Those Who are Called

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Don Filcek; 1 Samuel 10 Those Who are Called

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to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsak preaches from his series in 1
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Samuel, Timely Prophet, Tragic King. Let's listen in. Well, good morning, everybody.
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Welcome to Recast Church. I'm Don Filsak. I'm the lead pastor here, and I want to start off just by welcoming you to this gathering of God's people.
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Glad that you have taken time out of your morning. Some of you are here, I recognize, with your mom, and I do want to remind you, just in case you forgot that today is
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Mother's Day, God's word calls us to honor our father and our mother.
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That's actually the fifth of the Ten Commandments, and so that's kind of a cool thing that we live in a culture that sets aside a day to honor our mothers, basically encouraging us to actually obey scripture.
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That's a cool thing, and then there's obviously Father's Day coming up as well. So if you can, let me encourage you to reach out to your mom with gratitude.
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I think it's one thing in our culture that often becomes a little bit conflicting is that it's this notion of celebrating all the moms, but in one way,
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I don't do that in the sense of asking all the moms to step up or stand up or something like that. I recognize that there's all kinds of conflicting emotions that actually happen on a day like today, but if you can, please reach out to your mother with gratitude.
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Make sure that you make a specific effort for that. If for nothing else, if the only thing you could find it in your heart to thank your mother for was that she carried you for nine months, and then that whole delivery thing that she did, that would be worth a phone call,
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I would hope. Okay, so reach out to her, and we're going to continue on in our series in 1
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Samuel, because the word of God has something for all of us wherever we turn. Rather than just looking at a specific
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Mother's Day message, we're going to look at the word of God and see what it has to say to all of us, moms included.
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So I'm grateful for the community that God has created here at Recast Church. I think it's a cool thing.
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I've seen it develop over the past nine years, and there's been a sweetness to the fellowship, the caring for one another, the community groups, all of that that's going on, and I'm grateful that he's given us his word to be taken in and applied in the context of relationships with one another.
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This morning, we're looking at a text of scripture that highlights the way that God calls Samuel to the office of king over Israel.
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We're looking at that calling and the way that God brings about the first king of Israel, and none of us in this room,
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I think, are being called, as far as I know, are called to be a king. Some of you might sign up for that, but I don't think any of us are currently in that calling, and so we might be tempted to read this text as merely a historical account and then move on with our week.
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Okay, well, that was interesting. Don got up, shared some facts about the first king of Israel, and then we just move on with our week and kind of go, what was that about?
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But if we only read scripture at the level of history, then we walk away with just merely a good understanding of the early kingdom of Israel.
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But there's one common thread in all of scripture that gives it significance for our daily lives.
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It gives it significance for moms, for dads, for singles, for students, for all of us that are gathered in this room, and it is simply this.
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When we encounter the pages of scripture, God is in it. God is in it.
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He is showing us something about the way that he chooses to work with real people in real time, in real space, in real history.
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And the way that he calls Saul here in our text shows us some things about the character of our
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God where we live here in Matawan in 2018. It shows us something that is meant to offer us comfort, to offer us hope, and to even inform our sense of calling and responsibility to the world around us and to others around us in our daily lives and the things that we are called to take on and the responsibilities that we have in our culture.
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God doesn't merely place his calling, by the way, on kings and priests and prophets and pastors and missionaries, people in full -time
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Christian work. I sincerely believe that God calls all of us to his ministry.
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And not just in the general be a missionary every day, all of us are missionaries, that kind of thing. But to think in terms of what we do day in and day out as a calling from God, whether it's teaching students or delivering packages or performing surgeries or designing medical instruments or managing processes or selling stuff or managing businesses or whatever it might be,
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I believe that we all have a daily calling to glorify God in all that we do, even if it's raising kids, if that's what we do.
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And therefore, what we do matters because God is the one who has equipped us and called us to do it.
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So let's open our Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 10, 1 Samuel 10.
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If you don't have a Bible or a device to navigate to this portion of Scripture, then just take the
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Bible that's under the seat in front of you and that's on page 133 in that Bible. And then if you don't have a
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Bible at home, I'd ask that you take that one with you. We want everybody to have a copy of God's Word. And then, like I said, if you need to navigate in a device over there,
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I just want everybody to follow along. We are going to read 1 Samuel chapter 10 in its entirety. I recognize it's a bit of a long passage, but I think it's valuable, beneficial, helpful for us to take in God's Word each week.
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So let's follow along and listen in and try to imagine these things that are transpiring and taking place as I'm reading the text.
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It's a narrative. It's a historical account. Prince, over his heritage, when you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelza.
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And they will say to you, the donkeys that you went to seek are found. And now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you saying, what shall
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I do about my son? Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor.
