(Through The Bible) 1 Samuel by Zac Poonen

[Music] let's turn to First Samuel I mentioned that samuel was the last judge of Israel and after that we have the first team and the story begins with his mother who was barren not having children and it's interesting to see how in Scripture there were many women like this in the Old Testament Sara Rebecca Rachel and now Hannah from all of whom after a period of barrenness they sought God in prayer and they had a son each of them gave birth to a son live had a unique place in God's purpose they did not accept their berenice and let it go like that that begins began to seek God area see about it and that's how God's purpose was fulfilled and there's something in this you know when a woman is bearing in those days it was considered very disgraceful not to have a child and drove them to God so we can say that all these children born to these women were born in prayer intense prayer most pregnant wives will pray for that children but for these people it was very intense and it's very wonderful when a child is born into the world in an atmosphere of intense prayer that the mother has gone through over a long period of time and that's the beginning of Samuel's life he was born with perhaps years of prayer and we find Hannah going up and praying to the Lord for this child and finally she says in verse 11 a chapter 1 she made a vow and said lord if you will indeed look upon the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant but we give her son I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life see there's a shift in her focus their first of all she was thinking of her didn't I need a son and then she thought well i have 1 i'll give it to the Lord the Lord has need as well you know when the focus of our prayer shifts from our need to godson that's when we can get an answer to our prayer just like we were considering in an earlier study the Lord taught us to pray hello designers there was a great need at that time in Israel and it Hannah was a person who was alert to her surroundings you know how it wasn't the time of the judges it was chaos God's people were backslidden so badly that was a great need for someone who could be raised up as a prophet and Hannah began to think of that and said Lord not just I will dedicate my son to you but a razor will never come on his head he will be a natural right dedicated to you and if you can use him to restore this nation back to you he's yours her whole prayer shifted from her only to God very often our prayers are not answered because it's focused so much on ourselves and it's wonderful that samuel was born into such an atmosphere and we read that when she did conceived in verse 20 she was very faithful to a promise and brought her son and to the temple there to Eli the high priest and said in verse 27 of chapter 14 this boy I prayed and the Lord has given me my petition and so I have dedicated him to the Lord as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord him I'm never going to take him back and he she taught that little three-year-old boy to a four-year-old whatever he was to me down and worship the Lord there it's wonderful to have a goggie mother like that if you've had one like that your blessin samuel was and she praised this wonderful prayer in chapter 2 he Samuel grew up to be the man who changed the face of Israel from the chaotic situation that there was the book of Judges that we considered into the glorious reign of David samuel was the link between the book of Judges and the kingdom of David and Hannah's prayer was what led to Samuel being born now the leader at that time was a man called Eli the high priest and his it says in verse 12 that his son will worthless men godless men were no fear of God is very bad when a hike has children who are godless who have no fear of God and what is worse when they begin to take part in the ministry I mean if they are godless and go and do something else that's okay but these people were godless and they were there in the temple helping their father in the ministry with absolutely no fear of God they did not know the Lord and they would steal from the sacrifices and they would commit adultery with the women in the temple and Eli's response to all this was very very weak it says in chapter 2 and verse 22 Eli was very old and he heard all that his sons were doing and what did he tell them he doesn't turn them out of the ministry and say get out of here don't dishonor the Lord if you're gonna live like that no he says in verse 24 my son's is not good what I hear and he's so spineless and we in the way he corrects the children I mean forget correcting his children as far as his family's concerned here God's people were involved and he would not correct his children but in contrast to those godless children was Samuel who grew up it says in verse 26 and stitcher and in favor both with the Lord and with men and we read further in chapter 3 how Samuels ministry beginning because God was fed up with Eli and he sent a man of God to heal I in verse 27 of chapter 2 and told him that your ministry is finished because your children are dishonoring me and dishonouring my sacrifice and verse 29 the middle he says he line your sin is that you honor your son's more than you honor me and then we find this wonderful verse which is a very good word for us to remember all through our life in the middle of verse 30 the Lord says those