All In On Spirit

Introduction:

John 4:23

Psalm 138:1 - I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart...

Psalm 45:1 - My heart overflows with a pleasing theme…

Deuteronomy 6:5 - You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

3 Reasons I'm “All In on Spirit” in Worship (2 Samuel 6:12-23)

1. My worship is FOR THE LORD. (2 Sam 6:21a)

2. My worship is PERSONAL. (2 Sam 6:21b)

   2 Samuel 12:20 – Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped.

   Job 1:20 – Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.

3. My worship is a CHOICE. (2 Sam 6:22–23)

   Psalm 146:2 – I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:42-00:48

  Open up your Bibles to the book of 2 Samuel 6.

  00:50-00:52

  While you're turning, let's just pause.

  00:52-01:00

  I'm going to ask if you would please pray for me to clearly and faithfully communicate God's Word.

  01:00-01:09

  At the same time, I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us from His Word today.

  01:10-01:12

  Just take a moment, please, we'll pray.

  01:16-01:23

  Father, I believe this is a message that the church needs to hear.

  01:24-01:30

  God, I believe this is a message this church, this is a message Harvest Bible Chapel needs to hear.

  01:30-01:39

  So I just ask God that You would please let Your Spirit move in the hearts of Your people.

  01:39-01:43

  This would be a time of self-examination.

  01:46-01:54

  And that You would continue Your work in us to make us the people that You've already pronounced us to be.

  01:55-01:59

  Thank You, Father, ahead of time for everything that You're going to do.

  02:01-02:08

  Because Your Word tells us that You always accomplish the purposes for which You send Your Word out.

  02:09-02:10

  We believe that.

  02:14-02:16

  In Jesus' name, Amen.

  02:18-02:20

  2 Samuel chapter 6.

  02:20-02:20

  Are you there?

  02:22-02:27

  I grew up attending a little Methodist church.

  02:28-02:44

  And worship in music time was sometimes, most of the time, how should we say, unenthusiastic.

  02:46-02:51

  But often it would sound like this.

  02:53-03:08

  If ever I loved thee Lord Jesus 'tis now ♪ And imagine that times like 70 or 80.

  03:10-03:21

  I remember one Sunday in particular, during the music time, the pastor actually stood up, and he goes, "Stop, stop, stop singing, stop singing.

  03:23-03:32

  I'm not going to let you ruin another one." I mean, unpack that statement.

  03:34-03:47

  I just remember the organist was like, like, "What do we do now?" And he's like, "Write into the sermon, like, I'm not going to let you ruin another one." We were shocked.

  03:49-04:01

  And you know, I didn't really get it then, but I get it now.

  04:04-04:07

  Like, what are we doing?

  04:09-04:16

  What are we doing when it's time to worship our almighty savior.

  04:19-04:21

  We come in 10 or 15 minutes late.

  04:23-04:24

  What are we doing?

  04:26-04:31

  What are we doing when it's time to express our love for God?

  04:33-04:49

  And we're just kind of looking around and kind of half singing the words What are we doing?

  04:52-04:59

  Can we really be content to call that worship?

  05:00-05:01

  Can we?

  05:01-05:09

  Can we be content to come in late and mouth a few words and sit down and be like, "Well, I worship today." Can we call that worship?

  05:09-05:10

  Really?

  05:11-05:13

  Let me ask you this.

  05:15-05:22

  Do you consider yourself to be a worshiper?

  05:29-05:29

  Do you?

  05:32-05:34

  Could we rightly call you a worshiper?

  05:37-05:41

  Or would you say, "Yeah, that's not really my thing.

  05:42-05:47

  Yeah, the music and worship thing, we're talking specifically about music.

  05:47-05:49

  Pastor Rich made that clear last week.

  05:49-05:58

  That's what this series is about." But are you like, "Well, this worship and music, it's not really my thing." Well, that's a problem because it's God's thing.

  06:00-06:01

  Okay, it's God's thing.

  06:02-06:03

  Like, well, how do you know?

  06:03-06:05

  Do you know what the second biggest book of the Bible is?

  06:06-06:08

  It's right smack in the middle.

  06:09-06:10

  The Psalms, you know what the Psalms are?

  06:11-06:12

  Israel's songbook.

  06:15-06:17

  Right in the center of the word of God.

  06:18-06:24

  Heaven is described as a place of worship, right?

  06:24-06:30

  And Jesus Christ himself said, God is seeking someone.

  06:30-06:33

  God is, God himself is looking for someone.

  06:33-06:35

  Who is God looking for?

  06:36-06:38

  Jesus tells us, here's who God's looking for.

  06:38-06:54

  John chapter four, verse 23, Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

  06:55-07:02

  For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him." You see that?

  07:02-07:10

  Again, this is a conversation Jesus was having with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.

  07:12-07:17

  And this statement, spirit and truth, spirit and truth.

  07:18-07:25

  Understand for the Jews, the Jews had the Scriptures.

  07:25-07:27

  They had the information.

  07:28-07:29

  But you know what they didn't have?

  07:29-07:31

  They didn't have heart in their worship.

  07:32-07:32

  I mean, read your Old Testament.

  07:33-07:34

  Their heart wasn't in it.

  07:34-07:38

  through the motions, they had the truth, but their heart was not in it.

  07:39-07:43

  You see, the Jews, they had the truth, but there was no spirit.

  07:44-07:46

  But the Samaritans, did you know this?

  07:46-07:48

  The Samaritans were passionate worshipers.

  07:49-07:49

  They were.

  07:49-07:53

  They were extravagant, passionate, emotional worshipers.

  07:53-07:54

  Well, there's a little problem.

  07:56-08:03

  They didn't believe in the scriptures, except for the Pentateuch, but the rest, they just did not believe.

  08:04-08:14

  So the Samaritans, like the woman Jesus was speaking to, they had spirit, but no truth.

  08:16-08:21

  And Jesus says to this woman, "Hey, God wants both.

  08:23-08:25

  Truth and spirit.

  08:26-08:32

  He wants both." And in our day, it's obvious, right?

  08:32-08:36

  We see either unbalanced extreme, don't we?

  08:38-08:42

  There are many churches that are like the Jews, truth without spirit.

  08:43-08:58

  You can go to many churches where there is a liturgy where they will recite creeds with no emotion at all behind it.

  08:59-09:04

  This is true, this is true, this is true, this is true, this is true.

  09:07-09:08

  Truth without spirit.

  09:09-09:14

  And you can go to other churches and you can find spirit without truth, right?

  09:14-09:18

  You can find people doing all kinds of bizarre things in churches.

  09:18-09:23

  They're babbling and they're barking and they're falling over.

  09:23-09:29

  and it's a lot of spirit, but there's no truth in their worship.

  09:32-09:38

  See, last week, Pastor Rich gave the message all in on truth, right?

  09:38-09:43

  And we learned you don't just worship God any old way you feel like it.

  09:46-09:49

  It has to be according to his truth.

  09:50-09:52

  Today, I'm gonna look at the other side of that.

  09:52-09:56

  all in on truth, yes, but today, all in on spirit.

  09:56-10:03

  And church, listen, we are equally dishonoring God when our hearts are not in worship.

  10:07-10:09

  So write this down at the top of your outline.

  10:11-10:12

  Emotion is expected.

  10:13-10:14

  Just write that down.

  10:16-10:18

  Emotion is expected.

  10:21-10:30

  For example, Psalm 138 verse one, I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart.

  10:32-10:33

  That's emotion.

  10:34-10:40

  Psalm 45 verse one says, my heart overflows with a pleasing theme.

  10:40-10:43

  That's where the emotion comes from, the heart.

  10:43-10:50

  My heart is so full of the goodness and love and gratitude towards God.

  10:50-10:54

  It's just overflowing that spirit.

  10:57-11:03

  And how about probably the most famous verse in the Old Testament to the Jews?

  11:04-11:16

  Deuteronomy 6, 5 says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." And do you know what that includes?

  11:18-11:19

  Your emotions.

  11:20-11:22

  That's why we worship in music.

  11:23-11:29

  Music allows us to love God with our emotions.

  11:32-11:43

  And there is no one better to learn from when it comes to worship than the man who wrote so many of the Psalms, King David.

  11:45-11:53

  Last week, Pastor Rich talked about David wanting to bring the Ark to Jerusalem.

  11:53-11:54

  Remember that?

  11:54-11:56

  If you didn't listen to the sermon, you need to get on the website.

  11:56-11:59

  Not now, later, but you need to catch up.

  11:59-12:07

  David wanted to bring the Ark to Jerusalem and they made a previous attempt and they decided to do it.

  12:08-12:11

  They were going to move the Ark like the pagans.

  12:11-12:13

  It was supposed to be carried on poles.

  12:14-12:15

  Hi.

  12:16-12:18

  But they're like, no, we'll put it on a new cart.

  12:19-12:20

  A new cart.

  12:21-12:23

  What do I gotta do to get you in this new cart today?

  12:24-12:26

  We're gonna take the ark in a new cart.

  12:27-12:36

  I remember one of the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark and God dropped him dead.

  12:39-12:48

  All right, so David was like, Yeah, let's just part the ark here and back away.

  12:50-12:57

  And it was left at the house of a man named Obed-Edom for three months.

  12:58-13:03

  Now look at 2 Samuel 6, picking up in verse 12.

  13:06-13:17

  And it was told King David, the Lord has blessed the household of Obed -Edom and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.

  13:18-13:25

  So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing.

  13:27-13:34

  And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal.

  13:35-13:40

  And David danced before the Lord with all his might.

  13:42-13:44

  And David was wearing a linen ephod.

  13:45-13:47

  So David and all the house of Israel brought up.

  13:48-13:52

  The ark of the Lord was shouting and with the sound of the horn.

  13:55-14:09

  As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord.

  14:10-14:12

  and she despised him in her heart.

  14:15-14:24

  And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it.

  14:26-14:29

  And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

  14:30-14:52

  And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, a cake of raisins to each one.

  14:54-15:09

  Then all the people departed, each to his house." Do you see in these verses, David worshiping in spirit?

  15:10-15:10

  Did you see that?

  15:11-15:21

  Verse 14 says that David danced before the Lord with all his might.

  15:26-15:30

  Tried to figure out what this actually might've looked like.

  15:31-15:51

  And some Hebrew scholars say this dance could be translated as, I thought this was funny, a violent effort of leaping or springing round in half circles to music.

  15:54-15:58

  Is there someone who would like to come and demonstrate what you think that might've looked like?

  16:03-16:05

  Well, I don't have my dancing shoes on.

  16:10-16:14

  I've so often wondered what that must have looked like.

  16:15-16:33

  I mean, you could imagine it wasn't just some half effort, like, "Oh, we got the Ark up here, yay!" I mean, it was like, it was raw emotion coming out.

  16:37-16:42

  I mean, have you ever been so overjoyed about something that you just can't hold it in?

  16:42-16:43

  Has that ever happened to you?

  16:44-16:45

  Of course it has.

  16:45-16:46

  It's happened to everybody.

  16:47-16:48

  I mean, think about it.

  16:48-16:57

  Do you ever, like, you didn't study that hard, but you still got that good grade you get the test back.

  16:57-16:58

  (mumbling)

  16:58-16:59

  It just comes out.

  17:02-17:02

  You know what I mean?

  17:05-17:11

  Or you get the memo from work, like, "Hey, you're getting that promotion.

  17:12-17:18

  "You're getting a raise," and you're like, "I got the raise, I got it, I got it, yeah!" Like, it just comes out.

  17:19-17:20

  You just can't hold it in.

  17:20-17:21

  You know what I'm talking about.

  17:22-17:25

  Or you go to your kid's soccer game,

  17:25-17:26

  (mumbling)

  17:26-17:28

  their hockey game and they get their first goal.

  17:29-17:33

  You're just like, whoa, you're like, you know what it is?

  17:38-17:40

  It's involuntary, right?

  17:41-17:44

  It's uninhibited and you didn't rehearse it.

  17:44-17:49

  You weren't like, well, if my kid gets a goal today, this is the dance step I'm going to do.

  17:50-17:51

  Like you didn't rehearse it.

  17:55-17:56

  You can't contain it.

  18:00-18:02

  When was the last time you felt that about the Lord?

  18:05-18:17

  Right now somebody's like, "Oh, oh, oh, Pastor Jeff, this sounds like you're getting a little too charismatic for my taste." Really?

  18:20-18:27

  In our culture, Specifically this church, we're pretty secure on the truth part.

  18:28-18:31

  I mean, Harvest Bible Chapel, Bible is our middle name.

  18:32-18:32

  Right?

  18:33-18:36

  We get the truth part here.

  18:37-18:39

  But church, we need the spirit part.

  18:43-18:51

  I mean, a church like ours, we would acknowledge that making it all about emotion is a problem, right?

  18:53-18:55

  You see videos online of churches that do that.

  18:55-18:58

  We kind of laugh at them, right?

  18:59-19:02

  Can we acknowledge an equal danger?

  19:05-19:08

  A danger that we are far more guilty of.

  19:10-19:13

  And that's just being emotionally detached in worship.

  19:17-19:26

  Well, church, there should be times during worship when you think of God's love for you and your heart just overflows with joy.

  19:27-19:28

  God loves me?

  19:29-19:38

  There should be times when you think of Jesus' death on the cross and your eyes well up with tears.

  19:39-19:43

  He went through that for my sin.

  19:44-19:52

  There should be times when you think of God's awesomeness and you just bow your head in reverence.

  19:52-20:04

  Say, "God is so awesome." Maybe there should be times that you dance, right?

  20:06-20:15

  For that to happen, you have to be just as serious about allowing your heart to be in it as you are about making sure that the words that you sing are biblical.

  20:15-20:20

  And by heart in it, I mean all in on Spirit.

  20:22-20:25

  I mean, we saw in the passage, we read David was.

  20:26-20:29

  David was all in on Spirit, right?

  20:30-20:33

  He danced with all his might, verse 14.

  20:34-20:37

  Verse 16 says he was leaping and dancing.

  20:37-20:41

  And you're like, well, what made him do that?

  20:43-20:46

  What made David act like that?

  20:50-21:00

  Well, we get our answer in his exchange with his wife, Macau.

  21:01-21:03

  I can't call her Michael, okay?

  21:04-21:04

  It's Macau.

  21:09-21:13

  Verse 16 says that his wife saw him dancing.

  21:15-21:19

  You see that your Bible says she despised him in her heart.

  21:22-21:26

  I don't think that was because David was a bad dancer.

  21:28-21:34

  Right, I don't think like David was out there doing the Macarena and she's like, oh, oh, I hate him.

  21:35-21:37

  He's doing the Macarena, oh, I hate him.

  21:40-21:42

  I don't think that's it at all.

  21:45-21:46

  Look at verse 20.

  21:50-21:52

  David returned to bless his household.

  21:55-22:13

  But Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his female servants as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself.

  22:19-22:20

  Honey, I'm home.

  22:21-22:22

  And she scolded him.

  22:23-22:24

  You see that?

  22:25-22:26

  She's like, what are you doing?

  22:27-22:32

  You're the king of Israel and you're out there acting like an idiot.

  22:36-22:43

  By the way, David wasn't dressed immodestly in case you're wondering if that was the issue.

  22:43-22:45

  It's not, that's not the issue.

  22:46-22:56

  The issue was David was dressed down like a priest, not dressed up like a king.

  22:58-23:07

  This might make Macau the first person in the history of congregational worship to criticize someone for the way that they're dressed.

  23:10-23:18

  But you know, Macau, she's in churches everywhere.

  23:21-23:25

  I think Macau also attends Harvest Bible Chapel.

  23:29-23:31

  You might be Macau, actually.

  23:33-23:44

  I mean, while worship is happening, Macau is a spectator, not a participant.

  23:46-23:49

  And she's looking down on those who are passionately worshipping.

  23:51-23:51

  Is that you?

  23:54-23:58

  Spectator, not a participant, but looking down on the people who are participating.

  23:58-24:01

  Is that you? Then you're Macau.

  24:02-24:11

  Is that you? Worship is happening and you're kind of standing there and you're like... Look at him over there raising his hands.

