Samuel: A Life of Prayer - Pt. 7 // Pastor Dan Carroll

[Music] well welcome to water of life we are so glad that you are joining us for another amazing weekend and if you don't know me my name is victoria and i'm your online campus pastor and so i'm here to share with you all the things that are happening at water of life but hey first things first if you're new here maybe you stumbled upon our youtube page or maybe your friend invited you we want to say welcome to you as well so if you can grab your phone and text the word new here to 818 818 we would love to connect with you and learn more about you and share with you all of the things that are happening at water of life while speaking of things that are happening at water of life we are now only one a week away until easter weekend i know time crept up and it's almost here and so we just want to remind you to save the day and join us for easter weekend it's always a special weekend planned and so we would love for you to come out and join us and so we have good friday services starting this upcoming friday on april 2nd all the way to our easter sunday services on april 4th and so we have so many amazing things planned for that weekend so make sure you invite your family invite your friends your neighbors anyone that you know to come and join us for that weekend and as always if you want to serve with us for that weekend we would love for you to consider serving and so if you could text the word serve to 818 818 we would love for you to come out and serve with us for easter weekend well if you guys don't know we have something here at our church called school of ministry and school of ministry is a great place for you if you feel like you're ready to take that next step and grow in your faith we have countless amount of classes for you to grow in your faith from learning more about the bible to what it means to be a leader to learning more about the heart of worship and so much more so if you would like to join us we have our spring quarter classes coming up soon and so you can still register for school of ministry classes and so if you want to be a part of it make sure you text the word wall som to 818 818 or you can register online at their website at som dot school well as you guys know spring is already here and so we have a spring event coming up just for you guys and so if you are a guy we would love for you to hear this out we have a men's morning with pastor dan happening on april 24th from 8 to 9 30 a.m here on campus and so this is an event for you to have your fathers or your husbands or your siblings for all of the guys at our church to come together with pastor dan to hear his heart and to challenge all the men at water of life and so i know my husband has gone with his dad and my dad before and it was a great experience and an opportunity for them to gather together there's something so powerful when the men at our church gather together to hear the heart of god and so we would love for you to consider joining us and so if you would like to sign up and register for that event you can do that on our website at wateroflifecc.org events so we are going to be kicking off our last weekend of our samuel series and i hope it's been a blessing for you i know that i have just been challenged and inspired by the life of samuel and this week we are going to be kicking it off with our last week and so before we do that we're going to jump into worship together and as always if you want to worship with your times and offerings you can do that on our app or on our website but let's jump into worship together and so i want to pray for us and say jesus you are the reason why we're here that we're not here for show we're not here to just cross off our to-do list for the weekend we're here to be in your presence and so holy spirit we welcome you here we lay down the distractions and things that can so easily get our attention and we say jesus we want to hear from you today so we give you our hearts we give you this time in jesus name and everyone said amen amen why don't we jump into the worship center and let's worship together welcome water of life come on we're gonna make our praises loud this morning yes we bless your name god we welcome our online community in townsville australia and in oakland come on let's do this [Music] [Music] it's your heart we're searching for we want you and nothing more let your glory fill this place we're alive in your presence we want you and nothing in your more is [Applause] [Music] but i want god to have his way in this house today come on is that your prayer yes come on sing this with me say oh come so man [Music] foreign [Applause] oh [Music] [Music] see cause [Music] [Music] fall oh [Music] do what [Music] see [Music] jesus move in this place we invite you god presents here god [Music] the atmosphere is changing [Music] for the spirit of the lord is here [Music] the evidence is all that the spirit of the lord [Music] is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] fill our hearts [Music] [Applause] you're the reason we came to encounter your love your love surrounds us [Music] the atmosphere is changing now [Music] for the spirit of the lord is here the evidence is here [Music] [Applause] here the evidence is all it's all around that the spirit of the lord is here fill our hearts with your love your love you're the reason we came to encounter fill our hearts with your love your love the reason we came is [Music] we need your presence will be [Music] on the earth in this place we lift you up it's your sword [Music] forever [Music] lord we just thank you that you are so good that you go before us that you don't just go before us but you go before us as our defender and you order our steps so let's believe that this morning [Music] my victory [Music] you go before i [Music] becomes my greatest defense [Music] and all i did [Music] and all that it and was i do is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh is so much better this way you know before [Music] to find your truth [Music] and all and all i did was [Music] oh [Music] is is [Music] [Music] is hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you put back [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] oh have saved me [Music] [Applause] he's it's so much better [Music] is [Music] [Laughter] [Music] you reintroduce me to your love and you pick up all my peace you put me back together you are the defender of my heart thank you we worship you today [Music] we bless you [Music] and you are the strength of my life [Music] i lift my hands in total praise [Music] you [Music] in total [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is i am is [Music] is is you are the source of my strength and you are the strength i lift my hands in total praise to you [Music] bless you [Music] yes is crowned with glory now the savior kneeled to wash our feet [Music] [Music] oh [Music] your name is [Applause] [Music] his final breath [Music] your