Now, go ahead and get your Bibles open again, please. I want to stay on chapter 30. I want to stay on chapter 30. Okay, and first line on my notes this morning, have you ever had a crisis in your life, a dangerous and difficult point that was unexpected? All right, and I think we understand this morning that we're in the midst of a crisis, and I think you're going to find a lot of application to the situation as it stands. Brother Steve was supposed to be preaching this morning, but I have the privilege of preaching. The message that God laid in my heart, I thought for next week, all right, as I studied this week and prepared it, but there was something in my heart I did desire to share today, and as it turns out, God's given me that opportunity. In the sport of baseball, the pitcher can put a spin on a ball, and when he does that, it's a curveball. And so if you're the batter, or I think the batsman is up there getting ready to take that pitch, what you think is going to be a straight fastball is going to curve, and you're going to swing, and you're going to miss it because it's unexpected. has a way of throwing curveballs at us. The unexpected, difficult happens, maybe sometimes feels a little bit insurmountable as it happens. My wife and I, when God called us into missions, we kind of jumped in both feet in that we let our pastor know right away God's called us into missions, to go to Scotland, My call, as you know, is to call the church planning. And the only reason I'm called a missionary is because God called us to do it. But as, so we surrendered to that, and right away we got in contact with Baptist World Mission. That's the agency that Steve's, Brother Steve's an administrator. Is that right? Field administrator for Baptist World. So he's over, he's over the UK, he's over Ireland, and he's over Africa. And so, but we scheduled immediately to go to orientation at camp. God allowed us to do that, and it was a tough day. I've shared this story before. On that Sunday, there were some things happening. It was kind of a tough day. And then it was a long drive. It was a Sunday, so we had church all morning. There was something that happened during the night. Then we drive all day, get to camp, and as we arrive at camp, find out that my grandmother passed away. And now, instead of You know, here we are, you know, Germany is, it kind of like, from driving here down to the southern tip of England, you get down there expecting to stay there, and then finding out you gotta go to France, or further, because I had to go to Colorado. You know, here we are, we're there for the orientation, now we gotta fly to Colorado, we didn't even have a mobile back then, we had to get a mobile so we could get our flight information and find out, we get, and there's other things about that story, just, it's a bit of chaos, Totally unexpected, didn't see it coming, and that is a crisis. And I know this morning, everybody here could share stories like that, because that's the way life is. Sometimes, you know, life is just going along, and also there's something that happens that you look at and go, man, this was totally unexpected, and that's the way it is in our scripture this morning as well. And Satan at that point would love nothing more than for us to look at the crisis and turn and walk away, defeated, instead of doing what we see here in this text this morning, and that is that David goes from crisis to conquest as he depends upon the Lord, okay? And so I wanna preach this morning on how to go from crisis to conquest by depending upon God. And so, am I gonna let a crisis stop me? Am I gonna let that unexpected, really difficult situation be the thing that derails me? Or is it gonna be something that by the grace of God I look at and I go through in obedience to God? Let's pray, ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to this story this morning. Father, I thank you that I get to share this this morning. It's something that is very much in my heart today, and I pray, Father, as we look at this scripture, that we just be reminded that this scripture to crisis management as a Christian. It applies to, what do I do when life all of a sudden gets really rough, unexpected and difficult? Is there a way to respond as a believer? And I praise you that David's response is a textbook example of how to respond biblically. in a way that pleases God, in a way that I believe, from the authority of the scripture here, can take us from crisis to conquest if we'll trust you. And so I pray that the Spirit of God give me liberty this morning. I can't speak without your enablement, and Lord, we can't hear without the same enablement. So God, give us ears to hear, give me lips to speak forth the truth of your word. It's in Christ that we pray. how to go from crisis to conquest by depending upon the Lord. Our text is 1 Samuel chapter 30. It's a story from the life of David. He's around 30 years of age at this point. He's been anointed to be the next king. And those of you that were here for the life of David study that we're doing, I mean, just, we got kind of almost up to this story and stopped before this story. But David's been fleeing from King Saul, his father-in-law, that hates him, despises him, because he knows that he's going to be the next king. He's been separated from his best friend, Jonathan. He's been separated from his wife, and she's been given to another man. And he's been in the wilderness, and it's been tough. And there's been times