Keys to Promotion: How to Strengthen Yourself in a Test - Bill Johnson Sermon | Bethel Church

but David had now gone through the trial of a lifetime and he endured it all as a man that would seek the Lord regardless and he strengthened himself he recovered purpose and he led a group of people into Victory the next scene he becomes king I'd like to suggest that learning how to minister to ourself is the key to our next [Music] promotion it's really amazing film I uh I got to watch it uh I was sent a preview and able to talk to the makers of the film and I watched it a couple months

ago it's extraordinary it's a story on H this little town Pome Trot and how one Church actually emptied out the foster care that was over was overwhelmed and they emptied out the foster care system how many of you have are either are doing foster care or who who have done foster care uh in in the past oh wonderful thank you for doing it awesome so yeah Benny and I had five different foster care kids in our in our uh our our time uh how many of you have adopted children before put your hands up bless

you bless you bless you awesome well here's America there's 400,000 children in the foster care system over 100,000 need adoption 70% of the prison population spend time in the Foster system 50% of the homeless population has spent time in the foster care system over 80% of the children who are trafficked spent time in the foster care system 20,000 young people grow out of the foster care system every year makes making them a primary target for trafficking uh homelessness incarceration Etc there are nearly 400,000 churches in America 400,000 churches in America if every Church adopted a

child the fost from the foster care system we' empty the system wow it's it's it's not insurmountable it's actually really really doable and uh so in recent months I've made a number of references and we'll be doing it over and over again because I feel like uh I I know for reading um there are times where there are children that are sleeping in the offices there's no one to care for them and and so uh it's a good good thing to do good thing to do so I I want to encourage you and challenge you

with that um this movie is really really good there is a trailer I could have shown you but it would have been too hard to follow and then teach so it's it's it's it's a good one it's not bad it's just intense and I didn't want that intense look on your face while I had to try to talk to you so I just I I I wanted to give you a chance to get healed and cleansed and all that stuff before I talk to you so actually if you're on our mailing list we sent out

a a a link thank you link was the missing word a link to watch the trailer so anyway it's uh it's going to be in our theater locally on Wednesday and then be released Nationwide on the 4th so all right Paul maning sent me a text today telling me that this is a perfect joke for today cuz it's Father's Day CU this is about a father and a son and it's one of the oldest ones that I have so you've heard it before but I'm going to read it for me and Paul Paul and me

an old Italian gentleman lived alone in New Jersey he wanted to plant his annual tomato garden but it was very difficult work as the ground was hard his only son Vincent who used to help him was in prison the old man wrote a letter to his son described his predicament dear Vincent I'm feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot I know if you were here my troubles would be over I know you'd be

happy to dig the plot for me like in the old days love Papa a few days later he received a letter from his son dear papa don't dig up that Garden that's where the bodies are buried love Vinnie at 4:00 a.m. the next morning FBI agents local police arrived they dug up the entire area without finding any bodies they apologized to the old man and left that same day the old man received another letter from his son dear papa go ahead and plant the tomatoes now that's the best I could do under the circumstances love

you oh my it helps to have a third grade sense of humor so I take your Bibles open if you would to First Samuel chapter 30 and I'm going to go uh into a story that I've done a number of times um in fact last week I I mentioned again that the two biggest killers in uh in church life in church uh for believers is resentment the areas of un unforgiveness resentment and then the second is is not knowing how to deal with disappointment not being able to navigate loss or disappointment and I uh I