name is victory [Music] i will rise from the ashes to declare your victory [Music] [Music] is in vain was borrowed for three days [Music] [Applause] has your name your name is is lord we thank you for that truth that you are still on your throne that you are the king of every circumstance and you were sovereign in every one of our lives lord so we thank you for that truth that you rose from the grave so that we could live and stand in freedom we thank you for your goodness and we thank you for all you've done and all you're about to do in this room and all god's people said amen amen amen it is a pleasure it's a pleasure to worship with you this morning why don't you turn to your neighbor wave at them time you're happy to see them and let's worship together in the word yay for easter man i think that was my biggest loss last year was easter these are such a great time to worship to see people crashing to god and wow so i think this on that note these cards are out in the foyer you got them last week if you were here and you want to pick up some of these cards and hand them out invite people to um to come to easter that would be great great great great great easter services are gonna be happening all next week we'll be on friday night we'll be here at five and seven o'clock on saturday night at five o'clock and by the way saturday night service is just exactly like what we do on sunday morning so if you're like i don't know if though i want to come on sunday morning it'll be crowded i don't know if it'll be crowded or not and nobody knows what's happening these days but but if you want to come on saturday nights always space on saturday nights so that's love to have you come on saturday nights sunday morning we'll be out on the patio for sunrise service at 5 30 in the morning and then we'll be back in here at 7 30 9 30 11 30. so i want to encourage you invite you to come and bring your family and friends because this is a great opportunity for people to crash into jesus man this is this the whole thing's going to be around that so i want to invite you to to start praying for people to come and to uh to show up uh you know what yesterday it's important to just share with you as we start to emerge out of coven i think that's happening finally uh it's a it's a blessing yeah i know it's a blessing to emerge out of covent but the whole world is not emerging out right now i was on the phone with people in cambodia yesterday and texting back and forth and stuff and and they are just really under cambodia right now and and people are locked down again and they've locked everybody out and there's not food and so they you know we yesterday sent thirty thousand dollars to cambodia to buy rice for people and so um i i wanna tell you that because of your generosity you know your generosity allowed us to do that so thank you applaud for you okay so way to go and that a lot of that was from stimulus money that you gave for kova to help poor people here in southern california around the world and we're still doing that if you you know some of you i know we're getting stimulus checks if you don't need them let's help other people amen because all that money is going to helping people around the world so father we want to come and just say thank you god for first samuel and all this journey we've been through that book and through samuel's life god as we close up this series where it is so grateful to be able to explore a life like samuels because there's so much we could get out of his life and i pray that we would do that today that you holy spirit would come and grab a hold of our hearts and help us father to to have a heart like this guy had and then holy spirit we pray for easter that you would move us god touch us empower us to be bold to invite people there's so many people hurting so many people desperate so many people want an invitation to church so i pray for us that we wouldn't be afraid god but we would be kind thoughtful and we would chase people down for jesus so thank you for that lord touch your word today holy spirit and speak it into our hearts in the name of jesus everybody said okay you got a bible a a phone or ipad whatever you use and let's turn to first samuel chapter 16. we're going to be in chapter 16 17-18 if you're online or at townsville or upland want to say hi to you welcome and we're just going to jump into part 7 today if you haven't been with us we're wrapping up a series on the life of samuel and the next week will obviously be easter after that we're going to jump into the book of luke for the next probably two or three months so we're going to go into the book of luke and talk about the wonders of god and all the supernatural things that luke accentuates in his book about jesus and and his ministry and his healing and all the things that he did but samuel you know talking about this guy was has been great because it's all about his heart the the whole thing of samuel we've talked about him he's not like uh j you know maybe jeremiah or isaiah or one of these huge towering prophets but he was just a guy with a huge heart and god used him to change the world now he was a prophet that was dropped into a very very dark time and some of you'd be like right now you'd be like we're in a really dark time well let me give you some good news whenever the enemy comes in like a flood you always see that first but whenever god raises up a standard that always starts in secret and then emerges into the public realm and surprises people and god is always at work when hell's at work you need to know that that god never abandons his people god is always moving and doing things but much of it initially starts in secret and we're going to talk about that today because that was a story of samuel and david and so we're going to cover this guy samuel who guided israel into this the towering epitome of all that israel became if you go to israel ever and you uh just visit there with us and we'll probably do a tour this year lord willing but when we go to israel one of the things that you hear all the time is about a guy named david it's everywhere in israel david david david david david david david david by the way in the bible is the second most mentioned person behind who jesus okay so david is all over the place in the bible and obviously all over the place in israel his his kingship ushered in the golden era of israel's life and and all that they they look back still and say look at what happened under david but let me explain something to you when samuel came to david nobody had any idea what was about to unfold and that's always how god works friends nobody ever has any idea what the what the spirit of god is doing until it becomes public but it never starts in public it always starts where in private it always starts in private that's always how god works so last week we covered chapters 12 13 14 15 we talked about saul king saul's disobedience over and over and over and finally that god tore