1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,920 Well, friends, if we haven't met, my name is Josh. 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,600 I have the joy of serving as pastor here at the garden, and 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:10,480 it's great to see you. It's great to be together today. 4 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,440 If you're new here or still kind of checking the garden out and 5 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:16,840 we have people visiting today from out of town. 6 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:19,880 We've got people who are new to the city coming in for school. 7 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:22,000 And I just want to say welcome. We're so glad that you're here 8 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,200 with us. The garden is this kind of 9 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:29,360 random collection of individuals and communities and families who 10 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,920 are all journeying together, bound together by a common 11 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,640 purpose to increasingly be shaped and formed by the love of 12 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:38,800 Jesus. And then to extend that love in 13 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,840 the places that we live with the people that we love in our 14 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,600 workplaces, in our homes, in our schools and our families. 15 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,080 And so if that's a journey that is of interest to you, I, I 16 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,320 personally am very biased, but I think it's the most important 17 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:53,800 journey you could possibly take in your life. 18 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,120 But we'd love to have you with us on that journey to find a 19 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,120 place to connect here. Come grab me or anybody with a 20 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:03,520 lanyard out in the lobby after our gathering today. 21 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,880 We'd love to to share more about what's going on in the garden or 22 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,120 just meet you help in any way that we can. 23 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,640 Well, this morning we are continuing this series that 24 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,440 we've been in over the last few weeks. 25 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,480 We're coming up on the halfway point in this ten week journey, 26 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,120 which we are very ambitiously attempting to cover all of 27 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,760 scripture. So we're going beginning to end 28 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:28,280 and and really tracing this one story that that find its home in 29 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,840 a library of books written across languages, cultures, and 30 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:36,480 even centuries to learn about what the story has to teach us 31 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:39,480 not only about the world, but also about ourselves and our 32 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:41,280 lives. Today and this morning 33 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,280 specifically, we're in chapter kind of five of this series, 34 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:49,560 installment 5, and we're looking at the establishment of the 35 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,800 monarchy. All right, so in this chapter, 36 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,040 we are actually once again talking about the same stuff 37 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:57,920 that we've been talking about kind of every week in the 38 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,840 series. In week one, we discovered that 39 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:06,160 humanity was created and invited into this fundamental task to 40 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,280 enjoy God's presence and extend his purposes in the world. 41 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:12,000 As simple as that. Enjoy God's presence and extend 42 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,920 his purposes. And then in Week 2, we found 43 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:17,960 that that wasn't enough for us, right? 44 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,560 That, that, that our first parents made the decision to, to 45 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,880 take a shortcut, to seize control, to go their own way, 46 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:30,240 and in doing so unleashed a wave of disconnection and death. 47 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,880 And so throughout this story that we're tracing, essentially 48 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,160 we're, we're wrestling with week after week the same question. 49 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,600 It's like, can we find our way back to this initial original 50 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,560 design? Will we finally be a people that 51 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,600 can enjoy God's presence and extend his purposes in the 52 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:51,680 world? And I don't know about any of 53 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:53,400 you. I nerd about stories. 54 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,280 Has anybody here heard about Joseph Campbell and the hero's 55 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:57,840 journey and all that? I know we've got a couple of 56 00:02:57,840 --> 00:02:59,480 nerds out here. At least I'm seeing some hands 57 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:01,920 go up. All right, So if you're 58 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:05,240 interested not only in stories but also in the architecture of 59 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:07,680 storytelling, then you read people like Joseph Campbell, who 60 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:11,880 has this theory that that myths and stories, although they have 61 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:16,040 all these differences, of course, also share some common 62 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:17,800 plot points. At least the epic ones do, 63 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:20,680 right? You've got a hero who, at the 64 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,280 beginning of the story, receives a call to go on an adventure. 65 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:28,200 Usually along the way, they pick up a guide who supports them in 66 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,640 this adventure. And then eventually, in order to 67 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:34,760 achieve their goals, they'll have to experience some kind of 68 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:37,640 death and rebirth. But that's painful. 69 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:39,640 That's icky. We don't want to do that. 70 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,880 And so through the early chapters of any series, there's 71 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:47,160 something that which Robert McKee refers to as progressive 72 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:50,040 complications. And there are plot points in the 73 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,640 story where essentially the hero attempts simple solutions to fix 74 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,960 the problem without actually having to suffer, right? 