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[0:00] Amen. We are going to be in 1 Samuel chapter 16 verses 1 to 13 today.

[0:30] What does that mean to be a friend of God? And because from a very early age, one of the verses that hit so hard for me was John 15, 15. For I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know what his master is doing.

[0:44] Now I call you friends. God himself will call us friends. What does that mean to be a friend of God? And I can't help but look at 1 Samuel 16 as a great example.

[0:57] Next week, I'm going to be in 1 Samuel 17, the slaying of Goliath, because we all have giants in our lives. And one of the things that I appreciate about that particular passage is that before David even got to Goliath, the battle was already won.

[1:15] It was won when he found the courage to slay wolves, bears, lions. By the time he got to Goliath, he says, my God is greater than anybody, especially this guy.

[1:25] What a friendship with God David has. What a friendship with God we can read about. So we're going to start with this and go from there. And I will say that this is VBS week.

[1:39] And then the week after is CIY. That Sunday after the CIY week, we're going to have a 1030 a.m. start. All right. It's a special CIY Sunday, but I'll be getting that message out.

[1:52] But I just want to remind everybody now. But let me dive in here. Verses one to three. The Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul since I have rejected him as king over Israel?

[2:04] Fill your horn with oil and be on your way. I'm sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I've chosen one of his sons to be king. But Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.

[2:16] The Lord said, take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I'll show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.

[2:29] Samuel was an older prophet of God. The Lord had instructed him to be replaced, to bring a king because Israel wanted a king of flesh and blood.

[2:40] The problem is, is that their motives weren't that great. They wanted someone they could manipulate, someone they could control. They wanted someone that was human. They wanted a man.

[2:55] The issue with Saul that I see is that he didn't have the heart a king should have. This lack of heart was revealed in his life and how he operated himself.

[3:10] And that lack of heart is what disqualified him as king. So much so that God took the kingdom away from Saul to give it to someone after God's own heart.

[3:22] It was removed from him. And Samuel went home and he was sad. And I struggled with that for a moment, thinking, well, why would you be sad?

[3:33] If there's something that's happening, if there's change that's happening and the Lord is driving it, why would you be sad? He must have been asking God, what are you doing? We thought Saul was the one.

[3:45] Where's the king? One day we find out the Lord asked Samuel, how long are you going to look back and wish for the past? See, this is what Samuel's issue was.

[3:58] He was stuck in the past. How long will you look at the past, dear Samuel? Because there's a time to grieve over mistakes. There's a time to grieve for what once was.

[4:11] And there's a time to move forward. To fill your horn with oil was a loud and clear message for Samuel from God. I am about to do something that will affect mankind forever.

[4:24] I am about to anoint a king, one that I choose from my heart, not one that the people have chosen. Because Saul is what you get when you do that. No, no, no.

[4:34] Seek after God and get what he has chosen. Because God will never allow his work to die with the death or the failure of one man. He will always see through his plan.

[4:48] He will always make way for what he is doing. Are God's hands tied because of previous failures? Never.

[5:00] Never. Are God's hands tied because things don't go the way we like? Or we wish we were in the past? Nope. Satan wants to keep us locked in the past.

[5:14] He wanted to discourage Samuel in this way. Oh God, what are you doing? Wasn't Saul what we wanted? Isn't this what we're looking for?

[5:27] There are times where God tells us to move on. And it was time for Samuel to move forward. The new king of Israel would be found among the sons of Jesse. Eight sons.

[5:39] One of them would be chosen. But it would be a man after God's own heart. But Israel had its chance to pick a king. They chose poorly. And God righted that.

[5:52] And brought in someone after his own heart. Because it was all about image for them. It was all about appearance. And quite frankly, it was about who can we control.

[6:03] He's going to pick for himself a king. And this was going to be God's king this time. Verses 4 to 7. Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him.

[6:16] They asked, Do you come in peace? Samuel replied, Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.

[6:27] Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. And when they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, Surely the Lord's anointed stands before the Lord. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.

[6:42] 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 oldest son, Eliab, strong, good looking, looks kingly, looks like the right choice.

[6:59] But that's the problem that the people of Israel made before when it came to Saul. That's not what God was doing here. And Samuel probably looked at the guy and thought, Wow, Lord, you really picked wisely.

[7:11] Good thinking. Good thinking.

[7:41] Good thinking.

