What kind of heroes did David walk with?

Just on my heart is a word, and we will close. One of the ladies brought up – one of our board members brought up – a word that we shouldn’t forget to pray for our sister and her mother today. We will do that in just a few moments as we bring this service to a close. When I was thinking about our time together today and this very appropriate ending of 1998 with Mylan and Janice being released, I love to look at these balloons and see them across the auditorium.

That’s great. I’m glad we have the kind of church where we can put balloons up occasionally.

My favorite passage of scripture, without question concerning Christ, is Colossians chapter one. Even though I often preach from Philippians 2, another one of those great passages, I love this passage: “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us to the kingdom of the son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether they are things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and irreproachable in his sight. If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Those words, of course, speak about Christ in such an exalted way, who he is in reference to the Father: the firstborn, the only begotten, the exact and express image. To us in reference to the creation, he made all things; all things were made for him. Not anything was made that was not made by him. He being before all things and all things find their express purpose in him.

And then what he does for us, delivers us from darkness, qualifies us to be a part of the kingdom of his love, redeems us through his blood, forgives our sins and reconciles us to the Father. Somehow, I think our sign-carrying friends on two nights of Bethlehem didn’t understand this message. Amen.

But this passage also has some incredibly deep things to say about what our response is. First, if we believe this, then he must have preeminence in everything. Now, that’s an interesting word, preeminence. We don’t like that word. We like eminence. We like Jesus Christ to be on the top shelf with all the other good things in our lives, with our families and our highest ambitions and our greatest goals. But to say that he is preeminent, that he is above surpassing everything else, that’s a word we struggle with, and yet it really is the only response from this passage that’s possible. If you really believe this, if you believe this Jesus Christ who we serve, is this Christ, the ushers ought to pass out safety belts and crash helmets when we come to church because we are dealing with this Christ. But of course, my favorite word is in verse 10, that you might walk worthy of him onto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with his might according to his glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father. You know there is in that word to walk worthy of the Lord, the calling of my life. And let me take a moment to explain something that some of you have heard. The word all pleasing that follows that, that describes what the worthy walk is, walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing is a dirty word in the first-century language.

The Christians who read that must have been shocked beyond description that Paul would use a gutter word like obsequious. Sickeningly surveil. It’s the kind of word you’d use for an effeminate slave who ran ahead and did everything for the master before he even asked for it to be done. And one slave would call another slave, meaning to be sickeningly serve. If you were ever serving in the armed services, you remember we had some words in the armed services for men like. I won’t use them here this morning because some of you look shocked enough as it is, but certainly the word apple polisher that we use for kids who move up the ladder towards the teacher is a word that’s appropriate to give you the basic idea of this relatively dirty words.

The point I want to make to you this morning is until you get to that level of Christianity, you don’t know what service is. When you serve only as you are expected or it’s demanded of you, it’s kind of the person who comes to me, and this happens many times a year. Somebody will say, what’s the requirements of membership?

And I want to say, sign your life away. Give up your house. You know, what does it require to be a Christian? Sometimes people will say to me, Everything. Everything. There can’t be anything less. Not if you believed what you said, that this is the son of God, for whom the whole world was made, who’s the very image of Almighty God. That everything that was made was made for his glory?

And then you say you’re gonna tip him on Sunday. Good luck. There is a passage, and again, my favorite passage of the Old Testament, it’s about five verses. You can find it in two locations, in 2 Samuel 23 and 1 Chronicles 11, but it’s about the three men of David’s mighty men who are called at the end of the story, the Mightest men.

I will say that again. You know that David’s mighty men was the whole group of discouraged, disgruntled, and in debt people. So typical of Peninsula Christian Center, every time I read that story, all who were discouraged and despondent and in debt came to David. Oh God, please.

They were the mighty men. Of the mighty men that were 30 captains. And of the 30 captains, there were three men and they were David’s. We know their names. Adino, Eleazer, and Shammah, and I have searched because I have written on David’s Mighty Men, and someday really want to write a book on David, the kind of X-rated book that has long desired being written, but these three men, there’s only one story that can possibly explain the difference why they were named the mightiest men. All the men were conquerors. Many of the captains actually had greater records of victories.

If you study the Samuels in the Chronicle passages, you’ll know that many of the 30 Mighty captains actually did more in terms of making David King than these three, but an event happened. It was in David’s most discouraging moment. That’s when relationships are formed. You know, most people who attend this church know so little about what goes on in this church. They come in Sunday morning and get angry if they don’t get the right seat or upset if the usher doesn’t smile. They know so little about the week-long activities that go on here all the time.

