November 6, 2025 • 27 mins
A nation on the brink of change, a community under siege, and a leader torn between the fear of people and the fear of God—this conversation journeys through 1 Samuel 10–13 to uncover why character, not charisma, determines the future. We explore Israel’s move from judges to monarchy and why the desire to look like other nations exposed deeper heart issues. When Nahash threatened Jabesh Gilead with humiliation, the crisis revealed the danger of life on the fringe and the power of unity in covenant community.
We trace Saul’s early promise—prophetic signs, the Spirit’s empowering, and a new heart—alongside the cracks that later defined his reign: fear, impatience, disobedience, jealousy, and a habit of prioritizing public opinion over God’s commands. These are not ancient relics; they’re modern leadership pressures. We talk candidly about how gifting can lift you into visibility while undealt-with issues quietly erode trust, and why waiting on God’s timing is not weakness but wisdom. Had Israel waited, they would have aligned with God’s choice of David—a leader after God’s heart—rather than accelerating a solution that mirrored their divided desires.
This episode offers practical counsel for leaders and communities: stay connected to the center of fellowship where character is forged, build rhythms of confession and counsel, measure success by faithfulness not noise, and resist the lure to trade holiness for hype. We close in prayer, asking for a generation of leaders whose private lives are stronger than their platforms and whose power serves love. If this resonates, share it with someone who leads, subscribe for the next deep dive on Saul and David, and leave a review with one insight you’re taking forward. Your voice helps this message reach those who need it most.
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):
One of the key things that we've been looking
at recently is we've been takinga dive into the book of First
Samuel, and we're finding somevery interesting things
concerning the nation of Israeland correlating their experience
(00:59):
with some of our own experiencesin life.
And with Israel, we have for uswhat's the equivalent of a
sundial, in the fact that Godhas chosen Israel as his chosen
people to be for the rest of theworld a real sun dial as to what
(01:22):
God is doing on planet Earthprophetically.
And we see often the correlationthat what Israel goes through we
as the body of Christ findourselves going through because
(01:43):
we are grafted in, like a wildolive branch grafted into an
olive tree or like a wild vinegrafted into a grape vine.
We have been grafted intoIsrael's promise within the
covenant that God has made,starting with Abraham and
(02:05):
leading up to the covenant thathas been cut now through Jesus
Christ, the new covenant, in hisblood, in his body.
And Israel has throughout theages served as a sundial.
And it's important for us toreally take note of what is
(02:28):
taking place or has taken placein Israel because we can learn a
lot about our own lives bylooking at Israel.
And in this particular portionof scripture that we're in right
now, in 1 Samuel chapters 10through 13, we see a real major
transition in the governance ofIsrael, in how they were being
(02:53):
they were going through atransition from being a country
that was governed by God astheir sovereign king, and judges
that were prophets and differentfigures throughout Israel set up
at different times to bringabout their decision-making
(03:14):
process in how they would befulfilling their covenant
obligations in theirrelationship with God as a
nation.
And we find that there are timesthat Israel really was with
their heart sold out tofollowing God, and then other
(03:39):
times not so much.
In fact, just the opposite sideof the coin, they turned their
backs on God and began servingother foreign gods, the gods of
the nations around them, becausethey wanted to be like the other
nations.
They didn't want to bedifferent.
(04:00):
And there's a tendency, I think,within all of us, to be able to
fit in, to kind of just be partof what's the average, normal
crowd, and go along with thatparticular popular opinion and
not stand out too much.
Because when we stand out, weare subject to a variety of
(04:24):
other opinions being made aboutus, and sometimes our
insecurities and other thingsshow when we're singled out.
Well, the truth of the matter isin the life of Israel, that's
their story.
They have lived out in full viewin front of the whole world,
(04:47):
their ups and their downs.
And oftentimes their downsidehas been emphasized much more
than their upside.
And we find the same thing goingon during this transition time,
that Israel was in a place ofnot having their whole
(05:09):
organization set up yet in fullfashion when they were
challenged by an outside enemy.
And isn't that the case withinour own lives often?
When we go through a time oftransition and things aren't
(05:30):
necessarily set up completelythe way that they're going to be
in the new way of doing things,and we get challenged.
Something happens thatchallenges our state of being.
