Speaker 1: And I'm so proud of Mike and his honesty and his willingness to share of what we call the transformation process in his life.
Speaker 1: If you venture over to Pinewood before things start, you'll see him because he's serving.
Speaker 1: He's helping unload the trailer and getting things set up every single week with Christie, his wife.
Speaker 1: You know we say around here nothing beats a changed life, and he's just evidence of that.
Speaker 1: Some of you are great witnesses of that too, some of you who are sitting here now.
Speaker 1: This time last year you didn't know Jesus and now you're a year into the faith and things are a lot more clear than they used to be.
Speaker 1: But you've just begun the learning process and I'm just thankful All of you are here.
Speaker 1: That's actually a great segue.
Speaker 1: I got this big old gift over here right.
Speaker 1: Wonder what's in that thing?
Speaker 1: Well, eleanor Roosevelt said it better than me, I think, one time.
Speaker 1: She said well, when we're trying to chart our course, the past is history, the future is still a mystery.
Speaker 1: All we really have is the present, and so the present should be a gift.
Speaker 1: So this is sort of our way of saying today is our gift from God.
Speaker 1: Let's use it, let's make it count.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow we'll have another gift and let's use it and let's make it count.
Speaker 1: Let's don't get too far ahead and certainly not dwell on the past, and I think we'll be all right if he's really in leadership over all of us this time of year.
Speaker 1: And, by the way, my name's Randy.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being here, guest.
Speaker 1: We're really glad that you're here, man.
Speaker 1: It's almost full house this morning, balcony y'all doing okay, good, good.
Speaker 1: It's great to see everybody this morning and out there online.
Speaker 1: We know there's hundreds of you that watch every week, that are faithful.
Speaker 1: It can't be somewhere, can't be here, possibly because of health or whatnot, and we're glad that you tune in with us too.
Speaker 1: There's a monitor there to help you engage.
Speaker 1: We love to get prayer requests by you or just next step decisions that God has led you to make, and that's why we have a little alter call here.
Speaker 1: At the end of my talk is to give you an opportunity to do the same thing as we had some last hour dudes come and pray or come and share of a new year.
Speaker 1: There's no better time than to make that next step spiritual decision than in the new year.
Speaker 1: Right, it's our Sunday of 2024,.
Speaker 1: Speaking of that, we tend to err on the side of.
Speaker 1: We'll do our evaluation and then we like, like there's 14 things that I need to change radically right now, and we get overwhelmed right With the detail of it, the magnitude of it.
Speaker 1: Experts tell us I'm not one experts tell us that if we focus on two or three really maybe small behaviors that turn into habits every day, we get the goals.
Speaker 1: But when we start with the goals, that's where we start well but we don't finish well many times.
Speaker 1: And actually the scripture today that I thought would be a good place to talk about talks about that.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about someone who started really well but he didn't finish well whatsoever.
Speaker 1: It's in the first in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel.
Speaker 1: So you're going to need your Bible today.
Speaker 1: We're not going to do like a narrow expose of like six or eight verses.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to I'm just going to take little bits and pieces from actually about five different chapters to walk through the life of a character that you'll meet in a minute and why he's so important in the scope of the history of Israel, but also what we can learn from him today about all of this starting out the new year and starting starting well and everything.
Speaker 1: Years ago.
Speaker 1: I wasn't a pastor, I was.
Speaker 1: I was working for in the corporate world marketplace and the vice president of our company organized a deep sea fishing trip.
Speaker 1: Y'all probably been on those.
Speaker 1: You leave early, get in late.
Speaker 1: I did not go on it but, like four or five people in our company did, we had a new employee and he got invited to go and he was can I call himself, confident, to say the least, cocky would probably be a better word and he announced to everybody before the trip I'm going to show these guys how to fish, I'm going to catch that more.
Speaker 1: I'm going to, you know, I'm going to get the biggest catch of the day.
Speaker 1: And he's just.
Speaker 1: He talked an extremely good game.
Speaker 1: And so the next month we had like a meeting where everybody came down to the home office and our vice president had done a great job of organizing some photographs of that day to kind of chronicle their day real quick.
Speaker 1: And he started off with that.
Speaker 1: So, of course, the scene the first photo is all of them and in front of the boat and he's standing there like this.
