1 Samuel 16: God s surprising choices: Introduction:

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Reginald Lucas
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1 1 Samuel 16: God s surprising choices: Introduction: Surprising choices: in haircuts: use henri and Michael maybe I should open with Surprising choices of homes???- weird houses Tonight we are looking at some of the surprising choices God makes. God s choices are often surprising or different to what we expect. He chooses surprising times and places to reveal himself. He also uses surprising people to be part of his plans. 1. God s surprising choice of time and place. 1 Corinthians 1:27Contemporary English Version (CEV) 27 But God chose the foolish things of this world to put the wise to shame. He chose the weak things of this world to put the powerful to shame. Explanation: The last few weeks we have been hearing how Israel wanted a king to be like the other nations. God gave them a King and got Sammuel the prophet to appoint Saul. Now Saul was not doing a very good job at being King- he wasn t following Gods commands. So God sent Samuel to anoint another king. That s what this chapter is about. The first things we notice in this passage is that God choses a strange time and place to find a new king. Gods choice in timing seems a bit concerning at first. At this time Samuel had been mourning because King Saul had been such a failure of a king- Samuel probably felt partly responsible that this King that he anointed was ruining Israel and he and Saul had had a falling out. Samuel wasn t thinking about getting a new King- his heart was still upset about Saul but God calls him out of that mourning and gives him a new challenge. Saul at this stage is very powerful and a little bit unpredictable so when God tells Samuel to stop crying over Saul s failure and to go and appoint a new King no wonder he is a bit nervous and scared. Samuel says How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me (vs 2). Samuel is probably thinking it s not such a good idea appointing a new king when the old king is still around and doesn t look to be going away anytime soon but God works on different timing. Samuel trusts God and it seems that God wants to bring a new beginning for his people- God is the true King and he hasn t lost control of the situation- he is now going to step in a begin to set it straight. God works in his own time and his plans work beyond our understanding. David is anointed at 16 but only becomes King after a crazy journey and when he is about 30yrs old. Later in the passage we see that God allows David to go to the Royal Court to help Saul and see what his world would one day be- God is preparing him for the job that lies ahead. So God is at work. But his timing is surprising. Not only that but God chooses a strange place to pick a king. God tells Samuel to go to the Town of Bethlehem to anoint a king. Bethlehem is not a special place or place of importance. It says that the people of Bethlehem were afraid of Samuel coming because they thought he might be coming to say something against them from the Lord. However,

2 we know that this is just the beginning of the great things to come from Bethlehem- later a prophet says in Micah in the OT. Micah 5:2Contemporary English Version (CEV) 2 Bethlehem Ephrath, you are one of the smallest towns in the nation of Judah. But the LORD will choose one of your people to rule the nation someone whose family goes back to ancient times And then we know that from Bethlehem comes the Saviour of the World- Jesus! So we see that Gods choice of timing and place seem a bit surprising and maybe dangerous. Samuel is given instructions that sounded a bit odd- he doesn t disregard them but instead he steps out in faith and obedience to what God has asked him to do Illustration: When I finished my nursing degree they make you do one interview to find a job for the whole of NSW health- so based on how you go in that one interview will determine which hospital you will go to and if you will even get a job. I was really keen to go to North shore as I had been there before and knew it well and it wasn t far from home. I was really keen to get working as soon as possible as TJ and I had just got married and we didn t have much money. As it turned out I did the interview and was told I didn t do well and didn t get a job at north shore but maybe in a few months they would have a job somewhere in NSW for me. I was upset with God! I was angry because he didn t seem to be doing what was best for me. I prayed and prayed for work. It was about 3 months later when I got a call saying I had a job at St Vincents Hospital in Kings Cross. I was scared of Kings Cross and not really a city kinda girl- I didn t want to go there, I liked the northern beaches, I was excited to given a job but scared. It was a place I didn t know and it was at very short notice that I had to start. The place and the time just didn t seem great to me. HOWEVR; this choice of God to make me wait and trust in him and then to have him send me somewhere out of my comfort zone was actually the best thing for me. Being pushed to an unexpected place to meet people I wound t really ever meet has given me a chance to grow in my faith and God has given me opportunity to talk about Jesus to my work friends and patients. Application: We need to be open to God at work in surprising places and at surprising times. You could tell this as a story about yourself and how it helped you to see that God wants to move in the whole of your life. When I was on a school camp the speaker asked us to write down on a piece of paper the 5 top priorities in our life at the moment. We had to rank them from highest priority to lowest.b eing a good Christian girl I put God, Family, Friends, Pride and Prejudice and my dog! The speaker went on to say that if we can put God as our number 1 priority

