1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,000 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 2 00:00:07,000 –> 00:00:11,440 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 3 00:00:11,440 –> 00:00:17,740 or visit our website openingthebible.org Let’s get to the message. 4 00:00:17,740 –> 00:00:19,719 Here is Pastor Colin. 5 00:00:19,719 –> 00:00:23,120 Loyalty understands Providence. 6 00:00:23,120 –> 00:00:28,959 Now, I do realize that some of us will be saying, well, loyalty may understand Providence, 7 00:00:29,240 –> 00:00:31,620 but I don’t understand the title. 8 00:00:31,620 –> 00:00:36,200 Well, I promise you that if you stay awake for these next few minutes, that you will 9 00:00:36,200 –> 00:00:40,860 understand it by the end of this morning, and I hope that these three words will become 10 00:00:40,860 –> 00:00:46,900 very significant and very powerful for you as we go into a new week. 11 00:00:46,900 –> 00:00:49,580 We’re going to leave them up there through this time. 12 00:00:49,580 –> 00:00:54,439 Now if there’s one word that characterizes our modern world, I think it might well be 13 00:00:54,439 –> 00:00:56,619 the word disposable. 14 00:00:56,639 –> 00:01:01,680 The pace at which we live our lives has fueled a whole new world of products that can be 15 00:01:01,680 –> 00:01:07,459 used once and then trashed everything from plates and cutlery to contact lenses and now 16 00:01:07,459 –> 00:01:08,720 even cameras. 17 00:01:08,720 –> 00:01:12,919 This, of course, should cause us in some spheres to be very thankful. 18 00:01:12,919 –> 00:01:19,180 Grandparents, of course, look with envy at the ease with which their children take the 19 00:01:19,180 –> 00:01:24,919 disposable diaper off their grandchildren and throw it away, and remember the endless 20 00:01:24,919 –> 00:01:26,580 routine that they had to go through. 21 00:01:27,220 –> 00:01:33,040 There’s even been a talk I was reading recently about disposable clothing, paper-based, removing 22 00:01:33,040 –> 00:01:36,239 the pain of washing and ironing from life forever. 23 00:01:36,239 –> 00:01:41,779 That sounds not bad, allowing parents to be considerably more relaxed when Junior dribbles 24 00:01:41,779 –> 00:01:45,540 ice cream down his shirt and so forth and so on. 25 00:01:46,019 –> 00:01:53,839 But in our society, we become used to things that have no intrinsic value being used on 26 00:01:53,860 –> 00:01:59,000 a short-term basis and that quickly becomes for us a way of life. 27 00:01:59,000 –> 00:02:05,339 Some years ago, the toy manufacturers Mattel came up with an interesting scheme to promote 28 00:02:05,339 –> 00:02:10,240 the latest version of their world-famous doll Barbie. 29 00:02:10,240 –> 00:02:16,699 The new Barbie that was being brought out at the time was slimmer and had more movement 30 00:02:16,699 –> 00:02:19,080 than her predecessor. 31 00:02:19,119 –> 00:02:24,979 And in order to attract interest, Mattel said that for the first time, any girl wanting 32 00:02:24,979 –> 00:02:33,220 to purchase the new Barbie would receive a trade-in allowance for her old one. 33 00:02:33,220 –> 00:02:37,880 Of course what Mattel did not say was that in trading in her old doll for an improved 34 00:02:37,880 –> 00:02:41,199 model, the little girl was learning something about the world in which she was going to 35 00:02:41,199 –> 00:02:48,100 grow up in, a world in which even things that you love become disposable. 36 00:02:48,119 –> 00:02:50,059 Well, that’s actually quite a thought, isn’t it? 37 00:02:50,059 –> 00:03:00,199 Little girl pours out affection on Barbie for three years, and now even Barbie can be 38 00:03:00,199 –> 00:03:02,660 replaced with a better model. 39 00:03:02,660 –> 00:03:05,619 Well, that was 30 years ago they did that. 40 00:03:05,619 –> 00:03:11,279 And since then, most of us have grown up breathing in a culture that has moved increasingly in 41 00:03:11,279 –> 00:03:18,020 the direction of the disposable so that we now have disposable marriage, we call it divorce, 42 00:03:18,020 –> 00:03:24,399 we have disposable babies, we call that abortion, and we are increasingly discussing disposable 43 00:03:24,399 –> 00:03:28,520 old people, and we call that euthanasia. 44 00:03:28,520 –> 00:03:34,100 If we ask why this is, the reason must be that we are in love with pain-free lives. 45 00:03:34,100 –> 00:03:41,139 A pain-free life has become the new god of our society, a god to be pursued at any cost, 46 00:03:41,139 –> 00:03:44,080 a god for him anything else can be sacrificed. 47 00:03:44,919 –> 00:03:48,899 That by the way is why so many people have turned away from the God of the Bible, because 48 00:03:48,899 –> 00:03:54,139 the God of the Bible obviously allows pain. 49 00:03:54,139 –> 00:03:59,800 And many people have decided that a god who allows a great deal of pain in some cases 50 00:03:59,800 –> 00:04:03,600 is a god that they have not the slightest bit of interest in knowing. 51 00:04:03,600 –> 00:04:10,479 Now when a pain-free life becomes the ultimate goal, becomes the god of a society, the strategy 52 00:04:10,479 –> 00:04:13,160 for pursuing it becomes very simple. 53 00:04:13,160 –> 00:04:22,660 When anything or anyone comes in the way of pain-free living, where anyone or anything 54 00:04:22,660 –> 00:04:30,540 makes my life uncomfortable, then I must get away from them or I must get rid of them. 55 00:04:30,540 –> 00:04:35,959 And so this is reflected in all kinds of comments that one hears, let me quote just one or two 56 00:04:35,959 –> 00:04:39,160 that I’ve heard within the recent past. 57 00:04:39,339 –> 00:04:43,980 I don’t like the classes at college, so I’m dropping out. 58 00:04:43,980 –> 00:04:50,239 It is causing me a bit of discomfort, I’m gonna get away from it. 59 00:04:50,239 –> 00:04:55,899 My husband turned out to be a jerk, so I dumped him. 60 00:04:55,899 –> 00:05:01,959 People are talking about what’s going on in the new church, so I thought I’d give it a try. 61 00:05:03,339 –> 00:05:08,040 I’ve been in the job for nine months now, I think it’s time to move on. 62 00:05:09,820 –> 00:05:14,540 Remember one of my first aha moments was when in the first year that we were here, 63 00:05:14,540 –> 00:05:19,100 someone volunteered to teach in the Sunday school and after three weeks of doing that, 64 00:05:19,100 –> 00:05:22,679 had an idea that they wanted to come up with a different programme and they were quite 65 00:05:22,679 –> 00:05:27,760 rightly told that in the structure they could not do that, and the response was fascinating 66 00:05:27,760 –> 00:05:29,739 and immediate. 