worship, prayer, and ministry of the Word, and then ministry after the fact among us all. So invite you to first Wednesday. Following first Wednesday for the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we're doing a prayer seminar with Pastor Lee Brooks from The Father's House, who's wrote a book on intercessory prayer. And it's going to be a time for us to—it's a foundational thing, just like we have classes on how to read the Bible, et cetera. On prayer, she has a great gift to teach on the importance of prayer, the elements of prayer, spends much time in intercessory prayer, et cetera. Again, there's never anything that we do in the Word of God that we cannot learn more from to be able to do better. So I'm going to encourage you to be at the prayer seminar on Thursday night, I believe it's leaders only, Friday—prayer team only, sorry. And then Friday night and all day Saturday, $25 child care is available. That includes your booklet and your lunch for that day. First of all, I want to thank you. Every time you come into the building, it's an opportunity to give. And I thank you for your generosity. You see the ways to give up on the screen, the app. You can text to give, scan disc, et cetera. Thank you for that. One of the things that we do through We Love Our City, every week we're out doing something in the community. Recently, we're down at Crane Middle School where the teacher's lounge was completely… I would say refreshed or refurbished.

Every staff member got a handwritten note that encouraged them throughout this year. The lounge was refreshed with snacks and drinks. Also we bought a new microwave to put in there and a new water dispenser to put in it so when those teachers start school, they got a fresh place to go to and an opportunity for them to reprieve themselves before they go back into the classroom. So thank you so much for your generosity and allowing us to do just that. Thank you so much. All right. I think I'm going to pray and then we're going to go into the Word of the Lord. Well, Father, I want to thank you now for this opportunity that we have to gather in your house to be with your people, to share your Word. Father, I pray that everyone that's in the house now, everyone that's watching online, those that will listen later, I pray that the Word of God will speak to them wherever they are, whatever situation that they're in, they find an application of the Word that's being preached today. Lord, I stand against any assault of the enemy that tries to keep people from hearing the Word and applying it. Lord, we know that your Word comes to correct us, to convert us. Your Word comes to encourage us. It's exhortation to us. So I pray, Lord God, that everyone listening and watching will hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to them. Lord, I also want to pray for the leadership of our land nationally, of course, with the office of the president, and also, Lord, on a state level, a county level, and a local level. I pray, Lord God, that every person that's in a position of power, a political office, Lord, that they would make decisions that's moral, decisions that's unto righteousness, that's good for the land and good for the people. Your Word encourages us to pray for the welfare of our city. As our city does well, so do we.

And so, Lord, I pray, Lord, that you would guide every one of them to make solid, right, moral decisions. for the good of the citizens of this great country. Lord, I pray for those that are serving in our military, military men and women all over the world somewhere in harm's way. I pray that they're able, Lord God, to accomplish their assignment and get back to their base safely and eventually back to their homes safely. I pray that prayer, Lord, for every first responder. We got fire people, Lord, that are working to put out some of these fires in the West. I pray, Lord God, for protection over them as they look to preserve whatever land and homes that they can. I pray for every Coast Guard, every National Guard, every Border Patrol person, every one, Lord God, that's serving to protect us. Lord, may you protect them, that they may arrive home safely. Above all, Lord, I pray that you glorify in all that we do today, that it's you that's exalted. It's Christ that we're pointed to. It's the love of Jesus that we embrace. And Lord, that we walk in faithfulness to you as our God and Savior. It's in Christ's name we pray. May the people of God say amen.

