Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning, Village Church.
[00:00:07] It is good to be with you.
[00:00:11] Whenever we got the invitation to come and be with you, I was really excited about this summer and getting an opportunity to see what happens here on a Sunday morning.
[00:00:25] I have known Pastor Dean and his wife Chris for 12 years.
[00:00:32] So if you need any dirt, come to me.
[00:00:36] It is true that Chris is the better half, and so if you haven't gotten to know her, you need to do that.
[00:00:45] I need to say that because she's actually the one that hired me at Wheaton Bible Church, so I have to kiss up still.
[00:00:54] But I am so thankful that Dean and Chris are here. Had an opportunity to meet Pastor Michael a couple years ago. After that discussion, just hearing what Village Church is all about and what's happening here at Village Church just got me excited about this area and the potential that you have to make an incredible impact as a church.
[00:01:22] Well, as Dean said, we are finishing out this short miniseries.
[00:01:29] And so what I wanna encourage you to do is open your Bibles to folks Samuel 10 as we jump into, you know, what if God is really real?
[00:01:42] My dad had the opportunity to just share some thoughts from 1st Samuel 1 and 1 Samuel 3, and we're gonna jump ahead.
[00:01:52] Before we get into it, I wanna give you a little bit of context of what's happening right before chapter 10.
[00:02:03] You might be an incredible Bible reader.
[00:02:06] You know the stories of the Old Testament, maybe you've never read the Old Testament and you're here kind of checking things out. And so I want to make sure that you kind of understand what is happening.
[00:02:19] One of the things that we have to realize is that because we believe that God is really real, we have to believe then that he is a God who will provide.
[00:02:32] And so that's what he starts doing in chapter nine.
[00:02:36] In chapter nine of first Samuel, what ends up happening is that the people of Israel are this nation. And they are looking around at all of these other nations and they understand and realize that these other nations have these kings.
[00:02:54] And so what they end up doing is they end up saying, we want to be like the other nations. We. We want to have a king ourselves.
[00:03:04] Now, that wasn't the intent that God had in place. Israel was his chosen people, and he was king of Israel in many ways. And so what ends up happening is they declare this and God ends up basically, he gives them what they desire.
[00:03:26] And so he sets up that there will be a new king for Israel.
[00:03:33] And in chapter nine, that's where we meet Saul, the future king.
[00:03:39] And what's interesting is Saul is from one of the tribes of Israel. There were 12 tribes. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. And all that's happening in his life is simply the task of he was going out into the wilderness in search of his dad's lost donkeys.
[00:04:00] That's what we realize is really the only good thing that is said about Saul, is that he listened to his dad and went and he was trying to find these donkeys.
[00:04:14] But what ends up seeming like this random errand that he was on ends up becoming this divine appointment that God is putting in place.
[00:04:25] It was actually not that humans were directing this. It's that God is directing what is taking place. And so Saul's out, and he ends up meeting the prophet named Samuel.
[00:04:37] Samuel was already given a message from God. And so God's working kind of behind the scenes, and they come together and they meet. And that's what we find in 1 Samuel, chapter 10.
[00:04:52] And this is where everything starts to change, not just for Saul, not just for Samuel, but for the entire nation of Israel.
[00:05:00] Now, as we get into this, I believe that there is a principle that comes out of it. We're gonna look at this text, and we have to be answering the question, if God's really real, what's he doing in the text?
[00:05:15] What is he doing in the lives that we find in that text? And then what is it that he wants to see speak to us?
[00:05:23] And so the principle that I think we have to take from this is simply this sentence. God's call doesn't depend on your readiness.
[00:05:32] It depends on his power to provide.
[00:05:36] It doesn't depend on your readiness.
[00:05:39] It depends on his power to provide.
[00:05:42] So we're going to look at things through the three lenses of how does God provide for the people?
[00:05:50] What is Saul's response? And then what is our response to the text? So let's start with the question of how does God provide?
