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He disobeys. And he says, well, of course, I'm

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just gonna keep a little bit for myself.

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I'm actually gonna sacrifice it to the Lord. And Samuel rebukes him.

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He says, no, Saul, you are to be obedient. Can I tell you, we're not smarter than God. We're not more loving than God. Maybe you've heard somebody say, well, if I were God, it's dangerous territory.

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Well, if I were God, I wouldn't have put that in Scripture, or I

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wouldn't have made that a rule, or I wouldn't have said that was a sin. We are not more loving than him. And so Samuel rebukes Saul. He says, no. Our job is to obey what God tells us. Scripture says in Isaiah 55, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord, as the heavens are higher than the earth, the so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Can I tell you, what God is doing for us is so much better than anything that we could think of on our own.

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The plan on this world, if it were up to us, we would lead

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into very dark, difficult places. And if you want truth of that, read the Bible.

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So Samuel says to Saul, he says, I will not return with you. Saul's begging, come on, just return with me. Help me to keep my pride and my reputation. You've rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from

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being king over Israel. Now, how did Samuel know that Saul's repentance wasn't genuine?

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Because Saul is crying out, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

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It's like maybe if your kid has ever done something before, and you say, don't do that. And then they do it. And you say, all right, you're getting a timeout, or, all right, you're getting grounded. They say, no, no, no, no, no. They only said no because of the consequence. It was not their heart that they actually. And that's exactly what's happening with Saul. And he proves it here. And this is a crazy part of Scripture, but track with me. Samuel says, all right, I know that you're. It's not genuine. And he says, 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. Now, remember from last week, Agag and the Amalekites had been committing unprovoked genocide against the poor, the weak and vulnerable people of Israel.

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And Saul was supposed to destroy them

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and instead keeps them alive. And so Agag comes up to Samuel.

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He's like, hey, so we're all over

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this genocide stuff, right?

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He's cheerful, he's happy. He's really a prize of Saul that says, look, he's kind of my trophy that I kept him as prisoner, but

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that's not what God asked him to do. And so Samuel knows that Saul is disobedient. And so he said, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked ag egg to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Okay, so when I was in middle school, middle school, boy, I read that, and I'm like, this is epic. I want to keep reading, right? Maybe you didn't know that there were crazy stories like that in the Bible, but that's what kept me coming back. But Samuel was showing everyone that God

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commanded that his judgment would come on

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these wicked, evil people. And instead, you, as the king, wanted a political trophy. God will not be mocked by your disobedience, Saul. Ironically, after this, Saul is dying at the end of First Samuel and at the beginning of Second Samuel, and he falls on his sword, and he's slowly dying, and he doesn't want to be taken prisoner by the Philistines.

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And so he sees somebody, and he shouts out to them, and he says, hey, hey, you just take me out.

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I don't want to be a prisoner. Take me out.

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End my suffering. And he says, who are you?

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And the guy says, I'm an Amalekite. And I think that in that moment, Saul, nearly two decades after this decision was made, he thinks back to that moment where he disobeyed and he was killed by the thing that he was supposed to destroy. Pastor Gary Hamrick said of this story, what you don't kill could end up killing you. Some of us are involved in sin that, left unchecked or unrepentant, it will

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end up destroying your life. And today can be that reminder that you can repent, that you can be set free, but not when it's too late on judgment day. But now to say, God, I'm actually sorry. I'm actually repenting. I believe that it is true.

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Let us not be like, so Saul is rejected, and God's getting Samuel prepared for this new king. And as I mentioned, as a middle schooler, you know, I was excited, but it started much earlier. I love Reading stories about kings and kingdoms. You can throw this photo up there of. Of me as a kid. You can see me on the right there. I don't know if you remember those. Me and my cousin Reed, we. We love playing kingdoms and we love having swords. And I was ready. I don't know if you guys remember these Fisher Price castles.

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You see that?

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You remember that? All right. If you can't read that on Thursday, April 30, one of those sold for $319 on eBay.

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You didn't know that we could feed the entire world if you would have just kept your Fisher Price castles.

