The Life of David: Before David Becomes Big
CCEA
School of Discipleship
January
12, 2025
Introduction
About me
I’ve been married for 46 years to Debby Cathers. I have three sons and four grandchildren.
I’m a musician – my Bachelor’s degree at CSUF was
in Music
My Master’s degree at Biola/Talbot was in Bible
Exposition
I’ve known Pastor Bob since grad school, over 40 years. I used to sit behind him in Church History at
Talbot.
I’ve been teaching the Bible over 40 years as a youth pastor, assistant
pastor, and 25 of those years as Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Fullerton.
In 2020 I handed the church to one of my protégés, and in 2022 I stepped
away from CC Fullerton to let my team run things without the old man looking
over their shoulder.
I currently teach a Greek class to a small online group of young senior
pastors.
I’ve written a book – you can find it on Amazon.
I am so very grateful for this opportunity to teach this class.
About our class
We’ll be drawing most of our material from the Bible, specifically 1&2
Samuel, and 1Chronicles.
I will tend to teach mostly from the New King James Bible, simply because
that’s what I’ve taught from for about twenty years. You can use any version in
class to mark up and make notes in.
We will be doing a little bit of memorizing in this class. By the end of eight weeks
you will have memorized Psalm 23. I’d
like you all to memorize it in the New King James.
And we will have a reading assignment each week from J. Vernon McGee’s book
“David, A Man After God’s Own Heart”, based on some of his Sunday Sermons which
you can all find on YouTube if you prefer to listen to ol’
J. Vernon instead of reading.
As you might have seen in the email I sent out last week, I will be making
video recordings each week of our class and posting them to YouTube. If you have to miss
class for any reason, just let me know, then watch the video on YouTube, email
me the answers to the quiz, and you’ll get full credit for that class.
I would like to encourage you to be sure to get to
class on time since I will usually start right at 3pm in
order to get all the material in each week.
General Introduction to David
When you spend eight weeks studying David, you’re going to begin to notice just how big a figure he is in the history
of God’s people.
The name “David” is found 1,140 times in the entire Bible, and though most
of those are in the Old Testament, his name appears 59 times in the New
Testament.
In contrast, the name “Moses” is found 851 times in the Bible. (80x in NT)
The name “Jesus” is found 981 times in the Bible (all in the NT)
I challenge you to pay attention over the next eight weeks to every time
you hear the name “David” mentioned or see it in print. It won’t be hard.
For example, on Wednesday night, Pastor Bob spent a lot of time talking
about Rahab the harlot from Joshua 2. I wanted to jump up and say, “Do you know
who Rahab’s great, great, grandson is???”
Anyone? David (see Matt. 1)
His name
In English, we call him “David”
In Hebrew, his name looks like this –
דָוִֽד
And you can pronounce it “Dah-VEED” or “Dah-WEED”
It means “beloved” or “beloved one”
It comes from the word דוד (dowd) which can mean “beloved, love, uncle”.
This word is found 62x in the Old Testament, and 32x in
the Song of Solomon.
Historicity of David
Real or myth?
Despite so many references in the Bible to David, Bible critics have
claimed for years that David was not an historical person, but just a
mythological figure.
I find it amazing that some people just won’t believe that the Bible is
true.
An important discovery was made in 1993 at Tel Dan.
If you’ve been to Israel, you’ve probably visited Tel Dan.
A 9th century BC stone slab (or, stele) was uncovered at Tel Dan
in northern Israel. It’s called the Tel
Dan Stele
The slab refers to a battle between an Aramaean king (Syrian) and his victory
over the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, which he
calls the “house of David”.
This slab dates about 150 years after King David.
The battle would have been between Hazael of Syria, Jehoram of Israel, and
Ahaziah of Judah.
Before David Becomes Big
I want to take us back to a time before David to lay out some history of
the nation of Israel.
Moses brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt around 1440 BC.
Joshua brought the nation into the Promised Land around 1400 BC.
Then for a period of 400 years, the nation had periods of spiritual highs
followed by spiritual lows.
We call this period the time of the Judges (just like the book).
The nation would go through a period of decline and start to follow foreign
gods.
Then God would allow another nation to bring them into submission.
The nation would repent from their sins, cry out to God, and God would
raise up a deliverer, a “judge”, to free them from their oppression.
You may know the names of some of these judges: Deborah, Gideon, and
Samson.
