Brandon Stephenson - onechurchPGH.com
Brandon Stephenson was born and raised in Butler, PA. He was a part of North Street Christian Church where Pastor Jeff used to serve. Brandon is married to his amazing wife, Danielle, and they have 3 boys: Noah, Drew and Coby. They are currently planting a new church in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh called One Church.
Intro:
2 Samuel 11:1-3* (NIV) - In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite."
2 Samuel 12:13 (NIV) - Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan replied, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die."
We are just like David.
Romans 3:23* (NIV) - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Our sin doesn't Define us, our Reaction to it does.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Pastor Jeff:
00:25-00:45
For those of you that are visiting with us, my name is Pastor Jeff Miller, and it is usually at this point in the service that I have the privilege of delivering God's Word to you, but I have a different privilege over these next few weeks, and that is to introduce some amazing guest speakers.
Pastor Jeff:
00:46-00:52
Kicking off these next few weeks of guest speakers, Brandon Stevenson, if you would make your way up here, please.
Pastor Jeff:
00:54-01:04
Brandon was born and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania, and he was part of North Street Christian Church where I served for 11 years as associate pastor.
Pastor Jeff:
01:04-01:12
And when I think of Brandon, there's always two things that I think about, and one is — he looks nervous.
Pastor Jeff:
01:13-01:16
I'm just going to let this hang for a second.
Pastor Jeff:
01:17-01:18
I'm just kidding.
Pastor Jeff:
01:19-01:21
Brandon's a tremendous basketball player.
Pastor Jeff:
01:21-01:22
You still play?
Pastor Jeff:
01:23-01:32
you can. I know Brandon dominated Church League back in what I like to refer to as his prime.
Pastor Jeff:
01:34-01:56
But what's really special about Brandon is his heart for Christ, his love for the Word of Christ and his dedication to Christ's church. Brandon is married to his amazing wife, Danielle, and we're not going to bring you up front and make you give a speech, but I would like you to stand up so that we could welcome you, Harvest Pittsburgh North Style.
Pastor Jeff:
02:00-02:05
And they are blessed with three boys, Noah, Drew, and Kobe.
Pastor Jeff:
02:06-02:18
And Brandon served as a youth pastor in a church in Wisconsin for many years, and just recently got the call to return to the burg for the next chapter of God's story and the life of his family.
Pastor Jeff:
02:19-02:24
and they're currently planting a new church down in Short Tears Valley called One Church.
Pastor Jeff:
02:25-02:31
And Brandon and I had lunch a couple of months back and we're getting caught up in what the Lord was doing in his life.
Pastor Jeff:
02:31-02:41
And I'm like, "Hey, if your church isn't planted yet, that means your Sundays are free." And I would love for you to come and bless Harvest Bible Chapel by delivering the word.
Pastor Jeff:
02:42-02:48
So Brandon, we have our Bibles and we are ready to hear what the Lord is going to speak through you.
Pastor Jeff:
02:48-02:52
So let's give a Harvest Pittsburgh North welcome to Pastor Brandon Stevenson.
Brandon:
02:57-02:58
Good morning, how you guys doing?
Brandon:
03:00-03:00
Good, good.
Brandon:
03:00-03:02
I said I'd call something out.
Brandon:
03:02-03:08
You know, Jeff's talking about my basketball ability, but you also heard him say I dominated church league, which means I wasn't good enough for high school basketball.
Brandon:
03:09-03:12
So you know, it's like in the minor leagues of church league, but it was fun.
Brandon:
03:12-03:14
So it's good to be with you all today.
Brandon:
03:14-03:16
I'm excited to spend some time with you guys.
Brandon:
03:17-03:19
I've known Jeff for many, many years.
Brandon:
03:20-03:25
And Jeff's kind of like a folk hero to me, kind of a legend.
Brandon:
03:26-03:26
'Cause you gotta think about this.
Brandon:
03:26-03:31
When Jeff came to North Street, he was from North Street, when he came on staff, I was in junior high.
Brandon:
03:32-03:54
And when this associate pastor comes, who's like ripped and buffed and just kind of manly looking, and you find out that he moonlights on the weekends or used to as a studio wrestler that went by the name of Too Cool Trevor Lowe, as a junior higher, you're like, "Oh my God, this is like the coolest pastor ever!" And so, you know, Jeff had this kind of folk hero status with me and all the other people in our church.
Brandon:
03:54-03:59
And Jeff taught me some really amazing things in my life that I have to give thanks for.
Brandon:
04:00-04:01
And not even the Jesus stuff.
Brandon:
04:01-04:04
He taught some cool things about Jesus, and I appreciate that.
Brandon:
04:04-04:08
But he taught me things about life that I still carry with me today.
Brandon:
04:09-04:14
You know, one of the things he taught me when I was a kid was how to defend myself from bullies.
Brandon:
04:14-04:22
And when it happened, he said, "All I had to do was give them a purple nurple." And if you don't know what that is, just ask 2 Cool Trevor Lowe after service.
Brandon:
04:22-04:24
He will tell you what a purple nurple is.
Brandon:
04:25-04:31
But more than that, he also taught me some important dietary information of how to just enjoy life, eat good food.
Brandon:
04:32-04:36
And what he taught me, I think you were still a single guy back then, so you just really had this thing figured out with diet.
Brandon:
04:37-04:39
But I remember we were hanging out with him and he lived right beside the church.
Brandon:
04:40-04:45
We were hanging out with him one night and he's talking to us, he's like, "Guys, the best midnight snack you could possibly get.
Brandon:
04:45-04:48
You know when you go to the grocery store and you see those tubes of cookie dough?
Brandon:
04:49-04:55
You buy one of those and you plop the whole tube on a pan and you put it in the oven.
