David Wright

A Man After Gods Own Heart: King David

Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

13 Power Grab And Civil War

Looking briefly here at the American Civil War.

In fact, and there's some debate that goes back and forth, but the thinking is something like 618, 000 men perished in the Civil War.

In fact, I went looking for examples of family members and specifically found a place where it had brothers that fought, 1 for the Union and 1 for the Confederacy.

And I came across 10 different ones that are documented in which battles they fought in and exactly what happened and so on and so forth.

And you read through some of this and families were very polarized and this was an issue that we could not talk about or maybe it just divided us entirely, the Civil War.

1 such example on June 16, 1862, Brother James and Alexander Campbell fought each other on opposite sides of the Battle of Secessionville, which was the first major attempt by federal troops to regain Charleston.

And James and Alexander Campbell were brothers from a Scottish family.

They migrated to the United States in the 1850s.

And Confederate James Campbell joined a militia company in Charleston known as the 42nd Infantry Regiment, which consolidated with other troops into the Charleston Battalion.

In New York, Alexander Campbell, brother, joined the 79th Highlander Regiment.

And we are told that as this fighting ensued, they were within yards of each other.

Can you imagine fighting, shooting, whatever's going on?

I mean, it's just, everything is just going crazy.

And can you imagine locking eyes with somebody that you know?

Somebody you know well, an older brother, a younger brother?

Now in this case, we don't have that they actually, their eyes locked.

Out of the numbers that perished, It's quite probable that that situation did happen.

With James and Alexander, it wasn't until after this battle that some of the prisoners had said, did you know that your brother was the 1 leading the church right across the way with the color guard that day.

Can you imagine fighting against your own family?

Does fighting ever take place in our families today?

Does fighting ever take place in the church today?

That's something we don't often like to talk about.

As a pastor, I go and visit, and oftentimes I hear of casualties, especially in a new district.

You go and you visit, you don't know who's active, who's not active, and you can get an earful, let me tell you, of what happened over here and what happened over there and when this went wrong and when that went wrong and this wasn't handled right and that wasn't handled right.

Civil war, what would the devil have us to do but to fight among ourselves.

Well today, or continuing here with, I forgot this piece, as it relates to the Civil War, historians agree that Abraham Lincoln did an amazing job at keeping this country together.

Incredibly difficult time in our country.

Some say, well, it's because he was a visionary.

Lincoln had a clear vision of the country's future, centered on preserving the Union and ending slavery.

Others said, no, it's because he was an effective communicator.

His speeches, including the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation proclamation, inspired the nation and rallied support for the union cause.

Others say, no, no, no, it was his political acumen.

He formed coalitions, he managed rivalries within his own party, he reached across party lines when necessary.

Some say, well, it was because he was practical and flexible while holding to principles.

When necessary, he was willing to adapt his approach.

But I think there's some other reasons too that are certainly worth noting, and historians have noted these too, his empathy and humility.

Lincoln's humility and empathy helped him connect with people from all walks of life and he listened.

He listened to their concerns, both of citizens and soldiers, political leaders, and as a result fostered trust and cooperation.

Others have noted it was his ability to forgive and bring about reconciliation.

Despite the deep divisions caused by the Civil War, Lincoln advocated for forgiveness and reconciliation with the South.

And his emphasis on unity and healing laid the foundation for reconstruction and the eventual reunification of this country.

Today we're gonna continue our series, David, a man after God's own heart and today we're looking at a piece called Power Grabs and Civil War.

Lest you think that when the unforeseen happened to Saul and to his sons that David just walked in to the cheers of everyone, that's not exactly how it went down.

We're gonna turn in our Bibles this morning to this next piece in our story in this series, Power Grabs and Civil War.

And we're gonna begin in 2 Samuel 2, beginning verse 1.

And we read, it happened after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?

Now he could have just said, now's my chance, I'm going in, I've been waiting long enough, here we go, who's with me?

But I love how right here, David inquires of the Lord saying, shall I go up to any cities of Judah and he waits for a response and the response is go up and David said where shall I go up he wants to be specific he wants to get this right and he said to Hebron So David went up there and his 2 wives also we read.

