Lessons from David: Faith Over Fear

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Good morning. Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherri Campbell. This morning I’m going to continue and conclude sharing with you the message I’ve been sharing with you in the last few broadcasts. That is message number two in a series of messages that I preached in our Victorious Faith services called What Made David a Man After God’s Own Heart. So join me now in our live service for the conclusion of message two in this series. What Made David a Man After God’s Own Heart. Hebrews 10, 38, and 39. But my righteous one will live by faith. That’s another, the just shall live by faith scripture. You know that scripture, the just shall live by faith? It’s in the Bible four times. Four. That means it’s important. It’s the same verse four times. The just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. And then the fourth time, the just shall live by his faith. And then this goes on. If he shrinks back… I will not be pleased with him. God is not pleased when you disobey. He’s not pleased when you hold back in fear. He’s not pleased when you procrastinate. Verse 39, but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed. If you shrink back, you get destroyed. We are those who believe and are saved. Praise God. So we are not of those who draw back. And then, of course, I’m not even going to read the story of Goliath. You know the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, 32 to 37. Well, let me go ahead and read it. Yes. Let me read it quickly. David said to Saul, let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him. Saul replied, you’re not able to go out against the Philistine and fight him. You are only a boy and he has been a fighting man from his youth. But David said to Saul, your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it. I struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it, and killed it. Notice this. He doesn’t say he might. I hope he will. Says he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. Saul said to David, go. Saul could hear the faith in David’s voice. Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you. Go and the Lord be with you. And so without faith, it is impossible to please God. I feel like the Lord is making this an important point for us tonight. Obedience. And obedience requires faith. The greatest thing that will hinder your obedience is fear. And let me say another thing, ignoring. I mean, of course, if you don’t even hear the prompting or the leading, you’re not going to follow it. And so I guess that’s also as big of a key as the other because you first have to seek the Lord’s will. Inquire of the Lord. Desire to do his will and desire to be led by his spirit every single day of your life. Desire to, like I said, ask him to lead you to know when to go places and which one to buy, this one or this one. Which company to hire to do a job for you, to shampoo your carpet, to repair your washer, whatever. You know, inquire of the Lord. Learn to follow the Spirit because the Lord will help you to get the right business, the right company, the right contractor, the right repairman, the right product. So you’re not wasting money or time. And so practice with all those things because the more you sensitize yourself to listening, the more you’re going to recognize the leading. I believe the Lord wants us to really focus on this. But the problem is that so many Christians are going about their lives, not even hardly asking the Lord, inquiring, thinking about what is the Lord’s will. They just follow their head, or they follow their friends, or they follow their Google search. They pull it up on Google and they follow that. Now the Lord can use a Google search. I do Google search. But the Google search isn’t what makes me make my final decision. My final decision goes with what I get inside, in my heart, what feels right. And so, yeah, it’s nothing wrong with getting a Google search, but the problem is sometimes it can be wrong. If God has very clearly said, do this, there’s no question about it. Just like Oral Roberts said, inquire no more with flesh and blood. Because then, whenever you do the Google search, and it brings up all this contradicting information to what you feel God told you to do… Then you’ve confused yourself. Well, the Google says this, but I think God is saying this. Go with God. There should be no question. So when God speaks, don’t even, confer no more with flesh and blood. That’s what Oral Roberts taught. And God’s word should be the last word, final word. God said it, that’s it. We don’t even consider anything else. Don’t consider anything else. Because once you start considering options and what other people say, you bring in other voices, all these other voices coming in, and they are going to confuse you. And then you’re going to get fear. And then you’re going to procrastinate. Then you’re going to say, I don’t know what to do. Yet you do know what to do if you just would go with what God said on the inside. And so go with it. Practice following the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord to lead you about small decisions, big decisions, what to wear, what to eat. where to shop, all of that. Follow the Lord every day and be quick to obey. Remember this, delayed obedience