God Looks On The Heart Series

Dan [reenact this scene from my childhood!]: I spent a lot of time in the bathroom, making myself look so handsome that all the girls couldn’t help but want me: hair parted in middle, collar up.

• We spend a lot of time and $ trying to look nice, to make an impression

• Our Maker really doesn’t care about our outside.

o He doesn’t get turned off by our bad breath, or wear a polyester suit, or . . . . . .

o He cares about something much, much, deeper

[PROP: Hand out the Playdough (homemade, soft, fragrant, red), instruct children and parents to each make hearts)

God looks at the heart

Retell the story:

God was disappointed in the first King of Israel, Saul. He knew there was someone in Isreal that would make a much better king, and he wanted his judge, Samuel, to go find him, and anoint him king.

• Goes to a man named Jesse.

• Jesse gets six of his sons.

• Samuel looks at the first, the oldest, and says: “This has GOT to be the one God wants. . . his anointed.

1 Sam 16:7

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t look at how handsome Eliab is or how tall he is, because I have not chosen him. God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (have them all hold up their hearts at this point)

Our hearts are a Very Special place that are very important to God.

What was good about David’s heart? Let’s take a look at some examples from his life.

[Retell the story of Goliath ]

• 9’4”

• The tip of his spear: 15 pounds [have a boy come up to the front and hoist up 15 pounds of weights to emphasize the size and strength of Goliath)

• Armor, 125 pounds

• Choose a man and send him to fight me. 9 If he can fight and kill me, we will be your servants. But if I can kill him, you will be our servants.” 10 Then he said, “Today I stand and dare the army of Israel! Send one of your men to fight me!”

David has to make a cheese and bread run to his brothers. He sees Goliath, making fun of Isreal and scaring them. And he gets mad!

16:26 Who does this uncircumcised Philistine think he is? Does he think he can speak against the armies of the living God?”

David’s oldest brother, the one that Samuel thought was handsome and strong enough to be king got mad at David, and made fun of him:

“Why did you come here? Who’s taking care of those few sheep of yours in the desert? I know you are proud and wicked at heart. You came down here just to watch the battle.”

Kind of funny, isn’t it? The brother that God said didn’t have the right heart was making fun of the little brother that God DID say had the right heart.

Well, to make a long story short,

David went out to Goliath, that big strong man that the whole army of Israel was afraid of.

Goliath saw David and started making fun of him: “This little shrimp is supposed to fight me? No way! I will feed your body to the birds and wild animals!”

But David wasn’t afraid of this great big Giant, so he looked him right in the . . . knee cap and said:

NO WAY, JOSE, you don’t scare me. I come to you in the name of the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the armies of Israel! You have spoken against him. 46 Today the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll kill you and cut off your head. Today I’ll feed the bodies of the Philistine soldiers to the birds of the air and the wild animals. Then all the world will know there is a God in Israel!

David was all about God. God protected him when he took care of the sheep. God helped him fight lions. God helped him take care of his sheep. And he knew God would always take care of him.

Psalm 23:1-3: [have 8 year old Alexa recites them]

Many of you know that Psalm quite well . . .

There is a story about a little four-and-a-half-year-old girl was who raised her hand to recite all of Psalm 23. A bit skeptical, the teacher asked if she could really quote the entire psalm. The little girl came to the podium, faced the class, made a little bow, and said: "The Lord is my shepherd, that’s all I want." She then bowed again and sat down.