← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
LESSONS FROM THE CAVE | PAUL DAUGHERTY | PSALMS OF DAVID PT. 4
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- [00:02]
Pastor Paul
Come on, everybody say Psalms of David. You know, we've been talking about how when God anointed David to be the future king of Israel, he was just a teenage boy, about 15 years old. And God told Samuel the prophet, he said, I'm looking for a man after my own heart, a man after God's heart. God knew that David would make mistakes, that David was not a perfect man, but he was a surrendered man. He was, he was a broken man. He was also a man who feared God more than he feared the giants of this world. We talked about how David would go on to slay Goliath as a teenager. He would become a household name as a 17 year old boy, right? Posters in kids bedrooms like Michael Jordan, Lebron James. Except for it was David the giant slayer. But all of that applause and all of those cheers would later turn into jealousy. From King Saul sat. Saul would go on to hunt David for the rest of his life, spending over a decade trying to kill a teenage boy that was growing into a man. And David would go on the run, not just from King Saul, but from his own father in law. Saul had given David his daughter in marriage. Saul's son Jonathan was David's best friend. And so we left off last week on this whole idea that David learned the art of dodging spears. If you missed any of that, you can go back, listen to it, watch it. But I want to pick up where we left off and I want to title the message today, Lessons from the Cave. Because the psalms that we're about to read were psalms that David wrote while he was in a cave hiding from king Saul. Psalm 142, verse 1. David says, I cry to the Lord. And I imagine David sitting in this cave, right? And a cave has echoes.
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Worship Leader
Echoes, echo. Hello? Is anybody there?
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Pastor Paul
So David's in this cave and he's overwhelmed, he's discouraged, he's thinking to himself, I was the anointed king of Israel, I was the giant slayer, and now I'm the fugitive. What am I doing in this cave? And he says to Saul, he says in the book of Psalms, which is the journal entry of David's life, I mean, we read the story of David and in the book of Samuel, first and second Samuel, but we see the emotions of David in the book of Psalms. And David's sitting in this cave and he says, I'm crying out to you, Lord, I'm lifting up my voice. I need your mercy, right? And he's crying out and he says, I pour out my heart to the Lord one Of the first lessons we learn from David is that God desires honesty more than he desires pretense that God is not intimidated by your broken, brutal, raw, honest prayers. God doesn't want you feeling like you gotta come into his presence and go, I'm doing perfectly fine. Everything's good. There's nothing wrong here. I don't need prayer. God's like, you're falling apart. Stop pretending like you don't need help. God says, I love it when you just get real. David says, God, I'm broken. I need your help. I'm overwhelmed. I'm discouraged. I'm trying my best. The people that you told me to serve are now the people that are trying to kill me, right? David was trying to serve Saul. It's one thing to face a giant that's a stranger in your life. It's another thing to face your in laws. This is David's father in law. He. He's like, God, I'm trying to get along with these people. These are family members. And now they're trying to kill me. They're not just jealous of me. They want me destroyed. And then David says this in verse three, he says, when my spirit is faint and I'm overwhelmed, God, I know you're watching over my way, but I feel like there's people that are hiding snares for me. You know, David would write some of his best psalms. It's crazy how the cave can produce some of your best albums. You know, Like, I think about the story of Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash went through one of the worst seasons of his life just feeling depressed. I mean, he was battling his own addictions and his own demons, and he finds Jesus, and he records his best album in Folsom Prison. Right? Some of the greatest songs are written from some of your darkest seasons. And David's sitting in this cave, and he says, God, I feel like there's people that are hunting me down. They're setting traps for me everywhere I go. I don't know if I'm about to step. Step into a net, but, God, you watch over my way. And then he says in verse four, he says, look and see. There's no one for me. There's no one concerned for me. Now, let me just pause for a moment because this is not true. But David feels this way, and these are real feelings. Have you ever felt like no one is truly concerned about you? You know, four of us in the room, the rest of y' all just got a ton of friends. Okay? Has anyone ever felt like no one? You Know what I'm saying? And it's not true, but you feel that way sometimes. You can be surrounded but not feel supported. You can be surrounded by people, but not feel like anyone truly understands you, that anyone truly is concerned for you. And David is here. He's in the cave. He says, I have no refuge. Everywhere I run, I just feel alone. And I imagine David is singing these songs and. And it's an echo chamber, right? He's like, all by myself, just wanna
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Worship Leader
be, you know, I'm so lonely, right?