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You didn't need to invest in Nvidia in the 90s. You needed to keep your plastic toys. But we love thinking about these medieval kingdoms. We love thinking about it. I don't know that we would have had the stomach for it in our modern day. Right? No joke. On the way to church, I'm driving, and there were these ducks that went by in the road and a car hit them. And honestly, I had to share it because I've been thinking about that the whole time. The last, like, leading up to preparing to deliver this sermon. I'm thinking about those ducks and I'm thinking, there's no way I would have survived back in Bible time. So thank you, Lord, for putting me here on the earth now.

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All right, so 1st Samuel 16.

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Saul has been rejected as king.

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And the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul?

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Since I have rejected him from being king over Israel.

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Saul's grieving because he's upset, of course, that the king disobeyed and God's rejected him.

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And although he's still the king right now, Samuel's grieving. Sometimes our sin in our life is actually holding onto things that the Lord has told us to let go of. Some of us aren't able to step into the next season that God wants for us because we aren't ready to let go of our past. And Samuel here, he's somebody who's a

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prophet of the Lord.

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He knows the goodness of God. He knows that God's plans are right and true. Scripture says at the beginning of the book that none of his prophecies fell to the ground.

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So he hears from the Lord. He trusts him.

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Yet still, even in his flesh, he's grieving over Saul who disobeyed.

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But there's a future out there that

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God has prepared for each and every one of us. And that future sometimes needs to start with you leaving behind something that you're holding onto. Maybe it's a relationship that didn't work out. Maybe it's a job that you thought you'd get or a promotion that you thought might come. Maybe it was a house that you thought by now that you would live in, you'd be in a different position. And so many of us are holding onto the past dreams. And God's saying, that's actually not something that I even asked you to dream about. That was your idea, not mine. And so why don't you set that down?

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Why you don't.

A (9:54)

Why don't you leave it behind? And why don't you pray instead and ask God, what do you want me to do today? That might be someone's step today? So God tells Samuel, fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons. And Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears it, he'll kill me. He's still the king. If he hears that I'm getting the oil ready, if I'm ready to anoint,

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he's gonna kill me. And the Lord said, take a heifer

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with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord and invite Jesse to the sacrifice. And I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for me him who I declare to you. The Lord basically says, first of all, it's not a formal ceremony, it's not a coronation. It's a preparation for the king that I have in the future. He reminds them again, I'm in control.

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Remember, I'm God.

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I'm in control of all things.

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But where do we start the series? Samuel, when he was a child, he was waiting near the Ark of the Lord. He was waiting on every single thing. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. Whatever you tell me, I will do. Yet maybe it was Samuel's familiarity with

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God that made him question him.

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There's some people in church that are brand new, and you, maybe you've met somebody like this who's new. Or maybe you're new in church and you're excited you're reading about these stories

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for the very first time.

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But there's some people that come to church and they're so familiar. You say, I've heard this story before, I've read Samuel before. And our familiarity actually makes us.

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So we stop hearing from God. We say, I know the lesson that that's supposed to be. I know what God said before. But can I tell you that God will wants to speak to you New and fresh. Prophet Joel says that old men will dream dreams and see visions, right? The young, they'll see that also. And so maybe some are in this church, and maybe you've grown up in church, or maybe you've read the Bible a number of times over and over, and you feel like there's nothing left for me to learn. Can I tell you, there's nothing further from the truth. Those who are the deepest theologians, you

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often talk to them and they say,

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I feel like I know nothing about Scripture.

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It's not because they aren't smart.

A (12:08)

It's not because they haven't studied.

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It's because they realize the vastness of God's word is so deep that we study it for our entire life and

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we can never know it all. Let us not be people that are so familiar where we take it for granted. Instead, let us say, God, in my familiarity, let my relationship be so strong that I am so close to you. But eventually, Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet with him, trembling, say, do you come peaceably? Remember, word got out of what he did to Ag Egg. You coming in peace? He said, peaceably, I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to sacrifice. When they came, he looked at and thought, surely the Lord's anointed is before him, thinking, this is the one, the oldest, the tallest, the strongest, falling into the same trap that the Israelites did before. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Maybe you've heard that passage before. You've heard that phrase before. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Maybe you've read it before and you kind of think it's like Miley Cyrus, only God can judge me, right? I think what we see in this

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book is that what God's trying to tell us is oftentimes we're gonna look at every situation and we're gonna try to solve it by the world's standards

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instead of God's standards.

