WEBVTT - What You Call Small 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.120 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.520 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.559 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.280 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.480 To get my point across, I'll give you the scripture, 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.640 the story, and then the subject in that order. All right, 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:27.600 So for all the linear thinkers, that's how this is 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:32.280 going to go down. The scripture, the story. But actually 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.599 the scripture is a story, so listen to this. This 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:38.239 is cool. One Samuel sixteen, I'll give you just a 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:43.560 moment to find it in your Bible. Give you just 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:45.800 a moment to give your kids some benadryl so you 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.800 can fully or turn it on the kids YouTube channel, 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.960 or whatever you need to do to occupy them. On 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:57.920 Samuel sixteen one, the Lord said to Samuel, how long 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.600 will you mourn for Saul since I have rejected him 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:06.000 as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.399 be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.960 of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:18.320 be king. Verse two. But Samuel said, how can I go. 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.480 If Saul hears about it, he will kill me. The 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:24.280 Lord said, take a hepper with you and say, I 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.600 have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.280 the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.240 You are too annoint for me, the one I indicate, 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:37.360 And Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:41.280 at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:45.360 met him. They asked, do you come in peace? And 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:50.400 Samuel replied, yes, in peace, I have come to sacrifice 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:54.080 to the Lord. Now note this, he says, I came 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:57.520 in peace, but the situation is chaotic. Peace is not 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:02.080 a circumstance for the child of God. It's a part 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:06.960 of your inheritance. It's part of your birthright to be 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:14.760 able to have peace, even in the face of unthinkable problems. Yes, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.720 in peace, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.200 Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me. Then 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.960 he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:30.200 the sacrifice. Here's where we're going to stop for a 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:36.320 little while. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.880 surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord. But 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:43.360 the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance, 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:49.680 or his height, or his profile picture. That's not in 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:56.800 your version. Don't look at that, for I have rejected him. 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.919 The Lord does not look at the things people look at. 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.840 People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.480 at the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:09.679 pass in front of Samuel, but Samuel said, the Lord 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:14.000 hasn't chosen this one either. Jesse then had Shama pass by, 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.840 but Samuel said, nor has the Lord chosen this one. 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:23.440 Jesse had seven of his sons. Seven of his sons 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:27.000 passed before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, the Lord 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:31.440 has not chosen these. We're running out of options. You 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:36.880 ever feel like that, So he asked Jesse, are these 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:42.000 all the sons you have? They're still the youngest. Jesse answered, 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:46.600 he is tending the sheep. Samuel said, sin for him. 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:52.720 We will not sit down until he arrives. Are these 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.480 all your sons? There is still the youngest. That's the 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:00.160 Bible story. Now here's my story. I grew up in 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.240 a small town. How many of you grew up in 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.520 a small town? Raise your hand. If you grew up 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.480 in a small town, put a raised hand emoji in 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:09.800 the chat. If you grew up in a small town, 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.400 tell me the name of the town and the population. 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:16.440 Monks Corner, South Carolina was six six thousand people when 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:20.520 I live there. It's bigger now. It's a lot bigger now. Actually, 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.440 when I go back. One time I went back when 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:25.239 I was in college. I took a friend of mine. 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:28.680 I was showing them around, very proud to be for 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.359 Monk's Corner. It's not something I'm embarrassed of. If I 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.280 ever take you to Monk's Corner, I'm giving you the tour. 