75 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,000 Can we just quickly fix it, solve it? 76 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:02,800 You know, can I just take on Darth Vader by myself right now 77 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,280 immediately? Like, can I, can I jump to the 78 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,240 end, please? And these progressive 79 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:12,560 complications, if you will always fail to resolve the 80 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,320 situation, they're superficial at the end of the day. 81 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:18,800 And through this kind of a section of the story, what we're 82 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,120 dealing with is really a series of progressive complications, 83 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,920 attempts to solve for the problem that we introduced in 84 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:30,440 Week 2 without really experiencing the transformation 85 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,400 that is needed. And so we see a kind of a series 86 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,400 of these, what if God wiped out the whole race and just started 87 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:40,000 fresh with Noah, right? Well, what if God chose one 88 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,920 special family, Abraham's family? 89 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,800 And this is a dew to faith. So maybe it will all work out 90 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:48,520 like what if, what if God rescued his people and and gave 91 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:50,440 them a loss? So they they were really clear 92 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:52,560 on what to do and how to live as the family. 93 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:56,280 And week after week, of course, we've seen that although these 94 00:04:56,280 --> 00:05:00,840 are attempts are good, they're positive things that humanity 95 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:04,240 still does not live into its intended design. 96 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,920 We still fail to live as a people who enjoy God's presence, 97 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,080 who trust him and extend his purposes in the world. 98 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:14,320 And this morning we get to another one of those What if we 99 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:18,320 just had the right leaders? What if there was just a guy who 100 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:22,560 was powerful enough and, and responsible enough and, and, and 101 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,920 they could just take care of it for us? 102 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:30,640 Of course, this doesn't work out so well as we'll see in first 103 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,280 Samuel chapter 8 and verse 5, we see the people come to the 104 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:38,840 prophet Samuel and they say to him, appoint a king to lead us, 105 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,360 such as all the other nations have. 106 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:44,280 Now, if you've been paying attention through this series, 107 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:46,000 that should raise some red flags for you. 108 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,680 Just last week we talked about God's law that he gave and, and 109 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,280 one of the three purposes, if you'll remember, was to really 110 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,280 create boundaries, right? To create holiness to to 111 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:01,760 separate God's people who had this unique purpose off from all 112 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,840 of the others. And here it is in this passage 113 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:08,320 that we find them kind of stressed out and reaching for 114 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,200 the same solution that they see their neighbors engaging in. 115 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:13,400 Could we just have a king, please? 116 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,640 I I think that would really take care of everything. 117 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:21,080 In fairness, they were having problems. 118 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:26,000 In chapters 4 through seven of our texts today, First Samuel, 119 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:29,320 we find this extended story of conflict with their neighbors to 120 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,720 the South, the Kingdom of Felicity. 121 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,440 In fact, in First Samuel chapter 4 and verse 2, we find that 122 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,640 there was this big battle and 4000 of the people were killed. 123 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,920 It's a big loss, especially for that time that's like, that's a 124 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,320 lot of people dying. Not only that, but the ark, 125 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:48,640 which represented the presence of God himself, was captured and 126 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,480 taken away. So you can see why they might be 127 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:53,240 on edge. You could see that they might be 128 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,800 stressed out for good reason, like things are not going so 129 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,440 well. They want to reach for another 130 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,760 solution, a shortcut if you will, to deliver on the safety 131 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:04,840 and security that they're longing for. 132 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,400 We read in verse 6 that this displeased Samuel and even more 133 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:14,640 so, God. They have rejected me as their 134 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:18,960 king, God says in verse 7, as they have done from the day I 135 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,760 brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and 136 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:26,560 serving other gods. See, the request for a king is 137 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,440 just one more failure in a long line of distrust and 138 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,640 disobedience that we've been seeing play out each week in 139 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:36,880 this series. And while Israel's lack of 140 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:41,400 faith, their choice to kind of take a shortcut for comfort and 141 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:45,640 control is easy to judge from distance, it's a familiar 142 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:49,720 pattern, isn't it? Like we can relate if we're 143 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,480 honest, right? It's easy to trust God when 144 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,560 everything in your life is going pretty well, right? 