Amen. Can you stand with your Bible and go to 1 Samuel chapter 16? We're gonna look at verses seven through 13. 1 Samuel chapter 16, verses seven through 13. Thank you, Phillip. Great job. I don't know if you noticed, but the last three weeks you've been hearing new songs. Anytime you see a song that doesn't have all of the stuff on the bottom, it's a song that they've written and getting very, very close. We just need your prayer to get these radio stations to take it and start playing it. So pray, pray that on through. But I'm so grateful for the team and their work and the songs I think are, I think they all hit. Not just the ones I wrote. I'm talking about some of the ones they wrote too. I think they all hit. 1 Samuel 16, seven through 13. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I have 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 Abanadan 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. 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, stand and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ready and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, 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. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Can you say amen for the reading of the word? Amen. Give your neighbor a high five on your way to your seat as we get ready to go into this. I've titled this message, we were actually gonna go into a series in the book of Acts and we will do that. But in our content team meeting, I brought out how many times David is mentioned in the book of Acts.

And we put together some of the manners in which David was mentioned in Acts and some of the scenes of that. And I just kind of came to the conclusion, maybe I should do a small series on David before we go into the series on Acts, which we will at the end of the month. And a lot of it is based, or you're gonna see clips throughout this series from the house of David. Don't know if you've watched it, but I enjoyed it. But this one I'm calling the stones and the sword, the stones and the sword. What you're gonna see on the screen is the Valley of Elah. That's where we pick up in 1 Samuel 17. We pick up in the Valley of Elah. The Valley of Elah is about 18 miles southwest of Jerusalem. And it's about the same distance just west of Bethlehem. And the valley itself is about a half mile wide. And there's a brook that runs down in the middle or a stream that runs down in the middle of it. And the armies are able to stand on each side. If that's the case that David walks into with the Philistines and the nation of Israel. Now, what's got the people, the army of Israel paralyzed is that the Philistines have put forth their giant. The call was, each one bring a champion out. Let the champions fight first, kind of like the UFC fight. Let them go at it, and then we kind of go on from there.

Well, the Philistines put out Goliath, who's 9'9", which is tall even for us. But for them, most of the Israelis at that time, and still now in a lot of ways, they average about 5'4"-5'7". So you can imagine how much bigger this giant looked to them. Because no one was willing to go out and fight the giant, including the king, Saul, everything stopped. The Israeli army was paralyzed. The Philistines was waiting, and either you're going to fight or you're going to punk out. Can I say punk? I don't know. I just did. You know what I mean. Punk is a better word than coward. But anyway, so that's what's going to happen here. And so the armies are paralyzed. David comes. His father sends him to go check on the armies, check on the brothers, sorry. Now, it could have been because this has been taking so long, or it could have been he hadn't got any word, and, you know, that means one of the sons could have died. He didn't know. They're not able to get word back, you know, when the battle's still going on. So he goes out to see what's happening, to check on his brothers, and he sees that all that's going on is a bunch of bantering,

that the Philistines and the giant is just bantering them on the other side. And the army of Israel is just flat-out paralyzed, just not even responding. Saul is not... The king is not even in the camp with the army. He's off up above, as you'll see in just a moment. And David says, what's going on here? Why are we fighting? And they said, well, you see that guy out there? Nobody's able to take him. Nobody's willing to fight him. And David said, we are the people of God. Why would we be afraid of him? Why would us, the people of God, don't miss this, be afraid of anything the enemy's got? I'll say that again. Why would the people of God be afraid of anything the enemy is able to throw at you? And so, yeah, David said, why are we afraid of this? Well, dude, we can't do it. You can't do it. You're just a boy. You need to go home. So David is declaring. He got no concern fighting him. So eventually, they end up taking him to Saul. He goes to Saul. And I don't want you to miss this. When David first gets to Saul, he says to Saul, why the lack of nerve? Why would we, the people of God,

be afraid of what's coming out from over there? Why would we be afraid? Why wouldn't we have the courage to fight against our enemy? And Saul basically repeated, dude, he's a giant, and we're not able to take him. And David began to talk through the things that he had accomplished. By the hand of the Lord. He said, I've killed lions to protect my father's sheep. I've killed bears to protect my father's sheep. And you mean to tell me we cannot take out a giant for the name of the Lord? We can't do that? He's defying the Lord. So David says this. 1 Samuel 17, 37 through 40. Then David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I've not tested them. So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in the shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. You see on the screen here, I believe, the picture of this is when Lady V and I were in Israel, maybe, I don't know, four years ago, three years ago. And again, the brook runs down the middle. And you see some of those big rocks, but you see Lady V down there taking stones out of the brook,

