Small Victories | Character Killers | Julia Veach

0:35 But let's jump into this week's message from Pastor Julia. We are wrapping up a series that we've been in. It's been awesome. Anyone loved the last few weeks? We've been talking about the consequences of compromising your character, or as this graphic here says, character killers. And Chad has done an incredible job, an amazing job, just talking about so many different ways that when we compromise our character, what can transpire. but also if we choose to have a life filled with character, what favor that can unlock in our life. And it's just been awesome. And I even love the definition that you've been talking about, just developing that inner man, that inner person, that as a result that it would produce more joy and more peace and just more satisfaction.

1:38 I don't know if you're like me. I just, that's all I want is joy, peace, and satisfaction in my soul. And as we conclude today, I want to look at the life of King Saul. He's a man in the Bible that was full of potential. He was destined for greatness. There was a great call on his life. But unfortunately, it ended, the story ended in disappointment. development um so if you're curious if Chad is all the high and I end on the low no we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna end on a high uh but I my mind the way it works I'm just gonna break this down I love to know the why obviously I googled why they're called deviled eggs you know like I need to understand what happened like you know Chad loves like a summary you know it was awesome And I'm like, no, what was she wearing?

2:31 You know, like I need the story. So I love looking at stories in the Bible to see what happened and where the character flaw transpired that started the demise or started the detour to disappointment. And if you're like me, I'm like, I love the Bible. Yesterday, actually, this is so cool. in the Bible app. There's the Zoe read-through. You can follow us along and do the devotions. This is actually the chapter that was in our Zoe devotional yesterday. So if you missed that and you felt guilty about not getting your Bible reading in this weekend, or maybe it's just a Monday, Friday ritual for you or routine for you, we are gonna get our Bible reading in today. We're talking a lot about hard words in a battle that you're just gonna be gracious to me, but you can turn with us in 1 Samuel 13 and give it up for these guys.

3:28 Thank you guys so much. That was beautiful. I mean, you guys were like, I sought the Lord. It was going, yes. I mean, I love this story not just because it's a character that falls and it's not that I find fulfillment in someone's demise, but I like this story because it's extensive and there's a lot of wrestling in it and there's a lot of complications and layers and I think that sometimes I love this my nine-year-old he's he's very smart he's been asking us a lot of like pretty deep theological questions lately and I keep telling him, I was like, you know what is so great is that God is not afraid of your why. And he actually loves to get into the story and into the details. And he loves for you to bring him your questions. And so I like that sometimes I lay there and I'm like, you know, how did this happen or how did it become this way? And I love the where this story takes place in chapter 13.

4:51 It says that Saul was 30 years old when he became king and he reigned over Israel 42 years. Saul chose 3,000 men from Israel. 2,000 were with him at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes. Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Gibeah, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, let the Hebrews hear. So all of Israel heard the news. Saul had attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel had become obnoxious to the Philistines. And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal. The Philistines assembled to fight Israel with 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand of the seashore.

5:49 They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-Avon. When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard-pressed, they hid in caves and thickets among the rocks and in pits and cisterns, and some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. What is the summary of this story or this picture so far? It's basically picturing that the Philistines who are gathering a massive army is about to put a lot of pressure on Saul and his army. And if you're taking notes today, I've titled this message, Small Victories. Because I don't know about you, but sometimes my biggest weaknesses or my biggest failures come from pressuring situations that are actually seemingly small.

6:50 So Saul is, he's at a battle and he's facing immense pressure. And here comes this big, threatening army with their chariots and charioteers and all of the men that they have with them are coming to add pressure. And you see where the small compromises in character begin right in this space. Because I believe that a lot of times that we're in battle seasons when the pressure hits, when the compromise decision comes. And it says in verse Samuel 13, 7 and 8, it says, Saul remained at Gilgal and the troops with him were quaking with fear. They were afraid.

