The Battle Made Me (Stephen Chandler)
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Hey, this is Stephen Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Yo, I'm at Elevation Church. No, y'all know, y'all, how good you have it.

But sometimes you can get so close to something that you take it for granted. And you're like, oh, this is church every Sunday. And you have no idea how blessed you are. People don't get to walk into places like this all over the world every Sunday. You are the favored of the Lord. Somebody say amen. Amen.

And one of the reasons why God favors you the way that he does is because of the phenomenal leadership that God has given you. And Pastor Stephen and Pastor Holly, come on, can you put your hands together? Come on with these golf claps. Can you honor?

If you know anything about us preachers, we're a little extra. And I was thinking about Pastor Steven. And us pastors, we have these terms that we use and we kind of delegate them for only a few type of people. But we'll say certain people are generals of the faith. Like if you ever talk to people about talking about like Billy Graham or whatever, generals of the faith. And when you think about a general, they're the one that gives the orders for the army to march out.

And I don't know if y'all know this, and I probably shouldn't say this from a platform, but there are bootleg Elevation churches all over the world following what you guys do here. And it's not copycat. It's because God is giving you a general that is setting the pace for the kingdom of God. And we are grateful, grateful, grateful. And I'm not just saying this. Pastor Holly is one of my favorite preachers on the planet. Come on out.

A lot of times when you think about preachers, you're like, oh, are they funny? You know, love how they tell stories or break down the word. But there's some preachers that when they preach, it's not the stories. It's not the word. It's the fact that you can tell that person has been somewhere with God and they have proven God in their life. And it oozes out of everything that she says. One last time. Put your hands together. Come on. Can you honor? Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Hey, before you take a seat, high five two people. Tell them I've got perfect church attendance this year. Come on, tell somebody I have not missed a Sunday in 2025. Hey, turn in your Bible.

to 1 Samuel chapter 21, 1 Samuel chapter 21. And while you turn there, I want to show you why I am more blessed that you are. And I know that sounds ignorant because blessings are not a competition, but it's not a competition because I win and you lose. I am more blessed than you are because my family is better looking than your family. Don't blame me, blame your mama. But, uh,

They're going to throw up a picture of my beautiful family. Standing on my far left is my beautiful wife. I call her my African queen. She hails from Sierra Leone, West Africa. Her name is Zai Chandler. She is the preacher of the family. I am on the backup. Standing next to me on my right is my son. He is my twin. He's six years old. His name is Roman. His rapper name is Roro.

Sitting on the bench is my beautiful queen, my oldest. She's eight. Her name is Zoe. Her rapper name is Zozo. Then on my lap is my fallen angel, my three-year-old. Her name is Jade Mariah. Her rapper name is J-Mo. Somebody say J-Mo. Can y'all do me a favor? Can you pray for J-Mo? She is not a Christian. She...

Looks like an angel. She acts like a fallen angel, and we were praying for the salvation of that cutie pie. But I'm pumped. I'm ready to preach because my children are in Maryland, and I am in Charlotte, which means I got the best sleep last night I've had in a long time. Don't tell their mama, but I am pumped. I'm ready to go. Last thing before I preach, I've got a brand new

book coming out in just two weeks, Relationship Roadmaps. If you're single, come on, can you wave at me? Can you wave at me? Keep your hand up. Keep your hand up. Put it in the chat. One of the reasons you're single is because you run right to your car after church. Linger in the lobby. Look around the room. There ain't a better place to get chose.

than in the house of God, but it's everywhere where books are sold. And I'm telling you, it's going to be a blessing to you. Are y'all ready to work today? Not preach. Preaching ain't my job. It's our job. But God's going to work through this text. It says this in 1 Samuel chapter 21, verse 6. And let me give you a little context before I preach it. This is the period when David was running for his life.

Saul had just thrown spears at his head, trying to kill him. Jonathan said, let me test out my dad and see if he's serious about these death threats. And Jonathan comes to David and said, no, no, he's serious. He's trying to kill you. You've got to run for your life. So David leaves everything, brings no weapons, brings no food. And I'm not preaching yet, but the first place he runs to is to the house of God.

As he is running for his life. This ain't even the message, but let me preach it already. Hey, if you are running from something, don't run to gossip. Don't run to friends. Don't run to confusion. Run to the house of... This is in verse 6. It says, So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there but the show bread, which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.

