Well, hey everybody, I'm Adam Schell, the pastor of Albert Heitzen. Welcome to our sermon podcast. And I just want to start out by thanking you for spending part of your day with us. And if you're blessed during our time together today, let me invite you to come and worship with us live on Sunday mornings at 10.30am Eastern time.
You can worship with us live on our church website at mhbcleuoval.com slash live. Or if you're in the Louisville, Kentucky area, we would love to have you come and join us in person. With that, let's get right into this episode, sermon. So there's a train that has been going around online for years where people try to poorly summarize the plots of their favorite movies.
So I thought I would share some of these poor plot summaries with you today and see if you can figure out what movie these summaries are trying to describe. So let's start with this one. A group spends nine hours trying to return a piece of jewelry. You know what movie that is?
That's one way that you could describe the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. You see how this is going? Let's try another one. Alright, a father is reunited with his long lost son and he hopes his son will take over the family business.
What's that, a description of? That is one way that you could try to explain what the Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, is all about. This next one might be a little bit easier for you. We'll give it a shot.
Four kids walk into a closet and they come out his royalty. That is the critical tenorney of the lie in the witch in the wardrobe. This last one is probably my favorite. A woman protects her cat from an intruder.
Anybody have any idea what that movie is? That's one way that you could explain the plot for the movie Alien. So when you stop and you think about it for just a second, every one of those poor plot summaries is at least kind of accurate. But I think any of us who have actually seen any of those movies will all agree that all of those poor plot summaries leave out some pretty important details for these movies.
Like none of us could imagine trying to explain what the Lord of the Rings trilogy is all about. If we didn't at least spend a little bit of time talking about some of the epic battles in the movie, you're talking about characters like Gandalf or Gollum, or talking about their relationship between Frodo and Sam. Or we've never tried to explain to somebody what the Star Wars movies are about, or without at least trying to spend some time talking about things like The Force or Lightsabers or Jedi or Sith or the battle between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. It wasn't really hard to try to explain what a movie like The Crown of the Narnia of the Witch and the Wardrobe is about without talking about the Witch's Curse or Aslan's sacrifice through the battle to save Narnia.
And if any of us were trying to describe what the movie Alien is about, I think we would all at least mention there's an Alien in the movie. And it's these details. It's the struggles, it's the sacrifice, it's the battles, it's the relationship that make a story what it is. So if you want to understand what a story is all about, you can't just skip over the stuff that happens in the middle of a story.
But unfortunately we in the church have a history of doing that when it comes to the story of David. Here's what I mean. So, we're familiar with the way that a story starts. We are familiar with the part where David is anointed by the prophet Samuel to become Israel's next great king.
And we are familiar with the part where David fights and defeats Goliath. And then we're also familiar with the way that David's story wraps up. We know that David is going to be remembered as Israel's greatest king and that he is often referred to as a man after God's own heart. So if we were trying to give a plot summary of David's life, a lot of us could end up saying something like, well, he defeated a giant and became Israel's greatest king.
And although that description is kind of accurate, it's pretty poor description of David's life. So that is we wrap up our series where we have been taking a closer look at David's life to see what lessons we can learn from different events that happen during his life to see what they can teach us about being grateful in our own lives. I want to spend some time talking about what happens between the time when David is anointed by the prophet Samuel to become Israel's next king and the time when David actually becomes Israel's king. Because whether you realize it or not, that didn't exactly happen overnight.
You see, David was anointed by Samuel to become Israel's next king when David was around 15 years old. And I'm sure that when Samuel finished pouring that anointing oil on David's head that he just assumed it wouldn't take very long for him to be sitting on Israel's throne. I mean, he had just been anointed by God's prophet. So if anybody knew what was going to happen, it was going to be Samuel and Samuel had anointed him to be Israel's king.
So surely that wasn't going to take very long. But there was just this one small problem that kept David from quickly becoming Israel's next king. And that problem is that Israel already had a king. Details always getting away, right?
And Israel's king at that time was Saul. And Saul wasn't exactly in a hurry to step down from the throne in hand, the crown and the throne over to some shepherd boy. But I don't want you to get the wrong idea here. I don't want you to think that Saul and David didn't get along because Saul and David did actually get along at the beginning.