Brandon:
04:55-05:01
You cook it till the outside is like the color of a cookie, but inside it's just raw, gooey, warm cookie dough.
Brandon:
05:01-05:05
So I live off the Jeff Miller cookie dough diet now, as you can tell.
Brandon:
05:05-05:10
So Jeff, thank you, 'cause my life has forever been changed because of your tutelage to me.
Brandon:
05:11-05:20
But no, more importantly, I'm excited just to be here and just to share God's word with you guys this morning and be a part of Harvest Pittsburgh North just for a moment with you guys today.
Brandon:
05:20-05:29
I still remember when Jeff, I was in the process of getting this church started, I was excited because I love Pittsburgh and I love Jesus and I love when Jesus and Pittsburgh get together like this.
Brandon:
05:29-05:34
And so I get to be a part of that with you guys and I just thank you for bringing me in.
Brandon:
05:34-05:40
And so right now, like Jeff mentioned, we are in the middle of planning a church in Chartier's Valley area of the South Hills of Pittsburgh.
Brandon:
05:40-05:43
So Scott Township, Ridgeville, that community right there.
Brandon:
05:44-05:45
And it is an adventure.
Brandon:
05:45-05:53
It is just a crazy journey that leaves us just shaking our heads in delight, shaking our heads in what is going on.
Brandon:
05:53-05:57
It's just a crazy, crazy journey for my wife and kids and I and the people who are part of this thing.
Brandon:
05:58-06:08
And if you were to ask me what our chapter of life is called right now, the best chapter title I could give it is simply "unpredictable." Because we have no idea what's about to happen.
Brandon:
06:08-06:25
If you were to talk to me one day and say, "Hey, Brandon, how are things going?" I'd be honest with you and tell you how I was doing that day at that moment, but I'd also say, "Hey, just give me a few hours, because I could be completely different later today depending on what's about to happen." Because this journey is so unpredictable.
Brandon:
06:25-06:49
Between moving to this new community six months ago after living in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area for almost eight years, moving to that community, knowing three total people in the the Chartiers Valley, South Hills area, to starting this new church, to meeting a ton of new people, to doing events in our community, all while having three kids, five and under, it's been absolutely unpredictable for us in this chapter of our lives.
Brandon:
06:50-06:51
It's amazing.
Brandon:
06:52-06:52
It's exhausting.
Brandon:
06:53-06:53
It's exhilarating.
Brandon:
06:54-06:57
It's been faith-filled, but it's completely unpredictable.
Brandon:
06:57-07:02
And all of us have different chapters in our lives that we could title different things.
Brandon:
07:02-07:08
All of us have seasons, all of us have moments where we can kind of give it a theme or a chapter title.
Brandon:
07:08-07:16
And I want you guys to do really quick, just for fun, I want you to turn to your neighbor, and if you were to have a chapter title of your life right now, tell your neighbor what the title of that chapter would be.
Brandon:
07:16-07:17
Go ahead and do that.
Brandon:
07:18-07:20
All right, you guys share your chapter titles?
Brandon:
07:21-07:24
I heard some giggling, some laughter, some nervous laughter even.
Brandon:
07:24-07:59
So I think what's cool about this is in this room, there's a bunch of us with different backgrounds and different baggage and different behaviors and different things like that. We all have our own unique separate stories. And while we're all different and all have different chapter titles and different seasons of life, I think we all have similar chapters too. I think if we got to sit down and talk with each other, I think we'd find out that some of our chapters actually line up with different moments in our life. In fact, I think we all have a chapter that I think we could call failure. I think we all have this chapter of failure that's a part of our lives.
Brandon:
07:59-08:07
There's not a single person on this planet that hasn't failed in some way, shape, or form, even those we hold in high regard like Too Cool Trevor Lowe.
Brandon:
08:08-08:12
People that we held in high regard, they have had chapters of failure in their life.
Brandon:
08:13-08:15
See, I grew up as a Penn State fan in my house.
Brandon:
08:15-08:18
My dad instilled that quickly into me as a kid.
Brandon:
08:18-08:26
We would watch Penn State football on Saturdays, afternoons together, and with Penn State, when you associated Penn State, you always associated them with one person.
Brandon:
08:26-08:27
Who's that person?
Brandon:
08:28-08:28
Joe Paterno.
Brandon:
08:29-08:30
It's a no-brainer.
Brandon:
08:30-08:32
That's who you associate Penn State football with.
Brandon:
08:32-08:40
And so I grew up watching Penn State football and watching Joe Paterno on the sidelines and kind of being in awe that this guy was such a legendary coach.
Brandon:
08:40-08:42
He was into his 80s, still coaching football.
Brandon:
08:42-08:44
It was mind-boggling.
Brandon:
08:44-08:50
For 40 years throughout his time as head coach, he worked hard to do things differently as a coach.
Brandon:
08:50-08:54
He told his players that it wasn't just about playing football, but also about getting an education.
Brandon:
08:54-09:03
And because of that tutelage, the Penn State football team would routinely have some of the highest graduation rates all across Division I football year after year.
Brandon:
09:04-09:08
He always talked about living a life of honor, and kids grew up wanting to play for Joe Paterno at Penn State.
Brandon:
09:08-09:15
He was a living legend, and people adored him, not just for his coaching ability, but because of the person that he was.
Brandon:
09:16-09:27
But almost six years ago now, news broke that a former coach of Paterno's had been molesting boys for years at Penn State, and it was found out that Joe Paterno knew that it was going on.
Brandon:
09:28-09:43
Paterno ended up getting fired because of this, which was unthinkable, because we found out that he maybe could have done more to stop the disgusting ass that was taking place on his campus, the campus that he had a lot of control over.
