Podcasts about so samuel

When the storms of life hit, as they do, right, what we do is that instinctively we grab a life vest, we look for a lifeline here on earth, a worldly solution if you will … instead of turning to the One who can calm the storm. So, you have to ask yourself then, who exactly is the Lord of our lives?   Just Like the Rest Over these last few weeks we have been looking at what it means to get our feet back on solid ground in life. You know, when we are going through storms we are bobbing around like a tiny little boat floundering on an angry sea and sometimes we don't know which way to head – which way is up, which way is down. All we want to do is put our feet back on solid ground. And it turns out that you don't always find that solid ground exactly where you expect to find it. And we have been exploring this whole idea of getting our feet on solid ground through the story of a humble woman called Hannah who honoured God and turned to Him in the midst of her storm - and at completely the other end of the scale, a priest called Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas. They were evil guys and they got their just rewards and the nation of Israel who struggled with their God. If you've got a Bible, grab it and open it up. Over these last three weeks we have been looking at the first seven chapters of the Book of First Samuel. Now First Samuel appears about a third of the way through the Old Testament. We are going to finish off that series today with the crux of what this is all about. We are going to have a look at the decision that ultimately determines whether our feet are on solid ground or not. It's a decision between the obvious and the not so obvious. What is it that you and I can decide to do that will absolutely ensure that no matter what comes our way, our feet are on solid ground? Now the pivot of this whole story – the contrast of Hannah on the one hand and Hophni and Phinehas and their dad, Eli, on the other – happens, if you remember the verse – if you have been with us over these last few weeks – in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30, where God says: Those who honour Me, I will honour but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. We are going to pick up that story today. The priests are dead, they've got their just rewards, Hannah's son – she couldn't have a son remember, but she now has a son, he is grown up – Samuel is the judge and the prophet and the leader over all Israel. Now that's a really important concept – they didn't have a King. All the other nations had a King but Israel did not because Israel's system of government was a theocracy – that meant that God was their King. And God appointed judges and prophets to declare His Word over the people of Israel. So He administered justice – this was Samuel – he was a prophet who declared the will of God and God was the King to the people. Now that was unique among the nations and as we saw over the last few weeks, when they honoured God; when they obeyed Him, that nations' feet were on solid ground. Now the story takes an interesting twist. We are going to pick it up in chapter 8 of the Book of First Samuel. Here's how it goes: When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his first born son was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah and they were judges in Beer-sheba. Yet his sons didn't follow in his ways but turned aside after gain – they took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel came together and they came to Samuel at Ramah and they said to Samuel "You are old and your sons don't follow in your ways, appoint for us then, a King to govern over us like the other nations." But this displeased Samuel when they said "Give us a King to govern us. So Samuel prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them. Just as they have done to Me from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking Me, serving other gods so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice – only you shall solemnly warn them and show the ways of the King who shall reign over them." So Samuel reported all the words of God to the people who were asking him for a King. He said these will be the ways of the King who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horse men and to run before his chariots and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some will plough his ground and reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and to make his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give them to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work. He will take one tenth of your flocks and you shall be his slaves and in that day you will cry out because of your King whom you have chosen for yourselves but the Lord will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. They said "No, we are determined to have a King over us so that we may also be like the other nations and that our King may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles." Isn't that interesting? All this time you go right back to the slavery, when Israel was in slavery in Egypt and God released them through some major miracles and through the parting of the Red Sea and then into the Promised Land and they captured the Land, battle after battle. All this time it was a simple, simple principle that God honours those who honour Him. And God did and God won the battles for them and God delivered them. And now they reject their King, their God who is able and willing to bless them and to protect them. Why? Well, actually, first they blame Samuel's sons and no doubt there is something in that, but actually you find out the reason towards the end of that verse. Look again at the passage we have just read: verses 19 and 20 of chapter 8: But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. They said "No, we are determined to have a King over us so that we also may be like other nations and that our King may govern us and go to battle and fight our battles for us." They wanted to be like all the other nations. Now, let's think about that. Israel is unique – God is their King, He promised them the Promised Land, He has the power to make it happen. Whenever they honour Him He does make it happen and yet they want to reject Him – why? So that they can be like all the other nations! Is that stupid or what? None of the other nations have an invincible god as their king so why do they want to be like the other nations? Because in the heat of the battle they want a king they can see – a king of flesh and blood! Their enemies have a king at the head of their army so they want one too and they are prepared to give up the perfect power of the King of Kings for a poor substitute so that they can have a king that they can see! How often do we do that? How often do we put our faith in things that we can see – in our investment portfolio to provide wealth is fine until the economy goes belly up, in our career, which is fine until our health fails, in other people, which is fine until they desert us or fail us? See when we hit a storm you know what we want to do? We want to reach out and put a life preserver on instead of go to the One who can stop the storm. We want something we can see and touch and feel, instead of putting our faith in the One whom we can't see. A favourite Scripture you hear people quote is Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7 that says "We walk by faith and not by sight" and that's great until the storm hits, when we will definitely go for something that we can see and touch and feel, ahead of someone we can only see by faith – we'll pick that anytime. And that's the point – when we step off solid ground onto a stormy ocean.   What's the Problem? Yea, just like Israel, we want to be just like everyone else some days; just normal, everyday people who put our faith in things that we can touch and feel. It is something the Apostle Paul rejected – have a listen – Second Corinthians chapter 5, beginning at verse 1. He says: We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, if indeed, when we have taken it off, we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing, is God, who has given us His Spirit as a guarantee so we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. See, here Paul is talking about the struggle between the temporal and the eternal – between what we can see and what we can't see. And Paul is saying "Look, I have got a body; I've got a tent but one day that is going to pass away and my faith isn't in the "here and now" – my faith is in God – I walk by faith not by sight." It's about where he puts his confidence. Now, let me tell you how easy it is to appoint an earthly King, like what Israel was trying to do and to reject the King of Kings – even when we are out and about doing God's work. This ministry that I am involved in, Christianityworks, it has been going for fifty years out of Australia and yet when I took over four years ago, there were hardly any people supporting the ministry. It had almost no income, it was going broke, there were no programmes going to air. And four years ago – it's still pretty fresh – I remember the panic attacks over finances – you see the money dwindling away and wondering when we are going to go broke – not if but when. You see, what I was doing: I wanted a big bank balance – something that would provide security that I could see and I had to turn away from that. I had to put my trust in God alone and these days, sometimes, let me tell you, things are still very, very tight. And whilst I do my part in all of that, as a good steward of the money that supporters entrust to the ministry, over and over and over and over again, let me tell you, as we have done our best just to simply honour God in all that we do here in the ministry of Christianityworks, He has honoured us. It's as simple as that! Now, let's get back to the story and find out where the real problem was here with Israel and the Kingship of God. Well, Israel got its very first King like all the other nations and God, through the prophet Samuel, appointed Saul. Let's have a look at it in the first couple of verses of chapter 9 of the Book of First Samuel: There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son Abiel son of Zeror son Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he – he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. So the prophet hears from God and God says "Saul is the King. If they want a King they are going to get Saul". And initially at least, after he is anointed, Saul has success because even though God was rejected by His people in favour of Saul, God is a God of grace and He continued to honour them and bless them even though He warned them of how the King would turn out. We saw that earlier. See, sometimes when we reject the Kingship of God in our lives and choose something else – career or wealth or whatever it is – initially we have some success but as we will see later, Saul ended up in abject failure. In fact, Saul (if you want to read it in First Samuel chapter 31) committed suicide in the middle of battle. It's easy for you and me to say "Well, what's the problem here? It's probably not a bad thing that they had a King to lead the nation. What's the problem? I do have to invest and plan for my retirement, sure, but do we do it under the Kingship of God?" When God is calling us to give a substantial amount of our money to let's say the poor, do we do that? Or do we sock it away for our retirement? Who or what do we put our trust in, who or what do we submit to? Listen again to what Samuel said to Israel – First Samuel chapter 10, beginning at verse 17: Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah and he said to them "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, "I brought you up out of Egypt – I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. But today, you have rejected your God, the God who saves you from all your calamities and all your distresses and you have said "No! but set a King over us." That's the problem – they rejected their God; they rejected the great Unseen for a King who was far inferior to God but whom they could see. See, despite all that they knew – they knew that God had brought them out of Egypt; they knew that He had rescued them from the Egyptians; they knew that He had rescued them from all their oppressors. God said "I did all that. Couldn't you see that I was your King? Couldn't you see that I am worthy of your trust? Couldn't you see that with Me you have your feet on solid ground? Couldn't you see that?" No, they couldn't see and no, some days we can't see it either. We are blinded by the dazzle of what this world has to offer. It never ceases to amaze me, you know, in times of economic prosperity, people behave as though there is no tomorrow. They put their faith in the money they are earning, their stock portfolio that is growing and the house that's mortgaged up to the hilt and the new car and all that stuff. But then, when the economy eventually takes a dive - as mind you, it always does – they cry out and scream at the price of petrol and the high interest rates and the risk of losing their home. Can I tell you something? You can't live a life of peace if you are putting your trust in an inferior king. You can't have security when you put your faith in those things that will fail. You can't! I can't! It just doesn't work.   Choose your King I want to take us right back now to the beginning of this series – to the first chapter of First Samuel. It's the story of a simple woman called Hannah - she was one of Elkanah's two wives. The other wife Peninnah had children, Hannah had none. And if you have ever been in that situation where you can't have kids or you know someone in that situation, you know how incredibly painful that is and to make it worse the other wife Peninnah, would give Hannah a hard time over this. Pretty tough! There is a real storm that was going on year after year after year – this pain of being childless. Now Hannah had a lot of choices in that space. She could have been angry, she could have lashed out or she could have withdrawn. Her husband didn't help her much so what does Hannah do? First Samuel chapter 1, verse 9: Once they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord's temple. In the bitterness of her soul, Hannah wept and prayed to the Lord and she made a vow. She said "Lord God Almighty, if You will only look upon Your servant's misery and remember me and do not forget Your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life and no razor will ever be used on his head. And as she kept praying to the Lord, Eli the priest, looked at her mouth – Hannah was praying in her heart – her lips were moving but her voice couldn't be heard. Now, Eli thought she was drunk and said to her "How long will you keep on getting drunk. Get rid of your wine." She said "Not so, my lord, I'm a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. (Isn't that beautiful?) Don't take your servant for a wicked woman. I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief." And Eli answered "Well, go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked for." She said "May your servant find favour in your eyes." Then she went away and she ate something and her face was no longer downcast. Now it turns out – see, Hannah was a "nobody", not like the priest – she wasn't a man in the social structure – she wasn't a priest, she was a "nobody". She just goes and pours out her heart to God amidst the bitterness of her soul. Turns out God honours those who honour Him, as she does have a son, she calls him Samuel. She gives him back to Eli; she gives him over to God as soon as he is weaned and he comes and serves as a priest in the temple, under Eli, whom she discovers later, is a bad dude. This priest is supposed to be a go-between between God and His people, yet he and his sons have no respect for God and His people at all, so Samuel is put there by faith by her. Now we have heard the story: Samuel grows up, he becomes a mighty man of God. Do you know why that happened? Because Hannah honoured God! And God says "I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me, will be treated with contempt". And that's what Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas found out when they died because they did not honour God. And then we saw how, because of them, Israel ends up rejecting God. And you know how that ends up? In defeat! Saul ends up committing suicide – you can look at it in chapter 31, the last chapter of the Book of First Samuel. Israel rejected God as its King and God said "Well ok, I am going to warn you – you're rejecting Me. I am going to give you a King but this is not going to go well for you." And because they wanted a King that they could see, they rejected God anyway, they chose Saul and it ended up not well for them. The Philistines defeated them, Saul died. The one who is honoured by God is the one who honoured Him! How did she do that? In her misery and her pain; in the bitterness of her soul – she didn't act up, she didn't complain, she didn't grumble – she put her trust simply in God. She poured her soul out to Him, God honoured her. Eli didn't, his sons didn't! At the end of the day, Saul didn't, Israel certainly didn't – the one who did was Hannah and God honoured her because she honoured Him. I want to lay a challenge before each one of us today through this story. We all go through times, you know, when we would like to have our feet on solid ground and yet we are all over the place and things don't seem to be working out and everyone is coming up against us. I want to lay a challenge before each one of us today – you and me – we have to choose our King – it's either God or it is something else we trust in. You can't have both – you can't serve two kings, you can't serve two masters. It's either going to be God, the great unseen reality; the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords or its going to be something we see – a life preserver that we can grab onto. Problem is, life preservers might stop us from sinking for a while but they can't stop the storm. Only God can stop the storm! There are people listening today and your life seems to be one endless storm. Maybe you are absolutely sick to death of being tossed around by angry waves; maybe you are in that boat today. Well, it is time to put your feet back on solid ground. It is time to say "You know something? I may be a nobody like Hannah, it may be that I am not an Eli, I'm not a Samuel, I'm not a David, I'm not some big person – I'm some little unknown person like Hannah, that may will be the case. And yet in this whole story she is the only one who received God's blessing because she is the only one who honoured God. She received her son Samuel who had such a mighty influence over the history of her nation." And Hannah was onto something! Maybe today is time to say "I choose my King". Either we are going to choose God or we are going to reject Him and choose something that we can feel or touch. I can choose a "Saul" in my life – you can choose a 'Saul' in your life and it may give us a sense of security for a little while. You know, when that boat is bobbing round the ocean, you grab for the life preserver – that's a pretty good thing. Probably a pretty good feeling but the life preserver doesn't get us out of the storm. It just keeps us floating there for a bit longer. Only One – the only One – that can get us out of the storm; the only One that can put our feet back on solid ground is our King, God. You want your feet on solid ground? This whole story that we have been looking at over the last four weeks in the first nine or ten chapters of First Samuel – this story is about the Kingship of God. And the story tells us very clearly – you want to put your feet on solid ground? Go honour God – go choose Him as your King – go submit to Him as your King! Let me ask you something – which one is going to work, the King of Kings or Saul? Which one is going to put your feet back on solid ground? Which King will you choose in your life?

