2024-11-10AM- Healing the Wounded

David and his men had escaped from Saul and were living among the Philistines. When they returned to their city, they found it destroyed and their families missing. David encouraged himself in the Lord and sought guidance. God told him to pursue the enemy and he would recover everything. While on their pursuit, they found a sick Egyptian man and took care of him. They didn't let their own troubles hinder them from helping someone in need. Alright, get you there. 1 Samuel chapter 30. We're going to begin reading in verse 8. And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And He answered him, Pursue. Thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. So David went, he and the 600 men that were with him, and came to the brook Dezar, where those that were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and 400 men, the 200 of both behind which were so faint they could not go over the brook Dezar. And they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. Gave him bread, and he did eat. And they made him drink water. They gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him. For he had eaten no bread nor drunk any water three days and three nights. David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? And whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. My master left me, because three days had gone. I fell sick. Lord, thank You so much for our time together today. Thank You for the things that have been said, felt, experienced already in this place. Lord, I bring my little loaves and my little bit of fish. I pray that You'll touch it. I pray You'll bless it. That You'll break it. God, that it will be multiplied for this congregation. I pray for the edifying of the saints. Help us to understand Your Word. To go forward in Your name. In Jesus' name I ask, Amen. Amen. I want to try to preach this morning on healing the wounded. Healing the wounded. David and his men, before we get to this place where we read here today, David and his men had escaped from the hand of Saul. Saul was wanting to kill David. So David and these 600 men fled from the presence of Saul and decided that they would go in a very unlikely place into the land of the Philistines. It was about a year and a half, a year and four months, and they stayed there. David would go out and he'd fight battles and he would destroy Israel's enemies and come back and tell Achish, the king of Gath, that yeah, we're out there beating up on Israel. Now we're taking in people from Israel. But actually he's out there killing the enemies of Israel. But it came to a day after a year and four months of being there, the Philistines were gathering forces and they were going to fight against Israel. They were going to fight against King Saul. David was there. He's now among the troops of the Philistines. Well, King Achish had some pretty smart men around him because Achish said, yeah, let's bring David with us. He's a good man. He's a great fighter. But there were those around that said, I don't think we're going to do too well if David comes with us. He is an Israelite. And we're going to fight Israel. What happens if he decides in the middle of the battle to turn against us and help Israel? And so they wisely said, tell you what, guys, you're on leave now. You don't have to fight this battle. I want David and the 600 men to just go back home. You've got families waiting back there for you. You've got wives and your children, your homes. And you get back and you can relax and work at the house some and take care of business. And so the Bible tells us that those men got up early in the morning and they headed home. Imagine they were happy. 600 men going back to see their families after being gone for some time in battle. No doubt they were looking forward to seeing their families. So for three days they traveled. Now they're fighters. These are warriors. They're tired already. They go across the desert and they get back. After three days, they make it to that city, Ziklag, that Achish had given to them. You can stay here. As they approach the city, no doubt somebody says something's wrong. Something's not right here in Ziklag. They approach Ziklag only to find their worst nightmare realized. They come into the place where once there had been houses. Once there had been marketplaces. Once there were children that were playing in the streets. After their three day journey, they come and they find a city that is empty now. Their families have all been carried away. The city had been burned down itself. And now, these 600 men, their families are missing. Now I know that this is a piece of history recorded for us in the Scriptures, and it's easy to distance ourselves from things like this. But I think about Brother Quentin as he goes out on storm duty and he's gone for a week and a half, maybe two weeks, and they said, you're ready to go home, Quentin. Go on home. Take care of things at the house. And if Quentin takes his journey home, no matter how long, he's interested in getting home. He's going to be glad to see his wife and his children. And then as he pulls around the corner and he sees in the distance smoke rising. I've been