Trained in a Cave

Foreign Hi, this is Pastor Daniel Bracken. You're listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. I hope the Word encourages you and you get a touch from God that brings transformation and equips you to experience life with people, power and purpose. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the Word.

Stand up on your feet with me and Turn to again. First Samuel, chapter 22. We're going to read just two verses of scripture and then we'll will possibly look at the whole chapter. And let me just tell you as we move into this again now in the seventh or eighth message in the series that I'm going line upon line looking through the whole life of David. But there's certain things that will be emphasized when I'm preaching, when I'm studying.

It's interesting how God is speaking to me. Certain things when I go to preach, something else is being released. It's not the all conclusive messages on the life of David. I'd encourage you to study and to read all about the life of David because it'll really, really help you. First Samuel, chapter 22 as you're on your feet tonight.

Verse one and two. New King James Version. David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and his father's house heard of it, they went down there to him and everyone who is in distress, everyone who was in debt and everyone who was discontented, gathered to him. Sounds like the church.

So he became captain over them and there were about 400 men with them. Let's pray. Father. Thank you. Move in great power.

I pray tonight as I preach for these next few moments that we would never be the same as a result of your word going forth sharper than any two edged sword living and active. Heaven and earth passes away. But your word remains will endure forever. So unsheathe your sword and speak to us that we would be forever changed as a result of it. In Jesus name, Amen.

Give a big amen and then you may be seated. I'd encourage you to take notes. I have 27 pages tonight, which I'll probably get to about five talking about the life of David. Quick summary. Just off the top of my heart.

David was a young ruddy shepherd boy chosen out of the sheepfold. Probably a result of an illicit relationship based upon his writing. In the Psalms it says I was conceived in sin because when you're married and you have children, you're not conceived in sin. And then that it also explains why he's not invited when the, when the prophet comes, when Samuel comes Samuel brought by miraculous conception, really. Hannah couldn't get pregnant.

She prayed. She was provoked. God granted her prayer. She brought forth Hannah brought, pardon me broad, Hannah brought forth Samuel. He was raised in the temple.

Great story about Samuel. Samuel's purpose for being chosen was really, I believe, to select David. And David's purpose for being chosen was to fulfill all of his purpose in subjugating the promised land and being an example of a man after God's own heart, which I like because there's so much failure in his life. You think, like, how could. How could a guy that's so filled with failure be the man after God's own heart?

Well, that's exactly right. What is someone's heart who's after God doesn't necessarily live perfectly. They have moments where they trip or stumble like all of us.

Samuel, at the encouragement and PR and pressure of the people allowed by God, chooses the first king Saul. He started out great. In fact, when he was humble, he did amazingly, created the first standing army. God used him powerfully. But then when he got prideful in his heart, he was rejected.

Why was he rejected? He got prideful and he sacrificed. Before the time he disobeyed God, he yielded to the pressure of the people. And in the yielding of the pressure of the people and sacrificing before Samuel came. You can go read all of this.

It's just giving you a quick summary. The Spirit of God rejected him and said, no longer are you, you king. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon a young David. And David was selected because he had a heart after God and you. It's interesting where you see in.

In just a two few verses and a distressing spirit came on, and the anointing came on David from that day forward. And you see David, who's anointed three times publicly, is the only one in all of scripture that's publicly anointed with oil three separate times. All those three times you'll see a progression of at first power. So first anointing, the second time it's administration. And then the third time is really for ruling all of Israel.

And so what's taken place up to this time is he's been anointed by, by Samuel the prophet. He's then called to the court. He gets to go to the White House. And he plays on the harp. And he's very good at it.

Psalm 78 we looked at. He played skillfully with integrity of heart. This picture of how God took David from the sheepfold. And so he's a worship Leader in the White House.

Gibbie. It's not really the White House. I'm just trying to give you a picture. He's like 17. Pretty serious promotion.

National level promotion. Well, he's there and he would go back and forth to, to Bethlehem to tend the sheep, which is a picture of staying faithful in the mundane, simple things that seem insignificant. Be, be faithful in the little things. He makes you ruler if you're not faithful in the little things. Even after you get promoted, you still need to be faithful in the little things.

