Notes | October 10, 2021

Today's Message: From Crisis to Crowns | Sean Patterson 

1 "David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. 3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.” – 1 Samuel 30:1-3

Ziklag = measure pressed down.

• Ziklag is when bad things happen to you that you can’t understand.
• Ziklags are an attack of the enemy designed with you in mind.
• Ziklags never come at a good or convenient time.
• Ziklags often come through the open door of someone else’s disobedience or bad choices. 
• Ziklags are designed to dismantle our faith and unravel our confidence just before a breakthrough or a promise from God is fulfilled.

"There is no grosser or greater misrepresentation of the Christian message than that which depicts it as offering a life of ease with no battle and struggle at all... sooner or later every believer discovers that the Christian life is a battleground, not a playground." - Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Fear to die? Thank God I do not have it. The Cholera may come again next summer, I pray it doesn’t, but if it does, it matters not to me. I will toil and visit the sick by day and by night until I drop and if it takes me in sudden death, after sudden death is sudden glory.” - Charles Spurgeon
“I’ve learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.” - Charles Spurgeon 

“So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God. 7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, 8 and David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” "Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”  – 1 Samuel 30:4-8

“And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them.” –  1 Samuel 22:2 

Your past struggles give you keys to future victories.
When you’re in Ziklag, you will either inquire of the Lord, look for someone to blame, or go to mediums. Or shall I say, media-ums.

9 “David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. 10 Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.” – 1 Samuel 30:9-10

11 “They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— 12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. 13 David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?”
He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. 14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.”
15 David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?” He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.” – 1 Samuel 30:11-15

16 “He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.” – 1 Samuel 30:16-20

Jesus Christ is the greater David who conquered a greater Ziklag.

David went on a rescue mission for his people at the risk of his life, Jesus went on a rescue mission for His people at the cost of His life.​