the kingdom from him it was very sad sad day particularly for samuel because samuel believed in saul even when saul didn't believe in himself first samuel 15 23 says uh god speaking to saul after his third major failure said for rebellion your rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft and your stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry because you you have rejected the word of the lord god has also rejected you from being the king now this was this is a sad sad day and the weirdest part about this day was samuel would still not give up on old saul and i i don't know about you but i need people in my life like that when i've given up on myself they don't give up on me you ever met a person like that they believed in you when you didn't even believe in yourself none of you have okay we better have an altar call and pray for you because you need people like this in your world friends we all need people in our world that believe in us even we don't believe in ourselves and samuel did that even with old king saul he believed and he believed and he believed in the guy but what god was saying listen this this guy's kingship's got to give way to david because it's going to become the richest most fruitful time ever in the history of israel now as we start to look at samuel anointing david you need to think like this david is a picture a shadow of jesus everything about david's life is a glimpse of what the messiah is going to look like david little shepherd boy had no idea what god was up to when he anointed him to be king he had no idea what this was all about but you're going to see this shadow this picture in the old testament story as we just talk a little bit about david today and how he reflected who jesus would be to the people of israel so if you got your bible your ipad your phone look at chapter 16 verse 1 let's read the first four or five verses together it says now the lord said to samuel how long are you going to grieve over this guy saul since i rejected him from being king over israel and samuel's like dude i know you rejected him but i i just kept hoping for him i kept praying for him i mean poor samuel he stayed up all night long praying for king saul when he had failed i know most of you in this room have not stayed up all night long praying for anybody especially somebody who failed you in a huge way and that's exactly what samuel did now he was just he was a prayer warrior and so he says this here's what god says to him fill up your horn with oil and go because i'm going to send you to jesse the bethlehemite whoa whoa what's a bethlehemite it's like a termite bastard no a bethamite is a person from where from bethlehem so please don't miss that because you all think of bethlehem as one place what is it the place where jesus was born but jesus was born in bethlehem friends because david was born in bethlehem that's the picture so it says i will send you to jesse the bethlehem for whom i have selected as the king for myself over from among his sons but samuel said how can i go when saul hears about this he's going to kill me so hold it samuel knew how wicked saul was didn't he the dude would kill him if he had a chance and he still grieved over him that's an amazing picture i want to tell you something i think god thinks that way about some of us that even though we turn on god even though we fail god he still grieves over us his heart's broken because god is crazy about people and some of you like well then what about saul why did he just like cut saul up because listen saul cut himself up three times in a row god had grace on him because he was leading people three times in a row god tried to work with him and three times in a row saul just kept saying no so the picture unfolds like this when saul hears this he's going to kill me and the lord said no no no take a heiper with you and when you go go and make a sacrifice the lord she will invite when you get there invite jesse to the sacrifice that i'll show you what to do and you will anoint for me the one that i designate to you so samuel did what the lord said and he came to bethlehem and that freaked everybody out because everybody in israel knew who samuel was and just him showing up at this little village called bethlehem that was totally obscure place freaked everybody out so the leaders of the city came trembling to him and said do you come to us in peace and he said yeah i come in peace i've come to sacrifice the lord consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice and then he consecrated jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice so let's if you're online or you're at upland or townsville or here in the room let's read the next couple of verses six and seven together and let's read it loud it says when they arrived samuel took one look at eliav and thought surely this is the lord's anointed but the lord said to samuel don't judge by his appearance or hype for i rejected him the lord doesn't see things the way you see them people judge by our appearance but the lord looks at the wow what an important verse you ought to have that verse underlined in your bible the lord looks at the it's just so huge the lord looks at the heart but but let's be honest about this we look at the outside i mean come on we look at the outside most of us spend way more time taking care of the outside than we do taking care of the what the inside you know it's always about what does the mirror say you know mirror mirror on the wall how am i looking today right let me answer that for you you're looking older than the day before i keep noticing that because see what god is trying to help us figure out is that the outward is going to disappear so please take care of the what your heart the things that go on inside this is always where god works first friends in secret he works in secret in your heart so here's this amazing picture samuel listen you got to get sam he's an old guy now he's been around the block he's not looking for the next flaming hero he he's just been around the block but still he's taking he's taken one look at eliab and goes this is the guy he's probably tall he might be loud maybe he's articulate i don't know but he exuded this sense that god was on him and immediately he looked at him and said surely notice the word surely this is the lord's anointed and god said surely it's not because surely you cannot figure out what i'm doing because always what i'm doing starts in secret before it ever becomes public it's always done in private that is the story that we're going to look at today friends this whole picture don't judge by the outward appearance or height for i have rejected him the lord doesn't see things the way you see them people judge by outward appearance but the lord looks at the heart somebody ought to be really happy to read that today i mean those of you who are in a group like me of not being among the beautiful people you ought to just be like at least we got a chance