A phrase you will see repeated several times in the book of Judges is this:
(Judges
21:25 NKJV) In those days there was no king in
Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
The last of these “judges” was the prophet Samuel.
Follow along with me in your Bibles starting in…
1Samuel 8
The last “judge” God would raise up would be Samuel.
Just like the previous judges, God would use Samuel to bring a measure of
freedom from their enemies, but towards the end of his ministry, the people
started asking for something different.
(1 Samuel 8:4–5
NKJV) —4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together
and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “Look, you are old,
and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all
the nations.”
The people saw a benefit in having a king, and
wanted to be like all the other nations.
Was it okay to have a king or not?
Lesson
Black and White
The answer to that question is yes and no.
I know that we want everything to be black and white.
We want bad guys to always wear black and good guys to
always wear white.
But sometimes there are no simple answers in life.
The Jews understood these things.
Moses was given 613 laws for the people, but sometimes one law will
conflict with another law.
In those cases, the question asked would be “which one has priority” or “which
is the greater law?”
If your neighbor’s donkey fell into a pit on the Sabbath,
what would you do?
Would you obey the law to love your neighbor and help the
donkey out of the pit? Or would you obey the law that said you shouldn’t work
on the Sabbath?
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were divided on these issues.
Some felt you shouldn’t help the donkey because it was
breaking the Sabbath.
Others felt you should help the donkey because that’s
loving your neighbor.
In Jesus’ day there were two schools (Hillel & Shamai) of thought among
the Pharisees on the commandments, and you could tell which “school”
a person followed after by asking the question, “What
is the greatest commandment?” The answer to that question showed the priorities
of that school of thought.
Both schools held that the command to love God was the
most important commandment.
The issue was the “second” commandment. The Shamai school held that keeping the
Sabbath was the second commandment. The
Hillel school held that loving your neighbor was the second commandment.
Do you remember which school Jesus was consistently?
(Mark 12:31 NKJV) And the second, like it, is
this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other
commandment greater than these.”
Love your neighbor.
I’m going to make things difficult for you.
It is okay to lie? Yes or no?
On Wednesday, Pastor Bob talked about the issue of Rahab
lying to the king of Jericho’s men. Was
it okay for her to lie?
Bob also mentioned the Jewish midwives when Moses was
born. Was it okay for the midwives to
lie to Pharaoh’s men and not kill the baby boys born during Moses’ day?
99% of the time it’s wrong to lie. But is it always?
There are going to be times in the Scripture where things are not
completely “black and white”.
You will have to navigate what seems to be contradictions.
Does God choose us before we were even born?
Or do we choose Him to be saved?
I believe the answer to both of those questions is “yes”.
So was it okay for the people to ask for a king?
So … on one hand there WAS a problem with asking for a king. When Samuel
brought his problem to the Lord…
(1 Samuel
8:7 NKJV) And the Lord
said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for
they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign
over them.
Samuel was feeling bad as if they were rejecting him (Samuel)
God saw that the problem wasn’t their rejection of Samuel, or the people’s
request for a king. The problem was they
did not want God to be reigning over them.
Still, God in His wisdom would allow them a king.
BUT asking for a king wasn’t bad in itself. God
had already looked forward to the day when there was a king. He had even given Israel laws for a king.
(Deuteronomy
17:14–20 NKJV) —14 “When you come to the land which the
Lord your God is giving you, and
possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the
nations that are around me,’ 15 you shall
surely set a king over you whom the Lord
your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king
over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
16 But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people
to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17 Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn
away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. 18 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom,
that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one
before the priests, the Levites. 19 And it shall be with him, and he
shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe
all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his
heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the
commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may
prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of
Israel.
God didn’t mind the people having a king, as long as
the king was willing to follow God and His ways.
Would it be okay one day for David to be king? Absolutely.
Be careful about forming “black or white” ideas. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of
things that are “black or white”, but there are some things that are a bit more
nuanced than that.
1Samuel 9-15
We’re going to hop skip and jump through these chapters that lead up to
David.
So through a series of events, and ones in which
God was involved, a man named Saul became the first official “king” of
Israel (1Samuel 9)
There was also a son of Gideon named Abimelech (Judges 9) who called
himself a “king”, but that’s another story…
For awhile, Samuel was
still around while Saul was learning to be king.
