Blessed Number 8

1 Samuel 16:1–13 ESV

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

Father, we have come with expectation and anticipation and we wont let go until you bless us. Father, move me out of the way so that you can have full control. So the word that you have given me can and will be delivered as you desire.

Have you ever felt like you didn’t matter?

Did you ever feel like you were like the gum on the bottom of somebodies shoe.

Well let me reassure you that you are not alone.

Let me be transparent for a minute,

i’ve discussed this before in another of my sermons, but my biological father did not stay around.

He left before i was born, and so you can just imagine the stigma that this left over me.

Years of trying to find myself and my identity as i spent years trying to figure out if i was good enough

and let me tell you, it took years upon years for me to find myself i guess you could say

So the basis of my message today is that I wanted to talk to those that felt marginal in life

I want to talk to those that felt as if they would never amount to anything

I want to talk to those who felt as if God had forgot about them.

And i found the story of david to fit that mold

a young man that God anointed, but by choice his father left him out of the party.

1 Samuel 16:1 ESV

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

We start out with the Lord confronting Samuel. Saying, YO, how long are you going to cry over Saul not being king.

I rejected him and now it is time to srop crying.

So this is where the Lord sends Samuel to Jesse to find the next king of Israel

But this is where the story starts getting good and the climax starts to build

See Samuel the prophet is sent to Jesse who actually has 8 kids but he only invites 7 that he thinks is king material

1 Samuel 16:2 ESV

And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

And in 1 sam 16 Samuel arrives and Jesse is sitting in his living room lounging.

He has chosen 7 of his kids that he thinks is king material

So here we have Eliab, the oldest

hes tall and strong

Samuel looks at him and says, he looks good, definitely has God chosen him to be king

But to his surprise God speaks and says nope, niet, nada, he is not the one that I have anointed to be king.

See this is the first lesson and it is very important

see here the prophet is fooled by the external

See God looks at the heart while man looks at the outside, the external of things.

see thats important because many of us have been hurt by leaders and people of position who didn’t see you

I’ve been there.

See these people, these leaders didnt see you because they couldn’t see you

haha, you see what i did there?

See there oversight wasn’t intentional,

But God hid you from them

he doesn't want you needing validation from any outside sources

he needs you to be secure in who he created you to be

The key being that if no one ever tells you that you have a calling, that you know it the more because God has set it deep in your spirit

Let me explain that a lil

IE: My calling

The thing is that you know that you know.

You don’t need any outside validation

For it is God who confirms, and it is true that he sends 2 or 3 of his kings and queens to affirm what he has spoken

And like i said, you know that you know

So I will say it again

be secure in who God created you to be

God is looking for those that will serve when no one is looking

Because it is when you will serve when no one else is looking that he will give you favor when everyone is looking

I should say that again

i think that just went over someones head

See the prophet thought that Eliab was the one

but God said no

And then Jesse called his other son Abinidab

he had all the ladys drunk with his stature

he walked in front of Samuel strutting his stuff

And again God said, nope

Then there was son number 3, Shammah, he definitely had to be the one that God had called.

but to no surprise, God said nope, not this one either

Son 4, 5, 6 and then 7 passed in front of Samuel and God was like NOPE

Samuel said, God has not chosen any of these

Now If it were me id be like whats up?

I can’t be to anointed

I must have missed it somewhere

I mean, I am sure that God told me to come here.

But Im 7 for 7

Samuel had to feel like he had failed somewhere

So Samuel looked at Jesse and said, Hey are these all of your sons?

See Jesse had made the decision of who he thought was a good fit for king.

But when Samuel asked he had to be honest and he was like, yea, i have one more

however he is the youngest and out in the field. He is watching the sheep.

And immediately Samuel said to Jesse, well we will not sit to eat until you send for him.

