1 Samuel 16 - Unverified

The LORD sees the heart. What matters to God is your heart, not your appearance or impressiveness.

Picking teams for a game

Just like we did last week!

Who gets anxious? Who imagines all the tall, athletic looking people getting picked first? *Am I standing up tall enough? Do I perform good enough?*

Even though we systematically separated older girls, younger girls, older boys, and younger boys, we still had some doubting and insecurity. Although some of our older, competitive boys were like “Yo, stop messin’ it up! We want to stack our team!”

If we are honest, we view God as the captain that is choosing who He wants to use.

We imagine Him comparing our strength and external bravery we display. We imagine Him comparing how spiritual we are and how eloquently we speak. We imagine Him using the most notable, intelligent Christians.

Who still thinks the super Christian is the one who could memorize all the verses in kid’s church?

Whoa… that kid can beat everyone in Bible drills. He is going first overall in God’s draft.

Yet this is not the case.

In the scripture we are about to read, we will experience how God takes unimpressive, unnoticed people and uses them for amazing purposes.

Introduce David and background of 1 Samuel 16

Saul’s failure

God sends Samuel to anoint the next king. God tells Samuel it will be a son of Jesse

Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Pray

“You shall anoint for me the one I name to you”

The first time, the people got their choice. They got Saul, a handsome tall man who was weak inside. He failed.

Who in here makes bad decisions every now and then?

Story of how I am a sorry decision maker when it comes to frozen custard (toppings, eww… my dad would always choose for me or it would be straight vanilla)

10 times out of 10, we are going to choose Prince Hans in Frozen

This time, God was choosing David. The small, youngest, forgotten-about shepherd boy. David was God’s king.

David was about to be a hint of the king who was to come after- Jesus Christ.

The LORD doesn’t look at things like people look at them. The LORD looks at the heart while people look at outward appearances.

say *the LORD looks at the heart*

Look, our goal tonight is to see how God cares about your heart and what’s going on internally. Yet we are always wrapped up in how we look externally to others.

Back to being bad decision makers… People look at things kind of crooked and wrong… kind of like me choosing the wrong custard time and time again. It looks good- but it would make me SICK

The fault in how we look at things might not always be related to physical abilities and outright appearance

Think about Instagram followers... how influential am I? Am I liked? Am I noticed? Am I popular?

Do I have money? *cha-ching*

Remember back- God looks at the heart

What does it mean that God looks at the heart?

All the sons are proposed and rejected… until the youngest, smallest one is asked about.

David isn’t even there… he is tending to the sheep, probably picking a wedgie or something (just kidding, I made that up)

But for real! He wasn’t even invited

Yet the LORD looks at the heart

God is able to look right past the fake disguises we put on. He knows the truth about our minds and our hearts. Who we really are

God judges by faith and character

What does it mean to have character?

What does it mean to have integrity?

Be the same person, no matter who is around. Even if no one is around!

Don’t be a chameleon.

Don’t try to be cool or fit in, depending on where you are.

You may feel forgotten about and insignificant. You may sometimes feel like an outcast. You may feel like you are in a lonely field with a bunch of sheep. But take heart- God sees you. It’s God who ultimately honors and rewards.

2 Samuel 22:26

1 Chronicles 29:17

Do you have integrity in your life?

Look, David was unimpressive. But the LORD saw his heart and saw faith and character.

Keeping the sheep… takes a special heart and a special care

Sheep are dumb. They need protection and guidance

Our Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd. What matters to God is that our heart cries out to Him and trusts Him, ultimately

David wasn’t even invited to be at the selection. (How rude!) He wasn’t regarded highly in terms of significance and potential in his family. Yet God chose him. God used him.

We don’t need to be famous or prominent to be people after God’s own heart. We don’t need status, influence, or power to be people after God’s own heart. We don’t need great responsibility or other people’s approval to be people after God’s own heart.

So what does it take to be a person after God’s own heart?

It takes faith. It takes God. It is all about the inside.

Take a cooke for example. Without sugar, its NASTY. The main ingredient is faith. Integrity, kindness, and full commitment to God is tasty and sweet- but its the ingredient of faith that is to thank (like sugar).

Psalm 16:2 CSB

I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides you.”

Pray