which is illegal, by the way, but she did it. Couldn't tell her a thing. But anyway, and she's holding up the size of the stones. that was prominent. When they would use their slings, the stones would be about the size of an egg. David went and he quieted himself by the brook. He went and quieted himself. I don't believe David thought he needed five stones. I don't believe he thought he needed that. I think what David was doing when he went down and kneeled at the brook is settling his heart. To remind him that this is the God that I serve, that I can trust him. I think David took a moment at that brook to remind God, I trust you in this. David's whole life was all about worship. David knew before I go into battle, I'm going to bow down before my God and let my God know I'm trusting him. As he's picking up those stones, it wasn't a matter about counting how many stones he needed. It was about the time he needed to remind himself before the Lord, I'm trusting you. I'm trusting you. I'm trusting you. First Samuel 17, 45, here's what David says, and I'll actually read down a little bit further than that. David gets up, he says, he then goes and then said to the Philistine, you come to me with the sword and with the spear and with the javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth. And that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand. It's a word that he declared to Goliath. I want you to watch this clip and then we'll come back for a little bit more. I really do. The astonishment that they had that this could happen with just a stone, of course it was because of the strength of God, but just so you know, when the way they fashion those slingshots, you can throw those rocks out at 60 miles an hour, they can go 220 yards, so they definitely can do some damage. The issue here, as you know, the whole story of David and Goliath is not just for us to root for the underdogs, which that is a lot of what we do, but it's the picture of spiritual warfare that this is what we go through as believers. The whole people of God was paralyzed because of the battle that was in front of them or the battle

that they were going through. And every one of us need to know that we are in a spiritual battle, that we live this life. This is what we signed up for. We signed up for warfare. Do you know that? Now here's the difference. It's warfare that you're going to win. You are going to have victory. You are going to win, but you have signed up for warfare. You can never forget that you're in a battle. You can't shun away from a battle. You can't be afraid in the battle. That's our life. We got football players who want to, they don't want to go in the game, they just want to wear a uniform. Coach says it's time to go in. Why, they just think it look good on the uniform. We ain't just putting on uniforms. We are in a battle. Matter of fact, we love to fight. I definitely love to fight, but we love to fight. So listen, the enemy is, he ain't forgot that you in warfare. As a matter of fact, first Peter 5, 8 says, be sober-minded. Be alert. Your adversary of the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for anyone that he can devour. That's what he's doing. He's trying to get every one of us like the Israel army just afraid. We won't do anything, won't advance, won't take ground, won't go forward because we're afraid. That's the whole thing. You know the whole deal about a lion roaring. If you've ever been close enough to hear a lion roar, just his roar will paralyze you. Just hearing that thing shudder down through you. That's what the enemy is all about, trying to get you paralyzed. Now, I want to say this. I don't mean to offend anybody, but if you ain't doing nothing for the kingdom of God, he ain't fooling with you. He ain't even wasting your time with you. He really ain't. There's only one devil, you know. He can only be in one place at one time. So listen, if I'm on the phone with somebody saying, man, the devil is messing with me, and you're on the phone, man, the devil messing with me too. No, somebody lying. He can't be at both of us. Devil can only be at one place. place at one time. And He don't have as many demons as there are us. So He can't assign demons to everyone. If you ain't doing nothing for the kingdom of God, He already didn't want to battle with you. He already didn't want. But when you're advancing, when you're doing the work of the kingdom of God, when you're glorifying Him, when you're living a life based on the manner that you've been equipped, you can be sure He's searching around like a roaring lion to try to paralyze you. Am I talking to the right church? But here's what you need to remember. No weapon formed against us will prosper. No weapon formed against us will prosper. 1 John 4, 4 says, But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won victory over those people because the spirit who lives in you is greater