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Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there. One carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.
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And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. After that, you shall come to Gibeath Elohim, where there is a garrison of the
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Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying.
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Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
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Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds for you to do, for God is with you.
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Then go down before me to Gilgal, and behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings.
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Seven days you shall wait until I come to you and show you what you shall do. When he turned his back to Leif Samuel, God gave him another heart.
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And all these signs came to pass that day. When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him.
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And the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, what has come over the son of Kish?
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Is Saul also among the prophets? And a man of the place answered, and who's his daddy?
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No, no, it says, and who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, is
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Saul also among the prophets? When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, where did you go?
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And he said to seek the donkeys. And when we saw that they were not to be found, we went to Samuel. And Saul's uncle said, please tell me what
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Samuel said to you. And Saul said to his uncle, he told us plainly that the donkeys had been found, but about the matter of the kingdom of which
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Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything. Now Samuel called the people together to the
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Lord at Mizpah, and he said to the people of Israel, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I brought you up out of Egypt and delivered you from the hand of the
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Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. But today you have rejected your
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God who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the
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Lord by your tribes and by your thousands. Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.
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He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot.
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And Saul, the son of Kish, was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found.
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So they inquired again of the Lord, is there a man still to come? And the Lord said, behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.
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Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.
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And Samuel said to all the people, do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.
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And the people shouted, long live the king! And Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the
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Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his own home. Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts
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God had touched. But some worthless fellows said, how can this man save us?
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And they despised him and brought him no present, but he held his peace. Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you for your word, and just Old Testament passages like this that sometimes at first reading and at first glance we don't quite know what to do with, but we see and we're going to see the richness and the depth of what you're communicating to us for our daily lives here.
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That you are faithful to assure those that you call, you are faithful to equip those that you call, and you are even able and willing to overcome those that you call.
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So Father, I pray that that would be a reality here in our midst, that you have called us all to various tasks, to responsibilities, to various roles in our lives.
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And you've even blessed many in this room to be a mother, and that calling and that role that you've placed on their lives.
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And I pray that you would give them assurance, and that you would give them equipping, and that you would even overcome them in the sense of their fallenness and their brokenness.
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And Father, I pray that you would be doing that for all of us here that are present. Each one of us has a role to play in your kingdom, a role to play in our society, a role to play in our culture, and our work, and our businesses, and our lives, and our families.
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So Father, I pray that you would impact us here where we live today by your precious word.
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And then as we have an opportunity to worship you, Father, I pray that we would worship you in spirit and in truth, with our hearts engaged and with a hunger to know you better.
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I ask this in Jesus' name. Well, I encourage you to get comfortable and keep your
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Bibles open to 1 Samuel chapter 10. If you lost your place, I'd encourage you and your device, or again, in the
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Bible, just to navigate over there and have that open in front of you. We're going to see that that's the text. And then remember, if you need to get up and get more coffee or juice or donuts, while supplies last,
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I don't know what's left back there, but don't feel like you got to be, you know, glued to your seat.
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If you need to get up at any time, you're not going to get in my way. So last week we left our text with a cliffhanger in chapter 9.
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We were introduced to a young, tall, dark, and handsome man named Saul, who was just, it doesn't say dark,
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I just added that, but he was out searching for his father's donkeys when he had a strange run -in with the prophet
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Samuel that we saw last week. And so just kind of coming into this week, it requires a little bit understanding of where we were last week.
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Samuel was interacting with Saul, this young guy who is, again, just out looking for his father's donkeys, and he's interacting with him.
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And as he's interacting with him, he's dropping severe hints that God has something special in store for Saul.
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Saul doesn't know what that special thing is. He's just dropping all these crazy hints. Samuel told
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Saul, who are all the good things in Israel for except for you and your family? Like, how many of you think that would be a weird interchange with somebody?
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Like, all the good things in America, they were made for you. What? Who is this guy? Like, you need to go see someone about this.
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Like, that's just weird. Saul was rightly confused about the things that Samuel was saying to him.
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He was just a young man from a farm in a small clan. He says that. He says, I'm from the smallest clan in the smallest territory of Israel.
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You've got it wrong, Samuel. But then Samuel invites Saul and his servant to a banquet and seated
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Saul at the head of the head table. He had the cook bring out the choiceless portion of meat and set it before Saul and honors him deeply.
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So then they have this banquet, and then Samuel says, why don't you come over and stay at my place tonight?
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So Saul goes over there, and then in the morning Samuel woke up Saul to send him on his way, but not before taking him off to the side and saying, now
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I'm going to reveal to you the big, here's the big reveal. Here's really what God is calling you to,
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Saul. Let me make it explicit. I've been kind of dancing around this thing, and that's where chapter nine ended.
