Sunday Morning Worship Service
by Anthony McCool
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 1 Samuel 30:6, 1 Samuel 30:19

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/anthony-mccool--sunday-morning-worship-service-19
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

------------------------------------------------------------
Would you lift your hands and seek him across this house? Would you seek him just for a moment before we get into the word of God? The Bible says, "Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be open." Would you search out his presence for just a moment and I promise you, you don't have to search very long. He's the lily in the valley. He's the fresh spring in the desert. And he will never fail. Well, if you believe that, why don't you put your hands together right now? That is our declaration this morning. You can be seated across this house. And again, I welcome each and every one of you to Sunday morning worship here at First Apostolic Church. Everybody in the house and those of you tuning in online, we welcome you the same. I give honor as always, always to Bishop, Sister McCoy. I love you all so much and we wouldn't be able to do this without them. And uh as pastor says often I able to glean from fields that I didn't plant uh could never uh fill their shoes but hopefully continue paving the path and give you honor to pastor and uh Pastor Whitley this morning as well. If you have your Bibles, 1st Samuel chapter 30 and we're going to read verse 6 and we'll get back into this chapter a little bit. 1st Samuel chapter 30 and verse 6 states, "And David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved." every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord. And appropriately enough, after the praise team just sang that song, I ask you this question this morning. And whether it's a statement of exclamation or declaration, or is it a question, in God we trust. In God we trust. Let's go ahead and step into the word of the Lord. David and his men were returning from the northern region of Aphek where they had marched with the Philistine army hoping to fight alongside them. The Philistine commanders, however, rejected David, fearing he would turn against them in battle. Forced to go back, David and his men made a threeday long journey to the south. They were weary. They were frustrated. And they were emotionally drained. They were expecting rest, reunion, and the comfort. Oh, the comfort of home. Instead, as they neared Ziglag, they walked straight into devastation they never imagined. Long before they reached the city gates, an icy uneasiness began to grip their hearts. Something something was off. Terribly off. A dark plume of smoke twisted upward from ziglag. But it wasn't the soft gray whisper of cooking fires or lamps lit at dusk. It was something much thicker. It was heavier and angry. Smoke like that only rises when something precious has been devoured in flames. Their steps begin to quicken and confusion turned to dread as they searched the road ahead for familiar figures. And certainly certainly hopefully their eyes were fooling them. Hopefully wives would come running out. Hopefully, children would be shouting their names and friends rushing to greet them and embrace them. But the road remained empty. No laughter, no footsteps, no voices, only wind. Panic pressed harder with each stride. And David felt it worst of all because deep inside, beneath the dust and sweat of the march, beneath the weariness of the warrior, lied an old ache, a knowledge that he had been living outside of God's will for far too long. His backsliding hadn't begun with a dramatic rebellion. It had started quietly, subtly, and the way drifting often does in the coldness callous heart just had incremental digression from God's presence. Fear had whispered to him months earlier that Saul will kill you. Run, hide, save yourself. And instead of trusting the God who had delivered him from lions, bears, and even a giant Goliath, David leaned on his own strategy, he fled to the Philistines, Israel's armies, and tried to carve out a life of survival instead of one of obedience. There he lived in compromise. He raided cities and he would leave no witnesses. is he was a cold-blooded killer stitching together a false piece with lies and with his sword. He was anointed but he was not aligned. He was chosen but not surrendered. And though he still prayed, though he still fought, though he still led men, something vital had gone quiet inside of him. the nearness he once had with God and the confidence he once carried. The clarity that used to burn in his chest when he sought the Lord, his heart had drifted into a shadowed place. A place where, this is the message for the believer today, reaction replaced revelation and survival overshadowed surrender. So when David