Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.
The whole point of the folly of our preaching and all of our ministry is to lift up Jesus Christ and just say, here He is. Look at Him. Behold Him. He is the shepherd.
He is the King. He was forgotten. He was misunderstood. He was misunderstood. He was misconstrued.
He was persecuted, but He is the King. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Son of David as presented at Rinaldin Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org.
That's PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860. Now more on this later in the program. But now let's get started with today's teaching.
Here is Alan Wright. The anointed one, the one who's going to be anointed is out in the field with the sheep. Seven sons come by. This is a very important number in Israel's mentality, the Hebrew culture, seven is the number of how many days are in a week.
It means complete. So it's like, it's like, it's like Jesse has sent seven sons and like in the stories, like he's saying, you have completed all of the possible candidates that could be king. They're all, they all come by here. And he says, is there not another one? Another one? Do you not have another son? Well, there is one other. He's tending the sheep.
He's doing a menial chore. The next irony of this is that he says, we'll bring him here. They bring in David. And I don't know if this surprises you like it does me, but after all this talk about don't look on his outward appearance, as soon as David comes verse 12, they sent and brought him in.
What are we told? He was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. What? You know, you're almost setting us up for like, David's going to come in and just be this ugly guy, you know, with less than 10 days growth. And instead he comes in and it's like, David's better looking than all the others. He's ruddy.
We don't know for sure. Does that mean he's like bronze from being in the sun so much? Or did he have reddish hair?
Beautiful eyes can be assembled for just overall beauty. He was very, he was handsome. What we find out also about David later is he was extremely skilled. He was an amazing poet. He was incredibly prophetic.
He had the amazing gifts and instincts as a warrior, a great leader. So it's odd. It's like, he doesn't bring in this person that was not handsome and had no gifts. It's just that they hadn't thought of David. Why had they not thought of David? Well, part of it is that this word of there remains, Jesse said there remains yet the youngest. The youngest is not just referring to the youngest. It's also a pejorative term that meant like, there's the leftover, there's the runt, there's the, for whatever reason, David had been looked on in this family as the one who didn't have any potential.
What? And so David is forgotten because David is a shepherd. What's a shepherd doing? A shepherd is in an obscure life heralded by no one, tending to creatures that have little worth and little intelligence.
He's caring for sheep. And what we learn later is that forged in his heart in those days of being a young shepherd is that David fought off lions and bears for the sake of sheep that don't matter that much. In other words, David cared about a lamb that was missing.
David put his life on the line for some sheep. When nobody saw it, when nobody would know about it, when nobody would applaud him, he was utterly unnoticed and to the point he wasn't even brought in as if he was part of the family. He was truly the forgotten son. And the irony of this, the alternate irony of this story is that the one who wasn't even considered a possibility to be king would be the king of all and be the best king they ever had. That the very characteristics that the people thought would be needed for a king were absolutely wrong and that what God had seen was that the character that was being forged in David in his humility and even his humiliation, it was humiliating. He had not even been included in the worship festival when Samuel said, bring your sons.
He was that forgotten. But in the midst of that, something was going on in his heart and God said, that's the kind of man that's after my own heart. I like somebody who can be anointed, Saul was also anointed, but that anointing would be accompanied by a tried and true character that is demonstrated simply in this, he loves deeply. In other words, he loved sheep when nobody noticed. That's the kind of king I want God said because he could love the people. I want a shepherd as the king.
I have said we're going to preach on David for an undisclosed number of weeks. I stand by that, but there will be another series after this and I want to give you a little preview. J.R.R. Tolkien and who is of Lord of Rings fame and the Hobbit and C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia fame were best friends. Fascinating stories, fascinating stories. Tolkien thought very little of the chance of his trilogy ever reaching a larger readership.
It was almost just for written for a few people. Lewis believed in it though and Tolkien knew Lewis before Lewis was a Christian and he asked him, he said, because he knew C.S. Lewis was fascinated by myths and fairy tales and great literature and he said, how can you be so fascinated by these myths and not be utterly fascinated by the one true fairy tale, the true myth. And Tolkien wrote about this in an essay about fairy tales in which he described the essence of what a fairy tale is all about and then explained that Christianity is a fairy tale, it's just true. And that the reason that we all yearn so deeply for stories about a hero who makes a daring rescue of a damsel in distress is because deep within all of us we know somewhere deep within us this is what we need.