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Pastor Paul
Just having like his own Justin Bieber moment. Just lonely. Sitting in the cave.
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Worship Leader
I feel all alone, right?
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Pastor Paul
I lost my dogs and I lost my family and just a sad country song, just sitting there, just trying to stay warm in the cave. No one is with me. But you know, what I love is that David doesn't stay in the emotions of his own internal cave. Because you can be a cave. You can be in a cave out here, but you don't have to be in a cave in here. Don't let the cave get inside you. Don't let the external situation start to take over your internal. Don't let the outside determine the inside, right? So David's in a place that feels dark, that feels lonely, feels discouraging. But David changes the tune of the psalm. He shifts the psalm. Everybody say, shift the psalm. I love what he says next. In verse five, he says, but I
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Worship Leader
cry to you, Lord. And I say, you are my refuge. You are my portion.
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Pastor Paul
Like David was saying, I've lost a lot of things, but I haven't lost the Lord. I've lost a lot of people, but I haven't lost. And so can you. Come on. How many are thankful to know that God is still with you? Even when everyone else leaves, the Lord stands with you. David was saying, you're still with me, God.
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Worship Leader
You are my hiding place. You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance. Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. You are my hiding place. You are my safe refuge.
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Pastor Paul
David was finding refuge in a lonely place. He was learning to worship in the dark. He was learning to grow in in a lonely place. How you handle the cave determines what the cave does in you, for you and through you. See, some people go into a cave like season in their life, and they become even more bitter. The cave actually doesn't develop them into who God wants them to be. The cave deconstructs their faith. And you meet them 10 years later, and they don't believe in God. They have no community, and they're just a grumpy old man, you know? And you're like, what happened to you? And then someone else goes into that same type of a cave, and they come out stronger. Oh, they come out with greater integrity, greater love, greater forgiveness. They come out better instead of being bitter. Same cave, but a different response. How you handle the cave determines what happens to you, in you. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but I feel the Holy Spirit right now talking to a man in this room. You are walking through a cave season. Let me tell you, this cave is not your final chapter. Don't let this. I'm telling you right now, don't let this cave make you think this is your final chapter. This is a permanent thing. It's temporary. But how you handle this cave will determine what happens when you come out. So David shifts the psalm.
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Worship Leader
He says, God, I cry out to you, Lord, I need you.
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Pastor Paul
And one of his best psalms that he wrote in this cave was Psalm 34. Psalm 34, verse 4. Again, there's multiple psalms written from this cave, but one of his best ones
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Worship Leader
was, I sought the Lord, and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord, and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord, and he heard and. And he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him.
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Pastor Paul
Listen, David wrote that song, not Elevation, okay? But elevation put a good melody to it. But I think about these psalms that David was writing in the cave, and he was getting this revelation that even though I'm not. Before you become king of the palace, you gotta become king of the caves. Before you become captain of the guard of the armies of Israel, you gotta become captain of your own mind. Cause this is a cave right here. You gotta take authority of the echo chamber. See, David was in the cave, and he's listening to this voice. He's listening to his own voice at first. He's describing the pain of his life.
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Worship Leader
I'm all alone, alone, alone. Nobody cares about me, me, me, me, me.
