When People Are Big And God Is Small

When you relate to God out of your willingness, not God's expectation, what God says, here's what happens.

You basically are serving God, but you're not submitting to God.

God doesn't need service, He He requires submission.

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Amen.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we uh we raise a hallelujah in just acknowledgement and celebration of all that you are and all that you've done.

And so, Lord, we say as a people and as a church that you've moved greatly among us, but you're not done moving among us.

And so posture and position us today to experience everything you have in your heart that has our name on it, God.

Will Holy Spirit illuminate the word today so that it finds a resting place in our head and our heart, and then finds expression in our hand.

Because if it doesn't find expression in our hand, we're just religious people going through the motions, and you're not about that.

And so, Lord, rescue us from that, deliver us from nonsense, half-truth, and untruth, and lead us into the whole truth.

Because the truth is what sets us free.

That's why we're here today.

That's why we're going to open this book today, so we can be freer people when we walk out than we were when we walked in.

Lord, it's for freedom that Christ set us free.

You have to remind us of that, God, because we prefer bondage.

We don't call it that.

It just feels so comfortable.

But it's for freedom you set us free.

So, Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture today so that we experience the freedom Christ died for us to have.

This is our prayer, make it our experience, we ask in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

You can have a seat if you got a Bible.

I invite you to take it and open it up to 1 Samuel chapter 15.

1 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

1 Samuel chapter 15.

1 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

I want to talk to you this morning about what happens when people are big and God is small.

When people are big and God is small.

And by the way, this is not a sermon on codependency because there's a, it's actually a good book.

I've never read it, but I know that I know of the person that wrote it.

There's a book called When People Are Big and God Is Small.

It's about codependency.

I'm not talking about that today.

I just think in the Bible, 1 Samuel 15, there's a great example of what happens when people get real big and God gets real small.

We start doing a lot of things.

So I don't have tips and techniques.

Here's what I'm gonna do: I want to read the entire chapter, and all God's people said the more of the word of God, the less of Neil's words you need.

Amen?

Don't celebrate that so much, people.

Uh and so anyway, and then we're gonna go back and just point to some things, okay?

If you're our guest today, relax.

No one's gonna make you do anything awkward, no one's gonna approach you and say, Would you like to pray in front of people you don't know?

Uh we'll get to the end and I'll say, let's think about this.

Some questions come up on the screen for you to think about because we believe that the learning is for living.

When you we don't come together just to kind of learn more stuff that we can say, hey, Billy Bob, guess what I heard the other day?

No, no.

You the Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Not just hear and and agree, but never experience.

And so, 1 Samuel chapter 15, when people are big and God is small.

1 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

Verse 1.

And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel.

Now, therefore, listen to the words of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts.

I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way.

When they came up out of Egypt.

Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have.

Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Talame, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah.

And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.

And then Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them.

For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.

So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites, and Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.

And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive, and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword.

But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the oxen and the fatted calves, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not be and would not utterly destroy them.

All that was despised and worthless, they devoted to destruction.

The word of the Lord came to Samuel.

For him, I'm excuse me, a monument for himself, and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.

And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed be you to the Lord.

I perform the commandment of the Lord.

And Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?

Saul said, Well, 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, and the rest we've devoted to destruction.

Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.

And he said to him, Speak.

And Samuel said, Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?

The Lord anointed you king over Israel.

And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go, devote to destruction 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 pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?

And Saul said to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.

I have gone on the mission which the Lord sent me.

I have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I've devoted the Amalachites to destruction.

But the people took the spoil, the sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.

And Samuel said, Has the Lord his great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.

Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned.

I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.

And Samuel said to Saul, 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.

And Samuel turned to go away.

Saul seized the skirt of his robe and it tore, and Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

And also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man that he should have regret.

And then he said, I have sinned, yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me that I may bow before the Lord your God.

So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord.

And then Samuel said, Bring here to me Agag, the king of the Amalekites.

And Agag came to him cheerfully.

Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.

And Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.

And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

And then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death.

But Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

There's one thing that was created to be ultimate, to be preeminent in your life, and that's God.

And so when anything else takes the place of God, when anything else is big, God has to become small.

And this is the thing that we fear, so that's the thing that we seek to please in our life.

Whenever that happens, it's a bad arrangement, okay?

And so I just want to kind of point out uh a few things in the text that we can just take away.

I I'm not here to give tips, like I said, on codependency or whatever, but instead just to say, hey, notice this and notice this and notice this.

The first thing I want to point to in the text is simply this that God takes himself very seriously.

God takes himself very seriously.

And unless you start with that, this is this sounds abusive and maniacal and like, oh my gosh, and he he had that guy hacked to pieces right in right in front of the Lord.

Absolutely.

Uh, because if you don't understand that God takes himself very seriously, he says in verse one, and look at it, and Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel.

Notice the next two words.

Now, therefore.

It's almost like they should be rearranged because he says, now, which is like right now, therefore, which means what I'm fixing to say is predicate on what I just said.

That God sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel.

Now, therefore, listen to the words of the Lord.

This is all Saul has to do is listen to what God says and do what God says.

What if I told you you and I were created to live the same simplistic kind of life?

Listen to what God says and do what God says.