who honor me Idol Connor and those who despitefully will be lightly esteemed it's a wonderful words to live by if you honor God you can be sure that we will honor you eline did not honor God in the way he dealt with a student and therefore he suffered and its children suffered too but samuel was different in the midst of all this godless surrounding samuel this little boy grew up and we have did not allow himself to be influenced by the godlessness around them and that's the example for all of you and that's worth living today particularly if you're young when if you can not be influenced by the godlessness you see around you you may go into a church situation and find compromise well you should not allow yourself to be influenced by that and if you can be like Samuels dead first in your devotion to the Lord without being corrupted God can raise you up to be a voice in that situation and that's what we see in the piece of samuel when he was asleep one day he heard a voice saying Samuel Samuel and he thought he lied was calling in chapter 3 and a number of times that voice came and then he'll I realized that the Lord was calling Samuel and he told him last the Lord to speak 10 so in verse 10 the Lord came chapter 3 verse 10 the Lord came and spoke to Samuel and said Samuel Samuel and Samuel said to speak for thy servant does in the middle of the night here is an attitude that all of us must have all through the day also a liar speak Lord your servant is listening God God didn't give Samuel a warning saying tonight at midnight I'm going to come and speak to you he had to be alert throughout Scripture you find that the Prophet suddenly they will hear God speaking on seven such a day of seven such a month dog would speak and then for 23 months there'd be nothing and then you read that on cutting such a day of another month God against coconut they were in that state of alertness all the time and God speaks only to those who are eager to hear his voice and to always have this attitude speak Lord your servant is listening you know your life and your ministry can be totally different if you have that attitude God may speak to you directly from you in your heart in the middle of the nine th speak to you as you're reading his word he may speak to you in a meeting he may speak to you to a brother or a sister you may speak here while you're in the midst of other people he may speak to you when you're alone there are many ways in God which don't leak but we must always have this Exodus ambulance speak Lord your servant is listening and that's what enables Samuel to grow up to be a prophet of God when he listens he could speak what God told him and God told him I'm going to judge Eli for this sin and in the morning when he like call Samuel and said what did the Lord say to you Samuel told him worsening everything even though it was bad news for a lying he told him everything a true servant of God is like that even though a line have been very kind to Samuel Samuel did not hesitate at element God says he's gonna judge you for the way you have brought a curse upon yours the way your sons are brought a curse on so and you did not rebuke them and it says in Samuel groom verse 19 this is a wonderful word it's a great challenge for those of us from Minister the word it it says here that Samuel grew and did not and the Lord did not allow any of his word to fall to the ground isn't that a great challenge for you and me that we seek the Lord so that when we Minister God's Word in the different situations God calls us to whether to unbelievers are believers that not one word we speak falls to the ground wasted every word should go straight home to people part not just in the Ministry of the word but in private conversation as well thinking about private conversation and we have a lot of conversation every day with each other that we are so godly that the words that come out of our mouths are not wasted words but words that go spray home the ppl park the Lord was with Samuel that is the secret we saw that earlier to the Lord was with Joseph the Lord was with Samuel and did not allow a single word than spoken to fall to the ground I want to encourage you to yearn for such a form of ministry and conversation and all israel worst when he knew that samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord now this was a time as we read in chapter 3 verse 1 the last part of it when word from the Lord was very rare and visions were infrequent there was no profit for years and when there is no profit it is an indication that God had given up on his people throughout the period of the judges there were kings but there were no profit the last prophet was Joshua perhaps and he too was more of a military warrior Moses brands and since that time there was no prophet who came forth with the word from the Lord for years and then at last Israel news God is finally raised up a man they could listen to him he was a young man and that's the thing that encourages all few young people Daniel was not an old man you don't have to wait to near 50 years old to serve the Lord Daniel started serving the Lord when he was so young less than 10 years old and grew up and by the time he is 20 he was a cop what was the secret he was listening his attitude always was speak Lord your servant is listening he had a serious attitude towards the Word of God in chapter 4 we read of a time when the Israelites were fighting the