The Power of Perhaps | Bryan Woodson

0:25 Let's go right into the service. Record it at Free Chapel. I believe it's going to bless you today. I just drove from Houston, so I don't know. God's got something for you and Stephanie today. But open your Bibles, if you will, to 1 Samuel chapter 14. Let me just start out by saying God is going to move us today. Do you believe that? God is going to move us today. If you're in here on a Sunday like this, you're here hungry, and I know you are. or you were told you had to be there and you don't disobey your parents. But regardless of how you got here, you're here. And I believe God's gonna move us today. I don't wanna be the same person at the end of this day that I was when I woke up in the morning. And the main reason is, is because today we're choosing to spend our lives and to bend our lives around the truth of God's word. I refuse to go to bed the same man I was when I woke up because God is still moving and God is still moving in me.

1:20 God is still moving in you. And if you're a candidate to be moved by God this morning, give a big shout of praise in this house and every room that you are today. First Samuel chapter 14, it begins in verse six, saying this. Jonathan said to his young armor bearer, come, let us go over to the outpost of the uncircumcised fellows. And I appreciate how the Bible makes things sound poetic, but I don't know that necessarily Jonathan said fellows. That's a little too sophisticated because they were in the middle of a skirmish, a war, a battle that had been lingering forever. But nonetheless, Jonathan says to his young armor bearer, let's go over to the outpost of these uncircumcised fellows. And then he says this word. He says, perhaps. Say that out loud. Say perhaps. You know, that sounds like a dad phrase.

2:13 Hey, dad, when you're done with that, can we go to Toys R Us? Perhaps. What am I saying? No. Thank you. but when we get in the realm of God and we begin to talk to God, we begin to move with the things of God. When we get around God, our perhaps is not a no, but our perhaps is leaning towards a yes.

2:35 When God says, maybe something in your heart begins to leave. You, you know, those moments you've been in the altar and you've been worshiping and praising God. And maybe, maybe someone, uh, someone up here on the platform or someone giving a testimony, testimony or next week. I might need some water. That wasn't, that was actually real. I might need some water. I don't know, but just throw it at me, Jonathan, if there's one up there or Aaron. Nice Johnny. Excellent. Johnny's single, handsome, but this story is not about him. This is another Jonathan. but Jonathan said to his young armor bearer, come over and let's go to the outpost of the uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. And it might've been altars that you've been here. Next week, we're baptizing people at all of our campuses. And no doubt, some of them are gonna share bits of their heart that are gonna bring us to tears, that are gonna bring us to our feet.

3:33 And some of us might be inspired by their journey. And we might say to God, we might whisper to God, God, you have a plan for me. God, you know my life. You know where I've been. God, could there be something left over for me? And if all you hear from the mouth of God is a maybe, something in you begins to stir. God said, maybe. God said, maybe. God said, maybe there's some room. There was no room for Jesus in the end, but there was room for Jesus in the world. There was room for Jesus in your heart. If you make room for him, he's making room for you and all bets are off. all the lies of the devil that he has spoken over you since the day you were born. Some of you are here by the miraculous. Your mom had planned to abort you, but you're here anyways. Car crashes tried to kill you, but you're here anyways. That tree was gonna fall on your house last night, but God kept it from it, and you're here anyways.

4:26 God's got something for you, and Jonathan whispers with that kind of courage to his armor bearer, and he says, perhaps. the armor bearer knows jonathan enough to know that when jonathan says perhaps he really means yes perhaps the lord will work on our behalf nothing can hinder nothing can restrain the lord from saving whether by many or by few and whenever i'm on a team i want to be on the many but what jonathan is saying he's saying to his armor bearer i realize that our army is nothing compared to theirs, the army of the Philistines, the Philistines. Some say that they had 3,000 chariots. Others say they had 30,000 chariots. But when it comes to counting the men in the army, they were immeasurable. They could not count them. In Saul's army, in Jonathan's father's army, in the army of the Israelites, you could count them. You're immediately at a disadvantage when you could count them. You could count them in this room. They had an army of 3,000, and Saul divided them up between him and his son, Jonathan.