145 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,040 When everything is simple, when everything is straightforward, 146 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:00,440 when the bank account is full and the bills are paid, when 147 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,400 you're in a good relationship, when everything is kind of on 148 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,240 track, trusting God, it's a breeze, right? 149 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,800 And then it hits the fan, right? Things are stressy. 150 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:14,680 Oh my gosh, the world is on fire. 151 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:17,400 My life is on fire. Am I ever going to get married? 152 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:18,960 How am I going to pay these bills? 153 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:20,240 Am I going to be able to afford a house? 154 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:24,320 Am I going to be able to get my kid into the school and and the 155 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:25,840 things go on, right? It's always something. 156 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:31,280 But when we begin to feel that the stress rising, so too with 157 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:33,760 it comes this impulse to reach for a shortcut. 158 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,159 And this is what we've been talking about over these past 159 00:08:37,159 --> 00:08:40,200 couple weeks. And so the the the people of 160 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:44,480 God, the nation of Israel at this point reach for someone, a 161 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:49,000 figurehead and authority who they think are going to keep 162 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,240 things from going off the rails that that will allow them to get 163 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,440 what they want. We meet their guy in Chapter 9 164 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:59,000 in the very first verse. It says in Chapter 9 and verse 165 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,200 one that Saul comes from a family of status. 166 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:04,240 All right, this guy got a resume. 167 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:06,840 He's got a pedigree. And not only that, check this 168 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:08,880 out. He was fine. 169 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:14,160 Scripture goes on to say he was as handsome as a young man as 170 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:16,280 could be found anywhere in Israel. 171 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:18,800 Clear swipe right kind of a situation. 172 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,880 This dude was a head taller than everybody else, right? 173 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,920 He's a good looking dude. Like, from the outset, people 174 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,000 look at this guy and they're like, oh, yeah, that's the one. 175 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:31,320 He's going to look good on a campaign poster. 176 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,440 He's going to be great at the head of this column, right? 177 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:36,720 When the enemies attack, they're going to see this guy and 178 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:38,040 they're going to, you know, they're going to have second 179 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:40,120 thoughts. Like, we're going to be legit 180 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:42,840 established if we can get this guy. 181 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:48,440 Of course, there was a problem here beyond the fact that that 182 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,560 God was their king. There was the problem that Saul, 183 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:56,520 this person that they were choosing entirely lacked 184 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,640 character. Saul was all about the externals 185 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,720 and not at all about the internals. 186 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,400 Saul is vain and insecure. He's cruel and reactive. 187 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:11,520 He's performative and vindictive, as we see over the 188 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:15,680 following chapters. Let me be honest with you, 189 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:19,800 friends, I like when I think about this analogy, it hits me 190 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:25,560 emotionally. It is upsetting to me because we 191 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:31,360 just keep doing this, don't we? Like we, we keep looking for a, 192 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,080 a strong man to solve our problems. 193 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:36,960 Somebody who's going to be out there and is going to take care 194 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:40,840 of the bad guys, right? Character kind of doesn't really 195 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,760 matter as long as they can beat up those guys and look good in 196 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:49,040 the process. Maybe that's our God and and the 197 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:51,480 people of God have so consistently and so historically 198 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:57,000 and even today are so tragically reaching for these shortcut 199 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:02,800 solutions that are empty. This is what we see happen in 200 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:08,000 our text today. They they reach for Saul. 201 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:09,840 They're not content with God as king. 202 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:13,440 And so instead they crown a substitute that promises them 203 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:17,040 comfort and control. This guy is going to going to do 204 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:22,040 what we want. So we'll line up behind through 205 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:24,360 the remainder of kind of our message today. 206 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:27,440 The the main thing that I want you to see, because we've been 207 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,720 looking at humanity's tendency to take the wrong track over and 208 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:34,480 over, like basically every week in the series is just another 209 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:39,160 example of us not trusting God. But what I really want to help 210 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:43,720 you to see this morning is God's response to this, because 211 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:46,040 candidly, God responds pretty differently than I would have 212 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,720 imagined, pretty differently than I think I would have in 213 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:52,320 that situation. I mean, how would you expect God 214 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,840 to respond? Like if somebody is like, I'm a 215 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,920 parent, if my kid is pushing me away, saying I'm going to go my 216 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:04,400 own way, man, particularly to go my own way and do something 217 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:08,040 that's going to hurt them, harm them, damage other people. 