Doeg worked for David's enemy.

And not the message, but just know that when you're in the presence of God, the enemy is going to try to whisper to you opposite of what God has promised you. And you've got to develop the discipline of blocking out the thoughts and the whispers of the enemy and being anchored in what God has said over your life. Verse 8, and David said to him, he went like,

Is there not here on hand a spear or sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste. Now he was lying. He ain't on no king's business. He's running for his life. So the priest said, the sword of Goliath.

Somebody shout, give it to me.

When David arose and fled that day from before Saul and went to Achish king of Gath, and the servants of Achish said to him, is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances saying, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands? Here's the message. Now David took these words to heart.

and was very much afraid of Achish, king of Gath. Before we pray, can you give your neighbor my sermon title? Look at your neighbor and tell them, the battle made me. Come on, tell somebody, tell somebody the battle, what you're looking at. I'm battle-worn. Father God, we're grateful. We're thankful for this moment. We say that we trust in you. God, you're here to

healed, delivered, transformed, open eyes to move supernaturally. God, do what only you can do, and God will be ever so careful to give you all the glory, honor, and praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Come on, shout at me like you shout at your kids. Somebody say amen and amen. I'm not going to lie to you. I feel a little bit uncomfortable coming with a message about David and

And don't judge me, but I feel like David, particularly David and Goliath, is like elementary preaching.

I feel like when you get your trial sermon and it's like, this is my first time preaching and you don't know what to preach, David and Goliath is what you go for. Why? Because you can't mess up David and Goliath. You get up there, the little guy was against the big guy. He took a stone. God helped him. Giants will fall in your life. Amen. You fold up your Bible, you step down, you successfully accomplished your first message. But for some reason, I get stuck

on these biblical characters and in this season I'm just stuck on David because you see as the Bible walks through his life

the hand of God and God's favor on his life every single step of the journey. And it is impossible to see how God's hand is on David's life and not also recognize how God's hand has been on your life every single step of the journey. When we are introduced to David, we find him in the backside

side of a wilderness taking care of sheep that was a servant's responsibility, but yet his father relegated him to something that honestly was beneath him. The priest showed up and said, God has anointed a new king and it's none of these sons. Is there not another son? We see God plucking David out

his family that is not a called family, bringing him out of a place of wilderness to use him in a great way. And it doesn't take much to look at your story and realize that God plucked you out of your family and anointed you for a particular reason here on earth. Can somebody testify that the part of the country I come from, my town, my community, my family, it does not

actually produce what God is producing through my life, but the favor of God. We've got a church in Maryland. I get irritated every time I tell people my church is in Maryland. Ooh, Baltimore. Is it like the wire? No. No.

But what they're saying is, almost like Nazareth, can anything good come out of Baltimore? No, except for the hand of God plucking somebody out of a place that God is ready to do something. As we walk through David's story, not only do we see God pluck him out of a family, but we see God pour oil on his head, anoint David, and we see God do something.

see David get results out of his life that are not equal to the effort that he puts in. Just in case you were wondering what anointing is, anointing is when you put in human efforts and you get back supernatural results. When you look at the results you get back and you realize it is not equal to the

effort I put in. This was none other than the hand of God. And if you would be honest, and I'll be honest with you, ain't a lot of honest people in church.

You cannot take credit for everything that has happened in your life. I know you are edumacated. I know you worked hard. I know you put that effort in, but the results you are seeing in your life are not comparable to the effort that you've put in. It is none other than the hand of God on your life. Amen.

Be careful being jealous of what somebody else has because you have no idea. They didn't get it based on their effort. They got it based on the favor. We're family. Y'all said it. So you're going to get the family stuff. I get irritated when you run into certain people and they begin to take credit for things that they should not take credit for.

You run into a married couple. I'm talking about real married couples, not like five years or 10 years. I'm talking about 35 years, 37 years, 40 years. Come on now. You run into some folks that have been married for three, four decades. Wow. How do I build a godly marriage like you? And they've got the nerve to give you an answer. Well...

You know, you just got to be long-suffering. You got to keep no record of wrong. You got to make sure that you forgive and make sure that you come. I'm sure you communicated. I'm sure you forgave. But homicide was on your mind at least one night. You made it 35 years because of the favor and grace and mercy of God.