Speaker 1: He's got his ride where you know he, and he's got that confident look on his face and that smile, and then the action started, and every photograph after that.
Speaker 1: I didn't see him from the front whatsoever.
Speaker 1: I only you only saw him from the back, and that's cause he's bent over the boat and you know what he's doing.
Speaker 1: He's hurling.
Speaker 1: He was that all day long.
Speaker 1: He caught zero fish.
Speaker 1: I think he threw up dinner from the night before he threw up breakfast.
Speaker 1: I think he threw up the built duds from the eighth grade actually by the time it's over and he took more grief over that than than any.
Speaker 1: See, he started well, but he didn't finish so good.
Speaker 1: So that's really what we're going to talk about today.
Speaker 1: It's not how you start, but it's how you finish.
Speaker 1: So let me fast forward.
Speaker 1: First of all, before I do that, let me pray for us, cause we really, we really need to start well this year, but we need to finish well, I think too.
Speaker 1: Lord, everybody in this room and everybody watching, would you just move?
Speaker 1: Would you share your amazing truth, wrapped in your love, fueled by your grace, but also accompanied by your conviction?
Speaker 1: God, if I'm not willing to make some serious changes in my life, I'm not going to be usable to you.
Speaker 1: So, god, would you not only open our hearts, but give us the ability to do one of the most powerful things we'll ever do this year, and that is to surrender to you Flat out, no holds barred, as we are God.
Speaker 1: The day we do that is the day that we become men and women of God who care so deeply about pleasing you that we don't spend too much time worrying about pleasing other people who don't matter in the equation.
Speaker 1: So, god, do what you need to do and we'll give you the glory in Jesus name.
Speaker 1: We pray Amen.
Speaker 1: So thank you for bringing your Bibles.
Speaker 1: You got one.
Speaker 1: If you don't, there's some P Bibles in front of you.
Speaker 1: There's some of.
Speaker 1: You have the apps on your phone.
Speaker 1: Turn to 1 Samuel, if you will.
Speaker 1: 1 Samuel.
Speaker 1: We're gonna start chapter 9 and walk through the a few chapters.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna be picking and choosing some, some verses to illustrate what we're talking about here.
Speaker 1: First, let me set the characters.
Speaker 1: This is a great story, a great narrative.
Speaker 1: I love the historical narratives in the in the Old Testament.
Speaker 1: One of our key characters is a prophet by the name of Samuel.
Speaker 1: He was also known as a seer.
Speaker 1: Your translation may say that same thing.
Speaker 1: He spoke for God.
Speaker 1: God would tell him directly some things and then he would echo that, whether it was to the great or the small of the nation.
Speaker 1: Samuel is well established.
Speaker 1: Samuel is really.
Speaker 1: Nobody questioned his authority when he spoke.
Speaker 1: There's another character that we'll meet first time in the Scripture Young man.
Speaker 1: His name is Saul, and Saul at this point is going to be the focus of our story, because Saul starts very well, but sadly he doesn't finish well.
Speaker 1: So one of the questions we're going to try to answer today because this is appropriate for me and you today in this new year is what went wrong?
Speaker 1: How do you start so well but you don't finish well at all?
Speaker 1: What went wrong and here's why I'm so jacked up about today is everything we're going to talk about that Saul started well by.
Speaker 1: We have access to, we have those same opportunities from God through the Holy Spirit that he did.
Speaker 1: But here's the warning Everything that helped promote or continued his fall from God's grace we also can be vulnerable to, we can go there.
Speaker 1: Anybody in this room, including me, is capable of anything if we remove ourselves from that covering that, that grace of God and obedience to him.
Speaker 1: And so that's what we're going to talk about.
Speaker 1: It starts with the people who are clamoring and complaining they don't have a king.
Speaker 1: Israel is unique.
Speaker 1: It's a small little country.
Speaker 1: There's people all in there, people, groups that are hostile to them.
Speaker 1: That has them scared.
Speaker 1: They get to a point they're like well, you know, we know we have a fine history here of God taking care of us.
Speaker 1: But boy, we see the people and they're outnumbering us and it could not go well with us.
Speaker 1: We're not that strong.
Speaker 1: Give us a king.
Speaker 1: Everybody else has a king.
Speaker 1: Give us a king.
Speaker 1: Finally, god gets tired of hearing it.
Speaker 1: He goes same as I'm going to give him a king.