saw that first black coil of smoke rising from Ziglag, the guilt and the fear he had tried to outrun had finally caught up with him. And they finally crossed into the heart of the city. And their worst fear met them like a blow. Ziglag wasn't just simply damaged. It was utterly destroyed. Houses lay collapsed into charred skeletons. Doors hung from blackened frames. Flames boiled everything there into ruin. Clothing, furniture, walls, everything familiar, had been swallowed by fire. And the silence, no doubt, became suffocating and a natural one. And it told them all they needed to know. There were no survivors in hiding. There was no whisper of movement, no cry for help, only the soft hiss of the cooling embers. Men dropped to their knees. Others tore and rent their garments. Some screamed their anguish. And David stood right into the midst of them. The city they had loved became a graveyard of ashes. And in that moment, the horror of it wrapped around their souls. David's men, remember, these are hardened warriors, men who had stared death in the face hundreds of times. They collapsed into the dust. Their cries rose. These men who knew how to fight, who had endured hardship, had to These men who had buried brothers on the battlefield without even shedding a tear time after time. But this time was different. This was their families. This were their futures. And they wept until they could weep no more. The Bible says their legs trembled and their chest aches. David wept too. And he wept because of the choices also he had made. Choices that led him far from God. The individual, the God that used to be his refuge. Each tear was now filled with regret. But then another sound began to rise behind him. And it was low at first. A rumbling, a whisper, something dark. The men, the soldiers were gathering together, not in fellowship and not in shared grief. No, something was shifting in them. Someone said his name and spat it like a curse. Imagine the hot seat of a coach on a postgame call-in show after a Tennessee loss day. But David's seat was hotter as another picked up a stone. It didn't take long for the murmuring to turn into intent. And the statements hurled, "This is David's fault. You led us here. If you hadn't dragged us to fight with the Philistines, OH DAVID, IF IF YOU HAD FOUGHT GOD, IF YOU HAD SOUGHT GOD SOONER, IF YOU IF YOU HAD JUST LISTENED, if we had stayed, IF IF YOU WOULD JUST HAVE LEFT SOME MEN BEHIND TO GUARD THE CITY, DAVID, THIS IS your fault. Grief twisted into anger and anger into blame. blame almost into violence. David's loyal men, his brothers in battle, now looked at him wanting to stone him. And for the first time in David's life, to say David felt alone was an understatement. David not surrounded by enemies, not in the shadow of a giant. He was not haunted by Saul or this aloneeness was deeper. Every earthly support system he had had been stripped away. His home gone, family gone, possessions gone, reputation gone, men turning against him, his brothers wanting to stone him, his strength exhausted. This would make a great country song, wouldn't it? You know, you lose your big screen TV DVD and the washing machine and the farm and the barn and the boat and the Harley and your best friend Charlie. Everything everything was gone. But that's when it happened. At the bottom of this despair and beneath all the ashes, beneath the fear, beneath the guilt, something flickered and was faint at first, but unmistakable. a a memory, a whisper, a a presence he hadn't felt. There wasn't any shouting and there wasn't any scolding. There wasn't condemning. It was just there waiting for David to stop running, for David to remember who the God was that he served. David closed his eyes and the stones begin to hit the ground. And the smoke around him blurred and the weight on his shoulders shifted as he lifted his face toward heaven. And with a voice cracked from grief, reaching out in desperation, David did something that he had not done in months. And this changed everything. It says he strengthened himself. Everybody say himself in the Lord his God. It didn't happen in an instant. It didn't come as a a bolt of lightning. It came as a returning, a remembering, a drawing near. He recalled God's love. He recalled the moments when rejection had actually been protection. Moments of disappointment were actually moments that as he looked back over his life would be deliverance. He remembered it. the promises that were spoken over his life, the anointing, THE CALLING, THE DESTINY THAT NO AMALACHITE and no mistake could erase. HE BEGAN TO REMEMBER THAT HE WAS THE SHEPHERD BOY WHOSE DAVID WHO became king of Israel because he defeated A GIANT. HE REMEMBERED EVERY TIME THAT GOD HAD RESCUED him out of caves and out of spears paths and out of impossible odds. and he began to remember that he's David, the giant