At the missions conference just a few weeks
ago in Marietta Chuck said something and it's
a theme He said many time before but
I had never heard it from him or
remembered hearing it from him in exactly these
words before But he said, you know what
you want to do is find the flow
of the Holy Spirit and and get in
it You know, and that's that's what we're
doing.
We're just finding what the flow of the
Holy Spirit is.
Well What I want to talk to you
about this morning is something that I think
Often Hinders the flow of the Holy Spirit
in our life and in our ministry I
know it has in mind and it's something
that we universally deal with this is the
great thing about this this message is because
it It touches everybody who ever does ministry
and I guess I don't I'm not good
at titles for messages or anything but what
I want to talk to you about is
is a Conflict with others and and how
you can Prevent it from waylaying you in
the ministry because you all have it and
There's just something about when you feel attacked
when you feel betrayed when you feel that
you're the object of gossip It has a
way of presenting a challenge before us That
I think is one of those just it's
a it's a path Two paths in the
road in front of us and it'll really
affect the way with it.
We see ministry from that point on And
to me 2nd Samuel chapter 1 it speaks
about this in a very powerful way.
Oh there's so much in this chapter to
To focus on or to talk about let's
just start reading at the beginning of it
It came to pass after the death of
Saul when David had returned from the slaughter
of the Amalekites And David had stayed two
days in Ziklag then on the third day
behold it happened that a man came from
Saul's camp With his clothes torn and dust
on his head So it was when he
came to David that he fell to the
ground and prostrated himself and David said to
him Where have you come from?
So he said I've escaped from the camp
of Israel then David said to him.
How did the matter go?
Please tell me and he answered the people
have fled from the battle many of the
people are fallen and dead and Saul and
Jonathan his son are dead.
Also We're all familiar with the life of
David.
And of course one of the things that
sticks out almost unfairly So vividly in our
mind about the life of David is his
great Fall with with Bathsheba and that time
of scandal and compromise in his life But
it's helpful for us to remember that that
was not the first time of significant Compromise
or you might say backsliding however, you want
to call it It wasn't the first time
that the light Spiritual light and David's life
had been diminished I can see at least
two very specific previous occasions where it had
and this is the second one of those
two where it comes Out of it where
David was very discouraged from this this period
of many years where he was living as
a fugitive from Saul And he grew so
discouraged that he said there's nothing better than
for me to live among the Philistines Can
you imagine saying that and and I mean
we've said similar things ourselves so we can't
imagine it but there's Dave I mean nothing
better.
There's nothing nothing better between the Israelites and
the Philistines nothing at all So I may
as well go live among the Philistines at
least there Saul won't hassle me And and
I don't know maybe David thought he was
gonna gonna stick it to Saul by doing
that Saul rejoiced I'm sure when David went
to live among the Philistines He felt David
was disqualifying himself from reigning over Israel I
mean who wants a guy who associated himself
with the Philistines to reign over Israel?
Well when David did this it got worse.
He didn't just go and live among the
Philistines, but he lived as a very ungodly
man he essentially made his Living as a
robber during that time now.
He wouldn't rob Israelite towns, but you know
these other sort of various tribes and people
groups that were said He basically go in
there and his men is mighty men who
were a bunch of tough dudes They'd go
in and just kind of rough them up
and take all their stuff and leave And
it's like this roving biker gang over the
Judean.
You know a region there and You know
David lived like this for a year all
up until the point where when there comes
to be a significant You know point of
crisis between Israel and the Philistines, and they're
gonna have this very significant battle David earnestly
wants to enlist In the Philistine army and
bring all his mighty men to fight on
behalf of the Philistine you read it on
the pages of 1st Samuel it's almost like
you're rubbing your eyes.
You can't believe it and then you know
sometimes you want to and I've even read
some commentators They want to assign some great
heroic motive to David You know he's going
to be this fifth column in the midst
of of the Philistine army and really turn
on it And I don't believe that for
a minute David was Disappointed when he was
drummed out of the Philistine army And they
wouldn't accept him and he went back to
the city where they were living the city
of Ziklag And you guys remember what happened
there.
