Good Deeds in a Naughty World

And we all know that doing good deeds and random acts of kindness for strangers is a good thing, right? We know that. I mean, there's no argument there. It's a better way to live. To choose to do these random acts is a beautiful way to live.

Deep down, we are all inspired, you know, to live lives that are not for ourselves. There's something inside ourselves, just how we're built, to not do things for ourselves, but to do things for others. And there's something wonderful about that. And what's amazing about that also is it's not just internally. It's actually good for you externally.

It's healthier for you. People live longer. They live happier lives. In fact, there's one statistic that says that people who do about five acts of kindness, five deeds a week, they're 41% happier. 41% happier.

I don't know how they come up with these things, but if you want to be 41% happier in your week, do something nice for somebody. But no one needs to know that that works. No one needs to know that. Whether you're a follower of Christ or not, you know that there's something natural and something character building about that just makes life better. It's a beautiful thing.

But here's my question. What about when kindness seems crazy? How about when kindness is unwarranted? When kindness feels wrong? When you deal with difficult people that are ugly, people that are hateful to you?

How do you be kind to people when they don't want to be kind to you back? There goes the hard part, right? It's easy to know that we're supposed to be kind, but how do you be kind to people that don't want to be kind back to you? And the perfect person to talk about is David, King David. I'm going to talk about King David today.

Next week, I'm going to talk about Esther. So come next week to look at that. She was somebody that was beautiful inside and outside. So you don't want to miss next week. But this week, I want to dig into David.

And a few months ago, I did do a message on David. I'm going to take it from a different direction, different storyline this week. And when we see the life of David, we see this happen. So if you're following along with me in 1 Samuel 18, we're going to look at a part of David's story that exposes this kindness that was unwarranted, this kindness that wasn't deserved, this kindness that he constantly gave because he was beautiful on the inside. He had the character of God.

He had a heart for God. So follow along with me. Chapter 18, starting with verse 1. And after David had finished with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king's son. And there was an immediate bond between them, for Jonathan loved David.

And from that day on, Saul kept David with him and wouldn't let him return home. He loved David. And Jonathan made a solemn pact with David because he loved him as he loved himself. And Jonathan sealed the pact by taking off his robe and giving it to David, together with his tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt. And whenever Saul asked David to do, or whatever Saul asked David to do, David did it successfully.

He was very successful in everything he did. So Saul made him commander over all the men of war and appointed that he was welcomed by the people and Saul's officers alike. And when the victorious Israelite army was returning home after David had killed the Philistines, a woman from all the town of Israel, women from all the town of Israel, came out to meet King Saul. And they sang and they danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals. And this was their song.

Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands. And this made Saul very angry. Watch this, he said. They credits David with ten thousand and me with only thousands. Next they'll be making him king.

So from that day on, Saul kept a king. A jealous eye on David. The very next day a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul and he began to rave in his house like a madman. And David was playing his harp as he did each day, but Saul had a spear in his hand. And he suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall, but David escaped him twice.

And Saul was then afraid of David, for the Lord was with David and had turned away from Saul. He turned away from Saul. And finally Saul sent him away and appointed him commander over a thousand men. And David faithfully led his troops into battle. And David continued to be successful and succeed in everything that he did, for the Lord was with him.

Amen. The Lord was with him. I think about Harry and Meghan from the royal family. That goes back a few years ago and that whole drama and that situation, the TMZ stories and all that went out. And we heard about how this whole family dynamic, this royal family thing happened.

Harry decided, you know what? I'm going to get married. I don't want to live in England anymore. I don't want to live in the palace anymore. I'm going to go to Malibu.

And who could blame him? I mean, it's Malibu. It's California. It's a little nicer there than it would be in a dreary palace in London, England. And he wanted to change things up.

And what was interesting about this, there were certain rules that they had to follow. Like they were royalty, but they weren't royalty. And there was like these lines that were drawn, you know, that the queen decided to draw. You know, like, OK, so you can still be the Dutch and Duchess of success, but you can't carry your highness. You can't carry those titles.

So so you're sort of in the family and you're sort of not. And and you're kind of excommunicated, but you're not. And Harry's like, well, you know, I'm six in the line anyway. So why would I want to stay here? I'm not.

You know, a lot of people have to die before I become king. So why don't I just peel out and go to go to California, live there and just enjoy my life, you know, and and do my own thing and and all of that. So you have that playing out. And and it's it was just really interesting. It was kind of like one of those stories.