5:29 He gave Jonathan a thousand and Saul kept a thousand. And Jonathan whispered to his armor bearer and he said, perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Then the armor bearer turned and said something beautiful to Jonathan, which is really, I believe a picture of our posture towards God. The armor bearer turned to Jonathan and I don't know if he whispered. I don't know if he shouted, but I know that he said, Do all you have to do in your mind.

6:00 Go ahead, he said. I like it how he provoked him. Do everything you have to do in your mind. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm with you, heart and soul. The armor bearer could have just said, hey, Jonathan, I've been around. I'm not going nowhere. Let's just try this thing out. But he did not say that. He said, go ahead. He said, I'm with you, heart and soul. Heart is about here, but soul is about heaven. And that armor bearer knew that if I follow Jonathan, I might end my life on this earth because of the battle that we're about to face. But I've already decided I'm all in on this thing. I'm not going halfway anymore. I'm all in on a maybe. I'm all in on a perhaps. And yes, I'm with you, heart and soul. Say heart and soul.

6:46 Let me back up real quick and take a quick second to let you know that Jonathan is the young son. he's the prince of Israel. Saul is his father and I call him the reluctant king. From the beginning, Saul was reluctant about his role in the kingdom of God. And I know a lot of us in this room at different points in our life, we could be called the reluctant king, the reluctant leader, the reluctant son, the reluctant husband, the reluctant parent, the reluctant coworker or entrepreneur or CEO. But here is here is Saul standing head and shoulders above everyone else. He's handsome. He's beautiful on the outside. He's got it all going on. But on the inside, he's melting and rotting to the core. And he's trying to keep up this facade. He's spinning plates.

7:36 He's trying to work the narrative, get ahead of the news. He's he's he. I could just imagine if we sat down to eat with Saul, we would never really get a straight answer. He would be somewhere else. You know, those people, they're always somewhere else in their thoughts, spinning wheels and solving problems and getting out of whatever they're in. Saul had 3,000 men. The Philistine army had at least 3,000 chariots with two men per chariot. Jonathan had already been fighting. It's said in a couple chapters before that young Jonathan with his armor bearer and his thousand, they had already declared some battle with the Philistines. And the minute that they won that battle, here comes his father, King Saul, ringing his bell. He hears that Jonathan has won the battle and here is his father coming up. Talk about stolen valor.

8:28 He comes up from behind and blows the trumpet of the king, letting everyone know that Jonathan didn't win the battle, but the king did. The king is conniving. It's funny, you never really hear Jonathan complain about his father in this story. He's all about the mission. Jonathan is fighting, strategizing, hungry for victory, ready to lay it all down, seeking and serving God, no compromise. but here's Saul on the other side. He's hiding. In fact, in this story right here, he's camped under a tree. Let me tell you a little bit about Saul. In Samuel chapter 10, when he was anointed to be the king of Israel, they said, where did he go? We must anoint him. And somebody spoke him but said, oh, Samuel, I know where Saul is. He has hidden himself among the baggage. No, nobody hid him. He has hid himself from the very beginning. Saul has been hiding from his destiny.

9:23 And I'm talking to somebody in the room right now or somebody watching on this TV. You need to stop hiding from your destiny. Your false humility is not helping you. It's hurting you. You need to step into the light that God has called you to and be a candidate of the king. You're not representing yourself. It's not arrogance when you say yes to the call. It's not arrogance when you come to an altar call. It's not arrogance when you ask Jesus to clean up the filth in your life and you say, I lay my life before you. I lay it down. You can pick it up and make me greater than I am. It's unarrogance, it's humility. And God is calling you outside of yourself to step into the kingdom and accomplish some things. Can I get a bigger amen right there?

10:06 I don't know if I'm preaching to you or preaching to the little old Brian that I used to be. My teachers laughed at me. I had a sarcasm issue. I was making up for my learning disabilities. I couldn't, what was it, reading and comprehension? Obviously, I can't speak all that great every now and again, but I had tutors and I was doing, I had mom drug me all over, placed a specialist, and look, I got in trouble with my mouth and I would just be sarcastic towards authority, but it was all covering up insecurity. I wanted to hurt you before you hurt me. That's insecure. And an insecure leader, they raise up an insecure nation And that's what King Saul is doing right here in Israel. I used to despise Saul, but do you know what that tells you guys? I'm telling on myself. Everything I despise about Saul, I really despise about me. Come on, Saul, get your act together.

