[0:00] Let's get right into the Word together. 1 Samuel 16. Let's go ahead and read the first five verses, but our text will be starting in verse 6 because we want to make sure we get it. If you remember, last time we were together in 1 Samuel, which would have been Wednesday, we looked at how we can move forward after disappointments.
[0:21] Moving forward after disappointments. Samuel is really just walking through the valley of disappointment because the man whom he has anointed to take his place on the political side of things, which is Saul, has now failed the Lord twice.
[0:35] And his sons are not doing what they should do, and Samuel is getting older, and so we can only imagine the disappointment that Samuel had. And we understand he's mourning over Saul.
[0:46] He's grieving. And the mourning, the word mourning there where it says that Samuel went and mourned over Saul all night long, is really the weeping over an individual who has died. So to him, it's almost like Saul, who is the king of Israel, is as good as dead because he's not fulfilling what God has called him to.
[1:02] He's not walking in obedience. He's not doing everything that God has commanded. He's tried to do things in his own way, in his own manner. There's danger in that. We've seen that. We'll see it again as it applies to Saul.
[1:13] But really, this passage in the 16th chapter is kind of the last glimpse, big major glimpse we get of Samuel because God wasn't done with him. You will see it when we read it in the first five verses.
[1:24] God had more work for him to do. There was a work to be done. There was something to do. He didn't need to dwell on the disappointments because there was still a greater work. But we're going to, finishing up on the chapter, we're not necessarily looking at the work he had to do.
[1:40] I want you to see this evening in 1 Samuel 16, finishing the task well. Finishing well. How to finish well. And we'll see that as it applies to Samuel.
[1:51] We also see the contrast in that, how it will apply to Saul. And then we'll see the beginning of that as it pertains to David. Okay, how to finish well. So let's read the text and then we'll get right into it together.
[2:03] Now the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for myself among his sons.
[2:16] But Samuel said, How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do.
[2:27] And you shall anoint for me the one whom I designate to you. So Samuel did what the Lord said and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, Do you come in peace?
[2:37] And he said, In peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. So there's the work he had to do.
[2:50] We continue on. When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, Surely the Lord's anointed is 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.
[3:02] For God sees not as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab, and he made him pass before Samuel. And he said, The Lord has not chosen this one either.
[3:13] Next Jesse made Shammah pass by him. And he said, The Lord has not chosen this one either. Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these.
[3:24] And Samuel said to Jesse, Are these all the children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest. And behold, he is tending the sheep. Then Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.
[3:37] So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of all and anointed him in the midst of the brothers.
[3:49] And the Spirit of the Lord came mildly upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him.
[4:01] Saul's servants said to him, Behold, now an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp.
[4:13] And it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well. So Samuel said to his servants, Provide for me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.
[4:26] Then one of the young men said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man. And the Lord is with him.
[4:37] So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me your son David, who is with the flock. Jesse took a donkey, loaded with bread, and a jug of wine, and a young goat, and sent them to Saul by David, his son.
[4:49] Then David came to Saul and attended him, and Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer. Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David now stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight. So it came about, whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand, and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.
[5:09] 1 Samuel 16. Oh, how up and down the life of Saul is, right? We know just a little bit from now, Saul will be hurling spears at David, trying to pin him to the wall. It seems to be this kind of mixed bag of emotions and responses.
[5:22] But we shouldn't be surprised, because we read in the text of the evil spirits that torment him. But yet we're talking about finishing the task well. How do we finish the task well? Samuel is moving on from disappointment, because God has a work for him to do.
[5:35] And that work is to anoint the next king. Samuel is the bridge. Remember, we've looked at this over and over again. He is the last of the judges. He is the first in the school of the prophets. He's not the first to prophesy, but he's the first in the school of the prophets, so to take the occupation as a national prophet and speak to all of the house of Israel.
[5:53] And he is the one who is bridging the gap. They're going from the period of the judges, which lasted a little over 400 years, until the period of the monarchy, or the king. When they did that, they rejected God from being their king.
