The Shepherd Years

Introduction

Well, good evening. It’s good to be with you this evening. Glad we could get together and spend a little bit time in God’s word. We’re going to be in the Old Testament this evening. Book of 1st Samuel, chapter 16 is where our thoughts are going to take us today. And we are glad to have each of you with us. Those who are visiting with us as well. We’re thankful you could be with us. Hope your day went well. And even if it didn’t, here we are in the house of God.

And nothing could be better than that. What a blessed Jesus we serve. What a great reminder of that. We’re thankful for that. There was an assembly some time ago that had a whole bunch of young people sitting on the very front row and a young man came in late and he sat right beside the girl on the end. She was a real pretty girl. He really really liked her. She really really did not like him. And all during worship service, all he could think about was her.

So he took out a himnil and turned to the song I need thee every hour, laid it in her lap. She grabbed that song book, flipped to another song, and threw it in his lap and said, I’d rather have Jesus. And so it is. We would rather have Jesus. The Beatles had a song a long time ago that’s called Nowhere Man. And it began like this. He’s a real nowhere man sitting in his nowhere land. Making all his nowhere plans for nobody. Doesn’t have a point of view. Knows not where he’s going to.

Isn’t he a bit like you and me? Nowhere, man. Please listen. You don’t know what you’re missing. Nowhere, man. The world is at your command. Now, most people don’t start off in life with that being their ambition. You talk to someone graduating high school or college, say, “What’s next on your list of things to do?” Nothing. That’s not their plans. What do you want to be when you grow up? Nobody. That’s not the idea. We have plans and dreams and hopes and and all kinds of wonderful ideas.

But like a river, life is always changing and it brings us different opportunities before us. And so this evening what I want to do is I want to walk story of David, the early years of David that we call the shepherd years. And what we’re going to see is one amazing amazing lesson for us as we think about families, we think about parenting, and we think about where we are. The the the thrust of this lesson as we think about it is that you don’t know where you’re going to be 20 years from now.

Now, sometimes, oh yeah, I do. I’m going to school for this. I’m going to do this. I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that. And often times we have all these great plans. You know, I’m going to marry this pretty girl. We’re going to have all kinds of kids. Colleges are going to be fighting over athletic and and celesti scholarships. It’s going to be great. And what we find out is sometimes your plan A is not God’s plan A. And what we do today can color what happens down the road.

And that really is the story of David. And so when we do a little bit of background, of course, we know David as a shepherd boy defeats a terrible enemy and a giant by the name of Goliath develops a powerful nation, brings peace and prosperity to him. His resume is off the charts. We would think about just some things about David. His name is listed a thousand times in our Bibles. His story covers 66 chapters in the Old Testament. When we think about him, he moved the capital to Jerusalem and became known as the city of David.

That’s how significant he was. After him, he became the benchmark for all the kings after him. All the good kings in Judah were referred to as following David, their father. Hezekiah walked in the ways of his father David. Well, David was not the father of Hezekiah. There were generations between them. But David set the pace. He raised the bar and every good king after him was connected to David. We think about how God himself is referred to as the God of your father David.

Over 12 times in the New Testament, Jesus is called the son of David. listed in Hebrews 11 among the heroes of faith. His name is found on the very last page of your Bible in the book of Revelation chapter 22. But the story begins in 1st Samuel chapter 16. Here Dave is born about the year ⁠10:40 BC. Saul had already been a king about 10 years and this takes place. So what I want to do is I want to read the first 13 verses with you and then from this we want to just pull out some simple thoughts this evening about the shepherd years and I want you to see particularly if you’re on the younger side of life to understand how important this is and see what David did during this time period.

It was significant and how sometimes in our lives we waste periods of time like this. We wish we were somewhere else. We We wish we had a different job, different school. We lived in a different city. And and instead of developing ourselves as David did, we missed the opportunities. Let’s read it now. 1st Samuel 16 verse 13 verses. Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul since I’ve rejected him from being king over Israel?

Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethleamite, for I have selected a king for myself among his sons. But Samuel says, “How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for me the one whom I designate to you.” So Samuel did what the Lord said and came to Bethlehem.

And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said do you come in peace. He said in peace I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate for yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Now when they entered, they looked at Elab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or the height of a statue, because I have rejected him.

For God sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Jesse then called Abend Abinabad and made him pass before Samuel and he said, “The Lord has not chosen him either.” Next came Shea passed by, and he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?”

