~ Overview ~A pastor raised in a Christian home was fooled by another man and his lifestyle. The pastors father told him that he should never give a glowing eulogy for someone. And he wished he followed his father's advice. He did a second funeral, and it was for a guy that he knew well and enjoyed. So, ignoring his father's advice he read a long and glowing eulogy for the man. He had a heart condition and died suddenly. He thought he knew the man well enough to talk about his love for God and His Word. A around a month later he read the first of many news articles about this man being crooked and deceptive in his business and his estate was being sued by several people and they found out what an awful person her truly was. We can all hide behind the Bible, but we need to live what it says. Well, it is one thing to give a good a positive eulogy for someone who we think is good, but here we find David giving a glowing eulogy for Saul who everyone knew was an evil man and did great bad things. David knew who Saul really was. In Summary: Saul was wounded in battle and chose to take his own life, and Saul's three sons were also killed in this battle. Saul had all the opportunities to follow God the way he was taught and chose instead to hunt down David and do corrupt things with his life. And yet David praised him when he killed himself. ~ Questions ~1. Do we ever really know a person in life? 2. Have you ever learned something about someone that blew your mind away? This was a short one and almost too short, had to really work to get a whole study out of it. LOL!!
0 Comments
~ The Carnage of Saul's Disobedience ~When the last battle of Saul and the Israelites came and Saul was wounded to death, his soldiers were slain and so were his sons, the only way that Saul could think to be done was end his own life. One last disobedience to God. ~ Saul's Soldiers Are Slain ~It would be hard to think of God blessing Saul's army at this time in the game of life. They did not have God in their battle and those men of Israel fled the armies. They were then caught and slain on the mount. Saul was at least out there in battle with the troops but to think of what he was thinking when his armies ran and were all slain right before his eyes. ~ Saul's Sons Are Slain ~When you watch your armies put to death in front of you. Men that you have worked with for years and cared about, just think what it was like to watch your sons put to death too. Sauls last thing to see was their death. Saul was hit with this watching his children die because of his rebellion and disobedience to God. ~ Saul Is Sorely Wounded ~After watching your armies and your families die, then he himself was mortally wounded by the archers from his enemies. When he found that he was going to die, rather than be tortured he asked his armor bearer to kill him. He refused to kill the king so Saul took and fell on his own sword. Saul's life was just carnage left all around him. All from disobeying God and not serving Him. ~ Questions ~1 . What had Saul gotten his armies into when he went against God? 2. Do you think Saul knew that the death of his men and his sons was because of his own disobedience to God? Well does that encourage you to do what is right in God's eyes? I think that I do not want to get on that side of the spectrum. Obey God and do as you know what is right and true for yourself.
~ The Course of Saul's Disobedience ~We look now at Saul's life and relationship with God, he was going on a downward spiral into a life without God. ~ Saul Disregarded God's Prophet ~When Saul started out he was ok with Samuel going to God and making sacrifices before his battles. They turned to God before each battle and obeyed what God said to them. Later, Saul went to make war against Gilgal and he waited for Samuel for seven days and when he did not come, Saul got bored and decided to just do it himself. Samuel came and Saul had done the offering against God's directive of who could do it and how it was to be done. So, Samuel prophesied that Sauls kingdom would not endure, Saul had gone against God and did not take His laws as truth. He chose to reject God and His ways. ~ Saul Disobeyed God's Purposes ~Then Saul was told from God by Samuel that he was to completely kill all of the Amalekites because of their attacks on Israel and they were to be totally destroyed. He wanted the Godless people to be taken completely out of the picture. They had chosen to not follow God and to fight Israel. Saul went against God by sparing the king and the best of the animals to sacrifice to God. He was not obeying God and went against God and His directive to Saul. Saul tried to blame everyone else for the disobedience, but he was king of Israel and should have been following God. Samuel questioned Saul and reminding him that it is better to obey God, and he pronounced the judgement upon Saul and His sins. God from there out rejected Saul as king. 1 Samuel 13:22 So, it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son. ~ Saul Destroyed God's Priests ~On David's run he went to a priest in the town of Nob. That priest helped David by giving a sword and bread to eat. one of Saul's servants names Doeg reported to Saul what was done to help David. Saul decided that he was going to kill all the priests and his own soldiers would not go against God and kill priests. Saul finally got Doeg to kill them and Eighty-five priests of God were killed. All the men, woman, children, and livestock in that village were put to death by the sword for helping David. ~ Saul Degraded God's Person ~When God took His Spirit away from Saul then Saul was no longer able to hear from God. The Philistines were about to wage war against Israel again. Saul turned to God to ask direction and God did not answer him. He had turned away and allowed Saul to be on his own. So, what did Saul do he went to the mediums to ask about the battle. He wanted to talk to Samuel from death. Saul would not have done something like that in his early days, but now we see him going further against God. Saul's sins were so weighing him down he finally took his own life and took the cowards way out. ~ Questions ~1. What was different from Saul's reign in the beginning and now at the end of His life? 2. Did Saul carry out the word of the Lord God? What did he do with the end of his life? It is sad to see what Saul became towards the end of his life and that when he went to the medium to talk he thought he was really talking to Samuel. But at least he did learn that him and his sons would be killed. That came true.
