by Pastor Joey Asher
Insecure people do stupid things
Big idea:
Only God can provide total security in who we are
We live in an age of comparison
Insecurity distorts our vision. What begins as a comparison escalate to living lives with a trail of devastation in its state
# Insecurity destroys our perspective
1 Samuel 18:6-9
When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. 7 As they danced, they sang:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands.”
8 Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” 9 And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.
.... Suspected rival
How is your perspective today?
Even when others succeed
# Insecurity drives destructive decisions
1 Samuel 18:10-30
The next day an evil[a] spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.
12 Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul. 13 So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. 14 In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.
17 Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”
18 But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” 19 So[b] when the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. 21 “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”
22 Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king likes you, and his attendants all love you; now become his son-in-law.’”
23 They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man and little known.”
24 When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, 25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, 27 David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
28 When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, 29 Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.
30 The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.
Saul's insecurity moves from thoughts to actions
- Saul impulsiveness hence leads to downwards destruction
- weapon used for enemies was used against killing David as a result of Saul's rage
- foreskins was a means of sending David to die
- Saul using his daughter to trap David
- every of his attempt to harm David only increase David's success
- because the Lord was with David
Saul has inflated sense of self importance and place his security in himself. He placed himself as main character in his life story
# Insecurity damages our relationships
1 Samuel 19
Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2 and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. 3 I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”
4 Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. 5 He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be put to death.”
7 So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.
8 Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.
9 But an evil[a] spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.
11 Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.
14 When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.”
15 Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.” 16 But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats’ hair.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?”
Michal told him, “He said to me, ‘Let me get away. Why should I kill you?’”
18 When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. 19 Word came to Saul: “David is in Naioth at Ramah”; 20 so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied. 21 Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
“Over in Naioth at Ramah,” they said.
23 So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24 He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
1 Samuel 20
Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”
2 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”
3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”
5 So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6 If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ 7 If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 8 As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”
9 “Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”
10 David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
11 “Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together.
12 Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? 13 But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14 But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, 15 and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.” 17 And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
18 Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. 22 But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. 23 And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.”
24 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. 25 He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,[a] and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. 26 Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.” 27 But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
28 Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30 Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”
32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, 36 and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38 Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39 (The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”
41 After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.
42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
Saul was driven by jealousy
1 Samuel 20:30
Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?
Saul verbally abused his son Jonathan, indirectly Saul insults his own wife
1 Samuel 19:4-5
Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. 5 He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”
# Insecurity leads to devastating consequences
1 Samuel 22:6-19
Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul was seated, spear in hand, under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing at his side. 7 He said to them, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? 8 Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today.”
9 But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul’s officials, said, “I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelek son of Ahitub at Nob. 10 Ahimelek inquired of the Lord for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11 Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelek son of Ahitub and all the men of his family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king. 12 Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.”
“Yes, my lord,” he answered.
13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?”
14 Ahimelek answered the king, “Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king’s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household? 15 Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Of course not! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father’s family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair.”
16 But the king said, “You will surely die, Ahimelek, you and your whole family.”
17 Then the king ordered the guards at his side: “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.”
But the king’s officials were unwilling to raise a hand to strike the priests of the Lord.
18 The king then ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests.” So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. 19 He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep.
Saul sees threats when none existed
Let God define our worth!
Saul refuse to receive God's love
Saul rebelled against God's love
We gain strength to resist the pool of insecurity that's surrounding us
2 spiritual implications:
1st trigger:
1. Comparison
We should not allow measuring ourselves against others. Profession achievements, kids accomplishments . Lifestyle or family comparison of neighbours or friends, bigger home, car, careers...
2. Fear of loss
Irrelevance in the rapidly changing world, fear of replacement of skillset, anxious of being surpassed by younger colleagues, regret that never returned, things that we worked hard will never paid off
3. False security
Seeking security in titles or positions, in our financial assets, status symbols
2nd trigger:
Response to different circumstances with security in God
1. The first circumstance is when others succeed instead of you
2. When we are relating to others
- Saul used people as weapon, do we need to destroy another person reputation just to build ourselves up? Secure people make others feel secure as well
Leaders be warned !!
