Call on Me, Brother | 1 Samuel 28:6–19

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Casey Kendall, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. First Samuel chapter 28, great

1 Samuel 28 · chapter mention

to see all of you in the front row that normally aren't there.

Just want to say welcome to you and thank you for being here

this morning and First Samuel chapter 28 We had an amazing

1 Samuel 28 · chapter mention

time on Friday night at the Glendora Holiday Stroll.

We strolled around with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I think we've talked to over 200 people with the gospel and about

the gospel. We got to pray over people.

I know Dave was telling me stories of praying for healing

with some ladies that had cancer.

And man, it was such a sweet night.

And thank you for being involved with that.

Make sure that you guys come to our parade.

We're going to be passing out more Flyers, more candy.

I know some of you've been coming up to me wondering like

on the flyer it looks like it's 25, but it's actually 23 and

that that's. So just know that on the flyer,

it's December 23rd. We're meeting for Christmas and

so with all that being said, just to clarify that as we reach

out to people, invite your friends and family members to

this will be in first Samuel chapter 28 today.

1 Samuel 28 · chapter mention

If you have your Bible handy, and if you would follow along

with me in verse 6. And when Saul inquired of the

Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim

or by the prophets. And then Saul said to his

servant, Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her

and inquire of her. And his servant said to him, in

fact, there is a woman who is a medium at Endor.

This is not Star Wars. This is actually from the

Scripture and the title of the message.

If you have a neighbor sitting next to you, just say neighbor.

My neighbor. Call on me brother.

Yep, just say call on me brother or call on your brother.

I don't know if you remember that song.

Just call on me, brother, when you need a hand.

We all need somebody to lean on. I just might have a problem that

you'd understand. We all need somebody to lean on.

Lean on me. You remember that song, Some of

you don't. You're like, where's that coming

from? Pastor Casey?

You were a little bit younger in age.

I, I know the song, but I didn't know the story of the song.

Written and released by Paul Withers in 1972.

Any 70s babies out there? All right, A few of us are still

left in the, the, the crowd. I I as it was recorded on the

radio and as it was being sung, I I was reading the story behind

this song and why Bill Withers actually wrote it.

He says that the story behind the message and the meaning of

the song, however, comes from the Deep South, he writes.

Withers said in this interview that he was driving through

rural Alabama in a car with tread worn tires when one of the

tires blew. He was in the middle of nowhere

and he didn't have a spare. And as he was sitting there

stranded in the state where George Wallace was governor, Jim

Crow laws and the attitudes were rooted still and civil rights

clashes were increasing in urgency and in violence.

He saw a large white man approaching him on the dusty Rd.

The man look like someone right out of the movie Deliverance.

Naturally, Bill felt uneasy as the man lumbered toward him

closer and closer. And when he finally arrived, the

conversation was brief as the man surveyed the situation.

And then he said he would be right back without explanation.

Bill Withers didn't know the man's intentions or what to

expect next. He could do little but wait for

the man's return. What could he do?

He was stuck. He was helpless.

After an anxious time, he saw the man trudging back over the

hill, and in his arms he was carrying a tire.

The man helped the singer put the tire on his car.

Few words were spoken, but the words weren't necessary.

The generosity and kindness of a strange man in the middle of

nowhere. And Alabama said it all.

An act of love and kindness can make a lifetime of difference.

This experience inspired Bill Withers to pin these legendary

words. Just call on me, brother, when

you need a hand. In this moment, I think that the

issue that we're in is not necessarily are we asking for

help, but what I want to get to is the means in which we seek

the help that is given. Because sometimes we are asking

for help that eventually hurts us and we can find ourselves in

a place where we run and we think that we'll be happy if we

hurry along. We think often times that the

answer to our questions is going to be found in the anxiety that

we have. We often think that we're going

to work it out with all of this worry and what you are seeking

to lean on won't last long in your life.