You're like, what's going on here? It's kind of like a drama a little bit. You know, what's going on in the palace? What's going on in the house? What are people thinking?

What are people saying? And I read something recently that when Charles becomes king, he plans on allowing him to carry that title again because he's kind of a little more new school rather than old school about it. So who knows what's going to happen there? Right. So you got this going on.

And so we have a similar situation with David. It's kind of a different way. He's invited into the royal family, but he's not exactly royal yet. OK, I mean, he killed the giant and married Saul's daughter. And it was great for him until it wasn't great because he started to see close up and personal what the family was like.

And it wasn't all that was crowded up to be. It wasn't it wasn't this big royal display of things. There was a lot of things going on in the household. He wasn't exactly given royal treatment as well. He wasn't.

And this wasn't news to David because he's known Saul for a long time. After all, he's been serving Saul and and before he killed the giant, but he had this relationship with Saul because he played the harp for them for him. He played the harp. And so I had this bad habit of disobeying God. I mean, he just always was was doing his own thing.

God would tell him to do something. He he tried to focus on his gifts, his looks, his charisma. He was coasting on that because of who he was rather than God wanted them to be. And he didn't have any kind of character development. And we've we've been talking about the importance of developing the soul, developing the heart, developing the inward being as opposed to the external being, because God's not lit up by the things of this world.

He's lit up by the things in your heart. That's what captures God. And that's what God saw in King David as opposed to Saul. And even though Saul was smitten and and his outward appearance was attractive, he didn't care about that. He cares about integrity.

He cares about death. And that's what God cares about. And he saw that in that soul. Just didn't have any of that. And God's blessings and God's hands on Saul's life began to diminish over that period of time.

And Scripture says God's Spirit departed from Saul. That's interesting. So can the Spirit of God depart from you? That begs the question, can a Christian who's been a Christian cease to be a Christian? You know, that's kind of the theological question when you look at this Scripture.

And will God take His Holy Spirit away from us? So I just want to deal with that for a second. We have to understand this first. We are living in a different age of grace. We are living in a different time than the Old Testament.

There wasn't the cross yet. Jesus had not gone and sent the Holy Spirit to us yet to work in a certain way. So when we're Jesus followers, as living under the grace covenant, living in the New Testament grace period, we have to understand that when we give our life to Christ, the Holy Spirit is available to us, right? We have access to the Holy Spirit anytime we need Him. We have the ability to call on the Holy Spirit and He anoints us and He infills us.

And He strengthens us. He's a guide to our lives. We can hear His voice. We have the power to live beautifully. We have strength.

We have self-control. We have these things called spiritual gifts that God enables in us by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. So when He anoints us, as in the Old Testament there was an anointing, He anoints all the church, is available to all of us, and He allows things that we can never do to be able to be accomplished. He enables our gifts. He enables us to do things that we normally couldn't do.

That's how the Holy Spirit works, and it's available for us anytime. And how do we get that? How do we get the Holy Spirit? When I talk about this infilling, this empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we simply ask for it. We ask God to anoint us to fill our hearts, to fill our lives.

Now, let me just go back a second. Now, the Holy Spirit, if you are a believer, is already in you. When you come to a knowledge of Christ, the Holy Spirit comes and He rests in you, and He guides you, and He strengthens you in that way. He guides you in life, in spiritual life. So He's with you, but we're talking about a different operation of the Holy Spirit.

As we saw in specific times in the Old Testament, we have it available to us anytime here. And as Christians, the moment we are saved, we have that ability to call on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit already lives inside of us, and He's willing to come upon us too. There's a difference between Him living inside of you and coming upon you, anointing you for a certain time, a certain place, or a certain event. And we need not to neglect that.

So the Holy Spirit has three relationships. He is in you when you give your life to Jesus. He speaks and He warns you as you are guided in your Christian life. But He is willing to come upon you as you call on Him. He will come upon you and fill you.

Different theologies, different denominations call it different things, but we call it the infilling of the Holy Spirit, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And that's available to us. And this is most often ignored and neglected, unfortunately. And in the Old Testament, we don't want to take it for granted, because in the Old Testament, this was only meant for certain people. The Holy Spirit didn't operate the same way.

