From Established to Uprooted: Part 2

♪ Praise Him victoriously ♪ ♪ In tomorrow's light I'ma run ♪ ♪ Out of darkness, out of shame ♪ ♪ By the cross You are the truth ♪ ♪ You are the life, You are the way ♪ ♪ In tomorrow's light I'ma run ♪ ♪ Out of darkness, out of shame ♪ ♪ By the cross You are the truth ♪ ♪ You are the life, You are the way ♪ ♪ Oh, You are the way, the truth, the life ♪ ♪ Marvelous life, marvelous life ♪ ♪ My dead heart now is beating ♪ ♪ My deepest stains now clear ♪ ♪ Your breath fills up my lungs and now I'm free ♪ Come on, make some noise if you're free, come on. ♪ My dead heart now is beating ♪ ♪ My deepest stains now clear ♪ ♪ Your breath fills up my lungs and now I'm free ♪ ♪ And now I'm free ♪ ♪ For sin has lost its power ♪ ♪ And death has lost its sting ♪ ♪ From the grave You've risen victoriously ♪ ♪ And into marvelous light I'ma run ♪ ♪ Out of darkness, out of shame ♪ ♪ By the cross You are the truth ♪ ♪ You are the life, You are the way ♪ ♪ Into marvelous light I'ma run ♪ ♪ Out of darkness, out of shame ♪ ♪ By the cross You are the truth ♪ ♪ You are the life, You are the way ♪

♪ Oh my Jesus, You are my freedom ♪ ♪ You are my freedom ♪ ♪ If my hands had spinned around ♪ ♪ To see the light that I've found ♪ ♪ Oh the marvelous light, marvelous light ♪ Come on, let's sing. ♪ If my hands had spinned around ♪ ♪ To see the light that I've found ♪ ♪ Oh the marvelous light, marvelous light ♪ ♪ Oh the marvelous light, marvelous light ♪ ♪ Sin has lost its power, death has lost its sting ♪ ♪ From the grave You've risen, come on let's sing that again ♪ ♪ Sin has lost its power, death has lost its sting ♪ ♪ Sin has lost its power, death has lost its sting ♪ ♪ From the grave You've risen, victorious reign ♪ ♪ It's a marvelous light I'm running ♪ ♪ Out of darkness, out of shame ♪ ♪ By the cross You were the truth ♪ ♪ You were the light, You were the way ♪ ♪ It's a marvelous light I'm running ♪ ♪ Out of darkness, out of shame ♪ ♪ By the cross You were the truth ♪ ♪ You were the light, You were the way ♪ ♪ It's a marvelous light I'm running ♪ ♪ Out of darkness, out of shame ♪ ♪ By the cross You were the truth ♪ ♪ You were the light, You were the way ♪ ♪ It's a marvelous light I'm running ♪ ♪ Out of darkness, out of shame ♪ ♪ By the cross You were the truth ♪

♪ You were the light, You were the way ♪ ♪ The way, the way, the way, the way, the way, the way ♪ Hey, let's take it back to that bridge one more time. I don't think we've moved enough yet. We've got to get warmed up. Come on. Come on, lift those hands up, let's sing that. Lift my hands and spin around, see the light that I've found, see the light that I've found. Lift my hands and spin around, see the light that I've found. Oh, the marvelous light, marvelous light, we pray, yeah. Oh, the marvelous light I've grown out of darkness, out of shame. By the cross you are the truth, you are the life, you are the way. It's a marvelous light I've grown out of darkness, out of shame. By the cross you are the truth, you are the life, you are the way. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. A thousand generations falling down in worship to sing the song of ages to the Lamb. And all who've gone and all who will believe will sing the song of ages to the Lamb. Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name stands above them all. And the angels cry, holy, all creation cries, holy. You are lifted high, holy, holy forever. And if you've been redeemed, we'll sing the song forever to the Lamb. And if you are free, and if you bear His name, we'll sing the song forever to the Lamb. We'll sing the song forever and amen. And the angels cry, holy, all creation cries, holy. You are lifted high, holy, holy forever.

Hear your people, hear your people sing, holy to the King of kings, holy. And you will always sing. ♪ Holy, holy forever, oh ♪ ♪ Because your name is a high, it's a grace ♪ ♪ Stands above them all, and all thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All powers and positions, your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all, come on ♪ ♪ And all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name, oh you stand, you stand above it all, yes you do Lord ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all, and all thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All powers and positions, your name stands above them all ♪ Come on, do you believe that? ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all, come on ♪ ♪ And all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all, and all thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All powers and positions, your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ And the angels cry, holy, all creation cries ♪ ♪ Holy, you are lifted high, holy, you are lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy forever, and hear your people sing ♪ ♪ Holy, and to the king of kings, holy, we will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever, and you will always be holy ♪ ♪ You will always be holy, you will always be holy ♪ ♪ You will always be holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Because your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all, and all thrones and dominions ♪

♪ All powers and positions, your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ Your name, oh yes it is, Jesus, oh it stands above it all ♪ ♪ Jesus, oh it stands above it all, and all thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All powers and positions, your name, it stands above it all ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above it all, and all thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All powers and positions, your name stands above it all ♪ ♪ This is your name, it stands above it all ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions, all powers ♪ ♪ Yes, your greater, Lord, oh, it stands above them all ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name, oh, it stands above them all ♪ ♪ And all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ Yes, you're worthy, God, your name is the highest. Oh, we praise your name forever, oh, we'll praise your name forever, oh, we'll praise your name forever. To the King of kings and the Lord of lords, I lift you high. To my King of kings, my Lord of lords, I lift you higher. Lord, you stand above it all. Everything, everything must come into submission to your name, Lord. Everything, everything has your final word, Lord. Everything has your final say. You reign above it all, Lord, you reign. You reign. Come on, just take a few seconds, just pour your heart out to him right now.