Saul has some pretty big flaws, biggest being
disobedience
After one of his blunders, Samuel had a word from God for Saul…
(1 Samuel
13:14 NKJV) But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man
after His own heart, and the Lord
has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not
kept what the Lord commanded
you.”
This phrase “a man after His own heart” is all about David.
The context has to do with obedience.
The final straw with Saul came when God commanded him to wipe out the evil
Amalekites, who had been a constant threat to the nation from the time of
Moses. Saul had a victory over the
Amalekites, but rather than wiping them completely out, he decided to keep some
of the spoils and use some as a burnt offering for God…
(1 Samuel 15:22–23
NKJV) —22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as
great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying
the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin
of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you
have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has
rejected you from being king.”
Lesson
Love and Obey
The issue of loving God and obeying Him have always been there. Even in the Law, obedience was always
supposed to be based on love for God.
(Deuteronomy
11:1 NKJV) “Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep His charge, His
statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.
(Joshua 22:5 NKJV) But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses
the servant of the Lord commanded
you, to love the Lord your God,
to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to
serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
So is it that big of a surprise that Jesus said
the same thing?
(John 14:15 NKJV) “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
(John 14:21 NKJV) He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.
And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and
manifest Myself to him.”
John wrote,
(1 John 5:3 NKJV) For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome.
Disobedience isn’t about losing your salvation, but I see it as affecting how
we grow and how we are used by the Lord.
Saul did not obey, and as a result he lost his ministry, he lost his
position.
Play Video “Cream on Baby”
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAQCekgB5ZC/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Hopefully we can chuckle at what Sasha did to her little
brother, but sometimes disobedience to God in ministry is way more serious.
I’ve been involved in ministry a long time, and I’ve seen many people lose
their ministry because of disobedience.
There have been big names, famous pastors, even Calvary
Chapel Pastors.
Every time another pastor fails, it makes me tremble.
It reminds me that I don’t want to go down that path.
There are people you’ve never heard of, but when their unrepentant
sin found them out, they too lost their ministry, or at least for a time. I’ve
seen ministry leaders, Sunday School teachers, and others who have needed to step back.
It’s not that a person can’t be forgiven and even perhaps
restored to ministry, but why do we allow ourselves to think we don’t need to
love God and obey Him?
What about David?
He’s going to be the “one after God’s heart”, yet he too will blow it. More
than once.
The difference with David was his willingness to confess
and confront his sin.
When you’ve failed, be quick to admit to God that you need
Him.
Seek to figure out how to obey Him in the area you
struggle with.
1Samuel 16
Back to our story … when we get to 1Samuel 16, God has sent Samuel to find
the next king even though Saul is still around.
God sends Samuel to a man in Bethlehem, Jesse, because one of Jesse’s sons
will be king (1Sam. 16)
Jesse presents his seven sons one at a time to the prophet. But with each one…
(1 Samuel
16:7 NKJV) But the Lord
said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature,
because I have refused him. For the Lord
does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Seven of Jesse’s eight sons were all rejected…
(1 Samuel
16:11 NKJV) And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men
here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping
the sheep.” And Samuel
said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes
here.”
Of course, the youngest was named David. He is brought from the field to
meet Samuel…
(1 Samuel 16:12
NKJV) So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with
bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord
said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”
ruddy – אַדְמוֹנִ֔י ad-mo-nee’ – red, ruddy
It comes from the word אָדֹם (ʾādōm),
which is “to be red”.
The word is used to describe Esau when he was first born, that he “came out
red” (Gen. 25:25). Esau will later became known also as “Edom” (“red”) and his territory was
known as “Edom”.
bright – יְפֵ֥ה yaw-feh’ –
fair, beautiful, handsome
good-looking – וְט֣וֹב – towb - good, pleasant, agreeable
Permit me a quick rabbit trail. In
the nation Israel, the name of their medical first-responders is “Magen
David Adom”. They caught my eye in a news article.
“Magen” means “shield”. “Magen
David” means “Shield of David”.
There is a symbol known as the “shield of David”, we might call it the
“star of David”, that six-pointed star on the Israeli flag.
“Adom” means… red.
We have the “Red Cross”. Muslim countries have the “Red Crescent”.
Israel has the “Red Shield of David”.
My point? You too will start seeing the name “David” everywhere.
