Bobby Chandler - Fickle People
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Summary
In this sermon, the pastor stresses that God does not tolerate fickle faith—it opens the door for the enemy to torment the mind. The key Scripture is 1 Samuel 16:14–23 and the story of King Saul, who through disobedience and pressure from people lost God’s presence and fell into spiritual torment. The conclusion is clear: constant communication with God through prayer and worship breaks these strongholds in the mind and brings true peace.
I have a sermon for you today. How many of you are ready for that? Come on, make some noise! We’re on part four today of our series «Communicating with God.»
Recap of the Series
Just to recap some of the things that I was able to discuss with you guys in the first week, we talked about strongholds, right? We talked about strongholds over regions, over cities, over countries. But here is something that I want you to leave with that will always give you encouragement, okay? There is no power in hell that can stop the power of prayer. There is no power in hell that can stop the power of prayer. Because even when you pray and God doesn’t answer you right away, it doesn’t mean that it’s a no. All right? But there is a spiritual battle taking place around us, and God is fighting for you. So keep praying, keep having faith, and keep being in the Word.
The following week, we talked about heartbreak. We talked about a stronghold within our hearts, and it’s a hard season when you’re going through a heartbreak. You feel vulnerable, and that is the easiest way for the enemy to attack.
What Is a Stronghold?
We’ve been talking about a stronghold. What is a stronghold? It is a mighty fortress with no easy access to get into. In other words, to simplify it, once it’s in your life, it’s hard to get rid of. All right? Once it’s there, it’s hard to get rid of. What I’m telling you right now is that the Bible warns us that Satan is looking for any open door into your life for anything, especially when we go through a heartbreak. Yes, we are vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. At the same time, here’s the good news: we are vulnerable to see the love of God like never before, and God always shows up and He shows out and does something spectacular. But you have to keep walking in faith; you have to keep praying; you have to keep communicating with God and growing in that. No matter what my situation looks like, I know that God is in control.
The Enemy Attacks the Mind
But this is something we have to be aware of because if the enemy is looking for any open door into your life, guess what he’s going to do? All right, if you open that door up to your mind, he’s going to attack your mind. He’s going to bring stress into your life; he’s going to bring anxiety into your life. He’s going to have you constantly thinking and doubting what God is going to do. If he’s trying to get inside your heart, he’s trying to mess with you. «Nobody’s going to love you. Nobody’s going to be there for you. God doesn’t really care for you.» And we start to believe these lies. All of a sudden, this gets inside of us and it starts to torment everything that we do. I see it in people; I see it in your eyes; I see it when we come to church. Even when we’re glorifying God, a lot of us have strongholds in our life buried so deep, we don’t know how to get it out.
Because one of the number one questions I hear all the time: «Pastor, there is a sin in my life that I just can’t get rid of. How do I do it? How do I get past it? How do I change in this area of my life?»
The Good News of Freedom
First of all, you have to recognize there’s a stronghold there—there’s an open door to it. Every time you allow the enemy to attack that, you fall short. But here’s the good news: Jesus came to set us free! You are not a slave to the enemy; you’re not a slave to this world. Okay? He is about power through the Holy Spirit to set us free from any stronghold the enemy is trying to bring toward us. But I want to show you today because I want to talk about a stronghold over our minds. I want to talk about how the enemy wants to get inside of our heads. He wants to whisper thoughts, and he wants you to believe them so that you constantly doubt what God can do. And here’s the thing: it’s going to bring you misery when you start to believe the lies of the enemy.
Have you ever been there before? It feels like torment, and in everything that you do, you feel like you’re not good enough. Every time you try to change, you feel like it’s never going to happen. Every time you have a little glimpse of hope, you start to feel like, «Okay, it’s pointless. It’s worthless. Nothing’s ever going to change for me.»
King Saul: A Man Tormented in His Mind
That is a stronghold in your mind because the Word of God tells me something completely different: that when I have faith in God, mountains can move, and demons flee, and God will do miraculous things. So I want to talk about a stronghold over our minds today. And when I think about somebody who was tormented in their mind, I think about King Saul. King Saul—if you read his story, if you know anything about King Saul, if you don’t know who he is, he was the first king of Israel. I want to look exactly into what torment he was going through because he was facing depression; he was facing anxiety and fear. But the Bible was also very clear: this was not just a physical thing happening in his body; for him, it was a spiritual attack because he had a door open into his life.
