# One of David’s Strong Points

Key Passage: 1 Chronicles 16
Date: June 7, 2024

How many, be honest, how many when you pass by the property on the way to church, if you passed by it, you prayed for the two acres to sell? How many did that? Good job. I’ve got to confess. I’ve been good about it on my way to church tonight. I was thinking about Brother Busho and things going on, and I didn’t do it. Shame on the preacher. I tell you what, backslidden for sure, but we’re going to work at it, and especially now.

Turn in your Bible to First Chronicles, Chapter number six. We have been following the life of David on Wednesday nights for a while, and we’ve been following through Samuel for the most part. Every once in a while, jetting somewhere else. But tonight there’s a section that Chronicles includes that Samuel does not. Typically, Chronicles focuses a little bit more on Judah, the Southern Kingdom. A lot of times, Chronicles doesn’t tell the bad part; Samuel and Kings does, but sometimes it will add light to the situation. We were right when they had taken the ark back to Jerusalem, to the capital city. There is where we’re at, and David had a victory there.

How many have you enjoyed studying the life of David? It’s been a blessing for you. It’s been good for me. I did a study on the life of David years ago, and doing another one, I’m learning this time. It’s been good for me.

When you study any person, man or lady, you begin to see their flaws. All of us have them. If you put anybody’s life under a microscope, you’re going to find problems, all besides Jesus. As I’ve studied more about David, you can see his flaws. I have tons more than David, for sure. But what was it that God could use David so much? He had problems. We haven’t even gotten to Bathsheba, and haven’t gotten to the numbering of the people and all those things. But you can see his fall. So what was it? Why was it that God could make David a king? He could be maybe the most blessed king of Israel, even now. Israel talks about David, the star of David. David is still held in high regard. Jesus sat on the throne of David, and of course, through David’s lineage, Jesus Christ came.

What was it about David that God could use him so greatly? We mentioned his heart before, and that’s for sure it. In fact, when God had Samuel anoint him to be king, He said, “Man looks at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Speaking to David, twice the Bible says that he is a man after God’s own heart. He is always trying to seek after God’s own heart.

We want to look a little bit about David tonight, and I want you to just kind of notice how David acts and handles life in different situations. We won’t get it all, just a couple of things right around this time of his life. It probably won’t be anything new to you, but I feel like the Lord just wants us to go this angle a little bit tonight about David. One of David’s strong points—we’ll just word it that way—David’s strong point. We’re in First Chronicles, Chapter number 16. First Chronicles chapter number 16. Did I say Second Chronicles? I’m sorry. I meant 16, First Chronicles 16. Brother Warren is already talking out in service. I wasn’t going to say anything, but he’s already talking out in service. It may be because I mentioned the wrong passage.

First Chronicle 16, let’s stand if you would please. First Chronicle 16, verse number one.

And the Bible says, “So they brought the ark of God and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God.” We’ll just use that to kind of get our bearings straight. We’ll pray and get going.

Father, Lord, you know, I’ve kind of battled this thing. I just believe you’d have us focus on the way David handled life so often. Father, would you use it to prod, encourage, and challenge us for you? Lord, I do pray that our eyes, our mind, and our heart would be on you more continuously because of tonight. Lord, help me to say what you want said, the way you want said. And we’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

My wife and I try to play, and we haven’t done it for over a year, and even before that I was just doing it to touch. She did it a lot. But we try to play this sport called pickleball. How many have ever heard of pickleball? Some of you have. Brother Fontaine looks like, “What in the world?” He’s looking at me like, “You eat all these pickles while you’re playing with this ball?” It’s pickleball. It’s kind of like a cross between tennis and ping pong. It’s on a tennis court a little bit smaller, which is good because older people can play it. Amen, you get a little exercise, but it’s not too much work. People with bad knees and backs can’t do it somewhat. You have a little bit oversized ping pong paddle. It’s like a Wiffle ball you play with. There’s a net; you hit it over.

When I first started—I haven’t played that many times, maybe 20 times at the most—the man told me this, and it helped me so much. He said, “Look, the biggest thing is just keep your eye on the ball.” Some of these guys, they put spin on it, and you think that ball is coming up, we’ll hit right there. As soon as it hits the ground on that spin, it’ll dart here, and you’ve got to keep your eye on it the whole time.

He showed me this video, and it’s actually two men standing there with their paddles, just hitting the ball back and forth, dinking it back and forth. And the whole time they’re teaching about pickleball—how many of you are going to look up a pickleball video tonight? If it’s all of you, you should. It’s fun. It can be addicting.