When you look at David, you see him plucked out of his family. You see the anointing of God. You also see outrageous victories that David won, and God just had a way of making David win in front of his haters. It wasn't just a victory in the backside of nowhere, but the exact

brothers that said, how dare you leave those sheep? What are you doing here? Who do you think you are? They had to watch David defeat Goliath. They had to watch David be celebrated. If you would look back over your life, you would see victories that God brought because of his hand of favor. Somebody shout amen in this place. David's story, y'all know preachers, all that was a setup.

is you don't just see God pluck David out of obscurity. You don't just see David anointed for the supernatural. You don't just see massive victories in David's life. The Bible also shows us the battles that David had to fight, that David wished he never had to fight. It doesn't just tell us about the anointing. It tells us about the lion fighting.

That jumped on him, that he had to fight for the sheep and fight for his life. And it tells us about the bear. It tells us about Goliath. It tells us about the time that he was in battle against his own son.

As you look over the life of David, you see the favor of God, but you see battles that David wished he had never fought. And if you look back over your own life, you can see the favor of God, but we all see battles that we wish we never had to fight. Maybe it was battles with depression. Maybe it was battles with sickness. Maybe it was battles with confusion or relational battles, but we all have battles in our stories, right?

That we would not wish on our worst enemy. And we sometimes ask God, why did I have to go through this? And here's what I've discovered. That you can waste a lot of time commiserating over all the battles that you've been through. That you can actually forget all of the blessings and favor and open doors of what God has done. New year, 2025. Let's go.

It is hard to find somebody that has something good to say about 2024. Man, so glad that year was over. Believe in God has more for me in a new year. And yes, you may have had some rough things in 2024, but I'm telling you, you had some miracles and you had some favor and you had some open door. It is all based on what you choose to obsess over.

And I'd like to submit to you that whether you realize it or not, the battles that you wish you could have avoided, there is a blessing in those battles. Because for some reason, God uses battles to make us. You are not just who you are because of the parents who raised you.

You are not just who you are because of the effort that you put in. You're not just who you are because of how you educated yourself and developed you. There are some things that were developed through the battles that you had to fight. There are parts of your personality that you built based on the fights that you had to fight. And I'm telling you, it is the battle that God allowed you to walk through.

That made you. Three quick thoughts. Three quick thoughts about the battles that we face. The first one is this. Some battles come looking for me. Some battles come looking for me. Pastor Steven preached a few weeks ago about how trying to avoid drama or battles is not a way to live in life. It doesn't matter how safe you try to live. Some battles will find you.

Now, I wish I had a great story about how I grew up. I used to fight and all this other kind of stuff. But the reality is I'm not a fighter. I'm a pastor's kid, okay? And not only am I a pastor's kid, but I was homeschooled. So the only people to fight at school were my siblings.

So I don't have any, like, I got into fistfights growing up. I've got one story. It's the only story I have about a fight ever. Actually, what happened is a kid came to my house and he rang the doorbell. It was one of those deals. You know, back in the 90s, parents used to leave their kids at home. Nowadays, it's, oh, you can't leave your kids. Well, they used to leave us at like six, seven, eight, whatever. I think the statue of limitation is over. Sorry, Dad. So my dad's at work. My mom's gone. You know how it is. Don't open the door for anybody.

A kid comes to the door, and I didn't like this kid. The kid didn't like me. We knew we didn't like each other. He rings the doorbell, and because my mom said, don't open the door, I do what every kid does. I open the door. I'm like, what do you want? And he goes, I came to borrow some cheese. I said, cheese? I don't got no cheese. He said, then why don't you scrape it off your mother's teeth? That's what I said. Now, this pastor's kid who's homeschooled and has never been in a fight in his life

It don't take a high IQ to understand you've got to protect your mother's honor. So I said, what you, I took off running out the door. He took off running. I don't know if my dads have heard the story. Sorry, dad. Anyway, he goes running. I mean, we're running through the neighborhood, through people's backyards. I'm chasing him. I finally catch him. I tackle him. But remember, I ain't never been in a fight before.

I didn't think this far. What do you do? Now, y'all are like, hit him. It didn't cross my mind, so I went, take it back. And he's like, that's it? I take it back? I'm like, yeah. Boy, the way I walk home, you can't tell me nothing. Some fights come and find you.