And David was. Well then there comes a time now when the armies of the Philistines gather against Israel and the fat headed uncircumcised one whose name is Goliath, defies Israel, mocks their God and, and does this for 40 days. David comes to deliver pizza. He's a pizza delivery guy. Cheese and bread sent by his father.

Three of his brothers are there at the battle. He hears Goliath. He's provoked. He realizes he could get tax exempt status and get a wife, which is pretty prime for any young man. Can I get an amen for Minister Jake?

Very good. So he's like, I get a wife and I get tax exempt status. And really the motivation for him is they're not cause is that God is being defied. And he, he took the sling, having tried, not tried or tested Saul's armor. He took a stone and a sling and he killed that fat head and cut his head off with his own sword.

Just think about it. 17, 18, 19. We're not 100 sure. It was a long time ago. He's promoted at that age to being basically the head of the army.

Moves to Gibeah, which is like the White House if you can, and gets the king's daughter, I mean serious promotion. How many of you like promotion? This one didn't work out so good though because his father ends up getting jealous because a disturbing demonic spirit is upon, is upon Saul and so he's persecuted. You thought your employer was bad. Saul tried to pin him to a wall with a spear.

And he develops a relationship with Jonathan which is just awesome. Those covenant relationships are so awesome. You need to have a Jonathan. Men with men, women with women. You need to have people that you're, you know, that you're accountable to men or women as it, as the case is, the people that will stand with you and agree with you.

As Pastor Chris came back to direct our show, my heart leapt because Pastor Chris is in my house. I've known you for like 30 plus years. You ministered to me when I was in Teen Challenge, when I was in the King's Dream Center a long time ago by a different name. He came and played keys and ministered to me. I was in my 20s, so were you.

I got. Was a late bloomer. I got a late start. And we have a relationship like that. Where he said, he's a David, I'm a Jonathan to him.

He said, Jonathan to me, I'm a David. It is like back and forth. It doesn't matter who's who. The point is that there's a depth of relationship of people that will hold you accountable and stand with you and agree with you. And Jonathan was to be the heir, but he backed away and acknowledged David as the one who should be the one.

So it's powerful. Jonathan warns David of his father's gonna kill. My dad's gonna kill you. So he runs and he's terrified. And that's the last message I preached on.

He runs in fear to Knob. He runs in fear to. He runs in fear to the priest. He goes there, he lies to him, like he lies to him. There's 85 priests there.

We're going to see the result of that if the Lord allows us to get to those verses. He lies, he gets the sword, he eats to show bread. Jesus talks about that. And then he heads off to the. The city of Gath.

Why would David the. The Gaff killer with the sword of Goliath go to Gath? Because when you're running in fear and you're not moving in faith, you do stupid things. And so fear's gripped him and he's on the run. And the Philistines like, is this not David?

I mean, the unmitigated call that he would come here? But man, what is. That's David. And the. The king talks about it, the elders talk about it.

David realizes he's in trouble, so he fakes insanity. He's spitting on himself.

And they're like, get out of here, you loon. You crazy? And he survives.

Now he runs to this cave of Adullam.

David faced all these challenges of overcoming fear, shame. You can read Psalm 52, 57 and Psalm 142. All of them tie into this time period. One's about Doag Doeg's a psycho liar who kills all these priests. The killing of the priests is just a few verses down.

David writes Psalm 34 during this particular time. And I. I've imagined it says. It says in Psalm 34, I will bless the Lord at all times. I. I imagine this. Has anybody ever done something that's just.

It wasn't right or you realize you made a big mistake and people got hurt? Am I the only one?

You read through you. You. You'll see. I'm just kind of giving you an overview. And then we'll move a little deeper into it.

You see that. That. That basically Saul's army comes and kills all the priests because of his lie was a number of reasons that it happened. One, it's a demonic assignment on the priesthood. It's a demonized Saul, a demonized king, a David who lies, and a demonized Doag and just a bad devil.

There's four reasons 85 priests get killed. David writes Psalm 34. And it's a picture that. Like a part of that. Oh, my lying.

