June 9, 2025 • 50 mins
The story of King David's rise from humble shepherd to Israel's greatest monarch contains some of Scripture's most profound lessons about leadership, faith, and God's unexpected choices. In this first episode of our new character study series, we dive into the dramatic transition of power that began when Saul's disobedience cost him the throne.
We explore the fascinating narrative found in 1 Samuel 15-16, where Samuel confronts Saul for his half-hearted obedience against the Amalekites. Saul's excuse—"I was afraid of the men"—reveals how fear of human opinion over divine command became his downfall. Through Samuel's powerful rebuke, we discover the timeless principle that resonates through Scripture: "To obey is better than sacrifice."
The story takes a surprising turn when God sends Samuel to Bethlehem, instructing him to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the future king. As each impressive son passes before the prophet, God repeatedly says no until David—the youngest, not even initially presented—is summoned from the sheep fields. God's declaration that "people look at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" challenges our own tendency to evaluate others by external metrics rather than character.
What's particularly striking is how God orchestrates David's entry into royal service through his musical ability, allowing him to learn governance while soothing Saul's troubled spirit. This divine arrangement showcases how God often works through unexpected circumstances to prepare us for our calling.
Whether you're familiar with David's story or encountering it fresh, this series offers rich insights into how God shapes leaders, uses imperfect people, and accomplishes His purposes through those willing to follow Him with a whole heart. Subscribe now to join us on this journey through the life of the man Scripture calls "a man after God's own heart."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Overopinionated everyone.
We're going to start a serieson the life of King David.
However long it takes us, we'regoing to walk through the Bible
and just explore King David'slife.
It's going to be a newcharacter series.
I start, and the good thingabout it is where this is a
podcast.
(00:21):
It's not necessarily a sermonseries.
It's not like you're going tojust get bored.
You can listen to this anytimeyou want, if you want to skip
ahead or go back or forward.
That's the beauty of it beingin a podcast.
You're not listening about KingDavid for three or four months
(00:41):
every Sunday, not that thatwould be bad.
Sometimes I think sermon seriescan be very good, but we're
going to start today's podcastoff like we always do, with the
Lord's Prayer and the Apostles'Creed.
Father which art in heaven,hallowed be thy name.
(01:03):
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as itis in heaven.
Give us this day our dailybread and forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive thosewho trespass against us, and
lead us not into temptation butdeliver us from evil, for divine
is thy kingdom, the power andglory forever and ever.
(01:23):
Amen.
Now we'll go to the ApostlesCreed.
I believe in God, the FatherAlmighty, maker of heaven and
earth, and in Jesus Christ.
His only Son, our Lord, whichwas conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,suffered under pontius pilate,
(01:46):
was crucified, dead buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he arose from thedead.
He ascended into heaven.
He said if at the right hand ofgod, the father almighty, from
hence he shall come to judge thequick and the dead, I believe
in the holy ghost, the holycatholic church, the communion
(02:10):
of the saints, the forgivenessof sins, the resurrection of the
body and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Remember.
Um.
Some people interpret thatChrist descending into hell is
just shoal Abraham's bosom.
(02:30):
Also, you can also take it asjust the grave.
And Catholic just means theuniversal church, not the Roman
Catholic Church.
We're all part of the universalCatholic Church.
That's what that originallymeant and that's why I keep
(02:57):
saying the word, because it'simportant.
Now I'm going to.
We're going to talk about KingDavid.
To get to that, I'm not goingto go to the very beginning of
Samuel, but we are going to go alittle bit ahead of where King
David is.
I'm going to be reading in theNIV.
I'll probably read in the NIVfor the majority of this series.
(03:18):
But you are welcome to followalong in your preferred
translation.
You know it might be easier ifyou just follow along in the NIV
, but if you're a King Jamesonly person, just walk out.
The King Jimmy, if you want,that's fine.
But King David, I really thinkthe Holy Spirit laid this on my
(03:42):
heart at the beginning of theyear and you might say, well,
why did you wait six months todo it?
Because I wanted to wait forthe right time to do this, to
start this character series.
So I read through 1 and 2Samuel and I really do feel like
the Holy Spirit's led me to dothis.
(04:03):
Because our church on Wednesdaynight, which I haven't been
able to make it the last coupleWednesdays.
I hate that, but I do try mybest.
There's just been personalthings pop up, but we have been
following along.
We've been reading through 1Samuel in church and there's
(04:26):
been a lot of talk about KingDavid.
There was just a seriesreleased on Amazon about King
David and I watched it and itwas pretty good.
I know some people said itwasn't biblically accurate.
I'll be honest, I'd have to sitdown and think because I don't
know what was biblicallyinaccurate.
(04:47):
It's just any time someone makesbiblical art, there's always
going to be people that comeagainst it.
And I'm not saying all biblicalart is good, all biblical
movies is good.
There was a movie about Noahabout 10 years ago which was
(05:08):
awful.
That was unbiblical.
I think it was just called Noahand I think it had Russell
Crowe in it.
It was a horrible movie.
It was not biblical.
I would not show my kids thatmovie.
I'm just going to shoot astraight shot and in love.
(05:31):
I love you guys, my Calvinistbrothers and sisters.
Y'all guys need to calm down.
Just please calm down.
Let us enjoy these things thatpeople are working really hard
to produce to show people thegospel.
I understand the chosen doesnot line up with a Calvinist
(05:53):
doctrine, but it's also exposingpeople to Jesus.
It's getting people to readtheir Bible and I've watched it
and I think it's really good.
Yes, there's always going to beartistic depictions.
There is such a thing ascreative licensing and obviously
there's a window there whichyou can operate in.
(06:16):
I don't think it'd be right tomake Jesus a woman and make all
the apostles women.
I think that would be blasphemy.
But we have to allow someartistic licensing in our
worship music, in our biblicalart.
(06:38):
You know, there's a song that Ithink is beautiful, but you have
to realize it's sung in thecontext of a human being and our
depiction, how we see God'slove.
It's not sung from God'sdepiction, okay.
It's called the reckless loveof God, all the overwhelming,
(06:58):
never-ending reckless love ofGod.
God how it leaps, goes downflights until it leaves the 99
for one In our mind.
We can see God's love asreckless in our human mind.
Leaving 99 sheep to go get onedoes seem reckless.
(07:21):
Now, is God reckless?
No, but it's singing it fromour perspectives.
So let's just enjoy some things.
We're allowed to have nicethings, it's okay.
I'll call out stuff when Ithink it's overtly unbiblical,
but I do allow for some artisticlicensing.
(07:45):
I don't want to be whereChristianity is, where art goes
to die.
Most of the time that hasn'tbeen true historically.
But you know, just for mybrothers, my Calvinist brothers
and sisters over there, which wedisagree on quite a bit, I love
you guys.
(08:05):
But just just calm down alittle bit, take it, take a
couple breaths, think about whatyou're going to say before you
put down a worship song that'sloved by me, millions of people,
maybe not millions by manypeople a series loved by people.
That's helping people.
Maybe there's critiques we canmake to do things better.
(08:33):
I was just listening.
I just laid down in the bedafter work and listened to some
worship music.
Just get my thoughts straightthat worship music was not
contemporary music, it was hymns.
It was old church hymns and Ihear all the time.
Oh, you just listen to Jesus.
(08:53):
Is your belief in Jesus, isyour belief in it's so
disrespectful?
Oh, you just listen torelationship.
It's about you and yourrelationship with Jesus and the
Holy Spirit.
Instead of singing about whoGod is, we should have songs,
(09:14):
ma'am.
We should have songs about ourrelationship with God.
That's a huge part of ourChristian walk.
That's kind of a big point ofthe Bible Our relationship with
God.
Now I will say this Do somesongs get too sappy?
Yes, I'm not defending everysong out there, but there was a
(09:40):
song that came to mind that Ilistened to three or four times.
It's a hymn song called what aFriend we have in Jesus.
It's a beautiful song and I'mactually going to play it at the
end of the podcast.
What a Friend we have in Jesus,just to trust him at his word.
(10:04):
That's a relationship song,guys.
So a lot of this is reallystylistic music.
This is really just a style.
You don't like the new style ofpraise and worship.
You don't like that worship'sgetting more charismatic, that
(10:26):
there's elements ofPentecostalism getting
incorporated into worship.
People are raising their handsand getting emotional and I
don't think that's biblical.
When I read the book of Psalmsthat David wrote, he got
emotional.