And as easy as that sounds, it is continu, it gets continuously harder because there's so many other voices vying for our attention and our allegiance and our culture.

But I just want to say from the get-go, lay this down as a template over this entire chapter that God takes himself very seriously.

Which means, because he takes himself seriously, it means that unless you and I do the same, we'll relate to God out of our willingness and not out of his expectation.

And when you relate to God out of your willingness instead of his expectation, here's what happens is that you serve God.

That's why you heard Saul saying, Oh, well, I've gone on the mission God sent me on.

Like, dude, are you kidding me?

But it when you relate to God out of your willingness, this is what I'm willing to do.

Not God's expectation, what God says.

Here's what happens.

You basically you're serving God, but you're not submitting to God.

God doesn't need service, He He requires submission.

And submission is a four-letter word in our culture.

That's why I ask people all the time in counseling, tell me, who or what do you submit to?

And they're like, well, I don't know what's talking about submission.

This is not going to go well because there's nothing ultimate in your life beyond you.

And so, first and foremost, as just as a template laid down over this, God takes himself very seriously.

The second thing the text tells us today is that God takes note.

God takes note.

Look at verse 2.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they come up out of Egypt.

Now, when he says, I have noted, he's referring to something that happened in the Old Testament.

Way back in uh Exodus chapter 17.

Exodus 17 · chapter mention

Remember a long time ago, we preached through the book of John recently, took about two and a half years.

We were in Exodus for like what, seven years?

Remember that?

Y'all like, how long are we going to be in Exodus?

Until they get into the promised land.

I want to ruin it for you.

But anyway, way back in Exodus, you see, if you're not careful, you might figure out, we're trying to lay a biblical foundation.

So when you read stuff in the Bible, you go, oh, that sounds familiar.

And so way back in Exodus, here's what happened.

God's people had come out of Egypt and they were getting to the promised land, and this army attacked them from behind.

The Bible says, when they were tired and weary.

And they were just, they were at an oasis, this pool of water in the middle of the desert, and they were at this oasis called Raphitum, R-E-P-H-I-D-I-M.

And this enemy snuck up behind them and attacked them when they were tired and weary.

It would be like, man, you're on a trip, it's 22 hours, and you've convinced your wife, hey, baby, I can drive it, okay?

You and the kids sleep, we'll leave at 3:30 in the morning and we'll drive and we'll get there, you know, like the next afternoon.

It'll be awesome.

About hour number 19, you pull over and get gas, and a guy comes up to you with a gun, your wife and kids are sleeping.

He's like, hey, hey, give me your keys.

I'm carjacking you.

You're so tired, you're like, here, you can have the keys and all them people in it, okay?

I'm so, oh, I can't even think about this anymore.

It's not that I don't care, it's just that I can't care right now.

Where's the hotel?

That's what happened.

God's people were so tired, so beat down, and an enemy came in from behind and attacked them, and God took note of it.

Now look at me, unless you realize what the Bible says right here in verse 2, he says, Hey, and thus says the Lord, I have noted what Amalek did to Israel while opposing them on the way.

Unless you get it in your head and your heart that God takes note, you're gonna be a vengeful person the rest of your life.

Because you're gonna think, I got to get these people back.

Oh, they think they got over on me.

I tell you what, I don't get mad, I don't get even, I get ahead.

That's why the Bible says in Romans chapter 12, leave room for the wrath of God.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

God's capacity to pay people back far exceeds yours.

So, let's talk about your ex-husband for a minute.

I'm just kidding.

Like, yeah, let's hack that fool to pieces.

Let's talk about that.

So, God takes no.

You say, Well, what do you mean God takes no?

See, some of you are like, I don't remember the story of some guy coming from behind.

Here's the story.

This will sound familiar.

You remember the story where the Israelites were fighting another army, and Moses went up on a hill and he held his hands up, and as long as his hands were up, Israel was winning.

But when he got tired, his hands came down, Israel started losing.

So they sent two people up there and they said, Prop his hands up, because we need to win.

This is the battle.

The army they were fighting was the Amalekites, and their king was Agag.

And God said, You're gonna jerk with my people, okay?

This is the way God says it, because the Bible speaks with such poetic language.

Sometimes it's it's hard to, I mean, it's easy to miss what God is saying.

This is Exodus 17, verse 14.

Exodus 17:14

Then the Lord said to Moses, this is after the battle.

The Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua.

In other words, I don't want you just to get this.

I want the next generation of leadership after you're gone, Moses, to not forget this.

So to recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.

And Moses built an altar and called the name of it the name, the Lord is my banner, saying, A hand upon the throne of the Lord.

The Lord will make, we'll have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Now, here's a part I want you to get.

He says that Moses built an altar and called the name of it, the Lord is my banner, saying, A hand upon the throne of the Lord.

In other words, someone tries to thwart the purposes of God and say, Hey, God, you're not king, you're not in charge.

I'm in charge.

And God says, Hey, get off my lawn.

Yeah, yeah, he goes all Grant Torino on him.

He's like, Oh, you put your hand on the throne of the Lord.

Who do you think you are, Skippy?

You can't sit in my chair.

Now, I don't know what's like in your house, but I grew up in a house with a dad that had a chair.

Everybody in our house knew whose chair that was.