218 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:11,880 Oh my gosh, like the impulse to, to jump in and to fix it, to 219 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:13,480 control it, to make sure it doesn't happen. 220 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:17,720 It's so strong. But that's not what God does. 221 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:19,880 It's interesting. Look here. 222 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:24,320 The the first thing that God does is he cautions his people. 223 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,120 He cautions them. This is the text that Amy read 224 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:33,360 for them or read for us earlier. God basically says, hey, look 225 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:36,080 out. If you go down this path, it's 226 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:40,440 going to cause you great harm. This is not going to go how you 227 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:43,240 want. And in verses 11 through 17, 228 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:46,480 Samuel doesn't pull any punches. He, he cautions, hey, you're 229 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:47,960 going to, you're going to appoint a king. 230 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:50,160 You go down this road, he's going to take your sons. 231 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,000 He's going to take your daughters, your fields, your 232 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,440 vineyards, your grain, your vintage, your servants, your 233 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:56,640 cattle. You yourselves will become his 234 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:01,200 slaves. This is a bad move, guys. 235 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:08,160 Caution, Pump the brakes. Consider this, this, this, this 236 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:12,120 shortcut that you think is going to give you comfort and control 237 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:16,680 is actually going to take, take, take, take, take from you until 238 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:19,560 Samuel explains in verse 17. One day you'll cry out from 239 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:22,320 relief for relief from the king that you have chosen. 240 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:25,720 This is the same pattern that we've been seeing week after 241 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:28,960 week, isn't it? The shortcut we take, the way 242 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:35,720 that we grasp for control so often as we reach out becomes 243 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:40,440 exactly the trap that binds us, right? 244 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:44,880 It becomes the hook, the snare. We try to simply solve things 245 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:47,680 without trusting God on our way. Maybe I'll just overwork. 246 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:50,440 Maybe this relationship, it doesn't seem right, but maybe I 247 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:52,720 could get in there. Maybe if I, you know, if I'm 248 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:55,920 able to, to move into this neighborhood, maybe if I'm, if 249 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,000 I'm able to get this job. Like we, we try and put so much 250 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,880 weight on all of these different things, just hoping that this, 251 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,800 the secondary thing will primarily solve for what it is 252 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:09,760 that we're aching for. And so often these things become 253 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,480 a snare to us. That's what we see happen in 254 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,560 this text today. So God, first of all, he 255 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:19,800 cautions, he says, hey, watch out, this is not good for you. 256 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:25,040 But then paradoxically, God consents. 257 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:28,080 He cautions, but then he consents. 258 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:33,400 In verse 22, we read that he says, listen to them and give 259 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:38,800 them a king. OK, give the people what they 260 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,120 want. Listen to them, Samuel, Give 261 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,400 them a king. And this is a profound truth. 262 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:46,800 It's honestly a truth that I might not prefer. 263 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:50,760 I'm not sure if I want God to show up this way, but he does. 264 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:56,640 God is not a helicopter parent. God is. 265 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:01,040 God is not so concerned with us avoiding pain that he swoops in 266 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:04,080 and interrupts and interjects any time we start down the wrong 267 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,360 course. He speaks truth to us. 268 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,400 He speaks wisdom to us. But when we say, hey, I'm going 269 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:18,040 this direction, God's like, OK, OK, so God consents. 270 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,560 He, he warns this is what will happen. 271 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:23,880 He cautions the people, but then he steps back. 272 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:27,400 He allows them to go their own way. 273 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,560 And sometimes I have to say, like, I think that we think when 274 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:33,680 God does this that like we're getting away with it. 275 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:40,120 Apple, the fast one, nobody noticed punishment did not fall. 276 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,880 I'm doing this thing and I know I'm not supposed to be, but like 277 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:49,160 he didn't get me yet. And friends, I think what God 278 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,920 knows that sometimes we don't believe is that the the wages of 279 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:55,560 sin is death, as the New Testament says. 280 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,480 And and God doesn't like, he's not mad at us. 281 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,240 He doesn't hate us. He's not out there sitting on a 282 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:06,040 cloud waiting to to smite us with a lightning bolt like Zeus. 283 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:11,160 But he does allow us to work that job and cash the paycheck 284 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:16,160 when it comes due. And so God allows us, he 285 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:21,480 consents to our decisions and lets us go our own way. 286 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:27,320 And then this is the third thing that I think is so beautiful and 287 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:28,920 where we'll spend the rest of our time this morning. 