Speaker 1: They're asking for a king, I'm going to give them a king.
Speaker 1: It's not best for them, but because I'm really their king, but we're going to do that.
Speaker 1: So that's the beginning of the process.
Speaker 1: So chapter 9 is what we'll call Saul's selection.
Speaker 1: Saul is selected to lead this country.
Speaker 1: At this point, look down at chapter 9, verse 17,.
Speaker 1: When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him this is the man I spoke to you about.
Speaker 1: He will govern my people.
Speaker 1: In chapter 10, verse 24, it was on the screen a minute ago Samuel presents him to the people and he says do you see, the one God has chosen.
Speaker 1: There's no one like him.
Speaker 1: The entire population, I think verse 1 says that he was a head taller than anybody else in the country.
Speaker 1: He had the look.
Speaker 1: He had the look of a leader.
Speaker 1: He had the intellect of a leader, the ability, the energy.
Speaker 1: He has everything going for him that he needed.
Speaker 1: So God selects him and tells Samuel to ordain that.
Speaker 1: So how do they get together?
Speaker 1: Saul's a young guy.
Speaker 1: They're missing some donkeys one day.
Speaker 1: Now he is from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest little tribe in the whole confederation of Israel.
Speaker 1: His dad sends, his dad sends him out.
Speaker 1: He says get a servant to go to somebody with you and go find those donkeys and bring them back.
Speaker 1: We can't spare, lose them.
Speaker 1: So he goes second, third day, gets concerned hadn't found them.
Speaker 1: We need to turn around.
Speaker 1: The servant says you know, there's one thing we haven't tried.
Speaker 1: We're in an area where there's this prophet.
Speaker 1: His name is Samuel.
Speaker 1: He may even know God may reveal to him where our donkeys are.
Speaker 1: Let's go and let's ask him.
Speaker 1: And so they do that.
Speaker 1: Samuel, at the same time, has this encounter with God where God says your man is going to be walking through town pretty soon the man I have chosen.
Speaker 1: There's no one like him and so just get ready.
Speaker 1: They're walking, they're looking for Samuel.
Speaker 1: Samuel's looking for the next first.
Speaker 1: Well, the first king of Israel Bang.
Speaker 1: They run into each other in the street.
Speaker 1: There's this meeting he.
Speaker 1: Saul thinks it's random, but Samuel and this is where it gets a little weird y'all.
Speaker 1: Samuel says good to meet you, by the way, what you doing for lunch?
Speaker 1: Will you join me for lunch?
Speaker 1: And he says I'm just looking for my donkeys to go home.
Speaker 1: He says I know that, but your donkeys have already been found.
Speaker 1: They're good, they're all at home.
Speaker 1: Pressure's off.
Speaker 1: Go with me lunch.
Speaker 1: Well, there was a pre-determined, planned lunch of like 30 people sitting around.
Speaker 1: Saul finds himself sitting at the head table.
Speaker 1: He gets the best portions of the meat and stuff, which meant like the place of honor, the person, the VIP of the whole room.
Speaker 1: He's like I don't even know these people.
Speaker 1: I don't know this man.
Speaker 1: What's he doing here?
Speaker 1: What's up?
Speaker 1: This is weird.
Speaker 1: They finished that.
Speaker 1: They walk back and the prophet says oh, by the way, you need to spend the night with us.
Speaker 1: We'll take good care of you and you can go on your way in the morning, next morning, he says send the servant on ahead, I got something to tell you.
Speaker 1: And he basically breaks it out for him.
Speaker 1: He says you're gonna be the next leader of the whole nation.
Speaker 1: And Saul then does the famous.
Speaker 1: Do you know who I am?
Speaker 1: My family is the least of the least tribe of all Israel.
Speaker 1: What he's saying is I'm completely unqualified To be doing this.
Speaker 1: Have you ever felt that?
Speaker 1: Ever been there, where you feel like, oh my goodness, what am I doing on the platform?
Speaker 1: What am I doing in the spotlight?
Speaker 1: What am I doing leading this group?
Speaker 1: What am I doing in this situation?
Speaker 1: I'm completely unprepared, unqualified.
Speaker 1: God's not really concerned about our qualifications, because once he selects you, what will he do?
Speaker 1: He'll take care of that right.
Speaker 1: He'll do the qualifying for you, and that's gonna be some of you in 2024.
