Sermon L0062024
"The Backstory."
The "backstory" helps understand t.he point of the slory
Tells how the One Ring came into Bilbors possession.
Star Wars the old and the new.
Backstories or "prequels" explain the main story. Give perspectj-ve. Fi1I in some of the blanks.
This is the "backsLory" to the sLory of King David. Today, w€ read about the one who came before David, King Saul- .
God established Israel as a unique country. AII the other countries had kings, but God was Israel-'s king. He spoke to them through the prophets and judges. He
j-ve.
SamueJ- tol-d aLf the words of the Lord to the peopTe who were asking hin for a king. He saidl "Th:s is what the king who wiJ-J- reign over you wiJ-l- cf aim as his rights: He wil-f take your sons and make them serve with hjs chariots and horses, and they wiJ-f run in f ront of hischariots . Some he wil-l- as s ign to be commanders of
thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plaw his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chatiots. He wil-l- take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He wiJ-L take the best of your f ieJ-ds and
vineyards and ofive groves and give them to his
gave the law to explain how they should l-
People want to be like other nations Samuel- warns them.
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attendants . He wiJ-L take a tenth of your gra in and of your vintage and give it to his officiaLs and attendants. Your mafe and femal-e servants and the best of your cattJ-e and donkeys he wil-f take for his own
use. He wil-L take a tenth of your f l-ocks, and you yourseTves wiLl become his sJ-aves. When that day comes, you wiJ-l- cry out for rel-ief from the king you have
chosen, but the Lord wiLl- not answer you in that day." Samuel B:10-18
They don't care, they want a king.
God agrees/ not.i-ng, "They have rejected me." 1 Sam B:7
Samuel tells them, ( from our reading today)
you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of aLl- your disasters and cal-amities. l Sam 10:19
Saul 1s chosen.
We read that God chanqed Saul's heart, Samuel tells
him from the Lord,
" ?he Spirit of the Lord wif J- come powerf ully upon you,
and you wil-f prophesy... and you wil-J- be changed into a dif f erent person. " l-0 : 6
He leads and is successful.
Despite all this, he fal-l-s away.
His acLions show his turning away from God. He
gives t.he sacrifice j-nstead of Samuelr ds he was instructed. Samuel replies:
"You have done a fooJish thingr" SamueL said. "You have not kept the command the Lord your God qave you; if you had, he woufd have estabfished your kingdom over Israel- for aff time. But now your kingdon wiff not endure;
the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed hin rul-er of his peopJe, because you have not kept the Lord's command. "
1 Samuel l-3:13-L4.
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,
him.
He falls away and an evi-l spirit comes to torment
...an evil- spirit f rom God came forcefully on SauL. Samuel 18:10
David is chosen.
Saul is rejected.
(End of History)
They rejected God's kingship, sett.ing themselves on t.he path to apostasy.
What would they care that they didn't have a King, and the other nations did?
You can't see this as anyt,hing but. a conscious decision t.o reject God's rule and guidance. God's sovereignty.
The Israel-ites rejected God, and eventually turned away completely from Him and His laws and went the way of idolatry and evil.
Everyt,hing got worse.
The King even 1ed them astray.
This led to a civil war and the establishment of two competing kingdoms, Israel and
Judah.
Ultimately, they both were destroyed. f srael disappeared j-nto Assyrian exile, Judah i-nto
exile in Babylon.
Their rejection of God, mirrors the rebellion in the garden.
Mirrors our rebel11on too.
They rejected God, but God gives them another chance. He gives the Israelites a new King, Davi-d.
A man af t.er Hi s own heart .
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We will hear how David sinned and failed i-n many ways.
Yet, he sLill had a rel-ationship with God. Based on his heart for God.
We learn t.hat, mankind has, and conlinues to reject God.
Despite this, God offers to be their Jesus is the King.
David's Son.
God' s Son God Himsel- f .
Type-antit,ype-prototype . ( expl-ain) Moses-Jesus. Slavery in Egypt David-Jesus*God
(our) King again.
Slavery to sin.
Jesus comes to ret.urn us to t.he orlqin. Fj-xes what was destroyed
Their choice wil-l be redeemed.
Jesus presents Himself as t,he King. Your King. Will you accept His o ffer ?
When you come forward, you choose.
You are here. God has chosen You.
BaptJ-sm communion.
Signs of our relationship with God, and with each other as family.
As you do , He wi 1l- change your heart .
He invites us to put away everything not of Him.
Like he changed Saul's heart.
David's heart. Hang on to Him.
He hangs on to you.
)
(God l-ooks at the heart.
All these s igns were f ul-f il-Jed that day . What God says will happen, will happen.
We read that 1 Samuel 10:9
4He knows the end f rom t.he beginning. You can trust. Him.
His word,
His love for you.
What will- you do? Who will you cling to? As for me and my house, we will follow the Lord, J€sus!