What to Do When a Spear Is Thrown at You

And man, what an amazing worship set. So grateful for the presence of God. And uh man, if I just came all the way from California to Bend, Oregon to tell you that you are truly blessed to be a part of such an amazing church. Man, you you could tell from the moment you walk in, the atmosphere is just full of God's presence. And I want to let you know, atmospheres in churches don't happen like this on accident, but they are very intentional. And I know they're not here, but I just want to take one moment and honor Pastor Keith and Kara because they have led this with vision and they have intentionally created a space for God's presence where people are welcome. So, I just want to honor them and thank them for the opportunity to be on this stage. Uh like Pastor David said, my name is Jude. I'm the youth

pastor at the Father's House in Vakavville, California. And man, it is so awesome to be in Bend. Bend is what I imagine heaven to look like. Man, you guys are blessed. Me and Sierra yesterday were like, "Man, maybe we should move to Bend." I know what you're thinking. Please, no more Californians. But man, even if we lived in a van down by the river, that would be heaven. You know, back in the day, parents used to tell their kids like, "Hey, go to college, get a good job so that you don't live in a van down by the river." Nowadays, it's go to college, get a good job so that you can afford to live in a van down by the river. And uh man, it's just beautiful to be here. The mountains, the fresh air, and uh I didn't come alone. I came with my beautiful wife, Sierra. We have been married for 8 years, and she is the

love of my life. Also, I want to show you a picture of my family. This was taken a year ago. And so, this is my wife, Sierra. That's my daughter, Lucy. And that's my son, Jack. Uh man, Jack is one of my best friends. He's the coolest kid in the world. Uh this year for his birthday, he turned six and what he wanted to do was go to Yoseite for his birthday. And so me and him went backpacking. We saw a bear. It was awesome. And then that's my daughter Lucy. Uh she is spicy. She needs Jesus. She's a wild one. So be praying for her. The other night we were praying before bed, which we make a habit of. And and Jack prayed a very sweet on awesome genuine prayer. And then I'm like, Lucy, it's your turn to pray. And no joke, this was Lucy's prayer. I love mom. She is my strength.

That is it. Like, nice. That's cool. She loves her mom. Not quite me yet. I always start, Lucy, I love you. And she'll say, I love mom. I'm like, okay, we'll warm up. Uh hopefully one day. Uh but man, like I said, it's such a blessing to be here. We are from the father's house. Uh we've been youth pastors there now for 6 years and uh actually my wife's father is the pastor of the church and so to everyone it's the father's house but to me it's my father-in-law's house. Uh I'll be here all week. Dad jokes I'm allowed to do them. I have two kids. Um but Pastor Dave sends his greetings. We we love you guys. We believe in you and uh we're just so grateful to be in relationship uh with what you guys are doing in Bent.

You know, the church is not just isolated to one location, but the church is unstoppable. It's growing, and I believe God is on the move all across the world, and it's just amazing to be a part of what God is doing. And so, we're cheering you on all the way from Vakavville. And I'm super excited to preach today. And uh today, we're going to preach out of 1st Samuel 18. So, if you have your Bibles, open up to 1st Samuel 18. Uh, if you don't mind, I'm going to read off of my iPad. Um, and if you don't have your Bibles, I'm sure the scripture is going to be on the big screen. And so, we have that for you. You know, back in the day when we would turn to scriptures, you would hear a lot of turning. Not so much anymore. You know, people click turn on their phones. It's so easy. 1st Samuel 18 and verse 6.