Brandon:
09:44-09:47
And the way we viewed Joe Pa forever was changed.
Brandon:
09:47-09:52
You see, the hero of Penn State failed, and it was mind-boggling.
Brandon:
09:52-09:57
You see, people fail from athletes to politicians to coaches to teachers to parents to ourselves.
Brandon:
09:58-10:01
Failure is a part of the human life and the human experience.
Brandon:
10:01-10:02
It's a part of our stories.
Brandon:
10:03-10:15
Tiger Woods, the lone at the top of the golf world for years, he was, he created a generation, a younger generation that was actually interested in golf, but he failed when it came out that he had a sex addiction.
Brandon:
10:16-10:30
Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor, seven-time Tour de France winner, captured the hearts of our country with his story failed when it came out that he used steroids to achieve his cycling victory. You want to see how big of a deal he was for America when it came to cycling?
Brandon:
10:30-10:33
How many of you guys even realize that Tour de France is going on right now?
Brandon:
10:33-10:37
Very few of you, because Lance Armstrong isn't a part of it anymore.
Brandon:
10:38-10:40
He failed when it came out that he cheated.
Brandon:
10:42-10:51
And for you, I'm sure you can think of times in your life where you screwed up, you failed, you messed up. I know I can. I can give you a list of things that I've screwed up with.
Brandon:
10:52-10:53
People fail.
Brandon:
10:53-10:54
You fail, I fail.
Brandon:
10:55-11:02
From us to people we hold in high regard in our culture and everyone in between, we all have this one thing in common, that we all fail in some way, shape, or form.
Brandon:
11:03-11:04
And it's not like these people set out to fail.
Brandon:
11:04-11:07
I don't think Tiger Woods woke up one day and said, "Hey, you know what?
Brandon:
11:07-11:13
"Today I'm going to start into sex addiction "and just completely screw up my marriage, my life, my career." No one sets out the plan to fail.
Brandon:
11:14-11:15
It usually happens when it isn't planned.
Brandon:
11:16-11:19
It just happens through different steps and different mistakes and things like that.
Brandon:
11:19-11:25
And today, with you, we're gonna look at the failure of one of the heroes in the Bible.
Brandon:
11:26-11:30
And we're gonna spend most of our time today in the book of 2 Samuel, if you wanna open that up today.
Brandon:
11:31-11:34
And we're gonna talk about this person's failure.
Brandon:
11:34-11:41
You see, to get to this point in the Bible, this is what happens in God's amazing story that he is writing, that he is orchestrating.
Brandon:
11:41-12:00
And what happened up to this point is God created the world and he created mankind, but mankind made a mess of everything by failing and sinning and rebelling God's design for life. And so God promised to fix what was broken by sending a rescuer, a true hero, and that rescuer would be Jesus through his death and his resurrection.
Brandon:
12:01-12:49
And so God set that up. He did that by raising up a family, and that family would one day become a nation, and that's where we're at right now in the middle of 2 Samuel. This nation has risen up that will eventually lead to the coming Messiah, Jesus. And that nation, Israel, just got a new king named David. The former king Saul was a colossal failure and God raised up David to replace him and David was awesome. Like when I think of the Bible there's always Jesus for me and he's way at the top but the next person that I would say that I just love to read about in the Bible is David because he was awesome, he was amazing, he killed Goliath, he was brave, he won many battles, he was called a man after God's own heart and David was a hero in this story. David is that we look up to in the Bible.
Brandon:
12:50-12:54
I mean, guys, guys in this room, David is a guy that we should strive to be like.
Brandon:
12:54-12:56
He was a man's man.
Brandon:
12:56-13:01
He was, he killed giants, he was a great shepherd, and you're probably thinking, a shepherd?
Brandon:
13:01-13:02
Dude, what, that's not manly.
Brandon:
13:02-13:04
Well, here's what happened as a shepherd.
Brandon:
13:04-13:09
They would do whatever it took to protect their sheep, and so David, to protect his sheep, once killed a lion.
Brandon:
13:10-13:11
That's manly, right?
Brandon:
13:12-13:18
And so before you knock on him being a shepherd, think about if you haven't killed a lion yourself to protect your sheep, you're not as manly as David.
Brandon:
13:18-13:19
But David was manly.
Brandon:
13:19-13:27
He killed lions, he won battles, he had a best bro named Jonathan, he was a dude's dude, he was a man's man.
Brandon:
13:28-13:32
And ladies in the room, David's kind of a cool guy you could look up to too.
Brandon:
13:32-13:37
He was a musician, he wrote poetry, I mean eat your heart out.
Brandon:
13:37-13:41
I mean this guy, he was the man, and David was the man that women dream about.
Brandon:
13:42-13:46
My wife used to dream about finding the David of her life and God answered her prayer with me.
Brandon:
13:47-13:47
(audience laughing)
Brandon:
13:48-13:49
You are welcome, Danielle.
Brandon:
13:51-13:59
I mean, all the wives in the room, turn to your husband right now and say, "Honey, you are my King David." Tell him, this is gonna make him feel manly, go ahead.
Brandon:
14:00-14:02
But David, David was just an awesome guy.
Brandon:
14:02-14:05
He loved God, he loved to pray, he loved to worship God.
Brandon:
14:06-14:10
He was a king, he was rich, he had a great family, and David had it all.
Brandon:
14:11-14:15
But as we're gonna see today, David is going to fail, and his failure is going to be bad.
Brandon:
14:16-14:21
And it's a failure that we could stop and look and go, "David, you idiot, what were you thinking?
Brandon:
14:21-14:22
How could you do this?