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That's where we ended last week, cliffhanger. And the point of last week was to show that God is sovereign.
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Even in the details of bringing Saul and Samuel together, he was sovereign in that day in the way that Saul is out looking for donkeys and has this run -in with Samuel.
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But now we're going to see this morning that God is faithful beyond just orchestrating the events of our calling.
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He is also then faithful to assure and to equip and to overcome those that he calls.
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That's our outline this morning, verses one through nine. We're going to see God assuring the one that he calls.
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We're going to see in verses 10 through 13 that God equips the one that he calls. And in verses 14 through 27, surprising to us and maybe a little bit radical to our thinking about the way that God works and the way that our callings work, we're going to see
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God overcome the one that he calls. Sometimes it's not enough that he's assured us, it's not enough that he equips us, we're still scared.
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We still hold back. He's equipped us, he's assured us, he's told us what to do, we know what to do, we've got everything necessary to do it, but we just hide among the baggage as we're going to see by the end of this text.
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That's a bit of a spoiler. But sometimes, how many can relate to what it means to need to be overcome? God has to overcome your will in order to get you to the place that he wants you to be.
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And many of us have rolled that way with God. So how many of you think that this might be a bit of a strange day for Saul?
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Like this is a strange, really bizarre day. Like, I mean, you put it in our context and it would be really weird.
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Here in our text, he went out to do a common agricultural task. Well, most of us don't have agricultural tasks to do, but that would have been a commonplace thing in their culture.
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Some donkeys escaped their enclosure. His dad sent him out to look for the donkeys. So in that society, that might be closer to the modern day task of going out to get gas.
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Your meter was on E, and you were like, you know, I'm just going to head out, I'll pump gas so that it's ready for Monday morning.
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I don't know if you ever do that, but it's like, I got a big trip in the morning, I don't want to get up early to go stop and get gas, so I'm going to do this. Or maybe it's just as simple as buying groceries.
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I mean, it's not something that you do maybe every single day, but it's a routine thing still in that culture.
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Oh, donkeys got out again, got to go find them. That's exactly what he's doing. So imagine that you set out one day to Costco to scoop up some sick bargains, because man,
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I mean, they've got some good stuff there. And in the process, you run into a spiritual leader who tells you that good things are in store for you.
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That's what he tells you. I mean, God's just revealed to me, good things are in your future. And then he goes on, you know, with all this mystery and all this vague notion, and you're going, man, you're kind of trying to distance yourself from this guy.
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And he's following you around from aisle to aisle. And then he basically says, you know what, next month you're going to be the governor of Michigan.
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I know it. I don't even want to be like, okay, you're sick, you've got a problem, and you need to get this taken care of, right?
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Like, I mean, here, let me go get you some help right now. And I know that that's an absurd example, because we've got a political system by which we obtain our governors, right?
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So you're kind of going, well, that's so absurd, Don. Why would you even use that as an illustration? But you have to put yourself in Samuel and Saul's shoes here.
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We at least have a governor. At least you have a framework of understanding. Israel didn't even have a king.
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And Saul says, you're going to be the king. I'm going to be the what? What are you talking about? Me, the king?
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This doesn't even, doesn't even gel. There is no king. Samuel, you know that, right? There's not a king over Israel.
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We've never had a king. Well, you're going to be it, he says. A really, really strange and bizarre day here for Saul, who just went out to find his dad's wandering and lost donkeys.
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So we see in these first nine verses that those who God calls, he assures, because how many of you would have some questions in your mind if you were
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Saul? You have a few questions and maybe even some insecurities that are already creeping in the moment that he says, you're going to be the ruler of all the people.
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Whoa, hold on a second. I've got some questions. And so we're going to see that it's going to require God's assurance of him.
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And in verse one, the prophet Samuel took Saul off to that side, poured a flask of oil on his head, kissed him, and gave him his calling and outright declared,
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God has anointed you to be prince over Israel. So a couple of these images and pictures, the anointing with oil was significant because prior to this event, anointing with oil was only used strictly in a religious context for appointing a priest or a leader, a religious leader.
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And so this is one way of demonstrating that for Israel, the kingship of Israel was to be brought into the religious establishment.
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Israel's king was only meant to be a king of the people under the ultimate lordship of their
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God. He was to be a leader under God's direction, under God's law, under God's rules. He was a human ruler under the divine rule of the almighty.
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And that's one of the reasons Samuel uses the word prince, which could be a translated ruler. He doesn't use, there's a great word in Hebrew, malech.
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It's the word for king. And he doesn't use that for Samuel here. We get the impression throughout this book, he will eventually use it for Saul, but I think that he struggled with it a bit.
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I think we actually see Samuel struggling with using the term for a human. Now, the only king that you've ever known was the
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Lord God almighty. How many of you might struggle with giving that same title to someone else? And that's,
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I think Samuel is doing that. So he uses the word ruler. It's translated prince in the ESV. It's just a generic word for ruler.
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I think there's a reticence in Samuel to use the word king for any man. But when
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I read that Samuel kissed Saul, I cringe. Anybody else in the room just, is that just me?
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Is that just my, you're like, I'm a dude, and it's like, that's not cool. Hugs push the limit for me.
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I'm just being honest, being authentic with you. I'm learning and I'm growing, but it's still a bit of a stretch.
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So I'm really quick to give you my hand when I'm out there at the door. Some people like just, you know, know me and they go right in for the hug.
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But if I was Saul in this situation,
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I'd be like, back up off me, Samuel. I mean, whoa, hold on. But the culture of this is probably a kiss on each cheek that was a sign of honor from the prophet.
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So it would have been culturally acceptable and understood. It's an honor, a sign of honor coming especially from a prophet of Israel.
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So you must remember that Saul is getting all of this here in this text for the first time in verse one.
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And so it's helpful to consider that he's anointed, he's honored, he's declared to be the ruler by Samuel all at once.
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And he is given his function in this. Not just a title, but a function. What kind of a king?
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What is the purpose of your kingdom? God is not merely calling him to be a king so that he can live wealthy and do whatever he wants and have palaces and pools and fountains and statues of himself and all of that.
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There's a purpose to his kingdom. Look at verse one. You shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the surrounding enemies.
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The anointed kings were called out to be a type of savior to their community. The king was to save and preserve his people.
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But notice the grace of God at the end of this verse that leads to our first point. God promises a sign to Saul.
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Saul is doubtful. I think Saul is probably thunderstruck with the news that he's going to be the chosen ruler.
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He wasn't out looking for this. He was out looking for his dad's donkeys. He was on a trip to Costco to get groceries.
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And all of these things transpire. So verses two through six predict Saul's day in detail and in a detail and in specificity that only a prophet could supply.
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Now remember that the standard for a prophet is that 100 % of his prophecies come true. If he misses a detail he's to be stoned as a false prophet.
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He's just kind of making stuff up. And so Samuel has a pretty high standard. How many of you might if you were in Samuel's case might kind of water down the prophecy just to make sure you get it right.
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Like I mean if it says it's going to be detailed maybe you'd leave a couple details out just in case that one's wrong or something. But Samuel lets him have it and explains his day in detail.
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Crazy specific detail. In verses two through three he says about two specific encounters that Saul will have on that same day.
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He says later today this is what's going to happen to you. And both of those encounters assure Saul by the specificity of the detail that comes to pass.
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The prophet is right. And if the prophet is right about this level of detail then he's certainly right about my calling to be king.
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That's the way that this functions in the text. It functions in the life of Saul. Samuel gives him specific details so that he is then like wow this is actually really happening.
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This is really true. So these two encounters that are the first two encounters that are predicted by Samuel. The first is there to remind
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Saul of God's ongoing care and concern for Saul and his family. He says two men are going to greet you today and pass along the anxious state of your father.
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Your father is worried about you now. He's over the donkeys. The donkeys have been returned. Now he's worried about you Saul. He's been gone a few days and his father is worried.
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The direction of these encounters is increasingly towards home. So the locations that are given there have that value and that benefit of understanding that the direction of Saul is moving closer and closer to home with each one of these successive events that Samuel is predicting.
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He says you're going to be on your way home and you're going to encounter these people along the way at these specific points along the way.
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And Saul is on the way to let his father know he's okay. The second encounter also shows God's care for Saul and providing food for the remainder of his journey.
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How many of you like you out walking out for a walk and you might get hungry out for a hike and you might wish you had some trail mix with you or something.
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He's hungry and so there's actually a provision. God's showing that he's going to take care of Saul.
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He says you're going to encounter three men down by the big oak tree. I think it's funny how you know the
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Israel is a small place and he's down by that big oak at Tabor. Everybody knows where that big oak is, right?
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And he explains in detail what every person that he encounters is going to be carrying in their hands. The one's going to be carrying three loaves of bread and he's going to give two of them to Saul.
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He says he's going to offer you two out of three loaves of bread in his hand and God is going to be gracious to provide for his chosen servant.
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But that isn't the main point of the text that God provides for those. It's ultimately about assurance. That's what this is all about.
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It's about the assurance that Saul needs to be the leader that God's calling to and then we're going to see in the last encounter that he has ultimately about equipping.
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But I want to highlight something that I find funny in verse three. Maybe you didn't and but when I read it maybe it's part of my not being in an agricultural setting but one of these dudes is carrying three young goats.