Uh, and I'm going to read out of the message paraphrase this morning. And a little bit of context to the verse that we are in. Uh so David had just defeated Goliath. We all know that story. It's one of the most famous stories in all of history. Young shepherd boy David defeats the great warrior Goliath. And it's simply right after that is where we find ourselves catching up in the story. And uh 1st Samuel uh 18:6 says this. As they returned home after David had killed the Philistine, the women had poured out of the villages of Israel singing, dancing, welcoming King Saul with tambourines, festive songs, and loots. And in a prayful And in a playful frolic, the women sang, "Saul kills by

the thousand, but David by 10,000." This made Saul angry, very angry. He took took it as a personal insult. They credit David with 10 thousands and me with only thousands. Before you know it, they will be giving him the kingdom. And from that moment on, Saul kept his eye on David. And in the next day, an ugly mood was sent by God to afflict Saul, who became quite beside himself, raving. Uh, David played his harp as he usually did in such times and Saul had a spear in his hand and suddenly Saul threw the spear thinking, "I'll nail David to the wall." What did David do? David ducked and the spear missed. This happened twice. Now Saul

feared David and it was clear that God was with David and had left Saul. And we see right after in the next chapter, this happens again. Three times th Saul throws a spear at David and three times David ducks and dodges and runs away and the spear misses him. Today I want to talk about this idea of what do you do when a spear is thrown at you? What do you do when a spear is thrown at you? Sierra, could you bring me up a water? Yeah, that's mine. Thank you. I'm getting over a cold, so forgive me for sounding like Kermit the Frog. I did take a COVID test and it was negative if you're worried about that. It was so funny. I was in the airport and I had to cough. So, I like went into the bathroom and went into one of the stalls and like flushed as I coughed

because I didn't want to make anyone nervous. Let's pray this morning. Jesus, we thank you for your presence. God, we pray that you would speak to us today. God, we thank you for your word. God, we thank you. It is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. And God, I pray today, God, that you would speak directly to our hearts. God, we want to hear from you in Jesus name. Amen. Something you have to know about me is I am a pastor's kid, a PK. Some of you are like, "Yeah, I knew something was off about him." Yes, I grew up as a pastor's kid in church. This is my culture. This is my life. I love church. Um, but growing up as a pastor's kid, I grew up in a sheltered, protected, strict household. Anyone come from one

of those households? I'm grateful for my parents who set boundaries. But it was like really strict. Like growing up it was DC talk and that's it. You know, only Christian music. Um, definitely no Harry Potter, of course not. And when whenever we went to Disneyland or any amusement park, we could go on all the rides unless it was a haunted house ride. We were never allowed to go on haunted house rides. And I get it. We just went to Disneyland two weeks ago and Sierra's like, "Should we let the kids go on the haunted house ride?" I'm like, absolutely not. We're not welcoming that into our home. We're going to protect our kids. And so, I'm following in the footsteps of my parents. But I remember this one time we were at Universal Studios and I was probably in junior high or a freshman and the movie The Mummy had just come

out or The Mummy Returns or whatever, you know, Mummy movie it was, all million of them. Uh, and so at the theme park, they had a haunted house ride based off of The Mummy. And I asked my dad, "Dad, please, please, can we go on this ride?" And finally, after insistent begging, my dad's like, "Okay, we can go on the ride." And so we're walking through and it was just a bunch of jump scares, you know, nothing really too haunted or spooky about it. But I remember we were walking and my dad was in front of me and all of a sudden a guy dressed like a mummy jumps out and screams and startles my dad. My dad, without thinking, takes his fist back and punches the guy straight in the face. No

joke, this happened. The guy stops, takes off his mask, and he's like, "Come on, man." He's like, "This is my job. I'm getting paid minimum wage. You just punched me in the face." I love that moment because in that moment when the guy jumped out and scared my dad, my dad didn't have to think about punching him. what was on the inside of him came out without even thinking about it. You know, this happens all the time. It happens when you're driving and someone cuts you off or you about to get in a wreck. Either a select choice words come out of your mouth or it's a prayer to Jesus. I'm not going to say which is which. I trust that it's a prayer to you. But things in life when they show up without us

expecting it, often times what is building up on the inside of us comes out without even thinking about it. And I think honestly it's a revealer of who we truly are. When we find ourselves in a tough situation, when we find ourselves in a scary situation, what is it that comes out of you? Because what comes out of you is a revealer of who you truly are. We see in this story, it's a story of two kings. One is Saul and one is David. Two kings and two completely different responses to a similar situation. You see, these two kings, King Saul and King David,