Let’s look together at 1 Samuel chapter 16, verses 14 through 16, New Living Translation. It states, «Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit.» In other words, God allowed a demonic spirit to torment his mind. I know for a lot of believers, you read that and you’re like, «What was God doing? Why would God allow something like that?» But a couple of weeks ago, I was preaching about King Ahab. Remember King Ahab? What did he do? Because he rejected God, God rejected him. In other words, because he rejected God and what God was telling him to do, he let the door open for the enemy to attack.
In King Ahab’s story, the prophets had a lying spirit that came upon them and literally was leading him to death. It is the same thing in this story happening with King Saul. Because he was rejecting God and what God was telling him to do, he left that door open for a demonic being to attack him. And this is what it says: that this demon filled him with depression and fear. And some of Saul’s servants said to him, «A tormenting spirit from God is troubling you.»
Now, this kind of made me laugh a little bit. I said, «Let us find a good musician to play the harp whenever the tormenting spirit troubles you.» It’s funny to me because their culture is way different from ours. If somebody was being attacked by a demon, probably the last thing you would say is, «Hey, let’s go get a harp. Anyone a harp player? Let’s go ahead and play!» Now what they mean by that is that they believed playing music could ease the soul and drive out demons. They also believed that if you played music, you could kind of captivate a demon because Jesus had not come yet, so there was no power yet to see in the Holy Spirit to make these demons flee. And so they’re saying, «We need a good musician! We need somebody to come to help ease King Saul’s mind!»
The Title: «Fickle People»
What I want to explain to you today is this: I want to reveal to you how Saul got to this place and how communicating with God will protect you from this. So the title of today’s sermon, like Pastor Felix said, is a funny one: «Fickle People.» How many of you know the frustration of dealing with somebody who seems fickle? Come on, raise your hand! If you don’t know what fickle means, it means somebody who never makes a decision; they don’t know what to do. They are constantly changing their mind or they never follow through, even when they give you their word.
It’s funny to me because when I say stuff like this on the stage, I’ll say, «Hey, how many of you are frustrated with a fickle person?» Some of you do not raise your hands, but I see your eyes like, «Pastor, I’m just telling you, pray for your boy right now! There are some fickle people around me, okay? I’m trying to get things done, people keep telling me they’re getting things done, and they never are. I don’t know who to trust.»
But for some of you, this is actually a deep wound within your life. Maybe you grew up as a child and you had fickle parents, and they were telling you over and over again, «Hey, I’m going to be at your game. I’m going to be at your tournament. I’m going to be there to root you on.» But every time, they let you down. Maybe you had a mom or a dad who promised you things would change—maybe there was an addiction within their life—or, «This time, things are going to be really different.» But it never was. So you carry that weight upon yourself, and you start to value everybody else like that. If I can’t trust my parents, then how do I know that I can trust a complete stranger or a friend? It was hard to deal with fickle parents.
For some of you, you know what it means to deal with a fickle spouse, right? We can make fun of this, but some of you have that spouse that’s like, «Yeah, I’m going to get to that project; don’t worry—it’s going to happen.» A year later, «I’m going to get to that project; it’s going to be okay.» Five years down the road: «If you tell me one more time you’re going to get this project done!» Don’t be fickle with me! Don’t tell me you’re going to do something and then not follow through. But at the same time, we’ve seen a lot of hurt in marriages as well. We’ve seen trust completely broken because a word was given, but they didn’t follow through.
Even as an employer, if you have an employee who is fickle and they say to you, «I’m never going to let you down, ” and then on the first day, „I quit! This is way too hard.“ You’re fickle! You’re fickle! And I’m saying this because I really want you to understand the frustration that comes with this word. To be fickle means to be unreliable; to be fickle means to let somebody down over and over again; to be fickle means that you are going back and forth on your word. Nobody wants a friendship like that. Nobody wants that within their marriage.
God’s Frustration with Fickle Faith
But now, making that very clear, let me show you what the Word of God says about faith. Let me show you how God is frustrated when He sees our faith becoming fickle and what He’s proclaiming over our lives. If you have your Bibles, turn to James chapter one. James chapter one, verse six, New Living Translation, says, „If you need wisdom, ask our generous God.“ You have a God that you can communicate with on a very real level. God wants you to yearn for Him. Whatever it is that you’re going through, be real with Him. If you’re upset, if you’re angry, then be angry. Tell Him exactly what’s going on in your life—and He says, „I will not rebuke you for asking. Ask anything, but when you ask, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver.“
Now look at this next sentence because it’s important. It says this: „For a person with divided loyalty is unsettled.“ A person with divided loyalty will always be unsettled within their mind. Why? Because it continues, „because it’s like the waves of the sea, you’re blown and tossed by the wind.“ You’re going back and forth, back and forth. So whenever you feel divided in your faith, your mind will always be unsettled.
