Hungry For More Than Sunday Services and Church Programs...

Hunger is rising for a faith that runs deeper than services and schedules. We talk candidly about why programs alone can’t sustain a soul, why so many leaders end up burned out, and how true power flows when character is shaped in God’s presence. Using 1 Samuel as our guide, we slow down to the real pace of formation hidden inside a narrative that spans centuries, not minutes. Those quiet stretches—when nothing seems to happen—are where leaders decide whether to rely on hustle or learn to be carried by the Spirit.

Saul’s story becomes a sober mentor. He tastes the thrill of anointing, prophesies with boldness, and then hides among the baggage because fear still rules his heart. Later, pressed by people scattering and timelines slipping, he takes the sacrifice into his own hands and loses what could have been a lasting legacy. We unpack the gap between gifting and character, the seduction of people-pleasing, and the cost of rushing God’s order. The takeaway is clear: gifts can open doors, but only character—formed in God’s presence—can carry the weight of leadership without breaking.

We share practical ways to build what lasts: prioritize presence over production, welcome private testing before public collapse, practice waiting with prepared action, and measure fruit by transformed lives rather than busy calendars. For pastors, entrepreneurs, team leads, and anyone responsible for others, this is a call back to the Source. Listen for a prayer of healing and restoration for those wounded by burnout or disillusionment, and an invitation to re-enter community with renewed strength.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who leads, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. Your story might be the encouragement someone else needs today.

Chapters

• 1:14 Why Surface Church Leaves Us Hungry
• 5:08 Power Beyond Programs
• 8:31 Leaders Burned Out And Thirsty
• 12:14 First Samuel As A Leadership Mirror
• 17:13 Waiting On God Versus Self-Reliance
• 23:24 Gifts Need Character To Last
• 28:56 Saul’s Anointing And His Hiding
• 33:21 Impatience Costs A Kingdom
• 35:54 Contact And Closing Blessing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