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Pastor Paul
You gotta be careful what kind of echo chamber you invite into your world. If everybody agrees with your sob story and your victim story and your sad story and everything's wrong. And nobody is challenging you to believe by faith. That's why you come to victory, is to challenge your fear, to challenge your worry, to challenge the pain and to say, God is with me. God is not finished with me. My best days are not because behind me, God still has something good in store for me. You're challenging that internal echo chamber of negativity. And discouragement. Because you can't walk in victory if you talk in defeat. You can't live in victory if you stay in this echo chamber of discouragement. David was changing the you got to be careful whose voice you're listening to in the cave. Whose voice are you tuning into in the cave? I was asking my son on the way to church this morning. I said, have you ever been in a cave, like season? He said, yeah. I said, when? He's like, when my brothers were trying to fight me, and I locked myself in my room and I was holding both doors so they couldn't get in because they were trying to come in through the bathroom and the other side of the hallway, and they were trying to come through this room. And he said, I felt like I was in a cave. I was like, okay, okay. He goes, it was only about five minutes, but I felt it for those five minutes. I said, I got you. I said, what about a cave where you ever felt lonely and discouraged? He said, yeah. I said, what'd you do? He said, well, he said, when I was at school and I was feeling kind of sad and lonely, and I felt like nobody understood, he said, I challenged that thought. He said, you guys have taught me to challenge that thought. And he said, you don't always have. He said, sometimes I can solve it, sometimes I can solve the problem, sometimes I can't. And when I can't, I just choose to persevere. I choose to keep. I said, what are this guy's preaching, this young teenager's preaching? And, you know, I think about how all of us walk through caves. You may not call it a cave, but it's a cave. Let me just define what this cave was for, David. The cave of Adullam means a place of justice for the people or a place of retreat. So it was a place where people would run to if they were fugitives, if they were looking to hide out. They would come to this place to retreat and hide and try to figure out how to find justice for their life. But I think about the cave. For many of us in this room, a cave is a season of obscurity, a season of isolation. It's a season of pruning. It's a season where God is removing the noise of your external world to focus on your inner character. And every believer fits into one of two categories. They're either spiraling closer to God or. Or they're spiraling further away from God. There is no standing still. It's like a river. You're either going with the currents, or you're swimming against the current. But you can't just stand in the river and not be moved. It's pushing you one way. And as believers, we have to choose in our cave, like seasons that we are going to pursue God. We're going to lean into his word, into prayer, into his presence. What David did in this cave is that he embraced the obscurity. He embraced the pain. He embraced the embarrassment. He embraced the fact that he had no more crutches to lean on except for God. He had lost all the crutches, but he learned to find confidence in the Lord. And so I want to give you four lessons that God teaches us in the cave. Four lessons that God teaches you and me in the cave. Number one, the cave is a place of separation. David was stripped of his royal position, serving in Saul's palace, but also serving in the army of Israel. Saul had told David, you are fired and you are no longer welcome in the palace. David went through a time of separation, and then from that firing, Saul began to hunt him down and try to kill him with spears. David realized, I've got to run. I've got to hide. He lost all of his friends. Even Jonathan, who was his best friend, could no longer stay with him. It was two dangerous to have any person with him. And so David was separated. And God was teaching David that in this separation, God wanted to speak to him in the cave. The cave was a place of learning to trust that even when life didn't make sense, God was still with him. God was still working in him. God was not finished with his story. Number two. The cave is a place of preparation. Before David wore a crown, he sat in a cave. Before you could sit on a throne in the palace, you gotta sit on the floor of the cave. You know, I was talking with a guy this past week at the gym, and we were talking about David in the cave in the Psalms, and he said, I wonder, as David got older, if he reflected back on the simplicity of the cave. I wonder if as David started, you know, becoming the king of Israel later on, he's in his 50s and he's got, you know, he's walking through the trial and the pain of his own sin with Bathsheba. He's got drama in his household, and everybody in his palace needs something from him. And everybody in the nation of Israel is looking to him as the king. I wonder if he often would reflect back to the simplicity of the cave. And we were talking about the movie Castaway, this movie that came out like in the late 90s when this guy, you know, crashes a plane, ends up in an island, so survives and lives for like a decade on this island, and he's all alone. His best friend is a volleyball named Wilson. Anybody