MK040 Sermons
On the Run (Audio)
A few months ago, I had a running injury, so healing from that injury and started running again recently. And as I started running again recently, one of the new challenges that I've tackled is trying to learn how to run what's called negative splits. And for those that are not runners, let me explain what negative split is. And negative split is when you run the second half of your run faster than you run the first half. Normally, when you go off or anybody that enjoys running or exercise, a lot of times when we go out, you go out and you're feeling good and so you run really hard, kind of pull yourself into it. And then kind of as you get a little bit further into it, your energy level goes down a little bit and you start to run out of steam and then, so not as fast. And by the end, you're kind of gassed and you're just barely surviving by the time you get to the end. Then what a negative split does, it takes a very different approach. And the approach is that when you're feeling good and you're ready to pull yourself into, you actually run slower that first third of the race. And then as you get to the middle part of your time out running, you actually run faster and by the time you get to the end, you're running the fastest that you have for the whole time that you're out. And the theory behind it is that your muscles have warmed up, your joints have been lubricated, the endorphins are flooding your system, and you actually are much more capable of running faster later if you discipline yourself than you are when you're running slower at the end of a race. And there's nothing more exhilarating than running at the end to finish, like to cross the finish line at the end of the race and just passing all kinds of people who are barely. I guess it's kind of a pride thing, I'll admit it, but you know, who are just gassed at the end and they can, you're just flying by them all, you know, and there's nothing more exhilarating for me than that was a lot of other things. But that's one of the things that's exhilarating for me. And it's because you discipline yourself in your race and gives you the capacity, but nobody wants to just drag themselves across the finish line. I don't think anybody wants to do that, whatever it is you're doing. I think you want to pour yourself in, you want to give everything you can, but you want to come across at least looking like you're, you know, confident and you've done well in the race, even if you don't feel like you have, but no one wants to have that experience. I mean, no one wants their team to go for and on the playoffs and average 40 points a game and then barely be able to score a touchdown once they get to the regular season, right? Nobody wants your team to do that, you know? Nobody wants someone who is the first play rehearsal or the first band rehearsal to play really well or to know all their lines and knock the ball out of the park and then once the curtain comes up for them to freeze and be paralyzed because they haven't put in the work and effort to be able to perform when the lights are on them. Well, this morning we're going to look at the story of an individual whose past victories did not produce successes in the present. Past victories didn't guarantee future successes. And sometimes we think that because we've done something once, because we've accomplished something that is going to guarantee that we will be successful over an extended period of time and that really is often not the case. If you haven't been with us, we've been in a series entitled "Unlikely Hero" and we've been looking at the life of a man by the name of David. Not someone who woke up one morning to decide he was going to be a hero but someone that God chose, that God selected and said it was his time to be a hero. And in his journey, his experience, he went from being a shepherd just taking care of some sheep to actually taking down the giant in the land known as Goliath over nine feet tall, being put in a position of a military leader at a very young age and success after success after success into the point that he was being hailed as a hero by even the people of that day. You would assume that the leaders of that day would be thrilled to have someone who was able to defeat the enemy that no one could defeat this giant, to defeat the Philistines who they could not force out of the land but the king did not view David's success in that way instead the king was threatened by David's success. He was intimidated by David's accomplishment and it spiraled downward from him and we're going to see that this morning. As we look at this story of his protagonist, King Saul, his counterpart in the story, we're going to see the story of someone whose life just spiraled downward, whose life ended up in a place that it's really hard to believe that he ever got there. If you've ever found yourself saying, "I don't think that could ever happen to me," this message is really important for you to hear this morning. If you're a Christ follower this morning, this message is important for you to hear because I'm going to talk about something that's a danger for anyone who claims to follow Jesus. If you're checking out faith, maybe you'll come back to God, someone brought you to church, you decide you should give it a try again, then this message this morning is going to explain some things to you. It's going to explain how someone in your life who may be claimed to have a religious experience and their life was transformed and they did some significant things and you said that's not for me and then you checked in with them a little bit later and that was nowhere on the radar in their lives and you're like, "What happened to them?" I think you're going to see a picture of that this morning and maybe get some clarity on how that happens. