Heart Series: Every Breath You Take | 1 Samuel 1

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. Want to talk to you about a

topic that you probably have never struggled with in First

1 Samuel 19 · chapter mention

Samuel Chapter 19 yet we're going back that way.

First Samuel Chapter 19, I want to talk to you about the topic

1 Samuel 19 · chapter mention

of jealousy. I don't think any of you have

ever struggled with this. I don't think any of this topic

or this word has ever hit your heart.

I think whether you're in elementary school, middle school

or high school, or if you're a young adult in college or if

you're a married single in your 20s or 30s or 40s, I don't

think, well, I could be sure at one time a point in your life

you've struggled with jealousy. I've entitled the message, Every

Breath You Take 1982 Sting 1983. It was released by a band called

The Police. But This is why I've entitled

the Message this way. If you have your Bible handy in

First Samuel chapter 19, if you would pay attention to verse 11,

1 Samuel 19 · chapter mention

Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and

to kill him in the morning. And Michael, David's wife told

him saying if you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you

will be killed. Now flip with me to the end of

the chapter. You probably have watched TV

shows that started at the end and they take you all the way

back to the beginning. Look at what happens at the end

of this chapter. And he also stripped Saul.

King Saul stripped off his clothes and prophesied before

Samuel in like manner. And he lay down naked all that

day and all that night. Therefore, they say, is Saul

also among the prophets? I want to talk to you about the

topic of jealousy. I want to give you the little

bit of a definition. Chuck Swindoll writes these

words like an angry, anger blind, half starved rat prowling

in the foul smelling sewers below St. level.

He writes. So is the person caged by and

within the suffocating radius of selfish jealousy.

Trapped by, he writes resentment and diseased by rage, he feeds

on the filth of his own imagination.

If you would just look at your neighbor this morning and say

neighbor, my neighbor, I know all of you have missed this in

the last three weeks. Neighbor, my neighbor, you can't

make me happy. Yep, just say that the person

you just said that to is relieved.

They are relieved. Look at them again and just say

you can't make me happy. I've been married to my wife now

coming up on 29 years of our lives have been together.

We got married at the age of 14. We're still young at heart.

A few years into my marriage, my wife said something that stung a

lot but opened my eyes a bunch. It wasn't that she told me that

I love you forever. I didn't need to hear that in

that moment. It wasn't that she looked at me

and said in our marriage that I am committed to you.

Richer or poorer, sicker or or if you're in health, whatever

that might be, I'm committed to you.

I didn't need that in the moment.

After listening to my negative narrative and my constant

complaining, my wife looked dead in my eyes.

And she, she gave me that look. Husbands, you know that look

that your wife gives you when she's about to say your first,

middle and last name to you. You know that that, that, that

situation that you're in. She looked at me and she said

these words. She said it is not my job to

make you happy. And I sat there because all of

my life was based upon how the person that I had connected

myself to was actually doing. And I'd found that in my life

because of that connection that when my wife was off, that meant

that I was off, That if my situation was off, that meant

that then I was off. I just want to say it again

because some of you are like preach it Pastor Casey, you

can't make me happy. You can't make me happy.

And it is not your wife's job or your boyfriend's job or your

friend's job or your parents job or your boss's job or your Co

employee's job to actually make you happy.

And I think all of us listening to these words in this room and

on the pad podcast this morning have found ourselves with this

statement being true in our lives.

Is is that we have often found that we are looking for people

to determine the level of happiness within our hearts.

In fact, we have found that we have set our happiness in our

joy upon three things. We have set them letter A on the

places that we find ourselves in today.

We've set our happiness and our joy simply upon the places that

we have found ourselves in. That could mean that is it is an

abundant place or it's a lacking place and because of the

abundance we have an abundant of joy or happiness.

Because it's a lack, we find that we have a lack of happiness

and joy. The 2nd place is we base our

happiness and joy, let her be on people.

We find that if we are connected to certain people who are doing

well, then we are doing well. But if we get in an argument or

if something happens, or if they step away for a little bit, we

have found within our own hearts and our own lives that we are

not doing good. Letter C We connect our joy, our

happiness to the problems that we face.