It's a great great story.
This is it's great preaching it preaches itself
You need to spend time in this David
goes back to Ziklag and what happens the
city's absolutely devastated a Roving band of Amalekites
have come and they did to David what
David and his men had been doing to
everybody else They took everything from the town
They took all the women and children and
all the possessions and they burned the city
and you can just picture David coming you
know Him and his mighty men riding You
know across the the wilderness and seen Ziklag
off in the distance There's fires coming from
Ziklag, and it's more than just the regular
fires that come from the city There's something
wrong there, and their pace quickens and when
they get there they were totally broken David
just about had a breakdown and his men
were talking about killing him and Then it
says a great passage there What is it
in 1st Samuel 30 where it says that
David strengthened himself in the Lord and that
turned around everything everything?
And he inquired of the Lord and God
told him what they do, and they won
a great victory over all that well Meanwhile
this whole battle between the Philistines and the
Israelites was going on at Mount Gerboa And
that's a whole tragic situation where Saul and
his sons died on the slopes of Mount
Gerboa And and there that the king was
dead Saul was gone and so was the
crown prince Jonathan and now here in the
passage.
I just read you David.
Here's the news of this This man this
messenger comes in and Amalekite comes And he
runs to David and he comes after all
this distance, and he comes and he tells
David listen Saul's dead Jonathan is dead and
to hear this news You just think of
what would have David's reaction been?
To hear that news well We'll get to
that in a minute, but take a look
first five So David said to the young
man who told him how do you know
that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?
The young man who told him said as
it has I happened by chance on to
be on Mount Gerboa There was Saul leaning
on his spear and indeed the chariots and
horsemen followed hard after him now when he
looked behind him He he saw me and
called to me, and I answered here I
am and he said to me who are
you so I answered him.
I am an Amalekite He said to me
again, and please stand over me and kill
me for anguish has come upon me But
my life still remains in me so I
stood over him and killed him because I
was sure that he could not live After
he had fallen and I took the crown
that was on his head and the bracelet
that was on his arm And I brought
them here to my lord so you can
picture this Amalekite before David right here's the
crown Here's the bread here.
They are I took them off of Saul's
dead body, and I finished him off It
was a mercy killing he asked me to
do it And so I did it because
he was going to die anyway I Could
talk about this for like this.
It's just so many interesting things I Just
love talking about the Bible to me it's
absolutely the most interesting thing and it's so
full of the life and the truth of
God, but You know when you get into
this a little bit you find out the
Amalekite was lying He did not kill Saul
Saul was already dead first Samuel 31 5
Says that Saul's armor-bearer saw that he
was dead and then the armor-bearer killed
himself The Amalekite was lying All he did
was come upon.
He was the first one to come upon
Saul's dead body And he grabbed that crown
and he grabbed the bracelet And he thought
I will go to David the man that
Saul has persecuted for these many many years
And I will present the crown I will
present the bracelet to David and David will
be so happy to hear that Saul is
dead And David would have a rich reward
for the man who killed his torment David
would love and praise.
I'll get a huge reward for this This
will be my glory and so he doesn't
just bring the the bracelet in the crown
But he lies he makes up this story.
I finished him boy.
Did he have something to learn but look
at verse 11 This is this is the
real point.
I wanted to get at I'm just talking
about the rest of it because it's so
interesting but first verse 11 therefore David took
hold of his own clothes and tore them
and so did all the men who were
with him and They mourned and wept and
fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan
his son For the people of the Lord
and for the house of Israel Because they
had fallen by the sword.
There's there's something here That we need to
learn from you know when you realize all
that Saul did to David and how David
never mistreated Saul It's a fascinating study through
first Samuel to see how Saul With such
Brilliance with such wickedness Sought to destroy David
He tried to open out front attack sending
assassins to his own home He tried the
devious things of trying to get David implicated
as a traitor David was promoted.
