November 12, 2025 • 35 mins
Hunger is rising for a faith that runs deeper than services and schedules. We talk candidly about why programs alone can’t sustain a soul, why so many leaders end up burned out, and how true power flows when character is shaped in God’s presence. Using 1 Samuel as our guide, we slow down to the real pace of formation hidden inside a narrative that spans centuries, not minutes. Those quiet stretches—when nothing seems to happen—are where leaders decide whether to rely on hustle or learn to be carried by the Spirit.
Saul’s story becomes a sober mentor. He tastes the thrill of anointing, prophesies with boldness, and then hides among the baggage because fear still rules his heart. Later, pressed by people scattering and timelines slipping, he takes the sacrifice into his own hands and loses what could have been a lasting legacy. We unpack the gap between gifting and character, the seduction of people-pleasing, and the cost of rushing God’s order. The takeaway is clear: gifts can open doors, but only character—formed in God’s presence—can carry the weight of leadership without breaking.
We share practical ways to build what lasts: prioritize presence over production, welcome private testing before public collapse, practice waiting with prepared action, and measure fruit by transformed lives rather than busy calendars. For pastors, entrepreneurs, team leads, and anyone responsible for others, this is a call back to the Source. Listen for a prayer of healing and restoration for those wounded by burnout or disillusionment, and an invitation to re-enter community with renewed strength.
If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who leads, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. Your story might be the encouragement someone else needs today.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:38):
You know, as we've looked at this podcast over the
course of the past four years,we've kind of morphed from being
a rather eclectic group ofpeople to begin with, kind of
just addressing this topic ofspirituality, right?
Trying to keep it somewhat oncommon playing field kind of
(01:00):
level, and just kind ofaddressing things on a more
basic level consideringspirituality, spirituality.
But it didn't take long beforewe started realizing that there
was a hunger that was beingdemonstrated to us.
(01:20):
We started finding out thatthere was a hunger in a lot of
people's lives who haven'treally been involved that much
in church life for severalyears.
Or at least traditional churchlife.
Going to a Sunday morningservice, maybe having a
(01:42):
Wednesday evening service,Sunday evening services, having
that type of church lifementality where it's more
centered around church services,some programs, but basically a
building-centered organization,which is fine on one hand, but
(02:03):
it's ultimately kind ofsurfacey.
As good as it can be, it stillis a church service, and we go
through the same kind of routineand with the same few people
getting involved, and the samefaces day after day, year after
(02:27):
year, sometimes only a fewfaces.
And it can be a real challengeto go any deeper because if we
go deeper into the things thatGod has given us as our
inheritance, when we go deeperinto them, we mark ourselves out
(02:49):
as being a little bit different.
And for some reason, the feelingof being different from the rest
of the pack is for many of usuncomfortable.
Maybe it's an environmentalreason we were just raised that
(03:10):
way.
We don't want to stick out.
And also the leadership, theleadership in many
(03:33):
denominational organizationsdoesn't even really require that
a person believes in the Biblebeing the word of God.
In fact, in some circles, it'skind of like a joke that people
still believe that the Bible isthe word of God.
Well, once again, for therecord, make it very clear that
(03:55):
we at Life Around the Firebelieve that the Bible contains
not only the living word of God,but it is the living word of God
to us.
It is God breathed, and we haveavailable to us the written word
of God, which is so potent andso powerful that it reaches into
(04:16):
our lives today, even though itwas expressed hundreds of years
ago, thousands of years ago.
It's ageless.
In fact, it's more contemporarythan tomorrow's headlines.
And so in reviewing this wholeaspect of this particular
(04:39):
podcast, Life Around the Fire,we've come to realize that there
are a lot of leaders that arelistening in.
And some leaders are listeningwho have not really been
involved in any type ofleadership in the body of Christ
(05:02):
for years because he just kindof gave up on it, man.
He didn't give up on God.
The whole ministry thing justburned you out and left you
empty.
It didn't produce what it wassupposed to produce.
In fact, it produced ulcers,headaches, and a lot of
(05:23):
organizational pressure.
Which, I mean, that goes withthe territory anyway, but if we
don't have kingdom power drivingour lives, moving us along by
the power of the Holy Spirit,being empowered, that being the
force that drives us, moves us,the wind that fills our sails
(05:49):
and causes us to go to placesthat we normally wouldn't even
dream about going, to do thingsthat we hadn't planned on doing
in our life, but to be empoweredto do so, with a power that is
greater than what we can produceon our own.
And many of us have beeninvolved in church circles that
(06:11):
we only settle for the thingsthat we can do on our own.