7:43 They were scared. See, compromising our character most likely, it comes from an internal struggle or an external pressure. But it starts with small justifications. Like, is there a storm? Is it me? Okay. It comes with small decisions we excuse or thinking that they don't really matter or small compromises we tell ourselves that are maybe not too big of a deal or small cracks in our foundation that go unchecked but begin to be the cause of something start to break apart, small choices that seem safe, small justification, small moments where we can convince ourselves that this is more important than our actual conviction.

8:38 Small things, small battles that lead to big falls. And this is what happens where Saul's character begins to crack. But also, we see in the Bible so many times that God gives us opportunity to win small battles, to have small victories, to see that as we were singing about in that second song, that he is with us in the fight, that we are more than conquerors because we have Christ Jesus within us. We have access to those small wins too. The first thing that we start to see Saul do is he starts to become desperate. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops were with him, quaking with fear.

9:35 He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. See, Saul, it says that he came from humble beginnings, that he was tall and handsome and anointed and chosen by the prophet Samuel to be the first king of Israel. He was destined for great things. He had a call on his life. But he's even had victories in past battles, and he's known to be courageous and to have great leadership. But he gets to a pressuring situation and him and his men begin to be afraid and they begin to get desperate. See, desperation is the first thing that we see in this story. And if we're all honest, we're not leading wars, but we feel desperate sometimes when life begins pressuring.

10:40 We're carrying a lot with our families and our financial loads and our businesses and our children and our home life. And we can be scared too if we're honest. And it says that they were fearful. And because of that, they began to scatter. What happens when you wait and you can't see the outcome? And fear begins to seep in. What happens when impatience comes and when impatience leads to desperation? Do you stand strong? Do you hold faith? Do you declare that God is fighting the battle alongside you? Or do you begin to get fearful and start to take matters into your own hands? Now, I am by nature, I'm an impatient person.

11:36 I know that we are all on a journey. You know, you want me to have the fruits of the spirit, but patience is not at my forefront, you know. So I'm trying, but I love instance gratification. I am much more like production over perfection. If you, like, get three bids and research the couch that you've seen in multiple different algorithms, and it's a 12-week turn time, and you want to wait 18 months to get the perfect couch, good for you. If I decide I want a sectional, I am finding a guy at the front of Home Depot. I'm loading him in my van. I'm not asking questions. We're going to go find an outlet. We're going to figure out how to get the sectional through my doors that day by 2 p.m.

12:25 I want instant satisfaction. I am not great at waiting when I'm like, honey, can you help me carry this into the house? And he's like, yeah, just one minute. I stand there and I count to 60. And when I get to 61, I'm just moving it myself. And he's like, I told you I would come and help you. And I was like, you said one minute, 60 seconds, you know. I'm in process, okay? I'm on a journey. But I think that sometimes instead of waiting, we sacrifice our integrity for speed. Like we're like, give me the quickest thing possible that fills the void, that fills the need. I need that instant satisfaction. I need that instant gratification. And I think that sometimes our prayer life is like that.

13:21 I'm like that. I'm like, God, if you can't get on my schedule and hear my petition and my wants, I'm just going to figure out a way how to do this. But really, I'm like, I'm trying to get you on my timetable. And he's like, no, actually, I hold the whole world in my hands, and I've got a time table that's my own, so you just need to trust me. And if God doesn't move fast enough, we start moving, you know? And it's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no. Like, your straps are ordered by me, and I go before you, and I walk ahead of you. And I think that sometimes in those places where we're fearful or feeling pressure, we risk growth for gratification.

14:07 And impatience says, like, God, you're not on my time frame. Impatience says, God, you're too slow. Impatience says, God, I don't trust you, so I'm going to do my own thing. desperation without faith says God actually you're not enough so I'm gonna go define what's enough by what I go find but I love the word desperation because also desperation with faith says God you're my only hope and I've come to the end of myself and I need you to be the one that supplies all of my needs and I will not move without you and I will not move unless you tell me to move I am desperate for you to move on my behalf and I am desperate for you to move in my life So we see that Saul uses impatience and frustration into desperation and they begin to scatter.

