Kings & Sorcerers

In my short years on this rock called Earth I have found that…. Unless we are cognizant of the past, in order to be aware of the failures of previous generations, History tends to repeat itself.

For this reason, history intrigues me… beyond the Bible, the greatest History book ever recorded… I’m focused on nothing specific I just love learning about history. If I can spot a pothole from the past, I can guide myself and my family around it the next time around.

As I began to prepare for today, I had so many things that seemed to challenge me. I had several events at our church that we had to help prepare for. I had a mission presentation to prepare for and things seemed to just be falling apart around me.

I was praying for God to guide me in what I should prepare, and when I had resigned myself to be patient and wait God presented me with two words and through several other circumstances led me to today's message.

I want to borrow the title of today's sermon from one of my favorite fiction writers Morgan Rice and a series of books that she titled

Kings & Sorcerers.

We hold in our hand the greatest History book ever written. It’s a little special in that while it records many wins and successes it also records failures, but most history books do that. What makes it special Is that it records history from the perspective of a graceful, loving God that wants to have a relationship with us.

And through HIS-story He shows us how past failures have modeled the course of history both history past and History future.

From the creation of Time itself there is one thing that has remained constant and unchanging. That is the fact that GOD IS IN CONTROL!

The ALL KNOWING, ALL POWERFULL, EVERYWHERE PRESENT, SELF-SUFFICIENT, CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, IS IN CONTROL, IS ENGAUGED IN OR LIVES AND REIGNS SUPREME.

But There are people out there that want to tell us that God is just setting back and watching waiting for us to fail, but my understanding of this book is that is the farthest from the truth.

We have a God that wants to be part of our lives, wants to give us all that we need and to care for us. He wants us to let Him lead us and he deserves to be praised for doing so.

This amazing, beautiful creation was created specifically for mankind.

Genesis tells us that everything around us was created first so that we would have a perfect environment to thrive, not just exist. A perfect environment for the crowning jewel of His creation, you and Me.

We all know the story of Adam and Eve that walked and talked with God in perfect relationship with the ruler of the universe. But, having the ability to choose, chose to be disobedient to their creator, Taking the reins of their life in their own hands, and separating themselves (and us) from that perfect relationship that they had enjoyed.

Because of their choice, they were evicted form a perfect environment and perfect relationship with God. And even today we are born outside of environment and relationship with God.

Genesis records that there has always been a remnant of people that have sought the face of God. Thereby, a family that God would choose to set apart, to provide a way back to that perfect relationship with Him.

A large part of this book records their failure and repentance.

Turn with me to 1 Samuel 8:

This chosen nation of Israel has been brought out of slavery and led to their land of promise. God has led them, fed them, protected them, punished them for disobedience, and when they had repented blessed them in a cycle that had lasted for several hundred years.

We find ourselves here in a cycle of blessing. The nation had repented, the Philistines had been repelled and v 13 of chapter 7 tells us that they have found themselves in a period of relative peace.

God had proved himself time and time again as the greatest ruler, as the greatest king possible, communicating through Samuel and blessing the nation of Israel.

1 Samuel 8:4–9 “Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.”

pray.

The people of God had looked around them and seen their unique position amongst the nations around them.

To their south they had Egypt, from whom God had rescued their forefathers in all their wealth power and might.

To the west the Philistines, these sea bearing people who drew power and wealth from their travels on the seas.

And to the north the Hittites

and to their East was the growing nation of Assyria and the fledgling nation of Babylon.

Each of these nations had strong leaders that represented their nation and made decisions for their nation.

But Israel had been led for centuries by common people who God had lifted up to communicate His will. And now here was an aged Samuel with no signs of a replacement.

They didn’t want to be different that wanted to be like everyone else.

But God had intended them to be different, to be set apart from the other nations and now they wanted to be just like the other nations.

They were attributing wealth, power and might to these human kings, and failing to realize that their King, the creator of the universe, was their greatest asset and would provide all their needs they simply needed to put Him first in their lives.

But don’t we do the same thing?

We recognize the authority of God the Father, and we know that he wants the best for our lives. We know that he cares for us, and we even know that we should be obedient to His instruction and commands.

But instead…

Especially here in the US, where we are 250 years from the concept of a king, have lost the concept of an ultimate authority to reign over us and to control every aspect of our lives.

We begin to look around us and we see a culture that is focused on “ME”, “My choice”, “My body”, “my decision”, “my lifestyle”.

We see a culture that wants to remove God as an authority and replace him with ourselves as the authority.

We see a culture around us that is steadily moving toward, not a freedom of speech, but rather freedom of individual truth.