And I think many times what happens is, is the panic begins

to escalate in our own hearts. And we think that through the

panic we can produce a pathway to our own peace, but only to

find that if we seek it that way, that we find a heavy price

is to pay. I think many times we can find

help in people, but also I think there's many times when we're

calling on the wrong person or the wrong thing while we're

waiting for the right answer. I don't know if you've ever

found yourself there where you've been in a place of

waiting and it seems as if you're not hearing anything just

yet from the Lord, and so you're calling on different things in

your life to bring you an answer that only God can bring you in

this moment. I think all throughout Scripture

people have done this. They've chosen their own pathway

to peace. Eve did this with the fruit when

she picked up the tree and she bit into that fruit that God

said not to eat of. Moses did this in his anger when

he struck the rock because he wanted to bring the thirst of

the Israelites to a halt. We find that Jonah did this when

he in his stubbornness, he ran from the Lord.

Peter did this even with his own courage when he told the Lord

that he would not deny him. And in this chapter that we're

going to look at today, Saul does this when he doesn't have

an answer. He calls on the wrong person to

bring him direction. Did you see this is the moment

that we looked at last week where we remember that David had

made his way to the Philistines. Now David not only made his way

to the Philistines, but now David would be fighting with the

Philistines against the Israelites.

So all excuse me, all of the army of the Philistines is

surrounding the Israelites and they find themselves at a spot

in a time where Saul the Bible says in verse 5, he was greatly

afraid and his heart trembled greatly.

Now normally what happens in life is this is that when we

become greatly afraid and our heart is troubled within us, we

we begin to live like Mark Batterson once said.

He said when we take things into our own hands, we will always

take God out of the equation. One author put it this way,

Jesus never said take control, but he did say take heart.

Solomon put it this way, trust in the Lord with all of your

heart. Lean not on your own

understanding in all of your ways.

Acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.

I believe as we acknowledge the Lord that He directs, He

protects, and He provides and He guides in the path that we're

called to. But maybe for some of you today,

you've been going through a situation in your life that you

find yourself a lot like Saul. You find yourself waiting for an

answer from God, but you are looking for that answer in all

the wrong places. Can I just walk you through the

process of how this oftentimes happens?

Can I just walk you through the process of how this oftentimes

happens? It begins with silence.

If you're taking note, it begins with silence.

Just put a number one and the word silence right next to it.

It begins with silence. We we find ourselves a lot like

Saul in verse 6. When Saul inquired of the Lord,

notice this, the Lord did not answer him.

Now what I want you to do is circle the name Saul in your

Bible. The name Saul there means to ask

for the nation of Israel. It's exactly what they're asking

for now. The one who was asked for now

inquires of the Lord. If you're taking note, if you

would the the word there inquire means to beg someone for

counsel. So Saul is coming to the Lord,

he's begging the Lord Yahweh, the one who has absolute

authority, the one who has supreme strength and complete

control. And notice the Lord did not

answer him. No, no, no.

Notice this, this word answer literally means to respond.

Now notice the Lord did not answer or respond then the Urim.

They would use stones to highlight the will of God.

That didn't direct Saul in that moment.

And the prophets had no direct word for Saul in this moment.

It was as if the situation was a cloudy issue in Saul's life.

But I want to submit this to you this morning, if I may.

Don't seek the hidden things in the will of God if you're first

not willing to obey the revealed things in the will of God.

Some of us are asking God to reveal things in our lives.

Should we go to this college? Should we?

Should we take this job? But we're not even willing to

obey the will of God That's already in the Word of God.

How can we expect God to answer us a lot like Saul, if we're

unwilling to take what God has already said through the voice

of the prophet and obey fully what He has given to us?

That the Lord did not respond in dreams.

He didn't respond in the Urim, which would be with the high

priest, and he didn't respond through the prophets.

Sometimes in our lives, it's as if heaven seems silent to his

Saints on earth. Sometimes it feels as if your

prayers are hitting the ceiling and they're bouncing right back

at you and this is what happens. I think a lot like the King Saul

is, is we seek to escape and things that are unrighteous and

that which will bring an immediate answer to our lives.

Did you see it just starts by silence, But I want you to write

this down. If you take note, God's silence

doesn't equal his absence. God is still on the throne.

God is still ruling. He's still reigning.