[00:05:58] What's he doing here? And I'll tell you, the first way that God provides is that we see in the text is that he knows you.
[00:06:08] God knows you.
[00:06:11] And I understand that there's some of you that have entered this room this Sunday, and you're going through some hard circumstances, and the thing in your head is that there is no way that God knows me.
[00:06:25] Because if God knew me, I wouldn't be going through this circumstance.
[00:06:29] I wouldn't be dealing with this situation.
[00:06:33] And what we find as we read God's word is that God intimately knows you.
[00:06:40] Now, I'm gonna start in verse one. We're not Gonna read the entire chapter, but I'll give you kind of the storyline line that's happening there. But let's look at verse one and what it says says. Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people, Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord, and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince of over his heritage.
[00:07:20] Now, as we start, one of the things that's happening here is that Samuel is delivering the message of God. He is coming to Saul, and he is basically saying, these are the words of God, and the first act that he does is he ends up pouring oil over his head. If we were to go back to the Old Testament and kind of read through it, one of the things that you find is that oil and anointing was used often on sacred objects. They would anoint those objects with oil, and that meant that that object was kind of a stake in the ground, that it belonged to God. It was his divine claim over that.
[00:08:05] Now we see that there is a human being that is being anointed, basically saying that this is the divine stake, that that God is still over this future king.
[00:08:21] He ends up becoming like a sacred object, in a sense, that God is the one that knows him intimately.
[00:08:30] Now, as well, one of the things that we realize in this text is that this was also a time where when that anointing's taking place, that there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, an outpouring of the spirit of God on this individual.
[00:08:47] Now, remember that the only thing we know about Saul is that he can search for lost donkeys.
[00:08:57] That's it.
[00:08:59] It's where we have to understand where was his readiness to be the king of Israel. And what is being said in this text is that God knows him and intimately chooses him.
[00:09:14] This is the choice of God. It wasn't the choice of the people.
[00:09:19] See, God was going to stay in control of the circumstance and of the situation, but he knows you.
[00:09:30] Our daughter Kiana Kiki's entering her freshman year at Northern Illinois University. She was recruited to play volleyball for them. And.
[00:09:41] And so two weeks after graduation, we moved her in, and she.
[00:09:46] In many ways, she now is under the authority and she is the property of niu.
[00:09:56] One of the things that happened, and it was. I'll admit, it was really hard for me.
[00:10:02] I was the authority in my daughter's life.
[00:10:05] And what I started finding as she was going through the recruiting process with colleges and especially with NIU is that these colleges wanted to talk to my 17 year old daughter and not know me.
[00:10:21] I started thinking about it and if you're in high school and you're in here, I think you are incredibly wise, but not so incredibly wise. Okay.
[00:10:35] See, I was sitting there concerned.
[00:10:38] I was worried, like they just want to talk to her and they're going to ask her questions, is she going to be able to answer everything? And so they went through this and so they would have phone conversations, there were visits, there were times that tournaments that they would spend time talking. And every once in a while they would ask me a question.
[00:10:58] She got there and every week she has a meeting where she meets with the coaching staff. And they don't talk volleyball. They ask questions about what is going on in your life outside of volleyball.
[00:11:14] And they do this because they want to know her intimately, they want to understand what drives her, what are her interests, where is it that she kind of wants to go. And the more that they do this with her, the thought is, is that the more successful they will be at coaching a well rounded individual.
[00:11:38] Well, that's kind of the statement that God makes. In this statement in this section of scripture, he's saying, I know you, I know Saul.
[00:11:51] And because I know Saul, I'm going to continue to know him in a deep way and I am going to pour into him.
[00:12:02] That's the way that God works.
[00:12:05] Now notice the language that's used at the end of the verse. It says, and this shall be a sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.
[00:12:17] If you write in your Bible, I would circle the word or underline the word heritage. Because what heritage is and what is being stated here is that it is an indisputable possession.