He reigns above it all. Everything, Lord, comes into submission under your name. Nothing can exist without your hand. Nothing can exist without your power. Forever, we'll praise your name. Forever, we'll praise your name. Seated on the highest throne, I give my all for you. I give my all to you, Lord. Nothing left behind, I leave nothing behind. You are the greatest prize. You are the greatest prize. You are the greatest prize. Come on, just let the music minister to your heart, let it speak to you. There's no one like you, there's no one like you, there's no one like you. There's no one like you, there's no one like you, there's no one like you, there's no one like you, there's no one like you. The moon and stars they met, the morning sun was dead, the savior of the world was far. His body on the cross, his blood poured out for us, the weight of every curse upon us. One final breath he gave, as heaven looked away, the son of God was laid in darkness. A battle in the grave, the war on death was waged, the power of hell overbroke. The ground began to shake, the stone was rolled away, his perfect love could not be overcome. Now death, where is your sting? Our resurrected king has rendered you defeated. Forever he is glorified, forever he is lifted high, forever he is risen, he is alive, he is alive. Yeah, you reign, yeah. The ground began to shake, the stone was rolled away, his perfect love could not be overcome. Now death, where is your sting? Our resurrected king has rendered you defeated. Forever he is glorified, forever he is lifted high, forever he is risen, he is alive, he is alive. Forever he is glorified, forever he is lifted high, forever he is risen, he is alive, he is alive. Oh thank you lord, oh thank you lord, oh death has been defeated. You are higher, you are greater, you are higher, you are greater. ♪ Creator of all ♪

♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ The man has overcome ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ The man has overcome ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ He has defeated death ♪ ♪ He has defeated every hardship yet ♪ ♪ He is greater ♪ ♪ He is higher ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ The man has overcome ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ Come on, join with all of heaven. ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ There's only one purpose. ♪ The man has overcome ♪ It's to glorify the king of kings despite what you're going through. ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ The man has overcome ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪

♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ The man has overcome ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ The lamb has overcome ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ The man has overcome ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Forever he is glorified ♪ ♪ Forever he is lifted high ♪ ♪ Forever he is risen ♪ ♪ He is alive, he is alive, yeah ♪ ♪ He is alive ♪ ♪ Forever he is glorified ♪ ♪ Forever he is lifted high ♪ ♪ Forever he is risen ♪ ♪ He is alive, he is alive, yeah ♪ ♪ He is alive, he is alive, yeah ♪ ♪ Our hearts cry out to you, Lord ♪ ♪ We desire you, all of you ♪ ♪ All of you ♪ Back when we were doing the prayer sets, I had only done one, and we ended up having no band,

and it was just a couple of us, but it ended up being perfect in the way it was supposed to be. But right before Christmas, my brother died. And it has been very difficult, obviously, but one thing that I'm sure of is that Christ's sacrifice was not for nothing, and that there is truly only one thing in this world that can mend the heartache, that can meet you in the brokenness, and the despair, and the why, God, why? And nothing really prepares you, and I know that there are countless people in this room that have lost someone, but it has only made me more sure that clinging to Jesus is the only way. Whether it's losing a loved one, maybe it's divorce, maybe it's losing your kids, or losing a job, losing all your money. money there's only one thing that can meet you in the middle and as I was singing in that prayer set I had asked God beforehand like because I felt pretty empty walking into it I was like I don't feel like I have anything to give right now so I just asked Lord I said please God give me something like if it's a vision sure like if it's a spontaneous song like great but I didn't know what it was supposed to be but then I was sitting there and I was just singing a song and the Lord had given me this vision of like I'm standing on a the edge of a cliff and there's this giant chasm between us and it's just darkness and it's all the things of this world that are just broken every single human experience that is just heart-wrenching and then on the other side is goodness and mercy and everything that the Lord is right but

I'm standing here and I'm like how the heck do I get over there because if I step off like I'm just gonna fall in but then the Lord gave me this specific word and he said I bridge the gap I stand in the middle whether he's laying there's you can walk across him or you can whatever it is he bridges the gap between the darkness and the goodness on the other side so that you can pass across and be in the fullness of Christ and so ever since he gave me that I that's the only thing I can think of every time I start feeling just really sad or heartbroken like I just think God you bridge the gap for me you bridge the gap for my brother he walked across into the goodness and the mercy of your love and every single one of us gets to have that and so I just we're gonna sing this other part of a song and I feel like it's just so fitting because it's just like thank you Lord thank you that you bridge the gap thank you that you met me in the middle that you took the darkness on yourself so that I didn't have to step off and and fall into it and I didn't have to do anything for it and I don't deserve it God but thank you thank you for your love and your sacrifice Oh thank you for breaking the bread of your body for spilling the wine of your blood thank you oh my heart will sing forever thank you for breaking the bread of your body for spilling the wine of your blood thank you oh my heart will sing forever thank you for breaking the bread of your body for spilling the wine of your blood thank you oh my heart will sing forever thank you for breaking the bread of your body for spilling the wine of your blood thank you oh my heart will sing forever thank you for breaking the bread of your body

for spilling the wine of your blood thank you oh my heart will sing thank you for breaking the bread of your body for spilling the wine of your blood thank you oh my heart will sing forever thank you for breaking the bread of your body for spilling the wine of your blood thank you oh my heart will sing forever thank you for spilling the bread of your body for spilling the wine of your blood thank you oh my heart will sing ♪ In the end ♪ ♪ Oh, oh you bridge the gap for me Lord, yes you stood in the middle ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, yeah, oh, thank you Lord, thank you Lord you stood in the middle for me yes ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, yes you're so good to me Lord, oh, oh, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Thank you for breaking the bread of your body, for spilling the wine of your blood ♪ ♪ Thank you, oh my heart will sing forever, thank you for breaking the bread of your body, for spilling the wine of your blood ♪ ♪ Thank you, oh my heart will sing forever, yeah ♪ There's a word in this song that's not real common in the English language. It's ebenezer. It's one of my favorite words. And I remember my wife, we got pregnant, we had a miscarriage, and she got pregnant again, and what doctors told us, there was basically a zero chance of that child surviving. And obviously very hard, very scary. I'll never forget my church, called the other team in, a bunch of pastors, and prayed over Grace and I that that child would be alive and well. And against all odds, we have a beautiful 11-year-old who's brilliant, alive and well, learning piano, and doing great. And the word ebenezer means, it refers to a pile of rocks set on the road to remember the victories of God. And that's one of those moments in my life that I just remember as a magnificent ebenezer in my life. I mean, if God can do that, if he can save my child, like what do I have to worry about? And I return time and time again to that prayer room, and those men gather around my wife and I. So as we sing this song, I just want us all to recall those times when God has shown up in miraculous ways. Let's not forget those times, let's build an ebenezer. Let's refer to it again and again, because life is going to happen. Storms will come, storms will go, but we have the victory and the truth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his cross.