It's so easy to look at God and come to the conclusion, well I want that part of Him – but not that part. And definitely not that bit. It seems that all too often, we want Him on our terms rather than His. But God just doesn't work that way.   Take it Back Have you ever wanted something in life – I mean really, really, really wanted it and then when you finally get it, you just want to give it back? I think we have all experienced that at some point and you know, I think that for some people, it can be the case with God. I know people, lots of people, who hunger to be close to God. I know there are people listening today – maybe you are one of them – and all their lives they have wanted God – whatever that means. But can I tell you something? Even something really good – I mean really, really good like God, well, it can be a shock to the system and the reason is that we have these idealised, unrealistic notions of what that good thing will be like. Take the young woman who wants more than anything else, to be married and she meets her knight in shining armour, she marries him and a year later she is wondering, "What happened to all my ideas of romance 24/7?" Today on the programme we are going to take a look at some people who got God and couldn't wait to give Him back. Now over these last few weeks we have been working our way through the story of Hannah and Eli and his sons in the Book of First Samuel. And the crux of it is that Hannah honours God but Eli and his sons don't and the turning point of the whole story comes in the verse First Samuel – if you have a Bible, grab it, open it up here in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30. God says: I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me, will be treated with contempt. And we have seen how the central reality of that verse has played itself out in the lives of Hannah, who was blessed when she couldn't have a son and she honoured God and God gave her a son Samuel and the opposite is Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas who didn't honour God and were greatly punished, in fact they lost their lives because of that. This story plays its self out in the storms of life. I mean Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, they were the priests; they should have been bringing God's people close to God yet they were living life of Riley, as we saw last week on the programme. And God had them killed. They're job was to bring people close to God and yet they were not honouring Him. Instead they had led Israel to a place of defeat. We saw last week in First Samuel chapter 4 where the Philistines attacked, Israel thinks "Oh well, God is always on our side – we will go to battle" and they had a huge defeat – thirty thousand of their soldiers were killed. The Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God itself, was captured by the Philistines. See the Ark of the Covenant was where God actually sat in the midst of His people. You see that in the journey through the Exodus – forty years in the Tent of the Meeting and later on in the temple. The Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies; it is the very presence of God. And strangely, you know, when the Philistines are close to capturing the Ark they kind of realise, with a sense of foreboding, what this is about. It says in First Samuel that: When they learned that the Ark of the Lord had entered the camp of the Israelites, the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into their camp" they said "we are in trouble. Nothing like that has ever happened before. Woe to us. Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?" And so it goes on … Well, it turns out that they should have followed their instincts. Today we are going to look and see what happens to the Philistines and to the Israelites when the presence of God comes close to them. Let's have a look at it. If you've got a Bible, open it up at First Samuel chapter 5, we are going to begin the story at verse 1. After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the Ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, their god, who had fallen flat on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. They took Dagon and put him back in his place. The following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold – only his body remained. That is why to this very day, neither the priests of Dagon or any of the others who enter Dagon's temple in Ashdod, step on the threshold. The Lord's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity. He brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumours. When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening they said "The Ark of the God of Israel mustn't stay here with us because His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and ask them "What are we going to do with this Ark of the God of Israel?" And they answered "Have the Ark of the God of Israel moved to Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel but after they had moved it, the Lord's hand was against that city, throwing it into great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumours so they sent the Ark of God on to Ekron. As the Ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out "They have brought that Ark of the God of Israel around to kill us and our people." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said "Send that Ark of the God of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place or it will kill us and our people," for death had filled the city with panic and God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumours and the outcry of the city went up to heaven. Do you see? The Philistines looked like they had won and yet they take the presence of God; the Ark of the Covenant, they put it in their temple next to their god and Dagon falls down, face down in front of the God of Israel. And the second time his head and his hands are cut off and then wherever they took the Ark of the Covenant, the impact of God, as a captive in their midst, was devastating – they got tumours, we will see later, there were plagues of mice. They had captured God – in human terms, they had won but you know what they had forgotten, in fact they had never realised it in the first place? God is not subject to people – God is not someone you can capture and stick in your temple. He is not someone you can tame and subdue. Why are we talking about this stuff today? Because you and I, deep down, we try and tame and subdue God – we try and swing Him around to our way of thinking; to meet our needs. We put Him in the temple of our choice; we put Him in the town and the city of our choice. You know what happens when we try to do that? We discover exactly what the Philistines discovered – we discover that God is not someone you can push around. "Well, I'll just take this God and He'll bless me whenever I want Him to." Ok, we can't see Him! Our present circumstances perhaps, appear much more powerful than Him but if we want to have our feet on solid ground, amidst the storms of life, (that's what we have been talking about over these last few weeks) we look at this maelstrom of the storm; the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites – thirty thousand Israelites killed because they didn't honour their God. Who appeared to win? Who should have been, according to our simple human expectations, on solid ground? The Philistines – they won the war. They captured Israel's God but who they captured was the God who created the entire universe – not some idol; not some tin pot little god. They captured God and He wrought destruction upon them because they tried to subdue God. So much so they couldn't wait to get rid of Him. Do you get it? When we try to take God by force – force of argument, force of opinion, force of anything – anything that doesn't recognise Him for who He is – watch out! There are so many people playing "church". There are so many people playing at being Christians; playing at religion, putting God here, putting God there. That's not what it is about. As Dagon found out, the only way you honour God is when you bow down before Him because of who He is – the sovereign God, above every name and every power and every authority in heaven and earth. That's what Hannah discovered; that's what Eli discovered; that's what Israel discovered and that's what the Philistines discovered, the hard way. You can't have God on your own terms. You can only have Him on His terms.   We Don't Want Him Well, the Philistines finally came to their senses. They realised they couldn't have God on their terms. They had a choice – you either accept God on His terms or you get rid of Him. So they decided to send Him back from whence He came. Now, let's have a look at how they did that. We are going to pick this up in First Samuel – grab your Bible – First Samuel chapter 6, beginning at verse 1 – it's a great story. When the Ark of the Lord had been with the Philistines for seven months, they called for the priests and the diviners and they said "What are we going to do with this Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place." They answered "If you return the Ark of the God of Israel, don't send it away empty, but by all means, send a guilt offering to Him then you will be healed and you will know why His hand has not been lifted from you." The Philistines ask "What guilt offering should we send Him?" and they replied "Five gold tumours and five gold rats, according to the number of Philistine rulers because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumours and of the rats that are destroying the country and pay honour to Israel's God. Perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and the Pharaoh did when He treated them harshly, didn't they send the Israelites out so that they could go their way? Now then, get a new cart ready with two cows that have just calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart but take their calves away and pen them up. Take the Ark of the Lord and put it on the cart and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to Him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory towards Beth-shemesh then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it doesn't then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us but all this happened just by chance. So they did that – they took two such cows, hitched them to the cart, penned up their calves. They placed the Ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumours. Then the cows went straight up towards Beth-shemesh, keeping on the road, lowing all the way. They didn't turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh It is fascinating stuff! See, these people didn't know God – they got their own pagan spiritual leaders to advise them. Now their system of faith was not one God; that's called mono-theism. No, they believed in many gods; they were poly-theistic. And so they see the God of Israel as just another god on their list who may or may not have power. Now, He clearly does because He has brought all of this destruction on the Philistines. So they devise a test for this God. They get these two milk cows, with their calves. You see there is no way two cows that have just calved are going to leave their calves and these cows have never been yoked. So only God could cause them to go back to Israel, away from their young and that is exactly what ends up happening. They don't turn to the right or the left – they are lowing all the way. They don't want to go but they go and clearly this is an act of God. That's how the Philistines saw it. This is a story about so many people in this world who don't know God. See, they hear about God – it's amazing, God is still speaking. The number of times that I have had a letter or an email that says "You know something – I just happened to flick on the radio or turn to a channel and your programme was on and God spoke to me and changed my life." I'm going to share one of those at the end of this programme – an amazing story of a rebel fighter in Africa who laid down his arms. See, God is still speaking today, all over the place, and He reaches out to us and He ends up in our midst, one way or another, as He did with the Philistines. Remember back, how did the presence of God, the Ark of the Covenant, come to be in the midst of the Philistines? The Philistines fought Israel, Israel hadn't honoured their God – they got defeated by the Philistines big time. Eli the priest and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas were killed in that battle. They expected God to show up like He always did, but He didn't. And it was a sovereign act of the sovereign God to allow defeat to come upon Israel and to allow His presence, the Ark of the Covenant to be captured by the Philistines. God's own decision was to be in the midst of the Philistines those seven months. And they discover that you can't have Him on your own terms, so they give Him back – they send Him packing. That's what I did for many, many years of my life. Every now and then I encountered God. And you see I had my own agenda for my life; I had my own plans. God didn't fit so I would send Him packing. And it seemed like He would like to cause me grief and pain; want me to give up things I didn't want to give up. And time and time again I'd want to hang onto Him on my terms. Let me tell you something – it never, never, never worked so I sent Him packing. I rejected Him like the Philistines. I wonder if that has ever happened in your life. Come on, how much do we want God, but on our terms? Well, I believe this about abortion or I believe that about sexuality or I believe this about the different roles of men and women and when I discover what God has to say about those I say to myself "Well, I can't believe that! No, either I have God on my terms or not at all." Come on, there is a reason that God went to the trouble of recording this story about the Philistines and the Ark of the Covenant and then preserving it for a few thousand years and then broadcasting it on this radio station today. There is a reason! He is speaking to us through His story today. To all those people who would have God on their own terms, He is saying "No, you can't have Me on your terms. You can't capture Me and stick Me in your temple. You can only have Me on My terms." And as we are going to see soon, this problem was not reserved for the Philistines – it's not just for the people who didn't really know God but it was also for God's own people – God's own people who would push Him away. This series that we are going through is called "On Solid Ground". We need solid ground beneath our feet and we are going to discover next, exactly how to get it.   When Will We Learn? As I said earlier, the problem wasn't just restricted to the Philistines, sending God packing with those cows with the Ark of the Covenant in tow – it was also a problem that happened with the Israelites. Let's see what happened when the Ark of the Covenant arrives back with Israel - First Samuel chapter 6, beginning at verse 19. The Ark has just wandered down the road with the cows and this is what happened: God struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them and the men of Beth-shemesh asked "Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the Ark go up from here?" Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying "The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord, come down and take it up to your place." So the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the Ark of the Lord. They took it to Abinadab's house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar, the son to guard the Ark of the Lord. See, God is a sovereign God. We get Him on His terms and not ours. And the Israelites dealt casually with God's presence when He came back – they looked upon Him. Now God says "You can't look upon Me and live." How often do we treat the mighty sovereign casually? You and I – we take on God. Can I tell you who is going to win? Not us! Israel was God's people – they should have known better but they didn't. So what was their reaction? The same as the Philistines – "Who can stand in front of this sovereign God. Where are we going to send Him?" They sent God packing and it's a pattern repeated over and over and over again. So what is the answer? What these people needed was some solid ground beneath their feet. What you and I need is some solid ground beneath our feet. Well, that comes next in this story – it's exactly what happened. First Samuel chapter 7, verse 2: It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the Ark remained a Kiriath-jearim and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord and Samuel the prophet, said to the whole house of Israel "If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him alone and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. So the Israelites put away their Baals and their Ashtoreths and they served the Lord alone. And then Samuel said "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the Lord for you." When they had assembled at Mizpah they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and they confessed "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel was the leader of Israel at Mizpah. When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them and when the Israelites heard of it they were afraid because of the Philistines. They said to Samuel "Don't stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that He may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines." So Samuel took a suckling lamb, offering it up as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel's behalf and the Lord answered him. Whilst Samuel was still sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle but that day the Lord thundered with a loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before Israel. The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth-car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and he named it Ebenezer, saying "Thus far the Lord has helped us." So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again. Throughout Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. From the towns of Ekron to Gath – that the Philistines had captured from Israel - they were restored to Israel and Israel delivered the neighbouring territory from the power of the Philistines and there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30 says this: I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. See, that's the place of solid ground – Israel finally got it right here! See, before they had had priests who were sleeping around with prostitutes, priests who were dishonouring God, priests who were plundering the sacrifices of the people to God and God said, "You know something? If your leaders are going to be doing that I am not going to bless you." So Israel fights the Philistines and Israel loses. And so the Ark of the Covenant of God goes to the Philistines and there is devastation there because of the presence of God and they send it back to Israel. And there is devastation there because of the presence of God because everyone was trying to have God on their own terms. Here is the place of solid ground: If you want to return to the Lord with all your heart, put away all your foreign gods. And that is God's Word for you and me today. Put away all your foreign gods – all the other things that you put before God – all the other things that you and I worship – put them away and worship God alone. Come to God on His terms, not ours, because He is the sovereign God. He is the God of the whole universe. He is the God – not just one other god amongst many – He is THE God; the only God and He calls us to worship Him and Him alone. So the people did that and right at the moment they did that, the Philistines were going to attack them again, but this time, the moment they began to honour their God – this verse First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30 – came into their experience. I will honour those who honour Me, but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. People – that is the place of solid ground. It is the only place of solid ground. God is a sovereign God. He is not my performing puppy and He is not your performing puppy. He is not there to do tricks on our command. He is above us and we are His people and God is calling us today to accept Him on His terms as the sovereign God – just the way Samuel told the people. Samuel said to them "You have got to accept God on His terms" – they did and immediately, when a storm arose, God blessed His people. And that blessing went on for many, many years and their feet were on solid ground.