[6:05] They were to live under a theophany, that is, God has king. And they wanted a monarchy, that is, man has king. So they chose this, and Samuel is the one that is there. God says, okay, go anoint him.
[6:15] So he anoints Saul. The people have their king. The problem with the king that man chooses is he will fail, right? So the people's king fails them. And Samuel thinks that his work is over.
[6:27] His days are dwindling down. He's got nothing else to do. God says, no, I still have a greater work. Now you will go anoint my king. Because we have this contrast between Saul and David, the people's king and God's king.
[6:39] How those chosen of man will fail us. Those chosen of God, even though they fail, will uphold his purposes and plans. Because don't ever exalt David and put him on a pedestal and say he's perfect, because you'll read the rest of the scripture and you'll find out that he's anything but perfect, right?
[6:54] But we do know he's got a heart that's shaped in the right way. He's got a heart that's molded and he's a man after God's own heart. And we see that even in his Psalms. But yet we see there's this work that Samuel has to do.
[7:07] And he needs to complete this task as he moves on. And I want us to see what it takes to finish the task well. Because God has called each one of us to work or works. He's got work that we do now and maybe another work later.
[7:20] But he's got a reason for this. I hope that you understand the biblical purposes that God has put before you. I hope that you have a passage that is directing that. And I hope that you know that this is what God is calling me to do and you're moving towards that.
[7:34] We spoke about that this morning. I did not necessarily... No, I didn't do it at all. Not even necessarily. I did not intentionally unite this morning's message with this evening's message.
[7:44] It just seems to work out that same way. Have a little bit of the repetition. Even the involvement of the Spirit in this morning's message and the involvement of the Spirit in this evening's message. But yet we see in both of them there's this great work that God has called his people to accomplish and to do.
[7:59] It is biblically. It is a biblically rooted work. It comes from a word from God. Because Samuel knew what he was to do because God told him. We know what we are to do because God tells us.
[8:11] And we want to finish that task well as individuals and as a church. So how are we going to do that? We see it being played out in this chapter with the person Samuel. The first thing we see is there must be a sensitivity to the Lord's leading.
[8:24] There must be a sensitivity to the Lord's leading. The text says Samuel went. Now let's think about historically what he's doing here. You remember the concern of Samuel is the work that God's calling me to do has at least the potential to endanger my life.
[8:41] And he's right in thinking that because he went to his home in Ramah. Saul went to his home in Gebeah. And to get from Ramah to Bethlehem you had to go past Gebeah. And Saul by this time knows that his relationship with Samuel is strange.
[8:56] Well the one who anointed him is all of a sudden going down the road with a horn full of oil. So it doesn't look good right? Because he's holding his kingdom really by thread.
[9:08] Saul has been told by Samuel the Lord is ripping the kingdom or tearing the kingdom away from you and giving it to someone after his own heart. There's someone better than you for the position you hold.
[9:19] So Saul has this streak of jealousy. So Samuel knew that if I do what God asked me to do I'm running the risk of dying. So God says okay so we want to keep it in context because it helps us to understand this.
[9:31] So in order to do it there's nothing wrong with a prophet going and offering a sacrifice. So he tells him to take a heifer and to go to Bethlehem and offer sacrifice. Now that sacrifice all the way back to the book of Leviticus.
[9:42] Remember all those sacrifices that we looked at. They had intentionality about them. They had a reflection about them. Now this particular sacrifice. You like this right? This is good stuff. This is the meat stuff that we say well why am I chewing on that so much?
[9:54] Because it matters. You'll see why in just a moment. This sacrifice is the fellowship sacrifice. This is a sacrifice of peace. Remember that's the one we said that the Baptists would do real good at. Because that's when you take the heifer and you prepare it.
[10:07] You sacrifice it. You offer the blood. You put it on the altar and then you take it off and you eat it. We call that a cookout nowadays. So that's what you would do. And you would have and the offering really was this fellowship offering.
[10:20] Right? Because fellowship matters. It is celebrating around the table the faithfulness of God to his people. It is rejoicing in what he is providing.
