From One Degree to Another

My 8/25/19AM sermon, Spiritual Desperation from 1 Samuel 28:3-25, is now online. What a passage? I bumped into a friend this week and they asked if I was preparing a sermon and I said, “Yes, on maybe one of the weirdest in the Bible.” They asked, “Which one is that?” I said, “You know that one where a king of Israel goes out and seeks out a medium to conjure up a spirit to give him advice?” She said, “I’m not familiar with that one.” Um, yeah.

So, my sermon sought to apply Saul’s spiritual desperation to us readers. Spiritual desperation often emerges out of crisis, so we should seek God now. And, it can lead to misguided actions, so remember that God’s Word is sufficient. I’m hoping this sermon is helpful.

Of course, questions have come as our curiosities are aroused. Things like: Where’d Samuel come from? Where would Saul and his sons soon go? Is this possible? I think Eric Ortlund said it best: “This narrative is more concerned to show us Saul’s downward spiral in contrast to David in chapter 31 that to answer our questions about divination or the afterlife.”

I hope the sermon serves you well if you give time to listening to it.

My 8/18/19AM sermon, Into Enemy Land (1 Samuel 27:1-28:2), is now online. This sermon used 27:1 with David talking to himself and acting as a springboard to dissecting the results that come with discouragement. We underestimate how powerful discouragement can be in our lives. So, I’m hoping this sermon gives you some comfort as you navigate these things in your life.

My 8/11/19AM sermon at Crestview, God’s Plan God’s Way 3 from 1 Samuel 26, is now online. This was the third trial of David in the wilderness. And, this one showed some outcomes of what we can expect as we trust in the Lord and go about living out God’s plan in God’s way. The big takeaway for me here got at trust issues. If I trust God, then I will willingly yield to His bigness, see my faith emboldened, and have hope. So, I hope this sermon encourages you in this regard.

My 8/4/19AM sermon, God’s Plan God’s Way 2 from 1 Samuel 25, is now online at Crestview’s website. This chapter is notoriously famous for introducing a few new characters into David’s world: Nabal and Abigail. Following the events of chapter 24, another temptation emerges in the wilderness as David is given the choice to take matters into his own hands and work his own salvation or to trust in the Lord. He chooses the former and needs a rescuer from God Himself to restrain him from foolish action. I hope this sermon encourages you and helps you to trust God and not take matters into your own hands.

My 7/28/19AM sermon, God’s Plan God’s Way from 1 Samuel 24, is now online. This sermon got into that story of David cutting off the corner of Saul’s robe and the speeches that flowed out of it. Doing God’s plan God’s way seemed to be driving David at this point. Related to this, was the idea of loving “enemies.” It’s difficult to wrap our minds around this because, honestly, most of us aren’t good at love in general, let alone loving our enemies. So, I hope this sermon provokes actions in keeping with love that lead to progress as we engage the world. I hope it encoruages you.

As I’ve been out at Youth Camp last week, I didn’t get a chance to post the recaps of my sermons.

On Sunday, July 14, I preached 1 Samuel 22 discussing the Contrasting Kingdoms that seem to emerge in that chapter. It seems that the way Saul rules his people is contrasted pretty clearly with the way it seems David may rule. And, as we see this, we’re given some insight into how the rule of Christ will be.

Then, this past Sunday, July 21, I preached 1 Samuel 23 in a sermon entitled God, Our Helper. The need of your heart is to be strengthened by grace and specifically we see some ways our hearts can be strengthened to see that God is our Helper.

I hope these sermons encourage you and help you move forward in your living life to God’s glory.