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Thank you, friends, for your ministry tonight.

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It's always a joy to see you and to hear you.

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We love you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, Mary and John, as well.

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Thank you for praying this last week for the meetings in New Hampshire.

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I think the meetings went well.

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The weather back there was gorgeous.

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We had Indian summer in New England and the leaves were right at the peak of their color.

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So if there's any time, I'm glad the Lord would call me to New England for a meeting.

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It was this last week.

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It was great to be there.

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A friend of mine who's in the church drove me around a little bit to see some of the

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color and some of the sights.

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My first time back there in 19 years.

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One day we went to Newburyport, Massachusetts to see the Old South Church.

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I had not heard of the church, but it is the last church in which George Whitefield, the

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famed evangelist and revivalist, preached.

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Just three doors down from there is where he died of asthma.

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His body is buried under the pulpit of the Old South Church.

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So the pastor kindly took us down into the basement under this church that's 220, 230

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years old and showed us the crypt where the first pastor of that church from back in the

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1600s is buried along with George Whitefield.

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Interesting experience.

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A little eerie down there, to be frank with you.

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Not the kind of place I would want to spend midnight, that's for sure.

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And then the next day, or excuse me, that same day we drove on down to Boston to see

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the Old North Church.

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Had to be fair, North and South.

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The Old North Church, of course, is where Paul Revere hung the lantern in the belfry

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and warned of the British coming.

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That is located in a section of Boston called Little Italy, a fascinating place to visit.

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As you walk down the street, you actually feel as though you've been transported into

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Italy, or maybe to Sicily, if you understand what I'm saying.

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All of the lovely aroma of Italian food was in the air and people speaking Italian sitting

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out on the street playing their games.

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And it was just as though you were transported to the old world.

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And I said to my friend, is the Godfather anywhere around here?

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Is there any mafia?

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And he said, oh no, there's none around here at all.

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And I was glad, though, as we were walking up the street, a jackhammer went off right

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beside us.

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They were repairing the street.

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And I was certainly glad I had seen that ahead of time, or I think I would have died of a

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heart attack thinking I'd been shot with a machine gun.

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I said, Lord, if you'll just get me out of here, I'll serve you the rest of my life.

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Wherever you send me.

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And he got me out.

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Would you take your Bible and turn, please, to 1 Samuel chapter 18.

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We want to talk tonight about the tests of a giant killer's faith.

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I would hope that that includes all of us, because we face giants in our lives, as we've

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talked on previous Sunday evenings.

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I trust that those giants are coming down one by one as we, by faith, attack them.

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David exhibited a great and yet simple faith in the slaying of Goliath.

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In fact, when David approached that Philistine, he said, you come to me with a sword, a spear,

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and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies

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of Israel, whom you have taunted.

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This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove

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your head from you.

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David's faith was in the Lord to give him the victory in that battle.

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Faith is only as valid as its object.

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David's object of faith was the Lord God of Israel, in whom he trusted.

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You'll notice that David did not say to Goliath as he approached him, I am praying that God

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will give you into my hand.

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He said the Lord will give you into my hand.

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I wonder sometimes if we don't couch statements in such a way that we have a way out in case

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God doesn't do what we believe God should do.

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We pray about something, and we say we trust God for this particular thing, and we tell

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other people I am praying that so-and-so will happen.

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There's nothing wrong with that statement.

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But is there ever a time when we by faith can say as David did, the Lord will do this

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or that?

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We seem to leave ourselves a way out in case God doesn't come through, don't we?

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I wonder if that is real faith.

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What was it that enabled David to say the Lord will deliver you into my hands?

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It was not a prayer request with him.

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He said the Lord will do this.

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I believe that David was able to speak with that kind of faith for a couple of reasons.

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First, his motive was entirely the glory of God.

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David was not out there for some selfish purpose.

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He desired for the name of the Lord God of Israel to be exalted among his people and

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among the nations, for God's name was being blasphemed by this unclean giant.

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And then secondly, I believe that David's faith had grown from his walk with God to

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the point that he knew that God was going to do this.