[10:32] It is a peace offering of fellowship. So that's what Samuel is doing from the world's point of view. Right? That's where he's going to Bethlehem to do.
[10:43] But that's not the work that God had appointed for him. And it's important to understand this. Because every day you get up and you do something.
[10:54] But the something you do may not be the work that God has appointed. It may be the avenue to accomplish the work he has called us to do. We see that. Whatever that something is.
[11:05] So he's going to offer this sacrifice. This fellowship meal. And he gets there. And he's staying sensitive. Because he prepares the people. The people were nervous. And they should have been. And he says, consecrate yourself.
[11:16] Set yourselves aside. Set yourselves apart. Take a couple of days. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons. And he went there. So Samuel walks into the room. And man, there is Eliab.
[11:26] The oldest one. And he says, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. Because he looks the part. There's another king that looks the part. Remember the other king that looks the part? That would be Saul. Heading shoulders above everyone else.
[11:37] With the right pedigree. Had the right build. Had the right mentality. He looked like a king. When he stood up from his hiding place. Samuel pointed at him and said, see the man? Doesn't he look like a king?
[11:48] He looks the part. Well, here's the, well, Saul 2.0, right? Here's Eliab. He looks the part. And Samuel says, surely that's the Lord's anointed. The Lord says, don't look at him.
[11:59] I've rejected him. My take on this, now, I don't understand. Maybe I'm wrong in this. I'm just really trying to absorb the text. You know, when we get to the 17th chapter, we have David and Goliath.
[12:12] Right? It's a great account. But you notice that in that 17th chapter, David's brothers are really jealous of David. You know why? Why? It's because seven of them had been rejected by the Lord.
[12:24] And David, it says, was anointed in their presence. So we need to keep that in mind. Sometimes, sometimes God's blessing and favor upon us causes little disagreements with others.
[12:39] I don't want to say that we do. It says, live peacefully with all men as much as depends upon you. Sometimes people don't respond to that right. When I read the text, I see that it says, David's blessing became Saul's curse. Right?
[12:52] When David was blessed, Saul was cursed. And it was really this stark reality. You'll see it in just a moment when we get to it. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. So Eliab is here.
[13:04] Samuel looks at him. He said, there he is. And God says, no, he's not. Now, from everybody in the room, especially from the household of Jesse the Bethlehemite, he looks the part. And if Samuel was going by looks, going by appearances, he would have been the one.
[13:19] And then son after son after son after son comes by. And each one of them looking the part. And what we're saying is to complete and to finish the task well, we need to have sensitivity to the Lord's leading.
[13:31] Because the reality is, is that in the flesh, Samuel would have anointed the first person he saw. And probably the second or the third. Because they all had the right pedigree.
[13:43] They were the sons of Jesse. They all had the right heritage. They were Bethlehemites. And they were all right there before him. Now, sometimes the work that God has called us to do seems to have an apparent end.
[13:58] Or an apparent means to complete it. But what we need to understand is there is sensitivity that is required to know exactly how to do it. Samuel, I'm sure by this point, as son after son after son comes by, is ready to be done.
[14:17] And is ready to move forward. But yet we read this refrain, but the Lord had rejected this one. The Lord had rejected this one. The Lord had rejected this one. It takes sensitivity to the Lord's leading to know exactly what it is he's called us to do.
[14:31] We've read it and we've seen it so many times. Sometimes the great work is replaced by the good work. Sometimes the main thing is replaced by secondary issues.
[14:42] And we see that if we're not sensitive because we need to know whatever God has called us to do, there has to be sensitivity. You say, well, he's called us to do missions or he's called us to love our community or he's called us to support the home or he's called us to...
[14:56] Right. But there's a specific way he's called us to do it. And I think God longs for that because that requires a communion with him. Right. A sensitivity to him.
[15:07] He doesn't just command us and then release us. He commands us and he walks with us. He dwells inside of us and he is there and he's present. And there's this sensitivity. We don't want to just do things for the sake of doing them.
