# David the people and King Saul

Key Passage: 1 Samuel 18:5
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Samuel, 1st Samuel chapter number 18. I imagine Brother Anthony changed. I’ve got to ask him, did you change to that song? Why are already planning all that? I love it when God just puts His fingerprints on something. We’re just mentioning that. And praise the Lord for that.

First Samuel chapter number 18, if you would, please, in God’s word. We’ve been doing a study on David, the life of David. I believe this is our sixth Wednesday night on the subject. We’ve had some interruptions in between. I believe that’s it. I see Brother Pratchik and Miss Marlene coming in back there. We’re going to work in our media a little bit tonight afterwards. You’ll be praying God bless that. Get our radio frequency picked out and whatnot. And so you’ll be praying God bless all those things.

The life of David—I believe we can all learn something tonight that would help make your life a lot smoother. Wherever you are, whether it be in the workplace, whether it be in your marriage or your children. You know, life doesn’t always have to be in turmoil. You can have joy and peace. And you can enjoy. The Bible says, serve the Lord with gladness. And you can do that. You just enjoy. And I think tonight could help you in that if we just pray and ask the Lord to do so. We’re in 1st Samuel chapter number 18. We’re going to start in verse number five.

1 Samuel 18, verse number 5. If you would, wherever you are, if you’re able to, would you please stand? And you say, “It’s awkward standing in my living room.” Well, the cat and dog will be all right. They’ll be all right if they see you standing up, you know. If you’re able, 1st Samuel 18, we’re going to start reading in verse number 5. And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. I believe one of those first Wednesday nights we commented on the servants of Saul. I believe they were very wise men, and they accepted David.

And it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistines, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tablets, with joy, and with instruments and music. That was very old tradition in that time for that to happen. And the women answered one another as they played and said, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him. And he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. And what can he have more but the kingdom?” And Saul eyed David from that day forward.

And let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Would you ask the Lord just to give you some wisdom tonight from His word? Would you do so as I ask the same? Father, Lord, we come to you. Lord, give me wisdom with this time, Father. Lord, would you help me, or would you keep the attention of the people, the hearts of the people? And Lord, let us learn and grow. Lord, take away any desire I have to preach a good message. Lord, take all that away. Lord, I just ask, would you help somebody tonight? That would be in a marriage, a workplace, or just an individual, and work in our midst, Father. Speak to our people wherever they be, and we ask this in Jesus’ name. We pray and believe, Father. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

I see three different people in this story. Of course, there’s David. David was being very wise and following the king’s instruction. In fact, King Saul had made him general over the men of war. David was being very wise and behaving himself wisely, and everybody accepted him. And then there’s the people, specifically the ladies of Israel here when they… King Saul came out, and it almost alludes you to think that David went out and led the armies, but then when they are coming in for the victory, King Saul steps in there. I’m not sure, but it says the ladies came out to meet King Saul and they began to say things and so on and so on. And then there’s King Saul. Of course, you know that the ladies, they would say, “Well, Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands.” Boy, that just threw Saul into one of his envious, jealous fits. And eventually, if we continue reading it, you would notice that the evil spirit from the Lord would come on him again. I would just kind of teach him.

Take each of these, and I believe we can learn some lessons from each of these in this story here. First of all, let’s just look at David very briefly here. As far as we know, David did nothing wrong. David was just following Saul’s leadership of what he was told to do. He may not have even known that the ladies were saying that. We don’t know. It doesn’t say anything about David encouraging that or saying, “Hey, here’s my shoulder, you know, could you pat on it?” It doesn’t say anything about that. It just seems like we don’t know. Maybe he didn’t have anything to do with it at all. It didn’t seem like it changed David. He still stayed humble and gave praise to the Lord for it all. By the way, when someone compliments you, there’s nothing wrong with that; that can be very encouraging, especially at certain times. But can I say just a brief thing about that? Here’s the thing: what you do when someone gives you a compliment—don’t just take that and put it in your pocket. It’ll sour if you put it in your pocket. It’ll begin to affect you if you’re not careful.