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Did anybody catch that? Anybody like what does that look like? I mean this looks like this sounds to me like a circus sideshow, right?
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Carrying one goat is a way to get your clothes chewed off and your ears eaten, okay? I mean but this guy is carrying three young goats.
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He's an expert, right? Three young goats. I think the Bible is full of miracles, okay?
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Maybe somebody who maybe there's somebody in the room who's carried three goats. You come and tell me and I will totally be impressed and in awe and I will like put your name down as the winner of the goat carrying contest or whatever but three sounds extreme to me.
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But the first two signs of assurance for Saul were detailed encounters of God's care and provision for Saul.
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God has the future under control, he says. God cares about you, Saul. He cares about your family and he can provide for you but the real focus in the text is given in the final encounter that he predicts, the final assurance.
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The last one set in motion to calm the internal fears of Saul.
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You see if someone came to you right now and told you that you were going to be propelled to the highest office in this land, I think most of you would have thoughts and questions that follow along similar lines that God is dealing with for Saul.
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Is my family going to be okay? I mean you might wonder that if somebody said you're going to be the president. I mean you might wonder how is that going to impact my family?
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How is that going to impact my well -being? Am I going to be taken care of in this process? What's going on with me in this?
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What's going on with my family? But I think the more prevalent question on most of our minds would be simply, do
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I have what it takes? Is that a reason? Yeah there you go.
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Is that a reasonable question? How many of you sometimes feel like that? Anybody ever feel like that guy right there? I do. There's days where I feel like that but do
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I have what it takes to, I mean if I'm going to be the next king, if I'm going to be the president, all of a sudden everything that I've ever felt about insecurity might bubble to the surface right?
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How many think that Saul might be wondering, do I have what it takes to be the king over all of these people?
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So here from the beginning God assures Saul along all three lines of thought, Saul I've got your family.
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Saul I've got you taken care of. I can provide for you. I can provide for you bread where you weren't looking for it. On your trip home here's some bread.
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And lastly, Saul I will equip you. Verses five through six, five and six predict that as Saul nears his home this last encounter happens only about three miles from his house, from his village.
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Saul will encounter a procession of prophets and the spirit of the Lord will come upon him and he will prophesy and he will be changed.
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Samuel tells him you're going to be changed by the end of this day. This is a positive change, a positive change that's pictured to provide the insurance but also the equipping for him to be a leader.
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It's a change for leadership and for power. It's not the same indwelling that believers experience today through the
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Holy Spirit given to us in Christ, but in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come upon people to empower them from time to time.
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He would leave and he would go and come in back and forth in people's lives. There was a guy named Basilel in the
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Old Testament who was empowered by the spirit to build the tabernacle on the Ark of the Covenant and he was given manual skills by the
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Holy Spirit and the spirit would come upon him and he was able to do all kinds of woodworking and metal working and even made spices and wove tapestries and all kinds of stuff that Basilel was responsible for and it said that the spirit came upon him and empowered him to do that.
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We have a great example in Samson, not a great example for your life guys, but a great example of the spirit coming on a person, leaving a person, coming on a person, leaving a person and when the spirit would come upon Samson what would happen?
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He would get superhuman strength and the spirit would come upon him occasionally so he could go whoop up on some
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Philistines, go get a snack and hang out until the next time. And here the power of the spirit will come upon Saul to transform this small town farm boy into a leader, a king.
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And verse 7 gives him this comfort that after the spirit comes upon him then he can act in leadership.
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Notice the timing of the call to action for this new king. It is only after the confirmation, after the confirmation then act.
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How often do we seek to act before the confirmation of our leadership or the confirmation of our role or the confirmation of our calling?
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We cannot always put God to the test and I'd be cautious about that but let me suggest that when God is calling he also confirms and equips.
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He will confirm it to you by others around you if indeed you are called to something.
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I mean the reality is there could potentially be some people who feel called to sing. I could come to you and say
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I feel called to sing and Dave would like nix me really quick, okay. But Dave I just feel,
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I mean I know in my heart I'm called to sing and one time up here and you guys would be like I don't know if I can do this next week.
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I don't know if I'm coming back. So I mean you kind of, do you see what I'm saying? I mean the confirmation is a vital part of our calling and turning to others and saying what do you see in me and opening ourselves up to leaders.
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I think in all honesty we often know when we're pushing out past God's calling. Do you kind of deep down really know that?
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And sometimes you're even just playing a game in your mind and you're trying to forget that I'm out here past the things that God has called me to do.
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So be honest about that but even in the church we should submit our goals, our callings, and our plans to the confirmation of the leaders that God has put in our lives in order to just kind of get another set of eyes on us.
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Those who know you better, those your parents, ask there if they're if they're in Christ and you're called to a ministry man, consult with people who have been there and done that and are ahead of you in this.