He says, “The remains yet the youngest, and behold, he’s tending sheep.” But Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring them in, for we will not sit down until he comes here.” Verse 12. For he sent and brought him in. Now he was r ready with beautiful eyes and handsome in appearance. And the Lord said, “Arise and anoint him, for this is he.” Then Samuel took the oil, the horn of the oil, anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.

And Samuel rose and went to Rama. And one of the first things we need to see to appreciate about this was that this was not a random selection. She did not say, “Eeny, meeny miny mo, you are the next king of Israel.” God was involved in all of this. I have selected a king for myself. Verse three says, verse one, verse three says, you shall anoint for me the one whom I designate. Verse seven, for God sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

And in verse 12, and the Lord says, arise, anoint him. This is he. God was involved in choosing this. Now, on the outward surface, there’s not very much impressive about David. He’s just probably a teenager watching the sheep. He’s very young and inexperienced. He knows really nothing about running the nation. He’s not been a soldier. He doesn’t know how to command troops. He doesn’t know how to do a national budget. He doesn’t know how to interact with other kings. And so on the surface, it looks like there’s really nothing here that stands out about him.

And on top of that, he is the least in his family and and probably one of the least families of the least tribes. And so when he when he puts this on a resume, he say, “No, nobody’s going to vote for this guy. Nobody’s going to want this guy. How in the world can he be the king?” But what happens was God saw something. And what God saw was impressive. And I want you to understand that this takes place before Goliath. It wasn’t because David was a national hero.

David was the warrior that came home. He was not like Eisenhower in World War II. He was the general, then they made him the president. He wasn’t like US Grant who was the general of Civil War and then they made him president. This is before all of that. God saw something and what he saw took place. Well, David was a shepherd. And that’s what I want us to focus on tonight and talk about these things. And so most likely as we think about Jesse and his sons, most likely Jesse was a common almost a poor man.

If he had any substance, he would had servants watching the sheep. But the very idea that he had his sons and most likely what happened was the oldest son watched the sheep until son number two became able and then he took over. Then son number three, four, five, six, seven. And now David, the last one, has the same job of watching the sheep. And they’ve all have done this. And God looked at every one of those sons and nothing was there until he looked at the last one and something presses stood out.

When we think about watching sheep, we need first of all appreciate how lonely and boring this is. Now, in our times today, oh, we’d send a kid out there and he’d have his cell phone and he’d have his video games with him. He’d have a four-wheeler and he it’d be pretty cool today. But back in those days, you didn’t have any of that stuff. And and and how difficult that would be for him. And so, the idea is you stayed where the sheep were. Now, if the sheep are near the house, that’s a deal because you can stay in the house.

But wherever the sheep go, you go. And so that means when they’re way out there, that’s where you have to be. You’re going to be sleeping in that cold. You’re going to be taking a bath in the creek. You’re going to be gathering your own food. You’re going to be dealing with bugs and dirt and tons of walking. And that was what life was like and watching the sheep. And it was a thankless job. Sheep don’t go up to the master and say, “You know what?

Of all the shepherds, David was the best.” No, shepherds don’t. Sheep don’t do that. And so you got no appreciation for what you’re doing, but he did it. And what I want to press upon you as we think about this, it was during this time period that David learned how to develop himself. Two things come out during this time period especially. Number one, he used his skill with a sling. So later on when he fights Goliath, he knows exactly what he’s doing.

He developed his skill with a harp. So later on he’d be in the palace with Saul. He’d start learning how you run a kingdom and see these things. But it was during this time period that he’s really developed himself spiritually. And it’s because of these shepherd years that God chose David. And I want us to understand we all have shepherd years. It might be your high school years. Oh, I hate high school. And oh, I can’t wait till I graduate. But what do you do during those years?

It could be summer break. It could be college years. It could be the time of your single. I can’t wait to get married and what a sad time I’m in right now. It could be the night shift years. It could be the childless years. It could be the stay-at-home mom years. It could be the empty nest years. And what we see is these may not be your favorite periods of time in your life, but what you do can help you become more beneficial to the kingdom or not.

And so when we think about David, I don’t think David ever in his mind thought, you know, one of these days, one of these days I’m going to grow up and I’m going to be the king of this nation. Yeah, you’re a nobody from a no family from a no tribe. But he didn’t know what God could do. And the point I want us to see through this is where you are today can determine how God uses you years and years and years from the you wait till you’re 50 years old and you’re in a congregation and say, “You know what?