No matter if you do everything you possibly can in life to avoid drama. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 17, 34, but David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep.

They were asking David, why do you think you have what it takes to fight?

this nine foot giant. And David said, because this fight ain't my first fight. I didn't go looking for a fight, but a lion came and found me and that lion bit off more than he could chew. And a bear came and found me. And because I fought the lion and because I fought the bear, I am now prepared to fight this giant in front of me. Hear me, some fights come and find you. By the way, be careful judging people for what they're battling.

Do you really think they picked that fight? They didn't pick that fight. That fight picked them. They didn't pick addiction. Addiction picked them. They didn't pick mental torment. Mental torment picked them. And hear me, just because the fight picks you does not mean you get to surrender. You have almighty God on the inside of you. You've got to fight the fight that comes your way. But not all fights we pick. Some of them pick us. And here's what was wild.

David got in a fight with a lion and a bear and it wasn't even his sheep. He was taking care of his father's flock and got in a drama with an enemy because he was protecting something that does not belong to him. Some of you have been fighting for your life and you believe the lie of the enemy that you did something wrong, that maybe I messed up some way and that's why I'm battling the

way that I'm battling or maybe because of the fight that you're facing. You're like, has God forgotten about me? Has he abandoned me? Has he left me? You're not fighting because you did something wrong. You are fighting because your father's kingdom and purpose is on the inside of you and the enemy is attacking the potential that God has placed on the inside of you. The fight has found you because there's destiny on your life. Amen.

And by the way, the size of your fight is an indication of the size of the call of God on your life. You're wondering, why does it seem like I am fighting for my life? Because of the potential that God has placed on the inside of you. The enemy said, let me take you out before you even realize who God has called you to be. As you track through scripture, the enemy did it all the time.

When he knew Moses the deliverer was coming, he tried to have all the Hebrew boys executed. Why? Because he will always attack in infancy what he does not want to deal with in maturity. But somebody elbow your neighbor and say, but he failed. He failed. He should have taken me out when he got a chance. He should have taken me out when I did not know God and was not in my right mind. But I made it to church today. I made it into the house of God today. I made it into an atmosphere that is telling me who I am.

and whose I am. The fight did not take me out. You've got to get dramatic because I think sometimes we don't realize that part of being a Christian means you're going to take some shots, and it's not because of who you are. It's because of who your daddy is. We are not living in a demilitarized zone. We are at war, and there is an enemy, and he is trying to take out the kingdom of God.

And you've got to stand 10 toes down saying, I've got an assignment. I know who my dad is and I'm going to fight for what he's... One of the problems is we think what we're fighting over belongs to us. So I'm confused why I've got to battle so much over this marriage because this is my marriage. Can I put you on notice? That ain't your marriage.

That marriage belongs to God. God created marriage, a husband loving a wife and a wife loving a husband as an example to the world of God's love for his church and his bride. And as you guys love each other and build the family that God has called you to build, it is an example to unbelievers of the hope and love and joy of God. You're not just fighting for love. You are fighting for the kingdom. I get in trouble because I tell these stories about my family and then y'all start thinking my family is ratchet and

We were, but we were educated and loved God too. I was driving with my mom when I was a kid, and this is what happened quite often. And there's this one mall up in Maryland. If you're from Maryland, you know it. It's a massive, one of those, you know, kind of outlet malls. And there's like enough room in the mall for a million people, but they only have four parking spaces. Yeah.

I don't know if they want to have like Instagram fist fights. I don't know what it is. But you spend more time looking for parking than you spend in the mall. So I'd go to this mall. My mom, my siblings in the car. My mom would be driving up one aisle and she would see a parking space in the other aisle. And she would look at me and she would say, Stephen, I love these moments of preaching because half of y'all are like, my mama did the same thing. And half of y'all are like, I don't know where this is going. My mama said, get out the car.

Y'all had the same mama. And go stand in that parking space until I could drive around. So I'm like 10, 12. So I get out of the car. I go stand in that parking space. And my mom, I mean, it would seem like it'd take her four hours to go up and come back down. And as I'm standing there, a car would come and try to park in the space. And they go honk, honk. And they move a little closer. And I'm like, it's taken. It's taken.

