WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:06.060 I am going to give a pre-message to a message because I'm going to jump off of what Igor had, or Pastor Igor had been saying. 00:07.380 --> 00:11.200 Lord showed me last night. He said there's some people who are struggling with discouragement. 00:11.680 --> 00:15.480 Well, he kind of came at it from a different angle. I'm going to come at it from another angle. 00:17.800 --> 00:26.760 Weary, tired, struggling to move on, and God wants to stretch us to be able to deal with these things and move on. 00:27.320 --> 00:33.720 I'm going to talk to you a little bit about encouragement, and then we'll go to the normal message. 00:33.880 --> 00:40.060 First Samuel 30, New King James Version. We'll start at verse one. 00:41.460 --> 00:48.480 Now, it happened when David and his men came to Zyg leg on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south in Zyg leg, 00:48.680 --> 00:55.840 and Zyg leg burned it with fire. So Israel had been invaded, and the city was burned with fire. 00:57.120 --> 01:04.440 The Amalekites had taken captive the women, and those who were there from small to great, they did not kill anyone, 01:04.620 --> 01:09.780 but carried them away and went their way. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, 01:09.960 --> 01:14.160 burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, their daughters had been taken captive. 01:16.080 --> 01:18.480 That's hard on a good day, right there. 01:19.560 --> 01:24.680 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. 01:25.480 --> 01:29.260 David had two wives, names them there, they had been taken captive. 01:29.520 --> 01:32.320 Verse number six, now David was greatly distressed. 01:33.640 --> 01:37.760 For the people spoke of stoning him. That'll make it a worse day. 01:39.640 --> 01:45.100 It's not good already. The king, he needs to do something here, and the people are not happy. 01:47.560 --> 01:52.380 They spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved. 01:53.080 --> 01:55.740 Every man for his sons and his daughters. 01:56.440 --> 02:01.200 But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. 02:03.180 --> 02:09.880 Okay, so let's talk about that just a few minutes here because it goes along with being stretched. 02:11.080 --> 02:11.920 New wineskin. 02:14.000 --> 02:17.600 We can keep approaching life like we always approach life. 02:17.600 --> 02:21.340 Everybody hits discouraging times, everybody hits difficulty. 02:22.300 --> 02:25.920 That was a rough day for David, rough time for those people. 02:27.080 --> 02:33.880 The people are wanting to stone him so he can't go to them and get encouragement. 02:34.900 --> 02:36.500 They're not going to offer him any. 02:38.740 --> 02:40.640 So he encouraged himself. 02:42.260 --> 02:45.000 That is something that Christians need to learn to do. 02:45.960 --> 02:48.000 We need to learn how to grow into that. 02:48.220 --> 02:50.580 There's a stretching that takes to make that happen. 02:50.900 --> 02:52.820 Jesus said in this world you will have trouble. 02:53.060 --> 02:57.900 So just because we've got some things going bad doesn't mean that God has abandoned us. 02:59.000 --> 03:07.840 But how are we going to come out of it victorious without getting all depressed and self-pity and discouragement and so forth? 03:08.620 --> 03:11.660 The key is in verse number six. Could you bring that back up again? 03:14.660 --> 03:20.500 David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. 03:22.160 --> 03:28.980 The word Lord there is Jehovah. That's the name. 03:32.140 --> 03:38.480 The name God has been translated into the English as God. It's Elohim. 03:40.660 --> 03:43.640 If you don't have this book, you need to get it. 03:46.580 --> 03:49.480 Other papers I stuck in there. The names of God. 03:52.060 --> 03:56.780 It's out on the literature rack. They're free. If they disappear, we'll just replace them. 03:58.480 --> 04:09.550 Jehovah. Look at there. These guys are on the ball. I sent it to them this morning and they already got it. 04:10.430 --> 04:16.730 Jehovah, self-existing eternal one who keeps covenant and fulfills promises. 04:17.590 --> 04:25.970 A God who is merciful and gracious. God is not an angry God sitting on the throne waiting to beat us down. 04:27.310 --> 04:33.370 He's merciful. He's gracious. He's slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness and truth. 04:33.790 --> 04:36.530 That's what the name Jehovah means. 04:38.310 --> 04:45.770 The word Elohim which was translated God there means God's, it's speaking of three, the Trinity, 04:47.210 --> 04:56.030 total power and might, complete sovereignty, complete creativity, creative power, complete power, 04:56.230 --> 04:59.870 complete creative power, complete creativity, completely sovereign. 