This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
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My message this morning, a time to do
nothing but trust.
A time to do nothing but trust.
Hallelujah.
Open your Bible to 1 Samuel, anywhere in
1 Samuel, and just leave it there.
1 Samuel, I'm going to chapter 14 just
because it's in the middle somewhere, because I
don't quite know where I'm going to refer
you to before this is all over.
A time to do nothing but trust.
My God, you have been teaching us to
lean on you.
You have been teaching us, Lord, that if
we wait upon you, that we will honor
your word, your covenant word, that you will
not lie, you cannot lie, that you will
keep us, you will sanctify us, you will
give us your righteousness, you will answer prayer,
you will do those things that you promised
by covenant.
But now, Lord Jesus, we pray for the
word this morning, that you will quicken it
to our ears, that we may hear it,
that it may change our lives.
Lord, this word this morning has done something
in me, and I want it to do
the same in all who hear it this
morning.
Lord, I don't have to beg you to
anoint me, you have done that, but I
ask you to take your word that is
anointed and push it, anoint it, and drive
it, if you must, into our hearts so
that it becomes reality, so that we just
don't sing these songs about trust as we
did, trust and obey, and then not do
it.
Help us, Lord, to practice what we sing
and what we preach.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Israel begged for a king, as you know,
and Saul was chosen.
The scripture says that Samuel poured a flask
of oil on his head, and the Bible
said he kissed him and said, Has not
the Lord anointed you to rule over his
inheritance?
There's no greater compliment that God can pay
to a man as he did to Saul.
The Bible said God is with you, you
are a chosen vessel.
The Bible said also that God changed his
heart.
He changed his heart completely to equip him
and enable him to do the job that
he was anointed for.
The Spirit of God came upon him mightily
so that he prophesied.
Saul was not a boaster, he was not
a proud man.
In fact, the Bible tells us clearly that
there was a time he was very little
in his own eyes.
Remember when he was sent to find his
father's lost donkeys, and he returns after visiting
with Samuel.
Samuel has anointed him to be king.
He's got this incredible news that's hidden in
his heart.
He's not going around saying, Hey, do you
know that I've been anointed?
In fact, his uncle comes to him and
says, His uncle knew that Samuel never met
with anybody without a purpose.
This great man of God, the words of
the Bible said never fell to the ground,
so there was never a time that he
spoke to a man without meaning and purpose.
And his uncle said, Tell me, what did
Samuel say to you?
You've got to tell me.
And the scripture says, But he did not
tell him the matter of the kingdom which
Samuel had mentioned.
How many of you could have held the
secret?
I would have blabbed it all over the
town.
I'd had somebody with a trumpet ahead of
me or something.
Well, maybe not, but I mean, I'm trying
to excuse you for not saying amen to
that.
But you see, he's not a braggart, he's
not a boaster.
Samuel calls the nation together to Mishpah.
First of all, to chasten them for turning
away from God, their king, to a human
king.
But at the same time, God, in his
mercy, anoints this man, and he's to introduce
him now to Mishpah as king of Israel,
anointed by Samuel.
And so, by lot, Saul's clan, his family,
is drawn out of the crowd.
And then Saul, by lot, is chosen, and
they call his name, and he can't be
found.
And the Bible said he was hiding among
the baggage.
The whole nation's gathered together.
They've got carts, they're staying there for a
week of celebration, probably, and they've got all
of their belongings and their tents, a huge
pile, and he's hiding in there somewhere.
They send a delegation, they get him, and
boy, when he comes out before that massive
crowd, it must have been some shout because
Saul was head and shoulders and better looking
than any man in Israel, the Bible says.
And really, Samuel said, didn't he something?
Well, the words are like this.
Surely there's no one like him among all
the people.
There's no one like this man.
Head and shoulders above every soldier, above every
man in Israel, and he's, the Bible says,
one of the most handsome men.
Here's a man that's talented.
He has been equipped by the Holy Ghost,
humble, and called by God, and very valiant,
strong personality.
Who wouldn't want him as king?
The Bible says that the Spirit of God
came upon Saul mightily when he heard that
Jabez Gilead was under attack by Ammonites.
The Spirit of God came upon him, and
he's thinking, who is this devil that thinks
he can conquer God's people?
And he conscripts an army of 330,000,
and they win a marvelous victory.
A marvelous victory.
In fact, at this time, God was so,
he was so full of God, the Scripture
says that Saul and all the people, all
the men of Israel, rejoiced greatly, giving praises
to God.
The Scripture says that this man, now when
Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he
fought against his enemies on every side, against
Moab, against the sons of Ammon, Edom, the
kings of Zobah, and the Philistines.
And wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment upon
them.
And he acted valiantly.
He defeated the Amalekites, delivered Israel from the
hands of those who plundered them.