Amen? Let's sing this song. Come Thou Fount of every blessing Turn my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious song Sung by flaming tongues above Praise the mount fixed upon The mount of Thy deeming love Here I'll raise my ebenezer Hither by Thy help I'll come And I'll hold by Thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home Jesus saw me when a stranger Wondering from love for the God He to rescue me from danger Interposed His grace ♪ Oh, see His precious blood ♪ ♪ And I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ And I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, to grace, oh to grace ♪ ♪ Oh, to grace, greater did daily I'm constrained to be ♪ ♪ And let Thy grace now like a feather ♪ ♪ By my one dream, heart to Thee ♪ ♪ I'm prone to wander, Lord, I feel it ♪ ♪ Prone to leave the God I love ♪ ♪ Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it ♪ ♪ Seal it for Thy courts above ♪

♪ And I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ And I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ And I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ Oh, I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ Oh, I will praise Your name ♪ ♪ Oh, to grace greater give ♪ ♪ Daily I'm constrained to be ♪ ♪ Led thus like a fiend ♪ ♪ By my world's reality ♪ ♪ Prone to wander, Lord, I fear ♪ ♪ Prone to leave the God I love ♪ ♪ Here's my heart, take and seal it ♪ ♪ Seal it for Thy courts above ♪ ♪ Oh, here's my heart, take and seal it ♪ ♪ Seal it for Thy courts above ♪ ♪ Oh, here's my heart, take and seal it ♪ ♪ Seal it for Thy courts above ♪ Amen, God, we thank You for Your faithfulness. We have a million reasons to sing Your praise. I think of all the stories in this room, all the Ebeneezers laid on the road. God, help us remember Your greatness, Your faithfulness, Your astounding love, Your unending grace,

Your perfect peace. When life or the weather or the government or people stress us out, Father, we can rely on Your faithfulness alone. Let us be a people of rest and peace, not of fear. God, we glorify Your name. In Jesus' name, amen. You know, there's a line in that song that says, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love, here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above. And I feel such great comfort in knowing that even the saints of generations past felt the same thing that I feel often, and that is that I too am prone to wander. That God, in His majesty, in His glory, is overwhelmingly sufficient to satisfy. by my heart, and yet my flesh still wants what it wants, and I still feel the pull of the world, and I think the beautiful thing about singing songs like this is that we realize that our Christian experience, our experience trying to live as faithful followers of Christ in a world that is in many ways designed to pull us away from him, that our experiences, they're not unique to us, that it may be difficult for you, but guess what, it's been difficult for everyone who's ever done it. It may be challenging. There may be days that you stumble and fall,

but guess what, it was challenging for everyone who's ever done it. There were days that they stumbled and they fell, but the Bible tells us that for as many times as a righteous man falls, what is it, a righteous man falls seven times, but he rises again. Hey, then he gets back up again, and again, and again, and again. He says, you know, my knees may be scraped and bloody, and my pride may be wounded, but Christ is my aim, and I will not relent. So thank you for being here today. Thanks for risking your life and digging your car out from under six feet of snow to make it here to church this morning. As you find your way, if you can, find your way to a seat. Would you guys, as you do so, would you bless our musicians? Thank you guys so much for today. You know, I, I preached a message two weeks ago, and really in, I think in spirit at least, continued it last week about what it means to be established. Y'all remember that? And then early this last week, some news reports came out, and I literally, the first one I saw said that there was going to be 27 and a half inches of snow in Johnson City, Tennessee. And the guy who was saying that said, and I quote, there will be loss of life. That's what he said. And I was like, this feels like a little bit early to be declaring that, like, no, thank you.

I do not receive that, you know? But here's the thing, I, I, do you guys remember my last point in that message about what it means to be established? It means that, it means to become a feature in the place God has planted you. And you know, early in the week, we got terrifying reports about what the weather was going to be like today, and a couple hundred people decided not to show up to church this morning. I want to just say this clearly, it's hard to be a feature in a place when you're looking for an excuse to avoid going there. Now, there will always be an excuse. That's what I was talking to, to my wife about. It's that, you know, people were calling me and texting on like Monday, like, are we canceling church? It's like, why? Like, there's, if there's snow on the ground, you know, we'll, we'll talk about it at that point. But like, it's, it's, a lot can change in a week, you know? And so, but what I said to my wife yesterday is, is that if I, I know me, and maybe this goes back to that idea that we're, we're maybe naturally prone to wander, right? I know me, and, and if I start making excuses, it's very hard for me to stop. If I start, I should say this, not, not making excuses, I think maybe that's a bad phrase. If I start taking advantage of the excuses that a circumstance affords me,

then it's really hard for me to stop because there's always a reason not to do what God's called me to do. I can always find a reason, you know? I can be like, well, I didn't sleep good last night, or, you know, my, my car's acting a little bit weird right now, or, you know, some people at the church are awkward, and if I go there, I'm gonna run into them, and, and it's, I, listen, I, I know it's hard to, to believe that your pastor would ever feel that way, but, you know, there's, here's the, here's the truth. It's that there is always a reason not to. Oh, I'm gonna miss the game, the weather's, you know, there's always a reason not to, to allow yourself to become established, or rooted, planted where God has put you, and one of the things I have said to my sons in the past. is there's always an excuse, and great men are the ones who never take them. Yeah, come on. You can always use one. There's always an excuse to, you know, my boys want to be great athletes. There's always an excuse to skip a workout. There's always an excuse to eat less than you should to gain the weight that you need to gain. There's always an excuse to cut corners and compromise in practice. There's always an excuse to delay doing your schoolwork until last minute

and then rush through and turn in a half-hearted project. Like, there's always an excuse. And it's not like we can't find excuses. Everybody can find an excuse to get out of whatever they want to get out of, but the people that are going to be great, the people you can rely on, the people who will be established pillars in any given community are the people who know that they have an excuse and still choose not to take it, who still go, yeah, my car may be snowed in, but I guess I'll throw on some boots. I'm hiking. Like, we're going. Like, those are, you know, I'll never forget. Years ago, my wife and I, we had just finished preaching in Birmingham, Alabama on a Saturday night. And we drove from Birmingham, it was like five hours down to Mobile, which is where we were living. And we got in at 3 o'clock in the morning on Sunday morning. And then I showed up to prayer, men's prayer, the next morning at 7. And Apostle Aaron said to me, you know, hey, weren't you in Birmingham last night preaching? I said, yeah, we drove home. He's like, what time did you get home? I said, like, 3. And he goes, and you're at men's prayer? And I said, yeah, men's prayers at 7. Like, that's, where else would I be?