[00:12:29] It's this possession that cannot be transferred to another person.
[00:12:34] So what's happening is that God is saying that the nation of Israel is mine and you are just a person that is going to be a prince that is going to manage my possession.
[00:12:53] See, what the people of Israel were thinking was that the king would be the person that runs and their will is the thing that would determine the path for the nation. And God's saying, no, no, no, no, no, you're my heritage and Saul is going to just be the prince to manage it.
[00:13:17] Now, in order for that to happen, in order for somebody to place a prince in that sort of Role.
[00:13:25] One of the things we have to understand is that means that God knows him intimately.
[00:13:34] He knows what the nation needs. He knows what Saul needs. And what he is doing is that he is anointing a king to say, you are the one that's going to be a protector. You're going to be the message from me. You're going to speak to them. You're going to rule. And I am giving you incredible knowledge, and I'm giving you purpose, because I know you and I know the nation.
[00:14:03] See, we often forget we can come and we can worship every Sunday. We can often forget that the God of the universe, the God that all he did was speak and the world was created, actually knows each and every one of us here intimately.
[00:14:26] He actually knows us better than we know ourselves.
[00:14:30] And so God is being very clear here that, look, I know who Saul is and I am choosing him.
[00:14:40] So God ends up providing. He ends up empowering because he knows. The second thing that happens starts in verse six. And what we have to understand is that if God is really real, God is going to be a God who gives.
[00:14:55] He gives to us. Look at verse six.
[00:14:59] What it says is, then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. Then Job drop down to verse nine where it says, when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart.
[00:15:18] And all these signs came to pass that day.
[00:15:22] Now, I'm jumping to this text, but what you have to understand is one of the things that happens here is Samuel ends up talking to Saul. And he ends up telling him, because you can imagine, he's looking for lost donkeys, and now he's being told you're gonna be king of Israel.
[00:15:40] That's a little, you know, shocking.
[00:15:44] No matter how old you are, that would be a shocking moment. And so what ends up happening is that God gives Samuel this message that there are gonna be these three prophetic events that take place. And you can read about them in the text here. And all three of the prophetic events happen.
[00:16:05] So this takes place. But one of the things that happens whenever we read verse 6 is that before this time, Saul had never been a prophet of God. He had never prophesied.
[00:16:20] It seems like he's just a caretaker of donkeys.
[00:16:24] He comes from a wealthy house. That's it.
[00:16:28] But God ends up saying, you're going to have a call, and the Spirit of God is going to rush on. You see, friends, if God is really real, he's gonna be A God that gives.
[00:16:45] He's not going to leave it up to our own strength to figure things out.
[00:16:50] He's going to give and provide.
[00:16:53] And so Saul is told that the spirit of the Lord will rush upon you. And in that prophetic moment, he will then be able to prophesy a message.
[00:17:04] This is a radical gift. It's a radical change for this herdsman.
[00:17:11] It's something he hadn't been capable of doing before, and now he's going to be able to do it.
[00:17:19] But notice what happens. And this is kind of a telling sign. It's to describe some things to us. The phrase that is used is rushed upon.
[00:17:30] The spirit is going to rush upon you.
[00:17:33] Now, in the Hebrew, whenever you read that, what can be said is, in using that phrase is that this was a sudden thing, but it can also be a violent experience.
[00:17:47] So the spirit is coming on him. And when you use those two descriptor words there, what ends up happening is it's basically saying that when the spirit comes, Saul is changed dramatically and that he has changed, that other people who know him are going, who is this?
[00:18:08] What has happened?
[00:18:10] This is to point out that God is at work.
[00:18:14] It's not only to point out to Saul, but it's to point out to the nation. And so this is a dramatic event that happens. And if you look at the text, it goes on. It says that he meets the prophets at Gibeah, and these prophets come down. And all of a sudden, Saul is able to prophesy.
