20260819 1 Samuel 11 Wednesday Bible Study Dave Dickmann

And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of

Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was

taken. And when he had caused the tribe of Benjamin

to come near by their families, the family of

Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was

taken, and when they sought him, he could not

be found. Therefore they inquired of the Lord

further, if a man should yet come thither. And

the Lord answered, Behold, he hath hid himself

among the stuff. And they ran and fetched him

thence. And when he stood among the people, he

was higher than all of the people from his shoulders

and upward. And Samuel said unto all the people,

See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there

is none like him among the people. And the people

shouted and said, God save the king. Then Samuel

told the people the manner of the kingdom, and

wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the

Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every

man to his house. And Saul also went home to

Gibeah. And there went with him a band of men

whose hearts God had touched. But the children

of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And

they despised him, and brought him no presents.

But he held his peace. Then Nahash the Ammonite

came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. And

all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make

a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And

Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition

will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust

out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach

upon all Israel. And the elders of Jabesh said

unto him, Give us seven days' respite, that we

may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel.

And then, if there be no man to save us, we will

come out to thee. Then came the messengers to

Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears

of the people. And all the people lifted up their

voices and wept. And behold, Saul came after

the herd out of the field, and Saul said, What

aileth the people that they weep? And they told

him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. And the

Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those

tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. And

he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces,

and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel

by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever

cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel,

so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear

of the Lord fell, On the people. And they came

out with one consent. And when he had numbered

them in Bezek. The children of Israel. That were

300 ,000. And the men of Judah 30 ,000. And they

said unto the messengers that came. Thus shall

ye say unto the men of Jabesh Gilead. Tomorrow

by that time the sun be hot. Ye shall have help.

And the messengers came. And showed it to the

men of Jabesh. And they were glad. Therefore

the men of Jabesh said. Tomorrow we will come

out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that

seemeth good unto you. And so it was on the morrow

that Saul put the people in three companies,

and they came into the midst of the host in the

morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the

heat of the day. And it came to pass that they

which remained were scattered, so that two of

them were not left together. And the people said

unto Samuel, Who is he that said, Shall Saul

reign over us? Bring the men that we may put

them to death. And Saul said, There shall not

a man be put to death this day, for today the

Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel. Then said

Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to

Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there. And all

the people went to Gilgal, and there they made

Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. And there

they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings

before the Lord. And there Saul and all the men

of Israel rejoiced greatly. So there you see

it. We have three times that Saul was king. So

when was he really king? And why these three

different occasions? Does anybody in their own

personal studies or... Consideration of these

verses have anything that they want to bring

out that they found interesting that they think

we ought to hear. I want to give opportunity

for any preparation that was made. No. Why would

they be afraid of Saul? Because he... Well, it

seems that they understood Saul as representing

God. So that would be why when Saul... They didn't

know it, but it tells us in verse 6 that the

Spirit of God came upon Saul. So really, he was...

he was doing God's work there when he called

Israel together. Whether they knew that or not

or they just understood Saul to be the king or

Saul to be God's representative, we're not exactly

sure. That is interesting though. Anybody else?

Unlike the later character of Saul, to say that

the Lord accomplished salvation in Israel, the

later Saul is pretty bold in himself. Yeah, Saul

does acknowledge that it was God that brought

salvation. Okay, well then we'll move on to what

I have discovered and maybe we can discover some

more things together. You have this question

at the end of chapter 27, the children of Belial

who said, how shall this man save us? And questioning

whether or not Saul was fit to be king and whether

or not he could accomplish anything. How does

it turn out? Were they right or were they wrong?

Again, the text, the narrative doesn't really

tell us. We already read again that at the end

they were called to task. Why were they even

called to task? Did anybody consider that? When

they despised Saul, was that a good thing or

a bad thing? So what should have happened to

them when they despised Saul and why? Anybody

know? That's the truth. Now why? Well, when you

rebel against God's anointed, who are you really

rebelling against? God himself. So now, Jake,

I appreciate the thought, but was it right for

Saul to pardon these people? Did he have the

right to do that? Was that a good thing? Or was

that a bad thing? And why did he do it? What

about this hiding? Why do we find Saul hiding

in the stuff? Was that a sign of humility? He

just wasn't sure that he could cut it? Wasn't

sure if he was going to be able to be king. Where

do we see elsewhere in the Old Testament where

the tribes are coming before Joshua to find this

guy? Who was that guy? Does anybody remember?