The dog knew whose chair it was.

My dad would walk in, the dog would get out, like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Me and my brother sit in the chair, my dad would, he wouldn't say that he would just walk in the room and we were like, uh-oh, I'm getting up.

God says, this throne that I sit on, where I govern the affairs of the world, you ain't gonna sit in my chair and don't put your greasy chicken-eating hands on my throne either.

No, I ain't gonna have none of that.

So God just noted.

God knowed it.

Hey, by the way, God knows all the wrongs you've ever suffered.

And if you don't be careful, you're gonna waste your life trying to pay those people back.

And what you're really saying is, God, did God you clearly you didn't see this, you'd have done something about it.

Oh, he'll do something about it.

If you don't believe me, ask King Agag.

Here's the second thing I want you to notice.

He doesn't just note the bad, he notes the kindness as well.

Look in verse 6.

Verse 6 says, Then Saul said to the Kenites, You ever heard of the Kenites?

None of you probably had a conversation this week.

Said, honey, let's talk about the Kenites.

I want you to understand them.

The Kenites were like metal workers.

They were like, they were like the teamsters, they're like, hey, we're unionized, we do it, we work with metal, we make armor and stuff.

And they would attach themselves.

People say the Malachites was who they were with, way back in Exodus.

They were kind of like working for them.

But look at what the Bible says.

Verse 6 says, Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them.

For you show kindness.

Now, by the way, this is free.

If you're in a relationship with somebody that deserves destruction, unless you get away from them, you're going to experience destruction.

I think we need to say that again.

If you're one with somebody who consequences coming to them, unless you you're wise enough to say, you know what?

I don't think I think you're writing checks with your lifestyle that your your future, our future can't cash.

Unless you get away from that person, it's not gonna be good for you.

And so this is what the Bible says.

He says, hey, the Kenites go depart, go down from among the Malachites, lest I destroy you with them.

For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.

So the Kenites departed from among the Amalachites.

So it's not like God, some bully, taking it in, like, I'm gonna fight you, then I'm gonna get you.

He takes note of the kindness of the things that these people did.

Years ago, so he comes to meet out justice.

He says, Hey, you know what?

You were good to my people, and here's what I want you to understand God is always going to defend his people.

He always is.

He just always is.

That's just who he is, that's how he is.

He takes note.

Here's the third thing I want us to see in the text.

Disobedience can feel noble.

Disobedience can feel noble.

Look at verse 7.

You say, Whoa, I don't know.

Verse 7 says this and Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.

And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and devoted to destruction all the people at the edge of the sword.

But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen of the fatted calves and the lambs and all that was good, and will not utterly destroy them.

All that was despised and worthless, they devoted to destruction.

How hard is that?

Oh, it's despised and worthless.

Nobody wants this.

Yeah, let's just destroy that.

But all that was good they kept for themselves.

Now what did God say?

God said, unless you've forgotten, he he looked back, verse 3, now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction.

All that they have.

Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant.

I mean, sorry, I've killed man, yeah, kill woman, kill children, ah, infant?

What?

Ox and sheep and camel and donkey and their golden doodle and everything they have.

I want you to wipe these fools out, God says.

And he gets up here when I say obedience, uh disobedience can feel noble.

Here's what happens: Saul assesses the situation, and instead of carrying out the commands of God who assessed the situation a long time ago, he he exerts his arrogance.

And he basically says to God, Hey, I'm kind of here, boots on the ground, I kind of got this, I know what's best.

And he kind of counters it in terms of nobility.

Oh, we we disobeyed, so we could sacrifice all these animals to you.

And God says, I don't care about your motive, I just see your outcome.

See, when people get caught, they always talk about their motive.

Oh, well, what I wanted to do was, you know what, see, see, what I intended was, uh, no, no, no.

God says, uh, all I see is you disobeying me and you think it's noble simply because you're gonna sacrifice this to me.

Now, by the way, this is a great question.

You should ask yourself, where do I see or sense nobility in my relationship?

I ask people this question a lot in marriage counseling, and they always go, What, what?

What's nobility got to do with marriage?

Everything.

Let me just start with myself.

My wife's in Dallas.

She's been at a women's conference this weekend.

Uh she's left Thursday night uh to get back tonight sometime.

And I told our 16-year-old who's still at home, I said, Hey, I don't know what you got plans for today, but I know what you're doing.

You helped me clean this house, put this house back together.

And it will be spotless, okay?

The floors will be vacuumed, the kitchen will be mopped, the dishwasher will be unloaded, loaded, the countertops cleaned off, the bed made, everything.

The bathroom vanity, wiped down, spotless, like my wife likes it.

And my wife will walk in and she won't even comment about it.

And I will be livid.

Because when I do something like this, I know you none of you're like this, but I think.

And in my mind, I think, yeah, and I preach three times today, too.

I know I'm exhausted, but I found the energy to do this.

The last time she was gone, and I had the house spotless, I hung the dish rag over the kitchen faucet.

All she said was, oh, I don't hang it there because it smells funny.

You ungrateful woman.

I didn't say that.

I said, She stood in the doorway from, we have an open floor play.

She's standing in the kitchen, she goes, Hey, by the way, I don't hang this on the faucet.

And in my mind, like a shooting rocket about do you choke yourself with it?