That’s a good thing. God can really use that to encourage you. But here’s the thing: when someone gives you a compliment—they say, “Well, you did a good job on this thing here”—and they give you a compliment, or they say, “Well, I appreciate your faithfulness.” They give you something, whatever it is. Or they say, “Thank you so much for being so kind and shaking hands,” whatever may be. When they give you those compliments, God can use them to encourage you. But always make sure you say, “Hey, Lord,” it may not be in that moment, maybe later on, but you go, Lord, say, “Hey, Lord, I’m only faithful because of you. And Lord, I know the truth, how unfaithful I am. So that compliment, Lord, thank you for it, but really, it goes back to you.” And I said, “Boy, that was such a blessing.” Once you do that, whatever, and so, Lord, you’re the one that convicted me to do that. I wouldn’t have thought about that. In fact, in my flesh, there is no good thing. So that belongs to you. And whatever compliments or praise that someone gives to you, always make sure that just gives you more ammunition to go along over here with the Lord, and it gives you more praise to give to the Lord. And boy, if someone compliments you and encourages you and tells you did a good job, hey, I got something new to take the prayer cloth and give it to the Lord. That’ll protect you. Someone said it like this: Take a compliment like chewing gum. Chew on it for a little while and spit it out. Now, maybe a whole lot better than that—don’t just spit it out. Give it to the Lord.

David seemed like he didn’t let it affect him, not that we know of. And by the way, it’s very important for David to do that because years later, when David is older, his son, Absalom, one of his boys, the Bible says, stole the heart of the people. So if David was just fixed on what the people thought or said about him, he’d have been crushed when Absalom stole the heart of the people. So David—let’s go to the next person. First of all, we said we’re going to talk about these three people in the story. First of all, we said we’re going to talk about David, right? I can’t hear you out there in YouTube land. What did you say? All right, David, good, good, good. Here’s the second one. Here’s the second person we’re going to talk about in this story: the people, or specifically the ladies of Israel. Let’s look at it. Let me see what verses I found—and we’ve read it already. Let’s read it again what they said. Verse number seven: “And the women answered one another as they played and said, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.’” Can we just try to learn from that a little bit?

You realize for all—and I started out—it’s hard to know, I would say at least 10 years, probably many more years than that, from this point to when David became king of just Judah, and then later all of Israel. For all these years, there’s a lot of contention. I’m not saying it’s those ladies’ fault, but they may have added a little bit to that. For all these years, just tension, no harmony. Maybe not the wisest thing for those ladies to say. You understand where I’m coming from. Your words are so very, very important. The Bible says death and life are in the power of the tongue. James says, “If any man seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, his religion is in vain.” Your words are so very important. If maybe you hit someone physically, they could heal over it. Sometimes what you hit with your tongue, you can’t take back. And sometimes—oh, I think of parents that have wounded a child, and sometimes it lasts for a lifetime. Words, words are so, so very, very important. Can I say this? Even the way I compliment someone. Now, God can use that, and under God’s direction, I think of several times. I think of one time I was down, and a man—he’s moved away, a man in our church—said just one little statement, and it may be a compliment or maybe just a little challenge, but that thing was just what I needed at that time. And your tongue can really just help or hinder. But even my compliments, we’ve got to be wise about them.

You know, sometimes, if I’m not careful, the Bible talks about these six things that the Lord hates. Proverbs 6, excuse me, and you know it. These six things the Lord hates; seven are an abomination to Him, and you know it. Pride, look at a lying tongue… You come down to the seventh thing, and it’s he that soweth discord among the brethren. I just sow it. You know, sometimes you can sow a seed and you just—you don’t mean to do it—and you just, it’s almost like you got a bag full of sage and got a little hole in it; everywhere you go, sage drops out. And if I’m not wise with my tongue, I’ll be sowing seeds of discord. And I must be so wise with my words. These ladies, I don’t think they were bad ladies. Very typical. When someone came back from a battle, they would come out, and the timbrels are often mentioned in the Bible, and it was almost like a victory celebration. But I think they could have been wiser in what they said. Can I give you three unwise ways to compliment or praise someone? Number one, flattery.

