Peace/Anxiety | Part 4

Welcome. If you're online, this is great. Hey, we're talking about this idea of unpackaging, how to have peace in the midst of anxiety and and what to do. So I wanna show you some maybe some anxiety giving pictures,

But they have a point. There are pictures of people like cutting corners. I actually took them off of a website called Why Women Live Longer.

And and and and and so I just wanna show you a few of these to make a point. Like there's one. You know this whole website has a lot of ladder related corner. These be it they were pretty much guys cutting corners on how to get stuff done. So that's probably not smart. Let's look at the next one.

This is probably the dumbest one. Alcohol, electricity, water, and you notice what their power strips floating on? Those are flip flops. Wow. Let's go to the next one here. That is like, giant rock above my head. Two sticks ought to do. There you go. Let's let's see the next one here. This is one of my favorites.

The forklift isn't tall enough. We'll get the other forklift. And then let's go on here. Next one. This is crazy to me. First of all, I wish there was a picture two seconds later that we could see. And then secondly, think about how how how dumb they are. There's three of them throwing it over, only two gonna catch it.

That doesn't add up. Let's go to the next one. That's an interesting way to trim the hedges. Nice. Nice. Let's see the next one. That that truck isn't worth that. So I wouldn't do it. Let's go to the next one here. This one's interesting. Gotta obey

gotta obey OSHA standards by having a safety line. I bet his wife's the one that put that one on him for him. So then the last one here I think. Yeah. There it is. My favorite one. You're putting up the think safety first sign with actually no regard for safety at all.

And that kind of sums up what I want to talk about today when it comes to anxiety. A lot of times we end up with anxiety because we have these anxious moments. We have these stressful moments. We have these fearful moments. And then we choose to to make choices out of that fear, out of that frustration.

And in other words, we are tempted to cut corners. We cut corners for the sake of convenience. Either I could do it faster, it costs less. But the problem is you saw with those pictures. When you cut corners for convenience, in the end it's more costly.

Because in the end, it when we do that in our lives, it cuts us off from as Philippians four says, a peace that transcends all understanding. And so I just want to unpack it a little bit today with the simple big idea here. Is is when when anxiety cuts into you, don't cut corners.

Don't cut corners. Don't fall for the temptation to go, what is the easiest, fastest way to get out of this scenario? Basically, is the God honoring way? What is God calling me to do through this scenario? Because if I do cut the corners, I may get away from this issue that's right now causing anxiety.

But I might open up 10 more anxieties in doing it. So where we're gonna look at this is we're gonna be in a passage in the book of first Samuel in the Old Testament.

And it's in first Samuel 24. And we're gonna be looking at a story that happens between a king and the guy that's gonna be king. The king is named King Saul. He was the first king of Israel.

And and what we see in his story is he became king, but he was a corner cutter. I mean, you wanna think about it, he just cut corners all the time. He was a king that believed in God, but didn't actually really trust God very often. And he would cut corners, cut corners, cut corners to to just to summarize it really quickly. God end up saying, hey, you're not gonna be, your family line is not gonna maintain the kingdom of Israel. A new one will be king. And that new one was actually a shepherd boy that had anointed when he was young named David. And he was gonna be the next king. But he didn't become king right away. And and David knew that he was he just had to wait until God made him king.

And and so what happens in the meantime is David rises to prominence as a warrior in the court and all this. And as Saul starts to be a corner cutter that he is, he starts to watch the popularity of David. He gets consumed with jealousy and he decides I'm gonna cut a corner. I'm gonna stop this guy from being ever being able to be king or anything. And he actually starts to try to kill David.

And that culminates in David spends ten years on the run.

Ten years on the run. And he ends up living out in some weird places. And the story we're gonna pick up is he has been on the run for a long time. Saul has been trying to kill him. And he is actually now in the lowest of low places. He's hiding out in caves. He's living in caves in a place called En Gedi, which is right next to the Dead Sea.

I've been there. It's not a pretty place. And and and the reality is he's living in a cave, which is symbolic. When you get to a dark place, you're you're like, man, I feel like I'm living in a cave. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on planet Earth. So he's literally in the lowest place on the planet in a cave.

And that really matches where he is emotionally.

He he's a little drained. He's a little bit and he's gonna run into this this run-in with Saul we're gonna look at. But to just set the stage of how you know where his, heart is at this moment, where he would be so tempted to cut corners. Like I'm so sick of running. This guy's trying to kill me. You think you'd be done with it? Well, Psalms one forty two actually was written by David during this time when he was in this cave. So we know what his emotions were like in this moment. I just wanna read the first four verses to kinda set up how he his state of mind in this moment. It says here, I cry out to the Lord. I plead for the Lord's mercy. I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.