ever see Castaway? Right? And there's this moment in the movie where he gets found years later and his family has moved on and he gets brought back to the United States. And he's walking into a room with just tables of food and he's reminded of the island where he had no food. And then they place him in a hotel with this amazing king size bed and like, you know, just incredible sheets and pillows. And he's reminded of when he slept on the rock of the cave on the island. So he doesn't even sleep in the bed on the movie. He actually gets down on the floor because he misses the simplicity of what happened in his life when he was stripped of all of this. And I wonder if David later on, 20, 30 years later, would look back on the cave not as a curse, but as a blessing. There was something precious about the cave. There was something about the cave that was working on his character, working on his integrity, teaching him to trust in God when no one else was with him. The cave is a place where God shapes you, he refines you, and he reforms you. And some of you are walking through this right now. And if you aren't walking through this, and you've never walked through this, but I promise you that you will, you stay alive long enough and you will walk through a cave at some point in your life. The third place is that the cave is a place of transformation. It's a place of transformation because in this cave, David enters the cave as a fugitive, but he emerges from the cave as a leader of the nation of Israel. God would use difficult people in difficult circumstances to sharpen David, to strengthen David. This was a transformational place. God was about to transform some broken men that would come to David, depressed men, men in debt, even his own brothers who didn't like him. God was going to bring all kinds of people into the cave as one way, but out of the cave as another way. The cave is meant to change you. The seasons of obscurity, the quiet places, the places where no one understands what you're walking through except for you, maybe one person in your life. But God is working in you. He's changing you. He's transforming you. And people will see you 10 years later and they will say, what happened to you? And you'll say, I found God in The cave. I found out who I really am. I found out who God's called me to be. I was stripped of all the pride. I was stripped of all the ego. I was stripped of all this stuff. But I found the essence of life. So David is in this cave of transformation. And in this cave he will be tested. It's in this cave that he will transform from someone who wants to take revenge on Saul to someone who will forgive Saul. The cave is a place where David learns forgiveness. It's a place where David learns how to humble himself before the Lord and trust that the times of his life, the future of his life, is in God's hands. And number four, the cave was not David's death destination. Aren't you thankful that the cave is not your final destination? You are not going to die in this cave. You are coming out of this cave. David said, even though I walk through the valley, that's an important word through somebody. Say, I'm coming through it, I'm not staying in it. See, David would learn that the cave was good for a season, but it was never meant to be his permanent home. It would be a great hiding place to go to during seasons of pain. And it was a great refuge. But it was never meant to be the final chapter. And so David would learn to lean on God. In Psalm 142, David cries out, I want to go to verse seven. This is the final verse of Psalm 142. He says these words. He says, set me free from my prison. I think that's an important verse because David is admitting that the cave that started out as a hiding place, it started out as a refuge. It started out as a good spot. Later on, he would learn that if I stay in this cave too long, I turn this cave into a prison. And then I don't know how to get out because I'm afraid to emerge out of fear that I just might fail again if I launch that company again, if I try to get married again, if I try to start over again, if I try to come out of this cave that I found so much healing in. And there's some people who never come out of the country cave. Their cave becomes a prison. What started out as a safe place. There's people that I visited this last week in prison. They're there because of their sin, their crime, the consequences of their sins, or maybe because of someone else's accusations, but they're there. And that's the prison that people put them in. But then there's a prison that you Put yourself in. And it's the mental prison. It's the emotional prison of saying, I'll never recover from this. I'll never get out of this. This shame is going to end me. This pain is going to hold me back. Paul, there's no way I could ever come out of this trial. And so David says, God, deliver me from my own prison. Don't just deliver me from Saul. Deliver me from my own mental and emotional prison that I may praise your name. I'm coming out of the prison, and I'm stepping into praise. David was saying, God, I'm not staying here forever. Now, let me tell you four ways to apply the lesson to that God gives you in the cave. Number one, turn your cave into a classroom with the Lord. Your cave is meant to be a classroom. Now, some people turn their cave into a place of compromise. They turn their cave into a place of just giving in to whatever their flesh craves. But David turned his cave into a classroom. In a classroom, there's a teacher and there's students. When I was attending Oral