When I see David dancing beforethe Lord, he got emotional.
When I see David dancing beforethe Lord, he got emotional.
(10:49):
Now, it was rightly directed.
We don't want emotion.
That's not rightly directed,but we do want emotion.
We don't want emotionalism, butwe do want emotion.
We do want the Holy Spirit tolead us.
We want to be able to raise ourhand in worship.
We want to be able to pray andspeak in tongues in worship.
(11:13):
And if you're not, if you don'tbelieve in tongues, I understand
.
I have people and friends andChristians.
I love that.
Don't agree with me on that,that's fine.
I understand that.
That's a hurdle that only theHoly Spirit can jump through to
get people to realize the truth.
(11:37):
Either way on that, because youcan say well, you're being
emotional about it too, okay.
So either way on that.
That's a, that is a a hardsticking point, right, um?
But we, we should have emotionin our worship.
We should be able to be led bythe Holy spirit to raise our
hands.
Um, we, you know there's somany Christians that and this
(12:03):
goes for tons of churches andall denominations and all
non-denominational churches thatif they smiled, their faces
would break Because there's nojoy, there's no joy of their
salvation.
And trust me, I've been there.
I have been in dark, darkplaces, man, but we can have joy
(12:28):
in Jesus.
We can have joy in oursalvation.
You know I have joy in mysalvation.
I have joy in Jesus.
You know I might struggle withdepression.
I want to be very open about mythings, my sins and my
struggles.
Not the depression itself is asin.
(12:49):
I struggle with my weight, withlust, with pride.
Most of us do.
I don't want to just overglance.
I have struggles aboutdepression, anxiety, but I also
(13:10):
can go to Scripture and I can goto the Holy Spirit and have a
joy in my salvation.
But anyway, we're going to.
We're going to go to 1 Samuel,chapter 15, and start reading.
The caption says the Lordrejects Saul.
As king Samuel said to Saul Iam the one the Lord sent to
(13:36):
anoint you, king over his people, israel.
So listen now to the messagefrom the Lord.
This is what the Lord Almightysays I will punish the
Amalekites for what they did toIsrael when they waylaid them
and they came up from Egypt.
(13:58):
Now go attack the Amalekitesand totally destroy all that
belongs to them.
Do not spare them.
Put them to death.
Men, women and children andinfants, cattle, sheep, camels
and donkeys.
So Saul summoned the men andmustered them at Tumult, and
(14:21):
200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000from Judea, saul went up to the
city of Amalekite and set anambush in the rave.
Then he said to the Cainites Goleave the Amalekites so that I
do not destroy you along withthem, for you showed kindness to
(14:42):
all the Israelites when theycame out from Egypt.
So the Canaanites moved awayfrom the Amalekites.
Then Saul attacked theAmalekites all the way from
Vanhast to Shur, near theeastern border of Egypt.
He took Agog, king of theAmalekites, alive, and all his
(15:05):
people he totally destroyed withthe sword.
But Saul, the army, spared Agagand the best of the sheep, the
cattle, the fatted calves andthe lambs, everything that was
good, these that were unwillingto destroy completely.
But everything that was despiteand weak they totally destroyed
(15:28):
.
Then the Lord, saul, came toSamuel.
I regret, I regret I have madeSaul king because he turned away
from me.
He has not carried out myinstructions.
Samuel was angry and he criedout to the Lord all that night.
(15:48):
Early in the morning Samuel gotup and went to meet Saul.
But he told Saul, saul has goneto the carmel.
There he has set up a monumentin his honor and has turned down
the call when Saul reached him.
So when Samuel reached him,saul said the Lord, bless you.
(16:12):
I have carried out the Lord'sinstructions.
But Samuel said what then, isthis be being of sheep in my
ears?
What is the lowing of cattle?
I hear Saul answered thesoldiers brought them from the
Amalekites.
They spared the best of thesheep and the cattle to
sacrifice to the Lord, your God.
(16:33):
But we totally destroyed therest Enough.
Samuel said to Saul Let me tellyou what the Lord has said to
me last night.
Tell Saul.
He replied.
Samuel said although you wereonce, in your own eyes, small,
(16:54):
I'm going to start over Verse 17.
Samuel said although you wereonce small in your own eyes, did
you not become the head of thetribes of Israel.
The Lord anointed you king overIsrael and he sent you on a
mission saying Go and completelydestroy the wicked people, the
Amalekites, and wage war againstthem until you have wiped them
(17:19):
out.
Why did you not obey the Lord?
Why did you pounce on theplunder and do evil in the eyes
of the Lord?
But did I obey the Lord?
Samuel said I went out on themission the Lord assigned me and
I completely destroyed theAmalekites and brought back Agag
their king.
(17:39):
Their soldiers took sheep andtheir cattle from plunder.
The best was devoted to God inorder to sacrifice to the Lord,
your God, in Gilead.
But Samuel replied Does the Lorddelight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices as much as in obeyingthe Lord?
(18:00):
Today is better than sacrifice.
To obey is better thansacrifice and to heed is better
than the fat of rams, forrebellion is like the sin of
divination and arrogance likethe evil of adultery.
Because you have rejected theword of your Lord.
He has rejected you as king.
(18:21):
Then Saul said to Samuel I havesinned.
I violated the Lord's command,your instructions.
I was afraid of men so I gavein to them.
Now I beg you, forgive my sin.
Come back to me so I mayworship the Lord.
But Samuel said to him I willnot go back with you.
You have rejected the word ofthe Lord and the Lord has
(18:43):
rejected you of king of Israel.
As Samuel turned to leave, saulcaught hold of him and tore a
hem of the robe and it tore.
And Samuel said to him the Lordhas torn the kingdom of Israel
from you today and has given itto one of your neighbors, to one
better than you.
He who glorifies of Israel doesnot lie or change his mind, for
(19:06):
he is the Lord, not a humanbeing, that his mind should be
changed.
Saul replied I have sinned, butplease honor me before the
elders of my people, beforeIsrael, come back to me so that
I may worship the Lord, your God.
So Samuel went back with him,with Saul, and Saul worshiped
the Lord.
(19:27):
Then Samuel said bring me Agag,the king of the Amalekites.
Agag came to him and changedand he thought surely the
bitterness of death is past.
But Samuel said as your swordhas made women childless, so
your mother will be childlessamong women.
And Samuel put Agag to deathbefore the Lord at Gilgad.
(19:53):
Then Saul left for Ramah.
But then Samuel left for Ramah.
But Saul went up to his homeand gave birth of Saul, until
the day Samuel died.
He did not see Saul again,though Samuel mourned for him.
He did not see Saul again,though Samuel mourned for him,
(20:20):
and the Lord regretted that hemade Samuel king of Israel.
Okay, let's just unpack thatthere.
This is important to understandbecause this is what gets King
David and his foot in the doorto become the second king of
Israel.
So the prophet Samuel gaveinstructions to Saul to kill all
(20:41):
the Amalekites, everything thatbreathed, the women, the
children, the men, the horsesand the cattle.
And King Saul killed most ofthem, but did not kill all of
them.
And as he's talking with Samuel, saul says well, we gave all
this to the Lord, we gave themajority of it to God, but we
(21:06):
kept some of it for ourselves.
We kept some of it forourselves.
He took a half measure.
And then he says in there well,I did it because I was afraid
of the men In his mind, the men.
They fought hard, they won,they wanted plunder, they wanted
these rewards.
And the sheep and the cattlehave the king, have the
Amalekites captured of thisgreat victory?
(21:30):
It was Saul's job to kill allof them and I know it can be
hard reading these passages.
If you have a heartbeat, itgets hard reading these passages
where God tells them to killall of them.
But there's a few things tothink about.
(21:50):
God is establishing his kingdomin Israel.
He's setting up the redemptionof the human race through Jesus
Christ, through his son, and hehas to purge evil.
These kings and kingdoms knewthat they could leave.
(22:15):
Many of them had an opportunityto leave but did not leave.
And God is sovereign.
God can direct.
God is the only one that candirect life and death.
They can dictate when lifeshould be taken and when life is
(22:36):
given.
This is also before Jesus bledand died on the cross and I do
think there's some significancethere that God could put his
wrath upon Jesus now, but Jesushad not died on the cross yet.
(22:56):
Now I'm not implying everyoneis saved because God has put
their wrath upon Jesus, becauseI don't believe that.
I believe you can accept ordeny him at the call of the Holy
Spirit.