And some people who have one project, but this project, that project, some other project, they know so little about what the church is about because it is so many things. It is a constant sense of who’s sick and who has died and who requires this and what benevolence needs to be met, and what physical problem is wrong with the plant and what has to go on in this schedule or that schedule, or this event, or that event.

This was David’s most discouraging moment. This is when relationships are formed. David was alone. He had evidently left the campfire so discouraged because the Philistines were totally dominating and they were taking advantage of the confusion in Israel for their own. And David couldn’t even stay with his men.

He left and went into what is called the stronghold. It’s the deepest part of the cave of Adullam where he and his men had stayed months at a time running away from Saul, and he went there alone and he cried out to the walls. A very interesting statement, and I’ve read and studied this both in the original and in almost every commentary that’s ever been written on it.

He cried out to the walls, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well that is outside the gate of Bethlehem.” And Bethlehem at that point was the headquarters of the garrison of the Philistine army. I don’t know whether you have much attachment to geography. I have a lot of attachment to geography. What is the church, for example, is sacred and holy to me. I hate to see children misusing the church. I hate to see adults misusing the church. I’ve never been able to make that a sacrosanct thing in which you can’t speak or have fun or enjoy yourself. But it is something in which this is God’s territory and it should be treated like God’s territory.

But there’s something sacred about other things. My home, I went home one time several years ago when we were in a very public situation and someone had desecrated the front of our house as a little “Thank you” for our ministry. That’s a horrible thing to see. Something you love. Desecrated. Not uncommon in public life.

David said, “Oh, I wish, I just wish somebody would be able to get into Bethlehem and get rid of the bloody Philistines and get me some water.” He wasn’t thirsty. There was a stream of water in the doula. They had lived there months at a time. He knew that cave like the back of his hand, better than any man in all Israel, including King Saul and his advisors.

But what David didn’t know was there were three men who loved him so much. They had made a pact of blood and they said, “David will never be out of our sight. The rest of the guys can sleep and have an extra leg of lamb. But if David leaves the campfire, we go with him. And if David goes anywhere, we go with him. And if David dies, we go with him.” They had stationed themselves outside the entrance of that cave, just listening. They weren’t wearing placards saying, “Here we are, David, your mighty men.” It’s one of the things about true servanthood. You’re just there, available. But when one of them had heard that, I’m sure he turned to the other two and said something like, “He wants a drink of water from the well outside the Gate of Bethlehem.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” perhaps it was the other one who said, “That’s where the whole Philistine army is, plus it’s 12 miles away.” But someone said, “Listen, what does it matter? Why are you telling me how far it is or how many enemies there are? If David wants water, what’s the deal? We go and get it.” And the next verse says, “These three broke through.” The Hebrew word suggests, and the following verses prove to us, that they were bloodied in the process. You don’t get into the Philistine camp without shedding blood. While two of them fought off the awakened Philistines, the third one got into the well and got water. And they fought their way back until it was now morning, and they came to the cave 12 miles one way, 12 miles the other way. Not in your BMW, by the way, my friend. And they came into the cave, knelt with their blood dripping on the floor of the cave, and said, “Here, David, we haven’t the foggiest idea what you needed water for from the well outside of Bethlehem. But here it is.”

Two things happened at that point. It’s very obvious if you’ve studied the story. One, of course, was David’s immediate reaction with tears in his eyes. David said, “I can’t drink this because no one is worthy of that kind of commitment except Jesus Christ, except God.” He turned the stone over and poured it out as a libation offering to God.

The second thing that happened is David’s countenance changes. David no longer fears the Philistines. If he has three men of that commitment, forget the rest. If there are three men with that kind of commitment, then the battle will be won. Wherever I’ve gone in the world, people talk to me about Mylan, because I normally don’t even know where I’m going. When I get on the plane, half the time I certainly don’t know who I’m going to see or who is going to meet me. Hours of conversation have gone on to get the best possible air travel plan and to make all the arrangements so that when I get there, I’ll be taken care of as adequately as possible.

And I don’t stay in four-star hotels. Most of you know, most of the time I’m in youth camps, in youth conference places, and facilities of that nature, or staying in homes, having the very best people can give me in terms of their culture. It’s been 90 nations in the last 10 years.

I want you to understand a principle. It happens with people. It also happens with Christ when you mourn the service of the necessary and the expected and the required, and when your heart ticks as his heart, when your spirit is blended with his spirit, and without asking for it, you wish him to have it. When every unexpected bonus and every blessing of your life is met by the first question, “Lord, how would you want this to be used?” When the blessing that comes to your life is, “Lord, this isn’t from that company or this company, this is from you.”

