Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / January 11 - 1 Samuel 11

Transcript

January 11 - 1 Samuel 11 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:12
  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It is great that you have tapped
• 0:17
  on play and joined me on Thursday.
• 0:20
  It is the 11th of January, and you, my friend, have tapped on
• 0:25
  play so that we can read another chapter of God's Word.
• 0:30
  Yes, this is a book written a long time ago about a story that
• 0:35
  seems quite distant and separate from our lives and the way the
• 0:40
  world looks today. But this story has been
• 0:43
  captured, has been written down and passed down through the
• 0:47
  generations so that we can read it today, So that we can learn
• 0:53
  just a little bit more each day about the nature of our God.
• 0:56
  About what God has in store and and has in mind for the way he
• 1:01
  wants to rule his people and rule us as our king.
• 1:05
  And this is the journey of him teaching his people that all
• 1:10
  that time ago. But nonetheless, it is still a
• 1:14
  lesson that God has to teach us today.
• 1:16
  And so we pray that God's Spirit would use this story, use this
• 1:22
  narrative, use these characters who all play second fiddle to
• 1:26
  God in this story and that Holy Spirit.
• 1:30
  You would teach us more about you so that we would be arrested
• 1:35
  and amazed by all that you are, Well, friends, let's do it,
• 1:41
  shall we? Let's read together First
• 1:43
  Samuel, Chapter 11. About a month later, King Nahash
• 1:59
  of Amon led his army against the Israelite town of Jabesh Gilead.
• 2:05
  But all the citizens of Jabesh asked for peace.
• 2:09
  Make a treaty with us and we will be your servants, they
• 2:12
  pleaded. All right, Nahash said, But only
• 2:17
  on one condition. I will gouge out the right eye
• 2:21
  of every one of you as a disgrace to all Israel.
• 2:26
  Give us seven days to send messengers throughout Israel,
• 2:29
  replied the elders of Jabesh. If no one comes to save us, we
• 2:34
  will agree to your terms. When the messengers came to
• 2:38
  Gibeah of Saul and told the people about their plight,
• 2:42
  everyone broke into tears. Saul had been ploughing a field
• 2:47
  with his oxen, and when he returned to town he asked,
• 2:50
  what's the matter? Why is everyone crying?
• 2:54
  So they told them about the message from Jabesh.
• 2:57
  Then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he
• 3:02
  became very angry. He took two oxen and cut them
• 3:07
  into pieces and sent the messengers to carry them
• 3:10
  throughout Israel with this message.
• 3:13
  This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who refuses to
• 3:18
  follow Saul and Samuel into battle.
• 3:22
  And the Lord made the people afraid of Saul's anger, and all
• 3:27
  of them came out together as one.
• 3:30
  When Saul mobilized them at Bezeq, he found that there were
• 3:34
  300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 men from Judah.
• 3:41
  So Saul sent the messengers back to Jabesh Gilead to say we will
• 3:47
  rescue you by noontime tomorrow. There was great joy throughout
• 3:53
  the town when the message arrived.
• 3:55
  The men of Jabesh then told their enemies.
• 3:59
  Tomorrow we will come out to you and you can do to us whatever
• 4:04
  you wish. But before dawn the next
• 4:07
  morning, Saul arrived. Having divided his army into
• 4:11
  three detachments, he launched a surprise attack against the
• 4:15
  Ammonites and slaughtered them the whole morning.
• 4:19
  The remnant of their army was so badly scattered that no two of
• 4:23
  them were left together. Then the people exclaimed to
• 4:27
  Samuel. Now where are those men who
• 4:30
  said, why should Saul rule over us?
• 4:33
  Bring them here and we will kill them.
• 4:36
  But Saul replied, No one will be executed today.
• 4:40
  For today the Lord has rescued Israel.
• 4:44
  Then Samuel said to the people, Come, let us all go to Gilgal to
• 4:49
  renew the Kingdom. So they all went to Gilgal, and
• 4:54
  in a solemn ceremony before the Lord, they made Saul king.
• 4:59
  Then they offered peace offerings to the Lord and Saul,
• 5:04
  and all the Israelites were filled with joy.
• 5:18
  Ah Lord, you bring freedom to your people.
• 5:22
  We hear the story about you bringing freedom from that
• 5:25
  terrible ruler and that nation of the Amorites who did these
• 5:31
  terrible things to you people. And today, thankfully, while we
• 5:36
  are in not much danger of having our right eyes gouged out, we
• 5:41
  are in danger of being enslaved and entrapped in these different
• 5:46
  ideas that would have us believe that we need to be perfect in
• 5:51
  order to be acceptable. Or that we need to please the
• 5:55
  people around us in this world in order to be successful in our
• 5:59
  lives. Or that somehow we are not
• 6:03
  enough for Your Grace, but you continue to bring us freedom to
• 6:11
  say that we are your chosen family, That we are enough.
• 6:16
  And no matter what this world may say, we are perfect in your
• 6:21
  eyes because of what Jesus has done for us.
• 6:25
  Thank you for the freedom that you continue to bring us,
• 6:29
  Freedom that all that would oppress us, and ultimately
• 6:33
  freedom that we will revel in for eons to come together with
• 6:38
  you in eternity. So we just praise you, our God
• 6:44
  of freedom. Thank you for all you've done
• 6:49
  for us and the great love you have for us.
• 6:52
  We pray all these things in the loving name of Jesus.
• 6:57
  Amen.