When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn. Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me. I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought. No one will help me. No one cares a bit what happens to me. That sounds like someone who's a little bit discouraged, doesn't it?

Maybe you're there. Isn't that kind of way we get when we get really overwhelmed with life and things are not working? Isn't it easy to like retreat into a cave, go to a low place, and then start to think no one gives a rip about me. Maybe you're in one of those moments right now.

If you're in one of those places right now, this is a dangerous moment for you. Because this is the moment when the temptation is the greatest to cut the corner for the convenience.

I want to get out of this. I'll do what it takes. And we don't usually think about what's next. We don't think through the ramifications of cutting corners when when it comes in. So now that we know that's how he's feeling in this time, let's go to the actual story. It's in first Samuel 24

and says this, after Saul returned from fighting the Philistines,

so he's at war right now, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En Gedi. So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all of Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats. So think, he's at war. Here's a cut corner cutting. He is so jealous and so frustrated that during a time of war, he takes his 3,000 best troops to go hunt down one guy.

And so he does. It says in verse three, at the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. Now that's a euphemism. He was going to the bathroom.

It's what it says. Mean, he was literally. And we, that's critical to the story because what we know about that there that God had given them sanitation requirements, especially for a standing army in a camp, is you couldn't go to the bathroom near the camp. So you had to go out and leave. So he found this cave. Probably found a nice cool dark place to do his business.

And and and so, it's literally a man cave for him at this moment. And and got his reading material and he goes and and and what it tells us though is you know he's alone. He separated from his his men. And then it says this, but as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in that very cave.

So I just read, he's in this lowest place. He's been on the run. He's been hiding for years. He's frustrated. He's supposed to be. He was told by God. He was anointed when he was much younger. He's gonna be the next king and life just keeps getting worse and worse. And now the very guy that's made his life terrible, that that is not a good king, that's been chasing him down, walks in to go to the bathroom. And he's got all of his men. He's in the cave. Saul's all alone. And I gotta tell you, there is no

more vulnerable position to be in than going to the restroom. What do you think he's tempted to do? What would you be tempted to do? I know what I'm tempted to do. And I probably would have done it if I didn't know the story. The story would only have one more sentence.

And then Bill ran and stuck a spear through this guy's throat. No throat punching and it'd be done with. That's what I'd be tempted to do.

And you would think that's a David was probably tempted to do that too. So what happens? So he's sitting there. They see this. But look what his what his men do. Now is your opportunity, David's men whispered to him. Today, the Lord is telling you, I will certainly put your enemy into your power to do it as you wish.

So his men say, hey, there's the chance. Here's the idea. Here's it is. God, they actually phrase it. They church it up and sound make it sound spiritual.

God's telling you, you have to do this. The problem is we know from other scripture and we know of the time and the end. Like, God did not tell him to kill the king. Matter of fact, he knows he's not supposed to raise a hand against the king. Both personally and culturally, he knows that if I go end him,

I he would be seen as a usurper.

But think about it. When you're low in that moment and you have friends telling you and they church it up and make it sound spiritual, like, of course, we're in this cave. God put him there. This is obviously God's will. That butterfly landed right when you were thinking about this. And you looked at that and the way the light shone through the wings, it told you you should run off and sell everything and move to Tasmania. You know, kinda one of those deals. You know, we over spiritualize something. He thought since the door is open. But get this, God will never I mean, if you just just write this down. If you just get this, your whole life will be different. God will never tell you to do something he's already told you not to do.

God will never tell you to do something He's already told you not to do. But in those dark moments, how easy it to listen to your friends egging you on. I mean, lot of us we do that. We actually have those moments where we we know what we're tempted to do and we know which friends to ask.

We know which ones will say, yeah, do it. We we self select our advisors sometimes, don't we? You're like, alright, I know this is probably dumb to do, but so I know I know my dumb friends that will encourage me to do it. I'm gonna go ask them about it and then they'll whisper me, do it, do it To the yeah. And then what that's kinda what he's in this moment. His friends are basically like, do it. Do it. And you think he'd be so tempted just end them. So then look what it says what he does.

It says, so David crept forward.

And says, he cut off the corner of the hem of his robe.

Wow. That was really anticlimactic. I bet his friends were like, what? You cut the wrong place. What are you doing? So he cuts the hem of his robe. He doesn't even kill him. But then look at David, he feels convicted about it. Says, but then David's conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul's robe.

