David

All right, so we are in week three of our series, The Cloud, The Cloud, and the idea of The Cloud comes from one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible, Hebrews 12, Hebrews 11 and Hebrews 12, and what we have here is a list of people, what we call giants of the faith, we call it the Faith Hall of Fame, that's what theologians and teachers and different people call it, just kind of a nice catchy name to look at people that have gone before us in history and have left us with these great stories, with these encouraging thoughts, with these ideas of faith, and perhaps you're somebody today that's dealing with your faith, you're having a hard time following Christ, or you're struggling with your faith, you don't know whether you should move on, and I giggle at that because I've been through that so many times, there's times even today where I'm like, Lord, when, how are you gonna do this? And you know what? He comes through every time with these encouraging stories empowering me for my today and my tomorrow. Yesterday, the looking back in the accounts of scripture to our yesterday is so encouraging, so we've been kind of pulling through those different heroes in the faith, and our theme scriptures from Hebrews 12, if you have your Bible and you want to open that up, or you want to follow along on the screen, or whatever device you're using to follow along, take notes, and you also have some notes in your bifold if you want to grab your notes, and so that you can take down some information there. It says, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, these people in Hebrews 11 that he mentioned, since we have all these people, we can go back to and be encouraged, and we know that they, when there was little faith at times, there was enough faith to move on.

Even though they didn't see, even though they believed, even though they didn't have it right there in front of them, they knew that God would deliver, even though they didn't see it in their lifetime. Some of you are right there, right? You haven't seen results, and you know what? To be honest, you may not even see it in your lifetime, but everything you do today is planting seeds for eternity, and we need to live today as eternity matters. And that's the point.

Living as eternity matters. So let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us. All that stuff that we have in our lives that keeps us from running the race that God has set before us. So we run the race with perseverance, the race marked out before us. So we have this race that we're running, this race called life, and it's a good journey if we can see it in that respect.

But a lot of times we get focused on the things of today, and it really pulls us back and it pulls us down. But today I want to encourage you because these people did it. You can do it too. These giants of the faith were just simple people that God chose, God called out, and they were obedient, and they moved forward in faith. So today I want to deal with one of my favorite people in the Bible, and that's King David.

David. King David. And there's a lot of directions we can go with in the Bible with King David. There's a lot of stories. There's a lot of things he did right.

There's a lot of things he did wrong. Some of the things he did wrong was Bathsheba. We all know that he slept with Bathsheba, killed her husband. So he was a murderer and all that kind of stuff. So that wasn't really a good thing.

Also, he took a census, disobeyed God. He often led with passion. And sometimes that passion would be filled with anger and he'd make wrong decisions. So we know there's a lot of things about David that aren't necessarily good things, but there are a lot of good things about David as well. There are a lot of great things.

There are a lot of powerful things about David. And one of those things about David that we're going to talk about today is his understanding of authority. And authority is one of those subjects that's hard for us as human beings to deal with, to work with, because authority, because we all want, we all like our opinions, right? We all want to have some sense of we know and we got it and we have it all together. And when we're tested by authority, what do we do?

We either obey or rebel. We all want to have a rebel. So, if David were here today, I think one thing he would tell us, if you're following a note, he would say this, and as he's jogging down the racetrack with us, looking over at us, he says, you are exalted by God as you, and fill in the blank, humble yourself under God's authority. Humble yourself under God's authority, because God is all authoritative. He has the authority.

But, for us, that might be a challenge, so that's why we need to deal with that today. I know for me, it's a challenge, and for many people, it's a challenge. So, let's look at David's life. Now, I've got a lot of scripture today, so if you notice on your notes, I didn't put everything out, because I just put a lot of scripture in today. So, if you're all ready for a heavy scripture day, get ready, get your pens out, take some notes, bounce around, whatever you need to do.

So, let me give you some context of David's rise to kingship, so that we can get set in the story here. So, Israel, after Noah, we talked about Noah last week, we talked about Abraham, and Abraham came along and had Isaac, and then Isaac had Jacob, and then Jacob had sons, and then Israel was formed through Joseph. Joseph goes to Egypt, and he's under slavery, becomes prime minister, he brings his family, and then they're released under Moses, and there's all these things that go on along the storyline. And then there's Israel, and then after Moses, and after Israel's set, and after Israel is a people, a kingdom, if you want to say it was a kingdom during that time, God was their ruler. God was in authority.