1. We must anchor our identity in Christ and not the leadership role
- Leadership is a calling and not identity
- I'm a steward and not owner of my leadership position
2. Help me to lead with deep conviction to please God alone and not approval of other people
- God's approval is eternal. Help me make right, Godly decision
3. Help me make decision out of gratitude
4. Surround me with godly mentors that I can seek counsel and be accountable to
- Our security or insecurity affects everyone around us
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Sunday, March 16, 2025
King of our own making - Character over Charisma
by Pastor Meng Cham
Big idea:
God looks at the heart, and not our outward appearances
1 Samuel 16
Know that God sees beyond what we can see
Is this how our lord appraise us? Based on looks
Saul was filled with the spirit of God, perhaps Samuel thought to himself, a fine choice. Saul behaved outwardly with piety but inwardly treating God with contempt
Saul became a thorn to Samuel's flesh
1 Samuel 16:6-7
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
# The lord looks on the heart
Although it is human to see on the outward, eloquence, elegance in which one carries oneself which is the charisma, It's also the wisdom to take another look to see what we did not see initially
7 sons passed by but the lord did not choose. There was a son #8. Even Jesse did not think much of David - he described him as smallest, youngest, ruddy
1 Samuel 16:12c-13
So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.
The Spirit of the lord rushed upon David
1 Samuel 16:14
Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil[a] spirit from the Lord tormented him.
The spirit of the lord left Saul
Life is not always a straight line from A to B. It's the journey we have to take. Rocky path that God leads us to often brings us to a eventual path that God wants us to be.
# Be one who is after God's heart.
1 Samuel 17
Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. 2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. 4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.[a] 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels[b]; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.[c] His shield bearer went ahead of him. 8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. 12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. 17 Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah[d] of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance[e] from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.” 20 Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear. 25 Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.” 26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 27 They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.” 28 When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.” 29 “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” 30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” 38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. 41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!” 45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath[f] and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. 54 David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent. 55 As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.” 56 The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.” 57 As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head. 58 “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him. David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
Saul was not steadfast in his pursue of God and often challenges Samuel's authority. Terror had seized the heart of Saul and all of Israel
It wasn't David's plan to fight Saul. David came to his brothers on errands from Jesse
1 Samuel 17:26b
David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
On seeing David, Saul also have his doubts
1 Samuel 17:33
Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
1 Samuel 17:37
The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
David took on lions and bear and killed them
1 Samuel 17:45-47
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
In the name of the lord..., there is a God in Israel... The lord saves not with sword and spear..., for battle is the lord's.... He will give you into our hand
Insulting the name of Yahweh was the greatest mistake
1 Samuel 13:14
But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
David entered into leadership after defeating Goliath, fulfilled what Samuel prophesized to saul
We must not refrain from engaging our giants ...go in the name of the lord. We'll be delivered from the power of satan and sin
# Value character over charisma
Character is about who you are when no one is watching
The difference between charisma and character:
@ Charisma = Grace gift
@ Character = exact representation or inscribed image
- David character was formed in obscurity
- sheep are always getting lost and not intelligent , David was always faithful
- David spent time cultivating his skills
1 Samuel 16:23
Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.
God gave David the ability to offer Saul the deliverance using his hands, through lyre.
Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
We also need time away from spotlight to allow Christ like character to form in us
It was another 15 tough and hard years before David became King
Charisma is what God bestows on us, but character is what we allow the Spirit of God to cultivate in us!
Let's not live a Pattern of deceit and fraudulence life
Charisma will get you to the table but character will get you back to the table
Let Holy Spirit search your heart of where are you now. Where's your character, willing to let God do something eternal, inner disposition, let your motivation to be pure, to be aligned to his will.
Big idea:
God looks at the heart, and not our outward appearances
1 Samuel 16
Know that God sees beyond what we can see
Is this how our lord appraise us? Based on looks
Saul was filled with the spirit of God, perhaps Samuel thought to himself, a fine choice. Saul behaved outwardly with piety but inwardly treating God with contempt
Saul became a thorn to Samuel's flesh
1 Samuel 16:6-7
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
# The lord looks on the heart
Although it is human to see on the outward, eloquence, elegance in which one carries oneself which is the charisma, It's also the wisdom to take another look to see what we did not see initially
7 sons passed by but the lord did not choose. There was a son #8. Even Jesse did not think much of David - he described him as smallest, youngest, ruddy
1 Samuel 16:12c-13
So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.
The Spirit of the lord rushed upon David
1 Samuel 16:14
Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil[a] spirit from the Lord tormented him.
The spirit of the lord left Saul
Life is not always a straight line from A to B. It's the journey we have to take. Rocky path that God leads us to often brings us to a eventual path that God wants us to be.
