Dr. Michael Usap introducing a new teaching series on Leading the Way. Most people are familiar with two things about David. They are familiar with his greatest victory when he slain Goliath. And they are familiar with his greatest defeat when he committed adultery with Bathsheba.
But champion for God. Live the difficult life. He lived a tragic life. He lived a lonely life. He lived a life of broken dreams.
He lived a life of brokenness, period. King David experienced a drama-filled life. not only public and personal success, but also scandal, deception. even murder. Thank you for making time in your day for Leading the Way Audio with Dr.
Michael Youssef. The Bible doesn't highlight David's story just because it's exciting or movie script worthy. but because David was a man after God's own heart. Are you? Beginning today on Leading the Way, Dr.
Michael Youssef guides you into the life of David, and it will change your life.
So, join me now in listening to Dr. Michael Youssef's teaching series, David: Portrait of a Champion. When Wendell Wilkie one time was visiting Franklin De Roosevelt in the White House. He asked him a following question after he observed what's going on for a while. And the question went like this.
I said, Mr. President, Why do you keep that frail, sickly man, Harry Hopkins, constantly at your elbow?
Now, regardless of what you think Harry Hopkins did or did not do, I just wanted to listen to the story. Without a moment's hesitation, Roosevelt replied. He said, Mr. Welke, Through that door flows an incessant stream of men and women. who almost invariably want something from me.
Harry Hopkins desires only to serve me. And for him to do that well, He has to stay close to me. As I read this, I thought of David. This frail, young Obscure Not very well respected among his brothers. And yet, chosen by God to be King.
He anointed a king. There are two things about that similarity between David and that story. Number one, he stayed close to the Lord, and that is the secret. of his service. Secondly, he desired to serve the Lord only.
There are so many people in the churches from mixed motives. There are so many people in the church. for varieties of reasons. And only God knows the true motives. There are so many people who are into God only for what they can get out of God.
There are so many people into Christianity of what they can get out of Christianity. But David the king, was There to serve the living God and serve him alone. That was the motive of his heart. And that's what God saw and distinguished David from the rest of his brothers. And that is why he didn't only become a great king of Israel, but he became.
One of the greatest men in entire history. Why? Because God is looking for availability above ability. Because God is looking for willing servants, not reluctant doers. Because God is looking for God-servers, not self-servers.
And there are many people in the Christian church. who are long on talent but short On testimony. There are many people in the Christian church who are long on wishfulness. But short. Unwillingness.
And the first characteristics that we're going to learn in this series of messages: the first characteristics of a champion for God. Is that God puts availability above ability.
Now, I'm not minimizing ability. Don't misunderstand me, please. Because all of our abilities are gifts from God. They come to us from the hand of the living God. Ability without availability.
equals inability. Most people are familiar with two things about David. They are familiar with his greatest victory when he slain Goliath, and they are familiar with his greatest defeat when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. But there's much more about David than those two events. Just to put it in perspective, Abraham and his life occupy 14 chapters in the whole Bible.
Joseph's life occupies 14 chapters. Jacob's life occupies seven chapters. David's life occupies sixty-six chapters in the Bible. In fact, there are more than 59 references to David in the New Testament alone. This champion for God.
Lived Not a Teflon lifestyle. Where all the problems and all the difficulties and all of the sorrows of life just slipped by. Did not affect him, no? He lived a difficult life. He lived a tragic life.
He lived a lonely life. He lived a life of broken dreams. He lived a life of brokenness period.
So, with that brief introduction, I want to give you a ten-second historical background.
Now if you blink you'll miss it, so Fasten his seat belt. Moses. comes out of Egypt, brings the people out of Egypt and get into Sinai. And then he loses his nerve. God told him He's going to take him to the promised land, but instead what did He do?
He formed a committee. Every time you form a committee. In order to Do something that God told you already you should do. and to discuss it, they will lose their nerve. Sure enough, They put it up for a vote and it was 10 to 2.
Ten lost their nerves, only Joshua and Caleb, so let's go and get them. And God said, Okay, you're going to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. That generation will never see the promised land. for disobedience and going ahead and forming a committee. When God says to do it, do it.
Don't go around consulting people. Do it. Joshua comes in, he takes him into the promised land. They get the victory and then Joshua dies in the promised land. But before he dies, he makes him a solemn warning.
He said, if you do not follow the Lord your God and the commandments of the Lord your God, You will be the most miserable people on the face of the earth. That's a use of translation, but that's what it means. And sure enough, they don't heed his message. And we get into the book of Judges, and there the book of Judges becomes a day like our day. A day when everybody wants to do their thing.