I'm here. Like, there are excuses to take no matter what situation you're in. People who will be established where God has put them are the people who choose not to take advantage of those excuses. There will be excuses not to, you know, there will be a good reason not to treat your spouse with the dignity or respect that they deserve. There'll be a good reason not to invest into the lives of your children in the way that you know God has called you to do. All of these things, it's easy to find ways to wiggle yourself out of those things. And my encouragement to you today is don't. Don't. Don't compromise. Don't take advantage of the excuses that are afforded to you. Continue day after day after day to say, if God has called me to do it, I will do it. One of my favorite ways to explain this principle is this. You know, the Bible tells us that if we have faith like a mustard seed, we can speak to a mountain and tell it to be removed, and it'll cast itself into the sea. Now, so, you know, that's a great principle. And if God calls me, you know, if God called me to move Buffalo Mountain, you know, I might go to the base of Buffalo Mountain

and say, Buffalo Mountain, be moved in Jesus' name. But if the mountain doesn't immediately cast itself into the sea, it doesn't change the word of God. And so what do I do then? Do I just shrug my shoulders and say, well, I guess God didn't really speak that? Or do I pick up a shovel and go, I guess we're doing it the hard way? This mountain has to move one way or another. And if God said, move this mountain, we're going to move this mountain. And I think that those are the kind of people, that's the kind of man I want to be, is the kind of man that will say, listen, I would love for things to be supernaturally easy. For example, I would love for, you know, this big snowstorm to just never materialize, and for the weather to stay above freezing, and for all of us to be able to easily and safely drive to church this morning. And yet, sometimes it's not like that. And we've got to go, OK, I guess it's the hard way. Like, God, you've given me a calling. You've given me an assignment. You've planted me in a role, and I'm not going to abandon that just because I have an excuse today. And just as a side note, you don't have much of an excuse today, honestly. But anyway, OK, are you good? Sorry, welcome to church. Love you guys.

I really do. And you're all here, so I guess I'm not talking to you. You guys, I'm proud of you. You guys did great. Thank you for making it here. If your friend that you normally sit with is not here today, you should have a conversation with them about being established. All right. Anyway, it's time for the offering. Woo! You know, this is, I think, as we talk about that idea of, like, we're going to speak to the mountain, and it's going to move. But what if we speak to the mountain, and it doesn't move? Well, the word of God, the instruction of God. God, the calling of God still hasn't changed. And so you better grab your shovel because God said, move that mountain. I think like that's, this is the reality. Like I couldn't tell you how many times I've spoken to the bills that this church has and said, be paid in Jesus name. You know, I don't know how many times I've looked at payroll and been like, be covered in Jesus name. You know, how many times I've decreed and declared that our church, you know, that our church's mortgage would be paid off entirely in Jesus name. And right now we've got a shovel in our hands and we are fulfilling those words.

Like God has called us to do those things. And so we're doing those things faithfully and it may bruise and blister our hands and we may feel it in our back, but we are going to do all that God has called us to do without excuse and without compromise. Amen. Come on. So we're going to give this morning. This is our shovel, right? This is our offering of sacrifice to the Lord. I know that there's a few ways you can give. You can use the envelope in the seat in front of you or scan the QR code. Or if you have the app, you can give to that. Would you stand with me? We're going to pray over this offering. Father, we thank you that all things are in your hands. And Father, we thank you that, that if our hope is in you, we will never have anything to fear. And God, we lay down this morning as we give, we lay down our fears about the uncertainties of the future. This morning, Lord, we lay down our anxieties. We lay down our unbelief. As we give to you this morning, we do so as a prophetic act of saying that, God, our future is in your hands. Our security is in your hands. And without your grace and without your involvement

and without your love and without your guidance, Lord, all is lost anyway. We give to you today, Lord, because you are trustworthy. You are faithful and you are good. And we give to you today, Lord, full of hope and expectation that this offering, that you would use this offering for your glory, for the good of your church, to glorify your name and to advance your purposes. Lord, we bless you today, not just with our song and dance, but with our giving in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right, whenever you're ready, we will be receiving it here up at the front. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, Pastor David. You know, that movie, David, is all about him. Hey, you can be seated. Thank you for being here. Not really, just kidding. We, every time we watch an insane movie about, you know, where the main character like falls in love with a lady at the end or the main lady character falls in love with a guy at the end, I always lean over to the boys and say, you know, this is the true story of how me and your mom got together.

And they don't believe me, that me and mom have saved the galaxy several hundred times in several hundred different ways. And we fell in love doing so, but we did celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary last night. And we'll let you know if we ever figure it out, you know. We're still learning. God has been good to us. He has been good to me and that he's given me a wonderful, beautiful, brilliant wife and he's been good to her and that he's given her the patience to deal with me. So, so God has been good to us. And yeah, but I, we're learning, we're being established in this relationship. We're being established in all that the Lord has called us to. And I want to revisit this idea. If you remember, I mentioned this earlier, a couple of weeks ago, I talked about being established and those, you know, the four points that I hit, the four sort of attributes of a heart that has been established in Christ is that at least one of the attributes is to be secure in what is and what is not your responsibility. That is to say that we understand that we're not responsible for the weather. We're not responsible for the church being open or closed. We're responsible for getting ourselves and our kids in the car and driving to church if we can.

Like, you know, recognizing that there's limits to our responsibility. I'm not responsible for, you know, decisions the president makes. I'm not responsible for decisions the church down the street makes. I am responsible for what happens here in this. I'm responsible for the choices that I make in my own life and how they affect the world around me. You know another part of what it means or attribute of what it means to be established is to be impervious to criticism or flattery. It was said and I shared this a couple weeks ago that by another pastor that if you live for man's approval you'll die by man's criticisms. And I think that's you know a principle we have to understand is that we cannot say to the world I'm not interested in your judgments unless your judgments about me are favorable. We can't say I'm open to your compliments but I'm closed to your criticisms because if we're gonna be open to one we've got to be open to the other. And so my advice would be to say die entirely to the opinions or the affirmations of the applause of the world. Refuse to take their criticisms and also refuse to take their compliments and you know in humility just go like all right thank you you know and refuse to internalize any of that. Number three what it means to be established is to stay when the honeymoon is over. To understand that feelings change, that focuses change but when God has planted you somewhere I'm still waiting for the honeymoon to end with me and Miss Candice but when it does you know I'm still gonna be here like I'm planted right we're established. When God plants us somewhere he doesn't say as long as it's fun to be there. He doesn't give you the caveat I want you to to walk this pain and say Moses I want you to deliver my people the children of Israel out of captivity in Egypt unless it's uncomfortable for you or until you have a bad day. He said I have a job for you and I want you to carry that job out to see that job through even when it's