[15:20] We want to be sensitive to how he's leading. But that brings us to the second thing. Not only is there sensitivity to the Lord's leading, there is also... There also has to be a settled mind of purpose. That is, you need to have settled your mind.
[15:33] It's almost, as Paul said, I had determined. But we need to have a settled mind of purpose. Look at what it says. As each of them went through, Samuel said, he's not chosen this one either.
[15:44] And then Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, are these all the children? And he said, there remains the youngest.
[15:56] He's out in the field, right? You know the story. And behold, he is tending the sheep. And Samuel said, this is it. I want you to pay attention to this. Samuel said to Jesse, send and bring him. For we will not sit down until he comes here.
[16:11] Now the reason we need to understand this as a fellowship offering is because everybody that is gathered together has come for the purpose of sharing a meal of rejoicing together. That is what they are doing.
[16:22] But the purpose God had called Samuel to was to anoint the king. So Samuel says, we're not sitting down until I anoint the king. The secondary is not going to become the primary just because it's taken longer than expected.
[16:39] The offering is good. And it's going to be a great time of fellowship. People have been consecrated and set apart and prepared in advance for it.
[16:50] The heifer has been here and it's been prepared and everything is ready. It is there waiting. But he says this one statement. We're not going to sit down until he comes here because this is why God called me here.
[17:06] He told me to offer the sacrifice. We're going to do that. But we're not going to do that until I complete what he called me here to do. It is a settled mind of purpose.
[17:17] Because the reality is that there are so many things that come to distract or discourage or even to cause us to deviate from the purposes that God has called us to do.
[17:29] And there are matters which would seem to be, and when I'm thinking about this, it's just the way I'm reading it, okay? You have Samuel and then these people that were just a little bit upset because Samuel came to the town and they were afraid and they came to him and said, did you come in peace?
[17:44] And then he's told them to all get ready for the sacrifice. So you've got all these people, the elders of the city, by the way. These are decision makers, right? So you have all these decision makers and these leaders of Bethlehem.
[17:55] You have all these people waiting on the sacrifice. And Samuel says, the only thing that matters is that that son of yours that's in the field comes here. You say, well, that's disrespectful.
[18:07] No, it's not. That's settled on purpose. Because Samuel was not walking in faithfulness, even the sacrifice of fellowship doesn't matter. I can promise you, Satan brings distractions each and every day.
[18:23] He does it to my life. I have to remind myself of those things. He does it in each and every one of our lives. We need to know what it is that God has called us to do. We have a settled mind of purpose and we need to be focused on that thing and we need to know exactly what it is.
[18:36] This afternoon, I took time and I just refreshed myself in mind. I needed to do it. And it's from studying the text. I needed to know what's my purpose. What's my settled mind of purpose? One of the things that Carrie and I adopted a couple of years ago, Psalm 145.
[18:47] That's my settled purpose. And that's kind of what we put as far as our family. Psalm 145. It's, by the way, ironically, a psalm of David. And I love Psalm 145. It is to declare his righteousness and declare his goodness to the generations that come after us.
[18:59] To proclaim the greatness of God. To teach men. To proclaim that God is good. And to speak of the works of Almighty God. That those who call upon him shall be saved. Those are my purposes, right?
[19:09] Anything that deviates from that are secondary issues. And there's a lot of other things that we can do. And I'll just be honest. So many times I'll let secondary issues take primary place. And I become ineffective in what God has called me to do.
[19:25] Because we all do. And we need to know what God has commanded us to do and called us to do. And we need to know the task that he has put before us, right? We need to know whatever that task is so that we can finish the task well.
[19:38] And we need to know it certain. We need to be settled in that matter. We need to know for sure that this is why I've come. There are other things that I would do.
[19:49] Now they had the fellowship meal, right? They made the sacrifice. They did that. But they didn't do it until after David came. Because that was primary. Keep the main thing the main thing.
[20:00] We see that. So there's sensitivity to the Lord's leading. There's the settled mind of purpose. And here's really the fundamental one of it.
[20:12] And it's the last one. We'll be through a little bit early tonight. And you can say glory, hallelujah in that. We'll have time to fellowship. But there has to be a solid foundation of faith. Solid foundation of faith.