15:21 When they were instructed by the prophet Samuel to stay for seven days, they moved because they were desperate. Instead of being desperate for God to move on their behalf. the second thing we see in chapter 13 verse 9 is rationalization so he said bring me the burnt offering in verse verse 9 and the fellowship offerings and Saul offered up the burnt offering just as he finished making the offering Samuel arrived and Saul went out to greet him. And he said, what have you done? What have you done? Saul replied, when I saw that the men were scattering and you did not come at the set time that I had an expectation, which expectations can get us into trouble, amen, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash. What does Saul do? He blames the people. He says the men were scattering.

16:29 And then he blamed Samuel. He said, you didn't come at my expected, at my set, at my preconceived, at my idea of what I pictured timing. See, we love an excuse, don't we? I'm the first to admit that, like, when I'm missing something, automatically someone has taken it, you know? Like, I didn't misplace it. I'm like, who stole my phone? Mom, you're on your phone, you know? Who has my phone? Honey, you're talking on the phone right now. But I'm like always like, where did my shoes go? Did you take my shoes? Do you have my shoes? You know, I'm like, no, they're just, I misplaced them, you know. But I think that this picture of Saul's response was that he said, when I saw that you did not come at the set time. So he starts rationalizing and justifying and getting a picture of what he thought it was going to look like.

17:30 My kids are all so great at this. Like we are in all sorts of sports right now. And when we lose games, and when I say we, I mean them, you know, like I'm not on the team, although I act like it sometimes. It's like everyone's fault. But they, you know, like he should have done a, like a, what do you call it, prep step or, you know, and the ump like didn't do, you know, and I'm just like, nope, you just lost. Like they were a good team and you just lost the game, you know, and like, but sometimes we blame other things. We're like, you know, the weather was bad or I overslept or I mean, I'm just, you know, the list is endless with rationalizing excusing, excuses, excuses, excuses. and we all know if you've ever heard of like the girl math well in our house we have Chad math and listen I love a good deal I love a sale on sale like do I have lilac plates currently being shipped in route right now yes I do do I need them no will they get used twice a year probably am I admitting this for the first time to Chad absolutely But they were 50% off of the sale.

18:45 So I'm like, that's a great deal. And something about me when I find the deal, like it just feels like a spiritual gift almost. And I'm just like, God wanted me to have it. So I like to find a deal. I love the sale on sale. But Chad's math is not, he doesn't find the deal. He finds money. So, but then he deducts it from the cost. So he's like, these shoes were $40. And they come, and I was like, they weren't $40. And he's like, no, but, like, you know, the $18 reimbursement insurance check and then the Tooth Fairy cash dashes by the bed. Like, I just deposited that. And I was like, no, you found money. You didn't find a deal.

19:30 It's a true story. He came home with Winston, and I do like a surprise, but not this surprise. He came home and he had bought a new television. Now, if you've been in our house before, you know that we don't need any more televisions. And I'm not like the most tech savvy person. I don't even know what pixels are. If you ask me what iPhone I have, I would just say the one with the old charger, you know. Like I'm sure I need some updates. But he's like, oh, we're going to replace the old one out. It's about to go bad. And I was like, well, it's not going bad. And so we don't need it. And I was like, how much did it cost? And he said it was free. And I was like, pretty sure it wasn't free. He's like, no, it was nothing. And I'm...

20:23 Listen, I told you I love a deal, but I don't care how good the Black Friday sale is. There's no such thing as a free television at Best Buy. I mean, maybe a free sticker or water bottle or Best Buy t-shirt. But he comes home with this TV, and I am like, so, like, where did the money come from? And it was just this whole shift of, like, rearranging money. He's like, you know the $200 that we got? And I was like, yeah. And then I just found this cash, and I'm like, that's for our Little League snack shop stand. But he found money. But it's our money.