  24:15-24:20

  Look at her. Look at her. They're crying while she's singing.

  24:20-24:31

  grow up. Like, I can't believe how loud this guy is behind me. He's singing so loud.

  24:31-24:36

  Oh, you're Macau, okay? That's who you are.

  24:38-25:30

  You're like, well I'm not Macau. Okay, well maybe, maybe, maybe you're not Macau, but maybe you're somebody who instead reigns your worship in because you don't want Macau criticizing you. Maybe you're somebody's like, "Oh, I kind of am excited about Jesus and everything he is and everything he's done, but I don't want to like really show it because what's so-and-so gonna think? I mean what do people see me like with my hands raised? What are they gonna think about me? What if they see me expressing emotion? What are they gonna think about me? Who cares what Macau thinks. Well, David didn't and he tells her why. Giving us on your outline, once you write this down, three reasons I'm all in on spirit in worship.

  25:31-25:40

  This was David's attitude in Harvest Bible Chapel. I am sincerely hoping and praying, this is our attitude as well.

  25:41-25:46

  Three reasons I'm all in on spirit in worship.

  25:46-25:50

  Number one, my worship is for the Lord.

  25:52-25:53

  Look at verse 21.

  25:54-26:05

  Okay, so Michal just scolds David like, "Oh, look at you, your highness, acting like a fool." Look at David's response.

  26:05-26:10

  It says, "And David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord." Stop right there.

  26:12-26:15

  Let's not run past that phrase because that's really it, right?

  26:15-26:31

  David goes, "It was before the Lord." David says, "You didn't like my dancing." Oh, that's okay 'cause it wasn't for you.

  26:34-26:35

  It was for the Lord.

  26:40-26:43

  This is a no-brainer point, right?

  26:44-26:48

  But I also think this is the point that most people forget when it comes time to corporate worship.

  26:49-26:54

  When it comes time to worship the Lord of Music, I think this is the thing that most people forget.

  26:54-26:56

  It is for the Lord.

  26:57-27:08

  You see the words on the screen, the instruments, the worship leaders, my participation in a all of this. Who is this for anyways?

  27:13-27:15

  You see, we're not just singing about God.

  27:16-27:21

  We are here to sing to God.

  27:24-27:28

  And if you struggle with that, you know something that I do?

  27:29-27:35

  I imagine myself in the scene in Revelation chapters four and five.

  27:35-27:43

  I want you to read this later, maybe make a steady diet of reading it, but it's describing the worship that's happening in heaven.

  27:43-27:57

  And there are times during our music worship that I just try to imagine, because someday, someday I'm going to be there and I'm going to stand before the throne and I'm going to worship God in person.

  28:01-28:02

  And I think, you know what?

  28:03-28:04

  That's what this is now.

  28:04-28:08

  I'm not in heaven yet, but I'm still in the presence of God.

  28:08-28:14

  So I should be worshiping now the way I plan to worship then, there.

  28:18-28:27

  Surrounded by God's people, surrounded by God's angels, telling God how awesome he is, thanking God, praising God.

  28:30-28:33

  It's for, this is for the Lord, okay?

  28:34-28:35

  So all in on spirit.

  28:36-28:37

  It's for the Lord.

  28:39-28:43

  So that's David's first rebuttal to his wife.

  28:43-28:53

  He said, "My worship is for the Lord." Number two, write this down, "My worship is personal." Look again at verse 21.

  28:53-29:07

  David says, "It was before the Lord who chose me above your father and above all his house to appoint me as Prince over Israel, the people of the Lord.

  29:12-29:18

  And I will make myself, excuse me, I will make Mary before the Lord.

  29:22-29:24

  My worship is personal, did you see that?

  29:24-29:29

  David's like, Yeah, am I excited?

  29:30-29:31

  Yeah, I'm excited.

  29:32-29:36

  God promoted me, God appointed me, God has blessed me.

  29:37-29:41

  David's like, I'm just celebrating what God has done for me.

  29:44-29:49

  I have personal reasons to worship the Lord, Macau.

  29:52-30:16

  And listen, you are never gonna get there in on spirit, you're never going to get there until you take your worship from general to personal. We have way more reasons to worship the Lord than even King David did.

  30:17-30:18

  Do you realize that?

  30:19-30:50

  Just by where we live in history. We live on the other side of the cross of Jesus Christ. We live on the other side of the empty tomb. We live on the other side of hearing all of these glorious promises that Jesus spoke. David had none of that that we have in the New Testament under the New Covenant. We have way more reason than David to worship. But church, you've You've got to get from general to personal.

  30:52-30:54

  Your heart's never going to be in it until you do.

  30:56-31:01

  What I mean is you need to go from, Jesus died on the cross.

  31:02-31:02

  Yes, he did.

  31:02-31:03

  That's true.

  31:03-31:09

  He died on the cross, but you need to take that to, Jesus died on the cross for me.

  31:12-31:14

  He suffered and died for me.

  31:18-31:26

  General to personal, how about we sing, "Jesus forgives sins." That's true.

  31:27-31:32

  That was what the whole ordeal on the cross was about, the forgiveness of sins.

  31:32-31:45

  You need to move from "Jesus forgives sins" to "Jesus forgave my sin." "He forgave my sin." I'm such a dirtball and I don't deserve anything.

  31:46-31:48

  He forgave my sin.

  31:53-31:56

  We sing these songs about God's love.

  31:56-31:59

  Jesus loves his people and that's a true statement.

  32:00-32:01

  But you know what?

  32:01-32:02

  You go from general to personal.

  32:03-32:09

  If you are one of his people, then it goes not just Jesus loves people to Jesus.

  32:09-32:10

  Jesus loves me.

  32:14-32:16

  We sing about God's provision.

  32:18-32:19

  God is a provider.

  32:19-32:21

  God takes care of His people.

  32:21-32:22

  Yes, that's true.

  32:24-32:25

  Want to get your heart in it?

  32:27-32:27

  You've got to make it personal.

  32:27-32:29

  He's taken care of me.

  32:30-32:33

  God has always taken care of me.

  32:38-32:39

  You're gonna go from general to personal.

  32:40-32:48

  And I'm sure right now there's people sitting here, there's people watching this stream that are like, yeah, I hear that.

  32:48-32:50

  I hear that pastor Jeff, but I'm gonna be honest with you.

  32:52-32:58

  I'm not feeling it right now because I'm going through some stuff, right?

  32:59-33:00

  I hear you, I hear you.

  33:00-33:01

  I know my heart should be in it.

  33:01-33:06

  It's hard for my heart to be in it right now, Jeff, because I'm going through some stuff, all right?

  33:06-33:17

  I'm in a season in my life right now where I've been suffering with, maybe it's a health issue or the health issue of someone close to you or a job issue or whatever it is.

  33:19-33:20

  You're like, I'm just not feeling it.

  33:20-33:24

  I'm going through some stuff, man.

  33:25-33:34

  Listen, going through suffering is not an excuse to stop worshiping.

  33:36-33:38

  Let me give you a couple of examples.

  33:40-33:52

  2 Samuel 12 20 says, "Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes.

  33:55-34:02

  And he went into the house of the Lord and," say it, "worshipped." Yeah.

  34:03-34:03

  All right.

  34:04-34:06

  Now let's jump to Job 1.20.

  34:08-34:22

  It says, "Then Job arose and tore his robe "and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped." You know what those two passages have in common?

  34:24-34:29

  You're like, "Oh, I know, they both worshiped." Yes, but they have something else in common.

  34:31-34:40

  You know, in both of those passages, Both of these men worshiped after receiving the news that their child died.

  34:45-34:52

  In both cases, these men heard about their child's death and responded by worshiping.

  34:57-35:01

  Hear me, worship is emotion.

  35:01-35:07

  Yes, yes, yes, yes, but it's not just one emotion.

  35:11-35:12

  It's not just happiness.

  35:14-35:22

  In other words, we think worship has to flow from happiness.

  35:22-35:24

  It has to flow from joy.

  35:24-35:29

  It should, but it shouldn't only.

  35:32-35:40

  If you think worship can only come from a position of happiness, that is unbiblical and an immature view of worship.

  35:43-35:50

  Because worship is the joy of the Lord that transcends whatever is happening to me right now.

  35:52-35:57

  So listen, gosh, this could be a whole sermon series, but I gotta say this.

  35:59-36:06

  For those of you maybe who are suffering right now, and it's hard to feel it right now, you're like, what do I do?

  36:06-36:07

  What do I do?

  36:07-36:13

  I come in here and I'm supposed to have my emotion and worship when I'm going through this stuff.

  36:13-36:14

  How do I do that?

  36:21-36:21

  Here's how.

  36:23-36:29

  When you're suffering now, you need to lean on the past and the future.

  36:33-36:36

  I mean, have you ever read the Psalms?

  36:39-36:46

  There are so many Psalms that have this theme.

  36:48-36:52

  I'm suffering now, but I'm praising now.

  36:53-36:54

  Do you ever notice that?

  36:55-36:58

  I'm suffering, but I'm praising.

  37:00-37:04

  And if you study those Psalms, do you see why they're praising?

  37:09-37:10

  It's always the same thing.

  37:12-37:20

  I'm praising because of what you did for me in the past, Lord, and I'm praising you because of your promise of what you will do in the future.

  37:23-37:27

  Look, your present circumstances are always going to change.

  37:30-37:32

  But there are two things that will never change.

  37:34-37:36

  One is God's past goodness to you.

  37:38-37:52

  Even if you're having the worst day of your life right now, you can come in here and when the music hits, you can think of all that God has done for you to protect you and to provide you and to bring you to this place right now.

  37:53-37:54

  Thank you, God, for that.

  37:56-37:57

  I praise you for that.

  38:02-38:07

  And God, you have promised a glorious future for those who believe in Jesus Christ.

  38:08-38:11

  You have promised us that our best days are ahead of us.

  38:11-38:17

  You have promised us all the glory of your presence in eternity in heaven.

  38:17-38:19

  And God, I'm praising you for that.

  38:19-38:27

  I'm praising you that things will not always be as they are now, but they will be infinitely greater in glory.

  38:30-38:41

  So you see, whether it's past, future, either of those, let alone both of those, move me to be all in on spirit and worship.

  38:43-38:44

  Make it personal.

  38:47-38:51

  And finally, number three, my worship is a choice.

  38:56-38:57

  Why am I all in on spirit and worship?

  38:58-38:59

  Because my worship is a choice.

  39:02-39:03

  Look at verse 22.

  39:05-39:13

  David says, "I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes.

  39:15-39:29

  "But by the female servants of whom ye have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor." And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death.

  39:32-39:34

  There's a phrase David used.

  39:35-39:36

  Oh, I think I counted three times.

  39:37-39:38

  He says it in verse 21.

  39:39-39:55

  "I will make Mary before the Lord." Verse 22, "I will," make myself yet more contemptible, "Again, I will be a base in your eyes." You see that?

  39:56-39:58

  David didn't say, "I might.

  40:02-40:04

  I'm thinking about getting my worship on.

  40:09-40:11

  Probably, likely." No, he says, "I will.

  40:13-40:20

  I will." When it comes to worshiping God with everything that's in me and dancing like that, that's what I'm going to do.

  40:21-40:26

  You're telling me, "Hey, why don't you turn it down?" I'm turning it up.

  40:29-40:30

  The choice is made.

  40:31-40:31

  Right?

  40:31-40:37

  Psalm 146 verse 2, "I will praise the Lord as long as I live.

  40:37-40:48

  I will sing praises to my God while I have my being." Sometimes, especially in the times of not feeling it, the declaration has to be made.

  40:49-41:06

  "I will." When you walk in the doors, you should see this time, congregation coming together, you should see this time as a reset.

  41:10-41:19

  That when you walk in here, my focus, my shift, my whole mindset is moving from the temporal to the eternal.

  41:22-41:24

  I refuse to hold back, I refuse to phone it in.

  41:29-41:31

  I choose to be all in on Spirit and worship.

  41:38-41:52

  You know, when you talk about worship, a lot of times people say, like skeptics, scoffers, say, "Why does God need worship?" Have you ever heard somebody say that?

  41:53-42:06

  Like, "Sounds like a bit of an ego trip, huh?" "God wants us to tell Him how great He is? What kind of a God is that?" "Why does God need our worship?" Have you ever heard somebody say that?

  42:09-42:12

  First of all, God doesn't need anything.

  42:13-42:20

  You realize He's not more God when we worship, and He's not less God when we hold our worship back.

  42:21-42:22

  He doesn't need anything.

  42:26-42:27

  But here's a fair question.

  42:29-42:33

  Why does God delight in worship?

  42:42-42:46

  Why does God delight in worship?

  42:48-42:53

  I read one author put it this way and I can't stop thinking about it ever since I read it.

  42:55-42:56

  Why does God delight in worship?

  42:57-43:04

  It's like a child saying to his mother, you are the best mom ever.

  43:08-43:09

  Mom's in the room.

  43:14-43:16

  Why do you love hearing that from your kids?

  43:21-43:22

  It's not an ego trip.

  43:25-43:32

  Excuse me, when your child says you're the best mom ever, you're not like, yeah, you know what?

  43:34-43:35

  Kinda am.

  43:37-43:38

  Moms don't say that.

  43:39-43:40

  So why do you like hearing it?

  43:47-43:48

  Here's why this moves mothers.

  43:52-44:02

  Because when that child says you are the best mom ever, that mother realizes you are acknowledging how much I love you.

  44:07-44:11

  That means the world to me, that you would acknowledge how much I love you.

  44:11-44:13

  And it's the same with God, church.

  44:13-44:19

  God delights in us acknowledging His love for us.

  44:24-44:32

  God delights in worship the way a mom delights, and you are the best mom ever.

  44:34-44:37

  As our worship team makes their way up front, I'm going to ask you to bow your heads for a moment.

  44:43-44:48

  You know, sometimes we do come in late and music is happening.

  44:50-44:55

  By the time we try to catch up, we've hit the last note.

  44:57-44:58

  We missed it.

  45:01-45:03

  We're not going to miss it today, church.

  45:06-45:10

  We're gonna pause our hearts right now and we're gonna prepare ourselves.

  45:12-45:23

  I want you right now, and I'm going to do the same, right now, we bow our heads and say, I am making the choice to worship.

  45:27-45:28

  Well, maybe I've had a rotten week.

  45:31-45:32

  God's always been so good to me.

  45:33-45:35

  He's given me glorious promises.

  45:35-45:37

  I'm making the choice right now.

  45:37-45:42

  When I, in just a minute, I'm gonna stand up and I am choosing to be all in on spirit.

  45:46-45:51

  With your heads bowed, can you say right now, you know what, I have personal reasons to worship.

  45:53-46:02

  I'm not here today to sing about what God has done for Pastor Jeff or what God has done for Bob Brown.

  46:02-46:04

  I'm not here to sing about that.

  46:05-46:09

  I'm here because God has been good to me personally.

  46:13-46:26

  And I'm going to stand and I'm going to sing and I'm going to give everything I have because this, I'm not singing for Ashley.

  46:30-46:31

  I'm not singing for Kelly.

  46:33-46:34

  I'm singing for God.

  46:35-46:41

  This is for Him, so I am all in on Spirit.

  46:43-46:51

  Now church, let's stand, and this is your opportunity to tell God what you think about Him.

Small Group Discussion
Read 2 Samuel 6:12-23

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your heart for worship (10 = on fire, 1 = dead)? What do you have to personally do to rate higher?
   

3. What personal reasons do you have, right now, for worshiping God?
   

4. How would you respond to someone saying, “I don’t see why God needs us to worship Him.”?

Breakout
Pray for one another to be ALL IN on SPIRIT during worship time.

self: CONTROLLED – It Only Ends in Tragedy.

Introduction:

When I Choose to Sin (2 Samuel 12:1-15):

1. I choose to Dishonor the Lord. (2 Sam 12:7b-9)
2. I choose Permanent damage. (2 Sam 12:10)

3. I choose to Disciple my kids to sin. (2 Sam 12:11-12)
4. I choose Tragedy . (2 Sam 12:13-15a)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:40-00:43

  Open your Bibles with me please to 2 Samuel 12.