represent two different kingdoms. One is a kingdom established by men. The other is a kingdom established by God. One is a king one is a kingdom built on outward appearances. The other is a kingdom that looks at the heart. One is a kingdom that is marked by disobedience. The other is marked by obedience and repentance. One is built on desires and responding to those desires. One is led by the spirit. One is temporary, the other is eternal. You see, these two kingdoms aren't just isolated to these two kings, but these two kingdoms are still active

in the world today. There is a kingdom that is built by man, that is built on our desires, what feels good, that is built on outward appear appearances, and that will only last for a moment. But God is establishing a kingdom that will last for eternity. It is a kingdom built on faith. It is a kingdom built on obedience. It is a kingdom where God looks at the heart, not built by men, but built by God himself. We still see these two kingdoms are active today. And we see that these two kings respond differently to a very similar situation. You see, although there's two kings in this story, the central figure of this story is the spear. What is the spear? Well, the

spear meant something completely different to Saul than it did to David. You see, to Saul, the spear was a weapon. a weapon that he used to protect his kingdom. To David, the spear was a weapon, but not a weapon that he was using, but a weapon that was used against him. And I want to say today that what Saul and David did in that moment was not a result of what happened in that moment, but a result of what was being built up on the inside of them. And so I want to look at both of these kings this morning and look at the things that kind of led them to that moment of decision. So let's start with

Saul. You have to understand this about Saul. Saul was tall. Saul was good-looking. And Saul's kingdom was established by the people of Israel. They told God, "We want a king." And they chose Saul. And so Saul is ruling his kingdom. And there's a few things that we see in this story that lead us to see why Saul did what he did. First thing is this. What led to Saul throwing the spear at David was first what he heard. What he heard. It says in this scripture that Saul heard the women singing a song. This is what you have to understand about this song they were singing. It wasn't a song of comparison saying that David is better than Saul.

It was a song of celebration talking about the exploits that both of them had done. Their intention was never to compare and say David is better than Saul. Their intention was to celebrate both of them and what they had done. But what Saul heard was they're saying David's better than me. You see, this is what we have to know about Saul right before this. It says that the spirit of God had left Saul. Saul's heart was off. And because Saul's heart was off, it affected how he perceived the world around him. He had a distorted perception and what he saw was different

than the intention of what they meant to sing. This happens all the time in text messages where it's like you send something and then the person who receives it interprets it completely different than what you intended. That's the worst thing that happens. But this is what was happening with Saul because his heart was off. His whole perception was off about life. I want to encourage you. Guard your heart. Above all else, guard your heart because wherever your heart goes, that's where you will go. Paul says to Timothy, "Deus fell in love with this present world and he is no longer with us. Before Deus ever left, his heart left." You might be in the room today, but maybe your heart isn't here. I want to encourage you, guard

your heart, cuz your heart will determine how you perceive the world around you. When your heart is off, your perception will be off. And we see Saul's heart was off. And so when they began to sing this song, he didn't take it as a song of celebration, but he took it as a song of comparison. Next thing we see is what Saul said, what he began to speak. It says he muttered underneath his breath. He began to say, "Man, they're celebrating David. They're saying he killed 10, thousands. I only killed a thousand. Before you know it, they will give him the kingdom." I want to encourage you, be careful what you say.

Your words are powerful. Just because you feel something doesn't mean you should speak it out. Because when you speak it out, what you are doing, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is you are coming into agreement with. The Bible says life and death are in the power of the tongue. Jesus describes the tongue as as the rudder of a great ship. Wherever the rudder turns, although it is small, it will direct that ship. What Paul was doing in that moment is he was coming into agreement with a lie. And he begin to speak it. Be careful what you speak. And then we see thirdly, it's said that he looked at