Roberts University, I remember many of my favorite classes were the classes where I could engage with the teacher. The teacher would oftentimes say, put away your phones, shut down your laptops. I don't want anything to distract you from what I'm trying to teach you in this moment. And the classroom would get quiet. But just because the classroom was quiet did not mean the teacher had left the room. The teacher was trying to share a lesson, and he needed our undivided attention. She needed our undivided attention. And some of my favorite teachers were the teachers that would say, this is a class where you can ask questions. When I think about this cave as David sitting in this cave, this is an opportunity for David to learn from the teacher himself. I mean, this was David's, like, Jedi training moment with Master, Not Yoda, but the Holy Spirit, right? And he's sitting in that cave and he says, lord, what do you want to teach me here? What am I supposed to learn here? Why am I here, God? Why am I afraid? Lord, show me what you need to show me change in me, what you need to change in me. And the Lord would begin to speak to David as you and I would speak to each other as a friend. And I imagine in this moment, David was taking communion with the Lord. You know, we see in the Book of Psalms moments where David would cry out and he would confess his sins to the Lord, and then he would receive the forgiveness of God. This was the communion between a man After God's own heart. He said, God, you don't just want sacrifices that I bring to the temple. You want a broken and a contrite spirit. So David would confess his emotions, his thoughts, his feelings. He would confess his sins, and he would forgive the people that had sinned against him. I want us to do something right now. I want us to take communion in this room together. Let's turn this room into a cave for a moment. Welcome to the cave of victory. This weekend, let's turn this cave into a classroom of communion with the Lord. So when I think about communion, Jesus sat with his disciples in an upper room. Want the worship team to come out? We're going to worship in just a little bit. But Jesus turned the upper room into a classroom. Jesus sat with disciples that were afraid, that were nervous, that were discouraged, that were confused. They were going, why are you so heavy, Jesus? Why are you filled with sorrow? Why did you just say that one of us will betray you? And Jesus is sitting with his disciples, and he says, I want to institute something with you. And they were looking at the bread on the table. They were looking at the cup. And he says, I want you to see this differently. So as a teacher would teach students. And I'm not teaching you anything new that you don't already know as believers. This is what Jesus was teaching all of his disciples, all of us. He was saying, this bread represents my body that's broken for you. You walk through pain. I've walked through pain. You go through trial and temptation. I go through trial and temptation. You have tears, I have tears. You feel like spears are being thrown at you. I've walked through the same thing. Jesus was saying, I've walked through all of it and more. But Jesus was saying, I also have not sinned. And my body is the perfect atonement for your sin. My blood is the perfect solution to the stains of your own shame, your own sin, your own darkness, and the sins that have been committed against you. Jesus was saying, I want you to do this in remembrance of me, that you would have communion on a regular basis. One thing I learned from a mentor in my life, I said, what have you done when you've walked through hard seasons that are just difficult to get through, difficult to persevere? And this pastor said to me, said, I take communion. I said, really? He said, I take communion, and I say the names of the people I need to forgive. He said, I say them out loud because I just need to say it so that way it has no power over my Soul. Because it's difficult to not say it. Sometimes it's really hard to think about the people and the places and the things that can weigh your spirit down. So he said, when I'm walking through a cave like Season, I take communion. It's a perfect time to just get real with God. I want us to just do this right now. Would you close your eyes? And if you're watching at home, you can just close your eyes. And if there's an area in your life where you need God's mercy and grace or you need to forgive someone who has sinned against you, would you just lift your hand just to say, God, I need you, Lord, I need your help. I need your mercy. Yeah. Hands going up all over this room. Before we take this communion, let's pray this together. Say, jesus, thank you that you went to the cross for me. You died. Your blood was poured out. For the forgiveness of my sins. I repent and I receive your forgiveness. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. And I choose to forgive those who have sinned against me. In Jesus name, amen. Let's take this bread. Let's eat it. Remember what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus took the cup. He said, this is my blood poured out for you. As we drink this today, let's remember what Jesus did for us on the cross 2,000 years ago. Thank you, Jesus.
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Worship Leader
And what can wash away? Nothing but the blood.
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Pastor Paul
And what can be more again?
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Worship Leader
Nothing but the blood.