We are challenged by an opposingforce, sometimes blatantly,
(05:55):
sometimes very subtly, butoftentimes there's a challenge.
Well, Israel found themselves inthat place in chapter eleven of
1 Samuel when a ruler, anAmmonite ruler by the name of
(06:15):
Nahash, and his name literallymeant serpent or snake, and he
was a crafty individual, aruthless leader, and he besieged
or laid siege on one particulartown in eastern Israel.
(06:37):
And it was a town by the name ofJibeth Gilead or Jabesh Gilead,
excuse me, Jabesh Gilead.
And they were a relatively fareastern outpost of Israel that
was a bit vulnerable, and theyhad a reputation of not
(07:00):
necessarily always wanting tojoin in with the rest of the
nation of Israel to fight.
They kind of wanted to settle onthe other side of the Jordan so
they could have theirinheritance early.
But it left them vulnerable tobeing attacked by outside
enemies.
(07:22):
And sometimes they were caughtoff guard because they felt that
they were as secure as the restof the nation was, but they were
not.
And that is oftentimes the casewithin our own lives, that we
(07:43):
can be on the outskirts of ourfellowship and really not all
that connected, because we don'tnecessarily want to get involved
in the daily skirmishes and thethings that go along with having
privilege, and that is havingsome responsibility also.
(08:07):
And human nature is that way,that if we don't necessarily
have to be involved, we tend notto be involved.
And it's only by us beingempowered by the Spirit of God
that we can be successfullyengaged in any type of real
(08:31):
kingdom activity.
Now that's good news on onehand.
On the other hand, it leaves usvulnerable during transition
times because things aren'tfully developed yet.
And Nahash attacked this outpostof Israel and said that he would
(08:52):
make a treaty with them underthese conditions, that he would
gouge out their right eye, andit would maim all the men, all
the men of Jabesh Gilead wouldhave their right eye gouged out,
which would cripple them forwar, and it would also be a sign
(09:13):
of inferiority that would bringinsult to the entire nation of
Israel, the fact that theyweren't capable of fending or
defending their own.
And so Gilead reached out to therest of Israel, even though they
(09:33):
didn't have the best ofrelationships with the rest of
the nation.
And again, a little sidebar,that behooves us to have good
relationships in the fellowshipthat we're a part of.
Not to be on the fringe anddoing the least amount possible,
but becoming involved in thelife flow of our fellowship
(09:57):
because that's really where theheart of the matter is,
considering community, but alsothat's where we grow the most.
Our character developmenthappens most when we are joined
together.
It just works that way.
(10:17):
Funny thing.
Well, as we said, the nation ofIsrael was moving in a
transition from having judgesbeing their earthly rulers to
having a king being over themlike the other nations.
(10:39):
Now, Israel was actually jumpingthe gun on this one.
And had they waited another fewyears, David, the second king of
Israel, which was actually thechoice of God, it was God's
(11:00):
choice, not the people's choice.
The people wanted a king, so Godsaid, I'll give you a king right
after your own heart, basically.
And he gave them Saul.
And Saul had a divided heart andmind, just like the nation had a
divided heart and mind.
And had they waited a few moreyears, David was just being
(11:25):
born.
In and around the time that thetransition was starting to take
place in Israel.
And by the time Saul wasanointed king, David would just
have been a very young man.
And a few years later, he wasliterally qualified to be
(11:50):
anointed as the king of Israel,and we'll find out later why.
Because Saul, in his choicemaking, nullified himself,
disqualified himself from beinga capable leader, a king of
Israel, and he was rejected byGod, ultimately.
(12:13):
And David was God's choice, aman after God's own heart.
But Saul wasn't necessarily anall he was he was he wasn't he
was he was not an evil man inthe sense that he had it in him
to do wrong.
He had some character flaws inhim that were undealt with, and
(12:38):
later they would prove to be hisdownfall.
And some of the character flawsthat Saul had included fear,
impatience, disobedience,jealousy, and a tendency to
(12:58):
prioritize public opinions overGod's commands.
Let me read that again.
Saw's character flaws includedfear, impatience, disobedience,
(13:23):
jealousy, and a tendency toprioritize public opinion over
God's commands.
These are the things that madehim a poor king.