~ Overview ~Now as we delve into the second volume we see that David is sad the way things end. He is now not having to run for his life all the time, and as the anointed he was to take over Israel. We see in the scriptures that David is sad now that Saul has died. He cannot believe that he took his own life and David was hurt by Saul and his ending. We know that Saul did not promote himself to the kingship. The people wanted a king like the other countries, they no longer wanted to live the words of the prophets but have a king to rule over them. 1 Samuel 8:19-20 Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” God told the nation of Israel that he was giving them what they wanted, H was angry at His people again. So, He gave them what they wanted someone to rule over them and fight their battles for them. How could anyone stand up to the God they had to stand with? They wanted a sinful human to be over them. When we first see Saul as king he had the Spirit of God on him and he was a very different person, but he had a different heart once he went against God. 1 Samuel 10:9 So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that Go gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. God gave Saul the kingship when he had a heart for God and His Sprit was upon him, but at some point Saul got more self-centered and let go of God. ~ Questions ~1. How many times do we want something God knows would not be in our best interest and we complain and beg so we give it in? 2. How often do we allow our self-centeredness to get in the way between us and God and His will for our lives? This will be a good study too. We are looking forward to delving into the study and learning all we can about how we should hold onto God and obey Him in our lives.
~ Introduction ~Some tourists came upon a man sitting in the streets of a village and they stopped to ask this man if there were any great men born in this village. The man looked up at them and said "No, only babies." You know that might be obvious, but some people stand in awe of some of history's greatest people. But we all start life out in the same way. We are born as a baby and grow into the next generation. Some people have opportunities to grow in much different ways, circumstances being what they are. But we all start out the same. We do not just 'show up'. When we look at David, he is one of eight sons of Jesse in Judah. They did not have servants to carry out the needed tasks. When Samuel came to choose the new king, David was out being shepherd of his flock of sheep. In a wealthy family there would have been servants to tend and care for the sheep. Then when the older boys were off to war, it was David who was sent to bring them food and supplies not a servant. He was not old enough to serve in the army, but he was fine to deliver things and bring word back. David was a great man, who just started his life as a baby in the family. Growing into the man that we start studying again today. David had an extraordinary thing in his life, His heart was for God. Samuel did not know when he left to anoint a new king which of the boys would be anointed. The Lord did not tell him ahead of time. Samuel was expecting one of the older boys, but God had other plans. He looked at the heart of the boys and chose the one who loved Him most. He had a heart that was like God's heart. David was not perfect like God, but his true desires were to follow in his human inapt ways. We went through his teen years while we were studying the first book in the series, up to around his 30's. He spent most of that whole time running from Saul and making bad choices. This book we will start with the suicide of Saul and the opening of the kingship to David next. Was he to be king at thirty? David was king for nearly 40 years. You know that he might have had a heart like God, but he had that sin nature. He was emotional, impulsive, talented and at times self-centered and conniving. David was a poet, musician, warrior, a leader and tender-hearted father. He like us are sinners in our lives, but we can have a heart for God in the midst of our imperfect life. ~ Questions ~1. What did God see in David that the outside world could not see? 2. Where did the strength and heart come from in David? Who did he truly love in the end? We have a good idea of who David has been through this study and enjoying the time that we see him as human, and know that even with our failures we can do great things for God if we just give Him our hearts.