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Pastor Paul
I just imagine David sitting in that cave, just thanking God for his mercy and grace, his forgiveness. Yeah. Thanking God that he's not alone. Turn your cave into a classroom of communion with the Lord. Number two. Turn your cave into a community. When I look at 1st Samuel 22 telling the story, story behind the psalm, I want to show you one verse, and it's 1st Samuel 22, verse 1. It says, when his brothers and his father's household heard about David in the cave, they went down to the cave with him. I want to tell you today, you are not alone in that cave. Now, these are the same brothers and dad that weren't really the nicest brothers or dad to David. David's like God. Could you have sent anybody else, you know? But I imagine David was just glad to have somebody with him, just to have another person in that cave to say, hey, you are not alone. And then the next group in verse two, it says, it wasn't just the brothers and the dad, all those who were in distress. God's like, don't worry. David got a Couple more groups of people for you. I'm gonna send you the stressed out dudes, the guys that are in debt, and the depressed group of men. You know, God was like, I'm sending you all the maniacs with you. Now. Let me say this. David, right before he went into this cave, he had gone crazy. He went crazy in 1st Samuel 21, right before he went into the cave, David was in such an overwhelmed place. David was literally running from. Saul finds himself in a place called Gath, the very place where he had at one point fought against Goliath. Now he's hiding in the enemy territory, and in this moment, he's so overwhelmed with fear. The people recognized who he was. They said, isn't that David? Isn't he the giant slayer? Isn't he the kid that the song was written about? Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands. When David heard that he was exposed in the enemy's camp, the Bible says David became so afraid, he took these words to heart. Have you ever taken some words to heart of what people have said about you where you just can't shake it and it just. It just sits in there and it begins to stir fear when words have such a powerful effect. I mean, this is the kid that wouldn't back down from a giant. But just one sentence stirs him into a frenzy. Just one text message, all it takes is one phone call, one email, and your world can go spiraling. All it takes is just one weapon formed against you, and David starts spiraling. He becomes so afraid. And you would think he's gonna turn it into a psalm. He's gonna worship the Lord. David's gonna give God praise. Watch what David does in the next verse, right? He's spiraling into fear. This is the moment where the mighty warrior's gonna turn it into praise. He pretended to be insane, right? So David went crazy. David's best solution for his fear was. Was I'm just gonna go crazy, right? While he was in their hands, he acted like a madman, right? He starts making marks on the doors, letting saliva run down his beard. I thought about illustrating this moment for y', all, but I don't want you to have nightmares of your pastor acting like a madman, just running around the room scratching the door.
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Worship Leader
Ah, you.
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Pastor Paul
Here's the funny part. I remember a pastor preached on this part right here. Watch what the king says in response to this in verse 14. Next verse. Next one. Asia says to his servants, look at this man. He's insane. Why would you bring him to me? In the next verse, he says, don't I already have enough mad men in my staff? I remember hearing a pastor going, you know, don't bring me one more crazy person. There's no crazy people at Victory, right? Just me, you know? But David acted crazy. He lost his mind. He lost his mind, and this is what sent him to the cave. What do you do when your calling is conflicted by your circumstances? What do you do when you know you're called to do something, but everything is telling you it's not going to happen? David knew he was called to be the future king of Israel, but now he's running for his life and he's losing his mind. He's going crazy. Even in his craziness, God never forsook him. Just for a moment, just to show this picture, I want to invite up a couple men. I just need, like 10 men. Jump up here, sit with me. Because I imagine David having a connect group in the cave. Everybody say, turn your cave into a community. So David's sitting around this bonfire. Yeah, yeah. Couple guys. All right, we'll take. Take everybody. Come on up here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Love it. I love it. Don't you just love Victory? You know, let me get a couple more. Couple more. Come on up here. I love it. I like it, I like it, I like it. Yeah. Welcome to my cave. Welcome to my cave. Come on.
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Worship Leader
Yeah.
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Pastor Paul
Tell somebody next to you, you're not alone. So David's sitting in this cave, and they're looking at him, and they're like, hey, we're here, bro. We're with you. And David's like, tell me about your story. Tell me about your life. And they're like, man, we've walked through some hard things. And David's like, me, too. And, you know, one of the best things is to be next to someone who understands what you're walking through. This is the beauty of community, is that when you're sitting in a Bible study and you say, I could really use some prayer right now. The guy next to you is like, I've been there. I know what you're talking about. You don't even have to say a word. Unspoken prayer request I got you. Just put. Put each other's hands on your shoulders here. Something powerful about brotherhood, sisterhood. Ladies don't miss Encounter. Men don't go to Encounter this weekend. It's only for the women. We got our men's breakfast. But there's something powerful about this. I was at the Forest Frank concert this last week, and Forest Frank gets Up on stage, he starts singing this song. He said, I wouldn't have made it. He said, man, I had messed up. I had done some stupid stuff in my life, but my grandma was praying for me. And he said, the only reason I'm packing out a bok center singing these songs is because. Because somebody was praying for me when I was in a hard season. Can I just say thank you to anybody that's ever prayed for me when I've been in a hard season? Aren't you thankful for the people that have prayed for you when you walked through some hard seasons? You don't have to cry by yourself. David starts crying with all these men together. They're sitting together and they're like, kumbaya, my Lord, Kumbaya. No, I think they're singing, we exalt thee.