We want to all be treated equal, and anything that could possibly challenges what we believe to be true is condemned.

We want to choose what we want to believe, setting aside any possibility of an ultimate authority, to hold us accountable to our beliefs being wrong.

We want to choose to rule our personal space, our 6 foot around us, as king (as authority) and allowing only those that think like us, look like us, talk like us to engage our space.

If people disagree with our belief system or chose to think a little different, or even sound a little different we want to instantly be up in arms, we want to reject them, even calling for everyone around us to reject them.

We say, “This is my world and what I believe is my truth, so don’t you dare look at me different, or even for a second try to tell me something that may change my truth of reality, and its war if you try to present me with an absolute truth that may hold my lifestyle to accountability. “

We even carry this into the church body.

“Well, this is the way we have always done church, so this is the right way.” Even though there is nothing in scripture to tell us to do it this specific way but because we have always done it this way it must be right. Don’t try to change my world.

I’ve even seen where we look to congregations around us and try to be like them.

But I am so grateful that God has given us His ultimate truth. The answer to all life’s dilemmas, right here is this book, and gives us the Holy Spirit to help us to comprehend truth in our lives.

So, what happens when we look around and want to be like the world?

what happens when we take the reins from God and try to do things our way?

What happens when although we are called to be set apart, but we choose to be like the culture around us?

What happens when we begin to think that our truth is truer than the absolute truth of God?

1 Samuel 8:10-17 Samuel tells Israel all the costs of having a human king to reign over them.

Ultimate cost …. v. 17b “And you will his servant.”

God tells Israel that, you will become the servant of the King that you choose.

The same is true of us. Whatever you put first in your life you will serve.

When we take the reins, believing that we know better than God, or searching for that greener grass on the other side of the fence we begin to suffer the consequences of that decision.

It may be losing friends because of our actions or attitudes, instead of being humble and taking each situation as an opportunity from God.

It may be the burdens that we place on our marriages and families because have chosen to drive that new car or have that extra land, and now we have to work harder to make that extra dollar to get ahead. Instead of trusting that God has our best in his heart and will provide for us everything that we need.

For some of us it may be the challenges and the struggles of addiction, because we sought alcohol or drugs, depending on them to cover our pain rather than bringing our pain to feet of the savior, who know our challenges and burdens and knows how to give us peace.

For some of us its simply the burden of worry always thinking about the what if, trying to think through the problems and how we can prevent them from happening or planning how to deal with them if them do, exchanging that for the burden that worry on our minds and bodies, always stressing instead of trusting that God’s got this.

But friends don’t hold onto those reins too long. Just as God knows the future God knows the heart of man.

But there is an even greater burden than any of us are truly prepared to handle when we chose a king in our live over God.

1 Samuel 8:18 KJV 1900

And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.

That is a heavy burden to consider, God tells us that when we chose other things over Him, place other kings in our lives, choosing them over Him to rule our lives, that while walking in those choices He will not answer our cries.

So, consider that for a moment.

When we take the control of our lives from God, - my truth, my life, my body, choosing my authority over that of God, or placing the authority of human leaders over the perfect authority Of God, He says that while we are walking in that mindset, he will not hear us.

Scripture calls that mindset “pride”.

Surely God isn’t going to ignore our cries for help?

Let’s return briefly to Israel.

We know the story, Israel chose a human king over King God.

For the next 42 years, things get a little rocky.

Although Saul initially tries to be obedient to God and tries to lead under the authority of God, He soon fails Himself and begins to think that he knows better than God.

The restraint God had placed on the Philistines is removed and it's not long before Israel is back at war - a war that would drag on even into the reign of David.

Their men are carried off to war and we begin to see the burdens and struggles begin.

God’s soon rejects Saul, lifting his blessing off his reign and to chooses another king to replace him.

The nation would watch their chosen king lose his mind and chase David all over the countryside.

In the end Saul would choose his authority, his leadership, his decisions over the authority of God’s.

1 Chronicles tells us that that decision will eventually cost him his life.

1 Samuel 28:3–8 (KJV 1900)

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.

Not only the nation of Israel, but also Saul himself was suffering the consequences of his actions.

Saul was facing a superior army and God refuse to answer him because of the choices that he had made believing that he knew better than God.

To get answers he turned to the very place that he knew he was not to go.

He turned to witchcraft.

Saul himself had previously had all witches and sorcerers removed from the country.

And this was his place of last resort, rather than humbling himself before a living God that had proved himself time and time again.

But for this to be his first thought witchcraft must have been commonplace.

Friends don’t follow Saul’s footsteps.