killer, the harpest, the one called of God. And as his heart turned back toward the God he had wandered from, remembering miracles of the past, which built his faith for the present, there was a strengthening that began to seep into him like water into dry ground. And clarity began to follow and confidence began to return. And courage rose. And the David who once stood before Goliath with nothing but a sling. That fire begin to burn in him again. And it begin to grow hotter and kindle higher and steadier and stronger. And we read that David wiped the ashes from his face. And he straightened his shoulders. AND HE LOOKED TOWARD THE horizon with resolve. And this encouragement came not from anyone else but only from God. Then he called for the high priest and he said, "Bring me the ephod." He was done relying on his own ideas. HE WAS DONE MAKING HIS OWN PATH. HE WAS DONE RUNNING in the wrong direction. And note, IT STATES THAT DAVID WOULD HEAR FROM God or he would not move at all. He came to a point in his life where he was no longer just going to react off of his own self-will or self-interest or his alleged talents OF SURVIVAL. BUT HE SAID, "I'M going to stay RIGHT HERE UNTIL GOD GIVES ME DIRECTION. BRING ME THE EPHOD. BRING THE HIGH PRIEST TO ME." SOMETHING HE HADN'T DONE IN A VERY LONG TIME. AND I'M GOING TO SEEK DIRECTION RIGHT HERE IN this very moment. AND I'M GOING TO STAY here until I feel God's presence. And I won't move until I hear from God. Oh, we proudly stamp the words in God we trust on our currency. Maybe a bit of irony there. WE ARGUE TO KEEP IT THERE. WE defend it in courtrooms and hold it up as part of our national identity. But the real question isn't whether the phrase remains on our money or it's whether it remains in our hearts. The truth is those four words show up far beyond our bills and coins. We place them on posters, church signs, social media bios, bumper stickers, and we'll fight to say in God we trust. But oftent times the believer's life reveals something much different. Many of us quietly lean on human systems and leaders and routines and safety nets. But today, God is asking each and every one of us a deeper question. Do you truly trust me? Or do you TRUST EVERYTHING ELSE BUT ME? WELL, maybe if that Washington was a Franklin, I would trust in you more, Lord. You know, but there comes a moment in every believer's life, just as it did for David, when those false foundations crumble, and we're brought face to face with the only one worthy of our trust. And in the ashes of our own ziglag, the trials, the circumstances, and the devastating situations that come about, DAVID DISCOVERED something that we must rediscover today. The way forward begins by returning back to God. But David strengthened himself. For this is a divine blueprint for the believer, for spiritual survival, for spiritual victory. It teaches us a truth many believers never learn until crisis comes. So don't purposefully misinterpret what I'm about to say. If your walk with God depends on someone else always encouraging you, you will not make it. >> I know that's revelatory. >> Okay. Yes, we encourage one another. Yes, God uses people. But the life of faith demands a strength that cannot be outsourced. It can't be borrowed or delegated. It must be learned, developed, practiced, and deepened between you and God alone. David arrives at Ziglag with the men expecting home, rest, warmth, and welcome. Instead, their homes are burned, their wives and children taken, their possessions stolen, their future uncertain, their loyalty shaken. It it says they weep until THEY HAVE NO MORE POWER TO WEEP. WELL, it gets worse than that. Then David starts hearing his guys he's been fighting with are plotting to stone him. God empties before he fills. He empties us of misplaced dependence. He empties us of pride. He empties us of false strength. He empties us of self-will. He empties us of illusions of control. Why? So when he begins to pour into you, there's nothing previously there that can be contaminated. David had nothing left to lean on. He had no people, no comfort, no resources, no emotional strength, not even his past victories. All he had left in that moment was God. Sometimes God lets life, sometimes ziglags in our life burn down. So we realize that our confidence was in the city instead of the savior. Sometimes he strips away so he can rebuild. Sometimes he closes doors so he can redirect. Sometimes he removes voices from our life so that we can hear his whisper. David was empty but now he was ready. All of us if we myself included if we begin to think of how could we seek encouragement we would you know think of that individual and that strong voice in our life and there's nothing there's nothing wrong with that and I'll get to that in a second but you must be able to serve God on your own and alone and not have