11:01 Don't you know who you are? You were chosen by God. You were anointed by the man of God. You were brought in front of the whole nation. Quit messing up moments, Saul. Get your act together, Saul. I wasn't talking to Saul. I was talking to me. You need to read that book, The Tale of Three Kings. and you recognize that David wasn't just battling David and Saul. David was battling the Saul inside of David. We've all got an insecurity. We've all got an arrogance issue, but we all need Jesus. I'm going to take a break, and that's where you're going to praise the Lord real quick. Something about that song, one of those songs we sang, I think it talked about waking us up or something, like you woke us up. And I was thinking about about three o'clock in the morning when those lightning bolts were waking us up. And I was looking out there at just, it's a little terrifying, but it's a little beautiful too.

11:57 that power is not something that we need to be afraid of that power is something that god is reminding us you're not weak when you're with me so saul now has 600 men he started with 3 000 he's whittled his group down to 600 now he's sitting under a tree and in samuel chapter 10 he hid himself among the baggage in samuel chapter 14 in this story he's hiding under a pomegranate tree that speaks of prominence and it speaks of authority and it speaks of wisdom and blessing he's not those things but he's propped himself up under that thing, hoping that you and I walk by and perceive that he is that thing. Saul was a man that was reluctant from the beginning. In chapter 10, he was among the baggage. In chapter 14, he was hiding under a tree. In chapter 17, he should have been facing Goliath, but meanwhile, he's in his tent pushing a teenager to go fight the giant. And in chapter 22, he's under a tree again. I'll give you one guess where they buried Saul, under a tree.

13:01 That man died and they buried him under a tree. That was his legacy. But God's called us to more than just leading up under trees. It says in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31, they that wait on the shall renew their, they shall mount up with wings as, they shall run and not grow, they shall walk and not, you get extra credit. This section right here, you nailed everyone.

13:28 But here's what I wanna let you know. if that's not happening, then you're not waiting on God. If while you're waiting, your strength is not renewing. If while you're waiting, you're not mounting up with wings as eagles. If while you're waiting, you're getting weary and you're running. If while you're waiting, your walking is turned to sitting, then you're not waiting on God. You're waiting on something other than God. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as eagles. they will run and not grow weary and all the rest of that stuff. When we wait on God, that's what happens when you wait. You like that? I love that song. I know it's kind of old and some of you are like, whoa, just Google it. Just Google. That's what happens when you wait. I don't know who sings it, but it just fires me up when we do. It's a reminder when we wait on the Lord. Waiting feels like a waste.

14:21 but if that's not happening, then you're not waiting on the Lord. Your waiting needs to turn into worshiping. Your waiting needs to turn into trusting. Your waiting needs to turn into believing, but here in this story, waiting turned into warring. Something was burning in Jonathan leadership. I could just see Jonathan. He was a young leader. I could see, you know, the little whiskers, the little peach fuzz growing up on his upper lip and his bottom chin. And he's starting to like feel himself and starting to get bigger shoulders. and he's starting to squeeze his dad's hand when they shake and trying to like pull him off balance. He's starting to feel authority in his voice. He's starting to get stronger. He's starting to feel himself. And you know that moment when you begin to notice things that are happening that you don't agree with? It's not a spirit of division. If you'll be thoughtful and humble, it's really the Holy Spirit developing leadership in you.

15:16 It's not to cause division and to bring people down and to question authority. It's just the Holy Spirit giving you space in your heart to say, what would you do? How would you handle that? And if you handle those moments well, God will give you more. And that's what Jonathan is doing. He couldn't just sit there any longer. He had to pick a fight. And he said, come, let's go to the other outpost. And some of you guys only relate to let's go when you were about to throw hands with somebody back in high school. Let's go. Somebody just woke up. You're like, I'm ready to fight it. I'll fight that preacher right there. Let's go.

