The following is the script used for the Take Ten Podcast with Pastor Don on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. It is part III, the final part of the Characteristics of Young Davids.

This is our third podcast on the topic of Ten Characteristics of Young Davids. And as I have done with the first two, I will post the script for today’s podcast on m blog, IN PURSUIT. You can read it at donmcgarvey.com.

I wrote this list many years ago after being confronted with the Apostle Paul’s statement in Acts 13:22 where he announced that King David was a man after God’s own heart.

We’ll talk more about that a bit later but for now, let me share with you the final characteristic that I think brought David to this place of being a man after God’s own heart.

The tenth characteristic on my list is that David learned from his mistakes or from his losses.

Every mistake David made led to a loss of something, life, power, pride, security, and even riches.

Athletes think in terms of winning and losing. One great athlete made the following statement: “We win or we learn.”

And I believe David learned from his mistakes or his losses.

A few years ago, I learned a new to me phrase from John Maxwell.

The phrase was, “Failing Forward.”

Most of us think of our failures as setbacks. But the truth is that our failures can become the launching pad for great successes.

David learned from his mistakes. He made a lot of mistakes. Some were more costly than others. But if we read through the Scriptures that describe his life for us, I think we can safely conclude that he learned a great deal. I’m also convinced the lessons learned from his mistakes contributed to David being a great king.

Even today, thousands of years later, David is still held in high esteem. Being like David is a goal that all young Israeli’s have.

I’ve alluded to the fact that at one point I really struggled with Paul’s statement about David being a man after God’s own heart.

I will have to admit that I struggled with this idea. My opinion of King David was that he was a royal bum.

Let me elaborate. If you look in 2 Samuel 11, you will read about David’s sin with Bathsheba.

He never should have been walking around the roof of the King’s house. He should have been out doing battle with his army.

Verse 1 of 2 Samuel 11 says, “In the spring of the year, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, David sent out Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army. They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.

I don’t know why David stayed behind. What I do know is that King David didn’t do what a king was supposed to do.

This was the time the King saw Bathsheba and sent for her.

It’s also the time of great tribulation for the King AND his family.

Bathsheba became pregnant. King David sent for her husband, Uriah. He was fighting with Joab on the battle front. The plan was that Uriah would return from the battle, spend time with his wife, and David would be able to say Uriah was the father of this child. But Uriah was more noble than the King, and he chose not to go to his wife, but slept in the servants’ quarters out of respect for his fellow soldiers on the front.

Because of this, the King essentially ordered Uriah death.

The child Bathsheba was carrying in her womb also died.

In chapter 12, Nathan confronts the King with his sin. The child dies a week after its birth.

Eventually David takes Bathsheba to be one of his wives.

Joab, out of frustration with the King sends David a message and tells him to bring the rest of army so they can besiege the city and capture. Joab threatened to name the city after himself if the King didn’t do this.

All of this was bad enough but it gets worse. One of King David’s sons, Amnon, raped his sister, Tamar. You can read about this in 2 Samuel 13.

When the King heard about this, he became angry but didn’t do anything about it.

Absalom, another of King David’s sons, and the brother of Tamar, became so angry, he hatched a plot to kill Amnon.

Absalom then fled to another country where he lived for three years.

After three years, Absalom was brought back to Jerusalem but the King wouldn’t allow Absalom to be in his presence.

As a result of this treatment, Absalom leads an insurrection against his father, the King.

King David runs for his life. It’s messy in Judah. Many people die that didn’t need to die. Eventually Absalom is killed by the loyal armies of the King.

Because of all this, I really struggled with Paul’s statement about David being a man after God’s own heart.

It took me a long time before I would teach about King David, or even consider Paul’s statement.

One day though, someone pointed out to me that all of David’s sinfulness caused him to be a great and quick repenter.

I read Psalm 51, David’s prayer of repentance. I want to close our time by reading some of this prayer.

He starts off by praying, “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love. Because of your great compassion, wipe away by rebellious acts. Cleanse me of my sin.”

Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be pure; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven.”

Do not reject me. Do not take your holy Spirit away from me. Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance. Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey.

“Rescue me from the guilt of murder,”

The sacrifice God desires is a humble spirit–O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject.”