Because the first time that Saul really seems to interact with David is when David shows up and tells all the people go and fight Goliath like we talked about in the sermon last Sunday. And after David defeats Goliath, Saul likes him so much that Saul allows David to continue to fight in Israel's army. And since David is successful on basically every event that Saul sends him out to fight it, every battle he sends him in, it doesn't take long before David rises up the ranks and Saul puts him in command of Israel's army. This is where things start to take a turn for the worse.
Because every time that David leads Israel's army out into battle and they are successful, David becomes more and more popular. And not just with Israel's soldiers, but with all the people of Israel. And the more popular that David becomes with the people of Israel, the more threatened Saul feels by David. But the real tipping point comes when Saul is out one day and he hears people in Israel singing a song.
And in this song that you're singing about Saul slaying his thousands while David slayed his tens of thousands. And that was the tipping point for Saul. That's when Saul stopped just worrying a little bit about David and his popularity and decided that David needed to die. So next day, after Saul hears these people singing, if he might save it to come over to the palace and he asks David to play some music for him.
And while David is strumming along on his flyer, which is like a small harp, Saul throws a spear at him. And this is just something that Saul does one time because he's in a fit of rage. Now, first Samuel chapter 18 verse 11 tells us, David escaped from him throwing spears at him at least two different times. And when the spear throwing didn't work, Saul decided that he was going to take a different approach to try to get rid of David.
So Saul offers to allow David to marry Saul's daughter, Michael. And at first, Dave is not real sure about this offer. Now, most of us, being rational human beings, would be a little hesitant to want to marry the king's daughter in this situation because the king just tried to kill us. That's not what David's worried about.
No, David is hesitant to try to marry Saul's daughter because David doesn't think he's going to be able to afford to pay the bridal price that would be asked to marry a king's daughter, but Saul reassers and says, David, listen, I'm not worried about more gold and more silver. I'm the king of Israel. I've got all the money that I want, but I do have another bridal price in my mind. And what bridal price that's all I have in mind for his daughter, Michael, to allow her to marry David?
Well, again, in first Samuel chapter 18 verse 25, Saul tells David that he wants him to bring back the four skins from 100 Philistines. And I'm not making that up. Okay? Not exactly the kind of thing any of us would put on our wedding registry, but hey, to each their own.
But Saul did it for a reason. Saul figured that while David was out trying to collect all the things that Saul wanted, that the Philistines would kill David in the meantime. So Saul basically sent David on a suicide mission to try to get rid of him. But that didn't work either.
And when that didn't work, Saul gives up all pretenses. He just flat out says David has to die. So he sends some of his soldiers out to surround the house that David is living in with Saul's daughter, Michael, after they got married. But while the soldiers are still surrounding the house, Saul's own daughter, Michael helps David escape through a window.
And from that point on, for the next decade of his life, David is a fugitive. So he spends 10 years moving from one hiding place to another. He's hiding out in caves. He's sleeping under the stars.
And he spends every day wondering if today is going to be the day that Saul finally catches up with me. What do you think it would have felt like to be in that situation? What do you think it would have felt like to spend a decade of your life on the run because the most powerful person in your nation was trying to kill you? What thoughts do you think were running through David's head while he was laying awake in one of those caves at night?
Because it was a fugitive. But we don't actually have to wonder what thoughts were flowing through David's mind because there are actually several different Psalms that were attributed to this period in David's life. That let us know what he was thinking while he was a fugitive from Saul. And one of these Psalms is Psalm 142.
And before I read with you what happens in the Psalm, what David has to write, I just want to share with you the super description to this Psalm, what happens before we get to verse 1. And the super description of Psalm 142 says, A prayer of David when he was in a cave. So this is a prayer that's attributed to David during this period of life where he is hiding out in caves. And I just want you to listen to what David says in this prayer.
Starting in Psalm 142 verse 1, this is what the Psalmist writes. He writes, I cry out loud for help from the Lord. I beg out loud for mercy from the Lord. I pour out my concerns before God.
I announce my distress to him. When my spirit is weak inside me, you still know my way. But they've hidden the trap for me and the path I'm taking. Look right beside me.
You see, no one pays attention to me. There's no escape for me. No one cares about my life. So I cry out to you, Lord, for help.