Some of you are in small problems, some of you are in

medium problems. Some of you are in very large

problems. Some of you are in medium large

problems. Some of you are in medium large

problems. And we think that the problem

that we we are in is the indicator and the director of

the joy that we can and will experience in our hearts and

lives. And if I'm not doing well, many

times I blame it on people that are not doing well around me and

life simply becomes a chore and it's no longer a joy.

Life becomes something that I just endure through.

I no longer enjoy my life. Life becomes for me something

that's painfully enduring rather than expectantly enjoying

because I'm waiting for them to bring me happiness.

I want you to hear this. Your marriage will not be your

ultimate happiness. Your job will not be your

ultimate happiness. Your singleness will not be your

ultimate happiness. Your finances will not determine

your ultimate your your happiness.

Your friendships will not determine your ultimate

happiness. Your family, the disease, the

car, the kids, the parents, the traffic, the crowds, the people

that you are connected to listen either if they're holy or

whatever it might be, does not ultimate ultimately determine

your happiness. The truth be told, the trauma

that you've gone through is real, but the trauma doesn't

determine the level of your joy. I want to, I want to put it

simply, if I can, and that is this.

I want to tell you simply and graciously that your joy is your

job. Your joy is your job.

I'm going to say that again because this needs to reach my

heart as much as yours. Your joy is your job.

It's not your wife's job. It's not your husband's job.

It's not a friend's job. It's not your boss's job.

Your joy is your job. As one man said.

He said, nothing will make you happy until you choose to be

happy. No person plays face, pleasure

or pain will determine your happiness unless you decide to

be happy. They are not your savior.

Jesus is and it will not just come to you, it will flow

through you to reach people that are all around you.

Your joy is your job, and unless we learn this now, your mood

will become your master. Unless we learn this now, your

feelings will become your pharaoh.

They will tell you when you can get out and when you can stay

in. They will lead you wherever that

you allow them to do to be. And what happens is, is now my

mood is set and the mood impacts everybody in the house, not just

me. And so we have now found in our

lives that we've become the sour St. we've become the fermented

follower. We have become the person that

when we hear Nehemiah say that the joy of the Lord is your

strength, we read that verse and say, well, Nehemiah doesn't know

what's happened in my life. And we come to a spot in our

life where we think that this aspect of happiness or joy can

only be determined by what has happened to us in our lives.

If there was anyone that needed to hear this in Glendora,

someone also needed to hear this in Israel.

His name was King Saul. You remember King Saul, don't

you? Years passed.

We spoke of him months ago. We talked of Saul.

You remember that the whole series is called heart, that God

was looking for a man who would take a stand, who would live

with character. And he chose, as he called Saul,

the first king of Israel. And he says to Saul, this is

what the people have asked for. So we're calling Saul head and

shoulders above everybody else. God told him to wipe out the

Amalekites. He didn't listen to God.

God rejected him as king. And he said, I will find myself

another man to lead this thing. So he sends the prophet Samuel

to go to a man by the name of David at Jesse's house.

And he said, you're looking at the outward appearance, but I'm

looking at the heart. This is the king.

David's keeping a watch of the sheep by day, by night he hears

that there's a battle. He also is told by his father to

take cheese and bread and essential oils and everything to

his brothers. He goes to the valley of Elah

and he hears Goliath shout. I will wipe out this nation.

I will take care of any enemy of mine.

David says, you're not talking that way about the God of

Israel. He goes and fights against

Goliath. He wins by the power of God, for

the glory of God. You think Saul would be excited?

You think there would be an uproar in the palace?

Saul is so upset and jealous and if there is one thing that will

attack your joy, I would put it this way.

The greatest enemy of your joy is jealousy.

The greatest enemy of your joy is jealousy and Saul desperately

needed to hear God in obey him because this was Saul's mission.

Look at verse one. Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his

son and to all his servants that they should kill David.

Notice Saul's mission if you would jump down to verse 2.

So Jonathan told David saying, my father Saul seeks to kill

you. Look at verse five of the

chapter. For he took his life in his

hands and the Lord killed the Philistine through David and the

Lord brought about a great salvation for all of Israel.