where he's despaired, but he's never taken matters into his own hands. Though he's been tempted to, twice. You know, he's tempted to take Saul's life, and also with the situation with Nabal, he's tempted to take the life of that fool that treated him so meanly, but he steps back, lets God take care of it, and God has just continually guided him, directed him, enabled him, and equipped him, okay? And so, at this point in the story, he's fled from Saul, he's moved in with Achish, king of Gath, into his town, And he's a Philistine. They're the enemies of Israel. Somehow that worked out okay for David. He would do these forays out into areas and destroy everything, unless somebody come back and tell the Achish thing wasn't really doing what he thought he was doing. And there's a battle against Israel that's taking place. And the other Philistine lords said, we're scared to have David with us, this is the guy they said Saul killed his thousands, David killed his ten thousands, and they sent David and his men back. And so here comes David with his men, they're coming back, they're coming back to their village, their village is Ziklag, and they get there and there's a crisis in the village. And so verse one, it came to pass when David and his men were coming to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag, and spit in Ziklag and burned it with fire. and had taken the women captives that were therein. They slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their ways. So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him, they lifted up their voice and they wept until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captive to Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his son and for his daughter." Okay, now I just suspect that none of us has ever faced a crisis just like this, right? I mean, this very enormous crisis that is in the life of David. He is back, the city is completely destroyed. He doesn't know if his wife and any, I don't know that David at this point had any children, but the children of his men, if they were taken captive, did they leave them alive, you know, or anything like that. They've wept until they have no more power to weep. I mean, they have just grieved and cried their eyes out, and they're so upset, about the situation that they're looking at David and they're thinking about stoning David and these are his men that are with him. But David's going to lead God's people from crisis to conquest. David himself is going to go from crisis to conquest and so again this morning how to go from crisis to conquest by depending upon the Lord. First point this grab God's hand by faith. Verse six, it says, but David encouraged himself, and the Lord is God. So everything is looking really bad. He can't look around him because the city's burning with fire. This is gonna dishearten him. He can't look to his men because they're talking about stoning him. There's only one secure place for David to look, and he looks up at his God. David encouraged himself, and the Lord is God. David grabbed the immovable hand of Almighty God. And so as we think about the idea of grabbing hold of the hand of God by faith, grab a hold of God's hand because of his proximity. David was not living a life far away from God. Praise God, right? That David wasn't at a point of disobedience in his life where he rebelled against God. He was against God. He was away from God. He was close in his walk with God. He was following God's plan for his life. He was in obedience to God. And he could say, as it says in the text, David encouraged himself in the Lord, his God. David is the author of Psalm 23. And in that psalm, he speaks about, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Okay, so the first thing I need to do in a crisis is evaluate my relationship with God. Am I right with God? Am I close to God? The first thing is to recognize my proximity to God. Is God your God? You know, Jesus on the cross, he said these words. He said, my God, my God. OK, now I know the rest of the statement is, why hast thou what? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, I want to point this out. We can also say, my God, my God, but we can never say what Jesus Christ said. If he is our God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus Christ was God forsaken because he was paying the price for our sin. And the price for our sin is separation for God for all eternity. On the cross, it was a necessity that Christ be separated from his father as the sin of the world was placed upon him. Jesus Christ but he's promised us as New Testament believers have accepted him as our Savior that we will never be forsaken. He said in Hebrews 13 verse 5 for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Proverbs 15 29 says the Lord is following the prayer of the righteous." Okay, so David's in a crisis, but David knows God is my God. His proximity is close to God. And so, Psalm 46.1 says, God is our refuge and strength of very present help and trouble. Oh, it's a great thing to be a believer at a time of crisis. It's a great thing to have God as your savior so that you can, in that crisis, immediately go, you know what? I'm going to encourage myself in the Lord, my God. And then secondly, to grab a hold of God's hand because of his proximity. because of his character. I've done rock climbing two times, and I think that's probably enough for me for the rest of my life. You get that gear on, and you've got the rope, and the faces I