Amazingly used of God.
Yet this same man, mighty in the Spirit,
died in rebellion against Almighty God, and the
last consultation he had, the last conversation, before
he went into eternity, was with a witch.
Became a madman.
A man to whom God refused to speak.
And one of the saddest commentaries in the
Bible is a man of God who says
in his dying time, God didn't talk to
me anymore.
Not by prophets, not by his word, not
by voice.
God has cut me off.
What a sad ending to this man.
This man goes in a downward spiral into
insanity and madness.
And I look at this man and I
see what happens to him.
And I say, where is the pivotal point?
Where is the point at which this man
began to disintegrate?
Is there any singular moment that you can
point to in his life that he has
changed from this humble, anointed, called man of
God, a praying man, a believing man at
that time, at least outwardly?
It looked good.
There were great promises.
In fact, God had intended fully, the Scripture
says, to cause his kingdom to continue.
God had plans for this man.
There is a pivotal point.
It's the same pivotal point that all of
us reach who turn away from faith and
go our own way into flesh and try
by our wit and wisdom to accomplish what
God said can be accomplished only by trusting
Him.
And it comes in the 13th chapter of
1 Samuel.
13th chapter of Samuel, we find the pivotal
point and from that point on you see
this downward spiral.
And I want to take you through this
downward spiral.
I want to show you the consequences of
not fully trusting God.
Let's not talk about the sins, we totem
pole sins, you know, like we put adultery
and fornication and homosexuality up here and on,
on, on down.
And somewhere down there on the bottom of
the pile are some of these things called
unbelief and envy and jealousy and all these
things.
That is wrong.
That's an inverted process and we'll show it
to you here in the course of this
message.
The 15th chapter begins with the count of
gathering war clouds over Israel.
Don't try to find it, just look this
way, just leave it open in your lap.
War clouds are gathering.
The Philistines have gathered together a huge army
and when Israel looked from the hillsides into
those great valleys and saw that gathering army
they said it was like the sands of
the seashore for number.
The Bible says there were 30,000 chariots
and thousands of horsemen, a great cavalry.
And they had the latest weapons and the
chariots were rumbling and the swords were glistening
in the sun and Israel looked at their
puny weapons.
They had no weapons, there were only two
swords in the land and one was in
the hand of Jonathan, one was in the
hands of Saul, his father.
Only two spears or swords in the land
because the Philistines had refused to allow them
to have any weapons and all they had
were farm tools, probably hoes and shovels and
picks and homemade clubs, that's all they had.
And the scripture says that panic set in
to Israel.
They began to flee, they began to hide
in the caves, the Bible said.
They hid in pits and they hid in
mountainsides and others fled the nation, they went
over the borders to other countries so they
could avoid being conscripted.
Where were those 330,000 men that saw
the great victory over the Ammonites?
Where are these who said we wanted a
king and here's the king and they're all
forsaking him and even his 3,000 bodyguards,
well trained, are now down to 600.
And they're all fleeing and the Bible said
those who followed Saul followed him trembling.
There was panic.
Now before this battle was to take place,
before Israel could move, in fact this was
the consultation I believe that Samuel had when
he first met and went on a rooftop
with Samuel.
He said I'm going to anoint you.
But he said I want you to know
that God wants it known to the whole
world, to all the Philistines, to the Ammonites,
to everybody, that the victory does not come
by strategy, it doesn't come by plans of
man, but by sacrificing to Almighty God through
prayer and confidence in God, no other way.
And to prove that we're going to sacrifice
before we go into battle, you will always
meet me at Gilgal and when you go
there you wait seven days.
Now the Bible doesn't tell us anything about
the meaning of the seven days.
There's no great thing to it.
It probably took him seven days to get
from one end where he's having a feast
as to get there.
We hear him talk of three and four
days traveled at one time and he's an
older man now.
He was thinking give me time, I will
be there, but it will not be longer
than seven days.
Don't sacrifice, don't move, don't act, don't go
to war, do nothing.
Do nothing at all.
But trust my word.
Just trust.
And I tell you, this is some sight
as we see people fleeing.
If you were in Saul's position and you're
sitting there and everybody is scattering from you,
everybody is fleeing.
You've got this massive army going closer and
you hear the rumbling of these chariots.
And he's looking around and he has nothing
to fight with and there are no weapons.
And you say God ought to cut this
man some slack.
There's nothing there.
This is hopeless.
In any measurement this is an absolutely hopeless
thing.
How is this man going to come against
this huge massive army when people are fleeing
him?
Nobody has confidence in God anymore.
There's nothing there.
And he's waiting six days and he waits
until the seventh.
And folks, I want you to know that
this man was being tested by God.
He's being tested because God knows that this
is one crisis of many that are going
to follow, many battles that are going to
come.