Achan. Now that's strange, isn't it? That the

only other story in the Old Testament where you

have all the tribes of Israel coming by lot to

locate this one guy, the one guy is what? A rebel

against God. What did he can do? Buried him under

his tent. And what happened to him at the end?

First they stoned him. Then they burned him.

In chapter, the whole cutting up the oxen, did

that bring anything, any other story that we've

recently looked at back to your mind? Okay. In

that case, remember, they raped and they killed

the concubine. And that was, remember, the men

of Benjamin. That's where Saul was from. So they

cut up the concubine, sent them into all of Israel.

And all Israel said, nobody's going to do that

kind of a heinous thing. We're going to kill

everyone from the tribe of Benjamin. And, of

course, they leave 400. And then they go and

they kidnap 400 wives from Jabesh Gilead. And

they bring them back to the tribe of Benjamin.

And that's how the tribe of Benjamin was able

to continue on. It sounds pretty similar to that,

doesn't it? Why would that be? Why would God

in his providence and why would the writer of

the book of Samuel? Structure that in just that

way. Now, what about this in verse 6 of chapter

11? It says, the Spirit of God came upon Saul.

Has anybody, now the last time the Spirit rushed

on Saul, it was the Spirit of who? Before he,

it's in verse 6 of chapter 10. The Spirit of

the Lord, that is, the Spirit of Jehovah, or

I guess if you have the Legacy Bible, you would

have the Spirit of Yahweh. They're all trying

to catch up with King James. Light years ahead,

we have the Spirit of the Lord. Now, why the

two different things? Why do we have the Spirit

of the Lord rushing on Saul in one place and

the Spirit of God rushing on Saul in the other

place? Is it a different spirit? Anybody got

a venture? Marie says no. Marie is right. So

why are we calling it two different things? Does

anybody remember where the only other time where

the Spirit of God came upon someone, who that

someone was? No. The Spirit of Yahweh rushed

upon Samson. Alright, then let's turn to Numbers

Numbers 24 · chapter mention

chapter 24. If you want to look at, if you're

taking notes and you want to write this down,

you can write down Joshua chapter 7, verses 13

Joshua 7:13–15

to 15. Early Joshua 7 is all about Achan. So

let's see, Numbers 24, 1 through 3. And when

Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless

Israel, he was not, as at other times, to seek

for enchantments, but he set his face toward

the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes,

and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according

to their tribes, and the Spirit of God came upon

him. And he took up his parable and said, Balaam,

the son of Beor, hath said, and the man whose

eyes are open hath said, and then he goes on

and he prophesies. And that's the only other

time in the Old Testament where the Spirit of

God comes upon a person, and it comes upon Balaam.

Now, I'm sure we're all, we're not going to,

We don't need to review Balaam's life, but if

you want to, you can. It's not a particularly

good thing. He wants to kill all the children

of Israel. Remember, the angel of the Lord stands

in front of his donkey and then his donkey talks

to him. Why do you think that the writer of Samuel

here has put all those things in there? Is that

just... Is that just happenstance? Is that just

by chance? Did he do it on purpose? And if he

did it on purpose, I think we would all say that

under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he did.

Why would all these kind of stories be woven

into this whole narrative about Saul coming to

kingship? Anybody got any ideas? What do you

think, Caleb? I mean, these are not really great

stories. We'd like to hear the story of a king

maybe like the way George Washington came to

be president. We don't have that here. We don't

have this kind of romantic hero champion. But

why is he casting Saul in that way? Okay, go

ahead. I thought that last week we had said that

in the Old Testament only Saul, David, and Samson

had the Spirit of the Lord rush upon them. That's

right. But Balaam too? Well, it didn't rush on

Balaam. Oh, it didn't rush on Balaam. It was

the Spirit of God. Right, the rushing. Yeah.

The Holy Spirit comes upon all the judges, but

he only rushes on Samson. Are we still broadcasting?

Yes? I think so. Okay. Why is that? Anybody got

any idea? What does it do functionally in your

mind when I remind you of all these other stories

in the Old Testament that are kind of interwoven

into this story of Saul becoming a king? Okay?