(23:17):
But we see Saul took a halfmeasure, wanting to take some
for himself and for his men whenGod said to destroy them all.
And God said something betterfor Saul.
We see that we see that, asSamuel said, that God would
(23:40):
regret it making Saul king.
Now some people take thesepassages when God said he regret
it as people all that's mean.
That means God made a mistake,though God's not saying he made
a mistake.
He's showing that to give usthe human emotion behind it, to
(24:01):
show us what he felt.
This was still God's sovereignand divine plan to make King
Saul king, that King Saul king,to set up the role of King David
, the ancestor of Christ Jesus,our Savior.
(24:23):
And I just think it's amazinghow amazing the Bible is.
And remember, in Samuel, earlierin Samuel, we have the
Israelites pleading to Samuelthe prophet give us a king, give
us a king.
And Samuel prayed and he saidlisten, I don't think that
(24:46):
that's the best path.
I don't.
I think God has somethingbetter for you.
No, samuel, give us a king.
All the other countries haveone, we want one.
And God said okay, we will givethem a king, but they will
regret it.
This is them regretting it.
(25:07):
This is them regretting it.
And remember, before this,before the kings, they were
ruled by judges and prophets.
Prophets helped inform thejudges.
Sometimes the judges wereprophets, like when Deborah was
a prophet.
(25:27):
But you know, saul grabs on toSamuel and tears his robe and he
said, just as you tore my robe,that God will tear the kingdom
from you.
Okay, I'm going to try to getthrough one more chapter.
This might be a slow series.
Might be a slow series, that'sokay.
(25:50):
We are transitioning more intoa biblical podcast, but we will
still talk about politics at thestate, federal and local level,
because it's still important.
But I really wanted to startdiving deep into the Bible like
this.
I think it's so good reading itchapter by chapter, but I know
(26:14):
I went off on a couple tangents,but that's okay.
Like this, I think it's so goodreading it chapter by chapter,
but I know I went off on acouple tangents, but that's okay
.
We can tune in every week and ifyou have a question, comment or
concern, write me, write me,tweet at me, dm me.
There's multiple ways tocontact me.
You can write a letter and sendit to my address.
Old-fashioned Okay.
(26:37):
Samuel, chapter 16.
Samuel anoints David.
The Lord said to Samuel howlong will you mourn for Saul
since I have rejected him as aking over Israel?
Fill your horn with oil and youwill be on your way.
I am sending you to Jesse ofBethlehem.
I have chosen one of his sonsto be king.
(26:58):
Samuel said how can I go?
If Saul hears about it?
He will kill me.
The Lord said take your heiferwith you and say I have come to
sacrifice to the Lord.
Invite Jesse to the sacrificeand I will show you what to do.
You are to anoint me.
(27:20):
You are to anoint for me theone I indicate.
You know I haven't.
This just now hit me.
The amazing man that Samuel was.
The amazing story about hismother bore him after being
(27:44):
infertile and how God usedSamuel and how God he was just
an instrument for God, god usingSamuel, calling him.
Even though Samuel walked withGod, he was afraid.
He said if Saul hears this,he'll kill me.
Samuel was afraid.
(28:06):
It just says a lot to me.
Okay, verse four Samuel did whatthe Lord said.
When he arrived at Bethlehem,the elders of the town trembled
when they they met him.
They said do you come in peace?
Samuel replied yes, in peace.
(28:26):
I have come to sacrifice to theLord.
Concentrate yourself and cometo the sacrifice with me.
Then he concentrated Jesse andhis sons and invited them to the
sacrifice.
When they arrived, samuel sawEliba and thought.
(28:47):
Surely the Lord's anointed hasbefore has stood before the Lord
.
I just want to go back.
I know that this.
I should have said this earlierwhen I was talking about Samuel
being afraid.
You can walk with the Lord andstill be afraid of things, and
(29:08):
God can be there to help you.
That was the point I was tryingto make.
I just didn't say the part thatGod can still help you in your
fear.
And look earlier, in chapter 15,saul was afraid, but he gave in
to sin.
He didn't give God the fullmeasure, but Samuel was afraid
(29:31):
and he did give God the fullmeasure.
So you have to depend on god.
That's the difference.
And then samuel goes down toanoint um, one of jesse's sons,
and he says he sees one of hissons and says surely this is the
one the lord stands before meto anoint.
The Lord stands before me toanoint In verse 7,.
(29:53):
But the Lord said to Samuel Donot consider his appearance or
his height, for I rejected him.
The Lord does not look at thethings people look at.
People look at an outwardappearance, but the Lord looks
at a heart man.
(30:13):
Why does the church forget this?
A lot?
It definitely has, in my caseGrowing up, I wish I would have
handled things differently.
But telling people I feel calledto preach and people telling me
well, josh, I think you can bea good Christian, but I don't
think you can be a pastor.
Look at your speech impediment,look at all these things.
You have a hard time reading,you have dyslexia.
(30:36):
You have a hard time publicspeaking and I did.
I had a much harder time publicspeaking back in the day, but
God has helped me and I thinkI'm on a journey to start
preaching.
But I'm not a full-time pastoryet, but I do think I preach a
little bit and slowly.
(30:57):
I want to do slow and steadyand try to keep myself from sin
and trying to worship God.
It can be hard sometimes andI'm glad when I had the
opportunity and I'm not braggingon myself, but I'm glad when I
had an opportunity to at leastbe an assistant pastor at a
(31:17):
country church in Blaine County,virginia, that I listened to
the Holy Spirit and turned itdown Because it would not have
ended well for me or the church.
And now the church is in goodhands, they have a pastor that's
more theologically aligned withthem and they're doing better
(31:37):
and we get along, we get along,so it's.
That's a good thing.
I didn't embarrass myself andsome of the sins, some of the
sexual sins I would have falleninto, I'm doing better, I'm more
mature, I'm married Doesn'tmean I couldn't fall prey to it.
(31:58):
There's been great men thathave fallen to it.
But I'm praying and I'm tryingmy best to stay away from it
Doesn't mean that I don't sinwith lust in my heart sometimes,
because sometimes I do and it'swrong and I got to quit the
lust of the eye, the lust of myheart sometimes, because
sometimes I did and it's wrongand I gotta quit.
Um, the lust of the eye, thelust of the heart, and god help
(32:18):
me, god help us all.
But I'm gonna be open.
I'm gonna be honest about itwith you guys, with my friends,
with my family.
I want to be open and honest.
I want to be real, because youcan lie all you want to on this
side of heaven, but whenjudgment day comes, there's no
lie that will get you out of it.
You can't lie anymore.
(32:41):
It won't do you any good.
But why has the church forgottenthis?
That God looks not at theoutward appearance but the heart
.
We buy the newest suits, newestties, we buy the fanciest cars
while we're in a pool of debt,but then we look bad at someone
(33:08):
who wears blue jeans and at-shirt to church because when
they go into the house of theLord they're not wearing their
best of the best.
Number one they might be, somepeople are, some people are poor
.
Number two God looks at theheart, and I don't know why
people don't understand that theonly dress requirement that
(33:31):
Christians have is modest andproper.
That's it, you know.
We're not gonna, I'm not gonnawear a shirt that says I love
big badonkadonks in the churchor anywhere.
Right, but I want a plaint-shirt, a plain green, you know
(33:52):
.
Whatever.
Whatever color t-shirt, a plaingreen, you know whatever.
Whatever color t-shirt, a pairof pants.
I went to church several timeslike that.
Most of the time I wear acollared casual dress shirt and
a pair of black jeans, becausemost of the time I do like to
dress up a little bit, but noteven that Well, he just looks
like a preacher.
(34:12):
I want he just looks like apreacher.
I want my preacher to look likea preacher.
Have you ever read about Johnthe Baptist?
He was a preacher, he was aprophet.
He looked kind of rough I like.
We talked about Phil RobertsonOn last week's podcast.
He said Do I look like apreacher, do you?
(34:34):
And guess what?
John the Baptist looked worsethan me.
That's true, he had a longbeard eating honey and bugs.
I love John the Baptist.
He's a wild man, a wild manwith a heart for God.
But that guy doesn't pass thesound.
(34:56):
He doesn't have the best sound,he doesn't sound the best.
God's looking at your heart,god's looking at your heart, and
God can take the hardest ofhearts and make it flesh.
King David was called a manafter God's own heart.
After he sinned tremendously,after he did a lot of bad stuff,
(35:21):
god still called him a manafter his own heart.