67 00:05:29,739 –> 00:05:33,899 I can’t do my programme, I’m out of here, never seen them since! 68 00:05:33,899 –> 00:05:36,959 Now you see his view of church was very simple. 69 00:05:37,299 –> 00:05:42,760 I’m looking for a place to do my thing, nothing else matters. 70 00:05:43,480 –> 00:05:48,720 And in such a culture, too often when the truth is spoken in love, even in a long standing 71 00:05:48,720 –> 00:05:54,100 good relationship, it can often be the end of that relationship, and the reason is very 72 00:05:54,100 –> 00:05:56,859 simple, what you said hurt me so I’m off. 73 00:05:56,880 –> 00:06:02,000 And you see how it develops, the ultimate goal, the ultimate God is a pain free life 74 00:06:02,179 –> 00:06:07,100 so anything that causes pain causes me to move, to separate. 75 00:06:08,079 –> 00:06:11,559 And so what happens is that over a period of years as this is multiplied throughout 76 00:06:11,559 –> 00:06:19,239 our land a culture develops in which more and more people feel rootless, we feel rootless 77 00:06:19,239 –> 00:06:24,420 because we move to new homes, new jobs, new friends, new places, new churches, and every 78 00:06:24,420 –> 00:06:28,820 time we feel unhappy the answer is move on again, move on again. 79 00:06:29,820 –> 00:06:35,380 So relationships increasingly become a means to an end to be enjoyed as long as they 80 00:06:35,380 –> 00:06:36,380 are comfortable. 81 00:06:37,859 –> 00:06:42,279 And at the back end of all of that you end up with more and more people in any community 82 00:06:42,279 –> 00:06:45,299 who simply feel used. 83 00:06:48,880 –> 00:06:54,260 So our pursuit of happiness often seems like chasing after a piece of paper in the wind 84 00:06:54,260 –> 00:06:57,619 that it keeps blowing around a corner and we lose sight of it and then we chase after 85 00:06:57,980 –> 00:07:02,700 it, and then eventually we sometimes wonder if it’s behind us and we’ve left it behind. 86 00:07:04,660 –> 00:07:10,320 Well then, back in February of this year I was reading in the first book of Samuel, and 87 00:07:10,339 –> 00:07:14,760 I want to invite you to come into a world with me over these next four Sundays that 88 00:07:14,760 –> 00:07:19,700 is completely and utterly different from ours. 89 00:07:19,700 –> 00:07:22,339 A world that has a different set of values. 90 00:07:23,339 –> 00:07:30,500 A world where relationships are not disposable. 91 00:07:32,500 –> 00:07:37,899 We’re going to follow the story, we’re going to start from the beginning and after we’ve 92 00:07:37,899 –> 00:07:44,500 taken an overview of where this story is going, we’re going to see how it is that when God 93 00:07:44,619 –> 00:07:51,619 is at work in a person’s life, they can develop a whole different set of values, relationships, 94 00:07:54,100 –> 00:07:57,260 a whole different approach to life. 95 00:07:57,260 –> 00:08:01,380 And I want to suggest to you this morning that this is something that we, as Christian 96 00:08:01,380 –> 00:08:08,380 people desperately need to discover if we are going to live counter culture in a society 97 00:08:09,380 –> 00:08:15,660 that is breaking apart, if we’re going to keep faith in a world that is breaking apart 98 00:08:15,660 –> 00:08:18,619 So I hope you have your Bibles opened at 1 Samuel. We’re going to move fairly quickly 99 00:08:18,619 –> 00:08:25,619 through the story and then see how it speaks into the brokenness of our society today. 100 00:08:26,019 –> 00:08:31,579 God’s people early in 1 Samuel wanted a king. If you look at Chapter 8 and verse 7, you’ll 101 00:08:31,579 –> 00:08:36,460 see that God was not pleased with their desire. We sometimes want stupid things. And this 102 00:08:36,580 –> 00:08:42,440 was the case here. God said, 1 Samuel 8 7, it is not you Samuel that they have rejected, 103 00:08:42,440 –> 00:08:46,179 but they have rejected me as their king. 104 00:08:46,179 –> 00:08:51,059 The Lord’s people had to depend on the Lord to raise up their leaders, their defense had 105 00:08:51,059 –> 00:08:56,940 depended on the Lord leading them into Battle, but as time went on, this is now a thousand 106 00:08:56,940 –> 00:09:01,659 years before Christ, I guess they felt that was modern, we always feel our times are modern, 107 00:09:01,659 –> 00:09:05,719 in their time, they felt this was no longer a viable strategy, and there was a growing 108 00:09:05,719 –> 00:09:09,719 movement that demanded the stability they said that had come from a king. 109 00:09:09,719 –> 00:09:16,979 Chapter 8 verse 19 and 20, we want a King over us, then we will be like the other nations, 110 00:09:16,979 –> 00:09:22,239 with a King to lead us and go out before us and fight our battles. 111 00:09:22,239 –> 00:09:26,440 While they persisted with this, it goes through the early chapters of Samuel, on and on, until 112 00:09:26,440 –> 00:09:31,840 God gave them what they wanted, gave them precisely the king they were after, and his 113 00:09:31,840 –> 00:09:33,719 name was Saul. 114 00:09:33,760 –> 00:09:35,719 Saul was exactly what the people were looking for. 115 00:09:35,719 –> 00:09:39,700 Tall, dark, handsome, looked, as we would say today, really cool. 116 00:09:39,700 –> 00:09:45,400 Chapter 9 and verse 2, Saul was an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites. 117 00:09:45,400 –> 00:09:48,320 He was a head taller than any of the others. 118 00:09:48,320 –> 00:09:51,900 So it’s a great pity that they didn’t play basketball because this fellow would have 119 00:09:51,900 –> 00:09:53,179 been magnificent. 