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, if you turn to 1 Samuel 10, if you're wireless devices or tablet, just download you version if you don't already have that on your phone or tablet and you can follow along there. 1 Samuel 10, our guys have some Bibles and they're going to pass them out to you and we'll come to the passage that we're going to read this morning a little bit later, but before we do that, I want us to go back in time, to go back in time. These days on TV series, it's not uncommon for there to be a storyline that's taking place and then they will go back in time on the story line to something that happened previous and that's what we want to do. We want to go back in time and we want to go back to 1 Samuel 10 and we want to go all the way back to when King Saul was selected as King and in 1 Samuel 10 verse 1, the verses are going to be up on the screen behind me. It says this, it says, "Saul took a flask of oil, poured it on David's head and kissed him, saying, 'Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance.' Saul was selected to be the king of the people of Israel." And it goes on to describe as he was named King, he was told in verse 5, this is Samuel speaking to him, he said, 'You're going to go to Gibeon, there's a Philistine outpost, as you approach the town, you're going to see a procession of prophets, liars, timbrels, pipes, harps being played with them and they'll be prophesied and then look what he says. He says, 'The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you will prophesy with them and you will be changed into a different person.' It's a pretty incredible promise. And he says, 'Once he signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds, for God is with you, for God is with you.' That's an amazing promise, an amazing promise. So Saul is selected as king, he's identified as being the first king of Israel, he's told that God's Spirit is going to come upon him in a powerful way and that God is going to be with him. And what Saul is told actually takes place in verse 9, he goes down to this place, they arrived, they saw this processional, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him and he joined them and prophesying and all those who had formerly known him, Saul and prophesying, they asked each other and they said, 'What is this that's happened to the son of Kish?' And Saul also among the prophets are like, 'Hey, wait a minute, isn't that guy we know from back over there and what's he doing with them and what happened to him? What happened to him?' And if you could go on to read in chapter 11 what you discover is that Saul came upon a troubling situation when the people of the land of the Israelites were being mistreated and he called troops to battle and they went and they defeated the army that was mistreating the people in a great and powerful display of God's Spirit upon him and the strength and power of God with him and God's hand being there to guide him. And you're like, 'Wow, this is going to be an amazing story of what God's going to do in the life of this guy, Saul.' Fast forward a few chapters and if you're there and your Bible's turned forward to chapter 19 and that's where we're going to spend our time this morning. What happens between chapter 10 and 11 and chapter 19 is Saul is filled with self-doubt. Saul finds himself wanting to please the people. Saul chooses not to obey an instruction that was given him by God through the prophet Samuel and Saul's heart slowly was turned away from the things of God to the things that were important to him. This morning we're going to look at a series of events that took place in the life of Saul and David kind of weaves in and out of these events in which this man that at one time's life and potential looked incredibly promising ends up in a very, very, very different place. And for Samuel 19, Anita comes down from Saul, it says, 'Saul told his son, Jonathan, all the attendants to kill David. He basically issued a manhunt for David. He said, 'Anybody who finds him, kill him, kill him.' And if you're here with us last week, Saul or David had been befriended by the son of the king, Jonathan. And their friendship was an amazing friendship that even lasted beyond their lifetimes. And so, Jonathan, when he heard about this threat to his friend David, he went and he told David. He went and told him, he said, 'Be on your guard, go into hiding, stay there,' because my dad's gunning for you. Jonathan then goes and appeals to his father. And I want you to listen carefully to the words that he says when he goes to speak to his father. He spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and he said to him, 'Let not the king do wrong to his servant David.' He basically saying, 'Dad, don't do something wrong to this guy, don't do something you shouldn't do, don't do something you're going to regret.' I want you to think about that for a moment, this is the son telling the father, 'Don't do something you're going to regret.' Something seemed a little odd about that to you. Who's usually telling whom not to do something they're going to regret? Usually the father's saying to the son, 'Oh, that would not be a good idea, buddy. And if you go down that route, you probably will regret this.' That's kind of a common conversation with fathers and especially teenage sons and young adults sons, but the rules are reversed here. And the son is saying to the father, 'Don't do something you're going to regret.' He goes on and says, 'He didn't do anything wrong.' And by the way, I don't know if you forgot this, but what he has done, you're in great shape because of that. We know how I have a giant taunting us and he's wiping out the Philistines left and right, and guess what? The stock of our company is going through the roof. Did you kind of forget what happened in the last couple of weeks and months here, dad? He goes on in the next verse to describe it a little bit more. He said, 'This