You are my refuge. I say, you are all I have in the land of a living. Pay close attention to my shouting because I've been brought down so low. Deliver me from my oppressors.
Because they're stronger than me. Do you hear the desperation and these words from the Psalmist in Psalm 142? Because these verses that we just read, it makes it clear to us that during this period in David's life, he is shouting out, he is crying out at the top of his lungs because he feels completely alone. He tells God, no one cares about my life.
And he insinuates to God, I can't take this anymore. God, I need you to come and save me because I can't save myself. And this goes on for a decade. Ten years of David's life or day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, he is crying out to God saying, God, save me, God, rescue me.
God, I don't know how much longer I can take this. I just can't take it anymore. So God, when will this end? And even though none of us have ever had a king who was chasing after us trying to kill us, I think we all understand how David was feeling about him.
When you've had a medical issue that is just lingered on and on and on, it's probably made you want to cry out. God, save me. When your car is broken down on the side of the highway and you can't get ahold of AAA, it's probably made you want to cry out. God, rescue me.
If you've ever had to take care of a loved one who has a condition like dementia, where you see them slip away a little bit more each day, it's probably made you want to cry out. God, I just can't take this anymore. If your bill is just keep piling up no matter how much overtime you work, it's probably made you want to cry out. God, when will this end?
But fortunately for David, it does eventually end. About 15 years after the Prophet Samuel anointed him to become Israel's next king in about 10 years after Saul started trying to kill David, David's nightmare will come to an end when Saul is killed in a battle against the Philistines. So at the age of 30, David becomes the king of Israel. And even though that undoubtedly took a whole lot longer than David ever imagined it would for him to claim the throne in Israel, when it happens.
David recognizes the fact that God had heard his cries and that God had answered his prayers. So what does David do next? When God has helped David make it through this tough period in his life, how does David respond? Or better question for us today is how would we respond?
What do we do when we make it through a tough time? And I want you to think about that question for just a second. What do we do when we make it through a tough time? Because most of the time when we make it through a tough time, we're not going to do the same things that David did.
When the physical therapy that you've been going to for months or even longer, then that finally starts to pay off and that medical issue you've been dealing with starts to be resolved. Do you stop and thank God? Or when your phone call finally goes through and you find out that AAA is just a couple of minutes away from you, you express your gratitude for God helping you make it through that tough time. Or when you're finally able to pay off that credit card balance that's just been getting higher and higher and higher, do you celebrate that God heard your cries and answered your prayers?
Because reality is that's not what most of us do. Most of the time when God helps us make it through a tough time, we don't even recognize the fact that God helped us make it through that tough time. So when we make it through one tough time in our lives, what almost all of us do next is we start worrying about the next problem that we have. And we start crying out and calling out to God in prayer, asking God to save us, to rescue us, to help us make it through that time too.
But that's not what David does. After he comes through this period of 10 years of his life where he's been on the run, once he finally becomes Israel's king. So I want to show you what David actually does. If you've got a Bible close by your Bible app on your phone, you can go ahead and open it to Psalm chapter 18.
Psalm 18. But before we start looking at this on together again, I want to point you to the superscription to the Psalm. And it's worth noting here because we haven't talked about this in the series. There is a difference in your Bible between the headings that you usually get at the top of different sections of your Bible versus the superscriptions.
Those headings that usually show up in bold in your Bible, those are things that the translators add in to kind of help you figure out your place or whatever. These superscriptions are actually part of the original text of the Bible. So this is something that would have appeared from the very beginning before these Psalms were read. And I just want to show you the superscription of Psalm 18.
Again, this is what we find before verse 1. This is the way the new revised standard version translates it. And it says, Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of the Psalm to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Psalm. Okay, so this is what David does when he recognizes that God has heard his cries and answered his prayers.
All right, so let's start reading in Psalm 18 verse 1. And see what David says. Verse 1 says, I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliver, my God, my rock and whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So I shall be saved from my enemies. Now, let's get down a few verses to verse 16 where David's going to explain to us what God did for him. And in verse 16, this Psalmist writes, He reached down from on high and he took me.