[00:18:35] He's able to give this message. And what ends up happening is people end up using this phrase of is asking the question, is Saul a prophet? Now, it went throughout the area and people are questioning things over and over, like, what is going on? How is this taking place?
[00:18:56] And we have to ask the question when we're reading this text is, why does God give.
[00:19:01] Why does he give this gift? Why is it that he is doing this in the life of Saul?
[00:19:08] I think when we ask that question, we have to then go, okay, wait, what's happening here? Oh, yeah, Saul's going to be king of Israel. So what does it take to be the king of Israel?
[00:19:20] Well, it takes a lot of things that Saul doesn't have.
[00:19:25] He's not capable of it.
[00:19:27] He ends up being given these gifts from God in these moments to set him up to be the ruler of God's chosen people.
[00:19:38] Friends, he isn't ready, and God knows it.
[00:19:46] Just like the call on your life, you are not ready.
[00:19:53] And God knows it. And he still called you to it.
[00:19:58] See, this is what God's doing. He's setting up. He knows the deficiencies in Saul's life, and he knows what he's gonna be like in the future. But he's going, I am.
[00:20:09] I know you, and I'm going to give you what you need.
[00:20:14] And what he needed, we find in the text. He needed another heart.
[00:20:21] And Saul's heart changes. It's a profound change. He wasn't equipped for the task at hand, and God was going to give to him so that he was.
[00:20:35] Remember, God's call doesn't depend on your readiness.
[00:20:41] It depends on his power to provide.
[00:20:46] Now, there's a third thing that God does. He knows you. He gives.
[00:20:51] But the text goes on. And if you go to verse 20, what we end up finding is that God leads now. God leads us. One of the things that is interesting in my life, I think it's one of the most incredible things ever invented, is a thing called Google Maps.
[00:21:11] I don't know if it's that way for you, but I can remember when directions.
[00:21:19] I know I don't look super old. I mean, my dad's older, you know, so.
[00:21:24] But I remember a time when you had to tell people directions and tell them what streets and which way to turn and all of that. And usually we were not a good generation of giving directions, so we created Google Maps.
[00:21:42] And I think one of the best things in Google Maps is a thing called recalculating.
[00:21:52] I don't know if you've ever experienced recalculating, but it's a normal thing in my life.
[00:21:59] See, I can put in my destination, and many times there might be somebody in the car with me and we're talking, and next thing you know, I've missed the exit, or I'm looking going, is that really the exit I'm supposed to take? No, it's just down a little further. And what ends up happening is this thing comes up recalculating and it then changes, and it gets me on the path to go to the destination that I always wanted to go to See, it doesn't matter if I hesitate or I ignore. I fail to follow. There's always the recalculating to the final destination.
[00:22:45] Google Maps is always leading me.
[00:22:48] That's the same thing that God is doing.
[00:22:55] Like, there might be times where he is. He's going, you're going down the path you're not getting off. But he's not gonna stop leading. He's gonna recalculate things for you and get you to the final destination that he has wanted you to head towards.
[00:23:10] Look at what the text says in verse 20.
[00:23:14] Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by Lot.
[00:23:22] So this is Samuel getting all of the people together, and he's going to basically publicly promote Saul to the office of king.
[00:23:33] He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by his clans, and the clan of the matriites was taken by Lot. And Saul, the son of Kish, was taken by Lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found.
[00:23:47] So they inquired again of the Lord, Is there a man still to come? And the Lord said, behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.
[00:23:57] Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. And Samuel said to all the people, do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among the people. And all the people shouted, long live the king.
[00:24:19] Okay, just quick side note.
[00:24:23] Notice who it is that declares Saul king before anyone else.
[00:24:32] It's the people.
[00:24:35] God and Samuel have not declared that yet, but the people did.
[00:24:40] So they're the ones that say this. But one of the things that we find is that these people are so quick to do this.
[00:24:48] But for the tall, impressive looking man, he was nowhere to be found.
