Life Around "The Fire"
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Life Around "The Fire"
Trevor McMahan: So You’re Anointed… Now Go Shovel Sheep
What if your anointing is real, but your next step is a mop bucket, not a microphone? We follow David’s path in 1 Samuel 16 to uncover how God forms leaders by placing honor on the heart, not the highlight reel. Samuel arrives ready to choose the obvious heir, and God refuses the obvious. David, the forgotten eighth son, is brought in from the fields—and that quiet moment with oil becomes the beginning of a long, hidden education in wisdom, humility, and courage.
We unpack why “the Lord looks at the heart” isn’t a platitude but a blueprint. David’s passion for wisdom shows up later in Solomon’s counsel: get wisdom, develop good judgment, guard your heart. That pursuit explains how a teenager could run toward a giant. We connect Paul’s “spirit of adoption” to a royal training process—less instant promotion, more long obedience. The Spirit doesn’t just affirm identity; he tutors character. Over years, David learns to serve before he leads, to be faithful in obscurity, and to trust God when only sheep are watching.
Along the way, we challenge modern assumptions about calling and influence. Anointing is not a bypass around servanthood; it is fuel for it. From lions and bears to Goliath, David’s victories flow from dependence, not bravado. We bring this home with practical steps: embrace small beginnings, love one person deeply, serve where you stand, and let the Spirit shape your judgment for the battles ahead. If your heart needs courage, your calling needs clarity, or your hands need a holy task, this conversation will meet you in the field and walk you toward the throne God has in mind.
If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s in a waiting season, and leave a review—tell us the “small beginning” you’re committing to this week. Your story might spark someone else’s courage.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
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Shalom to you and your home.
Alright, folks, I want to welcome you back to another episode of Life Around the Fire. And this is part two of a teaching that is being brought to us by Trevor McMahon, one of our favorite guys in the studio. And he's here live today. So, Trevor, once again, welcome back, brother, and have at it, bro. Amen, amen. Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother.
SPEAKER_01:So we left off with Saul being rejected by the Lord. And that brings us into 1 Samuel chapter 16. 1 Samuel 16 is probably one of my favorite chapters of the Bible. I'm sure a lot of people love the story of David. It's such a wonderful story, especially when you find out that David was a man after God's own heart. So it's very good to study his life to find out exactly why that God said that about him. 1 Samuel 16, it starts off with God coming to Saul Samuel. And telling him that he needs to go and anoint a new king. Samuel is fearful for his life, thinks that Saul might kill him, so he gives him a plan to go as I go off for a sacrifice in the city. And whenever you go, I'll show you who you need to anoint. So I want to start off in 1 Samuel 16, verse 6. It says, When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Elab and thought, Surely, this is the Lord's anointed. So Samuel walks into a house, Jesse's house, and he's thinking he's going to anoint his his firstborn son, and he walks in there and he sees this guy, right? He sees this Eli. And he's like, Wow, he's like, Man, this is surely the anointed. This is the one that I know the Lord has chosen. Verse number seven, he says, But the Lord said to Samuel, Don't judge by his 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. I say, Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. That is so awesome to me that the Lord, He doesn't look at our outward appearance. Say, can you say thank you, Jesus? I'm one of the ones that can say, Thank you, Jesus, that you don't look at my outward appearance.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01:But he looks at your heart. That's right. All the issues of life flow from the heart. I want to try to give a little bit of revelation of what was in David's heart. In Proverbs, in Proverbs chapter 4, this is David's advice to Solomon. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived before Jesus, the wisest man who ever lived. And he remembers his father's instructions. So the title of uh Proverbs chapter 4 is A Father's Wise Advice. It says, My children, listen when your father corrects you, pay attention and learn good judgment. For I'm giving you good guidance. Don't turn away from my instructions, for I too was once my father's son, tenderly loved as my mother's only child. My father taught me, take my words to heart, follow my commands, and you will live. Get wisdom, get wisdom. Develop good judgment. Don't forget my words or turn away from them. Don't turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her and she will guard you. Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do. And whatever else you do, develop good judgment. If you prize wisdom, she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will honor you. She will place a lovely wreath or crown on your head. She will present you with a beautiful crown. My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long good life. I will teach you wisdom's ways and lead you in straight paths. When you walk, you won't be held back. You will run and you won't stumble. And verse number twenty three says, Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. This is what was in is in David's heart. This is what he portrayed and he passed down to Solomon. This is what was in Solomon's heart and mind whenever the Lord gave him a dream. He said, Solomon, what do you ask for? He said, I want wisdom.
unknown:I want wisdom.