[20:25] Underline it. Mark it. Put an asterisk beside it. Do whatever you want to. Here's the only person in the Old Testament that's ever said to be filled with or to be covered with the Holy Spirit from that day forward. David.
[20:36] The only one. People are moved by the Spirit. Remember, there's no filling. I have to be careful. Even when I type in my outline, I had to go back and delete it. Because I just want to say filled with the Spirit.
[20:46] He's not filled with the Spirit. No one's filled with the Spirit until Christ dies on the cross in the sense of the Father. Because Jesus says, John 15, it's to your advantage that I go away.
[20:56] Because when I go away, the Father will send the paraclete or the helper. That's the Spirit. And he will make his abode inside of you. So not until Christ came, died to perfect death, was resurrected, raised in the walk in the newness of life, and ascended to the Father, did the Spirit come and make his abode in us.
[21:12] That's when he fills us, right? We are filled with the Spirit. So prior to that, in the Old Testament time, you had the covering of the Spirit, or the anointing of the Spirit, or the coming over the Spirit, kind of the cloaking.
[21:23] We would call it like putting an overcoat over top of everything. And it would just kind of cover you. And the Spirit would influence. But then what was put on you could also be taken off of you. You didn't have the assurance of the ongoing of the Spirit.
[21:35] The only one that it declares in the Old Testament that I have found, if you study it and you find it, please let me know. Because I would just like to know, and I need to be corrected, and if I'm wrong, the only one that I have found in the Old Testament that says from that day forward, which implies an ongoing, continuous existence, is David.
[21:53] Because he comes in, Samuel looks at him, and God says, that's the one. Right? He's ready. It means he's red. There's Brother Jerry and I were having a discussion on that. Some seem to imply he's red-headed.
[22:06] It means he's kind of rosy in cheeks, right? He's a young man. He's kind of a handsome little fellow there. And he looks like everything, nothing but a mighty warrior. Now we know later he's referred to as a mighty warrior. Right? But we see.
[22:17] And then the Spirit of the Lord came mildly upon David. Notice that came up on David from that day forward. So here we have the foundation. David now has a foundation he's going to stand on.
[22:30] We call it a foundation of faith. Now his foundation is this assurance of the Spirit coming up on him. Now will he grieve the Spirit? Will he sin? Will he falter? Yes. But there's also, for every sin, there's a repentance.
[22:41] There's the moving of the Spirit that breaks the heart. There's this confession. There are these penitent psalms. There are all these things that come out of the tragedy of David's life. Right? And it's the direct influence of the foundation of the Spirit.
[22:54] So Samuel knew that if God had called him to a work, that God would bring the right individual there. So the foundation he stood upon was when David comes, he's going to be the right one. Because God called me and appointed me, so I know for sure that he's got someone here.
[23:08] So until that last son comes, we're not moving on. Samuel anoints David who is covered with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is upon him from that day forward. So now David has a foundation, but let's contrast that with Saul.
[23:22] Because look at what it says. Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. And an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him.
[23:37] I'm reminded of when Tony Evans says, when God's your problem, you've got a problem. Right? Because it's not an evil spirit of the world. The Lord is not an evil spirit.
[23:48] It's being tormented because the Lord had ordained it. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. And an evil spirit of the Lord terrorized him. And Saul's servant said to him, behold, now an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you.
[24:01] Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you. And let them seek a man who is a skillful player of the harp. And it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well. I want you to see the contrast.
[24:14] Saul is on a downward spiral from this day forward, really from the day that he just chose to partially obey God's will in the 15th chapter. He's on a downward spiral.
[24:26] What has happened? Is the foundation he had up under him crumbled in the act of disobedience? Any foundation of faith that Saul would have had to stand on to finish the task well is now crumbled into disarray of disobedience because he has decided to do things his own way.
[24:44] So now, the one thing that would empower him to do what God had called him to do, that is, the covering of the Spirit has been removed from him. We need the Spirit's empowerment to complete any task that God has given us.