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.720 I'm gonna show you little pathies. I'm gonna drive you 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:38.159 out to Macedonia, show you where my band feather Humcomber 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.040 used to practice. I'm gonna show you everything. I'm gonna 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:42.719 show you where I have my first dance. I'm gonna 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:44.719 show you where I have my first kiss. Monk's Corner 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.760 is the home of the tail Race Canal, the Berkeley Stags. 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.520 I'm gonna show you where I had my first minister. 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:51.400 I'm gonna show you all of it because I'm proud 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.120 to be from a small town. So to me, there's 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:54.920 no shame in that. And I used to tell people 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:56.800 all the time from when I would meet them, I'm 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.720 from a small town in called Monk's Corner, South Carolina, 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.520 thirt miles from Charleston. This, that, and the other thing. Oh, 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.080 I've heard of Charleston. Did you say Monk's Corner like 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.320 a monk, like a monastery monk. I said, no, it's 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.400 got to see it at Monk's Corner. I said, oh, 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.240 I never heard of that before. I said, it's a 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.040 small town. You never would have heard of it before. 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:14.880 And I was taking one of my friends there and 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.600 I showed him all the things, and when we were 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:21.039 about halfway through the tour I was giving him, he said, uh, 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:28.400 I thought you said it was small. I said, it 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:34.560 is pretty small. And so he said, well, the town 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.400 I grew up in. I won't pretend to remember the 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.560 name of it, but it was another town in South Carolina. 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:44.240 He said it was population forty five. I say, yeah, well, 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.400 we have like six thousand, forty five hundred I guess 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:50.440 that is. He said, no, forty five, not forty five 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:55.840 hundred forty five. Wow, I thought you said it was small. 0:05:56.279 --> 0:06:04.640 He said, you got a warm and Applebee's like it 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:06.640 was Sacks, you know what I'm saying, Like it was 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:12.279 Nimn Marcus in Monk's corner, but it was to him. Today, 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:13.800 I want to talk to you for a few moments 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:22.240 about what you call small, what you call small. Really, 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:26.760 what you call small is all about what you've seen before. 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.720 What you call small has a lot to do with 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.200 what you've seen before. And in the passage that I 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:40.279 read to you, we have several indications of the reality 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.640 that a lot of times what we call small is 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:47.920 big to God. The flip side of that coin is 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:53.520 what we call big is small to God. But today, 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:56.760 for the next thirty minutes, come on, let's be honest. 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:04.039 Fifty minutes. You know, what you call a short sermon 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.400 is really relative to what you grew up in At 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.920 the Methodist church, that poor preacher got twelve minutes, and 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:17.080 that included the communion. Okay, so when I'm preaching fifty minutes, 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:20.560 fifty five minutes, it's like, Wow, this is like a series. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:27.040 If you grew up in a Pentecostal church, my whole 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:31.520 sermon is an introduction, It's like that's all that's all 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:38.960 you've got keep going. So I thought i'd ask the 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:46.080 establishing question for you, what's your frame of reference when 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.920 you consider the challenges of your life, the gifts God 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:53.160 has put inside of you, and the resources that you 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:59.960 have in this season what you call small? For instance, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.600 in the text, I will admit to you that I 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:07.600 have only ever preached this text from David's perspective. It's 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.280 easy to because this is the point in his life 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:14.120 where he is transitioning from shepherd to king. So I've 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:18.720 always seen this text almost like a terrible or an 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.680 Old Testament illustration of the New Testament concept that if 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.120 you are faithful in little God will make you faithful 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:28.240 in miche and I believe that, how many believe that? 