This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day two of week five of our Look Through First and Second Samuel.
Yesterday we began to look at Jonathan and ended on really quite a downer
looking at all the disappointments in his life, but also an honest place where
we realize we all have disappointments that we have to deal with. The story of
his life may have been disappointment in some ways, but really the life in his
story is the choices that he made out of that disappointment.

Now where can you find life in a story like Jonathan's? Well discovering it I
think might enable you to see a new sense of hope, a new sense of life for
yourself. The life in Jonathan's story is expressed to me in three simple words.

He never quit. He never quit. Jonathan never quit fighting.

He never quit loving. He never quit dreaming. Even though through his father his
victories were fraught with great disappointment.

He wasn't given the credit. He was blamed for things in the midst of good things
that he did. He never quit fighting.

Now how many of us would have quit the first time we didn't get recognition for
our victories? Not Jonathan. Even in his death, to his death, he was still
fighting for the Lord's victories.

How can he keep on? How can you keep on fighting when you don't get recognition
for the fighting that you've done? He fought not for the recognition.

He really did fight for the Lord. He fought out of his fear. He fought out of
his trust in the Lord.

So one of the questions in the midst of the disappointments of life that I have
to face, you have to face is, what am I fighting for? If I'm just fighting for
the recognition, if I'm just fighting to get to a place where there's no more
problems in this life, I'm never going to get there. Not like I want to in this
world, but when I fight for the Lord, when I fight for his victories in my life,
then I can know that there is now and into eternity a sense of not only
affirmation, but blessing for that.

Jonathan is an example to me of a man who never quit fighting. He didn't run
away. Second thing he did is he never quit loving.

Even though Saul's hatred got in between David and Jonathan in great ways and
kept him from loving his brother, he kept loving. He kept giving. He kept
warning David.

Saul's hatred hurt and hindered the love that Jonathan had, but it couldn't
destroy it. How did Jonathan express God's love into David's life even through
this time? Well, you can read in chapter 19, he warns him of what's happening.

In chapter 20, you can read how he protects him through all that was going on.
In chapter 23 of 1st Semmy, you can read how Jonathan continues to encourage
David. All this towards the man that his father hated, all this towards the man
that had become clear to him through this time that David was going to be the
next king.

Jonathan knew this at some point. This was the man that was going to take his
place. But instead of getting caught up in jealousy, he never quit loving.

He never quit fighting. He never quit loving and he never quit dreaming. In
chapter 23, starting in verse 15, we read about what Jonathan says even knowing
that he would not be king.

Listen to what happens at the beginning in verse 15. While David was at Horus in
the desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life and
Saul's son, Jonathan, went to David at Horus and helped him to find strength in
God. "Don't be afraid," he said.

"My father, Saul, will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel and I
will be second to you. " Even my father, Saul, knows this.

The two of them made a covenant before the Lord and then Jonathan went home, but
David remained at Horus. He kept dreaming. He said to David, "You're going to be
king, but I'm going to serve right alongside you.

I'm going to be second to you. " Through all that had happened, you get to see
the strength of the character of this man in that it didn't destroy his
determination. It did not destroy his dreams.

Now you might be thinking, as I'm talking about Jonathan being somebody who
never quit, "Wait a minute. Jonathan lost in the end. Maybe he never quit, but
he lost.

He lost his battle. His dreams were never fulfilled. This never happened.

" And I just want to tell you, I beg to differ. I see Jonathan as, in a way, the
most victorious man in this entire book. His star, to me, shines brighter than
even David's.

David crumbles under temptation, but Jonathan faced the worst and he never quit.
He's only a loser. He only lost if there's no eternity, if this life on this
earth is all there is.

But there is an eternity. This life is not all there is. His life is a tragedy
only if we only get the few years that we get on this planet.

But we get eternity, a recognition of God's eternal plan. It transforms. It
changes our view of Jonathan's life from one of tragedy to one of triumph,
disappointments.

We all have them. But are they leading to tragedy or triumph in your life? How
about you in your battles?

How about you in your love? How about you in your dreams? In your battle against
whatever it is, whatever disappointment in your life, a disappointed
relationship, a disappointment with yourself, a disappointment with not being
able to get a business started, a disappointment without not being able to get a
job.

In your battle against that disappointment, are you living in a place of
hopelessness or are you living in a place of hanging on to God? Your
disappointments, they may have to do with struggle and failure and other
people's broken promises and your own failed strength. And the temptation might
be just to say, I just give up, I can't win.

In the midst of that battle, you say, I know I feel this way, Lord, but you have
an eternity for me. You still have something for me to do in this life. So I'm
not going to give up.

Even though I feel like giving up, I'm going to keep trusting in you. That's one
of the greatest victories that you can imagine in this world. So in your
battles, don't give up.

In your love, don't give up. You might have the disappointment of a husband or a
wife who didn't meet your expectations, who hurt you maybe even deeply. If
children are falling far short of your dreams, you may have the disappointment
of a huge failure in your life, in your own life.

Something you've done relationally to hurt another person, an adultery in your
life, an unfaithfulness in your life, a lie in your life, a hurt that you
brought somebody else. In your love, I want to encourage you, never quit loving.
God loves you in Jesus Christ, he will never quit loving you.

So you ask him for a strength to love even through the disappointments of life.
That's the victory that Jonathan shows us. And what about your dreams for the
future?

Maybe you look at your dreams and right now your greatest hopes lie in ruins.
That which you have been looking forward to seems totally lost. So you feel in
one sense that those dreams are doomed to failure.

But I want to encourage you, never quit dreaming. God has a dream for your life
that extends all the way into eternity. And yes, there are things that you
wanted to do in this world that may not have gotten done that right now you may
feel never will get done.

Well, two things about that. Many times God brings out of the ashes a dream that
you would have never imagined. So don't give up on that yet.

But even if that thing doesn't get done, the dream that you had and the prayers
that you prayed and what you've been working towards, God is working something
into eternity that's far above and beyond what you can see. Never quit dreaming.
Never quit loving.

Never quit fighting. When you quit fighting, when you quit loving, when you quit
dreaming, you quit living. Do not let your disappointments rob you of life.

Look ahead with the perspective of eternity. And in that perspective, look ahead
knowing God's love for you is there for you. He will never disappoint you.

His love will never disappoint me or you. The circumstances of life, they are
disappointing. The relationships of life, they can be disappointing.

God's love for you, it will never disappoint you. So find the strength of
Jonathan. I'll never quit.

I'll never quit fighting. I'll never quit loving. I'll never quit dreaming.

I know I have a God who will never give up on me. Let's pray together. Father,
thank you for your strength towards us and in all the voices that we can hear,
the voices from within us that maybe are condemning us, the voices from outside
of us that might be criticizing us, and all the voices that we hear, we pray
right now that we hear your voice shout above them all in a way that drowns them
out.

Help us to hear your love for us, your grace towards us, and that you still have
a fight for us to fight. You still have someone for us to love. You still have a
dream for us to accomplish, and one that's not just about this world, but that
looks all the way to eternity.

So Lord, help us right now to hold on to what you have for us. Thank you that
you will never disappoint us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, tomorrow we're going to begin a look together at the servant heart of
David.