you need to say or do, then you do it. Yeah. Anybody? Amen. Anybody? Me and, you know, I challenged y'all last week to list a sermon every day this week. And so me and some men decided after service that we'd hold ourselves accountable to that. We've been listening, everybody's been listening to a sermon. We got a text message group that we share what we, who we listen to. On Monday, I listened to Brother Brian McBride, he's one of my favorites. And he's preaching from 2 Samuel chapter number seven. And boy, I tell you, he preached a great message. I'm not preaching on what he preached on, but it was a great message. But I got in my office at school, and the Lord really got to the bottom of my heart about these verses to kick revival off. And so I just wanna remind the Lord, I've got at least two more messages I'm gonna preach out of the book of Colossians at some point. But I just wanna remind the Lord this morning, And let's look in 2 Samuel chapter number 7 and begin our reading this morning in verse number 1. It came to pass when the king sat in his house, the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies. The king said unto Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in the house of Cedar, but the ark of the God dwelleth within curtains. Nathan said to the king, go to all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. Came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan saying, go and tell my servant David, thus saith the Lord, thou shalt buy, build me a, thou shalt thou And the Lord shalt thou build me in a house for me to dwell in. Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, even on this day, but have walked in a tent in a tabernacle. and all the places wherein I've walked, with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye me not an house of cedar? Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I've took thee from the sheep coat, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel. And I was with thee, whether soever thou winnest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and made thee a great name. like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more. Neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more as before time. And as since that time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused the rest Cause thee to rest from all thine enemies, also the Lord telleth thee that he'll make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, thou shalt sleep with thy father. I will set up thy seat after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I'll establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name. and I'll establish his throne and his kingdom forever. And I'll be his father and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I'll chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the children of men. But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. and thy throne shall be established forever. According to all the words and according to all the visions, so did Nathan speak unto David. Now look at verse 18. Then went King David in and sat down before the Lord. And he said, who am I? Oh Lord God. And what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God. But thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And in this manner of man, O Lord God, and what can David say more unto thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant know thee all. Well, for thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Let's pray together. Father, we ask Lord in Jesus' name. that you'd help us just to give to your people this morning what you gave to us earlier this week. I pray this morning that I might be the conduit through which the Holy Spirit and His oil would flow forth the good things of God to your people. Bless us and help us now as only you can and we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. morning begins in the palace. With my mind's eye, I imagined David. He's sitting there in his throne room. He's looking around. He's David is a man that has known what it is to be a nobody. He had tended his father's Jesse's sheep on the backside of the desert. As a matter of fact, when he went up there to face Goliath, his brother said, who did you leave those few sheep with in the desert? He hadn't had a big name. But God had anointed him to be the king over Israel. David, of course, had killed Goliath, but he'd spent the last many years of his life running from Saul. He had even moved into the land of the Philistines. He had lived there at Ziklag. where the Amicalites had destroyed his village and took away all of his wives and children and all of them, all of his men's wives. But now God has exalted him, him to the throne. And I, in my mind's eye this morning, I think about David as he is seated there on his throne and he's looking around at all of the different ways that God had blessed him. He's thinking about those cedar walls of that great palace inside that great throne room where he sits. And he looks around, he's got servants at his bidding, he's got an army at his command. God has done exactly what God always does, and that is he's come through and did exactly what he said he would do. David is sitting there in his castle, and he's sitting there in his throne room. He's sitting there in his home, and he begins to think about the many blessings of God in his life. And as we read the story there, we see as David begins to reflect that his house is cedar, but of course the house of God at that time was a tabernacle, and it was a curtain. It was a tent. And he began to think about the goodness of God. He just sat there in his house and he began to think about all the ways that God had blessed him. I'm gonna preach a little while this morning, if the Lord would help us on sitting down with our blessings. I don't know about you, but there's some nights on your at Wilson Road, in the little Escoda Valley where I'll sit down in my chair. I'm that old now, I've got my chair. I sit down in my chair, I look out the window and I think about where God has