Philistines and there's just one thing I want to point out here in this chapter which is interesting that when they were defeated verse 3 Israel the elders said why has the Lord chapter 4 verse 3 defeated us today perhaps it's because we had not brought the ark of the covenant here they didn't realize that they were defeated because of their sin now when you live in sin and worship idols and live for the things of this earth even if you have the Ark of the Covenant that's not going to bring any victory that's only a symbol you can have the symbol without God you can break bread and drink the cup and not have fellowship with the Lord that's only a symbol and here we read that so they brought the ark and when the art came they shouted so greatly worth five that the whole earth began to tremble now some people think that if you shout a lot God will be there no not necessarily the first time it says the Philistines killed four thousand people were stood then Israel brought the ark of the lord and shouted hallelujah and praise the Lord and all that and then they went into battle and this time verse ten thirty thousand is for life for children it was much worse now there's something we can learn from that that you can't bring God into a situation by bringing the symbols and the rituals and by shouting and praising now there are a lot of churches where it's the ritual and the symbol and the shouting that's the main thing but they had all this and there was more defeated at the end of it it's a good conscience that God looks for it's a freedom from worshiping other gods from living for this world that God looks for then only the symbols that God is established have meaning then only are shouting and praising the Lord has meaning so that's just in passing that we see there now we finally read of a time when the Israelites Palestine is captured the art and they gotten a lot of trouble because of that and then they sent the ark back they placed it on a cart we read in chapter 6 verse 8 and send it back now we read in chapter 7 verse 15 we moved toward the end of Samuel's life Samuel just Israel all the days of his life and we read that he was frequently traveling he used to go annually on his circuit to Bethel and gilgal and Misbah and he judged in all these places and he was traveling so much that he had not not much time for his family now here is a warning for those who are serving the Lord and who are traveling so much that they have no time to bring up their children in the ways of God particularly when the children are small and i want you to see what happened here samuel was crowning traveling traveling traveling he was serving the Lord he was doing so many things and he didn't have much time for his wife and children there it was traveling traveling traveling traveling and then he would return to Rama for his house was there once in a while and then he traveling in and what was the results his son says the next three verses you must read those three verses together act 1 Samuel eight it came about when samuel was old he appointed his sons as judges over Israel that was a big mistake Samuel made mistakes too he had no business to appointed sons of judges god never called him and apart from that it says in verse 3 his sons did not walk in his way but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice what do we see there Samuel had preached to Eli how to bring up his children and now he failed in his own house in the way he brought up with room now okay his children had grown up and they had left the home and then they went astray at least he should not have appointed than his judges he was a man of discernment the tremendous discernment he was a prophet he was listening and here is one time he stopped listening did he listen to God did God tell him in the middle of the night to find your sons of judges did he say speak Lord your servant is listening boom shillito I appoint as the next judges he stopped listening this is what can happen that two people who start so well when they are young that they grow older and they stop listening to what God is saying because they have a partiality towards their own children and even though their children are godless and have no fear at least those children who are godly appointing them would have been okay but imagine appointing Caracas children who had no fear of God who took bribes and perverted justice and not having the discernment to see that and you're a prophet of the Lord and appointing them as judgment I want to say this see there are many servants of God today whose children are not following on the way to the lord i want to tell you be very careful not to judge them you do not know the pressures under which many of God's servants live and work and how much they are the targets of Satan's attack I would not get I would not just people who shouldn't have gone astray because I don't know the Bible says don't judge if you want to do something for them pray for them if you can't pray for them at least own judgment what the bible does say in 1 Timothy 3 is that when your children are at home if you cannot control them you have no business to be an elder in God's house you have no business to preach God's work with other people because if you cannot run your own home how can you run God up if you cannot control three or four children in your own home and make them obey you how are you going to control a hundred two hundred