Speaker 1: You don't know, I don't know, but you're headed into one of these encounters where God's gonna start doing this and you have free will.
Speaker 1: You can say yes or you can say no.
Speaker 1: If you say yes, you will have a great start to the year.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you'll finish well, because, as we said, it's not how you start, it's how you finish.
Speaker 1: Can I give you some good news.
Speaker 1: When God selects you and you say, yes, that is the greatest plan for your life, that's greater than any of your ambitions.
Speaker 1: And some of you, pretty driven people, some of you pretty goal oriented, you are achievers.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1: But let me tell you, your greatest gift will be Submission to what he has for you.
Speaker 1: Why is that?
Speaker 1: Because you will be Successful, guaranteed.
Speaker 1: How do you know that?
Speaker 1: Because he knows the future.
Speaker 1: We don't know the future, and If he selects you for this or that or this place, he's already made sure that how you start is how you'll finish, if you allow him to.
Speaker 1: I Don't know who said it first, but there's a quotes pretty famous life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.
Speaker 1: You ever heard that one?
Speaker 1: I think I so real, that's so true, and Saul is like Scratching his head.
Speaker 1: What does this mean?
Speaker 1: So he selects, but then he's not through.
Speaker 1: There's a transforming, he's got to be transformed and that's in chapter 10.
Speaker 1: How about take a look at chapter 10, verse 9, 6 and 9?
Speaker 1: There's an anointing that happens in verse 1, where Samuel says you are this is my way of saying you are Selected by God.
Speaker 1: Look at verse 6 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.
Speaker 1: Verse 9 Saul turned to leave Samuel and God changed Saul's heart and all these signs were fulfilled in that day.
Speaker 1: Ooh, here's some more good news for you.
Speaker 1: You're ready.
Speaker 1: Everything that God gave Saul you have today, in 2024, only beggar Because in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came and went.
Speaker 1: He would appear.
Speaker 1: You know Spirit, phil, david.
Speaker 1: The Spirit filled Moses and they prophesied, they did this or that we see it with with Saul post crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus.
Speaker 1: If you are a Christ follower, you have the Holy Spirit 24-7.
Speaker 1: He's not coming and going.
Speaker 1: So we have this extra ingredient that Saul did not have.
Speaker 1: It's a marvelous, marvelous gift because it says his whole heart changed, everything about him changed, and he has now gone from unqualified to qualified.
Speaker 1: He still got some decision making ability, and we'll see about that in a minute, but Saul is going to start extremely well Because of those two factors and one more factor before I get to the third factor.
Speaker 1: How do I know, how do you know in 2024, that you're being transformed?
Speaker 1: By the way?
Speaker 1: It's continuous you get transformed, to get saved, but it ain't over.
Speaker 1: That's a continuous thing.
Speaker 1: You wear only as good.
Speaker 1: You've heard.
Speaker 1: I know some of you here tired of hearing me say this what's your plan for 2024?
Speaker 1: For spiritual growth, monday through Saturday, that's where it will really matter.
Speaker 1: That's where you're gonna learn to walk with God and by his spirit, or will walk our own path.
Speaker 1: If you don't have a plan and you're like where do I even start?
Speaker 1: Please don't just sit on that, in that in the spirit, in that indecisiveness.
Speaker 1: Go see somebody, come see one of us.
Speaker 1: Call Email, email a group leader email, one of us do.
Speaker 1: Just do that.
Speaker 1: There's so many great ways to start In this new year of spending a little bit of time.
Speaker 1: You don't have to have a phd in theology.
Speaker 1: You don't have to have all this experience.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be the smartest guy.
Speaker 1: You just got to have a little bit of time that you set aside and say this is my god time and be willing to accept what he's showing you.
Speaker 1: And you'll never be disappointed, I promise you, because then how will you know?
Speaker 1: You'll be bearing fruit.
Speaker 1: That's John 15.
Speaker 1: John 15.
Speaker 1: We're here to bear fruit, y'all.
Speaker 1: Much fruit that lasts If we're not bearing fruit out of our life, then God's gonna come back through the holy spirit.
Speaker 1: He's gonna question whether or not I'm legitimately a child of God.
Speaker 1: He takes it serious.
Speaker 1: So here's the question.
Speaker 1: I'm getting a little bit off track here.