The Holy Spirit operated on certain people at certain times that God chose, whether it was the judges, whether it was a king, whether it was Saul, whether it was Samson, whoever it was. Because the Holy Spirit was a controlled, precise baptism or following or anointing or whatever you want to call it in that particular time. And God would choose certain people to anoint, to do things that were supernatural. They were able to lead. They were able to judge.

and we've been given what many priests have put out to them, Many people their whole lives had dreamed of in the Old Testament. We live in an age where He is available to us anytime we ask Him, and we are not to take that for granted. We need not to take for granted. We need not to deny it. We need not to say, well, He's way over there.

He's right here available for us. Many people, good people, good Christian people, good people before Christ, good people who followed God, who loved God, who honored God, had that available to them. We have access to that anytime that we want it under the New Covenant, because Jesus gave His Spirit to us. And Saul was one of those rare few to experience the Holy Spirit the way we do in that particular time. It wasn't predictable.

It wasn't controllable. Some people got it. Some people didn't. And Saul was one of those who got it. Worse, though, about his, he took it for granted.

And he thought it was because of him that he got the Spirit. It was because of me and who I am and my looks. And I'm great and I'm smart and I'm chosen by God. I stand head high, you know, over everybody else. I have the talent.

And people would look at him and say, that guy's amazing. Look at him, Saul. That's why the people cried out for a king and they saw Saul. There's our king because he was king material. And that's what they saw.

He thought he was the bee's knees. He thought he was the man. Have you ever been around somebody like that, that you just walked in the room and they're just so, like, good looking and so, like, over, you know, it just kind of makes you feel a little intimidated, you know? Yeah, like when I walk in the room and you guys, no, I'm just playing, okay? I'm just showing you an example of Saul, okay?

That's how Saul was. But have you been around somebody like that? That was Saul. Saul was that guy that walked in the room and just commanded everybody's attention. He was charismatic.

He was Saul, you know? Head and shoulders over everybody else. He was king material. But at that time, or at the same time, he was ugly because he thought he was entitled. He thought he owned it.

He thought he was the only one to be able to carry this. And God said, I'm going to do something different because you continuously disobey me. You continuously dishonor me. And someone who will follow, I'm going to choose someone who's going to follow me with all their heart because you're not following me with all your heart, Saul. You're all about yourself.

You're putting monuments up to yourself. I want a man who follows after my heart, who has an internal. I want somebody who's authentic because that's what I'm looking for. And God warned him continuously and he just continued to disobey God. And then this happened.

Saul deteriorated. He began a downward spiral. And God began to take his spirit from him. And how did this happen? Through envy.

Through envy. He envied. He envied others. He envied David. In fact, Proverbs 14.

30 says it like this. A tranquil heart gives life to your flesh, but envy makes the bones rot. Envy makes you sick. A tranquil heart, a peaceful heart is when I say I have gratitude. I have contentment.

I am content with God. I am good with God. I have more than I deserve, more than I ever would deserve. And I'm content with God. But what does envy do?

Envy rots the bones. As Aristotle said it, it's responsible for so much of the other sins that we commit in our lives. It's envy. Envy is like the gateway to so many different types of sins. And it's not just an issue of, I want what you have.

It's, I don't think you should have it at all. I don't think you should have it. We look at others and we're like, I don't want you to have something better than me. I'm envious. And envy is a really, really tough thing.

And this is what led Saul to his downfall. And the Bible says we should weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. But what Saul did is he weeped for those instead of... That were successful, instead of rejoicing with them, that it was like he rejoices in iniquity, you know. Envy rejoices in iniquity.

Envy rejoices when someone falls. Envy does all that, and this was Saul's issue. It caused a sickness. It caused his bones to rot. It's physically sickening, and this is what happened with Saul.

Now interestingly enough, Saul and David had a connection way before this. Far before Saul had ever known that David was going to be king, he had this horrible spirit come over him, as we saw in Scripture. He had the spirit come over him, and it made him sick. Why? Because of his envy.

The spirit oppressed him because he had this envy in his heart. And it was suggested to bring a musician in, the best in the land, and everybody suggested David. And this is where it picks up. Saul, you need to think about a musician. He says, all right, said Saul, find me someone who plays well and bring him here.

One of the servants said to Saul, one of Jesse's sons from Bethlehem is a talented harp player. Not only that, but he also is a brave warrior, a man of war. He has good judgment. He is also a fine-looking young man, and the Lord is with him. And then verse 19, so Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, send your son David the shepherd.

