Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Standing Tall, Falling Hard- Minister Max Lucado

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Standing Tall, Falling Hard- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: This week's election has generated a lot of emotions. Maybe
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Speaker 1: you're hopeful, maybe you're fearful, but I would remind you
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Speaker 1: and encourage you that if all the reactions that you have,
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Speaker 1: make sure that one of those reactions is the reaction
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Speaker 1: of prayer. That in times of transition the role of
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Speaker 1: the church is to pray for the nation let's be
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Speaker 1: people of prayer let's lay claim to a beautiful promise
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Speaker 1: maybe you didn't know about this promise it's in proverbs
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Speaker 1: chapter 21 in verse 1 the king's heart is in
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Speaker 1: the hand of the lord like rivers of water he
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Speaker 1: turns it wherever he wishes And so, Heavenly Father, we
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Speaker 1: believe that the heart of every king, president, ruler, ambassador, senator, representative,
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Speaker 1: every leader, falls subject to your sovereign hand. We beg you,
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Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, to have mercy upon President Obama during this
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Speaker 1: time of transition, upon President-elect Trump, And would you look
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Speaker 1: kindly upon our nation that seems so fragile right now.
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Speaker 1: Grant us hope, unity, and peace. Forgive our speaker today.
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Speaker 1: His sins are too many to count. Help us to
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Speaker 1: see Jesus. Just Jesus. Through Jesus we pray. And all
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Speaker 1: who agreed with the prayer said, Amen. We're taking a
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Speaker 1: journey through the Bible. We began today. in September with
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Speaker 1: the story of creation will continue until mid-May when we'll
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Speaker 1: look at the story of revelation. The entire congregation is
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Speaker 1: making this journey, all seven campuses, all age groups from
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Speaker 1: cradle up to senior saint. In addition, we have 235
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Speaker 1: neighborhood groups. Isn't that great? 235 neighborhood groups meeting every
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Speaker 1: week to study the scripture that we're exploring as a congregation.
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Speaker 1: If you'd like to be a part of one of
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Speaker 1: these groups in your neighborhood, let us know. Contact your
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Speaker 1: campus or campus minister and we'll make certain that you
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Speaker 1: get plugged in. We're using as our tool, a study
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Speaker 1: tool or a guide in this, a version of the
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Speaker 1: Bible called The Story. It's the new international version of
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Speaker 1: the Bible, but it's simply organized in chronological fashion. Still scripture,
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Speaker 1: mind you, but just organized according to a timeline. And
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Speaker 1: this makes it easier for us to understand when things happened,
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Speaker 1: where things happened. Especially makes it easier for someone who's
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Speaker 1: getting acquainted with scripture. This week we look at a
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Speaker 1: chapter that tells us about three characters. And I'm just
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Speaker 1: going to focus on character number three. But character number one,
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Speaker 1: if you read, is Hannah. Hannah, the mother who prayed.
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Speaker 1: Her son Samuel was the answer to their prayers and
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Speaker 1: a priest, a prominent priest in the days of ancient Israel.
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Speaker 1: And then Saul, the first king of Israel, who fell
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Speaker 1: because of his pride. Now their stories serve really as
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Speaker 1: a hinge, kind of like a gate, in between the
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Speaker 1: days of the judges and the days of the king.
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Speaker 1: That's this 400 year period, roughly between 1400 B.C. and
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Speaker 1: 1000 B.C. In your Bible, this is called the days
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Speaker 1: of the judges. Just seeing if anyone was listening. The
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Speaker 1: days of the judges. 400 years in which Israel was
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Speaker 1: not really a nation. It was more a loose confederacy
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Speaker 1: of tribes. They did not have a king. And during
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Speaker 1: these days, they had judges, not judges in the way
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Speaker 1: we think of them, more like overseers, overseers. And they
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Speaker 1: would do everything from resolve disputes to lead the tribes
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Speaker 1: into battle. Well, as the nation of Israel began to
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Speaker 1: sink its roots for these 400 years into the promised land,
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Speaker 1: now the nation of Israel, they were surrounded by enemy nations.
