Sermon Central
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It Ain't Over 'til It's Over
Contributed by Vera Hughes on Feb 21, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Today many want to quit due to the various situations and trials facing your life. However, God has blessings for you that if you don’t quit you will see His promises for your life. Let this sermon minister to your heart to endure til the end!
Covenant: A solemn promise, pledge or agreement (a vow) between two or more parties to carry out some action agreed upon or committed to.
God wants your family to inherit the Abraham blessings. Blessed means “empowered to prosper” in every area of life. The Bible is a book of Covenants sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
God’s first commandment to the family was found in
Genesis 1:22 - Be fruitful and multiply ...”.
Fruitful - take the seed in you and use it. (God doesn’t give you a tree but an acorn).
Multiply - reduplicate it
Some of us from today onward will stop doing things that are not fruitful in our lives. If it ain’t productive, stop doing it. Some things that have plagued and tormented your family for over 20 years is going to be broken today.
You can tell the devil for the family, “It Ain’t Over, ‘Til It’s Over” which is the title of this message.
Turn to I Samuel 30:1-6 and let’s read the story of David and his men at Ziklag.
In Chapter 29 we find that David and his army had just had great victory over the Philistines. Then in Chapter 30 we find that they come home and find that while they were gone, everything was taken from them even though they were doing a work for the Lord.
Today, I am going to give you key principles and a foundation for your family and your generations after you to be blessed. The struggles your family are having will be no more and you will recover everything that the devil has stolen (family members, time, education, marriage, etc.).
Foundations and Keys To A Blessed Family Are:
I It’s time to remove the stumbling blocks or “giants” that are hindering your family from being blessed.
A. Get rid of the giant of DISTRESS (verse 6a)
6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved...
The enemy is trying to get you in distress so that you will quit.
B. Get rid of the giant of DISCOURAGEMENT (verse 6b)
6 ...because the soul of all the people was grieved...
David’s men got so discouraged that they forgot what God did for them in Chapter 29. Discouragement causes you to lose hope so that you want to give up.
C. Get rid of the giant of DEFEAT (verse 6b)
6 ...because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters...
They had a defeated attitude like: Our family is gone...what are we going to do? They felt so defeated that they wanted to stone David. The scripture said they had a bad mood and wanted to kill him.
God will always give you a plan. Don’t give up on your family or your children or your situation.
David had to say to the enemy, “It Ain’t Over, ‘Til It’s Over”. David had to get out of disappointment, discouraged to avoid defeat. He pursued, overtook to recover all the enemy had stolen from him.
II It’s Time To Walk In The Generational Blessings For Your Family
A. Encourage Yourself In The Lord (v.6b)
David didn’t turn to anyone else but God. Men, you need to stand up and say like Joshua as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Then you will know to turn to God instead of other women, liquor, drugs, macho image. You will know that all help comes from the Lord.
David said things like “The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid”. Some of you need to encourage the ones who may had a baby out of wedlock (remember you did too) or have struggles in the flesh with men (remember you did too) instead of criticizing them.
B. Inquire Of The Lord (v. 7, 8)
7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. 8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
David needed an answer or plan from the Lord. Men and women, don’t move until you get an answer from the Lord. Most marriages would be in tact if we learned how to be patient. Turn to your neighbor and say, “be patient”.
C. Identify The Family Who Will “Fight” (verse 9 and 10)
9 So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.