You know, good things, goodstuff.
Have a bass sale, have a time ofyou know, singing, have a time
of fellowship, have a time ofcamping out.
All good stuff, but we can alldo that on our own.
(06:31):
We don't need God's help inthat.
But what we've heard in from ourown lives here at Life on the
Fire, and what we've heard fromaround the different areas
throughout the nations is thisthat there is a hunger for the
deeper things of God to not onlybe talked about, but to be lived
(06:58):
out, to be practiced, to bewilling to be risk takers and
stand out from the rest ofsociety and allow God to use us
like a city on a hill that can'tbe hid.
Now we've been looking into thebook of 1 Samuel for quite some
(07:22):
time now, and we're gonna stayhere for a few more episodes
because there's some things thatwe want to draw out from this
particular book.
If you take 1 Samuel and read itout loud with you know with some
feeling, it'll take you aboutpersonally about two and a half
hours, give or take, to read itout loud.
(07:42):
But the book of 1 Samuel alonetook over 200 years to unfold.
And so there are a lot of thingsthat take place that when we
read them, it seems like theyjust happen one right after the
(08:05):
other.
But the reality is that there isa whole lot of time in between
those events where seeminglynothing was going on.
And it's in those nothingmoments where nothing seems to
be going on that we tend torevert back to relying on our
(08:29):
own power when it comes toliving out the kingdom of God
lifestyle.
We go back to what we know howto do instead of learning how to
wait and be empowered by theLord again so we can surge
(08:53):
forward, not burning out bydoubling down and trying to be
work harder to be holier.
It doesn't work that way.
God's presence makes us holy.
When we learn how to yield tohis presence in us and lean upon
(09:18):
him, and we do things with him,and he does things with us, that
we have that unique relationshipthat's developed in that
setting.
Because that's where thingsreally, really, really happen.
They happen in the midst ofrelationship.
(09:40):
God wants a relationship withus, he wants to be involved in
our lives for us to lean on himfor certain things, and then for
us to exercise our innercharacter that's been developed
by his spirit.
(10:00):
As we cooperate with him, andhis character is developed in
us, that we can experiencegrowth in that area.
Not just in functioning with thegiftings, learning how to see
the giftings operate, but thecharacter qualities, those
(10:21):
internal qualities that arereally, really, really necessary
when it comes to leadership.
And so for those of you who areleaders, regardless of whether
or not it's in a setting of alocal church leadership role, or
you are a leader in yourindustry, the line of work that
(10:41):
you are daily involved in, ifyou're a leader at all in any of
those areas, this is veryrelevant to you.
This focus on 1 Samuel chapters9 through 15.
(11:05):
We've been there for a while,we're gonna, like I said, we're
gonna remain there for anotherfew episodes because there's
some things for leaders that wecan draw out from here.
And we're using King Saul as anexample.
And as we said previously, Godhas used Israel and some of the
(11:29):
leaders within Israel over thecourse of hundreds and thousands
of years, he's used them as asundial because they are his
chosen people.
They remain to be.
And those of us who believe inJesus are grafted into the
(11:51):
promises that have been given toIsrael, and so, like a wild
olive branch, we've been graftedin, and we are now part of God's
blessing, and we become one newman in Jesus, where there's no
longer any Greek or Jew slave orfree man, but we are one in
(12:19):
Christ.
Hallelujah.
But leadership leadership ispart of any organization.
Whether it's a small groupmeeting in a home, or if it's a
(12:45):
large corporation that has multilocations in all each of these
groups requires leadership.
And leadership is simply theperson or people that are called
(13:07):
to be in front, living a life asan example for others to see
what it looks like to be aservant of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Hallelujah.
(13:29):
We are examples, and so weexperience things ahead of
people.
We encounter things beforeothers encounter them,
oftentimes.
We have a God-given sense as towhat's going on within any given
(13:53):
group that we are leaders of.
We can feel the goings on of thegroup.
It's an amazing thing.
It's a God given thing.
Even if you don't believe inGod, God gives things to people.
(14:21):
He gives people abilities,things.
He gives gifts to men.
And sometimes we grow into thosegiftings.
And so to have a gift is a greatthing because it is just that,
it's a gift.
(14:42):
You didn't earn it, you didn'tdeserve it.
It's a gift.
Now you may have gone to schoolto hone it a bit, amen that, but
it started out as a gift, as aspark.
It came as a result of Godplacing it upon you.
(15:05):
And Saul had that very thinggoing on in his life.