Were you going to say something? Well, maybe

it seems like it's sort of a logical conclusion

of all these other missteps in the past. It for

sure at least casts a shadow of doubt and kind

of a darkness over the whole thing. Like, this

isn't exactly Israel's triumphant moment. God

has said he's going to give them a king, the

king that they want, and he's going to bring

kingship to Israel, and Israel is going to be

a kingdom. But it's not a happy celebration.

I think that's one of the reasons why you get

this switching back and forth, where Samuel is

both condemning them or he is... calling them

out for their sin and their rebellion, and on

the other hand, then he seems to be working with

Saul, and he has some good things to say, and

he lays down the rules of the kingdom. God is

working, but the way that the king is brought

to Israel is not the way that it should have

been brought to Israel. God would have brought

the king in his time. This wasn't his time. It

wasn't the way that it should have happened.

It shouldn't have happened in rebellion. And

yet, Saul is God's anointed. Saul is the king

in Israel. And so when people rebel against the

king, and this is the last part of the kind of

dark and shadowy thing, it's really the first

instance where Saul Acts independently of what

God had told him to do. You notice when we read

there. The people say to Samuel. You show us

where these people are that question Saul. We're

going to put him to death. And Saul doesn't even

allow Samuel to answer. Saul just jumps right

in and says. There shall not be a man put to

death today. For today the Lord hath wrought

salvation in Israel. Now why do you think he

did that? Was that a noble thing that he did?

Was that to protect the name of God? To guard

over the day? Why was he hiding in the stuff?

Who's got some thoughts on that? We'll see if

this is a one -off at the end of chapter 11 or

if this is consistent with what we see even in

chapter 10. Why was he hiding? Go say more. He

didn't want that responsibility on him. Okay,

that's one opinion. Anybody else have another

opinion? Probably thinking they were going to

reject him and kill him. Okay. Saul is predominantly

or only ever interested in who? Okay. So he was

hiding exactly the reason that dad just said.

He was afraid that the lot was going to be cast

on him and all of Israel was going to say, oh

no, we're not going to have that guy. And they

would either stone him or burn him or run him

through with a blade or whatever other humiliating

or life -threatening deeds that they might do

to him. So he hid. He hid until he was sure.

And then you notice what happened. God touched

the hearts of some men and they go back with

him. Now, you may have mighty men there. We're

not even sure if they were wealthy men or if

they were mighty as in battle. But whatever it

was, they were influential men. And only then

is Saul ready then to go back to his... his life

of watching over donkeys at his dad's place out

in the fields. We have some irony also in here,

don't we? Is it ironic that here's this guy that's

a head taller than everybody else around, and

he's lost, he's hidden. How is it that the biggest

guy in Israel is able to hide so that nobody

can find him? And then there's also a link to

what? What else has been lost when the story

of Saul first got started? Well, what was Saul

doing when he ran into Samuel? He was looking

for his lost donkeys. So now, here we have the

king of Israel, God's anointed, is lost in the

same way that these... donkeys were lost back

at the very beginning. It's ironic at least.

I mean, it doesn't speak highly of Saul. You

have this whole shadowy kind of dark where you're

not exactly sure what's going on. Is this a good

thing? Is this a bad thing? How bad of a thing

is this? What kind of king is Saul going to be?

So now you tell me what I think about him pardoning

these guys that had rebelled against God. Was

that a good thing, a merciful thing, or a bad

thing? I don't know what you think. Okay, what

do I think? You think it's bad. Okay. Is there

anywhere else in 1 Samuel where we have evidence

of some people who had rebelled against God?

And they hadn't been put to death, but they should

have been. No. Before this. Sorry. Prior to this

time. Okay. Eli's sons, wasn't it? He spared

them too. And the outcome of that for Eli was

what? He was removed. His whole family. None

of his None of his descendants would serve till

old age in the priesthood. And that's exactly

what happened. Remember, his two sons, Hophni

and Phinehas, died in battle on the same day.

So I don't think it was a good thing or a merciful

thing. I think the reason that Saul let him off

the hook was, again, for his own benefit. Who

wants to see the first act of a king? killing

the people that rebelled against him. So I'll

just be merciful, and that way the people will

like me. I won't put anybody to death, and maybe

everybody could be happy for a day. Of course,

then Samuel gets up and reads them the riot,

just like Samuel always does. Okay, so that's

one thing. Saul is cast in kind of a bad light.