So, Israel was a theocracy. A theocracy simply means that God was king. No one else was king. In fact, he set up prophets, and he set up this prophet named Samuel as his mouthpiece. So, God's speaking through Samuel, leading the people in this theocracy.

It was led by a prophet. But Israel wanted a human king. Israel begged for a human king. God says, you're not ready for a human king. In fact, I'm a pretty good king.

I'm God, you know? My authority is pretty good. So, why don't you just follow me? But the people were yelling and angry. We want a human king, and we want to have a human king.

So, guess what God did? Against his better judgment, and what was best for the people, he allowed the people to pick their king. So, through the prophet Samuel, the people chose Saul. Saul, this king. But Saul was not a good king.

Why? Because it was the people's choice and not God's choice. Makes sense, right? It was the people's choice and not God's choice. So, Saul made some really bad decisions.

He was not a good leader, and God decided it was time for him to pick a new king. So, instead of allowing the people to pick a king and introducing this king publicly, privately, Samuel was sent out to a farmland, a sheep land somewhere, into this man's house named Jesse, who had a few brothers. And he goes through all these brothers, and there's one last son, the least expected son, that anyone would have thought would have been king. And that was David, a stinky, dirty shepherd boy, out taking care of sheep. And Samuel even questions, this cannot be the man you're talking about.

God said, yep, that's him. Okay, let's do this. So, privately, in a sheep herding field, in a sheep herding area, in a farm, if you want to say it, if we want to bring it today, think of a farmer out in the field, in the farm, in the farmhouse, whatever you want to see it, here comes this prophet in, and he anoints him king, privately. The most humble of circumstances, we see David, anointed as king. And the main thing we need to get at today, David was anointed, but Saul was still appointed.

Saul was still king, although David was anointed privately. So, the main drive of this teaching is that, of David's understanding of authority. He understood that. He understood that there was a king that was in charge. Although he was anointed, called by God, he was going to be God's choice.

It wasn't the people's choice, it was God's choice. He understood authority. And no one is exempt from authority, okay? Nobody, not David, and not even Jesus. So I'm going to take you back to Jesus for a second, just to kind of understand his understanding of authority.

He always honored the Father. All authority. He did everything. He always listened to the Father. But on the human side, now let's go back for a second.

On the human side, he had an earthly mother. He had an earthly mother and a heavenly Father. So he had a mother that he honored and he respected. In fact, when he was 12 years old, there's a story in the Gospel of Luke where they took their annual trip to Israel for a feast, a Jewish feast, which was the common custom of that day. And as they are in town, Jesus wanders away from them and goes into the temple and starts teaching these older scribes and gentlemen in the temple.

And they get down the road a few ways as they're leaving town. And it's like a Home Alone episode, right? She looks around and says, where's Jesus? Where's Jesus? Oh, we forgot Jesus, you know?

So they have to roll back to town, right? And Jesus, you know, he's 12 years old. He's just innocent. He's just following the Father, right? He's just doing what he's supposed to do.

He's Jesus, right? And he's sitting there teaching the people and his mother comes in and you could just imagine. Mothers, I bet you can imagine what you would be saying to Jesus or your child if he wandered in a big city away from you and he was gone for like a day or two. Yeah, what were you doing? What were you thinking?

And Jesus so innocently looks at him and says, well, I'm just about my father's business. And she says, no. No, you don't, God. Yeah, you're God, but you're going to listen to me. You better come home.

You come right now. What did Jesus do? He honored his mother. He went with her. And until he was 30 years old, we see the miracle of Canaan, where he walks in and his mother's at this feast and they run out of wine.

And it wasn't a good thing to run out of wine at a Jewish party. They needed to turn the water into wine. And Mary wanted him to turn the water into wine. He knew he could do something. He says, how are you going to fix this, Jesus?

And I don't know how she knew that Jesus could do something. Maybe she just knows, right? She knows her son. And she says, Jesus, I need your help. I need your help.

We're out of wine. What does Jesus say? He says, what do you have to do with me, woman? Now, it's a Jewish idiom, so he wasn't really being disrespectful to her. He was just kind of talking, probably having fun at the party and talking to her.

You know, what are you going to do with me? She says, she just looks over at the people and says, do whatever he tells you to do. And she honors, and he honors his mother. And from that day forth, he was given permission and authority by his mother to honor the father. And in his ministry, he solely honored the father throughout his ministry.

So we see that Jesus understood authority. He understood authority well. And throughout his ministry, he understood authority as well. He always honored authority, even the government, governmental authorities and different ones. He honored, and we can learn from that.

No one is exempt from authority. No one is exempt. So I'm going to give you four truths. Before we go back to David, I'm going to peel away from David just for a second and give you four truths. I know I'm talking fast, but I just got a lot of information here.

And I want to share all this with you. So the first point I want to make is God originated authority and Satan originated rebellion. That's the first truth we're going to make. God originated authority. He is the father of authority, and Satan is the father of rebellion.

Paul is talking to the Romans in Romans 13. And obviously, these people are dealing with authority issues, governmental authority, understanding how do I manage this thing in the Christian life as I'm walking with Jesus, as I've learned and come to know Jesus. He says this, Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. There's no authority in place that God hasn't established. God is the commander and the chief, and all of that abierto our name is in the enemy.

of everything, every person that's placed in office, good or bad, failures, ups, downs, whatever it is, God's in charge. The authorities that exist have been established by God, and consequently, whoever rebels, consequently meaning, and because of this, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted. And those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. I'll get to that in a minute. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.

Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God's servant for your good, but if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are, what is that, God's servants. They are God's servants.

Right or wrong, they're God's servants. Agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong door. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also as a matter of conscience, as a matter of doing the right thing. This is also why you pay taxes. Ooh, I bet that really got them.

This is why you pay taxes. They're probably questioning whether I should pay taxes to something I don't agree with. For the authorities of God are God's servants who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them. If you owe taxes, pay taxes.

If revenue, revenue. If respect, respect. If honor, if honor. Now, it's hard to believe that God's ministers are the IRS, right? But that's what God says.

They are God's ministers. They are placed over us. The police, the authorities, the civil authorities that are placed in, they are set there by God to protect us, to take care of us, to provide, you know, what God has instituted, and we should respect and honor them. On the flip side, Satan is the originator of rebellion. If we see rebellion, we think Satan.

If we see dishonor, we think Satan. And let me just give you a little theology behind Satan. And you can go to Isaiah 14 or Ezekiel 28, and you can read a little bit about the theological matters of how Satan came to be and how he came to rule in the, if you want to call it the dark world or to rule the way he does in that state of rebellion. And when Satan came in to a rebellious point, so he was one of the top angels in heaven. He was God's.

He, in fact, Lucifer is one of the few angels that are named in the Bible. There's only a few angels named in the Bible, and Lucifer is one of those angels. And he was he was just, he was made in splendor and beauty. He was one of God's great worshiping angels. And some theologians, and there's debates about whether he was a worship leader or not, and we'll get into that discussion another time.

But he was, he was looked at as one of the greatest angels, and he rebelled. He rebelled. I will put myself above God. I will put myself higher than God. I don't have to honor the authority of God because I have my own authority.

And rebellion took place. See, we can repent, but he couldn't, he can't repent because he was made in perfection and glory for God. He was made for God's good pleasure, yet he rebelled. And not only that, he brought one third of the angels with him, the demons, who we call demons today. And he is the originator of rebellion.

In fact, he's at work today. He's doing his thing today. He's rebelling. He's doing whatever he can to manipulate, to rebel, to turn around and thwart the plan of God. That's his goal.

That's his mission. Amen. And second, Thessalonians 2, 7 to 7. Paul talks a little bit, writing to the church of Thessalonica, and he's talking about the lawless one. He talks about this lawless one that is to come, so this is a little bit prophetic, and some of it is what's going on during that time as well.

And it says, for the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till it is taken out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. Talking about this person or this idea or whatever it is that's going to come, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. Talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a church, as a whole church, as the holy church in general throughout the world, we believe, we hold and we stand on this particular doctrine that the Lord will return and make things right. But we have an evil one that is working in the world today.

