John Bevere - Godly Leaders Make Mistakes Too
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All right, here we are, session three of the beta Satan, and I’m putting a title on this one called «My Father, My Father.» Now, can I say you guys are one of the best groups I think I’ve preached to? You really are amazing. And you know, I kept talking about her last session, so I’ve got to show off my mom. Here’s my 89-year-old mom; I’m so proud of her. She is sharp as a tack. I mean, I can’t get anything by her, and I love that I have a wife and a mother I can’t get anything past. It’s really good; I like that. I figure between the Holy Spirit, my wife, and my mother, I’m in good shape. So, amen. You should always want people like that in your lives. You don’t want people you can pull the wool over their eyes, correct? You want people who will speak the truth in love because they love you. Amen. Mom, you’ve always done that; you’ve always loved me so deeply and dearly, and I love you tons. I’m so privileged to be your son.
So, we are talking about «My Father, My Father.» I can’t imagine a more painful situation than what Joseph went through—12 years, when you think about it—it’s just mind-blowing. He doesn’t even see the dream fulfilled for 19 solid years, and some people get upset because God hasn’t answered their prayer in three weeks. Wow! You know, you can’t let go of hope; He is the God of hope, right? But do you know that there’s something even more painful than what Joseph went through? It is one thing to encounter offense and betrayal, and even hatred from brothers, but it gets even worse when it’s from a father figure. And when I say fathers, I’m not just talking about natural fathers, although this can be included. Because, in all my years of traveling around the world, I have seen some people deeply hurt by their fathers. But I’m talking about people who fed us the Word of God, people who led us. You know, Paul said it like this: «You have a lot of teachers, but you don’t have many fathers.»
I think the person who best illustrates this betrayal is none other than King David. We all love King David; he’s a man after God’s heart. Have you ever thought, why is David described by God Himself? I mean, it’s one thing for you to say, «Hey, I’m a man after God’s heart,» yeah right! But it’s another when God says, «You’re a man after my heart.» That’s what I want. I want God to say that, and I know this for every one of us here and everyone watching us: you want God to say that you’re a man or woman after my heart.
Well, I’m going to show you how David became a man after God’s heart. Today, we know that David is a young man; he is the eighth son of Jesse. You know, talk about another ignored son. When the prophet comes to anoint the next king of Israel, Dad doesn’t even acknowledge him as a son! I mean, the seven sons are brought through, and the prophet’s going, «What? Something’s wrong here; is this all of your boys?» He goes, «Well, there’s the ruddy one out there feeding the sheep.» And so, David is called.
David and Saul’s lives touched before they ever met, because the same prophet who anointed Saul to be the first king of Israel anointed David at 16 years of age to be the next king of Israel. And so here is David. He’s brought up in a family, unbeknownst to the royal palace; nobody knows about him except for a few guys in the palace. Saul is going through some tormenting things; they need a musician to come, and so David is asked to come and move into the palace and minister to Saul. He does this, and then a while later—and we don’t know which one was first, this one or the other one—David comes to the battlefield. Israel’s battling the Philistines. There is a champion named Goliath who is almost 10 feet tall, and the armies of Israel are hiding behind rocks, shivering day by day.
David comes up and says, «What’s going to be given to the guy that kills this big ogre?» They say the king’s daughter’s hand in marriage, and David goes, «Oh yeah!» David thinks, «I’ve been prophesied to be the next king; what a good next step to get the king’s daughter!» So what does he do? He goes and kills this giant, and he gets the king’s daughter, Michal, promised to him. Joab actually was the older one, and she was given away, and then he got Michal. But anyway, then it all really starts. Saul begins to like David to be his armor-bearer. The king says, «David, you’re going to be my personal armor-bearer,» right? And then he says, «You know, I like you so much, I want you to eat at my table.» Now, that was an amazing honor—to eat at the king’s table.
Then he becomes best friends with the king’s son, Jonathan. Now, David is sitting there going, «Man, it’s all working out. The prophecy’s coming to pass. I can see Saul’s going to mentor me and put me on that throne someday, and the prophecy will be fulfilled.» But all of a sudden, they come back from a battle, and the women of Israel cry out, «Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands.» And now Saul is furious. So Saul, two times, tries to kill David in the palace by pinning him against the wall with a spear. David has to run for his life. And immediately, when he runs for his life, he goes to the city of Nob, where all of God’s priests are living—well, not all, but many. It was a city of priests. He goes to the chief priest and says, «I need some bread; I need a sword. I had to go on a king’s mission.» He doesn’t even tell him the whole truth, to be honest with you. He says, «I need a sword.» So the head priest says, «We’ve got Goliath’s sword.» He gives it to him, gives him some bread, and David goes into the wilderness.