I love this passage of Scripture because it’s saying, „God is saying speak to me, tell me your fears, but do not have fickle faith in my power.“ What does fickle faith look like? A lot of us do it. We say, „God, you can do it! You can do the impossible.“ „God, you can’t do it! It’s not going to change!“ „God, you can do it! I know everything’s going to be okay; I believe this time.“ „God, you can’t do it!“ That’s torment to the mind, back and forth, back and forth. Do you believe God can do it or not?
Trust this, because sometimes I pray for things and I don’t see it come out the way I prayed for, but I know what God has for me is better. It’s always better! God’s way always impacts way more people, because a lot of us will pray selfish prayers. A lot of times we will pray for things that better our life. But what God is going to do for you is not only better your life but better all those around you as well. But He’s saying, „Do you trust me? Do not have fickle faith!“
If you’re frustrated with a person that goes back on their word, imagine how God feels when He sees us going back and forth, and He created you for a purpose! He created you for a reason to keep going. Now, some translations state it like this: they say, „Ask in faith without doubting.“ For a long time, I would read that and I would feel bad because, yes, I have faith that God can do it, but I can’t help also being human and seeing certain circumstances and doubting that. But what the Scripture is saying is it’s okay; human nature—you’re going to doubt; you’re going to face doubt. But don’t give in to the doubt. Just because you hear doubt doesn’t mean you have to believe it, right? Just because you doubt something in a moment doesn’t mean that you have to stay there and not move. A lot of times when I’m believing God, yes, doubt will come my way, but through every obstacle, I just keep moving.
Do Not Doubt God’s Willingness
And so here’s what I want you to understand, right? Because we’re human, we face doubt, but what this verse really means is do not doubt God’s willingness to help you. You can doubt yourself, but do not doubt God. You can doubt what you’re going through and the mistakes that you have made, but do not doubt how God will redeem you and restore you and where He is taking you. Do not doubt God’s willingness to save you and help you.
But I think it’s got to be frustrating. It’s got to be frustrating for God to see us over and over again, back and forth, back and forth, created for a purpose. What I’m trying to warn you with today is that this is what the enemy wants to do; he wants to put a stronghold within your mind where you constantly feel tormented in this area of your life, constantly feeling like you’re never going to get anywhere. Here’s his plan: once the stronghold is there, he wants to use the same trap he used for King Saul—the same mentality of depression, of fear, of anxiety. Some of you know exactly what I’m talking about; some of you already know how that feels right now. Some of you feel alone; some of you feel like there’s no hope, or you’re scared. I’m telling you, rebuke the enemy!
How the Stronghold Entered Saul’s Life
Let me show you today; I want to review the story real quick of how the stronghold even got into Saul’s mind. But first, let’s explain Saul. Who was Saul again? He was the first king of Israel. But let me tell you something I think is interesting: God was not pleased with that. God was not pleased that Israel was demanding for a king. Why? Because God was their king! Look at the scriptures: God was their king. He would always use a prophet, right? He would use a man, but He would be the king of Israel, and He would lead them and show them miraculous things. But there came a point where the people of Israel wanted a king; they demanded a king. „Give us a king! An earthly king!“ Why? Because they wanted to look just like the rest of the world! It’s dangerous! They wanted to look just like the rest of the world.
And so they go to the prophet Samuel and they’re telling him, „Hey, Samuel, you’re getting kind of old. You’re getting old, and your sons don’t act like you; they’re rebellious; they’re not godly. So we want a godly king!“ Let’s listen to this conversation: 1 Samuel chapter 8, verses 5–7, New Living Translation. They said to him, „You’re old, and your sons, they’re not like you; they’re not godly. So here’s what we want you to do: we want you to give us a judge just like all the other nations have.“ Samuel was displeased with their request.