And so the idea that there are so many fairy tales and other stories that bear similarities to the Christian gospel does not negate the Christian gospel, it proves the Christian gospel and they talked about these things. So we're going to do a series on fairy tales and take each week and talk about a different fairy tale and surely in the midst of that series we'll have to talk about Cinderella, probably the most famous. What was Cinderella about? It's about the forgotten child who's not even a candidate for the royal court because she's too busy scrubbing floors. Nobody would have thought that she could marry the prince.
She's too unseemly and mundane and dirty, unadorned, scrub the floors, do the chores. So if you were to bring a prince by looking for a bride you wouldn't even bring her out. Why do we have stories like that?
I'll tell you why. It's because the story of the cosmos is a story of redemption that is about a forgotten child who became the king of all. Jesus was also born in Bethlehem in obscurity. If God hadn't told some shepherds about it and led some magi there nobody would have noticed. The first 30 years of Jesus's life we don't even know anything about.
He was just a carpenter's son and Nazareth was a podunk town. That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. In a world that often feels overwhelming we all seek moments of encouragement and hope. As a heartfelt thank you for becoming a monthly partner with Alan Wright Ministries, we're excited to send you our blessing box featuring 24 beautifully crafted cards filled with encouraging blessings from Pastor Alan. Each card offers daily inspiration and scripture on themes such as hope, strength, your identity in Christ, thanksgiving, and much more.
These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit, providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. This unique resource can be yours with our thanks as we welcome new monthly partners to the support family of Alan Wright Ministries. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.
Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. And Jesus said, no, somebody touched me. And what he meant was there was one person out of this crowd who saw me for who I am.
And when she saw me, it changed everything. Because you can touch Jesus, but if you don't see who He is, it's meaningless. But if you touch Jesus and you see who He is, it changes everything. You remember when He asked Peter, who do people say that I am? And Peter said, well, some say Elijah, some say this, some say... He said, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, you are the Messiah. You are the Christ. You're the anointed one, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. How was anybody going to know that David was the anointed? How would Samuel know it with all of his natural discernment?
There was only one way. The Lord said, he's the one. He opened up his eyes. A relationship with God is supernatural. He came into that which was His own.
His own received Him not. But anyone who did receive Him, He gave the right to become a child of God. A child born not of natural descent or human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. Born of the Holy Spirit.
Born by the supernatural revelation of Jesus Christ. I'm praying for you and ask you to pray for me. Not that we figure out a way to conform our lives to a religious principle or a set of rituals or certain practices. Not that we seek to try harder to be better and better Christians, but this is our prayer. That God would open up the eyes of our hearts. That we would be able to see with these spiritual eyes, the hope of our calling, the glorious inheritance we have in the saints, the incomparably great power that is at work in us, the same power that raised Jesus. Paul prayed that you would have the capacity to be able to see, to know, to comprehend that which surpasses knowledge.
How long, how wide, how deep, how high is the love of God. That we would like the psalmist just wake up in the morning and beholding his likeness, we would be satisfied. See, when you truly see who it is that is the anointed king, it changes everything.
The whole point of the folly of our preaching and all of our ministry is to lift up Jesus Christ and just say, here he is. Look at him. Behold him. He is the shepherd.
He is the king. He was forgotten. He was misunderstood. He was misunderstood. He was misunderstood. He was misconstrued. He was persecuted.
But he is the king. David was Cinderella. He was a forgotten child. And we have seen over the years, have we not, the theme that runs through the Bible so mysteriously about the great reversal of the law of primogeniture, the custom of the firstborn getting all the extra inheritance and extra blessing still prevalent in the world today and how God would take the forgotten son and bless him. So he applauds Abel's gift rather than the older brother Cain's. He has Isaac inadvertently blessed the younger Jacob rather than the older Esau, the one that was on that day that the special blessing was to be imparted. Jacob was the forgotten one.