They want to do what is right in their own eyes. It was a day in which they removed God's moral standards. It was a day when they rationalized their indulgences. They winked at the rebellion. They abandoned their responsibility to God and the promises they made to God.
They were busy doing their thing, doing what feels good. And from the pain of the book of Judges comes The beautiful story in the book of Ruth. Ruth, the Gentile woman, the beautiful, loyal Gentile woman. I have no time to cover her life, but she marries a Jewish man by the name of Baaz. Boaz and Ruth have a boy named Obed.
Obed, when he grows up, he has a son named Jesse. Jesse has eight boys, the youngest was David. And 28 generations later, In the same city where David was born in Bethlehem. A virgin gives birth to a baby, Jesus the Lord the Messiah. Don't ever underestimate the sovereignty of God.
Please, if you get nothing today, listen carefully. Don't ever underestimate the sovereignty of God. It is the pit. Pillar of our faith. God will always accomplish His purpose with or without your cooperation.
Back to the book of Judges. God answered the prayer. Of a woman who was barren, who called upon God, who prayed with all of her heart, and she said, God, if you give me a son, I'll dedicate him to you. And God gives Hannah. Samuel.
And she Keeps her promise, brings him to the temple to serve the living God. And Samuel becomes the last of the judges and the first of the prophets. I told you this is a quick historical Background.
Now during Samuel's time Israel's temperature was lousy. Parents were abandoning and abdicating the responsibility to their children. Even Eli the priest. Was so busy in his position that his family was falling apart and he didn't know it. And the people of Israel's rebellion at that point, their rebellion against God, it took on a special form.
It took on a defiant turn. And they came to Samuel and they said, enough this business of God being our king. We want a human king, just like the Canaanites and the Amorites and all the other ites. We want to be like the other people. We don't want to be different.
We're tired of being different. And Samuel goes out and he weeps to God, and God says, They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me, Samuel. Give them the desire of their heart. They didn't want God to be their king. They wanted a human king so they can manipulate him.
They rejected Jehovah as their governor, and they wanted a human governor who could legitimize the rebellion.
So Sol becomes their first king. Let me tell you a few things about Saul before I leave him here. Saul was gifted on paper. He had all the talent in the world. He was a king with all the abilities.
He was a king. with all the human credentials. Best resume in town. This is just a little problem. His heart was rotten.
So God rejects Saul's leadership because Saul has rejected Jehovah's lordship. God rejected Saul's kingship. Because Saul rejected God's kingship.
So God set the samwell. Enough mourning over Saul. I've already rejected him. Get up, get some oil, and get to Jesse's house. You notice here God did not say to Samuel, now Samuel.
Get oil? Go down to Jesse's house. and anoint David his son. To be a king. I love it if the Lord speaks that clearly.
Wouldn't that be wonderful? to discern it right away and you don't have to struggle. You don't have to wait. Sure. Why?
Why didn't he say to him, Samuel, get up, get oil, go down, and get David anointed? I'll tell you why. Because God never gives you information ahead of time. He never gives you all the information ahead of time. Even if you are a prophet.
If he did, You wouldn't learn. If he did, you wouldn't grow. If he did, you wouldn't mature. And here the Lord is about to teach Samuel. The first lesson.
is that availability is above ability. But I want you to notice Samuel's reaction. This is magnificent. Verse 2. Samuel said, yes, Lord, whatever you say, I'm ready to do it.
Did it say that? Yeah. You know what? If Samuel did this, we would all say we can't relate to this. This is a robot.
But he was scared to death. Listen to what he said. He said, Lord, Saul will kill me. He was concerned. For the safety.
of his wife's husband. And he was scared to death. He's a Lord. I'm not ready to die. I still got Few more years left.
I don't want to die yet. This is a legitimate fear. It is well known. That if a king learns that another king is chosen, that chosen king and the one who anointed him, their heads are chopped. You remember Herod?
As soon as he heard there's a king born in Bethlehem, he chopped the heads of all the babies in Bethlehem. And Samuel wasn't ready for that.
Sometime And I'm not saying always, but sometimes. The Lord would ask you to do something That is scary.
Sometimes the Lord will ask you to do something that requires risk.
Sometimes the Lord will ask you to do something that demands sacrifice.
Sometimes the Lord asks you to do something that requires you a necessity for you to do some spiritual bungee jumping. Because The Lord is testing your willingness. to trust him. He is testing your willingness. to take him at his word.
annoying that he's down there. already putting his hands out to catch you. Whether it is a sacrifice of money, whether it is a sacrifice of time, or whether it is a sacrifice of reputation. God puts the question there. And he waits.
Are you going to do it? He's gonna wait. I wanna tell you something, if you think you can outweigh God, Forget it. And he'll wait. And he'll wait, he's going to see how you react.