SPEAKER_01:This is what's in David's heart. And the Lord looks at the heart. I want to deposit this into your heart today that you need to be asking and you need to be seeking wisdom in all things. Not human wisdom, not man's wisdoms, but the wisdom of the Father, the wisdom of the Spirit, the Spirit, the wisdom of revelation. And it says that that will crown you. That will crown you. So amen. So David had such wonderful things in his heart. In verse number 13, it says, Let me go back there. In verse number 13, it says, So sorry, this is 1 Samuel 16, verse 13. So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took a flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah. So the first one that Samuel came to was Elab. That was the first son. Six more sons he went to. A total of seven. Samuel was looking with his natural eyes. He was like, Oh, you have a son here, let me go to this one. Oh, okay, that's not it. Okay, let me go to this one. This one must be it. Oh, no, no, that's not it. Let me go to this one. This one must be it. He's getting fed up about the fifth, sixth son. He's like, Surely there must be somebody here that the Lord wants to anoint. I think it's so awesome that he has to ask Jesse. He's like, Is this all of your sons? Do you not have any more sons here that I can anoint? Surely the Lord has sent me here. Surely the future king is here. Jesse says, I have one more son. Guess where he's at? He's about his father's business. Working with a sheep as a shepherd. So in verse 13 is whenever Samuel walks to David and anoints him with oil and with the Holy Spirit. That is so powerful. That is so powerful. David was the eighth son. The eighth son. Numbers are extremely important in the Word of God. The Hebrew is an alpha numeric and prophetic language. That means that every letter is a letter, every letter is also a number, and every letter is also a prophetic symbol in the original Hebrew. So God puts numbers so that we can look at them and have a diff have a deeper revelation of what's going on here. So it's not by surprise that he didn't go to the fifth or the sixth son, but he went to the eighth son. And the eighth number is the number of new beginnings or eternity. He has an everlasting kingdom, the throne of David. And so it's beautiful to look at that that number eight, that David was the eighth son, and that Samuel came to the eighth son, the son of new beginnings, the everlasting kingdom would have his sit on his throne and anointed him to be king. David was believed to be around 15 years old at this time. I love to use this story right here because a lot of people they don't quite understand this phrase used in the New Testament. And it's found in Romans chapter 8, 15. It says, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father. That word spirit of adoption is an awesome phrase in the Greek. It's a compound word. The first word is Hulios. That word Hulios is a son, or it's believed to be a mature son. And then the second word is thesis, and it actually means to the sonship. So it's the spirit of sonship, the spirit of adoption. And so a lot of people look at this as like a Hebrew type of an adoption, like where you go and you find a child and you bring that child into your family, and they actually have greater rights because they're chosen. But this is not what Paul was talking about in Romans chapter 8. And I I believe this wholeheartedly that in here, when we see that Samuel had anointed David, that that same spirit, the spirit hasn't changed, that that same spirit that came upon David was that spirit of adoption. And the way that the spirit of adoption that I believe that Paul was talking about was the Roman view of adoption. And a king would have a kingdom, and say if he had five sons, he would choose one of those sons to be the heir. And so what he would do is he would send the brightest governors, the brightest tutors, the brightest economic leaders, the bright the brightest military minds, the brightest of every type of aspect of the kingdom, and he would train that son up to be a king. And at the time whenever that that son had fully received everything from those tutors, then he was adopted as king. Now, I believe wholeheartedly that whenever Samuel came and anointed David, that spirit of adoption came to train him up to be king. Because 15 years, around 15 years after he was anointed to be king, he actually became king. Wow, that that's difficult to understand. That's difficult to hold on to. That I'm 15 years old and I'm anointed to be king, but I have to go back out and shovel poop. I have to go back out and tend to the sheep. I have to go back outside and be about my father's business, but I'm king. Could you imagine the pride that would well up inside of you being anointed as king of Israel and having to go back and fellowship and serve the sheep? But that's why God looks at the heart. For what would destroy most men, the heart of humility. It'll build you. And so that spirit of adoption came upon David so powerfully from that time on. And David, whenever he left that house, God was beginning to train him, beginning to show him who he is. That spirit of truth and revelation, he said, Let no man teach you but the anointing that abides inside of you to train you up. That spirit of truth that brings to remembrance all of what Jesus Christ has taught you. Today, it says in the Word of God, as soon as you come into the kingdom of heaven that you are fully anointed. The anointing of Jesus Christ is upon you, that you are a royal priesthood. So that says that you are a king, queen, and priest. The issue is most people don't function as kings and priests. But that spirit of adoption is training you up, it's teaching you the ways of Christ, it's building you up. That's why