Brandon:
14:22-14:39
You had it all and you're trying to throw it away with what you're doing." But I think as we go throughout this failure of this hero, this guy we hold in the high regard in the Bible and the history of mankind, we're going to learn some things about ourselves and more importantly, we're going to learn some things about God, who God is.
Brandon:
14:40-14:45
We pick up the story in 2 Samuel 11, And this is at the height of David's reign.
Brandon:
14:45-14:47
He had been king for about 20 years right now.
Brandon:
14:47-14:48
He never lost a battle.
Brandon:
14:48-14:49
There was peace.
Brandon:
14:49-14:51
Things were going very, very good.
Brandon:
14:51-14:54
And we pick it up in 2 Samuel 11, verse 1.
Brandon:
14:55-15:02
It says this, "In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army.
Brandon:
15:02-15:14
They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Raba, but David remained in Jerusalem." So obviously, this was before March Madness was a big deal because in the spring, instead of playing basketball and watching basketball, the men went out to war.
Brandon:
15:15-15:20
This is part of what they did to make sure things were staying in a good place, people weren't trying to attack them.
Brandon:
15:21-15:25
And what happened is the king would normally go out with his army.
Brandon:
15:25-15:31
So David was supposed to go with his army to go to battle, but David decides to sit this one out for some reason.
Brandon:
15:32-15:33
And so this is David's first mistake.
Brandon:
15:33-15:35
He wasn't where he should have been.
Brandon:
15:35-15:44
He should have been with his men, but he sent Joab off, his first in command after him, to go with a man, and he stayed home when he should have been at, off to war.
Brandon:
15:44-15:49
Next verse, verse 2 says, "One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.
Brandon:
15:50-16:04
From the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful." So back then it was customary for the bedroom of a house in that day to be on the second floor of the house, if they had two floors, on the second floor, and that second floor would kind of go out to like a patio type area.
Brandon:
16:04-16:08
So it's like bedroom, you kind of walk out to a patio, there'd be some furniture there you can hang out.
Brandon:
16:08-16:14
And so David gets up from bed, he goes out to the patio, it's evening, and he just goes out to relax on the roof.
Brandon:
16:15-16:20
But what was also customary in that day was on top of that little roof area would be their bathtub.
Brandon:
16:20-16:30
And what they would do is they would fill it with water in the day, and the heat of the day would warm that water up so in the evening they could take a bath, it'd be warm water, it'd feel good, and they'd get cleaned up that way.
Brandon:
16:30-16:42
And so that's happening, but also the thing that's important to notice here that we don't really see in Scripture but that was customary, The king's palace was most likely on a higher piece of ground in that area.
Brandon:
16:42-16:46
So he would go out and he would have a view across his land.
Brandon:
16:46-16:49
And so as he's higher, he could see on people's roofs.
Brandon:
16:50-16:52
They couldn't see him, but he could see them.
Brandon:
16:52-16:57
And he's looking around, he's hanging out, just relaxing, and he sees this woman bathing on her roof.
Brandon:
16:58-17:00
He sees that she's very attractive.
Brandon:
17:01-17:04
And so David looked down, he saw her, saw that she was beautiful.
Brandon:
17:04-17:08
And what David should have done is avert his eyes, go back in and stop staring at this naked woman.
Brandon:
17:09-17:11
But instead, David does this.
Brandon:
17:12-17:14
Verse 3, "And David sent someone to find out about her.
Brandon:
17:14-17:26
The man said back to him, 'She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.'" So the servant comes back to David and tells David, "Her name is Bathsheba." And almost like he gives a warning, he goes, "This is Bathsheba.
Brandon:
17:26-17:33
She's the daughter of Eliam and she's the wife of Uriah the Hittite." You know, the guy who's in your army right now?
Brandon:
17:33-17:37
It's almost like the servant gives David this warning, like, "Hey dude, this is who she is.
Brandon:
17:37-17:39
She's married to somebody else and she's someone else's daughter.
Brandon:
17:39-17:45
You probably shouldn't do that." But the servant can't be that blunt about it because he would probably lose his life if he talked that way to the king.
Brandon:
17:46-17:48
So he just says it kind of that way.
Brandon:
17:48-17:51
"Hey, she's the daughter of somebody else.
Brandon:
17:51-17:55
She's the wife of somebody else." Almost like saying, "Hey, don't do this, David.
Brandon:
17:55-18:02
I know what you're thinking." But David ignores that, gives in to his temptation, and has his messengers go and retrieve Bathsheba.
Brandon:
18:02-18:07
He uses his king powers, which is essentially whatever the king wants, the king gets.
Brandon:
18:07-18:10
And that type of power, he goes, he gets her, and he sleeps with her.
Brandon:
18:11-18:18
And after that, he sends her back home, and David's intent was simply to have a one-night stand with Bathsheba.
Brandon:
18:19-18:21
But Bathsheba sent word back that she was pregnant.
Brandon:
18:23-18:25
Not exactly what David had in mind.
Brandon:
18:26-18:27
David had sinned.
Brandon:
18:28-18:29
The hero has failed.
Brandon:
18:29-18:36
This man after God's own heart gave into his desires, and after that he tries to cover it all up.
Brandon:
18:36-18:47
You see, David sent word to Joab then, and his plan was, you know, where David should have been, he sends word to Joab and says, "Hey, send Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, back here, back home for a little bit.
Brandon:
18:47-19:01
He needs a break." And so his plan was that Uriah would come home from battle, you know, he'd be with his wife, he'd sleep with his wife, then he believed that the kid that she was carrying was his, And so his plan was just to cover it up that way.
Brandon:
19:01-19:07
But the thing is, the thing that David didn't plan on, is that Uriah was actually a pretty upstanding individual.
Brandon:
19:07-19:11
When Uriah came back from battle, his belief was, "You know what?