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We're gonna think, who's the strongest, who's the tallest, who's the best, who's the richest, who's the person that knows the most about this thing, who's the Instagram influencer or YouTube video that I can watch. That's gonna teach me. And we seem to go to every single place except for asking the King

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of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

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And we say, oh, if I've exhausted my resources in the world, then I will ask God. Maybe you feel, no, there's no way that God could use me because I'm not.

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The things that the world says are good. But can I tell you that God

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says it's all in reverse. I look at the heart. I don't care about the outward appearance. I don't care about how much money

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you have in your bank account.

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I don't care how strong or tall you are. I don't care about your family life. I care about. If I have called you to this, then you obey. Because I see everything. I care about those with willing and pure hearts and that are willing to

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obey me despite the circumstance. It's truly one of my favorite verses in the Bible. But it's also a hard one to live out. We always fall into the trap. Social media is really the epitome of

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this, of the outward appearance.

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We don't know people's heart.

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We see only what they tell us curated exactly what we want you to to see.

A (15:15)

You don't see the 746 photos that were taken before that on the camera roll. And finally they got the right one to post. We're maybe obsessed with celebrity couples who get divorced every Thursday. You know, the real people that we should celebrate? We should celebrate the people. Maybe they're the prayer team couple that's

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never been on TikTok before, but they've been married for 50 years.

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These are the people that we should celebrate. God isn't looking at the outside, he's looking at your heart. So Samuel continues, and Jesse called Amminadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. And Jesse made Shamma pass and said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. He made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. Then Samuel said to Jesse, are all your sons here? Is this everyone? I'm not feeling it.

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Sometimes when we are praying through something,

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I don't know if you've ever had this experience before, but your spirit feels agitated. You feel that it's not right. Sometimes we're tempted to force it. We're tempted to say, you know what? Even though my spirit isn't right, it

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must be all here.

A (16:31)

Sometimes it's best to step back and ask, lord, are you speaking something Am I missing something here? And Samuel knows that his spirit is not at ease. And he says there must be something missing. He didn't know.

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Are all your sons here? Is this everybody?

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Cause something in my spirit is telling me that this is not right. Samuel says to Jesse, are they all here? And he said, well, there remains yet the youngest. But behold, he's keeping the sheep. It wasn't the tallest. It wasn't the best warrior that they thought. It wasn't the second, the third, the fourth. You know, in our culture, the youngest kind of is like, okay, the youngest, they get it easy. They didn't have mom and dad back when they were strict. You were able to get away with whatever you want, right? I'm the youngest. I understand,

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but back then it wasn't that way.

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The youngest was not the one that got it easy.

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The youngest was the one that was.

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Oh, they're the youngest. They're no good.

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We're going to put them with the sheep, the servant's job. We're not even going to bring the youngest to the place that we think

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maybe there's going to be an anointing happening.

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The feast is being celebrated. The prophet of the Lord comes. The youngest wasn't even invited.

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He's tending the sheep. I don't know if you've been overlooked

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before, but most scholars, they think David

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was around 10 years old.

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Here's what I was doing when I

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was 10 years old. I was on the Christian heritage basketball team. Now, if you don't know much about basketball, you can see I'm in the middle there. Shortest. We didn't match T shirts either, but you see my dad there, he's had better days. The turtleneck.

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And you may look at that and be like, well, maybe you're like a John Stockton or Dante Divincenzo.

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Like, maybe that's you.

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Can I tell you there are seven players in this photo, but there's only

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five that play in the game. Can I have you guess whether I was one of the five or one of the two that was on the bench? You can zoom in.

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Does that look like the face of a starter to you? Do I look confident in that photo?

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No. You could take it off the screen. You can take it.