Anyway, they’re just back there hitting the ball back and forth. And there’s a dog over here. And the whole time, the whole time—I’m not sure, eight or ten minutes this video—they’re just hitting the ball back and forth. And the whole time, this dog is focused in on that ball. I mean, you’re just talking the whole time. The dog’s doing just like that right there. You can just hit the ball before it bounces if you want to, or you can let it bounce one time. Sometimes it bounces and they hit it, and sometimes it’s hit in the air, but every time that dog, he just would not let that ball out of his sight.

Now David seems like that with God.

David just, as God said, as a man after his own heart, it just seemed like whatever was going on—up or down, bad or ugly or wonderful—David just kept going back to the Lord.

You’re there in First Chronicles 16. We’ve already read the first verse: “So they brought the ark of God and set it up in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. They offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God.” When they brought this ark back, David had already prepared; he had a tent or a tabernacle ready. And they offered up sacrifices. Remember, they offered sacrifices every six paces when they were bringing it before God.

So, a great victory, and sometimes we just get caught up in it and almost forget about God. David didn’t do that. Even after the celebration, he honors God. Look down at verse number four: “And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record and to thank and to praise the Lord God of Israel.” That’s interesting—to record. Maybe they are recording the blessings of God and what God has done for Israel and for them. David, the heading I have in my Scofield Bible says, “David orders a choir.” Verse number five mentions Asaph the chief, Zachariah next to him, and so on. They are musicians. David has a choir to sing before the Lord.

Just put yourself in David’s mind: What can I do for the Lord? It’s about the Lord. He has guys there who will do their sacrifices before the Lord, sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, thank the Lord, and record. Just see how David’s mind always goes back to the Lord.

Look in verse number seven. “Then on that day, David delivered first this Psalm to thank the Lord under the hand of Asaph and his brethren.” By the way, if you read down the next many verses through verse number 36, that’s actually a Psalm; it’s actually the majority of Psalm 105, which David penned. But they had a great victory. Imagine they brought the ark there to the capital, to Jerusalem, and yet David said, “That’s not enough. I want to write, if you will, a poem, a song.” Psalms is Israel’s songbook, and he is writing a song for the Lord.

Put yourself in the mind and the shoes of David. See how much of David is just about the Lord. He writes a song that they can sing to the Lord. That’s what it is. Sometimes we get a great victory, and we are just enjoying it on our own. But David stopped and said, “Hey, this is a great victory, and I want to thank God and praise God for it.” It’s what you see in his mind; it always goes back to the Lord.

Let’s read a little bit of this Psalm here, starting in verse number eight: “Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.” He says, “Go ahead and talk about it. Tell what all the Lord did. Tell everyone how good he is.” Verse number nine: “Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.” David wants us to talk about the Lord and all the things he has done for us. Verse number 10: “Glory ye in his holy name.” Some people sing this as a song in our day. How many know that song? Some of you shake your head yes. Ms. Tammy can sing it. Ms. Tammy, would you stand up and sing that for us? She says, “I’m going to get in trouble, folks.” I’ll tell you what, I’m going to need extra coffee tonight.

But, “Glory ye in his holy name; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord in his strength; seek his face continually. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders in the judgments of his mouth.” I just see how he keeps talking about what all the Lord has done. We are so tempted just to enjoy a victory, a little bit to gloat in it sometimes, but David takes time to write a letter, if you will, a song to the Lord. He was a musician, so it was a song.

Look in verse number 36, really the end of the Psalm: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel forever and ever.” And all the people said, “Amen,” and praised the Lord.

Now, just trying to show how David’s mind seemed to go back to the Lord often. If you study his life, whether it was Goliath—he was about to fight—he says, “The Lord will bring the victory,” Jehovah. His mind, now when he fell, his mind didn’t go so much to the Lord, but David wanted to. It seemed like his mind kept going back to the Lord.

Look in the last verse here of this chapter, verse number 43: “And all the people departed every man to his house; and David returned to bless his house.” Now it came to pass as David sat in his house—so it’s all over; he’s settled in his house, just kind of relaxing, sitting in the easy chair drinking sweet tea, right? Take it easy. Then David said to Nathan the prophet, “Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains.” Then Nathan said, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”

You know the story later on. God told Nathan, “No, no, no, I don’t want David to do it. He’s a bloody man.” We’ll get to that later on in the coming weeks. But I want you just tonight just thinking, all right, so it’s all over, and he’s sitting in his house, taking it easy. He’s got a nice house of cedar, and he thinks about the Lord. What about the Lord? He’s living in a tent. That’s why the tabernacle was built, so he could dwell among them. He said, “Man, I’ve got this nice house. What about the Lord? He needs a better house. I mean, he ought to have better than I got.”

I want you just kind of see how his mind would often go back to the Lord. Now let me just ask you here: None of us are perfect at this. I’m not, for sure. But how much does your mind throughout the day, as you’re going through everything you go through, how much does your mind go to the Lord? Whatever you are doing, wherever you are at—whether you are on Facebook or Instagram or at work or you are playing basketball—how much does your mind go to the Lord? Does our mind just default where you think about the Lord? Can I go all day long and not really be busy doing the Lord’s work, but not really think about the Lord himself?