He was a I don't know what rank
you would call him He was a leader
in the Israeli army Saul stripped him of
his career Stripped him of his home stripped
him of his wife Stripped him of all
security all safety made David live as a
fugitive For something like we don't have the
time span exactly something like 15 to 20
years David lived as a fugitive from Saul
I Think about this Saul took from David
what we would probably consider the best years
of his life That time from approximately about
20 to 40 Those years were stolen From
David by Saul and he had to live
like a criminal On the run his life
and cause it.
Do you know what kind of stress that
would put upon you?
living with that daily stress and Saul up
until the end hated David Without a cause
you remember those dramatic confrontations where David had
opportunity to kill Saul but one was within
that cave where was Saul was, you know
doing his business and and David had the
opportunity to strike him down right there and
he didn't David even felt guilty that he
cut off part of Saul's robe What a
tender conscience And then later on when David
snuck into the camp at night and he
put the spear by Saul's head and all
of that You know David again, he's just
showing Saul I'm innocent before you and Saul
knew it and Saul testified to it but
but there was just this insane jealousy and
fear of David within Saul and He tried
to kill him and David never ever Deserved
it in the slightest David was nothing but
loyal and honorable towards Saul and Saul hated
him for all that he had I don't
know about you, but in my life in
ministry, I have had enemies.
I Have had you know people rise up
to oppose me, you know I've gotten the
letters like you have you know, I'm gonna
bring you down.
You're horrible and this and that all the
other stuff Yeah, I have had my enemies.
I've had you know, the Judas's or the
Ahithophel's You know the people who stabbed you
in the back and all of that and
I mean we could have a very entertaining
It wouldn't be very edifying, but it'd be
very entertaining We could go through and just
share all of our horror stories and such
because you know, we all have them But
I have to tell you I've never ever
had anybody come close to treating me like
Saul treated David not even close I've never
had somebody actually wants to physically well you
know, I don't think they've ever actually wanted
to physically kill me and You know, I've
never had somebody want to take everything from
me that Saul took from David and I'll
say the other thing is Most the time
in these conflicts that I've had I have
sinned in some way towards that person Maybe
not to begin with but but oftentimes in
my reaction to them and I've had to
go to them You know, it's one of
the situations where they have been 99%
in the wrong and I was 1%
in the wrong But I had to humble
myself before them and apologize for my 1
% because that's just what you do And
all of that what that isn't even the
case with David David was just blameless before
Saul and Saul knew it Now considering all
of that that whole big picture What do
you think David's reaction would be upon learning
that Saul was dead?
Ding dong the king is dead Hooray you
throw a party.
I mean it's over all these years of
living as a fugitive I can get my
career back.
I can get my home back.
I can get my family back I can
live in one place and just enjoy my
I can be a normal person again All
these things that were stolen away from me
from by an ungodly Unrighteous man who hated
me without cause I can get it all
back now And yet when he heard that
Saul was dead he mourned He mourned that
that is something very special Now if you
look at it closely in verses 11 and
12, it's even better than that he said
therefore David took hold of his own clothes
and tore them and So did all the
men so did all the men who were
with him Now Saul ripped them off, too
You know those were men Who should have
risen to prominence?
years before I mean if from an outward
view just You hate to say this, but
if you were to you know push the
Lord out of the equation David should have
been king a long time before this and
his mighty men should have been around him
You know reigning in Israel a long time
before this and and and those mighty men
knew that and they saw that They certainly
had reason to feel that that they should
be happy when Saul was dead But they
weren't they saw their leader do this and
then they did it They mourned as well,
and what did they do they mourned and
wept and fasted until evening This wasn't just
oh wow Saul's dead Hmm bummer all right.
Let's go take the throne I Mean this
was real it was from the heart they
fasted they wept For Saul and for Jonathan
his son for the people of the Lord
and for the house of Israel.
I think I Think that's the key to
it.