We tend to see the world from where we are. It's only natural. We want everyone and everything else to fit in with us. But God, well, He doesn't quite see it that way.   A Boy Called Sam Last week on the programme we spent some time talking about the fact that when the storms of life hit and they inevitably do, what we need is some solid ground beneath our feet. It's a scary place to be, out on that stormy ocean – we are not made for that. We are made for solid ground. And we began looking at the story of some people: a woman called Hannah and her son Samuel and some priests – Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas. Hannah, now here was a woman who honoured God and He honoured her – the priests, on the other hand, although they should have known better, they didn't honour God. And as we will see on the programme this week, they reaped their just reward. And the reason we are looking at this story of these people, is that when we are in the midst of the storm, as we so often are, we lose our bearings. We so often lose sight of those things that really matter and for me, as I have spent time in that story, it has clarified some things for me – it's brought them into sharp focus and my hunch is that as you and I spend some time together today, well, maybe you will find that too. So let's just recap briefly on this story of Hannah. Hannah married a man called Elkanah and he had two wives: Peninnah and Hannah. And Hannah didn't have children and Peninnah did, so Peninnah would taunt Hannah and there was a lot of pain around that, so Hannah goes to God – she pours out her heart to Him in the temple and she gets God's peace. It is what always happens when we do that. Eli, on the other hand, is the priest that is at the temple at the time when Hannah comes to pour her heart out and he mistakes what Hannah is doing – he thinks she is drunk. And the priest Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas, they are bad dudes – they are plundering the sacrifices, they are not honouring God and there is a real contrast between these two – between Hannah and her family and Eli and his - this nobody Hannah and this priest Eli. See that's what we so often miss in life – God is hidden; He is invisible – we forget about Him – we go on living our lives, wondering why things are going from bad to worse. And in the middle of this story (last week we stumbled across this verse) when God was pronouncing His judgement on Eli and his family – you can read this if you have a Bible, grab it, open it up at First Samuel chapter 2 and verse 30. God said: Those who honour Me, I will honour but those who despise Me shall be treated with contempt. And that's kind of the pivot on which this whole story turns and this week on the programme we are going to look at how things turned out for Hannah and for Eli. There was a sharp contrast to their approach to God and there is a sharp contrast in how things turn out for them. It tells us a lot about God; it clarifies the confusion in the midst of our storm when we can't see God, necessarily. When that happens we know how to put our feet on solid ground. Well let's start today with Hannah – this pain of being childless and the taunts of the other wife. Childless couples the world over, know how painful this is. So she goes to God – let's have a look at it again in First Samuel chapter 1, beginning at verse 9 and she pours her heart out. Once they had finished eating and drinking at Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord's temple. In the bitterness of her soul, Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord as she made a vow saying "O Lord Almighty, if You will only look upon Your servant's misery and remember me and not forget Your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life and no razor will ever be used on his head." Then she went on her way, ate something and her face was no longer downcast. Let's take a look to see what happened next. First Samuel chapter 1, verse 19: Straight after this, early the next morning they rise, they worship before the Lord and then they go back their home in Ramah. Elkanah lay with his wife Hannah and the Lord remembered her so in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named his Samuel, saying "Because I asked the Lord for him." When the man Elkanah went up with his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow, Hannah didn't go – she said to her husband "After the boy is weaned I will take him up and present him before the Lord and he will live there always." "Do what seems best to you," Elkanah, her husband told her, "Stay here until you have weaned him, only may the Lord make good His Word." So the woman stayed at home, nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three year old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli and she said to him "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I ask of Him so now I give him to the Lord for his whole life – he will be given over to the Lord and she worshipped the Lord there." See, Hannah had this terrible pain – she came to God with this impossible prayer – it was a humble and heartfelt prayer and God honours that. See we so underestimate the power of humble prayer; prayer from the heart; prayer that just lays it out before God the way we see it and feel it. God honours that! When He honours her with the impossible, she honours God back and gives her son over to God to serve at the temple for the rest of his life. Now that's easy to gloss over that, but can you imagine? I mean, she wanted her son more than anything and now she gives him up to honour God. God honours that – her incredible heart was to honour God, so she does. She honours Him by giving up the one thing that she desired most – her son. And what's more, she gives over her most precious to be under the wicked Eli and his sons. Now figure that out! It's not exactly a great strategic choice – this young, impressionable child, but see, God honours those who honour Him. And God honours her and protects young Samuel, and we will see, raises young Samuel up and makes him strong. See, the more we honour God, the more He honours us. Look at this - First Samuel chapter 3, verse 7: Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And verse 19: The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up and He let none of His Words fall to the ground and all of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba recognised that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word. And the word of Samuel came to all of Israel." You see, God honoured her in her storm! Young Samuel went on to become the chief priest, the prophet, the judge of all of Israel. Why? Because this nobody; this woman Hannah, honoured her God, so simply by pouring her heart out to Him, by trusting Him. I want you to notice how insignificant that may have appeared to her at the time. She had this big hairy giant; this huge storm; the pain of being childless, the taunts of Peninnah, it was impossible but for God nothing is impossible. God honours those who honour Him! She honoured God in her naivety – giving young Sam over to Eli. And even there in that impossible situation, God honoured her and He honoured young Sam. So simple – it's so powerful.   The Contrast Continues I guess intuitively, we understand that the things we say and do, the way we think and behave – well, they have consequences. There is a link between cause and effect. We kind of know that but how easy is it to delude ourselves in this area; to make excuse for ourselves? To live out our own selfish desires and pretend that, well, really, that cause and effect stuff applies to other people but not to me! You know what I am talking about. We deny it, we deny it, we deny it and all along the warning signs grow – the storm clouds start to gather over the horizon. But sometimes it's not till that first clap of thunder that we take any notice and then, so often, it's too late. The storm has gathered momentum and all we can do is brace ourselves for when it hits. We are going to spend some time in that space today with a man called Eli because he was in exactly that situation and he left it too late. Let's make no mistake, there is a definite link in God's economy between cause and effect, especially as it turns out, in our relationship with God. We have been working our way, in this series, through the story of Hannah, this woman who honoured God and Eli, the priest, a man with his sons who did the exact opposite – even though he should have known better. And right now I want to look at how things turn out for Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. These were men who were priests – their job was to be shepherding Israel, bringing them close to their God. Instead Hophni and Phinehas were plundering the sacrifices of God's people, they were sleeping with prostitutes – they were doing anything but honouring God. Look at how God reacts to that. If you have got a Bible, open it at First Samuel chapter 3, verse 1. The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the Word of the Lord was rare. There were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord. Remember Samuel is Hannah's son. He was in the temple where the Ark of God was. Then the Lord called "Samuel" and Samuel answered "Here I am" and he ran in to Eli and said "Here I am, you called me." But Eli said "I didn't call you. God back, lie down." So he went and lay down. Again the Lord called "Samuel" and Samuel go up and went to Eli and said "Here I am, you called me." "My son," Eli said, "I didn't call you, go back, lie down." Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel a third time and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said "Here I am, you called me." Then Eli finally realised that the Lord was calling the boy so Eli told Samuel "Go and lie down and if God calls you again, say "Speak Lord for Your servant is listening." So Samuel went and lay down in his place so the Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times "Samuel, Samuel". Then Samuel said "Speak for Your servant is listening." And the Lord said to Samuel "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything that I spoke against his family from beginning to end, for I told him that I would judge his family forever, because of the sin that he knew about. His sons made themselves contemptible and he failed to restrain them, therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, the guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice of offering." Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli of the vision but Eli called him and said "Samuel, my son," Samuel answered, "Here I am." "What was it He said to you?" Eli asked. "Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He told you." So Samuel told Eli everything, hiding nothing from him. And Eli said, "He is the Lord. Let Him do what is good in His eyes." Here's the paradox – Samuel is this young kid, he didn't recognise God's voice and finally Eli did. Yet Samuel is the one that listened to God and Eli didn't, even though he knew God's voice. Remember that verse: First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30. "I honour those who honour Me" says God, "but those who despise Me I will treat with contempt." And here it is – it's happening to Eli. Here is this powerful truth working its way out in Eli's life. We can be beetling along in our own selfish ways, ignoring our conscience, treating people with contempt, treating God with contempt, ignoring God but God never stops speaking. And even someone like Samuel can hear Him. If you want to know what He has to say, just listen. He spoke to Eli over and over again but Eli didn't listen. He talks to us over and over again. How? Maybe you were just flicking around, channel surfing today and you happened across this programme – kind of by chance or by accident, it seemed – there you go. God is always trying to communicate with us; to reach out to us but eventually, enough is enough. Eventually we kindle His anger – eventually the time comes when we reap what we have sown and that's exactly what's happened with Eli, Hophni and Phinehas. And here it is coming: the first lightening strike of the storm and what God tells Samuel actually goes on to happen. You can read it in chapter 4, verses 12 to 22. This is a wakeup call! In the storms in life – yea, they happen – and sometimes they are of our own doing, as it was for Eli and his sons. And we keep going and we keep going and we keep going and deluding ourselves, pretending there is no cause and effect, but there is. Eventually, there is a day of reckoning, here in this life and one day, you and I will stand before God and He will judge us and He will! We may not like the idea, but that doesn't change anything. Today is a wakeup call. Perhaps we are in one of those stormy times of life and you know, when things are going badly we are tempted all the more to behave badly. This truth rings out – "I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me, will be treated with contempt." Those are the words of the sovereign God, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords who is above all things and there is no solid ground beneath the feet of those who turn their backs on God. None! It might feel like that for a while but it will crumble.   Heading Off Without God I have said a few times that I am a confirmed landlubber – give me solid ground beneath my feet any day – I love good old terra firma. You know, what we have seen with Eli is Eli heading off in the wrong direction and you and I have done that too. How do we stop doing that? How do we not go in that place? Because it is so easy for us to head off there, go in the wrong direction, like Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas and plunder sacrifices and do all the wrong stuff that they did, in our own lives and forget that God honours those who honour Him. There is an executive summary of what God thinks about Eli, Hophni and Phinehas. It's in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 17. It says: The sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord for they treated the offerings of the Lord with contempt. And remember the central theme – the pivot on which this whole story turns is in First Samuel 2, verse 30. God says: I will honour those who honour Me and those who despise Me, I will treat with contempt. Now there is a great part to this story; a great adjunct that goes with this story and it's about what happens when Israel just takes God for granted. This bad stuff has been happening among the priesthood and Israel ignores it and just expects God to keep on blessing them. Let's pick it up in First Samuel chapter 4. See, the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines, the Israelites were camped at Ebenezer, the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed all their forces to meet Israel and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines who killed about four thousand of their men. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel said "Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let's bring the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies. So the people sent men to Shiloh, they brought back the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord Almighty, who was enthroned between the cherubim and Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. And when the Ark of the Lord's covenant came into the camp, all of Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. Hearing the uproar, the Philistines ask "What are those Hebrews shouting about? When they learned that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. "A God has come into their camp" they said "we are in trouble. Nothing like this has ever happen before, woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. Be strong Philistines, be men or you will be subject to the Hebrews as they have been to you – be men and fight." So the Philistines fought and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great. Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers, the Ark of the Covenant of God was captured and Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas died. See, Israel is so used to God being on their side, they just kind of head off, assuming that He was, despite the fact that all this bad stuff was going on. Despite the fact that the two priests Hophni and Phinehas were dishonouring, they were despising God - they were doing what was wrong. They deluded themselves – see, there is a cause and effect. No, no, she'll be right! God is always on my side, He is a good God, and He blesses me. See, we take this mighty God, who created the whole universe and expect Him to become our performing poodle – don't we? He does tricks on our command, He comes along behind us. Their first defeat, they get defeated and they lose three thousand men – what do they do? They go and send for the Covenant of God – "Let's bring God to us, let's make God do what we want Him to do, to protect us against the Philistines." But God is not like that! God is an awesome, mighty, powerful and good God and when we start dishonouring Him let's not expect Him to put our feet on solid ground – let's not expect Him to keep honouring us. He always loves us – He'll always forgive us; He'll always bring us close but on His terms, not ours. We can't sow dishonour in God's direction and expect to receive honour from Him in return. See the humiliation of this story is: they treat God like a performing poodle, by bringing Him to them and in fact the Ark of the Covenant is captured by the Philistines. This was the place of the very presence of God Himself and over the next couple of weeks we will discover that people, when they realised what they actually had, these Philistines, all they wanted to do was to get rid of Him. But that's for another day. Today, the simple message of this story is this: we can't go living out a life of stiff necked rebellion and expect God to toddle along behind us on the leash and bless us on cue. We just can't! God is a powerful and mighty God. You know when you put it that way it's pretty plainly obvious, isn't it? And to tell you the truth, that's my agenda today – to make that plainly obvious. It's blindingly, glimpsingly obvious. Let's all take a big wakeup call here. When a storm hits, do you want solid ground beneath your feet? Do you want to know that God is with you? Do you want that certain knowledge that: well, He is going to bless you, no matter what this world throws at you? Gotta tell you – I sure do! And let me get back to the central point; the central theme that the sovereign God wants to get across to us today through His Word. First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30. God says: I honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. God is a sovereign God. God is the King of Kings. God is the Lord of Lords. We had better stop treating Him as thought He is not. You just can't send for God and expect Him to show up when we have been dishonouring Him. Hophni and Phinehas found that out because just as the man of God had prophesied, they were both killed on that same day. And later on in the story we see Eli actually died on that same day as well. God is slow to anger but God does anger and He can't bless our rebellion because if He does, we'll think "Oh great, I can do anything I want and He'll bless it." But anything that I want is not the place of intimacy between God and me any more than adultery is the place of intimacy between a man and a wife. See just to underscore this point, this wasn't some small defeat by the Philistines, it was the mother of all defeats. How many Israelites were killed? Four thousand and then thirty thousand! That is a lot of people! And the irony of it all is that God's people did not understand the power of their Almighty God but the Philistines did. When the Philistines heard that God was in the camp they were afraid. I want to ram this home today – get right in your face with this: if we head off in our own direction, in our strength, in our own selfish ways – on our own without the blessing and covering of the power of God, we are going to come a cropper. We are not going to have any solid ground – if we do that we will reap what we sow and there is no solid ground in that place. None, only trouble! God honours those who honour Him but those who despise Him will be treated with contempt.

How many of you would admit you over-complicate things sometimes? You overthink things and make things harder than they really need to be. Today, let’s let God drastically simplify a few things for us so we really get it. Yesterday we looked at that well known scripture, Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Other translations put it in terms we can really understand. “We are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good. We have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.” Now today, let's go deeper! My sister, EVERY DETAIL of your life becomes part of something good when given to God. He wastes nothing and uses everything. God doesn't merely work around your story – he weaves through it. You can't lose what you surrender. But, it doesn’t stop there. I usually stop there. I read verse 28 and I’m off searching for my purpose. I’m digging through the bad things in my life and reminding God they’re not good yet. But today, let’s keep reading beyond the popular verse 28. Romans 8: 29 & 30, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his own glory.” Woah, that’s a lot. We have an entire waterfall of promises here. Don’t choke on the overflow, let’s get in the flow. Stop trying to control the river and learn to move with it. One leads to the next, then the next, flowing over our lives and flooding us with hope and assurance. Today, let’s get in the flow and receive everything God is offering us! This flow begins with those God knew in advance. And honey, God knew you before! Nothing about you has ever surprised God. He knew you before you achieved any level of success and before you screwed up. He knew you before you got it wrong and before you got it right. He knew you before. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” Oh yes, he definitely knew you BEFORE. He knew you before because he CREATED you with a great purpose in mind. You have been known in advance. And with that, the flow over your life begins. For those he he knew in advance, he chose them. YOU. ARE. CHOSEN. God Almighty, the creator of the universe, chose YOU. He wanted you. He knew everything about you and said, “She’s the one I want.” Girl, stop dismissing yourself! You have not been dismissed. God doesn’t regret his choice. What has he chosen you for? He has chosen you to become like his Son, Jesus. Woah – big pressure, right? Actually, no. You naturally become more like Jesus with each surrender of your own way. Every surrender makes more room for Jesus in you. When you’re living in the flow, it just flows. Ultimately, this means we’re just returning to what we were always meant to be from the beginning. Remember back in Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image.” We were always created to bear this image, now God has chosen to bring us back to it. You are chosen to bring life to the room. You are chosen to bring hope to the people. You are chosen to bring love to the table. You are chosen to wash some feet. If you’ve been looking for your destiny, here it is. Your destiny is to become more and more like Jesus! Before God calls you to a place, he calls you to himself. The closer you walk with God, the better you learn to serve, to love, to forgive, to touch, to walk with, and to invest in God's people. And for those God has created, he has chosen, and for those he has chosen, he has called. And this is where God got me. I am called. You are called. We are called. But, we all want to know to WHAT? Where am I being called? What am I being called to? What is my calling. Of all the questions I receive, this is probably a top 3. “Pamela, how do I know I'm being called and how do I discover my calling?” Is that a question you’ve been asking? Well first, we KNOW you have been called, because you’re in the flow of all of this. God created you, right? Because he created you, the flow tells us he chose you. Chosen to become more and more like Jesus to reflect his image. And that now leads to what God's word says is next – CALLED. But called to what? I began studying this word, “called.” And you know what I found? I found we’ve been over-complicating it! We’ve made this a whole lot fussier than it needs to be. Think of it like this … If we were in the store together, but on separate isles and I called out to you, it would be for 2 purposes: First, I’m making it known where I am, and second, I’m leading you towards me. If you’re a mom and you call out your child’s name, they hear you, then they know where you are and they know to just come to you. And that is precisely what a calling is. To be called by God is two things: God is breaking into your awareness so you know he is there, and he is drawing you toward him. Calling is less bout finding a destination and more about following a voice. Look at our scripture today again – Romans 8:30, “Having chosen them, he CALLED them TO COME TO HIM” If you feel “called” toward a new job, that is simply because God is making you aware of his presence and he is drawing you to move toward him. This is how you step right into a new job … you follow the calling. God, I am aware of your presence in the details of my life. I’m moving toward you in faith. Where do you sense God’s presence? Move in that direction! Ahhhh, so simple. 1 Samuel 3: 1-10 shows us exactly what a calling sounds like and how we’re supposed to respond to it. This chapter in my bible is titled “The Lord Calls Samuel”. I think that’s the chapter you’re at in your life. The Lord is calling you. Oh, yes he is. How do I know? Because he created you and he chose you, and the flow from there is to be called! Samuel is a young boy and he’s living under the care of his mentor, Eli. It says: “Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon. One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle. Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!” “Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn't call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did. Then the Lord called out again, “Samuel!” Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn't call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.” Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before. So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” The people most led by God are usually the people most willing to listen. God is making his presence known. He is breaking into your awareness. If you feel God is calling to you, simply say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” For real, why would we make it more complicated than that?!!! When you sense his presence, move toward it. To step into your calling, you simply need to be aware of God and move toward him! You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t have to understand the next 10 steps. You don’t have to see precisely where it’s all leading. You simply ask, “God, is this you? I’m listening.” Then start taking some steps of faith in that direction. And there’s more great news standing in this overflowing waterfall of God’s goodness. For those he created, he chose. For those he chose, he called. For those he called, he gave them right standing with himself. There it is – you've been made forever good enough because of Jesus. Not because of anything you have done or could ever do, but because of what God has done for you. You have been made right. Ahhhhh, yesssssss. Breathe that in. Jesus has brought you into right standings with God. You have been given full access to the throne! And for those he made right, he gave them his own glory. Yes, we are to bring glory to God, but did you know he also wants to glorify us, his children? Do you know how he does that? He makes us more like Jesus! He redeems us. Your story doesn't end in struggle, it ends in transformation! Here on earth, to be glorified means we have the privilege of seeing him in everything and being transformed from the inside out. In Heaven that means full redemption of our bodies. Honey, this body will be made glorious after your journey here is complete! Who’s excited about a new glorious body?!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoop Whoop … it’s coming. It’s promised. Get in the flow. That’s God’s promise. That’s how this all ends!!!! Stand under that overflowing waterfall and get in the flow. The flow begins with: YOU ARE CREATED. YOU ARE CHOSEN. YOU ARE CALLED. YOU ARE MADE RIGHT. YOU ARE GLORIFIED. And God, well he is in every detail of our lives, continually weaving it all together for good. And he’s calling out to his girls. Calling out so we are aware of his presence, and we continually move toward him. Just keep moving toward him. This is living in the flow and fulfilling his designed purpose for your life. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

All nations have mythic stories about the first great leaders. Let's think for a moment about George Washington, with this story that we grow up hearing about him chopping down that cherry tree and then owning up to it. "I cannot tell a lie." Truth or myth, we hold onto the story as a picture of who we expect a good leader to become. That's this story for Ancient Israel. So we're just gonna walk through the story again, and I'll make some comments on it. The story begins with Samuel grieving because King Saul sucks. He's terrible. But God says, "Fill your horn with oil. We're not done yet." Maybe this story is suggesting that God continues to move forward even when we're stuck in disappointment. Maybe our task is to trust that. Things might not work out the way we thought, but one thing we can do is trust that the Divine is with us. The story keeps moving, so we'll move, too. Samuel goes to Bethlehem. Yup, the same Bethlehem that shows up centuries later in the story of Jesus. God's got someone in mind to replace Saul. One of Jesse's sons. Jesse brings out Eliab. Samuel thinks he must be the one. He looks the part, anyway. God says, "Nope. People look on the outside. God looks into the heart." God says, "No" seven times. So Samuel asks, "Is that all you got?" Jesse: "Nope, there's the youngest, he's out back watching the sheep." Samuel says, "Well, go on and get him then." David is the least significant. Out with the sheep doing the job no one else wants to do in this moment. Maybe out back in the field where nobody sees you is the place where God is forming you. The hidden places. The quiet places. Maybe they're more important than we think. Maybe the Spirit really does work in our lives all the time and maybe the most important work especially in those times we think are insignificant. Story moves on. Samuel anoints David. He's the least likely choice. It takes years of formation before he becomes king - but he's the choice. So this story has me asking questions. How many Davids are we overlooking because they don't look the part? How many voices are we ignoring because they don't come from the right group of people? This is how the kingdom seems to work - from unexpected places. More questions. What if God sees something inside of you that others don't? Because God sees differently. What if the thing you assume disqualifies you is actually the place where God is working? What if your obscurity, maybe our obscurity, isn't a setback, but a preparation, the place where something new is being born? What does God see when God looks into your heart, the very center of your being? Because the God who chose David is still choosing unexpected people. God is still whispering, "This is the one." And somewhere in the quiet spaces in your life, the Spirit is working now. Because God sees differently. So maybe we should see differently, too. Maybe we need to look again; look at people differently, look at the world differently, look at ourselves differently. The next movement of God might begin, is probably beginning, in the quiet places the world barely notices, if it notices at all. And maybe the next movement of God is beginning right here in this room, in your heart and in mine. Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 http://bible.com/events/49579809