In fact, we're gonna look at 1Samuel chapter 9, verses 4
through 8 to begin with.
And there's gonna be twocouplets.
(15:27):
One couplet and then anothercouplet of scriptures that I
want to look at because theycompare an event that took place
when the gift of God wasmanifest onto Saul, and then
(15:54):
what it was like when he wasn'toperating under the power of
that gift.
He was just operating on his ownabilities.
You see where the problem is.
So Samuel said that there'sgoing to be a group of people
(16:25):
that were gonna greet him, andin verse 4 it says, Offer you
two loaves of bread, which youwill accept from them.
Pretty specific.
Before this ever happens, he'stelling Saul that this is gonna
happen, and he goes on to say,After that you will go to Gibeah
(16:46):
of God, where there is aPhilistine outpost.
As you approach the town, youwill meet a procession of
prophets coming down from thehigh place, with lyres,
tambourines, flutes, and harpsbeing played before them, and
they will prophesy, and theywill be prophesying, excuse me.
(17:08):
The Spirit of the Lord will comeupon you in power, and you will
prophesy with them, and you willbe changed into a different
person.
Once these signs are fulfilled,do whatever you find your hands
to do, for God is with you.
Go down ahead of me to Gilgal.
I will surely come down to youto sacrifice burnt offerings and
(17:29):
fellowship offerings, but youmust wait seven days until I
come to you and tell you whatyou are to do.
So we find out that that isexactly what took place to Saul.
(17:51):
When Samuel said these thingsare going to take place, they
took place, which, by the way,that is the workings of a true
prophet.
Accuracy.
And if you have a prophetic giftand you're just growing in it,
(18:13):
be careful not to get ahead ofyourself and start running
downhill with this thing andtumble over, because you can
easily let your tongue get toofar ahead and start saying
things that God didn't intendfor you to say.
So be wise in your delivery ofthe word because when you
(18:34):
recognize there's a prophet,people start weighing things out
differently and adjusting theirlives accordingly.
So we want to make sure thatwe're directing people in the
ways that God would have, notwhat our own thoughts would like
(18:54):
to see take place.
And so after Samuel left andafter Saul went on his way,
everything's placed just likeSamuel said, and then later on,
later on in verse 20, right?
(19:16):
In verse 20, we pick up theconversation.
When Samuel brought all thetribes of Israel near, the tribe
of Benjamin was chosen.
This was the day that Samuel wasgoing to anoint the king of
(19:37):
Israel.
So you get the picture.
Saul was empowered with theSpirit of God.
He got a taste of whatleadership was like when you're
empowered by God.
And he was prophesying and hewas full of boldness.
And people were marveling, theywere saying, this now, Saul
(20:01):
among the prophets also, becausethey had not recognized him as
that type of person before.
But Sammy said, You're going tobecome like a different man when
this happens.
And that is true for anyone whohas experienced the giftings of
God.
They're powerful.
(20:22):
They actually have a physicaleffect on a person's life, as
well as a mental and emotionaland spiritual impact.
Then in verse twenty one hegoes, Then he brought forward
the tribe of Benjamin, clan byclan, and Majri's clan was
(20:48):
chosen.
Finally son of Kish was chosen,but when they looked for him, he
was not to be found.
So he inquired further to theLord.
He is not the has the man comehere yet?
And the Lord replied, Yes, hehas hidden himself among the
(21:10):
baggage.
Then they ran and brought himout, and as he stood among the
people, he was a head tallerthan any of the others.
Samuel said to all the people,Do you see the man the Lord has
chosen?
This is no one like him excuseme, there is no one like him
(21:32):
among all the people.
Then the people showed it, Longlive the king.
He was endured with power, andlater he was hiding among the
bags where the donkeys werekept.
(21:56):
What happened?
What happened was there werestill some undealt with issues
in Saul's life that the gifting,as powerful as it was, couldn't
touch because that wassituational.
(22:17):
Character takes place in aperson's life when no one else
is looking.
That's integrity.
Character.
True character, who you reallyare, is who you really are when
no one else is looking.
When it's just you and how youlive your life when it's just
(22:44):
you is your character.
And Saul has some undealt withareas of fear and insecurity.
He didn't necessarily want to bethe king.
(23:22):
He said, I can't even talkright.
Well, God made arrangements forthat to take place, but still
Moses was called to go.
He was chosen.
Well, Saul was chosen by God, Ibelieve, in many respects, to
(23:50):
teach Israel a lesson.
And the lesson was that theywere premature.
The nation was premature indemanding that they would have a
king like the other nations hadkings.
