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Is God Looking For The Same Things We Are? · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: a friend.
• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Mike McCurrey, the host of Bible Track Echoes and that's the program you are listening to right now.
• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you would take your time and tune the dial or your podcast player to this particular broadcast right now.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so thankful for the Army, the family, of listeners that we have to be T.E.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bible Track Echoes from not just the continental United States, but around the world.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to ask you to grab your Bibles and go to first Samuel chapter 16.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: First Samuel chapter 16, and I'm going to find my place there as well.
• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to jump right into the scripture here in just a moment.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: we're going to talk about what God is looking for.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to contrast that with what man is looking for.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, often we find what we are looking for.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I remember back when my family, my wife and I, we were in the market for a minivan.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have a been there.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am the proud driver
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: you can put the seats down in those things and fit so much stuff back there it's like a small truck and now this makes sound like vanity but um they're making them look a lot nicer than they used to all that to say when you're looking for a particular type of vehicle you see them everywhere and so you see at the stop sign the stop light oh there's a minivan them so
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: has a little older, has more miles on it when it's beat up.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think we'd want something like that.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then you see another one.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, well, that's brand new.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if we're going to forward that one.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You see another one.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I like that color.
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then with the wheels that that one has, that looks really nice.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I looked up on Google and I saw that one only comes with this many seeds and this one has this kind of engine in it and that one gets a good gas mileage and that one doesn't and you see them everywhere it all depends on what your perspective is and what you are looking for.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to begin kind of a jumping off point.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to get outside the context of scripture.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we are going to start here in first Samuel chapter 16 verse 7, but the Lord said unto Samuel first Samuel 16 verse 7, you're familiar with this passage of scripture most likely.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll give you the context in a moment here, but the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord, see if not as man, see if, for man, look it on the outward appearance, but the Lord, look it on the heart.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, the context of Scripture here is Samuel has been tasked with identifying and
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Saul, Duda, some disobedience, some rebellion against what God wanted would be displaced as King he would die, and now wouldn't come for some years to come, but God wanted Samuel to identify the soon-coming king and he went to Jesse's house.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesse had some boys, and he looked at the first boy, and he was a tall, strapping, good-looking young man, I'm sure, and Samuel thought this guy looks like a king.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: God said it's not him.
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then Samuel sees one boy after another and each is refused, each is not going to be.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: The King and finally Samuel turns at Jesse and says, are there any others?
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesse says yes, there's one more he's tending this sheep and of course David is called.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can just imagine in your mind's eye.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: seeing that plays out there, David comes before Samuel and God imprints on Samuel's heart that yes, this is the future.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: King.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And God tells Samuel as we just read that God isn't looking for, isn't seeing the same things that men see.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: For instance, men look to be the best, think about the Olympic games every four years, athletes from around the world compete to be what?
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: The best.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're not just showing up to be there,
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're not just happy, I'm sure there's a part of them that's just, I'm just excited to be here, whether it's Paris or Beijing or Rio de Janeiro, wherever it may be, some big city, a lost angeles.
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, they're happy to be there, but they have a mission.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: They may be realistic about their chances, they may realize that their cold country isn't known for the summer sports, their warm country isn't known for snowboarding, but they're still there to do their best, and they want to be the best.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: The difference between first and second place between cold and silver.
• 5:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: can be as little as one hundredth of a second.
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think back to watching.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was of that age to watch in Beijing.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was Michael Phelps, one of what was at eight gold medals.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Some of them he needed help with.
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were relays.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was correct.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have him wrong.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: But
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was a relay where the margin of victory was something like a 100th of a second in just barely.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think they have pressure plates built into the wall and just by we'd say the skin of their teeth.
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Americans got there and secured the path from Michael Phelps to get those eight gold.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Metals, and you know the world glorifies, they put up on high, they post you up those that are what they would deem, the best.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure Michael Phelps was on his share of Weedys boxes.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm absolutely certain they were interviews after interviews with him because he was the BEST, the best.
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think about this biblical example.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: The disciples, they argued about who would be the greatest in God's kingdom.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's an loop chapter nine.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus corrected them, though didn't he?
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: He that is least among you all.
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: The same shall be great.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's almost like God isn't looking for the same things.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Men look to be the best.
