Who is in control? We want to be in charge but sometimes fear, anxiety, or some other thing actually rules. What if there was a better way to live than always struggling for control? Come and hear how who we put on the throne changes everything.
March 29, 2020
BODY: In 1 Samuel 15, the LORD rejected Saul from being king of Israel because he had rejected the Word of the LORD God who is the true King over all. Saul represents all of us. For all humanity since the time of Adam has been in rebellion against God as its true King. We can recognize that we have rejected God as our True King, so that we may repent and follow Him as our True King.
March 22, 2020
If you’re trying to sit in the judge’s chair today, then it’s impossible not to live the life of a hypocrite. It’s always easier to see the wrong in others. But God’s Word is like a mirror. When we look into it, we see our sin and our hypocrisy. It makes us stop judging and instead look for an attorney for our own mess! Or it causes us to turn away and try to hide. Yet, in hiding we continue to suffer from the consequences of our sin: broken relationships, making excuses, never being real, always covering up for the ugliness underneath.
Which seat will you sit in today? Will you listen closely as we call our first witness…
In 1 Samuel 12, the prophet Samuel called the people of Israel to bear witness that they had sinned greatly by asking for a human king when the LORD God was their King, making it clear that how they responded to this truth would determine their future as God’s people. We too have rejected God as King and how we respond to this truth affects our future. What questions must be considered in rightly responding to God as King?
March 22, 2020
Sometimes we make a mess of our lives and don’t know how to clean it up and we don’t want to admit it’s our fault. How we respond to the mess we make with our lives matters to God.
In 1 Samuel 13-14, although the newly anointed King Saul was regal in appearance and enjoyed popular support, he soon demonstrated a fatal flaw–– he foolishly rebelled against God’s Word and made trouble for himself and his nation. We have the same fatal flaw as Saul. When we rebel against God’s Word, we make trouble for ourselves and others.
March 8, 2020
God is our Creator and He has made us for Himself. The throne in our hearts was built for Him. No other will satisfy our heart’s desire. So we keep on searching. That’s what’s going on in our Scripture text today. We will see a son searching for his father’s donkeys, a prophet looking for a prophesied prince and a people searching for a king like the other nations.
In 1 Samuel 9-11, the LORD answered Israel’s desire for a king, anointing a Benjamite named Saul to rule over them and save them from their surrounding enemies. We can understand that the LORD answers our heart’s desire for its true King today.
March 1, 2020
Sometimes we try to put ourselves in the throne that belongs to God, but often we put someone or something else there.
Samuel is old and it’s election year. But they want a new kind of government. They want one like the other nations. They want a human king instead of God. In 1 Samuel 7-8, even though the LORD had established Samuel as His prophet and judge over Israel, they still continued to fail at worshiping God as their true King. In the same way, we often fail to worship God as our true King.
February 23, 2020
Since the beginning, humanity has continually struggled against God in a kind of game of thrones. Yet, when we reject the Lord as King and put ourselves on the throne, we experience much sorrow and defeat in life. But this sorrow can be God’s grace to lead us to follow Him and to give Him the glory that is due Him. That’s what happens to Israel in our sermon today. Both the priests and the people don’t give God the glory due Him, so that they are defeated by Philistine raiders, and the Ark, which represents the throne of God, is lost!
In the book of 1 Samuel 4:1-7:2, the LORD deposed the house of Eli and disciplined Israel so that they might learn to give God the glory that was due Him. We can learn to give God the glory that is due Him.
February 16, 2020
Did you know that God wants to reveal Himself to you? He wants you to know Him. God isn’t hiding. That’s what we tend to do. Since the time of Adam and Eve, who hid from God when they sinned, humanity has had a tendency to hide. Are you hiding from God? He wants to reveal Himself to you, but you must come out of hiding to hear and know Him.
In our reading today, the name LORD or Yahweh appears 34 times. As we’ve said before, the Bible is primarily a book about God. God desires to reveal Himself to us through His Word.
In the book of 1 Samuel, the LORD called young Samuel to be His prophet, revealing Himself by His Word. We can recognize the LORD’s desire to reveal Himself to us by His Word.
February 9, 2020
When we try to take the throne of our own lives, trying to be in control, it always ends with a feeling of barrenness. We feel empty, fruitless, depleted, or broken. Perhaps, you feel this today. The things you do at work feel fruitless or unimportant. You feel depleted at home like you are losing the battle for your marriage or the battle for your children. Maybe you feel stuck, like you have no purpose. Maybe you feel abandoned or like you are fighting through life alone. And as you look to others for help and leadership, whether it’s politicians, priests, or preachers, you have often been disappointed. When we feel this pain it is hard to imagine that turning our lives over to God could make a difference.
In the book of 1 Samuel, the LORD turned the sorrow and barrenness of a woman named Hannah to fullness and exaltation, preparing the way for the future coming of Israel’s true King and Redeemer. We can understand how the LORD has prepared the way to turn our sorrow and barrenness to fullness and exaltation.