Whatever else we lose, we are rich if we have God. Whatever else we have, we are poor if we do not have the Lord.
Sermon Title: FROM SETBACK TO COMEBACK
Sermon Text: 1 SAMUEL 30 (NIV)
Sermon Series: FLIP SIDE: STUDY OF THE LIFE OF DAVID
By: PTR NESTOR SY
Sermon Notes:
1 SAMUEL 30:1-10 NIV
1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. 3 When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wives had been captured--Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God. 7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, 8 and David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.” 9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Ravine, where some stayed behind, 10 for two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and four hundred men continued the pursuit.
No one is ever too far gone for a comeback, by God’s grace.
Failure is an event, and not a destiny.
Even in compromise, we cannot outrun God’s relentless pursuit.
DAVID LOOKS UP (1 Samuel 30:6b)
Whatever else we lose, we are rich if we have God. Whatever else we have, we are poor if we do not have the Lord.
It is in the moment of pain that the our true source is revealed.
PSALMS 28:7 NIV
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
DAVID SEEKS OUT (1 Samuel 30:7-8)
God always knows the answer.
JAMES 1:5 NIV
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
DAVID ACTS ON (1 Samuel 30:9-19)
1 SAMUEL 30:9-10 NIV
9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Ravine, where some stayed behind, 10 for two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and four hundred men continued the pursuit.
1 SAMUEL 30:17-19 NIV
17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.
What David lost through sin and compromise, God restored through grace. David’s part was simply to respond in obedience to the Lord’s command.
God’s grace is the unbreakable thread that weaves through every part of our lives.
The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not keep you.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace’
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
Comebacks always begin with God.