Hello and welcome back to the PHSA podcast.
My name is David Bigford.
I'm the pastor here at SalmonArm.
This is a very special podcast series where I'm going to be sharing with you messages
from our most recent conference in Prescott, Arizona, the Beyond Limits Conference with
a theme of to preach the gospel in the regions beyond from 2 Corinthians 10-16.
I'm going to share all of the sermons from this conference series to include Greg Mitchell,
our head pastor, Joe Campbell, Richard Ruby, Tom Payne, and many, many others during this
series.
So I'll be sharing these with you over the next couple of weeks, and I hope you really
enjoy these messages.
If you'd like to see these messages in a video format, you can go to PrescottPottersHouse.com
where all of these will be available for you to view in a video format.
So without further ado, I'm going to pass, I'm going to go ahead and move on to the messages
and I hope you enjoy them.
God bless.
I got the nine o'clock slot on Friday.
Amen.
Praise God.
What an incredible conference.
Amen.
Everybody's been, I felt all week long, man, just Holy Ghost shotgun blasts, 50 cal, 44
mag, and here I am with my BB gun.
Man.
God help us.
Hallelujah.
I do want to minister out of 1 Samuel chapter number 10.
Somebody was joking with me.
I hope they were joking with me.
Yesterday they said, are you ready?
I said, I don't know.
And they said, well, you know, preach to us, but don't do what you do.
Don't do that crazy screaming.
And they were joking, all right.
I learned, I heard a preacher a long time ago say, if you can't be good, be loud.
So here goes.
Amen.
Our story is, you know, the, the, the, the calling of Saul, amen, to the kingdom to become
king.
And the, there's already been a private anointing, but now in our story here, amen, he's about
to be proclaimed, amen, and anointed publicly.
And this is where we're going to pick up the story.
Verse number 10, first, I'm sorry, verse 21, for Samuel 10.
Then he lined up and I'm reading out of the message translation.
He lined up the Benjamin tribe in family groups and the family of Matri was picked and the
family of Matri took its place in the lineup and Saul, son of Kish was picked.
But when they went looking for him, he was nowhere to be found.
So Samuel went back to God and he asked, is he anywhere around?
And God said, yes, he's right over there.
He's hiding in the pile of baggage.
Amen.
I was reading about Joe Lewis, the Brown bomber, arguably one of the greatest heavyweight boxers
ever.
And I, I, I'm not into sports.
I don't do basketball.
I don't do football.
I don't, I don't like that they pat them each themselves on the butt.
I'm not into that stuff.
I do however, like boxing.
I think that's a man's sport.
Joe Lewis was, became champion in 1937 when he beat James Braddock.
I believe he knocked him out and he reigned for the next 11 years.
And set a record.
Amen.
Of 25 defenses.
He defended his title 25 times.
At one point he actually was defending his title about four times a year.
He was a busy champion.
The only time that he didn't defend his title was three years when he enlisted in the army
during the second world war.
And I was thinking about this, amen, because today there's champions.
Amen.
There's men like Errol Spence.
There's a guy named Jamal Charlo.
Keith Thurman.
These guys have something in common.
They're all either currently champions or once were champions.
But another thing they have in common is that these guys, amen, hardly ever defended their
title.
I think one of them went like three years without defending his title.
Jamal Charlo was recently finally stripped, amen, of the title.
These are champions in absentia.
Absent champions.
Can we talk?
Is that all right?
I'm getting a little looser now.
I was a little nervous, still kind of am.
Loosen up.
Come on, somebody.
Champions in absentia.
I mean, the issue is not gifting.
The issue is not power.
They got it.
The issue, amen, is not resources.
They got it going on.
The issue is they're nowhere to be found.
They're hiding in the baggage.
Oh, can I get a double?
All right.
I got to watch myself going up and down the stairs.
One of my disciples text me early in the morning, pastor, don't forget to stretch.
This is the generation of the absentee.
Come on, somebody.
Amen.
We got absentee dads.
Dads in absentia.
Hello.
We got absent workers.
We got absent church people in the kingdom of God.
I wonder where are the champions?
All right, I'm going to get comfortable.
Don't you get too comfortable, all right?
That's just me.
I got ice in my water because it's going to get hot in here in a minute.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
Listen, in our fellowship, what a wonderful fellowship we're a part of.
We just completed our conference two weeks ago, our second annual conference.
We got a new building.
Glory to God.
We were able to hold our conference in our building.
Amen.
We announced a bunch of people.
Amen.
I lost count.
Sent a number of workers overseas.
Amen.
Well, they haven't been sent yet.
I was hoping to take an offering here this morning.
We're an awesome, awesome fellowship.
