September 20

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Samuel Anoints David

16 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.

Transcript

(Transcribed by TurboScribe)

Thank you Kevin for all the work and the team for all the work you've done for today. Really appreciate that. Thank you again Catherine and Dave for taking worship this morning.

I've never sang this song, but what a beautiful... the 90s, I wasn't born yet. It's a beautiful, beautiful song. My goodness, thank you for introducing it for those of us who didn't know it.

I really, really loved singing. I could just sit there and sing that the whole morning. It's just such a beautiful song.

Gerda, we have to say goodbye to you today. She's moving to Godrej, a little closer to her family. It's been wonderful to get to know you and Harry when you came over to Central, and we have loved you and you have loved us and blessed us with so many of your gifts and your love.

May the Lord continue to bless you in your journey with him as you go to Godrej. We really are going to miss you. We don't like losing these Duchess.

They're wonderful people. May God bless you and may you be loved. I'm so glad that you can be a little closer to the family as well and that all things worked out, the place sold like nobody's business and just like that.

So we're so grateful for that. Bless you. I'm a little nasal and I'm a little deaf, so if I yell at you, I'm sorry.

It's not because I want to, it's because I can't hear myself properly. I don't know where this bug came from. I went home after church last week and I said to Kelsey, man, I must have yelled a lot because my throat is hurting.

And then the nose started running and then the coughing started. Boy, these days. One day, and I'm looking forward to that day when we all get to heaven, there's a song that says what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus and his majesty.

But in that day, I'm going to get a new body. Man, I can't wait for that one. I can't wait.

That's the first thing I'm going to say. Jesus, we'll do the introductions later. Just do the body right now.

Then we'll do the introduction so I can enjoy that. We will get those. Father, thank you for your grace.

Thank you for this amazing word again this morning, an uplifting word that reminds us of who we are. Thank you that we may see Jesus. And only Jesus.

Amen. Starting a six-part series with you today where we're going to walk through a few chapters in the books of Samuel, 1 and 2 Samuel. Walk through a few of those chapters, especially talking about a young man called David.

But in walking through those chapters, we're going to explore God's purpose for our lives, especially in this messy and giant-filled world in which we live. And I'll explain the giants come next week. But just for a moment, just let the word go in.

So the series title is Giant Busters. Forgive me, those busters. I'm going to do a little bit of slaying a few giants that come at us in life and sometimes can put a veil over what God's purpose is for my life.

And I get so focused on the giants that I don't see God and what God is doing in my life. So we'll talk about those in the weeks to come. But today, what I'd like us to do is to focus on working on that purpose needs faith and trust.

That faith that says, Hebrew says, is to see the things that I don't see, to trust the things that I hope in, and to know that all of these things are true in my life. Sometimes I think we lose a little bit of sight of that, of how God is working, and how amazing God is in our lives. So today we're going to go to 1 Samuel 16, but I'm not going to read yet.

Let me give you a little background before we get there. So God brings these people out of Egypt, puts them into the promised land, and they settle in the land. Initially it goes well because Joshua's still hanging around, but after that we go read the last chapter of Joshua, and then the beginning of Judges.

It said they served God during the time of Joshua, and then some of the elders. And then after that, they kind of just didn't serve the Lord anymore. It kind of got a little messy.

So every now and then, God would send a leader, tribal leader. We call them the Judges. The book of Judges is a book, and I always joke about that.

I said it's like a motorcycle. We know the motorcycles around here. We call them Harley-Davidson's.

The book of Judges is a motorcycle called seven cycles. So that's seven cycles that are all the same. People mess up.

God sends a nation to go put them in their place. They repent of their sins. God sends a judge, and they live in peace again.

Cycle. Then they mess up again. God sends a people.

They say they're sorry. God sends a judge, and they live well again. Seven cycles.

So it's the Judges help them, but it kind of doesn't work that well. They start looking around, and they think, but the other people have kings. So they go to Samuel, who is their judge and their prophet as well.

When we use the word judge, it's not the one with the gavel. It's the one who guides them. He's their judge and their prophet, and they say, Samuel, we want a king, and Samuel goes to God.

He says, they don't like me anymore. They now want the king. God says, no, no, no, you got that wrong.

It's me that they're not trusting anymore, because I've always been their king. But to tell them they can have a king, but he's going to put taxes on them. He's going to make them work for him.