climbed were about 100-foot vertical faces, and one of them was up high on a mountainside, so you're overlooking the valley quite a ways below. But as you're climbing, you're looking for those handholds. You're trying to find that place where you can get a grip and you wanna get your feet secure and your hands secure so that you don't fall and you make it up the climb. And praise God, you've got the guy belaying below with the rope and getting you up and back down safely. I wanna give us some handholds this morning that we can grab onto if we're in a crisis. Like, what is it about God that can stabilize us and give us a firm grip? Well, first of all, God is never wrong. He's never wrong. Deuteronomy 32 verse four. says he is the rock, his work is perfect. For all his ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and righteous he. You know, St. Noah says that God made a mistake. You know, this is outside the plan of God for my life. This is not something that God intended or God made a mistake in allowing this. And the word of God's very clear. God does not make mistakes. God is a God. That is absolutely right in everything that he does. Ron Hamilton, the hymn writer that wrote so much, that was saying, and we've talked about before, that as a college student, he had to have a surgery. And the doctor said, I might have to take your eye. And I won't know until I get into the surgical procedure. If the cancer's bad enough, then I'll have to remove your eye. He woke up, and God had allowed his eye to be taken. And it was through that that he had a tremendous ministry. He became Patch the Pirate, a fictional character that is Christian stories about this man and his crew and everything. Kids loved him, and he wrote all these music and things. But as he woke up from that surgery, soon after that, he wrote this hymn, God Makes No Mistake. I know God makes no mistakes. the way that's leading me to home though at times my heart would break there's a purpose in every change he makes that others would see my life and know that God makes no mistakes well I can say this as somebody that just saw a glimpse into Ron Hamilton's life God didn't make a mistake you know God God allowed that God was wise God glorified his name through that it's good for us in time of crisis, just to grab hold of that and say, you know what? God hasn't made a mistake. God is as true today as he's always been. Secondly, God is always aware. He's always aware. I was street preaching a couple of weeks ago, and I had Parker and Benson with me. And so I said to Benson, if somebody engages me, come engage them. All right, talk to them. Parker if somebody engages Parker, but I'm preaching and I said Parker's engaged with a guy You know, it's right in his face. I talked to him about evolution and other things, you know And so I'm watching this while I'm trying to focus on my street preaching Over there is Parker and this guy Vincent's over here and this entertainers back behind me street performer He started cracking a whip and fire and flames and all sorts of things. So Vince is distracted over there I'm trying to get his eye and finally I'm like, oh I'm preaching and I say Benson I'm like all right come over here and help your brother a little bit. You know Satan wants you to think that God's distracted Satan wants you to think God's not aware. He doesn't know about this thing that's happening in your life you know as far as what is taking place and yet God is there and God is observing and It doesn't matter how we feel, like, you know, we might feel like God doesn't know him. But 2 Chronicles 16, 9 says, And that means this, God is observing. God is all around the earth right now. Praise God, God is omnipresent. And so it doesn't matter what crisis I have or how few people are around to understand what I'm facing. God is totally aware of everything that's taking place. He's always aware. Third thing, God wants to help you. All right, I think these are good handholds to grab hold of. God is aware, God wants to help you. skilled help, right? We need people that are able and interested in helping us. And I think those two things are important, that they're able and that they're interested. If they are able but not interested, they don't really care to help, right? If they're interested but not able, they can't help us. So I think it's important to realize this morning that God wants to help us, but that God is interested and God is able. God's interested. Lamentations 3.22 says, because his compassions fail not, there are new every morning, greatest thy faith wants. His compassions. How many times? does it say about Jesus, and he was moved with compassion as he looked, as he saw. So we understand today that God is not disinterested. As God looks at the situations that we're facing, God is compassionate about that. Well, Peter 5, 7 says, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Psalm 86, 15, but thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth. So God wants to help you, God's interested. God is absolutely aware of what we're facing, but then God is more than able to help. Jeremiah 32, 27 says, behold, I'm the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? All right, and right there in that time period in Jeremiah's life, he's in prison. I mean, he's locked up for doing what God said to do. Is there anything, Jeremiah, too hard for me? Mark 10, 27, Jesus looking upon them said, with men it's impossible, but not with God. For with God, all