your life depend upon anyone else was it bishop parent that used to say anybody that you have to carry is not going to make it you have to have a relationship for yourself. David did the following. He remembered God's love, the times that he brought him out, the times that he protected him, the times that he called him out. He remembered God's promises over his life. A good place to start with that would be all of the covenantal blessings and promises for you. Number three, he remembered God's past deliverances. I mentioned this earlier. If he did it once, he can do it again. When I think of what God has done in the past, it builds my faith for the present that there's no diminishing return on God's mercy and grace and the miracles. He can do it again. And number four, HE SPOKE TO HIMSELF. Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Some of the best talks in the world are those which a man has with himself." He had a dialogue, an inner dialogue to acknowledge who he was, what he had done, where he had misstepped. And now he was ready. And number five, he stopped waiting for someone else to do it. If your encouragement, if your spirit, if your spiritual walk is dependent upon someone else, if your deliverance and the miracle in your life is dependent upon someone else, if your mood and the joy that you have in your life is dependent upon someone else, it you are not going to make it very long. David didn't say, "God, strengthen me if you want." No, he reached by faith and took a hold of what was his in God. He said, "I'm not MOVING FROM THIS PLACE until I get my life turned around. I'm not LEAVING FROM THIS PLACE until I am encouraged." Encouragement's not something you wait for. Oh, I hope my big break comes uh comes soon. I I hope things start to work out for me in the next couple days. Or if this thing will happen, then my mood will change. if this thing. No, you've got to take advantage of it right now. You've got to do it right now in the spirit. People are a blessing, but people are unstable. None of none of us, of course. People change. People get tired. Some people are misunderstand. I'll say it like that. People have limits. People get distracted. People disappoint. Somebody said, "Amen." I'm just People falter. If your spiritual fire requires another human to keep it lit, you'll burn out. You'll stumble. You'll collapse under pressure. Encouragement from others is supplemental, not foundational. Your spouse can remind you, but they cannot sustain you. Your pastor can inspire you, but he can't empower you. Your friends can uplift you, but they can't uphold you. Your church can support you, but it can't strengthen you. Only God can do those things. only your relationship with God. Because here's what happens. Here's what happens when David received that encouragement and that renewed relationship in the Lord. He realized who he was. This wasn't a a book of your your your best life ahead of you, your best day now. No, he remembered his calling that he was a shepherd. that he had a call of another generation on his life, a a call of uniting the Federation of Israel, a a call to lead and serve others. And when you begin to encourage yourself in THE LORD, THE SPOTLIGHT actually gets directed off of you. And when God really starts to speak to you, he shines a light on everyone else around you. A 2018 Mental Health America study of volunteering and adults found that uh there were predictive better health, greater life satisfaction, and fewer depressive symptoms of those who volunteered on a regular basis versus those who didn't. Other research shows that people who regularly help others, even with simple acts of kindness, report improved mood, higher self-esteem, better life satisfaction, reduce stress compared to those who don't. There are countless scientifically backed, PEER-REVIEWED STUDIES SHOWING THE POWERFUL EFFECTS that serving others and focusing on others and putting others above yourself has on a person's well-being. Research consistently finds that helping others reduces discouragement, strengthens mental health, and increases purpose and life satisfaction. It's almost as if we are wired to thrive when we look beyond ourselves and invest in those around us. But something that data alone can't fully explain. It's as though God placed this desire within us to help reveal what our calling is truly about. You want to get encouraged in the Lord? Help somebody else. Pray for your brother. Pray for your sister. Leadership author John Maxwell. Often in his talks and in different books, he talks about a strategy within leadership and in the individual as well. Whether you're the leader of your family or uh in a church or at your workplace or whatever the situation, he says you control the thermostat. That can be a controversial term. I know in every family there's that one parent, that