Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Through what he suffers, when you read these stories, you start realizing this is not a comic book hero.
This is a real hero. Something happens, doesn't it? None of us. I don't want to go through suffering. I don't want to go through difficult times. None of us wants to, and I don't ask the Lord for it.
But isn't it amazing how he uses such times? 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 emphasis on David is of a soul, a character that is forged over time, that is forged in the obscurity of being a shepherd in which he was noble enough to protect sheep. And if someone is willing to lay their life down for sheep, how much more would they care for the people that they govern? But then more so, even after that, when he is exalted in his defeat of Goliath, but then he has 13 or 15 years, a decade and a half of just suffering, of just having to make it, of having to associate with the outcasts, of having to learn to refresh himself in the Lord, and times of weeping, and times of grieving, and times of being frightened, and holding on through that with the hope of a word that had been planted in your heart when the prophet spoke over your life that you were going to be the next king of Israel. And all of that, you see, is just a big contrast between the sudden promotion and the long journey. And what it becomes is a contrast between giftedness and character.
And I've said this many times, just let me just say this, people, if you ever want to know what is the main measure by which you decide who you're going to fellowship with, who you're going to marry, who you're going to go into business with, who you're going to partner with, who's going to be your main fellowship, whatever it is that you're doing by way of partnership, the word is clear and it also just makes all the sense in the world. Character trumps giftedness every time. I have known so many gifted people, and so have you, that have been promoted quickly and fallen just as quickly because they didn't have a character that was ready to embrace the level of giftedness or the level of public adulation that they would receive. This is a huge contrast. And what you see happen in David's life is that through what he suffers, when you read these stories, you start realizing this is not a comic book hero, this is a real hero. Something happens, doesn't it?
None of us, I don't want to go through suffering, I don't want to go through difficult times, none of us wants to and I don't ask the Lord for it, but isn't it amazing how He uses such times? My brother-in-law had a seed company and they had this seed that became one of the best turf fescues in the world. I said, how did you, how do you develop this? How do you get a good seed like that? And he gave a great explanation, I never forgot.
He said, well what? Basically, you know, in non-scientific terms, what happens is, it's like you imagine you go find a yard that is the worst looking yard, just totally brown and it's not been watered and this heat's been beating down on it and we go and go into that yard and scientists go in that yard and find two blades of grass that somehow survived all of that atrocious conditions and get those two blades of grass and from that produce some more seed and plant another lawn and then just abuse that lawn, just persecute it, just dry it up and beat the sun down on it until it's just totally brown and then just go and find two blades of grass that have somehow survived and get those two blades of grass and then make more seed and then plant another lawn and just abuse it and just persecute it and just turn brown until you find two blades of grass and from that, and he said, what's what you do? Just keep doing that and until finally you get a seed that has rebelled against all the other conditions instead of giving up and dying like all the other, then you come up with what they call this grass seed rebel. I was thinking about this week you know, that's what you are people of God, you are rebels, rebels against the flesh, rebels against the ordinary, rebels against the temptation to give up, that's who we are in Christ, that's who the people of God always have been. There is a way in which God does some kind of refining, strengthening work down in the core of a man or a woman who has walked through something and not given up. You have found resources in the Lord that you didn't know were there. Mother Teresa said you'll never know that Jesus is all that you need until Jesus is all that you have got. Saul was promoted suddenly, David, over a long journey of the heat, the sun, the drought and God had his hand on him and God has his hand on you too.
If you have struggled for a long time in the same direction, there's a word for you today, you are not forgotten, for this is the way of our Savior. His was not a sudden promotion, His was 30 years of obscurity, His was enduring the mockery of those who said, could anything good come from Nazareth until the point finally came in which He took His cross and He laid down His life, no one laid down His life for Him, He laid down His life by His own choice and by the set purposes and foreordination of the plan of the Father. And there was a reason when He hung on that cross that He quoted David's Psalm, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? For what David had experienced, Jesus experienced to the infinite, He's real. I want you to know that your hero, Jesus, is real, just as human as you are, just as human, which is why He came.