things are possible. Yari, grabbing hold of God's hand, knowing that he wants to help you, right? And that he's able to help. You can't grab God's hand if you aren't in close proximity to him, right? You gotta be saved, have that right relationship with God. And if you're saved, the best way to grab God's hand is do what David did, and that is encourage yourself in the Lord, your God. How do you do that? You start to think about who God is and his character. And so grab God's hand. David encouraged himself to the Lord, and then he went to prayer. And so, go to the throne of God. Verse seven, David said to Abiathar the priest, Abimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought hither the ephod to David. Okay, David's in the wilderness. He doesn't have access to the tabernacle. But what he does have, he does have the high priest. is part of that. There's something called the Urim and Thummim. It's not found often in scripture, but it had to do with the ability to go directly to God in a way that is not recorded that would give them an answer, a definite answer regarding the way forward. Okay, so he's going to go to the place and get in that place of prayer. You know, praise God, you and I have something much better than King David. He's got the mediator, the high priest. He's got the ephod. We've got the the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, and access to God the Father ourselves. Hebrews 4.16 says, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Okay, now again, praise God, we've got direct access to God. Right away, he's in crisis, and he's gonna get to the place of prayer. Jesus, when facing the crisis of the cross, got himself to the throne of God, didn't he? Right before he goes to Calvary, he goes to Gethsemane. He goes there, why? Because that was his place of prayer. That was a place that he often resorted to. In fact, Judas, that's gonna betray Christ, he knows that Jesus is gonna be there, because he knows what Jesus is gonna be doing just before this all takes place. John 18, verse 22, Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place where Jesus oft times resorted thither with his disciples. All right, now. We shouldn't wait for a crisis to establish that, right? I mean, that'll be something we think, okay, crisis management, future, I'm gonna have crisis. Let's have that continual, consistent place of prayer. That place is just natural to find me there. That's something that I do. I don't think David was doing anything unusual or anything that was not typical of his life. He encouraged himself in the Lord and the first thing, response, he just, I gotta get to the place of prayer. I gotta seek God. And so go to the throne of God, but then get to the task of prayer. It says in verse eight, and David inquired at the Lord saying, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? Okay, so David got ready to pray and David prayed. He went to God and he said, God, okay, what do I do? What do I do? You know, when we're faced with a crisis, a great place to find ourselves is like, you know, get on our knees before God and say, God, what do I do? I've shared this story before, and it's unfortunate. Keith gave his apologies today, he can't be here, all right, but Tommy mentioned this story to him, and here it is. But how many of you have been sailing before? Sailing, all right. I went sailing one time. I was in college, and he wanted to get a sailboat out. His wife didn't want to go out in it. And so he asked if I wanted to go out in it. That was his first mistake of the day. And so we go sailing, and on the St. Croix River by my house, it's about a mile across. And it's a beautiful, slow-moving body of water at that point. It's kind of more like a lake than a river. And so we sailed around a bit. We went under the big motorway bridge that was there, and we sailed up. river, maybe a mile and a half, two miles, and I didn't want to take the tilt, but there came a point where Mr. Haslam kind of urged me to, and so, okay, I take the tail, and he tells me, he goes, look up there, and he said, see that V thing, and you got that arrow in the middle? That V, you keep that arrow in the middle, it's all good, all right? And so I'm like, okay, I got that, and I don't, to this day, I really don't know what happened. I don't know if we got a strong crosswind, or what happened. All I know is that arrow was not in the V anymore, and the 20-foot sail, and it wasn't a big boat, maybe 12, 15 feet long, And I'm going up over the side of the boat saying to the deacon in our church, Mr. Haspin, go this way, go this way. And the boat goes, Mr. Haspin, and I only joke about it because he lived, but I thought I killed the deacon. And so he bops to the surface, and there I am floating as well. And my first words to Mr. Haspin, I don't know if he remembers this or not, I said, Mr. Haspin, can we pray? Can we pray? And we did, we bowed our heads and prayed. And you know, a lot of times, when we have a crisis like that, our first thought is not pray. Our first thought is, what can I do? Maybe think, well, wave the paddles, you know, or start screaming for help, or something like that. Interestingly, a boat came over, and they said this, we saw you waving your oars. We didn't waive our orders. I don't know what that was about. We didn't signal or anything like that. They came over. We stood on the runner of it and got it up even, and then grabbed hold of it and leaned, and actually were able to ride it. And