people in downtown that is what 1 Timothy treated but when those children have grown up and gone away from home they have to make their own choice whether they want to follow the Lord or not there are many outstanding servants of God whose children have gone a train after they left their home they control them when they were in their home but one thing left her phone they chose their own way and that does not disqualify that servant of God from beneath you it would disqualify and if when they were in their home like it doesn't want them to be free he could not control them the mistake in Samuel is was that he appointed those people enters the ones to follow him as judges in Israel and then they see the danger of how Hoshi allottee and love for your family can blind you from what God is trying to say to you we can stop listening to God when it concerns our own family members even such a wonderful man like Samuel made that mistake and that's a warning for all of us we don't have to judge anybody else but we certainly can judge ourselves and we learn a lot from that and yet I would say there in Samuels favor many many good things about this man says in chapter 12 verse 23 Samuel said to the people when the people were going astray he says to them moreover as for me one samuel 1223 far be it from me that I should sting against the Lord by steeping to pray for you by stopping praying for you see Samuel sensitivity to sin was so great in his own life that he felt if God has appointed me as the leader of this people and I don't pray for them I have sinned that's what he's saying in this verse you are the people over whom God has made me a leader and if I don't pray for you I sing how many Christian leaders believe that I hope you if our God gives you the responsibility to lead others many people like to meet many people it's great to be a leader of so many people do you realize that if you become a leader and you don't pray for those people you Cindy when people think only of murder about me bad cause anger and all it says here's another type of sin not training for those who need jesus prayed for those clothes disciples regularly all the time he was praying for them and Samuel understood that too he was a man of prayer all of God's great servants of the men affair always like that I want to show you what God Himself testifies about Samuel in the Book of Jeremiah many years later in Jeremiah 15 and verse 1 the Lord says concerning the backslidden State of Israel at that time and he says even if Moses and Samuel stand before me and pray I will not change my mind about him speak what is that saying doesn't God listen to everybody's prayer he certainly does but the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much and from that entire Old Testament period of Israel's history of a 1000 years from the time of Joshua to the time of Jeremiah God picks out to people not Elijah not Elijah not David Moses and Samuel he says there are two men in the history of Israel who were men of prayer God says that and he links Moses and Samuel together as many who had power with him in prayer samuel was one like that an outstanding man of prayer just like Moses it's a pity that he failed with his own children in appointing never judges Moses did not make that mistake Moses had two sons dude just like Saul just like Samuel head son but Moses did not appoint his sons to take over from him he appointed the one God told into a pond so even men of prayer can make mistakes because partiality and love for our flesh and blood is very close to it that's why Jesus said we've got to cut ourselves off from that attachment to father mother wife children brothers and sisters if we want to be disciples of Jesus Christ now these are warnings for us and the wise man will learn from the mistakes of others a foolish man would make the same mistakes himself and we find multi cubes of people making the same mistake the scripture has warned us about again and again now we come to the Ministry of Saul Saul rain for forty years we read of salt the first king of Israel in chapters 8 through 15 primarily and I want you to I want to you to see a number of things here concerning Saul Saul did not go wrong wanting to be a king the people of Israel wanted a king and one day saw Samuel chapter 9 1 Samuel 9 the Lord revealed something to Samuel verse 15 saying tomorrow at this time chapter 9 verse 16 I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin and you must anoint him to be the king over my people and when Samuel saw the Lord were seventeen the Lord second this is the man and Samuel went and spoke to him and worse and he brought him inside and we read that in chapter 10 verse 1 Samuel took a flask of oil poured it on his head and said the Lord has anointed you as a ruler over his inherited assault was absolutely the bridle he was just an ordinary man young man and for God to pick him out said that's the man i have found means that that man had so many good quality and so we see here the Samuel telling salt in verse 6 the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you chapter 10 verse 6 and you will profit sign you be changed into another man this is a wonderful promise for all of us to take lord i want the third of God to come upon me in such a way that I will be changed into another man now I want to point out to you one more thing before I come to that finally the time came for Saul to be publicly