You know, as we've looked at this podcast over the course of the past four years, we've kind of morphed from being a rather eclectic group of people to begin with, kind of just addressing this topic of spirituality, right? Trying to keep it somewhat on common playing field kind of level, and just kind of addressing things on a more basic level considering spirituality, spirituality. But it didn't take long before we started realizing that there was a hunger that was being demonstrated to us. We started finding out that there was a hunger in a lot of people's lives who haven't really been involved that much in church life for several years. Or at least traditional church life. Going to a Sunday morning service, maybe having a Wednesday evening service, Sunday evening services, having that type of church life mentality where it's more centered around church services, some programs, but basically a building-centered organization, which is fine on one hand, but it's ultimately kind of surfacey. As good as it can be, it still is a church service, and we go through the same kind of routine and with the same few people getting involved, and the same faces day after day, year after year, sometimes only a few faces. And it can be a real challenge to go any deeper because if we go deeper into the things that God has given us as our inheritance, when we go deeper into them, we mark ourselves out as being a little bit different. And for some reason, the feeling of being different from the rest of the pack is for many of us uncomfortable. Maybe it's an environmental reason we were just raised that way. We don't want to stick out. And also the leadership, the leadership in many denominational organizations doesn't even really require that a person believes in the Bible being the word of God. In fact, in some circles, it's kind of like a joke that people still believe that the Bible is the word of God. Well, once again, for the record, make it very clear that we at Life Around the Fire believe that the Bible contains not only the living word of God, but it is the living word of God to us. It is God breathed, and we have available to us the written word of God, which is so potent and so powerful that it reaches into our lives today, even though it was expressed hundreds of years ago, thousands of years ago. It's ageless. In fact, it's more contemporary than tomorrow's headlines. And so in reviewing this whole aspect of this particular podcast, Life Around the Fire, we've come to realize that there are a lot of leaders that are listening in. And some leaders are listening who have not really been involved in any type of leadership in the body of Christ for years because he just kind of gave up on it, man. He didn't give up on God. The whole ministry thing just burned you out and left you empty. It didn't produce what it was supposed to produce. In fact, it produced ulcers, headaches, and a lot of organizational pressure. Which, I mean, that goes with the territory anyway, but if we don't have kingdom power driving our lives, moving us along by the power of the Holy Spirit, being empowered, that being the force that drives us, moves us, the wind that fills our sails and causes us to go to places that we normally wouldn't even dream about going, to do things that we hadn't planned on doing in our life, but to be empowered to do so, with a power that is greater than what we can produce on our own. And many of us have been involved in church circles that we only settle for the things that we can do on our own. You know, good things, good stuff. Have a bass sale, have a time of you know, singing, have a time of fellowship, have a time of camping out. All good stuff, but we can all do that on our own. We don't need God's help in that. But what we've heard in from our own lives here at Life on the Fire, and what we've heard from around the different areas throughout the nations is this that there is a hunger for the deeper things of God to not only be talked about, but to be lived out, to be practiced, to be willing to be risk takers and stand out from the rest of society and allow God to use us like a city on a hill that can't be hid. Now we've been looking into the book of 1 Samuel for quite some time now, and we're gonna stay here for a few more episodes because there's some things that we want to draw out from this particular book. If you take 1 Samuel and read it out loud with you know with some feeling, it'll take you about personally about two and a half hours, give or take, to read it out loud. But the book of 1 Samuel alone took over 200 years to unfold. And so there are a lot of things that take place that when we read them, it seems like they just happen one right after the other. But the reality is that there is a whole lot of time in between those events where seemingly nothing was going on. And it's in those nothing moments where nothing seems to be going on that we tend to revert back to relying on our own power when it comes to living out the kingdom of God lifestyle. We go back to what we know how to do instead of learning how to wait and be empowered by the Lord again so we can surge forward, not burning out by doubling down and trying to be work harder to be holier. It doesn't work that way. God's presence makes us holy. When we learn how to yield to his presence in us and lean upon him, and we do things with him, and he does things with us, that we have that unique relationship that's developed in that setting. Because that's where things really, really, really happen. They happen in the midst of relationship. God wants a relationship with us, he wants to be involved in our lives for us to lean on him for certain things, and then for us to exercise our inner character that's been developed by his spirit. As we cooperate with him, and his character is developed in us, that we can experience growth in that area. Not just in functioning with the giftings, learning how to see the giftings operate, but the character qualities, those internal qualities that are really, really, really necessary when it comes to leadership. And so for those of you who are leaders, regardless of whether or not it's in a setting of a local church leadership role, or you are a leader in your industry, the line of work that you are daily involved in, if you're a leader at all in any of those areas, this is very relevant to you. This focus on 1 Samuel chapters 9 through 15. We've been there for a while, we're gonna, like I said, we're gonna remain there for another few episodes because there's some things for leaders that we can draw out from here. And we're using King Saul as an example. And as we said previously, God has used Israel and some of the leaders within Israel over the course of hundreds and thousands of years, he's used them as a sundial because they are his chosen people. They remain to be. And those of us who believe in Jesus are grafted into the promises that have been given to Israel, and so, like a wild olive branch, we've been grafted in, and we are now part of God's blessing, and we become one new man in Jesus, where there's no longer any Greek or Jew slave or free man, but we are one in Christ. Hallelujah. But leadership leadership is part of any organization. Whether it's a small group meeting in a home, or if it's a large corporation that has multi locations in all each of these groups requires leadership. And leadership is simply the person or people that are called to be in front, living a life as an example for others to see what it looks like to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. We are examples, and so we experience things ahead of people. We encounter things before others encounter them, oftentimes. We have a God-given sense as to what's going on within any given group that we are leaders of. We can feel the goings on of the group. It's an amazing thing. It's a God given thing. Even if you don't believe in God, God gives things to people. He gives people abilities, things. He gives gifts to men. And sometimes we grow into those giftings. And so to have a gift is a great thing because it is just that, it's a gift. You didn't earn it, you didn't deserve it. It's a gift. Now you may have gone to school to hone it a bit, amen that, but it started out as a gift, as a spark. It came as a result of God placing it upon you. And Saul had that very thing going on in his life. In fact, we're gonna look at 1 Samuel chapter 9, verses 4 through 8 to begin with. And there's gonna be two couplets. One couplet and then another couplet of scriptures that I want to look at because they compare an event that took place when the gift of God was manifest onto Saul, and then what it was like when he wasn't operating under the power of that gift. He was just operating on his own abilities. You see where the problem is. So Samuel said that there's going to be a group of people that were gonna greet him, and in verse 4 it says, Offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them. Pretty specific. Before this ever happens, he's telling Saul that this is gonna happen, and he goes on to say, After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place, with lyres, tambourines, flutes, and harps being played before them, and they will prophesy, and they will be prophesying, excuse me. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever you find your hands to do, for God is with you. Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do. So we find out that that is exactly what took place to Saul. When Samuel said these things are going to take place, they took place, which, by the way, that is the workings of a true prophet. Accuracy. And if you have a prophetic gift and you're just growing in it, be careful not to get ahead of yourself and start running downhill with this thing and tumble over, because you can easily let your tongue get too far ahead and start saying things that God didn't intend for you to say. So be wise in your delivery of the word because when you recognize there's a prophet, people start weighing things out differently and adjusting their lives accordingly. So we want to make sure that we're directing people in the ways that God would have, not what our own thoughts would like to see take place. And so after Samuel left and after Saul went on his way, everything's placed just like Samuel said, and then later on, later on in verse 20, right? In verse 20, we pick up the conversation. When Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. This was the day that Samuel was going to anoint the king of Israel. So you get the picture. Saul was empowered with the Spirit of God. He got a taste of what leadership was like when you're empowered by God. And he was prophesying and he was full of boldness. And people were marveling, they were saying, this now, Saul among the prophets also, because they had not recognized him as that type of person before. But Sammy said, You're going to become like a different man when this happens. And that is true for anyone who has experienced the giftings of God. They're powerful. They actually have a physical effect on a person's life, as well as a mental and emotional and spiritual impact. Then in verse twenty one he goes, Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Majri's clan was chosen. Finally son of Kish was chosen, but when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So he inquired further to the Lord. He is not the has the man come here yet? And the Lord replied, Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage. Then they ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? This is no one like him excuse me, there is no one like him among all the people. Then the people showed it, Long live the king. He was endured with power, and later he was hiding among the bags where the donkeys were kept. What happened? What happened was there were still some undealt with issues in Saul's life that the gifting, as powerful as it was, couldn't touch because that was situational. Character takes place in a person's life when no one else is looking. That's integrity. Character. True character, who you really are, is who you really are when no one else is looking. When it's just you and how you live your life when it's just you is your character. And Saul has some undealt with areas of fear and insecurity. He didn't necessarily want to be the king. He said, I can't even talk right. Well, God made arrangements for that to take place, but still Moses was called to go. He was chosen. Well, Saul was chosen by God, I believe, in many respects, to teach Israel a lesson. And the lesson was that they were premature. The nation was premature in demanding that they would have a king like the other nations had kings. God had something in store. And had they waited just a little bit longer, their first king would have more than likely been David. But it wasn't. It was Saul, and so they were going to learn the lessons that go along with rushing things instead of being patient for things. What happens when you rush things? You get a Saul. And Saul had issues. And we have the advantage of looking in on his life and making some adjustments within our own lives with the help of God so that we don't fall into the same snare as Saul. We notice in Saul's life that he had in his character flaws, he had fear and insecurity, impatience, disobedience, self-centeredness and pride, jealousy and anger, and blame shifting. These were issues that were in the life of Saul. And even though he was gifted at times to be a great military leader, he didn't have the internal character that was in place to handle that gifting. And I believe God was showing Israel a very clear thing that takes place when we want things ahead of God's timetable and he allows us to get them. It's not going to be the best. We're going to at times suffer the consequences of our impatience. In this instance, it was through the character flaws in the life of Saul. Those issues that we listed, they're not uncommon. The things that we all deal with. You as a leader, at some point in your life, have at least dealt with one of those areas and are at least dealing with to this very day at least one of those areas. Because we conquer them in stages. Each time I've had a breakthrough in a certain area of life, I celebrate that breakthrough, but then I realize when I get another level of responsibility, that I'm faced with that same temptation to revert back to my old behavior when I'm experiencing pressure from the new responsibility. I thought that the thing was dealt with, and it was, but it was dealt with on the level that it was necessary to have it dealt with under that anointing. But with a greater anointing comes greater privilege but also greater responsibility. And Saul went from being basically a farmer to being a king overnight. Now that didn't really leave a whole lot of grooming time for him to experience that anointing and then the pressure of that position. Can you imagine being king of a nation? And not really being prepared for it. All the pressure that comes your way as a result of you being the head of the parade. The expectations of people start getting very, very, very high. And their opinions become very vocal. And the pressure to appease people becomes very great for leaders. Oftentimes in the Christian church, that's what leaders are doing. They're people pleasing themselves to death. Trying to keep the people happy. Trying to keep the people coming. Trying to keep the people trying to keep the people. Well that's not even our job. We're to feed the sheep. And send people out into the world that we live in to impact it and power the kingdom. So back to the life of Saul. Another portion of his life in chapter thirteen. What have you done? asked Samuel. Saul replied, When I saw the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord's favor. So I felt compelled to do the burnt offering. You acted foolishly, Samuel said. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord's command. Remember when the Lord said through Samuel to Saul to stay and wait seven days, and then Samuel would be the one to do the offering. That was a command of the Lord, that was the word of the Lord. Because of the fear that was in Saul's heart. It was a big deal. There's some things that we might look at and say, oh, it's not that big of a deal, we'll just handle it. When it's not the right order, things soon fall into complete disarray. God has a way of doing things. And Saul wasn't capable of following through. And they're powerful. I encourage you to read them and look at them for yourselves, dig them out, and find out some real nuggets in there. But what I'd like to do right now is I'd like to take a moment and just close in a time of prayer. Father, thank you, God, for who you are. And for what you do, how you how you're going about doing things. We love you. We honor you. And we look to you right now. And we invite you, Holy Spirit, to mold and shape us into the very character and likeness of Jesus. And help us escape the pitfall of not having character, but just relying upon gifting. And seeing in the end that it produces shipwrecked lives, Lord. And where that's happened, I ask that you'd bring about healing and repair. People that have been on the outside, wounded as a result of what took place on the inside, would find their way back into a place of fellowship. With you and with one another. We honor you. And we just pray these things, sealing them in the name of Jesus. We say, Amen. Amen, amen.

unknown: 35:13

Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 35:14

All right, folks. We love you. Excuse me. If you have any thoughts, questions, or concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at life around the fire at gmail.com or type in Life Around the Fire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos.