Take Me Back

Thrive Podcast

https://youtu.be/EuN0pr5_7V4

Take me back 1 Corinthians 30:1-6

• Its 2020 February- and I am excited about life, new business
  • I left my past company I was working for 5 years I had started a new company
  • Two weeks in – I owe contractor- I have a mortgage, wife, and kids
  • I had to draw back to the conversations I had with God.
  • I had to encourage myself in The Lord!
• Take me back to yesterday when things were better
• This happens when we are come face to face with unpleasant reality- our hope is dashed
• And this is what is happening to David and the men
• 1 Samuel 30: 1-2 – Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, 2 and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way
• “On the third day indicates that David and his men covered about twenty-five miles a day on the march south from Aphek to Ziklag, where they would have arrived tired, hungry and expecting all the comforts for a welcome home.”
• The Bible says “1Corinthians 30:4 -Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
• Where is the reset button? – Memories come rushing in and you are in a place of desperation
• It’s not a surprise that most people spend a significant part of their lives wishing that they can go back to a particular place, a certain time, a thing they said, a thing they wish they could undo, a lost love and so forth
• This is where the enemy needs you, in a place of desperation – where he keeps you hostage
• We end up spending useful resources trying go back to what it used to be, hence the people wanted to stone David
• Other times we try to strengthen ourselves with the skills we have or the connections we have
• But David strengthened Himself in the LORD HIS GOD!

When we get to this place, we have a choice to make

1. We must decide
2. Everything has its time and Solomon puts it perfectly in Ecclesiastes 3:4 – A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance
3. I Samuel 30:6 – Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was [a]grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God
   1. David strengthens himself, not during natural crying moment, he strengthens himself when he realized that the men, he thought were on his side were no longer for him
   1. At that time there was truly only one who was for him and that is our LORD His God
4. Hard thing will come our way and honestly, they will catch us off guard, we will lose strength, wail and hurt …and at point we have to draw all our strength to stop, strengthen ourselves to hear what is being said around us.
5. And its only then that we have to make a decision…close churches or cling to the cross
6. And at that moment, we must decide which voice to follow and believe
7. Fear or faith – you choose one – When you say yes to one thing – you are saying no to another
8. David had to make a decision and he choose to Praise God – He strengthened himself in the LORD
9. It’s hard the same people that went to Battle with you, are now the same people that wanted to stone him
10. Sounds like Covid times, how the enemy has been successful drawing lines in family relationship and friends – he found his perfect tool
11. People that were very proud of you- they are no longer approve of you because of the stand you took
12. Its hurts and its unbearable – But it’s at this moment of distress that “when we call upon the name of Jesus, we are saved
13. Psalms 46:1 – God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.
14. Tonight, I am reminding you that you have the power to decide, whether you want to back, or you want to cry out to God to lead you to the next season
15. The right decision cannot be made unless we remember
16. If we are not prepared, we are paralyzed by things that come our way
17. 1 Peter 1:13 (NLT) – So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.
18. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind: To gird up the loins of your mind is to get rid of loose and sloppy thinking; to bring the rational and reflective powers of your mind under control. It means to control what you think about, those things you decide to set your mind upon.
19. The best way to make sure that you will make the best decision every time is to Hide the Word of God in you heart
20. We cannot encourage ourselves on Empty
21. What has God done in your life so far. What has God said to you in the past?
    1. Are there promises that He has fulfilled?
22. Before I had covid in 2020– This sickness will not end in death/ There is no way around it only through it
23. Very quick David remembers the time that he was alone with God:
    1. When God gave him the strength to fight bears and lions
    1. When he saw the giant – He drew from the Lord
24. For we who has been Christians …we know the stories, the victory- where there was not water, the rock provided at the instruction of God, where there was no path, the water parted, ravens fed Elijah
25. Draw from your stories, if not, draw from a friend, if not appropriate the Bible…. God is the same yesterday today and forever
26. For those who don’t know Him, the Bible has a list of promises that you can inherit today – Just like that:
    1. I will never leave you or forsake you – Deuteronomy 31:6 – So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
       1. David, having clearly walked away from the things of God, when he came to the senses, – This verse was truer than ever before
    1. Matthew 6:33 NLT – Seek the Kingdom of God[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. – He had to do one thing and one thing only – Seek God and the victory was made possible
    1. Young people- David was only able to draw from that which had been installed in him since he was little boy- Your time to fill up the tank is now – today!
    1. You are living in an exciting or terrifying time – your choice
       1. The migration (The great wildebeest migration is one of the most phenomenal natural spectacles in the world. It is an annual movement by millions of wildebeest, accompanied by large numbers of zebra, Grant’s gazelle, Thompson’s gazelle, elands and impalas across the greater Masai Mara-Serengeti ecosystem.) – Babies are born in the middle of the herd, the Sahara become dark when you are separated
       1. Stay planted in the middle of the House of God
27. When we remember we take Action!
28. 1 Samuel 30:7-8 – Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? “And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”
29. We must be willing to act
30. The fruits of encouragement must see seen through the action we take
31. Pastor Crystal – The enemy cannot stop you; he just has to lender you useless
32. We have to get to a point where going back is not an option and if we MUST
33. Lord, please take us back to the place of remembrance
34. We must encourage ourselves to take that next step
35. What’s the step you need to take today?
36. Friends – 2022 will have its challenges, and though 2021 was in what it was there will be moments that you will wish that things won’t change – but change is a must
37. There is great new though- There is one that never changes – our Lord
    1. The one that goes before us – our Kids …I wish someone would encourage themselves and knowing that He goes before us

David went from desperation to having everything restored and much more – It was David’s spoils

• Tonight, I want to pray for you, that which the enemy has stolen, will be restored
  • To have the strength to dust off, forget the threats, take our rightful position as Sons and Daughters of Christ and as we need to match on
• David, is about to be stoned by angry wounded crowd, he doesn’t say …excuse me, excuse me, I have a plan…He stands up and one more time – He leads
• One more time!
• David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. This wasn’t some kind of rah-rah cheerleader kind of positive thinking mumbo jumbo. This was the strength of the living God making itself real in the life and heart of a hurting man. This was strength for recognition, strength for brokenness, strength for repentance, strength for determination to win back what the enemy has stolen. This is the same strength that would raise Jesus from the dead!
• As I close, I want to remind you that the decision you make this year will affect everyone around you
• David had a decision to make, and that decision affected the soldiers, their families, even the cows and sheep
• We are one BODY and how you choose to encourage yourself or not will affect all of us!

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