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Speaker 1: And these enemy nations were increasingly hostile toward Israel. These
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Speaker 1: would be the Amorites, the Amalekites, The cellulites. That's an
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Speaker 1: old joke, isn't it? About worn that one out. The Philistines.
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Speaker 1: And for whatever reason, they were turning their anger toward
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Speaker 1: the Hebrew people. It could be that they wanted better
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Speaker 1: trade routes from the coast inward. It could be that
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Speaker 1: they just wanted the promised land. But for whatever reason,
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Speaker 1: they were increasingly hostile toward the Hebrews. The Hebrew people
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Speaker 1: were outmanned when it came to military power. The Amorites,
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Speaker 1: the Philistines, the Amalekites, these were, in their day, military powers,
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Speaker 1: chiefly because they had a king. Each nation had a king. Also,
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Speaker 1: especially the Philistines, had the monopoly on iron.
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Speaker 2: Iron.
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Speaker 1: So what did that mean? Well, their weapons were more
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Speaker 1: advanced than And there was a time in which, according
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Speaker 1: to scripture, the whole nation of Israel just had one
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Speaker 1: sword and it belonged to King Saul. And so they
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Speaker 1: felt intimidated, felt like they were sitting ducks. So their
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Speaker 1: response was they went to Samuel, the priest, and said,
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Speaker 1: we want a king. We want a king. This was
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Speaker 1: their prayer. Up until then, they had no king but Yahweh.
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Speaker 1: They trusted God to lead them and to guide them,
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Speaker 1: but they wanted a king. It's interesting. In times of testing,
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Speaker 1: in times of trouble, God's people have a tendency to
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Speaker 1: follow the ways of the world rather than the ways
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Speaker 1: of the Lord. The children of Israel looked around and said, well,
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Speaker 1: everybody else has a king. We want a king too.
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Speaker 1: Samuel tried to talk them out of it. On page
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Speaker 1: 135 in your story Bible or if you're following in scripture,
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Speaker 1: 1 Samuel chapter 8 verses 4. through 5th, or just
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Speaker 1: watch on the screen. So all the elders of Israel
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Speaker 1: gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. And they
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Speaker 1: said to him, you are old. Well, that's a compliment,
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Speaker 1: isn't it? You are old and your sons do not
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Speaker 1: follow your ways. Now appoint a king to lead us,
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Speaker 1: such as all the other nations have. Well, Samuel attempted
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Speaker 1: to dissuade the people. He told them a king would
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Speaker 1: take a tenth of their crops. He told them that
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Speaker 1: a king would turn their sons into soldiers and their
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Speaker 1: servants into his own. He warned them that they would
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Speaker 1: become slaves to the king and that God would not
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Speaker 1: hear them when they cried out for help. But still
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Speaker 1: they insisted. 1 Samuel chapter 8 verses 19 and 20.
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Speaker 1: The people refused to listen to Samuel. No, they said,
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Speaker 1: we want a king over us. Then we will be
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Speaker 1: like all the other nations with a king to lead
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Speaker 1: us and to go out before us and fight our battles.
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Speaker 1: When Samuel heard, all the people said, he repeated it
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Speaker 1: before the Lord. And the Lord answered, listen to them
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Speaker 1: and give them a king. And so since the people
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Speaker 1: wanted a king, the saga of Saul began. Do you
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Speaker 1: like to fill in blanks? There's an award in heaven
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Speaker 1: for people who fill in the blanks on their outlines.
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Speaker 1: If you'd like to fill in the blanks, here we go.
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Speaker 1: Saul can first be described as tall, and timid. He
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Speaker 1: was tall and timid. The first reference to the future
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Speaker 1: king involves Saul's appearance. First Samuel chapter 9 and verse 2,
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Speaker 1: page 136 in the story. Kish had a son named Saul,
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Speaker 1: as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere
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Speaker 1: in Israel. And he was a head taller than anyone else.
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Speaker 1: So he was a kingly looking sort of guy. I
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Speaker 1: guess I envision him with JFK good looks. But he
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Speaker 1: didn't have JFK money and he didn't have a JFK pedigree.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he entered the stage looking for donkeys. Saul
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Speaker 1: said to the servant who was with him, come, let's
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Speaker 1: go back. My father will stop thinking about the donkey.