Verse 3 and David brought up the men who are with him even every man with his household so they dwelt in the cities of Hebron and then in verse 4 it says in the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

And so again, Saul had died along with Jonathan, but David doesn't rush in.

He doesn't assume charge or to be in charge.

He doesn't march into the land of Israel and take over the whole nation.

He could've, but instead he asks God what to do.

Before he takes a single step, shall I go up?

We see here at the forefront, David wants to do this the right way.

Now Hebron is about 19 miles south of the city of Jerusalem.

This is where God spoke to Abraham through 3 visitors.

And told he and Sarah that they would have a child.

Later Joshua gave Hebron to Caleb in his inheritance.

And as we just read here in verse 4, it is where David's anointed.

The private anointing took place years ago, but this 1 is a bit more public.

But take note, it is only Judah that crowns David king.

And we are told this limited reign lasted 7 and a half years.

There were tribes to the north, loyal to Saul, who continued to recognize his family line.

In fact, if we skip down to verse 8, it says, "'But Abner, the son of Nair, commander of Saul's army, ' we read about him before, "'took Ash-bosheth, the son of Saul, "'and brought him over to Mahanaim, "'made him king over Gilead, over the Asherites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel.

Well, backing up to verse 5, We pick up our story or back up a little bit.

So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said to them, you are blessed to the Lord, for you have shown this kindness to your Lord, to Saul, and have buried him.

And now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you.

I also will pray you this kindness because you have done this thing.

Now therefore let your hands be strengthened and be valiant for your master Saul is dead and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.

What do we see here is we see David is waiting on God's leading.

He's not sitting idly by, he's intentional, he's encouraging the support of those of the house of Saul, he's reaching out with diplomacy, he heard about the brave actions of the Jabesh Gileadtes, the ones that took Saul's body and Jonathan and gave them a proper burial.

12 When Your Enemy Falls

You know, I couldn't help but notice when the kids were up here, what are you afraid of in the children's story?

I remember when I was maybe 5678, You always had to watch for the bad guys.

In fact, I'm thinking of 2 bad guys in particular, and these young boys, they were about our age, but they were the bad guys.

Their family life was just very different in what they watched and all these other, they were just, well, in our little sphere, they were the bad guys.

And so what do you do when there's a bad guy?

And so you have maps and you have forts and you name those forts, we're gonna be in the eagle's nest and then we're gonna go down to the cover and all the cars that start to go by, they're bad guys too, they're spies.

And so you have to make play guns and you dig ditches and you do all these things because you're always hiding from the bad guys.

You even have zip lines so when they see you, you say, oh, they're coming, down into another fort and you're gone.

You would maybe dig holes and put sticks over top and put leaves and they would break the sticks and fall like a whole foot and a half.

You know where it is because you put some secret little thing and it's this high and this high.

And so when you come, you just jump over it.

And here come the bad guys, and they trip and they fall.

And as kids, what do we say to the bad guys when they fall?

Ha ha ha, you fell, you didn't see the trip line.

How about as adults in your sphere, your world, your life, are there bad guys?

Hopefully as adults you don't say, haha you fell.

But are we immune to a response that is not what it should be?

Maybe we don't even say a word, we just kind of give a look like, serves you right.

Or maybe it's that polite giggle that we try and cover like, did you see what happened?

How do you respond when your enemy, when your antagonist falls?

Well, that's what we're gonna look at today.

We're still going through this series on David, A Man After God's Own Heart, and that's the title of this 1, part number 12, When Your Enemy Falls.

And we're going to open up our Bibles and turn to the last chapter, 1st Samuel, and You might recall when we last left Saul, he was desperate and as a result was going to the witch of Endor.

When we last left David, he was hiding with the Philistines according to his own bright idea and when they came back to ZigZag on 1 particular occasion everything was destroyed, their wives and their daughters and children I should say were taken and his own men were speaking of stoning him and so he also was in a time of desperation.

Saul went to a witch, David reached, when he reached his lowest point, looked to God for strength and for help.

