All right, so here we pick it up where we left off last week. Saul has issued a directive to take the life of David. He's commanded that David be killed and it's out in the open now. It's no longer a secret that he is hating David. By the way, we're in 1 Samuel chapter 19 if I didn't give that to you, 1 Samuel chapter 19. But King Saul's son, Jonathan, wisely came up with a plan. He said to David, all right, you go hide out here and I'm gonna talk to my dad. I'm gonna seek to draw out what is in the heart of my father about you and really investigate this. See if this is just a whim or see if there's something deeper there. See if I can't show him kind of where he's at. And so Jonathan goes to him and he says to King Saul, you know, David has not sinned against you. Look at everything that David's ever done. He's never transgressed against you. David had only ever done him good for all the bad that Saul had brought against David. David's response had always been good. David was God's champion. He had gone out and fought Goliath on that really tough 40th day when it looked like Israel was going to have to go out and fight the giant that had been coming out and mocking them. All of a sudden God rose up this champion and God's champion went out and it was David and God used David. And he emphasizes that with Saul to make Saul understand. I mean, do you really want to go against God's champion, God's man that God used so incredibly to deliver you and you rejoiced in it on that day. So temporarily, Jonathan earns a reprieve for David. Verse six, it says, And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swear, as the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain. Okay, so the command off with his head was retracted. It's brought back, the bounty that's there was removed. In verse seven, it says, Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things, and Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times Past. And so for a short space, it's back to normal for David. You know, all that tension, all that, man, he's constantly watching his back and afraid of what's gonna happen for a little while, he gets just a bit of a reprieve from that. You know, sometimes as believers, we're gonna be under intense attack by not an adversary that we can see, but an unseen adversary that's as real as King Saul that is breathing down our neck and there's danger and he's there. But every now and then as well, you. There's gonna be seasons where, by the grace of God, we get through it, you know? Something really tough we're facing, there might be other tough situations, and there will be in the life of David as well, but there's a little bit of a break from the intensity of that battle. James 4.7 says, One Corinthians 15.57, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 8.37, Nate, in all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. And you might feel, I just can't face this anymore, I can't endure this anymore, it's getting so tough and it's been so difficult, but we can have confidence that at some point there's gonna be victory if we keep our eyes on God, keep waiting on God, that God will give us the reprieve that we need to get recuperated a wee bit. You know, this past week, you might have seen in the news that Russia is reducing its bombardment up north. Really what it was probably is Russia had to restock and regroup and get new troops and that they lost the battle. up in what would be the western side of the country, Kiev, in that region. So they're backing out of there. And they might come back there. They're certainly going to come back and hit hard, they say, down in the eastern part of the country and attack there. But there's a pause a little bit. And it's a chance to regroup, it's a chance for the Ukrainian troops to regather and refocus and kind of just be encouraged that there's a little bit of a break in that. So a pause in spiritual warfare, it might be short-lived, but it's refreshing. And so we see that in David, the attack that's against him for just a little bit, there's a season of reprieve. All right, so we pick up now this story here in verse eight. And by the way, in the Bible, the reprieve lasts a verse, but it's an unspecific amount of time. The Bible doesn't tell us how long it was. It just jumps into the next part of the story, but it's just a verse. And so David continues in this verse, his ascension, in the eyes of men, all right? Verse eight, and there was war again. And David went out and he fought with the Philistines and slew them with a great slaughter and they fled from him. Now, did David have any personal problems as he got back into Saul's court? Did he have some things going on in his life? Yes, I mean, he had been fighting against King Saul. There's all this relational stuff that's going on. But rather than, as we see in the word of God, focusing on that, that being the heart of what David's looking at, David as a champion for God, goes out to fight God's battles, his focus on just getting on with it, doing God's will, and glorifying God. You know, David's a picture of one of the best lessons that we can learn in our Christian life, and that is put God's work first. No matter, our life can get pretty crazy. There can always be things that we look at and say, I gotta focus on this, I gotta focus on this. And David's life could have been about that, but David's focus was, hey, just get back in the battle. Just go out and fight the enemies of God and David continues to ascend in the eyes of those that were in Saul's army as they saw David as a champion for God. The Bible says in Matthew 6.33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. What do we call something that we put first? Priority, right? That's my priority. I mean, priority is something that's vital. It's something that, it doesn't matter what else I've got going on. It's my priority, so I'm gonna do that. Physical priority is eating, right? We could be pretty busy, but probably we're gonna eat. Sleeping's a priority. The hike that Nathan has coming up, leaving tomorrow, I'll pray for Nathan, he's going through some sleep deprivation this week as he goes to Fastlane and has three days with his men and 52 kilometers or something, walk that they're gonna do and tenting out and leaving at 5.30 in the morning. Sleep is a priority, so we want that. We want sleep, normally, unless you're under orders, you're gonna