1 Samuel 3:9–10 (NLT) - So Eli said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” Psalm 27:8 (NLT) - My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” One of the greatest challenges in prayer is learning that it is not a one-way conversation. We often do all the talking and leave no space to listen. Prayer was never meant to be a monologue. In the First Book of Samuel, young Samuel learned this early. When God called him, Eli taught him how to respond: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Samuel did not argue, rush, or fill the silence. He listened. The same truth appears in the Book of Psalms. God invites, “Come and talk with me,” and David responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Notice the wording. Talk with me. Prayer begins when God speaks and we respond. Some of the best moments in prayer happen when God initiates. When His voice stirs your heart, do not ignore it. Respond. Listen. That is where clarity, direction, and understanding are found. ---- Discover fundamental truths and the power of Scripture with Pastor David E. Sumrall on Daily Devotions. Pastor Sumrall serves as the Undershepherd of the Cathedral of Praise, a Christian church dedicated to Jesus and His Word, with campuses across Metro Manila and branches around the world. Don't forget to like, subscribe to Cathedral of Praise TV https://www.youtube.com/c/cathedralofpraiseTV/?sub_confirmation=1,and hit the bell icon to stay updated. Pastor David Sumrall and Sister Beverley Sumrall serve as the undershepherds of Cathedral of Praise—a Christian church dedicated to Jesus and His Word, with campuses across Metro Manila and branches worldwide. Learn more about Pastor David Sumrall: https://linktr.ee/davidsumrall Subscribe to Sister Beverley Sumrall's Podcast: https://cathedralofpraisemanila.com.ph/podcasts/praise-moments/ Know more about Cathedral of Praise: https://linktr.ee/cathedralofpraise Listen to Bible Radio: https://linktr.ee/bible.radio Check out our music: https://linktr.ee/cathedralofpraisemusic Join the Daily Manna Feeding Program: https://www.facebook.com/COPDailyManna © 2026 Cathedral of Praise. All rights reserved. This video and its content are the property of Cathedral of Praise. Sharing is permitted only by linking to the original source. Unauthorized use, reproduction, modification, or distribution is strictly prohibited. www.youtube.com

1 Samuel 3:9–10 (NLT) - So Eli said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” Psalm 27:8 (NLT) - My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” One of the greatest challenges in prayer is learning that it is not a one-way conversation. We often do all the talking and leave no space to listen. Prayer was never meant to be a monologue. In the First Book of Samuel, young Samuel learned this early. When God called him, Eli taught him how to respond: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Samuel did not argue, rush, or fill the silence. He listened. The same truth appears in the Book of Psalms. God invites, “Come and talk with me,” and David responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Notice the wording. Talk with me. Prayer begins when God speaks and we respond. Some of the best moments in prayer happen when God initiates. When His voice stirs your heart, do not ignore it. Respond. Listen. That is where clarity, direction, and understanding are found. ---- Discover fundamental truths and the power of Scripture with Pastor David E. Sumrall on Daily Devotions. Pastor Sumrall serves as the Undershepherd of the Cathedral of Praise, a Christian church dedicated to Jesus and His Word, with campuses across Metro Manila and branches around the world.   Don't forget to like, subscribe to Cathedral of Praise TV https://www.youtube.com/c/cathedralofpraiseTV/?sub_confirmation=1,and hit the bell icon 

This message is from Sunday Jan. 25th 2026. This is week #4 in the Series Cultivating the Anointing (Increased Anointing).Luke 4:18 (NKJV)18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,Because He has anointed MeTo preach the gospel to the poor;He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captivesAnd recovery of sight to the blind,To set at liberty those who are oppressed.Exodus 30:22-25 (NLT)22 Then the Lord said to Moses, 23 “Collect choice spices—12 1⁄2 pounds of pure myrrh, 6 1⁄4 pounds of fragrant cinnamon, 6 1⁄4 pounds of fragrant calamus, 24 and 12 1⁄2 pounds of cassia as measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel. Also get one gallon of olive oil. 25 Like a skilled incense maker, blend these ingredients to make a holy anointing oil.1 Peter 4:12-14 (NKJV)12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which isto try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 butrejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings,that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad withexceeding joy. 14  If you are reproached for the name ofChrist, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of Godrests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on yourpart He is glorified.James 1:2-4 (NKJV)2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.Ecclesiastes 10:1 (NKJV)10 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment,And cause it to give off a foul odor;So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.Psalm 45:7-8 (NKJV)7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;Therefore God, Your God, has anointed YouWith the oil of gladness more than Your companions.8 All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia,Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.1 Samuel 15:17 (NKJV)17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?John 12:49 (NKJV)49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.Hebrews 13:17 (NLT)17 Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.1 John 2:27 (NKJV)27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.Thank you for listening and join us next time for more great teachings from The Word. If you feel to give towards this podcast ministry you can do so through the same ways that you give your tithes & offerings by writing Podcast ministry.

This message is from Jan 4th 2026 Part #1 of the Series on Cultivating the Anointing (Surrender) Luke 4:18 (NKJV)  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,Because He has anointed MeTo preach the gospel to the poor;He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captivesAnd recovery of sight to the blind,To set at liberty those who are oppressedSamuel 16:13 (NKJV)13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midstof his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David fromthat day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.The purpose of the anointingThe Sixfold Purpose of Christ (Two Words Each)1. Good News(preach the gospel to the poor)2. Inner Healing(heal the broken-hearted)3. Freedom Proclaimed(liberty to the captives)4. Restored Sight(recovery of sight to the blind)5. Oppression Broken(set at liberty the oppressed)6. Grace Season(proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord)Acts 10:38 (NKJV)38  how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit andwith power, who went about doing good and healing all who wereoppressed by the devil, for God was with Him2 Corinthians 1:21 (NKJV)21  Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and hasanointed us is God,Luke 4:1-2 (NKJV)4 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from theJordan and was led by the Spirit ] into the wilderness,  2  being ] tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days, He atenothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.Luke 4:13-14 NK JV13  Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departedfrom Him until an opportune time. 14  Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding regions.Hebrews 5:8-9 NKJV8  though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the thingswhich He suffered.  9  And having been perfected, He became theauthor of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,Thank you for listening and join us next time for more great teachings from The Word. If you feel led to give towards this podcast ministry you can do so through the same ways that you give your tithes & offerings by writing Podcast ministry.

The Message this week is from Jan. 11th 2026, Part 2 of the series on Cultivating the Anointing (Expectation)Luke 4:18 (NKJV)18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,Because He has anointed MeTo preach the gospel to the poor;He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captivesAnd recovery of sight to the blind,To set at liberty those who are oppressed1 Samuel 16:13 (NKJV)13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midstof his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David fromthat day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.Luke 4:22-24 (NKJV)22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph's son?”23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum,[a] do also here in Your country.' ” 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.Mark 6:3-6 (NKJV)3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.4 But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.Luke 4:40-42 (NKJV)40 When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. Jesus Preaches in Galilee 42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving themThese are other Scriptures that were referenced during the message: 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NLT), 1 Samuel 30:6-8 (NKJV) Thank you for listening and join us next time for more great teachings from The Word. If you feel to give towards this podcast ministry you can do so through the same ways that you give your tithes & offerings by writing Podcast ministry.

Islington Baptist is a church for the Islington and widerNewcastle community sharing the life-changing message of Jesus. Our sermons / Bible teaching is a central part of our gatherings.1 Samuel 16:1-131 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.”7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

When was the last time you heard God speak to you when you prayed? If it has been a while, it could be because many of us have come to believe that prayer is more of a one-sided event. If prayer truly is communicating with God, then there has to be times when we stay quiet and listen for what He is saying too. This kind of prayer is often called “listening prayer." If this is new to you or you want to learn more, get comfy as Tiffany Jo Baker shares more about it.Listen in for:Why it is so crucial to LISTEN in prayerHow we can pray a specific listening prayerWhen it could be helpful to ask for someone to listen with youHow the Holy Spirit will help youFavorite Quotes:“What would it be like if you and God throughout your day, were talking and you were asking Him questions, He was responding, and you then were acting accordingly?” - Tiffany Jo Baker“God wants to talk back and forth with us!” - Tiffany Jo Baker“In this process of listening prayer, it's easiest to start with easy questions, yes/no questions, and see what God tells you, or what He says.” -Tiffany Jo BakerFavorite Scripture:“So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.” - Samuel 3:9Want timely words, resources and episodes delivered right to your inbox to help you fuel and fulfill your faith journey? Simply subscribe today to never miss an episode at https://www.tiffanyjobaker.com/subscribe (don't worry, you won't get spam or excessive emails)*If you're looking for perfectly polished people or podcast, this isn't for you. We're real people, with real good information, and a really great God.Don't miss the next Tiffany Jo Baker Podcast episode as we continue to help you GET FREE, LIVE FULL & THANK GOD! You can watch on YouTube and https://www.tiffanyjobaker.com/tiffany-jo-baker-podcast or listen in on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Ratings and reviews are like high-fives and “go-girl's” on podcast. Helping you refresh and refocus so you can do all the things you are called and created to do, my 31 Day Devotional “Soul-Care for Go-Getters” is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and my website shop here. ( https://www.tiffanyjobaker.com/go-getters-devo )As a 3x Surrogate, Speaker, Soul-Care and Success Coach and Spirit-led Strategist, I uplift the soul and success of women like you who are walking out your WHY, so you can birth your God-given dreams at home, online, and in the real world. Find me, @TiffanyJoBaker, on Instagram , Facebook and https://www.tiffanyjobaker.com. I would love to connect with you there!

Isn't There One More?1 Samuel 16:1-131 Samuel 3:19-20 19 Samuel grew. The Lord was with him, and he fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied. 20 All Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a confirmed prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, because there he revealed himself to Samuel by his word.1 Samuel 8:19-2219 The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. 20 Then we'll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.”21 Samuel listened to all the people's words and then repeated them to the Lord. 22 “Listen to them,” the Lord told Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.”Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Each of you, go back to your city.”1 Samuel 9:1-21 There was a prominent man of Benjamin named Kish son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, son of a Benjaminite. 2 He had a son named Saul, an impressive young man. There was no one more impressive among the Israelites than he. He stood a head taller than anyone else.1 Samuel 13:13-1413 Samuel said to Saul, “You have been foolish. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. It was at this time that the Lord would have permanently established your reign over Israel, 14 but now your reign will not endure. The Lord has found a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not done what the Lord commanded.”1 Samuel 16:1-51 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected for myself a king from his sons.”2 Samuel asked, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!”The Lord answered, “Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' 3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate to you.”4 Samuel did what the Lord directed and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, “Do you come in peace?”5 “In peace,” he replied. “I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Male– yesGood Family– Matthew 1:5-6Prominent Family1 Samuel 16:6-7 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Certainly the Lord's anointed one is here before him.”7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”ImpressiveStature– beautiful eyes and handsomeThen the Lord said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward.1 Samuel 16:12b-13aGod still moves through ordinary people, often unnoticed by the world, but seen by Him.Let God define your worth.Be faithful where you are.Trust that God knows what He's doing.God is still anointing Davids — people the world passes by, people whose names aren't in the headlines but whose hearts are after His. Don't despise the place you're in. That may be the very place where God is preparing you for His greatest work.

1 Samuel 16:1-13 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.”7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. 1 Samuel 18:1-4 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt. 1 Samuel 25:1Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.[a] 2 Samuel 12:1-14 NIVThe Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.' 11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

Come As You Are Series - David1 Samuel 16:12-13 “So he sent word and brought him in. Now he was reddish, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel set out and went to Ramah.”We have been talking a lot about how God doesn't always choose the people we think He would choose. If we were in charge, we would probably choose other people as the ones God chooses are flawed, and they make mistakes.They are not the people who get it all right. They are not the people who have it all figured out. They are not the people who look like they fit the part. This is David. He is not the one who looks like he would fit the part. Although this verse does say that he had beautiful eyes and he had a handsome appearance, his brothers looked like they would fit the role of king better. This is not my opinion; this is what it says in the Bible.In 1 Samuel 16, God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king, as the Lord had rejected Saul. Listen to what happened when Samuel arrived at Jesse's house. 1 Samuel 16:6-11 “When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, 'Surely the Lord's anointed is standing before Him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass before Samuel. But he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.” Next Jesse had Shammah pass by. And he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.” So Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the boys?” And he said, “The youngest is still left, but behold, he is tending the sheep.” So Samuel said to Jesse, “Send word and bring him, for we will not take our places at the table until he comes here.”Samuel thought he knew who God had chosen because when he saw Eliab, he thought he looked kingly. He had the stature of a king. One thing that I think is so telling is that God says, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” David lived 3000 years before Jesus, who lived 2000 years before now, and people were still judging by the outward appearance, while God is looking at our hearts. You would think after 5,000 years, we might learn to look at people's hearts instead of their outside appearance, and yet, we haven't learned that yet.God chose David to be king even though he had seven other brothers who could have been chosen. David was chosen even though his brothers looked like they fit the part better. His brothers, at least some of them, were soldiers in the military. David didn't have that training. When Samuel asked Jesse to present his sons to him, he didn't even invite David. That is how sure his family was that he would not be chosen. Does this sound familiar? Has your family counted you out so many times you can't even count? Have they just assumed you couldn't do it or that you weren't the right person for the job?I am sure the reasons for each one of us are different, but I think we all have a story of a time when others decided we couldn't do something. Don't let others tell you what you can and can't do. Don't count yourself out, or let others count you out, because you don't think you look the part. If God chose you, it is because you are the best person for that job. Don't let others talk you out of it.Sometimes it is not others that count us out, but we count ourselves out. We didn't think we could do it, and yet someone asked us to do it anyway. Someone saw something in you that you didn't see in yourself. I doubt David thought he was qualified to be anointed as king. I doubt he felt ready and yet he was anointed anyway.  He wasn't called to be king right then. David was anointed when he was around 15 years old. He was out in the fields tending to his dad's sheep. He became king over Israel around the age of 30. God saw something in David that even his family didn't see. The same is true for all of us. God sees something in us that no one else can see.God called David to do extraordinary things that no one would have seen coming. David was asked to bring his brother's lunch on the battlefield one day. When he got there, he saw everyone very scared, and no one was fighting. He saw a giant soldier from the other side, whom everyone was afraid of. David didn't understand why they were afraid, as they were God's army. They were God's chosen people; why would they be scared if they knew God would save them? David offered to fight this giant. The king said no at first, but David persuaded him. The king wanted him to use armor and fight like the soldiers did. However, he was too small for the armor. He needed to do it with his weapons, a sling shot, and a few rocks. Do you see how this is an unlikely pairing? A small shepherd boy going against a giant soldier in full armor? It is an unlikely pairing and yet one ordained by the Lord. David had been anointed, he had the Holy Spirit, and he knew the Lord was all-powerful. He knew the Lord would fight for him and that all he needed to do was show up. He showed up, he said yes to the Lord, and he defeated the giant.The same is true for you. You may find yourself in some uncomfortable situations. You may find yourself paired up with a giant, a bully, someone, or something that you don't see any way you can defeat. That's ok, you don't have to know a way, you can trust that the Lord is there fighting this for you. He will help you win, he will help you defeat your giant, whatever that may be. You don't have to fight your battles the way others do. You don't have to take the advice of every person who wants to “help” you. Be brave like David. Do things your way with the confidence that God is on your side, and if He is for you, who could be against you? (Romans 8:31)Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those who are listening to this episode right now. Lord, you are amazing. We are so grateful you look at our heart and not our outside appearance. Lord, help us to be more like you. Please help us look inward and try to see other people's hearts instead of judging them based on their outward appearance. Lord, please give us the courage to stand up and do what you are calling us to do, even if those around us don't think we are qualified. Help us to say yes, even if we don't feel we are qualified. Help us to be brave and not to count ourselves out of anything that you are calling us to, Lord. Help us have the courage David had when he faced Goliath and all the other times in his life where he did really brave things. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Just another week or so to sign up for the retreat. I hope you can join us. CLICK HERE to get all the details. If you are wondering who you are in this world, come and listen to who God says you are. I guarantee you will be amazed at the amazing things God says about you. He loves you and thinks you are so much more special than you know. Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in May 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “My children, I pour living waters upon you today. Waters that have never penetrated you before. I have new gifts for you. I have new life for you.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

[Job 33:14] For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. The number one reason people don't hear from God is because they never ____________ and ____________ for His voice. [1 Samuel 3:1-10] Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon. [2] One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. [3] The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God. [4] Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!” “Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” [5] He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn't call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did. [6] Then the Lord called out again, “Samuel!” Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn't call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.” [7] Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before. [8] So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. [9] So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening*.'” So Samuel went back to bed. [10] And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening*.” *Listen (Hebrew: shama): To hear with the intent of _________________. We cannot wait until _____________ _____________ to learn to listen to God. It is not as important ____________ we say to God as it is what God says _______ ______. God often will speak the loudest through ____________ ____________. [Psalm 46:10a] “Be still, and know that I am God! [John 10:27] My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. God speaks to us in a ____________ ____________ voice. [1 Thessalonians 5:21] but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. God will often speak to you using ________________ you have memorized. 555 CHALLENGE (5 minutes each) ___________ – ___________ ___________ – ___________