I think I’d like to be a shepherd in a church. I’d like to be one of the elders.” But the choices I made when I was 20 and a 30 and a 40 may shut that door. You see what I’m doing today influences what happens down the road. And so again, when we think about this idea, we always live with this idea of someday. Someday this is going to happen. Someday this is going to happen. Someday you’ll be married. You teenagers, someday a person may look up to you and call you mom or dad.

Hard to believe right now. Someday you may be an elder in a church. Someday you may stand on this side of the pulpit. Someday you may have your own teenager. Someday you may be sitting behind a desk and having a position to influence other lives. Someday you may be owning your own business. Someday you may pick up the phone and someone’s talking to you about advice. What should I do here? Someday you may not believe what you’re doing 20 years from today.

But what you do today can change that open doors or close it. When I was 16 years old, if you told me when I was 16 years old, Roger, we’re gonna time warp ahead 50some years and you’re gonna be in Orlando, Florida, standing behind a pulpit preaching to a group of people on a Monday night. I said, dream on. Never. I wasn’t even a Christian when I was 16 years old. But what God has done through me, I preached all over this country. I preached in other countries. I stood in prisons.

I was at one place where there’s 300 prisoners in me. And I’m thinking to myself, I am going to die today. I’ve written over four million words in the blog. I’ve done podcast numbers over a thousand. I’ve done all kinds of things. But now when I was 16 years old, had I heard this lesson, I would have done some things differently that would sure help me along the line where I am today. And so I want to share with you three or four simple things that came out from David’s life that’s so important to see.

1. He Developed a Great Devotion to the Lord

Number one, as we think about this, he developed a great devotion to the Lord. That’s how this begins. A great devotion to the Lord while he was watching sheep. Again, mindless sheep. Can you imagine? What’s your job? I get to watch sheep eat grass all day long. Man, isn’t that exciting? I’d rather watch paint dry, you know. But that’s what he was doing. Now, he could have said over and over, “I hate this job. I hate this job. Why didn’t dad have one more son so I could get out of this and he could have this dumb job?

He could just daydreamed it away. He could have thrown rocks at the sheep. He could have just wasted his time. But it was during this time period where a lot of the amazing psalms were written. Turn with me in the Bible the book of Psalms. Let’s grab two or three of them. Of course, the one that ought to come to our mind just immediately is Psalms 23 written from the standpoint of a shepherd. Psalms 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down green pastures.

He leads me beside the quiet waters. You can just see David doing that with the sheep himself. But now he’s making the parallel. This is what God is doing to me. God is leading me. God is guiding me. God is helping me. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you’re with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You’ve anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life and I’ll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Three things I want you to notice. We know this passage so well. But I want you to notice three things. Number one, notice the activity of God. God is busy in this chapter. God is leading. God is guiding. God is anointing. God is busy. Second thing I want you to notice is how personal this is.

God is a God of heaven and earth. God is the God of Israel. But in this chapter, he is my shepherd. He leads me. There’s a personal connection here between David and God. But I want you to notice something special happens in verse four. We miss this a lot. In verse four, the chapter changes up to verse four. He’s talking about God. It would be as if you and I were in a class together and you were say, “Well, Roger, tell me about God.” Well, God leads. God guides.

God does. I’m just telling you facts and facts and facts about God. But now notice verse four. When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you. You see that all of a sudden this becomes a prayer. I’m no longer talking about God. I’m talking to God. He says, “You are with me. Your rod, your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And so, right in the midst of this beautiful thing, there’s a transition.

And we see that, let’s grab another one, if you will. Look with me in Psalm chapter 29. Psalms chapter 29. Again, just images of what David might have written during his time period. Psalms 29 begin verse three. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of London of Lebanon.

He breaks Lebanon like skip. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Sion like a wild young ox. The voice of the Lords out flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes away. You almost think this is written during a thunderstorm and just all the noise that’s taking place. But when would he have written this? Not from his bedroom in the palace. Not riding in a chariot when he’s out in the fields watching sheep eat grass. You see that? What did he do during this time period?