You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against an

innocent, against innocent blood to kill David without cause?

Look at Saul's mission verse 11. Saul also sent messengers to

David's house to watch him and to kill him.

Look at his his message and his mission is this.

Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David saying, bring

him up to me in the bed that I may kill him.

Everything about King Saul all should have been rejoicing and

ruling and reigning and obeying the Lord, but due to his

jealousy, he is now pursuing and seeking after the man that God

had called into this place, and now he says we need to get rid

of him. Jealousy, if you're taking note,

jealousy is this. Jealousy is a third party, a

rival, A competing force stealing something that is or

should have been yours. We get jealous of people's

lives. We get jealous of people's

relationships. We get jealous of people's

possessions. We get jealous of their status

in life, their story in life. Now that we can see everybody

else's story on Instagram, we even find ourselves even tempted

to be jealous over people's kids.

We find ourselves to be jealous over people's health.

And we find that in our lives, Jealousy, like King Saul, has

become the most invisible and miserable sin.

It has become the most invisible and miserable sin.

We cannot see jealousy. You can still see when someone

steals something from you or something's hurt, someone's hurt

physically, but you can't see jealousy within someone's heart

and life unless it starts coming out through their speech and

their actions. And this is what oftentimes

happens. I believe it was the song that

was most popular in Saul's house.

Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you

break, every step you take. I'll be watching you.

If we know the song, it has become something that has struck

a chord in our own hearts and our own lives.

This issue of jealousy in Saul's life, it filled his eyes, his

mouth and his hands, and it robbed him of the joy that was

in his heart. He wanted one thing.

That was it. He wanted one thing, David dead.

And jealousy will always decimate joy.

It will always decimate joy. I love this, what Chuck Chuck

Swindoll goes on to write. He says anyone who has

experienced deliverance from this damnable parasite knows

only too well the extent of its damage.

Jealousy will decimate a friendship, dissolve a romance

and destroy a marriage. It will shoot tension through

the ranks of professionals. It will nullify unity on a team.

It will ruin a church. It will separate preachers.

It will foster competition in a choir, bringing bitterness and

finger pointing among talented instrumentalists and capable

singers with squint eyes. Jealousy will question motives

and deplore another success. It will become severe,

suspicious, narrow and negative. Can I read that last line?

It will become severe, suspicious, narrow, and

negative. And that's where jealousy leads

to. But how do we know if we're

leaning our lives in this direction of jealousy?

If you would just write some things down for me this morning,

This is how you know you're leaning into jealousy.

Is this is this way #1 we seek to put down what God is raising

up. We begin to seek to put down

what God is raising up. No, Notice, if you would, Saul

spoke to Jonathan. Now you know that Jonathan is

Saul's son. He is the next in line to be the

king of Israel. But God chooses another man.

If there was anyone who should have been jealous, it was

Jonathan. But his father, Saul is holding

on so much to his position that he finds himself speaking now to

Jonathan, who loved David, the Bible says even more than love

of a woman, he had that type of connection and friendship that

the Bible says he told his son. And to all of his servants, now

look at jealous. He didn't just stay with King

Saul and spread throughout the whole palace, not just his

family, but all of his servants. Do you know your jealousy

impacts more people than just the room that you're standing in

because you stop doing things that you know you should be

doing. And we just throw in the towel

in areas that God has told us to keep on fighting and then notice

this verse one that they should kill David but Jonathan saw son

delighted much in David notice the story So Jonathan told David

ran to David. He said my father saw seeks to

kill you. Therefore, please be on your

guard until morning and stay in a secret place and hide.

My dad's jealous. The song is playing.

I want you David to go and hide. At that time, they didn't have

any cell phones. At that time, they didn't have

find my friend. At that time, you couldn't

locate anybody. Have you ever seen someone who's

constantly watching where somebody is going or where where

their next step is? Davidde hiding in a certain

spot, away from Saw, away from Jonathan.

And notice this, David hears from Jonathan.

Verse 3 I'll go out and I'll stand beside my father in the

field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you.

Then what I observe I will tell you.