21:15 It's not the TV's money. Anyways, Chad Math. But sometimes we're really good at shifting around a story or rationalizing or just making moves to make it make sense for us. Sin is like that where we're like, you know what, I'm just going to justify. If I do this, it's not so bad. And then if I move this around, it doesn't seem to be so much as a character compromise. Or because they're doing it, that seems okay too.

21:54 And so Saul's painting this picture of blame on other people, but also on the prophet Samuel. And we do this with sin. They're doing it, and he's doing it, and you're doing it, and it allows us to begin a road of compromise.

22:20 And Eve convinced herself of this too in the garden. With the fruit, she starts to say, oh, it was good fruit. Wait a minute, wait a minute. We're talking about the Lord God said not to eat of the fruit. And all of a sudden, you start rationalizing and convincing yourself that it's not just okay, but it's good. That's a scary place to be. It says, when the women saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye. Let me just tell you right now. Sin is not ugly. It's attractive. It looks pleasing to the eye because there's a real enemy that is really cunning, and he really wants to strategize to figure out how to look appeasing to your eye.

23:20 And also desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some and she ate it, and she also gave it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. See, the half-truths can cause whole trouble. And there is danger in rationalizing. There's danger in justification. And we have to be even careful how we rationalize things. And it can become just the enemy of repentance. It's the opposite of saying, God, I was wrong. I am sorry. I submit to you I surrender to your will I surrender to your plan and I think that sometimes we need to look like David when he says search me and know me that you would create a clean heart within me and that I would be able to see the truth truth is still truth even if we spiritualize it Listen, girls, if he says that God said to break up with you, the truth is still the truth.

24:28 I don't care what fancy word he puts on it. We can't rationalize or spiritualize. The word of God does not return void. And it is something that we need to learn to use to confront our circumstance and to confront our sin. The third thing is desensitization. Okay, I did it. I said it. Can you say that to your neighbor? Say desensitization. Yeah, it's not easy. Try and spell it. Can I get the Latin? Can you use it in a sentence, please? Just kidding. We love a spelling bee watch in our house. Okay, 1 Samuel 13, 12. He says, I thought, okay, I heard you keep saying it. That's fine.

25:20 You can stop. Okay. I thought, this is dangerous, you thought. Sometimes we can't trust our thoughts. He says, I thought, now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord's favor. So I felt compelled. I thought and I felt. Two kind of scary things to trust sometimes. So I felt and I thought. I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering. And he justifies his actions by saying he felt compelled to act. Because of this, God began the process of removing Saul as king. And preparing to raise David to be king of Israel. But because he thought and because he felt.

26:17 And deception or desensitization to ourselves is just not the right way to walk in the will of God. it says that when we walk with God, that he's Emmanuel, God, with us. And I don't know about you, but the last time I walk with someone, I don't want to just sit there on my own journey and listen to my own thoughts and to my own words. I want to walk and know and learn and understand the person that I'm walking along with. And we can't deceive ourselves. And we can't become desensitized or numb to the spirit of God that lives within us, to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

27:20 See, sinning once, yeah, we feel bad. Sinning a few times, maybe we feel a little bit bad. But if it's repeated, we begin to start to feel nothing. and that is a dangerous place to live, and I looked at this scripture, and I saw the progression of Saul starting to begin his destruction, and I did what a lot of preachers right now do. I pulled up chat GBT and I asked, I was like, if the enemy was trying to take out Jesus followers from their calling, from their destiny, from living a fulfilled life, what is the characteristic or the character quality the enemy would use to begin our destruction? And it said pride or self-righteousness. And I read this scripture and when he said, I thought and I felt compelled, all I could think about is self-sustaining, self-righteousness that he began to be dependent on himself because he had become so numb of learning and heeding the word of God.

28:46 James 1.22 says it this way it says do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves do what it says listening seems kind of easy for all of us but applying that's a whole other story like you know like when I take my kids to Target and we just So we have a little huddle, and I just watch these moms walk in with daughters, and they just, like, follow, like, little ducklings, and their hair is all clean, and, like, they are sweet, and they just, like, walk, you know, in a line. And I'm like, you see that family over there? When we go into Target, I guess they're going to walk in a line behind me. Do you hear me? Are you listening? Yes. Okay.