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Speaker 1: Stop worrying about us. He was a donkey herder. David,
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Speaker 1: you'll remember, who we'll study next week, was what? A
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Speaker 1: sheep herder. Saul, his predecessor, was a donkey herder. Their
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Speaker 1: personalities kind of reflect their flocks. David was tender and responsive.
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Speaker 1: Saul was stubborn and hard-headed. But not at first. Not
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Speaker 1: at first. Because at the beginning, he resisted being a king.
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Speaker 1: He said to Samuel, am I not a Benjamite from
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Speaker 1: the smallest tribe of Israel? And is not my clan
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Speaker 1: the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?
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Speaker 1: In other words, am I not from the wrong side
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Speaker 1: of the tracks? Because the Benjamite tribe, this was the
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Speaker 1: vagabond tribe. They were the gypsies. They had a hard
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Speaker 1: time settling down. And then he says, I'm from the
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Speaker 1: least of the families. I'm from the bottom of the
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Speaker 1: social ladder here. I'm not the person. So he resisted.
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Speaker 1: He's actually humble as he felt unqualified, tall, but timid.
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Speaker 1: He felt unqualified for for the job in fact when
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Speaker 1: when he was when Samuel told the people that he
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Speaker 1: would be their king the people inquired further of the
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Speaker 1: Lord first Samuel 10 22 has the man come here
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Speaker 1: yet and the Lord said yes he has hidden himself
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Speaker 1: among the supplies Saul was hiding when it came time
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Speaker 1: to be anointed king he went into the pantry He
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Speaker 1: hid out in the storage closet. He was timid. So
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Speaker 1: he had good looks, weak ancestry, and a severe case
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Speaker 1: of timidity. He had no swagger. That was okay with God.
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Speaker 1: Samuel told him, the spirit of the Lord will come
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Speaker 1: powerfully upon you. And you will prophesy with him. And
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Speaker 1: you will be changed into a different person. What a promise.
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Speaker 1: And as Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart.
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Speaker 1: I love that. God changed Saul's heart. Who controls the
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Speaker 1: heart of a king? God does. God can change the
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Speaker 1: heart of a leader. God changed Saul's heart. And all
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Speaker 1: these signs were fulfilled that day. So God set Tim
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Speaker 1: and Saul apart for this royal work. Samuel gave the
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Speaker 1: young king this instruction. Now this is important for later
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Speaker 1: in the lesson, so pay attention. Page 137 in the story.
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Speaker 1: Samuel said, go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I'll
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Speaker 1: surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and
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Speaker 1: fellowship offerings. But you must wait seven days until I
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Speaker 1: come to you and tell you what you are to do.
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Speaker 1: So Samuel said, we're going to kick off your administration
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Speaker 1: with a prayer retreat. It's what I would interpret it.
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Speaker 1: We're going to go to Gilgal and we're going to
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Speaker 1: offer sacrifices. We're going to seek the guidance of the Lord.
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Speaker 1: We're going to kick off your administration with a time
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Speaker 1: of prayer. That's a good idea. And Saul was happy
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Speaker 1: to do it. I mean, he wanted all the help
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Speaker 1: he could get. But before he could go to Gilgal,
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Speaker 1: some of the Hebrews were attacked by some of these
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Speaker 1: neighboring nations, opening the door to a major event in
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Speaker 1: Saul's life. And so Saul, tall and timid, became Saul,
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Speaker 1: strong and mighty. Enemies overtook the inhabitants of a region
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Speaker 1: called Jabesh-Gilead, and they offered to let the Hebrews live
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Speaker 1: on one condition, that they allow Israel the enemy to
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Speaker 1: gouge out their right eyes now you just got to
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Speaker 1: prepare yourself folks this is the bronze age it's barbarian
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Speaker 1: everything we're going to read from here on it it's
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Speaker 1: just barbaric it's the bronze age and so they say
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Speaker 1: we'll let you live if you let us gouge out
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Speaker 1: your right eye well Saul heard of this and he
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Speaker 1: erupted with anger he said when Saul heard their words
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Speaker 1: the spirit of God came powerfully upon him and he
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Speaker 1: burned with anger now look at this he took a
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Speaker 1: pair of oxen cut them into pieces, sent the pieces
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Speaker 1: by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, this is what will be
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Speaker 1: done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow
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Speaker 1: Saul and Samuel. So this was his military recruiting tool.
