Real people – Real problems
Wrap up
1 Samuel chapters 1-15
For the last several months
We have been studying the great book of 1 Samuel and looking at Real People of the bible
Who like us- had real problems
We will continue our study of these writings next year when we began a study on the life of King David
But for now, we are going to close out this series
A lot has gone on in this book
In this church
In this world and in our personal lives since we began this study
We started and completed our new construction
Our youth ministry has flourished
We have had new members
New believers
And many baptisms
Babies have been born
And some of us have retired
In the world
2 times since we started this series we have had to take a break and address the evil in the world
I have no doubt we could have addressed much more of it
But that too is biblical
Read the book of Revelation and you will see
That things are going just as God’s word said they would
So
In the midst of evil
We
As believers are to be a light in the darkness
We are to overcome
To survive
But to thrive
And spread the love and mercy of Christ wherever we may go
Today is going to be a recap
We started this series on Mothers day
Our first sermon covered Hannah
We studied 1 Samuel chapter 1
And in this sermon, we saw that Real People of Faith
Deal with real problems in 5 ways
They place God first in their lives
They pray intensely
Experience God’ s provision
They Keep their promises
And they
They praise and worship God
Hannah is a great example of how to overcome the hardships in our lives
And a great example of How God blesses those who give him everything
In the next sermon
Titled---- Kid Problems
We saw haw we should not overcome or react to problems
We looked at Eli and his wicked sons Hophni and Phinehas
Eli was the priest
But he failed to discipline his sons
He looked the other way
And even embraced their wrong doing
And even profited from their wrong doing
James 4:17 came up several times in this sermon
James 4:17
“Remember ,it is a sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it”
As a result
Eli and his family lost the blessing that God had planned for them
Next we moved into a 3 week mini series within a series titled
“ Hearing God”
We saw that Samuel
Who had been dedicated to God by His mother Hannah
Listened when God called
He responded with the words
“Speak your servant is listening”
And he began the process of becoming and serving as God’s man
God’s prophet
Because of his obedience
I used the illustration of the pack challenge in at the bishop mule days in Bishop California
As an example of just how had it can be to listen to God
In the confusion and Chaos in this word
And how we must
Intently listen for the sound of God’s voice
We also took our first look at how God speaks to us--his sheep
He speaks through the Holy Spirit- speaking directly our hearts
He speaks to us through his word
He speaks to us through his church
And he speaks to us though his creation
And he speaks to us though his Son Jesus Christ
The next week took another look at “Hearing God”
But we looked at some barriers to hearing God
Why we don’t listen and why we don’t hear
Inexperience was the first
And we learned that in order to gain the needed experience we must seek it
Psalm 86:11
“Teach me your ways O Lord
So I may live according to your truth”
Lack of expectations was the next
Unwillingness was next
And Sin in our lives was the last
The next week we covered the benefits of hearing God with one more of the hearing God sermons
It was also Father’s Day
So the sermon pulled double duty
Salvation
Finding your purpose
Leading others in the right path
Were all benefits of really hearing God
And we applied pressure to the men in the home to step up and become the old dog in a young dogs life
And teach them the ways of God
Next, we moved into another series within series
Titled “knowing God”
In part 4a
“The Israelite view”
We looked at the nation of Israel’s view of God
I used a scene from Young Guns
Where a dude claimed he knew Billy the kid
But only knew him in theory
Because he did not recognize him in person
We saw how it is possible to think we know God
By his reputation
By the rumors and false teachings that fill the world
And how when we fail to see the real God
We can make drastic mistakes
We saw how many people think of God as a lucky charm;
how they confuse the things of God for God himself
They took God for granted
Ignored his holiness
They blamed God for their problems
And they glorified everyone and ever thing except God
Next in part 4b we took another look at knowing God
Titled the” Philistine view”
This time we looked at God from the view of the Philistines
As you may remember
The Israelites got the snot beat out of them primarily because of their wrong views of God
And the ark was captured by the Philistines
But
They also had a wrong view of God
And they also suffered because of those views
They thought of God
As Just another god in their arsenal of gods
Just a power they could control
They also worshipped the things of God – the ark
Instead of God himself
And it cost them plenty
Next in the knowing God Mini series
Oi a sermon titled little “ g” gods
we looked at the little “ g” gods in our lives
The things we place before God or our relationship with him
The things in our life that the place of honor
Some of these were
Religion
Pride
Money and possessions
Hobbies
Jobs
Relationships
Health
Addictions
Fears
Anything that takes the place of God in your life
Is in danger of becoming a god in your life
In part 4d of the Knowing God mini series
Titled “ How to Know God”
We studied
Wrong views by the Israelites and the Philistines
Touched on little “g” gods again
And then started on a quest of discovery
We used this last of the knowing God series to
Show who God really is
and how we really get to know him
We saw that the three- legged Stool of faith that we use so much was a key to knowing God
Prayer
Study of his word
Fellowship with Him and others
And we touched on Fasting- going without something in order to get closer to God
Next, we looked at 1 Samuel chapter 8
In a sermon titled” Needful Things”
And saw the nation of Israel in an attempt to become more like the other nations
reject God and ask for a king
This sermon covered the issue of getting what we ask for even when it is not good for us