How is God cast in this chapter and a half? Is

there any evidence that God is king? Is there

anything in the narrative part that we read that

would inform us that God is king? I have four

places, but we could probably find more. Well,

the first one is that the very... where we first

started reading in verse 18, the first thing

that Samuel says, he says unto the children of

Israel, 10, 18, Thus says the Lord God of Israel,

I brought up Israel out of Egypt and delivered

you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out

of the hand of all the kingdoms and of them that

oppressed you. And you've this day rebelled against

me. What? What kind of language is that? How

do we say that is? Covenantal language. So God

is, remember, the king in the covenant. He's

on the one side of the covenant. He's the one

that establishes it. He's the one that's faithful

to it. He's reminding them that he is their king,

that they owe their allegiance to him, that he's

the one that redeemed them. And it's interesting,

isn't it, that... He redeemed them from the Egyptians

and who else? What's the word in it? Kingdoms.

What do all kingdoms have in common? They all

have a king. God is, Samuel is reminding them

that your king The Lord your king has defeated

all these other earthly kings. And now you want

to go and you want to have a king like the ones

that the Lord has defeated. It's nonsense. It's

ignorant. It's utter rebellion. So that's one

place. God is king. Then in verse 25. Then, verse

25 of chapter 10. Then Samuel told the people

the manner of the kingdom and wrote it in a book.

and laid it before the Lord. And Samuel sent

all the people away, every man to his own house.

What's going on there? What do you suppose he

wrote down? Anybody got any guess? Do you? I

see you there. You ready to talk? Well, the only

thing that came into my mind was the thing we

talked about before where the king's supposed

to be like reading the law of the Lord. And where's

that from? That's Deuteronomy chapter 17. Very

Deuteronomy 17 · chapter mention

good. I suspect that it was something very similar

to that. Now remember that the king in God's

hand is what? To restrain the people the same

way that the law is going to restrain the people.

He's going to work in tandem with the law. He's

going to have that law by his side all the time.

What function or how did this... Imagine the

picture. Samuel writes it down, he rolls up the

scroll, and he lays it before the Lord in the

sanctuary, in the tabernacle, wherever that happened

to be. What does that signify? At least a couple

things. It's almost like an oath, isn't it? It's

like the King Saul, you're going to be responsible

to act in this way, and I'm calling God. As a

witness today. And I'm laying it before him.

And Saul. Doesn't really have a say in it. Saul

doesn't get to say. Well let's negotiate here.

And let's find a middle ground. Maybe there's

some way. That I can have some of my own authority.

And get outside of God. Just a little bit. Just

give me a little bit of freedom. No. God just

says. Through his man Samuel. This is the way

the king is to act. And he puts it down. Now

what is that? What does that show you then about

Saul's place? Is he king high over all? No. He's

king that has as much authority as God will allow

him. He can go and do whatever God tells him

to do. I mean, that's the truth of it. That was

the extent of his authority and of his freedom.

He was free. To do whatever God told him to do.

That shows us that God is still king. Then look

at. In chapter 11. Verse 1 and 2. Then Nahash

the Ammonite came up. And encamped against Jabesh

Gilead. And all the men of Judah said unto Nahash.

Make a covenant with us. And we will serve you.

Now again. Immediately in our minds. When you

read that. Or heard me read that. What did you

think? What was Israel prohibited from ever doing?

Making any kind of a covenant with anybody else

besides God because God was their, they were

God's people. He was their precious possession.

They weren't allowed to make covenants with anybody

else because to make a covenant, for God's people

to now make a covenant with Nahash, what does

that say? Well, that puts God subservient to

Nahash. Right? Functionally, that's what it looks

like. Our God was not able to deliver us, so

now we are in covenant with Nahash. Now, I don't

know if you... When we were looking at the covenants,

what is the word when we say make a covenant?

What is that word make? Cut a covenant. Okay.