Both in different places, both different responses, but that's essentially where we are when we get to today's piece in 1 Samuel 31, and I'm gonna pick it up in verse 2.

Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, Melchishua, Saul's sons.

And the battle became fierce against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.

Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.

But his armor-bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid.

Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it.

And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him.

And so in verse 6 we read, so Saul, his 3 sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that same day.

And the details that follow are quite grim.

The enemy removes the head from Saul, strips him of his armor, takes the armor to the temple of their false gods.

This is a way of saying our God is more powerful, some bragging rights, and then they put Saul's body on display, hanging on a fence, decapitated.

And by the end of this chapter, a group of people, Jabesh, Gilead, travel all night to steal the body of Saul and his sons that are on display and for the birds of the air and so on.

And they steal the bodies, if you will, they cremate the bodies, they bury them with respect and fast for 7 days.

Because in chapter 11 this group of people they were attacked and their enemies were going to gouge out the right eye of all and Saul heard about this and he rallied a huge force of over 300, 000 men and he comes to their rescue in a time of peril.

And so out of respect and gratitude they come at great risk to themselves to take Saul and his sons to bury their dead king.

And perhaps in that there's a lesson for us.

May our memories of kindness be long and our memory of offenses be short.

And so then we move over to 2 Samuel 1 as David receives word.

2 Samuel 1, verse 1, and we read, Now it came to pass, after the death of Saul, and when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had stayed 2 days in Ziglag, on the third day, behold, it happened that a man came from Saul's camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head.

So it was when he came to David that he fell to the ground and prostrated himself.

And David said to him, where have you come from?

This is a messenger, he's been roughed up.

And so he said to him, I've escaped from the camp of Israel.

Verse 4, then David said to him, how did the matter go?

And he answered, the people have fled from the battle.

Many of the people are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

So David said to the young man who told him, how do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?

Verse 6, then the young man who told him said, as I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul leaning on his spear, and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.

Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me.

Here we're entering into a different account, by the way.

And he said to me again, please stand over me and kill me, for anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me.

So I stood over him and killed him because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen.

And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm and I have brought them here to my Lord.

Now again, these verses are very contradictory to what we just read in the last chapter of 1 Samuel.

And so he brings to David the crown, the bracelet.

We have this idea, this hint really, that he is looking for some reward.

And he says, I'll make up a story in which I have been the 1 to take Saul's life and I will be the 1, I'm the opportunist that brings the crown and the bracelet, I'll bring it to David and this will be for me a great honor.

And so he confidently is expecting that his tidings will be hailed with joy and celebration, and there'll be a rich reward for the part that he has acted.

Patriarchs and Prophets 695 says, "'Supposing that David must cherish enmity "'toward his relentless persecutor, "'the stranger hoped to secure honor to himself as the slayer of the king.

He confidently expected that these tidings would be hailed with joy and that a rich reward would be for him on the part that he had acted.

And I imagine those that watched and waited wanted to see how their leader would respond.

It's kind of this breathtaking moment in which a lesser person probably would have rejoiced and thanked the bearer of good tidings and quickly snatched up the crown as rightly his.

I mean, after all, the cloud that had so long hung over the head of David is now finally lifted.

And the promise and expectation for years, some 11 years, was finally going to be realized.

11 When Seeing is not Believing

Spiritualism, occultism, witchcraft is on the rise in America and I think we could even say around the globe.

In fact this article here says witch talk, the rise of the occult on social media has eerie parallels with the 16th century and this talks about all kinds of things But this individual gets on at 1 30 in the morning 1 is a D Demonolator a word I've never heard before someone who claims to worship demons and can petition them in return for knowledge or power.

The other describes themselves as a Solomonic magician and claims to be able to command demons to do his bidding.

And this goes on back and forth in social media and you get to just follow along.

And it's not just in verbiage, but it's in video clips.

And TikTok is set up to have 15 second video clips.

So we wanna just take you straight to the punch and punch and punch.

And you can put up to, what, 4 of those together in a 60-second total.