This is a man after God's own heart. Does this encourage anybody else but me? It's somebody. How can it be called a man after God's own heart? He's responsible for such difficulty in order to bring hope to you.

And he says, I will bless the Lord, all the Lord at all times. Anybody ever felt like that? You felt like, man, what have I done? Or you're feeling discouraged, or you made some bad decisions, or you. You're in a place where it's just challenging.

And then you just turn to God and say, I will bless the Lord. I will buy. These lips will declare the. I might have lied last week, but these lips will declare the goodness of God. In the land of the L. It's this picture of what we all go through.

The psalms are so powerful. Wow. In God's plan. Listen closely to me. In God's plan, there is adversity.

I don't like that. I want smooth sailing, but smooth sailing makes weak knees and weak legs and people who don't have heart. There is adversity you're going to go through. Somebody said, why is there evil in the world? I love what Dr. Baraka said years ago.

You'll remember. Pastor Chris Why is there evil? Why did God just get rid of evil? He said he can. God can get.

Get rid of evil. Right now he just has to kill everyone.

And so God chooses you. He chooses me. He chooses a David. He chooses people to operate through that are imperfect. And so God's way of refining you is in the fire.

There's no other way to make a man of God. No other way to make a woman of God. No other way to make somebody who will rule rightly with integrity except bring them through trials. Man, I feel like I just graduated from from seminary. And yet another seminary begins.

I mean like graduate school. The seminary of Saul. One preacher said, you're in difficult right now. Welcome to the human race. Allow it to have its perfect work.

James says, consider it not strange. My brethren and sister, you face all kinds of fiery trials. Because in those fiery trials, God's working something in you. Come on, bump your neighbor and say he's working something at bait. Yes, he is.

Adversity and on the way to fulfillment. You will face all kinds of problems. You will face all kinds of trials. And those things, if you allow them to have its way in, you will train you. I've entitled tonight.

Trained in a cave.

Trained in a cave. All the problems could disappear in just 10 seconds. But would you become what God's intended you to be?

I think not. He's creating in David character. He's creating a new character. If you have a level of anointing and power that exceeds your own character, you will destroy yourself and other people. You need character.

God has strategic delays.

There are strategic delays. I want it all now. Anybody else? What we are walking in now at Kings I saw 20 years ago and thought we should have it in the first three months of showing up in Alaska. Gosh, this is taking forever.

Well, there were things on the inside of us that needed to change. You know, this building. I'm glad it took a little bit of a time. Took seven years. Some say seven and a half, but you're wrong.

It's seven. Okay, I'm glad it took a little while. Do you know why babies are in the womb for nine months? You have a few children. Why are babies in the womb for nine months?

So they can grow to be able to sustain their own life. Absolutely true. And then I'll tell you from a father's side, dad needs nine months to get ready, even though he ends up looking like the size of his wife at the end. Generally speaking, especially, a new father needs nine months to prepare to be a father to that baby. There's a preparation that takes place.

Come on, you're in a womb, not a tomb. You're in a place of preparation. God's doing something on the. Come on, somebody. He's doing something on the inside of you.

And there's strategic timing. I want it now, I want it yesterday, I want it now. He's like, well, if I'd give it to you, you kill yourself with it. You'll destroy yourself. Some of you don't have the character that you're believing.

God, I want to do this all that I want it all. He's like, yeah, just relax, you know, clean your car, show up at morning prayer. He's faithful in the time. No, I want it now. He loves you so much.

He's just going to let you develop some character first. That's what's happening in David. So many promises but continual delay. Raise your hand if you have delay. You're in ministry school, he's training you.

There's demonic delay and divine delay. You got to figure out which one it is. And we see in the life of David, you see the end of his story becomes king. It's amazing. Man of God.

Except for the issue with Bathsheba, which we will deal with when we get there.

We see the end of life. So we look at it, this section be like, oh, it's gonna be okay. He's just like about a zig lag ahead and different stuff. But soon you're gonna get a second anointing and yes, you don't see the end of your story. So how do you stay in a place of faith in the midst of adversity when all of the promises haven't come to pass and you're in a place divine delay or strategic delay while he's making character.