But he gets the blessing. Jacob has all these sons. The youngest one, Joseph, is sold into slavery and he truly becomes the forgotten son. So much so they think he is dead.
The father thinks he is dead. Everybody has forgotten about Joseph because Joseph is gone. He is out of the picture except for God takes him out of a dungeon and puts him onto the throne of Egypt.
Do you see it? The day comes in which Jesus tells a story and says there is a man who had two sons and one of those sons went to a far away land and everybody else gave up on him and forgot him except for the father. I bet you that father had dozens of times people come say forget that son. He has brought shame on your family.
Forget him. But the father would not forget that forgotten son like the rest of the world would. And when that son came home the father put a robe of royalty on his shoulders and a ring of authority on his hand and sandals of freedom on his feet and they had a party.
And David, he is so forgotten that he is not even brought in. But when he comes in the Lord says anoint him. Anoint the forgotten son whose character has been forged in obscurity. All pointing.
All pointing to the real story. This Jesus. Persecuted.
Misunderstood. Eventually nailed to a cross. Pierced. Bleeding. Suffocating. With no disciples there.
Everybody forgetting him. Until in a moment of unspeakable anguish which we cannot understand what Paul described took place. Jesus became our sin. He became as if he was a wretched sinner as the one who had never sinned became as if he were the most foul wretched sinner you've ever seen. He became as one who was despised and from whom men would hide their faces. He was the most beautiful human being who had ever lived and on the cross he was gnarled and bloodied and he became everything that is foul about humanity was reckoned into his body.
You would want to turn away from him. Until it came to a moment that he said my God my God why have you forsaken me? He was quoting the psalmist.
He might as well have said God my father have you forgotten me? He became the forgotten son and he hung on the cross. He was the last person on the face of the earth that anybody thought would be a king because what they didn't know is that he was demonstrating his royalty. The shepherd was laying his life down for the sheep and on the third day when he rose and people began to see him he wanted to come see it's me look Thomas put your hands right here feel this it is I see me for who I am for he always was all powerful but he always was all merciful. The shepherd became the king and he reigns in glory but he reigns as a shepherd. He reigns as one who is filled with mercy. Charles Spurgeon said Christ reign in his church is that of a shepherd king. He has supremacy but it is the superiority of a wise and tender shepherd over his needy and loving flock. He commands and receives obedience but it is the willing obedience of the well cared for sheep rendered joyfully to their beloved shepherd whose voice they know so well. He rules by the force of love and the energy of goodness. He's a king I tell you but he also was the forgotten son who proved his character forged in obscurity and persecution so that he could identify with every need that you have.
What Hannah prayed didn't just come to pass in King David her vision of a king who did not accumulate power and wealth for himself but instead blessed all came to pass in Jesus Christ and that's the gospel. Allen Wright and today's teaching the forgotten son who became king of all. In a world that often feels overwhelming we all seek moments of encouragement and hope. As a heartfelt thank you for becoming a monthly partner with Allen Wright Ministries we're excited to send you our blessing box featuring 24 beautifully crafted cards filled with encouraging blessings from Pastor Alan. Each card offers daily inspiration and scripture on themes such as hope, strength, your identity in Christ, thanksgiving and much more.
These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. This unique resource can be yours with our thanks as we welcome new monthly partners to the support family of Allen Wright Ministries. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastorallen.org. In the end Allen aren't we glad that the Bible is honest and real about the heroes of our faith, the heroes in the Bible and when we look at David the good news for us is like David God looks on the heart we may be the one that's the unlikely fit for the kingdom. It is so important that we don't turn the book of the scriptures into a book of moralisms that says go and try to be more like David you know wasn't he wonderful well David and all these imperfections it's not even to say go and try to be like Jesus it is instead to say behold see your savior see Jesus the forgotten son the obscure one born in Bethlehem and how it is that God has made him king over all be enwrapped with the story and let the gospel fill your heart . If you only caught part of today's teaching not only can you listen again online but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org that's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.