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But after that assurance that the Lord has called when the Spirit is with you, we see that Saul is told do what your hands find to do.
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Do what is placed before you. I think this is a good way for us to live our lives. Those who are filled with the
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Spirit, those who are walking by the Spirit, those who are being guided by the Spirit, those who are seeking to honor the
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Spirit, those who are confirmed in the Lord can do what you find your hands to do and trust that God is with you to honor him in it.
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Just kind of use an age -old illustration. I mean, you might remember what it was like to be in high school and be ready to launch out and, you know, the questions start to pile up.
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What am I going to do next year? And people start to ask you those kinds of questions, you know, when you're a senior or whatever. You know, you could attend
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Western, you could go to MSU, you could go to Grand Valley State University. All kinds of decisions that are posed before you.
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Decisions, decisions. And you can put it in your life. But I would suggest you walk with the
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Spirit and it doesn't matter where or if you go to college. You can serve him wherever.
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Should I leave my current job? Should I start a new ministry? Should I teach and recast kids? Fill in the blank for where you're at and the type of decisions that face you routinely.
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And let me encourage you to seek confirmation from spiritual leaders around you. Walk with the Spirit and then do what the
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Lord has laid before you. But a word of caution about the way that that process works.
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At the end of verse 7, if you look at that, now when these signs meet you, do what your hands find to do, for God is with you.
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And we take that as code. When we think about God being with us, that's code in our hearts for everything's going to go my way.
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Everything's going to go smooth. Like, do you know what I'm saying? Like, if I find the right thing, if I'm confirmed, then everything has to go okay because I checked all the boxes,
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I asked the right people, they told me they confirmed it, and I was called. So it has to succeed, right?
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So we read it as code for everything will go my way. So we pick Grand Valley State University and everything goes poorly for us our first semester and then we get angry at God or even somehow think that we've missed
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God's calling on our lives. But let me suggest that God being with you sometimes looks like valleys of darkness.
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It isn't all rainbows and butterflies even when we walk in God's favor. It's declared of Job in the
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Old Testament that he was a righteous man full of justice and upstanding in his society and honoring to God and even to the degree of making sacrifices for his own children in the event that they might have sinned and broken
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God's rules. This was an upstanding dude and all of that was true of him before the tragedy struck.
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God doesn't grow us in his garden without spreading a little manure around us from time to time.
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How do you notice this in your life? Growth is slow. It's a slow thing and sometimes it requires hard winners to produce the most sturdy of oak.
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And when you're buying oak, you want it to come from up north. You don't want to buy southern oak. You don't want to buy oak that hasn't weathered winters, that hasn't been toughened up.
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You don't want leaders like that. You want leaders and even in your life. You need to be seasoned.
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I mean we don't like it. How many of you sign up for that kind of stuff? You sign up for the hard times? You love that? None of us.
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How many of you can acknowledge that some of the hard things that you faced in your life are the very things that make you stronger?
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Do you know what I'm talking about? Oh, so be ready for the
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God being with you is in the tragedies, in the hardships, in the difficulties, in the things.
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But man there's richness and there's blessing in even that. Even in verse 8 we see that God calls his leader to wait on him.
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But in verse 7 he was told to act and so there's this tension right there between verses 7 and 8. In verse 7, act on what you see before me.
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In verse 8, wait for Samuel to come and make some sacrifices. This is the tension of our calling in life, waiting for God to move, but living out our days knowing he is with us and that he gives us some freedom to act.
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And God gave a new heart to Saul it says in the text. And that is really the second point.
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Those that God calls he equips. And sometimes that equipping results in surprise for those around us.
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The predictive confirmations given to Saul about that very day all came to pass.
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But only the third one is about equipping. It's spelled out in detail to highlight the equipping of Saul. That God is faithful to equip.
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He came to Gibeah which is close to home. He met a group of prophets coming down the mountain with all these instruments and it probably was just kind of like this frenzy type of music and singing and celebration of the
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Lord and all that that's going on. And the spirit rushed on him and he prophesied among them. And just to clarify, we see some weird things among the prophets.
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We're going to actually see Saul at one point, he's going to get naked in the prophecy. And you're going, what in the world is going on here?
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And there's just weird stuff. The types of prophecy entailed ecstatic utterances, singing, and even symbolism, some very crazy symbolism like the prophet
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Ezekiel who cut off his beard. And when he cuts off his beard he divided it into three parts.
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One third he burned, one third he beat with a sword all around the city, throwing up his beard and hit it with a sword, just weird stuff.
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And then he took the last third and threw it to the wind. All of this is symbolism for the people of God.