And how is he going to approach it?
Is he going to approach it on his
wit and wisdom?
Is he going to approach it in the
flesh, strategizing, manipulating, scheming?
Or is he going to say, I'm going
to do nothing until I hear from God?
I'm going to do nothing but trust the
Lord and what He commands me to do,
every command, everything He tells me to do,
by His word I will obey it live
or die.
And what God wanted out of this man
was to look at his seeing as hopeless
as it was and say, God, you anointed
me, you called me, you told me to
do nothing, but trust the word, the commandment
of God.
And God has given this man six days.
Listen, God knew every step Samuel was taking.
It's the seventh day.
Now it's the night is coming.
It's probably darkness now.
Seven days are almost over.
But I want you to know that God
would never deceive this man.
He told him to wait seven days.
God would not deceive him in the process.
So I tell you, on the authority of
God's word, Samuel was there before midnight.
He was there on time.
It wasn't his time.
And God allowed conditions to spin out of
control.
He's testing this man.
So you're going to have to have faith,
you're going to have to believe my word,
because you are going to be in a
lifetime of crisis like this.
Are you going to take matters in your
own hand?
Are you going to act in your own
strength?
Or will you trust me?
Because I'm looking for a man after my
heart.
A man after God's heart is a trusting
man before the sons of men.
Samuel was on God's navigational system.
He knew every step.
He knew the moment he would arrive.
The Lord could have done anything.
He could have sent a wagon and some
fast horses.
He could have put him on a fast
horse.
He could have brought them there the first,
second, or third day.
He could have brought them.
But no, he's waiting.
See, God's allowing this thing to spin out
of control.
And I'll tell you, some of you know
exactly what I'm talking about.
You're in a crisis right now.
And you've been waiting and you've been praying
and saying, where is he?
Where is he?
Where is God?
Where's the answer?
And you're being tested.
Oh, you're being tested because now everything is
spinning out of control.
And by every measurement, it's hopeless.
Your financial situation is a marriage problem.
You get a telephone call from a son
or a daughter.
And your daughter tells you she's divorcing your
son-in-law.
Is it a call that somebody in your
family has terminal cancer?
And things are spinning out of control and
it looks hopeless to you?
Well, folks, that's what we face.
Life is one crisis after another.
Whenever a problem comes, either a family, children,
grandchildren.
I've told my wife, I said, honey, that's
probably 190.
I mean 1,900.
1,991 is right behind it.
He's taking us through all of them.
He's going to take us through this one.
Hallelujah.
This man is being tested.
You see, surely God could not expect this
man to just do nothing.
That's what God said.
Samuel said, you don't do anything.
Until I get there.
And until the enemy sees us.
Worshiping the Lord.
Sacrificing to his name.
Until we seek the face of God for
his direction.
No other movement.
Doing nothing.
Oh, brother.
Sister, that is the hardest thing in the
world.
Not to pick up the phone.
Not to try to make things happen.
I waited God long enough.
So Saul has the stones erected.
Now, I really don't believe he sacrificed himself
because Ahijah, the priest, was there.
No doubt did the sacrificing.
The sin is not that he took on
the role of a priest.
That was not his calling.
And I don't see that at all.
God is after faith.
He's trying to get this man to trust
him.
To be obedient to the word of God.
But somewhere that day, I don't know whether
it's the second, third, fourth, fifth, or did
it wait until the seventh day?
But somewhere along the line, God saw the
decision this man made.
This man decided to go it alone.
He decided to do it his way.
He was no longer going to wait on
God.
In fact, when Samuel did appear, he said,
it's because you didn't show up on time.
And what he's really saying, God didn't show
up on time.
Now, the amazing thing is you watch this.
Listen to the explanation of Saul.
Now, here's a spirit-led, anointed man.
He said, Samuel, I had to do something.
In essence, I had to do something.
Everybody was leaving me.
I had Jonathan, we're the only ones who
would be left.
What was I to do?
Surely, I'm not expected to just sit here
and do nothing while they come.
They could come and kill me.
And at first glance, God seems to be
awfully harsh in his reaction to this.
It seems like such a natural thing to
do.
Man's in trouble, he should do something about
it.
Have you ever heard anybody tell you, what
are you going to do about it?
What are you going to do about it?
No, it's, what are you going to do
about it?
Samuel said, you have acted foolishly.
You have not kept the command of the
Lord, your God, which he commanded you.
For now he would have established your kingdom
over Israel forever.
But now your kingdom shall not endure.
The Lord has sought out for himself a
man after his own heart.
And the Lord has appointed him as ruler
over his people.
Because you have not kept what the Lord
commanded you.
Now, folks, keep in mind that Saul had
just, in chapter 12, had just been warned
about the kind of decision he'd make.