[00:24:57] See, when we read this, we have to understand that God was constantly leading and he was setting up all throughout their historical and political circumstances. He was setting it up so that his purposes would be accomplished.
[00:25:13] That's what he's doing.
[00:25:17] And so even though Saul's character, his readiness, and his leadership were faulty, God stayed present to lead.
[00:25:27] Now, verse 24 is clear, okay, that God chose Saul.
[00:25:33] We see that earlier in the chapter, and he was given the prophetic messages and everything happened. But then in verse 25, we read this interesting thing. Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. So what ends up happening is Samuel knows that God has to be the one that's leading the king.
[00:26:01] So he writes everything in a book of what the king is supposed to do.
[00:26:07] And when it says laid it before the Lord, it probably means that he took it and laid it before the ark of the Covenant.
[00:26:16] And that there is this book that Saul is supposed to reference to understand how God is leading him to fulfill the office of king.
[00:26:30] So God has continually led through this entire process.
[00:26:35] He's putting all these Things in place. And look at where Saul is.
[00:26:41] Remember, they're all gathered together.
[00:26:45] You know, they're all together. And they had traveled there. Samuel had gathered them there. So it means that they've kind of. These tribes have been on a trip to get to this place.
[00:26:57] And Saul, whose name actually means asked for.
[00:27:04] These people ask again, where is he?
[00:27:09] And they find him by the suitcases.
[00:27:16] They find him. I mean, he knows what's about to happen.
[00:27:21] So it's like he's in baggage claim where all the lost suitcases are.
[00:27:29] He's taller than everybody else in the nation, and he's hiding among them.
[00:27:36] And the people run and they get this guy and they. They pull him there.
[00:27:43] And the guy that was hiding, they start declaring, long live the king.
[00:27:51] I don't know about you, but when I read that, I'm going, that is not the sissy that I want leading me.
[00:27:59] Like, what is going on? And because they wanted to be like other nations so badly, they make this declaration.
[00:28:13] But thankfully, there's a gracious God that is continually leading because he knows that this individual isn't ready.
[00:28:26] See, God's call doesn't depend on your readiness, doesn't depend on your raise. It depends on his power to provide.
[00:28:37] So we see that God is going to empower his people because he knows them.
[00:28:44] He's going to lead them.
[00:28:47] He's going to give to them.
[00:28:50] But then we have to look at the response of Saul.
[00:28:54] And Saul does three things in this text. We have to. Whenever we study the scripture, we should ask the question, how does Saul respond? And one of the first things that Saul does is he receives.
[00:29:09] Look back at verse nine.
[00:29:12] When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. Now, notice, the text doesn't say, God gave him a heart and Saul gave it back.
[00:29:30] No, what it says is that Saul received it.
[00:29:33] He. He took what. What God gave, and he took it in. What we don't know is if he is recognizing the gift that was being given to him. Him, he just kind of received it. Now, why is this important to acknowledge in the text?
[00:29:51] Well, I think it plays out in a certain way.
[00:29:55] I meet with people throughout the week for breakfast or for lunch, stuff like that. And there's a guy that I'm meeting with. He's a young dad and husband, and he wanted to get together because he wanted to talk through, how can I be a godly husband and a godly father when I didn't have that example present in My life. So we've been getting together for a couple months to talk through some of these things. And one of the things that happens is both of us are really engaged with one another.
[00:30:31] We go to the same place every two weeks to have breakfast together.
[00:30:37] And we sit across.
[00:30:38] He listens intently to whatever I'm saying. He's writing things down on his phone. And as he's talking, I am zoned in. I'm like.
[00:30:48] I'm just listening to everything he has to say because I want to respond to him really well. And so what ends up happening during this time is that we can be having this conversation. And our waitress, who is the same waitress we have every single time we're there, we'll come and she'll refill the coffee, she'll refill the water. Sometimes she comes and she brings our food. And at different times throughout that breakfast, she will drop things off, and I will forget to even recognize her presence there.