guy took his life in his own hands when he went out, and God gave us a great victory, and you saw it, and you were thrilled.' What has happened that you want to do wrong to an innocent man by killing him for no reason? Wow. I mean, think about the clarity that Jonathan has, that you want to do wrong for no reason. This guy knows exactly what is going on here, and his father saw, has no clue what is transpired. But in this case, the father listens. The father listens. You know, when you see this story take place, you start to discover and you start to have a sense, and I think we're going to see it unfold over these next few verses, that it's almost like everybody around Saul can see what's happening to Saul, except for Saul himself. Have you ever had that experience where it's quite obvious where someone is self-destructing, and you try to speak into their life, and they won't listen to a word that you're saying, but it's very, very obvious to you and other friends or people that are part of your family. You know, I can't, you see what you're doing to yourself, and Saul couldn't see it. But nonetheless, he listened to his son, and he made this, oh, this promise. He says, as long as the Lord lives, David will not be put to death. I swear I will not take his life. He will be safe is a promise that's all made. So what does Saul do? Well, things kind of go back to normal. It's kind of go back to normal in chapter 19, because war broke out or David was invited back into the castle. War broke out, Saul sent out David just like he had been doing out to go face the Philistines, and it says there in verse 8 that David struck the Philistines with such force that the enemy turned tail and ran. They were running scared, they were running scared. Saul's back in the castle, and a very odd phrase shows up. It says, "An evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul." He says, "John, how does an evil spirit come from the Lord?" I'm not quite sure, I'm not quite sure. I do know this that when someone's heart turns away from God, that God will allow and bring to bear things in their life, influences that will either bring them to the end of themselves and turn them back to God or take them far away from him. When the people of Israel were stuck in Egypt, the Bible says that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Why did he do that? So that Pharaoh would come to the end of himself and release the people. So God sent an evil spirit. I don't really know what that means or how that all transpired, but I have an idea of what might have happened in Saul's life. Because this is what I do know, what I do know that is when we have an experience and we think about an experience and emotion rises up in our spirit. When we have an experience and we think about it, we tell ourselves a story about an emotion surges inside of us as a result of what we tell ourselves. I wonder if Saul sat there and thought about what happened. Sat there and thought about that time in his life when God's spirit was upon him, when he defeated the Philistines and the people were thrilled with the king that they had longed for. And I wonder if Saul sat there and thought about the fact that he could not figure out what to do to defeat this giant. But this little shepherd boy shows up, this little snot no shepherd boy. Who was he to come to defeat the giant? You know, I'm the king, but I'm not going to be that much of an idiot because he seems to have God that's doing something in the guy's life. So I'm going to send him out to battle and guess what, he keeps winning. This guy's got a winning streak, he should be playing Vegas, he never loses. He never loses. Why can't I win like that? The people are singing his praises, but I want them singing my praises. And maybe if I got rid of him, then they would turn back to me and they would start singing my praises instead of his praises and he turns and whirls a sword or spear and David dodges and avoids his life being taken. You see, I think Saul was replying the events of these experiences and he was telling himself a story that we're going to see over and over again echoed in terms of what he believed about those events. But unfortunately, no one else in his family, no one else in his life saw those events in the same way, but they produced inside of him a jealousy and a fear and an anger and a rage that turned into actions that put David's life once again at risk. For what he had promised his son, as long as the Lord lives, David's not going to die, broke a promise to his son. Every father and every son here likely knows what that experience is like. No dad ever wants to do that. And unfortunately, most sons live with the memory of it having happened. And so his own son tries to point out the error of his ways. He can't even keep a promise that he made to his son because of the rage that's consuming his soul. And the story continues in verse 11, because David gets away and David realizes, I got to get out of here. He goes home, remember his wife is now Saul's daughter, Michael. And as he goes home, listen to how this story is recorded. David went home and Michael, David's wife warned him, if you don't run for your life tomorrow, you'll be killed. So Michael let David down through a window and he fled and escaped. Then Michael took an idol and laid it in the bed, covered it with hair. And Saul sent men to capture David, Michael said he is ill. The narrator is very careful to point out for us that we first saw Jonathan trying to help his father see the error of his ways. And now Saul's daughter, Michael, is protecting her husband from her out of control father. Saul doesn't buy her story. He says, I don't care if he's sick. I don't bring me to the whole bed. So they go in to get the bed and they open, pull the sheets back and they discover that she's put an idol in there to try to make it look like someone's in the bed. And