He allowed himself to get closer and closer to the Lord. One more. Let’s grab chapter 40, if you will. Psalms chapter 40. And there’s just many many we could do. But Psalms chapter 40 verse3 verses. Psalms chapter ⁠40:3 verses. And here it says, I wait I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction out of the murray clay. He set my feet upon the rock making my footsteps firm.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise over God. many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord. Again, you almost get this idea of walking around where all the rocks are. And so, so the thing is as David’s out there, he could have just let his mind go and just wasted the time and just said, “I am bored to death. I hate sheep. I’m not going to be around sheep the rest of my life.” Or use it to develop a closeness to God. You see that? We had a guy several years ago who had to get an MRI.

It’s one of those things where you go in this tube and you’re not supposed to move. And they had earphones. They said, “What kind of music do you listen to?” He said, “I don’t need any of that.” And so he sat in there. He said, “Now you got to be very still.” And he just started thinking the hymns. One hymn after another hymn. And his test was over and they pulled him out and says, “I’m not done yet. I got more hymns.” Well, what do you do? What do you do?

What do you do when you’re sitting in traffic? What do you do when you’re at the school waiting for your kid to come out and it always seems like your kid is the last kid to walk out? You know, what do you do when you have these time periods? You can just listen to the radio. You can just kind of get on your phone and I’ve just checked it, but I’m going to check it again. Maybe in the last half second, somebody sent me an email. Or maybe I can pray to my God. Maybe I can think about the Lord.

2. He Developed a Great Courage to Trust in the Lord

You see, this is what David was doing. And so when God looked at this young shepherd, he says, “You’re different than your brothers. All of you have watched sheep, but what you did while you were watching your sheep is you got close to me.” And that’s what’s impressive. Now, let’s talk about something else here. Again, something we see with David. We see that he developed a great courage to trust in the Lord. In the book of 1st Samuel chapter 17, as he’s preparing to go to fight Goliath here, the Bible says this.

But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep when the lion or a bear I love this, a lion or the bear.” I think I would know the difference. You know, I think I’d be pretty specific about that. But a lion or a bear came and took the lamb from the flock. I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth. Do you get how vivid this is? The lamb is in the lion’s mouth. And David didn’t say, “Well, that’s one less one I have to watch.

We’re down to 99, but that’s okay.” He went after that. Why? BECAUSE THAT’S HIS JOB. MY JOB is to watch the sheep, and I’m going to do that job. And so, he rescued it from his mouth. And when he rose up against me, I seized him by the beer. Can you imagine oneon-one with a lion so close you can smell his breath? That’s David. Why are you doing that? Because that’s my job. I was entrusted with watching the sheep and I’m going to give it my all. And so what happens during this time period is he learned to rely upon the Lord.

He learned that the Lord was his strength. He he created integrity within him. He had a job to do and he did it well. Once again, I’ve had a lot of dumb jobs in my life. I’ve thrown newspapers when I didn’t want to throw newspapers. When I was down here at Florida College, me and another guy, we used to throw newspapers. We threw them on top of the roofs. We just had a contest, you know. And I think about this passage said, “How shameful of me for doing that. That guy went out there looking for newspaper and say, “Well, it’s up there in your roof, man. You don’t put newspapers on roofs.”

And what we see here is David was a person of integrity. And so later on when he becomes the king, he’s going to serve that way. But if you can’t be a person of integrity when you’re 16, you probably won’t be when you’re 26. And you probably won’t be when you’re 46. And when someday a congregation looks at you and says, “No, we’re looking for shepherds.” Some names are just bypassed automatically. We’re not even going to consider this person. Why? Because the choices you’ve made in your life. And that’s what we have to see.

3. Heart That Cares for Those Who Cannot Care for Themselves

Number three, he developed a heart that cares for those who cannot care for themselves. And again, sheep are [snorts] not like cats that lick themselves. They’re not like dogs. You never see a sign, beware of sheep. I was in one field one time where a guy had buffalo and a sign says, “Be sure you cross the field in 9 seconds. the buffalo crosset in tin and I think oh boy but you don’t see anything about with sheep you don’t see by somebody saying you know we’ve had a lot of crime in my neighborhood and I bought me a sheep to be a watchdog no you don’t because they’re worthless like that and so what this what David is doing is he’s helping those who cannot help himself and so we look at passages like here in Psalm 78 where God says he chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds from the care of use with suckling lambs he brought them brought him to shepherd Jacob his people you know how to shepherd now let me do a little side point here I do a lot of men’s leadership and shephering with elders across the country if you are a dad you are a shepherd your flock is your family but you will do with your flock talk what the elders do in this congregation.