288 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:35,080 God continues, God cautions, God consents, but he also continues. 289 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:41,240 And this is a big deal because candidly, if I give you advice 290 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,760 and you blow me off and you're like, whatever. 291 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:47,800 And you do the exact same thing that I told you not to do. 292 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:49,720 And I told you it was going to cause this kind of a problem if 293 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:51,440 you did it. And then, and then you do it 294 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:54,920 like there's a part of me at least that's like, all right, 295 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,760 serves your right. Like see if I'll give you advice 296 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:05,640 again, honestly, right? But God, he doesn't retreat, he 297 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,319 doesn't withdraw, he doesn't quit on the relationship. 298 00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:11,079 He continues. All right, so we're going to 299 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:15,240 zoom out from this very specific section to look at the rest of 300 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:18,280 the book of Samuel. All right, So Samuel is actually 301 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,760 one book across 2 sections that we know as first and second 302 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,800 Samuel. It's for the very strategic and 303 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:27,599 important reason of they couldn't make scrolls long 304 00:17:27,599 --> 00:17:31,200 enough for it to be one book. OK, so they made it two books. 305 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:35,520 So it's it's one story and and this story exists in like a 306 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:39,960 contrasting portrait. There's 2 kings, the 1st 2 kings 307 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:43,520 of Israel are portrayed here. We've got Saul, who we've 308 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,160 already met this Guston type character, right? 309 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:53,960 And then after him, we've got David, David and and and Saul 310 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,240 and David are intentionally opposites. 311 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,200 Saul is proud. David is humble. 312 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:04,840 Saul is a stud. David is introed in chapter 16 313 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:07,720 and verse 7 with the declaration that the Lord doesn't look at 314 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,120 things like people look at. People look at the outward 315 00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:12,520 appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 316 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:14,880 I think. I think God just said he has a 317 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:19,920 great personality. In fact, David is the last 318 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:22,480 person that you would expect to be king. 319 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:25,680 He's the youngest of eight. He smells like sheep. 320 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,440 He's scrawny, can't wear the armor. 321 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:32,280 He's flushed in the face. He's an artist who is overlooked 322 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:36,840 by even his own father, who when the prophet shows up to appoint 323 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:41,120 somebody as king, Samuel's like, or, or his dad's like, he can 324 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:43,200 take care of the sheep like, he's clearly not even in the 325 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,280 running for this. So. 326 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:50,200 So David is not the person that you would think would be king. 327 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,160 But the contrast continues, right? 328 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,080 Saul is self absorbed and hollow while David is full of faith. 329 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,280 David becomes a much better king, in fact, than Saul, 330 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:07,360 Israel's best. Under Saul, the warning that 331 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:11,240 Samuel offers that the king will take, take, take comes true. 332 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,680 There's fear driven oaths that starve his own troops, there's 333 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:19,680 conscription and control, priests are cut down at Nob and 334 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:23,000 the nation is just led by insecurity and suspicion in ways 335 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,480 that continue to spiral until he, along with his sons, are 336 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:29,160 murdered. It's not a good story. 337 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,600 The art crashes out after some early victories pretty hard. 338 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,920 But David, under David, the tribes are gathered, the enemies 339 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,920 are pushed back, justice and righteousness are are actually 340 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:43,640 administered in a significant degree. 341 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:48,080 Worship is centered in Jerusalem and and the ark comes home like 342 00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:52,720 Israel begins to get a taste for God's promises and his goodness. 343 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,120 It's not just about his charisma. 344 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,640 Under David, for at least a season, the people really begin 345 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,960 to taste what a shepherd leader for the common good might look 346 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:04,760 like. And yet. 347 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,920 Big. And yet David too, cracks. 348 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:17,320 He's not perfect either. David also ends up oppressing 349 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:22,160 the people. He ends up going sending his 350 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:24,640 troops to war and staying home. He ends up raping a woman. 351 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:28,000 He ends up killing her husband. Right. 352 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,560 David's entire family is in shambles. 353 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,200 His Kingdom is shattered, literally broken into. 354 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,040 And this is in some ways like this is the best we got. 355 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,720 This is like an exemplar of a good ruler. 