Lessons for Living (Audio)

Have you ever had to make a decision between two compelling positions or opinions? It’s really hard to do, isn’t it? Worse than this is having someone in authority decide a position for you – one that you might not have wanted to take. David is in this situation as a result of deciding to live in Philistia, outside of God’s will. As Pastor Mark will be teaching, choosing to trust your own limited wisdom rather than relying on God’s infinite wisdom often leads to being in spots like the one David finds himself in. Fortunately for him, God knew how to get David out of this tough spot – and He can do the same for you.

You’ve probably never been on the run from a maniacal king who has basically sworn to kill you, no matter what it takes. It’s hard to picture yourself in that situation but you’ve certainly had really stressful times in your life. What do you do? How do you decide what is right? In his teaching today, Pastor Mark will be reminding you that the important thing to do is to recall God’s principles. You’ll hear about an instance where David didn’t ask God what he, David, should do and as a result found himself out of God’s will even though by all appearances David had made the right decision.

Controlling the thought life is such a struggle – everybody deals with it. You can see in the story of David and Saul that they both had chances to respond in positive or negative ways to events in their lives. David, for the most part, availed himself of godly principles in how he handled stuff. Saul, on the other hand, showed a lifelong arc of taking the wrong fork in the road. Pastor Mark will be teaching on the importance of fortifying your mind by becoming really familiar with the Bible, and not just the words – the principles are what you need to know so you can stay on the right track.

It’s so easy to become consumed with your own thoughts, isn’t it? You begin to think about a situation or decision you have to make, and soon that’s the only thing you can think about. Well, David kind of got into that place regarding Saul’s trying to find and kill him. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the importance of keeping your mind and thoughts focused on what God has told you and what He can do rather than relying on your own strength or wisdom. Using your limited thinking instead of the unlimited knowledge of God is a recipe for frustration and failure.

Some Bible skeptics look at the instances of polygamy in the Bible and seem to think that God contradicts Himself because in those situations He doesn’t explicitly say, “Now, don’t do this – I already said it was wrong.” What those people miss is God’s illustration of the dangers of not following His principles. Pastor Mark will be reminding you in his teaching that God’s original plans haven’t changed; mankind has changed. And with man’s changes, those rejections of God’s principles for living, come consequences. The Bible shows you those results; it’s up to you to decide to obey God or not.

One of the wonderful things about the Bible is that it tells people’s stories, warts and all. Even someone like David, from whose line the Messiah would come, is shown with his weaknesses as well as his strengths. One of the hallmarks of David’s character is his willingness to accept God’s discipline in his life. Pastor Mark will be teaching about David’s response to Abigail’s gentle rebuke of his intent to kill her husband; how David hears God in her words and attitude and responds correctly. This is a reminder to: 1. not fly off the handle and, 2. listen for God’s advice and correction, and respond appropriately.

It’s amazing how people can be influenced to behave badly in response to someone else’s poor behavior towards them. It points out that inside every person, no matter how close they walk with God, the sin nature has not been eradicated. And David is no different. As Pastor Mark will be teaching, even though David was truly a man who followed God, it was possible for his trigger to be tripped. Nabal was evidently a man who excelled at pulling people’s triggers and he pulls David’s. Fortunately for Nabal he was married to a wise woman. You will discover the contrast between Nabal and Abigail and the results of their decisions.

The Bible states in many places that David was a man after God’s own heart. It would be difficult to come up with a higher accolade than that. But David was still a man; he wasn’t perfect. He still had pride and had buttons that could be pushed. It didn’t happen often but Pastor Mark will be teaching about one of those times. You will hear about an incident where you could say that David felt disrespected, to use a modern term. Although tragedy will be averted, this is a lesson that conveys the importance of letting the Holy Spirit guide your life every moment of the day.

The world system tells you that everything you have is because your skill, ability and tenacity enabled you to acquire it. And it’s tempting to believe that, isn’t it? The Bible, though, begs to differ. God declares that everything you possess – including your skills and personality – were created by and belong to Him. Pastor Mark will be teaching about this issue of ownership and how your view of it affects how you deal with people. Nabal believed that all he had, he had gotten because of his skill; he will learn that he was incorrect. Unfortunately, this lesson will arrive too late for him.

When you think of the term, “foolish”, what do you think of? Probably someone who makes poor or bad life decisions, like paying too much for a car of dubious quality simply because it’s the color they like. The Bible, however, many times defines foolish people as those who firstly deny the existence of God. Pastor Mark will be teaching about such a person and his interaction with David. Once again, you will see how David’s integrity (and the foolish man’s wife’s wisdom) allow God to render the ultimate judgment in the situation which for the foolish man in this case is death.