You’re going to look after them. You’re going to make sure they’re well, nourish them. You’re going to care for them. You’re going to encourage them. And what happens if you do a good job, all God does later on is give you more kids. And so again, that’s the concept we see. So later on, David asks about Saul’s family and Jonathan’s family. Is there anyone left in this family? And there was that crippled boy. And David said, “You know what? This crippled boy is going to sit at my table the rest of his life.

Why? Because he had a heart that cared for those who can’t take care of themselves. And so your summer job you may not like. You may have a roommate in school you don’t like. Those long boring days in classes, how many times do we ask, “Do I have to know this stuff or will I ever use this stuff?” sharing a bathroom with your brother or sister, sharing a car, all the things we get annoyed about, all the things that bug us and bother us. Who’s to say that God is preparing you for what’s coming down the road?

4. Who You Are Is More Important Than Where You Are

And so, let’s end this evening with three life lessons. Number one, who you are is more important than where you are. And boy, we miss this. People in the country want to live in the city. People in the city want to live in the country. People in little towns want to live in big towns. People in big towns want to live in little towns. And we just thinking, I’m missing all the fun. We’re missing all these things and moving out. But but who you are is the most important thing.

And again, to see that if you cannot be a person of character in the hills of Judea, you won’t be that way in a palace in Jerusalem or in Egypt or in Rome or New York or LA. If you can’t be a servant in your 20s, you won’t be a servant in your 40s. If you can’t invite somebody in your house in your apartment and have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, you probably won’t have somebody in your house when you have a big house and you have steaks starts right now.

What am I doing right now? You know, we we’ve kind of moved away from the big shopping malls. That that was a thing of the past. But if you remember some of those big shopping malls, you go in, whatever door you went in, there was a directory and there’s always a X. You are here. And you always said, well, I don’t want to be here. I want to be there. And such it is with life. I am here, but I want to be there. But in the meantime, what am I doing about that?

How am I preparing myself? What am I doing to develop myself as God wants me to be? If I can’t be generous with a little, I won’t be generous with a lot. If I can’t make time for others now, I probably won’t make time for other people’s later on. And so, the book of Colossians says, “Christ, who is our life, who is revealed, will also be revealed with him in glory.” Christ who is our life. Get your Bible, turn with me to the book of Acts, chapter 16.

I was impressed upon this lesson a while back. Acts chapter 16. Paul has just finished his first missionary journey. He comes into Derby. He’s getting ready to go on journey number two and he runs across a young man by the name of Timothy. And it says in verse one of Acts 16, Paul came also to Derby and to Lististra and the disciples there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. That’s all we know about his daddy.

And he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lististra and Iconia. Let’s just stop here. What do the brethren in Tampa think about you? They don’t even know I lie. I’m alive. Why not? Why not? You’re young people outside this congregation. What do other congregations think about you? Well, they don’t even know I’m alive. Why not? You see, Timothy, a young man, much like a David, was growing into the kingdom and being becoming effective and helping the kingdom even in other places.

Now, listen to me on this very carefully. The Apostle Paul comes to Derby. He’s so impressed with Timothy. Later on in the book of Philippians chapter 2, Paul will say, “I have no one of kindred spirit like Timothy.” And when you get to second Timothy chapter 4, at the end of his life, who’s Paul calling for? Timothy come two times. Timothy come. There was no one like Timothy. And Timothy’s mom let him go. Now, when you read that first missionary journey, he wasn’t going to dizzy.

He wasn’t going to Hawaii. Paul was nearly killed on that first journey. Now, listen to me, mamas. Can you imagine Mr. Roger comes to town? You barely know me. And I see your son and I’m walking in here and I got band-aids all over me from my last preaching tour. And I says, “I want to take your son with me. I want to take him with me on my next preaching tour.” You don’t even know if you’ll ever see him again. You don’t know if he will live. And what does Timothy’s mama do?

5. What You Do Is More Important Than What You Have

She doesn’t say, “Well, Timothy, I want you to go to the community college over here. I want you marry a local girl and give me a whole bunch of grandkids and stay right here.” No. Go. Go. The kingdom of God is more important. Young Timothy, young David, making choices in their lives that make a difference. Number two, what you do is more important than what you have. And again, our society misses this. From the brand of your watch, the kind of car, the square footage in your house, the status is based upon stuff.