But I want to read somethingconcerning the early days of
(13:44):
Saul's kingship and how God hadit set up so that he was setting
Saul up for success.
But also he was revealing whathappens when there are issues
that are undealt with in aperson's life, even when God
(14:04):
sets us up to have success.
There can be some things thatundermine that in the end.
And in 1 Samuel chapter 10,verse 5, Samuel is telling Saul
things that are going to betaking place in the near future.
(14:27):
And he's prophesying to Saulthese things.
They haven't taken place yet,but he goes into great details
of what is going to be takingplace.
And here's what he said in verse5 of 1 Samuel chapter 10.
He said, After that you will goto Gibeah of God, where there is
a Philistine outpost.
(14:49):
As you approach the town, youwill meet a procession of
prophets coming down from thehigh places, with lyres,
tambourines, flutes, and harpsbeing played before them, and
they will be prophesying.
The Spirit of the Lord will comeupon you and make you a
(15:09):
different person.
Once these signs are fulfilled,do whatever your hand finds to
do, for the Lord God is withyou.
Go down ahead of me to Gilgal.
I will be sure to come down tosacrifice, burn offerings and
(15:33):
fellowship offerings with you,but you must wait seven days
until I come to you and tell youwhat you are to do next.
So Samuel tells him veryspecifically something that's
going to be taking place.
And later on we find in versechapter in chapter eleven,
(16:01):
excuse me, chapter ten.
Verse seventeen.
Samuel summoned the people ofIsrael to Lord Amispah and said
to them, This is what the Lordthe God of Israel says.
(16:22):
And then he tells them that allthe things that God had done to
bring them out of Egypt.
And then we find that there wassomething that took place the
next day, and that is thatliterally Saul met the guys that
(16:50):
Samuel said he was going tomeet, and he began to prophesy
because the spirit of the Lordcame upon him.
And in verse number nine, inchapter ten we read, and as Saul
(17:13):
turned toward to leave Samuel,God changed Saul's heart, and
all these signs were fulfilledthat day.
When they arrived to Gibeah, aprocession of prophets met him.
The Spirit of God came upon himin power, and he joined in their
prophesying.
When all those who had formerlyknown him saw him prophesying
(17:35):
for the prophets, they askedeach other, What is this?
This has happened to the son ofKish, is Saul among the
prophets?
They couldn't believe it.
Saul, this guy that wasrelatively bashful, was in this
procession of prophetsprophesying just exactly as
(17:58):
Samuel had said, which goes toshow that God had set things up
for Saul to be successful.
You see, when the Spirit of Godcomes upon us, now I'm speaking
to leaders here, and you wellknow this, that when the Spirit
(18:20):
of God comes upon you, there's adifferent thing that takes place
between you just talking and Godministering both to you and
through you.
You become like a different manor a different woman.
There's something happens,there's an unction, there's a
(18:41):
power, and there's a giftingthat goes along with the Spirit
of God coming upon someone.
And Saul felt that.
(19:02):
Gifting does not equate tocharacter.
Someone can be extremely giftedbut have poor character.
And even though when they'regifted things happen, they
undermine those successes withpoor character.
(19:24):
And God is actually moreinterested in having all of us,
in winning all of us, than uswinning all the world.
He'd rather win all of you thanyou win all the world and have
(19:49):
poor character.
Because you can win all theworld by being gifted.
But inside Jesus has never knownyou.
He's never been close to you.
Your character is flawed.
(20:09):
And that is an important keypoint to soberly think about.
And that is this are youoperating out of your gifting or
are you functioning as a resultof the character that God has
put in your life?
Because the life of Saul hadthese internal issues going on,
(20:31):
no matter what would take placewhen the Spirit of God would
come upon him, afterwards, hewasn't able to follow through.
And it doesn't matter how goodyou begin.
If you end poorly, people aren'tgoing to remember the beginning
(20:51):
point.
And poor character can lead aperson into having a testimony
at the end of things that isunfortunate.
But when we have the characterestablished within us, when God
(21:15):
is able to mold his characterwithin us, and then we are
gifted, that combination is apowerful combination.
And that's really where we'regoing in this study.
Is there's a contrast betweenthe life of Saul and life of
David.
(21:35):
Even though they both were menthat committed sins, there was
something different in theircharacter.
