Wednesday Service | FUTURE BLOCKERS: Getting The Stuff That’s Been In The Way Out Of Your Way | Part 4 – Impatience | Jordan Brawner

[1] We can see lessons in how Saul became king

1 Samuel 8:6-9 (NIV)

⁶ But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. ⁸ As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ⁹ Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

• God uses an to position him

1 Samuel 9:2-3 (NIV)

² Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else. ³ Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.” 

• Saul was in his own eyes

1 Samuel 9:17-21 (NIV)

¹⁷ When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.” ¹⁸ Saul approached Samuel in the gateway and asked, “Would you please tell me where the seer’s house is?”¹⁹ “I am the seer,” Samuel replied. “Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me, and in the morning I will send you on your way and will tell you all that is in your heart.²⁰ As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and your whole family line?” ²¹ Saul answered, “But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?”

• Saul is anointed before he is crowned publicly

1 Samuel 10:1 (NIV)

Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?

• God changes his

1 Samuel 10:9-11 (NIV)

⁹ As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. ¹⁰ When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. ¹¹ When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

• Saul at his own coronation [he is a reluctant leader… scared of the people?]

1 Samuel 10:22-24 (NIV)

²² So they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.” ²³ They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. ²⁴ Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

[2] How does Saul lose his future?

• becomes disobedience

1 Samuel 13:8-10…13-14 (NIV)

⁸ He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. ⁹ So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. ¹⁰ Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him… ¹³ “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.¹⁴ But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

• obedience is disobedience

1 Samuel 15:9 (NIV)

⁹ But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calvesand lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

• of man led to disobedience

1 Samuel 15:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.

• Saul never personalized his with God

1 Samuel 15:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.”

• Set up a monument to himself

1 Samuel 15:12,17 (NIRV)

¹² Early the next morning Samuel got up. He went to see Saul. But Samuel was told, “Saul went to Carmel. There he set up a monument in his own honor. Now he has gone on down to Gilgal.” … ¹⁷ Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.

• Saul was too big in his own eyes to when David was honored

1 Samuel 18:6-9 (NIRV)

⁶ After David had killed Goliath, the men of Israel returned home. The women came out of all the towns…⁷ As they danced, they sang, “Saul has killed thousands of men. David has killed tens of thousands.” ⁸ That song made Saul very angry. It really upset him. He said to himself, “They are saying David has killed tens of thousands of men. But they are saying I’ve killed only thousands. The only thing left for him to get is the kingdom itself.” ⁹ From that time on, Saul watched David closely.

Hebrews 6:12 (NIRV)

Instead, be like those who have faith and are patient. They will receive what God promised.