It’s such human nature to look at your circumstances and to believe this is all it’s going to be, this is as good as it’s going to get. Because even if Samuel’s sons were wicked, they should have had faith that God would bring somebody else to lead them; that God was always going to take care of them. But they wanted a physical person in front of them to tell them what to do and where to go so they could be like the rest of the world. Samuel goes to God in this passage, and he’s frustrated, and God says this—listen to this: „Do everything that they say to you, because they are rejecting me, Samuel. They’re rejecting me—not you! They do not want me to be their king any longer.“
So Samuel was upset. In 1 Samuel chapter 8, he goes back to the people of Israel and he tells them, „Listen, if you want a man to be your king and tell you what to do, there’s going to be some consequences!“ And he started to warn them. He said, „Listen, if we want a king just like everybody else, looks like everybody else, he’s going to take your sons, he’s going to take your daughters, he’s going to put your sons on the front line of war—a battle—and their lives will be ended. He’s going to take your daughters for whatever he pleases, and then he tells them, not only that, but he’s going to take your land, he’s going to put property tax on you. And he tells them, listen, not only that, but you’re going to get taxed on everything—10% of everything that you have. These are the consequences of wanting a king just to look like the rest of the world!“
And he tells them, „There will come a day where you will beg to God; you will beg to God because God already knew that Israel would have good kings and bad kings, and every time that they had a bad king, the downfall of Israel would take place. A lot of times it was the judgment of God coming upon Israel because they were constantly looking towards a man instead of God.“ 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 18 and 19: „When that day comes, Israel, you will beg for relief from the king that you are demanding, but the Lord will not help you.“ But even so, the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. Even so, they were not convicted; they did not repent; they did not say, „Okay, God, I want to follow you. I’m sorry!“ No! They still stood before Samuel and said, „We want a king, and we want one now!“
Consequences of Choosing the World
Is this real to you? How real is this? A lot of times, God is telling you what He has for you is better, but we keep seeking the world because we want to look just like everybody else. We want to be just like everybody else. Well, they had this, they got to this stage of their life already within work, and they got promotions, and they got the house, and we keep trying to keep up, keep up, keep up, keep up—until we’re constantly, a lot of us, in debt because we don’t know how to manage anymore. We feel like we have to have that relationship that you see on social media, but most people know what you see on social media is not real life. And we’re constantly fighting for the world.
Listen to this: it’s crazy how we desire so much from this world, but what we really need can only come from God. We desire so much from this world, but what we really need can only come from God. Choosing the world over God will always have consequences. I need you to understand that because Satan will get in your head. I’ve had conversations with people like, „I’ve been good! I’ve been better! Can I just do one thing? Just one thing!“ Yeah, you have free will to do whatever you want, but there are consequences. „Oh, God’s not going to do that to me. No, no, no, no, no! God loves you! He’s trying to save you from it. But every time you reject God, you open up a door for the enemy to come in to attack you. So that’s you allowing the enemy into your life, and there will always be consequences!
Because the enemy is looking for any open door for a stronghold in your life. Because we’ve all been there: „I’m doing better, but if I just allow this one thing in my life, it will be okay. Then I’ll be done with it!“ You allow it; you like it. That door is completely wide open. Next thing you know, every week, every month, and now it’s been years, and you’re praying, „God, how come you haven’t set me free?“ And it’s because you have left the door wide open, and Satan has invited his friends, because you made him welcome.
There are things in our life that God wants to completely change. There are always consequences. So then we see all of a sudden, here comes King Saul. I want you to understand this: in 1 Samuel chapter 9, verse 17, it states that there is a man of whom I spoke to you, „This one shall rule over my people.“ So understand this: God is telling the prophet Samuel, „Hey, Saul is the man; he is the one that I want you to anoint; he is the one that I want you to bring up as king over the people of Israel.“ Okay, I want you to take that in: God chose Saul! He was picked by the prophet Samuel, and then if you keep reading, he was also anointed. He was anointed by the Spirit of God and was chosen to have the Holy Spirit come upon him.
1 Samuel chapter 10, verse 6: „At that time, the Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them.“ This is big news! As believers today, we don’t think a lot about how the Holy Spirit can come upon all of us, right? We sing songs: „Holy Spirit, come upon us! Lead us and guide us!“ In these days, Jesus had not come yet, right? So He was not yet crucified upon the cross. He was not yet back at the right hand of the Father, which then the Holy Spirit came in the Book of Acts upon all believers. So in the Old Testament, it was a special thing for the Spirit of God to be upon you. It was powerful! It meant that you heard from the Lord, and everybody would come to hear, right?