David where he looked it says he kept his eye on David. He kept his eye on David. I want to ask you today, where are you looking? Who's your eye on? Is it on God or is it on other people? Comparison is a killer. It will destroy your life. But Saul, instead of looking at God, he was looking at other people. And he kept his eye on David. Why? because all of the problems that he was experiencing in his life, he saw David and began to look at him and say, "Ah, that's the problem. He's the source of the problem." This is this is what we all do. When we experience problems in our

life, the easiest thing for us to do is to put our eye on someone else and put the blame on them. Oh, my parents are the problem. My co-worker's the problem. My boss is the problem. My spouse is the problem. We put our eyes on others and we label them as the problem. I want to let you know this today. People are not the problem. People are messed up. People can hurt you, but they're not the problem. I want to let you know, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but we wrestle in the spirit. There is a spiritual war going on. But it's easy for us to make people the problem. But when we make people the problem, what we are doing is we are taking our attention and focus off of Jesus and putting it on someone

else. And when you put your attention and focus on g on on someone else other than Jesus, it will only lead to death and destruction. He thought David was the problem. But but in reality, this is where Saul's problem was. Right here in his heart. He should have been looking at himself. Other people are not the problem. I am the problem. There's a problem in me. It's called sin. It's called selfishness. It's called pride. And what I need is healing from within, not a solution from the outside. in your problems in your life. Don't look to others to try to resolve them or if I fix them then it'll be fixed. Start

with yourself asking Jesus, what do you want to do in me? What areas of my life need to be fixed? And then lastly, we see what Saul was holding on to. I want you to get this picture. Saul is the king of the kingdom. He's sitting in his castle. He has guards all around and he's sitting on his throne holding a spear, holding on to a weapon. He should have been holding on to a scepter and ruling, but yet he was holding on to a spear, trying to hold on to his kingdom.

And then in a moment of weakness, he threw what was in his hand. He shouldn't have been holding on to the spear in the first place. But because he was holding on to the spear, he threw what he had. I want to ask you this morning, what are you holding on to? Because whatever we tend to hold on to in this life ultimately can be turned in a we into a weapon that we use against others. What are you holding on to? Are you holding on to offense? Are you holding on to bitterness? Are you holding on to trauma? Are you holding on to something that happened years ago? What are you

holding on to? Because whatever you're holding on to saying, man, if they would only ask for forgiveness or if they would apologize or if this was fixed, ultimately one day we'll be weaponized. And we see that Saul was only throwing what was in his hand. And I believe today, for some of you, you've been holding on to something for so long. And today's the day where you let that go and lay that spirit at the feet of Jesus. Don't hold on to it. Don't hold on to bitterness. I love CS Lewis. He says that bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. What are you holding on to? Are you holding on to fear, worry about the

future, worry about your life? Are you holding on to addiction? Are you hold What are you holding on to? Because whatever you're holding on to when you face that moment of difficulty, that is what is going to come out of your hand. That's what's building up on the inside of you. We see Saul in that moment through the spirit David because he was holding on to it. And we see David, he wasn't asking for any of that. He was a young boy. He was a shepherd boy. Spent most of his life alone with sheep. But in those moments where he was alone, he began to hear the voice of God. He didn't ask to kill Goliath. He

was just being obedient to God. He didn't ask for the fame or recognition. He was just taking a step of faith. He didn't even ask to be in the king's court, but he was there just serving the king and honoring because that's who he was. David never asked anyone to sing a song about him. But yet, he found himself as the target of a mad king who was jealous and who was throwing spears. It's easy to identify with David in this story because we've all had spears thrown at us before. Whether it was a hurtful word word, maybe it was betrayal, maybe it was something that happened in this life and you feel like you've had a spear thrown at you. Here's the reality about

spear throwing. Usually those closest to you hurt you the worst. And usually those who you look up to the most can inflict the most damage. People are people. They're not perfect, but we've all been in places and we've all been in scenarios where it just feels like we had a spear thrown at us. So, what happens is David is just there playing worship for King Saul and all of a sudden Saul's hurling this spear at him. And I just want you to put yourself in David's shoes. All of a sudden, he sees this spear coming right at his head. But of course, his warrior instincts kick in and David ducks and dodges and the spear sticks right into

