187 results found

Who Loves God’s Anointed?

April 25, 2021 | 1 Samuel 18-20 | exposition

We all want to be loved. God made us that way. We were created to love and be loved. We were created to love God. Yet, we have rebelled and rejected His love. And this has led to the sin and suffering we see in our world today. And God demonstrated His own love for us by giving us His anointed, Jesus, to pay for our rebellion and to reconcile us to God. Why? Because God loves us.

Do you love Him with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength? Do you love Him above all others? Above your spouse, your children, your friends? Above your self? Do you love Him enough to surrender the throne of your life to Him and to put Him ahead of yourself and all others? In the book of 1 Samuel, people responded to David in many ways, but a man named Jonathan responded to God’s anointed with steadfast love. We can respond to God’s anointed Jesus with steadfast love.

When You’re Facing a Giant

April 18, 2021 | 1 Samuel 17 | exposition

What giants are you facing today? Something that seems so big and overwhelmingly scary that you’re afraid to face it? A giant can be a problem or a person that you are “all to pieces” about facing. Giants make us want to run away in fear or feel so dismayed that we can’t move. What giant are you facing? Maybe it’s someone you need to confront with a problem or an offense. How do you face them? You’re losing sleep over it. What will you do? How will they react? Maybe it’s an addiction. Every time you try to overcome it, you lose. You’ve almost given up. Maybe it’s a bad medical diagnosis. There was a spot on the X- ray. Your doctor has scheduled tests. You don’t know if you can face it.

There are many kinds of giants. What do you do when you’re facing a giant?
In the book of 1 Samuel, David had faith in God to overcome a Philistine giant named Goliath who threatened Israel. We can have faith in God to overcome the giants we face.

The Heart That Responds to God’s Call

April 11, 2021 | 1 Samuel 16:1-23 | exposition

Do you have a heart for God? A heart that yearns to know Him and to please Him in all things? Or do you have a heart for something or someone else? All of us begin life with a heart for ourselves. We want our own way, not God’s way. And the longer we say “yes” to self and “no” to God, the more our hearts harden towards Him.

The Lord still seeks those who have a heart for Him. Those who will respond to His call and obey His Word. In the book of 1 Samuel, the Lord sent the prophet Samuel to anoint a man after his own heart named David to be the new king that God called to replace Saul. We can learn how to respond to God’s calling as we consider this story.

A Letter to the Lukewarm

September 27, 2020 | Revelation 3:14-22 | exposition

How are you doing in your spiritual life today? Would you say that you’re passionate and on fire for God? Or would you say you’re more lukewarm? You know, not too hot, nor too cold. A lot of us like it that way, don’t we? I mean, we don’t want to be considered fanatics, right? It’s comfortable being “lukewarm.” It may be comfortable being lukewarm, but it isn’t Christlike. And Jesus warns against it!

In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus told John to write a letter to the church of Laodicea warning them about their lukewarm spiritual condition. We can heed Christ’s warning about being spiritually lukewarm.

A Letter to Open Doors

September 20, 2020 | Revelation 3:7-13 | exposition

Where are the “closed doors” in your life? Do you often say to yourself, “Well, that door is closed to me now.” The one without much money, says, If only I had more money, then this opportunity would be open to me.” The one without an education says, “If only I had gotten a college degree, this promotion would be open to me.” The one without much talent says, “If only I could sing, play an instrument, repair automobiles, play sports…, then this door would be open to me.”

What if there was someone who had the keys to the doors that seem locked to us? What if there were someone who could open doors? In Revelation 3:7-13, Jesus told the church of Philadelphia that He had opened a door for them. We can trust Christ to open doors for us.

A Letter Against Compromise

September 3, 2020 | Revelation 2:12-17 | exposition

We rarely dive into the deep end of sin. We tend to slide into the shallow end, slowly inching ourselves deeper until it’s over our heads and we start drowning. No one sets out to be an addict or an alcoholic, they make a series of compromises that lead them there. No one plans on being unfaithful in their marriage, divorce was never the plan, but they make a series of compromises that lead them there. No one decides to reject Jesus in order to put money or material things or some other pursuit their god, but they make little compromises that lead them there.
We tend to do better with big challenges, but it’s the little compromises that erode our lives and our souls over time.

That’s what was happening in the church of Pergamum, compromise was eroding their faith. But Jesus had a word for them. In the book of Revelation, Jesus told John to write a letter to seven churches in Asia Minor. To the church of Pergamum, Jesus told John to write a letter calling them to uncompromising faith. We can have uncompromising faith.

A Letter to the Suffering

August 23, 2020 | Revelation 2:8-11 | exposition

Are you facing suffering today? There are many aspects of human suffering, or pain in the broader sense. There is psychological suffering: depression, anxiety, loneliness, grief from a death, a divorce or a broken friendship. Maybe that’s where you are today. You have emotional pain. Then, there is physical suffering: sickness, injury, declining health, sleep deprivation, even the pain of hunger, thirst and shelter for the impoverished. And the minute we put suffering into these two categories of psychological and physical, we have to understand that one affects the other. The pain of the body affects the mind, and the suffering of the mind affects the body. We all want to avoid suffering don’t we? But isn’t suffering and pain inevitable in this life? And since it is, wouldn’t you like help in how to face suffering when it comes?

That’s where the believers in Smyrna were. They were suffering tribulation and poverty and Jesus sent a letter to help them face it. In the book of Revelation, Jesus told John to write a letter to the church of Smyrna to help them with the suffering they were facing. We can receive Christ’s help when we face suffering.

A Letter on First Love

August 16, 2020 | Revelation 2:1-7 | exposition

Jesus wrote a letter to His churches. The first letter went to the church of Ephesus. It was a love letter. He wanted to know why they no longer loved Him as they did at first. Isn’t that amazing? That the Lord Jesus would care whether we love Him or not? Don’t we all need to hear this today? You may be listening today and you feel lonely and unloved. You may wonder whether the Lord is even aware of your situation. Does He even care?

Hear this: Jesus loves you. And he wants to know whether you love Him back. In Revelation chapter 2, Jesus told John to write a letter to the church of Ephesus, calling them to always put their love for Him first. We can answer Christ’s call to put our love for Him first.

A Letter of Revelation

August 9, 2020 | Revelation 1:1-20 | exposition

The apostle John recorded how the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him while he was exiled on the isle of Patmos and told him to a write letter to the seven churches of Asia Minor on His behalf. That’s what the book of Revelation is, it’s a letter from King Jesus to His Church containing what He wants believers to know about Him, the Church and about the future events in the world and in heaven leading up to His return.

In the first chapter of Revelation, the apostle John described how believers might receive the blessing of the revelation of Jesus Christ. We can receive the blessing of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Have You Rejected the True King?

March 29, 2020 | 1 Samuel 14:47-15:35 | exposition

You may not yet understand how you have rejected God as your True King, but I’m sure you know how rejection feels. You love someone and they betray you or leave you. They act one way to your face, but another behind your back. They say they love you back, but they don’t mean it. Or someone has rejected you for a place on a team, a part in a play, or a position of employment. Rejection hurts! And that’s how God feels toward us.

As we conclude our 1 Samuel study, we’ll see that our rejection grieves the Lord. nclude our 1 Samuel study, we’ll see that our rejection grieves the Lord.
BODY: In 1 Samuel 15, the LORD rejected Saul from being king of Israel because he had rejected the Word of the LORD God who is the true King over all. Saul represents all of us. For all humanity since the time of Adam has been in rebellion against God as its true King. We can recognize that we have rejected God as our True King, so that we may repent and follow Him as our True King.