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Speaker 1: Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people
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Speaker 1: and they came out together as one. The next day,
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Speaker 1: Saul separated his men into three divisions. During the watch
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Speaker 1: of the night, they broke into the camp of the
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Speaker 1: Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day.
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Speaker 1: Those who survived were scattered. so that no two of
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Speaker 1: them were left together. We read elsewhere that Saul recruited 330,000 men.
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Speaker 1: They marched against the Ammonites, the Hebrews prevailed, and Saul
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Speaker 1: was seen as a victor. All of a sudden, the
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Speaker 1: Hebrews had an answer to their prayer. They had a king,
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Speaker 1: and men, they loved this king. In fact, some of
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Speaker 1: them dared to say, if you don't follow Saul and Samuel,
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Speaker 1: we're going to kill you. Boy, what loyalty they had.
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Speaker 1: Saul softened their declaration he said no one will be
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Speaker 1: put to death today for this day the Lord has
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Speaker 1: rescued Israel so far so good Saul has a victory
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Speaker 1: yet Saul has humility he says God is the one
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Speaker 1: who has rescued Israel but you know what things are
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Speaker 1: about to get bad we begin to sense now that
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Speaker 1: Saul he starts reading his own press starts believing his
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Speaker 1: own press We begin to get hints that his crown
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Speaker 1: is feeling tight because his head starts to get big.
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Speaker 1: He gets a little puffy in the chest, gets a
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Speaker 1: little swagger. He has one victory under his belt and
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Speaker 1: he thinks he deserves to be king. It's odd. He
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Speaker 1: can survive. Have you ever noticed how some people can
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Speaker 1: survive adversity but they can't survive prosperity? Some people can
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Speaker 1: survive difficulty but success will bring them down. And that's
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Speaker 1: exactly what happened to Saul. What happened next is that
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Speaker 1: the Philistines came against the Hebrews. The Philistines had 3,000 chariots.
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Speaker 1: Can you imagine looking up on the hillside and seeing 3,000
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Speaker 1: chariots coming at you? Well, Saul's men panicked. They ran.
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Speaker 1: The scripture says they hid in caves and thickets among
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Speaker 1: the rocks and pits and cisterns. They just took off. Well,
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Speaker 1: Saul grew restless. He somehow needed to assemble his men
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Speaker 1: and go into battle. Yet he had a promise he
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Speaker 1: had to keep. He had told Samuel that he'd meet
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Speaker 1: him in Gilgal. He'd wait for Samuel to come and
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Speaker 1: they would offer sacrifices and they would seek the Lord's
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Speaker 1: blessing upon the administration of Saul. But Saul thought, man,
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Speaker 1: Samuel sure is taking his sweet time. I need to
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Speaker 1: fight the Philistines. I don't have time to wait and worship.
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Speaker 1: And so here it is. Saul was too busy to worship.
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Speaker 1: He was too big to obey. What we see next
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Speaker 1: are the indications that he was too busy to worship
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Speaker 1: and too big to obey. Saul took matters into his
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Speaker 1: own hands. Remember, he was supposed to wait on Samuel
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Speaker 1: the priest until Samuel arrived. And what was Samuel going
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Speaker 1: to do? Samuel was going to make the sacrifices, offer
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Speaker 1: the animals. Well, Saul couldn't wait. He said, bring me
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Speaker 1: the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings. And Saul offered
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Speaker 1: up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering,
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Speaker 1: Samuel arrived. Saul went out to greet him. What have
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Speaker 1: you done, asked Samuel. Saul replied, when I saw that
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Speaker 1: the men were scattering and that you did not come
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Speaker 1: at the set time and that the Philistines were assembling
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Speaker 1: at Michmash, I thought, now the Philistines will come down
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Speaker 1: against me at Gilgal and I have not sought the
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Speaker 1: Lord's favor. So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.