15:56 Don't fight me till after the service. We got to keep going. But he said, come on, let's go. Let's go over to the outpost. Perhaps the Lord. Let's go. Perhaps the Lord will act. I really think this is the moment of victory. We're going to read other things. And God does some crazy miracles. Stuff that blows your mind. But I think this was the moment for Jonathan. when he won the victory before he can even taste the victory. I think this is the moment. We can't do nothing. We can't stay here. Reminds me of 2 Kings chapter 7. There were four lepers and there was this battle happening between two armies. And it says, now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. And they said to each other, why sit here till we die? Why sit here till we die? If we say we'll go into the city, the famine is waiting for us there and we will die.

16:51 But if we say we'll go to the camp of the enemy and surrender, and if they spare us, we live. But if they don't spare us, we die. They're stuck between a rock and a hard place. And I don't know about you this morning, but I'm not gonna die right here and I'm not gonna die going backwards. I'm gonna die going forwards. I'm gonna die leading into Jesus. I'm going to die lifting up his name. I'm going to die proclaiming the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. Hopefully while I'm praying for someone to be healed. I want to practice this thing. I want to see God at work, not just in my life, but in our life, in the kingdom of God. There's something amazing that was happening.

17:34 The army of Saul, once they heard of the large army of the Philistines and said, they began to hide inside of rocks. They began to hide in the woods in cisterns. I've never even seen a cistern, but they found one and they hid in that thing. But what breaks my heart about the story is it says some of the people in God's chosen army ran across the Jordan River and went back to the place of slavery.

18:02 Well, that's a move we cannot make. That's spitting in the face of God. That's saying, God, you have a dream, but your dream is not my dream. God, you have a promise, but as life has gone on, I don't believe your promise anymore. And not only am I not going to fight for you and stand for you, I'm going to go back to the place that you originally rescued me from. And I'm not going back the same. I'm going back broken. but these four men of leprosy, they finally decided if we sit here and die, if we go into the town and die, if we go to the enemy's camp and die. So when they reached the edge of the camp, nobody was there. The Lord had caused the army, the Armenian or the some army, the bad guys, the bad guys, when they heard the four lepers coming their way, the Bible says that God gave them the tactical advantage. The Lord caused that these four lepers made them sound like an army of chariots and horses and great men, and so they fled.

19:07 And those four lepers ran into tent to tent. They got the gold, they got food, and they were gorging and celebrating and putting on the jewelry and having a good time. And then they looked at each other and said, wait a minute. there's a whole city in famine we can't just sit here and eat this until we're full let's go proclaim the goodness to the town and everybody's gonna eat I'm telling you if four of you find yourself in victory tell the rest of us because we want to celebrate together if you get a miracle in your house you tell us about it if you get breakthrough on your job you tell us about it because if God will do it for you he'll do it for me and generations past and generations in the future come on give God a shout of praise in this house. It's time to move. And I want to let you know this morning, when Jonathan was talking to his armor bearer, he was challenging him. It's time to move on a maybe. It's time to move in the meantime. It's time to take a step towards destiny. It's time to move on God's maybe and put it all on a perhaps. And Jonathan had no guarantees. The lepers had no guarantees.

20:12 Can I tell you the only guarantee you and I have is this. Jesus told us in this world, you will have trouble. Trouble is not going to be anything you can avoid. Trouble will find you. Trouble will knock on your door. Trouble will wake up next to you. Trouble will walk into your hospital room. Trouble will walk up to you on the job. But this is the other thing that Jesus promised. In this world, you'll have trouble, but take heart because I've overcome. Jesus promises two things. You will not outrun trouble, but you will not outrun the power of the overcoming power of God in your life. So bring it on trouble. Bring it on trouble because my God is an overcomer and you're an overcomer too in this house and online. Give him praise. Is this an overcoming church? Are you ready to overcome the enemy? Are you tired of sitting there? Are you ready to move on a maybe? Because that's what God is calling you to do. The only guarantee in life is you're an overcomer.

21:10 Funerals will come and go. Tragedies will strike when it's least convenient. I can say that and you can hear it so flippantly. But some of you in this room, your heart goes to a very dark place when I say that. It's not fair.

