Good morning. Good morning, church. My name is Russ. I guess number two. Thanks, gentlemen. I don't feel like that's the best iteration, but we'll go with it this morning. Man, I'm so grateful to be uh one of the pastors here on staff at Church of the Grove. Um and can I just be honest with you for just a minute? Like I'll be honest with you other times, but I want to be honest with you right now. Um I've been doing this my whole life. Like my mom has been a church admin assistant since I was probably five years old. She still is one. She directs youth choirs and children's choirs at 75 years old. Why? I don't know. Um but like you would have thought she would have given up by now, but she is still plugging away. But I can tell you, in 23 years of ministry, this is the most excited I've ever been. Because I believe that God is doing something really unique in this place. Something that only He can do. And I hope that you see it, and I hope that you will invite everybody you know to come and be a part of it. Because it's gonna be incredible. Like the days ahead are great. I know Russ number one says it all the time, but the days ahead are great. We're going with it, Russ number one. So I'm grateful to be here at Church of the Grove, but I'm also grateful to be here, like right here this morning, because that means I get to teach the Word of God. And let me tell you something. That is not a light assignment. Um, I I'm not really a perfectionist, but man, when it comes time to preach, like I've I've spent a lot of time this week. Um I probably shouldn't have told you that. Because you're gonna walk away going, that's tough. Um but for the next few minutes, we're gonna dig into the Word of God and we're gonna see what God says about Himself, what He says about us, and then what we should do in response to it. As Jonah mentioned, we start a new series today called The Story of David. Uh man, one of the great stories, as he mentioned, in all of Scripture. And if you want to turn, if you got your Bibles or you've got your phone or your tablet, you want to go ahead and turn to 1 Samuel, chapter 16. 1 Samuel is kind of halfway between the start of the Bible and Psalms. You got the first five books, and you got Joshua Judges Ruth, and then 1 Samuel. Want to camp out there for just a minute, we'll get there. Chapter 16. We're going to be examining the life of David to see how his story connects to our story. And I believe, I really do believe, that no matter where you are on your spiritual journey, whether you have been a Christ follower for decades, or maybe just a few days, or maybe you haven't taken that faith step yet. Regardless of where you are, I think there's something in David's story for you. And so we're going to jump in together. Before we do that, let me pray over us and for us this morning. God, you are good. Your word is truth. And God, we ask that you impart that truth to our hearts this morning. Help us to see you for who you really are. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. If you had a time machine, I know some of you are already nerding out. If you had a time, Brent, I'm looking at you. Where are you at? Um you traveled back to the year 1992 to Higgins Middle School in McComb, Mississippi. One, let me say, I don't know why you'd go there with your time machine. But if you did, you'd probably run in to a sixth grade version of Russ number two. I'd be much younger, but believe it or not, I would actually have less hair. And the reason I would have less hair is because every year when summer got close, I thought it would be a great idea to buzz it. Now, nobody laugh because you don't understand the circumstances. In the sixth grade, my fluffy exterior was not much different than it is today. And I also had a gap between my two front teeth that you could drive a small truck through. And and that combination, especially when you got into baseball season with the tight baseball pants, and I have kind of tiny ankles. Um have you ever seen a Russian nesting doll? It's kind of like for you younger folks, it's kind of like this, just a little hair on top. Um, not the doll, just me. I tell you that story for a couple of reasons. First, maybe you will be grateful to the Lord and to friends that tell me the truth that I'm not still rocking a buzz cut and baseball pants this morning. Um but I also tell you that so that you know that come spring, that's that's what I rolled up to PE class with every day in the sixth grade. A buzz cut, a gap tooth, and tiny ankles. Now, if we were line dancing that day in PE, I was fine. I was fine. I wasn't good, but I was fine. But if it was basketball day, that's gonna be a tough day for Russ number two. On several different levels, really. Um firstly, this body is isn't built for speed, it's built for comfort. So lots of running in basketball. It's not it's not particularly comfortable. Um secondly, I was gonna have to uh untuck my t-shirt from my jean shorts. That's it, that's the whole number two. Um but the the the hardest part about basketball day in the sixth grade at Higgins Middle School for Russ number two was that I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was