I used a radical illustration here
Needful things by author Stephen King
To show how we often look at the ugly
Vile
Nasty thinsg of this world with skewed vision
And how God
Because of his love for us
Will often let us experience those things in order to draw us back to him
We saw that Satan uses the bait we give him in order to tempt us
And that
God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation
Once again
We looked at things that can become Lord of our lives
What they can cost us
And how we defend against them
The next week we started yet another mini series
Or series within a series
Titled “you da man”
In part 6a
We saw that Saul had been chosen as king by God
Anointed by Samuel
And accepted by some of the people
But he failed to step up to the plate
How he tried going back to his old life
How he tried to hide from his new responsibilities
And we related that to Luck
Happenstance
Coincidences
And such
We saw how God uses people, things
Circumstances- he does not rely on luck
And even donkeys
To get people into the places he wants them to be
In order to use them in the way he desires
Proverbs 16:9
Was a strong scripture in this sermon
“We can make our plans
But the Lord determines our steps”
In the next part of this mini series
Part 6b
Titled” Hiding or shinning”
We used Saul and his life
To illustrate the importance
Of living for Jesus
Being all in
All the time
We studied the importance of
Stepping out
And identifying ourselves as believers
The importance of not living as secret believers
But instead letting our lights shine
And becoming part of the plan
And how if we claim to be believers and want to be accepted as believers
We must act like believers
The next week we dealt with a real problem in today’s world
Haters
The sermon titled “dealing with haters”
Once again uses Saul
And some of his so-called followers
Good time buddies
Who hated him for what he was not who he was
We saw from scripture how we should deal with those who dislike us for following Jesus
Ignore them by not listening to their junk
Ignore them by focusing on our purpose
Ignore them by looking at the fruit they are producing or not producing
Ignore them
Then pray for them
And focus on God
“ Be who you is , cause if you ain’t who you is then you is who you ain’t”
Next in sermon 9
I used Jake Spoon from Lonesome dove
To show the folly and danger of going along to get along
Lou actually preached a message on compromise that complimented this one nicely the next week
In this message
We saw that Saul
Refused to compromise
Nahash king of the Ammonites wanted to make a deal with some of the Israelites
He wanted to gouge out their eyes and make a treaty with them
And -- Saul for the first time
Stepped up
And took charge
And said in a cowboy kind of way
It ain’t happing
He refused to compromise
He refused to go along to get along
And he earned the respect and the freedom of his people
We looked at some areas where we have gone along to get along
The consequences of those actions
And discussed ways to prevent that in the future
The next week we studied Saul
And how he finally king in the became eyes of everyone
In a sermon titled “ Becoming what God has called you to be “
We saw how when Saul started acting like a king
The people started treating him like one and accepting him as their king
We saw again --how we are called as believers
To act like believers
And that when we don’t we won’t be accepted
But that when we do
We can become what God has called us to be
And do what he has called us to do
The next week I actually tied or Corner posts of our Faith on going series in with the Real People – real problems series
We used Samuel as an example of a good servant of God
In a sermon titled “ Becoming a good servant of God”
And we applied his characteristics to our own lives ‘
In order to become better servants ourselves
In this sermon
Samuel from Chapter 11 of 1 Samuel
Samuel steps aside for Saul
He will continue as the spiritual consultant for the people
But now Saul will lead them
In this chapter we saw how Samuel
Had lived a life of integrity
We looked at his faithfulness
And his love for the people
We saw that he committed himself to continue praying for them and to continue teaching them God’s word
We saw how we too
Even if we have not always lived a life of integrity. Faithfulness and love
Can get a new start through a relationship with Christ
The next week we saw how Saul messed up by not waiting on God
In a sermon with that title
Part 11
“ waiting on God”
We saw that Saul let his own plans
His own desires
His own ambitions
Peer pressure
Cause him to get out ahead of God
And caused him to disobey God
We also saw the consequences of not waiting on God
A loss at a chance at salvation when we try and save ourselves
Further disobedience
Distancing from God
Self-centeredness
Loss of blessings
Rewards
In the next sermon
Maybe my favorite in this series
We met Jonathan for the first time
In Part 12 in a sermon titled
“can’t or won’t”
We learned that there is a big difference in not being able and not being willing to do God’s will
We learned that with God 1 equals many
And our side outnumbers their side every time
We learned that with God all things are possible
And that he is simply looking for someone who will say
I can, and I will
In the last sermon in this series
Part 13
Titled “then what is that sound that I hear”
We saw Saul finally through his selective obedience
Lose the kingdom
We learned through the example of Saul
That selective obedience is disobedience any way you slice it
And we learned that God desires our obedience
All of our obedience
Not our sacrifices
It is my prayer that the topics in this sermon series have hit home
My desire that we have seen that the Old Testament hero’s
Suffered from the same problems we do
And that through our focus on God and his word
Through our Listening for his word
Though our knowing him better and more
We will grow in faith
It is my prayer that we can apply these teachings
Sometimes hard teaching to our lives
And become what God has called us to be
To learn how to biblically handle problems in our own lives
And that when he calls we will not hide or run but that we will shine
And boldly say with confidence I can, and I will
And then step out in complete obedience to God
Close from the heart
Pray