Sounds like he learned his lesson. Hopefully we can learn from his mistakes too.

Well, that’s our time for this time. Thanks for joining us on the Take Ten with Pastor Don podcast.

If you haven’t subscribed yet, please ring the bell.

And, as always if you are comfortable with doing so, please tell your friends about us.

May God’s blessings be upon you!

The following is a script used for the Take Ten with Pastor Don Podcast from October 17, 2023.

You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and Amazon podcasts. When you do listen, please subscribe so you will get notices each when our podcast goes live. Thanks.

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Welcome to Take Ten with Pastor Don. I’m Don McGarvey, pastor of the Troy Mills Christian Church in Troy Mills, Iowa.

Last time I started to go through the characteristics that I thought made King David, a “man after God’s own heart.”

I’ve always referred to these ten things as “Characteristics of Young Davids” because I think they are something we need to start developing early in our lives.

That doesn’t mean we can’t change our ways and begin working on these things later in life but as a parent, these were things I wanted to see in my own kids, and now as a grandparent, I’m already praying for these characteristics to become evident in my grandchildren.

My idea of using the word “young” when I wrote this list was not so much chronological but represented more of an attitude or a “childlike faith” that God wants each of us, young, old, male or female to have.

I want them to be so in my own life as well as the lives of those whom I pastor. These characteristics are not optional as far as I am concerned.

Also, I don’t see these as the only characteristics needed. I wrote the Ten Characteristics of Young David’s as a great place to begin and launch ourselves into the things of God and become the men and women God has ordained for us to become.

We accomplish these things with the help of God’s Spirit, just as David did. And I read this morning in my own time in the Word that God gives the Spirit without limit so that means there is no ceiling on how far we can go in developing these characteristics and others.

When we left off last time, we mentioned the first five characteristics. For the sake of review, let me list them for you.

The first characteristic was that David was faithful. The second characteristic goes hand in hand with being faithful and that was David tackled whatever it was that came his way.

This included being a shepherd, learning to play the harp, perhaps even learning how to be effective with a sling shot.

We also know this time included rescuing his sheep from a lion and bear.

The third characteristic was that David didn’t try to be someone he wasn’t meant to be.

He didn’t try to wear King Saul’s armor when he faced Goliath. He knew he couldn’t move while wearing it, and it would probably mean sure victory for the giant and the Philistine army.

The fourth characteristic was that David stayed true to his own gifting. He was good with a sling but didn’t own a sword or a javelin. So, he used his sling, and expertly picked up five smooth stones from the brook to face the giant with.

The fifth characteristic was David was patient….most of the time. And I do emphasize “most of the time.”

David was anointed to be the next king of Israel long before he ever sat on the throne.

He was patient. He waited for God to do whatever needed to be done in order for his anointing to become a reality in life.

The sixth characteristic we talked about was that David was respectful.

He remained behind with his father, to watch his father’s sheep. He traveled to the front lines to take supplies.

Even when his older brother was rude and crude towards him, he didn’t respond in a similar manner. He simply moved on and took care of his own responsibilities.

He also knew Saul was the anointed king of Israel and he wouldn’t allow anyone to do anything that was not respectful of this.

The seventh characteristic that I think helped David become a man after God’s own heart was, he listened to wise counsel.

King David always had godly advisors surrounding him. He had Nathan, later a man named Gad. Perhaps his most trusted advisor was Ahithophel.

Before he was king, Saul’s son Jonathan was a trusted advisor to David and he trusted the leaders of his army along with the “mighty men” of David.

This must have been something King David passed along to his son, Solomon.

In Proverbs 11:14, Solomon wrote “For lack of guidance [counsel] a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.”

One could only wish Solomon had listened to his own counsel.

The next characteristic, #8, was David confessed his sin.

This characteristic may have been the key to David becoming a man after God’s own heart.

David made many mistakes. Some of his mistakes cost some their lives, some jeopardized the entire nation.

Unfortunately, one of his sinful mistakes cost the life of a loyal soldier and released a state of sinful mayhem in his own family.

But when David was confronted with his sin, he repented.

Psalm 51 is his song of repentance. God was merciful and God forgave him.

It’s a great prayer and David’s prayer should become ours.

