Calling & Compassion, Praise & Passion, Resolve & Restoration
Sermon for
Pastor Kenneth Bent
A) Introduction:
Last month Dr. Hammonds gave a message centered around the life of David as a man after God’s own heart.
The Scripture says of David:
Acts
The name David means “Beloved.”
David’s life is a type of Christ:
- The “Beloved” son from
- David a shepherd / Christ the Good Shepherd
- Humble service before he was exalted to Kingship
- Victory over Goliath after 40 days of fighting / Christ’s victory over the temptation of the devil came after 40 days.
- David experienced 3 anointings and functioned as a prophet, priest and King / Christ anointed and is our Prophet, Priest and King
David’s life is an example to believers:
1 ¶ Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; Thus says the man raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of
2 "The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue.
- David was raised up by God, believers are raised up
o Progressive Growth:
§ Shepherd Boy
§ Lion & Bear Killer
§ Giant Killer
§ Ruling and Reigning
- David Anointed by God, Believers are anointed
- David given a Word from the Lord, Believers are given a Word
David’s heart after God is an example to us.
A heart after God is a heart that values what God values.
A heart after God is a heart full of:
§ Motivation to do His will
§ Love for God
§ Worship of God
§ Love for people
B) But the heart of man has problems!
- Hard heart
o Romans 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
o Hebrews 3:8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,
o John
- Deceitfully wicked
o Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
- Doesn’t seek God
o Romans
11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.”
- Our Hearts have a tendency to grow cold, hard, irregular, weary
- We SIN!
- Even as Christians we battle lack of motivation, being noncommittal, impatient, unloving and hardness : Speaking of the last days,
o Matthew 24:12 says Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold
o
C) Jesus wants our hearts
- To Flow
o John
- To live in abundance of life
o John
- To spring up in joy - (JOY IS YOUR BUCKET)
o Isaiah 12:3 “WITH JOY you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
When you come to Christ, you will leave your water bucket behind – the things that used to satisfy you will no longer satisfy the thirsting of your soul.
o John
o John 4: 28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
D) When our heart has problems, sometimes we need CPR!!!
- by CPR I mean applying Biblical principles to your life – characteristics like those in David’s life, a man after God’s heart.
- Characteristics Like:
- “C” – Calling and Compassion
- “P” – Praise and Passion
- “R” – Resolve and Restoration
To Help Remember these Points, I have enlisted a DUMMY.
(bring out CPR Dummy)
(Interview Shawn – on saving lives, ABC’s of CPR – Airway, Breathing, Circulation, and the paddles)
In the words of the crash dummy commercials… “You can learn a lot from a dummy.”
- Bad choices and sin can get you into trouble!
- Sin makes you act like a dummy
- Sin takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you wanted to stay, and costs you more than you can pay
- Sin tells you just to lie there and do nothing
- Sin makes everybody stay “CLEAR” of you
- Who was it that said “Some Hollywood stars get more Rehab than a CPR dummy.”
- Getting CPR can save your life and so can “spiritual CPR.”
- CPR is not just for Dummys and ‘Dead Beats.’
- Giving spiritual CPR can save someone else’s life.
E) We need C P R
C
- Calling – from the Lord
o 1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him (David) in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.
o Philippians
- Compassion – for people
o 1 Samuel 22:2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
o Matthew
P
- Passion
– for God’s presence
o 1 Chronicles 13:3 Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul."
- to fight and win
o 1 Samuel
David was angry that Goliath was insulting the God of heaven.
What battle? - they really hadn’t fought at all for 40 days!!! Goliath was just coming out each day and taunting them!! It took a DAVID and his heart after God to break the pantomime warfare and take the battle to the enemy!
- Praise
– David wrote many of the Psalms, was called “the sweet Psalmist.” He was a man of praise and worship unto the Lord.
o Nehemiah
R
- Resolve –
§ To Keep going in spite of being chased by Saul for years
§ To get back in the fight – after the Amalekites stole everything and after all his followers wanted to stone him.
1 Sam. 30:6 “David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.”
- Restoration – The story of Mephibosheth
§ David made a covenant with his friend Jonathan – the son of Saul – to look after his family
§ Jonathan later died in a fight
§ Mephibosheth was lame in his feet because of a fall.
· 2 Samuel 4:4 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
§ WE TOO WERE ONCE ROYALTY BUT THROUGH A FALL LOST OUR RELATIONSHIP TO OUR HEAVENLY KING.
§ DAVID RESTORED MEPHIBOSHETH TO EAT AT THE KING’S TABLE BY HONORING HIS COVENANT WITH JONATHAN
§ WE TOO WERE RESTORED BY OUR GREATER DAVID WHEN HE HONORED THE COVENANT HE MADE.
· 2 Samuel 9:6 Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant!
2 Samuel
§ WE, THOUGH ONCE MADE LAME THROUGH THE SIN OF THE FALL, ARE NOW BROUGHT NEAR TO EAT AT THE KING’S TABLE BY THE COMPASSION AND GRACE OF OUR HEAVENLY DAVID, JESUS CHRIST.
§ REACH OUT AND RESTORE PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN RESTORED!
· Galatians 6:1 ¶ EVEN if a man should be detected in some sin, my brothers, the spiritual ones among you should quietly set him back on the right path, not with any feeling of superiority but being yourselves on guard against temptation.
WHAT ABOUT YOU TODAY?
WILL YOU ALLOW GOD TO GIVE YOU SOME CPR TODAY – THE CHARACTERISTICS OF DAVID’S HEART AFTER GOD?
Remind yourself of your great and high CALLING as a believer in Christ.
Have COMPASSION on those who are struggling. Be a person who gives PRAISE to the Lord. Be PASSIONATE for God and His purposes. Stand with RESOLVE in your heart to keep on going and growing even in the midst of difficult trials and difficult people.
Finally, be a person of RESTORATION – be restored, and reach out and restore through the love of Jesus.