Proverbs talks a lot about flattery, and it’s a little bit hard to nail down a definition of flattery. I would say this at least: Flattery is when I’m giving someone a compliment for a selfish motive. Maybe I’m really just wanting to—so I can be a little bit popular, so I can gain a friend. Not necessarily about me being a friend, but it’s about… or so everybody knows about me, or so many different ways. The motive is so maybe so I can gain a position. And we must be so wise. I don’t want to give a compliment as flattery. The wicked woman in Proverbs 7 in places uses flattery. And no one… Can I say another unwise way to compliment someone? By comparing. It’s what these ladies were doing. They were comparing David to Saul. Can I say this, parents, parents, never, never compare your children. You’re always going to create division in your home. And you’re going to—so often if there are siblings for years—I’m talking about, I understand this, kids, we all fight, but I’m talking about for years. So often if there are siblings that are fighting with one another, not always, but so often you’ll find out there’s some problem in the parents. No, I don’t want to compare the two. No, they’re totally different, and God has gifted them in different ways. And I’m looking at the unique way God has gifted them. And I don’t want to… You see, when I compare, boy, I’m glad you did so-and-so sure didn’t do it. You did so much of a better job than so-and-so. That’s an unwise way of complimenting. So, this is what I’m going to do: I’m either going to hurt someone and they feel like they’ll never measure up, or I’ll lead someone to get proud, or I’ll lead someone to think if I’m ever going to be valued, I’ve got to compare with everybody else and do better than them. Oh, I want to realize God loves me for who and what I am. He’s made me different. I’m unique. I have special traits that God has given me, and I’m looking for that. I don’t want to compliment by comparing. I want to give a wise, encouraging compliment. Let me say this: we’re going to move on. Don’t compliment someone by shooting at another. Praise God. “So-and-so, he’s been doing it the dumbest way in the world for 10 years. I’m glad you came along with…” Don’t do that. Just say, “Boy, you’re doing a great job. You’re an encouragement.” You don’t have to put down someone else in order to listen. Just compliment. Oh, don’t go and say, “Well, I’m so glad you cleaned your room. Your brother never cleans this room.” You don’t have to do that. Say, “You did a good job. You cleaned the room. I’m proud of you.” And so be wise with your words, even when you’re complimenting.

Now, first person—remember, first person we talked about in the story was David. As far as we know, David did a good job. As far as we know, it didn’t affect David. David kept doing right. The ladies of Israel here, oh, maybe had good motives. I don’t know, but they probably could have been a little bit wiser with their words, see. And I’ve got one more person left in the story we’re going to talk about briefly here. By the way, Sunday night, did you notice that we did get done a little earlier there, even though that wave of disbelief came across the YouTube screen there, you know? I don’t know if we’ll be there tonight or not. We still got one more point to go, you never know. But the last person here is this guy named Saul, King Saul. Let’s look at Saul here. Look in verse number 8, verse number 8 of chapter number 18. And listen, just trying to learn. God, would you teach us something from these stories? Would you help us be wiser for you? Verse number 8, 1 Samuel 18: “And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him. And he said, ‘They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands.’ Excuse me, ‘and to me they have ascribed thousands.’ And what can he have more but the kingdom?”

That statement, that last little statement is just amazing. “What can he have more?” That’s a pretty foolish statement. Just because these ladies maybe made some unwise statement, there’s so much more than just that. So you’re saying that’s equivalent to having the kingdom, pretty much, to you? So that’s a very unwise leader. I mean, if we just put this on a logical scale: Saul, the kingdom here, this is just some statements from the ladies. Saul… Brother Howells used to say this—I can say this because there’s only one, two, three, four. Okay, I shouldn’t even say it now, but there are four ladies in here, not too many. Amen. But Brother Howes used to say this: He said, “A lady can tell you she loves you, 30 seconds later say she hates you, and mean it both times.” Some of the guys are saying amen, some are not saying anything. Us guys can do the same thing. But here’s the thing: people change. So if you get wrapped up in what the people are saying and thinking about you, hey, be careful about acquiring an appetite for praise. Don’t get caught up too much on what people think about you.

I believe years ago when Saul became king, I don’t think Saul was like this. Remember, Samuel at one point—you remember, y’all know it—he said, “When you were little in your own eyes, you know, they were going to anoint Saul to be king.” Saul was afraid of his own shadow. He was over there hiding. I mean, among the stuff, it looked like he was hiding behind the trash cans. He didn’t want to be king. “Leave me low. Let me stay over here and just do my thing.” But old Saul changed. It’s interesting. If I’m not careful, just maybe being—sometimes as leaders—it can be like that. And it’s something a leader better fight against. But you’re in the limelight. If you’re not careful, you’ll get focused on what people think about you too much. I don’t know. Maybe even the fact that Saul was hiding, maybe he lacked some confidence from his childhood. I don’t know. But you can’t let those sayings get you so focused in on what people say or think about you. If Satan gets you, or you’re just focused on what everybody says or thinks about you, Satan says, “Phew, I got them.” People are up and down. We’re all like that.