[00:31:27] But she was bringing the very things that I need for my sustenance.
[00:31:34] And I forget to acknowledge that she has given this to me.
[00:31:40] That's what's happening with Saul.
[00:31:44] He's just receiving it, but it doesn't seem like he acknowledges it. It doesn't seem like he is realizing the value, the importance, what, the change, the extraordinary gift that's happening in his life. He just takes it in.
[00:32:01] See, I think that's somewhat of what we do.
[00:32:06] We're more than willing to receive, but we don't always acknowledge.
[00:32:13] That's why for some of you parents, you have young kids. That's why whenever they are given those, like they're three years old and they're given a birthday gift, they often open it and they're just enthralled with the gift.
[00:32:29] That's why you're teaching them to acknowledge the gift giver.
[00:32:35] We are to be people that acknowledge this. But what Saul represents is just somebody who is receiving.
[00:32:43] The second thing that we notice about Saul's response is that he ignores.
[00:32:48] He ignores God.
[00:32:51] And this comes in an area that we can read past so quickly. And if we miss it, we don't understand how he's ignoring God.
[00:32:59] I want you to go to verse five.
[00:33:02] And in verse five, it ends up saying, after that, you shall come to Gibeath Elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute and lyre before them, prophesying, now jump to verse seven.
[00:33:25] Now, when these signs meet, you do what your hands find to do, for God is with you.
[00:33:34] Again, if you underline, I want to encourage you underline, do what your hands find to do. And this is why this is vitally important for us to see.
[00:33:46] Notice who is still in the area that Israel is maintaining.
[00:33:54] If you're good Bible readers, or even if you're not, you have probably heard the story of David and Goliath.
[00:34:03] Goliath is a Philistine. Now, David comes after Saul, okay, But it means that going all the way back to Saul, what we end up seeing is that the Philistines are being allowed to have a garrison there for some reason in the middle of the land.
[00:34:20] And they're allowed to be there. And Samuel gives Saul a directive.
[00:34:28] He says, you are gonna have the strength of God. You are empowered by God.
[00:34:34] Now, this phrase of do what your hands find to do can also be found in the book of judges. In Judges 9, 33, we see the same phrase. And there, the context is basically that the armies of God, the armies of Israel will go to conquer the army of the enemies of God.
[00:34:56] It's a military action.
[00:34:59] When you take this phrase and you kind of put it in its context from Judges and you come to first Samuel. What Samuel is being told is in that moment, after these prophetic signs come that should give you courage, and you are to go up and you are to defeat this Philistine garrison there.
[00:35:21] Guess what?
[00:35:22] He ignores it.
[00:35:25] He doesn't do it.
[00:35:27] He's being told, you have the strength of God. Go do this. And he completely ignores it.
[00:35:34] He's also given a second instruction. He's basically told, after you defeat the Philistines, then go on to Gilgal and meet me there. And we will offer sacrifices, these peace offerings. You can read it in verse eight.
[00:35:50] He's supposed to do what his hands find to do. And then he's supposed to go and wait for further direction.
[00:35:59] But Saul ignores.
[00:36:02] He ignores his calling.
[00:36:06] See, Saul was willing to do the easy task, go and prophesy with people that think the same way, but he didn't go do the hard task.
[00:36:21] And then Saul's response, he does one last thing that we've already looked at. But Saul's response is that he hides.
[00:36:29] I mean, he has hidden himself among the baggage, the baggage the would be declared king was hiding from the task that was laid in front of him.
[00:36:49] So when you look at this and you see that Saul receives, he ignores and he hides. We then have to ask the question why is this chapter given to us today?
[00:37:04] Why are we supposed to deal with this? What's the point for our lives?
[00:37:10] Let me remind you, if God is really real, he will be a God who provides.
[00:37:16] He's going to be a God that empowers. He's going to be a God that gives.