# Be one who is after God's heart.
1 Samuel 17
Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. 2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. 4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.[a] 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels[b]; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.[c] His shield bearer went ahead of him. 8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. 12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. 17 Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah[d] of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance[e] from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.” 20 Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear. 25 Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.” 26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 27 They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.” 28 When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.” 29 “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” 30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” 38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. 41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!” 45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath[f] and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. 54 David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent. 55 As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.” 56 The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.” 57 As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head. 58 “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him. David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
Saul was not steadfast in his pursue of God and often challenges Samuel's authority. Terror had seized the heart of Saul and all of Israel
It wasn't David's plan to fight Saul. David came to his brothers on errands from Jesse
1 Samuel 17:26b
David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
On seeing David, Saul also have his doubts
1 Samuel 17:33
Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
1 Samuel 17:37
The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
David took on lions and bear and killed them
1 Samuel 17:45-47
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
In the name of the lord..., there is a God in Israel... The lord saves not with sword and spear..., for battle is the lord's.... He will give you into our hand
Insulting the name of Yahweh was the greatest mistake
1 Samuel 13:14
But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
David entered into leadership after defeating Goliath, fulfilled what Samuel prophesized to saul
We must not refrain from engaging our giants ...go in the name of the lord. We'll be delivered from the power of satan and sin
# Value character over charisma
Character is about who you are when no one is watching
The difference between charisma and character:
@ Charisma = Grace gift
@ Character = exact representation or inscribed image
- David character was formed in obscurity
- sheep are always getting lost and not intelligent , David was always faithful
- David spent time cultivating his skills
1 Samuel 16:23
Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.
God gave David the ability to offer Saul the deliverance using his hands, through lyre.
Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
We also need time away from spotlight to allow Christ like character to form in us
It was another 15 tough and hard years before David became King
Charisma is what God bestows on us, but character is what we allow the Spirit of God to cultivate in us!
Let's not live a Pattern of deceit and fraudulence life
Charisma will get you to the table but character will get you back to the table
Let Holy Spirit search your heart of where are you now. Where's your character, willing to let God do something eternal, inner disposition, let your motivation to be pure, to be aligned to his will.
Sunday, March 2, 2025
King of our own making - Style over Substance
by Pastor Peter Lim
Big idea:
God requires our complete obedience
Are we living a life of Style/form more than substance?
1 Samuel 13-15
The Israelites wanted things their way over Yahweh way
I Samuel 13 depicted Samuel stern warning to Israel
God will establish the lives of those who obey Vs those who disobey Him will ultimately lose their heritage and destiny
1 Samuel 10:1
Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?[a]
3 times God reminding Saul that Israel is His heritage. Both king and people were reminded of God's authority, including our own lives in modern living today.
Let's take God's warning seriously that He requires complete obedience
#1 warning:
Beware of fear and doubt amidst pressure of life
1 Samuel 13:5-7
The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand[a] chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. 6 When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.
Saul and his army faced tremendous pressure, surrounded by Philistines. Samuel had instructed Saul to wait for seven days
Only high priest was authorised to offer sacrifices
But near seven days that Samuel did not arrive, Saul panicked and offered sacrifices himself. When confronted, Saul said Philistines will come and he had not sought the favour, and therefore, he offered sacrifices. He was faced with fear, having from 3000 men reduced to 600 men with no weapons. Saul was desperate
@ Saul was more concerned about bringing assurance to his army than seeking God's guidance or favour in battle
The sacrifices was a mere ritual to Saul..
Samuel rebuked Saul for the first time
1 Samuel 13:13-14
“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
Saul outrightly disobeyed God's command.
Offering sacrifices and seeking God's favour were only to be done by the high priest
GOD REQUIRES COMPLETE OBEDIENCE NOT Partial OBEDIENCE
@ Saul feared people more than he feared God and that led to wrong decisions
Saul was People-pleaser
# Application 1:
Be God-focused, not people-focused
(Following Jesus is counter cultural, frequently invite persecution)
Do we want God centred lives ruled by Godly values?
In a world pre occupied with likes, emoji, it is people pleasing at the expense of pleasing God, it hinders us from complete obedience. Our loved one souls are also at stake, we feared being rejected by being unfriended when we share the gospel with them.
#2 warning:
Beware of pride and spiritual ignorance
Jonathan, Saul's son knew that if God was with them, Victory will be with them
1 Samuel 14:18-20
Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ark of God.” (At that time it was with the Israelites.)[a] 19 While Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” 20 Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords.
Saul disregarded the law, treated God's presence of the Ark by handling carelessly, he was spiritually insensitive
Saul's motivation for fighting the Philistines was pride and personal vengeance
Saul used Israelites army to fulfill his own agenda
He has a form of religion but didn't truly know God
He put the army through unnecessary distress by caused them to sin against YahWeh and almost caused the death of his own son Jonathan
Saul was spiritually insensitive and ignorance
How to achieve complete obedience?