gonna get picked last. Like I knew that. You can laugh, it's okay. I've worked through it counseling. Um I was gonna be picked last. In fact, the only way I wasn't gonna be picked last is if somebody was late to gym that day. That's the only way. And honestly, I think people waited around just to make sure there was nobody else coming. But if in that same time period in history, you took your time machine and you and you you went over to Cedar Falls, Iowa. I know that's where you were thinking, like, man, if I had a time machine, I'd go to Macomb, Mississippi, and Cedar Falls, Iowa. You might run into a guy named Kurt with a K. Kurt was uh he was a shelf stalker at the High V grocery store on University Avenue in Cedar Falls, Iowa in the mid-90s. And Kurt was just a regular guy, but he had this, what he believed was a God-given dream, that he would one day play football in the NFL. It was a it was a long shot, but he believed that it would be true. The only problem with that was that Kurt didn't really look the part. He didn't really come across as the next great NFL quarterback. For most scouts, he didn't seem to be the right pick. Because in the eyes of the decision makers, Kurt didn't really have anything to offer. Sixth grade Russ career didn't really have anything to offer to the team captains picking teams in sixth grade basketball. And listen, to be fair, they weren't wrong. I didn't have anything to offer. I mean, like if I knew what it meant to box out, maybe I could have done that, but I just learned that like two years ago. So, but here's here's here's the difference between Russ number two and sixth grade in Kurt in 1994. Here's what happened. He finished playing college ball, he went undrafted in the draft, but he was signed with the Green Bay Packers and then released before the season started. For the next three years, he played in the Arena Football League for the Iowa Barnstormers. You heard of them? No, you have. In 1998, Kurt played in the NFL Europe for the Amsterdam Admirals. That's really hard to say. I practiced it a lot. But then in 1999, Kurt's big break came. He was picked up by the St. Louis Rams as the backup quarterback. Now, for those of you that don't know football, but maybe you do know office politics, the backup quarterback is kind of like the assistant to the regional manager. Those of you that are office fans. Then in a preseason game that year, in late August 1999, the Rams starting quarterback Trent Green, you may remember this, went down with a season-ending ACL tear. Guess who was the next man up? Kurt. He finally got his chance. Kurt Warner took the field and pulled off what many people believe is one of the greatest Cinderella stories in all of sports history. He led the Rams to a 13-3 season, capped off by a Super Bowl victory. In fact, he was awarded the Super Bowl MVP that year. And it kept going and going. These people that had passed over Kurt, people that had swiped right on Kurt for years. Here's what Kurt became. He took his teams to the Super Bowl three different times. Just lost my mic. He was a two-time NFL MVP. He was a four-time Pro Bowler. And eventually in 2017, he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. Pretty cool story, right? But the world, Kurt didn't look the part. None of the people at the high V on University Avenue thought that the guy putting spaghettios on the shelf was going to be the next Hall of Fame quarterback in the NFL. The football system, the very system that was charged with finding hidden talent, said, ah I just don't, I'm not sure he's got what it takes. It's a great story. You probably heard the story before. But it's also a tragic story. Because it reveals something very dark and very ugly about who we are. We live in a culture and we are among a people and we have become a people who judge books by their covers. We look at things like who you know and how you look, what you wear, how many followers you have on social media, how well you perform when the lights are on, visible things, things that we can see, things that may matter, but they also may not matter at all. I don't know how you've been overlooked in your life, but you do. So maybe, maybe you identify with Kurt. Maybe you had the dream to play. Maybe you identify with sixth grade Russ Reer, and if that's the case, then there are people that can that can help you. Maybe it was a promotion at work that you got passed over for that somebody got that you felt was frankly less deserving. Or maybe it was a guy or a girl whose attention you were seeking, you were crazy in love and they didn't give you the time of day. Or maybe you've been looking for acceptance or approval or affection from a parent or from a spouse or from a close friend and you get denied over and over again. I don't know how you've been overlooked. But here's what I want you to know this morning. If you think that what's on the outside is the only thing that matters, what people can see is the only thing that anyone cares about. You are telling yourself a story that just isn't true. Because here's the big idea this morning. This is we'll keep coming back to this all