God had something in store.
And had they waited just alittle bit longer, their first
king would have more than likelybeen David.
(24:10):
But it wasn't.
It was Saul, and so they weregoing to learn the lessons that
go along with rushing thingsinstead of being patient for
things.
What happens when you rushthings?
You get a Saul.
(24:33):
And Saul had issues.
And we have the advantage oflooking in on his life and
making some adjustments withinour own lives with the help of
God so that we don't fall intothe same snare as Saul.
(25:01):
We notice in Saul's life that hehad in his character flaws, he
had fear and insecurity,impatience, disobedience,
self-centeredness and pride,jealousy and anger, and blame
(25:26):
shifting.
These were issues that were inthe life of Saul.
And even though he was gifted attimes to be a great military
(25:48):
leader, he didn't have theinternal character that was in
place to handle that gifting.
And I believe God was showingIsrael a very clear thing that
(26:10):
takes place when we want thingsahead of God's timetable and he
allows us to get them.
It's not going to be the best.
We're going to at times sufferthe consequences of our
(26:32):
impatience.
In this instance, it was throughthe character flaws in the life
of Saul.
Those issues that we listed,they're not uncommon.
The things that we all dealwith.
You as a leader, at some pointin your life, have at least
(26:53):
dealt with one of those areasand are at least dealing with to
this very day at least one ofthose areas.
Because we conquer them instages.
Each time I've had abreakthrough in a certain area
(27:18):
of life, I celebrate thatbreakthrough, but then I realize
when I get another level ofresponsibility, that I'm faced
with that same temptation torevert back to my old behavior
(27:40):
when I'm experiencing pressurefrom the new responsibility.
I thought that the thing wasdealt with, and it was, but it
was dealt with on the level thatit was necessary to have it
dealt with under that anointing.
(28:03):
But with a greater anointingcomes greater privilege but also
greater responsibility.
And Saul went from beingbasically a farmer to being a
king overnight.
Now that didn't really leave awhole lot of grooming time for
(28:26):
him to experience that anointingand then the pressure of that
position.
Can you imagine being king of anation?
And not really being preparedfor it.
All the pressure that comes yourway as a result of you being the
(28:49):
head of the parade.
The expectations of people startgetting very, very, very high.
And their opinions become veryvocal.
And the pressure to appeasepeople becomes very great for
(29:12):
leaders.
Oftentimes in the Christianchurch, that's what leaders are
doing.
They're people pleasingthemselves to death.
Trying to keep the people happy.
Trying to keep the peoplecoming.
Trying to keep the people tryingto keep the people.
(29:34):
Well that's not even our job.
We're to feed the sheep.
And send people out into theworld that we live in to impact
(29:54):
it and power the kingdom.
So back to the life of Saul.
Another portion of his life inchapter thirteen.
(30:44):
What have you done?
asked Samuel.
Saul replied, When I saw the menwere scattering, and that you
did not come at the set time,and the Philistines were
assembling at Mikmash, Ithought, Now the Philistines
will come down against me atGilgal, and I have not sought
the Lord's favor.
(31:05):
So I felt compelled to do theburnt offering.
You acted foolishly, Samuelsaid.
You have not kept the commandthe Lord your God gave you.
If you had, he would haveestablished your kingdom over
Israel for all time.
But now your kingdom will notendure.
The Lord has sought out a manafter his own heart and
appointed him leader of hispeople, because you have not
(31:28):
kept the Lord's command.
Remember when the Lord saidthrough Samuel to Saul to stay
and wait seven days, and thenSamuel would be the one to do
the offering.
(31:49):
That was a command of the Lord,that was the word of the Lord.
Because of the fear that was inSaul's heart.
(32:12):
It was a big deal.
There's some things that wemight look at and say, oh, it's
not that big of a deal, we'lljust handle it.
When it's not the right order,things soon fall into complete
disarray.
(32:33):
God has a way of doing things.
And Saul wasn't capable offollowing through.
(33:21):
And they're powerful.
I encourage you to read them andlook at them for yourselves, dig
them out, and find out some realnuggets in there.
But what I'd like to do rightnow is I'd like to take a moment
and just close in a time ofprayer.
(33:45):
Father, thank you, God, for whoyou are.
And for what you do, how you howyou're going about doing things.
We love you.
We honor you.
And we look to you right now.
And we invite you, Holy Spirit,to mold and shape us into the
(34:06):
very character and likeness ofJesus.
And help us escape the pitfallof not having character, but
just relying upon gifting.