It’s very interesting when the Bible talks about a pastor, a bishop, an overseer of a church over there, in Timothy, and he says, “Not a novice.” It’s very interesting. It doesn’t say “not a novice” because a novice can’t do the job. I think sometimes young men could do a great job. I was recently somewhere, and they kept saying, “Not a novice.” They can’t—they don’t know how to do it and all that. That’s not necessarily what he’s talking about. He said, “Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride.” Because sometimes just a few compliments… Boy, that’s a good lesson. “You did a good job with this.” If we’re not careful, that’ll change us. And we get focused in on what is everybody saying or thinking about me. I think it was Ronald Reagan. I think he was very wise. He said, “I don’t check the polls. I don’t check what all the news says. I try to go to my advisors and get advice from them and news from them and then make my decisions and stay away from all that.” Pretty wise. Saul had just got wrapped up in this saying, “What’s everybody saying about me?” to the point these ladies, probably a little unwise, but Saul said, “Well, what more can he have besides the kingdom?” Wow, what a foolish statement.

Be so careful. I remember years ago, one of our children—don’t try to figure it out, all right—one of our children was at someone’s house. The church was very small in the beginning days of it, and they were at a birthday party. I think it was somewhere. And one of our children did something wrong. They did—it was wrong. And Brother Marlon, don’t look over there. And sure enough… And so they called us. They called us and said, “You know what your child did.” And I think it was my wife that answered the phone. I don’t know. I think it was. And they spilled the beans. They did such and such and such and such. You know, preachers’ kids, they’re always perfect. You understand that now, you know? And I heard one “Amen” over there on that one. Maybe it was amen. But anyway, there, Lily, they did something not right. It was wrong for sure. And we said, “Thank you for calling and telling us. We want to know those things. We want our child to learn better than that. Thank you.” And my wife got off the phone, and we decided to give our child some wisdom. You know, the Bible—well, Anthony starts in that. You say, “What are you being by that?” Well, the Bible says, “A rod of reproof giveth wisdom.” And we thought they needed a little wisdom on that situation, they did for sure. And so we gave them some wisdom, amen. It’s called the Board of Education applied to the seed of knowledge, you know. And we took care of matters. And then we had our… Our child now, you did wrong. And by the way, we didn’t do this. We didn’t do this to try to gain favor in their eyes. In fact, we thought it’d kind of turn out the way it did. But we had it because our child needed to learn you can’t just do things, mean things to people, without saying you’re sorry and without addressing issues. And so we had our child call. We called back and put our child on the phone and whatnot, or maybe at church, I can’t remember. But anyway, our child said, “I’m sorry to them.” Rightfully so. They needed to learn, “Hey, it’s what you do to make things right.” And then the same people—the same people that were mad that our child did something wrong—now they were mad at us for doing something about it. “Oh, how could you whip that child?” I mean, everyone… I’m simply saying, friends, you can’t please people always.

And you have to learn: I’m not doing what I do to please everyone. What everybody thinks, what everybody says—you just got to do right. Sometimes you get too focused on what everybody says or thinks. You don’t have to be the center of attention. You don’t have to have people talking about you all the time. Lay all that aside. I was recently with a group of preachers, and I had the privilege to speak a little bit to them. And I said, “It’s much easier to pastor a growing church.” Everybody said, “Paul, you’re doing a great job. What are you doing?” And praise the Lord, ma’am, we’ve got to get a pastor. Pastor a church that is not growing—a little tougher. Or maybe even declining from time to time. In 20 years, we’ve been sometimes growing, sometimes not, sometimes went down a little bit, and all those different things. And I’m saying this because when you’re not growing, everybody asks, “Well, what’s wrong? I’ll do this, I’ll do that.” And somewhere along the line, I say, “I’m following the Lord.” And I want to take constructive criticism and learn and grow from it. But I’m trying to tune into what God moves. And in your life, you’re going to have to learn to do that. Saul, be so careful of acquiring an appetite for praise.

Someone will say, “Well, what about your reputation, your testimony?” Yes, we ought to seek to have a good testimony. Yes, yes, Proverbs 22: “A good name is rather to be chosen than riches.” Yes, if there’s a choice in the matter, then yes, choose your testimony. If you’ve got to choose that above money, okay, yes, that’s what the Bible means there. Yes, avoid or abstain from all appearance of evil. Yes. I never forget years ago, we were in our third building, I think it was—well, this is going to date us a little bit—across the way there was the Kmart. It’s where the bowling alley is now, the Stars and Strikes thing it is in Smyrna. And for a little while, man, I went over there and I got this juice. I can’t remember what it was. No, it wasn’t alcoholic. No, don’t go there. Just a juice. I can’t remember what it was. But I got it a time or two. And I’ll be honest with you, a bottle looked like a beer bottle. It really did. Look, it looked like it. That was it? I thought, “I can’t walk through Kmart, and I pastor a church here.” And I said, “All right, Lord, I won’t buy it.” Never did. And yes, keep a good testimony, seek to have a good testimony at work. But can I say after all that, sometimes people are just going to talk about you.