you know at least we got a chance here's the the great thing is this you can be used mightily of the lord no matter who you are it isn't about the outside it isn't about being the brightest bulb in the bunch it's not about having all the greatest gifts it's about your it's about your heart it's about your heart god is looking for hearts and this is i mean that's where he sets destiny is in your heart not in the mirror not in the outward appearance and the whole key to this story is the heart it's saul's heart was sour and bad and david had a heart after what god i'm searching for a man that has a heart after my heart after the heart of god that friends is the whole whole picture now it's important to say this i don't know if you've noticed this yet or not but you cannot know other people's hearts you can't a lot of us think we do oh i know that person's heart or i know for all the years i've been doing ministry friends how many times have i thought oh i know that i know god's gonna raise this person up no they flunked now this person you know you don't even notice this person over here because they're so quiet and then suddenly you see them start to emerge and you realize wow i would have never guessed that yeah because you can't know what god is doing because it's secret and how the person responds in secret will determine how they get promoted not what i see in public friends everybody looks good in public well most people not everybody but most of us try to put on our best face in public it's the secret life that god is after friends and that's the whole story here it's what was going on in david when nobody watched when nobody was there when nobody was looking so watch how this goes in verse 8. he comes in he rejects iliad so jesse then calls the next oldest son abinadab and he walks before samuel and he goes that's not the guy either and he has he hasn't chosen him and then shema came the next hole is he goes that's not him either and he said the lord hasn't chosen that one either verse 10 just he had seven sons passed before samuel are you kidding me where are the girls in this family seven sons seven says now now watch what he says to him he has seven sons passed before samuel and samuel looks at jesse and said he hasn't chosen these don't you have more are you kidding if i had seven sons and somebody asked me if i didn't have more i think i would drop dead seven sons he had seven sons and he says isn't there somebody else and samuel says to jesse isn't there somebody else and he said yeah there is one more but he's obscure you won't notice him he couldn't be the guy behold he's out tending the sheep samuel said to jesse go get him and bring him here because i'm not going to sit down until he comes well let me tell you he was probably standing for a while because he had to go out and find him on the side of the hill somewhere this wasn't a five-minute deal friend so he says i'm just going to stand here wait till the boy shows up so now jump to david for a second because you got to get a picture of this david's out doing what nothing he's maybe playing his harp on the side of the hill while he's watching the sheep i don't know amazing thing about david was he was a musician he ended up being a king obviously he was a great warrior he was a poet and a writer this amazing human being there's no question about that he had a lot of gifts and he had a massive heart for god and god elevated all of his gifting but friends you've got to get the picture of david david's life was crafted alone with god in secret that all of the psalms that he wrote all of his journey it was happening before god ever anointed him as king all of that was happening i mean think like this psalm 23 isn't that the greatest psalm that you know psalm 23 the lord is my where do you think that came from that did not come from when he was sitting in the palace friends that came from when he was sitting on the side of the hill with a bunch of what and he knew this that god saw us like sheep jesus said that often didn't he my sheep hear my voice they follow after me david was a shepherd because it was part of his destiny david was sitting out there with the sheep the lord is my shepherd i what shall not want god's gonna provide for me god is my provider he takes care of me now he got that because he knew his responsibilities take care of his dad sheep so he always provided for them it was his responsibility to get him in a place of safety and then he said things like this he said uh he makes me lie down in green pastures well let me help you with something if you've ever been to bethlehem there's not very many green pastures there i mean it would be like being a shepherd in southern california the climate actually is very similar in the terrain very similar to southern california and so there are times like march and april where there's some green pastures and the rest of the year they're all brown so david must have been one of those guys when he saw those moments he made sure to get the sheep in a place where they could feed well is that right and he felt like this god does the same thing for me he gets me in places to feed me well it gets me in place that take care of the lord is my shepherd i shall not want makes me lie down in great passages then it says this he leads me beside still or quiet waters now i never thought about that until a couple weeks ago when i was reading psalm 23 and i thought i wonder if sheep are afraid of running rivers you know i don't know about that but it sounds like it is that david must have been one of those guys that made sure he tried to get his sheep in places where they were safe where they could drink where they could eat all of that but but listen that all culminates in one verse that david wrote he restores my soul friends there's not one of us in the room today or online or on the other side of the world that doesn't need our soul restored and that's what god is so good at that's david's point is that god was healing david helping david david was the youngest of eight sons are you kidding i mean i don't know if you ever grew up being the youngest but you probably got picked on is that right have you had older brothers and he had seven older brothers but he understood this about god god's a healer he restores my soul he puts me back together he's my healer and friends some of you need to figure that out today god needs to restore you he wants to touch you he wants to heal you david sitting out on the side of the hill god's been doing great and deep and secret work in him suddenly one of the brothers shows up and said come on dude you need to hurry back to the house david's probably like what what's up well there's a prophet at our house and he wants to meet you i mean let me help you with something you never know a jew when god anoints you and puts his hand you don't know what god is doing you can't know it's always secret friends it's always a secret and it's often a secret to you in the