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptMy name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're continuing to walk through the book of First Samuel. We are now in chapter 28. We'll be there today. So one of the things that my kids are very aware of is that I made a lot of mistakes growing up. And it's not an uncommon thing for them to ask about a specific thing. Hey, did you do this when you were a kid? And I say, I mean, I don't want to lie in that moment. If I can dodge, I'll do that. I'm very good at changing the subject. But they're getting older and they're getting a little bit smarter, and they're like, no, no, no, no, no. Just stay on point. Did you used to do this as a kid? And what I typically say is, like, yes, I did. And they know at this point that I made a lot of mistakes. You know, I tell them, like, I came to Faith later when I was 17. I didn't love Jesus wholeheartedly. I try to explain that. What I want you to understand is that when you choose this, more bad decisions can come out of that. So it becomes kind of a living cautionary tale. But I try to be discreet. I don't try to share all the things, but that's getting difficult because I have family. And I don't know if it's like a rite of passage for grandparents and aunts and uncles just to volunteer information to your children, but that's a thing. Because the other day they asked very commonly about a thing. Did you used to do this? And we had the whole little thing, yes, you know, I did, but da, da, da, da, like I used to. But, you know, this is a cautionary tale. Don't fall in the same mistakes. Because, you know, I was kind of a bad kid that did bad things at times. And they said, oh, yeah, we know that because he used to throw rocks at cars. And I said, what? How do you know that? I used to throw rocks at carts. And someone in the family had just volunteered the fact that when we were little rebellious children out at the roadside in the woods having fun throwing rocks at cars and, you know, just to see if they would look up in the sky and wonder where it came from. And I was like, yeah, that is a thing I used to do. And I had to do the whole thing. But I'm realizing as I get older that this is going to be a thing, that just some aunt or uncle is just going to volunteer some information, and I'm gonna have to really solidify this point that, yes, I did those things. And if you continue to choose sin, if you continue to choose bad things, it just grows, because that's the reality of sin. So my life gets to be a little bit of a cautionary tear and a parable to my kids to teach that principle, because I want them to understand that. I want them to understand that sin grows, that it is serious, that it has consequences. And one of those consequences is that you might continue to pursue it in a direction to where all of a sudden you're doing worse things that can wreck your life. And boy, oh boy, at this point in First Samuel, we see that so clearly in the life of Saul. We have watched him repeatedly make the wrong decision. We've watched him repeatedly live in his own self interest and to choose sin and how that's grown over time. And we kind of are at the place where he hits rock bottom, where the choices he makes in chapter 28 reveal a heart that is headlong after sin. And my hope is that as we walk through this story and see the truth that is bound up in it, it would remind us and be a cautionary tale for us to take sin seriously. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to walk through the story together. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us have ears to hear that we would not see this as simply a story that has all types of interesting details and then that's all it is. But we'd see it as your word that is revealing who you are and who you call us to be. May we have ears to hear and may we respond in the way that you would desire in faith and in repentance and in delighting in you above our own flesh and desires. In Jesus name, Amen.All right, so where we pick up in 28. So we left off last week, where David, through I really think fear and not trusting the promises of God that he was going to be the future king, he goes to the land of the Philistines where he finds safety there. And that's where we pick up right where Chet left off last week in verse one.> In those days the Philistines assembled and made war against Israel. And Achish said to David, "Know assuredly that you and your men shall go out with me to battle." And David said to Achish, "Very well; you shall know what your servant can do." And Achish said to David, "Very well; I will make you my bodyguard for life."And it picks up with some context to set up the story in verse 3.> Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him and buried him at Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land.All right, so we get some context here, something that we already saw a few chapters ago in chapter 25. We already know that Samuel is dead. We know his body is buried in rhema. Okay, that's an interesting context. Also, some things we didn't know that at one point, Saul, when he was doing the right thing, he kicks out all the mediums and the necromancers. These are people who were thought to summon dead spirits. So it's like, why are we being told about that? Buckle up. This story is. Is wild.> And the Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.So as the Philistines are gathering, Saul is seeing this, and he's terrified. Long gone are the days where he heard about the Ammonites and them disrespecting the people of God. And the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he rallied the people and they defeated them. He is now a scared king who can only see his enemy and is afraid. This is in verse six. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets, which is a picture of. As kings would sometimes get dreams from the Lord. And he's been rejected as king. So that's not happening. That the priests. We saw this earlier. In 1st Samuel, the high priest had the Urim stone, the Thuman stone. These were stones that were used to help answer, we think, prayers in a yes or no kind of manner. But we saw that he killed most of the priests at Nob. So the priesthood isn't with him anymore. So he doesn't have his kingly office. He doesn't have help. He doesn't have the help of the priests. Also, the prophets are no longer with him. He's the Samuel has in his prophecy shown that he has been rejected. So you get a picture of prophet, priest and king, that all of it has abandoned him in leadership and he is alone.> Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "Behold, there is a medium at En-dor."All right, so Saul, scared, frightened, says, I will find someone to help me. I will go to a medium for help. The same mediums that he rightfully kicked out of the promised land, that he rightfully saw to get rid of because he followed the law. Then the book of Deuteronomy, in chapter 18, it says,> "When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a charmer or a consultant of ghosts, or one who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD."Stop there. He knew the law. That's why he kicked him out in the first place. He knew that all these people with their evil practices did not belong amongst the people of God. And now he has chosen to go and receive help from there. Which brings up a lot of questions. And I just want to pause in the story to deal with some of those questions, because when you read this story, you have questions about, wait a second, do mediums really do that in the Bible? Do they really consult the spirits of the dead? And the follow up question is, does that still happen? Is that a thing that happens today? Now what we're about to read is the only kind of account of seeking a medium, a witch, a sorcerer, anything like that does in these evil practices. The only really detailed account like this that we get in the Bible, and still it doesn't answer all of our questions. But after looking at this and kind of surveying the rest of the scriptures and thinking through this, here are my general thoughts on how to think about this in light of how we think about this today. Mediums, witches, fortune tellers, many of them are indeed con artists. They're fraudsters, they're tricksters, which I don't think takes a lot of explaining for us, because I think that's the default position of the west, is that if you drive through West Columbia, and you see a palm reader, you see tarot cards, or you see someone dealing in fortune telling, you steal that kind of stuff. Our default position mostly is, and that's probably, probably somebody trying to steal your money. It's probably a con artist of some sort. But what I want to push us on here is that in the majority of the world, so the rest of the world, the not Western world, so South America, Africa, Asia, it is accepted that there are people that deal in these evil practices. They consult evil spirits, they consult evil things to gain information. And really, honestly, the majority of history has kind of accepted this as a thing that happens. It really is only until recent history. And I'll be honest, mostly if your background is more of a white Western background, you're more likely to kind of reject this outright and not see that actually this is something that actually truly does happen. And if you can step out of your position and to see how other people in the world view this and how the rest of history thinks through this, I think it expands our scope a little bit. That's what I've been trying to do over the last few years, the last decade of trying to pastor, because I still think that many of them are con artists. I still think that many of them actually do all types of tricks. But as I've tried to think about this more over the last decade of ministry and then even in pastoring and seeing this, that truly there are unseen demonic forces that are at work all the time, and there are people that consult these things, and what comes out of those experiences sometimes is demonic forces that pastoring people and seeing how this shows up in their life, I see it over and over and over again. So, yes, I think some absolutely are con artists. They're playing tricks. But others of them, when they're consulting someone's ancestor, when they're looking for, when someone's wanting to find out something from their grandmother, that what they're actually hearing on the other side of that is not just trickery, that it's actually demonic forces that are actually speaking to and through these people who are engaged in these evil practices. And we don't know all the things. There's a lot of things we don't understand about this, but I think both of those happen quite a bit. And I think that's helpful for us to think through this. And I think I don't know this, but I think that it's quite probably uncommon to have just immediate access to the spirits of those who have died. Now. I think that's important for us as we think about this, what this is. And also I think it's important to ask the question why anyone would engage in these practices in the first place. People engage in these practices because they're trying to understand things and have control over their next steps in their future. An insight that doesn't come from the Lord. I think that's really helpful to understand. I think going back to actually 1st Samuel 15 is incredibly helpful for this. Because in 1st Samuel 15, when the judgment from Samuel is being passed to Saul, he says something that's very helpful and, and how we should think about this. He says,> "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."What I find helpful about that judgment is it gives us a picture that there's some root issues behind all of this, that ultimately seeking mediums and necromancers is a rejection of the Creator for created things. It's a rejecting rejection of the word of the Lord to gain insight from the evil one, to gain insight to control your situation in life. I was reading a pastor in Africa, in Zambia, who regularly has to encounter people, people that are influenced by witchcraft and witch doctors. And one of the things that he was saying is that as they're seeking to really consult these practices because they have real practical things they want taken care of, they want their crops to grow and they want their kids to get better if they are sick, that as they're trying to control their future, what happens is as they go to these evil practices, it makes them slaves to two demonic forces that captivate and control their life. So the irony of going to seek control over your life by going to these practices, you invite forces in that actually begin to control you. And I thought that was a helpful insight into this to understand why people would do this and the danger that is bound up in doing this. I've seen this. I've sat with someone who engaged in occult practices in the past, and there were demonic forces in. In their life in the present, years later. And I know that our Western minds don't like to wrap our minds. That's hard for us to see. But it is a true spiritual reality now. It's a lot of context to how to think about this, to set up what we're about to. I think we should think about that as you see things from witchcraft to mediums, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, palm readings, even zodiac, horoscopes, and astrology, all of that is in an unseen spiritual realm. But if you are choosing to find insight to control your future by those practices, you are rejecting the Lord and his word and his counsel, and you are inviting evil into your life in a way that is extremely dangerous. Now, all that's helpful, and then we get this, what we're about to read, which is an incredibly unique experience all in itself. And trying to understand it is difficult, but I think we have some insight in how to understand this situation and also how this works broadly.So now we're going back in the story.> So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you." And the woman said to him, "Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?" And Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul." And the king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up out of the earth." And he said, "What is his appearance?" And she said, "An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage.Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why then have you disturbed me, to bring me up?" And Saul answered, "I am in great distress, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you to tell me what I shall do." And Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy? The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me. And the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath on Amalek. Therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the LORD will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines."Then Saul fell full length on the earth and was very afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly terrified and said to him, "Behold, your servant has obeyed you; I have put my life in my hand and have listened to what you told me. Now therefore hear the voice of your servant; let me set a morsel of bread before you, and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way." But he refused and said, "I will not eat." But his servants and the woman urged him, and he listened to their voice. So the woman took a calf that was fat and killed it at once, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it. And she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.All right, so he goes to seek help from this woman. And you should feel really the sad nature of this, that he's taking off his kingly garments, he's disguising himself so he cannot be seen. It's pathetic. This once powerful king is having to do this to get help. It's a sad picture. So he disguises himself in the night, and he goes to her, and he said, divine for me, a spirit by me. Divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you. The woman said to him, surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death? So he asks this, and she says, says, you realize the irony here is she can't see that it's Saul, but she clearly knows he's an Israelite. You realize that Saul kicked out all of the mediums. The necromancers, like you understand that you're putting me at risk here. She's nervous. And then Saul responds in verse 10. But Saul swore to her by the Lord, as the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you from. For this thing which y'. All that is wildly insane and wicked. Because what he just did was that he invoked the holy name of God to offer protection to a woman who is engaging in evil and demonic practices. That is gross blasphemy. And you're supposed to feel that as he invokes the holy name of God to protect this woman so that she will do this evil thing for him.Then the woman said, whom shall I bring up for you? He said, bring up Samuel for me. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, why have you Deceived me. You are Saul. All right. It's impossible to know for sure what's logistically happening, but I think we can tell a few things. First, this woman did not expect to see Samuel. She is surprised. And when she sees that it's Samuel, she makes the connection that he saw. And she is scared. So she's shocked. And I would argue, I think the reason she's probably shocked that she actually saw and. And a spirit from someone who is dead is because this doesn't happen for her very often. So I think this woman probably is more on the con artist side of this. This is not a thing that normally happens. And if she is consulting evil spirits of some type, it doesn't look like this. So she's caught off guard by this, and she is scared. And once she connects all of this and she says, you are Saul, it says the king said to her, do not be afraid. What do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a God coming up out of the earth. Which, again, it's just. This is just shows how all the fools that are involved in here, Saul, a fool engaging this evil. She clearly does not understand how this works. She clearly cannot grasp what's happening. The best thing that she can do, best way she can describe this is it's like a God that's coming up out of the earth. 14 he said to her, what is the appearance? And she said, an old man is coming up and he is wrapped in a robe. And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and he paid homage.So he sees that it's Samuel. And there's this question of that people have when they engage with this. It's like, how does this actually happen? How does an evil person like this, how is she able to bring up the actual spirit of Samuel? Samuel's body's buried in rhema, but somehow she's able to actually bring the spirit of Samuel up. How does this. Why is this even happening? Why does God allow this evil woman to engage in this evil practice to bring about the prophet Samuel? And I think the answer to that question, even I would probably argue that's not the normative thing that happens with the spirits of those who are dead. I think that why God in his sovereignty, allows this to happen in is exactly what we're about to read next. It has to do with what Samuel's going to say to Saul. So God allows it for the purposes of what's about to happen.Then Samuel said to Saul, why Have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul answered, I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do. Which just shows the utter foolishness of where Saul is at this point in his life, that he thought that going to get a medium to engage in this evil and wicked and abominable practice to bring Samuel back for him, to help him. He's just. He's a fool. And something I've said multiple times in this series. Saul just. It's clear he doesn't know God. He just doesn't know God. If he thinks that this was going to work out well for him, he doesn't know the Lord. And then verse 16, Samuel said, why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor and David, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek. Therefore the Lord has done this thing to you, done this thing to you. This day, moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. So Samuel is brought up for this right here. I already told you, as I declared years ago, the judgment upon you, that the kingdom that you've been grasping onto for so long is not yours. It is being given away. And very soon tomorrow you and your sons in the battlefield will die, and you'll join me in death, and Israel will lose. That is why God and his sovereignty allows Samuel will be brought to declare that message. You are going to die tomorrow. Saul responds.> Then Saul fell full length on the earth and was very afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.Then the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, behold, your servant has obeyed you I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to what you have said to me. Now therefore, you also obey your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way. And she's like, come on, eat, get out. At this point she's just like, get out of my home. Because she's taken her life in her hands and she wants him gone. And this medium is trying to get him up off the ground. He refused and said, I will not eat. But his servants together with the woman urged him and he listened to their words. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed. And the woman had a fattened calf in the house and she quickly killed it. She took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it. And she put it before Saul and his servants. And they ate. Then they rose and went away that night. And this is one of the final pictures we get of Saul. And it's sad. It's just sad. And when you think about this in light of his life, it's just like, how did he get here? How has he been so reduced to this sad scene, to having to trust in demonic forces and being told he's going to die? And when you take a step back from the story and you understand the life of Saul, it becomes very clear. He made one sinful decision after the next. He made one self interested decision after the next. And when you see that decision after decision after decision of how this played out, you understand that sin just grew in his life. You go back to 1 Samuel 13, you see that he makes the unlawful sacrifice that he was not supposed to. He disobeys the Lord. You see in 1st Samuel 14 he acts like a fool and he makes a rash vow. You see in 1st Samuel 15 that he refuses to obey the voice of the Lord and to slaughtering the king of the Amalekites. He refuses to do it. You see in 1st Samuel 18 that he tries to murder David. You see in 1st Samuel 19 he tries to murder him again. You see in 1 Samuel 22 he murders the majority of the priests at Nob and their wives and their children. And then from 23 onward, you see this endless pursuit to try to take the life of David, try to murder David and his men. And then he gets spared by David. And there's like a moment where he's sorry over his sin, but he's not truly repentant. And he continues in this. He continues to make sinful choices over and over and over again until his heart is so hardened he cannot see the utter wickedness of deciding that it was a good thing to go and seek the help of a medium. And that right there should serve as a cautionary tale for us. That we should understand the nature and the seriousness of sin and how it grows with every deliberate decision to pursue it. We should heed the wisdom of James chapter one that says,> "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death."That we should see the reality of when temptation comes and how that grows into this desire of sin and how we pursue it, and how when the sin comes, continues to grow in our life, develops, it seeks to destroy us and bring death to us. We should understand the seriousness of sin and how every decision can grow into further pursuing sin. Because here's what happens, y', all, is that sometimes we get so caught off guard by how someone could make such a sinful, foolish choice. People will say, I can't believe that he cheated on her. I can't believe that he would wreck his family and decide to do this. As if it's some surprise when in reality this is what sin does. That he was a man that from early on his teenage years was addicted to pornography and grew this unhealthy, sinful appetite that continued to grow over time. And then maybe he had some freedom when he got married for a moment, but he keeps running back to pornography, keeps running back to these sinful desires. And then in a season where his marriage isn't doing all that well, he gets the positive attention of a co worker. And it inflames that desire in him even further, which develops into lustful thoughts throughout the day, which develops into long lunches with her, which develops into hotel rooms. And it's not a surprise when you understand the nature of sin and how it grows. People will be shocked and ask, I can't believe those friends had this massive falling out. What happened? They were such good friends, like for so long now they seem so cold and distant towards one another. But it's the long road that gets you there of one thing after the next, that it starts with a comment, this person hurts their friend. And then instead of their friend doing the right God honoring thing to go to their friend, and after examining their own heart of why it hurt them to go and say, hey, you've actually hurt me, this was A hurtful thing to say. They just keep it to themselves, and they get angry, and then weeks later, they return fire. Typically, how it goes is, you know, you've been angry for weeks, and all of a sudden something that's completely unrelated just bubbles out in a way that just hurt. Where did that come from? And then no resolution happens there. No reconciliation happens there. Now there's relational weirdness that is set up in the friendship. And now they're both growing resentful, and they're unwilling to repent along the way until finally their eyes see towards each other. They're cold, they're distant, they're calloused. And it's like it was one bad decision after the next. People will be surprised when someone steals from their company. I can't believe that he robbed his company. He's going to prison. Like, what was he thinking? And again, you have to follow the progression here. These things happen over time with decision after decision that years ago that he was a person that started to finally make money. Instead of submitting his finances to the Lord and growing in generosity, he said, I want to spend on myself. And he's continued to fill his life with riches and all types of pleasures. And then as he began to fill his life with things and upholding things over the Creator, he started to grow some debt in his life. And then all of a sudden, there was an easy way to maneuver a little bit of money in a way that no one would ever see. And then he continues this and continues to buy more things and continues to set his heart on material things. And more debt is growing, and more debt is growing. And then all of a sudden, he's in a lot of debt and has some big decisions to make, and there's a big move that he shouldn't have made. And all of a sudden he makes it, and now he's facing prison time. Do you see how this works? Sinful choices that we make over and over and over again. I'll give you one more. People will ask, I can't believe that church split in two. I can't believe that this group all of a sudden just fell apart. What happened there? And y', all, it just. It's. It is a slow fade into this type of disunity. It usually starts with someone who just goes to someone else in their group or goes to someone else in their church and says, I need to vent. I need to. This is the way. This is the holy way to do it. I need the process. Just need to process with you. And then loose Lips rolls out into some gossip, and all of a sudden there's gossip in the air and distrust is in the air. And then eventually slander comes out. And then someone comes back and says, hey, I heard that you said this about me. What's going on with that? And then sides are taken. No one does what they're supposed to do in repenting of their sin and seeking reconciliation God commands us to do. Sides are taken, hearts grow hard and they part their separate ways. This happens over and over and over again. And that's what happened with Saul. He continued to make sinful choices, cementing the position of his heart. And some of you right now have what you might consider to be baby small sins in your life. Maybe some of us have these respectable sins in our lives that we don't think are a big deal. Maybe there's some hidden sin in our lives. And what we do is we justify ourselves, our actions, our thoughts. Thoughts. Are we minimized and say, that's not that big of a deal. Are we covered up with a veneer of righteousness that says, yeah, I know I got this going on. I haven't really confessed it to anyone, but I'm still doing these things. And then that grows, and then it grows and it influences the next decision and the next decision and the next decision, and then it destroys us. We should heed Hebrews chapter three in a way that should sober our souls to reality.> "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'Today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."And the warning there is, be careful in choosing sin, lest you actually, in your pursuit of sin, finally realize that your heart wasn't rooted in belief in the first place, receive the warning of the seriousness of sin, and hope that you have people in your life that will point you. That will point out the choices that you are making, that will ask the tough questions, that will notice the patterns in your life that reveal something beneath the surface that when you dip out for two or three months and you make lots of excuses about not being around, that someone will come into your life, the word of God will come into your life and will reveal what's happening before you, harden your heart in a direction that you do not come back from. We should receive the warning here that we're only a few steps away from wrecking our lives.Now, here's the good news while Saul chooses evil and he meets this very sad end. We have the opportunity to choose Christ. We have the opportunity to delight in him, to run to him. We have the opportunity to actually turn from path of destruction towards Christ. We have the opportunity to end humility, humble ourselves before the Lord, and pray for a softened heart. We have the opportunity to have groups of Christians in our community group that we have people in our lives that at a moment's notice will give us the ear that we need to listen to begin to walk in the light. We have the opportunity and some of you have the opportunity 4 be very first time to actually choose Christ over the desires of our own flesh and following the ways of the world, influenced by the enemy himself, we have Christ and that's his desire for us. I so appreciate 2 Corinthians 5:15 that says,> "and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."that he died for us, that we on the path towards sin and hell might actually see that we had a Savior who bled and died for our sinful choices, for our bad trajectory, so that we might actually live not to ourselves, but but in submission to Him. And that is my hope as we leave this story today. Do not let the sins in your life grow and expand in a way that would suffocate your soul. Do not live for yourself like Saul did live for Christ, who for our sake died and was raised to free us from choosing evil. Pray for us. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would sober us to the reality of sin in our lives and you would awaken us to the joy that is found and understanding that while we sinned against you, you bled and died for our trespasses that we might trust in you of our own selves. Lord, we cannot do that without your work in our hearts. Lord, may you work in our souls in a way to awaken us to the reality of sin and the reality of your redemptive work on the cross in an empty tomb in Jesus name. Amen.We're going to prepare to take the Lord's Supper here in a moment. I want to read from Luke chapter 22.> And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."That as Christians we get to come to the table remembering that yes, we make sinful choices and yes, we pursue sin, and yes, we have hidden sin in our life that we need to actually respond by walking in the light. We have all those things. But the offer of Christ is you don't come in your perfection, you don't come in your righteousness, you don't come in your good works. You come needy, humbly rejoicing that his blood was poured out, that his body was broken. And we remember the good news of the gospel that is for, for us, the sinners. So as you consider your sin, consider your Savior. When you are ready, come joyfully to the table. Some of you, you have not actually fully trusted in the work of Christ. Some of you, if you're honest with yourself that your whole life has been won towards only pursuing sin. And where there's been bits of religiousness, where there's been bits of church attendance, where there's been bits of just doing some good things, those are a cover for a life that is fully captured by sin. And my hope right now is that God would soften your heart and open your eyes to the reality that that only leads to death. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus dies for sinners and that you would not come to the table. Do not come to the table right now. Come to Christ in faith, trusting in his work. And my hope is you wouldn't leave here today without talking to someone, talking to a pastor, talking to anyone, and asking them what does it look like to actually follow Jesus. And then we can talk about what it means to come to the table. But Christians, when you're ready to come to the table, there's gluten free in that back corner and upstairs.