she gets called in front of her father to be confronted about this situation. And another thing that I know is true about most fathers is most fathers want our kids to feel like, even if they've messed up, even if they've done something wrong, that it's safe for them to be honest with us. Unfortunately often as dads we make mistakes in terms of how we respond to our kids' struggles that keep them and make it not safe. It wasn't safe for Michael, even as a grown woman, to be honest with her father. So she doesn't say, you know, dad, you're a little erratic right now and I didn't want you to kill my husband. And so I sent him away. She doesn't say that. She goes on in the story to say this. She said, when asked by Saul, why did you deceive me like this and listen to Saul's word? Send my enemy away. I thought the Philistines were the Israelites' enemies. When did David become Saul's enemy? When did David threaten Saul's life? When did David try to do harm to Saul? You see the stories that Saul's telling himself about this situation? And she says this, David said to me, let me get away. Why should I kill you, implying that if you don't let me go, I will have to take your life so that I can run if you're going to hold me here. Saul can't handle the truth, even though his daughter knows it, his son knows it. Everybody listening to the story knows it, but Saul himself. Saul's rescinded his orders not to kill David. He's gone back on his promise. He's not listened to his son. He's not safe for his daughter. There's no place safe and he's becoming increasingly isolated from everybody, no matter who confronts him, no matter who points it out, he won't listen to anyone. The story continues to spiral downward, and David has to go and hide, and so where is he going to go? The only place he can think to go with no food, with no weapons, is to go to Samuel, the voice of God, and so he goes to find Samuel in the town of Ramah. The town of Ramah, Samuel lived and Samuel ran what was called a school of the prophets. You might think of it as an ancient seminary, ancient Middle Eastern seminary, of men who wanted to learn how to hear the voice of God. And so he goes to Samuel because he's fearful of his life, but Saul has a network spread out and everybody is willing to look out for David, and word eventually gets back to Saul that David is in Ramah. And this next scene that I'm going to talk about really kind of reads like something out of a science fiction movie, I don't know how else to describe it to you. Because Saul sends a battalion of men, he said, "I want you to go capture this man and bring him back." And remember, he's not going to fight against the Philistines, he's going against a bunch of prophets who simply sit and listen to God all day, that's who he's going to fight against. And as he approaches these men to try to retrieve David something supernatural happens to these men. Because instead of following the commands and listening to the voice and word of King Saul, they are taken over by the Spirit of God and they begin to prophesy in that setting. They say, "What did that look like? I have no idea. I have no idea." All I know is they were under Saul's control and authority and now they're under God's control and authority, and they're not taking David anywhere. Word gets back to Saul, you're not going to believe what happened. He's like, "You're right. I don't believe what happened. There's another set of troops, and then another set of troops go down." The same exact things happen. He's, words get back to him, he said that this is the exact same thing. He sends another set of troops happen. What do they call someone who does the same thing over and over and again and gets the same results? Anybody know what they call someone? Insane, right? Crazy man. You know? The text doesn't say that Saul is insane, but you kind of get the impression, "This guy, he's kind of off his rocker. He's lost it basically." And he sent three battalions of men down there to try to capture this guy. I don't think it's going to happen, Saul. Maybe you should give up on this one and go back and come back and fight another day. But not Saul. Not Saul. He's like, "If they can't do it, might as well do it myself. Nobody else can do this, right? I guess I'm going to have to do it myself." So what does Saul do? Saul goes down to do that, and it gets even worse, because look what happens. He says Saul came down and he walked, the spirit of God came upon him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Neoth. He stripped off his garments, he too prophesied in Samuel's presence. He lay naked all that day and all might. And the people were saying, "Is Saul also among the prophets, almost in a form of mockery of what was so true of him back in the beginning of chapter 10?" I mean, think about where this guy has sunk to. I mean, from someone who was hand-picked to be the first king of Israel, someone who the spirit of God came upon, someone who was changed, someone who God was with him, someone who God was going to accomplish great and money things, now he's rolling around in the ground, but naked a whole day in front of the people, embarrassed, shamed, humiliated. And people are saying, "Ah, he's the one among the prophets," right? And you think, "How the mighty have fallen, how the mighty have fallen, a man who once stood tall among the people, and even the prophets has now shamed and powerless and humiliated in front of all the people." You get the picture of who is clearly in control and who thought they were in control. Saul thought he was in control. Everyone around him realized, "You are not in control. You are not in control." It's kind of like that person in the office or that person in your family who thinks they're running the show and everybody behind their back chuckles and like, "Ah, they don't have a clue." You know, that's what's going on here. But to