  00:46-00:48

  2 Samuel 12, are you there?

  00:51-00:58

  We're on four weeks of discussing sexual sin.

  00:59-01:04

  And no, we're not just talking about fighting sexual sin.

  01:04-01:08

  The Bible tells us to flee from sexual immorality.

  01:08-01:14

  and the tool that God has given us to do that is self-control.

  01:14-01:17

  We started last week talking about King David.

  01:18-01:19

  If you weren't here, a quick recap.

  01:20-01:21

  David was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  01:21-01:23

  He was supposed to be at war.

  01:23-01:24

  He stayed home.

  01:25-01:27

  He saw a woman bathing.

  01:30-01:34

  Now our small group leader had asked a question.

  01:35-01:45

  He said, "The woman's name was Bathsheba, and David saw her doing what? Bathing.

  01:46-01:55

  Her name was Bathsheba." And he said, "Doesn't that seem a little ironic?" So I had to do a little study.

  01:56-02:00

  And actually, Bathsheba, that was her nickname.

  02:01-02:04

  Her full name in the Hebrew is Bubble Bathsheba.

  02:06-02:20

  But he saw this woman bathing, and he lusted after her, and he inquired about her, and he said for her, "Next thing you know, he committed adultery with her.

  02:20-02:21

  She's pregnant.

  02:21-02:22

  Now it's damage control.

  02:22-02:24

  I've got to cover this up.

  02:24-02:24

  What am I going to do?

  02:24-02:25

  I'm the king.

  02:25-02:28

  I just got one of my soldier's wives pregnant.

  02:29-02:37

  What am I going to do?" And he tried to cover it up, and ultimately ended up murdering her husband.

  02:40-02:43

  And then you get to the very last verse in chapter 11.

  02:43-03:06

  It says, "But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord." Now, when we read 2 Samuel 11 and 12, or any passage like this in the Bible, we go through it rather quickly in reading it, but understand, This would have taken place over a period of at least nine months, right?

  03:06-03:09

  To get from conception to birth.

  03:11-03:19

  So what that means is there was nine months where David thought he got away with it.

  03:22-03:23

  But there's always consequences.

  03:27-03:30

  You might think that you got away with something.

  03:31-03:37

  And I'm sure there's someone sitting here, there's somebody watching this stream that knows exactly what I'm talking about.

  03:37-03:47

  I have been sexually immoral, and I've been able to keep it a secret, and it looks like I'm in the clear, and nobody's going to find out about it.

  03:47-03:48

  You might think that.

  03:51-03:53

  But God knows.

  03:55-03:59

  The consequences of sin will catch up with you.

  04:02-04:08

  And when we get to chapter 12, we see how David found out that God knew.

  04:08-04:13

  God sent Nathan the prophet to tell David a story.

  04:14-04:20

  And I don't know if this was under the pretense of, "Hey, there's a situation here, David.

  04:20-04:21

  I could use some advice.

  04:21-04:24

  I could use some counsel in how to handle this.

  04:25-04:26

  That seems to be how it was presented.

  04:26-04:30

  But look at 2 Samuel 12.

  04:30-04:32

  It says, "And the Lord sent Nathan to David.

  04:33-04:41

  He came to him and said to him, 'There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

  04:42-04:49

  The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had bought.

  04:50-04:53

  and he brought it up and it grew up with him and with his children.

  04:53-04:57

  It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms.

  04:57-04:59

  And it was like a daughter to him.

  05:00-05:02

  Now there came a traveler to the rich man.

  05:04-05:12

  He was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guests who had come to him.

  05:12-05:17

  But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

  05:19-05:34

  Okay, so again, Nathan comes to David, and he goes, "Hey, I'm gonna, I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you a situation here." He goes, "Okay, so there's like, this guy had all these sheep, he just had just sheep on top of sheep, just all these sheep.

  05:35-05:47

  But like, the guy next door, he had one little ewe lamb, just one little baby sheep, and oh, oh, she was just like a little pet to him.

  05:47-05:51

  She had a little bowl with her name on it.

  05:51-05:53

  What do you think that lamb's name was?

  05:55-05:56

  Come on, what do you think the lamb's name was?

  05:59-05:59

  What's that?

  06:00-06:00

  Bubbles?

  06:01-06:02

  No, it wasn't Bubbles.

  06:04-06:06

  You guys have no imagination whatsoever.

  06:08-06:11

  I'm gonna say, all right, all right, we'll go with mine then.

  06:11-06:12

  Wooly Betty, okay?

  06:13-06:15

  It was Wooly Betty, and the name was right on the bowl.

  06:16-06:22

  "Oh, no, he loved this little thing." They would share a spoon together, and they would drink from the same cup.

  06:22-06:24

  And he just loved it.

  06:24-06:26

  This lamb was like the family pet.

  06:26-06:28

  And this lamb just meant everything to him.

  06:29-06:31

  And his kids loved it.

  06:31-06:32

  And they would all go out and play.

  06:33-06:34

  And just loved this thing.

  06:35-06:39

  Well, the rich guy, remember the guy with all the sheep everywhere, sheep on top of sheep.

  06:39-06:41

  He had a buddy visiting from out of town.

  06:42-06:49

  And he says, "Hey, how would you like some mutton?" That's sheep meat, right?

  06:49-06:53

  I said, "Okay." I botched that once.

  06:54-07:01

  Anyways, "How would you like mutton or a hero?" Hey, that sounds good.

  07:01-07:12

  So he went next door and he took Wooly Betty and killed this little girl.

  07:12-07:19

  This poor man's pet, to serve it as a meal for his out-of-town visitor.

  07:20-07:23

  Even though he had like a thousand sheep in his backyard.

  07:24-07:25

  He took dude's pet.

  07:27-07:28

  Served it as a meal.

  07:31-07:33

  What do you think about that, David?

  07:39-07:40

  Look at verse 5.

  07:41-07:45

  It says, "David's anger was greatly kindled against the man.

  07:47-08:03

  And he said to Nathan, 'As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the land fourfold, because he has done this thing, and because he had no pity.'" What's with the fourfold thing?

  08:03-08:04

  Well, actually, that's the law.

  08:04-08:11

  Exodus 22.1 says, if you cost somebody a sheep, you have to pay them back for sheep.

  08:12-08:13

  Right? That's the law.

  08:13-08:17

  So David not only wanted the law, but he wanted more than that.

  08:17-08:32

  He said, "A guy that would do something like that doesn't deserve to live." And David's response is kind of humorous because you see David, he didn't say, "He should repay, and then he should be executed." They kind of had it the other way around.

  08:33-08:38

  "A guy that would do that should be executed and then pay him back." Maybe you should write that check before the execution.

  08:39-08:40

  Right?

  08:41-08:42

  But David was fired up.

  08:42-08:55

  He goes, "A guy that would be so heartless and cruel should not be allowed to live." And honestly, David's response is typical of all of us, isn't it?

  08:56-08:57

  We excuse our sin.

  08:58-09:00

  But we're so harsh towards others.

  09:03-09:03

  Look at v. 7.

  09:05-09:18

  "Nathan said to David, 'You are the man.'" And you know this had to have hit like a bucket of ice water in David's face.

  09:21-09:29

  Nathan's saying, "David, this is you." You know the heartless rich man in the story?

  09:31-09:31

  That's you.

  09:33-09:35

  The one who showed no pity?

  09:36-09:37

  That's you, David.

  09:39-09:42

  David, you're the rich man who had everything.

  09:43-09:48

  Uriah was the poor man that had just one thing that was so precious to him.

  09:49-09:51

  And it wasn't a sheep, it was his wife.

  09:53-09:57

  David's reaction condemned himself, didn't it?

  09:58-09:58

  He condemned himself.

  09:59-10:04

  Anyone who would do such a thing deserves no pity." Nathan's like him.

  10:08-10:13

  Well, you know, Nathan didn't show up just to give an FYI.

  10:13-10:18

  He didn't show up and say, "By the way, David, God knows what you did.

  10:18-10:26

  Just thought you should be aware." He showed up to tell him, "David, not only does God know, but there are going to be consequences for your sin.

  10:27-10:28

  I'm going to lay them out for you.

  10:30-10:47

  And I need to tell you, church, if you choose to refrain from self-control, if you choose to pursue sexual sin, you are eventually going to face the same types of consequences that David faced here.

  10:50-10:51

  And we're going to go through these.

  10:52-10:56

  And as we do, I just want you to ask yourself, Is it worth it?

  10:59-11:00

  Because this is some serious business.

  11:01-11:08

  This is life-altering stuff, and you need to ask yourself, is it worth it for just a few minutes of pleasure?

  11:10-11:18

  So on your outline, "When I choose to sin." When I choose to sin.

  11:18-11:23

  Now we say, if you choose to sin, you choose to suffer, right?

  11:24-11:28

  and we're going to get really specific about that right here.

  11:31-11:35

  When I choose to sin, number one, I choose to dishonor the Lord.

  11:37-11:39

  Look at the rest of verse 7 and verse 8.

  11:42-12:01

  So Nathan says to David, "You are the man." "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul, and I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.

  12:01-12:08

  And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more." Stop there.

  12:10-12:15

  See, like God says, "David, I gave you everything.

  12:17-12:21

  I gave you the throne of the greatest nation on earth.

  12:23-12:26

  I gave you victory over your enemies.

  12:29-12:33

  And he says, you know, I would have given you so much more on top of that.

  12:36-12:37

  What were you lacking?

  12:40-12:46

  And truthfully, that's the story of everyone that I've known or witnessed that was unable to control themselves.

  12:48-12:50

  That's everybody's story.

  12:52-12:54

  You have a beautiful wife.

  12:55-12:57

  You have children.

  12:58-13:00

  You are entrusted with a ministry.

  13:01-13:06

  You weren't operating from a position of lacking or wanting or needing anything.

  13:09-13:12

  It comes purely from a place of selfishness.

  13:14-13:25

  And, as Nathan pointed out to David, When it comes to the Lord, when you sin like this, it comes from a place of ingratitude.

  13:28-13:29

  God has given you everything.

  13:29-13:30

  You're like, "Eh, that's not enough.

  13:31-13:38

  I want something that God didn't give me!" Even though He's given me everything and is willing to give me so much more.

  13:42-13:43

  Selfishness and ingratitude.

  13:44-13:45

  That's the first thing that Nathan points out.

  13:46-13:57

  He says, "Listen, you've dishonored the Lord." And I need to tell you, if you're a Christian, that is the thing that should concern you more than anything.

  13:59-14:06

  I mean, if you're not a Christian and you're hearing this, you're like, "So I dishonored the Lord, so what?" Just add it to the list. You don't care.

  14:06-14:15

  But I'm telling you what, if you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, this is the thing that should bother you more than anything, is, "I have dishonored my God.

  14:15-14:19

  I knew what God called me to do, and I've dishonored Him.

  14:19-14:21

  And that takes us to verse 9.

  14:21-14:23

  Look at how Nathan words it.

  14:24-14:30

  He says, "Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in His sight?

  14:30-14:42

  You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites." Those are some strong words.

  14:42-14:45

  He says, "You know God's Word, David.

  14:48-14:49

  And you're acting like you hate it.

  14:52-14:56

  You killed a man for his wife, and you used the enemy to do it.

  14:57-15:14

  It's disgusting." I need to ask you, right now if you're flirting around, Maybe nobody knows except the Lord and the person you're flirting with.

  15:14-15:17

  You've been able to kind of keep it a secret from those around you.

  15:21-15:22

  You're dishonoring your Lord.

  15:25-15:26

  You're calling yourself a Christian.

  15:27-15:29

  You're calling yourself a follower of Jesus Christ.

  15:30-15:33

  And you're willing to stab a guy in the back for his wife.

  15:37-15:39

  that you know what the Bible says.

  15:40-15:53

  You could get up and preach the sermon about what the Bible says regarding sexual immorality, but you somehow shelled that in your mind, and instead you're acting like a dog in heat.

  15:53-15:56

  You have no control over your impulses.

  15:58-16:02

  You should be ashamed, because you've dishonored your God.

  16:04-16:09

  You know better. You know what the Bible says, and you just don't care.

  16:10-16:15

  Worse, God views it as, "You hate My Word." Is that it?

  16:16-16:22

  "You hate My Word." Because you're sure acting like you don't want it to have any place in your life.

  16:25-16:29

  So when I choose to sin, I choose to dishonor the Lord.

  16:31-16:33

  Anybody want to give testimony to that this morning?

  16:35-16:37

  Do you want to get people to line up here and stand up here?

  16:37-16:39

  Do you want that to be your testimony?

  16:39-16:46

  To say, "Good morning church, I want you to know that I choose to dishonor God with my life." Absolutely not.

  16:47-16:51

  That's what you do when you choose to sin this way.

  16:53-16:55

  Secondly, number two, write this down.

  16:56-16:57

  I choose permanent damage.

  16:59-17:00

  Look at verse 10.

  17:03-17:19

  and continues, he says, "Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife." I choose permanent damage.

  17:22-17:31

  The Lord says, "Things are going to be different for you from now on." He says, "The sword is never going to depart from your house." What does that mean?

  17:31-17:34

  He means your house is going to be characterized by violence.

  17:36-17:37

  That's what your family can expect.

  17:38-17:43

  You're going to become just entrenched in this violence.

  17:45-17:53

  But there's one word I want you to really focus on here that really jumped out at me as I was studying it this week.

  17:55-18:01

  And it's the word "never." The Lord says it will never depart.

  18:04-18:05

  Please hear me.

  18:07-18:09

  Some eggs can't be unscrambled.

  18:11-18:19

  Actually, my wife says, "Actually, there are no eggs that can be unscrambled." And that's true.

  18:21-18:21

  The point is this.

  18:23-18:24

  Some consequences are permanent.

  18:28-18:28

  There's no going back.

  18:32-18:39

  Some consequences will plague you for the rest of your life if you get on this road.

  18:42-18:46

  For David, one of them was violence in the home.

  18:46-18:54

  Can you think of some other lifelong, permanent consequences?

  18:54-19:14

  divorce. How about losing the trust of your children? Your children that look to you to teach them and show them what's right. For the rest of your life they're they're going to look at you knowing dad couldn't be faithful to mom.

  19:16-19:30

  Permanent. What about the aforementioned testimony or we would say your Your reputation, your testament, it will be permanently damaged if you bark up this tree.

  19:33-19:36

  Yes, you can be forgiven by God, absolutely.

  19:37-19:41

  But, you will never be forgotten by man.

  19:44-19:48

  The Lord will forgive you, and Christ, we're going to get to that in a second.

  19:51-19:52

  A man will never forget.

  19:53-19:55

  Would you like me to prove that to you?

  19:58-19:59

  President Bill Clinton.

  20:00-20:02

  Tell me one thing he's famous for.

  20:02-20:03

  Don't say it out loud.

  20:04-20:07

  I want you to think of one thing he's famous for.

  20:10-20:11

  Would you like another example?

  20:12-20:13

  How about another Bill?

  20:14-20:16

  Comedian Bill Cosby.

  20:17-20:18

  What's he famous for?

  20:21-20:24

  Here, you've got Bill Clinton, leader of the free world.

  20:25-20:28

  And I'll be honest with you, I was really thinking, I was trying not to Google.

  20:29-20:34

  I was trying to think of some accomplishments of his while he was in office.

  20:35-20:37

  And there was only one thing I associated with him.

  20:37-20:39

  I couldn't think of anything else.

  20:40-20:42

  Except I guess he played saxophone on Arsenio Hall show or something.

  20:43-20:43

  Right?

  20:45-20:54

  But that wasn't the first thing And Bill Cosby. I mean, growing up with the Cosby show, remember the Huxtables?

  20:55-21:05

  The Jello Pudding Pops. But more so for me was Fat Albert. How many of you remember Fat Albert? Oh, I love Fat Albert. And some of you are like, what's Fat Albert?