He said to his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this to my Lord the king. I shouldn't attack the Lord's anointed one. For the Lord himself has chosen him. So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul. So his men were like, alright, we'll do it. Maybe he didn't tell you. And he's like,

But what why why would he feel convicted about cutting the hem of his rope? He cut the corner off. Because he didn't do the big corner cutting. He didn't go all in and kill him. But what he did do was still he cut a little corner. He gave in a little bit to that frustration.

He gave in a little bit to that fear. He's so frustrated. He's like, I know I can't kill him. I know I'm not supposed to, but I gotta let a little bit of this out. Because cutting the hem of a of a robe of a king is an act of humiliation. He wouldn't kill him, but he was gonna humiliate him.

He he was gonna like say, hey. And it's also an act that if you held it up, you're basically humiliating by saying, you're not really a legitimate king. I am. So he didn't go all in and kill him, but he did cut this little corner.

And that's what he felt convicted about. Because it wasn't a good thing to do.

And you're thinking, hey, how do I relate to this story? King, a future king, they're relieving themselves in caves. They got men. They're fighting. They're cutting hems. But you know what? And the basic storyline is, this is a guy that's jealous, that's chasing this guy down. He has a chance to get back at him. He doesn't wipe him out, but he does take the opportunity to humiliate him a little bit.

And I think that's what we do a lot. We cut these little corners in our relationships. And that and when we cut the corners, it doesn't help. Giving vent to that doesn't help. It only causes more anxiety. Let me give you example.

Men, you're married. You have a tough marriage going on right now. You're like, but you know what? I know God doesn't want me to leave. I got kids. I'm gonna stay committed. I'm not leaving. But every time she's asleep at night, I'm gonna get on the computer and start looking at porn. You just cut the corner off.

Or ladies, you you're frustrated with your husband. Like, you know what? I'm not gonna do anything. I'm not gonna I'm gonna try to stay loving to him and all that. But then you go to your your your your your your women's little bible study tea, whatever. I don't know what you guys do. And

you get together and you just unload. Not in a way I need prayer, I need support, I need help working through my own issues. You just dump all over your husband in a humiliating way. And you don't realize that you realize you can gossip about your spouse.

Talking to other people about something that you haven't worked through with the other person is just as much gossip if you're married to them. You're letting that frustration out. And then you want him to go, he's church. You want everyone to agree with you. Kill him.

That's what I'm assuming happens in these meetings. Kill them. Kill them. I I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm I'm just dumb illustration. Sorry. You know what I mean. You vent and that doesn't really help you. It doesn't alleviate.

You know, looking at porn, dumping on each other, doing That does not help you. It creates an anxiety all of its own. It creates another whole world of anxiety. Don't cut corners for convenience. It's costly and it cuts you off from the peace that surpasses all understanding.

So we need to go. So David doesn't do it. He feels a little bit bad about that, but at least he he he didn't kill him. He steps back. He feels convicted. He deals with it. And then he stops his men.

And then it goes on to say, after Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, David came out and shouted after him, my Lord, the the king. And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him. Then he shouted to Saul, why do you listen to the people who say I'm trying to harm you? This very day you can see with your own eyes, it isn't true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave. Some of my men told me to kill you but I spared you. For I said I will never harm the king. He's the Lord's anointed one. Look my father. He's being super respectful.

You know why? If you've ever been in the military, you get it. You salute the rank, not the man. He's he's respecting the office that God had appointed. He's king.

And what have I have in my and and look at what I have in my hand. It's a piece of the hem of your robe. I cut it off but I didn't kill you. This proves I'm not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.

Then he goes, may the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you're trying to do to me, but I will never harm you.

As that old proverb says, from evil people come evil deeds. So you can be sure I will never harm you. Who is the king of Israel trying to catch anyway? Should he spend his time chasing one who is as worthless as a dead dog or a single flea? May the Lord therefore judge which of us is right and punish the guilty one. He is my advocate and he will rescue me from your power. He's saying I am going to refuse to give in to the temptation to cut corners.

I'm going to trust God's plan. Even if it seems painful. Even if it seems like I'm all alone in this. Even if it seems like, wow, why would God do this to me? Even if it feels like maybe God is fighting against me. He's gonna not cut the corners.

He says, when David had finished speaking, Saul called back. Is that really you, my son David? Since you're listen how Saul responds. Then he began to cry. So Saul breaks down and cries. Seems like, wow, he's owning it. Is he?

Or is he kinda like your kid when they start crying when they get in trouble? They're not really remorseful for what they did. They're remorseful that they got caught.

