Started from the Bottom

Welcome to Celebration. We are so glad that you are here. My wife, Maegan and I are honored to serve as the Lead Pastors and if there is anything that we can do to better serve you and your family, please don’t hesitate to let us know. If you are joining for the first time welcome, or digitally, we welcome you as well and want to invite you to join us if you are ever in the Orlando area.

Introduction

Today we kick off our Awakening series, Taking Ground. Each year, we have 21 days of prayer and fasting, called Awakening. It is a great time to getting things in order by putting God first. I believe this will be your best year ever, if it is your best your spiritually.

Matthew 6:33 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Simply put, fasting is unplugging from one source and plugging into another. We collect things throughout the year, fasting is like a spiritual cleanse. Fasting allows us to reorder our lives to remove the clutter out of our souls.

Isaiah 58:6–7 ESV

6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

They bring clarity, strength and strategy. A simple no in your humanity can activate something powerful in your spirituality.

You can jump in with us today. We have resources to help you on your journey. Scripture engagement: Whole Story; Social Media...

I believe that this year is a year of clarity but also access. Not only is God showing us what He has for us, but we are going to walk in it as well. This year, we are taking ground 1 step at a time. 1 service at a time. 1 moment at a time. This is our vision for this year.

1 sam 13

1 Samuel 13:14 ESV

14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

1 Samuel 16:1–13 ESV

1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

1 Sam 16:1-

Over the next few weeks we are going to take a look at King David. His life and legacy serve as an inspiration and cautionary tale for all of us. Today I want to talk about the beginning of his journey. Today’s message is entitled: Started from the Bottom.

Prayer

Lord, we are thankful for the moments when we can gather as a community and hear from. Our prayer for today is that we have an encounter with you, not man. Give us open eyes, open ears, and open hearts to receive everything you have for us. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Illustration

I am a sucker for a good come back story. It is so inspirational when we hear of someone’s story and learn what they had to overcome in order to achieve their level of success. When a person overcomes extreme poverty, I love to hear about how they did it. Like when you find out a star athlete went undrafted. You always hear the story about how Michael Jordon got cut from his basketball team and that created a drive in him. Sometimes the very environment that was a negative, inspires a drive. My biological father left when I was 4 and I remember how it made me feel. Unwanted, abandoned, forgotten, ignored. It served as a catalyst for me in how I parent my children. Our experiences can be a catalyst for how we see things.

Sometimes the very environment that was a negative, inspires a drive. My biological father left when I was 4 and I remember how it made me feel. Unwanted, abandoned, forgotten, ignored. It served as a catalyst for me in how I parent my children. Our experiences can serve as the foundation of how we operate.

I came across a really interesting story. There was a young lady that got pregnant when she was 16. She and her family decided to give the child up for adoption. She never told the father she was pregnant. The 6 week old baby was adopted into a loving home. Life was pretty normal. The baby grew into a young man, that young man that loved sports and grew into a man that would eventually have a family of his own. It is then he began to wonder about his biological parents. He realized there was a bit of a void; not knowing where he came from. Turns out he was able to find out who is biological mother was. It took a great deal of courage for him to reach out to his mother but he did. They begin to talk and it was very natural. They are getting caught up on each others life story. He felt like a piece of him was nearing completion. He finally knew where he came from and why he ended up where he did.

Transition

When I think about it, I suppose all of us at some point have had moments when we wonder, why am I here? How did I get here? Some of us probably have had moments where we wondered where we fit in. We all want to be loved. We all want to be accepted. We all want to feel like we have value. We all want to feel like we matter. Simply put, we all have or had things that we had to overcome. We all probably have something where we feel like we started from the bottom.

When I look at David, I believe his life truly illustrates the ‘started from the bottom’ narrative. We know him as king, but it wasn’t an easy road.

Background/Context

We are introduced to David a few chapters earlier in

1 Samuel 13:14 ESV

Heart for God

God is looking for a people that have heart for the things He has a heart for: poor, broken, abandoned, forgotten…when we look at scripture we can clearly see that God has a heart for the underdog. Do we have a heart for the things God has a heart for and do we have a heart for God’s ways?

Who is your king? ()

Saul was Israel’s first king. Honestly, God never intended for Israel to have a king but they wanted one because the surrounding nations did. Comparison consumes contentment. God wanted to be their king. Kings gave protection, provision, and security. God wants to be that to His people. We have to be careful that we are not looking to the wrong sources for the right things. Saul is selected as king, the people and it goes terribly. The voice of the people may not always be the voice of God, but the good of the people is always the will of God.

His biggest downfall was a lack dependency on God. Peer pressure consumed him. Saul is a cautionary tale that reminds us that anointing requires a faith response. God moved on from Saul and His criteria was someone that has a heart for Him. God will use flawed people that pursue a perfect God.

Samuel: It’s time to move forward

Samuel is told he needs to go and find the next king. He is initially broken up about it. He takes Saul’s failure personally. God asks him, “how long will you grieve over this”? It is time for you to move on. There is a time to mourn, but there is a time to move on. () You have been crying long enough. You have been sad long enough. The quickest way to move forward is to stop looking backward.

