Dr. Wayne A. Lawson
Senior Pastor, Perfected Praise Worship Center
Oklahoma City, OK
bishop@perfectedpraisewc.org
www.perfectedpraisewc.org
Preached at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church
El Reno, OK – Annual Men’s Day Service
Sunday, June 27, 2010 – 3:00 p.m.
TITLE: UNTIL THE MEN COME BACK
SCRIPTURE: I SAMUEL 30:1-10
To the Angel of this House and the membership of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, thank you for thinking of PPWC during this Annual Men’s Day Service. As a new ministry in the Southwest side of OKC, we have been tremendously blessed of the Lord. We have all been blessed until this point in our Worship Experience and I am sure that the Holy Spirit will take us just a little bit higher. I must admit when I viewed this topic and tied it to the scripture text, I immediately felt challenged as to where do we go from here. I am a firm believer that when God’s people pray and the Lord presents you with a thought and a corresponding text for examination that the preacher should honor that. Knowing your Pastor as I do, I am sure that you, my Brothers of Mt. Moriah, have spent ample time in prayer and have heard from the Lord as to this Text and Thought. And the Word should be encouraging and uplifting to you today.
This is a challenging text, yet there is a two-fold point as we lift up and encourage the Brothers this afternoon. So let’s examine this thought – Until the Men Come Back. We must admit that there is a falling away of men in the Church and this is an age old problem. Churches from England to Europe to Everglades to El Reno are all asking the same question: Where are the Men?
• Women comprise more than 60% of the adults in the typical worship service in America
• Some overseas congregations report ten women for every man in attendance
• Volunteer ranks are heavily female
Men need the Church – but more important -- The Church needs the men. The presence of enthusiastic men is one of the surest predictors of Church health - Growth - Giving -- Expansion. Meanwhile, a man shortage is a sure sign of congregational paralysis and decline. So we need to address this important thought this afternoon - Until the Men Come Back.
We find King David at a point in his life that we don’t like to preach about, matter of fact most of us are unfamiliar with. There are some silent years that we try to sweep underneath the carpet as it pertains to this great King. This is where we find David in our text read in your hearing. We find David in this 30th Chapter of I SAMUEL living among the Philistines in a village called Ziklag. David, his family, and his followers have been there for the past 16-months. The constant enemy of Israel was now the temporary hometown of David. For the past 16-months David is hiding out. We wonder who is he hiding out from - the Lord. It is highly significant to note at this point that there are no recorded prayers or psalms by David during this time period. God was no longer a high priority in David’s life.
David and his men had partnered and were fighting alongside of the Philistines. However; the Philistine Generals did not trust him. They had moved closer to attacking Israel and it was at this point that David and his men had been released by the Philistine Generals and told to return home to Ziklag. David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had already raided Ziklag. They had attacked it and burned it, and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.
On the Third Day – indicates that David and his men covered about 25-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 celebration. While David and his men were to the north trying to join the Philistine army, their own city of Ziklag was unguarded. The opportunistic Amalekites took advantage of the defenseless city, attacked it, and burned it to the ground.
So David and his men came to the city: As they came within a few miles of their city, the hearts of David and his men must have brightened. They were discouraged that they hadn't been allowed to fight with the Philistines; they are soldiers, and soldiers want to fight! But at least they knew they were coming home, and home meant all their familiar surroundings, and all their families. But that bright thought quickly turned black as night. And there it was, burned with fire: Even off in the distance they could see something was wrong. Smoke rose from their city, but it wasn't the smoke of cooking fires. It was too much smoke for that, and the smoke was too black. They wondered why no one had come to greet them afar off - where were their wives and children? Weren't they glad to see them? But when they came to the city and saw it was a ghost town, a pile of burned rubble, with no voice of the survivors, it seemed that everything was lost.
Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept - until they had no more power to weep: All had been lost. At this point, David has nothing more to support him.
• No one in Israel can help him
• The Philistines don't want him
• His family is gone
• All he has owned is gone
• But at least he has his friends, right?
• Not really; the people spoke of stoning him
• Every support is gone, except the LORD
• That is a good place to be in
Until the Men Come Back - David and his men had divorced themselves of God. When we turn our back on God, there is a spiritual covering that is lost. Why do you think our society is in the shape it is? - Until the Men Come Back:
• Our Homes are not Properly Covered
• Our Marriages are not Properly Covered
• Families are not Properly Covered
• Communities are not Properly Covered
• Workplaces are not Properly Covered
• Churches are not Properly Covered
• Until the Men Come Back
David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters that were now taken captive.” All of this was David’s fault:
• It was David who entered Philistine territory
• It was David who led the raiding parties
• It was David who exterminated everyone in the villages
• It was David who lied to the Philistine king
• It was David who left Ziklag defenseless
• It was David who did it all
No wonder the men are so angry with him. They have turned their back on David because David turned his back on God. Until the Men Come Back – we will continue to fight one another instead of becoming the Brotherhood that God designed us to be. For the past 16-months David had turned his back on God and now the Brothers turned their Back on him. David is now:
• Rejected by the Philistines
• Plundered by the Amalekites
• Threatened by his own soldiers
• And it’s all his fault
• He had spent - 16 months living in enemy territory
• 16 months pretending to be loyal to the Philistines
• 16 months ignoring his conscience
• 16 months living by his wits
• 16 months doing it his own way
• 16 months away from the Safety and Sanctity of God
But now as he surveys the smoking ruins of Ziklag, the truth cannot be denied. David can’t blame anyone but himself. We spend too much time blaming devil for our MESS. There are times we need to face our Mess and how it led to our problems. No wonder his men wept and then wanted to stone him. By his compromise, he has brought great suffering to everyone who looked to him for leadership. There is an enormously important principle at work here:
• God will not be ignored by his children
• Sooner or later, he calls his children to account for their disobedience
• No Christian ever gets away with sin
• Sooner or later we have to face the music
• David’s life has fallen apart because he has left God out of his life
• Now he comes to the moment of decision
• Will he continue to run away from God?