So I want you to get this because here is Saul. Because we look at it like, „Man, King Saul is a bad dude.“ No! Not in the beginning! God picked him! God anointed him! And he had the Spirit of God upon him! But here’s a question I want to ask today: how did a man who had so much be brought down to a level of mental torment and defeat? Think about it! Because we hear it all the time: people are like, „I’m anointed!“ Okay, that’s good; you’re walking with God. „Yeah, most of the time.“ „I’m still anointed!“ And people have that mindset, and the enemy is still looking for that stronghold to put into your life.
Two Major Mistakes of Saul
So let me show you two major mistakes King Saul made that opened up a stronghold in his mind. Point number one is this: „My way now; God is too slow.“ These are going to be very real today. „My way now; God is too slow.“ How many of you have problems waiting on God? Raise your hand! Come on! I think every one of us should raise their hand. How many of you have problems waiting on God? I know just right now, even within the ministry, we got a new building, but there are approvals that we have to get and things that are happening right now, and sometimes they’re like, „God, come on faster! Let’s get in there! Let’s save lives!“ Right? I want to do it, and I want to do it now! And it’s hard!
Now let me ask you this question: how many of you have created problems because you did not wait on God? It’s hard to wait on God! But when you don’t, and you want to try to take control over a situation, you start to create more problems that God wanted to save you from. Let me show you what problems occurred because of King Saul’s mistake with God.
Now understand this as well: for the future of Israel to become a great nation, the king had to listen to God—this is the first king of Israel! He had to obey God, no matter how difficult it may look, right? And in 1 Samuel chapter 13, he is about to fight the Philistine army. He’s already had a small battle with them, and he was able to overcome them, but now the Philistines are mad, all right? They’re upset about this! I think also in the text it says, „Yeah, 30,000 chariots rose up against him.“
So the Philistines are this big, bad group of people; there are 30,000 chariots coming to war against the people of Israel! But Saul was given direct orders—listen! —from the prophet Samuel. This is what he told him: „Before you go out and fight with the army of Israel, I want you to wait!“ None of us like that answer! „Before you get your blessing that you’ve been praying for, you’re gonna wait! I know you want it next week, but you’re going to wait! God’s still doing something, but you gotta wait!“ And so he waited, and the scripture tells us that Saul was waiting seven days.
Now again, seven is the number of completion, all right, out of the Bible. And on the seventh day, Saul is getting antsy; he’s looking at his army—starting to get scared! He doesn’t know what to do. And so in a panic, this is what he says: In 1 Samuel chapter 13, verses 8–9: „Saul waited there for seven days for Samuel, but Samuel did not come.“ So then he demanded, „You know what? Bring the burnt offering to me and the peace offering.“ Pretty much, „I’m going to do it myself! I’m going to do it right now!“
You know what happens? Kind of funny: you know as a kid when you’re trying to get away with something that you shouldn’t do, and it’s like as soon as you do it, all of a sudden, your mom shows up and gives you that glare, like, „I know I told you not to touch that, and you’re touching it!“ That’s exactly what happened! King Saul has waited seven days—he’s waited seven days—as soon as he made the sacrifice himself, guess who shows up? The prophet Samuel on the seventh day! Why is this a big deal, though? Some of us would look at it like, „I don’t get it.“
Listen, a lot of times—well, especially in these days—in this culture, if you were a king, you were also considered divine, all right? A lot of kings wanted to be worshipped as gods. And so God wanted to separate that in Israel, and so the king could never be divine; therefore, the prophet was always the one that had that position to do the sacrifices. And the prophet Samuel was to show up on the seventh day, which means completion, and he was supposed to offer a sacrifice to God for favor to go into battle. But instead of waiting, he took it into his own hands!
A lot of us would think maybe that’s a slap on the wrist; everything will be okay. But listen to what the prophet Samuel told him: „Because of this, your kingdom, it will end!“ 1 Samuel 13:14 says, „Now your kingdom must end.“ What you have done is disobedient to God; it is wicked. And it’s hard to understand this because it’s a different culture. But I also need you to understand this: that there was still grace on King Saul because he still remained king! In fact, the Bible tells us that he reigned for 42 years altogether! But what the prophet Samuel was saying is, „Hey, your sons will never become king; the kingship ends with you because of this mistake.“ And I’m going to explain why in a little bit.