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.040 That if you start small and use what God has 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.559 given you wisely and invest it wisely, whether it's your 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.880 money or your energy, or your time or your skill, 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:41.439 whatever it is, if you invest it wisely, God will 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:46.440 multiply it. That's not the people say it's the prosperity gospel, 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.040 or it's the blabbit grab it or the see it 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:51.439 and say it or whatever the people call it. No, no, 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.559 no, no no, no no. That's just the principle of life. 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:02.880 That what you invest well increases. So in my mind, 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.480 the story was always about how this little shepherd boy 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:11.920 did a seemingly insignificant task, and while he was doing 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:13.760 the task, I read it to you a moment ago, 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.839 God called him up for something more important. I kind 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.400 of used it as an illustration, like, hey, you know, 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.920 be a good employee and God might make you a supervisor. 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:26.600 Be a good supervisor, and one day you might own 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:28.480 your own company. Own your own company one day, and 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.120 you might end up on prescription pills because it's stressful 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:32.959 to be the boss, and nobody ever tells you that part. 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.240 That's what I that's what I should have told you, 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.360 what I missed, and what I always seem to miss 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.800 when I just gravitate towards the parts of scripture that 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.640 to me are big, right, Like on Samuel sixteen, is 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.200 is David annoying it as king? First? Samuel seventeen is 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:56.480 David killing Eliath first. Samuel eighteen and nineteen saw the 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:00.320 king that we're seeing replaced here in this process, Us 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:03.920 is throwing spears at David, so he's fighting for his life. 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:06.959 But one thing I wanted to to stop and talk 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.120 about for a moment today, I won't spend my whole 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.599 time on this. But but look where God sent Samuel 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:21.160 to find the king, Bethlehem. That's a very small detail 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:25.080 in the text, but the significance of it hinges on 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:31.680 understanding the context of Bethlehem Micah five two. But you, 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:39.240 Bethlehem Ephrath, though you are small among the clans of 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:41.760 Judah in comparison to all the other clans, that the 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:46.280 Messiah could come from you, the small one. Yes you, 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:52.800 yes you, you, the little one you, the one with 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.600 the ged you, the one with the one with the 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:01.320 issue that's not mentionable on a stage like this. The 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.280 term itself is diminutive in the context of Michael five 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:06.600 to two. It's not just a thing that means size. 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.840 It's not like, oh, I grew up in monk's corner. Wow, 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:16.880 it's like calling it the backwoods. It's actually not a 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:24.640 very commonly used word, but it means trifling, insignificant. Now, 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.520 the one that God would raise up to change the 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:34.400 world came from that same place that they called backwoods. 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:38.240 So do we see a principle already at work here 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:43.440 that God brings things that he sees as great from 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:49.520 things that we call small. That's my whole message. The 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.400 rest of this message will just say that over and 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:56.720 over and over and over again, that God brings the 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:02.120 biggest things out of the smallest places. I'm so passionate 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.439 about this that I spent some time analyzing my own 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.480 life in preparing for this message, not only coming from 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.640 Monk's Corner, but you know, thinking about our church right now, 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.439 and how in some ways our church has never been 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.640 smaller when you count the people that are in the 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:22.520 room on a Sunday, I remember when those top rows 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:24.920 used to be full with people. None of them were 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.680 wearing masks, none of them were in has mad suits, 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:29.680 none of them. You know, it's a whole different thing. 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:36.040 It was a whole different thing. And yet if I 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:40.040 remember where we started as a church, Yes, this is 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:46.400 actually like really big. Chad text me Julie every Sunday 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.520 if the numbers were up and down from the week before, 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.160 but the numbers he sends me for our online ministry, 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.160 like people come in from all over the world, like 0:12:55.200 --> 0:13:00.200 people watching from Japan and Indonesia, and people watching from Brazil, 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:06.679 and people watching from all kinds of foreign countries Alabama, Algeria, 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:10.160 all over the world. I'm saying, and he'll say we 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:14.040 were down this week. But the number that he would 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.840 send me to say this is what we were down to. 