120 00:09:53,179 –> 00:09:58,760 You looked at a crowd and his head popped a full six inches above everyone else. 121 00:09:58,760 –> 00:10:02,239 Now, this was exactly the kind of lead everyone was looking for. 122 00:10:02,239 –> 00:10:07,059 My goodness, if the nation see us with a fellow a head taller than everyone else, then 123 00:10:07,059 –> 00:10:10,559 they’ll know that we are a force to be reckoned with. 124 00:10:10,559 –> 00:10:14,840 Of course, they didn’t anticipate that their enemies would have a chap even taller by the 125 00:10:14,840 –> 00:10:18,159 name of Goliath, but that’s another story. 126 00:10:18,159 –> 00:10:24,400 Now, one of the most frightening truths in the Bible is that if we press hard enough, 127 00:10:24,400 –> 00:10:27,659 God will sometimes give us what we want. 128 00:10:27,659 –> 00:10:31,659 Say that’s one of the most frightening truths in the Bible, but it’s what happened here. 129 00:10:31,659 –> 00:10:37,619 The nation was determined, determined, determined to do something that was not in their own 130 00:10:37,619 –> 00:10:42,760 best interests, but God gave them what they wanted. 131 00:10:42,760 –> 00:10:45,780 He gave them the leadership they both wanted and deserved. 132 00:10:45,780 –> 00:10:53,940 It says in Psalm 106, God gave them what they asked for and sent leanness on their souls. 133 00:10:53,940 –> 00:10:57,820 Gave them what they pursued. 134 00:10:57,840 –> 00:11:00,340 They wanted the wrong thing. 135 00:11:00,340 –> 00:11:05,580 And how else is God to teach us when we want the wrong thing then at some points to allow 136 00:11:05,580 –> 00:11:09,760 us to see and experience the bankruptcy of what we have desired? 137 00:11:09,760 –> 00:11:13,859 This is the first thing we learn from the story of the prodigal son, of course. 138 00:11:13,859 –> 00:11:17,000 Give me the money, dad! 139 00:11:17,000 –> 00:11:18,179 Give me the money! 140 00:11:18,179 –> 00:11:20,080 He’s so determined. 141 00:11:20,080 –> 00:11:22,179 And the father gives into it. 142 00:11:22,179 –> 00:11:25,780 Leads to all kinds of painful consequences. 143 00:11:25,780 –> 00:11:28,599 How else was he to learn? 144 00:11:28,599 –> 00:11:34,580 Well, as we follow the story, sure enough Saul turns out to be a disaster. 145 00:11:34,580 –> 00:11:39,080 And the people realize that they’ve made a very foolish choice, and they begin to experience 146 00:11:39,080 –> 00:11:42,880 the pain of living with their own foolishness. 147 00:11:42,880 –> 00:11:44,580 Notice that God enters into that pain. 148 00:11:44,580 –> 00:11:46,239 Chapter 15, the very end. 149 00:11:46,239 –> 00:11:51,520 “‘The Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.’” 150 00:11:51,520 –> 00:11:52,859 “‘The Lord was grieved.’ 151 00:11:53,359 –> 00:11:56,539 Now, this does not of course mean that God had made a mistake. 152 00:11:56,539 –> 00:12:00,500 God knew precisely what he was doing when he made Saul the king. 153 00:12:00,500 –> 00:12:06,380 But it’s reminding us that God felt the pain of what he had allowed. 154 00:12:06,380 –> 00:12:08,500 That’s very important to remember. 155 00:12:08,500 –> 00:12:12,539 God is not like some cosmic scientist conducting experiments on us. 156 00:12:12,539 –> 00:12:14,820 “‘Oh, I wonder what’ll happen if I make him king. 157 00:12:14,820 –> 00:12:17,739 Oh dear, that didn’t work out, let’s try something else.’” 158 00:12:17,739 –> 00:12:19,219 No, that’s not the God of the Bible. 159 00:12:19,219 –> 00:12:21,700 He knows precisely what he is doing. 160 00:12:21,700 –> 00:12:24,919 And then he works out all things in conformity to his will. 161 00:12:24,919 –> 00:12:29,580 There is no pain in your life that God has not allowed. 162 00:12:29,580 –> 00:12:35,340 And there is no pain in your life that God has not also felt. 163 00:12:35,340 –> 00:12:40,099 He entered into the pain that came to his people as a result of him allowing Saul to 164 00:12:40,099 –> 00:12:46,539 be king, which was the consequence of the persistence of their foolish choice. 165 00:12:46,539 –> 00:12:50,539 But then after a time, God gives them relief from this pain. 166 00:12:50,539 –> 00:12:54,619 He told Samuel the prophet that the next king would come from another line, the new king 167 00:12:54,619 –> 00:12:57,739 would have a heart after God’s. 168 00:12:57,739 –> 00:13:03,880 And in 1 Samuel chapter 16, we’re told of how David was anointed to be the next king. 169 00:13:03,880 –> 00:13:06,640 Now, you know that David wasn’t perfect either. 170 00:13:06,640 –> 00:13:12,820 There are no perfect leaders, nobody can be everything you want them to be, nobody. 171 00:13:12,820 –> 00:13:15,739 That’s why Jesus had to come into the world. 172 00:13:15,739 –> 00:13:21,780 No president, no husband, no wife, no school, no church, no job can ever be everything you 173 00:13:21,780 –> 00:13:24,380 would want them to be. 174 00:13:24,380 –> 00:13:28,000 But David was a man after God’s own heart and that was the reason to be thankful, this 175 00:13:28,000 –> 00:13:29,700 was the mercy of God. 176 00:13:29,700 –> 00:13:34,599 He allowed for a time them to experience the pain that came from their own persistent and 177 00:13:34,599 –> 00:13:41,419 foolish choice, and yet he taught his people through it and he gave them relief and he 178 00:13:41,559 –> 00:13:46,479 poured out his blessing upon them. 179 00:13:46,479 –> 00:13:51,840 Now after David was anointed to be the next King of Israel the rest of the Book of Samuel 180 00:13:51,840 –> 00:13:57,359 follows the story of the relationship between the two of them, Saul and David. 181 00:13:57,359 –> 00:14:04,359 And right from the beginning Saul made David’s life absolutely miserable. 182 00:14:05,299 –> 00:14:08,859 It all started after David killed Goliath. 183 00:14:08,859 –> 00:14:13,859 Saul invited David of course to join his staff in the palace. 184 00:14:13,859 –> 00:14:19,559 And you read in 1 Samuel 18 verses 6 and 7 that when the men returned home after David 185 00:14:19,559 –> 00:14:23,840 had killed the Philistine, that’s Goliath, the women came out from all the towns of Israel 186 00:14:23,840 –> 00:14:25,059 to meet with King Saul. 187 00:14:25,059 –> 00:14:28,780 They’re singing, they’re dancing, they’re joyful songs with tambourines and flutes, 188 00:14:28,780 –> 00:14:34,340 and they dance and they come out to Saul and they say, Saul has slain in his thousands. 