[8:11] heart is a friend of God and there's something we can learn see this is the trap that Samuel slipped into we need to be mindful of this verses 8 to 10 then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel but Samuel said the Lord has not chosen this one either Jesse then had Shammah pass by but Samuel said nor has the Lord chosen this one Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel but Samuel said to him the Lord has not chosen these so he asked Jesse are these all the sons you have seven sons passed by none of them chosen by God they were not bad men they were not evil they were not bad people they just weren't chosen by God to be the future king of Israel so there was nothing wrong with them they just were not chosen God doesn't reform the flesh this is something I've had to really wrap my mind around over the years the flesh is nailed to the cross we are to die to ourselves the Lord brings in something new in ourselves in our lives he makes us a new creation in him and so it wasn't about taking someone that they could kind of repackage make look to be better and say here we go this will be a better representative God wants some wanted something new after his own heart and David was it even even though he didn't necessarily look the part for us to die to ourselves and have something new come forward is what the Lord asks of us let something new come forward in your life now let something new come forward in this church verses 11 to 13 so he asked Jesse are these all the sons you have there is still the youngest Jesse answered he is tending sheep now I want to stop right there you notice how David was of such low regard that his own father didn't even refer to him by name and the feast and the consecration the sacrifice that's about to happen he wasn't even invited to that Samuel had to put his foot down and said we're not doing anything until that guy shows up that is how low regarded David was or how low regard David's father had for him in that time Jesse answered he's tending sheep and Samuel said send for him we will not sit down until he arrives 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 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 and Samuel then went to Ramah not regarded well by his own father but well regarded by God God looks at you this morning regardless of your upbringing regardless of where you've come from and he says I love you

[11:31] I have a plan for you and it doesn't matter how the world has regarded you it doesn't matter possibly how your own family has regarded you the Lord sees you and it's no accident that you're here this morning hearing this particular message because I actually was going to deliver it last week but you're here now so maybe the Lord has something specific for you through this because God doesn't overlook and God chooses people that he knows their heart that are friends of his God overlooks what the world focuses on which is appearance accomplishments celebrity if everything's perfect about them the world will look at and say yes but that's not necessarily how God chooses because God looks at the heart he takes a shepherd boy like David and he takes people like you and me verse 11 so he asked Jesse are these all the sons you have there's still the youngest Jesse answered he is tending the sheep and Samuel said send for him for we will not sit down until he arrives when David was called he was tending sheep doing his job being faithful in the small things

[12:55] David was just obeying his father simply and doing what his dad had told him to do that day keeping the sheep means you have time to think you have a lot of time to think you might even feel like you're a little bit ignored and you wonder what the Lord is doing in your life what is going on now why these sheep they're not the sharpest tools in the shed right keeping sheep they're lovely little animals but I wouldn't trust them to think too hard keeping the sheep means that you have time to think and to look at the glory of God's creation David wrote and sang many psalms before before he became king psalm 19 verse 1 the heavens declare the glory of God and sky above proclaims his handiwork I can't help but think of just those moments where you know it's dusk and and David's laying flat on his back and there's sheep all around and he's just looking up the grandeur of the sky and worshiping the Lord and it's in those moments where he may have felt I'm doing nothing going nowhere nothing's happening when the Lord is building in him the heart of a shepherd that would worship him and appreciate him and understand the Lord that is the heart of the king that is who Israel needed that is who we should be too as a friend of God psalm 8 verses 3 and 4 when I look to your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place what is man that you are mindful him and the son of man that you care for him keeping sheep meant developing a deep and intimate relationship with God this is something you cannot study for it takes time and it takes surrender but this is exactly what tending sheep was for David this is what God was doing in David's life while he was tending the sheep and

[15:03] David's heart was being molded into the heart of the shepherd you know how to look after others when you're looking after animals like this you start to understand that people sometimes are helpless they need their shepherd Jesus we need him to guide us to protect us to lead us by still waters to lead us by green pastures to bring good food to us the food of his word this is what a good shepherd does and the good shepherd shoots the wolves and loves the sheep and the Lord was building this up into David unafraid of the wolves and the bears because they will always be there there will always be Goliaths and there will always be sheep and it is the shepherd's role to stand and this is what David was being taught in these moments where it seemed like to the world he was going nowhere so when was David a man after God's own heart after he was anointed after he became king no it was when he was a shepherd boy because he was about roughly then people argue about this but it's a silly thing to argue about he was roughly 10 to 15 years old and the Lord was building in him the heart of a shepherd back then and that's why we can look at all of the cries of Israel for deliverance all of the cries that people had send us Lord someone who will lead us the Lord was already preparing