acknowledged his King and so Samuel called the people together in verse 17 and he says okay we're going to select the kingdom and Samuel did not say okay it's all come here it's very interesting to see there that they cast lots there was a thing called the Urim and Thummim which the high priest had in those days there's no description encrypter as to what it was maybe it was some type of stone which indicated yes or no does the yes/no type of thing and it was God ordains and the meaning of urine men coming with lights and perfections and it was in some way and I don't want to get how it was but when they threw it down they discovered weather gods answer was yes or no and they threw the lots and thick thick thick thick and finally the lot fell on Saul out of all the thousands of people there and when they look for soul they couldn't find him because he didn't have any prominence there he hid himself I want you to see a number of good qualities and advantages that all had first of all notice in chapter 9 verse 3 the situation in which God called him we read here that there was a man called Kish of men of the tribe of Benjamin whose donkey were lost his son was solved and verse 3 chapter 9 verse 3 salsa to Sun going stressfully donkey and soul went searching worse for through the whole Hill Country we frame the land of falaysia the land of shale and where's Ford traveled all were looking for the doggy that's the first thing I want you to notice about salt he was a faithful young man he was paroled his father gave him a job to do and he did it thoroughly didn't just go out for Prime Minister's they're gonna find it God takes such people who are faithful in small things like looking for don t know it's very interesting how the Lord looks for people who are working faithfully where they are before he picks them up the second thing I want you to notice is that when a long time went and they couldn't find the donkey's he says to his servant in verse 5 let's go back because of my father will now be more concerned about me than the donkey he had some wisdom there and the third thing I want you to notice is when the man said hey there's a man of God in the city let's go and meet him and Saul said okay let's go and meet him but let's take a present for him verse 7 let's take a present he was a man who knew how to honor God service number four I want you to notice in chapter 9 verse 21 whence time you picked on Saul Saul said Who am I might not have Benjamin could the smallest of the tribes of Israel and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin he was a man who had a very humble opinion of himself I'm trying to tell you the reasons why God picked on Saul number five we read that God when Saul spoke to him it says here that God's presence was with him and the Spirit of the Lord verse 6 came upon in verse 7 it says God in with you the presence of God was with him chapter 10 verse then the next thing we see here his advantage he had was the Spirit of God came upon him God was written number five the Spirit of God came upon in number six and when he went home he told his uncle in verse 16 that somebody told Saul said to his uncle he told the claim is donkeys and we is and being found but he didn't tell him that he had been anointed king he was a man who did not post number eight we read that when they selected him to be the king he was it says in verse 22 hiding himself in the baggage he was a man who remained in the background he didn't want to come up in front of us and number nine we read that when Saul went to his house there were certain worthless men chapter 10 verse 27 who said how can this man who deliver us and they despised him who didn't bring him any present but he kept silent even though he'd be publicly anointed a thing long-suffering that was another qualification he had the tenth quality I see in him is chapter 11 verse 12 7 when certain people of Israel were being attacked by their enemies and they sent messengers to Gibeah of solemn chapter 11 verse for saying what had happened Saul you find as zeal to help these people who were in distress the Spirit of God verse 6 came upon us all and he was very angry and he took a yoke of oxen and gathered people to go and help these fellow believe brothers of his who were in this trade leave to help others and chapter 11 verse 11 you find Saul went and bought you see his courage there he was a man of courage he went and strut down the ammonites verse 11 of chapter 11 and the last one is it forgiving his enemies and whence all came back victorious from the battle some people said in verse 12 bring those men who didn't want saltoro left killin and Saul said in verse 13 no one is going to be killed today this was the man whom God chose with all these wonderful advantages and quality and yet in in a few years he had lost the anointing lost the kingdom lost grace and lost everything a man who had such wonderful qualities when he started this is the sad story of many many many many servants of God and that can lead a sad story of some of you if you don't become wise by learning from the mistakes of others we read here in chapter 13 the first reason why sald lost the kingdom number 1 Samuel had told Saul to wait until I come and I will offer an offering before you go into battle and it says in 1 Samuel 13-8 that Saul waited for seven days and Samuel didn't come and Saul said bring the sacrifice I offer it now he knew he