It's probably a little bit what's going on with Saul. But I think he was also a little bit genuine here. It says he begins to cry. And he said to David, you are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil. Yes, you have been amazingly kind to me today. For when the Lord put me in a place where you could have killed me, you didn't do it. Who else would let his enemy get away when he had his him in his power? May the Lord reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today. And now I realize that you are surely gonna be king and that the kingdom of Israel will flourish under your rule. You're gonna be king and I know you're gonna be a better king than me.

Now swear to me. Now now let's stop there. So he he shares all this stuff. It seems like he has a really honest moment where he gets really emotional. But it doesn't last.

And we'll see here in a minute. It doesn't last because it's really at the heart of what makes David different than Saul. It's not that David doesn't cut corners. He cut a corner even the story. He cut lots of bigger corners of life. If you go read his story, he fell into a lot of sin.

But there's something that's different about it. Because what Saul does here is I believe he had a moment of clarity where he wanted to own up to this. But then he went home and went right back. We know for a fact that after he leaves here, he goes right back to trying to kill David.

It's like he had this moment, he had an emotional experience, But he didn't have the tools and didn't make the decisions necessary to to to walk away from that and maintain that. Which I think is a lot a lot of what we do a lot of times. We'll come to church, we have an emotional experience.

You feel like, wow, that was a powerful moment. And you realize, man, I'm kinda broken before God.

And you sit in the moment and you think that emotional moment is the breakthrough and the change. That's just the booster rocket to get you off the ground to where God wants to take you. But then we walk out of here and we didn't make any other changes. We didn't make some fundamental shifts in how we're supposed to operate in our walk with God. And guess what? If you don't allow God to take you where you want to go, you just feel in the moment,

you're gonna go right back to the way you were living before. Nothing's gonna change.

And we get hint at it right here because look what Saul says to him. After he shares all that, he goes, he asked for a favor. Now swear to me by the Lord that when that happens, you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants.

He immediately says, don't kill the line of descendants. Now you think, oh, he cares for his family. Partially. But the line of descendants means, because maybe one of my descendants will rise up and reclaim the throne.

He's making an assumption that David would do that, first of all. But he's not. So he's asking for a favor. And you think David's like, really?

You've been trying to kill me. You now admit that that was wrong. You now admit I'm supposed to be king. I'll be the better king. And all you got to say for yourself is, I need you to do me a favor?

David says, okay. So David promised this to Saul with an oath. He he followed through on it too, by the way. He found the one descendant that was left after Saul's dead and he becomes king, and he adopts him. So he kept his oath. He cut a corner, but by my conscience, he repented from it.

Saul in this moment acts like, okay, I feel bad, but doesn't really change. And I think David kinda knew that. Because it says so after they promised the oath, says, so Saul went home, but David and his men went back to their stronghold. He may have said that, but I'm not following him. We're not going back there.

So what's different? What is different about how how Saul in these moments has a moment where he seems to get very emotional, but then goes right back to corner cutting. And how David will cut corners, but somehow can pull back from it. And the Bible says that Saul was rejected,

but David was called a man after God's own heart. But they both sinned. They both cut corners. They both struggled. What's the difference? What made them different? Well, I want to read another verse to you. But basically,

every time Saul is confronted in scripture with cutting a corner, he makes an excuse. There's always a reason why he had to not listen to God. There's always a reason why he he did it this way instead of that way. Do you do that? Do you sit there and ignore what God says? Hey, you're in a stressful situation.

And he said and you know God's word says, hey, go this route. Nope. And then if someone calls you out or your own conviction, you read it, you hear a sermon, you hear it, and and your heart gets defensive

and says, but you don't understand. But I had this, I had this, I had that. You know, we I have a reason why we can't trust God. We believe in God, but we have a lot of reasons why we don't trust God. That's what Saul would do.

David would fall and still because we're broken people. We struggle. We give into our anxiety sometimes. But the difference was whenever David would have it get called out, he would confess.

He would confess. Even in this moment with his little car. He he kind of felt conviction of his own. Why was he able to feel convicted on his own in this moment? Why does Saul just keep walking away? What what what's the deal? How can we walk out of here? Even if we have this moment in this service where you like, you know, I do feel convicted. I've cut some corners. Get it. How do I go out here and allow the peace that transcends all understanding to to to be with me and help empower me to get past these things.

Well, the difference can be found in if we go back to, Psalms one forty two verse five. So here he is. I'm all alone. No one gives a rip about me. But then verse five says this, then I pray to you, oh Lord. Then I pray to you. When he's in these moments, he turns to his relationship with God. He talks to God.