And I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just being honest with you, friend. And you have to say, “I’m going to do my best to have a good testimony, and I’m going to do right. And Lord, my reputation is in your hands.” Jesus, He got talked about pretty bad. He knew no sin. I mean, He had all kinds of people smear His name. And even today He has people smear His name. And oh, He is wonderful. And so I’m saying, look, Trent, that’s just going to be part of it. And don’t get caught up too much in what everybody is saying about you. You do right. You honor God. You say, “This is what I believe God wants me to do,” and that’s what you do. Yes, if a wise man comes along, a wise lady comes along, ladies, whatever, and yes, maybe consider and listen and try to learn. But at the end of the day, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” And so that’s what will be the focus on right there. Saul had got all, if you will, out of sorts. He was just focused on what everybody… Maybe it was because way before this Saul had backslid and lost his fellowship with the Lord. And he didn’t have the confirmation from the Lord, and he didn’t have the presence of God, and he didn’t have the love of God in his heart. And he had an absence of the awareness of God in his life. He knew he wasn’t right with God. The Spirit of God convicted him. No wonder he got so focused on what everybody else…

Hey, be so careful about acquiring. I don’t think Saul started off this way, but if I’m not careful, I’ll acquire just a love of praise—what people think about me. Um, can I say this? Work at this: acquire an appetite for what God thinks about you. Did you notice? Did you notice verse number nine there? Look at verse number nine there, 1 Samuel 18. Look at verse number nine: “And Saul eyed David from that day forward.” Saul got his eyes on David. Friend, you know what Hebrews 12 says? “Looking unto Jesus.” Yeah, “Set your affections on things above.” Yeah, “Now will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.” Saul, you got your eyes off the Lord, and you got your eyes on men. Acquire—work at it. I want an appetite for what does God think about me. Lord, what do you want here? What would you like to do here? Learn to focus on God’s opinion. How should I handle it? I was talking to someone last week about a situation, and I asked him about it. “So, what do you think?” And I asked myself, “What do you think a godly pastor would do?” And they began to think about, talk about what so-and-so this is. I said, “But what do you think God… What’s right for a godly… What would a godly pastor do?” I was trying to—it’s kind of a new one for me. I’m far from where I ought to be, but I want to know what God… What would God require? What would God want right here? And work at that. Work at that.

Can I say right now, maybe it would be a good time to work at that? We’re social creatures. We love fellowship. And that’s just seemed like it’s pretty prevalent in our day and time—that philosophy. And it’s a biblical philosophy. We’ve been teaching all these years in the Foundations class, all these years. And fellowship is so vital. It’s biblical. But maybe at a time when we can’t have it as much, God has allowed this season. Maybe it would be a time for us just to kind of adjust. Maybe I have gotten a little bit focused on what everybody thinks. Maybe this will be a good time. I can just focus on today, and for however long, maybe I can get real in tune with what does the Lord think? I have done this, I’ve done this, you know. Instead of just enjoying an event, we want to—we want to take a selfie or something and put it on social network or whatever, you know. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve even found myself, man, I don’t want to take a picture of this, whatever, you know, and send it out to, you know, my family and whatnot. And I’m not saying that’s wrong. But I’m saying maybe it’d be a good time for us to say, “You know what? I’m just going to focus on me and the Lord.” I’m not trying to exclude a spouse and family members and even friends. I’m not trying to do that. Those are important. They’re biblical, right? But maybe it would be a good time for us to say, “Hey, Lord, I want to get real in tune, and I want to acquire a taste and appetite for what do You want, Lord? What are You saying about this?”

I’m not real good at this. It’s kind of a newer practice to me. I’m still working at it. But Sundays are busy, not just for me, for a lot of our people that work in the ministries here and all the other pastors too. And so I’m not trying to, but man, it’s just busy, you know? And praise this great day. I love it. I love to be with our people in Sunday school. I love my class God’s let me teach, and I really do love that, and then over here with our people on Sunday afternoon and Sunday night preaching all these things. And boy, you hear all these comments and all these things. And Sunday, I usually have a pen and some paper, and I’ll just write. Somebody says something I need to remember, I’ll just write it down, and Monday, Tuesday, I’ll come along, just read them over with things, whatnot. And it’s kind of like a blur. And then Sunday night on my way home, a lot of times all these things start coming up in your mind, whatnot. And I’m not there yet. When I’m working at this thing, I’ll ride home on Sunday night. I’ll stop and kind of take care of voice mails and texts and all that somewhere. And then I ride home. I’m working at this. I say, “Hey, Lord, did I preach what you wanted?”