one individual that believes the thermostat to be this sacred artifact that's been handed down and you see them go up to it and just kind of stare at it for a second and then you know that's when the conflict is going to begin. The question GOES OUT, WHO TOUCHED IT? Wars have been waged over a twoderee difference. Siblings form alliances. Ceasefires negotiated. I wouldn't be surprised if our police officers in the house have never been called to a home over a thermostat change. You hear statements like, "I could feel that temperature change from across the room." thermostat remains the most fought over piece of plastic in the entire home. But you control the thermostat of your life. You can't always control the exterior and what happens to you, but you can control what happens in you. You can't control the heat around you, but you can control the spiritual temperature within you. You set the temperature of your life. You set the standard for how you respond, how you interact, your attitude, your responses, your emotional regulation, your spiritual focus, your values, your discipline, your self-control. What did we talk about earlier with David? Reaction had replaced revelation. And this as I speak to Christians, believers on a Sunday morning, most likely the hardships and the coldness or the callous that can take place in our life is probably not some just eyeopening wicked type of sin. I hope not anyway. But it can be the incremental digression of our spiritual walk when we rely on our own emotion, when we rely on our own reaction, when we rely on our own flesh and we can be tricked and duped, if you will. Oh, we still pray like David did. We still fight like David did. We're still faithful. But that true relationship with God and we find ourselves interacting in a manner that's out of line with this word. And then when crisis comes, when tragedy strikes, that's when the enemy seeks his demise. The Bible warns of those who were tossed to and fro by every wind. Many Christians live exactly that way and we can be the same if we're not careful. One bad day can just knock us completely down. or one comment, one comment can just discourage them and prevent them from taking step forwards or one disappointment just derails them and God I thought I was doing what you called me to do. One conflict can ignite their temper and they lose you. That person pressed my buttons. One setback makes them quit. one offense and I'm SETTING AN ULTIMATUM. I'M OUT OF HERE. THE whole church, all of those people, they they they they never me me. Tempers flare. They yell. They get loud. THEY GET ANGRY. They get frustrated easily. just whatever's happening, it's going to they're like a tumble weed. Whatever's happening, whatever the whatever the climate is today, it's got to be 67 and sunny and no air. And even then, they'll find something to complain about. They'll find something uh some kind of excuse or some kind of reason, even in that setting, you know, those people when it's uh oh, it's it's summertime and everybody's having a nice time around Fourth of July. Oh, I can't wait for the fall to get here. It's just too hot. And then the fall gets here and oh my goodness, it's so cold outside. NO MATTER WHAT'S TAKING PLACE, I got to have something to complain about. I GOT TO HAVE SOMEBODY to be the center of my discouragement. It couldn't be anything I'm doing. It it CERTAINLY UH THE THE PROBLEMS I HAVE IN MY relationships and in my COMMUNICATION CERTAINLY I couldn't be the center of that even though I'm the common factor of about 10 DIFFERENT SITUATIONS. CERTAINLY, IT'S not me. Drama to drama, fight to fight, miscommunication to miscommunication, manipulation to manipulation. Certainly, it's not me, it's everybody else. Oh, I still pray. I still go to church over and over and over. Some discouragement comes from lack of planning and preparation. We can be spiritually reactive instead of spiritually rooted. Not every discouragement and by discouragement I use that as an under umbrella term for maybe frustrations and stress and the accumulation of events that can come upon us. Not every discouragement is a spiritual attack. Some discouragements are the result of poor planning. Some discouragements are the result of poor time management. Some discouragements are the result of a lack of preparation. Some stresses come because you're disorganized. Some discouragements come from overcommitting. Okay? You can get so many things going on in your life that nothing's not inherently bad, but you can't keep up with it. Or don't be that person that volunteers to do something and then you get there on that day and you either don't show up or you say, "Oh, I got to I'm so tired. I got to Well, you signed up for this. Nobody's making you do that. Don't be that person. Oh, I'M SO TIRED. TAKE A NAP. GO TO BED. DRINK A COFFEE. NOBODY CARES THAT