allowed me to live. I look at my family, And I think about how God has blessed my family. Sometimes I just sit down with my blessings. And so this morning, I want to encourage you for a few moments in the start of our revival this week, that you would consider for a moment how good God has been to you. Let's all come together this morning. Let's sit down with our blessings. Let's think about all the ways that God has been so good to us. I began to think about some of the ways here in our verses that the Lord had blessed David. He had, first of all, rested David. Look what the Bible said. The Bible says that it came to pass when the king sat at his house that the Lord had given him rest round about. Let me say to you this morning, if you walked in those back doors and you're not in turmoil, if you walked in those back doors and your life is not falling apart, If you walked in those back doors and your marriage ain't in shambles, if you walked in those back doors and your health is not failing, if you walked in those back doors and your neighbors are at peace with you, if you walked in those back doors and you don't have any trouble with anybody else in the church, can I say to you, God has made you to rest. And if we've got no other reason to praise the Lord this morning, we can praise Him simply for the reason that He has made us to rest. I'm glad today. There's no turmoil in my life. Oh, my. Hey, He has made us to rest. He rested Him. He had rewarded Him. Bible says there in verse number two that he was dwelling in a house of cedar. Now I know there's some of us amongst us that are still not living in our house house. Some of us are living in temporary, but nobody in here this morning woke up without a roof over their head. Nobody went without a meal unless they just decided to not eat. Can I say to you that the Lord has rewarded us? I am a testimony this morning of God's grace. God's goodness in my life, he had rewarded him. I began to think about how he'd removed him The Bible said there in verse number eight, now therefore so shalt thou say unto thy servant David, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep coat. He said, David, you was in one place, but I saw you there and I said, I've got a higher job for you. And I promoted you, I removed you. I say, I still remember where I was. Like Justice was singing, I remember how lost I am. I know how unworthy I am. Anybody else remember where the Lord found you? On your way to hell. But he snatched you out. Set your feet on a solid rock. Well, we ought to just sit down with our blessings. Then he'd remained with him. Well, the Bible said in verse number nine, I'm trying to hurry because I got to get to the message. He said, I was with thee whithersoever thou winnest and have cut off all thine enemies. Not only had the Lord removed him, but the Lord had walked with him. Oh, I'm so glad. If I were to be honest with you this morning, I would have to say that so many times I've disappointed the Lord. So many times I have been a failure. But while many times I have left Him, He has never, He has never forsaken me. He's always been right where I found Him. Remained, then he rewarded his family. I may not even get past this. Look at this. He says to David, verse 12, I'll set up thy seed after thee. You know, he tells David, he said, David, he said, this line is not going to end with you. He said to them young'uns, he said, I'll raise up a seed after you. And of course we know Solomon follows David's footsteps as the king. If you're sitting in this church house this morning and your family's lying in that pew, y'all take a lap. I said y'all take a lap. Y'all say glory to God. If you've got young'uns sittin' on the pew and grand young'uns at the house of God, you are blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. Yesterday I was preaching in a meeting up in Mount Ariet. I was preaching with Brother Jonathan. Brother Allen preached. Brother Jonathan, Brother Jeremiah was there. Brother Allen's daddy was, Brother Allen was talking about how his daddy was a preacher. And I thought, there's four generations. And I said, oh, God. Could I have something like that? It come time for prayer. I went and got down in the altar. I said, Lord, would you give me something like that? If time lasts, maybe Israel will be a preacher. Boy, wouldn't that be something? Maybe he'd have a young and that'd be a problem. I'm just simply saying I'm trusting God for generational blessings of my family. Can we just all stop and say thank God? So what did all that do? David's sitting on his throne. And he got all overwhelmed with these blessings. He got to thinking about how good God had been to him. He got to thinking about how good God had blessed him. And he said, I think I'll go down to God's house. So in the second part of this chapter, we find David not sitting in his palace, but the Bible says that David sat down with the Lord. I see him there in the house of God in the tabernacle sitting down. Isn't it funny how that when you realize how good God has been to you, it makes you want to go to his house. He got set down there. He got set down there in the house of God. Now, David had a lot to shout about. David had a lot to worship about. But can I say to you this morning, you have a lot to shout about. You have a lot to worship the Lord about. I want to show you three things. David's reaction to his blessing. He hit the ground. He humbled his heart. And he honored God's power. Now watch this, number one, David did not forget where his blessings came from. Look what he says in verse 18. Then went King David in, sat down before the Lord, and he said, who am I? Who, David, had defeated Goliath, killed thousands of Philistines, ascended the throne. He could have went to the house of God and said, Lord, look at me. Boy, I'm the best thing you got. I sure have done a lot of good things for you. But see, when David got overwhelmed with how good that God had been in his life, all David could say was, who am I? Who am I? You know, David, he wrote the 8th Psalm, and he says in