was not a priest he had no right to offer an offering to God and he went into a ministry that God never gave him there are many people who make this mistake going into a ministry that God never gave them we have to recognize the ministry God has given us and stay within our boundaries many years ago God I recognize that God had not called me to be an evangelist I realized that my stapler than my boundaries for the years there are other people who do that I value them I respect them we must recognize in the Old Testament there are warnings like this who's aya was a king tried to be a priest he got leprosy Saul was a king he tried to be a priest and he lost his kingdom recognize your ministry and stay within the boundaries God has given you let other people fulfill their ministry and you stay within the ministry God has given you so that's how he and his impatience that's the other thing we see here and a few minutes later we read in verse 10 Samuel King if he had just waited a few minutes how different the story would have been so in patients and gain going into a ministry god never called him for he lost everything but yet he SAT for more than 30 years after that on the Crone there are a lot of people who sit on Thrones today in Christendom who lost the anointing and lost the ministry God initially called him for but because they got authority they sit for 30 years without the anointing as rulers over systems and organizations it's exactly what we see installed a man who was who had gradually degenerated from a wonderful young man who started out with great humility and degenerated to become one who was useless to God we see in chapter 13 and verse 14 the lord of Samuel tells all your kingdom shall not in your now verse 13 year acted foolishly the Lord now seeks for somebody who's a man after his own heart notice the emphasis on art the thing we read about Saul in chapter 10 verse 23 when he was initially anointed as king is that when he stood in the midst of the people he was taller than everybody else if you saw a huge crowd of Israelites you'd see one head picking out about all of them he must have been about six feet 10 inches doll or something his head stood out the thing that stood out about Saul was his head the thing that stood out about David was his heart he was a man after God's own heart there's a difference there is a Christianity of the headland to Christianity of the heart was a world of difference between the two Saul represents one and David represents the other one Samuel 13 14 the lord has sought for a man after his own heart and he's found one that's what God told Sandra our head represents our brains our cleverness our intelligence a heart represents our devotion and our worship of God that's the point that's what God looks for you are not a worshiper you're not devoted to Jesus Christ no matter how much how much hover much brains you may have you can ultimately end up like Saul David finished his course triumphantly even though he made mistake because his heart was right and we read further in chapter 14 verse 35 many years later we read Saul built an altar to the Lord it was the first altar that he ever built Saul was not a worshiper Abraham was a worshiper wherever he went he built an altar Saul was not a worshiper he was a clever man a smart man a handsome man and tall man but he was not a worshiper of god jesus said thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and then serve Him we cannot serve without being worshipers and that's where Saul lost out beware of a Christianity which is only in your head which does not need you motion to Jesus Christ and worship of God the Father I want you to turn now to chapter 15 where we see the second mistake that Saul made God told him to go and kill all the Amalekites and he didn't kill all of them he spared some of the sheep and the reason he spared was because he feared the people it says in verse 9 that Saul and the people spared agog and the best of the sheet but when Samuel confronts him he blames the people saying in verse 15 the people spared the best of the Sheep verse 15 verse 21 the people took the sheet you see he was the one who along with the people's fair the sheet but he puts the blame on the people and when you don't know how to take the blame yourself for your sin you're unfit to be a leader Saul could have said I'm sorry I made a mistake he didn't say that he put the blame on the people and it's in these small things that you see disobedience he killed most of it but he spared the good cheap but he says the saw Samuel in verse 30 I carried out the commandment of the Lord where's granny I did obey the voice of the Lord he thinks he is obeyed but in the small things he has dissipated it's the small things that determine where your whether you're qualified to be a leader or not why did he finally he admits it why did he do it when saw Samuel keeps on confronting him he says in verse 24 the last part yes I was afraid of the people and I listened to their voice a man who is afraid of people and listen to the voice of people he's totally unfit to be God's needed the leader of God's people and noticed one more thing one last thing I want to point out took about solids in verse 30 he tell Samuel I'll tell you privately I have sinned but please don't let me down publicly please honor me in front of the others please come along with and worship with me and act as though nothing is wrong