David, whenever he came against Goliath, that he says that I defeated the lion and I defeated the bear. How did he do that? Not by natural strength, but the Lord, that spirit of adoption, was training him up, teaching him how to be reliant upon the Lord for a conquest that is unimaginable. If you look it up online, I Googled, I was like, How do you defeat a bear with your bare hands? It says you don't. How do you defeat a lion with your bare hands? It says you don't. So this had to teach David to be reliant upon the Holy Spirit. Teach him to just fully trust that God is with him. And that same spirit of adoption is with you today. That giant that sits in front of you at work, that giant that sits in front of you trying to destroy your family, that spirit of wisdom and revelation, that spirit of adoption is trying to train you up to be reliant upon him. And he can work things out because what the enemy meant for evil, God will turn it for good for those who love him and are called by him. You're loved by him, you love him, you are called by him. And so allow that spirit of adoption. I had to come into a place of where I just rejected my own thoughts and realized that my plans were not good enough. And at that moment, whenever I realized that my plans were not good enough, I was able to actually receive what the Lord had for me. So I encourage you today to let that spirit, let that spirit of adoption come upon you. Let that spirit of adoption train you up. That is constantly calling forth Abba, Father. Now, whenever I came into the kingdom, I knew that I was called. And the very first thing, whenever you know that you're called, pride tries to well up inside of you. It's like, oh, well, I'm called, I should be a leader already, I should be a pastor or do this. But no, that's not how the Lord works. That's not how the Lord works at all. Do you see how David, like, he went straight back into the sheepfold to serve? And so I want to encourage you today that in Matthew chapter 25, 21, it says, His Lord said to him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord, faithful with a few things. We are servants, first and foremost, that we may be anointed as king, but our king came down as a human and washed the feet of people. He said he took up a servant's apron to serve people. And we are no greater than our master, we're no greater than our teacher, and we shall serve people. The Lord told me, He's like, I want you to go and humble yourself and tell every person on the streets about how much I love them. I started to serve. I went out there and began to do missions and began to love on people. And through that love, God began to show me who I really am. He began to show me the purpose that he created me for. I teach a lesson on how to find out your specific purpose, your Psalms 139, 16 purpose that God created you for. And it's by doing the general will of God. It's like David serving the sheep, David serving Saul. It's like you have to get out there and serve and love people. He said, Take care of the widows, the orphans, the poor. He said, Heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the dead. He said, preach the gospel to all nations. He said, make disciples of Jesus Christ. He's like, these are the things, the general will of God, that as we're obedient in these little things, that spirit of adoption is training us up to function as kings. I hope this is making sense because it's it's such a beautiful revelation that that that spirit of adoption will train you up to function as a king. People always wonder, like, you know, why doesn't this happen? Why isn't this happening for me? God's trying to teach you to be reliant upon him. And so in 1 Samuel 16, 21, it says, so David went to Saul and began serving him. Saul loved David very much, and David became his armor bearer. David, fully anointed as king. The Spirit of God came upon him, and the man after God's own heart went and served the king. Serve the king. This is so important that we we reject pride in our lives and we begin to serve people, to serve people, to be obedient to God's will. Do you understand that like I get into these philosophical debates with people all the time about denominations and these different points of view about pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, and all these different things, and all that is set up to do is to cause division in the body of Christ. You have to bring everything back down to love, and God loves people, and God wants us to serve people. And that's why it's so important that we get out from behind the desk and we go and love on people. We go and serve them. Because that's God's will. You know, if if it was God's will for us to sit behind a desk our whole time, Jesus would have came and sat behind a desk the whole time. Jesus probably would have came and reigned as one of the greatest uh priests or Pharisees. He wouldn't have gone out there to the streets and drew lines in the sands and said, Who has no sin, cast the first stone, or he never would have went and took up the apron and washed the disciples' feet, or he never would have gone to the cross. But he loves people and he wants us to serve people the way that he served them. So I'm encouraging you today that if you call Jesus Lord over your life, then you are anointed, fully anointed, that the Holy Spirit has fully anointed you with the anointing of Jesus Christ, and that you are a king and a priest. Submit to God and serve people and allow that spirit of adoption to train you up so you can function in his kingdom. He did not want to leave you the same. He says that he gives you the desire to do his will and the power to do it. So submit to God, serve people, love people, and watch him transform your life. And everybody else is around it.