verse number 3, "'When I consider thy heavens and the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, What is a man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him? Who can agree with me this morning on a Sunday morning kicking off revival when the Holy Spirit of God is set down in this place? I don't feel like exalting myself. I just sit there and think, who am I? Who am I that God would visit me? Who am I that God would bless my heart? Who am I that the Holy God of heaven would come by where I'm at? Who am I that God should speak with me? Oh, it humbles my heart, who am I? Every person in this building's a hell-deserving sinner. Who am I? Who am I? My goodness, think about this, none of us deserve to be saved. None of us deserve to be in this church house this morning. None of us deserve to feel the touch, tug, or pull of God. None of us deserve to have a Bible in our hands. None of us deserve to have our little family lined up on the pew this morning. None of us deserve to have all the money that we got in our pockets. None of us deserve all of these blessings of God. If we'd gotten what we deserve, what a mess we'd be in this morning. We're a bunch of nobodies. We're a bunch of zeros. But one day, I want you to think back about the day that God came to where you were at. You didn't have anything to give God. You didn't have anything to offer God. But God came and sat down where you was, and He snatched you up out of a miry pit and out of the clay that you were in, and He set your feet on a solid rock, and He made you somebody going somewhere where we ought to praise the Lord this morning. Hey, God, hey, don't forget where your blessings came from. Without God, we're a big nothing and a nobody. But He came by where we were, and He lifted us out, and He established our goings, and now we're headed toward heaven. I say hallelujah. Don't forget where all that came from. You say, well, I worked the job. You wouldn't have had to have breath to work if you hadn't been for the Lord. You say, well, I did this. You wouldn't have been able to have done none of that if it hadn't been for the Lord. Huh? God is where all that came from. I said, God. Think about what David said in the 124th Psalm. He said, if it had not been for the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say, if it had not been for the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against them, then they would have swallowed us up quick. When their wrath was kindled against us, then the waters had overwhelmed us. and the stream had gone over our soul. Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us his prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. The snare is broken and we've escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord. who made heaven and earth, can I just stop and say to you this morning, Concord Baptist Church, had it not been for the Lord who was on our side, had it not been for the Lord, the rivers would have overwhelmed us. Had it not been for the Lord, we never would have made it. But I'm glad that we're here, and thank God we're saved and we're together. I say hallelujah! had it not been for the Lord. Think about this. David, number one, he didn't forget where his blessings came from. Number two, David never fell out with his preacher. What are you talking about? Well, later in our chapter there in 2 Samuel chapter number seven, Nathan's going to break David's heart. All David wanted to do was build God a house, because God had been so good to him. And the Lord said, no. To begin with, David asked Nathan, said, what do you think about me building God a house? Nathan said, if that's on your heart, go do it, son. But that night, God came to Nathan. He said, that ain't gonna work. Boy, it would have been easy for Nathan to have told the Lord, I ain't telling the king that. But Nathan, just an obedient prophet, he went down there. He told David, he said, it's not gonna work. You ain't gonna get to build that house. Boy, don't you know that was a knife in David's side. But you know what? David didn't fly mad. A few chapters later, David's caught in that sin with Bethsheba. It's the same Nathan that's gonna run his finger in David's face and say, thou art the man. But you know what? David didn't fly mad. You know why? Because he realized where his blessings had come from. He said, I ain't gonna fall out with my preacher. He just tried to help me. You know what he did? You don't read a lot about Nathan until it's David's deathbed experience. He's dying. Another one of David's boys is trying to ascend the throne. Guess who's standing there next to Bathsheba at David's deathbed? Nathan. And he helped set Solomon up to be the king. You know what that tells me? David kept him close by his entire life. He never fell out with his preacher. I'm gonna tell you, Thank God for times when we can sit down with our blessings and we can have a sugar stick kind of service and a good sermon and everything's going right, but boy, I tell you, there's times that I've been to church, I don't know about you, there's been times I've been to church and my preacher's tore up, my whole pee patch got all over my toes, made me realize what I was doing wasn't no good, huh? I'm telling you, Billy Mitchell's talked to me ways you think Billy's so sweet. Let me tell you something about that feller. Son, he's took me off in the back and told me things that would've, you know, it would've caused a lot of people to quit church. But you know why he done that? Because he loved me, he wouldn't make something out of me. If he didn't love me, he wouldn't make something out of me, he wouldn't correct me. So you know what I did? I never fell out with my preacher. For years, pastor appreciation roll around, I go buy a pair of pants, send them to him in the mail. You know why? Because he's my preacher. You know why I love that man? Because he told me the truth. I said, told me the truth. I can't be right with God and fall out with preacher man. See, God sends people into our lives. to instruct us. I told them boys this week, I