What an incredible thing last night.
14, was that correct?
14, wow.
Record.
Come on, talk about defending our title.
Glory to God.
But here's Saul.
Let's go back to brother Saul here.
He's hiding in the baggage.
He's an absent champion.
Come on somebody.
This is where we find him.
Hallelujah.
Disappeared.
Gone, boy.
Hiding.
Amen.
And the issue was not skill.
The issue was not talent.
The issue was not gifting or power or resources.
Here we have a man full of the Holy Ghost.
We have a man with a gift of God.
We have a man who is a prophet.
Amen.
But he's hiding in the baggage.
Amen.
We have some good, well-trained people in our fellowship.
Better than anywhere else.
Come on somebody.
Amen.
There are those who have tremendous insight and revelation.
They grasp the beauty of the gospel and discipleship and church planting.
Amen.
They're able to articulate the finer points of the fellowship way better than I can.
Amen.
But when it comes to the reality of it, the applicable, practical, and profitable reality
of this, many are like a ghost.
Invisible.
Absent.
Nowhere to be found.
You know, later we find Saul right where the rubber meets the road.
Word war against the Philistines.
And again, he's hiding.
He's nowhere to be found.
He's in the safety of his tent.
And in 1 Samuel 17 verse 4, the scripture refers to Goliath, right?
He's the one that's coming out and challenging the people of Israel.
Refers to him as a champion of the camp of the Philistines.
But not a single champion of the camp of the kingdom of God, amen, came forward.
And I wonder, where are the champions of God?
Thank God that it's Friday, right?
Amen.
Tonight we're going to do it again.
Going to be exciting stuff.
I want to preach.
Can I preach?
Man, some of you look like you don't want me to preach.
Come on now.
Let's talk about exposing the absent champion.
Because the enemy exposing is exactly his strategy.
The champion from the camp of the Philistines, amen, is clamoring.
He's calling for a champion of the camp of Israel, amen.
And in so doing, what he's doing is he is exposing a sad reality.
And that is that there is nobody.
There is no champion to come forward, amen, and say, I'm going to defend the title.
Amen.
Some scholars believe that the name of Goliath derives amen from the Hebrew word gala, which
actually means amen to expose, to discover, to reveal, to display someone.
More explicitly, it means amen to shame or humiliate by uncovering someone's nakedness.
The picture that I get here is in 2 Samuel chapter number 10, amen, and verse 4 and 5.
When the Ammonite king has passed, he was a friend of David, and David sends a delegation
to comfort the son of Hanan, amen.
And as he goes there, Hanan's people say, no, they're not here to comfort you.
They're here to spy out the land.
And so they shave off half their beard, cut off their garments, amen, up to the buttocks
and send them off, the Bible says, greatly shaming them.
This is the picture of Goliath.
It is that demon-possessed man in the book of Acts chapter 19, almost tripped, jumping
on the seven sons of Sceva, beating the daylights out of them, bloody, ripping off their clothes,
send them off naked.
Can you imagine that?
Shaming them.
You say, what's that got to do with anything, brother?
Glad you asked.
Because this is exactly what happens, amen, when the devil steps out and he challenges,
come on somebody, and nobody's rising up.
There's neighborhoods, there's cities, there's nations of the world, and the champions are
absent, and the devil is exposing and shaming the nakedness of the church.
Slow down, Rick.
Whew.
All right.
Let's go back.
Are we good?
The enemy exposes by calling out and no one answering.
Amen.
All too often, our churches, Pastor Mitchell, I remember him saying this.
He said, our churches are filled with good people doing nothing.
Oh, come on somebody.
Man, is it hot in here?
Is it just me, honey?
Is it me?
My wife is back there saying, is you, baby.
As my crying partner, hey, I got the stickers for reserved seating.
I did this first time ever.
My wife was waiting outside.
I went out there, check it out, baby, we got reserved seating.
She said, I don't want reserved seating.
I want to fight for my seat.
That's gangster right there, baby.
The enemy exposes, amen, when he exposes, amen, it becomes a win for him.
Every time that a neighborhood or a city or a nation is left untouched because of absent
champions, amen, a victory is done for the enemy and that ain't right.
I noticed last night, everybody's playing music.
If I would have known that I could do that, I would have come in with James Brown.
James Brown used to have a song back in the 70s called The Big Payback.
One of the lines of the song said, you took my money, you stole my honey, and that ain't
right.
I said, it ain't right.
Come on, somebody.
Let's talk about exploring the absent champion.
I was preaching recently, well, a few months back overseas, and I was having a conversation
with a missionary, and he was excited about coming back, amen, on leave for their conference.
