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You arewelcome

StoneCreek

www.rossvillechurch.com

781 Salem Road, Rossville, GA 30741

October 14, 2012

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1 Samuel 23

David defended Keilah and defeated the Philistines in a

battle there.

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Saul heard about it and was bringing his army to defeat and kill David.

God told David that the men of Keilah would hand him over to Saul, so David moved out.

People will sometimes do you wrong when you do them good;

Do good anyway.

Galatians 6:9 (KJV) And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

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1Samuel 23:13 Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth.

David's band of men has grown from 400 to 600 during this time.

Six hundred men who remained faithful!

Availability and dependability are great traits.

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14a And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph.

Strongholds speaks of mountain caves in the wilderness of Ziph.

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14b And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.

Psalms 46 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

The devil and ungodly men may hate us and wish to do us harm, but God

is faithful, dependable, and well able to protect.

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15 And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.

David made no attempt against Saul; he kept God's way, waited God's time, and was content to secure himself in woods and wildernesses. Let it make us think the worse of this world, which often gives such bad treatment to its best men: let it make us long for that Kingdom where goodness shall forever be in glory, and holiness in honor.

Matthew Henry Concise Bible Commentary.

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16 And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.

Proverbs 18 24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Jesus is such a friend, but we can also be such friends.

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18 And they two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.

Jonathan encouraged David, causing him to remember and rely on his faith in God.

I find it interesting that Saul couldn't find David, but Jonathan walked right into his camp.

David and Jonathan would always be and remain true friends, loving God and one another.

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19 Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?

Betrayed!

2 Chronicles 32 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. …

David could have said as Hezekiah did later:

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20 Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand. 21 And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the Lord; for ye have compassion on me.

God would not honor that blessing.

God is not honoring anything that Saul says or does.

words with no power

Sin is to blame for it all!

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22 Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who hath seen him there: for it is told me that he dealeth very subtilly. 23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.

Saul is making big plans.

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Proverbs 19:21 (NIV) Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's Purpose that prevails.

(TLB) Man proposes, but God disposes.

Let us always make certain that our plans fit within God's Plan.

We can only accomplish what God Wills.

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24 And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. 25 Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David: wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

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26 And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them.

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27 But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land. 28 Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela ham MAH le koth ((rock of the division). 29 And David went up from thence, and dwelt in strongholds at Engedi (an oasis).

The invasion of the Philistines was no coincidence.

God's deliverance

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John 15 (Jesus) 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

David endured ten years of persecution by the king of Israel. We too will be persecuted.

We must love one another, and encourage one another, because nobody else will.

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John 15:20 -21 Remember the Word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My Saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for My Name's Sake, because they know not Him that sent Me.

Simply being mistreated is not persecution.

Being mistreated because we are true Christians standing up for Jesus is persecution.

"For My Name's Sake"

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Romans 8 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not His Own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

We can not depend on the world -- the government, business, or worldly people.

Depend on God Almighty.Be content in whatever situation He provides.

David was content in forests and caves for ten years. God can make life good anywhere.

God won't quit on us.