hard, even when it's brutal, even when it maybe isn't as fun as it once was. And then lastly one of the attributes of a heart that is established is to become a feature in the place God has planted you. I talked about how Jesus promises he who overcomes in Revelation chapter 3 I believe that that he who overcomes he says I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he will go out from there no more. And so there's this this idea that like I'm gonna make you a burden-bearer in this temple that I'm building. I'm gonna make you someone that like what you do is you carry weight so that others can come experience me and I think that's an ideal all of us ought to be striving toward. You know so to be established really simply put means to be planted, to be known, and to be relied upon right where God has put me. We ought to all of us to we all of us should be seeking to be planted, to be known, and to be relied upon right where God has put us. And and in doing so we can find that we have been established. And then this last week if you remember I I shared that it was just this one simple idea that I've been meditating on and praying into all week that God had said Matty you said to others do not treat as common what God calls holy but today I say do you do not treat as holy what God calls common. And we talked last week we went to 1st Samuel chapter 15 and we're gonna go back there today but we looked at the story in 1st Samuel 15 of Saul, King Saul sort of losing the favor of God that had moved him into his royal position. He's the first king of Israel God had chosen him for the people and the people were happy to follow him because you know he was he was tall he was competent he's handsome he's charismatic he's exactly the kind of guy that you would say is sort of a quintessential leader. And and because of that everybody was willing to just say yes Saul we'll submit to your leadership you lead us where you want us to go. So God and you know anoints through the Prophet Samuel he anoints Saul to be the first king of Israel and he's established on the throne. But in 1st Samuel 15 you see the thing that removes from him God's blessing it removes that grace for him to be in that position. So Saul is established and I think this is what we need to understand. I actually told I decided we're gonna

change the title of the message from last week to from established to uprooted. From established to uprooted and this should be for us a really sobering cautionary tale that just because we're established today doesn't mean we will be next week or next year or five years from today. That it's it's actually possible to be well established right in the will of God right in the word of God, under the grace of God, and then to be removed or uprooted from that position. And the way that we do that could be by treating as common what God calls holy, or it could be by treating as holy what God calls common. And we talked at length about that. You know, if you remember, I wanna revisit some of this. In fact, let's just jump in. Can we do that? 1 Samuel chapter 15. I wanna revisit some of these. I'm gonna read fast here because I do have some ground to cover. But for those of you that weren't here, those of you that forgot, I know that seven days of other stuff to think about can erase what I talked about last week. So we're gonna repeat a little bit of this. It says, Samuel also said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you a king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.

Now go and attack Amalek, that is to say the Amalekites, all the descendants of Amalek. Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. So God's instruction is very careful and very clear. Do not spare them, kill men, women, infants, nursing children, ox, sheep, camels and donkeys. Everything that lives among the Amalekites is supposed to die. So and Saul, you know, he gathered in verse four, tells us that he gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. And then he meets a group of people called the Kenites and we'll skip over that part and go straight to verse seven. Saul attacked to the Amalekites, Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He also took Agag, king of the Amalekites alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the ox and the fatlings, the lambs and all that was good.

And they were unwilling to utterly destroy them, but everything despised and worthless that they utterly destroyed. And so you see, God gives a very clear instruction about what Saul is to do. We want you to destroy everything. And then Saul, he takes King Agag, which who is the king of the Amalekites, which is not a part of God's plan. And then he decided that he and the people would also take for themselves all the best animals, all the best livestock from the Amalekites. And so it says in verse 10, now the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. Now, I want you to leave this verse up because this is something I wanted to revisit, maybe unpack more than I did last week. God says, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king. Now, this isn't God saying I made a mistake. This is God saying, I really hate this part of the story. I love redemption, but I hate that people have things they need to be redeemed from, right? I love salvation, but I hate slavery, right? But there is no salvation without slavery. There is no deliverance without captivity, right? And so this is God saying, I don't like this part of the story.

I'm gonna bring glory out of this, but I don't like this part of the story. And he says, Saul has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. Understand that we don't get the luxury. And I think this is important for you to hear from a pastor. We don't get the luxury of saying, I follow Christ, but I don't keep his commandments. And this seems like it should be common sense. The one thing I've found since becoming a man is that common sense is not as common as I thought it was. I couldn't tell you the number of people I have met who do not keep God's commandments and yet will tell you in all sincerity, oh, I love God, I follow God, yeah. You don't. The way you follow God is by keeping his commandments. There is no other way. It's not about your feelings of affection toward God. It's not about the sentimental value that maybe you ascribe to church or the Bible. You remember as a kid going to Christmas Eve services with your grandma, and that's a fond memory, and that's the same as following God. You don't get to keep God while negotiating. or compromising his commandments. And so God doesn't say, he has not performed my commandments, he's only kind of following me. He follows me, but he doesn't follow me

as good as he should. He says, he has turned his back from following me. How do I know this? Because he has not performed my commandments. Because I gave him specific instructions and he was unwilling to carry them out. But then it says something I think that is so interesting. It says, and it grieved Samuel and he cried out to the Lord all night. Now, I recognize that last week and as I was studying this chapter again this week and just spending time with it. You know, I realized last week I spent a lot of time talking about Saul's failure. How he in many ways became this sort of the archetype or the embodiment of poor leadership. You know, he wants credit, but he shirks blame. He, you know, tries to negotiate or compromise God's, you know, plan or assignment for him. He, you know, he kind of does everything that a leader should not do. And we're gonna certainly continue to talk about some of that today. But I feel like one of the things I missed is that you also have this other leader, Samuel, who demonstrates for us, I think, virtue and care and compassion that are noble and admirable and praiseworthy. And I wanna make sure that we don't get so fixated on talking about all the things Saul did wrong

that we overlook the things Samuel did right. Because while Saul is an example of what we should not be or do, Samuel is an example of exactly what we should be and do. Is that, like how many times do we see someone compromise the word of God for their life? And what we do is we hate that person and we gossip about that person and we condemn that person. And we try to, you know, stand on the dead body of that person to lift ourselves a little bit higher. You know, we make a YouTube video telling everybody how we would never do what that person did because we're so much godlier than them. And we do everything we can to promote ourselves at the expense of this fallen leader. But here's what Samuel did. He was grieved and he cried out to the Lord all night. Like I can't help but wonder, you know, when a leader falls, a political leader, a leader in the church, when a leader falls or stumbles, like how many of us are so grieved that we cry out to the Lord for them all night? You know, like when's the last time that some discernment minister has cried out to the Lord all night for the salvation and the deliverance of somebody they're in the process of exposing? You know, I think it's, for me, this is convicting. You know, it confronts me with the reality that, you know, I like to try to learn from other people's mistakes if I can

so that I don't have to make my own. But I recognize that even in doing that, I can turn what is real and personal and relational into something that's purely intellectual or academic, like a topic to be studied. And I can forget, these are real people that have real lives, that have real callings that are going away because of choices that they've made. And I love Samuel's sympathy here. I love his compassion here, that he cares about Saul, that he wants Saul to succeed, that Samuel understands that Saul's success is a blessing for his life, and he wants to see Saul prosper. And so, instead of hatred or dismissal or condemnation, what Samuel brings is mourning. And here in verse 11, it says that he was grieved and he cried out to the Lord all night. And so, in verse 12, when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, I can only imagine that he maybe was hopeful. Maybe he prayed for Saul, and it said, God, help him see the error of his ways. God, lower him, humble him, bring him down. God, break his arrogance so that he will genuinely cast his heart before you, Lord, and receive the correction that I have to bring him. And so, in verse 12, Samuel rose early in the morning after spending all night crying out to the Lord for Saul. It was told to Samuel as he's looking for Saul. He wakes up in the morning.