And they'd be like, you're not a car. Honk, honk. And they move a little. I'm like, it's taken. And sometimes it would get a little dicey. And it's almost like they're going to hit me with their car. What they did not realize is you hitting me with your car will not hurt as much as what my mama going to do to me. So you do what you got to do, but I'm going to stay here.

some believers that know what God has promised them and you are going to stand 10 toes down on the healing, on the hope, on the purpose, on the joy. Devil, you can give it your best shot, but I know what my God has promised me and I am not moving off of this. You might not have picked the fight. The fight picked you, but you do not have the option of backing down. There is a blessing in the battle.

Do you realize that there are some things that you learned about yourself in the fight that you would have never learned about yourself if it had not been in that fight? You learned that you have more faith than you thought you did. You learned that you have more fortitude than you thought you did. You learned that you have more creativity. Who takes a stone and a sling against someone who has their back against the wall and knows who their God is?

Man, the worst fight of my life was when my mom was battling cancer for 13 years and ended up passing away after 13 years. And by the way, you can't tell me my God is not a healer because the doctor gave her three months to live. Said there ain't nothing we can do with you. Go home, make your peace with God. And God extended her life 13 years.

But hear me walking through that battle, watching her battle, the faith that it built in me to still preach about healing and hope and purpose. There is something that battles develop on the inside of you that nothing else can. Some battles will find me, but some battles I go looking for it.

Here's what it says in 1 Samuel 17, 32. Then David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. So in one passage, we find David fighting a lion and a bear that he did not want to fight.

In just a few passages later, we find David running towards a battle that nobody else wanted to fight. What happened? Well, what happened was when you make it through a few battles and you realize that the victory belongs to the Lord.

It brings a confidence on the inside of you that all of a sudden you're like, I'm not intimidated by a fight. Matter of fact, I'm looking for a fight. And instead of running from the enemy, I start running towards the enemy. I start picking a fight. I start looking for places.

to push back the forces of darkness. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 11 verse 12 that since the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of God has suffered violence, but the violent take it by force. I believe this year a supernatural violence is going to begin to rise up in the people of God, and we begin to realize I'm no longer going to be on the defense against the enemy, but I'm going on the offense.

Why did David run after Goliath? Because Goliath dared to defy who God was.

Here's the battles you need to start picking in your life. Anything that defies the promise that God has made over your life, you've got to stop allowing the enemy to occupy territory that does not belong to him and begin to declare, this is what God has promised me, and I'm taking my joy back. I'm taking my peace back.

I'm taking prosperity back. I will not lack. I will not have not enough. I'm taking my health back. Matter of fact, I'm taking back every unbelieving family member in my family. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Devil, get your hands off my teenager. Get your hands off of my spouse. Get your hands off my aunt, off my uncle.

Addiction is broken in my family in the name of Jesus. Divorce is canceled in my family in the name of Jesus. You've got to start attacking what God has promised you. Here's the problem. What happens when you're fighting is sometimes you don't know how to calm down. And I see this a lot. Can I just be ignorant? On social media. Yeah.

People fighting fights that they ain't got no business fighting. As you are running after the fights that God has for you, make sure you're not picking fights that don't stand between you and the destiny that God has for you.

Because one of the things the enemy want is to get you occupied in a fight that ain't got nothing to do with what God has called you to do. It happened to David. He's fighting a lion. He's fighting a bear. He's fighting Goliath. He don't know who in Saul's army he can trust. And next thing you know, him and his army, they're marching and they go ask a man, hey, we have no food. Can you feed us?

The man said, I don't know who you are. Y'all could be thieves. Y'all could be enemies. I'm not going to feed you. You know what David said? We're going to kill him. And it took somebody talking David down. David, this ain't your fight. Leave that alone. Some of us, man, people talk to you the wrong way. Say something. I'm going to give you a piece of my mind. First of all.