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Speaker 1: You've done a foolish thing, Samuel said. You have not
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Speaker 1: kept the command of the Lord your God. If you had,
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Speaker 1: he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.
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Speaker 1: You see, the offering of a sacrifice was a job
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Speaker 1: for the priest, not the king, not even King Saul.
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Speaker 1: So all of a sudden, another side of Saul is
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Speaker 1: beginning to surface. Do we see it? A side of
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Speaker 1: Saul that's too busy to worship. He says, you know,
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Speaker 1: I've got to get this worship thing done. I've got
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Speaker 1: to get the Lord's favor on me quick. I've got
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Speaker 1: a fight to fight. I've got a battle. I've got
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Speaker 1: an army to lead. I'm too busy to worship. Let's
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Speaker 1: get it done. Something has happened to the timid boy
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Speaker 1: of Benjamin. He once hid among the bags. Now he
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Speaker 1: assumes the role of priest. Picking up in 1 Samuel
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Speaker 1: chapter 13, page 142. Again, Samuel said, you've done a
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Speaker 1: foolish thing. You've not kept the command the Lord your
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Speaker 1: God gave you. If you had, he would have established
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Speaker 1: your kingdom over Israel for all time. but now your
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Speaker 1: kingdom will not endure. The Lord sought out a man
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Speaker 1: after his own heart and appointed him as ruler of
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Speaker 1: his people. Does anybody know who that man is? David.
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Speaker 1: He's already got his hand on David because you have
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Speaker 1: not kept the Lord's command. Saul was once too small
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Speaker 1: to be king. Now he's too busy, too stressful, too
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Speaker 1: hurried to worship. And if disrespecting the worship of God
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Speaker 1: wasn't enough, Now he disrespects the word of God. He
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Speaker 1: does something else. God told Saul to smite the nation
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Speaker 1: of Amalek. Page 142 in the story or 1 Samuel 15, 3,
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Speaker 1: he said, totally destroy all that belongs to them, put
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Speaker 1: to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep,
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Speaker 1: camels and donkeys. I know that's a hard command. There's
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Speaker 1: a reason for it and I'll give it to you
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Speaker 1: here in just a second. Saul attacked the Amalekites, but
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Speaker 1: he did not fully obey what God said He took Agag,
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Speaker 1: the king of the Amalekites, alive and all his people
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Speaker 1: he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the
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Speaker 1: army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle,
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Speaker 1: the fat calves and lambs, everything that was good. We
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Speaker 1: can only speculate why Saul didn't do what God said.
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Speaker 1: I assume that he was thinking, well, Agag is better
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Speaker 1: off to be alive than dead. So I'm going to
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Speaker 1: keep the king alive. And I'm not going to destroy
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Speaker 1: all the livestock, like God said, because I've got all
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Speaker 1: these soldiers I've got to feed. Or I could use
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Speaker 1: some of those sheep and cattle. For whatever reason, he
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Speaker 1: didn't fully obey what God said. Saul was just getting cocky.
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Speaker 1: He was just getting cocky. He was filtering the commands
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Speaker 1: of God through his common sense. And his common sense
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Speaker 1: was distorted. He didn't know the whole story. He didn't
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Speaker 1: have time to worship. And he was too big to
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Speaker 1: obey God. Yet he did have time to do this.
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Speaker 1: In 1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 12, he went
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Speaker 1: to Carmel to set up a victory monument in his
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Speaker 1: own honor. Well, hello. You don't have time to wait
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Speaker 1: on Samuel to worship, but you have time to go
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Speaker 1: to Carmel to build yourself this big monument. that at
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Speaker 1: the base says King Saul what's happening to King Saul
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Speaker 1: when he saw Samuel later he boasted I accomplished God's
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Speaker 1: plan to the letter Samuel said so what's this I'm
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Speaker 1: hearing the bleeding of sheep The mooing of cattle? I'm
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Speaker 1: wondering if Saul was very bright. Because, I mean, how
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Speaker 1: do you hide sheep and cattle? Samuel said, I hear
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Speaker 1: the animals. You're supposed to destroy them all. So Saul
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Speaker 1: hemmed and hawed, cleared his throat and brushed his brow.