356 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,960 Bummer. Electing the right guy is never 357 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:52,920 going to solve the problem. And so we see in both of these 358 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:58,840 portraits a warning, a warning that on its own, even having the 359 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,000 right guys, even even in some ways just outsourcing our 360 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,360 responsibility to be a people who trust God to the right 361 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:07,800 authority figure who's going to enact the right laws and kind of 362 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,200 fight for control of our country, doesn't work. 363 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:16,240 It won't take us there. It won't fulfill our original 364 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:19,840 mandate. Even under David, the cracks are 365 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:25,840 too much disobedience, distrust leads again to disconnection and 366 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,520 death. And all of this points us to a 367 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:32,400 truer, a better king that we'll talk about in the coming weeks. 368 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:37,160 For a couple years in middle school, I I practiced Akido. 369 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,480 She's like, kind of like judo. It's a Japanese martial art 370 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:45,360 that's characterized by these like non violent techniques that 371 00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:48,680 are designed to control and redirect an opponent's force. 372 00:21:49,120 --> 00:21:51,440 So they come to strike you and you have all these like 373 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:53,720 flourishing circular movements and things like that, that 374 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:56,600 theoretically throw the other person and you're safe and the 375 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:58,000 other person isn't too desperately harmed. 376 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:00,320 Please don't come try to fight me after the service. 377 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,280 That was a really long time ago and I wasn't that good at it at 378 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:11,200 the time, but I love this because there's this image, like 379 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,760 I wasn't very good at it, but the, the sensei, the person I 380 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:15,360 trained under was just incredible. 381 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:18,720 Like they had this ability. It's like you try to like 382 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,560 everything you try to do every every way you try to get them, 383 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,840 they somehow are able to just take and like kind of redirect 384 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,560 everything, repurpose it in a different direction. 385 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,280 And friends, what a beautiful picture of God. 386 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:40,080 Like God is like this supernatural sensei, this guy 387 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:44,640 who constantly is taking our evil, our mess, our distrust, 388 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:47,120 our disobedience. We're just constantly throwing 389 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:50,760 things at him. And instead of just being like, 390 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:55,120 I'm going to punch you in the face and knock you out, he in 391 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:58,520 his grace somehow like repurposes those things into a 392 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:00,560 gentle landing. Not too gentle. 393 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:05,480 It hurts. But he's constantly taking these 394 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:07,480 forces and, and redeeming them for good. 395 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:11,360 I think some of us have in our mind this, this image of God as 396 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:16,080 this distant, far away judge who sits up on the clouds and we're 397 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:18,360 going through our lives kind of looking over our shoulder, 398 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,960 hoping that we get away with it, hoping that he doesn't come in, 399 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:23,640 hoping that he doesn't strike us now. 400 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:29,200 And really, I think God is more like a judoka. 401 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:33,720 He's more like the guy who takes the use in the story, who 402 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:38,000 absorbs the punch himself, who takes it and turns the momentum 403 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,760 and somehow finds a way to move it towards good. 404 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,120 What a beautiful picture of how God engages our sin, our 405 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:49,600 distrust and disobedience are real friends. 406 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:53,320 When we rebel, it has consequences. 407 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:58,960 It certainly did for Israel. The fact that God didn't quit on 408 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:02,000 them, didn't make their journey like great and awesome and 409 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:05,520 shiny. The Kingdom goes into exile. 410 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:08,960 We'll talk about that next week, right? 411 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,320 The kings ultimately fail, and there's deep injustice, there's 412 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,440 deep harm. It would have been a crappy time 413 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:20,240 to live as a person in the state under the Israelite monarchy. 414 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,280 And yet God redeems. God redeems. 415 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:30,880 See, Israel's monarchy wasn't God's plan a he told them don't 416 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:36,040 do this. And yet in in his mercy, his 417 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,480 concession did not cancel his covenant. 418 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,560 In his mercy, his concession did not cancel his covenant. 419 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,240 After warning them and cautioning them, he continues to 420 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,720 weave their evil choices into his redemptive plan. 421 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:55,480 Isn't this crazy like David, who is a hot mess? 422 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,800 I wish we could just like spend the whole time on the story of 423 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:03,440 David. This this monarchy, while he is 424 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:08,480 a disaster in some ways, he still images God in others. 425 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,640 And God actually comes to him and says through you and through 426 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,920 your line, I will establish a king who will reign forever. 427 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,000 We're going to get to that in a couple weeks. 