189 00:14:34,340 –> 00:14:36,580 I’m sure Saul liked that. 190 00:14:36,580 –> 00:14:41,679 But then you notice they said, and David has slain in his tens of thousands. 191 00:14:41,679 –> 00:14:43,719 And Saul really didn’t like that. 192 00:14:43,719 –> 00:14:52,159 In fact, it created within him a spirit of jealousy towards David. 193 00:14:52,159 –> 00:14:53,359 And David’s now on his staff. 194 00:14:53,359 –> 00:14:59,460 What do you do when you’ve got a boss who’s got a bitter attitude towards you? 195 00:14:59,460 –> 00:15:01,640 Well, that was the situation David was in. 196 00:15:01,700 –> 00:15:09,659 In fact, it got so bad that in chapter 18 we’re told about two occasions when Saul hurled 197 00:15:09,659 –> 00:15:11,799 his spear at David. 198 00:15:11,799 –> 00:15:14,979 And that shows the level to which this had got. 199 00:15:14,979 –> 00:15:18,880 David dodged the spear, but of course then he had to move, he had to leave, he had to 200 00:15:18,880 –> 00:15:21,919 go on the run to save his life from Saul. 201 00:15:21,919 –> 00:15:28,780 It’s never right to stay in a situation in which you are put in that kind of danger. 202 00:15:28,859 –> 00:15:34,859 It’s difficult to know the precise timings, but chronologist reckoned that probably we’re 203 00:15:34,859 –> 00:15:42,500 talking about a period of 15 years between the time when David was anointed as King, 204 00:15:42,500 –> 00:15:47,679 the time when after Saul’s death he actually came to the throne. 205 00:15:47,679 –> 00:15:57,299 Fifteen years in which he had to struggle with this man who created nothing but difficulties 206 00:15:57,299 –> 00:15:59,479 in his life. 207 00:15:59,479 –> 00:16:06,460 Now here’s the thing that I have found absolutely staggering. 208 00:16:06,460 –> 00:16:09,539 Absolutely staggering. 209 00:16:09,539 –> 00:16:13,900 David knew that God had anointed him to be King. 210 00:16:13,900 –> 00:16:17,619 He knew that Saul was a royal pain in the neck. 211 00:16:17,619 –> 00:16:19,520 And that’s the only way I can describe Saul. 212 00:16:19,520 –> 00:16:20,520 He was. 213 00:16:20,520 –> 00:16:24,780 He was a royal pain in the neck. 214 00:16:24,780 –> 00:16:26,640 David had the support of the people. 215 00:16:26,640 –> 00:16:28,960 David has slain in his tens of thousands. 216 00:16:28,960 –> 00:16:32,619 He could easily have seized power. 217 00:16:32,619 –> 00:16:38,340 But he was loyal to Saul until the day he died. 218 00:16:38,340 –> 00:16:42,640 And what’s more than that, on the day Saul died, David wept for him. 219 00:16:42,640 –> 00:16:46,559 Now I say that is absolutely staggering. 220 00:16:46,559 –> 00:16:53,539 In fact, it is so far from the culture in which we live that it’s almost impossible 221 00:16:53,539 –> 00:16:55,099 for us to understand. 222 00:16:55,099 –> 00:16:57,479 God, David, how could you do that? 223 00:16:57,479 –> 00:17:03,659 And I began to think around all of the situations that I know, and I only know some. 224 00:17:03,659 –> 00:17:11,619 In this congregation, where one or another of us has a Saul in our lives. 225 00:17:11,619 –> 00:17:16,199 Some of us have a Saul in the office. 226 00:17:16,199 –> 00:17:20,099 Some of us have a Saul at home. 227 00:17:20,099 –> 00:17:24,439 For others of us our Saul is not so much a person, but it is a situation that God has 228 00:17:24,579 –> 00:17:28,859 allowed, but it’s painful for us, and we’d love to get out of it, but God has put us 229 00:17:28,859 –> 00:17:31,660 in it. 230 00:17:31,660 –> 00:17:35,680 So I’ve asked the question as we try to live the Christian life in a world that is 231 00:17:35,680 –> 00:17:41,739 breaking apart, how did David put up with Saul? 232 00:17:41,739 –> 00:17:47,819 How could he have shown this kind of loyalty throughout 15 years? 233 00:17:47,819 –> 00:17:52,500 How can I keep faith in a broken world? 234 00:17:52,640 –> 00:17:59,280 And in a world of disposable relationships, how could I learn to be loyal? 235 00:17:59,280 –> 00:18:04,020 Now that’s our subject for the next four weeks. 236 00:18:04,020 –> 00:18:09,760 We’re going to look at what it will mean to live in such a way that our values will 237 00:18:09,760 –> 00:18:14,780 be different from the values of the culture around us that has taken the word disposable 238 00:18:14,920 –> 00:18:22,479 and has made it a kind of a virtue. 239 00:18:22,479 –> 00:18:27,459 Will you turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 10 and verse 1? 240 00:18:27,459 –> 00:18:30,459 1 Samuel chapter 10 and verse 1. 241 00:18:30,459 –> 00:18:40,079 I want us to discover here the first principle on which loyalty is built. 242 00:18:40,079 –> 00:18:43,219 1 Samuel 10 and verse 1. 243 00:18:43,219 –> 00:18:48,380 Saul took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, 244 00:18:48,380 –> 00:18:54,959 has not the Lord anointed you, leader over his inheritance? 245 00:18:54,959 –> 00:18:57,900 Notice that word, anointed. 246 00:18:57,900 –> 00:18:59,660 It’s very important. 247 00:18:59,660 –> 00:19:01,760 The Lord anointed Saul. 248 00:19:01,760 –> 00:19:06,520 You say now, Saul wasn’t a very good king, was he? 249 00:19:06,520 –> 00:19:07,520 No. 250 00:19:07,520 –> 00:19:09,040 God put him there nonetheless. 251 00:19:09,040 –> 00:19:10,819 We’ve seen why. 252 00:19:11,319 –> 00:19:14,459 He’s allowing the people to experience the consequences of their own foolish choice. 253 00:19:14,459 –> 00:19:16,660 That’s one of the ways in which God teaches us. 254 00:19:16,660 –> 00:19:18,739 It’s very clear here, isn’t it? 255 00:19:18,739 –> 00:19:21,959 God anointed Saul. 256 00:19:24,439 –> 00:19:30,459 The miserable fellow that he was, he was there in the purpose of God. 257 00:19:30,459 –> 00:19:34,619 He was in David’s life as part of the plan of God. 258 00:19:34,619 –> 00:19:37,099 And David knew it, and David recognized it. 259 00:19:37,280 –> 00:19:41,839 Now, if you turn over to 1 Samuel, chapter 24, you will see that this is precisely the 260 00:19:41,839 –> 00:19:47,359 reason why David did not take matters into his own hands and put an end to Saul. 261 00:19:47,359 –> 00:19:52,040 We’ll come to this story in two weeks’ time in more detail, but in our quick overview 262 00:19:52,040 –> 00:19:57,880 and introduction this morning, there is this marvelous story where Saul comes into a cave 263 00:19:57,880 –> 00:20:02,400 and David’s hiding at the back of it and Saul is absolutely defenseless. 