YOU'RE SLEEPY. NOBODY CARES THAT YOU'RE TIRED. EVERYBODY'S GOT STUFF GOING ON. IF YOU CAN'T BE THERE, DON'T COMMIT TO IT. PASTOR Whitley's gone. He'll be proud of me today. DON'T SIGN UP FOR IT. IS THAT SO HARD? OH, but I'm doing God's. We don't get Let's go to the next thing. From overcommitting, from not resting, from not cultivating daily disciplines, expecting God to do what he called you to do. Oh, but I've got a great idea, Alex. here's what you could do for the for the uh middle school class or or one you here's what you could do for the kids qu I got a great idea for a Sunday night revival and what the choir can do I I've got a great idea for outreach and I've got this beautiful big idea but I I want you to implement it and I've been called but I want you to carry the burden I want you to have the I've got the vision for it but I wish somebody would do something I nobody does every No, nobody does anything. I I've got this great idea, but I would like you to follow through with it. Okay? Expecting God to do what he called you to do. Some believers rebuke the devil for things that were entirely preventable. Ziglag, as I mentioned at the beginning, the art of warfare here, Ziglag was unguarded. This was part of the disaster that struck. David had been living compromised and out of position and out of alignment and on his own perceived strengths and talents. When we do not prepare spiritually, emotionally, relationally, or practically, we create vulnerabilities that the enemy will exploit. Encouraging yourself in the Lord does not replace diligence. It empowers it. A strengthened soul, an encouraged soul in the Lord will plan better, think clearer, set priorities, hear God's voice, avoid unnecessary battles, respond instead of react. Strength from the Lord leads to strategy from the Lord. Musicians come, singers come. After David encouraged himself, scripture says these are three powerful words that I want us to take with us today. Three powerful words. It says, "So David went." So David went. Strength is not make to make you sit still. Strength moves you. uh empowerment and strengthening the Lord doesn't doesn't cast you down here and lay in a an all night pity party uh going through tissue box after tissue box. There's a a point where you got to get up, where you got to stand up, where you got to PUT YOUR SHOULDERS BACK. YES, that was a word of discouragement by somebody I loved, but I'm not going to let that keep me from what God has CALLED ME TO DO. YES, THIS INDIVIDUAL DID ME WRONG. YES, THIS GROUP of people did me wrong. Yes, this happened. YES, THIS HAPPENED. YES, I FEEL A CERTAIN WAY ABOUT THIS WAY FROM MY PERSPECTIVE. AND BY HUMAN STANDARDS, BY HUMAN STANDARDS, YOU'RE PERFECTLY JUSTIFIED. BUT YOU CAN'T LET THOSE THINGS CONTAMINATE WHAT GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO DO. I'M GOING TO STAND HERE IN THIS MOMENT. STAND WITH ME. AND I'M GOING TO STRENGTHEN MYSELF IN THE LORD. MY WALK WITH GOD IS NOT GOING TO BE DEPENDENT UPON ANYONE ELSE. WHAT GOD HAS CALLED ME TO DO IS NOT going to be reliant upon the environment around me. Somebody may HAVE CRITICIZED ME. SOMEBODY MAY HAVE TALKED BAD ABOUT ME. SOMEBODY MIGHT HAVE EXCLUDED me from something. I'M NOT GOING TO KEEP LET THOSE things keep me from what God has called me to do. He said, "Go get the ephod." So David went today. It's it's a time to go. It's a time to step out. It's a time to not be like a tumble weed and say, "I'm not going to be affected by the circumstances. I know who I get on the get online and listen to Pastor Mcool's message from this midweek service. I know who I am because I serve the I am." Somebody might ought to look in the mirror uh today when they get home and think, "You know what? I've done this IN SPITE OF SOME VERY DIFFICULT SITUATIONS IN MY LIFE. I'VE COME THROUGH THIS EVEN THOUGH IF YOU LOOK AT THE STATISTICS, THERE'S NO WAY THAT I SHOULD BE THERE. I OVERCAME THIS HEALTH BATTLE. I OVERCAME THIS FAMILY SITUATION. I OVERCAME THIS DOUBT AND I'M STILL HERE AND I'M STILL STANDING. I believe it was bishop told a story one time. There was a a young boy in church who just kept standing and jumping on the pew and his mom told him said, "Son, stop." stop and he just kept standing and jumping. Well, finally she she she laid him out on the pew and she sat on him and he said, "Mom, in my I might be you might be sitting on me right now, but in my heart and in my mind, I'm still standing and I'm still jumping." Maybe you're in that case today. Maybe life and all around you looks like that burnt ziglag. Maybe it's a a relationship or some kind of interpersonal conflict or maybe it's some things in your life that you need to get in order and you've BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEBODY ELSE TO COME rescue you. I want to tell you today that THAT IS NOT EVER GOING TO HAPPEN. THERE'S