428 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:25,200 God chooses to move on in His plan for humanity redemptively 429 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,720 through bad choices. And thank God for that. 430 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:34,240 Thank God for that, friends, because I, I don't know your 431 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,640 story, but I do know people and I do know that a lot of us have 432 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,000 done things that we're not proud of. 433 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:45,880 A lot of us have had moments in our journey where we've made 434 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:50,280 mistakes. I know I have, and honestly, as 435 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,960 I look back at my own life story, tell you some stories, 436 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:02,480 but my arrogance, my lust, my grasping for control and 437 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:09,520 disrespect of my limits, my stubbornness and idealism caused 438 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:14,080 some harm. I've hurt myself and I've hurt 439 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,720 other people, people that I cared about, people who I wanted 440 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,400 to treat well, who I wanted to good for. 441 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:25,440 As I look back on my own story, there's there's regret. 442 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,720 There is some grief about the fact that there have been times 443 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:31,600 in my journey where I have not trusted God. 444 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:36,520 I have done things my own way in my selfishness and I and other 445 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:38,040 people have paid the price for that. 446 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,760 There's a grief that I live with because of mistakes that I've 447 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,720 made. Maybe you feel the same way. 448 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:52,560 Maybe you look at your own life and you're like, yeah, there's 449 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:54,920 nothing. I don't really talk about the 450 00:26:54,920 --> 00:27:01,320 time I cheated on my partner, that moment where, man, I found 451 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,880 myself in a really wack situation and now I have a 452 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,560 record. Maybe for you it's under the 453 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,520 surface, it's an abortion, it's an addiction. 454 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,360 Maybe it's a divorce. Maybe you were fired from a job 455 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:19,840 for something that feels legit to you. 456 00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:25,920 Maybe you are trying to navigate and coping with some kind of 457 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:29,400 mental illness that feels like a judgement. 458 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,320 It makes you feel fragile. It makes you feel disqualified. 459 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,240 But some of our wounds are are moral failing. 460 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:41,160 Some of them are just life. A lot of them are a combination 461 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:45,600 of both. But we're people and that means 462 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,840 that we have wounds. We have places in our life where 463 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:53,840 we were hurt, where things did not go well. 464 00:27:55,720 --> 00:28:00,480 And God, friends, I am so grateful to be able to stand up 465 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:02,800 here and say, I don't know what wounds you're carrying this 466 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:07,400 morning, but I do know that we have that we serve a God who 467 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,840 continues. He doesn't bail out on his 468 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,680 people. He doesn't abandoned them even 469 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:16,360 when they make bad choices, even when they make stubborn bad 470 00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:19,560 choices to fly in the face of the thing that he just told 471 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:23,240 them. Thank God, because I, I've done 472 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,000 that. Maybe you too. 473 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,320 And so even when the throne falters, the failure itself 474 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,800 becomes a, a signpost towards redemption. 475 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:37,760 This is our God, like a, like a freaking judo master who will 476 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:43,080 repurpose your brokenness into beauty, who who heals our wounds 477 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,800 and, and, and actually leverages them for contribution. 478 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:50,160 One of the things that I get to do, one of my, the favorite 479 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,040 things about my job is I get to help people discern and figure 480 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,440 out what their calling looks like and then walk into it more 481 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:58,280 fully. And that makes me so happy. 482 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,320 I love doing that. It's so much fun seeing people 483 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,800 light up, come on fire and begin to contribute for the sake of 484 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,840 the common good in light of the Kingdom being a blessing to 485 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:09,640 others, making a difference in their world. 486 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:13,160 It's awesome. And you know what I can tell you 487 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:18,880 based on that, like 9 times out of 10, when somebody really 488 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,440 discovers their calling, not just something that they're good 489 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:25,840 at, but something that they were made to do in the world, it 490 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:32,800 comes from a wound. It comes from a wound, like 491 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:36,240 there's a good thing, but the good thing is attached to a bad 492 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:40,960 thing because there was some place in your life where you 493 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,240 were hurt, where you were injured, where sometimes the 494 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:47,400 wounds are self-inflicted. Guys like we, we take these 495 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:53,120 wrong turns. We, we find ourselves making 496 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:58,280 mistakes, messing up, and God sometimes somehow comes in 497 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,520 exactly to those places with his grace. 498 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:05,640 The places of our wounding are precisely the places where God 499 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:10,080 meets us with his grace, where he restores, where he redeems. 