If you will not listen to the voice
of the Lord, but rebel against the command
of the Lord, the command of the Lord
will be against you as it was against
your fathers.
Now, what does this have to do with
you and me today?
Because you and I face the same challenge,
because we have the same word given to
us, the same commandment of the Lord.
That we are to fully trust God.
And do nothing on our own without his
direction, without seeking him, without waiting upon the
Lord.
We are not to panic, we are not
to fear.
We are to trust him, not only to
the point of death, but to death.
As Job said, though he slay me.
Yeah, uh-huh.
We'll trust God up to a point, we
give him a deadline, and then it's all
gone.
Boy, God gets more deadlines than anybody in
the universe.
I don't give deadlines anymore, I used to.
But I got so messed up.
God never did pay much attention to my
deadlines.
You see, we've been commanded to trust the
Lord and walk this walk of absolute confidence
in the Lord, even though you see things
spinning apart, spinning out of control, even though
it looks absolutely hopeless, it gets worse by
the day, and you're sitting there in panic
and fear.
Folks, God saw that huge Philistine army coming.
He knew the thoughts of every one of
those Philistine soldiers.
He numbered every hair on their head.
He knew every movement.
He was in their inner counsel.
He knew God at any moment could send
an angel and kill them all.
He did it once, remember, at 185,000
by one angel.
Maybe if he sent two, he'd kill a
million.
One angel could have done it.
God has his ways that are so beyond
our ways.
You see, God sees your problem, and he
knows what you're up against.
And some of you wonder, does God really
know, is God really caring?
Because I don't see any evidence of him
moving, and there is no human way I
can conceive how this thing can be solved.
I don't know how I ever paid this
debt.
I don't know how this thing can ever
work out.
I've got family problems.
I've got marriage problems.
I've got career problems and job problems.
And folks, we get all stressed out, and
then we come to church to offer our
wonderful sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God.
Mm-hmm.
Scripture hears what God has commanded us, without
faith it's impossible to please him.
Impossible.
And they that come to him must believe
that he is, and he's a rewarder of
them that seek him diligently.
Trust in him at all times, O ye
people.
Pour your heart out before him.
He is your refuge.
You who fear the Lord, trust in him.
He's your help and your shield.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean to your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him.
He will make your path straight.
No, folks, God doesn't cut any slack for
those who claim to be his children, who
have been commanded to trust him at all
times.
God doesn't cut slack.
Oh, yes, but he's patient.
You say, well, Pastor Dave, there are times
that I've been in a crisis and fear
has come upon me.
Yes, we've all been there.
There are questions.
He said, bring forth your strong reasons.
All the patriarchs had those moments where they
wanted to die.
They said, God, take my life.
I can't handle this anymore.
Every man of God, every woman of God
in the scripture, then and now, even in
the New Testament times, we've all gone through
that.
There are times I would have loved the
Lord to just take me home.
I just, I want to do my job.
Get out of here.
And as he, even Christ, our blessed Savior
said, Father, why have you forsaken me?
He had those moments, not of doubt, but
of questions, and the Lord's patient.
He waits.
He waited seven days for Saul to settle
those questions.
God waits for a while for you to
settle and get back into the word of
God and get found and remember everything he's
told you.
Remember his commandments.
Remember his word.
To obey his word, to obey this is
to believe what he said.
Without faith, you can't please him.
He is your refuge.
If you will trust him, he's your refuge
and strength.
Come what may, let the consequences be what
they are.
Don't look at the situation.
Don't worry about the consequences because every man
and woman who fully trusts God to the
end of every crisis will be honored.
There is honor to the glory of God
and peace and joy as you've never experienced
in any other thing.
I've got to hurry on.
Let me show you the dire consequences of
not trusting God to the end of your
crisis.
Saul goes downhill from this time on because
God sees what is in his heart.
God knows that he's made his choice, that
nothing is ever going to change him now
because he's set his course and primarily because
it appeared that he was successful in doing
it on his own.
All he has is this warning and he
didn't even believe that that his kingdom was
taken from him and they were rejoicing and
he's still giving praises to God.
But from that moment on, Saul becomes a
legalist.
Number one, he becomes a legalist of the
worst kind.
After he sinned, this sin of unbelief, he
waits in confusion.
Nothing's happened.
While he's waiting in confusion, not knowing what
to do and God's not speaking to him,
his son Jonathan, with his armor bearer, climbs
a steep cliff and takes on a whole
garrison of the Philistines and there's such confusion,
panic breaks out in the Philistine camp and
there's a roar that shakes the earth, the
Bible says, and Saul doesn't even know what's
going on.
He sees, he looks out over this great
valley and there was such confusion, they were
fighting among themselves and killing one another and
Saul blows a trumpet and gathers as many
as he can and they join the battle
and there's a great victory accomplished that day.