Speaker 1: Is God tolerant when I'm bearing?
Speaker 1: Is God tolerant when there's no fruit coming out of my life?
Speaker 1: Absolutely not, because John 15 basically gives us that impression.
Speaker 1: He's gonna judge it and his judgment is not, is not unfair, but his judgment is cold, harsh some days, because it's wrapped in the truth and it always comes with about 42 warnings to correct our actions.
Speaker 1: And so transformation is a big deal, but it's got to be continuous.
Speaker 1: So here's a question to ask yourself.
Speaker 1: I've been asking it for the last couple of weeks at least when do I have opportunities this year that are not just great opportunities.
Speaker 1: They meet God's plans for me, and that takes guess what?
Speaker 1: Continual time with God, because I don't always know His plans, and that's the best way to judge whether the opportunities or God's opportunities are some opportunity.
Speaker 1: Somebody else needs to do that have been sent here to distract me and to keep me from doing what is essential, and you all, we're all the same in that.
Speaker 1: So you see now why it's not how you start, how you finish, very good.
Speaker 1: Third thing he got transformed, he got selected, but he's also empowered.
Speaker 1: So that goes to skip down to chapter 11.
Speaker 1: So Saul has been, he's been confirmed by the whole nation, he's been selected by God through Samuel.
Speaker 1: He is the new king.
Speaker 1: He doesn't really know what that means.
Speaker 1: So what do you do?
Speaker 1: What do you do when you don't know what to do?
Speaker 1: You just keep doing what you've been doing, right.
Speaker 1: So he's out one day plowing.
Speaker 1: He's got some oxen.
Speaker 1: He's plowing because you know agrarian society.
Speaker 1: They got to earn a living and they got to do this and that.
Speaker 1: And word comes to him that the Ammonites have invaded one of their many enemies.
Speaker 1: The Ammonites have put a siege around one of the towns in Israel and they've basically said if you'll surrender unconditionally, it'll be a lot better with you, but we're going to mess all of you up.
Speaker 1: We'll let you live, we're going to disfigure you for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: And so word gets out to the officials.
Speaker 1: The officials contact Saul as the new king and it's like oh, my goodness, here's a crisis right off the bat.
Speaker 1: And so look at chapter 11, verse 6.
Speaker 1: When Saul heard these words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power and he what?
Speaker 1: He burned with anger.
Speaker 1: Here's the characteristic of the empowered thing.
Speaker 1: You know you're not going to be able to sit still with some of the stuff that you get contacted about.
Speaker 1: There are some things that are so wrong, so egregious, so messed up that you will get the idea.
Speaker 1: Oh, not only is that so wrong and it makes me angry, he's wanting me to do something about that.
Speaker 1: That's called righteous indignation.
Speaker 1: That's not sinful and can I tell you, a lot of you can relate to this better than me.
Speaker 1: A little bit of dose of righteous indignation is a terrific motivator.
Speaker 1: That gives you energy that you didn't know you had.
Speaker 1: It will make the most passive mom of a seventh grader like that wounded, grizzly bear all of a sudden.
Speaker 1: Oh no, not to my boy, you're not doing that.
Speaker 1: That's righteous indignation and we can try to ignore it or we can lean into it, because that's where your true passion comes from.
Speaker 1: Verse 9, he basically sends a message out to all the other tribes and he said here's my big ask you're either in or you're out.
Speaker 1: If you're out, it's not going to go well with you, because God will deal with you.
Speaker 1: If you're in, though, we're going to go whoop this enemy and we're going to liberate our other town, and that's exactly what happens.
Speaker 1: 300,000 people show up.
Speaker 1: It's a smashing victory.
Speaker 1: He is a hero.
Speaker 1: They're hailing him as already hailed him as the king, but they're confirming him as the king, and you know what confirming means in the Old Testament.
Speaker 1: Confirming in the Old Testament of the king meant not only are you the military leader and the king, but you represent the religious sector of our society, because they are the same.
Speaker 1: It's not like today.
Speaker 1: The will of God and the will of the people are going to funnel into the same place, and we're expecting you, the king, to be the advisor of that.
Speaker 1: For us, that's a powerful position, and he starts really well.
Speaker 1: He's what we call a catalytic leader.
Speaker 1: That is, the ability to inspire and to encourage and to call to action a group of people, and there's not even like much of a question.