Mr. Haskins said, I always wanted to know. It was a positive flow. If it'd be possible to write it and I I think he was just encouraging me because this toolbox was down somewhere in Davy Jones locker, but um Anyway, the first thing that we ought to do when we hit crisis is get on our knees and say I'm just gonna go to God and pray about it I'm gonna ask God about it and so We gotta grab God's hand that say I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna begin to pray and say God. I don't know what to do God. Give me some guidance But then the third thing is read God's lips read God's lips and you can just if you want one word listen listen There's no point in asking God what to do and then not listening for God's response We don't have an ephod like David had, but we've got the word of God. And the Bible says in Psalm 119, 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Okay, so we absolutely have everything we need to, when we go to God and say, God, I need to know what to do in this situation, that we can examine the word of God and God is able to speak through his word to us in very clear and direct ways. And so read God's lips, listen. The Bible says in verse 8, and he answers him, pursue, pursue. You know, they're tired. They're just back from an excursion. I don't know how long they've been going at this point. They've been part of that military, you know, and they're just getting back. They're exhausted. They just cried their eyes out. There's, I mean, if you want to talk about somebody who's fatigued, I really don't feel like pursuing. I really don't feel like, Going forward, and yet God said to them, pursue. I think it's a little bit like Israel at the Red Sea. They're there, and if the Gulf of Aqaba is where they actually got to at the Red Sea, then there's a dry riverbed there that they likely walked down. So they've got cliffs on either side of them. They've got the Egyptian army behind them and the Red Sea in front of them. And God says to Moses, wherefore cryest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward. Go forward. I think this is a great command in time of crisis. Don't stop, don't quit. Go forward. I think, and I suppose this, I guess, because I can think of maybe an exception or two from the Bible to this, but I suspect that God's command is seldom or ever going to be retreat or accept defeat. The exception I think about is the Babylonian captivity, but that was God telling them to go forward into captivity. Obey and go into captivity. Instead, they had to have the defeat to get them to go into captivity like God said, but even there, it's telling them to go forward. I don't know that God ever says retreat. I don't know that God ever says retreat. bond in the United States that would hold men's retreats, and I think I've shared this with some of you before, but he calls them men's advances. Because they don't like the name retreat. Because he doesn't want the guys to come there to retreat, he wants them to come there and be encouraged and go forward. And so are we listening to God's commands? Mark it down. When God says advance, then go forward. And so you've got to hear God's commands. Read God's lips, listen to His commands, but then believe God's promises. Again, verse 8. For thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. You know, I mean, that's a big promise. You're gonna catch up to them, you don't know where they're at, you gotta follow their tracks, you gotta, I mean, they got this, you know, however many hours or days ahead of you they are, and you gotta pursue them, and what are the chances that you're gonna get anything back? And yet God says, follow them, because without doubt, you're gonna recover everything. David could have argued. They've got too big a start. They could argue. We'll never get everything back. But it was a promise that God gave to David and David had to decide, am I going to believe God or not? You know, there are times in life you're going to look at it and say, there's no way. I mean, it's just the nature of it. And I think a crisis is a perfect example of that. You're just going to be overwhelmed and think, there's no way. When we bought this property, some of you well remember the condition of this property when we walked in. And the smell. And the leak of the water that came into the back area that maybe some of you don't know about, that ruptured water tank. And then the size of the property. And we're not a huge congregation. And I mean, there are times where I was tempted to look at it and say, man, how can we, right? And there's gonna be times like that in our life that we look at it and say, I can't, but I'll tell you this, when the Josh Rowley family was here, God very specifically put on my heart, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And some of you might remember the message I preached on that, but the reason I preached on it with regard to go ahead and paint the outside of the church. I don't I don't know about you, but looking at however many square meters of outside exterior building that's hurled that we had to paint by roller and brush. You know, you look at it, that's pretty daunting for somebody to take on. But I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me and promise from God. Are you stepping out anytime God says? You've got to take it by faith. Hebrews 11 verse 6 says, but without faith it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he's a reward of them that diligently seek him. For us to have the promises of God, we've got to exercise faith. When somebody gets saved, how do they get saved? They look at what God says and say, I believe that, I accept that. It's the same when we feel like I can't, you know, you might go back to salvation. Can you cleanse your heart? Can you make yourself righteous? Can you get yourself out of hell? No, but can God? Yes. And so you exercise faith and say, God, will you please? And God does. I think in that regard, it's maybe similar that we might feel like I can, I can, I can, whatever that is, but to recognize, but God can. And I can trust God with that. I can listen to his promise that he's given. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 says, for we walk by faith, not by sight. And so are you listening to God in your crisis? Are you getting his leading and believing his promises? Okay, so listen to what God says, and then listening to the promises that he gives. And so if you go from crisis to conquest, you gotta grab God's hand, that's faith. Get God's ear, that's prayer. Read God's lips, that's listening. And then follow God's footsteps, that's obeying. Follow God's footsteps, obeying. And so a quote that I remember says this, the test of your character is what it takes to stop you. One thing Martha said about Steve, he's a fighter, all right, which is great, praise God. What's it going to take to stop you? That reminds me of the picture of that frog that's getting swallowed by the crane. Have you guys seen this poster? The frog's getting swallowed by the crane and the arms of the frog are out around the neck of the crane. choking it. It's like, it's just the test of your character is what it takes to stop you, right? I mean, are you going to be swallowed? Are you going to fight and take, you know, and go forward in this case for God. Again, Satan wants you to sit down. He wants you to quit. He wants to strike the fatal blow. I mean the one that just totally makes you stop doing what God desires you to do. The last thing he wants is you to go to God and say, God what do you want me to do? The last thing he wants you to get is a command from God, a promise from God, and then to step on by faith and obey God. And so follow God's footsteps. Get up and go. It says in verse nine, so David went, he and the 600 men that were with him, and came to the Brookbeeser, where those that were left behind stayed. Now, it's gonna be a little bit more difficult. David's gonna go from 600 men to 400. Some are gonna stay, but David's still gonna go on for God. And so verse 10, but David pursued, that's what God said. Remember, what's your command, God? Pursue. He and 400 men. for 200 men abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook." Now I want to say David's a wise leader. He evaluates his men's condition. He looks at them. They're all in. They can't go. And so he takes all their stuff and he says, okay, if you're gonna stay, let's leave some stuff. Then we're gonna be lighter, gonna be able to move faster. And so you guys watch this stuff, you guys guard this stuff, you stay here. And again, he's just showing wisdom in his leadership. And then he goes on to pursue. Now, if David did not get up and go, was there any chance that he would get his family back? No. Okay, so I mean, it's all at stake. is all at stake, but for it to happen, David's gotta do something, he's gotta get up and obey God and go. You know, we need to be careful as Christians that we don't think faith is just waiting on God. That we think, I'm trusting God, but I'm just staying here. There's an aspect of faith that says, I believe God, therefore I'm gonna go forward, therefore I'm gonna do something. It's kind of like this, we can pray for God to fill our church with people, but somebody has to invite them. We can pray for God, God save, you know, these people at Lone Head, save my family, save whoever it is, but there has to be a willingness on our part to say, I'm gonna do something about that. I'm gonna go do something because I'm burdened about that. So what? I need to share the gospel. I need to give a gospel track. I need to pray and ask God, God, give me that divine appointment so I can speak to them about Jesus. And so the same thing, if you wanna go from crisis to conquest, there has to be, okay, I'm gonna trust God, but I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna go. As God says, I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna go. And part of getting up and going, second thing is get up and discover. Okay, get up and go, but then get up and discover. It says in verse 11, They found an Egyptian in the field. Okay, question, did David know about this Egyptian before, earlier in the story? No. And they brought him to David and they gave him bread and he did eat and they made him drink water. They gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him for he had eaten no bread nor drunk any water for three days and three nights. David said unto him, to whom do you belong? And whence art thou? And he said, I'm a young man of Egypt, servant of an Amalekite, and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherithites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb, and we burned Zichleg with fire. And David said unto him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company. And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah. you will undoubtedly catch up and recover all. Did God tell him that he had a guide for them? No. didn't say