Man Camp 2013: Part 2 – The Man God Heals

Here’s part two of our series of Man Camp revisited. God did some amazing work in our men. I wanted you to know some of the takeaways from Man Camp 2013. Also, don’t forget our Men’s Breakfast this Saturday, May 18th at 8am at the Metairie Campus. You won’t want to miss it!

Acts 13:22 says that King David was a man after God’s own heart, but even David fell to temptation. Thankfully he allowed God to use his sin as a tool to bring him to restoration. David wrote Psalm 51 as a prayer of repentance to God following his sinful behavior against Bathsheba.

In 2 Samuel 11 David’s downfall begins by him being where he was not supposed to be. 2 Samuel 11:1 says that kings were to be out to war at that time. Where was David? He was home with too much time on his hands. His men were out in battle, but he stayed home. The temptation of Bathsheba would not have even happened if David had been doing what he was supposed to be doing.

Then David sees from his rooftop, Bathsheba, another man’s wife, bathing at her home. She was awesome looking and David was tempted. He could have stopped with the temptation, but he didn’t. He sent messengers for her and he slept with her — a BIG mistake.

When he crossed the line from being tempted to acting on it, David sinned. Then we find out that David knocked up Bathsheba. In order to cover up this sin, he brought Bathsheba’s husband home from war and expected him to sleep with her and then he would think it was his baby on the way. But no, the husband was so loyal to David and his fellow soldiers he would not go to his home while his fellow soldiers were still fighting.

David is digging himself in deeper and deeper. David devised another plan to handle his problem of a knocked up, married girlfriend. He decided to send the husband back out to war and make sure he is killed. He has the husband murdered. Bathsheba mourns over her husband’s death and then David sends for her and she becomes David’s wife.

Wow, the sins are really mounting up here. Sometimes, when we are in the middle of our sin, we don’t even see how messed up we really are. We rationalize ourselves into thinking we’re okay but we’re not. 2 Samuel 11:27 says that the thing David did displeased the Lord. Any time we end up choosing to sin willfully against God, he is not happy. He wants and desires our relationship and full obedience.

So God sends the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan told a story about a man that did wrong to another man and asked what he should do about it. David said that this man should die. Then Nathan told David that he was the man. God used Nathan to call out David on his sin. In 2 Samuel 2:13a David says, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

It was David recognizing his sin and turning from it (repentance) that brought him back where he needed to be in his relationship with God.

What kind of struggles are you dealing with right now?

What do you need to repent from and turn over to God?

Maybe you need to talk to someone. You can email me at jim@vintageunited.tv.

You can also find additional resources HERE.