04:59.870 --> 05:10.470 He owns total power and might and he has made promises to us and he doesn't need anything to sustain those promises 05:10.470 --> 05:18.210 because he's self-existing Jehovah. He's eternal and his attitude is he's merciful and he's gracious 05:18.210 --> 05:24.950 and he's slow to anger. David knew who God was. 05:25.630 --> 05:37.030 If you jump over to where David confronted Goliath, this is when he was younger, David confronted Goliath. 05:38.670 --> 05:48.520 On the way to deliver the stone, he yelled, 05:48.520 --> 06:01.120 You come to me with your spear and sword, but I come to you in the name of the Lord. 06:01.420 --> 06:03.780 Have you ever looked up what that is there? 06:08.740 --> 06:15.460 Jehovah, the God of covenant. Remember he told his brothers, 06:15.460 --> 06:19.900 he said, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that you even let him talk to you that way? 06:20.400 --> 06:22.180 Do you know what he's referring to? They're covenant. 06:23.680 --> 06:25.700 We're in covenant with God. Who is this clown? 06:27.980 --> 06:30.080 Why are you letting him talk to you that way? 06:32.560 --> 06:39.880 Jehovah, Sabaoth, it's the name of God that means the God of war, service and the appointed time. 06:41.200 --> 06:50.600 Notice he said, I'm coming at you, Goliath, in covenant with God, and he is the God of war. 06:50.720 --> 06:56.060 He's going to take you out. You come at me with a sword and a spear, whatever. 06:57.680 --> 07:00.020 I'm coming to you with something much greater. 07:00.880 --> 07:09.460 Back in 1 Samuel 30, he encouraged himself in the fact he knew who God was 07:09.880 --> 07:14.620 and once you know who God is, you now can know who you are in him. 07:15.920 --> 07:20.820 If you don't know who God is, then it's like, well, who am I? What am I going to do? How am I going to handle this? 07:21.280 --> 07:25.940 But if you know who he is, wait a second, he's Jehovah. Run it back to that name. 07:27.000 --> 07:33.700 He's Jehovah. He has been around forever. He self exists. He doesn't need anyone. 07:34.620 --> 07:38.760 And he has decided to keep covenant and fulfill promises with me. 07:40.320 --> 07:50.830 With me, David knew him. He knew what he was like. 07:53.370 --> 07:57.310 And then he drew on God's creative power. 07:58.870 --> 08:03.710 God is totally sovereign. He has complete power and control. 08:05.030 --> 08:13.030 If he doesn't, if there's no answer that exists to fix what you're needing, he will create one. 08:14.530 --> 08:21.070 He's Elohim. The Israelites are coming from Egypt to the Promised Land. 08:22.870 --> 08:27.450 Never in the history of the world had manna ever happened. 08:30.070 --> 08:36.150 They had a problem. I mean, how are you going to feed several million people that long? 08:37.470 --> 08:42.410 Of course, they lengthened it some. It wasn't supposed to be quite that long, 08:42.410 --> 08:46.390 but they decided to lengthen that. They enjoyed the wilderness so much. 08:47.810 --> 08:52.950 For 40 years, how are you going to feed several million people for 40 years? 08:55.290 --> 08:57.770 Going into it, if Moses would have said, well, we can't do that. 08:57.830 --> 09:03.870 There's no way to feed them for 40 days. And what happens if it takes us longer and lack of faith just quit? 09:04.070 --> 09:08.710 No, he just did what God said. And God said, I'll create something if I need to. And he did. 09:08.710 --> 09:18.930 He created manna. Whatever you're facing, that's discouraging you. 09:20.690 --> 09:25.570 Who is He to you? Do you know? If you don't, it's time to get to know. 09:26.210 --> 09:28.950 You've got to get to know Him. Get this book that will help you. 09:29.390 --> 09:32.550 It will give you some place to at least start. Who is He to you? 09:32.870 --> 09:36.130 Because whatever He is to you is what you become in Him. 09:37.450 --> 09:46.890 See, if He is the one who keeps covenant and fulfills promises, that means from me to Him, He's going to keep His word to me. 09:46.990 --> 09:55.740 Well, what has He told you? I am on the receiving end of a God who is merciful, gracious, slow to anger. 09:56.900 --> 10:01.060 I am on the receiving end of the God who has all creative power. 10:01.920 --> 10:05.160 And He wants to fulfill and keep His promises to me. 10:07.680 --> 10:16.920 David encouraged himself, not by, oh, I'm going to have to figure this out, or I find somebody that can say something nice to me. 10:17.100 --> 10:18.460 I hope somebody is with me. 10:18.780 --> 10:25.620 David encouraged himself in who God was to him, which made him to be something to God. 10:28.380 --> 10:31.680 And I'm sure if we were there, he sat on that for a bit. 10:31.800 --> 10:33.680 That wasn't just a momentary decision. 