[24:58] That's just a settled biblical reality. They need it in the Old Testament. We need it in the New Testament. We need it in the church age. We need it in all ages. Right? So what we see is now this foundation has fallen out from underneath Saul, and he can't finish well.
[25:14] But he becomes reliant upon them to find someone who could help him finish well. Lo and behold, who do they find? They find David. We know a man who can play in the heart.
[25:27] You know what David has that Saul doesn't? He has a foundation. Right? He has the covering of the Spirit. So we need to understand this, that when we're empowered by the Spirit and we have the foundation of faith to stand on, we also get the reality that those with the great foundation have an impact and an influence on others.
[25:49] Because when David played the harp, Saul's unsettled mind became settled. We see the impact that David has. Sure, he's going to have an impact as a warrior, but we see the impact of even his presence on the life of Saul because David has a foundation whereas Saul does not.
[26:06] This is why I said, I can say it here because a lot of our little children aren't there, but the book of Job says that if God was to call his Spirit back to himself, then all men would depart.
[26:18] Right? All would die. And the reason I believe, when reading the book of Revelations, when the church departs, I know it sounds kind of harsh, but we said that literally all hell breaks loose upon the earth and that men are begging to die is because it's not just the removal of you and I, it's the removal of the influence of the Spirit that dwells inside of us.
[26:38] We have the ability because of the presence of the Spirit and the foundation which we stand on to impact and influence those around us, which enables us to finish the task well.
[26:50] And when that Spirit is removed and it is manifested in the people of God, known as the church of God, when the influence and the impact of the Spirit is removed, we see in the book of Revelations, as everything falls apart, men are crying out to the mountain saying, fall on us, and they want to die, but they cannot die.
[27:11] Paul says in 2 Thessalonians, they're given over to a debased mind so as to believe the lie, and they are tormented, as saw, by the evil spirits. What settles that?
[27:22] We read, and when it says, he who restrains him, Paul also says, I believe it's 2 Thessalonians, same passage, that we know these things will come. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, I believe it is, could be chapter 3.
[27:34] You have to check me on that. He said that we know these things will come because now he who restrains him is in the way, but when he who restrains him is taken out of the way, in paraphrase, evil has his day.
[27:48] And he who restrains them now is he that is in us. It is the spirit that is in us, restraining the evil in the world. Because there's the foundation in which his people stand upon, which is the influence of the spirit, that gives the ability, not only for them to finish well, but for them to impact and influence the people around them.
[28:07] We see it first being played out in Saul and David. Now, that doesn't mean the world's going to always accept it. Sometimes they're going to hurl spears at us. It shouldn't surprise us.
[28:19] Galatians tells us that one of the parts of the armor of God is the shield of faith with which we may quench the fiery darts of Satan, right? That's why we need those things.
[28:30] But we see the reality here that in order to finish well, we have to have a sensitivity to the Lord's leading. We have to have a settled mind of purpose. We have to have a solid foundation of faith.
[28:41] Samuel had these things. He finished well. Saul did not. He will not finish well. David is now standing in these things. And in spite of all his failures along the way, he'll finish well.
[28:55] Right? The lineage of David will continue on. We read of it in the New Testament. We're introduced to a descendant of David who carries on forever, who is Jesus.
[29:08] Right? Doesn't mean we'll be perfect. Samuel's not perfect. You know Samuel's not perfect. Look at his kids. I mean, I don't know. His kids are falling.
[29:19] One of the calling of a dad is to have an influence on his children. And he's not perfect. Right? David's not perfect. I mean, we could say, look at his kids. I mean, we really could.
[29:30] We could say the same thing. Look at his life. Not perfect. There's a difference in the way they finish. And the difference is the foundation on which they stand. We see here that we've all called to a purpose.
[29:42] And the purpose that God has given us, he wants us to finish it well. Samuel was called out of despair. He was called out of, really, this difficult season. And he was called to a greater purpose to anoint the next king.
[29:53] And he had to finish that task well. And he did it. The question we ask ourselves is the purposes that God's calling us to. Are we going to finish them well? Or are we just going to try to do something? That's how we ask ourselves.