Since none of us are going to achieve perfection this side of heaven, we must all learn to be quick and sincere in our willingness to confess our sin, repent, and move back to where God has made a place for us.

That’s our time for this time. Next time we will finish the list of Characteristics that made David a man after God’s own heart.

Thanks for joining us. If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do so.

And, as always, if you are comfortable with doing so, please let your friends know about us.

Thanks again and God bless!

(Next time, we will complete the list of ten Characteristics plus, talk about Paul’s statement of David being a man after God’s own heart. Hope you can join us.)

Take Ten with Pastor Don

October 11, 2023

(The following is the script used for the October 11, 2023 Take Ten with Pastor Don Podcast. It is the first part of the Characteristics of Young Davids. The conclusion will be posted on October 18, 2023.)

Welcome to Take Ten with Pastor Don. I’m Don McGarvey, pastor of the Troy Mills Christian Church in Troy Mills, Iowa.

I ran across an old set of notes that I had written nearly 25 years ago. To be honest, I spent quite a bit of time searching for these notes a few months back but to no avail. Then, just a few days ago, while I was searching for some other notes, I found them.

The notes were titled, “Characteristics of Young Davids.”

The “Young David” being talked about here is King David of the Bible. He is still considered to be the greatest king of Israel. He is still spoken of in highly revered tones in Israel. And he should be someone we look to for how to live our lives.

The word “young” here does not necessarily mean that he was a teenager, or in his early 20’s. While it does encompass that definition, it also could refer to someone who is chasing after God, listening for His Spirit to guide them and to use them in new ways, even though they have been around the block a couple of times.

There are a lot of folks in their 20’s and 30’s that gave up chasing God, and have bene stuck in a rut for many years already.

My prayer when I wrote these notes was for God to keep us “young in Him.” And to always be on the lookout for the next new thing God wanted us to do.

I wrote ten characteristics of David that I felt contributed to his state of being “young.”

I can’t spend a great deal of time on each one, and since I know there will be a lot of material to cover, I will post them to my blog, “In Pursuit.” (You can find “In Pursuit” by going to my web site, DonMcGarvey.com)

The first characteristic I wrote about was that David did whatever it was that came his way.

We are told that on a couple of occasions, while shepherding his father’s sheep, a lion and a bear came along to help themselves to a lamb dinner, David struck the beast and rescued the sheep. And then when the beast turned on David, he “seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.”

The second characteristic was David didn’t try to be someone else. He stayed true to who God created him to be.

When King Saul found out David had volunteered to confront Goliath, he tried to convince David to wear his armor.

We were told earlier that King Saul was a full head taller than most of the Jews. So when David tried on Saul’s armor, he could hardly even walk in it let alone go to war against Goliath.

Along the same lines came the third characteristic.

David stayed true to his own gifting.

David didn’t even have a sword. But he had a sling shot. And he was a good shot with that thing. We get the idea that he practiced a lot while watching his father’s sheep.

So instead of stomping about in Saul’s armor, and trying to use a sword, spear, or javelin against the giant, he took his sling and picked up five smooth stones from the brook.

The next characteristic I wrote about was that David was patient…. most of the time.

If you read through the Scriptures, David was anointed to be the next king in 1 Samuel 16.

Right after that, King Saul recruits David to serve as a musician and armor bearer. All this happened before he defeated Goliath.

I’ve often wonder how difficult it was for David to know he had been anointed, called of God, to serve as the next king, yet he was patient, and he honored Saul as the anointed king (most of the time).

Along with this, David was respectful of King Saul. He knew Saul was the Lord’s anointed and until the Lord removed Saul, David would not be able to legitimately assume his place as the next king of Israel.

Another part of David being respectful is when he father kept him home from the battle to watch his sheep. But one day, Jesse, David’s father, asked David to be part of the behind lines supply detail.

I’m sure David jumped at the chance for two reasons. One, his father asked him to do it, second though was that by doing this, David would get closer to the front lines, where all the excitement.

And speaking of being respectful, when David got to the front lines with the supplies his father had sent, he ran into his big brother, Eliab.

We were told about Eliab when Saul was searching for the next king. He was tall and handsome just like Saul. But God has chosen him. There might have been a heart issue.