there where you see smoke rising in your neighborhood and you start wondering, is that my house? And if Brother Quentin was to pull down that driveway and see that his house is gone, and see that there's no signs of life anywhere, that's going to bother you. I mean, that's what these men were facing. These weren't just men that were like, oh, well, we came home and our house is all burned up and our families are missing. Well, now what do we do? No, these men had to be in great distress. They were already tired. No doubt they were frustrated from the things that they had already been through. And now they are facing grief. Probably like they had never experienced before. That's my wife that's gone. That's my children that have been carried away. We can build a new house. We can have a new marketplace. We can find another city to live in. But now my family is missing and I've got to do something about it. So they're grieving. And at some point, the Bible tells us somebody has an idea. This has got to be somebody's fault here. David is our leader. Somebody pointed to David and he said, it's his fault. And now some of the words start spreading through those 600 men. David should die for this. And they spake of stoning David. But the Bible says wonderful words of Scripture here in chapter 30 and verse 6. David encouraged himself in the Lord. In the worst of situations, in the hardest of times, in the lowest of life, David looks around. People are talking about killing him. Somewhere finds within him, I'm going to have to encourage myself in the Lord. My brother's not being very good encouragement right now. My warrior friends aren't being real good encouragement right now. I've got to step up and say, if it's up to anybody, it'll have to be up to me. I'm on my own right now. I'll have to encourage myself in the Lord. So the Bible says He calls for the priest. Tells the priest, bring the ephod. We've got to get a hold of God here. We're in a bad place right here. I thought it was bad when I was running from Saul. But we're in a bad place right now. We need to hear from God. I've spoken to you about the condition of the world that we're in. Our society that we're in the midst of right now. If there ever was a time that we're in need of hearing from God, it is the day that we're living in right now. We need a word from God. We've got this Bible. We need Spirit-filled men and Spirit-filled women that will hear from Heaven. That need to know what God is going to say for this hour. And so David calls for the priest. Let's pray, he says. His prayer was simple. It was direct. Shall I pursue? Is this going to do me any good? It's all lost. There was no one left to ask what happened. There was no one to tell them this was the direction they went in. No one around to say this is where they're going from here. Only one who knew. And we might as well ask Him. God sent back the answer right away. Pursue. But thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all. That's what God told David. What wonderful words. And so the Bible says that David pursued. He and 400 men. They head out. They're on this journey now. Now picture in your mind. You've got an idea. If Emily's missing, that Anthony, they're gone. What are you thinking about right now? You're not thinking about Black Friday sales. You're not thinking about, well, I hope I make it to work on time tomorrow. You're not saying I hope that I can get to the gas station before I run out of gas. You're not saying, well, I plan to fix that thing out back sometime this week. None of that is on your mind. The only thing you can think of is my family is lost. My family, I have no idea where they're being taken, but I've got to find them. I've got to reach out after them. It is likely in these men's minds. Nothing else matters. They were in hot pursuit of an enemy that had kidnapped their families. What could possibly get in the way of you pursuing after your family? What could it be? What would stop you? Nothing at all. It would be easy in a time like this. You can't think of anything else. Tunnel vision they call it. Tunnel vision. Peripheral vision is gone. All I can see is the goal that is out in front of me. Everything else doesn't matter at all. Everything has lost its meaning. And yet, while these men are in hot pursuit, trying to find their families, trying to recover, trying to rescue, they've got this on their mind, they come across somebody. They come across a man. A young man. A sick young man. Just some random stranger out in a field somewhere. Sick. He'd been alone for three days without food and without drink. No doubt hungry at this point. Dehydrated, laying out there, forsaken. And it would have been real easy for David and his men to say, let that be. We've got work to do out there. My family's missing. Just let him be. He's already sick. He's not one of us. Not from our country. He's an Egyptian. We have no affiliation with this man. Just let him be. We've got a place to go and we've got things that we do. We've got lives to rescue. We've got children that need to be saved from the hand of the enemy. And if we stop and tend to this random stranger out here, slow us down, boys. We really