He's working, and he's rebellious. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance to how Satan works. And he will use all sorts of displays of power, so he'll manipulate things through signs and wonders. He'll make you think he's God through signs and wonders. And the wonders that serve the lie.

Talking about the lie, not lies, the lie. The one lie that God is not in authority, that he is in authority, that sin is in authority, that we're in authority. And all the way, and all the ways of wickedness deceive those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and to be saved. So the beauty of it, God is in authority, and he has everything under his control.

And he desires all to be saved. But the devil, Satan, the lawless one that will come into the world, the spirit of the world today, we can actually see the spirit of the world today as the lawless one. A lawless idea that has permeated our world. And he is aiming to do everything he can to destroy, destroy what God wants to do. And authority today is so challenged.

And we honor people, sports heroes, movie stars, or whatever they is. When they challenge authority, a lot of people just follow them like it's the greatest thing. But God has set authority in place. Authority is there for a reason. An example of authority, particularly, let me just go on to the second point here.

Rebellion against, because I'll mention that a little later. Rebellion, okay, number two, the truth of, the truth number two. Rebellion against God's direct and delegated human authority is a serious sin with serious consequences. Rebellion against God's direct and delegated human authority is a serious sin with serious consequences. So there's consequences to, to rebelling.

Did you know that? There's consequences when we decide to, to usurp God's authority. Romans 13, one and two. If we go back to, to, to verse one, let everyone be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except that which is, which God has established.

The authorities that exist have been established by God, right? So consequently, whoever rebels against authorities is rebelling against what God has instituted. And those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. So we can actually bring judgment on ourselves when we rebel. When we rebel against the, the authorities that are set in place.

There's judgment when we reject authority. When we reject authority, we reject God. Did you realize that? When you reject authority, you reject God. Doesn't mean you have to agree with authority.

It just simply means when you reject and rebel against authority, you're rebelling against God. Another example is in 1 Samuel, where Saul disobeys God's direct orders orders to destroy the Amalekites, evil people. That God didn't find favor in. In fact, there's suggestions that God tried to work with the Amalekites and he told Samuel, he says, I want Saul and the armies to go into the Amalekites and destroy them because I've tried to work with these people and they're just not getting better. They're very, very, very evil people, so we're just going to wipe them off the face of the planet.

I'm tired of it. I'm sick of it. They're hurting my earth. They're hurting my people. They're hurting people all around them.

It's time to get rid of them. So get rid of them. Don't keep any cattle. Don't keep any gold. Don't keep anything.

Destroy their city. Get rid of them completely. In 1 Samuel 15, 22, 26, and this is where it picks up, but Samuel's replying to what Saul had done because Saul went in and he destroyed most of them and most everything, but he kept the plunder. He kept a few people, the king and some other ones. He kept some cattle and some livestock because he thought, yes, this is a good idea.

Why, you know, I know better, God. Isn't that what we do often? I know better, God. I know your authority and you've got it all figured out, but, you know, I kind of know things, too. You know, I'm pretty smart and Saul was probably thinking that.

And the interesting thing about Saul, and we'll see it in the Scripture, is that he thought, well, you know, God will forgive me. I'll just do a few sacrifices and it'll be okay, you know. Isn't that what we often do? I'll do, you know, I'll just go to church. I'll just go to church and pray it away and all that kind of stuff and then I'll do all the right things and maybe God will be pleased with that.

But look at this. It says, but Samuel replied. Here's how Samuel replies to it. Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Because to obey is better than the sacrifice.

I'd rather you obey than to sacrifice all the animals you want to me. And to heed is better than that of fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, which some versions say witchcraft, divination, witchcraft. So he's comparing rebellion to witchcraft. And ignorance, or some versions say stubbornness, is like evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king. Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. You know, it's like, oh, I'm sorry, God. I have sinned. I have sinned.

You know, we did it all. Oh gosh, I'm saying, you know, look, let me go to that prayer room. Everything will be okay. And then I go on, then we do it again, right? And we just kind of go back to God and here's him changing his tune all of a sudden.

He says, I have sinned. I have sinned. I violated the Lord's commandments and your instructions. I was afraid of the men, and so I gave in to them. Now he's blaming somebody else, and that's what we often do.

How, now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me so that I may worship the Lord. But Samuel said to him, I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel. So that was the point where there was no coming back. Because he had rebelled and rebelled and rebelled against God.