The Philistines are slain left and right and
all day long, Israel, they come out of
the caves now, they come from everywhere and
suddenly the Philistines are on the run and
all day they fight with a sword in
their hands and they're weary and they're tired
and Saul saw their weariness and he made
a vow, he said, cursed be the man
who eats anything or touches any food until
this battle's over.
Cursed it is, in other words, he's a
dead man and so nobody ate, they kept
on, some of them were fainting and Jonathan
didn't hear his father's curse and so he's
in the woods and he's slaying Philistines and
in a moment of respite, he sees a
beehive and he sees honey dripping and he
puts his weapon into it and starts eating
the honey and he's refreshed and then about
evening time, the people couldn't take it anymore
and they rush into the spoil and they
are slaying animals with the blood and just
roasting and then eating it without honoring the
Jewish law that you don't eat meat with
the blood.
It's drained of its blood first, they were
breaking the law Saul sees it and he
goes into a rage he said, you have
acted treacherously now roll me a great stone
quickly you have sinned against the Lord by
eating with blood you people have broken the
law it's a man living in total rebellion
sinning the greatest sin that you can sin
in the eyes of almighty God but he's
now going to be a holiness preacher of
the worst kind he turns to legalism folks,
that is the first downward spiraling step toward
the occult toward spiritual insanity when you do
not trust the covenant promises of God to
give you your righteousness and holiness when you
turn away from that you said no, I've
got to add something to that you're on
your way down just like Saul was and
what will happen to you and listen very
closely even though you have sinned against God
because when you don't believe his promises that
he will subdue your sins if you will
trust him if you will call on his
name the Holy Ghost will instill his fear
into your heart he said, I will cause
you to walk in my ways and you
believe the Holy Ghost to do what God
promised him to do if you refuse all
of these covenant promises of God and you
say no I've got to do it I've
got to dress a certain way I've got
to add something I've got to prove to
God that I am holy and you refuse
the righteousness of Christ and you go out
to establish your own righteousness and this is
what he's doing now he's establishing his own
righteousness and when you do that you become
God's cop not God's cop but in your
mind, God's cop and now I believe the
priests were applauding Saul at this time they're
sitting this is the law you don't eat
with blood isn't that amazing that same
night Saul decides to keep them up all
night he said we're going to finish this
we're going to go all night long and
we're going to finish this battle we're going
to wipe them all out and the people
are tired, they're weary some of them are
asleep, they can't even move and the priest
said at least we've got to ask God
and the priest I don't know if it
was a human thumb I don't know how
they tried to approach God but the Lord
wouldn't answer and because he didn't answer Saul
said as the Lord lives somebody has sinned
God's not talking it was his sin but
you see he doesn't see that he said
somebody has sinned and so help me even
if it's my son I'll kill him oh
he's got zeal for God doesn't he what
a righteous man now before the whole crowd
we have sinned against God we have sinned
against the word and now God has shut
us out there's a reason we've got to
appease God now and so he casts a
lot and a lot falls upon him and
his son and he said well I know
it's not me it's got to be you
and if God hadn't intervened a zeal outward
zeal to appear before the people that he
kept the law that he was a holy
righteous man you become a legalist of the
worst kind unbelief is the root cause of
all legalism it's the root cause of all
now you see Saul striving to look holy
striving to put on a crusade folks there
are godly crusaders but some of them scare
me to death like you know we've got
a million women going to be marching in
Washington soon against or for gun control I'm
not going to get involved in the politics
of that but I heard a commentator on
the radio said how many of those women
going to go out there and parade and
take a stand and crusade against guns and
yet they say nothing about their kids watching
all of this murder on television and everything
else that incites the use of guns it's
legalism you know what God's been hounding me
about in a loving way saying David if
you're going to stand in front of the
congregation and expose sins of others you better
make sure you're trusting me in your life
about how you get your own just a
loving reminder from the heavenly father and secondly
when you become a legalist first of all
when there's unbelief when you don't obey God's
word and doing what he told you to
simply wait and trust him and believe him
in your crisis you become a legalist you'll
see other sins and weaknesses and you'll expose
them you will focus on everybody's sin but
your own and you will have the promise
of all spiritual discernment a seared conscience and
total oblivion to sin sin loses exuding sinfulness
in your eyes Saul is told to go
against Amalek utterly destroy all that is of
Amalek put to death everything everyone that breathes
spare nothing kill all the sheep the cattle
the oxen donkeys everything let nothing remain Saul
saves the king as a trophy king Agag
and the people saved and spared all the
best cattle and when it says the best
of everything the best of clothes the best
of furniture folks what a sight that must
have been when Samuel arrived on the scene
what a sight that must have been listen
to this man he goes right after the
victory he goes to Carmel and he builds