And seeing in the end that itproduces shipwrecked lives,
(34:29):
Lord.
And where that's happened, I askthat you'd bring about healing
and repair.
People that have been on theoutside, wounded as a result of
what took place on the inside,would find their way back into a
(34:50):
place of fellowship.
With you and with one another.
We honor you.
And we just pray these things,sealing them in the name of
Jesus.
We say, Amen.
Amen, amen.
unknown (35:13):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (35:14):
All right, folks.
We love you.
Excuse me.
If you have any thoughts,questions, or concerns, please
feel free to drop us a line atlife around the fire at
gmail.com or type in Life Aroundthe Fire and look us up on the
web.
We would love to hear from you.
In the meantime, God bless you.
Adios, amigos.
You know, as we've looked at this podcast over the
course of the past four years,we've kind of morphed from being
a rather eclectic group ofpeople to begin with, kind of
just addressing this topic ofspirituality, right?
Trying to keep it somewhat oncommon playing field kind of
(01:00):
level, and just kind ofaddressing things on a more
basic level consideringspirituality, spirituality.
But it didn't take long beforewe started realizing that there
was a hunger that was beingdemonstrated to us.
(01:20):
We started finding out thatthere was a hunger in a lot of
people's lives who haven'treally been involved that much
in church life for severalyears.
Or at least traditional churchlife.
Going to a Sunday morningservice, maybe having a
(01:42):
Wednesday evening service,Sunday evening services, having
that type of church lifementality where it's more
centered around church services,some programs, but basically a
building-centered organization,which is fine on one hand, but
(02:03):
it's ultimately kind ofsurfacey.
As good as it can be, it stillis a church service, and we go
through the same kind of routineand with the same few people
getting involved, and the samefaces day after day, year after
(02:27):
year, sometimes only a fewfaces.
And it can be a real challengeto go any deeper because if we
go deeper into the things thatGod has given us as our
inheritance, when we go deeperinto them, we mark ourselves out
(02:49):
as being a little bit different.
And for some reason, the feelingof being different from the rest
of the pack is for many of usuncomfortable.
Maybe it's an environmentalreason we were just raised that
(03:10):
way.
We don't want to stick out.
And also the leadership, theleadership in many
(03:33):
denominational organizationsdoesn't even really require that
a person believes in the Biblebeing the word of God.
In fact, in some circles, it'skind of like a joke that people
still believe that the Bible isthe word of God.
Well, once again, for therecord, make it very clear that
(03:55):
we at Life Around the Firebelieve that the Bible contains
not only the living word of God,but it is the living word of God
to us.
It is God breathed, and we haveavailable to us the written word
of God, which is so potent andso powerful that it reaches into
(04:16):
our lives today, even though itwas expressed hundreds of years
ago, thousands of years ago.
It's ageless.
In fact, it's more contemporarythan tomorrow's headlines.
And so in reviewing this wholeaspect of this particular
(04:39):
podcast, Life Around the Fire,we've come to realize that there
are a lot of leaders that arelistening in.
And some leaders are listeningwho have not really been
involved in any type ofleadership in the body of Christ
(05:02):
for years because he just kindof gave up on it, man.
He didn't give up on God.
The whole ministry thing justburned you out and left you
empty.
It didn't produce what it wassupposed to produce.
In fact, it produced ulcers,headaches, and a lot of
(05:23):
organizational pressure.
Which, I mean, that goes withthe territory anyway, but if we
don't have kingdom power drivingour lives, moving us along by
the power of the Holy Spirit,being empowered, that being the
force that drives us, moves us,the wind that fills our sails
(05:49):
and causes us to go to placesthat we normally wouldn't even
dream about going, to do thingsthat we hadn't planned on doing
in our life, but to be empoweredto do so, with a power that is
greater than what we can produceon our own.
And many of us have beeninvolved in church circles that
(06:11):
we only settle for the thingsthat we can do on our own.
You know, good things, goodstuff.
Have a bass sale, have a time ofyou know, singing, have a time
of fellowship, have a time ofcamping out.
All good stuff, but we can alldo that on our own.
(06:31):
We don't need God's help inthat.
But what we've heard in from ourown lives here at Life on the
Fire, and what we've heard fromaround the different areas
throughout the nations is thisthat there is a hunger for the
deeper things of God to not onlybe talked about, but to be lived
(06:58):
out, to be practiced, to bewilling to be risk takers and
stand out from the rest ofsociety and allow God to use us
like a city on a hill that can'tbe hid.