middle of it the goal isn't to be promoted to be the king or be the prophet the goal is to be a heart after god david had that that's what qualified him for everything else he had a heart after god so his brother brings him in the house now watch what happens you gotta get this kid was probably eight nine ten eleven years old he was just a little guy playing little league so watch what happens after he's done he says is that all you got no go get him verse 12. they sent and brought him in now he was ready he had beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance just a kid and the lord said arise and anoint him for this is the one and samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers okay stop right there got to get this a horn of oil that's like a flask of oil now when we pray over people for healing we anoint people with oil we like touch you on your forehead and on your hands we don't take a flask of oil and pull it pour it on your head i mean you get this kid he comes in from the field this old prophet is in the house he has no idea what's happening to him the prophet starts to speak over him takes this oil and pours the whole thing over the poor kid's hair and david had been sitting there going what you know what what just happened to me what is that now watch the rest of this because this is huge it says after he poured the flask of oil on him that the spirit of the lord he anointed him in the midst of his brothers and the spirit of the lord came mightily upon david from that day forward and samuel arose and went to rama uh please figure this out if you haven't you can never be the person god wants you to be unless the spirit of the lord comes upon you mightily it cannot happen destiny is set by the presence of god the spirit of god working inside of you you need the spirit of god inside of you i need the spirit of god inside listen when jesus went to the jordan river and got baptized what happened the spirit of the lord came upon him is that right and why was that it says that jesus full of the holy spirit went out in the desert and was tempted by the devil full of holy listen jesus for 30 years didn't live full of the holy spirit until he was anointed to begin to do ministry and you've got to understand this friends if you are going to be used by god you have to open up to the power of the spirit you have to open up to what the holy spirit wants to do inside of you you have to open up to what the holy spirit has to speak to your heart friends there's so many of us that hide our hearts from god let's just be real about this you know we we are terrified of god got a hold of our heart what would happen we're terrified if we really were honest about what goes on in our heart that god would reject us listen god knows everybody's heart in the room he knows all of our hearts he knows all of your thoughts what you have and some of you begin to comprehend is how much he's still crazy about you and i don't get it i mean i really i don't get it in my own life how could you know everything about me and still love me like you do that isn't about me friends that's about him that's what makes him a great god because he's crazy about people like us and see the reality of this picture is that whole thing is god working in secret with people who will let him and some of you are so terrified man you cover your heart up with your clothes cover your heart up with your car cover your heart up with your money cover your heart up with your job and gaza look look look when you get before me it's not going to be about your job it's not going to be about your car it's not going to be wow way to go good and faithful person you've got a house up on the side of the hill it's never going to be like that friends it's never like that i've never sat with a person on their deathbed and i've sat with a lot of people dying and never had a person say wow i wish i would have got a new car before i died i wish i would have got the next house up the hill but i sat with a lot of people who said man i should have spent more time with god and more time with my family i should have done the right things the lord wanted me to do when i had a chance and i didn't do it friends if you're going to let god work in you mightily you've got to let him work secretly you've got to have times alone where the spirit of god just you just invite him to search you and know you and see if there's any wicked place in you and heal you he restores your soul he doesn't tear it up he puts it back together and god wants to do that for some of you so david got anointed mightily by the power of the spirit you need that i need that everybody needs that but watch this where did all this happen it happened privately not publicly is that right happened privately for instance always how god works he always works private first in public later we always live in public don't we we're like man if i don't see it on the news it's not real if it's out on fox or cnn it's not real oh let me tell you something with god it's not on the news and it's real it's really real and it's eternal and it doesn't go away and some of us have still not figured that out yet man we keep thinking it's got to be big and flashing and god is like let me help you with something it's going to be small jesus said this the kingdom of god is like a little seed that grows into a gigantic tree it's going to be small it's going to start inside of you and you have to water the tree by being alone with god you got to water the tree by opening the spirit you got to water the tree by allowing god to speak into your journey and your insecurity and your fears and your jealousies and your anger and let him heal you and restore you that's the story of david that's the story of samuel that's what made samuel so great was it because he had these towering gifts it was because he had a huge what hard he had a huge heart david had a huge heart so so here you go the spirit of god a game changer touches david everything for this poor boy his eyes must have popped out of his head don't you think oh david you know sitting out on the side of the hill singing to god he had been probably felt the spirit of god around him but he had never had the spirit touch him like this it probably blew him up so big so big so big but here's the sad part of the story as soon as it happens for him everything that's positive and good for him goes south for old saul so it says in verse 14 now the spirit of the lord departed from saul and an evil spirit of the lord terrorized him man i don't know about you but i hope that never happens to me no so you know here's the reality if you're in the new testament the holy spirit is never going to leave you no you're sealed in if you know jesus you're sealed in and the power of the spirit seals you it says in ephesians 1 that you're sealed into the kingdom but in the old testament the spirit would touch upon people and then leave and that's the picture that you have here now some