How big is your TV screen? How new is your car? How many shares of stock do you own? That’s how we measure such things as that. But the New Testament shows us something else. I want you to look with me at just two places in particular. Look with me in the Gospel of Luke, if you will. Luke chapter 10. This is at the end of the story we call the good Samaritan. But notice a phrase here in Luke chapter 10 and verse 37. Luke chapter 10 and verse 37 here after Jesus talks about the story of this Samaritan and how he helped him.

He says in verse 36 of Luke 10, which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’s hands? And they said, the one who showed mercy toward him. Then Jesus said, “Go and preach it.” No, he didn’t. Go and do the same. Now turn your Bibles over the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 6. You see, what’s happened in modern times is we turn Christianity into a thinking religion. Let’s talk about it. Let’s debate it.

Let’s postulate. Let’s put the theories out here. Let’s analyze it. Let’s look at these things. But when we look at the New Testament, it is a roll up your sleeves bluecollar doing type of religion. Galatians 6 and verse 10. So then while we have opportunity, let us do good. And so I look at those verses and say when the God of heaven looks at me does he see that Roger you have been doing or is he just saying you talk a lot you talk a whole bunch a lot but do you do anything so what you do is more important than what you have.

6. Where You’re Going Is More Important Than Where You’ve Been

Number three where you’re going is more important than where you’ve been. where you’re going. And where you’re going is you’re going to be walking with God. Where you’re going is heavenbound. Two verses I want you to notice real fast. Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. The apostle is in uh Athens preaching. Grab with me verse 26. Acts 17 26. He says in this midst of the sermon, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.

Why in the world are you alive in 2026? God designed that. Why not 1926? Why not 1826? Why not 26? Why not 26 BC? God designed that. Why are some of us male and some of us female? God designed that. In spite of our culture today, God does not make mistakes. Why are some of us so outgoing and some of us are real shy. Some of us are visionary. Some of us are fixers. Some of us do this and some of us do that. Because the God of heaven has equipped us and he has equipped us to do his work in his kingdom.

Now turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. And let’s grab verse 20 and 21. Hebrews 13 20 and 21. Now here in Hebrews 13 20 and 21. Now the God of peace who brought us up from the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equipped you in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Christ to whom the glory forever and ever.

Amen. God didn’t say step back, let me do the work. Nor does he say you do it all, but we partner. God in you. God in me. God does his part. I do my part. And together we do what the kingdom says. Young, who would have thought if you and I could have gone back there and we could have been nextdoor neighbors and we could have talked to young David to say, “You know what? I I just got I just got a gut feeling someday you’re going to be the king here.”

Conclusion

None of us would have thought that. But what did he do when he had that boring, thankless, pitiful job of watching sheep eat grass? He developed heart. The God of heaven noticed. Some of you that read my writings have heard about the story of Jimmy. The rest of you, I’ll just tell this story. It’s a touching story. I hope I don’t cry because every time I tell the story, I cry. But his name was James Barber and he was a handyman, lived in Connecticut, moved to Alabama and started uh to do some handiwork for this older lady.

process. He started dating her daughter and one evening he took so many pain pills, drank so much alcohol, grabbed a hammer, went over to that old lady’s house, and hammered her to death. He was arrested, put on death row, state of Alabama. Now he says this is not good but the prison TV broke and he was bored. Had nothing to do. So he read the Bible cover to cover. Had never read it before. Soon as he got done, he read it a second time. Realized the Lord was talking to him through the Bible.

Went to the warden and said, “I have to be baptized. I have to be immersed like they did in the book of Acts.” Now understand me. He read no tracks. There was no 13-week Bible study. There was no preacher involved. All he did was read his Bible and he was baptized. Well, in the course of time, the granddaughter of the woman who was killed, her life fell apart. She got into substance abuse, went through a lot of different relationships. Her name was Sarah.

Sarah Gregory. She was driving down the road one day and heard a song on a rail called Write the Letter. So, she decided to write Jimmy the letter and Jimmy got the letter in prison and he was scared to read it because he figured she was going to say just rott in jail or something like that. But he read it and Sarah said, “I’m tired of thinking about this crime. I’m tired of thinking about what wrong you’ve done. I forgive you. I let it go.” Jimmy said next to his baptism is the greatest thing that ever happened in his life.