How about that?

But I just uh, oh, okay, thanks for the pointer.

Uh but despite that insult, I'll clean it again.

And it's my nobility.

See, nobility takes many forms.

Here's what nobility sounds like, man.

Kids have any idea how hard I work to provide this life they enjoy?

No, they don't.

No.

I asked mine yesterday I went to a widow's house to fix something.

She called me up.

She said, Hey, this is broke.

And I said, I'll come over and fix it.

I grew up on a farm and I had to do stuff.

So I said to my kid, hey, you want to go set the kingdom down and fix some stuff?

Nah, I want to lay in my bed and watch the TikTok videos.

What kind of loser are you, kid?

I said, All right, shall I go over and fix that?

She blows my phone up on the way back.

Hey dad, on the way back, why don't you swing through uh Starbucks and get me a vanilla sweet cream cold brew?

And I'm like, what is that?

It's delicious.

Don't ask questions, just get me one.

I start going blind in my truck, like what?

Got to the Starbucks, there were six colors in line.

Yeah, I would have left, but somebody pulled in right behind me and I was trapped.

I was like, oh man.

18 minutes.

And all I can think about is I tell you, well, if that'd be a whole lot of thank you, Dad.

You're awesome.

She heard the door lock, she came out, she goes, oh, oh, oh, oh, I'll take that.

Walk right back in the room.

Now, hey, my kids are grateful.

They're not spoiled, but whatever.

I don't always give them something like, hey, what's it gonna cost you?

I I don't mind that at all.

But nobility will get you in your relationship.

Where do I feel?

No, I'm kind of putting up when my wife's getting her needs met.

I'm not getting my needs met.

That's nobility.

Nobility will give you permission to do what the gospel never does.

Uh-oh.

Did you feel that?

Let's say that again, boys and girls.

Nobility will give you permission to do what the gospel never gives you permission to do.

Oh, because you know, I just, you know, they don't appreciate me.

So what?

You got to appreciate yourself?

You can't say amen and say ow.

I'll go with neither.

Yeah.

See, disobedience can feel noble.

See, it's a good question because often it hides our true motives.

He's like, oh man, we're going to sacrifice to the Lord.

Hey, hey, hey, spoil money stuff has corrupted more Christians than anything else.

Here's another thing from the text.

The fourth thing: obedience is not open to interpretation.

It's not open to interpretation.

Look at verse 13.

God said, and Samuel uh came to Saul and said to him, Blessed be you to the Lord.

I've performed the commandment of the Lord.

And how do you get that, dude?

That's called interpreted obedience.

I mean, I know God said this, but it's 2020, man.

Come on.

I got 2020 vision.

I'm seeing things clearly.

No, God says this.

And this, Yahu, blessed be you to the Lord.

I performed the commandment of the Lord.

And Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and this lowing of the oxen that I hear?

Huh?

Help me with that, Skippy.

And Saul said, Well, they brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the ox to sacrifice to the Lord your God.

Here, here, let me explain our disobedience.

We did this to bless God.

What blesses God is you obeying.

He didn't want your fat calf.

He wants your obedience.

See, obedience is not left up to you and I to interpret because disobedience exalts self-will to the place of authority.

Let me say that again.

Disobedience exalts self-will, my will, to the place of authority.

And it's what started back in the Garden of Eden when the serpent comes to Adam and Eve and says, Surely has God said?

Well, I mean, God did say blah, blah, blah, and he said, Don't do this because you'll die.

And he said, Well, you won't die.

No, no, no.

You'll be like God, knowing good and evil, deciding right and wrong, declaring your sexuality, your identity.

Who can tell you?

You're like God.

You create yourself in your own image.

That didn't start in 2020.

Stop freaking out like what's our country's going to hell in a handbasket.

That started in the Garden of Eden.

When a man named Adam and a woman named Eve disobeyed and distrusted God and said, Oh, what wait a minute, time out.

God's afraid we're going to be like him?

We can be like God?

What is it?

And what's the next phrase?

Knowing good and evil, deciding right and wrong, settling the issue for myself, not submitting to anybody else.

I didn't.

Somebody said the other day, man, teenagers today are more sinful than ever before.

You didn't know me and my friends growing up.

Yeah.

These are wild cows, officer.

We found these cows.

Boy, kneel down on your knees, interlace your fingers, and put them behind your head.

These aren't wild animals.

No.

No, they're not.

That's called theft.

And by the way, some of them cows are very expensive.

And it doesn't take very much, I think it's like$500 to become a felony.

He said, that right there is about$1,500.

You boys in deep weeds.

I remember thinking, what's the future of a 14-year-old with a record?

And here I am.

Yes.

Yes.

See, obedience is not open to interpretation because disobedience exalts self-will to the place of authority.

And look at me.

I'm not mad at you.

I'm just loving you enough to tell you.

I know it feels good.

Oh, I'm decided.

I'm a liberated person.

I'm this, I'm that.

Someone said to me, I've heard this a lot lately.

Someone said to me this past week, Oh, I mean, you're too Christian.

You wouldn't understand.

And I said, Oh, see, I don't think there's such a thing as too Christian.

Uh, there's either you're a Christian or you're not.