See just like many of the leaders and the people in our lives

he saw the outside and assumed the outside stature of what a king should be

See here Jesse didnt just ignore the exsistance of his youngest son,

but David wasn’t even invited to the party

Do you ever feel like that

Do you feel like you haven’t been invited to the party

Do you feel like everyone has forgotten about you

some of you feel like that now

Well here we have david, just hanging out in the field

he was hanging with the sheep

He was singing to the sheep

just out there chillin by himself

But see it was in that solitary time in which God was preparing him

And that solitary time created a sound

a sound that had a theme of brokenness and passing and humility and hunger

That sound says,

God if you dont show up,

God if you dont make a way im gonna be lost

But it was in that solitary time that David found his strength

It was in that solitary time that God groomed him for the throne

See David was out in the field when he was all of a sudden called by Jesse, his father

And suddenly,

did you catch that

Another suddenly,

sound familar

Acts 1:2 ESV

until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

Acts 2:2 ESV

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

So that is my title for today

Blessed number 8

David was, and so you are

NUMBER 8

So what 8 is is the number of new beginnnings

#8 was sitting in a field

he was overlooked

he was overlooked that his own father didnt even consider him

did you catch that?

His father didn’t just overlook and forget, but he didnt even see david as a possiblity

But let me tell you something,

that what is hidden from men is revealed by God

See we are so busy wondering why weve been overlooked

were so worried about how come they dont like me

we go to work being nice to everyone

but there is that one person

that is like, why dont you like her and they are like i don’t know, i dont have an answer, i just dont

Well let me tell you something

the reason why and the name for that is the Holy Ghost

Stop trippin’

You asked for this

Ex. God telling me, you wanted to be like my son what did you expect

See your prayer in the dark is equivalent to being in the field

See understand me when I say that you are a blessed #8

And it doesnt matter where you are when you are a number 8

it doesnt matter where you are at all

youve gotta give Him some praise regardless

So repeat after me and say

I AM #8

That was my whole point today

I am on assignment

and my assignment today was to come here and tell someone that they are #8

that they are blessed

that you are reaching new beginnings

That that that has been hidden

that that that has been overlooked

that those who feel as if they have feel tmargenalized and undervalued

That God is about elevate, promote, launch and lift the season of those that are the #8

That the gift that that was hidden in you is about to be revealed

that those that were riding the bench in this season are about to become first string starters

That that gift that was hidden in you is about to be revealed

See #8s will go from anonymous to necessary over night

See anonymity was not Gods plan

1 Samuel 16:11 ESV

Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

Samuel said send for him at once for we will not sit down until he comes

see samuel held up the party until everyone was present

Hear me if you dont hear anything else

God is going to hold the party until all are present

See in davids culture he wouldnt even have been considered for leardership

he was the last on the totum pole

TALK ABOUT BEING A SHEPARD

But when your in the presence of authority you rise

David came in dirty

he probably stank

he came in with the stink of service on his face

David came in and said

you called me dad?

Immediately God spoke to Samuel and said to him

HE’S THE ONE

THE ONE WITH THE DIRT ON HIS FACE

HIM WHO STINKETH LITERALLY AND OF ACTS OF SERVICE

ANOINT HIM

Jesse was like, well shouldnt he change first?

and maybe take a bath

But God was like nope, ANOINT him now

Aww, see you missed that

Aww, see you missed that

its too quite

that went right over some of yal’s head

see God is going to pour the oil in the middle of your mess

Man david had to stink, and all that oil was going todo was elluminate the stink

ex. people putting on cologne after gym class

See one thing that you have to understand is that God doesnt anoint finished works, he anoints you so you can finish the work

#8’s get anointed while they are still dirty

So let me give you 3 things that you need to write down

#8’s are warriors, david was a warrior

#8’s are worshippers, david was a worshiper

#8’s are winners, david was a winner

And all of that applys to you, YOU ARE NUMBER 8s

see king david was known for those things

he was a warrior

he was a worshipper

he was a winner

Do you notice the pattern

from the field to the palace

See it is time for #8s to arise

So let me ask you a question,

are there any warriors in here who know how to warfare in the spirit

if you are a number 8, a warrior, give me a 5 second warriors scream

see if you didnt know, your worship is your warfare

#8’s were made to warrior

they were made to worship

they were made to finish

they were made to win

I need you #8s to stand and scare the devil

give out the loudest war cry that you can

See when you do that, the devil gets scared and his minions flee

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:22–26 ESV

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.