  21:07-21:16

  Just this awesome cartoon of these kids that like hung out in a junkyard and I guess it doesn't sound so awesome when I say it out loud, but it was really cool.

  21:18-21:22

  But I'll be honest with you, when I hear Bill Cosby now, that's not the first thing I think of anymore.

  21:24-21:26

  You see my point?

  21:27-21:28

  Permanent damage.

  21:29-21:49

  And you, you can think of people that you know, don't shout out names, but think of people that you know, whether it's in your family, or circle of friends, or people at work, think of people that you know that committed adultery, or had an affair, whatever you want to call it, committed sexual immorality of any kind, I want you to think about that person.

  21:51-21:54

  You're always going to associate them with that sin.

  21:55-21:56

  You always are.

  21:56-21:57

  There's the guy that cheated on his wife.

  21:58-22:01

  There's the girl that kept flirting around until her marriage ended.

  22:01-22:04

  You're always going to associate them with that.

  22:05-22:08

  When you choose to sin, you're choosing lifelong misery on yourself.

  22:09-22:11

  because you couldn't control yourself.

  22:14-22:17

  Who would be foolish enough to say, "You know what I'd like?

  22:18-22:27

  I would like permanent damage in my life, in exchange for a few minutes of pleasure.

  22:30-22:32

  When I choose to sin, I choose permanent damage.

  22:33-22:36

  Oh, and not just misery on yourself, by the way.

  22:37-22:46

  Number three, "When I choose to sin, I choose to disciple my kids to sin." "I choose to disciple my kids to sin." Look at verse 11.

  22:50-23:05

  It says, "Thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the Son.

  23:05-23:07

  For you did it secretly.

  23:08-23:22

  But I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Son." You see, David chose adultery and violence.

  23:23-23:28

  And the Lord says, "So were your kids." That's what you chose.

  23:29-23:32

  I'm here to tell you that's what your kids are going to choose.

  23:34-23:35

  No one sins in a vacuum.

  23:39-23:44

  You could say, "Well, you know what, I get to sing on a blog.

  23:44-23:59

  I'm only hurting myself, right? I'm only hurting myself." That is a lie from hell. "Only hurting myself." You're discipling your children, whether you intend to or not.

  23:59-24:03

  And you're discipling your children to who you are, not to who you say you are.

  24:05-24:13

  And if you have kids, you're scarring them for life, and your actions are going to bring about bad decisions from them.

  24:16-24:19

  But you notice I tried to emphasize this as I was reading it here.

  24:20-24:29

  Three times in those couple of verses, do you notice the Lord says, "I will." Did you notice that? "I will." I will. I will bring this about.

  24:32-24:41

  God is saying, "I will make sure that this happens." Do you know I thought a lot about that this week, and I did a lot of reading and a lot of studying.

  24:42-24:43

  I will. What?

  24:45-24:47

  Like through a direct act?

  24:48-24:56

  I mean, is God going to like, somehow make this happen directly?

  24:59-25:09

  I don't believe that God forces people to do things they don't want to do against their own will.

  25:10-25:11

  But God is very clear.

  25:11-25:17

  He says, "I will make this happen." So again, I did some reading.

  25:17-25:18

  People a lot smarter than me.

  25:19-25:37

  One famous preacher said this, "God is saying, 'I will do this in the course of His providence.'" Does it simply mean God is saying, "I'm going to permit this to happen"?

  25:39-25:40

  What do you think?

  25:41-25:56

  Well, sin brings both natural consequences, and it brings the discipline of the Lord, right?

  25:58-26:02

  And sometimes, honestly church, sometimes it's hard to tell which is which.

  26:04-26:05

  True or false?

  26:06-26:08

  Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

  26:09-26:12

  Sometimes we don't really have any way of discerning the source.

  26:13-26:15

  Is this a natural consequence from my sin?

  26:16-26:20

  Or is this a direct act of discipline from God?

  26:22-26:26

  So in answering that question, I guess I just have to ask you this.

  26:27-26:27

  Does it matter?

  26:30-26:30

  Does it really matter?

  26:33-26:42

  Because both of these, whether it's consequences or discipline, Both of those things find their origin in the Lord, right?

  26:44-26:49

  So in the face of such rebellion, does it really matter?

  26:52-26:55

  However, God makes this happen.

  26:56-27:04

  You and so many others are going to face the unpleasant results of your choices.

  27:07-27:13

  His kids were characterized by violence and sexual immorality.

  27:16-27:20

  We would say that the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

  27:23-27:24

  But oh, it's worse than that.

  27:26-27:30

  Because sin somehow seems to escalate with the next generation.

  27:32-27:34

  This is a whole other sermon.

  27:37-27:38

  Let's just mark this down.

  27:38-27:46

  Parents, what you tolerate, your children will overindulge in.

  27:48-27:50

  You're like, why is that? I don't know.

  27:51-27:52

  But that is a truth.

  27:53-27:58

  What you are willing to take a nibble on, your children will gorge themselves on.

  28:00-28:05

  always escalates when sin is tolerated, your kids will do it, and they'll do it worse.

  28:08-28:26

  So you choose to dishonor the Lord in sexual sin, then basically what you're saying is, "I choose to disciple my kids to do the same." "That's how I want to disciple my kids." That's what you're saying.

  28:28-28:32

  And finally for today, I choose tragedy.

  28:34-28:41

  I choose tragedy because what's the title of the message?

  28:42-28:44

  It only ends in tragedy.

  28:46-28:47

  Look at verse 13.

  28:50-28:59

  David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." David has this moment of clarity.

  29:00-29:06

  He gives what is a sincere, honest confession.

  29:08-29:09

  No excuses.

  29:11-29:12

  That's how you know it's sincere.

  29:13-29:13

  No excuses.

  29:14-29:18

  David didn't say, "She shouldn't have been bathing where I could see her.

  29:19-29:20

  She should have covered up.

  29:20-29:25

  She should have put a door up." And I sent to inquire about her.

  29:25-29:30

  Somebody should have told me not to mess with her." He didn't do that.

  29:32-29:42

  And you have to get to the place when you sin where you just say, "Look, I've sinned against the Lord." That's where David got.

  29:44-29:45

  And he received grace.

  29:45-29:48

  Look at the rest of verse 13.

  29:49-29:54

  It says, "And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin.

  29:55-30:00

  You shall not die." That's good news.

  30:01-30:03

  Nathan says you receive grace.

  30:03-30:10

  "The Lord put away your sin. You will not die." But what about all these consequences, right?

  30:10-30:12

  What about all this stuff that we just read?

  30:12-30:13

  What about all that?

  30:14-30:16

  If you didn't hear a word I said today, you've got to hear this.

  30:18-30:22

  Receiving grace does not mean avoiding consequences Avoiding the discipline of the Lord.

  30:25-30:31

  Receiving grace does not mean avoiding consequences or avoiding God's discipline.

  30:32-30:35

  Like, "Well, I'm saved in Jesus Christ. I'm forgiven, right Pastor Jeff?

  30:36-30:46

  I'm forgiven!" Forgiveness does not give you immunity from reaping what you've sown.

  30:50-31:15

  Verse 14, when Nathan gives the good news, he says, "The Lord also has put away your sin, you shall not die." Verse 14, "Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die." And Nathan went to his house.

  31:19-31:24

  I don't know how else to describe this.

  31:27-31:29

  Losing a child is hard enough.

  31:32-31:37

  But losing a child because of a sinful choice that I made?

  31:40-31:41

  That's tragedy.

  31:43-31:56

  You see, your sinful decisions bring tragedy not only on yourself, not only on your family as we've seen, but even innocent people have to face the consequences of your sin.

  31:57-31:57

  Right?

  31:58-31:59

  Like Uriah.

  32:00-32:01

  Where was his fault in all this?

  32:04-32:10

  Innocent people suffer like Uriah and like this baby.

  32:12-32:17

  So David was promised never-ending violence.

  32:19-32:22

  He was promised that there would be sexual immorality in his family.

  32:25-32:28

  And everything was fulfilled exactly as God said.

  32:28-32:34

  I don't have time to walk you through all of this, but you have a Bible in your lap.

  32:34-32:35

  You can read this.

  32:38-32:45

  But when you read the following chapters, David's son Amnon raped his half-sister.

  32:47-32:48

  That's chapter 13.

  32:49-32:52

  David's son Absalom plots Amnon's death.

  32:53-32:54

  Also chapter 13.

  32:54-32:59

  Absalom, David's son, led a revolt against David.

  32:59-33:00

  Chapters 15-17.

  33:01-33:06

  Absalom slept with David's concubines on top of the palace.

  33:06-33:12

  in chapter 16, in full presence of everyone, fulfilling this.

  33:14-33:16

  Absalom was murdered by Joab.

  33:16-33:17

  That's chapter 18.

  33:19-33:25

  All of these consequences that God promised, you see them fulfilled in the following chapters.

  33:28-33:28

  And the baby died.

  33:30-33:36

  Which is in the very next passage, after the one we're looking at right now.

  33:39-33:41

  Can I just say this honestly?

  33:44-33:52

  With no intended irreverence whatsoever in this, this just really bothers me.

  33:55-34:00

  I mean, I get I messed up, I should suffer. I get that.

  34:00-34:01

  I totally get that.

  34:02-34:03

  The baby?

  34:05-34:05

  Why?

  34:06-34:07

  Why did that have to happen?

  34:10-34:12

  I'm just being honest with you, it bothers me.

  34:15-34:18

  Yes, we know for sure the baby went to heaven.

  34:20-34:25

  And I am not in the place of God to judge, okay?

  34:25-34:29

  I'm not critiquing what the Lord said or what the Lord did at all.

  34:32-34:34

  But can I just say it's unsettling.

  34:37-34:40

  I guess we don't get to choose the consequences of our sin, do we?

  34:43-34:44

  They have to fit.

  34:46-34:47

  Sow horrible sin.

  34:51-34:53

  Reap horrible consequences.

  34:55-35:09

  So David, lustful thoughts, fast forward, led to a lifetime of regret.

  35:11-35:12

  That's David's story.

  35:15-35:26

  And if you choose not to use the self-control that God's Holy Spirit has given you, This can be your story too.

  35:29-35:30

  Is it worth it?

  35:32-35:41

  And if there is someone sitting here watching this, still trying to weigh that out, is it worth it?

  35:44-35:45

  But I want what I want. Is it worth it?

  35:46-35:47

  Is it worth what?

  35:48-35:49

  You still weighing that out?

  35:51-35:51

  I want you to look at me.

  35:53-35:54

  I want you to mark this.

  35:56-35:58

  It only ends in tragedy.

  36:01-36:02

  Every time.

  36:05-36:11

  As our worship team comes up, I'm going to ask our elders to come.

  36:12-36:17

  We're going to gather around the Lord's table in just a moment.

  36:18-36:23

  You see, we today spoke of the earthly The consequences of sin.

  36:26-36:29

  But you know the Bible teaches there are eternal consequences for sin.

  36:30-36:42

  If you're guilty of being a sinner, which we all are, the consequences is eternal death.

  36:42-36:42

  It's hell.

  36:43-36:47

  Eternally being separated, shut out from the presence of God.

  36:51-36:54

  You see, the good news is that consequence can absolutely be avoided.

  36:55-37:03

  Because the Bible tells us that when Jesus was on the cross, He was bearing God's wrath for my sin, and for your sin.

  37:03-37:13

  And if you haven't received Jesus Christ, today can be the day where you say, "I realize that I'm a sinner, and I can't do anything to make myself right with God.

  37:14-37:16

  But Jesus Christ, He did the work.

  37:16-37:20

  He died taking God's penalty for my sin on Himself.

  37:24-37:39

  Like David, yeah, we're still going to bear the consequences of earthly sin, but also like David, as we come to the table, we have reason to praise God for His grace in putting away our sin.

  37:40-37:43

  I'd like you to stand, and I'm going to lead us in a prayer.

  37:46-37:51

  when you are ready to receive the Lord's Supper, we're going to ask that you come down the center aisles.

  37:53-37:55

  I ask you to take the elements back to your seats.

  37:55-37:57

  You can return to your seat in the outside aisles.

  37:57-38:03

  And I'd ask you to just hold onto it as a sign of unity as a church, we're going to receive this together.

  38:06-38:11

  And I do want to remind you, you don't have to be a member of this church to receive the Lord's Supper.

  38:11-38:17

  If you are a born again believer in Jesus Christ, He invites you to come to the table.

  38:21-38:21

  So I'm going to pray.

  38:22-38:26

  Whenever you're ready, please come, take the elements back to your seat, and we'll receive together in just a few moments.

  38:27-38:34

  Father in Heaven, we thank You for the warning that You've given us in Your Word.

  38:37-38:47

  One of the greatest human beings in history made some horrible choices and had to face some horrible consequences.

  38:47-38:51

  And Father, we somehow are deceived into thinking that we can escape that.

  38:54-39:00

  But I pray, Father, by the power of Your Spirit and Your Word working together, that You would get our attention.

  39:03-39:11

  For some, it's not too late to do a U-turn, to repent, to confess.

  39:15-39:46

  I pray again, Father, that if somebody in this congregation, whether it's in person or watching the stream, if somebody is messing around with an improper sexual relationship, Father, whether it's an emotional one or just chatting online in a way that they shouldn't, or physically getting together, Father, I pray that You would and allow that person to have a moment's rest until they turn from that sin.

  39:48-40:03

  Father, just now we're going to be coming to Your table and we worship You, because really Father, any sin deserves eternal consequences because we've rebelled against the Holy God.

  40:06-40:12

  and Your grace, You have chosen to provide a means by which our sin can be put away.

  40:13-40:14

  Taken away from us.

  40:15-40:20

  All of the guilt and shame and the penalty and all of that can be taken away.

  40:21-40:23

  Thanks to the finished work of Jesus Christ.

  40:25-40:30

  So Father, as we gather around Your table today, let it be sober-minded.

  40:31-40:33

  Let it be with hearts of thanksgiving.

  40:35-40:37

  Pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read 2 Samuel 12:1-15

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. How do you know what is God's direct hands-on discipline and what are “natural consequences” for our sin? Can we know? Does it matter?
   

3. Why is David's sin described as “despising the Word of the Lord” (2 Sam 12:9)? In what way does our sin amount to “hating God's Word”?
   

4. List some “permanent damages” sexual sin can bring on a person and their families (2 Sam 12:10).
   

5. Why did the innocent baby have to die for David's sin (v14)? What is God's purpose in afflicting the baby (see all of 2 Sam 12:15)?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

self: CONTROLLED – How Did I Get Here?

Introduction:

The Path from Temptation to Sin to Destruction (2 Samuel 11):

1. You're not where you're Supposed to be, doing what you're not Supposed to be doing. (2 Sam 11:1)
2. You fail to immediately Flee . (2 Sam 11:2)

   1 Cor 6:18 - Flee from sexual immorality.

3. You Entertain temptation. (2 Sam 11:3)
4. You Commit to the sin. (2 Sam 11:4-5)
5. You desperately try to Cover it all up. (2 Sam 11:6-27a)

   → God Knows What You've Done. (2 Sam 11:27b)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:40-00:44

  Open your Bibles with me please to 2 Samuel 11.

  00:47-00:49

  2 Samuel 11, are you there?

  00:53-01:03

  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

  01:06-01:12

  And it is that last fruit of the Spirit that I really want us to be focusing upon over these next four weeks.

  01:13-01:27

  Because as we talk about sin, specifically sins of the body, you see the answer isn't found in having the sin nature removed.

  01:27-01:28

  That will come in heaven.

  01:30-01:36

  And the answer isn't found in anything except self-control.

  01:39-01:46

  So this is four weeks of a rally to go to war against sexual sin.

  01:49-01:51

  And I'm sure there are some people now that are thinking, "Yeah, that's right.

  01:51-01:52

  You know what?

  01:52-01:53

  That's right, Pastor Jeff.

  01:54-02:07

  There's so much sexual sin and you look at all this stuff with homosexuality and transgender and yeah, yeah, okay, that is sexual sin, and God will judge those outside of the church.

  02:09-02:16

  My concern is sexual immorality in the church.