What happened later was Saul found out that those priests had given David assistance; he had every one of those priests, their wives, and little children in the entire city of Nob executed by the edge of the sword. That’s how crazy his boss was that God put him under. Remember, David didn’t choose to work for Saul; God is the one that put David under Saul. I’ll never forget the time I was getting ready to preach at a church in Texas. This was years ago, and I had told the pastor of this church who my first pastor was, who I worked for, and it was a pastor who had a huge scandal. It was one of the most powerful churches in the United States, and the church doesn’t even exist anymore today. I remember the pastor looked at me and said, «If we knew that you were his executive assistant, we probably wouldn’t have had you in our church.» And I looked at him and said, «Are you going to judge David because of Saul’s behavior?» He looked at me, and I said, «Are you going to judge Samuel because God put him under Eli?» And he said, «John, I never thought of that.»
And so God is the one that put David under this crazy, wild king. The thing that’s so interesting—and you’re going to see this in Saul’s personality—is any time a man who has a covenant with God, or a woman who has a covenant with God, goes completely crazy like Saul, they develop a split personality. One minute he’s a little tender, the next minute he’s throwing spears. Saul exhibits this behavior all throughout the first book of Samuel. So Saul gets 3,000 of Israel’s finest soldiers—I mean, these are elite soldiers—and he goes hunting for David. So now David can’t even go visit his family or all of his friends he grew up with. He can’t go to any city in Israel; he’s got to live in wilderness areas all because of his father Saul, right?
And Saul’s hunting him, and in the process, in 1 Samuel 24, Saul comes to the wilderness of En Gedi. David has now got 400 men, and they’re in the back part of a cave. Well, there’s a pool of water in this cave. And so Saul, with his 3,000 elites, goes to relieve themselves—either they took a bath or went to the bathroom; I think they went to the bathroom. But anyway, while they’re relieving themselves, they have to disarm; and while they’ve disarmed, David and his men look at it. David’s men look at him in the back of the cave and say, «Wow, this is amazing! God has given you your enemy. He’s chasing your life; they are disarmed. We can go slaughter them right now.»
And David, you know what he’s thinking? He’s thinking, «Somebody has lied to us all about me. Somebody has turned his heart against me! If I prove myself, my loyalty, my faithfulness to Saul, he won’t chase me and hunt me down anymore.» So David goes and cuts off a piece of Saul’s robe and goes off to a great distance. He yells out to Saul; look what he says to him. David said to Saul, «Why do you listen to the words of men who say, 'Indeed, David seeks your harm? '» So he’s trying to say, «Saul, I’m proving myself; I’m innocent. I am not trying to take your throne.» And if we keep reading, look: «This day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you, but my eye spared you. And I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.»
Then he goes on to say, «Moreover, my father,"—do you see David’s desperate cry? He’s still crying out «my father.» I have seen this in young men and young women all over the place, where they’ve had fathers who haven’t been fathers to them, leaders that haven’t been fathers to them, leaders that haven’t been mothers to them, and they still are crying out, «Be my father.» «Moreover, my father, see, yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand, for in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and I did not kill you. No evil nor rebellion is in my hand, and I have not sinned against you.» Saul looks at David and goes, «David, you are more righteous than I am. May God establish your throne.» Right?
And Saul’s 3,000 soldiers leave. David thinks, «Finally, I have proven to my father that I am not trying to take his place. I am not trying to rebel against him; he will restore me back.» That was 1 Samuel 24. However, we go two chapters later in 1 Samuel 26. David is in the hills of Hachilah with his men. Saul comes marching after him yet again. Can you imagine the devastation in David? You have proven your innocence, yet he still hunts your life. What you feared is true: he’s crazy! He’s a madman; he’s wicked, and he still chases me. What am I going to do now?
This is amazing—they’re on two different sides of a valley, and what happens is—and this is amazing, it says it right in 1 Samuel 26—God put the entire army into, and this is the exact quote, a deep sleep from the Lord. David knows it: the whole army’s been put in a deep sleep from the Lord. So David looks at his men and says, «Who will go over to Saul’s camp with me?» And God picks the perfect candidate—little brother Abishai, the bloodthirsty. You know what I’m talking аbout: there were three boys; they were bloodthirsty. I mean, perfect candidate.
So Abishai and David sneak into Saul’s camp—everybody’s in this deep sleep from the Lord; they know it. They go right to where Abner and Saul are. Abishai picks up the javelin; he has it held over Saul just like this. He says, «All right, David; just give me the word; I’ll thrust it through, and he’ll never get up again.» He’s sitting there ready to go, and David’s not saying anything. Abishai goes, «David, don’t even tell me you’re thinking about not doing this! I mean, God gave you a chance two chapters ago, and you blew it! Come on! Just give me the word.» And David’s not saying anything.