that, oh, there's this Egyptian, by the way, this guy that, he's kinda weak, you're gonna find him, and what you do is this. For them to get to the point of understanding that this man was there, they had to pursue, and then they get up to that point, and they're like, wow, God's got a guide for us, he knows the haunts of these guys, where they're hidden, and so he could take us right down after they refreshed him and strengthened him and met his needs, he was able to meet their needs. There's times in a crisis where we look at it and we go, I can't, God, I can't, there's no way, but God says go for it. But to go for it, we have to exercise faith because God doesn't tell us, oh, by the way, step one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. A lot of times with God, it's just step one. It's just go. And then step two comes, oh, there's an Egyptian. And there's a discovery like, oh, more information. And now I understand things that I didn't understand before because I obeyed and I went. Now I've got what I need for the rest of the situation to see God meet my need. Again, have you ever quit in time of crisis because you look at it and go, I know God's saying go forward, but I just don't see how it's possible. But part of our obedience is gonna bring us to what's necessary for us to go home. If I would have known that, of course I would have gone, but God's got it there. He's gonna meet the need miraculously many times if we'll just step up by faith and obey God. And so if you would go from crisis to conquest, grab God's hand, believe, get God's ear, pray, read God's lips, listen, follow God's footsteps, you need to go. And then last thing this morning, Fight for God's glory, okay? Fight for God's glory, foray, if you want a word there, all right? A foray. David's tired, his men are all in. He doesn't get a rest, he doesn't get relaxed. It's been intense, very intense. Now he's gotta fight. Before he can get to conquest from this crisis, he's gotta fight for the glory of God. And so he fights valiantly, verse 17. It says, and David spoke them from the twilight even until the evening of the next day. The enemy is eating and drinking. I don't know if it means that it was twilight in the morning or twilight in the evening, but I understand it's either 24 hours, this battle, or it's 36 hours. It's a long time that they're gonna fight, and David's gonna fight valiantly because his family's there. I grew up in bear country in the United States, and they actually took a black bear that weighed almost 700 pounds just from about a couple miles. up from my house. But I never saw a bear in Wisconsin where I'm from, but you know this growing up in bear country, if you see a mama bear or even if you just see cubs, you don't go near them. Because a mama bear is really protective of her cubs. She'll fight for her family. You know, and I think, you know, you look at David. David is fighting valiantly. Why? Because his family is there. And I would just say this to us in the church. You know what? There ought to be some mama bear instinct in us that goes, I'm going to fight for my family, physical family. I'm talking about my relatives. I'm going to fight for my spiritual family. that I'm gonna fight valiantly, that this is worth fighting for? There ought to be something in us that says, I want to foray, I want to go, I want to be somebody that really stands and fights for my family, fight valiantly, and then fight victoriously. It says in verse 17, there escaped not a man of them, save 400 young men, which rode upon camels. Okay, now, again, I wanna point out the size of the force. David has 400 guys, and the Bible here says only 400 of the opponent escaped, meaning that the much greater force was totally annihilated. Now, I don't know how big it was, the Bible doesn't say, but if it says only 400 guys got away, that is a much larger force. Verse 18, and David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives, and there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that they had taken to them." Notice the statement, David recovered all. And David took all the flocks and the herds which they draved before those other cattle and said this, this is David's spoil. Each man would get a portion of the spoil. So David looks at that and says, that's mine. David didn't just get his family back, he didn't just get his things back, but David in obeying God came out victorious and he came out with so much more than when he entered into the crisis. You know, I praise God our church went from crisis to conquest last year. And input from people on Facebook and things like that led to some loss of some places for us to let in this area. What did God do? Well, God brought us through that. We obeyed God through that. We trusted God through that. And what did God do? God gave us something tremendous. God gave us something much better than anything that we've ever had because we obeyed God and we believed God. And by God's grace, we were victorious because we continued on for God. So fight for God's glory. Fight valiantly. Fight victoriously. And lastly, this morning, fight humbly. Humbly. It says in verse 21, And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made to abide in the brook besore. And they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him. And when David came near to the people, he saluted them, then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered. Save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart. Then