Mar. 10, 2024

Series: AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART    3-10-24

Growing Up without Growing Old (1 Samuel 21) 

When we GROW UP, we Tend to WORRY ___________ and    TRUST GOD __________.

1 Samuel 21:1 ¹ David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, "Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?"

1 Samuel 21:2-5 ² David answered Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, 'No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.' (Lie #1) As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. (Lie #2) ³ Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find." ⁴ But the priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here--provided the men have kept themselves from women…" ⁵ David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. (Lie #3) 

1. DAVID _______________ A LIE!

1 Samuel 21:6 ⁶ So, since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the Lord in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread. 

Leviticus 22:1-10 ¹⁰ " 'No one outside a priest's family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it.     

LIES are like CANCER: they usually GROW and _______________ to Other Areas of Life.

• David’s LIES SPREAD from the MOUTH to the _______!

2. DAVID _______________ A LIE!

1 Samuel 21:8-9 ⁸ David asked Ahimelech, "Don't you have a spear or a sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king's business was urgent." (Lie #4) ⁹ The priest replied, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one." David said, "There is none like it; give it to me." 

1 Samuel 17:45, 47, 50 ⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied… ⁴⁷ All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands…" ⁵⁰ So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 

2 Chronicles 32:6-8 (NLT) Then Hezekiah encouraged them with this… ⁷ “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side! ⁸ He may have a great army, but they are just men. We have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles for us!” 

• David’s LIES SPREAD from the MOUTH to the MIND to the ________!

3. DAVID _______________ A LIE!

1 Samuel 21:10-12 ¹⁰ That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. ¹¹ But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances:  " 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands'?" ¹² David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 

1 Samuel 21:13-15 ¹³ So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. ¹⁴ Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? ¹⁵ Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? 

“I’ve HEARD the THUNDER,

I’ve SEEN the LIGHTNING turned night today, 

I’ve _______ the SPIRIT move, 

Oh Lord, still I ______ to Do things MY WAY.”

“If David had not experienced a Decade of pain, he would have grown up to be King Saul II. But, God used the External King Saul to cut away the Saul Inside David’s Heart… The operation… was a Brutalizing Experience that Almost Killed the Patient.”                Gene Edwards

• God was cutting away the _______ in David’s heart.

FOUR BROKEN CRUTCHES:

(which won’t support you)

1. WIFE  9:11 Saul sent men to David's house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, warned him, "If you don't run for your life tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed. 

2. JOB 19:8 Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.

3. MENTOR  9:18-20 When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. Word came to Saul: "David is in Naioth at Ramah, so he sent men to capture him. 

4. BEST FRIEND 20:1, 30 Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan… Saul's anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, "You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don't I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 

• God was cutting away the _______ in my heart.

God wasn’t PUNISHING me by putting me in those Situations…

He was ___________ ME from BECOMING a KING SAUL!

PRINCIPLES TO LIVE BY:

     1. Lies always INCREASE a problem; they never __________ it. 

     2. Even anointed people can _________ if they turn to ________ instead of God.

     3. No spiritual accomplishment of __________ can protect us from a serious defeat __________.