He drew me out of the mighty waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me. For they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into the broad place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. And then let's get all the way down to verse 46 and see how this Psalm finishes up. And verse 46, the psalmist writes, The Lord lives, blessed be my rock and exalted being the God of my salvation, the God who gave me vengeance and subdued people under me, who delivered me from my enemies.
Indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries. You delivered me from the violent. For this I will extol you, O Lord, among the nations and sing praises to your name. Do you see the difference between the way that David responds when he recognizes that God has heard his cries and answered his prayers and what we usually do when God helps us to make it through a tough time?
When David recognizes that God has heard his cries and answered his prayers, the first thing that David does is stop and thank God. Because remember, the super-shrupio of this Psalm says, on the day that David was delivered from the hands of his enemies and from the hands of Saul, and he praises God throughout this. So the first thing David does is he stops and thanks God. He expresses his gratitude for everything that God did to help him make it through that tough time.
And then he celebrates the fact that God heard his cries, that God listened to him, and that God answered his prayers. But that's not how most of us respond when God answers our prayers, is it? When that medical issue that we've been facing is resolved, we don't stop and thank God. No, we start worrying about our next medical problem.
When AAA gets us back on the road after our car broke down, we don't express our gratitude to God for helping us make it through that tough period of time. No, we start worrying about how long that repair is going to hold up. When we're finally able to pay off those credit cards that we had maxed out, we don't celebrate that God heard our cries and answered our prayers. Now we start worrying about how long it's going to be before we max out our credit cards.
Again, whenever God helps us make it through a tough time, we don't stop and thank God. We just start worrying about the next problem. So even though we may desperately pray to God when we need help, when God comes through for us, we've already moved on to the next problem that we need help with. But David teaches us something different.
And Psalm 18, David shows us that we need to be just as intentional about thanking God when things go well as we are about crying out to God when things go wrong. We need to be every bit as intentional about thanking God when things go well in our lives as we are crying out to God in prayer when things don't go so well. So here's what I want to challenge you to do. This week leading up to Thanksgiving, I want you to take a moment.
I want you to think back over the last year of your life. And I want you to identify one prayer that you've prayed that God has answered for you. It could be something big that you've prayed for, it could be something small that you've prayed for. It could be something that you've prayed for for months on end or it could be a prayer that God answered pretty quickly.
But think back over the last year of your life and identify one prayer that you have prayed that God answered for you. One tough time that you prayed about that God helped you make it through. And then I want you to do what David did. I want you to stop and thank God.
And I don't just mean to say, thanks God and then move on to the next thing. No, be as intentional about thanking God as David was since Psalm 18. Slow down. Express your gratitude for everything that God did for you to help you make it through that tough time in your life.
And celebrate the fact that God listens to you. God hears you when you cry out to him. God answers the prayers. Because one of the times that we are worst at being thankful is when we have the most to be thankful for.
Most of us have been trained in church life to be more grateful when we're going through those tough times in our lives to say, God, we're glad that you're still here with us. But when we make it through those tough times, we do a lousy job of being thankful for what God has done for us. It's a reflective new life. Think about those times that God has helped you make it through and truly thank God for him.
And when we learn to be grateful when things are going well for us, we can echo the same words that David started Psalm 18 with. I love you, O Lord, my strength. That's who God is. God is a God who loves us, a God who gives us strength.
God who hears us when we cry out to God who will answer our prayers. God who helps us make it through the tough times we face. So we need to be better at thanking God. Because gratitude is something we owe God every time he answers our prayers.
Pray with me, please. Oh God, you know, far better than I do, far better than any of us do. How often you hear our cries, how often you answer our prayers, and we don't recognize anything that you've done for us. Open our eyes God.
Help us to see all the ways that you are constantly at work in our lives, constantly helping us through whatever it is that we're facing. Because God, every one of us has been through difficult times in our life, whether it's been related to medical issues, whether it's been related to financial issues, whether it's been related to losses that we've experienced in our lives. We've all been through tough times and you've helped us make it through to the other side of God. We don't always do a good job of expressing just how thankful we are that you help us make it through.
So God help each of us to reflect back over the last few months, of the last year of our lives, and think about all the difficulties that we've had to face and everything we've made it through. Show us how you help us get to the side. Allow us to truly be thankful to you, not just with quick uttered prayers that come fast, but let us slow down and truly express our gratitude. We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.