of you are sitting there going okay okay okay help me if god's crazy about me why did he send an evil spirit to terrorize saul that's a good question here's the answer because god created every single angel that's ever been created is that right or not you created all the angels and a third of them chose against god and they fell out of heaven and those are called demons today evil spirits and so were they created by god absolutely so it literally says that an evil spirit sent by god all god did is withdraw him's presence of his spirit from saul saul had already entered into darkness friends and the enemy came rushing in like a flood that's the picture here it's a very very very sad picture it was what saul chose it was his flesh it was what consumes him for the next six chapters in the first samuel his anger his jealousy his bitterness fighting against god trying to hold on to the throne when it was over it was over and over and over but he was so jealous he couldn't let go it's a painful painful story you know and and the reality is his refusal to surrender creates this huge battle between him and david now here's the truth the season was going to change no matter what is that right it's going to change god had already made a decision season's going to change some of you think like this is it ever going to get better the season's going to change god never abandons his people the season's going to change there are seasons that are hard and then the seasons change some of you need to get that you need to hold on and hold on and hold on because it always starts secretly before it turns publicly and some of you are like where's god in this i'll tell you where he is right now secretly working that's where he is he's always working he's always working he's always working so as you're starting to move through the next few chapters you get chapter 17 you got this little boy named david and he slays this giant named who i mean it's one of those famous fables like kind of stories but it was a true story and how did it happen it happened because he the spirit of the lord was on the kid and god had set destiny before the kid and it was a divine appointment with god and this and this little boy named david but in chapter 18 you see saul's response to that saul's freaking out because david stars rising and saul starts setting and and saul can see it he's like whoo this is bad this is bad and he's jealous he's angry it says in chapter 18 verse 12 now saul was afraid of david for the lord was with him but he departed from saul in chapter 18 verse 16 it says but all israel and judah love david and he went out and came in before the people now here's something you got to figure out and you got to get this nobody knew what god was doing with david it was secret it didn't happen in public friends for years and years later that when when god finally anointed david in public it was years later but it had already happened in secret so what does that mean it means you can't know what god is doing with people you can just watch and wait till it manifests in public but friends let me tell you something by the time it manifests in public it's been going on for a long time in secret you can't know you can't know you cannot know i cannot know you can't know who god is going to raise up and who he's going to put down you can't know when somebody gets on their number and just stays on it faithfully thoughtfully committed to god secretly praying and interceding and believing god you can't know because you're not supposed to know but god knows god always knows because god is always watching our hearts always watching your heart and you'll be shocked sometimes if you've been in this journey very long and some of you have like me you're like okay i would have picked that person and that person and that person and those people all flunked out and this person over here they just got promoted are you kidding you didn't even know they were alive because they were so quiet and obscure but but who knew they were alive come on help me who knew they were alive god was watching all the time and you can't know you can never know and you'll always be surprised and it's not because of the person it's because the of god wants to work in all people but it takes cooperation now does that mean you can't rebel against god sometimes no it doesn't mean that the amazing thing about god is he's so thoughtful he'll let you rebel for a season and if you finally relent he'll still work with you if you hold on and hold on and hold on your stubbornness becomes like witchcraft like saul and you lose everything some of you need to figure that out today it took me three years to figure that out you know when when i was first offered a job in the ministry i've told this story many times but norm brinkley who works for me today was my leader and just like you know you get stories like this like barnabas and saul or barnabas and paul and and and god has one person as a leader and then later the other person emerges as the leader and really doesn't matter who the leader is because it matters what god is doing just let god be god so so you'll be shocked sometimes when somebody's on their number and they're secretly walking with god and suddenly they start to shoot up you'll be like where did that come from that came out of secret just like david it's like samuel anointed david secretly it's secret many many many years ago 35 years ago when we had a men's bible study going on that this church was born out of a person had a word from the lord for me they totally freaked me out because they had asked me to do this bible study and my marriage was so messed up and gail and i were in counseling and i said no no no and finally they said come on we'll play basketball and then just teach the bible a little bit okay i'll play basketball and you know finally i ended up teaching the bible study bible study started growing i was like i don't know what is happening here this is a bad thing because i'm not a good guy and they shouldn't even be listening to me teach the bible and do you understand what i'm saying i need my soul restored i needed god i needed time and i was trying to spend time every day up on the side of the mountain with god alone and then this person comes to me with this word from the lord he goes you know the story of joseph and i go i think i do you guys remember the dream that joseph had he had a dream and the dream was that there were a bunch of corn stalks growing up and his corn stock grew above all of his brothers i go yeah and he goes the lord told me that's you what i think you got the wrong person dude you know i mean really and he goes yeah and i go no i'm the guy i'm the guy when norm brinkley came to me and offered me my first job in ministry i said what no i said no and you want to know why i said no because i had such a bad reputation as a beer drinker i was like a super lush man i just was i could kill a six-pack in a few minutes that was just