He's not a great high priest who's unable to sympathize with your weakness, He knows everything that you go through. Captain Phillips, been one of the most gripping movies I've seen in a while, this movie, the true story of the captain of a big sailing vessel that is carrying all kinds of, a lot of it's just humanitarian aid to Africa that fell victim to the Somalian pirates that terrorized those waters and this was a particularly large vessel with a huge amount of inventory and so these pirates wanted to come and take over the ship and have a big bounty that day. Well, Tom Hanks plays this character of Captain Phillips and what gets you from the beginning is how ordinary a man he is. He's a dad, he's a father, he's not in particularly great physical condition, he's not a navy seal, he doesn't have a particular ability to fight, do warfare. In fact, what's interesting, I don't even fully understand this, why their big sailing vessel, their ship doesn't, they don't even have any artillery, they got no guns, I don't know if there's a rule about that or something, so when the pirates come they have to just try to fight them off with water hoses. He does try to hit them with a torch at one point but even if they'd had just a few guns they could easily have gotten rid of these pirates as they climb on board but the Somalian pirates have machine guns and you'll see in this character, Captain Phillips, you'll see all the makings of a hero but not like a Superman, not like a James Bond, he doesn't have better gadgets, he doesn't have more strength, he doesn't have better fighting abilities, he's not more gifted, he's just an ordinary man, he's just a man who on this day, on this very bad day is overtaken by these pirates and he is ill-equipped to deal with it but deal with it he must and so he tells his crew I want you to all go into the inner bowels of this ship and I want you to hide and he tells them where to hide and he makes a plan for how the least number of people could get harmed and he puts himself in harm's way. He says at one point if you're going to shoot somebody just shoot me and your heart begins to be wrenched with a sense of affection for this our hero and what happens is and it's a powerful movie and I tell you the end of it because it's a true story and everybody already knows the end of it but he is by a series of events he is taken captive by three pirates who have him on this the life boat which is more like a like a pod an enclosed boat that can be driven navigated it's not just a raft it's a boat and by an unfortunate event they are able to grasp and get him in there so they've taken him kidnapped him and so they're demanding they're demanding all kinds of things well the navy comes the navy seals come you begin to realize that there is no way that they're going to let this this happen where they're not going to let them take this man onto uh onto shore and they're not going to it's not going to happen and Tom Hanks realizes all this he understands what's going to happen and he actually he actually has compassion upon one of his his kidnappers who has a severely cut foot and uh tries to care for him he also is trying to be clever and wise that's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series got some giants to slay need some encouragement in the midst of a trial wondering if God really cares meet David who can compare to him he was the ruddy handsome youth tending sheep writing psalms and worshiping God in the humble Bethlehem fields he was the lone Israelite brave enough to decapitate Goliath and the sole warrior adept enough to cut off the scourge of the Philistines he was the stately king who established peace expanded the borders and reigned in prosperity for 40 years who else could be a gentle shepherd a glorious hero and a noble king would there ever be another leader like David yes the son of David his name is Jesus and he is a better David than David could ever be he came to be your shepherd your hero and your king in a 12-message audio series Alan Wright takes you on a thrilling adventure with David in order to point you to the answer for your every need the son of David discover how Christ enables you to face your biggest obstacles deal with your fiercest persecution and live as an heir of grace it's an audio series from Alan Wright as our thanks for your donation we'll be delighted to send you pastor Alan's audio messages in either a digital download or a cd album format son of David shepherd hero king 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 pastor alan.org today's teaching now continues here once again is Alan Wright he's not bound and gagged and tied up at one point um he he tries to he tries to make an escape out throws himself into the ocean they they capture him again and so now they blindfold him they tie him up he's down at the corner of this little vessel and uh things become more and more harrowing until until it becomes apparent that what's going to happen here they are trying to send code through radio so that captain Phillips will overhear the messages to stay seated in his same spot because the snipers they they're going to get a chance to get one shot boom boom and they're going to take out these two pirates because they have managed to get the lead pirate off of that little boat and onto their ship under the guise of saying they're going to negotiate with him and so this whole scene just builds up to this unbelievably gripping suspenseful climax and and in which in which the the blindfolded Phillips tied over in the corner suddenly he just hears bam bam and and and and both pirates are are in in this in a split second they're taken out by the sniper blood all scattered all over captain Phillips he is there and he's just screaming what's happened what's happened he's just he's been through a nightmare and when they pull him off of that little boat and they get him on onto the onto the the the the navy cruise ship they are they they they are having to tell him he's in shock he's in shock that's what i want you to see i want to see what what does a real hero go through i'll tell you what goes it's depicted in this movie he's he's in shock they tell him to breathe they have to tell him to keep his eyes open they have to come to stay awake to talk they're trying to keep him from going into complete shock and you're sitting there watching this and if you in the middle you're just totally gripped and you someone will ask you who is the hero of this movie who is the hero the real-life hero of this story as much as you're thankful for the entire navy and for the navy seals and the special forces and as much as you're thankful for them you without a hesitation you would say they're not the hero he's the hero the one who is in shock and what i i really tell you this story is i want you to understand this is this is what it was like for david this isn't a playful child's story about a man who goes out and slings a rock and kills a giant and then suddenly hoisted on everybody's shoulders this is about a man who he got so low at one point that he was amongst the philistines in gath that was goliath's hometown and he was so concerned that they were going to recognize him and he was he became afraid for his life the only thing he knew to do was he pretended as if he was insane he just went about foaming at the mouth and acting like a madman he was utterly completely humiliated this is the man who got so low that he he prayed psalm 22 my god my god why have you forsaken me this what i'm saying is that david is more like captain