Abishai goes, «What are you doing? I mean, do you understand this is self-defense? This will stand up in any court of law! If you don’t kill him, he’s going to kill you! David, who has been anointed to be the next king? This is God delivering our nation from this wicked king. David, he killed 85 priests in cold blood! He murdered their wives and little babies! I mean, he’s a murderer! This is God delivering our nation!» David’s not saying anything, so finally, he just goes, «David, why do you think God has put this army into a deep sleep?»
David looks at him and says, «Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed?» That’s the one the Lord has chosen for a position. So if it’s your boss, your team leader, the associate pastor, or the executive pastor—that’s your leader. Who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? And David grabs the jug and the spear, and they leave.
Why did God put the army into a deep sleep from the Lord? Why? To test David’s heart, to see if David would be another Saul and take matters into his own hands, or if he would remain a man after God’s heart. A man after God’s heart is the man that says, «I’m not executing judgment; I’m leaving that up to God. He’ll make the right decision.» You see, David knows the law of the Lord says this: «You shall not take vengeance.» Now, what is vengeance? Revenge? «You shall not take revenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.» David also knows that God says this: «O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs, O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth.» That’s the song.
Do you notice that it’s written twice? That means emphasis. You’re going to see this all throughout the Bible: revenge or payback belongs to the Lord, and David knows it. That’s why he walks out, and God says, «Okay, he’s ready for leadership. The first king was a man who served himself; this king will be a man after my heart.» See, we always say we want to be a man or woman after the heart of God. How do you become a man or woman after the heart of God? By not paying back. We’ll go into this in more depth in the next session.
God did judge Saul, and David didn’t rejoice when he heard the news. Now, just think about it—14 years! Your pillows have been rocks, you’ve lived in caves, you can’t go visit your family; you have no more friends you can see—their children that they’ve had, and their weddings—all because of this boss that God puts you under. God judges him, but yet David doesn’t rejoice; he mourns, and he teaches every man in the army of Judah to sing a love song to Saul. I really want this to sink in: a song that honored this man that God just judged.
See, God, when it comes to His anointed, when He brings judgment, he uses the world to do it many times—He used the Philistines! And yet David says, «Don’t even talk about it unless the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.» Not only that, there’s a messenger who comes and says, «Saul is dead.» And this messenger thinks he’s going to get favor from David, because here’s David, who has been chased for 14 years, and I’m telling him his enemy’s dead. And he says, «Hey, I killed Saul because he asked me to kill him; he was wounded.» And this messenger thinks he’s going to get favor.
And David, you know what David says to this guy? Look what he says: «So David said to him, 'How was it that you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed? '» Then David called one of the young men and said, «Go near and execute him.» And he struck him so that he died. David executed the guy that said that he killed him and didn’t even kill him. Does that sound like an offended man?
What does he do? Just he finds one of Saul’s descendants and blesses him. He says, «Find me one of his descendants; I want to bless him,» and brings him to the king’s table. I mean, he didn’t look at his men and say, «Guys, he got what he deserved.» He never even said that—he just mourned. That’s why David is called a man after the heart of God. There are other characteristics, but this is one of the primary reasons. When it comes to leadership, you’ve got to remember, not all leaders are perfect.
Can you name one perfect leader? No way—Jesus; He’s the only perfect leader, right? Even godly leaders can make mistakes. And here’s number two: you’ve got to remember, not all leaders are godly, and that’s very important to remember. Their behavior is certainly not from God, but their authority is from God. Look what Peter says: «For this reason, for the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority.»
It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. That would include authority that he’s telling you to submit to. You know, as a parent, the toughest thing that you can witness is your child being picked on. And I’m looking at Addison back there; I’m so proud of Addison—a great preacher of the gospel. Oh my goodness, can he preach! And he’s got a revelation on holiness that’s just amazing. But you know, Addison was not always this 30-year-old massive man who’s much larger than me now, okay? When he was nine years old, he was in third grade in a very, very good Christian school. And for some reason, he got a teacher that I can only explain as the teacher just, right off the bat, didn’t like Addison. Their personalities must have conflicted. Night after night after night, Addison would come back from school sometimes with tears in his eyes, telling Lisa and me how badly he’d been treated by this teacher.
I mean, the whole class would be cut up, and the teacher would reduce it down to Addison and yell at him. There would be situations that occurred—if it was a group of kids and Addison would get singled out and severely disciplined. And I mean, it was night after night we were hearing this. We were trying to encourage him. Lisa and I were certainly praying because, as a father, I wanted to go and punch the lights out of the teacher. Listen, Addison had always been a really good student and a great young man. I mean, we’d never had problems with him. So, you know, I wasn’t being the parent that was blind to my son’s problems; I mean, he just—this teacher didn’t like him.