And Jesse responded by sending David to Saul, along with the young goat, a donkey loaded with bread and wineskin full of wine. So David went to Saul and began serving him, and Saul loved David very much. That's what's interesting about this story. Saul loved David very much, and David became his armor-bearer. Saul became his armor-bearer.

Hit the wrong button here, guys. Sorry. My notes deleted, or my Bible went away. Okay, so Saul became his armor-bearer. So David went to Saul and began serving him, and he loved Saul.

And Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, please let David remain in service, for I am very pleased with him. And whenever he experienced the tormenting spirit from God that troubled him, David would play the harp. Then Saul would feel better, and the tormenting spirit went away. Now, during this time of the story, this is a time where David went back and forth, back and forth. He was Saul's armor-bearer.

What a privilege that was. What an honor that was. That was a stepping stone to royalty. That was a stepping stone to come into the house. And here he is, this, but he's going back and forth.

He's still a shepherd. He's still honoring his commitments to his father, Jesse. He's still honoring his commitments to go. He killed a bear. He killed a lion.

He was privileged to be the king's armor-bearer, but he was also faithful to go back home and take care of normal responsibilities. He didn't let that slip. He didn't let that slip. Remember, he has already been anointed as king. He's already been anointed as king.

He knows he's going to be king. Now, nobody else knows except him and Samuel and some of his family. They're the only ones that know. He knows he's going to be king. And remember, Samuel shows up his house and he anoints him and all that.

Well, he's already had the oil poured over his head. It's ready to go. He's fresh and ready to go, and he's going to be king. But that wouldn't happen for a long time. So what was his immediate response?

I'm going to go back and take care of the sheep. I'm going to go back home and take care of the house. I'm going to take care of my father's thing. I've got to go feed the sheep. He didn't expect any kind of special treatment.

He didn't expect them to treat him as royalty. He didn't go home expecting that either. He was a servant. He took care of the small matters. He was faithful at home, and he would deal with his brother's criticism even when they were out in war.

Remember when they were out at the battleground, and Jesse tells David, hey, why don't you just go home and get your brother something to eat? What does he do? He goes home and he serves them. He knows he's going to be king. He knows this.

And he goes home and he takes care of him. And then after he kills Goliath, of course, you know, that was another thing. Nobody else wanted to do it. He was looking at it. Okay, who's going to stand up?

This guy's mocking God. Who's going to go out and do this? Everybody's like, not me. You know, I'm a little sick in my stomach. You know, I haven't been feeling right lately.

I don't think I'm going to stand up to a nine-foot guy today. How about you, Saul? You're a head tall over everybody else. You can handle them well. I don't know my neck.

Oh, gosh. I just don't think that it's going to work today. You know, I don't think I'm going to do, you know. And he's like, what the heck? He grabs his guy and says, I'll go take care of him.

And he goes out and he kills him in one shot. He has five smooth stones, but he kills him in one shot. And he comes in and he's celebrating. He's honored. And he still shows up in Saul's bedroom and plays the harp for him.

He's still a servant. He's faithful in these small things. Can you hear this for a minute? You can't be faithful in larger things if you're not faithful in the small things. You need to be able to scrub toilets.

You need to be able to wipe floors. Ain't that right, Jesse? Amen. You've got to be able to go in there. We want privilege.

We want honor. We want to be on stage. We want to have the lights. But David was not like that. David was like, I'm still a shepherd.

I'm still at home. I'm serving in the small things. Small things that would prepare me for larger things that would make me stronger when temptation came my way in the future. What a man of God. To be able to honor his family, to honor God, to honor...

Even when his brothers criticized him, he honored them. He loved them. He served him. He served Saul. And what is Saul's return?

Harsh words. You know? He got angry with David. He envied David. But David would never say a harsh thing about Saul.

Never would he say anything bad about Saul. He loved Saul. Even though he couldn't be near Saul at times, he loved Saul. He never spoke an ill word. He never dishonored.

He never was treacherous. He never was defiant. He never had a bad attitude. He took care of the giant. He took care of his daughter.

He took care of his son. He took care of Saul. He did not tolerate an evil word that would go out to Saul. And Saul's response? He tries to pin him to the wall twice.

He tries to kill him a few times. In fact, he tried six different attempts. And then he tried to put him in battle in places and tried to kill him then when he couldn't kill him other ways. He constantly... So if I'm David, I understand when animals attack me, you know?