~ Three Explanations ~First - Some people believe that the medium was just made up by them and nothing happened to the medium. Second - Others believe that it was a semblance of Samuel and that it was not Samuel who was speaking or the truth. Third = and this is what we believe happened, we agree with Pastor Jeremiah. We believe that it was the Lord who spoke to Saul. The basis that we hold. Ezekiel 14:7-8 7 For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by Myself. 8 I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. Israel had set up idols in the land and others were seeking information from them. God issues a deree that He would answer Himself. Then He would cut those from His people. Because Saul contacted a medium he and his sons were killed in a matter of days. ~ The Moral of Their Stories ~In the beginning of chapter 29, we see David who was not trusted by the Philistines. They thought that David would now turn against them while fighting against Israel. David who was to be king of Israel, was not trusted by either country when they went to war. The Philistine king sent David back to Ziglag. He pretending to be upset, but he was relieved not fighting his own people. IF you want to talk about miserable lives, you can discuss Saul and David and look at their lives. They are both going down to hit rock bottom in their lives. David has a chance to work on his faults before he becomes king of Israel next. ~ The Plurality of Sin ~It is a great almost impossibility to only do one sin. When we do something like lie, we have to keep lying to cover up the first one. It is said that Sin breeds sin. The best way to avoid being caught in the sins is to not sin in the first place. What does not exsist is unable to multiply. ~ The Potential of Sin ~We can step back and look at what we are studying today and see that we are studying two kings of Israel. Kings who are acting like children. They were the leaders for Israel. The sins that both of them are committing. Everyone has the potential to sin in their heart, we have to take control and not sin. We see the best people can end up in the worst trials and the worst of us can end up in the best lives. Like Saul/Paul. Not the king but Saul in Jesus time was the worst at first when he was hunting and killing the Christians until God spoke to him and then he joined them and was one of the best evangelists for God. ~ The Power of Sin ~This verse is talking about the power in our lives if we let sin grow up in our hearts and lives. We can die from the sin we commit when we will not listen to God. James 1:15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Our sin has huge power and it can bring forth death and consume us so that we cannot do good or have a life with any peace. 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 So, Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. 14 But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore, He killed him and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. Why was David spared and Saul taken for the sins that they were committing? God had anointed David as king, so we knew that he would become king at some point. We should never think that God's sovereignty will excuse sin, we are committing our sins and will only be forgiven with repentive hearts. The other thing to think about is that David had a heart for God, he would get sidetracked, but he always felt horrible and repented before God. He really did want to do what God asked of him, he was just messing up like we do today. God forgives those who come in true repentance and He will stand up for us and sustain us while we live for Him and have a repentive heart. ~ Questions ~1. What are the three types of sins we covered today? What do you get out of them? 2. What do we need most when we want to make sin right and ask God's forgiveness? This is the last study in Book 1, we will start book 2 in our next study time. It is good to spend time in the word and getting to know those who lived for God most of the times but were forgiven when they had true repentance. Gives us something to look forward to in our lives.
~ The Misery of Saul ~ Now we change over to Saul, he is gathering his armies to fight the invading Philistines and protect Israel. Saul at this time was scared to death going into this fight. 1 Samuel 28:3-5 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land. 4 Then the Philistines gathered together and came and encamped at Shunem. So, Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. Saul missed Samuel's advice about what to do next. So, he was frightened by the coming battle. He even prayed to God, but God did not answer him. 1 Samuel 28:6 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. Personal opinion: I think God was fed up with both David and Saul at this point. ~ The Fear of Saul ~By this time Saul had not had God in his life for so long that this fear he had was more prevalent in his life. He only called out to God when he was in trouble, but by this time God was not answering him. He needed to get his heart right with God. Saul was really struggling with his guilty conscience. He had done so many bad things and disobeyed Samuel, killed a lot of people and hunted down David. He was just not being a Godly man and then to expect God to help him either. WOW!! You know that there is nothing worse than to be out of the will of God when you are going into a fight. When you are facing a crisis in life you want God on your side. When we realize that we are out of the will of God and headed into a bad time, we have a lot of fear, that would be the worst way to live. ~ The Failure of Saul ~Verse 6 above has the saddest words in the whole Bible. 'The Lord did not answer." Can you imagine calling out to God and hearing nothing? No love, no strength, just silence. Saul was knocking at the door, but he was not sincere and would not confess and turn away from his sins. Because Saul failed to do that God would not listen to Him. Isaiah 55:6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. When we are disobeying God and saying things, we should not we cannot expect God to listen to us and be on call for our needs. If you ask God for help or ask forgiveness to get something and do not mean it, God will not listen. Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. ~ The Fall of Saul ~After Saul realized that he was not going to find out what happens from God and what to do, he did the worst thing and went to a medium. He did not get his life right with God but when for other help instead. 1 Samuel 28:7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor.” Saul had put all the mediums and spirituals out of Israel when he was close to God and now went hunting them to talk to them. He wanted to know what was next. Saul and David were doing the same thing. Saul was sinning with the mediums and David with his lifestyle of going to battle against Israel if he followed the Philistine king. The men found a medium for Saul and he wanted her to call up Samuel so he could find out what was going to happen in the war. The medium contacted Samuel for real, but his spirit who came said he and all his sons would die in this battle. That the Philistines would defeat Israel. The meeting to the medium we need to clarify. That should not happen and those who do are going against God and should not be trying to contact the dead. ~ Questions ~1. What are some lessons that you have learned from Saul and David during this study? 2. Do we have times of "Fear-Failure-Fall"? What do we need to do to fight those and walk with God? We heard a lot of good things to think about today. When we have those times do we confess and turn to God or do we just bumble through life and get further away from God? There is so much to learn through this study.
