Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday morning, July 18, 2004, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia.
WHEN A SOLDIER WAS DISTRESSED
By Michael D. O’Neal Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church Albany, Georgia
Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 30:1-19
Text: 1 Samuel 30:6
1 Samuel 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
Introduction: This year we are encouraging God’s people to be good soldiers for Jesus Christ and to “Prepare for War in 2004.”
War is WAR, and it is possible for a Christian to face times of distress. It happened to David, and it can happen to you.
David was distressed because of
1. The circumstances (v. 1) – invasion by the Amalekites
2. The captivity (v. 2-3) – wives and children
3. The criticism (v. 6)
4. The choice he needed to make (v. 7-8)
David not only survived the time of distress, but he conquered! Let’s see what we can learn by his example, as God recorded it:
I. HE WORKED ON HIMSELF
1 Samuel 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
A. He remembered the past
1. God had delivered him from the lion and the bear
2. God had delivered Goliath into his hands
B. He relied on the power available
1. Philippians 4:13
C. He rejoiced in the prospect of the recovery of his loss
II. HE WENT TO THE LORD
1 Samuel 30:7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.
See 1 Samuel 23:9
A. David recognized his personal limitations
B. David remembered a previous deliverance (1 Samuel 23:9)
C. David reached out to his powerful God!
III. HE WAITED FOR ASSURANCE
1 Samuel 30:8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
A. He got a definite answer
B. He got a detailed answer
1. Pursue
2. Overtake
3. Recover
C. He got a delightful answer
1. “without fail”
2. “recover ALL”
IV. HE WAGED WAR
1 Samuel 30:9-16
A. With the authority of the word of God
1. Proverbs 20:18
B. With the assistance of warriors
V. HE WON THE VICTORY
1 Samuel 30:17-19 And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. 18 And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. 19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.
A. What a rescue! (V. 18)
B. What a recovery! (V. 19)
C. What rejoicing!
D. What a Redeemer!!!
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Michael D. O’Neal (Proverbs 11:30), Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church |