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Worship Leader
We exalt thee. We exalt thee, O Lord. We exalt thee. We exalt thee. We exalt thee, O Lord.
- [35:32]
Pastor Paul
So I imagine David sitting in his cave with his. His bros, and they start worshiping together. They start singing together, start praying for each other. At this concert this last week, Forest Frank asked these people in the auditorium. He said, if you need prayer, raise your hand. This guy next to me raises his hand. I don't know who he is, but I felt the Holy Spirit say, go and put your hand on his shoulder. Pray for him. The whole room starts praying for each other. This guy breaks down next to his kids. Just tears. And I said, you don't have to tell me what it is, but I just want you to know you're not alone. Just, man, just tears come down. He hugs me and he says, thank you. I needed that prayer. And I said, man, I just want you to know God sees you. He's working it out. He's working for you. That's the power of community, is that we can sharpen each other. We can encourage each other. Yeah, give it a hand for the community in this church. Every week, we got a cave for you to show up and have a community. You don't have to do this alone, man. When you come to victory, every week, it's bonfire session, it's worship session. It's sitting with brothers and sisters saying, you are not alone. We are in this together. We are gonna get through. We're gonna see the victory. In every year, we're gonna see breakthrough. Your best days are still in front of you. God is not finished with you. Number three. Turn your cave into a training ground. I imagine David in this moment. He starts talking to These guys, he says, let's not just worship. Let's. Let's start working out together. Like they had a weight room in there, just lifting weights, push ups, sit ups, getting in shape, getting trained. But they were training their spirit, too. They were training their character. They were saying, lord, we got to get sharper as men of God. We got to get better at walking in the ways that you want us to walk in. In that cave, David would talk with his men, and his men would talk with each other, and they would learn how to grow into who God had called them to be. It was a place of transformation. It wasn't just a training ground. It was a place where they were changing into the image of God. And that's what God wants to happen in our discipleship class, in our connect group, in our school, in this church. He doesn't want us just to stay the same our entire lives. He wants us to get better. He wants us to get stronger. He wants us to grow deeper in the word of God. Give these guys a big hand. Thank you so much. Come on, we can do this all day.
- [37:50]
Worship Leader
Yeah.
- [37:52]
Pastor Paul
Love you, bro. Thank you. Number four, final point here, worship team. You come up, turn your cave into a catalyst of praise. Turn your cave into a catalyst of praise. David changed his cave into a place of feeling, like a prison. And he turned it into a worship service. He turned it into a place, a highway of praise. So in 1st Samuel 22, verse 3, after these people show up, they come around them. David goes to Mizpah. He says, guys, I want you to stay in the cave for a moment. I'm gonna go take care of my parents. And he says to the king of Moab, he says, would you let my father and mother stay with you? I just need a place for my mom and dad to be safe. And he says these words until I learn what God will do for me. So he's in this place of some. Someone called it Ugly Trust. Ugly Trust and ugly was an acronym. Ugly stood for until God lifts you. Ugly trust until God lifts you. He says, I need to trust my parents with somebody until God lifts me out of the place of despair. And so from there he goes in verse four to a stronghold. The stronghold was the cave. And he's back in the cave with his men. And they're growing, they're learning, they're becoming who God's called them to be. But then God sends a prophet to him. And this is the final verse here. I want to end on the prophet Gad says to David, he says, do not stay in this cave. Do not stay in this stronghold. It's good. It's a great place. You're going to come back to it often. You're going to go back to the hiding place. By the way, what I'm not saying here is don't stay in a community with men and women of God. What I'm saying is don't stay in an emotional, distressed place the rest of your life. God doesn't want you living depressed, distressed, in debt, discouraged your entire life. This prophet was saying, if you stay in this place where you feel like God has nothing good for you, you won't see it. If you stay in the shadows, you won't see what God has in the light. If you stay behind these rocks, you won't see what's on the other side of that mountain. And let me tell you, there's something waiting for you in the land of Judah. There's something waiting for you in a place called Judah. Judah actually means a place of praise. Judah actually means a worship breakthrough. Judah represents the term. I want you to stand to your feet all over this place. God has a land of Judah for you. God has a breakthrough for you. God has victory in your future. This is not your final chapter. I don't know who I'm preaching to. I don't know what you're walking through, but let me tell you, God is not finished with your story. And if you will worship, if you will praise, if you will turn your cave into a catalyst of praise, let's just do it right now. Let's just worship the Lord right in this place. Just close your eyes. Lift your hands.