after praying for him all night long, and he goes, I gotta go find him, we have to talk. It was told to Samuel saying Saul went up to Carmel and indeed he set up a monument for himself. He's gone on around, passed by and gone down to Gilgal. So Saul has gone out of his way to avoid you, Samuel. And what he did instead is he went and built an altar in his own name. And I can imagine that for Samuel that this was like another gut punch. Like, oh man, I wanted to go deal with this this morning. I prayed for you all night. Man, I shed tears for you. I was grieved and sick to my stomach for you. I wanted to see you succeed. And I came to have a conversation and invite you to repent and to turn away from this choice that you made. But instead of coming to meet with me, you went off to build an altar for yourself? Oh man, I can imagine Samuel was heartbroken. And it says he went to set up a monument for himself and he's gone on around, passed by and gone down to Gilgal. So then Samuel went to Saul. So he went to travel down to Gilgal. And Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. You know, Saul does like what we do. He tries to sound extra spiritual when he's, when he knows he's not.

And he says, blessed are you of the Lord. I perform the commandment of the Lord. But Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen, which I hear. And Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord, your God. I talked about this last week that, you know, remember when it was time to build a monument, he didn't put the people's name on it. He put his own name on it. You know, when you're building an altar or a statue or a symbol of achievement or victory, you want the credit as a leader. But then when he realizes that somebody's messed up, then it, well, it's the people that did it, you know, and they have brought them from the Amalekites, the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen. And you know what? They only did it to sacrifice to the Lord, your God. I thought that word, Lord, was really, or your there, it was really interesting that he doesn't say the Lord, our God, he says the Lord, your God. There's something in Saul's subconscious admits that Samuel is walking with God in a way that he's not. Something in Saul's subconscious is bearing witness. Something in his soul is saying it's, you are not right with God. Samuel is, but Saul, you are not right with God.

So he, this comes out in his language. And then Samuel said to Saul in verse 16, be quiet. And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And he, that is Saul, said to him, speak on. And so Samuel said, when you were little in your own eyes, and I mentioned last week that I had that verse, that phrase underlined and highlighted in my Bible, that there was a time in Saul's life when he was little in his own eyes, he wasn't a little boy. That doesn't mean immature or young. It literally means small in stature, that you were, when you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And I should take that, I wanna make sure that I'm small in like social stature, not, you know, physically short. Like Saul, the Bible actually tells us that he was extremely tall. And so it says, when you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel and did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on a spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? And so Saul, Samuel is saying to the king of Israel here, there was a time when God anointed you king. When he first anointed you king, you realized that Israel was bigger than you.

You realized that God, his will, his word was bigger than you. And now something has changed in you and you have started to believe that yours is the final word, that your opinion counts the most, that your will or your desire should carry the most weight. You have made this thing about you and your accomplishments and your identity and your ambitions instead of about God and his will for this people. And so there's an exhortation for us, I think a word of instruction and identity for us, and that is that we have to remain little in our own eyes. I think it was. John Maxwell that said that true humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. I think that's a brilliant assessment, that it's not about self-flagellation and pretending like you are weak in areas where you're strong, or pretending like you're foolish in areas where you're actually pretty wise, or pretending like you're a beginner in things that you're actually pretty accomplished at. That's just dishonesty. Humility is to say, I may be good about these things, but we don't need to talk about me. Let's talk about you. Let's talk about God. Let's talk about something else.

It is to say, I'm just going to take up less of my internal space. And so Samuel confronts him on this and asks the question, why did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone out on the mission on which the Lord sent me and brought back Agag, king of Amalek. I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, the sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. Now, I caught that verse in a way that in the last week that I didn't in the week prior. Something about verse 21. There's a few points that I feel like I need to make. So he says, but the people took of the plunder. Now, I talked about him shirking responsibility. He says, but the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed. He says the best of the things. By whose measure? He's making a value judgment that is entirely separated from God's word. So he's saying there are some good things that are in direct opposition to God's will.

He knew God explicitly called him to destroy every bit of livestock that the Amalekites owned. And every person in their lands. Like, no one was to be spared. Not the king, not men or women, or even small children. No animals should have survived. Like, he knew this very well. In fact, he says it in the next phrase, what should have been utterly destroyed. So Saul himself with his own words, he knew the instruction. He knew what should have been done. But he makes this value judgment about these things being good. And he says, some things are good even if they're in direct opposition to the will of God. This, I think, is an issue that many people in our society have, is that they try to make moral claims or value judgments based on the goodness or the virtue or how admirable or praiseworthy a thing is in a way that is separate from the biblical worldview that we have to have to make those kinds of judgments. That's the hang up apologetically. There's an author, Cornelius Van Til, whose book, The Defense of the Faith, I am reading right now. I'm not recommending. It's not bad. It's fine. But his argument, he sort of offers this idea that for the believer and the unbeliever, he teaches on apologetics and the philosophy that

sort of drives apologetics, the defending of the Christian faith. And he makes this statement that is interesting to me. He says that the unbeliever and the believer, metaphysically, they have all things in common. But epistemologically, they have nothing in common. Let me explain that. Metaphysically, what he means is that believers and unbelievers would all say something like, justice is a good thing to strive for. Peace is a good thing to have. Love is a virtue that we all ought to try to demonstrate. So all of our metaphysical, we occupy the same moral universe. We occupy the same even physical universe that we, gravity works the same for all of us. Like our physical principles and even our metaphysical principles, they are overwhelmingly similar. We hold the same values. Here's where we differ. And we have nothing in common with the unbeliever. It's that their understanding of where those things come from. Epistemology is like the study of how we know the things we know. So if I were talking to an unbeliever, they might say, well, love is good. And I would say, why? Why is love good? Love, frankly, seems like a biological impediment. If we're trying to develop, you know, if we're trying to develop evolutionarily,