I understand how that... And I can understand somewhat when my brothers attack me. And I definitely can understand when a big, ugly, tall giant is up against me. And I can understand that. But what do you do when someone who loves you greatly treats you badly?

How do you handle that? How do you handle that? Well, let me give you five truths. Number one, don't be surprised. You've got to get in the mindset.

Don't be surprised when people treat you badly. Don't be surprised when people hurt you. You're going to be hurt from time to time. Don't be surprised because we live in a fallen... We live in a broken world full of people who...

It's humanity. That's what we've got going on here. We are in a dark world. And don't be surprised. It's the normative of life.

And sometimes, you know, it's something as simple as people are just having a bad day. Have you had a bad day? I've had a bad day. I've said things to people that I didn't mean to say to people and did things that... Yeah, not true.

Don't... And she's lying here, so we're going to pray over that. But it's just normal. And sometimes, you're dealing with people that just have a bad day. And remember that...

Here's the thing. When you're being exalted, when you humble yourself and you're being exalted, guess what? Others, it's going to attract opposition. When you're exalted, it's going to attract opposition because the world sees it. They see that your life is being blessed, that you're being blessed and God's hand is on your life because you are doing something right, honoring God, living differently.

And there's going to be backlash when that happens. The world is not going to like it. And they're going to see something different. And they're going to try to bring you down. So what do we do?

Be wise. Ask God for wisdom when you're dealing with people, okay? Be wise in those people that you work with or that competitive advantage that maybe you have over that person. How do you handle that in a way that doesn't seem like you're not loving them, but you're loving them? Or when that boss is irritated with you that day, the difficult situation?

Serve with the right spirit. We need to be wise. And when you start to humble yourself, when you start to live a certain way, watch the promotions come. Watch the blessings come in your life. Look at that stuff when it happens.

Why? Because when there's something different about you, there's this ragingly wild idea that when you do what you say you're going to do, when you show up early and you stay a little later and you honor and you have integrity and you do it with the right heart and you're not late and your manners and all of that are good. You don't dress for the job. You actually dress for the job you want. You know, things like that, that makes a difference.

That does because there's something about you that's different. And when you have that kind of spirit, that's a rare commodity. It's in rare supply when you have that kind of spirit. And when you integrity and kindness and professionalism and initiative and to do, because so many don't have that. There's no initiative anymore.

There's no respect anymore. There's no honor anymore. And so many people just look at our government. I mean, they're like children, right? They're children back and forth.

I mean, that's who's leading our world, our world leaders. Look what's going on. We have none of this anymore. That you don't point the finger, that you want to see other people successful. David's success, and David, he was successful in everything.

He was successful in everything that he did. You need someone to take care of the sheep? I got it. You need music for the king? I got it.

You need me to lead a team of a thousand men in the battle? I got it. Success, success, success. Success, hey, even when I served the sheep, even when I served my family, success, success, success in every area of his life. Because God's hand was on him because he knew David internally.

But when you start working that way, guess what? The sharks are going to start circling that way. And they're going to look for opportunities to bring you down. So don't be surprised. This is what 1 Peter 4.

12 says, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through as if something strange were happening to you. Oh my gosh, you know, I'm doing good things and the world doesn't like it. Don't be afraid of that. Instead, be very glad. For these trials make you partners with Christ in His suffering so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world.

Don't be surprised. Secondly, don't be spiteful. Now, this is really hard, okay? We want revenge, right? We don't like to be told or hurt, especially when we're doing something right and wrong things are happening to us.

We want retribution. We want revenge. We want to get even. And we're just thinking about getting even. Well, 1 Peter 3.

9 says, We must not return evil for evil and reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing. We need to bless people. Don't bite back, bless back. Knowing that you are called to this, and that's a calling. That's a calling.

We are called to this that you may inherit the blessing. Because how do we get a blessing? We give a blessing. How do we get help? Don't we give kindness to others?

To receive blessings that come by not reviling when you feel like it, not stinging when you have the opportunity to do it, by not taking that knockout punch that you want to take when it offers you that opportunity. Confucius said it like this. Yes. Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. You might as well dig your own grave with a revengeful attitude towards somebody.

It's self-destructive. And for David to kill Saul, he would have had to become Saul, right? He would have become like Saul. He had every opportunity to kill Saul. A spear was thrown at him in the bedroom and he dodged it and there was every opportunity to kill Saul, but Saul had every opportunity to kill him as well, right?