A devotional study about the supreme issues that would come with grieving the Holy Spirit of God.  We have a few examples in scripture, but we want to avoid this path in our lives. Let's look at some of the best examples in the Old Testament. 1 Samuel 16:13-14 KJVThen Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.Related Podcasts:— Do You Know What to Do?— Jesus Gives Us Rest— God's Promises to me are sure— Having the Right Perspective— Slumbering and SleepingRelated Podcasts at TrueWisdom:— What is "Blaspheming the Holy Spirit?"Text UsSupport the showPlease send your questions or comments to: BibleQuestions@ASBzone.comWe often refer to "The Key Principles of Effective Bible Study," a Bible Study resource which outlines core concepts shown in the Scriptures that will help you to better understand many Biblical themes and doctrines. We have done a whole podcast series on these principles which can be found here (https://BibleStudy.ASBzone.com/357512/8572886).God's Precious Word is a condensed, 9-part series based on the same resource. Lastly, we recommend that you check out https://TrueWisdom.buzzsprout.com for a related Bible Study podcast, in a different format, co-hosted with Robert Baker.We pray that all of these resources will be very helpful to you in your Bible Studies.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16. There are many Biblical characters of faith in the Bible, but none with as many Old Testament chapters devoted to them as David. Abraham - 14 Chapters Joseph - 14 chapters Jacob - 11 chapters Elijah - 10 chapters David - 66 chapters (and this does NOT include the Psalms written by him!) Our story takes place around the year 1025 BC. We read in 1 Samuel 13:14 that God is going to replace the Israelite's first king, King Saul.  In 1 Samuel 13:14 we read about Elijah telling Saul the following, “But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord's command.”  In 1 Samuel 16:1 “The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” So Samuel sets out for Jesse's home with oil to anoint the next king of Israel.  Samuel arrives at Jesse's home and sees Eliab, Jesse's oldest son, and this is the one he thinks is to be anointed but God has other plans.  We read in this verse, one of the most important verses about God's heart, 1 Samuel 16:7 “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” The world looks at a person's job, wealth, good looks, accomplishments, status, possessions, BUT God looks at the heart of a person. Seven of Jesse's sons come to Samuel but he tells each that they have not been chosen.  Then Samuel asks Jesse if there are any other sons - Jesse says there's one left in the fields with the sheep.  The smallest, least likely of choices, but Samuel has him sent for.  David is found, tending sheep and is then brought before Samuel ho acknowledges him as the Lord's choice, and Samuel anoints David to be the next king of Israel. Today's verses tell us that from that time on, the Spirit of the Lord was upon David.  What is it about David's heart that stands out? How did David reflect God's heart? David's Heart     ⁃    Faith-filled heart - had a heart filled with faith in God. David wrote Psalm 23 - this psalm opens with :The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need.” David knew he could depend on God, that God cared for him and so David trusted God. David walked by faith.     ⁃    Humble heart - David wrote Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” David realized he needed God, relied on the grace of God, wanted God to mold and shape him, wanted God to draw him ever closer to Himself. David not only lived by faith, he walked in humility.     ⁃    Honest heart - In Psalm 78:72 we read the following, “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” Not that he was sinless, he was not, but he was honest and had integrity and lead his people that way. We too are called  To walk by faith To be humble before God To be honest and to have integrity Like David we are to have a heart after God's own heart. Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/david-and-gods-heart Join us Sundays  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

Faith to Follow1 Cor. 11:1 (NIV) - FOLLOW my example, as I follow the example of ChristHebrews 13:7 (NLT) – Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and FOLLOW the example of their faith.Heb 13:17 TPT - Obey your spiritual leaders and recognize their authority,…it will benefit YOU when you make their work a pleasure and not a heavy burdenNumbers 9:17-18, 23 (NLT) - Whenever the cloud lifted from over the sacred tent, the people of Israel would break camp and follow it. And wherever the cloud settled, the people of Israel would set up camp. In this way, they traveled and camped at the LORD's command wherever he told them to go. …v.23 So they camped or traveled at the LORD's command, AND they did whatever the LORD told them through Moses.1 Cor. 12:18 (NIV) - But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.Romans 13:1 (NIV) - Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.1 Samuel 3:8b-11a (NLT) - Then Eli realized it was the LORD who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went back to bed. And the LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” Then the LORD said to Samuel…

Faith to Follow1 Cor. 11:1 (NIV) - FOLLOW my example, as I follow the example of ChristHebrews 13:7 (NLT) – Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and FOLLOW the example of their faith.Heb 13:17 TPT - Obey your spiritual leaders and recognize their authority,…it will benefit YOU when you make their work a pleasure and not a heavy burdenNumbers 9:17-18, 23 (NLT) - Whenever the cloud lifted from over the sacred tent, the people of Israel would break camp and follow it. And wherever the cloud settled, the people of Israel would set up camp. In this way, they traveled and camped at the LORD's command wherever he told them to go. …v.23 So they camped or traveled at the LORD's command, AND they did whatever the LORD told them through Moses.1 Cor. 12:18 (NIV) - But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.Romans 13:1 (NIV) - Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.1 Samuel 3:8b-11a (NLT) - Then Eli realized it was the LORD who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went back to bed. And the LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” Then the LORD said to Samuel…

Chapter 3 of 1 Samuel. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God. Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!”“Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”“I didn't call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did.Then the Lord called out again, “Samuel!”Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”“I didn't call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.”Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before. So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went back to bed.And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do a shocking thing in Israel. I am going to carry out all my threats against Eli and his family, from beginning to end. I have warned him that judgment is coming upon his family forever, because his sons are blaspheming God and he hasn't disciplined them. So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings.”Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then got up and opened the doors of the Tabernacle as usual. He was afraid to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him. But Eli called out to him, “Samuel, my son.”“Here I am,” Samuel replied.“What did the Lord say to you? Tell me everything. And may God strike you and even kill you if you hide anything from me!” So Samuel told Eli everything; he didn't hold anything back. “It is the Lord's will,” Eli replied. “Let him do what he thinks best.”As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable. And all Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and gave messages to Samuel there at the Tabernacle.

“So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town came trembling to meet him. “What's wrong?” they asked. “Do you come in peace?” “Yes,” Samuel replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice, too. When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord's anointed!” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “This is not the one the Lord has chosen.” Next Jesse summoned Shimea, but Samuel said, “Neither is this the one the Lord has chosen.” In the same way all seven of Jesse's sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.”‭‭- 1 Samuel‬ ‭16‬:‭4‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Teacher: Adam Barnett “Through writing and reflecting, journaling keeps you alert to God's presence and activity in, around, and through me.” – Adele Calhoun “David's story isn't a stain-glassed window of a saint, but a cracked mirror in which we see ourselves and the God who loves us anyway.”  - Eugene Peterson But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. - 1 Samuel 15:22 “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”  - 1 Samuel 15:23b Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men so I gave in to them.” – 1 Samuel 15:24 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you.”  - 1 Samuel 15:28 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.  – 1 Samuel 15:35 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” – 1 Samuel 16:1-3 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  - 1 Samuel 16:7 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.  – 1 Samuel 16:11-13 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.  – 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 1. David loved God – “The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart…”  - 1 Samuel 13:14 2. David was faithful – Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. – Luke 16:10 3. David had integrity – He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.  – Psalm 78:70-72

The Perfect Will of God vs. The Permissible Will of God • Sunday Service Website: www.PastorTodd.org To Give: www.ToddCoconato.com/give   The Perfect Will of God vs. The Permissible Will of God: Seeking His Heart Above All Else As believers, we often hear about the “will of God,” but what does that truly mean? Scripture reveals that there is a difference between God's perfect will—His ultimate, sovereign plan—and His permissible will—what He allows due to human free will, even when it is not His best for us. The key to walking in victory, fulfillment, and divine purpose is seeking God's perfect will and not settling for what He merely allows. Let us dive into Scripture to understand these two aspects of God's will and why it is so important to seek His heart fully. 1. God's Perfect Will: His Sovereign, Best Plan for Us Romans 12:2 (NKJV) “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”   Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”   Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”   Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”   2. God's Permissible Will: What He Allows, but Not His Best Psalm 106:13-15 (NKJV) “They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.”   1 Samuel 8:6-7 (NKJV) “But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us.' So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.'”   Numbers 22:12-13, 19-22 (NKJV) “And God said to Balaam, ‘You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.' So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, ‘Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you.'” (v. 19-22) “Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” …Then God's anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him.”   3. Why We Must Seek God's Perfect Will Ephesians 5:17 (NKJV) “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”   Colossians 1:9 (NKJV) “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”   John 4:34 (NKJV) “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.'”   Conclusion: The Importance of Seeking His Perfect Will Many settle for God's permissible will, pursuing relationships, jobs, or ministries that God allows but that are not His perfect plan. While He may not stop us, the consequences can be costly. We must: 1. Seek Him first (Matthew 6:33). 2. Renew our minds to discern His will (Romans 12:2). 3. Trust Him fully (Proverbs 3:5-6). 4. Pray for wisdom and revelation (Colossians 1:9). By doing this, we will walk in God's perfect will, fulfilling His best for our lives! Let us not be like Israel, demanding what God allows but missing His best. Instead, let us seek His heart and live in His perfect plan!