Speaker 1: It's like we're in and all is going well.
Speaker 1: Right, but what went wrong?
Speaker 1: What went wrong?
Speaker 1: Well, let's look at that.
Speaker 1: That starts in chapter 13.
Speaker 1: Tell you what went wrong.
Speaker 1: Now the Philistines invade.
Speaker 1: The Philistines are bigger and batter than the Ammonites.
Speaker 1: Saul thinks, well, I've done one, one, I'll just do the same thing.
Speaker 1: So he goes out to meet them and they have overwhelming more.
Speaker 1: They got 10 times the people that he has.
Speaker 1: And it's like one of those rut-row moments.
Speaker 1: We're in big trouble here.
Speaker 1: So he, paralyzed, he's paralyzed, he sits down under a tree and he's not doing anything.
Speaker 1: He's just in fear of all of that.
Speaker 1: And so he decides remember, I'm expected to be a religious advisor as well as the military guy.
Speaker 1: So he says where's the profit?
Speaker 1: We need to do a sacrifice at work.
Speaker 1: Last time It'll work.
Speaker 1: This time We'll get the blessing of God.
Speaker 1: Nobody can beat us if we have the blessing of God.
Speaker 1: So Samuel's on his way, but seven days later Samuel's still not come.
Speaker 1: They're getting closer and closer, his troops are getting more and more panicky.
Speaker 1: So what does Saul do?
Speaker 1: He offers the sacrifice himself.
Speaker 1: And just as he's finished, who shows up?
Speaker 1: Samuel?
Speaker 1: And Samuel calls him out and he says oh, you've just overstepped.
Speaker 1: So the first step he takes of really not finishing well is an overreach of authority.
Speaker 1: He didn't have the authority to be the priest.
Speaker 1: He's not the priest, he's the king who submits to what the priest or the prophets tell him to do when he takes that over.
Speaker 1: He's out now, out on his own, and Samuel tells him that he said that's a grievous area because you are not that guy and we still got to contend with the Philistines.
Speaker 1: Now God is silent.
Speaker 1: Now he's really paranoid.
Speaker 1: I'm not hearing from God.
Speaker 1: The prophets mad at me, the people are leaving.
Speaker 1: There's an erosion of morale when this happens.
Speaker 1: Evidence by there, down to like 600 people from thousands.
Speaker 1: What in the world is he going to do?
Speaker 1: Well, this is going to lead us to our second setback of Saul, and that's in the next chapter, which is chapter 14, and that is he starts making reckless decisions.
Speaker 1: Now he has a son, his name is Jonathan, and from this point on, really Jonathan and the family becomes the hero more than Saul.
Speaker 1: But Jonathan is in part of the army, he's like a captain, and his dad is the king, who is the general, and Jonathan gets tired of sitting around and just hoping that they're going to go away.
Speaker 1: They are not going to go away, and so Jonathan gets one person, his armor bear, it's called, and he says will you go attack with me?
Speaker 1: And the armor bear is like sure, who all is going with us?
Speaker 1: And he said just me and you.
Speaker 1: Okay, now check this out and some of you are military, ex-military, check this out for military strategy.
Speaker 1: We're going to climb a cliff, a sheer cliff, and there's overwhelming forces up there who have this position of strength because they're on the high ground, on a plateau already.
Speaker 1: They're armed.
Speaker 1: We only got one sword between us.
Speaker 1: If we survive the mountain climb, we get to fight all of them, just the two of us, with one weapon.
Speaker 1: If I'm the armor bear, I'm gonna be tempted to say, uh, is that all you got?
Speaker 1: But the armor bear says I'm with you, heart and soul.
Speaker 1: Now he finishes his strategy.
Speaker 1: Jonathan finishes his strategy by saying this perhaps the Lord will grant us favor against these uncircumcised fellows, that's it, and and they win.
Speaker 1: God gives him the victory.
Speaker 1: I Don't have time to talk about him, but Jonathan is a fascinating study of when faith Overcomes all the things you do not have.
Speaker 1: Saul had a bunch of stuff, but he didn't have the faith.
Speaker 1: He's more reliant on what he has at his disposal and the obvious math of the numbers than he has faith.
Speaker 1: Jonathan just had faith and that was enough on that day.
Speaker 1: But where's the reckless decisions come in?