I do.
I pray sometimes.
God, please let me be a manafter your own heart.
I think that should be all ourprayers.
I want to keep reading Verse 8.
Then Jesse called to Abab andhad him pass in front of Samuel.
But Samuel said the Lord doesnot choose this one either.
(35:45):
Jesse then called to Shem andguys I'm mispronouncing all of
these names, please forgive me.
I'm not great withpronunciation or reading in
general, but thank you forbearing with me.
Nor has the Lord chose this one.
Jesse had seven of his sons passbefore Samuel and Samuel said
(36:07):
to him the Lord has not chosenthese.
So he asked Jesse, are theseall the sons you have?
They're still the youngest.
Jesse answered he is tendingthe sheep.
Samuel said Send for him.
We will not sit down until hearrives.
So he sent for him and had himbrought in.
(36:28):
He was glowing with health andhad a fine appearance and
handsome features.
Then the Lord said Rise, anointthis one, anoint him, this is
the one.
So Samuel took the horn of oiland anointed it in the presence
of his brothers and from thatday on, the spirit of the Lord
(36:48):
came powerfully upon David.
Samuel then went to Ram.
So let's just talk before weread.
So Jesse has eight sons, that Igather.
He has eight sons and he bringsall his sons out and every
single one towards.
It's not this one, not this one.
(37:10):
What about this really tall,strong, young man?
You know, I'd say most ofJesse's sons were probably very
strong, working the fields inIsrael.
You know, it's not like they'reeating Pizza Hut every other
week like we do.
Right, I'm picking on myself alittle bit, okay, I don't
actually eat Pizza Hut everyother week I'm just being silly.
(37:31):
They were strong, they didn'thave cars, they walked places,
they had to do manual hard labor.
Then you have David.
David, I'm not saying Davidwasn't strong, but he's the
youngest.
Even Jesse didn't think tobring David out In Jesse's mind.
Well, god's not going to annoyDavid man.
(37:55):
How heartbreaking, howheartbreaking would that be for
King David and then for all ofDavid's brothers to resent him.
If you ever have some siblingsand you don't even have to feel
a call by God, but, man, in mycase you feel a call from God
you can feel some resentmentthere, and I've got great
siblings.
(38:15):
They haven't done anything meanto me like David's siblings
bickered to him so.
But you can feel a littleresentment among your siblings.
I know I can get an amen fromsomeone out of that.
I know I can, but you can havea resentment there, and
(38:37):
especially the youngest one.
Even I prayed that my heartwould be great in this.
Now I have a little sister, soI do think she would not be
qualified to be a head pastorbecause she's a woman.
We've went over this, but I dothink God could do great things
for her.
She is 15 years old.
(38:58):
No, she's 15 or 14.
Forgive me, she just turned 14.
If God started using her in away to reach a lot of people, I
would be so happy, but I praythat I wouldn't get a little
jealous.
It's just human nature here.
I am 29 years old and god'susing my 14 year old sister to
reach people more than me, butgod has the right to do it.
(39:22):
God can choose who he wants tochoose to preach his word and to
serve him in whatever capacityhe will want them to serve.
So we have to pray and I thinksometimes, when it comes to
younger pastors and this isprobably a reason why God had
(39:42):
one reason why God was like youneed to sit and chill, josh.
You don't need to be a21-year-old pastor yet.
You don't need to be a25-year-old pastor.
Sit and chill a little bit.
Older people can resent youngerpeople in the behind the bull
bit.
It's not good, it's not right,because God uses young people
all the time.
But you have a 50-year-old guyand it's like what's this
(40:06):
25-year-old telling me how Ishould live my life?
Well, it's not the 25-year-old.
It's the 25-year-old readingthe Word of God and trying to
give you a message.
And I understand it could behard.
Just human pride, human nature.
Um, sometimes we can, young, wecan learn things from people
(40:29):
who are younger than us.
We can, um, now, young people,that does not mean you should be
jerks, okay.
Um, you should be humble ingiving the word of God.
Be humble in the things thatyou do, okay, Especially if
(40:50):
there's an older person thatyou're trying to help in this
topic.
Be humble, okay, I'm going tokeep reading verse 14.
Now the spirit of the Lord haddeparted from Saul and an evil
spirit from the Lord tormentedhim.
Saul's attendant said to himSee an evil spirit from the Lord
tormenting you.
(41:10):
Let our Lord command hisservants here to search for
someone who can play the lyre.
He will play when the evilspirit comes to you and you will
feel better.
So Saul said to his attendantsfind someone who will play for
me and bring him to me.
One of the servants answered Ihave seen the son of Jesse of
(41:31):
Bethlehem who knows how to playthe liar.
He is a brave man and a warrior.
He speaks well and is a finelooking man, and the Lord is
with him.
Then Saul sent message to Jesseand said send your son, david,
who is with the sheep.
So Jesse took a donkey loadedwith bread and a skin of wine
(41:56):
and a young goat and sent them,with his son David, to Saul.
David came to Saul and enteredhis service.
Saul liked him very much andDavid became one of his armor
bearers.
Then Saul sent the word toJesse saying Allow David to
remain in my service, for I amwith him.
Whenever the Spirit from Godcame on Saul, david would take
(42:20):
up his harp and play.
Then relief would come to Saul,he would feel better and the
evil spirit would leave him.
So I used to have a hard time,and a part of me still does.
I do get it.
I understand God's sovereigntyand trust, but the evil spirit
(42:40):
upon Saul I don't believe thatthis is a demon or anything.
I feel like it's more of adepression, like a very dark,
dark depression, more than wewould see, and it makes me feel
why would God do that to KingSaul?
And I think it's a consequenceof his sin in chapter 15 and him
(43:04):
setting up the kingdom andgetting David a foothold in
Whatever it is.
I trust God.
So God sets this up to getDavid a foot in the door with
King Saul.
He's, you know, he's definitelygot to be learning from Saul
how Saul acts, how Saul governs.
He sees Saul being king and oneday he will be king.
(43:32):
And God uses this humbleshepherd boy with a harp to calm
the mind of a mighty king andone day he will be king himself.
Just a boy, himself just a boy,not great, not that he would
stand out amongst even hisbrothers playing the harp of the
Lord.
(43:53):
And I am going to go back, I amgoing to give us a verse of the
day.
Actually, sometimes, when Iread a lot of the Bible, I
forget to give us a verse of theday and I apologize for that.
But I'm going to give us averse of the day from early in
the chapter 1, samuel 16.
But the Lord said to Samuel Donot consider his appearance, his
(44:17):
height, for I have rejected him.
The Lord says Do not look atthings.
People look at.
People look at the outwardappearance, but the Lord looks
at the heart.
And that's man.
That's a great message.
The Lord looks at the heart.
(44:39):
I want to play you guys a song,if the audio will work.
If it will not work, I'm justgoing to read it to you, because
I've been having some audioproblems trying to play videos,
but I want to play.
You guys.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
Alright, guys, I'm just goingto have to read the lyrics.
I'm really frustrated about howmy sound is picking up videos.
(44:59):
I'm going to have to probablybuy something.
It's ridiculous.
I apologize for that, but I'mgoing to leave us off by reading
the words what a Friend we haveand Jesus.
Hopefully I can get a littlebit better sound quality, so
maybe we can just end on a song.
It doesn't always have to be ahymn, but I wanted it to be
(45:22):
today because I was thinkingabout all the people who
complain about all ourrelationship songs and my belief
in Jesus songs.
And I agree, sometimes they gotoo far and get sloppy.
But just be respectful.
If you don't like praise andworship music, go to a church
that doesn't have it.
There's plenty ofBible-believing churches that
(45:45):
still has hymns.
Go to one of them.
Listen to a.
Actually, you can listen tohymns during the work week,
during your week, but oh no,that's when I listen to Taylor
Swift.
That's when I listen to PostMalone and Eminem.
So you'll complain that you'renot listening to the music you
(46:09):
like and you're not listening tothe music you like at home,
that's good and uplifting music.
You'll listen to secular music,but not good and uplifting
music at home and then complainto the pastor about this praise
and worship music, and it goesboth ways.
(46:29):
It goes both ways so I want tostart reading it now.
What a friend we have in Jesus,all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carryeverything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
Oh what needless pain we bear,all because we do not carry
(46:53):
everything to God in prayer.
Have we have trials andtemptations.
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend sofaithful who will all sorrows
share?
Jesus knows our every weakness.