Now we've been looking into thebook of 1 Samuel for quite some
(07:22):
time now, and we're gonna stayhere for a few more episodes
because there's some things thatwe want to draw out from this
particular book.
If you take 1 Samuel and read itout loud with you know with some
feeling, it'll take you aboutpersonally about two and a half
hours, give or take, to read itout loud.
(07:42):
But the book of 1 Samuel alonetook over 200 years to unfold.
And so there are a lot of thingsthat take place that when we
read them, it seems like theyjust happen one right after the
(08:05):
other.
But the reality is that there isa whole lot of time in between
those events where seeminglynothing was going on.
And it's in those nothingmoments where nothing seems to
be going on that we tend torevert back to relying on our
(08:29):
own power when it comes toliving out the kingdom of God
lifestyle.
We go back to what we know howto do instead of learning how to
wait and be empowered by theLord again so we can surge
(08:53):
forward, not burning out bydoubling down and trying to be
work harder to be holier.
It doesn't work that way.
God's presence makes us holy.
When we learn how to yield tohis presence in us and lean upon
(09:18):
him, and we do things with him,and he does things with us, that
we have that unique relationshipthat's developed in that
setting.
Because that's where thingsreally, really, really happen.
They happen in the midst ofrelationship.
(09:40):
God wants a relationship withus, he wants to be involved in
our lives for us to lean on himfor certain things, and then for
us to exercise our innercharacter that's been developed
by his spirit.
(10:00):
As we cooperate with him, andhis character is developed in
us, that we can experiencegrowth in that area.
Not just in functioning with thegiftings, learning how to see
the giftings operate, but thecharacter qualities, those
(10:21):
internal qualities that arereally, really, really necessary
when it comes to leadership.
And so for those of you who areleaders, regardless of whether
or not it's in a setting of alocal church leadership role, or
you are a leader in yourindustry, the line of work that
(10:41):
you are daily involved in, ifyou're a leader at all in any of
those areas, this is veryrelevant to you.
This focus on 1 Samuel chapters9 through 15.
(11:05):
We've been there for a while,we're gonna, like I said, we're
gonna remain there for anotherfew episodes because there's
some things for leaders that wecan draw out from here.
And we're using King Saul as anexample.
And as we said previously, Godhas used Israel and some of the
(11:29):
leaders within Israel over thecourse of hundreds and thousands
of years, he's used them as asundial because they are his
chosen people.
They remain to be.
And those of us who believe inJesus are grafted into the
(11:51):
promises that have been given toIsrael, and so, like a wild
olive branch, we've been graftedin, and we are now part of God's
blessing, and we become one newman in Jesus, where there's no
longer any Greek or Jew slave orfree man, but we are one in
(12:19):
Christ.
Hallelujah.
But leadership leadership ispart of any organization.
Whether it's a small groupmeeting in a home, or if it's a
(12:45):
large corporation that has multilocations in all each of these
groups requires leadership.
And leadership is simply theperson or people that are called
(13:07):
to be in front, living a life asan example for others to see
what it looks like to be aservant of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Hallelujah.
(13:29):
We are examples, and so weexperience things ahead of
people.
We encounter things beforeothers encounter them,
oftentimes.
We have a God-given sense as towhat's going on within any given
(13:53):
group that we are leaders of.
We can feel the goings on of thegroup.
It's an amazing thing.
It's a God given thing.
Even if you don't believe inGod, God gives things to people.
(14:21):
He gives people abilities,things.
He gives gifts to men.
And sometimes we grow into thosegiftings.
And so to have a gift is a greatthing because it is just that,
it's a gift.
(14:42):
You didn't earn it, you didn'tdeserve it.
It's a gift.
Now you may have gone to schoolto hone it a bit, amen that, but
it started out as a gift, as aspark.
It came as a result of Godplacing it upon you.
(15:05):
And Saul had that very thinggoing on in his life.
In fact, we're gonna look at 1Samuel chapter 9, verses 4
through 8 to begin with.
And there's gonna be twocouplets.
(15:27):
One couplet and then anothercouplet of scriptures that I
want to look at because theycompare an event that took place
when the gift of God wasmanifest onto Saul, and then
(15:54):
what it was like when he wasn'toperating under the power of
that gift.
He was just operating on his ownabilities.
You see where the problem is.
So Samuel said that there'sgoing to be a group of people
(16:25):
that were gonna greet him, andin verse 4 it says, Offer you
two loaves of bread, which youwill accept from them.
Pretty specific.
Before this ever happens, he'stelling Saul that this is gonna
happen, and he goes on to say,After that you will go to Gibeah
(16:46):
of God, where there is aPhilistine outpost.