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I wonder sometimes if our statements like, I'm praying that, isn't really an evidence

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of little faith, when in fact God would rather have us say the Lord will do this, as did

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David here.

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Well, it was a great victory that day when the giant fell and his head came off.

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As somebody said to me after the service when we preached about this, David knew how to

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get ahead, and he did that time.

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Satan will not allow a victory, however, to go unchallenged, really.

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He will not allow the steps of growth to go without a challenge to them.

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The victory of faith will be opposed.

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Satan will seek to divert our progress, to reverse our advance, to short circuit the

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victory in any way possible.

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Perhaps the most dangerous time that we face spiritually is after a victory in our lives.

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David's faith now, in chapter 18, comes under a period of testing to determine the genuineness

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of it, the quality of his spiritual stand.

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The tests that David faced are the sum of the same tests that we all deal with in our

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warfare.

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Let's look at them tonight.

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Test number one is found in verse five, the first part of the verse.

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So David went out wherever Saul sent him and prospered.

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And Saul set him over the men of war.

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The first test of David's faith was prosperity.

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And this included what appears to be a promotion from a court musician position to the head

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of Saul's bodyguard.

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He faced a period of prosperity in his life.

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And I would submit to you that prosperity is sometimes a great test for our faith.

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Because in prosperity there are the seeds which can spring up to choke faith.

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Deprivation, poverty, failure, or getting by, as we say it, often provide an atmosphere

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in which faith can be exercised and remain healthy and robust.

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But prosperity is a test because it tempts the believer to trust in successes, in plenty,

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or in whatever the result of our faith might be, rather than in the Lord from whom that

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success comes.

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Deceitfully, the enemy seeks to focus, to transfer, rather the focus of our faith from

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the Lord to whatever it is the Lord has done or provided.

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We need to watch out for the time of prosperity.

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God is pleased to give those times to us, but they in themselves are a test of our faith.

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I have a friend who lives in another state who walked with God for a number of years

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and God was pleased to prosper him in his business.

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But when he became prosperous, his heart turned from the Lord.

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He became cold spiritually.

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And the result of that was the loss of his prosperity, even the loss of his family.

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And he went through a very difficult and even tragic period.

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He came back to the Lord and God restored him to a place again of prosperity because

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he walked in faith.

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And I'm sad to say that in this time of prosperity, once again, he has fallen away from the Lord.

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You see, his faith is unable to take the test of prosperity.

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And yet this friend that I mentioned a few moments ago who drove me around Massachusetts,

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New Hampshire this week, had the opposite experience in the face of prosperity.

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When I knew him in Kentucky, he had recently lost his job.

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The area of work in which he was employed did not need as many people any longer.

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And he was one of those laid off as a result of a corporation buyout.

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And when he met me, he was a man who did not have enough money to put milk on the table

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for his children, literally.

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Our church prayed for him.

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We supported him as best we could.

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He reported to me that during that time of difficulty, there were days when he would

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go to the mailbox and there would be an envelope there addressed to him with $100 in it.

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And it would simply say on the note inside, love in Christ, a friend.

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One way after another, God took care of them during that time of difficulty.

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And now he's in a place of prosperity again, the third highest man in a corporation that

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will have $150 million business this year.

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But in this time of prosperity, his faith is blossoming.

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It's healthy.

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He's passing the test of prosperity.

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I don't know where that may find you tonight.

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It may be that God has recently brought prosperity to you.

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May I say to you that that prosperity in itself is a test from the Lord.

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Will you allow your faith to now become focused upon what God is giving you, or will you cause

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your faith to remain focused upon the Lord God himself who has blessed you?

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David then faced a second test.

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We see this in the last part of verse 5.

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And it was pleasing in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

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And it happened as they were coming when David returned from killing the Philistine that the

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women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with

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tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments.

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And the women sang as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his

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ten thousands.

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Then Saul became very angry for this saying, displeased him.

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And he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands.

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Now what more can he have but the kingdom?

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And Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.

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Test number two is akin to test number one.

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David faced the test of popularity.

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Popularity is dangerous because it appeals to pride within us.

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It appeals to our human carnality.

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We can't always avoid our successes being acclaimed.