Just because it's all around us and we constantly see it and hear it doesn’t make it the right place to turn.

I could find 35 references to witchcraft, and sorcery in scripture all condemning in nature, even for witches to be put to death.

We live in a world that is surrounded with Witchcraft and Sorcery. Mediums communing with the dead, people casting spells, concocting potions, and even astrology seeking answers from the stars.

Hollywood is pounding us with witches and witchcraft. We are constantly being confronted with the realm of darkness, confronted with those that would worship elements and creation rather than the creator.

God says we shall have no other Gods before Me. And yet we allow our minds and imaginations with this realm of darkness.

And because it is so commonplace, although our minds tell us it's wrong to seek answers in these places, we begin to think, well everyone is doing it so it must be ok, talking ourselves into acceptance.

We already often seek our authority over God’s authority so what happens when we come to the point that we feel that God Is not answering us?

We are caught up in the consequences of our decisions and still seeking our authority over Gods and God is silent.

Do we look for answers elsewhere, maybe in tarot cards, seek answers from astrology, maybe we even turn to witchcraft.

Do we look to the world to people that are in our same mindset to ease our rejection? They are outcast and rejected so let’s wallow in sin together, because togetherness in sin makes it right?

I would certainly hope not. Each and every one of us know someone that is actively walking in sin. When you look around them, if you are walking in sin look around you, they have surrounded themselves with people who are walking with them most of the time in the same sin.

Drug addicts walking with drug addicts, Alcoholic hanging out with alcoholics, thieves with thieves, Members of the LGBT community with members of the LGBT community, and since we brought up sorcery, people dabbling with sorcery usually hanging out with others doing the same.

The consequences usually lead eventually to illness, and even at times death.

I Love the quote from pastor Robby Zacharias

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”

Just because others are walking in sin doesn’t make sin right, seeking others walking in sin isn’t going to give you any answers.

They are not going to hear anything from God that you are not going to hear.

Let the Kingship of Saul, in all of its failures should be our warning.

When we reject God’s authority and take the reins on our own, God will give you what you want.

He will step back and let you fail. And when the world starts closing in around you and His hand of restraint removed you will have to suffer the consequences of your own leadership.

God is the ultimate King. He and only He has the ultimate authority.

We must be recognizing his authority over our lives; That he will lead us down the right paths; that His way is best. This is what scripture calls fear of the LORD.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that we know best, I assure you that we don’t!

You say Pastor Jeff, “I’ve already gone down that road, I’ve rejected God’s authority and walked in my own truth, I’ve made mistakes. Now I’m suffering the consequences and I feel like the enemy is closing around me. And now God isn’t answering me. What do I do?”

God’s word gives us that answer.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV 1900)

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

God is a God of Grace and Mercy. In his Perfect love for us He will forgive us and begin to clean up the messes we have caused in our lives. There will still be consequences that will linger on. But He will begin to bless us.

He simply asks that we recognize we are horrible kings, we will and have failed. We must hand the reigns of our life back to Him, giving Him full control.

Human leaders are not the answer because human leadership, without God, is destined to failure.

1 John 1:9 (KJV 1900)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We simply need to recognize our failure and turn back to Him recognizing his full authority over our lives.

Jesus has paid our debt and redeemed us back to the father. He has paid our debt for all the times that we thought that we knew better and did things that we knew we shouldn’t.

But even greater than that Jesus knows the challenges that we face each and every day of our lives. Remember He walked this earth in perfect humility in authority to the Father. He knows our challenges, our temptation and our weakness.

Remember our “History Future”.

We are told that there will come a day that we will have to stand before our creator to be judged for our lives. Don’t wait and die in your sin like Saul. Our hope is that we are cleansed through the blood of Jesus Christ now before we go to meet our maker.

The alter is open, if you need a place to humbly seek his face feel free to come to the alter.

· Who would say that I have been living a life, looking for anyone or anything to rule my life other than God? Pastor Jeff, please pray for me.

· Who would say Pastor Jeff I have taken the reigns, nothing has mattered in my life except what I thought, what I wanted, what I needed? Only my truth has mattered, and I would fight anyone who would tell me I was wrong? Please pray for me.

· Who would say Pastor Jeff, I have been dabbling in areas of darkness that God has specifically forbidden, and because of its commonplace around me I thought it might be OK because everyone else was doing it too? Please pray for me.

Scripture tells us that we are each accountable to our own sin. Don’t walk out of this building today with the reigns in your own hands. Give the authority back to God. Let him rule in your life.

Benediction

“I Surrender All”

“Have Thine Own Way, Lord”

Pray and close the service.