3 we were WRONG!!!God is not the number 1 priority in our life, he is in every priority of our lives- he is the only thing that infiltrates every area- We should be asking God into our relationships with our families with our girlfriends and boyfriends, we should be asking God to show us how to use our money, how we can eat better, live better, watch TV better, serve others better. But if we are asking God into every situation, every relationship, every place we go then he is going to move and work in surprising places and at surprising times- let s be open to that! God is often surprising in the way he works. What about at moments when you are really scared (like the people of Bethlehem) say at the Doctors or the hospital? Or in a moment of crisis? Or of great loss say of a job or a relationship or a loved one. Or in unusual places: say at the gym, or in the shower. Or at work when everything is going wrong. Or on the road. What about when you are interrupted: you have a destination and you are full-steam ahead and then someone interrupts you and you can t ignore them. Maybe the Lord is trying to get your attention. Maybe what you think is normal and to be expected is not really what God wants you to do. Or when you feel at your weakest: like at the end of the day. Or when you are not feeling well. Or in the middle of the night when you really should be asleep. 2. Gods surprising choice of person: When we first meet David we think God has made a surprising choice. The passage shows that David is not even important enough to have been invited to this ceremony, he is the youngest and all youngest children in the room will tell you that they have been forgotten about at least once (raise your hand ), even left at the petrol station when the family has driven off. David has a pretty lowly job- being a shepherd doesn t require too much skill and it s often just him and the sheep- he probably isn t wearing his new chinos and vans with his fancy hipster haircut and top button done up and he probably smells of wet sheep- probably like Henri when he was in NZ- not sure if 8am would find this funny???, when he comes to meet everyone. God doesn t get distracted by this outward appearance- God is going to make a surprising choice and choose David as his next king. God chooses based on what is in our heart rather than what appears on the outside. Samuel knew God was looking for a King but not just any King, earlier when Saul had made a real stuff up Samuel prophesied that 1 Sam 13:14-14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince [b] over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you. God is looking for a man after his own heart. When Samuel gets to Bethlehem he thinks he knows what Gods choice in King is going to be- he sees Eliab and immediately thinks this is the King that God is going to choose (It makes me think of Survivor when they all get to choose who to keep on the island and who will go and then they usually chose to kick off the weak guy or the annoying girl- it s pretty obvious)- I can remove this analogy but Samuel

4 has got it wrong- he is also looking at the outward appearance- he is looking for someone like Saul who was also tall and strong and LOOKED like a King. All seven of Jesse s sons come forward but God has searched all their hearts- he hasn t chosen any of them. God must be looking for something specific for a heart with special characteristics. As we go through 1 Samuel in the next coming weeks we will learn more about this guy David and what his heart was like. When I think of what God is into, what he is interested in I think of Jesus sermon on the beatitudes- Here Jesus is on a hill preaching to people- he is describing characteristics of a heart that he can use and bless. In particular Jesus says 8 God blesses those people whose hearts are pure. They will see him! To be pure in heart is to have a single hope. A pure heart is to have the desire to know God and to see God. The blessing Jesus says is that people who desire God with their whole heart and long to see more of him will! That is their reward- they will see God, see him move in their own lives and situations, and in the lives of the people around them. I don t know if you have been watching the Olympics but it is like those sports people who are soo focused on their swimming, they live it, they breathe it, their identity is wrapped up in it- their swimming affects how they spend their time, what they eat, what time they sleep, where they spend their money- they are soo focused. David s heart is pure- he longs to see God and to know God. It now doesn t seem so surprising after all that God has chosen David- is not looking for another Saul who will start out strong, confident and obedient and end up selfish, messy and humiliated. God is going to put his Spirit on this new King and he is looking for a receptive and willing heart. Illustration: When TJ and I went to this small village in northern Uganda we met a guy called Denis. He lived there with his young family. He had his own business he had a small home. Spending time with Denis you saw what a humble, serving and pure heart he had. His life was not about his own gain and becoming big or having it all- he did an amazing job looking after the sound equipment at his church, running a Christian radio station and just being a sincere true follower of Jesus. He had great stories of seeing God move and I believe it was because that was what his heart desired. Application: In Luke 16:15- Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees: But Jesus told them: You are always making yourselves look good, but God sees what is in your heart. The things that most people think are important are worthless as far as God is concerned