than the spirit that lives in the world. 2 Thessalonians 3, 3 says, God is faithful. He'll strengthen you. He'll guard you from the evil one. And so we pick up David here. Now that he's defeated Goliath, here's verse 50. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off the head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem and he put his armor in his tent. Now I need to fast forward five years. Five years later, we pick up in 1 Samuel chapter 21. David now has been in the palace. He's been under Saul's authority. He's been a musician for him. He's been a champion for the army, etc. He also has a relationship with Saul's daughter. But as you know, if you read 1 Samuel 17 on to 21, Saul is beginning to lose his mind. Some of it is because he has rejected the authority of the Lord and he rejected the prophet Samuel, the old man that was on the hill saying, go David, that was Samuel. I watch it, that character alone, I love it. But he's rejected the authority of Samuel. He's rejected the authority of the Lord and he starts degenerating in his mind. And he starts to feel a real insecurity about David to the point that he tries to kill him. He's throwing spears at him. He's actually trying to get him set up even to get killed in the army. This particular scene in 1 Samuel 21, David has to get away from Saul in a hurry. He runs out of the palace because of his life being threatened. He has no food with him. He has nobody protecting him. He has no weapon. And he goes to the place of Nob. Now Nob is about two and a half miles from Jerusalem. And it was the place that was established, I would say in place of the tabernacle which they no longer had and the temple. Though there was no temple that was built, they were no longer used in the tabernacle. Nob is the place where the priests were established and all the things that were done in the tabernacle, the showbread, the mercy seat, the Ark of the Covenant, all of the bowls for washing, all of that was set up at Nob. Eighty-six priests were residing at Nob doing the things that they would do every day as if they were in the tabernacle and every day that they would do in the temple. That's where they are. It was a place of sanctuary. It was a place of worship. It was a place where you went to get close to the Lord, to spend time before him. David

goes there. And here's where 1 Samuel 21 says, verses 1-9, I won't read it all but a portion of it. Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And he asked the priest, do you have any food? Because he left with nothing. So the priest gave him the holy bread for there was no bread there but the bread of presence, which is removed from before the Lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away. Then David said to Ahimelech, then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I've brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste. And the priest said, the sword of Goliath of Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is none but that one here. And David said, there is none like that one. Give it to me. One more clip here and then I'll finish this message. All of David's life has been worship. All of David's life has been sanctuary. That's why he goes to Nab. He goes back to the place that was the center of his life, the sanctuary, the sacred things. He got what he needed there. He got bread, he got the sword. But that last line, you heard what he said. I needed to remember the greatness of God. Here is the thing, church, that I want you to get the big idea out of this. Every one of us are gonna go through some trials in our life. You're gonna go through tribulation. You're gonna have challenges. You're gonna have to fight through things. You're gonna have to trust God through things. You're gonna have battles that you're gonna face. And you never come to a place as a Christian

where you get past a trial and you say, okay, that one's behind me. Just keep on living. Another one is coming, trust me. There's another tribulation around the corner. There's another challenge that's coming. That's how our life is designed, for us to live according to trusting God, day by day, challenge by challenge, trial by trial, tribulation by tribulation. There's no reason of throwing your hands up saying, I don't know why I'm going through this, God. You'll be doing that over and over and over again. Your exasperation doesn't stop the trials. Your frustration doesn't stop the tribulation. We live through those kind of things in this Christian life. But every one of us need to remember the greatness of God. Because if we don't, and lay some foundational things in our life, because if we don't, then we'll go from trial to trial and just get through. We'll go from financial challenge to financial challenge and just get through it. We'll go through battle through battle and just get through it. Instead of doing things foundationally in our life that sets us up for the victory that's ready to come. Are y'all following me on this? You can do some foundational things in your life that sets up when you need the victories later on.