He's going to see whether you're going to take the plunge or you're going to pull back. Verses six to thirteen. Tells us that Sam will finally take a plunge and he goes to Bethlehem. to Jesse's house. I don't want you to miss this.
This is the principle that I want to elaborate on. He goes into Jesse's house after his sacrifice, which was a good excuse. He says, Jesse, Give me your best. and your brightest.
Now, I want to tell you from a Middle Eastern culture perspective. You got to understand that the oldest boy is the joy of his father's eye. He is the apple of his father's eye. He is the joy of his father's life. See all this boy.
That's just the way things are. I'm one of eight down in the bottom. Ha ha ha ha. Thank God I got I had some love left. By the time I came on the scene.
So Jesse said, Bring Eliab. Eliab comes out. the eldest.
Now if you're the elders, just forgive me about what I'm going to tell you, okay? Mostly, this is not always the case, but mostly they're highly strong. Yeah. Overachievers. And El Yab has been successful in running the family business.
Man. Not only that, But in his younger days, he played for the Bethlehem Steelers. He was named the MVP of the year. Three consecutive years. This is a creme de la creme.
Jess is best. And he walks in there, look at the Bible said, he's tall, he's handsome, he's strong. I mean, he comes in, and Samuel says, wow. I got my man. He gets up the oil and he gets up and he starts anointing him.
God said, Sit down, Samuel. Lord, he's the eldest boy. This is the best. The guy says, sit down. That's not what I'm chosen.
It's okay. Comes the next one. He's going to bring me the second one. The second boy walks in.
Well The second boy was different. Ab and a dub was the studious type. I mean, he had a PhD, and his research papers are known throughout the land. In fact, he made the Jesse name famous. because of his research papers.
He was well known. Ah, okay, now I get it, Samuel says. God wants an academician to lead the nation. God help us. But Well.
God is looking for the scholarly type, you know? And he gets up with all enthusiasm, is about to pour the oil on him, and God says, Samuel, sit down again.
Well, I missed it again. He goes back to Jesse. He said, Jesse, bring me your third boy. Shama comes in.
Now, let me tell you something about Shama. He has a Harvard MBA, but despite of that he was also smart. When he was a successful business dealer, he was a wheel-in-dealer, man. He became an expert on merger acquisitions and leverage buyouts. And he was a great negotiator.
Now, when you get the two combinations, a guy who's from the Middle East and a good negotiator get out of the way. You'll lose every time. And Samuel said to himself, I said, now I get it. God wants an experienced businessman to run the nation. That's what he had.
Okay, now I got it, Lord.
Okay, he gets up and starts. And God says, wrong again. You can imagine Samuel by that time is just a bad. Stopped guessing. He just stopped.
trying to second guess God, he just stopped trying to assume. My friends, I wanted to ask you this. How many times Have we found ourselves to be in Samuel's place? We go this way and we go the other way And every time we convince ourselves, surely this must be the way, surely this must be the one, surely this must be where God wants me. Seven boys.
Past Parade it. in front of Semwell. Seven boys, one after the other. And the Lord says, not him. Not him.
Not him. Why is that? Verse 7 gives you the answer. The Lord Himself gives you the answer. God said, We judge people and situation.
by how they appear to us on the outside. But God judges the inner motives. We get taken by those who have the ability to use sanctimonious language and we think, wow, I'm the greatest spiritual giant. But God reads the unspoken language of the heart. We can be duped by someone's ability on paper.
But God judges by one's availability to fully serve the living God. And that's what we're going to do. Finally, Samuel. Asks Jesse. He said, are these all your sons?
This is it? And Jesse probably stuttered and stammered and scratched his head and hesitated for a minute and then he said, Well, No, not really. We have the runt in the family. He's not here though. He's not here.
And in a culture Where the firstborn matters the most. In a culture Where age and success matters the most? God says None of these. are really my choice.
So Samuel said to Jesse, Go ahead, send for that runt. I want to see him. Just bring him here. And I can imagine little David, you know, teenager. Teenage boy who's working in the With the animals shepherding.
Most likely barefooted. And he walks in there. And God says, Okay, Sam, will you got yourself a winner? Imagine Samuel's reaction. This boy Lord.
Yeah. Why? Because God puts availability. Ahead. of ability.
Will you listen to me as I'm getting ready to close, please? As long as you are hung up on what you don't have. As long as you are hung up on what you cannot do, as long as you're hung up on what you missed out on, as long as You hung up on what you'd have been. God will not use you. That's quite a statement, I know.
He wants you to be available. First and foremost. Dr. Michael Yousap with a challenge to personally consider your availability. over your ability.
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