  02:16-02:17

  That's my concern.

  02:18-02:24

  Specifically in this church, or people that watch this church online.

  02:27-02:33

  And I'm sure right now, somebody else is like, I've been going to church long enough.

  02:33-02:34

  Okay, here we go.

  02:34-02:37

  Here's a series about sexual sin.

  02:37-02:39

  And I've been to this rodeo before.

  02:39-02:40

  So, okay.

  02:41-02:44

  Here's the part where he gives us all the statistics, right?

  02:46-02:48

  Okay, I've heard this sermon before.

  02:49-02:50

  Here's where he gives us the statistics.

  02:50-02:51

  You wanna hear some statistics?

  02:52-02:53

  Here we go.

  02:53-03:00

  According to one survey, Pornography usage among non-Christian men was 65%.

  03:00-03:05

  Same survey among Christian men, it was 64%.

  03:05-03:07

  Not really any different.

  03:08-03:13

  Recent survey found that porn usage during COVID increased 12% in the first three weeks.

  03:14-03:28

  According to one survey, one half of self-identifying Christians believe that casual sex is okay as long as you're consenting, that you don't have to be in a relationship, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

  03:29-03:32

  Stats, I have a bunch of them, I can keep reading them.

  03:33-03:34

  I have a bunch.

  03:38-03:40

  And it doesn't matter, right?

  03:41-03:42

  Stats don't matter.

  03:43-03:50

  I mean, they might alarm you, but let's be honest, statistics don't move you, right?

  03:51-03:52

  I mean, statistics, right?

  03:52-03:54

  Like, okay, here's some stats.

  03:54-03:58

  100% of the people outside of Noah's family didn't believe it was gonna flood.

  04:00-04:01

  Okay, there you go.

  04:01-04:06

  Okay, 99% of the people in this church are Pittsburgh Penguins fans, whatever.

  04:06-04:06

  There's your statistics.

  04:07-04:08

  Who cares about that?

  04:10-04:11

  Here's what does matter.

  04:13-04:22

  If you're struggling with sexual sin, and you're hearing this, you know it.

  04:24-04:24

  You know it.

  04:26-04:27

  You know what the Bible says.

  04:31-04:40

  That kind of intimacy is one of God's greatest gifts and it's to be used in the context of marriage and used outside of the context of marriage as sin.

  04:40-04:41

  You know that.

  04:41-04:43

  You can get up here and preach that sermon.

  04:43-04:45

  Do I need to sell you on that?

  04:45-04:46

  Of course not.

  04:47-04:55

  But when you're involved in sexual sin, you know it's wrong and you know exactly what What it is that you're doing that isn't honoring the Lord.

  04:55-04:56

  You know that.

  04:57-05:00

  So I'm not going to waste your time giving you these statistics.

  05:00-05:02

  Look, Google them yourself if you're interested in that.

  05:04-05:06

  What you need to know is what to do about it.

  05:06-05:07

  That's what you need to know.

  05:07-05:08

  Like, "I know I'm stuck.

  05:09-05:15

  I need to know how to get out of this." And the answer is self-control.

  05:19-05:24

  But first, as an on-ramp, I'm going to tell you how to fail.

  05:26-05:32

  And you're like, "Well, thanks for that Pastor Jeff, but honestly I already know how to fail." Do you though?

  05:34-05:35

  Then why do you deceive yourself?

  05:38-05:48

  Second Samuel chapter 11, we're going to the Old Testament and we are going to be looking at one of the greatest men to ever walk on this planet.

  05:48-05:49

  And that is King David.

  05:49-05:51

  You know David's story, right?

  05:52-05:56

  The little shepherd boy turned giant slayer.

  05:56-06:03

  When everybody else was scared of Goliath, David stepped up, took him down, ba-bam, right between the running lights, done.

  06:04-06:07

  That guy became the king.

  06:07-06:08

  You know the story, right?

  06:09-06:13

  Best buds with Jonathan on the run from Saul and had his mighty men.

  06:13-06:15

  David wrote the Psalms.

  06:15-06:18

  David, one of the greatest men in history.

  06:19-06:19

  Awesome!

  06:21-06:21

  Awesome story.

  06:27-06:31

  But like the rest of us, he did not have a perfect record.

  06:32-06:36

  He had some sins that he struggled with.

  06:37-06:38

  Like the rest of us.

  06:39-06:45

  So minor spoiler, if you're unfamiliar with this story, he failed in the area we are talking about over the next four weeks.

  06:46-06:49

  He failed big time.

  06:51-06:52

  One bad day.

  06:53-07:01

  One terrible decision led to an absolutely horrible series of events that we're going to be looking at today.

  07:04-07:10

  Now, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, Yeah, your sin is forgiven. Absolutely.

  07:12-07:19

  The Bible tells us that when Jesus Christ was on the cross, He took our sin upon Himself.

  07:21-07:26

  And while He was on the cross, God was punishing Jesus for my sin and for yours.

  07:26-07:32

  God was pouring out His wrath on His Son, so that we would never have to experience His wrath.

  07:35-07:38

  Jesus rose from the dead to give us eternal life.

  07:40-07:52

  And at the same time, even as Christians, even as born-again sons and daughters of the King, we can deceive ourselves.

  07:55-07:56

  We can be open to temptation.

  07:59-07:59

  And we can fail.

  08:02-08:04

  So on your outline, how did I get here?

  08:05-08:09

  Simply today, we're going to look at the path from temptation to sin to destruction.

  08:10-08:12

  There's the path. How do you get there?

  08:15-08:19

  Break this down. First of all, number one, you're not where you're supposed to be.

  08:20-08:22

  And you're doing what you're not supposed to be doing.

  08:23-08:24

  That's where it starts.

  08:25-08:33

  I had a New Year's resolution about keeping my sermon outlines more concise, Ryan, but I'm not out of the gate very strong on that.

  08:34-08:35

  But number one, write this down.

  08:35-08:38

  You're not where you're supposed to be, doing what you're not supposed to be doing.

  08:38-08:39

  Look at verse 1.

  08:40-08:52

  It says, "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.

  08:53-09:01

  But David remained at Jerusalem." See, the king was supposed to be with his army.

  09:03-09:05

  And the Scripture very clearly points that out.

  09:05-09:28

  This was the time of year kings went to war with their army, and very explicitly it says, "But David stayed home." And church sin always takes its opportunity when we expose ourselves to it by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  09:32-09:46

  You know, Jesus, when He taught us to pray, an interesting phrase in the Lord's Prayer, He says we need to pray like this, "Lead us not into temptation." Think about that.

  09:46-10:42

  Jesus didn't say, "Lead us not into sin," in because that's pretty obvious, isn't it? Jesus said, "Lead us not into temptation," meaning, "God, help me to discern the places that I might put myself where I could be exposed to temptation, and I don't want to go there because if I'm exposed to temptation, I'm going to blow it." So God, help me to have the discernment to take the wide path, to go around it. Don't let me go where I might be tempted. Help me to keep myself in a place where I won't even face temptation because I don't want to fail and dishonor you. David, that's how his story starts. It's the verse 1 seems very innocent. Then he went to where David stayed home. Seems so innocent but pointing out here, no no no. He wasn't where he was supposed to be.

  10:45-10:48

  And I'm telling you, that's where you are going to fail.

  10:48-10:52

  That's the first verse of your story if you fail.

  10:54-11:00

  And if you're somebody who has failed, I'm sure you could get up here and give testimony, "Yeah, that's how it happened to me.

  11:00-11:01

  I wasn't where I needed to be.

  11:01-11:04

  I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing.

  11:07-11:17

  And that's why I blew it." We need to discern how we can avoid those situations where we know we're weak.

  11:18-11:20

  Or where we know we might be tempted.

  11:22-11:24

  That's why I don't counsel women.

  11:26-11:36

  Or I've had women on a professional, "Hey, can we go get coffee together?" "No." They're like, "Well, what's the matter, Pastor Jeff?

  11:37-11:38

  Are you afraid you're going to have an affair?

  11:39-11:43

  Are you afraid you're going to be tempted?" answer is I'm not gonna find out.

  11:46-12:13

  And you're like, "Oh, what's the matter Pastor Jeff, are you weak?" And the answer is, "Yeah, I am. Because much stronger men than me have blown it with this. And I'm not just talking David, I'm talking pastor friends that I've known who have not had such safeguards in their lives, who are no longer pastors?

  12:16-12:20

  And you need to know where you're weak, and you need to know where temptation can get your attention.

  12:22-12:24

  Is it going on certain websites?

  12:27-12:30

  Is it going to certain places like a bar or a nightclub?

  12:30-12:32

  I know I shouldn't go there, but...

  12:33-12:35

  And then every time I do go there, I end up doing...

  12:35-12:37

  Don't go there!

  12:37-12:38

  Get where you need to be.

  12:41-12:44

  Why in the world would you go where you could be exposed to temptation?

  12:45-12:48

  Because you think that this time you're going to beat it, right?

  12:48-12:50

  I'm going to beat the system this time.

  12:50-12:54

  I'm going to beat the temptation this time, and I'm not going to fall for it this time, Satan.

  12:58-12:58

  Foolish.

  13:00-13:01

  That's foolish.

  13:03-13:04

  That's where it starts.

  13:05-13:06

  You're not where you're supposed to be.

  13:06-13:07

  doing what you're not supposed to be doing.

  13:08-13:11

  Secondly, you fail to immediately flee.

  13:11-13:11

  Look at verse 2.

  13:12-13:32

  It says, "It happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house." Okay, so he's up high walking on the roof and he looks down and says, "Then he saw from the roof a woman bathing." And the woman was very beautiful.

  13:36-13:47

  So from David's vantage point, he was able to look down at other houses and he saw there was a very attractive woman bathing.

  13:49-13:54

  And yeah, it's easy for us to say since we're reading about it and not standing on the roof with him.

  13:55-13:57

  But like, dude, you should have immediately turned away from that.

  13:58-14:11

  "Oh, ho, I did not need to see that!" But you know, like David, you're going to discover that you don't need to go look for temptation, because it's going to find you.

  14:13-14:29

  But something that David didn't put into practice that I would commend to you is this, the sooner that you flee, It is to flee.

  14:32-14:34

  And immediate is best.

  14:37-14:44

  1 Corinthians 6.18 says to flee from sexual immorality.

  14:47-14:48

  Look at the word.

  14:48-14:49

  Flee from sexual immorality.

  14:49-14:51

  Notice it doesn't say fight sexual immorality.

  14:52-14:54

  Why doesn't the Bible say fight sexual immorality?

  14:55-14:55

  You know why?

  14:56-14:57

  because you'll lose that fight.

  14:59-15:00

  'Cause you're weak like me.

  15:01-15:04

  What does the Bible say to do when faced with sexual immorality?

  15:05-15:06

  Flee, do you know what flee means?

  15:06-15:07

  Do you know what flee means?

  15:07-15:25

  It would be like, if I'm up here, and I look down and I saw there was a rattlesnake slithering, there's not, we're pretending here, but if I saw a rattlesnake there, and I'm like, holy smokes, right by Jack, there's a rattlesnake.

  15:26-15:29

  you would know really quickly what it means to flee, right?

  15:30-15:35

  You wouldn't stop and examine it, you wouldn't try to play with it, and you probably wouldn't try to fight it while Jack might.

  15:35-15:37

  You wouldn't try to fight it.

  15:39-15:47

  You'd flee, and you better not get in my way 'cause I will bowl you over, Costanza style.

  15:50-16:36

  But that's what we are to do when we're faced with sexual immorality, with temptation, get out of there because here's the thing, the longer that you entertain it, the harder it is to resist. David didn't take that to heart because on number three on the path from temptation to sin to destruction is you entertain temptation. You fail to immediately flee and instead you entertain it. Look at verse 3. It says, "And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Stop there.

  16:38-17:03

  Now, let's be honest. David didn't look from his roof at the the woman bathing and immediately think to himself, "Wow, what a beautiful woman. I how it goes. It says he inquired about her. I'm not sure who that is. Who is that?

  17:04-17:14

  Huh. I'm just, look, I'm not gonna do anything. I'm just curious, right? I'm just curious. I mean, I'm the king, right? Shouldn't the king know the people that live in his kingdom?

  17:15-17:58

  And I see a woman, I don't know who she is. I just want to know who she is. What's to be a good king and a good king knows everybody in his kingdom and I just I just didn't reckon I just want to know she is that's all that's all come on what's what what oh the little lies we tell ourselves and again this is one of those things church we can look at David and just be You're like, "Oh, shame on you, shame on you." But we do the same thing, right?

  18:00-18:10

  When we're like, we'll just stop and say, "Hello's not gonna hurt." Or, look, I'm not gonna pursue anything.

  18:11-18:17

  If I just send this flirty little text, yeah, I'm gonna send, it's not gonna be like explicit.

  18:17-18:22

  I'll just send like a little flirty text It might be able to be taken a couple of different ways.

  18:22-18:31

  I'll send a winky emoji because you know, that's sort of nudging to see if the door's open for any more of this kind of dialogue.

  18:31-18:32

  It doesn't work at all doing anything.

  18:32-18:33

  It's just innocent.

  18:34-18:38

  It's just innocent flirting and maybe two winky emojis.

  18:38-18:38

  No, three.

  18:41-18:44

  Three is the right number of winking emojis, right?

  18:45-18:47

  But I'm not gonna do anything.

  18:48-19:01

  You know, I'm gonna send this message to her through Facebook, and it's gonna be mildly provocative, but we're just joking around, we're just kidding, we're just joking.

  19:04-19:09

  And then the next thing you know, we're like obsessing to see if we got a response.

  19:10-19:11

  She didn't see my message yet?

  19:12-19:14

  She didn't see my message yet.

  19:17-19:20

  "Oh, it says she read it, but she didn't reply." Why didn't she reply?

  19:26-19:28

  Fishing for the response.

  19:32-19:34

  You're entertaining temptation is what you're doing.

  19:35-19:37

  And that's what David was doing here.

  19:38-20:41

  "Who is that girl? Huh. She's her family. Huh." opportunity where he could have stopped all this. And this is where it gets really rough because here he finds out that she was married. Which is bad. Marriage isn't bad. It's bad that he found out and he was still pursuing. But I want to show you what makes this really bed, he finds out that she was married to one of his mighty men, one of his best buds. And you would think at that point, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, she's married to one of my best soldiers?" You would think at that point David would be like, "What the heck is the matter with me? My troops are out fighting and I'm sitting at home and I'm I'm like looking at their wives bathing?

  20:41-20:43

  Like what is wrong with me?

  20:43-20:51

  What kind of a sick person am I?" But he still kept it going.

  20:52-20:53

  Because look at verses 4 and 5.

  20:57-20:58

  How do I get here?

  20:58-21:11

  "The path from temptation to sin to destruction, you commit to the sin." 4 and 5 says, "So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.

  21:14-21:17

  Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.

  21:19-21:27

  Then she returned to her house, and the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, I am pregnant.

  21:30-21:35

  Here's the next stop on the path.

  21:35-21:40

  As you commit to the sin, and you're like, "Hang on, Pastor Jeff. Don't you mean you commit sin?

  21:41-21:46

  Isn't that the proper way to say that?" No, I mean you commit to the sin is what I mean.

  21:47-21:48

  Like, what do you mean by that?

  21:49-21:51

  Because when you get to this point, you've crossed a line.

  21:54-21:59

  You started down a sinful path, that when you get to this point, you're not turning around.

  22:02-22:05

  And verse four seems to imply that it was an immediate act.

  22:05-22:10

  That is, he said for her, as soon as she came, he committed adultery with her.

  22:14-22:17

  And then she informs David that she's pregnant.

  22:20-22:22

  Now you're like, well, hang on, what's this parenthetical statement?

  22:22-22:26

  Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.

  22:27-22:31

  What this is, you're like, is this TMI or what?

  22:31-22:33

  No, this is actually very important information.

  22:33-22:47

  What this is saying is, before she came to be with David, she had gone through a cycle, and according to Jewish law, she had to go through the purification.