Here is the issue. The issue is often times because

we cannot see Him or we cannot fully view what He is doing, we

begin to seek the control of what we think will best work in

the moment. Do you see there are moments

where earth feels like it's chaotic this morning and heaven

seems silent? And it's in these we can catch

ourselves running into the future where fear is the main

focus and our impending doom. And then we try to make choices

that would steer us away from the future because we're

obsessing about the future. We don't even live in the

present moment of today, but we cannot control tomorrow.

All we can control is the moment that we're in today.

And the silence for Saul was a result of his sin.

But that's not always the case throughout Scripture.

Sometimes God seems silent, not because your sin, but because of

the storm and the struggle. And sometimes in this moment we

have to pay attention to what God has said.

I don't know if you've ever been to the Midwest, but in the

Midwest they send out these sirens when the sky begins to

get a little bit black, grey. There's certain moments when we

were in Missouri with our friends years ago and we were

speaking at a camp there and my wife was with the other wife,

the pastor's wife, and, and they were on the dock, the kids were

swimming. And then all of the sudden she

said the wife said, we need to go and we need to go now.

We're from California. We're like, we've been through

earthquakes and she's all, no, we need to go now.

And I think there's moments where God is saying this is the

time now and we delay in our obedience to the Lord because we

think that our timeline is better than the Lord's timeline.

But here's what Saul would realize in his life.

Is it delayed obedience is disobedience to God.

The silence came because he was willingly sinning against God.

But maybe for you, it's coming because of the storm that you're

in and the struggle that you're battling, and you just feel like

it is silence. Silent.

Can I just give you some things to hold on to in this moment

where it just feels silent? The back row, OK, anybody in the

front row would receive this this morning.

Listen, here we go. You ready?

If you feel like heaven is silent, here's what I want you

to realize. God does not always reveal his

plan. He reveals himself.

God does not always reveal the plan, but He does reveal

Himself. Can you write this down if

you're taking note today? And that is this.

Except mystery without anxiety. Except the mystery without the

anxiety. So we're going to understand

that God doesn't always reveal His plan, but He does reveal

Himself. We're going to accept mystery

that we don't have all the answers in the moment, but we

are going to understand that we could do this waiting without

anxiety. Notice what else?

If you would trust in the dark what God has spoken to you in

the light. So trust in the darkness what

God has already spoken to you in the light.

This will help you take the word of God and apply it to the way

of God. That will keep you from worrying

about if God's really in it. OK, we're not.

We're a little tired. We haven't even had Turkey this

morning. That this is silence.

Silence has filled the air. In the silence, the process goes

down till we begin to settle. We begin to settle because it's

silent. We begin to settle.

Now notice what happens with Saul, The Bible says.

Then Saul said to his servants, find me a woman.

Find me a woman who is a medium. Now.

Now, if you could just write this down somewhere.

Stop settling for a medium when God wants to give you a large

look at this. Look at this.

This is so important. Did you guys get that?

OK that I may go to her and inquire of her now.

A medium with someone who would do seances.

A seance they say is someone who can bring up the dead.

Seances are demonic. Tarot cards are demonic.

Ouija boards are demonic. You should not be fooling around

with that stuff as a Christian. You shouldn't be going to your

friends and putting your hand on the thing saying OK direct me to

this answer that that is demonic.

You are entering into a realm as a Christian that you should not

enter into. Demons are real, angels are

real, Satan is real, God is real, Heaven is real, Hell is

real, and there are demonic forces that are seeking to

emulate what God does. God directs, God brings the

answer. But now Saul is seeking a woman

who is a medium and he says, I want to go to her and inquire of

her. And a servant said to him, in

fact there is a woman who is a medium at endor No, notice what

happens. He settles for AI when God is

given his image, He settles for that which would bring the

immediate answer. It is the quick way to get it.

And and in this time it's interesting.

Saul in previous chapters and verses has cast out all the

mediums, but now in the moment of his trial, he's asking for

one. You see what happens, what

happens is this often times in our hearts and in our lives is

we go back to what is familiar rather than that which is free.

We go back to that which is familiar rather than that which

is free. So you're single in here.