When David encounters Eliab, Eliab acts as though he at war with David. Scripture says that Eliab “burned with anger at David. Accused David of being conceited and having a wicked heart. (1 Samuel 17:28) But David didn’t lash out at Eliab. He respectfully went about his business searching for someone with a little kinder heart to answer his question.

Our time for this time is about gone. We’ve covered six of the ten characteristics of David that made David a “man after God’s own heart. We will complete the list next time we are together.

Thanks for joining us on the Take Ten Pastor Don podcast. If you haven’t subscribed yet, please ring the bell, and join us each week.

And, as always if you feel comfortable doing so, let your friends know about us.

Thanks again for joining us and God bless!

October 3, 2023

Tough Times

(The following is the script for the Take Ten with Pastor Don Podcast from October 4, 2023. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Amazon Podcasts.)

Welcome to Take Ten with Pastor Don. I’m Don McGarvey, pastor of the Troy Mills Christian Church in Troy Mills, Iowa.

In 1983, Robert Shuller wrote the book, “Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do.”

It was a bestseller. Once again it became evident that many folks were going through tough times and were trying to find something that would help them get through.

Many of us probably still have that book on our bookshelves.

There’s an interesting story about this book that I heard Shuller tell. But before I tell you that story, let me tell you another one.

About 25 years ago, I was leading a group of students who had committed nine months of their lives to study the Word, work in the local church, and reach out to the community. It was a great time. Lots of work, but more than worth all the effort it took. These students became “my kids.” They still are.

One morning, one of the young ladies came in and rather smugly said, “I know God’s phone number.”

I just sat there because I never knew what was coming from this group. Finally, someone bit and said, “Okay, what’s God’s phone number?”

Her response was, “Jeremiah 333.”

All of us had Bibles in front of us and in one move we all opened our Bibles.

Someone read, “’Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

That was cool. Now God had a cell phone. And we had His number. We also had the promise He would answer, not send to His voice mail, but He would answer. Him. Not an angel, not a one of the disciples, but God Himself would answer.

That reminds me of another story.

There was a great Christian author, pastor, and teacher that I want to talk about coming to speak at conference I was helping to lead in our community.

I called a couple of places trying to find out how to get a hold of him but to no avail.

Now this was before the days of Google, or Siri, or Alexis.

I knew what city he lived in so out of desperation I called directory assistance. Remember that? It goes way back, doesn’t it.

I got his number. Wondered who would answer my call only to hear his voice on the other end of the phone.

I called his name. Asked if it really was him. His response was, “Well, didn’t you call me?”

We had a great conversation. I was surprised though when he answered.

I should probably finish my first story before we run out of time.

Robert Shuller…. Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do.”

He got the title by giving God a call at Jeremiah 333.

Shuller was in Chicago speaking to a convention of farmers.

The head of the convention met with Shuller a few minutes prior to his time to speak and told him that most of the farmers in the audience were having tough times.

Many of them would lose their farms and everything else they had due to the economy. It was a farm crisis.

He instructed Shuller not to use any humor because these folks wouldn’t think it was funny.

Shuller was in shock. I remember him saying that the first ten or 12 minutes of his twenty-minute talk was nothing but humor.

He said, “I prayed. I told God that He said if we called upon Him, He would answer and tell us things we didn’t know.

He was introduced. Went to center stage. He said, “I stood there, put my hands my pockets, looked down at the floor for a few seconds.”

Then he said, “I heard myself say these words, ‘Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do.”

He went on to say, “I’d never said that before.” And then he said, “I couldn’t wait to get done with my speech so I could write those words down and make sure I didn’t forget them.”

You know the rest of the story. He wrote the book and it became a bestseller.

My students……Jeremiah 333 became our “go to” when we didn’t know what to do.

And it worked. Every time we called God’s number, He answered. Just like my new friend answered his own phone, God answers His own phone.

So, next time you don’t know what to do….and I’m sure there will be a next time, give God a call. He’s waiting for your call and He will answer His phone and tell you “Great and mighty things, which you do not know.’”

Well, that’s our time for this time. Thanks for joining us and if you haven’t subscribed, please ring the bell, and join us as we continue our journey down the path God has established.

And if you feel comfortable with doing so, please tell your friends about us.

And don’t forget, give God a call. He’s expecting you.

God bless you!