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Maybe you've been overlooked before. Maybe you've been riding the bench. Maybe you were tending the sheep. Maybe you feel like there's no way

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that God could use me. There's no way that anyone sees the giftings that I have. Maybe if I would have gotten the game, maybe I would not Be here on this stage, and I would be in the playoffs right now. Maybe you feel that about the way you've been treated in your life. Maybe you feel that about the way your family treated you. Maybe you can resonate with David, who wasn't even invited, but don't write yourself off because you weren't in the room. A mistake we often make is confusing visibility with calling.

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If I'm full of followers, if I have lots of money, then I surely am in the will of the Lord. If I get the spotlight, if I get the recognition, then surely this means I'm following God's call.

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We don't see that in Scripture. We see God say that we should be faithful with little, and then we'll be faithful with much. We see God say that we should be obedient, that we should trust in him no matter what he says. Sometimes we think that there's things in our life that are so unimportant and insignificant to us, but actually they're to prepare you for what God is calling you to do. Think back to last week.

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Saul couldn't even find donkeys. He couldn't find them. I don't know how hard donkeys are to find. They don't seem like they're the fastest, maybe, but they're also pretty loud, right?

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And Saul has no idea yet. David, he's a good shepherd. He knew how to care for the animals.

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You see him later when he talks

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to the Philistine Goliath. He said, I've fought lions, I've fought bears. You'll be no match because I know that God's with me.

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You see, what actually his brothers and his father thought was casting him out was actually what God used to prepare

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him to win the battle.

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Sometimes we think that God has put us in a position that is unseen because he's punishing us. But he might be doing that because he's preparing you. Maybe you're not in the spotlight because you wouldn't be able to handle it because you'd be crushed under the pressure,

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and God's actually protecting you.

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So there's no way that God could be protecting me from that.

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Can I tell you? We've seen it time and time and time again. Why are there so many people that fall under the pressure is because they weren't prepared in the things that God asked and they stepped in too early. They lost the awe of the Lord. It's interesting. David's father didn't even call him by name. He said the youngest. It seems David had a complicated Relationship with his family. Certainly being left behind is one of those things. Again, left behind in the battle, he brought the food to his brothers. We also see him Write in Psalm 27, for my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. So if you're here in this place, you're listening at the campuses. If your family life wasn't great, can I tell you, that doesn't mean you're disqualified. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, and yet he ended up ruling most of Egypt. David's family didn't even remember him at the feast and the anointing. Yet God knew exactly what his story was. He would be mentioned more than anyone in the Bible besides Jesus, that he would be the one that people said,

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our promised Savior will come from the

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line of David, the shepherd boy who was forgotten.

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His great great great grandmother, Rahab, was used and abused as a prostitute, but as a part of the line of Christ. You see, men look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. The heart that's truly repentant, that says, I'm sorry

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that God, I know I've messed up.

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What made David a better king than Saul? Was it that he never sinned? No, of course not.

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We know that David sinned.

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But when Saul was confronted with his sin, he gets frustrated. He rolls his eyes, he makes excuses. But when David later on is confronted with his sin, he repents and he accepts the consequences. David never turned away from the Lord, despite his sin, despite all his shortcomings,

A (23:21)

he repented and he followed after God. That is why Scripture says that he was after the Lord's heart. That's why he's the best example. Not because his family is perfect. Not because he did everything right, not because he never fell short, but because he always knew the one that had put him there. So Samuel said to Jesse, send and get him, for we'll not sit down till he comes here. And he sent and brought him in. Now he is ready. He had beautiful eyes, and he was handsome. Not everything was going bad for David. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Now, I don't know about you, but I want the Spirit of the Lord to rush upon me. I want more of God's presence to lead as he asks me to do things that are scary, that are Difficult. I want the spirit of the Lord. That's what this was about. It wouldn't be for two more decades that David would become king.

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He gets anointed, and then he goes back to his preparation.

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He kills Goliath, but doesn't yet get named king.

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Even as Saul is disobeying over and over David, knowing that he's been anointed. He even says, I'm not stepping in

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until God says his time to step in. I believe that's what someone who's filled with the spirit does. You say, God, it's up to you. It's your timing. It's not what I want.