He said, I'm excited because I'm going to go visit one of my close friends and his family.
They're pastoring, and he told me the city they were pastoring in.
They're both from the same mother church, which he really values that.
Of course, their co-disciples grew up together.
But the reason he told me that he really values this brother and this relationship is because
many of the other couples and men of that era that were growing up together, that were
getting sent out, are nowhere to be found today.
Come on now, they sold the farm.
Hello.
Backslater, doing nothing, just absent, flaked out.
So let's take a closer look at the champion that's hiding in the baggage.
Maybe that's you.
That's all right.
God's going to expose you, and you'll get out of the baggage, and you'll do a work for
God.
So let's consider, first of all, the marks of an absent champion.
Listen, champions have marks, man.
They're called scars.
I used to consider myself a champion on the streets, but I didn't get this good looking
overnight.
Got my nose cracked a few times, got my teeth knocked, two of them knocked out, both together,
together, not one at a time, together.
That's how you roll, baby.
You're going to do it.
Go big or go home.
I wonder about the marks of a champion.
How about the marks of an absent champion?
First of all, the marks of an absent champion.
The absent champion is marked, but I know this is going to be very basic.
Some of you come, you want something deep.
Ask for Pastor Torrey.
He's next.
I can't, listen, you want to get too deep.
Jesus might come back.
He won't be able to find you.
You're so deep.
Where to go?
One of the marks, amen, is that of an unused life.
Again, the issue is not gifting.
The issue is not resources.
Man, we are a blessed fellowship.
Talent, you got it.
Amen.
Whatever gift, amen, that Saul had, he allowed it to be unused.
He buried it, squandered it, right?
Like the unfaithful steward, amen, in Matthew 25, verse 18, who received one talent, dug
the earth, and hid the Lord's money.
Saul, as many men are, amen, is inactive, lethargic, wasting away.
A lot of men are doing that.
In fact, I see it happening with guys that are getting older.
Oh, come on somebody.
Well, you know, it used to be.
That's how it was.
Amen.
I had a, you know, I'm in my 60s, all right?
Recently I turned 60.
More recently I turned 63.
And in the very recent future, I'll be 64.
I can collect social security.
I can.
But I ain't gonna.
I got some old guys in my church, amen.
They joined the senior citizens of, what do you call it?
Bear, you joined it.
What is it?
And they're trying to talk me into it.
Come on, pastor.
Join us.
They got a free, they got real cheap lunch.
You can work out.
They got golf.
I said, absolutely not.
I ain't gonna hang out with you old fuddy duddies.
Sorry, Bear.
I don't want my life to become inactive and lethargic.
I want to go down swinging.
Oh, come on somebody.
Listen, sometimes you swing and you don't know what you're aiming at, but eventually
you're gonna connect.
The absent champion is marked by uninvolved living.
And this, at this point, Saul is simply uninvolved.
It's not that he doesn't know what's going on.
He's not like Joe Biden.
He knows.
He knows what's up.
He knew the predicament they're in, but he's not stepping out.
Listen, a lot of good people.
Can I tell you, listen, let me talk to you about revival for just a split second.
Because you know, people, oh man, we had a crowd Sunday morning.
You know, I like crowds.
I like when my church is full.
Amen.
I dig it.
I dig what we all do, but can I tell you, amen, revival is not churches filled with
people.
Revival is people filled with the Holy Ghost and a hunger and a desire to do something
for God.
Just like these people last night on this stage.
Come on somebody.
Amen.
Listen.
You can wave the fellowship flag all day long.
Amen.
But you got to choose a side.
You either spectator or participator.
Somebody said it last night, I think, Pastor Payne.
What did he say?
Having a Biden moment.
All right, got it.
You can't be, this is not the way I say it, what we be if you don't do what we do.
But I can tell you that you can't, you will not do what we do if you ain't be what we
be.
And I know what I be.
Amen.
I walked into a little church in Blythe, California, January of 1984.
Yes, it did exist.
I was there and I walked into that little church broken, tore up from the floor up,
beat up from the feet up.
I needed a checkup from the neck up.
The church at the time was pastored by Pastor Jose Urbina from Tucson, walked into that
little church.
Amen.
They were showing a God-awful movie.
Most boring movies I've ever seen in my life.
Felt like I wasted that day.
But after the movie, there was an altar call and there was preaching like I'd never heard
before and the spirit of the Lord convicted my heart.
This old thug, amen, drug addicted, filled with violence, alcoholic, broken marriage,
healed, delivered, and set free.
Why?
Because there was people there.
Shout out to the Blythe, California church.
There was people there that were not absent champions.
Oh, come on somebody.