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:25.080 It's a number that my Monk's corner mine. Sometimes I 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.360 have to talk to Monk's corner me to get a 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:33.320 frame of reference to remember this is actually pretty good. 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:36.200 Do you ever have to do that to yourself, Like 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.080 take yourself back to a frame of reference where you 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:43.240 weren't jaded, where you didn't get used to things, and go, 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.840 this is actually really good. What in the world am 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.840 I complaining about? What am I stussing about? This is 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:55.480 actually awesome. Say it in the chart. This is actually awesome. 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.640 Whatever the devil tries to tell you all, this is nothing. 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.160 This is just a little thing. This is just insignificant. 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.320 This is something you could have never imagined. This is 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.000 if he's just three twenty in real time. This is 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:15.920 above and beyond and deeper and bigger and broader. What 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:24.640 you call small today you thought was impossible yesterday. When 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.720 you live in it, you this seems little to you. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.800 Sometimes you'll see people come to Elevation Church and they'll 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.800 have a camera, video camera recording the whole time. Let 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:41.960 me tell you something they flew to get here. They 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.320 drove all night to get here, and it kind of 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:48.200 checks all of us because we're like, Wow, this was 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:52.000 on your bucket list to be here, and it's in 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:58.960 our backyard. The issue in One Samuel sixteen is not 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:04.160 only about where it happened, though, and it's not only 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.600 about who had happened to David. I want to spend 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.040 a few moments talking about who had happened through Samuel. 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:15.040 Samuel was a seer, a prophet, He was never referred 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:17.680 to as a priest. He served multiple roles. You know 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.160 how we all have to flow in multiple roles from 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:24.280 moment to moment, trying to be a student and a son, 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.920 or a parent and a husband, or a husband and 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.240 a pastor and a pastor and a husband and a 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.840 dad and a boss. And like for me, sometimes I'll 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:36.720 go into a meeting in the church and I'm not 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.280 sure if I should be pastor Stephen or get this 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:40.680 crap done. I don't want to say it one more 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:46.200 time pastor Stephen and switching all those multiple roles can 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.560 be confusing. But there's also a change happening here that 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.640 is beyond Samuel, in that God never really wanted Israel 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.840 to have a king. He wanted to be their king. 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:04.800 They insisted that they'd be like all the other nations. 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:09.680 Not for no reason. They were under attack the Phoenician people, 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:11.920 we know them as the Philistines, who were really good 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.440 at making weapons and were seafaring people, so they would 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.680 attack you where you had no defense, were pummeling them, 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.880 and so as a protective measure, they wanted to build 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:26.680 their nation like the other nations as a protective measure. 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.640 Not because they were seeking to disobey God, but they 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:37.160 were seeking to defend themselves. Pause. When does our self 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:45.160 defense become disobedience? Wow, it's when we implement something in 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:51.280 place to protect us that actually keeps us from experiencing 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:57.200 God's presence with us. The king they chose, and I 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:00.480 don't have much time to talk about, Saul. Everybody say better, Saull, 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:08.600 just get it out of your system, you heathens. They 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:13.679 needed someone who could protect them. But you know, like 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:19.600 we always do, we kind of you know, when we 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:24.640 reach for the wrong thing, we don't really realize how 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:28.880 much it will cost us, because all we can see 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:33.280 is how much it comforts us. And it comforted them 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.200 to have a king it comforted them to have a 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:39.439 to have a tall king. Saul was tall, head and 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:44.879 shoulders above the rest. Saul looked like a king to 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:49.120 everybody else, but he never really saw himself that way. 