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But we need to be careful that when they are that we do not always believe what the people

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say about us.

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What they sang about David here may well have been true, but it undoubtedly presented a

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subtle temptation to David's faith.

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Faith must do what is right and reflect the glory for any successes or any popularity

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to God and not claim it for itself.

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There is always the temptation to listen to what the fickle masses have to say regarding

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our victories.

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We must be careful in that.

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If I may be permitted to do so, I want to apply that to our church for a moment.

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Occasionally I'm asked the question by someone, why has Grace Church grown like it has?

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What are you doing there?

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What's happened?

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Or someone will come up with a statement of congratulations or of even perhaps appreciation

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for what God is doing here.

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Undoubtedly you have faced that too.

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Dear people, whenever that happens to us, we must be careful to give God the glory and

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not take any to ourselves.

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How easy it is for our hearts to subtly begin to be proud.

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We must be careful of the acclaim of those around us.

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And remember that that is not the final test of whether we have been truly successful in

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our ministry.

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Indeed, Jesus said, beware when all men speak well of you.

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As a church and as individuals, we must never live for popularity.

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We must never live that we might hear people praise us and acclaim us for our greatness,

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our successes, our victories.

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For whatever we have and whatever we accomplish here is by the grace of God.

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Let us never forget it.

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And to God be the glory for the great things He has done.

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Let that always be our attitude and our spirit.

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It seems to have been David's.

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He was aware of this subtle temptation and the popularity of the women singing regarding

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his successes did not cause his faith to be undermined.

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Test number three is found in verses 10 and 11.

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Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul

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and he raved in the midst of the house while David was playing the harp with his hand as

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usual.

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And a spear was in Saul's hand.

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And Saul hurled the spear for he thought, I will pin David to the wall.

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But David escaped from his presence twice.

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The third test is the test of danger.

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You see here David faced a second giant and that giant is Saul, not Goliath.

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Saul pretended to be a friend of David and yet he had become an enemy because of the

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jealousy which bubbled in his heart.

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Please notice in our text that there are three common emotions that are associated with jealousy.

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In verse eight we find Saul became very angry.

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He was an angry man because of the praise that David received and he did not receive.

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That led in verse nine to suspicion.

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He watched David closely, suspecting him, wondering if in fact this was the man that

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God was going to place on the throne after him.

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He was wondering if David was somehow going to usurp the throne and take it from him.

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He was suspicious from that day on of David.

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And then in verse 12 it developed into fear.

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Now Saul was afraid of David for the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.

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David did not succumb to the test, to the fear rather of danger.

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Rather he trusted God.

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He did not retaliate for the spear being thrown at him.

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He did not seek in some way to gain revenge.

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He did not seek to use that incident to overthrow Saul but rather he evidenced his great faith

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and placed himself again in the hands of God and believed that God would bring to pass

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his promise in his time.

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He trusted God in the midst of danger.

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He had faced danger before but here's another test and he passed.

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I don't know what danger you may be facing.

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Will you trust God in it?

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Will you leave yourself in his hands and allow him in his time to bring to pass in your life

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his perfect will?

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Test number four is in verses 12 and 13.

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It is the test of demotion.

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We've already read verse 12.

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It goes on in verse 13 to say, Therefore Saul removed him, David, from his presence and

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appointed him as his commander of a thousand.

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And he went out and came in before the people.

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There are some commentators who feel that this was a promotion and yet it seems to me

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that the context indicates the opposite.

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For David was no longer in a privileged position in the court of Saul.

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Instead of being over Saul's bodyguard, he was placed in charge of a thousand men.

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It seems as though this was a kick back down the ladder.

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And so you can imagine the possible questions that went through David's mind.

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What will the people say?

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How can I explain why I am no longer in the court but over a thousand men?

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Or perhaps he said to the Lord, why me, Lord?

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I do my best.

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I wait upon you.

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I trust you in danger.

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Yet I'm not appreciated.

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I'm distrusted and I am put down.

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Have you ever faced a time like that in your life?

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Remember Joseph?

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Joseph was demoted from the favored son to a sold slave.