And he goes really deep in the seat. As I say, you are my place of refuge. And then I love this. You are all I really want in life. There's the key. You are all I really want in life. The difference between David and Saul is Saul, all he really wanted was things from God. David, in his heart of hearts, knew

all he really needed was God. How about you?

Why are you at church? Are you here because you're just a religious person? Well, I believe there's a God and I don't want him to be mad at me? Or I believe he's a God and wanna know how to work the system. I believe there's a God and I think if I come here and I pray hard enough or I I act cool enough or or or maybe he'll just give me what I really want in life, which is this. I want peace. I want this. I want that. I want these other things. Do you really want the things that God gives you? Or do you really understand that God made you? He loves you. He created you. He knows you better than you know yourself.

He he knows how life works. And you need to trust him because all we really need for this life and all of eternity is him. Can you embrace that? Because if you can't embrace that, then I don't know why you would come to church or why you would say you're a Christian. Because that old statement, you're doing it wrong.

It's not how it works. See David in his heart of hearts knew that to be true. He still anxieties of life, stress, sin, selfishness, it still rears its head and he would cut a corner here and there. But what made him a man after God's own heart is he embraced all he really needed was God.

And you know why he's able to do that? He talked to God. If you read the Psalms, you could read that he he had a really good relationship with God and that's the key. Here's how you do it. Simple principle. It's one I'm gonna say right here. If I cut corners with my relationship with God,

I will cut corners in the way I live. If I cut corners with my relationship with God, I will cut corners in the way I live. See, if you're a religious person, you come here and what you're hearing in my message is stop cutting corners in the way I live.

And I'm here to say, no, no, no. Stop cutting corners in your relationship with God, and then the way you live will sort itself out.

You see, David was able to turn back around and be convicted on this because he really, really, really chose to walk with God in a consistent manner. He had a real relationship. He talked to him all the time. He did. And and what do I mean when I say what? Do you have a real relationship with God? Not just you come to church, but do you talk to God? Prayer.

Do you listen to God? Read his word. That's why I say always get in the word. Be in prayer. Have a quiet time today. A devotional time. Have times other than when you're at church. Because think about it. That's how you get to know God. Think about it. If someone you barely know

takes you on a trip to a sketchy part of town and says we gotta go down that street. And it's already looking sketchy. And he goes, well, where we're really going is see where the lights out are out ahead? The the the street lights don't even work and all those weird people are standing around. We gotta go through that, and then it gets even more scary and around the corner, but then it'll become to a good place. Well, if someone tries to have you get out the car and walk through that and you have you barely know them. You talk to them once a week. Actually, you listen to someone else talk to you about them once a week. And and and you come two to maybe three times a month, if that. One to three times a month. And then they you they invite you. Are you what are you gonna do what they want you to do?

You're like, as long as we're going someplace fun, I'm in. The second it gets dark and scary, I'm out. But what if it's someone you know that is sacrificed? They threw a jumped on a grenade for you literally.

And they lie and you've known them your whole life. You spend time with them every day. You trust them. You know they love you. And they say trust me. That looks scary, but there's something on the other side of it. You would still be scared. You'd still feel a little bit of terror.

But you would go with them, wouldn't you?

This message is simply saying this. There's a lot of reasons we have anxiety. But today's message is, could some of the anxiety you'd be having solely be because you don't really trust Jesus? Because you don't really know Jesus? Because you don't really spend time in a relationship with Jesus? And that is really

why you are experiencing so much anxiety. Because you keep cutting corners, and that makes more problems.

And then you get to the point that you feel all alone in a cave, at the lowest place you've ever been, and you're tempted to say, and God is fighting me too. Why if God is so loving, that's what somebody say. Well, that's true. So but if God loves me so much, why did he let this happen? Why did he let that happen? That's exactly what the enemy wants to do. He wants to cut you off from God. Because if he can get you to cut off from God, if you can cut corners,

he can cut you down. Cause it cuts you off from God. And that cuts you off from hope. And that cuts you off from everything. So that is why I say, are you in the word? Do you know how to read the Bible? Do you pray? Do you talk to God? And you know what's another strong element when it comes to this battle in life?

Worship. David was a man of worship.

He didn't just go through the word of God to know it. He would say stuff like, I want you to search my heart. He wanted the word of God to go through him. And then and then a lot of these Psalms got turned into they were songs they would sing. Man, he was a worshiper. He was a musician. He was a warrior musician, which is a weird thing today. We don't think about that. We think of the opposite. But in the Bible times, do you realize who led their armies into battle?