As you approach the town, youwill meet a procession of
prophets coming down from thehigh place, with lyres,
tambourines, flutes, and harpsbeing played before them, and
they will prophesy, and theywill be prophesying, excuse me.
(17:08):
The Spirit of the Lord will comeupon you in power, and you will
prophesy with them, and you willbe changed into a different
person.
Once these signs are fulfilled,do whatever you find your hands
to do, for God is with you.
Go down ahead of me to Gilgal.
I will surely come down to youto sacrifice burnt offerings and
(17:29):
fellowship offerings, but youmust wait seven days until I
come to you and tell you whatyou are to do.
So we find out that that isexactly what took place to Saul.
(17:51):
When Samuel said these thingsare going to take place, they
took place, which, by the way,that is the workings of a true
prophet.
Accuracy.
And if you have a prophetic giftand you're just growing in it,
(18:13):
be careful not to get ahead ofyourself and start running
downhill with this thing andtumble over, because you can
easily let your tongue get toofar ahead and start saying
things that God didn't intendfor you to say.
So be wise in your delivery ofthe word because when you
(18:34):
recognize there's a prophet,people start weighing things out
differently and adjusting theirlives accordingly.
So we want to make sure thatwe're directing people in the
ways that God would have, notwhat our own thoughts would like
(18:54):
to see take place.
And so after Samuel left andafter Saul went on his way,
everything's placed just likeSamuel said, and then later on,
later on in verse 20, right?
(19:16):
In verse 20, we pick up theconversation.
When Samuel brought all thetribes of Israel near, the tribe
of Benjamin was chosen.
This was the day that Samuel wasgoing to anoint the king of
(19:37):
Israel.
So you get the picture.
Saul was empowered with theSpirit of God.
He got a taste of whatleadership was like when you're
empowered by God.
And he was prophesying and hewas full of boldness.
And people were marveling, theywere saying, this now, Saul
(20:01):
among the prophets also, becausethey had not recognized him as
that type of person before.
But Sammy said, You're going tobecome like a different man when
this happens.
And that is true for anyone whohas experienced the giftings of
God.
They're powerful.
(20:22):
They actually have a physicaleffect on a person's life, as
well as a mental and emotionaland spiritual impact.
Then in verse twenty one hegoes, Then he brought forward
the tribe of Benjamin, clan byclan, and Majri's clan was
(20:48):
chosen.
Finally son of Kish was chosen,but when they looked for him, he
was not to be found.
So he inquired further to theLord.
He is not the has the man comehere yet?
And the Lord replied, Yes, hehas hidden himself among the
(21:10):
baggage.
Then they ran and brought himout, and as he stood among the
people, he was a head tallerthan any of the others.
Samuel said to all the people,Do you see the man the Lord has
chosen?
This is no one like him excuseme, there is no one like him
(21:32):
among all the people.
Then the people showed it, Longlive the king.
He was endured with power, andlater he was hiding among the
bags where the donkeys werekept.
(21:56):
What happened?
What happened was there werestill some undealt with issues
in Saul's life that the gifting,as powerful as it was, couldn't
touch because that wassituational.
(22:17):
Character takes place in aperson's life when no one else
is looking.
That's integrity.
Character.
True character, who you reallyare, is who you really are when
no one else is looking.
When it's just you and how youlive your life when it's just
(22:44):
you is your character.
And Saul has some undealt withareas of fear and insecurity.
He didn't necessarily want to bethe king.
(23:22):
He said, I can't even talkright.
Well, God made arrangements forthat to take place, but still
Moses was called to go.
He was chosen.
Well, Saul was chosen by God, Ibelieve, in many respects, to
(23:50):
teach Israel a lesson.
And the lesson was that theywere premature.
The nation was premature indemanding that they would have a
king like the other nations hadkings.
God had something in store.
And had they waited just alittle bit longer, their first
king would have more than likelybeen David.
(24:10):
But it wasn't.
It was Saul, and so they weregoing to learn the lessons that
go along with rushing thingsinstead of being patient for
things.
What happens when you rushthings?
You get a Saul.
(24:33):
And Saul had issues.
And we have the advantage oflooking in on his life and
making some adjustments withinour own lives with the help of
God so that we don't fall intothe same snare as Saul.
(25:01):
We notice in Saul's life that hehad in his character flaws, he
had fear and insecurity,impatience, disobedience,
self-centeredness and pride,jealousy and anger, and blame
(25:26):
shifting.
These were issues that were inthe life of Saul.