the king of the land, the most powerful person in that community. Saul was consumed by his fears. He was powerless and helpless because of the anger and rage inside of him. He's an empty shell of a person with no power, no legitimate authority in spite of his position. It's a sad picture to look at when you think about it. It's a very sad picture to look at. But as I started with this phrase, "Our past victories don't guarantee future successes." And you say, "John, that's an interesting story, a bit odd, actually kind of creepy. I really don't want to think about it a whole lot." You know, it's kind of gross and disgusting. So why do God leave us a story like that? Well, I think just because you start out strong, just because you win in the preseason, just because you look good in the first practice or the first day of work doesn't guarantee that's what your life is going to be like. And just because you've experienced God doing some significant things in your lives and you had a sense of God at work in your life, that doesn't guarantee that that's going to happen for the rest of our lives. Just because you dealt with a particular sin in your life doesn't mean that it's never going to reappear. Yesterday, as I mentioned last week, I had the privilege to perform the wedding ceremony for Gina Nauman and for Cliff Horning. And many of you may know the story of Gina and Cliff, both of them lost their spouses to various things and God in an amazing way had brought them together and they were committing their lives to each other. At the wedding, I talked about the season, the chapter of their lives of grief and sadness that was ending in the new chapter that God was beginning and not replacing a spouse that they will forget but that the love for that person will always be in their heart but expanding their capacity and love another. And just like that's the unique experience that God is bringing them through, I think that God does the same thing in our lives. You know when we have a struggle, when we have a sin that God gives us the ability to overcome victory to defeat that, it doesn't mean that it's never going to appear again. It likely will be a battle for us for the rest of our lives. The truth is we all have struggles but fortunately we all don't have all of the struggles, right? No, you know you have certain struggles, your spouse may have a different struggle, your friend may have a different struggle, your kids may have different struggles, your parents may have different struggles, but we don't all have the same ones. But the truth is it's going to be the challenge that you're going to have to live with the rest of your life and the dangers when you assume that I am over that, I've conquered that, I've defeated that and it's never going to be a struggle again. And the reality is when we've become to that place in our lives to believe that it sets us up on a slippery slope that could leave us in a place where solace are even worse. James talks about this and James won where he says this, "Each person is tempted when they're dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed by their own evil desires." The sins in my heart and the struggles in my heart are not the sins in your heart and the struggles in your heart and God's pretty clear that these struggles in our heart are things that are going to entice us. Sin always looks good, sin is always inviting and there are times we can say no to that. Last night my wife baked chocolate chip cookies and they were sitting on the counter. I did not say no to that last night, but those same chocolate chip cookies were there this morning and I said no to them this morning. And that's the true of the way it is with sin. It's always there, it's always tempting and there are times when we are enticed and we given to that and there are times we say no, but to assume that that is going to disappear, it won't disappear until you leave this earth and if you're a follower of Jesus, you enter God's presence. Then it will disappear. You say, "But John, I don't understand because I thought Christ died on the cross and He paid for my sins. He paid for the penalty of your sins. You don't have to ever pay for the penalty of your sins and when a spirit comes to live inside you, you have the power and you have the capacity with God's grace and God's strength and nothing on your own to face that and to walk away from that. But it's still going to be a struggle that you will live with all of your life." God talks about this at the very beginning in Genesis chapter 4, the story of Cain and Abel. Cain was very angry and his face was downcast because God did not accept what Cain brought and offered to God. And God says this, he says, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?" "Don't go over," he says in verse 7, "Sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it." You know, it's a picture of my son who, for much of his life, loves to hide behind doors and just spring out and scare his mother half to death, you know, even when she knows he's there, you know? And that's what sin is like. It's crouching. It's right there and it's the sin that is your struggle. Not someone else's, it's your struggle. And it says that it wants to have you, it wants to take over, it wants to control you. James goes on to describe what happens when that takes place. He says, "After that desire has conceived," he uses the analogy of birth, it gives birth to sin and sin when it's full grown gives birth to death. And then look at this next verse, "Don't be fooled," my brothers and sisters, "Don't be deceived, don't be deceived, don't assume that that struggle is going to disappear, don't assume that it's going to go away, don't assume that you've conquered this, has God given you a moment of victory, yes and be grateful for that and celebrate that and praise him in the moment and look forward to the day when it won't