From Donkey Searcher to King 2024-0714

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Donkey hunter to king  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  25:47
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The Desire for a King

If you have read through the Old Testament, or made a valient attempt at it,
You probably know that after Moses, Joshua lead the nation of Isreal and after him
There was not a consistent series of leaders.
There was a cycle that went on:
Prosperity and peace lead to complacency and
dabbling into other religions
or wholeheartedly trying some other religion.
which brought judgement on the people of Isreal
they would suffer under the tyranny of one neighbor or another neighbor
they would get tired of it
cry out to God and
God would raise up a rescuer
who then led the nation for many years
Things would get better
There would be prosperity and peace leading to complacency and
dabbling into other religions
This cycle went on for many years.
I hope this cycle is not the story of your life
or my life.
We all must be diligent to keep God first in our lives
and not to follow// trust in
other things
If you gamble,
don’t trust in lady luck,
or any other superstition of that sort.
A cycle of sin and suffer is tiring

The people wanted a change

The people of Isreal got sick and tired of this cycle
And they,
as a group decided
they wanted a king.
Kings raise armies
Kings build defences
Kings negotiate treaty's
And for some,
Kings, royalty,
are really kool!
In 1 Sam 8, they people expressed their desire for a king
and Samuel tried to persuade them to
Just follow God
but they were not willing to trust in God
that much.
1 Samuel 8:7 NIV
7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
We need to be careful not to reject God for something that seems more secure to us at the time.
Samuel kept trying to talk the people out of their position.
1 Samuel 8:19–22 NIV
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.” Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”
And that is the setup for chapter 9 of 1 Samuel.
1 Samuel 9:1–20 NLT
1 There was a wealthy, influential man named Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. He was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 His son Saul was the most handsome man in Israel—head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land. 3 One day Kish’s donkeys strayed away, and he told Saul, “Take a servant with you, and go look for the donkeys.” 4 So Saul took one of the servants and traveled through the hill country of Ephraim, the land of Shalishah, the Shaalim area, and the entire land of Benjamin, but they couldn’t find the donkeys anywhere. 5 Finally, they entered the region of Zuph, and Saul said to his servant, “Let’s go home. By now my father will be more worried about us than about the donkeys!” 6 But the servant said, “I’ve just thought of something! There is a man of God who lives here in this town. He is held in high honor by all the people because everything he says comes true. Let’s go find him. Perhaps he can tell us which way to go.” 7 “But we don’t have anything to offer him,” Saul replied. “Even our food is gone, and we don’t have a thing to give him.” 8 “Well,” the servant said, “I have one small silver piece. We can at least offer it to the man of God and see what happens!” 9 (In those days if people wanted a message from God, they would say, “Let’s go and ask the seer,” for prophets used to be called seers.) 10 “All right,” Saul agreed, “let’s try it!” So they started into the town where the man of God lived. 11 As they were climbing the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water. So Saul and his servant asked, “Is the seer here today?” 12 “Yes,” they replied. “Stay right on this road. He is at the town gates. He has just arrived to take part in a public sacrifice up at the place of worship. 13 Hurry and catch him before he goes up there to eat. The guests won’t begin eating until he arrives to bless the food.” 14 So they entered the town, and as they passed through the gates, Samuel was coming out toward them to go up to the place of worship. 15 Now the Lord had told Samuel the previous day, 16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him to be the leader of my people, Israel. He will rescue them from the Philistines, for I have looked down on my people in mercy and have heard their cry.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said, “That’s the man I told you about! He will rule my people.” 18 Just then Saul approached Samuel at the gateway and asked, “Can you please tell me where the seer’s house is?” 19 “I am the seer!” Samuel replied. “Go up to the place of worship ahead of me. We will eat there together, and in the morning I’ll tell you what you want to know and send you on your way. 20 And don’t worry about those donkeys that were lost three days ago, for they have been found. And I am here to tell you that you and your family are the focus of all Israel’s hopes.”
Wow, what an adventure.
They, Saul and a servant, went out looking for dad’s donkeys
they went all over the place and then consult Samuel, the Seer, the great Prophet and
the prophet is like
don’t worry about the donkeys, they were found
but you and your family are the focus of all Israel.
The NIV puts it this way
The Good News Translation Saul Meets Samuel

But who is it that the people of Israel want so much? It is you—you and your father’s family.”