You know Saul Saul was a real enemy
of David It was out of nothing, but
pure jealousy hatred spite and ungodliness That Saul
took all these things from David and Saul
was utterly unrepentant to the end, but this
shows us That when we have hatred and
bitterness Towards those people who attack us We
choose it It's not forced upon you We'd
like to think that Our reaction to our
enemies is something forced upon us by our
enemies or opponents themselves, and it's not We
choose it David chose to have the godly
reaction So they followed this great example of
David and when they mourned they didn't just
mourn for Saul They didn't just mourn for
Jonathan, but as I mentioned before I think
the key to it Was that they mourned
as it says in verse 12 for the
people of the Lord and for the house
of Israel You see David's sorrow was first
for Saul then for Jonathan But more than
that it was for the people of God
as a whole because they were in a
desperate dangerous place they had been led by
an awful leader for 10 or 20 years
and Now that leader was gone Which was
even worse because now it could lead to
total anarchy and the Philistines could not just
dominate the Israelites But they could totally overwhelm
them David knew that it was a horrible
place that the people of God read and
that's where his heart went I want you
to notice where David's heart is not in
verses 11 and 12 His heart is for
Jonathan for Saul for the people of God
his heart and mind are not upon himself
That's just not in the equation You know
when David heard this news this was life
-changing News for David that this throne that
he had been anointed to sit upon This
throne that he had waited for some 20
years to come and take now it was
vacant Now it was the time for him
to fulfill that thing that started when Samuel
first poured that oil over his head Now
it might be fulfilled with the crown set
upon his head But David had no thought
of himself at that time.
He thought about Saul He thought about Jonathan
and he thought about the people of God
now, isn't it true that our our bad
Reactions to our enemies or our opponents It's
almost always it's it is always written.
It's himself.
You're thinking about yourself And might I say
that that we do have enemies guys And
I don't mean just in a hyper spiritual
sense of you know, of course that the
spiritual enemies that we face I Mean that
there are people who really will oppose us
Who really are enemies and really are Wicked
people who will strike out against us.
You will face those in the ministry And
sometimes we want to sort of slough it
off and I I don't think we should
You know, it's a remarkable thing that Jesus
said he said love your enemies.
I Remember walking around on a college campus
once and there was a sign or a
poster on a you know On one of
those bulletin boards and it said something like
this.
It said Enemies are friends Whom we choose
not to understand Now Jesus would never say
anything that foolish You know that what that
saying was saying was that you don't really
have any enemies Your enemies are really your
friends and you just don't understand them.
No, you have enemies and Jesus didn't say
pretend like your enemies don't exist pretends like
you don't have any enemies What did he
tell you to do?
Love them pray for them Yes You are
my enemy.
You are my opponent You're wicked.
You're out against me and my response to
you is to love you to pray for
you To keep my heart utterly right towards
you no matter what you might do towards
us or to towards me.
I Think of it again in that in
that passage that was mentioned earlier in the
conference of Joseph where Joseph had this dramatic
statement before his brothers and I think sometimes
we miss the the Amazing part of the
first part of that sentence where he says
you meant it for evil, but God meant
it for good Joseph isn't minimizing what they
did one bit you meant you're evil guys
You meant it for evil I'm not going
to try to say that it was really
something nice That just didn't work out or
something that no you intended it for evil.
We all know it.
That's true But God meant it for good.
That's the higher truth, isn't it?
That's the overarching principle there, but it recognizes
both of them.
So David was was confronted with all of
this news and Verses 13 through 16 described
what he did with the Amalekite and that's
a great story You know that Amalekite thinks
well now I'm really going to come into
my own now I'm really going to get
it.
He sure came into his own David had
him executed.
He just killed this guy He he touched
the Lord's anointed I would never do it
David said but this guy did And then
in verse 17 if you take a look
there It says then David lamented with this
lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son
And he told them to teach the children
of Judah the song of the bow Indeed
it is written in the book of Jasher
By the way, just as a side point
You know when the Bible mentions books like
that that aren't in there Sometimes people want
to act like there's something missing in our
Bible because you know You won't find the
book of Jasher in the table of contents
Don't think that for a minute.
In fact, I think I've heard Mormons try
to use that line with me They'll they'll
say you say well, we don't need the
book of Mormon.
We have the Bible and they say well
You know, the Bible is an incomplete book
I mean look at it talks about the
book of Jasher here and we don't have
the book of Jasher And so the Bible
is incomplete one nonsense.