500 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,040 And friends, this is so crucial because often times couple 501 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,920 things. One, we have a tendency to, when 502 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,640 we've done something we know to be wrong, when we've taken a 503 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:27,120 wrong turn, when we're living directly in the splat right, 504 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:31,720 we've messed up. To be so ashamed that we won't 505 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:36,960 let anybody, including God in to begin the healing process, to 506 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,160 just keep hiding and pretending and trying to cope with life as 507 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,800 though we're OK. And as long as nobody notices, 508 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:46,920 maybe we'll be all right. But it's at these points of 509 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,600 brokenness that God does his most beautiful work. 510 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:54,720 And then some of us, some of you are already on the other side of 511 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:56,320 that. You have already experienced 512 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:57,760 that. You know what I'm saying is true 513 00:30:57,960 --> 00:30:59,480 because that's been true for you. 514 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,080 There was a place of brokenness. There was a place of sin, there 515 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:05,440 was a place of bondage. And you have been set free. 516 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:09,120 You have been healed. Praise God for that. 517 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:15,760 But some of us won't tell anyone because it makes us look bad to 518 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:17,640 talk about the things that were back. 519 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,600 Like I'm, I am a new man. Let's just talk about that part, 520 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:25,200 friends. Sometimes we have to be willing. 521 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,720 We have to have the humility to go back to the broken places in 522 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,960 our story and say, hey, this is where I was at. 523 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,960 But God. But God healed me. 524 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,240 But God showed up. But God changed this for me. 525 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,280 But God transformed this for me, friends. 526 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,480 So we have the courage to do that. 527 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,920 See, wounds are the site of God's work. 528 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:52,680 Wounds are so often a primary site of God's work. 529 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,800 Wounds become the places that calling springs forth from. 530 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,880 It's there that the grace of God grows the most. 531 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:05,960 This is how Paul puts it. He says God chose the foolish 532 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:07,720 things of the world to shame the wise. 533 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,680 He chose the weak things to shame the strong, the lowly 534 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,080 things, that is, to shame the despise things, the things that 535 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,840 are not to nullify the things that are so no one can boast 536 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:21,800 before him. Because when I am weak, then I 537 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:26,080 am strong. Friends, do you believe that? 538 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,560 Do you receive that? Are you willing to let the grace 539 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:33,440 of God touch you in that place? Because the story of the 540 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,280 monarchy is a story about a bad decision. 541 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:39,960 It's a story about distrust and disobedience. 542 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,600 It's a story about outsourcing our vocation to a figurehead 543 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:47,160 that we think can save us and take care of things and make 544 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,400 everything better, not trusting in God. 545 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:55,120 But the reality is, is that this message is not just about not 546 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:59,200 doing that, although don't because it turns out badly. 547 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:05,120 It's about the times when we have already done that, when we 548 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:07,560 already find ourselves on the other side of that, where we 549 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:09,720 already find ourselves in the pit. 550 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:19,040 And God not only cautions us, he not only allows us to go our own 551 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:26,800 way, He not only consents, but he also continues with us. 552 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,440 He continues to love us and transform us. 553 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,680 So friends, as we move into a time of response this morning, I 554 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:38,400 want to ask for you, where does this land for you? 555 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,760 Are you right now in the wrestling of going your own way, 556 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,640 not trusting God? Stop. 557 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:51,640 I can attest. Come ask me later. 558 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,160 It's it doesn't go well. It doesn't go well. 559 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,960 Maybe you're already there, hearing a story about it. 560 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:02,480 It's too late. I'm done. 561 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:09,199 I'm disqualified. God is just getting started with 562 00:34:09,199 --> 00:34:12,840 you. He loves you and wants to redeem 563 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:14,159 you. You are not too far gone. 564 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:20,320 If God can use a murderer, A rapist. 565 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:26,920 If God can use prostitutes, if he can use tax collecting 566 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:30,480 oppressors, if God can use the stinky fishermen and shepherds, 567 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:33,000 If God can use the people who are humble and the people who 568 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:37,880 are mighty. If God can can use anyone who is 569 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:41,360 willing to be humble without minimizing the harm that they 570 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:46,040 have done, but also saying there's more to the story, He 571 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:51,360 can use you too. Are you willing to surrender? 572 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,280 To let Him in? And if you've already got a 573 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:56,040 story to tell, are you willing to share it? 574 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:01,400 Are you willing to let others know to give Him the glory and 575 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:05,080 honor that he's due because of what he has done in your life?