Speaker 1: They route, the Philistine army actually and as they're running off, Saul all of a sudden gets brave and he says, hey, let's go chase him and let's run them down.
Speaker 1: And they start doing it all the next day.
Speaker 1: But he makes this dumb, idiotic vow.
Speaker 1: He says all the army, all the men fighting, need to take a vow of Of not eating, a fasting all day long and maybe until we finally completely Beat them.
Speaker 1: And they're fighting all day.
Speaker 1: They're out of energy, they're out of everything.
Speaker 1: They're like why do we even have to do this?
Speaker 1: Jonathan doesn't know about the thing, the thing, the order his dad's given.
Speaker 1: He sees some honey On the ground in the woods, he scoops it up, he's refreshed and he's good.
Speaker 1: And of course, at that point somebody walks up and says oh, you messed up, you not know about your daddy's and Jonathan, this is pretty telling.
Speaker 1: Jonathan says my dad, my father, has made trouble for the country, for the whole country today.
Speaker 1: And, sure enough, saul is willing, at the end of the day, to kill his own son over his stupid policy and the people, the troops stepped in and prevented it.
Speaker 1: Reckless, reckless decisions.
Speaker 1: Here's how you know you're in an organization, or maybe a family, where the guy lady in charge is reckless.
Speaker 1: There's collateral damage, there's confusion, there's a lack of clarity of direction, as well as day-to-day decisions.
Speaker 1: That's not so with God.
Speaker 1: We may not get the whole picture, but we always have the next step to do with God.
Speaker 1: That's always clear.
Speaker 1: And if you're not sure what it is after that, what do you do?
Speaker 1: You keep doing the last thing he told you to do, and you do it with all the fervor and the enthusiasm that you can possibly muster.
Speaker 1: This is where your Spirit, my spirit, the Holy Spirit comes in handy.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is available, and when the Holy Spirit is Saw and hungered for and accessed y'all, he's on the big stuff.
Speaker 1: He's pretty clear.
Speaker 1: And so we have these reckless decisions.
Speaker 1: We got an overreach.
Speaker 1: The third thing is disobedience to a direct command.
Speaker 1: Saul's slide is now into free fall, but even then, god's grace is there.
Speaker 1: We get this impression in chapter 16 that even after all of that, even after Samuel walks up and says you're out, there's another one coming behind you.
Speaker 1: That's a better man, he'll succeed you and there's not a thing you can do about it.
Speaker 1: God was still apparently trying to salvage this whole thing, because now there's another group, the amlicites.
Speaker 1: And God goes to Samuel to tell Saul look, the amlicites Did not help us way back in the Exodus when Moses needed their help.
Speaker 1: They were our enemies.
Speaker 1: Then we're gonna pay them back.
Speaker 1: It's time to pay them back.
Speaker 1: So tell Saul to go to battle against the amlicites.
Speaker 1: Here's the instruction.
Speaker 1: Sounds cruel Don't leave anybody alive, wipe them all out.
Speaker 1: Wipe all the animals out.
Speaker 1: Don't take any plunder, don't take any of the resources that.
Speaker 1: They're that bad.
Speaker 1: We are gonna completely separate ourselves from them.
Speaker 1: Saul goes to battle, gods with them.
Speaker 1: They win an unbelievable Route, a great victory.
Speaker 1: But he left the king alive and they took some loot a Direct disobedience To what he was told to do.
Speaker 1: And in chapter 15, verse 19, we hear Samuel say why did you not obey the Lord?
Speaker 1: Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the sight of the Lord?
Speaker 1: And at that point Saul, who's in free fall as a broke leader now, who does not have the power of God's Spirit and is completely living and directing and leading by his own intellect, sinful intellect starts to negotiate or argue With Samuel whether he was obedient.
Speaker 1: And he said basically, I was partially, mostly, obedient.
Speaker 1: And Samuel says in essence, that's disobedience, partial, is not good enough, because in verse 22 and this is an underliner, if you want to mark in your Bible, this is one of those awesome verses Samuel says to obey is better than sacrifice, god's not really impressed with us, and when we show up and we do our thing here, if our hearts not with him and following him Monday through Saturday, he's not even listening.
Speaker 1: It's like you obey and that will be your sacrifice, and then when you come to church, it's gonna mean something, and then when you pray, I'll be listening.
Speaker 1: So I'll go back to it.