And when you say I'm too Christian, you're inviting me to move towards you in the way I think, and I'm not gonna do that.

Well, I mean, aren't you supposed to be loving and forgiving?

Yes, I am.

I think I am loving and forgiving.

The most loving thing I can do is tell you the truth.

Well, I don't get that.

Well, the Bible says love rejoices in the truth.

1 Corinthians 13.

Everybody wants it in their wedding.

And then they get married and they're like, I gotta tell my husband the truth.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Remember at your wedding?

Your little Pinterest thing you had going on?

Now you gotta live this out.

Remember all those vows?

Sunshine, hot hands.

Nobody's been married 20 years doing that.

Let's go get on a mountain and take, eh, take the picture.

Shut up.

Yeah.

See, obedience, not open to interpretation.

I'm gonna clean the house today.

My wife's gonna come home and go, oh, I just want to sit on the couch and watch HGTV.

You ungrateful woman.

She told me one time, she said, Hey, when you clean the house, you act like you donated a kidney or something.

I clean it three or four times a week.

No, shut up.

Uh-huh.

I was just like, and she said, what?

And I said, it's terrible.

She goes, I want to hear it.

I said, Isn't that your job?

Yes, I said that.

Shut up.

And I got double fingers.

My wife gave me double fingers.

She went, You need to stop.

And I said, I know it was terrible.

I said it, and you insisted on it.

I'm gonna go in our room and watch something, and I don't want you to follow me.

Okay.

Yeah, here's the fifth thing.

It's helpful to know what God delights in.

It's helpful to know what God delights in.

Look at verse 22.

He says, and Samuel said that because his whole rationalization is that, hey, doesn't God like this?

I know God said, hey, go up there and kill everybody and everything, but doesn't God like it?

We got some really prime animals here.

We're gonna sacrifice to him.

The problem is that what Saul delights in is not what God delights in.

Saul delights in interpreted obedience, and God delights in just simple obedience.

Do what I say.

Verse 22, and Samuel said, Has the Lord his great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

It's helpful to know what God delights in.

Ask yourself this question: How would you change in what would change in your life if you really understood what God delights in?

If you really understood, you should ask yourself, ask your husband, ask your wife, hey, is our life a reflection of what God delights in?

That's how you have more interesting conversations than, hey baby, you want to watch the Pro Bowl?

No, it's not even a football game.

It's an exhibition of nonsense.

Oh, don't tackle me, I might get injured.

No, just, hey, is our life a reflection of what God delights in?

Because Samuel's like, hey, dude, here's the big myth for you.

You think God delights in burnt offerings and sacrifices?

You think God delights in you sinning consistently and then just telling him you're sorry.

What glory is there for God in a salvation that brings him no glory?

There's none.

And God loves glory.

So it helps us to know what God delights in.

Because, see, if you read the Bible uh uh uh over a period of time, you'll see some themes like this is in 1 Samuel 15.

It's the same thing in Romans chapter 6, verse 1, where the people said, Oh, oh, what shall we say then?

Romans 6:1

Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?

God forbid.

Paul has to speak to this because people are like, hey, I know we sin a lot, but all our friends see God forgiving us and it makes them think God's cool.

And Paul writes and says, What do you what do you think you're doing?

You're just gonna continue in sin so that grace may abound?

God forbid, are you crazy?

He says, Hey, God, no, the Lord, as the Lord is a great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord.

Here's the sixth thing.

And by the way, this is the Don Minton sermon.

I've only got 14 points.

We're half, no, just a couple more.

Here's the sixth thing for the text.

It's all, and we'll plunge a little bit on this one, okay?

Can you plunge with me on this?

Just go a little deeper.

It's always bigger than just what you're doing.

Uh, your kids say to you every once in a while, hey, relax, it's not that big of a deal.

And you're like, hey, they don't understand.

Hey, it's always bigger than just what you're doing.

It's the next verse, verse 23.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption as is as iniquity and idolatry.

Hear it again.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.

Now keep in mind, Saul's already described himself as having done what the Lord commanded.

Saul believed that serving God, doing what I think is just, it's a it it's a it's a sufficient replacement for surrendering to God and submitting to God.

And so Scripture says two things I want you to see.

Rebellion equals divination.

Divination is what we do when we go looking for power somewhere besides God.

And when you rebel, what you're saying is, I'm not gonna submit to you.

I'm not gonna go back to verse 1 of chapter 15.

Hey, I've anointed you king over Israel.

Now, therefore, listen to the word of the Lord.

That's all you have to do, Saul.

You're the king.

Scripture says that every student who's fully trained to be like his teacher, these people are gonna relate to God the way you relate to God.

So what you got to do is just hear the word of the Lord and obey.

And he does it.

He rebels and he says, I'm open to a power, I don't care where it comes from.

That's why he says rebellion is this divination.

It's I'm looking for some power, and I'm trying to discern where I can find power, and I'm willing to rebel in order to find it.

And then he says, presumption equals idolatry.

It's the second thing I want you to really understand this morning.

Presumption equals idolatry.

The Hebrew word for presumption there means this.

Pay attention.

It means to push, to push, to push.

So we need to see in our mind's eye this morning, someone who's willing to push until they get what they want.

They have an idol in their life that they're not aware of.