I'm here to tell you, what you do foundationally is what God uses for weapons for you later on in life. I was reminded of a situation sooner, there's a picture on the screen, or gonna be on the screen. Lady V and I bought the old estate that I, the house that I lived in and tore it down and to build some rental units on it. But when I met with the builder, the one thing I told him that I did not want done, I want him to design around that tree. I don't want that tree torn down. No matter what your design is, the tree has to stay. And there was a reason why I did that. There was another tree to the right of it. And it was a citrus tree when I was growing up and even later on in life, I was a teenager and I don't know what I did, but I killed the tree. And my grand, yeah, I got in big trouble for it. I killed the tree and never heard the end of that. But what my, instead of replacing that citrus tree, my grandfather decided, I'm gonna put a ficus tree here. And if I place this ficus tree in the right place, when he gets to a certain height, anytime I wanna sit on the front porch, I'm gonna have shade on my front porch. So when I went by and saw that, when we were getting ready to tear it down, I said, don't tear that tree because that reminds me if you make a right foundational decision

in the early stages, it pays off. When you get older, it'll pay off. Here's what I know. God builds people through hidden faithfulness before he entrusts you with public victory. God builds people through hidden faithfulness before he entrusts you with public victory. And so I wanna give you some foundations, foundations that if you lay in your life now, they'll become weapons for you later on in your life. And the first one we learned from David is the plant in the house of God. Plant yourself in the house of God. Where did David go in the midst of his trial? He went to the house of God. Why? Because he knew that it was a sanctuary. He built his whole life around God's presence. He received bread there, he received a blade there, but what David is reminding us of, the things you need, the provisions that you need, they're found in God's house, they're found in God's presence, they're found in that place where we establish our life and build our life around the things of the Lord. The protection he needed was there. The provision he needed was there. I love this young man's, I think he said his name was Chris Didio that got baptized. When he talked about the fellowship,

people called at him, people inviting him into circles of community. That's what we find in the house of God. You plant yourself in the house of God, and I'm telling you, that will become a weapon for you later when you need to fight a battle. battle by planting yourself in God's house. Here's Psalm 122, verse 1. I love this. It says, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. This is what the psalmist is saying. David didn't say, we're going to church because they made me. We're going to church because I have to. We're going to church because it's Sunday. Going to church because if the pastor don't see me, he going to text me and ask me where was I. No, no. Glad to go to the house of the Lord. Are y'all hearing me? Glad to go to the house of the Lord. Why? To be in the presence of the almighty God and with his people. Psalm 92, 12 through 15. But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon for they are planted to the Lord's own house. Notice how he's describing us. Of course, you know, I think the word is analogy. That we're analogous like palm trees and cedars of Lebanon. When we're planted in the house of God, they flourish in the courts of our God. Even in old age, they will produce fruit. They remain vital and green. They will declare the Lord is just. He is my rock and there's no evil in him. It's being planted in God's house where there's that assurance of growing healthy and being strong and being fruitful and being vital all the days of your life because you're planted in God's house. Can you say amen? Second thing is honor authority. I love this about David. Saul was a madman, but you'll never find a case where David spoke ill against him. Not once. Saul never had a reason. Never had a reason to blame Saul for David for anything. Because David recognized, if I don't recognize the authority above me, then I'm going to have a hard time recognizing the supreme authority who's above all. Understand this. Honor and authority is not just to lift up people who have rule over you or authority over you. It's not just to do that. It's because it establishes the fact that all of us have an authority over us. When you start to evade the authority above you, then I'm telling you, you start to think differently about the God who is your ultimate authority. If you can't submit yourself to the authority