He's going to take their land. Their children have to go to work for him. Samuel goes back.

He says, you don't want a king. This is what he's going to do. They say, we want a king.

God says, fine. Go and anoint this man called Saul. Saul, this amazing, strong, attractive young man, and initially starts off well, and he does well.

But slowly but surely, Saul starts falling into all kinds of things. He starts wars that he shouldn't. Then he starts the taxes.

Then he starts using their kids. Then he takes their land. But the worst is, slowly but surely, he drifts away from the Lord, and he does not follow the ways of the Lord.

And God decides to reject Saul's kinship. And he says to Samuel, you're going to go and anoint another king. That's where we pick up the story.

First Samuel 16, and we start verse 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've chosen one of his sons to be king.

But Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears about it, he'll kill me. The Lord said, take a heifer with you and say, I've 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. Can we just pause there for a second? I want you to note something really important in what we just read. When Samuel goes and he anoints this new king, remember Saul is still on the throne.

Saul is still the king. So this man, and by now it's not a secret anymore, it's David. This David that is going to be anointed to be the new king is going to have to wait a long time before that anointing is going to be realised in his life.

Why is that important? Because here's the thing, in our faith walk every day, God's calling in our life, God's purpose in our life, God has placed it there. But often God will ask of us, why are we not good at that? We want it done like this. Because we've got a phone, we pull it out and we say, Siri, tell me about this.

And we just want it to every moment be like that. In God's world, with God's purposes for our lives, often we need a time of growing to become what God wants us to be before it happens. And that's a time of waiting.

We've been there. When is God going to answer? When's God going to show up? When's God going to act about this? I know myself, I've done that, I do that. But in this faith walk, one of the most important moments is learning to wait on God's hand.

Verse four, Samuel did what the Lord said and when he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him because they knew Samuel was ticked off at them for wanting a king. They knew that. They asked, do you come in peace? Samuel replied, no, I'm bringing fire and brimstones.

Samuel replied, yes, in peace. I've 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. When they arrived, Samuel saw Elijah and thought, oh, surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord. But, do I have to say, 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 that the Lord looks. Can we stop there again? Isn't that what we do when we evaluate? We evaluate on resume, background, all these things we're going to do when we look at secretaries and all of these other, we evaluate on all of these external things.

But when God evaluates and God chooses and looks at us, that's the last thing he cares about. God goes right to a different, he calls it the heart. Now, remember in the Bible, the heart is not this blood pumping vessel.

The heart is that place where everything that my life turns around, that's where everything evolves from. Proverbs 4.23, he usually knows them all. I should have done the coffee thing here.

Proverbs 4.23, be careful with what goes on in your heart, for it determines your whole life. You should memorise that, my friend. I often say that to myself, be careful with what goes on in your heart, for it will determine your whole.

That's how God looks at us. He knows that inside. The one song, and it's interesting, my friend Mark Richardson, into a moderator, wrote me over the summer when I was not doing all that great.

He said, take the psalm and ponder it, and I wrote back and I said, you're going to have to tell me that because I do it every day. Psalm 139 is for me the most beautiful song. Lord, Lord, you know me.

You see me. You see right through me. Whether I sit or whether I stand, you know that.

There's not even a word on my mouth, for you know, Lord, that word is coming. You hem me in from before and define me. And even when I've messed up and I want to run from you, where can I run away, Lord? If I go to the heavens, you're there.

When I go to the depths of the earth, you're there. When I go east, when I go west, you are there, Lord. You knew me when you lit me together in my mother's womb.

You are fully and wonderful. So search me, search my heart. See if there is a waywardness in that.

The Lord does not look at the outside. He knows our heart and he cares for those hearts and he loves to heal them. He loves to care for them and make them strong.

Let's go on before I get distracted. Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. Samuel said, Lord's not chosen this one either.

Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, nor has the Lord chosen this one. Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, the Lord has not chosen these. So he asked Jesse, are these all the sons you have? Well, they're still the youngest.

Notice, he doesn't call his name. Zebra word actually for youngest is the one of the least important. Yeah, there's some kind of little runt out there.

He's tending the sheep. Tending the sheep is also the least favourable task of all of those to do because you were never home. You're always in the field.

You're sleeping with the sheep. You have to protect the sheep. You have to take care of yourself.