phillips who he's a hero but he's almost in shock all of this is painting a picture so that we can know who our savior is what i'm saying is jesus did not come and count his equality with god a thing to be grasped but he emptied himself what he did for you and what he did for me was he became truly human he really really went through what you go through see if we if we were to go through what captain phillips went through we'd be like him we'd be in virtual shock you hardly able to speak for days because of what you've been through and and this is the way it was with jesus he wasn't strong enough to carry his own cross because they'd beaten him so severely he had been mocked he'd been persecuted he had been forgotten he was alone he was called the friend of sinners because he hung out with the distressed and the bankrupt he was he was he was totally human and he was totally human he was he was totally human and on the third day when he rose from the dead and he was coronated to be the king of glory for all eternity what i'm just saying to you is there was no shortcut to his glory he bled and he died for you and he is the king of all but he is a real hero because he is someone who is real in the flesh in the flesh he came and he endured it and he scorned the shame of the cross because he had his eyes set upon the ultimate coronation that's what david did he just endured a decade and a half of suffering but he rebelled against the the flesh's desire to just give up saul on the other hand promoted instantly boom and falls just as quickly jesus is our hero i wasn't easy for him let me say something that secondly about um the way in which they embraced the power of the spirit i wish i could take a lot more time on this but i'll go very quickly to say that the holy spirit rushed upon saul the holy spirit rushed upon david same language is used and when saul got empowered by the holy spirit one of the things that happens when the holy spirit comes upon you is that you become exceedingly bold there's a boldness that comes upon you in fact ariatore has said that if you want to know what the evidence is that someone is filled with the spirit in the in the new testament it's not a particular gift it is not a a particular manifestation he said it is that they have boldness for the gospel that's true all the way through it the holy spirit comes upon somebody they're just they're bold you start forgetting about well saul had no idea what to do with the beautiful empowering presence of the holy spirit i want to show you what happened the first thing he did in his in his empowerment in first samuel chapter 10 verse 1 samuel took a flask of oil poured it on saul's head kissed him and said has not the lord anointed you to be prince over his people israel and you shall reign over the people of the lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies and so this anointing has taken place it's a beautiful statement that the lord has anointed saul and um samuel the the favored prophet of the day has poured out this oil kissed saul and you see a picture of affection because even though samuel had warned the people of what would happen when they got a king he's looking at saul and he has the affection of the lord and he he he blesses saul but then in chapter 11 of first samuel this is what happens the people are all afraid of the ammonites that have been threatening israel so much so that the people had wept with fear and at verse 6 of first samuel 11 you'll see one of the first acts of the anointed saul when saul heard their words the spirit of god came upon him in power there it is and here's what happened he burned with anger okay nothing wrong with that jesus burned with anger at times when the holy spirit was upon him and he saw injustice and he saw people making a mockery of grace and and so forth but then what happens from here reveals the lack of understanding of saul and reveals the lack of his character in verse 7 he took a pair of oxen cut them into pieces and sent the pieces by messengers throughout israel proclaiming this is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow saul and samuel then the terror of the lord fell on the people and they turned out as one man this is what saul did with the holy spirit he became so bold that he just went out and he just brutally began to just cut up oxen this is a gory scene he cuts up oxen he starts sending pieces of bloody carcass around essentially saying this is what's going to happen for people that do not for people that do not follow me into battle he was exceedingly bold because of the presence of the holy spirit but then he turned around and used his boldness to terrorize his own people he was a terrorist he was a tyrant he used the anointing of the holy spirit for his personal leadership gain you can be sure the lord is not going to allow that for a long allen right and today's teaching a tale of two kings and putting a bookmark here for the conclusion coming in our next broadcast in the series son of david and i encourage you to stick with us allen is back with us in the studio in just a moment as he shares his parting good news thought for the day got some giants to slay need some encouragement in the midst of a trial wondering if god really cares meet david who can compare to him he was the ruddy handsome youth tending sheep writing psalms and worshiping god in the humble bethlehem fields he was the lone israelite brave enough to decapitate goliath and the sole warrior adept enough to cut off the scourge of the philistines he was the stately king who established peace expanded the borders and reigned in prosperity for 40 years who else could be a gentle shepherd a glorious hero and a noble king would there ever be another leader like david yes the son of david his name is jesus and he is a better david than david could ever be he came to be your shepherd your hero and your king in a 12 message audio series allen wright takes you on a thrilling adventure with david in order to point you to the answer for your every need the son of david discover how christ enables you to face your biggest obstacles deal with your fiercest persecution and live as an heir of grace it's an audio series from allen wright as our thanks for your donation we'll be delighted to send you Pastor Alan's audio messages in either a digital download or a cd album format son of david shepherd hero king 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 to jesus special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from allen wright ministries call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty that's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty or come to our website pastorallen.org back here in the studio to share allen's parting good news thought for the day in the series son of david uh so allen how can god take what we've learned today and apply it to our you can be assured of this that jesus is the anointed one that's what messiah means that's what christ means and he never takes that anointing or his place of power to use it to terrorize the way saul did so david stands in contrast to saul instead of using the anointing of god to get what you want by putting fear into people david served the people well this is pointing to jesus who is the servant of all anointed with the holy spirit without measure could have terrorized people could have used it for his own selfish means but instead jesus christ served us by dying in our place wow that's good news today's good news message is a listener-supported production of allen wright ministries