exist any longer." Let me give you a couple of thoughts as I close to tackle these things in our lives. Number one, know and admit your struggles, know what they are, know what they are. I mean each of us has two or three things that we just know are our struggles and there are days that they're on the counter and we're not drawn to them, we walk right away and there are other days we stand there and we think about it and we smell them and we taste them and then we consume it, but know what they are, admit what they are, the second tell them to someone else, say why do I have to tell someone else, you know when sin thrives, sin thrives in the darkness and when sin is exposed to the light, Jesus said, God said I am the light, Jesus said I am the what, the light of the world, the light exposes the darkness, the light of God's word, the light of relationships, the light of people, the light of knowledge, it exposes it and sin loses its power when it's exposed. It doesn't eliminate it, it doesn't take it away, it loses its power when it's exposed. Number three, ask someone to hold you accountable for this, accountability is not when someone says you need accountability and you're like that's not accountability. Accountability is when you go to a friend and say this is a struggle of mine and I don't want you to, you can't make the struggle go away, but I want you to pray with me about this struggle and I want you to check in on me about this struggle and talk with me about this and find out how I'm doing. Someone came to me after first service and they were talking about a struggle and someone was standing there with them and as I was leaving they said please call me, please pray with me because I can't do this on my own. Number four, don't ignore the little sins in your life. The slide downward is never stepping into a hole that was there that you just turned around and whoop, there you go, now that's not how sin happens in our lives. Sin is one step and then another step and then another step and then another step. We talked about anger that leaks out that's not unresolved last week and looking at Saul and David and Jonathan, sarcasm and eye rolling and all of those things that picture bottled up anger inside, a motion that seems excessive when it doesn't match the situation or no emotion when it should be there, doors that you hope no one ever asks you about or mentions in your life, struggles that are secret like pornography or cutting or thoughts of suicide and battles with depression, don't ignore these warning signs, don't ignore them, don't keep telling yourself that it's nothing, it's just a little thing, it's not a little thing, this may be your struggle for your life but God wants to enter that struggle with you, he wants you to know that you are not alone in that struggle, he wants you to have the courage to say to someone else, can you come and engage this struggle and enter this with me and with the help of his spirit and by his grace to face that every single day, two more, when confronted, face it, get help, don't ignore it, I don't know about you but there are some days people point things out in my life and I'm like, you know what, you're right, that's something I got to pay attention to and I'm good with it with how I respond to it, there are other days I do not respond to it very well, I just don't, and unfortunately for my poor wife I don't have a meter that says, you can talk to John about that, you can't talk to John, you know she doesn't, you know, and I don't usually realize it until after it's the day she shouldn't talk to me about it that I should have told her that it's the day she shouldn't talk to me about it but the truth is I hope that you have people in your life that love you enough to say, are you aware of or do you see this because every single one of us need people in our lives like that, I know it's hard students when mom and dad talk to you about these things that they see in your lives, I know it's hard to receive those things but you have to take those things in, you have to face them, you can't keep ignoring them and then lastly admit you can't do this on your own, admit you can't do this on your own and that just takes courage, just takes courage, the woman who spoke to me between the services, I just said, it took a lot of courage for you to come and talk to me and talk to your friend about this struggle. You might need the help of a community of people to help you navigate it, you might need the help of a counselor to face whatever that issue is but admit you need help and then walk towards it. I'm pretty sure that most of us here don't want to end up where Saul was, people of great promise who didn't make it to the finish line and if they and when they did they barely fell across the end and past victories don't guarantee future successes but God wants to enter those struggles with us whatever they are and He wants to walk with us in them and give us a sense of hope as He's present there. I want to invite you to bow your heads and just give you a moment for me to stop talking and for you to talk to God and listen to Him and hear what He has to say to you this morning. So let's give you a moment just to talk to God. God you know each person's heart and each person's struggles this morning. You know those that are really honest with them and those that are just hoping nobody finds them out and for those that are feeling the weight of the struggle in their soul right now I just ask that you would give them the courage to face it, to get help with it, share it with a trusted friend, not go at it alone. Learn those who are doing that and their struggles are great and they just are weary in the battle God. Give them encouragement from your spirit for facing that this morning. Or none of us want to end up where Saul did, but we need your help each day to not go there. In your name we pray. [BLANK_AUDIO]