So he goes and talks to his dad, and he reasons with him, and

this is what he says. Now Jonathan spoke well of David

to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin

against your servant against David, because he has not sinned

against you, and because his works have been very good

towards you. Notice this.

For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine,

and the Lord brought about a great salvation for all of

Israel. You saw it and rejoiced.

Why then will you sin against innocent blood to kill David

without cause? So Saul heeded the voice of

Jonathan, and Saul swore as the Lord lives, he shall not be

killed. Then Jonathan called David, and

Jonathan told him all these things.

And so Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence

in times past. Thank you.

Jonathan reasons with his dad, but his dad had made his

position the idol and because his position was the idol, now

that he worshipped of being king, he now found that his

friends had become his enemies. Did you catch that?

And so because of this, Saul is saying I will get rid of the man

that God is raising up because my hands are wrapped so much

around the throne that now David, who proclaims the music

that I have given that soothes my spirit, is no longer a friend

to me. He's actually become the enemy

to me. And sometimes what happens in

life is positions can mean more than people.

And this is King Saul, and he finds himself in this place in

his life now, this is King Saul. He's called by God.

He's anointed by God. He had the Spirit of God rest

upon him at times, as we read in the end of the verse.

He was prophesying naked, laying on the ground.

This is King Saul who had the calling, the anointing, the

position, the power, and he took all of that and let it slip his

grass because he wouldn't be obedient.

David played the music, David fought Goliath, and this is the

context of these verses. And for Samuel 18, verse 30,

then the Princess of the Philistines went out to war.

And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved

more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his

name became highly esteemed. This was the context in which

Saul was hearing this. And because Saul had lifted up

the wrong things, he could not see the right thing.

Listen, when other people have become or a position has become

your only source of joy or happiness.

We constantly continue to turn people that are friends into our

enemies. And at some point and at some

time, those people or position that we lifted up will now let

us down. And we find them in a place, and

we find ourselves in a place where now, like King Saul, we're

fading away. But God is raising up David.

And now as God's raising up David, Saul says, take him down,

take him out. He's trying to control the

situation that God is sovereign over.

Now, please listen to this. That doesn't mean that we don't

stay connected to people. It doesn't say that we don't

have intimate friendships. But but listen, I want you to

put people in their right place. I want you to put positions in

their right place. I was recently in an Angel game

and I was sitting up in the four hundreds and and as we were

sitting there there I'd never been at a game where people had

gotten up so much. Like can just people watch the

game? Like we have this 7 second time

attention because of these short videos we love.

People are just getting up and this guy must have stood in this

place for about 7 minutes. I didn't time him and he blocked

the view of what was happening on the field.

He just stood there. He had his beer in his hand and

he's talking to a friend and I said a little bit loudly, we

just take your place. We can't see what we need to

see, and I think we need to allow things to take their right

place to see the things that we actually need to see.

We actually need to put the positions in the right place to

see the things that we actually need to see.

We need to put our problems in the right place for us to see

what we need to see. And that gives us the

opportunity to not walk around jealous.

Now, I believe Saul's jealousy was fed by his own insecurity

and his own fear. If you would just listen to me

for a minute, David was not the enemy of Saul.

Samuel was not the enemy of Saul.

Michael, his daughter, was not the villain in the story.

Jonathan wasn't the villain. David wasn't the villain.

Samuel, the prophet in the later chap part of this chapter, was

not the villain. Saul was the villain.

And a lot of times we're thinking we, they, they have to

deal with that. But listen, let's deal with our

own insecurity and our own fear, because what happens is this is

Saul does things he later regrets and he says things he

later regrets, and he finds himself in this place operating

at this basis simply upon fear. And I wrote these things down

about these certain verses. And that's this is that this is

what happens in our lives. And insecurity and fear takes

place where we begin to try to, to, to get rid of that thing or

person that God is raising up in our lives.

Is this is what happens. We begin like King Saul, to

think and believe that things are not true.

So we think and believe, excuse me, things that are not true,

and we allow the things that we're believing that are not

true to begin to dictate, like Saul, the things that we'll

actually be doing. This is also what happens to

King Saul and us is we are constantly let down because you

can only lift one person up and that is Jesus.