Brandon:
19:11-19:14
My brothers are back there fighting and risking their lives.
Brandon:
19:15-19:17
I have no right to go home with my wife.
Brandon:
19:18-19:20
So I'm not going to go home and stay and sleep with my wife.
Brandon:
19:20-19:25
I'm going to sleep with my servants, and I'll stay with them." He doesn't go home with his wife.
Brandon:
19:26-19:42
And David's like, "Well, that's kind of not how I plan this." And so David's next plan was the next night, he brings Uriah in and he gets Uriah drunk, thinking that if he gives him enough wine, gets him drunk enough, then he'll stumble home, go to his wife, sleep with his wife, and then again he thinks the child is his, again it's covered up.
Brandon:
19:43-19:48
And so he gets Uriah drunk, but Uriah still had the presence of mind to not go home to his wife.
Brandon:
19:49-19:51
He still didn't go home and sleep with her.
Brandon:
19:52-19:57
And so David's plan to cover up this failure of his is not working.
Brandon:
19:58-19:59
So finally, he takes it a step further.
Brandon:
20:00-20:06
He sends Uriah back to battle with a note, a note that was only for Joab's eyes.
Brandon:
20:06-20:16
And Uriah carries this note, and a note that says to Joab, gives him orders, "Joab, your orders are to put Uriah "at the front of the line where the fighting is fiercest.
Brandon:
20:17-20:27
"And when the time is right, pull the men back "so that Uriah is killed in battle." Uriah carries his death sentence back to Joab.
Brandon:
20:28-20:31
because of what David had done.
Brandon:
20:33-20:34
And that's what happens.
Brandon:
20:35-20:38
Uriah is killed in battle because Jehovah is following his orders.
Brandon:
20:38-20:43
And all this happened because David made a colossal mistake.
Brandon:
20:45-20:47
Look what this hero has done.
Brandon:
20:48-20:49
That's kind of disgusting, right?
Brandon:
20:49-20:50
Because we think of David, we think of awesome.
Brandon:
20:51-20:52
We think of greatness.
Brandon:
20:52-20:55
We think of someone that God has used for amazing things.
Brandon:
20:56-21:00
This is a pretty far fall for a man that God calls a guy after his own heart.
Brandon:
21:02-21:03
The story continues.
Brandon:
21:04-21:09
David thinks he gets away with it, but it continues because God uses someone to call out David.
Brandon:
21:09-21:11
He uses this prophet named Nathan.
Brandon:
21:11-21:15
And Nathan comes to David and he tells David this story.
Brandon:
21:15-21:16
It was King David.
Brandon:
21:17-21:18
There were two men.
Brandon:
21:19-21:20
One man was extremely rich.
Brandon:
21:21-21:25
This guy had cattle, he had sheep, he had wealth, he had it all.
Brandon:
21:26-21:28
He was fine, didn't need anything in life.
Brandon:
21:28-21:33
But there was another man who was very poor, and his family had one little lamb.
Brandon:
21:35-21:36
And this guy took care of this lamb.
Brandon:
21:36-21:37
He fed this lamb.
Brandon:
21:38-21:40
He bathed this lamb.
Brandon:
21:40-21:43
This lamb fell asleep in this man's arms.
Brandon:
21:43-21:46
This was like a family member to this man.
Brandon:
21:47-21:55
And what happened is one day the rich man had some family and friends come into town, and it was customary that he had to provide dinner for them.
Brandon:
21:56-22:02
But the rich man didn't want to use his own sheep and his own cattle to provide dinner for his family.
Brandon:
22:02-22:11
Instead, what he did is he went to the poor man's house, he took the one little lamb that man had, and he killed and provided that lamb for his friend's dinner.
Brandon:
22:11-22:16
And Nathan tells David this story, and David just loses it.
Brandon:
22:16-22:17
He's like, "Are you serious?
Brandon:
22:17-22:33
Please go get that man and have him killed for what he just did?" And Nathan looks at him and says, "David, you're the man." Nathan calls David out with this story to show him, "David, you had it all.
Brandon:
22:34-22:37
And you took this one lamb from this man.
Brandon:
22:37-22:38
That's all he had.
Brandon:
22:38-22:46
You took his wife and you eventually took his life." David's sin was brought into the open thanks to Nathan.
Brandon:
22:46-22:50
And God used Nathan to call out David for his sin, for his failure.
Brandon:
22:50-22:57
after all that cover up, after all that work that David did to make sure he wasn't found out, God still knew and brought that to David's attention.
Brandon:
22:57-23:02
So here is this hero of the Bible, this man after God's own heart in the middle of this epic failure.
Brandon:
23:03-23:05
And the question is, is that it for David?
Brandon:
23:06-23:07
Is it all that God wrote for him?
Brandon:
23:07-23:12
Because God raised him up to this high status, he does this, is God just going to say, "Nope, okay, you're done.
Brandon:
23:12-24:06
You screwed up." Is this someone we should just brush off as just another failure like we all mess up and fail with. Not exactly. You see this failure didn't define David. I think his reaction to this event is what actually better defines him. You see when David finally sees that his sin can't be hidden and that God has seen and knows everything, he finally humbles himself to God and says in 2 Samuel 12 13, "Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.'" And David finally realized and accepted the fact that he failed, that he sinned, he had broken his relationship with God no matter how much cover-up he tried to do. And so David did what he needed to do. He chose to do something that God desires. We all fail, we all sin, we all mess up. David practiced repentance. Now repentance is this very churchy word that we use that literally just means to change your mind.
Brandon:
24:06-24:26
You're going one way and you turn back to go the other. You sin, you go away from God, you repent and you go back to God. And David didn't try to act better and a better person. He knew he was broken and only God can help, so he turned away from his selfish desires and turned towards God. And we see David's repentance and worship to God through his writings.