Very good, Jake. And verse 2, And Nahash the

Ammonite answered them, On this condition will

I cut a covenant with you, that I may cut out

all your right eyes. Now it seems to me that

that's exactly what he was doing. We're not cutting

any animals here and we're not doing anything

ceremonially. I'm just going to get in there

and gouge your eye right out and that's going

to be the sign of our covenant. Now, This is

a king, remember? Nahash the king. I can't believe

that this is anything other than God implying

in the text here that only he is good. Only he

is righteous. If you're going to get involved

with a king of any other sort, whether it's Saul

or Nahash or the Babylonians or the Philistines

or... Anybody else, it's going to end poorly

for you. God is the only king. And then in verse

6, the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard

those tidings and his anger was kindled greatly.

And then Saul goes out and he goes out to victory.

And then he does give credit and say it was God

that won the victory here. In the story then,

It's Tentil. In the story then, is Saul able

to win victory for Israel against the Ammonites?

Well, what does Saul say? Is Saul able to win

victory against the Ammonites? Who wins the victory?

God. So, again, it's pretty clear then in the

story who the real king is, who the real savior

is. Who is able to save Israel? Is Saul able

to save Israel? Only if the spirit of God rushes

upon him, strengthens him, and then God wins

the victory. that it may look like on the outside

that Saul has had something to do with it. So

those are the four places. I didn't know I was

going to write it all down with a whiteboard,

but we didn't get very far on that. All right,

what's the lessons here? All right, does anybody

want to say anything before we get on to the

lessons and the application? Chapter 10, verses

18 and 19. Then chapter 10, verse 25. Chapter

11, 1 and 2. And then chapter 11, verse 6. Before

we get to the practical application of this,

did everybody understand what was going on when

the people were coming and how the lots were

cast? Or the Urim and the Thurim. Okay, so all

of Israel came together. Now, in chapter 9, in

chapter 9 and in chapter 10, when Samuel anointed

Saul, who was there? Just Saul and Samuel. So

this was private. Now, when all the tribes come

together, does that mean that every person in

all of Israel was together in the same place?

No. Who was there? In the Bible, they're called

what? It's an E word. Elders. Okay, so the elders

and the representatives of each tribe and the

heads of each family would have been the ones

that came there. So all those people come together.

And then, I don't know exactly how it worked,

but they would walk past Samuel. And whether

they, you know, if they were casting lots or

they were using their Urim and Thurim, whatever

they were doing there, there would be something

different when... the representative of the tribe

of Benjamin walked past. And so then that was

indicative to everybody that was there that our

king is coming from the tribe of Benjamin. And

then in the tribe of Benjamin, you would have

all these divisions. Maybe, I don't have any,

nobody really knows. Maybe there was 10 clans

in there. Those clans were divided up into 30

families or whatever it is. Then each... Smaller

group of people until finally the family in what

Madri comes through. And that's the family where

the king is coming from. And then, although Saul,

you know, how exactly it happened that they knew

that it was Saul, nobody really knows that because

Saul is off hiding somewhere. But the indication

was that all the rest of these people are passing

by and nothing happens. And that may be it. We

know it's from this family, and everybody else

from the family has passed on, and we still haven't

got the indication. There must be, and maybe

that's why they said, is there somebody else?

And so then only Saul was left, and he's hiding

the stuff. So that's how that went on. And then,

now that's just the elders, representative of

the people. So now we've got a private ceremony,

we've got all the elders, and then what? In front

of all the people. was when Saul goes out to

battle and he slays or defeats the Ammonites.

So now we have three groups of people. Now, if

you're ever going to run for office or politics

or try to be in charge of anything, you better

have what? You better have the certainty privately

that this is what God wants you to do. You better

have the support of the leaders who are going

to serve you. And then you better have the support

of the general populace if you're ever going

to be able to rule them effectively. That's why

in America we have elections. You don't get to

be elected as anything if you don't have some

people behind you and if you don't have the support

of all the people. That's why you have these

three different occasions where Saul is anointed

or announced to be, confirmed to be king. Because

it was... necessary for the entirety of the nation

to come together and recognize that it was God's

selection. Now I called Samuel the kingmaker

and he is. He anoints Saul and then he anoints

David. But there was no doubt in Saul's mind

when he was alone with Samuel that it was God

who was anointing him. There was no doubt amongst

all the elders when the lots fell upon this one

specific person. that it was God who was making

that selection. And then in battle, when the

Ammonites are all slain, there was no question

in anybody's mind that it was in the battle that

day and then went home, but that God had come

in spirit, had rushed upon Saul, and had achieved

victory for Israel. And so no one then in Israel

could deny that this was God's anointed. That's

why I believe you have these three different...