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:53.920 Can I show you this? This is for Samuel? Fifteen? 0:17:55.119 --> 0:18:01.120 Where is it? Guys? Fifteen fifteen? Uh? Did I give 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.399 you this one? Yeah? I don't think I gave you 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.639 this one. I'm have to find it myself, y'all. Give 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.480 me a second. This worth fine? Here it is fifteen seventeen. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:10.640 I didn't give you all that one, did it? Yes? 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:13.760 I did? Fifteen seventeen. Samuel told Saul. Listen what he 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:15.480 told Saul. This is so good. I put it in 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.600 last minute. So I said, although you were once small 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:23.119 in your own eyes, did not you become head of 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:28.160 the tribes of Israel. Here's why that's important. God had 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:37.560 promoted promoted Saul beyond Saul's perspective of himself. Sometimes you 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.640 are living in a role or responsibility that you have 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:45.800 not fully caught up to mentally yet to realize this 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:51.720 is who I am now. So Saul looked like a 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.960 king to them, but he didn't feel like a king inside, 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.080 and that became a problem. Because for all of Saul's reign, 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:02.040 he overreacted. He it's hasty. He did the thing that 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.919 made sense instead of the thing that pleased God. He 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:07.320 did the thing that made sense instead of the thing 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.240 that pleased God. He did the thing that made sense 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:14.080 instead of the thing that pleased God. He went by 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:20.720 what he saw instead of what he heard. He went 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:26.160 by his senses instead of by his spirit. And by 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.399 the time you get the first Samuel sixteen, God is 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:34.840 removing Saul from his position of authority. The transition will 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:42.400 not be immediate, but it's underway. Saul is out. It's 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:44.480 gonna take everybody else a while to figure that out. 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:52.399 But God tells Samuel, I'm done with Saul. It's not 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.680 a matter of you praying more for Remember, Samuel had 0:19:55.680 --> 0:20:01.320 invested a lot in Saul. He had tried to coach him, 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:06.440 correct him, and there came a point where God got 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:12.200 tired of Saul. Before Samquel, did you know some stuff 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:15.480 God takes out of your life while you're still trying 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:22.120 to hold onto it that was too deep for him. Boy, 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.600 I'm gonna run it back. Some stuff you're not ready 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:32.800 to let go of yet. God's just gonna take it away. 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:37.240 That's what he did here. He said, how long will 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:42.600 you mourn over what I've rejected? And the crazy thing 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.399 about it was Samuel didn't even like Saul to begin with. 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.480 It wasn't like they were friends. It wasn't like he 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:56.199 was a good competent king. He made more messes than 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:59.840 he cleaned up, He tore down more than he built, 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:06.280 He costs more than he was worth. And yet there's 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:13.840 something about losing what you know that doesn't even take 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:17.119 into account if you really wanted it to begin with. 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:24.399 He tells him to go to the smallest place, Bethlehem, 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:28.040 same place Jesus was born. That's the place where David 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:31.560 would be waiting. He tells him to do the smallest thing, 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:35.640 fill your horn with oil, because that was the instrument 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:39.840 that the prophet used to signify change through anointing. Something 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:43.760 so small as fill your horn with oil would lead 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:48.960 to something so big, David, the king through whom came 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:56.680 our Messiah, Jesus Christ. But Samuel has to go all 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:01.080 the way to Bethlehem, and yet there's one thing he 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:05.439 doesn't know as he travels. Who am I gonna annoint 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:09.840 when I get there. It's like God left out the 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.400 one tiniest little detail that would have been so helpful. 