daniel said nothing doing you go along he went behind it he sought honor he was more interested in appearing don't let it look as if I've lost your support Samuel he wanted people to think he was still anointed now we have seen the good qualities with which he started and the reasons why he failed and a wise man will learn from those mistakes finally we read in chapter 31 and verse 5 or Samuel de Sol commit suicide before that you find the Spirit of God has left him an evil spirit took charge of him he became jealous I don't have time to show you all that you can read that in chapter 18 verse 9 to 11 he became jealous an evil spirit possessed and he threw a javelin at David to try and kill him he contacted witches in chapter 28 verse 8 mediums you see the degeneration once you start once you've lost the anointing he became jealous of somebody else whom God was blessing more young David he tried to kill him he tried to kill his own son Jonathan with a spear saw was another person who wanted to promote his son even though he knew the anointing was not a fun Jonathan God the anointing was on David but he tried to promote his son and he degenerated degenerated degenerated finally he chased David many times he chased David and we read that David spared his life more than one David could have killed so many times he didn't kill him all of those things Saul did not repent he could not see the grace of God on a young a person he was chasing him and after him for his life because he wanted to establish himself you know it's possible for a person to be like that there are many people like that somebody else has a threat to them and they eliminate that person and they themselves feel uncomfortable in that position of leadership on that throne like Saul and it tried to establish themselves goes down and down and down and down and down that character is done finally in chapter 31 verse 5 they commit suicide he commits suicide it's a sad end to a man who started with all these wonderful qualities that I described in contrast to him we read of this other man in Samuel this other young man David the man after God's own heart and he was a person whom God again selected the Lord said to Samuel in chapter 16 1 Samuel 16 how long are you going to grieve over Saul stop praying for him I'm going to anoint somebody else you go to the house of Jesse I've selected a king from among his son and I don't have time to show you all that you read the rest of the chapter the interesting thing is that when Jesse when Samuel told Jesse bring your son because the Lord has was going to anoint one of them he called all his son except David David was the youngest why didn't Jesse call David Lee he called all his other sons and David was still looking after the Sheikh he was the youngest and one by one smart handsome Ilya the first one comes before Samuel and chapter 16 verse 6 Samuel things now that must be the Lord and there we have this wonderful verse again which is good for us to remember 1 Samuel 16-7 the Lord does not look as man looks man looks on the outward appearance but God looks at the heart again the emphasis on the heart at the head the heart not the brain the heart man looks at the outward appearance God looks at the heart and then just he called a bana dad Nixon were safe he said no like that he let all his sun spots before him and God said no no no and samuel was continued and he said Samuel said to Jesse verse 11 are these all your children did I make a mistake in in what God said and he said no there's one younger one he's a very useless fellow he's out there looking after sheep I not very clever indulge and it did we send him to look after she okay we call him as you want and young David comes he doesn't know what's happening he's quite happy looking after she'd strumming his guitar and singing songs to God out of there God has seen that young man maybe 17 years old full of love for the Lord and the Lord said this is the one you know the sovereign choice of God who searched around Israel for a man who loved him you think God is searching around India today for young men were probably despised by others there are other smarter people clever of people up there in front and you may be out there doing your job faithfully singing songs of praise to the Lord and God has his eye on you be faithful he will call you one day 90 he kicks up people when they are young and trains them to serve in their teenage years he picks up his servants like David like chosen and trains them over a peerless time and makes them leads them into a ministry and he was anointed in the spirit of the lord verse 14 departed from saul in the spirit of the lord verse 13 came upon David now notice in the next chapter when he goes and sees Goliath threatening Israel David's concerned for God's name in 1 Samuel 17 26 the last party said who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should haunt the armies of the Living God his concern that God's name is being dishonored with his even man haven't we heard of what God did in the days of Moses and Joshua I should this man dishonor the Lord's name and he goes against him and killed him but before he had done that there's something that David had done in his private life which nobody need which he reveals in verses 34 to 36 to solve he says when I was looking after my father's sheep a lion would come sometime or a bear and take a lamp from the flock and I would go