Point Two: „I’m Going to Take the Best for Me“
Point number two is this: „I’m going to take the best for me!“ That’s always the temptation! „I’m going to get all the glory! I’m going to do whatever I can to get the blessings! I’m going to do what God is telling me to do, but at the same time, if I’m able to help my life, I’m going to pull this into my life.“ A lot of times you look in the Bible, and you see God telling His people, „Do not take! Don’t be like the rest of the world—they’re greedy, and they try to get things for themselves. Do not take anything! Why? So I can provide it for you! And when that happens, you will be on your knees, and you will glorify God.“
Has anybody in this room felt like you had nothing left—nothing left to give, nothing left to receive in your life? And all of a sudden, God came through? That is what God wanted to do with the people of Israel! And so, in this case, they’re going out to battle against the Amalekites, okay? They’re going out to battle against the Amalekites; they win the war, but the people of Israel start taking all the possessions. In fact, here was the order of God to them: He said, „Go to battle, but do not take anything for yourself! Annihilate all the Amalekites!“ Why? Because they were a wicked, evil people, and they would have brought paganism into the culture of Israel, and so God did not want that! But instead, Saul dealt with pride and, instead of killing the Amalekite king, he brought him as a slave and he showed him off! „Look at my power! Look what I did! Look who I was able to conquer!“
Not only that, but the people of Israel stole and they brought goods. 1 Samuel chapter 15, verse 21: „My troops brought in the best of the sheep, the goats, the cattle, and all the plunder.“ And it’s crazy because, again, the prophet Samuel comes up to him and says, „What are you doing? What are you doing? I told you—I told you not to do this! I told you not to give in to it again!“ Because this was the second assignment for King Saul to redeem himself, and again, he did not obey God in this area of his life. He did not obey God! And so he took, and he says—he tells him, „I did what the Lord told me to do, but my people took instead!“ And then he tries to cover it up by saying, „I’ll make it a sacrifice to God!“
Now listen to this, okay? This is where it gets real. That’s a lot of information for you. Stay with me; I promise it gets really good! 1 Samuel chapter 15, verse 23: Saul gives us a revelation of disobedience, and he tells us something very powerful: „Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft.“ I don’t know about you, but that kind of hit me! „Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, ” because you’re still trying to control and disobey what God is doing! It’s the same thing; it’s wicked! And then he says this: „Stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols.“ „Stubbornness is as bad as worshiping other idols, other gods.“ Why? Because you will not listen to the Word of God!
So because of this, he says, „Because you have rejected the command of the Lord, God has rejected you as king!“ For a long time, reading this story, I felt like God was really harsh with King Saul! I really did! Because I felt like these are easy mistakes that many of us would make. And I prayed about that as I was putting together this message because, remember, Saul got to a point where his mind now was being tormented; there was a stronghold there.
1 Samuel chapter 16, verses 14–16 again states, „Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear.“ Here’s a revelation I want to give to you today that God spoke to me: God did not reject Saul as a person! Okay? God rejected Saul as a king. He did not reject Saul as a person, but He rejected Saul as a king because Saul’s faith—in God’s Word—Saul’s faith in leading the army of Israel was fickle! He was back and forth! He would give God His word, but he would not follow through! Israel needed a strong leader to become the nation that it is today. And as I started looking into the text, I realized something: do you know what pressures us to have fickle faith? The answer is stress!
Stress and Fickle Faith
Stress! I’m going to show you this, but before I do, I want to tell you this: people ask me sometimes, „What stresses you out the most, all right? What stress do you feel in your life sometimes?“ And my answer would be this: sermons! Sermons! And sometimes people are like, „But you’re a pastor, aren’t you called to preach? Aren’t you called to speak the Word of God?“ And yes, I’m excited to preach the Word of God, and I love listening to the Lord. But at the same time, I notice a stress in my life because I’ll be praying and I’ll be writing, and sometimes God tells me to say something, and I’m just like, „I don’t want to say that! I don’t want to go there! I don’t want to bring that subject up right now! I don’t want to preach on that, God! Can you just give me the fluffy stuff? Like, can I just preach on something like blessings and get people excited? Can we talk about healing for a little bit? Can things be okay and easier?“
But a lot of times, I feel like God is saying, „No, no, no! Because My Word has weight!“ Sometimes you’re going to come into this room and you’re going to yell the entire time, and you’re going to be excited. Sometimes you’re going to come into this room and you’re just going to grow, and God is going to teach you some things. Sometimes you’re going to come into this room and you’re going to feel completely convicted—messed up, in a good way! But I realize something special: when I have stress over the sermon—as long as I preach the Word of God—because I’m a fool for the Lord, as long as I preach the Word of God, that stress goes on Him! God takes my stress completely away. Every time a stronghold is broken, every time somebody is set free—God takes that stress completely out of my life!