(1 Samuel 16:13
NKJV) Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day
forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
anointed – מָשַׁח (māšaḥ)
anoint, spread a liquid
Samuel is taking the special perfumed olive oil from the Tabernacle and
pouring it on top of David’s head.
This special oil was used to consecrate or set things apart for God like
the Tabernacle itself, as well as all the furniture in it.
Priests were “anointed” with it. Kings were “anointed” with it.
It’s the root word from which Messiah comes from, He is THE “anointed” One.
It’s from David’s “anointing” that we see the symbolic connection between
the oil and the Holy Spirit.
Quiz Alert!!!
If you haven’t written anything down yet, write this down…
Lesson
Spirit Powered
All true ministry, all true works of God need the power of the Holy Spirit.
That was true for Pastor Chuck. It’s
true for Pastor Bob. It’s true for youth
pastors and Sunday School teachers. It’s true for me. It’s true for you.
At the last Supper, Jesus prepared His disciples for what was up
ahead. They were no longer going to have
Jesus physically, personally, with them to counsel, guide, lead, and help them. Jesus said,
(John 14:16–17
NKJV) —16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may abide with you forever—17 the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows
Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
After His resurrection, before ascending into heaven, Jesus told the
disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 1:8 NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The Greek word for “power” is dunamis.
You may have heard preachers talk about the “dynamite” power of God, but that’s
not really accurate.
The Greek noun dunamis is
based on the Greek verb dunamai, a very
common Greek word that simply means at it’s
root “to be able”. Think of “power” as
“ability”, and you will have a more accurate idea of what the Holy Spirit does
for us.
Yes, it might be the “ability” to perform miracles or
healings.
It will certainly be the “ability” to be a witness.
It may be the “ability” to produce the fruits of the
Spirit (love, joy, peace…)
It may be the “ability” to say “no” to sin and obey God.
The real “ability” lies with God.
Illustration
I’ve been working very hard over the last few weeks to
train someone how to play the piano.
It’s not that hard to play the piano. Here’s my 7 year old granddaughter Ruth playing –
Play Ruthie Piano Video
(By the way, can anyone name that tune?)
So, I’ve been working at training
a pair of gloves to play the piano for you. I went over and
over the lessons with the gloves and here’s how they did –
Play Gloves Piano Video
Oh my. Then I
discovered something. When the gloves
let my hands “fill” them, something amazing happened. They were able to play the piano.
Play Psalm 23 Piano Video
(Extra Credit: Can anyone name that tune?)
Here’s the point –
The gloves are like you and I. What God asks us isn’t really all that hard
when it comes to following Him. A seven year old can do it.
But until we get His Hand inside the glove, until we learn to be “filled
with the Spirit”, we can’t do anything.
(John 15:5 NKJV) “I am the vine,
you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much
fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
It’s this power of the Spirit that you and I need for our ministry.
When the Holy Spirit comes on the
church in Acts 2 and through the rest of the book, you will see amazing things
happening.
How do I get this “power”?
There are many ways, like having someone lay hands on you,
fasting, waiting, but I’d like to suggest that you start by simply asking.
(Luke 11:13 NKJV) If you then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
God wants to give you the overflowing power of the
Spirit. You simply need to ask, and trust Him to do it.
(John 14:26 NKJV) But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My
name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you.
(1 John 2:27 NKJV) But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you,
and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches
you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has
taught you, you will abide in Him.
Let’s look at one more phrase from 1Samuel 16:13…
From that day forward
Lesson
It may take time
Remember, David is the youngest brother fresh from the pasture watching the
sheep.
Some have suggested David might have been somewhere between 10-15years old
or so. (Josephus said he was 10)
David wouldn’t actually become king until he was
30, another 15-20 years.
When God gives you a sense that He’s calling you to a special ministry, it
may not happen overnight.
For some it does happen pretty quickly. Greg Laurie received Christ when he was about
17 and by age 19 he was pastoring a small Bible study
in Riverside. Charles Spurgeon was
preaching by the age of 16.
But for many of us, it may take time.
Some of us are a little young or simply new to the faith.
Tell me about what you think about this awesome highly skilled motorcycle
rider…
Play “Motorcycle Kid” video
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCownWBRh7O/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
I believe no kids were actually harmed in this video
I think he was a little young
and perhaps needed a bit more instruction.