I see those as the two most destructive and damaging parts of things that every one of us face every one of us face situations where it's very easy to become bitter and uh and the the fight into the lifestyle of forgiveness is critical it's essential but then this other one is sneakier because bitterness is to me anyway it's easier to recognize it's easier to war against because I know that's the enemy but sometimes we Face disappointment and we we go into this law that we almost think sometimes is humility when in fact it's actually we're

starting to partner with unbelief and so um it's just critical that we learn how to do this so I'm going to talk to you today uh the story that inspired me 40 some years ago I remember as a as a young Pastor um having to learn learn this lesson on how to minister to myself and the story we're going to look at is where King David actually had to strengthen himself in the Lord there was no one else to do it I'll take you through that story in a moment but I remember as a as

a young Pastor in a sense being forced to learn what I had never learned how to do and that was how to minister to myself and the strange part of this life that we have with the Lord is there are times where he will actually blind the eyes and deafen the ears of your closest friends to your heart's cry to put you in a position to learn how to minister to yourself and when he does it is never punishment it's because you're about to be promoted and you've got to know how to minister to yourself

in that season if you don't you can't be trusted with the measure of responsibility that he would like to release I'm going to talk to fathers today I'm going to Target fathers today and uh We've honored fathers and I bless you but I I also anytime you deal with truth like I'm going to deal with today it applies to fathers but it also applies to mothers but it also applies regardless of your marital status or your age group in fact one of the things I really I really want to celebrate fathers I really want to

celebrate mothers as we do over and over again I also want to celebrate the impact of the life of me of singles in our church without positioning them putting them in a position where they think that they aren't going to be fulfilled in life until they're married and have kids because that's not true it's ABS it's absolutely a deception and we unintentionally sometimes in celebrating moms and dads and the privilege of having kids we sometimes unintentionally take away from the incredible position that God has placed singles in our church and in society important critical places

of influence my goodness Jesus was single he did quite well he he did quite well in influencing people uh Paul some think he was married if he was his wife spent a lot of time alone let's just put it that way because that guy traveled the planet so I some of the most significant people in scripture were not married good point and it's important that in our honor and celebration of the beauty of marriage the privilege of having children children that we also celebrate the fact that the same Grace that would rest upon me as

a dad also can rest on a single person in their place of influence in culture and Society some of the most important people that have ever lived were never married and so we've got to keep that in perspective are we clear there all right let's let's move on into the story I'm I'm going to talk to you about about David and his mighty men in fact it says in um 1st Samuel 22 if you're writing scriptures down verse uh two it says everyone who was in distress everyone who was in debt everyone who was discontented

gathered to David David was anointed to be king he was prophesied over by the prophet Samuel none of his words fell to the ground was the description of his prophetic anointing And yet when David was anoint anointed prophesied over to be the king of Israel he ended up in Saul's house as a great warrior Saul delighted in him because he was so good at what he did he actually saved Israel a lot of embarrassment when David himself killed Goliath but the people began to praise David more than Saul in fact the song that the women

would sing as David Saul has killed his thousands David has killed his 10 thousands and the jealousy that gripped Saul's heart put into him uh a focus a direction of murder and he actually lived to kill and to destroy David he chased him around trying to kill him for goodness I think it was 10 to 13 years something like that where he tried to kill David so David now has to flee from Saul's household so here's what I want you to do is I want you to picture with me this man who was going to

become king that would lead Israel into the beginning of what is referred to historically as the Golden Age of Israel David and Solomon took Israel into the Golden Age so David is in Saul's house and Saul wants to kill him throws a spear at him and chases him David runs and he hides in one of the cities of Israel and he hides among his Brethren now you have to understand he's applauded he's celebrated by everybody everybody loves him but when David asked the Lord God are these guys going to turn me over to Saul because

sometimes people will sell you out if they can benefit Judas and so he said Lord he said well these guys sell me out so they welcome David into the community and yet here's this moment where they hear the story of Saul coming with his army to kill David and God said uh David says to the Lord will they will they sell me out and God says yeah they will so he flees and he goes and he actually moves uh eventually to live among the Philistines which is ironic because he killed Goliath their Champion you know

but the Philistines were so in awe of him that they actually gave him a city the city of ziklag it's one of the cities of the Philistines and David would at night he would go out and he would go to war with the enemies of the Philistines who also happen to be the enemies of Israel and so he'd go out at night as this great Victorious Warrior bring back the spoil and he's got all these men there was 400 initially uh I think there ended up to be 800 I know there was at least 600