It's a completely Unjustified leap of logic to
say that just because the Bible mentions a
book that somehow that book was inspired Scripture
it needs to be in our Bibles That's
just a completely Illogical leap that that's beside
the point.
Let's look at the song of the bow
verse 19 Again, remember the context and who
David is singing about The beauty of Israel
is slain on your high places how the
mighty have fallen Tell it not in gas
proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon
Bless the daughters of the Philistines rejoice less
the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph All mountains
of Gilboa let there be no dew nor
rain upon you nor fields of offerings for
the shields of the mighty are cast away
the shield of Saul not anointed with oil
From the blood of the slain from the
fat of the mighty the bow of Jonathan
did not turn back and the sword of
Saul Did not return empty Saul and Jonathan
were beloved and pleasant in their lives and
in their death.
They were not divided They were swifter than
eagles.
They were stronger than lions Oh daughters of
Israel weep over Saul who clothed you in
Scarlet with luxury who put ornaments of gold
on your apparel how the mighty have fallen
in the midst of the battle Jonathan was
slain in your high places.
I'm distressed for you.
My brother Jonathan.
You've been very pleasant to me Your love
to me was wonderful Surpassing the love of
women how the mighty have fallen and the
weapons of war Perished I think we are
so used to phoniness in our day and
age Insincerity where people say things that they
really don't mean That it's almost hard for
us to believe that David really meant this
but he did He really meant it and
when you think about how he meant it
It's unbelievable to see how David's heart was
towards this man who dedicated his life to
ruining his life Look at what he says
about Saul The beauty of Israel is slain
on your high places.
Who does he mean?
Can you imagine David calling Saul the beauty
of Israel and Then he says I don't
want anybody to rejoice over the death I
don't even want the Philistines to rejoice over
the death of Saul Nobody should rejoice and
then he wants everybody to mourn He wants
the mountains and the fields to mourn for
Saul He tells the mountains of Gilboa and
the fields of offerings no rain upon you
No, you should be in mourning as well
Then he praised Saul as a mighty Warrior
and let me tell you especially in the
latterly years of David's Saul's life.
That's a compliment that Saul almost didn't deserve
Saul was not a man of great courage
Saul what was a very disturbed man Was
a man beside himself in his last years,
but David praised him as a mighty warrior
He complimented the personality and the loyalty of
Saul when he said Saul and Jonathan were
beloved and Pleasant in their lives and in
their death.
They were not divided You know here Saul
loyal to the end Fighting right alongside his
son and then he called the daughters of
Israel to mourn and he praised Saul for
all the good that he did for Israel
guys.
That's a heart That's a heart that can
let go of The wrongs that have been
done against us.
Oh How we need to do it You
just can't hold on to them You have
to let them go You have to be
able to just forgive people and not let
your mind Close like a trap on all
those wrongs that have been done to you
all the ways people mistreated all the lies
That they said about you.
You just need to let it go.
I Think Lloyd in one of the earlier
sessions.
He mentioned Maybe it was just in conversation
that great book by Charles Scourge and lectures
to my students.
Have you seen that one?
Have you read it?
You know the chapter in there That's more
meaningful to any other that the chapter that
has maybe saved my sanity in the ministry
Is a chapter in lectures to my students
called the blind eye and the deaf ear.
Do you guys know that one?
Rocky, do you know that?
It's a great message.
He says there's some obscure passage in Ecclesiastes
where it talks about, you know Don't listen
to everything that your servants say about you
and Spurgeon gets up and you can just
see him lecturing before his students You know
in his pastor's college and he says I've
often spoken before you that Every minister should
have one blind eye and one deaf ear
and that that is often the best eye
and the best ear that you Have I
said well, I thought I would spend this
time today explaining to you What exactly I
meant by that he goes on in this
brilliant discussion of how?
Well, he applies it to many points, but
you know, you just can't listen to everything
people say about you You can't take it
all so seriously.
You can't grab on to it.
You have to turn a deaf ear towards
it Benjamin Franklin said this I've always Had
this stick in my mind.