And so, students, if you really want to have an interesting conversation, ask your parents on the way home, hey, what do you see me pushing?

Where do you see me pushing?

Because I want to know if there's any idols in my life.

Any, I don't mean like a carved statue, like a totem pole in your bedroom your parents don't know about.

No, no, no.

Something that you give affection and allegiance to that you shouldn't.

That's an idol.

That's besides God.

Because they, and how do you know?

What do you push?

Do you have a habit that you're not willing to give up?

Do you say, you know what, this is not good?

And when pursued, you push, you push.

The Bible says that this presumption, this pushing, is equal to idolatry.

Idolatry and presumption both seek the will of no God.

What I mean, it's important that you make this distinction.

God doesn't need the sacrifices like these other gods and goddesses of these false religions of the day.

We need sacrifices to approach a holy God because the only basis, hear me now, the only basis upon which a sinful people can approach a holy God is on the basis of blood sacrifice.

That's why Jesus has to die.

And so in the Old Testament, they make sacrifices, not because God needs it or delights in it, because it's the only thing that mediates between God and man.

So to sacrifice without obedience is to treat God like any of the other false gods around and say, you know what?

It's okay just to go through the motions.

It's okay.

Yeah, yeah, whatever, whatever.

Here's a sacrifice, God.

Aren't you happy?

And God says, no.

No, I'm not.

Not at all.

And so be certain today and understand that it's always bigger than just what you're doing.

It's always bigger.

What are you pushing towards?

What are you pushing so hard that your wife's like, hey, babe, hey, hey, you know, hold on, this is good for everybody.

That's not the conversation I want to have.

What do you value so much that you're pushing so hard?

Because the idol is what you got to get to.

The behavior never changes until you understand the idol.

Here's the seventh thing from the text.

God always has someone else.

Now put a star by this in your mind.

Because this really landed on me in college.

And I said, God always has something else.

It starts in verse 28.

So Saul's like, well, I've sinned and blah, blah, blah.

But look down, it starts in verse 24, but look down at verse 28.

And Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

Now look at me.

Unless you and I rise to the moment, the moment is not going to shrink to us.

It's not.

Unless you learn to rise to the moment, the moment's not going to shrink to you.

When I say this real animal in college, when I was in college, we had chapel.

I went to a Christian college and we had chapel three days a week.

And if you went four years, you had to have two years of chapel credit.

They had a little window on the back wall back there, and the chapel checker would look down and you had a seating chart.

If your seat was empty, she put an X on that.

And if you missed a certain amount, they would fail you.

You could not graduate.

And chapel was terrible.

Terrible.

I've never been to a Christian high school, middle school, college where chapel was consistently enthralling.

We would do homework and take naps, and this one day a guy got up and he just walked back and forth looking at us, and he said, You know the problem with some of you, uh, what did he say?

You arrogant, full of yourself, young men in this room.

You've been some kind of athletic superstar, you got the flag football team, you're Mr.

Popularity, you're full of yourself, but you're not full of the spirit.

And I thought, I wish some of my friends were here.

He this guy's talking to them today.

And then he said, Here's the thing you need to understand.

God's got somebody else that trusts him if you're not willing to.

And he's not gonna wait on you.

And I went from half asleep to fully awake and actually listening.

And I was like, whoa.

And he said one time, he stood up on his tiptoes.

He goes, Some of y'all think God's standing on his tiptoes so he can get a good look at you.

No, God's looking past you and your consistent sinfulness to the man behind you who's ready to be used by God.

And we all went to lunch afterwards and talked about how we were offended.

That God's a jerk, man.

No, because you know he told us, hey boys, you can't sin with your girlfriends consistently and then be trusted by God.

We ain't like that.

That guy's legalistic, what somebody said.

One of our professors was sitting at the table behind us, and he walked over walked by with his tray and he said, I think you boys are being looked over.

Walked off.

I had him in class the next day.

He winked at me.

Not funny.

Not funny.

Now, were we all living in sin?

No.

No.

But God always has someone else.

See, when people are big and God is small, the outcome's never good because we're driven by our need to please instead of our desire to obey.

It's not a matter of the kingdom missing out on you.

The kingdom's gonna be just fine without you.

The real issue that should keep you up at night is that you're gonna miss out on the kingdom.

Again, you're gonna rise to the moment because the moment's not gonna shrink down to the level of your willingness.

Here's the last thing people come to think about God the way they see you relating to him.

People come to think about God the way they see you relating to him.

Look at verse 32 and we're done.

You still with me?

Hello?

That's a little tepid, y'all like.

Just stop.

We're stopping.

Uh, verse 32.

Then Samuel said, Bring here to me Agag, the king of the Amalekites.

And Agag came to him cheerfully.

Remember how Saul talked to Samuel uh earlier?

Where is it?

Uh about verse 13, and Samuel came to Saul and he said to him, Blessed be you to the Lord.

I perform the commandments of the Lord.

And Samuel said, What is this bleeding of sheep?

Remember that?

Saul's kind of like, Hey, blessed be you to the Lord.

People will come to think about God the way they see you relating to God.

Look at verse 32.

Samuel said, Bring here to me Agag, the king of the Amalekites.

And Agag came to him cheerfully, and Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.