get the sleep that you need. You know, with us, is God our priority? Is He the thing that, you know, we've got to get this in, God's work has to come first. There's an example of this in the children of Israel, in the book of Haggai, Haggai chapter one. It says, in the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, unto Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedic, the high priest, saying, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, this people say, the time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Okay, they wanted to put it off. They had a lot going on in their lives. They're building their houses, making their houses really nice. And so God's work needed to be done, but instead of doing God's work, they're neglecting it. They're setting aside and making excuse and whatnot and disregarding that. And so God confronts them about that. He says, that's what you're saying. Then verse three, then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses, your nice houses? And this house lie waste? God's house had been neglected. God's house had been disregarded. It wasn't as important as what they had going on. They had to be about their stuff and what they were concerned about. And so God says to them, consider your ways. Consider your priorities. Stop and think, is this right that you're focused on yourself and not focused on the things of God? And then God says, I want to point out something to you in verse six. He says, you have so much and bring in little. Okay, your harvest is not good. You eat, but you have not enough. You drink, but you're not filled with drink. He clothed you, but there's none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. You've got holes in your pockets. Kids have experienced that. You put your money in your pocket and you're like, where did my money go? And as adults, we can experience that sometimes. It's like, where did my money go? It's like money just, as the Bible says, it flies away, but sometimes it flies away. because God gave it some extra wings, because God's people weren't putting God first financially or in thought, in deed, in action, that God just allows that to kind of fritter away just to make people know kind of what we're gonna talk about in the morning message, where the blessing comes from, it comes from God. You looked for much and it came to little. When you brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why, saith the Lord of Hosts? Because of mine house that's waste. And you run every man unto his own house. Okay, he's saying to them, all you care about is yourself. Every one of you, you're just so involved in your own life that you don't have time to focus on my house and my work and what I desire to do. It was time to get priorities right. And so it says in verse 10, therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, the earth is stayed from her fruit. I call for a drought upon the land and upon the mountains and upon the corn and upon the new wine and upon the oil and upon that which the ground bringeth forth and upon men and upon cattle and upon all the labor of the hands. Now imagine this, God with Haggai the prophet, he's coming to the children of Israel and he is saying to them, This is why you're having such a tough time. This is why it's not going down well in your house. This is why you feel like, man, trying to do this and you're just going backwards and stepping back. God says it is because your focus is wrong. You're focused on your things instead of being focused on my things. Now again, that prophet came to them very specifically with a message from God said, this is you, get in there, build up my house. Now, if that was us, very specifically God speaking to us, How would you respond? If God really right now said to us, your priorities are not right, it's all about you. Your week is all about you. It's about what you're focused on. It's about what you're thinking about. It's about what you want to do. It's about your plans. And on the other hand, and we're gonna focus on this again in the morning message, some of these things, but I've got desires. I've got a plan. When it comes to even our local church here, Free Baptist Church, this is God's church. Jesus said, I will build my church. And the gates of hell should not prevail against it. And so he's got a plan, he's got a desire, he's got ideas about, more than that, he's Lord. His ideas are the only ideas, does that make sense? And so he would say to us, what about my business? What about what I want? And I think, you know, think about that phrase, twice stated, consider your ways. Consider your ways, stop and think about it. What's your life about? I used to hear it preached when I was a kid, and I think it's a good thing, but you gotta kinda change it nowadays. But it says your checkbook shows basically what your priorities are. See, some people's priorities are whatever, but God's not there. God's not in that, and it's not all about what I give, but if I'm engaged in God's work, surely I'm gonna give to God's work, I'm gonna invest financially in God's work. Certainly I'm gonna invest my time, my effort, my thoughts, and again, it's not that somebody can't be a lay person and in secular work according to the will of God, but if I'm in secular work according to the will of God, then I must be doing that to the glory of God, and therefore God ought to be first in everything, everything. Consider your ways. And so, they responded so well to this. And then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Josedic, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people did fear before the Lord. And they said, man, let's get in there and get focused on God's work. So David, back to David. David's got a lot going on, but one thing David continues to do, he's out fighting the Lord's battles. He's still the champion for the Lord. He's not sitting around fretting, thinking about himself. He's getting engaged in what he needs to do. Matthew 6, 33. All right? So, seeking first the kingdom of God in my week is God first. And if so, then God will meet my needs. And so it's good to keep that priority right. Then secondly, Saul refuses to kill his wicked flesh, all right? Saul refuses to kill his wicked flesh. Saul could have repented, and we've pointed this out at different times, Saul could have repented and gotten right with God, but something you never see Saul