  22:48-22:50

  This happened before she was with David.

  22:52-23:01

  Meaning, that before she came to be with David, she was not pregnant to Uriah.

  23:02-23:03

  Do you understand?

  23:04-23:07

  Come and see me afterwards if you still don't understand.

  23:09-23:13

  But the point is this, there's no way she was pregnant to Uriah.

  23:16-23:20

  But what David did here was he cornered himself.

  23:22-23:26

  Remember when I said the longer you entertain sin, the harder it is to resist it?

  23:31-23:34

  And see, this is where he crossed the line. This is where he committed to the sin.

  23:35-23:37

  Because think about it. Which is easier?

  23:40-23:47

  Turning your glance away from a bathing woman or resisting the woman when she's in your bedroom?

  23:49-23:49

  Which one's easier?

  23:52-23:54

  Turning the glance away, right?

  23:56-23:59

  Because once she's there, man, you're committed.

  24:03-24:05

  And it is almost impossible to turn back at that point.

  24:08-24:10

  Resisting wasn't an option for David now.

  24:12-24:12

  Committed to the sin.

  24:13-24:15

  So many chances to stop it.

  24:15-24:21

  so persistent to pursue it, and that's how it's going to be with you when you keep entertaining sin.

  24:21-24:36

  Keep the little flirty things going, keep the little meetings going, keep the provocative conversation going, keep entertaining it, and you're gonna end up like David.

  24:37-24:44

  Sin always has consequences, and now the consequences of David's sin, It's going to be impossible to hide.

  24:46-24:47

  Right?

  24:48-24:57

  Because it's one thing to have an affair, which is bad, but now the affair resulted in a pregnancy, and we're not going to be able to hide that.

  24:59-25:01

  But that didn't stop David from trying.

  25:02-25:09

  That's why number five says, "You desperately try to cover it all up." You desperately try to cover it all up.

  25:13-25:14

  We're going to look at this passage here.

  25:15-25:16

  We're going to go through this rather quickly.

  25:18-25:21

  But note, at this point, David should have just come clean like a man.

  25:22-25:27

  He'd be like, "Look, you know what? I messed up. Bad.

  25:29-25:31

  I sinned inexcusably.

  25:34-25:41

  "And I'm gonna do whatever I have to do to make this right." That's what he should have done.

  25:43-25:48

  But instead, David did what so many of us try to do, damage control.

  25:48-25:50

  Like, "I gotta try to cover this up.

  25:50-25:54

  "Maybe there's a way that I can get out.

  25:54-25:57

  "Maybe there's a way I can get out of this." And look, he makes three attempts here.

  25:57-26:02

  You're gonna see in this passage, look at the first one, where we have verse six.

  26:03-26:05

  So David sent word to Joab.

  26:06-26:10

  He goes, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." Like fetch him back from battle, okay?

  26:11-26:14

  And so Joab sent Uriah to David.

  26:14-26:22

  When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing, how the people were doing, how the war was going, and blah, blah, blah.

  26:22-26:23

  It was just chit-chat, right?

  26:24-26:24

  Hey, how are you doing?

  26:24-26:25

  How's it going?

  26:26-26:28

  You know, your shoes fit well, they look good on you.

  26:28-26:30

  Just chit-chat.

  26:30-26:34

  you know, just sort of setting the stage.

  26:36-26:43

  Then David said to Uriah, get down to your house and wash your feet.

  26:44-26:47

  And you're like, okay, that's weird.

  26:48-26:49

  Like, hey, how's it going?

  26:49-26:52

  By the way, your feet are nasty, crusty, funky.

  26:54-26:56

  Why don't you go home and scrub them things up?

  26:58-27:02

  That go wash your feet was a euphemism, okay?

  27:04-27:13

  Because, you know, sandals, dirt roads, you didn't just jump into bed without washing your feet, right?

  27:14-27:22

  So it was a euphemism in that day for going to bed with the missus.

  27:23-27:26

  And that's what David was like, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

  27:26-27:36

  He's like, "Hey, hey, why don't you, "Why don't you go home and wash your feet?" If you still don't understand, see me afterwards and I'll explain it to you.

  27:40-27:44

  Uriah went out of the king's house and there followed him a present from the king.

  27:44-27:47

  Now literally that was a present of food.

  27:48-27:55

  What David was saying was, "Why don't you go home with the missus and you don't go to worry about food.

  27:55-27:57

  I'm going to send a catered meal.

  27:58-28:04

  Why don't you go home, turn on the Netflix, I'll have the food right there.

  28:04-28:15

  Why don't you just spend a nice long quality night with your wife?" You see the plan here, right?

  28:16-28:30

  David's like, if Uriah spends the night with his wife, and then Bathsheba is showing her pregnancy, Uriah is going to think, David's like, he's going to think that's his kid.

  28:32-28:51

  Problem solved, right? Problem solved. It says, "But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house." Uriah wouldn't even go home.

  28:53-28:57

  When they told David, Uriah did not go down to his house.

  28:58-29:00

  David said to Uriah, have you not come from a journey?

  29:00-29:01

  Why did you not get out of your house?

  29:02-29:10

  Uriah said to David, the ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are camping in the open field.

  29:11-29:16

  Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and lie with my wife as you live?

  29:16-29:19

  And as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.

  29:20-29:22

  Here's something David wasn't counting on.

  29:25-29:26

  Integrity.

  29:27-29:44

  Uriah was like, "You mean my brothers are out there on the battlefield fighting and risking their lives and while they're doing that I should be at home lounging around with my wife, eating and playing around?" He goes, "No, no, no.

  29:44-29:45

  I can't do that.

  29:47-29:48

  I just wouldn't be right.

  29:48-29:49

  I can't do that.

  29:51-29:52

  No, man, I can't do that.

  29:52-29:53

  I'm not even gonna go home.

  29:54-29:55

  I can't do that to my brothers.

  29:59-30:03

  So attempt number one at cover up did not go off as planned.

  30:03-30:04

  Here's attempt number two.

  30:04-30:15

  It says, "Then David said to Uriah, "'Remain here today also, "'and tomorrow I will send you back.'" Looks like buying a little time, right?

  30:15-30:17

  "So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

  30:18-30:24

  And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk.

  30:25-30:27

  Okay, so you see plan number two.

  30:28-30:30

  David's like, "All right, too much integrity.

  30:31-30:39

  I know what'll fix that. Alcohol." So David has Uriah over, and like, "Hey, eat up.

  30:39-30:41

  How about a drink? How about another drink?

  30:42-30:44

  How about another drink? You don't tell the king, no, right?

  30:44-30:48

  How about another drink?" And then he got Uriah good and toasted.

  30:48-30:50

  He goes, "Well, there goes all his inhibitions.

  30:50-30:51

  Now he's gonna go home.

  30:53-30:54

  He's gonna have that lovely night with his wife.

  30:56-30:57

  He's gonna think the baby's his.

  30:59-31:00

  And I'm in the clear.

  31:01-31:16

  And then I'll stop talking like this." It says, "In the evening, he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his Lord, But he did not go down to his house.

  31:18-31:28

  You see, even drunk, off his mind, Uriah had more integrity than David was expecting.

  31:31-31:32

  So here's the third attempt.

  31:34-31:38

  It says, "In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

  31:39-31:56

  In the letter he wrote, 'Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him that he may be struck down and die." And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.

  31:58-32:04

  And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell.

  32:07-32:08

  Uriah the Hittite also died.

  32:10-32:23

  So you see that David sent some certified mail, sealed, in the hand of Uriah, like, "Hey, give this to Joab." And obviously Uriah didn't know what it said, but it was his own death sentence.

  32:24-32:30

  Like, "Hey, mail from the king." Joab opened it, and you do what the king says, right?

  32:30-32:31

  And this was the plan.

  32:31-32:35

  Get in the midst of some heavy fighting, everybody retreat, but don't tell Uriah.

  32:35-32:37

  Make sure that he gets struck down.

  32:39-32:41

  That's what happened.

  32:42-32:44

  It says, "Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting.

  32:46-32:50

  And he instructed the messenger..." Okay, so he was telling somebody to go tell David, right?

  32:50-32:53

  He wasn't texting or calling or Skyping or anything, right?

  32:53-32:55

  So he was sending it through a messenger.

  32:55-33:05

  "He instructed the messenger, 'When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, 'Why did you go so near the city to fight?

  33:06-33:09

  Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

  33:10-33:13

  Who killed Obimelech, the son of Jerubashev?

  33:15-33:19

  Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebes?

  33:20-33:21

  Why did you go so near the wall?

  33:24-33:36

  Then you shall say, "Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also." Okay, so the messenger was instructed like, "Hey, you're going to go report to David, and if he gets upset, make sure you tell him this.

  33:36-33:38

  Tell him that Uriah died.

  33:40-33:45

  So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.

  33:46-33:55

  The messenger said to David, "The men gave an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.

  33:55-33:57

  Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall.

  33:58-34:03

  Some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant, Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

  34:05-34:13

  David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, 'Thanks for the message. I'm going to tell you what to tell Joab now.

  34:14-34:19

  Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another.

  34:21-34:27

  Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it, and encourage him.'" Wow. Really?

  34:31-34:37

  How callous we get when we are so immersed and committed to our sin.

  34:39-34:40

  That's all we can think about.

  34:42-34:46

  And when we're in this damage control, trying to cover things up, trying to protect...

  34:47-34:48

  How callous!

  34:49-34:59

  The message gets back, "Hey, there have been quite a few casualties, including one of your best men, Uriah." And do you see David's response?

  35:00-35:04

  "Hey, sword devours one as well as the other.

  35:04-35:06

  You can't make an almond without breaking a few eggs.

  35:06-35:09

  I mean, you go to war, you expect a few people to croak.

  35:09-35:20

  Like, what's the matter with you?" You know how it is when your sin becomes your obsession.

  35:22-35:24

  That's what's driving you.

  35:25-35:26

  That's what was driving David.

  35:26-35:42

  All he was thinking about at this point was, "Got to cover it up, got to cover it up, got to cover it up." And it's going to be a lot easier to cover up if her husband, the awesome soldier, is dead.

  35:45-35:50

  It says, "When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she lamented over her husband.

  35:51-36:03

  And when the morning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son." So she mourns over the death of her husband.

  36:05-36:06

  And David's like, "Hey, wait a second now.

  36:09-36:11

  I can bring her into my house.

  36:13-36:14

  I'll marry her.

  36:16-36:24

  I'm a hero." Here's this widow of a man who died for his country.

  36:25-36:30

  And the poor pregnant widow, and I, me the gracious king, I brought her into my house.

  36:31-36:33

  I'm going to come out of this looking pretty good.

  36:35-36:37

  I'm going to look like a hero taking care of this poor woman.

  36:41-36:47

  So David marries the woman, and they have a son.

  36:49-36:50

  The end.

  36:52-36:53

  They all lived happily ever after.

  36:56-37:07

  And David flopped down on his throne and went, "Oh!" For a minute there, I didn't think I was going to get away with it.

  37:08-37:15

  But I did." Well, that wasn't the end of the story.

  37:18-37:21

  Because there is a little bit more to this passage.

  37:22-37:23

  See the very last sentence?

  37:25-37:32

  It says, "But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord." Oh yeah!

  37:33-37:35

  Yeah, the Lord! Do you remember Him?

  37:37-37:40

  Because he wasn't mentioned the whole time.

  37:42-37:45

  Because he wasn't in focus at all.

  37:47-37:55

  Sin, and temptation, and the lies, and cover-up, and murder, and adultery - that was the focus.

  37:56-38:16

  But now all of a sudden, after no mention at all of the Lord in this chapter, we get to this last verse that literally says this, "But the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord." And you see, that should punch you in the gut.

  38:18-38:27

  Because at this point, David thought, "Ok, I'm in the clear." And Scripture reminds us that God saw every single thing that he'd done.

  38:29-38:31

  And God said, "This is wrong.

  38:31-38:32

  This is evil.

  38:32-38:33

  Look what you're doing.

  38:34-38:37

  This is evil what you're doing, David.

  38:40-38:57

  And I want to tell you, if you think you're getting away with something right now, if you're involved in sexual sin, you're flirting with it, and you think you're getting away with it because you're hiding it from your spouse, you ain't getting away with anything.

  38:58-39:00

  Because the Lord sees what you're doing.

  39:03-39:09

  And you can't escape, first of all, the consequences, just the natural consequences.

  39:09-39:15

  I mean, can we even make a list of all the lives that were affected and destroyed by David's sin?

  39:17-39:30

  One lustful impulse resulted in death and cover up and how about sabotaging a military mission?

  39:31-39:31

  What?

  39:31-39:36

  All of the people that were affected because somebody couldn't control themselves.

  39:40-39:41

  And it's the same for us, church.

  39:41-39:43

  We can't escape the consequences.

  39:46-39:49

  You can choose the decisions you make, but you can't choose the consequences.

  39:52-39:54

  And you can't escape the Lord's discipline either.

  39:55-39:57

  They're like, "Well, hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.

  39:57-40:05

  Remember that thing you said about when Jesus went on the cross, he bore the judgment?" Yeah, if you're a child of God, you will never face the judgment of God.

  40:06-40:07

  But I got some other news for you.

  40:07-40:16

  If you're a child of God, you absolutely will face his discipline because he disciplines as children in a way that He will not discipline those who are not His children.

  40:19-40:26

  And if you're a child of God, and you're barking up this tree, you better believe He's going to discipline you.

  40:27-40:37

  He knows, and He loves you too much to let you go down this path unscathed.

  40:40-40:41

  So God knows what you've done.

  40:44-40:45

  So how did this all start again?

  40:46-40:55

  Oh yeah, wrong place, lustful desire, no self-control.

  40:57-41:03

  And it led to adultery, it led to murder, and it led to deception.

  41:05-41:10

  I'd like our worship team to come up, and as they're coming up, I'd like the rest of of us to bow our heads.

  41:12-41:13

  I want you to bow your heads.

  41:15-41:16

  Please, close your eyes.

  41:16-41:22

  I just want you to turn your hearts to God while looking inwardly at yourself.

  41:23-41:32

  Because someone right now, either watching this or sitting here, someone right now is on this path.

  41:34-41:40

  And I imagine there's quite a few people here right now that are on the beginning stages of the path.

  41:41-41:43

  You're entertaining lustful thoughts.

  41:45-41:51

  You're having inappropriate dialogue with someone who is not your spouse.

  41:54-41:56

  And you have convinced yourself it's innocent.

  42:00-42:11

  It kind of makes you a little giddy deep down when there's this flirty back and forth banter And you've got to turn it around today.

  42:15-42:17

  You don't have to take it as far as David did.

  42:21-42:41

  But when you choose to not confess your sin and get real with the Lord about it, and do what He's commanded you to do, to flee and to exercise the self-control it gives you, your story is going to be not much different than David's.

  42:41-42:52

  Oh, you might not be a king and in charge of the military and all of that, but you're going to cause a lot of permanent damage.

  42:55-42:57

  Keep your heads bowed, keep your eyes closed, I'm going to pray in a second.

  42:59-43:19

  And I want to say this, if you're on this path right now, and by God's grace His Spirit is enlightening you to that, and showing you, I am begging you to contact me, so that I can help you.

  43:23-43:24

  Because it's not too late.

  43:27-43:32

  You can see all the places in David's story where he should have hit the ejector seat and got out of there.

  43:33-43:34

  And he didn't.

  43:34-43:38

  But it's not too late for you to contact me privately.

  43:38-43:38

  Call me.

  43:39-43:40

  Email me.

  43:41-43:46

  And if you're a lady that's struggling in this area, I will connect you with a woman who can help you.

  43:49-43:50

  Let's pray together, church.

  43:52-43:56

  Father in heaven, We know there's nothing new under the sun.

  43:58-44:00

  We know that we are self-deceived by nature.

  44:03-44:08

  We know that making excuses for our own sin is something that each one of us specialize in.