Take it to the Lord in prayer,amen, amen.
(47:19):
God bless you all.
We will see you here next weekat Overopinionated.
If nothing big pops up in thenews, which I know, there's big
things in the news with Trump'sbig, beautiful bill and
everything.
But I really want to focus onthis.
I really do.
There's thousands of politicalpodcasts out there and I'm not
(47:43):
abandoning it.
Please don't think I'mabandoning it.
It's very important to keep aneye on it still, but this is
something that I really, reallywant to focus on.
I feel really called to docharacter studies in the Bible,
reading them a few chapters at atime.
(48:03):
If this takes us a while, ohwell, that's fine, it's worth
the study, okay, God bless youall.
We'll see you back here nextweek.
Welcome back to Overopinionated everyone.
We're going to start a serieson the life of King David.
However long it takes us, we'regoing to walk through the Bible
and just explore King David'slife.
It's going to be a newcharacter series.
I start, and the good thingabout it is where this is a
podcast.
(00:21):
It's not necessarily a sermonseries.
It's not like you're going tojust get bored.
You can listen to this anytimeyou want, if you want to skip
ahead or go back or forward.
That's the beauty of it beingin a podcast.
You're not listening about KingDavid for three or four months
(00:41):
every Sunday, not that thatwould be bad.
Sometimes I think sermon seriescan be very good, but we're
going to start today's podcastoff like we always do, with the
Lord's Prayer and the Apostles'Creed.
Father which art in heaven,hallowed be thy name.
(01:03):
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as itis in heaven.
Give us this day our dailybread and forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive thosewho trespass against us, and
lead us not into temptation butdeliver us from evil, for divine
is thy kingdom, the power andglory forever and ever.
(01:23):
Amen.
Now we'll go to the ApostlesCreed.
I believe in God, the FatherAlmighty, maker of heaven and
earth, and in Jesus Christ.
His only Son, our Lord, whichwas conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,suffered under pontius pilate,
(01:46):
was crucified, dead buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he arose from thedead.
He ascended into heaven.
He said if at the right hand ofgod, the father almighty, from
hence he shall come to judge thequick and the dead, I believe
in the holy ghost, the holycatholic church, the communion
(02:10):
of the saints, the forgivenessof sins, the resurrection of the
body and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Remember.
Um.
Some people interpret thatChrist descending into hell is
just shoal Abraham's bosom.
(02:30):
Also, you can also take it asjust the grave.
And Catholic just means theuniversal church, not the Roman
Catholic Church.
We're all part of the universalCatholic Church.
That's what that originallymeant and that's why I keep
(02:57):
saying the word, because it'simportant.
Now I'm going to.
We're going to talk about KingDavid.
To get to that, I'm not goingto go to the very beginning of
Samuel, but we are going to go alittle bit ahead of where King
David is.
I'm going to be reading in theNIV.
I'll probably read in the NIVfor the majority of this series.
(03:18):
But you are welcome to followalong in your preferred
translation.
You know it might be easier ifyou just follow along in the NIV
, but if you're a King Jamesonly person, just walk out.
The King Jimmy, if you want,that's fine.
But King David, I really thinkthe Holy Spirit laid this on my
(03:42):
heart at the beginning of theyear and you might say, well,
why did you wait six months todo it?
Because I wanted to wait forthe right time to do this, to
start this character series.
So I read through 1 and 2Samuel and I really do feel like
the Holy Spirit's led me to dothis.
(04:03):
Because our church on Wednesdaynight, which I haven't been
able to make it the last coupleWednesdays.
I hate that, but I do try mybest.
There's just been personalthings pop up, but we have been
following along.
We've been reading through 1Samuel in church and there's
(04:26):
been a lot of talk about KingDavid.
There was just a seriesreleased on Amazon about King
David and I watched it and itwas pretty good.
I know some people said itwasn't biblically accurate.
I'll be honest, I'd have to sitdown and think because I don't
know what was biblicallyinaccurate.
(04:47):
It's just any time someone makesbiblical art, there's always
going to be people that comeagainst it.
And I'm not saying all biblicalart is good, all biblical
movies is good.
There was a movie about Noahabout 10 years ago which was
(05:08):
awful.
That was unbiblical.
I think it was just called Noahand I think it had Russell
Crowe in it.
It was a horrible movie.
It was not biblical.
I would not show my kids thatmovie.
I'm just going to shoot astraight shot and in love.
(05:31):
I love you guys, my Calvinistbrothers and sisters.
Y'all guys need to calm down.
Just please calm down.
Let us enjoy these things thatpeople are working really hard
to produce to show people thegospel.
I understand the chosen doesnot line up with a Calvinist
(05:53):
doctrine, but it's also exposingpeople to Jesus.
It's getting people to readtheir Bible and I've watched it
and I think it's really good.
Yes, there's always going to beartistic depictions.
There is such a thing ascreative licensing and obviously
there's a window there whichyou can operate in.
(06:16):
I don't think it'd be right tomake Jesus a woman and make all
the apostles women.
I think that would be blasphemy.
But we have to allow someartistic licensing in our
worship music, in our biblicalart.
(06:38):
You know, there's a song that Ithink is beautiful, but you have
to realize it's sung in thecontext of a human being and our
depiction, how we see God'slove.
It's not sung from God'sdepiction, okay.
It's called the reckless loveof God, all the overwhelming,
(06:58):
never-ending reckless love ofGod.
God how it leaps, goes downflights until it leaves the 99
for one In our mind.
We can see God's love asreckless in our human mind.
Leaving 99 sheep to go get onedoes seem reckless.
(07:21):
Now, is God reckless?
No, but it's singing it fromour perspectives.
So let's just enjoy some things.
We're allowed to have nicethings, it's okay.
I'll call out stuff when Ithink it's overtly unbiblical,
but I do allow for some artisticlicensing.
(07:45):
I don't want to be whereChristianity is, where art goes
to die.
Most of the time that hasn'tbeen true historically.
But you know, just for mybrothers, my Calvinist brothers
and sisters over there, which wedisagree on quite a bit, I love
you guys.
(08:05):
But just just calm down alittle bit, take it, take a
couple breaths, think about whatyou're going to say before you
put down a worship song that'sloved by me, millions of people,
maybe not millions by manypeople a series loved by people.
That's helping people.
Maybe there's critiques we canmake to do things better.
(08:33):
I was just listening.
I just laid down in the bedafter work and listened to some
worship music.
Just get my thoughts straightthat worship music was not
contemporary music, it was hymns.
It was old church hymns and Ihear all the time.
Oh, you just listen to Jesus.
(08:53):
Is your belief in Jesus, isyour belief in it's so
disrespectful?
Oh, you just listen torelationship.
It's about you and yourrelationship with Jesus and the
Holy Spirit.
Instead of singing about whoGod is, we should have songs,
(09:14):
ma'am.
We should have songs about ourrelationship with God.
That's a huge part of ourChristian walk.
That's kind of a big point ofthe Bible Our relationship with
God.
Now I will say this Do somesongs get too sappy?
Yes, I'm not defending everysong out there, but there was a
(09:40):
song that came to mind that Ilistened to three or four times.
It's a hymn song called what aFriend we have in Jesus.
It's a beautiful song and I'mactually going to play it at the
end of the podcast.
What a Friend we have in Jesus,just to trust him at his word.
(10:04):
That's a relationship song,guys.
So a lot of this is reallystylistic music.
This is really just a style.
You don't like the new style ofpraise and worship.
You don't like that worship'sgetting more charismatic, that
(10:26):
there's elements ofPentecostalism getting
incorporated into worship.
People are raising their handsand getting emotional and I
don't think that's biblical.
When I read the book of Psalmsthat David wrote, he got
emotional.
When I see David dancing beforethe Lord, he got emotional.
When I see David dancing beforethe Lord, he got emotional.
(10:49):
Now, it was rightly directed.
We don't want emotion.
That's not rightly directed,but we do want emotion.
We don't want emotionalism, butwe do want emotion.
We do want the Holy Spirit tolead us.
We want to be able to raise ourhand in worship.
We want to be able to pray andspeak in tongues in worship.
(11:13):
And if you're not, if you don'tbelieve in tongues, I understand
.
I have people and friends andChristians.
I love that.
Don't agree with me on that,that's fine.
I understand that.
That's a hurdle that only theHoly Spirit can jump through to
get people to realize the truth.
(11:37):
Either way on that, because youcan say well, you're being
emotional about it too, okay.