21:31 It's not nice. Some of you are still catching your breath from the last hit you took from the enemy. But while you're down in a position, recovering your breath, while tears are still streaming down your face. When you're wondering, is this worth it? When you're wondering, is God gonna come through for me? I wanna remind you that Jesus says in this world, you will have trouble. But he says, take heart for I've overcome the world. faith, faith is God. Faith in God is the ultimate surrender.

22:16 Waving the white flag to Jesus. Jonathan's plan was not about strength or skill or submission. He didn't have some clever approach. In fact, it said, let me read it to you. Lord heal my eyes in Jesus name let me read it to you in 1 Samuel 1 Samuel 14. This is a great moment. You guys can begin to play. so Jonathan says to his armor bear let's go over then he says to them as he's facing the enemy, he says, we're gonna let the enemy see us and we're gonna call up to the top of this cliff.

23:11 And if they say, stay where you are, then we're gonna stay right where we're at. But if they say, climb up this cliff and fight us, then we're gonna know that the victory is ours. Isn't that bold? Jonathan is already sold out and the armor bearer is already all in, heart and soul. And so as they stand there in chapter 14, it says from the top of the cliff, the enemy called out and they said, look, the Philistines, they said, the Hebrews are crawling out of their holes. And look, when the devil tells you who you already are, don't let that offend you. When the devil reminds you that you don't get it all right all the time, guilty. One of my sons learned a cuss word, not at school, from me changing the brakes on one of the cars.

24:12 I'm not going to tell you which one it was, but if you ever want to hear it, you come around when I'm changing the brakes on the car. I might say it again. He asked me, he said, dad, can I say that word? and I wanted to say hell no but that would have been cussing I'm not going to do that but here he is looking up the cliff and they're calling him what they already know remember the israelite army they're hiding in holes and caves and cisterns and it says from the top it says oh the hebers are crawling out of their holes and and they're and they're and they're coming out of their hiding he says come on out we'll teach you a lesson. So John turned to his armor bearer and he said, climb after me. The Lord has given them into our hand. And Jonathan climbed up using his hands and his feet. Sometimes you have to crawl to victory before you can claim your victory. It doesn't feel like heaven on earth when you're on your hands and your knees and you're crawling through thick and thin and mud.

25:19 But sometimes you've got to crawl to victory before you can claim your victory. And some of you are there this morning. You feel like you've been crawling your whole life through muck and mire and bramble bushes and thorns and things that are destroying you and throwing and slowing you down. That said, once they got up to the top, it said this, then the panic struck the whole army. I love this part. Then panic struck the whole army, those in the camp, those in the field, those in the outposts, those in the raiding parties, and the ground began to shake. Can you picture that these men are climbing up this cliff and they get to the men and they begin to use their one sword that they had. Saul had a sword and Jonathan had a sword. And I don't know what the armor bearer had, but whatever he had, he was cut people with it. They were filleting the fellows at the top of that cliff. And then the Bible says, once they did all they could do, then faith showed up. And when faith walks in the room, all bets are off and the enemy better start running because once they started killing, the Bible said confusion hit the camp. And not only the guys on the battlefield, but the guy back cooking lunch, he pulled out his sword and he began to kill his friends. And then other guys in other parts of the area, the Philistines began to lose their minds. Some of us are trying to just get through the day, but God wants you to have ultimate, total victory. You're just trying to get out of a meeting, but God wants you to own the company.

26:45 Some of you are trying to just get out of an awkward situation, but God's bringing you up to a mountaintop and he's giving you a view of this is all yours. This is the kingdom of God. It's time to move on a maybe. It's time to stand up and fight. It's not time to sit here and stay here. It's time to advance the army of God. Can I get one amen out of this Presbyterian church and give God a shout of praise because he's moving on a maybe. Stand up all over the room. That's not even all of it. it said that panic struck struck the whole army the camp and the field those in the outpost raiding parties they just turned on each other and what was that like one at one point they're eating a sandwich talking about whatever the next thing you know they're poking each other with their swords Thank you.

27:51 because once you do all you can do, God does all he can do. you know when David killed Goliath no one else had to fight Goliath ever again who else did Goliath pick on? Nobody. And you know what David did? David raised up giant killers. When you slay your giant, you've got a moral authority to raise up giant killers. When the panic struck the whole army and all the, you know how we couldn't count the army, but God could.