ONLY one way for YOU TO ENCOURAGE YOURSELF. THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY FOR YOU TO STEP INTO what God has called you to do, AND THAT'S BY ENCOURAGING YOURSELF IN THE LORD. I LIKE I I like the role of being a pastor and I I I like to be able to courage and BRING HOPE, BUT I CAN'T empower you. The Holy Ghost can do that though. Like I said, those relationship, yes, we're to be the hands and the the body and the and the FEET OF CHRIST AND ABSOLUTELY 100%. BUT WE CAN'T SAVE YOU, BUT GOD CAN SAVE YOU. SOMEBODY THIS MORNING NEEDS TO SAY, "GO GET ME THE EPHOD. GO GET ME THE EPHOD." AND THAT EPHOD OF THIS CURRENT DAY, the ephod WAS WORN BY THE HIGH PRIEST. And then the high priest had uh the what's it called in the scripture? It is called the if I could find this real the urum and the thum. These were two stones that were put together to seek God's direction. So David called the high priest because the high priest is the one that would put the ephod on and he wanted to have communication with God. But I got news for you today. You can have direct communication with God because we have a new high priest and his name is Jesus. AND I WONDER IF SOMEBODY THIS MORNING WOULD GO off of those three words. So David went, go get the ephod. If you have a need this morning, if something is weighing you down, I want to open this altar to every single individual. AND I DON'T WAIT FOR SOMEBODY. NOW, there'll be those that pray with you, and we believe in that, and there'll be those that support you. But I I WISH YOU WOULD COME WITH the mindset this morning that I'm going if nobody prays with me, I'm going to get what I need from the Lord. If nobody offers to lift my hand, it's not going to affect me praying one bit. I'm I'm I'm going to get encourage from the Lord. I'm getting direction FROM THE LORD. I TRUST IN GOD. MY walk's not dependent upon any exterior factors. It's not dependent upon the environment. I'm stepping right here and saying, "God, I'm not moving from this spot until you bless me. Until you give me the next step, until you give me direction. I trust in you, Lord. I trust in you, Lord. I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. >> Do you trust in him? >> I trust in God. >> Do you trust in him? Myior. >> I wouldn't wait another moment. His miracles are in this house right now. >> He will never fail. I sought the Lord. >> I don't need anyone else. I sought the Lord and he hurt. >> I'm not waiting for anybody else. >> I'm getting what I need from God right now. >> Right now. >> Right now. >> That's why I trusted the Lord. >> Wipe the ashes off your face. Square your shoulders back. So David went. So David went and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answer. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answer. That's why I trust Jesus. That's why I trust in God, my savior. Yes, you are the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my savior. are the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I would invite you to read 1st Samuel 30 today because the story doesn't end there. So David went after he got direction from God. He got his coalition together and he said, "I'm going down to the enemy's camp and I'm going to take back every single thing that was taken from me. Every single thing that was stolen from me, I'm not going to wallow in the ashes any longer. I'm David. I'M THE GIANT KILLER. I can also play the harp. I'm the king of Israel." Somebody needs to REALIZE THAT YOU'VE GOT THE HOLY GHOST this morning. And it said David went AND HE RECOVERED. 1ST SAMUEL 30 19 says David recovered all. I want you TO KNOW TODAY THROUGH the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ. IF YOU'LL ENCOURAGE YOURSELF IN HIM, there's nothing that's off limits. There's nothing that's off limits. I believe we serve a God so powerful that he can recover all. He can bring prodals home. He can He can make a WAY WHEN THERE WAS NO WAY. WHEN THERE WAS a season of doubt, a season of loss, a season of financial crisis. I believe we serve a God when you get a hold of him that he through you can recover all. I wonder if you would just gather around the person next to you and gather that coalition together and sing that song with them. Say, "I trust in God." >> Now's the time. >> Put your shoulders back. It's time to go. It's time to move. It's time to move. It's time to go. It's time to fight. It's time to recover all my soul. >> I've cried my last year. I can't cry anymore. >> There's not enough tissues left. I'm not lacking empathy, but it's a time to get up and move and a time to grow and a time to make a difference. >> Your family's depending upon you. Your family's depending upon you. I saw you, Lord. >> Come on, Dad. Come on, Mom. >> There's some people depending on you to get out of the ashes. Remember who you are. Remember what you've done.