You have been resourced to move forward. Notice Samuel had a container and he had oil…he had everything he needed to move forward. You have everything you need to move forward. Our posture determines our perspective. As long as Samuel thought his best days were behind him, he was in perpetual grief. Listen, it’s not your fault. Some among us are mourning over circumstances that we don’t have control over. God tells Samuel where to go and Samuel obeys. Some of us are waiting for direction but we are facing the wrong direction. Get up, change your posture, and respond when God speaks. Don’t allow your present pain to paralyze your future purpose.

Jesse and the boys

Now we are in Bethlehem. This would later be the birth place of Jesus. There’s a man there named Jesse and he has 8 sons. Samuel is told that the next king would be one of Jesse’s sons. Samuel comes to the house, has everyone ceremonially cleaned. They probably didn’t know what was about to happen. At some point, the sacrifice shifted into an anointing. Ordinarily, only prophets, priests and kings were anointed so I don’t know what the community thought was going on. 1 by 1 Jesse paraded his sons in front of the prophet. There was even a few occasions when Samuel thought he found the next king. He had the look of a king, stature of a king, the presence of a king. However God dropped one of the most provocative concepts in the text, “man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart”. Are you evaluating things with God’s criteria? I suppose this is why we are told to walk by faith, and not by sight.

We can miss what God wants to do, when it is determined by our point of view.

The Pharisees completely missed God because they couldn’t get past their point of view.

Lot picked a place based on how it looked

We can be so consumed with vision but is something missing?

David

God tells Samuel, I haven’t picked any of these. How do you respond when God tells you something but it doesn’t feel like it’s working out? He is told that one of Jesse’s boys was going to be the next king, yet God said, it’s none of these. Samuel could have began to question himself or God. I believe we sometimes are asking the wrong question. He asks, is this all of your sons? He is then told about David. The son they thought so little of that they didn’t even invite him to the ceremony.

Respond

Samuel tells them, go and get him and we will not sit until he arrives. They are all waiting for David. Elders, Samuel, family, community, Bethlehem, Israel…they are all waiting for David. David was a shepherd, the job description of a pastor, the way Jesus defined Himself. He likely had some responsibilities to tend to so when they came to get him, I wonder what was said to get him to leave his post without notice. Perhaps there is a moment when he is told, they are waiting for you. They can’t sit until you respond. They can’t rest until you respond. They won’t have peace until you respond.

WE TAKE GROUND WHEN WE TAKE OUR PLACE

Receive

David walks in and all eyes are on him. Everyone is literally standing for him…get used to it. We are told everyone in attendance had to get prepared. Consecrate. There was a dress code. David shows completely underdressed, smelling like sheep. God is drawn to the aroma of servanthood. He wasn’t qualified to be there. However, God said, “there’s my boy, he’s the one we have all been waiting for”. He was anointed in front of everyone! David could have really could have said, no, I am not the most qualified. David could have said, I am actually quite content with being a shepherd in isolation. He didn’t. He just received it. Can you receive what God wants to do in your life. Some of us don’t think we are qualified, we know others who would be a better fit. Reality tells you what you can’t do, faith says there’s no limit to what God can do! We serve the God of the impossible.

Just because they are dressed up doesn’t mean they are next up

Just because you are flawed, doesn’t mean you aren’t called

God is drawn to the aroma of servanthood

Return

It took many years before David actually walked in the fullness of his calling and anointing. Maybe that is why God trusted him with it. He needed a person that was drawn to Him more than the platform. I could see myself asking a bunch of questions like, when do I get the keys and when does Saul move out? David simply went right back to where he was, called and anointed. Scripture says the Spirit of God came mightily on David. Many believe this is when he began to write the Psalms, many believe this is when he had the encounter with the lion and bear. David went back to where he was called and anointed. Go back to your marriage, called and anointed. Go back to your job, called and anointed. Go back to school, called and anointed. Go back to your family, called and anointed.

Don’t let the calling outpace the place you are called.

Zechariah 4:10 ESV

10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. “These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.”

Closing

As I reflect on the young man we were discussing earlier. Now that he found his biological mother, he still had a missing piece, who was his father? Where was his father? He asked his mother the question and was blown away at the answer. Turns out his father was his coach, mentor, and father figure the entire time. Turns out, through every season, his father was there. He went his entire life thinking his father wasn’t there and he was the entire time.

Maybe you feel like there are some areas of your life where you feel like God is missing. Maybe you feel like you are in a low season. God is there! You started from the bottom, but God was there. God was there because you are here.

We take ground when we take our place

Psalm 139:7–8 ESV

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Psalm 139:7-8

Reality tells you what you can’t do; faith says there’s no limit to what God can do

Our current comfort can serve as a barrier for future blessings

The Pulpit Commentary: 1 Samuel Chapter 15

The voice of the people may not always be the voice of God, but the good of the people is always the will of God.

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