  44:11-44:54

  I pray, Father, for Your Spirit to shine the light in any area in our lives where we are committing sins of the body, whether it's images that we shouldn't be seeing or relationships that we shouldn't be in, even if we're just at the beginning stages of nurturing them or if we've gone all the way to making it a physical thing. Father, please, for the glory of your name, for the representation of who you are among your people, I pray, Father, that today would be the day that you would bring about confession and repentance and restoration.

  44:54-45:06

  That Father, we as a church can rally together to restore someone who hasn't been using the self-control that Your Spirit provides.

  45:08-45:15

  Father, we thank You for Your forgiveness, and at the same time, we thank You for the discipline that You give us as children of God.

  45:17-45:27

  I pray, Father, if there's anyone here struggling in this area, that you would not give them a minute's rest until they seek to do the right thing.

  45:29-45:31

  We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read 2 Samuel 11

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. What kinds of different opportunities do we have in our day to look at pornography or be involved in sexual immorality? In other words, in what ways can we “make provision for the flesh” (See Romans 13:13-14)?
   

3. Explain what Jesus meant when He taught us to pray “lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13).
   

4. NO NAMES – but do you know someone who made a mess of their life (and others) by giving into temptation? What happened?

Breakout
Are there any areas in your life where you can recognize temptation has a “foot in the door”? What do you need to do about it today? Pray for one another.

David: Worship.

Introduction / Review:

Are You a True Worshipper?

John 4:23

Am I a True Worshipper?

1. Am I all-in with all my Emotions ? (2 Sam 6:12-15)
2. Does my worship go Vertical and Horizontal? (2 Sam 6:16-19)

   Hebrews 13:15-6

3. Am I focused Solely on God? (2 Sam 6:20-23)

What to Say When You Are Accused of Worshipping Too Hard.

1. It was for the Lord, not you. (2 Sam 6:21)
2. I have Personal reasons to worship so hard (2 Sam 6:21)
3. It is Impossible to worship too hard. (2 Sam 6:22)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:23-00:24

  Open up your Bibles with me, please.

  00:24-00:34

  2 Samuel 6 When we were kids, we went to this little Methodist church in our town of Shekorah.

  00:35-00:40

  And when it came to the singing time, I'm trying to think of a nice way to say this.

  00:41-00:44

  We weren't exactly the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.

  00:46-01:04

  Well, one particular Sunday - and my brother knows exactly what I'm going to say, because he remembers this well - we were singing, and I use that term loosely, but it just sort of sounded like this, if you'll indulge me for the sake of the story.

  01:04-01:06

  It sort of sounded like this.

  01:08-01:19

  I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow.

  01:20-01:32

  If ever I loved Thee, Lord Jesus, 'tis now.

  01:34-01:35

  It really wasn't that good.

  01:36-01:57

  But right in the middle of the hymn, the pastor gets up, and he goes, "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop singing!" And he turned the organist, "Stop playing! Stop! Just stop!" You heard the needle scratch across the record, you know what I mean?

  01:57-02:04

  He goes, "Stop!" It was deadly quiet when he said, "I'm not going to let you ruin another one.

  02:05-02:07

  Sit down." And we sat down.

  02:08-02:11

  And I don't think anybody remembered another word he said that day.

  02:12-02:14

  Pretty shocking, wasn't it?

  02:15-02:18

  "Oh, you should have been there." And you know, I get it now.

  02:19-02:24

  Oh, then? I didn't get it then, but I'll be honest with you, I get it now.

  02:25-02:31

  He was saying, "Can we be content to offer this to God and call it praise?

  02:31-02:43

  Can we call this worship?" And Harvest, I'm saying to you today, can we be content to play church without encountering God in true worship?

  02:43-02:46

  Question today is are you a worshipper?

  02:47-02:48

  Are you a worshipper?

  02:49-03:10

  And somebody right now is like, you know, you know, that's that's not really my thing, you know worship. That's not really my thing Well, i'm here to tell you today. That's a problem That's a big problem because you were created to worship The biggest book in god's word the biggest book. You know, the biggest book is in god's word Psalms, do you know what psalms is?

  03:11-03:19

  the song book about worship Eternal heaven is described as a place of eternal worship.

  03:20-03:26

  And God is actually seeking, according to Jesus, He is seeking worshipers.

  03:27-03:29

  He's seeking worshipers. Look at John 4.23.

  03:30-03:41

  Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, He tells her, "But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

  03:42-03:49

  For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him." God is seeking such people.

  03:50-03:52

  What are such people?

  03:53-03:54

  Not Bible readers.

  03:55-03:59

  "Hey, I'm all for Bible reading." But Jesus didn't say that's what God's looking for.

  03:59-04:01

  He didn't say preachers.

  04:01-04:03

  I think preachers are fantastic.

  04:04-04:08

  But Jesus didn't say that God was seeking true preachers.

  04:09-04:13

  He said the Father is seeking, what? True worshipers!

  04:14-04:15

  He's looking for worshipers.

  04:15-04:35

  So the question that you have to ask yourself today as we continue our series on Bible Basics, the question you have to ask yourself, not just, "Am I a worshiper?" but, "Am I what God's looking for, a true worshiper?" "Am I a true worshiper?" So jot these things down if you have an outline.

  04:36-04:39

  Number one, are you a true worshiper?

  04:39-04:40

  The first question you have to ask yourself.

  04:41-04:45

  You're not answering this for your spouse, or your kids, or your neighbor, whoever's sitting beside you.

  04:45-04:47

  You're not evaluating them right now.

  04:47-04:49

  You're evaluating yourself, okay?

  04:49-05:01

  So the first question is, "Am I all in with my emotions?" "Am I all in with my emotions?" Let's look at verses 12-15 here.

  05:02-05:10

  Before we look there, just to give you a bit of an on-ramp, last week we talked about Saul, the first king, And David replaced him.

  05:11-05:13

  That's a very long story, very short.

  05:13-05:19

  And David just took Jerusalem, called the city of David, 2 Samuel 5, 7.

  05:19-05:30

  David defeated the Philistines, and David wanted to bring the ark of God from the household of a man named Obed-Edom, which is really fun to say.

  05:30-05:38

  It was stored there for three months because the first attempt to bring the ark wasn't successful and you can read that sometime.

  05:39-05:45

  But David really wanted to bring the ark into Jerusalem and that's what brings us to verse 12.

  05:45-06:06

  It says, "It was told King David, "the Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom "and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God." So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David, that's Jerusalem, with rejoicing.

  06:07-06:13

  You have to get this scene, they're bringing the ark, that's like a worship service parade happening.

  06:14-06:15

  Look at this, verse 13.

  06:15-06:25

  "And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal.

  06:26-06:30

  And David danced before the Lord with all his might.

  06:30-06:33

  and David was wearing a linen ephod.

  06:34-06:44

  So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord was shouting and with the sound of the horn." Stop there.

  06:45-06:52

  Verse 14 says, "David danced before the Lord with all his might." What do you think that looked like?

  06:52-06:55

  With all his might.

  06:56-07:00

  You know, I did a lot of studying this week, specifically in this phrase.

  07:00-07:03

  What does this mean, "He danced with all his might"?

  07:03-07:07

  Because I have this picture in my head of what I think that looked like.

  07:08-07:11

  But were there any clues in the text?

  07:12-07:15

  You know, one scholar defined it as a, I kind of laughed at this.

  07:16-07:20

  He says that this literally means a violent effort of leaping.

  07:22-07:27

  That was the name of David's dance, a violent effort of leaping.

  07:27-07:28

  Like he was like,

  07:29-07:29

  (grunts)

  07:30-07:32

  And I don't think it looked like that.

  07:33-07:48

  Actually, somebody else I read this week said that this was actually a very technical and specific thing, that this dance was, quote, "Springing round in half circles to music." Springing round in half circles to music.

  07:49-07:50

  Who would like to see me demonstrate that?

  07:51-07:52

  That is not gonna happen.

  07:53-07:58

  I'm not sure exactly what it looked like, Here's what I do know for sure.

  07:58-08:09

  Whether it looked more like the Macarena or the Sprinkler or whatever, this dance that David performed, the Bible says, was with all his might.

  08:09-08:11

  This was raw emotion.

  08:12-08:15

  Raw emotion just coming out of him.

  08:15-08:19

  And church, have you ever been so overjoyed about something?

  08:20-08:23

  Have you ever been so overjoyed that you can't help but dance?

  08:24-08:25

  Has that ever happened to you?

  08:25-08:26

  Yes, it has!

  08:27-08:29

  Don't you dare sit there and lie to me.

  08:29-08:31

  No, I've never done that.

  08:31-08:32

  Yes, you have.

  08:33-08:47

  In school, when you took that test and you thought you were going to get a horrible grade and you got it back and it was much better than you thought, and it just involuntarily comes out of you like, "Yes, yes!" What is it that makes you do that?

  08:49-08:51

  It's raw emotion coming out physically.

  08:52-08:54

  Or you get that new job.

  08:54-08:56

  You applied for this job.

  08:56-08:57

  Oh, there's no way I'm gonna get this job.

  08:57-08:58

  I'm not gonna get this job.

  08:59-09:00

  There's no way I'm gonna get this job.

  09:00-09:05

  And then you get a phone call and they're like, we're gonna give you the job and we're gonna pay you more than you originally offered.

  09:06-09:07

  What do you do, right?

  09:08-09:10

  Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

  09:10-09:11

  You can't help it.

  09:11-09:13

  It just comes out, right?

  09:14-09:16

  You know what I'm talking about, right?

  09:16-09:18

  Otherwise this is very awkward.

  09:19-09:28

  Or like the penguins, the penguins, remember not last year, because we're not gonna count last year, But the previous two years, who was dancing when they won the Stanley Cup?

  09:29-09:30

  Not us!

  09:30-09:39

  We were dancing at every goal along the way, every time they scored, "Yeah!" Yeah, it just comes out.

  09:40-09:45

  Or when you take your kid to his first soccer game, remember?

  09:45-09:47

  And he scores his first goal.

  09:48-09:49

  What do you do, parents?

  09:50-09:51

  I'm pleased with his performance.

  09:52-09:54

  No, you don't do that!

  09:54-09:58

  "That was my kid! That was my kid!" You cheat on your high-fiving strangers!

  10:00-10:10

  But my point is this, when you are so overjoyed, you're so overjoyed, it just comes from your heart, from your gut, and you can't control yourself.

  10:10-10:14

  It's almost involuntary, and it's so uninhibited.

  10:15-10:19

  You don't rehearse it, and you can't contain it.

  10:20-10:32

  Right now somebody's sitting here going, "Oh, this sounds like this is getting a little too charismatic for my tastes." I'd like to remind you of something Jesus said.

  10:32-10:38

  Jesus said true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

  10:40-10:44

  Yes, worship must be done according to the truth.

  10:44-10:52

  Yes, I'm not saying that anything goes when it comes to worship.

  10:52-10:53

  I am not saying that.

  10:55-11:00

  But Jesus said we worship in spirit and truth.

  11:02-11:08

  And in our culture, in this church, I think we're pretty secure on the truth part.

  11:08-11:13

  I don't have to stand up here and give this church a sales pitch on the truth part.

  11:14-11:18

  We need the spirit part. Church, we need the spirit part.

  11:20-11:25

  The first concert I ever went to, I was just a kid, a teenage kid.

  11:26-11:29

  The first concert I ever went to was Van Halen.

  11:31-11:36

  The Sammy Hagar years. Van Halen fans, Eddie Van Halen, man, just...

  11:37-11:37

  (mimics Eddie Van Halen)

  11:38-11:41

  Oh man, I love me some Eddie Van Halen.

  11:42-11:50

  It was my first concert, and if you've never been to a concert, or if you can think to the first one you've gone to, for me, it was just taking all this in.

  11:50-11:57

  There's all these people, and they were just rocking it on stage, and I'm like, taking all of this in.

  11:57-12:03

  And I just remember standing there, we were on the lawn, so they were all like this big, and I was just like, "This is...

  12:03-12:16

  wow! Wow! Wow!" And I'm just like standing there, taking it in, when suddenly this drunk man behind me reaches over and he grabs the sleeve of my shirt.

  12:17-12:24

  He leans over and grabs my shirt and he goes, "You better start dancing!" Like I said, I'm just a kid, I have no idea what's going on.

  12:24-12:24

  So I'm like...

  12:25-12:29

  And I keep looking over my shoulder at this guy, because he's watching me.

  12:30-12:33

  I'm not sure how to dance to "Eruption".

  12:33-12:40

  But my point of sharing that story is, My dance was just going through the motions.

  12:40-12:42

  I was just doing the job.

  12:42-12:46

  I was just doing enough that it looked like I was doing it.

  12:47-12:48

  But it certainly wasn't from the heart.

  12:49-12:54

  And I think, church, we can acknowledge that making worship all about emotions is a problem.

  12:56-13:09

  But can we acknowledge this morning that it is an equal danger, And I would suggest to you that one that we are far more guilty of is being emotionally detached in worship.

  13:09-13:10

  True or false?

  13:11-13:22

  There should be times when we are singing that you think of God's love for you and your heart just is like exploding in your chest with joy.

  13:22-13:23

  That should be happening.

  13:25-13:42

  There should be times when we are singing that you think of Jesus Christ's death for you, and your eyes fill with tears, and you almost are choking some of the words up because you think of this awesome love that He demonstrated by dying for you, and you just start weeping.

  13:44-13:45

  That should be happening.

  13:45-13:58

  There should be times that we're worshiping that your mind tries to wrap itself around the awesomeness of God, and your head just bows down in reverence.

  14:00-14:12

  There should be times in worship that you just dance because it is in you, and you can't stop it from getting out any more than you could when your kid scored that goal.

  14:12-14:30

  For that to happen, you have to be just as serious about allowing your heart to be all into worship as you are about making sure that the words we sing are biblical, and by heart I mean all in." So am I a true worshiper?

  14:30-14:31

  Am I all in with my emotions?

  14:32-14:37

  Secondly, does my worship go vertical and horizontal?

  14:38-14:42

  Does my worship go vertical and horizontal?

  14:43-14:45

  Look at verses 16-19 with me.

  14:46-14:59

  It says, "As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David" - still Jerusalem - daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord.

  15:00-15:05

  And she despised him in her heart." We're gonna talk about her in a couple minutes here, all right?

  15:05-15:17

  "And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it." The tabernacle, it was in another city at this point.

  15:17-15:19

  So David had just a tent set up for the ark.

  15:20-15:26

  It says, "And David," look at this, And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

  15:27-15:28

  Now watch this.

  15:28-15:56

  "And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings," that's vertical, "he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts," that's horizontal, "and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, yummy, a portion of meat, yummy, and a cake of raisins.

  15:57-15:59

  Who doesn't enjoy a good raisin cake?

  15:59-16:06

  "To each one, then all the people departed, each to his house." Stop there.

  16:06-16:13

  I want you to see in this passage that David worshipped the Lord, and then blessed and gave to the people.

  16:14-16:16

  He worshipped the Lord first, then blessed and gave to the people.

  16:16-16:18

  And here's what I want you to see about this church.

  16:19-16:23

  Those were not really considered two separate things.

  16:24-16:28

  Both of those went into the same bucket, and that bucket is called worship.

  16:29-16:32

  You see this symbol here, we get asked a lot about this.

  16:33-16:33

  What's this symbol mean?

  16:33-16:37

  And this symbol actually means a lot of different things.

  16:38-16:41

  But the main thing that that symbol is, is an arrow.

  16:43-16:44

  That's the main thing.

  16:44-16:49

  It's an arrow, and it's an arrow pointing in a vertical direction.

  16:51-16:58

  And that arrow is to remind us that we are here to direct our affections and our attention in a vertical direction.

  16:59-17:02

  That's primary, that's priority, that's number one.

  17:02-17:04

  That's what vertical church is all about.

  17:05-17:13

  But even a vertical as the priority worship always spills over to the horizontal.

  17:15-17:18

  I'm going to have a verse put up here in a second.

  17:19-17:23

  This isn't just anecdotal, this is New Testament, very clear teaching.

  17:23-17:26

  But look at Hebrews 13, vertical and horizontal.

  17:28-17:40

  Look at this, "Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name." So that's vertical worship, right?