And you're thinking to yourself, well, I know what I actually, I

need to do. I actually, I need to find a

boyfriend. I need to find a girlfriend.

Now I'm new in Jesus. I'm following Jesus, I'm born

again. I'm filled with the Spirit of

God. I have the fruit of the Spirit,

I have the gifts of the Spirit. And this is what happens.

We've looked and looked and looked and looked and because we

can't find that girl or that guy now, we go back to Tinder.

You go back to Hinge, you go back to the club, you're like 30

something. You're still dropping it like

it's hot. It's like, come on, We go back

to the drug. That would calm our hearts down.

This is what I hear from Christians a lot.

Well, I got to have that drink to actually calm me down.

It's interesting. When it comes to the things that

are familiar to us, we often choose what's familiar rather

than what is freeing us because we go back to old ways of

escaping the experience that we find ourselves in.

And we settle. We settle for what we call in

our lives, a liberty. But it doesn't bring any freedom

at all to you. It actually still binds you to

the one thing that you feel like you're depending on over and

over again. We go back to these old pathways

to bring new peace and it just doesn't work in our lives.

And so we have the silence and then we begin to settle in our

lives and in the is settling. The emphasis is on escaping

rather than entering into what is true.

And so this is what we often will do.

We are looking for comfort and we find ourselves in a comfort

trap. And if it doesn't happen this

quick for us, a lot like Saul, we're going to the medium to

find the answer. Now we're not, I don't think you

are going to mediums right now. But let me ask you a question.

If we were to leave that blank, find a woman who is a what do

you go back to to find some source of peace in your life and

in your heart? Listen please, if you would.

We find ourselves in this comfort trap and we settle for

cheap, quick comfort that doesn't last long.

Can you write this down that what's familiar is not better,

it often times becomes a barrier.

What's familiar is not better. It often becomes a barrier

between you and God. And this is what happens is that

God's best always requires movement into his presence.

And that becomes something in my life that becomes uncomfortable.

Now, if you're in a play, a place where you're waiting for

something to happen and you have silence and you feel like you're

settling, can I just remind you and encourage you today that the

love of God wants what's best for you.

The love of God wants what's best for you.

Praise God, you didn't get that girl if you saw her 30 years

from now, praise God. You didn't get that guy if you

knew who he was 30 years from now, God's actually protecting

you. Praise God.

You didn't get that job. Praise God, you didn't go in

that direction. God is actually protecting you.

Can you write this down that the wisdom of God knows what's best

for you? If the love of God wants what's

best for you, the wisdom of God knows what's best for you.

And write this down. The power of God will accomplish

what's best for you. This is true of your life.

It's true of Saul's life. I love what AW Tozer once said.

He said outside of the will of God, there's nothing I want.

Inside the will of God, there's nothing I fear, there's silence.

Then we begin to settle in our lives and then we begin to seek

notice. Notice this about Saul, if you

would follow the story, Saul disguised himself and put on

other clothes. So he comes into church like or

he comes into the medium like. We come into church, we disguise

ourselves. We're not real, not really

hurting. I'm not really broken.

I'm not. We cover.

He put on other clothes and he went and two men with him and

they came to the woman by night and he said please conduct A

seance for me. Chosen by God, empowered by God,

anointed by God. Now he says, can you do a seance

for me? We're one step away from evil,

and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.

Then the woman said to him, Look, you know what Saul has

done, how he has cut off the mediums, and the Spirit is from

the land. Why then do you lay a snare for

my life to cause me to die? And Saul swore to her by the

Lord, saying, As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon

you for this thing. And then the woman said, Whom

shall I bring up for you? And he said, Bring up Samuel.

Samuel was his mentor. Samuel anointed him.

Samuel was called by God to choose him.

I want that guy back in my life. The woman saw Samuel and she

cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul

saying, why have you deceived me?

For you are Saul. Interesting.

That woman who is calling up demonic forces calls Saul out

and Saul doesn't call her out. And the king said to her, do not

be afraid, what did you see? And the woman said to Saul, I

saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.

And so he said to her, what is his form?