264 00:20:02,400 –> 00:20:05,959 David could have taken his life in that moment easily. 265 00:20:06,239 –> 00:20:09,420 And here’s the reason that David gives for not doing it. 266 00:20:09,420 –> 00:20:11,699 1 Samuel 24, 6, 267 00:20:11,699 –> 00:20:17,359 The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, 268 00:20:17,359 –> 00:20:24,739 or lift up my hand against him for he is the anointed of the Lord. 269 00:20:24,739 –> 00:20:26,280 You see what he’s saying. 270 00:20:26,280 –> 00:20:30,439 Saul, I can’t do this to you because God’s put you where you are. 271 00:20:30,439 –> 00:20:36,579 I can’t simply take matters into my own hand because you are the king by 272 00:20:36,579 –> 00:20:37,959 appointment of God. 273 00:20:37,959 –> 00:20:40,640 God has anointed you. 274 00:20:40,640 –> 00:20:45,560 Now, David says that specifically not one time, but seven times. 275 00:20:45,560 –> 00:20:48,839 You’ll find them if you want to trace it in 1 Samuel 24, 6 that we’ve read, 276 00:20:48,839 –> 00:20:54,800 then 10, then 1 Samuel 26 verses 9, 11, and 23 and 2 Samuel 1 and verse 14, 277 00:20:54,800 –> 00:20:55,800 again and again. 278 00:20:55,800 –> 00:20:57,160 You’re the Lord’s anointed. 279 00:20:57,160 –> 00:20:58,579 You’re the Lord’s anointed. 280 00:20:58,579 –> 00:20:59,900 He’s the Lord’s anointed. 281 00:21:00,260 –> 00:21:06,520 I can’t take matters into my own hands because he’s here in the purpose of God. 282 00:21:06,520 –> 00:21:10,260 Saul, I can’t harm you. 283 00:21:10,260 –> 00:21:17,099 Saul, I can’t even hate you because I believe and know that God has put you 284 00:21:17,099 –> 00:21:18,099 where you are. 285 00:21:18,099 –> 00:21:19,359 You’re an absolute pain. 286 00:21:19,359 –> 00:21:22,359 Well, he didn’t say that to him but I’m sure he thought it. 287 00:21:22,359 –> 00:21:29,599 You’re an absolute pain, but God put you where you are and I’m convinced that you 288 00:21:29,619 –> 00:21:36,579 are part of his purpose in my life. 289 00:21:36,579 –> 00:21:42,540 Now, we have a word to describe the fact that God orders events and circumstances 290 00:21:42,540 –> 00:21:48,540 in our lives and puts people into our lives according to his plan, and that 291 00:21:48,540 –> 00:21:51,520 word is this word that’s up here, providence. 292 00:21:51,520 –> 00:21:54,599 Some of you will know this word, and if you do, you probably 293 00:21:54,599 –> 00:21:56,260 love it. 294 00:21:56,260 –> 00:21:59,380 For others of you, you may think this is a place on Rhode Island and might 295 00:21:59,439 –> 00:22:03,579 wonder what it’s got to do with loyalty, and I hope that you will 296 00:22:03,579 –> 00:22:06,339 come also to love this word too. 297 00:22:06,339 –> 00:22:10,579 Providence is very simply the way in which God wisely and 298 00:22:10,579 –> 00:22:15,239 lovingly orders events for the ultimate good of his own people, 299 00:22:15,239 –> 00:22:21,800 the way in which God wisely and lovingly orders events for the ultimate good 300 00:22:21,800 –> 00:22:23,760 of his own people. 301 00:22:23,760 –> 00:22:27,060 And it’s stated all the way through the Bible, but perhaps never more clearly 302 00:22:27,160 –> 00:22:32,380 than in Romans 8.28 that many will know well, God works in all things. 303 00:22:32,380 –> 00:22:35,979 Not some things, not good things, all things. 304 00:22:35,979 –> 00:22:40,780 He works in all things for the good of those who love him, for his own children, 305 00:22:40,780 –> 00:22:46,380 that is, who have been called according to his purpose. 306 00:22:46,380 –> 00:22:49,119 The Bible makes it very clear to us, and David understood this, 307 00:22:49,119 –> 00:22:54,599 that your life and my life is not a random series of accidental 308 00:22:54,640 –> 00:22:57,140 or coincidental events. 309 00:22:57,140 –> 00:23:01,099 That the people in your life, that the events in your life, 310 00:23:01,099 –> 00:23:06,939 that the sequence of things that occur are ordered by the hand of God. 311 00:23:06,939 –> 00:23:12,439 And he has a wonderful way of working them all together to advance the ultimate 312 00:23:12,439 –> 00:23:19,079 purpose, the good, which is not that you have a pain-free life. 313 00:23:19,079 –> 00:23:20,560 No, that’s not God’s ultimate purpose. 314 00:23:20,859 –> 00:23:25,000 His ultimate purpose that he’s working everything together towards is that you 315 00:23:25,000 –> 00:23:31,160 will reflect the life of Jesus Christ to the glory of God for all eternity. 316 00:23:31,160 –> 00:23:34,939 That’s why he can use the Sauls 317 00:23:34,939 –> 00:23:42,560 as well as the Jonathans in our life, those who are a pain as well 318 00:23:42,560 –> 00:23:44,920 as those who are a blessing. 319 00:23:44,939 –> 00:23:51,760 That’s why he can use the disappointments as well as the triumphs. 320 00:23:51,760 –> 00:23:55,920 That’s why even when we reach our lowest point of our greatest failure, 321 00:23:55,920 –> 00:24:00,719 God can work that into reflecting the beauty of Jesus Christ as we learn 322 00:24:00,719 –> 00:24:04,859 humility, as we learn to trust him more fully. 323 00:24:04,859 –> 00:24:11,020 Now if we can begin to see that our lives are not a haphazard arrangement of 324 00:24:11,060 –> 00:24:15,000 accidental events but are actually ordered by the loving hand of God, 325 00:24:15,000 –> 00:24:19,219 who’s working out this ultimate purpose in us and through us, 326 00:24:19,219 –> 00:24:24,300 then we will have a whole different attitude towards the difficult people, 327 00:24:24,300 –> 00:24:27,239 the souls in our lives. 