occasions of kingship. Alright, anybody want

to venture a guess on what we ought to learn

from this as far as our own practical application

of it? Take it home with us. It's all just been

kind of academic up until now. Kind of had the

same stories we always have. God is king and

we can never say that too much. So, I mean, the

hero in all this is Samuel, of course. He's the

one that gets up there and ruins the great day,

right? Here we've got all the, we're going to

cast the lots and find the king, and the first

thing Samuel says is, you rebels, you ungrateful

rebels, God brought you out of Egypt and defeated

all the kings in front of you, and now you're

casting them off and you want this other king.

So that's one lesson. We can take a lesson from

that, and that is what? That the person declaring

the word of God is going to be blunt and clear

to everybody that hears, and that's what you

want. You don't want somebody allowing you to

wonder. You don't want somebody who's just going

to let you kind of go about and keep doing the

same thing. You want somebody that's going to

put it right in your face in black and white,

and that's what you see the prophets do. Throughout

the Bible. Not just in the Old Testament. But

in the New. What does Paul do? He goes into the

city and what? He turns everything upside down.

And the sorcerer. It's all done. It all comes

crashing down. So don't despise the person. That

tells you plainly and clearly. What's going on.

And what ought to be going on. And the proper

application of God's word. It's not always pretty.

It's not always flowery, but it ought to always

be clear. It ought to always bear upon our minds

and upon our hearts. Here's the next one. Outward

appearances can be deceiving. I mean, if you

were just a bystander in Israel, you would say,

wow, this guy got anointed by Samuel, the man

of God, whose word has never failed. The guy

that has given advice and judged for years and

has never been wrong. And then they had this

loss. And of all the people in Israel, it was

this guy. And then this guy went out and he killed

all the Ammonite armies. Scattered them. Won

this great victory. Everything looks great, doesn't

it? But under the surface, things aren't so great.

So, Two lessons. Number one, don't judge this

entirety of a scenario or circumstance by the

outward appearance. Don't assume that because

everything looks good on the outside, everything

must be good. You can make that application to

people that you know, to circumstances that you

know, to whatever. Across the board. Dig deeper

than just the outward appearance. If you're going

to invest yourself into someone or into something,

you better do more than just barely scratch the

surface. And yet, what? In this not great situation,

amongst this flawed person who's hiding, who's

self -interested, who does all the wrong things

at every opportunity, what? God is working. Now

that's good news. For you and for me. Because

we're flawed people. It's not an excuse. Don't

let anybody leave this place and say, well, Dave

said we're all flawed, so just sit back and God

will do his work. God will accomplish his purpose.

It wasn't real pleasant for Saul. God did accomplish

his purposes through Saul, but it was a painful...

and a treacherous ride for him the rest of his

life. But God can use people who are flawed.

God can come into a situation and a circumstance

that's flawed, and he can fix it. He can still

accomplish his purpose. There is still hope,

as long as it is today, because God is still

king, and God is still ruling. Don't wait for

the day when you'll be perfect. Now, you're all

witnesses here that I'm not perfect. I've had

to stand up here and ask your forgiveness. You've

seen me be unclear and, you know, hopefully I've

made progress over the years. But if I was to

have waited 10 years ago and said, well, until

I can be perfect, then I can't. have any use

for God's people, then where would I be today?

I'd still be waiting, wouldn't I? So don't use

your imperfections as an excuse to stay out of

the work of ministering God's love and God's

word amongst yourselves and amongst the world.

God can and will use flawed people to accomplish

his purpose. It's not okay to be flawed. But

we own it. We acknowledge it before God and we

move forward. And what do we trust? That it's

not really me that's doing the work. And that's

the only reason that I'm up here. It's not really

Dave. It's God that's going to own that word

that goes forth. And the part that is meant for

you or the entirety of it that's meant to you

by his spirit, he's going to seal that in your

heart. And he's going to use that in your life

for his glory and for your good. All right, those

are my three. Anybody else want to say anything

else? Those aren't the only applications there.

And if the Spirit spoke to you in some kind of

way, great.