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Another time in his life he was demoted from a trusted steward to a prisoner.

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He knew the meaning of demotion.

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And yet you never see in the life of Joseph either a word of complaint.

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But rather there was that quiet faith in God's sovereign and good hand upon him.

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That should be our attitude as well.

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It should be the attitude which the Apostle Paul expresses in Philippians chapter 4 as

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he writes to the dear people in Philippi who had cared so much for him.

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He says, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

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I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in prosperity.

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In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry,

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both of having abundance and suffering need.

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I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

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That is David's attitude.

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It may be that you are facing a period of demotion in your life.

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You're losing out on some things that have been yours or perhaps should be yours.

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You know what it is to be kicked down the ladder.

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How are you responding to it?

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I have another friend who has experienced this in his life.

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His place, his company for which he worked was sold to a larger corporation and twice

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he was one of the executives who was axed.

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And today he no longer goes to church.

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He lives at home encapsulated in bitterness of heart because of the severe test of demotion

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in his life.

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My friend, all of us go through periods like that.

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It is important that during those times our faith passed the test.

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Test number five is found in verses 17 through 19.

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Saul said to David, here is my older daughter Mirab.

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I will give her to you as a wife.

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May be a valiant man for me and fight the Lord's battles for Saul thought my hand shall

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not be against him but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.

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But David said to Saul, who am I and what is my life for my father's family in Israel

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that I should be the king's son-in-law.

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So it came about at the time when Mirab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David.

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She was given to Adriel the Moholythite for a wife.

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This test is the test of disappointment.

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Saul apparently had promised in those days when Goliath was challenging the armies that

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whoever would defeat that giant would be given the hand of his eldest daughter.

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It appears that that involved an implied right to the throne should something happen to the

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sons of Saul.

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If his sons should not follow him to the throne, that is if they should somehow be killed perhaps,

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it seems as though the husband of his eldest daughter would have the next right to the

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throne.

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Thus Saul initially seemed to be keeping his word to David and he offered the hand of his

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eldest daughter to him.

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David was reluctant because he was not the first born in his family.

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Indeed, he was the youngest and his was not a great family in Israel.

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Saul for some reason took advantage of that and gave the hand of his daughter to another

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man even though it had been promised to David.

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Thus David suffered a disappointment here.

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All of us go through periods like that, don't we?

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When someone says something to us and then they don't come through.

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Folks, we cannot allow our faith to depend upon the word of another person.

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If we do, we will surely fall into disappointment.

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In fact, the Lord seems to take this disappointment in David's life and turn it for good.

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For in chapter 19, verses 11-17, we learn that the wife that he did receive from Saul,

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Michael, saved his life on a certain occasion.

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And so God took this disappointment in marrying Michael instead of Mirab and brought good

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out of it in that David's life was later spared through Michael.

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Sad to say, however, the union beyond that seems to have been a very, very unhappy one.

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During this time of disappointment, we do not see David collapsing.

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Every evidence from scripture is that he trusted God during that time.

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Can you trust God in your disappointment?

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Whatever it is that has come into your life that has caused your bubble to be burst, can

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you look to the Lord and say, Lord, I don't understand it.

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I'm disappointed in my emotions, but I want you to know that my faith is firmly fixed,

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that you are in control.

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It may be that you've been complaining to the Lord, or perhaps you've been enjoying

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a pity party for yourself.

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Will you tonight turn to the Lord and say, forgive me, and thank him that in that disappointment

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he is working in some way for your good?

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There's one final test that we want to look at, and that is found in verses 20 through

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29.

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Michael, Saul's daughter, loved David, and they told Saul, and the thing was agreeable

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to him.

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And Saul thought, I will give her to him, that she may become a snare to him, and that

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the hand of the Philistines may be against him.

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And so he seems to renew here his scheme from before.

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Notice what he says.

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Therefore, Saul said to David, a second time you may be my son-in-law today.

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Saul commanded his servants, speak to David secretly, saying, Behold, the king delights

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in you, and all his servants love you.

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Now therefore, become the king's son-in-law.

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In other words, he began to scheme through his servants to get David to say yes to this

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marriage.