at one point so these guys started Gathering to David and these were the rejects of society these are the ones that nobody wanted and this was his church and they started Gathering gathering around him and so here's David he's kicked out of Saul's house he's rejected by Saul he goes to live among his own Brethren he's got my men with him and Israel the people of God reject David so he's been rejected by the King's house he's rejected by his own Brethren he goes and he lives among the Philistines at night he goes out to

war but one time Philistines were going to war with Israel and David was going to go to war with the Philistines against Israel and the Lords of the Philistines says there's no way we're going to let him do that because he's too powerful of a guy at one point he could turn against us and all of Israel would support him and make him King and so there was this thing this fear came on the Philistine leaders so the Philistines rejected David so David is being fashioned for leadership Through The Potter's hands called rejection come on

Sir now listen listen carefully Jesus taught this principle he said a prophet is not without honor accept in his hometown in other words prophets get honor everywhere except at home so why does God have all of us learn Ministry at home so that we don't become addicted to Applause we become we become married to our purpose come on sir and so here David is rejected by Saul he's rejected by Israel and now he's rejected by the Philistines you've had a bad day when the devil rejects you so David and his men unable to fulfill their

purpose going out to war they come back to town and as they're riding up over that Ridge and look down into their city the city of zle they see Flames they see smoke and as they draw near they realize that the amalekites came in and took every possession they had every person every wife every child and the city is empty I want you to read the story with me it's in 1st Samuel chapter 30 it's in we'll start with verse one it says it happened when David and his men came to ziklag on on the

third day that the amalekites had invaded the South and ziklag attacked ziklag and burned it with fire and had taken captive the women and those who were there from small to great they did not kill anyone but they carried them away and went their way so David and his men came to the city and there it was burned with fire their wives their sons or daughters had been taken captive then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to to weep David's two wives

ahinoam the jezus and Abigail the Widow of nabal the Carmelite had been taken captive now David was greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his sons and his daughters but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God verse seven David said to abathar the priest a himik son please bring the ephod here the ephod was a tool used to to determine the will of God it was he was seeking the the direction of

the Lord bring the ephod here so he brought it to David verse eight our last verse David inquired of the Lord saying shall I pursue this troop shall I overtake them and he answered pursue for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all here's the deal David's men these rejects of society let's just say 600 of them joined David in 2 Samuel chapter 23 we have a chapter unlike any other chapter in the Bible that highlights by name the the extraordinary accomplishments of these men one guy goes to war one man versus 800

he kills all 800 there was s this is a supernatural gift I I don't like gory movies but I'd watch that one just because our guy won you know I'm I'm I'm there there's something extraordinary on a a gift of God upon Him Old Testament context of what war looked like what victory looked like there was something upon these Mighty Men and it came down to I think it was 33 key men out of the out of the 600 they they were listed by name for their accomplishments their unusual Supernatural displays of strength and accomplishment

extraordinary so the rejects of society end up becoming the Mighty Men of David and as you read through the story these are the building blocks these men are the building blocks of David's Kingdom these are the people that are entrusted with extraordinary responsibility great assignments they are given for the safety and the well-being of the nation of Israel Israel coming into the Golden Age these mighty men were key to bring them into the place of victory of Triumph and significance but in between their stupidity their failure their inability to succeed in life and their ultimate

assignment to be the building blocks of a kingdom that represented Heaven itself in between was a defining moment and that defining moment is found here in Chapter 30 of 1 Samuel David was rejected by Saul David was rejected by Israel David was rejected by the Philistines and now he's rejected by the guys that owe him their life it's hard to imagine what this King felt like he had been prophesied over he's to be king I don't know what you do but I know what I do I start wondering I hear right if if if if

there's anything that it doesn't look like it does not look like what I heard from the Lord is actually being fulfilled it looks the the case is being built it's getting stronger and stronger and stronger that that word was not right and so here's a guy who's gone through this series of rejections we're talking about not a a bad weekend we're not talking about a challenging season we're looking looking at 13 years of being chased by a crazy man and then the last straw was you've got 400 Guys 600 guys that now are so discouraged

they've been riding your vision for a season they've been with you and it's been benefited them but now they can't remember one good thing that's ever happened and they start talking among themselves let's kill David David finds himself alone and I know this is hard to hard to explain and understand because 90% of our life is we draw strength from one another 90% of our life that's arbitrary number but a large portion of our life we're to learn how to do community how to live as a body dependent on one another seeking counsel getting prayer