And he said, an old man is coming up and he is covered with

a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was

Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and he bowed

down. Now what Saul does is he has

silence. They're settling now.

He's beginning to seek the answer himself, seeking the

answer himself. He begins to in this moment, he

disguises himself. He gives this woman an empty

promise, and then they bring back the dead and he's left

distressed. Now think of this.

There are different commentators that say different things about

this portion of Scripture. Some people say that this was a

demon. Some people actually say this

was Samuel. Whatever it is, it's demonic.

It's demonic. And Saul begins to seek this out

in his own way with his own answer.

And this is what happens in verse 15.

Now Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by

bringing me up? And Saul answered, I'm deeply

distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has

departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by

prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you that

you may reveal to me what I should do.

And then Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, seeing the Lord

has departed from you and has become your enemy, and the Lord

has done for himself as he spoke by me?

For the Lord has torn the Kingdom out of your hand and

given it to your neighbor, namely David.

So whether this is Samuel or not, it is either a great

imitation or the Lord again speaks through Samuel even

though he is dead on earth. Wild story.

Saul disobeys God's law, he's desperate in fear, he rejects

God's will, and he seeks to use God and not really live for God.

And I think sometimes in our lives, when we feel like we're

waiting for something to happen, at some point, the silence leads

to settling and the settling leads to seeking things in our

own way, and we begin to use God instead of living for God.

And this is what ultimately happens in your life.

You lose all of the strength of your life.

And he says this in verse 19. Moreover, the Lord will also

deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines.

And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, and the Lord

will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the

Philistines. Then immediately Saul fell full

length on the ground and was dreadfully afraid because the

words of Samuel, and there was no strength in him, for he had

eaten no food all day or all night.

And the woman came to saw, and saw that he was severely

troubled, and said to him, Look, your maidservant has obeyed your

voice, and I've put my life in my hands and heeded the words

which you spoke to me. Now therefore, please heed also

the voice of your maidservant, and let me set a piece of bread

before you notice Saul cannot even get up.

He's on the ground laying down. And the medium comes to Saul and

says, here is some bread. She begins to feed him.

But he refused in verse 23 and said, I will not eat.

But his servants together with a woman urged him, and he heeded

their voice. So he arose from the ground and

sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fatted calf

in the house, and she hastened to kill it, And she took flour

and eated it, and baked unleavened bread from it.

And so she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they

ate, and they arose and went away that night.

Not only does Saul seek it in his own answers, but he has no

strength, and he sits at the enemy's table.

I wonder this morning who you might be calling on in the

moment that you are in. And here's what I want to ask

you as you as we close and wrap this up together as the worship

team comes up and that is this. I want you to answer some

questions and the questions you're not going to answer out

loud. I don't want you to.

You don't have to in your circle at this Friendsgiving, go.

Hey, Pastor Casey asked this question.

I want to tell you my answer unless you really want to.

No pressure. How long have you been waiting

for God to answer that prayer? How long have you been waiting

for God to answer that prayer? How long have you been waiting

for God to answer that prayer? Second, a question that I want

to pose to you today and that is this not just how long do you

believe that God can answer that prayer in His timing?

3rd question, you ready? Third question, Where do you

find your peace while you wait? Where do you find your peace

while you wait? Where do you find your peace

while you wait? Last question, Are you willing

to wait God's way? Are you willing to wait God's

way? Here's waiting.

Waiting on God is not laziness, G Campbell Morgan wrote.

Waiting on God is not the abandonment of effort.

Waiting on God is, G Campbell Morgan wrote.

Activity under command. He goes on to say that waiting

on God is the ability to do nothing until the command is

given. And in that God will always

provide a way. And I just want to challenge and

encourage you today that in that way, maybe you've been waiting

for this to happen at some time that heaven feels silent, that

you've begin to settle, you've begin to seek things in your own

way, and you've lost strength. Let's just come back to the

Lord. Let's just ask Him to strengthen

us for what is ahead and what He desires to do.

We hope you enjoyed this message and we'd love for you to join us

in person every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

For more information and updates, visit

wearebridgetown.com. Thanks for tuning in and we'll

see you next week.