# Application 2:
Be spiritually attuned
(know God personally and intimately)
(don't perform religious duties)
To be spiritually attuned, we must know God intimately and understand what he requires of us
Get to know God personally and intimately
God appreciate a sincere heart that is completely obedience to Him
#3 warning:
Beware of rebellious tendencies
1 Samuel 15:3
Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
Total destruction is call "Chayrem" in hebrew
1 Samuel 15:15
Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Obey better than Listen
Do not be Rebellious or act on Presumption
Disobedience is a rejection of God's ways
Sacrifice was part of obedience to God but never meant to be a substitute
Sacrifices are to be made out of obedience and sincere devotion to God
There was no genuine repentance in Saul even when confronted by Samuel
We find all sorts of things to justify our actions just like Saul
How do we achieve complete obedience?
# Application 3:
Be open to correction (God requires our genuine repentance when we fall short)
(His intention is to restore us, not condemn)
(we are to embrace his correction through people)
(submit to one another)
(let's reflect and repent)
Our Grace Groups and life-on-life disciple-making process are avenues through which the church community can lovingly correct us.
Big idea:
God requires our complete obedience
Are we living a life of Style/form more than substance?
1 Samuel 13-15
The Israelites wanted things their way over Yahweh way
I Samuel 13 depicted Samuel stern warning to Israel
God will establish the lives of those who obey Vs those who disobey Him will ultimately lose their heritage and destiny
1 Samuel 10:1
Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?[a]
3 times God reminding Saul that Israel is His heritage. Both king and people were reminded of God's authority, including our own lives in modern living today.
Let's take God's warning seriously that He requires complete obedience
#1 warning:
Beware of fear and doubt amidst pressure of life
1 Samuel 13:5-7
The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand[a] chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. 6 When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.
Saul and his army faced tremendous pressure, surrounded by Philistines. Samuel had instructed Saul to wait for seven days
Only high priest was authorised to offer sacrifices
But near seven days that Samuel did not arrive, Saul panicked and offered sacrifices himself. When confronted, Saul said Philistines will come and he had not sought the favour, and therefore, he offered sacrifices. He was faced with fear, having from 3000 men reduced to 600 men with no weapons. Saul was desperate
@ Saul was more concerned about bringing assurance to his army than seeking God's guidance or favour in battle
The sacrifices was a mere ritual to Saul..
Samuel rebuked Saul for the first time
1 Samuel 13:13-14
“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
Saul outrightly disobeyed God's command.
Offering sacrifices and seeking God's favour were only to be done by the high priest
GOD REQUIRES COMPLETE OBEDIENCE NOT Partial OBEDIENCE
@ Saul feared people more than he feared God and that led to wrong decisions
Saul was People-pleaser
# Application 1:
Be God-focused, not people-focused
(Following Jesus is counter cultural, frequently invite persecution)
Do we want God centred lives ruled by Godly values?
In a world pre occupied with likes, emoji, it is people pleasing at the expense of pleasing God, it hinders us from complete obedience. Our loved one souls are also at stake, we feared being rejected by being unfriended when we share the gospel with them.
#2 warning:
Beware of pride and spiritual ignorance
Jonathan, Saul's son knew that if God was with them, Victory will be with them
1 Samuel 14:18-20
Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ark of God.” (At that time it was with the Israelites.)[a] 19 While Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” 20 Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords.
Saul disregarded the law, treated God's presence of the Ark by handling carelessly, he was spiritually insensitive
Saul's motivation for fighting the Philistines was pride and personal vengeance
Saul used Israelites army to fulfill his own agenda
He has a form of religion but didn't truly know God
He put the army through unnecessary distress by caused them to sin against YahWeh and almost caused the death of his own son Jonathan
Saul was spiritually insensitive and ignorance
How to achieve complete obedience?
# Application 2:
Be spiritually attuned
(know God personally and intimately)
(don't perform religious duties)
To be spiritually attuned, we must know God intimately and understand what he requires of us
Get to know God personally and intimately
God appreciate a sincere heart that is completely obedience to Him
#3 warning:
Beware of rebellious tendencies
1 Samuel 15:3
Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
Total destruction is call "Chayrem" in hebrew
1 Samuel 15:15
Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Obey better than Listen
Do not be Rebellious or act on Presumption
Disobedience is a rejection of God's ways
Sacrifice was part of obedience to God but never meant to be a substitute
Sacrifices are to be made out of obedience and sincere devotion to God
There was no genuine repentance in Saul even when confronted by Samuel
We find all sorts of things to justify our actions just like Saul
How do we achieve complete obedience?
# Application 3:
Be open to correction (God requires our genuine repentance when we fall short)
(His intention is to restore us, not condemn)
(we are to embrace his correction through people)
(submit to one another)
(let's reflect and repent)
Our Grace Groups and life-on-life disciple-making process are avenues through which the church community can lovingly correct us.
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