And even though he was gifted attimes to be a great military
(25:48):
leader, he didn't have theinternal character that was in
place to handle that gifting.
And I believe God was showingIsrael a very clear thing that
(26:10):
takes place when we want thingsahead of God's timetable and he
allows us to get them.
It's not going to be the best.
We're going to at times sufferthe consequences of our
(26:32):
impatience.
In this instance, it was throughthe character flaws in the life
of Saul.
Those issues that we listed,they're not uncommon.
The things that we all dealwith.
You as a leader, at some pointin your life, have at least
(26:53):
dealt with one of those areasand are at least dealing with to
this very day at least one ofthose areas.
Because we conquer them instages.
Each time I've had abreakthrough in a certain area
(27:18):
of life, I celebrate thatbreakthrough, but then I realize
when I get another level ofresponsibility, that I'm faced
with that same temptation torevert back to my old behavior
(27:40):
when I'm experiencing pressurefrom the new responsibility.
I thought that the thing wasdealt with, and it was, but it
was dealt with on the level thatit was necessary to have it
dealt with under that anointing.
(28:03):
But with a greater anointingcomes greater privilege but also
greater responsibility.
And Saul went from beingbasically a farmer to being a
king overnight.
Now that didn't really leave awhole lot of grooming time for
(28:26):
him to experience that anointingand then the pressure of that
position.
Can you imagine being king of anation?
And not really being preparedfor it.
All the pressure that comes yourway as a result of you being the
(28:49):
head of the parade.
The expectations of people startgetting very, very, very high.
And their opinions become veryvocal.
And the pressure to appeasepeople becomes very great for
(29:12):
leaders.
Oftentimes in the Christianchurch, that's what leaders are
doing.
They're people pleasingthemselves to death.
Trying to keep the people happy.
Trying to keep the peoplecoming.
Trying to keep the people tryingto keep the people.
(29:34):
Well that's not even our job.
We're to feed the sheep.
And send people out into theworld that we live in to impact
(29:54):
it and power the kingdom.
So back to the life of Saul.
Another portion of his life inchapter thirteen.
(30:44):
What have you done?
asked Samuel.
Saul replied, When I saw the menwere scattering, and that you
did not come at the set time,and the Philistines were
assembling at Mikmash, Ithought, Now the Philistines
will come down against me atGilgal, and I have not sought
the Lord's favor.
(31:05):
So I felt compelled to do theburnt offering.
You acted foolishly, Samuelsaid.
You have not kept the commandthe Lord your God gave you.
If you had, he would haveestablished your kingdom over
Israel for all time.
But now your kingdom will notendure.
The Lord has sought out a manafter his own heart and
appointed him leader of hispeople, because you have not
(31:28):
kept the Lord's command.
Remember when the Lord saidthrough Samuel to Saul to stay
and wait seven days, and thenSamuel would be the one to do
the offering.
(31:49):
That was a command of the Lord,that was the word of the Lord.
Because of the fear that was inSaul's heart.
(32:12):
It was a big deal.
There's some things that wemight look at and say, oh, it's
not that big of a deal, we'lljust handle it.
When it's not the right order,things soon fall into complete
disarray.
(32:33):
God has a way of doing things.
And Saul wasn't capable offollowing through.
(33:21):
And they're powerful.
I encourage you to read them andlook at them for yourselves, dig
them out, and find out some realnuggets in there.
But what I'd like to do rightnow is I'd like to take a moment
and just close in a time ofprayer.
(33:45):
Father, thank you, God, for whoyou are.
And for what you do, how you howyou're going about doing things.
We love you.
We honor you.
And we look to you right now.
And we invite you, Holy Spirit,to mold and shape us into the
(34:06):
very character and likeness ofJesus.
And help us escape the pitfallof not having character, but
just relying upon gifting.
And seeing in the end that itproduces shipwrecked lives,
(34:29):
Lord.
And where that's happened, I askthat you'd bring about healing
and repair.
People that have been on theoutside, wounded as a result of
what took place on the inside,would find their way back into a
(34:50):
place of fellowship.
With you and with one another.
We honor you.
And we just pray these things,sealing them in the name of
Jesus.
We say, Amen.
Amen, amen.
unknown (35:13):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (35:14):
All right, folks.
We love you.
Excuse me.
If you have any thoughts,questions, or concerns, please
feel free to drop us a line atlife around the fire at
gmail.com or type in Life Aroundthe Fire and look us up on the
web.
We would love to hear from you.
In the meantime, God bless you.
Adios, amigos.
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