And so because of that now we begin to make liking Saul

decisions and say things out of our words, out of fear.

And this is what happens. We say things that we shouldn't

say in our lives and we begin to do things that we shouldn't do

with our lives. And because of that, we try to

put down what God is lifting up. You can't make me happy.

David could do nothing to make Saul happy, not even beat

Goliath or wipe out the Philistines because his position

was more important and his disobedience was more important.

The second thing, often times how we know we're being LED into

jealousy is this is we allow impatience to take the place of

obedience. We allow impatience to take the

place of obedience. This is what happens with King

Saul. Note, notice this verse 8.

And there was war again, and David went out and fought with

the Philistines and struck them with a mighty blow and they fled

from him. Now the distressing spirit from

the Lord. Notice that the Lord gave Saul a

distressing spirit. It's interesting.

That's a whole nother sermon that we could walk through, but

not today. He came upon Saul as he sat in

his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing

music with his hand. And then Saul sought to pin

David to the wall. Notice this with a spear.

But he slipped away from Saul's presence, and he drove the spear

into the wall. And so David fled and escaped

that night. Notice the impatience of Saw.

He is now the Lord sends a distressing spirit.

Here's David playing oceans, probably on his harp, and he's

called me out upon the water, and he's strumming the harp.

Normally Saul would calm down, but at this point he impatiently

takes a spear and he hurls it at David.

This is not just something that happened to Saul.

This is taking us all the way back to First Samuel chapter 15,

1 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

where God told Saul to wipe out all the Amalekites, but he chose

to do it his way instead of God's way.

And it's just Saul's story that he would continue in this place

unrepentant. Now, throwing Spears at David.

Now, if I was David, I'd probably try to pull the spear

out of the wall and throw it back.

David doesn't do that. He just runs.

He runs for his life. Saul takes his spear and he

throws it at him. Now, I know we're not throwing

Spears now, but have you impatiently ever said something

to someone that you shouldn't have said?

Why did I say that you ever had that, that thought you ever

found in your life that you have you, you have done something,

maybe not thrown a spear, but you've done something out of

distress that you're oh, why'd I do that?

This is Saul's life. And this is what happens when

you're jealous is you begin to make decisions out of impatience

rather than obedience to God. What was Saul losing?

He was losing the throne, but he could have gained his life with

repentance. And I think many times what

happens in our lives is the exact same thing as we begin to

live in an impatient heart and attitude about everything around

us. In the car, we're impatient.

At the store, we're impatient. You're going to go to a

restaurant today after church for some of you, and the server

is not going to do a good enough job for you.

Does the server is going to give you the wrong salad dressing?

And you're going to look at them and say, why do I keep coming

back here? Don't you understand?

I'm giving you my business. How many times do I need to say

ranch? Don't do that.

You're you're you're going to go home and your kids are going to

get on your nerves. That was a good spot for an Amen

parents, your wife or your husband is going to get on your

nerves. Something's going to happen.

That rises, that raises, excuse me, the tension in the room.

In that moment, you have an opportunity to throw the spear,

hold your Spears, hold your Spears back.

Because normally, out of impatience, it reveals my

insecurity and my lack of trust that God's actually working.

Let's move on. The third thing that jealousy

does is it allows our perspective to shift from friend

to enemy. That's what it does.

Notice this. So Saul verse 11 sent messengers

to David's house to watch him. Every breath you take, every

move you make, David, I'll be watching you.

And he wanted to kill him in the morning.

And Michael, David's wife, told him, saying, if you do not save

your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.

So Michael let David down through the window and he went

and he fled and he escaped. And Michael took an image and

laid it in the bed, put a cover of goats hair for his head and

covered it with cloth and clothes.

And so when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said he is

sick. And then Saul sent the

messengers back to David saying, bring him up to me in the bed

that I may kill him. And when the messengers had come

in, there was the image in the bed with the cover of goats hair

for his head. And notice this if you would.

Then Saul said to Michael, Why have you deceived me like this

and sent my enemy away so that he has escaped?