29:37 So we've had our pep talk, and we go into Target, and it was almost as if they heard on your mark, get set, go, be gone. Mom really wants that right now, you know. Just trying to get paper towels and some dish soap. And I end up spending $200 and when I come home and dad says, what did you get? And I said, what? You know, I don't, I'm like, we're just trying to get through this alive. And it is like instant American Ninja Warrior. I don't know where they're at. I've lost children. No one seems to be listening. But they're like, I'm like, did you listen to what I said? They're like, yeah, we heard you. Okay, so the applying is obviously the problem with us. But I like that James is saying.

30:31 Do not merely listen. Because obviously we're listening. We're coming to church. We see it. We hear it. We're watching it. We're scrolling through it. It's around us. But application of the word is the opposite of deceiving ourselves. And so we want to allow ourselves to be in positions where we're soft enough to say, God, would you speak to me through your word? Would you speak to me through people that you've placed in my life? I wrote this down. And I was like, okay, like, you know, how do you combat pride? Because I'm like, oh, if Chad told me, like, pride is the fall, I'm like, how do you combat it? I'm like, get married. Just kidding.

31:22 I mean, it definitely makes you humble. Just ask Chad. No. I think that sometimes in order to combat pride, we have to allow ourselves time and space to ask hard questions and to do real inventory checks of where our soul and our spirit is at. Am I numb? Am I desensitized? Is there anything impure within me that I actually need you to inspect and to look at? And allow truths to guide us. And just, I think that just staying sensitive to the wrong things, I mean, it seems really simple, but you'd be surprised just how many people think that wrong things are okay things, and then okay things become fine things and fine things become normal things.

32:26 And I think that sometimes desensitization, it ends when obedience begins. When you say, God, I say yes. I say yes to your will and to your plan and to your purposes. And I want this life. I want to say yes to what you have for me. And the last thing we see in 1 Samuel is stagnation. Really just a lack of purpose, lack of vision.

33:04 It says, you have done a foolish thing. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. but now your kingdom will not endure. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people because you have not kept the Lord's command. he would have established your kingdom over Israel of all time. I mean, that's like, he would have. If you would have just obeyed, you wouldn't have been stuck or stagnant. I think sometimes being stagnant isn't just about being stuck, but it can be about settling, where God called you to move, but you don't want to move that way.

34:20 and Saul knows what his instruction is, but he's just deliberately being like, nah, I don't want to do that. So I'm stuck. And this is the road that he chose for himself. and it seems like a little bit of a sad story, but I think that what is so encouraging is that in the New Testament, God sends the helper. He sends Jesus this week as a beautiful holy week where Jesus comes in his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and he goes to the cross with us in mind, and he's risen three days later. We'll celebrate next Sunday.

35:16 But he sends a helper that allows us, the Holy Spirit that allows us to be sensitive to what he has in store for us. And my prayer and my hope for everyone who calls Zoe home is that you would live. not only would you know God and find freedom and discover your purpose and make a difference, but you would live in the fullness and the goodness of God. And you would know what it is to say, I have purpose. I have vision. I have identity. And because I know how to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. I know how to walk alongside him. And when I feel stuck, I've got the resources and the tools to stir up my faith or to find other faith-filled people to say, God, would you bring the right people and the right community around me to keep stepping in my God-given potential?

36:26 And maybe you're here and you're like, I just need faith to be ignited again. I just need to know what it is to have a win, to defeat that small battle, to have victory over the battle that's in front of me today.

36:47 I love how Paul says it in 1 Timothy. He says, or 2 Timothy, he says, for this reason, I remind you to fan into flame. The gift of God. I love that it's a gift. Which is in you. Good news. The victory is in you today. Because you have access to the gift of God. And greater is he that is within you. That is in the world. And you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. and he wants to give you faith for the purposes and plans that he has for you today. Come on, would you say?