You don't have much mind left. You can't be handing pieces out all willy nilly, okay? You need to keep all the mind that you've got. Keep your mind stayed on him. And you've just got to make a decision. I'm not going to fight a fight that doesn't have the ability to block me from all that God has for me. Bible says this in chapter 21, verse 8, when David is in that temple. It says, then David said to Ahimelech,

Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste. You've got to understand us pastors, our brains are like a Rubik's cubes and we write messages and then the message writes itself. Even as I'm reading this, I'm reminded when Jesus told his disciples when they went out, don't

bother to take anything with you because when you get to the place, it is going to give you the resources that you need to accomplish what you need to accomplish. The priest said, the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you killed, watch this, in a past...

battle is now available in your moment of need, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is no other except that one here. And David said, there is none like it. Give it to me. Come on. Where's my Bible scholars at? You've already preached this to yourself. If I'm David and I'm fighting Goliath, the

only thing I am thinking about is don't die.

I ain't worried about being king. I'm not worried about the rest of the Philistines. I'm not worried about who talking about me. I'm just worried about don't die. I'm trying to take Goliath out. Now, while I'm trying to take Goliath out, God ain't even thinking about the battle that I'm in right now. He's already two, three years ahead into my future and knowing, yeah, Goliath's a big battle and you're going to need to win, but make sure, David, you snatch his sword at the end of this battle because

Because this battle is not about this battle. This battle is about equipping you for a battle that is coming on from your future. Hear me, some of you are so consumed in the situation that you're in right now, you can't see two, three years down the road and not realize that this may be a battle to the enemy, but it's only training ground to God.

This is a season where he is preparing you for what he is getting ready to take you to. Can anybody testify? I wouldn't want to go through that fight again, but I learned some things in that fight that I'm telling you, baby, I'm using right now. I'm not happy that they walked out on me and stabbed me in my back, but I picked up discernment in that moment, and they ain't going to get me twice. I can see it coming. Somebody shout, prove it.

There was this passage in this Bible when the prophet came to this widow. It was just her and her son. There was a famine. You probably know this story. And they had nothing to eat. The prophet said, can you make me a cake? She said, bro, I ain't got nothing. We're going to make a cake for me and my son. Then we're going to die. And that's it. He said, great. Do that.

but first make me a cake. She had enough faith to obey the word of God, even though it made no common sense. She made a cake for the prophet and then for her. And it said that the flour and the oil sustained her through the famine. Somebody say they survived the battle. The Holy Spirit showed me something in that passage that blew my mind years later. Here's what it says. It says after they survived that famine, later on her son died. Uh-oh.

What's a bigger deal, hunger or death? But when her son died, it was not her first battle, and she knew who her God was.

And she said, I wonder if the same God who can multiply flour and oil can breathe life back into my dead boy. Let me take him to the same place where God did the last miracle. Whole time, it was never about the famine, never about the flour, never about the oil, all about building that faith muscle for when she actually needed it.

She knew how to use it. Hear me. The battles that you fought in your past were only preparing you for the victory that God has ahead of you. You may have called it a battle, but I'm telling you it was a blessing because it made you who you. Some battles come find me. Some battles I go looking for. Last thing is this, but running from battles is not an option.

It says this in verse 11, the end of that story, David ate the bread, he has the sword. And it says, the servants of Achish said to him, is this not David, the king of the land? By the way, y'all, he was anointed king, but he wasn't operating as king. Here was the enemy calling David by his future, even though nothing about his current situation looked like the future that God had promised him.

They said, is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands? Now David took these words to heart and was, watch this, very much afraid. You would think if people are reading your resume that your chest would go out. Yeah, that's me, that's me. I'd be killing Philistines. But it said, fear came over David.

And he says, watch this. So he changed his behavior and pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva fall down on his beard. You can play, I'm done. Here's David in the face of a new enemy with a resume of victory. And instead of standing 10 toes down and saying the God who brought victory in every season of my life, he will do it again.

David started to pretend to be less than who God called him to be because he didn't want to fight another battle. Elevation, hear me. There will be opportunities in your future if you do not have the right perspective to diminish who God has called you to be just to avoid another fight. Oh man, when I get around these people and I talk about all that God's going to do through my life, they get angry. So I'm just going to stop talking.

When I walk in boldness and I'm actually moving, I get pushback. I get flack. I get attacked. So there are going to be temptations of let me just shrink. Let me just stop dreaming. Let me just stop pushing. Let me just stop pressing. And if you're not careful, you can look at the blessings that God has done in your life up to this point. You can say this is good enough. The heat that I've had to take to get this far, I don't want to fight anymore.