[30:06] I feel like it's been very missional driven today. And I didn't intend it to be that way. It's just the way the Lord led us. But the greatest mission that we drive at is the mission of our everyday life, right? How are we going to live tomorrow?
[30:18] I was sitting at a pastor, not a pastor's meeting. It's called Mojo one time. I am wrapping up. I can say this. I have a long time. When you talk about different cultures, Miss Land, I'll give this to you. I said a Mojo. Mojo stands for Men of Jesus Organization, comprised of a lot of different denominations and a lot of different individuals.
[30:34] And several years ago, I mean, this has been several years ago, I would go to it. And it's local. So we were eating at a restaurant locally. And there was an Amish gentleman that was there with us, which is pretty cool.
[30:46] I mean, it was just called All Spirit Out, right? And some of them were different churches. I was just the guy in the background, right? I think I was the only Baptist guy there. So you had a more charismatic guy who actually was the pastor that invited me to come.
[30:58] And then you had, I think, Episcopalians, Methodists. And then you had this Amish gentleman. You had this wide array, right? Of not only theology, but just in practice.
[31:09] And one of those of the little bit more excitable style asked him about the order of their church. You know, guys do things decently and in order. Everything seems to, because they really take the word of God, literally where if someone is moved by the Spirit to speak a word, if there's another man that is filled to speak, then this man will sit down and the next man will stand up and speak.
[31:28] So he's talking about it. And so he's like, but you're not very emotional in your service. I'm getting somewhere with this. I am, I promise. Because this has stood out to me ever since. And he said, well, how do you know? The question was, well, how do you know when the Spirit is speaking to people?
[31:40] Because there's no amens. It's very reverent. He said their servant's very reverent, very quiet. And this young Amish man looked at it and said, you know, our full belief is the greatest proof that the Spirit was speaking was what we do on Monday, not how we behave on Sunday.
[31:59] And I went, huh. That says a lot. Right? It's what difference Sunday's message made on Monday morning and how we live the rest of the week.
[32:14] Because when we look at our Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, then we really know what Sunday was all about. And I say that because, yeah, we've got a purpose. We do. As a church, as individuals, we have it.
[32:25] God has called us. This isn't this purpose-driven life thing. It's nothing like that. We have biblical purposes and responsibilities that God has called us to and equipped us to, each one of us. And it's a beautiful thing. We put them together corporately, but he's put them together individually.
[32:38] It's just as beautiful. The reality is, is those things only matter if they're lived out on Monday. They only matter if they're lived out on Monday. So let me pray for you as we get ready to depart from here.
[32:50] We're done a little bit early. That's okay. But let me pray for you and then we'll be dismissed. Lord, I thank you so much for your word. Lord, I thank you for your people. I thank you for the way you call us and equip us and empower us.
[33:02] We thank you for the presence of the spirit, which we've read so much of today. Lord, I realize that's not something that we look at quite often, but Lord, I've been so thankful to be able to see it, see the Holy Spirit's role so much in the word of God today.
[33:16] I pray that our Mondays are directed by the spirit's leading. Whether that would be in a home or in a workplace or just in the community, wherever it is, Lord, that you put us each individually.
[33:27] We pray that the power of the spirit would be that foundation that gives us to move forward and to finish well. We want to walk in obedience. We want to walk in faithfulness, God. We want to stand in the certainty of what it is you're calling us to do.
[33:40] And we realize it may not be a great work in the world's eyes, but Lord, it's great in yours. So Lord, help us to love your word, to love your people, and to serve your purposes for your glory.
[33:53] Lord, we ask it all and we pray it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, I thank you so much for your time today and I thank you for your attention and I pray that you have a great start to your week and look forward to seeing you soon.
[34:07] Hey, we're getting into 1 Samuel. Amen. Amen.
[35:13] Amen. Amen.
[36:13] Amen. Amen.
[37:13] Amen. Amen.
[38:13] Amen. Amen.
[39:14] Amen. Thank you.