is disobedience. Procrastination is disobedience. God is looking for someone who is going to be quick to obey and step out. If you happen to make a mistake and it wasn’t the leading of God, and this is another thing I was going to tell you, you learn from those mistakes as well. You learn from those mistakes. You think it was God, but it wasn’t. Well, then next time you’ll be a little bit more clear on discerning the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Remember, it says in Hebrews 4 about the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Well, you have to discern between my desire and God’s desire. That’s some discernment that needs to take place. So that comes with practice. Was this God or was this me? Well, if it turns out to be a mistake, then you know that wasn’t God. That had to have been me. Well, then you learn from those mistakes. And mistakes can help you to grow and help you to recognize his voice better and discern his voice better. But if you do make a mistake, God is able to fix it. And it is better to step out in faith to obey God than to hold back in fear and be disobedient. You miss the blessings, you miss divine appointments, and you miss opportunities. You can even miss the plan of God for your life. And so being quick to obey, hasten to obey. That’s what David said in Psalm 119, verse 60. I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands. And then step out by faith as we read in Hebrews 10, 38, and 39. Well, Hebrews 11, 6, without faith, is it difficult? It’s impossible to please God. So faith pleases God. If you step out in faith, you are pleasing God. And the just shall live by faith. If you’re made righteous by the blood of Jesus, you say, that’s me. I’m washing the blood. Then how should your life be? A life of faith. So you live by faith. That means you step out and you obey in faith and you don’t let fear stop you. And as it says in Hebrews 10, 38-39, we are not of those who hold back, but we are of those who act in faith and we obey and we are saved. We are blessed. We fulfill God’s plan for our lives. So I’m going to stop right there tonight. Make this confession. Say it with me right now. I am always… In the right place at the right time, doing the right thing with the right people the right way. And make that a faith confession, but then by faith obey the Lord. and practice following the leading of the Holy Spirit, that will get you more and more accustomed to recognizing the witness, the promptings, and the leadings of the Spirit on the inside, and you get better and better and better and better and better at it. I just thank God all the time for times when I just got a prompting, get up and go right now, and I went, and boy, that was perfect timing for that. I recognize it so many times. Boy, that was the perfect timing. I’m glad I didn’t wait an hour. And we’ll get into this another time. But, you know, waiting an hour can kill you. People have been in accidents because they waited an hour. And they were tragic, deathly accidents. And they’re no longer on earth. They’re with God in heaven. But they’re not on earth because they waited an hour when God said, go now. It can kill you. So we are those who obey, quick to obey. Father, we thank you for the power of your word, the power of your spirit. Thank you for speaking to us tonight. It is your will and desire that we obey you, not just because you want slaves. No, you’ve got sons and daughters. And it’s because you know the future. You know the right way. You know the best way. You know where the blessings are. You know where the divine appointments are, where the good things are. You also know where the traps are, where the pits are, where the dangers are. And you are always leading us and guiding us and directing us by your spirit. If we would only listen and hear. And obey. You would save us from accidents, tragedies, disasters, financial loss, material loss, relationship loss. And we would be in the place that you chose to receive blessings. opportunities, favors, gifts, benefits, and the wonderful plan of God being fulfilled in our lives. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for being our guide and our teacher, our counselor, our wisdom. Teach us to hear your voice. Make this your prayer right now. Teach us to hear your voice, O Lord. Help us to be sensitive to your spirit. Lead us and guide us in your path. And we choose to do your will. We desire to do your will. We delight to do your will, O God. Help us to always follow you in everything, no matter how small or how big. how small or how big, we will follow you. Thank you, Father God. And by doing this, not only are we blessed, but we honor you. We honor you, Father God. We honor you and we worship you. And we give you all the glory. all the glory, all the honor, all the praise, all the thanks for all the things that you are doing, the blessings and the good things that you’re bringing to pass in our lives. We thank you, Father, for it. In Jesus’ name, and everyone said, Amen. What you just heard was the conclusion of message two in a series of messages that I preached in our victorious faith services called What Made David a Man After God’s Own Heart. And we will begin message number three tomorrow. So join me again tomorrow. And remember, God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.