[00:37:21] And so there is a calling on our lives.
[00:37:25] In fact, this is the moment where we should be a people that remembers all of names of God. And if you go back to the book of Genesis, there is a name of God called Jehovah Jireh. And Jehovah Jireh means the Lord provides.
[00:37:42] So the moment of your salvation, there was a calling put on your life.
[00:37:49] You have been called to be a disciple of Jesus.
[00:37:53] And in that moment you have been given this call and this will to move forward. And God along the way is gonna provide for you, you.
[00:38:04] And the question is, is how are you going to respond?
[00:38:09] There's Writer Scott Sauls wrote this book, Irresistible Faith. And in it he says this.
[00:38:16] Whatever one's place in life, whatever age or influence, all Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit's power, endowed with the Father's wisdom through Scripture and energized by the love of Jesus. As such, all Christians are called as Christ's ambassadors into the places where they live, work, play and worship with the glorious purpose of leaving people, places and things better than they found them.
[00:38:48] This is the universal Christian job description.
[00:38:53] 1st Samuel 10 is to remind us that at the moment of your salvation, the rushing upon of the Spirit came on you to change you, to change your heart, to radically change who you were.
[00:39:13] Because there is a call on your life. You are dropped in the neighborhood that you're in. I'm not dropped there. You're dropped in the workplace that you're in. I'm not dropped there. You have been dropped in this church.
[00:39:26] I'm not dropped here. But you have been dropped here for a calling. To be ambassadors of the incredible kingdom of God, to present that gospel that is changing you, to change other places.
[00:39:46] So I believe, and I'll end with this, that there's three short things that we have to take from this, that our response needs to be around this every day. The first is this. You need to be a person who receives from God.
[00:40:00] Friends, if the gospel has saved you, receive the gift of grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:40:10] And speak it over and over again to yourself. I want to encourage you. Every morning you get up, you look in the mirror, and instead of being shocked at how you look that you start speaking to yourself, that I am a child of the Risen Savior.
[00:40:29] That I receive the empowerment that he has put on my life to go into my day, not into my 10 years down the line, into my day. Because he has a purpose and a plan for each minute of our life.
[00:40:47] The second thing that I think we need to respond with is obedience. That we need to be people that obey. That God's calling is not a calling to ignore and to hide, but to obey what he has called us to do as followers of Him.
[00:41:04] We need to be people that are falling in love with this text and allowing this book to radically transform. And that we obey the words of our Risen Savior.
[00:41:20] That we are going to look different than those around us, but that we live for him and we obey Him. May this be the nourishment of your life.
[00:41:33] And last, we need to be people who depend.
[00:41:37] That we realize that we aren't ready.
[00:41:42] We aren't ready for all the tasks that come to us. We aren't ready for the calling on our life, but that we depend on the Holy Spirit that was poured into us at the moment of our salvation.
[00:41:54] That we depend on a heart that's changed. That as the Holy Spirit rush on us, we know that he will continue to empower us for God's glory and for God's kingdom in whatever we're doing.
[00:42:09] Friends, God's call doesn't depend on your readiness.
[00:42:15] It depends on his power to provide for you.
[00:42:19] Amen.
[00:42:20] Let's pray.
[00:42:25] Lord, I thank you for being a God. That because you know us so well, you continue to want to empower us, to lead us, to guide us, to know us intimately. And I pray that we would be people that respond. I pray for my friends here that as they into the world, their schools, their workplaces, their neighborhoods, that they would be people that are depending on your word, that they are obeying your word, that they're depending on your spirit. And as they do, Lord, we will see more and more people understand the great gift of grace and salvation.
[00:43:15] I pray for Village Church of Bartlett. Make this a hub for this community, that people get to know who you are.
[00:43:25] Because this is a light shining brightly.
[00:43:30] So we love you.
[00:43:32] Have your way in our life. It's your name I pray. Amen.