10:33.680 --> 10:39.680 He might have walked away and said, I got to talk to God for a bit and sat under a tree for an hour and rehearsed. 10:40.260 --> 10:47.420 Who are you? What have you told me? Who am I to you? 10:49.600 --> 10:56.400 And got that settled again so His own discouragement wouldn't destroy the whole mission. 10:57.880 --> 11:03.660 Once He got that settled, then He got up and said, what's God telling us to do with this? 11:03.680 --> 11:05.120 This problem right here. 11:06.760 --> 11:12.040 First He got Himself back on track with God. He encouraged Himself. 11:13.160 --> 11:15.420 Then He addressed the issue at hand. 11:17.300 --> 11:19.580 A lot of times we as Christians, do you know what we do? 11:20.560 --> 11:26.260 We address the issue at hand without stopping to realize who we are and what He said to us. 11:28.000 --> 11:31.580 Oh man, it went bad. What are we going to do now? We can't do this. We can't... 11:31.580 --> 11:34.740 Wait, wait, just slow the boat down. Who is He? 11:36.520 --> 11:39.180 Who are we to Him? What does He promise us? 11:40.140 --> 11:41.920 Because He's not a man that He's going to lie. 11:43.540 --> 11:45.380 Let's get ourself grounded again. 11:46.960 --> 11:50.540 Now, okay, Lord, what do you want us to do with this problem? 11:52.940 --> 11:54.720 Knowing everything is established. 11:56.000 --> 12:03.100 Don't try to figure out what to do with the problem until you've grounded yourself in faith again. 12:04.280 --> 12:07.180 Grounded yourself in who you are in Him and who He is to you. 12:07.420 --> 12:10.160 You say, well, I don't know. Well, study to show yourself approved. 12:12.600 --> 12:15.480 That's why we need to spend some time in the book. 12:16.040 --> 12:19.260 That's why we need to spend some time studying the book. 12:20.740 --> 12:24.740 Because when we hit that wall, and we all hit it from time to time, 12:24.800 --> 12:28.240 when we hit that wall, we need a resource to go back to and say, 12:28.340 --> 12:31.860 but wait a second, this is who God is. 12:32.160 --> 12:34.940 This is what His word declares Him to be. This is who I am to Him. 12:35.300 --> 12:38.880 This is what He promised to me. This is what He told me. 12:41.360 --> 12:44.040 Nah, we're not going to bow for this. 12:47.000 --> 12:52.960 In David's case, we're going to go get our wives and sons and daughters. 12:53.060 --> 12:56.640 We're going to get them all back. What if you get killed? 12:57.880 --> 13:01.840 No, no, no. Wait a second. I served Jehovah Elohim. 13:03.220 --> 13:07.200 I know who He is to me. I know who I am to Him. That is settled. 13:09.260 --> 13:12.840 The Amalekites are not in covenant with God. I am. 13:15.750 --> 13:23.890 And He took the step forward on the basis of Jehovah Elohim, His God. 13:24.910 --> 13:28.270 And see, that goes way deeper than, well, He believed in the Lord God. 13:28.670 --> 13:30.710 No, no, no. That goes way deeper than that. 13:31.690 --> 13:35.790 That's where He drew His strength from. That's where we need to draw our strength from. 13:36.850 --> 13:44.210 And we need to grow and be stretched to the point where those resources 13:44.310 --> 13:48.310 are quickly, readily available to us to grab and say, 13:48.850 --> 13:53.390 No, this is what He said. No, this is what He said I am. No, this is who He is. 13:54.570 --> 13:58.410 He is faithful. He's true. He's not going to lie. He's not going to back off. 13:59.150 --> 14:04.190 And we just reground ourselves and go, yeah, wait a second. 14:05.890 --> 14:09.190 This don't look good right now, but the dust hasn't settled yet. 14:09.190 --> 14:10.170 That's right. 14:10.950 --> 14:14.610 Wait till the dust settles. This is going to turn around. 14:15.730 --> 14:20.990 So Lord, I pray for everyone who is weary, who's tired. 14:22.730 --> 14:26.330 You're stretching us. You're growing us. 14:27.670 --> 14:30.690 Everyone who's gotten discouraged because they're facing something. 14:31.210 --> 14:33.310 Grow us in this, Lord. 14:34.250 --> 14:42.330 Grow us so that we can actually stop and re-cement our position in you 14:42.330 --> 14:46.290 because we know you and we know you know us. 14:46.750 --> 14:49.230 And there is a relationship. There's a covenant. 14:49.510 --> 14:54.610 There are promises that we are living in and we're not going to be turned one way or the other. 14:55.230 --> 15:02.910 We're going to follow you and regroup, regroup emotionally, regroup in our faith, 15:03.310 --> 15:10.010 regroup in our thinking, calm all the racing thoughts and all the unbelief that tries to set in 15:10.010 --> 15:13.810 and just say, no, we're not doing that. And get it all calm. 15:14.090 --> 15:18.530 Teach us, grow us, stretch us to become a people like that. 15:19.370 --> 15:22.490 Then we'll stop and say, okay, what do you want us to do? 15:24.570 --> 15:28.810 And get your leading. In Jesus' name, amen.