a monument to the victory and to himself
a monument we have achieved a great victory
we have obeyed God we have wiped out
the Amalekites and the king is standing right
by him smiling when Samuel arrives and there
are herds as far as you can see
sheep and donkeys and cattle it is like
a gigantic flea market folks you've got to
see this it's not written there but the
circumstances what you see here are people bartering
what they have gotten from the spoil and
they're trading sheep for donkeys and donkeys for
camels and examining the teeth of the horses
and seeing if they're good and thousands of
sheep are bleeding I mean a roar there's
the smell the stench of sacrifices that are
not of God when Samuel comes on the
scene Samuel is absolutely aghast at what he
sees he couldn't take it all in he's
thinking how can this man of God be
so blind Samuel says Saul what have you
done listen to what he said I have
carried out the command of the Lord God
be praised and the whole time he can
hardly hear Saul because of the sheep God
said kill all the sheep he said I
have absolutely done everything I've been told and
Saul's standing there I don't believe this man
look at the crowd look at all the
sheep look at the clothes look at the
garments look at the way they've gone mad
he says I have fulfilled everything and there
is King Agag the Bible said he was
at peace because he thought it was all
over he's going to be spared and he's
standing there smiling you know he did it
he killed all my people why did you
not Saul Samuel said why did you not
obey the voice of the Lord why did
you do this evil in the sight of
the Lord and he comes back again but
I did obey the voice of the Lord
I accomplished the mission I was sent to
do it's the beginning of witchcraft according to
the scripture because the scripture goes on Samuel
looks him right in the eye and he
said Saul you've rebelled and rebellion is as
the sin of stubbornness and is an iniquity
and idolatry you know what he's saying refuse
to trust God is equal to witchcraft in
God's eyes it's rebellion it's witchcraft same thing
folks that's where the occult the seed of
the occult is planted in the hearts of
many many people Christians who end up putting
more faith in Dr. Joy Brown or the
lady doctors on radio all the time oh
they'll sit there and they'll get their direction
from these people they don't trust God that's
the occult who are these Christians that can
indulge in any kind of sin now in
adultery, fornication, homosexuality and everything else and then
come and say well I've saved the best
for the Lord and I want all this
to sacrifice to your God the Bible says
this is the way of an adulterous woman
she eats and wipes her mouth and says
I've done no wrong she doesn't ponder the
path of life her ways are unstable and
she doesn't know it her ways are unstable
she says I haven't done it she has
just committed adultery she is blatantly in sin
and she wipes her mouth and says everything's
okay and she doesn't know this man now
is blind and folks when you give yourself
over to doing things your way to manipulate
and scheme and plan because you feel somehow
God has not acted on time you will
lose your discernment this is the first thing
that goes discernment where you can't discern between
what is right and wrong because you're moving
in a realm of unbelief where God can't
work it's an arena that God will have
nothing to do with and you're all alone
and then the seared conscience and a total
oblivion to sin he now becomes cavalier about
sin everything it doesn't bother anymore his sin
has rebelled before almighty God and he's saying
I haven't done anything wrong thirdly when there's
a loss of discernment and the conscience has
been shackled there's no defense left against the
spirit of jealousy and envy and I've seen
this all my lifetime I've seen it in
preachers I've seen it in Christian workers I've
seen it in marriages all over I've seen
people who've not believed that God could heal
their marriage would not trust God folks it
only takes one who really really believes now
it's that doesn't mean that there won't be
divorce because God is a stubborn people and
that's the lesson in this whole story here
the Bible said he was a stubborn man
stubbornly set in his ways and a stubborn
man will not receive the grace of God
he'll not receive the mercy that's offered to
him but you see now the spirit of
the Lord scripture said left Saul and an
evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him now
God did not send an evil spirit because
he doesn't do that what he did he
allowed the inevitable to happen God knew that
inevitably when a person loses spiritual discernment and
they've turned to legalism and they have unbelief
in their heart it's inevitably going to lead
in this attack there's no defense left and
what he's meaning God allowed his defenses to
go down and this evil spirit and that
terrorizing spirit is a spirit of jealousy and
envy jealousy and envy David
is brought in on the scene now because
Saul is having demonic attacks and he's having
demonic spasms and he's ranting and raving all
through his home all through his residence his
servants are frightened and they call David in
and with his harp and with his psalms
he sings peace to this man he appoints
him as his bodyguard takes him with us
to battle and one day they're coming from
a battle and Saul's the head of the
army and David's behind in the army and
here came the women from Jerusalem and they're
singing Saul has killed his thousands but David
has killed his ten thousands Saul was in
a rage and Saul looked on David from
that time on with suspicion with envy he
looked on him now with envy Bible said
Saul was afraid of David for the Lord
was not with him but had departed from
the Lord was with him but had departed
from Saul Saul dreaded him grew insanely jealous