- [40:48]
Worship Leader
I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and He. He answered.
- [40:59]
Pastor Paul
He.
- [41:00]
Worship Leader
He lifted me.
- [41:01]
Pastor Paul
He delivered me out of all of my fear. He delivered me out of all of my trouble.
- [41:17]
Worship Leader
Can he hear? Can he answer? I saw the Lord. Can he hear? Can he answer? That's why I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. Lord, he earth and he answered. I saw the Lord he earth and he answered. I saw the Lord he earth and he answered. That's why I trust in. That's why I trust in my sake who will never.
- [42:05]
Pastor Paul
Come on. This is your Judah moment right here. This is your worship moment. Here's what I want us to do. If you need God's help, I want you to leave your seat, meet me at this altar. If you need God's help in any way of your life, you just need God's mercy, His grace, His Deliverance. You need his favor. You're counting on him to work in an area in your life where you're going, man. I just need God's help. I need a breakthrough. I need restoration. Restoration. I need reconciliation and a friendship. I need God to heal some things that the doctor said are impossible to heal. Maybe you're here today and you're believing to have children. Maybe you're believing to get married. Maybe you're believing for your marriage to be healed. Maybe you're believing for a future marriage. Maybe you're just here today and you say, paul, I'm in a cave and I just need God's grace. I need his strength. I need to know I'm gonna make it. I need to know there's light at the end of the tunnel. Whatever it is. You bring her to the altar and let's just begin to worship the Lord. I trust in God. Lord, I trust Lord, I look to you. Are not alone.
- [43:19]
Worship Leader
Sa he's with you who will never fail.
- [43:29]
Pastor Paul
He's for you. He's not against you.
- [43:31]
Worship Leader
He will never that's why I trust you, Lord. So I trust in God.
- [43:38]
Pastor Paul
He's working on your behalf.
- [43:40]
Worship Leader
My Savior. Never fail. He will never I sought the Lord, I sought the Lord and he heard and he answer, I sought the Lord. We remind ourselves of your goodness, have your faithfulness. That's why that's why I trusted. That's why I trusted. I saw the Lord and he earth and he answered I saw the Lord and he earth and he answered I saw the Lord in the earth and he answered that's why I trusted. That's why I trust in I saw the Lord in the earth in the answer I saw the Lord. I remind myself I saw the Lord in the earth and he answered, that's why I trust in that's why I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail.
- [45:20]
Pastor Paul
You're not alone.
- [45:22]
Worship Leader
I trust in God, my Savior, who will never fail. He will never.
- [45:46]
Pastor Paul
He has good plans he has good plans for me,
- [45:55]
Worship Leader
so I will take heart. He has good plans he has good plans for me. If I know my father. I know my father has he ask good plans he ask if I for me so I will take heart in deserts and gardens he has good plans. He has good plans for me.
- [46:44]
Pastor Paul
David says in the cave Psalm 34 those who look to God are radiant. Their faces are not covered with shame. This poor man, he's talking about himself. This poor man called out to God and the Lord heard him and he saved him out of all of his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear the Lord and he delivers them from all their troubles. So taste and see that the Lord is still good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in the Lord. Fear the Lord, you holy people, fear those who Those who fear God lack nothing. Lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, my friends, and I will teach you what God's fear is like. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see good days, keep your tongue from evil, keep your lips from dishonesty. Turn from evil and do good. For the eyes of the the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cries. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil. But the righteous cry out and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from all of them. He protects all of his bones. Not one bone will be broken. Come on. The Lord rescue you as his church. So this morning, here's what we're going to do. I just think I felt my heart. Rather than ending service with us praying a prayer all together or me praying a prayer, I feel like we should pray for one another. And you may not have anything you need prayer for, but I want to end today by just turning to the person on your left, on your right, maybe getting in a group of two or three, just saying, hey, let's pray together before we leave. Pray for each other. Pray God's blessing over the person, person next to you. Pray for God's continual provision. And so just take a moment before you leave today to pray for that person and that'll be our final dismissal.