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!

Take Ten with Pastor Don

From February 28, 2023 Podcast.

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

When I was in 5^th or 6^th grade, someone found my dad’s old silver trumpet and got the idea that young Don needed to learn how to play the trumpet. So, I did.

I played the trumpet all the way through high school and even some in college. I was okay but never good. My natural knack was not music. Not sure what it was, but it certainly wasn’t music.

I remember when I was in ninth grade, our band teacher got this silly idea that the school band should march in the Memorial Day parade.

I practiced and practiced the music and got so I could play the song. And when we practiced marching, I could march and stay in step.

But the day came when we needed to practice both the song and marching….at the same time.

When we were only marching, I was fine. Or when we were standing still and playing the song, I was fine. But trying to march and play at the same time for me was a mess to say the least.

If I focused on the song, I got out of step. But if I focused on keeping in step, I messed up on the song.

I remember hearing the band leader scream my name, “McGarvey, play the song!” Or I would hear, “McGarvey, get in step.” It was embarrassing and frustrating all at the same time.

A day or two after the parade I went in to talk with the band leader. I told him that if we were going to keep marching in parades, I didn’t think band was for me and that I was going to drop out of the band.

I think I noticed a bit of a grin trying to come on his face. But he controlled himself and said if that was how I really felt, he understood.

I still think he did a little bit of a “happy dance” as I was walking out.

In Galatians 5:25, Paul wrote about keeping in step. Listen:

Galatians 5:25 “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

I’ve always been challenged with this. Keeping in step with the Holy Spirit means that every day I need to look at what the Spirit is doing and make sure that I keep in step with Him.

I remember when I first became aware of this verse, I noticed that it was my job to keep in step with the Spirit. It wasn’t something God was going to do, it wasn’t my pastor’s job, but the Word says it is my job. I’m responsible for this one.

Another thing I have noticed along the way is nothing about God is static. God is always up to something. His Spirit is always moving.

The Holy Spirit is always leading us on the path God has prepared for us. And that path doesn’t go around in circles. It is always moving forward.

The nature of God according to Isaiah 43:19 is that God is always doing a new thing. To be part of the new thing God is doing, I need to not hang on to the things of the past. That could even be the things God did yesterday.

Again, if I understand the passage in Isaiah 43 correctly, one of the biggest obstacles to the new thing God wants to do is when I hang to the last thing God did so much so that I don’t allow myself to participate in the new thing He wants to do.

Too often we want to make a shrine of the last move of God. Israel did. They made a shrine out of the bronze snake God told Moses to create and all those who looked upon it would be healed. You can read about this in Numbers 21.

About 750 years later when Hezekiah became king, he discovered a group of Israeli’s worshipping the bronze snake. You can read about this in 2 Kings 18.

Years ago, I was that the opponents of any new move of God were the people who engaged in the last move of God. They don’t want to let go. They don’t want to move forward into the new things God wants to do.

Tradition is a wonderful thing and we should celebrate our past and honor those who have gone before us. Many of these folks blazed new trails in the church, in our worship of God, and in how we reach out to the places of influence that God has placed us in.

All these things have help pave the way for God to do the “new thing” that He wants.

I’ve said many times over the years that what has brought us to this point in our walk with God is not enough to sustain in our walk with God in the days, months,

and years to come. We will always need a “new thing” from God.

He’s ready to do it. That’s not the question. The question is, are we willing to let Him do it?

That’s it for our time today. Thanks for joining us. Also, if you feel comfortable with it, please ring the bell and subscribe to our Podcast. By doing so, you will be notified every time a new Podcast is launched.

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Thanks again for your time, this time, until next time, God bless!