how i lived and my my mom was a raging alcoholic so that was not very smart right and so when whenever he offered me my first job as a youth pastor he said but you have to quit drinking beer because you have this super bad reputation and we got kids in that group that their parents are alcoholics you got to quit drinking beer and my response was what no thank you i like beer too much you can keep your job and i took my family and moved to north idaho and spent the next three years in hell while god broke my heart you know and some of you know those stories but it wasn't until one night and who would be at that meeting norm brinkley the one time he came to north idaho in three years to visit me my old boss who offered me the job and we're sitting in this little country church in north idaho and there's a handful of people maybe 50 people there and a missionary from brazil is there and the missionary from brazil is teaching away and then he stops and he looks at me and he goes i have a word from the lord for you brother you need to quit drinking because you're going to lose your destiny if you don't i never met the guy i never saw him again after that night but i went and got his card and taped it in the old leather cover my big old leather bible that guy's card still taped in my because it changed my life i knew what this was about and i went to the lord and i repented and said please forgive me i'm s-t-u-p-i-d and the lord said you are really stupid but i still love you and if you were relent from your stubbornness i'll still use you and i did and he did and some of you need to get that though listen this is your story not my story god wants to use you the same way but you've got to let him you got to get in secret with god and you got to let the spirit touch you deeply and mightily and heal you and raise you up get on your number and wait for god to promote you he will do the work watch this let's close this up so poor david he gets anointed all israel loves him he goes in and comes out but but there's somebody who what hates him what's his name saul hates this kid saul hates this kid he's like i gotta get him out of my life you know he's doing everything he can to hunt him down and murder him and here's the problem with that picture we think like this man if i do what pastor dan said and i just get secret with god he's going to promote me it's going to be great pastor dan never said that he said he would promote you and if he does it'll probably be hard because ministry is hard and touching people's lives is hard but friends there's nothing like destiny with god ever ever ever ever and david figured that out some of you think like this man if god touches me it's going to be like a magic carpet right he's going to fly in i'm going to get off we're going to fly out together no actually that's not going to happen if god touches you and anoints you and you stay on your number things are probably going to get what why because god's going to test you god's going to test you and god's going to test you and that's the next handful of years for david all god did was test him and he used saul to do it listen to what david said in psalm 59 hiding in a cave what a painful painful road that he had to walk anointed his king remember this anointed his king privately but allowing god allowing saul to pursue him god allowing saul to pursue him for years and years with jealousy and anger listen to what david said rescue me god from my enemies protect me from these people that have come to destroy me rescue me from these criminals save me from these murderers they've set an ambush for me they're fierce enemies they're all out there waiting for me lord though i haven't sinned or done anything to offend them i've done nothing wrong yet they prepare to attack me wake up god see what's happening and help me o lord of heaven's armies the god of israel wake up and punish people that are hostile the nations that are hostile to me show no mercy to these people they come out at night snarling like vicious dogs they prowl the streets after me listen to the filth that comes out of their mouth the words that cut me like swords after all who can hear us they sneer at me god but you the lord you laugh at them listen to what david says you scoff at them you scoff at all the hostile nations you are my strength i will wait for you to rescue me for you o god are my fortress in his unfailing love my god will stand with me he will let me look down in triumph on all of my enemies friends that and most of david psalms were born out of pain and brokenness testing that god brought to the to his life and you and i friends we're no different so samuel let's wrap up samuel he's anointed david to be king his job's done at this point he helps him along the way he's been old he's been faithful he's he's withstood the storms and guess what samuel did he passed the test so when he gets to heaven what's it going to be for him well done good and faithful servant friends is there anybody in the house who doesn't want to hear that from god because really i mean that ought to be your heart's desire not the next car the next house the next job listen well done good and faithful servant it says this about samuel if you've got your bible your ipad your phone turn over to chapter 25 and you can see where he died and what happens it says in chapter 25 verse 1 then samuel died and all of israel gathered together and mourned for him and they buried him at his house in ramah and david arose and went down to the wilderness of piranha there's two things here i want to touch and we'll be done first off david went to samuel's funeral didn't he it's pretty clear that he was at samuel's funeral which tells me something else who wasn't there saul wasn't there saul wasn't there even though this guy samuel had stood with saul for years and years saul wasn't there and david was there josephus says of samuel it says this joseph is the jewish historian he says his moral of samuel has moral excellence and the esteem with which he was regarded by all of israel was proved by the continued mourning that was made for him they wept for samuel for many days not regarding it as the death of just another person or some stranger for this was a righteous man he had a kind nature and on account of all of that he was very dear to god friends this is possible for everybody in the room this is always about your it's about your heart it's about your heart destiny is set every single day in every small choice you make when the spirit of god comes to you and says please let me touch you here please let me in this journey please yield to me here the answer needs to be what yes will you say no sometimes absolutely i'm sure you will but please don't say it for very long when you figure this out yield to god yield to god heal the god leave a legacy samuel left a legacy acts 3 24 says this he tells us that he was one of the prophet foretold jesus life and death and resurrection hebrews 11 32 says