Hallelujah.
I remember calling one of my pioneer pastors years ago.
We sent him out.
I had to call him one Saturday morning, discuss some issues.
And I said, okay brother, I'm going to let you go because I know you're on your way to
outreach because that's what we do on Saturdays.
We have outreaches, especially when we're pioneering.
And he says, I ain't going to outreach.
I said, what?
I said, what are you doing?
He says, I'm fishing.
That's what I said.
I said, bro, we invested in your life.
We sent you to this city thousands of dollars, not so you could fish.
For men, yes.
It's a life that is marked by an undisciplined lifestyle.
The active word is discipline.
And discipline is a four letter word, at least how I spell it.
I'm not talking about spiritual discipline, you know, prayer and Bible reading, things
like that.
I'm talking about something a little different.
We are folks that are not naturally, maybe you are, there are people that are naturally
workers.
They like to work.
They're hard workers.
I wish I could say that's one of my traits.
It's not, I don't like work.
And neither do you.
So I have to make an effort.
Come on somebody.
We avoid discipline, the flesh hates it.
Amen.
I don't get all jumpy and bubbly.
You know, I've been trying to take, it's like working out.
You can't just say I joined a club.
I joined a gym, right?
I've been trying to take 20 pounds off, you know, that I somehow they magically appeared
on me.
I've been trying to take them off for the last four or five years.
I finally caved in, man.
I joined a gym.
It's called Gold, what is it?
What is it?
Gold's gym.
What did you say?
Gold's gym.
No, Golden Corral.
That's the one I joined.
I got a card and everything.
It's so much easier to go to Golden Corral.
I can work out.
Listen, the business of the kingdom is hard work and it takes discipline to pull it off.
Pastors, you got to work with men.
You got to work with men.
That's my three points.
Just like Pastor Gaiolas.
You know, I work with men.
This is what I do.
This is what I dedicate my life to.
Amen.
In our church, that's what we do.
We've set it up.
Amen.
We've got our, you know, serious men on Sunday morning.
Amen.
We've got on Saturday morning prayer and a men's discipleship class that I teach every
Saturday.
Amen.
We have a Monday night.
We pray and we fast.
We go to church and pray there and I preach to the crew.
Amen.
We have Tuesday night outreaches, Saturday outreaches.
We just, you know, we're working all the time.
You say that's kind of overkill, Pastor.
Yeah, but that's why every six months you would hear an Adagdin going into.
That's why you heard that.
Because there was a lot of work going on.
Amen.
In the backdrop.
It's true.
It's a lot of work.
Amen.
Let me give a shout out also.
Man, to those, the real champions of our fellowship, somebody mentioned it the other day.
Those men that are supporting, they don't get to go.
They're there giving.
You know, we just had Tony Huang preaching for us and I don't know why he did this, but
he asked our congregation.
It was packed and he asked our congregation.
He said, how many of you have been here?
Amen.
Since before Pastor Martinez took over the church, you know, 20 years or more and, and
probably maybe only about 25 people raised their hand, which was kind of sad.
But at the same time, I'm thinking, glory to God, because it was those people that when
everybody else was bailing out, they were right there fighting the fight, continuing
to outreach, witness and give.
Oh, come on somebody.
Let me, let me hurry up here.
Let's talk about extricating the absent champion.
Get them out of there.
Let me talk to you about the problem.
There's always a problem in there.
Dang.
Did I just slap your mama?
There's a problem of a divided heart.
There's a headline I read some time back, Washington state Arlington pastor living a
double life arrested for drug trafficking and held on a $750,000 bond.
And then the headline said one person, two opposite lives.
It goes on a pastor in Washington state has been arrested after living a double life.
According to authorities to some people, he was a married spiritual leader and dedicated
family man to others.
He was known to have a girlfriend and actively dealing drugs.
Police say that Steve Parker 57 maintained the separate lives in two communities about
20 miles apart from each other.
Investigators were tipped off late last year after about Parker's alleged drug business,
which spanned three counties.
When pulled over January 19th, they found 2.7 pounds of meth, fentanyl powder, cocaine
and over 2000 pills of some kind and a loaded handgun.
We was receiving shipments of drugs three, four times a week.
We all have to address the issue of duality in our lives.
And you may not be going out to clubs on Saturday and then praising the Lord on Sunday.
You may not be a man, a pastor preaching Holy Ghost fire.
And then you got your little side drug hustle.
But many seem to be divided on their commitment to the cause.
The story of Saul and David is not so much a story of two men, but of two hearts.
Saul's heart was focused on himself and how others viewed him.
Amen.
It was focused on comfort in the easy way, the uncommitted, the undecided, the unyielded
life.