said David, you shall not do so, my brother." And I want to point out David's humility in that as a leader. He looks at it and goes, no, these guys are worthy of having their needs met. But notice what he says, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us, for who will hearken into you in this matter." Okay, and he goes on to make a law that the guys that stay by the stop and the guys that go to battle, they share and share life because both are important, but there's humility in that. David looks at that and says, look, wait a second, wait a second, who gave us a victory? Now, David's a great leader, but David didn't point at himself and say, I'm the man because I achieved such a great victory on this day. He looked up and he said, to God be the glory, great things he had done. And there ought to be something in our heart that looks around and just says, only God. And again, I say it with this, only God. Anything that we have, it's by the grace of God. If we go forward and achieve anything, it's only because there is a God in heaven that has smiled upon us, that in his mercy has done great things, because we have the grace to face a crisis in the will of God and go forward, and go forward. Does the story of your crisis do the same? Does it point up and say, God did it? You know, all of us are gonna face a crisis in our Christian life. You know, it's just gonna happen. And not to be negative, but it's just the reality. We don't know the future. I'll tell you this, one thing about the last 24 hours, just a reminder that, man, praise God for the days we got. Praise God for the health that we got. We don't know what's gonna happen the next day, right? And so when that happens, how do I respond? How do I handle a crisis that, you know, is coming? That curveball is going to come and Satan's going to want me to quit. He's going to want me to throw it up in despair and just stop. You know, at that point, what do I do? Well, by God's grace, let's go from crisis to conquest. Let's grab God's hand now. Because we've got Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Praise God. Those that don't have Jesus Christ as their Savior, they need to get proximity close to God so that they have access to that, okay? But we grab a hold and say, I want to believe God. How do we do that? I start to think about the character of God. He's aware of what I'm going through. He knows he can help me. He's interested in helping me. He's able to help me. And I start reminding myself about that. And then get God's ear. Get to the place of prayer. Cry out to God. Say, God, I don't know what to do. And then read God's lips, listen to what He says, take His commands and say, all right, God says go forward, God says pursue, so I'm gonna obey God, I'm gonna take the promise of God. God says you're gonna recover all. Follow His footsteps. Right? Get up and go. And by the way, I call that following his footsteps, because anytime we go for God, God goes with us, right? God is always there. I'm with you always, right? So get up and follow his footsteps. Get up and go. Get up and discover things that you're looking at that I don't know how this is gonna work out. Okay, fine. You don't have to know, you know, A through Z. Just start with A and say, you know what? I'm just gonna step that. Trust God for B, C, D, E, F as I get there. And I'm just gonna follow God. And then when you fight for his we can go from crisis to conquest. We don't have to, this morning, throw up our hands in despair and say, whatever. We can look at it and say, you know what? God's still on the throne. Encourage myself and the Lord, pray. Get in God's direction, go and fight for him. May God help us to do that. Father, take the word of God, and I pray this morning that our church family can see how appropriate it is to the current crisis that Brother Anderson's facing. Father, we pray, knowing that he's a man that's gonna take the steps and obey God. And Father, I've seen the truth of this scripture played out in his life, the last 24 hours in the life of Martha as well. And Father, we ask that they would no doubt recover all. That's our prayer. We prayed that this morning at the hospital. And Father, you're the God that's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think. You're the God with whom all things are possible. And Father, you're faithful, and you care, and you're able, and you're interested. And Father, I just pray for clear direction. I pray for wisdom about what steps to take. And I pray for grace for Brother Steve and Martha to go forward, and Father, we're gonna encourage them, and we're gonna get to rejoice with the triumph, and the glory of God's gonna be seen. But Father, in our own lives, may the Spirit of God give us grace to recognize, you know what? We're gonna face it too, and are we ready for a crisis? Are we gonna let a crisis derail us? Are we gonna quit, throw our hands up in despair, turn our back on the house of God, the family of God, walk away defeated? Or are we gonna be somebody that is gonna grab hold and fight valiantly for our family? Fight valiantly for the family of God. And so, Spirit of God, I pray deeply, deeply, put these words and this truth into our hearts this morning. Thank you for this text. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Let's stand, please. We'll sing 366, have thine own way, Lord. Really, that's, I've heard that prayer in the last 24 hours. I've heard it yesterday, nevertheless not as I will but as I will.