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Speaker 1: He blamed the soldiers. He downplayed the severity of the deed.
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Speaker 1: But Samuel knew, and the king knew, really, Saul had
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Speaker 1: just sawed off his own limb. Now look at 1
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Speaker 1: Samuel 15, 17. Samuel said, when you were little in
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Speaker 1: your own eyes, when you were little in your own eyes,
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Speaker 1: were you not the head of the tribes of Israel?
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Speaker 1: In other words, where you weren't so big on yourself,
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Speaker 1: when there wasn't this huge life-size version of you taped
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Speaker 1: to your own bedroom wall When you weren't so big
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Speaker 1: on yourself, but when you were small in your own eyes,
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Speaker 1: then you were really the head of the tribes. Then
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Speaker 1: people looked up to you. Then you could be used
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Speaker 1: by God. But the implication is, as you got bigger
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Speaker 1: and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger
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Speaker 1: in your own eyes, then you couldn't see God. Does
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Speaker 1: that make sense? You were too busy to worship. You
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Speaker 1: were too big to obey. Saul had a kingdom to build.
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Speaker 1: He had things to do. He had a nation to lead.
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Speaker 1: He got bigger and bigger and bigger. And as he did,
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Speaker 1: he grew further and further from God. So Samuel said
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Speaker 1: to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel
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Speaker 1: from you today and given it to a neighbor of yours. Again,
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Speaker 1: another reference to David, who we'll look at next week,
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Speaker 1: who is better than you. Never have the words of
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Speaker 1: 1 Peter 5, 5 been so clearly modeled. God resists
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Speaker 1: the proud. But he gives grace to the humble. It's
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Speaker 1: possible to be too big for your own good. It
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Speaker 1: is possible to be too big for your own good.
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Speaker 1: Are you headed that way? The story of Saul, I think,
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Speaker 1: gives us some warnings. Not really an encouraging story. It's
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Speaker 1: a warning story. And the warnings that it gives us
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Speaker 1: are two signs of a haughty heart. Two signs of
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Speaker 1: a haughty heart. Sign number one, too busy to worship God.
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Speaker 1: He was just too busy. Worship in Saul's economy was
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Speaker 1: the thing he needed to get done so he could
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Speaker 1: get on to what really needed to get done. You know,
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Speaker 1: I think our society is full of people like Saul.
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Speaker 1: On a given weekend, on a given Sunday, people are
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Speaker 1: too busy to worship, too distracted to worship, Too tired
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Speaker 1: to worship. Or dare we say what the scripture says.
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Speaker 1: Too arrogant to worship. You see worship is an act
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Speaker 1: of humility. Everything about worship. Is an act of humility.
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Speaker 1: The bending of the knees. The bowing of the head.
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Speaker 1: The lifting of empty hands. Everything says I cannot but
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Speaker 1: God you can. I cannot but God you can. So
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Speaker 1: where there is the presence of the worship. there is
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Speaker 1: the existence of an humble heart. But where there is
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Speaker 1: the absence of worship, there is the attitude that says,
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Speaker 1: I can. I'm too busy. I'm too important. I've got
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Speaker 1: things to do. Boy, I'm guilty of that. You'd probably
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Speaker 1: fire me if you knew the number of mornings that
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Speaker 1: I wake up with my to-do list on my brain
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Speaker 1: and I'm too busy to take a few minutes first
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Speaker 1: thing in the morning to just go to God and worship.
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Speaker 1: I'd be embarrassed for you to know how many times
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Speaker 1: that's happened. I kind of like to get things done.