Brandon:
24:26-24:42
Remember when I said that David was a poet, he was a musician? David wrote actually a lot of the Psalms that we find in the Bible. And what's amazing is we actually have David's Psalm that that he wrote out of repentance for this situation in his life in Psalm 51.
Brandon:
24:45-24:51
So David's words were words of recognition and admittance that sin and failure was in his life.
Brandon:
24:52-24:57
They were words of acknowledgment that only God could forgive and only God could give grace and wipe it away.
Brandon:
24:57-25:00
And that grace and forgiveness from God leads David to do one thing.
Brandon:
25:01-25:02
To worship Him.
Brandon:
25:04-25:09
and give praise and give glory to God because it was God who could wipe his slate clean.
Brandon:
25:09-25:16
And it's this attitude that David has, this attitude of humility and repentance to God that sets him apart I think from other people.
Brandon:
25:17-25:18
This is what defines him.
Brandon:
25:18-25:22
His desire for God, even in the midst of his biggest failure, was for God.
Brandon:
25:23-25:29
And God in His grace and forgiveness, He forgives this man who just committed adultery and murder.
Brandon:
25:29-26:33
We see the character of who God is midst of David's character of failure who sought forgiveness from God. Now things weren't perfect from here on out for David. Yeah, his sin was found out, he repented, he worshipped, he wrote that amazing psalm, but there were consequences for David's sin. Just like his parents, there's consequences for our own kids' disobedience. Even though we still love them, there were consequences for David. For one, that child that Bathsheba had through that one-night Stan died at a very young age. On top of that, David's other son Absalom tried to take him out as king so he could rule himself. His own son rebelled against them. And David had this big dream that one day he would build a temple for God where God would dwell, where people would worship God, and God said, "No, I'm not allowing you to do that." So a death, a broken family, and not accomplishing a big dream of his was part of David's consequence out of this which still shows the magnitude of what our sin can do to our lives.
Brandon:
26:33-26:34
But God still forgave David.
Brandon:
26:36-26:40
Now look at this story, and I'm just amazed by how crazy it is.
Brandon:
26:41-26:46
A story of a person in the Bible that is held in high regard, that failed, that screwed up.
Brandon:
26:46-26:50
But here's what I've learned in my life, and here's what I want to remind you of.
Brandon:
26:51-26:53
The first is this, that we are just like David.
Brandon:
26:55-27:02
The first thing I want you to remember in this story is that when we think of David in the Bible, we need to remember that our lives are more similar than his, than we may think.
Brandon:
27:03-27:06
And this is what I mean when I say that we can all relate today.
Brandon:
27:06-27:10
If you are a Christian in this room, you are susceptible to failing just like David did.
Brandon:
27:10-27:14
David had an extremely close relationship with God.
Brandon:
27:14-27:17
He was a man after God's own heart, and he still failed.
Brandon:
27:18-27:20
And if David can fall, so as we as Christ followers.
Brandon:
27:22-27:30
We could worship, we could read scripture, we could pray, but we are still susceptible to giving into our own selfish desires, and we can fail and sin just like David, like a lot of us do.
Brandon:
27:30-27:36
And if you're in this room and you would not label yourself as a Christ follower, first of all, I'm so glad that you're here today.
Brandon:
27:36-27:40
This is an amazing church to be a part of, to understand and know who Jesus is.
Brandon:
27:41-27:53
But I just want to let you know that your struggle with figuring out what's right and wrong, what life is all about, it's a struggle that all of us go through, whether we follow Jesus or not, because we are all just like David. We are all human. We are all susceptible to failing.
Brandon:
27:53-28:00
Sure, you may not be this good-looking, line-killing, poetry-writing king, but you're a human who has sinned like David.
Brandon:
28:00-28:08
Paul writes in Romans 3:23, "For all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And this levels the playing field for all people for all time.
Brandon:
28:08-28:16
So often we compare ourselves with other people based off looks or achievement or relationships that we forget that God doesn't care about that stuff.
Brandon:
28:17-28:18
We forget about that.
Brandon:
28:18-28:22
When God chose David to be the next king, he didn't look at his stature.
Brandon:
28:22-28:25
He didn't look at his achievements, he looked at his heart.
Brandon:
28:26-28:28
And that's the same thing God looks at for all of us.
Brandon:
28:28-28:35
He's looking at our heart because out of our heart will come our words, out of the heart will come our actions, out of our heart comes our worship.
Brandon:
28:37-28:39
But our hearts can be rebellious.
Brandon:
28:39-28:41
We want our own selfish desires that leads to sin.
Brandon:
28:42-28:48
And it's in that way that we are just like David, just like Joe Paterno, just like Lance Armstrong and every other human being has ever walked this planet.
Brandon:
28:49-28:51
We all have a sin problem.
Brandon:
28:51-28:56
And just like David, we probably have people warning us on the path that we're walking.
Brandon:
28:56-29:02
Your David's servant told him that Bathsheba was somebody else's daughter and wife, but David ignored that.
Brandon:
29:02-29:05
And we have people in our lives that warn us with the things that we're doing.
Brandon:
29:06-29:11
We probably have people in our lives that warn us about our anger issues, our addictions, or the way we use our finances.
Brandon:
29:11-29:15
And as an FPU graduate, my wife and I seriously go to that class, it's amazing.
Brandon:
29:16-29:19
We have people who warn us about the path we're heading down.
Brandon:
29:19-29:22
And just like David, we have a tendency to ignore those warnings.
Brandon:
29:23-29:23
Why?