that God has placed over you, you're certainly not going to trust Him. And I tell you, a whole lot of Christians are very happy to have Jesus as Savior, but they don't want Him as Lord. Because Lord means you got to listen to Him. Lord means you got to be obedient. Lord means that He's going to tell you some things in your life that you don't want to do. You know every time I go through Hila Ben, I pray like the Dickens. Lord, please don't tell me to plant a church here. Don't tell me to plant a church here. I love my Lord. But all of us know you go through experiences, God tells you something to do, you don't want to do it. But when you know that He's your authority, when He's your Lord, and you know the basis of you establishing the fact of honoring authority is that you've given God permission to do unto you everything He needs to do unto you because you trust Him as the authority of your life. Am I talking to the right church? Y'all doing all right? Here's what Hebrews 13, 17 says. Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who would give account. Let them do this with joy, not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Peter was pretty strong even when it came to human authority. Listen to what 1 Peter says, 2, 13. He says, Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should not put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust, for this is a gracious thing when mindful of God. So David knew that. He knew I'm going to honor this man no matter what he's doing because I know my ultimate authority is the Lord God Almighty. Here's the third thing, constantly worship. Constantly worship. David was a man of song. David was a man that would sing songs unto the Lord. His life, when you read the Psalms, his life was about singing to God. Don't think that David learned courage the moment he stepped on that battlefield. David learned courage long before he stepped on that battlefield. for that, not in battle, he learned it in worship. He learned that in the midst of difficulties,

I can still sing unto my God. David knew in the midst of challenges, I can stand and go through this because I'm gonna give worship unto my Lord. David's life was never wasted when he was with the sheep. It was never wasted when he was in the wilderness. He was preparing for moments like this because he spent his time worshiping the Lord God Almighty. Hear me on this, church. Worship is the sound of a healthy soul. Worship is the sound of a healthy soul. And David, indeed, was one that showed us we worship God. We constantly worship him and give him all glory. Here's Psalm 52, eight and nine. But I am like an olive tree thriving in the house of God. I will trust in God's unfailing love. I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done. I will trust in your good name and the presence of your faithful people. In the midst of all things, David said, man, I'm gonna worship. I'm gonna trust. I am like an olive tree in the house of God. Therefore, I know I can trust his unfailing love. Here's Psalm 59, 16 through 17. But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love for you have been my refuge. You understand you only need a refuge

when you're in trouble. A place of safety when I'm in my distress. O my strength, to you I sing praises. For you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love. David was one that worshiped constantly. He laid the foundation. And it was that very worship, the foundation that he laid, that was a weapon for him when he went into future battles. And here's the last thing, tithe faithfully. Why was Goliath's sword at the tabernacle, or I should say a knob, in the first place? Because when David took it out of Goliath's hands, he put it into the hands of God. This is what David knew. Anything that the Lord gives me to give through this life, I can never take the mindset that it belongs to me. The God who gave it is the one who it belongs to. Now David could have put that thing in his tent, or in his whatever he lived in once he was in the palace, and had Goliath's sword there when people come in and say, oh man, David, what is that sword? You know, it's the one I took from Goliath. Chopped his head off. That's what I did. That's known all over, I mean, you don't know. It's known all over the world. I chopped his, I just want everybody to know what I did. No, he didn't do that. He took that sword and he gave it to the priest.

He said, this don't belong to me. God gave this to me to use for his glory, for his good. This ain't for me, it belongs to the Lord. Listen, church, when we learn this, that everything God gives us is for his own glory, I tell you, you'll never lack. You'll never miss out. You'll never be in a place where you're wondering if God's gonna come through. I love what David said when he saw that sword. He said, I need to remember the greatness of God, because the thing that he gave back to God, God gave back to him to use for his own good during that season. We do things unto the Lord because we trust that everything that we give unto God, God will give back to us to use for the good that we need through any battle or challenge that we're going through. Here's what it says in Luke 6, 38. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap, for the measure you use will be measured back to you. So I'm telling you, we learned from David some foundational things. Build your life in the house of God. It's a foundational thing that we learned from David. Honor authority. God used that as a weapon for him later on