said, let's listen, a sermon a day keeps a devil away. And I think all of them boys that have been in our text group this week would agree that they're in better shape spiritually today than they were last Sunday. You know why? Because this world needs preaching. And it needs preachers. And David, He reacted to all of this by just simply not falling out with his preacher. He wanted to do a good thing. He had a good thing on his mind. Nathan busted his bubble. He said, that's okay. I'm not mad at you. I'm not just cause I'm king. I'm not going to exert my authority over you. You know why? God has been too good to me for me to fall out with you. David didn't fall out with his preacher. Let me give you this, I'm done right here. David didn't fail in the area of giving. When David looked around at all that God had gave him, he said, well, if God has been this good to me, if God's blessed me, then I'm gonna do my best to bless him back. And so he said, I'll build a house. Lord laid on my heart, they don't tell me what kind of house I'll build him. Boy, I'm gonna build him a big old house. God said, no, you're not. If you read First Chronicles, I believe it's chapter seven, eight, and nine, those three chapters deal with what all David laid up for Solomon to build the house. Three chapters. Years of David's life, he spent ordering cedars, getting the right kind of marble, laying all of that stuff aside so that as soon as Solomon came into the kingdom, he had everything he could possibly need to build the house of God. Now David could have said, okay, you don't want me to build your house? Fine, I won't do nothing. And stubbed up like a big bullfrog. But instead, David said, I just want to give to you, Lord, you have given so much to me. We have worshiped in here this morning and I felt the Holy Spirit in here this morning and I thank God for the stir of revival that I feel in my heart. And it ought to move us to want to do something back for the Lord. He has done so much for us. It ought to make us be like David. We ought to say, boy, I want to do something. Lord, allow me to do something. Lord, allow me to give. Lord, allow me to be there at every service. Lord, allow me to give up my talents. Lord, allow me to give up my money. Lord, whatever you want, I want to give and give and give and give. You know why? Because God has been so good to me. You know, it's very simple concepts, I ain't gonna preach. I don't wanna kill it by preaching on tithing. But let me just say this right here, you cannot out-give God. And I'm gonna be honest with you, and Rachel will stand up here and we'll put our hands on a Bible and swear to what I'm about to tell you, we could not afford to tithe until we started tithing. That's facts. I can remember the Christmas that I started tithing. I am ashamed to say that I pastored this church without being faithful in tithes. Offering plate come by, I'd put $10 in, you know why? That's all I had. But it wasn't nowhere near a tenth of what I was making. We put a Christmas one year on a credit card that it took us a whole nother year to pay off. And I said, this is the most ridiculous mess I've ever seen. We're living all year long trying to pay off last year's Christmas. I said, next year, them youngins is getting oranges. The Lord said, why don't you tithe? I said, Lord, I can't afford to. I ain't paying my bills, Lord, I can't afford to tithe. The Lord said, why don't you tithe? You know, one day I started making up my mind. I said, all right, there you go, 10 percent. I ain't put a Christmas on a credit card since. I'm just saying you can't out-give God. You poured out — you know what I started doing? Y'all can call me crazy, whatever you want to do. I started tithing on what I would like to make. I figured out how much in my mind that I thought would be an appropriate amount for me to make a week for my family to live financially healthy and free, and I started tithing on that much money. You know what I make now? Exactly what it was I made up my mind that our family needed in order for us to live financially secure. What I'm saying is you can't out-give God. I said I wasn't gonna preach on tithing, then I preached on tithing for five minutes. I'm just saying, a heart that gets overwhelmed with the goodness of God wants to do something in return. Can I ask you this morning as we sit down among our blessings, has God been good to you? Has God been good enough to you? that you could commit for every service this week to be in your place, sitting in your place and seeing what the King of glory is gonna do in your soul. Has God been that good to you? Has God been good enough to you that you would invite someone else to come and take a part in what the God of glory is gonna do this week in your soul? Has God been that good to you? He has me too. He has me too. Stand on our feet, justice is coming. Father, Jesus' name. I pray, Lord, that you'd touch hearts. Lord, we're so thankful that You've allowed us to be in this place this morning, so thankful for the presence of the Holy Spirit. God, I pray that You'd kick off this meeting around this altar this morning with some thankful hearts. That this one gather around this altar this morning and say, Lord, You've been so good in my life. You've been so good to me. I want to be faithful. And I pray that you'd revive our church this week. I pray that you'd revive our church in such a way, Lord, that it'd impact our community. God, you've been good to us. Lord, you've been so good, so very, very good. Help us now in Jesus' name. Y'all come, the altar's filling up, but y'all come. Gather around, sit down amongst your blessings a few minutes this morning. Why don't you sing that song that you sing about blessings of God, roof over my head, all that stuff. Sing that. She's gonna sing, let's just sit down amongst our blessings. Your family, God's blessed. Our church, God has blessed. Sit down for just a minute and let me bless you. She's gonna sing, you just take your time and pray. I want to kick off the revival meeting. She's gonna sing, you just pray.