You, you love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and all your strength. You continue to do good. You did can continue to declare, I will bless the Lord at all times, even when you feel like where is he? And you stay faithful and you stay true. I remember Pastor Karen years ago when she we lost our child.

We had a little boy carried full term just about our baby died, went to heaven. I've told the story, so I'm not going to go into all the details, but that was very difficult for her. It was very difficult for me, but it was harder for her. She literally did not feel God's presence for 11 months. 11 months.

Now you said, well, what does that even mean? We are people of the presence of God. We love God's presence, power, his anointing, getting lost in his presence. There's nothing like that for me and my wife and maybe for you too. That's who we are as a church.

That's who we are. We're, we're spirit filled people. So to literally not to feel so numb and so, so just. It's almost like you're walking around in a, in a dead, in a body, such heavy grief.

I watched my wife go to church, every service, go to prayer, continue to serve God read the Bible, no present sing. Even though she felt nothing, month after month after month. And then one day, Come on, somebody say one day. Then one day that thing broke. And I remember it very, very well.

And it broke because some people that were leading prayer at a. At a. One of our extensions came over to my house, which was across the street from the church. They knocked on the door and they said, can, Can Pastor Karen come and play the keys? Now, many of you don't know that Pastor Karen's a black belt, so don't mess with me or her.

And she plays the keys. She can play the keys a little bit. And they knew that somehow. They knew. They came, they invited her.

They wouldn't take no for an answer. Please, we can't have prayer without somebody. God led them over there. She went over for three or four hours playing the keys at that point, prayer meeting. And that night she went to sleep and if I recall, sat straight up in the morning, said, oh my God, it's over, it's over, it's over.

And she came out of this cave of despondency and heaviness. Listen, you're in something right now. Don't quit. Where are you going to quit to? I wanted to quit a lot of times.

What am I going to go back to? You gonna go back to that pile that you were in? I didn't say what pile it was. You just don't want to go back to the pile. Everybody say, don't go back to the pile.

Keep keeping on, keep pressing on, keep contending, keep believing. Don't quit. Don't quit. Don't get offended. Don't let anything drive you out of the kingdom.

Don't let anything drive you away from God. Let everything drive you to him. Difficult right now. The prophetic words not coming to pass. Pass the test.

Pass the test can be like passing gallstones can be difficult. Not that I would know and I never will in Jesus name. But I tell you, I heard it could be difficult.

If you're in a cave right now, start rejoicing. Look at.

Go to the next verse, verse three and four. A couple more points here.

David's parents come to him. Now it's not. Listen, I thought, man, I first read that, I thought, wow, family restoration. Because, you know, they weren't like exactly excited about David, didn't invite him to. To Samuel.

They're protecting their lives because Saul has lost his ever loving mind, is being driven by a demon. So they have to leave because you better believe that Saul would look to Kill them too. And maybe David's going to go back to the. The home estate. They join the brothers.

All the family comes to David. Wow.

And you see these men. And I think it's interesting that we're on this exact text for the King's Dream center graduation because this is the exact text I preached to you. Prophesying over transformations to be 400 people. Who comes to them? The Triple Ds.

Everybody say the Triple Ds. This is second Samuel.

These men who were distressed.

Look with me. Verse 2. Anyone who's in distress and anyone who's in debt. And anyone who is discontented. Discontented means they don't want to follow Saul.

So 400 men. Do you know who these 400 men become? They become the basis of those who led their David's mighty men. They were a bunch of losers.

That's like I said. It's the church. God brings us in from all different kinds of places and makes us pastors and preachers and doctors and lawyers and apostles and prophets and he launches us out of missionaries and church planters. It's the way God does it. God shakes people.

And he. He leads them and he brings them into a cave of training and.

So powerful. Look with me at verse three. That David went there to mitzvah in Moab.

And he said to the king of Moab, please let my father and mother come here with you. Listen to this next verse. Pay close attention to this. Please let my father and mother come here with you. Till I know what God will do for me.