then really the only guys who should be allowed to reproduce or to, you know, possess land or possessions should just be the biggest, strongest guys, the guys that can just kill other guys and take what they have. Like, that would be the most, if you're a naturalist, like a harsh naturalist, that should be the way, like the ethos that you should advocate for, because if we're trying to develop, you know, we're trying to evolve as a species, that's the best way to do it. And that's harsh. Everybody knows that's not right. Even unbelievers would say that's not the right way for us to live or develop as a society, but they can't answer the question, why? And so what happens is they end up sort of making value judgments separated from what God has said. They say things like love is good, justice is good, you know, theft is bad, abuse is bad, slavery is bad. Like, we all agree on those things, but the unbeliever has no foundation on which to set those things where the believer does. And so this is what we actually see happening in Saul's world, is that he's saying, well, these things are good. Look how good these sheep are. And he's not judging according to God's Word or God's standards. He's judging by, what, you know, popular opinion. And this is where the unbeliever's worldview falls apart. It's that, you know, where if you were to, you know, if you were to live in, you know, Central America 2,500 years ago, you might have thought human sacrifices were awesome. It might have been the highlight of your year. Oh, it's the solstice. Like, it's time to sacrifice some people. This is gonna be awesome. Like, right? If you lived in ancient Rome, maybe the same thing. You might have gone to the Colosseum and, you know, eaten some dates and drank wine while people got, Christians got eaten by lions in the arena. And that doesn't make those things right. It just means that if you make your value judgments based on popular opinion, you're gonna make the same mistake that Saul made. And that is that you're gonna call good what God calls bad. You're gonna treat as holy what God considers common. And so he makes his value judgment in verse 21 that is problematic. He says, these are the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed. And the people took those things to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. So Samuel said, has

the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? And this is where we stopped last week. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? God doesn't care as much about sacrifices as he does obedience. That's his point. He says, behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrifice. This is a set, like this is a values roadmap God is giving us. That just because something feels like sacrifice doesn't mean it's good. This is, I think, important for us because this saves us from sort of mindless religious activity. Like, should I just fast because this is the time of year that we fast? It's Lent, and so I'm just gonna fast because that's the time we do it? No. It is sacrifice, but to obey is better than sacrifice. The beautiful thing about this principle is that it calls us back again and again to relationship with God because, like I said last week, you can sacrifice without a relationship with God, but you cannot obey without a relationship with God. You have to know God's voice. You have to know God's will. You have to hear God's instruction if you're ever going to obey it. That's why God values obedience more than he does sacrifice because he wants you to know him. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. I want to look at verse 23 here. Rebellion, this is interesting, is as the sin of witchcraft. You want to know something wild that I found out? There's no as in the Hebrew. Rebellion is the sin of witchcraft. That's what this passage says. Now, that takes it to another level. It doesn't say rebellion is similar in some ways to the sin And of witchcraft, he says in God's view, rebellion is the sin of witchcraft. Does witchcraft, here's what I mean. Okay, so I get it like witchcraft has been, in many ways, kind of caricaturized in our modern society.

When we hear the word witchcraft, we think of Hogwarts or, you know, wicked or whatever, right? And so I, the reality of witchcraft, it's really simple. It's that it seeks to subvert God's order by way of manipulation and coercion. It's like we can upend nature, we can change the laws of nature, we can manipulate the laws of nature by coercion or by force or by witchcraft. Like that's what witchcraft seeks to do. And so, witchcraft is at war against God's creation and rebellion is at war against God's order. Both of them are acts of war against God. Rebellion says, I think I know better than God. And witchcraft says, I think I know better than God. And so the scriptures mean it. Samuel means it when he says to Saul, rebellion is the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is iniquity and idolatry. And then he says this statement, he makes this statement that I think is so profound. He says, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king. Think about that. For the king of a nation to hear. He made a value judgment, he thought this was good. All the people agreed with him.

Look at how great these livestock are. Maybe we'll take these back and we'll sacrifice them to the Lord instead of just killing them. That feels like a waste. They make this idea that there's a good that's higher than obedience to God's instruction. And the result is because you have rejected the word of the Lord he also has rejected you from being king. Imagine the gravity and the weight of that moment. In verse 24, Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. He begins to acknowledge what he did. He says, I've sinned for I've transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. More excuses. More excuses. It doesn't matter why. Like I only sinned because they made me. It's back to the garden. It's Adam saying, well, the woman made me and then Eve saying, the snake made me do it. And really you made the snake and you made the woman. So ultimately God, really you made us do it. It's your fault. Like that's, so these are the people God called you to lead. You're the king. They made you disobey God. You're the king of the kingdom of God. They made you disobey God.

You're the king of Israel. You're supposed to lead them. You are supposed to set the standard. And yet he failed to do that. And still he's clinging, he's confessing his sin, but he's clinging to his excuse. It's like, you know, it's like an abusive husband saying, well, my wife was disrespectful to me. She talked back. It's like, this doesn't let you off the hook. It's like an unfaithful spouse saying, well, my spouse doesn't meet my needs. It's like, it doesn't excuse the behavior. It doesn't make right the wrong thing that you've done. An explanation is not an excuse. Verse 25, now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord. Notice he doesn't go to God on his own. He doesn't tear his clothes and put ashes on his head and repent in sackcloth. He doesn't weep. Actually, at this point, Samuel has been more grieved than Saul is. He says, I have sinned. The people made me do it. So please pardon me and return with me that I may worship the Lord. But Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you for you have rejected the word of the Lord. Like you still don't get it.

You still don't get it. The fact that you have the audacity to be like, oh yeah, I messed up, but just come on back with me. He tells me you still don't get it. He says, I will not return with you for you've rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. No, you don't get to go back to life as normal. And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe and it tore. So Samuel said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today. and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. Do you remember there was a time in Saul's life when he was little in his own eyes? I want you to know that God cares so much about making sure you stay in that place that he will remove you from your platform so that he can bring you back to him. God cares about your humility. And if you will humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, he will, as the scriptures say, lift you up. But if you insist on posturing and promoting yourself, he will, in loving mercy, lower you for your own survival. He says, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. And also, the strength of Israel will not lie or relent. I love that the strength of Israel is a person here.