of him folks jealousy turns Christians into hideous
creatures hideous creatures there's nothing more tragic than
a jealous husband or wife for example you
know there there are men who can't even
shake hands with other women because their wife
is shooting daggers at him and God help
if he gives a God bless you to
her gets in the car I saw it
I saw it you've had your eyes on
her all along haven't you and I know
she has her eyes on you she wouldn't
be coming up trying to shake it every
service she comes to you and shakes hands
I know what's in your heart because you
see when you lose your discernment and you
can't trust God you can't trust anybody and
you will put on others what is in
your own heart oh by the way sir
there are men in this congregation women come
into this house and actually scared to sit
down where there's an empty seat and that's
maybe why well I better not mention why
some of you are sitting on the end
because my wife is sitting on the end
but God help that dear wife if some
nice looking guy sits beside her the whole
service he can't praise God he's watching whether
he makes some kind of move or just
touch her and he stands and he's looking
at her the whole time he's I have
seen these insanely jealous people it's hideous horrifying
what happens the jealous person perceives himself or
herself to always be the victim everybody's against
them someone's always talking about them and they
say people are jealous of me I'm being
persecuted everywhere I go I am being persecuted
I have taken more junk from people than
anybody you know you ever hear the language
of this this raging jealousy in the heart
let me show you one of the most
pitiful scriptures in all the Bible I consider
this scene to be absolutely pitiful Saul is
pursuing David he's wanting to kill him and
he takes a break and he's brooding under
a tamarisk tree and his soldiers are surrounding
him and his servants are there ministering to
him they're risking their lives for him and
this poor man now this self pity poor
me I am persecuted and this man is
full of jealousy and envy and listen to
what he says he looks at all of
his servants and soldiers who are risking their
lives they're up guarding him in fact they're
all around him guarding their king and Saul
says and all of you have conspired against
me so that there's not one of you
who disclosed to me when my son made
a covenant with the son of Jesse there's
none of you who's sorry for me nobody
all of you you're all conspirators you're all
traitors that's what jealousy will do envy when
you can't glorify God when somebody your age
or younger is blessed by God beyond anything
you've ever known in your life and that
jealousy sets in folks where does that come
from somewhere along the line you made a
decision to walk in the flesh you didn't
make a decision to go to prayer with
everything that would attack you from hell you
didn't say you didn't make up your mind
if I get a some kind of jealousy
coming on me if the enemy tries to
put that spirit on me I'm going to
run to the cross I'm going to run
to Jesus I'm going to wait on the
Lord for deliverance by covenant you allowed that
thing to go on boy how sad it
is to come home from Macedonia or Kosovo
or come home from some mission field where
people are dying and there's hunger and people
have no heat and few clothes and little
food and you see these scenes and you
see the world seen and you see the
greatness of God's plan and you come home
to some Christian all wrapped up in a
petty little jealousy battle and you go to
lunch with them and all they talk about
you're so full of the needs of the
world you're so full of the eyes of
God as he sees the lost world and
you've got this grand world scheme of love
and seeking God and they're saying do you
know what so and so said about me
the other day do you know what I've
been through can you understand what I'm going
through do you know what my husband did
to me do you know what he said
I am being persecuted in my own home
I've got Christians at Times Square Church talking
about me and you're sitting there and they've
got this little world because jealousy shrinks your
whole world leaves you nothing but focused this
man is focused on nothing more he should
have been focused on the enemies of God
the Philistines and others he has to be
yanked away by a bad report to get
away from his puny little battle with David
your world is nothing I was where did
you get that jealous spirit you can say
I hate it check the time that you
were in a crisis go back to that
time when God was testing you and what
decision did you make did you have that
something in your heart that said God you
failed me did you did you set out
to solve your problem on your own that's
where it starts what a tragic end now
told you go to first Samuel and I
wouldn't have sent you there without a purpose
28th chapter I'm going to close 28
starting with verse 3 first Samuel 28 now
Samuel was dead are you with me Samuel
was dead and all Israel lamented him and
buried him in Ramah even in his own
city and Saul had put away those that
had familiar spirits and wizards out of the
land the Philistines gathered against themselves together and
came and pitched in Shunam and Saul gathered
all Israel together and they pitched in Gilboa
and when Saul saw the host of the
Philistines he was afraid and his heart greatly
trembled when Saul inquired of the Lord the
Lord answered him not neither by dreams nor
by Europe nor by prophets then said Saul
unto his servants seek me a woman that
hath a familiar spirit in other words a
witch that I may go to her and
inquire of her and his servants said to
him there is a woman that hath a
familiar spirit in Dor and Saul disguised himself
and put on another raiment and you know
the story how he said conjure up Samuel