Till I know what God will do for me. I want to be careful not to go too long because we do have baptisms which we'll move into shortly. I think this will be the last section I take here. David's parents are most likely elderly. And David, even though he's in his 20s right now, the Adullahum years are about seven years.

He's in a cave for seven years. You thought your situation was difficult. How'd you like to live in a cave?

There's lots of caves. He's in a cave for approximately seven years. His. His parents come to him and he takes good care of his parents. You know, there's a special promise for those who take good care of their parents.

There's a special promise worse as the infidel than the man who does not provide for his family. And as your parents get older, we should send this to Hannah and. And Daniel.

We should send this to Hannah and Daniel as your parents get older. You kids need to take care of your parents. I got, like, one. Yeah, from. From grandma over here.

Can I get another one? Can I get another? Amen. It is God's method. You don't just let somebody else take care of them.

Now, there are times when people need help watching after the elderly. But this is what David's doing. He. He brings him to this place of Moab, which is interesting. My father and mother.

He bring his father and mother, his parents. He brings him there. I don't know if it's his real mother or his stepmother or what. It doesn't say King of Moab, Saul's enemy. You see that in 1st Samuel 14.

And so why would Moab take David's parents and help David? Because I think that he was probably excited about the fact that there was a rival, a new king, possibly get rid of Saul. We don't know exactly. It is interesting. How many of you know who David is in that he's the son of Jesse.

How many of you know who Jesse is? David's great grandfather is Boaz, who married Ruth. Where is Ruth from? Exactly. There's a tie here in David's generational line.

It's a tie. He's. He's part Moabite. You think about it that way. And that's in the lineage of Jesus.

So it's interesting that he goes.

Till I know what God will do for me. Verse 3. And I think I'll. I'll stop here.

There's. There's. There's mystery.

Can you put that verse up? It's verse three.

Read this again, please. Let my father and mother come here with you. Till I know what God will do for me. It's just pause. He's unsure about what to do next.

He's in a cave. He's anointed to be the next king. He has all kinds of delay, challenges. He's learning. Till I know what God will do for me.

Dr. Morocco says it this way. You might have heard me say it, because he's discipled me and continues to thank God.

I can't move beyond the revelation I have. He would say to me, daniel, I can't move beyond the revelation of what God has given me. Mike. Yes, you can. Trying to get him to do something that I think's a good idea.

He says, I will not move beyond what God has shown me to do. This is a beautiful picture. He says, until I know what God will do for me. He knows God's gonna do something, but he doesn't know what is. I mean, that's amazing.

Come on, say God's gonna do something for me. I don't know all that it is, but he's gonna do it. That's faith. It's faith in a God who spared him and saved him and intervened for him over and over and over. David is learning in the midst of difficulty that God will come through for him, although he doesn't know which way it is all the time.

And I don't either. Neither do you. There's mystery, but there's a settled conviction in that phrase. Till I know what God does for me, I want to tell you that I have learned that God is good. I have learned that God will always come through.

I've learned that God will never leave me nor forsake me. I have learned that I've never seen the righteous forsaken or begging bread. And I'm telling you, God has come through for me over and over and over. In the scriptures. I see him coming through for people over and over and over.

The only ones he doesn't come through for, the people that quit.

And somebody quit not long ago, another church. I'm trying to help them. I'm not going there anymore.

That's okay. He says, in fact, I'm never going to church again. I said, listen, bro, you need to stop, because if you do that, he said, in fact, I'm going to destroy the church.

That's a bad plan, sir. Perfect church, no. And if you find it, for the love of God, don't go, because you'll ruin it. We're all. We're all a bunch of crackpots.

Pastor Chris, Pastor Chris, can you jump on the keys for me? And then I think maybe we'll switch and go to the baptism set or whatever. We're going to baptize here in a second.

What was I saying? Right? Crack pots. We have this treasure in earthen vessels at the Excellency. Some are more cracked than others.

We have this, his treasure. This. This Holy Spirit and earthen vessels. Paul's talking about. We're all.

We're all cracked that the excellency of his glory would be seen. They see when God shows up through you, through me, when he shows up through imperfect people who are living broken, poured out hearts that are contrite.