A lot of times people say, Pastor, man, that message was just for me. Sometimes I'm transparent, sometimes I'm not, but in this moment I will be, and I'll tell you this message ain't for you, this is for me. Because I'm walking out of a season where I just said, God, I don't want to fight anymore. This stinks, I'm tired, I'm exhausted. Our church has been outrageously blessed, and God has moved it forward at leaps and bounds, and every time it's moved forward, there has been an insane attack prior. And I'm like, God, if this is what building your kingdom is like, count me out.

And I'm not talking about like stupid attacks, like people talking about you. How many people know people talking about you ain't got nothing to do with nothing. But it's attacks like, you know, on your children. Our church went through this season where we grew exponentially. And right before we grew exponentially, we sit down in the doctor's office and doctor tells me my seven-year-old is losing her hearing and she'll never be able to hear. Let's begin to start this process of figuring out how she's going to live without hearing. And I'm like, God, if this is not, I need to sign up for this.

Church grew on the other side. God supernaturally healed her. No healing problems whatsoever. Another season like that comes. Church grows exponentially. Me and my wife were traveling at some conference or whatever it may be. We get a phone call. Our two-year-old broke her femur and is in the hospital, and we're in another city. You want to talk about nauseous? I said, God, if this is the fight, count me out.

This last year, she's run around healthy, healed, perfect, good. God's covered. By the way, pray for your pastor. Every time God blesses, you have no idea the battles that they fought and they won. But there's such a temptation. I know that's my story. You've got your own story of, man, I just can't handle another fight. Read this. 2 Samuel 11 verse 1, it says, it happened in the spring of the year at the time when kings go out to battle.

that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the people of Ammon besieged. Watch this. But David remained at Jerusalem. Y'all Bible scholars, you know the story. You could preach it to yourself. David was supposed to be at war. Instead, he stayed home, ran across this chick called Bathsheba and wrecked the whole deal. If you look at the life of David, there's one thing that you might miss, that the only times David nearly died

was when he was in the palace, not when he was out on the battlefield. The safest place for David was out fighting the battles that God called him to fight.

It was in the palace that Saul tried to kill him. It was in the palace that Absalom created that coup and tried to take him out. It was in the palace that he saw Bathsheba and ruined his legacy. David was safest when he was on the offense, going after all that God had called him to go after. But when David allowed the intimidation of the enemy to keep him blocked up

in what he thought was a safe place is when he was not safe at all. Hear me, you are safest, not when you're playing it safe, but when you are running forward in faith towards all that God has for you. And you may say, hey, I don't

want to fight another battle. Hear me. Don't look at it as another battle. Look at it another victory on the other side of this battle that I'm going to walk through. What did ten spies say? Hey, we can't take the city. There's giants in the land. What did two spies say? When we kill these giants, we're going to sleep in giants' beds, and we're going to live in giants' houses, and we're going to have giant blessings on the

other side of this. Hear me. I got bad news and I got good news. The bad news is there's some battles ahead of you. You cannot avoid them. Here's the good news. If you don't back up, if you don't quit, if you don't throw in the towel, victory has your name on it. And the size of the blessing on the other side of the battle will be greater than any battle you can face in your life. If you believe it,

Somebody shout hallelujah. Come on, can you hop up on your feet? Father God, we're grateful. God, we're thankful that you said, though the enemy comes in like a flood, that you will raise up a standard against him. God, I pray over every single person under the sound of my voice. God, that your victory will go before us, that you would cover us, that we would see your hand on everything that we do. Come on, right where you are. Can you close your eyes? Can you pray this prayer? Say, Holy Spirit.

What do you say to me? And just give God a moment to make this time and make this message personal to you. For some of you, you are in the fight of your life. And God's word to you is you're not alone. This will end in victory. Your best days are ahead of you, not behind you. For some of you, if you'd be honest, you are fighting this fight by yourself because you've never asked God to be a part of your story. Well, if that's you, this is your moment.

wherever you find yourself, if you say, Pastor, I'm tired of fighting by myself. I need God to be my victory, right? Where you're standing, pray this prayer. Say, Lord Jesus, this is my moment. I surrender to you. I believe it was your cross, it was your blood that bought my freedom. And in this moment, I give you all of me. Be my Lord, be my Savior, and use me

for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Come on. Can you celebrate for every single person? God bless you.

Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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