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The hair of his beard representing God's people and they're going to be burned, they're going to be struck down with a sword, they're going to be tossed to the wind and scattered among the nations.
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But before he threw up that last third he took a little bit, fortunately took a little bit, sewed it into the hem of his robe to say, but I've got a little bit of you left here.
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God's going to keep some of you. There's going to be a remnant. God will never be faithless to his people. He will always leave a remnant.
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That's the kind of stuff that the prophets did. Bizarre, crazy stuff. It's fun. Read Ezekiel, get in there, dig in, watch these things that these guys did.
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And it's really intriguing and interesting. But this change in Saul, okay, so Saul, farm boy, is now prophesying.
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He's among the prophets. He's doing these crazy things and the change was so radical that it created a proverb that was used when something astonishing happened.
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Is Saul also among the prophets? I mean, something crazy and bizarre and weird happens in your day and the thing that you utter is, is
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Saul among the prophets? Used when something bizarre happened. The change in Saul was so radical that people who knew him couldn't believe that this local farm boy was prophesying.
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God calls the most surprising of people in the eyes of the world and he seems delighted to surprise us with the changes that he can work in the lives of real people.
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A major part of the assurance here is tied up in the God who equips the person by transforming them.
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A person, for example, we'll just use a simple illustration. A person who might be, for example, afraid of public speaking.
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Might be the kind of person who God would call to the ministry of preaching his word regularly. And others who knew them from their high school days and knew that they failed speech class or actually got the worst grade that they got in a class in speech class because they refused to do the impromptu speeches might exclaim with surprise something like, is
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Don Filcik among the preachers? Only by God's grace.
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The one who is called is transformed by the spirit. They are given a new heart so that those who knew you before you became a
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Christian might reasonably exclaim, is Don among the Christians? Is Jason among the
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Christians? Is Mary among the Christians? Fill in your name there as well.
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When God calls a person he equips them with his transforming power. But assurance and equipping is not all that's required for Saul and that leads to the final point.
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Sometimes God must also overcome the one he calls. Saul received ample assurance, he received ample equipping, but as a sign of issues coming for Saul we get a glimpse that things are not all right with Saul.
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He's not completely all in with the trust of God. God still has to overcome Saul to bring him to the leadership.
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And we might be assured here in this room you might have a pretty good solid notion of what
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God's calling you to do. You might even be equipped, you might recognize that God has done something in your life to equip you for the calling that he's placed before you, but we might still lack the will to serve him in that calling.
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In verses 14 through 16 Saul keeps his calling a secret from his uncle. He doesn't speak of the matter of the kingdom to his uncle who's asking him questions.
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He talks about the donkeys but not about the prophecy or the anointing or the life change that God has wrought in him.
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This could be misconstrued as a noble humility. Don't talk about the high calling that God has placed on your life.
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But I think it's actually a very wrong -minded of Saul. I don't think that's his motivation at all.
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I don't think there's a genuine humility in his unwillingness to share with his uncle what's going on. I think it's actually an embarrassment of what is going on in his life that he's unwilling to share directly with his uncle what
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God is doing. As a matter of fact, think of it this way. Were Saul to tell his uncle, answer honestly as we've just read in these two last chapters in chapters 9 and 10, if he was to share with his uncle about the things that God has done in his life in the last 24 hours, would that glorify
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Saul? Or who would get the glory for that? If he read it the way that it was, it'd be glory to God, wouldn't it?
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Doesn't even necessarily paint Saul in a great light here. But it's God's sovereign plan that he's unwilling to share with others.
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Saul was withdrawn about the things that God is doing in his life. And let that, let that be a thought for you.
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That'd be a challenge for all of us. Are we willing to share what God is doing in us and through us?
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This is further emphasized by the way, by the humorous way that Saul is finally, the fact that he needs to be overcome is emphasized by the humorous way that Saul has finally declared king before the people.
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God must overcome Saul's privacy in the context of his uncle unwilling to share, but he also has to overcome his fear of his calling.
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We're about to find Saul hiding out in the luggage from God's calling. And how many of you understand what
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I'm talking about when I say that God might need to overcome you in order to fulfill your calling? You know what I'm talking about on that?
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Some of us know what it means to be timid in the face of the things that we're called to do. Maybe some of you in this room are hiding among the baggage even today.
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Do you trust in God's ability to assure you of your calling? Do you trust him to equip you for the things that he desires for you to do?
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God is more than able to assure you and equip you. If he needs to, he can even overcome you to place you where he needs you to be.
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Samuel called all the people together at Mizpah and he proves that the last person you want to invite to your party is a prophet.
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Invite the one who makes all those little balloon things and, you know, makes animals out of them and stuff like that, or invite a clown.
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As scary as they are, go ahead and have at that. But man, a prophet? That's really scary. This is supposed to be a...