When I rely on the peace of God, I’m set free from the stress of people! And I realize there’s no room for fickle faith! There’s no room to be back and forth! Because guess what? If I’m back and forth preaching to you and what God is doing, my mind is also unsettled! And there’s no time for that! Here is how the stronghold works: you can choose to obey the stress of God or obey the stress of people, and it makes all the difference! Why? Because when I obey God, even when it is hard, He takes the stress away from me! But when I obey people, guess what? That stress is now placed on me! When I obey God, no matter how hard it is, God takes that stress away. But when I rely on people, that stress is now put on me, and I become unsettled, and my mind is back and forth!
And I need you to understand: that is exactly how King Saul was. That’s how we got to this point! Let me show you—let me reveal this to you: the prophet Samuel said, „Wait on me!“ He said, „No! I’m going to do it right now!“ Why? 1 Samuel chapter 13, verse 8: Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away! The Amplified Version states this: „People were scattering!“ He saw his people leaving; he saw his people walking away! And because of that, he folded under the pressure of people instead of what God was doing, so he made a right-now decision against God to please people at that moment. And I’m telling you, it is better to let people go who want you to let go of the Word of God! Let me say that again: „It is better to let people go who want you to let go of the Word of God!“
Why does Saul allow the army of Israel to take? He blamed again the people—the people, the stress of the people! 1 Samuel 15:21: „The people took it!“ And God knew for Israel to survive, they had to listen to God over the fears and demands of people because the nation would not be here today! And Saul was rejected by God, and he was tormented by his spirit that brought him stress and anxiety because he never listened to what God was trying to do to him. Because God was saying, „If you follow Me, I will take the stress away from you!“ And some of you are feeling that right now! You feel stressed; you feel anxiety. Maybe you’re asking God, „How can my mind be set free? How do I know that I will not be fickle in my faith?“
Two Final Truths
I got two truths for you before you leave. Truth number one is this: There’s a cure for distress. Remember the harp—the harp boy that showed up? Who was it? King David! The harp was used to ease the torment of King Saul’s mind! But how did it calm his soul? Listen to this: according to Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian, he said that when King David started to play—not only that, but he would sing hymns and psalms—now King David had the Spirit of God upon him, and because of that, now Saul was in the presence of God! He would start to worship God—he would start to communicate with God! So even when Saul felt unsettled and tormented by a demon, it was worshiping God and praising God that started to set him free! And I love the text because it tells us that King Saul was refreshed! He was refreshed! Because ultimately, this worship was giving Saul what he needed most. What is it? Rest! Communicating with God will always bring you rest!
See, Saul’s stress that caused him to have fickle faith would have been broken a long time ago if he trusted God because what God would have done, He would have taken that stress off of him and showed him the miracle every time he walked in obedience! But instead, 1 Samuel 15:23 says he only rebelled against God! He allowed witchcraft into his life, and every time, there were consequences! Let me simplify it for you: God is telling you to walk in His ways to give rest and peace upon your mind. Because when you trust the Lord, then all your stress—God takes it upon Himself instead of you handling it all on your own and on your shoulders. Therefore, you’re not divided; you’re not back and forth!
Final Invitation
I’m going to ask everybody to stand right here. Point number two is this: my last truth for you guys as you leave. David not only worshipped, but he communicated with God! As David was pouring out his heart to God, something powerful would happen to Saul. 1 Samuel 16:23: „Whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp. Then Saul would feel better, and the tormenting spirit would go away.“
What are you being tormented by right now? What is happening in your life right now that you feel like you’re unsettled with—back and forth, back and forth? God is telling you, „Hey, listen: to rebel against Me is as evil as witchcraft!“ Why? Because it will always open up a door for the enemy to attack you! But you have to fight that stronghold, and you trust in Me even when it’s hard! And when you trust in Me, I will prove My miracles and My love for you, and I will take that stress from you! It’s not on you! I’ll put it upon Myself to ease your pain!