5 I want to challenge you today with a question: what outside things are you concerning yourself with??? Maybe what your house looks like. Or your car, of if your children are going the direction you want. are you concerned that your physical appearance isn t as good as you would like? Are you fixated on trying to appear perfect and having it all together? All these things are focused on how we appear- how we want to look, how we want people to respond to us. Its true we can make ourselves appear like something we are not (When we were living at Dee Why people I met would always say oh you must be into surfing maybe it was the blond hair, maybe it was because they knew my brothers surfed- for a while I thought I could pull it off, I got a wetsuit and borrowed a surfboard- I probably did look the part. But to be honest I am such a kook at surfing, I am actually way too scared of nose diving and being knocked unconscious- I could easily have appeared or pretended to be something I was not. God is not concerned about these outward features- Jesus says that the things that most people think are important are worthless as far as God is concerned (luke 16:15). So what is God concerned about- He didn t really care what David looked like, he cared about what was in his heart. He is looking for a receptive heart that he can use for his purposes. Can God use your heart? How do you know if God can use your heart? There are two questions we can ask God. First we can ask God to show us what is in our hearts. In the Psalms David wrote Psalm 139:23- Search me, O God, and know my heart; test my thoughts. 24 Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. There might be things you are holding in your heart that are getting in the way- maybe it is guilt of a sin you are struggling with that you need to bring before God and repent, maybe you have anxiety about who you are that is crippling you and you need release, maybe you just think you aren t capable of very much and you need God to destroy that lie I struggled with a fear of what other people might think of me- that if I take my faith seriously and speak out about it that people at work will think I am strange or weird- that sometimes holds me back from God using me in that place. Second, we can ask God to come fill our hearts with his Spirit- David was given the Spirit of God and it transformed everything he did- it enabled him and gave him strength and power. It is soo important to pray that dangerous prayer God use me for your Glory or God fill me with your Spirit so I can live for you or God speak to me and show me your plans. I love that story that Dani told at the worship night about asking God to challenge her in her faith- that is a dangerous prayer and one that allows God to fill you with His Spirit and move in your life. Maybe you could ask Dani s permission to tell her story CONCULSION: As we follow David s story we will see how he brings God into every situation. God uses a surprising time and place to appoint David as King. For us we need to ask and allow God to come into every situation, to be a part of every priority in our life. Then watch and wait and be open to what God will do.

6 The other point I mentioned is about Gods surprising choice of person but when we looked at what it was that God saw in David it doesn t seem so surprising- He saw David s open and receptive heart- Are we more concerned about the outward appearance, or how we are viewed by others than what God sees in our heart?? are we asking God to show us what is really in our hearts, and then are we asking God to fill us with his Spirit???? I hope this message speaks to you and challenges you to go deeper with God- to ask him to search your hearts. OTHER IDEAS AND THEMES: Matthew 2:6Contemporary English Version (CEV) 6 Bethlehem in the land of Judea, you are very important among the towns of Judea. From your town will come a leader, who will be like a shepherd for my people Israel. Luke 2:4 So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David s hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David s family. 1 Chronicles 28:9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. 1 Kings 8:39 You know what is in everyone s heart. So from your home in heaven answer their prayers, according to the way they live and what is in their hearts. God works differently

7 he has a different set of standards: God doesn't look at the outward but the inward, God values us differently to how the world values us. Davids brothers are the worlds choice but David is Gods choice. Where fathers would give honour to their sons based on birth order God looks past those who would be the obvious choice and instead uses the weak or the forgotten- David was left with the sheep while the rest of the family had come for the sacrifice. Jesus was also looked down apron and considered as no one special. He was even despised and rejected. God chose David who didn't have military background but rather a shepherd, a protected of the flock- He has different timing: God works in his own time and his plans work beyond our understanding. David is anointed at 16 but only becomes King after a crazy journey and when he is30yrs old. God allows David to go to the Royal Court to help Saul but also to see what his world would one day be- God is preparing him for the job that lies ahead. He has a different plan for the future: God is in the job or rescuing and restoring his people to himself though Jesus. David will be the saviour for Israel but he points to the Saviour of the World - Jesus

Created by. Andrew. McDonough. Sample Lost Sheep Resources Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Created by. Andrew. McDonough. Sample Lost Sheep Resources Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Created by Andrew McDonough 2013 Lost Sheep Resources Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Contents Introduction History & Geography Interviews Master Class Teaching Tips Activities Bible Verses The End 2013