Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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OKAY!
We’re going to go back a bit - to a place we’d all just love to SOON forget...
April 2020
It was then when we started to hear about this mysterious virus making it’s way into our country.
Long story short - It was the beginning of a - JOURNEY of FEAR
Here’s one of the MAJOR things we learned in walking through that time period...
With masks, distancing, more masks, closed business…etc.
Here’s what we learned:
People are afraid to - DIE
What was on display - from the citizens of this country - was - The Fear of Death…the fear of the grave.
FEAR - can cause us to do...
Unexpected things...
EXTRAORDINARY things...
and even...
CRAZY things
In our text today - we’re going to see FEAR - in action.
We’re going to read thru the entire text - and then circle back around - - BUT just to set this up...
Following our text from LAST week - where we saw The Way of God’s Will -
God’s WORD leading David through life
We SAW - Saul making his way into a CAVE - as he was trying to capture and KILL David...
And DAVID - being IN that cave…and instead of killing Saul - sparing his life
Following that episode...
in chapter 25 - we find out that Samuel had died.
And a little further along in the text - we find Saul PURSUING David once again...
AND - we find David sparing Saul’s life - ONCE AGAIN!
And then David makes an INTERESTING decision!
He decides to FLEE to the Philistines!
It’s absolutely crazy!
He goes to Gath - the chief city of the Philistines...
and goes to Achish, son of the King
David convinces him to let him stay in the city, with the 600 Jews that were with him.
David stays there 1 year and 4 months...
And IN THAT TIME - David would go out to a city of the Philistines = and LAY WASTE to it…killing all men and women…and bringing back the livestock with him.
And then he would come back - and Achish would ask him - where did you go FIGHT today...
And DAVID WOULD LIE - and say that he went out and fought the Jews.
WOW!
Following THAT - this is where we pick up today...
So - this chapter begins - SHOCKINGLY - with war on the minds of the people...
The Philistines are gathering for war with Israel...
And as this builds - SAUL finds himself - AFRAID
Now what I want to do FIRST today - is to JUMP AHEAD in our text - to see where THIS FEAR of Saul - is ROOTED.
Samuel ends up speaking to a medium (someone who talked to the spirits) and by doing that - he ends up speaking with Samuel...
What does Samuel say to him - and how does Saul respond?
NOW - we’re FOCUSING on the FEAR of Saul...
Where was it ROOTED?
It was rooted in - DEATH...
It was ROOTED in - the GRAVE!
AGAIN - sound familiar?
We just talked about it - How did the world respond to - COVID?
Same way!
The world - GASPED - and FELL on it’s FACE
Put a mask on...
GET BACK!
CLOSE IT DOWN!!
OK - so we KNOW where his FEAR was rooted - NOW - with that established...
Let’s get back to our text…back to v5
NOW - what would YOU do in this situation?
(we all know who we are - some people are afraid of HEIGHTS / SPIDERS / Baby Dolls
You’re EXTREMELY fearful!
What does Saul do?
Saul TRIED!
But ALL lines were - Busy! (URIM - an instrument sanctioned in the Jewish religion to help receive communication from God).
No response from the Lord!
And so NO DOUBT - this led to MORE FEAR in Saul...
But FEAR ROOTED in what?
We know it was rooted in - DEATH!
And so where does THAT fear lead Saul? - - Where does that fear FUEL him?
next verse...
What do we see here?
REMEMBER - Saul’s FEAR was rooted in - Death…and so...
SLIDE: Without Fear In God: Fear Fuels Us Toward Disobedience
Without Fear In God
See - when ANYTHING other than God is what we FEAR most…then the OPPOSITE of what we FEAR - will become our god...
What does THAT mean?
If Leadership is what I fear most - then APATHY will become my god.
If fellowship is what i fear most - then ISOLATION will become my god.
If poverty is what I FEAR most - then MONEY will become my god.
If IRRELEVANCE is what i fear most - then PRAISE will become my god.
If loneliness is what i fear most - then FAMILY will become my god.
I think you get it...
NOW - when ANYTHING OTHER than God is our god...
SIN will be our path to worship.
Saul here - as we know - was FEARFUL of DEATH...
and so PHYSICAL LIFE was his - god!
Well - he was thinking he may LOSE his physical life…his god...
So what THEN becomes an option for him?
SIN!
And so he ends up REACHING out to a MEDIUM...
NOW - first thing - THE IRONY...
If we just go back and reread the early portion of our text today - we read this...
Ok, so Samuel had died - and Saul does something...
He removes all mediums and necromancers from the land...
The thought being - they didn’t want any of these mediums to CONTACT Samuel…who had died.
Now - pretty ironic that Saul then TRIES to CONTACT a medium...
But even deeper than this - is the Divine mandate against such things...
Seems pretty clear no?
God has SPOKEN - and His word is final.
Saul KNEW THIS!
Then why did he pursue a Medium?
Why did he sin?
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