We need men and women ofcharacter to be leaders, not
(21:59):
people who are gifted for themoment, but behind the scenes
are doing things that areundermining the successes that
take place as a result of thegiftings.
And we have then problems.
We have divisions that takeplace, we have controversies, we
(22:21):
have unnecessary turmoil andstrife.
We're a mockery in the side ofthe world because we look like
we are just a bunch of foolsfollowing around people because
we want to be like the world andhave leaders that are
(22:43):
charismatic, even if theircharacter is the best, because
after all, we want to look likethose around us, because the
stand out is an awkward thing,but sometimes it's a necessary
thing.
We don't need to bring it on asa result of our behavior that is
(23:07):
antiquated and outdated.
That's not what I'm talkingabout.
I'm talking about having moralcharacter.
That you don't participate incertain things that other people
do because you have a certainstandard, and you go by that
character that's within you,regardless of whether or not
(23:29):
it's popular opinion.
And sometimes in a place ofleadership, that's easier said
than done because pressure comeswith leadership.
And it's a pressure to be likeeveryone else when God wants us
to be unique and obedient firstand foremost to Him.
(23:54):
And so we're going to be lookingat this a little bit further in
the next episode.
Life of Saul and how theseinsecurities were really the
major downfall that led him tobeing actually at one point in
time demonized, so troubled bythem that actually demonic
(24:14):
spirits were able to come in andharass his mind.
Undealt with issues can be opendoors for bigger problems than
we initially thought about.
Especially if you put yourselfin a place of leadership or put
(24:35):
into a place of leadership andyou're not prepared for it.
It's better to wait and haveyour character develop further
than to enter in prematurely andfall into the same trap as the
devil did, and that is pride.
(24:58):
So strong word, a necessaryword, a word to leaders.
Don't rely on your gifting.
What's your character like?
And if it's a little bit weak, aweak character, take some time
(25:23):
and let God strengthen that.
Before you enter into morepublic work.
So there can be people of strongcharacter and strong gifting who
are leaders.
Because that's what is needed atthis point in time, all
(25:46):
throughout the nations, in thebody of Christ.
That's pray.
Father, first of all, thank you,God, for who you are, for what
you're doing and how you'redoing it.
(26:16):
But that we won't give ourselvesover to just the charismatic
mindset of having some celebritylead us so we can be like the
rest of the world.
But help us follow the exampleof Jesus and to only say and do
(26:39):
what we hear you saying anddoing, Father.
So we could walk in a way whereour character reflects the
gifting.
And if the gifting actuallyenhance the character that you
have established within us.
(27:06):
As you released your spirit uponus, and do us with power, but
establish your character withinus.
In the mighty name of Jesus, wepray.
Amen.
Amen, amen.
Alright, folks.
We love you.
(27:27):
And if you have any otherthoughts, questions, concerns,
please feel free to drop us aline at lifearoundheire 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.
One of the key things that we've been looking
at recently is we've been takinga dive into the book of First
Samuel, and we're finding somevery interesting things
concerning the nation of Israeland correlating their experience
(00:59):
with some of our own experiencesin life.
And with Israel, we have for uswhat's the equivalent of a
sundial, in the fact that Godhas chosen Israel as his chosen
people to be for the rest of theworld a real sun dial as to what
(01:22):
God is doing on planet Earthprophetically.
And we see often the correlationthat what Israel goes through we
as the body of Christ findourselves going through because
(01:43):
we are grafted in, like a wildolive branch grafted into an
olive tree or like a wild vinegrafted into a grape vine.
We have been grafted intoIsrael's promise within the
covenant that God has made,starting with Abraham and
(02:05):
leading up to the covenant thathas been cut now through Jesus
Christ, the new covenant, in hisblood, in his body.
And Israel has throughout theages served as a sundial.
And it's important for us toreally take note of what is
(02:28):
taking place or has taken placein Israel because we can learn a
lot about our own lives bylooking at Israel.
And in this particular portionof scripture that we're in right
now, in 1 Samuel chapters 10through 13, we see a real major
transition in the governance ofIsrael, in how they were being
(02:53):
they were going through atransition from being a country
that was governed by God astheir sovereign king, and judges
that were prophets and differentfigures throughout Israel set up
at different times to bringabout their decision-making
(03:14):
process in how they would befulfilling their covenant
obligations in theirrelationship with God as a
nation.