This is not the kind of news they expected for a quarter of a shekel.
What has God been doing in this chapter.
He found and identified Saul, who is not so great yet that he can see himself as the king.
But he is from a well to do family
he is young
He is handsome, none better looking and
he is a head taller than anyone else in Isreal.
Do you know that leaders are often tall people!
Saul sounds like the kind of young man they would want for a kind,
with a little more self confidence.

God’s part in all this so far

He picked Saul
He (apparently) lost the donkeys,
moved them out so Saul would have to go looking for them
He get Saul and his helper headed to the same place Samuel was going to be
He tells Samuel,
1 Samuel 9:16–17 NIV
16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.” 17 When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.”
and God gave Saul through the prophet the answers he was after and THEN SOME.
1 Samuel 9:20 NIV
20 As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and your whole family line?”
Saul is honored at the banquet but has trouble with the compliment
1 Samuel 9:21–27 NIV
21 Saul answered, “But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?” 22 Then Samuel brought Saul and his servant into the hall and seated them at the head of those who were invited—about thirty in number. 23 Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the piece of meat I gave you, the one I told you to lay aside.” 24 So the cook took up the thigh with what was on it and set it in front of Saul. Samuel said, “Here is what has been kept for you. Eat, because it was set aside for you for this occasion from the time I said, ‘I have invited guests.’ ” And Saul dined with Samuel that day. 25 After they came down from the high place to the town, Samuel talked with Saul on the roof of his house. 26 They rose about daybreak, and Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get ready, and I will send you on your way.” When Saul got ready, he and Samuel went outside together. 27 As they were going down to the edge of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us”—and the servant did so—“but you stay here for a while, so that I may give you a message from God.”
This message from God is really something, and I want you to help me count, how many specific items were named that would either be true or false
1 Samuel 10:1–8 NIV
1 Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance? 2 When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?” ’ 3 “Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to worship God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. 4 They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them. 5 “After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. 6 The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. 7 Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”
I counted 22 very specific prophecies, if we decided that there was a 50/50 chance of being true, that would be like having 22 nickles that you toss in the are and every one of them coming up heads. The chances can be calculated as 2 to the 22 power 1 out of 4,194,304 coin tosses of all 22 coins.
At some point, you have to see God’s hand in all these prophesies.
That many sequential prophecies makes Gideon out to be an optimist with only 2 or 3 wet fleeces to convince him that God wanted him to attach the enemies.
When I think of this story, it reminds me that
God
knows
everything that is going to happen to me today.
God
knows
everything you are going to face today too.
Did you notice verse 6
1 Samuel 10:6 NIV
6 The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.
Saul is going to be changed.
In fact as we read one more verse, there are two times Saul is changed by God.
Each one of us that walks with God will have times when God touches our heart and works on change in us.
If we cooperate with him, and the burdens He puts on our hearts, our progress toward being the man or the women God wants us to be,
will be moved along.
When every you feel the nudge of God to make a deeper commitment to Him,
Make a deeper commitment to Him.
That is what the altar rail is for.
I used to be so self conscious, I struggled to follow God’s call to a time of public prayer, too often.
Now, I try to quickly go, when I feel that nudge, because
as soon as I start holding back
it gets harder again.
Now, here is the 9th verse, the last verse we will look at today.
1 sam 10:9
1 Samuel 10:9 NIV
9 As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day.
That is two times, God changed his heart.
How many times will he have to touch your heart and mine to make us His Champions?
Is Saul ready to be king yet?
If we read on in this chapter,
will Saul call people to his side?
Will he take on the philistines this day?
No,
he still is not ready to be king, even though he has been anointed.
even though, his heart was changed when he turned to leave Samuel's presence
the day after the feast and
Even though, his heart was changed, after that extended time of prophecy
with the prophets.
He will be ready some day,
but this is not the day.

Our Dreams

Do you have any dreams?
If you are like me, you probably have many
large and small.
One of our dreams is coming true this summer as we are getting projects done for a change.
that’s a good feeling.
Some of our dreams our just our dreams.
But as we walk with God,
some of our dreams are really things He is calling us to do
in His name and in His power.
Dream dreams
Even big dreams
map out the steps to getting there
and head out
but don’t forget to pray, and make sure God
isn’t working in a course correction along the way.
We have seen today that you may think your job is to look for donkeys
When God has something else in mind for you.
And if finding donkeys is you job today
do it dilligently because you are working for the Lord.
God give people desires and dreams.
Some of them are so big,
they will take years of preparation to do.
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