And God presented David with several opportunities over a period of time. But David said, I'm not thinking about myself, I'm thinking about God and what he wants. That I know it's not my time. Saul had thousands of people that he enlisted to kill David. David was protected by God.

And the third attempt to kill David actually involved, well, you know, it's kind of a funny story. He sends an execution squad to his house and David's, they put a concrete, I guess it would have been a concrete dummy in the bed to pretend it was David. And they come to the house, we're here to take David, we're here to execute David. You know, he's with, he's talking to his wife or whatever. And she says, oh, he's in the back room sick.

They're like, oh, okay, we'll come back later. And they're like, okay, you're getting ready to execute him. They come back and they're like, oh, well, we, you know, we're executing him. It doesn't really matter, you know? So let's, and David got away from that, actually kind of went out the back and got away.

And that was another story. That was kind of a funny one. But the most familiar story, one of the most familiar stories is probably when David and Saul's army were sleeping near each other. In fact, they were in the same area. There was Saul and then there was David.

And their men were around them. And there's Saul sleeping. And it says Saul fell into this deep sleep. It's the same sleep that we see in Genesis where Adam is in a deep sleep in creation. Same thing.

And Saul goes into this deep sleep and his spear is right by his head. And David has every opportunity to take that spear. And his friend Abishai, Abishai is like, I'll take them out, David. I got them. It'll only take me one shot.

All I have to do is take that spear and I'll take care of it on one blow. I know exactly where to go. I'm a trained warrior. I can do this. And David said, we shall not do that.

This is not our place. This is not the time. We are not going to touch God's anointed. God is going to take care of this, not us. David had every opportunity.

And you know what David did? David, interestingly enough, he grabbed the spear. And this is so symbolic. He was almost killed by a spear when Saul, when he was playing a harp with Saul. But he takes the very same weapon that was used to try to kill him, he takes and doesn't use it against Saul.

He doesn't return evil for evil. He takes the water bottle and he takes the spear and he goes up to the mountain and Saul wakes up and he says, here, Saul, I had an opportunity to kill you. And maybe he became a little human at this point. He wanted to prove to Saul, you know, I could have got you. Look, look at me up here.

I didn't though. And why was David like this? David didn't see things the way Saul saw things. He said, I refuse to lay my hands on the one that God called. He didn't call me during this season.

He's anointed me and he's preparing me for this season that's coming. But I'm not the one that's supposed to be. David didn't see things that Saul saw them. And in fact, I think it's interesting if Saul saw things the way he should have seen them, he would have saw David as an opportunity for great leadership. You know, like like for him, Saul would have been blessed through David because David is killing the 10,000.

So those Philistines would have been on Saul's, you know, repertoire. He could have he could have said that because he blessed David and he sent David out and we're on the same team, David. But he didn't. And he was. He was envious of David.

He wanted it all. He wanted a monument to himself. It wasn't a team effort. And that's the kingdom of God. That's what kingdom multiplication is all about.

That's why churches work together. That's why we're a worldwide church honoring God, moving forward, honoring the vision for the entire world, the great commission of Jesus Christ throughout the world. We do this together because we are multiplication people. The kingdom goes forth through people working together. And this is what we see here.

This is what we could have saw here with Saul, but he chose to be a poor leader. Because he said, you know, I want all the glory. I want it in my hands. I'm envious of David. And I certainly don't want him to take my kingship away.

He saw it coming. That's how Saul saw it. And his eyes were skewed. His eyes were skewed. He had the wrong glasses on.

He couldn't see things the way. So we have to be careful how we see things and we read into things. When we see things and read into things, this is what the Bible calls assuming the best, not the worst. We need to assume the best in people and assume the best in situations. Here's what Luke says.

The eye is like a lamp. It lights up the whole body. So what we're seeing, our perspective lights up the whole body. And if we live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light, right? Wide-eyed in wonder and looking at things from God's perspective and all that.

But if we live squinty-eyed, squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body becomes like a dink. Yeah. Testing one, two. We got it. We got it.

Can y'all hear me? Not today, Satan. But if you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body becomes like a dink cellar. The way you see, if you're waiting to be wounded, if you're waiting for somebody to be against you, that's just leading you to a life that's becoming very small, very possessive, and about you and not about others. I like how George Herbert says that living well is the best revenge.