And we find that there are timesthat Israel really was with
their heart sold out tofollowing God, and then other
(03:39):
times not so much.
In fact, just the opposite sideof the coin, they turned their
backs on God and began servingother foreign gods, the gods of
the nations around them, becausethey wanted to be like the other
nations.
They didn't want to bedifferent.
(04:00):
And there's a tendency, I think,within all of us, to be able to
fit in, to kind of just be partof what's the average, normal
crowd, and go along with thatparticular popular opinion and
not stand out too much.
Because when we stand out, weare subject to a variety of
(04:24):
other opinions being made aboutus, and sometimes our
insecurities and other thingsshow when we're singled out.
Well, the truth of the matter isin the life of Israel, that's
their story.
They have lived out in full viewin front of the whole world,
(04:47):
their ups and their downs.
And oftentimes their downsidehas been emphasized much more
than their upside.
And we find the same thing goingon during this transition time,
that Israel was in a place ofnot having their whole
(05:09):
organization set up yet in fullfashion when they were
challenged by an outside enemy.
And isn't that the case withinour own lives often?
When we go through a time oftransition and things aren't
(05:30):
necessarily set up completelythe way that they're going to be
in the new way of doing things,and we get challenged.
Something happens thatchallenges our state of being.
We are challenged by an opposingforce, sometimes blatantly,
(05:55):
sometimes very subtly, butoftentimes there's a challenge.
Well, Israel found themselves inthat place in chapter eleven of
1 Samuel when a ruler, anAmmonite ruler by the name of
(06:15):
Nahash, and his name literallymeant serpent or snake, and he
was a crafty individual, aruthless leader, and he besieged
or laid siege on one particulartown in eastern Israel.
(06:37):
And it was a town by the name ofJibeth Gilead or Jabesh Gilead,
excuse me, Jabesh Gilead.
And they were a relatively fareastern outpost of Israel that
was a bit vulnerable, and theyhad a reputation of not
(07:00):
necessarily always wanting tojoin in with the rest of the
nation of Israel to fight.
They kind of wanted to settle onthe other side of the Jordan so
they could have theirinheritance early.
But it left them vulnerable tobeing attacked by outside
enemies.
(07:22):
And sometimes they were caughtoff guard because they felt that
they were as secure as the restof the nation was, but they were
not.
And that is oftentimes the casewithin our own lives, that we
(07:43):
can be on the outskirts of ourfellowship and really not all
that connected, because we don'tnecessarily want to get involved
in the daily skirmishes and thethings that go along with having
privilege, and that is havingsome responsibility also.
(08:07):
And human nature is that way,that if we don't necessarily
have to be involved, we tend notto be involved.
And it's only by us beingempowered by the Spirit of God
that we can be successfullyengaged in any type of real
(08:31):
kingdom activity.
Now that's good news on onehand.
On the other hand, it leaves usvulnerable during transition
times because things aren'tfully developed yet.
And Nahash attacked this outpostof Israel and said that he would
(08:52):
make a treaty with them underthese conditions, that he would
gouge out their right eye, andit would maim all the men, all
the men of Jabesh Gilead wouldhave their right eye gouged out,
which would cripple them forwar, and it would also be a sign
(09:13):
of inferiority that would bringinsult to the entire nation of
Israel, the fact that theyweren't capable of fending or
defending their own.
And so Gilead reached out to therest of Israel, even though they
(09:33):
didn't have the best ofrelationships with the rest of
the nation.
And again, a little sidebar,that behooves us to have good
relationships in the fellowshipthat we're a part of.
Not to be on the fringe anddoing the least amount possible,
but becoming involved in thelife flow of our fellowship
(09:57):
because that's really where theheart of the matter is,
considering community, but alsothat's where we grow the most.
Our character developmenthappens most when we are joined
together.
It just works that way.
(10:17):
Funny thing.
Well, as we said, the nation ofIsrael was moving in a
transition from having judgesbeing their earthly rulers to
having a king being over themlike the other nations.
(10:39):
Now, Israel was actually jumpingthe gun on this one.
And had they waited another fewyears, David, the second king of
Israel, which was actually thechoice of God, it was God's
(11:00):
choice, not the people's choice.