God didn't want Saul's sacrifices. He wanted Saul's obedience. And I love the term of comparing rebellion with witchcraft. I did a little study on that. And when we think of witchcraft or divination and things like that, what we're doing ultimately is we're becoming our own deity.

The idea of the religion of witchcraft is that you, instead of there being authority over you, you are your own authority. And you have the ability to manipulate and use, and you're equal with nature and all these things. And through potions and chants and spells and manipulating people and the spiritual realm, we become our own deity and usurp God's authority. So we're taking authority and placing it on ourselves. So when he says rebellion is like witchcraft, you might as well just do that, right?

If you're following God and you're rebelling, you might as well just leave God all together. Leave God out of the equation. Worship, you know, the earth or yourself. That's what he's saying here. If you're saying it, Usurps the authority of God and places it on the individual.

It's a manipulation tactic. And he also talks about arrogance. Arrogance, and some versions say, stubbornness is like the evil of idolatry. So if I'm stubborn about something, or I'm usurping authority in that way because I'm just stubborn and hard-headed and I think I know better, it creates this evil of idolatry because, again, we worship our opinions, right? We're worshiping our own opinions and selective obedience.

We tend to be selectively obedient with what we want to be obedient about, right? I don't want to be obedient on everything. You know, I'll listen to you. I'll listen to you. If you're somebody in authority or you're under somebody in authority and they ask you to do something, you know, I don't agree with it, but I'll do it.

And you're going to have to be nice to me and you're going to have to, you know, and I'm just not going to agree with it at all. You're just going to have to accept. That is called selective obedience. And that's just as bad because it's being stubborn. We're being stubborn.

And it's like idolatry because we worship our own opinion. So number two was rebellion against God's direct and delegated human authority is as serious as sin with serious consequences. It's a very serious consequence. Number three, understanding and accepting the principle of submission to authority accelerates spiritual revelation and maturity. Did you know that?

You actually mature quicker and you receive more spiritual revelation when you honor and accept the principle of submission. In Matthew 8, 5 and 10, we have this story of a centurion man that came up to Jesus who completely understood this idea of authority and submission to authority. It says when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him. A centurion is simply a soldier or someone who was in charge. He obviously had a high up position because he's getting ready to talk about that here.

And the centurion came to him asking for help because he had a servant. My servant lies at home, paralyzed, suffering terribly. He's inflicted. And Jesus says to him, shall I come and heal him? So basically, Jesus is like, let's go.

Let's go and heal him, right? And the centurion replied, and granted, this isn't a Jewish man. This is a Roman man or someone who works for the Roman government. And the Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me.

I tell this one go and he goes and this one come and he comes. I say to my servant, do this and he does it. And when Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to all those following him, all these Jewish people, all these church people, all these people who are supposed to understand. Truly, I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel. I have not found anyone in the church.

Basically, that's what he was saying then with such great faith, with such great faith. See, the centurion understood authority. He knew what it was like to order someone to do something because he worked under a kingdom. He worked under a kingdom and he understood that when somebody at top said something, it happened. And he understood that Jesus had something different, something invisible that was taking place.

He had a kingdom that you couldn't see. And he knew, you don't even have to go to my house. Because I understand that authority principle. I understand that. I might not know much about the Jewish culture or the Jewish race or the Jewish religion, if he was probably calling it that in that day.

But I understand this. You've got something, Jesus, and I understand authority. And what's interesting about authority, understanding spiritual maturity is that from a physical standpoint, our bodies mature, right? They get old. There's no way around it.

But from a spiritual standpoint, spiritual maturity, people can be 60, 70 years old and be three years old in the Lord. Three years old spiritually. On the other hand, a three-year-old can be maybe not that young. A three-year-old can be, you know, 10, 15 years old spiritually, right? It just works that way.

And if we understand authority, it accelerates spiritual growth. There's two interpretive pieces or interpretive keys of the Bible. And I think it's important for us to understand these two things. And if you want to write it down, if you're a person who studies, you need to always see the scripture in light of this. First of all, love.

That God is love. And the Bible is a very dangerous book if we don't operate and read the Bible in the eyes and in the glasses of love, right? We need to understand. And that's why so many people are hurt by people, because people misinterpret the Bible outside of love. And they use it as a book to manipulate people and hurt people.