He said you can't control your own tongue
and it's in your mouth How can you
hope to control the tongues of other people
you can't?
There's that you can't do it People will
talk they're going to talk what you can't
do is you can't let your heart become
hardened and bitter towards them And Remember yesterday
when Brian was speaking about the love that
we need to have for the people and
how we need to serve them well It
sometimes starts out very easy to love the
people But you will find that love challenged
at different points along the way right the
devil does not want you to love them
and so Experiences will come along where you
feel totally burned totally hurt Totally betrayed by
people within the body, and what does it
make you want to do it makes you
want to say?
I will never open up to anybody else
again.
I will not love them I will not
give myself to them and just as Brian
said yeah, I will preach I will be
their preacher But I won't be their pastor
now I'm going to set this guard around
my heart, and I'm going to protect myself
Listen you you have just escaped the nature
of Jesus there Spurgeon said He said it
would be better to be hurt a thousand
times than to live a life of perpetual
suspicion And it's true You know whatever advantage
you think you're gaining by having this protective
attitude We say I'm not I'm never going
to let them hurt me like that again
You're giving up far more than you ever
think you're gaining You're really hurting yourself, and
yes I know you open up your heart
to the people and it will be stepped
upon at times.
I know that you know that It's going
to happen But can you imagine somebody giving
forth love and grace and forgiveness?
Towards people and having it trounced upon time
and time again.
Well, I guess that's Jesus isn't it Isn't
that Jesus towards us and towards others, so
that's the kind of nature That's the kind
of character that he's trying to work within
us And so we're just called to bear
up bravely under this kind of conflict and
to have a heart That is that is
just free from this bitterness from from this
anger towards people You know how it is
your mind just can't get off of it
You rehearse in your head over and over
again the things you want to tell those
people You can be very eloquent telling them
off in your head can't you and and
it may never happen in real life But
you spend a lot of time a lot
of energy a lot of a lot of
spiritual energy goes into that doesn't it you
Telling them off and you setting it right
and you being the writer of every wrong
and everybody knows how right right right you?
Are and you're right and they're wrong and
you know what and then it's just you
and your wife in the church And she's
not so sure about you either Because it's
just everything's gone.
You've just run all the people off And
you didn't want it to be that way,
but it it flowed out of this business
of you being hurt and You not responding
to it rightly I?
Guess I'm saying is you have to forgive
them you have to open up your heart
and say No matter what they did to
me It measures nothing compared To what I
did to God And he forgave me I'm
the man who was forgiven ten million dollars
from God and in comparison to what God
has forgiven me this man has Owned me
ten dollars, and so I will forgive now
if you cannot do that Your future in
ministry will always be clouded.
I'm not saying there will never be any
good times I'm not saying there will never
be any blessing All but there will always
be a hindrance to what the Holy Spirit
wants to do there always be this sort
of block in you Because Satan knows just
how to push that button in you and
it'll come up from time to time again
And you'll find yourself hardening yourself towards more
and more people and you know you may
never reconcile with that person I'm not saying
you'd necessarily reconcile with them because they may
remain Completely unreconciled to you let's remember Saul
and David never got it together did they?
There was never this you know tears and
hugs, and I'm sorry David for everything of
course There was an occasion just like that
on one of these times when when David
could have killed Saul But he didn't Saul
is totally repentant that the tears are flowing
down his face, and he's a goat David
You're more righteous than I and and you've
done it all and I've been such a
fool and all of that And I believe
Saul meant it for about five minutes And
then it was gone But at the end
there was no reconciliation, but here in this
example of David you see how David could
keep a totally soft warm tender heart towards
Saul Even though Saul hated his guts and
continued to do so Until he died how
tragic for Saul to die in that Unreconciled
horrible conflict against David, but you know what
it didn't hurt David Because David kept a
soft heart towards it all and here's the
other aspect about it is that David Absolutely
Needed this You know I had never thought
that never had that thought before of what
Brian mentioned yesterday in his message that That
Saul was David's hero And you hear him
talking from that kind of focus there in
the song of the bow at the end
he's still his hero And almost we should
say deservedly so Because Saul in all his
ungodliness was a mighty Instrument of God in
David's life think of the life of David
What made him a man after God's heart?