When we submit, we trust his leadership. Even though I do not. What's on? I don't know what's right there, but I trust you. My kids.

Pastor Karen was not a fan of it, but I loved it. Would do it a lot when she wasn't around, is I would Put them on the counter. I'd be like, you ready? Like, come on.

He'd jump off and I'd catch him. And I'd do it again and I'd make it into a little illustration. That's like the Lord. He's always going to catch you. By the miracle of God, I never drop them that I know of.

Trust fall.

You trust God? This statement. Till I know what he'll do for me. God knew. I mean, David knew that God is going to come through.

He didn't know how to handle everything with his parents. He didn't know what was going on. I'm in a cave. I'm supposed to be king. I'm to.

Supposed. I don't know what's happening. I lied. You're about to find all these priests, get killed in a few verses. He has to deal with that.

And yet David is being hit with the hammer on every side, like on an anvil. And it's molding him and making him. He's forming his character so that he can lead. He's a young leader and he's got all these men coming to him, and he gets to. He gets to train them militarily and he.

And he gets to train them spiritually.

Lift your hands to Jesus.

Till I know what God will do for me.

Till I know what God will do for me. Oh, why are you laughing, Pastor? Because I know that God is doing amazing things. Things. And yet there's certain things I don't know.

But I'm. I'm in the pocket. Anybody know what I'm talking about? I'm, I'm, I'm. I'm in him, he's in me.

And I'm. I'm moving ahead. I'm like, I don't know about that. I don't know what to do about the next step of the school. I don't know.

Do we build a building? Buy the property? Do we. Do we. Do we get some other building?

We renovate it? Do we wait? Like. I don't know. But let me just tell you before we move forward, we will know.

We will have a word from God. Till we know what God's going to do for me regarding the school. Till I know what God's going to do for me regarding all this entire vision as we're over it here in the. In Kings, Alaska. There's mystery involved, but a confidence.

God is good and he will come through for his people. He will fulfill his plan. He will build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail. There's no weapon that's formed against me that shall prosper. And every tongue that rises against me in condemnation, I shall condemn all of my days.

I'm gonna lift up my voice. I'm gonna declare the goodness of God in the land of the living. I ain't ever gonna give up. I'm not gonna turn back. I'm not gonna shut up.

I'm gonna preach, pray and prophesy. I'm gonna obey. Oh, till I know Till I know what God will do for for me. He's doing things for you. He's doing things for me.

He's doing things for us. And if you'll just set your heart, set your gate, set your face like a flint towards serving God. No matter what happens, no matter what cave you find yourself in, gird yourself with strength and know that if God did it for a David and God did it for a Joseph, and God did it for a Moses and a Joshua, gotta do it for you. He's not a respectable of persons and he's not a man that he should lie hey, come on, lift your hands to Jesus he's not a man that he should lie his word is true his word is true his word is true his word is sure. Till I know what Till I know what God will do for me.

How many of you need revelation on something, Something that's in your life? You need to know God. I need a plan. I need to know what to do. I find one of the number one ways of finding out the way through is pray in the Ramakalarabashanda.

Holy Ghost. That's my prayer language. Pray in the spirit.

Pray in the spirit.

Pray in the spirit. Speak mysteries. God's spirit praying through. I'm. I'll spend time praying in the Holy Ghost and God will begin to speak that Holy Ghost is in the spirit or in a prayer language.

When I do that, all of a sudden I begin to see things. Sometimes I have to press and pray for a little bit, and then things shift and I start having wisdom, I start having insight. God speaks to me in the most unusual way.

You just got to be open and don't move beyond the revelation that he gives you. You do that, you're in presumption and that's a painful, dangerous place to be. Yep, you're in adversity right now. Welcome to training. Welcome to training in the cave.

What's happening is teaching you to rule and reign.

Let the Lord lead you Till I know what God will do for me. It's mystery, but a confidence and a faith. Lift your hands to Jesus.

Well, I hope you were encouraged by God's word. Thank you again for listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. God bless you. For more great content, go to kcalaska.com and may God's face shine upon you and give you peace. Sa.