de·fine/di fīn’/
What defines us?
Do we have any say in it?
What defines us?
"It's the role I've been cast into…"
"I can't get away from my past"
"I was hurt bad…it was a
defining moment"
nice
funny
"I'm the cool one"
pretty
overweight
Most of us are defined by
other people
And some of us think
we're in charge
What defines us
Quite often limits us
And keeps us from God's best
for us
"I can't be seen with…"
What defines you?
What defines us
Tells others who we are
Gives us a sense of belonging
and value
David:
What they say
What's been done to him
What he's done
David:
What they say
What's been done to him
What he's done
What God says about him
Meet the new boss…
Same as the old boss
Samuel did what the LORD said.
When he arrived at Bethlehem,
the elders of the town trembled
when they met him. They asked,
“Do you come in peace?”
Samuel replied,
“Yes, in peace; I have come
to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate
yourselves and come to the sacrifice
with me.”
Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons
and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and
thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed
stands here before the LORD.”
But the LORD said to Samuel,
“Do not consider his appearance or his
height, for I have rejected him. The LORD
does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance,
but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him
pass in front of Samuel.
But Samuel said,
“The LORD has not chosen
this one either.”
Jesse then had Shammah pass by,
but Samuel said,
“Nor has the LORD chosen this one.”
Jesse had seven of his sons pass before
Samuel, but Samuel said to him,
“The LORD has not chosen these.”
So he asked Jesse,
“Are these all the sons you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse
answered, “but he is tending the sheep.”
He's just a sheep-boy.
We don't include him.
15 years old
Samuel said,
“Send for him; we will not sit down
until he arrives.”
So he sent and had him brought in. He was
ruddy, with a fine appearance and
handsome features.
So he sent and had him brought in. He was
ruddy, with a fine appearance and
handsome features.
Then the LORD said,
“Rise and anoint him; he is the one”
- 1 Samuel 16:4-12
Who would you believe?
Everyone…all your life?
Who would you believe?
Everyone…all your life?
Or a Prophet who anoints you king and
leaves…and you ain't king yet?
Who would you believe?
Everyone…all your life?
Or a Prophet who anoints you king
and leaves…and you ain't king yet?
For 15 years!
What would you believe:
What people say about you?
Or what God says about you?
War, uh, good God y'all…
Now Jesse said to his son David,
"Take this ephah of roasted grain and
these ten loaves of bread
for your brothers and hurry
to their camp"
But…I'm a King!
Take along these ten cheeses to the
commander of their unit.
See how your brothers are
and bring back some assurance
from them. They are with Saul
and all the men of Israel in the Valley of
Elah, fighting against the Philistines”
Early in the morning David left the flock
with a shepherd, loaded up and set out,
as Jesse had directed.
Knowing who God calls him to be
Doesn't produce pride, but humility
He reached the camp as the army was
going out to its battle positions,
shouting the war cry. Israel and the
Philistines were drawing up their lines
facing each other.
We are the Champions, my friends…
David left his things with the keeper of
supplies, ran to the battle lines
and greeted his brothers.
As he was talking with them, Goliath, the
Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out
from his lines and shouted his usual
defiance, and David heard it. When the
Israelites saw the man,
they all ran from him in great fear.
Now the Israelites had been saying,
“Do you see how this man keeps coming
out? He comes out to defy Israel.
The king will give great wealth to the man
who kills him. He will also give him
his daughter in marriage and will exempt
his father’s family
from taxes in Israel.”
David asked the men standing near him,
“What will be done for the man
who kills this Philistine and removes this
disgrace from Israel?
Who is this uncircumcised Philistine
that he should defy
the armies of the living God?”
He's believing God
They repeated to him
what they had been saying and told him,
“This is what will be done
for the man who kills him.”
When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard
him speaking with the men, he burned with
anger at him and asked,
“Why have you come down here?
And with whom did you leave
those few sheep in the desert?
I know how conceited you are and how
wicked your heart is;
you came down
only to watch the battle”
Just because you believe
what God says about you
Don't expect everyone
around you to agree
David has to decide
Who defines him…
“Now what have I done?” said David.
“Can’t I even speak?”
He then turned away to someone else
and brought up the same matter,
and the men answered him as before.
What David said was overheard and
reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him
- 1 Samuel 17:17-31
Goliath gets stoned
And loses his head
When the men were returning home after
David had killed the Philistine,
the women came out from all the towns of
Israel to meet King Saul with singing and
dancing, with joyful songs and with
tambourines and lutes.
As they danced, they sang:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands”
Saul was very angry;
this refrain galled him.
“They have credited David with tens of
thousands,” he thought, “but me with only
thousands. What more can he get but the
kingdom?” And from that time on Saul
kept a jealous eye on David
- 1 Samuel 18:6-8
David is hunted
Over and over again
Is he what God said?
Or is he a victim of injustice?
Is he what God said?
Or is he a victim of injustice?
(It'll show in his actions…)
David:
Refuses to become bitter
Refuses to play the victim
Refuses to take Saul's life
Are these the actions of a victim?