verse 15 how sad Samuel said to Saul
why has thou disquieted me to bring me
up and Saul answered I am sore distressed
for the Philistines make war against me and
God is departed from me and answers me
no more neither by prophets nor by dreams
therefore I have called thee that thou mayest
make known to me what I should do
then said Samuel wherefore then does thou ask
of me seeing the Lord is departed from
thee and has become thine enemy the Lord
has rent the kingdom from you what a
sad ending the last consultation with the witch
now folks listen to me please we live
in a New Testament age Saul had mercy
available to him if he had not had
such a stubborn heart if he had not
set his heart to do things his own
way God could have delivered him but I
want you to know that something happened between
that story and where you and I live
today is called the cross where Jesus took
all of our rebellion he took all of
our sins and at any point at any
point you could be at any point in
this downward spiral you could have this legalistic
spirit if you turn to the Lord he
has made provision that you can be set
free hallelujah there is no witchcraft there is
nothing like
it's like a dagger in your spirit and
soul the Lord invites you to come don't
take another step don't go towards spiritual insanity
don't go to this place where finally you
can sit in church and hear any gospel
and not be moved excuse any kind of
sin and be a cavalier about everything and
have no sense of the exceeding sinfulness of
sin and that's where many Christians are and
they're headed and it ends up you folks
many of those who are in the occult
right now were those who turned away from
their confidence in God many of them many
of the witches and the covens that are
led by witches were those who one time
were in Pentecostal churches or Baptist churches they
knew the gospel and they turned away from
it disobeyed the word of the Lord and
that's where they ended but thank God there
is no power on earth or in hell
that can stop God from reaching a heart
that's not stubborn but willing to say I've
sinned before God Lord come and deliver me
there's deliverance immediately for those who step out
and receive his word will you stand please
please don't move Lord heavenly father we come
to the most important moment in this service
now when we deal with the conviction of
the Holy Spirit my father I thank you
I thank you that you have come to
me through this word you convicted me by
this word and you've you have told me
clearly every crisis from now on trust me
in it and through it don't go your
own way trust me do nothing do nothing
but pray and trust don't move until I
tell you to till the word comes till
the Lord has been consulted and his will
is being performed hallelujah Lord forgive us for
running off our own way for getting in
panic and fear and stressed out when we
have a God who's able God who knows
all things and God who cares for us
hallelujah folks he loves you today and he
brought this message to you not to chase
in you but to remind you to show
you a better way if if anything I
said this message was meant for you and
you have to repent of unbelief or if
you have the slightest that slightest thought that
God has not acted on your behalf that
he's not come on the scene on time
and it's left you with just a little
bit of doubt your doubt your unbelief is
the father the root cause of all the
other sins you deal with your unbelief you
lay down your unbelief you say God give
me the faith of Christ I want to
make that kind of commitment if you're living
in sin come if you don't know Jesus
come and the Holy Spirit's dealing with don't
come until the Spirit of God's dealing with
but if he is dealing with you feel
that polar tug of the Holy Spirit up
in the balcony go the stairs neither side
and come down those that are in the
annex will you move forward not in front
of the screen but between the screen so
you don't block the vision if you will
please someone will be there in just a
moment to give you further direction I want
to pray with you I can't do anything
until the Holy Ghost accomplishes this conviction in
your heart did God speak to you if
he spoke to you obey the Holy Spirit
now because he's wanting to heal you he's
wanting to move into your crisis now and
bring you to that place of absolute utter
faith and confidence in him you know what
I read this story I wondered if Saul
any time in his life a troubled life
he was living and God had departed from
him I wonder if there was ever a
time he'd said if I had only waited
a little longer if I had just trusted
a little longer I wouldn't be in this
mess I could have had the kingdom now
it's all gone you say does it does
it hinge on something that singular one item
just one time of unbelief now you see
God said he tests us because faith true
faith to trust him is more important to
him than the purest of gold he said
I want it to be right to the
end before all mankind I want your faith
to be appraised and unhonored glory to my
name that's why I test you and some
of you going through the test of your
life right now in a recent test that
Gwen and I had a family test we
both agreed we are not going to doubt
God we are going to trust him through
this we went to prayer and said Lord
we trust you we were ready to let
anything happen we will come to place where
your will be done we know there could
be tragedy we know there could be almost
anything the consequences in your hands and folks
within 48 hours God moved God solved God
worked it all out and you know what
that does to us our hearts were overjoyed
there was something that God put in our
hearts it was almost like the Lord saying
I am so glad that I am so
pleased I bless you what a joy knowing
that you have trusted God through it you
come out the other end your faith stronger
this is the conclusion of the message