So the straw that broke the camel’s back occurred one day when Addison came home. What had happened was two boys that were sitting right behind him were messing around; they were talking to each other and goofing off. The teacher’s back was to the class, and when the teacher turned around, they quieted down real quick. And the teacher started yelling at Addison, and Addison hadn’t done a thing. So now big old alligator tears are running down his eyes. Of course, Lisa goes, «Oh my son, my son!» and she’s got him in her arms. And I’m sitting there at the dinner table, and all of a sudden I thought, I need to share with him a lesson I learned the hard way.
And I felt this: I looked at Addison and said, «Addison, when your teacher yelled at you today, how did you respond?» Fire was in his eyes now, and he said, «I told my teacher it wasn’t me; it was the two guys behind me.» I said, «Do you always do that when he corrects you?» And Addison said, «Yeah, especially if he’s wrong.» And I said, «Son, what you’re doing—it’s not God’s way. God’s way is that He wants to defend you when it comes to authority.»
I said, «If you’ve been doing this over and over again, you’re not handling this the way God tells us to handle it.» And he looked at me and he said, «But what about if he’s wrong?» And I said, «Well, let me ask you this, Addison: has your way worked?» And he goes, «No.» I said, «You want to do this God’s way or your way? Do you want to defend yourself or do you want to go to your teacher and apologize for constantly challenging his authority?» He looked at me and goes, «I’ll go to my teacher.»
So he makes an appointment with the teacher the next day at lunchtime. He sits down with his third-grade teacher—he’s nine years old—and he says, «I am so sorry; God has dealt with me. I have constantly challenged your authority, and I’m wrong; please forgive me for all the times I talked back to you.» The teacher was blown away. Do you know who got outstanding student of the entire year in the class? Guess who? Addison. Now, if it works for a third grader, how much more is it going to work for us?
David is called a man after God’s heart because he allowed God to be the judge when it came to authority. I want you to see what Peter says; he goes on to say this: «For you are free yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.» Now, I want you to notice what evil is: respect everyone and love the family of believers; fear God and respect or honor the king. Do you know the king that Peter was talking about historically here was King Herod Agrippa I, who was the King of Judea who murdered Christians in cold blood just to gain political favor with the people? How in the world can you respect a king who is murdering Christians in cold blood just to further his political agenda?
It’s not easy, but this is what you’ve got to do: you’ve got to see beyond the man’s behavior and see the position that God has placed on the man—the authority that God placed on the man. What we say in America to a leader is, «You have to earn my respect first.» The fear of God doesn’t say that, because the fear of God doesn’t judge by the seeing of the eye or the hearing of the ear; it judges according to righteous judgment. The fear of God does not say to a leader, «You have to earn my respect.» The fear of God says, «I see the authority that God’s placed on you; therefore, you already have my respect because I honor your position, not your behavior.»
I can’t even tell you how many letters that we’ve received from people that have been healed because they wouldn’t go to their father or their mother—mostly fathers, and I’m talking about natural fathers—and apologize because of how badly the father treated them. And they kept justifying that they were right to hold an offense against their father. But what they were doing was honoring their dad’s behavior, and when they realized that God calls us to honor the position, not the behavior, that’s how you can say honor a king who’s murdering Christians in cold blood. That doesn’t mean obey him if he tells you to sin. If authority tells you to sin, there’s a higher authority. But when it comes to honor, when it comes to respect, when it comes to submission—which is our attitude—God says to submit, honor, and respect authority. If authority tells you to sin, you don’t need to do it; there’s a higher law. But you need to still respect them.
If you remember, I’ll give you an example—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego looked at the king of Babylon. He said, «I want you to bow down to my idol.» That violates the Word of God. They said, «We will not do it.» But they didn’t look at him and say, «You jerk!» They said, «Your Majesty, we will not do it.» They honored his position, but they didn’t obey his command to sin.
So important that we differentiate between that, and that way it frees us up so we can honor, love, and respect the authorities that God has placed over us. I find that the greatest offenses occur with people who are under authority, not brothers like Joseph received. I hope you got something out of this, and in the next session, I’m going to talk to you about that example I illustrated to Addison that helped him get through his situation.
See you next session!
Hey guys, wasn’t that a great lesson? If you’ve had a leader in your life who’s mistreated you or offended you, I challenge you to go get a card—or maybe even make a card, if you’re into that kind of thing—and write down everything that you appreciate, admire, and respect about that leader, and then give that card to your leader. The reality is this isn’t about the leader; it’s about you. It’s about God doing a work in your heart toward that leader. So decide whether it would be best for you to give the card anonymously. My hope is this card and this action will position you for reconciliation. I also want to encourage you to complete steps 11 through 15 in your course guide before you watch the next video lesson. Those steps are going to help you apply John’s teachings in your life in a very personal way.