What's up y'all! Today in church our evangelist, Mark, continued with part 2 of a study over David. The sermon had my whole heart laid out so I felt led to share how the Spirit got me ALL the way together today!!

First off, I woke up with a funky attitude today and actually had being feeling weird the past couple of days. I've felt very critical, judgemental...just flat out contentious! Well, this morning I was tired of it and asked Melvin if we could pray before church because I really needed that bad vibe off of me and for my heart to soften. We prayed...the both of us and I felt the icebox where my heart use to be start to melt LOL but I wasn't quite where I needed to be.

Fast forward to service...honestly, seeing my brothers and sisters smiling faces and getting hugs from people chipped away at my heart. The worship and fellowship was just good for my soul...period! So Mark got up on stage to preach the message and like I mentioned earlier we are focusing on the life of David and on today we looked over the contrast between Saul and David. If you are not familiar with that dynamic and the story of those two, I highly suggest going and reading that. Within their story are soooo many life lessons that we can learn from and use for today and you will see why David was "a man after God's own heart" and how Saul was not. So anywho, as we are examining the scriptures one couldn't help but see how King Saul got the kingdom of Israel torn from him. Our focus passage was 1 Samuel 15:1-3,7-35 (please go read it) and 6 practicals were pulled from the passage. I'll list them with what I got from them below:

1. Self-reliance cannot be hidden forever: Saul started out his reign as king humbly but over time the power started to change him and instead of relying on God, he relied on himself. His heart wasn't repentant and he stopped being accountable.

2. Sacrifice is no substitute for obedience: The Lord gave Samuel the message for Saul to completely wipe out the Amalekites...every person and animal needed to die and everything needed to be destroyed. Well, Saul didn't listen and spared the king of the Amalekites, Agag, and kept the good sheep and cattle and other plunder. When confronted by Samuel, Saul passed the blame stating that his soldiers kept the animals for a sacrifice....in a nutshell, Samuel told him "that ain't what God told you to do, man!" LOL no but real talk, the exact scripture says, "Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams." 1 Sam 15:22b

3. Power, popularity, and position can become more important than the Glory of God: I kept it simple here in my notes and wrote this illustration that Mark mentioned
Saul began serving God
--> then served himself and God
--> then used God to serve him
*Kim, where are you on this timeline???* Food for thought!!!

4. God will not be mocked: one thing that stood out during this point was the leadership of Saul. Mark mentioned we can often wonder why God allows bad leadership to stay in power. Two thoughts I wrote down was God was using Saul to purge the Saul out of David meaning that David could see how NOT to lead by observing Saul. Secondly, how do I respond to the failure of leadership? Do I just go along to get along even though I know something isn't right and if I do speak up on behalf of God, am I righteous with my response? OUCH!!

5. Always Check your Blind Spots: now right here, he got a "Come on Somebody" from me! I am HUGE on self awareness...positive and negative! Knowing yourself in my opinion is half the battle. You save so much time when you truly know your strengths and weaknesses. You know where to put your energy to improve in weakened areas and you know what your go-to areas are so you can thrive. I like how Mark put it...Satan knows you VERY well and is searching for a chink in your armor so you better be aware of it as well.

6. How we start, is not nearly as important as how we finish: as mentioned earlier, Saul started out great but we know he didn't end that way. He was riddled with envy and hate for David...even tried to kill him! On the flip side though, that can flow the other way...if your start is not so good, you can always turn it around and finish up strong!

WHEW and I'm done...I know this post has been lengthy but the Holy Spirit made me do it LOL! No seriously, I needed today's lesson to refocus me. By the end of it all, Psalm 51:17 "The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God" came to life for me and for that I am grateful!!!

I'll link the sermon series below! Thanks guys!

http://www.buzzsprout.com/35035?client_source=large_player&iframe=true&limit=20&referrer=http://www.buzzsprout.com/35035.js?player=large&limit=20&tags=david&tags=david#