this about him he says what more can i say to you i i don't have time to tell you about gideon barack sampson jeopard about david or even samuel and all of these other prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms administered justice gained what was promised and they shut the mouths of lions that was samuel friends his life was marked by prayer it says in first samuel 12 23 moreover is far from me far be it for me that i should sin against the lord by ceasing to pray for you but i will instruct you in the good and right way to go prayer everybody we can all pray we can all have a secret life with god we can all make the right choices alone he stayed up all night long praying for saul why would i laugh about that because most of us including myself have not stayed up all night long even praying for our own family much less somebody is wicked as old saul and samuel stayed up all night long praying for his life was given to ministry as a three or four year old his mom dropped him off with with eli the priest it was his inner life that marked him out not some great anointing on him you can have the same inner life you just got to figure this out obey the assignment no matter what it is god listen god will give you assignments that you don't want it's called a test god will give you assignments that you want that you don't want so you can pass the test to get the assignments you're looking forward to he'll give you assignments that are out of your gifting out of your journey out of your comfort zone and he'll do it on purpose just like he did with samuel when he said listen anoint saul the king and samuel said no i don't want to anoint anybody king you need to be our king and he said no you do this for me you do it and samuel said okay god i'll do it and he went and he anointed saul as king friends figure this out obey even when you don't like the assignment so samuel is gone but he's not dead second timothy 4 6 says i'm already being poured out this is paul speaking i'm being poured out like a drink offering and the time for my departure is near i fought the good fight i finished the race i kept the faith now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only me but to all those who long for his appearance friends jesus said this i'm the resurrection in the life the one who believes in me will what live even if he dies stand with me would you unbow your heads your inner life your secret life with god is your whole legacy friends the choices you make when nobody's watching but just you and god will determine your destiny and what you allow the spirit of god to do with your life father i pray for each of us that we would leave a legacy god that we would leave a legacy of your life in our life that we would leave a legacy larger than ourselves because the spirit of the lord came upon us mightily we accomplished things had boldness had faith at levels we could have never had on our own and father we want to thank you for samuel a life lived well a guy who figured it out privately and secretly a guy who interceded and prayed for other people father i pray for each of us that we would become like him that we would let you work when we're afraid of your hand working we would say yes when we don't want the assignment we would yield when we can't understand what you're doing and we would believe that out of what you do secretly then there would be an emerging of something so wild and so crazy it would shock us that's always your way father so touch us god help us in the name of jesus that everybody said amen amen amen okay listen last thing before you go out the door who are you praying for for easter you need to be praying for people you need to be inviting people you need to believe for god to touch people and i know so you're like oh don't freak me out pastor now listen invite the holy spirit to come on you mightily before you invite them invite the spirit of god to come on them before you invite them because god will do the work and if they reject you they're not rejecting you this isn't about you it's about them in god okay bless you listen take time this week take time this week and sit before god get your heart prepared this is the greatest week in christianity the week leading up to easter take your bible and read the easter story over and over and over amen god bless you if you need prayer just make your way to my left through the doors to be a team of people there to pray for you god bless have a great week well what a powerful message and i don't know about you but as we close off this samuel series there's so many things that i just want to reflect on through samuel's life and for me i'm inspired by his life and it's helping me be challenged on how i can implement those things in my own life and so as always i always encourage us here that the message shouldn't be just information right we should be transformed by the word of god and so i have a couple questions for you to reflect and respond to and so first thing for you to reflect on as we close out the samuel series we know right through everything we've learned the last couple weeks is that it was samuel's inner life with god that brought about his legacy right it was the things that samuel was doing quietly in his own heart with god that brought his legacy and so for you to reflect on what does your inner life with god look like when no one's looking around right take away coming even the church right what does your inner day-to-day life with god look like so i'd love for you to reflect on that and if you want to respond to the message why don't you think of it think about this think about one practice that you can make in your life that will deeper that inner life or that relationship with god maybe that means committing to waking up 10 minutes earlier to spend some time in prayer maybe that means taking a day away in silence and solitude maybe it means listening to more worship music but maybe respond this week by thinking of one practice you can do daily for you to grow in your inner life and your relationship with god samuel showed that and for me i'm just challenged and encouraged right that i too can have a deeper relationship with god and so we hope that you guys enjoyed that message and as always if you need prayer we have pastors online who would love to pray with you but other than that we hope you have a great week and we'll see you next weekend god bless

Channel: Water Of Life Community Church

Views: 955

Keywords: Water of Life Community Church, Upland, Fontana, RAncho cucamonga, Rosena Ranch, outreach, Cambodia, Bible, Jesus, Love, Christ, Dan Carroll, God, church, carroll, water of life, series, trust, faith, coronavirus, covid-19, hope, citylink, spirituality, together, small groups, prayer, community, grow, learn, pray, forgiveness, Samuel, life, family, holy, spirit, children, destiny, calling, sermon

Id: Kc6e3NC-xoc

Length: 83min 12sec (4992 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 29 2021