Now I don't think it was this whole
business with Saul Because God picked out David
as a man after his own heart when
David Loved him and served him and communed
with him in total obscurity as a shepherd.
I think it was David's Personal communion with
the Lord that made him a man after
God's heart There's this David up in the
shepherds field, and it's just him in the
Lord And it's that depth of relationship with
the Lord in the secret place when nobody's
looking That's what made David a man after
God's own heart, but what made David?
Trained him prepared him to be the greatest
king Israel ever had Do you want to
know what a great king?
David was over Israel.
He was so great that God's going to
give him an encore I Mean as far
as I'm concerned for my reading of scriptures
in the millennial earth God is going to
have David reign over Israel again.
I mean, I really believe that God's going
to let him do it again I'm the
millennium What made David a king and a
great king it was this whole business with
Saul It was these many years so that
finally when David sat enthroned over Israel He
was the man God wanted him to be
a man after his heart And and a
man of God sitting on that throne that
trained in God's difficult school of leadership And
it was really Because of Saul and David's
response to what Saul did As hard as
it is to see and as harder it
is except in our own life Saul was
a gift to David and I guess David
understood that somewhere along the line Spurgeon in
that great chapter of lectures to my students
the blind eye and the deaf ear He
speaks of a guy that used to write
him an anonymous letter every week I don't
know it from the way.
He described it seems like it went on
for several years Every week Spurgeon would get
a letter from this guy and in the
letter the guy would point out every mistake
he thought Spurgeon made in the sermon and
Some of the mistakes he thought were perhaps
doctrinal Some of them were stylistic.
He thought he wasn't pronouncing words correctly and
some of them He thought were just sort
of on speaking manner, but he thought that
Spurgeon quoted the hymn Nothing in my hand.
I bring only to thy cross.
I cling he thought he was quoting that
way too often He's wrote something like this
this Spurgeon.
We know your hands are empty.
You know think of another way to illustrate
it How would you like to get that
every week?
How would you like to get that letter
every week You know Spurgeon said he said
my only regret was that the guy was
anonymous And I never had the chance to
thank him And I said I didn't agree
with him on every point I mean, it's
not like you just read it and said
well, whatever you say is true, but he
said that man helped me He helped me
become a better preacher Well, obviously many attacks
that come against us are much much fiercer
than that But we still have to deal
with them the same way We have to
have hearts so full of love so full
of grace and forgiveness towards others If we
don't I think it will consume us in
the ministry and it will hinder us in
what God wants to do in our congregations
You know God's looking for men who just
have simple hearts before him Soft and tender
hearts towards him and his people and these
things have a way of building up that
very very thick callous upon So to make
it through and to See God's work done
through a time of conflict like this.
You need to keep the very soft heart
Especially towards those who attack you, you know,
the very practical way to do this is
to pray for them You just pray you
make a dedicated aim to pray for them.
And I know your your first prayers will
be like some of those What do they
call me in Precatory Psalms of David, you
know, Oh Lord break their teeth in their
mouth, you know That's a vivid image, isn't
it?
and You know your prayers may be like
that to begin But I promise you if
you keep praying for that person your heart
will warm towards them And you will really
begin to care for them That's why Jesus
said to pray for your enemies to pray
for those who spitefully use you That's a
very practical way that you can begin to
put it in action and even as I'm
speaking You may have very vividly in your
mind one or two people who just fit
this profile exactly Well, you need to do
this.
I mean you must do this You cannot
pass this by So you need to keep
that soft and tender heart But I'll tell
you one other thing you need in this
time of conflict not so to end with
this Point though not that I'm going to
end real soon, but just the kind of
creature thing Is that you also need to
have what I would call the the hardened
face the face like flint You know that
great passage in Isaiah 50 where it describes,
you know The Messiah set my face like
flint to do what the Lord wanted me
to do is the whole context of it
there What you need to have a hardened
face now not hardened towards God, of course
and definitely not hardened towards the people The
idea of the hardened face there isn't that
you're insensitive or or unloving but that is
you're utterly focused and this this is something
that I think God has taught me about
these times of conflict or Difficulty in the
ministry is as much as anything Satan wants
to use those to get us off Focus
know those three things that Brian spoke of
yesterday.
