Mourning and then...

2 Samuel 1:16-2:4

For David had said to him, "Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed."—2 Samuel 1:16

David was talking with an Amalekite who claimed he had killed Saul.  Apparently, the Amalekite knew that Saul was God’s anointed leader.  Instead of David celebrating the death of Saul, he had the Amalekite killed.  Then David mourned:

Reaping What One Has Sown

I Samuel 31:1 - II Samuel 1:15

We return in our story from David to Saul.  Today we will read the final chapter in Saul’s reign.  In preparing, I came across a couple of graphs which explain the arc of Saul’s life.  Let’s look at them in turn.

Leading Wisely

I Samuel 30

Welcome! Today we continue our account of the story of David’s progression from shepherd to king. In this series we have seen that David has had both fine moments and not-so-wonderful moments. Certainly his faith in God demonstrated in his confrontation with Goliath was a high point. Although he has had other good days, days when he seeks God first and lives according to His precepts, over the past few weeks we have seen David seemingly forget about His need for God and instead operate by His own principles. By and large, this hasn’t gone so well.

Making Friends of Enemies

I Samuel 29:1-11 

Good morning!  We’re coming to the end of our series about David.  Including today, there are four more messages to go.  Where are we now and where will we be going today?

Two weeks ago, we studied through I Samuel 27.  That chapter opened with this unfortunate analysis …

But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” –I Samuel 27:1

Samuel and Saul Redux

1 Samuel 28

Last Sunday we left David and his men in the company of Achish the Philistine. David had decided to flee into Philistine territory to escape from Saul, and he had designed a ruse to make it look like he had turned against his own people. David led his men on raiding expeditions, and when he returned with the spoils he told Achish that he had raided the Israelites – when actually he was attacking the Amalekites and other longstanding enemies of Israel. So he gained the confidence of Achish, who wanted him to be his servant for life. There was something impressive about David, and Achish certainly wanted him as an ally rather than an enemy. However, it put David in rather a precarious position, since he was, in effect, living a lie. A potential crisis looms as we begin chapter 28 of 1 Samuel:

Living Among Enemies

1 Samuel 27:1-12

Last week, John Farmer showed us a map of the places that Saul and his army chased David to kill him. Here it is for review:

The King Who Cried Repentence

I Samuel 26:1-25

Good morning!  Today we’re going to continue our series on David: Walking Through and Stepping Up.  The focus is David’s journey from a shepherd boy to become the Lord’s anointed king of Israel.  David went through a long journey which was both spiritually and physically arduous.  Before we go into today’s passage, let’s look at a map to get a sense of what has been happening to David. 

One Wise Among Fools

I Samuel 25

Welcome, and happy Mothers’ Day! Perhaps in a stereotypical fashion, I looked around the Internet a bit for some good Christian quotes about mothers. John Hopler, the director of Great Commission Churches, our “parent” organization, also sent some verses out to pastors this week. What surprised me was that I wasn’t very impressed by many of them. There was one by C.S. Lewis that wasn’t bad, but it was what I might call “too strong,” to modern ears, putting down those who aren’t mothers. There were a few by Billy Sunday that were pretty good, but that was about it. So I then widened my search to articles and sermons, and there, on the Desiring God website (the ministry of John Piper), in an article by guest contributor Rachel Jankovic, was the following absolute gem:

Mercy Leading to Repentance?

I Samuel 24:1-22

Welcome! Today we continue our series on David from the book of I Samuel. For a time, David was the hero of the land, leading victory after victory for his king, Saul. But Saul grew jealous of David and began to plot ways to kill him. After plotting turned to outright attempts, David fled, and over the past few weeks we have seen what David’s life has looked like on the run.

Saved by Enemies

1 Samuel 23:19-29

At the end of last week’s message, Jonathan had sought out to David to encourage him.  That was a bold move on his part.  Saul was willing to murder anyone associated with David.  He had just allowed an entire town of priests to be destroyed and had even thrown a spear at Jonathan when he stood up for David.  Let’s pick up back in I Samuel 23:16 and 17.

And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God.  Thus he said to him, "Do not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also."—1 Samuel 23:16-17 NASB

Serving while Struggling

1 Samuel 23:1-18

Do you ever feel like you are just barely hanging on? One more storm, one more gust of wind, and you are just going to fall flat? You might be tempted to say, “Okay, God, that’s enough. This is all I can handle. One more problem, one more challenge, and I will just go to pieces.” God hears every cry of our hearts. He loves us more than we can imagine. But He is never sympathetic to self-pity. When we are struggling, He will assure us that He is right beside us. But He will often say, “I want you to reach out to someone else. I want you to help them, even though you feel helpless yourself.” He wants us to serve while struggling.

No Turning Back

I Samuel 22:6-23, Psalm 52

Welcome! Today we continue our series in I Samuel. I almost feel as though I should give a movie rating before getting into today’s passage, something along the lines that this passage is not suitable for young children, because I Samuel 22 is one of the darkest episodes in the book, and maybe one of the darkest accounts of the entire Old Testament.

Never Alone

I Samuel 21:10-22:5

Last week was Easter, and we took a step back from our series on David…or maybe it was a step up!  Tim shared about the Lord Jesus who is the greatest Shepherd and King.  Today, we return to our study of David.  David was a forerunner of Christ.  David was a humble shepherd as a boy, but God used that experience as part of his preparation to become king of the nation of Israel.  In this series, we are now in between the days when David was a shepherd and his ascendance to be king.