morning. God builds his plans with the most unlikely people. God builds his plans with the most unlikely people. And that's where we pick up with the story of David. So I want to set the stage for you, just kind of where we are in biblical history at this point. If you flip back a couple of books in your Bible, you'll find the description of the period of the judges in the nation of Israel. Listen, it was a tumultuous period. It was this vicious cycle of disobedience and then repentance and then a period of holy living and then more disobedience and then more repentance and then some holy living and then more disobedience. You see the pattern over and over again. And by the end of the book, this rampant wickedness has taken over the nation of Israel. They've become a broken culture with broken values, and they're seeking to imitate the broken world around them. In fact, the last words of the book of Judges say this: there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

Man.

What a condemning statement. As a result of this culture drift, the Israelites have demanded a king to rule them. And God, even though he is the true king of his people, has given them what they've asked for. So Saul, the first king of Israel, you know the story of Saul. He seemed like an obvious choice on the outside. He was tall and handsome and strong. He looked the part. And it started out well in Saul's defense. It was okay for a little while. But it didn't take long for Saul's true character, what was on the inside, to come out. He was repeatedly disobedient, and ultimately he became an unhinged ruler who refused to submit himself to the Lord. In fact, if you look at the end of chapter 15, which is probably just the previous page, or maybe on the other side of the page, you'll hear God say that he regrets ever making Saul king. That's not words I want said about me. And there's a lot to unpack just in those few words, and we'll save that for another day or maybe a podcast that we're talking about starting. The point is, it was time for a new king. It was time for a new king. So let's look. 1 Samuel chapter 16, verse 1. The Lord said to Samuel, How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected for myself a king from his sons. Samuel is mourning. Why is Samuel mourning? I think it could be a number of things. Maybe because he loved Saul. He didn't want to see him fail. Remember, Samuel was the one who anointed Saul as king. Now, Samuel really was the king maker in the United Kingdom of Israel. And there was a personal connection. He didn't want to see Saul fail. But also, maybe Samuel was mourning the effects of Saul's reign on God's people. There are any number of reasons that Samuel could have been mourning. The truth of the matter is, while it was appropriate for Samuel to grieve the situation, the one who should have been grieving, Saul, wasn't grieving at all. At least it's not that we're told. And grief, despite the weight that it places on our hearts and minds and even our relationships, can be a healthy thing. Grief can be a good thing. It's good for us to mourn loss, to wish things had gone differently than they went. There comes a time when we have to move forward. We have to move past the grief. Because an overemphasis on the circumstances that cause our grief can cloud our vision. It can prevent us from seeing what's next. And that's what happens in verse 1. God interrupts Samuel's mourning with a mission. He interrupts Samuel's mourning with a mission. He refocuses Samuel by reminding him what he's been called and purposed to do. Go and anoint the next king of Israel. Grieve as you need to, but also go. Go and be obedient. Do the next right thing. Stay the course. Stay on mission. And I'm going to tell you, that teaches easy, but lives really hard. It's easy for us to say, man, why do you just go? Like, just go. I mean, God, like God of heaven has told you to go. I mean, he said it to you. Just go. It's easy to teach, but man, it's hard to live. And he responds just like you'd expect someone in Samuel's position to respond. Look at verse 2. Samuel asked, I love this, how can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me. Like that's pretty clear, right? Now, I don't know that Samuel's necessarily questioning God. I really think he's just asking about logistics, right? He's like, listen, if I'm going to anoint the king, I'm going to have to be alive to do it. I don't feel like I'm going to live if I go this way. You might look at this and say, why was Samuel such a pansy? Just listen, put on your big boy pants, go anoint the king, right? It's kind of like yelling wear it at a batter and they get out of the way of an inside pitch. You guys ever seen that? You've been to a high school baseball or even a wreck ball game? Wear it! You know what I noticed about that? There's just something I think is I think it just matters. You ever notice that the people yell and wear it aren't the ones that have to wear it? You ever notice that? I think that matters. Um it's easy for us to yell wear it at Samuel, right? Just go, do the thing. The reality is that his concern was completely justified. The most