The Atlantic Monthly caught that story and a couple years ago it was a front page story about forgiveness. Well, in process of all this, an elder at the Bear Creek Church of Christ in Alabama, guy named Van Cooper came a good friend of mine. He studies with prisoners on death row. Right now, there’s 10 Christians on death row in Alabama. And he heard about Jimmy And so he started talking to Jimmy. And you’ve seen these movies where you know you got the prison bars and you got the little food tray kind of that’s how he had the Bible study.

Pull the food tray down and look through there and see Jimmy and just kind of have a Bible study that way. Well, Van Cooper uses a lot of my writings. So he shared some of them with Jimmy. And out of the blue, I got a letter one day from the Alabama correction office from Jimmy. And so we started writing. Started writing every single day. I told our congregation about that. Our brethren just fell in love with the story. They said, “Can we write him?” I said, ‘You better write him this week because his date is coming. It’s getting real close.

Chuck Durham, dear, dear preacher friend of mine, was visiting us, preaching for us. He saw one of the letters on the bulletin board about Jimmy. He says, “Can I write Jimmy?” I said, “You better hurry.” My last letter to Jimmy, I told him I was going to be in Dallas preaching a special thing for a bunch of teenagers. I said, “The day you the day I’m preaching, you’ll be on the other side.” I said, “Can you write me something to tell those teenagers?”

And he wrote me a beautiful letter. Beautiful letter about choices, about responsibility, about respect. I got home from Dallas and there was another letter from Jimmy written the day he died, day he was executed. thanking me and thanking Van. Unbelievable that his story has touched so many lives. Now, say this or say this, Jimmy made a lot of bad choices in his life. And this evening, you’ve been able to do things that Jimmy never could have done.

He never got to sing in the congregation. He never got to hear a gospel sermon. He never got to take the Lord’s supper as we did yesterday. He never got to be part of a congregation. That’s not allowed on death row. But with all my heart, I believe he’s a New Testament Christian. I believe in his tender little faith, he understood that he was a sinner and he needed Jesus. And sometimes we we’ve made things so complicated that we think, you know, you know, I got a family member, I got a friend at work, I got, you know, I don’t even know what to tell him to do.

You know, where do we start? Just read the Bible. Just read. Just do what the Bible says. Read that Bible. And that’s what worked with Jimmy. Simplistic, simple faith in Jesus. David didn’t waste time. And I look back in my life and I think there’s periods of my life I just wasted. You all remember Blockbuster? Y’all remember Blockbuster? Now, if you’re young, you have no idea what I’m talking about, but you older folks understand what we go in there and you’d read a VCR from Blockbuster. I remember going in there and and renting some movie.

Now, my wife and I, we have different ideas of movies. She likes a lot of conversations and love in there somewhere. And I got to have bullets and car races and you know, disasters. That’s that’s my kind of movie. Well, I remember written this movie and you know what what was back then three something $4. And I was walking out. I thought, what if the guy at the counter said, “Instead of charging you $4, I want to charge you two hours of your life.”

I probably thought pass. But we don’t think about that, do we? And how many times in our life we have just wasted doing nothing when we think about a young man watching sheep but the way he did it and his connection to God the God of heaven saw him and said that is the type of heart that’s going to lead my people and that’s what I want to see. And so even this evening as we go home, how easy it is to go home, flip on the TV, throw my Bible up on the shelf and not think about till the next time or to think, you know, maybe I just need to spend a little bit of time in praying to God tonight.

Maybe I need to think about how I can make some adjustments and get a little closer to God. I wonder if the God of heaven saw young David. What the God of heaven thinks about when he sees me. I gave you opportunity. Opportunity. I opened doors. I put people in your life. I did all these things for you. Did you use it? You see, that’s what we get from the shepherd years. And so this evening, if you’re not a Christian, you need to become one. And you’re going to become one like Jimmy did. You’re going to become one like Sean did, like I did.

There’s only one way and that’s believing in Jesus Christ, being baptized for remission of your sins and then using that wonderful, wonderful opportunity to do what God wants. Jimmy would have loved to been here tonight. He would have loved to be able to be with other Christians. Now, tonight when I go home to my apartment or to my uh hotel, I’ll email Sarah, the granddaughter. I’ve somehow folded this story into every one of my meetings and whenever I’m preaching it, I I’ll just say, “Hey, Sarah, I was in Orlando, Florida.

I told the Jimmy story.” Now, Sarah’s not a Christian yet. She lives on the East Coast. But gradually, I’m trying to work on her to Why don’t you do what Jimmy did? Just read your Bible and do what it says. If we can help you, won’t you come