When our vision isn’t fulfilled immediately, you may wonder if He really
called you.
You will find that God might use this “waiting” time to equip and train you
for what’s ahead.
I was 18 years old when I sensed that God was calling me to one day be a
senior pastor.
Let me back up a bit. I received
Christ in 1970, when I was in eighth grade. I was excited about reading my
“Good News for Modern Man” paperback Bible.
But I was kind of on again, off again in my walk with Jesus.
In 1972 a girlfriend invited me to a small prayer meeting at Melodyland Christian Center for their youth crisis hotline.
The people there were a bit older than us.
I thought things were strange when they said we should pray before
eating dinner, and they prayed for a half-hour.
After dinner, we all stood in a circle and one fellow went from person
to person to talk and pray for them.
When he got to me he quietly told me things
about me that I thought nobody knew. When he went to pray for me, he was about
to put his hand on my head when I fell over backward. I was filled with the
Spirit. I spoke in tongues. My life was changed.
Yes, those were the “Jesus Revolution” days. After being baptized in the
Spirit, a group of us in high school were the “Jesus Freaks” – we used to carry
our Bibles with us to school and to every class. I had a silver cross I wore
around my neck for the next two years every day at school. Our church youth
choir would go on tours during the summer and we would
put on concerts all over California and Arizona - wild times with youth kids laying
hands on people in Baptist churches. At school we witnessed
to people. We would debate the atheists in our English and History
classes. We had prayer meetings. We talked about Jesus all the time.
But I was going to be a doctor.
In 1974, at the end of my Senior year, I went to my Baptist Church’s Senior
High youth camp at Forest Home. At the beginning of the week on a Sunday night,
my long time girlfriend of
eight months broke up with me. I was
devastated. I still had six days up in the mountains and I was a mess. But God had my attention. On Thursday night, an old
retired pastor from Arizona, Earl Riley, got up to speak about
missions. His message was all about
going to the mission field, but as he spoke, I sensed that God was speaking to
me about becoming a pastor, a senior pastor. I felt as if all the pieces of my
life fell into place and I knew what God wanted me to do.
But it didn’t happen overnight.
I still had four years of college, and three and a half years of seminary
ahead of me. For six of those years I was a youth
pastor. After seminary I spent three years working at a bank, and then at
McDonnel Douglas. Then I got hired at Calvary Chapel Anaheim as an assistant
pastor.
It wasn’t until 1994 that Deb and I sensed it was time to take a big step
of faith, quit my job at Calvary Anaheim, and start a church in Fullerton. My
pastor and the elder board were behind us 100%.
It took me twenty years from the time of my “call”, but I was finally a
Senior Pastor.
Everybody’s story is different because everyone is different and needs
different training, but the point is this – don’t give up. Keep moving toward that call of God.
For those of you new to my classes, I will email
you tomorrow all my notes, as well as a link to the YouTube video of this
week’s class that I recorded at home.
Homework
This is the only week I’m going to ask you to read two chapters in
McGee.
The first chapter is to get you ready for next week’s study:
Read McGee chapter 1 – “David, the Giant Killer”
Or, Listen to the message on YouTube
The second chapter is to help supplement your Bible Memorization:
Read McGee, chapter 10 – “The Psalm of an Old Shepherd”
Or, Listen to the message on YouTube
Memorize Psalm 23:1
Please use the New King James version to memorize. I want us all to be using the same
translation.
By the end of this class, you will have memorized the entire Psalm (only
six verses).
(Psalm 23:1 NKJV) The Lord is my
shepherd; I shall not want.
Quiz
From the lecture (10pts):
1. All ministry needs to be _______ powered (Spirit)
a. Caffeine
b. Spirit
c. Muscle
Extra …
The story of Migdal Eder, the “Tower of the Flock” –
(Genesis 35:19–21
NKJV) —19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is,
Bethlehem). 20 And Jacob set a pillar on her grave,
which is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. 21 Then Israel
journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
(Micah 4:8 NKJV) And you, O tower of the flock, The stronghold of the daughter of Zion, To you shall
it come, Even the
former dominion shall come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
(Micah 5:2 NKJV) “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are
little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you
shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings
forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
The Tower of the Flock, where sacrificial Temple lambs were
born, seems the perfect place for The Perfect Lamb’s birth, which signified His
sacrifice for us 33 years later.