Now we got this guy out there who's kind of doing the job that we don't want to do. Samuel said, send for him, but 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. And 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, the the wind, the power of the Lord came powerfully upon. And there's his name, not the youngest, not the least, not the one taking care of the sheep, came powerfully upon.

Samuel went back to where he came from, place called from. I want you to notice two things in this moment that we want to take with us as we as we ask for God's purpose in our lives. Number one, God, like David, God has chosen not because of what you are or are not, but because of who God is and because of the plans that God has for your life.

May I repeat myself? You're chosen because God has a plan for your life and he is excited about that plan. Do you remember what he said in Jeremiah? I know the plans that I have for you and they are plans to prosper you. But his plan is also a plan to use you in his kingdom.

David had to wait a decade before God would put him on that plane. God chose him. And even in that time, despite the fact that David in those 10 years messed up quite often, faced quite a few giants, not just the Goliath in his life, God chose him and God took care of him and was growing him to become who God wanted him.

The time of waiting is also the time of growing. It does not take away the fact that God said, I have a plan for you, Peter, and I'm going to use you because you are mine. I uphold you.

That's the interesting thing. God, God so often, if you look at David, often uses those that look like the least experienced to do the most significant work. Think of Jacob.

Would you have chosen Jacob to be on your team? I don't think so. Not that deceiver. What about old foot-in-mouth Rocky, a guy called Peter? God chose him.

What about the guy who persecuted the Christians, killed them, wrote most of the New Testament? Sometimes the least that you would expect are the ones that are chosen. So when you go home today and you look at yourself in that mirror, you go remind yourself of that. God has a purpose for my life and he has chosen me to fulfil that.

And I will do that because I walk in him. Number two, not only has God chosen you, but God loves you. Isaiah 43, you are precious to me.

You are honoured and I am. You're not a nobody. You're somebody.

Somebody who was chosen on the cross on Calvary. Somebody who was washed in the blood of the lamb and someone who is loved by Jesus Christ our Lord. So much so that he would do that.

No one in this world is allowed to take that. David, David was the no name, don't care much about him, doing the least little job. The boy that was never chosen or the girl that was never chosen on the playground to play.

And yet the Lord said, I love you. You don't have to be the greatest. You don't have to have the best resume in the world.

What you have to know is here I am Lord. And he says, I love you. Then he calls you, as he called David, a man, a woman, to God's own heart.

And I often struggled with that. I thought, Lord, that doesn't make sense. This guy, this guy who did the Bathsheba thing, killed her husband, all kinds of others, a man to God's own heart.

Because I thought it had to do with his competencies and how great he was and all. No, no, no. To be a man or a woman after God's own heart only means death.

It means it's someone who God's heart has been running after and sought to do. That's what it means. It's not about me and what I can do.

It's about God looking at you and saying, I've fallen in love with you. And because of that, I will give you my everything. Please go live that every day.

Go live like someone who God has a purpose for, who was chosen and who is loved because he wants to do that for you. So, you're chosen, you're loved, you have a purpose. So get on the train because we're going to go slow with you as we journey through our lives.

Take a few moments of silence. We sing a song, Lord, take my hand, worship you. So as we look for your purpose in our lives, may that be true every day.

May you hold our hand and walk with us and remind us of who we are in Jesus. Because this world, Lord, will often come at us with all kinds of ugly giants that will say things to us, that will try and put us down, that will try and lead us away from you. May we not hear their voices and may we not see them.

May we remember who we are and may we walk in faith, even if sometimes it takes a decade before that moment that we have been anointed for will happen. May we walk in trust, even when it takes us through deep darkness. Or it was in that moment, Lord, when this young man who wasn't seen as something became the king and he could write and say, I was a shepherd for sheep, I was a shepherd for people, but the Lord, because he loved me, was my shepherd.

Because of the Lord's love for me, I never needed a thing. When I needed a pasture, it was green. When I needed water, it was safe.

When I ended up in deep dark valleys, where I shouldn't have been, he guided me with a rod and a staff. Surely, we know that, Lord, that the goodness and the love of the Lord follows us all the days of our life. Thank you that your love never stops following me.

Because of that, we can smile and say like David. Because of that, I will dwell in the house of the Lord, not just in this world. Thank you for your love.

We love you.