Pro prophesying over each other receiving prophetic words that's our life as we spend this life together but we got this a little sliver time and what I do with that 10% of my life determines what weight of responsibility the Lord can trust me with and it's in that 10% that Jesus himself will blind the eyes and deafen the ears of your closest friends to your heart's cry to put you into a position where you have to learn how to minister to yourself it's not to build an independence everything else that he does for us is

to strengthen you know David wanted to build the temple God wouldn't talk to him it's a bizarre story God would not talk to him except through Nathan and Gad he didn't want him to become independent in his in his uh service to the Lord but to be dependent upon the other gifts that would speak the correct word at the right time into his life and so often times the Lord will withhold things from us until we're with the right people and then there's that touch there's that prayer there's the there's that prophetic word there's that

scripture that shared whatever it might be so a bulk of our life is that but then there's that little sliver that says all right you've been rejected here here here and now the the guys you were able to rely on the most just turned on you what do you do David strengthened himself in the Lord I remember as a young Pastor having to having to learn that I I was encouraged when I finally read the story in scripture and saw what was required of David it doesn't give us an outline I don't think we're supposed

to have a formula but we are to recognize the kinds of things that affirm us that strengthen us we are supposed to be able to look back at my life and say oh man when I face that God you you prophesied you gave this word I was reading scripture and you spoke to me here and we learn the ways of the Lord by reviewing our own histories when we were in lack and when we were in abundance what was it that brought breakthrough and for me I I remembered I noticed that whenever I was in

trouble by in trouble I mean I'm I'm going through stuff I just I don't have an answer for I don't know what to do I don't know what to do I pry pray I cry out to God I fast I do everything I know to do and I'm I'm just not getting I'm not getting an answer I'm not getting a breakthrough and I learned I remember in a specific season this particular concept of strengthening myself in the Lord and what that looked like and what it came down to is there's three things that I found

have been real critical for me that I I turn to uh quickly now as a uh as as my default my default is is is my uh habits without having to think about I don't have to strategize or plan these are automatic things that I that I do number one is I is I pour I go into the word I will go into scripture and I will read and people will say well I read 10 chapters I didn't hear anything well read 10 more I prayed two hours nothing happened great pray two more tomorrow do

whatever you need to do well nothing's happening yes it is that's right you can't immerse yourself in the heart and mind of God and not have if it may not come to you as a sudden you know explosive invasion of God into your life it may be this subtle turning but it's happening because it's impossible to expose yourself to the heart and mind of God and not experience changed I've had it happen where it's the Thundering word I have and I that's my favorite I like the an suddenlies of God much more than the ANS

slowes of God the an slow the ANS slowes I just have to adjust to because that's his Norm for me but every once while I get a end suddenly and I oh thank you thank you I've been waiting a long time for this people say well I don't remember what I read in the Bible I said well it's fine I don't remember what I had for breakfast last Friday but it still nourished me there's still the nourishment that takes place and there's there's this Slow Burn of a transformation of a change when we expose ourselves

so that's what I do and I I I can take you I've been reading in fact I read this this morning just a particular verse that I need for a situation I'm in right now just reminding myself of the mind of the Lord the heart of the Lord strengthening myself strengthening myself the second thing is U is in is found in in worship there's there's uh there's just a freedom a Deliverance a liberty something that takes place in the presence and that that you can't get anywhere you can't get anywhere else um I I used

to in waville I used to we live behind the church and I would go over to the the church uh the facilities there and I'd go over there late at night and I would just cry out to God cry out to God cry cry cry out to God hours and hours and hours it took me a while to learn this but I I uh there were times where I I would pray and pray and pray and pray and could not get out from under that cloud I don't if this makes sense to anybody else but