when he needed God's hand upon his life. Worship constantly, foundational thing. You go into every battle, every situation worshiping God. You'll have the courage to face whatever you're facing and tithe faithfully or give generously, because God will always give back to you what you need. But there's one more song that David wrote that really shows us the ultimate foundation that has to be built. And that ultimate foundation is trusting the Lord as your shepherd, as your savior. Psalm 23. Three, many of us know that David wrote that Psalm. Many of us probably learned that even growing up. If you grew up in church in the old King Jimmy version, you learned Psalm 23. But all the years, so David went from a shepherd, shepherd boy to a king. Years of warfare that he went through. Threat after threat on his life, not just from King Saul, but from the Philistines and all the other enemies that he had to face. He went from cave to wilderness, hiding from people who was after him. He lived the majority of his life being very vulnerable, not knowing who he could trust. Isolation from his family, isolation from his friends, and many times even isolation from the house of God. But he still sung about the ultimate foundation that he had. And that was a wholehearted trust in the God of salvation.

Psalm 23, listen to this. David is saying, in all of my warfare, the Lord is my shepherd. In all of my vulnerability, the Lord is my shepherd. In all of my isolation, the Lord is my shepherd. In all the times I'm separated from the house of God, the Lord is my shepherd. In every trial, the Lord is my shepherd. In every tribulation, the Lord is my shepherd. In every battle, the Lord is my shepherd. I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides quiet waters. He renews my life. He leads me along the right path for his name's sake. Even when I go through the valley or the darkest valley, I fear no evil, fear no danger, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. I love this line. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. And watch this, only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life. We often think that we're going after God's goodness or going after God's mercy. No, the shepherd is saying, when I'm your shepherd, I'm gonna send goodness chasing after you. I'm gonna send mercy chasing after you. Unfailing love will chase after you. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

That's the ultimate foundation, is establishing the Lord as your shepherd. I'm gonna ask you to stand, take your communion elements. And prayerfully, I would say, if there's one of those foundational principles that you're not placing in your life, I'm gonna encourage you to do so. Whether it be establishing yourself in the house of the Lord, whether it be honoring authority so that you can honor the authority of the Lord, whether it be worshiping constantly or tithing faithfully or being generous. Those foundational things, I'm telling you, they will be weapons for you when you need them. But the ultimate one is trusting Jesus as your Lord, trusting him as your shepherd, really building the foundation of your life on Christ Jesus. It's a truth, man. He'll take care of everything you need when you trust him. It's a truth. In the midst of a chaotic world, he'll take you to still waters. In the midst of a dark and evil place, he'll be with you. He'll never leave you. And I love the fact that goodness and mercy will chase after you all the days of your life if you just dwell in the house of the Lord. Father, I wanna thank you for this time. That we come together to acknowledge that you are our Lord.

You are our savior. You are our God. It's to you, Lord God, that we lift up our soul. Let's eat together. And let's drink together. Can you shout hallelujah? Listen, the prayer team is gonna be here. We're gonna close out with a worship song as we normally do. And there's always opportunity for you to get prayer. I wanna just make this encouragement specifically. There's some things I gave you foundation that you'll need to do that will be weapons for you later. But you might be in the middle of a battle right now. You might be in the middle of warfare. You know you're going through some trial, some tribulation, something that's really, really overwhelming you. These dear people are here to pray for you, to help you get through that. From where you are to get to that place where you can ultimately trust God. So if you want prayer for that, please go on and come. Anything you want prayer for, they're here for you to do it. May God bless you. Have a great day. ♪ When I think of all your times ♪ When I think of all you brought me through When I think about your love I can never say enough thank yous When I think of all you've done When I think of all you brought me through When I think about your love

I can never say enough thank yous When I think of all you've done When I think of all you brought me through When I think about your love I can never say enough thank yous For the ways that you have made For the price that you have paid For your mercies every day That's what all you've made For the ways that you have made For the price that you have paid For your mercies every day That's what all you've made Praise, oh Lord you deserve it Oh Lord you deserve all my praise Praise, oh Lord you deserve it Oh Lord you deserve all my praise