So either way on that.
That's a, that is a a hardsticking point, right, um?
But we, we should have emotionin our worship.
We should be able to be led bythe Holy spirit to raise our
hands.
Um, we, you know there's somany Christians that and this
(12:03):
goes for tons of churches andall denominations and all
non-denominational churches thatif they smiled, their faces
would break Because there's nojoy, there's no joy of their
salvation.
And trust me, I've been there.
I have been in dark, darkplaces, man, but we can have joy
(12:28):
in Jesus.
We can have joy in oursalvation.
You know I have joy in mysalvation.
I have joy in Jesus.
You know I might struggle withdepression.
I want to be very open about mythings, my sins and my
struggles.
Not the depression itself is asin.
(12:49):
I struggle with my weight, withlust, with pride.
Most of us do.
I don't want to just overglance.
I have struggles aboutdepression, anxiety, but I also
(13:10):
can go to Scripture and I can goto the Holy Spirit and have a
joy in my salvation.
But anyway, we're going to.
We're going to go to 1 Samuel,chapter 15, and start reading.
The caption says the Lordrejects Saul.
As king Samuel said to Saul Iam the one the Lord sent to
(13:36):
anoint you, king over his people, israel.
So listen now to the messagefrom the Lord.
This is what the Lord Almightysays I will punish the
Amalekites for what they did toIsrael when they waylaid them
and they came up from Egypt.
(13:58):
Now go attack the Amalekitesand totally destroy all that
belongs to them.
Do not spare them.
Put them to death.
Men, women and children andinfants, cattle, sheep, camels
and donkeys.
So Saul summoned the men andmustered them at Tumult, and
(14:21):
200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000from Judea, saul went up to the
city of Amalekite and set anambush in the rave.
Then he said to the Cainites Goleave the Amalekites so that I
do not destroy you along withthem, for you showed kindness to
(14:42):
all the Israelites when theycame out from Egypt.
So the Canaanites moved awayfrom the Amalekites.
Then Saul attacked theAmalekites all the way from
Vanhast to Shur, near theeastern border of Egypt.
He took Agog, king of theAmalekites, alive, and all his
(15:05):
people he totally destroyed withthe sword.
But Saul, the army, spared Agagand the best of the sheep, the
cattle, the fatted calves andthe lambs, everything that was
good, these that were unwillingto destroy completely.
But everything that was despiteand weak they totally destroyed
(15:28):
.
Then the Lord, saul, came toSamuel.
I regret, I regret I have madeSaul king because he turned away
from me.
He has not carried out myinstructions.
Samuel was angry and he criedout to the Lord all that night.
(15:48):
Early in the morning Samuel gotup and went to meet Saul.
But he told Saul, saul has goneto the carmel.
There he has set up a monumentin his honor and has turned down
the call when Saul reached him.
So when Samuel reached him,saul said the Lord, bless you.
(16:12):
I have carried out the Lord'sinstructions.
But Samuel said what then, isthis be being of sheep in my
ears?
What is the lowing of cattle?
I hear Saul answered thesoldiers brought them from the
Amalekites.
They spared the best of thesheep and the cattle to
sacrifice to the Lord, your God.
(16:33):
But we totally destroyed therest Enough.
Samuel said to Saul Let me tellyou what the Lord has said to
me last night.
Tell Saul.
He replied.
Samuel said although you wereonce, in your own eyes, small,
(16:54):
I'm going to start over Verse 17.
Samuel said although you wereonce small in your own eyes, did
you not become the head of thetribes of Israel.
The Lord anointed you king overIsrael and he sent you on a
mission saying Go and completelydestroy the wicked people, the
Amalekites, and wage war againstthem until you have wiped them
(17:19):
out.
Why did you not obey the Lord?
Why did you pounce on theplunder and do evil in the eyes
of the Lord?
But did I obey the Lord?
Samuel said I went out on themission the Lord assigned me and
I completely destroyed theAmalekites and brought back Agag
their king.
(17:39):
Their soldiers took sheep andtheir cattle from plunder.
The best was devoted to God inorder to sacrifice to the Lord,
your God, in Gilead.
But Samuel replied Does the Lorddelight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices as much as in obeyingthe Lord?
(18:00):
Today is better than sacrifice.
To obey is better thansacrifice and to heed is better
than the fat of rams, forrebellion is like the sin of
divination and arrogance likethe evil of adultery.
Because you have rejected theword of your Lord.
He has rejected you as king.
(18:21):
Then Saul said to Samuel I havesinned.
I violated the Lord's command,your instructions.
I was afraid of men so I gavein to them.
Now I beg you, forgive my sin.
Come back to me so I mayworship the Lord.
But Samuel said to him I willnot go back with you.
You have rejected the word ofthe Lord and the Lord has
(18:43):
rejected you of king of Israel.
As Samuel turned to leave, saulcaught hold of him and tore a
hem of the robe and it tore.
And Samuel said to him the Lordhas torn the kingdom of Israel
from you today and has given itto one of your neighbors, to one
better than you.
He who glorifies of Israel doesnot lie or change his mind, for
(19:06):
he is the Lord, not a humanbeing, that his mind should be
changed.
Saul replied I have sinned, butplease honor me before the
elders of my people, beforeIsrael, come back to me so that
I may worship the Lord, your God.
So Samuel went back with him,with Saul, and Saul worshiped
the Lord.
(19:27):
Then Samuel said bring me Agag,the king of the Amalekites.
Agag came to him and changedand he thought surely the
bitterness of death is past.
But Samuel said as your swordhas made women childless, so
your mother will be childlessamong women.
And Samuel put Agag to deathbefore the Lord at Gilgad.
(19:53):
Then Saul left for Ramah.
But then Samuel left for Ramah.
But Saul went up to his homeand gave birth of Saul, until
the day Samuel died.
He did not see Saul again,though Samuel mourned for him.
He did not see Saul again,though Samuel mourned for him,
(20:20):
and the Lord regretted that hemade Samuel king of Israel.
Okay, let's just unpack thatthere.
This is important to understandbecause this is what gets King
David and his foot in the doorto become the second king of
Israel.
So the prophet Samuel gaveinstructions to Saul to kill all
(20:41):
the Amalekites, everything thatbreathed, the women, the
children, the men, the horsesand the cattle.
And King Saul killed most ofthem, but did not kill all of
them.
And as he's talking with Samuel, saul says well, we gave all
this to the Lord, we gave themajority of it to God, but we
(21:06):
kept some of it for ourselves.
We kept some of it forourselves.
He took a half measure.
And then he says in there well,I did it because I was afraid
of the men In his mind, the men.
They fought hard, they won,they wanted plunder, they wanted
these rewards.
And the sheep and the cattlehave the king, have the
Amalekites captured of thisgreat victory?
(21:30):
It was Saul's job to kill allof them and I know it can be
hard reading these passages.
If you have a heartbeat, itgets hard reading these passages
where God tells them to killall of them.
But there's a few things tothink about.
(21:50):
God is establishing his kingdomin Israel.
He's setting up the redemptionof the human race through Jesus
Christ, through his son, and hehas to purge evil.
These kings and kingdoms knewthat they could leave.
(22:15):
Many of them had an opportunityto leave but did not leave.
And God is sovereign.
God can direct.
God is the only one that candirect life and death.
They can dictate when lifeshould be taken and when life is
(22:36):
given.
This is also before Jesus bledand died on the cross and I do
think there's some significancethere that God could put his
wrath upon Jesus now, but Jesushad not died on the cross yet.
(22:56):
Now I'm not implying everyoneis saved because God has put
their wrath upon Jesus, becauseI don't believe that.
I believe you can accept ordeny him at the call of the Holy
Spirit.
(23:17):
But we see Saul took a halfmeasure, wanting to take some
for himself and for his men whenGod said to destroy them all.
And God said something betterfor Saul.
We see that we see that, asSamuel said, that God would
(23:40):
regret it making Saul king.
Now some people take thesepassages when God said he regret
it as people all that's mean.
That means God made a mistake,though God's not saying he made
a mistake.
He's showing that to give usthe human emotion behind it, to
(24:01):
show us what he felt.
This was still God's sovereignand divine plan to make King
Saul king, that King Saul king,to set up the role of King David
, the ancestor of Christ Jesus,our Savior.
(24:23):
And I just think it's amazinghow amazing the Bible is.