do is humble his heart and say, God, you are right, I am wrong, please forgive me, I want to get restored to you. That's not something that we see. We see remorse sometimes, he kind of feels bad, he feels guilty, he recognizes that he's got a problem, even as he said to Jonathan, okay, okay, you're right, and okay, I'll give, a little reprieve here to David. But he never really gets right with God. And so he's an easy target for an unclean spirit. An unclean spirit is a demon. It's a fallen angel that with Satan sinned against God and departed and is part of Satan's group that is the prince of the power of the air and the things that are behind the scenes that we can't see. They're involved in that. There is spiritual warfare beyond what we can see in the physical realm. that is there. And so evil spirits, as we think about that, and with regard to Saul, we can see that, we can remember this, evil spirits are under the jurisdiction of God. So they're under the authority of God, they don't have free reign, they still are under the authority of God, and God restrains them. Verse nine, so verse nine says, and the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul. And again, you can read that and be kind of confused. What's it mean, evil spirit from the Lord? Well, it's like the story of Job, where Job is under attack by Satan. The Bible says in Job chapter one, verse six, now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going true and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there's none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and is trueth evil? Did Satan understand that God supernaturally puts hedges about us? Yeah, he recognized, I can't touch Job. I mean, Job is a righteous man. He's in a protected place. I can't do anything against him. So, I mean, have you considered my servant Job? Well, yes, but he's super protected. Okay, so the Lord responds. And Satan says this, put forth thine hand now, touch all that he hath, he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Okay, that's meaning that God says, okay, I'll allow you to attack my servant. Now, God doesn't have to protect us from all, every trial that we could possibly face. For God's glory, God may say, hey, I've got a champion that I want to demonstrate the power of God and what God has done in his heart and his life, where God may allow his protection to be backed off a little bit so that his glory can be seen as in the life of Job. And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. So you could say about that the devil from the Lord came and attacked Job. Do you see what I'm saying? I mean, it's not that this is God's, God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted he any man. God is not orchestrating the attacks of Satan except for the fact that God is over that in restraining that. Does that make sense? I think it's not that God puts Satan up to it, but God may allow Satan to do it. And so when you see Saul being attacked, and by the way, He's going to be tempted, but is a great temptation a reason to transgress against God? Is that okay? If I said to God, well, that was just an extreme temptation that I faced, is that an excuse for sin? 1 Corinthians 10, 13 says, In other words, God opened the door to Satan to attack Job. Did Job fail? No, you've not, I understand there were some things where God came to Job and taught Job through it and said, Job, who am I? This is who I am. But God did say, you have not spoken well against me as my servant Job hath. The Bible does say that, and yet in all this, he sinned not, right? I think at the beginning of chapter one and two, he blessed God. God gave and God took away, okay? And so the thing is this, God will never allow us to be tempted in a way that we can't overcome. He's always going to make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it, okay? Saul didn't have to yield. And Saul is being attacked from a different realm. Now temptation and all of that, there is an aspect of things happening behind the scene. Ephesians 6 verse 12, and we'll end with this verse and pick it up here next week. It says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Now, I had some young people from the States, they were in college studying theology, and they asked me, they said, Pastor Ben, do you really believe that we're attacked by the devil? And I heard them say that, and it took me back, and I'm like, It's all through the word of God. The devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Peter, Satan hath desired to sift thee, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. The scripture that we just looked at, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world. And so, all of a sudden, I'm talking to somebody, and all of a sudden, there's a clash and a disagreement. It's really strong. You gotta step back and go, we wrestled not against what? flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers. There's an unseen enemy, and so therefore, I cannot, I cannot as a believer, and we'll talk about it next week, we'll pick it up here with the armor of God, I cannot get up and go through a day and act as if God is not important, my Bible's not important, prayer's not important, purity's not important, and faith is not important, and not have any weapons at all with me and walk into the day and succeed. If I'm walking through my life like that, I'm defeated, right? Saul's gonna be defeated. He's got an enemy he's not prepared to face and we'll see how he's not prepared to face him next time. But God helping us, let's be ready. Let's be ready to face the enemy. So just maybe two points to take away, that is put God first in everything and examine and consider what are my priorities? But then also with that, be ready. There's an unseen adversary and be ready to face that battle. So let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to bless his word to our hearts now. Father, we thank you for the time that we've had in the word of God. A little bit abbreviated today because of the context of things that are important that we're thinking about. But Father, nonetheless, I pray that you bless your word, Father, that the Spirit of God would help us to consider our priorities, and Father, that we'd also recognize the adversary, and Father, that he is seeking to devour, and God give us grace to be holy. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.