But the other interpretive principle is authority. So we've got to understand it as love, and understand that the key interpretive piece to the Bible is authority. And when you understand authority, and it works within the idea of love, that we mature. And we mature quickly in God. And the Jews didn't understand these.

They were all babes in Christ, because they didn't understand this, and they didn't submit to authority. That's why they didn't see Jesus when he came, and he was actually the son of God. Everything that was promised to them, they didn't submit to authority. But the centurion got it. So in some respects, the centurion was much more mature than many of those people he was teaching.

So he was amazed. He was amazed. Number four, submission to authority brings supernatural favor, blessing, and protection from God. That's, wow. Did you know that?

See, God's love is unconditional. Let's just start there. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to do anything. It's there.

It's there for your grabbing. It's there for your taking. He loves you regardless. But his blessing, and favor, and protection is conditional. It's under the condition that you obey, and you're being obedient.

It doesn't mean he loves you any better, or loves someone else any better. It just simply means that it is conditional. Authority brings supernatural favor. Look here. Everybody knows the scripture, because even if we weren't raised as Christians, even if our kids, our parents weren't Christians, they used the scripture against us, right?

It's about obeying our parents, right? Ephesians 6, 1 and 3 says this, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your mother and father. And then he adds this, which is the first commandment with a promise. This is the very first commandment.

Of all the commandments, this is the first commandment that we're actually given a promise. And what is that promise? So that it may go well with you, and you may enjoy long life on the earth. This is the only commandment with a profound promise. A profound promise.

If you honor your parents, you will live long, and you will do well. If you honor your parents, you will live long and do well. Not rocket science, right? So why? Why?

Because all authority stems from the home. Did you know that? All authority stems from the home. When children are taught in their home to respect authority, it carries out into society. But when they're not, then that bleeds out into society.

And society is structured on authority. It's all about authority. It is structured on authority. And when we allow our children to rebel in the home, we are doing a, this is good for your children, by the way. Okay?

If you love your children, you will teach them to honor and to obey and to do all these things. Because when they're adults, they're going to do what you taught them to do. And when they're older, you send them out on their own. They don't have to obey you anymore. They have to honor you, but they don't have to obey you anymore.

So it's important that we raise children. It starts with the family unit in the home, practicing authority, letting your children understand there is a no and there is a yes. There's no in-between, and I am the authority, and you need to understand that and respecting those in authority around you. Very important. So those are four truths that I wanted to share with you today.

So switching gears, let's go back to David real quick, and I want to give you four things that I believe that David would share with us today if he were alive. If he were standing up here on stage, if he were spending time with us, he would share a few things with us. Number one, don't be arrogant. Don't be arrogant. David was privately anointed, right?

Saul didn't know. So we all are familiar with the story of David and Goliath. David comes out, he's feeding his brother on the battlefield, and he sees that there's this big giant Philistine over there named Goliath, and nobody wants to go out and fight this man. And David sees him, and he says, I'll do it, I'll do it. In 1 Samuel 17, it says, David said to Saul, Saul, let no one lose heart on account of the Philistine, for your servant will go and fight him.

He said, your servant will go and fight him. And Saul replied, you are not able to go against this Philistine and fight this man. You are a young, you are just a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth. So this guy was raised as a warrior from his youth, and he was a big guy. But David said to Saul, your servant has been keeping his father's sheep, sheep.

And when a lion or a bear, and they try to carry off the flock, they try to carry off a sheep from the flock, I went out after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. And when it turned on me, I seized it with its hair, struck it, and killed it. And then he says, your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. This circumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. Now, I want you to look at this in the context of authority.

David was anointed, but Saul was still appointed, right? Saul was king. David had already been anointed by this time. And David said, I could do this. And what did Saul say?

No. No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. And David responds with a righteous appeal. He starts out by your servant.

He says, your servant. Your servant has killed both the lion and a bear. This circumcised Philistine will not stand a chance, basically, is what he was saying. So David knew he could not go out unless Saul gave him the authority to do it. And obviously, Saul did.