direct route from Samuel's home in Rhema to Jesse's house in Bethlehem went through a town called Gibeah. And who lived in Gibeah? Who do you think? Saul. Yeah. The disgraced, mentally unstable king. Who just got his walking papers delivered to him by whom? Samuel. The guy that's got to go by the house, right? So it makes sense that he's a little reluctant to ride his donkey past Saul's palace to anoint the next king of Israel, which Saul would have seen as a treasonous act, and Samuel would have given his life for. But God provides a solution. Here's the rest of verse 2. The Lord answered Samuel, Take a young cow with you and say, I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate to you. Samuel did what the Lord directed and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, Do you come in peace? In peace, he replied, I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. God's instructions for Samuel to sacrifice, I think, have a have a twofold purpose. First, they protect him as he passes through Gibeah. Samuel was a prophet of the Lord, and even though he was carrying anointing oil that was exclusively for the anointing of a new king, it would make sense that he was going to sacrifice. That's what prophets did. Secondly, it was disarming for Jesse and the people in Bethlehem. This point in Israel's history, it was not a small deal to have a prophet of the Lord show up at your doorstep unannounced. It was actually a huge deal, and it could have been either really good news or really bad news. And honestly, at the time, it was generally bad news. So it's understandable that the members of Bethlehem's city council or their mayor, whoever showed up and was trembling when Samuel walked on the scene, it made sense that they were a little bit fearful. But Samuel was there to sacrifice, and that's good news. So he makes his way to Jesse's house to anoint the next king of Israel. But it doesn't go the way he thought it would. Look at verse 6. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, Certainly the Lord's anointed one is here before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or his stem. Because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart. If you can imagine just for a moment, a high-ranking government official showing up at your doorstep unexpectedly, kind of like men in black, but minus the aliens, and saying to you, one of your kids is going to be the next president of the United States. You know what's neat about that little exercise is you already know who you think it would be if you have kids in your home. Like you already, you already picked them out. So did Jesse. He brings out the obvious choice, Eliab, the firstborn son, and apparently he looks to part because Samuel says, sweet, this is the dude. He is him. Like I can just go home and sleep on my own mat tonight, right? But notice what happens next. God reworks what gets rewarded. God reframes the picture. He changes how we keep score. God tells Samuel that he's looking at the wrong things. He's looking at what is seen, not what is unseen. He's thinking the way the rest of the world thinks. I think God is also reminding Samuel that Saul looked apart too. Saul looked apart too. And how did that go? Not great. Let's don't repeat it. It's not an isolated incident. In fact, it's a pattern throughout Scripture. Maybe you've heard that God operates on some, some people call it an upside-down economy or a divine economy. And you just think about this idea that the actions that God takes in Scripture often seem contrary to human wisdom. Do you notice that? In fact, in 1 Corinthians 1, 27, we learn that God uses the foolish to confound the wise. And just think about some of the most prominent figures in the Bible. Look at Moses. Moses was an insecure murderer with a speech impediment. And God used him to confront one of the most powerful leaders and free his people from slavery. That's upside down. The disciples, they were ordinary working class men. But they carried the gospel to the masses. That's not the way it should go, right? Paul was a ruthless persecutor of the church. And God turned him into a missionary, a mentor, and the author of half of the books of the New Testament. And particularly specific to this story, look at the story of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite widow with no home, no family of her own, and from her line came King David, but also King Jesus. God's economy doesn't operate the way we think it should all the time. Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, articulated this point really well. Here's what he said God is not impressed with the glitter of man's external appearance. You know why God isn't impressed with the glitter of man's external appearance? You know why he builds his plans with the most unlikely people? Here's what I think. I'm not saying it's gospel. This is what I think. I think at the end of the day, we aren't prone to accomplish things in our own power and then give God the credit. We revel in our strengths, we boast in our achievements, and we brag about our abilities. And you know how I know we do that? Because when Jesus told us how to love others, when he told us how to love our neighbor, what did he say? He said, love your neighbor as you love the Lord. That's not what he said. He didn't say, love your neighbor as you love your family. He didn't say that either. He said, love your neighbor as you love who? Yourself. You know why he said that? Because we love ourselves a lot. A whole lot. We love ourselves a lot. Often we love ourselves more than we love God. This is what you need to hear. God isn't interested in your glory. He's not interested in my glory. He is interested in his glory. God builds his plans with the most unlikely people because we are inclined to ignore his glory. And the greatest thing we can ever see when we look at God is how glorious he is. So he uses the insignificant, the weak, the unpopular, the outcast, the ones whom the world overlooks to do what only he can do through them. And that's exactly what's about to happen to David. Let's look real quick, verses 8 through 13. Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. The Lord hasn't chosen this one either, Samuel said. Then Jesse presented Shamma, but Samuel said, The Lord hasn't chosen this one either. After Jesse presented seven of his sons to him, Samuel told Jesse, The Lord hasn't chosen any of these. Samuel asked him, Are these all the sons you have? They're still the youngest, he answered. But right now he's tending the sheep. Samuel told Jesse, Send for him. We won't sit down to eat until he gets here. So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance. Then the Lord said, Anoint him, for he is the one. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah. Remember a few minutes ago when your mind, if you have kids at home, immediately went to which of those kids would be the next president? If you have multiple kids, do you know what also happened in that moment? Your mind went immediately to the kid who was least likely to be president. You know you did, and it's okay, you don't have to admit it to me, because it's true. So did Jesse. Jesse tells Samuel, I mean, listen, I've got another one. But he's with the sheep, right? Probably almost patronizingly. I can get him, but he's not your guy. I don't think Jesse loved David any less. He was just the youngest, right? In the ancient Near East at that time, birth order mattered a lot. It was very significant. David was the youngest, and he was tasked with doing lots of necessary things, but not really important things. But this is the divine economy of God. So God's anointing lands on the one everybody counted out. Samuel asked Jesse if there are any others, and David is called in from the fields, and the spirit of God falls on David. That's huge. We'll talk more about that in the weeks to come. And in an instant, David's birth order didn't matter. His chores around the farm didn't matter. What Jesse or any of his brothers thought about him, or even Samuel thought about him, didn't matter. What matters is that he has been chosen by God. Now David didn't go straight from the pastor to the palace, right? He would be king and waiting for years. As we'll see in the coming weeks, he was far from perfect. He made some terrible mistakes. And you could even argue that some of his failures were more public and maybe even more egregious than Saul's. But David's heart was surrendered to God. We read in both the Old and New Testament that David was a man after God's own heart. What a story to tell. And it only gets better from here. I'm excited for you to hear the story of David this summer. But I think it's important for us to figure out what this means for you and me. And if I were a betting man, I think I could come to each of you this morning and I could ask you to attempt something great for God, and you could come up with a litany of reasons why you're not the right person to ask. Maybe it's that you've only been a Christian for a little while, or maybe you don't come to church as often as you should, or maybe you don't read your Bible as faithfully as you should, or maybe you're too old, or you're too young, or maybe you say, You don't know what I've done in the past, or listen, you don't know what I did last night. Can I just tell you, you need to stop disqualifying yourself just because you don't look apart? You need to stop disqualifying yourself. Can I speak the truth and love to you? I know we don't know each other that well. You don't know me well, and I don't know all of you well, but you don't get to tell God who he can't use and what he can't do. You don't get to do that. Don't get me wrong, it's important for you to be in fellowship here in church. It's important for you to study God's word and commit it to memory. It's important for you to be practicing obedience. But if God only used the people that we approve, this will be a very short book. Your job isn't to get yourself to a place where you deserve to be on mission with God. You will never get there. Your job is to take what you have and hold it out. Say, God, this is it. This is a whole thing. But you can have it all. A.W. Tozer said, God is looking for people through whom he can do the impossible. What a pity. We plan only the