How much does our mind go there? I was talking to one of our good older men, and he said, “Well, today we were talking on the phone. He said, ‘Well, I can’t do much for the Lord anymore. I can’t do what I want to do besides just love him and pray.’” Brother, that’s the greatest command of all the Bible: Love the Lord. How much do we maybe work for him, but we don’t really think about him and love him and dwell on him? It just seemed like David’s mind would just default.

Look over in Psalm chapter number 10. It is very interesting. God gives us a little definition of the wicked. He describes the wicked a little bit in Psalm 10. It is interesting what God says about the wicked. Psalm 10, verse number four. When you find that, would you say amen? Good deal. Psalm 10, verse number four, the Bible says, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts.”

If you put all your thoughts together, you are not going to find God in there. If God were to put all my thoughts together, maybe in a four-hour period, how much is God really in there? Do I think about the Lord? Does my mind go there?

It is always amazing to me that the Lord’s Supper is one of the two ordinances given to the New Testament church, along with baptism. When you take the Lord’s Supper, the whole purpose is that God wants us to stop and remember what Jesus did. That is the whole purpose of it. It means something to God when I think about what Jesus went through—my thoughts, my mind. How much during the day does my mind go to the Lord? Is it maybe just at nighttime when you say your prayers, or in the morning time? Does my mind go there when I am having victories? Does my mind go there when I am having family issues? Does my mind go there when someone asks you a question? How much does our mind really go to the Lord?

David just seemed like he said, “I am so hungry for you, Lord.” He said, “Lord, in a dry and thirsty land.” He is after the Lord; he is seeking him. God even said he is a man after my own heart. He is just always chasing me, thinking about me, and trying to get closer to me.

I thought about Moses. When he had all the problems with the children of Israel, he said, “Lord, if your presence is not going to go with me, I don’t want to go anymore.” The Lord said, “I will be there with you.” Do you hunger for the Lord? Do you think about the Lord like that?

Look over in Psalm 63. In so many illustrations we could use, and I’m just trying to pull out a couple of them. David here, I believe it is, in Psalm 63: “O God, my God, early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory.” So, as I have seen in the sanctuary, he is just always after God.

How long can you go without thinking about God? Can you go a whole shift at work without thinking of God? Does my mind dwell on my problems more than it dwells on God? If I am not careful—and I am being just honest here—if I am not careful, even in my prayer time, I am praying about all the problems instead of thinking about God. How much does our mind go towards God?

Just another angle. It is going to be pretty simple tonight, but here is another little angle. If you go back over there to First Chronicle 16, or six if you really want to, look at verse number eight and verse number nine. First Chronicles 16. Look at verse number eight and verse number nine. He says, “Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.” Now, how are you going to make known his deeds among the people? You should talk about it. And in that next verse: “Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.”

How much do you talk about God? We talk about everything in the world, and I am not saying bad things, we talk about everything in the world. How much do we talk about God? Here is the sad thing: Sometimes we get in certain environments, and we kind of clam up about the Lord. That is a sad thing. Sometimes it is just good to get the name of the Lord out somewhere.

I used to, when I was younger, John and I would go to these courts around here, you know, and Smirderick or wherever, and you got there playing with all these guys, and a lot of them start cursing. I wanted to get the Lord in there somewhere, so I would try to make a shot so I could say, “Praise the Lord!” Now, the problem was I wouldn’t make any shot, so pretty soon I would just say, “All right, if our team makes the shot, I’d just say, ‘Praise the Lord!’” And it is amazing, just saying, praising the Lord, and it is like everybody in the court is like, “Oh.” You can feel it. A little different atmosphere comes in, and not always, but usually language starts kind of taming down a little bit, just mentioning the Lord.

John and I were out a couple Fridays ago, a couple weeks ago, and we went to the Franklin Forest. We were riding dirt bikes back in the woods, out in the middle of nowhere. And these two fellas pull up on these side-by-side type things, you know, and I call them the SUVs of the woods. And they pull up there, and boy, they are just country as the day is long. One of those guys you think probably has three teeth in his whole mouth, you know—just country. They had an old hound dog with them and everything. They were just friendly as can be. We enjoyed talking with them, and they were characters. One of them real quick, he starts—they had a cooler on the back of it. They said, “We have all kind of drinks in there.” Of course, we said no, we don’t drink. “Oh, we got Coke in there and all that.” They then started changing, but I knew we needed to get the Lord in there real quick because of the language. I mentioned—I don’t know how it came up—it mentioned preachers, and I just wanted to give the name of the Lord out there somewhere that changes everything.