Saul finally agreed, okay, you can go out and do this. But David knew, and he called Saul specifically your servant. Now, it would have been easy for David to say, are you kidding me? You're not letting me go out. Guess what?

Guess who visited my house the other day? Guess what happened? You know, don't scratch the crown, you know? Don't touch me. I'm God's anointed.

I mean, many of us would probably feel the same way. We just want to tell him off, you know? But he didn't. He didn't. He honored.

He honored God. He honored the king. And we know the rest of the story. We know the rest of the story. Our pride destroys us if we allow our pride and arrogance to destroy us.

But if we honor God and his authority, we find a greater plan, a greater purpose that he goes out with us. Number two, don't tolerate abuse. Don't tolerate abuse. First Samuel 19, 9 and 10, we see this with David. So the question is often, what if my authority is abusive?

Well, then that's a good thing to think about, right? First Samuel 19, 9 and 10, it says, but an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul, and he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. And while David was playing the liar, Saul tried to pin him down to the wall with a spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night, David made his good escape. You don't have to accept abuse.

When somebody's throwing a spear at you, dodge it, right? Get away from it. But there's two things about David that we do need to understand. There's a difference between suffering and abuse. We can suffer under authority.

We can disagree with authority, and it can, you know, bother us and aggravate us and do other things to us, but it may not necessarily be abusive. There's a difference between suffering and abuse. And when we see Saul, Saul was a very angry man. He didn't like David at all. There was a song going around that said, Saul killed his thousands and David killed his ten thousands.

You know, so he was a very angry man. He didn't like David at all. But here's what David did. David didn't stay and enable it. He didn't throw, but he didn't, he didn't throw a spear back.

He didn't get mad at him, run after him. He just got out of there, right? And number two, he didn't return evil for evil. After all of that happened, we see David consistent in understanding the authority that was placed before him or above him, that King Saul was still the authority. And we need to understand that suffering and abuse are two different things, because we're always going to have some type of suffering under authority.

Let's just be honest, we're dealing with people. God's the only authority that's perfect, and we're perfect people. So we're going to suffer from time to time under authority, but don't tolerate abuse, which can bring harm to you. 1 Peter 2, 13, 19 says, Submit yourself to the Lord for the sake, Lord's sake, to every human authority, whether it's emperor, a supreme authority, or a governor, who we are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that we, that by doing good, you should silence the ignorant, ignorant talk of foolish people.

Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Live as God's slaves. We are under authority of God, ultimately, you know, going back. God places everything in authority, so we are slaves to God when we are slaves. Slaves, it even, even mentioned slaves.

And, and, and, and reverend appear to God, submit yourself to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. So don't accept abuse and understand the difference between suffering and abuse. Don't think that everything, every time somebody tells you something to do and you disagree with it, it's abuse, right? But on the other hand, man, you cannot be abused.

It is okay to, to step back, to get out of the way if you're being physically, spiritually, whatever type of abuse that may be taking place in your life. You do not have to, to deal with it. You do not have to accept it. You can step to the side. There's ways to handle those things in, in a biblical way, but you do not have to be abused under that type of authority.

Thirdly, don't use your advantage. Here's the deal. We will always have an advantage over someone in some area of authority. You may be smarter than that person. You may be more talented than that person.

You're always going to be better in something, at something than somebody else in authority. But don't use your, your, uh, advantage to manipulate the situation. David was more popular. David was more anointed. By day and by night, David had an advantage over Saul.

Many, many times he could have whacked Saul, but he didn't whack Saul. In 1 Samuel, David is hiding in a cave from Saul. David's close enough to kill him, and, and, and Saul comes around the corner. Uh, so David, instead of killing him, he cuts off a piece of his cloak. And then as Saul is walking out and walking away, David comes out of the cave.

He's like, look what I got. See, I'm telling you, King, I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to support you. Look, I could have killed you. And how does Saul respond?

Saul says this, and, and verse 20, in 1 Samuel 24, he says, you are more righteous than I. He said, you are, you have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me about the good thing you did to me. The Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. When a man finds his enemy, does he let Let him get away unharmed.

May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today, for I know that you are surely, that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. There was another case where David and Abishai went to the camp while Saul was sleeping and had an opportunity to kill him, and Abishai's like, we've got to get this guy, we've got to get him, whack him, let's just do it. He's like, no, I'm not going to touch God's anointed. And they left the camp, and once again, David again tells the king, I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to honor you.