You need to love the people you need
to serve them And you need to bring
them good words Satan wants you to do
anything, but those three things anything He wants
you to obsess about the people who hurt
you.
He wants you to play politics He wants
you to manipulate things behind the scenes He
wants you to do all this all that
all the other thing But anything he can
get you to draw your focus off of
those three things He will use and in
a time of conflict don't we want we
want to draw back from the people and
not love them We don't want to serve
them we don't feel like doing anything and
preaching the word that you know We just
do the best we can but we can
hardly study in times like that.
Do you see what Satan's trying to do?
It's not just that the conflict but it's
what the conflict pushes you away from Then
it's a double victory for Satan He's got
you and this whole business of despair and
conflict But in the other aspect he's gotten
you to the place where you're not doing
what you must Absolutely do you start obsessing
over everything living this life of continual suspicion
and fear You know the movie one pastor
recommended to me in a time when I
was going through this In my ministry is
the movie the cane of mutiny Old movie
from like the 50s or the 60s and
it has this Cab I can't even remember
the Humphrey Bogart played the characters captain who's
going nuts and And his men kind of
had to take over the ship from him
and and the whole business of him Going
nuts was displayed by the fact that he
would obsess on small things He had two
silver balls that he liked to twirl around
in his hands And he was being questioned
you know in this thing and and he
what he wanted to obsess on was the
strawberries They had a whole can of strawberries
in the in the mess and Somebody had
snuck in and took some of the strawberries
and there he is when he's just totally
flipping out on the witness stand He's there.
You know Rolling around these two metal balls
in his hand because it was a strawberry.
That's what it was it was the strawberries
I've been like that in the ministry Yeah,
it's like you're flipping out you're obsessing over
this thing which is a big picture It's
a small thing isn't it there you have
the strawberries You got to see the movie.
It's really instructive for how leadership cracks up.
Oh, but But to get our focus off
of loving the people serving them and bringing
them good words Well, that's that's a high
victory for Satan so what I what I
learned to do is When a season or
a time of conflict would come I would
absolutely dedicate myself To loving the people serving
them and teaching them all the more They're
saying bad things about me.
Let them see by my conduct that it
could never be true Let them hear the
best messages that they've ever heard from me
Let them feel so loved so served so
fed That that God just touches their hearts,
so it's not enough just to have the
soft heart towards your enemies I really think
you need to have focus the focus of
that face like Flint.
I will not stop Loving them serving them
and bringing them good words.
I will not be shaken from that I
I wish that there was a way that
we could do ministry and not go through
these things I guess in my flesh.
I wish that You know in my flesh,
I want a life of just unending comfort
and ease that's what I want I just
wanted all to be easy all the time
and You know that's not how it is
that's not God's plan for us and his
plan for us really is better it really
is good and We can receive these things
as gifts from the Lord perhaps Unwelcome gifts,
but when we receive them the right way
The glorious thing is that God will use
them to bless our ministries and to bless
our own walk with him our own communion
with him and that's the sweetest of all
So father that's our prayer how we need
your help Lord and I I Pray for
my brothers here this morning.
I I don't know particular situations Lord, but
I know we all know what it's like
being in the ministry, and we just have
this sense Lord that It's not uncommon for
many of us to be troubled by a
time of conflict Well Lord won't you bring
your grace to troubled hearts then this morning
and?
have us Lord just be absolutely determined to
keep a soft heart towards those who attack
us and Lord to keep our face hardened
towards the focus that you've given us in
ministry that nothing can shake us from it
and Lord we need your help.
We need your comfort.
We need your strength these things drive us
Lord to the brink of despair And so
Lord won't you uphold us and give us
the strength?
The resources to do what is right and
honored before you in difficult times Do it
Lord for the sake of your people even
if it's not for our sake and that
we love you and praise you in Jesus
name Amen