It’s funny. You’ve been preaching for a while; you’ll learn what people like. If I want to get in tight with the older crowd, preach on heaven. Boy, they like that, man. And there are certain people, if you want to get on their good side, preach a hard message and stop a little bit. “Well, that’s a good preacher. We like that.” You know, after a while, you’re kind of all that. And I don’t want to go there. So I ride home. I’m working at it. I’m not there, but I’ll just try to say, “Hey, Lord, did I please you? Did You do what You wanted? Did You want me to preach a little different or do a Sunday school lesson?” Out what you want to the Lord? If we’re not careful, oh, Saul, he is kind of tallying, if you will, how many views he had or whatever, how many people. Oh, friend, Saul is just a few ladies saying a couple things. Men too. People change. Don’t get too focused on what everybody… People at work, they’re going to talk about you. “All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Just say, “Hey, you know what? I want to acquire an appetite for God’s opinion.” If Saul would have just said, “You know what? That’s not my main problem. My main problem is I’m not right with God,” and he went and got along with God and got God’s love in his heart and realized through the blood of Jesus how accepted he was, Saul would have been all right. Saul would have come out the next day and had the glow of God in his life.

David, David seemed like so wise. It didn’t seem like it affected him too much. Praise the Lord for that. He’ll need that later on in life. These ladies of Israel, probably good ladies, good ladies. I’ve done it so many times, said unwise things. And Saul… If we’re not careful, how many people shook my hand? Who came over and talked to me? Who complimented my outfit? All that stuff. Hey, let’s make sure this is primary. This is the main thing. And if God so chooses to use someone else to kind of encourage me, praise the Lord for that. Even that praise goes back to Him. All friends, Saul, go ahead and take off all the royal garments over out in the woods so he may get along with God. You’d come back a whole lot happier camper.

Would you bow your heads, please, if you would? Bow your heads wherever you are. And you’re there and you say, “Preacher, you know, I believe God spoke in my heart a little bit tonight. I’d like to be a little bit wiser, be more what He wants me to be. And preacher, I want to be wiser with my words. I so want God to use my words to bring life to people. Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” And Lord, you spoke to my heart. Help me to be wiser with my words. Help me to add life to people by my words." If that is you, God spoke to your heart about that, just lift your hand wherever you are, wherever you are. “Preacher, God spoke to my heart about that.” God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you for letting the Lord work in your heart. Maybe you’re there and you say, “Preacher, I need to get more tuned in to the Lord. And I want to acquire a taste. I want to get an appetite for what does God think?” “God, were You pleased with that? Didn’t do what You wanted me to do? Didn’t honor You?” God spoke to my heart. I want to get that appetite. What does the Lord think? God spoke to my heart about that. That’s you tonight. You bow your head and preach—that’s me. That’s me. Wherever you are, bow your head. God bless you. Me too, friend. I’m working. I’ve got a lot to go working on that myself. Maybe you’re there wherever you are, and you don’t know Christ as your Savior. Oh, friend, can I say He loves you so much tonight? He shed His blood on the cross to cover for you. He’d love to save you. He’ll forgive you of every one of your sins: past, present, and future. He’d be gone. In fact, the Bible says, “As far as the east is from the west,” the Bible verse says, “so far has He removed your transgression from me.” That’s for a born-again Christian. If you’re there and say, “Preacher, I need to be saved. I need to become a child of God. I want to ask for His forgiveness, His salvation,” meet me right there where you are, wherever you may be. Friend, will you bow your head and ask Jesus Christ, “Oh Jesus, be merciful to me, a sinner. I know I’m a sinner. I know I’ve hurt You, but would You pay for my sin? Would You cover my heart? Would You be my personal Savior? Thank You, Jesus, for saving me. Help me to live for You. Thank You for making me Your child.” If you’re there, friend, you asked Jesus Christ to be your Savior, you just did that. Would you do this? Would you be so kind as to go to our church website? There’s a contact part, and you email us there. We’ll send you a Bible. We want to give you a Bible. We’d love to be a help to you. Would you do so? We’d be so happy. We’d rejoice in your salvation.

Original File: David the People and King Saul - Pastor Paul Chisgar 4820