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” (1 Samuel 16:7 NLT) David was a complex person. He was a warrior and a worshipper. He was a lover and a fighter. He was an unknown shepherd living in obscurity in the tiny little village of Bethlehem, who was handpicked by God not just to be the greatest king in the history of Israel, but to be a part of the most exclusive genealogy in human history, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. But there’s one thing David was not, and that’s an obvious choice. He wasn’t the first king of Israel. That honor fell to Saul, a tall, physically impressive man who looked the part. Unfortunately, that’s all he did. It turned out that his heart wasn’t nearly as impressive as his physical stature. The Lord rejected Saul and instructed the prophet Samuel to go to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse, to find the next king of Israel. Samuel’s arrival was a pretty big deal. Prophets of God didn’t show up in little places like Bethlehem every day. And when Jesse was given the opportunity, he took advantage of it. He proudly paraded his seven strapping sons for the prophet. These guys were the original Magnificent Seven. They were top-notch physical specimens. The stuff of royalty, you might say. But as the prophet looked at each one, the Lord said no, no, no, no, no, no, and no. “Do you have any other sons?” Samuel asked. Jesse replied, “Yeah, I’ve got one more son. He’s out in the field watching his flock of sheep. He’s a little weird. He’s a musician, and he writes songs about God.” “Bring him in,” Samuel said. David came bounding in with enthusiasm and energy. The Lord said to Samuel, “That’s my boy. Anoint him.” So Samuel poured oil on David’s head, officially anointing him to become the king of Israel. God defied everyone’s expectations when He chose David. He didn’t look like a king—and that was the point. God wanted people to be drawn to David’s heart, because David was a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22 NLT). You can’t judge people’s wisdom, integrity, sensitivity, humility, courage, passion, or leadership potential by their appearance. That point was driven home centuries later when God’s promise to David was fulfilled, and the long-awaited Messiah—Jesus, the descendant of David—arrived. To casual observers, He was an unlikely Savior. He didn’t live up to people’s expectations about what the Messiah would be like. Isaiah 53:2 says, “My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him” (NLT). If you want to see how God works, you have to look past the surface—of others and yourself. If you have faith in God, if you believe that God can use you, if you are willing to take a step of faith here and there, then God can do incredible things through you. One thing I have said many times over the years is that God is not looking for ability but availability. He can give you ability in time. But God is looking for someone to say, “I would like to make a difference where I am. Lord, I am available.” You just watch what God will do. Reflection question: Why does God often use unlikely people to accomplish His work? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Because God has given us His presence and called us to prayer, we must diligently listen to God's Word in His presence and seek Him in prayer. 1 Samuel 3:1–19 (ESV): 3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. 2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 And the LORD called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.' ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” 11 Then the LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.” 15 Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16 But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.” 19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.

Key #1 - Protects what matters mostProverbs 4:23 NLTGuard your heart above all else,    for it determines the course of your life.Genesis 4:6-7 NLT“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” Key #2 - Brings Clarity for the future1 Samuel 10:20-24 NLTSo Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. 21 Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally Saul son of Kish was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared! 22 So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?”And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.”  Key #3 - Requires Faith & FinalityGenesis 7:16 NLTA male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them. Key #4 - Opens the way for God's BestRevelation 3:8 NLTI know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close.

Key #1 - Protects what matters mostProverbs 4:23 NLTGuard your heart above all else,    for it determines the course of your life.Genesis 4:6-7 NLT“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” Key #2 - Brings Clarity for the future1 Samuel 10:20-24 NLTSo Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. 21 Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally Saul son of Kish was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared! 22 So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?”And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.”  Key #3 - Requires Faith & FinalityGenesis 7:16 NLTA male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them. Key #4 - Opens the way for God's BestRevelation 3:8 NLTI know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close.

A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 1 Samuel 3:8-111 Samuel, the 9th book of the Old Testament, is without a doubt one of my favorite books of the Bible. Continuing the narrative of God's people, Israel, we transition from the time of the Judges into a new season – but, as is with the case of most of Israel's history, all was not to go so easily. 1 Samuel contains a lot of well-known stories: the calling of Samuel, the anointing of Saul, the anointing of David, David and Goliath, and so on, but it's what we learn about God and about ourselves through this book that make it so fascinating. To help us navigate 1 Samuel is Dr. David Jensen, Professor of Theology at Austin Seminary and author of a theological commentary on 1 & 2 Samuel. Doable Discipleship is a Saddleback Church podcast produced and hosted by Jason Wieland. It premiered in 2017 and now offers more than 400 episodes. Episodes release every Tuesday on your favorite podcast app and on the Saddleback Church YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/saddleback).Resources Related to This Episode:https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-Theological-Commentary-Bible-Belief/dp/0664232493Related Doable Discipleship Episodes: Navigating the Bible: Rute - https://youtu.be/YaH-t-ZzTaMNavigating the Bible: Judges - https://youtu.be/qNGcOf2o0NUNavigating the Bible: Joshua - https://youtu.be/hF28aThBtFsNavigating the Bible: Deuteronomy - https://youtu.be/HzmNgPOM4zUNavigating the Bible: Numbers - https://youtu.be/H1HO6V9HDxsNavigating the Bible: Leviticus - https://youtu.be/08RhDCXYex4Navigating the Bible: Exodus - https://youtu.be/NB9UTpS1F3MNavigating the Bible: Genesis - https://youtu.be/ddhjMfOoasAInspiring Dreams by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoonMusic promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/Creative Commons CC BY 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The Jehu Moment: A Mandate for the Body of Christ • Friday Service To support this ministry: www.ToddCoconato.com/give Website: www.PastorTodd.org App: www.ToddCoconato.com/app 1. 2 Kings 9:6-7 – “Then he arose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel.”'” 2. 2 Kings 9:20 – “So the watchman reported, saying, ‘He went up to them and is not coming back; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.'” 3. 2 Kings 9:32-33 – “And as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, ‘Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?' And he looked up at the window and said, ‘Who is on my side? Who?' So two or three eunuchs looked out at him. Then he said, ‘Throw her down.' So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot.” 4. 2 Kings 10:28 – “Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel.” 5. James 4:10 – “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” 6. 1 Samuel 15:22 – “So Samuel said: ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.'” 7. Galatians 6:9 – “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” 8. Proverbs 9:10 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” 9. Hebrews 10:24-25 – “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” 10. Ephesians 6:12 – “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Do you ever give without expectation? Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller. So Samuel dies, and after the event, David returns south and here is what happens in 1 Samuel 25:4-8: David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.'” — 1 Samuel 25:4-8 Here is the situation: After returning through the wilderness of Paran, David rejoins his men. We assume they are still about 600 men strong. Right about this time, he learns that Nabal is shearing his sheep, which would have been a significant event given the size of his flock. Given that his men are hungry and need a reprieve, David sends some men to greet Nabal, hoping for reciprocity in preserving and protecting them rather than plundering them, which would have been expected given the size of their army. David's request is simple: he hopes they can join the upcoming feast, celebrating Nabal's growing wealth. After all, David understands the life of a shepherd, having been one himself. He merely seeks a little goodwill in return for his already-established protection. In the coming verses, we will see Nabal's harsh and ungrateful response. It's disheartening when you do something good and it's met with a sour-hearted and selfish person. But our frustration is not just an issue of the other person. It sometimes stems from our unspoken and unmet expectations. When we give with the expectancy of receiving something in return—e.g., a simple thank you—and that doesn't happen, it stings. You may not be able to change the heart of a sour-hearted and selfish person, but you can change your heart and expectations. Practice giving without expectation. Buy a friend a meal, give a compliment, offer a gift, and work out the silent force of your expectations. Train your heart to give without expectation, and learn the heart of Jesus, who gave everything to humankind that could offer nothing in return. #GivingWithoutExpectation, #SelflessGenerosity, #HeartOfJesus Ask This: How can you practice giving without expectations in your daily life? What unspoken expectations do you need to let go of to foster a more generous heart? Do This: Give without expectation. Pray This: Lord, help me to give freely and generously without the weight of expectation, reflecting Your heart in my actions. Teach me to find joy in selfless giving, just as You did for us. Amen. Play This: Generous Giver.

Senior Minister Valarie Harris of Overcomers Christian Center ministered for the pastor and family appreciation on the importance of good leadership coming from I Samuel 3:8-9. Scripture: I Samuel 3:8-9 8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Hit the notification bell so that you do not miss our most recent video. From your mobile device, to sow a financial seed into the ministry you may visit us at occvr.org and click the menu tab to locate the donate button. The donate button will provide two options for online giving. You may utilize “Text To Give” in which you will text “give” to the phone number 770-692-2225 to setup your monthly gift or one time financial gift. The additional method for online giving is simply click on the paypal “donate” button. Thanks to our generous partners in ministry, we are able to continue spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our local and foreign outreach ministries. For further information on Overcomers Christian Center including address, service times, and other information please visit occvr.org. Also you may visit us at the following: Facebook: @occvr Podcast: The Overcomers

Senior Minister Valarie Harris of Overcomers Christian Center ministered for the pastor and family appreciation on the importance of good leadership coming from I Samuel 3:8-9. Scripture: I Samuel 3:8-9 8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Join us online: OCCVR.org

Are you leading others toward following God's voice, or are they leading you? Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller. This week, we are in 1 Samuel 15. I've titled this chapter "The Consequences of Disobedience." In yesterday's devotional, we discussed how Saul's insecurity led him to disobedience, masking his fears with empty sacrifices. We explored the importance of confessing our insecurities to God before they drive us into sin. Today, we will read the consequences of his disobedience. We start with verse 24: Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. — 1 Samuel 15:24 King Saul finally breaks down. His rationalizing, deflecting, blaming, and explaining end because he finally feels the consequences of his sin. But you need to see the issue. His insecurities have led him to listen to the wrong voice. Instead of listening to God's voice, he was listening to the people's. Instead of pleasing God, he is trying to please the people. This verse outright rejects democracy in the transition from Judges to the Kings. We learn that democracy was not God's plan. We all know why. People are sinful, and sometimes, so is their voice. They advocate and vote for their selfish desires. For those in the US, we live in this socio-political experiment, and it won't end well. In Saul's situation, he was appointed God's voice to the people, not vice versa. I cannot predict the future of our nation or any nation. But I know this: believers can always be a voice for God in a sinful world. We can proclaim God's voice into a world that proclaims their own. This world has no problem with proclaiming its ideologies. They are willing to sacrifice the unborn and their vas deferens to their ideologies. But as believers, we have a divine call to be the voice of God in a world that chooses to ignore his voice and listen to its own. While you have breath, this is what you should be doing. Proclaiming the voice of God to your family, workplace, church, and the world. Next here is what Saul says next in 25-31: "Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord. — 1 Samuel 15:25-31 Saul appears to be repentant, but we see his sin has consequences. This is true in every form of leadership. Sin has dire consequences that affect our ability to lead others and continue in the same role. Saul should not be surprised by this. Listening to God was the condition of his continuity as the leader of the people. Go back to 1 Samuel 12:14-15: If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king. — 1 Samuel 12:14-15 This draws out one of the great tensions of leadership. Leadership is contingent on our followership of God. You see God is the only leader. The rest of us are followers. However some of us are allowed, or in this case as Saul appointed to the leadership of God's followers. If we steward our leadership well, we may be allowed to steward a greater following. But if we fail, we are removed and rejected from leadership. We can repent and bow before God, but this does not always result in us continuing with the role because we were unable to steward the conditions of the role. This is why I am okay with God removing me or any other fallen spiritual leader from their role if they are unable to lead God's people. And as we know, God is going to anoint a new leader, David, who enters the story in the next chapter. But still, then there is some unfinished business. Let's read a couple of more verses: Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. — 1 Samuel 15:32-33 Samuel had to do what the King was supposed to do. I love this ending, not because of the brutality of it, nor because I am a man of the cloth, but because it makes a profound point. It takes a man of God who hears the voice of God to do the work of God. If you go back to Chapter 12 again, you will see that the people felt Samuel was getting to old and they wanted a successor. But instead of finding another man of God to act as Judge and Prophet, the people demanded a King. God gave them what they wanted, but as we see here the King is not up for the task. So a very old man chosen by God has to do the work that the King won't do. The bottom line is, God chooses leaders who listen to him. These are the leaders he appoints to lead his followers and nothing less. So listen to God today and do nothing less otherwise you too will be removed. #LeadByFaith, #ListenToGod, #ObeyHisVoice

Why God is Raising Up Davids and Esthers for Such a Time as This? • Friday Service   To Give: www.ToddCoconato.com/give Website: www.PastorTodd.org   We will delve into the stories of David and Esther—two remarkable figures in biblical history who were raised up by God for critical moments in their respective eras. Their decisions to embrace God's call shaped not only their destinies but the destinies of nations. As we go through their stories, I want us to reflect on why their obedience was crucial and how their lives serve as a prophetic mirror for us today. We are the modern-day Davids and Esthers, and the decisions we make now will have a profound impact on our families, communities, and the world. Scripture 1: David's Anointing 1 Samuel 16:12-13 (NKJV): "So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, 'Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!' Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah." Scripture 2: Esther's Rise to Queenship Esther 2:17 (NKJV): "The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti." Scripture 3: David and Goliath 1 Samuel 17:45-47 (NKJV): "Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands.'" Scripture 4: Esther's Dilemma Esther 4:13-14 (NKJV): "And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: 'Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?'" Scripture 5: David's Leadership 2 Samuel 5:3-4 (NKJV): "Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years." Scripture 6: Esther's Boldness Esther 5:1-2 (NKJV): "Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter." Scripture 7: David's Worship 2 Samuel 6:14-15 (NKJV): "Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet." Scripture 8: Esther's Intercession Esther 8:3 (NKJV): "Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews." Scripture 9: David's Legacy 1 Kings 2:1-3 (NKJV): _"Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying: 'I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses 1 Kings 2:1-3 (NKJV) Continued: "…that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn." Scripture 10: Esther's Victory and Legacy Esther 9:1 (NKJV): "Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, the time came for the king's command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them." Conclusion: We Are Modern-Day Davids and Esthers In the stories of David and Esther, we see individuals who were called by God for specific purposes in critical times. They were not perfect, but they were willing to say yes to God's call. Their obedience, faith, and courage changed the course of history. We are the modern-day Davids and Esthers. The times we live in are marked by challenges and opportunities, and God is calling us to step into our divine assignments. Just as David faced giants and Esther faced a powerful enemy, we too face spiritual battles and cultural challenges. But God has equipped us with His Spirit, just as He did with David and Esther. We need to understand that our obedience to God's call is not just about our personal destinies; it's about the destinies of those we are called to influence and lead. If Esther had not stepped up, her family would have perished, and the Jews could have been annihilated. If David had not faced Goliath, the Israelites might have been defeated. Our actions today can have far-reaching consequences. God is raising up Davids—people after His own heart who will lead with integrity, worship Him wholeheartedly, and face the giants of our time with unwavering faith. God is raising up Esthers—men and women who will stand in the gap, intercede for their people, and use their influence to bring about justice and deliverance. The call is urgent. We must take a stand now. Our world is in desperate need of leaders who are willing to say yes to God's call, no matter the cost. Just as David and Esther were positioned for a specific time and purpose, we are positioned in this time for God's divine purpose. Let us, like David, be people after God's own heart, and like Esther, be willing to take bold risks for the sake of others. When we align our lives with God's will and step into our divine assignments, we will see His power at work in and through us, bringing about transformation and victory. Let us pray.

Are you ready to move beyond sin and into deliverance? Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller. This week, we are in 1 Samuel 12. I've titled this chapter "God is Faithful When We Are Not." In the story, Samuel is giving his farewell address. He has just explained to the nation that their request for a king was evil and wicked. As a confirmation, he called on a storm, and it rained down on them. In shock, the people responded in fear. Here is what Samuel says next in 1 Samuel 12:20-23: And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. — 1 Samuel 12:20-23 Samuel's exhortation to the people is fourfold: Stop giving yourself to fear. You have been sinful. Do not repeat this sin. Dedicate yourselves to the Lord. Now, this might seem like cold, calculated, and unempathetic counsel, but it isn't. Fear is what got Israel into this sinful mess. They were fearful of other nations, so they wanted a king like other nations. At this point, adding more fear to the situation would only lead to more of the same. So Samuel is trying to get them to snap out of it. I have seen many believers act this way when confronted by their sin. They suddenly realize their sin and the effects of their sin. Then, instead of embracing the truth about themselves and the situation and moving through the experience, they fabricate untrue ideas and images about the situation that take them to an unhealthy place. Fear takes over, and their reasoning is hijacked by irrational ideas not based in reality. Therefore, they are drawn further into sin. This is precisely why so many get stuck in repetitive cycles of sin. They realize their sin but have an unhealthy view and response to sin that keeps them from moving beyond the issues, thus rededicating themselves wholly to the Lord. Right here is where Samuel speaks some grounded truth. He tells them two things. One is a stop, and the other is a start. First, stop turning aside to "empty things that cannot profit or deliver." Second, start giving yourself wholly to God, who does profit the nation and is your only deliverer. But it's the reasoning behind this stop-and-start that is so profound. You see, something bigger was at stake than the nation's well-being. It was the name of the Lord. The Lord had committed himself to them, and “for his great name's sake,” he was not about to abandon them if they would turn from their sin. God's name, his covenant, and his grace were greater than all their sin. This profound and almost unreasonable thought anchors all our faith in moments of sin. God's name, his covenant, and his grace are greater than all your sins. God does profit and deliver, but we have to believe in and surrender to his name, trust in his covenant promises, and accept his unreasonable grace. So, if you have been having trouble moving through your sin, maybe it's time to accept "God's grace that will pardon and cleanse within, his grace that is greater than all our sins!" #GraceOverSin, #FaithfulDeliverance, #MoveBeyondFear Ask This: What "empty things" in your life are you turning to instead of fully trusting in God's grace and deliverance? How can you start dedicating yourself more wholly to the Lord this week? When confronted with your own sin, do you find yourself driven by fear or by faith in God's promises? How can you shift your perspective to embrace God's grace and move beyond the cycle of sin? Do This: Play the song, stop sinning, and start accepting God's grace. Pray This: Lord, help me turn away from the empty things that draw me away from You and embrace Your grace, which is greater than all my sins. Strengthen my faith to trust in Your promises and dedicate myself wholly to You each day. Amen. Play This: Grace Greater Than Our Sin.