don't have time for this. We don't have time for somebody that we don't know. Time's very valuable right now. The longer we take, the longer we pay attention to this guy that's dying out here in the field, we just might not find our families. The welfare of their families was so important to them and was dependent on them reaching them in a timely manner, as quickly as possible. But these were honorable men. And they saw a man that was down. So they stopped. They recognized. He's not going to survive if I do nothing. So the Bible lets us know, it sure appears to me, that without any kind of hesitation, they pulled out of their own provisions and they gave him bread. And they gave him water. They gave him a piece of a cake of figs. They gave him two clusters of raisins. Once he had received help from David and his men, the Bible says his spirit came again to him. Now, you and I know, just from reading this Scripture, we knew who this man was. He was an Egyptian. He was a servant of an Amalekite that had just burned Ziklag. We know that. They didn't. They didn't turn that man over and say, tell us who you are. He said, I'm an Egyptian and I know where the Amalekites are. Good, we're going to help you here because then you can be a help to us. No. Before the questions ever came up, what can you do for me? I've got a lot to do. There's a lot on my plate. There's a lot of things that I've got to accomplish. And I don't know. I can't let that man die there. They found out he's a servant of an Amalekite who had carried away their wives and their children. He was there when Ziklag had burned. And he could help them find their lost families. Their compassion that welled up within them not only helped him, but because they were compassionate to him, he was able to help them. Their compassion actually didn't just help somebody. Alright, now we've got to get back to where we are. No, they had a stronger coalition. They had more help than they had had before because they stopped to help somebody. So what does all this have to do with us? I know you're catching on already. We have a lot going on. We are busy people. We've got people in our own families that are lost. When we receive prayer requests here, they're not prayer requests that go up because it's like, oh, yeah, I just thought of something. People on your heart. Names that you call out are already there. You're praying for them. Reaching out. Hey, help me pray here too. It's evident in our prayer requests. Wednesday night, Brother Joseph preached to us, life cannot deny you your calling. He mentioned in his message the busyness that is affecting every one of us right now and has the potential to get in our way. It's just life itself right now. Simply living our lives keeps us all extremely active. There are things to pursue. Legitimate things. I'm not talking about we're just always running here and there doing frivolous things. Life is keeping us busy right now. And there's a real danger that we can get that tunnel vision and all we can see is what's on our mind. I've got this little, narrow thing that I can think of. And I'm at risk of forgetting somebody. Missing somebody. Somebody who's hurt. Somebody who's wounded as we run on by. But they're there. They're there. They're strangers. We don't know their name. We're heading along and almost trip over them. And we pick up the pace. I've got time for that. I've got a burden for so many other things. But they're out there. Maybe it's a co-worker who's suddenly started acting differently at work. Maybe it's a neighbor who's suffered loss recently. Maybe it's just some random stranger out there in the world that's been abused by this hateful, sinful world and by people who love this world. We get wounded right among us at times too. Sometimes we recognize them. And sometimes we let them overlook us when we're wounded. When we're hurt. But they're out there. And they are in need of help. David's men stopped to help. You know what they were doing? They were fulfilling Jesus' parable of that good Samaritan. The Bible says he was on a journey. He had a place to go. He had something to get done when he got there. But he turned out of his way and he went down to help that man. He came across a man who was wounded. Somebody who had been robbed. Someone who had been abused. And as much as he had to do on his way, he said, I can't let this happen. So he helped him himself. He used his own resources to help him. Saw to it that he was going to be taken care of. Still was able to continue on his business, but said, I'm coming back through here again. And I'm checking up to see just how well things have gone. Jesus commended this man. The response of the good Samaritan, Jesus commended how he was. We are in a world, a fallen world, a wicked world, that is full of hurting people. There are those who have been used. There are those who have been abused. Some are facing situations that are causing them right now today to lose complete hope for life at all and need somebody to stop where we are and offer some hope. Those men had bread. They had water. They had a cake of figs. And they had raisins that they could offer a hungry and a thirsty man. We have Jesus Christ that we can offer to somebody who's hurting. Somebody who's drained of all joy. Somebody who feels like there's no hope. And Jesus fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah when He said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted. He has to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. The Lord our God is in the restoration business and He has called His people to be in the restoration business. Galatians 6, verse 1, the Bible tells us that if you find a brother who's overtaken, who's overwhelmed, what are we supposed to do? Restore him. How do we do that? In a spirit of meekness. The Bible tells us, we quote it all the time, that God's not willing that any should perish. He doesn't want you to perish. He doesn't want that one to perish either. If somebody's strong, God wants them to be saved. If somebody's weak, He wants them to be saved. If somebody is a warrior, God wants them not to perish. If somebody has been mortally wounded, He doesn't want them to perish. For all, even people among us, God wants to help people. He wants to restore people. He wants to recover lives. So I want to ask you this morning, a personal question here. Have you noticed someone needing help? Have you personally noticed someone in need of help? What was your first response? Was your first response criticism? He knows better than that. He doesn't need to be there. He's got bootstraps he can pull himself up by. She should never have been in that situation in the first place. Is your first response criticism? Or is it compassion? I don't find any of my David's men. How did you get here? How did you get in this mess? How did you get signed up with an Amalekite? All they saw was a man who was hurting. He was sick. He was dying. And he needed somebody to help him. You remember King Saul just before he died. The Bible says that he was wounded. Immediately Saul saw no hope. This is it. It's over. There was a trusted man that was right beside him. Somebody was there with him. His servant was right there with him. And when Saul said, it's over. I'm going to die. His servant could have said, let's see what we can do here. Let me see if I can get you to a place. You take my robe so nobody recognizes you as the king. I'll bandage up your wounds. We'll work on it here. He just stood there and watched as Saul took his own life, offering no help. We have the opportunity to help. We can tell the hurting, the wounded, don't give up. We can tell those who feel like their wounds are fatal, don't quit. When there doesn't seem to be any path to survival, don't give up. Don't give up. Psalm 147. Michelle, will you come to the piano please? Psalm 147 says this, The Lord doth build up. He gathereth together the outcasts. Listen to that. The Lord buildeth up and He gathereth the outcasts. He healeth the broken in heart and He bindeth up their wounds. Now, I'm going to promise you this, life is not going to get less busy. But Camden, life is not going to slow down. Brace yourself. It's not going to slow down. We're not going to have more opportunities to stop and help somebody. Time is not going to make itself available to us. God is interested in those who are wounded, who are hurting, who are failing. He loves those who are wounded. Stand with Me, if you will. God loves those who are hurting. God loves those who are sick. God loves those who aren't making it very well. He has called upon the church to be the face of His compassion. That's us. Are they going to read the Bible and see that God loves them? Not likely. Are they going to see somebody's bumper sticker that says, God loves you, and go, problem solved? We're the face of God's compassion. I'm just going to ask us. I'm just giving you what God laid on my heart. As busy as life is, somebody needs your help. Somebody needs your help. I saw it in the Bible I mentioned to you this morning. One man died. She kicked him out of the way. Go. Forget him. I'm asking us to keep our eyes open. All it takes is some kindness. All it takes is the love of God. The testimony of Jesus Christ. Father, thank You, Lord, for Your presence with us today. Thank You for the opportunity to deliver this message. I pray, God, that it will have some impact on me. I pray that it will have some impact. God, we're going to be busy. We're going to leave today and we're going to be busy. I pray You help us to notice somebody who's hurting. Somebody who's wounded. Somebody's not going to make it except they get help. Help us to remember. Remind us, O Lord, that we are Your hands, Your feet. We have a mission. Not just to make it home, nor just to see our own loss saved, but a stranger. Those in the highways. Those in the hedges. And I pray You give us that compassion in Jesus' name, Amen. Let's come in. Let's talk to the Lord this morning. Could it be that we're so heavenly minded that somehow we've been blinded to what He's calling us to do right here? Could it be that heaven's always planned it that we leave here empty-handed when this life disappears? Is it really living my one ambition? Simply hanging on till we all get out of here? I don't want to waste a breath one heartbeat in this chest. I want to see His kingdom come.