[16:34] David in those pastors for this kingship long before the crown and I find that often happens with ministry as well the Lord starts preparing you long long before the commissioning you see there's I was taught that there's three stages to it there's the calling which is pretty quick and pretty easy quite frankly the end is the commissioning where you're sent out and in between that there's a lot of heartbreak there's a lot of losing yourself and a lot of people skip that process they want to go from calling do something real quick and then get to commissioning and they burn out very quickly because their heart is not the heart of a shepherd God was building in David endurance building in David that intimate relationship with God so he could be considered a friend of God just as the disciples were in John 15 15 just as you and I are now we can be considered friends of God and friendship takes time openness trust honesty friendship takes these things and we can be that more and more with our Lord so we know he is those things to us keeping the sheep also taught David to trust God in times of danger he had wolves and lions and bears to defend against

[18:11] I can't imagine what his mother must have gone through when he come came home with some of these stories I mean just the idea of the parent just hearing sorry you did what today right you use that sling I have seen this sling in action and if you have you know exactly what I'm talking about and I'll talk a bit about more about it next week it is like a bullet the way the guy spins around cracks it it is something to behold I have stones from the valley of Elah where David killed Goliath and they are like bullets rounded over time by the river eroding into the perfect shape and isn't that what the Lord does for us who are called erodes us over time into the right shape to be used for him this is what was happening David all of these years as a shepherd boy verse 12 so he sent for him and had him brought in he was glowing with help health and had fine appearance and handsome features then the Lord said rise and anoint him this is the one

[19:21] David comes in smelling like sheep I said the word sheep just going to repeat that again smelling like sheep his hair messed up a little I was pretty stressed when I was writing these notes I'm thinking I better really enunciate that okay his hair was messed up a little but there was something in his eyes there was something behind this there was a deep and loving relationship with the Lord and I think Samuel saw it and when the Lord confirmed it he was like yes I can see this on this man this is the one the words that Samuel has waiting to hear David would be the one that God would choose not because he was a shepherd or young or even good-looking David was a man after God's own heart when I say man like I said roughly 10 to 15 years so it doesn't matter how young you are or how old you are you can be someone man or woman after God's own heart you don't have to quit your job to be a man of God or a woman of God you can be that right now you don't need to be respected or even liked by others in fact sometimes that's a negative one of the things my dad taught me is that everybody likes you you're doing something wrong and I think there's some truth to that you don't need status respect or power to be a man or woman after God's own heart David had none of these things he had sheep to attend he had chores to do for days and days no no you need to spend close time with the Lord those same moments that caused David to write the Psalms that we read through and pray through and love so much now those same things that that brought him to tears at times when he was in moments of worship now that's what we need to do so what it means to be a man or woman after God's own heart is spend a lot of time with the Lord spend time in the Psalms read through them pray through them sing through them develop that sense of wonder that majesty that comes with worshiping God because we don't have to do that just on a Sunday morning that can come every day of the week we can have that wonderful experience and if you were doing it last night you might have seen a lot of sky light up and booms and bounds and stuff like that but you know you can still worship through these things father of lights you delight in your children pray through the Psalms giving you a heart after God but you know what's interesting too here and this is something for the parents young and old someone started David on this path someone started him and encouraged him to become a man of God to spend time with the Lord to use this time that he had with the sheep don't just waste it don't resent it don't go on strike just because you're not getting your way no no go out and use that time someone encouraged him to that I think it was his mom because Psalm 86 and 116 David mentions his mother as a maid servant of the Lord

[22:37] I just wonder if it was her that just infused in him this love of God I wonder if it was the stories that she taught I think David had a wonderful heritage given to him and it was a foundation that the Lord built upon take seriously when you are raising your children the awesome responsibility that you have to raise them to be a man and a woman of God and if you're a grandparent well you have multi generations to do this with now blessed are you that get that chance David ran with it he spent time with the Lord but the his mother built this in him I truly believe it so let's raise our children to be men and women after God's own heart verse 13 and I'll close 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 and Samuel went then went to

[23:39] Ramah it was only going to be years later that would be revealed in David's life what God was doing now it was roughly 25 years actually that's a lot of time of knowing what is to come and waiting it's that time between the calling and the commissioning where the Lord is chipping away softening up rounding over training us up guiding us on having us kill wolves and lions and bears so that we can love the sheep so that when little things happen we're just like whatever God's got this because he had it then he has it now David was anointed with oil and the Holy Spirit it was an inward work that was critical before God critical and Samuel knew that he wasn't going to be the one to put this kid on the throne so he left and he let God do the job it was God's job all along to put in a king on the throne it's just now that he put it into action God will always choose a man and woman of God after his own heart so spend the time to become a friend of God spend the time to work on your friendship with the

[24:58]  Lord don't take it for granted because we know that friends drift sometimes friendship sometimes gets further and further apart as life goes on it does not have to be that way with the Lord like David be thankful in the small things and worship our God let's pray God bless you