The band went first. That seems like, well, there's a way to get people killed.

You know, like, you know, they're all, you know, playing the violin and walking into battle. That sounds dumb. But you realize that God used that. He was trying to show them in a very literal sense, a very spiritually significant literal sense of how God works in our lives. Worship of God is not about an egomaniacal

God like the the gods of Olympus that need our prayers and worship to empower them up. He knows that when we worship him, it empowers us and it actually causes the enemies to flee. The enemy will flee when you worship God. It's it's it's like the song we just sang. What's on my weapon? My weapon is a melody.

And that when God's people sing, literally in the Old Testament, when they would sing going in a battle, that most of the time the singing, the worship, God would then cause the enemy to get all disoriented

and they'd fight each other and the war was pretty much almost won before their army even got there. Worship was the way of war. It's the spiritual warfare way. It's the way you make your enemy flee. Did you realize that I'm not making this up? When we stand here and sing together, that causes the enemy to flee. The enemy will run from us. He doesn't like to hear God's people worshiping God. He can't stand to it. It's like a weapon straight to the heart.

Do you believe that? But most of us when we say, you come in late? Because you think it's just the warm up act.

If we ever flip it around, you get really mad. They tricked me.

Guys, listen to me because we're the worst at this. If you were handed a rifle and said, we're gonna go fight right now. We have to go into literal combat. But we knew for a fact, we're fighting aliens. It's like, you know, one of those aliens comes to take over the world. And we found out that if we sing,

it disorients the aliens, and we can they die basically without us even it's Mars attacks, man. Hank Williams junior. You put it on there. It's an old reference, but if you got it, it's funny. If we just go in and sing, the battle is pretty much won. But if we try to fight with our weapons, we're probably overwhelmed.

If you knew that was for a fact, would you go, I'm not gonna sing. I'll fight it out. Because I don't really like music. I'm not a music person. I'm not gonna have easy victory. And besides, I don't like the song we have to sing. Good. We're not singing the song to you.

You don't like the songs we sing. Good. Song's not for you. It's not about you. Our weapon is a melody, guys. Man, we like to think I'm gonna be a leader. I'm the defender. We wanna be the hero of the home. You wanna defend your home? You wanna be a real hero? Be the loudest singer in the room. That's courage.

That's being a man. That's what King David did. And I guarantee he could probably walk through any of us in this room like a warm knife through butter if he wanted to. That's what it means. Don't cut corners. We cut corners in our worship and then we wonder why we're overwhelmed by the enemy.

We will cut corners in our in our in our in the entire time in the word so we don't even understand what God is really doing. We don't know him. We cut corners in our prayer. So since we can't pour our heart out to him, we we pour it out in all kinds of weird ways and sideways.

But what happens if we stopped cutting corners in our walk with God? The enemy would flee. That's why we need it. Not so God will love you. Already loves you. You don't do these things because like maybe I'll appease an angry God and he'll stop fighting me. He's not fighting us. He's fighting for us always.

Always. But he's gonna put you in scenarios that's gonna feel like he's fighting against you if your goal is not him.

Does that make sense? That's really the bottom line. It's really what I'm talking about is is is how how have I been cut just ask yourself, how am I cutting corners, both good and bad? Have I been cutting corners in the way I live?

Maybe just reflect on how am I cutting corners in the way I'm walking with God? And try to stop because that's what separated David from Saul. And the way I think about it where especially

it's easy to cut corners when you're in your lowest of lows. When like David was, it would be so easy to sit in that moment and feel like, but

what if I feel like God doesn't even care about me? What if I feel like he's fighting me? Like I said, there's times when it feels like He's fighting you, when He's really fighting for you. The best way can describe is when I was a kid,

like, know, one of my earliest memories is my mom. I have this memory that do you ever get those memories that are so seared in you? Like, as you describe, you can feel it, you know it, you still have the smells. I'd like to say I remember it like yesterday, but as I'm getting older, I don't remember yesterday as well as I remember this story. And it was weird. Was with my mom, I like five, she goes, we have to go to the store. I hated going to the store. She was just trust me, we'll go to the store, we'll have fun. I'm like fun at the store, that's not going to be fun. But she drags me to the store. We walk in, it's around Halloween time, I'm like five years old, so I'm holding my mom's hand, just kinda walking in. I don't know why, I guess I was a bull legged cowboy when I was five years old. But I I I'm walking with my mom and as we walked in, since it was Halloween time, they had all the displays with candy.