When every time issue that comes to your life is not a matter of “How can I use this time to have fun?” And thank God he loves for us to enjoy our lives, and don’t anyone misread what I’m saying. He will not bereft of either comfort or finances, if your heart is one with his heart, but there will be times when the Lord will be saying something you don’t understand, something that doesn’t make sense, something that breaks in upon your normal plans, and something that lies.

“What on earth would he need water from? There’s water in the cave.” When you move beyond that rationalistic level of your Christian life, and because of love for Jesus, you push into the stage of wanting to bring him something above what you’re required, wanting to lay before his feet an offering that satisfies his heart.

That satisfies him not as required for your salvation or even for your godliness or righteousness? When I think of servanthood in ministry, there have been few examples in my life of seeing that lived out. I do see them, thank God for them. I’ve seen them in Bethlehem, in near of the church, and in the lives of certain staff members. When it doesn’t have to do with simply their giftedness or the response that comes to them, but it has to do with having heard and known a word of the Lord that God has put them in a certain position and they are to serve. They are to minister. They are to do that job as though they themselves were being served or ministered to.

That’s one of the great things I’ve enjoyed about our relationship. I’ve already said it would be stupid to suggest there have not been times of tension and times of difficulty with Pastor Mylan and myself working almost and Mylan working many hours beyond the day end on this office to do this job.

I commend Mylan to the task he’s going. That’s why I could say to Sobi, sitting at lunch when Sobi described the job he needed, “I think I know someone who would be interested.” And when I mentioned Mylan to him, because of previous conversations we had had, he said, “Surely you don’t want to lose Mylan.” I said, “No, I don’t. But it is time.” It’s time in reference to this church. It’s time in our transition. It’s time in my ministry, and it’s time for me and Mylan.

I just wonder when your life is summed up somewhere, there is some opportunity in which the crowd narrows down to the one or two, the 300 become 30, and the 30 become three. And there is a David who says of all of these, “these are the three mightiest men.” And it doesn’t have to do with how much of the enemy they defeated or how many victories they won. It has to do with something innate in the spirit of those people that pushed them into an allegiance and a loyalty in just that moment that David would say, “when I come to the throne and I believe now it’ll happen.”

I really believe David questioned that before these men came. I really believe their act was the thing that gave David the second breath to go on and to say, “it will happen, as God has said, and when I come to my position, I want these men standing beside me.” I thank God for that. I don’t take that lightly. I’ve never taken lightly someone who subjugates a gift or talent of theirs because they see a divine anointing or a divine placing of someone in a leadership capacity, willing to supplement and subjugate their own gift and place to see that the word of God be completed. Out of those relationships come the relationships that will never, ever change. People will come and go in your life. People will come and go like the sea, especially in a public man’s life. But it is rare that someone pushes into that place, and I even believe with Jesus Christ, as many of us as love him and as many around the world who worship him and adore him and hail him as king, it’s a far smaller group who have his heart to such a degree that without his command, without his order or expectation, they go beyond. If you believe Jesus Christ is who Colossians says he is, that he made it all and it’s all for him, and when it’s all over, it will find its expression in him alone. If you really believe that, then nothing could be preventing you from giving him your all.

1999 is going to be a very interesting year. Some of you will be storing food and trying to save your computers and getting ready for y2k. You have exactly 11 months and about 30 days to get ready. Others of you will find in this year the greatest opportunities of your life to serve Jesus Christ. And I’m going to say it to you as simply as I know how in closing the service. This has been such a wonderful time of family. I wanted you to come by and greet Janice and Mylan personally. Yes, it took time in the service, and the Kearneys were so gracious to just step into that slot of ministry, and I thank you so much for that.

But in 1999, I will tell you this from my heart: I’ve been in the ministry since I was 15 years of age, and how long ago that is is none of your cotton-picking business. It’s a long time. In almost every instance that Christ has asked me or I have heard his heart, it has involved serving him by way of someone else.

There’s almost always a human component of a spiritual. It almost always first reaches us in terms of something that we do for others. I thought of our brothers with their signs. I hope they’re our brothers. I’m not really sure with their sign. On the last, or the first and the last night of Bethlehem, and I mentioned them to you because I think their confusion is the confusion of many people in the church.

God is angry about sin. He was very angry about sin. That’s why he knew no law could ever accommodate sin, and he took the. And placed it on the body of his own son and his son in one act, put away all sin by the offering of himself. And I’ll say that to you to say this, that confusion keeps many of you like them on the wrong side of the issue of compass.