• Will he continue to compromise?
• Or will he take the first step on the long road back to God?
• Of all the steps, the first one is the hardest
We now find the men weeping - David did not weep only because everything and everyone was lost. He also wept because he knew that he was responsible for it.
• No wonder David was greatly distressed
• He is about as low in his backslidden state as a man can be
• David is like the prodigal son who now sits in the pig pen
• But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God
• It took a lot to bring David to this place, but now he is here
• God is his only strength
• Until the Men Come Back
David strengthened himself. It had to be that way because he was in enemy territory and his own men had turned against him. And this time Jonathan is nowhere to be found. What do you do when you reach the bottom and there is no one around to help you? How do you strengthen yourself in God? You do it by:
• Remembering who God is
• Repeating God’s promises
• Meditating on God’s faithfulness in the past
Our text makes an interesting transition at the point -- it makes the announcement that David strengthened himself in “THE LORD HIS GOD.” What a telling phrase that is. This was very personal with David. It was more than just a dry review of theology and a quick scan of his memory verses. No, David reflected on all that God had done for him. Some of the best talks in the world are those that a man has within himself. As he surveyed the ruins of Ziklag, he could not say:
• My City
• My Home
• My Possessions
• My Wife
• But he could say “MY GOD!”
• Here is a powerful and profound truth. The Amalekites had taken everything from him but one thing
• They couldn’t take God from him!
• Whatever else we lose, we are rich if we have him
• Whatever else we have, we are poor if we do not know the Lord
• Until the Men Come Back to God
• No matter where you are
• No matter what you are faced with
• You need to Come Back to God
• We need to Cry Out To God
I find it very hopeful that once he repented, David was immediately back in contact with God. NO WAITING PERIOD – NO PROBATION – NO TIME OUT. No probation. Here is hope for the worst of sinners. If you will come home to God, he will take you back into the fold. Let me share with you the second issue I see in this text. It has to deal with those men who have stayed behind. Those that don’t yet know Him for the Pardon of their Sins.
David pursues the Amalekites who conquered Ziklag. He went, he and the 600-men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor. But David pursued, he and 400- men; for 200-stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor. David's men were almost at a place of mutiny against him. But now, since he strengthened himself in the Lord his God and since he inquired of the Lord and since he did what God told him to do, his men are totally back on his side – Until the Men Come Back – we are not able to move forward in the full power of God’s might.
What a sight it must have been! David and the six hundred men initially on the march again, this time not hoping to fight for the Philistines, or for themselves, but off again on a mission from God. THERE WASN’T AN ARMY ON EARTH THAT COULD BEAT DAVID and his six hundred men when they walked in God's will.
Out of the 600 there were 200 that were too tired to Go Forward and cross the Brook Besor. Can I pause here for a moment? HOW TIRED DOES A PERSON HAVE TO BE TO ABONDON THE HUNT FOR HIS OWN FAMILY? The church has its quorum of such folks. Good people. Godly people. Only hours or years ago they marched with deep resolve. But now fatigue consumes them. They're exhausted. So beat-up and worn down that they can't summon the strength to save their own flesh and blood.
• Advanced age has sucked their oxygen
• Or maybe it was a deflating string of defeats
• Divorce can leave you at the brook
• Addiction can as well
• Whatever the reason, the church has its share of people who just sit and rest
There comes a time when the church must decide. What do we do with the Brook Besor people? Berate them? Shame them? Give them a rest but measure the minutes? Or do we do what David did? David let them stay. David told them to just Rest here and wait – Until the Men Come Back. He and the remaining four hundred fighters resume the chase. Brothers we need to Resume the Chase for the Heart of God. Don’t worry about those that are at the Brook of Besor. Those that are taking their leave while you are fighting the battles.
And so off they go after the Amalekites. David took 400 soldiers with him and left 200 behind to guard the supplies. Eventually they found the enemy army, surprised them, and won a total victory. David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken.
• David brought everything back
• This is the pure grace of God
• WHAT DAVID LOST THROUGH SIN – GOD RESTORED THROUGH GRACE
• David’s part was simply to be obedient to the Lord’s command
--Well Mt. Moriah, let me encourage you t Pray – Until the Men Come Back
--Sometimes you will have the fight the battles alone – Until the Men Come Back
--Thank God for the fighting men of Mt. Moriah, fight on – Until the Men Come Back
--You might have to carry a heavy load just as the 400 who went with David – Until the Men Come Back
--You press your way to Church
--You Press your way to Bible Study
--You Press your way to Brotherhood
--You Press your way to Sunday School
--While the other men are resting at the Brook of Besor
--Press on my Brothers in Christ – Until the Men Come Back
-- Until the Men Come Back - God will keep on Blessing You
-- Until the Men Come Back - God will continue to equip you for the Journey
-- Until the Men Come Back - Keep marching on with your Pastor