And and and and you know,

sales people are smart. Put the cookies on the bottom shelf. So they put everything a kid would want at kid level. So I'm staring at everything good. So I'm like, mom, I want candy. Mom, want Mom, I want cookies. No, don't trust me. No sweets. I don't want enough candy right now. Just don't. Just trust me. Let's get this over with. We'll get out of here. Quit bugging me. Mom, I want candy. Mom, want candy. Some of you are having PTSD flashbacks. But but I'm sitting there, and so she finally says no. She gets in line, and one of her friends starts walks up and starts talking to her. So So I'm just standing there behind her and I look and there's one of these display things with candy. I'm just looking at it.

Remember I said, you don't you stare at the problem, you start moving towards it. And so I'm staring at this thing and I looked down and one of the bags of candy was ripped open a little. The candy was exposed. It was just sitting there relieving itself.

And I didn't have men with me, but I had an army in my head. Do it. Do it. Do it. And I felt like, why is mom not letting me have candy? She dragged me to the store. It's unfair. She knows I I'm hungry. She knows I want something sweet. And she's standing me

stand right in front of this bag of candy. It's been ripped open. It's as if the universe, God is telling me, take and eat. And and so I I actually reached and I grabbed a bite.

I'm like that that's not enough. It's like but I and and I end up like chipmunk cheeks like but I knew that wasn't gonna be enough. I go, I'm gonna she's gonna turn around any second. So I need more for later. So I then I grabbed a bunch of candy, put it in my pockets. And I'm like, choo choo choo. Ready to go? Yeah,

mom. So we walk out. Well, as I was walking out, I felt convicted.

I was like David in that moment. Man, I cut this corner. She told me no sweets, but I really wanted sweets. I took the convenient way out. I just did it myself. So I decided to do something really dumb. Instead of just owning it and confessing it, I did what a lot of us are tempted to do even right now in this message. When I say how have you been cutting corners? You know. And what you're gonna wanna do, especially if it's the porn thing. If that porn thing hit you between the eyes guys, here's what you're do. Here's what you're saying and you're gonna be freaked out that I'm gonna tell you this because I know. You're gonna say, he's right.

I'm never gonna do that again. And that's it. That's your plan. I'm just gonna stop doing something that has overrun my life, that's unmanageable, and I'm just gonna decide right now, never again. This is probably the fourteen hundredth time you've said that.

You need to confess. You need to face it. You need to deal with it. You need to talk to God about it. And you probably need to talk to someone else about it. You probably need some help. That's what community is all about. To bear one another's burdens. The the the book of James says that we are to to to confess our sins for for God will forgive us. But it says in the last chapter, we tell our sins to one another for healing.

Does that doesn't mean we blab on each other. It means I'm sharing my burden. Help me. And and so you're like, oh no, I don't wanna do that. That that that that's embarrassing.

That's painful. That's shameful. That's what I was feeling like with the candy. I was sad that I did it. I didn't wanna do it anymore, but I didn't wanna deal with it. So I thought I was James Bond. I thought I was the greatest spy in the world. As I'm walking with mom, I just took the candy out and threw it on the sidewalk.

Thinking I'd get away with it. Bear in mind, my mom is literally holding my hand, looking at me and we're talking why I did it. I and and then she goes, what is that? Is that candy? Did you take candy? She starts picking up. I go, that's not mine. I've never seen that before.

And then she looks at me. He's like, but then why do you have bits of it in your teeth? And then she's like, Billy, come on. Just be honest. I literally was talking to you. I watched you reach into your pocket and throw the candy. Come clean. And so, I did a lot kids. I just started crying.

I just broke down crying and admitted it, but I was crying. She's like, it's okay. It's okay. So I thought, oh, good. We're done with this. And she goes, but let me pick finish picking this up, and then all we gotta do is we gotta go back inside, because I gotta pay for it, and you have to say you're sorry.

She's gonna pay for it. I just have to say I'm sorry.

That's the gospel. That is the gospel. We we cut corners in our lives, which is really cutting us off from real life. And then God says, hey, I need you to confess. I'll pay for it. He Jesus went to the cross. I'll pay for it. I just need you to own this and say you're sorry. What a great deal.

But you know what? I did what a lot of us do when it comes to Jesus in our life. I fought her.

