The Fellowship Podcast

Sometimes we’re keenly aware of our need for God. Other times, we’re on autopilot and think we have everything under control. Regardless, we can’t forget our frailty and need for God. Being aware of and honest about temptation and our own sin opens us up to the good news of the Gospel and the joy of salvation. Looking at 2 Samuel 11-12 and Psalm 51, Sarah talks about a time in David’s life when he committed a royal sex and murder crime, but God’s amazing love was still there to redeem him.

Jesus tells three stories in Luke 15 about going after lost ones because he is passionate about us inviting everyone to his banqueting table. In this message Sarah talks about going after the one humbly. You will hear definitions of humility from our youth, a story about King David bringing someone to his table (2 Samuel 9), and stories from several people in our congregation about inviting others into the kingdom (Luke 14).

We explore how David bringing the Ark of the Covenant (The Mercy Seat) to Jerusalem foretells of Christ being our mercy seat (2 Samuel 6). The mercy seat was where the presence of God resided for the Israelites during the times of the Tabernacle and the Temples. David lay aside his kingly robes and donned a priest robe even though he was not a Levite. David put the Ark in an open tent for all the people to see. The people were given access to the manifest presence of God. Just like we have been given access through the shed blood of Christ. We also learn the presence of God must be borne on the shoulders of his servants, the priests, which we have become in Christ. (Revelations 1:5, 6).

Due to some technical difficulties, there are a few places during the message where the sound cuts out momentarily.

Do you wonder why we sing and worship the way we do? Then this message is for you! David teaches us an expansive vocabulary for worship, and when we embrace that vocabulary, our worship experience is transformed and enriched. In this talk, Sarah teaches us 7 different Hebrew words for praise and what a selah represents in the Psalms. You can be changed by God (and experience so much more freedom) when you immerse yourself in fuller expressions of worship.

David’s psalms and Jesus’s heart compel us to take the good news of the Gospel to all peoples. In this talk Ben reminds us that there are unreached people groups who have never heard about God’s kingdom. They need to hear the good news. And Jesus is worthy of this endeavor. We want to be a people who keep the great commandment and great commission forefront so all peoples can see his glory.

When you finally make it to your goal, sometimes you discover not everyone is there with you. In this story, David is finally made king of Judah, but the house of Saul still fights the house of David. As hard as David tries to establish new culture and a new way of responding to opposition, his family and people continue in old patterns. Don’t be discouraged when the Sons of Zeruiah seem like too much. Stop, inquire of the Lord, and focus on the Lord, the one who gives life (2 Samuel 2-3).

It can be easy to celebrate when people we don’t like experience trouble or failure, but if vengeance is what we are waiting for, we may be missing someone more worthy of our wait. In this talk, Sarah looks at how David responds to the deaths of Saul and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 31. We also learn about lament and explore how to grieve the “enmity of Saul” and the “love of Jonathan” (2 Samuel 1).

David and his group find themselves in a crisis situation. How do they respond? We explored David’s responses, as well as how others responded around him. Our text was I Samuel 30 and we reviewed five areas for us to consider how we might respond in our lives: 1. Strengthen ourselves in the Lord, 2. Inquire for direction 3. Walk in compassion towards others 4. Recover all that has been lost and 5. Give generously to all.

If you’re human, you know about the “messy middle”—that strange, difficult and wandering space between moving toward your goals, dreams or calling and actually being there. The Bible has lots to say about these wilderness times and David himself spent 10 years wandering from the Cave of Adullam to Philistine land and then back again to the Plains of En Gedi. There are treasures in the wilderness. Like David, may we be honest about the pain of the mess, offer it to the Lord, cry out for mercy and command our hearts to be steadfast.

Sometimes when we are looking at our next steps, we imagine everything we need to do, when perhaps we should be waiting to learn what God will do for us. In this message Sarah speaks from 1 Samuel 22 when David finds himself in the Cave of Adullam—gathering family and a multitude of discontents. Listen to discover how you might want to posture yourself when you find yourself hiding in a place of refuge.