Are you ever in a place where you kind of clam up? You cannot mention the name of God? Hey, look, if God is not welcome, I do not want to be welcome there. I am not saying talk about God constantly, but if you have friends, quote unquote friends, where you cannot talk about God, they are probably not the right kind of friends.

Okay, I won’t say “probably not the right kind of friends.” Now, sometimes there are family members that, you know, they are family members; you cannot make them non-family members. And I am going to be wise about that. I do not want to force it down their throat. But if everyone is wrong, I am going to talk about the Lord even there. Do not be one of those obnoxious ones where everybody knows what you are doing trying to shove it down their throat. They are going to know that. Hey, talk about the Lord.

David is saying there, “Men, talk about all the things God has done for you and make known his wondrous works.” How much do we even talk about it? They can talk about everything in the world. If I talk to Brother Fontaine, I know if I want to get on his good side, I talk about fishing. Nothing wrong with that. But do we talk about the Lord? If I want to get on Ms. Melanie’s good side, I know to talk about Caden in a good way. He said, “Man, you’ve got a good boy.” And she loves her son, and that is rightfully so. But do we ever talk about the Lord?

We do. Just at work, do you ever bring up the Lord? Just talk about the Lord? I am not talking about trying to be higher than thou and self-righteous, you know, all that, but you ought to be willing to talk about that. It ought to be part of you talking about the Lord. It ought to be a little bit default. God is such the center of my life and everything, I am going to talk about the Lord somewhere along the line.

David is talking about that; he is talking about the Lord. Hey, do you talk about the Lord as much as you talk about sports? I like it. I was talking to Brother Fontaine today, and he had said something about it. He has been staying home taking care of Ms. Jeannie a lot, and he said, “I am going to make sure I am there Sunday night, though.” He said two reasons. He said, “One is I have never missed church for a Super Bowl once in my life.” I know, praise the Lord. That is what it ought to be right there. And it kind of just lets somebody know that. And then the other one, I cannot remember the other one, but I like it. Oh, Brother Jack is preaching for Sunday night. That is exactly right. That is exciting. I am looking forward to it myself. That would be a great thing.

But how much do you talk about the Lord? Do you talk about the Lord as much as you talk about your problems? Do you talk about the Lord as much as you talk about your finances, car, or the house? Just talk about the Lord. He ought to be the center of everything. David was always after the Lord. Are we like that?

The Bible says, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” It is interesting how God words that: the abundance of the heart. You might have something hidden in your heart you are going to talk about, but it is just out of the abundance of the heart you are going to talk about it. And it ought to be that God is such an abundance in your heart that you cannot help but talk about him. And even your lost friends at work or whatnot say, “That guy, I know he is not trying to force it down my throat, but if you get running very long, he is going to talk about God.” I want to be like that. Just thinking about God throughout the day and talking about God.

Then just one last thought; we won’t be long tonight. Look back over in Second Samuel. You can pull out different pieces here. This is all really parallel Scripture; it is talking about the same time frame but just a little different angle about David.

Back over here in Second Samuel 7, verse number 1: “And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies.” I say that adds a little bit. Chronicles did not tell us that; it just said he sat in his house. He is in the easy chair with the sweet tea. But over here now it tells us that God had given him rest round about from all his enemies. He could just take it easy. He could be like that.

But it was at that point that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of God dwelleth in curtains.” And he wants to build a house for God.

Now here is the thing: How much do you think about God and what to do for God when you have victories? Sometimes right after victory is the time when we backslide. It is easy to backslide right after victory. At this point in David’s life, he has a victory, and man, God is giving him peace all around him, and he has the ark back to Jerusalem, and life is good. And yet David says, “You know what? I know where that victory came from. I want to do something for God.”

Someone said, “Maybe if we thanked God and praised God after he answers a prayer as much as we prayed for that prayer, God will be more inclined to answer next time.” David here is experiencing God’s blessing and peace on all sides. And yet he says, “Whoa, hey, I want to do something for God.” Are you like that? Am I like that? Is that just kind of the default factory setting? Does your husband, your wife, your kids know that, mom, dad, their life is going to be about the Lord? I am not saying you do not have fun with them, but our lives ought to be centered on the Lord.

Think about that illustration: hitting that ball back and forth with that old ball. Are you like that with the Lord? Life is good, but you have your eyes on the Lord. Troubles come, but you have your eyes on the Lord. Wake up in the middle of the night, you have your eyes on the Lord. Sickness has you down, but David seemed like he was just—God worded it this way—he is just after my heart. Maybe that is why God could bless him so much. Maybe that is why God could trust him so much. He is thinking about the Lord and talking about the Lord, and even after a victory, he just says, “I want to do something for God.” Is your heart like that?

Original File: One of David’s Strong Points - Pastor Chisgar