The people wanted a king, so Godsaid, I'll give you a king right
after your own heart, basically.
And he gave them Saul.
And Saul had a divided heart andmind, just like the nation had a
divided heart and mind.
And had they waited a few moreyears, David was just being
(11:25):
born.
In and around the time that thetransition was starting to take
place in Israel.
And by the time Saul wasanointed king, David would just
have been a very young man.
And a few years later, he wasliterally qualified to be
(11:50):
anointed as the king of Israel,and we'll find out later why.
Because Saul, in his choicemaking, nullified himself,
disqualified himself from beinga capable leader, a king of
Israel, and he was rejected byGod, ultimately.
(12:13):
And David was God's choice, aman after God's own heart.
But Saul wasn't necessarily anall he was he was he wasn't he
was he was not an evil man inthe sense that he had it in him
to do wrong.
He had some character flaws inhim that were undealt with, and
(12:38):
later they would prove to be hisdownfall.
And some of the character flawsthat Saul had included fear,
impatience, disobedience,jealousy, and a tendency to
(12:58):
prioritize public opinions overGod's commands.
Let me read that again.
Saw's character flaws includedfear, impatience, disobedience,
(13:23):
jealousy, and a tendency toprioritize public opinion over
God's commands.
These are the things that madehim a poor king.
But I want to read somethingconcerning the early days of
(13:44):
Saul's kingship and how God hadit set up so that he was setting
Saul up for success.
But also he was revealing whathappens when there are issues
that are undealt with in aperson's life, even when God
(14:04):
sets us up to have success.
There can be some things thatundermine that in the end.
And in 1 Samuel chapter 10,verse 5, Samuel is telling Saul
things that are going to betaking place in the near future.
(14:27):
And he's prophesying to Saulthese things.
They haven't taken place yet,but he goes into great details
of what is going to be takingplace.
And here's what he said in verse5 of 1 Samuel chapter 10.
He said, After that you will goto Gibeah of God, where there is
a Philistine outpost.
(14:49):
As you approach the town, youwill meet a procession of
prophets coming down from thehigh places, with lyres,
tambourines, flutes, and harpsbeing played before them, and
they will be prophesying.
The Spirit of the Lord will comeupon you and make you a
(15:09):
different person.
Once these signs are fulfilled,do whatever your hand finds to
do, for the Lord God is withyou.
Go down ahead of me to Gilgal.
I will be sure to come down tosacrifice, burn offerings and
(15:33):
fellowship offerings with you,but you must wait seven days
until I come to you and tell youwhat you are to do next.
So Samuel tells him veryspecifically something that's
going to be taking place.
And later on we find in versechapter in chapter eleven,
(16:01):
excuse me, chapter ten.
Verse seventeen.
Samuel summoned the people ofIsrael to Lord Amispah and said
to them, This is what the Lordthe God of Israel says.
(16:22):
And then he tells them that allthe things that God had done to
bring them out of Egypt.
And then we find that there wassomething that took place the
next day, and that is thatliterally Saul met the guys that
(16:50):
Samuel said he was going tomeet, and he began to prophesy
because the spirit of the Lordcame upon him.
And in verse number nine, inchapter ten we read, and as Saul
(17:13):
turned toward to leave Samuel,God changed Saul's heart, and
all these signs were fulfilledthat day.
When they arrived to Gibeah, aprocession of prophets met him.
The Spirit of God came upon himin power, and he joined in their
prophesying.
When all those who had formerlyknown him saw him prophesying
(17:35):
for the prophets, they askedeach other, What is this?
This has happened to the son ofKish, is Saul among the
prophets?
They couldn't believe it.
Saul, this guy that wasrelatively bashful, was in this
procession of prophetsprophesying just exactly as
(17:58):
Samuel had said, which goes toshow that God had set things up
for Saul to be successful.
You see, when the Spirit of Godcomes upon us, now I'm speaking
to leaders here, and you wellknow this, that when the Spirit
(18:20):
of God comes upon you, there's adifferent thing that takes place
between you just talking and Godministering both to you and
through you.
You become like a different manor a different woman.
There's something happens,there's an unction, there's a
(18:41):
power, and there's a giftingthat goes along with the Spirit
of God coming upon someone.