Brandon:
29:23-29:28
Because we have a sin problem and we want what we want, just like David wanted what he wanted.
Brandon:
29:28-29:30
And just like David, we try to cover it up.
Brandon:
29:30-29:37
In the midst of our struggles and failures, we work hard to make sure nobody else sees all the brokenness that's going on inside.
Brandon:
29:37-29:43
When we're struggling with something, we don't want anybody to tell us about it, and we'll do whatever it takes to cover it up.
Brandon:
29:44-29:51
How many times has sin or failure been revealed in our lives or somebody else's lives, and Behind it is a trail of cover up.
Brandon:
29:53-29:54
We don't want anyone else to know.
Brandon:
29:55-29:59
And just like David, we need people in our lives to point out our sin.
Brandon:
29:59-30:04
Nathan did the difficult thing by going to the king and telling the king that he had sinned.
Brandon:
30:05-30:07
But that got David going in the right direction.
Brandon:
30:07-30:10
And as difficult as it was, it turned out for the good.
Brandon:
30:11-30:46
David was even so thankful that later on in life, another son and he named him Nathan. And just like David our sin has consequences. Our sin hurts our relationship with God, our relationship with others, and sin hurts ourselves. And we may not see the consequence at the current moment that we're in this sin, but be assured that consequence is coming in some way shape or form. Just like David we need to realize our own sin. After David had Nathan call out the sin in his life, he had to make the effort to realize and admit it.
Brandon:
30:48-30:49
And that same thing needs to happen for us.
Brandon:
30:49-30:56
The moment we admit to ourselves that we have sin in our lives, that will lead us to the most important part of us understanding that we are like David.
Brandon:
30:57-31:00
And that's this, that our sin doesn't define us.
Brandon:
31:01-31:02
Our reaction to it does.
Brandon:
31:04-31:06
Our sin does not define us.
Brandon:
31:07-31:08
Our reaction to it does.
Brandon:
31:08-31:12
Because just like David, when we realize that there's sin in our lives, we need to do something about it.
Brandon:
31:12-31:28
And what separates David from others his reaction to his sin, he repented and turned to worship God. He knew he could do nothing for his sin, only God could heal, and we need to realize that same thing every single day of our lives. And that's why David's sin didn't define him.
Brandon:
31:28-32:10
That's when we think of David, and we hear about David, and how he's regarded in the history of the rest of Scripture, it's not defined by that colossal failure. It's defined by his heart for God, and this is why your sin doesn't need to define you. So often we're so caught up in the moments of sin that we believe that this is who we are. We believe that we have messed up, we've cheated, we weren't honest, we've covered it up, we've become addicted, and we let these moments define us, but they don't have to. If we understand like David did to repent and turn back to God, then we will find forgiveness and grace, and we will find a God that loves us, who cares for us, the God who wants to give us life that's not defined by our sin, but defined by His grace and mercy.
Brandon:
32:12-32:16
Because in our culture, as humans, we long for redemption.
Brandon:
32:17-32:19
We long for stories of comeback.
Brandon:
32:20-32:25
We long for people who have failed to have a second chance and do better with that chance.
Brandon:
32:27-32:29
We've become a pretty forgiving society, actually.
Brandon:
32:30-32:39
And so we love to see these stories of redemption, because deep inside, seeing Tiger Woods come back and winning another major, it'd be kind of cool to see because he gets his life back together.
Brandon:
32:41-32:49
We want to see people succeed after their mistakes and see redemption happen and see a broken marriage heal again.
Brandon:
32:49-32:58
We want to hear stories of a wife that's about to leave her husband and saved up all this money, but instead her husband and her reconcile and they use that money to pay off debt.
Brandon:
32:58-33:06
We want those stories because those stories speak to us as humans, because that's how God has wired us, because that's who God is.
Brandon:
33:07-33:09
God is a God of a rescue and redemption.
Brandon:
33:10-33:13
He's the God who takes our failure and makes us clean again.
Brandon:
33:13-33:18
He is a God that takes our brokenness, puts us back together, and does amazing things through us.
Brandon:
33:20-33:23
And so we long to see the same thing happen in ourselves and each other.
Brandon:
33:24-33:30
We want to see this because this is the story that God has been writing for thousands and thousands of years.
Brandon:
33:32-33:35
Chapters of redemption to overcome our failure.
Brandon:
33:36-33:41
We wanna see redemption because it's the one thing that we need and it can only be found in Jesus.
Brandon:
33:43-33:48
The reason that story of David's failure is so great is because it's a reflection of God's big story.
Brandon:
33:49-33:55
See, after David repented and God forgave him, God continued his mission to rescue and restore us all.
Brandon:
33:56-33:58
You see, David and Bathsheba actually had more children together.
Brandon:
33:59-34:04
And those children had children, and those children had children, and one of those children was this guy named Solomon.
Brandon:
34:05-34:10
And Solomon took over for his dad David as king after David passed away.
Brandon:
34:11-34:18
And Solomon had children, that lineage continued, and wouldn't you know it, out of that lineage came this guy named Jesus.
Brandon:
34:20-34:27
that Jesus was the ultimate rescuer and restore for the history of mankind.
Brandon:
34:29-34:30
Think about that for a second.
Brandon:
34:31-34:49
God sent his Messiah, his rescuer, through the lineage of adultery, through the history of murder, through lies and corruption by David, he used that relationship and brought about Jesus.
Brandon:
34:51-34:52
That's the God we worship.
Brandon:
34:54-34:55
That's the God we follow.
Brandon:
34:57-34:59
Because He's a God of redemption and rescue.
Brandon:
34:59-35:03
And so maybe it's time for God to do some redemptive work in you.
Brandon:
35:04-35:08
Because if God can forgive David and use him, God can forgive and use you.