Living well is the best way to revenge, okay? Living well is the best revenge. So we need to live well. That's the best way to live. Let revenge be living a beautiful life.

Be living a life of character and integrity and serving the Lord and loving the Lord. Let that ring. Don't let the outward world tell you how to live, how culture determines the way you should look and feel. But what God determines, the heart, the heart. Thirdly, don't become sour.

Don't become bitter. Don't get bitter with light. Don't get jaded. And this is the tension because what we have to do is, with the first point, we say, you know, don't be surprised, but that causes us to live with a little bit of preparation for disappointment, right? We have to be prepared that that's going to happen.

So we need to recognize that, but build it into us that there's going to be times where we're going to get hurt. There's going to be times that people are going to hurt you because people will hurt you. You're going to get hurt from time to time. But I'm not going to allow that to keep me from entering into relationships. I'm not going to allow that to keep me from bridging or breaking the bridge between people to isolate myself from people because I've been hurt.

I'm not going to allow myself not to be vulnerable with other people that could possibly be good friendships and good relationships that I can have because I've been hurt so many times. I love the text. Jonathan says, David, here's my bow. David, here's my armor. David, I give you my life.

You're my best friend. And God's on your life. He says, God's on your life. And I'm going to. And I'm going to.

Make myself vulnerable to you. I'm taking off my armor. I'm taking off my bow. I'm taking off my belt. It's symbolic of friendship.

And true friendship can only be formed by fostering vulnerability. We need to foster vulnerability. It's easy to get hurt and become reluctant to ever expose yourself to people to who you really are. So let's ask the Holy Spirit to cause us to become, not to become sour and hard faced, but to have a sweetness about us. A purity about us.

A love about us. A kindness about us. That only the Holy Spirit can help us through in times like that. But on the flip side, you want to be vulnerable, but you don't want to be stupid. Number four, you don't want to be stupid.

I guess the word is naive. I should have used the proper word. Don't be naive. But don't be stupid. Don't be naive.

Be vulnerable, but don't be naive. And that's the tension again, right? That word tension. Welcome to relationships. Welcome to life.

You know? We want to be vulnerable, but we want to kind of be careful too because like David, when Saul threw a spear at him in that room, David didn't just stand there and let the spear hit him. He dodged. He ducked, right? He wasn't stupid.

He knew it was coming at him, and he ducked. And when he needed to get out of the city, he got out of the city. When he needed to hide in a cave, he hid in a cave. He hid in a cave. He got away.

And so David wasn't stupid. He's vulnerable, but he wasn't living in this naive way. And when he had the water bottle and the spear on top of the mountain, Saul says, You know what? I'm sorry. I love you, David.

You know, come on down. Come and play the harp with me again. You know, like, come and be my best friend again. And David goes, No, I'm not coming down, but you can send someone up. I honor you, King.

I honor you, King, but I'm not going to come near you. I forgive you because you just asked for it, but I love you, but, you know, I'm not stupid. We are way past frolicking to the sound of music in fields, okay? We're way past that, Saul. That ain't happening.

And he never blasphemed the king. He never dishonored the king, but the king had lost trust with him. So that's important. He lost trust with him. And sometimes you can't trust people.

You can be vulnerable with friends and stuff, but there's times you have to set parameters around your life. There's times you have to just honor the fact that it's not loving to allow someone to sin against you. It's not loving to allow someone to use you. It's not loving to allow someone to come into your airspace and cause poison to come into your life. It's not honoring to do that when they're not loving you the way that a true friend should love you.

So you can love them from a distance, but you don't love up close. You don't love near them. You've got to put up boundaries. You've got to recognize those boundaries, and you cannot be stupid. Get smart, guys.

We've got to be smart people when we're working in relationships. And then finally, the fifth point is don't stop. Don't stop. This is probably the heaviest one for me. Don't stop.

Don't stop. Don't stop. When it gets tough, don't stop. When people are against you, don't stop. When relationships are hard, don't stop.

When every battle comes against you, don't stop. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. And I love that David never gives up.

I mean, think about it for a minute. I'm supposed to be anointed king, and now I'm being chased into caves and around mountains. And, you know, this guy almost killed me several times. He's putting me on the front lines of armies and things like that. But God honored him, and God kept him through it all.