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Speaker 1: I keep a list of things that I want to
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Speaker 1: get done. Drives my wife crazy. I'm a to-do list
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Speaker 1: kind of guy. I keep it in my phone and
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Speaker 1: I just love to check things off. Do you like
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Speaker 1: to do that? Sometimes I'll do something and if it's
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Speaker 1: not on my list, I'll put it on the list
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Speaker 1: just so I can check it off. I do that
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Speaker 1: just just for the satisfaction of saying oh I did
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Speaker 1: that I did that and some mornings I'll wake up
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Speaker 1: and rather than take those precious first moments and go
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Speaker 1: to God with an open Bible open heart and cup
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Speaker 1: of coffee I say well I don't have time I
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Speaker 1: don't say it like that but but I just do
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Speaker 1: I just plunge into the day I plow into the
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Speaker 1: day thinking I got to get this done I got
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Speaker 1: to get this done I got to get this done
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Speaker 1: you know what that is That's a sign of a
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Speaker 1: haughty heart. I honestly think I can do it without God.
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Speaker 1: I honestly think I don't need to take time today
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Speaker 1: to say God could you go ahead of me today.
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Speaker 1: You see the worshipful heart is actually just an humble heart.
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Speaker 1: A heart that comes before God and says I can't
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Speaker 1: face this day without first facing you. Because I know
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Speaker 1: that there's a devil alive in this day and he's
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Speaker 1: setting traps for me. I know that That I have
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Speaker 1: weaknesses and I'll fall into those weaknesses. And so almighty God,
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Speaker 1: I can't face this day without first facing you. If
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Speaker 1: that sounds familiar to you, maybe you could join with
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Speaker 1: me in resolving to begin each day, to begin each
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Speaker 1: week with heartfelt worship. Never too busy to worship. The
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Speaker 1: second sign of a haughty heart is too big to obey.
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Speaker 1: The haughty heart is too big to obey. Saul, I guess,
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Speaker 1: could justify not destroying all of the Amalekites. But the
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Speaker 1: truth of the matter is, he did not obey what
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Speaker 1: God said. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep
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Speaker 1: my commandments. He didn't say, if you love me, you'll
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Speaker 1: always be happy. He didn't say, if you agree with
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Speaker 1: my commandments, you'll keep them. He simply said, now, if
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Speaker 1: you love me, you're going to do what I say.
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Speaker 1: That's kind of what it boils down to. Sometimes God
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Speaker 1: gives us commands and we do like what Saul did.
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Speaker 1: We filter them through our own common sense. Yeah, but
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Speaker 1: I'm an exception to that. Or maybe I don't need
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Speaker 1: to do that. I don't understand. Why would God want
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Speaker 1: me to do this? Maybe that's what Saul was thinking.
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Speaker 1: I don't understand. Why would God want me to destroy
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Speaker 1: all the Amalekites? Again, this is a Bronze Age story.
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Speaker 1: It's brutal. It's harsh. But there was a reason that
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Speaker 1: God wanted Saul to destroy all of the Amalekites. You see,
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Speaker 1: Amalek and his descendants were enemies of God. This was
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Speaker 1: an ancient hostility, not just between the Hebrews and the Amalekites,
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Speaker 1: but really between God and the devil. And the devil
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Speaker 1: had captured this nation of the Amalekites and he was
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Speaker 1: using them persistently. Every time they appear in scripture, they're
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Speaker 1: trying to destroy the lineage of Jesus Christ. It's an
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Speaker 1: ancient version of Hitler or KKK or some supremacy group
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Speaker 1: that says we're going to The earliest appearance of anti-Semitism
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Speaker 1: is found among the Amalekites. And so God said, let's
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Speaker 1: just destroy those people. Let's destroy that philosophy. Let's destroy
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Speaker 1: it now. Their first appearance is in the book of Exodus.
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Speaker 1: Exodus chapter 17 and verse 16. They have dared to
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Speaker 1: raise their fist against the Lord's throne. So now the
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Speaker 1: Lord will be at war with Amalek generation after generation.
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Speaker 1: So Saul had the opportunity to destroy this ancient hostility
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Speaker 1: that was hell-bent on destroying the ancestry or the bloodline
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Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. He could have done it, but he didn't.