after that lion and rescue the land from the lion's mouth and killed the land the lion now I don't know how many people if they're looking out for a hundred sheep and the lion walks off with one lamb would care for that one lamb did better than one land die rather than die die but he went off with that lion and killed a lion to rescue that one little and its people who have such a concern for little land who are fit to be shepherd of God's people when they see Satan has got ahold of some weak brother they are concerned to go against Satan in prayer and battles to rescue that person from the grip of city that's the type of person God is looking for that's why God picked up and that bear came and he killed him also you serving the skilled verse 36 the lion and the bear this teaches us that we got to kill the enemy in our private life first before we can face Goliath in public if you have not overcome the lion and the bear in your private life don't think you will be called by God to face Goliath in public a lot of people like a public ministry of demolition Satan's fortresses first of all start in your private ministry and show a concern for God's name for the little land over there and then we read that when he came to Saul salts that put on my Armour and go that was a big temptation to put on the armor and goes till I trust in Saul's armor or God and David takes it all officers I don't want out of it and he goes trusting God and in the name of the Lord he tells the Philistine verse 45 you come to me with sword and spear I come to you in the name of the Lord in the name of Jesus I come against you Satan and he brings Goliath down and killed him and he uses Goliath sword to chop off his head that is God's Way he uses Satan's own weapon the destroy Satan through death which a Satan weapon he destroyed him who had the part of death the Bible says in Hebrews 2 and verse 14 and we read that once Goliath was killed all the other Philistines ran away teaching us that if you kill the great sin in your life many other sins are conquered to you find one sin that rules you more than anything like Goliath defies God in your life go against it in the name of God and say you are not going to dishonor God anymore in my life and when you conquer that you will find like it says here in verse 51 the last part when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead all the rest of the Philistines ran away as well in chapter 18 we read of the tremendous loyalty of Jonathan to David Jonathan did not have the jealousy of his father he was closely knit to David he gave David his robe and sword and both sign of eternal friendship and he said David I'm totally yours Jonathan was a fine young man in chapter 14 we read of his faith with which he overcame the Philistine here we see of his total freedom from jealousy he could recognize there is an anointing on this young man even though I am the son of Saul and I deserved to be the next king when he saw the anointing on another young man he says he took off his armor and his belt and sword and bow 18 for and gave it to dating he says you're going to be the next king and he told him that that's wonderful when we find a young brother who recognizes the anointing of God on another young brother and gives him his ministry I'll give you an example of that in the New Testament it says in acts 13 Barnabas and Saul went out to serve the Lord Barnabas and Saul Barnabas with the old senior believer Barnabas and Saul a little later it becomes Saul environment Barnabas withdraws into the background when he see there's a greater anointing on this younger man Paul it's wonderful if we can have such people in the church like Jonathan who recognized the anointing on David so different from Souls jealousy and there were a few other people also who recognized that the anointing was David on David and they gathered together with him we read in chapter 22 they met in case God allowed David to be chased by Saul many many times and he had to depend on the Lord for guidance many times we read for example in chapter 23 verse 2 Lord shall I do this Lord shall I do this verse 12 again he asked God for guidance you've always lived seeking God for guidance you read that in chapter 23 and does his life was spared Saul was after him and to all those experiences in the key running away from Saul God trained him to be a man of God it was all those difficult experiences that made David a good King Saul never had those difficult experiences before David Solomon who came after him also never had difficult experiences so their reign was ruined David was trained to appear to perhaps ten years at he in difficult circumstances and thus he qualified to be a king so when God picks you out in your teenage years don't think you're ready to be king immediately if you become a thing immediately you'll be like Solomon Solomon you just destroy your ministry God is to take you perhaps to a period of ten years of difficulty of trial of other people jealous of you other people trying to suppress you you'll have to learn to listen to god you'll have to learn to trust him and you'll have experiences with God in secret and then a day will come when God will establish you on the phone as we see in the next chapter that's pretty

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Zac Poonen

Id: kBYt3oXl1yY

Length: 56min 44sec (3404 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 06 2017