I I would oh goodness I would fast I would pray I would do everything I knew to do and I just that cloud it went with me into the sanctuary and I was there for hours and I left when I left you know it was just like my friend and there are times where that's exactly what happened and then I discovered something I couldn't pray myself out from under that cloud but I could dance my way out from under that cloud there it is yeah my my dance today is a little different than my dance

40 years ago today I might Lo lose body parts if I do what I used to do so but I could shout my way out in in other words in other words that that dark cloud that seems to just Veil the heart and the thoughts emotions of our life sometimes I couldn't pray it away but if I made this decision for joy and this will sound strange to you but if I made the decision for Cho for joy and chose to express rejoicing regardless of the absence of Joy it would break in no time at

all no time at all it wasn't like an hour of warfare it was like 3 minutes and it was a different it was a different it was a clean slate it was a different game all together and I learned that there's anyone can hang your head and saying Thou Art Worthy it's easy to hang your head to stay in a position of acknowledging God's worth but still feeling horrible about your own life and your own situation but it's hard to rejoice and stay that way it's hard to keep believing a lie when you choose Joy

sometimes that expression of Joy the willful act of joy is the vastest way out of that cloud of Oppression and difficulty because it's choosing joy and what is it to choose Joy I think sometimes it is the greatest expression of faith it is the greatest expression of Faith good the third thing that I do and this almost sounds contradictory in a sense because it's strengthen yourself but there is he healing in community now again 90% of our life you know you got a difficulty you go to a friend you confess you ask for help they

pray for you they prophesy give you a words you have friends call you on the phone sayy I was thinking of you today I've got this scripture for you that's the bulk of our life and I like that and I'm thankful for it and I'm probably alive today because that is a huge part of my life but there's this one part over here so take take this that I'm going to say into in light of everything else I've just said sometimes it's it's important that I don't tell people around me what's wrong because it's easy

if you're anything like me it's easy to become addicted to the attention to a problem and our identification starts becoming the problem that we Face who's blind bardus once he gets healed right there's we we become identified I don't know if it's ever thought through but we we like being encaged we like people thinking of us serving us helping us that's fine all infants grow up that way yes all two-year-olds the entire family serves them just at some point when you're 20 and you're still messing your diapers it's time to grow up I just felt

I just felt inspired that's just so honestly sometimes it's just important by Community I mean the fact that we we we spend time with each other I don't have to make my problem the reason why we're going to have coffee that's right we're going to have coffee because I value you you value me we spend time together does that make sense sometimes it's just in the community sometimes it's it's them not knowing anything and they share a testimony that happens to be the exact story that pulls you out it's not them trying to help you

it's them just being alive in Christ loving you that it provides the very thing that is needed to pull us out of that thing strengthen yourself take responsibility for your own strength what happened next though David inquires of the Lord should we pursue this enemy I think probably I think I've confessed this to you before I think my I think my most frequent failure in my role as a leader and just as a follower as a child of God is is that I I all too often assume I know what God wants me to do

you know let's look at it just biblically David's facing an enemy does God want him to defeat the enemy of course he does the wrong thing to do would be to assume that's his will now and instead David does the smart thing which you see over and over and over again he goes before the Lord with what he could easily assume to be the will of God and he comes before him God should I pursue and if I do will I overtake and the Lord says yes pursue you will overtake and you will recover all

now here's the part you need to catch David is not an insecure leader on if he were okay let's say you're the you're the you're the people that want to Stone me and I'm David all right I'm a little bit ticked at you I just want you to know that no I'm wondering why so David easily could have used his position can I say his success with these guys for all these years he easily could have used those as talking points as to why they owe him their lives there's none of it there's none of