328 00:24:27,239 –> 00:24:32,420 And it’s wonderful to see both in Scripture and experience the way in which 329 00:24:32,420 –> 00:24:33,400 God does this. 330 00:24:33,959 –> 00:24:40,079 At the beginning of Chapter 9 that we focused on, 331 00:24:40,079 –> 00:24:45,599 Saul woke up one morning and imagined him reading his newspaper, 332 00:24:45,599 –> 00:24:48,160 looking over his cornflakes. 333 00:24:48,160 –> 00:24:49,959 And his father comes in and he says, 334 00:24:49,959 –> 00:24:51,540 It’s bad news, son. 335 00:24:51,540 –> 00:24:53,500 Better get out there, big fella. 336 00:24:53,500 –> 00:24:56,959 Donkeys have disappeared. 337 00:24:56,959 –> 00:24:59,520 Saul probably heaved a great sigh as you would or I would. 338 00:24:59,520 –> 00:25:01,099 Where do you begin looking? 339 00:25:01,099 –> 00:25:02,239 He said he’d lost donkeys. 340 00:25:02,239 –> 00:25:03,359 I mean, where do you begin? 341 00:25:03,660 –> 00:25:05,979 And they go out. 342 00:25:05,979 –> 00:25:08,260 What a meaningless day. 343 00:25:08,260 –> 00:25:10,819 And then they can’t find the donkeys, which is even worse. 344 00:25:10,819 –> 00:25:11,579 What’s God doing? 345 00:25:11,579 –> 00:25:13,540 Does he care about us at all? 346 00:25:13,540 –> 00:25:16,599 And they go further, and they go further until they’re utterly frustrated. 347 00:25:16,599 –> 00:25:20,140 And then someone says, Why don’t we go and see the prophet? 348 00:25:20,140 –> 00:25:21,880 So they decide to go and see a prophet. 349 00:25:21,880 –> 00:25:24,640 And God has already spoken to the prophet and said, 350 00:25:24,640 –> 00:25:26,060 I’m going to bring someone to you today. 351 00:25:26,060 –> 00:25:27,560 You don’t know how I’m going to do it. 352 00:25:27,560 –> 00:25:29,099 Actually, it involves a lot of donkeys. 353 00:25:29,099 –> 00:25:30,680 But he’s going to come to you. 354 00:25:30,780 –> 00:25:32,859 And he’s going to be the one that you appoint as king. 355 00:25:34,260 –> 00:25:40,140 And Saul finds in the most ordinary, ordinary day that, as he pursues what God has given 356 00:25:40,140 –> 00:25:46,040 him to do on that day, God opens up a whole new opportunity for him in life. 357 00:25:46,040 –> 00:25:49,260 Even the missing donkeys are part of the providence of God. 358 00:25:50,920 –> 00:25:55,780 You see that God is at work in the tiniest little things of your life. 359 00:25:56,719 –> 00:26:02,219 And in the people who are placed in your life, 360 00:26:02,219 –> 00:26:04,599 they’re not there by accident. 361 00:26:04,599 –> 00:26:08,000 God places the solitary in families. 362 00:26:08,000 –> 00:26:13,099 Now your family may have been a wonderful family, your family may have been a terrible 363 00:26:13,099 –> 00:26:14,099 family. 364 00:26:14,099 –> 00:26:16,359 I want to say this from the Bible. 365 00:26:16,359 –> 00:26:17,780 God places us in families. 366 00:26:17,780 –> 00:26:24,699 If it was a terrible family, He can use that experience as part of His ultimate purpose 367 00:26:24,719 –> 00:26:26,199 of making you like Jesus Christ. 368 00:26:26,199 –> 00:26:29,540 There are things that can be learned out of a dysfunctional family. 369 00:26:29,540 –> 00:26:35,359 It’s a wonderful family, there’ll be different ways in which He works that into His plan 370 00:26:35,359 –> 00:26:40,160 for you reflecting the glory of His grace. 371 00:26:40,160 –> 00:26:42,959 The place where we are, do you think that’s an accident. 372 00:26:42,959 –> 00:26:47,060 It says in Acts 17 God has determined the exact places where people should live. 373 00:26:47,060 –> 00:26:51,560 I’m glad that He determined that for sixteen years I should live in London. 374 00:26:51,920 –> 00:26:56,739 I’m glad that He’s determined right now that I should live in Arlington Heights. 375 00:26:56,739 –> 00:26:59,479 God sets us in spheres of influence. 376 00:26:59,479 –> 00:27:05,400 And when we understand that we’re not here by accident, but on the purpose and the design 377 00:27:05,400 –> 00:27:08,199 of God, it gives us a new attitude to the people around us. 378 00:27:08,199 –> 00:27:11,260 My goodness, these are the people God has placed around. 379 00:27:11,260 –> 00:27:12,979 God is in this. 380 00:27:12,979 –> 00:27:16,800 That’s where loyalty begins. 381 00:27:16,800 –> 00:27:21,160 Otherwise we’re just like billiard balls kind of bouncing off each other in a haphazard 382 00:27:21,160 –> 00:27:25,459 kind of a fashion. 383 00:27:25,459 –> 00:27:29,719 In the Garden of Eden the very first marriage that took place. 384 00:27:29,719 –> 00:27:31,920 What’s that about? 385 00:27:31,920 –> 00:27:34,739 What is marriage? 386 00:27:34,739 –> 00:27:38,819 Was it that Adam went wandering in the garden and thought, oh there’s someone rather nice? 387 00:27:38,819 –> 00:27:39,819 No! 388 00:27:39,819 –> 00:27:45,520 It specifically says God created the woman, and He brought her to the man. 389 00:27:45,520 –> 00:27:49,280 That God says now you and you, you do life together. 390 00:27:49,599 –> 00:27:52,219 It joins their hands. 391 00:27:52,219 –> 00:27:55,640 That’s the very basis of loyalty to a marriage. 392 00:27:55,640 –> 00:28:00,400 It just doesn’t happen to have been my fancy 20 or 25 years ago. 393 00:28:00,400 –> 00:28:02,719 It was more than that. 394 00:28:02,719 –> 00:28:03,719 It was that. 395 00:28:03,719 –> 00:28:05,739 It was more than that. 396 00:28:05,739 –> 00:28:07,900 God’s in it. 397 00:28:07,900 –> 00:28:13,459 And when I know God’s in it, I’ve got the basis of loyalty. 398 00:28:13,459 –> 00:28:15,439 Your work just happened to be there? 399 00:28:15,439 –> 00:28:17,640 Or has God shaped you to do something? 400 00:28:17,640 –> 00:28:18,640 Gifted you. 401 00:28:18,640 –> 00:28:21,699 Staffed you, inspired you to do a thing that you discover to be your calling. 402 00:28:21,699 –> 00:28:26,079 Whether it be driving a bus, or making a home, or whether it be trading on a desk, or whether 403 00:28:26,079 –> 00:28:29,800 it be preaching a song, whatever it is. 404 00:28:29,800 –> 00:28:32,680 God made me to do this. 405 00:28:32,680 –> 00:28:34,660 And he’s put me in this place to do it. 406 00:28:34,660 –> 00:28:36,300 Let me do it for his glory. 407 00:28:36,300 –> 00:28:38,040 That breeds loyalty. 