I don’t know where it will be with you in 1999, but I know that I, about 10 or 15 years ago, decided that where I would find his heart most expressed was through compassion, through finding the places where God would have me speak, act, and bring compassion of Christ. I think you’re going to have lots of opportunity in 1999.

I guarantee you in most instances, they will not come from God saying you do this or else it won’t come because of requirement that God places on you. He put the requirements on the sun, and what it requires of us is a heart that loves him enough to push beyond and to desire. I want you to desire a great desire.

I want you to wish a great. I want you to be able to hear his heart this year, and in the process of that, bring him water. You bring him water, they’ll, you get a little bloody in the process. No one has ever served Christ without getting a little bloody, but it is the greatest thrill in the. When you hear the heart of the master or the one through whom he has asked you to bring this service, when you hear that heart of the master say, well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful in a few things.

I will make you ruler over many. Let’s stand together, shall we?

We go out into this week and into this time, Lord, with our hearts very much attuned to you in some sweet and wonderful way. Beginning on the day before Christmas, our hearts turn to you in a unique sense. We sing old hymns, but there is something holy about these nights, and it isn’t because of a calendar thing, Lord. It’s because we set our hearts again to hear, to anticipate the song of the angels. And we set ourselves to participate in the joy of the shepherds, in the wisdom and commitment of the wise men. We set ourselves to partake in the special joy of this moment.

And Lord, with all of that in mind, this is a special, unique time for us to just open our hearts and to kind of put out all the resentment and bitterness, the anger of having been passed over, the frustration of people not believing everything the way we do, the frustration that comes from not achieving in our earthly lives those goals that we have set for ourselves.

And with all of that, Lord, passed out of our heart, our heart is attuned to you. As it was the first day we were saved, when we said, “Lord Jesus, become preeminent, be above any man or woman, be above any church or denomination, be above any experience.” And Lord, when we set you as preeminent, we open our heart to receive from you what your heart is saying, what it is you want.

Lord, we can’t hear that when the radio’s loud and the CDs are on and the TV’s blaring, and our own life is so filled with noise. But when we clear it, we begin to hear those first simple cries of our heart that say, “Jesus, you are worth everything. Nothing I will ever have is as important as you being first in my life. Be preeminent, and I want to walk worthy of you unto all pleasing, even if the rest of the world ridiculed me for it. I want to run ahead and do the thing that your heart, Christ for Father, and that which is cried for by Jesus the Christ, the Lord.”

And so we just cleared the air here this morning, and we asked for freedom this week to fully follow. And now Lord, may your counts be upon us. May grace be upon us. I’m gonna ask the Carnes to come and join me. Grab some microphones in, Alan. Can we sing before we pronounce a final minute? Dixie, can we sing Andre Crouch’s “To God Be the Glory”?

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“My Tribute” (To God be the Glory) by Andre Crouch

To God be the glory 3x

For the things He has done

With His blood He has saved me 2x 

To God be the glory 

For the things He has done

How can I say thanks for the things

You have done for me 

Things so undeserved

Yet You give to prove Your love for me

The voices of a million angels 

Could not express my gratitude 

All that I am and ever hope to be 

I owe it all to Thee

Just let me live my life 

Let it be pleasing Lord to Thee

And should I gain any praise 

Let it go to Calvary 

With His blood He has saved me

With His pow’r He has raised me

To God be the glory

For the things He has done

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You ask the elders and members of the official board, and the rest of you, to join hands across the honor term. We’re going to pray for our sister, as we announced just now. The word that Margot had and Brother Jimma reminded me of that word. We want to stand with her in this situation with Father.

Come to the front, please. Brother, sister, elders, and board members, did you say Ken? Thank you, Lord. Not only do we anoint our sister, but in her name, she stands as proxy for folk all over this auditorium who face similar situations with loved ones. Lord, we pray because there’s no distance in prayer, that You’ll go into that hospital room right now.

Lord, we know the most significant and most important thing is that this dear woman comes to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We thank You, Lord, though, for Your mercy and healing, which often is the very tool that You use to convince people of Your power and presence. So we just pray, Lord, have Your way in the glory and power of Jesus’ name in that place.

We pray the same for dear friends holding the hand of others across this auditorium. May they pray for the person on their left and the person on their right. Lord, may there be a sense of anointing upon this moment, a sense of the holy presence of God, Jesus stretching forth His hand to heal. Meeting every need, and according to His abundant riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Yes, Lord, bless us. May Your benediction be upon us in a very sacred and holy way. We ask this in Jesus’ name, and everyone said, “Amen.” Let’s just sing those last words of the prayer that our Lord Jesus gave us to pray for God. Amen. God bless you. Love somebody near you. Happy New Year! God bless you.