- David mourns Saul's death
- And kills the Amalekite
who struck the final blow
- Brings Mephibosheth, Saul's son,
in to eat at his table
Had he become bitter, unforgiving
- A Victim He'd be defined by
what was done to him
And his actions would be unrighteous
His family said he was just a weak
Pretty boy
God said he was chosen
David believed God
His family said he was just a weak
Pretty boy
God said he was chosen
David believed God
His "if only" was replaced
by an "even now"
Saul said he was dead meat
God said he was chosen
David had to run for his life
He struggled, but he believed God
And it gave him strength to continue
Saul said he was dead meat
God said he was chosen
David had to run for his life
He struggled, but he believed God
And it gave him strength to continue
"If only" was replaced by "even now"
"If onlys" are excuses and rationalizations
"Even nows" are declarations of faith
that what we can't see with our eyes
or understand with our minds
We will believe in our hearts
And act on in our lives
An "even now" killed Goliath
An "even now" kept David strong
An "even now" set the tone for his
Kingdom by mourning
his enemy's death
In the spring, at the time
when kings go off to war,
David sent Joab out with the king’s men
and the whole Israelite army. They
destroyed the Ammonites
and besieged Rabbah.
But David remained in Jerusalem.
The wrong place at the wrong time
never leads to the right thing
One evening David got up from his bed
and walked around on the roof of the
palace. From the roof he saw a woman
bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
and David sent someone
to find out about her. The man said,
“Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of
Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
Hint, Hint!
Then David sent messengers to get her.
She came to him, and he slept with her.
(She had purified herself from her
uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
The woman conceived
and sent word to David, saying,
“I am pregnant”
- 2 Samuel 11:1-5
The litter box
The litter box
David tries to get Uriah drunk
Then he involves his own men
in a plot to have Uriah killed
Litter boxes have to be
emptied sometime
This is what the LORD,
the God of Israel, says:
"I anointed you king over Israel, and I
delivered you from the hand of Saul.
I gave your master’s house to you, and
your master’s wives into your arms.
I gave you the house of Israel and Judah.
And if all this had been too little,
I would have given you even more"
The two lies:
I did this by my own strength
So I deserve…
The two lies:
I did this by my own strength
So I deserve…
God won't give it to me
But I can still get it without consequences
If I can't ask God for it
That's a pretty good indicator
That it's not his will for me
"Why did you despise
the word of the LORD
by doing what is evil in his eyes?
You struck down Uriah the Hittite
with the sword and took his wife
to be your own. You killed him with the
sword of the Ammonites"
"Now, therefore, the sword will never
depart from your house, because you
despised me and took the wife of
Uriah the Hittite to be your own"
- 2 Samuel 12:8-10
All sin is ultimately against God
And God takes it personally
Did David screw up?
Did David screw up?
God forgives
And announces consequences
This is David's moment to
Accept forgiveness
And move on
David lets it define him
Amnon and Tamar- rape
Absolom- murder
When we let our past define us
We lose the ability to deal effectively
with our present
When we let our past define us
We lose the ability to deal effectively
with our present
It's an "if only" without an "even now"
What if…Amber Reynolds 6/5/2002
What if someone hurt you so bad, that all
you can do is cry?
What if you can’t get it out of your head no
matter how hard you try?
What if the world was against you, and
you can’t trust anything that you knew?
What if you were scared to go to sleep at
night knowing that you tried to stop them
with all your might?
What if you needed help, more than
anyone could give?
What if it hurt so bad that you didn't want
to live?
What if…
Amber wrote this after she was raped on
April 22, 2002 at the age of 16.
The Story of David
David is defined by family
He chooses to allow God
to define him
Even though they keep talking…
Who am I allowing to define me?
Why?
What does God say about me?
Will I believe it and let it change me?
Do I need the approval
And affirmation of others?
Why?
David is hunted down
To be killed unjustly
He chooses to let God
be his justice
He's not defined by victimhood
Or by bitterness
What unforgiveness and bitterness
Am I holding onto?
Why?
Do I trust that God
will be my justice?
Will I let him?
David is defined by his sin
And it becomes a snare
And a trap
That ruins his family
And his kingdom
Have I asked forgiveness
For the big thing I did?
Have I repented?
Am I still believing I'm not forgiven?
Why?
Have I dealt with my own sin?
Have I dealt with my own sin?
Rationalizations
Will keep it alive
Have I dealt with my own sin?
Excuses means it's still there
Have I dealt with my own sin?
If I don't own it
I'll never be free from it
When people have hurt me:
Blame and Unforgiveness
Mean you continue to be
The Victim
You have to own it
Before you can move forward
From it
Never put a period
Where God has placed a comma
God wants more for you
Than where you've been
What your past says about you
What people continue to say
God makes all things new
His mercies are new every morning
If anyone is in Christ, they are a new
creation. Old is gone. The new has come.
If onlys place a period
Where God wants to place a comma
with Even now
Do I believe that
what God wants for me
is greater than what I want for me?
Will I let go of the past in order
to embrace the New God wants to do?
Will my "if only" become an "even now"?