What seen events have drenched your faith in the unseen God? Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller. This week, we are in 1 Samuel 12. I've titled this chapter "God is Faithful When We Are Not." Remember, the nation of Israel is gathered at Gilgal. Samuel is proclaiming his final and historic address before the entire nation: But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king. Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. — 1 Samuel 12:15-18 This is awesome because, you see, Samuel is no ordinary teacher. He's not some big-name Christian influencer, pastor, and teacher upheld by public popularity. He's the Lord's anointed Judge and Prophet who was faithful from beginning to end. When Samuel spoke, he spoke on behalf of the Lord, not himself, and never to gain any form of public popularity but to drive the people back to the Lord. But it's the timing of this event and inauguration that is interesting. It happened during the wheat harvest, which means nothing to you, but it meant everything to them. They were an agrarian culture, so they relied on the production of the land. To them, harvest was everything. It was their sustenance for the coming year, and they happened to be gathering on this day. But note: wheat harvest began during early summer when it never rained. Therefore, a sudden thunderstorm and rain would have been a bizarre and unusual occurrence. So now, imagine Samuel speaking. As he closes, he points out their wickedness and calls the people to repent and obey. He prays that God will confirm his exhortation to them with a natural but unlikely event. As he prays behind him, a storm system blows in. Exposed in the valley of Gilgal, thunder roars, lightning strikes, and the people are drenched by an inescapable rain and the might of an inescapable God. Many in this life believe they can escape the reality of God. We think we can outthink and outmaneuver God, but eventually, sin rains down on us all, and we are drenched by the inescapable reality that God is the only one who can save. He is the unseen God who is King over all seen things. And sometimes God uses seen yet unexplainable events to communicate that he is still there, still working, and still saving. Recently, our first grandchild entered this world. Everett was born accidentally at home three months early while my daughter put on her pants in the bathroom. Within minutes, EMTs were at her home. They cut the cord and rushed Everett off to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, an EMT held him in his hands as he stopped breathing. They tried to resuscitate him and were unsure if their efforts on this tiny child were effective. But with God and a lot of prayers from people like you, Everett is home. He is alive and well. It was a wild ride. Today, Everett is almost 12 pounds, and he is thriving. God has drenched our lives using this small child to show us the inescapable reality of an awesome God. Here's my question for you today: What "seen" events have drenched you in the reality of our "unseen" God? Recall one, and share it with someone today. Drench them in the reality of God. #FaithInAction, #UnseenGod, #DivineIntervention Ask This: How have unexpected or extraordinary events in your life helped you recognize the presence and faithfulness of God, even when He seemed unseen? In what ways can you share your experiences of God's intervention with others to encourage them in their own faith journeys? Do This: Share the seen events of God with others. Pray This: Lord, thank You for revealing Your presence through the unexpected events in my life and reminding me of Your unwavering faithfulness. Help me to see and share Your work in my daily experiences, trusting in Your unseen power and grace. Amen. Play This: My Life Is Proof.

Are you sure you want to do that? Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller. This week, we are in 1 Samuel 8. I've titled this chapter "When Our Insecurities Define Us." Today, our text is 1 Samuel 8:10-18, which reads: So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” — 1 Samuel 8:10-18 That sounds fun. Sign me up! But as ironic as it is, that's precisely what God's people decided. Even though Samuel carefully itemized a number of things a king would take from them. Did you hear the list? Did you notice the repetition of the verb "to take"? Samuel clearly delineated that a king would “take” their: Sons (v. 11) Daughters (v. 13) The best of their fields (v. 14) The best of their vineyards (v. 14) The best of their olive orchards (v. 14) A tenth of their produce (v. 15) Their servants (v. 16) Their young men (v. 16) Their donkeys (v. 16) Then Samuel closes with this hand-washing declaration, "And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” We all make foolish decisions. But when we make foolish decisions, conscious of the consequences, we make fools of ourselves. And then, as Samuel declares, there will come a day when we want salvation from our foolish decisions. At this moment, we will cry out like fools. Do you know how you stop making foolish decisions? You get wisdom from wise men who know God and heed their instruction. So if you are insecure and need wisdom today, ask a man wiser than yourself! #WisdomInAction, #GodlyDecisions, #BiblicalLessons Ask This: How have past decisions, driven by insecurity or fear, impacted your life, and what could you have done differently with the wisdom you have now? Who are the wise men in your life you can turn to for godly advice, and how can you intentionally seek their counsel more often? Do This: Seek wisdom in every insecurity. Pray This: Lord, grant me the wisdom to seek and heed godly counsel in my decisions. Help me to trust in Your guidance and avoid the pitfalls of my own foolishness. Amen. Play This: Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me.

Are you surrounded by challenges with no way out? Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller. This week, we are in 1 Samuel 7. I've titled this chapter "Stand Up And Make A Declaration." Let's recap the story a bit. Israel, having lost and regained the Ark of God, defiled the Tabernacle and found themselves in a 20-year hiatus from worship and sacrifice. But after two decades had passed, Samuel called the nation to repent. He gathered them at Mizpah for national declaration and spiritual restoration. But right at this moment, the plot thickens. Let's listen to 1 Samuel 7:7-11: Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car.  — 1 Samuel 7:7-11 An Intense Battle This is quite an intense moment. Imagine for a moment you are the people of Israel. You and your entire family are gathered with the rest of the nation. You are unarmed, fasted, and in a vulnerable emotional state. In the middle of this event, word spreads that the five lords of the Philistines with their armies are gathered around you. You look up to the surrounding territory to see they have you surrounded. Logically, you face destruction. Surrounded & Vulnerable Completely vulnerable, there is only one possibility—salvation by the Lord. Therefore, the people beg Samuel to pray for their salvation, so he does. With the enemy within sight, Samuel responds with prayer and sacrifice, something he has not done in twenty years. Then God makes a mighty thundering sound that throws the Philistines into confusion. I should stop and make a note here. The people of this time had a unique understanding of military combat. They believed every military conflict (victory or defeat) played out on two planes: the natural and the supernatural. Therefore, any unusual phenomenon during a military operation would be interpreted as evidence of a deity at work (Joshua 10:11; Judges 5:4, 20–21). In this case, the loud and unexpected thunder, whatever it was, was immediately understood by the Philistines as a bad omen, which was supported by the fact they were attacking them in the middle of the worship of their God, causing mass panic. Israel immediately understood this as an answer from the Lord from Samuel's prayer and sacrifice and took advantage of the mass hysteria. So let me make three points of application. One | Grasp The Battle First, the enemy always strikes when you are weakest and most vulnerable. This is what he always does in my life. The enemy loves to wear down believers; he is relentless. He knows your weaknesses, vulnerable moments, fears, and failures. If he sees you are about to turn to God, he will send the full force of his armies against you to defeat you. Two | Gird Your Mind Second, when the enemy strikes at these vulnerable moments, you get to make a strategic choice. You can look at the situation from a natural or supernatural perspective. This mindset you adopt will change how you view this situation and will impact your next decision. The choice is either the enemy and natural forces are in control, or God and his supernatural force are in control. Three | Get Out And Fight Third, when you surrender to God, assuming you do, you still need to listen for God and join him in the fight. Surrendering to God does not mean we surrender the fight. We need to fight, but we need to fight the right enemy in the right way. The only way to do this is to get behind the God who fights ahead of us in every battle. Today, you might feel just like Israel, surrounded and vulnerable. If so, grasp the battle, gird your mind, and get out and fight. #DivineVictory #SpiritualWarfare #PrayerPower Ask This: How can you identify and prepare for moments of vulnerability in your spiritual journey, knowing that the enemy often strikes in those times Reflecting on Samuel's response of prayer and sacrifice, what practical steps can you take to deepen your reliance on God during challenging circumstances, aligning your actions with faith rather than fear?

1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)Psalm 1382 Corinthians 4:13-5:1Mark 3:20-35 Genesis 3:8-15Psalm 1302 Corinthians 4:13-5:1Mark 3:20-35The CollectO God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.Old Testament1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; [and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers.] He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”[Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed offerings of well-being before the Lord, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.]The PsalmPsalm 138Confitebor tibi1 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; *before the gods I will sing your praise.2 I will bow down toward your holy templeand praise your Name, *because of your love and faithfulness;3 For you have glorified your Name *and your word above all things.4 When I called, you answered me; *you increased my strength within me.5 All the kings of the earth will praise you, O Lord, *when they have heard the words of your mouth.6 They will sing of the ways of the Lord, *that great is the glory of the Lord.7 Though the Lord be high, he cares for the lowly; *he perceives the haughty from...

"And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lordlooketh on the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah." 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Are you willing to swallow the hard truth? Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller. This week, we are reading 1 Samuel 3. I've titled this chapter "Into Our Silence God Speaks." Today, I am reading verses 15-18, it states: Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.” — 1 Samuel 3:15-18 In the popular movie series The Matrix, the lead character, Neo, is given an option at the beginning of the film. He could take a red pill, enabling him to understand the truth outside the illusion of the Matrix. Or he could take a blue pill, allowing him to return to the illusion. Neo, of course, chooses the red pill, which opens his eyes to a discomforting truth. The life he had been living was nothing but an illusion. He was living a lie. This illustration fits here because Samuel and Eli have to swallow some troubling truths. But notice a few details about the two men. First, Samuel lay there all night, likely unable to sleep due to the troubling message about his mentor and feeling afraid to inform Eli about what God had said. Second, Eli calls Samuel as if he were a son, fully aware that God spoke to him but demanding to hear the truth about God's words. In a way, they both have a red pill to swallow. Samuel has to speak a hard truth. Eli has to accept a hard truth. I said this yesterday, but when God speaks, his truth is always a hard pill to swallow. God's truth declares that we are sinful, and then we have to accept the truth that we are sinful and need his salvation. Some people don't want to believe this truth. They prefer the blue pill. They buy into the illusion that they are good enough and that this life is all about pleasure and personal gratification. But ignoring the hard truth does us no good if we are going to be confronted by it at some point. If we are going to face judgment by God at the end of life, isn't it pointless to ignore the truth? Make today the day you make a change. Swallow the red pill, accept your sinfulness, and receive salvation and redemption before all you get is God's judgment. If this is you today and you are ready to make a change, pray this prayer along with me: God, I realize my life is ridden with sin. I accept this truth and need your salvation. I receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and his life, death, and resurrection as my means of redemption. I am ready to accept your truth and live by it all my days. In Jesus' name, Amen. If you prayed this today, reply and let me know. I would love to support you in some next steps. #EmbraceTheRedPill, #CourageousFaith, #FacingHardTruths Ask This: Reflecting on Samuel's hesitation to share God's message with Eli, consider a time when you've struggled to speak the truth in love. What steps can you take to cultivate courage and honesty in your relationships, even when it's difficult? In what areas of your life are you tempted to take the "blue pill" of denial rather than confronting uncomfortable truths? How can you actively choose the path of courageous faith, embracing God's truth, and pursuing transformation in those areas? Do This: Accept the truth from God, even when you don't like it. Pray This: Lord, grant me the courage to embrace the red pill of truth, confronting the uncomfortable realities in my life with faith and humility. May Your grace empower me to walk boldly in Your truth, trusting in Your redemption and transformation. Amen. Play This: Jesus, I Need You.

Three keys to unlocking divine direction. Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller. This week, we are reading 1 Samuel 3. I've titled this chapter "Into Our Silence God Speaks." Today, I am reading verses 8-10, it reads: And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” — 1 Samuel 3:8-10 Today, Samuel demonstrates how to unlock the divine direction that you want and need. Three keys: Key One | Persistence God called Samuel four times before he realized that God was speaking to him. Four times! You thought you were slow. Sometimes, we are all a little slow, but Samuel got something right. He was persistent in listening. We need the same persistence in how we listen. The world is noisy: there is political noise, business noise, financial noise, marital noise, household noise, emotional noise, and sometimes, it takes a lot of work to hear God through all the noise. This means you need to persist in listening. Don't quit listening for God after the first attempt or prayer. Listen longer because when you don't know what God's voice sounds like, you might have already heard it but just don't know it yet. Key Two | Guidance Samuel needed clear guidance to discern God's voice and how to respond. If you are confused about what God wants you to do, seek spiritual guidance from someone you know who hears from God. Samuel had Eli. Eli was not a perfect man, but he did provide Samuel with enough guidance on how to discern and respond. It was just enough for him to take the first step. There are believers around you who hear from God and who have just enough wisdom to guide you as well. Key Three | Readiness I love Samuel's statement, "Speak, for your servant hears." His posture and positional readiness are what is needed. Most believers want to hear from God but sometimes are not positionally ready for the answer. If you want to hear God's voice and get his direction, then you need to prepare your soul for divine guidance that may not be what you want to hear, do, or share with others. This is exactly what is about to happen to Samuel. Your posture must be that of the servant. When God speaks you need to ready yourself. If you desire to hear from God, confidently embrace these three keys: persistence, guidance, and readiness. By applying these principles, you will consistently unlock the divine direction you want and need. #DivineDirection, #HearingGodsVoice, #SpiritualGuidance Ask This: How can you cultivate a spirit of persistence in your daily life to better hear God's voice amidst the noise of the world? Who in your life can you turn to for spiritual guidance and support, and how can you actively seek their wisdom to discern God's direction for your life? Do This: Do the three keys. Pray This: Father, grant me the persistence to listen for Your voice, the humility to seek guidance from those who follow You, and the readiness to obey Your will, even when it challenges me. Help me to hear Your whispers above the clamor of the world and to faithfully follow where You lead. Amen. Play This: The Struggle.

1 Samuel 15:1-34 And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'” 4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devot-ed to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was des-pised and worthless they devoted to destruction. 10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. 12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” 13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have per-formed the commandment of the Lord.” 14 And Samuel said, “What then is this bleat-ing of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to de-struction.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.” 17 And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” 24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” 26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” 30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord. 32 Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33 And Sam-uel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

1 Samuel 12 And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you. 2 And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. 3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you.” 4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand.” 5 And he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.” 6 And Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness, who appointed Moses and Aa- ron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. 8 When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. 9 But they forgot the Lord their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. 10 And they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our en- emies, that we may serve you. ' 11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety. 12 And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,' when the Lord your God was your king. 13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. 15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the com- mandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king. 16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thun- der and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” 18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people great- ly feared the Lord and Samuel. 19 And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22 For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will in- struct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

1. The preparation process develops your calling   2. The preparation process develops your anointing  1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. (NIV) 2 Samuel 5:10 And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him. (NIV) 3. The preparation process develops your character  Psalms 78:72- And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. (NIV) 4. The preparation process develops your skills Psalms 78:72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. (NIV) 5. The preparation process develops your relationships  1 Samuel 19:1–2 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2 and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. (NIV) 6. The preparation process develops your confidence  1 Samuel 17:36–37 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” (NIV)

1. The preparation process develops your calling   2. The preparation process develops your anointing  1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. (NIV) 2 Samuel 5:10 And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him. (NIV) 3. The preparation process develops your character  Psalms 78:72- And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. (NIV) 4. The preparation process develops your skills Psalms 78:72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. (NIV) 5. The preparation process develops your relationships  1 Samuel 19:1–2 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2 and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. (NIV) 6. The preparation process develops your confidence  1 Samuel 17:36–37 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” (NIV)

Isaiah 44:2 This is what the LORD says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. (NIV) Isaiah 49:1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. (NIV) Isaiah 49:5 And now the LORD speaks— the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The LORD has honored me, and my God has given me strength. (NLT) Job 14:5 A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. (NIV) Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (NIV) Galatians 1:15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased (NIV) Jeremiah 10:23 LORD, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps. (NIV) Psalm 40:5 Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare. (NIV) Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (NIV) Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” (NIV) Psalm 75:7 It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another. (NIV) Psalm 22:9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. (NIV) Psalm 71:6 From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you. (NIV) Acts 13:36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” (NIV) Acts 13:36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. (NIV)

Isaiah 44:2 This is what the LORD says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. (NIV) Isaiah 49:1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. (NIV) Isaiah 49:5 And now the LORD speaks— the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The LORD has honored me, and my God has given me strength. (NLT) Job 14:5 A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. (NIV) Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (NIV) Galatians 1:15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased (NIV) Jeremiah 10:23 LORD, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps. (NIV) Psalm 40:5 Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare. (NIV) Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (NIV) Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” (NIV) Psalm 75:7 It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another. (NIV) Psalm 22:9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. (NIV) Psalm 71:6 From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you. (NIV) Acts 13:36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. (NIV) 1 Samuel 16:19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” (NIV) Acts 13:36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. (NIV)