408 00:28:38,040 –> 00:28:43,479 I thank God, just as I’ve thought about this for his providence in my life, God put 409 00:28:43,479 –> 00:28:44,579 me in a family. 410 00:28:44,579 –> 00:28:48,599 But that means I’ve got some responsibility for these people. 411 00:28:48,680 –> 00:28:51,180 God drew me to a lady who is my wife. 412 00:28:51,180 –> 00:28:56,880 That means I owe her the highest loyalty for his glory. 413 00:28:56,880 –> 00:29:01,420 God put me in a church in London and God has brought me to Arlington Heights. 414 00:29:01,420 –> 00:29:05,739 That gives me a responsibility to the people he’s placed around me. 415 00:29:05,739 –> 00:29:08,479 It’s his providence. 416 00:29:08,880 –> 00:29:12,579 Now I think of some of the things that have been hard in my life. 417 00:29:12,579 –> 00:29:17,040 And I have to ask the question, am I going to say that the good things were from the 418 00:29:17,040 –> 00:29:18,040 hand of God? 419 00:29:18,040 –> 00:29:21,239 And the others, well, they just happened when he was asleep? 420 00:29:21,239 –> 00:29:23,459 No, I can’t say that. 421 00:29:23,459 –> 00:29:27,339 The God who watches over you neither slumbers nor sleeps. 422 00:29:27,339 –> 00:29:36,199 Oh, I think about one man who has been a sore in my life for years. 423 00:29:36,199 –> 00:29:39,099 I promise you he’s not here this morning. 424 00:29:39,099 –> 00:29:41,979 And for a long time, it wasn’t easy. 425 00:29:41,979 –> 00:29:46,859 And I think about this, and I think, was he there by accident or did God put him there? 426 00:29:47,180 –> 00:29:54,660 If I can see that God allowed him to be there and that God has a purpose that can make me 427 00:29:54,660 –> 00:30:00,439 more like Jesus, even through the irritant of this guy, then I’m going to be able in 428 00:30:00,439 –> 00:30:03,839 a new way to live with the soul in my life. 429 00:30:03,839 –> 00:30:07,060 Some of us have the idea that blessings come from the hand of God but difficulties are 430 00:30:07,060 –> 00:30:09,439 somehow beyond his reach. 431 00:30:09,439 –> 00:30:14,219 And we need to understand more deeply what the apostle Paul says. 432 00:30:14,219 –> 00:30:20,640 God works in all things, including the consequences of your foolish choices in life, including 433 00:30:20,640 –> 00:30:24,099 the disappointments that we say, what on earth is God doing here? 434 00:30:24,099 –> 00:30:29,260 Including the day that my job comes to an end as well as the day the new job opportunity 435 00:30:29,260 –> 00:30:30,260 opens up. 436 00:30:30,260 –> 00:30:35,180 God works in all things and I’m to look up to him and say, oh God, help me right now 437 00:30:35,180 –> 00:30:39,719 in this to learn what you would teach me so I may become more like Jesus Christ and not 438 00:30:39,719 –> 00:30:45,579 go through this pain without something that glorifies you coming out of it. 439 00:30:45,579 –> 00:30:54,459 I’ve told before the story of Joseph Telln but it’s still a powerful one in my own life. 440 00:30:54,459 –> 00:31:00,280 He was speaking in our home about the passage in the Old Testament where the temple was 441 00:31:00,280 –> 00:31:01,280 built. 442 00:31:01,280 –> 00:31:02,280 Do you know how it was done? 443 00:31:02,280 –> 00:31:05,459 The stones were all cut in a quarry, shaped in the quarry and then they were brought to 444 00:31:05,459 –> 00:31:06,939 the building site. 445 00:31:07,160 –> 00:31:10,680 And because they were all shaped in advance, when they were all brought there, it was simply 446 00:31:10,680 –> 00:31:11,979 a case of assembling them. 447 00:31:11,979 –> 00:31:13,660 The instruction was, build. 448 00:31:13,660 –> 00:31:17,739 And the whole temple went up without a sound, without even a tool being used. 449 00:31:17,739 –> 00:31:19,699 That’s what the Bible says. 450 00:31:19,699 –> 00:31:24,219 There’s a beautiful picture of course of how God shapes our lives in the quarry of 451 00:31:24,219 –> 00:31:28,359 this world and that’s not an easy thing. 452 00:31:28,359 –> 00:31:34,040 So that we will take our place for his glory for all eternity in what he puts together 453 00:31:34,040 –> 00:31:35,180 in heaven. 454 00:31:35,319 –> 00:31:41,479 And then Joseph went on to tell a story that I will never forget of how he was imprisoned 455 00:31:41,479 –> 00:31:44,780 for his faith in a Romanian jail some years ago. 456 00:31:46,280 –> 00:31:50,719 He was badly treated, as were the rest of the prisoners, by many of the guards. 457 00:31:50,719 –> 00:31:56,439 And he took the words of Jesus seriously and began to pray for his enemies. 458 00:31:57,439 –> 00:32:00,979 And because he prayed for these guards, he had compassion. 459 00:32:00,979 –> 00:32:04,260 And he began to ask one of them, if he had children. 460 00:32:04,599 –> 00:32:07,380 The guard didn’t know what to make of this, of course. 461 00:32:08,079 –> 00:32:09,500 Then one day one of the guards said to him, 462 00:32:09,500 –> 00:32:12,199 Joseph, the other prisoners hate us. 463 00:32:13,219 –> 00:32:15,880 Why are you different? 464 00:32:15,880 –> 00:32:26,099 And Joseph said, because to me, you are God’s stone cutter. 465 00:32:26,099 –> 00:32:33,319 You are God’s stone cutter. 466 00:32:33,319 –> 00:32:37,219 To David, Saul was God’s stone cutter. 467 00:32:37,219 –> 00:32:41,699 David understood providence. 468 00:32:41,699 –> 00:32:46,319 And that was the secret of his loyalty 469 00:32:46,319 –> 00:32:51,880 which our culture desperately needs to see. 470 00:32:51,880 –> 00:32:57,719 Have you understood providence? 471 00:32:57,719 –> 00:32:59,900 You know, there’s never been a president of the United States 472 00:32:59,900 –> 00:33:03,040 that God didn’t intend to be there, don’t you? 473 00:33:03,060 –> 00:33:06,560 Some of us are not sure. 474 00:33:06,560 –> 00:33:08,839 That doesn’t undercut the Christian responsibility 475 00:33:08,839 –> 00:33:12,920 to vote intelligently and in accordance with principle. 476 00:33:12,920 –> 00:33:17,660 But God appointed David, God appointed Saul. 477 00:33:20,020 –> 00:33:21,680 You know that you never had a teacher at college 478 00:33:21,680 –> 00:33:23,319 who you found terribly difficult, 479 00:33:23,319 –> 00:33:27,859 who God didn’t intend to be your teacher? 