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So Saul's servants spoke these words to David secretly.

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But David said, Is it trivial in your sight to become the king's son-in-law, since I am

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a poor man and lightly esteemed?

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In other words, he's saying, I don't have the proper dowry for the king's daughter.

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I'm a poor man.

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The servants of Saul reported to him according to these words which David spoke.

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That was what Saul wanted to hear.

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So Saul then said, Thus you shall say to David, The king does not desire any dowry except

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a hundred foreskins of the Philistines to take vengeance on the king's enemies.

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Now Saul planned to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

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When his servants told David these words, it pleased David to become the king's son-in-law.

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Before the days had expired, David rose up and went, he and his men, and struck down

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two hundred men among the Philistines.

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Then David brought their foreskins and they gave them in full number to the king that

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he might become the king's son-in-law.

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So Saul gave him, Michael, his daughter, for a wife.

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The test that David faced here is the test of deceit.

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For it is clear that the real point in this was the maneuvering, the intrigue in the court

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of Saul to cause David to be either killed by the Philistines in the initial battle or

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to cause him to be so hated and despised by the Philistines that they would hunt him down.

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And so there was deceit to get David to be killed.

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David may or may not have been aware of all that was taking place behind the scenes.

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But nonetheless, in this time when deceit was being used against him, his faith in the

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Lord remained strong.

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Despite the motives, despite the sin of Saul, David's faith persevered.

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His faith was not affected by the motives of the king.

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Is your faith ever affected by the motives of someone else?

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Perhaps you learn something about them or you hear something about them and that causes

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your faith to be put in the test.

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Maybe you learn that someone has been dishonest with you or has tried to deceive you to accomplish

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their own good.

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Does that cause your faith to collapse or does that cause your faith to become even

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stronger?

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In this test of deceit, David passed with flying colors and God blessed him.

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It says in verse 28, when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael

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Saul's daughter loved him, then Saul was even more afraid of David.

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Thus, Saul was David's enemy continually.

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Saul was so sure this scheme was going to work and David would be off his hands and

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out of the picture, no longer a threat, that when he came back with twice the evidence

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he demanded of the Philistines being killed, he was even more afraid of David because he

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knew that the hand of God was upon that young man.

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In verse 30 it says, then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle and it

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happened as often as they went out, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants

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of Saul and so his name was highly esteemed.

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And so are the blessings of the man who walks by faith.

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I don't know what test you may be facing in your life, but this I can say to you without

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fear of contradiction, that we need never be afraid of the tests that God puts us through.

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So we can do what James exhorts us to do, we can count it all joy when we fall into

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various kinds of trials.

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And why?

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Because we know that God is using that to produce perseverance, patience in our lives.

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God is putting a foundation under us by the tests that we pass through.

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What does it work in your life tonight in the tests in which you find yourself?

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We also need not be afraid of the tests because God has made a way of escape, as he puts it

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in 1 Corinthians 10, 13.

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That does not mean that we're going to have an escape hatch to the test itself necessarily,

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though that may be so.

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00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:12,680
But if we don't have that kind of an escape, God has promised us grace in the trial, so

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there is that kind of an escape.

403
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:20,520
Furthermore, we are told in that verse that God carefully monitors the tests that we pass

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00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:29,160
through so that they do not surpass our capacity to endure them.

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00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:36,560
We can never legitimately say to God, you have put more on me than I could bear because

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God just doesn't do that.

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He doesn't do it.

408
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:47,840
Therefore we need not be afraid when the tests come to us.

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00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:58,880
The pastor of this church where I was this last week is a dear brother in Christ.

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00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:04,160
When he went to that little church in New Hampshire where he is serving the Lord, he

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00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:08,680
had a very difficult beginning to the ministry, which I will not go into tonight.

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But it was a period of time when some men would have thrown in the towel and said, this

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isn't worth it.

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00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:22,120
But he persevered through that test.

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00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:31,440
He hung in there as it were, and God caused him to grow and bless that ministry.

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And then last December, he passed through a different kind of test.

417
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:42,600
Their young daughter came running into the bedroom where mom and dad were and they said,

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00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:43,600
something's wrong with Eric.