But all of this is helping people to understand in a subcategory called Witch Talk, How to cast spells using candles, bottles, crystals, herbs, make for snappy and succinct tutorials for the viewer and so on.

And it's not just on TikTok, it's on plenty of social media platforms.

1 of the other areas, or, you know, there's many we could look at here, this website called Common Sense media.

They are recommending scary movies for children.

Starters for younger kids as well as truly chilling classics for older tweens and teens.

And so you can find, well, I skipped over this, modern occultism, this just came out in 2023, history, theory, and practice.

And this is on Amazon, there's plenty of these things on Amazon, It's a little bit creepy.

In fact, I prayed Lord protect me as I was looking through the art of occultism.

But it's not just for adults, it's for children too.

Perhaps that 1 was a little more innocent.

But then they have to remake it again in 2022.

And so, of course, LEGO sponsors this, and then there's Hocus Pocus cards.

You can get all these types of things too, wherever you want to go.

Some of these are the movies that are also recommended at this Common Sense Media.

The Addams Family, Goosebumps 1 and 2, Hotel Transylvania, and it says Transformania below it.

I believe there is somebody trying to transform our children.

Coco is 1 where, you know, here this girl is having a good time with this skeleton, celebrating the holiday of the dead and so on.

Monster House and Caroline and it just goes on and on.

The reason I'm showing you these children ones is I can't show you the adult ones.

In fact, I don't even really like to show you these.

The Haunted Mansion, Scooby-Doo or Scoob.

I was looking at the most popular movies right now.

Number 3 is Ghostbusters, the Frozen Empire.

And 1 of the things said, this is the darkest Ghostbusters they've made yet.

Number 3, is something happening to put together, is there an agenda that's being Pushed in this country and around the world and I failed to mention all those most all of those children's movies are PG and You go to some of the the parental guides For those that want to let their kids watch these movies and it will tell you the things to watch for but they'll also tell you there's some good role models, there's some good ethics promoted in these, and you gotta be kidding me.

This is number 5 on the list, Late Night with the Devil.

I don't truly know what it's about and don't want to.

And of course we have to mention The Lord of the Rings.

This has netted out, let's see, The Lord of the Rings is widely regarded as 1 of the greatest and most influential film series ever made.

It's a major financial success and is among the highest grossing film series of all time having grossed over 2.9 billion worldwide.

Those are people that have voted with their pocketbooks.

Harry Potter is another 1, but with all the paraphernalia and all the movies, they've hauled in $25 billion in revenue.

And you know, I don't have to tell you, it's filled with witches and sorcery and all these types of things Pastor pass me it doesn't affect me Does it not you can watch that over and over and it doesn't impact you in any way?

How about Halloween last year in this country?

12.2 billion Surpassing the the mountain in 2022.

In fact every year it keeps ratcheting up according to the National Retail Federation.

And you say, oh, you're just trying to make it scary.

I just Googled Halloween and those are the first 2 pictures that came up.

I don't know if you're aware of this, North American Division Report.

Now this was, it says underneath, Global Church member survey 2017-2018.

You can just Google that and you can look up and find statistics on all kinds of questions.

It'll give you the question, it'll give you the answer that came back.

Just trying to find out what Seventh-day Adventists believe and this is the breakdown that I'm looking at here for North America where we are.

NAD respondents are mostly unified on the topic of marriage and majority, 92% agree strongly that marriage is a union between a man and a woman according to the Bible.

It says 4% division wide disagree, which of course is not good.

But we could say there's 9% unclear on this issue.

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Presenter

David Wright

All Recordings

13 Power Grab And Civil War

42m

12 When Your Enemy Falls

39m

11 When Seeing is not Believing

45m

10 Lying Appearances

38m

09 Living Above Retaliation

43m

Decree to Destroy Turned to Deliverance

58m

No Safety In Politics

1h 1m

Are You a Special Need Christian?

55m

Why Doesn’t God Do Something?

1h

What Am I Suppose to Do?

45m

08 Is This God’s Will or Mine?

39m

07 I Hate To Wait

30m

Sound Doctrine