the shame thing there's none of the shame thing to manipulate them into a sense of courage or obligation to help David with his vision there's none of that you've got David strengthening himself in the Lord he says the priest bring the ephod he gets before God God tells him what to do he then just basically comes to the guys who are talking about killing him and he says come on we got wives and kids to get come on and somehow the the beating of that drum of David the guys start putting down all the nonsense

that they've been thinking about and entertaining and they begin to March according to the beat of that drum because they are of that tribe and David's his vision his commitment to truth summoned them out of depression into purpose and this these guys the rejects who became the building blocks of a kingdom had a had our defining moment and the defining moment was are we going to kill David or are we going to follow his his assignment because his assignment is our assignment amen there's something about Divine Purpose we've honored fathers today I fathers and mothers

both I I always want to do that but in honoring fathers today there there are certain things that we are supposed to impart and instill in the life of our households and even if you're single and you have a a bunch of friends there still things you can do to impart this to people and one is Identity the second is purpose the third is Destiny and the fourth is an awareness of unlimited resource we have access to everything God has has uh promised to us to accomplish what he assigned us to accomplish and many people

flounder in depression only because they've not discovered their purpose they don't know what they're supposed to be doing good pursue for you shall overtake take them and without fail recover all I uh I love the story for a pile of reasons but one that is easy to forget about is David is has been called to be king he's going through the most hellish circumstances that you can go through as a leader he ends up rejection re rection rejection he he navigates this last huge disappointment his own men turning on him he navigates that he comes

into this place of recovering all the next scene he becomes king wow the next scene the next scene Saul is killed and he is made King I'd like to suggest that the kind of man God wanted to be leading Israel wasn't going to be governed by the successes or the failures of the people around him Saul the successes of David David he couldn't handle others in leadership in Israel's history the failures of the people around them they couldn't handle but David had now gone through the trial of a lifetime and he endured it all as

a man that would seek the Lord regardless and he strengthened himself he recovered purpose and he led a group of people into Victory the next scene he becomes king I'd like to suggest that learning how to minister to ourself is the key to our next promotion please stand so that's my prayer is that everyone in the room every one of us will learn at even higher levels what it is to minister to ourself there's this um there's this whole selfless there's this whole selfless theme in the church that is actually Antichrist in nature it is

not Christian at all when Paul was bringing a word to the church at Ephesus when he brought a word to Timothy he said watch over yourself and your teaching when he talked to the elders at Ephesus watch yourself and the flock he always put watch yourself first why because like the steward it says in the unlikely event we need oxgen a mask will fall from the ceiling put it on yourself first then on the those around you who need assistance there's something about learning how to minister to ourselves that positions us to bring the best

out of the people around us that's who God's called us to be everybody in this room I don't care if you're 12 years old everybody in this room has been given the privilege assignment to bring strength to other people so father I pray for that Grace to come crashing into our lives in ways that we've never known before and that uh you would help us to remember and highlight the things that are use ful and necessary to building strength in our own life I pray this for the honor of the name Jesus now I want

to ask if everybody would hold your place for just a moment out out of respect for the opportunity for people to come to know Jesus if there's anyone in the room that has never made a commitment to follow Jesus you don't know what it is to ever be to be born again for God to change you from the inside out that's never been your experience but you want to be a disciple of Jesus you want to know what it is to be forgiven of sin if that's you I want you just to put a hand

up right where you are and we're just going to make an agreement with you we've all we've all been we've all done this this is what we do and if there's anyone here that would just say I want to give my life to Jesus put a hand up I I invite the same invitation to our online community s right over here Wonder bless you anyone else our online community I I want to encourage our online community just put it in the chat room and one of our pastors will be right with you to pray with

you and talk with you I want to ask for our ministry team to come forward again if you'd hold your place please Ministry team and this one uh anyone who is wanting to know Jesus come down here we've got a group of friends that we know and trust I want to ask you to come on down bless bless her as she comes down would you and that Ministry team beautiful thank you