Brandon:
35:08-35:10
And so often we're haunted by our past struggles.
Brandon:
35:11-35:18
We're so locked up by the things we're struggling with today that we let them define us instead of letting God define us through Jesus.
Brandon:
35:19-35:22
As Christians, repentance needs to be a continual thing that we do.
Brandon:
35:23-35:29
We're going to sin, we're going to fail, it's going to happen, but God desires us to turn from that anytime it happens and come back to Him.
Brandon:
35:30-35:32
And when we do, there is forgiveness for us.
Brandon:
35:32-35:34
There is redemption waiting for us.
Brandon:
35:36-35:40
And if you're not a Christian, maybe it's time to admit that you need God.
Brandon:
35:41-35:46
That your past failures have broken that relationship between you and God, it's broken that relationship with others.
Brandon:
35:46-35:48
But those failures don't have to define you.
Brandon:
35:50-35:56
When you follow David's example of repentance and forgiveness that comes with it, new life is waiting for you on the other side.
Brandon:
35:57-36:04
A life of being a part of something so much bigger than yourself and so much greater than yourself because of what Jesus has done for us.
Brandon:
36:05-36:08
That's why we're starting this new church in Chartiers Valley, actually.
Brandon:
36:10-36:18
It'd be very easy for Danielle and I to just live in the chapter of failure, live in the chapter of brokenness that's in our life.
Brandon:
36:19-36:21
We're not defined by those moments in our lives.
Brandon:
36:22-36:23
We're defined by Jesus.
Brandon:
36:25-36:30
And we want others to experience that same healing, that same rescue, that same redemption that Jesus brings.
Brandon:
36:31-36:34
And so we're starting this new church in this area of Pittsburgh.
Brandon:
36:36-36:38
'Cause I don't know if you guys know this, Pittsburgh's one of the least church cities in the country.
Brandon:
36:40-36:42
It's one of the least Biblically-minded cities in the country.
Brandon:
36:42-36:49
It's one of the fastest growing post-Christian cultures people are moving further and further away from God.
Brandon:
36:50-36:54
And so we're coming to show them that there is a chapter that God is waiting to write in their lives.
Brandon:
36:56-36:56
It's called forgiveness.
Brandon:
36:58-36:58
It's called redemption.
Brandon:
36:59-37:00
It's called rescue.
Brandon:
37:02-37:09
There are people in Pittsburgh and here in Wexford and Chartier's Valley and all across the city, they're living in the chapter of failure for far too long.
Brandon:
37:11-37:15
And so we're here to set a church to help them realize there's something more waiting for them through Jesus.
Brandon:
37:17-37:19
You see, Harvest, David's story is our story.
Brandon:
37:19-37:24
It's God's big story to restore this relationship with him despite our mistakes, despite our failures.
Brandon:
37:25-37:34
And when we understand the great lengths he went to to do that for us, it will lead us to a life of worship, a life that's about following and living for Christ.
Brandon:
37:35-37:44
And when we understand and live this out, amazing things are going to happen in our lives, in our families, in our communities, in our churches, in Pittsburgh and all across the world.
Brandon:
37:46-37:55
Amazing things take place when we live out this truth together, that we are not defined by our sin, we are defined by our reaction to it.
Brandon:
37:55-37:58
And my reaction to my sin is Jesus.
Brandon:
37:59-38:00
I hope yours is too.
Brandon:
38:01-38:04
We all sin, let's not be defined by it.
Brandon:
38:05-38:08
Let's live lives of rescue and redemption because of what God has done.
Brandon:
38:09-38:09
Let's pray.
Brandon:
38:11-38:15
God, thank You so much for this morning to come and be a part of this amazing church.
Brandon:
38:15-38:31
God, I pray for the people of Harvest, Pittsburgh North, that they continue to realize that they don't have to be defined by their failures and their struggles, they can be defined by You, what You are doing in their lives through Jesus and through Your Holy Spirit.
Brandon:
38:33-38:39
God, I pray that You write new chapters in all of us here of rescue and forgiveness and redemption.
Brandon:
38:39-38:46
And God, You write chapters of purpose living out our mission to love people like you've called us to love, and for people to know who you are.
Brandon:
38:48-38:55
And I pray that Wexford continues to change because of the chapters you are writing in the people's lives at Harvard's Bible Chapel, Pittsburgh North, God.
Brandon:
38:55-38:59
And I pray you do the same thing for one church as we're kicking that off in Charters Valley.
Brandon:
38:59-39:02
God, we thank you for David, who is just like us.
Brandon:
39:03-39:04
Remind us of that daily, God.
Brandon:
39:05-39:09
Remind us that in the midst of our failures, we can turn back to you.
Brandon:
39:10-39:12
And we thank you for Jesus who came from that lineage.
Brandon:
39:14-39:15
Let's pray, amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 2 Samuel 11:1-3 and 2 Samuel 12:1-13
Ice Breaker: What was something you always got in trouble for when you were a kid?
What stood out from the message and why?
For some people we remember their failures first, for others we remember their achievements while often times overlooking their failures. From your perspective, why do we do that?
David is one person we tend to view in a positive light despite doing some really bad things. In 2 Samuel 11 what were key elements that caused David to fail so bad?
In 2 Samuel 12:1-13, what were the causes of David moving towards redemption?
We're not so different from David. What causes David to see redemption is his reaction to his failure. Brandon said, "Our failure doesn't define us, our reaction to it does."
What did he mean by that in reference to David’s situation? How does that relate to your life?David's repentance led him to worship God by writing Psalm 51. What does (or should) your repentance lead you to do?
We serve and believe in a God that loves redemption. How do you see God using you to bring redemption to you and those around you?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.