Talks just like Saul does about the gravity of the situation.

Verse 33, and Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.

And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces.

That's not the part you should take note of.

Take note of the next part before the Lord.

In Gilgal.

What are you saying?

Look at me.

There's texture and grittiness to the nature of God.

He's not this smooth, inconsequential grandpa that's going to take your nonsense the rest of your life.

And he hacked him to pieces.

See, Samuel sends a really clear message, and it's it's a three-part message, and I'm done.

Number one, I don't relate to God the way Saul does.

I don't.

I don't.

Someone said to me uh a couple weeks ago, well, you're my therapist, by the way, I love therapists.

I think they're great.

I don't love all of them.

I think some of them are just insurance crooks, but there's some good ones out there.

You can quote me, feel free.

Uh uh said, you know, well, my therapist, you know, said that you should just stick to preaching and let them do therapy.

And I said, I don't want to hear your therapist preach.

I I I I have a network of people I refer people out to.

So don't, oh, he's down therapist.

No, no, no, I'm not.

Uh, but if you're not careful, you begin to relate to God the way your therapist does.

And and and look at me.

All that God wants is you to be happy.

Oh, God wants you to be happy.

It sounds like this marriage is just not healthy anymore.

And I have to be the bad guy and say, you don't have biblical grounds.

Well, my therapist disagrees.

Well, your therapist is wrong.

Well, my therapist said, You're too Christian.

Well, your therapist is not a Christian.

And it's just, but here, he, I don't relate, Samuel's life says, Hey, by the way, King Agate, I don't relate to God the way Saul does.

I don't translate the commands of God in a language that fits my preferences and my proclivities.

Secondly, what God says matters.

What God says matters.

Let God be true and every man be a liar.

Thirdly, sinful behavior has consequences.

Sinful behavior has consequences.

You jerk with the people of God, and God takes note of it, and whatever God says he's going to do, he is going to do.

He's not a man that he would lie.

If sinful behavior does not have consequences, then why not sin?

You're smart people.

Why not?

And so, see, when people are big and God is small, that's the life of Saul.

When God is big and people are small, that's the life of Samuel.

Which one of those best represents your life?

Let's pray together.

We like to preach the Bible and then to give you some soul space to think about it.

So I'll voice a prayer and then uh some questions come up on the screen.

You can take a picture with your phone.

Uh and Cloud will just sing something over us.

Let's just kind of think for a moment before we're dismissed.

Holy Spirit, thank you that the Bible is so provocative.

And then it provokes us to think about our life and how they're lived and what we say.

And we begin to pick up on the language of the culture, and pretty soon, God, we sound just like them.

You're just a smooth, loving God that's not offended by anything.

And then we read the Bible and you're pretty offended.

And not just that, you're not passive, you got some texture and some grit to you.

And you say, get your hands off my throne.

And don't you dare think about sitting on it either.

Because I am the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

And God, my desire as the pastor of this church is to teach them about you so that they're not surprised by your character and nature when you show up.

That they're not, oh my gosh, my pastor never told me that God, whoo, wait a minute.

God seems to take himself seriously.

Absolutely.

And that doesn't mean we're earnest religious weasels.

That means we're the most winsome, freed up people anybody knows.

That's what taking God seriously makes of us.

So, Holy Spirit, just brood over us during this time.

Father, we're grateful today that we're a led people.

We don't have to be self-defined or self-determined.

We don't have to create momentum.

We just have to enjoy the momentum that's created by God.

We don't have to manage it.

I mean, we we just enjoy it.

And so, Holy Spirit, continue to lead us into the truth.

I pray for hard and necessary conversations and easy and light ones that need to happen over lunch, laying in our beds tonight, walking around the workplace tomorrow.

Lord, we want to have all those conversations.

I pray for the person in this room that has a loose affinity with church, but not a relationship with Jesus.

That God, you'll just put a deep, gnawing appetite and hunger in them to say, now wait a minute.

I think I'm missing something here.

So, Holy Spirit, lead us into the truth.

We want to represent you accurately and enjoy you fully.

And we're grateful for that opportunity.

So we say thanks in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're a guest, thanks for being a part of our church.

You're welcome here.

We'd love you to be a part of this.

We've got almost 60 people in the fellowship all right behind us that are going through starting point right now in the process of becoming members of our church.

And so we think finding the right church is an important decision, so we don't press you or try to harass you around that.

We'd love to have a record of your visit today.

So hopefully you've had the opportunity to grab one of those guest cards in the seat back pocket in your row, fill it out, and just drop it in the wooden box on your way out this morning.

That's also where we receive our offering.

Well, so today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity.

That's where you would do that as well.

We'll have an update.

We met with the construction company.

We set the budget on the new sanctuary this past week.

We'll have an update for you next week.

It's good news.

And we'll have an update simply because we practice full disclosure.

Uh, there's not a capital campaign coming.

We don't do those.

Uh uh and there's lots of reasons, but anyway, we'll update you next week about all of that, okay?

Uh there's just a couple things I want to make you aware of by way of our video announcement, so give your attention to the screens if you would.

When I started to have a relationship with Jesus, it was probably right after the women's weekend that I attended.