Consecrated Bread

1 Samuel 21:1-6

Good morning!  Today we continue our series of David’s transition from shepherd to king, titled “Walking Through & Stepping Up.”  Last week Carl gave us an extensive recap of events from 1 Samuel chapter 8 (where Saul is anointed king) to the end of chapter 20 where Saul is intent on killing David, which caused David to have to flee for his life. Carl ended his message with a verse from John 16:33 where Jesus said “In the world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

Today, starting in 1 Samuel chapter 21, we will continue our series where Carl left off.  But before we begin, let’s pray and ask the Lord to use this message today to teach us about His compassion and mercy toward David and toward those of us who believe and have put our trust in Him and in His suffering and death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

Hard Truth Revealed

I Sam. 20:17-42

Welcome! Today we continue our series in I Samuel, looking at the second half of Chapter 20. We are right in the middle of the story, so let me give you some background. In I Samuel 8, the Israelites demand to the prophet Samuel that they be given a king. Samuel warns them that bad things will happen and that God is already their king, but they persist. Samuel, under God’s direction, tells them they will receive what they want. In I Samuel 9, God directs Samuel to choose Saul for this role. Saul looks the part externally, but from the beginning we see problems with his heart – Saul does not have the heart of a servant, and he likes to do things his own way, even when they disagree with God’s direction. He rebels against God’s instructions in I Samuel 13, essentially takes personal credit for Jonathan’s victory over the Philistines in I Samuel 14, and rebels even more egregiously with regards to Agag in I Samuel 15. This leads to God’s rejection of Saul and Samuel’s anointing of David as the future king, in I Samuel 16. David at the time is little more than a boy; it’s not clear when this transfer of power is to take place, and the anointing itself is kept quiet, away from Saul. He knows that the Lord has rejected him, but he doesn’t know who will replace him.

When the Lord and Love Intervene

I Samuel 19:18-20:16

Good morning!  While I was preparing the message yesterday, I came across this comic.  It does a pretty good job summing up Saul’s heart toward David.  Saul is like a raging bull more and more; whenever he encounters David or hears of David’s successes, he wants to destroy David so that he and his family will remain preeminent in Israel.

We ended our message last week with David on the run from Saul.  It appears that Saul had not only thrown a spear at David this time, but he may have assaulted David with spear in hand, raising his massive form off the throne and trying to back David up against the wall.  David escaped from Saul at the last moment as the spear was driven into the wall, perhaps becoming stuck long enough for David to get away.

David proceeded to return home where his wife (who was also Saul’s daughter) warned him to run for his life.  That is where we will pick up the story today, with David’s flight.  Before we get into the passage, let’s take a moment and pray.

When They Know that You Know

1 Samuel 19:1-17

 

It’s been a couple of months since I’ve had the privilege of teaching on a Sunday morning, and much has changed in the Rollins household in those short months.  For those of you who struggle with math, we proved that on occasion, one plus one really does equal three when welcomed Elise Marie into the world late in the evening of December 7^th, 2017. Some of you have been able to meet her, and the rest of you will have a chance as soon as the flu bug dies back some more.  We praise God for a safe delivery, even though it wasn’t how we planned it, for a healthy daughter, and for a church family that demonstrated the love of Christ in so many ways as we adjusted to life as a family of three.  I want to publicly thank all of you for the meals and cards you sent.  The meals were a tremendous blessing as I went back to work very soon after Elise was born.

I could spend all day talking about Elise, but we’re here for a better reason. Let’s pray and jump right in.

Don't Mess with the Blessed

I Samuel 18:10-30

Welcome! Today we continue our series on David, from the book in the Bible of I Samuel. We are also going to spend some time remembering the Lord Jesus through taking of the bread and cup, and following this, we will have a short sharing time in which those who wish to share what the Lord is teaching them may do so.

Today’s passage from I Samuel is timeless. Saul is both jealous and afraid of David, jealous of how the people love him and afraid that David will take the kingship from him, and as a result, he tries again and again to get rid of David. But David, a young man of faith and a living relationship with God, is able, by God’s given wisdom and blessing, to overcome every obstacle Saul throws at him.

Whose Son are You?

I Samuel 17:55-18:9

Hello and good morning!  We are continuing on in our series about David titled “Walking Through and Stepping Up.”  We’re still in the early going.  In the last couple of weeks, we’ve looked at the events leading up to David’s battle with Goliath through his triumphant victory over the giant.  David spoke to Goliath just before they fought one another.  His words are so powerful and give us a glimpse at what was in David’s heart that I want to share them again today.

David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give all of you into our hands.” –I Samuel 17:45-47

The Battle is the Lord's

1 Samuel 17:38-54

Welcome back to the story of David and Goliath. This is the third message that we have devoted to this chapter – and we won’t even quite finish it today. Why our detailed focus on this one incident? Well, this was truly a defining moment in David’s life: when he steps up to do something that no one else in the whole country was willing to do. He takes the national stage for the first time, and the way he conducts himself sets the tone for the rest of his career as a public figure. Today we will begin to look at some of David’s leadership qualities.