And Michael answered Saul. He said to me, Let me go, why

should I kill you? So David fled, and he escaped

and went to Samuel at Rama, and told him all that Saul had done

to him. And he and Samuel went and

stayed, and they off. No, no, no, no, if you would.

David was the musician, the shepherd.

He was the one seeking King Saul's best interest.

And now what jealousy does to King Saul is it shifts his

attention from David being his friend to now David being his

enemy. And that's what happens in

jealousy. And this is the last thing that

happens in jealousy, is that we strip ourselves of what God has

called us to wear. If you would notice this,

Jonathan saves David's life. Notice this, his wife Michael,

who is Saul's daughter saves David's life.

Notice this Samuel who is the prophet of the Lord in Israel,

saves David's life. God brought all of these people

in to save David's life. Now notice this King Saul still

on the hunt. David finds himself running off

with Samuel hiding. Now it was told Saul saying take

note, David Naoth in Rama. Then Saul sent messengers to

take David and when they saw the group of prophets prophesied in

Samuel standing as the leader over them, the Spirit of God

came upon the messengers of Saul and they also prophesied.

All of Saul's servants begin to speak the word of the Lord, but

they're looking for David to kill him.

God works all things together for good for those who love him,

those who are called according to his purpose.

And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers and they

prophesied likewise 2 groups of people.

Then Saul sent messengers again the third time and they

prophesied also three times they're prophesying.

And then he also went to Rama. He's all forget it, I'm going.

And he came to the great well that is at Seku.

And so he asked and said where, where are Samuel and David?

And someone said indeed they are at Naoth and Rama.

And so he went there and Naoth and Rama.

Then the Spirit of God also came upon him, and he went on, and he

prophesied until he came to Naoth and Rama, and he also

stripped off his clothes, and he prophesied before Samuel in like

manner, and lay down naked all the day and all the night, that

that might be a little PG13. What a story.

Here is King Saul dressed in a kingly robe, representing power,

authority, calling and anointing.

And he is so jealous that even when the Spirit of God falls on

him, he is still seeking David's life.

And then this is what happens to King Saul.

He lay down naked all that day and all that night.

Therefore, they say is saw also among the prophets.

He took off what he should have been wearing.

Now if we were to equate Genesis chapter 3 with First Samuel

Genesis 3 · chapter mention 1 Samuel 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19, nakedness through sin led to shame.

Notice where jealousy leads to. It leads to you taking off what

you should actually be wearing. What should you be wearing?

Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,

self-control. But through jealousy we strip

all of that off because we choose the authority of our

flesh rather than the power of God's Spirit.

You see what happens? Saul is now laying on a ground

rather than sitting in a throne. That's what jealousy does.

Jealousy ruins us, jades us. It brings us to a place in our

lives that we desire not to be. I didn't realize when Sting

wrote Every Breath You Take that he wrote that in 1982, right

after his divorce. I know it wasn't popular for us

who grew up in the 80s until 1983 when it came out through

the band, but it has a very we we sing it like Every Breath You

Take. Every like, like it's a love

song like I'll be watching like, but he's like every breath you

need to every move you make, every bond you break, I'll be

watching you like we sing it like, oh, can't you see you

belong to me? What?

That's not how he wrote it. That's not how God wrote your

story either. It's not how God wrote your

story. And some of us die in this place

and we lose the power and the presence and the authority of

what God had given to us simply because we just can't let them

live. What Saul ultimately wanted was

control. What God ultimately took away

from him was control. There is only one sovereign

Lord, and it is not me, and it is not you.

You can't make me happy, and I can be sure that I can't make

you happy. Your joy is your job.

And so today I would like to ask that we would deal with the most

invisible and miserable sin of jealousy.

Let Jesus root it out. Let it let, let the bitterness

be pulled out of our hearts. Let the let, let, let the this,

the seed of resentment just be yanked out and let God begin his

work. I think sometimes in our lives

we are following a person or people so much on social media

that we don't even see what God's doing in our own lives.

And I just want to encourage myself, encourage you as you've

come, is that this is a place for you to deal with this now.

Confess it, repent it of it, turn to Jesus in it and see what

God wants to do in and through your life.

Can we? Can we pray together?

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

see you next week.