  17:41-17:43

  Are you with me on that? That's vertical worship.

  17:43-17:44

  Now I want you to look at this next line.

  17:45-17:54

  "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have." That's this way, right? That's horizontal.

  17:55-17:56

  You're not sharing with God, right?

  17:56-18:02

  So he's obviously talking about horizontal serving people.

  18:03-18:05

  Look at how this verse ends.

  18:06-18:19

  "For such sacrifices are pleasing to God." You see how worship goes from vertical to horizontal, but it's all worship.

  18:20-18:24

  So we talk about worship, understand, yes, we worship in music.

  18:26-18:29

  But some people want to restrict worship to just that.

  18:30-18:31

  And that's not true.

  18:32-18:34

  You see, the reason we worship in music...

  18:34-18:35

  Do you know why we worship in music?

  18:36-18:39

  Because music is an emotional thing.

  18:41-18:42

  Right?

  18:43-18:44

  Music stirs our emotions.

  18:45-18:49

  And if we are to love God with our emotions, how do we do that?

  18:50-18:53

  We do it with music. God designed that.

  18:54-18:56

  We can love Him with our emotions through singing.

  18:56-18:58

  But worship isn't just limited to singing.

  18:58-19:02

  Worship carries over to serving and loving people.

  19:03-19:08

  Because I love God, I love people.

  19:09-19:23

  And when that is true for you, church, when you can honestly and sincerely say that from the heart, "Because I love God, I love people. Because I love God, I love people." When that is true, that means serving people is an act of worship.

  19:24-19:27

  Let me give you an earthly example to sort of illustrate this.

  19:29-19:35

  Okay, so this guy meets this girl, and this girl is just perfect in every way.

  19:36-19:44

  This girl is everything he's been looking for, and he says, "I can see that girl becoming my wife." She's just perfect in every way.

  19:45-19:50

  Everything that he would imagine the perfect woman to be, she has it, she's got it.

  19:50-19:55

  She's just wonderful in every single way.

  19:55-19:59

  He scores her top marks in every single category.

  20:00-20:02

  But she has a cat.

  20:02-20:04

  Mr. Mittens is the cat's name.

  20:04-20:09

  And this guy knows that marrying her is going to include this cat.

  20:09-20:15

  She's had this cat ever since it was a kitten, and this cat has just been part of her life for years.

  20:16-20:19

  He knows marrying her includes the cat.

  20:21-20:23

  And honestly, he doesn't really like the cat.

  20:23-20:24

  Don't get me wrong, he doesn't hate the cat.

  20:24-20:26

  He doesn't wish harm upon the cat.

  20:27-20:32

  But he's got no reason to have any kind of affinity for this cat.

  20:32-20:34

  But what does the guy do?

  20:35-20:36

  I'll tell you exactly what the guy does.

  20:36-21:19

  you know what the guy does. This guy, he buys cat toys and brings them over when he visits this girl. He's playing with Mr. Mittens with the cat toy. He brings over Mr. Mittens' favorite brand of Meow Mix. And he's constantly petting him when he's over visiting. He's petting Mr. Mittens and he's talking to him oh so tenderly. You know, he's even helped her at times take the cat to the vet. Why in the world, if he doesn't have any affinity for the cat, why is he showing the cat so much attention? Because he loves the girl, right? So do you see how the acts of love for the cat would be motivated really by his love for her?

  21:19-22:00

  And of course over time, as he gets to know the cat, he does develop a relationship with the cat, and then he actually starts to like the cat, but it didn't start there it started with I give the cat attention because I love her now church in the same way our love for people is really and primarily motivated by our love for Jesus Christ and that is how worship goes from vertical to horizontal this certainly changes the perspective of loving people doesn't it it certainly changes the motivation of loving people.

  22:00-22:03

  Like you can say, why would I get involved in small group outreach?

  22:04-22:09

  You know, our small group, we go to the Mars Home for Youth like about every month.

  22:09-22:11

  And what would motivate me to do that?

  22:11-22:12

  I don't know those kids.

  22:13-22:14

  Their problems aren't my problems.

  22:14-22:15

  I got enough of my own problem.

  22:15-22:18

  What would motivate me to do that?

  22:18-22:21

  How about you should feel bad for them?

  22:21-22:22

  And you know what I do?

  22:23-22:26

  That's not motivation to go there because feelings change.

  22:27-22:31

  I could feel bad for them, and I meet a kid and hear his story, and it might change my attitude.

  22:31-22:33

  I don't feel bad for him anymore, it's his own fault.

  22:34-22:36

  That's not right motivation.

  22:36-22:41

  Nor is it a right motivation to go to the Mars Home, because one of the elders of the church asked you to go.

  22:42-22:48

  You know, Jay Nauer, one of our elders, he says, "You really should go to the Mars Home." "Oh, okay, I guess I'll go." That's not motivation to go either.

  22:49-22:55

  The motivation to go to the Mars Home for youth and love on those kids is because I love Jesus Christ.

  22:56-22:59

  That has to be your motivation for good works.

  22:59-23:06

  See, just like the cat story, over time, yeah, we developed a relationship with the kids, and we like the kids, don't we, Ross?

  23:06-23:07

  We have fun with the kids.

  23:07-23:10

  We have a blast with them, and we know their names, and little bits of their stories, and we pray with them.

  23:11-23:12

  We have a great time with them.

  23:12-23:17

  But I'm just saying, we didn't get in the door there out of affection or affinity for the kids.

  23:17-23:26

  What got us in the door there is because we love Jesus Christ, and God receives such good works as acts of worship.

  23:26-23:29

  Hebrews says He considers them sacrifices.

  23:30-23:31

  Understanding there's no sacrifice for sin.

  23:31-23:36

  Jesus Christ, when He died on the cross, He laid down a once and for all sacrifice for sin.

  23:36-23:38

  But in the Old Testament, there were other types of sacrifices.

  23:39-23:47

  There were sacrifices, free will offerings of thanksgiving, just to say, "God, I love You and I appreciate everything You do." And that's what the Hebrew writer is talking about.

  23:48-23:50

  We can still offer sacrifices to God.

  23:51-23:57

  And we do that when we serve people in the name of Jesus Christ, He's motivated by a love for Jesus Christ.

  23:58-24:00

  And finally, am I a true worshiper?

  24:00-24:02

  Am I a true worshiper?

  24:02-24:04

  Am I all in with my emotions?

  24:05-24:07

  Does my worship go vertical and horizontal?

  24:08-24:09

  Here's the third question.

  24:09-24:11

  Am I focused solely on God?

  24:11-24:13

  Am I focused solely on God?

  24:14-24:15

  Look at verse 20.

  24:16-24:24

  It says, "And David returned to bless his household." By the way, ministry not just for the people, but ministry at home, that's a sermon for another time.

  24:25-24:30

  David returned to bless his household, but Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David.

  24:30-24:33

  I love that there's parts of the Bible I don't have to explain.

  24:33-24:37

  Like husbands, you get home, and your wife comes out to meet you.

  24:37-24:39

  You know something's up, right?

  24:39-24:41

  Like, I did something wrong.

  24:41-24:46

  Something that ain't going to get a living room scolding, it's going to get a driveway scolding.

  24:47-25:06

  She came out to meet him and said, "How the King of Israel honored himself today uncovering himself today before the eyes of his female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself." Obviously she was being sarcastic.

  25:06-25:11

  She's like, "Well, hey, you put on quite a show today, Your Highness.

  25:12-25:13

  Yeah, I saw what you did out there.

  25:14-25:15

  What's the matter with you?

  25:15-25:17

  You know, acting like that?

  25:18-25:20

  Yeah, that's okay for other people.

  25:20-25:23

  That's okay for the common people.

  25:24-25:26

  You're the king of Israel?

  25:26-25:28

  That's how the king of Israel acts? Really?

  25:29-25:31

  Really? David, you're above that, man.

  25:32-25:33

  You're above that.

  25:34-25:37

  By the way, he didn't do anything immodest.

  25:37-25:43

  The Bible makes it crystal clear in verse 14 that he was wearing a linen ephod.

  25:43-25:48

  What that means is he was dressed like all of the priests.

  25:48-25:53

  In other words, David was dressed down like a priest, he wasn't dressed up like a king.

  25:53-25:56

  So he didn't do anything immodest, he didn't do anything sinful.

  25:57-26:00

  Jesus thought his behavior wasn't really dignified.

  26:00-26:15

  Look at verse 21, "And David said to Michal, 'It was before the Lord who chose me above your father and above all his house to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord, Ouch.

  26:16-26:18

  "And I will make Mary before the Lord.

  26:20-26:26

  I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes.

  26:27-26:30

  But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.

  26:31-26:38

  And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death." See, David says, "Hey, you know the kind of leader I am?

  26:38-26:41

  I'm not a leader who is a tyrant.

  26:41-26:53

  I'm not a leader who is a dignitary the Queen of England with my kingly wave?" He says, "I'm not a leader that's a celebrity." He was a leader who was a worshiper.

  26:54-27:01

  And you're like, "Well, whatever happened to Mikkel, whatever happened to his wife, we know she didn't have any kids, what happened to her?" I'll tell you exactly what happened to her.

  27:02-27:03

  She still goes to church.

  27:04-27:05

  Like, "Oh really, where?" Everywhere.

  27:06-27:07

  She goes to church here.

  27:07-27:09

  She goes to church at Northway across the street.

  27:09-27:11

  She goes to church anywhere.

  27:11-27:19

  In the name of Jesus Christ as passionately being worshipped, you might be Macau.

  27:20-27:21

  What do you mean by that?

  27:22-27:31

  While worship is happening, while the worship team is up here leading worship, are you a spectator?

  27:32-27:33

  Or are you a participant?

  27:34-27:36

  See, that's Macau's story. She was a spectator.

  27:36-27:41

  She's watching the worship from the window, shaking her head, disgusted.

  27:41-27:44

  The Bible says literally she despised her husband in her heart.

  27:44-27:45

  Those are pretty strong words.

  27:46-27:48

  "I can't stand him. Look at him.

  27:48-27:49

  Look at him!

  27:50-27:54

  I can't stand him!" Looking down on people who are passionately worshipping.

  27:55-27:57

  Have you ever done that? You don't have to raise your hands.

  27:57-27:58

  Have you ever done that?

  27:58-28:05

  You come to church and you see people who are passionately worshipping, instead of you engaging with the Lord, you're looking around.

  28:05-28:08

  You're looking around, look at him over there raising his hands.

  28:09-28:10

  Who does he think he is?

  28:10-28:18

  Look at him, "Oh, I'm gonna raise my hands." You're like making fun of him and, "What's...?" Look at him, you're Macau.

  28:19-28:22

  You look over and you see a woman, while she's worshipping, she's weeping.

  28:24-28:32

  And you're looking over at her like, "Oh, boo-hoo." Oh, look at her, "Oh, boo-hoo." Oh, drama queens crying during worship, "Oh, boo-hoo." Figures.

  28:33-28:36

  You know what? When you do that, you know who you are?

  28:36-28:37

  You're Macau!

  28:38-28:43

  But what about when you're worshiping real hard, and people are getting on your case about it?

  28:43-28:46

  Well, as we close here today, I'd like the worship team to come up.

  28:47-28:49

  Please. Three more things I want to share with you.

  28:49-28:53

  This is what to say when you're accused of worshiping too hard.

  28:54-28:56

  I want you to write this down.

  28:56-28:58

  This is what to say when you're accused of worshiping too hard.

  28:59-29:00

  David shows us.

  29:01-29:03

  We're not going to read it again, I'm going to reference the verses though.

  29:04-29:20

  If you feel like eyes are on you, if you feel like criticism is coming towards you, if you feel like people are shaking their heads or rolling their eyes because you are passionately worshipping, if you've ever felt that, like, "Oh, I want to raise my hands, but what are people going to think?" There's three responses for you.

  29:21-29:26

  Right from the Word of God, letter A, what David said to Michal, he said, "It was for the Lord, not you. It was for the Lord, not you.

  29:27-29:33

  I didn't show up here this morning to put a show on for you." And David is saying to Michal, "That dancing, that wasn't for the people.

  29:33-29:48

  That was for the Lord. And you know what? I care way more about what He thinks than what you think." Look, I love you guys. I do. But here's the reality. When it comes to weighing whose opinion I care about more, people come and go into your life. The Lord is with you for eternity.

  29:49-29:54

  Jesus Christ died for me. He protects me and provides for me. I care way more about what what he thinks and what you think.

  29:55-30:02

  I love you, but understand, I have reason that your opinion isn't even in the same category as the Lord's opinion.

  30:03-30:06

  So David says, "That was for the Lord, not you." That takes us to the second thing David said.

  30:07-30:12

  He said, "I have personal reasons to worship so hard." I have personal reasons to worship so hard.

  30:12-30:33

  David said, "God promoted me, God appointed me, "God has blessed me, I'm celebrating "what God has done for me." And church, I gotta encourage you, You have got to, if you want to put your emotions into your worship, I mean really put your emotions into your worship, you have got to move from general concepts to personal concepts.

  30:34-30:40

  What I mean is this, you need, instead of saying just Jesus died on the cross, yes, yes, he did, awesome.

  30:41-30:49

  But when you say Jesus died on the cross for me, you can say, oh, the Lord has, the Lord is a God who forgives sins.

  30:50-30:52

  Absolutely true, absolutely praiseworthy.

  30:53-31:00

  But it becomes such an emotional experience when I think while I'm worshiping, he's forgiven my sin.

  31:00-31:02

  We sing, oh, the Lord loves people.

  31:03-31:04

  God so loved the world.

  31:05-31:06

  The Lord loves people.

  31:07-31:10

  We get to turn that to, he loves me.

  31:10-31:12

  God provides, God is a provider.

  31:12-31:17

  He's a refuge, he's a fortress, he's a tower, he's a provider, all true.

  31:17-31:19

  But when I worship, do you know what I'm thinking?

  31:19-31:20

  Provides for me.

  31:20-31:25

  I can think of all the times that He has personally taken care of me.

  31:25-31:28

  So like David, you have personal reasons to worship so hard.

  31:28-31:32

  And then finally, what do you say when you're accused of worshiping too hard?

  31:33-31:34

  It's impossible to worship too hard.

  31:35-31:36

  That really settles it, doesn't it?

  31:36-31:38

  It's impossible to worship too hard.

  31:39-32:10

  How much glory do you have to ascribe to God until He says, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not that great." How much praise do we lift to the heavens until God says, "I didn't really do anything that awesome." For the Almighty who loves you, who died for you, who provides for you, who is preparing a place for you in glory right now and is going to come and take you there, you aren't ever going to be too passionate.

  32:11-32:13

  You aren't ever going to be too thankful.

  32:15-32:17

  if you aren't ever going to be too glorifying.

  32:17-32:18

  I want you to stand with me, please.

  32:19-32:22

  You know, some sermons you apply later.

  32:23-32:30

  Like when you go home this afternoon, or when you get to work tomorrow, or the next time this situation comes up, you're going to be able to apply this sermon.

  32:31-32:34

  But hey, here's a sermon you can apply right now.

  32:34-32:35

  Are you a true worshiper?

  32:36-32:50

  If you're a true worshiper, I say let's worship all in, Vertical, focused solely on God, and who cares what Macau thinks?

  32:50-32:51

  This is for God.

  32:53-32:57

  So shout to the heavens and let God know how you feel about Him.

Small Group Discussion

WHOLE GROUP
Read 2 Samuel 6:12-23

1. We are to worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23). Where do you think HBC leans - more on the spirit side or the truth side? Where do you lean personally? How can you/HBC move towards being more balanced in spirit and truth?

2. Why, do you think, we tend to restrain ourselves emotionally in worship? How can you be “all-in” with your emotions (2 Sam 6:14)?

3. How does God regard our good works (see Hebrews 13:15-16)? How does that motivate you to serve people?

4. How can you eliminate distractions and focus solely on God in worship (2 Sam 6:21)?

BREAKOUT

What personal reasons do YOU have to worship the Lord right now! Share - then pray prayers of thanksgiving.