the wall next to him. Doesn't kill him. You know, David in that moment would have been so justified if he took that spear out of the wall and with expert aim threw it back at Saul, killed the crazy king. You know what would have probably happened? Everyone would have probably celebrated. They would have probably sang more songs about David. They would have declared him as king. He would have been sitting on the throne. But what would have also happened in that moment if he threw the spear back at Saul is that he would have became Saul. Anytime we choose to throw spears, what we are choosing to do is live in a temporary kingdom

established by people ruled by our desires. But it's not the kingdom of God. What did David do? He ducked. He ducked and he dodged. Then he walked away. What do you do when you find yourself someone throwing a spirit at you? First, duck and dodge. Don't let it Don't let it get to your heart. Don't let it get to the core of who you are. Don't allow it in there. And the next, and this should be a rule for all of us, walk away. One of the greatest, most practical things we can learn to do as people when we face adversity is just pause. Take a deep breath. Take a step

back. Before you respond on Facebook, walk away. Pray about it. Before you say that thing you want to say to your spouse, pause, take a deep breath, and walk away. It's cooling down period. Because what happens in those moments is oftent times what comes out of us is not what we truly want. David, duck, dodge, and then walk away. How is he able to do that? what led him to that moment. I have four things. Four things that I think led David to that moment and four things that I think we can apply to our life that when we face adversity, when we face crazy kings or whatever that looks like, it could be a boss, could be a leader, could be a

spouse, could be a friend. When we feel like spears are being thrown, how do we respond like David and not like Saul? First was this. He had a word from God. David had a word from God when he was young. Before he ever killed Goliath, Samuel came to him and said, "You are going to be the next king of Israel." Then what happened after that moment? He went back with the sheep. Nothing magically changed in his life. He just kept being faithful. But he had a word. Have you heard the voice of God speak to you? Do you have a word from God? Because when you have a word from God, it does not matter what people say to you. You have a word from the creator of

the universe who formed you and shaped you, knows you better than you know yourself. When you get a word from God, it does not matter what comes at you in this life. We can respond in a spiritual way and not a fleshly way. Why? Why? Because we have a word from God. The word is powerful. Don't lean into the lies. Don't let lies get to the core of who you are. Go to the word of God. When you face difficulty, go to the word of God. Look to the word of God because the word of God will give you life. Don't let your decisions be dictated by the circumstances around you. Let your decisions be determined by a word from

God. What did Jesus tell Satan when he was being tempted in the wilderness? He says, "Man does not not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." If you live for the approval in the words of other people, you will die for the approval in the words of other people. But if you live for the word of God, it will be like nourishment to your bones and it will give you life and life more abundantly. Second thing is David was led by the spirit. David was led by the spirit. It says after Samuel anointed David and told him he was going to be king, it says this, the spirit of God rushed upon him and was with him for the rest of his life. David was not led by his desires.

He was led by the spirit. What does it mean to be led by the spirit? As believers, we are called to be spiritled. And I think often times we mystify what that means. But really, I think it is very practical. Here's what you must understand about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a force or a feeling. It's not goosebumps that you get when they play the song you like in worship. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit desires intimate relationship with you. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? to simply invite the Holy Spirit into your everyday living. When is the last time you ask the Holy Spirit what he thought about a situation? Maybe it's something difficult at work. Going to the spirit

and saying, "Holy Spirit, what do you think about this? What do you think I should do?" And I find that Holy Spirit lift living is often times mindsets and patterns that we choose to live by. Romans says this, "The mind set on the flesh, what is the flesh? Our desires, our feelings, the kingdom of Saul leads to death. But the mind set on the spirit is life and life more abundantly." The difference between death and life is our mindset. Do we choose to set our mind and think about that conversation we have? We man I do that all the time. I think about conversations I had in the