But could you imagine what that would be like to go through the pain that David went through, the loneliness that David went through, the times of despair? We see it in the Psalms. You can read the Psalms that David wrote of how despair he was at times. He went through all of that, but he never gave up. He never had this sense that, God, call someone else to do this.

God, I don't want to be king anymore. You can give it to somebody else. I'm just ready to go back home and just tend sheep from now on. No, he never lost that. It never, it's just too hard, I give up.

There's this continual willingness to keep on showing up all the way until the very end, even with Absalom and even with everything else, you know, he went through in life all the way up to his dying breath, he kept going. He honored God's call, he kept going. And everything David did, get this, God blessed. Everything that David did, God blessed. And everything that you do can be blessed by God, if you honor God, if you live with a heart that God's looking for, not an outward, whatever, sneaky, politic type, outward appearance, but an inward, an inward heart.

That loves God, a person after God's heart. Everything he did, he continued to succeed. He continued to succeed in his relationship with Jonathan. Even with a foresaw, he continued to succeed. And you really see that there was no envy in David at all.

He just wasn't an envious person. He never cared all the way up till he was king. He never even was envious over other people when he was king. He just never had that in his heart. And ultimately, what envy does, it weeps when they rejoice, right?

But in the end, with rejoicing when they weep. But when Saul was ultimately, when Saul is ultimately killed, what happens with David? Does he rejoice? Does he rejoice in when they're supposed to be weeping? No, he weeps.

David's response is weeping. He says, how the mighty has fallen. How a man of God has fallen. He weeped. He weeped.

And there's no sense of, it was coming to you. You know, we have this sneaky, sometimes we have this backward notion, oh, I was coming to him. I'm so glad that happened to him because I knew it was coming and I want him. No, he never had that. There's no brokenness in David's heart because he really loved Saul.

And he really loved Jonathan. And he didn't stop following God's call. So no matter what it cost him, no matter how hard it was for him, even when his own son rose up against him, he didn't stop. He didn't stop. And you know what?

But those are good deeds. And those are the deeds that that's that's a good deed sermon right there. You know, it's not your average good deed sermon, but the good deeds doing things to others who won't do the same thing back to you. That's a good deed sermon. I love how William Shakespeare said it in The Merchant of Venice.

He says this, how far that little light throws its beam so shines a good deed, even in a naughty world. A little bit of salt goes a long way. A little bit of light in this world goes a long way. Let's pray, Father. Thank you so much for your word.

Lord, thank you that you're making a difference through these little beams of light we have in here, Lord. These little beams coming together, making larger beams and really making an impact and influence in the world, Lord. Let us not become bitter. Let us not become sour. Let us keep going.

Let us not stop, Lord. Let us be ready. Let us not be surprised, Lord, as we are ready to be used by you. There's no better way of living, Lord, than living for you and having a heart that honors you, Lord. There's no better life that we can have, God, by living for you.

God, I pray for every person here. I pray that the word that was spoken today would just permeate their hearts, that they would live it out, that you would show them many blessings, that they can be truly blessed and successful in all that. They do through the power of Jesus Christ, the cross and the Father in Heaven, who's given all things through the glory of the Son. So today, God bless our people. Bless those here.

Bless those who are going through trials, Lord, and honoring and doing the right thing. Bless those who may be in crossroads in their lives, Lord, that you would give them a pure sense of direction, a laser-focused sense of direction, knowing that you are going to bring success in those areas, not because of them, but because of you and because they have a heart, an inward beautifulness about them, Lord, that you honor and that you see and that you love, that you want to have a relationship with, that you want to walk with, that you want to honor, Lord. And what greater thing can we want than to be honored by you, King of Kings and Lord of Lords? In that same spirit, Lord, there might be people here today that may not know you and may not have given their lives to you. And if that's you today, if you're ready to live this beautiful life, the opportunities that are available for you through Jesus Christ, He's made His Spirit available to you to walk with you and have a relationship with you.

Jesus is prepared to walk into your life and change everything about your situation, everything about your life, everything about your course, everything about your future. He's ready to do that today. And all you have to do is confess with your mouth, believe in your heart, surrender to Him today. If you'll do that with me, if you're here today, won't you pray this with me? Lord, I'm a sinner, I've fallen short of your glory, I've tried it my way for too long, but today I surrender to you, Lord, I surrender my life through the blood of Jesus Christ.

I give my life to you. I give my heart to you. And I walk with you from this day forward. In Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Can y'all give God a hand clap of praise?