This is a proper noun. The strength of Israel will not lie or relent for he is not a man that he should relent. That is Samuel's way of saying he's not gonna change his mind. You can grab my garment and tear it all you want. You can cry and scream and beg and plead and negotiate all you want. God has made up his mind and you cannot change it. And then in verse 30, Saul says, I have sinned yet honor me now, please before the elders of my people and before Israel and return with me that I may worship the Lord your God. That is so profound to me, that phrase, I have sinned yet honor me now. I've been around, gosh, I'm going slow. All right, I have been around. I've been around the church long enough to have seen this moment play out more times than I care to remember. I have sinned yet honor me now. Nobody is more committed to honor than the man who's just been caught in compromise. He wants to hide behind honor. What he doesn't realize is that Samuel is honoring him by calling him to repentance, by removing him from the platform. It's the best thing that King Saul could do is to step away. And so he's giving him the honor

of communicating to him the word of God. But Samuel says, yeah, Saul says, excuse me, I have sinned yet honor me now. Listen, this is the secret plea heard from too many leaders in America today. They dishonor Christ with their secret lives. They abuse and mistreat those who are under their care. They defame and discredit the church by their behavior. And then when accountability comes, they beg to be honored anyway, not for their character, but for their gift, for their anointing, for their mantle, for their calling. Understand, it is not a mantle or an office or a personality or a gift that we ought to honor or submit to. It is the character of Christ. Understand, like that's what we ought to look for, especially in the church, that we ought to be able to see the character of Christ on display. Even if somebody is supremely gifted as a musician or as an orator, as a worship leader, or prophetically or whatever, they have some amazing supernatural gift. That stuff is wonderful, but it can never replace godly character. It can never replace somebody that walks in fear and trembling in obedience to the Lord and to his word. Teachers, the scriptures tell us in James 3, will be judged more harshly.

Leaders who fall into sin, according to 1 Timothy 5, should be rebuked publicly so that other people can learn to fear God. Hear me, if I, as a leader in the church, will not hold myself and other leaders around me accountable to careful obedience to God's word the way that Samuel does for Saul here, God will replace me with a leader who will. God will replace me with a leader who will. And I should say this for every pastor, for every leader in the church, for every prophet or apostle or whatever, bishop, whatever they like to call themselves, if we will not contend for the purity of the church, God will. I assure you, God cares more about the purity of his church than he does about your calling. God's not impressed with your gift. He's not enamored with your reputation. He cares about the purity of his bride and he is willing to humiliate me to make sure he defends it. But I want you to compare here Saul's response when confronted with his sin to David's response. So Saul says, I have sinned yet honor me now. Here's what David says in Psalms chapter 51. I'll start in verse 10, Psalm 51, 10 through 13. David says, after he's found having slept with Bathsheba, covered it up, had her husband killed, taken her for himself, like he's been adulterous,

he's been dishonest, he's been a murderer. This is, and then he's confronted about it by Samuel and this is how he responds in Psalms 51, verses 10 through 13. He says, create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit. And then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you. This is how David repents. He doesn't say, don't take the throne from me. Don't take my reputation. He says, you can take all of that, but just renew a steadfast spirit in me. Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. That's David's priority and we have to see the difference between a man who says, I've sinned yet honor me and a man who says, forget about me. I just need his presence. I just need his presence. I can't live without your Holy Spirit. And so Samuel in verse 31, turned back in verse 31 of back in 1 Samuel 15. So Samuel turned back after Saul and Saul worshiped the Lord then Samuel said, bring Agag, the king of the Amalekites.

So Samuel, the prophet steps into this authoritative role. Samuel said, bring Agag, the king of the Amalekites here to me. So Agag came to him cautiously and Agag said, surely the bitterness of death has passed. I've seen all of my family members, all of my employees, all my soldiers killed. And he says, surely the bitterness of death has passed. But Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Man, I love the Bible. Samuel, he did what? He prayed for Agag to see the error of his ways and said, grace and mercy, thoughts and prayers. No, no, no. Samuel hacked, that's the word. It's not cut, it's hacked. I love the new King James uses the word, hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord. You can't overlook that phrase. He didn't just hack Agag in pieces. He hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord. God was there like, yes. This is what I wanted all along. This is right and good. Now, what does this speak to us? Like, why is this so important to God that this would happen, that he would inspire it to be written in his word and recorded for all time?

Why? Because we need to understand what Samuel got, but Saul did not. And that is that the right way to deal with compromise is with ruthless violence. So I challenge you today to finish the word God gave you that you're only half done with. I challenge you today to unleash whatever fight or fury you have in you to make sure that you do all God has called you to do. Not part of it, not some of it, not most of it, but you do all that God has called you to do that you leave no stone unturned, no commitment unfulfilled and no Amalekite tyrant unslaughtered. Finish what God started in your life with radical and relentless effort and make no apologies for doing so. That's what Samuel did is what Saul wasn't willing to do. And that's why, when. God started looking for Saul's replacement. He found a kid who would go fist fight a bear or a lion over one sheep, because he said, where Saul is looking for a way out of conflict, this kid is going in over and over and over again and refuses to compromise. That's the kind of people we can trust to be kings. Then Samuel went to Ramah in verse 34, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. Verse 35 says, and Samuel went no more to see Saul

until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul. Hear me, we don't hate disqualified leaders, political leaders, church leaders, community leaders. We don't hate disqualified leaders or people who've lost the place in which they were once established. We mourn their loss as much as we hope they will mourn their loss. But it must also be for us a sobering reminder that God does not need any one of us. God doesn't need me to reach the people in this church. God doesn't need you to reach your family or your community or your workspace. God does not need any one of us. And if we will not be careful and serious about the role he's called us to play, where he has planted us, we may shortly find ourselves removed from the burden of that glory and watching someone else sit on the throne that was built for us. And so my hope is that you'll be careful, not just to be established, but to with great fear and trembling, do all that God has called you to do, to revisit the words that are left half finished and to honor God by bringing him day after day obedience instead of just mindless sacrifice.

Amen. Come on, Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the way that you reveal your heart and your will to us day after day. We bless you today and we ask you, Father, guard our hearts, guard our minds, guard our tongues. Help us to continually honor you in all that we do, not just publicly, but privately. And not just privately, Lord, but even personally, even the things we do that nobody else will ever see or know, Father. We just commit it all to you and we say, God, purify us, purify us by the fire of your spirit, God. Consume us again and help us to grow in all that you've called us to do, God. We thank you for the gift of conviction. We thank you for the presence of your Holy Spirit that constantly calls us higher and we say yes to that invitation, Lord. Teach us to walk in your ways so your glory can be seen through us. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Family, God bless you. Thank you for being here. We'll see you, be here Wednesday night for Pastor David's next finance class and we'll see you here next Sunday. Thank you. Okay, let's go. They're gonna go behind the scenes

so you can see their face. In just a moment, I'm gonna come over and show our partners some of the kids that we have with us tonight. Don't forget to come by to buy your tickets. Yeah, it is really good to be with you. It was great to meet you, guys. Yeah, thank you so much. I hope you've enjoyed what you see. I will see you next Sunday. Thank you, grandfather. Great. God bless you. Be well, motherfuckers, God bless you. God bless you. I'm outta here, I'll see you Monday. See ya for your next class. Thank you, God. God bless you.