John K. Jenkins Sr - Take It Back

All right, before you sit down, y'all are so quick to sit down-especially those back here who are late anyway. You got here late, so grab your Bibles, and let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 30. 1 Samuel chapter 30, and bear with me as I read these first eight verses again. 1 Samuel chapter 30, beginning at verse one. Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag and attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire. They had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great. They did not kill anyone but carried them away and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. David's two wives , Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech 's son, "Please bring me the ephod." And Abiathar brought the ephod to David . So David inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?" And He answered him, "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all." I want you to say to your neighbor, "It's time to take it back." Tell the person on the other side, "It is time to take it back." All right, you can be seated. Thank the Lord! Amen.

Allow me a moment to paint the picture of this particular situation. Let me give you the background of what's happening. You recall that David is the young man who killed Goliath. You remember David is going down to the battlefield to deliver some food for his brothers who are in the army . When he gets down there, the Israeli Army is hiding in a ditch while the Philistines have sent out their bold soldier, Goliath, their giant, waiting for some soldier from the Israelite army to come out and fight him. Day after day , they repeat this. Every day , David goes down, sees the deal, and ultimately grabs his slingshot and some smooth stones, killing Goliath . When he makes his way back into the city, the women are singing his praises: " Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed ten thousands." He becomes a new hero, a war hero ; they're singing his praises so much that Saul, the king, gets angry. As a matter of fact, he goes on a rampage , attempting multiple times to kill David. What a discouraging thing that the king you once fought for is now trying to kill you. He tries so hard to kill him that David now finds himself on the run. He must leave his home, depart from his home , and ends up running in the wilderness until he finds himself in a cave. To his surprise , in the cave is a group of rejects-a group of men whom the Scripture says are in distress, discontent, and in debt. Now that's some rejects right there: in distress, discontent, and in debt. This group of rejects chooses David to be their king, their leader. He is chosen as the leader of this group of rejects. Don 't think too badly about him, because he takes this group of rejects, and the Bible says they become mighty men. There's hope for your husband; he can become a mighty man. There 's hope for your child; there's hope for you. You can become something mighty. You might be considered a reject today , but we serve a God who can raise you up and make you something incredible. So he takes this group of rejects and forms them into mighty men, but there are many things he must do to get them to that place. One of those things is that they have to find work-they need jobs. Listen to this : David leads them to join the Philistine army. Let me see if I can paint that picture for you all. I thought you' d understand it , but I have to explain everything to you. David leads these men to enlist in the Philistine army- the same army he killed Goliath for. It's like a Washington fan becoming a Dallas Cowboy; it's unheard of! Thank you; it's just unfathomable and unthinkable that something of that magnitude would ever happen, especially to someone in their right mind. You all will get it in the morning ; you're a little slow. So, he joins this Philistine army, and one day they are about to go into battle-actually, they're about to go into battle with the Israeli army. The general of the Philistine army inspects his troops, and while inspecting them, he notices something he hadn't noticed before : he discovers these Jewish men in his army , and he decides they cannot go into battle with him against the Philistines. So, he fires them; they lose their jobs.