SPEAKER_00:Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Being in a place of reliant being reliant upon God. Rely upon him to do what he can do. And you saying that the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us. Yes. The same spirit that equipped David to be king. Yes. Equips us today. Amen. Not a lesser anointing.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:But in some instances, an even greater anointing. Yes. Because Jesus is now risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:And seated at the right hand of the Father. Yes. And because He is there, we are there.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Amen. We've been adopted. Just like David was brought in and adopted as King.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So we too, in our faith in Jesus, by placing our confidence in what he did, not what we can do. Amen. Because we can do stuff. Yes. Quite a bit of stuff. But in comparison to what God can do. Amen.
SPEAKER_01:Amen. And it's that same spirit that Jesus Christ said, I do nothing but what I hear the Father do, or see the Father do. I say nothing but what the Father says. It's that same spirit that empowered Jesus Christ to do his ministry. In fact, he said, It's better for you that I go. It's better for you that I go to heaven. Why? Because then he'll send his spirit, his advocate, the comforter, the Holy Spirit, the parakletos. And that same spirit is the reason why Jesus said, These works that I do, you shall do greater works than these, because that spirit has come upon you. That's that spirit of adoption. Jesus Christ, the way that he spoke, I listened to his words while I sleep at night. He takes the limitations off of your mind. He says things that will blow your mind. Have faith in God. You have faith the size of a mustard seed, speak to this mountain, it shall be removed, cast down to the sea. What? A mountain? He takes the limitations off of our reality. And if we could just start little. Like it said that uh that I read in Matthew that he was faithful in the little things. Start little. God said, I want you to change the root, change the world, Trevor. I was like, how do you do that? He's like, one person at a time. One person at a time. Love, love deeply, love passionately. Love every person in your sphere of influence. You are a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so whenever He, whenever people look at you, you should be a vessel of His love. The Word of God says, Owe nothing to no one but to love them. Owe nothing to no one but to love them. Well, what's that mean? Well, the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 13 says, Love is patient. So you owe nothing to no one but to be patient with them. Wow. That means when you go to the gas station and there's a long line, you owe that cash register patience. You said love keeps no record of wrong. That's what you owe people. So I'm just trying to encourage you today that don't forsake or don't have any bad thoughts about small beginnings. David started really small with the sheep, but God showed him great things from that tending to the sheepfold. That he came across the lion and he defeated it. He came across the bear and he defeated it. He came across Goliath and he had the experience because the Holy Spirit has showed him to be reliant upon him. When he came across Goliath, it wasn't by his strength or his great sling throwing, but it was about his knowledge of God and his spirit. Because he said, I come to you in the name of the Lord. Yeah. And that's how he defeated Goliath.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, right on, went on, went on. Would you please close off with a word of prayer? Please.
SPEAKER_01:Father, we love you, we love you, we love you, Father. Father, I ask that the spirit of adoption and the spirit of wisdom and revelation would forever draw us into a deep service of you. That no longer no matter how elevated we become in the kingdom because of our humility, that we never stop loving and serving people. That our God, our Father, He's in the business of loving people, and that we should never forget our Father's business. We should never be like the Church of Ephesus and forget our first love. And that we should always just be humble in His presence and be vessels of His love. Holy Spirit, I ask that you would just teach us today to love better. Holy Spirit, I ask that you would teach us to love deeper. I ask that you would teach us to love like our Father God. And Father, I ask that you would begin to humble us and to teach us to serve. And that in due season you would elevate us and we would become and function as kings and priests. And I thank you in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Trevor. Folks, we we really do. We love you. And if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at LifeRundfire, excuse me, at gmail.com. That's life around the fire at gmail.com. That's our email address. Or just type in Life Run the Fire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos.
SPEAKER_02:Amen.