480 00:33:27,859 –> 00:33:30,420 You know you’ve never come up against a boss in employment 481 00:33:30,459 –> 00:33:33,260 that God didn’t intend you to come up against? 482 00:33:36,260 –> 00:33:37,260 God’s stonecutter. 483 00:33:39,839 –> 00:33:43,599 You’re there in the providence of God. 484 00:33:46,699 –> 00:33:50,699 That’s where loyalty begins. 485 00:33:53,199 –> 00:33:54,459 It’s not difficult for some of us 486 00:33:54,459 –> 00:33:56,280 to identify the souls in our lives. 487 00:33:56,819 –> 00:34:00,260 The prayer this morning is that God will help us 488 00:34:00,260 –> 00:34:04,060 to see how He can use the soul in my life 489 00:34:05,280 –> 00:34:08,679 to advance the reflected image of the life of Jesus in me 490 00:34:08,679 –> 00:34:12,100 for all eternity, for that is His ultimate purpose. 491 00:34:12,100 –> 00:34:13,580 Not a pain-free life, 492 00:34:14,979 –> 00:34:16,760 but the reflection of the glory of Jesus 493 00:34:16,760 –> 00:34:20,580 and those who love Him understand that. 494 00:34:21,780 –> 00:34:24,979 My life is not at the impulse of arbitrary forces. 495 00:34:25,060 –> 00:34:26,820 It is in the hand of God. 496 00:34:27,979 –> 00:34:31,419 The hand that holds my life 497 00:34:31,419 –> 00:34:33,520 is the hand that holds the world. 498 00:34:34,939 –> 00:34:36,459 Why should I feel discouraged? 499 00:34:36,459 –> 00:34:38,560 Why should the shadows come? 500 00:34:38,560 –> 00:34:40,020 Why should my heart feel lonely 501 00:34:40,020 –> 00:34:42,320 and long for Heaven and Home? 502 00:34:42,320 –> 00:34:45,580 If Jesus is my captain, my constant friend is He, 503 00:34:45,580 –> 00:34:49,159 and if His eye is on the sparrow, I know He watches me. 504 00:34:50,379 –> 00:34:51,600 Said the sparrow to the robin, 505 00:34:51,600 –> 00:34:52,780 I should really like to know 506 00:34:52,780 –> 00:34:54,179 why these anxious human beings 507 00:34:54,179 –> 00:34:55,939 rush around and worry so. 508 00:34:55,939 –> 00:34:57,379 Said the robin to the sparrow, 509 00:34:57,379 –> 00:34:59,780 I think it must be that they have no Heavenly Father 510 00:34:59,780 –> 00:35:01,300 who cares for you and me. 511 00:35:02,820 –> 00:35:04,219 You have a Heavenly Father, 512 00:35:05,100 –> 00:35:09,280 and your life is not a random sequence of chance events. 513 00:35:10,340 –> 00:35:13,060 It’s working in it for good. 514 00:35:15,939 –> 00:35:17,040 And so we go out into another week. 515 00:35:17,040 –> 00:35:18,260 Who knows what it holds? 516 00:35:19,939 –> 00:35:22,820 I do not know what lies ahead the way I cannot see, 517 00:35:22,820 –> 00:35:25,280 but one stands near to be my guide, 518 00:35:25,280 –> 00:35:26,600 He’ll show the way to me. 519 00:35:27,939 –> 00:35:29,399 I know who holds the future 520 00:35:29,399 –> 00:35:31,840 and He’ll guide me with his hand. 521 00:35:31,840 –> 00:35:34,060 With God, things don’t just happen, 522 00:35:34,060 –> 00:35:36,979 everything by Him is planned. 523 00:35:36,979 –> 00:35:40,780 So as I face tomorrow, with its problems, large and small, 524 00:35:41,659 –> 00:35:45,540 I’ll trust the God of miracles and give to Him 525 00:35:46,979 –> 00:35:48,199 my all. 526 00:35:48,199 –> 00:35:49,659 Let’s pray together, shall we? 527 00:35:50,040 –> 00:35:54,280 If you only gave us blessings, oh Lord, 528 00:35:54,280 –> 00:35:57,280 we’d become hooked on pain-free living, 529 00:35:58,719 –> 00:36:00,040 we’d become idolaters. 530 00:36:03,780 –> 00:36:05,780 We thank you that you’re wiser than that 531 00:36:07,100 –> 00:36:09,139 and that you know precisely what you’re doing 532 00:36:09,139 –> 00:36:11,620 in every circumstance of every one of our lives. 533 00:36:14,800 –> 00:36:17,820 Some of us honestly have to say 534 00:36:17,820 –> 00:36:19,360 we don’t know what you’re doing 535 00:36:20,399 –> 00:36:22,959 but right now because we believe the Bible, 536 00:36:22,959 –> 00:36:24,760 we want to say that we dare to believe 537 00:36:24,760 –> 00:36:26,360 that you know what you’re doing. 538 00:36:27,979 –> 00:36:29,739 We dare to believe that you are good 539 00:36:30,879 –> 00:36:34,419 and that you are working out your ultimate purpose 540 00:36:34,419 –> 00:36:37,820 which is that through it all we will come 541 00:36:37,820 –> 00:36:39,719 to reflect radiantly and beautifully 542 00:36:41,260 –> 00:36:46,120 the glory of the Son you love for all eternity. 543 00:36:47,060 –> 00:36:50,199 And if the Saul in my life 544 00:36:51,600 –> 00:36:53,179 is part of that, oh God, 545 00:36:55,360 –> 00:36:57,340 then help me to respond as David did 546 00:36:59,100 –> 00:37:00,520 and to be different from the world 547 00:37:00,520 –> 00:37:02,060 that runs from every problem. 548 00:37:04,060 –> 00:37:08,500 Rather to find a way in which to reflect 549 00:37:08,500 –> 00:37:11,479 the grace and the beauty of Jesus Christ 550 00:37:12,439 –> 00:37:15,520 and to keep faith in a broken world. 551 00:37:18,860 –> 00:37:20,939 Hear our prayers. 552 00:37:20,939 –> 00:37:25,500 And in a thousand ways that will not be seen by many 553 00:37:26,399 –> 00:37:28,040 but will be known to you, 554 00:37:29,360 –> 00:37:32,219 may we in our lives as a congregation 555 00:37:33,520 –> 00:37:38,520 reflect the beauty of Jesus in what you have allowed 556 00:37:39,739 –> 00:37:41,000 and what you have given 557 00:37:42,300 –> 00:37:46,500 and what you will use for your own purpose 558 00:37:47,459 –> 00:37:48,899 and your own ultimate glory. 559 00:37:50,020 –> 00:37:52,199 This we desire more than anything else. 560 00:37:53,540 –> 00:37:56,479 And for your grace and help in the pursuit of it, 561 00:37:57,679 –> 00:38:02,280 we bring our request in Jesus’ name, amen. 562 00:38:08,379 –> 00:38:09,620 You’ve been listening to a sermon 563 00:38:09,620 –> 00:38:11,979 with Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 564 00:38:11,979 –> 00:38:17,260 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 565 00:38:17,260 –> 00:38:20,260 or visit our website OpenTheBible.org.