And remember, in Samuel, earlierin Samuel, we have the
Israelites pleading to Samuelthe prophet give us a king, give
us a king.
And Samuel prayed and he saidlisten, I don't think that
(24:46):
that's the best path.
I don't.
I think God has somethingbetter for you.
No, samuel, give us a king.
All the other countries haveone, we want one.
And God said okay, we will givethem a king, but they will
regret it.
This is them regretting it.
(25:07):
This is them regretting it.
And remember, before this,before the kings, they were
ruled by judges and prophets.
Prophets helped inform thejudges.
Sometimes the judges wereprophets, like when Deborah was
a prophet.
(25:27):
But you know, saul grabs on toSamuel and tears his robe and he
said, just as you tore my robe,that God will tear the kingdom
from you.
Okay, I'm going to try to getthrough one more chapter.
This might be a slow series.
Might be a slow series, that'sokay.
(25:50):
We are transitioning more intoa biblical podcast, but we will
still talk about politics at thestate, federal and local level,
because it's still important.
But I really wanted to startdiving deep into the Bible like
this.
I think it's so good reading itchapter by chapter, but I know
(26:14):
I went off on a couple tangents,but that's okay.
Like this, I think it's so goodreading it chapter by chapter,
but I know I went off on acouple tangents, but that's okay
.
We can tune in every week and ifyou have a question, comment or
concern, write me, write me,tweet at me, dm me.
There's multiple ways tocontact me.
You can write a letter and sendit to my address.
Old-fashioned Okay.
(26:37):
Samuel, chapter 16.
Samuel anoints David.
The Lord said to Samuel howlong will you mourn for Saul
since I have rejected him as aking over Israel?
Fill your horn with oil and youwill be on your way.
I am sending you to Jesse ofBethlehem.
I have chosen one of his sonsto be king.
(26:58):
Samuel said how can I go?
If Saul hears about it?
He will kill me.
The Lord said take your heiferwith you and say I have come to
sacrifice to the Lord.
Invite Jesse to the sacrificeand I will show you what to do.
You are to anoint me.
(27:20):
You are to anoint for me theone I indicate.
You know I haven't.
This just now hit me.
The amazing man that Samuel was.
The amazing story about hismother bore him after being
(27:44):
infertile and how God usedSamuel and how God he was just
an instrument for God, god usingSamuel, calling him.
Even though Samuel walked withGod, he was afraid.
He said if Saul hears this,he'll kill me.
Samuel was afraid.
(28:06):
It just says a lot to me.
Okay, verse four Samuel did whatthe Lord said.
When he arrived at Bethlehem,the elders of the town trembled
when they they met him.
They said do you come in peace?
Samuel replied yes, in peace.
(28:26):
I have come to sacrifice to theLord.
Concentrate yourself and cometo the sacrifice with me.
Then he concentrated Jesse andhis sons and invited them to the
sacrifice.
When they arrived, samuel sawEliba and thought.
(28:47):
Surely the Lord's anointed hasbefore has stood before the Lord
.
I just want to go back.
I know that this.
I should have said this earlierwhen I was talking about Samuel
being afraid.
You can walk with the Lord andstill be afraid of things, and
(29:08):
God can be there to help you.
That was the point I was tryingto make.
I just didn't say the part thatGod can still help you in your
fear.
And look earlier, in chapter 15,saul was afraid, but he gave in
to sin.
He didn't give God the fullmeasure, but Samuel was afraid
(29:31):
and he did give God the fullmeasure.
So you have to depend on god.
That's the difference.
And then samuel goes down toanoint um, one of jesse's sons,
and he says he sees one of hissons and says surely this is the
one the lord stands before meto anoint.
The Lord stands before me toanoint In verse 7,.
(29:53):
But the Lord said to Samuel Donot consider his appearance or
his height, for I rejected him.
The Lord does not look at thethings people look at.
People look at an outwardappearance, but the Lord looks
at a heart man.
(30:13):
Why does the church forget this?
A lot?
It definitely has, in my caseGrowing up, I wish I would have
handled things differently.
But telling people I feel calledto preach and people telling me
well, josh, I think you can bea good Christian, but I don't
think you can be a pastor.
Look at your speech impediment,look at all these things.
You have a hard time reading,you have dyslexia.
(30:36):
You have a hard time publicspeaking and I did.
I had a much harder time publicspeaking back in the day, but
God has helped me and I thinkI'm on a journey to start
preaching.
But I'm not a full-time pastoryet, but I do think I preach a
little bit and slowly.
(30:57):
I want to do slow and steadyand try to keep myself from sin
and trying to worship God.
It can be hard sometimes andI'm glad when I had the
opportunity and I'm not braggingon myself, but I'm glad when I
had an opportunity to at leastbe an assistant pastor at a
(31:17):
country church in Blaine County,virginia, that I listened to
the Holy Spirit and turned itdown Because it would not have
ended well for me or the church.
And now the church is in goodhands, they have a pastor that's
more theologically aligned withthem and they're doing better
(31:37):
and we get along, we get along,so it's.
That's a good thing.
I didn't embarrass myself andsome of the sins, some of the
sexual sins I would have falleninto, I'm doing better, I'm more
mature, I'm married Doesn'tmean I couldn't fall prey to it.
(31:58):
There's been great men thathave fallen to it.
But I'm praying and I'm tryingmy best to stay away from it
Doesn't mean that I don't sinwith lust in my heart sometimes,
because sometimes I do and it'swrong and I got to quit the
lust of the eye, the lust of myheart sometimes, because
sometimes I did and it's wrongand I gotta quit.
Um, the lust of the eye, thelust of the heart, and god help
(32:18):
me, god help us all.
But I'm gonna be open.
I'm gonna be honest about itwith you guys, with my friends,
with my family.
I want to be open and honest.
I want to be real, because youcan lie all you want to on this
side of heaven, but whenjudgment day comes, there's no
lie that will get you out of it.
You can't lie anymore.
(32:41):
It won't do you any good.
But why has the church forgottenthis?
That God looks not at theoutward appearance but the heart
.
We buy the newest suits, newestties, we buy the fanciest cars
while we're in a pool of debt,but then we look bad at someone
(33:08):
who wears blue jeans and at-shirt to church because when
they go into the house of theLord they're not wearing their
best of the best.
Number one they might be, somepeople are, some people are poor
.
Number two God looks at theheart, and I don't know why
people don't understand that theonly dress requirement that
(33:31):
Christians have is modest andproper.
That's it, you know.
We're not gonna, I'm not gonnawear a shirt that says I love
big badonkadonks in the churchor anywhere.
Right, but I want a plaint-shirt, a plain green, you know
(33:52):
.
Whatever.
Whatever color t-shirt, a plaingreen, you know whatever.
Whatever color t-shirt, a pairof pants.
I went to church several timeslike that.
Most of the time I wear acollared casual dress shirt and
a pair of black jeans, becausemost of the time I do like to
dress up a little bit, but noteven that Well, he just looks
like a preacher.
(34:12):
I want he just looks like apreacher.
I want my preacher to look likea preacher.
Have you ever read about Johnthe Baptist?
He was a preacher, he was aprophet.
He looked kind of rough I like.
We talked about Phil RobertsonOn last week's podcast.
He said Do I look like apreacher, do you?
(34:34):
And guess what?
John the Baptist looked worsethan me.
That's true, he had a longbeard eating honey and bugs.
I love John the Baptist.
He's a wild man, a wild manwith a heart for God.
But that guy doesn't pass thesound.
(34:56):
He doesn't have the best sound,he doesn't sound the best.
God's looking at your heart,god's looking at your heart, and
God can take the hardest ofhearts and make it flesh.
King David was called a manafter God's own heart.
After he sinned tremendously,after he did a lot of bad stuff,
(35:21):
god still called him a manafter his own heart.
I do.
I pray sometimes.
God, please let me be a manafter your own heart.
I think that should be all ourprayers.
I want to keep reading Verse 8.
Then Jesse called to Abab andhad him pass in front of Samuel.
But Samuel said the Lord doesnot choose this one either.
(35:45):
Jesse then called to Shem andguys I'm mispronouncing all of
these names, please forgive me.
I'm not great withpronunciation or reading in
general, but thank you forbearing with me.
Nor has the Lord chose this one.
Jesse had seven of his sons passbefore Samuel and Samuel said
(36:07):
to him the Lord has not chosenthese.
So he asked Jesse, are theseall the sons you have?
They're still the youngest.
Jesse answered he is tendingthe sheep.