This is a perfect picture of a divided heart, a divided loyalty.
That ain't gonna work.
David's heart was focused on serving and honoring God and others around him.
Amen.
The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
How do we extricate the absent champion?
You don't.
You don't extricate the man.
You extricate the heart and you replace it with a new one.
Some of y'all, that's why we come to conference.
We need a new heart.
I hope that you didn't just come here, amen, this week because you want to take some notes,
get the latest revelation from Joe Campbell.
Come on somebody.
Well, I'm here.
We know you're getting all the info, but what you need is some transport.
Come on somebody.
We need our hearts to change.
I need God to touch me.
I need God to shake me up.
I need God to transform my life.
I need a new heart, a heart that's more in love with Jesus, more excited and more passionate
about the things of God than ever before.
I don't care how old we get, I'm more excited today than I've ever been in my life and that's
kind of hard to talk.
I may not move as quick as I used to, but I'm still stoked for Jesus.
Hallelujah.
Listen, Saul was replaced by David, but it wasn't so much David, but the heart that he
had, the kingdom, 1 Samuel 3, verse 14, shall not continue.
The Lord has sought a man after his heart.
Saul needed a new heart.
You need a new heart.
I need a new heart.
Ezekiel 36, verse 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I
will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk.
I like that, to walk.
I walk like this.
Don't tell me I still stride like a gangster.
You know some old habits are hard to break.
I'm going to stride for Jesus as a gangster for Jesus.
Come on somebody.
See some of y'all, he's talking fleshly.
Shut up.
Come on.
Hebrews 8, verse 10, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.
After those days saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind and write them in
their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be my people.
Come on somebody.
See repentance, here is the key.
I'm closing.
See the problem with Saul is that he always made excuses for a spiritual absence.
Amen.
I know a lot of people, man, they're always making excuses.
You know every Sunday, every Wednesday night I get text messages.
Pastor, I won't make it tonight because my cat died.
Wife ran over the dog, probably should have.
David on the other hand admitted when he was wrong, took responsibility for his mistakes
which is always a sign of deep integrity, which is a sign that he is very much present.
He's there, I'm ready.
Ready to throw down.
You know, you always ready, bro?
In the world I was all ready for a good fight.
Didn't matter what it was, how big you were, how many there was, guns, knives, didn't
matter.
It's on baby, the more the merrier.
Right?
I wanted to make my presence felt.
I'm here.
You know, if I was at a party and the earth went in fires playing and nobody's dancing,
I'm going to go out there.
I remember one time my wife, baby let's go dance.
She said, I ain't going out there, nobody's out there.
I went out there by myself.
Busting a move.
I wasn't a Joe Cool Cholo like some of y'all were.
Amen.
I'm the Mexican that looks like a white boy but dances like a black man.
That ain't changed.
He wasn't hiding from his responsibility, from his accountability, and from his dependability.
When men fail by being absent, amen, neighborhoods fall, cities fall, nations fall.
Nineveh was right there, man.
Because the champion went the other way.
Amen.
I like what Pastor Nate said the other night.
Santa Fe's going to plant churches again.
I'm with you brother.
I'm down baby, like James Brown, all the way.
Currently out of Ogden, listen, we have I think close to 40 after our last conference,
40 churches under the Ogden banner.
It is an amazing thing.
But I got to say to you that there was a time when I was kind of a little bit of an absent
champion there.
Everybody was telling me, Rick, you got 25 churches plus, you need to be a conference.
I was, no I don't.
Oh.
I'm touching some holy ground.
And I remember, I said, no, that ain't going to happen.
I'm good.
I'm happy with what we're doing.
I like going to Prescott and making the announcements there.
A little cheaper.
But one day I called Pastor Greg, not about this.
I'm going to call him, I had some problems.
You know, I got problems.
I don't know if you can tell.
I do.
I called Pastor Greg.
I called him and I said, yeah, this is going on.
And then he gave me a little advice and then he says, I said, okay, well thanks Pastor.
He said, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up, Rick.
We ain't done with this conversation.
And I said, yes, sir.
And he said, how many churches are out of Ogden?
And I knew it, man.
The moment he said that, I said, my stinking good friend, Rich Cox, has been talking to
Pastor Greg.
He's the one that snitched me.
He's the one that outed me.
But I made a decision right there and then.
I said, yes, sir, we'll do it.
He goes, you think you can do it?
I'm like, you know, in the back of my head that there was a voice that said, you can't,
but somehow out of my mouth is a, yep, I'm an absent champion no more.
Amen.
We're going to fight this church and we're going to take it to the ends of the earth.
Lord bless you.
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