~ Overview ~To be able to understand the story you have to follow all the steps that go out from the story as well. There is a lot to follow in this story. We have been doing that through this study so far. All the little pieces that fit together for a big picture. We are now seeing David, living in a country that he used to fight with and picking up their pagan ways. He was killing all the people in villages and taking their things to support his soldiers and families. Having no care for people even his soldiers were upset with him. David gave up on God but God did not give up on him. He knew that David could get it together and be a good king. We never know where our path will lead to, but we try to live the best life we can following God's loving words and standing on His promises. ~ The Misery of David ~David was lying all the time, but he continued to live under the rule of the Philistine king. Achish thought David was raiding Judah and so he thought that David was on his side, but really David was killing off the people of Philistine thinking he could wipe out villages and not get caught. 1 Samuel 28:2 So David said to Achish, “Surely you know what your servant can do.” And Achish said to David, “Therefore I will make you one of my chief guardians forever.” For a man seeking the heart of God and anointed as the king of Israel, David really got himself into a bad place. Now he is promoted to the chief guardian forever. He was at the right hand of the king of Philistines. What was he thinking?? David was then supposed to follow him into the battle against Israel. This is where lies and deceit will get you. He is fighting for the Philistines this time, and over Israel. If he says 'no' then the king he is guarding would be upset, but if he says 'yes' then he will be a trader in Israel. You will always have a price to pay for going against God. ~ Questions ~1. What does it mean to be faithful to God always? 2. When Saul faced the Philistine army and saw them invading what was his response to that? We had another great study. and will do some more tomorrow and maybe the next day. These are shorter chapters. Do you think we are like Saul and David at times? Not listening to what God is telling us and turning away when we should be turning towards Him?? I know I have both days in there. I try to turn to God with my sins and ask forgiveness from Him so i am right with God.
~ The Cost of David's Defection ~The remainder of the chapter we see David's consequences for leaving Judah and becoming like the pagans. David allowed his depression to get a hold of him. ~ He Deceived Himself ~When we look for the reason that David deceived himself we have to see why Saul wanted David out of Israel. Saul did not want David to take the throne after him. David did just what Saul wanted he defected and how can the king of Israel come from Philistine? David was deceived in his thinking to go to Philistine and hide out from Saul. He was not safe there, but he was not in line for the kingship in Israel while living there. Do you think he even realized that he was in the enemies country living where Goliath lived and now acting as they do? Some times the disease is better than the cures that they give us. When we adopt the ways of the world then we are finding a new way to deal with problems and not doing it God's way. We find ourselves in greater peril than we were. ~ He Dishonored God ~We have to remember when we are looking at David's life, God specifically told him that he would be king. He was anointed as king of Israel. Jonathon who was Sauls son even told David he would be the next king of Israel. and he would not be king because of David but he was fine with that. Abigail David's wife confirmed it so David has heard from God in many different ways that he would be king and yet David was so wrapped up in himself and his pity that he was not listening and was sure Saul would kill him. David dishonored God by believing these things after what God had said would happen. 1 Samuel 27:1 And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So, I shall escape out of his hand.” What would you see if you could see a printed paper of your thoughts? How would that measure up to what God tells us in His word. What happened to David can be allowed into our lives if we allow discouragement and deception to take away our spiritual judgement. ~ He Destroyed His Testimony ~Philistia was a horrible and corrupt pagan culture and there was no way that David was ever going to grow spiritually while he was living there and doing the same things that they did. He left God and went to the dark side. No where was perfect during this time, but at least in Judah you had the opportunity to do the things that God commanded. The king of Gath gave David and his people the town of Ziklag, one that used to belong to Judah but was captured before. So it was amazing that David and his people ended up there to live. They moved in and set up their lives there. There were still Jews living in Ziklag but were under the control of the enemy. They had remained when the city was captured. All were living out of their faith and following the enemy. It reminds me of Christians today, we can belong to God but we are living controlled by the enemy. We can talk about how we are God's children and we have a loving relationship with the Lord. and yet you are living in the way of this world. We need to be separate and apart from the ways of the world even if we are in the world. ~ He Descended Into Further Sin ~"It is difficult to deceive ourselves, dishonor God, and destroy our testimony without descending further into sin". Now living in Ziklag David had one way to support and provide for the people following him, they plundered from others. He started going into neighboring nations and stealing cattle, and goods to feed his people. He was killing those he stole from or tried to stop him and dwelt in a new low. The only