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Men look to be the
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: biggest.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think about the races that have gone down through history to build the biggest buildings, nations and corporations compete to build the tallest skyscrapers.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: What's it called?
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is it the Burj Khalifa there?
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's Abu Dhabi.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just massive.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's interesting.
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: They didn't build that needle in the sky, with the intention of it being the second tallest building in the world.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: They did it to be the biggest.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I read an article a few months ago that I think they're looking to even beat their own record and not waiting for someone else to beat it.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're planning on building another one even taller at some point.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And with all that oil money, they'll probably build it pretty quickly.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: But understand, they did it to be the biggest, think about the tower of battle, Genesis, chapter 11, it was one of those early examples of bigger is better, but what did God do?
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: He scattered them and their efforts because their ambition
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: was for their own glory.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Heaven itself won't keep itself.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: It won't keep its doors shut to us.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will go ascend on high.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will be like God.
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: King Saul.
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: We just talked about him a moment ago.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's loop him back in here.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: He stood head and shoulders above everyone.
• 8:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Bible tells us that, for Samuel 9, yet his reign as King ended in failure.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because his heart was not right with God.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: What was David described as, a man after God's own heart?
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, being tall.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now back in that day,
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So all might have been, I believe, as I understand it, archaeologists and folks make it sound like, folks attend it a little bit shorter than they do today, so I've heard that the average height of a man in Israel is about five foot five, or they're about and so I, at six foot two, I would have been about a head taller, maybe not head and shoulders, so Saul, he might have been six, six.
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have looked up at someone that you just know, they are taller than you.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: At six foot two, for me, I have looked up at many that are taller than me, and a friend is seven foot one, and he towers over me.
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's probably head, shoulders, armpits, his elbows are almost taller than me, but in all sincerity, so all bigger wasn't better, was it?
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Zechariah, four verse 10, for who have despised the day of small things.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: That kind of tense itself, lends itself, towards a direction where going, God often works through small, unseen and overlooked things, men want to be the best, they want to be the biggest.
• 9:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: men want to be the boldest.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think about dairy devils and extreme sports.
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Many people want to be the most daring, maybe it's because that's when they feel the most alive, but maybe it's not so much a passion for just being bold, but they definitely want to get that adrenaline pumping don't they?
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the world applies it.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Me think of all the Red Bull advertisements.
• 10:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: They don't even mention a can of Red Bull.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: but they plastered all over the plains that they skydive out of and the suits that they're wearing and the motorcycles that they jump, realized though true courage we know this is found in obedience to God rather than seeking the applause of men.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: At first Kings, I'm sorry, first Samel 17, right after the passage we just read to open today,
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: We meet a giant, even taller than Saul named Goliath, and he was real bold in mocking God and challenging Israel.
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: But David's boldness, that man after God's own heart, the future king of Israel, his boldness came from faith in God, not his own.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Strength.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs chapter 3, 5 and 6, you probably could quote this with me.
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lead not unto thine own understanding.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wonder today what you are.
• 11:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: looking for.
• 11:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe your paycheck isn't as big as you'd like it to be, and so you are in a materialistic way looking for more.
• 11:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: You want to be the best.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You want the title at your job.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You want to be the boss.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: You want to be in the sea, sweet.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's striving for your home to be bigger.
• 11:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you have a pressure from your significant others, or maybe it's keeping up with
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe just maybe you think you to start your strike out on your own and start your own company because that's the bold option I'm not putting down being better.
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not putting down being bold and God.
• 12:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, he at times worked through the big option
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think of the children of Israel, some wanted two to three, maybe five million people that crossed the Red Sea, they weren't a small, people they were so large that the Egyptians were fearful of them.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it's so much more likely that he works through to small things and we're going to talk about that this week.
• 12:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is God looking for?
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is what are men looking for?
• 12:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I challenge you to ponder that for yourself, we're going to pick up where we've left
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tomorrow, on Bible Track, Echoes, I want to thank you so much for your listenership and my desire, my hope, my prayer, is that you have a great day for his glory and my career host will speak to you soon from this program Bible Track Echoes.
• 13:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for listening.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: God bless.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:25
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• 13:29
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• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.