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:15.800 And so for me, this is confusing God. If you're 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:17.840 gonna tell him to fill the horn with oil, if 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:19.840 you're gonna tell him how to get past the gates 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:21.960 with the heifers and all of that, somebody say bring 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.600 the heifer. If you're gonna tell him bring the heifer, 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:28.760 then why not tell him? And by the way, is David. 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:32.640 And so when you get there, skip all the other 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:37.760 seven and ask for David. You know, we would do 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:40.480 this much just to recommend something to somebody. When you 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:42.760 go to the restaurant, order this off the menu, right, 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:45.000 we would do that for somebody if we knew what 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:48.480 was good on the menu. And yet it's like God 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:54.919 wanted Samuel to have to go through the process of elimination, 0:22:56.560 --> 0:23:02.639 the process of elimination. Sometimes God will take you through 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:08.080 the process of elimination. Now, this isn't just a multiple 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:11.040 choice test in fifth grade where you're crossing off the answers. 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:14.359 This is the process of God bringing you to things 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:16.399 in your life and going no, not that. But I 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:19.000 thought it was that, No, not that. How about this, Well, no, 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:22.280 that's not that either. That's not that. So what we 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:25.720 always think is that the first thing God shows us 0:23:29.280 --> 0:23:33.600 it's going to be his final answer. So then we 0:23:33.720 --> 0:23:38.399 get frustrated when the first thing doesn't work. If Samuel 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:42.160 would have gone home after looking at Eliab, Saul would 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:47.640 have stayed king and the nation would have perished. So 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:50.879 I'm thinking about now, what must it be like to 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:56.080 be Samuel. This is not a small moment. It's not 0:23:56.240 --> 0:24:00.520 small to us. It's just this little annoying say ceremony. 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:03.399 To him, this is everything, this is the nation he 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:06.200 gave his life to serve. And you know what's weird, 0:24:06.640 --> 0:24:10.399 Sometimes people have no idea how big the burden that 0:24:10.440 --> 0:24:19.800 you're caring is because to them it seems small. It okay, 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:21.679 there's two tendencies that we all have. Let me go 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:24.240 and teach your mode for a moment. We either have 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:30.760 a tendency to dramatize. I don't think you should look 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:33.520 at your husband or wife right now. I think you 0:24:33.560 --> 0:24:36.760 should look straight ahead. I'm just giving you a marriage seminar, 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:47.760 or to downplay. Both are dangerous to dramatize. Oh, this 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:51.000 is the worst ever. It's never been like this before, 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:54.600 and nobody ever said anything nice to me. Yes, seventeen 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:56.800 people did just not the one that you wanted to 0:24:56.840 --> 0:24:58.280 say it the way you wanted them to say it. 0:24:59.400 --> 0:25:06.720 That's drama. Ties over generalize. They always they never dramatized. Dramatized, 0:25:06.800 --> 0:25:08.399 So that's to make it bigger than it really is. 0:25:08.440 --> 0:25:11.720 And that's a problem. That's the problem. Trust me from 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:13.639 firsthand experience. I know, I'm not talking about what I 0:25:13.640 --> 0:25:15.520 studied in a textbook. I'm talking about what I relived 0:25:15.520 --> 0:25:21.679 out in my own psychosis of sanctification to go. That 0:25:21.720 --> 0:25:26.359 really wasn't that big. What was wrong with me? You know, 0:25:26.160 --> 0:25:28.199 you watch old film of yourself in your mind and 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:31.680 you're like, God, that's embarrassing. Please let's delete that off 0:25:31.680 --> 0:25:37.280 the hard drive of history. I'll tell you what else 0:25:37.400 --> 0:25:41.840 is just as bad as dramatizing, though, is downplaying stuff 0:25:45.200 --> 0:25:52.320 to go like, oh, it didn't bother me. So I 0:25:52.440 --> 0:25:56.560 was encouraged that God allowed Saul or Samuel rather to 0:25:56.600 --> 0:26:03.400 go through a grieving process his disappointment. He wasn't saying 0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:07.240 you're not allowed to mourn, you know, God the eleventh 0:26:07.280 --> 0:26:12.920 commandment is not thou shalt not be disappointed. But if 0:26:12.920 --> 0:26:19.880 the disappointment becomes a dead end, that's a problem. So 0:26:19.880 --> 0:26:21.479 what I'm having to learn to do in my adult 0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:23.119 life right now? How many grown ups do we have 0:26:23.200 --> 0:26:27.640 watching the message or grown ups in the making and metamorphosis. 0:26:27.880 --> 0:26:30.480 How many potential future hopeful grown ups do we have 0:26:34.320 --> 0:26:37.520 in my adult life. I'm having to learn how not 0:26:37.600 --> 0:26:42.280 to dramatize it while at the same time don't downplay it. 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:45.920 How long will you mourn over what I've rejected? There 0:26:45.960 --> 0:26:47.399 comes a time where you've got to put it in 0:26:47.400 --> 0:26:49.359 his place and move on. But there also comes a 0:26:49.400 --> 0:26:53.879 time where you've got to say that sucked. Normally, I 0:26:53.920 --> 0:26:55.960 tell you to touch your neighbor and say things like 0:26:56.160 --> 0:27:01.480 God is good and glory to his name, you know 0:27:01.640 --> 0:27:05.960 all this, look at somebody and say that sucked. That 0:27:06.119 --> 0:27:09.280 sucked when they lied to me, That sucked when they 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:11.000 said they had my back and they actually did have 0:27:11.080 --> 0:27:12.680