good thing was he was not stealing from Israel but he was destroying his testimony and living in lawlessness. It says that he wiped out towns and left nothing alive or of value so that he could support the men and families under him. David did not want it getting back to the king of Gath so he killed all living souls. The king of Gath was being told that David was raiding Judah so he though David would never be able to go back and be against Philistine again. "David was living the life of a murderer with lies and deception in his mouth and life. He became a horrible person just because he could not believe and trust God. Now David was getting his own people riled up and turning against him they wanted to stone David king to be of Israel. So he turned back and started being strengthened in the Lord. 1 Samuel 30:6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Instead of listening to himself when he thought, he listened to what God had to say. He was talking and listening to his God. We ask, how do we strengthen ourselves in the Lord? 1. Focus on promises in the word of the Lord. 2. Focus on prayer, talking to Him and sharing with Him. 3. Focus on the possibilities to live your life for God. It does not matter how bad or discouraging our lives look, it is possible to focus our hearts on God and not delve into the pain and darkness. We can shed new light on our lives. ~ Questions ~1. Who is your enemy? 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 2. What three things do we need to focus on to get our lives back in order with God's word? This was another good chapter. I have learned some new things. I did not remember that David hid out in Gath during his running and plundered people and murdered. There was a lot to take in this lesson.
~ Overview ~ Depression and discouragement are something that we experience in our daily lives. Some of us have it worse and have to take medication for it, but most just suffer the downs for a day or two and are up and going again. But we all suffer from it at times. Discouragement is not limited to people with issues, it hits normal people. It is hits what we on earth call great people, we all face discouragement in our lives. David's psalms during his ministry are often full of despair and pain as he works through the things that he has to do for God. His psalms during this time are dark and sad, but we can sometimes really experience and understand what David was going through. ~ The Circumstances of David's Depression ~David's depression is starting to be talked about in 1 Samuel 27. He is sure that Saul is going to kill him and all he has done and is supposed to do is finished. He was not trusting in the truth of what God said to him. 1 Samuel 27:1 And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.” David had two things that brought him down. He had an enemy that seems to be winning and expectations that were not being met at this time. ~ He Had an Enemy He Coud Not Master ~The book passed up chapter 26 because it was almost the same as the En Gedi chapter, this time David went into Saul's camp and into his tent and took his water bottle and sword from beside Saul and then called out. Truce was made and Saul started pursuing David again. Saul would not stop while both were alive. Can you imagine living every day with someone like Saul and his armies following you around trying to kill you? The pressure that David felt was relentless. He could not get away from it, morning and night. We sometimes have those kinds of enemies, be it a sickness or finances, they are standing over us and we are trying to figure out how to get away from them. Whenever we are not thinking about what we are doing the enemy is bringing up the enemy and setting it before us so we are discouraged, in despair and depressed. Then we have our spiritual enemy that will build on the things we are going through and hit us as hard as he can. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We have spiritual defenses to use against the enemy the devil we have to stand in God and use them. It does us no good to have these weapons if we are not using them or knowing how to use them. David knew that he would not lose his life to Saul. God had promised he would be king. Yet he was being chased and had to deal with that almost 24/7 in his life. It was a relentless feeling of being trapped. ~ He Had an Expectation He Could Not Meet ~We see David now with several thousand people around him with his 600 men and their wives and children. Can you imagine moving all those people around while being chased by Saul? David finally caved to pressure and threw himself to the mercy of king Achish across the border. Now David decided to live in Gath where Goliath is from who he had killed. With all of his soldiers and the women and children running was a hard thing to do. He decided to leave Judah and move to Philistine. Then when he settled in with his two wives he started acting like the pagans too. He was changing for the worse not the better. Our lives can take on the same story. The pressures of life take over and we get so overwhelmed that we decide to do what others do and settle into a complacent life. Our impulses that we follow in the passion of the moment and our panic at what is going on in our lives can lead to some bad decisions in our lives. ~ Questions ~1. Think about a specific time you remember being depressed, what were the circumstances that led to it? 2. What two things could David's circumstances keep him from mastering and no meet? We are here today and enjoying this study. Makes us stop and think about our down days and what leads up to them. What are we not giving to the Lord and following Him with? Is there something more than depression that we need to work on?
|
HaniniyaI am Haniniya and I am from Bethlehem, Judea, Israel and I love the Lord and walk in His Word. I want to share His Word with You each day. Past Studies!!
July 2024
|