Speaker 1: What's your plan for a little bit of time, every day that you can, for 2024?
Speaker 1: For 2024, randy?
Speaker 1: You just keep hammering this like it's pretty important.
Speaker 1: No, it's not important, it is critical, because this is what hurts my heart Every year.
Speaker 1: I'm the pastor.
Speaker 1: We start with people who are new and vibrant in the faith, and you start so well, but come December, you're not here anymore, and it's not just about attendance, it's about you're not walking with Christ anymore Because you've taken on authority that's not yours, you've made decisions that are reckless or you're in full flight disobedience.
Speaker 1: And so the last place in the world is where you want to be is in God's house or sitting at home with a hunger for His word, and I justit bothers me to see the fatality rate of that happening.
Speaker 1: Can I remind you that you can be the most talented, gifted person in Dorchester County, but if you do not have the favor of God and the character to go with it, you're no use.
Speaker 1: You're no use.
Speaker 1: His kingdom can't use you, and I happen to believe in the career, in the family that you're in.
Speaker 1: You won't matter into eternity either.
Speaker 1: So we might as well go back to the fundamentals.
Speaker 1: It's not how you start, it's how you finish.
Speaker 1: Yes, we want to start well, right, but we want to finish even better.
Speaker 1: So today is that day.
Speaker 1: I've told my chickened out at the nine o'clock saying this I'm going to try to be the most obedient man I can be in this one area this year.
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask the big ask as directed.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be coming to some of you, or maybe groups of you, and I'm going to ask an ask that I don't have permission to ask, and I'm going to ask you to do some things and to be some things for the good of the body, which is so much of a greater cause than me or you as individuals, and I'm not wired like that.
Speaker 1: But my job in 2024 is to ask you to do some new things or some hard things or some challenging things, and if I want to, I'd rather not.
Speaker 1: But we are so close.
Speaker 1: God's doing some great things, but we are just getting started and I do not want to be a part of a group of people that I'm supposed to be leading and have to answer to God one day and say, man, we started great, can you give us some points for starting good?
Speaker 1: And have him say, yeah, but you ended terribly.
Speaker 1: And so, if we're willing, man, we're going to see things we have never seen before.
Speaker 1: How do you know that?
Speaker 1: Well, here's how I know that.
Speaker 1: Let's fast forward.
Speaker 1: It's not a thousand BC anymore, it's 2024.
Speaker 1: We are the people of hope.
Speaker 1: How do we know that?
Speaker 1: Because there is a King coming that is going to be the most powerful King in the history of the world.
Speaker 1: How do I know that?
Speaker 1: Because he's already been here once and he's coming again and he's going to establish a kingdom we have never seen before, because his kingdom will be on earth, but it will also be eternal.
Speaker 1: Every earthly King dies and is buried and he lives.
Speaker 1: He's a legacy and people you know, like Gladdy came, but this King will not only live forever, but he's his kingdom will be forever, and if you are a Christ follower today, you will have a front row seat for that new kingdom.
Speaker 1: I don't know when it is, but I can tell you this we need to make sure that every day between now and then that comes, we better be ready and we need to be prepared.
Speaker 1: And, yes, we need to start well, but we need to make sure we're going to finish well, because there's a lot at stake and I, for one, I've never been so excited, and y'all are prime example.
Speaker 1: A is I get to do, I need I get to do whatever God's going to be doing with you, guys.
Speaker 1: So we won't have to do it alone, will we?
Speaker 1: We got each other.
Speaker 1: So now I'm rambling.
Speaker 1: So please come on up here, guys.
Speaker 1: So I'm about to invite you to do the most powerful thing, that as powerful as anything you can possibly do.
Speaker 1: You won't know what it is, and everybody's qualified to do it in the room.
Speaker 1: It is simply surrender your life to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Well, I've already done that.
Speaker 1: It may be time to resurrender, surrender your life to Christ.
Speaker 1: You can't do anything more powerful to start the new year off than just that.
Speaker 1: So why don't you stand and let me pray for you?
Speaker 1: Love to have you come down here, if we can help with that surrender.
Speaker 1: Lord, just have your way, do your thing Be clear, just show us who you are and that'll be enough for today.
Speaker 1: Just be Jesus, and that will be enough, and we thank you for that.
Speaker 1: In your name, we pray Amen.