things we can do by ourselves. You need to stop disqualifying yourself just because you don't think you have what it takes. Because God makes broken things beautiful, he makes empty things full, he makes what's dead come to life. He's done it over and over again, and he will do it for you. Second thing I think that God wants from you and me is for us to give him what he wants. Give him what he's actually looking for: a surrendered heart. This is the biggest difference between Saul and David. If you analyze these stories side by side, if David was a man after God's heart, then Saul was a man after man's heart. When I say heart, now I'm not talking about feeling and emotion and all that stuff. I'm talking about the real you, who you are when no one is looking. Your character, your integrity. The truth is, you can't hide what you put in your heart. You can't. Jesus told us in Luke 6, he said that from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. In other words, we tell our kids all the time: what's down in your well comes up in your bucket. If you got dirty water in your well, guess what's coming up? Dirty water. Clean water in your well? Clean water. But here's the other side of that coin. Yeah, it's true that you can't hide what you put in your heart. But you also don't need to try to hide what God has put in there either. Don't try to hide what God has put in there. Regardless of what you think about yourself, regardless of what the world's scoreboard says, no matter how many times you've counted yourself out, there are things inside of you that God has placed there that only truly come alive when you're fully surrendered to him. There are things inside of you that God desperately wants to use for his kingdom and for his glory that you are trying to shove down and you are making excuses about using, but they will only ever be fully alive when you surrender them to him. And how incredible would it be if those words were spoken about us. She's a woman after God's heart. He's a man after God's heart. She's not perfect. She's not the perfect wife. She's not the perfect mother. She's not the perfect room mom or sister or daughter. She runs hard after God. He's not the perfect husband. He's not the perfect dad. He's not the perfect leader at his office. He's not the perfect baseball coach. He's not the perfect brother. But he runs hard after Jesus. That's what God's after. Surrendered hearts. Last thing, we need to change what we reward. Because God wants to change how we see people. Listen, we read David's story, or really any story in the Bible, it's easy to ask the question: why does God choose people? That's not a bad question. But I think the better question is, what kind of people does God choose? When we understand that God builds his plans with the most unlikely people, it changes how we see ourselves. It changes how we see God. And it changes how we see everyone around us. I wish I could tell you that this is easy. I would love to tell you that. And you just walk out the door and start doing it today. But it's not easy. You know why? Because people are the worst. You know it. Your people. You know yourself. You know the people you know. People are the worst. Amen? People are the worst. Like this church would be awesome if it wasn't for the people, right? I mean, isn't that true about everything? How awesome would the world be if there weren't any people in it? But we're called to love them. And if we're gonna love them the way that God loves them, then we're gonna have to see them the way that God sees them. We have to look beyond what's on the outside. We have to seek out the ones that are overlooked. That's not easy. We have to rethink what it means to be worthy. So as we close this morning, I hope you'll ask the Holy Spirit to search you and know you and see if there's anything inside of you that doesn't look like Jesus. As you do that, I want you to choose one question, just one question. When you think about how God uses people for his purposes, for his glory to write his story, what have you told yourself that isn't true? When you think about how God uses people, more specifically, maybe even how God uses you, what story have you told yourself that just isn't true? Maybe you think God can't use you. Maybe you think God can't use others, or maybe, and I think this is the most dangerous story, you've believed that you can give some of your heart to God and keep a little for yourself. You can let him into all these areas over here, but you're gonna hang on to this. I don't know what this is for you, but I think you need to do business with it this morning. I think you need to kill it and give it up. For the next few moments, pray that you will wrestle well with that question. Open your heart to be inspected by the Holy Spirit as we respond in song. Let me pray for you. God, you are good. You are faithful to teach us. And God, I pray in this moment that your Holy Spirit would overwhelm each person in this room. God, you would change what we think about. When we think about what it means to surrender ourselves fully to you. God, that you would keep our hearts open this morning. In Jesus' name.