Samuel said Send for him.
We will not sit down until hearrives.
So he sent for him and had himbrought in.
(36:28):
He was glowing with health andhad a fine appearance and
handsome features.
Then the Lord said Rise, anointthis one, anoint him, this is
the one.
So Samuel took the horn of oiland anointed it in the presence
of his brothers and from thatday on, the spirit of the Lord
(36:48):
came powerfully upon David.
Samuel then went to Ram.
So let's just talk before weread.
So Jesse has eight sons, that Igather.
He has eight sons and he bringsall his sons out and every
single one towards.
It's not this one, not this one.
(37:10):
What about this really tall,strong, young man?
You know, I'd say most ofJesse's sons were probably very
strong, working the fields inIsrael.
You know, it's not like they'reeating Pizza Hut every other
week like we do.
Right, I'm picking on myself alittle bit, okay, I don't
actually eat Pizza Hut everyother week I'm just being silly.
(37:31):
They were strong, they didn'thave cars, they walked places,
they had to do manual hard labor.
Then you have David.
David, I'm not saying Davidwasn't strong, but he's the
youngest.
Even Jesse didn't think tobring David out In Jesse's mind.
Well, god's not going to annoyDavid man.
(37:55):
How heartbreaking, howheartbreaking would that be for
King David and then for all ofDavid's brothers to resent him.
If you ever have some siblingsand you don't even have to feel
a call by God, but, man, in mycase you feel a call from God
you can feel some resentmentthere, and I've got great
siblings.
(38:15):
They haven't done anything meanto me like David's siblings
bickered to him so.
But you can feel a littleresentment among your siblings.
I know I can get an amen fromsomeone out of that.
I know I can, but you can havea resentment there, and
(38:37):
especially the youngest one.
Even I prayed that my heartwould be great in this.
Now I have a little sister, soI do think she would not be
qualified to be a head pastorbecause she's a woman.
We've went over this, but I dothink God could do great things
for her.
She is 15 years old.
(38:58):
No, she's 15 or 14.
Forgive me, she just turned 14.
If God started using her in away to reach a lot of people, I
would be so happy, but I praythat I wouldn't get a little
jealous.
It's just human nature here.
I am 29 years old and god'susing my 14 year old sister to
reach people more than me, butgod has the right to do it.
(39:22):
God can choose who he wants tochoose to preach his word and to
serve him in whatever capacityhe will want them to serve.
So we have to pray and I thinksometimes, when it comes to
younger pastors and this isprobably a reason why God had
(39:42):
one reason why God was like youneed to sit and chill, josh.
You don't need to be a21-year-old pastor yet.
You don't need to be a25-year-old pastor.
Sit and chill a little bit.
Older people can resent youngerpeople in the behind the bull
bit.
It's not good, it's not right,because God uses young people
all the time.
But you have a 50-year-old guyand it's like what's this
(40:06):
25-year-old telling me how Ishould live my life?
Well, it's not the 25-year-old.
It's the 25-year-old readingthe Word of God and trying to
give you a message.
And I understand it could behard.
Just human pride, human nature.
Um, sometimes we can, young, wecan learn things from people
(40:29):
who are younger than us.
We can, um, now, young people,that does not mean you should be
jerks, okay.
Um, you should be humble ingiving the word of God.
Be humble in the things thatyou do, okay, Especially if
(40:50):
there's an older person thatyou're trying to help in this
topic.
Be humble, okay, I'm going tokeep reading verse 14.
Now the spirit of the Lord haddeparted from Saul and an evil
spirit from the Lord tormentedhim.
Saul's attendant said to himSee an evil spirit from the Lord
tormenting you.
(41:10):
Let our Lord command hisservants here to search for
someone who can play the lyre.
He will play when the evilspirit comes to you and you will
feel better.
So Saul said to his attendantsfind someone who will play for
me and bring him to me.
One of the servants answered Ihave seen the son of Jesse of
(41:31):
Bethlehem who knows how to playthe liar.
He is a brave man and a warrior.
He speaks well and is a finelooking man, and the Lord is
with him.
Then Saul sent message to Jesseand said send your son, david,
who is with the sheep.
So Jesse took a donkey loadedwith bread and a skin of wine
(41:56):
and a young goat and sent them,with his son David, to Saul.
David came to Saul and enteredhis service.
Saul liked him very much andDavid became one of his armor
bearers.
Then Saul sent the word toJesse saying Allow David to
remain in my service, for I amwith him.
Whenever the Spirit from Godcame on Saul, david would take
(42:20):
up his harp and play.
Then relief would come to Saul,he would feel better and the
evil spirit would leave him.
So I used to have a hard time,and a part of me still does.
I do get it.
I understand God's sovereigntyand trust, but the evil spirit
(42:40):
upon Saul I don't believe thatthis is a demon or anything.
I feel like it's more of adepression, like a very dark,
dark depression, more than wewould see, and it makes me feel
why would God do that to KingSaul?
And I think it's a consequenceof his sin in chapter 15 and him
(43:04):
setting up the kingdom andgetting David a foothold in
Whatever it is.
I trust God.
So God sets this up to getDavid a foot in the door with
King Saul.
He's, you know, he's definitelygot to be learning from Saul
how Saul acts, how Saul governs.
He sees Saul being king and oneday he will be king.
(43:32):
And God uses this humbleshepherd boy with a harp to calm
the mind of a mighty king andone day he will be king himself.
Just a boy, himself just a boy,not great, not that he would
stand out amongst even hisbrothers playing the harp of the
Lord.
(43:53):
And I am going to go back, I amgoing to give us a verse of the
day.
Actually, sometimes, when Iread a lot of the Bible, I
forget to give us a verse of theday and I apologize for that.
But I'm going to give us averse of the day from early in
the chapter 1, samuel 16.
But the Lord said to Samuel Donot consider his appearance, his
(44:17):
height, for I have rejected him.
The Lord says Do not look atthings.
People look at.
People look at the outwardappearance, but the Lord looks
at the heart.
And that's man.
That's a great message.
The Lord looks at the heart.
(44:39):
I want to play you guys a song,if the audio will work.
If it will not work, I'm justgoing to read it to you, because
I've been having some audioproblems trying to play videos,
but I want to play.
You guys.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
Alright, guys, I'm just goingto have to read the lyrics.
I'm really frustrated about howmy sound is picking up videos.
(44:59):
I'm going to have to probablybuy something.
It's ridiculous.
I apologize for that, but I'mgoing to leave us off by reading
the words what a Friend we haveand Jesus.
Hopefully I can get a littlebit better sound quality, so
maybe we can just end on a song.
It doesn't always have to be ahymn, but I wanted it to be
(45:22):
today because I was thinkingabout all the people who
complain about all ourrelationship songs and my belief
in Jesus songs.
And I agree, sometimes they gotoo far and get sloppy.
But just be respectful.
If you don't like praise andworship music, go to a church
that doesn't have it.
There's plenty ofBible-believing churches that
(45:45):
still has hymns.
Go to one of them.
Listen to a.
Actually, you can listen tohymns during the work week,
during your week, but oh no,that's when I listen to Taylor
Swift.
That's when I listen to PostMalone and Eminem.
So you'll complain that you'renot listening to the music you
(46:09):
like and you're not listening tothe music you like at home,
that's good and uplifting music.
You'll listen to secular music,but not good and uplifting
music at home and then complainto the pastor about this praise
and worship music, and it goesboth ways.
(46:29):
It goes both ways so I want tostart reading it now.
What a friend we have in Jesus,all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carryeverything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
Oh what needless pain we bear,all because we do not carry
(46:53):
everything to God in prayer.
Have we have trials andtemptations.
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend sofaithful who will all sorrows
share?
Jesus knows our every weakness.
Take it to the Lord in prayer,amen, amen.
(47:19):
God bless you all.
We will see you here next weekat Overopinionated.
If nothing big pops up in thenews, which I know, there's big
things in the news with Trump'sbig, beautiful bill and
everything.
But I really want to focus onthis.
I really do.
There's thousands of politicalpodcasts out there and I'm not
(47:43):
abandoning it.
Please don't think I'mabandoning it.
It's very important to keep aneye on it still, but this is
something that I really, reallywant to focus on.
I feel really called to docharacter studies in the Bible,
reading them a few chapters at atime.
(48:03):
If this takes us a while, ohwell, that's fine, it's worth
the study, okay, God bless youall.
We'll see you back here nextweek.
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