And Saul felt that.
(19:02):
Gifting does not equate tocharacter.
Someone can be extremely giftedbut have poor character.
And even though when they'regifted things happen, they
undermine those successes withpoor character.
(19:24):
And God is actually moreinterested in having all of us,
in winning all of us, than uswinning all the world.
He'd rather win all of you thanyou win all the world and have
(19:49):
poor character.
Because you can win all theworld by being gifted.
But inside Jesus has never knownyou.
He's never been close to you.
Your character is flawed.
(20:09):
And that is an important keypoint to soberly think about.
And that is this are youoperating out of your gifting or
are you functioning as a resultof the character that God has
put in your life?
Because the life of Saul hadthese internal issues going on,
(20:31):
no matter what would take placewhen the Spirit of God would
come upon him, afterwards, hewasn't able to follow through.
And it doesn't matter how goodyou begin.
If you end poorly, people aren'tgoing to remember the beginning
(20:51):
point.
And poor character can lead aperson into having a testimony
at the end of things that isunfortunate.
But when we have the characterestablished within us, when God
(21:15):
is able to mold his characterwithin us, and then we are
gifted, that combination is apowerful combination.
And that's really where we'regoing in this study.
Is there's a contrast betweenthe life of Saul and life of
David.
(21:35):
Even though they both were menthat committed sins, there was
something different in theircharacter.
We need men and women ofcharacter to be leaders, not
(21:59):
people who are gifted for themoment, but behind the scenes
are doing things that areundermining the successes that
take place as a result of thegiftings.
And we have then problems.
We have divisions that takeplace, we have controversies, we
(22:21):
have unnecessary turmoil andstrife.
We're a mockery in the side ofthe world because we look like
we are just a bunch of foolsfollowing around people because
we want to be like the world andhave leaders that are
(22:43):
charismatic, even if theircharacter is the best, because
after all, we want to look likethose around us, because the
stand out is an awkward thing,but sometimes it's a necessary
thing.
We don't need to bring it on asa result of our behavior that is
(23:07):
antiquated and outdated.
That's not what I'm talkingabout.
I'm talking about having moralcharacter.
That you don't participate incertain things that other people
do because you have a certainstandard, and you go by that
character that's within you,regardless of whether or not
(23:29):
it's popular opinion.
And sometimes in a place ofleadership, that's easier said
than done because pressure comeswith leadership.
And it's a pressure to be likeeveryone else when God wants us
to be unique and obedient firstand foremost to Him.
(23:54):
And so we're going to be lookingat this a little bit further in
the next episode.
Life of Saul and how theseinsecurities were really the
major downfall that led him tobeing actually at one point in
time demonized, so troubled bythem that actually demonic
(24:14):
spirits were able to come in andharass his mind.
Undealt with issues can be opendoors for bigger problems than
we initially thought about.
Especially if you put yourselfin a place of leadership or put
(24:35):
into a place of leadership andyou're not prepared for it.
It's better to wait and haveyour character develop further
than to enter in prematurely andfall into the same trap as the
devil did, and that is pride.
(24:58):
So strong word, a necessaryword, a word to leaders.
Don't rely on your gifting.
What's your character like?
And if it's a little bit weak, aweak character, take some time
(25:23):
and let God strengthen that.
Before you enter into morepublic work.
So there can be people of strongcharacter and strong gifting who
are leaders.
Because that's what is needed atthis point in time, all
(25:46):
throughout the nations, in thebody of Christ.
That's pray.
Father, first of all, thank you,God, for who you are, for what
you're doing and how you'redoing it.
(26:16):
But that we won't give ourselvesover to just the charismatic
mindset of having some celebritylead us so we can be like the
rest of the world.
But help us follow the exampleof Jesus and to only say and do
(26:39):
what we hear you saying anddoing, Father.
So we could walk in a way whereour character reflects the
gifting.
And if the gifting actuallyenhance the character that you
have established within us.
(27:06):
As you released your spirit uponus, and do us with power, but
establish your character withinus.
In the mighty name of Jesus, wepray.
Amen.
Amen, amen.
Alright, folks.
We love you.
(27:27):
And if you have any otherthoughts, questions, concerns,
please feel free to drop us aline at lifearoundheire 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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