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God, I'm following your spirit. I'm following your guidance. I'm following you. That's what this verse is about. That's what this scripture is saying that everyone's looking at all the timing, the outward appearance, all the things in our life that seem to need to be in place. And God's saying, but do you trust me? Do you trust that I'm examining your heart? Do you trust my timing? Do you trust that when I'm asking you to do something, you're gonna be ready? Some of us, maybe, you're saying, that's great. I'm ready to wait. I'm ready to be patient. I love it. But God's actually asking you throughout this

A (25:29)

series, you know that he's asking you to step up.

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You know that there's a greater anointing waiting. You know that there's leadership in your

A (25:37)

life that you need to step up into.

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Just this past week, I've talked to

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someone who left their company after 16

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years to be obedient to start a new business.

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I talked to someone who felt called to step up and lead a ministry at church. Another family said, we felt called to have another child. And they just told me this last weekend. They're pregnant.

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Someone I just talked to just two

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days ago, running for office in our state.

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I feel the Lord is calling me to run. I wouldn't do it if it was me. But I feel this is obedience for me to step up and run in this position. Someone else that I have a major decision to make. I've never made a decision with this much money on the line. And I need more anointing. I need more of God's wisdom. I need more of his spirit in my life.

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I believe throughout this series as our theme this year. This is our theme series as we come to a close.

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Speak, Lord.

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We are listening.

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God, what are you saying? Are you anointing me for something more? Are you anointing me for something greater? Are you anointing me so that I can shine your light? Or is this a time to trust you, be filled with your spirit, and to wait and be patient and say,

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God, I trust you, no matter your timing. I'm not going to do it on my own. I'm not going to do what I think is right. I'm going to do what I know you're saying. I want to be obedient because God, I trust you. God is about my heart. Put my heart in the right place. Make me clean, make me pure, make me humble. Lord, I want greater wisdom. Hebrews chapter 13 will end with this so we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear.

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What can man do to me? Remember your leaders, those who spoke to

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you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And that's my reminder to you this weekend that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

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That the same spirit that overflowed onto David, that same spirit, the spirit of

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the Lord, was poured out at Pentecost, was poured out.

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We can receive the Holy Spirit. We can receive a greater outpouring of who he is. We can receive that and say, God, I want to be filled. I want to be anointed to a greater level. I know what you're calling me to. I know what you're asking me for.

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And God, I want to be filled. So I'm going to ask that here in this room and at all of our campuses, that we'd stand across this place and we'd prepare our hearts. I believe God is speaking to people all across the Twin Cities, online, across

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the world, that people know that I

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know the Lord is calling me to something greater. I know that he wants to do something in my life, and I'm ready to be obedient to him. And so before we worship the Lord, before we have a few minutes before we end this service to hear what he is speaking, speak, Lord, we're listening. I want here in this place, across this room and anyone at every campus that if you'd say, I know the Lord is asking me to step into something greater, I know that there is

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an anointing that I want to receive, that there is a leadership, there is a next level, there's a next step that I know that God has in

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my life, that if that's you in

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this place, you say, I want more of his Spirit. I want the rush of the Holy

A (29:10)

Spirit in my life.

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If that's you, would you lift up

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your hand here in all the campuses, hands going up all over. If you're in this place and you have your hand lifted, I'm gonna pray for you. I'm gonna pray for everyone at all the campuses. And then as we worship, I'd encourage

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you come forward to the altar, hear

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from what the Lord is saying. There may be pastors that come up

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that lay a hand on you.

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There may be people that are praying behind you. Why? Because they want you to be obedient.

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So, Lord, I pray for every single

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person across all of our campuses in every single service.

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Lord, I pray that they would feel the rush of your Holy Spirit. That they would feel you speaking to them. They would feel what you're saying, Lord. That they'd hear your voice, God. That our distractions would be set aside. That the cares of the world, God, would be set aside. But, Lord, that you would speak to us, Lord. Would your Holy Spirit rush in this place? Would it rush at every single campus? Every single person listening? God, I pray that they would feel your anointing. They would get wisdom. They would get leadership. They would get strength. They would get confidence, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would rush in our church. That we would be people that say, sweet speak, Lord, we are listening. We trust you and we want to be obedient to you. God, let it be so here in this place, in our life, across the world, God, we trust you. Speak. You are listening. We pray this in the mighty, mighty name of Jesus. Amen and amen.