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Hey, there you go. I always thought that was ice cream.
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That's not chocolate ice cream? I'm sorry. Bad, bad. I'm totally off the notes now.
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This is supposed to be a celebration. The people are getting a king. What do they want? They want to celebrate the coronation of a new king.
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They want it to be, you know, all cake and party poppers and fireworks and all that kind of celebration.
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And the word of God is never delicate or PC or willing to celebrate that which
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God is not celebrating. And so Samuel is a prophetic party popper.
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The public ceremony of selecting Saul as king begins with God declaring the way that he cared for his people and the way that they have rejected him.
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He says, I've done nothing but care for you. I've done nothing but protect you from your enemies. And as the enemies were coming in and surrounding,
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I've given you victory after victory after victory. And the way that you return that is say, give us a king who can protect us.
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What have I been doing? What am I? Says the Almighty. Oh, you need a king.
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I see. You need somebody with flesh to really protect you. The public selection of Saul is important to the people so that they can see that this is
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God's selection and not merely Samuel anointing Saul. So this is public and there's the selecting of lots.
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Some of you might not know how lots were chosen. And so all of the tribes, the names of tribes of Israel would be written on a stone, put in a jar.
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The priest would swirl the jar around. The first one to flip out of the mouth of the jar was the selection of the lot.
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So that's the way it would go. And it ends up landing on Kish and then Saul, the son of Kish.
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And so I imagine that as that one flips out and Samuel grabs it, he already knows what it's going to say because God's already revealed that to him.
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But he picks that one up and he says, Saul, son of Kish. And everybody starts chanting, Saul, Saul, Saul, Saul, Saul, Saul, Beulah, Beulah, Beulah.
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Some of you get that. And there's nothing but crickets, right? There's nothing but the monotonous tone of the teacher saying, Beulah, Beulah, Beulah.
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They've already lost their king. Do you see the irony in this? They lost their king. They can't even find their king.
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I mean, they couldn't find themselves out of a paper bag, a wet paper bag.
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And so they have to consult God. What's going on here? It landed on Saul, but he's not here.
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What are we supposed to do? And he's like, oh yeah, he's hanging out in the luggage. He's hiding. So they go to retrieve their newly appointed leader and then they shout, long live the king.
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I imagine that they had to carry him. I mean, I don't know if his claws are on the ground as like the nails are pulling and the people are like, yeah, our king.
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And he's like, no, no, you can't make me king. I'm adding a little drama in there. It doesn't say that in the text, but you have it open so you can correct me.
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But all of this leads to a decision among the people in the end. That's how the text concludes.
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Saul leaves for home. He's appointed. He's anointed. He is the king. Some valiant men support him and want to honor the
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Lord's calling on his life, while others despise him, rejecting God's calling on him, declaring, how could this man save us?
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God assures, God equips, and God overcomes, in our text, his chosen king.
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And at the end, the king was a polarizing figure. Kings work that way. They call for a decision of loyalty.
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By his very appointment, Saul forced a decision among the people. And King Jesus also calls for loyalty as well, by the very nature of him being a king.
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So if you've given your loyalty to Jesus, then I'd encourage you to please come to one of the tables in the back during this next song to remember his blood shed for you and his body broken for you.
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But if you're genuinely stuck on the question, how can this one save us?
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If you haven't come to understand that yet, then I'd encourage you to skip communion, but come and talk with me at the door.
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I'll be standing out here in the lobby afterwards, and I would love to step away with you. If you have a genuine question, come and ask, and I would love to step away from that door and talk with you about the way that King Jesus has loved you, and he loved you by dying for your sins, just like he died for mine.
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But a final word to all of us as we come to communion this morning, something for us to contemplate and consider before we get up out of our seats and go to the table, and that is that Jesus didn't save us merely for heaven, but his salvation is meant to have an impact on our daily lives.
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So don't hide among the baggage. Get out there in confidence that the one who assures and equips has given you all that you need to honor him in your calling this week.
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Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for your grace and your mercy. I pray that if there's anyone here who doesn't know that you are the chosen king who can save them,
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I pray that today might be a day of opened eyes and opened ears and open hearts. But Father, for those of us who are in with you as our king and recognize that that we owe our allegiance to Jesus and come to these tables to remember his sacrifice for us,
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I pray that you would help us to be bold as we go out to be the ones who are called according to you in our in the specifics of our job and our daily task and the roles that you've given to us, but also,
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Father, in terms of our worship of you in all of those things. I pray that you would make us faithful ministers of the gospel to our community and to our neighbors and to our co -workers and our families.
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And Father, that the gospel go out from this place because we love you and we recognize that others out there only lack the request to give you allegiance in Jesus' name.