past and then I think about future conversations that may never happen like oh if they say this then I'm going to say this. That's the mindset on the flesh. When we take those conversations and give them to the Holy Spirit, say, "God, I give this to you. God, what do you think about this? God, I don't know what to do. What would you do?" Let's be those who are led by the spirit because David was led by the spirit. Third thing, he knew from experience, from experience that spears do not win battles. When he went up against Goliath, what did he say to to Goliath? said, "I do not come at you with a sword or a spear, but I come at you in the

name of the Lord." Spears do not win battles. Only God wins battles. How well we throw our spears or how well we try to justify our life or find justice will not give us the victory that we are looking for. Justice is the Lord's. And I find that often times we try to fight our own battles instead of letting God fight for us. We do not come and wage war with our own strengths and abilities, but we come in the name of the Lord, the name above every name. But what it comes down to is trust. Do I trust that God's going to take care of me?

Do I trust that Jesus is everything that I need? Do I trust him completely with my life? Is he my source or are people my source? Do I trust in God completely? Because spears don't win wars. But I want to let you know in the end, no matter what you're facing right now, it might be difficult. It might not be perfect. But in the end, no matter what, we win. One day when Jesus returns, he will make all that is wrong right. And one day when we are in heaven, there will be no more sickness, no more fear, no more hurt, no more pain. And no matter what, we win.

But too often we try to find victory and making it right ourselves. And I'm not saying be passive. David wasn't passive, but he knew where his victory came from. True healing is found in the name of the Lord. Amen. Healing from trauma, healing from hurt, healing from pain. Those wounds from those spears are real, but only God can bring healing. We can process all day long, but processing in itself will not make us whole. Only Jesus can make us whole. There are tools to help us, but only God is our healer. David knew who his source was and that spears didn't win battles. And lastly, number four, he understood where his

authority came from. He was truly humble. His authority didn't come from men, so it couldn't be taken away by men. You see Saul, he's like, they are going to take the kingdom away from me. Why? Because it was they who gave him the kingdom in the first place. But when God establishes you, no person can steal that from you. When God gives you identity, no person can rob that identity from you. When God brings healing to you, no person can break you. Why? Because he's our source. He's our source. And when we live completely submitted to the father, we can live courageously and boldly without fear

knowing that absolutely no one can steal what God has given to me. I couldn't do anything to earn it or deserve it. But yet, yet God has established me. God is fighting on my behalf. David duck. He didn't throw spears. He became king. Saul threw spears and he ended up dying. Then we see that David's kingdom didn't end with David. Saul's kingdom stopped with Saul because it was built on him. David's kingdom continued beyond himself. Why? Because it was an eternal kingdom. Then we see 2,000 years after David. Once again, there's two

kings. One is Jesus, who is a king in the line of David. Even one of Jesus's titles was son of David. So, so Jesus was continuing to establish the kingdom that God started in David. He was a part of that lineage. And we see at the end of Jesus's ministry and life here on earth in John 19 verse 9, we see a conversation between two kings. These two kings are a representation of the kingdom of Saul and the kingdom of David. One is Pilate, one is Jesus. Pilate was a ruler in the Roman Empire which was established by force, by armies and by

people. Jesus was building a completely different type of kingdom. And I love this conversation. And it says he entered his headquarters again. This is Pilate. And he said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" And Jesus answered him, said, "You have no authority over me at all unless it has been given to you from above." You have no authority over me unless it has been given to you from above.

Pilate is telling Jesus, "Don't you know I have authority over you? Don't you know I have power over you?" Jesus doesn't even answer him. Why? Because Jesus knew where his authority came from. He knew that in a moment, if he wanted to, he could snap his fingers and Pilate would be no more. But he chose not to respond. He didn't say anything to that first question. Why? Because he knew that Pilate actually had no power over him. I find that the power people have over us is usually the power that we give them over us. But Jesus knew that Pilate had no