I didn't want to confess that. I didn't want to go in I didn't want to. I thought she was being mean. I literally thought my mom was fighting me now. Why would she make me do that? Why do I have to be embarrassed like that? Why do I need to own up to this? Why can't I just forget about it? Why can't I just And then I did what we do in our own lives. I started just I got so scared of this moment

of what she was asking me to do that I started in my head to say, you know, it's kind of your fault, mom. You're the one that wouldn't let me have any candy. And then you brought me into a store where there was candy in an open bag sitting right there. David could have said, hey, why do you how did you expect me not to kill Saul? He's been torturing me, abusing me, and you put him right in front of me in a cave. Why couldn't I just do that? That's what we do. We get so worried, we get so hard, we we hide, we go into our cave, we don't wanna confess,

and then when God says no, just confess, I paid for it, we're like, I can't do that. Because we feel shame, we feel hurt, We feel fear of, well, if I confess that and try to walk away from that, then what's my life gonna be like? I won't have any candy anymore. So I fought her. I thought she was my enemy at that moment.

But she grabbed me anyways. And she kinda wrestled me to look me in the face. And maybe that's you with God right now. God, why are you doing this? And he goes, I just wanna look you in the eyes and say, love you and you have to trust me.

You have to trust me. That's what my mom said. She goes, it'll get better. Just go with me on this. So she I said yes. She starts taking me in, you know, as you get closer to the cashier, as a little kid, you're like, this is getting real.

And I I turned and and moms, know this. Your kid gets so scared. They press in you that you think that they're actually morphing into you. That at at at subatomic level, you're becoming one body. I hid in her hair. I was wrapped around her ear.

I was like, thinking, they won't see me. And then she finally goes, Bill, you have to trust me. Just do this. And she turns me around and gets me to to to face this guy. She goes, just say you're sorry.

Snot bubbles.

I'm sorry. And then I turned back around. And then my mom just grabbed me, patted me, says, alright. Good job. She put money on the counter and we left. She wasn't fighting me. She was fighting for me. And then we leave. And you think that's the end of the story. Because we're driving, go by a Dairy Queen.

She pulls into the parking lot. And then she pulled around, pulled out, and said, yeah. That's where we were gonna go if you hadn't stolen candy. No. No. No. No. No. That's what my dad would have done. But my mom didn't do that.

And some of you think that's what should have happened. Right? Because that's how you think the gospel works. God says, yeah. You say you're sorry, I pay for it, but then you're gonna pay for it.

She actually pulled in. And even as a five year old, I go, what? We're getting ice cream? But I stole candy and I and I fought you. And she goes, yeah. The reason I told you not to take candy or I said I'm not getting you candy is I intended for us to go get ice cream after we went to the store the entire time.

And what you did only delayed us getting here. But here we are. Every time I think about the love and mercy of Jesus, I picture my mom. I picture that moment that he's like, hey, we're the ones that cut a corner that really didn't help us. We wanted something sweet, but God had something sweeter planned for us.

And then all he does when he feels like he's fighting, he's like, need you to face this. I need you to own it. And then I pay for it. And then let's go get ice cream. Because that's how God works. Why would you fight him? He's not fighting you. He's fighting for you.

Did you know that? He's not fighting you. He's fighting for you.

Can you sing those words? That's the song we're about to sing. But as we go into singing this song about God always fights for us, you gotta embrace that. And some of you probably need to not sing right away. What you need to do is take a moment to reflect and maybe take that moment to look to God like I had to look at that cashier and through the tears say, God, I am sorry.

I am sorry for cutting corners. I wanna be closer to you. I'm sorry for the bad corners. I'm sorry for cutting the corners with my walk with you. All I'm doing is missing out. I'm delaying the good. I'm delaying what you really want from me. And now I know you're not fighting against me. You're fighting for me. Can you sing that? Can you believe that? Can you share it? God fights

for you. Amen.

We're gonna

You fiercely defend us till we stand delivered. You're fighting for us. Always fighting for us. And you

God, we thank you

that our father fights for us,

that you're working and moving in the unseen right now in our lives. God, that you're fighting the battles and that you are victorious and we can trust in you, God, if we would just wait patiently on the Lord God that we will see your hand. God, I pray that Lord we wouldn't get

off on these detours where we try to make our own way, where we take the shortcut, God, where we cut corners. But instead that we would trust in your plan, God, that we would follow after you, that we would get close to you and walk in your footsteps.

Knowing that you're the one that's fighting for us. And may we not fight against you. May our trust be in you and may we experience the hope and the joy and the peace that come from knowing this truth. As we go into our week, God, may we hold tightly to you,

may we follow after you and may we trust in you in every circumstance and situation. We love you, We thank you, God. And it's in Jesus' name, we pray all of these things and all of God's people say, amen. Amen, church.