I'm here to practice authority. You will always be more gifted than someone else in authority. There's always going to be people that may not be as talented as you, or may not even be as good leaders as you. But the thing is, you have to honor. In order for you to receive authority, you have to respect authority.

You don't just jump in place, jump in line. You learn to honor people before God will give you the privilege of authority. God has given you those advantage to serve authority, not to usurp them. Okay? Number four, and lastly, watch who you associate with.

This is probably one of the most important points, and I just don't know why it's so hard to get. But people just want to associate themselves around the wrong people. And they begin to act and look like those people. You're around a negative person, guess what? You're going to be a negative person.

And we surround ourselves around negative people, and we become negative, you know? But if we surround ourselves around positive people, good influencers, good people, people who love the Lord and serve the Lord, most importantly, guess what? That becomes a part of us. 2 Samuel 1, 13 and 16, this is crazy how David deals with this. David said to the young man who brought him the report, where are you from?

Let me get a backtrack here a little bit, give you some context. Some of you are like, what is David talking about? What young man? So, David is, David, Saul was killed. Saul was killed in battle.

David didn't kill Saul, obviously. But the report comes back to him, this young man. It says, David said to the young man who brought him to the report, where are you from? He says, I am a son of a foreigner, an Amalekite. He answered, David asked him, why weren't you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?

Then David called one of his men and said, go strike him down. So he struck him down and he died. For David had said to him, your blood is on your head and your mouth testified against you when you said, I killed the Lord's anointed. Not even David allowed another man to kill the Lord's anointed because he knew authority was God's. Because David didn't want to associate himself around king killers.

It's amazing how much we become like the people we're around. And watch who you associate yourself with. Watch who you allow into your life. Allow to even communicate or offer wisdom to you. There's wisdom all around us.

But some of that wisdom may not be pure wisdom. And we need to be, and we don't want to be misled. 1 Corinthians 15, 33 says, do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. Bad company does corrupt good character.

You know, the Bible is so cool because it's so practical. Yet we don't follow it and we get mad. You know, when things don't go the way we want to. When it tells us exactly what to do. Guess what?

Honor God. Honor his word and honor his instruction. And good things come to you. So in conclusion, God's authority… Good thing, Ian. It's God's favor.

Did you know that? God's authority is God's favor. And I'm glad. Here's the deal. I'm glad that I have a God who is over everything.

I'm glad I have an authority. A God that loves me. A God that knows what's best for me. And I no longer have to live in fear. I no longer have to live in worry and difficulty, not knowing what He's up to, because I just trust Him.

And today I make a plea to you to trust Him. Perhaps you're someone here today that's never made a direct confession of faith to God. Say, I believe and I trust in you, God. See, simply, when God says, I come to save the world, what does He say? Like, in me, if you trust in me, if you put your life and your heart into who I am, if you trust me with your life, I will save you.

I will save you from all of this. I will save you. It won't take away all the world's evil and stuff. You know, I'm going to make that right one day, but I can tell you, I can rescue you right now. He comes to your rescue.

He's here to rescue you. And if that's you today, with all heads bowed and all eyes closed, if everybody in this house would bow their heads today, because I want to honor this moment, honor this moment, those of you, and I want to give everybody an opportunity to make a confession of faith today to the Lord. If that's you today and you're just ready to say, Pastor, I'm ready. If you would just lift your hand and say, I'm ready to put it all in. I'm ready to put it all on the table, all on the day.

I can't trust this world anymore. Lord, there's every way, every direction I've tried, I've did it wrong. And today I want to make it right. I want to make it right. If you'll make that, if you just, I'm not going to embarrass you.

I just want, I just want you to lift your hand so I can pray for you. Amen. I see that hand. Is there any other hands? Amen.

I'm going to make that, I'm going to make that, I'm going to make that. If you'll just pray this with me, pray this with me. Lord Jesus, I give all authority of my life to you, God, that you would come into my heart, come into my life, change me from the inside out, and make me new. God, I love you, and I honor you from this day forth. Walk with me.

Fill my heart. Fill my life. Fill me inwardly. Thank you, Lord, for your saving grace and your love.