I'm Yvonne Medrano, and I uh have lived in Fort Binn County for 25 years, and I work at Fort Bayon County District Attorney's Office for the past 21 years.

Well, for the years that I've been coming to Grand Parkway, I was I was the person that would come to church, love every bit of it.

When I came the first time, I knew this there was no turning back.

This is where I wanted to be.

But I was the person who would go and leave and go to church and leave.

Uh it took me several years to want to become involved, but then when the women's weekend happened and I was invited to go, I came, and that's when I realized that I wanted to be a part, not of just coming to church, but I wanted to be a part of this community, a part of being as the family, because I feel like it's a big family.

So when I came to the weekend, I just realized that this is where I wanted more, and that's where I realized that I this is where I can begin my relationship.

Growing up, I considered myself a Christian because I believed in God.

I believed in Jesus Christ, I believed in the Trinity, I was taught that.

But it was things that were taught, but not the relationship.

About 10, 12 years ago, I um had someone very dear that I loved in my family that revealed to me that they did not believe in God.

And that to me just hit me like a ton of bricks.

I just couldn't believe it because I know I believed in God.

I know I raised my family to believe in God.

And when that happened, I knew something was missing.

And that really scared me because I felt like I cannot go forward and continue raising my family without more knowledge and a relationship that made me start thinking, and then I started realizing I needed to meet, and that's when I reached out to Marcy and to ask to have a meeting because I needed to know a little bit more.

I did not realize how personal it was until she really told me.

I thought I knew it until she really instilled in me that Jesus died on the cross for me.

I knew that he died on the cross for us as a whole, but I never looked at it as just me personally.

After 50 years of being a certain way and doing things a certain way, it takes time.

And um I can say that since I have attended the women's weekend last year, between then and now, I have seen a change in myself.

Another thing that she mentioned that stood out to me is being a part of a discipleship group, and I was hesitant to do that, but then I realized that that was maybe something I needed to do to be able to grow more with my relationship.

And since then, I have joined a discipleship group and I absolutely love it.

What I'm learning and what I am gaining, I want other people to experience the same thing.

If I'm trying to invite someone to come to the women's weekend, I would let them know that this is something definitely they need to experience.

Once you walk away, it's gonna make you think, I think I want more of this.

Well, you just saw is a beautiful testimony of Yvonne.

Uh there's a difference in having a relationship with church and having a relationship with Jesus.

Uh, and and church is a lot of time, you heard you.

I come.

Some of you may be in that situation, like I come, I like this, I like you uh somewhat, and I'm going overboard, uh, but I like you, uh, that's great.

That's great.

But we want you uh to keep coming.

We want you to grow in your understanding to where you grow into a relationship with Christ.

This is a safe place for that.

No one's gonna guilt you or shame you or make you feel bad.

When you screw up on your worst day, look at me.

We're about done.

You still with me?

Look at me.

On the day you've done the dumbest thing you've ever done, you can call me and tell me, hey, this is what I just did.

It's not gonna change my mind about you.

I want to help you.

Because secrecy is the power of badness.

The enemy gets you all over here and kind of says, Hey, you screwed up me, you just figure it out, and you get isolated.

You this is a safe place for you to come and say, Hey, this is who I am, and this is what I did, and I didn't know how to feel about it.

That's okay.

We're not gonna tell you how to feel, we're just gonna say, hey, this is the good news of the gospel, okay?

So you ever have any questions you can ask them.

Uh by the way, I I let me acknowledge something.

I joke about my wife a lot.

If you're visiting, we have a great relationship.

My wife's in Dallas.

It was the Marcy that Ibn was talking about.

She's in Dallas at a women's conference that ended yesterday afternoon.

And my wife said, I'm gonna stay over Saturday and I'm gonna come home Sunday night.

And I said, What's up with that?

And she said, Because I have needs in me that you can't meet.

And I just want to hang out with my friend Beth.

Kitty likes to scratch.

And so here's the thing, men.

Here's the thing.

Uh, and I was like, Cool, awesome.

Before you go to bed tonight, man, I want you to ask your wife, are there any needs in your life that are not getting met?

I'm not gonna say here was somebody over here with here's the thing.

I realized a long time ago, my wife has needs that I can't meet.

I just can't.

And so she said, Oh, Bev and I are gonna go out to dinner, and then we may do brunch tomorrow, Sunday.

You're not going to church.

You're a pastor's wife.

No, I go to church all the time.

I'm gonna go to brunch somewhere nice.

God's gonna get you for that.

But go ahead.

So, here's the thing.

This is free.

I want every one of you men, and ladies of you managing before we go to bed.

Hey, don't you don't you have a question for me?

Come on, I got a listing I've been working on.

Because, see, here's the tipping, and I'm done.

This is for it just keeps getting better.

Uh uh, look at me.

That way I can scratch where my wife is itching.

Because a lot of times, what I think blesses my wife, it doesn't bless her at all.

She's like, Okay, wonderful.

I hope you enjoyed that.

You didn't enjoy that?

I made a sacrifice.

I don't delight in sacrifices, Neil.

So, you're welcome, men.

And now we'd like to close our service with a blessing, so stand to your feet.

Hold your hands out.

God is big.

So acknowledge the bigness of God and let everything else be what it really is.

Small.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.