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Speaker 1: He spared the king, King Agag. He spared the cows
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Speaker 1: and the sheep. Now, according to one rabbinic tradition, Agag
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Speaker 1: lived long enough to father a child and that philosophy
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Speaker 1: of anti-Semitism continued. Would the bigotry toward the Jewish people
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Speaker 1: have discontinued? Had Saul obeyed? We don't know, but maybe.
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Speaker 1: But the truth is Saul disobeyed. He was too big
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Speaker 1: to obey God. I wonder if there's some area in
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Speaker 1: your life in which you sense God giving you a
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Speaker 1: command and yet you say, well, but yeah, maybe. Oh,
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Speaker 1: I don't know. God says, forgive your enemies. Yeah, but,
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Speaker 1: you know, he's really a jerk. God says, love those
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Speaker 1: who are disrespectful to you. Yeah, but, you know, God says,
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Speaker 1: seek first the kingdom of God. Yeah, but we can
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Speaker 1: hem and we can haw and we can hedge our bets.
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Speaker 1: Be careful when you sense that surfacing in your heart.
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Speaker 1: Be careful. That's the spirit of a haughty heart. It's
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Speaker 1: the spirit of a haughty heart that says, well, I
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Speaker 1: know a little bit more than you do, God. Be careful.
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Speaker 1: Allow God to warn you. Don't make the mistake of
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Speaker 1: Israel's first king. and scripture says do not think of
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Speaker 1: yourself more highly than you ought you know it's possible
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Speaker 1: to be too big for God but it's never possible
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Speaker 1: to be too small for God God gives grace to
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Speaker 1: the humble he resists the proud but he gives grace
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Speaker 1: to the humble I don't really like the story of
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Speaker 1: Saul I don't It ends on such an unhappy note.
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Speaker 1: I can't wait to study David with you next week.
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Speaker 1: It ends on a happy note. But you know, stories
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Speaker 1: like Saul are in the Bible for a reason. Cautionary
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Speaker 1: tales they are to remind us what happens when we
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Speaker 1: get too big for our own good. And so may
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Speaker 1: the Lord use the story of Saul to give us
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Speaker 1: all a warning and to help us to be small
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Speaker 1: in our own eyes so God can be big. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, this is our prayer. We want to remain
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Speaker 1: humble in your presence, completely trusting you and dependent upon you.
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Speaker 1: We confess to you our need for a king, but
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Speaker 1: our king is not on this earth. Our king is
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Speaker 1: in the heavenly throne, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord.
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Speaker 1: We bless you now. Through Christ we pray. And all
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Speaker 1: the church said, amen.
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Speaker 3: Thank you. so so so so.
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Speaker 2: Everything I used to live for Faded slowly out of
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Speaker 2: sight Now my days just circle around you Like I'm
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Speaker 2: lost without a light All.
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Speaker 4: The noise just turns to silence when your memory comes through.
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Speaker 4: And the world I once was chasing now feels small.
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Speaker 2: And shaped like you.
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Speaker 5: My whole world is only you Every thought keeps breaking
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Speaker 5: through You're so close inside my mind But so far
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Speaker 5: in real life I can.
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Speaker 2: Feel you everywhere In the things we never shared All
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Speaker 2: this love I'm.
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Speaker 5: Going through Never reaches you.
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Speaker 6: Every image feels so real now Like you're standing next
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Speaker 6: to me But the truth is in the silence You
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Speaker 6: were never meant to see My.
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Speaker 5: Whole world is only you Every thought keeps breaking through
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Speaker 5: You're so close inside my mind But so far in
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Speaker 5: real life, I can.
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Speaker 7: Feel you everywhere.
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Speaker 2: And the things we never share.
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Speaker 8: All this love I'm going through never reaches you. If
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Speaker 8: you felt it for a moment, would it change the
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Speaker 8: way you stay?
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Speaker 2: Or would I still be the shadow that just fades away?
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Speaker 7: My whole world is only you.
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Speaker 5: But your world's a different view I'm just someone passing
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Speaker 5: by In your open sky Still I hold on to.
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Speaker 8: What's true Every heartbeat calls.
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Speaker 5: For you All this love I always knew Will never
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Speaker 5: reach you Ooh
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Speaker 3: Ooh