authority over him. Why? Because Pilate couldn't send Jesus to the cross. The God of the universe, the God who spoke and the universe came into existence, a created being, Pilate talking to the creator of the universe. He couldn't send Jesus to the cross even if he wanted to. Jesus, the only reason he was crucified was because he willingly laid down his life for us. Jesus went to the cross because he chose to. And Jesus understood where authority came from. That's what he even told Pilate. The only authority you would have over me is if the father gave you

authority. And Jesus in all of his beauty and all of his majesty and all of his goodness and his perfection willingly went to the cross and died on the cross for our sins. He gave up everything on that cross for us. He laid down his life so that we could be made whole with him. While Jesus is up on that cross dying a sinner's death, it says that they came with a spear and they stabbed him in the side. Jesus took the spear. Why did Jesus take the spear and why did he die on the cross? So that we can find healing in this life. And maybe

today you've been wounded. Maybe today you've been hurt. Maybe today spears have been thrown at you and they've hit you and you find yourself doing things you don't want to do and you know that you want to change. I want to let you know Jesus died on the cross so that you can find healing. But the only way we will find healing from what Jesus did for us on the cross is by coming to the foot of the cross and laying down everything. That includes the spears that we're holding on to. The journey of the Christian life is one that always leads us back to the foot of the cross. It's in the cross

where we find victory. It's at the cross where we find wholeness. It's at the cross where we find healing. But we can only come to the cross empty-handed. So, I want to ask you today, what are some spears that you're holding on to that you need to lay down at the feet of Jesus? And then secondly, maybe you've experienced hurt. You've experienced pain. And today you need to find healing. Healing is found at the cross. And I believe today Jesus wants to heal. He wants to make you whole. Why? Because Jesus is establishing his eternal kingdom. And the life we are living is not about how good of a job we can get.

Buying a home, paying off our mortgage, having a white picket fence, two and a half kids, and a golden retriever. That is not success in this life. That is temporary. That will be here today, gone tomorrow. But there is an eternal kingdom that Jesus is establishing in the heart of his people. And today we have the opportunity to lay down every idea that we have about what our life should look like and we give it to Jesus. Say, Jesus, establish your kingdom first in me so that you could establish your kingdom here on earth. What spears are you holding on to? Let's lay them down at the feet of Jesus. What healing do you need to find? You'll find it at the feet of Jesus. He wants to give that to you today. I'm going to invite the band up. If we could all stand to our feet. I'm going to pray

over us. Then we're going to sing one more song today and then Pastor David's going to close us out. But my heart today is that you would experience a revelation of Jesus on the cross. Not just hear good information, but a revelation of the fact that Jesus gave up everything for you. And if we would simply respond in faith to him, he can make us whole. He can give us life and life more abundantly. He can give us joy that cannot be taken away by any person or circumstance. He can give us a love that is so far beyond human love. He can give us peace that surpasses all understanding. And he can make us whole again. Have you experienced Jesus on the cross? Have you experienced all that he wants to give you? So, if you just bow

your head, close your eyes. I'm going to pray for us all. Jesus, we thank you for what you did on the cross for us. We thank you that you made us whole. We thank you for the sacrifice you gave us. And God, I pray today that we would not live under the kingdom of Saul, built on the temporary, built on the physical, built on our desires, but we would align our life with the kingdom of David. The kingdom that you're establishing, a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom that goes beyond understanding, a kingdom that will last for eternity. So God, we come today and God, if we're holding on to any spears, God, I pray you would reveal them to us right now. Maybe it's

forgiveness you need to extend. Maybe it's something you need to make right, a conversation that needs to be had. But God, make us aware of them. And God, right now, we let go of them and lay them at your feet. We don't want justice. We give justice to you. We don't need to make everything right, God. We trust you. And God, right now, I just pray for everyone in this room who's been wounded by a spear. Maybe it was wound that came from a parent or a leader or a teacher or boss, whoever it is. Maybe it was a situation. Maybe even it it's bitterness towards you because because of something that happened. God, I thank you that you died so that we could be made whole. So God, I pray for healing right now. God, I

pray that waves of love and mercy and grace would wash over every mind and every heart today and bring healing and wholeness in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's worship today.