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He's sick.

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00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,680
Eric was their eight-year-old son.

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They came into the living room where he was, and Eric was unconscious.

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They could not awaken him.

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They of course called the ambulance, tried to keep him breathing, his heart beating.

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00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:05,560
They rushed Eric to the hospital, and they were able to reestablish a heartbeat, but

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00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:09,400
only briefly, and Eric died.

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00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:10,400
Eric died.

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00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:18,080
They're an eight-year-old boy, that fast, not sick a day in his life.

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00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:29,800
They discovered that he had an aneurysm that burst suddenly, and he was gone.

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00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:33,120
That happened in December, and I'll be quite honest with you, when I was talking to him

430
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:41,040
this week, it was all I could do to keep my tears back, because I felt so much for Dan

431
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:42,720
and Sheila.

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But you know, it blessed me to see their faith.

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00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:55,840
Even after all they'd been through in trying to get that struggling church up on its feet,

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00:35:55,840 --> 00:36:02,840
they passed into the deepest valley that any parents can enter into, and they have come

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00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:11,680
through that valley with their faith intact and victorious.

436
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God has not laid upon them more than they can endure, and he has given them grace.

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00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:27,840
I don't know what test you may be facing, but I know this, that God is there with you,

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and he will not fail you.

439
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:38,440
As we shall see in the weeks ahead, David did not always pass his tests, but these he

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00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:41,000
did.

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David's heart was to follow the Lord wherever he led.

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00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:53,540
Like Abraham, his ancestor, he too looked for a city whose builder and maker was God.

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He had the long-distance vision, the eternal perspective, and did not focus his life on

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the things and the circumstances of this life.

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I hope tonight that in our faith and in our walk with God, we can do the same.

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Let's pray.

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00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:28,520
With our heads bowed and our eyes closed, I wonder if where you are sitting there, you

448
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:33,360
have to honestly say, yes, I have been in a period of testing.

449
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:38,080
It may be one of the tests we have talked about tonight, or it may be a totally different

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00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:41,760
kind.

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00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,760
You want to say by the uplifted hand, Pastor Cole, I want you to know that in this test

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00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:51,440
God is being faithful, and my faith is strong in him.

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00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:53,200
Could you lift your hand to that?

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00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,920
Not as a testimony to you, but to God.

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00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:56,920
Amen.

456
00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,840
I praise God for that.

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00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:01,840
That's marvelous.

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00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:02,840
Yes.

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00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:10,360
But I wonder if there is someone here who would say, Pastor Cole, I too am in a test,

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00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:15,160
but I have not been very victorious.

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00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:21,400
My faith hasn't been intact, and I failed.

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00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:28,480
Oh, my friend, how much the Lord loves you, even in your failure.

463
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,920
And we have all been there.

464
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,760
We have all been there.

465
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:40,720
Will you by the uplifted hand say, Pastor, pray for me that my faith may be restored

466
00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:49,600
and be healthy again, that I may pass this test in which I am and not fail it completely?

467
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:50,600
How about it?

468
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:51,600
Would you lift your hand to that?

469
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:52,600
Yes.

470
00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:54,240
A number of you.

471
00:38:54,240 --> 00:38:57,120
God bless you.

472
00:38:57,120 --> 00:38:59,120
God bless you.

473
00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:10,600
Father, by faith tonight we say thank you for the tests of our faith.

474
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:17,080
And I pray especially for these dear ones who are experiencing difficulty and whose faith

475
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:20,400
perhaps has failed or is faltering.

476
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:27,440
Would you tonight undergird and restore that loved one of yours?

477
00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:37,000
Would you draw him or her close to yourself so that they'll be able to feel your heart

478
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,400
of love beating for them?

479
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:47,920
Father, would you undergird them with your eternal arms of love and tenderness and draw

480
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:57,080
them close so that tonight they may begin again a walk of faith, trusting you in the

481
00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:02,800
midst of this trial?

482
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:09,400
Thank you for meeting with us tonight and for instructing us from the life of David.

483
00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:36,760
In Jesus' name, amen.